Hard Enough-Chapter 245: Power up!

Bertha shifted, her eyes tracking the clouds, waiting for a sign of where Dragonite might be.

She took the time to shift and resettle her position, causing the mud around her to squelch as more and more rain continued to fall.

I decided not to wait, knowing that if I let Bruce relax he’d get a chance to counterattack, especially with his pokemon now up in the air.

Bombing runs and direct kinetic barrages were its speciality.

It would be more hesitant thanks to the earlier Stealth Rock weakening it up some, but I suspected the main point would be Bertha’s Thunder.

That could wreck Bruce’s day.

Sadly the clouds were going to act as a detriment until the second Dragonite dropped below them.

So that ruled out Thunder as an option … or did it? An idea formed in my mind as I considered something.

Most rain clouds that were formed with Rain Dance were relatively thin and widespread. That meant that they didn’t last as long. They had a tiny reserve of energy and water to pull from.

But that didn’t always have to be the case. There had to be a lot of water already in the atmosphere thanks to the earlier water type moves along with the Rain Dances.

Could I make the clouds more than they normally were?

Could I form a proper cumulonimbus?

Those were the signature rain and storm clouds that resulted in larger amounts of rain along with actual electrical discharge.

Storm clouds depended on a few things, if I remembered my science lessons properly. They needed a rising air current that was generated by heat. Which might be… I flicked my eyes to the crowd. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people sitting close together, cheering and working up a sweat.

They’d be causing some heat, wouldn’t they? And that microclimate wasn’t isolated perfectly, as demonstrated by yesterday’s two Sheer Colds impacting them.

So, I had some rising air currents thanks to the crowd. But… they could add more heat if I worked them up.

An idea formed in my mind that I knew Bertha would love. It wasn’t even illegal, as honestly? Anyone could do it, but it was something I don’t think anyone had truly considered.

I fed Bertha my intentions and she perked up, a gigantic grin stretching her lips.

Right, well now I had to do it or else she’d never listen to me.

Time to draw the crowd into this fight, in this case, literally.

“BERTHA! WE NEED TO PUNCH THROUGH THE SKY TO BRING DOWN THAT DRAGON!” I roared, channelling my inner anime protagonist to draw everyone’s attention.

“BRING THE THUNDER!” I bellowed as I clapped my hands above my head and caused a huge clap to ring out.

Bertha copied me, clapping her hands above her head and unleashing a torrent of lightning.

To the layman, it looked like she was trying to clap and force the electrical energy through the clouds, but that wasn’t my intention.

“Dragonite! Move about! Build up speed with Agility! Avoid the lightning and we’ll have them worn out!” called Bruce to the sky. He got an answering warble from Dragonite.

“BEAM IT!” I called, snapping my hands towards where the warble had sounded like it came from.

Bertha opened her mouth and fired an Ice Beam up into the clouds, causing them to thicken and drop slightly.

I growled, playing up the frustration I felt, only to turn to the crowd. “Come on Chrysanthemum City! Bertha fights best when she’s encouraged! Bring the noise with me and let’s bring down this dragon!”

I made a show of stomping my feet and then clapping my hands. “THUNDER!” I bellowed, only to have perhaps a quarter of the crowd join me in the stomp-stomp clap.

A boom echoed out that was coupled with voices, and people began to move and shout. Some of them were for Bruce, but others joined in for me.

A raucous tide of shouts and actions had everyone on their feet.

I stomped my feet and pretended I was firing a Kamehameha beam up into the clouds. “ICE!” I shouted, and this time more people joined in.

Bertha mimed the action and tried to hide that she was actually discharging the beam from her mouth. I sent her a wave of reassurance that she looked cool and she sent back the equivalent of a sassy girl’s hair toss, only it was her tossing her tail maul about while fluttering her eyes at me.

I stood tall and clapped my hands. “THUNDER!”

Once more Bertha stood tall and unleashed her attack right at the clouds.

People were moving, throwing their hands, clapping and stomping their feet now. Some were beating out chants for Bruce and his Dragonite, while I had my own fans up and stomping, miming the beam attack or clapping in time.

Bruce stared at me, unsure what I thought I was doing. To him it had to be the height of idiocy.

I hoped it wasn’t. I was counting on a very basic understanding of storm cloud formation, along with heavily relying on pokemon energies carrying the day.

I could see the waves of heat distort the crowd slightly and knew that the heat would be rising to push up the cold clouds that were now laden with particles of ice and electrical energy.

A final Ice Beam was about to be fired when I signalled for Bertha to stop.

She stiffened and looked up right as the sky darkened, and then the rain intensified.

The crowd called out in surprise as the light downpour became a proper drenching.

Then a bolt of lightning rent the sky.

It was notably not something I’d unleashed from Bertha.

Through the pouring rain Bruce looked at me in shock as the rain clouds that had been flat pitiful little things darkened properly.

They were now ominous and crackling with energy, looking extremely different from the smoke choked clouds that Charizard had created.

I’d done something similar, only instead of weakening the clouds, I’d intensified the storm cell and localised it.

The best things about cumulonimbus clouds, apart from being storm clouds?

They had extremely tall structures thanks to the rising air currents.

Specifically, they would have taller structures than what Bruce would be allowed to fly his Dragonite at.

So, he could either force his pokemon to descend where I could blast it, or he’d have it stuck in a storm cloud.

Another crack of thunder heralded a lightning bolt rippling through the air.

I grinned at Bruce and tapped my finger on my Xtransciever before mouthing ‘tic-toc’ to him.

He blanched, “Dragonite, get—” he started to shout, only for another clap of thunder to cut over his words.

I grinned up into the clouds as a moment later Dragonite fell out of them with a forlorn wail, lighting crackling over its form.

It had been shocked out of the sky thanks to the lightning.

I levelled my hand at it, my grin now matching Bertha’s.

I felt Bertha’s excitement rise and I decided to throw her a bone. It wouldn’t be like anyone could hear it anyway.

“Blast it, Magical Girl Bertha!” I said with a grin. I felt the rain let up just as I said it and my words and intentions carried to Bertha.

There was a half heartbeat of stillness in the world.

Then Bertha’s emotions swelled like a rising tide and I found myself inhaling as a rush of energy shot through me from Bertha’s side of the bond.

Holy Arceus! I’d never had my pokemon empower me before!

I felt like I’d had the best night’s sleep and was beyond motivated. I could scale mountains, sprint marathons. Maybe even outlift Trixie?

Damn, I felt incredible.

Bertha twirled through the muddy battlefield like a dancer on her chosen stage. Mud flew around her and I couldn’t help but think it elegant, despite how large she was and how torn up the field was.

It was appropriate for Bertha to dance here and now, as she ripped up huge clods of rock from beneath her feet only to then hurl them skyward

She did so with perhaps the biggest grin I’d ever seen on her in her life.

The rocks ascended and hammered into Dragonite before it could regain control of its flight.

It wailed in pain as it hit the ground heavily, only to go limp.

Bruce didn’t hesitate to recall his pokemon.

I watched through the pouring rain as he frantically checked the pokeball for the small light that indicated a pokemon’s health.

I suddenly wondered if I might have gone a little bit overboard.

Lola’s notes were regarding a method that was perhaps best used against opponents in a war situation. Not a friendly pokemon battle.

I glanced up at the still sparking clouds and the now sodden crowd, their earlier fire now thoroughly dampened.

Ah, I definitely had gone overboard.

Ahaha… whoops?

Bertha felt my chagrin and sent me a huff and a dismissal. I shot her a look, but she merely crossed her hands and ignored me, her tail thumping from side to side in delight.

Huh, I really must have done the right thing calling out to her as a Magical Girl.

I probed her energy reserves and grimaced at what I’d found. All that effort to create the storm clouds hadn’t been without cost.

Bertha was probably at half, and that was if I was being super optimistic.

I doubted I’d get off more than one of her One Hit KO moves if I tried.

So, I needed to switch out, or utilise Link perhaps?

Hmmm, it was nice having options.

I’d also just denied Bruce and his Charizard from ascending beyond my range once more. Damn, but this was a good set of moves to use.

Sadly I doubted that after today I was ever going to be allowed to get away with such a sequence of moves unopposed.

Defog, Hurricane, and others could all have done wonders.

Bruce had never encountered this move before, however, and thus was taken unawares.

Perhaps that was why it was best to use against foes in battles? If you knew a fight was going to start, it would make a lot of sense to prepare not just the land that you were going to fight on, but also the skies.

Damn, but my image of pokemon warfare just became a lot more chaotic if rolling storms were included everywhere. And it would be possible with hail storms or blizzards too.. possibly.

That might have played a part in why pokemon like Zapdos and Articuno became more active.

I’d have to propose that theory to Oak and Sabrina’s Alakazam later. They might enjoy the discussion.

I tilted my head, realising that Bruce still hadn’t sent out his next pokemon.

I’d very much been left in the rain to ponder.

Bruce didn’t look like he wanted to make a move, his eyes were turned upwards, watching the storm.

Ah, he was waiting for it to weaken, wasn’t he?

I smirked, crossing my arms and getting ready to wait. He only had a minute before he had to send out his next pokemon.

Sure enough a countdown alarm began to blare at the ten second mark and lights flashed around us. I watched Bruce shift angrily, his eyes dropping to the ground where he knew there would be a surprise awaiting whatever was sent in next.

If he wanted a chance in this battle he needed to either clear the storm, or send out something that could handle Bertha.

Did he have that?

Blaziken would be good if it wasn’t for the wet field.

Charizard I would gladly expend a Thunder for, to bring it down or at least severely weaken.

Snorlax was at least at half health thanks to the earlier exchange.

Kingdra would have been great right now, but I’d taken it out earlier.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

So, with Dragonite down, what else did he have to bring to the table?

“Go—” Bruce shouted into another clap of thunder.

I tracked the pokeball and my breath hitched when a small purple form with four wings was revealed.

Crobat.

“Thunder!” I barked as Stealth Rock hammered into the fast flyer, falling back into old habits of verbal commands, only for Bertha to already be unleashing her attack before my saying so.

This must have been the pokemon that Bruce had second guessed himself on sending out earlier. He’d made the right decision then, as I planned to—

“Protect!” growled Bruce loudly, his voice cutting through the rain. Crobat curled its wings in front itself as a shimmering orb formed around it. I snorted at how ridiculously big it was in comparison to the tiny Crobat within.

It reminded me of a mouse being put into an extra large hamster ball, excessive to the extreme.

Sadly it did what it needed to as Bertha’s Thunder gained extra power from the storm and blasted the protective shell.

The sky was lit up for a full five seconds and I could see Crobat fluttering around inside the orb in fear.

If that had hit… I might have gone overboard on two of Bruce’s pokemon.

Damn, I might have underestimated Lola if this was the sort of power she flung around casually.

That woman could fight.

I prepared Bertha to fire off another attack, this time another Stone Edge perhaps, only for the movement in the orb to catch my eye.

Crobat wasn’t just flapping around randomly. It was actually circling around the orb extremely fast in a manner that reminded me of… well, a Rasengan.

Shit, I thought, right as Protect began to fade.

The instant that the Protect fell away a shockwave of air rippled out and Crobat accelerated further, throwing itself into a proper Hurricane that cut into the clouds and broke up the storm overhead.

Hmmm, clever of Bruce to go for that angle.

I couldn’t guarantee the hit until I got another Rain Dance off.

That didn’t mean I lacked other options, however.

Bertha spun, dragging her tail through the mud and sending a muddy tidal wave out along with a trio of boulders, which she punched with a one-two-three combo to launch them at Crobat’s position in the centre of the hurricane.

The hurricane twisted the attack off-line enough that Crobat wasn’t in any danger for the moment.

“Toxic! Now!” Called Bruce, and Crobat ripped itself out of the hurricane and instead flitted left and right to make itself more evasive as it closed in on Bertha.

I frowned, understanding that Bruce was playing into one of the tactics that had almost worked against Bertha during an Elite challenge.

He planned to poison and outlast Bertha.

Yeah... I wasn’t letting that happen again.

Bertha fell backwards, fully committing to showboating and grandstanding to please the crowd.

She fell through the mud and into the ground right as Crobat spat a large burst of hissing purple at Bertha’s previous position.

This point had been something I’d thought up when Crobat had been discussed.

For all the moves that Crobat had, it had no method of dealing with a pokemon that was underneath the ground, which most of my pokemon could do via Dig.

“Double Team!” snapped Bruce, deciding to try and make things rougher for me when I did emerge. I rubbed my chin. Right, I wasn’t about to let Bertha get poisoned, but I also needed to deal with Crobat.

So, the best decision here was to once again swap things around.

Bertha emerged right in front of me with one hand raised and what I believed was her hip cocked to the side.

I didn’t want to know how long she’d been working on that ‘entrance’, but I mentally gave her the equivalent of a polite golf clap. Then I recalled her before Crobat could wheel around on her.

My hand swept to another pokeball, one that was fresh for this fight.

“Go! Knight!” I ordered, feeling deeply satisfied with my team selection for this fight.

Unlike last time, I felt like I had the answers just waiting to be used, rather than having to scrap and kludge something together at the last minute, or rely solely on my pokemon’s strength.

Knight taking to the field was like going from a jolt of emotions and energy to a still lake.

‘Knight?’ I probed, concerned at this after how the bond had felt with Bertha.

Knight sent back a single impression.

One that was slow and steady, but that conveyed more for its simplicity.

Knight was ecstatic to be able to communicate with me, only his was a steadier, more stable happiness. It didn’t feel deeper or more shallow than Bertha’s, but different.

I sent back my own readiness, turning my attention instead to the flitting forms of Crobat.

One of the things that I had been sad to learn for this plan was that Aggron couldn’t learn Swift.

So having a perfect option against a pokemon that was the epitome of a dodge tank was not in the cards for me.

That didn’t mean I didn’t have other options.

Knight jutted out his chin and roared defiantly. This caused the flittering forms to still and a single Crobat to emerge from the after images for but a moment.

Taunt, to make it so that the wet battlefield couldn’t be further dried out with Sunny Day. Which meant that Blaziken couldn’t be called out at its full strength.

Charizard still could, but I had some options for him.

“Giga Drain!” ordered Bruce, and his pokemon flitted around such that it looked like four Crobats were preparing a green orb to drain Knight.

I ignored it. It was only normally effective and not something I had to be watchful for, except in continued amounts.

When one Crobat of the four actually had an orb return to it, I had Knight unleash a Stone Edge at that Crobat, only for it to blur forward to suck the orb up before dodging the rocks.

Hmmm, so there was a potential one in four chance of nailing Crobat if Bruce went for that option again, eh?

I shifted targets, deciding to go for Plan B, which was increasing my set up and control of the battlefield.

After all, Bruce either stuck with Crobat against Knight, or he traded out now. Knight thumped his tail and stomped his feet, and around the field several more Stealth Rocks joined the field.

“Tch! Defog!” Said Bruce, revealing that I wasn’t the only person to trade out pokemon moves for this fight.

Crobat swept its wings about and caused a cascade of rocks to be stripped from the field, much to my annoyance.

Hmm, this exchange was stalling things out.

Alright then, plan C it was.

I jutted my chin out as I gave the order and Knight blinked before raising his own chin. He marched forward with a cocky gait and I grinned as Crobat paused, taken in by Swagger.

Then it bristled as it realised what was happening. It screeched in annoyance at Knight’s grandstanding, only for Knight and I to lock onto the now no longer speeding Crobat.

Crobat continued to screech at Knight and Bruce’s eyes widened as he cottoned onto my plan.

“Crobat, get out of there! Fly high!” he ordered, going for the defensive option.

Knight bent and hurled a rock straight at Crobat.

Crobat glanced up, only to pause to sneer at the oncoming rock as it made to beat its wings to evade, only for one wing to fail to flap.

Crobat looked down, confused as to what was going on.

I grinned along with Knight. Confused was exactly what we’d been aiming for.

Crobat plummeted from the air and Bruce didn’t wait for the small bat to hit the mud before recalling it with a sigh.

The referee shot him a look and Bruce nodded, acknowledging that he was withdrawing his pokemon from the match.

I pumped a fist at this and Knight shot me a look, his eyes locked on my action. He glanced at his own fists and then copied me, only with both arms.

I chuckled, enjoying the way he was celebrating.

“How are you doing that?” Bruce said suddenly.

I glanced up and tilted my head. “Doing what?” I said.

Bruce grit his teeth and pointed at Knight. “You have barely had to give an order this entire match, but your pokemon are making all the right moves,” he said.

I smiled proudly before shrugging. “What can I say? My bond with them has grown to the point that… we might not need them as much anymore,” I said.

Bruce blinked at this. Only to swear. “Fuck, I’m not sure if that’s better than you being a secret psychic.”

I waved my hand back and forth. “Nope! No psychic abilities here, just strong bonds with my pokemon,” I said.

“Hmmmm,” Bruce hummed, eying Knight, unsure what else to say to that as he ran his hand over his pokebelt.

I let my mind refocus on the fight. So Bruce had Charizard, Blaziken, and Snorlax left. Huh, I might just clean sweep him at this rate.

His starting match up really had built into a proper landslide that meant he hadn’t been able to get his footing from the get go, hadn’t he?

I licked my lips and pushed those thoughts aside, instead turning to who was coming out next.

Both of his fire type pokemon weren’t going to handle fighting in this mud very well. Well, Charizard could thanks to being an flying-fire type, but I got the impression Bruce was holding him back.

Which meant that Bruce would have only one real option.

“Go Snorlax!” shouted Bruce. “Sleep straight away!” he barked.

I watched Snorlax once more take to the field.

I was quick to have Knight Swagger about, hoping to disrupt Snorlax as early as possible..

Snorlax growled deeply at this only for its head to suddenly drop and a loud snore to roll out from the tubby pokemon.

Damn, he’d gotten Rest off.

Alright, no big drama, the plan was still a go.

As a volatile condition Confusion should still be in effect.

I urged Knight forward. I needed to make the most of Snorlax’s confused status and sitting around wasn’t an option.

Time to roll the dice.

“Sleep Talk! Come on Snorlax! Ignore the confusion and fight on!” Bruce urged.

Knight charged through the mud on all fours to speed his passage, only for the charge to suddenly speed up further as he fully committed, going for Giga Impact.

In the face of this Snorlax snored once, only to choke midway through the snore.

It snapped its head around to face Knight, only to then raise an arm and punch it at Knight as he closed in.

Focus Punch slammed into a Giga Impact and Knight went from sprinting to still in a second.

Snorlax for its part jiggled uncontrollably and its body shook so badly that Snorlax began to topple backwards.

It snored as it went, falling back asleep and hitting the deck with a thump. Only to groan and clutch its belly in pain.

I could only sigh.

The feeling of Knight had been snuffed out as Focus Punch basically knocked him out in one hit.

That… had been exactly what I’d been hoping wouldn’t happen.

Knight and I had gambled, only to come up Ekans eyes.

For the first time in this match, I recalled one of my pokemon and the referee declared that the score was now three to one.

I grimaced. That could have gone differently.

I glanced down at Knight’s pokeball once he was recalled and tapped it lightly, sending my pride in Knight to his slumbering mind. He stirred within the pokeball slightly, but then returned to his sleeping state.

I put him away and turned to my next pokemon.

Alright, if Snorlax was out and in full health. I needed a pokemon that could deal with it.

I flicked my wrist and a wash of energy shot through me once more as Bertha took to the field again. She locked her gaze on the still slumbering form of Snorlax and without a nudge from me, she began to spin up her fingers and hands.

Then she pulled back her arm and stormed forward.

I smiled. She knew what the score was.

She also knew the risk.

It might end up being the height of foolishness and cost me Bertha, but you couldn’t win without taking some risks.

“Sleep Talk again!” ordered Bruce.

I felt my stomach clench in fear. Surely my luck wasn’t bad enough to have Snorlax fight through another Confusion?

Snorlax chose to snore louder in the face of Bertha’s charge and I felt a hysterical giggle escape me.

It was bad enough that the Confusion hadn’t worked, but Sleep Talk had instead triggered Snore.

I felt the reverberating growling noise blow through Bertha and for half a moment it felt like she was about to flinch. Then she dug deep into her reserves and powered through, controlling her body and taking another step with a defiant roar.

“RHYPERIOR!” she thundered as she closed with Snorlax, her fist drawn back and her drillbits whirling to life.

She punched her fist forward as I roared the name of her power move for all the world to hear. “IMPACT DRIVER!”

The hit connected with Snorlax and his shut eyes shot open as he was lifted, only to then be twisted like he was a child being thrown at the pool by a gleeful parent.

Unlike that scenario, this was no pool. When Bertha made her hit, the mud and water blew out in all directions due to the shockwave of it all.

Nor did Snorlax laugh as it spun away, looking more like an attack himself as he twisted through the air and slammed into the back barrier which turned red in an instant.

“Laaaaaaaax,” he said slowly, before slumping down out cold.

Bertha punched the sky. “RHY! PERIOR!” she roared, celebrating her success.

I laughed and wiped some of the water that had splattered my face off me.

Bruce growled as he returned his pokemon.

“The score is four to one!” shouted the referee.

I grinned. I was almost there. I practically had this in the bag now. I just needed to deal with two fire types. Sadly both of them were starters.

A quick glance at Bertha had me grimacing. That last attack had pretty much emptied all of her reserves.

I needed another option to close out this match.

Bruce shifted furtively, his eyes looking at his forearm where there had to be a Keystone bracelet of some sort.

He must be lamenting trying to pull on that power now. There was no doubt in my mind that in the future he’d be a threat, but for now he was falling short in the worst possible way.

“Go, Blaziken!” he announced, sending out his best hope.

I wasn’t going to feed Bertha to the blender just to wear down Blaziken. She knew this and she shot me an appreciative nod as I raised up her pokeball.

She twirled backwards and winked at Blaziken who gained a confused look, before she cupped her hands in what I suspected was supposed to be a love heart right as the recall function hit her.

I was just going to pretend I didn’t see that and instead focus on my next pokemon.

The passion and fatigue faded as Bertha fully vanished, only for Selene to take her place.

My moon pokemon locked eyes with Blaziken and glee flooded through her, only for her to probe our bond as I felt shock resonate through her.

‘Hello?’ I tried.

“Brock/trainer/friend/teacher?’ was what I got in return, but it was accompanied with a strong sense of delight as Selene flooded me with impressions and images of… myself?

I put a hand to my head and steadied my mind.

I shot back a quick impression of quieter/less/simple and Selene returned one almost instantly with chagrin/acceptance/excitement

Right, Selene as a psychic-rock pokemon would be the most aware of the bond and able to return it.

I directed my attention and that of the bond towards the Blaziken that was even now running through what looked like an Agility.

Huh, looked like he was going to try and blitz me with Agility to dodge the attack.

Hmmmm, not a bad idea, except for one little issue.

Blaziken vanished in a burst of speed and my eyes could track it moving to the side, but turning and unleashing an attack would see me missing it, I had no doubt. Thankfully I had another option.

An order was delivered at the speed of thought and Selene called forth an array of stars, making herself a display of the night, really. The stars twinkled and spun around Selene for a moment, only to twitch in one direction.

The entire galaxy of stars became shooting stars that struck Blaziken.

Blaziken squawked at the surprise hit and I was quick to capitalise by having Selene snare the fire-fighting type with Psychic.

Damn, this was much easier without having to verbally give a redacted order.

“Blaz?” squawked the powerful Hoenn starter as it was lifted into the air, only to be launched back into Bruce’s podium.

Blaziken surprised me by landing on its feet and performing a quick one-two kick-punch combination to indicate it was fighting fit.

This time it didn’t wait for a command from Bruce but instead blurred away into a sprint.

When Selene and I responded with yet another Swift, it wasn’t taken by surprise. It instead tried to fend off the stars with punches and kicks, all the while moving about.

It tried to inch closer to Selene, only for Selene to continually form a barrage of Swifts that peppered it, wearing it down.

“Go for FB!” Bruce ordered, and Blaziken stopped running to adopt a stance with one hand cocked back.

‘Blast it’ I thought to Selene and she channelled Psybeam.

Blaziken unleashed what could only be Focus Blast.

Both attacks slammed into each other, only for Psybeam to power through the fighting-type move and nail Blaziken.

Blaziken crossed its arms in front of its body and our Psybeam blew it backwards where it landed with a flip, only to have its feet slip out from underneath it.

It struggled for a moment, sliding in the mud to stand, only to flop down after a few attempts.

I shot Bruce a look. He should have known that wouldn’t work. Why was he trying to force it?

I could only come up with one reason and I wasn’t sure it would work.

I hoped it wouldn’t, at least.

“Blaziken is unable to battle! The score is now five to one!” shouted the referee, and Bruce gained a pained expression as he returned his pokemon.

He had to know this match was over now. I had five pokemon for his Charizard to get through.

Despite that, he still drew it out, holding the pokeball in front of himself. He whispered some words to it and I felt a premonition wash through me.

If this were an anime…

“Come Charizard! I need you now more than ever!” bellowed Bruce.

Charizard took to the air of the battlefield with a powerful roar.

Then, like I’d feared, a light began to blossom around Bruce’s wrist right as a matching light appeared at the back of Charizard’s neck, where a choker or necklace was no doubt located.

I hadn’t seen that, so Bruce must have deliberately had it matched to Charizard’s skin tone.

Charizard began to glow and an all too familiar corona of power exploded out of Charizard as Bruce roared in victory and light shone off his wrist.

The crowd shrieked in shock and I grit my teeth as I had Selene perform a Future Sight, knowing it was a waste of effort to try and strike through the Mega Evolution energy.

As quickly as it came, the rainbow light vanished leaving a changed Charizard in its place.

I stared along with all the other people in the crowd.

Charizard’s form had shifted.

Where before it had been a black scaled pokemon with red underwings and cream-bellied with two horns on its head, there was now a grey tone to its skin with an elongated tail where the fire shone red.

On its head three horns stood out.

It notably did not have the blue fire spewing from its mouth or tail. Nor did it have the ripped, jagged wing profile.

Which meant that this was Charizard Y? The fire-flying Mega Evolution.

I would have thought that Bruce would have desired Charizard X?

Bruce’s triumphant grin shifted to a frown.

I tilted my head in confusion. What was with that reaction? He’d just forced a Mega-Evolution mid-battle. He should be ecstatic.

Bruce sighed and clicked his tongue. “Damn, it looks like Charizard doesn’t Mega Evolve into a dragon like I hoped,” he said.

I blinked as I was suddenly taken back to my talk with Steven Stone and the list he’d presented me with.

It hadn’t listed off two Mega Stones for Charizardite. I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time.

Was that deliberate? Or was that oversight?

Did Steven Stone know or not know that Charizard had two different forms?

Damn… that had… some implications, no matter which way the cookie crumbled.

A wave of heat washed over me and I smacked my lips together, finding them dry in the sudden intense heat that Charizard was passively radiating.

Despite it being the mid afternoon, the light that filled the arena felt like it had just intensified.

Ah… shit.

I’d forgotten about Charizard Y’s special ability Drought.

That and the Solar Beam I knew Charizard had, meant that despite Bruce not getting what he wanted from Steven, he’d gotten exactly what he needed.

That five-to-one suddenly didn’t look as guaranteed.