Hard Enough - Chapter 339 - The Spike Shell Battle Challenge

“Sooooo that escalated quickly,” I commented after ending the call with the Guardians. When I’d fobbed the task off I’d mostly done it out of frustration and I’d blatantly forgotten the prize.

That Flying Palace was kind of cool. I’d sort of forgotten the specifics of it, having barely paid it much thought when I’d first watched the movie but the various features and size that it boasted… well it was a lot. 

Sabrina nodded, “It was always going to end with either the airship destroyed or in someone else's hands,” she remarked easily.

“If I recall correctly, Lawrence’s ‘airship’,” and here I made sure to use finger quotation marks. “Could substitute for a small town if not for the density of it along with the modern amenities.”

“Janine will be pleased with herself,” Sabrina remarked.

I stared at Sabrina. “That’s it?” I asked as Sabrina prepared to Teleport us to link up with the others. 

“Brock we weren’t going to be able to keep it even if we’d been there. Having Janine capture Lawrence made the most sense. We didn’t need to be there.”

“We could have gone rogue,” I mumbled, more to keep arguing than actually believing what I was saying. 

Sabrina leveled a flat stare at me and I had no choice but to sigh and acknowledge that I was being ridiculous. 

“Alright so I wouldn’t have gone rogue but… Giant Airship!” I whined.

Sabrina continued to stare at me and I wilted. “Alright but I still want to go visit it sometime,” I muttered. 

“It would be interesting,” conceded Sabrina. “But we’re not wasting money on a giant airship that you admitted got totalled rather easily.”

“I wouldn’t know about easily, considering it took a pokemon like Lugia to destroy it,” I riposted verbally. 

Sabrina’s flat look returned.

It was super effective and I lost the will to put up any more arguments.Sabrina teleported us to where my brother and friends were and rather than put up a fight I just put my head down and started walking.  

Behind us, Garen and Gavin were being floated along thanks to a practically ancient Alakazam that Gavin owned. 

Mahri was up ahead, running back and forth between her brother Rudy, and the floating pair of twins that were grumbling and playing up their age today with how they were shaking sticks at things and throwing their heads back to roar with laughter at jokes only they knew.

If they’d bothered voicing them Sabrina would probably be too busy giggling to move under her own control.

Sabrina must have caught my glancing back at them before smirking at her as she shook her head. “They’re not actually sharing any jokes, they’re just being obnoxious and laughing for the sake of it.”

I chuckled, knowing that Sabrina was probably more put out that there weren't any jokes than their antics. “I don’t know, nothing wrong with laughing.” I put a hand to my gut. “Good for the body,” I remarked with a grin.

Sabrina shot me a smirk and I had a momentary flash of understanding before she did precisely what I knew she was about to do. 

She stepped to the edge of the path and threw her head back and released the evilest, most maniacal cackle I’d ever heard from her.

When she was done the surrounding pillars caused her laugh to echo back at us at odd intervals making it haunt us despite Sabrina having long since stopped. 

She smirked at me and I had to fight to maintain my blank expression. 

Everyone had stopped and was now staring at her. Mahri had stopped running and had doubled back to her brother who seemed to be visibly struggling with… yeah I wasn’t going to interpret that.

It didn’t stop me sending him a small glare and another pulse of dark energy. 

Most notably Garen and Gavin had fallen silent.

“She laughs like a witch,” Mahri’s whisper carried down to us.

Forrest snorted and I could hold back my own laughter any more. Sabrina grinned at me victoriously and I had to admit defeat. 

That had been pretty hilarious. 

When I was done laughing I waved for Rudy to keep moving and nudged Sabrina with my hip. “So, I was right, no? Laughter does just feel good on its own, no?”

Sabrina shot me a smirk that let me know she counted this as her victory so I just rolled my eyes and didn’t say anymore. 

Ash, being the usual headstrong protagonist type that he was, was going first so when we reached the top of the canyon we set up our seats while the twins dropped down in theirs. 

Then Ash hopped out across the small pillars of upraised rock without so much as a hint of hesitation. 

“Leaping without looking,” muttered Garen with a shake of his head right as Ash leapt onto a pillar that wobbled. It wasn’t enough to dislodge him, and even if it was, Rudy had a psychic type hidden away ready to catch him, but it still served to slow him up and make Ash pause and consider which path towards the trainer area he should take.

Forrest and Misty who’d been watching on with exasperation that had turned to fear were now themselves inspecting the pillars.

Forrest started pointing out which pillars to avoid.

Gavin chuckled. “It rather ruins the fun when more than one trainer goes at once.” Garen huffed in agreement. 

I sat and watched, keeping half an ear to Forrest’s suggestions. 

When I’d gone through this I’d been much slower than Ash to advance, giving each pillar a careful look over. Now that I was looking over them with older eyes I could see the trick.

None of the pillars would fall, but they would shift underfoot the closer you got to the arena which would sometimes be enough to throw off a young trainer.

Ash’s earlier headstrong advancement was actually best as no matter what path you took you were going to be shaken.

It was best to just get it over and done with.

Ash jumped off the last pillar and landed in the challenger’s box. “Rudy! I’ve come to beat you!” he declared.

Rudy nodded, acknowledging the challenge for what it was.

“As per the rules of my Gym you have completed the first challenge and selected Electric, Grass, and Fire types as your challenge! The match will be best of three! Are you prepared?” he shouted.

“Ready!” Ash called, his momentary doubts vanishing in the face of a pokemon fight.

Pikachu came out to face off against Electabuzz. The franchise mascot pokemon was low to the ground and growling cutely while Electabuzz began to let off small static zaps into the air as both pokemon locked eyes.

Ash twisted his cap around and I whistled. “Oh damn he’s getting serious from the get go?” I muttered. 

Sabrina eyed Ash and tilted her head. Whatever she was picking up seemed to intrigue her as she continued to watch as Ash leaned forward, his eyes locked on Pikachu.

What happened next surprised me.

“Electabuzz Qui—”

Pikachu blurred across the training field with its head down. It slammed into Electabuzz’s gut and sent the other electric type soaring back with what looked like a critical hit. 

Electabuzz hit the ground and rolled back onto its feet only for Ash and Pikachu to narrow their eyes as one.

“Is he?” I asked aloud.

Sbarina nodded. “He’s begun to sync himself up with Pikachu. I saw him start to do this towards the end of the match with myself for the Marsh badge. I was rather surprised with how he entered a mental ‘zone’ that saw him performing better and connecting with his pokemon.”

“A battle state,” I muttered, watching as Pikachu danced around Electabuzz, zipping and slamming where possible. Ash pointedly didn’t make the mistake of using any electric attacks but instead went for Quick Attack and Iron Tail to dish out as much damage as he could. 

It produced results as Electabuzz, rather than triumphing over Ash and Pikachu with a single Thunder Punch, was kept on the back foot from the start of the match to its end.

Ash and Pikachu controlled the tempo and didn’t let up.

Gavin and Garen both whistled. “Been a while since we’ve seen a trainer like that,” declared Gavin.

Garen glanced towards Sabrina. “Yourself excluded of course.” Then he tilted his head. “Or is young Ketchum a psychic trainer as well?”

Sabrina shook her head. “No, he has little aptitude for fighting with his mind. This is all heart, one could say.”

“Ah, I understand,” said Gavin as he nodded along sagely. 

Garen snorted. “You don’t have a Mankey’s clue what’s going on!” 

“Don’t tell them that!” muttered Gavin childishly. 

I snorted and turned back as Electabuzz hit the ground with Ash and Pikachu announced the victors for the first match.

Ash punched the air. “That’s it! Pikachu! One nil, let’s keep it coming!” he called. 

Rudy glanced up from his downed pokemon. “Uhmmm Ash you don’t get to keep the same pokemon out. That’s the point of asking for specific typings. You take a one nil lead but now you must use either a grass or a fire type pokemon.”

Ash blinked. “Oh.” He slumped and sighed. “And I was on a roll there,” he muttered as he turned his cap back around, making it face forward.

Pikachu hurried back to him and patted his calf consolingly. “Pi Pika Pi.” 

Ash drew out another pokeball. “Well if we’re looking for a two nil lead lets go with Bulbasaur!” he shouted, flicking out his pokeball.

Bulbasaur appeared and crouched low. “Bulba!” growled the grass type.

“Hmmm very well,” Rudy replied, flicking out his own pokemon to reveal an Exeggutor.

I hummed, knowing that canonically this match up went well for Ash.  

“Razor Leaf!” Ash barked, revealing that his bond while established with Pikachu, wasn’t there for his other pokemon, which made sense in a way, considering Pikachu was his starter.

“Confusion!” replied Rudy. Exeggutor took control of the Razor Leaf angling towards itself and with a flex of its will the leaves slammed back into Bulbasaur causing it to be pushed back to the edge.

“Keep on it with Egg Bomb!” barked Rudy.

Bulbasaur, much like Rudy’s Electabuzz before it found itself bombarded and unable to counterattack. 

“Huddle up and use Synthesis!” Ash shouted desperately.  

Bulbasaur began glowing from the tip of its bulb and small parts of its body began to heal despite the onslaught it was facing from Exeggutor. 

Rudy spotted this change instantly and adjusted. “Exeggutor! Use Wood Hammer!” he shouted.

Rather than going into a headlong charge Exeggutor surprised me by leaping into a spinning pirouette that transformed into an Axe kick that was going to be brought down on Bulbasaur.

“Leap to the side and use Sleep Powder!” Ash shouted desperately. 

Bulbasuar leapt and just barely escaped the Wood Hammer, but the subsequent detonation of force saw Bulbasaur tossed and it skidded to the side where it had to use its vines to save itself from tottering over the edge. 

Ash sighed in relief and looked up only to crow in victory as Exeggutor was revealed to be asleep.

Mahri stiffened. “Huh? When did that happen?” she shouted. “Did he cheat?”

Forrest coughed. “No, when Bulbasaur leapt away it was releasing Sleep Powder. Bulbasaur dodged but the space it was in was still laced with that powder see?” 

Mahri crossed her arms and pouted. “I suppose!” she grumbled. 

Ash grinned and puffed his chest out. “Bulbasaur us—”

“Sleep Talk!” Rudy shouted and every blinked in surprise as Exeggutor leapt once more for another Wood Hammer strike.

“Dodge!” shrieked Ash as he flapped his hands. 

Once more Bulbasaur leapt away and this time it successfully dodged the attack.

Exeggutor, on the other hand, landed heavily and a section of the arena cracked before beginning to crumble into the sea with Exeggutor standing atop it.

It continued to snore, blissfully unaware of its fate only for Ash to snap his hand out. “Catch it!” he called and Bulbasaur dutifully shot its vines out to catch the sleeping pokemon.

Exeggutor stopped falling for a second only for Bulbasaur to groan as the greater weight of Exeggutor made itself known with Bulbasaur being dragged to the edge.

“Oh no!” Ash shouted. “Bulbasaur try and dig in!” he shouted as he began to run forward to help only for Rudy to raise his pokeball and return his pokemon. 

“I’ve seen enough. I overplayed my hand and you capitalized on a momentary weakness. You have completed the second Challenge and therefore have earned yourself the Trovita Gym badge!” Rudy announced. 

Ash blinked, caught in a lurch as he slowed down to a stop. Then what Rudy had declared caught up to him and he punched the air. “We did it!” He shouted.

Everyone watching on, even Mahri, gave him a round of applause. 

Ash whirled around and shot us a V for victory sign with Forrest rolling his eyes. “Yeah we get it! Get off the arena floor already Ash!” 

Ash trotted off with Bulbasaur and Pikachu following along. 

Misty rose and began to hop her way to the challengers box. When she hit the loose pillar she squeaked in fear and shot Forrest a glare. “You said they’d all be fine!” she growled. 

“It looked fine I swear!” he said quickly. 

I chuckled and he shot me a betrayed look. Ash just waved Misty on. “Come on Misty! Don’t be a scaredy cat!” 

Misty’s brow twitched and she eyed the pillars between them, likely judging if it was worth marching back across to thump Ash. She eventually shook her head and entered the challenger box. 

Rudy adopted a suave pose. “We meet at last, destined lovers on a fateful encounter!” he declared.

Misty blinked only to shift nervously. “Uhmmm, no? We set this up days ago. Listen, don’t be weird, let’s just fight!” she ordered. 

Rudy slumped and I almost felt bad for him. He was trying, but he didn’t have the game to pull that off, and he also wasn’t going to have much luck with Misty.

Then again, it was also hard to empathise with a guy that, if you didn’t watch him, would hit on your girl, in front of you, no less. 

Misty stepped forward and much like Ash I was surprised to find her straightening out and drawing in breath.

Her form was solid and her eyes bright.

Then I felt something ripple outwards as her hand fell to her side and onto her pokebelt. 

I felt the smile grow on my face. That was two of them now. 

My eyes darted towards Forrest and I tilted my head. Had he also started to awaken his Aura?

“Go Starmie!” shouted Rudy and for just a moment Misty’s hand twitched towards a different pokeball before she shook her head and instead sent out Blastoise.

It was strong. Its shell glinted and its Cannons were made of solid metal as it adjusted its aim over its shoulders locking onto Starmie.

Once more Rudy raised his hand. “Starmie us—” and once more he was cut off from the get go with Blastoise unleashing twin Hydropumps of water.

The torrent of water slammed into Starmie, and while it wasn’t very effective, it was powerful. It ended its attack and then sprinted forward into a Rapid Spin that caused dust to be blown off the arena floor. 

“Limbo1” shouted Rudy and Starmie fell onto its back, only for me to catch how it was just barely holding itself off the ground.

Misty twitched in surprise only for Blastoise to adjust its angle of attack right at the last moment, resulting in Starmie being crushed under the weight of a powerful Blastoise.

Rudy blinked, stunned at the quick turn around that saw him down with a one-two combination. 

I whistled. “She’s been putting in the work,” I murmured as Blastoise spun itself into a three point landing, its eyes coming up and locking on its foe.

It didn’t relax straight away but rather continued to observe the downed Starmie. It was only when Rudy returned it that it perked up.

Misty skipped into the air. “Nice work Blastoise! We did it!” she shouted and Blastoise beamed a huge smile at her. Misty gestured next to her. “Come over here and help cheer on the others with me!” she asked and Blastoise happily trotted over to stand at her side. 

Misty grinned and high-fived Blastoise before she turned back to Rudy. “Ready for the next match?” she asked smugly.

Rudy simpered and swooned. “Ah! That was amazing! I thought to amaze you with a deft dance move only for you to match me! Truly we would be marvelous partners! Perhaps after this we could get lunch!”

“Oi! You’re fighting me after this and Misty and I are going for a swim!” Forrest shouted, standing to shake his fist at Rudy.

Misty coughed and nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry, but please stop asking,” she stated. 

Rudy twitched like an arrow had been shot into his heart. He nodded glumly and shot Forrest an annoyed look. 

I hummed, knowing that meant that Forrest was in for a tough match but Forrest didn’t look away, if anything I thought a bolt of electricity shot between the two boys. 

Sabrina giggled. “The last match is shaping up to be the most interesting.”

“So it would seem,” I replied. 

For Misty’s second match she sent out a Tentacruel that nodded towards Misty and Blastoise before turning back as Rudy grimaced and sent out a Golbat.

Misty smirked and I sat back only to shudder as Misty called up a Blizzard to end the match in one blow this time around.

I whistled, impressed. “Both pokemon without a verbal command, she’s really come far,” I said.

Sabrina shot me a look. “It’s almost like she was motivated,” she commented drily. 

I smirked, knowing that Sabrina was right, but then again the offer of a Megastone and a specific Mega evolution would probably see me working just as hard back then. 

It was a shame none of the areas I looked in had anything for me back during my Journey.

Ash and Forrest rose and cheered for Misty as Rudy announced her victory, along with another offer for dinner after Forrest’s playdate, only for Misty to shake her head and turn him down gently. 

I noticed that her eyebrow was twitching however so I suspected that if she was more comfortable with Rudy, and he didn’t still owe her a badge she’d be much less restrained in turning him down.

And just like that it was Forrest’s turn.

Rudy held up a hand to stop him advancing, instead quickly darting towards us himself. “Uhm, I’m only allowed to carry six pokemon and they were allocated for Ash and Misty’s challenges. One moment while I trade them out,” he said.

Garen’s Alakazam nodded and the pair vanished into a Teleport.

“He had to do this much?” I asked of the twins, earning a nod from the pair.

I hummed. “How’s he been handling the strain?” I asked. 

“Only whited out four times this season!” announced Garen proudly. 

I grimaced and decided to keep a closer eye on Rudy when he returned. He’d lost four pokemon already today with what had to be some of his stronger pokemon. 

He returned quickly and I noted that he had a light sheen of sweet on his forehead as he darted back towards the arena. He perhaps could have taken a little longer to regather himself but it seemed he didn’t want to keep us all waiting.

“Ahem! Forrest from Pewter City! You may come forth!” Rudy declared grandly.

Forrest nodded, standing only to pause before he moved off. He clenched his fists and glanced towards me. “I’m not as far along as them,” he announced, causing me to tilt my head.

“That’s alright,” I offered. “I’m not comparing you to them, just you to yourself.” I could practically overlap the Forrest from a year ago with the one standing before me, meeting my gaze seriously but with an unwavering spirit. 

I smiled. “You’ve grown strong, show us that,” I suggested and Forrest smirked.

He turned and marched forward and although the path he took saw his footing turn more than it had for Ash and Misty, he didn’t question it for a second. 

Sabrina shot me a quick look that when I glanced her way was gone. “What?” I asked.

Sabrina smiled. “Just that you’re good at what you do,” she replied. She nodded her head towards the match where Rudy and Forrest were locking eyes.

The frisson of tension was back but if anything I had to give the edge to Forrest, he was fresh and was in a good headspace.

“Let’s go Metang!” declared Forrest.

Rudy smirked. “Go forth Steelix!” he shouted. 

Forrest stiffened and I chuckled, knowing the itch that came with someone supposedly ‘challenging’ you on your home turf, or in this case with a pokemon you would know inside and out. While Forrest had yet to perform the coating for his own Onix, he knew a lot about Steelix and was planning for it soon.

Rudy choosing Steelix would be a bit of a slap in the face.

Forrest snapped his hand out, not waiting for Rudy to take the first move or attempt to verbalise a command. “Earthquake!” he bellowed, going on the offensive straight away.

Metang dropped like a hammer into the ground and the arena broke apart. 

Rudy gaped. “Are you Crazy!? We’re standing on the same platform!” 

“Heh! Sounds like quitter talk! Put your life on the line and believe in your pokemon! He shouted as Steelix was thrown about and cracks appeared all around the field. One even split right through where Forrest was standing causing his eyes to widen.

“Says the kid with a psychic type out, that can catch him if he falls,” I muttered. Sabrina bit her lip.

“Tch! High Horsepower!” growled Rudy, punching forward. 

Steelix who was barely hanging on leapt forward, causing a wave of rock and earth to be thrown up as it tore a gouge right through the centre of the field.

Forrest matched it. “Metal Claw!” he shouted, causing his pokemon to meet the charge with a lunge of its own.

Both pokemon collided and another rupture went through the arena causing the cracks to widen further as a cloud of dust swept outwards. I sat up, only for Sabrina to lay a hand on my arm.

“They’re both fine,” she murmured, her eyes peering into the dust. 

“Yeah, but still I worry,” I muttered. “I think I know how this is going to end,” I muttered.

Sabrina grunted in agreement. “Boys and their pride.”

A moment later the dust settled to reveal Metang still hovering, albeit slightly wobbly, while Steelix was lying flat. Forrest punched the air and cheered. “Haha! That’s the way Metang! We showed him!”

Rudy sighed. “I have been forced to brute force so many fights today. This is not at all elegant,” he muttered as he eyed Forrest.

I narrowed my eyes, noting that the sweat on Rudy’s brow had grown stronger while Rudy himself had yet to notice.

“Shall we take this to the sky?” Rudy challenged. 

Forrest nodded and enlarged a pokeball while returning Metang to his pokebelt. “Let’s go Skarmory!” 

“Excellent! Come forth Pidgeot!” Rudy crowed.

A large Pidgeot took to the air and both flying type pokemon locked eyes and shrieked their rage at being challenged.

I sat forward, lacing my fingers together as I licked my lips. This… wasn’t going to favour Forrest as much. 

“Steel Wing!” Forrest called, going for a tried and true attack only for Rudy to snap his fingers.

“Aerial Ace evasion into Agility,” Rudy called. 

Sure enough Skarmory tried to slam itself into Pidgeot only for Pidgeot to vanish and return far off to the side where it glowed.

Forrest snapped his hand towards it. “Skarmory! Use Iron Defense!” 

I hummed, watching as both trainers shifted into a buff up strategy. Rudy went for Speed while Forrest went for defense.

That wasn’t a position I would like to be in and Forrest must have thought the same as he slashed his hand through the air. “Enough! Use Stealth Rock!” he called. 

Rudy stiffened. “You!” he grimaced as I nodded. That was a good move, if he didn’t have the advantage right now it didn’t matter, he could use this match to come into the third match ahead before either pokemon took to the field.

That, or he was planning something else, I mused.

“Defog!” growled Rudy with a slash of his hand.

“Go now!” Forrest shouted revealing that he’d accounted for this, which made sense when facing a flying type. 

Skarmory launched upwards towards Pidgeot as a breeze swept down to destroy the Stealth Rocks. Skarmory closed with a glowing head revealing that Forrest had aimed for Iron Head but instead of closing with a body shot, I noted that Sharmory was going for Pidgeot’s head.

“Tuck and roll!” Rudy ordered.

Pidgeto tucked a wing and plummeted away from the threat gracefully causing me to wince. That was the problem with going for smaller targets on fast moving pokemon, they could easily evade your strikes.

Rather than get away from Skarmory it tucked under it and lifted its head. “Sunny Day!” roared Rudy.

Pidgeot lifted its head, and launched the fiery orb not into the sky but rather directly into Skarmory who immediately screeched with pain as the ball splashed a heat over it.

“It’s not damaging it,” Sabrina murmured as I sat up in surprise.

“It’s softening it up?” I suggested. Sabrina nodded slowly. This… we’d never seen this before. I raised my pokedex and began recording the aftermath while running a small commentary on the lead up. 

It wouldn’t be as good as having it going the entire time but it would still be something to observe at the very least. 

Skarmory looked enraged as it whipped around on Pidgeot and attempted to rake it with its wings. 

Pidgeot once more displayed the tuck and roll technique that made it look like it was twirling away instead of merely evading.

“Rudy missed his calling as a Coordinator,” I muttered out the side of my mouth. There hadn’t been any other effects of the Sunny Day that I could judge and to the best of my knowledge that was the sole fire type move Pidgeot could learn. 

“Skarmory, stop chasing it!” Forrest ordered to no avail. 

Pidgeot stayed just within range of Skarmory, causing it to twirl and twist and rise where Skarmory, as the much heavier pokemon had to beat its wings furiously to keep up. 

I hummed, seeing what Rudy’s plan was now. He planned to force a battle of endurance, only it wasn’t a typical head to head fight but rather one of energy reserves. Pidgeot were renowned long distance and speedy fliers with only Fearow being as widely spread for usage.

Skarmory… had to work harder for less and it quickly became apparent with Pidgeot tiring Skarmory while still looking fresh as a daisy, something that only seemed to enrage Skarmory more.

When the end came it was with a whimper and a light twist of Pidgeot’s wings that saw it vanish into an Aerial Ace only to reappear behind Skarmory, pinning its wings out and causing it to plummet into the ground.

Skarmory hit the ground with a hard thump and it stayed there, wheezing and exhausted. 

“I’m not sure that Forrest could have matched Rudy in this match with Skarmory,” I said. “Even if his pokemon was more obedient and hadn’t been rage baited… I think once Pidgeot got the buffs up it was game over.”

Sabrina hummed. “An earlier use of Stealth Rock to force the match into close quarters earlier, but it is tough to say. Skarmory might have had other moves that it didn’t demonstrate. There’s also the arena itself that Forrest could have used.”

I nodded along as Mahri cheered for her brother. Rudy smirked as he recalled his pokemon and announced that the match was now tied at one all.

Forrest didn’t dispute it as he returned his Skarmory. Heh, he was probably regretting choosing Flying over Rock now.

I glanced down at the state of the arena. Then again he might have just been conscientious of the field he was fighting on.

“Ready to catch them?” I asked as both trainers reached for their last pokemon. 

A ground type pokemon each, on an already weakened field. You didn’t need to be psychic to know how this was going to end. 

Sabrina released Alakazam who shifted into a ready position after giving the older Alakazam a nod of respect.

“Go Challenger!” shouted Forrest as his Golem took to the field.

Rudy flicked out his pokeball and a Sandslash was revealed.

“Rollout!” Rudy ordered. 

“Bulldoze!” Forrest responded by punching his fist forward.

Challenger rocketed forward while Sandslash countered only to twirl away, displaying Rudy’s signature move of evasion before hitting from obscure angles.

“Jump!” Forest ordered as Sandslash came back in at Challenger’s back.

Challenger leapt high and Sandslash tore through the space she’d been in only to miss completely. 

Then Challenger came down like a meteor, slamming into Sandslash and hammering it into the ground. 

The field buckled at the blow and I twitched as rocks began to fall off the edge to create mini stealth rocks.. Huh, Forrest had been busy.

Forrest and Rudy locked eyes and I felt like groaning.

“Focus Punch!” “Earthquake!” Forrest and Rudy shouted as one and both pokemon gave the orders everything they had unleashing a huge blast of power.

Garen and Gavin started to laugh uncontrollably as Forrest and Rudy had a moment of shocked realisation. 

“The arena!” Forrest shouted, moving to leap off only to spot Rudy sinking to his knees in exhaustion from the three matches he’d faced along with losing six pokemon finally claimed him.

He wasn’t going to get away.

“Big Brother!” Mahri screamed as she spotted the danger. 

Forrest turned and sprinted for Rudy, hurdling over ground that crumbled away beneath him. He leapt for Rudy and tackled him only for that to be enough to send them both off the edge and plummeting to the water. 

“Forrest!” Misty shouted, standing and sprinting to the edge. 

I leapt after her and just caught her before she threw herself over the edge. She whirled on me. “Let me go! I need to rescue him!” she screamed. 

I pointed behind me where Sabrina and Alakazam were glowing faintly. “Already got them all, trainers and pokemon all.”

Misty turned back in time to see everyone floating out of the destroyed arena towards us. 

She exhaled in relief and I held in a chuckle. Seems Forrest’s affection for her wasn't as  one sided as one would have thought.

I stepped forward and helped easy both trainers down to the ground. 

I made sure to look into Forrest’s eyes. “That was crazy stupid little brother, but I’m proud of you.” I winked. “Maybe next time use your psychic pokemon though?” I suggested and he blushed.

I stepped back and allowed Misty to throw herself at Forrest as she flapped her hands over him to check him over.

He looked giddy at the attention.

I turned to Rudy who was being glomped by Mahri. “Hey man, here, drink this,” I said, offering him a bottle of Chateau Romani Milk which he gulped down. 

“Oh that’s much better,” he said with a shudder. 

“I’d think so, maybe hold off on running more than two challenges back to back in future?” I suggested. 

He nodded and sighed. “I’ll have to run my challenges on the beach until I can get this fixed up,” he muttered. 

Garen and Gavin marched over and clapped Rudy on the shoulder. “Nice work wrecking the arena! It took us only a month to do that! You kept it intact for way longer kid!”

Rudy spluttered. “You expected me to do that?”

The twins shrugged. “Eh, it happens,” they muttered. They then nodded to Forrest. “Don’t you have something to say now Gym Leader?” they prompted.

Rudy coughed and straightened up. “Forrest? You have my thanks for coming to my aide, unnecessary as it was,” he muttered quietly. I directed a look at him and he coughed. 

“But regardless! You have proven more than strong enough to justify being awarded the Trovita Gym Badge! All of you congratulations on earning your spike Shell Badges!” he said as Mahri stepped away long enough to help him hand out the badges.

Ash and friends all grinned.

Garen and Gavin stepped back to me. “Hell of a little Brother you have there.”

“Yeah, he’s going to be great,” I replied out loud, earning another blush from Forrest.

The twins simply nodded. 

Forrest might not have had the technique to the same point as Ash and Misty, but he had the heart, that’s for sure.

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A.N. Thanks got to my patreons for your continued support!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!