Here, Have a Cookie a Pokemon Fanfiction

“Okay, I don’t care how cold it is, sand is way more comfortable than bleachers. If it wasn’t for the weather, Brawly’s arena choice would be fucking goated,” I said, looking out across the massive sandy arena with a smile.

Guess that practice match with Wally was a better idea than I thought.

May nodded stiffly before looking away again, fully garbed in a winter coat, gloves and scarf. We had well and truly left fall weather in the rearview mirror, as the temp finally dipped down below freezing.

I sighed and leaned backwards, propping myself up with my hands against the sand. “Look, I’m sorry that my thank you got a little passionate-”

“Under no circumstances, will you EVER apologize for kissing me like that again,” May ordered.

I quickly nodded my head up and down, my eyes wide. Forceful May was scary. Hot, but scary.

Granted, that all went out the window when her gaze lingered on my face for too long and her face went red. Again.

That thank you might have gotten a bit out of hand.

A massive shadow loomed over me, and I turned to see Wayne and Jasmine.

“We’re not late, are we?” Wayne asked.

“We’re still waiting on Brawly. Surfer boy’s running late.” I glared over at Wally. “Though I can’t really blame him for not wanting to drag himself out here this early in this cold.”

He gave me the finger from his spot on the beach. Said ‘arena’ was one big, poorly drawn white box that the ref was currently drawing out. A Kadabra was off to the side, tracing after the lines with his finger.

Kadabra wasn’t freaking me out. Good to know.

A few spectators giggled at our antics, but most seemed too cold to comment. Most of them were even more padded up than May and the rest of us.

I patted the spot next to me. “Don’t just stand there, take a seat before this place fills up even more.” The fact that Wally even drew this much of a crowd this early in the morning was kind of surprising, though.

Jasmine threw a blanket down next to me and the two of them sat on that.

Damn, that was a smart idea. Wish I thought of that.

“You better not have hijacked the center’s blankets,” May chastised, glaring at the ground cover with envious eyes.

“I snagged one while we were shopping yesterday.” Jasmine grinned smugly at May. “Nice scarf, by the way.

May’s face went blank as her face went red. “Thanks...”

“What, I just-”

I nudged Jasmine with my elbow.

She clicked her mouth shut and matched May in color.

“Y’all are weird. I- oh, Brawly’s here.” Wayne pointed across the beach.

Brawly looked a lot puffier than I was expecting. I was used to seeing pictures of the fighting type specialist showing off his abs in swimwear. He was on more than one cover in the surfing magazines Eve got in all the time.

Eve really needed to get a boyfriend.

This man had to be wearing at least three different coats right now, complete with mittens, a winter hat, and...

Were those leggings I saw underneath those sweats?

“Whoever picked this timeslot, in this weather, is a bastard.” Brawly glared across the beach at Wally.

Wally’s respirator releasing a breath of air as he sucked in a raspy breath was the only response he gave.

Brawly laughed. “Guess it goes with the look, I suppose. Still, uncool bro.” Brawly shifted his gaze to the Ref. “We ready to go?”

The ref cast a look over at Kadabra, who nodded, before turning back to Brawly. “We’re good to go, boss.”

“Rad.” Brawly took his spot on the field and pulled out a ball. “Hope you don’t mind, but you’re going to be a bit of a warm up. You’ve got four, so I wouldn’t mind you using them. I know four-on-four's a bit odd for a second badge, so I’ll leave it up to you if you wanna back out.” Brawly grinned. “I’ll even throw in an extra switch.”

Wally stared down at the sand in thought for a second, before looking at me. His gaze lingered for a moment before turning back to Brawly. “I’m knocking those four out, so I’m not sure about the warm up part. Four-on-four sounds great.”

“You tell him, Wally!” I shouted.

Emilie just groaned. “The battle hasn’t even started yet, and you’re already being embarrassing.”

“I like the confidence. Make sure it doesn’t turn into arrogance.” Brawly nodded at the ref and motioned for him to start.

The ref raised a pair of flags above his head, and the arena went silent. Sergei was floating around up top and already recording.

The ref remained quiet for a moment longer, before lifting his head up.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for joining us here today on this cold Sunday morning. We’ve got a hell of a bout for you today, so keep your eyes peeled for ringers. Our challenger hails to us today from Petalburg City, and his trainer card comes to us with quite the endorsement by Roxanne. Claiming his first badge with only a single casualty, give it up for the Green Knight. WALLY!” The ref, no, announcer shoutcasted Wally to a wave of claps and whistles.

“Where was this guy for our fights in Rustboro?” I asked May, doing my best to shout over the crowd.

May grinned as she joined in the applause. “What did you expect? This is the fighting type Gym.”

“Y’all are in for a treat. Brawly’s bouts are always a great watch,” Wayne said.

The announcer waited for the crowd to calm down before glancing at Brawly. “Normally I don’t do this, but considering he’s wearing enough coats that he can’t properly bend his arms-”

“Fuck you, it’s cold!” Brawly yelled.

“Give it up for our crybaby Gym Leader, Brawly!” The announcer brought his flags down as clapping mixed in with laughter.

“Why do I pay you, again?” Brawly asked.

“Professionalism.” He raised both of his flags again. “This will be a four-on-four fight. Each side will be allowed two switches, and there is no time limit. Are both trainers ready?” Wally nodded and Brawly gave a thumbs up as he lifted a poke ball into the air. “Then you may begin!” The ref threw his flags down and two bright lights pushed out from both sides of the beach.

Ogier stood stalwart, his gaze firm and ready as he balanced on the sandy ground beneath him. “Pine.”

Across from him stood a mon I hadn’t seen before.

“What-”

“It’s a Makuhita.” May said, smiling at the chance to go full Bulbapedia. “It’s a fairly common fighting type on the island, at least in Dewford Cave. They’re really good at dealing with variable climates and are skilled practitioners of sumo style. They also like surfing.” May glanced down nervously. “We’ll probably see quite a few when we try to deliver Steven’s letter.”

“Stealth Rock.” Wally gave the first command of the fight, and Ogier glowed white.

“Oh, great, you’re one of those trainers. Stop it with Fake Out.” Makuhita all but teleported across the field, kicking up a massive amount of sand as he moved, and threw a false punch that stopped just a few inches short of Ogier’s eyes. Ogier stopped glowing and flinched away from the fist before getting tagged by a follow up punch to his...gut?

What even was the biology of a Pineco? A question for May, probably.

“Now Fire Punch while you’re close.” Brawly wrapped his arms around his chest and shivered a few times. “Make it extra hot, this arena could use it.”

“Hita!” Makuhita jumped across the beach, his fist glowing red. A bit of heat pushed out from the arena, and I grinned, happy to feel a bit of heat for the first time today.

“String shot the top of the barrier to get out of the way and start laying Spikes,” Wally shouted.

The sticky white line shot upwards and latched onto the ceiling of the psychic barrier, before pulling him up. Tiny spiked balls launched outwards as he ascended.

“Bounce on landing and follow him. He can’t change his direction right now, so he’s a sitting duck,” Brawly ordered.

Makuhita landed in the sand with a flop, and his body seemed to shift his weight downwards as his feet slowly spread apart before jumping up, his flab pulling down as he rapidly gained altitude.

“Detach, lean back, and-”

Makuhita slammed his glowing fist into Ogier before Wally could even finish giving the order. Fire exploded outwards from Makuhita’s hand as the bagworm, now on fire, was launched into the beach with the force of a meteor. Sand and fire intermingled for a brief moment before pushing outward from the impact.

“Gotta be a bit quicker than that, Wally. You can’t just react to what I do, you’ve got to get ahead of me if you want to dodge effectively.” Brawly grinned as Makuhita landed with a soft thud.

“Ogier, keep laying Spikes. I want this field coated!” Wally shouted through the chaos with his hands around his mouth.

How were you even sure that Ogier was still-

Spikes exploded out from the dust cloud, cutting off my thought process.

Brawly grit his teeth. “Makuhita, take that thing out before it can make our life even more difficult. One more Fire Punch should seal the deal.”

Wally smirked. “Now Kamikaze.”

“Protect.” I noticed that Brawly had yet to raise his voice or shout a command. His posture was laid back, and I wondered if he was even taking Wally seriously.

Wally was going for his second badge, of course he’s not taking this seriously. Think Lea.

Legends above, I actually miss Emilie making fun of me in my own head. I turned and noticed that Emilie was watching the battle intently. Guess I’d have to make fun of my own commentary.

...I’m really not right in the head.

Ogier launched a set of Stealth Rocks instead of blowing up, and I grinned at the fake out. “See, I’m not the only one that gets hit by that shit!”

Emilie smiled condescendingly at me. “Honey, compare our field with this one.” Emilie lifted her hand up. “Notice the spike discrepancy?”

“Shut up.” I muttered.

May giggled as Jasmine shushed us.

Makuhita’s barrier faded, and he stood, frozen in place as he hunched forward to take a breath.

Wally grinned, before seizing the moment. “String shot towards him and blow up for real this time. Let’s start this match off right!”

“Pine!” Ogier complied, leaning forward and jetting across the beach. “Pineco!”

Emilie groaned.

“What?” I asked.

“Do-” Brawly was cut off by Ogier going supernova.

The explosion wasn’t even remotely close to as destructive as Roxanne’s Onix, but it was just as deafening. I pressed both hands over my ears and groaned as sand was once again kicked up into the air. The Makuhita was sent backwards, the front of his body lightly charred. I could smell the acrid scent of charred fat as he slammed into the psychic barrier with a loud crack.

Neither Pokémon moved, and the ref raised both of his flags.

“In an incredible display of tactics and strategy, our noble young knight triumphs over our frigid Gym Leader while setting the field. A fantastic display at this level,” The announcer called with a grin.

“For all that is holy, call the match and hurry up, I’m freezing out here,” Brawly yelled.

“This is, of course, a double knock out.” The announcer glared at his boss before pointing a flag at Wally. “Because the final move used was a kamikaze attack, our noble Green Knight must send out his next Pokémon first.”

That was good to know for the future.

“The crazy thing said Banzai on his way to blow up.” Emilie scrunched her nose up as Wally recalled Ogier. “I will never understand the Pineco line, only Pokémon I’ve ever met that actively enjoys blowing themselves to kingdom come.”

“Still, I think that went about as well as it could’ve gone,” I said. “This arena really isn’t doing the bug many favors, huh.?”

“He’ll be a lot more mobile once he evolves. That’s going to take a while though.” May smiled. “The fake out explosion is funny.”

“It’s annoying!” I groaned.

“I’m kind of mad I didn’t get to watch y’all’s match. Wally seems like a fun guy to fight against.” Wayne grinned out at the field hungrily. “I wonder-”

“Down boy.” Jasmine smacked Wayne in the chest.

A light filled the arena and a pair of wings spread out in open air as Nimue took flight.

I leaned forward. Nimue was the only one I hadn’t seen fight yet.

Brawly took a second to look at the field and think.

“Know what, it’s been a bit since you’ve gotten to have some fun. Combusken, brace yourself.”

May hyper focused on the battle the second those words left Brawly’s lips. Spikes and rocks came to life as soon as fire fowl landed in the sand. Just as they had done in my battle against Wally, the very arena came to life the second he fully formed. Rocks lifted up from the ground before surging inward, and a hail of spikes raced along the ground towards their new target. Combusken winced as it brought its arms up to shield itself, and the attacks drew an audible cluck of pain as they converged.

“Begin,” The ref shouted.

“Defog/Whirlwind.” Brawly and Wally both started the command before the ref could even finish starting the match.

A single wave of air pushed itself out from Combusken as Nimue started beating her wings, and all of the spikes and stones that littered the arena were slowly pushed out of bounds. The light that emanated from them faded as the winds started to pick up. Sand very quickly started to get lifted into the air, and the arena was engulfed in a raging sandstorm that belted into Combusken. He lifted his hands in front of his face, but before he could be hurt more, a single red line shot from Combusken back towards Brawly. I looked on as the fire chicken was recalled without anyone moving to do so.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“Whirlwind, when used on a captured Pokémon, forces the Pokémon back to its poke ball.” May explained. “It’s forced, so it doesn’t count as a switch, but it’s a nasty combo with Spikes and Stealth Rock.”

I leaned back. “Okay, so whoever Brawly sends out is just going to get pelted again? That’s a nasty bit of strat-” The words died on my throat as I realized something. “Oh my god, Nimue and Ogier complement each other, that is so cute!”

“Defog cleared the hazards.” May explained. I grinned.

“Just as useful as a pokedex and infinitely prettier, I’m so happy I'm dating a nerd.” I started laughing at the odd face my girlfriend was making. The glare was muted by the blush, and I couldn’t help but lean forward and pat her on the head. “It was a compliment, honey.” I smiled. “A pet name, even.”

“No.” May deadpanned.

I pouted.

“Flirt later, Brawly’s sending out his Pokémon,” Jasmine said, before offering-

“Where did you get pocky from?” I asked.

“Bought it yesterday, you two need to plan better for watching your boy kick ass,” Wayne said.

“Air Cutter, Nimue! Keep your distance.” Wally ordered as Combusken reformed on the stage.

Ah, that’s why Wally wanted to borrow Apollo for a bit. Apollo taught a lot of Pokémon a lot of cool stuff the last few days, I’d have to find make him some personalized cookies at some point as thanks.

...Maybe I could beg Nurse Joy to let me back into the kitchen if I promised not to invite my insane asylum teammates.

“Dodge with Flame Charge and start building speed. Keep the fire going, too,” Brawly countered.

Various wind sickles were launched at the area Combusken used to be as he charged directly towards the ground under Nimue. The sand beneath him started to glass, and my eyes widened as Combusken found solid footing on ground that up to that point, was a shifting, coarse, mess. Combusken jumped into the air and instantly closed the distance between himself and Nimue.

“Fire Uppercut.” Brawly smiled.

Nimue barely beat its wings fast enough to move back and avoid the blazing fist, and a pulse of heat radiated out through the clearing.

A red line pulled Nimue back into her poke ball as Combusken landed.

“The challenger has wisely elected to use one of his two switches. Will it be enough to deal with the fiery menace?” The announcer leaned forward a bit as he lifted a flag out towards Wally.

“I’m impressed with your tactics, bro,” Brawly said. “I almost let you keep the hazards, but I wanted to see how you adapted. Hope you weren’t locked in to one strategy.”

“You’re a lot more amicable than Roxanne,” Wally said.

“Nah, she’s just like that with groms. Most people are so nervous that they can’t even give commands for their first gym battle, so she riles em up to get them stoked for their fight.” Brawly laughed. “I’m terrible at it. Makes me happy the only people that fight me first are the locals. They know me well enough to know how chill fights can be.”

“Fair enough. Gwen, you’re up.” Azumarill formed and looked across the field. The malevolent look she sent the Combusken sent a shiver down my spine.

“I’m so happy I’m half psychic. That,” Emilie waved her hand out towards Gwen. “Terrifies me.”

“She wasn’t... that bad. She was a bit haughty in the cooking class, but-”

“She likes us.” Emilie cut me off. “She sees us as friends.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded quickly.

Brawly started to move towards his belt.

“Aqua Jet.” Wally ordered.

Water pushed out from beneath Gwen, and a thin viscous membrane of liquid formed around her so fast it almost looked instantaneous. She pushed off from the sand and all but disappeared in a blue haze before slamming into the Combusken. My ears popped at the force of the impact, and water exploded forward on contact.

The aquatic assault sent the fire fowl backwards, his body ragdolling as he rolled through the sand. His eyes were white, and his beak was stuck open in a rictus of agony as he slammed into the barrier.

The damn thing cracked on impact.

It didn’t get back up and I stared at the arena with muted horror as my mouth stubbornly refused to work or close.

“C-combusken is unable to battle.” For the first time in the fight, the announcer was struck speechless. “Will the gym leader, ho, I need a minute. Legends above, what do you feed that thing?”

Wally leaned back from the ref with wide eyes. “Uhh, well, May’s dex recommended a protein heavy diet, and Lea’s custom cookies are actually really good about following nutritional guidelines for Pokémon, so-”

“Stop talking,” The announcer ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Wally muttered nervously.

Brawly chuckled nervously, his face pale as he slowly lifted up Combusken’s ball. “Well, that thing’s terrifying.” For the first time in the fight, Brawly looked conflicted. “Breloom, you’re up.” A bipedal mushroom man formed opposite from Azumarill.

“That’s what Shroomish evolves into, right?” I asked. May nodded. “That looks badass as hell, Martin’s going to have a hell of a Pokémon if it ever evolves.”

“They’re really versatile, too. Imagine all the annoying grass type tricks Joern has and combine them with Suzy’s agility and power.” I shivered. This was going to be rough.

Brawly looked out to Breloom with a an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry to wake you, Robbie, but this guy’s a lot tougher than he looks.”

The Breloom, now named Robbie, nodded and his half lidded gaze sharpened on Azumaril.

“How worried do you think Wally should be that Brawly named this mon?” Emilie asked.

“Very,” May and I replied, our eyes wide.

“Play Rough.” Wally shouted. I was a bit surprised he didn’t use his second switch here. It’s not like Brawly had a wealth of options available to him right now, he only had a single mon left, and Nimue would be a much better choice for this.

“Spore,” Brawly commanded.

Robbie shook his head, and yellow toxins exploded outwards. Honestly, Gwen approaching didn’t really matter much, as the entire field got doused. Wally’s strongest physical attacker fell asleep instantly, her body falling forward as she passed out and landed, face first, into the sand.

“Now Bullet Seed,” Brawly ordered.

“Gwen now is not the best time to be taking a nap,” Wally shouted.

Gwen’s only response was a cute, soft snore. Switch out, you idiot.

Robbie leaned back and fired, the seeds crossing the field in an instant. The attack pelted into Gwen’s side, immediately waking it up as it screamed in agony. An Aqua Jet formed underneath her, and she used moved away from the rapid fire grass move.

Robbie tracked her, through the beach as she moved, as easily as if she was standing still.

“Return.” Wally shouted.

You should have done that from the start. I once again sagged when I realized that Emilie couldn’t hear me.

“The challenger has used his final switch.” The ref shouted.

“You’re one to talk about terrifying Pokémon,” Wally shouted at Brawly.

“Robbie’s definitely on the upper end of what’s acceptable for this level. I needed something that could ride whatever swells your Pokémon could throw my way,” Brawly said.

Wally nodded.“Well, here’s a familiar swell. Nimue, welcome back to the field.”

Okay, good. He hadn’t revealed Gawain yet.

“Yeah, we’re not doing that. Robbie, return.” A single red line pulled the Breloom back as Brawly looked out at the flying bug type.

Before the ref could even announce the shift. Brawly had another ball in hand. “Hariyama, we got some work to do.”

My mouth once again dropped open as the hulking mass slammed into the sand. I was fairly confident that if this was a normal field, that would have caused an earthquake.

“Hariyama is the evolved form of Makuhita, they-”

“I kind of figured that one out already.” I cut May off dazedly.

“Are we done playing musical Pokémon?” the announcer asked, glaring at both participants.

Both Wally and Brawly chuckled nervously.

“In that case, this harrowing battle between the steadfast Hariyama and the speedy Masquerain can begin!”

“Keep your distance, Nimue. He’s big and slow. Air cutter him until he goes down.”

Nimue quickly put some distance between herself and the hulking sumo wrestler. Brawly didn’t react. A single wind sickle cut through the air with a whistle before slamming into the hulking fighting type.

Hariyama lifted his hand up to his mouth and yawned.

“I... feel like there’s a bit of power discrepancy here,” I said.

May and Emilie nodded slowly.

“Well, nice to see I don’t have much to worry about. Let’s take this as our chance to Bulk Up.” Brawly grinned out at the field at Wally. “Thanks for the chance to set up.”

Wally cursed. “Just rapid fire Air Cutter. They have to be doing something, I don’t care how much Hariyama is pretending they aren’t.”

Don’t get frustrated, Wally. You’re still up a full mon.

Nimue’s attacks sailed through the air and cut into the flexing fighting type to little effect as he slowly started to increase in size.

This looked bad.

“Now, let’s live up to this gym’s namesake. Surf!”

My eyes widened as Hariyama threw out both of his arms and a wall of water erupted on either side of him, lifting him up into the air. The massive fighting type threw one hand behind him and the other forward as he took the standard pose for cutting through swells with practiced ease, and the entire body of water lurched forward across the arena.

“Dodge,” Wally said weakly.

How the fuck were you supposed to dodge something like that! It covered the whole damn field. Nimue was washed away into drip and was slammed into ground as the whole thing cascaded down into the barrier.

Brawly grinned. “Now, end it with Ice Punch.”

“Nimue!” Wally shouted.

Nimue blearily pulled itself up from the sand before taking in the lumbering form rushing towards her faster than anything that size had a right to move. She desperately beat her wings but rather than take off, she merely shook off the water. Hariyama slammed his frozen fist into Nimue’s abdomen, and she passed out before she even hit the ground.

“A chilling end to a one sided beatdown. Does the challenger have anything that can stand up to the might of our Gym Leader’s ace?” The announcer called out as Wally returned his downed moth Pokémon.

“That... was terrifying,” May said.

I nodded. “Wasn’t expecting surf. At all.”

“I wasn’t expecting Rock Slide.” Emilie said.

I winced as I remembered the match against Roxanne’s Nosepass. “This is the ace of Brawly’s two badge team.” I spoke. “It’s going to have tricks for everything, more than likely.”

“Adaptability is the name of the game, kid.” Brawly explained. “What are you going to do in the face of pure power?”

Wally didn’t respond as he looked down at his remaining poke balls.

“Come on, Wally. Don’t rise to the bait. Just send out Gawain,” I muttered.

“Wouldn’t it be better to send out Gwen?” Emilie asked.

“Brawly would just switch. I don’t think Gwen can beat that Breloom,” I replied.

“So, Gwen’s a liability now.” Wayne winced. “This team’s no joke.”

“Yeah, wonder how much fun the three badge team is going to be,” I said, glancing at the gym leader nervously.

“Meh, Gawain’s got this.” Emilie said, her voice the pitch of unconcerned indifference. “My protege would never shame me by losing to the fighting type gym of all things.”

“You haven’t taught him anything yet.” I glared at my starter as the words left my mouth.

Emilie winced. “Right, uh... I’ll get right on that?”

My glare lasered in on her. “You better.”

“Challenger?” The ref asked.

“I’m going, this choice is hard.” Wally replied. “Gawain, let’s have some fun.”

My muscles relaxed as I sagged further down into the sand. ‘At least now he’ll have a backup if things go bad.’ No reply. Damn it all, I needed to stop doing that.

Brawly groaned as Gawain formed opposite of his Hariyama. “Two Fairy types? You are setting yourself up for a headache and a half, bro.”

“I already have a headache and a half, trust me,” Wally complained.

Gawain turned around and glared at Wally. “Kirlia.”

I thought back to the baking lesson yesterday and wondered how many arguments he had to defuse in a day. Probably too many.

“He-”

“I got the gist, Emilie.” I cut her off with a chuckle.

“And the challengers final Pokémon is an imposing Kirlia. I hope you’re ready for blowout folks, because this is going to be a hell of a ride. Kirlia Vs Hariyama, begin!” The announcer threw his flags down.

“Feint Attack,” Brawly ordered.

I cursed under my breath. Of course this thing knew dark type attacks. That made both mine and Wally’s life harder.

A dark aura overtook Hariyama and he rushed towards Gawain faster than a Pokémon that size had any right too.

Gawain disappeared from the spot where he was standing, and Wally’s eyes glowed a faint purple as his head was pulled to where Gawain reformed. Sand started to rise up from the ground, a faint blue glow encompassing it as it rose up into the air and surrounded Gawain.

“And I will have you know that I did show him at least one trick,” Emilie complained. “He can maintain a psychic dialogue with a human and use his abilities at the same time. I taught him that when you were giving May a hick-”

“Emilie!” May’s entire face was bright red as she glared at the psychic type on my shoulder.

Wayne just started laughing as Jasmine gave me an appraising look. My own face heated up and I sighed before bumping Emilie in the head.

“I’ll show you how to cover that up with makeup later, okay?” Jasmine asked with a smile.

May just nodded, looking completely mortified by the conversation.

A giant wall of water rose up from the ground and drew our attention back to the fight. Apparently, the command for Surf had been given while we were arguing. Gawain threw his hands forward, and a wave of sand pushed forward into the wall of water. The cascade collapsed downward, pulling the sumo wrestler down into the ground with a resounding thud.

Brawly winced. “Wipeout, that’s no good. Get back up and keep using faint attack. He’s using Confusion to manipulate the sand, so one good hit with a dark type attack should break it.”

Hariyama leaned back and jumped up to his feet, and a dark aura once again engulfed him.

Gawain once again lifted his hands into the air, and the water from the surf came to life. A ball formed around him and he darted out of the way of the oncoming force of malevolence.

“Copycat!” Emilie shouted.

Gawain actually took the time to wave at Emilie before floating backwards, casually avoiding the Hariyama’s continued charges.

She shook in revulsion. “This is what I get for being nice to the nerd.”

“Meh, take it as a compliment. You’re awesome enough that Gawain felt the need to copy your homework,” I said.

Emilie hesitantly nodded.

Gawain proceeded to continue copying Emilie’s homework as he threw up mini sand walls to slow down and hurt the Hariyama as he rushed forwards. Brawly sighed and lifted his poke ball into the air.

“Hariyama, return.” A single red line pulled Hariyama back. “Robbie, you’re up again.” The Breloom shook a bit as it formed and stared apprehensively across the field. I’m sure the smile on Gawain’s face looked terrifying from his perspective, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Gawain was just happy to have challenging foes.

“The exact phrase going through his head right now is ‘A worthy challenge for my knightly valor.’” Emilie said.

A cold feeling shot up through my spine as I wondered if she had somehow found a way inside my head.

“Just because I can’t cheat anymore doesn’t mean I can’t guess. You’re like an open book sometimes, calm down.” Emilie muttered before looking away.

I both blushed and looked away at the same time.

I needed to get over this. I know Emilie said it would be hard, that it’d take a lot of work to push through this, but I needed to. I refused to let this dictate how I interacted with her.

“Kirlia Vs Breloom. Begin!”

“Spore.” Brawly ordered immediately. Bit predictable, and very avoidable, all Gawain had to do would be to redirect the toxins.

Gawain breathed deeply and promptly passed out. The arena went silent as Brawly stared across the field.

“Really wasn’t expecting it to be that easy. Breloom, Bullet Seed.” No response. “Breloom?” A snore echoed out across the field, as both fighters were out cold

“Okay, am I missing something?” I asked.

Emilie smiled. “The Ralts line has two abilities. Mine, which is Trace, let’s me copy the abilities of another Pokémon on the field.” Emilie waved her hand out towards Gawain. “Gawain got the other one. Synchronize, which lets him share his physical condition with his opponent.”

“So, inducing sleep...”

“Makes both Pokémon pass out.” May finished.

“So... what? Whoever wakes up first just wins? I know Wally likes to gamble, but-”

As if hearing me from the field, Gawain immediately opened his eyes and teleported across the field. He held both of his hands together and a single, rainbow-colored orb began to form between them. He pushed forward, and the orb transformed into a beam that distorted reality around it. Light reflected in ways that made no sense, wind curved around it, and despite the attack cleanly going through Robbie, no outside wound was made. Robbie’s eyes opened as soon as the attack made contact, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. As the light faded, Robbie stood, unmoving for a single, tense moment. He promptly fell forward and collapsed into the sand.

“Breloom is unable to battle.” The ref announced.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked, awe and fear both creeping into my voice as I watched Robbie get pulled back into his poke ball.

“Psybeam,” May said. “A concentrated, mental assault, delivered at point blank range, to a fighting type.”

“I... didn’t think he had gotten that down, yet,” Emilie said.

I turned my head up to Emilie. “Can you do that?”

“Maybe?” she answered hesitantly. “My mom showed me how, but I haven’t tried in a hot minute. I didn’t have the raw power to make the attack work. You’re basically taking a battering ram to your opponent’s pain receptors and layering that with a concentrated telepathic shove.” Emilie turned her gaze towards the ground and remained quiet. “I... think I could probably learn to do it now. Honestly, there is a lot that I really need to try and see if I can do. I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.”

“I mean, you do have an awesome trainer,” I bragged.

Emilie rolled her eyes. “Humble, too.”

“Would you both shut up,” Jasmine hissed as Brawly grudgingly lifted up his final poke ball and sent Hariyama back out.

“And so, our leader fights to the bitter end against not one, but two fae. Will Hariyama stand triumphant in the face of these indescribable odds?” The announcer lowered his flags on what felt like a hopeless cause. “Begin.”

“God, you didn’t even shout that one, this really is looking bleak. Fake Out to get in close,” Brawly shouted.

“Ga-”

Hariyama’s Fake Out was even faster than Makuhita’s. How the fuck did that make sense, this thing was three times its size.

Both hands rushed inwards, stopping just shy of slamming into the sides of Gawain’s body as he flinched out of the way, tripping backwards as he did so. Hariyama proceeded to lean forward and wrap his hand around the tiny psychic type.

“Now, while you’ve got a hold of it, Faint Attack. Do not let him teleport away from this onslaught.” Brawly grinned at the potential slug fest as a dark aura surrounded his last Pokémon.

Hariyama slammed his whole body down onto the stunned Gawain, the dark aura locking him in place.

“Teleport the second that attack fades. He can’t keep it up forever!” Wally shouted, his voice panicked as the fighting type dragged Gawain through the sand.

“We don’t have too, we just have to keep it up long enough. Slam him into the barrier, Hariyama.”

“Hari-” The fighting type brought the small fairy type up with a grunt, his hands bringing it back as he grinned. “YAMA!” The resulting slam smashed through the barrier, throwing the psychic type across the beach to the sound of breaking glass as a visible hole opened up in the wall of psychic energy.

“Dammit, Brawly, you already know you aren’t supposed to use dark moves on the barrier,” the ref complained.

“I’m sorry, how the hell else am I supposed to win against that thing, just call the match and we can fix it before the next one-”

Brawly’s complaining died the second Gawain teleported back into the arena. His arms hung limply down to his side as he hunched forward and took a deep, shuddering breath. A massive bruise started to form from where his back impacted the barrier, and sharp, labored breathing highlighted the psychic type’s pain as he slowly stood to his full height. His eyes were wide, and for a single moment, the fear I had felt when I first saw him yesterday bubbled up once more.

“Kirlia.” The second that single word was uttered, the entire arena came to life.

“My turn,” Emilie muttered.

The tendrils of sand instantly converged on the dazed Hariyama, before lifting it into the air.

“Faint-”

Gawain slammed the Hariyama into the barrier, and it bulged under its weight as several spectators quickly moved out of the way. Hariyama groaned as the hulking body was dragged along the wall before stopping suddenly as the fighting type rammed, face first, into a wall of sand.

The fact that the sand didn’t immediately explode outwards said a lot about how tightly Gawain packed that together. Hariyama glowed black, and Gawain’s control finally broke as he brute forced his way through Gawain’s attacks.

“Yama...” Hariyama glared at the vengeful psychic type with labored breathing, a black eye, and a long gash running down his chest. “Hariyama.”

“Kirlia.” Gawain responded.

Both pokemon started to chuckle.

“Hariyama said he’s completely spent,” Emilie translated. “The idiot replied with I can’t even lift my arms.”

“How are they both still conscious?” Jasmine asked.

“Pride.” Wayne and I answered at the exact same time. I turned and grinned at the big guy, who returned it in kind.

Gawain’s eyes glowed blue once more, and a significantly smaller amount of sand rose up from the ground. Hariyama bowed his head in challenge before lifting one leg into the air. He slammed it down into the sand in challenge.

“YAMA!” Hariyama let loose a warcry as he charged, headfirst, through Gawain’s meager assault. The sand wrapped around the hulking fighting type, before trending downwards. The Hariyama fell forward as sand wrapped itself around his feet, tripping him up. Sand exploded forward as the massive Pokémon slammed into the beach.

The last bits of sand Gawain had control of moved his arms in front of him, and a familiar rainbow colored orb started to form between his hands as the Hariyama stopped, just in front of the psychic type. Gawain brought his hands down and fired.

Hariyama blacked out before the attack could even finish, and Gawain lurched forward before collapsing into the sand below him.

“Both Pokémon are unable to battle.” The announcer called out with a grin before lifting his flag towards Wally. “Since the challenger still has a Pokémon, it is my pleasure to announce to you, that Wally, The Green Knight has triumphed on this day, and claimed his second badge.”