Hard Enough

Chapter 225: Ace low

I ignored the crowd that roared their approval at my pokemon taking to the field, just as Giselle seemed to be ignoring the cheer squad. They’d formed up around Joe, as while he’d been thrown off by Giselle laughing at him, he’d decided to commit himself to the act.

It was probably the best move he could make after having her burst out laughing like she had. Other people might have run but he’d once more proved that there was more to him.

That... or he was just way, way too smitten with this girl.

I had my version of events and I was sticking with it.

“Goooo Brock!” cheered another section of the stands which did draw my eye. On it stood a few of my siblings bar Salvadore, who had moved over to talk with a few of the still-seated Institute students.

Suzie, Cindy, Tommy, and Billy were all happily waving little flags with the Pewter Gym symbol on them which warmed my heart.

Next to them, Yolanda, Greta, and Crystal were all standing with their arms crossed and stoic expressions. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at them before turning away from their trolling.

They’d done that little intro of theirs to tease me, I had no doubt.

If it wasn’t so adorable and I was a more tyrannical Gym Leader, I’d have them run laps for that sort of cheek.

Instead of doing that I’d just make them fight a gauntlet of trainers tomorrow with only two pokemon. It was time they tried having the shoe on the other foot and working on their endurance like A.J. was doing.

Still, that wasn’t to be my focus in the here and now. I looked up and locked eyes with Giselle.

She took a step back before straightening up her chin lifting in defiance. I gave her a small nod of respect as A.J. acting as today’s referee began to drop the flags.

“Begin!” he called.

As was customary, I allowed the Challenger the first move.

“Nasty Plot!” called Giselle and I held in a whistle. If her pokemon had learned that naturally, then that meant her Persian was very well trained. I also approved of a buff move being her first choice.

She was well-read to go for boosting special attacks in this scenario as well with Rock pokemon possessing a naturally strong defense.

Still, if she wasn’t going to come to me, I’d have to force her hand. “Stone Edge,” I said.

Sudowoodo swept his branch-like limb low into the ground and carved a deceptively shallow cut into the ground only to suddenly hurl a huge boulder up into Persian.

The cat-like pokemon blanched at the oncoming rock and Giselle twitched in surprise.

“Protect!” she cried out and I smirked, glad that I’d gotten that move out of her now.

“Close!” I said and Sudowoodo dashed across the intervening space, his thin limbs pumping in an exaggerated manner that made him look all too comical.

What wouldn’t be comical would be if he got within close range of Persian, a normal type.

Giselle proved to be well aware of this threat as she had her pokemon get out of there with a hurried substitute. I once more held in the whistle I wanted to release. Another good move and one that was impressive for its utility.

A facsimile of Persian appeared as a blur took shape behind it only to vanish in a burst of speed a moment later. It vanished so quickly I couldn’t track it. I still tried though, and I gained a general idea of the direction that Persian had moved in.

“Abort! Shift soft right!” I called. Sudowoodo, as I’d taught him and other stronger pokemon to do, veered right. Soft right was a call to move roughly thirty degrees to the side. A ‘hard right’ would get them to charge sixty degrees and a ‘juke right’ would see them turn a full ninety degrees.

Sudowoodo careened on, dropping the mocking run and instead spreading his arms wide, his smile turning sinister.

When nothing eventuated I could only click my tongue in disappointment. We’d missed our chance and now we were left with a mere illusion. One that cost Persian a portion of its health, or in this case energy, but still merely an illusion.

“Low Kick into a Sandstorm,” I said annoyed at having to do this. Sudowoodo didn’t work great in situations where he couldn’t close with his foe and playing a game of chase in a sandstorm wasn’t my ideal way of winning.

Still, it was a way to win, so I couldn’t avoid it.

Sudowoodo dropped to his hands and spun, kicking out like a twiggy break dancer causing dirt and sand to be kicked up and a moment later a howl overtook the arena as Sandstorm came into effect. I leaned forward, ignoring the harsh sting of sand across my face.

My attention darted this way and that, tracking for any sign of movement.

When nothing was revealed I gained a sneaking suspicion. “Hammer Arm into the ground!” I ordered and Sudowoodo didn’t question me, he threw his fist into the ground.

The earth split, sending chunks flying up and a rumble to buckle outwards.

Persian shot out of the earth with a hiss having gotten close but not close enough. If I could have seen Giselle I would have given her another nod.

That had been a good plan, she’d sequenced her moves into each other well. It seemed the title of Ace of the Institute wasn't a hollow brag on her part.

“Stone Edge!” I ordered once more, seeking to pressure her.

“M-match it with Power Gem!” ordered Giselle with a hitch. Still, she’d surprised me as she didn’t try to evade by recalling her pokemon.

She’d been so hesitant to take even a smidgeon of environmental damage against Greta and Yolanda. It seemed that she’d adjusted after Yolanda called her out on her habit.

Sadly it might have created a trap situation for her as she tried to avoid dodging the environmental damage. She might have been better off sticking to swapping out her pokemon.

Ah well, it wouldn’t be the first time a trainer has been put off by a stray comment I or one of my trainers had said.

I’d seen enough about that. It was time to test her in other ways while progressing this match.

“Lazy toss into a Hammer Arm,” I said, giving another conditional order that had Sudowoodo smirking. He reached into the ground and grasped up another boulder making it as if he was about to use Stone Edge.

Instead, he ripped up a much larger rock and tossed it up into the air, but he did so with a slowness that made it easy for him to leap up a moment later. Both rock and rock pokemon hung in the air for a second, letting Giselle and her Persian see what was coming.

Then Sudowoodo lashed out and a scattershot of rock fired out.

“Power Gem again!” Giselle said as she tried to intercept most of the oncoming attack.

Sadly for her, the rocks didn’t come at her in a straight line but instead arced resulting in a wave of rocks crashing down on Persian and eliciting a yowl of pain.

Sudowoodo landed close and once more without being prompted he charged with his arms pumping as he chanted “Su-su-su!” like he was trying to perform a world record sprint.

“P-protect!” shouted Giselle as she was once more caught out.

I leaned forward with anticipation as the dome formed up.

Would it fail?

Sudowoodo cocked back a fist and threw a powerful punch right into it only for the Protect to release a crackling noise.

I clicked my tongue as it held and Sudowoodo made a show of pulling his limb back and rolling his shoulder while glaring at the obviously fatigued Persian.

We had them on the ropes. I had a potential solution for another Substitute if she tried it, not that I thought she would with the cost being too high, but now she needed to find something else.

Another way to claw victory or some result from this exchange.

While this played out the Sandstorm continued around her pokemon, threatening a touch more damage.

Giselle’s eyes darted around and she swallowed. “Persian drop the Protect and go on the attack with Metal Claw!” she ordered.

Her pokemon crouched down and then threw itself into a leap just as the Protect dropped. This might have caught another pokemon by surprise, but Sudowoodo was a pokemon that sparred constantly with some of my fastest pokemon in close-range brawls. A leap that was telegraphed? All too easy to put down.

Sudowoodo bowed like a willow branch, but unlike that flimsy tree, Sudowoodo did it to leverage his frame to multiply the force of the Hammer Arm that swung up and clocked Persian in the mouth.

Persian went soaring out of the arena and rolled a few times.

Impressively it tried to get up once before falling on its side, defeated.

A.J. shot his flag up into the air. “Persian is unable to battle!” he announced.

I nodded. “He’s well trained,” I said.

Giselle merely nodded as she returned her pokemon. Her hands hovered about, assessing the field.

She palmed her next choice and released it to reveal her Cubone. “Cubone! Use Earthquake!”

“Leap!” I shouted as Cubone adopted a two-handed grasp on his bone, raising it up before slamming it down into the ground to cause a quake to run the course of the field.

I felt the podium buck underneath me but a simple flex with my knees had me riding it out well enough.

You couldn’t train with Rock-ground pokemon almost every day and not learn how to handle an earthquake or two.

Sudowoodo soared through the air like a javelin.

Giselle snapped her hand up. “Bonemerang!” she said and Cubone spun, swinging his bone up and around before unleashing it. It spun end over end at Sudowoodo and I clicked my tongue.

Clever girl.

“Bat it away with Wood Hammer!” I called, causing a smirk to break out over my features as Giselle gasped.

Dust filled the battlefield only to be extracted quickly.

It revealed a Graveler that was just poking out of the ground. It shook itself off, revealing that it had sturdy, Giselle straightened up. “Rock throw!” she shouted and Graveler got off a close range barrage that slammed into Quirina.

It merely annoyed him as a moment later my pokemon lifted Graveler out of the ground with a telekinetic grip using Psychic. Then he slammed Gravler back into the ground, ending Graveler’s momentary resistance.

Giselle’s shoulders dropped minutely but her clenched jaw remained. She looked up with me defiantly as she didn’t hesitate to pull out her second to last pokemon to reveal it to be a Smeargle of all things.

I blinked, having not expected that.

That was a hell of a twist for her.

“Water Gun!” She called, taking advantage of my surprise.

I waved a hand. “Solar Beam,” I said, not at all bothered by the oncoming bullets of water as Quirina countered with a powerful blast of grass-type energy that tore through them and then slammed into the unprepared Smeargle.

“Recover! Now!” Giselle called before any dust had settled and I had to frown. That had come quickly.

She must not have been as confident in her pokemon if she chose to do that so quickly. Perhaps it wasn’t up to the level of her other pokemon? She didn’t have faith in it at any case.

“Hammer it with Earthquake!” I called, causing Quirina to once more plummet.

“Aerial Ace up high!” Giselle called before my pokemon could hit and from the dust, a flash of light emerged as Smeargle vanished from the ground to appear high in the air.

It hung there for all of a moment with its arms spread wide like it was expecting to hover only to begin falling.

“Stomping Tantrum!” Giselle called as her pokemon descended onto mine.

If she thought this was going to play the same way as it had earlier, she was fooling herself and forgetting what Quirina could do.

“Psychic,” I said.

Smeargle lurched to a stop as Quirina directed his mental might against his foe, right before hurling him into the ground.

“Rest!” called Giselle desperately.

“Solar Beam!” I called quickly, my eyes darting to the fluttering orb of fire that was Morning Sun that was sputtering even now. Quirina got off a final, powerful Solar Beam that nailed the still recovering Smeargle, knocking it out of the field and out of the match.

Giselle shut her eyes and sighed before returning it as around us people began to realise the writing that was on the wall.

Giselle had a single pokemon left to my three.

She met my gaze and sent out her final pokemon.

“Furr-et!” called her final pokemon as the little Furret was revealed.

I hummed and shot her a look. She’d left this for last? Interesting.

“Fling!” called Giselle as she once more showed that she wasn’t without fangs. Furret grabbed a nearby rock and with a full body flick, sent it hurtling into Quirina, who for the first time reacted with a cry of pain.

Giselle perked up but I was quick to point my hand at her pokemon. “Stone Edge!” I called unleashing a powerful wave of rock that saw Furret battered and beaten.

When it was done it struggled to rise only to collapse leaving Giselle out of pokemon and shaking slightly.

I rubbed my chin in thought. Right... I’d just beaten the Ace.

She looked like she was one stiff breeze from being knocked over and joining the other kids still in the medical bay...

So, how did I want to play this?

Giselle shook. This... this was the tremors that came in before a potential white out.

She’d read about this... but she’d never had to endure this.

She swallowed and stared at her quaking hand. She found she didn’t much like it.

There was a hollowness within her that she knew in some unknowable way, represented the lack of energy in her pokemon to fight for her any more.

Giselle felt her breath hitch as the podiums slowly lowered. Desperately she grasped the rail so that she wouldn’t fall and shame herself further.

She kept her eyes down and pushed all noises out of her mind as she focused on one thing.

She’d lost.

She, the Ace and pride of the Pewter Technical Institute.

She giggled deliriously and tried to pinch herself. This had to be a bad dream, right?

A shadow fell over her and without looking she knew Brock, the Gym Leader had reached her.

She kept looking down, not able to meet his gaze.

“Hey, you did great out there,” he said kindly.

His mere voice caused a reaction in her, Giselle found her head rising like it was being lifted on preset railings until she found herself looking up into Brock’s kind face. He met her gaze with warm eyes.

“You have a lot of potential as a trainer. You do have some rough spots to work on, but we can talk about that later when you—”

Giselle found herself unable to hear what he was saying, as instead of words she found herself staring at his smile. Damn, that was a nice smile.

Her eyes tracked down as she took in his body. Oh, hmmm yes, this was a much nicer view than what they had in the Institute.

She giggled and a worried expression appeared on the Gym Leader’s face. His hand shifted to support her and she felt warm where he touched her.

Hmmm this would—

‘You’re being delusional because you lost all your pokemon and are in the process of whiting out.’ said a voice directly to her mind.

Suddenly Giselle found her head wrenched to the side and without knowing why, she looked up to find Sabrina the Gym Leader of Saffron City.

Oh, that wasn’t good. Giselle couldn’t help but think.

Even from where she was standing she thought for a moment she could see Sabrina’s lips quirk upwards. Don’t let it bother you. I understand the appeal, but perhaps look a little closer to your own age range and not while you’re in a bad headspace.’

“Really?” she said with a slur. Most of the boys in her school idolised her.

‘You need to sleep,’ said Sabrina into her mind. ‘

Brock must have thought she was speaking to him as she found herself shifting into a laying down position atop a stretcher with Brock on one end while a Chansey carried the other. At her side, the kindly Mrs Hooper was there holding her hand and telling her everything was alright.

Giselle relaxed and let herself fall to sleep.

When she woke up it was to a ceiling that was unfamiliar to her. The smells of a medbay were slightly more familiar to her but never as the patient. She’d always taken her duties seriously and gone in to visit other students. Now that she thought about it. Joe ended up there a lot from messing around during Physical activity and pokemon battling lessons, didn’t he?

Giselle shifted, feeling the stiff sheets and mattress move with her.

“Oh! Shut your face she’s awake!” said a girl that Giselle wasn’t familiar with.

She looked to the side, expecting to see Mrs Hooper or perhaps even her secretary of the Student council but instead, she found herself looking at a trio of faces, only two of which she recognised.

“You’re.... Greta and Yolanda?” she said slowly.

The girls, who’d been reading something that looked like a pokedex, looked up. The purple-haired girl smiled after a moment of inspecting Giselle.

“You’ve got spunk girl!” she said. “Wanna join my gang?” she said.

On either side of her Yolanda and Greta groaned. “This isn’t what we agreed on when we said we’d watch over her when Rachel asked us!” Greta said.

Yolanda merely pinched the bridge of her nose. “That, and we’re not a gang Crystal,” she said.

Crystal ignored them, instead smiling widely at Giselle. Giselle felt an odd feeling in her chest as the girl invaded her private space, she grasped Giselle’s hand in hers and said, “Come ooooon, you want to be friends with me, don’t you?”

An odd longing filled Giselle and she found herself blinking back tears which caused Crystal to blanche and pull away. Giselle wouldn’t let her though.

When had been the last time someone had asked her to be a friend?

“I’d like that,” she said.

And perhaps it might have been the odd emotions from being knocked out after her loss, to suddenly finding herself with three people who said they wanted to be friends, but she suddenly wondered if perhaps, just maybe, maybe she hadn’t gotten more out of losing than she would have from winning against Brock.