After dinner, on the way to the field Doro is leading them towards, Ran and Grady figure out the details of their battle. Grady expresses a desire to use Guardian, his Electrike, which Ran eagerly agrees to match by starting with Croagunk. Both pokémon are the newest additions to their respective teams, so it should make for a good and decently well-matched start to things.

  Following some more back-and-forth and some discussion, they end up settling on a two-against-two, with the understanding that their second pokémon will be their respective starters. Ran is happy to finally give Caesar another proper match and he’s quite interested to finally get to see Grady’s now evolved Jolteon, whom he learns the younger boy has since named Dynamo.

  The field Doro leads them to is a straightforward enough one, part of a larger park set in one of Olivine’s countless residential areas. The sun has set by now, but there’s enough light posts spread around the park to give decent visibility for a battle. The park itself is largely grass, with some bushes and trees in carefully selected places, but the arena has no grass left on it, the earth clearly turned and broken up on a regular basis as it’s subjected to pokémon battles.

  Doro looks to Josie to figure out who’ll get to referee, but Josie is more than happy to cede the role to the other girl, clearly preferring the freedom to spectate, cheer and heckle at her leisure. Both girls are clearly pleased with the arrangement, as Doro walks towards the referee box with a pleased smile of her own, releasing Precise the Hitmonchan to stand next to her where a Mr. Mime tends to be in official matches.

  Ran claims the closer trainer box, letting the enthusiastic Grady rush over to the other side of the field, where he eagerly turns to face the rest of them once more.

  “Ready!” Grady announces enthusiastically, not hesitating to send out Guardian the Electrike.

  “Give me a second, I want a proper look before we get started.” Ran counters, sending out Croagunk even as he devotes his attention to the exotic electric-type Grady received from Whitney.

  He’s already seen Guardian through a screen of course, but there’s still a difference between that and seeing Hoenn’s Lightning Pokémon in the flesh. For one, it’s barely shorter than Croagunk, which the screen really didn’t show as well. It makes for a rather intimidating match-up for Croagunk, though he seems entirely unbothered by the prospect of facing an unknown pokémon, simply greeting Grady and Guardian with a cheeky wave.

  The electric-type clearly isn’t amused, yipping sharply at his opponent, some visible sparks of electricity running over his fur. The sight of those sparks of electricity is one that Ran doesn’t particularly like, as it hints at Static, which is an annoyance to deal with, to put it mildly. Then again, Croagunk’s ever-coated fingertips are just as capable of inflicting poison as Static is capable of inflicting paralysis, so it’d be foolish to let it bother him too much.

  Having given Guardian a good look over, Ran finally nods towards Doro, who immediately counts them down, before indicating the start of the match with a shout.

  “Mud-Slap!” Ran instructs immediately, his command actually loud enough for him to miss what Grady’s simultaneously issued order to Guardian is.

  Guardian sparks up for a moment, before firing off a weak jolt of electricity that arcs out wildly. It can only be Thunder Wave, which travels the distance between both pokémon rapidly. Fortunately, before it can even get close to connecting, Croagunk’s Mud-Slap is sent flying out to meet it, as Ran’s battler scoops up clods of dirt and easily hurls them at his opponent.

  The attacks meet, with Thunder Wave not surviving the collison, leaving Croagunk unaffected and in the perfect position for him to follow up on Ran’s swift order to close in. As for Guardian, he tries to scramble out of the way, but can’t quite prevent the first clod of muddy dirt from hitting him in the face.

  Grady’s newest team member lets out a yip that’s more annoyed than hurt, but as it tries to shake the mud off, its frantic blinking shows the lingering effects on its ability to see properly. For a moment, Ran is feeling rather optimistic about the rest of the match, already preparing to call for another Mud-Slap. Unfortunately for him, Grady then reveals an attack that’s far more troublesome to deal with.

  “Shock Wave!” Grady orders, the notoriously always accurate move throwing a wrench into any hopes of blinding Guardian to the point of being defenseless.

  “Sucker Punch!” Ran countermands, hoping to cut Guardian off before it can pull off the move.

  Croagunk suddenly blurs forwards, dark-type energy giving him a level of speed he shouldn’t otherwise be capable of, as he uppercuts his fist into the soft part of the Electrike’s lower jaw. It’s a hard and clearly painful hit, drawing another hurt whine from the clearly young pokémon they’re battling, but it isn’t enough to knock it out, or to break its concentration. Instead, its fur bristles and sparks to a significantly greater degree than it did when preparing for Thunder Wave, before firing off a large jolt of electricity that immediately homes in on Croagunk.

  The attack slams into his skin and arcs over his body, making the poison-fighting-type let out a pained croak of his own, but it isn’t by any means enough to knock him back.

  “Poison Jab! As many as it takes!” Ran instructs immediately, not wasting any time and trying to push the advantage Croagunk must have at close range.

  “Quick Attack out of there!” Grady counters, clearly just as set on playing keep away as Ran is on not allowing exactly that.

  It’s a conflict that Grady and Guardian triumph in, as the smaller electric-type shows an absurd reaction speed, managing to burst away and out of Croagunk’s range a fraction of a second before Poison Jab would have connected. Ran can’t stop an annoyed frown from taking over his features, as Guardian turns around on the other side of the field. His top speed doesn’t appear unmanageable, but the sheer acceleration the exotic pokémon is capable of is another matter entirely.

  Fortunately, Croagunk isn’t completely at the electric-type’s mercy, as he does know moves that can circumvent the speed disparity between them to a degree. But with Bullet Punch not yet fully mastered, and not very effective against the electric-type besides, one of those two options is less-than-ideal. The other, Sucker Punch, is better, but it does require an attack from Guardian as well, for the dark-type energy involved to react correctly to his pokémon’s intent.

  Unfortunately, Grady might be wise to that as well, as he calls for another Thunder Wave, rather than for an offensive move. Then again, Ran and Croagunk have an answer for that move as well.

  “Mud-Slap again, Croagunk. Be ready to close in and follow up with Poison Jab if you can!” Ran instructs, watching tensely as the Electrike fires off another weak burst of electricity aimed at paralyzing his pokémon. Fortunately, yet again, Mud-Slap does just enough to take the sting out of the electric-type move, leaving Croagunk unhurt whilst his own attack once more catches Guardian in the face.

  It’s answering yip is still far more annoyed than actually hurt, but the brown smear around its eyes is larger now than it was before, which has its own value. Especially as, whilst the young pokémon frantically shakes its head whilst blinking, it doesn’t react to its trainers orders for a few long seconds.

  Ran doesn’t even need to give the order, as Croagunk immediately rushes forwards, his short legs not making for a smooth run, but instead a sort of skipping, hopping advance. It’s still effective however, as by the time Guardian stops trying to shake the mud out of his eyes and is actually ready to listen to his trainer once more, Croagunk has already closed half the distance. Already the poison-fighting-type’s fingers are glowing with the distinct purple of poison-type energy.

  “Shock Wave!” Grady orders hurriedly, finally heard by his pokémon once more.

  To Guardian’s credit, it immediately sparks up before sending out an expanding half sphere of electricity, all before Croagunk can finish closing the distance. Thus, there’s nothing for Croagunk to do but to weather the attack, which he does with aplomb, bursting through the electricity without showing any of the pain it undoubtedly causes him. Then, before Grady or Guardian can react, his Poison Jab hits home, the barely smaller pokémons body folding up around Croagunk’s vengeful hit.

  “Again, don’t let it recover!” Ran instructs hurriedly, not wanting to give Grady and Guardian another chance to use Shock Wave, the attack’s effect increasingly obvious the longer he examines Croagunk. It’s in the more labored movement the Toxic Mouth Pokémon shows, as well as the deeper, faster breaths he’s taking.

  But he isn’t the only one who’s clearly hurting, as Guardian is slow to get up.

  “Quick Attack out of there!” Grady calls hurriedly, clearly realizing that it’s at range where he stands the best chance of winning.

  Guardian immediately manages to get his legs under him, but Croagunk’s Poison Jab disoriented him, as he turns towards the nearest edge of the field, which is only a few feet away from both battling pokémon. With his eyes caked with mud and the inexperience of youth, Guardian clearly doesn’t realize that he’s about to rush off of the battlefield.

  Grady clearly catches it as well, as he frantically calls out, “Not that way! That’s out of bounds!”

  It’s a timely instruction, which manages to just stop his Electrike from racing out of the arena. Unfortunately, it’s also enough of a delay for Croagunk’s second Poison Jab to slap once more into Guardian’s soft underbelly. It doesn’t manage to let out another pained yip, instead slumping around Croagunk’s fist as it falls into unconsciousness.

  “Aww man!” Grady lets out in obvious disappointment, even as he pulls Guardian’s pokéball off of his belt once more before recalling his defeated pokémon, “Great effort Guardian! You’ll get ‘em next time!”

  Croagunk for his part walks over towards Ran’s side of the field, but as he does so, he suddenly freezes up for two long seconds. Ran doesn’t even bother to try and suppress the sulfurous swear that forces itself out of his mouth at the clear sign of paralysis. Static must have triggered as a bothersome parting gift on that very last attack.

  Josie’s audible guffaw at his voiced discontent is surprisingly helpful in letting him get over the annoyance caused by the inconvenience, as Ran grins guiltily in her direction, whilst Doro looks at him sternly.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “That kind of language would get you a reprimand in any Gym, Ran.” Doro cautions him straightforwardly, drawing an acknowledging raised hand from him.

  “My bad,” He accepts, “Won’t happen again.”

  Before either of the other girls can offer any further input, Grady speaks up enthusiastically, “It’s okay, I don’t mind!”

  Ran is about to accept the younger trainer’s words at face value, before getting a proper look at the sparkle in Grady’s eyes. He may just have taught the most impressionable boy he knows some rather indelicate words. Oh well.

  “Anyways, on with the show, right?” Ran asks, trying to get them back on track, directing his attention primarily towards Doro, as the acting referee.

  “Indeed,” She agrees, “Grady, please send out your second pokémon.”

  “Let’s go, Dynamo!” Grady announces enthusiastically, the rhyme coming out with a rhythm that reeks of preparation, not to mention the way Grady’s eyes then dart around to scan the reactions of Ran and their spectators.

  Ran gives the boy a slight acknowledging smile, though its impact is undercut by Josie’s unimpressed snort. Grady deflates slightly, but Ran doesn’t pay the younger trainer too much mind, attention instead shifting to Dynamo the Jolteon.

  Kanto’s Lightning Pokémon is actually a bit taller than Croagunk, when counting its ears at least. There’s a brightness and spark to her that was missing in Electrike, the Eeveelution clearly absolutely suffused with electricity. An electricity that adds twitch to her movements, as she doesn’t so much turn her head around to look at her surroundings, as her head twitches from one point of interest to the next in the blink of an eye.

  There’s a confidence and a sense of calm to Dynamo that she already had as an Eevee, but which has clearly been amplified by her evolution. It’s not exactly a comforting sight, especially as on the other side of the field, Croagunk is undeniably on his last legs.

  Doro glances from one pokémon to the other, before signalling for them to start once more.

  Immediately, Grady goes for the knock-out blow.

  “Thunder Shock!” He calls enthusiastically, his starter immediately sparking up with lightning.

  “Sucker Punch!” Ran hurriedly orders, hoping against hope that Croagunk can close the distance in time.

  There’s definitely scenarios in which Croagunk might have managed it. If he wasn’t paralyzed. If he’d been closer to start. If the speed discrepancy between Dynamo and him wasn’t quite so big. If he was still fully fresh.

  As things stand however, none of those apply. Which is why Thunder Shock sparks out and slams into Croagunk before he can get close, the dark-type energy around his fist overwhelmed and dissipated by arcing electricity. He stumbles and falters, the attack clearly pushing him to the edge of unconsciousness. But Grady has Dynamo cut Thunder Shock off early, clearly assuming that, when Croagunk sinks to one knee, the fight’s been won.

  Which is a mistake on their behalf, as Croagunk has actually learned a trick or two from being Ran’s pokémon. He glances over his shoulder for just a moment, barely long enough for Ran to realize that, though his pokémon is on his last legs, he has one final effort left in him. With Dynamo not preparing an attack, Sucker Punch won’t work, the dark-type energy not responding under such circumstances. But they have a solution for that, even if it won’t hurt as much as Ran would like it to.

  “Bullet Punch!” He rushes out, Croagunk’s fist immediately flickering with the silversteel sheen of steel-type energy before he leaps forwards in a single powerful burst.

  Grady is caught off guard for a vital moment.

  “Qui-” Is as far as he gets, before Croagunk’s fist slams into Dynamo the Jolteon.

  It’s a good, sharp hit, delivered with more than a bit of force to it. Croagunk slumps down in place, clearly having put his all into the final burst before fainting. As for Dynamo, she clearly isn’t amused, but the attack also didn’t do too much damage and, considering what Ran saw Grady and her pull way back during their first meeting, he doesn’t feel like she’s really got any right to complain.

  He recalls Croagunk, ignoring Doro’s gaze of mild disapproval and Josie’s good natured booing in favor of sending out Caesar, who appears on the field with a bit more pomp than Dynamo did. Because Ran’s starter doesn’t just appear on the field content to take in his surroundings. The moment he realizes he’s battling, his hood seems to tremble slightly, his head rising up, wagging in place slowly as his eyes settle sharply on his opponent, a sharp hiss cutting through the sudden quiet and causing a visible tremor to run through Dynamo for a moment.

  Then, Doro is gesturing for the match to continue, and Ran and Caesar are solidly on the defensive.

  “Stockpile.” Ran calls immediately, beating Grady’s call for Dynamo to use Thunder Shock again by a hair.

  Immediately, Caesar’s form seems to inflate minutely, scales bulging outwards just a fraction as they are pushed outwards by the tensing muscles underneath. It’s not a moment too soon, as Dynamo’s Thunder Shock, not an extremely powerful move but still with plenty of sting to it, slams into Ran’s starter the next moment.

  With Dynamo’s electric-typing rendering it immune even to the paralysis inflicted by Glare, through some not yet properly understood quirk of electric-type energy, Ran’s main strategy for Caesar isn’t available to them. Dig would be great, but his starter hasn’t managed to learn the move to the point where it’s usable in battle yet, so that option is out of the window as well. There’s also the distance to consider, with the notorious speed demon that is a Jolteon easily outpacing even the world’s fastest Arbok. Add to that Dynamo’s clear advantage in a ranged battle…

  “Stockpile again!” Ran orders, his eyes flitting over Caesar’s form and deciding that his starter can accept another Thunder Shock to further bolster his defenses. Unfortunately for Ran, Grady doesn’t call for a Thunder Shock this time.

  “Dig!” He instead commands confidently, Dynamo immediately hopping in place gracefully before it dives into the ground as if it’s water. The paws on its forelegs glow with type-energy in a frustrating display of mastery over the move that clearly irks Caesar just as much as it does Ran. It’s a good reminder of their own goals and perhaps something to discuss with Grady later, because a lot of Ran’s team could do with a tutor, but for now, with a super-effective attack lurking somewhere below them, Ran sees two options.

  Either they Stockpile a third time, further boosting Caesar’s defenses and risking an escape from Dynamo, or, when the Dig connects, they try to counter by using Wrap, to make the fight one at close quarters. He’s never studied Jolteon in depth, but he’s pretty confident that it’s far better with special attacks than it is with physical ones. So the same likely goes for its defenses as well…

  “Prepare to Wrap it up when it slams into you, Caesar!” Ran orders after a few moments of thought, as everyone’s attention is fixated on the ground, with Caesar, Grady, Ran and Doro all watching tensely for any sign that might give away Dynamo’s movements or location.

  Unfortunately for Ran and Caesar, Dynamo clearly has Dig properly mastered, as she doesn’t leave a single trace of her presence. So, even though they know it’s coming, they’re still caught off guard when she comes rocketing up out of the ground and slams directly into the back of Caesar’s hood. The blow clearly rattles him, only his strong, muscular build saving Ran’s starter from having his head slammed all the way into the ground.

  “Quick Attack and get out of there!” Grady immediately orders once he catches sight of Dynamo, who landed on the back of Caesar’s hood in a clear attempt to drive the poison-type face first into the soil. Once that proves futile however, she blurs away before Caesar’s tail can do more than lash out in her general direction, not even coming close to wrapping her up.

  Dynamo lands in front of her trainer, back in her earlier position and only a few feet away from the tunnel she’s left behind as a result of her use of Dig. Grady doesn’t press his advantage however, instead taking a moment to praise Dynamo for the smooth execution of the move. It’s a momentary ceding of the initiative Ran intends to make their opponents pay for, as he calls for a move he’s not used in earnest in a rather long time.

  “Scary Face! Slow her down!” He instructs Caesar, who obeys immediately, hood flaring outwards and a low menacing hiss rolling out as normal-type energy further enhances the depth and the colors of the patterns on his hood.

  Grady and Dynamo are clearly unprepared for the unexpected move, giving Caesar a precious second during which Dynamo looks directly at him. It’s enough. Ran can tell from the faint tremor that runs through the electric-type’s body at the sight before her, before Grady manages to bark out an order for her to use Dig again.

  Immediately, Dynamo disappears into the same tunnel, clearly seeing no need to go through the effort of digging a completely new one. It’s likely for the best as well, as whilst the specifics of Dig ensure that the resulting tunnels are structurally sound, there does come a point where a terrain can’t keep supporting its own weight when there’s too many tunnels with multiple foot diameters running underneath.

  “Try Wrap again, Caesar! She’s going to be slower, you can do this!” Ran encourages his starter, who curls up defensively, head now in the middle of a defensive circle made of his own body, rather than a vulnerable target on the outside.

  Caesar still gets caught from behind, as Dynamo pops up out of a new hole, clearly having branched out from her existing tunnel somewhere underground to once more target the poison-type’s blind spot. This time however, there’s noticeably less burst behind her movement and Caesar, though by no means having a great top speed, does have an exceptionally fast short distance lunge. He manages to turn halfway to meet the incoming threat, getting caught by Dynamo’s charge in the side of the neck rather than the back.

  But rather than being stunned and shaken, this time, the hit is slow enough for Caesar to immediately counter, wrapping around Dynamo’s body immediately. Grady’s starter lets out an annoyed yip as her attempt to get clear is easily stopped by Caesar, who pins her to the ground with a large coil, before starting to squeeze inwards.

  “Thunder Shock!” Grady calls worriedly, voice at least two octaves higher as the fight turns against them, “Force him off!”

  “Crunch.” Ran utters calmly, keeping a close eye on Caesar’s general health. With a double Stockpile in reserve, Swallow has the potential to heal his starter up substantially, but the temporary distraction might allow Dynamo to wiggle free, as well as lowering Caesar’s defenses down to their normal level again, so he doesn’t want to call it too early.

  Dynamo, despite being under the effects of Scary Face, still manages to strike first. Of course she’s helped by the direct contact between her Caesar and herself, but her Thunder Shock still slams into him whilst he’s still preparing to Crunch down on her. It isn’t enough to throw Ran’s starter off or to force him into releasing her, but the hits do add up substantially at this point, with Caesar showing real signs of weakening.

  Not that that stops him as, fangs glowing with dark-type energy, he snaps down on the back of Dynamo’s neck, mere inches behind her head. It’s a debilitating hit only made possible by the way he’s got her wrapped up, drawing a pained howl from Dynamo that has Grady’s fists clenching noticeably. Before either trainer can do anything further however, the pained howl cuts off. From the way Caesar’s body relaxes slightly the next moment, his head lifting once more, Ran already knows what’s happened, before Caesar starts to unwind his obscuring coils.

  It takes a few seconds before they all get a proper look at Dynamo, at which point Grady immediately brings out her pokéball to recall her even as Doro raises her hand and declares Ran the winner.

  The Jolteon doesn’t look terrible by any means, with no real visible outward damage hinting at the debilitating hit that took her down. Caesar’s Crunch clearly knocked her out and it likely left some significant internal damage, but though Grady’s eyes are suspiciously shiny as he looks up from Dynamo’s pokéball, he doesn’t seem angry or worried. Instead, it’s easy to see that he’s simply upset by the sight of his starter getting knocked unconscious, which is a response Ran can understand.

  “Good battle, Grady,” Ran says to the younger trainer genuinely, which does wonders for clearing up the younger boy’s expression to a degree at least, “Caesar couldn’t have taken much more than that.”

  Grady’s smile is a little tremulous, but his voice is steady as he responds, “I made a few mistakes, I think. If I’d kept fully focused and made the right decisions, I think Dynamo could have won. I look forward to a rematch further in the future, when she’s got some more electric-type attacks available to her. But thanks, you guys were impressive! I already knew you’d be a real challenge of course, but I wasn’t expecting you to be that intimidating.”

  Ran, unsure how to respond, looks towards Josie and Doro for any input, both young women having wandered over by now to join the previously battling trainers.

  Unsurprisingly, it’s Josie who takes the opportunity to offer her opinion without a moment’s hesitation, “Ehh, the big purple snake is intimidating. Ran’s a Teddiursa, really.”

  Ran looks towards the blonde in abject betrayal, which is enough to draw a loud laugh out of Doro of all people. When he looks to her in surprise, the fighting-type specialist waves him off, gesturing for him to redirect his attention to Josie once more. He does so somewhat hesitantly, before finally landing on a comeback that, to his mind at least, makes perfect sense.

  “Teddiursa wouldn’t even fit on my team!” He states indignantly.

  The resulting facepalm from Josie is enough to, for a while at least, make things between them feel properly normal again. Though as she meets his eyes afterwards, the funny lurch he feels in his gut is decidedly not normal.