Erika wasn’t able to host her match against Will in her Gym.

For some reason that rankled me when I learnt about it.

But it didn’t surprise me. As much as Will had gone about the match with me in the wrong manner, he had drawn a lot of eyes to him. Eyes that had remained glued on him when he’d then promptly faced down the Cerulean and Vermilion Gyms without missing a beat.

Will had built on the initial interest and dragged most of Kanto’s attention onto him.

I liked to think most of them were merely doing so to watch him lose. Sadly, I wasn’t sure how many were being swayed by his victories thus far.

This week, he’d kept the public interested in himself by fighting an Ace trainer in the top twenty, only to then back it up by appearing on a talk show.

It spoke of a man who knew his PR. Or someone who had backing and a team that knew when to get him in front of a camera.

This resulted in a lot of demand for people wanting to come to watch his match against Erika.

Sadly, Erika’s gym had nowhere near enough seating to facilitate that level of demand, resulting in the public stadium being called into use and some temporary stands being set up, with the city setting everything up.

I noted that didn’t stop Erika and the girls of her gym from styling the entire stadium.

They’d gone all in with small plants that outgrew their pots draped everywhere. Then they’d had the flowerbeds spell messages and be shaped into various pokemon. Small water features with small goldeen were interspersed on the walkways leading towards the stadium.

The stands themselves were wrapped in vines but in an artful deliberate manner that spoke of cultivation and care rather than a rampant overgrown garden. All of this while pokemon such as Bellosom ran around underfoot, merely adding to the ambience.

Erika might not own the stadium, but she’d put her mark on it.

I could only stare puzzlement at a host of trees as we got closer to the stadium. Those… hadn’t been there. I was sure of it. They were just too notable in how they branched out and had vines wrapping around them to create a natural tunnel that softened the entire area leading up to the metal stadium.

“Those trees weren’t here last time I was here… were they?” I asked with a tilt of my head as I walked along the path arm-in-arm with Sabrina.

“No, Erika’s trainers had their pokemon help grow them last week,” she replied.

“Oh, that’s impressive,” I said aloud, eying the trees that I would have sworn were years old rather than just weeks… or even days old.

Ralts was resting on Sabrina’s shoulder with a flower crown atop her head, drawing more than a few giggles and coos of delight from people that we passed by.

“Gym Leader Brock and Sabrina!” said a reporter, practically popping out of the plants to push a microphone in our direction. “I see you’re here to watch Erika’s match against Will?”

We both nodded, with Sabrina even favouring the woman with a polite smile. “Indeed, we are,” said Sabrina, surprising me. I gave the reporter and her tag-along cameraman another look. They looked familiar.

“You… were the one that interviewed us before our date a few weeks ago, weren’t you?” I said tentatively. “I never got your name, I’m sorry to say,” I said carefully, toeing the line of stating that I most likely forgot her name.

“Bron!” said the woman happily, and she waved her hand at her cameraman. “And this is Darrel! I’m glad you remember us!” she said as her smile grew a little warmer. “Any thoughts about tonight?”

I opened my mouth, about to speak my mind, before shutting it quickly. Sabrina had no such restraint. “I hope Erika defeats him. We, as Gym leaders, have paid a good deal of attention to Will with his run to be an Elite Four since he challenged Brock.” She inclined her head towards me giving me a squeeze.

Then she turned her head back to the cameraman. I was stunned. I’d never seen her be so deliberately charming, but I could see it was working. Bron leaned in, a hopeful look on her face as she made sure the microphone was in pick-up range to make sure what Sabrina was saying was being recorded clearly.

“His first introduction to us was flamboyant and extremely suspicious, all told. There were a number of inconsistencies, and since then they have continued to pile up. Will’s tactics, legal as they may be against Brock, have shown what he is like when pushed. Is this the sort of man that we want at the highest level of Indigo government?”

Sabrina shook her head morosely. “Will has shown that he is not willing to uphold certain… honourable principles that we have taken for granted in our country.”

Sabrina directed a smile towards the stadium. “I know that Erika has already won in ways that we as individuals don’t value. She’s a better person than Will ever was or will be. I hope to see that shown during their match with her victory.”

Bron blinked. “Oh! Well, my goodness, that is quite the insightful take on the coming match.”

Sabrina merely inclined her head, accepting the praise. Bron shifted and directed her microphone in my direction. “Anything to add Gym Leader Brock?”

I shook my head and smiled at Sabrina. “I think she’s said everything I could have, and done it better than I ever would have.”

Sabrina squeezed my hand. “Sometimes straightforward answers are best; don’t sell yourself short.” She nodded her head to Bron and Darrel. “We should head inside; it’s been good seeing you again.”

“Bron, Darrel,” I said, happy to follow Sabrina’s lead.

We got a few feet away, and I heard Bron turning to Darrel. “Well, you heard it here first folks! Sabrina laying the foundations for a serious discussion on the morality of power and the importance of having the right people being in positions of power! A deep topic if I’ve ever encountered one! I’m Bron from Chrysanthemum Town, signing off!”

I chuckled. “Wow, you were incredible back there.”

“Thank you,” she said leaning into my side. “I was merely telling the truth as well. Will is the wrong sort of person to be an Elite Four member.”

I gave her a kiss and walked through the archway into the stadium which was ringed by flowers to hide the barrier generators.

We claimed our seats at the front, and I found myself looking across at Giovanni on the other side of the stadium. I locked eyes with him, but he merely nodded amicably, like one would to a contemporary.

I laced my hand into Sabrina’s and shifted my attention to Ralts to avoid giving Giovanni any more of my attention.

Despite my dark energy, Ralts seemed to be able to pick up the mood I was in and who I was directing it at with how she glanced from me to Sabrina, and then across the arena at Giovanni.

I sighed. I really wished I could walk up to him and punch him in the face instead of playing around the issue. Maybe I could throw another rock through his Gym?

I considered that with a dark satisfaction, enough that I missed the announcer coming in and starting introduction for Will.

“—rising through the ranks of Ace trainers! Will!” she said, gesturing grandly to one entrance.

Unlike other cities, Will received polite applause with his entrance instead of outright boos and catcalls like he had at Vermillion and Cerulean. He should have gotten a better entrance at Cerulean, but that wasn’t on the cards with how he’d fought against me only to back up against the next Gym so quickly. By doing what he’d done, he’d disrespected Cerulean at large.

“And now, the Gym Leader of Celadon City! Please give a big Celadon welcome! To Erika!” cheered the announcer.

More polite applause filled the stadium with only a few more passionate calls. It was a marked difference from every gym so far.

“They’re so polite,” I said.

It was honestly strange to have such a subdued response after witnessing the screaming and shouting of the Vermillion gym. My own gym was similar to Surge’s with how often people shouted and stomped.

Heck, even Cerulean City had people shouting and catcalling. In contrast, Celadon was like… well the best example I could think of was from my past life with a crowd at a tennis grand slam.

It was a noble event with grandeur and status, rather than the noise of a boxing match like I was used to.

“There are a number of boarding schools here. Also, you must remember that Celadon has some of the best minds at the university. A number of the crowd are from higher socio-economic groups and are therefore more reserved in their support. They still barrack for Erika, but it is different,” Sabrina explained.

“I wouldn’t have thought there would be such a difference,” I commented.

“There are also lots of etiquette schools in Celadon that families will send their children to. It’s something of a tradition in Celadon. At least that is how Erika explained it to me.”

“Ah,” I said, only somewhat understanding how that translated into… wait a minute. “Wait do they tell people how to cheer at pokemon matches at those schools?”

Sabrina’s head bobbed up and down and I shook my own in response.

“Weird,” I said, eyeing the people around me who were all sitting with straight backs and impeccable poise.

The referee took hold of the match and raised their flags to signal for silence. Once again, I noticed that it was a League official referee and not one of the local Gym trainers. They ran through the normal prematch talk before raising their flags.

Erika bowed politely towards Will. “May today’s match be a wonderful showcase!” she said with what I could recognise as a neutral mask of politeness for her with the barest glint of something steely flashing through her eyes.

“I’m sure it shall be,” Will said magnanimously.

He selected and threw out his first pokemon as Erika did the same.

On Will’s side, an Exeggutor took to the field, causing a quiet murmur to break through the mask of politeness at the snub of sending out a grass-type pokemon first against a grass-type specialist.

Erika’s pokemon caused a small gasp to run through the crowd as her pokeball disgorged her own Exeggutor.

Both pokemon locked eyes, and you could almost see the crackle of tension as they both understood how they were now representing their trainers.

The referee’s flags dropped, and the battle began.

Will’s Exeggutor danced from foot to foot and suddenly Sunny Day revealed itself while Erika merely waved her hand forward.

“Bullet Seed,” she said to her Exeggutor, who fired off an extremely weak-looking attack. I chewed my lip and glanced up at the Sunny Day. That was a rather ambitious move that should see Erika benefit more, surely? I wasn’t sure what either of their strategies were and decided to wait and see.

Part of me twitched to be out investigating the stands and nearby buildings in case Team Rocket got involved like they had for my match. With Giovanni here, surely that meant Team Rocket were interested.

Sadly, the plan called for me to be front and centre much like I had been for Surge. It was too obvious that I would draw attention if I didn’t show Erika, a noted friend, support by being on the sidelines.

So instead, the job of searching for any threats fell to Janine, Koga, Agatha, Karen, Lucy, and the legion of Channellers that worked with the Guardians. That, and Lance had confided that the local police were also on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

I narrowed my eyes as I noticed that not all of the seeds that had peppered Will’s Exeggutor were falling off. In fact, they were taking root on his pokemon and digging in.

Ah, that was sneaky of Erika.

“Bulldoze!” She ordered her pokemon to surge forward with its head lowered as though it were going to charge right into her foe. Only to stop halfway in with its head still lowered to unleash a barrage of what looked like Sludge Bombs.

The other Exeggutor danced around the attack only to twitch when a small orb of energy wafted out of it and into Erika’s Exeggutor, who raised its heads to smirk.

“Return,” said Will surprising a good number of people and causing what had to be some out-of-town trainers to cheer for Erika loudly.

“Reflect,” Erika said, prompting her pokemon to boost its defences as Will selected his next pokemon.

He eyed Exeggutor’s position and tossed out his pokeball, surprising a good number of people when it landed in close.

Then Will flicked his fingers, and Mr Mime dashed forward, only to vanish as it closed with Exeggutor.

“Stomping Tantrum!” cried Erika.

Her pokemon slammed its feet into the ground hurriedly, only for Mr Mime to appear in the air behind it, hands raised in a chopping position.

“Mr Mime!" it shouted as it swept it’s arms forward and unleashed an Aerial Ace into Exeggutor’s rear faces.

“Xeg!” Exeggutor cried out and stumbled backwards, causing the rumble of the ground to falter as Mr Mime landed.

It charged straight back in, with Will once more not saying a word. His pokemon’s fist blazed to life only for Erika to fight back.

“Solar Beam!” she ordered. Her pokemon snapped its head onto the charging Mr Mime and unleashed a burst of energy straight into Mr Mime’s face, blasting it away.

Exeggutor straightened itself and shook itself off, only to glower as Mr Mime stood up and dusted itself off.

“Synthesis!” Erika said, causing her pokemon to twitch its fronds and absorb the last of the Sunny Day.

Instead of charging in again, Mr Mime grinned and raised his hands towards the dying Sunny Day. It began to shine as well as Mr Mime used Copycat to use Synthesis.

“I must say, I underestimated you. I did not think you would begin with the pokemon that you did,” Will said suddenly.

He flicked his hand and Mr Mime placed a hand atop its head and gained a look of intense concentration.

Erika didn’t say anything. Instead, she kept her eyes on the match. “Seed Bomb,” she said making her pokemon fire a burst of powerful seeds, each the size of coconuts, up into the air.

“Tsk, really my own move?” Will said waving a hand at the Seed Bombs which Mr Mime reached a hand towards. They were soon grasped in a psychic grasp and turned back towards Erika. Despite this, Erika had not been idle. Her pokemon’s eyes began to glow, and Mr Mime twitched as Erika unleashed psychic waves of energy upon her foe. This was a move I recognised.

She’d gotten her pokemon to use Hypnosis. Mr Mime stumbled, losing control of the floating Seed Bombs.

In doing so the Seeds dropped and exploded between the two pokemon.

I still pumped my fist. “Nice one Erika!” I shouted, ignoring the sniff of disapproval from behind me. I sat with a grin. That had been good. Erika had baited Will into a trick by using his own move but then taking it a step further. When he’d looked up, her pokemon unleashed a notoriously tricky move with Hypnosis.

Will snapped his fingers, and Mr Mime blurred for a moment. I leaned forward remembering the last time this move had occurred. Erika squinted, also noticing the slight movement.

“Magic Leaf, but send it wide!” Erika said causing a huge torrent of rainbow-coloured leaves to shoot out of her pokemon.

Most arced towards the illusion that Mr Mime had left behind with the substitute, but others slammed into and broke the mirage that hid Mr Mime revealing that he’d hopped to the side before submitting to Hypnosis.

“Seed Bomb!” Erika called out once more, this time her move sailing through the air with unerring accuracy to explode down upon Mr Mime.

When the smoke cleared Mr Mime was revealed, just barely conscious with a lot of soot all over him. It glowered at Erika’s Exeggutor.

It suddenly vanished in a red flash of light. I frowned. “It’s a bit weird that he’s gone back to doing the psychic command trick, isn’t it?” I asked Sabrina as a Medicham took to the field.

Erika made use of the slight pause for a quick Synthesis.

“I think he wishes to reestablish himself before he faces me. His orders fall back into verbal when he is flustered, which reveals he has not always been as skilled as he is now with his psychic abilities. Without directly testing myself against him, I couldn’t say where his skills lie but I am confident that I am stronger in most, if not all, of the known psychic abilities.”

She sighed and shook her head as she let her eyes flicker up into the sky. “He is not my concern,” she said causing me to nod and glance around for any suspiciously floating pokemon.

There weren’t any; instead, the afternoon sky was filled with flying-type pokemon taking an aerial view of the match playing out before us.

Medicham copied Mr Mime with another Aerial Ace, only to follow up with another instead of attempting a Fire Punch.

With no Sunny Day in effect, Erika couldn’t unleash a Solar Beam as quickly, but Will stayed much more cautious with how he kept Medicham in close and pressured Erika with the Aerial Aces.

Erika raised her pokeball and returned her pokemon as it began to topple from one hit too many.

She cradled the pokeball in her hands for a long moment before nodding her head over it and whispering to it.

Around us, the crowd applauded politely.

Erika inspected Medicham and tilted her head thoughtfully as she selected her next pokemon.

“Any guesses?” I said.

“No,” Sabrina said with a tone of voice that let me know she knew precisely which pokemon was coming out next.

“Go Tropius!” said Erika, sending her pokemon out to soar in the air, the giant fronds on its back flapping to keep it in the air.

“Tropius!” cried the pokemon happily as it locked eyes with its foe.

I nodded, pleased with this development. She’d gotten herself room to move and denied Will an advantage while threatening her own.

“Gust!” Erika said.

I frowned. That was a rather weak move as an opener.

Will flicked his hand causing the Medicham to endure the Gust while raising its hands towards Tropius. A blue glow came over Tropius, and it cried out in pain as it started to be pulled down to the ground.

“Hurricane!” Erika ordered quickly. Her pokemon nosedived and went into a tailspin,. The spin caused a huge gust of wind to surge up around and within moments a hurricane formed and was released towards Medicham.

Medicham’s eyes glowed for a moment, and it sprinted to the side, edging just onto the boundary of the battlefield where it hunkered down, grasping its hands into the earth.

As the hurricane died off, Tropius was revealed once more at its original height having been buoyed up by the winds.

Erika slashed her hand out. “Charge in with Aerial Ace!” she said making her pokemon once more nosedive straight at Medicham.

Will snapped his fingers and Medicham stayed in position its eyes glowing as Tropius charged in.

Medicham turned just as Tropius vanished into the Aerial Ace. As it reappeared, Medicham met it with a rising Ice Punch. It slammed straight into the Tropius’s face. TRopius cried out in pain but lashed its wings forward to slam them into Medicham.

Both pokemon were blown back from the hit, only for Tropius to land heavily and not get up.

Will breathed out in relief as Erika returned her next pokemon.

I rubbed my chin. “She’s got the team to put him under pressure, but they’re not up the level they need to be,” I said.

“She still has other pokemon to call on,” Sabrina said. I shot her a look and nodded, she was right.

I tapped her thigh. “Any word from the others?” I said alluding to the Guardians.

Sabrina’s eyes glowed for a moment, and she shook her head. “They are patrolling, but there is nothing amiss. Here, or out in the city,” Sabrina said.

“Go! Vileplume!” Erika shouted as her giant flower pokemon appeared in a burst of light.

Vilpume teetered around, happily waving its hands before it caught sight of Medicham. It wilted into itself. The flower that crowned its head curled inwards, resulting in its eyes vanishing behind its large petals.

If I didn’t know how strong Erika was I would have said her pokemon was merely shy.

But that wasn’t the case at all. I’d encountered this strategy myself during a Gym match. The slits in the flower allowed Vileplume to peer out without the opposing side knowing which way Vileplume was facing without investing some effort.

Will didn’t seem impressed, as he made a gesture for his Medicham to sprint forward with its fist raised only to vanish in another direction as Will continued to pressure Erika with Aerial Ace.

Erika’s Vileplume reacted with a sudden bright light blossoming from under its fronds. Will stiffened. “Get out!” he barked, suddenly much more fearful of Vileplume only for Medicham to land and be caught in a rainbow blast of force that erupted from Vileplume.

I blinked in surprise, whereas Sabrina huffed in pleasure. “Was that a Fairy type move?” I said.

Sabrina nodded and when the brightness died off Medicham was revealed standing groggily and shaking itself off but no Vileplume. My eyes, darted to the ground out of instinct expecting Dig to be used only to frown as no tunnel was revealed.

“Wait! Vileplume can’t dig!” I said as I realised my blunder.

“No, but it can float,” Sabrina said, her own head tilted up. I glanced up and was surprised to find a spinning Vileplume that was using its own huge petals to keep itself in the air.

Will was just as surprised by this turn of events as he barked out his next order. “Future Sight!”

“Blast it,” Erika said firmly, her hand chopping down.

Once again Vileplume gleamed, but this time a very distinctive orb of iridescent pink energy built up and was unleashed upon Medicham.

“Protect!” Will ordered only for his pokemon to falter in defending itself. It took the Moonblast head-on and crumpled.

I clapped along with the rest of the crowd as they applauded Erika’s showing but I couldn’t help but have conflicted feelings about what I was seeing. “I could have done that against his Medicham if I’d had Selene…” I said.

“Yes, but she was exhausted Brock. I think you made the right call not using her. It may have caused her to become injured if she wasn’t at her best. Will is the type to exploit any weakness.” She put her hand on my thigh and squeezed.

“Erika and I came up with this plan when we reflected on which pokemon you couldn’t use against Will.” She squeezed my thigh again. “I have always said that Selene is exceptionally versatile, and so I examined her moveset and noted a few that would have been used to threaten Will. “

She indicated Vileplume who had now landed. “We had to work on Vileplume, but Erika has been able to build on Charm to gain the more offensive moves Vileplume can learn.”

“That… can’t have been quick,” I said.

“I’ve been working with Erika for quite a while already. We merely intensified her training and focussed on some specific pokemon and their movesets. We merely had to increase the time we spent each day.”

I hummed and nodded, feeling slightly mollified that others had looked at my lo… fight with Will. Sabrina squeezed my thigh. “You didn’t lose to him.”

I huffed and shot her a smile, amused at how she’d read my mind despite knowing she couldn’t.

“Ten Seconds!” barked the referee making me realise that Will has been delaying on releasing his next pokemon. At the prompt, a number of people in the crowd took up murmuring at the oddity of Will not sending out his next pokemon.

As it reached three a pokeball rose from Will’s pokebelt without his prompting and was thrown forward to disgorge his Exeggutor. Will raised his chin in a slightly provoking manner before waving his hand. Exeggutor’s eyes began to glow and Vileplume rose up with a cry of pain as Psychic grasped it.

“Fling!” shouted Erika. Her pokemon twitched as dark energy surrounded it, breaking the Psychic and forcing Exeggutor to leap to the side to avoid the rather weak dark-type attack.

Sabrina leaned towards me. “I believe he spent most of that time re-establishing his emotional control so he could psychically command his pokemon.”

“Hmmm?” I said, considering how Will had been with Vileplume smacking his Medicham around to now. Sabrina was right. I shook my head at his mind games before nodding as Vileplume tried to unleash another Moonblast.

Sadly, Exeggutor was able to dash to the side and avoid the attack. Not that Erika seemed to mind as small puffs of energy wafted towards Vileplume, rejuvenating her pokemon.

“Vileplume! Do your thing!” said Erika with a wave of her arm. Vileplume stopped trying to blast Exeggutor and instead whirled about, pink energy wafting off its form. Its petals rose up into the air and Vileplume shot a wink right at Exeggutor.

The various faces twitched in surprise, and then a blush overtook all of them.

I choked back a laugh. “That isn’t Charm is it?” I said with a smirk as Exeggutor trotted forward. I shot Will a look and he seemed to be shaking his head as though dazed. “Did he…” I started to say but stopped. I wasn’t sure I wanted to complete that sentence.

“Connecting to your pokemon without knowing all the risks can make for a disorienting experience. Especially with a pokemon that has multiple heads. Attract can be rather powerful in instances like this,” Sabrina smugly replied.

She drummed her fingers on my thigh. “That he has been so strongly impacted… implies certain things about him.”

Oh,” I said, suddenly wondering if Will would become a known member of the Pokemon fan club due to this exchange.

I glanced at Sabrina, a question on the tip of my tongue.

“I know to disengage with my pokemon when moves such as Attract are used. There is a rather obvious build-up if you’re emotionally… aware of yourself,” she said.

She waved a hand about herself. “Also, it is not something that would work as well on me.”

I chuckled and squeezed her hand.

When I turned back to the match, Vileplume happily pranced right up to Exeggutor before spitting a dark purple mass of poison into Exeggutor’s face.

Exeggutor reeled back in shock, but only one of the faces lost its blush. It started crying out to the other head, but those were still thoroughly infatuated. Will shook off his funk and scowled.

“I expected better from you Erika,” he said as a pokeball was raised only for Vileplume to stab a poison-coated fist into Exeggutor’s side, causing the palm tree pokemon to topple over.

“Self Destruct!” snapped Will, causing a gasp of shock to run through the crowd.

This time, however, the move didn’t go off, as Exeggutor continued to gaze lovingly up at Vileplume. Vileplume smiled at the other pokemon and Erika made the most of her foe slowly being bled out.

“Grass Terrain!” she said.

Her Vileplume happily dug itself into the ground slightly, like a potplant planting itself. Suddenly, the arena bloomed to life as grass shot up. Long stalks grew and I saw some roots begin to entrap Exeggutor before its eyes closed despite Will’s consistent orders to Self Destruct.

I sat forward. “Huh, she’s really brought herself back into this match with her Vileplume,” I said.

Sabrina inclined her head. “I expect Will is going to fight back much harder now,” she said as Exeggutor toppled, felled by the poison.

She was proven right as the instant his Exeggutor was off the field, another pokeball whipped forward to reveal his Alakazam.

Will pointed, and a powerful Psybeam unleashed itself onto Vileplume.

“Protect!” ordered Erika quickly, causing the super-effective move to slam into the Protect.

I breathed out in relief only to blink in surprise as Erika returned her pokemon straight away.

“Calm Mind,” Will announced into the silence that followed Erika’s quick reaction.

While his pokemon did this Erika quickly selected another pokeball

Will perked up, only to scowl as Erika threw her pokeball deep into the section of the field with the longest grass where it was hidden from sight. I chewed my lip and shot Sabrina a look. She had a far too casual look on her face, which let me know she once again knew precisely which pokemon was on the field.

I held back from asking and decided to watch.

“Pin Missle!” Erika said and tiny pins were fired from out of the grass into Alakazam who Teleported out of danger only to scowl as the attack vanished.

“Blast it with Psybeam!” Will said making his pokemon unleash once again at the point where the Pin Missles had come from. The Psybeam blasted forward and Erika smiled.

“Go on the offensive!” she shouted, punching forward.

Everyone but Sarina was therefore stunned when a humanoid shape sprinted straight through the Psybeam, completely unaffected to slam a fist into Alakazam’s gut. The powerful psychic type rocketed back to slam into the wall before staggering to its feet.

“Kazam!?” it said as its foe was revealed.

“Cacturne!” said the grass-dark type pokemon.

I grinned as it tapped at the hat shape on its head in mock greeting. I’d known Erika would have to own this pokemon. It was gratifying be proven right and to see it punish Will like this. Erika had set her battlefield to hide the reveal of the pokemon.

Sadly the powerful hit wasn’t enough to see Alakazam down and out.

“Retreat to the long grass!” Erika urged, making her pokemon leap back into the grass where it could hide.

“Focus Blast!” Will snapped, less than pleased to be tricked.

The powerful fighting type move blasted forward only for nothing to be hit. I thought I saw something move off to the side and apparently so did Will.

His finger pointed in another direction, and Alakazam blasted in that direction.

Will growled before inhaling and cursing to himself as a pokeball rose and returned his Alakazam. He nodded at Erika. “You have done your homework,” he said.

Erika merely bowed her own head back. “I have yes.” she waved a hand at the battlefield. “Continue as you are, Cacturne,” she said cryptically.

Will huffed and released another pokeball. This one revealed a Solrock that floated up above the long grass. “I was hoping to not rely on such tactics but…” Will made a sweeping gesture.

Will made a twisting gesture and his pokemon unleashed a tornado of fire that engulfed the grass. Cacturne was revealed with its arms raised and a green orb shooting forward to slam into Solrock who twitched as Giga-Drain slammed into it, causing both pokemon to trade out super-effective attacks.

Both narrowed their eyes on the other, only for Cacturne to twitch in pain, revealing that it had been burned.

“Fall back!” Erika said.

Solrock started to spin on itself again as it repeated its Fire spin. Cacturne sadly took the hit again without getting a reply. Cacturne was knocked back into grass but it wasn’t long enough to hide in.

Will smirked as he stabbed a finger forward imperiously. His Solrock ignited into a Flare Blitz that saw it rocketing into Cacturne.

“Protect!” Erika ordered causing her pokemon to raise its arms up and raise a Protect to absorb the hit.

I could see it grimacing in pain as the burn impacted it once more.

Solrock floated back with a glower at the defended foe only to glance down and cry out in anger.

I followed it and realised that Cacturne had allowed itself to fall back into a part of the field that still had grass on it. Grass, that was part of the Grassy Terrain, therefore allowing a small amount of healing to the injured Cacturne.

I had to hand it to Erika. She could be very subtle in her set-up and orders.

Sadly, it didn’t prove enough, as the moment the Protect fell away, Solrock rocketed in with another Flare Blitz, knocking out Cacturne.

Erika returned it and once more whispered some words of support as she had done for all of her pokemon thus far. She then selected another pokeball and tossed out a Venusaur that landed and roared its name.

“Razor Leaf!” Erika ordered sharply.

Will merely waved his hand and Solrock unleashed a Flamethrower which burned away the oncoming leaves. The fire kept coming, only for Venusaur to leap to the side with its legs springing out and causing it to dodge the attack.

“Petal Blizzard!” Erika said as her pokemon started to waddle, the flower on its back unleashed a huge barrage of flowers into the air that rose up to fill the air.

Will made a twisting gesture and his pokemon unleashed another Fire Spin that swept out to burn away the rest of the field and clip Venusaur. “Saur!” growled the pokemon only for Erika to punch her arm forward. “Solar Beam!”

Will huffed at that and pointed his hand forward. “I didn’t expect hubris from you, Erika,” he said as his pokemon charged forward with Flare Blitz it slammed into Venusaur and her pokemon was engulfed in fire.

Erika merely watched the fire before bowing her head. “No, merely aware of my pokemon’s limitations. Venusaur can handle a little fire,” she said before once again stabbing her hand forward.

From the fire, a blast of energy shot forward and slammed straight into Solrock, knocking it out of the battlefield and into the back wall where it slid down.

Will glanced at it before inspecting the extremely charred Venusaur. Venusaur growled and shook itself but remained on the field.

I hummed in thought. “Does it seem like Will is making a lot of mistakes to you?”

Sabrina nodded. “He should have used more Psychic abilities, but he instead committed to the idea of burning everything away. He only needed to get rid of the Grassy Terrain with a Fire spin or two once Cacturne was finished. After that, he could have whittled things down with Psychic. He was trying for more and going for the easiest and fastest win he could.”

Sabrina sighed. “I doubt he will be so lax going forward.”

She was proven right when Will unleashed his Alakazam once again.

“Recover,” he said quickly.

“Petal Blizzard!” Erika responded, making her pokemon fill the air of the battlefield with deadly petals.

Instead of dodging into them, or allowing them to hit, Will surprised Erika by having his pokemon Teleport in close to Venusaur to slash with its spoons coated with psychic energy.

Venusaur groaned with pain and slumped worn down from the earlier match with Solrock.

Instead of returning her pokemon and whispering support to it, Erika’s eyes gleamed as she returned her pokemon while tossing out another right next to where Venusaur had been.

“Tangrowth!” shouted her starter as it revealed itself.

Will sniffed only to twitch as Tangrowth went from posing into an explosive display of speed.

It instantly lunged at Alakazam and wrapped its viney tentacles around Will’s starter. I blinked I hadn’t been expecting that, but it seemed Erika had more tricks up her sleeve.

“Knock Off!” Erika ordered, making her pokemon’s many tentacles glow with dark energy.

I perked up. Erika had planned that? Or had she merely made good use of Will’s laxity to get her starter into an amazing position to grapple with another? It didn’t matter as Will suddenly found his pokemon locked into a brawl with the mass of tentacles that was Tangrowth.

Fists flew as Tangrowth slammed Alakazam with Knock Off.

In response, Alakazam hammered back with Fire Punch after Fire Punch.

Both pokemon didn’t back down, or in Will’s case, couldn’t back down. When the end came it surprised everyone as Alakazam slammed a fiery fist into Tangrowth’s head.

Tangrowth cried out in pain only to throw itself on top of Alakazam in a last-ditch effort that caused Alakazam to be ridden down to the ground where Tangrowth’s mass of tentacles smothered it.

“Teleport out!” Will barked to no avail.

When the referee raised his flags, he did so for both trainers. “Alakazam and Tangrowth are unable to battle! Both must be withdrawn!”

Will glowered at the man before turning his gaze upon Erika. Erika returned her pokemon to reveal the flattened Alakazam. She bowed politely. “I saw my chance and I took it,” she said.

Will didn’t reply instead tossing out a pokeball to reveal his last pokemon to be an Espeon.

Erika looked it over before sending out her own last pokemon in her Vileplume. “Let’s go girl! Do your thing!” Once more Vileplume did her dance and it seemingly connected with Espeon as the other pokemon twitched and started walking towards Vileplume with its tails wagging.

Will remained aloof as Espeon walked forward. Erika frowned however. “Vileplume us—”

“Psybeam!” Will ordered smugly, revealing his pokemon wasn’t male, which would have allowed the Attract to work, but rather female. From close range, the super-effective move slammed into Vileplume and knocked it out.

I sighed. “That was a little anticlimactic.” I joined the polite applause as everyone thanked the two trainers for the battle. Camera crews hurried to a designated area as Erika returned her Vileplume and approached Will to congratulate him on the victory.

I shot Sabrina a look, hoping she’d picked something up for us to use, only for her to shake her head.

As we stood, a reporter and cameraman broke off to put a microphone in our faces.

“Gym Leaders! You’ve both seen Will fighting a few times now! How do you think today’s match went?”

“Erika did well,” Sabrina said. She glanced up at the scoreboard which showcased that Erika had lost with Will only losing four of his pokemon. “Mr Mime wasn’t in a good condition, but he still had the advantage. It was very uphill for Erika but she did well.”

“I see!” said the reporter before turning to me. “What about yourself Gym Leader Brock? Since your Draw, you’ve been vocal in wanting a rematch? Do you think Will has gotten stronger?”

“No,” I said feeling annoyed at the reminder of Will’s match with me and how it ended.

“Care to elaborate?” the man pressed.

I sniffed. “If anything, Will has gotten weaker. He needed extensive scouting against me to develop the strategies he did. He has realised how unpopular those strategies are and people have adopted counters for them. His matches since have been rougher.”

“But he’s still won them,” the man pointed out. I merely grunted, deciding not to volunteer anything more, seeing as that hadn’t been a question.

Before the reporter could ask another question, a microphone tap caused everyone to look to the centre of the field where Erika was.

She smiled. “Well hello everyone! Thank you for coming out today! I hope you enjoyed the match! It was a wonderful experience for me and I know I’ve gotten stronger for it!”

She received another polite round of applause, interspersed with a few out-of-towners cheering much more loudly.

“We love you Erika!” screamed one.

Erika giggled at that only to be interrupted from saying anything more.

Will coughed politely and stepped close to Erika. Sabrina and I stiffened as he loomed over Erika. “May I?” he said with a faux-polite smile.

She smiled back and handed him the microphone.

Will smiled out at the crowd. “I too would like to thank you all for coming out to witness my match.” Next to him, Erika frowned at the man’s words. He ignored her. “I also hope you will all be there next weekend for my next match.”

He turned and looked in my… no.

In Sabrina’s direction.

“Gym Leader Sabrina, it is time we settled the question of which of us is the best Psychic trainer in Kanto.”

Sabrina’s eyes glowed and the microphone shot out of Will’s grasp. It shot to just in front of her before hovering at head height.

Sabrina inclined her head politely. “I’m not sure if that’s really up for questioning, but I do have to admit that I have been looking forward to it.”

Around us, a susurrus of excitement swept the arena and I saw more than a few people open their transceivers to order tickets. I also had no doubt that a number of television stations had just broadcast that moment live.

I could only chuckle as Will’s mouth crinkled like he’d just bitten into a lemon. I couldn’t wait to watch Sabrina’s match.

Sadly, I felt a small flicker of concern build within me.

I, of all people, knew how much could change in a week.

I clenched my fists and eyed Will. No. I had a week to go over everything.

Sabrina’s match wasn’t going to be like mine. If Will tried anything, I’d nail him to the wall.