Kiran was feeling pretty amped up right now, but a big part of why he looked so ferocious right now, or at least was trying to, was also because of the impression he thought he needed to leave. He guessed old habits die pretty hard.

  Well, he'd been fighting thugs in Orre until like, six months ago, so 'old' was probably stretching it.

  The poison gas was still flowing through the stadium, and Milotic had already inhaled some of it, and started coughing. It would take a few minutes, but the metal poisoning from the gas would show its effects soon.

  "Grassy Terrain," Kiran said, the ferocious grin still plastered on his face. All the islands glowed green, and nature exploded from the center of each.

  If our foe is dangerous, why would we give him time to set up?" Juan asked. "Rain Dance!"

  Another one, huh? It was already raining in the arena, but Milotic wailed, and it quickly turned into a downpour.

  "Now use Ice Beam on the islands!"

  Oh, fuck that. "Intercept them with Mud Shot!" he yelled. Cinth wasn't about to let her playground be killed off that easy.

  Balls of earth were formed in front of Cinth, and she fired them off. As soon as they collided with the ice bursts, the ice veered off-course and missed the platforms.

  Well, mostly. Kiran scowled as two platforms, not including the ones Blubby created, got hit with enough ice to freeze most of them. Cinth could still make terrain sprout from them, but Kiran didn't want her to waste precious seconds doing that. Not in a match at this level.

  It's not like Kiran didn't have some other tricks ready to go. "Use Grassy Terrain on the stadium floor, 25%," Kiran called out.

  Cinth pointed her arms downward, and vines started to emerge from the ground, even as it was underwater. There was no point in going all out for terrain that she couldn't control through the drag of the water.

  Juan didn't looked disturbed at all. "Whatever our opponents may be planning, let us not forget in this frenzy what it means to find beauty," he announced. "Dragon Dance!"

  Milotic glowed with a blue-green light, and got faster and faster while swimming, often twirling while doing so, much to the delight of the crowd. Was Juan trying to confuse Kiran by making it more difficult to keep track of where Milotic would come out of the water?

  "But since our opponents have been so difficult to us, why should they get to witness Milotic's beauty, everyone?" Juan asked the crowd. "Twister!"

  Cinth braced herself, but the Twister didn't come for her specifically. No, it surrounded the island that Cinth was on, without hurting her. Was Juan trying to block vision?

  Kiran smiled thinly. Almost time to strike back.

  After a few more minutes of swimming at high speed through the water, Milotic popped up, but behind the Twister, where Kiran couldn't see her.

  "Your uncertainty can be beautiful too," Juan grinned. "Now!"

  Well, at least where they thought Kiran couldn't see. "Behind you, deflect!"

  Cinth whipped around, and just barely caught the Hydro Pump that was fired off way faster than normal, no doubt because of Dragon Dance. And by 'caught', Kiran meant that she waved the arm that contained the blue rose around her hand, and the Hydro Pump deflected to the side, which made Juan's grin falter immediately, and Milotic stayed still in shock for a second.

  And that second was all Kiran needed. "Energy Ball!"

  Cinth extended her other arm, and in an instant pure, concentrated Grass type energy was condensed in a ball and fired, nailing Milotic square in the face. She flinched backwards in pain, then immediately came to her senses and dove back underwater.

  Yeah, Kiran didn't exactly get how it worked, but Cinth could deflect fire and water to an extent, depending on which arm she used. Kiran knew she could learn Sunny Day and Rain Dance, so maybe it had something to do with that? Whatever, like with Glamour, he wasn't about to question power as long as he could make use of it.

  Twister was still up, which meant Cinth was still trapped, and Milotic was currently racing through the water again. Not only was she in her element, but Kiran knew Milotic could learn Recover, so taking this Pokemon down was gonna be tough.

  "Again, Milotic!" Juan cried. Milotic popped out of the water again to attack. Cinth whipped around, holding up her blue rose again to deflect, but-

  "Dazzling Gleam, then attack again!" Juan smirked.

  Kiran's eyes widened. Somehow, he had forgotten that Milotic could even learn that move.

  "Cinth, anchor yourself!" Kiran cried out, somewhat frantically. Cinth immediately produced vines from her body, which dug into the ground. Right after that, Milotic's attack hit, and Cinth hissed and was forced to shut her eyes.

  A second later, a Hydro Pump connected and blew Cinth away, right into the Twister. Both sources of damage caused Cinth's face to scrunch up in pain, but Kiran's quick thinking meant that she was able to yank herself back to the island.

  Cinth shook her head vigorously to try and focus, while Kiran's mind was racing. The vines on the arena floor were still in place, and they had just started to suck moisture from around them, as discreetly as possible. And Milotic was still no doubt feeling the effects of the metal poisoning, no matter what healing she used. Could Cinth reel Milotic in somehow? Maybe, but that would take a lot of time and effort away from the potency of her attacks. Hmmm…

  Suddenly, it felt like a spark of electricity had gone through Kiran's brain. In a second, his ferocious grin was back. It was a crazy plan, but it would absolutely steal back momentum if it worked.

  Now it was Kiran's turn to swing his hand forward. "Sludge Wave, across the whole arena!" he yelled. Juan looked incredulous at that. Even Cinth glanced at Kiran like he was crazy, but she trusted him enough to listen to him.

  Poison poured out of Cinth's hands and her arms, more than Kiran was used to seeing. Most of it managed to break through the Twister surrounding the island, and the audience gasped as the poison just kept going.

  At fist Juan looked skeptical, but he was absolutely worried now that the poison was covering the whole arena. "Your beauty cannot be interrupted, Milotic!" he cried out. "Surf!"

  Milotic popped up, and like before with Slowking, a huge wave of water was summoned behind her as she attempted to dilute the poison.

  "Not a chance," Kiran cackled.

  The dilution attempt wasn't working. The stadium was now being filled with poison faster than it could be diluted. Juan clenched his right fist after looking down at the stadium floor and realizing that the vines on its bottom were the reason why; they were sucking water out faster than Juan could put it in.

  Kiran knew he had to act now. Milotic was in a lot of pain from how the poison burned her, even as she was attempting to use Recover. Vines obviously couldn't infinitely take in moisture, and he didn't want to take out more poison than necessary along with the water.

  "Leaf Storm!"

  "We will not go quietly! Hydro Shot!"

  A torrent of tightly-packed, razor-sharp leaves, several times Cinth's size, were conjured and blasted toward Milotic at high speed. At the same time, Milotic's entire body glowed white, and another ball of water formed next to her mouth. A split-second later, a Hydro Pump much more powerful than the last one erupted toward Cinth, but this time there were also glowing scales racing through it as well, which Kiran could recognize as Scale Shot.

  No matter how destructive the Hydro Pump looked, Kiran couldn't help but notice that the glowing scales within were creating a light show of sorts. Kiran couldn't help but whistle softly. Well, whatever Kiran thought about 'performances' during battle, he had to admit that Juan wasn't fooling around, if he was this dedicated.

  The two attacks crashed into each other, and the impact blew mist and debris everywhere. When the smoke cleared-

  Milotic was floating in the water, face down, not moving. And Cinth… Kiran was relieved to see her still standing. She gave Kiran a small nod, which Kiran took to mean she could keep going.

  That wasn't to say she didn't look in the best shape. She was breathing heavily, both from the attacks she had taken and doled out, and there were quite a few gashes on her body bleeding green liquid. Some of the scales must've gotten her.

  After a second or two of silence, the crowd erupted in surprise, but also cheers. Tired as she was, Cinth realized they were for her for once, so she raised her arms with a smile, which made them cheer louder.

  "No. Way. Milotic, one of our dear Gym Leader's most iconic Pokemon has been taken out! Who saw this one coming? Kiran seems to be the real deal!"

  ...alright, that was an improvement from previous announcements, so Kiran wouldn't think more of it.

  Juan recalled Milotic, then his face softened a bit as he whispered something to the Pokeball that Kiran wasn't paying attention to.

  "It's not every day that someone can take down Milotic, young man," Juan said to Kiran. "Even if you are the enemy, you are the real deal."

  "...sure," Kiran managed. Was that part of the performance, or not?

  Juan pulled out another Pokeball from his belt, and rolled it in his hand. "Even with my duties, I cannot help but want to put even more effort into our beauty now," he remarked. Then he turned his head to the crowd. "What do you say, everyone?!" he called out to them.

  The crowd responded with hoots and screams, all somehow quickly coming to a unified chant.

  "Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!!"

  Kiran was shocked by how Juan's face then transformed, becoming as ferocious as Kiran thought he looked. "Then let's go. Lumineon!"

  Wait, in the water? Kiran looked below him, and yes, the water was still a dark-purple, infested with Cinth's poison. Even then, Lumineon just dived in, and-

  Kiran subconsciously gave a small gasp. The only word he had to describe what he was seeing was stunning.

  The entirety of the water in the arena started glowing. Not just one colour either; blue, purple, white, pink, green. It seemed like Lumineon's light was alternating between them somehow, and seamlessly. The lights were so bright, one could probably see them from kilometers above the stadium.

  But there had to be a point to this besides being pretty, right- uh oh.

  Kiran watched, bewildered as the poison from the entire arena started disappearing. Not slowly either; it took just ten seconds for all of this to happen. By the end of it, the water was somehow clearer than before the poison was thrown into it.

  And it wasn't like Cinth could pollute the water again. Kiran let out an annoyed breath through his teeth as he looked at Cinth, whose legs were slightly trembling at this point. She was clearly way too exhausted to attempt to poison the water again. All that work, gone in an instant.

  The glowing faded, and Lumineon burst out of the water, while cooing loudly to the crowd, which they of course went wild for.

  "Energy Ball!" Kiran snapped.

  Roserade struggled for a split second, then fired off the attack. Lumineon shouldn't be able to dodge that, so-

  In place in the air, Lumineon sprang upwards, and the Energy Ball missed.

  What.

  It took Kiran a second, but he realized that must've been Bounce. He vaguely knew Lumineon could use that, but he must've forgotten that on account of assuming, by default, that a fish cannot fly.

  Another Energy Ball fired off. Kiran thought this one would hit, but this time, a gust of powerful wind appeared behind Lumineon and pushed her forward, quickly. Tailwind, then. The fish twirled in mid-air, smiling as she basked in the praise from the crowd.

  "This is our region! Our playing field! We will not allow it to be desecrated like it has so far!" Juan declared. "Rain Dance!" Lumineon fell back into the water, and wailed as the clouds reformed

  Great, even more water. Its level was just below the level of the islands now, including the ice ones. Cinth was hissing now, and Kiran couldn't really blame her for being annoyed, seeing as he was also pissed that even more of their work was basically erased.

  Not only that, but Lumineon was moving fast. Much faster than Milotic was. Ugh, that was Swift Swim, wasn't it?

  Kiran wasn't stupid. He already got the sense that he and Cinth couldn't win this round. But they weren't going down easy, even now.

  "Magical Leech," Kiran ordered.

  Multi-coloured leaves emerged from Cinth's body, and shot out towards Lumineon, who had emerged from the water again, this time to attack. She tried to Bounce again, but the leaves followed her and scraped her side, causing her to grimace a bit.

  But Lumineon recovered quickly, twisting in mid-air and Bouncing again, this time facing towards Cinth.

  "Aurora Beam," Juan said.

  An infuriatingly beautiful, multi-coloured beam shot out of Lumineon's mouth instantaneously. Even as it was undulating after being fired, it was still too quick for Cinth to dodge in her current state. She took the Ice attack head-on and collapsed forward, and didn't get up.

  But all wasn't completely lost. About to celebrate, Lumineon froze and glanced at her body. It was covered in seeds. Leech Seed. Despite the grimace he had on his face because of Cinth going down, Kiran managed a small smile.

  "You did good," Kiran whispered to Cinth's Pokeball, after recalling her. Then he took out the next Pokeball.

  "You're up," Kiran said, releasing Slumber onto the central island. He yawned briefly, but then seemed to realize where he was, and his eyes narrowed a bit, as he focused.

  "A trickier contender, but they will be no match for us!" Juan declared. "Hydro Pump!"

  "Deflect," Kiran calmly said.

  Even if it wasn't his own water, Water-types often had at least some control over the water around them. Slumber raised his right arm rather lazily, The blast shifted and harmlessly moved past his right side, and hit the water with a loud splash. Lumineon fell back down and submerged under water right after that.

  Did Quagsire have Water Absorb? Yes. But, Kiran thought as he was smiling, Juan didn't need to know that. Yet.

  "Sandstorm," Kiran grinned.

  Lumineon so far seemed more impressive than Juan's other Pokemon. Would this even work? Slumber raised his arms and grunted loudly, and-

  ...Well, that was something, at least?

  It was definitely still raining. That being said, it was slowing down a bit, and the sandstorm had started, it was just much weaker than usual. Kiran thought that was fine, chipping away at a force this powerful was probably all he could hope for right now. Maybe it would throw off Lumineon's accuracy just a little bit.

  "No matter your attempts to put out our field, they will not work!" Juan cried out. "Our moves are too Dazzling for you to stop!"

  Lumineon jumped out of the water right after that, and another Dazzling Gleam came out. The blinding flash of Fairy type energy was enough to make Slumber wince in pain.

  "Create a wall, then ready a Mud Bomb!" Kiran yelled.

  Slumber lifted one arm, and a wall was created in front of him using Ancient Power. He shook his head to try to get rid of lingering pain from Dazzling Gleam, and while he was doing that, a large ball of tightly-packed mud was created in the air right in front of his mouth. Slumber glanced around, waiting for Lumineon to come into vision so he could fire off the attack.

  But the Lumineon didn't show herself. Instead, a voice began to ring throughout the arena. An angelic one, that would be used to calm someone down and let go of all their worries.

  While still having the Mud Bomb ready, Quagsire's eyes started drooping, and he started swaying side to side. Even Kiran, outside the stadium, was being affected by it.

  "Air Slash!" Juan yelled.

  Then, Lumineon finally moved from behind the barrier to Slumber's left, with wind flowing behind her back. Amazingly, her fins seemed to grab the wind right out of the air. The wind sharpened into glowing-white blades, and they fired off at Slumber.

  Slumber did his best to meet the attack, but the Alluring Voice was still affecting him, and the Mud Bomb went off just a bit too late. Because of that, there wasn't enough momentum behind the mud to fully stand up to the attack, and most of it exploded outwards in mid-air upon collision with the air blades.

  The blades quickly pierced through the air, and sliced across Slumber's body, causing him to fly backwards, almost getting thrown off the island entirely. Meanwhile, some of the Mud Bomb had reached Lumineon, and the force of the mud and the Ground type energy did cause Lumineon to jerk backwards in mid-air, though it was nowhere near as forceful as the Air Slash. Lumineon then submerged again.

  "Recover," Kiran said calmly. Slumber struggled to his feet, bleeding from a large gash across his chest, and his body glowed green for a few seconds. At the end of it, the gash had healed and the bleeding had stopped, but there was still a big scar. Recover also didn't heal pain, so Slumber wasn't completely out of the woods by any means.

  The next few minutes continued like that, with Lumineon gracefully flying and swimming throughout the stadium, while Slumber kept getting whittled down, no matter how many Recovers he used. Lumineon was getting damaged, by Leech Seed, as well as by Slumber's attacks, but not nearly damaged enough.

  Think, he told himself. He could do this. He could think of something.

  Suddenly, Kiran cracked a grin. Of course, that was the solution. He'd just done something similar, so why not do it again?

  "Ancient Power!" Kiran yelled.

  "Hah!" Juan scoffed. "You have nothing other than what you've already tried, do you, fiend?"

  "Use it all around the bottom of the arena!"

  Slumber took a deep breath, then wailed, really loudly. The ground of the arena rumbled with the strain, and pillars began rising from the arena floor, all across the arena.

  Juan looked confused. "Hydro Pump, one more time!" he yelled.

  Lumineon sprang out of the water again, and the Hydro Pump quickly blasted its way towards Slumber, swirling as it traveled, until it hit Slumber.

  Slumber grinned. Kiran grinned. Lumineon and Juan looked visibly surprised.

  Water Absorb started healing the Quagsire more than he had been able to with Recover. More wounds were sealed, although again, the pain and most of Slumber's exhaustion was still there.

  But it was enough, Kiran realized with a sigh of relief. The pillars were almost high enough off the ground.

  Juan clicked his tongue, annoyed that he had been fooled about Slumber's ability. "No matter the trickery, Lumineon's power is too razor sharp to do anything but delay the inevitable!" Juan said.

  This time, it was Lumineon's turn to wail loudly. A Tailwind that made any previous wind look small in comparison was conjured behind the fish, and from that, even more blades than with Air Slash were formed and fired off. The Razor Wind was so quick that it barely had to travel for a second before slashing every bit of Slumber's body. He was thrown backwards, this time off the central island entirely, and fell into the water.

  Slumber was unconscious.

  Two of his Pokemon down, to a single Lumineon, of all Pokemon. Kiran didn't even realize the species could even be this strong, despite him doing research into Juan.

  And even now, she was still able to keep jumping around happily in the water! Granted, Kiran could see that the jumps were slower and in fewer numbers, and Lumineon was absolutely breathing harder than before, but still…

  Calm down, he told himself as he recalled Slumber, then grabbed Lamia's Pokeball. One more Pokemon down, and his plan should click into place. Hopefully.

  "You're back up," Kiran said, as he released Lamia on the central platform. Lamia stumbled a bit after being released. He wasn't exactly in tip-top shape, but this would have to do.

  "We will finish what we started," Juan declared. "Air Cutter!"

  "Thunder Wave!" Kiran said immediately after. If he could get a paralysis off using Prankster, then they would at least salvage something from this-

  The Thunder Wave fizzled out after coming within a meter of Lumineon. Meanwhile, the white blade that was Air Cutter sliced into Lamia's body, sending him skidding back a few feet.

  Kiran rapidly blinked in surprise. What was- oh, of course.

  "We are too Safe and Guarded for that to work this time," Juan said smugly.

  "Hilarious," Kiran hissed.

  "Air Cutter, again!" Juan commanded. Lumineon jumped out of the water again, and created wind around her again to launch at Lamia.

  "Dark Thunder Punch!" Kiran yelled.

  Juan looked confused as Lamia disappeared into her shadow, and appeared underneath Lumineon, in her shadow, while the Air Cutter sailed harmlessly by where Lamia was. He propelled forward, using the Dark to do so, and landed a Thunder Punch infused with darkness on Lumineon's side, and it hit hard, with a bright flash and crackle of electricity.

  Lumineon shrieked in surprised pain, and almost crashed into the barrier. At the last second, however, she used Tailwind to right herself, and fell straight down into the water to recover.

  Even though Lamia was right above the water now, he dissolved into darkness again before hitting the water, and reappeared in shadow of the broken Ancient Power wall that Slumber had erected earlier.

  Yeah, Kiran had totally planned that. Absolutely.

  "Sucker Punch when Lumineon comes out of the water," Kiran told him. They would be more on guard now, so Kiran had to go for a faster attack next.

  It took about fifteen more seconds, but Lumineon finally jumped out again. Ice was forming in her mouth, about to be fired off.

  "Now!" Kiran yelled.

  Lamia disappeared into shadow, and reappeared underneath Lumineon again. But this time, there was a lot more darkness gathered around his fist, and he launched at Lumineon much faster. His fist made contact with Lumineon… only for the unthinkable to happen.

  Lumineon dissolved into water upon contact.

  What.

  What?

  "What?!" Kiran exclaimed, completely flabbergasted. He'd never seen Lumineon do that in any of the videos he'd watched!

  "Don't look too surprised now," Kiran heard Juan say. "Knowing the beauty of water means having complete prowess over it. And now," he said with a smirk. "You have been caught."

  Lamia tried to sneak away again, but the water itself seemed to let out a Dazzling Gleam, which prevented Lamia from even seeing where he was trying to teleport, so he was stuck.

  Lamia let out a pained yell, but Lumineon wasn't done. From the dissolved water of her body, and the water surging beneath them, water quickly came together in the form of a whirlpool, and Lamia was submerged inside of it.

  This was bad. Kiran paled as he realized that the water was really hurting Lamia now, and he was struggling to even breathe.

  But they couldn't quit. Whether this was life or death or not, they couldn't. "Dark Pulse, max power!" Kiran yelled in desperation.

  Through the pain, Lamia managed to open his eyes. With a gurgled yell, darkness exploded outward, more than he had managed to put out before. With that, the whirlpool mostly dissolved, and Lamia started to fall, while coughing violently. Lumineon then reformed above Lamia, breathing much more heavily now, but smiling at the same time.

  Juan smiled, no doubt knowing this was almost over. "Ice Beam," he calmly said.

  "Taunt!" Kiran screamed.

  Like before, because of Prankster, it was Lamia, despite her current troubles, who went first. He glared at Lumineon, and his eyes turned black, and he smirked. Right after, even as the Ice Beam fired off, her eyes turned red, and she let out an angry screech.

  The Ice Beam slammed into Lamia's chest, and that was all he could take. He fell unconscious before he even hit the water, landing with a big splash.

  "Wow, I've never even seen that before from Lumineo- hey, wait a second!"

  Nope, not gonna happen. Kiran had a plan, and he couldn't afford to wait for another stupid announcement from this commentator.

  He wordlessly recalled Lamia and released Gobi, his Flygon, in the same swift motion. The dragon roared while flying in the air to announce his entrance.

  "There's a lot of water in this arena, right Gobi?" Kiran asked. Gobi nodded vigorously, letting out an annoyed growl.

  Kiran cracked a smile he just knew looked crooked as hell, but he couldn't help it. He'd been more stressed than he'd wanted for most of this battle, and the anchors of his team were finally about to leave their marks, after all.

  "Get rid of all of it then, please?"

  One second, Flygon was just regularly flying in place. The next?

  There was a sandstorm.

  It truly happened that quickly. Gobi cried out, and a furiously swirling mass of dirt, sand, and rocks appeared, and it took up the space of the entire arena. Not only that, the clouds and rain had now been cleared to make room for a miniature sun, the heat from which could even be slightly felt, by Kiran at least, from outside the arena barrier.

  Kiran looked over at Juan and grinned. The man finally looked slightly panicked, because he had realized too late what was about to happen.

  And yes, Kiran looked at him. Through the storm. You get used to being able to do things like that when you grew up in a literal desert.

  "Rain Dance, Lumineon!" Juan yelled.

  Lumineon tried, but ultimately could not pull it off. Lamia's parting Taunt had more or less shut off her ability to use Rain Dance. Hell, even without that, all the strain of taking out three of Kiran's Pokemon was taking its toll on her, as Kiran could tell from her sluggish movements, bruises, and heavy breathing.

  Thanks to Slumber's Ancient Power filling up almost half of the section of the arena that was underwater, drying up the arena didn't take more than thirty seconds. Lumineon tried to fire off Ice Beams at Gobi in the meantime, but a sandstorm was Gobi's element. He could disappear within the storm to the point where Lumineon couldn't hit him at all.

  When all was said and done, the arena was almost completely dry, with only some puddles here and there. Lumineon hadn't fainted yet, but absolutely seemed to be straining herself to even float off the arena floor.

  Kiran smirked confidently. This was over. "Earth Power," Kiran said.

  Gobi's body glowed brown, and just a second later, the ground erupted underneath Lumineon and shot upward. Lumineon tried to move, but it was no use. The earth collided with and consumed her, and she crashed to the arena floor, unconscious.

  Kiran exhaled in a bit of relief, as the crowd went wild again. He and his team weren't out of the woods yet, but they'd finally managed to take down that monster of a fish, and turn the stadium into something advantageous to them. That was worth being at least a bit happy about.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Or really happy, in Gobi's case. The Flygon was currently zipping around the arena in joy.

  "Calm down, focus," Kiran warned with a small smile. Gobi was currently in his element, but there was still a battle ahead of them. Slowking would come out at least mostly healed because of Regenerator, and there was still his last Pokemon. From what Kiran had seen in video, that one would be the real monster of Juan's team.

  He felt anxious, and gripped Joan's Pokeball to calm down. They were almost there. They could do this.

  "This is really something," Juan said. He had recalled Lumineon, but didn't look as panicked as he had just a few moments ago. "This is at the level of Drake's Flygon, at least…"

  "Who? Is that another character?" Kiran asked.

  For a second, Juan looked… nostalgic? Though even Kiran had trouble seeing exact expressions on his face from this distance. Then the moment passed, and Juan looked at Kiran again, his eyes now a lot more focused.

  "Never you mind, fiend," he said. Ah, so he was back in character. "You are impressive, but this is far from over. Slowking!"

  Slowking was released on the central island, and immediately raised his arms slightly, as if to block the raging wind and sands somehow.

  "Disappear," Kiran calmly said.

  Once again, Gobi dissolved into the storm itself, and only reappeared briefly over the course of the next few seconds, in shadowy form.

  "Catching us off-guard before doesn't mean we can't predict where you'll come out from now," Juan said.

  With that, Slowking closed his eyes, which made Kiran raise an eyebrow in confusion. Trying to use other senses to figure out where Flygon will be?

  "Thunder Punch!" Kiran yelled.

  Gobi appeared right behind Slowking all of a sudden, his right fist cloaked in crackling electricity, about to swing at Slowking.

  It was then that Slowking's eyes opened, and they were glowing blue.

  "Psychic," Juan calmly ordered.

  Gobi's entire body's movement slowed to a crawl, and he started wincing in pain at the damage to his brain that Psychic was doing.

  Kiran clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Dragon Pulse," he said.

  Turquoise flames started to form in Flygon's mouth, and almost instantly were fired off at Slowking at point-blank range. Kiran noticed Slowking's eyes widening a bit in the split second before the attack made contact. Maybe he thought he could draw up another Psychic to stop the attack in time.

  Slowking stumbled backwards, while Flygon dissolved back into the storm. That would've been a powerful Psychic, because he was Juan's Pokemon. Thankfully, Flygon's Desert Spirit ability existed. Taking less damage than normal inside a sandstorm was always helpful.

  "We can keep predicting," Juan said, then Slowking's eyes closed again, with his body glowing white. Was Slowking trying to concentrate more?

  "Dragon Dance," Kiran ordered.

  Even though his body was difficult to keep track of, a red glow occupied the storm for a few seconds. Better to setup now, rather than wait for that last monster of a Pokemon to come out beforehand.

  "Bug Buzz," Kiran said.

  Most of the audience had to cover their ears at the horrific sound they heard next. Even Juan and Kiran winced a bit at hearing something similar to the sound of nails scraping a chalkboard right next to a megaphone.

  Slowking obviously got the worst of it though. His face scrunched up a lot, and the glow around his body flickered. He had to drop to one knee because of Bug Buzz's impact. Kiran knew he was being hammered internally.

  "Focus, Slowking. We will determine our future!" Juan yelled.

  With that, a portal appeared behind Gobi, and a burst of blue-coloured psychic energy burst through it, colliding with Gobi's side. The Flygon winced and the Bug Buzz wavered.

  But crucially, the damage from Kiran vaguely recognized as Future Sight wasn't enough to break Bug Buzz completely. Flygon kept going through the reduced pain. Slowking apparently wasn't done, though.

  "Disable Sandstorm!" Juan cried out.

  Oh, was their plan to keep Flygon still enough to try to shut off the storm that way? Not bad in theory, but...

  A few seconds passed, and nothing happened. Slowking, still pained from before, started to look confused as well. Juan did too.

  Well, obviously. There was a difference between something that was just a move, and something that was like your entire lifeblood. To most Flygon, that's what sandstorms were. Something too deeply rooted into their beings to be affected by a Disable, of all things, no matter how powerful the Pokemon.

  "Finish this with another Bug Buzz," Kiran said.

  The horrific screech came again, and its damage, combined with the drying capabilities of the Sandstorm and Sunny Day combo, the damage the dirt and rocks of the storm were slowly inflicting, and everything else that Slowking had been made to endure so far, was finally too much for him. He collapsed on the ground to his left, now unconscious.

  The crowd was cheering now, but they actually seemed… afraid? Kiran could pick up a collective murmuring around him, even over the noise of the storm. Ah, of course, Juan was down to his final Pokemon. It was probably just sinking in that there was a possibility that Juan could lose.

  Kiran grinned at that thought. Yeah, maybe he was being petty, but he was fine with drinking the tears of the people who had cheered way louder for his opponent all match.

  Juan recalled Slowking, and grabbed his final Pokeball.

  "Even with the dire circumstances, I have to admit, most people don't push me this far," Juan said. "You are truly strong, I'll admit."

  Kiran just smirked at him for that one. Juan raised his last Pokeball above his head, and took a deep breath.

  "But you still have one final mountain to climb. My first partner!" he said as he exhaled, as he released his final Pokemon.

  For a Pokemon that wasn't actually a Water type, Dragalge definitely looked like she could fit in with them. The sea dragon Pokemon didn't even need to be released on any solid floor, since she could float with hydrokinesis. She was huge too, bigger than Gobi for sure. Her size, combined with her shining red head crest, and pulsing poison sac, made her seem incredibly intimidating. The sandstorm didn't even seem to phase her. When she looked at it, she just seemed annoyed.

  "Spray your poison, dear," Juan said.

  Kiran could see the dragon take a breath, and in the next second, poison shot out from almost every inch of her body. It wasn't too different than what Cinth did earlier, except Dragalge seemed to be doing it much more easily, and it wasn't in an amount that filled the stadium by any means. And anything that landed on the ground now would probably just be dispersed quickly. Also, Dragalge shot out dark-purple spikes along with the sludge, which Kiran recognized as Toxic Spikes.

  He clicked his tongue. Great, another annoyance that Joan would have to deal with when she came out.

  But there was no water to infest with poison, so what was Juan doing?

  No point in sitting around, then. "Dragon Tail." Kiran said.

  Gobi gave a slight nod, then once again disappeared into the storm. A few seconds later, while Dragalge was eyeing her surroundings, Flygon appeared behind her. His tail whirled around, about to hit her, but-

  Dragalge swerved out of the way easily, and glared at Gobi. Gobi blinked rapidly in surprise.

  Kiran's eyebrows raised at that. It's not that he'd never encountered Pokemon with good enough instincts to do that, but they weren't that common, and especially not when it comes to avoiding that easily with their first attempt.

  "Dragon Pulse," Juan smirked. Somehow, it was just setting in now, but could Juan see through the storm too? Kiran had to guess that sort of thing just came with being a strong trainer, then.

  What he didn't guess at was the enormous burst of draconic energy that erupted from Dragalge's mouth, almost instantly. It was basically point-blank, and hit Gobi square in the chest. The sand dragon's eyes widened for an instant before being blown far away. Not quite out of the sandstorm, but almost. Thankfully, he stabilized in mid-air in time, though even with the protection from the sandstorm, he was definitely breathing harder now.

  Damn. Well, obviously Juan's most trusted partner would pack a greater punch than the rest of his team, but it was another thing to see it in person. And seeing as how Dragalge's expression at the moment didn't seem in any way intense, Kiran had a feeling that even that huge blast was somehow not her full strength.

  "Keep moving, while using Fire Tornado!" Kiran yelled.

  Gobi then started swerving every which way within the Sandstorm. Instincts or no, that should make Gobi much harder to track. At the same time, he unleashed a Fire Spin, but not directly at Dragalge. Instead, it was made to move in tandem with the sandstorm itself, and surrounded Dragalge, continuously burning her.

  "Sludge Wave, again," Juan said.

  The sea dragon frowned and spewed even more sludge from her body, and a good chunk of the fire was simply burned away. What was worse was the toxic fumes that resulted from the reaction of the two substances hitting each other. Obviously, a poison type wouldn't be affected by that, but Gobi certainly was. He started coughing violently for a bit when the fumes reached him.

  Kiran clicked his tongue. He knew poison could do that, since he had a strong poison type, but he thought Fire Spin would hold up a bit better than that.

  "Don't freak out," Kiran told himself. Looking at Dragalge, who was grimacing in pain from the sand and fire, if only a little bit, it was clear she wasn't invincible. He and Gobi just had to keep pushing her.

  "Sand Cutter, make sure to keep moving around," Kiran said.

  Again, Gobi started buzzing around, and at the same time, sharp blades of sand started forming all around Dragalge. Then, at different timings, they all abruptly flew toward the sea dragon.

  "Acid Armour," Juan said with a smile.

  Then, Dragalge just melted.

  Kiran had seen Acid Armour before, but not to the point where the user itself seemed to materially change this drastically, this quickly. The sand blades all connected in the next split second when they hit, but for the most part, they all bounced off or were absorbed by Dragalge.

  Kiran didn't even have time to be more flustered by Dragalge's capabilities, because Juan's strike came right after.

  "Dragon Pulse, again," Juan said.

  Kiran frowned in confusion. But Gobi wasn't anywhere near Dragalge, so how could she aim?

  Kiran's expression turned from confusion to shock in the next second, when Dragalge turned slightly to her right, and the same gigantic blast of draconic energy blew forward from her mouth and slammed right into Gobi.

  Wha-? But- but- how? How did Dragalge just know where Gobi was. He was moving around so much too!

  Had she done anything that Kiran had brushed off somehow? But Juan was still pressing Kiran with attacks.

  "Icy Wind!" Juan said, more confidently and louder than previously.

  "Alluring Voice!" Kiran yelled, desperate to block the attack in some way while he tried to figure out what was going on.

  A section of the storm was blown apart, and a frost-covered wind blew through it, nailing Gobi's wings and body. Because of that, Gobi's flight speed slowed down, although not too much because of all the heat around him.

  At the same time, even through the Icy Wind, Gobi let out a gorgeous sound. It sounded strange to even think like that in the middle of a firestorm, but it truly was a sound that made one want to listen, even at the cost of letting their guard down.

  And that's exactly what it did to Dragalge. Definitely not completely, by any means, but it was enough for the Icy Wind to not do catastrophic damage.

  Kiran gritted his teeth. He would have to think about how Dragalge was tracking Gobi later. All he could worry about right now was that she could.

  "Boomburst!" Kiran yelled.

  Juan's eyes widened. "Sludge Bomb!" he yelled.

  In the next second, Kiran's ears popped, and he had to cover them, along with Juan, and everyone else in the audience, for that was the explosive power of Boomburst at work. The destructive sound that came next blew apart a good chunk of the firestorm itself in its wake, along with most of the ice platforms that Blubby had put up earlier. Oh well, Kiran wouldn't need those anymore.

  Dragalge definitely felt the attack, and more than earlier ones. She flinched backwards and even had to shut her eyes for a second. Most likely, there was some sort of internal damage going on.

  But even Boomburst wasn't enough to make too much of a dent. Poison came out of her mouth this time, but much more concentrated than before, and shot out incredibly quickly at Flygon. The Boomburst shut off a few seconds after contact, as Gobi lost altitude and his body started burning.

  A few seconds later, Gobi had crashed into the ground, the damage being too much to take. He was unconscious.

  "Heal, please," Juan said.

  Wait, what? Kiran's head snapped towards Dragalge as her skin started bubbling with poison. That species could heal? Kiran hadn't known that!

  Shit, shit, now he had to think quicker than he thought. He couldn't use the full thirty seconds allowed between switches, since that would allow too much recovery time. He had to realize it now: why was Dragalge able to track inside the storm?

  Suddenly, Kiran remembered. Dragalge had launched poison outwards right after she came out, but he had brushed it aside.

  He looked at the tiny remains of the storm going on around him, and finally saw it. Dispersed bits of purple sludge flying with the wind of the storm. Somehow, they still existed, despite the flame storm that should've burned them.

  Did… did this Dragalge have some way of keeping aware of every bit of poison she spewed out? So when Gobi had been flying around, she had been able to keep track of him the whole time?

  It had been about ten seconds now, and Kiran had recalled Gobi already. Kiran definitely felt like his back was against the wall, and he could see Juan looking more confident than he had through this entire match, the bastard. The sun had also gone out by the point, although the sandstorm was still going, though definitely weakened.

  Kiran exhaled in frustration. All he could do was hope that those tracking abilities of Dragalge weren't always completely accurate, and rely on Joan's strengths.

  He brought out his final Pokemon for this match. "I believe in you," he whispered to his most trusted partner, then released her.

  --------

  Finally.

  Joan had been watching the fight the entire time from inside her Pokeball. She had watched her friends get kill- knocked unconscious, she had to remind herself. Right. And she wasn't trying to kill Dragalge. She had to remember that. Though to be fair, this Dragalge was possibly too powerful for her to do that, even if she wanted to.

  She was released on the stones that had risen up from the floor of the arena, slightly below any of the platforms. Almost immediately, she started to feel ever so slightly dizzy, as the Toxic Spikes did their job. No matter, she thought, as her arm blades extended. She had a lot of stamina, and her draining moves would keep her health up.

  Dragalge glared at Joan, and she glared right back. For a moment, they continued to size each other up.

  "Sunny Day is gone. I should use that first," Joan thought rapidly. In almost the exact same moment-

  "Sunny Day," Kiran said, which elicited a small smile from Joan, despite the circumstances.

  "Hydro Pump," the opposing trainer replied right after.

  A huge burst of water shot out of Dragalge's mouth at high speed. Fast as it was, Joan was more than able to dodge the blast by jumping around, as well as the multiple identical blasts that came after that. She was also capable of using Sunny Day without staying still.

  Her flames burned more intensely, and immediately after, the miniature sun appeared near the ceiling of the barrier. In return, Joan felt her flames burn more intensely on their own, as power surged through her.

  "Rain Danc-"

  Nope, not happening. Joan locked eyes with Kiran for a split second, and she knew they were thinking she should do the same thing.

  Joan used Shadow Sneak to shoot forward, and did so while disappearing into Distortion. For just a tiny fraction of time, she was in another universe; gravity did not work like usual, the world itself barely had a structure, if even that much, and the half-formed souls all around her were continuously leaking the worst, most negative emotions possible.

  Even all these years after evolving, it was still somewhat hard to believe that she could access all this at will.

  She reappeared behind Dragalge, and her right arm burst into flame as she brought down the Bitter Blade on her back. But to Joan's shock, Dragalge reacted.

  It was too late to avoid a favourable outcome for Joan, but Dragalge's tail burst into draconic flames, whipped around, and blocked some of the attack.

  Dragalge hissed in pain, and was forced forward from the hit, with a sizable gash opening in her side, but the fact that she reacted at all the first time seeing that shocked Joan. She even felt a sting from that Dragon Tail block.

  And already, the wound was bubbling and healing. A quick glance at Kiran showed that his eyebrows were raised slightly at what he just saw, clearly surprised as well.

  "I gotta get stronger hits in," Joan thought. Another quick glance back, and Joan knew they were both in sync, once again. Bulk Up was next.

  Joan's muscles bulged against her armour, and her body glowed with a dim red light. And thank goodness she was able to do that extremely quickly, because Dragalge wasn't giving her time to waste.

  "Rain Dance, again," Juan ordered.

  Another glance back, and Joan used Sunny Day. It seemed as if she and Dragalge were equally matched, because for the next few seconds, the makeup of the sky kept quickly changing between dark clouds about to form, and a ball of light about to shine incredibly brightly.

  It was a stalemate, much to both their frustrations. Especially for Joan, who was starting to feel more disoriented because of the poison by the second.

  "This poison is different than what I'm used to," Joan noted with a grimace. "Rather than just feeling dizzy, it almost feels like it's trying to melt away my consciousness itself."

  "Bitter Blade, again," Kiran called, and she agreed with that.

  With Bulk Up having been used, Joan's leg muscles were more powerful, so she could launch herself at Dragalge even more quickly than before. She didn't even bother with Distortion this time.

  "Let's just see where brute force can get me here," she thought, while flying at top speed toward the sea dragon.

  When she struck Dragalge, the impact wasn't what she expected. Dragalge's body seemed to squish and bend on impact. "Acid Armour," Joan thought. Thankfully, she was probably one of the few Pokemon around whose attacks could at least somewhat bypass that.

  Dragalge's eyes widened, than her whole face twisted in pain. The reason was simple: Joan's attacks cut the soul themselves. Dragalge could avoid a lot of the physical consequences of Bitter Blade, but not other ones. At the same time, Joan felt a rush of energy surging into her body, which worked to counter the effects of the poison.

  Joan grinned with wide eyes. "Yes," she thought hungrily. "Give me more!"

  But her savage joy was short-lived, as she realized that cutting through Dragalge slowed down her momentum. Dragalge recovered from the pain quickly, and glared at Joan, with a Hydro Pump already forming in her mouth.

  "Night Slash!" Kiran yelled frantically.

  With some difficulty, Joan managed to force dark energy into her blades, making their colour blacker than night itself. And it wasn't a moment too soon, because the Hydro Pump came at her point-blank.

  The darkness from the Night Slash diminished some of the type energy – and therefore, the impact – behind the attack, but Joan still grunted loudly in pain, and was sent flying backwards. But Joan could recover quickly too. She regained control of her body mid-air, and managed to land on the central island of the arena on two feet, though not too gracefully.

  Ow. Joan had went in expecting some sort of consequence for a head-on attack, but not that much of one. She felt a shudder go through her body as the poison continued to work, though it was less effective now. Joan's inner flame could work to some extent as a counter to poison, and thank goodness for that.

  Kiran gave a whistle that dropped dropped in tone towards the end. Joan knew what that meant: 'let's not be so reckless'. Right, she should probably stick to Distortion as much as possible from now on when attacking.

  Joan had to move quick, unless she wanted Dragalge to heal up again.

  "Phantom Force," Kiran said.

  Right. Joan slipped back into Distortion again, and this time began absorbing a lot of the ghost type energy from around her, as she quickly dashed towards Dragalge-

  "Detect Ceruledge with your poison, then Dragon Pulse," Juan ordered.

  Detect her? Detect her how?

  To both Joan's and Kiran's immense shock, Dragalge answered that question by opening her eyes and firing off a Dragon Pulse to her right, which caught Joan completely off-guard.

  "Night Slash, quick!" Kiran yelled in a panicked tone.

  Once again, Joan brought out Night Slash at the last second to try to dissipate as much of the incoming Dragon Pulse as possible with darkness, but again, the move still sent her flying. She landed back on the central island, again on two feet, but panting in pain now.

  How in the hell-?

  "The poison particles in mid-air. I think Dragalge can feel their surroundings to track you," Kiran explained.

  Joan knew about the tracking part by now, but Dragalge could do that to bypass Distortion as well? That was absurd. But… looking at how powerful this Dragalge was, if there was anyone capable of that, it would probably be her.

  The Ceruledge gritted her teeth. All she could do was hope that Distortion tracking wasn't something that Dragalge could do very consistently.

  The next few minutes were a blur to Joan. Bitter Blades, Night Slashes, Psycho Cuts, X-Scissors, and anything else that could her Sharpness ability could take advantage of, she threw at Dragalge. She would sometimes use Distortion to move, and sometimes didn't to keep Dragalge guessing. And thankfully, her hope about Dragalge's tracking was correct, and she was able to make good use of Distortion, if not as much as she would've liked. Steadily, Joan was wearing Dragalge down.

  On the other hand, despite her speed, Dragalge's attacks were fired off almost instantaneously, and often incredibly accurately thanks to her tracking. She could even predict Joan's movements to an extent, which meant Joan definitely took lots of damage. More Hydro Pumps, Dragon Pulses, Sludge Bombs, even Thunderbolts somehow.

  Finally, when Dragalge looked like she was on her last legs, and Joan definitely felt like she was, Joan rushed towards Dragalge with another Bitter Blade ready. She thought Dragalge was still recovering from the last hit, so she let her guard down just a tiny bit.

  And that proved to be a catastrophic mistake, as Dragalge had an Aqua Tail ready faster than Joan thought was possible. "She must've predicted this too," Joan thought in panicked irritation.

  One moment, Dragalge's tail was glowing blue, dripping with water above Joan's head.

  The next moment, the devastating attack hit Joan head-on, and water splashed in a wave all around her. Joan cried out while staggering backward.

  "I thought I could dodge that..." she thought, now in a daze.

  Dragalge grunted, lifting her tail again to deliver what would probably be the final blow.

  "You were quite good," she said. "But, this is over."

  "It's been a while since I've lost," Joan thought. Her stamina and strength were gone, just from this one opponent!

  Suddenly, she became more conscious of the images and feelings flowing through her body.

  A battle taking place around her…

  Some Armarouge and other Ceruledge in front of her, yelling…

  Her mom, putting a hand on her shoulder for reassurance…

  In the next moment, it was like someone gave her an adrenaline shot the moment before. Joan's eyes shot open, she gritted her teeth, hard, and her body whirled sideways, then forward.

  She had been reeling backwards from that Aqua Tail. Even with Distortion, it shouldn't have been possible to twist and move the way she did. Dragalge's eyes widened, clearly not expecting this.

  Joan's arm blades grew in size until they were several meters bigger than usual. She could feel the ghostly flames flowing powerfully through her, enhancing her attack.

  Joan twisted her body, and a gigantic Bitter Blade from her right arm collided with the shocked Dragalge. But somehow, even that hit wasn't enough to take down this behemoth.

  Staggering and leaning sideways, Dragalge tried using Acid Armour to defend, but even if she hadn't fainted, she was definitely on her last legs. Her face scrunched up when she realized it wasn't working properly.

  Joan roared, and the Bitter Blade from her left arm slammed into Dragalge. The serpent screeched as she went flying, and she flew backwards, crashing into the barrier. The other man – Juan, or something? She didn't really care at the moment – cried out.

  Joan definitely did not maintain any semblance of form after that attack. She was gasping for breath and staggering around.

  "Can't… do that again…" she thought wearily. "Please… stay down…"

  After a few seconds, Joan realized the arena had gone completely silent. She looked up, and…

  Dragalge… was unconscious.

  It… was over? She won. She won!

  She heard the referee saying something, and the crowd erupted all at once. Joan glanced back at Kiran, and he was bent over, leaning on his knees and gasping for breath as well.

  "If he's relaxed, I can too," Joan barely managed to think, before collapsing backwards, her chest heaving as she kept gasping for breath.

  It… was weird. She was beyond exhausted, and she had ended up feeling some memories she did not want to, to put it lightly. But at the same time...

  She and Kiran were safe. No one was dead. And even in her current state, Joan vaguely realized that the crowd was cheering for her, instead of simply being loud.

  Looking up at the clear blue sky above, she managed a small smile.

  This felt… good?

  The next chapter is almost done, it should be out tomorrow or the day after at the latest. Thank you all for your patience!

  Juan: Hisuian-Samurott, Slowking, Ludicolo, Milotic, Lumineon, Dragalge

  Nysa: Masquerain, Frogadier (yes, I'm changing that from Floatzel)

  Mary: Combusken, Sprigatito, Houndoom (also changes here)

  Ashlyn: Hariyama, Mawile, Jangmo-o

  Nessa: Drednaw, Crawdaunt, Lapras, Goodra (Water-Dragon in this universe), Mantine, Golduck