[PKMN OPEN] Pokémon Spear [M] [IC]

The doors of the great Hammerlocke gym remained shut, not even a light on inside. One of the busiest places in the city was completely dead right now. Hell, the entire area seemed much less busy than Motostoke led him to expect. Achille wandered close to the gym, wondering just where the hell everyone was.


The note on the door was handwritten, and Raihan's handwriting was bad enough that Achille needed his glasses to even make out the words. "Damn it," he said, turning towards Joiuse, who just stared blankly into the building. "Raihan is at that convention but it looks like he's taking practice battles up there. Will you be good with the crowds if I go?"

The right hand sword stopped, pondering this for a few seconds. Achille expected some resistance from this one, he still caught her watching random people in the street when they got too close. Left sword did not need such a debate, she was ready to go. A painting Achille saw in a museum came back to mind, an oil painting of some Kalosian knight dueling a Salamance. Except the knight looked a lot like him? And the sword was Joiuse?

"Okay, so that's a yes?" Achille asked as he banished the illusion from his mind. The left Joiuse chuckled menacingly, obviously still stuck on her own mental masterpiece. Right-side Joiuse looked at her twin with a sigh, knowing this was a fight she would not win.

For his part Achille had been ready to avoid the convention all together and just challenge Raihan. He couldn't shake the image of fancy suits and people one-upping each other all night that lingered from his childhood. They were streamers and trainers, yes, but people were still going to be talking business and jockeying with each other for social status, even if it was just internet cred.

Still, if Raihan was going to be there, then he should probably show up. Some of his classmates were probably already there. Haleigh too, he added mentally, remembering she had gone in that direction after they split up.

"Well, I guess we should go then." He concluded, much to the dismay of one of the Joiuses.

A thud and scuff of shoes hitting the pavement next to him barely preceded: "You really gonna fight Raihan already, Béringer?"

Achille turned to face the new arrival, finding a face he hadn't seen in quite some time. It took a few moments for him to even place the girl, knowing he'd seen her quite a bit, bbut usually while he was off to the sides and doing his old 'I hate Galar and don't want to be here' schtick.

Yeah, she's definitely from the Academy. Her name came to mind a bit after (looking over his class roster again was proving useful!).

"Worst I can do is look like an idiot," he said, crossing his arms. "If I win, I'm awesome and I beat the strongest Gym Leader. If I lose, well…" he cocked his head to the side as he recalled the very first time he was in Motostoke. "A bunch of people lost to Kabu the first time."

When she put it that way, he wasn't so confident now. "I also have an ice-type and two dragon-types, so I'm not the worst prepared?" He offered as a half-hearted defense.

"I'm out here tryna fix my win ratio and you're just goin' at it, huh?" Ryan scuffed her toe into the ground and her face twisted into a pout. "Well, you've got flashier strats and all too, I guess. Dragons on dragons might be a hard time though- hope you've got good ideas for it. I was actually gonna hang around here and see what others thought of, but StruggleCon killed that idea real quick."

Achille did have a pretty clever plan involving some well placed Avalanches, but in retrospect it did rely on Ignace actually remembering to stick to said plan and not get worked up. Ryan didn't have to know about the viability of said plans. "Yeah, I had some ideas I wanted to try. It would have been a nice change of pace from being at a complete type disadvantage like with that monstrous Centiskorch."

He glanced at the door again, eyebrow twitching in annoyance at the unexpected notification and it's poor handwriting. "He's supposed to be at the convention still taking battles, but I doubt he's actually in Gym Leader mode there. Certainly not getting a badge if I win, anyways." The left handed Joiuse shook her hilt in a disapproving nod. The feeling of shamefulness accompanying a mental picture of Raihan appeared. How dare he leave challengers waiting, the sword seemed to say.

"I'm still going to try my luck there," he added, "I can at least scope out his moves a little." And it's high time I earned some fans. Strugglecon seemed like a good place to earn a few.

Ryan scuffed her shoes a bit more. "Good idea," she said, hesitantly. "Um. Maybe I should. Also do that. And since we're both going there we should go together and that way I can see your ideas for real which is what I came here for in the first place, you know?" Her face turns red after throwing all of that out in one breath.

"Woah, remember to breathe!" Achille had never seen someone pass out from talking before, and felt like today was not a good day for the first. "You're more than welcome to join me."

Right-Joiuse flinched at the sound of that. "She's from the Academy, she's fine." Achille scolded the sword. Don't scare off any potential friends.

He turned back to Ryan, slightly rubbing his temple. "Sorry about that. For a living sword she's a little jumpy. Well, half of her is."

"Oh- well. Okay. Cool." Ryan's flush stayed on her cheeks anyway. "Fair warning, then, got a Pokémon coming. Leo! We're going somewhere!"

A Mienfoo dropped down from some part of the building above and hit the pavement next to her, but Ryan was already back on something else Achille mentioned. "Wait, she's- they're?- two halves? Like, independent?"

Achille looked over his partner Pokémon again, trying to find words to even describe what happened. "From my understanding, they're kind of like twins, but the same person, but slightly different? I don't get it all myself. Anyways, she," he pointed out the one on the right, "is the more timid and patient one. I think of her as the Steel-type one. Her sister there is a bit more… brash and ghostly?"

He scratched his head just recalling it. "She evolved while under the effect of Taunt, and it's almost like the taunted version of her stuck around. It sounds impossible to me, but being partnered to a ghost sword is weird enough that I don't question it."

The Kalosian pulled his phone out of his pocket, absentmindedly checking the time. "Ah, merde, it's creeping up to noon. That line is going to be awful if we don't hurry."


It didn't take the two long to find the convention either. It seemed like every 1/3rd person in Hammerlocke was headed that way, all they had to do was follow the crowd. In less than an hour they found themselves outside of a roaring sea of people, trying to form what he could very, very loosely call a line.

Merde, this is going to take forever. Couldn't he buy a VIP ticket or something? He pulled out his phone, checking the convention website. Nope, all sold out. Damn.

"I think we're stuck here for a minute," Achille confirmed, looking at the front of the line with longing eyes. "Anyways, back to the team talk. Tell me about Mienfoo there."

"Leonidas? Um, not much to tell, honestly- I think it's been a week since I found him. He's a serious guy but gets mad pretty easily- and embarrassed about it, it's kind of funny." Ryan whispered the last part, hoping Leonidas wouldn't hear over the noise of the convention goers. "It's been a lot different training with him, though. He's fast and hits almost every time but his strikes aren't all that. I wish I could just throw him a technical machine like I did with my Nidos, but he can't learn the one I have."

The mention of a technical machine piqued Achille's interest. A full Technical Machine was fairly rare and expensive now, given their unlimited uses. He'd only seen their fragile Record cousins since actually becoming a Trainer, at least at a price he'd be able to afford with his trainer earnings (he didn't dare try to use his family's card at a trainer store).

"A TM?" He asked, dropping his voice a little just so not as to announce it to the entire crowd. "Where'd you stumble across one of those? Which one?"

"Helped some rich kid out a while ago- dude had a party he had to clean up after fast," Ryan laughed at the memory. "He had some cool ones, but I took Shadow Claw 'cause both my Nidos could learn it."

The mention of Shadow Claw caught the interest of the Ghost-Joiuse. The Doublade left her half of the sheath, floating towards the two trainers.

"Shadow Claw?!" Achille reached for his Pokédex, flipping through his favorited pages as fast as he could. He was 99% sure-yeah! Joiuse could learn it! "Hey… I would pay you for use of that TM." Joiuse nodded in agreement, excited at the prospect.

"Wh- really?!" Ryan's mouth dropped open. "I- sure? What? How much? Um, sorry, that- wait, no, that's not crass in a business setting. Is it? Whatever. How much?"

Achille reached for his bag, remembering something he picked up much earlier and forgotten about until now. He dug through the deepest pocket, feeling nothing but silky fabric until it brushed his finger tips. He took the misshapen lump into his hand and pulled out the Nugget, slyly showing it to Ryan.

"What about this? Did some work for a detective in the old Mines and got this in return."

"Is that an actual Nugget?" Ryan whispered, eyes big and fixated on the shine of the metal. "Yes, then, uh- let me-" Ryan swung her backpack around and spent an agonizingly long moment rifling through before triumphantly procuring the disc. "A-ha! Okay. Here."

Achille passed the lump of metal over and grabbed the disc in his other hand. He entered the TM into the slot on his Pokédex and loaded it up. He scrolled through the information for Joiuse, deciding it was time for Slash to go. The transfer indicator on the device lit up, indicating the transfer was ready.

"Alright mademoiselle," he addressed the Doublade, "are you ready?"

The sword nodded, returning to the sheath now that her twin had joined the group. Achille aimed the Pokédex and the laser made contact with the center of Joiuse. It only took a second for the move to transfer, and then the laser disappeared.

"Did that come through fine?" The creepy laugh in his mind told Achille the move transferred fine, and his partner couldn't wait to use it. Achille ejected the TM, still warm from the transfer but not fragile like the TR had been, and handed it back to Ryan, who tucked it back into her mess of a backpack along with the Nugget.

"Pleasure doing business with you, or whatever people say. Is she happy? I can't tell."

"She's happy in her own way." Achille tried to not sound disturbed. Sometimes his partner scared him. "Let's say she's eager to use it against Raihan."

Joiuse gave a short chuckle aloud. "She usually just kind of laughs ever since she found a way to send images to my head." Achille continued. "That's mainly how she talks to me now. Vague emotions and images. Some kind of ghost thing. I think."

"That's kind of creepy." Ryan squinted at Joiuse. "Can she do it to other people?"

"Sadly no," Achille said with disappointment. "It would be super useful if she could, right?" Joiuse turned around, floating back behind Achille to escape being the center of attention now. "Might be some kind of bonds thing?" He was just throwing out ideas. "Mega evolutions are a thing because of bonds, and some Pokémon need to bond to evolve at all."

"Maybe. My Espurr didn't need a bond to project voices in my head, but she was also under the influence of some incense, so… I dunno. I don't know much about any of it to be honest. All the adventure movies and stuff have different explanations for these things and I don't think they're based in science. It's all pretty cool though! Getting to synch up with your Pokémon like that- that's gotta be nice." Ryan's voice took on a bit of wistfulness before snapping back to standard enthusiasm with: "And helpful! In battle, even!"

By now Achille could actually see the front door. For how many people there were outside, they were making surprising progress at getting inside.

"Incense, huh?" Achille tried to recall what he knew about it. "Speaking of science, those help produce certain Pokémon within eggs, right? That and it strengthens psychic power?" Achille didn't get science either. "I bet you the person with the helmet could explain this." That classmate had unsurprisingly stood out to Achille.

"775? Bet! Dunno why I didn't think of them. Help me keep an eye out for 'em, will you? They're a nerd, I bet they'll show up here at some point. And then we can learn fancy psychic science!" Ryan cheered.

"They shouldn't be too hard to find." Achille could name at least one feature that caused them to stand out in a crowd. "I think they had a website? I can't remember the name of it though."

The last person in front of them reached the check in booth, being waved in by staff. "Shit, we're already here." Achille reached for his wallet, ready to enter the area. "If they're here, just look for the helmet in the crowd. In case there are multiple for some reason, look for the Psyduck."


Xan was nowhere to be found though, to the pair's disappointment. Luckily it didn't take much to find Raihan, as the Gym Leader's image had been plastered all over a flyer for the portion of the con set aside for live battles. It looked like there were several streamers Achille had never heard of there as well.

The entire convention was noisy, but none quite as loud as the open battle floor. There were literal sparks in the air as a thundershock went a bit wide, dissipating harmlessly in the air. Several battles were going on at once, and different parts of the crowd roared as the twists and turns of the battles in front of them played out. It felt like the Kalosian trainer clubs he frequented; the ones his father hated. It felt like home.

He took one more moment to soak in the atmosphere then returned to the hunt. "Okay, Raihan is around here somewhere."

"He's tall, right? Should be easy to spot." Ryan stood on her tiptoes, craning her neck to scan the crowd. It didn't make much of a difference for her. "Tall and covered in fans. Or is he battling? Or both- some of these look like both is happening…"

Ryan led them further in, unapologetically barging through thicker crowds around the edges of the arenas. The pair passed by a few battles with large crowds, but Achille could not identify any of those battling. They were approaching the end of the room, but ahead lay the biggest crowd.

The mass of people almost blocked out the battle entirely; everywhere was shoulder-to-shoulder and Achille had to force his way into one of the few gaps to even catch a glimpse. Even from this vantage point he could barely see due to a thick veil of sand that swirled around the battle.

Inside the miniaturized sandstorm fought a large, green Dragon with odd, angular wings and a round, blue rabbit Pokémon. Despite the type advantage, the Azumarill seemed to be on its last legs while the Flygon zipped around seemingly uninjured.

Azumarill opened its mouth and unleashed a stream of tightly-packed bubbles, but the Dragon-type was able to easily outspeed the Bubblebeam by starting a steep climb. Flygon rose up and up, nearly escaping the bounds of his own sandstorm. Suddenly the green Pokémon pulled into a dive, tucking in its wings and suddenly falling towards the rabbit Pokémon.

Purple sparks flew from the Flygon's body as it sped up, the beginning of a Dragon Rush. Azumarill attempted to dodge by running zig-zags along the ground, but Flygon was a guided missile. The two collided a second later, kicking up so much sand that the crowd had to cover their eyes. The crackle of electricity was barely audible within the chaos.

The battle was over when Achille dropped his arms; Azumarill lay on the ground, K.O.ed. The crowd exploded into cheers as the two trainers made themselves known, the sandstorm falling away. Raihan approached and took his place next to the Flygon, smiling as he chatted with the woman raising the Azumarill.

"That's him!" Achille grabbed Ryan's shoulder, pointing out the tall Dragon Tamer. "Quickly, before someone else challenges him!"

Ryan jumped into action- she grabbed Achille's wrist and dragged him through the crowd. She and her Mienfoo might have been kicking ankles, considering the yelps and complaints left in their wake, but it did the trick and dropped them in front of Raihan before anyone else.

"Raihan!" she beamed, shoving Achille forward. "Another challenger for you!"

"Alright! I think there are a few other-" Raihan turned around and spotted the two newcomers, a glint of recognition in his eyes. "Well, well, looks like we've got some of Sonia's kids. Two of them!"

Achille straightened up. About time he was getting more recognition. "I hope you don't mind me jumping ahead a few gyms."

Raihan looked over at the crowd, who seemed surprised at the arrival of two of the gym challengers as well. One of the crew manning the livestream cameras nodded to him, mouthing something Achille couldn't make out. It looked like 'battle them' to him, though.

"I think the people in line won't mind," Raihan said with a grin and a wink, "provided we give them a good show. Now, I have an idea." Achille leaned in, eager to hear more. If this couldn't be a normal gym battle, then a twist was fine by him.

"One gym leader versus two current challengers." Raihan dropped his voice, leaving the audience in the dark about what the pro trainers were whispering about. "I get to mix things up after battling all day, and the audience gets a special treat. What do you think?"

"Let's go!" Achille shouted, reaching for a Pokéball before stopping himself. "Uh, if Ryan is fine with it. That is."

"Hell yeah!" Ryan cheered, then blanched. "Uh. Not an official gym match, right?"

"The chairman wouldn't let me give out a badge here even if I wanted to. Off the record books." Raihan confirmed.

"Then yeah, let's do it!"

"Nice!" Raihan did a little fist bump, apparently excited either by the prospect of facing two challengers at once, or even just having a break from the tide of one-on-one battles. "Okay, quick and easy Doubles rules. I'll get two of mine, and you'll each get one. Deal?"

"Deal." Achille snagged one of his Pokéballs before being stopped by Joiuse. Both halves of the Doublade looked him directly in the eyes. She did just learn Shadow Claw, she should take the field here. "I'll go ahead and stick with Joiuse here."

Ryan pulled a PokéBall from her pocket and inspected it briefly before nodding and revealing her Nidorina. "Genevieve can do it!"

Raihan turned back towards the crowd, who had broken into a new round of whispers after both challengers sent out Pokémon. "Hey Strugglecon!" The crowd snapped to attention, focusing intently on the gym leader. "I've got a special show for you! I know you've all been following this year's gym challenge, and you know it's a good one!" A pause for the cheer. Raihan's smile was becoming infectious, and Achille found a goofy grin creeping across his face. "Well, we've got two challengers here with us now, and they're looking for a challenge!

"How about your favorite gym leader and future-champion battles both at the same time?" The walls of the room shook with the roar of the crowd. The few nervous faces, afraid that Raihan was about to announce he was done for the day, had disappeared. People from the other matches were even looking over, wondering just what was going on. One circle began to dissolve entirely, migrating towards the circle around the three.

"I'll take that as a YES!" Raihan shouted, driving the crowd into another ear-splitting roar. "Well, let's take to the field then: Turtonator and Torkoal!"

The gym leader tossed two Pokéballs, revealing a pair of fire-type turtles on his side of the arena. The crowd parted as a member of the Strugglecon staff came over to act as an unofficial referee for this unexpected event. The purple-clad, blonde woman turned on a microphone and took over the hype-man job from Raihan.

"Alright Strugglecon! Are you ready!" The crowd gave a resounding yes. "Well then, three, two, one, FIGHT!"

"Joiuse, Shadow Sneak on Torkoal!" Achille shouted as soon as the countdown ended.

"Vivi, Poison Tail on Turtonator!"

The left Doublade unsheathed, quickly floating over to one of the spotlights and lining her shadow up with the quadrupedal turtle. Once in position, she plunged towards the ground, causing her shadow to lift up as well. The spear-like pillar of darkness rose from underneath the smoking tortoise, slamming underneath its shell. The move caused the heavy Pokémon onto its hind feet for a second, but failed to flip it like Achille hoped.

At the same time, Ryan's Nidorina dashed on all fours toward Turtonator and spun as she came within striking range to slam her poison-coated tail into its knee. She twisted back the other way upon impact, rolling into a handspring and popping up on her hind legs a few feet away. "Good form!"

Turtonator staggered back from the hit, moving a few paces back to maintain its balance. "You're good!" Raihan shouted encouragingly to the Turtonator. The bipedal turtle looked back towards its trainer, nodding. It definitely could take a few hits like that and be fine. "Nice! Set us up with some Sunny Day. Torkoal, if they want to fight from afar, then Lava Plume them."

Turtonator crouched down, stoking the fire within itself. The Dragon-type then raised its head high and billowed a large stream of fire. The fire began to collect into a ball midair, floating above the crowd like a miniature sun. Said crowd found themselves shielding their eyes again, blinded by the intensity of the attack.

Just a few steps away, the smoke billowing out of Torkoal stopped. The inside of the Pokémon's shell glowed, the air around it becoming distorted by the sheer heat being put off. A burst of lava spew forth, soaring up through the sky in a large arc ending at Joiuse.

"Get out of there," Achille shouted. The two halves of Joiuse went different directions, barely avoiding the splash of the superheated stone. Genevieve, not so lucky as to be a pair of floating swords, made a valiant attempt to duck under Turtonator's hulking form. The massive Pokémon just turned its back to its ally, shrugging off the worst of the Lava Plume with its shell. The action helped to shield Genevieve, but some of the Torkoal's attack still made its way around Turtonator and onto the Nidorina.

"Okay, close the gap," Achille shouted. He really didn't want to be dodging those all match. "Let's try out that new move!" Joiuse darted towards Torkoal, rapidly closing the gap. Phantasmal energy gathered along her blade before forming into a row of small, purple teeth. The teeth began to rotate along the edge of Ghost-Joiuse as she approached, increasing in speed until they became a violet blur.

Unslowed by the sheath, Leftie crossed the gap quickly and lunged at Torkoal. Her foe slightly tilted, protecting its fleshy legs with the broad of its shell. The sound of steel scraping against stone filled the air as small amounts of rocky shell were chipped off by the Shadow Claw.

"You too, Vivi! Right where its armor meets!"

Genevieve's forearm became encased in that same violet color, extending and sharpening ghostly claws that raked across Turtonator's chest in a jumping uppercut. She didn't catch the weak point in its shell like her trainer demanded, but at least the claws still made contact all the way up to its throat. Turtonator, despite just having its entire upper body sliced with phantom claws, looked like it was smirking. The dragon turtle turned around with unexpected speed, facing its shell towards Genevieve. The Nidorina accidentally bumped one of the large spikes on the creature's shell, causing all of the spikes to suddenly glow a bright white. Turtonator lowered its head while Raihan plugged his ears.

Then the shell exploded, launching the Nidorina towards Torkoal.

"Sorry about that," Raihan said, removing his fingers from his ears. "He's a little fast with the Shell Trap. Pretty loud, huh?" Achille heard a light ringing in his ears from the blast. Pretty loud was an understatement. "Oh, and knock them off, Torkoal," Raihan added absentmindedly. "Solarbeam."

Achille knew what was coming from the last time he saw the Sunny Day/Solarbeam combo. The glow inside of Torkoal's shell grew in intensity rapidly, almost hurting to look at. A solid beam of sunlight shot forth from the gap in Torkoal's shell, making contact with Joiuse's blade. The half of Joiuse was blown away by the attack, sent rocketing in the same direction as Genevieve.

"Damn, he turned that around on us." Achille grit his teeth as the sheathed half of his partner reached her twin. Steel-Joiuse scooped up her other half with her cloth hand and resheathed her. "I don't think we're going to get through their defense fighting them alone. We should gang up on Torkoal, then take out Turtonator."

Ryan snapped her fingers and bounced on her toes. "Got it, got it- Vivi! Helping Hand!" The Nidorina looked confused for a split second before Ryan confirmed: "Grab her handles! Uh. Well, I hope that's okay, 'cause it's happening!"

Joiuse looked over at her trainer, mean-eyeing him. "Just go with it, please! Shadow Claw!" The right-hand sword rolled her eye as the left handed sword left the sheath again. The phantom teeth formed along her blade again, revving up to a streak of violet energy again before the blade offered herself to the Nidorina.

"Get that Torkoal!" Ryan cried, and Genevieve stormed towards the slow-moving beast, giving Left-Joiuse all her momentum and a mighty overhand swing to bury her deep into their foe's shell. As soon as the Nidorina grabbed the Doublade, the glow along her edge deepend and grew in size. The added impact from Genevieve's swing alongside the empowered edge drove deep into Torkoal.

The stoney turtle grimaced as a gouge in the shell formed. The fire-type's knees buckled under the pressure, but he didn't fall. Instead smoke billowed out of the Pokémon's shell and nostrils as he built up power. With a mighty shove the Torkoal rolled over, crushing the Nidorina and Doublade in a Body Press as it freed itself.

"That's how you DO IT!" Raihan shouted.

Still, the Pokémon was panting after the two Shadow Claws. That last one did a number on it. "He's about to go down, aim for the weak point on the shell! Aerial Ace!"

"Poison Tail, across the neck!"

Right-Joiuse jumped into action, pulling herself out of the sheath and grabbing it with her hand. She cut a fast and narrow arc through the air, aiming at the gouge in Torkoal's shell. The slam of her edge against the rocky shell of Torkoal could be heard across the room. Torkoal staggered from the attack, stepping backwards and attempting to right itself.

The whip of Genevieve's thick, poison-swathed tail across the dazed turtle's neck was the decisive blow-Torkoal was brought to the ground with a loud thud. The Pokémon shot one last stream of smoke from its nose, then passed out.

"Torkoal is out!" The impromptu ref announced. The crowd let out a massive cheer, obviously not expecting the pair to even take a single one of Raihan's Pokémon. "We're now two verus one. Both challengers still have their Pokémon, and Raihan is down to one. Resume!"

Raihan clapped. "Good job, good job! Now that's how you put on a show." Then his smile shifted. He was still smiling, but Achille suddenly felt intent behind the gym leader's eyes. "Now if you'll allow me to make this even more interesting. You with me, Turtonator?"

"Turrrt~"

"Okay, let's go-Fire Blast."

Oh, MERDE.

A truly dangerous amount of heat began to emanate from Turtonator. The room suddenly spiked several degrees as the attack built up, empowered by the artificial sun still shining above. The flames began to leak out of Turtonator's mouth, no longer capable of being contained inside even the goliath of a Pokémon.

"Joiuse, get the hell out of the way of that." Achille shouted.

"Do it, Vivi!"

"Oh, Turtonator," Raihan added, the Pokémon approaching the critical level. "Pull that punch a little. We are still inside with a crowd."

An inferno spewed from Turonator, enveloping the entire challenger side of the field with flames. Despite the ferocity of the attack, it didn't spill over into the crowd, falling a few feet short. Containing that is more impressive than the attack!.

Turtonator relented after a few seconds, the storm of fire fading right after. Achille looked over at the battlefield in dismay. There was no way Joiuse could shrug that off, and sure enough, the Doublade lie on the ground. Conscious, but just barely.

A ball of charred fur unfurled itself, to the shock of the crowd. Genevieve staggered to her feet, arms wrapped in ghostly purple, and with a ragged cry launched herself at the Turtonator's weak point. But the phantasmal claws raked far below their true target as she fell face-forward at the feet of the triumphant dragon.

"Oh- a-and that's it for Doublade and Nidorina!" The referee said into the mic after taking a second to compose herself following the Fire Blast. "This match goes to Raihan!"

The stunned disbelief of the crowd ended as they exploded with noise. Achille felt several hands slap his shoulders as the crowd rushed forward, eager to try and talk to the challengers.

"Damn, did you see that Fire Blast?!" "I thought I was going to die!" "Raihan just beat two challengers in one move!" "They beat one of Raihan's Pokémon! They're not even halfway through yet!"

Ryan inhaled deeply as she brought Genevieve back to her PokéBall and turned to Achille, eyes sparkling. "Did you see what we did?!"

Achille snapped back to reality, still slightly stunned from the Fire Blast. He snagged Joiuse's Pokéball and withdrew her, letting her have a hard earned rest. "I know right, took out one of Raihan's Pokémon! I stood no chance with that Avalanche strategy, but we still took one. He's the rival of the champion!"

Whatever her response was got lost in the crowd, as new fans moved in to try and talk to the challengers who finally gained a point on Raihan.


It felt like it took hours to deal with all the questions, especially after Raihan felt like celebrating the event with several pictures. Eventually the two were freed, though, after finally being rescued by the staff so they could select one of the promotional TRs.

Achille flipped over the Flamethrower TR again in his hands. Studying it as he walked. "I somehow completely missed there was a prize tied to this. I was just going to fight Raihan."

"Same hat," Ryan laughed. "Except I didn't even mean to fight him." Her Thunderbolt TR had already been relegated to the depths of her backpack. "It was cool though! Really cool. We're a good team!"

"Yeah, we should team up more." Achille could really use helping hands when that urge to do something adventurous, but dumb came about. Like chasing after a Froslass as a rookie trainer. Or trying to chase a bank robber. Or climbing a hill that injured more experienced hikers than him. "Just send me a message if you need an extra for something."

"Definitely!"


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