[Pokémon] The Stairway to Heaven

"Any bright ideas?" Layla asked.

From her tone, it sounded to Eloy like she was trying to place the blame on him. Not the most pleasant thing in the world, but at that moment he had bigger problems than Layla looking down on him.

"I was thinking we'd hit them really hard," he replied, only half-sarcastically.

"Pure genius." The pair of them surveyed the scene before them. Deacon was on one side of the battlefield, Florence was on the other and between them, standing side by side, were Kai and Duke, looking confident. Across the sandy arena, their opponents were not even trying to conceal their smug smirks. Thankfully, it seemed they were content to bask in their moment of glory and weren't in any rush to attack again.

"The have better teamwork than us. We should should isolate them, focus on taking one of them out and then we can easily beat the last one standing," Eloy suggested, not looking away from the battlefield.

"Now you're talking sense," Layla said with a grin, "Takeout the Golduck first, it's got the range."

Eloy nodded. If Layla wanted to call that shot, he could live with that. She naturally gravitated towards that position anyway and he'd come to the same conclusion as it was.

"Peck, Deacon!" Eloy instructed, "Go under!"

"Ni!"

Deacon sprinted forward, baring his horn.

"Kai, Fire Punch!"

One of the hulking Machamp's four fists burst into flame as it lunged forward to intercept Deacon. The little Nidoran was too fast for it however, picking up the pace to narrowly avoid the blazing punch and rush through Kai's legs.

"Crap!" Their male opponent cursed, realising what Eloy was planning, "Duke, Ice Beam the Nidoran!"

The Golduck whipped around as Deacon leapt for it, the frost white-blue energy beam starting for in its open beak.

"Now!" Layla called. Florence unleashed a Charge Beam, the bright yellow blast sparking with electricity. The Electric attack struck Duke in the back and a violent shock overtook his body, the Ice Beam fading from existence as the highly effective attack took its toll. Then, Deacon's horn struck the crippled Golduck and with a huff it toppled over in a heap.

Eloy hadn't expected a single run to do it, but he wasn't about to complain. That was down, only Kai was left.

"Nicely done, Duke." Duke's trainer returned his Golduck and took a seat in the sand to watch the rest of the battle.

"Don't get excited, this is far from over," Kai's trainer said, still looking every bit as confident as before.

"I don't know," Layla smirked "You're all alone now.

"Oh please, don't get so cocky. You don't have a half a chance," the woman scoffed "Kai, Karate chop the Buneary!"

The muscled Fighting type leapt over the top of Deacon and dashed forward after Florence, bringing his arm up in preparation of a downward blow. Florence was far more agile than Kai however, leaping up and landing on his head before using it as a springboard to bound over to a place nearby Deacon, leaving the Machoke's back to both Pokemon. Eloy saw his opportunity.

"Deacon, Peck!"

"Ni!"

Deacon rushed forward and lunged up towards the open back of the Machoke, but at a sharp command from his trainer, Kai pivoted around on his left foot causing the attack to harmlessly sail past. Eloy pressed on the attack.

"Poison Sting!"

Deacon made a rapid turn and catapulted himself up towards Kai off of his hind legs to strike with his horn again, the appendage's tip now glowing a toxic purple.

"This is nothing, take it Kai!"

Eloy's eyes went wide at the unusual command, but Kai took it in his stride. The Machoke didn't move and the Poison attack struck him in the chest. He doubled over but held his ground as Deacon bounced off of him.

"Florence, Jump Kick!" Layla instructed, trying to catch Kai off-guard while he was focused on Deacon.
"Dual Chop!" Kai's trainer barked dismissively, a blue glow overtaking her Machoke's hands.

Kai swung back, swatting the leaping Buneary out the air with ease and sending her tumbling over the sand. Deacon jumped for him at that moment, but, with his other hand, Kai swung down and slammed him into the dirt.

"I told you, I'm out of your league."

"I really don't like her," Layla breathed under her breath, leaving only Eloy to hear.

"I have to admit, I'm not exactly a fan," Eloy agreed before trying to regain the offensive "Poison Sting!"

"Take it, Kai!" The unusual order came again as once more the Machoke simply allowed the Poison Sting to hit, doubling over but otherwise not budging as Deacon rebounded off his chest again.

Eloy saw out of his eyes that Gwen was grimacing and shaking her head again. At that moment, something dawned on him. Every time he'd caught that expression on Gwen's face, it had come directly after he had commanded a Poison Sting. Combining that with this strange instruction, Eloy had to question if there was a reason he shouldn't use that attack.

"Oh, that's not good," Layla suddenly said to Eloy's side and he focused his attention on the battle to have his suspicions confirmed. The Machoke was showing the unmistakable signs of being afflicted by Deacon's poison. He looked a bit peaky, he was sweating and swaying on his feet. However, Kai was also grinning viciously and his muscled seemed to have pumped up to a greater size. He practically radiated power even as he slumped slightly in his posture. The pieces of that puzzle immediately fell into place.

"Florence, Charge Beam!" Layla yelled frantically.

"Too late, kid!" The woman cried out victoriously "Kai, Dynamic Punch!"

Florence unleashed the crackling yellow beam as Kai roared a battle cry, whirling around with a fist that glowed white and orange in a violent swirl over his skin. His punch struck the Electric beam and that swirling energy burt out like an explosion, completely nullifying the Charge Beam.

"It's got Guts," Eloy winced.

"Yeah, I noticed," Layla replied sarcastically.

"You think you have time for chatting with us on the loose?" The woman interjected, "Kai, Fire Punch the Nidoran!"

"Deacon do-"

The attack came around before Eloy could finish his sentence, he had been expecting her to follow up the attack on Florence not to turn her attention back to him. Kai's fist erupted into a blaze as it struck Deacon and sent him rocketing across the battlefield, right past Eloy where he skidded to a halt in the sand. Eloy groaned.

"Sorry guys, guess it's on you," he said to Layla before turning to Deacon and drawing him back into his Pokeball "Good effort, Deacon."

"We've got this, don't worry," Laya replied "Charge Beam, again!"

"Dynamic Punch! Walk right up to it!" The woman instructed, her enthusiasm near manic now.

Florence reared back before unleashing the bright burst of electric energy at her foe. Kai strode forward smugly raising his fist to intercept it as it began to glow with the combating orange and white swirls again. Florence's attack met his fist as he continued to walk forward, pushing the beam back with his arm outstretched.

Step by painstaking step, Kai closed in on Florence as the Buneary gave the attack her every effort. Soon enough though, he was upon her. Kai stepped forward, around the beam so he was ahead of his fist and then thrust his attack forward. The beam was immediately overpowered as he drove his clenched hand into Florence and the energy around it exploded outwards in a flash. Florence was slammed into the yellow sand, grains flying up in a cloud as she left a crater beneath her. Much like Deacon, she simply lay in the impression twitching.

"See, you never had a chance," the woman gloated, returning her Machoke. "That's yet another win for us!"

"You know, you could tone it down a little, they're obviously new." The man sitting beside her spoke up. In his silence during the second half of the battle, Eloy had forgotten he was even there.

"No can do!" The woman chimed, Layla growling under her breath before moving in to collect her fallen Pokemon.

"You did well, Florence," she said "Come on." In a beam of red light, Florence was called to the confines of her own Pokeball.

Layla trudged back towards Eloy, looking rather displeased with the outcome as the woman behind her continued to gloat to her partner. Eloy thought he heard mention of Duke being knocked out a couple of times.

"Unbelievable," Layla seethed, as Gwen made her way towards them and they stepped away from the battlefield. "Absolutely unbelievable."

"Sorry you lost," Gwen said as she neared them, sounding almost like she thought it was her fault. It was odd to say the least, and apparently Layla agreed.

"What are sorry for? It's not like it's your fault the annoying wench snagged the win."

"Oh, right," Gwen replied sheepishly, an odd expression on her face. That one was going to take a while to figure out. Still, Eloy had more pressing things to ask her.

"You knew it had Guts?" Eloy queried, Gwen turning around and for a moment looking at him like she was surprised he was still there.

"No, I didn't know it had Guts."

"Then why did I catch you shaking your head after those Poison Stings?" Eloy asked.

"Well, I didn't know it had Guts, but I knew you were making a bad move." When Eloy only looked at her perplexed, she continued her explanation. "Machoke can have one of three abilities; Guts, No Guard or Steadfast. It's a one in three chance of Guts… well more than that actually because Steadfast is really rare. It didn't make any sense to risk potentially poisoning Kai and activating Guts if had that ability when you had Peck at your disposal. You should have tried looking for signs of Steadfast or No Guard first and, well, after the first few rounds it was pretty obvious that it didn't have No Guard and with Steadfast being so rare, Guts was the likely ability."

Eloy continued to stare at Gwen in surprise. Not only was that way more than he had ever heard her say, but it was an extremely impressive analysis. He hadn't gone into the battle with a mindset like that at all and for the first time he had to wonder if maybe Layla's claims about Gwen's prowess were better founded than he had originally thought.

"Wow," he finally managed to say as Gwen visibly shrank back after giving her explanation. Evidently, knowledge was not a cure for shyness.

"Alright, enough of that!" Layla suddenly and vigorously interjected "We can talk strategy later, but for now, we're going back to my place to drown our sorrows in junk food!"

A slight smile returned to Gwen's face as Layla stormed off along the beach and she hurried off in tow, only to stop suddenly when Layla turned back around, still looking quite put out.

"Well what are you still standing around for Pinky," she said "Lets go, didn't you hear me?"

"Wait, what?"

"My place. Copious amounts of junk food. Let's go."

"Right," Eloy said with a confused sigh and began trailing along behind their procession.

Team Eloy

​

The gate clanged shut behind Eloy, and he felt his heart beat just that bit harder because of it. He had never felt more out of place in his life than he had at that particular moment. He was a farm boy from Citri, he'd grown up in a simple house on unkempt land. Yet here he was, standing outside a lavish two-story dwelling with immaculate stone cladding, manicured hedges and a wide pillared porch that stretched the length of the buildings. Concrete steps led up to the vast oaken font door and it was in that direction he was headed.

Eloy wasn't entirely sure how he had ended up there. He didn't know Layla well, he didn't even particular like her and he didn't get the impression she thought that much of him either. Yet now he was stuck heading up towards her ridiculously fancy house with a locked gate behind him.

"Well," he said "That's some house."

"Not surprising you'd have that reaction," Layla said, grinning back at him "It's a lot bigger than anything you'd be used to in the middle of nowhere."

"You're not wrong," Eloy admitted. There it was again, that gloating. He was uncomfortable enough without having the difference in their status lorded over him like that. He glanced over at Gwen, who had returned to her usual degree of silence and was surprised to see that she didn't look particularly at ease either. He remembered that Layla had said she originally lived in Avent Town, perhaps she didn't come from wealth either. Not for the first time, he found himself wondering how the two girls had ended up in each others company. They were as different as water and wine.

"Honestly," Layla continued suddenly "It's a lot bigger than it needs to be. I don't have any siblings, I'm travelling now and neither of my parents are home very often since they work. But, if you can afford luxury, you might as well embrace it I suppose."

"Right…" Eloy said with a sigh. He'd never really experienced being a fish out of water before, but he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he wasn't fond of the feeling. It was fine just wandering through the city, exciting even. But to be dragged directly into a world he didn't belong in was something else entirely.

Layla pointed something at the door and clicked. Eloy head a light clunking sound, then the heavy wood began to slowly swing open. He'd been wondering how they coped with shunting open the enormous doors every time they wanted to enter or exit the building, that answered that question.

Beyond the oversized door was, pretty much exactly what Eloy had imagined. It was like stepping into the set of a high society drama. He was standing in a wide foyeur with a white marble floor that was occupied primarily by two sweeping, curved staircases that lead up to the exposed second floor of the building. An expensive red rug, trimmed with gold, sat in the middle of the floor. Beyond the staircase a series of glass windows and a set of Kalosian-styled doors opened out onto a patio much like the front veranda, leading out into the perfectly maintained sprawl of the back garden. Eloy exhaled audibly as the breath left his lungs.

"You live in a cliche," he spluttered, finally finding his words, "This looks like every rich person's house in every movie I've ever seen."

The silence was broken by sudden laughter, catching Eloy off guard. He hadn't managed to filter his words and was a bit worried he'd offend Layla, but instead she was giggling hysterically. Even Gwen was smiling cheerfully at that moment. It was quite confusing.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just, Gwe-" Layla couldn't finish her sentence, she was once again taken over by a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"It's because I said the exact same thing when I first saw this place the other day," Gwen said, still smiling softly as she watched her friend struggling to control herself, "I'm told I had the exact same wide stare on my face too."

Layla continued laughing for several moments, her voice echoing through the expansive, apparently empty house. Finally however, she managed to catch her breath.

"It's funny," she said "You're nothing alike, but you both had the exact same reaction. It's big sure, but it's just a house."

"Pretty sure," Eloy replied, "You'd call this a mansion." Layla started laughing again, albeit exercising somewhat more restraint.

"Who calls their own home a mansion? You're such a dork. Come on, we'll head up to my room."

"Sorry." Eloy rolled his eyes, "The ways of high society are foreign to me, as you might have noticed."

Layla snorted, as she started making her way up the stairs, Gwen trailing along behind her and Eloy, somewhat reluctantly, joining the rear of their little procession. He followed the two girls down a wide hallway, passing a few doors until Layla turned and opened one, stepping inside with Gwen following close behind. Eloy took a deep breath before heading in after them, freezing just beyond the threshold.

He hadn't been entirely sure what he was going to see, but it hadn't been what greeted his eyes. Never in a million year would he have anticipated walking into something so shockingly… normal.
While the room was certainly quite a bit larger than his own, there was nothing particularly out there about it. The walls shared the same white as most of the house, bar one which was painted a bright yellow around a window. A wide bed occupied one side of the room, while a writing desk and several shelves and cupboards occupied much of the other side. A couple of purple bean bags sat squished into a corner.

"What, never been in a girls room before? Stop gawking and sit down somewhere!" Layla jibed, from where she had flopped onto the bed, which Gwen was now sitting on the edge of rather rigidly.

"I haven't been in many rooms, period." Eloy pulled out Laya's desk chair and took a seat, finding it quite comfortable. The simple desk before it was empty, although it had several draws that probably contained her belongings. Behind the desk was a pinup board, to which were stuck a handful of images depicting various things: Pokemon battles, an image of the current Elite Four standing together and photo of her and Gwen at what seemed to be a park of some sort.

"That's pretty sad," Layla commented.

"Welcome to life in the country, there wasn't many people around my age in Citri Town," Eloy replied, trying not to be too defensive, "There was more in Avent Town, but I didn't get to see any of them often enough to get overly close."

"That's not making it less sad, but whatever." Layla shrugged "Anyway, we should let Florence and your Nidoran out. They should be alright since it wasn't that serious a batte, but Gwen should look them over anyway."

Without another word, she released her Buneary onto the bed next to Gwen. The Normal type appeared in a flash, flopping down next to the girl with her ears hanging dejectedly. Apparently, Florence was not a fan of losing.

"Bun," she huffed, Gwen taking that as permission to start looking her over. Eloy watched, curious. It seemed like Gwen knew quite a lot about Pokemon, and that this post-battle checkup was almost a ritual given how Florence seemed to have pretty much expected it.

"You too," Gwen prompted, pulling a potion out of her bag and beginning to administer it to Florence, who perked up slightly as the treatment continued.

"Right, Deacon, come on," Eloy said, reaching for his own pokeball and releasing Deacon into the room. The instant Deacon emerged, he began looking around wildly, forgetting his injuries and much more interested in this new environment. He bounded around the room several times, before finally his eyes locked onto Florence and he bristled.

"Ni!"

"Bun!"

Florence leapt to her feat and scowled at the Nidoran. Eloy scooped Deacon up from behind, the little Poison type struggling for a moment before he realised what was happening and fell slack in his trainer's arms.

"He's so very friendly," Layla remarked, rolling her eyes.

"He usually is," Eloy responded, "No idea why, but it's only your Buneary he doesn't like. Give it a rest Deacon, we're in their house."

"Ni," Came the dejected response as Florence continued to glare daggers as Deacon and Eloy.

Gwen moved on to treating Deacon then, taking him gently from Eloy's arms and starting to examine him.

"You know a lot," Eloy commented "Were you hoping to find work with a Pokemon Centre once you're done traveling?"

"Who, me?" Gwen remarked, focusing on Deacon still, "No, that's not for me."

"Almost seems a shame," Eloy said offhandedly "It's really impressive how much you know."

"Good luck convincing her of that one," Layla said, grinning fiendishly "She adamantly refuses to admit how amazing she is. Says any breeder should know that much at least. She's so modest it hurts."

Gwen blushed at that, Eloy turning to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Looking to be a breeder, then? That makes sense too."

Gwen nodded, now looking at Deacon so hard she might have been trying to move him with her mind as she started to administer a second potion.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while before Layla broke the silence again then.

"So, you're challenging the gyms too right? Have you battled Hansel yet?"

"Not yet, I was going to do that tomorrow. Have you?"

"Of course," Layla replied smugly "He was the first gym I challenged. I wanted to get that one over and done with as soon as I could."

Gwen, still red-faced, nodded in agreement and made an odd choking noise. Layla also seemed to grimace slightly.

"Uh… I think I'm missing something here," Eloy said, looking quizzically between the two of them.

"Oh, I don't think it'll be a problem for you," Layla giggled "Come on, surely you've seen the stories about him?"

"We are staying far away from him," Gwen interjected, suddenly very firm. Then, apparently realising her outburst, she hurriedly returned to pampering Deacon, much to Florence's chagrin as she continued to glare at the pink Pokemon.

"Guess I can't count on you for an audience then," Eloy said. He tried to keep the relief out of his voice. He had been starting to worry that they might try to tag along and he really didn't need Laya heckling from the sides.

"You couldn't anyway," Layla replied, poking her tongue out, "We're leaving for Techniti tomorrow. We only stuck around here as long as we did because my parents insisted I visit for long enough for them to try and change my mind about the gym challenge."

"They don't want you to take on the league?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Layla replied with a sigh "Far too complicated for you, I'm afraid."

"I'm sure," Eloy replied dryly seeing that the sky outside the window was slowly starting to darken, "Well, I'm going to head back to my room and have dinner since it's getting later. I'll see you around."

Layla let him out through the automated doors and gates shortly after that and he began making his way back towards the Pokemon Centre with Deacon happily prancing around around his heels after the extended pampering he got courtesy of Gwen.

Team Eloy

​

The Erythie Gym could almost have been mistaken for a fancy hotel or an art gallery. Outside the front of the building was a stone forecourt occupied at the centre by an ornate fountain depicting a togekiss, a gardevoir, an azumarill and a handful of marill and azurill frolicking together. Beyond that, the building itself rose up, a crescent shaped building with a large glass pyramid rising up in the centre of it. The front of the building was comprised almost entirely of glass with a double door in the middle and two long curved windows sweeping up along the rest of the building. It looked to Eloy as if the windows had been created by melting several smaller glass sheets together, as the glass seemed to merge and wrap around itself in intricate spirals. Upon seeing this, Eloy froze out the front of the structure for several moments, questioning if he had actually come to the right place despite knowing full well he had.

"Seeing it in pictures doesn't have quite the same feel," Eloy said to himself. It felt surreal and weird walking into the building knowing it was to engage in battle. Nonetheless, that was why he was there, so he made his way through the heavy glass doors and into the gym's lobby.

Much like the exterior, it was discordantly fancy and formal for a gym. Several ovoid chairs made of comfortable velvet rested around the area, sitting on top of a hard, cream-coloured marble floor. A long desk made of the same material rested at the back of the room, to each side of it, what looked like elevator doors. Sitting at the desk was a lone, young brunette woman in a very business-like attire. Eloy approached her, still marvelling at how utterly unsuited to Pokemon battled the building was. It had an uncomfortably formal atmosphere.

"Uh… excuse me," he began, "I'm here to challenge the gym?"

The woman looked up from whatever she had been reading on the desk, giving Eloy a once over.

"Certainly," she said, sounding quite worn and tired, "You came at a good time, for once, Hansel doesn't have any pre-booked challenges until this evening. Frankly, he was starting to get antsy." Her tone suggested that this was not a good thing.

She sighed, seeming to procrastinate for a moment before reaching forward and pressing something. Eloy heard a faint buzzing sound before the woman leaned forward and spoke into a mic Eloy couldn't see behind the desk.

"You'll be pleased to know that you have a challenger."

What followed was a rather anticlimactic silence. The moments ticked on before finally, the door to Eloy's left slid open and a man, instantly recognisable to Eloy, stepped through. Hansel was a head taller than Eloy, with lithe, effeminate features. His blonde hair was slicked back tightly against himself and vivid blue eyes looked past long eyelashes. He was dressed in tight dress pants and a white dress shirt with the top several buttons left open to reveal a gold necklace bearing a floral pendant. Eloy had seen on internet discussion that Hansel had a lot of female admirers and he had to admit that he thought he could see why. While he was far from masculine looking, he was definitely very handsome. Eloy also noted, that he practically bounded out the door, he looked almost like an excited child and wore a radiant smile.

That was, until he laid eyes on Eloy and his expression was replaced with a look of utmost disappointment as he walked up towards Eloy behind the desk.

"Oh," he said flatly.

"Oh?" Eloy echoed, confused by the immediate shift upon seeing him.

"Yes," Hansel said, his tone pompous and yet still dejected, "I'm afraid you'll have to forgive my disappointment, I had rather been hoping to find myself in the company of another lovely lady challenger. I get quite of pretty girls visiting my gym and I much prefer their company."

"What?" Eloy said, his tone remaining as flat as a busted tire, "I'm not here to hang out, I'm here to challenge you." He was utterly bemused by the strange comment from the gym leader.

"Yes, yes, I know," Hansel snipped, quite literally handwaving Eloy. He moved up to his receptionist and leaned down over her, the chain with the flower-shaped pendant dangling in front of her face. Eloy watched on squeamishly as Hansel brought his face uncomfortably close to the receptionist's, brushing his fingertips over her cheek. "I do wish you had warned me, my dear. I wouldn't have got my hopes up. The pink hair didn't help of course, but I'm afraid it's not enough to improve the situation.

Eloy's had instinctively reached up to his hair, as he felt his mood shifting from confusion to annoyance.

"What's wrong with pink hair?" he questioned irritably, only to have Hansel completely ignore that he had said anything.

"Sorry," the receptionist sighed, looking some combination of angry, drained, queasy and weary at once. Hansel cupped her face for a moment, causing her eyes to suddenly widen.

"Hey…" Eloy began, but Hansel cut him off, talking the woman still.

"Well, as long as you know for next time. I'm afraid I'll just have to make do today." He finally turning to acknowledge Eloy again at that point, straightening up to his full height again. "Well, let's get this over with."

Hansel immediately began walking back towards the door without another word, leaving Eloy to trail along behind him, looking apologetically back over his shoulder at the receptionist. He now had a distinct impression he understood why she had seemed to haggard when spoke to her, and also why Layla and Gwen had such an adamant dislike of the gym leader. He could scarcely imagine how their first interactions with him had gone. He couldn't help but shudder at the thought as he stepped through the door.

Once he was in though, and the door started to close behind him, he temporarily forgot his dislike of the gym leader in favour of being surprised by what was in front of him. He had been wondering what kind of battlefield he had to look forward to, this was not what he imagined.

He had stepped through onto a carpeted walkway, with velvet-covered tiered seating rising up to his left. To his right, he could see that the other door had lead to a matching setup. What caught his attention though, was that a few steps down from the walkway lead out onto the battlefield: a stone slab in varying shades of dark grey that twisted and wrapped over itself in alien swirls as though it had been partially liquified and stirred. It reminded him of the glass at the front of the building. There were two platforms made of the same stone at the ends of the battlefield, with a set of steps leading up to them. Above them rose the great glass pyramid Eloy had seen from the outside, illuminating the battlefield in natural light.

On the platform furthest from Eloy sat would could only be described as a throne. A hefty gold high-backed chair with intricate designs engraved across its exterior and a deep purple cushion on its seat and backrest. Hansel was already walking towards it.

"A throne room, really?" Eloy breathed, still standing bewildered by the sight.

"Are you going to stand there gawking all day?" Hansel called, now flopping down into the throne sulkily. Eloy was instantly brought back to reality, instantly remembering his dislike of this particular gym leader. He was now remembering that among all the adoring comments fawning over Hansel, there had alway been a handful describing unpleasant experiences. He had always taken them for sore losers spreading rumours… evidently that was not the case. It was deeply unnerving that one of the gym leaders he had been taught to idolise was so contemptible. Eloy was just as desperate to get things over and done with as Hansel was.

Eloy descended the steps and found his place on the opposing platform, noting that Hansel didn't move to stand up himself but continued to laze in his chair.

"Finally," the gym leader drawled, "This will be a two on two single battle. You can switch if you want, I can't. If that's all let's get this over with."

"The battle between the challenger and Leader Hansel will now commence," a female voice announced. Eloy's head jerked to the side and he noticed that there was a dark haired girl in a similar outfit as the receptionist standing meekly,pressed into the wall. Though she spoke with confidence and clarity, she was so still and backed into the wall that Eloy had not even noticed her presence.

"Gisele, you're first," Hansel declared matter-of-factly, pulling out a pokeball and releasing his first Pokemon. There was a flash and the rounded blue body of a Maril appeared, its orb-ended tail bobbing behind it as it bounced on its feet cheerily.

"Marill!" She declared, almost seeming to be attempting to make up for Hansel's lack of enthusiasm.

"Let's do this quickly," Hansel instructed. Gisele cried out happily in response, seemingly giving the affirmative.

"Alright, Deacon, you're up," Eloy announced, tossing his partner's Pokeball up and releasing him from its confines. Deacon, much like Gisele, gave an enthusiastic cheer at his freedom and proceeded to run in circles before Eloy, eventually coming to stop facing his opponent.

For the first time since meeting Hansel, Eloy grinned. He and the unpleasant gym leader both wanted the battle over with as soon as possible and he was determined to make that happen with a victory. He was going to blow through Hansel's team of Fairies with Deacon's type advantage without having to risk a poor performance from Maestro until he worked out how to battle better with him.

"A Poison type. How original." Hansel rolled his eyes, "Gisele, Rollout!"

In that instant, the battle was on. The bubbly Marill hopped forward before jumping up into the air, curling into a ball as she did so. She hit the ground, still tightly bundled and then suddenly rocketed forward like a cannonball, rolling over the ground like she was being used to knock down pins.

"Poison Sting!" Eloy countered, caught by surprise by the sudden attack.

The tip of Deacon's horn lit up just in time as Gisele closed in on him. Deacon thrust the shining purple point of his horn forward and the two Pokemon collided. For an instant, the two were equal, but then Deacon was sent careening into the side of Eloy's platform with a winded gasp as Gisele giddily rolled backwards and onto her feet where she resumed her bouncing motion.

Eloy grimaced, apparently he wasn't going to be able to breeze through this as easily as he had hoped.

"Surprise," Hansel said snarkily, "Gisele's got Huge Power."

Team Eloy

​

Layla stood in the centre of her room with her hands on her hips, scowling at the man in the doorway as Gwen did her best to sink directly into the wall in the corner. This was not the first time such a scene had played out between Layla and her father, and she was certain it was far from the last.

The two of them couldn't have looked less alike. Although they were similar in height, they were otherwise different in nearly every other way. Where Layla was pale and slender, her father had a distinctive tan and broad shoulders, his body starting to show faint signs of a departure from his fitness routine although we was for the most part, clearly strong and fit. Dark hair and a well-cropped beard, both peppered with grey adorned his face and murky brown eyes - a stark contrast to the vivid amber of his daughter's looked through stylish glasses. Even their demeanours were different, as Layla's impudent posture was met by that of a man standing perfectly at east with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I'm sorry," Layla snapped, "What did you just say?"

"I said," her father began, his smooth voice confident and controlled in comparison to his daughter's, "Perhaps it is high time that you abandon this charade of a trainer's journey and focus on being where you are needed."

"Exactly what part of my journey is a charade?" Layla countered, "I've already gotten my hands on three badges and once you get out of our way, I'm heading back to Techniti to win the tournament there too."

"I don't really care if you've already won eight badges," Layla's father continued, continuing to look directly into the furious gaze of his child, "Any time you and that failed experiment I let you keep with you lose publicly, it's bad advertising."

"Florence has a name, first of all," Layla growled, her temper steadily rising, "and you didn't think she was such a failed experiment when you tested her. She's the only one that survived and she's got perfect IVs. You know damn well she's already stronger than the average Lopunny and she hasn't even evolved yet."

Her father raised an eyebrow for a moment at that, almost as if taken aback that his daughter had remembered the technical details of her Buneary's birth. At this point in her life though, Layla had learned that her father was not the sort to be taken aback. This was just the start of his next attack.

"Yet despite this, I hear from a colleague that he saw you lose a common street battle on the beach yesterday. Does that mean you're the problem?"

Layla's eyes narrowed to slits as her fingers dug into her hips. She knew that Gwen was continuing to watch from the corner, probably scared out of her mind given how pleasant her other interactions with the man had been. A quick glance in her friend's direction confirmed this. Gwen was looking uncomfortably between the argument and her feet, arms wrapped around herself as she tugged at her own sleeve nervously.

"I lost on the beach because it was a tag battle and my partner was nowhere near as good as me."

Her father's eyes shifted slightly towards Gwen and Layla felt her anger surge again. The disdain he'd showed her from the beginning was enough to irritate Layla, but she'd be damned if her friend was taking the wrap for her and Eloy's loss.

"Gwen is better than me, you idiot," Layla snarled, "I was partnered with someone else. So if you think you're going to bl-"

"I'm really no-" Gwen began, softly in the corner. She was quickly silenced by a sharp look from Layla though, before the girl returned her glare to her father.

"That was surprisingly selfless for someone more interested in her own vanity project that what's good for her family," Layla's father said, his tone still eerily calm despite the venom in his words.

"What did you say?!" Layla snapped, her raised voice now reaching a full blown yell.

"That's what it is, and you know it," the man replied, paying the outburst no mind, "Meanwhile, you're causing me and your mother trouble. Quite frankly, I don't give a damn about your journey. I don't care how many badges you earn. I don't care how many times you lose even. Not until you decide to do in front of a horde of onlookers and potentially hurt our brand. How am I supposed to convince investors that this product is worth such a costly project if my own daughter is actively sabotaging my business on her own whims? Let alone how I'll sell to prospective clients."

Layla gripped her hips ever tighter as Gwen tried to push herself even further back into the corner of the room, meeting with little success at that point.

"You know," Layla began, suddenly seeming to become unnervingly calm, "It's pretty ironic that you attacked me for not caring about your ambitions in the same breath as telling me how little you care about mine. You're not wrong though, I don't give two shits about your company and I don't much like what you do."

For the first time now, it was parent not child who visibly flushed with anger, his face growing ever so slightly redder as his hands moved from behind his back to be clenched tightly at his side. Much like he had ignored her displays of fury, Layla disregarded this entirely. Instead, she reached into her bag and removed a pokeball, expanded it and releasing the Pokemon within with a flash.

The light took shape, fading to reveal a violently yellow Pokemon with spiky, prickly fur. It lowered itself into a pouncing position as its fur bristled up, crackling with electricity. It instantly picked up on the tense atmosphere and was ready to act. To his credit, Layla's father did not back away.

Layla herself however, took a step forward, vaguely aware of the sound of Gwen breathing heavily from where she hid behind her.

"So here's what's going to happen" Layla said matter-of-factly, "I'm going to keep pursuing my own goals and I'll leave you to yours. You're not going to stop me. Now get out of our way or Edith here is going to shoot you full of lightning - and if you think that's an empty threat, that's just proof you spent too much time with your company and not enough raising me yourself. Move."

For several moments, it seemed that there would be no compliance. A bark from Layla's Jolteon and an increase in the electricity sparking across her fur though made it apparent that the time to choose between moving aside and being electrocuted was now up. The once calm gaze of Layla's father hardened into a murderous glare, but he stepped back out of the doorway to the other side of the hall.

Layla strode out of the room and down the hall with her Jolteon at her side as Gwen scurried out the room behind her and hurried to catch up.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Oh yeah," Layla replied sarcastically, although a faint smile had returned to her face, "Just threatened to have my Pokemon murder my dad. Everything's peachy. I'm absolutely sure that's not going to have any repercussions."

Despite herself, Gwen couldn't help but smile back at Layla as they made to exit the building. Although, her expression was soon to falter. She could still see the burning anger in the blonde's eyes.

"He called her a product," she said.

"My Dad's a charming guy."

​

"Rollout again, Gisele." Hansel sounded like he didn't even want to be there, which wasn't exactly a shock at that point. Eloy was starting to feel the same way. Unfortunately though, Hansel's Maril was plenty enthusiastic about continuing their battle.

She jumped up, wrapping herself tightly into a ball and rocketed off towards Deacon, who was plodding back towards her, still shaking off the impact from the first Rollout. Having seen how easily Deacon had been overpowered by the first and knowing that the Rock move was ne that grew more powerful with each successive use, Eloy knew he had limited options.

"Over the top and then Double Kick!" Eloy called.

Gisele's cannonball-like body reached Deacon just as he shook off the last of the grogginess from his body.

"Ni!" The Poison type yelped in surprise, coming to just to see Gisele already upon him. Thankfully, he was quick enough on the uptake to follow Eloy's instructions. He jumped over the top of the Marill, scrunching his body forward as his front legs touched down. Then, he thrust his back legs out, his body unclenching as he unleashed the attack. Deacon's kick caught the spinning Marill just before she was out of range, throwing her off balance and knocking her sprawling. Deacon rounded on her, lashing out with a second kick than smacked her into the platform Eloy was standing on.

"Fighting moves aren't going to do anything to Gisele," Hansel commented wryly, looking bored.

"Wasn't really the point," Eloy retorted, "Poison Sting!"

Deacon lunged forward as the tip of his horn began to emmenate its poisonous glow. The attack struck Gisele in the back as she climbed back to her feet, causing the Maril to shriek with surprise and pain. The Double Kick had just been to throw off her Rollout, this was the damage dealer.

"Poison moves do plenty," Eloy noted smugly. Hansel however, just shook his head with disappointment.

"Sure, but with weak moves like yours? You'll still need to do better. Bubblebeam."

Without even turning to face Deacon, Gisele opened her mouth wide and blasted out a torrent of shimmering, deep blue bubbles. The bubbles massing in size as they moved away from her and smashing into the stone platform like missiles. More and more of the bubble projectiles shot out as Newton's laws took effect.

Gisele shot backwards into Deacon, knocking the Nidoran off of his feet and sending him rolling across the hard ground. As her victim skid along the battlefield, Gisele whirled around, the Bubblebeam following her motion like a whip and bombing Deacon with watery bullets. Deacon was lifted off his feet again, this time slamming into the opposite platform. Hansel looked down on the Nidoran at his feet with something bordering on disgust.

"Honestly," he said, "What are you even trying to do? Bounce, Gisele."

Gisele rocked back onto her orbed tail, the appendage compressing like a spring before pistoning up, catapulting Gisele into the air. Gisele spun head over heels through the air across the battlefield, closing in over the top of Deacon and swinging her tail down overhead like a mace.

"Horn Attack, Deacon!" Eloy yelled, his Nidoran's horn glowing a bright white as he threw himself to his feet, swinging his head up from where he had slumped. The two attacks collided with a bang, the combatants struggling against each other for a moment before breaking apart. Gisele went flying back across the battlefield as Deacon slammed once again into the hard pillar that Hansel's throne rested upon. "Leer!"

From where he lay, Deacon looked up to meet Gisele's gaze as she returned to her feet. His eyes flashed an angry read, the light briefly mirrored in those of his opponent. Eloy watched as the Maril seemed to deflate slightly, the status move draining her strength.

"That's not going to be enough," Hansel taunted in a singsong voice.

"Ni!" Deacon cried out defiantly, rising back to his feet again and charging the Marill.

"Ice Punch it!" Hansel snapped as Deacon neared.

Gisele's tiny fist glowed a frosty blue-white as the water vapour in the air around it condescend, seeming to form a misty vapour around the attack as the Marill lashed out.

"Back up and then Poison Sting!" Eloy shouted. Just in time, Deacon abandoned his charge, jumping backwards from his hind legs as the Ice Punch missed him and struck the ground, a thin frozen sheet coating a section of the battlefield around the impact. As this happened, the purple glow of the Poison Sting ignited at the tip of Deacon's horn as he suddenly lunged forward, driving it into the Fairy type in front of him.

Giselle howled as the advantageous attack hit her, smashing her back across the battlefield in Eloy's direction, where she skidded to a halt.

"Follow it up with another one!" Eloy shouted, intent on capitalising on his advantage and pressing the attack. Horn still alight with his attack, Deacon barrelled forward after his foe.
"Yawn," Hansel said, feigning the action he had described, "Bubblebeam!"

The Gym Leader's Marill whipped back around, unloading another barrage of the torrential bubble against Deacon. The Nidoran rushed through the attacks, his horn exploding bubble after bubble into a glistening spray as he ran, but the attack kept coming and his momentum was slowing. Soon, he was overcome by a veritable tsunami of enormous blue bubbles and the attack blasted him back once more, sending him shooting back in the direction he had come from.

"Now, Rollout, Gisele," Hansel ordered, his tone indicating his intent to finish Deacon off then and there as the Nidoran once again slammed into the leader's platform.

Gisele dove forward into the bubble spray, assuming her balled up position as she did so and launching herself at Deacon across the battlefield. As she did so, her forward momentum caught the remains of her Bubblebeam in a slip stream, drawing them to her and wrapping her form in shimmering blue bubbles and water in a wheel formation.

Gisele reached Deacon, the combination attack exploding against him as he cried out from the impact, a wave of water rushing over him as the Rollout struck him, splashing the ground at the foot of Hansel's throne. Gisele jumped back from the crumpled form of the Nidoran as, body shaking, Deacon stubbornly tried to regain his footing.

"That's one round over," Hansel intoned dispassionately, "Ice Punch."

Gisele pushed back into her tail, using it as a spring to thrust herself forward as the misty, frosty glow of the Ice attack enveloped her fist again. A confident smirk was plastered on the Maril's face, she was going in for the finishing move and she knew it.

"Roll under her and use Poison Sting!" Eloy shouted desperately, his mind racing.

With a groan, Deacon went into a roll, slipping below Gisele as he fist struck her trainer's platform with a resounding thud that echoed throughout their arena. As her attack struck the structure, Deacon launched his.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" he howled wildly as the glowing tip of his horn slammed into Gisele's back with a frenzied strength.

"Pin her there!" Eloy called, seizing his one chance.

Deacons mad cry continued, growing louder as he pressed his weight into the attack, jamming Gisele into the hard surface of the platform as his toxic energy radiated across her body, painting a purple shine over her blue form. A wail rose up in harmony with Deacons battle cry as the attack continued, the cacophony rising in volume until suddenly it felt silent, Gisele slumping against the pillar unconscious as Deacon ended the attack.

Deacon stumbled backwards away from his fallen foe, crying out with victorious joy before turning and bounding back across the field in Eloy's direction.

"Ni!" the haggered Nidoran cried out, before turning to face whatever was coming next.

"Excellent work, Deacon!" Eloy cheered at his companion. Still, this was no time to be celebrating. Deacon was beaten, bruised and exhausted. The Nidoran was panting heavily, on his last legs and Eloy had to count on him to make it through the next battle too. Hansel was a terrible person, but he was a very good battler. Eloy knew Deacon had to win the next round, because Maestro wasn't ready for this level of combat yet.

"Don't get so excited yet," Hansel scoffed, rolling his eyes as he returned his defeated Marill, "Your Nidoran can barely stand and this battle is far from finished… or at least it would be if I wasn't about to blow right through you. Marcel, go."

Hansel tossed his second pokeball, and with the familiar flash of a Pokemon emerging from one of the capsules, the Fairy leader's next combatant entered the fray. The Pokemon Hansel chose was humanoid, standing at about four feet tall with thin gangly limbs and large glove-like hands. Its heavily rounded head was adorned with a set of protrusions that resembled a jester's hat and a wide, disturbing smile was plastered onto its face. Eloy, as anyone would, recognised the distinctive form of a Mr. Mime immediately and grimaced.

"What's with the Gym Leaders in our region all using such creepy Pokemon," Eloy said flatly, his mind frantically racing to try and work out how to counter the unusual Pokemon's partial Psychic typing that was dangerously effective on Poison Pokemon like Deacon. He hadn't counted on this particular turn of events.

"Scared?" Hansel smirked, "That's the appropriate reaction. Marcel, use Psybeam."

Still smiling broadly, the Mr. Mime drew back its glove-like hands behind it and then thrust them forward. From the space between them, a discordant blue beam shot forward, a mismatch of differently coloured strands running through it.

"Deacon, move!" Eloy shouted, but the attack came too fast and too suddenly. Deacon was engulfed as the Psychic beam washed over him. Then, as soon as it had come, the attack was over and Eloy was looking on in horror as Hansel's wide-eyed, perpetually smiling Mr. Mime stood before an unmoving Deacon.

"The challenger's Pokemon is unable to continue. This round goes to Hansel."

The referee called from where she stood like a statue, once again surprising Eloy with her existence.

"Obviously," Hansel said condescendingly, his smirk deepening.

Eloy's heart sunk. The only thing standing between him and a defeat at the hands of the malicious gym leader now was Maestro.

Team Eloy

​

"Alright, Maestro, let's go," Eloy said, projecting a confidence he did not feel as he stood down the eternally smiling face of Marcel, the Mr. Mime. He tossed his pokeball lightly forward and with a flash, Maestro appeared. The Kricketot took several moment, looking about, until its eyes settle on Marcel and he physically recoiled, taking several steps back.

"Really? That's the best you've got?" Hansel said, cackling to himself, "Well at least I know my disappointment is almost over."

"You think so? Guess it won't feel so great if you lose then," Eloy retorted, "Get ready Maestro, we're winning this." Eloy knew that his chances of victory were slim at best, but he'd be damned if he was giving up now, against this particular gym leader. If he was going down, he and Maestro were going to make Marcel work for his win.

"The fact you have to say 'if' says it all. Marcel, Psybeam!" Marcel ordered and the battle was on once again.

The Mr. Mime thrust his hands forward and the blue beam awash with the abstract mash of colours was shooting forward towards Maestro, the little Bug type giving a little squeak as the attack neared.

"Struggle Bug!" Eloy commanded.

A red light overtook Maestro's body, rising up in a glowing pillar before it expanded, pushing outwards in all directions. Psybeam met Struggle Bug, the attacks exploding into a glittering cloud of remnants upon their collision.

"Aright, Bug Bite!" Eloy called.

"Tot!" Maestro replied, breaking into his comical, ungainly run with his stumpy legs. He approached at his full speed, which was faster than one might have expected given his body. Despite this though, Hansel didn't make a move to try and halt the Kricketot's progress. Maestro reached melee distance from Marcel, leaping forward in an attempt to bite down on the smiling Mr. Mime.

"Protect," Hansel said, sighing dramatically.

A sphere of green energy pulsed into existence around Marcel, Maestro slamming head first into the protective shield and falling onto the hard battlefield. The Kricketot rolled with the impact, quickly returning to his feet.

"Dazzling Gleam!" Hansel instructed, switching to the offensive.
A bright light flashed outwards from the Mr. Mime, forcing Maestro's eyes shut from the brightness. The force of the attack blasted Maestro off his feet and sent him tumbling across the battlefield once more. Maestro was halfway back across the battlefield when he once more returned to his feet. This time though, Eloy could see he'd felt the attack.

"Now, Hypnosis, Marcel," Hanel pressed on, gleefully smirking at the look of dismay his command prompted to form on Eloy's visage.

There was nothing that Eloy could do before the attack set in. Marcel's eyes glowed an eerie blue and he waved his hands around in front of him in a mesmerizing motion. Maestro couldn't look away, flashing with a pale blue light before falling forward in a deep sleep.

Laughing, Hansel gave the order for another Psybeam against the helpless Bug. Once more, the peculiar looking beam shot forward, striking Maestro and irradiating him in its light as it blasted him into the side of Eloy's platform. Maestro slumped there, still asleep.

"Maestro, wake up!" Eloy yelled, trying to snap his Kricketot out of Marcel's spell, but it was to no avail.

"See, it's hopeless for you. You should just give up already," Hansel sneered.

"Not likely," Eloy replied before continuing in his attempts to rouse Maestro.

"Suit yourself," Hansel said, "Nasty Plot and then Psybeam again."

For a brief moment, the perpetual, blank smile on Hansel's Mr. Mime was replaced with a look of intense malevolent glee as a faint black shadow emmenated over his body. Then, as the shadow faded, the smile returned and the attack continued.

Marcel thrust his hands forward in the now familiar gesture and with it came an explosive Psybeam, the scope of the attack seeming to have double in power after the boost from Nasty Plot.

Eloy winced as the Psybeam struck home, pinning the still sleeping Maestro against the platform as it bathed him in the bizzare light of the attack, inflicting heaping amounts of damage on Maestro while he could do nothing about it.

As the attack continued on, Maestro's exoskeleton seemed to darken, grey and harden. Then it began to crack. Eloy was horror-stricken for a moment, before it dawned on him what was happening. The dead shell exploded outwards, revealing Maestro in a freshly grown exoskeleton, wide awake. His ability, Shed Skin, had taken affect and freed him from his induced slumber. Maestro immediately began to scream out in pain.

"Struggle Bug, quick!" Eloy shouted.

Even as Maestro screeched, a red glow could be seen through the colour-speckled blue of the Psybeam. Then, that red light burst outwards, dispersing the Psybeam and freeing Maestro from the onslaught, earning him a brief reprieve. Yet Maestro was huffing and puffing, he wasn't standing as firm as he had before, he was on his last legs after having taken such a heavy assault and Marcel hadn't taken a single hit. Eloy grimaced, he could hear the bells tolling on his chance at defeating Hansel. He almost found himself reaching for Maestro's ball, but he couldn't bring himself to give Hansel the satisfaction of seeing him quit.

"Maestro…" Eloy began, unsure of what command he could even give.

"Tot!" Maestro shouted suddenly, and in that moment a brilliant white light erupted from his body, blindingly bright and radiating a powerful feeling. Eloy watched on in awe as Maestro's body grew within the light, thinning out as he became taller and his limbs extended. Then, instantly, the light was extinguished and Maestro was a changed Pokemon. He was twice as tall as before, with long antenna and even longed, bladed arms. His face was adorned with a fabulous moustache like appendage below wide, expressive eyes. Maestro had become the first of Eloy's Pokemon to evolve. Now he was a Kricketune.

Maestro turned to look at Eloy, then looked down at his new form, inspecting the blades on his arms. He gave a long,drawn out musical, joyous cry and then turned back to nce more face his opponent.

"Woah," Eloy breathed, feeling suddenly giddy with excitement. Every negative emotion he had, at least for that moment, seemed to evaporate and be replaced by the warmth of the pride he felt in his newly evolved Kricketune. He couldn't believe he'd doubted him.

"I hate to rain on your parade," Hansel said, his voice cutting through the pleasant atmosphere like a knife and returning it to the cold stagnant feel he had been fostering. It was clear that in actuality, he very much enjoyed raining on Eloy's parade, "That was quite the spectacle and all, but it doesn't change the fact that you have a weak Pokemon that's taken a severe beating, whilst Marcel hasn't even been hit once."

Eloy frowned, he didn't like it, but he had to admit that Hansel wasn't entirely wrong. Maestro was still pretty badly beaten up, the battle was far from over.

"We'll just have to hit him a few times then," Eloy said.

"I long to see you try," Hansel replied dryly.

As if on queue, a cloud of small green light began to rise up off of Maestro's body. The lights clustered around him, floating around his form. Then, the blades of Maestro's arms glowed with a deep, violent red colour, similar to the glow of hs Struggle Bug.

Now Eloy smirked a little himself, he was witnessing not only the activation of the Swarm ability, powering up Maestro's Bug moves, but also a new move entirely.

"Sounds like a plan, Maestro," he said, "Fury Cutter!"

Maestro's black wings rose up, buzzing into action as, although low to the ground, they carried him forward at a far greater momentum than he had previously been capable of. He rapidly closed in and viciously slashed at the Mr. Mime.

"Protect!" Hansel called, and Maestro's Fury Cutter was intercepted by the green light of Marcel's defense, "You never learn do you?"

"Again!" Eloy called, taking advantage of the chance to take advantage of the new move's special power. He knew that, like Gisele's Rollout, each successive use would make Maestro's Fury Cutter twice as powerful.

Maestro's blades glowed a deeper red, growing as the move powered up for a second slash. He lashed out again, his Fury Cutter colliding with Marcel's Protect in a shower of red and green sparks. The blades grew again, becoming truly fearsome weapons as their vivid red grew deeper still.

Maestro lashed out again, this time, Marcel's Protect didn't hold out, exploding into a trillion tiny glittering shards.

"Hypnosis!" Hansel yelled, suddenly frantic as he realised his win wasn't as assured as he'd thought.

"Again!" Eloy shouted over the top of the gym leader.

Marcel's eyes began to glow with the same eerie light, but Maestro ripped his Fury Cutter across the Mr. Mime before the Psychic move could set in and put him to sleep. Now on it's third use, Fury Cutter had become a very powerful move and Marcel was swatted across the width of the battlefield with the strong slashing attack.

Marcel careened into the wall of the sunken arena, striking the hard structure with a loud thud and slumping down onto the stone slab of a battlefield. Maestro turned and started walking towards the Mr. Mine as it climbed to its feet.

"Like hell we're losing here Marcel! Psybeam!" Hansel practically roared.
Staggering forward a few steps, Marcel raised its hands and fired off another enormous, powerful Psybeam. None of Maestro's moves had the range to meet it part way, leaving Eloy and Maestro with few options. Eloy didn't even think, he just reacted.

"Bide!"

Maestro slammed his blades down into the hard battlefield, bracing himself as the attack collided with him, sending him skidding back as he struggled to keep standing against its might. As the blue psychic beam surged across Maestro, he gradually began to glow a brighter and brighter white. Then, with another loud, musical cry, Maestro unleashed all the damage he had just withstood and then some back upon Marcel.

"Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuune!" Came the yell as Maestro's white glow condensed into an orb before him, breaking up the Psybeam as it passed over it before erupting forward and out in an enormous blast of pure white energy. The blast from the Bide annihilated Marcel's Psybeam and then immersed the Mr. Mime in a monstrous deluge. Eloy heard the cracking of the stone wall behind Marcel as the Fairy type was slammed against its surface with a hit like an atom bomb. When the blast finally fizzled out, it revealed the unconscious body of the Mr. Mime, nestled against a cracked crater in the wall.

"Uh..," The referrer stammered, gulping as she looked at the look of fury on her boss' face, "Uh… Marcel is unable to battle. The challenger wins." She sounded more apologetic than official.

Hansel returned Marcel with a scoff and a sigh, turning to look at Eloy with disdain.

"Alright, you got me," he conceded. He opened a compartment in the arm of the throne and withdrew a pink and silver badge in the shape of a book. He tossed it into the middle of the battlefield where it clattered to a halt.

Eloy rushed down the platform, past the inert Tale Badge on the ground and made his way right up to Maestro, dropping to his knees and embracing his Kricketune.

"You sure showed him - and me too," Eloy said brightly, "That was some battle, Maestro."

With that, Eloy returned Maestro to his ball and collected his badge before exiting the gym. On his way out, he made a point of suggesting looking for a new job to the receptionist.

Team Eloy

​

"Alright Maestro, Slash!"

The Kricketune chimed rhythmically as he lashed out with his arm blade, Deacon deftly dodging under the attack and chortling fiendishly. Maestro tried several more times, but every time Deacon was easily able to evade.

Eloy furrowed his brow. Whilst this was the first time he had tried to intentionally teach a Pokemon a new move and there was naturally going to be some difficulty there, he couldn't help but find the experience frustrating. Slash was not a complicated move, but Maestro's movements were clumsy and wild. It wasn't refined enough to truly call the move learned yet. Slash was supposed to hit the enemy where it hurt for maximum damage output off the otherwise basic attack, but Maestro wasn't even able to get the hitting the target part right. It was like the Bug was having trouble getting used to its wildly different proportions.

"Once more, guys," Eloy instructed, watching carefully in an attempt to pinpoint exactly where the refinement needed to come from.

Maestro and Deacon sized each other up, the latter shifting about energetically on his feet, waiting for the chance to not only run about but to show up his comrade while he was at it. Maestro lunged forward suddenly.

"Ni!" Deacon cheered, leaping directly over the attack and then dashing off to the side before Maestro could intercept him again. Maestro rounded on the Nidoran and lashed out again.

As the Kricketune rushed forward, there was a rustling from the trees as a small figure shot out from the brush. Maestro's bladed arm collided with some sort of weapon as his attack was intercepted and Maestro was knocked stumbling back.

"Ni ni!" Deacon cried out in objection to having his game interrupted.

Eloy was too stunned to react at first and it took him several moments to realise what exactly he was looking at. The weapon that had been used to deflect Maestro's attack was round and green, a plant - on closer inspection a leek. It was wielded in the flexible wing of a pale brown bird with a bright yellow beak and webbed feet. The new arrival was instantly recognisable as a Farfetch'd.

"You don't see that every day, there's not that many of you guys around in the wild," Eloy commented. The bird ignored him, focusing its attention entirely on Maestro with a stern look on its face. It raised the leek like a sword and issued its challenge.

"Fetch!"

Eloy thought back to his studies for a moment, and sure enough, the memory came back to him quite easily. Farfetch'd had been hunted to near extinction back when meat was more widely eaten, however, the most interesting thing about them was by far their penchant for swordplay. It seemed likely that this Farfetch'd had taken an interest in Maestro because of his bladed arms, very much like swords. Eloy wasn't about to waste an opportunity, if there was any way for Maestro to get the hang of his slashing moves, it was by battling a Farfetch'd.

"Sorry Deacon, you're sitting this one out. Ready, Maestro?"

Maestro sung an affirmative as the grumbling Deacon settled down at Eloy's feet to watch what was about to play out.

"Okay, Slash!" Eloy called.

Maestro swiped wildly in a wide, haymaker action, but this was no challenge for the Farfetch'd. It lazily raised the leek up, blocking the attack from the base of Maestro's arm and leaving the Kricketune wide open. It then shot forward in a sudden Peck, hitting Maestro hard and causing the Bug type to tumble back. Using his blades for support, Maestro climbed back to his feet.

"Fetch'd." The Farfetch'd began gesturing with the leak, demonstrating a more refined, backhand slashing motion. It looked to Eloy like a much better action to make if your opponent was already up close, as opposed to leaving yourself open like Maestro had. It looked as if this Farfetch'd was offering pointers.

"What a strange Pokemon," Eloy commented, "Let it get close and then Slash just like it showed you."

Maestro waited at the ready. For several moments nothing happened, then the Farfetch'd lunged forwards. Maestro slashed out and up, the Farfetch'd just barely raising its leek in time to block the worst. It fluttered back, giving Maestro a grunt and a nod. It then proceeded to demonstrate another motion with its leek sword.

Maestro nodded, readying himself for another attack.

"This time, Fury Cutter," Eloy ordered. Then, the Farfetch'd made its move.

The Flying type dashed forward with a battle cry, its leek glowing with a vibrant green light as it did so. Eloy recognised the attack as a Leaf Blade, he hadn't known Farfetch'd could learn that move.

A savage red glow surrounded Maestro's blades as the Farfetch'd closed in on him. The bird lunged to attack as it made the distance, Maestro swiped down diagonally to intercept. Fury Cutter met Leaf Blade in a flash or red and green spark, Maestro pushing the Flying type's weapon down to the ground.

"Now get it!" Eloy called, Maestro catching on quick. The Kricketune repeated the first movement it had learned, swiping out in a back hand motion and landing a hit against the Farfetch'd.

The bird yelped as it stumbled backwards, but it quickly regained its composure. It nodded again, somehow twirling its leek with the ease of a baton act despite having no true hands. It caught hold of its weapon, taking on a fencer's stance. With its head, it beckoned Maestro to press the attack.

"Fury Cutter again then," Eloy instructed, amazed at how quickly this Farfetch'd had Maestro improving. Maestro's blades were once more overtaken by red as he rushed forward towards his avian tutour.

As Maestro move in, the Farfetch'd moved forward as a slower pace, methodical in his movements. Maestro reached the bird and swiped down, but was caught off guard when the Farfetch'd struck the outside of his blade with the leek, causing it to overshoot dramatically and throw him off balance.

Then, the leek began to glow again, this time a deep purple colour. The Farfetch'd swung up with a Poison Jab, slamming his weapon into the underside of Maestro's head and sending him tumbling through the dirt. Unlike before, this time it pressed the attack.

The Farfetch'd leapt into the air with its wings wide, catching the air for extra lift, snagging its leek in its beak. Then it shut its wings and dove in with a Peck as Maestro was slowly pulling himself back to his feet.

"Growl!" Eloy shouted.

Maestro looked up, releasing an odd musical noise that seemed to pulse through the air. It washed over the attacking Farfetch'd, weakening its attack, but it wasn't by any means halted. The Peck knocked Maestro back off his feet and and sent him reeling. Once more the Bug was left to shakily stand back up as the Farfetch'd closed in on him again, once more wielding his leek like a sabre and going in for a Slash.

"Struggle Bug!" Eloy countered.

A pillar of red light rose up around Maestro and then exploded outwards, surprising the incoming Farfetch'd and blasting it back, causing it to stagger and lose its balance. Still, Eloy could tell that Maestro was outmatched in swordplay by a mile. But blades weren't the only thing Maestro had up his sleeve.
"Ni?!" Deacon queried, looking up at Eloy as if to ask why he was grinning.

"Try not to fall asleep buddy," Eloy told the Nidoran, much to its confusion. "Maestro, Sing!"

Even as the Farfetch'd got back up, Maestro began to slide his blades across each other, creating a soft and lilting tune. Then, he began to hum along in a hypnotic, sleepy rhythm. Eloy could feel a strange sensation flowing from Maestro in waves, but apparently not nearly as strongly as Deacon and the Farfetch'd whose eyes were both suddenly looking very heavy as the lullaby took effect.

The Farfetch'd gripped its weapon tightly and began trudging forwards towards Maestro, raising the leek to strike. Step by step it closed in, getting ever closer. The leek began to glow bright green again as a Leaf Blade was readied. Then, the Farfetch'd was upon Maestro and lashing out with the attack.

The light stopped before the attack could be completed, and the leek fell from the bird's grasp. The Farfetch'd flopped down at Maestro's feet, asleep.

"Ni!" Deacon cheered as Maestro's music ceased, his energy quickly returning.

Maestro, swaying slightly on his stubby legs, looked over towards the Nidoran and his trainer. He started to scratch himself slightly anxiously with his blade, apparently awaiting a verdict on his performance. Eloy guessed he might have clued in to his frustrations earlier and couldn't help but feel a slight pang of guilt.

"You were fantastic, Maestro," Eloy said with a grin, "Looks like with the right teacher, you can pick things up pretty quick. Which makes me think, maybe we should bring the right teacher with us."

Deacon and Maestro looked at Eloy quizzically for a moment as he reached for an empty Pokeball.

"Any objections?" Eloy asked.

When no objections came, he tossed the ball lightly and a beam of red light drew the sleeping Farfetch'd within. The ball hit the ground, the Farfetch'd inside. It took three times and then chimed faintly, signalling that Eloy's catch was a success.

Team Eloy

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