Hard Enough - Chapter 237 - Stone cold (Patreon)

Empress towered over her opponent. She outweighed, outclassed, and outright had a larger presence that exuded threat. 

Despite that Furrett stood tall and stared up at her with eyes that bore into her. The little pokemon inclined his head much as his cartoon and ‘character’ in the live-action series would have.

Empress snorted and shifted, unimpressed by this tiny pokemon. She shot me a look as if to say, ‘Really? This is what you have me facing off against?’. 

“Don’t underestimate him!” I said firmly, making sure to keep my voice firm. 

I’d gotten to watch Furret battle more than a few times and he was impressive with how he deflected, directed, and dodged attacks that, should they have landed, would have spelt his end. 

Kaede’s expression shifted from her hardened expression into that of a smile. “I’m glad to see you’ve taken this seriously, Gym Leader,” she said. 

“It’s just Trainer in this setting Kaede,” I returned. “There are no badges if you impress me.” 

I then settled into my resting pose, arms crossed while my eyes shifted to the field where everything would take place. 

I could see Kaede in my peripheral vision and if she made odd moves or commands I’d be able to catch them. 

This too was something I had to be prepared for as she had at least seven trick moves or small commands that hinted at her pokemon doing something out of the ordinary. 

“Trainers, are you ready?” called the referee. 

I nodded while Kaede took a moment longer to let her gaze linger on Empress before she inclined her head. 

“Begin!” shouted the Referee and neither of us wasted time. 

“Slow it down!” I ordered.

“Close!” said Kaede. 

Empress glowered and a dark shape took form behind her until another face made of darkness leered out at Furrett. 

Furrett had raced across the ground until he was right in close to Empress, the intervening space between them being covered in moments despite losing a good deal of his speed thanks to Scary Face from Empress.

Empress found herself glaring down at Furrett only for him to hit and basically bounce off with how strong she was. 

I narrowed my eyes, knowing that Kaede couldn’t be done. Quick Attack against a pokemon known to have powerful defense among other things couldn’t be her game plan. Even a battle of attrition wouldn’t be possible. 

“BP!” called Kaede, her hand raising up a pokeball in offering for what would be a controlled switch out. 

I locked my eyes on the position Furrett was currently in as Kaede called out her move, knowing it would be important.

“Iron Defense while we wait!” I called out to Empress, knowing that whatever Kaede was about to release into the fight was going to be at close range and therefore could dish out some damage. 

Furrett vanished in a blaze of light, but not without a huge leap that made it look like the thin pokemon was swimming through the air instead of jumping. 

To the unobservant, the twisting through the air was merely for style but I’d spent nearly an hour last night watching just the pokemon for what it could do. 

The answer was a lot.

In another instance, you might track the point that Furrett was going to move to when a Baton Pass was initiated. 

But, I’d learned through watching Kaede’s matches that for Kaede and her Furrett, their Baton Pass could, at their choice, either lock onto the point that Furrett was going to land or lock onto the position that the move had begun. 

What this meant was that Furrett could ‘lead’ an attack only for it to whiff horribly, or have opponents anticipate wrong and find themselves out of position. 

I had to give it to her, it was a marvellous adaptation to an already versatile move that could flip the script on many matches. 

My review hadn’t been without results, however. 

Despite the distance, I knew to zero in on where Furret was looking. 

Kaede had to know this, and the twisting through the air therefore was actually to hide where her starter was looking.

It was extremely clever and I had to applaud her for her deviousness along with skill. Not many would think much of Furret twisting through the air, but I knew there had to be a reason for it. 

Empress, who was starting to turn her head to the point Furrett had leapt towards stiffened as I called out. “Focus front!”

Empress twitched for a moment, her head lurching only to follow the command, her head turning back to the point that Furrett had jumped from.

I was proven correct when Blissey appeared in front of Empress. If this had played out like Kaede hoped, my pokemon would have been caught off guard with a pokemon in their blind side.

Instead, my pokemon loomed large and glared down at the pink frilly pokemon. 

The crowd roared in shock at this pokemon, one that they hadn’t been expecting to see come out, revealing that Kaede had between the last time it had been shown, evolved from a Chansey.

People began to cheer Kaede’s name as others called out for Blissey. 

I decided to end that right away, knowing that for all that Blissey was known as the Happiness pokemon, it still could dish out a lot of damage.

“Outrage,” I announced to all and sundry, relishing the look of shock the pink pokemon had as it stared up at Empress. 

“Endure!” shouted Kaede, right before Empress raised her foot.

When she dropped it the field rocked like someone had just unleashed an Earthquake. Adding to the power of the attack, Empress let loose with a rage-filled roar. The ground buckled as Empress stomped down again and again sending more and more waves of power out from her position. 

When Blissey landed it knelt, locking its hands and feet into position to Endure the waves of energy and rage that Empress was unleashing. Each blow rocked the pink pokemon back and it twitched and cried out as instead of getting used to it Blissey was pushed back more and more. 

Sadly Endure was an inspired call on Kaede’s part. She’d realised in an instant her gambit had backfired. Blissey was a good choice to face Empress, as the pokemon with the most health and defence in her team I knew that even multiple rounds of Outrage wouldn’t be enough.

By the time Empress had discharged the last of her Outrage the field was full of several indentations that had craters leading out of them. At the centre of each crater was Empress’ footprint. 

Empress glowered across at her foe. Blissey staggered to its feet and shook its head off. 

“Bliss!” said the pokemon, only for Empress to growl in response. 

While I knew I couldn’t let up the pressure I hoped I could lull Kaede into lowering her guard. If she committed to healing her pokemon like I knew she wanted to do I knew I could unleash Empress fully. 

“Dance,” said Kaede and I held in the desire to click my tongue as Blissey began to twirl and skip erratically. 

It could barely be called a dance in truth, but it did serve as a useful dodging mechanic as her pokemon shimmied and bobbed each way without any hint of its rhythm. 

I instead focussed on Empress, if Kaede was setting up with Rain Dance I could oblige her with a pokemon that could flip the script. 

I raised Empress’ luxury ball and returned her. “Good work girl,” I said returning her. 

I could feel the crowd’s eyes weighing on me even as I both deposited Empress and sent out my next pokemon. 

Sanchez appeared with a loud cry of delight. When he felt the rain falling on him his normal smile only grew. Sanchez didn’t mind a bit of rain after all, it wouldn’t ruin his parade so much as complete it. 

“FB!” shouted Kaede, punching forward with one hand, her command roaring out.

This too was a move I’d come to expect from her and had been looking to stop Blissey from getting off against Empress. 

Blissey chambered and fired a punch with a glowing fist and a wave of fighting-type energy was launched forward at Sanchez.

“Dig!” I ordered easily. 

The extremely potent Focus Blast shot straight over the top of the resulting hole in the ground that Sanchez left. 

Before Sanchez could complete the the move to dive underneath Blissey, Kaede once more returned her pokemon only to send out her next pokeball right into one of the filling craters of water that Empress had created, which even now were being filled thanks to the Rain Dance Blissey had gotten away with. 

Whiscash appeared and I huffed, annoyed that I’d been right that this pokemon was on her team. Of all the pokemon I could face, something that only had a weakness to grass type was extremely frustrating. 

I really needed to develop my Cradily if I wanted to close off that weakness, but even then, she was only one pokemon and wouldn’t be a complete solution.  

“You’re not surprised that I have this pokemon?” Kaede said, noting my lack of surprise. 

I raised an eyebrow at her deciding to talk. I decided to play along as the delay merely allowed Sanchez to tunnel out of the ground and away from a potential Earthquake. It struck me as extremely odd that she didn’t try and go for the throat in fact. 

Perhaps she was trying to get me to admit to some form of wrongdoing, such as using Sabrina to scout her team. 

“There are several pokemon that I have and have not faced that I’ve made a note of. Blissey and Whishcash are both pokemon that I’ve expected people to have,” I said, letting my eyes run over the water-ground-type pokemon’s scales. It looked to be healthy. 

It hadn’t shuddered when it emerged on the field… which… didn’t mean anything considering Whiscash’s typing allowed it to ignore a lot of what Sanchez could bring to the table. 

So it could still potentially have Anticipation as its ability, or Hydration or Oblivious.

I hummed. “I’ve only been surprised properly by one trainer and that was due to them facing me with a Latias,” I said conversationally. In truth, I was trying to distract her as I ordered Sanchez to perform a certain move in a set manner.

Kaede’s eyes widened at my reveal only for Sanchez to stop any more chat from happening as he lit up with a Thunder. 

He shot a powerful bolt of lightning up into the air and it caught in the Rain Dance before arcing right down and filling the arena with a powerful boom and flash of light. 

If Mia and Silly Mouse were watching, they’d be pleased.

As this was happening I raised Sanchez’s pokeball and returned him, using the cover of Thunder to disguise what I was doing. 

Kaede blinked a few times as the lightning vanished only to reveal me already mid-throw of my pokeball. 

Hypnotoad appeared across from Whiscash and I grinned. This was a much better match-up for me. 

“Close!” I ordered and Hypnotaod put her powerful legs into action as she sprinted across the worn-down field. 

Kaede didn’t hesitate to return her pokemon. 

Hypnotoad skidded to a halt and I glared up at Kaede, frustrated that she wasn’t letting me come to blows with her unless it was seemingly on her terms. 

Was that the problem I needed to bait her into feeling like she was in control to bring her to the table? 

With her trade out we were now at two pokemon returns each with only four left. Was that part of her gambit? I knew her Furrett had Baton Pass, was she going to force me into an unfavourable match-up before she committed?

That would be very annoying. 

Despite that I leaned in, knowing I had to come up with something, some trick or play as this match stood on a knife’s edge with us both looking for who would secure the first knockout. 

So much was riding on that it seemed. 

I noted that thought to myself as important even as I had Hypnotoad Bulk up in preparation for what was to come. 

I suspected I knew and when Kaede’s pokeball disgorged a willowy pokemon with green hair I could only grunt in annoyance. 

It was annoying being right. “You’re ticking a laundry list of pokemon,” I muttered aloud even as I made Hypnotoad commit. 

This, I could work with if I could just close. I wasn’t about to launch a Hydro Pump or an Earth Power. That would just be handing Gardevoir ammunition. I needed to get close to test If Darkest Lariat could work. Just as I needed to find out if this Gardevoir possessed Teleport still.

Kaede smirked. “Nice try,” she said. “Shift!” she ordered.

Gardevoir spun, sending its long dress flaring around its body before it flashed and vanished to the edge of the field to give itself more room. Something about that spin made me think of Kirlia and Link with how they’d danced around earlier. 

I clicked my tongue, dismissing it as nothing but an eccentricity, even as Gardevoir raised its arm and the pink energy of a Psychic built around Hypnotoad. 

“DL,” I said firmly, making my pokemon spin with dark-type energy and break up the attack before it could actually damage her. 

Hypnotoad whirled about and locked eyes with Gardevoir only for the psychic-fairy to sniff disdainfully. 

I eyed the patch of ground around Hypnotoad that had been ‘tainted’ as some literature claimed of dark type energy. It was frankly pitiful area affected but now I had confirmation.  

Gardevoir did indeed still know Teleport instead of forgetting it in favour of other more traditionally powerful moves. 

It seemed Kaede had understood the importance of utility moves. She she must have specifically worked to keep Teleport as part of her repitoire it beyond its initial form of Ralts where Ralts used Teleport every day to get around.

As it stood I doubt anyone other than Sabrina could make it remember such a move had it let it fall off. 

So, Hypnotoad couldn’t close enough to matter, and would likely wear herself out ‘tainting’ the field with dark energy with Darkest Lariat. I didn’t want that, so I was instead faced with two options. 

Send out Titan who had a proven track record against pokemon that could Teleport and let the match become a grinding slog, or use the biggest pokemon I had in my team and increase the coverage at least two to threefold while kicking the match into overdrive?

I palmed Jormungandr’s pokeball feeling a spike of anticipation even as I recalled Hypnotoad.

Kaede annoyingly enough matched me. 

What was that now? Three swaps for me and her? Was that really going to be her gambit here and now?

She smiled at me even as the crowd leaned in, waiting for us to reveal who’d be coming out next. 

Was she waiting for me? Was she going to send Whishcash back out in response? If so, I might be able to win it with Jormungandr. 

I decided to back myself and with that, I hurled out Jormungandr’s pokeball. When he emerged the crowd roared their approval, knowing that this meant there was a chance that they could see a mega evolution today. 

Kaede hesitated for half a beat, staring up at Jorm as he towered over even her from her position on her podium. 

I started to draw up more and more rock-type energy as I expanded the bond between us. On my wrist, my keystone began to glow. 

Kaede swallowed. “All or nothing!” she shouted, ripping a new pokeball off of her belt and hurling it out. 

It disgorged a large blubbery walrus like pokemon. 

I frowned. Had she really assembled a team only to hold it in reserve for me?

Kaede’s face flickered into a grimace, her eyes leaving the field for the first time during our match to look at someone in the crowd. My eyes tracked her line of sight and I realised she was looking at Bruce Blackthorn. 

Huh, was she looking past me?

I felt a stirring of annoyance at that. I had brought some of the best pokemon I had in my stable against her and this was her reaction?

Walrein raised its head and I realised then and there that Kaede’s send-out had been a command, albeit one she’d never used before during a televised match. A huge torrent of mist shot forth causing the rain that had been starting to peter out to freeze instantly. 

A harsh chill ran through me as the temperature of the field plummeted. I realised straight away that this was far, far too fast a reaction and therefore had to be a move. 

One came to mind immediately. 

Sheer Cold. 

A one-hit K.O. move that had a very different dynamic for accuracy than other One-hit K.O. moves.

It had me shooting my hand up and shouting. “Stone Edge! NOW!” 

Jorm’s mega evolution would have to wait, instead, I was going to have to knock out that Walrein before it could get off its move. 

Around the field, a frost took hold as the wet ground froze only to snap and crack as more and more temperature vanished.

My body began to shiver as I experienced the worst cold I’d ever gone through in both lives.

My lungs ached and when I exhaled I unleashed a great gout of steam only for my inhale to hurt as my body protested the exchange. 

Jorm slapped a trio of huge rocks right at Walrein but it didn’t react to the oncoming move. If anything it opened its mouth wider and exhaled further. 

Right before the rocks hit Sheer Cold went into effect. 

The temperatures didn’t plummet as much as they were wrenched down. 

I felt my mind white out in shock as the barrier around me didn’t register the drop in temperature as a threat much like it wouldn’t for small rocks. I had to twitch and shake my body to regain control instead of remaining a statue frozen in place. 

I flexed my rock aura to get rid of the lingering cold feeling as I forced my body to move. 

The field, a space that had once been a standard regulation pokemon battle arena field with markings much like a football field, was now coated white like someone had dumped an inch of sparkling fresh white snow atop it. 

I knew it wasn’t snow however as it glistened too much, reflecting light and casting a harsh light about to the point I wondered if I was going to get snow blindness. This was ice that had been frozen practically instantly.  

I couldn’t even see any of the puddles that had been created thanks to the rain from earlier. I doubted Whischas would want to appear on this field with the lack of available water.

The main feature of the sub-zero environment, however was Jorm.

Jormungandr’s huge steely body was locked in position, a frozen ice shell formed around him that made it look like he was taken out due to the power of the move Walrein had unleashed.

Walrein was the only thing not glistening. It tossed its head and let out a large bray of pride having survived the rocks that had hit it while it got off the Sheer Cold.

I gave the field another long look over. 

The Rain Dance from earlier had primed the environment for this. It had to have. 

As a One hit K.O move, Sheer Cold like Fissure, Horn Drill and Guillotine were notorious for being very hit-and-miss when it came to their use.

Was this one method to guarantee the accuracy for Sheer Cold? To soak the field first?

Or did it stick to the tried and true method of having a pokemon stronger than you were facing to increase the accuracy? Was Walrein stronger than Jorm?

I had no idea how strong Walrein is but Jorm is no slouch, yes he was one of the latest additions to my Elite team but I still rated him as being up there in strength. 

I’d even go so far as to claim he was in the top one percent of Steelix, but did that mean anything against this Walrein?

Walrein had to be strong if it could endure a super-effective move with Stone Edge. 

If Walrein had been lower in strength than Jormungandr I knew that based on game mechanics the move shouldn’t have worked at all. 

That hadn’t happened here, which if I was basing it on the games meant Walrein was ‘stronger’. But that was not taking into account all the other factors that would have influenced this move working.

The biggest unknown was just how strong this Walrein was… Who else could Kaede ‘one shot’ with Walrein appearing? 

My mind churned with questions. 

How long had Kaede been holding Walrein in reserve? The Guardian’s information knew she possessed Walrein, but not what moves it had beyond the most basic of move sets.

She couldn’t have just prepared it to counter me if it was stronger than Jormungandr who’d been working with me at the fourth Badge tier for years before working up into my Elite team.

Suddenly that look to the side at Bruce and the glare she’d shot him when we’d interacted before my match against Arthur made me wonder… Was it that she’d been building an anti-dragon team and I just happened to be in her way?

Across from me, Kaede shuddered, apparently she, like me, was not spared the effects of Sheer Cold.

A quick glance at the crowd showed that they were also shivering but obviously less affected than Kaede and I. The referee had released a Flareon to stand next to him. 

Kaede took in the field and blinked when she saw Jorm’s frozen form. She exhaled in relief and looked at me. 

I let myself smirk as I said, “Jorm? Stone Edge.”

The ice about Jormungandr’s frozen form broke, unleashing an ear-splitting crack that could only usually be heard during winter when a pond’s ice broke. 

Shards of ice rained down and Walrein reared back in surprise as Jorm revealed his form.

He was shivering furiously and steam escaping him in huge clouds but still very much in the fight. Jorms tail whipped around and tore a section of the battlefield from the ground to hurl at Walrein. 

“Protect!” Kaede screamed in shock and this proved to be the only thing that saved her pokemon as it just got off a shell before the rock slammed into it causing a wave of dust to be added to the frozen landscape. 

I growled in annoyance. Damn, I’d been hoping to sucker punch her for letting her guard down. Karen wasn’t the only one who could play possum after all. 

Kaede swallowed and her eyes darted from me to Jorm. “You… he’s not down and out?” she said with disbelief. “After taking that hit head-on?” she said incredulously. 

I snorted. “He might not be rock-typed anymore but Jormungandr was raised tough. He can take more than most people realise,” I said. 

Inwardly I was now cursing my earlier decision to not include Link. with Jorm nearly out of the fight, his Healing Wish would have been perfect to put Jorm back in the fight. 

As it stood there was no way I was going to get off a Mega evolution today. Jorm was barely holding in there. Unless Kaede was going to let me get a Rest off…

Kaede and I locked eyes and I knew I had to go for the knockout instead of stalling it out.  

“Stone Edge!” I shouted, knowing it was my best shot at overpowering what Walrein could respond with. A single hit would be enough so I had to go with my best chance. 

Jorm sent out another blast of rock that sailed directly at the Walrein right as Protect started to fade. 

“Dive!” countered Kaede. I could only blink in shock. Dive? That shouldn’t work. Why that move? My mind scrambled to work out what I’d missed.  

Dive was a great move to use in a watery environment as it worked like Dig but in a frozen—

Walrein threw itself headfirst into what looked like any other patch of ice only for it to give with a harsh crack to reveal one of the craters that Empress had caused with a slurry of water and ice beneath the frozen upper level. 

Jorm’s rocks sailed over the top of the pond and Walrein shot out the other side to slam into Jormungandr and send him crashing into the ground. 

I could only blink, dumbfounded as Jorm struggled once before groaning, his body failing him.

I replayed the sequence of events. That… was almost exactly like what it was like to fight me when I used Dig. A quick evasion into an attack.

It was a little more direct with the pond that Walrein had leapt into being extremely small, therefore limiting the actual angle of attack or anything like what Dig normally provided but… it had worked, so it wasn’t a mistake.

It was in fact an inspired command.

It was so like Dig, and at the same time… the set-up it took should have made it impractical, and yet here it was. I had no doubt that Pryce and Lorelei would be watching and rewatching this match if they didn’t already know this sequence of moves.

With Sheer Cold, Protect, and a clever Dive Kaede had achieved something that was extremely difficult. 

An ice type prevailing against a rock type.

“That… was a very clever move,” I said, the words working their way out of me easily. 

If she’d planned this far ahead with the craters, into Rain Dance, into Sheer Cold, into Dive… That spoke of a mind that didn’t just think one or two moves ahead, but five or six. 

“Thank you, it was much closer than I thought it would be,” she said, her lips twitching into a smile before she looked over the field with a sigh of annoyance. “You are rather forcing my hand Brock,” Kaede said. 

“Good,” I said even as I returned Jormungandr. 

I looked down at his pokeball. “You did incredible out there buddy. I never saw that move coming, sorry about that,” I said softly. 

I felt something like an echo of… I wasn’t sure what to call it, contentment. Pride? Exhaustion? It was that and more. 

I stared at the pokeball for a moment, rolling it over in my fingers. 

That was new. 

Was this a sign that our bond was growing? Could it one day reach the point that it could be like what I shared with Titan?

I hummed and set the pokeball away before palming my next ball in thought. It was one nil against me now. Blissey was fairly damaged, Walrein had to be extremely roughed up, and both of us had used three returns so far. 

Kaede had revealed five pokemon with Furret, Blissey, Whishcash, Gardevoir, and Walrein. 

So she had one more pokemon up her sleeve.  

I’d revealed Empress, Sanchez, Hypnotoad, and Jormungandr. There would be no doubt that I also had brought Titan. 

Hmmm, things were not going the way I’d hoped. I’d had the pressure applied and been able to push through but not with the result I wanted. 

I needed a pokemon to counter Walrein although I was hesitant to send out Sanchez. If Jorm was weaker than Walrein then there was a not considerable chance that Sanchez might also be at risk of Sheer Cold being used against him.

I eyed Kaede. She’d rolled the dice on that move. 

Sanchez would just result in a swap out with Whishcash coming out. I needed someone else out here and now. 

I needed to send out someone who was guaranteed to be stronger to make it so Sheer Cold wouldn’t be a factor. 

I was only confident that two of my pokemon would be considered ‘stronger’. So I went with my gut and grabbed the greatball necklace. 

“Go! Titan!” I roared. 

Titan emerged with a powerful roar and I felt our bond snap into place. 

Kaede narrowed her eyes at my starter’s appearance only to grimace. “Return!” she said, calling back her Walrein. 

I hummed in annoyance at this but decided to focus on what I could control. “Sandstorm,” I said eying the field and knowing that it would take—

Titan jumped and I was taken aback as he soared through the air only to crash into it and shatter the field of ice allowing the ground beneath to be revealed. 

That was certainly one way to speed things up. 

Kaede had paused eyes wide at the display Titan had given without even trying. 

I smirked and gestured and the field that was once more changed in an instant. 

Your move Kaede. 

Kaede palmed a pokeball and got ready to let rip as I got ready for whatever came next. 

                                                   _______________________________

Thanks go to My Patreons, sorry for the cliffhanger.

I’m having a lot of fun writing Kaede with her high-level team. Walrein’s sequence of the fight really came together naturally which I’m super happy with. 

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!