What could Kiran's battling style be described as? Oppressive, was how Juan had put it, but that was just scratching the surface.

  It was a mixture of needing to eliminate the enemy or die, and needing to leave an impression. Simply launching an attack or attacks strong enough to defeat the enemy wasn't enough. They, and if possible, future opponents, needed to feel like fighting him wasn't an option.

  The first step in that style, especially against an opponent of more or less equal strength, was to gather info for a bit.

  Kiran took stock of the arena for a second before both he and Juan started calling out orders. A grassy field, with five small islands elevated a few meters off the ground. One in the center, one near each corner of the arena.

  Juan raised an arm and gestured forward with his right hand dramatically. "Samurott, use Liquidation!"

  The blade on Samurott's head glowed blue, and instantly his entire body was surrounded by water. He then sprinted forward, picking up even more speed as he got closer to Lamia.

  Hmm, a straightforward attack to start? Alright then. "Reflect," Kiran said.

  Lamia grunted, then suddenly his arms were stretched out, and a barely-visible gray barrier had been erected in the area immediately surrounding him. The Prankster ability had never really made sense to Kiran, but he wasn't going to question being able to move first no matter what any day of the week.

  Samurott slammed into the barrier, but it held firm against the attack. "Thunder Punch," Kiran continued.

  Lamia rushed forward, moving faster than if he were just running by sinking partially into self-made darkness and gliding through that. Very quickly, he was approaching Samurott.

  "Sucker Punch," Juan said with a simple smile.

  All of Samurott's right arm became black, then the Pokemon disappeared into darkness and appeared behind Lamia almost right away. Lamia turned quickly, and was able to block the surprise, but the Dark-type energy canceled out a good portion of the electric type energy. Both Pokemon skidded a fair distance away from each other after the collision.

  Was this Samurott a Dark type as well? Being able to use darkness that naturally seemed like a dead giveaway, so Kiran would assume he was a Dark type.

  "Keep up the pressure. Ceaseless Edge," said Juan, the smile having not left his face.

  Samurott's horn turned completely pitch-black and seemed to harden, then he rushed forward again to strike.

  Barriers might not be enough this time, since a Dark-type move would probably weaken them. "Foul Play," Kiran ordered.

  Lamia's arms, the entire length of them, glowed black, as Samurott continued to approach. Though both he and Kiran underestimated how fast Samurott could move. With blinding speed and a good chunk of his body weight, Lamia jammed his arms into Samurott's chest, with enough force to make Samurott flinch, but Lamia definitely got the worse end of the collision. The Foul Play wasn't enough to make Samurott redirect his attack, and it slammed into Lamia's chest with even more force than the Foul Play. Lamia grimaced in what Kiran knew was pain.

  Both Pokemon went skidding backwards from the collision, with Lamia doing so a good amount more than Samurott. With Lamia's fur that could block attacks, bulk, and obvious resistance to the effects of Dark type energy, Kiran knew that Lamia wasn't badly injured from just that attack, but he was still worried.

  There were also spiky rocks all over the ground now. Had they come from Samurott's attack? That was definitely a nasty little side effect.

  "Keep goin', Lamia!" Kiran yelled.

  "The same to you, my dear Samurott," Juan said.

  The next minute or so consisted of both Lamia and Samurott moving around at speeds that most people in the audience probably could not comprehend. To Kiran's annoyance, Samurott seemed to be coming out on top in most of these clashes, especially now that Samurott's Dark moves were breaking Lamia's barrier.

  Even though Samurott was definitely breathing more heavily now, he again launched an attack. This time, it was a Hydro Pump that was definitely darker than normal. Probably infused with some Dark-type energy. And it looked powerful enough to hurt if it connected.

  "Dark Pulse," Kiran said. He knew that Dark type energy embodied absence. The idea was to cancel out the incoming attack using Dark Pulse.

  Samurott's burst of water connected with the Dark Pulse… and still, a good chunk of it broke through the attack and his now half-broken barriers and hit Lamia, sending him skidding backwards again.

  Damn it, that wasn't what he was hoping for. But, he thought as he took a deep breath, this was what the info-gathering stage was supposed to be for.

  And there was still one last thing Kiran wanted to try before switching Lamia out.

  Kiran gave a slight grin. "Fairy Domain!" he yelled.

  Even from here, Kiran could hear the confused noises in the crowd. Even Juan's smile faltered for a split second, which was good. This would definitely throw him for a loop.

  The whole arena started to get so much brighter, with a pink tinge to it. At the same time, Kiran was filled with the familiar feeling he was used to whenever this move was used: a strong belief that things, whatever that might be, would be fine, along with a soothing feeling of calmness. He still didn't really get the logistics of how Glamour worked, but maybe he didn't need to.

  Juan was now looking around the arena with a slight frown, and for good reason: Lamia had disappeared.

  Well, not really. Kiran had been around Athena and Joan for long enough that their movement-detection and soul-detection abilities had somewhat rubbed off on him, at least when it came to his own Pokemon. He knew that Lamia was still in the same place, but had just blended into the terrain now.

  "Use Flamethrower and Thunderbolt!" Kiran yelled.

  The gasps of surprise were loud from the crowd, when a burst of flame appeared behind Samurott, while a bolt of lightning started forming above him. Both Samurott and Juan were caught off-guard for a second, and that was more than enough for the attacks to connect, causing Samurott to loudly snarl in pain.

  "Grass Knot," Kiran said steadily.

  Several vines appeared from the floor, squeezing around Samurott's legs, hard.

  Kiran held out Lamia's Pokeball, satisfied with how things had been so far. "Return," he said, to the surprise of the crowd. As soon as Lamia's form had been sucked into the Pokeball, he held the ball close to his mouth and smiled. "Nice job," he whispered.

  For all Fairy Domain may have looked ridiculously strong, Kiran knew there were some obvious drawbacks. Most importantly, the attacks that could be generated from Glamour – in other words, the firm belief that Fairy-types used to generate their powers – that Lamia couldn't pull off normally were always going to be significantly better than a non-bootlegged version.

  Also, Samurott, or Juan's other Pokemon could easily have wide-range attacks, or attacks of certain types – namely Poison, Steel, or Dark – that could quickly tear down the domain. It was best to move on to another part of the battle now, so Juan would have less time to think about counterattacks before Kiran may need to bring out Fairy Domain later in the match.

  "The first switch of the match has happened, folks! After that intense match, as well as that positively bizarre move, Mr. Acosta has switched out in the middle of it! What is he planning?" yelled the commentator.

  The plan was simple, and progressing just fine. Start out just feeling the opponent out, like Kiran had. Next, get progressively more aggressive while still gathering info when possible. That way, his Flygon and Ceruledge could be given the most favourable possible positions to blow the opponent away and finish the match.

  Every good team had an anchor, a Pokemon or two on the team that could serve as juggernauts to reliably win battles in any given circumstance. For him those were Gobi and Joan, for very good reason.

  Samurott would probably have beaten Grimmsnarl, but all that mattered was that Samurott was now panting heavily and bruised all over. It wouldn't be too much longer until he went down.

  Kiran grabbed another Pokeball from his waist. "Your turn, Blubby," he said, as his Walrein was released onto the field. After he was released, he glanced around at the unfamiliar setting, smiling and panting.

  "Awww!" cooed the crowd, which caused Blubby to smile more.

  Kiran ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Blubby… please, this is a serious fight," he reminded him. Blubby snapped to attention when he heard that, and when the Spikes that were set up earlier homed in to his body. He grunted in slight pain, then glared at his opponent. Blubby was lucky that Samurott was so damaged, otherwise Blubby might've been dealt an attack while the Walrein wasn't paying attention.

  The second Blubby did start paying attention, the temperature inside the barriers plummeted. Kiran could tell because of how he started shivering a bit, and he wasn't even in the battling area! Samurott started shivering as well, which would hopefully start hampering his ability to fight. This would be a perfect time to do some setup.

  "Samurott, I believe in you. Ceaseless Edge, again!" Juan yelled.

  "Freeze-Dry," Kiran said calmly.

  Kiran had learned through experience that there was something different about water Pokemon, compared to others. It was apparently something about their inner body structure being extremely sensitive to extreme temperature changes. So, if there was an attack that specialized in freezing by seeping into the body, like Freeze-Dry, that was big trouble for them.

  The freezing blast hit, and Samurott had to stop his charge, on account of starting to convulse almost immediately.

  "Ice Shape, make some platforms," Kiran said.

  Blubby proceeded to blast spouts of water at many points in the arena, then used his ice powers to solidify and shape them into platforms that were elevated a couple meters off the ground. It was like an Ice-type Ancient Power. Kiran knew that flooding the field was something Juan might try to do, so he wanted to be prepared.

  Juan's eyebrows raised. He realized what Kiran was up to pretty quickly, but it hadn't been quick enough.

  "Do your best, Samurott, Ceaseless Edge again!" he yelled.

  Good choice. No point in switching out such a damaged Pokemon any more.

  "Freeze-Dry, again," Kiran ordered.

  Blubby sent out another freezing blast, and Samurott charged forward for possibly the last time this match. This time, Samurott dodged enough of the attack to be able to keep going and slam into Blubby. The covering of Samurott's horn broke apart once again, and even more spikes scattered around the arena floor.

  Blubby grunted in pain and a bit of surprise that the attack connected. Kiran tensed a bit, ready to give the order to fight back. But just then, Samurott collapsed, and didn't get up, even after a few seconds. That Ceaseless Edge must've been a last stand.

  "Everyone, Samurott is down! The first KO of this match has been delivered by Juan's challenger! What a surprise!" the commentator yelled.

  Juan's challenger? Well, this guy wasn't biased at all, was he?

  Blubby looked back at Kiran, smiling expectantly, and Kiran gave him a small thumbs-up in return. One down, five more to go.

  "The vanguard has been defeated."

  He didn't even say it that loudly, but Juan's voice rang clear, even through the sounds of the audience. Speaking of them, they seemed to get quieter as soon as Juan had started speaking.

  Juan clenched his fist, and it started trembling. One look at his face showed Kiran a lot more concentration than he had seen up until now. "But even when our loved ones fall, we keep going. Slowking!" he yelled, releasing his Slowking. The pink Pokemon was definitely larger than the ones Kiran was used to seeing.

  Well, Juan did say 'performance'. Probably best not to question this, especially because, just by a quick glance around the arena, everyone was even more tuned in to Juan right now. But 'vanguard'? So Samurott wasn't the main force of Juan's team, similar to Lamia? Good to know.

  "Though we are still deep in despair, we must try to give ourselves the advantage," Juan declared. "Rain Dance!"

  "Snowscape," Kiran immediately followed.

  Clouds began to form above both Pokemon, and a mixture of snow and rain began to fall. Kiran clicked his tongue. Obviously, Blubby would be evenly matched in this scenario.Well, at least this would work to stop flooding, so Hound could fight better later.

  "And we will slice through the darkness! Water Cutter!" Juan exclaimed, pointing at one of the pillars that had been set up.

  Shit. "Don't let 'em, Ice Beam!" Kiran said, a bit more urgency in his voice than before.

  Slowking quickly moved to form a blade of water in front of him, and it burst forward, taking Kiran by surprise by how quick it was. Probably assisted with psychic powers somehow. Both attacks seemed to be on a collision course for each other, but then-

  The Water Cutter swerved inwards, and quickly slammed into Blubby. He groaned in pain as he was sent skidding back, nearly colliding with the arena barrier. Blubby was now bleeding from a major gash across his body, and blood was dripping down.

  Ugh, Kiran had seen that attack in his research, but he had tunneled his thinking just now! He wasn't still supposed to be making dumb mistakes like that!

  Slowking proceeded to throw out more of those Water Cutters, and even if Kiran was more conscious of them now, he realized with some dread that he was being forced to take damage in this scenario, because of the importance of the pillars that Blubby had put up. They wouldn't break immediately, but any damage would be a problem.

  What to do, what to do. Kiran's general plan hadn't really changed, but he had been hoping Blubby wouldn't encounter so much trouble this quickly. Kiran didn't feel as in charge of the battle as he had not too long ago, and he really hoped that didn't affect his decision-making now or later.

  After a few minutes, Blubby was panting heavily, with even more gashes leaking blood carved on his body now. This might be it, Kiran thought, but he knew Blubby could still be a bit more useful.

  "Suddenly, a breakthrough! We must capitalize, Slowking. Surf, and drown their hopes!" Juan commanded. Slowking raised his arms and wailed, and a humongous wave appeared behind him. Somehow, there were areas of it that were swirling into ribbons, while the entire thing lurched forward, drawing delighted gasps from the crowd.

  Kiran grinned wildly. "Ice Terrain, Blubby!" he exclaimed. This was the 'useful' he was talking about.

  Blubby faced up and wailed, and ice exploded outward from every direction of his body, and rapidly rushed to fill the arena, and rapidly heading towards the incoming water surge.

  "Alright, slide," Kiran said next. Blubby jumped forward with what strength he had left, and zoomed towards Slowking. Much faster than what one would expect from such a big Pokemon, but that's one thing the ice was for.

  "Body Press, then Crunch!" Kiran yelled.

  As he was sliding, Blubby's body glowed with a dim red light, then he jumped when he had gotten close enough to Slowking. At the same time, a large patch of ice to Slowking's immediate left rose and formed into a set of jaws tinged with darkness, which rushed to bite Slowking.

  Juan clenched his fist. "Of course, the enemy would not go down that easily. Let us shock them as well, then!" Was he still acting at this point? Wait, did him being not able to distinguish that mean it was a good performance? Aah, it wasn't important.

  Mostly because a Thunder came crackling down from the clouds to slam into Blubby's body. Blubby gritted his teeth, clearly hurt, while his body started to slow right before he made contact with Slowking, probably from a last-second Psychic. At the same time, the Crunch made full contact, tearing what looked like painful gashes in Slowking's left flank, causing him to cry out in pain.

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  Both collisions happened with a bang, and there was a lot of mist and debris thrown up from it. Kiran noticed the crowd was silent, like they were holding their breath.

  When the smoke cleared, Blubby had fainted. Slowking was breathing heavily, and Kiran thought he could see legs wobbling from over in his corner, but Slowking was still standing.

  "Already, we struggle, but what choice do we have to fight?" Juan smirked, while Slowking grinned. The Pokemon's eyes somehow looked more alive than when he started fighting, regardless of the state of his body.

  "What a clash, but the Slowking you all know and love was the last one standing!" the commentator yelled, which was followed by an eruption of cheers from the crowd.

  Kiran recalled Blubby with a sigh. "Good job, buddy," Kiran whispered to Blubby's ball. "I'll find you some good food after this is over."

  Kiran put the ball back around his waist and pulled out his next one. He then took a second to glance around the arena. Blubby's ice hadn't been able to freeze as much of Slowking's Surf as he wanted, so the arena had a small layer of water a couple inches off of most of the arena floor right now. And there was also the ice. Kiran looked at the Pokeball in his hand. Yeah, this one would work.

  "Hound, lets do this," Kiran said, as he released his Luxray on the arena floor. Slowking, and even Juan visibly shuddered from the effects of Intimidate. Hopefully, that would make Slowking's attacks a bit less powerful for now.

  Should he have released him on one of the islands or platforms? No, that wasn't necessary yet. And Hound could jump up to any of them, if he needed to.

  Once again, the spikes emerged from the ground to stab Hound, who winced in pain at the contact. While there still wasn't enough water in the arena to prevent moving on its floor, the ground was still extremely slippery.

  "Fire Foot," Kiran said. Hound's paws glowed bright red with heat almost instantly. Wherever he stepped, the water and snow more or less evaporated. For now, that should help with precise movement.

  "On our last legs, we shall not give up," Juan declared, clenching his fist. "Hydro Pump!"

  Slowking instantly shot out a high-pressure blast of water from his mouth, which spiraled over and over as it approached Hound. Not necessary, but Kiran could definitely hear that the crowd was into how pretty it was. Kiran noticed how that extravagance somehow didn't seem to slow the forward movement of the Hydro Pump at all.

  "Thunderbolt," Kiran responded. Instantly, Hound's body glowed white, then a white bolt of electricity shot out. The two attacks collided, and the heat generated from the contact caused an explosion that generated a mist that covered the arena.

  Kiran had pretty sharp vision though, and could see that Hound was fine. When he looked at Slowking- wait.

  He was bowing?

  Also, Kiran could see some ice forming around his mouth, as well as… more snow falling?

  "Though we fight hard, there is no shame in retreating, so that we can come back stronger," Juan said with a smile, holding a Pokeball which Slowking retreated into.

  Dammit, that must've been Chilly Reception. And Slowking was damn good with that move, if he could retreat so quickly. Kiran scowled when he realized that Slowking wouldn't be easy to take down, especially because he had Regenerator as an ability. That would be a pain in the ass later in the match.

  Juan wordlessly – for once – released his next Pokemon, a Ludicolo. As soon as he hit the field, he immediately began laughing, for some reason, although it definitely looked subdued. Kiran guessed that meant Intimidate was taking effect.

  "Ludicolo is here, everyone! You know Juan's ramping it up if she's here!" said the commentator. Juan's right eyelid actually twitched a bit at that, and Kiran couldn't help but smirk. Though, he would be pissed if the ref started giving away his strategy.

  Juan had his palms face upward, then raised them. "Even with the fighting, there are some things we can never forget," he said. "Rain Dance!"

  Ah, shit. Kiran watched as the snow from Slowking turned into water, and lots of it. It wouldn't be too long before running across the arena floor wouldn't be possible anymore.

  Well, time to work quickly, then. "E-Terrain 1," Kiran said.

  Sparks flew out from Hound's body, and soon the entire stadium was glowing white, with electricity visibly, and continuously flowing over the entire floor of the arena, as well as on top of the water. The part on top of the water was a bit weaker than on the floor, but not by much, so that was fine.

  The point of E-Terrain 1 was to paralyze the opponent if they stood still for too long, not to damage them. And if Ludicolo kept moving so much, she should tire herself out pretty quickly.

  "It is our time to gain the momentum," Juan declared. "Fake Out!"

  Ludicolo blurred forward, and before Hound could react, the Grass-type had slapped both sides of Hound's head, momentarily stunning him.

  "Circle that Luxray," Juan smiled.

  Before Hound could launch a counterattack, Ludicolo moved incredibly quickly again, this time moving a few meters away from Hound before circling him incredibly quickly. The Swift Swim was probably the reason.

  Kiran tried to exhale some stress. Did he know about a terrain trick like this one? Well, whatever, he had another one up his sleeve anyway. "Have Crunch ready. Use the field to tell where she's going to come from."

  Another one of the perks of Electric Terrain. Hound closed his eyes and frowned while he focused his senses. All of a sudden, there was sudden movement in the corner of Kiran's left eye.

  Juan grinned, a bit more ferocious than before. "Our opponent should not think he has the monopoly on custom moves," he said. "Draining Chop!"

  Hound twisted his body left, and managed to catch Ludicolo's hand with his dark-infused teeth. Ludicolo's hand was glowing somewhat dark red. Was that supposed to be some sort of Fighting-type move? That was annoying, he didn't even know that Ludicolo could learn Fighting moves.

  The Dark type energy was taking away some of the impact of the attack, but it wouldn't be to the extent Kiran wanted, thanks to Fighting type energy.

  Both Pokemon skidded away from the impact, clearly damaged, but Hound somehow looked worse off. Not only that, he seemed more tired than he would usually be?

  Kiran's fingers tapped on his thigh frantically. Draining Chop, Draining Chop… his eyes widened a bit a second later in realization.

  But of course, Juan wasn't just going to give him time. "Bullet Bomb!" he yelled.

  Ludicolo zoomed backwards, then rapidly spat out huge green-tinged seeds, in rapid-fire fashion. And by 'huge', Kiran meant twice the size of Kiran's head.

  "Dodge," Kiran said, as calmly as he could. Hound tried to weave between the seeds as best he could, but quite a few still hit him, as fast as he was. And each impact was rough. Each one that hit caused Hound's body to flinch back and grunt in pain. He would definitely have some nasty bruising tomorrow.

  Alright, time to kick it up a notch. "Thunder Shield!" Kiran yelled.

  Hound released a guttural growl, and lightning started pouring down all around him. If Kiran hadn't been used to this move, he would've had to not keep looking directly at Hound, due to the blinding brightness.

  The Bullet Bombs were getting interrupted mid-air by the lightning now, and it gave Hound some breathing room to strike. "Thunder!" Kiran commanded.

  Ludicolo was shifting around in-between strikes really quickly thanks to Swift Swim, but Kiran had waited for the moment he knew she would have to pause for a tiny bit to release the Bullet Bomb to pounce.

  Hound had to let go of the shield temporarily, but it was in return for a significantly bigger white flash plunging down from the clouds above and striking Ludicolo. She howled in pain; it was clear that this was far from a tiny nuisance for her.

  But when the strike had stopped, Ludicolo was not only still standing, not only still moving around to stave off the effects of E-Terrain 1, but smiling. Kiran got the sense that this was a Pokemon that was festive as hell, not just for dancing and music, but for blood sport as well. Hound tried to attack physically with Wild Charge to follow up. He surrounded himself with electricity and charged, but Ludicolo's speed had already recovered, and she dodged.

  Juan gave another ferocious grin. "We tend to view our enemies desire for destruction as the problem, but maybe that can be included in our own definition of beauty as well," he declared.

  Oh.

  Now, Kiran was starting to get it.

  The reason he had been so nervous leading up to this match was because he had thought he was fighting in a fundamentally different place than Orre. That, even if he could acknowledge he was making big assumptions about others, in the back of his head, Kiran had felt this immense tension about being able to exist properly in Hoenn.

  And in a lot of ways, that was probably still true, but looking at Juan's and Ludicolo's faces right now… he suddenly felt a lot less nervous, as he let out an exhale.

  Juan extended a hand forward. "Bullet Bomb, again!"

  Again? Kiran raised an eyebrow a tiny amount. "Put up the shield again," Kiran said tentatively.

  Hound did that, and the same thing as before happened. What was going on-

  "It isn't just our hearts that can roar loudly in battle, it is our actions," Juan said. "Uproar!"

  Oh, for fuck's sake, Kiran should've seen something like that coming. Ludicolo's eyes seemed to light up in crazed delight, and she bellowed. The audience had to cringe at the sudden disturbance, and even Kiran's face twitched a bit. Hound obviously got the brunt of the attack, since a sound-based attack wouldn't be blocked by his shield, and his whole body flinched backwards.

  Kiran gritted his teeth and exhaled. The shield was still up, and thankfully didn't look like they were getting any weaker, so he should be fine- wait.

  Why were the Bullet Bombs growing bigger?

  They absolutely weregrowing bigger, and right before Kiran's eyes, they broke through the shield. Right after, at least three of the seeds slammed into Hound, causing him to hiss in even more pain and skid backwards a few meters.

  Kiran looked at Ludicolo, wondering what had happened, and noticed that the Grass-type was currently… muscular? More than just a few seconds ago, that was for sure. She was also glowing green, and dancing for some reason.

  Did Uproar make Ludicolo stronger somehow? He had seen and fought Ludicolo before, but he hadn't seen this.

  The next few minutes consisted of both Pokemon frantically moving around and slinging attacks at each other. Aside from Thunders and Wild Charges, Hound also had Dark moves like Night Slash and the Crunch he used before to try to diminish Ludicolo's ability to tap into her type energy. He was also able to keep the rising water levels at bay thanks to throwing up the lightning shield occasionally, which helped to disperse the water slightly, since this was thankfully relatively pure water. Hound's fire paws, which were still going, helped with that as well.

  On the other hand, Ludicolo was still moving fast thanks to Swift Swim, still throwing out Bullet Bombs, but now also mixing in Hydro Pumps, Ice Beams, and even Focus Blasts. She was careful not to get in close range though, because she and Juan must've realized that would be near impossible with everything that Hound was doing.

  Soon, both Pokemon looked like they were on their last legs. Hound's and Ludicolo's legs were trembling, and while Ludicolo was still somehow moving around continuously, he was finally getting slower. Better than nothing, but Kiran was hoping for that to happen before Hound looked like he was about to drop.

  "The only way we can win is if we push beyond what our bodies can believe, Ludicolo!" said Juan, to which Ludicolo howled. "Hydro Pump!"

  The swirl of water that burst forth was somehow larger than previous ones, as if Ludicolo knew this was probably the last attack.

  But Kiran and Hound had one last ace in the hole. His Luxray's fire paws were still going, and his internal temperature must've been much higher from moving around and launching attacks for so long. The water was slowly rising, even in Hound's immediate vicinity too, no matter what efforts to keep it away that Hound was using.

  "Here we go," Kiran thought. "Hound, use Plasma Cutter!" he yelled, with more force than he had so far.

  Hound roared, louder than he had all match, and his entire body was consumed by not just electricity, but also flame. Juan looked stunned, he clearly hadn't prepared for this one. The blue flames, combined with the electricity to form a massive beam of plasma that rocketed towards Ludicolo. The two attacks met, and it was Hound's attack that pushed forward.

  When the collision point got a few meters away from Ludicolo, an explosion erupted.

  Both Kiran and Juan had to shield their eyes, because the light from the explosion was too much to directly stare at. It took a few seconds, but the light and smoke finally cleared, and the result-

  They were both down. Bloodied, and collapsed.

  After a few more seconds of stunned silence, from everyone in the crowd as well, the announcer must've gained his senses back.

  "W-W-What in the world was that?! A last minute shocker from Luxray, a move even I haven't seen before! Talk about going out with a bang!" the announcer frantically managed.

  Those puns were so bad, they helped bring Kiran back down to earth. He grabbed Hound's Pokeball and recalled the lion Pokemon.

  "You did great, buddy, get some rest," he whispered to the ball. Juan also recalled his Pokemon, and took a few more seconds to find his voice.

  "No matter what we try, the enemy may surprise us," Juan muttered quietly. Somehow, even all the way across the stadium, through the crowd that was absolutely buzzing due to the end of that match-up, Kiran could hear the Gym Leader clearly.

  "But if beauty and hope were to dissipate that easily, they would not be worth pursuing," he continued. "Show everyone what I mean, Milotic!"

  Juan released his next Pokemon, a Milotic, to near rabid-sounding cheers from the audience at this point. The large, cream-coloured serpent landed in the water, not the ground, since the water was high enough now. With her colourful tail and long eyebrows, Kiran could see why this Pokemon was said by some to be the most beautiful Pokemon.

  "Calm down. Gather your thoughts," Kiran thought. Aside from the water, one thing that was different about the field now was that there was a dark cloud hanging over most of the arena. Milotic inhaled some, and her face scrunched up in disgust.

  Kiran knew that was the after-effect of plasma creation, the release of toxic gas. It would affect his Pokemon too if he didn't do something about it, so he knew exactly who to send out.

  "Cinth, you're up," Kiran said, releasing his Roserade on one of the original islands. Most of the ice platforms were still up, even after that last bout, but he wouldn't take chances right now unless he had to.

  Cinth couldn't help but wave to the crowd a bit, but then got annoyed once she realized they weren't cheering for her at all. They were too in love with the sight of Milotic, so Cinth sneered at the serpent.

  Oh well, Kiran would take whatever motivated her.

  At this point, half of each of their teams had been used. If Kiran wanted to win, he had to turn things up a notch, or two, or many more. He grinned ferociously, for the first time all match, which even seemed to take Juan slightly off-guard.

  "Let's do this," Kiran declared.