"Butterfree, return!"
Reika snatched it out of the air a heartbeat before the Fire Punch could land, and Gardevoir's fist closed on nothing.
A freshly caught Pokémon didn't have much affection built up yet. Getting it to follow orders at all was a win, and Reika was not about to let it get pan-seared on day one.
The progress bar dropped again. 58.
Gardevoir felt herself get stronger—and felt more moves settle into reach, like doors quietly unlocking.
"Your Gardevoir is unbelievable," Reika said. "But I'm strong too, you know."
"Go, Larvesta!"
It hit the ground and heat came off it in a wave, scorching the grass in a ring. Its sleepy eyes found Gardevoir and sharpened. It knew a threat when it saw one.
"You've got this, Gardevoir!"
Gardevoir brought both hands up in front of her chest, and white energy began to condense between them.
"Wait, is that—"
The same move surfaced in Akiyama's head and Reika's at exactly the same second.
"Hyper Beam!"
They were right. A pillar of light tore out of her hands and across the clearing.
"Larvesta, Substitute!"
It spent a chunk of its own stamina to leave a stand-in behind and slipped clear.
The Hyper Beam blew past and through a stand of trees, laying them flat.
"Now, Larvesta—Bug Buzz!"
Larvesta threw its head back and let out a shrill, drilling note. Gardevoir clamped both hands over her ears, face twisting.
"Good! Fire Spin!"
Flame erupted from the red streamers along its neck, and fire closed around Gardevoir where she stood.
She was only just shaking off the lock-up from Hyper Beam.
In this world, Hyper Beam still left a Pokémon stiff afterward—but the duration wasn't fixed. Reiji's Wailord, for one, hadn't seemed to suffer any recoil at all.
Trapped inside the vortex, she took hit after hit from splashing fire.
Akiyama's stomach was clenching when the weeds under Gardevoir's feet suddenly shot upward, wrapped around her, and hauled her out.
"Grass Knot? Grass Knot?"
"You can DO that?!" Reika's jaw came unhinged.
Gardevoir didn't give either of them time to process it. She sprang at Larvesta, fist raised and crackling with electricity.
Larvesta ate the punch before Reika got her voice back.
"Larvesta, Absorb, quick!"
Hurting, it forced its eyes open and bit down on the hem of her gown.
Gardevoir felt her strength start draining out of her, kicked hard to break the grip, and put distance between them.
Larvesta straightened up with some of its stamina back and its blood clearly up.
"Larvesta, Sunny Day!"
It raised its head, and fire energy gathered above the clearing. The air went dry and blazing, and every Fire-type move on the field got a boost.
"Flare Blitz!"
A Larvesta that hadn't even evolved yet unloaded one of the strongest Fire attacks there was, wrapping itself in an enormous shroud of flame and charging.
Gardevoir didn't retreat. The dead leaves around her lifted, glowing, and shot forward.
Magical Leaf.
At the same time her hands came back to her chest and started charging.
Larvesta burned the leaves out of the air, and her charge finished right behind them.
Hyper Beam.
The pillar and the fireball met and ground against each other, neither giving.
Bit by bit Larvesta forced its way up the beam—and spent the last of Flare Blitz doing it, landing less than three paces from Gardevoir's feet.
It stood there heaving, legs unsteady.
The Hyper Beam had been canceled out. But Flare Blitz cost the user, and it always had.
"Still," Reika said, reading the way Gardevoir was locked in place, "I win. Larvesta—Flare Blitz, one more time!"
Gardevoir felt like her own blood had slowed to a crawl. Lifting one arm took everything she had.
She was recovering fast. Just not fast enough.
The world in front of her went red.
Flare Blitz hit.
Akiyama's heart seized. There was no way she could take that, and no way she could get out of it. It physically hurt to watch.
The flames slammed into her—and she didn't give.
White light flickered over her body, and when the fire cleared, she was still on her feet.
Still standing.
"What—"
"Endure?"
One punch. Larvesta rolled away across the scorched grass with ice shards crusting its shell, out of the fight.
Ice Punch.
Her first move. Still her cleanest.
The progress bar fell to 56.
Reika found her voice, recalled Larvesta, and said, "You win. Those three are all I've got."
The moment it was over, Akiyama was moving, catching Gardevoir before her knees could finish buckling.
"Garde!"
Wasn't I amazing?
She looked up into his face and practically shouted it.
"You're the strongest. I always knew it." He didn't understand a word, but he could guess the shape of it well enough.
He got out the Max Potion and started patching her up.
They ended up sprawled in the grass, Gardevoir tucked against his chest. She made small contented noises and closed her eyes, exhausted and entirely comfortable.
"She's incredible. And you two are so close." Reika came over and stood looking down at them, and there was real admiration in it.
Her own Larvesta she'd caught while it was asleep. It took her orders in a fight, sure—but the rest of the time it barely acknowledged she existed.
Her and Pikachu, though. That was different. That was solid.
"Your Larvesta's no joke either," Akiyama said, generous about it. "Without Endure, I lose that."
"Nah, I just froze. I saw something I didn't expect and my brain stopped." Reika said it plainly, no excuses.
She was still a rookie, and rookies got rattled. Hand those same three Pokémon to somebody at Dagan's level and Larvesta wins that fight, no question.
Gardevoir, meanwhile, had been raised on formal training since she was small. Her instincts for move selection were better than plenty of Trainers'.
She healed up fast. She also showed no interest whatsoever in getting off him.
Akiyama looked down at her shamelessly freeloading in his lap and thought about how much evolution had changed her.
Back when she was a Kirlia, if he'd asked mid-battle whether she could keep going, she'd have answered out loud, every time.
Now she just answered by doing.
Growing up, probably.
He smiled.
The light had gone long and gold. Sunset was burning along the treetops.
Grrrrowl.
Reika's stomach spoke first.
"It's late anyway. Let's pitch camp here." Akiyama grinned at her as she scratched her head, red to the ears.
"Yes. Please." She nodded fast. "The forest at night is genuinely terrifying, so—you don't mind if I set up next to you, right?"
"Wouldn't have offered otherwise."
Tent, said something in Gardevoir's head, and only then did she consent to stand up.
Akiyama pulled the folding tent out of his pack, dropped it on the ground, and watched it snap itself upright in the space of a blink.