I pulled my arms away from my face, blinking against the dust. Around me, the field was a mess. Electabuzz, Aria, and Oddy were all down, their bodies still twitching slightly from the lingering static. The only reason Gligar was still airborne had to be because of its natural immunity to electricity, but even then... he wasn't looking good.
As the dust finally settled, I spotted Raichu kneeling in the center of the field taking deep breaths. The Leech Seed that Oddy had managed to land earlier was completely burned away, nothing left but a few smoldering vines on the grass.
I turned my gaze upward toward Gligar. The poor pink creature was trembling in the air, wings fluttering unevenly. For a moment, he fought to stay aloft—but then, his body gave out. With a soft cry, Gligar dropped from the sky, landing gently onto the sand. Whether it was exhaustion, fear, or simply his body giving out, I wasn't sure. But he was done.
Khan and I shifted our gaze toward Surge.
Lieutenant Surge had already picked up his coat from the ground, swinging it casually over his shoulders. His heavy boots sank into the sand with each step as he made his way toward us, casting a long shadow over the battlefield.
I froze as he towered in front of us, feeling like a statue under his stern gaze.
Slowly, Surge raised his hands. Khan and I instinctively flinched but all he did was reach out and ruffle both our heads, mussing up our hair with a surprising gentleness. He bent slightly to meet our eyes, a grin stretching across his face.
"You two have passed," he said warmly.
For a moment, I didn't know what to do. My legs gave out, and I fell onto my back in the sand, letting out a deep, shaky sigh of relief.
Khan didn't wait even a second longer—he flopped down next to me, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his blonde hair falling loose across his shoulders as he threw it back with a tired laugh.
Surge stared straight into our eyes, his expression unreadable as he stood tall above us.
"By the way you two are fucking blind!" he said bluntly.
Khan and I blinked in unison. Surge crouched down, casually pulling a small metal case from his belt and flipping it open to retrieve another cigar while I raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, blind?" I asked, sitting up slightly. My voice was hoarse from the battle, but I kept my eyes locked on his.
As I spoke, the girls approached from behind, chatting quietly as they crossed the sand, their footsteps soft against the ground.
"What I mean..." Surge said, jabbing a thick finger into my forehead, "What ı mean is that you two don't use your eyes to help your Pokémon."
He extended the unlit cigar toward Emily without looking. She took it from him smoothly and struck a lighter, carefully igniting the tip until it burned with a steady orange glow.
"The first reason I'm calling you blind is," he continued, taking the cigar back with a nod of thanks, "is during DischargeWeb. Blondie over here" he gestured toward Khan, who tensed. "Could've ordered Gligar to take the hit for one of your other Pokémon. I'd say Gloom would've been the best pick. That thing looked like it could stall alongside Gligar, maybe buy enough time to tire Raichu out a little more."
He exhaled a slow stream of smoke, his face calm but firm.
"The second reason is when Raichu went in with Iron Tail towards Gloom. You just stood there. You could've told it to dodge, to block, to do something. But you didn't. And because of that, Electabuzz lost his shot. That Focus Punch could've been a clean hit. Maybe even hurt Raichu."
I opened my mouth, but no words came.
Then, without warning, Emily gave Surge a light smack on the back of his head.
"Don't go too harsh on them," she scolded, locking eyes with him for a second before turning to us with a smile. "You two should be proud. Do you know how rare it is to pushMr. Surge like that?"
She looked toward the battlefield, her expression softening as she looked around the torn-up sand, the scorchedpatches, and the faint outlines where attacks had landed.
"It's been a loooonnng time ever since I saw him go all out like that," she said, ruffling Surge's spiky hair as if he was a misbehaving student.
A quiet chuckle escaped me as I lowered my hand to the sand and let it run through my fingers. There was something turning over in my chest—something raw and restless. It wasn't pride. It wasn't even disappointment.
It was the fact that I hadn't wanted to push Surge to his limits. I had wanted to beat him.
I clenched my hand into a fist, grains of sand pressing into my skin, and then raised my eyes back to Surge.
"How did you do that move?" I asked, voice steady now.
Surge raised a brow as he exhaled another lazy puff of smoke. "You talking about the Discharge Web or?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yeah Discharge Web! What's the deal with that move?"
Khan tied his hair back into a loose ponytail as he chimed in, "Yeah, that thing was insane!"
"That," Surge said, tilting his head slightly as the cigar burned quietly between his fingers, "is a combinedmove."
Amaris turned to me instantly, her voice sharp with recognition. "Alex, isn't that what you did in the Underground?"
I paused, halfway through taking Aria and Oddy's Poké Balls from my belt.
"You managed to pull off a combined move?" Surge asked, suddenly leaning down toward me, eyes locked onto mine with genuine curiosity.
"I guess," I said, brushing the sand off one of the Poké Balls. "I just... went with a feeling, you know? I told the Arcanine I was using which was a rental Pokémon from the underground thing to hit ExtremeSpeed and follow it up with FlareBlitz right after."
I mimed a sweeping motion with my hand. "Then Boom. That move turned into a nuke that wiped out Amaris's whole team."
Amaris shrugged with a mock sigh, crossing her arms. "He's not wrong..."
"Is it really that hard to do?" Khan asked, glancing between Surge and Emily.
The two exchanged a quick look of disbelief before Surge chuckled and shook his head. "Not impossible, no. But yeah, it's hard. There are a few conditions that need to line up just right."
He pointed with the glowing tip of the cigar, counting off on his fingers. "First, the trainer and the Pokémon need a connection. Not battle experience, but trust. The kind where they move in sync without having to say a word."
He flicked ash into the air before continuing. "Second, both the trainer and the Pokémon have to picture the same result. Not the action theresult. You both have to imagine the outcome at the same time."
"And third..." he paused dramatically, grinning, "...the moves need synergy. You can't just mash together Bubble and Ember and expect something magical to happen. Or, say, Thunder Punch and Energy Ball. No chemistry, no effect!"
"The fact that you pulled it off with a rental Pokémon?" He gave a low whistle. "That's fucking unbelievable."
I looked down at Aria and Oddy again, still lying in the dirt. Small arcs of electricity danced across their bodies, fading slowly as the field settled into silence.
"Does that mean..." I hesitated, "can I do a combined move with them? Aria and Oddy?"
Khan was beside me, returning Electabuzz and Gligar to their Pokéballs. I followed suit, the familiar red light swallowing Aria and Oddy before clipping the balls back to my belt.
Surge took one more puff, then flicked the remains of the cigar into the sand and looked back at me. "How should I know?" he said, shrugging. "That's not something I can decide. That's between you and yourPokémon."
He stepped forward and flicked my forehead with a smirk, the motion surprisingly gentle for someone built like a wall.
"But just so you know..." He reached into his pocket, pulling something out with a gleam in his eye. "It took Raichu and me a year to master Discharge Web."
A small grin tugged at the corner of my lips from hearing that. Feeling proud as Surge reached into the deep pocket of his coat. From it, he pulled out a handful of small, pale golden seeds and handed them to both Khan and me.
As soon as the seeds landed in my palm, the red screen blinked to life in front of myeyes:
[An item to be held by a Pokémon. It boosts Defense on Electric Terrain. It can only be used once.]
Khan tilted his head, examining the seeds closely before glancing toward Surge with a wary look.
"We're going to have a hard time with this one…" I muttered, curling my fingers around the items.
"So we're going to fight on an uneven field?" Khan asked, his tone dry.
Rhea, who had been leaning just behind us, stepped closer and plucked one of the seeds from Khan's open hand. "What are these?" she asked curiously.
"Electric Seeds," Khan explained, brushing his hair. "If a Pokémon eats one while Electric Terrain is active, it gets a defense boost. The fact that Surge gave these to us means Wild is definitely going to start with Electric Terrain. That'll also boost his Electric-type moves by fifty percent."
As he spoke, Surge threw Khan a thumbs-up, grinning wide. "Bingo!" he said. Then he turned back toward us, the flicker of challenge lighting up his expression. "And there's more to it than just the terrain, but… eh, better you see it with your own eyes."
Khan and I exchanged a glance. Half excited, half nervous.
"So… should we get moving?" Amaris asked, poking Khan lightly in the back.
Khan took out his phone, checked the time, and nodded. "Yeah, we've got about an hour and a half until the Gym Challenge starts. We should go."
As the others started gathering their things, I took a step back and leaned close to Rotom. "Hey, Rotom," I whispered.
It floated closer, speaking in a hushed tone [What happened, Alex Carter?]
"Where can I buy a phone?" I muttered, eyes narrowing at the empty space in my pocket. "It's annoying not having one."
Rotom paused mid-air. Its glowing screen dimmed slightly. [Am I… not enough, Alex Carter?] it said dramatically, before slowly descending and lying facedown in the sand like a fainted Pokémon.
I sighed and crouched to pick it up. "If you were with me 24/7, I wouldn't need one. So yeah, sometimes you're not enough!"
Plasma sparks flickered briefly from its screen-hands as it straightened back up with a tragic little spin. [I am sorry for being useless… I will order one right away...] it mumbled, floating off with a melancholy wobble.
Before I could say anything else, the sharp sound of a clap snapped my attention forward.
Rhea stood at the center of the group, hands full of duffel bags, her voice commanding. "Okay! We're leaving. Everyone, load your stuff into the car!"
She held out the bags towards Khan and me with a bright smile only for Amaris to casually swoop in and scoopall the bags up with ease, and walk off toward the car like it weighed nothing.
I just stared, stunned, as she vanished down the path with her effortless stride.
"..."
I turned slowly toward Surge, stealing a glance at Amaris every couple of seconds. The old man's eyes were already on me sharp, unreadable, but not unkind. I stepped forward and extended my hand.
"It was nice to meet you, sir," I said with a small smile.
Surge didn't say anything at first. He just reached out and gripped my hand—and squeezed. Hard. The kind of grip that felt like it could snap bone if he wanted to.
"It was nice to meet you too, Blackie," he said with a toothy grin.
I winced, trying to keep my face from still under the pain. "It's… Alex, sir," I muttered, managing to pry my hand back.
Still holding my aching hand, I stepped aside as Khan stepped forward, extending his own.
"Thank you for your teachings, sir!" he said brightly—toobrightly, maybe.
Surge took his hand and gave him the same crushing treatment.
"No problem, Blondie," Surge said, eyes glinting with his own humor. "You can swing by anytime if you wanna learn a few more tricks."
Khan dropped to one knee as the grip was released. "It's… Khan, sir…" he mumbled, clutching his hand.
Surge took a few steps back, then looked at us both in the eye. His voice lowered, a whisper carried on the breeze. "Please… do a good job, you two."
From the looks of it, I was the only one who heard him.
I turned my gaze down to the Poké Balls clipped to my belt—Aria, Oddy, and Dash. Even in its shell, the little guy was growing, feeling everything.
"We will!" I called out after Surge as he walked away, lifting a clenched fist to the sky.
Emily followed at his side, Raichu close behind, their figures growing smaller as they approached the Pokémon Fan Club building.
"DON'T BE BLIND!"Surge's voice boomed back one final time before his raised fist dropped.
I stood there for a second, watching them disappear, the wind tugging gently at my hair. "It's hard to believe he was a Team Rocket admin just some years ago," I murmured.
I turned to find Khan still on his knees, groaning, while Rhea was already marching toward the jeep like this was all routine.
I chuckled and offered Khan a hand. He took it, grumbling as I pulled him to his feet.
"I'm going to beat his son so bad…" he muttered under his breath, taking a heavy step toward the car like it was a battlefield.
Rotom floated beside me, and we exchanged a quick glance—then matching grins.
"Let's go beat his son," I said, and together, we followed Khan towards the jeep....