Chapter 312: Aaron's Challenge
Ryan looked at Aaron, who had gone quiet with the expression of someone working up to saying something. "Just say it. The hesitation isn't doing either of us any favors."
Aaron straightened and nodded. "Right. To be honest — I came to Canalave specifically because I heard you were here. You've clearly reached Champion-level strength, Ryan. I want to challenge Cynthia. I've been working toward it for a long time, and every time I think I'm close, she reminds me exactly how far I still have to go. I was hoping you'd be willing to battle me — to give me a real sense of where I actually stand right now. How far am I from Champion level? I need to know. Please."
Aaron bowed slightly as he finished.
Ryan looked at him for a moment. Something about the situation struck a familiar chord — he remembered being on the other end of that kind of request, back when Steven had given him a hard look at his own ceiling before his rapid growth, and later the grueling path he'd taken to finally claim a Championship title after losing one. The breakthroughs that had come after. He remembered how much a single honest battle at the right moment had meant.
Guiding someone through that process was genuinely satisfying in a way that was hard to describe.
"Come on," Ryan said. "We'll go outside. I'll give you an honest read."
Aaron's face broke into visible relief. "Thank you — seriously, Ryan, thank you—"
His voice climbed with excitement. Several heads lifted around the library with sharp looks. Even Lillie surfaced briefly from her book, burger halfway to her mouth. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing," Ryan said, gesturing at Aaron to bring it down. "Aaron and I are stepping outside for a quick spar. Back soon."
Lillie nodded, already returning to her page. "Okay. Try not to cause a scene."
Ryan agreed, led Aaron out through the library's front entrance, and found a clear stretch of open space on the plaza outside. He glanced at the foot traffic in the area, considered the constraints, and reached for a Poké Ball.
"We'll keep it contained — full power isn't really an option with bystanders around. Manaphy, you're up."
Manaphy appeared in a shimmer of light. The moment it materialized, rings of water rippled outward from its small frame, catching the afternoon sunlight and scattering it into prismatic arcs across the plaza. The effect was immediate and striking. Passersby stopped. A small crowd began to form.
Whispers passed through the gathering onlookers.
"Wait — isn't that Aaron? One of the Elite Four?"
"Who's the other one? He looks familiar..."
"That's Ryan — the Guild President. I recognize him from that video Nora posted."
"Oh, the Zygarde capture footage? That battle was something else."
"Forget Zygarde — his Charizard is the one I can't stop thinking about."
Aaron absorbed the background chatter with a slightly stiff expression. He'd seen that video. Everyone in Sinnoh had seen that video. Charizard's power in it had been genuinely overwhelming — the kind of display that made you reconsider how you thought about strength in general. He was quietly grateful that Ryan had led with Manaphy instead.
That said — Manaphy was a Legendary Pokémon. Aaron was under no illusions. He set his jaw and reached for his first Poké Ball.
"Medicham — let's go."
Ryan looked at the Medicham as it emerged and tilted his head slightly. "Interesting choice. Go ahead, you first."
Aaron moved immediately. "Medicham — Thunder Punch!"
Medicham channeled electricity into its right fist, dropped its stance, and charged across the plaza toward Manaphy at speed. It was a reasonable instinct — Thunder Punch had strong type coverage against a Water-type — but Ryan shook his head.
"If I were using Medicham against Manaphy, the first priority would be setup, not offense. Power Swap, Bulk Up, Calm Mind — something to build a foundation before committing to an attack. Going straight for a damage move against a Legendary at full health is easy to read and easy to counter. Manaphy — Aqua Ring, then Water Pulse."
Manaphy generated a shimmering ring of swirling water around its body, then fired a compressed pulse directly into Medicham's charge. The ring absorbed the momentum and sent Medicham skidding backward, and the Water Pulse followed immediately, connecting clean and detonating in a burst of spray. Medicham hit the ground and didn't get back up.
Aaron recalled it, exhaling slowly. "Understood. I was too aggressive. I'll adjust." He reached for his next Poké Ball. "Espeon — your turn."
The Espeon that emerged was elegant and composed — violet fur, gem-bright ruby on its forehead, and the quiet watchfulness of a Pokémon that processed information faster than most. Ryan noted it with genuine interest. Espeon was a meaningful step up from Medicham as a matchup choice.
"Espeon — Future Sight!"
The ruby on Espeon's forehead flashed, and a Psychic energy sphere launched itself into the air and vanished — deferred, waiting to fall. In the same breath, Espeon opened its mouth and released a slow, rolling wave of drowsy energy across the field. The move washed over Manaphy, and despite itself, Manaphy swayed. Its eyelids drooped.
Ryan nodded, genuinely approving this time. "Better. That's actually interesting. But still not enough. Manaphy — Hail, then rest."
Before sleep took it, Manaphy fired a single Energy Ball skyward. Dark clouds gathered rapidly overhead, and snow began falling across the plaza — light at first, then insistent. Hail ticked against Espeon's fur. The cold made it flinch, but this was the moment. Manaphy was asleep. The opportunity was right there.
"Now — Psybeam, full power!"
Espeon cried out, the ruby blazed, and a concentrated beam of Psychic energy fired straight at the sleeping Manaphy. Ryan said nothing. He didn't move. He didn't redirect Manaphy. Aaron felt the wrongness of that before he could articulate why — Ryan's expression was too settled, too comfortable for someone watching their Pokémon about to take an unobstructed hit.
The Psybeam was a meter from impact.
Manaphy's eyes opened.
A blizzard erupted from the hail clouds overhead — not the slow drift of ordinary hail but a sudden, concentrated surge of polar wind and ice that intercepted the Psybeam entirely, smothering it in white. The temperature dropped sharply. When the blizzard cleared a moment later, Espeon was encased in a shell of ice, frozen solid, unable to battle.
The plaza crowd had gone very quiet.
Aaron stared at the ice for a long moment.
"Sleep Talk into Blizzard," Ryan said, not unkindly. "Manaphy set the weather before going to sleep. Once Future Sight's deferred damage was in play it couldn't target the sleeping Pokémon directly — so Espeon had to act, had to commit to the attack, and that's when the weather condition paid off. The whole sequence was designed to bait exactly that."
Aaron was quiet, processing.
"You're reading the battle," Ryan continued. "That's real. Your instincts are better than you're giving yourself credit for. But you're still thinking one move at a time. Cynthia thinks in systems. That's the gap."
(End of Chapter)
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