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"Garchomp — Earthquake!"
Cynthia's arm swept forward in a sharp, decisive motion.
Mega Garchomp's speed had decreased from the transformation, but at the same level, Metagross without its own Mega Evolution was no sprinter either. The gap wasn't something Steven could simply outrun.
"Kch-aoh!"
Garchomp drove its scythe-arms into the ground. The earth buckled instantly — a wide ring of cracks erupting from the point of impact, branching and spreading across the field with terrifying speed, racing toward Metagross.
"Up," Steven said quietly.
He was already moving as he spoke. In one smooth motion, he turned to Skarmory, gripped the Armor Bird Pokémon's back, and rose into the air.
Metagross ascended beneath them. Garchomp's Earthquake tore through the space the Steel- and Psychic-type had just vacated, the ground where it had stood splitting apart like cracked clay.
On the students' side of the field, Scizor and Lucario reacted at once — driving their fists into the earth to anchor themselves as the tremors rolled toward them. The ground around them fractured and buckled, earthen-yellow energy churning up through the cracks like something alive, scattering loose rock and soil in every direction.
Those who hadn't lifted off the ground would have had a very difficult time of it.
The students stood frozen, eyes wide.
"Was that… Earthquake?" Kiawe said, barely above a murmur.
"Honestly, it looked more like Fissure to me," Sophocles said, rubbing his chin.
Even Professor Kukui had gone still, watching with an expression he rarely wore.
"Counterattack — Bullet Punch!" Steven called out from Skarmory's back, arm extended.
Facing Cynthia at full intensity, the last thing he was going to do was treat this casually.
Metagross's front legs shot straight forward as jets of flame ignited from its rear legs — a burst of propulsive force that sent it rocketing across the field, gleaming fists driving ahead like a missile.
"Dragon Claw!" Cynthia answered without hesitation.
Emerald-green energy surged along Garchomp's scythe-arms, the Dragon-type power doubling their apparent size in an instant.
Bang!
Garchomp crossed its arms and met Bullet Punch head-on, catching the attack with both scythes. The ground beneath it cracked from the sheer force of impact, and an eruption of shattered rock exploded outward in every direction.
Every fragment angled toward Cynthia was caught by Roserade, who had been standing close by precisely for that purpose. Every fragment angled toward the students was intercepted by Scizor and Lucario without hesitation.
It was only now that the students fully understood why those two Pokémon had been placed beside them from the beginning.
"Meteor Mash!"
A deep grey energy — darker and denser than silver — wrapped around Metagross's two front legs. It surged forward.
Garchomp answered with Dragon Claw, sweeping its massive emerald-green scythes in a wide arc toward Metagross.
Bang! Bang!
The two Pokémon clashed again and again. Each collision between Dragon Claw and Meteor Mash sent out a concussive wave of air, carrying broken stones in every direction. They moved across what remained of the field in constant motion — the ground beneath them already cracked and tilting, the larger rocks that had been upheaved by Earthquake now caught in the crossfire, shattering between the competing energies into smaller and smaller pieces.
Bang!
After one final collision, the two separated. Garchomp landed on an angled slab of rock, claws gripping its surface, eyes fixed on Metagross with sharp intensity. Metagross hovered steadily in the air, its four red eyes equally unreadable.
"Stone Edge!" both Trainers called out at the same instant.
"Kch-aoh!"
Garchomp roared, and the rubble scattered across the field stirred, pulled in by the surge of Rock-type energy. With a sweep of its scythes, it launched a volley of jagged stones at high velocity toward Metagross.
Metagross's X-shaped face plate lit with blue energy. An answering barrage of sharp rocks launched from its side, tearing across the space between them.
The two Stone Edge volleys collided mid-field, grinding each other apart and filling the air with rock dust. Both Pokémon were caught in the edges of each other's attacks, taking glancing hits — but with Dragon and Steel types sharing a resistance to Rock, neither showed much damage from it.
"Scorching Sands!" Cynthia commanded, her voice low and even.
Mega Garchomp had exceptional Special Attack — high enough to make good use of it. There was nothing unusual about shifting to a Special move now.
"Kch-aoh!"
Garchomp's roar stirred the ground. Earthy-yellow energy surged up from beneath the fractured earth, building in force, churning rock and grit and sand into a churning wave of heat that crashed toward Metagross like a tide.
"Substitute!"
Metagross moved its arms in a single decisive sweep. A copy of itself — identical in shape, dull silver — appeared directly in the path of the incoming attack. The manoeuvre cost Metagross a quarter of its remaining stamina outright, but it bought the moment it needed.
Scorching Sands slammed into the Substitute, and a gap opened in the wall of sand and rock.
"Ice Punch — through the gap!"
Metagross plunged forward through the opening, one fist coated in biting cold, frost forming along its metallic surface in an instant. It drove the punch squarely into Garchomp's chest.
Poof!
The Scorching Sands wave crashed to the ground, throwing a fan of sand across the cracked earth.
Bang—
Garchomp was knocked back several meters by the impact, skidding before catching itself.
"Kch-aoh!"
It rose from the ground with a sharp cry. Mega Evolution had deepened its durability considerably — its defensive capabilities were strong enough to absorb a hit of that nature, especially from an Ice Punch without the amplification of Tough Claws behind it.
Steven's brow tightened.
Metagross wasn't in a much better position than Garchomp. The Substitute had taken the brunt of Scorching Sands, yes — but Metagross had still passed through the edges of it when breaking through the gap. Combined with the stamina cost of using Substitute, it was only marginally ahead on endurance.
He exhaled carefully when he confirmed that Metagross hadn't been burned.
Scorching Sands carried a chance of inflicting a burn — lower than the burn rate of a move like Scald, but real. For Metagross, a Pokémon that relied on physical attacks, a burn would have been a serious blow. Its Attack stat would be halved, and the ongoing chip damage would narrow every margin from that point forward.
But the luck had held.
"Garchomp — Dragon Rush!"
"Kch-aoh!"
Blue-violet flame ignited along Garchomp's body, climbing from its feet to its outstretched arms. It folded itself into a tight, aerodynamic shape and launched upward, a surging Dragon-type aura building around it — the phantom of an enormous dragon, vast and roaring, forming around Garchomp's frame as it bore down on Metagross through the air.
"Meteor Mash!"
Steven's voice was calm. Completely calm.
Metagross showed no sign of hesitation in the face of what was rushing toward it. Silver-white energy blazed around its front legs, brighter than before. It accelerated directly into Dragon Rush's charge.
Boom.
The collision was total.
A shockwave of force radiated outward from the impact point, shattering every rock that had been suspended and upheaved across the field, flattening them in an instant into a thin layer of rubble and dust. The ground levelled itself almost perfectly — not because anyone had tried to clean it up, but because there was simply nothing left standing.
The energy displaced by the impact rushed outward in a violent gust. Everyone on the students' side staggered. Scizor and Lucario stepped back to shield the children behind them. Professor Kukui, who had been standing closest to Lillie, moved in front of her without thinking.
Dust rolled across the field in a thick cloud, swallowing everything.
"Are those two — are they actually a couple?!" Kukui's voice came out in disbelief.
He had thought this would be a demonstration. Something illustrative. He had not anticipated that two people in a relationship would fight with this kind of absolute, mutual ferocity — neither of them giving an inch.
This was not the battle of a couple showing off for students.
This was the battle of two rivals who happened to be dating.
Kukui already regretted not pushing back when Principal Oak suggested this, and he regretted even more having brought the students outside the safety of the school grounds. Inside a building, surely — surely — they would have shown a bit more restraint.
He stared into the wall of dust that had consumed the field.
His mouth twitched.
An exhibition match, he thought.
They called this an exhibition match.