Cynthia sat on the sidelines holding a reluctant Eevee. Haunter perched affectionately on Cynthia's shoulders, entirely unbothered by Garchomp's death glare from nearby.
Unable to resist her own curiosity, Clair coughed lightly. "Miss Cynthia, how exactly did you end up inviting Teacher Luke?"
"He hosted me at his place this morning. We came here together after."
"Wait — what?! ∑(っ°Д°;)っ"
Cynthia, missing the implication entirely, blinked in confusion. "Is something wrong?"
Clair shook her head fast, stammering. "Let's — let's just watch the match."
Cynthia nodded and turned her attention back to the field, studying both Trainers with a frown. This match should reveal exactly how skilled Teacher Luke actually is.
______________________________
On the field Lance, fresh off his previous match, narrowed his eyes and locked in completely. This was a Trainer Red had personally praised. A rental match tested both sides' real adaptability under pressure. Coming from a family of Dragon Riders himself, Lance handled Clair's own Dragon-types with practiced ease. The real question was whether Teacher Luke could actually get Cynthia's Pokémon to follow his commands at all.
Champion-tier Pokémon didn't simply obey anyone. If a Trainer couldn't command effectively their individual skill fell short and the whole exercise lost its point.
Lance's eyes narrowed with something close to genuine concern.
Luke's own concern ran in a different direction entirely. "If it gets too rough just play dead," he murmured to Spiritomb. "I'll take the loss. Just don't get hurt."
"Hiss..." Spiritomb's patterns flushed faintly red, swaying gently in response.
Clair took the referee position, a black leather whip cracking sharply against the ground.
"Battle begin!"
Lance flung his cloak aside and released a Poké Ball. "Go, Druddigon!"
"ROAR—!!"
Dark green scales, a reddish-yellow head. Druddigon reared onto its hind legs, powerful arms sweeping wide as it let loose a fierce roar.
Luke eyed it with a slightly strange expression. Clair's ace, sure, but honestly Druddigon remained a genuine embarrassment to the Dragon-type lineage. Garchomp, technically an earth-bound dragon, could still fly. Druddigon had actual wings and couldn't. None of that made sense.
Criticisms aside, its output was genuinely dangerous thanks to Rough Skin working in its favor. Judging by the moveset on file this particular Druddigon leaned entirely into physical output — and if Spiritomb's Foul Play landed clean it might actually swing the whole match.
Watching Spiritomb settle obediently, Lance nodded. "Ghost-type. Setting an example for your Haunter's future strategy, I take it?"
"Kojie?" Haunter's eyes lit up instantly at the mention and it locked in, studying the field with total focus.
Luke: ...I did not say that. Please don't put words in my mouth.
Still, this was worlds apart from a casual online match. This was a real, hard-fought exchange against a genuine Champion-tier Trainer. Luke took a slow breath, his nerves steadying, focus sharpening.
Alright. Time to actually get serious.
Lance's mouth curved slightly. "Druddigon, Dragon Claw!"
"ROAR—!!"
A fierce roar tore through the field as Druddigon charged forward, dark green claws raised, closing the distance like a war chariot.
Spiritomb had almost no natural mobility, but that suited it fine as a physical anchor.
"Spiritomb, hold your ground."
Its fan-shaped body snapped shut. The instant Druddigon closed in Luke called out, "Deceit!"
The fan flared open again, a bewitching light glowing from pale green eyes. Deceit borrowed the opponent's own Attack stat to strike back, scaling harder against stronger attackers.
Right as the light burst forward Druddigon vanished underground and the attack collapsed uselessly.
Lance's mouth curved into a smile. "Now — Earthquake!"
BOOM!
Druddigon erupted from directly beneath Spiritomb, slamming into it and using the impact to drive it hard into the ground.
______________________________
"Lance already read through Deceit," Clair murmured, settling into her seat.
Cynthia rested her chin on one hand. "Once a read like that lands, Lance won't let up on the pressure."
"Unless—" Her eyes narrowed slightly.
______________________________
Right as Druddigon and Spiritomb hit the ground Luke called out coldly, "Now! Sucker Punch!"
Sucker Punch triggered ahead of an opponent's own offensive move if timed right.
"Rip yourself free before Earthquake lands!"
The moment it touched ground Spiritomb tore loose from Druddigon's grip, flickering out and reappearing roughly a meter clear.
"Druddigon, Earthquake again!" Lance called.
"ROAR—!!"
BOOM!
The ground split the instant its feet landed, a shockwave rolling out and launching Spiritomb into the air.
Lance gave Luke no room to recover, reaching out mid-motion. "Gunk Shot!"
A dense ball of dark purple poison energy surged from Druddigon's claw. A 120-power Poison-type physical attack, and with Druddigon's Sheer Force amplifying it further the true output climbed past 150. Landed clean, followed by another Earthquake-Dig combo, and there'd be no recovering from it.
Luke suddenly understood exactly what set Trainers at this level apart. In real combat an Elite gave you no breathing room whatsoever. Every second demanded an instant, instinctive read.
There was no time left to think. Within two minutes Spiritomb's stamina had burned down to almost nothing.
But Luke had one bet left to make. Lance won't settle for a draw. He's playing to close this out clean.
"Spiritomb, Destiny Bond!"
Lance's eyes narrowed. "Druddigon, create distance!"
That bought Luke a rare second to breathe. The light of Destiny Bond had barely flickered to life when the incoming Gunk Shot forced an immediate change of plan.
"Dodge! Then Pain Split!"
Gunk Shot's accuracy sat at only 80 percent even under ideal conditions. Spiritomb dodged mid-air, landed, and steadied itself as a ghostly hand shot outward.
The hand locked onto Druddigon's throat, an umbilical tether of pure energy flowing back to Spiritomb. Pain Split evened both combatants' remaining HP.
"ROAR—!!" Druddigon howled in pain as the ghostly hand faded and dissolved.
______________________________
Against seemingly impossible odds Luke had forced Lance into a genuine misstep.
Clair frowned, then found herself nodding despite herself. His read speed alone puts him well into Master territory.
"Bold gamble," Cynthia said, frowning slightly. "Still not enough to close the gap, though."
______________________________
Pain Split had landed, but there was no time to relax. Druddigon surged forward, flame-wreathed fists sending Spiritomb flying back over three meters.
Lance raised an arm. "Druddigon, Earthquake!"
The attack came like a storm, nearly impossible to dodge cleanly. Luke gritted his teeth anyway.
"Hypnosis!"
Against all odds, badly wounded as it was, Spiritomb's Hypnosis actually landed and froze Druddigon mid-charge.
Even Luke couldn't hold back a stunned "Holy crap."
Everyone else gambles on luck in these matches. I'm gambling on raw probability with my own life on the line.Guess I burned through my whole miss-streak quota of bad luck somewhere else this match.
From the sidelines Cynthia smiled. "Spiritomb genuinely trusts him."
Lance reacted instantly. "Druddigon, Sleep Talk!"
Sleep Talk triggered a random known move while asleep. Druddigon rolled Dragon Claw, still devastating even randomized. Dream Eater from Spiritomb would've secured an instant kill here, but with Druddigon fully asleep it had also lost any chance of dodging Destiny Bond.
Luke's expression hardened as he called it. "Spiritomb, Destiny Bond."
Dragon Claw tore straight through Spiritomb's defenses. The bewitching light flared one final time and both Pokémon dropped simultaneously.
Luke versus Lance.
A draw.
Looking back the whole exchange had lasted only three rounds. Under five minutes and Luke was already drenched in sweat.
This only reinforced his resolve to never actually become a Trainer. This entire profession apparently ran on gambling with psychology, probability, and tactics stacked on top of each other constantly. Without genuine nerves of steel the risk of sudden, catastrophic failure as a Trainer looked completely unreasonable.
Luke finally understood exactly how sinister that earlier quest had been. Without gambling everything on landing that one desperate Hypnosis there'd have been no shot at the reward at all.
A cold sweat broke across his forehead. "That was way too close," Luke muttered. "Good thing I stayed one step ahead."