"So we train Donny," Kira said when he finished. "We make him tournament-ready in less than 72 hours."
"That's impossible," Lucas pointed out. "Pokémon development takes weeks, months. You can't compress that into a couple days."
"We don't have to make him perfect," Micah countered. "Just good enough to compete. Good enough to win."
He released Donny from his Pokéball. The young Rhyhorn looked around at the gathered humans, sensing the tension.
"Donny," Micah knelt beside him, meeting the Rock-type's eyes. "I need you to listen carefully. you and I are going to battle in the tournament. It's going to be hard, the hardest thing you've done. But I believe in you. We all do."
Donny snorted, pawing at the ground,his version of "I'm ready."
Bellatrix approached, pressing her nose against Donny's rocky hide. The moment felt charged with meaning. She knew, somehow, that this was important. That Donny was about to step into a role she'd been filling.
"Alright," Micah said, standing. "Let's talk strategy."
They spread out his notes, pulling up everything they knew about Numel. Fire and Ground typing meant resistance to Fire and Rock-type moves,taking away Donny's type advantage. But it also meant vulnerability to Water and Grass types, neither of which they had access to.
"Numel are slow," Lucas observed. "Their base speed is terrible. But they're tanky, high HP and decent defense."
"And they have access to Earthquake," Kira added grimly. "If Brennan's Numel knows Earthquake, this becomes exponentially harder."
Micah thought back to his battle with Sarah, to the principles that had won him that fight. "We can't outpower a Numel with Donny. Not directly. But we can out-think it."
"Explain," Lucas prompted.
"Numel's speed is their weakness. They're powerful but ponderous. If we can control the pace of battle, dictate the engagement terms, we turn their strength into a liability."
"Rock Blast," Kira said immediately. "It's already a speed-reducing move. If you can land it early, you make them even slower."
"And Donny's horn attack," Lucas added. "It's not his strongest move, but it's precise. Good for targeted strikes."
They trained through the afternoon and into the evening. Micah worked with Donny on accuracy first,Rock Blast needed to land, needed to create difficult terrain that would further hamper Numel's mobility. They practiced against different targets, adjusting for size and speed.
Bellatrix participated, serving as a moving target and, more importantly, as a teacher. She demonstrated evasion techniques, showed Donny how to read an opponent's movements. The young Rhyhorn was a quick study, his natural instincts sharpening under her guidance.
They drilled basic commands until Micah's voice was hoarse. Left, right, forward, back. Horn Attack on specific targets. Rock Blast with varying patterns. Donny wasn't naturally agile,Rhyhorn weren't built for fancy footwork,but he was strong, determined, and increasingly responsive to Micah's instructions.
As night fell, Micah called a halt. Donny was exhausted, his rocky hide scuffed and dusty. Bellatrix was panting, having run alongside the Rhyhorn for hours.
"That's enough," Micah said softly. "Any more and we risk injury."
Lucas and Kira had left hours ago, needing sleep even if Micah didn't. Now, alone with his Pokémon, Micah felt the full weight of tomorrow pressing down on him.
He fed them both, making sure they had plenty of water. Donny ate with single-minded focus, then immediately collapsed into his corner and began snoring. Bellatrix was more restrained, watching Micah with those knowing eyes.
"I'm scared," he admitted to her. "Not of losing the match, but of losing you."
She moved closer, resting her head on his knee.
"You've been with me almost as long as Donny has."
Bellatrix's tail wagged slowly.
"And now I'm asking Donny to step up, to fill shoes that shouldn't need filling. It's not fair to him, and it's not fair to you, and it's definitely not fair to me." He laughed bitterly. "But I guess life isn't fair, is it?"
He spent the next hour grooming Bellatrix, working through her fur with careful strokes, finding and removing the small tangles and debris from training. It was meditative, calming. She dozed under his ministrations, trust absolute.
Finally, knowing he needed sleep even if his mind wouldn't quiet, Micah prepared for bed. He set his alarm early,he'd want time to review notes before the match, to center himself.
As he lay in darkness, Bellatrix and Donny breathing their steady rhythms, Micah made himself a promise.
he would fight. Not just for victory, not just to keep Bellatrix, but to prove something deeper. That he belonged in this world of Pokémon training and tactical battles. That the bond he'd formed with his partners was real, unbreakable, worth fighting for.
he would show everyone,the gossipers, the administrators, even himself,exactly what Micah and his Pokémon were capable of.
And if that meant putting everything on the line with an untested Rhyhorn against a seasoned Numel, then so be it.
He'd faced longer odds before. He'd face them again.
But tonight, he slept with his partners close, storing up strength for the battle ahead.
,-----------------
Micah woke before his alarm, his mind already racing through tactical scenarios and training regimens. Beside him, Donny snored with the blissful ignorance of youth, while Bellatrix maintained her vigil by the door,a sentinel counting down her final days as his partner.
Three days. Seventy-two hours to transform a Rhyhorn who could barely maintain a straight charge into a tournament-viable combatant. Seventy-two hours to prove he deserved to keep the Houndour who had become more than just a loaned Pokémon.
Seventy-two hours to justify his entire existence at this facility.
"No pressure," Micah muttered to himself, dragging his hands through his unkempt hair. His reflection in the small mirror above his desk looked haggard,dark circles under bloodshot eyes, the kind of exhaustion that came from too many nights studying battle strategies until his vision blurred.
Bellatrix's ear twitched at his voice. She turned her head slightly, those intelligent eyes reading him with the precision of someone who'd spent weeks learning every tell, every microexpression. Her assessment was clear: You're spiraling. Stop it.
"I know," Micah said to her unspoken critique. "I know. But three days, Bella. Three days to make Donny ready for a Numel with tournament experience and a type advantage."
The Houndour stood, padded across the room with measured grace, and pressed her nose firmly against his chest. Not gentle reassurance,a physical interruption. A command to breathe.
Micah complied, drawing in slow, deliberate breaths while his hand found the familiar texture of her dark fur. The panic receded marginally, enough for rational thought to reassert itself.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Okay. First things first. Inventory what we have."
He pulled out his training journal, flipping to a fresh page and beginning to document with the same methodical precision Phoebe had drilled into him during data compilation work:
DONNY - CURRENT CAPABILITIES:
- Horn Attack: Execution 70% reliable. Power adequate for his age. Trajectory control improving but still imprecise under pressure.
- Rock Blast: Newly learned when he was playing around with other pokemon.
- Stomp: Reliable damage output but requires the enemy to be relatively still to perfectly execute
- Counter (Egg Move): UNCONTROLLED. Has activated once under extreme duress. Cannot be deliberately triggered yet. DO NOT RELY ON THIS.
- Physical Stats: Above average strength for age. Decent defense. Speed above average but lacks quick directional control(species limitation). Stamina moderate,needs conditioning work.
- Battle Experience: ONE real combat encounter (vs. Zigzagoon, Mauville). Result: victory via instinctive Counter activation. LIMITED strategic experience.
- Command Response: Obedience commands 80%+ reliable in training. Combat command response UNTESTED under tournament pressure.
OPPONENT - MARCUS BRENNAN'S NUMEL:
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- Type: Fire/Ground (PROBLEMATIC,resists Rock moves, Ground moves super effective vs. Donny)
- Experience Level: "Significant tournament experience" per Maxie. Assume multiple battles, trained specifically for competitive formats.
- Likely Moveset: Ember, Magnitude, possibly Amnesia (special defense boost), possibly Take Down (coverage).
- Physical Stats: High HP species base. Good special attack. SLOW,base speed.
- Battle Strategy: Likely defensive. Tank hits, set up with stat boosts, finish with a high damage move or sustained special attacks.
Micah stared at his analysis, the tactical reality staring back with unforgiving clarity. On paper, this was a massacre waiting to happen. Donny's primary offensive tool,Rock-type moves,would be resisted. The opponent's primary offensive tool,Ground-type moves,would be super effective. Experience gap is enormous. Training time is insufficient.
And yet.
"Numel are slow," Micah said aloud, pen tapping against the journal. " That's our edge. That has to be our edge."
Bellatrix's ear flicked,acknowledgment, maybe approval. She'd been listening, processing, evaluating.
"If we can control positioning, dictate engagement distance, force Numel to chase rather than set up..." Micah was thinking aloud now, pen scratching rapidly. "Donny's not fast, but he's faster than a Numel. If we can maintain mobility, use Rock Blast not for damage but for terrain control, create obstacles that slow an already-slow opponent..."
The strategy was taking shape. Not pretty, not overwhelming, but possible. Barely possible.
"We turn this into a marathon," Micah continued, adrenaline replacing exhaustion. "We don't try to match power. We exhaust them. Make every attack cost stamina. Force them to work for positioning. Chip damage, constant movement, stay alive long enough for them to make a mistake."
He looked at Donny, still sleeping peacefully in his corner. The young Rhyhorn had no idea what was being asked of him. No idea that in three days, he'd be expected to execute a strategy that relied on precision, discipline, and endurance that Micah wasn't sure he possessed.
"Wake him up," Micah said to Bellatrix. "We start now."
The training grounds behind the facility were empty at 6:15 AM,most researchers preferring actual sleep to pre-dawn Pokémon drilling. Micah claimed the largest open area, marking out a makeshift arena with chalk lines and training cones.
Donny stood in the center, still groggy from being roused early, his rocky hide damp from the morning dew. Bellatrix positioned herself at the arena's edge,observer, teacher, and occasionally moving target.
"Okay, Donny," Micah began, his voice carrying the forced confidence of someone trying to convince themselves as much as their Pokémon. "New game. You're going to practice something called 'kiting.'"
The Rhyhorn tilted his head, confusion evident.
"It means attacking while moving. Hit and run. Never stay still long enough for the opponent to land a clean counter." Micah demonstrated with exaggerated movements. "Charge forward, Horn Attack, immediately disengage. Circle around, attack from a different angle. Constant pressure, constant movement."
Donny's expression suggested this sounded exhausting and unnecessarily complicated when simply charging straight at things had worked fine until now.
"I know it's not instinctive," Micah acknowledged. "Rhyhorn are built for straightforward power, not fancy footwork. But our opponent is a walking tank who wants us to stand still and trade blows. We can't win that fight. So we don't fight it. We make them fight our fight."
He set up the first drill,a series of training dummies positioned at varying distances and angles. "Horn Attack the first dummy, pivot left, charge the second dummy, pivot right, charge the third. Focus on speed of transition between targets, not power of individual attacks."
Donny rumbled,uncertain but willing to try. The first attempt was clumsy, the Rhyhorn's natural momentum carrying him past the pivot point, forcing awkward adjustments that killed his speed. Second attempt marginally better. Third attempt worse,Donny got frustrated and simply charged straight through all three dummies in sequence rather than pivoting between them.
"No," Micah called out, jogging over. "I know straight charges feel better. They're natural. But natural gets you hit by Magnitude and this match ends in thirty seconds."
He knelt beside Donny, meeting the Rock-type's eyes directly. "I need you to trust me on this, buddy. I know it feels wrong. Your instincts are screaming at you to just hit harder. But sometimes the smartest thing is to hit smarter, not harder."
Donny stared back, processing. Then, slowly, he lowered his head in acquiescence,not enthusiasm, but trust. He'd try this weird human strategy because Micah asked him to.
They drilled for two hours straight. Charge, pivot, charge, pivot, maintaining rhythm and momentum without sacrificing control. Bellatrix occasionally joined as a mobile target, her superior speed forcing Donny to adjust on the fly, to predict her movement and intercept rather than chase.
By 8:30 AM, Donny was panting heavily, his legs trembling from sustained exertion. But the pivots were cleaner, the transitions smoother. Muscle memory beginning to build.
"Break," Micah called, pulling out water and Rock-type nutrition supplements. "Fifteen minutes rest, then we work on Rock Blast placement."
The cafeteria at breakfast was subdued. Word had spread about the administration's ruling,Micah was competing with an undertrained Rhyhorn against a seasoned opponent, and most people had already written off his chances.
Lucas and Kira found him hunched over a tablet, reviewing footage of Numel battles from previous tournaments while mechanically shoveling food into his mouth.
"You look terrible," Kira said bluntly, sliding into the seat across from him.
"Haven't slept properly in three days. Probably won't sleep properly for three more." Micah didn't look up from the screen. "Did you know Numel can learn Curse? It's an egg move, boosts physical stats at the cost of speed. If Brennan's Numel knows Curse, the entire mobility strategy falls apart because they'll just tank everything and one-shot Donny anyway."
"Micah." Lucas gently pushed the tablet down. "You're catastrophizing."
"I'm contingency planning!"
"You're spiraling," Kira corrected. "Which is understandable, but also counterproductive. You can't train effectively if you're running on fumes and stress hormones."
"I have three days,"
"Seventy-two hours," Lucas interrupted. "Of which approximately forty-eight are viable training time after accounting for mandatory rest, meals, and biological necessities. Spending those forty-eight hours in a panic reduces training efficiency by roughly thirty percent according to sports psychology research,"
"I love that you have statistics for this," Micah muttered.
",which means you effectively have thirty-three point six hours of productive training time. Wasting even one hour on anxiety-driven redundant drilling is strategically stupid." Lucas's tone was matter-of-fact rather than harsh. "You need a training plan with specific, measurable objectives. Not just throwing techniques at Donny until something sticks."
Micah slumped in his chair, the fight draining out of him. "I don't know if I can do this. Even with a perfect training plan, even if everything goes right... Donny's so young. I'm asking him to perform at a level that takes months to develop."
"So don't ask him to perform at that level," Kira said. "Ask him to perform at his level, but execute it perfectly. You're not trying to create a tournament champion in three days. You're trying to create a version of Donny who can execute your specific strategy with enough precision to exploit one opponent's specific weaknesses."
"That's... actually really helpful." Micah grabbed the tablet again, but this time with purpose rather than panic. "Okay. Revised approach. I'm not training Donny to beat Numel generally. I'm training him to execute specific tactical maneuvers that happen to counter Marcus Brennan's likely battle strategy."
"There's the analytical thinking we know and love," Lucas approved. "So what does that training look like?"
Micah pulled up a fresh document, fingers flying across the digital keyboard:
THREE-DAY TRAINING PROTOCOL:
DAY ONE (TODAY) - MOBILITY AND POSITIONING:
- Morning: Pivot drills (COMPLETED). Build muscle memory for direction changes mid-charge.
- Late Morning: Rock Blast placement training. Focus on creating specific obstacle patterns rather than random scattered rocks.
- Afternoon: Combined drills,mobility + terrain control. Practice kiting patterns while deploying Rock Blasts to channel opponent movement.
- Evening: Light sparring with Bellatrix (moving target practice). Maintain techniques under pressure without risking injury.
- OBJECTIVE: Donny can execute hit-and-run tactics with Rock Blast obstacles placed to restrict opponent mobility. Success metric: 70% accuracy on deliberate obstacle placement.
DAY TWO - ENDURANCE AND TACTICAL ADAPTATION:
- Morning: Stamina conditioning. Extended movement drills to build cardiovascular capacity for sustained kiting.
- Late Morning: Decision-tree training. Teach Donny to respond to different opponent behaviors (if they advance, do X; if they use ranged attack, do Y; if they try to set up, do Z).
- Afternoon: Mock battle scenarios with Kira and Lucas's Pokémon (if they're willing to help). Practice full strategic execution against multiple opponent types.
- Evening: Cool-down and injury prevention. Massage, stretching, low-impact movement to prevent muscle strain.
- OBJECTIVE: Donny can maintain tactical approach for extended engagement without exhausting himself. Can adapt to at least three different opponent strategies without Micah micromanaging every decision.
DAY THREE - POLISH AND MENTAL PREPARATION:
- Morning: Final technical refinements. Address specific weaknesses identified in Days 1-2.
- Late Morning: Rest and recovery. No intensive training,preserve energy for actual match.
- Afternoon: Mental preparation. Visualization exercises, confidence building, reinforcing command bonds.
- Evening: Early sleep. Tournament match is next morning,both trainer and Pokémon need proper rest.
- OBJECTIVE: Peak condition mentally and physically. Donny is confident, rested, and trusts Micah's commands implicitly.
Lucas and Kira reviewed the protocol, exchanging glances.
"This is actually good," Lucas admitted. "Ambitious but achievable. Each day has clear focus, measurable objectives, built-in recovery periods."
"We can help with Day Two mock battles," Kira offered. "My Corphish and Lucas's Wingull aren't perfect analogs for Numel, but they'll give Donny experience fighting different styles."
"You'd do that?" Micah looked up, surprise evident.
"Obviously," Kira said, as if this was the most natural thing in the world. "You're our friend. We're not letting you go into this fight without support."
"Plus," Lucas added with slight grin, "if you somehow pull this off, we want to be able to say we helped train the underdog who beat Marcus Brennan's overhyped Numel. Bragging rights."
The warmth that spread through Micah's chest was almost painful in its intensity. He'd been operating on the assumption he was alone in this,him against the administration, him against the gossip, him against impossible odds.
But he wasn't alone. He had friends who showed up. Who offered practical help without being asked. Who believed in him even when he struggled to believe in himself.
"Thank you," Micah said, voice rough. "Both of you. I mean it."
"Save the emotional speeches for after you win," Kira said briskly, though her expression was warm. "Right now, you have approximately six hours of viable morning training time before you hit diminishing returns on Donny's stamina. Stop wasting them on breakfast conversation."