“That’s going to be a bit of a bother to deal with, you know…” he drawled—mostly to himself as he looked around. Even after they had already wrecked the car and gotten their pay for it, their Pokémon refused to back down from the challenge—see, who the hell was the aggressor here in the first place, anyway?

Sighing, he followed the shiny silver beast out to where the Grumpig had taken the battle.

“Try to stop it in mid-air before it gets too annoying, will you? Telekinesis, and then bring it as close as you can—“ he began, just about to finish the strategy when the bright flash bang of light caught the silver beast off-guard.

While the order had gone through, the Metagross had little time to prevent the status change—and now he knew the other was trapped in a state of confusion.

The Telekinesis attempt evaporated as soon as it had come. “Snap out of it!” he hollered at the Metagross, who was weaving around looking punch-drunk.

“You jackass, you’re about to get—“ Lars shouted before one of his other companions decided to manifest themselves in a burst of red light. If this was Alpha he was going to be in trouble, however he was very much surprised when Gareth was the one who had emerged from the beam.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting to see you, but if it helps… he thought before seeing the Fire Blast headed their way.

“Okay that’s just fucked up, hitting your opponent while they’re down,” he remarked as he squinted through the shades he had on. The Gallade had a few seconds to look at the incoming Fire Blast in alarm before throwing up a last-minute Protect defensive barrier to stave off the flames.

“Come on, you asshat, snap out of it!” he continued as he waited for the silver Metagross to start moving again. After the flames had dissipated and the barrier winked out of existence, the Gallade then stomped his foot down, using Shadow Sneak in an attempt to pin the Drampa down.

As it is I’m stalling for time, how much longer before Ro snaps the fuck out of it?! he thought as he waited for the punch-drunk Metagross to recover. Even if he knew attacking was an option, he just wasn’t ready to risk Ro hitting himself out of confusion.

“Get out of the way!” he called to the Gallade, who winked out in time before the sinister light caught it in his tracks—the Teleport having saved him from getting into the same problem as the Metagross. And speaking of the silver beast?

Lars could only groan and resist the urge to go over and slap Ro a good one. He’d already tried that before and it gave him a throbbing hand good for a few days’ worth of pain. Ouch.

I think I better take the risk now… ah, shit, was all he could think before turning to Ro, hoping the other would listen. “Idiot, move!” he called to the silver beast, hoping it was sane enough to start moving and get the entire battle back under ‘control’ so to speak.

And where was the Gallade in all this?

A slight popping noise behind the Drampa announced its reappearance, before attempting a point-blank Psycho Cut at the Drampa—currently preoccupied with trying to incinerate the Metagross.

You can move soon… I hope! He thought, biting his lower lip as the Metagross continued to flounder around in confusion.

The advantageous thing here was that… after this round, his Metagross was perfectly capable of movement once more. Now that the heat was literally on Gareth, they had seemingly targeted just the other Pokémon for now. A hint of a smirk appeared on his face, but he dashed it and had to keep it hidden.

Finally getting the urge to lower his shades for just the briefest few seconds, the smirk pulled at his face for a few moments and he flashed a green-eyed stare at the other.

Oh, you’re in for it! He thought as the Metagross let out a grating growl, before moving forward thanks to the Agility-boosted speed. Taking aim, the Metagross then attempted to launch a Meteor Mash attack at the Grumpig—a desperate attempt to knock it off-balance. Or possibly throw it skywards, he didn’t know.

At the same moment, the Gallade winked out of existence, having used Teleport to narrowly escape the attack barrage from the two Pokémon that had hyperfixated on him for a few moments.

Now the question was, where would the Gallade reappear?

…right where he intended to land, apparently!

A soft popping noise announced the reappearance of the Gallade… atop the Metagross. Normally, Ro would only allow Alpha (his Lucario) to do such a thing however seeing that the other Pokémon had more than proved himself, the shining silver beast allowed the other Pokémon to manifest atop it.

Wait, confusion again? Damn it! He thought angrily as the Gallade began to use Protect. “No, that’s not going to work, take out the Grumpig!” he called out. Before the Metagross could launch it skywards with another Meteor Mash and the Gallade could conjure up a Shadow Sneak atop its position…

The Teeter Dance took effect on his side of the field.

Seriously? He groaned to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose and the two Pokémon he had out were assaulted in another state of confusion.

“Clearly, I should have used my Altaria against you instead. Dealing with you would’ve been much quicker since Protect doesn’t work on Teeter Dance, and that sucks,” he remarked across the field.

Apparently the other man didn’t want this shit to end, so… why not keep going?

Unfortunately both of his Pokémon were locked in a state of confusion, and the Gallade wasn’t able to do much except watch the Fire Blast incinerate the Metagross. In the re-confused state, it was easy pickings and Lars knew that…

“Oh, so you want to continue? What the hell? Man down, not cool,” he remarked as he recalled the Metagross before squinting at his Gallade, who was blinking across the battlefield and trying to pick out what he was going to attack.

Shit, am I seriously going to risk this? What the fresh fucking hell… he thought as he plucked out Gareth’s Pokéball and recalled the other as well before lowering his shades.

“There, take your laurels, you’ve beaten one of Hoenn’s Head Rangers in combat—but take note of this: I’ll be back and I’ll win the next one,” he added a few moments after his earlier statement.

You ass, he added mentally as the briefest of scowls crossed his face.

“Before I leave though. Can I at least have the pleasure of knowing your name?”

Overconfident, are you? He thought with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. Clearly this individual would stand out because of his…demeanor.

He’d have to do some quiet investigating on his own, then.

“I’d say the same to you,” Lars remarked as he brought the shades back up to his face. Now that his main mode of transportation had been confused and incinerated into unconsciousness, it was time to head to the Pokémon Center… for now.

For now, he would lay low.

And someday?

He would get back at this man. Some fucking day, but it wasn’t going to be this day.