Chapter 73

Honestly, it was almost weird to see. Jord typically didn't get so angry over banter like that. Heck, he tended to relish in trading barbs with people. Seventy percent of his message history with his new buddy Gary was predominantly the pair of them insulting each other and trying to one up the other, and he was always grinning or laughing at shit the Oak kid fired back at him.

Him losing his cool so easily over Surge making a few kid jokes about him, wasn't at all like him.

Hilda just didn't get it. She'd never seen him look so offended and dare she say threatened by a few jibes.

Wait.

Her eyes widened a tiny fraction.

Could it be?

'Is he actually feeling threatened by Surge?' she wondered. Everyone else he traded jibes with, he'd never seemed to take it seriously, was it because he didn't feel threatened at all by them.

And thus the difference here was, he actually viewed Surge as a threat to him in some way?

Her mind wandered back to earlier, when she was sure she could pick out some tell tale nervous signs from Jord about this upcoming meeting and battle.

Despite herself, Hilda couldn't help but feel interested. It was so novel to see him like this, she was seeing an all new side to her travelling companion.

But she wondered, what about Surge made him feel so threatening?

She eyed the towering man who had to be approaching seven feet tall, if not eclipsing it, and his impressively muscular torso, with biceps like tree trunks.

…Well beyond the obvious.

The huge mans gaze strayed from Jord to her, and he blantatly let his eyes roam over her, checking her out. Hmm, horn dog gym leader huh? She had to admit, that was a new one. Well, it wasn't as weird as the Striaton Gym Leader triplets at least.

"Oi, watch the eyes stupid ass tree, that ain't for you." Jord apparently caught where his eyes went.

Surge snorted, turning to look back at the boy, "Yeah, well it definitely can't be for you little tyke," he shot back, "Little baby boy like you couldn't handle a woman like that."

"As if you could you giant ass bitch," Jord jutted his chin out challengingly at the huge man, "With how obviously juiced up you are, those tiny raisins you call balls ain't worth shit!"

Surge's eyes widened, before he lost the 'jovial' attitude he had before and glared back down at Jord, "Those were just rumours made up by little weaklings that couldn't handle their loss to me!" he spat, "Little pansy's like you in fact squirt!"

Wait, what!? Hilda resisted the urge to snort in amusement at Jord apparently hitting the nail dead centre on the head.

"Who are you calling a pansy you massive pussy!" Jord stepped forward, hands clenched into fists, "I'll wreck your fucking shit and fuck you up you fucking ponce!"

Eeesh, that was a lot of F-bombs.

'I should look into teaching him to be a bit more presentable to project a better image of himself for when he ends up on T.V.' Hilda mused.

Honestly, it was almost like watching an Arcanine and Growlithe butting heads, with the Growlithe trying to warn the Arcanine away from its territory.

Hmm, did Jord know about Surge's tendency to flirt with good looking girls, she wondered? That would almost fit, but he hadn't really been bothered at all about Gary trying to flirt with her.

….Unless he actually thought there was a chance she'd leave him for Surge.

But nah, that was too simple. And self centred, she was hot, she knew that, but she wasn't that special.

Either way, while it looked like they were about to come to blows, cooler heads prevailed.

Which was a good thing, because Hilda wasn't actually sure who would win in a punch up between them. Sure, Surge was a literal behemoth of muscle that made Jord look tiny in comparison, and a grown man compared to a young boy, but Jord was packing some serious strength in that frame of his and she'd seen him on more than one occasion play wrestling with Milotic.

Who dwarfed even Surge.

Surge let loose a deep shuddering breath, "So I take it you're my opponent then brat?" the huge blonde man asked.

"Aye," Jord crossed his arms, cooling a bit himself, "Here to mop you up right quick and get my third badge."

"Usually I go a little easier on little brats like you, but I'm gonna enjoy putting you in your place tiny," Surge huffed, turning on his huge booted feet and gesturing for them to follow, "Come on then, I'm a busy man unlike you."

He led them through the gym, the huge strides he made due to his immense size making it so both she and Jord had to power walk and almost jog just to keep up with him, and along the way she noticed Jord kept clenching and unclenching one hand into and out of a fist, each time she heard his knuckles pop.

....He really wanted a piece of Surge, didn't he?

The gym itself was a bit odd though to Hilda. In the fact that the halls were just pure, cold metal with overhead lights. Nothing fancy to show off the type of gym or the gym leader himself like most gyms.

It was honestly really plain compared to the likes of the Cerulean City gym that also basically doubled as an aquarium filled with tons of water types and the halls lined with news articles and awards the trio of gym leaders had won over their lives.

And when they finally got to the battlefield, it wasn't very impressive either. It was literally just a massive plain dirt battlefield with white lines painted into it within a huge metal room, the only thing that stood out at all, was a large viewing room embedded into the wall and hovering over the battlefield, where she could faintly make out the shapes of a few people and pokemon.

"Alright, my aides are a bit busy right now, but I suppose if you wanna be a little wimp and have a ref make sure you don't get slapped around, I can call one over." Surge called out to Jord as he made his way over to one side of the battlefield.

"Don't need any on my account," Jord snorted, heading to the other side of the battlefield, "Stop trying to use me as an excuse to call back up to come hold your hand old man."

"You've got a smart mouth brat," Surge shook his head, and didn't fire back this time, "Alright, this'll be a two on two, capeesh?" saying so, the huge blonde man reached into his camo trousers and retrieved a pokeball.

"Fine with me." Jord grunted, doing the same and grabbing a pokeball from his belt.