CHAPTER 145

"Damn it, of course I'd have to face her first."

Kyle Thornton grumbled as he slowly shambled his way to his arena. He stared at his opponent, who didn't even spare him a single look as he approached. Grace Pastel had been called many things. A rising star, a prodigy, the next Gardenia, and it looked like she had the ego to back it up too. What kind of trainer didn't even look at their opponent? Not even a small nod? A set of bleachers had been set up all along the battlefield that the organizers had set up, and there would be five battles running at the same time. The other four battlefields were interspersed all over the Hunters' land, so it was impossible to watch multiple at the same time. It gave the trainers spectating a sense of choice and agency. They had to choose which battle to look at and sacrifice potentially studying another trainer to do so. Kyle felt sad that he wouldn't go far enough to battle with commentators though. It had been his dream ever since he'd been a child to have a Pokemon battle caster gush over something he'd done.

The fact that he'd be fighting Grace Pastel had come as a terrifying surprise, and he had panicked so much that he'd spent a good chunk of his savings on buying information about her from a trainer with two Cutiefly that he used to spy on people. He wasn't even in the tournament, he was just here to make money.

Two hours after that, Kyle had realized that he had simply copied an analysis from a user called Goalducc42 on the forums. So much money wasted. He was a second year, yet he'd been fleeced like a rookie desperately trying to get their first badge.

The man ran a nervous, trembling hand through his hair.

The rational part of Kyle told him that there was no way to win this, but he sure as hell wouldn't give up. He stepped onto the raised platform, grabbing two of his Pokeballs. Grace Pastel supposedly knew every trick he could employ, but what else could he do but try? Watchog would be instrumental here. These arenas were smaller than a gym's, so his incredible range with Hypnosis meant that he'd be able to use the move without even approaching his opponents. Even though it'd take around ten seconds to go off at that distance, his range meant that it was enough time. Meanwhile, Probopass would protect him and buy the normal type enough time to get the attack off.

Further than that? Well, he was no savant. There was no way to plan that far ahead. They'd be fighting on the Rock Field, which was reminiscent of Roark's gym and was ideal for his Probopass.

"This is a battle between Grace Pastel and Kyle Thornton. Trainers, send out your Pokemon," The supervisor called out.

Kyle swallowed and nervously sent out Watchog and Probopass. His opponent sent out a Larvitar and that Arceus damned Tangrowth. He knew that if he didn't focus on the looming grass type, this would be a guaranteed loss. Kyle's Pokemon watched warily as Larvitar let out an excited yell and Tangrowth caressed her head with a vine.

"Begin!"

"Sunny Day," the blonde simply said.

Tangrowth closed its eyes, and the sunlight slowly began to grow harsher. That hadn't been in the information he'd gotten! Kyle snapped back to reality and swept his arm.

"Hypnosis the Tangrowth! Probopass, Lock-On and Power Gem Larvitar!"

Watchog's eyes shone, and he stared down the Tangrowth directly. Grace Pastel frowned as Probopass' eyes narrowed and blinding lights shot out of his turrets, all curving toward Larvitar.

"Block it with Rockslide, Sweetheart! Stop the Watchog too!"

A massive boulder next to Larvitar crumpled and moved in front of the rock type like a tidal wave. The Power Gem simply deflected off of the rocks. Meanwhile, another Rock Slide washed over Watchog, interrupting his Hypnosis right as it was about to go off. How could Larvitar control that many at the same time?! Tangrowth snapped back to reality and finished his Sunny Day.

"Now get in there and Power Whip. Leave Watchog to your sister."

Tangrowth took a single step.

And then ran forward, propelling itself with his vines as fast as a truck. It was harrowingly silent, not letting a single noise escape from wherever its mouth was. There was only the sound of its heavy steps and its vines whipping against the floor. There was no stopping this thing. All he could do was hope for—

Damn it, it was already here!

"Confuse R—"

Tangrowth wrapped a vine around Watchog and threw him back towards Larvitar, who had just been patiently standing around like a kid waiting for fucking candy. The grass type then proceeded to completely dominate his Probopass. Kyle called out for a Thunder Wave, but the Power Whips were too quick and powerful for the steel type to focus on striking back. Watchog shook himself off and got up just in time for Larvitar to run him through with a Horn Attack. It pushed the normal type up to Kadabra's barrier with jubilant screams while Kyle could only watch in horror as his starter failed to even fight back. With the way he was pinned against the wall, there was no way for Watchog to even use any moves.

Kyle watched as Tangrowth calmly slammed Probopass with one last Power Whip, and the rock type stayed unmoving on the floor. Its vines all wriggled as one, working in unison like a school of Remoraid, and he blankly stared directly into Kyle's eyes. The trainer shivered in fear as he grabbed Probopass' Pokeball.

"Keep it up Angel!" Grace smiled. How could someone smile at such violence? His Probopass was more wounded than it had ever been!

Kyle recalled his Pokemon and immediately sent out his Kricketune.

"Sing!" He yelled. If he couldn't get this Tangrowth out of the picture, then it was over. Kricketune strimmed his knifelike arms against the string on his belly, but Tangrowth again just slapped him around like a damn toy, not even bothering to use a move. On the other side of the arena, Watchog was still being pinned.

"Stop playing around and get serious," Grace told her Larvitar.

The rock type grunted and let Watchog go, her horn soaked in blood. This was his moment! She'd grown cocky! Enough with the status moves, he had to go on the offensive! One Pokemon. He'd at least take down one!

"Smack Down!" She yelled.

"Detect!"

Watchog blurred impossibly quickly, dodging the blindingly fast rock that shot up from the ground like a bullet. He didn't avoid the fragments however, and like shrapnel, they tore through Watchog's body.

"Crunch and finish it off."

With a twisted smirk, Larvitar opened its mouth, revealing the darkness festering within. Already bloodied and battered, Watchog was too exhausted to even use another Detect. The rock type tore across his thigh, and Kyle recalled him, putting his Pokemon out of the fight.

Such brutality. Nothing was working. It was like he was being dissected.

Kyle felt empty as he sent out his Gogoat just in time for Kricketune to have fallen. The bug type was simply broken. His arms were bent the wrong way, and his body was crumpled like an old wrinkled shirt. He recalled him as well.

"Aerial Ace the Tangrowth!" Kyle screamed. And yet, his voice felt felt hollow.

Gogoat bleated and started running, slowly building up his speed as streaks of air surrounded his body. If he could get one hit in at least…

"Block it with Ancient Power."

Tangrowth quickly raised a boulder in front of itself, and Gogoat crashed into it head-on.

"Let Sweetheart deal with it," she continued.

Kyle dejectedly stared as eight vines snaked around the Ancient Power to grab his Gogoat. She was going to throw him toward Larvitar again instead of finishing him off with that monstrous Tangrowth! Kyle clicked his tongue and restrained a curse. She was just toying with him! That sadistic bitch!

"Seed Bomb!"

Tangrowth threw the grass type toward his ally, but two seeds fell onto him, blowing up on contact. Tangrowth simply shrugged them off and observed what Larvitar was going to do with a curious eye. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. At least he'd landed a hit. Two hits. Larvitar ran forward and stabbed Gogoat's flank with Horn Attack before he could even get up.

"No stabbing. Use Rock Slide," Grace scolded.

The ground type grunted, opting to bury Gogoat in a sea of rocks instead. Every time he tiringly managed to climb his way out of them, another layer smothered him, hitting him hard in the head every single time. The grass type was bleeding profusely from his head, soaking the rocks in scarlet red, and looked like he couldn't even think properly any longer.

There was no point to this, was there?

"I forfeit," Kyle sighed, recalling his Pokemon. His shoulders sagged, and he clenched his fist around Gogoat's Pokeball. He knew there was no way he could have won the tournament, but he would have liked to make it to the top two hundred, at the very least. And yet here he was, losing on his first round.

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That was the luck of the draw.

"Victory to Grace Pastel. Trainers, please step out of the arena."

Larvitar happily stomped on the floor. Tangrowth ran back toward her, then lifted her in the air to celebrate. Grace let them have their moment, but recalled them after a few seconds with a satisfied smile on her face. It was like she'd known everything about him during the fight. How else would she have known about Hypnosis' range? At least Kyle could rest easy knowing that he'd been worth researching for a generational talent.

"Good battle," she said before leaving.

Good battle?! He snapped his head toward her. Was she making fun of him?!

Was it not enough for her to be so Arceus damned talented?! She had to rub it in too, twist the knife and pour salt onto the wound! He wanted to call out to her, berate her for being one of the rudest trainers he'd ever faced, but she was already gone.

Maybe his family was right, and he wasn't cut out for this.

—

Oh man, that had been nerve-wracking. My hands were still shaking, my body felt hot.

All things considered, that had gone pretty well, but the battle itself had been sloppy, like I was still finding my footing. If I hadn't stopped that Hypnosis, things could have gotten ugly. Watchog and Probopass would have ganged up on Sweetheart, and she could have lost, which would have been so horrible for her self-confidence that she probably would have destroyed everything around her with Stomping Tantrum after being healed. Coming into a battle with so many unknowns had been terrifying, but I still wanted to do it at least one more time before I started to get serious. Larvitar's Rock Slides had been excellent, and so had Tangrowth's Sunny Day. I needed Sweetheart to stop using Horn Attack so much, though. Stabbing things might have been fun, but blunt trauma was a lot better at taking Pokemon down quickly when they weren't covered in armor. Maybe Princess had rubbed off on her too much since she kept showing off her Ancient Power spear and bragging about it like there was no tomorrow.

If I was being honest, Angel had gone ham too, and all of his Pokemon would probably have to stay at the Center for multiple days. I wasn't exactly used to fighting people that much weaker than I was. I considered my reaction times to have left a lot to be desired, but Kyle's had been so bad that he just left his Pokemon wide open to counters at all times, and he tunnel-visioned hard on putting Tangrowth to sleep. It wasn't like he could have won, but he could have done better than this with the tools he had at his disposal. He could have tried everything he could to interrupt Angel from completing Sunny Day too, and then he would have been nowhere near that fast. If he had researched his use of Ancient Power properly, and from the time it took him to use the move, I figured that it'd be pretty easy to extrapolate that it needed his utmost concentration. When I'd heard that he was a second year, I'd somewhat expected a tougher battle.

It was somewhat underwhelming. Despite expecting a win, I thought I would have had to fight for it. I wanted to keep thinking about the battle, but I was already being swarmed by reporters. They all asked all kinds of questions, but I focused in on one I liked— a good trick Melody had taught me.

"Ms. Pastel, you showed the world what complete domination was like today! What do you say made the difference in your battle with Mr. Thornton today?"

Okay, now all I had to do was smile and stick to broad strokes. No need to go far into details or to be rude and say that my Pokemon were simply stronger and there wasn't much he could have done but delay the inevitable.

"Mr. Thornton focused too much on trying to put Angel to sleep to single out my Larvitar. Once that tactic didn't work, he should have tried something else. Me separating his Pokemon was the nail in the coffin, so I feel like he should have tried to find a way to regroup and have two members of his team focus on one of mine, but that would have required for him to find a way to bypass Angel's vines, which is always tough to do. I can't comment much more about what he could have done without knowing his Pokemon's moves, though."

Nice and straight to the point. Another flurry of questions erupted, but again, I singled out a single reporter.

"Excuse me, does that mean you didn't research your opponent before fighting him today? You're known to be meticulous in your research."

"I'm trying to improve, so I'm handicapping myself for a little bit and only checking out my opponents' teams," I said. "Of course, I don't expect to be able to keep doing it for the whole tournament. There are a lot of good trainers here— including Mr. Thornton— and I'd be foolish to think my skill in battle alone could carry me to first place."

That was good, right? I knew Melody and possibly a whole lot of other people from the Poketch Company were watching right now, judging every word coming out of my mouth.

"Another question here! We saw your Tangrowth throw its opponents toward Larvitar. What was that for exactly?"

"Well, since she's lacking in experience, I figured I'd let her battle as well for practice. She wouldn't have forgiven Angel if he just dealt with everything himself and hung her off to dry."

"You seem quite confident in yourself. If you go against one of your traveling companions, will you do everything in your power to figure out what they're planning?"

"Of course. But again, this was nothing personal against Mr. Thornton, I just figured that I had a good chance to win after looking at his lineup, that's all. It just as easily could have backfired on me. Now if you'll excuse me I—"

Wait, getting my team back to the Center wouldn't even work here, only Tangrowth had gotten hit, and it had barely dealt any damage.

"—I have to go to the bathroom."

I quickly dodged any more questions that made my way and went back toward the tournament building to fake going to the bathroom. I couldn't let them figure out that I was only pretending, after all. I had been a lot less nervous for interviews than I thought, and I had Melody to thank for that, but it was also because talking about Pokemon battling was a genuinely enjoyable thing for me to do. So long as I kept ignoring the nasty questions, I'd be fine, but if there came a day when only those types of questions came, then I'd start feeling the anxiety. Melody sent me a quick text telling me that I had done well, but that I needed to tone done the 'practice for Larvitar' angle because it made me seem like I was 'playing with my food', whatever that meant.

After hanging out in the bathroom for a while longer, I joined my friends who'd been waiting in the bleachers for me. Denzel was still getting ready for his battle and doing some last-minute planning, and Mira was also off training somewhere, but everyone else was here. Cecilia was the first to congratulate me.

"You were beautiful out there, love," she smiled.

"I did alright," I said with a smile of my own. "Need to improve in a lot of areas still."

"Come on, just take the win and stop humble bragging," Pauline said. "Your Tangrowth just completely manhandled everything that poor guy had on his team. I bet you could have fought one against four and still won."

"Probably not, since Kyle had Hypnosis and Sing—"

"Well, I wouldn't want to face such a thing no matter what moves I owned," Maeve shuddered. "It was my first time seeing you battle, and you're seriously scary."

"This praise is embarrassing me. When's Denzel's battle again?"

"Should be in an hour," Pauline immediately said. "Well, more like fifty-four minutes now."

"Should we go watch battles while we wait? I'd like to see what our next potential opponents could be like," Justin said.

Maeve was definitely right, though. So long as Angel had the time to pull Sunny Day off, he was nigh unstoppable by anything that wasn't a poison or fire type— or a tough, big Pokemon that he couldn't lift and hit around like a ragdoll.

"There are a lot of bets going around," Louis explained. "People are looking to make money off of the tournament."

"There was a 19:1 odd of you winning, by the way," Pauline smirked. "It was basically free money."

"You bet?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's fun. I tried to get the others to join, but they didn't want to. I made a few pennies."

"It felt disrespectful to Grace's opponent," Cecilia said. "He looked devastated when he stepped off the platform."

"What?" I said, my heart sinking. "I should find him, he wasn't bad—"

"You speaking to him would probably just worsen the problem," Justin said.

I nodded with a sigh, and we went to sit down to wait for Denzel's battle. In all of the excitement and my drive to improve, I had forgotten that I had possibly ruined someone's day. Or week. Or month? When had I gotten so big-headed? It wasn't all that long ago that I'd been battling in Eterna city's arenas and gently helping the trainers I beat to improve themselves after each loss, and instead I had just rushed to leave. Sure, the reporters were a problem, but I could have…

But then again, like Justin had said, unsolicited advice could make it look like I was just talking them down and belittling their skill.

Damn it, this was hard.

"What's Denzel fighting? And which arena?" I asked, trying to clear my head.

"The Grass Field," Pauline answered.

"It would have been funny if it was the snow one," I said, thinking of his Froslass.

Along with the Rock, the Grass and the Snow Fields, there was the Water and the Desert Field. The first three weren't that interesting, but the last two offered actual variations that could sway a battle. First, the Water Field was reminiscent of Crasher Wake's gym, and the entire battlefield would be submerged in water with a few platforms non-water types could stand on. That meant that water types would obviously be king there, and fire types would be at a serious disadvantage. However, if you had an electric type or electric type attacks, countering swimmers would be ridiculously easy unless they were part ground. Meanwhile, the Desert Field was simply odd because Sinnoh had no deserts to speak of outside of the Battle Frontier— which only eight badgers were allowed in— so our Pokemon simply weren't used to fighting on the sand. The weird footing would be a problem and create some variables that were impossible to predict. This wouldn't be like standing on a beach. The sand was deep, and there were dunes of different heights all throughout the field.

"He's fighting against a really weird guy too," Maeve said.

"He told you about it?" Pauline asked aggressively.

"Chill out, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "Sorry about her, she—"

The redhead put a hand over my mouth, and I squirmed in place until Cecilia jabbed her with a finger, finally causing her to release me.

"Don't say anything," Pauline grumbled.

Well, she was just making it obvious now. Justin uncomfortably stared away, probably desperately thinking about how Pauline would even make this work when she already had Emilia. I personally found it impossible to understand too, but I wasn't one to judge. So long as they came to an agreement before they did anything…

In retrospect, they probably were nowhere near that yet. Denzel, for all his expertise in relationship matters, seemed completely blind to it, and Pauline was content with the status quo. I had no idea if Emilia knew about it, too. Maybe I'd try to talk to Pauline about it with some help from Cece.

"Anyway!" Pauline coughed. "Go on, Maeve. I'm sorry, by the way."

"It's okay," she replied. "He's fighting some guy with a really weird team. He just owns six Smeargles."

"Six of them?" Louis scoffed. "Is he an artist, perhaps? I'd love to see what paintings they can come up with."

"No, he's just some weird roleplayer," Pauline rolled her eyes. "Calls himself and his team the 'Heroes of Justice'. He's tried to find Team Galactic grunts and fight them off, but he hasn't gotten any success at finding any so far, so he just fights petty criminals whenever he's in a city."

"Even with the weird team, he's actually good. He's got four badges, and he's still in his first year, so he must be close to you guys, or maybe even on par," Maeve said.

My interest peaked at that. Type specialists were rarer than generalists, but people that only owned one kind of Pokemon were almost unheard of. I did know that Smeargle was capable of learning a lot of moves by copying them, although they'd be a bootleg version of the original. For that reason, not many people used Smeargle, but if this guy managed to get four badges like us, I was sure he'd be somewhat difficult for Denzel to face.

It was still really weird that he owned six, though.

After around thirty minutes of watching battles, we made our way toward the Grass Field and eagerly awaited for Denzel's match to start. His opponent was actually there early, and he wore some kind of war paint on his face, along with a flowing cape that reminded me of Lance. It was like he was wearing a superhero costume, and it was literally impossible to take him seriously. Some people were laughing at his extravagant appearance, but he didn't appear to care whatsoever.

Denzel showed up just in time, and he had a confident smile on his face.