CHAPTER 149

I sat down, awaiting the start of Lauren's battle. Aside from a few, we had all regrouped for this specific occasion. Pauline probably had her hands full with getting Vigoroth to cooperate with her. Louis was busy sleeping or taking care of his Combee—one of the two— and Maeve was still training. The rest of us had come to spectate. Of course, most of my friends still had no idea I knew Lauren now since Denzel, Cece, and I had kept the meeting under wraps but she was still among the best first-years in the Circuit, so they still wanted to see her battle. This one was taking place on the Snow Field, which was a flatter and less obstructive version of Candice's gym. There were no trees and minimal elevation changes, just a mostly smooth surface.

"Here she comes," Justin said. I tensed.

Lauren strode up to the platform without a care in the world, and she had headphones on this time instead of the usual wireless earphones. For a moment, I almost thought that she'd somehow battle with them, but she took them off and put them around her neck. Sirris the Duosion was already out of his Pokeball with her. Her opponent was someone I knew nothing about, but he was taller than Denzel and a lot bulkier. He wore aviator sunglasses and had some sort of 'cool' vibe going on. An ugly scar ran on the side of his face, going through his cheek and right above the eye.

"How many badges?" I whispered.

"Four," Denzel answered.

"He doesn't look nervous at all," I said in surprise. Sure, he also had four badges, but he was battling Lauren.

"This is a battle between Sam Pyke and Lauren Goodwill. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

"I'll probably lose this battle, but let's make it a fun one, yeah?" Sam grinned. He grabbed his Pokeball and lazily released a Skarmory and Mawile.

The metallic bird stretched out its wings and took flight a lot faster than I expected, and Mawile slammed her second mouth against the snowy ground.

"Sure," Lauren whispered.

She sent out her Rhydon and Magmar onto the field. The two Pokemon that were said not to work well in a doubles format due to their personalities during Goalducc's analysis. Sirris shivered in his goo as he warily observed his teammates get ready for the coming battle. Rhydon were massive, but Lauren's was especially so, coming in at around eight and a half feet and dwarfing Magmar. The rock type slammed its fists together and let out a furious roar that caused the snow under his feet to shake. Magmar was Electabuzz's size, but that was where the similarities ended. Honey loved to battle, but a vicious grin permanently afflicted the fire type's face and his eyes narrowed with glee. His body was permanently on fire, and the snow under his feet melted away.

"Begin!"

Sam laughed. "This is going to be a toughie! Skarmory, Autotomize and Iron Defense! Mawile, stand back for now!"

I nodded as Skarmory's metallic plates shone brightly, and Mawile huffed, clearly angry. There was no telling what that Magmar would do to the fairy type if it got close, and Mawile were closed-range fighters.

Lauren took a deep breath.

"Fuck them up, Mags! Get in there and Lava Plume!" She screamed with such glee that I almost forgot she was the same person. "Paragon, I don't care what you do, just get in there and rip that Mawile apart!"

Magmar's twisted smile widened, and his body flared. He began to run toward Mawile and Skarmory, and while he wasn't particularly fast, approaching him would mean the end of both steel types. Rhydon, meanwhile, was protected from the heat by his thick, rocky armor, and he also slowly trudged forward, each of his steps shaking the earth.

"Skarmory, keep to the air and Stealth Rocks!"

The bird fanned its wings, and small, sharpened rocks fell toward the ground and levitated off the floor.

"Now Rock Slide! Keep 'em away from Mawile!"

Skarmory let out a metallic, jittery screech, and rocks erupted from the snowy ground. With a gleeful smile that mirrored his trainer's, Magmar sunk under the rocks and then erupted with Lava Plume, sending the rocks and a terrifying amount of flames all around him. Skarmory dodged with his improved speed, but Mawile and Rhydon were not spared. The former screamed as a rock— completely red from the superheated attack— hit her in the head, and Rhydon simply brushed the flames and the lava off.

"Icy Wind the Rhydon!"

Skarmory beat its wings, and a frigid wind powered up by the terrain flew toward Rhydon, slowing the rock type massively.

"Melt it off, Mags! Flamethrower!"

The fire type blew a full-powered Flamethrower all over Rhydon, who simply grunted and kept marching. Then, something in his eyes changed.

He was close enough, now.

"Burn the shit out of Mawile, Mags! Flamethrower!" Lauren snarled.

The flames on his back flared and flew far behind him as Magmar spat out another stream of fire toward Mawile.

"Dodge with Sucker Punch! Skarmory, Sandstorm!"

A thin Sandstorm spread throughout the arena. It would slightly hurt Magmar, but everyone else would be immune. Mawile blurred behind Rhydon, and batted at the rock type with its massive jaw.

"Foul Play!"

This time, there was darkness. Mawile quickly sidestepped to avoid getting swiped by Rhydon's tail and swung its mouth at him again. Rhydon's armor split open with a deafening crack, and the hulking Pokemon roared out in fury.

"Mags, blow up."

Another Lava Plume erupted from Magmar's body, and flames and globs of lava poured out of every single pore in his body. Mawile screeched and was overtaken by the flames, and Rhydon finally grabbed her with his two massive hands.

"Finish it off, I don't care how you do it," she said.

"Skarmory, Icy Wind!"

"Tell him to fuck off," Lauren snapped.

Mags seemingly understood that command and simply stood in front of Rhydon, dissolving the Icy Wind into nothing with his body heat. The rock type threw Mawile in the air, and his horn doubled in size as it shimmered in white.

Drill Run.

Gasps and audible winces ran through the crowd as Rhydon's horn eviscerated Mawile. The steel type was immediately knocked out by the blow, and Rhydon threw her away like a rag while Magmar sniggered and the flames on his back intensified.

They were made for each other, it seemed.

Sam recalled Mawile, although his permanent smile did not even waver for one second. He sent out a Magneton, whose three eyes looked terribly angry.

"More. Burn them more," Lauren said.

Magmar flexed, and a massive Flamethrower flew toward the newly released Magneton.

"Shield him with Rock Slide!" Sam yelled out to Skarmory.

This time, the rocks formed a clumsy wall, stopping most of the flames and absorbing the heat. Rhydon screamed, and jagged rocks flew up from under Skarmory. The flying type was almost taken by surprise, but he expertly navigated the air to dodge each rock from what I assumed to be Stone Edge. Skarmory was clearly Sam's best-trained Pokemon, but the problem was that he couldn't approach without getting crushed by Magmar's heat, and the only two ways he could attack were Rock Slide and Icy Wind.

"Now send it toward them!"

The Rock Slide exploded outward, ramming into both Magmar and Rhydon. The fire type quickly stepped behind his teammate, who shielded him from the worse of the damage. Rhydon, however, seemingly disliked that and hit him away toward the rocks.

"Paragon's telling you that you can take it, Mags," Lauren smiled.

Magmar grinned, and another stone hit him directly in the head. Superheated blood poured out from the wound, bubbling and evaporating before it could even fall to the ground. They were all insane.

"Magneton, get in there! Find an opening with Tri Attack! Skarmory, keep up the Rock Slides!"

All three heads blinked in unison and furiously fired countless rays of ice, fire and lighting toward Rhydon and Magmar. The rock type simply shrugged off the attacks, although he winced every time the ice hit him. The floor under both Pokemon sunk as Skarmory shifted the earth into makeshift rocks to stop them from moving, along with occasionally hitting them back.

"Lava Plume!" Lauren yelled.

With an explosion that somehow had grown in strength, fire erupted from Magmar once more, spewing into the floor and consuming everything around him. At this point, half of the snow on the floor had simply disappeared, and vapor had joined the Sandstorm into shrouding the arena. Some of the globs of fire landed on Magneton, but Sam didn't care. The electric type flew toward his opponents with a single goal in mind.

"Explosion!"

Light consumed Magneton, but this was no evolution. Air was quickly sucked in toward his body, and a massive explosion rocked the arena. Only Skarmory had made it out unscathed, and Kadabra's barriers rattled and shook as the explosion run its course. When the smoke cleared, Magneton was but a smoking husk on the floor. Rhydon had a few chips on his armor, but other than that, he seemed completely fine.

Magmar was on the floor, his flames having burned out.

"Get up, Mags," Lauren ordered.

His arms twitched.

"Get up. Fight. Burn."

The fire type stood with trembling limbs, and his body reignited once more. Rhydon sneered at him for a second and then went back to trying to hit Skarmory with Stone Edge, without any success. Goalducc had been right. His reluctance to listen to Lauren was costing him a lot of potential.

"Dang it, I at least wanted to take down one," Sam grinned as he recalled Magneton. "Wanna trade that Magmar? I'll give you any of mine other than Skarmory. If you didn't have six Pokemon, I'd give you two to make it fair."

I physically recoiled and felt nausea overtake me. What kind of person just said that? The worst part was that only Skarmory had heard it, and the flying type didn't seem to care whatsoever. When you were a trainer, Pokemon weren't things to be traded off, especially because you found them weaker than you liked them to be. They were family. This was a second year who'd spent more than a year with some of these Pokemon.

He disgusted me.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Absolutely not."

"Fair enough," he said as he released a Metang. The steel type took to the air just as high as Skarmory was. "Light Screen and Reflect."

Two layers of transparent barriers appeared around the Metang.

"Paragon. Feel like working with me today?" Lauren asked.

Rhydon's head turned toward her, and he shook his head dismissively.

"Fine. Then Mags, you've got to put in some work."

"The Magmar's weak. Take him down! Skarmory, Drill Peck! Metang, Psychic to restrain that Rhydon!"

Skarmory dove down, spinning so fast that his form became a blur. Rhydon stomped a foot on the floor, and the ground split open in a line in front of him as sharp rocks flew up from the floor. Some of them hit him, and a Flamethrower from Magmar burned him so hard that the metal on his wings started to melt and fuse together.

How was Magmar still going?

Rhydon tried to bat the Skarmory away with his hand, but Metang's Psychic restrained him for a precious few seconds. Skarmory rammed into Magmar, and the fire type finally fell.

"You were a good boy," Lauren said. She recalled him and sent out her Duosion. She had to recall him and release him again so he could slip past Kadabra's barrier. The Stealth Rocks rushed toward him, but they harmlessly bounced off of his psychic shield.

"Keep the momentum going and get him too!" Sam yelled. "Break past his shield!"

Skarmory continued on its warpath and flew toward Duosion, and Metang kept slowing Rhydon as much as it could with Psychic. The steel type crashed into the barrier, which became visible as it struggled to break through. It was a lot more refined that Metang's own protective moves, and it was invisible to the naked eye.

"Expanding Force," Lauren said.

My ears popped as Duosion sucked in as much air and energy as he could. Then, he released it. It was an explosion of pink psychic energy that utterly destroyed everything in its path. The move was a perfect circle, and it chewed into the floor, creating a crater that was nearly the width of the arena. Rhydon and Metang had been too far to be hurt, but Skarmory was a goner. It crashed onto the floor that was now devoid of any snow. Parts of its metallic wings had melted and fused, and many gashes ran through its armor.

It had put in a lot of work. If only its trainer hadn't been such an ass.

Metang followed shortly, and while Rhydon flailed around, Duosion and the steel type engaged in a duel of minds. I couldn't exactly understand what was going on, but they were clearly trying to overpower each other with Psychic, and occasionally, they would try other moves to trip each other up. Metang would feign going in with Bullet Punch, and Duosion would flinch, leaving him open to further mental assaults. The duel was surprisingly equal. I had expected Sirris to win easily, but the fact that Metang had two brains just like him was probably tripping him up. Still, Duosion eventually won out. Metang had grown too tired to keep his shields up, and Rhydon finished him off with a Stone Edge.

"Victory to Lauren Goodwill. Trainers, please step out of the arena."

"Man, that was fun," Sam smiled as he recalled Metang. "I ought to get a rematch one of these days. Your Magmar completely countered my team. Kind of opened my eyes to how fucked I am by a single powerful fire type. Usually Metang was enough to take care of 'em on his own, but not this time."

Lauren retrieved her Pokemon as well, and her outward demeanor seemingly evaporated as she shrunk down to her usual quiet self.

"Yeah… you should at least try to find a counter, I think," she muttered into the microphone. "Something like a Steelix or an Aggron would be good at resisting the heat. Anyway, thanks."

Lauren left the battlefield a burning, crumbling mess. It was even worse than what Cecilia had done to hers. At least the Desert Field had been left in a somewhat recognizable state, but this? If you told someone that this had been the Snow Field just ten minutes earlier, they never would have believed you. It was nothing but upended earth from Rhydon, that massive crater from Duosion, and the snow had completely melted due to Magmar's flames.

If Pauline was violence and Cecilia was power, Lauren was uncontrollable destruction. She left nothing behind when she fought, and I had no doubt it was intentional on her part. Her behavior during the battle had been… interesting. It was almost like a split personality, but I didn't think that was it. Battling might have been the only place where she could ever let loose and talk however she wanted to, along with when she talked with her brother. And maybe her team too? With strangers and acquaintances, she was a meek girl, but otherwise? She could be as snappy as Pauline was.

That Rhydon was the least of my problems. Princess could probably run laps around him like there was no tomorrow. Magmar and Duosion though? They were threats, and at this point, I believed the rest of her team was too.

Against her, Denzel or Cece? No holds were barred. I would find the most efficient way to shut all of their teams down no matter what I had to do. My best friend might not have been as flashy as us, but I knew he was hiding something. I could see it in his eyes. That show with Lopunny and the four different attacks? The Blizzard tactic with Froslass? It was good, but it was bait. A shiny new thing that people could latch onto while he worked on his real tactic.

No, he had something else prepared, and hopefully I would be able to find out if we had to battle.

—

It was Maeve's turn to fight now. I was actually intrigued since I hadn't really seen her fight since the Floaroma tournament. Would she be a cautious fighter like Louis and Justin? Or a risk-taker like Mira and Pauline? Or someone in the middle like me, Denzel or Cecilia? I was excited to find out. Even if we all roughly had similar ways of fighting, we were so different. Battling showed endless possibilities for every single style, and watching so many battles in this tournament made me realize the incredible growth that everyone had gone through.

The Water Field was the most annoying one to fight on by a wide margin, but it would actually be good experience for anyone still looking to fight Crasher Wake. A few rocky platforms rising from the depths of the water were the only safe havens for non-water types. Some might have said that this was an unfair advantage, but water types that couldn't be on land were so difficult to train and battle with that they deserved a win once in a while.

"This is a battle between Reuben Stinnett and Maeve Chang. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

Reuben looked just as nervous as Maeve was, and he adjusted his glasses with a trembling hand. Maeve sent out her Pokemon first— her Starmie and Staravia. The star-like Pokemon spun in place, and the gem in its center gleamed. Staravia screeched and stretched her wings before taking to the air. She wasn't the biggest, but her maneuverability in the air was second to none— even better than Fletchinder's, although that might have changed now that she had evolved.

Reuben sent out a Swellow and a Quagsire. The ground type stared in utter confusion with its beady little eyes, but a cry from Swellow snapped him back to reality.

"Begin—"

Maeve exploded into a flurry of commands as soon as he finished. "Power Gem, Double Team, Aerial Ace!"

Starmie and Staravia split into at least twenty clones. The flying type and her afterimages all rushed toward Swellow, and more beams of light than I could count flew toward the same target. The fact that Maeve had trained her team to the extent that even their fake selves were able to attack was incredible.

"Quick Attack and Double Team!" Reuben yelled out to his Swellow. "Quagsire, Yawn!"

Swellow split into afterimages of its own, but it was too slow. The real Power Gem hit it, and Staravia rammed into her opponent with a ferocity that was uncharacteristic of their species. Quagsire opened its mouth so much that I thought it was about to dislocate his jaw and yawned, and I suddenly felt very drowsy. Swellow and Staravia crashed into the water.

"What?! Is that allowed? What if he drowns?!" Reuben worryingly said. The supervisor just nodded.

"Starmie, get in there and Power Gem underwater!" Maeve quickly continued.

"Quagsire, stop them! Mudshot!"

With a sharp hiss, Starmie jumped into the depths. The Mudshot followed it closely, but I couldn't see if it hit. Reuben ordered Quagsire to jump into the water to help Swellow, but it just looked around confusedly. It might as well have been a Slowpoke. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. The water occasionally lit up with attacks that could only be Power Gem. It was a game of who would blink first. Pokeballs were generally good at tracking the Pokemon they belonged to, so pointing it in the water's general direction would be enough to save their flying types.

"Starmie!" Maeve yelled.

Swellow was raised into the air by psychic energy and slammed onto one of the islands, and the bird coughed up water. The water clung to its feathers like glue, and it was too wet to fly. Staravia was next, although she was placed a lot more gently.

"I'm retracting Staravia out of the fight," Maeve said, causing me to scoff. She immediately recalled her and released a Skorupi instead. "Venoshock."

The small bug type wasted no time angling its tail toward the Swellow and spraying her with poison that rivaled Roselia's own.

"Mud Bomb!" Reuben ordered.

This time, Quagsire spat out a huge ball of scorching mud instead of a continuous stream. Before it could land on Skorupi, Starmie jumped out of the water and held it back with Psychic. The Mud Bomb collapsed in place, sinking into the water.

"Starmie, jump back in the water before you fall asleep," Maeve said. Her words were like a continuous stream. She spoke faster than any trainer I'd seen.

The star-like Pokemon sunk into the water once more, and only Skorupi stood. Starmie was safest in the water where it couldn't get hit, and it didn't appear like Quagsire would be that good of a swimmer since he was adamant about not going into the water. Plus, Reuben would probably focus on Skorupi instead, where he held the type advantage. Another quick Venoshock finished Swellow off, and Reuben replaced it with a Bronzong.

"Light Screen and Reflect!" He yelled. "Mud Bomb again!"

"Pin Missile and Hone Claws."

Dozens of sharp spikes erupted from Skorupi's body and toward the Mud Bomb. The ground type attack did not explode, but its path was altered enough so that it only grazed the scorpion. His pincers shone and sharpened.

"Confusion it into the water!" Reuben ordered to his Bronzong. The steel type's eyes glinted, he began to lift Skorupi into the air.

"Break free with Night Slash. Keep using Pin Missle to buy time for Starmie to come back," Maeve said.

Darkness festered from within Skorupi's pincers, and he cut up the psychic sack around his body, falling back onto his island. Quagsire used Mud Shot instead of Mud Bomb this time, and no amount of Pin Missiles were stopping that attack. Still, Skorupi was a fierce little bug. Maeve ordered him to use another Venoshock, this time toward the Quagsire, and it was too slow to dodge. The poison seeped onto his skin and melted off its thick layers of fat.

"Gyro Ball, Bronzong!"

The psychic slowly started to rotate and then grew faster and faster as it approached Skorupi.

"Night Slash!"

The two Pokemon hit each other and the dark energy seemingly bypassed the Reflect. That would be important information to ingest. I knew that it was capable of passing through barriers created with Psychic, but Reflect and Light Screen were entirely different beasts. Bronzong knocked Skorupi into the water and it screeched as it made a pitiful attempt to swim.

And then it sunk.

All Maeve could do now was wait. I was nervous for her, and yet she seemed more sure of herself than she had ever been.

Starmie jumped out of the water, carrying Skorupi in tow with what could only be Confusion. They jumped onto Quagsire's island, and the bug type slashed across his back with Night Slash while Starmie blasted him with a Psychic.

"Get back!" Reuben screamed. Bronzong tried to float toward his teammate, but he was slow. Maeve's Pokemon overwhelmed Quagsire with poison and psychic energy until it fainted, but Bronzong quickly took his revenge and smashed the bug against Kadabra's wall with Confusion quicker than he could react.

Reuben sent out a Skorupi of his own, and Maeve sent out her Monferno.

She had the advantage.

"Bronzong, use Extrasensory on Monferno!"

"Starmie, Psychic, Monferno, Flamethrower."

Maeve did not even need to state who she was targeting. Skorupi was immediately restrained as Psychic assaulted its brain and turned it to mush. Monferno's tail flame intensified, and it spat out the largest Flamethrower it could muster. Instead of defending Monferno from the coming Confusion, Maeve put everything she had into one single attack.

And it worked. Skorupi was burned to a crisp and fainted right away, but Monferno was knocked back into the water. He could swim, but he was extremely weak when his tail was extinguished. Starmie jumped to his rescue and placed him back on an island.

Reuben tried for another few minutes, and Bronzong was clearly one of his strongest Pokemon, but there was only so much that it could do in a one-on-two. Eventually, the Flamethrowers and Brines broke through his Light Screen, and the steel type fainted.

"Victory to Maeve Chang. Trainers, please step off the platform."

I had seen enough to understand the gist of Maeve's style. She was a fast-paced battler that took risks, but she was smart about them. During the battle, she had had both of her Pokemon focus on one opponent while Reuben constantly split his attention. Splitting attacks was fine if there was an overarching plan, but I didn't get that feeling from him. It felt like he was still finding his footing as a trainer. Despite his Pokemon being maybe even stronger than Maeve's, the fact that she had cemented her style and he had not meant that she held the advantage.

Maeve had also recalled Staravia without any hesitation. In the moment, I almost groaned due to how strange I had found that decision, but that snap decision had potentially won Maeve the battle. Staravia would have been asleep at the same time as Starmie due to Quagsire's yawn, but it was also unable to fly because of how wet it had been. By switching out to Skorupi immediately, she kept the battle active and running at her pace.

I smiled. Maeve was pretty good.

—

It was nighttime now, and Pauline's battle was next on the Rock Field. This time, we were all here. I eagerly awaited for her Vigoroth to make its debut. I hoped that she had at least gotten him in line like Lauren's Rhydon— maybe not ready to listen to commands yet, but at least cooperative. Her opponents stepped up to the podium and Denzel squinted.

"What the… what the hell?" He muttered.

"What is it?" Mira asked.

"That's not… that's not who she was supposed to fight. This is a five-badger. Harry Rodriguez. I looked him up when I was researching the trainers with five badges in case I'd have to battle them."

"What? She was supposed to battle a girl with three badges, right? What happened?"

Denzel grabbed his phone and quickly started to type. "She… dropped out? And so did this guy's previous opponent. What the fuck."

My eyes narrowed. "What? That's shady as hell."

"This isn't good. I don't even know if Pauline knows about— ah, she's here."

The redhead frowned, clearly confused at her opponent, but she didn't appear shaken. The supervisor announced their names, and they released their Pokemon. Pauline released Charmeleon and Rufflet. Harry released his Pokemon onto the field.

It was a continent. A self-sustaining island with legs. A living terrarium. Torterra grunted, and the tree on its back creaked and rustled as it took to the field. It was mindbogglingly large, coming in at around nine feet in height and I didn't know how much in width. Were Torterra always that big? A relatively smaller purple bat with a huge wingspan and four wings was released directly into the air. Crobat screeched and its yellow eyes locked onto its enemies.

"Begin!"

—

Three minutes later, Vigoroth and Gothorita were splayed out across the ground. Torterra and Crobat stood triumphantly over them. Torterra's tree had been lit on fire, but other than that, the ground type was intact. Crobat had been too quick to even get hit once.

Pauline had lost.

Now either this was all a big coincidence,

Or something was horribly wrong with this tournament. I was willing to bet it was the latter.