"Tania? That sounds familiar…" Lorelei looked toward the match and thought for a moment. "Right. Agatha's granddaughter."
"She probably knows Agatha's tricks too," Lance said with an awkward laugh. He had suffered badly under Agatha's dirty tactics before.
Bruno had it even worse. As the Fighting-type Elite Four member, he was already at a natural disadvantage against Ghost-types. Moves like Foresight and Odor Sleuth could reveal Ghost-types and let moves hit them, but seeing through the trick was one thing. Winning was another.
Agatha was the oldest of the Elite Four for a reason. Her strength was beyond doubt, especially that old Gengar of hers. It could probably go toe-to-toe with Professor Oak's Dragonite.
When all three of them heard Tania call for Perish Song, their mouths twitched. Of course. Back then, they had spent no small amount of time studying Agatha's tactics just to deal with that move.
One careless mistake, and Perish Song could take one or two Pokémon down with it. That was what made the move so nasty. It did not care how strong the target was. Once the count ended, the Pokémon was out.
Shun was not watching Tania's match. He had already lost and was out of the tournament, so he was in no mood to care about another battle.
When he reached the door of the Elite Four lounge, he stopped. He did not know how to face Bruno. He was supposed to be an Elite Four member's student, yet he had lost. He had always wanted to beat Reiji, but in the end, he still lost. He wondered what Reiji thought of him now. Had he disappointed him?.
"Bruno," Lorelei said while watching Tania's match. Slowbro had tugged at the hem of her clothes, sensing someone outside the door. Lorelei immediately guessed that Shun had come up after losing.
"I'll step out for a moment." Bruno sighed. Shun was still his student. He stood up, left his chair, opened the door, and saw Shun standing outside with his head lowered.
"Shun."
"Teacher Bruno." Shun looked up at him, then quickly lowered his head again.
"Look at me. Did one loss really break you?" Bruno's voice turned sharp. He was not angry that Shun had lost the match. He was angry at the way Shun looked after losing. If he could not even handle one defeat, his mental strength was far too fragile.
"It didn't." Shun lifted his head and forced himself to look strong, holding back the tears in his eyes.
"You took down two of his Pokémon. That was a good performance." Bruno turned his back. He was afraid that if he kept looking at Shun, the kid would actually start crying. "Now tell me. Who is he?"
Only after Bruno turned away did Shun quickly wipe the tears from his face. He was not breaking down because of Bruno. He and Bruno did not have that deep a teacher-student bond yet. What hurt was that he felt too ashamed to face Reiji. He was afraid Reiji would be disappointed in him.
He knew exactly who Bruno was asking about, and he had no intention of hiding it.
"He's my older brother from the orphanage. We were both orphans there. We grew up together and became Trainers together. After I became a Trainer, Grandpa came to pick me up, and he took Reiji-nii in too…"
Shun knew that was not the real story, but he would help Reiji hide it. They had lived together, trained together, traveled together, and survived danger together.
Reiji had saved his life. Shun had long since seen him as his real older brother. That was why his own poor performance hurt so much. He was afraid Reiji would be disappointed.
"I understand. Go spend some time with your brother. Come find me later. I'll introduce you to a few people, and after this, you still have special training waiting for you. Be ready."
Bruno patted Shun on the shoulder, then turned and went back into the Elite Four lounge. He decided to give Shun time to calm down and sort himself out.
Shun watched Bruno close the door. Teacher Bruno did not care that he had lost. That part was fine now. The only person left was Reiji.
It was time to go see Reiji-nii.
"He left?" Lorelei asked when Bruno returned.
"I told him to go find Reiji." Bruno waved it off and sat back down.
On the table lay Shun's basic information. It matched what Shun had said. He had not lied. He really had lived in an orphanage when he was young.
Reiji's information had been pulled up too. His identity was clean, and he was currently a Trainer from Mikan Gym.
But what caught Bruno's attention was Shun's background. He was the child of a martyr. His father had died fighting pirates and was a hero of the League. With a background that clean, Shun should have been treated as League family. How had he ended up struggling so badly? Even his Infernape had been exchanged through gathered merit.
"Lance, you knew this already?"
"I met them on Kinnow Island and looked into them while I was there," Lance said. He no longer hid it and explained how he had gone to Kinnow Island because of Dratini. Then he sighed. "That's also why, when you nominated Shun, we didn't object. We supported it."
"Who would've thought the kid I met in the mountains had that kind of past? If not for today, I probably wouldn't have found out until later." Bruno sighed and closed the laptop.
For an Elite Four member, pulling up personal records like this was not hard. Shun had simply been living too poorly. Compared with Ash, the difference was almost painful.
"You've taken him as your student, so teach him properly," Lance said. "Even if you hadn't, the League would have started paying attention to him sooner or later. Rather than letting someone else take him, it's better to keep him with you. That way, we can be at ease too."
"I'll train Shun before the League plan begins." Bruno nodded, then looked at Lance and Lorelei. "In that case, the Pokémon Egg and Mega Stone I applied for should be approved soon, right?"
"I'll support you on that," Lance said. He knew Bruno was asking for backing. If the three active Elite Four members all agreed, it would be hard for anyone to keep blocking the Mega Stone request.
"For the Orange Archipelago plan, those old men shouldn't keep stalling you," Lorelei said. Her meaning was clear. If they still refused while expecting the Elite Four to do the hard work, then they could forget it.
"That's all I needed to hear." With both colleagues supporting him, Bruno could finally relax. The Riolu Egg he had applied for should be released soon.
It was not an ordinary Pokémon Egg. It came from two Elite Four-tier Fighting-type Pokémon, and it came with the matching Lucarionite.
His own Riolu was still being raised. Once it evolved into Lucario, the Mega Stone would be usable.
In the end, though, that Mega Stone was meant for Shun. With the messy situation in the Orange Archipelago, they needed someone strong enough to hold the line. A Mega Stone that allowed another evolution would raise an Elite Four Trainer's battle power by a good margin.
That was still far off. Shun could receive it once he had grown enough. As for Bruno himself, getting another Mega Stone as an Elite Four member would not be that hard later.
On the other side, Reiji left the main stadium and headed for the Pokémon Center. Before going in, he had Ditto drop the disguise, though he kept a mask on so people would not recognize him.
At the counter, he handed Nurse Joy his Pokédex and the five Pokémon he had used in the match.
He left all five Pokémon with Nurse Joy for treatment, then sat in the waiting area.
Poliwhirl would need a proper rest until tomorrow before it could fight again. The next knockout match would only be harder than today's.
Farfetch'd was out for the rest of the tournament. The recoil from Brave Bird had been severe, and its wings had been hurt during the aerial battle. It would not be appearing again.
Kingler had passed out from dehydration and heatstroke, so it was out for tomorrow too. But Kingler was tough. After a day of rest and rehydration, it should be fine for the third round.
Forretress had no real issues. Today proved that Fire-type moves from Pokémon around its level could not do much to it. It could continue fighting tomorrow.
Slowpoke had taken out several of Shun's Pokémon in a row, so it had definitely spent a lot of energy. Luckily, it was not injured. Whether it fought tomorrow would depend on the situation.
Overall, the knockout match had gone pretty well. Only Farfetch'd was truly out of the tournament. His main lineup was still mostly intact. That mattered, because his next opponent would probably be Tania, and that match would not be easy.
Reiji looked at the big screen in the Pokémon Center. Tania had already used Perish Song to drag down three of her opponent's Pokémon. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Damn, that was dirty.
Once he was sure Tania would win and advance, he stopped watching. It was just one old ghost spamming Perish Song six times. There was nothing else to study. The only real way around it was to use moves that let the Pokémon leave the field.
He pulled his eyes away from the screen and opened his Pokémon panels instead. He had not checked Poliwhirl's panel in a long time. Not that it mattered much. Its level had been stuck for ages.
[Poliwhirl]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 52.73%]
[Level: 52.52%]
[Ability: Damp/48.53%][Hidden Ability: Swift Swim/46.13%]
[Moves]
Water-type: [(Water Gun/51.14%) (Water Sport/42.21%) (Waterfall/50.22%) (Rain Dance/19.11%) (Bubble/12.31%) (Bubble Beam/13.21%)]
Fighting-type: [(Drain Punch/42.84%) (Focus Punch/22.54%)]
Normal-type: [(Mind Reader/46.21%) (Refresh/48.11%) (Mega Punch/39.82%) (Mega Kick/36.45%) (Protect/49.31%) (Pound/22.91%) (Double Slap/28.12%) (Belly Drum/31.72%)]
Ground-type: [(Mud Shot/47.82%) (Bulldoze/21.42%) (Earthquake/16.42%)]
Ice-type: [(Ice Ball/33.31%) (Ice Punch/48.22%) (Ice Beam/28.34%)]
Other: [(Hypnosis/10.82%)]
Because of the Water Gems, Poliwhirl's potential had gone up by about 0.5 recently. Better than nothing.
Its level had reached 52, but it was firmly stuck there. Reiji did not even feel like looking at it. He could only wait until the Indigo Plateau Conference ended, then go back and evolve it with the top-grade Water Stone.
The tournament only had a few days left.
Today was the first knockout round, from sixteen to eight.
Tomorrow would be the second round, eight to four.
The day after that would be the semifinals, four to two.
The final day would decide the champion.
There was also a third-place match, but that was an extra match at the end. He could watch it or skip it.
One knockout round per day, plus the closing ceremony. In another week, the tournament would be over, and he could return to the Orange Archipelago.
Almost there. He had already waited months. Waiting a few more days was not going to kill him. If he couldn't even handle that, he would be too embarrassed to call himself Reiji.
There was not much point checking Poliwhirl's remaining moves and abilities either. Since its level was stuck, its moves and abilities were stuck too. Improving them further would take a lot more work.
One thing was worth mentioning. To avoid ending up helpless against Ghost-types, Reiji had made every Pokémon learn at least one move that could hit or pressure Ghosts, as long as the Pokémon could learn it.
Unfortunately, the only Dark-type moves Poliwhirl could learn right now were Fling and Thief. One stole items, and the other threw them. Neither had much practical value in battle. One hit of damage was not enough to matter.
Besides, Gengar usually kept its item in its stomach. How was Poliwhirl supposed to steal something from Gengar's "pocket" when there was no pocket?
That could wait until Poliwhirl evolved. Once it became Poliwrath, the Dark-type moves it could learn would be more useful. For now, the better plan was still to force Gengar to the ground, then take it out with Earthquake.
After finishing with Poliwhirl's panel, Reiji opened Kingler's.
[Kingler]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 72.33%]
[Level: 50.36%]
[Ability: Hyper Cutter/42.22%][Hidden Ability: Sheer Force/36.53%]
[Moves]
Water-type: [(Water Gun/45.35%) (Rain Dance/16.04%) (Crabhammer/36.55%) (Bubble/27.14%) (Bubble Beam/20.53%)]
Ground-type: [(Dig/40.54%) (Mud Shot/41.24%) (High Horsepower/24.34%) (Stomping Tantrum/18.54%)]
Normal-type: [(Protect/42.44%) (Swords Dance/35.25%) (Leer/40.43%) (Harden/36.14%)]
Steel-type: [(Metal Claw/33.34%) (Iron Defense/42.64%)]
Psychic-type: [(Agility/45.15%) (Amnesia/33.18%)]
Other: [(Hammer Arm/33.22%) (Ice Beam/18.36%) (Rock Tomb/19.64%) (X-Scissor/14.91%)]
He had not checked Kingler's panel in a month, and its potential had only gone up by 0.1. Waiting for these Pokémon to reach Champion tier on their own was painful. Combination-evolution Pokémon were probably the better bet.
It was not that these Pokémon were bad. Their potential just rose too slowly. Who knew how long he would have to wait?
Kingler had finally reached level 50 after a month, almost catching up to Poliwhirl. The old boss's position was starting to look shaky.
Still, Kingler would need at least another half month to catch Poliwhirl, and that was enough time for Reiji to get the top-grade Water Stone and evolve Poliwhirl.
Today's stall battle, though, had really annoyed him. Kingler's Defense was so high, yet it still got dragged into that mess with Heracross. That made one thing clear. Once Kingler's defense was pushed that far, it needed more high-power moves so this kind of slog would not happen again.
Its body was already tough enough. It could use Hyper Beam or Giga Impact directly. Even with neutral damage, even with the recharge turn, it would be fine if the opponent could not break through its defense anyway.
Hydro Pump and Guillotine were worth considering too. Guillotine in particular suited a Kingler with both defenses stacked up. Just walk in and clamp down. If it lands, that's a knockout. If it lands, it's worth it.
This was Reiji's first real stall battle. In his past life, that kind of thing only happened in games. Who knew it could happen here too? Kingler and Heracross did not counter each other, so the battle turned into that mess.
The tournament was still ongoing, so there was no time to learn new moves now. That would have to wait until after the competition.
After a month without checking Kingler's panel, its abilities and moves had improved quite a bit, but there were no new moves.
He closed Kingler's panel and moved on to Slowpoke's. After thinking carefully, he realized he had only checked Slowpoke's panel once, back on the deserted island. That had been four or five months ago.
[Slowpoke]
[Type: Water + Psychic]
[Gender: Female]
[Potential: 41.25%]
[Level: 41.13%]
[Ability: Oblivious/28.15%][Hidden Ability: Regenerator/12.16%]
[Moves Mastered...]
Slowpoke's potential had not even reached 40 before. After spending all this time holding Water Gems and Psychic Gems, it had risen by one point.
Even with that growth, there was not much to see. A potential of 41 was still very low. Normally, Reiji would not even bother catching a Pokémon like this. But after using it as a pillow for so long, he had gotten attached.
At least Slowpoke had two abilities. From here, he only needed to use Shellder to raise its potential.
Oblivious was a decent ability. It stopped Taunt from working. (It does a lot more than that).
Then there was Regenerator. That one barely needed explaining. Anyone who had played the games knew how good it felt to switch and heal.
Ash had another aura around him too: the "keeps recalling Pokémon" aura. Players often joked that Ash was always trying to sneak in Regenerator recovery.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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