Day 27 back in the Orange Archipelago. Overcast.
It was the last day of the group stage. After today, only 256 Trainers would be left, and everyone still standing would move into the knockout rounds. For a lot of people, this final match was the difference between having a respectable finish and vanishing before the real tournament even started.
Normally, Cissy would have been knocking on Reiji's door first thing in the morning.
Not today.
She had never gone back to her own room last night. She had stayed in Reiji and Senta's room.
And before anyone asked, yes, there were two beds. One person per bed. This was a twin room. Completely proper. Nothing strange here.
Of course, halfway through the night, Cissy had somehow slipped into his bed like it was the most natural thing in the world. Reiji, being a decent and very innocent person, pretended to be asleep. If his hand ended up somewhere questionable, who could blame him? He was asleep. She was a little flat, sure, but having someone warm beside him was not bad.
Two people on one single bed—anyone who had survived dorm life understood. Anyone who had not could only imagine.
Early that morning, Cissy shook him awake. The two of them washed up together, ate breakfast in the cafeteria, then packed another breakfast to take to the Pokémon Center.
After they checked on Senta, Cissy's mother walked them out and hurried them along, telling them not to be late for their matches.
"Rai," Cissy's mother said, smiling like she already knew everything worth knowing, "take care of Cissy for me. Both of you, do your best today. Bring back a good result."
"Mom!" Cissy's face warmed at once. She knew exactly what her mother meant. "What are you saying?"
"All right, all right, I'll stop. Go on, you two."
Cissy's mother let them go with a smile and watched them leave.
Only after they were more than ten metres away did Reiji lean closer and whisper, "Hey. Did your mom notice?"
"No way. She didn't notice anything." Cissy pinched his arm. "Stay calm. You're the one who's going to give us away."
"Ow. Use words. Why are you pinching me?"
"Hmph. I'm not talking to you."
Cissy turned her head away, secretly laughing, then skipped ahead toward the draw hall.
"Hey, wait up."
Reiji picked up his pace and followed her.
Cissy's mother saw the whole thing from behind. Watching them tease each other like that finally put her mind at ease.
Her husband had asked her to keep an eye on this, and more importantly, it was her daughter's future. Of course she cared.
At the draw hall, Reiji and Cissy each drew their opponent and field.
They both only had one group-stage match left. The battlefield was already decided, so the draw only needed to settle the opponent.
Reiji was assigned to the water field. No surprise there. Then his opponent appeared on the screen.
"Oh, come on. Riku?"
The portrait showed Riku's face. He had registered under a fake identity, but he had not even bothered changing his appearance.
Bold. Or lazy.
Reiji's first thought was whether this was another attempt to target him. But this was a major League tournament. There was no need to make the rigging that obvious.
Keeping Gym Trainers away from each other was one thing. That was a promise the League had made to the Orange Archipelago Gyms. It cost them almost nothing, earned the Gyms a favour, and helped tighten their hold over the local system. Of course the League would agree to that kind of arrangement.
Besides, there were not many Gym Trainers. Separating them was easy.
But if someone behind Riku could tamper with the bracket too, that was a much bigger problem.
Cissy's father was not around, so Reiji had no one he could ask. He could only keep the thought to himself until the old man came back.
Cissy finished her draw soon after. They were not on the same field, but at least their matches were at different times. Otherwise, they would have had to split up.
Since Reiji's match came first, the two of them headed to the water field.
They had barely arrived before the broadcast called him in. No waiting room today. Straight to the battlefield.
The moment Reiji stepped out of the tunnel, cheers rolled across the venue.
"Reiji! Reiji! Reiji!"
"Entering from the green side is Reiji, still one of the tournament's most popular Trainers! Some are even calling him a favourite for the championship. And from the opposite side, we have Kaze from Trovitopolis!"
Reiji reached his platform and looked across the field.
Reiji almost laughed. Riku had changed the name on the form and called that a disguise, while walking in with the same face. Bold choice.
"Didn't expect to see you again," Riku said, grinning.
To be fair, this really was not a mission. There was no setup behind it either. He had simply joined the tournament for fun and happened to draw Reiji.
He had no real interest in the championship. He could not win it anyway. That was his brother's prize, and Riku had full confidence in him.
"Tch."
Reiji did not bother answering.
The referee finished the opening call, and both Trainers threw their Poké Balls at the same time. Two Pokémon landed on the platforms floating across the water field.
"Go, Gyarados!"
"Go, Lucario!"
"It's Lucario against Gyarados! The water field is a brutal matchup for Lucario. How will Reiji find a way through this?"
"Gyarados, huh? Fine by me."
Reiji gave a faint nod, then heard the commentator talk about him "finding a way through" and nearly rolled his eyes.
These commentators really would milk anything for drama.
He had not expected Riku's Gyarados to be back in shape, though. Since he already knew Riku's roster, he had opened with Lucario on purpose.
As for Swampert?
No chance.
Riku would never use it here. If the League checked his registration and found an unregistered starter Pokémon, they would come for him.
A wild Trainer from the Orange Archipelago could fake plenty of things. A starter Pokémon was not one of them. The League loved waiting for people like that to expose themselves.
So Reiji only had to think about Riku's Water- and Fire-types. On the water field, that still put Lucario under pressure, but it was manageable.
The referee's flag dropped.
"Lucario," Reiji called, "first official match. Nervous? Did Intimidate get to you?"
"Luu."
Lucario shook its head.
Not nervous. Not scared.
Gyarados's Intimidate was nowhere near enough to rattle it.
Reiji had already made Lucario practice on different battlefield types before the tournament. Water field, rock field, ice field—anything the tournament might throw at them, he had made his team get used to it.
The water field was bad for Lucario, but not unfamiliar. The only thing that bothered it was the crowd. Too many eyes, too much noise.
Reiji had told it before: once the battle started, the world outside the field stopped mattering.
"Lucario, Thunder Punch."
Riku laughed. "This is the water field, genius. Gyarados, dive."
Since Reiji had no intention of chatting, Riku immediately sent Gyarados into the pool.
"Idiot." Reiji smiled. "Lucario, put Thunder Punch in the water."
Riku's face changed. "Gyarados, get out! Flamethrower!"
Too late.
Lucario crouched and drove its sparking fist into the pool.
Electricity cracked through the water. The pool spread it fast, and the water weakened the punch's raw power, but that did not save Gyarados.
It had an x4 weakness to Electric.
Even a weakened hit became ugly once it reached that body underwater.
Reiji did not expect this to knock Gyarados out. He only needed to flush it out.
The water exploded upward.
Gyarados forced itself through the pain and burst out of the pool. It rose high, twisted its head, and tried to spit Flamethrower back at Lucario.
Lucario moved the instant Gyarados turned.
It kicked off the platform, jumped, and slammed Thunder Punch straight into Gyarados's face.
"Raaah!"
Gyarados roared. The hit landed clean. It was not Rhydon's fist, but an x4 weakness did not care whose fist delivered it.
"Back to the water. Don't let it breathe."
"Rii."
Lucario landed on its platform, crouched again, and pressed its sparking fist into the pool.
The water crackled.
Gyarados thrashed below, but it did not follow Riku's order to come up and attack.
"Lucky. Paralysis." Reiji did not miss the opening. "More current. Both fists."
Even with the water cutting the power down, it did not matter. An x4 weakness was the real monster here. On the water field, Thunder Punch had turned the whole pool into a trap.
"Gyarados! Gyarados!"
Riku kept shouting, but Gyarados had already missed its best chance.
Paralysis reduces a Pokémon's Speed, and sometimes, when it tried to move, its body simply refused.
That was what had happened.
Gyarados was not far from Lucario either. It was almost directly under the platform, separated only by the depth of the pool.
It still tried to break out. Paralysis did not freeze it every time. But each time it managed to force its head above the surface, it came up furious and out of rhythm, and Lucario punched it straight back down.
Thunder Punch. Pool. Shock treatment. Repeat.
Lucario only spent stamina. It never had to take a hit.
"Gyarados! Gyarados!"
Riku shouted until Lucario finally lifted its hands from the water.
A moment later, Gyarados floated up belly-first, eyes rolled back.
It was out cold.
"Damn it."
Riku recalled Gyarados after the referee made the call.
Losing was one thing. Losing like this was another. His Gyarados had been electrocuted unconscious underwater. If the sailors on the Black Ship saw this, they would laugh until they died.
The embarrassment burned hotter the more he thought about it.
He wanted to kill Reiji for making him look this ridiculous.
"Go, Houndoom!"
After one lesson, Riku finally stopped feeding Water-types into the pool. This time, he sent out one of his only two Fire-types.
Houndoom was Fire and Dark. The Fire typing threatened Lucario's Steel side, and the Dark typing gave it a way to fight Psychic-types too.
"Oh? Done with Water-types already?" Reiji laughed. "Then this gets easier."
That was what information advantage did. Once he knew the roster, the fight became much simpler.
He recalled Lucario and threw his next Poké Ball.
"Go, Slowking."
"Yahdon."
Slowking appeared on the field for the first time in the tournament.
Out of Reiji's options, it was the cleanest answer to Riku's remaining Pokémon.
Riku's team was not weak. His Pokémon were around Reiji's level, mostly quasi–Elite Four tier. Lucario had crushed Gyarados because the matchup was disgusting, not because Gyarados was easy.
"Slowking has a Psychic typing," Riku muttered. "Why bring it into Houndoom? Trading weaknesses?"
He could not figure out what Reiji was doing.
He was about to find out.
"Slowking, Rain Dance."
"Yahdon."
Slowking raised its head. Clouds gathered overhead, and a thin rain began falling across the field.
Riku felt the rain hit his face and clicked his tongue.
Fire-type moves had just been cut down.
Fine.
"Houndoom, Crunch!"
Houndoom sprang off its platform. Dark energy gathered around its jaws, staining its fangs black as it lunged for Slowking.
"Teleport. Drain Punch."
Houndoom snapped its jaws shut on empty air.
Slowking had vanished.
Houndoom landed and whipped its head around, searching.
Slowking had not gone far.
It reappeared right beside Houndoom, fist already glowing white, and punched down.
The blow cracked into Houndoom's head and sent it tumbling into the pool.
Slowking teleported after it without waiting for Reiji's next command.
That was the right call. Once Houndoom fell in, the fight had to be finished there.
Underwater, Slowking caught the struggling Houndoom, drew frost over one hand, and slammed a punch into its mouth. Then it clamped its icy fingers around Houndoom's muzzle.
The jaws froze shut.
From that point on, Houndoom was done.
It could not see clearly underwater. Its mouth was sealed. The bottom of the pool was awkward, messy, and full of drag—exactly the kind of place a Houndoom hated.
Reiji did not bother giving more orders. The water was churned up enough that his voice might not carry properly anyway.
Riku had the same problem.
For a few minutes, the pool thrashed and boiled.
Then it went still.
The water split down the middle, and Slowking's white shell surfaced first. Behind it floated a black, limp Houndoom.
The result did not need explaining.
"Houndoom is unable to battle! Kaze, please recall Houndoom and send out your final Pokémon!"
"Damn it. Again."
Riku gritted his teeth.
The moment Houndoom had been knocked into the water, he had known the fight was probably over. He just had not expected it to end that fast.
Houndoom could not catch Slowking on the platforms. Underwater, with all that resistance, it had no chance.
Riku recalled Houndoom and threw his last Poké Ball.
"Go, Pelipper!"
"A Flying type?"
Reiji clicked his tongue.
Then the rain grew heavier.
Drizzle.
This guy was weirdly helpful.
Unfortunately, Pelipper against Slowking was still a losing fight. It did not matter how fast Pelipper flew. It was not faster than Teleport. Even Poliwhirl's burst speed and Scyther's acceleration could not catch that move.
That was how ridiculous Teleport was.
"Pelipper, Hurricane!"
Wind tore across the field.
Slowking raised a psychic barrier before the gale could reach it, blocking the cutting wind at the edge of the platform.
Then it disappeared.
A heartbeat later, Slowking reappeared beside Pelipper in midair, lightning wrapped around its fist.
It swung.
Bad luck for Pelipper.
Gyarados had not been the only one with a father-level counter waiting for it.
Pelipper was x4 weak to Electric too.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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