With Ren safely stowed and her Poké Ball returned to the interior of his shirt, Jason turned to Korrina and Luca and asked, "What now? Should we make our way over to Shalour? Or do we need to stop by the stadium first so you can register for the Battle Festival?"
"I registered on the train ride over, but I wouldn't mind watching some of the matches before we head back. There's also a Pokémon Center within the stadium, so we can drop off Laani and Ren for a few hours to expedite their recovery," answered Korrina, her eyes gleaming with expectation and excitement.
"Planning to scout out the competition?" asked Jason, matching Korrina's smile. He felt tired after witnessing Ren's and Luca's battle, but as long as he got some caffeine into his system, he would be good to go.
Nodding, Korrina confirmed, "Since I participate in this event every year, a lot of participants prepare in advance to challenge me. I'm used to that as a celebrity and Gym Leader, but since I'm aiming for a position in the Ultra Class, even a single defeat would set me back tremendously."
"Diligence is good," Jason affirmed, nodding. He was also curious to see how other Trainers battled, so after reporting that a battle had occurred on the beach—allowing the League to dispatch a survey team to clean up and restore the area—he and Korrina made their way over to the stadium. Within were four full-sized battlefields, each emulating a different kind of terrain: a flat, rocky field, a grassland, a sparsely treed forest, and a large pool that benefited Water Types. Which battlefield was chosen generally hinged on the rank and type of Pokémon possessed by the lower-ranked Trainer, so it was important to field a team with wide coverage unless you were prepared to battle at a disadvantage...
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After entrusting Ren's and Laani's Poké Balls to the in-stadium Pokémon Center, Jason and Korrina boarded an elevator up to a restricted section of the stadium. There, a luxury skybox with red-carpeted floors encircled the entire stadium, allowing sponsors and celebrity Trainers to watch the battles below with air conditioning and easy access to refreshments.
"I'm going to walk around for a bit and talk to people I recognize. I'd be happy to introduce you—but if you would prefer to relax, I have a private booth near the stadium's south-east corner, right above the Water-type battlefield," revealed Korrina, sporting a radiant smile as she led Jason out of the elevator and into the sparsely populated area.
"If they're friends of yours, I would be happy to meet them," affirmed Jason, nodding. He couldn't help thinking that Korrina would say or do something that placed him in a compromising position, but that was just something he had to live with.
"Mmn...calling them my friends might be a stretch..." expressed Korrina, her smile gaining a hint of wryness as she explained, "Generally speaking, Trainers who are on friendly terms will avoid jointly participating in events like this. If they get matched together, it could irreversibly harm the other person's WCS run. So even rivals tend to avoid one another until the Great and Ultra Class matches."
"Right. I recall you and the others mentioning that previously..." Jason acknowledged, referring to Korrina's, Maeve's, and Nanahoshi's accounts of their past WCS attempts. Fans were fickle creatures, and it only took a single defeat for many to shift their attention and support to Trainers with more promising prospects. That sudden shift was highly demoralizing for those attempting to cultivate a fanbase and secure sponsors, so in all but a few instances, losing before the scheduled matches of the Great Class meant the end of a WCS run.
"Come on. I'll show you to my private booth, and then you can decide from there what you want to do~" Korrina chimed, grabbing Jason by his hand and pulling him along. He couldn't help looking around as she did so, but while their interaction drew curious gazes and smiles from the floor's staff, no one went out of their way to approach or call out to them. Many recognized Korrina through her disguise, but as it wasn't the first time she had arrived at the venue with friends in tow, they didn't presume anything untoward just because she was with a boy...
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'Pokémon battling is something else...' thought Jason, his expression a mask of neutral contemplation as he sat alone in Korrina's private booth, observing matches on all four battlefields using a series of large, curved displays. It was easy to determine which Trainers were new to the WCS and those who had already acquired sponsors, as the latter group almost exclusively wore form-fitting sportswear or custom, costume-like outfits related to their favorite Pokémon or typing.
Focusing his gaze on the battle occurring on the Water-type battlefield, Jason's brows creased at the sight of a blue-skinned, red-spined, bipedal crocodilian crunching down on the throat of a sleek, elegant, serpent-like Pokémon with white, wing-like appendages framing a tapered, large-eyed head. He recognized the two as a Feraligator and a Dragonair, and were it not for the latter's digitalization, he could imagine its throat being torn out or crushed in the fierce-looking crocodilian's powerful jaws...
'How am I supposed to subject Ren to dangers like this...?' Jason asked himself, exhaling in faint exasperation. He had no intention of reneging on his promise to help Ren reach her full potential, but after the incident with Siebold, he felt...uncertain. Ren was like a daughter to him, and though he wanted to see her triumph, it broke his heart to see her subjected to pain and hardship...
'The most obvious solution is to empower her through my System. But if the only reason she's able to succeed is via a System others don't have access to, can that be considered achieving her full potential...?' Jason wondered, his brows creasing in conflict as he recalled his conversation with Maeve, in particular. His intuition told him that depending too much on his System was dangerous, but without a hand-up or a hand-out, how was he supposed to realistically compete with people born into a society and mindset where violence was normalized as entertainment and sport?
'You already know the answer...' Jason sighed, closing his eyes, adjusting his position atop the white, round-backed leather chair he was seated on, and resting his cheek on the knuckles of his right hand. The simple fact of the matter was that he needed strength to protect himself and that which he held dear. And when he someday returned to his world, he would be at a tremendous disadvantage if he avoided benefitting from System and the other nine billion residents of his planet didn't...
Opening his eyes, Jason returned his gaze to the four displays, this time focusing on a battle occurring between a notably female Mega Infernape and a Mega Machamp. The latter was a variation that hadn't existed in his previous world, and one glance was enough to understand what Korrina meant about Mega Evolutions being unstable. The muscles along its back and second set of arms were so engorged that they tore through the grey flesh, leaving them appearing red, glossy, and slickened with a mixture of sweat and evaporating fat.
Seeing what other Trainers and their Pokémon were willing to endure to remain competitive, Jason's expression hardened with resolve. The Mega Machamp was clearly in tremendous pain from its transformation, but the look in its eyes when the camera focused on its face was that of someone prepared to die to achieve their goals.
Without realizing it, Jason found himself on the edge of his seat, his eyes focused on the intensifying battle as the Mega Machamp punched its way through the veritable sea of flames produced by the Mega Infernape. Its steel-grey skin glowed like superheated metal, but it pressed forward and eventually managed to land a massive, frighteningly powerful punch on its opponent's body, sending them flying in an almost straight line across the battlefield.
"Machaaaaaaaaamp...!" cried the Machamp, striking a pose with its front arms crossed and its back arms flexing to the point that spurts of steamy blood erupted from the gaps in its muscles. In that same pose, the light in its eyes faded as it lost consciousness while still standing.
'Alright, that's pretty badass...' Jason acknowledged, unable to prevent a faint but appreciative smile from adorning his face. The Mega Machamp's transformation was grotesque, and he felt sorry for the Infernape—whose unconscious body had cratered the wall encircling the battlefield—but he couldn't help but appreciate the determination of both Pokémon and their Trainers...
As he watched the two Trainers meet at the center of the battlefield to shake hands, Jason imagined how he and Ren would have fared against both as opponents. Their and Luca's performance against Laani made it clear that Pokémon chosen to participate in the WCS were in a league of their own. If he and Ren were going to compete on a similar level without becoming overly reliant on inflating their attributes, they needed to ramp up their training intensity tremendously. They would both give it their all. Then, when they hit a wall they couldn't overcome through sheer force of will, they would surmount it with his System's help and withdraw from the competitive scene to pursue self mastery...
"Ding! I have just been notified by the Pokémon Center personnel that Ren is ready to be picked up~!" chimed Rotom, causing Jason to startle with its sudden exclamation.
"Right...thanks for letting me know..." Jason expressed, exhaling from his nose before reaching into his pocket to produce a battery cell shaped like a stick of gum—a Rotom's favorite snack.
"Huzzah! You are truly the best owner a Rotom could ask for~!" exclaimed Rotom, producing tiny, lightning-shaped tendrils of bluish-white electricity to grab and absorb the apparently mint berry and chocolate-chip flavored electricity within the silvery energy stick. As it did, Jason observed it with a mix of intrigue and pity. Most Rotoms were low-energy and behaved like rudimentary AIs. He didn't know if his was faulty or special in some way, but he was happy to see it full of energy—at least when it wasn't sleeping and conserving energy in its charging pouch.
Waiting until Rotom had finished its snack, Jason placed the depleted energy cell into an electrical waste disposal bag. To gain their flavor, the electricity within went through a proprietary process he couldn't begin to imagine, so the spent cells needed to be returned to the manufacturer to regain their charge. Fortunately, it was relatively inexpensive to swap the spent cells for new ones. Thus, while he unquestionably got less use out of it than a typical Rotom phone, Jason made sure his was well cared for as its owner.
"Alright, let's go," said Jason, rising to his feet and waiting for Rotom to return to its charging pouch on the side of his backpack before departing the private booth in search of Korrina. He could have had his Rotom call hers to inform her that he was headed down to the Pokémon Center, but since she had said she would be wandering around the main viewing area and lobby, he figured he could find and tell her himself. He was curious to see what she had gotten up to, but she had evidently received the same notification he had, as the moment he stepped out into the main viewing area, he spotted her jogging toward him and waving her left hand with a broad smile...
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