Those few words were enough to break the heavy silence that had settled over the field.
It was David who had spoken. At the sound of his voice, Miles stepped forward without hesitation and walked up to the nearest testing machine.
A Poké Ball opened with a flash of red light, and Arcanine materialised on the field before them. It looked much the same as always — broad chest, powerful legs, the distinctive flaxen mane — but something about it was different. It had grown. Not dramatically, but noticeably, as if the winter break had given it room to fill out. The moment it appeared, a pulse of heat rolled outward from it in every direction, washing over the crowd.
And as Arcanine shifted its weight and turned to face the machine, sparks glittered briefly within its mane like embers stirred by a breeze.
Everyone came back stronger, David thought. He gave a quiet nod.
"Arcanine — Flare Blitz!"
Fire and speed were Arcanine's defining strengths, and Flare Blitz was the move that brought both of them together. Arcanine threw back its head and let out a deep, resonant howl. Flames surged up from its fur and spread across its entire body, coating it in a blazing shell. Then it launched itself forward like a living fireball, all that force channelled into a single point of impact.
Thud.
The collision was solid and heavy. The testing machine shuddered.
"Ding — Move detected: Flare Blitz. Measured power: 5,963. Result: Passed."
The result didn't come as a surprise to those who knew Miles's history. Before Luke's Metagross had completed its evolution, Arcanine had been the most powerful battler in their group. Whatever Miles had been doing over the winter break, it had clearly paid off — Arcanine had grown significantly stronger, and a score like this with Flare Blitz behind it was exactly what you'd expect.
David did a quick mental comparison. Miles and Kuki Genichi were probably around the same level now. Given the type advantage Arcanine's Fire-type moves would have in the right matchup, it wouldn't be at all surprising if Miles could give Jingūji Yoira a real fight.
The Heavy Sakura Alliance members watching from the sideline had gone quiet. None of them had expected the chubby, cheerful-looking boy to post a number like that.
Miles looked at the readout, pleased — then immediately pulled a face.
"So close! Just a bit more and I would've cracked six thousand." He turned back toward the group with a resigned shrug. "Guess I'll leave the glory to you lot."
David gave him a pat on the shoulder. "You've done your part. We'll handle the rest."
"Obviously." Luke was already on his feet, rolling his shoulders. "Just watch. I'll make sure they know exactly where they stand."
He stepped up to the machine. When Metagross emerged from its Poké Ball, the battle-track students took it in stride — they crossed paths with powerful Pokémon regularly — but a wave of reaction moved through the students from other departments who had come to watch. The whispers spread quickly.
That's a Metagross.
Pseudo-legendary Pokémon weren't something most people saw in person. For many of the students gathered on that field, this was their first time standing within actual distance of one. Metagross was imposing in the way that very few Pokémon were — massive, geometric, radiating a dense, pressurised weight just from existing.
"Metagross — Comet Punch, full power!"
Metagross rose off the ground, its four heavy limbs drawing inward as it gathered itself. Then it drove forward into the machine like a falling asteroid.
Bang.
The impact sent a tremor through the ground. People nearby instinctively took half a step back.
"Ding — Move detected: Comet Punch. Measured power: 6,292. Result: Passed."
Luke stared at the number.
"...Oh, come on."
He had only just finished promising he'd put them in their place. Now he was standing there with a score that, while genuinely impressive, still fell short of Amatsuki Rosa's Gallade. He hadn't expected to be contradicted by the machine within thirty seconds of saying it.
The crowd registered the result with a mixture of awe and quiet fascination. 6,292 was a remarkable number. And yet.
Jingūji Yoira didn't visibly react. But Kuki Genichi, standing beside her, had gone slightly still. He hadn't expected anyone on the opposing side — other than David — to put up a number that came close to his own.
Watching from nearby, Dominic gave one nod, then slowly shook his head.
The raw figures for Luke and Amatsuki Rosa were within 300 points of each other. On paper, that looked like a near-match. But Dominic knew better than to read it that way. Metagross hit hard — there was no question about that — but its strikes were blunt instruments, powerful but unrefined. Gallade's Psycho Cut operated on a completely different principle. The precision it carried, the way it found and exploited the exact point of least resistance in a target's defences — that wasn't something a score alone could communicate. In a real battle, that difference would show.
After Luke stepped back, Willow and Emma each took their turns.
Willow's Sceptile moved with the kind of fluid, unhurried economy that spoke to years of training. Its Leaf Blade registered at 4,965 — a solid result, precise and technically clean.
Then Emma stepped up. Her Togetic — small, round, and looking entirely too cheerful for a competition — unleashed a Dazzling Gleam that posted 5,780 on the display.
The group stared at the readout.
Emma turned around wearing the most satisfied expression she had managed all morning.
"You didn't think I spent the whole Europa Alliance trip sightseeing, did you?"
She let the silence sit for a moment before continuing.
"Think about it — where are Fairy-type resources most concentrated?"
That landed. The answer, once people thought about it, was obvious: the Gaul Alliance, within the Europa Alliance. Fairy-type Pokémon and the resources that supported them had their strongest concentration there, well above anything available in Cloudspire. Emma had gone straight to the source.
"You two were running your own private competition this whole time," Luke said, pressing a hand to his forehead. "Behind all our backs."
"All right, enough." David had been standing back, arms loosely crossed. "I suppose I should go last. The main character always has the best entrance."
His group responded to this with a chorus of flat looks, at least two eye-rolls, and a gesture from Luke that didn't require further description.
The rest of the field had gone still. Every eye had shifted toward David. This was what they had all been waiting for — to see the number the Trainer who had swept aside the entire Heavy Sakura Alliance exchange group was going to put on the board.
"Kirlia — I choose you!"
Red light burst from the Poké Ball, and Kirlia appeared.
The crowd reacted immediately.
"That's a Shiny Kirlia!"
"Is that — wait — a Shiny?"
"My Gardevoir would never forgive me if I didn't applaud..."
Shiny Pokémon were rare by any standard. A Shiny Kirlia, with its soft blue-white colouring and quiet, composed bearing, was not something most people had ever seen outside of pictures. The reaction it drew from the audience was louder and more immediate than the one Metagross had sparked — which said something, given that Metagross was a pseudo-legendary.
The Sakura Alliance members on the sideline exchanged glances, brows creasing.
A Kirlia? Not Salamence?
They had been bracing themselves for the dragon. An unevolved Kirlia was not what any of them had been expecting. It didn't make sense.
David wasn't concerned with their confusion. He turned toward the machine, Kirlia at his side, and walked forward.