Day 29 since returning to the Orange Archipelago. Clear skies.
Reiji and Cissy got an early start on the second day of the knockout rounds. After breakfast, they went straight to the draw hall instead of stopping by the Pokémon Center.
Cissy's mother had told them not to bother coming by that morning. The Pokémon Center provided meals, and there was no point making them run back and forth when they had matches to prepare for. She had repeated herself enough times the night before that neither of them felt like arguing.
This would be their last draw. Once today's three-on-three round ended, only 64 Trainers would remain, and every match from that point on would be a full six-on-six battle. There would be no more drawing opponents either; the tournament system would build the remaining bracket and let it run all the way to the final.
Reiji pressed the button.
A black-haired boy appeared on the screen. Reiji recognized him immediately, but the pause lasted barely a moment before his expression returned to normal.
"Rai, who'd you get?"
Cissy had already finished her own draw and came over to look. She did not recognize the boy on his screen, but judging by her face, her own opponent was a much bigger problem.
"Never seen him before," Reiji lied. "What about you?"
"I think I'm going out this round."
Reiji leaned over to check her screen and immediately understood why.
Sabrina.
"You know, forfeiting is still an option."
"What? We haven't even fought yet!"
Cissy punched him in the arm.
Reiji laughed and rubbed the spot. "All right, all right. Forget I said anything."
He was not convinced he could beat Sabrina either, but apparently that was something he should keep to himself.
They left the draw hall and headed for the main arena's waiting room. Since they had skipped the Pokémon Center and finished the draw early, their matches came up sooner than yesterday. A little after ten, both of their names were called, with Reiji going first.
The moment he stepped out of the Trainers' tunnel, the crowd erupted.
"Reiji! Reiji! Reiji!"
"Reiji's support is as strong as ever!" the commentator shouted over them. "His opponent came into this tournament with almost no public battle record, yet he's fought his way this far as one of this year's biggest surprises. A former dark horse against a new one—only one of them can make the top 64!"
The referee turned toward the big screen as the four possible battlefields began cycling past. "The battlefield is being selected. Trainers, please stand by."
The cursor stopped on the rock field.
Their portraits appeared next, with three blank slots beneath each name. A Pokémon's portrait would fill one when it entered the battle and turn gray once it was eliminated. Whoever still had a Pokémon standing at the end would advance.
"Go, Victreebel!"
"Go, Tauros!"
Tauros hit the field and immediately scraped one hoof against the rock, eager to charge.
Reiji, meanwhile, had to keep his reaction to himself.
Of course he had drawn Tai.
Knowing Tai's team should have made the match easier. Instead, it gave Reiji one more thing to worry about. He could not counter every choice perfectly without raising questions, and the two of them could not afford so much as a knowing glance across the field.
Tai was playing both sides. One careless mistake could get him exposed.
Worse, Sabrina was somewhere in the stadium watching.
The referee blew the whistle.
"Victreebel, Razor Leaf!"
"Tauros, Zen Headbutt! Go straight through!"
Tauros lowered its head and charged. Psychic energy gathered around its horns as Razor Leaf swept toward it, but the force of the rush scattered most of the incoming leaves before they could land cleanly.
Tai switched immediately.
"Seed Bomb!"
Victreebel fired glowing seeds all around Tauros's path. They exploded one after another, swallowing the charging bull in smoke and blasting chips of rock across the field.
When the haze cleared, Tauros had been stopped. Victreebel had caught its horns with Vine Whip, while dark scorch marks covered Tauros's hide from the explosions.
Tauros pulled back, but there was not much strength behind it.
Victreebel yanked hard and dragged it off balance.
"Solar Beam!"
The attack came much faster than Reiji expected. One look at the bright sky gave him the answer: the sunlight was letting Solar Beam fire without its usual charge, while Chlorophyll had Victreebel moving far faster than normal.
Tauros was still trapped by Vine Whip when the beam struck.
It was blasted across the field and slammed into the wall hard enough to knock it unconscious.
"Come back, Tauros."
Reiji recalled it.
Tauros was only level forty-eight and had already reached the limit of its current potential. After taking that much damage, there was a good chance its tournament was over too.
That made four Pokémon out.
Victreebel was much stronger. Reiji had been there when Tai picked it in Trovitopolis, and if even Tai's Golbat had reached quasi–Elite Four tier by now, there was no chance Victreebel had fallen behind.
He would need something stronger.
"Go, Magmar!"
Magmar appeared, took one look at Victreebel, and curled a finger at it in challenge. Flames surged across its body a moment later, and the heat rolling off it forced both Reiji and the referee to step back.
"It's Magmar! Reiji has replaced Tauros with a Fire type, and this one looks ready to burn the whole field down! How will Tai answer?"
"Magmar, Heat Wave!"
Magmar drew in a deep breath and blasted scorching air across the battlefield.
"Victreebel, Sludge Bomb!"
Victreebel fought through the heat and fired back. Globs of toxic sludge splashed across Magmar, but the poison barely had time to cling before the heat around its body ruined it and sent it sliding to the ground.
Magmar kept walking.
Heat Wave had already burned Victreebel, and Flame Body made things worse with every step Magmar took. Even the rock beneath them was growing painfully hot.
Victreebel tried Solar Beam.
"Protect!"
Magmar blocked it and kept advancing.
Another Solar Beam came soon after, but Magmar met it head-on with an attack of its own and blew the clash apart before closing the distance again.
"Fire Blast!"
The huge burst of flame caught Victreebel squarely and hurled it across the field. It struck the wall beneath the stands and dropped unconscious.
"Victreebel is unable to battle! Tai, please recall Victreebel and send out your next Pokémon!"
"Come back, Victreebel."
Tai recalled it and finally got some relief from the heat. His shirt was already sticking to his back from standing that close to Magmar.
After a moment of thought, he chose his next Poké Ball.
"Go, Houndoom!"
Reiji immediately understood the choice.
Probably Flash Fire. If so, Magmar's Fire-type moves were useless.
Magmar could still fight, but Tai had one Pokémon left to reveal. Reiji saw no reason to show his own last choice first.
Anything associated too closely with Tai's Spider identity was out, and he certainly could not bring out something as conspicuous as his Elite Four-tier Muk, Metang, or Gengar. That left the safer parts of his team—most likely Gyarados or Golbat.
Reiji needed something that could handle Houndoom and still cover a Flying type afterward.
"Come back, Magmar. Go, Slowking!"
"Reiji recalls Magmar and sends out Slowking! Houndoom has the Dark-type advantage here. How will Tai use it?"
Slowking appeared and immediately reacted to the heat Magmar had left behind. It looked toward the sky and called out, drawing a thick bank of clouds over the stadium.
Rain began falling across the field.
The first drops hissed against the overheated rocks and burst into steam. Within moments, the light rain became a downpour.
Houndoom growled and glanced back at Tai. It clearly hated the sudden change in weather.
Tai knew the rain had crippled the Fire half of Houndoom's offense, but there was no reason to switch. Dark-type attacks still gave it the advantage.
"Houndoom, Dark Pulse!"
Houndoom fired a wave of dark energy across the field.
Slowking answered on its own with Hydro Pump.
The attacks collided and exploded, sending water and smoke across the battlefield.
Houndoom charged through the haze before Slowking could see it clearly. Dark energy coated its fangs as it lunged, only for Protect to appear between them at the last instant.
The bite slammed into the barrier.
Slowking immediately turned the failed attack against it. Without dropping Protect, it pulled rainwater from the puddles around the field and wrapped it around Houndoom in a huge sphere.
"Houndoom, Flamethrower! Get rid of the water!"
Houndoom opened its jaws.
Freezing energy struck the water first.
Ice spread across the sphere in an instant, trapping Houndoom inside and freezing its mouth shut before it could release the flames.
Slowking placed one hand against the ice and used Teleport.
Both of them vanished.
They reappeared high above the battlefield, where Slowking gave the frozen sphere a push and let gravity do the rest.
The ice crashed into the rock field with enough force to leave a crater.
Dust and shattered ice flew toward the Trainer platforms. Umbreon raised Protect from Reiji's shoulder, while Tai and the referee had their own Pokémon shield them from the debris.
When the dust cleared, Houndoom lay unconscious at the bottom of the crater.
"Houndoom is unable to battle! Tai, please recall Houndoom and send out your final Pokémon!"
Tai sighed as he returned Houndoom.
Boss was Boss.
He had one Pokémon left, and there was not much point pretending he had some miracle comeback waiting.
Instead of reaching for Gyarados, he looked at the Golbat beside him.
"Your turn."
Reiji raised an eyebrow when Golbat flew onto the field.
So Tai was done.
Golbat was mainly used for scouting and keeping watch. It was useful, but it was not one of Tai's serious battlers.
"Golbat, Taunt!"
"Slowking, I'll leave it to you. Finish this quickly."
Reiji stopped giving commands.
Golbat had a miserable matchup here. Slowking could interfere with its flight using psychic power, and Ice Beam gave it another easy way to bring the Flying type down.
The fight only lasted a few minutes. Golbat struggled to stay in the air while Slowking kept throwing off its movement, and once Ice Beam froze one of its wings, it crashed to the field and could not take off again.
"Golbat is unable to battle! The winner of this knockout match is Reiji! His next match will be a full six-on-six battle. There will be no further draws; the top-64 bracket will be announced tonight!"
"Thanks."
Reiji nodded to the referee and headed off the Trainer platform.
The commentator took over immediately.
"Congratulations to Reiji on another victory! Next comes the stage everyone has been waiting for—the full six-on-six battles! New rules will take effect from the top 64 onward, so all advancing Trainers should make sure they've read the tournament handbook. From here on out, we'll finally get to see what these Trainers can do with their full teams!"
Cissy was waiting for him in the tunnel.
"You won again."
She had gotten far too used to saying that.
Somewhere along the way, Reiji winning had stopped feeling like something she hoped for and started feeling like the obvious outcome. He always seemed to have another answer ready, another Pokémon she had not seen, another part of himself she still knew nothing about.
Reiji laughed when he noticed the way she was looking at him. "Your turn. And seriously, if things get ugly, just forfeit. I've heard Sabrina is brutal with people she outclasses."
"Hmph. I'm not giving up before the match even starts."
There was no anger behind it this time. Cissy knew he was not looking down on her; he was worried.
That was the problem with falling this hard for someone. A few weeks ago, she would have taken the same warning as an insult and fired right back. Now she could hear practically anything Reiji said and find a reason to be happy about it.
Love was terrible for her judgment.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]