Day 31 since returning to the Orange Archipelago. Clear skies.
Today marked the fourth round of the knockout stage, with thirty-two Trainers fighting for sixteen places. From here on, every match mattered. Only the top sixteen would remain in contention for a place in the Elite Four preliminaries.
Reiji had learned his opponent the night before.
Shingo.
He had not expected the kid to make it this far, which meant Shingo was clearly more than someone riding on his father's reputation. The real question was Scizor. If it had already reached Elite Four tier, Reiji could be in for a difficult match.
The nickname "The Crimson Streak" had not come from nowhere. Reiji had watched footage of Shingo's father battling, and his Scizor moved so quickly that the cameras could barely follow it. Some recordings had to be slowed down afterward just to show what had happened.
Dealing with that kind of speed was bad enough. An Elite Four-tier Scizor moving that fast could potentially sweep an entire team if allowed to take control of the match.
There was no point worrying about it before they reached the field, though. Reiji got up with Cissy, washed, and went with her to eat before accompanying her to the Pokémon Center. Afterward, he returned to his room in the Trainer Village and let the team out for breakfast.
Once everyone had eaten, he headed for Pummelo Stadium.
A.J. had already given him what information he had on Shingo. His style had barely changed since Reiji last saw him: speed first, everything else second. Between his father's influence and Scizor's example, Shingo had built most of his team around winning exchanges before the opponent could properly react.
That made the basic plan straightforward.
If Reiji could take away their speed, the rest would become much easier.
The noise from Pummelo Stadium reached him before the building itself did. By the time he entered the waiting room, the stands were already roaring through another match.
Several familiar faces were there. Shun, Shingo, Tania, and Danny were among those waiting for their turns, but with so many other Trainers trying to watch the current match, everyone settled for brief greetings rather than starting a conversation.
Tania had barely spoken to Reiji lately. He still had no idea what he had done to annoy her, and he was not going to chase her around asking.
Instead, he walked out onto the viewing balcony and found Rudy on the field below.
"Another beautiful dodge from Rudy's Pokémon!" the commentator exclaimed. "Every member of his team incorporates dance into battle, whether they're attacking or avoiding a move. The rhythm makes their movements incredibly difficult to predict!"
Rudy swept his red hair away from his face and snapped his fingers. His Pokémon answered by turning its next dodge into another graceful step before flowing straight into its counterattack.
The commentator was enjoying himself. "Rudy, if you ever decide to try something different, Pokémon Contests might be perfect for you! I think you'd find plenty of partners willing to dance with you there!"
"Pokémon Contests..." Rudy repeated, clearly pleased by the suggestion.
That had been his goal anyway.
Reiji had never understood the appeal himself. In a real fight, nobody was going to give extra points because an attack looked pretty. Winning was winning.
Still, the thought reminded him of Hoenn. At some point Steven would step down as Champion and Wallace would take his place. Wallace was not only a Water-type specialist but one of the biggest names in Pokémon Contests, eventually hosting the Wallace Cup himself.
Reiji expected to cross paths with him eventually. If that happened, he was curious which Electric type would end up facing Wallace's Water team.
Zapdos?
Electivire?
That could wait.
Rudy closed out the match in the same flamboyant style he had used from the beginning, revealing another Elite Four-tier Water Pokémon along the way and securing his place in the next round.
Several more battles followed. Shun and Tania both took their turns, and shortly after eleven, the stadium speakers finally called for Reiji.
"Reiji, please report to the battlefield. Reiji, please report to the battlefield."
Shingo was already waiting on the opposite platform when Reiji arrived.
The crowd immediately split into competing chants.
"Reiji! Reiji!"
"Shingo! Shingo!"
"Entering from the green side, representing Mikan Gym, we have Reiji! After his performance in the previous round, expectations couldn't be higher!"
The introduction shifted across the field.
"His opponent on the red side is Shingo from Johto! One of this tournament's breakout Trainers, Shingo has fought his way into the top thirty-two with a style built around incredible speed!"
The screen behind them showed Scizor.
"And of course, everyone is waiting for Shingo's ace! As the successor to the famous Crimson Streak, Shingo has earned the same nickname himself. Will we finally see his Scizor take the field today?"
The referee waited for the noise to settle before starting the field selection.
"This is the fourth round of the knockout stage and will be fought as a full six-on-six battle. Once either Trainer has lost three Pokémon, there will be a five-minute intermission and the battlefield will be changed."
The selector stopped on the water field.
Platforms rose across the pool, and once everything had locked into place, the referee blew his whistle.
Both Trainers threw at once.
"Go, Jolteon!"
"Go, Whiscash!"
The commentator immediately noticed the matchup. "Jolteon against Whiscash! Reiji has read the opening matchup again! How does he keep doing this?"
Reiji could only shrug.
There had been no brilliant prediction involved. He had simply wanted to give Whiscash a chance to appear before the tournament got too serious. Several younger members of his team were in the same situation. The others had at least appeared during the Indigo Plateau Conference, so this was a good opportunity to let the ones who had missed out get their own moment.
Whiscash happily launched itself from the platform and disappeared into the pool without showing the slightest concern about Jolteon.
"Jolteon, Thunderbolt into the water!"
Shingo wanted an answer to a simple question: would Whiscash still ignore Electric attacks while completely submerged?
Jolteon released a burst of electricity across the pool. Yellow current spread through the water until the entire surface glowed, but Whiscash continued swimming underneath as if nothing had happened.
That settled it.
There was no reason to leave Jolteon against a Ground type it could barely touch, so Shingo recalled it immediately.
"Go, Sceptile!"
"Shingo wastes no time switching to Sceptile, giving him a much better matchup against Whiscash! How will Reiji answer?"
Reiji grinned across the field. "Oh, so we're switching the moment things get inconvenient?"
Shingo answered with an embarrassed smile that said Reiji would have done exactly the same thing.
Fair enough.
"Whiscash, come back. Swinub, you're up!"
The little Ice type appeared on one of the platforms, and almost immediately, frost began spreading across the water around its feet.
The commentator caught it first. "Wait... Swinub hasn't used a move, but the water around it is already freezing!"
Shingo noticed too.
A Pokémon affecting its surroundings simply by standing there was not normal, especially one this young. Whatever training Reiji had put Swinub through, its affinity for Ice was exceptional.
Shingo considered switching again, then lowered the Poké Ball. If they kept chasing favorable matchups, they could spend the entire battle swapping. Sceptile could still fight.
"Sceptile, Agility! Then Leaf Blade!"
"Swinub, Blizzard!"
Both Pokémon moved immediately.
Sceptile was already one of the fastest Pokémon on the field, and Agility turned it into little more than a green blur racing across the platforms. Leaf Blade formed along its arms as it closed the distance, but Swinub met the attack behind Protect.
The blade struck the barrier just as Blizzard swept across the pool.
Sceptile was forced to abandon the follow-up and shield its face from the freezing wind. Frost spread over the platforms and across the water with astonishing speed, building on the cold Swinub had already brought with it until the entire pool began freezing solid.
"Sceptile, Giga Drain!"
Green energy extended from the leaves on Sceptile's arms toward Swinub, but the little Pokémon was already digging.
"Swinub, Dig!"
Its short legs tore straight through the frozen surface, and Swinub vanished below before Giga Drain could reach it.
By then, the water field barely looked like a pool anymore. The cold from Swinub's arrival, followed by Blizzard, had frozen almost everything from one end to the other.
Sceptile was left standing on the ice with no idea where its opponent had gone. Worse, the cold was already getting to it.
"Sunny Day!" Shingo ordered. "Clear this weather!"
Sceptile fired a sphere of light toward the sky, trying to break through the freezing conditions overhead.
Nothing happened.
The wind continued howling across the stadium, carrying fresh snow with it.
Shingo quickly understood what he was seeing. Swinub was not relying on Blizzard alone; the weather had been reinforced with Hail, and Sceptile simply could not wrest control away from such a strong Ice-type setup.
It tried Sunny Day again.
This time, neither Shingo nor Sceptile noticed the thin cracks spreading beneath its feet.
They widened quietly through the ice until Sceptile's weight finally broke the surface.
The Grass type plunged straight into the freezing water.
"Sceptile! Get out of there!"
Swinub burst from the ice nearby and fired before Sceptile could climb free.
Ice Beam struck it at close range and froze it in place.
"Swinub, Avalanche!"
Swinub scrambled away from the hole, raised both front legs, and slammed them down. The impact raced through the frozen pool, splitting the weakened ice around Sceptile before whole slabs broke loose and collapsed into the opening.
The falling ice hammered Sceptile from above.
Its blades flashed a moment later, cutting through the fractured ice and freeing it. Sceptile vaulted back onto the surface, but the escape had done little to improve its condition. It was soaked, freezing, and shaking hard enough that it could barely keep its arms still.
Swinub already had another Ice Beam ready.
The attack caught Sceptile before it could regain its footing and froze it again. With the surface beneath it now smooth as glass, the frozen Pokémon slid helplessly across the ice and dropped straight back through the same hole.
This time, it did not come back up.
The referee hurried over to check.
"Sceptile is unable to battle! Shingo, recall your Pokémon and send out your next one!"
Shingo had to release Sceptile once more just to break away the surrounding ice before he could safely recall it. Once the Poké Ball finally took it back, he immediately reached for his third Pokémon.
"Go, Blaziken!"
The tall Fire/Fighting type landed on one of the remaining platforms.
"Blaziken!" the commentator announced. "Another Pokémon from Hoenn! It's become extremely popular there, and it certainly looks like a much better answer to Swinub!"
Reiji considered the matchup. Swinub's Thick Fat reduced the danger from Fire, but Blaziken's Fighting-type attacks were another matter entirely.
Shingo started by attacking the environment.
"Blaziken, Sunny Day! Flamethrower—melt the ice!"
"Swinub, keep Blizzard going!"
Snow shook loose from Swinub's coat as it called the freezing wind back across the stadium. Blaziken managed to break through the clouds for a moment, but the sunlight barely had time to reach the field before Swinub's weather rolled back in.
Trying to win a weather war was getting Shingo nowhere.
If this Blaziken had Speed Boost, dragging the battle out would only make it faster, so Reiji was perfectly happy to let both sides burn energy fighting over the field for now. Shingo, however, quickly realized that Sunny Day could not overpower Swinub's Ice-type control and abandoned the attempt.
"Blaziken, Quick Attack! Blaze Kick!"
Swinub had no chance of outrunning it.
"Dig!"
Blaziken shot across the ice, flames gathering around one leg, but Swinub broke through the frozen surface and disappeared before Blaze Kick could connect.
Shingo immediately saw another opportunity.
"Forget Swinub. Melt the entire field!"
Blaziken turned its fire on the ice instead. Flames rolled across the frozen pool while the heat drove away the clouds overhead, and this time Swinub was underground and unable to reinforce the cold.
The field began to thaw.
Ice became slush, then open water, until the original platforms gradually emerged again. Swinub eventually floated to the surface and hauled itself onto one of them, dripping wet from head to tail.
It shook itself violently and complained at Blaziken for ruining all of its work.
Blaziken merely crooked a finger at it.
Come on.
Reiji had an answer for that.
"Swinub, Earthquake!"
Shingo stared at the pool. "Earthquake? On a water field?"
He was about to find out.
Swinub raised both front legs and slammed them into the platform.
The first ripple across the pool barely looked dangerous, but another followed it, then another, each one larger than the last. Within seconds, the entire water field was heaving.
The waves kept building until the pool itself seemed to rise.
Then a wall of water five or six meters high surged toward Blaziken.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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