Plenty of people were following Reiji's match, including Shun, Bunta, and the three rich brothers. They had watched the entire first half from the stands, and seeing Reiji control a battle involving several Elite Four-tier Pokémon made one thing painfully obvious: the gap between them had grown enormous.
"Bro..." Ejiro murmured.
Their own matches against Reiji looked very different in hindsight. He had never needed to show anything close to this level against them, and Taro knew that better than anyone. His fingers tightened around the edge of his seat, not because he felt cheated, but because the realization stung.
He had treated Reiji as a serious rival, yet Reiji had still been hiding Electivire. If that Pokémon had come out during their match, Taro doubted he could have done much of anything. He had simply thought too highly of his own strength.
Shun saw it differently.
"Reiji-nii really has gotten that strong..."
There was no resentment in his voice, only excitement. The stronger Reiji became, the more Shun wanted to catch up.
He had never forgotten his promise to become strong enough to help Reiji someday. Right now, he was nowhere near that level, but that only gave him another reason to keep training.
...
Shingo had stayed in the stadium after his elimination, as most Trainers who reached this stage of the tournament chose to do.
He watched the replay while sipping a cold drink and gave a quiet laugh. "So that's what you were saving."
Reiji had fought him without revealing a single Elite Four-tier Pokémon. If Poliwrath or Electivire had been used against Scizor, yesterday's match could have gone very differently, but Reiji had chosen the riskier route and preserved both of them for today.
It was a strange combination of caution and nerve. He had hidden his best cards for the match that mattered more, yet had been willing to gamble three weaker Pokémon to get past Shingo's ace.
The more Shingo thought about it, the more he wondered how far ahead Reiji had been planning.
...
At the Pokémon Center, Cissy and her family were watching the intermission broadcast.
Cissy had only grown more anxious after the first half ended. Reiji had already told her that Poliwrath and Electivire were his strongest available Pokémon, and both had taken serious damage.
Her mother was worried too, though she hid it better.
"Dad, what do you think?"
Cissy's grandfather shook his head. "Hard to say. The Gym never told him he had to reach the top eight. He's already done enough."
He glanced at his nervous granddaughter, then headed outside for a cigarette.
As far as he was concerned, this was still only a tournament. Mikan Gym had already committed itself to the League, and whether Reiji won or lost today would not change that.
...
On Mandarin Island North, Naoki and Daishi were having a much harder time staying calm.
"Boss is incredible," Daishi said. "Poliwrath too. I still can't believe it beat Tyranitar like that."
Naoki finally understood something that had confused him before. "No wonder Boss never cared much about Tyranitar."
To Reiji, a pseudo-Legendary might really be nothing more than a particularly powerful Pokémon. Poliwrath had just beaten one, and Naoki had little reason to believe the rest of Reiji's main team would suddenly become helpless against Pokémon with prestigious bloodlines.
If something as common as Poliwhirl could be raised to this level, then species clearly mattered much less to Reiji than it did to most Trainers.
There was a third person staying at the villa, though Gai had barely paid attention to the match.
He had been awake most of the night, frustrated by one problem he could not solve: his Pokémon still refused to break through to Elite Four tier. Everyone around him seemed to be moving forward, and even Sou looked ready to overtake him.
A drinking session with some of the other Spider members had made that frustration worse. Gai had learned that most of them had received Pokémon from Reiji at some point, and the ones Reiji personally selected had an uncanny tendency to possess the potential to reach Elite Four tier as long as nothing went seriously wrong.
That explained a lot.
It also made Gai regret every time he had turned down one of Reiji's offers because the Pokémon had looked unimpressive.
There was nothing he could do until Reiji returned, so eventually Gai gave up on the television and went outside to clear his head. His wandering carried him into the old district, where a battered bounty notice caught his attention.
Normally, he would have walked straight past it. The target was supposedly a Spider member, and ever since fake white Spider masks had flooded the streets and internet, notices like this had become almost worthless. Too many people were pretending to be Spider, while plenty of others had decided the organization itself was a fraud.
Then Gai noticed the reward: a Dragon-type pseudo-Legendary.
That was enough to make him tear the notice from the wall and take a much closer look.
Before he had really thought through what he was doing, Gai found himself heading toward the underground black market. Only when several gang members stopped him outside one of their bases did he finally realize how far his impulse had carried him, and a cold sweat broke across his back.
...
In Mahogany Town, Pryce and Sheila were still watching from the Gym.
"That little tadpole has gotten pretty strong," Sheila said, setting down a plate of snacks and pouring Pryce some tea.
"The boy raised it well, and Poliwrath worked hard." Pryce smiled at the replay, especially when the broadcast showed the thin layer of ice armor protecting Poliwrath inside Sandstorm.
That pleased him more than the victory itself. The armor had become thin enough that it barely restricted movement, and Poliwrath was already using it naturally instead of treating it like a special technique that required constant thought.
Pryce had given them the foundation, but Reiji and Poliwrath had made it their own.
"So where do you think he'll finish?" Sheila asked.
Pryce took a slow sip of tea. "Hard to say."
Sheila gave him a look. "Pryce."
He laughed and refused to elaborate.
...
At Cinnabar Gym, Itsuki was following the tournament just as closely.
Every new match strengthened his decision to join Spider. Reiji was competing openly as a Gym-affiliated Trainer now, and the path ahead of him was becoming easier to see.
As long as Reiji kept climbing, staying close to him might eventually give Itsuki and his family a way out from under Team Rocket.
Itsuki looked toward the Bagon that Reiji had once passed over. That Pokémon was going to become the foundation of his future strength, and he intended to raise it properly.
One day, it might be the partner that finally helped his family earn their freedom.
...
In Sinnoh, Reggie and Paul had also been following the Orange League ever since they happened to spot Reiji on a broadcast.
Reggie rested a hand on Garchomp's shoulder. "They've gotten a lot stronger. We can't fall behind."
His outlook had changed considerably over the years. He had started believing in the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, and more importantly, he was finally learning how to build that bond with his own team.
The irony was difficult to ignore.
Paul barely spoke to him anymore, and his younger brother now resembled the Trainer Reggie himself used to be. Reggie knew exactly where Paul had learned that obsession with strength, which was why he never tried lecturing him about it.
Any speech about treating Pokémon differently would sound hollow coming from the person who had once taught Paul the opposite through example.
Reggie could only live with what he had caused and hope Paul eventually found his own answer.
For now, he had another promise to keep. He and Garchomp were preparing for their eventual rematch with Reiji, and Reggie had no intention of arriving unprepared.
Reiji had already stepped into Elite Four territory while Reggie still had one last barrier to break through. If the Sinnoh League began before he managed it, he might lose the chance to face Reiji on equal footing.
Garchomp growled in agreement. It had not forgotten Poliwrath either, and losing to that "little tadpole" once had been more than enough.
"Come on. We're training."
Garchomp glanced toward the television, clearly asking about the second half.
"We can watch the replay tonight," Reggie said with a smile. "Reiji already had to push Poliwrath that hard. I think we've seen enough to know he's near his limit."
With that, they headed outside together.
...
Team Rocket was watching for very different reasons.
Matori stood inside Giovanni's office with a tablet, comparing old experimental records against close-up images of Reiji's Electivire from the tournament.
"Boss, we've confirmed it. His Electivire is one of the test subjects from the Lake of Rage facility."
Giovanni remained facing away from her. "So he was there that day?"
"Yes. But I couldn't find any footage of Reiji entering the base. The only suspicious person on the recordings was a Team Rocket grunt wandering through the underground laboratory. We later confirmed that the grunt died during the incident."
Giovanni considered that for a moment before dismissing it with a wave. "Interesting, but leave it. You can go."
One escaped test subject meant very little. Team Rocket could create another whenever it wanted.
After Matori left and the door closed behind her, Giovanni finally turned back toward the desk. His expression had darkened.
"Who exactly are you?"
That was the part that bothered him.
Electivire itself was irrelevant. Reiji was not.
Giovanni knew things about the future that most people did not, and there had been no Reiji in the future he remembered. Someone this disruptive should have left some trace, yet as far as Giovanni knew, the boy simply had not existed.
He had no reason to consider an explanation as impossible as someone arriving from beyond that future entirely. In a world where time travel already existed, a far more reasonable possibility was that history had shifted and allowed someone from one of the planet's isolated settlements to emerge when they had not before.
Both Team Rocket and the League had discovered places like that: communities cut off from the rest of civilization for generations, sometimes long enough to almost disappear from recorded history.
A mysterious Trainer appearing from nowhere could still be explained.
Giovanni simply had not found the explanation yet.
...
The bell rang through Pummelo Stadium to signal the end of intermission. Reiji and his opponent returned to their platforms as the battlefield selector cycled across the big screen, eventually landing on another rock field.
"The five-minute intermission is over!" the referee announced. "The second half will also take place on a rock field. Both Trainers, prepare your Pokémon!"
The commentator immediately picked up the energy again. "Welcome back! After an incredible first half full of Elite Four-tier battles, what will these two show us next?"
Both Trainers threw their Poké Balls.
"Go, Kingdra!"
"Go, Gyarados!"
Gyarados emerged with a roar and immediately unleashed Intimidate. Kingdra recoiled before it could settle into position, giving Reiji the first small advantage of the second half.
"Kingdra against Gyarados!" the commentator called. "Neither has reached Elite Four tier, so it looks like both Trainers may finally have exhausted their strongest options!"
Reiji was not surprised to see Kingdra. Like Flygon, it was one of the more accessible Dragon types for someone with enough money and connections, and his opponent had plenty of both.
Gyarados was not some carefully designed counter either. Reiji simply knew too little about the remaining team and wanted something reliable to open the second half.
"Kingdra, Focus Energy!"
That command immediately caught his attention. Reiji had a good idea what kind of setup his opponent wanted, and he had no intention of giving Kingdra the time to complete it.
"Gyarados, Dragon Pulse!"
A concentrated blast of draconic energy shot across the field before Kingdra could finish setting up.
"Protect!"
Kingdra raised the barrier just in time, but Dragon Pulse slammed into it hard enough to drive the smaller Pokémon backward. Reiji did not let the pressure drop.
"Dragon Rage!"
A second burst followed almost immediately, taking the shape of a roaring dragon as it crashed against Protect. Kingdra barely had time to brace before the barrier shuddered under another direct hit.
"Keep going. Twister!"
Gyarados swept its tail and spun a violent funnel of wind across the battlefield. Protect had kept Kingdra safe from the first two attacks, but Twister swallowed the space around it and ripped it off the ground before it could recover.
"Gyarados, Dragon Tail!"
"Kingdra, Hydro Pump! Push yourself out!"
Kingdra fired a powerful jet of water, trying to use the recoil to escape the vortex. Instead, the pressure only sent it spinning faster with the Twister.
Gyarados was already closing in.
It launched itself upward and smashed Dragon Tail into Kingdra as it spun past, knocking it clean out of the vortex and straight into the protective barrier.
Reiji was about to order another attack when he saw Kingdra slide down the barrier with its eyes rolled back.
"Gyarados, stop."
The referee checked Kingdra and raised his flag. "Kingdra is unable to battle!"
"Gyarados takes the first knockout of the second half!" the commentator shouted. "Kingdra never managed to establish its rhythm after that opening Intimidate, and Gyarados never gave it a chance to recover!"
Gyarados threw its head back and roared toward the stands, so pleased with itself that a light rain began falling almost without Reiji asking for it.
Across the field, his opponent stared at the result in disbelief.
The two Pokémon had been close in level, yet Kingdra had spent the entire exchange on the defensive. The difference had not simply been power; Intimidate had shaken Kingdra before the battle properly began, and once it surrendered the initiative, Gyarados never let it take that initiative back.
The second half had barely started, and Reiji already had the first knockout.
[End of chapter]
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