The Winds of Time

Chapter 8

Showtime - Part 1

Arceus paced along the plateau of the mountain, anxiously pondering the all-too-infrequent snippets of news he'd thus far received. To make matters worse, the Winds of Time had now grown so turbulent and chaotic that it was nearly impossible to discern anything meaningful from them. A sharp pop - much louder than usual - heralded the arrival of one of his usual visitors. He nodded to the tiny, pink-headed pokemon floating in the air. "Welcome back, Mesprit. I haven't seen..."

You heartless bastard! Mesprit cried, pointing a tiny, accusatory finger at Arceus who actually flinched in surprise at the intensity of her mental voice. This is all your fault!

Quickly regaining his composure, Arceus asked, "What are you talking about? What is my fault?"

You know exactly what I'm talking about, Mesprit fumed. That's why you acted so dodgy when I asked you about Dialga.

"So you've spoken with him, then," Arceus said, not as a question.

You're damn right I did. Mesprit floated up in front of Arceus' face, arms crossed and eyes narrowing. Did you really say 'There will be others?'

Arceus did not immediately reply, but his stolid expression and averted eyes told Mesprit what she needed to know.

How could you? He came to you for help and you... She uncrossed her arms, balling her tiny hands into fists which quivered at her side. You're his father!

Arceus' eyes lowered, his towering form sagging as if suddenly saddled with a great weight. "You are correct, Mesprit. I am his father and therein lies the problem."

Mesprit blinked in bewilderment. How does that... I don't understand.

"In the early days, I brought Dialga into being, but not as any parent of this world does. In a single act, I at once created him fully formed and competent for his task."

I understand that, but what does that have to do with anything?

"It was the same for all my children, even you, Mesprit. I did not create any of them as helpless infants clinging to my feet. I invested them with power and the knowledge they would need to begin their lives and attend to their duties. Because of this, I have never had to raise them, to guide them and ultimately, to come to know their minds and hearts as other parents do. It was not until the passage of many years that I realized my error and by then it was too late. My children had become as strangers to me and likewise, they had no need of me." Arceus shook his head and sighed. "Do you not see the irony? I am the father of all pokemon, and yet, a father is the one thing I am not."

Mesprit's tense expression slowly eased as she pondered his words. I see. Well, that explains a few things I've been wondering about for some time. You're wrong about one thing, though. It's not too late. She floated down to look up into his eyes. And Dialga still needs you. Your son still needs you.

Another sharp popping sound drew their attention as Mesprit's blue-headed sibling suddenly appeared. Before even seeing Azelf's frantic, wide-eyed expression and twitching tails, Mesprit could tell something was terribly wrong as she could feel the panic radiating from him.

Azelf darted forward, locking eyes with both of them in turn. We have a problem, he said.

# # #

"How much farther is it?" came Jennifer's voice from the back seat of the car.

Stacy glanced back at her youngest sister through the rear view mirror. "We'll be getting off the freeway in just a few more minutes."

"It's too bad mom couldn't come," Jennifer said.

Christina, sitting next to her in the back seat said, "I know she wanted to come, but it wouldn't be good for Alexander to be around thousands of screaming fans all day. She'll be watching the tournament on TV, though."

"They're actually going to televise this?" Ryan, sitting in the front passenger seat asked.

"Of course," Stacy said. "The League makes big money from these events. That's how they're able to subsidize the Pokemon Centers and all the aid, rescue and outreach programs.

Christina poked her head between the front seats and peered at Ryan. "So, are you nervous?"

Ryan shrugged. "It's no big deal. I mean, this whole thing is just basically a training exercise, remember?"

"That's true," Stacy said, "but I hope you're taking this seriously. It defeats the purpose of it if you're not."

"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't," Ryan said. He looked over at Stacy and saw the concern on her face as she focused on the road and added, "Look, I know this stuff is important to you, okay? I'm not going to leave you hanging."

"You'd better not," Jennifer piped up from the back seat. "I want you guys to win!"

After exiting the freeway, they wound their way through the thick traffic of the streets of Angel City before finally arriving at their destination: Angel City Memorial Coliseum.

Ryan looked up at the massive stadium - a concrete juggernaut crowned with colorful pennants - looming impassively over the crowds swarming through the grassy park surrounding it. The nearest buildings stood well away from the coliseum, as if in deference to the great old edifice which visibly dwarfed them even at a distance. Banners emblazoned with the stylized poké ball emblem of the Pokemon League hung from lampposts lining the walkways surrounding the coliseum where throngs of fans lined up, awaiting entrance to the event.

As they made their way toward the entrance, they saw Gerard weaving his way through the crowds toward them. They stopped to let him catch up.

"Ah, I am so glad to have caught you before you went in," Gerard said. "I wanted to wish you luck and also to tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing your metalleon in action. You are going to compete with him, are you not?"

Ryan nodded and said, "Yep. Kind of had to, seeing as how I only have three pokemon to begin with. He's pretty tough, though, so I don't think you'll be disappointed."

Stacy said, "Yeah, I think we're going to do great today. Okay, guys, Ryan and I have to go check in. We'll see you after the match, okay?"

Christina went up to her sister and gave her a hug. "Good luck, Stacy. Show these guys how it's done."

"You know I will," Stacy said, smiling.

Christina turned toward Ryan, looking as though she was about to step toward him, but instead she simply pushed a strand of hair away from her face, flashing a tiny smile and said, "Good luck to you, too, Ryan."

Gerard smiled and said, "I'm sure you will both make a good showing of yourself, regardless of the outcome. Now, we should get to our seats before the lines get too long, eh? Bon chance!"

The group then split up. Christina, Jennifer and Gerard headed for the main gate while Stacy led Ryan around the coliseum to a side entrance marked with a sign which read "Competitors Only". Immediately inside, they were greeted by a man seated at a table behind a computer who asked for Stacy's Pokemon League identification card. The man scanned her card then handed it back along with two additional large laminated cards with lanyards looped through them.

"Welcome, Miss Lynd, Mister Meadows," he said. "Good luck today."

Ryan looked at the card Stacy handed him - an event ID which bore his name and photo with a hologram of the Pokemon League's emblem embedded in the lamination. He saw Stacy slip her card's lanyard around her neck and did the same.

"You're lucky to have me as a partner, you know," Stacy said, pointing to the writing on the back of her event ID. "The eight highest-ranked League pros who attend this event are automatically seeded into the tournament along with their partners. Everyone else had to fight it out in an elimination round yesterday for the other eight slots."

Ryan glanced at the back of his own event card and saw that they were seeded sixth.

As Stacy led them through the wide hallway, Ryan said, "When we were training, you explained how this tournament works in bits and pieces but I think it would help if you ran the whole thing down to me one more time."

"Sure," Stacy said. "It's run as a standard single-elimination bracket. When the match starts, everyone sends their first pokemon out at the same time, so its luck of the draw on what you face at the beginning. You can sub out your pokemon at any time if you find yourself in a bad match-up, but each competitor gets only one substitution per match, so use it wisely. You can replace a downed pokemon with anyone you choose, of course. Speaking of downed pokemon, remember that each competitor can have only one pokemon on the field at a time, so if one of us runs out of pokemon, our team will be stuck with just one battler out, even if the other person still has more than one pokemon left. And no smack talk, either. You can get penalized for that. Remember, this is a professional sport, not a playground brawl."

They turned out of the hallway and into a large room full of the voices of people milling about within. Ryan immediately noticed that, almost without exception, everyone was grouped in pairs and not interacting with others. A large television hanging on a wall tuned to a local sports channel added to the low din.

As Ryan scanned the room, he noted the broad range of ages of those gathered, some looking as young as twelve while others appeared to be in their late thirties with a variety of nationalities. "This is the competition, I take it?" he asked. "Anyone in particular we should look out for?"

"First off, everyone you see here is someone you should take seriously," Stacy said. "That being said, there are a few people I know for a fact who are dangerous." She pointed to a Latino in his thirties conferring with a much younger girl. "That's Armand DeSantos. He competes in both singles and doubles tournaments so he knows his stuff and he has an aggron I don't want to have to tangle with." She nodded toward a girl in her late teens with short brown hair and gray eyes standing near the television. "And that's Mila Petrov. She battles in the new team triples circuit. She's a beast on the field and she's been tearing her way through the ranks. Everyone expects her to break the circuit's top ten by next summer."

The approach of one of the competitors - a young man with strong Japanese features - caused Stacy to pause.

"Hey Stacy, it's been awhile," the young man said with a smile, extending a hand.

"It sure has," she responded, shaking his hand. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"My cousin Junpei wants to get into the League, so I'm showing him the ropes. So, are you going to introduce me to your partner?"

"Oh, right, of course. This is Ryan Meadows. Ryan, I'd like you to meet Shinichiro Takazawa, the current number one ranked trainer in singles competition."

"Shinichiro," Ryan said, shaking his hand, "are you from Johto?"

"Call me Shin, and yes, I am from Johto. You have a perceptive eye," he said with an appreciative smile. "Most people I run into assume that everyone in Japan is from Kanto."

"I used to know someone from Johto," Ryan said.

"Meadows..." Shin began. "Aren't you the one with that new metal eevee everyone's been talking about?"

"I didn't know everyone was talking about it, but yeah, that's me."

"I hope you brought it along. I'd love to see how it does in competition."

Stacy leaned in. "Well, you'll just have to wait until the tournament starts to find out, just like everyone else."

"Of course," Shin said to Stacy. "I should probably let you get back to your preparations, then. I need to get back to my cousin, anyway. Good luck out there."

Once Shin had left, Stacy said, "He's a nice guy, but I'm glad he battles on a different circuit. He's scary good. Fortunately for us, he's probably seeded number one, so he shouldn't be in our half of the bracket.

Ryan and Stacy sat down, spending the time before the start of the tournament to go over some last minute strategies. Finally, a man wearing an Event Staff shirt with the Pokemon League logo entered the room and announced that the competition was about to begin and called out the first two teams to the staging area.

The room fell mostly silent as everyone turned their attention to the television showing the broadcast of the opening of the event. The competitors watched the University of Angel City marching band cross the field in complex formations as they played while flying pokemon winged overhead in an aerial display to the delight of the fans.

Once the pre-event pageantry had concluded, the officials took to the field and the first teams were announced.

Ryan noticed that a Mr. Mime wearing a striped shirt accompanied the referee to his position on the sidelines. "What's up with the pokemon wearing ref uniforms?" he asked in a whisper.

Stacy leaned in close and said, "The Mr. Mime is there to help the referee keep things under control if things get too wild on the field.

"And what about the kadabras posted up next to each team?"

"They retrieve the poké balls the trainers throw out onto the field," Stacy replied. "It's not like they're going to magically fly back to your hand on their own, you know."

Ryan rolled his eyes and returned to watching the broadcast.

They watched the first match and afterward, Stacy commented on the apparent strategies each team used and why each succeeded or failed. They sat waiting as pairs of teams were called out in turn to do battle. As each match concluded, the number of people in the waiting area began to diminish.

"Our turn should be coming up any minute now," Stacy said. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Ryan said. He paused, seeing her features beginning to tighten with an edge of anxiety, then added, "Don't worry. I meant what I said before." He laid a hand on her shoulder. "I've got your back, okay?"

She looked into his eyes and the tension on her face eased into a small smile. "Thanks, Ryan. That means a lot to me."

A man wearing an "Event Staff" shirt entered the room. "Davis and Sanderson, white team! Lynd and Meadows, red team!" he called.

Ryan cocked a half grin. "Come on, let's go kick some ass."

A woman waiting in the hallway escorted Ryan and Stacy to a staging area where a tunnel led out to the field. From there, the din of the fans - distantly audible from the waiting room - echoed almost deafeningly.

"Can you feel it?" Stacy asked as the sound of the crowd surged in response to the announcing of the other team. "The roar of the crowd reverberating through your body, the anticipation, the energy of thousands of people pounding into you all at once. It's almost primal." Her hand went to the poké balls on her belt, resting her fingertips lightly upon them. "There's nothing like it."

Ryan swallowed through a dryness taking hold in his throat. "Yeah. It's something, all right."

And now, the red team, the announcer's voice boomed from the field.

"That's our cue," Stacy said.

Together, Ryan and Stacy walked the rest of the way down the tunnel, emerging into the vast bowl of the coliseum itself.

From Arborea Hills, currently ranked seventeenth worldwide in team doubles: Stacy Lynd!

Ryan craned his head up at the stands - which seemed so much larger from this perspective - where the spectators cheered their arrival.

And from our very own Angel City, in his first Pokemon League event appearance: Ryan Meadows!

The response from the spectators sounded even livelier than even Stacy received, which Ryan suspected had more to do with him being a local than anything else. Still, it brought a tiny grin to his face.

The competition field stretched out in front of them was marked off in a rectangle capped in end zones, each in the shape of half an elongated poké ball, one red and one white. At the of apex of each end zone stood a table with depressions for holding poké balls. It was at the nearest table that Ryan and Stacy took their places, depositing their poké balls upon it. A kadabra in League livery approached from the sidelines to stand nearby.

The referee gestured toward Ryan and Stacy's end of the field. "Red team, ready!" he shouted.

Stacy selected a poké ball and held it up. Ryan looked at his three poké balls, picked up the one containing Cutter and held it up.

The referee gestured toward the opposite end of the field and shouted, "White team, ready!"

Their opponents each held aloft their starting poké balls in response.

The referee held both hands out, then brought them together and blew his whistle. Stacy and Ryan threw their poké balls onto the field, as did their opponents, each releasing their occupants with a pop and a flash of light. Cutter emerged from his poké ball, flanked by Stacy's tropius, Samson. On the far end of the field, the first of the opponents' pokemon to emerge had white fur with red slashes, long ears and sharp claws. It was joined by a quadrupedal blue pokemon, armored in seashell with a broad-finned tail and a large horn jutting from its head.

With the emergence of the combatants, the spectators erupted in cheers.

"A zangoose and a samurott," Stacy said to Ryan as their poké balls floated back to them, telekinetically retrieved by their kadabra. "A lucky match-up for our first pokemon. I'll take the samurott."

Ryan nodded. "Cutter, move in on that zangoose!" he shouted.

Cutter dashed forward, closing in on the zangoose who was casting uncertain looks at the humans conferring animatedly with each other behind it. Ryan suspected that they were trying to manage a last-second strategy to deal with their type-disadvantaged start. Meanwhile, at Stacy's command, Samson had taken wing, streaking toward the samurott.

Finally, just as Cutter was almost within striking distance, the zangoose's trainer roused to action. "Zangoose, Crush Claw!" he yelled.

The zangoose leapt into the fray with a powerful, double-handed swing of its long-clawed hands which Cutter avoided with a twist of his body and a sideways jink.

"Cutter, stay in close and hit him with a Brick Break!" Ryan commanded.

Cutter came around the back of the zangoose after dodging another full-power swing and brought his hand down in a sharp chop to the back of the zangoose's head. The zangoose stumbled forward a step, carried along by a combination of the momentum of its own failed attack and the force of Cutter's strike, before pitching forward onto the ground.

The referee held his hand up for a few seconds, then pointed at the fallen zangoose. "Down!" he called.

Stacy's tropius, meanwhile, swooped around the opposing samurott, dodging swipes of the aquatic pokemon's blades that it had drawn from its forearm sheaths.

"Samson, Energy Ball!" Stacy yelled.

In response, the tropius wheeled high then hovered briefly as a globe of roiling green energy formed in its mouth. The globe shot forth from Samson's maw, streaking toward the samurott and exploding against the aquatic pokemon's blue hide in a coruscating burst of yellow and green. With a low, moaning cry, the samurott fell.

"Down!" the referee shouted.

Ryan and Stacy exchanged a brief, triumphant glance as their opponents withdrew their fallen pokemon and sent their next battlers - a humanoid pokemon with a short tail armored in a spiky, domed carapace paired with a large, falcon-like avian with bright red plumage tipped in black. This time, their trainers did not hesitate to command their attack.

"Chesnaught, use Pin Missile on that gallade," the first opponent called.

"Talonflame, roast the tropius with a Flame Charge!" ordered the second.

The carapaced chesnaught grinned through its white-furred beard and hunkered down, firing the huge spikes protruding from its armor at Ryan's gallade. Cutter dove away from the first two spikes and knocked away a third with his arm blades to renewed cheers from the crowd. The red-plumed talonflame, meanwhile, streaked toward Stacy's tropius, its body wreathed in flame. Though Samson was nimble in the air, the fiery talonflame quickly began closing the distance, matching it move for move in an aerial ballet of speed and agility.

"This is getting a little hairy," Ryan said, watching Cutter dodge another Pin Missile attack from the chesnaught. "If that talonflame catches Samson, he's literally going to be toast. Should we sub?"

"No, wait," Stacy said. "That chesnaught's trainer isn't having him close in on Cutter. He's focusing on the type-advantage strike and not thinking tactically. We can use that to our advantage. Follow my lead, okay?" She turned toward the battle and called out, "Samson, dive toward Cutter, now!"

With the talonflame hot on his tail in more ways than one, Stacy's tropius winged a sharp U-turn then dove down toward where Cutter was weaving through another salvo of Pin Missiles.

"Ryan, take him now!" Stacy exclaimed.

"Cutter, Psycho Cut the talonflame!" Ryan shouted.

Samson streaked right toward Cutter, winging aside at the last moment. Before the pursuing talonflame could react, Cutter slashed his arm in a sweeping, overhead arc, the incredible forward momentum of his opponent's breakneck pursuit driving it savagely into his blade. The talonflame tumbled to the ground, bouncing and rolling along the turf until it finally skidded to a stop, its wings clutched to its midsection.

"Okay, Samson, now come around with an Air Slash!" Stacy ordered.

The tropius climbed back into the air then pulled a wide turn to come sailing back at the chesnaught who was momentarily alone, its fallen teammate being recalled into its poké ball. Samson then suddenly backwinged above and in front of the chesnaught with a single sharp beat of his four wings, flinging blades of compressed air that lashed his ground-bound opponent with an audible snap, knocking it backward and sending it sprawling to the ground.

The chesnaught lay there for a moment before trying to push itself back to its feet. As it struggled to get up, Ryan could see that its shell was cracked and the tip of one of its large body spikes had been sheared off. It managed to get to its knees before collapsing at last.

"Down!" the referee shouted.

A red beam of light recalled the chesnaught to the poké held in its trainer's hand. Ryan and Stacy's opponents then threw their last poké balls onto the field. First to emerge was a pyramidal slab of indigo stone pierced with glassy red shards and standing on four blocky feet. An angular face set with a glowering expression topped its rocky body. At its side appeared a mouse-like pokemon with orange fur and a long, whiplike tail tipped with a lightning bolt-shaped flare.

Stacy grimaced then said, "Samson's tough, but even he's no match for a gigalith and a raichu." She hit the large yellow button on her half of the table which caused a display on the table's front to flash yellow in response.

"Substitution, red!" the referee called.

A digital timer on the table began to count down the seconds Stacy had to retrieve her pokemon and send out the next. She held out Samson's poké ball and tapped its recall button, sending out a red beam which pulled the tropius back inside it. "Be ready to pull Cutter back when I say, alright?"

"Got it," Ryan replied. He watched her hurl the poké ball, from which her krookodile, Dredge, burst forth onto the field.

"Raichu, Thunder! Gigalith, Stone Edge!" came the battle commands from the opposition and their pokemon quickly responded.

The raichu darted forward on all fours, then popped up on its hind legs again, electricity arcing between its yellow cheek glands, building in intensity until, with a cry and a retina-searing blue-white flash, the raichu unleashed a tremendous, forking bolt of lightning at Ryan's gallade. After blinking away the afterimage of the flash, Ryan saw Cutter scuttling backwards on his rump, the grass where he'd been standing moments before having been charred black in a wide circle.

The gigalith lumbered forward as well, rearing up and pounding its front feet on the ground which sent spears of rocky earth shooting up from the turf in a line toward Dredge. The krookodile made no move to evade, only crossing his arms in front of his face as lances of rock enveloped him. The gigalith's trainer gave an exultant shout at the successful attack.

"Now, Ryan," Stacy said with a smile.

"Cutter, run this way, now!" Ryan shouted.

The gallade had barely scampered to his feet and taken the first few steps when the rock surrounding Stacy's krookodile exploded outward, revealing an almost untouched Dredge grinning wickedly, his arms outstretched.

"Dredge, Earthquake!" Stacy commanded.

The krookodile raised his thick, scaly tail and slammed it down on the ground with a boom, sending a powerful seismic shock wave rippling outward in all directions, churning the ground as it went. Even being at the farthest end of the field, Ryan felt the powerful jolt like a hammer blow beneath his feet. The raichu and gigalith, both having rushed forward to press their attacks, were simultaneously caught in the quake - the gigalith thrown backward, tumbling roughly before finally coming to rest motionless on its side while the raichu thrashed helplessly, half-buried in roiling earth. Even Cutter didn't fully escape the attack, the rippling earth pitching him roughly through the air to land face-down near the end of the field.

The shrill sound of the referee's whistle pierced the roar of the fans. "Down!" he shouted, then gestured with one hand toward Ryan and Stacy. "Red team wins the match!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, punctuated with the sound of whistles and horns. Ryan rushed forward to Cutter, who was slowly regaining his feet. "Hey, you okay? That looked like a pretty rough landing."

Cutter spit out a few blades of grass and nodded.

"Those were some nice moves, you know," Ryan said, helping Cutter up.

Thank you, he said, glancing over at Stacy who had Dredge wrapped up in a hug, but I think Stacy's pokemon did most of the work.

"Come on," Ryan said, "you did great. You totally rang that zangoose's bell and you took out that talonflame in one hit."

"And don't forget some fine teamwork," Stacy said, walking toward them. "So, Ryan, what do you think about sport battling now?"

Ryan looked up at the crowd, taking in the raucous acclaim of the fans. Up in the stands behind him, he saw Christina and Jennifer jumping up and down, waving and shouting, their words lost amid the din. "I'll admit, it has its moments," he said.

The same woman who led them out escorted them back inside. Instead of returning to the waiting area, Stacy led them to a different room filled with high-end medical equipment attended by uniformed veterinary personnel. Ryan recognized the largest machines connected to rows of bed-like platforms as bio-reactors and it was upon these that several pokemon lay, recovering from their match.

"Do we even need to be here? Ryan asked. "We barely took a scratch out there."

"Yes, we do," Stacy replied. "Our pokemon will need their full strength for each round." She summoned one of the staff who helped her put Dredge and Samson onto separate platforms, drawing armatures from the sides over them.

The man in the veterinarian's coat turned to Ryan and asked if he needed assistance. After a stern look from Stacy, Ryan consented to have Cutter placed within the bio-reactor as well.

Ryan's attention shifted from Cutter, who now lay serenely under a soft glow of energy emanating from the armatures curved over him, to a nearby bio-reactor where the chesnaught that Samson had defeated lay. He leaned toward Stacy and whispered, "You know, that one doesn't look so hot. I thought this was supposed to be all friendly and stuff."

"Actually, it's not nearly as bad as it looks," Stacy said. "The shell of a chesnaught isn't actually part of its flesh, kind of like your fingernails aren't living parts of your hands. Even without the bio-reactor, it would just shed the cracked shell and grow a new one. And as for the sheared spikes, remember that it was firing them off just a few minutes ago."

"Oh, yeah. Almost forgot about that," Ryan said.

"Humans didn't invent pokemon battling, you know," Stacy said. "Pokemon battle for dominance in the wild all the time without killing each other. It's how such powerful creatures establish their place among each other without wrecking the entire world with titanic death-struggles. For example, you know how sharp Cutter can make his blades and yet the talonflame he fought didn't have its guts spilling out all over the field when he took it down."

"That's true. I guess I never thought about it that way."

"Now you know.," Stacy said with a warm smile. "Right now, though, the best thing you can think about is our next match. Trust me, it's going to get a lot tougher real fast."

# # #

As they took the field for the second time, now as the white team, Stacy turned to Ryan, gesturing toward the short-haired girl on the opposite end of the field and said, "Do you recognize who's on the other team? It's Mila Petrov. I hope you remember how tough I told you she was."

"Yeah, well, you're no slouch, either," Ryan replied.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Ryan, but don't underestimate her - or her teammate for that matter. She wouldn't have brought him if he wasn't up to snuff and they did win their first match, after all."

"Any tips, then?" Ryan asked.

"Don't lead with Cutter. After seeing how well you did with him, they'll be expecting that. Also, Mila likes to lead with her infernape because it's quick and strong. If she does, I'll have something nasty waiting for her."

"Red team, ready!" the referee shouted. Mila and her teammate each held up their starting poké ball.

Stacy picked up a poké ball and smiled at Ryan. "Okay. Here we go."

"White team, ready!" the referee called.

Ryan picked up his first poké ball and held it up. "Showtime."

The referee brought his hands together, blowing his whistle, and the four trainers threw their poké balls onto the field.

First to come out was Freya, Stacy's empoleon, who raised her steel-clad wings with a loud cry. Joining her was Ryan's porygon, Trace, whose colors flickered briefly before settling into their usual red and blue.

First to emerge on the opposite end of the field was a simian pokemon with brown and white fur and a crown of flame dancing on its head. It hopped up in an acrobatic display of backflips, trailing looping streamers of fire from its hands and feet. Next to it, standing about a foot taller, was an insectoid pokemon with the form of a giant mantis, its forearms consisting of long, sharp, forward-curving blades. The double pair of transparent wings on its back quivered eagerly.

"Looks like I was right about the infernape," Stacy said. "I'll handle that one, you take the scyther."

Ryan nodded then turned to his pokemon. "Trace, move in and zap the scyther with a Thunderbolt," Ryan ordered.

In response, Ryan's porygon floated forward, Freya lumbering along behind him.

At their trainers' command, the opposing pokemon took off like a shot, the infernape bounding forward on all fours while the scyther sped through the air above, both tearing across the field with astonishing speed. Ryan and Stacy's pokemon had barely crossed a third of the distance of the field before their opponents were upon them.

"Infernape, Mach Punch on the empoleon!" Mila shouted.

The infernape quickly zigzagged around Trace, then darted forward at Freya covering the last ten feet between them in an instantaneous blur evidenced only by the streak of light from the fire on its head, ending in a powerful punch straight to Freya's midsection, staggering her back a step, before swiftly somersaulting backward out of reach.

"Scyther, Silver Wind!" the second trainer called. The scyther rose up and beat its wings in a furious, droning blur, blasting Trace with an abrasive gust of tiny silvery scales that scoured the porygon, leaving its smooth surface scraped and pitted.

"Hydro Cannon, Freya," Stacy called out. "Hose that fire monkey down!"

Freya responded by spewing a torrent of water from her mouth at the agile infernape who flipped and tumbled away, deftly dodging the deluge even as Freya chased it with the stream. With a final backflip, the infernape landed lightly on its feet, bone dry and unharmed.

"Okay Infernape," Mila commanded, "move in for Close Combat and take the empoleon down!"

The infernape leapt forward, coming down several feet in front of Freya then tumbled in under a defensive swipe from the empoleon's steel-edged wing before hopping up high, lashing out with both feet at once in a vicious double kick to Freya's face. The force of the impact staggered the empoleon again, driving her backward. She weakly windmilled her wings, trying vainly to keep her balance on wobbly legs before finally falling backward to the ground, unmoving.

"Down!" The referee shouted.

Trace, meanwhile, shook off the silvery scales that had scored his body, finally mustering himself to make his first attack. Electricity briefly arced between his feet before blasting outward in a jagged bolt at his attacker who quickly dove to the ground, avoiding the attack. Trace lashed out with several more bolts in rapid succession but the scyther proved just as nimble on the ground as in the air, rolling and diving away from each attack, though from some, only barely.

"Scyther, Slash!" its trainer commanded.

The scyther's wings buzzed, propelling it forward along the ground in a lightning rush at Trace. In the blink of an eye, the scyther was upon him. The porygon ducked the bladed arm that sliced a horizontal line through the air a hair's breadth above him as its momentum carried it past. With a furious beating of its wings, the scyther quickly reversed its motion, darting back in and lashing out with rapid swipes at Trace. The porygon, now having found his rhythm, deftly dodged each strike in turn.

"Okay," Stacy said to Ryan, quickly recalling Freya. "keep the scyther busy while I take care of the infernape." She threw out her second poké ball, from which emerged her tropius. "Samson, take off and Air Slash the infernape!" she commanded.

Ryan had to briefly shield his face from the blast of wind kicked up by the tropius' four leaf-wings as it hurled itself into the air. It arrowed toward the infernape advancing on Trace, who was still being harried by the scyther's attack. With another sharp wingbeat, Samson launched a blade of air down at the infernape, striking it dead-on. The impact sent the infernape tumbling, but it quickly recovered, rolling back to its feet, if a bit unsteadily.

"Flare Blitz, Infernape! Burn it out of the sky!" Mila shouted.

The infernape let loose a high-pitched, shrieking cry and the flames streaming from its head, hands and feet exploded out, enveloping the simian pokemon's body in raging fire. It dashed forward, leaping high into the air trailing streamers of fire like a burning comet as it flung itself at Samson. The tropius barrel rolled, tucking its leafy wings in close to avoid getting singed as it corkscrewed away, dodging the fiery attack.

As the infernape landed, Samson had already looped around, diving in for a counterattack. The infernape turned just in time to see Samson swoop down, flinging another blade of air down upon it. Unable to react in time, it took the full brunt of the aerial attack which sent it tumbling once again. This time, it did not get back up.

Ryan saw Mila turn to the young man beside her, pointing animatedly at the tropius now spiralling toward the battle between Trace and the Scyther.

"Scyther, break off and go after the tropius," Mila's partner shouted. "Blast it with a Wing Attack!"

The scyther halted its attack on Trace in mid-swing, peeling off and taking to the air in a buzzing of its insectoid wings. With explosive speed, it gained altitude above Stacy's tropius who was quickly closing in. It took aim, furiously whipping its wings with an audible droning that rose in a rapid crescendo of volume and pitch until, with a violent forward snap of its wings, it hurled the gathered air outward in a rippling pressure wave. The blast struck Samson squarely on the side, crumpling two of his wings and sending him plummeting downward.

At the last second, Samson flared his injured wings just enough to manage a rough landing, but the attack had taken its toll. He was now favoring his left side and his two left wings hung limply - useless for flying or attacking. Samson, still dazed, looked up and saw the scyther diving straight toward him, blades cocked for a follow-through attack.

"Trace, Ice Beam!" Ryan shouted.

A blue beam of energy lanced up into the air from Ryan's porygon, striking the scyther in mid-dive. The scyther cried out in shock, now falling instead of diving, its wings motionless and rimed with frost. Samson sidestepped the plummeting scyther as it crashed to the ground, its body locked rigid under a crust of ice.

Mila and her partner withdrew their infernape and scyther, both having been called down, and sent out their next pokemon. Mila's combatant was a yellow lizard with orange stripes and a pointed, orange frill around its neck. Its partner emerged from its poké ball in a shadowy haze, floating forward to reveal the form of a large, coal-black doll with glowing red eyes and a spiky head. Its lips pulled back in un unsettling grin, revealing a metal zipper where its teeth should be.

"That heliolisk is going to be trouble for Samson," Ryan observed. He shot another glance at the doll pokemon who, even across the field, seemed to sense his attention, meeting his eyes and grinning wider. "And that banette is creeping me right the hell out."

"Don't count Samson out just yet," Stacy said, "and I'd worry more about Trace, if I were you. His best attacks will have absolutely no effect on ghost pokemon."

"So what do you suggest?" Ryan asked.

"We send our pokemon in tight formation so they can't tell who we're targeting. We might be able to take them by surprise that way."

Ryan agreed and they sent Samson and Trace forward, each sticking close to the other as they made their way toward their opponents. The heliolisk and banette also advanced, though warily. The spectators cheered on as the two sides slowly closed in on each other.

"Pick your target," Stacy said to Ryan. "I'll follow your lead."

Ryan nodded. "Okay, Trace, Psybeam on the Banette!"

Before Stacy could issue her command, Mila yelled, "Okay guys, flash and smash!"

The heliolisk hunkered down, its frill puffing outward into a broad disk from which it shot a blinding strobe of light toward Trace. Though it seemed to do no damage, the porygon paused, shaking its head in a daze, its attack faltering. Without hesitation, the doll-like banette whisked forward, clobbering the stunned Trace with a haymaker to the side of his angular head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Ryan blinked in surprise at the sudden turnabout as the referee called his pokemon down.

"A Flash and Sucker Punch combo," Stacy said. "I told you she was good. Now get your next pokemon out quick before they gang up on Samson."

Ryan retrieved Trace back into his poké ball as Stacy ordered Samson to use a Stomp attack on the heliolisk. Ryan picked up Cutter's poké ball and hurled it as hard as he could in order to get his pokemon as close to the action as possible. After sailing an impressive distance, the ball released Cutter in a flash of light a short distance from where the heliolisk was skittering between Samson's stomping feet which had thus far failed to connect.

"Cutter, get in there and Psycho Cut that ghost!" Ryan ordered.

Cutter quickly surveyed the battle then rushed forward, his arm blades shimmering with a faint pink glow. The banette waited almost nonchalantly for Cutter to close in. As the gallade came within striking distance, the banette raised a long, boneless arm high, but at the last moment, swiped low under Cutter's guard.

The ghost's grin of triumph faded when its blow stopped short, blocked by Cutter's downward-crossed arms. With a quick spin, the gallade slashed the banette in its exposed side. The banette drew back with an angry chattering cry - a sound like bones rattling in a tin can.

Ryan chuckled. "Cutter won't fall for cheap tricks like that, you creepy bastard," he muttered.

"Heliolisk, Charge Beam!" Mila commanded, and the yellow lizard scampered back, puffing its frill out again. Electricity danced along the points of the frill, building into a thick blue ring of arcing energy. A moment later, the ring of electricity collapsed into the heliolisk's neck and it opened its mouth, spitting the accumulated charge in a beam that scorched the battered tropius' leafy body. Samson stumbled back a step then collapsed to the ground.

Stacy retrieved her downed pokemon and grimaced. "Down to my last one," she said, picking up her final poké ball. Hurling it, she cried, "Go get 'em, Dredge!"

The krookodile wasted no time as it burst forth, running toward the fray where both the heliolisk and the banette were lining up attacks on Cutter.

"Banette, Shadow Sneak!" its trainer ordered, and the ghost pokemon spread its arms wide, its shadow stretching and splitting into multiple projections of itself. Cutter backed away, eyeing the dark shapes that slid ominously along the ground toward him. Suddenly, one of the shadows' arms detached from the ground and swiped at Cutter who ducked out of the way just as a second shadow reached up and struck him from behind.

Meanwhile, Mila's heliolisk charged up again, using some of the energy still looping through its frill from the previous attack to build up an even bigger and brighter ring of electricity. Once again, it drew the power in and spat it out in a jagged beam even more intense than the first. Cutter, distracted by the banette, saw the attack too late. The beam connected with an explosion of light and a crackling sizzle that Ryan could hear even above the surging roar of the crowd.

And then, Ryan smiled.

Cutter straightened, untouched by the lance of electricity that had instead struck Stacy's krookodile who now stood in front of the gallade, arms outstretched, unfazed by the electrical attack he had harmlessly absorbed. The heliolisk hissed in indignation.

"Now its time for some teamwork of our own," Stacy said. "Ready?"

"Absolutely," Ryan replied.

"Dredge, alley oop!" Stacy shouted.

Stacy's and Ryan's pokemon nodded to each other, then Cutter ran straight toward Dredge who hunkered down with his hands cupped in front of him. When Cutter reached him, the krookodile boosted the gallade high into the air then immediately slammed his tail down, sending a jolt through the ground in an Earthquake attack.

The seismic shock wave slammed the heliolisk, throwing it from its feet to land roughly on its back. The banette was also rocked by the wave of earth which knocked it to the ground but it was only momentarily stunned. It quickly began pushing itself upright, but as it did, it saw Ryan's gallade descending through the air toward it, blades raised high.

"Cutter, Night Slash!" Ryan shouted.

Cutter fell upon the banette, slashing down with blades wreathed in a dark nimbus, driving his attack home with the full momentum of his descent in a single, crushing blow.

Neither the heliolisk nor the banette rose.

The stands erupted with cheers at the spectacular double KO, many of the spectators rising to their feet as Mila and her partner retrieved their fallen pokemon.

Ryan looked up at the scoreboard and saw that each of their opponents only had one poké ball icon left next to their names. "Only two more to go. Cue the fat lady."

"Don't get overconfident," Stacy admonished. "This match isn't over yet and anything can happen."

With a powerful pitch, Mila sent out her final pokemon deep into the field. The enormous creature that emerged from the poké ball dwarfed its opponents, standing over seven feet tall. A thick coat of white fur covered its wide, vaguely ape-like frame except for its verdant hands and feet. Streamers of frosty air cascaded visibly down along its body, spreading out along the ground at its feet. It threw its head back and bellowed a low-pitched howl that echoed across the coliseum, reverberating in Ryan's chest. With a whoosh, the frosty air around it whipped up into vortex of snow and ice. Seeing an abomasnow for the first time in person, Ryan concluded that its name was well-earned. Amid the display, Ryan almost missed the appearance of the pokemon Mila's partner sent out. The bladed tail and long, crimson fangs marked the large, dark purple snake as a seviper.

Stacy bit her lip. "Not good. Dredge won't last long against an abomasnow. You take care of that one while I try to lure the seviper away from its partner."

Ryan ordered Cutter forward toward the frost-wrapped abomasnow while Stacy sent Dredge off to the side to threaten the red-fanged seviper.

At the same time, Mila and her partner were directing their pokemon as well. A series of rapid-fire instructions sent the seviper darting across to intercept Ryan's gallade while the abomasnow kept behind its partner, maintaining a precise distance. Cutter tried to dodge around his opponent, but no matter which way he went, he couldn't get past the reach of the seviper's long, sinuous body and its lashing, bladed tail.

"Alright, Seviper, stick and move with Poison Jab!" Mila's partner exclaimed.

Once again, the seviper lashed out with its tail blade. Cutter blocked the strike with his own arm blades but didn't see that the seviper had curled its head around behind him at the same time. With a lightning-quick lunge, the snake pokemon pierced Cutter's back with its fangs. The gallade staggered forward from the force of the strike, twin rivulets of purple venom dripping from the puncture wounds in his back. Cutter, now moving more stiffly, brought his blades up defensively, but the seviper, instead of continuing its attack, slithered back away.

"Now, Abomasnow, Blizzard!" Mila shouted.

The white-furred behemoth stepped forward, lining itself up with Cutter and Dredge. It sucked in a long breath then blew it out in a mighty gale of ice and wind which swept across the field, engulfing both Cutter and Dredge in its blast. Cutter, though closer to the source of the Blizzard, recovered quickly from the attack despite his injury, but Dredge, driven to his knees, rose slowly, much of his body encrusted with frost.

Ryan's mouth twisted into a scowl. "Damn, these guys are tough."

"Keep the seviper from closing off its partner." Stacy said. "I'm going to hit that abomasnow before it takes us both out." She pointed to the snowy giant and yelled, "Dredge, Crunch!"

"Okay, Cutter," Ryan called, "hit that snake with a Psycho Cut!"

Cutter advanced on the seviper, moving in before it could resume its position in front of its partner. The seviper slashed down with its tail blade at Cutter, which he parried with one arm blade, slashing in with his other, carving a line in the seviper's scaly hide. The seviper drew back from the strike with a hiss.

Behind him, Dredge shook off the rime of ice clinging to his body with a growl, then charged in on the now exposed abomasnow. The enraged krookodile dove at his opponent, jaws gaping, and buried his teeth into the arm it held up to ward him off. The abomasnow howled in pain as it tried to shake off the krookodile whose jaws held fast, even as the hail swirling around it pummeled the krookodile's body.

"Abomasnow, scrape him off with an Ice Punch!" Mila commanded.

The abomasnow cocked back with its free hand, balling it into as fist, a thick sheath of ice quickly forming around it, then slammed it into the krookodile. The ice shattered against Dredge's head in a crystalline explosion that sent him sailing through the air. The krookodile tumbled limply for a few feet when it hit the ground, finally coming to rest in a motionless heap.

"Seviper, Venoshock!" its trainer shouted.

The seviper, curled defensively around the cut in its hide, suddenly uncoiled, spitting a greenish liquid that splattered thickly against Cutter's body. The gallade flinched back and scraped frantically at the sticky liquid with his hands, trying to wipe the fluid away, but succeeded only in smearing it around further. Within seconds, his movements began to slow. A few seconds later, his arms fell to his side and he collapsed to the ground.

"Down!" the referee called, pointing at Stacy's and Ryan's fallen pokemon.

Ryan blinked in disbelief. "What the hell?"

"A venoshock is a binary poison some pokemon have. By itself it only stings, but when used on a pokemon that already has poison in its system, the two venoms coreact to devastating effect." She nodded toward Cutter, "You'd better get him off the field."

Ryan held up Cutter's poké ball, flashing its retrieval beam upon the gallade's motionless form. No sooner did the poké ball close back around its occupant than a young woman in event uniform appeared at his side, taking the ball from his hand.

"Wait, what's she doing?" Ryan asked Stacy as the woman rushed down the tunnel behind them.

"She's taking Cutter to the aid station. It's standard procedure when a pokemon gets poisoned, especially if they're unconscious." She looked at the abomasnow and seviper which, though not untouched, still stood strong and held the field. "I'm out of pokemon, Ryan. It's going to be two on one and you know how tough they are." She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You've done your part. I won't ask you to send your last pokemon in for a beating on principle."

"I didn't come here just to quit," Ryan said with a slight edge to his voice. "Besides, I've been outnumbered before and Buster's tougher than you think." Ryan picked up his final poké ball and heaved it onto the field.

With a burst of light, Ryan's metalleon shot forth from his poké ball, materializing on the field with a loud, piercing cry. In the stands, the spectators erupted in a thunderous round of cheers.

Before Ryan could issue a command, he heard Mila's partner shout, "Seviper, Poison Jab!"

Without hesitation, the serpentine pokemon slithered forward and lashed out with a lightning-quick strike.

With a ringing clang, its fangs bounced harmlessly off the metalleon's armored body, drawing not so much as a flinch from its target.

Ryan's face split in a wolfish grin. "Alright, Buster. Let's show them what you can do." He thrust a finger at the seviper. "Metal Claw!"

Buster leapt at the seviper, who was still shaking off the recoil of its failed attack, and slashed a metal-tipped forepaw across its face, knocking its head askew. Behind him, as he landed squarely on all fours, the seviper went limp, falling like a garden hose casually tossed aside, smacking against the ground with a single thump.

"Down!" the referee shouted, and the cheers from the crowd surged yet again.

"Abomasnow, Blizzard!" Mila commanded, and her pokemon responded with another snowy gale directed at Buster.

The metalleon hunkered down against the frigid blast which swept smoothly over his body. After it passed, Buster straightened, shaking off the scant frost that clung to his gray, metallic coat.

"Buster, Pin Missile!" Ryan shouted.

Buster raised his tail and, with a flick, its smooth contours blossomed out into a jagged bouquet of metal spikes. Buster whipped his tail around, flinging a barrage of spikes at the abomasnow, pincushioning its body and the arms it held up in defense, driving it backward several steps.

"Wood Hammer, Abomasnow," Mila shouted. "Smash it into the ground!"

"Let's finish this, Buster," Ryan called. "Gyro Ball!"

With another piercing cry, Buster charged forward toward the abomasnow who, with a bass howl of its own, lumbered forward to meet him. The distance between the two pokemon diminished rapidly as they rushed toward one another, the abomasnow raising a massive arm high as the metalleon dashed in low. As they closed to striking distance, Buster leapt, curling his body into a ball as the abomasnow brought its massive arm crashing down. The hammer-blow landed a fraction of a second too late as Buster sailed past, driving into the abomasnow with the force of a cannonball. The impact threw the abomasnow's upper body backward, its arms flung out wide. Tipping over on its heels, the mighty abomasnow fell to the ground with a mighty crash. Buster, having rebounded off the abomasnow's massive body, uncurled himself and sprang back to his feet.

The referee's whistle cut through the roaring of the fans, many of whom were now on their feet. "White team wins the match!" the referee called.

Buster ran back to Ryan, gamboling around him in circles before hopping up, planting his front paws on Ryan's chest, yipping joyfully.

"Alright, alright, easy now," Ryan said, giving Buster a hearty scratch with both hands. "You did great, now take it down a notch."

"I have to say, I'm impressed with Buster's performance," Stacy said. "And yours, as well."

"I'll admit, things got a bit dicey at the end, but we made it through just fine."

"Just remember, the next round's the semifinal and the competition's only going to get tougher." Stacy nodded toward the tunnel. "Come on, let's get back to the aid station. We need to check on Cutter and get our pokemon ready for the next match."

And with that, Ryan, Stacy and Buster disappeared back into the tunnel, the sound of the cheering crowd echoing behind them.