(Glacia - Venture Base - Two Weeks Later)
"Final exams are tomorrow!"
That was written on Ms. Gaw's blackboard. Everyone around us whispered nervously - Were they prepared for this? Did they need more time? How were they going to perform? Tom began to wring his wax, looking worried beyond measure.
"Uh… Glacia… I don't know if I'm ready." Tom confessed to me as Ms. Gaw began her apparently final lesson, which was actually a review once I listened closely.
I waved him off. "Don't worry, Tom - you'll do fine. You've been studying, right? You know all of the types, their strengths, their weaknesses, battle tactics, etc. You've been paying attention in class as well, so as long as you keep your head, you'll be fine."
Tom still looked unsure, with tiny globules of sweat-like wax running down his body. Poor guy thinks he'll fail. Ridiculous - he was tutored by me every other day, so of course, he'll pass.
Vinia, who was trying to listen to the review in the seat behind mine, tapped the back of my head. She seemed to be rather annoyed, gesturing to Ms. Gaw as if to remind us to pay attention.
I didn't particularly need to review, as I learned everything I needed to within the first week and shot to the top of class rankings. I wasn't going to fail. I never did, after all, with academics.
Still, to pacify Vinia, I decided to pay attention.
"... tomorrow, you'll be taking two tests with me. One of the tests, which will last thirty minutes, will be multiple choice. You will have to answer questions based on the lectures, so make sure you study extra hard tonight.
"The other test, meanwhile, will be open-answer and will be taken individually. Each of you will take turns being asked questions from proctors. It'll test your ability to think on the spot, an ability many Venturers need. After all, we need more than Pokemon able to spit out facts - we have books for that."
A Hippopotas raised their leg. "Ms. Gaw?"
"Yes, Stop?"
Stop - what a dreadful name - took a deep breath and continued. "Will we take a test with Mr. Pix as well?"
Ms. Gaw nodded. "Yes, you'll definitely have to take a practical exam. I don't know the details, though. You'll have to ask him later today."
With that, the review continued. We covered various topics, like edibles in the Dungeons, ways to locate the Staircase faster, Twistings, and how to ration your food in a Dungeon. Ms. Gaw crammed in as much reviewing as she could, covering the last year to the best of her abilities.
Soon enough, though, it was time for lunch. A few of the students bade goodbye to Ms. Gaw - this would most likely be the last time the relationship between us and her would be student and teacher, as she wouldn't be able to teach us anything in an official capacity anymore.
I decided that she wasn't worth my goodbye and headed off to lunch with the rest of the Pariahs - what we were called, apparently.
After a nice meaty lunch later, we headed to Mr. Pix's room. When we arrived Mr. Pix began to explain to us what our test was going to be as well.
"You guys have to take two tests with me as well." He began. "I'll be testing your combat abilities as well as how well you traverse a Mystery Dungeon."
"The day after tomorrow, when your theoretical exams are done, you guys will have to take a practical exam with me. Each of you will participate in a class-wide tournament. Your placement there won't dictate whether you pass or fail, but it will be taken into account.
"That'll be the first test. The second test will be you guys successfully going through a simple Mystery Dungeon."
Upon Mr. Pix saying this, there was pandemonium. Everyone began to raise objections, and I began to wonder if they still hadn't realized what they signed up for, as Venturers. You know, Pokemon whose job it is to go into Mystery Dungeons?
Mr. Pix, through some cajoling, managed to quiet everyone down. "Yes, kids - I'll have to take you through a Mystery Dungeon. It's what you guys are getting a license for, so you're going to have to go through one eventually - and you'll have to do it by yourself, too."
Upon this information, Lyli the Starly fainted. She was reliant on Stop and that Tynamo to take her through her life, so having to go through a Mystery Dungeon by herself would probably be next to impossible for her. I snorted - she was of weak will, and she wouldn't last a day as a Venturer. She was probably going to fail, mark my words.
We spent some time waking Lyli up and sending her to Ms. Kiss with Vinia before Mr. Pix went on with his explanation. "We have a couple of Mystery Dungeons in the vicinity of Jeden City - Floral Field, Abandoned Tower, Toxic Swamp, and Castle Rock, which was made only a month ago.
Castle Rock, that was the Dungeon that was created when I first met Tom and Team Link. Was that only a month ago?
"You guys will be separated into eight groups of three and will have to go through each Dungeon in those groups of three. Think of our journey into Floral Field a month ago, only without me there. You will be allowed everything but Escape Orbs and Pure Seeds, so plan well. For now, we'll be practicing our moves for one final day, so make sure to give it your all!"
(The Next Day)
The class lined up outside of Ms. Gaw's classroom. The din was loud as we waited for Ms. Gaw to work the final preparations for the written test, as well as address any students whose biology would make it difficult for them to take the test.
Already I could tell that some of them were going to fail. They were sweating bullets and trying to recite facts to themselves. Just from listening to what they thought were the answers to the questions was repulsive - how can someone not know that much about what they had spent the majority of the past year learning?
Seriously - they thought that Pure Seeds could be used to clear someone of Status Effects! It actually just took them to the Staircase of the floor (which was probably why they were banned in the test). If they got something like that wrong, I shudder to think how they'll fare when faced with some of the harder questions, like the signs a Mystery Dungeon is about to Capture you.
Tom was also reciting facts to himself, although he got the majority of them right. But of course he did - I made sure of it. Still, I could tell that he was anxious, so I tapped him to get his attention and told him to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down. A few minutes later, he was back to his calm self.
As for the other Pariahs… Vinia was as confident as I was, Shift and Naetle were, like Tom, reciting facts to themselves, and Merla was sitting next to me, gazing around like I was. She tended to look at whatever I was looking at, which I was still trying to figure out.
The door slowly opened, and everyone's voices faded away, with some trembling. Ms. Gaw stepped out, her face inscrutable.
"Well, kids, it's time. Come on in."
She led the way inside. The class slowly trickled in, and we sat in our usual seats. Of course, the seats were much farther apart than they were usually, so the class ended up separated.
Once we got ourselves situated, Ms. Gaw cleared her throat, and a watery smile appeared on her face.
"This is your moment, class. Everything you learned this year will come into play now. Answer with confidence, because you worked hard to get here. You have three hours to answer 100 questions." As she spoke, a couple of Venturers I had seen around the base handed out the papers.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw Peng winking at me as she passed me a few sheets of paper. She then went over to Tom and gave some to him as well.
"You will start in 3… "
The class took a collective breath and gripped the pencils in whatever manner they could.
"2… "
Tom set a look of determination on his face as he took the pencil, clearly resolving himself.
"1…"
I took my pencil and smiled.
This is my territory.
"Now."
With that, papers were flipped over as the class began to frantically write. I flipped over and began to write.
(Two and a Half Hours Later)
With one final stroke, I carefully marked the final answer and stared at my sheet. Now was a good time as any to check my answers.
1.) Which has the potential to become a Mystery Dungeon?
a) An abandoned castle
b) A mountain range
c) A grassy field
d) A dense forest
e) All of the above
The answer, of course, was e), since literally anything can undergo a Twisting to become a Mystery Dungeon. It was only a matter of time until something became a Mystery Dungeon.
2.) What is it called when an Area becomes a Mystery Dungeon?
a) A Creating
b) A Collapsing
c) A Twisting
d) A Capturing
e) None of the above
This one was also easy - a Twisting.
The questions went on like that for a long time, and I dutifully checked the answers. It took a bit of time, but I made sure all of the answers were correct.
Finally, I reached question 100.
100.) Which type does the Wonder Gummi benefit the most?
a) Electric
b) Psychic
c) Fairy
d) None of the above
I made sure the right answer was circled - d), none of the above - then flipped my paper over, making sure my name was on it. I took a deep sigh of relief, and then a smile ripped itself across my face.
Oh, it was so long since I took an academic test like that! It was surprisingly nostalgic - whenever I was tutored by a prestigious Alakazam or Gardevoir, I would always have to take a written test afterward. I would always look at the results afterward and laugh about the results with Sharon.
Sharon…
The smile disappeared from my face. I had been avoiding thinking about my original time for the past month - the fact that I had been kidnapped from my time was still a little hard to wrap my head around.
I had done a little bit of research into temporal displacement in the Venturing library. Of course, when Merla (who was hovering over me like usual) quietly asked what I was doing, I explained to her my origin and my current predicament. After five seconds of thought, Merla proclaimed to me that, upon her life, she would help me find a way back home. She then threw herself into research next to me.
I have to say, she was already more reliable than Tom on that part, as he seems to have completely forgotten about the promise he made to me.
Through a little bit of digging with Merla, I found out that time travel was a rare phenomenon. There have only been a few Pokemon, in legend, to have time traveled.
One notable legend was the one of the Temporal Grovyle and the Lustrous Celebi. Supposedly, there was a time where there was no Time, and the world froze. Only the Pokemon, by a miracle of Arceus, were able to stay in motion.
Two Pokemon, a Grovyle and a Celebi, despised such a cruel world and opened a door to the past, where they prevented the Temporal Apocalypse from occurring. They returned to a paradise and lived the rest of their lives in happiness, enjoying the fruits of their arduous labor in the past.
I had listened to this story millennia ago, in The Tales of Eonia. Finding that some of these legends still existed so far into the future brought a smile to my face.
It also gave me a clue. Grovyle were fairly common Pokemon - you could find them in any jungle. Celebi, though…
It sounded like a legendary - and a legendary might have the ability to bring me back in time.
Though, I was unable to find any leads on Celebi or any other legendary Pokemon for that matter. There was a reason they were called legendary, after all, instead of godly.
Either way, I would have to continue my research once I passed the Venturing Course and became a fully-fledged Venturer. Speaking of passing the course…
Not everybody was done yet. Vinia, like me, had already finished, and she was busying herself by manipulating her pencil with psychic energies. Just from that, I knew she was bored. Catal had also finished and was napping. Merla had finished as well - in fact, it seemed she had finished before me.
I had to do better, then. It wouldn't stand for someone to be smarter than me, after all.
Tom looked to be on the last page of the test, a fervor in his eyes. He looked much more confident now then he had at the beginning of the test. Naetle was also finishing up, although he seemed a lot less confident in his answers. Shift was always worried, so looking at his reactions wouldn't tell me that much.
I decided to follow Catal's lead for once and take a nice nap - I'll need the energy for the next test.
I appeared in a dark world. Everything was dark and unsettling, and I soon found myself shivering despite the fact that the dream world - for that was what it was, I'd been in Merla's dream world at night enough to tell when I was in someone's dreams - was lukewarm in temperature.
I always fell into a Pokemon's dream world when I slept. It took me a long time to realize, but visiting Merla every night in her dreams left me with no doubt that it was a coincidence. Falling into other dream worlds - Vinia's, for instance - was something I did occasionally as well. Vinia's dream world was that of a prison, for reasons I couldn't understand. I would always hear crying there, with desires to escape.
I knew, somehow, that the voice belonged to Vinia.
Interrogating Vinia about it later yielded no results. It seemed I had struck a nerve with that inquiry, for she refused to talk to me for hours afterward. I figured that I would have to gain her trust more before I went back in that direction.
Once or twice, I entered Kaori's and Ivan's dream worlds. It was dull, though - they had simple minds and were repetitive once you entered.
Either way, I knew I was in a dream world. The question is, whose dream world am I in now?
Who was asleep when I fell asleep?
… Catal.
I shivered more violently. I was starting to feel a little apprehensive about staying in here. I'm as strong as I usually am in the dream world - as strong as I am on the outside world. Catal, however, was stronger than I was even in the real world.
I don't fancy what will happen if I die in a dream world. Best case scenario, I get booted out. Worst case, I turn into a vegetable.
"... Glacia…" I freeze.
I slowly turn around, and out of the gloom comes a Bisharp. It looks strangely familiar, and I remember what had happened in the night I time-traveled away from my home.
Yeah… I'm not going to stick around.
I used a Quick Attack to run away as fast as I could. The Bisharp gave chase, but it wasn't fast enough to outspeed me. As I ran, I considered what I was going to do. I needed to escape - that was something that didn't need thinking about. The question was, how was I going to do it?
Usually, the mind booted me out on its own, so I just waited around for the dream to kick me out. That wasn't an option this time, however. I could tell the Bisharp - who may have been Catal's inner view of himself - was out for blood.
Luckily, I didn't need to worry. I soon found myself disappearing into motes of light, like I had with the day I purified Merla of the Miasma, and eagerly woke up.
"Time's up!" Ms. Gaw called out. A couple of the students cried - it seemed they were unable to perform well on the exam and had flunked.
"Hand in your papers now, please. Once you've handed them in, you can go to lunch," Ms. Gaw announced. "Afterward, we'll have the next portion of the exam."
After we Pariahs had turned in our papers, we headed to lunch together. Tom, Naetle, and Shift fretfully discussed the outcome of the test while Vinia, Merla, and I just watched with slight amusement. They really hadn't prepared well, hadn't they? Sucked to be them, then.
We made it to the cafeteria and loaded our plates with food. We began discussing the test with earnest. Judging from what they said were the answers to the questions, it seemed they had a fairly solid grasp of the material. Unless the cut-off point was really high, they would probably pass that portion of the exam.
Seeing Tom answering our verbal questions with ease brought a smile to my lips. It seemed he has finally learned the basic principles of being a Pokemon and can blend in rather easily. I remembered when he thought he had to roll on his side to move.
Of course, thinking about back then reminded me of my temporal predicament. I decided that now was a good time to remind Tom about his promise to me - I plan to use his (meager) researching abilities to full use.
I tapped Tom on his back and waited for him to turn around. Once I held his attention, I reminded him of the promise he had made to me a month ago.
His eyes widening was rather comical, and as we ate he flailed around, trying to come up with excuses as to why he hadn't helped me with my predicament like he had promised to. His excuses, while slightly amusing, irritated me slightly, and I found myself slightly peeved that he was trying to excuse himself from his misdeed.
Of course, we attracted the attention of the three Pokemon who didn't know about the predicament - Naetle, Shift, and Vinia.
"What are you two talking about?" Vinia looked at us, confusion in her eyes. "What do you mean 'back to your own time'?"
So I was forced to explain my situation to the three. The reactions were… unique. Shift simply fainted - which I find a point of pride, as Merla herself wasn't able to make him faint. Naetle simply looked shocked, then began contemplating what I was saying. I could understand why, as I'm trying to understand it myself.
Vinia, however, was skeptical. "Let me get this straight. You were a princess from two thousand years ago -"
"Am a princess, Vinia," I corrected her.
Vinia looked ticked off. "As I was saying, you are a princess from two thousand years ago. Is that correct?"
I nodded.
"Then, one night, you woke up, headed downstairs, found a military coup going on, had yourself found out, were about to get Hypnotized into …?"
"I don't know what they were going to make me do, but probably nothing good," I explained. As I spoke, Merla bristled. It seemed she was still wildly protective of me and couldn't stand the thought of me being under hypnosis.
"Okay, whatever." Despite this dismissal, I saw a film of sweat develop over her skin. She seemed to be unnerved by what I said - but by what exactly? "You then were saved by a mysterious voice you think belonged to a legendary Pokemon, and were kicked through a weird blue hole to the present."
"Well, I still see it as the future, sort of."
"Then you found yourself in the middle of a grassy field and were kidnapped by a Ditto who was transformed as Dragonite."
"Right,"
"Then, once you managed to escape, you found yourself in a Mystery Dungeon. Once you escaped from the dungeon, Henka ran away and you headed back to this base to become a Venturer."
"That about sums it up."
"... Excuse me if I don't believe you."
While I myself became a little upset, Merla began to hiss at Vinia. I tried to calm her down, but she began to throw scathing words at Vinia. "Watch your tongue."
Vinia's skin grew even paler than it had previously, and I cursed. I had hoped that Merla was past her aggression.
"It's alright, Merla, don't worry." I tried to reassure her. Merla nodded but continued to stare angrily at Vinia. Vinia shrunk back.
The mood of the room was gone with Merla's words. The cafeteria was emptying out, so we left as quickly as possible to avoid being left behind. We had the practicals with Ms. Gaw now, so we should be getting ready as much as possible. We spent half a minute slapping Shift awake before heading to the classroom again.
We waited in the hallway for the test. From what the others were telling me, Ms. Gaw was giving us a random situation for us to solve in five minutes, to the best of our capabilities. Some of the questions we heard so far from the returning examinees were stuff like "What would you do if you were trapped between two Monster Houses?" and "What if the team steps on a Warp Trap and gets separated? How would you gather the team as quickly as possible".
I realized that these questions were the kind where you had to think hard about. It hadn't really occurred to me that we would be facing these types of situations, but then again, our first dungeon was like this as well. Kol gave us orders in the middle of a Monster House, so Venturers probably had to be able to do something like this.
My fellow students trickled through, and eventually, it came to the Pariahs. One by one, we entered the room for the examination. Vinia went first, clearly trying to avoid Merla as much as possible (Merla was still glaring at her full force. I told her to keep it down, and she marginally reduced her glare. That's something, I suppose.) Tom went in next, followed by Naetle and Shift.
It was down to me and Merla as to who was going to go first. Of course, Merla stepped forward before I could say anything. I guess she wanted to go first.
More time for me, then.
Five minutes later, Merla came back, her face expressionless as always. I decided that it was my turn, at last, and stepped into the classroom, the last of my classmates.
Ms. Gaw looked up to see who it was and smiled. "Hello, Glacia. It's nice to see you again." I nodded. "Well, do you want to get started with the examination.
I sat in the chair that was across from Ms. Gaw's. Ms. Gaw coughed a little bit, then started.
"You are walking through a Dungeon on a solo expedition, and you come across an enemy Geodude. You try to use one of your moves against it, but to your surprise, it doesn't work. You try another of your Moves, but it doesn't work either. The Geodude is five seconds away - what do you do?"
Can't use any of my moves?
"How many of my moves have I used recently."
"Not that many. You used a Shadow Ball on a Bronzor a minute earlier than the scenario, but other than that one fight you haven't battled."
Okay, so it isn't because of a loss in stamina.
"Did I step on any Traps earlier?"
Traps were one of the tools a Mystery Dungeon would use to weaken and debilitate a wayward Venturer. Traps could do many things, from poisoning to attracting nearby Pokemon to straight up physical damage.
One Trap, called the PP-Zero Trap, drained you of all your stamina, preventing you from using your Moves. This has reportedly doomed many Venturers, so Venturers are always suggested to bring a stamina restoring Max Elixir on their explorations.
Another Trap, the Seal Trap, used special powers to prevent you from using your moves. It was impossible to heal or restore directly - the only way to get rid of it was to get to another floor, which undid the seal.
"No, you didn't step on any Traps."
Well, there goes that idea.
Okay, no traps, and no battles, but still I'm unable to use any moves.
"Did I eat anything in the Dungeon so far?"
"No, you have yet to eat anything."
It's looking more and more unclear…
Let's start at the chronological beginning. I entered the Dungeon, went up a couple of floors (presumably), encountered a Bronzor and battled it before fighting the Geodude afterward.
Hm…
"What moves did the Bronzor use on me?"
"Extrasensory and Imprison."
… of course. Imprison stops you from using any moves from the range of two to five minutes. I battled the Bronzor a minute before the Geodude, so the Imprison was probably still in effect.
"What do I have in my bag?"
"A Totter Seed, a Blast Seed, and a couple of Silver Spikes, as well as a Max Elixir, some Apples, and a few Oran Berries"
Alright, my game plan is set.
"I throw the Totter Seed at the Geodude to confuse it before throwing a couple of Silver Spikes at it."
"Your attacks do a lot of damage to it, but it is ultimately able to shake it off and pursue attacking you."
"I eat the Blast Seed so I can create the explosion and hurt the Geodude as much as possible."
"With the Blast Seed, you manage to take out the Geodude. What do you do next?"
"I get on the move, keeping a sharp ear out for any enemies. I stall any fights, running away from any battles, until the Imprison ends and I can fight again. I proceed to the next floor and continue with the Dungeon."
"Thank you, Glacia." Ms. Gaw smiled. "Just between you and me, you performed admirably well. If you do well in the practicals, it would seem to me that you would be a promising rookie Venturer." Ms. Gaw smiled. "I'll admit, I had my misgivings. Milla was rather worried about you and Tom, thinking you two were dangers." She chuckled. "You two, other than causing some chaos on your first day, have performed admirably well."
She showed me out of the door. "I wouldn't mind seeing you two again, that for sure."
I nodded and then left.
She had left me with a lot to think about.
(The Next Day)
"Alright, kids! Time for the tournament!" There was a lot of cheering, mixed with nervous mumbling. Half of the class was ready to show their stuff - which included the Pariahs - while the other half were worried out of their heads- which included Tom and Shift.
"We're going to separate this into a single elimination tournament. In the preliminaries, there will be 8 matches, with 8 other Pokemon getting byes. This will leave us with a nice 16 Pokemon for the tournament!"
Let's see now… that means a third of the class will get to the tournament without a fight. Assuming the picks are random, two of the Pariahs will go to the tournament without a fight, as we comprise a fourth of a class of twenty-four (does that still mean we're Pariahs?)
"Since we're going to have the full tournament today, we're going to have to speed this up. Our good old Captain Falcon has provided us with some arena to fight on. We'll get all of the preliminaries over with at once - each of the Pokemon getting byes will be the referee for the preliminaries."
Mr. Pix pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper. "The Pokemon who are getting byes are… Bamel…" He noted the bored looking Buizel who had been idly picking his nose (urgh… ) as Mr. Pix had been talking. Bamel, once his name was called, immediately stopped picking his nose when everyone's eyes were on him, looking rather mareepish.
"Kase…" The Spheal who had fought Tom earlier in the exhibition match we fought happily nodded, bouncing around.
"... Lyli… Stop… Rai…" There was a bunch of cheers from the three. Rai, Stop, and Lyli were good friends since they were little, apparently, and they were nearly inseparable as a result. It was a foregone conclusion that they would fight on the same Team if they graduate. Getting a free pass from the preliminaries was alright with them.
"Kaori…" The Baltoy I was friends with for a day happily smiled. Honestly, I sometimes wish I was still friends with her, but she and Ivan had a bad past with Merla, so I'm not going to try and rekindle the flames of friendship.
"Shift…" There was a sigh of relief from Shift who was a couple of spaces from me. He was constantly stressing out over this yesterday, as we talked after the exams yesterday. I assume he was relieved that he wouldn't have to fight an extra round.
"... and Vinia. You eight are getting byes, so once the preliminary brackets are called, choose a match to referee over."
"Yes, sir," came out the chorus of cries.
"Excellent! Now, let's choose the preliminary brackets!" Mr. Pix pulled out a bowl from behind himself and started to pick pairs of names from it. From some stroke of luck, none of the rest of the Pariahs were chosen to fight against each other, nor against Catal and his group.
Once everybody had gotten who they were fighting against - I was facing a female Goomy named Cora - we went outside the Base and saw the arenas Mr. Pix had set up for us. Eight arenas, similar to the one inside the Base, surrounded a circular arena.
Mr. Pix stepped into the grass circle. "All combatants, find an arena to begin your fight in."
Cora and I headed to one of the arenas off to the right of the circle. Bamel the Buizel decided to referee our fight, walking over to where Cora and I were facing each other.
Once everyone had gotten into their positions, Mr. Pix raised his hand. All of the class tensed and waited for the signal for the matches to start. A rush of adrenaline began to flow through me as I smiled. Battle was starting to grow on me, now that I was doing it constantly.
"Begin!"
I immediately sprang into action, charging a Shadow Ball while running full tilt at Cora. Cora responded by firing Bubbles at me to attack me, presumably also trying to slow me down as well. I dodged to the side and resumed my attack.
I neared her when she used her near-signature move, the barrier-creating Protect. While there were others in the class who could use the move, like Jenga, Cora was much more adept at using it. Protects were near effortless for her, and she incorporated it in her style well. In her previous battles, she used a combination of Protect and Absorb to drain her opponent's health while they futilely tried to route her Protect.
I cursed. I had been hoping to attack her before she managed to pull that off, but it looked like I was too late. Now, none of my attacks would work. There were some moves, like Feint, which could break through the Protect, but I didn't have any moves like that.
I veered away from Cora, as slamming into her barrier would do me no good at this point. Once I was a suitable distance away from Cora, I fired the Shadow Ball I had been charging at her. Cora pulled up another Protect, canceling her old one as a result.
Protect could, as long as the attack was weak enough, block any attack. It faltered against Moves that caused mass devastation, like the newly engineered Inferno Overdrive a Magmortar managed to create, but anything else splashed against it harmlessly.
The main drawback of Protect was that it consumed a lot of stamina, disappeared quickly, and was incredibly difficult to do in quick succession. Cora, unfortunately, managed to overcome this, making Protect a breeze. The only way the other classmates had been able to beat her was through moves like Earthquake of Magnitude, outspeeding her, or otherwise circumventing the Protect.
I would have to do the same.
I fired a Shadow Ball in the air, calculating the trajectory it would take quickly. I then dodged the extra Bubbles Cora had fired at me and used Quick Attack to head around Cora. Cora immediately twisted around and formed another Protect to stop my attack.
I flipped off her Protect and began to use Quick Attacks consecutively as I ran around her, forcing her to use Protect constantly to stop from taking any damage. Because I was attacking her from different angles, she had to create a new Protect for every attack I did and was unable to use an Absorb to regain her stamina.
I still wasn't doing any damage to her, as my Quick Attacks were nowhere near strong enough to penetrate the Protect. In a war of attrition, she would easily win. That wasn't the point, though.
As I had planned, she had completely forgotten about the Shadow Ball I had sent in the air earlier. A minute after I had fired it, it flew back down from the air, having been sent up a great vertical distance.
The Shadow Ball fell upon her as she blocked one of my attacks, exploding and making the Protect shield waver. Using all of the agility I could muster, I sidestepped the Protect and attack the distracted Cora directly.
From there it was child's play. I kept her from concentrating enough to generate another shield, and landed blow after blow on her. Soon, I drove Cora out of the ring, and Bamel called it.
Exhausted, I sat down for a rest. That… wasn't pleasant. Cora, while unable to innovate much, managed to use her Protect to its absolute greatest, causing me to expend a lot of energy to circumvent it. I sat down as Cora picked herself up.
"Good match," I offered. "You had me thinking hard."
Cora gave me a depreciating smile on her lavender face. "Yeah… it's about time I've figured out a new method to fight - too many Pokemon can get around my Protects. I've been relying on it too much so I might not pass. I won't get any farther in the tournament, at any rate."
She then gave me a slightly more sincere smile. "I wish you luck, Glacia."
I accepted it, then waited for the rest of the fights to finish. Luckily, our fight had gone on long enough that most of the other matches had already concluded. Other than Jenga and some Timburr whose name I can't remember off the top of my head, the matches had already finished. It looked like Tom was cheering me on while the rest of the Pariahs merely looked entertained by the battle (I'm pretty sure Merla would have cheered too, but I'm pretty she didn't know how to cheer).
With one final Poison Sting, Jenga finished off the Timburr. Stop called that match and signaled to Mr. Pix that the match was over.
Mr. Pix cheered. "The preliminaries are over! Come around and let's hear what the results were. Those that got byes, tell me who won your fights."
The Pokemon who got byes quickly ran to Mr. Pix and told him who won the preliminaries. Mr. Pix made some notes, edited a paper with brackets on it then called on our attention again.
"The tournament will go as follows. The first round is Naetle against Bamel. The second round is Ivan against Shift. The third round is Merla against Rai. The fourth round is Tom against Kaori. The fifth round is Ken against Vinia. The sixth round is Glacia against Stop. The seventh round is Jenga against Lyli. The eight round is Catal against Kase."
"Naetle, Bamel, you have ten minutes to prepare for the first match. Good luck."
We all surrounded one of the arenas. Mr. Pix was now going to be the referee, so we were going to be spectators for the fight. Naetle and Bamel stood in the arena. Naetle looked impassive, yet reticent. Bamel, for the first time I had ever seen, was looking worried.
I could definitely see why. Naetle was one of the top students of the class and had the type advantage to boot. Bamel had a lot going against him. A silent betting pool going around had odds of ten to one, so even his friends thought he was going to lose.
"First round: Naetle against Bamel. Begin!" With that, Mr. Pix began the match.
Bamel, surprisingly, was the first to fire off a move. Jumping in the air and twisting around, he fired a Sonic Boom at Naetle. Naetle dodged the best he could, only getting moderately clipped. Sonic Boom was completely unaffected by type resistance, so that could rack up damage on him pretty quickly.
Shaking off the small damage the Sonic Boom did to him, Naetle responded with a Razor Leaf. Bamel managed to get out of the worst of the move, with only a moderate amount of cuts.
They began to trade long-ranged moves back and forth, each looking to exploit an opening in the other's defenses. Unfortunately, as Buizel were naturally faster than Turtwig, the damage began to weigh more heavily on Naetle.
The class was buzzing as they spectated the battle. Bets were being reversed - it was looking like Bamel was beginning to impress them a lot more than he had initially.
Naetle, however, shifted his plan of attack. Instead of firing another batch of Razor Leaves at Bamel, he ran full tilt with a Tackle at ready. Bamel dodge to the side, trying to route Naetle.
Naetle then fired a batch of Razor Leaves in the general direction Bamel was running to, and Bamel had to use a Quick Attack to dodge out of the way.
That, however, left him open for Naetle. Naetle finally closed the gap between them and began to use Absorb.
That was the match. Bamel couldn't stand up to Naetle's strong Absorb for very long, eventually collapsing due to the amount of energy Naetle stole from him. Naetle then proceeded to nudge him out of the ring.
"First Round Winner: Naetle!" There was a smattering of applause at this. Those that had changed their bets to Bamel mid-fight looked irritated - I guess the underdog bet they were running didn't pay off.
"Ivan, Shift, you have ten minutes to prepare for the second match. Good luck."
Ten minutes later, we had gathered around the field again. Some of the Pokemon who got eliminated in the preliminaries managed to wheedle some snacks from the kitchens, and Apples were being passed around. I declined - I could eat after the test.
Ivan and Shift stood in the circle. Shift was his usually neurotic and nervous, while Ivan was just peeved for some reason.
The betting pools started again, but it was much more divided this time. Neither of them was particularly skilled. Shift held the type advantage, but given that neither were reported to have moves matching their types yet, it wasn't much of an advantage as well.
Ivan's attacking moves were Tackle and Bite, while Shift's attacking moves were Vice Grip and Thundershock. One resisted move and one neutral move apiece.
The match would be decided one strategy, then. Shift wouldn't be able to finish this off with one powerful move like Naetle had.
"Second round: Ivan against Shift. Begin!"
Ivan immediately began to close the distance, while Shift tried to open it as much as possible. In effect, Shift was running away from Ivan. As he was running away, Shift began to throw Thundershock after Thundershock at Ivan. Ivan, unfortunately, was able to dodge most of them and kept up her dogged pursuit.
Suddenly, Ivan shifted directions. I figured that she was trying to go for the same movement that Naetle had, routing Shift. She angled her run so that she was pushing Shift to the edge of the ring.
Shift figured out what she was doing, and then did something unexpected. He began to move upwards, manipulating his hovering abilities.
He went so high in the air that Ivan could do nothing to touch him. She tried to hit him with all of her might, but Shift just floated above all of her attacks.
Eventually, she just… stopped. She stopped using any attacks, and just stood there. Shift took the opportunity and began to fire Thundershock upon Thundershock on her. She dodged them all, but she didn't retaliate.
Could she retaliate?
Soon, however, I realized what she was doing. Shift was beginning to shake, his gears vibrating. She must have figured out the strategy's weakness - attrition. The heightened hovering couldn't last forever, as it used more energy than low hovering did. Unless you had the Levitate Ability like Kaori did, you wouldn't be able to sustain that kind of hovering for very long.
Sure enough, Shift floated back down, gears shaking. The match was over, and everyone knew it. Shift couldn't do anything to her anymore.
"Do you want to give up?" Ivan asked, a surprising amount of kindness in her voice.
"... just push me out of the ring." Shift asked. Ivan nodded, and then began to shove him out of the ring. Shift offered up some token resistance, pushing as hard as he could, but in the end, Ivan pushed him out.
"Second Round Winner: Ivan!" A little bit of applause was released at this. It wasn't much of a fight - it mostly consisted of Shift running away from Ivan's onslaught. It ended somewhat anticlimactically as well.
"Merla, Rai, you have ten minutes to prepare for the third match."
Tensions began to skyrocket once this happened. Some of the conversations I heard involved prayers to Arceus for Rai. No one was betting on this match. Naetle, Tom, and I were the only ones who ever fought Merla, so no one knew how she fought. No one would spectate her spars, either.
Ten minutes later, both of the combatants stood ready in the arena. Rai looked like he was about to die, and was looking like he would rather bolt than fight. Merla was just as impassive as ever.
"Third round: Merla against Rai. Begin!"
It wasn't much of a fight - if you could call it that. Rai instantly took the opportunity to land a Thunderwave on Merla. While Merla struggled with the paralysis, Rai floated as far away from Merla as possible - meaning past the ring.
"Third Round Winner: Merla!" Despite his apparent enthusiasm, it was easy to tell that Mr. Pix was upset. He must have wanted to see a good fight. The rest of the class, however, looked fairly relieved - almost as if they had barely avoided a bloodbath.
I rolled my eyes. Oh yes, Merla could definitely be intimidating when she wanted to be, but she would never go evil, ever. Well, she might have had I not purged that Miasma from her.
"Tom, Kaori, you have ten minutes to prepare for the fourth match."
(Tom)
I stood in the arena, waiting for the match to start. I didn't take that much damage from Glib the Croagunk (who was busy cheering me on - Glib seems to think that the only one that should be able to beat him will be the champion of the tournament), but I was feeling a little worried going into this fight.
While my Ghost Typing was effective against Kaori's psychic typing, my fire typing was weak to her ground typing. Because we had type-effective moves to use against one another, we wouldn't be having another version of the second round.
And judging by Kaori's smug face, it won't be like the third either.
"Fourth round: Tom against Kaori. Begin!"
I began to spew a Smog out onto the field. I'm waiting to showcase my new move later, so I think Smog will be a good move here.
Even though smog is weak, it not being very caustic, it has a high chance of Poisoning the opponent. I've had that happen a couple of times before, and it was usually helpful in the battle.
Kaori knows about this, though, and starts careening out of the fog, throwing some Mud Slaps at me as she does so.
I do some evasive maneuvers and curse. Ideally, I would get close to her so I could use Astonish. Unfortunately, she's smarter than that and is incredibly active on the field moving too fast for me to catch up with. She's regularly firing off Confusions and Mud Slaps as well. If I get hit by one of the Mud Slaps, it's game over.
Of course, I'm not going to stand around like a sitting duck. I take a deep breath before firing a couple of Embers at her. She begins to spin like a top, batting the Embers away as she does do.
Upon looking at my dumbfounded look, Kaori smirks. "Yeah, Rapid Spin is pretty powerful, wouldn't you say?"
Okay, okay, new plan… Kaori can blow away my Embers with her Rapid Spin. She'll probably be able to do the same with Smog. Without giving away my new move, all I'll be able to use is Astonish.
That'll put me in close range, though, where she'll be able to use Rapid Spin on me. That'll do… what type is Rapid Spin?
To get a good look a Rapid Spin again, I fire a couple more Embers at her. She laughs and swats them away, giving me just enough time to look at her move.
It just looks like her spinning, nothing else to it.
Rapid Spin is probably a Normal Type Move, then, like Tackle or Take Down. I grin, quickly formulate a workable plan, then spring it.
I throw a bunch of Embers at her. She laughs again, hysterically this time, and swats them away like she did previously. A couple of the Embers land around her as she dances around them.
That was part of the plan though. As she swatted the Embers away with the Rapid Spin, I run up to her. Once she begins to slow down, I charge up my Astonish. Seconds before my attack, I grin at her. There was fear in her eyes, oh yeah.
Jumping, I hit her with an Astonish and send her flying onto her back. She quickly gets up, but then notices where she landed.
"Fourth Round Winner: Tom!" There were a bunch of cheers at this. I had given them what they had wanted - a good fight. Plenty of action, some witty dialogue, etc. I trudge off the stage, feeling a little tired. Kaori gives me a heated glare as she floats over to where Ivan was trying to console her.
"Nice job, Tom!" Glacia congratulates me as I near her.
I (Litwick-equivalent) blushed a little bit. "Well…" I didn't know what to say, in all honesty. "Let's just pay attention to the next match.
"Ken, Vinia, you have ten minutes to prepare for the fifth match."
After ten minutes, Ken and Vinia stared across the stage at each other. Vinia was stretching while Ken was just standing there. He had bags under his eyes, too.
"Fifth round: Ken against Vinia. Begin!"
Unlike the other battles, there was no flurry of motion. The two simply stared at each other as the seconds ticked by. I was beginning to feel moderately worried because most battles were usually much more kinetic than this staredown.
Finally, Ken sighed, then got into a fighting position, before firing a couple of fireballs. These fireballs were much slower than usual, and Vinia dodged it easily. Murmurs began to spring up around the arena.
Ken began to shake, and I began to worry about his health. He looked awful. As he continued to fire his fireballs, his complexion paled, and he began coughing. Calls were shouted around the arena to stop the match so that Ken could get medical attention.
Then Vinia spoke up, her voice concerned. "Uhh… Mr. Pix… I think Ken needs help. He doesn't look very good."
Ken tried to capitalize on Vinia's forgiveness by throwing a fireball at her. The fireball, however, was much smaller than his usual fireballs, and it traveled incredibly slowly. It eventually reached Vinia and splashed harmlessly against her skin. Vinia raised an eyebrow.
Upon seeing this, Mr. Pix was forced to agree with Vinia. "Because of an unknown illness, Ken is forcibly disqualified. Vinia proceeds to the next round. She then motioned to Cora, who was sitting next to him. "Bring Ken to the medical wing, he needs attention right now."
Cora nodded, then started to drag a vomiting Ken to the medical wing. I felt a degree of sympathy for him - even though we were enemies, I hated to see someone in such a pathetic state.
Glacia began to shake next to me. I twisted my head to see her expression and was surprised to see the feral smile on it.
"Glacia, Stop, you have ten minutes to prepare for the sixth match."
Glacia and Stop stood in the ring. Glacia had a big smirk of confidence on her face, while Stop was just as nervous as Rai was. I don't think Stop was going to go the same way as Rai, though - one look at Mr. Pix could tell you that he wasn't going to be accepting forfeits anymore.
Stop then visibly steeled himself, before facing Vinia with a fire in his eyes.
"Sixth round: Glacia against Stop. Begin!"
Stop immediately began running full-tilt toward Glacia. She used Quick Attack to run away from him and began to pelt him with Shadow Balls.
They dissipated, however, when they contacted Stop's black-glowing maw. That must have been Bite - Glacia has been trying to work on for some time now but hasn't gotten it working up to point where she would be able to use it in battle.
Glacia wouldn't be able to use long-range moves right now, then.
She seemed to agree with my sentiment, judging by the fact that she closed the distance between them. She was still charging a Shadow Ball, though. When Stop tried to intercept her with a Bite, she sidestepped him and hit him in the side with a powerful Shadow Ball. Stop was pushed to the side, dragging his feet into the ground, but quickly found his footing again and rushed Glacia again.
Unfortunately for Stop, he couldn't stop Glacia from routing him. Every time he tried to intercept Glacia, she would simply move to where Stop wasn't covering and hit him with a Shadow Ball. Stop was too slow to stop Glacia, in the end. After a couple of minutes of the repetitive battle, Stop collapsed, the strain too much for him.
Glacia was breathing hard and sweating buckets, but she was smiling. I cheered for her, because repetitiveness aside, it was a fun battle to watch.
I wasn't the only one cheering, though. Rai and Lyli were cheering for Stop too - it seems to me that they were proud of his bravery for facing Glacia. I still don't understand why everyone is so afraid of Merla - she was a perfectly nice Pokemon.
In regards to Merla, my wheedling has paid off, as she'll now talk to me willingly. We had some fun conversations - Merla had a strangely dry wit, and would comment on passerby's quirks in the most eloquent way possible.
"Sixth Round Winner: Glacia!" Mr. Pix smiled. "Good match! That's what I want to see, kids. A good effort from both fighters to do the best they can in a battle. Hold your head high and try your hardest!"
Mr. Pix coughed, then continued."Okay, Jenga, Lyli, you have ten minutes to prepare for the seventh match."
Jenga and Lyli faced each other on the field ten minutes later, Jenga frowning like usual while Lyli was hyped up. I could tell that she wanted to win this fight - she didn't want their whole group (Rai, Stop, and Lyli) to all go down in the first batch of fights.
"Seventh round: Jenga against Lyli. Begin!"
Jenga immediately began to fire Poison Stings at Lyli, who began dodging maneuvers in the air. The match went on like this for some time, although I could tell that Jenga was slowly being frustrated at his inability to land a hit on Lyli.
Suddenly, Jenga began running. I was confused - he was never going to catch up to Lyli that way - until I saw that he had begun to roll. Soon enough, he was in a Rollout, much like Kase was when we first fought.
Rollout was a Rock-type move so it would be incredibly powerful against a Flying type like Lyli. Jenga began to slowly pick up speed as he rolled, and Lyli began to panic. From there it was a game of cat and mouse (or Meowth and Rattata, now), with Jenga getting ever closer to Lyli. Even when Lyli used Quick Attack to speed herself up, Jenga approached - soon enough, he was gaining on her.
Soon enough, Jenga had chased Lyli to the edge of the ring. At this point, the spectators were being blown away by the air resistance the two were creating.
Seconds away from Jenga's victory, Lyli rose in the air. Jenga then jumped into the air to catch Lyli in mid-air.
Lyli, however, dived at the last second, teetering at the edge of the ring. Jenga flew straight over her, landing outside of the ring and almost crashing into some spectators.
"Seventh Round Winner: Lyli!" There was a large mass of cheering at this, some money was being exchanged. It sounded like the betting had been set up again, with odds against Lyli. It sounded like some Pokemon felt cheated. Either way, it sounded like everyone was happy.
A little bit of eavesdropping later, and I found out why - almost everyone who had gone to the next round was a Pariah - only Shift had lost. Lyli and Ivan were the class's champions, the Pokemon they hoped would win.
Mr. Pix coughed again."Good job. Catal, Kase, you have ten minutes to prepare for the eighth match."
All of the happiness and cheer that had been generated by Lyli's win drained away instantly. Catal was brutal in his fights - the only time he would let up is when Mr. Pix called the match over.
Catal's blades glinted in the sun. In front of him, Kase shivered.
"Are you ready?" Catal asked, clearly enjoying the terror he was causing Kase.
Kase shakily nodded.
"Eighth round: Catal against Kase. Begin!"
It was never going to be a contest. Catal immediately leaped forward and began to repeatedly slash at Kase. Kase flinched, then rolled away as fast as possible, trying to roll himself out of bounds.
Catal stopped him. "Now, now. You know how Mr. Pix feels about forfeits." Catal then proceeded to knock Kase to the center of the arena, and he continued to slash at him mercilessly. Kase tried to respond, using a Powder Snow or a Rollout, but Catal intercepted all of his attacks.
Within a minute, Kase fell over unconscious. Catal continued to slash.
"Eighth Round Winner: Catal!"
Catal stopped his attacks, his blades still gleaming. He quickly cleaned his blades, at a speed so fast I couldn't see what he was doing.
Mr. Pix gulped. "We have our eight winners. Will someone please escort Kase to the medical wing?"
Another of my classmates took Kase to the wing.
"Will all of the winners step up?"
All eight of us came forward - Catal, Ivan, Lyli, Naetle, Merla, Vinia, Glacia, and me.
"We're going to be continuing the tournament in one hour. I'm going to scramble the brackets right now and show you who you'll face next.
Mr. Pix twirled his fingers around and eight strips of paper began to float around, before settling down in rows.
"The First Match will be Naetle against Catal. The second match will be Ivan against Lyli. the third match will be Tom against Vinia. The fourth match will Glacia against Merla."
"You have one hour."
