Before I start off the chapter, I want to thank you all for waiting 2+ weeks for this chapter. Why did it take so long? Answer: I graduated college. Finals week was the last obstacle for me graduating with a degree after four long, stressful, yet rewarding years. My cumulative GPA after four years was just over a certain threshold which meant I got a little extra item to wear during the ceremony.

After graduating, I took some time to relax with family while job hunting. Also, I was hanging out with friends watching the NBA playoffs plus the Stanley Cup playoffs before they go back to their homes; cherish your friends guys. Now that all of that is behind me, I found time to write probably the most complex and longest chapter of the series to this point although some may think differently. More notes at the end to explain in greater detail. Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do own my OCs.

Chapter 37- The End of Group 47

Our match against Wesley, or Wes as he calls himself, was some way to kick off the tournament... or at least group 47. There was some downtime in between battles so I asked if we could talk about our Eeveelutions since we both owned two of them. He looked nervous but it was justified on his part; he said it was the first time he entered a major tournament so the nerves were there. He also mentioned that this was the first time that it was okay to lose. From the sound of his native region, losing in tournaments led to severe consequences.

I offered him the chance to hang around if he was eliminated since he told me his work was nearly complete with the exception of the 11 "shadow" Pokémon he brought with him; thank Arceus that his Tyranitar wasn't one. We went back to the hotel so he could transfer over his Espeon and Umbreon since our next battles were at 1:30pm. He wasn't kidding when he told me their battling days were over because they looked mentally exhausted with their tired eyes. Playing around didn't seem to bother them as my own eons did so in the hotel courtyard.

Next to the courtyard there was a little video information board that had a featured battle streaming as well as a ticker on the bottom to show results of other matches. I kept my eyes on the bottom seeing if our match was officially recorded. Right after our information, I saw that Victoria had beaten Marissa. Usually winning your first match puts you in prime position to punch your ticket to the next round, but I know better than that. We really didn't do too much talking as they were playing, but I did call out Furret to use the Iron Tail TM on her and get rid of Slam.

Once the clock hit 1:15 both of us parted ways to our respective fields; my battle was set on field 12 against Victoria. There were a few rows of bleachers for spectators to sit on while looking on. At 1:28 she was still nowhere to be found so the judge came over to me with her score sheet in hand.

"Your opponent is not here yet and if she fails to arrive on time then you are to be declared the winner. Are you alright with those terms?"

How easy would it have been to lose my poker face and show a huge grin; I still had to keep my composure. "Yes. " I called out Furret quickly to go over my game plan for round one and returned her when I was done.

"I'm heeeeere!" Victoria sprinted to her trainer's box with a ball in hand at exactly 1:30. "Let's get this show on the road!" Her bubbly attitude was definitely a façade.

Our referee took her place at midfield. "This match in group play will be three separate one-on-one battles. The winning trainer's Pokémon of round one cannot be used for round two or if necessary, round three so choose your three wisely. When one trainer wins two out of three rounds, it will be over."

I waved over to the judge. "Excuse me ma'am, how is this part of the official format? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a three on three battle?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Sir, the rules clearly indicate that this format will be implemented in match two of group play. Some gym leaders overseas have this as an alternative method so it's only fair the league give those trainers who battled this way a chance to compete." Damn… I guess I should've read more of that Q & A sheet before I went to the lobby last night. So what the hell is round three supposed to be? Whatever, I'll deal with that later. "If there are no more questions then let's begin!"

"Furret let's get it started!"

"Sudowoodo, show them why we're here!" The angry tree looking thing almost made me call timeout just to I could laugh. "Looks like I have the type advantage so this should be a piece of cake." Oh you have no idea lady.

"Go in with Low Kick!"

"Escape with Dig!" Furret easily outsped the rock type to avoid a serious hit but she remained underground for a lot longer than normal. The crowd started to boo at the stalemate and the judge looked like she was going to give Victoria the win. I stomped the ground twice and she popped up to deliver the equivilant of a sucker punch; I had a smirk on my face. "Two can play the waiting game you know."

Victoria was not happy. "You'll pay for that… use Rock Slide!" Sudowoodo stomped the ground and rocks rained down after they flew into the air.

Furret was unable to dodge most of the rocks as she soon was covered by them. "You're going to have to do better that that to get a knockout. Dig for cover Furret." The rocks shifted as my normal type hid under the field for the second time.

"I know your silent cue for her to come up so I'll be prepared this time. Say goodbye to your Furret." Again, we both listened to a chorus boos from the small audience before I stomped the ground once. "Now!" Sudowoodo jumped and used Low Kick where he thought Furret was going to come up but she never showed herself; I stomped once more and she hit it again.

"Looks like you almost had me but you weren't fully paying attention. Use Return!"

"Flail!" Uh oh, the move that does more damage when the user is almost out of energy nearly knocked her out at the cost of me getting minimal damage. "Can't use Dig anymore since I know what to expect. So how are you going to win?

Now it was time for the big reveal. "Iron Tail!" Her tail shined brightly as she leveled the Sudowoodo square in the chest while Victoria's eyes went wide; there was no way she saw that coming. After some tense moments, the referee gave me the round. Victoria was truly unnerved by the unexpected turn of events. Our judge waited for the audience to stop clapping and cheering to ask me to send out my next Pokémon.

I want the kill now. "Gyarados, I choose you!" With Gyarados on the field, he can net me an easy victory unless she has a wall on her side.

"Raichu you're up!" Or an electric Pokémon. A four-times weakness to electricity can also put a damper on Gyarados' day unless the opposition is weak. He seemed uneasy as he looked at the electric mouse; he was shifting uncomfortably on the field. The flags went up for the battle to start. "Thunderbolt!"

"Dragon Rage!" My plan was to force the two moves to meet in the center and cancel each other out except I didn't get Dragon Rage at all. The new move missed the Thunderbolt but still hit Raichu while its attack leveled Gyarados. The result of battle was a draw after just one turn. Victoria was really showing signs of frustration after she thought she had an easy win.

"So you have to cheat to win huh? That wasn't Dragon Rage you dumbass… that was a Hyper Beam! I'm assuming you won in the preliminaries by calling out 'Tackle' all the time to confuse everyone? For the love of Arceus it's a miracle you made it this far." She then turned to the crowd. "Anyone wanna tell me why this kid is even here?" Her shoulders shrugged as nobody answered her rhetorical question.

"Let me tell you something… I only have six Pokémon registered but here you are hoping for a draw against me at best. How did you make it here? Apparently someone gave you a badge or two out of pity."

She clenched the ball of her last Pokémon. "Machamp... shut him up," she said in a quiet yet demonic voice that made me lose some confidence. "Master Chuck had found a Machop training by the coastline of Cianwood and entrusted it to me. I defeated him with it and now I'll do the same to your last Pokémon."

"Espeon let's do it!" She yipped, ready to battle as always. Before the official threw up the flags, Espeon noticed something and shook her head to deny it. I went to go say something but she looked back at me with a determined look so I kept my mouth shut and gave her a nod of confidence.

The tension was thick so Victoria made the first move. "Go in and slam it down with Submission!"

"Confusion to counter!" It seemed to be working but Machamp broke through the psychic grip and tossed Espeon like a rag doll across the field. This was far stronger than her previous two Pokémon. "Shake it off and use Psybeam!" Espeon scored some damage but Machamp seemed unfazed.

"Seismic Toss!" It came running to Espeon but she already relayed a plan to me with her telepathy as she used Quick Attack to get behind it before slamming into its back. "Psybeam then Swift!" The onslaught of attacks caused the crowd to ooh and ahh since smoke formed around the fighting type. We all thought that it was over; we were wrong.

"Dynamic Punch!"

"Don't let it connect!" This time the Confusion attack held it in place longer than last time until Espeon was too strained to keep up with Machamp's strength. The punch landed just below her neck in an uppercut fashion causing her to fly backwards.

"Again" Victoria said in a cold tone. The second one was going for her recently healed wound; I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

"Return Espeon!" My split-second decision had the crowd voicing their displeasure.

My opponent's flag went up. "Mitch has forfeited the round. With a score of one win, one loss, and one draw for each trainer, I declare this match as a draw." The announcement got mixed reviews from onlookers despite the fact that the ruling was correctly enforced. Neither of us got two wins so it was a draw. Our official looked like she was about to argue with me until I recalled Espeon with a straight face and she was in shock that I didn't lose my cool.

"Couldn't stand the taste of defeat so you ended it early," Victoria mocked. "What's the matter? Afwaid your wittle Espeon is gonna get hurt?" It felt like time had stopped and we were the only two people in the world. Surprisingly I kept calm since it would be easy to curse her out in front of everyone.

"Actually yes. She's been through hell and back once… and I intend to keep it limited to one time." I turned to our official. "Thank you for your time. Have a nice day." I left the field to a round of applause as did Victoria. Flashbulbs from various cameras went off as I exited the battleground to go back to the hotel before the evening match; apparently I'm some kind of superstar now.

The walk back to the hotel wasn't as peaceful as I would have liked due to a lot of other trainers finishing their battles around the same time. Nobody talked to me which was fine, but my room was a better place to decompress. A pit stop at the healing machine was a necessity since those gutsy performances got me one handy point. I felt like neither waiting to see the ticker on the screen to tell me who won in the battle of Wes versus Marissa nor looking it up online. What matters now is the chance to get some rest or some dinner considering I didn't eat lunch. The dining area was still loaded with food which gave me the opportunity to fill up in addition to getting my team some food as well. On my way out I made eye contact with Wes; he called me over so I went next to him.

"What's up?"

He finished his last bite of food. "I just wanted to ask about your second battle of the day. How are you holding up?"

"I was actually going to go to my room. You're welcome to join. It's just that I don't want to give everything away in front of everyone else."

Wes nodded. "Fair enough. Lead the way."

I took him to my room and closed the door so that nobody passing by could hear our conversation. "Let me start out by saying your final opponent Victoria has a strategy based on fucking with your head. She showed up in the nick of time for starters…"

"Well what does that have to do with fucking with my head?"

I was slightly annoyed that he cut me off. "The official tells you that if she doesn't show up then you are the winner. Think about it: it can break your concentration since you practically have the match in two minutes and then she shows up. Now you're thinking 'why do I even have to fight her?' since you were so close to an automatic win. I'm sorry but I don't want to give away my result; the competitive side in me still burns bright in situations like this.

"So why are you telling me about her strategy? Wouldn't it be easier to let me fail?" Those words hit me hard because I said nearly the same thing to Davis when he stood up for me.

"Because she's a weak-minded trainer and has to rely on mentally overpowering her opponents. She wasn't prepared for what I did in battle. The best part was when I battled with Furret," I sighed with a smile. "Nothing in the rules says that I can't help someone who's done a lot more for Pokémon than I will ever do in my lifetime. If you want to tell me about Marissa then go ahead. Just remember that you don't have to tell me anything."

A smile came across his face. "Her battle style is very defensive to the point of stalling. Be wary of her attacks and strike when you have an opening. The final match of group play goes back to three on three battling so most of the field should be comfortable with that."

I extended my hand. "Thanks man. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare my team for tonight under the lights." Wes exited the room knowing that he can't let his guard down against a trainer who I frankly want to punch in the face. First… "Espeon get out here for a second." She materialized with her head tilted all cute-like.

"What is it Mitch? Something wrong?"

"Be honest with me… did you know how strong that Machamp was before the flags went up?"

She sighed. "I did. That Machamp was stronger than Gyarados in terms of raw power. Please understand that I still wanted to fight it because I didn't want to let you down."

I knew it. "All I can say is that I hope I did the right thing by calling you back after the first Dynamic Punch hit."

"You did because I was unconscious. Where was the second one going to land?" Curse me for being honest; I pointed to the scar on her underbelly. "Oh… I see. Mitch, I'm tired of this thing causing you and Shade to worry. I want you to promise that you won't call me back if I can defend myself. I told you that we're all in it to win." I can't argue with that.

"Fine, but please don't shut me out like that. I do trust you to make decisions on your own like when you used Quick Attack. My request for you is please tell me when there is a problem on the battlefield. No guides are made on how to be the best trainer. However, I want to walk that fine line of winning and being reasonable. Now get some rest because we still have to battle Marissa tonight."

I called everyone else out to eat while I plopped down on the bed to rest. My hotel alarm clock showed that it was 6:30pm; the battle wasn't until 9:30pm. Humming from the air conditioning unit lulled me to a peaceful sleep until I had a dream.

"Do you need something Growlithe?" It was a younger Cory staring down my first Pokémon. "It looks like you're fine so don't bother me." Growlithe sulked before walking away to lick at bread crumbs in a kitchen. All of a sudden, my dream flashed forward to him sleeping on a living room floor whimpering in the middle of the day.

"For fuck's sake Growlithe I fed you two days ago and you're hungry again? Tell you what... if you can beat Skarmory then you'll get something nice. See you outside." Plains surrounded Cory's backyard so there was more than enough space for the battle. Skarmory easily defeated the starving Growlithe so fast that Growlithe couldn't even launch an Ember attack.

"Ohhh tough luck there champ. Something nice is still going to happen; it'll just be for me though." Cory took pleasure in pushing it on its side then kicking it in the stomach multiple times. When it seemed like it Growlithe couldn't take the abuse, he fired an Ember attack at Cory's chest causing a second degree burn. He immediately was grabbed by the scruff and thrown quite a distance.

"That's it! I'm done with an undisciplined piece of shit like you! See this ball? It'll be broken by the time you're out of my sight. Don't even think about coming back unless you want six feet of dirt above you."

I woke up in a cold sweat noticing I had about 30 minutes to report to my location for the next round. My Poké Gear had a flashing which meant someone tried to call or text me. I might as well call my Poké Gear my phone since I don't need the map or radio function but the message was from Davis.

I saw some of the match against Victoria and congrats! You were supposed to be on field nine but they moved you to center stage tonight because you're drawing some buzz. Good luck!

"Thanks Davis," I muttered to myself. "Guess flying under the radar isn't an option anymore. Better yet, what the hell was Espeon doing by showing me more of Growlithe's past? I know that she can't control it but come on. Who am I kidding? I'm just talking to myself. Gotta get going guys so come on back. "

Field one was the closest to the hotel which was convenient for me since the trainer's entrance was much more discrete. Each trainer was given some kind of green room to wait in before the battle was started. A small television was in the corner showing the live broadcast while a coordinator waited with a clipboard right next to it. She signaled for me to go out to the battle area so I nodded and made my way outside with Marissa walking at the same time. She waived to the crowd while I just looked straight ahead trying to keep calm in front of 50,000 screaming spectators.

"Alright trainers it's time to take your place in the box," our referee said with a stern voice. "This will be a three on three battle with neither trainer being able to substitute freely. You are only allowed to switch Pokémon when it is declared unable to battle otherwise you will lose that individual round." Olivine flashbacks went through my head about how I couldn't switch against Cory. Frankly it sucks that they still use this format after how I acted. "The battle is officially over when all three of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Now begin!"

"Umbreon!"

"Miltank!" This was arguably one of the more interesting matchups that I've encountered in a long time. Both Pokémon are fairly defensive but can hit hard when they need to. Marissa looked ready to call the first attack after I quickly found out what four moves I should use. "Body Slam!"

It jumped at Umbreon quicker than I expected. "Faint Attack!" Power versus power favors Umbreon so it was no surprise that Miltank was knocked back. "Bite!" Umbreon charged ahead to get a good chunk of damage off while still hanging on.

Marissa seemed to have no problem with Umbreon holding on to her cow. "Defense Curl then Rollout!" Umbreon was forced to let go or risk getting dragged on the ground. Miltank charged straight ahead as it landed a weak albeit solid hit. "Keep going." It gained momentum and came around faster than last time to hit Umbreon again.

"Relax Umbreon and hit it with Toxic!" With Miltank not wanting to risk losing momentum, I knew it would continue to target Umbreon so why not poison it?

Purple blobs successfully hit the rolling cow as it came in for the third strike in a row. "You're fine Miltank, just keep going after it!" What? She's going to rack up more damage without fighting it?

"Dark Pulse at the ground!" Umbreon knew this strategy from his battle against Cory's Donphan; he forced Miltank to be uncomfortable rolling around by carving ramps or ditches.

"Stop yourself Miltank then use Heal Bell!" Her Pokémon was more than happy to heal the poisoning while adjusting to the field condition; Wes was right about her defensive style. "Body Slam!"

There was no way I could keep it at bay all day with Faint Attack. "Use Dark Pulse to send it away!" My plan failed as the Body Slam wasn't slowed down enough. The move connected with Body Slam's secondary effect kicking in.

"Charge in with Faint Attack!"

"Defense Curl!" Paralysis took some of the speed off of the move causing it to deal less damage than normal. "You made a mistake by getting that close," Marissa said while waiving her finger. "Rollout!"

I thought about using Quick Attack to gain an edge until I realized that a can of worms would open. Sure Ashley gave me the okay to battle with Umbreon but I prefer to keep that a secret as long as possible. Unfortunately Umbreon has to take the first hit. "Shake it off and use Dark Pulse!" Miltank stopped so that it wouldn't get caught it a ditch but I aimed straight for it; a critical hit made sure it wasn't getting back up.

"Miltank is unable to battle. Umbreon wins the round." A chorus of cheers rained down as Marissa called it back. It's not quite a stall fest yet but I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse.

She looked at me with a hand scratching her chin. "I guess it's time to get defensive. Shuckle I choose you!" The time went from 9:35 pm to fuck this shit o'clock in a heartbeat. The most defensive Pokémon in existence is my opponent this round. I wonder how Wes handled this thing.

As soon as the flags went up, I only had one option. "Toxic, Umbreon!" He went to spit out the poisonous move; paralysis stopped him in his tracks.

"Wrap attack, Shuckle!" Vines of some sort came out of Shuckle's shell to restrain Umbreon until it fainted from continuous damage. The worst part of it all is that Umbreon was fully paralyzed during the entire struggle. I recalled him knowing that my one trump card is gone. Wes did say that I had to wait to strike; question is when is that time?

"Gyarados I need your help!" Absolute monster versus a tank; this should be good. "Hydro Pump!"

"Bide!" Fuckfuckfuck this thing needs to faint now otherwise I'm in deep trouble. It started to store energy before the wave of water hit it; it was all or nothing at this point.

"Hydro Pump a second time!" The rush of water hit it to no avail as a blinding light covered the field with Gyarados falling to the ground. Double damage had been dealt to my strongest fighter; it was the first time that he has lost to something other than electric type or some pseudo legendary Pokémon. Forcing the Shuckle to drop was going to take a miracle.

Marissa kept a smile as she teased me. "Looks like I took out your best chances to win hehe," she giggled. "Do you have anything else up your sleeve?"

I stood firm despite hundreds of thousands of people watching across the region. "I still have Furret!" Our judge raised the flags. "Dig!"

"You blew it. Rest up Shuckle!" Nap time came quickly for Shuckle as it regained all of its strength while Furret came up well after it was asleep. "When you wake up use Wrap!"

Certainly it is tough to beat buy I have to try. "Iron Tail!" Furret landed a hit so hard that it staggered in its sleep; a critical hit for sure but it woke up. My luck ran out as it wrapped her up for a while before she finally broke free.

"Let's see if you have the guts this time around. Bide!"

"Dammit I refuse to give in! Iron Tail again!" It wasn't a critical hit this time around which forced me to call it out again. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as she missed the Iron Tail due to her trying to get more power behind it. As a result, she was right next to him as he unleashed the power of Bide. Furret lay motionless on the ground.

"Furret is unable to battle. The match goes to Marissa from Goldenrod City!" I lost. On the biggest stage I blew it in front of so many people. Furret was called back with my head held down.

She called from across the way. "I didn't even use my strongest Pokémon against you. No way you could've won against me." Her strongest must have been another normal type since she comes from Goldenrod.

After the cheering died down, the PA announcer droned on while the video board updated the final standings for group 47, my group. I had never checked online after everyone's second battle so I saw this before the update:

Group 47

Mitch 1-0-1: 4pts

Victoria 1-0-1: 4pts

Wesley 1-1: 3pts

Marissa 0-2: 0pts

So Wes did manage to get past her Shuckle if she used it against him. The standings were updated after my battle since we were the last battle in our group.

Group 47 Final Results

Victoria 1-0-2: 5pts

Mitch 1-1-1: 4pts

Wesley 1-1-1: 4pts

Marissa 1-2: 3pts

Perfect, Wes had the same result as me so I take it he took my advice. A league official came over to me from the stands with a microphone.

"Let's give a round of applause to our two battlers for that amazing battle!" Clapping continued for five minutes. "Victoria and Mitch will be advancing to the single elimination round to be held two days from now!" Video replays from other battles played as groups 32-64 had their two winners announced as well. It seems that the other half of the field will battle tomorrow. It bugged me why I was moving on so another official came over to me.

"Excuse me, how am I moving on? Wes had the same number of points. Don't we have a tiebreaker?"

A light-hearted laugh came from the official. "My boy you've already won the tiebreaker. You defeated Wes so you move on despite having the same number of points. Congratulations! Now you face the winner of group 48 while Victoria gets the runner up from group 48. After this is over go get some sleep." Video replays continued for another 25 minutes as I saw who ended up victorious. Carly was in group 31 so she would compete tomorrow while her boyfriend Davis actually ended up in group 32; it was no surprise that he went 3-0 in pool play. Once the stadium was empty, I went back to my room in silence at what transpired today.

I survived group 47.

Man... that felt long to write but it was worth it. In case you don't know, I followed the FIFA World Cup (other sports probably do this) method of determining who moves on. For this particular story, I had to double check if my final outcomes were actually attainable instead of pulling a result out of thin air.

One discrete thing I will reveal is that I level check before putting in moves. I honestly couldn't keep it to myself anymore lol. Machoke learns Submission at level 61 in generation II so the Machamp is at least level 61. I know that I mix in gen II and gen IV but I try to lean on gen II mechanics as much as possible. If you want to guess what level everyone is at at any point in the story then go right ahead... or not; it's your choice. Just remember that I am using some anime style storytelling so not everything is hard numbers.

That's all I've got for this installment. If you just graduated college or are going to graduate high school, good luck to you all! As always, have a good day :)

-W4f