As soon as they got the signal to start the battle, Skarmory launched herself into the air and attacked Roy with Metal Sound. Roy screamed in pain and bent over, clutching his ears while the rest of the audience all let out a small shout in unison. The pokemon with strong ears, like Sandshrew were acting the way Roy was, who had gotten the full blast.
Quill looked over to Sandshrew and saw that he was crying from the pain in his ears.
"Are you alright?" Quill asked.
It took a moment for Sandshrew to recover before speaking. "I don't think I want to fight Skarmory anymore…"
While Roy was still down, Skarmory flew towards him and used Air Slash. Roy was knocked backwards and for a while was unable to move.
"That Air Slash was a lot stronger after using Metal Sound." Aamira said. "And it made him cringe too. This doesn't look good."
Skarmory did a flip in the air and with a flurry of her steel wings, dove towards Roy while preparing to attack with Arial Ace.
"This could be the end of the match for one of the promising rookies of Team Sandstone!" Charmeleon shouted over the crowd.
Just as her attack was about to make contact, Roy jumped into the air and hit her in the middle of the back with Thunderpunch. Skarmory screeched and fell to the ground, leaving a big indent on the floor of the battle field.
"That was a risky sort of gambit that he just pulled off." Charmeleon said. "Looks like his Inner Focus ability kept him from cringing. It would seem that it was a rouse to get Skarmory close enough to attack."
"Well it worked!" Quill said to Aamira.
"Yea, but I doubt he can do it again…" she said.
Skarmory got up and was about to launch back into the air, when she suddenly cringed in pain and sparks danced across her metallic body.
"It would seem that Roy's last attack has left her paralyzed!" Charmeleon said.
Roy took the opportunity to attack with another Thunderpunch and follow up with Rock Tomb before Skarmory was able to shake of the paralysis and get back into the air. Bits of rock from the Rock Tomb still clung to her as she flew and it made her a lot slower when flying. Skarmory hovered in the air for a moment. Neither of them took their eyes off of their opponent for a single moment.
Skarmory took a deep breath and relaxed herself and dove through the air to build up speed with Agility before attacking with another Arial Ace.
"Never before have I seen such an intense first match!" Charmeleon said. And, of course, the audience couldn't look away from the battle that was happening right in front of them. "Judging from the way this battle is going so far, it's impossible to tell who will win this!"
Skarmory kept up with her combination of Agility and Arial Ace. Soon it seemed like Roy was just barely standing. It didn't seem like there was any way out of this.
"He can't beat her!" Quill said.
"No, wait!" Aamira said. "I think I know what he's doing!" Considering she had mentioned that move to Ruko only the previous day, it wouldn't have made sense if she hadn't seen it coming. She had used that move herself in a few situations like this.
As Skarmory was about to attack with another Arial Ace, Roy started to glow and attacked with Reversal. Skarmory screeched and fell on the battlefield, unconscious.
"It looks like Skarmory's down for the count!" Charmeleon said. "The winner of the first match is Roy!"
The crowd erupted into applause as Roy started to cheer and a couple of Combusken rushed onto the battlefield to carry Skarmory to see a doctor.
Roy limped over to the front row where the others were sitting and sat next to his brother.
"Nice one, Roy!" Sandshrew said. "Honestly, I probably would have fainted right after hearing that Metal Sound. So I guess it was a good idea that we switched…"
"Hey, don't worry about it!" he said. "Just do your best in your match against Aamira."
"I'm so excited; I can't wait to see whose battling next!" Quill said.
Luxray burst into a bout of loud laughter. "You really should have paid more attention to the matchups, kid!"
"Let's get this next match underway!" Charmeleon shouted. "Second match; Quill versus Luxray!"
Luxray growled in excitement and immediately jumped onto the battlefield, leaving Quill to sit there stunned for a minute before Charmeleon's words finally sunk in and he rushed onto the battle field, looking a little embarrassed.
Luxray released a bolt of electricity into the air. Clouds immediately gathered, covering the starry sky, and the fire types ran for cover. Lightning flashed in the sky and it started to pour rain. Quill looked around confused. Obviously he didn't know that Luxray could learn Rain Dance.
Quill jumped towards the soft ground and used Dig. Immediately Ninetales groaned and shook her head. "Didn't he pay attention to what I said earlier?"
True to what she had said, Luxray seemed to be tracking his progress under the ground, somehow seeing through the earth with only his eyes. Quill jumped up from the ground, covered with mud, only for Luxray to immediately attack with Mud Slap. Quill was hit with a blast of mud that knocked him back along the muddy ground. While he was trying to wipe the mud from his eyes, Luxray hit him with Thunder, which was even more powerful with the raging thunderstorm.
"While our first match was incredibly close, this one seems one sided so far." Charmeleon said. "Things are not looking good for Quill."
"I think he's completely forgotten all of the attacks he relearned before coming here…" Aamira said. "This isn't good…"
The rain eventually washed the mud from Quill's eyes. It just so happened that at that moment he did remember one of the attacks he had learned. The patches on his back started to glow as he generated heat inside of his body. He opened his mouth and a burst of flame shot from it and tore the thunder cloud in two. Luxray tried his hardest to shield his eyes from the intense light that was now shining down into the stadium from Quill's Sunny Day.
At first it didn't make sense how the sun could be shining at night. Aamira shielded her eyes from the intense light and tried to look up at the sky. There was definitely something there that looked like the sun, but it seemed a lot closer and more three dimensional.
Then it hit her why Quill had used so much fire. It was an imitation sun created from an orb of fire. It was amazing, in a way. He had managed to shoot fire hundreds of feet in the air through torrential rain and through clouds made of condensed water vapor, and still was able to make Sunny Day this bright. Even though it was in the middle of the night, it looked strong enough to last the same amount of time as a normal Sunny Day. Quill's training had definitely paid off.
"Alright!" Aamira jumped out of her seat, along with a few other pokemon, and cheered for Quill. His recovery didn't end there though.
Quill used Rollout and the mud from the ground hardened around him as the sun began to dry it. Luxray used Thunder on Quill, but the earthen shield that had formed around him from the mud protected him from most of the damage. Quill hit Luxray with Rollout, but Luxray quickly countered by slashing at Quill with his claws, breaking his mud shield and sending him flying back across the battlefield. Just before he hit the ground, Quill flared up his back to cushion the fall with his flames.
Quill opened his mouth and let loose a Flamethrower, which was powered up by the intense heat from the sun. Luxray used Thunder at the same time and the two attacks collided in mid air.
The two pokemon struggled to overpower the other. If one of them moved, the other would follow in the opposite direction, never letting the other gain the upper hand. Sparks of fire and electricity shot from the center where their attacks collided. Neither of them was letting up and the power in the center was starting to build up.
The crowd's excitement grew as the outcome of the battle came down to the strength of fire and lightning. With one last ounce of power, Quill got down on all fours to keep the stream of fire steady and flared up the flames on his back bigger than before and his Flamethrower became just powerful enough to push back the Thunder.
Luxray struggled desperately to pour more power into his attack, but he was getting tired, and this tiny Cyndaquil was so determined. At the last minute, he faltered for a fraction of a second and the torrent of fire finally reached him. Quill's fire finally went out and he stood at the opposite end of the battle field, gasping for breath, waiting for the flames to disperse.
To his amazement, Luxray was still standing, but he was covered in bad burns and was shaking from the effort just to keep standing. Quill ran towards him, ready to use another Rollout attack, but right before he started his attack, he stopped. Something seemed strange about Luxray's eyes. They seemed more distant than before. Quill walked closer to him, a little hesitantly and stared up into his eyes. Luxray's face was almost frozen in a fierce snarl. It took him a moment to realize what had happened.
He looked around at the audience confused, wondering what he should do next. The audience looked just as confused. Typhlosion jumped onto the field and ran towards Quill.
"What's wrong?" Typhlosion asked.
"Luxray's still standing, but he's passed out." Quill said.
"What?" Typhlosion looked at Luxray's eyes and waved his hand in front of them to see if they would follow the motion, but it was obvious that he was completely out of it.
"So what now?" Quill asked.
"I honestly don't know…" Typhlosion said. "I had to memorize the rules to be the referee, but I don't think there's anything about a pokemon fainting while standing up." He reached into his back and pulled out a thick book and started to look through the pages. The crowd was starting to grow a little impatient but for the most part they waited politely. "Ok there is something in here." He shouted loudly enough for the entire audience to hear him. "It would seem that Luxray has fainted and is therefore unable to continue for the time being."
The audience cheered for a moment before Typhlosion cut in again. "However, we must stick to the rules. The battle can be declared over once one of the competitors is unable to battle and a part of their body other than their feet or tail touches the ground. This rule was added as a way of allowing competitors to use Rest during a battle. Since Luxray is still standing, then legally this battle is still underway."
Some of the crowd shouted in protest, though the pokemon from Tempestas seemed relieved that the one representing their country was still in the contest.
"Just knock him over!" Someone shouted from the crowd.
"Yea, just end the battle already!"
'End it?' Quill looked at Luxray's face, still barely moving and almost frozen into a snarl. This was one of the most determined opponents he had ever faced before. 'After what I've seen so far, I don't think it would be right to win just by knocking him over. Right, so I'll…'
Quill backed away a little bit and sat on the ground. Since he was still conscious, it didn't matter if he sat down to wait. The crowd didn't realize what he was doing at first, but soon erupted into a frenzy once they realized that Quill wasn't just about to end the battle. He had been struggling this whole time to keep up with Luxray, yet he was still prepared to wait for him to regain consciousness before attacking.
Ten minutes went by without even the slightest movement from either side. Finally, one of Luxray's legs moved and he weakly started to walk towards Quill. His eyes were back to normal. He was now fully conscious.
"You're finally awake!" Quill said.
"What?" Luxray stopped and stared at Quill, realizing for the first time that he was sitting on the ground.
Quill stood up and stretched his legs and arms. "You were out cold for over ten minutes, but since you were still standing you were technically still in the battle, so I waited for you to wake up!"
Luxray couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was out cold for that long? How could he have lost ten minutes without realizing it? And why hadn't Quill just knocked him over and ended the match? 'What's with this kid anyway?'
"So, are you ready to keep going?" Quill backed up a little and got back into a battle stance.
Luxray stared at him for a moment, then looked down to his singed fur. He sighed and laid on the ground. "I concede."
"What?" The crowd imitated Quill's surprise.
"I'm not standing anymore, and I'm clearly unable to continue with the injuries you managed to inflict. You win."
The crowd cheered and Quill looked around confused. Had he waited for nothing after all?
Chansey rushed onto the field and helped Luxray to his feet and led him off of the battlefield. The Combusken wanted to help him, but Luxray still had too much pride to be carried off of the battlefield but a couple of Ignians when he was still just barely able to walk on his own.
"That was amazing!" Aamira said to Quill. "Though you won't have room to be that nice during our battle. But that last Flamethrower? I don't think I've ever seen it that strong before.
"I don't know what got into me." He said, blushing from the slight embarrassment. He hadn't really thought much about waiting for Luxray to wake up or about how much power he put into that Flamethrower "At the last minute when I used that Flamethrower I just remembered your promise to battle me, so I didn't want to lose in the first round. But I couldn't just win by knocking him over either. I could have lost, I guess, but I think it was worth waiting. Everything worked out in the end anyway."
Aamira nodded. "And of course I'll be doing my best to win too. That way we can finally have our battle!"
"Don't think I'm a pushover." Sandshrew said. "Underestimate me and I'll have to fight Quill instead of you."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Well I have to go." Quill said. "Chansey says that I should stay in the infirmary for the next match so I can be away from the excitement and get my injuries treated. They're almost as bad as Luxray's."
"But Ninetales and Dragonair are up next!" Aamira said.
"I'll still be watching." Quill said. "I just won't have a front row seat and I'll be in a sound proof room where I won't be able to hear all of the loud screaming."
"Well hurry back!" Aamira said.
Quill nodded and followed Chansey and Luxray, who a lot of people were astonished, could still walk, even after fainting while standing up. Instead of carrying him, the Combusken used the time to relight the torches that had gone out during the storm that Luxray had created. It was almost pitch black in the stadium without them, even with the stars out after the Sunny Day had faded.
Quill watched the battle halfheartedly from the infirmary. He wished he could be back in the front row seat. Ninetales and Dragonair were both beautiful pokemon and the way they attacked was almost like a dance. There was something artful in the way they battled that Quill would have liked to watch at a closer distance, though Dragonair used a lot of water type moves, including Rain Dance, which Quill knew must make Aamira wish she were up there with him instead of in the middle of another thunderstorm.
"That was some battle, for a kid." Luxray said. "I was so confused when I woke up and saw you just sitting there in front of me."
"Maybe you wouldn't have been so confused if you weren't stubborn enough to stay standing even after you passed out." Quill said.
Luxray laughed. "I guess so. Just keep in mind, anyone not from your team most likely entered for the sole purpose of battling you or Aamira or one of the members of Team Sandstone."
"Why is that?" Quill asked. "Why do they want to battle us so badly? I don't know much about Mamoswine and Togetic, but you had that impressive winning streak in Tempestas, Skarmory's a famous competitor at pokeringer, Dragonair comes from a long line of strong relatives, and Ninetales is part of a famous Investigation Team too, so why does everyone want to battle us?"
"Investigation Teams are mainly focused on solving mysteries, right? No one really knows where the two of you come from. Of course you were raised in Vine City, but what about before then? And your partner who just appeared out of nowhere. Aside from that, no one knows what you two have been up to lately either. Not uncommon for members of the Investigators Brigade, but at least there's some information on most other members about their latest accomplishments. And how is it that your partner, who was reported to have died, suddenly reappeared one day with no explanation?"
"What are you getting at?" Quill asked.
"The reason everyone wants to battle you two, is because everyone wants to know you two. Maybe not personally get to know you, but learn more about you. Investigation Teams solve mysteries, and if there's one thing that a lot of people have found mysterious lately, it's the two leaders of Team Sleuth."
Quill let these words sink in for a moment. He had never really thought much about it, but it was true that outside of their friends and a few people they knew back in Vine City, no one really knew much about them. Some people might have known about how they had saved the world some time before, but they didn't know that it happened by sealing Mismagius in a magic staff, which required Lucario to imprison himself, defeating an ancient legendary named Giratina that could travel between worlds, fixing an old mirror by harnessing power from flowers, which caused Aamira to suddenly vanish, leaving Quill all alone.
Then she reappeared some time later with different colored eyes and some new scars that they couldn't explain. Maybe Aamira was mysterious, but him? But then he remembered how the Icy Gem would shine when Quill held it, but not Aamira. And how he recently found out that he was an Aura Guardian. Maybe the two of them really were mysterious like Luxray said.
"But even if that's true, why battle us to find out about us? Why not just ask?" Quill asked.
"You never know when a simple question might cause some deep rooted pain or bring up things you'd rather not talk about." He said. "If that were the case, odds are the person asking wouldn't get a straight answer. You could tell a complete lie or even avoid the question all together. That would leave the inquiring pokemon with one less answer and you with bad memories that the question might have brought up.
"But battling is different. Everyone in their life, at one point or another has competed against someone for fun and not necessarily to do harm to another person. Even if it's something as simple as a pillow fight or a game of chess. There are so many things that you could learn about a pokemon from their battling style. You could find out their fears, what causes them grief, what's fun to them, how much experience they've gained over a certain amount of time, and sometimes even where they spend their time training, if their battle style is one unique to a region. Judging by your fighting style, I would assume you've trained here in Ignis, but I had my doubts about that, considering you two haven't been here long."
"Actually I did train here." Quill said. "And recently too. I guess my fighting style has changed from that short amount of time."
"Then maybe my other guess about you is also correct. In a previous mission, you spent excessive time under water."
"Yea, how could you tell?"
Luxray turned away from the battle and looked towards Quill. "You learn these things from experience. I could tell by the way you could hold that Flamethrower for so long that you've learned to control your breathing. Most likely from diving under water for excessive amounts of time."
"What else could you tell?" This was the first time that Quill had ever spent any real length of time talking with someone from Tempestas. He always thought they were brutish the way they loved to fight so much, but now he was beginning to think that maybe there was something else behind that. Maybe their love for battles wasn't such a bad thing after all. After all, Quill had enjoyed their battle.
"I'm not sure I should say…" As soon as Luxray noticed how eager Quill was about learning from fighting, he decided that he might as well say what else he thought from their battle. "You've been through a lot, but not quite enough to be considered an adult. A lot of bad things, or maybe big things, have happened to you and you're afraid of making mistakes. But you still have a big heart. Unlike so many people who lose their way at time, and I'm ashamed to include myself into that category, you have a true sense of what's right and wrong."
Quill had to think about that for a moment, but he knew it was true. He had always been picked on when he was still in school and he made mistakes constantly because he never thought he could be as good as the ones that picked on him back then. Maybe that part of him still existed. But he had Aamira. Aamira never acted that way towards him. Maybe that's why he could do well as long as she was there.
Maybe being with her was even the reason why he waited for Luxray to stand. He remembered her telling him about the time when they were both captured by bounty hunters. The group she was caught by tried to force her to fight a kid. Instead of fighting, she sat on the ground, which was apparently done when someone refused to fight. She found out later that this kid was apparently a prodigy who was still in school training to become an Investigation Team member, but that hadn't changed anything in her opinion.
Before he knew it, the battle between Dragonair and Ninetales was over. Ninetales had somehow pulled out a victory at the last minute. Apparently Ninetales had inherited a lot of attacks from her ancestors, including Hypnosis, Disable, and Flare Blitz. Quill was kind of scared of the possibility that he might have to fight her later in the tournament.
"Anyone you know competing next?" Luxray asked. Quill shook his head. "Then you won't be missing much. I want to show you something."
He walked over to the hospital bed that Chansey had been letting him use, even though he had refused to take the time to rest. He opened his Collection Bag, which he had set on top of the bed and pulled out his Aura Glass. To Quill's surprise, his team was only Bronze Rank. He expected his rank to be much higher than this.
"I'm the leader of Team Blitz. My team members are Ampharos and Manectric, who unfortunately couldn't enter the tournament. I can understand that. A lot of teams have been busy lately. The only reason we were able to enter was because we haven't been taking a lot of missions. We've been focusing more on training so we can do better at missions and rank up faster later on."
"Well that's pretty smart." Quill said.
"It was Ampharos's idea. We call her the brain behind the team. It was a good idea too. We were able to knock three missions out at one time. Technically we got elevated to Bronze Rank the first time we ever went on a mission because of her. And we'll be going for Silver next. You never would have guessed, though, that the three of us absolutely hated each other when we were in school together. When we were placed on the same team, we started fighting each other almost right away. Somehow, when we were fighting, it just sort of clicked for each of us that we would make a good team. We ended up knocking each other out in that battle and all we could do afterwards was laugh. It turns out we had a bunch in common too, so now we're best friends. Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea why we used to hate each other so much."
"Pikachu mentioned something like that once." Quill said. "That in Tempestas, after graduating, teams are assigned instead of letting students pick their own teams."
"It's more efficient that way." Luxray shook his head. "But I don't like it. What's the point in forming an Investigation Team, which is the dream of many young kids, if odds are you won't be able to enjoy it with your friends? I'm not against it entirely, after all I met my friends because of the team selections, but not everyone is so lucky. Teams are always chosen based on scores taken during an entrance exam, which is an extremely long and drawn out battle of you're good at it, but extremely quick and painful if you're not so skilled. The ones with the lowest scores are paired up with the ones with the highest. All three of us were sort of in the middle, except Ampharos who isn't that good at battling, but her written test scores proved that she had what it takes to be a great tactician."
Out of the corner of his eye, Quill could see the crowd growing restless. The next match had started by now and apparently something good had just happened, but he didn't really care about that for the time being. He would get the details from the other contestants when he went to join them for Aamira's match.
"I'm not sure if I would like that." Quill said. "If that had been the way it was in Sylva, I would have probably been on a friend's team since she had the highest score and I would have scored the lowest, but Aamira never went to school in Vine City, so I probably wouldn't even know her."
"That's exactly what I mean. Now that Raichu has taken off for who knows where, maybe his son will change things. The system is good, but it should be an option to choose team members. Instead of team selections, I think they should be more along the lines of suggestions that the students can choose whether or not to follow."
"Suggestions sound like a good idea." Quill said. "Noctowl, the leader of Sylva was actually the one who suggested Aamira and I forming a team. It might be fun to have suggestions for team matchups judged by taking a test."
Quill felt a sudden panic and at first didn't know why he was feeling that way. Luxray stared at him, confused, as he saw Quill starting to panic for some unknown reason. It took Quill a minute to realize that it wasn't him feeling that way at all. After all of this time, he had gotten used to not feeling Aamira's emotions.
A few seconds later Aamira came running through the door and ran over to Chansey who was busy bandaging one of Skarmory's wings.
"Mamoswine's hurt badly!" She said to Chansey. "You have to hurry down to the battlefield!"
"What!" Luckily she had just finished wrapping up Skarmory's wing. She followed Aamira out the door and Quill immediately followed after them without thinking twice about it. He had had time to rest like Chansey wanted, so why not?
But Mamoswine was down already? How long did that battle last? Half of the last one? A third? And how had Mamoswine lost? Didn't he know a bunch of ice and rock type moves? Everyone had expected their battle to be a short one, but they hadn't expected this outcome.
Out on the battlefield, there was confusion everywhere. The first few rows on the far side of the battlefield had been destroyed along with the stone wall separating the audience from the battlefield. The pokemon who had been sitting in that area had all rushed onto the battlefield and luckily there were only minor injuries in the audience.
Mamoswine wasn't so lucky. He was laying trapped under the rubble from the stone wall. Quill noticed a couple of large skid marks in the ground in front of him. Whatever had happened, he had hit the wall hard. The Combusken who had carried Skarmory to the infirmary were now desperately trying to dig out Mamoswine from underneath the rubble.
"Is he alright?" Quill asked Aamira.
"I'm not sure…" She said. "I wasn't really expecting it. I didn't know that Togekiss could learn Aura Sphere. Mamoswine wasn't expecting it either. He doesn't do too well against fighting type attacks."
"Even so! That must have been one strong attack to knock out a pokemon of his size and destroy such a large part of the stadium in one hit." He looked up and saw Togekiss perched at the top of the stadium, cleaning her feathers as if she didn't know, or didn't care, what was going on around her.
"She acted like someone completely different once she entered the battlefield. That nice and cheerful personality was just suddenly gone as if it had never existed. The only way I could describe the way she acted was 'scary' because that's exactly what it was. No other words for it."
Quill looked up at Aamira. He knew very few instances when she found something to be scary. He almost wished that he had been there to see what had happened for himself, though he imagined that it was complete chaos when it first happened. Charmeleon had apparently rushed out of the box where all of the country representatives were to help calm everyone.
A few people gave nervous glances to Togekiss. And why not? She had caused all of that damage and had won her first match in the least amount of time. There was no telling what other tricks she had planned.
After all of the rubble was finally moved, Chansey was finally able to treat Mamoswine's injuries. A few Golem arrived and started using their rock type moves to remake the destroyed benches and reform the destroyed wall. While they waited, the pokemon on the battlefield roamed around talking about what they had witnessed.
Quill had wandered off somewhere in the crowd, but Aamira wasn't too worried about him. She was more worried about Mamoswine and how long her own match would be postponed. Now she had a new reason to win her match; to beat Togekiss if they were paired up in a later battle.
Aamira spotted Roy in the crowd who, immediately after seeing Aamira, ran towards her. Judging by the expression on his face, he had been looking for her in the crowd.
"Hey, I've wanted to ask you a favor, but I haven't had the chance to ask you until now. Luckily this crowd's so noisy that there's no way Sandshrew will be able to overhear this."
Aamira had actually been waiting for this. Of course Roy was worried about his younger brother, but that didn't mean that she was going to go along with what he was about to ask her.
"I know that he's really not strong enough to be here… He has been practicing like he said, but the competitors are a lot stronger than the ones I fought last year and I just don't think he's ready. So I was hoping that you would do everything you could to knock him out of the tournament."
"Look, Roy. I know you want me to—wait, did you say to knock him out of the tournament?"
Roy nodded.
Aamira hadn't been expecting this. "I thought you were going to ask me to lose on purpose so that he could keep going. I couldn't do that."
"I didn't want him to enter to begin with, but he was so eager to. I figured if he lost to you it wouldn't be as bad at least. After all, he's really wanted to battle you and Quill for a while now, though I'm not sure why. I'm just terrified that he'll end up fighting against someone like Togekiss. After seeing what she could do with Aura Sphere…"
"Don't worry about it." Aamira said in a casual tone. "If he wins that just proves he's meant to be here. It's not like I'll let him win on purpose. Whatever happens, happens so I'm not making any promises but I'll try my best to win all the same."
"Oh… well, thanks anyway." Roy started to walk away, but Aamira stopped him.
"Being in an investigation team can be dangerous too."
He seemed to be thinking about what she was trying to say. After a while of thinking about it, he ran back through the crowd. Aamira wondered if he was going to look for Sandshrew.
'Most likely.' She started to head back to the front row where the competitors had been sitting. The others would be coming back soon too, since the destroyed benches had been fixed.
Soon everyone was back in their seats, though Togekiss had mysteriously vanished in the excitement. Charmeleon waited a few minutes to make sure that everyone was back where they were supposed to be before restarting the tournament.
"Now that that bit of excitement has been fixed, thanks to Ignis's dedicated construction team and Chansey's expert medical care, we can get on with the final match. Before that, I'd like to assure you all that Mamoswine will make a full recovery." Well that was good to hear. The damage from the Aura Sphere was bad enough, but it was even worse with the wall collapsing on him the way it had. "Now let's get the final match of the first round underway. Aamira versus Sandshrew."
The two of them rushed onto the battlefield. As soon as they got the signal from Typhlosion to start the battle, Sandshrew curled into a ball and spun on the ground, causing a sandstorm to whip up. Aamira covered her eyes to keep the sand out and flinched as it made its impact. The tiny grains of sand felt like small needles brushing up against her with the speed of the wind pushing them along through the air. She used the aura sensors on the side of her head to try to keep track of Sandshrew's movements. He seemed to be a lot faster than before and he was hard to keep track of.
Then Aamira remembered something that she had heard a long time ago. A type of stone that made it hard for aura users to use their abilities was quartz. Well, as it so happens, sand is actually made up of mostly quartz. So not only was Sandshrew hard to find from Sand Veil, he was also nearly impossible to sense with the energy of his aura being bounced all over the place by the quartz.
She moved one of her arms slightly to try to catch a glimpse of him and nearly screamed when swirling walls of sand suddenly formed around her. Maybe she did scream, but the sound of the wind from Sand Tomb, blocked out any noise she might have made.
Aamira blindly tried to fire Aura Spheres out of the sand tomb. She had taken to keeping her eyes closed to free up her arms. It didn't matter either way. She couldn't see a thing through the sandstorm.
She felt the Sand Tomb's power lessen and she ran out, trying to find Sandshrew. The sandstorm was still as strong as ever, but Sandshrew wasn't bothering to keep hiding. He leapt out of the swirling sand, preparing to hit Aamira with Poison Jab.
Instinctively, Aamira raised her arms to protect herself. The Poison Jab hit the two bones on the backs of her paws. Just as she pushed him back, one of his claws caught on her arm and some of the poison seeped into the small wound.
Before he hit the ground, Aamira ran towards him and hit him with Drain Punch, not giving him any time to counter attack. He hit the ground hard and the sandstorm died down, much to the great relief of the audience. Not only were some of them being affected by it, but the sandstorm was so strong that they couldn't see their battle at all.
They were surprised to see that Aamira looked a lot worse off than Sandshrew. Even after Drain Punch, Aamira felt like she was getting weaker. It had been such a small cut, but that poison was working fast. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach.
"It would seem that Sandshrew, the rookie, now has a huge lead over Aamira, who has been in an Investigation Team for nearly a year and a half now." Charmeleon said over the surprised conversations of the crowd. "I can't tell you what happened in that sandstorm, but whatever it was clearly wasn't something anyone was expecting."
As soon as Sandshrew got up, Aamira attacked with Aura Sphere. Quill could tell that something was wrong then. It didn't seem as strong as usual and seemed to be wobbling a little.
Sandshrew dodged by burrowing underground. Aamira tried to run to keep the attack from hitting, but no doubt he felt and heard the vibrations from her footsteps. He jumped out of the ground as easily as if it had been made completely of sand instead of hard igneous rock. He rolled up into a ball and hit Aamira right under the chin, knocking her over and nearly knocking her out.
Aamira knew that this wasn't looking good for her. If she was going to stay in the tournament, she had to end this battle fast. She thought about Sucker Punch. With her strength combined with Sandshrew's, she could easily beat him with it. But there was one problem…
Every person in the crowd had their eyes glued on the two of them. Aamira had promised herself before the tournament started that she wouldn't use Sucker Punch. After seeing how strong it was combined with Quill's Eruption, she was too afraid to use it in front of all of these people. What would they think of her? And what if someone got hurt? Ruko mentioned that this move had saved her life before, but a tournament wasn't really a requirement to use it. No, she wouldn't use this power at all during the tournament. Not unless there was an opponent who really did put her in a life threatening situation.
Aamira suddenly got an idea that might just save her. She ran up towards Sandshrew, who easily heard her coming and prepared to counterattack. Right before she reached him, Aamira used Force Palm on the ground. The power from the attack was released into the ground, causing bits of the stone floor to break apart and fly into the air, dragging Sandshrew with it.
Sandshrew turned his head side to side frantically. Aamira had run from her original location. The sound of falling stone made it impossible to hear her footsteps. He sniffed at the air trying to find her scent, but after being stuck in the sandstorm, all he could smell was the earth. It was the first time he ever felt truly blind, and it scared him.
Sandshrew didn't know how high he had been blasted into the air, but he instinctively rolled into a ball to cushion the impact of the fall.
With a last burst of energy, Aamira ran towards a nearby wall, jumped up, and ran along the vertical surface for a few steps before using the wall to jump into the air towards Sandshrew.
Just as her attack was about to hit, Sandshrew heard the sound of Aamira's Drain Punch speeding through the air towards him, but didn't have time to counterattack since he was still rolled into a ball.
Aamira hit him hard with the Drain Punch, stealing most of his energy and sending him flying diagonally towards the ground. Aamira fell immediately after along with the smaller and lighter bits of debris from the floor of the battlefield.
Charmeleon looked back and fourth between the two of them. Aamira was surrounded by the debris from her attack and Sandshrew had formed a small crater in the ground from where he had hit. There wasn't any sign of movement on either side for a while. Then Charmeleon finally saw Sandshrew crawling out of the crater.
Just as he crawled out of the crater, he collapsed unconscious on the ground. Though she didn't want to, Aamira knew that she had to get up. Her arms shook with the effort of pushing herself off of the ground. She had literally used every bit of her strength on that last attack. If she had used any other attack other than Drain Punch, she realized, Sandshrew would have won.
But he hadn't. Aamira stood on the battlefield surrounded by turned up earth. Her legs were shaking badly and her arms hung limply at her sides, but she had somehow won. She now knew never to underestimate Sandshrew again.
"Well it was a close one," Charmeleon said, "but the winner of the last match of the first round is Aamira!"
Aamira smiled weakly as the crowd started to cheer for her. It sounded like Quill's voice was the loudest. Just as this thought entered her mind, everything went black.
Aamira woke up some time later in the infirmary. Sandshrew was sitting upright on the bed next to her. He looked a bit moody, but was apparently finally agreeing to take some medicine that Chansey was trying to get him to take.
"Oh, you're awake." Chansey said. "I didn't think you'd wake up at least until the sun rose. Sandshrew's poison was a lot worse than I expected."
"It's my own special mixture." Sandshrew said. "Sandshrew and Sandslash are naturally talented when it comes to finding plants that can cure and cause poisons. I just happened to be better because of my sense of smell."
"It's true. I don't know how long Aamira would have been out for if you hadn't provided me with that antidote." Chansey said.
"That battle was a little too close." Aamira was surprised by how shaky her voice was. She suddenly realized how tired and thirsty she was. "You're definitely a lot stronger than you look."
"Luxray told me what was going on during that sandstorm." Roy said. "When did you learn Poison Jab?"
"I told you I've been practicing."
Roy had to laugh a little. "Yea, you did. I'm sorry I tried to make you drop out."
"It's fine." Sandshrew said. "I still lost anyway."
"It was close." Aamira said. "Even to the very end there, you nearly won."
Quill walked into the room in front of a few other people and ran to Aamira once he noticed that she was awake.
"I can't believe you won!" He jumped up and gave Aamira a big hug, but stopped and backed off after he noticed her wincing in pain. "Sorry. Typhlosion said you were pretty badly hurt, but I guess I got carried away…"
"Understandable." She said, half sarcastically. "And, truth be told, I can't believe I won either. After Poison Jab I didn't think there was any way to win."
"You know, you've got to win the competition now that you beat me!" Sandshrew said. "I'll never forgive you if you don't win the whole thing."
Aamira smiled a little awkwardly. It's hard to believe that this little kid who had been refusing to take some medicine and thought so simply had nearly beaten her. It was definitely a humbling experience. "I'll try my best." Was all Aamira was able to say.
Typhlosion cleared his throat and all of the pokemon, who Aamira finally realized were the other competitors who had advanced to the next round, turned to him and gave him their full attention. She didn't notice right away, but there was one extra person there who Aamira wasn't glad to see while injured. Hunter. Though, strangely enough, he wasn't paying her any attention. It was as if all he was focused on was the tournament.
"After a few hours of debate," Typhlosion began. A few hours? How long had Aamira been out? "I've come up with the matchups for the second battle. Unlike last time, there will be no switching. Is that understood?" No one objected. "Be sure to memorize the matchups carefully." He said with a little emphasis. Quill was glad that he hadn't singled him out.
Typhlosion flipped over a piece of poster board that he had brought in with him. On it was the list of match ups. In the first match was Roy and Hunter. Roy noticed this and gave a nervous glance to Hunter. Aamira didn't think they had every actually met, but it was obvious that he felt uneasy being close to Hunter. In the second match was Quill and Ninetales. Great. But when Quill thought about it, the only person here that he really wouldn't have had a problem going up against was Roy, but it might as well be someone he liked at least.
That left Aamira and Togekiss. Aamira had a bad feeling about her. She was there now with the others and didn't seem at all like the nice and cheerful pokemon she was before. Her eyes were serious and she wasn't smiling. Aamira couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but the nice act that she had pulled before was making her really suspicious. Aside from hunter, everyone else who entered the tournament seemed like really decent people. Now it looked like there was one more competitor to keep an eye on.