I hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend if you celebrate it. The holiday inspired me to write another one-shot so I focused on that for a few days. This chapter is loaded with sports references because I am equal parts sports fan and Pokémon fan. Heck, the title of this chapter is a sports reference because the phrase means so much to me. The tiebreaker would go to what I picked up first, but I picked up basketball the same day I got my first Pokémon game so even that's close.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon but I do my own OCs.
Chapter 38 Survive & Advance
There was no morning sun to shine through my window since mother nature decided to let the clouds roll in. A temporary feeling of relief came over me knowing today I wouldn't have to battle because groups 1 through 31 had to finish their round robin matches. Carly was scheduled to battle in the afternoon portion on account of her group number. I guess the Pokémon League grouped us by skill but even then it makes little sense since there are 500+ trainers to rank. They probably have some lengthy formula to determine a score for everyone and if that's the case, Carly got the short end of the stick. I mean 11 badges has to place her and Davis near the top, right? I would be a little ashamed if I didn't show up to watch at least one battle to see her skills.
I dragged myself to the shower then took a few extra minutes to enjoy the water temperature after I was done cleaning up. Now that I have my own private room, I wonder if my Pokémon would actually want a bath. Growlithe is a no for obvious reasons and Gyarados would probably prefer a lake since he can't even fit in the bathtub here; everyone else is honestly a toss-up. Maybe the healing machine cleans them too? I don't know, I think they should be looking their best if I can help it.
Walking down to the little computer room next to the lobby was uneventful compared to the last few times on my way there. A few others were there on a scouting mission while I just wandered the league site looking for specific battle times. It only took a few seconds to fins Carly's profile and her first match location which was on field 12 at 1:15 sharp. The clock in the corner of the room said it was currently 12:57. With that information in hand, I made my way back up to my room to grab my jacket before heading out to the field.
Field 12 had a fair amount of spectator seating but not many people were there; maybe 50 to 60 people sat in the stands. It also didn't help that the skies were opening up a little bit whereas fields one and two had retractable roofs. Knowing Carly favors fire types means that she's going to be in for a rough day but she wouldn't bring only fire types to a battle in the elements. She was in "the zone" because she never looked to the crowd while the judge was getting her things in order. A tap on the shoulder made me turn around.
"Hey man, how are you doing?" It was Davis.
"Pretty good. Just wish mother nature saved the waterworks for later tonight when we're all sleeping. By the way, congratulations on moving on!"
Davis smiled. "Thanks Mitch. And that goes for you too. Carly and I were there for your last battle; don't worry about it. You have to be honest with yourself and be thankful you lost in pool play as opposed to the single elimination rounds." He was right although I still feel like I could have salvaged a tie in front of everyone. "Look! They're about to start." Carly was swaying back and forth just waiting for the judge to go through her cadence. Battle rules were the same as yesterday so at least she knows what to expect in terms of formatting. Her opponent looked pretty content despite the rain gently falling down. While the judge signaled the start of the battle.
Her opponent threw out his first Pokémon. "Go Politoed!" It jumped for joy as it saw the rain coming down. "I can't believe you use only fire types! How are you going to handle a little rain, let alone a bulky water type?"
Davis just grinned. "Looks like someone didn't do their homework," he whispered.
Carly didn't look phased as she held a Lure Ball. "Lanturn can handle herself just fine." Lanturn looked equally as happy to be sent out in the rain.
"Shit," he murmured. "Politoed return! Go Slowbro!" The small crowd was confused as he switched into another water type.
"Let me guess… you only brought water types to this battle didn't you?"
His immediately flushed. "N-n-no."
"Lanturn, use Thunder," Carly ordered nonchalantly.
Her opponent wasn't too concerned. "Psychic to redirect it!" Slowbro held the Thunder attack in place for a split second only to lose control of it; the attack was a one hit knockout to the dismay of the other trainer. "But how?"
Carly crossed her arms. "Didn't you pay attention in school? Water conducts electricity so Thunder will always find its target in the rain. You might have had better luck if it wasn't raining. It also doesn't help that your Slowbro is weak. So who's up next?"
He was gripping another Pokémon Ball but his body relaxed. "I forfeit."
"You cannot be serious."
"I am serious. Judge, I forfeit this match." Their referee gave a confused look before officially giving the match to Carly.
Davis turned to me again. "Didn't see that coming. Guess he really had nothing else to hit her Lanturn." Everyone watching left in disappointment knowing that one trainer somehow gathered eight badges and made it through preliminaries; one of them said that his 90-year-old grandma could do a better job. Eight ways to Sunday it was still three points for Carly.
"Hey Mitch! Hey Davis!" she waved to us. "Staying somewhat dry up there?"
"We're trying," I replied throwing up my hands in sarcastic frustration. I threw in a playful smirk. "Fire lover huh… I knew you'd have a solid backup plan."
I left the couple alone after she told me that her second match was slated for 3:05 on the same field. Rain would play a factor in match number two as the drizzle turned to a steady rainfall. Walking around until her next battle was the best way to kill time since I couldn't go back to sleep and I wasn't hungry. The temptation to stay inside would build if I went back as well. Just walking around I saw a majority of trainers taking advantage of the rainfall while I could sense the groundskeepers' frustration about maintaining the fields after the battles were over.
Round two was about to get underway so I made my way back to field 12 with the expectation that even less people were going to be there; I was right. Honestly I felt bad for Carly with only 20 people as an audience. Maybe more were watching the stream but it is what it is. Davis found me again so we sat in the front row of the bleachers as the battle was about to get underway.
"The second match format is interesting," Davis commented. "Three separate one on one matches and the winner gets two out of three. We're both used to this format so she should feel comfortable."
She wasted no time making her decision after the flags went up. "Rapidash I choose you!" Her confidence is definitely up there.
"Meganium!" The animal-plant quadruped assessed how dumb its trainer was for sending it to battle a fire type and then cocked its head in confusion. "It's raining Meganium so don't worry about fire attacks." A light bulb went off in the Pokémon's head and it nodded confidently. "Body Slam!"
"Jump up and use Take Down!"
Rapidash waited for Meganium to start falling before jumping up to deliver a brutal Take Down attack. Its horn ended up leaving a sizeable cut on Meganium's front right leg and Meganium immediately favored it once it landed.
"Tough it out and use Giga Drain!"
"Fire Blast!" Rainfall hardly weakened the attack as the flames engulfed the grass type sending it down for the count. I just looked at Davis in shock. How could a Fire Blast not lose any power in the rain? Throwing in a grass type against Rapidash isn't smart regardless but come on.
He kept looking at his girlfriend while acknowledging me. "She's lucky that nobody is really paying close attention except for you Mitch. Ponyta was her very first Pokémon and since she caught it, she's been raising it to deal with water. As a result, it's the strongest member of the team by a mile. What's a little rain to a high leveled Fire Blast? Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Her opponent was still reeling. "How… is this possible? You foreigners are cheating I just know it! Johto will always have the better trainers!"
"Just shut up and battle!" Carly screamed back. "Flareon!" It came out feeling agitated; it heard everything.
"Hide it all you want but I'll still win this match. Stantler, come on out!" Raindrops finally stopped falling as the official signaled for round two to begin.
Carly wasted no time trying to end the battle. "Quick Attack into Flamethrower into Bite!"
"Stantler use Confuse Ray!" Confuse Ray was too slow to affect Flareon as it immediately got behind the Big Horn Pokémon before leveling it in the side. "Hypnosis!" Again the move failed to connect because Flareon was too close and fired a Flamethrower to break up its concentration. Finally, the judge called the match in Carly's favor after it viciously dug into Stantler; it treated the fainted Pokémon like a dead carcass.
"Go back home you little son of a bitch and don't you ever accuse me like that ever again," Carly said venomously.
Her opponent wasted no time running away. "You're fucking crazy!" Everyone looked on uncomfortably as the judge radioed the incident to someone else.
"Your victory is not official yet," she said coldly. "The outcome of this match will be determined by an ethics committee. I can guarantee that your results will be official before the end of your third match. Best of luck on field number two later this evening."
Anyone who still remained left immediately while only the three of us stayed behind watching in silence. She was rattled and fell to her knees sobbing while pounding on the softened ground. Davis kept a stern face as he walked over and started to rub her back. I believed it was best for me to keep my mouth shut because I don't want to risk saying something to make the situation worse; going back to the hotel was my best course of action. On my way past the two, I saw that Carly was curled up in a ball lightly sobbing on Davis' lap as he rubbed her gently. My finger pointed to my phone and he understood what I was getting at.
The walk back to the hotel was eerie due to the dark clouds rolling in for a second time in the past few hours. Like last time, I ate alone in the cafeteria and grabbed some food for everyone on the team before going back to my room. Showering up came first since I wanted to feel relaxed as a torrential downpour started outside. Feeling a little uneasy, I grabbed my six Luxury Balls and let everybody out to get them relaxed.
"So… does anyone want a bath?" They all looked at each other for a while before Furret stepped forward. "Well Furret's up first. Come on girl." She happily yipped as I filled up the bath with very warm water; getting her to stay still was a different story. There was some Pokémon shampoo hiding behind a pile of towels so I washed her quickly then dried her off.
"Furrrrrrrrrr," she purred after I wrapped her like a burrito.
"I knew you'd eventually like it. Now go on and send anyone else in that wants it. Get some food too, I brought plenty up to the room." I drained the water as footsteps came from behind me. "Alright let me get… Growlithe!? Don't you hate baths?" He didn't want to make eye contact with me. "Wait a second, is this for Furret?" A nod then a sigh, "The least I can do is make yours quick and put the water temperature to high. No heating it up on your own, understand? I don't want you to burn the place down." He sulked. "Save that for the field," I playfully added.
He too got the burrito treatment after his quick bath was over. Espeon came in next followed by Ampharos followed by Umbreon. Gyarados was pretty content with just sleeping in the corner next to Ampharos as the remaining couples nuzzled up at the foot of my bed. I really had no motivation to leave the room so I turned on the television in the hopes of catching a good battle while it was muted. Field one was obviously a fan favorite on the Battling Network although field two had its own channel. Carly was looking ready to battle in spite of the emotional breakdown she had earlier in the day. Her record on the screen stood at 2-0 which meant her previous battle was ruled a win.
Rapidash steamrolled through the competition in a matter of minutes allowing Carly to finish pool play with a perfect 3-0 and facing the second-place finisher from group 32. A loss would have her facing Davis in the round of 128 as her final opponent had the same record as her but she dodged a bullet there. Video replays of the day's battles flashed on the screen along with tomorrow's matchups. Commentators briefly went through the matchups where the best of groups 32 through 64 would be duking it out all day tomorrow. Stacy from New Bark Town was my opponent for tomorrow since she won group 48 by going 2-1-0. An official letter slid under the door before I went to sleep; Espeon floated it over to me.
Dear Mitch,
Congratulations on making it past pool play in this year's Silver Conference Tournament. Your start time for tomorrow's battle is scheduled for 11:15 am on field four. As part of making it to the single elimination portion of the tournament, you are required to take part in a mandatory press conference before and after each match. Press conferences should last no longer than a few minutes and there will be a media liaison present to assist you. Failure to attend official press conferences will result in punishments ranging from a hefty fine to expulsion from the tournament. Your pre-battle press conference for the first round is scheduled for 10:45am at the field. Everything will be set up before you arrive. Best of luck in the next round.
-The Pokémon League
Ah yes, the star treatment now that things are getting serious. At this point in time I think sleep is better than dwelling on this whole media part of the competition.
Morning came too soon like always only this time the sun peeked through a few leftover clouds from yesterday. I had my Pokémon eat their breakfast before I went down to the cafeteria myself. Wes was alone in the somewhat empty room so I sat across from him.
"Hey Wes, weren't you were going back to Orre?"
"Not yet. I've never had a vacation in my life so why rush it? Wish someone else came with me though. She's the reason I made it out of tough spots and I don't feel right just leaving her behind in Orre even though she didn't want to come here." We both ate in silence for a while since I didn't want to push the issue.
Something just clicked. "Wes, is my Umbreon a Shadow Pokémon?"
He was taken aback. "Oh no… not at all. Shadow Pokémon have their hearts artificially closed; all they care about is killing other living things. Why do you ask?"
"Because my Umbreon has killed dozens of times in the past and it's… not normal."
"Think about it for one second. Why did your Umbreon kill?"
Flashbacks of our conversation after I found him at Mount Silver reverberated in my head. "To protect Espeon and a wild female Ponyta."
Wes chuckled. "A ladies' man huh? Anyway, he did it out of defensive instinct. Sure he's not a normal Umbreon but he's far from a Shadow Pokémon. His mate, the rest of the team, and you keep him down to earth. Umbreon are rarely chosen as an evolution due to the stigma of dark types so it's great that you took him in."
Good to know that he's not as bad as he could be. "Look Wes I have to get going. Trainers have this whole press conference spiel once they hit the single elimination round. See you around."
Field four had more seating capacity as the spectators filled the 3,000 or so seats; the days of the sandlot fields are gone by this stage in the tournament. Blue tables with bottled water were near the entrance to the field. Stacy's press conference must have already happened based on the chairs being out of sorts in addition to about 12 reporters still there. I took my seat in front of the microphone ready to go.
"Thank you all for coming. Let's get started so we can start the battle on time. Please say your name and the media entity you represent."
That voice sounded way too familiar. "Ashley?" She waved. "Holy shit! How've you been?" The reporters' eyes went wide. "Oops… forgot this was on haha. So you guys have questions for me?"
One hand went up. "Jason Steele, Silver Conference dot com, how does it feel to make it this far only having six Pokémon to choose from?"
"It's been stressful on my Pokémon more so than me. They're the ones who put in the work."
One more hand went up. "Margret Bell, Goldenrod Weekly, what do you think about the competition so far?"
"Ummm, my opponents so far have been really tough. I have watched a few battles on my own where I did question how some people got here. BUT they have eight badges just like me."
"Do you realize that a lot of people, not just trainers, question how you made it here with six Pokémon? Some would argue that it's a miracle you made it past the preliminaries."
Should not have asked that question. "Put it this way, our Pokémon that we select for entry are public record. So if the field knows I have only six, why am I here in front of you now? Because I won in the midst of a so called disadvantage. I'll admit that I could have easily gone 0-3 but I didn't."
Ashley sensed it was going to get worse so she dismissed everyone to press row while ushering me to the trainer's box. "That was… interesting Mitch. Did you plan that out?"
"Nope. Straight from the heart." She casually shrugged then went away.
Our official waited for Stacy to arrive in her box before starting. "This first round bracket style elimination match will be a two on two battle with either side being able to substitute. When both of one trainer's Pokémon are knocked out then the battle is over. Begin!"
What was with the sudden change to two on two? Oh well, gotta adapt to the rules. "Gyarados!"
"Crobat get out here and use Wing Attack!" Stacy wasted no time going for damage off the bat as is it hit Gyarados.
"Hydro Pump!" Crobat was too fast for Gyarados' attack to hit home. "Change to Thrash!" A large flailing sea snake that could essentially jump was going to find its target one way or another.
"Wing Attack again! Don't be scared of it!" Gyarados met it in the middle of the field and tossed it aside like a joke. While on the ground, Gyarados hit it for a second time. "Use Haze for cover!" Black mist shrouded the field; I smirked.
"Hyper Beam when you find it!" Crobat thought it was covered but Gyarados was too experienced to let a little smoke get in the way. Since it wasn't expecting the hit, Hyper Beam delivered a critical hit earning our first win. "Thanks to you I could get off that Hyper Beam. Haze is like a reset button on the battle and my Gyarados was about to be confused. Unfortunately for you it didn't pay off. Come at me with your best if you want to stick around!"
My opponent from New Bark Town clenched her fist. "Be careful what you wish for. Noctowl!"
Option number one is to keep Gyarados in since he still wants to go. Option number two is to switch to Ampharos. Gyarados has been putting in work so far so he can stay. Besides, I have Ampharos in the back.
"Use Ice Fang Gyarados!" It lunged at the brown bird and bit one of its wings scoring an efficient hit.
"Ha! It didn't freeze. Noctowl use Hypnosis!"
"Thrash attack!" Chuck's battle immediately came to mind on how to get out of Hypnosis' mesmerizing powers: you move around recklessly so the attack doesn't draw you in. The only way to calm my Gyarados down proved to be useless as it came down on the flying type on three separate occasions.
Noctowl was hanging on by a thread but the finishing move couldn't be delivered right away due to Gyarados throwing himself against the ground multiple times from the confusion. "Go in for a Take Down!"
She made a horrible mistake. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam now!" There was no way to evade the powerful attack and the referee had ruled in my favor as quickly as possible. Cheers erupted from the audience as my arm was raised by the judge. Ashley took me back to the press conference area only this time, there were well over 60 reporters this time around. Nobody looked like they were going to follow the formalities with all of them raising their hands to talk. Guess they liked what they saw on the stream or in the stands. Throughout all the commotion I only heard one question that I genuinely wanted to answer: are you really prepared to face all 126 remaining potential trainers?
"Hold on!" I said into the microphone; they all stopped. "I don't have to worry about the other 126 trainers. All I have to do is survive and advance."
"But what does that mean?" someone shouted from the back.
"You'll see soon enough." It got so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
I walked out of the press conference with my footsteps echoing throughout the silent room.
The phrase "Survive and Advance" is an homage to North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano who coined the phrase in 1983. I won't go into detail on the legacy he left behind after he died of cancer in 1993. If you get the chance to look up his ESPY speech, I recommend watching it when the chips are down. Below is an excerpt.
"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."
There's your motivation for the day. Have a good one :)
-W4f