Chapter 4

Wes's Gambit

After a brief pause, the first two contestants were chosen.

"And it looks like our first match is Leon vs Wes!" The announcer said, causing everyone else to leave and head to the stands specifically for competitors and their families.

"Time to show the world what Galar's champion is all about!" Leon said confidently.

Wes smirked but said nothing, clearly trying to get a read on his opponent by observing.

Michael sat next to Rui, his mom and Jovi had chosen to not come on the first day, so if he washed out early Jovi wouldn't make a scene, he was confident they were watching on TV though.

Of all the other contestants, only Cynthia sat down to have a conversation. The others sat far apart, watching the match intently.

"Not used to the heat here, are you hot?" Cynthia questioned. She was wearing a loose blue top and black pants which contrasted with her usually black ensemble.

Michael chuckled and replied "Growing up in a region that's 50% desert tends to make your temperature tolerance pretty good"

"And I've been around Orre and some other hot places plenty of times" Rui admitted, thinking back to her and Wes's trip to Stark Mountain.

Wes led with the same Pokémon he had used in the qualifiers.

"Luna, Solaris, come on out!" Wes announced as his first partners, an Umbreon and an Espeon took the field.

Leon responded by sending out a Dragapult and an Inteleon.

The announcer gave a brief pause for the referee to take his place before saying "3….2….1...BEGIN!"

"Dragapult, dragon Dance! Inteleon Dark pulse!" Leon ordered in rapid succession.

Energy swirled around Dragapult as it gained attack and speed. Inteleon then launched a dark pulse at Solaris

Wes nodded and said, "Solaris, dodge and hypnosis, Luna use confuse ray!"

The Espeon effortlessly dodged the attack and fired a hypnosis, the multicolored ring of energy causing Inteleon to pass out and fall to the ground.

"Dragapult, dodge and Dragon claw!" Leon shouted.

Thank to its boosted speed, the dragon type dodged the ghostly blue ball of light from the confuse ray, however, Leon realized all too late that Wes was going him into attacking. Umbreon took the attack with nothing but a slight flinch.

Wes smiled and said, "double status now!"

Dragapult gave a stunned look as it got hit by a point-blank confuse ray and a hypnosis soon after, both of Leon's lead Pokémon were completely helpless.

"Luna Reflect, Solaris, Light screen!" Wes ordered calmly. Despite the massive advantage he still was going to shore up his defenses before attacking.

Both Eeveelutions eyes glowed as shields of yellow and blue light formed bubbles over their fur.

Leon knew he was in trouble and began to pull his Pokéballs to switch out, only for Wes to once again be one step ahead of him as the snagger ordered "Luna, Mean look, Solaris calm mind"

The Umbreon's eyes glowed purple before surrounding the two sleeping Pokémon with a purple glow, forcing them to stay in the field. Solaris had already charged up with a calm mind. His defenses and offenses now in prime positions, the time was now for Wes to sweep.

"Luna dark pulse, Solaris, Psychic!" Wes ordered.

Both attacks found their mark, Dragapult took back to back dark pulses before waking up just in time to take a third one to the face, knocking it out in less than 5 seconds.

Inteleon fared worse, as its frail defenses caused it to get one-shotted by Solaris.

Leon gasped as his two leads laid on the field fainted, but quickly regained his composure and returned them to their Pokéballs.

"Not bad Wes, but I'm not finished yet!" Leon admitted before tossing two more Pokéballs into the air, revealing a Charizard and an Aegislash.

"Charizard! Seismic toss, Aegislash shadow sneak!" The Galar champion ordered.

Charizard rushed forward at an incredible speed, picking up Luna and flying in circles, gaining centrifugal force.

Solaris dodged the shadow sneak, but that left it wide open to get hit by an iron head. Flying through the air, Solaris was knocked down by a shadow claw.

Wes realized he needed to take out Leon's Charizard now, and that meant a risky play.

Luna was lobbed into the ground with incredible force.

"Blast Burn!" Leon ordered, causing Charizard to charge up fire, preparing to finish off the Umbreon.

Just before the attack launched, Wes gave a guilty face and said "sorry Luna, Destiny Bond!"

The Umbreon nodded as its red eyes glowed an even brighter red, this was a brutal strategy, but she trusted her trainer"

Leon tried to stop the attack with "wait Charizard …." but it was too late. The Charizard fired the blast burn into the ground, causing pillars of fire to erupt from the ground under Luna. When the flames cleared the Umbreon was on the ground fainted. Just the red glow covered Charizard, causing it to roar in pain and instantly pass out, falling to the ground with a thud.

Meanwhile, Solaris was dodging as best as she could, and Wes finally could focus on giving her orders.

Wes looked at the Aegislash and said "use psychic on the ground!"

Solaris nodded causing boulders to erupt from underground and fly towards the Royal Sword Pokémon.

"Use king's shield!" Leon shouted, causing a massive glowing force field to appear in front of Aegislash, launching all the rocks back at their sender.

Solaris and Wes gasped at the same time, the rocks smashed down into the psychic type knocking her out as well.

Wes pulled out his Pokéballs and returned his two eeveelutions saying "take a good rest, Sorry Leon, but this match is over"

"And why is that?" Leon questioned confidently, Aegislash was at full health and excelled at wearing down opponents.

"Because you're Aegislash is at a huge disadvantage, Go Mons!" Wes shouted before tossing out an Ultra-Ball. From within emerged a massive four-legged Pokémon covered in shaggy brown fur who had a white, mane-like stream of fire on its back"

Leon gasped at the sight of the legendary fire type, Aegislash had to wait for another king's shield, so it could only sit there and take the next attack.

"Mons, sacred fire!" Wes ordered, causing the Entei to shot a massive ball of blue flames. The attack came out so fast that Aegislash couldn't hope to dodge and took a direct hit. As his last Pokémon fell to the ground defeated, Leon was too stunned to say anything.

The referee took one quick look at Aegislash and said "Aegislash is unable to battle, Mons is the winner! Wes wins the match 0-2" referring to the number of Pokémon remaining on each side.

The announcer was surprised as the silent audience, clearly illustrated in his voice as he said "with an amazing upset, Wes is victorious!"

The crowd was stunned, considering Leon's undefeated streak, but erupted into cheers nonetheless.

Wes walked up to Mons and petted his neck before saying "speed and power, good job buddy" before returning the Entei to its Pokéball.

Wes then walked over to Leon and offered him a handshake, but the Galar champion shook his head and refused. Leon walked away in a rage, he felt cheated since it all came down to the fact that his last Pokémon was weak to fire, and he believed that had Inteleon been there things would've gone differently.

Regardless Wes waved to the crowd and walked to the stands as the announcer said "For our second Match, Rui Walters and Champion Lance please report to the field! The 2nd match is coming up right after this commercial break!"

Author's note- Hope you liked this Chapter!

1. I know Leon lost easily, but that just to show a skill gap since he's the youngest champion. remember that 4 on 4 means your options are limited. Double battles are Wes, Rui, and Michael's specialty after all

2. I know Umbreon can't learn destiny bond, but considering Houndoom can, it's not much of a stretch.

3. thoughts on the contestants? Lt. Surge is admittedly filler because I needed a full bracket.

Leave a review, see ya next week!