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It was morning, the forest flowed with the wind, the water flowed down through the lake, and the Pokémon woke from their sleep. It is a perfect morning.
"Pikachu! Iron Tail!"
A perfect morning to start training, that is!
"Pika!" Pikachu jumps into the air as his thunder tail turns into the metal.
"Natsu! Rock Smash!"
"Char!" Natsu's right paw turn is brought with red color as he jumps from the ground.
The yellow mouse rolls down as the orange lizard throws his right paw with force. The two attacks connect, shocking the wind around them. They both jump away from each other as they land on the ground.
"Pikachu! Uses Quick Attack!" the yellow mouse glowed white as it started to run.
"Natsu! Flamethrower!" the orange lizard roars a powerful fire, going straight to Pikachu. The electrical mouse dodges it and hits the fire-lizard right in the stomach. Sending him stumbling backward, but Natsu recovered himself.
"Iron Tail!" Pikachu jumps and once again, his tail turning to metal.
"Flamethrower, again!" Natsu shoots out fire again, blocking Pikachu's attack, it was an intense struggle, but fire beat metal as the Flamethrower covers the tail and Pikachu on its fire.
"Pika!?" the yellow mouse cries, as he crashes on the ground. He slowly stands up and began to wave his tail around, throwing the fire away.
"Stop!" Ed shouts, causing both Pokémon to drop. The trainer walks up to the two of them, "Good job you two, that's enough for now." He gives the two of them an orange berry, which the two Pokémon gladly take and eat.
Ed looks at them before something covers his vision, "Huh?! What the?!" he almost panicked when he heard a slithering sound next to his ear. "Ekans! Stop doing that!"
At saying that, whatever was covering him moved out and showed the Ekans of before, wrap around the neck of the trainer, its tongue coming out as if she was laughing at him before rubbing her cheek on his face.
"Is not funny, you know," Ed sighs. It has been two days since he was in Viridian City, and tomorrow was the day of the tournament. He trained with both Pikachu and Natsu, improving their attacks by making them spar each other.
The Eknas witnessed them train for the first time and she was impressed, and yes, she is a girl. Ed's Pokédex can scan a Pokémon's gender, which he is glad because he doesn't want to cause a misunderstanding with it. Anyways, she wanted to be strong too, so she 'told' Ed that she would like to go with him. The trainer was surprised by it, but he never says no to a possible great asset.
"Okay Enkas, you're up," Ed says as the purple snake slither down into the ground. "You two take a break," he says to his two Pokémon who began to play tag as the other two walk somewhere else in the forest.
...
...
...
Ed and Ekans stand in front of a rusty tree, "Okay, let's focus on your attacks' strength."
"Kaaaaasss!" The snake Pokemon hiss while looking at the tree-like an enemy.
"Let's try Poison Sting!" Ed commands. The snake pokemon opened his mouth as several purple needles shot out, hitting the tree dead on and causing a small explosion.
"Now, use Wrap on the branch to the left!" At super-speed, Ekans wraps herself around a left branch and starts squishing it, moments later, the branch breaks apart.
"Nice! Now, Bite!" Enkas bites another branch as hard as she can, leaving a mark on it.
"Good, let's improve those moves a bit!" Ed said. He continued to improve Ekans' attack after a while before saying that it was enough.
*CHAR!*
Just then, Ed heard a familiar powerful roar, looking up, he saw a flamethrower going into the sky.
"Huh, what's Natsu doing?" he asked himself before looking at his Snake Pokémon, "Ekans, let's go back." The snake nods as she slitter up to his shoulders. Ed started to run back to the base, but when he got there, he saw a shocking scene.
Natsu and Pikachu were in a cage, surrounded by men wearing black clothes, black hats, and 'R' on his shirt and a red scarf. Ed hardened his eyes, "Team Rocket...I didn't think I would meet them this fast." he says before moving forward slowly.
"Ha! To think I would get two rare Pokémon at once, today is my lucky day!" the Team Rocket says, he quickly bends down and looks at his prays. "And I have such a rare discovery, this Pikachu has a strange mark on his head, the boss will be interested." Pikachu grits his teeth as sparks come out from his cheeks, and Natsu was biting the cage to get out. "I would give up if I were you too, no one is coming to help you two," he says with a cocky smile.
"I wouldn't say that." The man grunts in surprise as he turns around and sees Ed, "If you know what's good for you, release my Pokémon at once."
"Eh? Your Pokémon's? You're just a twerp, besides this Pokémon is now Team Rocket's property!" the grunt shouts at him with an evil smile.
The trainer sighed, "I tried the easy way." he extended his hand forward, "Ekans, your first battle is now!" The Snake Pokémon slitter on his hand before jumping down, hissing at the goon.
"Hoh? Playing the hero? That's a mistake boy." Team Rocket takes out a Poké-Ball, "Koffing, Go!" he releases a flying purple creature, it looks like a small water bomb, it had a happy smile and below his mouth was across. Ed took out his dex and aimed at it.
"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokemon. Because it stores several kinds of toxic gases in its body, it is prone to exploding without warning."
('Koffing, eh? Poison vs Poison, legit match.')
"Koffing! Let's take their vision off with Smokescreen!" The Gas Pokémon releases smoke out of his body, covering the area.
"Enkas! Have your guard up!" Ed commands as the snake tries to see around the smoke that was around her.
"Koffing! Tackle!" She then noticed two white eyes coming at her but was too late to dodge them as the Poison Gas Pokémon tackled her. Sending her backward. "Koffing, Tackle again!"
"Ekans! Dodge it and use Wrap to catch him!" Koffing went to attack, but the Snake Pokémon moved out of the away and used her tail to wrap herself around its body. "Send him spinning back to his trainer!" the little snake commenced spinning around, faster and faster, causing Koffing to have swirl eyes before she launched at the grunt.
"Wait-!" was what the Team Rocket grunt could say before the Gas Pokémon crashed into him, sending him flying into the cage, which opened up. Pikachu and Natsu escape as the goon falls inside with his Pokemon and the cage closes up. Both of them were unconscious.
...
...
...
Ed had widened eyes, "...That's it?" His first battle against a TR Grunt...ends this quickly?
He felt a weight in his shoulder, Pikachu was looking at him with a curious look. Shaking his head, Ed quickly recovered from his shock, "Either this guy didn't train his Pokémon great or Ekans has a strong tail...but, I'm not complaining." Ed says as he pats the snake in the head, which she gladly accepts.
"Now then," He began thinking, "What do we do with him?" ('We can't leave him here, he might try to escape, and leaving him here is kind of heartless…') suddenly, a light bulb appears on his head.
…
..
.
"One, two, one, two, one, two."
That, what you are hearing is the sound of someone carrying something heavy with the help of others. Natsu, Pikachu, and Ed were carrying the cage that held the Team Rocket grunt in. Ekans was keeping an eye on it, making sure that they didn't do anything. Fortunately, the goon hasn't woken up from his slumber yet.
The three-man populations were doing a hard job. Ed thought that this would be a great way for them to raise their stamina, as for the girl snake...Ed wants her to be their eyes and ears; making sure they won't be any surprises for them and help her obtain some sharp senses.
They began walking for a long time, only resting three times before arriving at a cliff, where they saw their destination; Pewter City.
"All right boys!" Ed said. "We are almost there, just a little more!" he encourages them. Pikachu and Natsu nod before they pick the cage on more time and keep walking.
They manage to get into the city without any trouble. As they walk, several people watch them pass by in curiosity. One of them walked up to them, it was a light-green-haired lady wearing a blue officer uniform. "Young man?" Ed looks at her, "Could I ask what you're doing with this cage?"
"Officer Jenny!" he places the cage down and sweeps his sweat off his face, "Glad you're here, this man is a member of Team Rocket."
The officer looks inside the cage to see the 'R' symbol on its shirt, "Well, will you look at that…"
"The guy tried to steal my Pokémon, but as you can see, it didn't go too well," Ed commented with a smirk.
"I appreciate your cooperation here, is it okay for me to take over?" she asked while saluting him.
"By all means."
Officer Jenny blows a whistle and several officers appear in a line, saluting her. She quickly began ordering to move the cage, which they were having a hard time moving the thing. Ed had to control his laughter, showing the officers having a hard time while Jenny shouted to them, saying how can they let a small kid outdo them.
(After some time)
Our protagonist was now in front of the Pokémon Center. Entering inside, he walks to the reception desk, where Nurse Joy was. "Hello there!" she greets.
"Hello, could I have you check my Pokémon?" he asked as the three Pokemon stood next to him. Nurse Joy nodded to him. He proceeded to take out his poke-balls and aim them at Natsu and Ekans, "A'right you two, back to your balls." Both Pokémon were called back to their Poké-balls. He placed them on the platform where one puts the poke-balls in and Pikachu next to them.
"I'll be taking your Pokémon for a while," the pink nurse said before bowing her head and leaving. The yellow mouse waved his paw as he was taken away. Ed waves him back as he commenced to walk away.
After like six minutes, our black-haired trainer was now walking around, looking for something to do while eating a Snickers.
('Mmm! Is it true, I'm not me when I'm hungry!') he thought to himself as he shoves it all in his mouth.
"Ooooooooh!"
He heard the sound of astonishment, he saw several trainers standing around. Getting curious, Ed went to see what it was, entering through the crowd. Once he was in view, he saw that everybody was looking down at the training ground.
He witnessed a battle going on, a random trainer with a golden-white, four-leg fox with nine long tails with orange tips at the end.
His opponent, a gothic loli girl with black hair in twin drill tails, red eyes, pale skin, a giant red bow behind her head, and black cloth and heels with a big white seal creature with a horn on its head.
…
...
...
Ed's eyes become bloodshot, there was a gothic loli on the battlefield. ('Holy Shit! A gothic loli?! Never saw that one coming!') he thought as he took out his cellphone and aimed at the two Pokémon.
"Ninetales, the Fox Pokémon. Very smart and very vengeful. Grabbing one of its many tails could result in a 1000-year curse.
"Dewgong, the Sea Lion Pokémon. Stores thermal energy in its body. Swims at a steady 8 knots even in intensely cold waters."
"Ninetales! Use Flamethrower!" The trainer commands as the firefox shout a fire torrent from its mouth.
"Dewgong darling, Protect." The gothic says as the sea lion pokemon was hit by the flame, causing an explosion.
"Direct Hit!" the trainer says with pride before it transforms into shock when he sees an emerald barrier around the sea lion. "What?!"
The girl sighs like if she was in disappointment, "I feel tired of this parade, it's almost bedtime right now."
That comment ticked off the trainer, "Don't look down on me! Ninetales, Flame Burst!"
Ninetales took a deep breath before shooting a human symbol at Dewgong. All the spectators gasped at the size of the blast that was going directly at the Sea Lion Pokémon, but the gothic stood calm before raising a hand. "Dewgong darling, Ice Beam if you please." she simply said. The seal creates a small icy blue ball of energy on its mouth before shooting it straight at the fire attack. Both moves collide, but the Ice Beam went through the Fire Blast dispersing it before hitting the Ninetales dead on.
"Ninetales!" The trainer screamed in fear as he saw his Pokémon inside a block of ice, unconscious.
The referee raised his flag, "Ninetales is unable to battle, the winner is Dewgong! Which means that victory goes to Celestia Mercury!"
The crowd cheer at the gothic name Celestia as she bows her head at all of them with a sweet smile. "Hehe, it was nothing."
Meanwhile, our trainer was strongly surprised at this, that girl showed great potential as a trainer. He then began to hear comments around him.
"Man! Mercury strikes again."
"Yeah, she truly deserved the title of "Darkness Queen; she didn't hold back her punches."
"What you expect from the one that can become an Elite Four."
Ed was very intrigued by this info, ('A candidate to be an Elite Four?...Now that's something.') He thought when suddenly, the center's sound came out.
"Excuse me, Ed. Your Pokémon are all healed up!" Nurse Joy's voice rings out through the room.
"Oh, that's my cue," Ed said as he entered the crowd, going back to get his friends. Never noticing (rather he couldn't since he was in the crowd) that Celestia Mercury had a grin on her face.
"So, he's here…" she returned her Dewgong to its Poké-ball and began to walk to the exit.
"Hey! Mercury!" She hears the trainer shout in anger at her, "Don't think this is over, I will get you for this!"
She stopped walking and slowly turned her face to look at him with one eye that showed anger and annoyance, "You're bothering me, do me a favor and shut up." she said in a demonic voice that made the poor trainer squeal in fear as he ran away from her. She returns to walk away with her sweet smile on her face.
…
..
.
"Here you go! They are all fully healed!" Nurse Joy said as Pikachu jumped into Ed's shoulders and he grabbed Natsu and Enkas' poké-ball.
"Thanks, Nurse Joy," he said. "Say, I heard that tomorrow there will be a tournament."
"Ah yes!" The pink-haired woman clapped her hands together. "This town resident Gym leader announced that a tournament for a gym badge will be held. Are you interested in participating?" she asked him, to which Ed nodded. "Great, all I need is your identification!" Ed placed his phone on the panel in front of him. After doing that, Nurse Joy types something and gives a smile. "There, now you're already to participate, and you're lucky, there was only room for one more."
Ed nodded before saying his thanks and walking away and went to get something to eat. After getting his lunch, he sits at a table and starts to eat, with Pikachu, Natsu, and Ekans eating theirs. The yellow mouse was munching his food, Natsu was scarfing down his, and Ekans was elegantly swallowing.
The black-haired trainer could only chuckle at the three of them, ('They eat just like them…') He thought as he ate his meal.
(A few minutes later)
Once they finished, Pikachu and Natsu were having a hand wrestling match with the black vested trainer and the purple snake at the side as commentators.
"All right!" Ed spoke like an announcer's voice. "The Thunderbolt and the Fire Dragon are still on it! Natsu's strength has won him several matches, but Pikachu is not far behind!"
"Kassssss!"
"Hmmm, excellent observation there Ekans- wait what's this?"
"Kasssss!"
"Good Arceus! Pikachu has just received strength out of nowhere and has Natsu's arm almost down to the table!"
"Kass! Kass!"
"But Natsu's eyes are full of determination. Sweet lord, he just began to push Pikachu's hand right back to the beginning, and now is the thunder mouse who's struggling to not lose!"
"Kassss?"
"What's a lord? That's for another time, for now- Oh, Pikachu just pushes Natsu's hand back to the start!"
Both Pokémon's were sweating buckets from the forehead as their grip began to loosen up before Natsu slammed Pikachu's paw on the ground, causing the electric mouse to fall to the side out of exhaustion.
"And Natsu is the winner!" Ed yells out, making Ekans jump from surprise. The fire-lizard jumped with joy that he won and began dancing around, it took only three seconds before he slumped down in exhaustion as well, causing a sweat drop to appear on both trainer and snake.
"Okay…It's getting late, how about we go and take a rest?" Ed said, looking outside as the sun was beginning to disappear, "Tomorrow, we have a tournament to win." He took out his Poké-ball and aimed it at Natsu and Ekans, "All right you two, get some rest." Both Pokémon were called back to their balls. The black-haired put them away and picked Pikachu up and placed him in his arms. ('Now then, I wonder if there's any room left to sleep in.') He began to walk back to the desk, but when he turned a corner, he bumped into someone.
"Ack!"
"Uff!"
Ed felt on his butt, thankfully, Pika was safely held. He looked up to see who bumped into him and was shocked to see the girl with gothic clothes down to her tush. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see where I was walking." Ed apologized as he stood and offered a hand to her, "Here, let me help you."
"Why thank you," she said, taking his hand, "I believe you had more important objectives to care about than looking where you were going?" her eyes looked at the electric mouse that was sleeping in his arms.
Ed followed her eyes, "Oh, he is just tired…I was just going to go get some rest as well."
"Hehe, you almost look like a parent taking care of his son." the girl said. "It is great to know that you care for Pokémon, they're like a gift from the world for us."
Ed was surprised to hear something like that from her, "Wow…That was deep right there."
She giggles, "I just love pokemon…Oh my," she places a hand on her mouth, "I haven't introduced myself," she bows her head at him, "I'm Celestia Mercury, a pleasure to meet you."
The trainer bows his head to her, "Edgard Martinez."
"Edgar...Martinez…Such a long name to say," she said.
Ed scratches his hair in embarrassment, "Yeah, it is long, you can call me Ed for short."
She puts a finger on her chin, "Ed...That sounds more short and easy to say." she smiles at him, "In that case, you can call me Celes."
"...Then, it's nice to meet you, Celes," he bows to her, "Forgive my rudeness, but I have to go now. I have to wake early tomorrow."
"Ah, then excuse me as well, I too have to wake early," she bows to him, "Have a good night Ed, and good luck in the tournament tomorrow." she then began walking away.
"Goodnight to you as well, Celeste," he answered back. He began to walk away when he suddenly noticed something, ('Wait...How did she know I was participating in a tournament tomorrow?') he turned around to ask her, but was surprised to not find her.
"Huh? But she was…" he trailed off before remembering something, ('How in the world did she move so fast?') he thought before walking away. ('I sense a disturbance in the Force…')
…
..
.
The next morning, we are now inside Pewter City Gym, there was a mob of spectators in their seats. They were cheering a lot. Right on the battlefield stood sixteen young trainers, all ready to fight and obtain that Boulder Badge. One of them was the black-haired protagonists, his electrical partner on his shoulder.
"Good~ Day everyone!" the announcer appeared on the side, "Welcome to the Pewter City's Gym Tournament! We have sixteenth amazing trainers that are ready to battle! For what you may ask?" the announcer point at the screen above him, showing the badge, "Well! For the Boulder Badge, of course!"
As the crowd cheers and the announcer continues speaking, Ed looks at the screen, "The Boulder Badge…That's what we are here for Pikachu…" he looks at his electric mouse, "Y'all ready to win?"
"Pika! Pika!" the yellow rodent nods with a determined face.
"Good," Ed looks around his belt, his two poke-balls, "Natsu? Ekans?" both balls jingle in response.
"Now!" the announcer pointed at the contestants, "All matches will be one-on-one, each trainer will choose one of their inscribed Pokémon to battle in each round! There will be no substitution, the match will be over when one pokemon is unavailable to battle!" he points again at the screen, "Now, without further ado, let's shuffle our contestants around!"
An image of each trainer appeared on screen before they flipped around and began spinning. After a while, the matches were decided.
First Match; Ares vs Takkar! Second Match; Cardin vs Longinus! Third Match; Roman vs Kevin! Fourth Match; Marcel vs Evan!
Fifth Match; Martha vs Robin! Sixth Match; John vs Patricia! Seventh Match; Tyler vs Roll! Eighth Match; Celestia vs Marcus!
Ninth Match; Zap vs Stark! Tenth Match; Silver vs Crunch! Eleventh Match; Louis vs Frank! Twelfth Match; Lorenzo vs Edgard!
Thirteenth Match; Karen vs Juliet! Fourteenth Match; Sonny vs Jane! Fifteenth Match; George vs Al! Sixteenth Match; Falco vs Tom!
"Huh?" Ed looked in confusion at reading the second match before hearing a familiar voice.
"Hahaha! How lucky!" He turned to the side to see Cardin Witchneer with his smug smile, "It would appear I won't need to wait too long for my glory here!"
('...Great...') A sweat appeared in Ed's neck, the last person he wanted to see at the moment. Looking at the list again, he saw Celeste's name match eight. Looking around the people, he saw her not too far away, having a thoughtful expression, probably getting ready for her match. ('Well, at least I was right of her entering.') He looked to see the last matches, seeing his match next to the number 12. "Twelfth match, huh? It gives me time to prepare." He said as he placed his hand under his chin.
"And there you have it folks, our matches of the day!" the announcer said. "Let's start the first match right away!" With that said, the first two trainers went to their position and the others went to the bench of the side.
Ed decided to take a seat on the front, to have a better view of the battles and possibly his opponents. "Well, well, well," A much-annoyed voice spoke to him. "Look who is here, Mister 'I'm so lucky on beating you'." Ed had to fight a sigh out before turning around to be face-to-face with the bowl-haired heir, and his ugly smirk.
"What do you want, Cardin?" Ed asked him, Pikachu looking at the bowl-haired in suspicion, remembering that name.
"Oh nothing," a sly smirk appeared on the heir's face, "Just that I'm glad that you're here. It is a perfect opportunity for us to battle, so I can humiliate you in front of thousands of spectators." Ed had a droplet on his head, that line was so cliche. "Oh, feeling unconfident now," Cardin says smugly, "Finally noticing how different are we?"
"Yeah, you're the wealthy guy that lost to a kid and his untrained Charmander, so it is clear that we are different," Ed answered back while looking away, making the bowl-haired to flinch.
"Ghk! Sh-Shut up!" Cardin says embarrassed while shaking his fist treating, "You got lucky! I was going easy on you!"
"It doesn't matter if it was luck or you went easy; you still lost," Ed remarked.
"Shut up!" he growled before pointing his finger at Ed, "Just you wait, when we get our match, I'm getting revenge over you!"
"As lousy as ever, Cardin. You should try to change that attitude." A voice spoke up, and both boys turned to see Celestia walking up to them very elegantly, catching the eyes of many men.
"Ah! Mercury, my love! Long time no see!" Cardin did a complete 180 change, from anger to confidence and 'simp' expression. "How have you been?"
"Good, I have been training and having some Pokémon Battles here and there…and you?" Celeste asked him.
"Heh! I also have been training! In fact," Cardin began to say with a smug grin. "I became so good, I have to lose some matches out of pity!"
"Really? Then why were you crying after losing your battle in Viridian City?" she asked him with a smirk of amusement.
Cardin flinched at that, "Y-You were there?!" She nods to him, "T-That was just luck! I went easy on my opponent!" he says with red cheeks of embarrassment.
"It doesn't matter if it was luck or you went easy; you still lost." The gothic replied. She looked behind the embarrassed boy to see the black-haired trainer. "Good to see you again, Ed."
"Mercury. Good to see you as well." The black-haired greeted back.
"Wait, what?!" Cardin was taken aback, "You two know each other?!"
"Yesterday, Celeste was having an impressive battle," Ed replied out with praise.
"Hehe, why thank you for the compliment." the gothic says while placing a hand on her chin. "Although, your match with this one here was far impressive, seeing that you fought and won while still at a disadvantage."
Ed smiled at her words, "Having advantage or not has never bothered me…I just know how to give a fight."
"And so you did," Celeste said.
"Tch! Whatever," Cardin looked at the match to see that it was over, "Heh! Looks like the match is over, so it's time for a real trainer to give a show!" he points at the black-haired, "You better watch, Martinez. Witness the wild and true power of a Whitchneer!" and with that, he left to prepare.
"...So I'll be…" Ed said with an unimpressed tone.
"But I must say that he does bring a point." Celeste spoke, "Even though you beat him by luck or that he was going easy, he's very powerful since his father trained his Pokémon," Celestia says, taking a seat down.
"Yeah, his prideful voice says it all," Ed said as he also sat down, making Pikachu jump into his lap. "But since I'm here, I want to ask you something," he says.
"By all means, what can I help you with?" she asked before seeing the poster Ed received a few days ago.
"You were the one who sent this, weren't you?" Ed went to the point without hesitation.
The gothic stare at the paper for some time…before closing her eyes and letting a sigh out of her lips, "You figure that out way faster than I thought."
"It wasn't hard when you said yesterday 'Good Luck' to me, someone who you just met," Ed put the poster away, "There's also the fact that the sender said that he was told to give this to a trainer in Viridian Forest, who just happened to also say I was the only trainer he found. So I can say that whoever sent this to me is because I caught their attention...but I feel that this is more than just wanting to battle me" His response made the girl stop twirling her hair.
"...Well now," Celeste looked at him with an impressed expression, "To think you would even notice that...my expectations for you have gone higher." She said with a small smile, "You are correct, I do wish something from you...but before I can tell you, I wish to see if you are worthy."
The black-haired trainer raised an eyebrow, ('Worthy?') "What do you mean?"
"Here is my proposition," she looked at him straight into his eyes. "If you manage to get to the final in this tournament, I'll explain everything to you, what do you say?" She says, her red eyes make her beautiful.
The black-haired boy trainer blushed since she was in his personal space, not to mention, he never had a girl this close to him other than his sister. However, he shakes it off and answers her. "All right, I'll get to the finals...after all, winning it is the plan all along," he said as he places his glasses on his eyes.
"Perfect, then, I shall see you at the finals." with that said, the girl stood up and walked away, disappearing through the other trainers.
Ed looked at the direction she went as he began to think, ('What does she want for me? Looks like I'll have my answer if I win this tournament.')
…
..
.
After some long and intense matches, it was now Ed's turn to fight. Cardin and Celestia had successfully won their matches without a problem. The black jacket trainer stood on the left side while his opponent stood on the right side. "All right! Our twelfth match is about to start! The announcer spoke up while sitting in the commentary section with none other than Brook's father, Flint. "In the right corner, we have a young man from Fuchsia Town, Lorenzo!" The trainer waved away as everyone cheered. "And in the left corner, we have a trainer from Pallet Town, Edgard!" The black-haired wave out as well.
"Are both trainers ready?" The referee asked, earning nods from them, "Then begin!"
"Go, Graveler!" The opponent threw his Poké-ball and out came a rock creature with hands above his head and two on its stomach.
('Graveler, huh?') Ed took his dex out.
"Graveler, the Rock Pokémon, rolls down slopes to move. It rolls over any obstacle without slowing or changing its direction."
With a nod, he put it away and took his Poké-Ball, "Natsu! I choose you!" he threw the ball which let out Natsu who was covered in fire, not even his scarf was burnt. Yelling his iconic voice.
The referee looked at both trainers, "Both Trainers Ready?" He asked and he received a nod. "Then...Begin!"
"Graveler! Use Rollout!" the trainer command, causing the rock creature to quickly roll forward.
"Natsu! Dodge it!" Ed shouted, making the lizard jump to the side in time to dodge it. However, the Graveler turns around and charges once again at him. Natsu quickly jumps over the rolling bolder like an Olympic gymnast. ('I knew I was right to help his instinct sharp itself.') The rolling Boulder turns around once again. "Get ready and counter it with Rock Smash!"
Natsu's right paw glows brightly yet again and waits for his opponent to come at him. And when they reach him, Natsu roars and punches the rolling rock right in the center, making spin in place before it begins to spin slower. Once it stops, the Fire Pokémon moves back from Graveler, who stops it attacks, and falls backward, unconscious.
"Graveler?!" The other trainer felt shocked that his Pokémon was down already.
"Graveler is unavailable to battle! Charmander wins! This means," the referee raised his flag at that point at Ed, "Victory goes to Edgard!" At that, the crowd cheered in excitement.
"I-I can't believe it, folks! We just start the match and it's already over!"
As the announcer went ballistics, with Flint trying to calm him down, Ed picked Natsu up to his arms, gave a quick wave to the spectators before making his way back to the stand.
"What the hell was that?!" The moment his feet entered the waiting area, he was confronted by none other than Cardin, who had a look of disbelief. "How the heck did that weak lizard manage to defeat a Rock-Type Pokémon?! You must have cheated!"
"Really? You're gonna call me a cheater?" Ed could only sweat at this guy's brain, "Rock Smash is a Fighting move, is effective against Rock-Type Pokémons. Didn't you learn that in school?"
"Shut up! I know that! I meant how the hell did you manage to beat it in one punch!" Cardin asks, this time making the black-haired to roll his eyes through his sunglasses before taking them off.
"It's called training. I spent the last days improving my team's abilities." the black-haired boy said as he turned to see the upcoming match. "If that's all, I'll be leaving now." He was walking away, only to be stopped by the bowl blonde blocking his way again.
"Oh, no you don't!" He pointed his index finger at him, "I don't know how you did it, but it's clear that you have cheated somehow-"
"Only someone like you would say that," Ed ignored him and even walked past him. "People who are sour losers tend to find an excuse for anything." He should know about that. Back in his world, in the wrestling gym, he would sometimes be called up by other wrestlers that he was cheating. He was part of a recognized family and wealthy one, so that would bring some questions and suspicion. However, he wasn't bothered by it, but it doesn't mean he likes to hear it all the time, so he gave them his answer...in both ways.
"Sour?! Why you-"
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Cardin's words were cut when the announcer spoke up, catching the attention of all winning competitors. "We have now finished the first rounds of the Tournament! Give it to our winners!" The thunder of claps from the audience, each one directly to the winners of the matches. "Now! We are down to 16 contestants! We will now go to the second round! But this time; it will be at random!" With that, all the trainer's faces appeared on the screen before they all began to spin together.
Soon, the next matches were prepared. It showed that Ed would be fighting another trainer, while Cardin and Celestia would also face different opponents. ('Hmm...By the position of my match, I would be the fifth match.') He looks at the other matches, ('Looks like Cardin is going first, and Mercury is three matches later from me.')
"Tch! Got lucky!" The heir scowled as he made his way to the arena, not before giving Ed one final look, "I'm having my eye on you, cheater! Remember that!" And with, he went away.
Ed simply shook his mind before going to sit, however, he noticed the look behind his eyes. Denial and jealousy.
Seeing that, our protagonist had a bad feeling about this. Those eyes that he was receiving are the same as those who were suspicious of him when he was in a wrestling camp.
Luckily, he had a way to fix that up. But for now, he didn't need to overthink things through just yet.