The first round had ended with Nils, Tana, Rex, Libby, Utara, Dean, Obelia and Arnold all making it to the second round. With all of the first round battles finished, the match ups for the second round were revealed. Nils and Tana each got an opponent they didn't know but what really got their interest was that Rex would be facing Utara in the second round.
That night, Nils and Tana were discussing which Pokemon they would use and what strategies that wanted to try for the second round when they heard a knock on the door. After Nils opened the door, it revealed Rex on the other side.
"Can I come in," asked Rex who wanted to talk to the couple.
"Sure thing," answered Nils and Rex entered the room.
"I know that my opponent is a Ketchum co employee but do you know anything else about him," asked Rex.
"Well I don't know much," answered Tana, "But I remember shortly after I visited Pewter City for the first time my dad told me that he helped one of the employees catch a Munchlax, battled him and then the employee left for a journey saying that he will learn as much as he could about the bond between people and Pokemon."
"I see," said Rex, "Well if that employee was Utara and he focused on learning the bond, then he'll be a tough opponent." "I'd better get going now, good luck to both of you in the second round tomorrow," and Rex left.
The next day during the second round, Nils had just won his match in the green stadium by having Froslass defeat his opponent's Pelipper. Nils then went to the blue stadium to watch Tana's match only to see Tana down to Zoroark and her opponent down to a Golem and Zoroark defeated Golem which meant Tana won the match and would be going to the third round like Nils.
After Tana's match, she and Nils hugged each other outside of the blue stadium out of happiness for both of them making it to the third round.
"What should we do now," asked Nils.
"I have a suggestion," said Firenze, who was also watching Tana's match, as she walked over to the married couple, "Rex and Utara's match will begin in the red stadium soon, why don't we go there."
"That's a good idea," said Tana, "I was wondering how that match will go after Rex came by last night."
"I was curious as well," said Nils and the three of them went to the red stadium to watch the match.
Once at the red stadium, Nils, Tana and Firenze saw Rex and Utara stand on each side of the battlefield and the two of them were about to start their battle.
"Go Vileplume," said Rex and Vileplume was sent out.
"Go Sudowoodo," said Utara and the Sudowoodo from the Dawn Caves was sent out.
"By decision of coin toss, Rex will have the first attack," said the referee.
"Use Toxic Vileplume," said Rex and Vileplume used the move of choice which poisoned Sudowoodo.
"Use Rockslide Sudowoodo," said Utara who was hoping to flinch Vileplume and Sudowoodo used the attack that was decided which damaged but did not flinch Vileplume.
"Giga Drain," said Rex and Vileplume attacked Sudowoodo with the chosen move which severely damaged Sudowoodo and completely healed Vileplume.
"In that case, use Stone Edge," said Utara and Sudowoodo used the selected attack which gave Vileplume tons more of damage than Rockslide.
"Giga Drain again," said Rex and Vileplume used Giga Drain again which lead to the same result as the last time but Vileplume still had some damage.
"Try Rockslide again," said Utara and Sudowoodo used the chosen attack which missed Vileplume who dodged.
"Giga Drain once more," said Rex and Vileplume started to use Giga Drain for the third time.
"Sucker Punch," said Utara and by using the decided attack, Sudowoodo attacked Vileplume before getting hit by Giga Drain yet again.
"Venoshock," said Rex and Vileplume used Venoshock which knocked out Sudowoodo.
"Sudowoodo is unable to battle," said the referee, "Vileplume wins."
"I guess I couldn't do much to your Vileplume," said Utara as he returned Sudowoodo, "But maybe this time will be different, go Drifblim," and a Drifblim appeared.
"Return Vileplume," said Rex who then returned Vileplume, "Go Banette and Banette was sent out.
"Stockpile please," said Utara and Drifblim used the move of choice which raised its defense and defense.
"Use Shadow Claw," said Rex and Banette started to use the selected attack.
"Use Phantom Force to dodge," said Utara and Drifblim used the decided move which made it dodge Shadow Claw and then attack Banette who took super effective damage.
"Use Will-O-Wisp and quickly," said Rex and Banette used the chosen move from up close which burned Drifblim.
"Shadow Ball," said Utara but when Drifblim used Shadow Ball, Banette dodged.
"Use Psychic," said Rex and Banette hit Drifblim with the move of choice which put Drifblim's special defense back to normal.
"How about this," said Utara, "Acrobatics," and Drifblim attacked Banette with the move that was decided which gave a bunch of damage to Banette.
"Hex," said Rex and Banette attacked Drifblim which did a lot of damage because of the burn and the fact the move was super effective.
"Phantom Force," said Utara who looked like he had an idea and Drifblim attacked Banette with the attack of choice.
"Use Shadow Claw," said Rex and Banette used Shadow Claw which knocked out Drifblim who then exploded and gave Banette some damage.
"Drifblim is unable to battle," said the referee, "Banette wins."
"What just happened," asked Rex.
"That explosion was Drifblim's ability, Aftermath," explained Utara, "When a Pokemon with this ability is knocked out by another Pokemon's attack, the attacking Pokemon will take a bit of damage." "Now go Snorlax," and the Snorlax that had battled Boyd's Steelix appeared. "Use Crunch," and Snorlax used the move of choice which knocked out Banette.
"Banette is unable to battle," said the referee, "Snorlax wins."
"That must be the Munchlax my dad helped Utara catch," said Tana, "I can't believe how strong it is."
"It's a lot stronger than when it battled Boyd's Steelix," said Nils.
"Go Vileplume," said Rex and Vileplume was sent back out." "Use Toxic," and Vileplume used the selected move which poisoned Snorlax just like it did with Sudowoodo.
"Use Zen Headbutt," said Utara and Snorlax used the move of choice which gave super effective damage to Vileplume who also flinched." "Now use Crunch," and Snorlax attacked Vileplume by using the decided attack which also lowered Vileplume's defense.
"Venoshock," said Rex and Vileplume used the chosen attack which gave Snorlax a bunch of damage.
"Zen Headbutt," said Utara and Snorlax attacked Vileplume with another Zen Headbutt which did more damage than the last one and made Vileplume flinch again. "Zen Headbutt again," and Snorlax used yet another Zen Headbutt which knocked out Vileplume.
"Vileplume is unable to battle," said the referee, "Snorlax wins."
"You make a good trainer for a full grown man Utara," said Rex, "But I still have a chance to win, go Granbull," and Granbull was sent out. "Use Crunch," and Granbull hit Snorlax with the chosen move which lowered Snorlax's defense and damaged Snorlax.
"Use Zen Headbutt," said Utara but when Snorlax hit Granbull with the attack of choice, Granbull didn't flinch.
"Play Rough," said Rex and Granbull attacked Snorlax with the decided move which inflicted damage and lowered Snorlax's attack.
"Try Crunch," said Utara who wanted to try to make up for the lowered attack by lowering Granbull's defense and Snorlax started to use the move of choice.
"Use your Crunch," said Rex and Granbull used the same move as Snorlax and they both hit their targets with Snorlax's defense lowered again while Granbull didn't get the effect or much damage because Crunch wasn't that effective.
"I guess there's no option left," said Utara, "Use Giga Impact," and Snorlax used the chosen attack which hit Granbull and caused a lot of damage but not enough to knock out Granbull.
"Excellent," said Rex, "Use Superpower," and Granbull used the move of choice and gave lots of super effective damage to Snorlax who couldn't move because of Giga Impact. "Super Power again," and Granbull used Superpower once again which knocked out Snorlax.
"Snorlax is unable to battle," said the referee, "Granbull wins which means the winner of this match is Rex."
After the match, Rex and Utara were outside the red stadium along with Nils, Tana, Firenze, Ren who was watching Libby's match in the green stadium after Nils' match, Libby who had won her match, Arnold who won his match in the yellow stadium, Obelia who had won her match in the blue stadium at the same time as Rex's victory, Dean who won the first match of the day in the red stadium and Gunter who decided to stay and watch the others and Utara was talking with everyone.
"Well everyone," said Utara, "This is the end of my journey." "I never would have gotten this far had I not been able to learn the bond between myself and my Pokemon." "I'll be leaving for Pinoma City tomorrow and when I get there, I will become an even better Ketchum co employee than I was before I started this journey." "Good luck to all of you in the remainder of the tournament, especially you Arnold."
"Thanks dad," thanked Arnold and everyone then either went to their rooms at the Midnight Hotel or watched the few remaining matches of the second round.
The next morning, Utara left Indigo City with the gang waving good bye to him. Once Utara was gone, Nils, Tana, Rex, Libby, Obelia, Dean and Arnold went to the stadiums for their third round matches while Ren, Firenze and Gunter went to watch.
