CHAPTER 11 – LATENCY DISGUISED

The sun was high in the sky and beaming, bathing the entirety of Stadium 22 in bright light and scorching heat as Ash and Ari found their seats. Squeezing past a heavyset couple twelve rows from the front, they plopped into the hard plastic of the chairs, Ari grabbing the attention of a wandering vendor and purchasing a pair of ice-cold drinks for them.

"Thanks," Ash said gratefully, jamming his lips over the straw and taking a long drink. Taking a look around, he noticed that the crowd in attendance for this battle was much smaller than the one that had turned up for his battle with Ari. By his estimate, only a few thousand had taken to the stands, all packed into the lower tier.

Like the two of them, the rest of the crowd were all waiting – some of them very impatiently – for the battle's commencement, and it was a good minute before they were given a reason to celebrate. With a loud mechanical whirring, the steel doors at either end of the field slid apart to reveal the darkened trainer tunnels.

"Guess they couldn't spare a commentator for this match either," Ari muttered to himself, looking on as a trainer finally stepped onto the field. Without the particular flash of hair he was expecting, the trainer failed to draw Ari's attention, but nonetheless his companion in Ash watched on as she took her place on the field. Noticeably, she was exceptionally short and with a shock of chin-length black hair strewn about her young face. At least her choice of clothing was better than her hair – a large, plain grey shirt hung loosely from her shoulders, flowing down to a matching pair of cargo pants.

"She looks like she just got out of bed," commented Ash with a slight chuckle. In truth, he was thankful to see that he wasn't the only person who'd had an unfortunate morning before their first battle.

"Hope for her sake that she's a quick riser. She's going to need to be alert," Ari said, eyes trained on the opposite side of the field to the girl as her opponent stepped out. A man who differed from the girl in every way walked out into the view of the crowd, who responded with resounding approval. He was quite tall – at least six feet – and with short, ocean-blue hair that stuck out at odd angles. Traces of wrinkles were beginning to creep onto his weathered face, especially around his dull brown eyes, and his stubble-lined jaw was held in a firm lock as he made his way to the centre circle.

In stark contrast to his rugged face, his choice of clothing suggested hints of being much more easy-going. A simple shirt to match the ocean-blue of his hair covered an averagely built torso, adorned with an image of pink bubbles rising from a cresting wave. Identically coloured board shorts splashed with random patches of white fabric fluttered in the soft breeze, and he folded his tanned arms over his chest, holding the young girl before him in a friendly, yet intent stare as he came to a stop.

Ari joined the crowd in applauding the newcomer, offering an explanation to a somewhat confused Ash as the latter put his hands together out of courtesy. "His name's Luuyn," he said, twitching his head at the tall man. "Hails from Cianwood City in western Johto, and he's been a trainer for almost eighteen years. From what I've learned of him since we met, he seems to know your friend Brock's father, Flint."

"You know Brock?" Ash asked, his voice a mix of surprise and eagerness as mirrored by his raised eyebrows.

"Not personally, no," replied Ari with a shake of his head. "I just know that he's a friend of yours. Same goes for Misty, though another friend of mine's… run into her a few times in Cerulean."

Ash diverted his attention from the field, his gaze locking onto Ari's though they didn't meet eye to eye. He was unnerved with how much Ari knew about him and his friends. Guess he's really thorough when it comes to the whole researching thing, he guessed, though the question continued to nag at his conscience as he checked the field again. He leaned forward in his seat as he saw that both trainers had sent out their Pokémon for the first battle; Luuyn had gone with a Ludicolo, whereas his opponent had opted for a Hariyama.

"Looks like the other match was a curb-stomping as well…"

"Huh?" Ash asked, the words lost amongst the indomitable crowd as they cheered a successful Double Team manoeuvre from Ludicolo. After getting no reply, Ash broke his concentration again and turned to Ari, finding the boy staring intently, not at the battle, but at a phone he'd recently produced.

"The battle between the other two members of our bracket," Ari elaborated, flipping the phone shut. "It actually ended a few minutes before ours did, but this was the first chance I'd really had to check the results. It was a three-nil win to Hope," he frowned.

"That's bad, right?" grimaced Ash, knowing that a close result would've been much more favourable for his aspirations to proceed.

"For you, that's pretty much worst-case scenario," he sighed, and Ash knew Ari was thinking about the promise he'd made to Anabel earlier in the day; to help Ash through to the next round as best he could. "I checked both of them out earlier, and Hope seems a much tougher trainer than Fraser. If he'd've at least scraped a point against her, you wouldn't need as many points to qualify for the next round. But a three-nil win puts her on four points, just like me…"

Ari broke off mid-speech, presumably weighing up Ash's options. Rather than explicitly waiting for Ari's opinion, Ash crunched the numbers himself. Assuming Ari beat the other two three-nil like he said he would, he'd need to make up at least four points in his two remaining battles. That more or less meant he had to win both battles, and by no less than a margin of two-one each. It was far from an impossible task, but the way Ari had frowned when he learnt of Hope's victory worried Ash.

"Your next match is against Fraser, isn't it?" Ari said suddenly. Neither of them paid any attention as the crowd around them jumped to their feet, and they completely ignored the large soda that went flying over their heads.

"Uh, I think so?" laughed Ash. He honestly didn't know.

"It is, I checked the battle schedule for our bracket," Ari replied, more to himself than to Ash. "Well, since you need to win that match to have any shot of advancing, we might as well start with that."

"Start with that?" he repeated blankly, oblivious.

"Going over what you should do to pull out a win against Fraser," said Ari obviously. "First things first, though. He's a trainer from Pastoria City in the Sinnoh region. He's been to all four regions minus Hoenn, and he's been a trainer for about eleven years. Despite his experience, he's not a particularly strong trainer; the kind you'd expect to face in the first few rounds of a major tournament. Maybe the finals qualifiers if he's lucky.

"You with me so far?" he asked.

"Somehow," Ash chuckled, amazed at how much Ari had learnt just from his research. The boy was like a portable computer when it came to knowledge about other trainers. Ash wouldn't put it past him to know where or even how Fraser had captured all of his Pokémon.

"He doesn't have a lot of particularly rare Pokémon, so the ones he owns are probably ones you've battled before. If so, draw on the experience you had fighting those species. I checked some battle footage, though, so I'll offer this one bit of advice beforehand: look out if he uses his Skuntank. It's a lot faster than its bulk would lead you to believe, and it knows a nasty Hidden Power to cover its Ground-type weakness."

"Check," nodded Ash.

"In general, Fraser tends to follow a pseudo-set strategy for most of his battles," Ari continued. "He favours defensive moves which can be used in powerful combination attacks—"

"Whoa, slow down," Ash interrupted, putting his hands out to emphasise it. "I understood everything up to that move favouring part."

"Okay, I'll use an example you're very familiar with," Ari said seamlessly, almost like he was expecting the misunderstanding. "In battle, you've had your Donphan use Defense Curl to brace against an attack, then followed up with Rollout to take advantage of the position provided by Defense Curl. That's what Fraser does, only he does it a lot more often than most people. A defensive move which launches into a combination attack."

"Oh… You could've just said 'stuff like Defense Curl and Rollout'" said Ash meekly.

"True, but he uses a lot more tricks than just Defense Curl and Rollout, so watch out for that in your battle," he warned. "If you want to beat Fraser – which you're going to need to do convincingly – you have to be able to circumvent, or at least defend against, these combination attacks."

"Any ideas on how to do that?" he asked. It's not like he was short on ideas; normally, he was a brilliant improviser, something which had seen him win countless battles over the years. It's just that Ari really seemed to know what he was talking about, so he didn't see the harm in picking his brain.

An explosion of noise from the crowd signalled the end of the first battle, and Ash started forward in surprise when he realised he'd missed the entire first bout. He'd been so focused on talking to Ari about his upcoming matches that he hadn't even looked at the field in the last five minutes.

"Ludicolo won that, in case you're wondering," he said offhandedly, before pausing to contemplate Ash's question. As the proverbial cogs whirred inside his friend's head, Ash glanced back at the battlefield, spotting three fresh craters in the field's surface, and numerous pockmarks forming a line down the western half of the stadium floor. Luuyn was grinning widely as he hurled a Great Ball onto the field, a flash of white light revealing a Croagunk as his second Pokémon.

Across from him, the short girl who was his opponent glowered at the prospect of facing the Toxic Mouth Pokémon. After a brief moment of thought, she too chose her second in the form of an Onix. The Rock Snake Pokémon reared up to its full height in an attempt to intimidate Luuyn's Croagunk, but the display did much more to scare the crowd than the Poison-type, many of the more nervous members shrinking back in their seats as the Onix towered over them.

"Defense," Ari said finally, once the crowd had quietened down following the excitement of Hariyama's defeat.

He only had time for that one word, too, for an echoing ding around them gave way to the second match's commencement. In a flash Onix pounced, swinging its enormous tail into the air. Croagunk didn't even flinch as the giant appendage came down with enough force to split the ground in two, and it had good reason. Onix's tail slammed into a translucent green bubble and bounced harmlessly away, much to the outrage of its owner and trainer.

"The key to beating Fraser is a strong defense," Ari repeated, raising his voice to get the message across. "You need to pick Pokémon that can take a lot of damage, but can also dish it out when they need to. Tanks, as they're commonly called. From the videos I've seen, you don't need to worry too much about having Pokémon that are fast, they just need to be durable."

"So Pokémon like my Snorlax would be good choices?"

"Not necessarily," said Ari, folding his arms across his chest. "Your Snorlax is a very powerful Pokémon, but it lacks strong defensive moves. You need defensive moves to outlast combination attacks, moves like Iron Defense and Protect.

"Also," he added, an idea coming to him like a light-bulb being turned on, "improvised moves like that Counter Shield you invented should work well, too."

"Right," Ash nodded, relieved that Ari's suggestions were things his Pokémon could supply. "Bulky Pokémon, defensive moves, Counter Shield," he counted off the tactics in his head and willed his brain to remember them, "what about just hitting his Pokémon really hard right from the get-go?"

"That's a possibility," Ari conceded with a shrug. "Though it's very risky."

"Isn't every strategy risky, though? I mean, there's no—"

"It's risky," he interjected loudly, his irritation with Ash's slowness becoming apparent, "because opening with a strong offense will forceFraser into a defensive state of mind. It'll force him to use defensive moves which he can then springboard into his combination attacks from. Remember what I told you earlier?" he added.

Ash caught the hint of condescension in Ari's voice, but bit back a harsh reply. In truth, Ari had somewhat earned the right to talk down to him about correct strategy. It was still a bitter pill to swallow when the trainer who just beat you gave such a lecture, though.

"The best advice I can give you for next battle is to let him make the first move," said Ari after an unpleasant lapse, focusing on Luuyn's battle and frowning as Croagunk hit the ground and moved no more. Fresh applause filled the air like a roaring jet engine flying overhead as the young girl bolted across the field to hug her Onix. The Rock-type was panting heavily, its face dripping hissing dollops of acrid poison, but like its trainer it was relieved to have pulled off the win.

From his vantage point up in the stands, Ash noticed that Luuyn looked honestly surprised to have lost the battle. Luuyn shook his head and laughed like he'd just heard a particularly distasteful joke and recalled his fallen Croagunk in a burst of red light as Onix underwent the same thing.

"Because if he's attacking he can't use those defensive combinations?" he asked Ari, and the latter nodded and gave a smile.

"Hit the nail on the head, Ash. He can use those defensive moves all he likes, but if that's all that happens for the battle, his Pokémon are going to tire themselves out. Going on the offense leaves him vulnerable to quick counterattacks."

"So basically," Ash surmised, recapping the lesson in his head, "let him attack first, draw him in close and hit him hard before he can swap to a defensive move and pull out a combination attack."

"Precisely," smirked Ari, his interest and attention finally resting on the battle as it entered its final stages.

A cry of "Waffles, let's go!" permeated the air as the young girl threw her third and final PokéBall forwards. The attending crowd all leaned forward in anticipation of her last Pokémon, but instantly shrank back when it was revealed. It stood at barely four feet tall, with five mottled petals that formed an enormous yellow flower atop its stubby green body. But truly the most bizarre thing about the Pokémon was its smell. The Pokémon's horrendous odour seeped out in all directions amidst a faint cloud of yellow spores, forcing the fans further back in their seats to escape the overpowering stench of rotten eggs and festering garbage.

"Hey, there's something you don't see every day!" Ash exclaimed with one hand over his nose. "A shiny Vileplume!"

Also pinching his nose, Ari grinned at the sight of the rare Grass-type. "Let's see if it's as strong as its smell, eh?" he laughed thickly.

"If it is, she'll win the tournament with it," joked Ash.

Down below and deep in thought, Luuyn observed the Vileplume's movements for a few seconds before coming to a decision. A grin to match Ari's sprang onto his face as he showed his response to the audience, another burst of light preceding the form of a Dragonite as his Pokémon stomped onto the field with a bellowing roar.

"And there's his Dragonite," Ari murmured, his comment completely drowned out by the chanting crowd as the usual ding prompted both trainers into action. Luuyn was the faster of them, barking an order to Dragonite, who spewed a powerful sheath of fire across the field. Vileplume was given the signal to dodge the Flamethrower, but its hefty bulk made the task too difficult. Dragonite's Flamethrower struck Vileplume head on, the sheer power of the attack driving Vileplume into the steel boundary wall to thunderous applause.

"Just remember what we talked about in the stands, and you should do fine against Fraser," Ari reiterated to Ash as the pair of them waited outside Stadium 22. The two had left before the end of Dragonite's battle with Vileplume, and had thankfully avoided the usual post-match exodus.

"Defend when he attacks and counterattack hard," Ash nodded, summing up the lesson. "But wait, isn't that pretty much what he does?"

Ari laughed, glancing over Ash's shoulder and waving at Luuyn as the latter walked out of the stadium. The man had his hands tucked into his pockets and was whistling to himself, so Ari could only assume that Dragonite had been victorious. "Hey, Luuyn!" he called out, drawing his attention.

"Hiya, Ari!" Luuyn smiled merrily, waving at the pair of them and fighting his way through the surging crowd to reach them. Amongst the hundreds of people either leaving the stadium after his battle had ended or pouring in for the next one, he ducked and weaved with a loping agility, and soon was shaking hands with Ari. "How did your battle go? I'm assuming you thrashed that kid you were up against?"

"Uh, yeah I won three-nil, if that's what you're asking," replied Ari, a little bit embarrassed by the fact that said 'kid' was standing right next to him.

"Who're you calling a kid?" Ash asked, folding his arms and glowering at the tall trainer.

"You, because you don't look like an adult like me," joked Luuyn, immediately catching on but smirking nonetheless as he ruffled Ash's cap.

"Where are my manners?" Ari interjected, unfamiliar with Ash's patience and-or temper and wanting to avoid a confrontation. "Ash Ketchum, meet Luuyn Ziame," he introduced, gesturing between the pair of them and silently edging the two on for some form of greeting.

"Nice to meet ya, Ash," said Luuyn, grabbing Ash's hand in a firm handshake that made the Pallet native wince.

"Likewise," he said through gritted teeth, trying his best to return the handshake through Luuyn's crushing grip.

"Tough break that you lost your first match, but I don't envy you for running into Ari in the first round," shrugged Luuyn, releasing his grip and leaving Ash to flex his hand muscles so the blood would return. "I'd've been surprised if you didn't walk away from that match with no points, honestly. Good thing two people advance from each bracket, am I right?"

"Something like that," Ash smiled weakly, stowing his aching hand in his jacket pocket. "I take it Dragonite won, judging by how cheerful you are?"

This brought a wide grin to Luuyn's face. "Who, me? I'm always in a good mood; just look at this great weather!" he laughed heartily, brushing down his wave-patterned shirt. "But hang on a second," he paused, mulling over the point, "how'd you know I used Dragonite?"

"We were in the stands," answered Ari, clapping a hand on Luuyn's shoulder with a sneer.

"You little stalker," he frowned, giving Ari a light push before cracking back into laughter. Ari just shook his head and laughed along, used to this kind of humour.

"Guys, I'd love to stay and chat, but my second battle's starting in about twenty minutes, and I'd rather not be late to it as well," Ash said earnestly.

"Rightio," said Luuyn, waving him off. "I think I'm gonna get some training in before my second battle. Can't go slacking off after I've only got three points! I'll catch you two later." And with that, he bade them goodbye, heading off into the milling crowds and disappearing from view, the last thing to vanish being the gently bobbing thickets of blue hair.

Ari chuckled under his breath, before turning to Ash. "I should get going too. My next battle's on a little after yours, but… I've gotta help a friend prepare for hers. You'll be alright finding your next stadium, right?"

"I'll be fine," he nodded. He'd taken a few moments after they'd left Luuyn's battle to check the battleground directory kept in all stadiums, and he'd worked out a quick route to his next battle at Stadium 11. Quietly thanking the PLC for designing the stadiums in a linear spiral pattern, he waved to Ari and set off.

Once the Johto trainer was out of sight, he took his hand out of his pocket and started rubbing it. "That Luuyn sure knows how to make an impression," he grimaced, passing by the edge of Stadium 22 and onto the accompanying street.

My profuse apologies for this chapter being so late (about three weeks late, I think). Time and other constraints got the better of me, including but not limited to; family visits, Christmas, the cricket, New Years, the cricket, work, and the cricket. Again, sincerest apologies. Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track this new year, though it's far from the start of the year anyways.

Another 'sorry' for making you all wait for an intermediary chapter of all things, but that's the way things go. Though hey, from here on in, the action picks up for real, so hopefully it's worth it.

Chapter 12 - Misread Corpse, if nothing interrupts me this time, will be posted in a week's time, on Wednesday, January 18th. Pencil that date into your diaries, notebooks, calendars, what have you. Why, you may ask? Aside from being the next chapter, it's also a battle chapter. And a darn good one at that, if I do say so myself.

And since I didn't catch Tyranitar, setting a Sharpedo on Ho-Oh was fair game. Cryptic message of the week; mystery prize to the first person to figure out what it means.

As always, keep reading, and don't forget to review~