Peering over the rim of my half drunk can of lemonade; I immediately noticed Elliot looking nervously around the room, his eyes darting around, refusing to settle on anything. He was jiggling his left leg up and down, a sure sign that he was tense. I swallowed down the last of the juice, keeping a close eye on him all the while. It was only after the can was empty that I dared to speak.
"Elliot?" I ventured slowly. "Are you all right? You look… distracted?"
For a moment, I almost didn't expect him to respond, but then he set his own can of juice down and spoke up. "I'm nervous," he admitted, and I noticed he wouldn't meet my eye as he said so. "Seeing Scott battle like that, I was convinced he was going to lose… And I didn't want him to lose."
"I know," I murmured. "It would be horrible to lose one of our own group so soon…"
"Mm," Elliot said noncommittally. Then there was a pause as he glanced around, looking slightly uncomfortable. He then cleared his throat loudly and deliberately. "But call me crazy…" he murmured. "I would actually really love to battle Scott in this tournament. That's why I don't want him to lose…"
I blinked in surprise. "You want to battle Scott?"
"Of course," Elliot looked a little sheepish. "Did you not see that Pidgeot of his? That was incredible what he did. For a Flying Pokemon to pull off that kind of Dragon type move, let alone do it so well is nothing short of amazing." He took a long draught from his can. "That's the kind of person I want to battle. That's the kind of trainer I've been needing to battle for a long time…"
I opened my mouth to reply, but it was at that point that an irate Jasmine suddenly appeared, poking her head around the door of the small rest room we were currently sitting in. "What are you guys dawdling for!" She snapped. "The next battle's about to start!"
"It's been half an hour already?" I said in surprise.
"Yes, it has been half an hour already!" Jasmine hissed, before disappearing, and slamming the door behind her.
Elliot blinked as the door slammed shut. "What's wrong with her…?"
"Probably worrying about her battle with Nikki," I sighed, pushing myself back onto my feet. "Anyway, we should go… What battle is next?"
"Jade Black's," Elliot said as he took my hand, leading me towards the door. He looked thoughtful as we began to slowly climb the stairs back up to the balcony. "He's another one I wouldn't mind battling…" he said slowly.
I nodded. "He'll have to win his battle here then…"
"You think he will?" Elliot asked me, and I felt his grip tighten around my hand slightly.
"I don't know," I said truthfully. "Somehow I think his opponent could give him a run for his money…"
"That Sam girl?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Something tells me there's more to that girl than meets the eye."
"Something tells me there's more to everyone here than meets the eye," Elliot managed to say with a jokey smile as we emerged back out onto the cold balcony.
No sooner had we stepped out, the noise of opening Pokeballs and roaring Pokemon immediately rang out. Elliot and I glanced at each other in disbelief and then automatically dashed forward to the balcony. I barely even registered everyone else in the clamouring group who were all desperate to get a get a good seat for this highly anticipated battle as I pushed my way to the front. As I looked out onto the battlefield, my eyes picked out the figures of Jade and Sam straight away. After locating the trainers, I immediately sought out their Pokemon. On Sam's side, a Flareon. On Jade's side, a Claydol. The two Pokemon were circling each other warily, but not attacking, merely sizing each other up.
Sam ordered her Flareon to use Quick Attack, which allowed the Pokemon to dash straight up to the Claydol, easily avoiding an incoming Rock Throw. Sam's Flareon tried to attack with a powerful looking Fire Fang, but Jade, calm and collected as ever, ordered his Claydol to use Rapid Spin. His Pokemon's erratic spinning movement prevented the Pokemon from even getting close; let alone attacking, without risk of damaging itself…
Sam wasn't to be deterred by Jade's strategy, and ordered a Fire Spin. However, Jade's Claydol seemed totally unaffected by the close range Fire attack, the flames barely even licking the Pokemon's bulky body as it continued to spin. It then fought back, delivering a powerful Confusion that knocked the Flareon clean across the battlefield.
I winced as the Flareon crashed heavily to the ground and slid across the battlefield for a good couple of feet. However, the Pokemon was back up on its feet straight away, darting lithely straight towards the Claydol, executing another close range Fire Fang, followed up by a Fire Spin. The Claydol took damage this time, but this time it was able to give damage this time too. With a bellow, the Claydol shot another Rock Throw, this one collided head on with the Flareon, drawing blood from its face. While the Pokemon stopped in its tracks, howling in pain, the Claydol sealed the deal with a Confusion that completely knocked out the Fire Pokemon.
Sam looked horrified as she caught sight of the state of her Pokemon, and she ran straight out into the middle of the battlefield to cradle her injured Pokemon in her arms. Jade watched her throughout the whole proceeding, one eyebrow slightly cocked. Eventually Sam recalled her injured Flareon and took her place back at the side of her battlefield. I watched nervously as she pulled out another Pokeball. I had a hunch as to who she was going to use…
My hunch proved to be right.
"Che-Che! Use Shadow Ball!"
The Mightyena sprang straight into action, barraging the Claydol with a vicious Shadow Ball that the bulky Pokemon just simply couldn't avoid. It took the attack head on, sending the Pokemon spiralling backwards, taking a great deal of damage. Jade's eyes bulged in shock at the sheer power behind the attack and looked momentarily flustered.
"Good strategy," I heard Elliot murmur from next to me. "Exactly what I would've done. Use Mightyena's Dark type attacks to the advantage…"
Claydol looked like it had taken a fair bit of damage from the Mightyena's attack, barely supporting itself in midair any more. While Jade did try and get his Pokemon to attack again with another Rock Throw, the Pokemon's aim faltered, and the rocks completely missed. Che-Che got in with another Bite attack, but this attack didn't seem as consequential as the Shadow Ball, allowing Claydol to fight back with Hidden Power. But Sam's reactions were impeccable, as she ordered her Che-Che to use Dig to tunnel underground, evading what could have potentially been a very dangerous attack. With the attack evaded, Che-Che sent another Shadow Ball spiralling in the Claydol's direction, which completely knocked out the bulky Pokemon.
There was a murmur of unrest going through the crowd now. I knew for a fact now that every single competitor had been intimidated by Jade Black's cool attitude and seemingly easy aptitude for winning. Seeing him handed a defeat had sent a ripple through me, the crowd and every other competitor there.
"I… I did not expect that," I heard Luca say from nearby.
"Me neither," I murmured.
Even Jasmine and Elliot were shaking their heads, looking as astonished and dumbfounded as I felt…
With the scores tied at one victory apiece, a deathly silence spread across the stands. A slight disapproving sneer was playing on Jade's thin lips as he plucked another Pokeball from his belt, the folds of his cloak billowing in a slight wind that picked up.
Jade's next Pokemon was a Skarmory. The Pokemon looked calm as it swept into the battlefield, the sun reflecting brilliantly across its lean, shining, streamlined body. It stopped mid-flight, turning its beady eyes on its Mightyena opponent.
I noticed Sam now biting her lip, but she ordered Che-Che into battle anyway. However, the Pokemon's attempts at hitting the wickedly fast bird with a selection of Shadow Balls proved fruitless, and the Pokemon was becoming noticeably distressed with every miss. Jade ordered a Sky Attack, the Skarmory moving almost unnaturally fast to deliver the attack, which left the Mightyena bloodied and weakened.
Sam wasn't going to down without a fight, and immediately ordered her Che-Che back on the offence. The dog Pokemon, displaying an almost effortless display of agility despite its injuries bounded straight into the air and sunk its powerful jaws straight into the bird. The Skarmory's steel-like body protected it from the sharp teeth, but the sudden contact knocked it off balance, sending it crashing to the ground.
"Oh my God…" I said in awe. "Is Jade… losing?"
No-one said anything in reply.
The announcer was screaming excitedly into the microphone as Che-Che rounded on the injured Skarmory, who looked to be nursing a wing that looked suspiciously like it was broken, possibly from the fall. On Sam's order, Che-Che lunged for the grounded Skarmory, but it was at this point that Jade pulled out his ace in the hole.
A Protect.
A wondrous barrier of light sprung up, protecting the Skarmory from all angles, which stopped the Mightyena straight in its tracks, dumbfounded. Jade quickly ordered a Steel Wing as the Mightyena tried to recover from its initial fright, and it was over. The Steel Wing was simply too much for the Mightyena to take, and it collapsed.
"I…" I was astonished as I watched a despondent Sam recall her Mightyena. "I…"
"I didn't expect her to put up that good of a fight," Elliot admitted. "She's pretty good… That is one well trained Mightyena. It's a shame it had to end like this,"
"I know," I murmured softly.
The fifth battle was next, marking the halfway point through the first heat, and it was between Luca and Celeste. I wished Luca good luck as he left, although my heart was already thudding in anticipation. Luca was facing Celeste, the girl that had stubbornly held onto second place overall through the preliminaries. She had seemed nice and unthreatening enough when I had met her with Bailey, but I knew more than anyone that appearances could be deceiving…
"Please welcome, yes, please welcome Celeste Archos from Littleroot Town!"
Celeste entered the battleground, her silvery-white hair wafting lazily in the wind. She looked calm as she waited for Luca to emerge.
"And her opponent, Luca Hollingsworth from Mahogany Town!"
Luca, who up until this point had looked nervous, now had a carefree expression on his face as he approached the silver haired girl opposite him. A smile suddenly touched on his face and I could tell he was feeling a little more confident.
Both trainers released their Pokemon at the same time. Celeste's first choice was a Pokemon that she called Adurna, which turned out to be a Masquerain. Luca retaliated by releasing a very cheerful looking Delibird that he called Frosty.
"What unusual Pokemon," I heard Elliot comment from next to me. "Certainly not ones I would think to be used in a battle like this…"
The battle began with Celeste ordered Aduma the Masquerain to use Air Slash. Luca had his Pokemon dodge, which it somehow managed to pull off. The move that he then ordered his Pokemon to do was completely unfamiliar to me. The strange red bird Pokemon pulled out a shimmering, colourful orb from seemingly nowhere, which it then hurled at the Masquerain. Upon impact, the orb exploded.
"The hell!" I cried out in shock as the explosion rippled through the arena. "What was that!"
"Present," Elliot explained to me. "Delibird's signature move. The only move it can learn naturally, as a matter of fact. It either damages or heals the opponent."
"Heals?" I asked in shock.
"Yeah. It's totally random the effect it has," Elliot said with a shrug. "It could work out brilliantly for you, or work out horrendous for you…"
"Isn't that a bit… risky?"
"You'd think so, yeah… Doesn't seem to be stopping Luca."
I murmured something noncommittally. Celeste's Masquerain, completely dazed from the explosion couldn't respond to the attack, and Luca took advantage of this. He ordered his Delibird to jump back and use an attack I recognised as Future Sight. I cast a confused face to Elliot. "I thought you said Delibird could only learn Present?"
"I didn't count TM moves," he said with an offhand smile.
"Oh."
The Future Sight attack now primed, it would only be a matter of time before it struck. I had seen Future Sight before, having spent a long time teaching Indigo to perfect it, and I knew how easily it could change the outcome of a battle. If Celeste wanted any chance of negating the Future Sight, she'd have to take that Delibird out fast…
Celeste ordered an Ominous Wind, the cyclone of dark purple wind engulfing the Delibird, making it squeal in pain and freeze, seemingly from fright. Despite Luca's attempts to coax his Delibird to fight again, the Pokemon just couldn't snap itself out of its frightened stupor. Celeste seized her chance, commanding her Masquerain to use Water Pulse.
However, the water from the attack seemed to barely even damage the Pokemon. In fact, it seemed to snap it back into its senses, and without even a prompt from its trainer, shot an Ice Beam straight at the Bug type! I let out a gasp of surprise as the attack hit with surprising power, sending the Masquerain crashing to the ground, completely frozen solid…
The calm look on Celeste's face instantly melted away to be replaced with one of complete and utter shock. Even the crowd were silenced. No-one had been anticipating that. I looked down at Luca who was grinning from ear-to-ear in the face of his Pokemon's victory.
Celeste recalled her unconscious Masquerain, replacing it with a Blaziken, which she named Igneel. At this point, my jaw dropped.
"That's not fair…" I found myself saying in anger. "She's using a Fire type against an Ice type! Luca's Delibird doesn't stand a chance!"
"All's fair in love and war," Elliot quoted philosophically.
"I know, but…" I broke off, looking down at my feet. "It still doesn't seem fair…"
As I had anticipated, Celeste's Blaziken completely obliterated poor Frosty the Delibird with only one attack, an insanely powerful Fire Blast. The Blaziken let out a snort of defiance as the Delibird fell to the ground, completely unconscious.
Luca seemed to take a long time to decide what Pokemon to use next, but he eventually released an Ampharos by the name of Valance into the fray to take on Celeste's Blaziken. I tensed, suddenly feeling excited at the prospect of seeing another Ampharos in battle. Maybe I could even learn something…
The two Pokemon went straight into battle. Celeste's Blaziken was wickedly fast, nimble and agile, whereas Luca's Ampharos was slower and a little clumsier. Even the use of a Discharge, which ordinarily would have paralysed and completely stopped any other Pokemon, proved ineffective at slowing the Blaziken down. The Pokemon began exchanging blows, the Blaziken unleashing a volley of Blaze Kicks and Slashes, while Valance hung back, shooting Signal Beams, Power Gems and Discharges. While they seemed to be equally matched in power, Blaziken was much better at taking hits than Valance, who tired quickly and was rapidly losing health. Not even the residual Future Sight attack was enough to take out the Blaziken when it eventually came around. Eventually, the sight of his Ampharos taking such a vicious beating was too much for Luca to bear, and right in the middle of the battle, he recalled his exhausted, cut up and bloodied Pokemon, and called out that he was forfeiting.
"He gave up?" Jasmine cried incredulously.
"Y-yeah… looks like it…" I croaked.
"He made the best choice," Elliot said, straightening up as the two competitors on the battlefield shook hands and departed. "His Ampharos was getting too badly beaten up. He was going to lose sooner or later… Better to save his Pokemon the pain." He paused, before adding "It's a stronger trainer that can admit defeat that clings on till the bitter end,"
I found myself nodding, but inwardly, I couldn't help but lament the unfairness of it all…
It was now time for the battle between Evan and Elliot. This battle proved to be incredibly short, as it was clear Evan was still only an amateur trainer, sending out a relatively inexperienced Eevee, and then a Jigglypuff to take on Elliot's Cacturne. While the Pokemon themselves did not present too much of a challenge, it was Evan's battling style that had the entire crowd, and Elliot, flummoxed…
Evan did not call out orders like a regular trainer would. Instead, he seemed to communicate with his Pokemon solely by the use of subtle hand, eye and body movements, almost like a sort of sign language. Each individual sign, or set of signs, seemed to correspond to a particular action or behaviour or chain of behaviour. At first, no-one knew what was going on, as the Eevee suddenly began attacking with seemingly no instructions from its trainer. For one mad moment, I assumed Evan didn't have control over his Pokemon, but I also quickly noticed that, unlike a trainer that couldn't make his Pokemon listen to him, Evan wasn't protesting or shouting for his Pokemon to listen.
And then Jasmine was talking in my ear. "His hands! Look at his hands!"
It was then I noticed. He had his hand raised, close to his face in a seemingly innocent gesture and was moving his fingers, alternating which ones to raise and for how long, almost like he was playing a flute. His Eevee seemed to respond particularly to the finger movements, while he seemed to favour a slightly more noticeable system of hand movements combined with arm movements for his Jigglypuff.
While Evan lost to Elliot, his Pokemon simply not strong enough to stand up to Elliot's, it couldn't be denied his unique battling style had left a deep impact on all the trainers still there. It really brought home exactly the advantage a trainer could have if their opponent didn't know what was going on…
Following on immediately from Elliot's, the battle between Bailey and Hikaru was next. My heart was in my mouth as Bailey released his Bayleef into the field, and then it sunk horribly to the bottom of my stomach as Hikaru released an Arcanine.
Poor Bailey never had a chance. The Arcanine's Fire type moves were simply too much for the Grass type to withstand, and it was handed a defeat after only a few short minutes of battling. Bailey attempted to bring it back, using his Corsola. I understood his reasoning, but Corsola simply couldn't muster up Water attacks strong enough to even slow down the Arcanine, let alone do any decent damage. In the end, the poor Corsola too was defeated, and Bailey's battle was over.
I felt horribly sad for him, but Bailey, ever cheerful returned a big smile to the crowd, looking completely at ease with his loss. I found myself inexplicably close to tears as he disappeared back into the dugouts and out of sight.
However, I had no time for feeling sad or sorry for Bailey, as I came to the horrifying realisation that my battle was next. The others wished me luck, but I was a bundle of nerves as I descended the stairs and out onto the battlefield. I almost balked at the sight of the crowd and the gigantic open space of the battlefield, but I pushed myself forward. My opponent, the horribly shy Robyn Collier looked nervously across from me on the battlefield, while the crowd cheered in excitement. My cheeks burned with some strange form of embarrassment, suddenly feeling wholly self-conscious to be battling in front of so many people.
Robyn was the first to pull out a Pokemon. "Ty, let's go!"
"No way…" I murmured in shock as her Pokemon, a giant Typhlosion, roared onto the battlefield.
Momentarily flummoxed, I had no idea which Pokemon to use against Robyn and her Typhlosion. I almost automatically wanted to use Aurora, but I forced myself to move past her Pokeball. I didn't want to be the kind of trainer who automatically relied on type advantages to win… I'd like to think I was a better trainer than that…
My decision proved relatively simple after I eliminated Aurora. I certainly couldn't underestimate Robyn and that Typhlosion of hers, so I decided to go with my best bet to win other than Aurora.
"Meloi! Let's do this!"
"Ampha! Ampharos!"
For a long time, nothing happened. Neither of us moved. I found myself instinctively clamming up, incapable of making the first move. Instead, I watched Robyn intently, waiting for the slightest hint that she was going to act. I had the wild idea that I could possibly interpret what she was going to do before she actually managed to shout out the order, which would give me the upper hand, but as usual, I was proved wrong. Without a single warning or hint whatsoever, suddenly, she jabbed her finger in Meloi's direction, her voice suddenly taking on a harsh assertiveness, almost sounding like a bellow in the midst of the quiet…
"Ty! Lava Plume, now!"
"Meloi, fight back with a Thunderpunch!" I ordered hastily.
I couldn't believe what was going on as the two Pokemon launched straight into battle. Robyn, and her Typhlosion, was amazing! For a long time it seemed that no matter what I did, Robyn automatically came up with a way to block it, evade it, or parry it. I found myself almost gawking in amazement. This shy, sweet girl was this good at battling?
The two Pokemon exchanged blow after blow, knocking each other all over the battlefield, but barely scoring any damage against each other. I bit my lip furiously. Sure Meloi wasn't getting hurt, proving just as adept as Robyn's Typhlosion at blocking and taking damage, but she wasn't causing damage either. She just could not break that Typhlosion's defences!
Taking another tactic, I ordered a Cotton Spore, but this proved useless as the Typhlosion merely burnt the thin cottony wisps to cinders with a powerful Flamethrower, that narrowly missed singing Meloi in the process. My second attempt at this strategy, snagging the Typhlosion with a nifty Thunder Wave proved more successful. With the Typhlosion paralysed, it could do nothing to guard itself from an onslaught of Meloi's most powerful electric type moves, resulting in it passing out, completely frazzled some time later.
My heart was in my mouth as Robyn recalled her Typhlosion. While I knew I was doing well to take out her Typhlosion, Meloi was exhausted and running low on energy and stamina. I had a nasty suspicion that whatever Robyn pulled out of the bag next was going to be trouble.
Boy, did I prove to be right…
"I choose Lunatone!"
My jaw dropped when I saw the serene looking Pokemon float into the battlefield. My jaw dropped further when the Pokemon dispatched Meloi in a matter of seconds, using a well timed Protect to shield itself from her incoming Thunder Punch, and then using Confusion, followed immediately up by Hypnosis to send my already exhausted Pokemon into a deep slumber.
I relented and used Aurora, hoping to use her Water and Ice type moves to my advantage. But the Lunatone was just as skilled in the fields of evasion as Robyn's Typhlosion had been. Robyn seemed to predict what I was going to do even before I knew myself, and I was beginning to panic. While her Lunatone didn't seem to have much power behind its attacks, I was horrifically aware of the Hypnosis strategy she had used on Meloi to win the first part of the battle.
I finally clawed back the upper hand by having Aurora barrage the Lunatone with an onslaught of Ice Balls that the Pokemon simply couldn't evade no matter how much it tried. This was promptly followed with a Water Gun to shoot the Pokemon down to the ground, and finished with a Body Slam which left the Pokemon paralysed and completely incapable of battling.
Which meant that I had won….
After pausing to give Aurora a hug and some praise for her performance, I approached Robyn. The crowd was cheering and applauding, and although I can't deny I felt proud and elated to have won, I still felt a little sorry for Robyn. She had battled exceptionally well, and it had been a miracle I had even won against her at all…
But as I shook her hand and thanked her for the amazing battle, a tiny wicked sense of excitement burst somewhere at the back of my brain. I had handled myself well in that battle. A grin spread across my face. I was getting it. I was getting better again!
But whatever pride and elation I felt at my victory, and to an extent the verification that I was once again getting back into my old battling stride, was completely lost when I remembered what battle was next…
Nikki and Jasmine's.
I couldn't tell which girl looked more like she didn't want to be there as they stepped out onto the battlefield. I also had no idea how either girl was going to conduct herself in the battle. Would they go all out against each other and give a fair fight, or would one of them chicken out and go easy on the other…? I didn't know. And it killed me that I didn't know.
As the battle started, Nikki opened by releasing Dixie, her prized Ninetails. While part of me expected, and wholly dreaded, Jasmine to use Mizu her Azumarill, she didn't, choosing instead to send out Skittle, her Delcatty. For a long time, neither Pokemon nor trainer reacted, a deathly hushed silence falling all over the crowd. My heart was beating so hard in my chest I was scared it was going to beat right out…
And then, Nikki struck, ordering Dixie into battle with a vicious Fire Spin, a favourite, almost fail-safe move from her contest work. Skittle, surprised by the power behind the attack could only squeal and duck for cover. Jasmine however wasn't one to be deterred and ordered Skittle straight into battle in retaliation, ordering a DoubleSlap.
The two Pokemon, each the respective pride and joy of their trainers were locked in battle for some time, neither seeming to find the opportunity to inflict much damage. While Dixie's attacks proved quick and speedy, with a fair punch behind them, Jasmine was adept at getting Skittle to dodge them and retaliate with moves such as Attract and Charm to lower Dixie's attack and defence. However, the first round finally came to an end after Nikki, using a tried-and-tested contest strategy of Will-O-Wisp, followed up by a Flamethrower, completely obliterated the feeble defences of Jasmine's Delcatty.
I had to admit, when Jasmine released Sulphur, her Quilava, it was the last Pokemon I expected her to use. She was fighting fire with fire; a dangerous game in my opinion. She knew that when it came to Fire Pokemon, Nikki was our resident expert. Nikki knew how to fight with fire… and I'm pretty sure she knew how to fight fire with fire. I wasn't sure if Jasmine did. So what was she doing? Why was she doing this?
But then it hit me. Jasmine wasn't using her Fire Pokemon to fight fire with fire, like I thought… She was using her Quilava to negate the effects of the powerful fire moves that Nikki could utilize. Nikki relied heavily on the impressive fires and flames of her beloved Pokemon in both contests and battling, and hadn't trained them as much in other fields. I understood. Without her fire power, Nikki was rendered completely useless…
My theory proved to be right. With each Pokemon putting up a good resistance to the other's fire attacks, they had no choice but to rely on other methods. Jasmine had an impressive arsenal of other attacks at her disposal, using Quick Attack, Swift and Tackle to score damage, whilst barraging Dixie with SmokeScreens to lower the Ninetales' accuracy, making it difficult to score hits. Nikki was in obvious distress, the only non-Fire type moves Dixie knew proving to be Quick Attack, which barely seemed to hurt the solid Quilava, and Confuse Ray, which due to the thick smoke billowing over the battlefield proved to be essentially useless. Eventually, Dixie fell, simply from the volley of attacks and from the fact the Ninetales couldn't get an attack in edgeways.
Nikki sent out her Charmeleon, Blaze, next to try and deal with Jasmine's Sulphur. Sadly though, while Nikki put up a valiant effort, using Blaze to utilize the powerful Dragon Rage against Sulphur, the Quilava was simply too fast for the attacks to hit. Blaze's moves, which were slow and deliberate, obviously from practicing to show off in contents, simply couldn't reach the speedy Sulphur. The Quick Attacks Sulphur pulled off to evade were simply too fast for the Charmeleon to hit, and Blaze was eventually felled by a series of powerful Swift attacks.
Nikki seemed to take her defeat well, smiling and congratulating Jasmine, but the same could not be said for Jasmine. She looked uncomfortable, almost regretful as she shook Nikki's hand in recognition of her victory. I almost thought I caught her mumbling something that looked like "sorry" as they turned away and retired to their respective dugouts. I felt horrible… I had anticipated whoever lost to feel bad, not for the person who won to feel bad.
The final battle of the round was held between Alicia Nakamura and Chaison Coffman. Both trainers looked noticeably nervous as they faced off towards each other, much like the majority of trainers here, I realised, but they released Pokemon and started off the battle happily enough. Alicia released an Altaria, while Chaison released a Crobat.
"An aerial battle," Elliot commented thoughtfully from beside me. "Now this will be interesting…"
And the battle did indeed prove to be interesting. Alicia seemed to favour a very offensive front, utilizing a combination of Fly, Ominous Wind and one very powerful Draco Meteor, that almost crushed the tiny Crobat as it flitted around the stage. As Alicia went straight in for the offensive moves, barraging the Crobat with such a powerful arsenal of attacks, I automatically assumed the worst. However, Chaison's Crobat was wickedly fast, nipping in and out of the incoming attacks like they were nothing, and executing a combination of X-Scissor and Cross Poison to throw the giant Dragon type off.
The battle continued in this steed for quite some time, the Pokemon exchanging moves as they dared to get closer to each other. While Crobat's attacks were incredibly fast, and the Pokemon itself was also wickedly quick, its attacks couldn't penetrate the seemingly solid defences of the Altaria. That is, until Chaison's Crobat pulled off a Poison Fang, which resulted in the Altaria becoming badly poisoned. To its credit, the Pokemon struggled on valiantly while the effects of the poison sapped its strength, resulting in it eventually fainting.
Alicia didn't seem too fazed in the light of her Altaria being defeated. The same could not be said for me, and most likely a fair number of people in the stands, however. I couldn't believe that the tiny little bat Pokemon had taken out something as big and impressive as that Altaria…
Alicia's next Pokemon was a Cloyster, which wiped out Chaison's Crobat with an extremely powerful Icicle Crash. Chaison, after some careful and prolonged deliberation, released a Glaceon as an opponent.
"Two Ice types…" Elliot commented. "Again, an interesting choice…"
Chaison led off the battle by ordering Glaceon to use Hail, which proved to be an extremely good strategy, somehow boosting the Glaceon's speed, and allowing it to execute attacks much faster. Alicia's Cloyster however, much like its team-mate Altaria, had a wicked defence, coupled with its immunity to the majority of the ice type moves the Glaceon used; making most of what the Glaceon threw at it ineffective. While Chaison came up with strategy after strategy, aiming for weak spots, utilizing his Pokemon's speed and nimbleness and all his other advantages, the Cloyster eventually proved to just be too strong and wiped out the Glaceon with a set of Spike Cannons.
With Alicia winning that battle, the first round came to its conclusion. No sooner had Alicia and Chaison left the stage, a bunch of pictures flashed up on the screen. The victors and the people they would be facing in the second round.
I scanned the information, desperately trying to pick out my name from the screen. The screen read:
Heat Two
Crow Arabesque v Natsuki Ikebana
Scott Harper v Jade Black
Celeste Archos v Elliot Wood
Hikaru Brown v Sienna Volbeda
Jasmine Moore v Alicia Nakamura
As I stared at the images of all the winning trainers, I felt my heart begin to beat faster and faster and my breath start to come in short, sharp gasps. The announcer was saying something, giving instructions on what was going to happen next, but I was barely listening. For that moment, all I knew was the rising feeling of anticipation and dread, and I kept looking straight ahead, whatever confidence I once held now slipping away as I realised that things were getting serious now.
And I came to a realization.
Despite my confidence now slipping further and further away, I knew now in my heart that I certainly didn't want to lose. I wanted to keep going in this tournament. I had a little bit of my spark back, fuelled on from my victory against Robyn…
And I wanted to keep going. I wanted to keep winning.
Author's Note
Henceforth, the battles will be noticeably shorter so I can move past this arc relatively soon.
Thanks to my reviewers: Aeroga, Chaison, TCoBlackRoses, Shadow of Eckhart, WarriorSwift, Sniper Mudkip, Shadow Serenity 57, anon, roxiepluto, TwewyReaperGirl, WildCroconaw and XxbunnyD