It is Day 5. It is the beginning of the Round of 16. Most of the top 16 that were ranked before this part of the Tournament have made it.
There were a couple stunners but nothing too crazy. Carl has torched through the competition without a hitch. Although, his teammate on day 2 had an anxiety attack in the middle of the battle. Astor Pines has also made it through to the Round of 16. He gets more insufferable as the Tournament goes on.
In the middle of all of the battling I have gotten stuck buying souvenirs. And not just for myself. I am getting stuff for my mom, brother and even Kukui. I've kinda gone overboard. It doesn't help that my mom sent me a few thousand Pokedollars. I have an actual illness.
However, before I shop some more, Carl's match is today. It's not an easy battle because he has to go up against our friend Xavier.
At this stage of the tournament all of the battles will require each trainer to use 6 Pokemon. Now you don't have to use the same 6 Pokemon you registered with before the Tournament began. You are allowed to substitute 1 Pokemon for each battle as long as you register them an hour before the match.
Carl has done exactly that substituting his Roserade for a Cradily. One of the good things about the substitution system is that the opponent won't know until the Pokemon is sent out. It could really throw a wrench into your game plan if your team is not well-rounded. Alola will have a similar system but without the need to register before the battle.
During the battle the knowledge both Carl and Xavier have on each other shows. Both seem to be able to predict what the other is doing. It's an even fight right til the end when both of there 5th Pokemon go down.
The crowd is absolutely roaring before they send out their final Pokemon. Some are excited at the idea of an upset while others are just enjoying a nice battle.
I'm slightly nervous for Carl. He's been putting unnecessary pressure on himself and to lose now would devastate him. I do think he'll come through here and win though.
Carl sends out Walrein and Xavier sends out his Milotic. I do wonder if Xavier knows about the secret move Carl has been teaching Walrein the last week.
"Walrein, Ice Beam!"
"Twister!" Xavier yells in response. Milotic swirls up a twister that absorbs the Ice Beam effectively turning the twister into a wall of ice right in the middle of the battle field.
Walrein jumps to the side and attacks with Powder Snow. Carl adds a Body Slam attack which leads to a 1, 2 hit on Milotic. However, Milotic quickly recovers and counterattacks with a Dragon Tail. The attack sent Walrein flying into the wall of ice which comes crashing down.
The back and forth continued with no one side coming out as a clear favorite. Then the tide changed. And the battlefield.
"Create an Earthquake, Walrein." Walrein slams into the ground multiple times causing the ground to shake. This causes parts of the ground to rise creating an unstable battle field. Normally this could be a disadvantage to a Pokemon like Walrein to get around but Carl had a plan. He had Walrein use multiple Ice Beam attacks to not just hit Milotic but also the ground that had risen. This caused boulders and other large pieces of rock to litter the ground as large ice obstacles. It slipped up Milotic when it dodged an attack causing it to get hit by an Ice Beam.
With a part of Milotic frozen to the ground Walrein then tosses the boulders and rocks at it. This did considerable damage to Miltoic. Carl went for the win with a damaging Body Slam attack, and it worked.
"Milotic is unable to battle. Walrein and Carl Jackson win. They move onto the Quarterfinals."
On the Jumbotron it showed Carl taking a deep breath as he relaxes from the battle. He walks over to Xavier and shakes his hand. He finds his family, waves and then finds Caleb and I in Steven's box. He waves at us so we wave back.
The next battle coming up included Astor but I wasn't interested in watching and Carl has been avoiding his matches as well. So instead I head down to the main concourse where we meet up with Carl.
"Want to get some food?" I ask.
"Yeah but can I go to the room. I kinda left my money up there."
"Carl, I have money. I'll pay for lunch."
He shook his head. "I want to shop."
Caleb and I chuckled and on we went to the hotel. Caleb and I hung out outside as Carl went in.
"So are you enjoying the tournament?" I ask.
"Yeah. It's getting me pumped for Alola's." I know how he feels. I feel the exact same way. The thrill of watching people battle to be the best is exciting.
"Same," I responded quickly. I hesitated with my next question because I was unsure if I want to go down this road right now. "Are you enjoying it here in Hoenn?"
"Sure. It's very different to Alola but I like it. Why you ask?"
"Well, um. I'm wondering if you want to do Hoenn next year after Kanto."
He looked at me and then looked away slightly. He was unsure. "You don't have to if you don't want to," I added.
He looked at me, "Okay but won't you do Hoenn anyways if you want to?"
"Yes," I answered.
"So you'll be here with Carl and I'll be home in Alola?"
I rolled my eyes to what I thought was an act of jealousy. He shot me a look and added, "I don't mean it like that Cam. I mean I don't want to do a long distance relationship."
I sighed. "Okay. Then join me."
Now he rolled his eyes. "You mean join us as in Carl and you?"
"No Caleb. I mean join me cause you are my boyfriend for fuck sake. The relationship is not you, me, and Carl. It's You and Me. Going around Hoenn will be you and me with Carl coming along cause he's my best friend."
I was a bit mad at Caleb's attitude so I walked away. However, he yelled out to me and walked towards me.
"I'm sorry. I just don't know if I'm up for taking on two leagues. I also feel like I'm being forced to do so because you are my boyfriend."
"Okay. I'm sorry too. For what it's worth, I'm not 100% sure I am doing Hoenn too. I haven't even talked to Carl about it." I lied. I was 100% sure I was doing Hoenn too. I just needed to hope my lie was enough to assuage Caleb so I can convince him. I guess I won't talk to Carl about it any time soon.
We made up just in time for Carl to come down to get lunch. Navigating through a relationship can be difficult. I don't need this to be a precursor though. At all.
...
Day 9
It was the day of the final. Astor Pines versus Carl Jackson. Since the day off on Day 6 Astor Pines and his crew have been lobbying insults at Carl. They've kept up with the trash talk even up until this morning. In an interview one of his crew shouted out that Astor was as great as my dad. Astor didn't voice any displeasure or disagreement with the proclamation.
I was pissed.
It was immensely disrespectful for his team to even toy with that idea, let alone for him not to immediately denounce it. The night before they even came after me in interviews by "wondering" why I wasn't competing in this year's tournament. They made it seem like I was afraid.
I did my best to let the comments blow over for now. I needed to keep Carl focused on the battle today. Revenge will get to Astor eventually, whether it happens today or another day.
We walked to the main Stadium in the middle of the city and time kind of stopped as we waited for Carl to get called out. Caleb was already in Steven's box but Carl wanted me to be with him until the last possible minute.
"How are your nerves doing?" I ask him as we sit on a bench watching the broadcast of the tournament.
"Honestly, they are all over the place Cam. I'm nervous."
"I can only imagine."
"I really want to beat him. I want to humiliate him." His eyes were locked on the ground below.
"You can beat him but you won't humiliate him. Just go out there and do your thing. Don't focus too much on what's across the field or you'll lose track what's right in front of you."
"Yeah, I guess you are right," he admits.
A man comes into the waiting room and says that it is time for the battle to begin.
"Good luck Carl."
Carl shakes my hand and thanks me for coming. I watch as he and the man leave the room. The broadcast goes to a reporter at field level and you can hear the roar of the crowd. It gave me a huge adrenaline boost before I left the room and went to Steven's box.
"How's he doing?" Caleb asked.
"He's alright. A bit nervous but I think he'll be fine."
Both Astor and Carl are introduced to loud cheers. Astor got a dose of boos because he damn well deserves it. His smug face came on the jumbotron. The boos didn't bother him. He's used to it. He addressed the boos he normally received a couple days ago in another interview. He said people shouldn't boo him and they should cheer him for how good he is.
He's arrogant as he is delusional.
The battle began with Carl's Cradily against Astor's Armaldo, which Steven tells me is a replacement Pokemon. The two fossil Pokemon were evenly matched until Astor used the bait-and-switch tactic and knocked out Cradily. Astor then went on to recall his Armaldo. Carl went on and sent out Sceptile, which was a different tactic for him. He normally wouldn't use Sceptile until the end of a battle.
Astor sent out his Sceptile as well. The smirk on his face showed he was looking to really embarrass Carl.
This round was also close but again Astor came out on top. His Sceptile was just a touch quicker than Carl's. The jumbotron showed a close up of Carl and he looked frustrated. He was down 2 Pokemon already. Meanwhile, Astor recalled his Pokemon for a second time. He was almost laughing.
"This Carl kid is in over his head," I heard a man say nearby.
"Then leave if you already know the outcome," I calmly said.
The guy glared at me but said nothing. I focused back at Carl as he became tentative in picking his next Pokemon. He was rattled. The crowd was silent with a smattering of barking by impatient fans
"Come on Carl. I'd like to hold the trophy sooner rather than later," Astor yelled.
Carl had no comeback. Instead he continued to look down.
"Carl, pick a damn Pokemon!" Caleb yelled. Carl looked up at the box and stared for a moment as the crowd went dead silent.
Caleb yelled again. "Shut that jackass up!"
A portion of the crowd jeered while another cheered in response. The energy in the stadium picked up considerably.
Carl nodded and picked Walrein. Astor responded with Camerupt giving him a huge advantage over Walrein. During the battle, Carl was much more relaxed. He knew he was behind so he had to be smart. With use of the Earthquake attack, similar to what he did in The Round of 16 he was able to beat Camerupt. Then he did something that stunned even me. He recalled his Pokemon like Astor had done to him previously.
Carl used this troll tactic to get into the head of Astor exposing a real weakness in Astor. This allowed Carl the ability to creep back into the match which went from looking like an embarrassing blowout to an exciting finals match.
The best part was that Carl and Astor were down to their final Pokemon and both were in a weakened state. Carl's Aggron had taken down two of Astor's Pokemon, including Absol, while Sceptile was still reeling from the battle with Carl's Sceptile.
"Iron Tail attack Aggron!" Carl orders.
Astor tells Sceptile to use the same attack. Both Pokemon connect with their tails. Each Pokemon fight to dominate the other but they are equally matched.
"Leaf Blade!" Astor yells.
Carl quickly tells Aggron to use Metal Claw causing both Pokemon to connect with their respective shots.
This back and forth continues for several moments and caps off with Sceptile using Solar Beam and Aggron using Hyper Beam.
Carl and Astor gave their Pokemon the order at the same time. I was whispering to myself that Carl should abort the attack and go for something smaller. He didn't. To be fair neither did Astor. It showed how much they were focused on the person across the field. It showed their weakness.
The attacks did not miss. Aggron was hit with Solar Beam and Sceptile with Hyper Beam. Both Pokemon were pushed back several feet dragging the grass and dirt below with them.
Then Aggron fell. Carl pleaded with his Pokemon to get back up but it was not to happen. The announcer declared Aggron unable to battle and then declared that Astor Pines was the Champion of the Hoenn League.
Carl slouched to his knees and looked devastated as the crowd cheered and booed Astor. I wanted to go down there on the field so desperately but I knew I'd be stopped by security. within minutes the crowning ceremony was ready to begin. Carl looked absolutely listless.
Steven had to go down and present the Championship and Runner-up trophies to Astor and Carl. In his speech he congratulated both of them and tried to inspire Carl a little who was able to put on a brave face.
Carl's speech to the crowd was short. He congratulated Astor and thanked his friends, family and the crowd for their support.
Meanwhile, Astor had a less gracious approach to his speech. He decided to start off by saying he knew he was going to win and thanked those who knew as well. Then he declared himself the greatest trainer ever in Hoenn. This got a mixed applause, especially from the older crowd.
They knew Hoenn history. But so did Astor and that pissed me off. The blood under my skin was boiling like a furnace. I clenched my fist wishing I could send it flying towards Astor. After the speeches and pictures were done both Astor and Carl left the field.
So I left the box and went to the entrance of the field where Carl was going to come through. Security was there blocking access so I didn't even attempt to walk through the tunnel to meet him. Moments later he appeared and saw me. We immediately approached each other and he hugged me. He cried. We stood there in a small room with his family, Steven and Caleb looking on behind us.
"I failed you, Cam. I'm sorry."
"Stop it Carl. You did your best. You did well. Be proud about that."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Heart Scale. It was the same Heart Scale that my brother gave to me back on Melemele Island. I handed it to Carl who understood the significance of the Heart Scale in my family. He tried to not accept it but I implored him.
"Carl, you are the only person who has been there for me through everything. If you do not take this it would be the only way you have ever failed me and our friendship."
Our glances locked for a moment and he nodded. He took the Heart Scale in his hand and held on tight. Then he made the rounds with his family getting propped up by them. Caleb walked over to me.
Last night I had told him about the Heart Scale and its meaning in my family. It was a tradition passed on for a few generations. I told Caleb of my intention to give it to Carl today.
"I told you, it meant more to him than it ever would to me." Carl smiled and wrapped his arm over my shoulders. I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for the support he gave Carl.
...
Carl eventually came around that evening. Everyone made an effort to boost his spirits and it worked. Getting dinner made it easier as well. Kid likes to eat more than anybody I know.
After leaving we were unfortunately met by Astor and his punk friends.
He specifically wanted to focus on me.
"It really is a shame you didn't compete this year. Would've been nice to beat Gregory Alistar's son." He and his friends chuckled.
"Astor, this is uncalled for. Take yourself and leave with grace," Steven admonished.
A group of people were beginning to stop near us and watch as people do when there is drama.
"Don't bother Steven. This kid has no grace. He has no integrity. He has no respect." I stared Astor down as I said ever single word.
"Heh. It really is a shame your daddy isn't here to see what a faggot you actually are."
Carl yelled at Astor and tried to charge at him but Caleb held him back. I took a step closer to Astor and warned him, "Don't ever talk about my father again. You don't know the type of man he was."
Astor sneered.
"I do know that he was the greatest Trainer in Hoenn. Was, of course cause now I'm the greatest and everyone will know. I will shred your father from our history books."
I did my best to compose my breathing but my heart thumped louder and louder with each passing second. I had my chance to punch Astor in the face but I didn't. I had a better idea.
A Pokemon battle.
"Okay Champion." I grabbed one of my Pokeballs and tossed it in the air and caught it. "Prove just how good you are. Standard Gym Rules."
Astor was surprised by my challenge but he smirked. "I might as well. May not be able to embarrass your daddy but I could settle for embarrassing his son."
I laughed.
Steven interrupted us. "Boys, I think we should handle this in a better fashion. Simply battling it out here is amateurish."
"What would you suppose we do, Steven?" I ask annoyed.
He grinned and reached into his pocket and pulled out this red card. "I run this place. This card gets me into any building here. That includes stadiums."
I chuckled and looked at Astor. He nodded.
And off we all went to the Main Stadium in the middle of Ever Grande City. This was going to be my most important battle yet and I was ready. Not an ounce of nerves was in my body.