X - new day or 24 hour or more time jump

— - 2 to 12 hour time jump

'Internal speaking'

"External speaking"

**** Start/End Pokespeek

Galvantula (Female)

Flare/Litwick (Female)

Shay/Dratini (Female)

Pierce/Starly (Male)

Void/Shuppet (Male)

Tamall/Skiddo (Male)

Meredith/Marill (Female)

Right now there was nothing better than listening to a good drum beat in time to cloven hooves pounding into their unbeaten path. Meredith wanted to be out for the run but with where they were running Aella wanted the company of her dragon, bird and ghost as they knew what their destination meant.

The mouse was mollified when she was told she would get to be out for their second, much further destination. Flare nudged a slight change in the direction of travel through her mind and her minute adjustments on Tamall's horns gave him command.

A human mind would naturally struggle to remember an exact location with nothing to remind them, and their thoughts frazzled at the time. But a ghost like Flare wouldn't forget.

She could hear the branches snap and thwack from her first's claws. Flare had released the spider as she had requested to be out for the last leg of the journey.

Aella's hands rolled back on his horns and his drumbeat steps slowed no longer in sync with the song. Steering and driving with one hand, she pressed the center button, shutting the player off. Winnie once told her it was rude to continue to listen to music when someone was trying to talk to you, who wasn't a jerk.

New flowers and grass had grown on the once bare mound of dirt. The stones hadn't been moved, only having gained a bit of green. Early midday sun speckled through the leafage above.

The weight of the pendant became unmistakable when her feet joined the roots of oak and maple guarding such a precious place. Three joined the three with only a Ghost that would never process such an event left stored.

Meredith was only her loud self for a moment before Galvantula placed one of her long front legs on Marill's head, crossing her front and clicking in pokespeek, "No, our greatest teacher rests here. Let the serenity stay."

Aella placed herself next to the stacked warm stones, her legs stretched out, parallel to where the ground arched long. Some mourned by talking to the grave of the dead others told stories or sang of their glory.

Talking to someone gone didn't feel right for her. Maybe someday she'd sing and tell stories but with her heart still raw she couldn't manifest the will too.

There were quiet words from her family as they told stories. Winnie was worth talking about. Aella chose to sit and just breathe.

Her mind drifted from present to past and back again. Not all of it was good. Some were the memories and events she and Winnie went to. Others were Team Rocket and League ongoings; actually, most of them were League based.

Her 11th age mark would be coming up soon. Three years since that day, three years with little on the ongoings of Team Rocket. Aella no longer had to sit through Elite Officer Damia's tantrums where her birther spilled valuable information in her destructive and painful tirade on her worthless underlings.

Celadon was easy, especially with how open they were being. Yet any projects and their progress in the last three years… she could search the League forms but without uncertainty, she knew they wouldn't post everything. Besides not even the League could have that.

Without a collar or mark, it was impossible to get in. Damia bosted, plenty of their lack of moles that the League seemed to struggle with.

'What did my creator once say, you can't kill your opponent without knowing them.'

A very dumb and dangerous idea flooded her mind. Useless now but down the line in a few years time, when their strength really started to show… it aligned with her goal, she'd be sitting on this one thought for a very long time.

Aella forced her current line of thought to derail by glossing over the notes on Marill's species. They are a shoreline species, so they do great in and out of the water though Meredith admitted to being bad at swimming after a pitiful attempt to feed on seaweed.

That needed to be fixed. Granted they weren't going to be spending much time near water, but it still needed to be fixed. There was also her stamina that drained too fast, mostly average status moves that needed improvement along with the lacking of a proper set of attacking and defensive moves and don't forget her three chain moves, one that needs to be removed, and the other two need to be refined badly. That was a lot, and it didn't even include Tamall's.

He had a wide variety, but almost all of them were subpar or barely functional. His overly calm personality didn't match his bursts of upbeatness. Too skittish, jumpy and cautious on certain new things, he had trauma. At least after having a year to really work on her own she could at least help him with his.

Aella didn't know if the storytelling ended around the same time her thoughts did but she felt a lot calmer with a much more organized mind than when she arrived. Without words, she stood up. Without words, her family stood up. It was time to move on again.

Soon it was just her, Tamall's pounding hooves, an ecstatic Marill, and a quiet waxy ornament on her backpack.

X

Galloping down the eastern coast line, she glimpsed those same tiny towns that dotted the waterfront. With Tamall's speed she was less fearful of creeping too close. Many reminded her of Mossgreen in size except a cliffside version.

Passing by a slightly more developed area that even hosted a lighthouse for its numerous docs and long stretches of concrete that ran the waters edge. Old Shore Wharf a sign said, banged up and corroded.

"Probably was one of the old main docks before Vermilion became popularized," Flare thrummed, random tidbits of information on the docking town popped into her mind courtesy of the candle.

It was an indirect yet handy outcome as the ghost slowly bound herself, entirely covering her mind. 5/6 of her mind was protected and by the end of the year no Malamar or Beheeyem could alter her perception or personality.

When the bond was complete Flare would have no fear of being forcefully returned to distortion. As long as her Miss lived, even the Lavender Tower Gangar, decades beyond her power, couldn't remove her from the living.

Aella yawned, but pressed Tamall forward. Old Shore Wharf was a touch too small and had one too many Psychic minds wandering to stop. Even after the sunset, there was always a bit of light before darkness took over. Another mile or two and they would be fine.

Another mile or two, and there was another coastal town, much larger, less docks and pesky minds. It was a worthy resting spot.

X

Terracotta Town was reasonably large for a quaint shoreline town. Shops lined the streets, open cafes, a bridge made of varying tones of stone, a common theme throughout the entire town, over a clean water way leading to a vast ocean to amaze any onlookers. It was fairly standard if you don't consider the other parts.

Perches and landing pads decorated in carved wood and stones laid in wave-like patterns. There were feed stations, plenty of pools both fresh and salt, decorated of course, and dedicated lanes not for cars or people but mounts.

Tamall had become quite glum when he was forced to be recalled earlier but a few minutes of sitting in a tree, staring at the vast amount who utilized the riding lanes, she caved.

It was surprisingly pleasant. Yes he was very likely the only Skiddo in town but 'eyes did not stare' as Flare put it. Meredith enjoyed waving at passerby's while facing backwards on his rump.

Without a planned destination Aella and her siblings wandered the routes as a library visit was completely unnecessary thanks to Ceruleans'. She took note of the sparse amount of bins to try in dusk.

'Probably an off trash day. Question now is it worth staying for an on trash day,' Grampa Canyon was advertised as a difficult trek.

Hot sun and craggy stone, Grampa Canyon was tough with lots of ups and downs with wind rushes that cut through the valleys and above. The passage was rough but it was kinder than the alternate surrounding vegetation ways.

The shear edge cliffs of the canyon had high altitude shrub forest on both sides and were home to highly territorial creatures. Dozens of five, six and seven badged circuit goers implored others to take Grampa Canyon instead of the deceptively easy green.

The only kindness the canyon offered was a small section where it earned its name. A massive retirement community was founded generations ago. It gained popularity in the recent decades, especially with the new Cove named by the first archaeologist, who found it, Fossil Cove, not abstractly named at all.

But since Team Rocket ruins everything, it wasn't a usable rest stop. Elite Officer Damia bemoaned about the loss of Team Rocket's only Jaw Fossil they successfully excavated from the site, only to be pilfered by the League. Now a Psychic force watched over the sight, so attentive that they never gained a second chance.

Her birth mother had been one of the handful selected to receive a Tyrunt after they had been restored and forcefully bred. Completely over citing that they were still years away from getting a working restoration machine. Though that information was three years old. Do they still not have a functioning one?

Even for the League fossil restoration was an iffy thing. Rumors were that they only managed to resurrect about two or three so far. With volatile genetics and dangerous ancient personalities, only the Elite Four and Champion could have them. Flare had to pull Aella out of her thoughts and back on track.

Terracotta did seem to have a love for those green bins; they were nicer to go through. But was it worth waiting for an unknown day? It's not like she could look up such…

Aella gave a tug on Tamall's horns to go back to the library they passed three blocks ago. The theme was stone. Rustic reds, tans, with squares of teal made a flanders weave pattern across the floor. Cobble rosettes surrounded carpeted seating and for a fairly small place it was surprisingly busy.

She was lucky to grab an open computer when one became available as another group of three wandered in, displeased by the lack of open tech. Flare flexed her power even when Aella's backpack hung angled on the chairs backing corner.

Any who walked by would be redirected from her Miss's screen. Her neighbors, oblivious to the silent compulsion to keep their own eyes on their own screen. Aella's own flitted across text.

Three days was worth the wait. There was wild flashing on the computer's home screen that was similar to some banners and posters she'd seen around town and even in the library for some spectacular thing going on next month. Aella just huffed and ignored its annoying presence.

Leaving her chair as some were getting rowdy waiting for a turn. Aella went to the shelves, leaving the bickering over her spot behind. Running her fingers along the spines many were still smooth, only being opened a handful of times. She wanted the older ones with techniques that weren't normally found on the Internet.

Not every old training technique was good, some very outdated but some were gems lost among the mountains of paper. She wanted Meredith to be able to recreate Jalaneel's Blastoise water manipulation. There was nothing online and no one, not even the Cerulean gym leaders Ray and Lotus Waterflower, had something like it.

Any strong Water type can control a large quantity of water. But to control it in ways that defy gravity? To control tiny particles separated into thousands? To stop any enemy water attacks dead in its tracks? That's something only Jalaneel has figured out.

"Are you participating in the battle rounds too?"

'Huh', Aella had been staring off in thought when some random guy started talking to her, "what?"

"The poster you were staring at. I want to battle that mount you came riding in on, what is it anyway? Is it a ground type?" the sandy blonde kept yakking.

Aella scratched her forehead, closing her eyes tight. His jarring appearance and random input was disorientating, "Stop. Don't do that. I'm trying to think and you suddenly come up talking. It's jolting."

"Ah sorry. I was just asking if you're participating in next month's event."

"What event?"

"The one all the posters and banners around town are about," the guy who was the same height as her stood there in disbelief.

"And how is that supposed to tell me what it is about if it's only a picture with a date?"

He opened his mouth to retort but he couldn't come up with anything, so he just agreed, "Yeah fine that makes some sense, we're holding our annual open battle tournament next month."

Aella did not ask for an answer, but she was getting it anyway, "I'm not participating in the league circuit."

"You don't need to be, it's mostly for new, upcoming trainers, or trainers, with only one or two badges. Trainers with more badges do show up as well, but they mostly use it to train their youngest pokemon up to speed with their older ones."

"How many participate?"

"Oh there's no pre-sign-up," that was not what Aella was asking but still useful, "everyone who wants to participate just shows up. That's why it's called an open tournament. Just make sure you throw your name into the battle bracket before June 19 at 11 pm."

"You sure know a lot," Aella lamented and he laughed.

"Yeah my mom is one of the coordinators for the event. It's all she talks about in May and June."

Aella and her family did need to get through Gampa Canyon but this was an opportunity that was very hard to pass. A chance to battle actual other trainers. There was just one problem she thought up.

"You said just throw your name into the battle bracket can it just be your first name?" He tipped his head in confusion, "I'd rather not have to deal with my mother, showing up to drag me back on the correct path of my future," she threw heavy, quotation marks around, correct.

"Ahh one of those parents like Sydney's," he bought her white lie and elaborated when Aella kept staring, "one of my older friends. I haven't seen him in two years. He sends letters from time to time but won't touch tech because of how his parents are. I'm Aubrey by the way, what's your name?"

Aubrey had spoken too fast for her ghost to mentally divert such a question. At least she deemed him safe enough to give an answer to, "Aella and you still haven't answered the question."

"Right duh. Yeah you can just do a first name… or you could make up a name if you want, competitors have done that before. Nothing rancy or foul language, though. Oh speaking of not answering questions, you haven't told me what that mount of yours is."

"He's a Skiddo and I'm not telling you what type he is because I don't know any of yours," Aubrey answered perfectly telling her all five of his pokemon were.

He had a Sandshrew and Machop back at home, his Rhyhorn on him and a Nidoran and Staryu they were also his but were registered to his parents since he still had to wait half a year before he was 12 when his cap jumped from three to six.

Holding his head high and puffing up his chest, proud of his little team. Aubrey waited for her to respond, "Fine Skiddo are not a Ground type, they are a pure Grass type and so is their evolution."

"Really i've never heard of a pure grass mount… And your team…" he motioned for her to continue but she just grinned, placing her hands behind her back.

"I told you I'd tell you what type Tamall is, not what the rest of my team is. You weren't paying attention were you," deciding to be a little cheeky, Aella stuck her tongue out at him.

His hair became fisted in frustrated hands while he muttered about her being cheeky and getting bamboozled. Aubrey seemed to go into a sort of blank soulless state before heaving out a massive sigh.

"Fine you win this round… but next round I'm beating you and Tamall… you're joining the battle tournament, right?"

"I'll have to talk with my own, but it is a good opportunity," Aella said, "a really good opportunity."

She turned around walking towards the exit Aubrey shouted see yea that earned a few disgruntled glares. Aella looked back and gave a two finger wave.

Tamall's feet echoed on the cobblestone. If they were to join he and Meredith are going to be in for a hell of a training session. Shay couldn't join, a Dratini on the field would put her under a league spotlight and Ghosts and Darks were heavily frowned upon having below the age of 14 or seven badges.

—

"Yes Flare I know it's a bit of a risk but the scope of this event is a once in–she paused for a second–probably a lifetime, if not a really long time chance," Aella continued, "this is a shot to get a baseline of where we stand." They've never been given a point to test themselves compared to others their age.

'What bas̸͚̃e̶̲͋line with those̴̘̎ two s̵̤̓o̷̻͘ unrefined and ẉ̴͋i̷̱̾thout The Drake and I.'

"I know," she looks over at the interested goat, and the practically vibrating mouse, "which is why if we're going to join, you two's progress will be heavily scrutinized and you'll be pushed to your limits.

"I can't compress a year's worth of advanced training into a month without damaging the foundation for your base building blocks in growth. But I can start with fixing them from trauma and hypocrisy."

Tamall shifted his hoofs, they've been having one on one sessions with self-care and learning triggers. He would learn to face his fears eventually and she hoped to find his own form of self expression.

Meredith huffed she didn't like to be zapped till she was flat on her face but her fantasies of battling in an actual battle, and not some silly contest, oh it was just too alluring, she had to join.

The mouse proclaimed her desire in a long and winding speech, to battle among onlookers and fans. She would gladly take the gauntlet to battle among such prestige.

Flare simply translated, 'The Loud wishes to battle,' to her mistress although it felt unnecessary since her Miss always had an easy time interpreting The Loud. It was not so reserved like The Hoof.

As her vessel she desired to protect her Miss and though the Ghost was glum over the inability to participate the benefits far outweigh the cons and danger. Her Liege crossed her front pedipalp and incesively tapped them together. She feared their non-nativeness would draw eyes yet her claws had no ground to stand on. Tamall, as unusual as he was, drew few eyes.

With The Hoof bowing his head in acceptance of the rigorous training he would undergo and The Drake sedated with reminders of the ruthlessness of Gampa Canyon, one month passed by.

X

Typing down the name Aella onto the draft and marking down the four pokemon. The screen shifted back to the beginning after a Thank You prompt passed through.

It was still early in the morning on the 19th yet preparations for the festival had been in swing for the past two days. Although it was the arrival that had her both anxious and giddy.

She'd seen at least three arrive on Pidgeot, eight via teleportation and Flare counted a dozen by Rapidash. Hell Aella was pretty sure she heard the droning buzz of a Flygon go by.

This was good, this was bad and she had legitimately know idea where she stood against anyone. The surrounding woods and water became busy with final practice for the torney. Aella was unwilling to reveal her hand, so it often became just her and Flare.

Tamall and Meredith earned their rest before it began. Both made massive improvements in manipulation and finesse in moves and movement.

Aella had strictly forbid the learning of new moves for everyone. Combos and chains were still on the table. She didn't need them trying to hone something new but to improve what they already had.

She wondered if it was possible to use Flare's bond to simply turn off sound, but with her eardrum still exposed, there was still a chance of damage to be done. Mind art ear shield from Flare for Galvantula's Screech was proving to be a challenge with her only learning the move Protect as an option. There was Magic Coat, but the only one who could learn that was Void and that wasn't happening.

Pierce theoretically (on the property that sound needed air particles to move through) could manipulate air to the point where it could be dampened to safe levels but was years away from such finite control. And that brought them back to square one where the only option was an energy intensive move, Protect.

This problem plagued her mind. Her continued search on a potential solution led Aella to read about the properties of water since sound dampened underwater. She instead learned how waves can both combine and cancel each other out. It wasn't an answer to their problems but it did offer a strange epiphany to her mind.

Everything minus anything that had to do with Ghosts and Darks made a presence, a dot of physicality. One that Psychics could pick up. Darks did the exact opposite. Creating a presence of absolute nothingness, a dot of emptiness. Ghosts created a distortion, not a dot but instead the space of the dot fluctuating unnaturally.

Which begs the question; could the destructive interference of two waves canceling each other out, be applied to Psychic and Dark energy to create… nothing. Not absolute nothing, just no presence. They say you could never be invisible to a pokemon of the mind arts but was it really impossible.

With no information online of success, only those speaking of the dissipation of canceled energy and destabilization. So, Aella figured the best place to start was to see if it was possible for one pokemon to control, psychic, and dark energy at the same time. Psychics struggled to control Dark energy and vice versa but Ghosts were neither.

"I can't believe it's tomorrow," Aella startles to a familiar voice, who prattles away about a ceremony, and getting to have more than the age restriction of pokemon on hand during the tournament. The sandy blonde then went on to ask if she was excited.

Aella closes her eyes and rubs the bridge between her eyes, "Yes, of course just not how some decide to announce it."

Aubrey responds to her show of frustration "I did the thinking interruption thing again didn't I?"

"Slowly getting used to it," Aubrey apologized again while cheekily grinning and Aella took the opportunity to pull him out of the way of the entrance to the sign up before quickly letting go. He was a bit absent-minded of his surroundings.

He had done it over five times and though Flare had gotten good at giving a heads up she couldn't do so, when her thoughts were deeply in twined with her miss, ruminating over the walls in their way.

Abruptly turning away to walk back the direction she originally came from, keeping Tamall in his ball. Aubrey apparently really enjoyed talking to her, going so far as to jog beside them or even boldly ask to ride with her on her goat.

"Well since you've joined me in walking, mind explaining what you meant by Swiss rounds you shouted as you ran off yesterday," Aubrey had suddenly taken off on the last time they met. Something about being grounded for lateness.

Aella didn't understand why he suddenly brought up his ground types yet he left at an astounding fast rate on Domineer his Rhydon so it must have been important to him.

"You don't know what Swiss roundsare?"

"I've mentioned my lack of competitive battles haven't I?" Aella reminded him of the first time they met and another time she mentioned her goal to become a habitat researcher.

"Oops, yea I've been preparing my team. This will be our third year and we're going to make it to the Wartortle pool this year," Aubrey replied and he rambled on on how he and his team have been working on some new moves and new strategies for the double battles.

"Double as well as single? I thought I saw so little of those in the previous years' battles?"

"Yea that's a new thing they're doing this year to spice things up and surprise the contestants," Aella raised, and eyebrow at that comment, taking Aubrey a second to realize his mistake.

"Oops," he did a quick one two glance around, but the two of them seemed to stand in their own little bubble, thanks to a certain waxy decoration on her arm.

"Yea," she mimicked him, sighing, "well thanks for the info."

He groaned, "Don't tell or post about this please, my mom will be so upset at me if you do."

Oh as much as Aella wanted to tease him, she's done enough of that today. Aubrey was good at keeping secrets, it's just Aella plus Flare made a good combo. Her ghost had vastly improved her ability to alter someone's filter or chance to slip of the tongue.

Though she couldn't always quash their line of thought. Conscious thought wasn't as easy as subconscious, since suspicion could be drawn. She could make an awkward pause as she gave them a pseudo-moment of thinking twice before asking something.

Although, considering Audreys increased blinking, it wasn't completely unnoticed and there were limitations with other mind art users around or in the mind of the target.

He shook his head and abruptly switched topics back to his team, "Yea and this is the first year I have four pokemon and four to five is the recommended amount but plenty of people participate with only two. My first year I only had two teammates and during my second year I only had three."

Aella hummed, pointing out that he was fairly Ground centered, "But at least you're Staryu, Cyclone, helps balance your weakness to Water and Ice," she suggested, aiming for a Grass, Flying or Bug type if he wasn't planning on being Ground master.

"I kind of wanted to be a Water specialist like my mom– Cyclone was one of my mom's Starmie offspring and is my starter, but constant wet clothes are annoying," Aubrey continued his steps bouncing his body on the flagstone patterned stone. He jumped from the difficulty to obtain water stones to how his mom's Starmie was one of the Tournament shielding pokemon.

As the name implies Tournament shielding pokemon are the ones responsible for creating and maintaining that massive shield around arenas. They are required to have mastered Psychic, Magic Coat, Reflect, and Light Screen. If Cyclone is the offspring of one the chances of them, at least, knowing one of the final three is high.

There's 14 pokemon that are considered tournament shielding pokemon in Kanto and Johto and only two of those that are non-psychic. Sinnoh along with the rest of the other regions have different lists.

Aubrey said something about a challenge with how many rounds and Aella had to stop his tangent, backup and clarify.

"Yea there were so many people who participated last year that they decided to extend the tournament by a week," Aella reminded him that that didn't clarify anything she just said.

"Right we started off with Swiss rounds and then–I never explained what Swiss rounds are, did I?

"No."

He drew in a large quantity of air through his nose and she had a recollection of Meredith doing the same thing right before she jumped into a massive tangent.

Aubrey opened his mouth, "Wait!" and he deflated, clearly dumbfounded as Aella grabbed his arm and pulled him into a nearby alleyway.

"If you're going to go on a tangent, at least do it not in the middle of a pedestrian walkway," she sighed in the shade of the building before motioning for him to continue.

"Swiss rounds is like a round robin, but instead of everyone battling everyone you battle those with a similar amount of points and you get 0 to 4 points, depending on how well you do against your opponent. How many points you earn in the end determines what of the three pools you get thrown into–oh there's three winners in the end. They did this because of the extreme difference in experience that shows up because the age range is 7 to 13."

Aella took a breath, the same time Aubrey did. That was a lot of info. Some of it she knew like the age range but she didn't bother looking into how the tournament ran. At least she was glad she was getting this rundown now instead of during the tournament.

She received a bit more information before heading off to inform her family. The pool is when double battles and two and three verses began. In the pool you were thrown into a group of three to five. The winner of that group went on to an elimination bracket where you would battle everyone else in the pool who made the same achievement for the winners podium.

The sun was bright making the top of her head feel warm and the Wingull calls told her the direction of the ocean, not that she needed it.

X

The weight of her belt was heavy with four family attached instead of two. The big brimmed sun hat with a flop flap in the back covered her neck from the hot sun. Flare had gotten extra creative and had spread out nearly the entire length of the inner rim with water like drips down to the outer edge of the rim.

Her ghost also had given her one last look over before heading down and surmised the blade needed to go. Many would assume it was fake but on the off chance someone didn't and inspected it… yeah. It felt strange without it. For only 20 minutes. Ahh benefits of having a mind user.

They were standing in a massive field that over the last two weeks she had seen builders and coordinators descend on; altered to their liking. At least three battle arenas with more hidden behind a crowd that seem to go on forever. Stands were set up both for referees and arena shielders and a small seating area for spectators, mostly for those who couldn't stand for long periods of time.

Her ghost was unable to give her an exact number due to the astronomical number of souls, many moving thus practically overlapping each other. It wouldn't be that helpful anyway since both participants and crowd were mixed together.

There was a ring of some speaker turning on that penetrated the air followed by a cheery, "Good Morning! Are we all ready to get this tournament started?"

Yeahs, woos, whistles and plenty of kids jumping and pumping their fists in the air was a good enough answer for the mystery announcer.

The lights on the stage flashed bright and multicolored and dramatic music blaring out over the field turning heads. The sound turned down as a woman walked out, her sandy blonde hair gleamed under the light. Aella's focus changed to the Starmie walking in step behind her on the stage.

"I'm Ilana Hansley, welcome to this year's tournament!"

"So that's his mom," her vibrant energy matched his. She knew from watching the other grunts that age didn't always mean intelligence but based on Audrey's stories it did for her.

Aella already knew the nurses at the Pokecenter wouldn't be looking for Indigo League challenge registrations but there was always a slim chance they would ask for a poke license. She'd just have to bet on the busyness and Flare's mind games.

Ilana went on welcoming everyone to Terracotta town and talking about how much this yearly event has grown since it started 12 years ago. She continued on how this was the second year they had competitors from Sinnoh.

"Since all of you are so anxious to get started and we have over 100 matches in each arena today I'm going to jump right into explaining this year's tournament setup," the music slammed a heavy drumbeat in anticipation, "this year we're having 7 days of Swiss rounds to determine whether you'll be places in the Feraligatr, Wartortle, or Piplup pool!

"After you're in your pool you'll be placed in a group of five or three based on the experience shown in the Swiss rounds where you'll battle it out and the winner will move on to a final bracket of 16 or if the groups big enough, 32 where all–she dramatically paused–but one will be eliminated!"

There was a lot more cheering and Flare picked up a lot of chatter from many determined to win one of the pools, "Everyone will battle five times each day of this week! If all of your pokemon are knocked out, too tired or have a nurse's slip, marking them out for the rest of the day, you will be disqualified from the rest of your matches for that day and earn zero points for those matches and your opponent will battle someone else still in."

Aella was regretting not entering Flare but sign ups were done, and they had deemed it too dangerous. Glancing around again with her ghosts added sense to receive nothing new in the amount of Ghosts or Darks among the area.

Many were with much older adults here to cheer on their children or older siblings encouraging their younger participating ones. Ilana finished with a reminder to those watching that they weren't allowed to shout out the typings of the opponents pokemon, their strategies, or give advice on move use and heavy use of foul language, swearing be it from the audience or competitors will either be removed or lose a point.

Not a moment after the welcoming ceremony began, parents, older siblings and first year trainers were pulling out their dex or phones to look over today's five battle times. Aella, having only a music player as a piece of tech, migrated through the crowd where massive sets of screens sitting by the informant table listed all matches before the 2 o'clock lunch break.

'Battle format for Swiss rounds will be as follows: three matches before lunch and two after lunch. The days after lunch rounds will be posted during lunch.' Big bold letters in a slow blinking box at the top of the screen.

'Arena 5, soon, Arena 1, later, Arena 9, later later,' Flare urged her sight to the three times set. She turned the massive digital clock, bolted to the racking above the stage. Her vessel was right, in 15 minutes she would either have Tamall or Meredith on the field.

Right now matchups were random and since Tamall has been seen plenty so far, there was no point in hiding him. Meredith because her power was vastly inferior to her first and fourth. Underestimation has proven again and again to be one of her best survival and battling techniques. So why not use it again.

Pierce also fell into this category with no sign of evolution approaching, but a fully evolved pokemon, no one would underestimate that even if she was a Bug type.

There were haulers of encouragement coming from arena three, "There you go! Block that tail!" a person hollered to the kid and their Corsola who used Harden to block a Slam from the tail of a large Wooper.

"Push it off! Tackle!"

Aella could hear the Wooper cry but didn't stick around since the fifth arena's competitors were recalling theirs. Behind the referee was a square box drawn in dirt with a pole skewered into one corner, held a downward arrow with the words Arena 5 next match battlers. Above it held a digital display showing the next match number.

A girl with green eyes and hair stood breathing, nervous but determined. Flare guessed younger than her miss but couldn't ensure with a Psychic so close. Her parents and younger sister encouraged her saying she'd do fine.

Unwilling to stand so close, Aella stood just a step away and a volunteer in his black embezzled tournament shirt stepped over as the referee, distracted by their tablet at that moment, asked her name in question. She nodded, tapping her family's capsules as he gave some last words, saying she was on the red side, the side she walked in from, lucky.

The green haired girl murmured something but was outspoken by the volunteer telling them to enter their boxes. Glancing across that small field to the girl who watched the referee take her place. Aella mimed her actions.

A tablet was once firm in her hands now rested clipped to the woman's belt of tools, "Kendra from Azalea vs Aella. Kendra will release first."

The Kendra named girl shifted her feet, hesitating before snapping to attention at the calling that she only had 15 seconds to pick before disqualification. Her fingers didn't stumble from memory and a brown horned poke took to the green field. Stantler, young three feet at most and barely too small to ride.

There may be no benefit from the type, but their frames matched up and that worked in their favor. Tamall's ball snapped out of its slot, "Growth on my mark."

Aella didn't toss his ball, only tapped the top twice and Tamall started materializing just feet in front of her. Remembering she had seen Stantler on the list of possible pokemon to have Sap Sipper as a rare ability when she was researching the Gogoat line. Aella had only paused for a second, debating over tossing Meredith instead but she threw that thought away.

The girl's confusion was obvious at a horned poke that was clearly not a Girafarig, "Come on Kendra! Problem solve! What is it!" a deep smooth from a man with her same green hair, shouts from the sidelines. Kendra chewed her bottom lip looking Tamall up and down.

Tamall bellowed low and long, scraping soil and flinging it into the air. He was careful not to put too much energy into it lest it turn into a Roar. Stantler merred and tamped his own hooves but could only throw dust. Tamall inexplicably shivered when he glanced at the arched horns.

"That was Intimidate. It's fine Tamall, breathe," the goat let his lungs fill before snorting it empty.

"This is a one vs one. First to forfeit or faint ends the match. The match will also end if the time exceeds five minutes and the winner will be determined by the referee," both girls looked over to the referee as she gave a quick rundown since this was their first match before raising her arms.

One breath slipped from her lips. One shift of his hoof. Two arms dropped, and a bell chimed clear, "Start off!" Tamall ruffled his dense coat at Aella's command and small rounded leaves stuck up as more filled the gaps. He stared down his opponent Making sure to keep his eyes on their slim neck.

"Leer!" Kendra shouted her tension faded when the bell rang. Stantler stood in place but the scornful look simply washed over the strange pokemon.

Pierce had pestered the goat constantly about the danger of locking eyes. Leer was a nuisance that could easily be avoided, one Shay had a tendency to enjoy utilizing.

"Tackle it Bronze," the now named and thanks to Flare gendered Stantler, snorted and lowered her horns charged forward in a gallop. Faint energy surrounded the big horn speeding it up, Agility.

"Slow Horn clash. Ground and grass pad yourself!" Aella grumbled low, if it was gonna go fast, then it was going to hit a brick wall. Tamall's only response was to lower his head, kicking off into a trot. There was a moment of suspense before a hard slammed stop dug his large hooves into the ground and a Grass Knot underneath offered padding.

The crack of hornes was deafening above the other sounds of battle. A ghostly update alerted her of trainers in nearby arenas, distracted from their battles at the snap. Though both pokemon had heads designed for ramming, Stantler horns were more purposed in scaring while Skiddo were for bunting.

"Stantler's front legs! Force it bipedal!" Aella could hear Kendra call Bronze for a Scary Face but with the loss of Agility from the clash Bronze couldn't back up fast enough and was soundly held up on her hind legs.

She probably still could pull off Scary Face, but was too spooked to do so, "Bunt and toss!" Aella abandoned quiet commands to create fear from hearing your opponents' unnerving commands.

"Get away, get out of there!" her cries of terror left her pale and only made Bronze's panic reach higher levels and she could only keep her back legs from getting stepped on by his giant hooves. Tamall bunted her upper abdomen and swung his large head.

Her bleet was cut short when the air left her lungs and her side hit the ground, "Use your feet as Sand Attack to blind in then stand up!" Kendra was clever enough to try to take advantage of hers being on the ground.

"Eyes closed! backward right!" No Aella was not going to deal with sand residue, if she was going to use him in the next battle as well.

Tamall held his head high and sand speckled crossed his chest as he did a bounding back step till Aella called for a hold. Even as the sounds of the big horn thumping back on to four feet, Tamall's head stayed high and eyes stayed clinched in darkness. He didn't like the pitch black. That moment back then was a terrifying blessing.

He stayed, put even when that girl told hers to Body Slam him and the rumble of small hooves was heard. Aella finally took advantage of his Growth's only benefit at the moment.

"Round!" Tamall wasted no time following through, letting out a blaring melody. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the waves of energy arc out of the corner he had put himself in.

"Sand is down. Bunt it!" With his eyes re-introduced to light and head lowered, Tamall charged with the ire from the darkness bleeding into his Tackle turning it to Retaliate.

The energy and anger faded when a bell rang loud, "Kendra's is unable to continue! Aella wins the battle! Recall your pokemon!"

A loud sigh drawn from the frustration of losing, the green haired girl chewed her lip again. With a pokeball outstretched in her hand, red enveloped Bronze before disappearing.

"Tamall," Aella lightly called, nodding him back and he lumbered over. She huffed scratching him at the base of his horns, proud of his win, "good work you're getting better at Retaliate. Will find you a better focus on something with far less painful memories. Go again?" he dipped his head in agreement.

Kendra had stepped over likely to talk so her goat was recalled to rest as he was willing to take on their next opponent as well. Aella had seen it was good form to congratulate or offer courtesy to one's opponent.

"Pretty good," Aella started when the glossy green haired was close enough, "I'd say work on her confidence and your ability to stay calm. Yes Stantler are naturally skittish but panicking isn't gonna do Bronze any good."

"Yeah, I'm working on it," Kendra bit her lip and Aella now realized just how much damage that nervous habit did. Cracks were along her entire bottom lip with a slice looking like it came from her canine tooth.

"We just didn't expect them to pick her up like that and be able to toss Bronze over like that. She might be a bit small, but she's not exactly light," the girl abruptly jumped topics to a very expected question.

"What are they? It's not Johto or Kanto and I'm pretty sure I read up on everything from Sinnoh… is it Hoenn?"

Aella couldn't stop the smallest of smugness to slip through, "There's computers in the library if you want to look, I'd rather keep my secrets."

The girl looked a bit put off and glum at the answer, but the referee interfered with any return comment by announcing their scores. For his exemplary work, Tamall and Aella earned 4 points.

Bronze and Kendra unfortunately earned 0. There was only one moment after their horns clashed, that they had any sort of semblance of control over the field and flow of battle. None of their tactics worked and Sand Attack only forced the goat back.

Both of them listened silently to the referees closing remarks of the battle, Kendra nodded along her eyes stuck to the dirt. She looked to Aella when it was all over, "Good luck," she said her face hardened over, not even earning one point.

Returning her words, and adding on a wishing well in her next match. Green hair swung in the breeze as she whirled around and walked away back to her awaiting parents.

—

Aella could hear an audible ping from this referee's tablet. There were two volunteers at arena 1 as well, one did a few stretches and the other chatted with a boy who was nearly a foot taller than her.

Nearly completely black hair with a dash of blue in one part kept longer. He glared at her with tough orange eyes. Aella stared back completely unimpressed.

Colors were called and she walked to green stepping unfazed by his smug face and jeers. A shout got him moving to his own box with a sound of irritation.

"Aella vs Zane from Terracotta Town! Aella releases first," Aella pulls his ball, whispering to Tamall to shake up the ground a bit with Stomping Tantrum.

They had planned to milk any confusion regarding typing to the fullest. The first thought in any trainer's mind when an unknown typing shakes the ground is well Ground.

No brays were given just stomps in a three stepped dance Meredith taught him.

With feet shifted, Zane widened his eyes and grinned maliciously, "That was your fatal error!" a ball was whipped off his belt and practically slammed down on the ground in front of him.

Big, red, squishy and only half a foot shorter than Tamall, which was impressive for its size, was an Octillery. She took a moment to look over the large suckers that covered–his, a point not her own spoke in her mind clarified the gender–his appendages. It lazily swayed its big head spitting globs of water to assist writhing flexible arms across once dry land.

Aella tapped a foot mermering low and Tamall looked back to confirm the order given, "Test his ability," she nodded in encouragement.

He straightened and puffed up as he filled his lungs. Three things happened when that bell rang. Aella threw her hands over her ears. Zane told Octillery to finish Tamall with Octazooka. And Tamall bellowed.

Its gelatinous body practically folded back on itself as the only thing closest to a bone they had was their chitin beaks. Yellow suckers flashed signaling his ability in play.

Three areas had both trainers and pokemon halting because of his Roar with half a dozen swearing and being chastised for such language. Honestly, she should have better expected Zane's outcry due to his earlier behavior.

"That's cheating!" he shouted, "You can't use moves that send the Pokémon back!"

"The rules state I can't send a pokemon back, not that I can't use a move that sends a pokemon back besides, I wanted to confirm his ability was Suction Cups."

A thin crowd had gathered and there were words on both her brazenness and insight but also plenty who spoke of the stupidity of how unnecessary of a move it was. Aella looked to the referee, who was glancing through their tablet before, the gentleman looked up and nodded stating Aella was playing within the rules.

Grinding his teeth in frustration Zane looked ready to hit something with his firsts balled like that. Another Octazooka was forcefully called to the Octillery who was in no better of a mood.

A highly compressed orb of ink formed from the black liquid flowing out its nozzle like snout. Aella would like him to simply dodge but moves that involved ink, sand and smoke were really bad to get in the eyes. Ink was the only one of the three that was limited in substance. She hoped the octopus's ire would draw most of it out in its first few shots.

"Growth cover then spin and Defence Curl," she spoke only loud enough for Tamall's ears to wiggle. Aella learned over there training about the two sides to self status moves.

Ones like Agility, that required little yet constant energy to maintain for long periods of time, even while using other moves. And ones like Growth, that didn't require much, if any, maintenance to maintain but instead required a much larger burst of initial energy. How big or what kind of benefit it was, didn't affect whether it was thin and maintained, or a burst and sustained.

The first shot hit the back of his hind legs before he could drop into a Curl. Tamall was more prepared for the second one and took the initiative to raise and wiggle his tail, teasing the octopus. Octillery felt the need to payback the temporary defensive drop with an extraordinarily unnecessary Lock-On.

"Don't waste that dammit!" Zane flinched at the Psychic reminder of the language policy.

'Good,' Aella thought, 'even more waste. Lock-On is apparently easy to learn but can only be used a handful of times before the user receives a migraine. Less so with newbies, I'd be impressed if it can even do three.'

She crouched down in front of her mount, "Let's give Synthesis some practice," he grunts as a third shot hits him and a pale green glow emanates from his leaves.

Zane was laughing now, calling her a scaredy Meowth for just letting her pokemon die, "You should have known, then to use that type on me. I crush any soil types I come up against as a Water type prodigy!"

Zane's boasting, and Tamall's earlier Roar had brought in a decent crowd that thinned with the lack of action. But she still tipped her head down, using the brim to hide their faces from her eyes. Aella could hear some of the words and Flare filtered in more, amused at their ineptness.

"That's a third shot of Octazooka. How much defense does this Ground poke have?!"

"With such a noisy start I thought it would be more interesting."

"It's probably all bark no bite."

"Clearly, Chase texted and said there's an interesting fight between a Phanpy and a Pinsir down in arena eight. I'm gonna go check it out. When's your next match?"

"… because ink is hard to deal with and it's Grass not Ground he doesn't realize he's being played."

"Grass? That's a Grass?"

"My mom's from Kalos, remember? I didn't think we'd see any pokemon from Unova or Kalos."

"It's so intense."

"No it's boring."

Of the viewers less than half had anything worth Flare, tuning her into. The rest were either confused or had pointless words. Only one had hit the nail square, a saying she had once said. The metal of the pendant had warmed against her skin.

The fourth and fifth shot had Aella humming and standing up. Inky blackness changed to muddled water to a plane Water Pulse, "Out of Ink?" Aella mocked him back, "pity."

Zane clammed up, having nothing to say in the face of realization. She was screwing with him.

"Our turn," Aella chimed sweetly, her grin having turned malicious. Hollering out "Tamall!" who, having already turned and stood and gave up the benefits of Defense Curl for another Growth command that obscured his tail and mouth from view.

Aella intended to finish this very quickly. Four Octazooka even with a typing advantage, and defense up was still a lot, Synthesis just made him more tired.

A firm call of Vine Whip had Zane yelling, "What the h"– and was abruptly cut off by the Psychic, shutting his mouth.

He needed only two of his vines for a spiteful display of slapping its gelatinous body flat, and throwing it against the arena's force field.

Bubbles shot from the snout in a desperate act of self-defense did little in slowing down his nature made whips. Octillery had been left to fend for itself as his owner was too busy screaming at Aella.

"How does that thing know Vine Whip! It's a Ground type! It used a Ground type move at the start!"

"How can Charizard learn Thunder Punch when it's a Fire Flying type? A pokemon doesn't need to be the same type as its moves," Aella shrugged and threw more questions for him to chew on instead of answering.

Tamall's bay had Aella mentally slapping herself in reminder that she should not be focusing on the idiot, but his pokemon. Thick brown sludge spotted the ground around the octopus.

'Was that Sludge? It was definitely Poison,' She didn't know enough on poison shot moves to know the difference. Tamall's leaves were fine, carrying no mark of poisoning and he had immediately shook off the toxic substance.

"Force it down with Roar and hit it again," she watched his belly expand and there was a distinctive, tak tak tak sound of Bullet Seeds hitting Tamall's face and horns.

'Boy com̷̳̆ḿ̷̭a̴̟̐n̶̪͐ḋ̵̖, he's not a̶̙̓ń̴͎a̸̠͂l̴̟̈́y̷̺̋z̵̤̆i̵̯̔n̶̙̐g̴̞͆, attentive,' Aella had immediately assumed it was another random go from Octillery but Zane had enough sense to quietly give a command to his own. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough sense to put together the earlier reaction.

"Harder! Hit it with Energy Ball!" Octillery snorted but followed orders when green particles gathered in front of his orifice and spiraled into a glowing point. It pulsed and grew slowly and Aella was genuinely surprised when the octopus managed to hang onto it even when his head and body were flung back.

Suckers continued to pulse even after his Roar stopped and prevented Tamall from throwing him, so instead, her goat just chose to crush him and the Energy Ball in two winding vines.

Half of his tentacles had detached from the ground and yanked on the vines. With strong suckers the aquatic pokemon prevented Tamall from continuing to twist around his squishy frame. A gurgle left his snout when Tamall just increased the crushing force instead.

There was a burst of warped Psychic from Aella's hat. It oozed through the barrier and went straight for the mind of the goat.

Aella couldn't hear the command but the immediate slack in the vines was all the words she needed. Tamall recalled his vines. Plant matter was torn from the vines by the suckers firm grip.

The sound of a watery sigh of relief could be heard as he stayed slumped over. Aella described him as a disproportionate cephalopod.

There was a huff that bordered a knicker from her own before Tamall turned around and started to lumbar back but Aella stops him as he grows close by holding a hand in pause, saying they're still in match. The normally patient mount looked back and scowled at the water dweller's owner and his lack of compassion or understanding that his Octillery was done.

Zane hollered out orders but he just sat and blinked, too tired to do anything else, "Zane enough. You might not be done but Octillery is," Aella stepped in as the voice of reason, feeling that she really shouldn't have had to or at least the referee should have done something by now.

Seconds ticked by like minutes before the call, "Octillery is no longer willing to battle! Aella and Tamall wins! Recall your pokemon."

She sighed, Tamall took the last two steps to be directly in front of her. Offering a few words of praise before Aella swiftly recalled the well hidden but exhausted goat.

Zane offered no congratulations. Just sneered and began to storm off before being tapped by a volunteer.

'Probably being told points haven't been announced yet,' rolling her toes. There would be no kind words told to Zane. She wouldn't give any to one who treats his own with so little care.

Earning 3 points brought her total to 7. The noise from the other side of the field made her delay her travel to arena number 9. Zane had created quite the scene complaining about getting 0 points. That was odd he should have at least earned one.

He threw heavy words at the referee whose monotonous expression kept emotions off his face. A big breath of air went in and out through her nose. It was only her second match in the entire competition, though granted he earned it. He lost that point.

Zane's behavior, language, and less than caring treatment towards his pokemon lost him his point. Ilana had stated the rule to start; she just didn't expect to see it in play. Her musings ended when the other volunteer, not assisting the referee, stood less than a foot away from her and stopped her from leaving.

"I respect your Psychic decision to step in and prevent severe damage but utilizing them to pass on commands or assist in alerting the position of the opponent is prohibited. Please be aware of that or you will lose a point."

She graciously nodded and let the sun hat's brim uncurl no longer needing to see the volunteer face-to-face. The sun was hot anyway.

Thank you for reading Chapter 12 and part 2 of Terracotta Town Tournament will be released on September 1 2023