Chapter 4: The Highest Sport
Dawn had arrived. While Aurora had enjoyed a long and deep sleep during the night, Kel was lacking energy. He had tried for hours to finally find peace, but every time he closed his eyes, he looked into the two piercing eyes of the almighty tyrant Epsilon. Kel himself did not understand why just looking at a picture could affect him so much. It felt as if it wanted to convey a message to him that he could not understand. As if this pair of eyes had a deep meaning that affected him more than he could ever understand. Due to that he had hardly been able to sleep, and he was accordingly tired now.
He was also still confused by the events of the morning. When he woke up in the morning, there was a bright flash almost immediately and the lamp on his bedside table simply disappeared. Instead, it was replaced by... a salad? When he asked Aurora about it, she did not seem impressed and suggested taking the salad with them to the league. Because apparently it was a salad usually eaten by just one specific guy..
He walked by Aurora's side, already in the orange light of the early morning sun, which made the big city look like a flaming sea, but without any deadly heat, alone with the mystical beauty. The reflection of the sun's rays through the glass dome at the top of the league tower shot in all imaginable directions and made the structure appear like a giant lighthouse. Some Pokemon were already on the streets, but there were significantly fewer than the evening before. The same was true for the destination. A familiar door opened again and the team partners got into the same elevator as just the day before. The quiet, steady sounds of the engine penetrated Kel's ears. His tiredness caused a lack of attention and his focus was caught by the sound alone.
"Hello? Are you awake? We're here!"
Startled out of his thoughts, Kel followed Aurora and, after an amused glance by her, knocked on the right door this time.
"Aurora and Kel? Come in!", Aurorus greeted.
The door opened with a click and the two Pokemon entered.
"Nobody else would voluntarily show up here this early! So, today you want to make your team official, right?"
Aurora nodded euphorically while Kel just tried to stay awake.
"Well, we will need your team name and a signature from both Mon involved. You also have to choose a team leader, unless you both want to do that job."
After this last statement, Aurorus already cast a knowing look at Aurora. But at that moment she did not behave as he would have expected.
"Well... I think it's better for both of us to take on that team leader thing. Neither of us has any experience after all."
"I didn't expect that from you, I'll be honest. Good on you, though. Oh, but I forgot another important question: Why do you guys smell like my breakfast?"
Yeah, Aurora had been right. Obviously, the ominous salad belonged to Tyrantum. And only now did Kel remember what he had found that morning.
"Oh yes... that stuff stole my table lamp this morning. Aurora thought it might be yours."
He handed Tyrantrum the wooden bowl.
"It is indeed. Then this thing belongs to you, Aurora. But fine, let's continue. And later I want an explanation of how a fruit salad is supposed to 'steal' something, Growlithe."
Kel simply ignored this last statement and both Aurora and him started filling out the team form.
"Team Polarna vatra? Do these words have any greater meaning? At least I've never heard it."
In this situation, for once, Tyrantrum seemed much more informed than his partner.
"That definitely sounds like the language of the Old Kasonians."
Kasonia, just like Berelo, was a continent of this world.
"If I'm not mistaken, it should mean something along the lines of 'snow burn'. But I could be wrong, my Old Kasonian isn't particularly good."
"You're actually almost right. It means 'polar fire'."
For the first time, Aurorus seemed positively surprised by Aurora.
"You speak Old Kasonian, and apparently fairly fluently? How did it come to that?"
"It's a long story, but not one for now. I've waited long enough to form this team!"
"And we've waited long enough for you to stop annoying us. So, come with us. Every new team gets a little tour here."
Although Aurora already knew this building very well and would probably be able to find her way around without further instruction, she was quite happy about the refresher, as it meant she wouldn't make any embarrassing mistakes. On the other hand, she knew herself that Kel needed the introduction more than anything. So far he had only received the knowledge that Aurora had given him in such a short time. He probably didn't even know how this sport was played. So the new team "Polarna vatra" followed Tyrantrum, while Aurorus stayed behind.
"So, you know the ground floor well enough, we'll skip it for this round. In general, we have many levels that are actually just storage space or living space, which is why the tour won't be particularly long. Let's start... with floor 12."
The trio took the elevator down until it stopped on floor 12. When the door opened, there was a large hall with a few tables. A kind of counter was on one wall. There were no windows in this room, all the light came from a large chandelier.
"Well, this room is basically just a common area. Different teams meet here to talk and take a break. The counter on the back wall is a small kiosk. There's no one here right now anyway, and there's not much to explain, so we'll go straight on. And we'll take the stairs, because floor 13 is the next one!"
Following the instructions, Kel used the stairs in this building for the first time. White, marble-like steps led up the seemingly endless stairwell.
"Is it actually true that some Pokemon train by constantly running up and down these stairs?", asked Aurora.
"You can bet on it. And don't ask for my opinion, you won't hear anything good. We've got so much training equipment and all kinds of options for our teams and these guys... but whatever, we're on floor 13."
The new team continued their tour through the main building of the Berelian Battle League, through many more levels full of various objects and sometimes Pokemon. The next truly important level, however, was number 25. This is where the fighting rings began.
"Floors 25 to 35 are all battle rings that are freely available. From floors 35 to 40 there are even more battle rings, but these are only intended for ranked fights."
Kel took a look at the strange symbol that was drawn on the floor. Two sections of a large circle filled the room, although these sections hardly looked alike.
"Oh yes, there was another problem, right?. You have no idea about the league's battle rules, do you Growlithe?"
The Pokemon addressed just shook his head while continuing to stare at the structure with interest.
"You know what? Aurora, you explain! Then I'll see whether you really know as much as you pretend. Come on, start off!"
The command was answered immediately and Aurora stepped into the middle of the ring to begin her explanations.
"Well, Kel, listen closely! I don't want to have to explain this to you several times!"
Easier said than done, given his current mental state. Nevertheless, Kel tried to follow the Vulpix's words as well as he could.
"So, as the name suggests, battles here are carried out in rings like this one. This inner circle has a diameter of ten meters. There are usually two Pokemon in this section, one per team. The two fighters begin fighting after a starting signal. The main goal in ring battles is not to knock out the opponent or anything like that! Instead, the goal of a fighter must be to get his opponent out of the ring."
"Any Pokemon attacks and techniques that do not exceed legal limits are allowed, which is why you have a lot of creative freedom in this sport. Then there is the outer ring."
Aurora left the inner circle.
"This is the danger zone. Come here for a second!"
Kel followed the instruction without hesitation, but as soon as he entered the area he almost fell to the ground.
"Can you feel it? There is a strong magnetic field in the three meters of the danger zone that pushes Pokemon to the ground. This greatly restricts your own freedom of movement. Your first goal should always be to get your opponent into the danger zone, then take advantage of their limited movements and get them out of the ring."
"That's it from a purely technical point of view. The team whose fighter is the last one in the ring gets a point. Each team needs at least two members, as you should know. This is because a second round takes place afterwards, this time with two different Pokemon. If the same team wins again as in the first round, the match is decided and the team in question has won, and the other team has obviously lost. However, if both teams win a round each, then a third, final round takes place. In this round, if it comes to it, there will be two Pokemon from each team in the ring. A two versus two. The team that has no more fighters in the ring first loses that round, which immediately ends the whole match and declares the other team the winner. In very few special fights it can also happen that after two rounds have been won, only a partial victory is awarded and the whole thing is repeated until one team has two partial victories. But that is unlikely to happen to us for the time being. There's also battles that take on a Best of Five format instead of Best of Three but those are even more rare."
Tyrantrum seemed relatively satisfied when Team Polarna vatra stepped out of the danger zone.
"You really studied, huh, Aurora? But I want to make a few small additions. So, for once: If a Pokemon stumbles or otherwise throws itself out of the ring, then it's its own fault! The opponent wins in this case, or, if it happens in round 3, is in a better spot. Another important detail, but only for larger teams: If a team has more than five Pokemon, the team leader must announce before the start of the game which five Pokemon from the team will be part of the lineup. The team can then only choose from these five. But most teams have fewer Pokemon anyway. Very few people voluntarily join another team when they can form their own. That's it for my additions, and also for the tour. Floors 40-46 are actually unimportant, mainly storage space. You know our office, you know what's on the floors above. The biggest local duels, the promotion challenges, take place in the dome on floor 50. As a team, you can belong to either the Lower League, the Upper League or the King's League. You start in the Lower League, of course, but if your results are good enough, you can take part in a promotion challenge. If you pass, as you can probably imagine, you move up to the next league. These tests only really exists between the Lower and Upper League tough. For the higher leagues, if you end up in 50th place, the lowest placement in the King's League, you have to hold a promotion challenge, more like demotion i this case, against the best team from the Upper League and they will try to take your place. But whether you ever make it to the King's League is a different story anyways..."
While the doubts in Tyrantrum's voice were clearly audible, Aurora seemed determined.
"Of course we will! Even if it's a long road, we'll make it eventually!"
Kel was not surprised that Tyrantrum hadn't exactly been convinced by these words.
"If you say so... well, come back to the office with me."
The team followed the league founder without saying a word. When they were back in the elevator, waiting to reach the highest level, Tyrantrum asked another question.
"This has nothing to do with the tour, but rather interests me personally. What do you two think of Epsilon and the P
lot?" Kel didn't quite know what to say.
"Well... I've been here for like a day, I don't know enough about it to judge."
Aurora, on the other hand, seemed much more determined.
"Epsilon is a fanatic and a tyrant! Even if I believe in the Plot, no one has the right to decide whether you try to change your future!"
"Interesting..."
Tyrantrum's voice remained neutral, but when Kel looked at him, he was shocked. There was this look on his face... was that anger?