"Come sit young man!" shouts Charles
I gulp and wander up before taking a seat next to Grandma
"Uh happy birthday, what going on?"
"Well you see I mentioned that you were heading to the Whirl Islands to take part in the Whirl Cup and Charles insisted on bringing me here as a birthday gift"
"Oh, well thank you Mr Goodshow but how did you end up in this fancy place?"
"Oh, Siegfried is the Lord of the Islands he is an old friend, I always come for the finals as a representative of the league but with the situation it all comes together quite nicely"
"We are always one to welcome esteemed guests" The older man with grey hair says
"Well thank you for having my Grandmother sir"
He smiles and beckons me to take food. I gladly accept, I had been eating a lot of convenience and take out food lately as between training and battling I hadn't had much time. Having some properly cooked food at such a high quality was a shock to the system. After dinner Siegfried had to head off to make last minute adjustments to the opening ceremony tomorrow. I take the time to introduce my party to Grandma, Chinchou is brought over by one of the Poke centres workers and I let it out to play in the shallow water alongside Lapras. Bayleef and Croconaw play with Togepi running around on the beach while Typhlosion stays close and naps. Grandma has a little ride around on Lapras before landing back on the beach, we sit and chat. She explains that she is taking less hours at work, she says her old body is starting to slow down, I smile and lean into her happily as she wraps her arm around me
"I'm very proud of you Dusty" She says looking out over my team
I baulk slightly at the sudden admission
"Uh thanks" I say with an awkward laugh
I look up and see her slightly teary
"Hey what's wrong?" I question
"Nothing, these are happy tears" She says wafting her hand towards herself
"I'm just so pleased that you didn't give up, after everything that's happened I was concerned you would give up on your dreams but seeing you and your Pokemon, I see now that you getting closer and closer to it"
"I'm not sure about that, I'm kind of just focusing on this tournament coming up and we will see how it goes"
"Well I believe in you Dusty, your gonna go to the very top!" She shouts pulling me into a hug
"Thanks Grandma"
"WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THIS YEARS EDITION OF THE WHIRL CUP! WE HAVE FOR YOU 16 ENTERANTS WHO WILL FACE OFF TO SEE WHO WILL BE CROWDED CHAMPION OF WATER TYPE POKEMON"
The announcers bellows from the small row of the colosseum, generally the Whirl cup would have up to 64 competitors however due to the splitting of the divisions there were now three separate tournaments. I was entering the junior section which this year only had 16 enterants, however there was one who was very important
"THIS YEAR ALSO MARK THE PARTICIPATION OF OUR WATER PRINCESS, PLEASE EVERYONE GIVE A STANDING OVATION FOR LOTUS!"
A young girl about 15 with bright blue hair clip up with adorning pearls emerges from the stadium onto the side of the water field, she happily waves up into the crowd as they heaps adulation down onto her. This was lotus the daughter of Maya the one referred to as the sea priestess. Unlike generally with chain of commands the sea-folk who made up the whirl islands are a matriarchy, while the major of the town can be a male or female, there are no male sea priest, they are only female. They are seen as the embodiment of the mother sea, in culture of the Whirl Islands the mother sea was is a figure that blesses the islands with riches and food. Lotus is the first born girl of Maya and is seen as the next in line for the position of sea priestess. I sit with the other competitors in the box clapping along slightly unnerved by the rapturous reception
"She's going to be tough to beat, I heard she can challenge any of the Johto gym leaders easily" mumbles one the other competitors
"Yeah, I bet she gets access to all the best training gear if she's a princess"
"I wouldn't want to draw her in any round"
She claps back to the crowd and waves before returning to her box in the stadium, Siegfried the man from before then emerges and begins the draw for the first round. The tournament would be 3 rounds o double battles with the final bein 4. This meant that I can use Chinchou, Lapras and Croconaw for now. If I made it to the final I would have to bring back one of the Kanto team but I would think about that when I got there. Slowly the names are drawn out until we are left with four names including myself and Lotus.
"And the next name is Lotus!"
The crowd cheers loudly, I rub my face nervously bearing myself for my name to be shouted out
"And she will battle Kieran!"
I exhale loudly in relief as I spot the kid in front of me shake his head sadly assuming he is Kieran
"That mean lastly we will have Dustin and Catarina"
The announcement continue as the first competitors are asked to make there way down to the field, all the matches except the final will be today. The competition goes through each battle, they are very fast paced, most are over in about ten minutes. Lotus wipes the floor with Kieran, she is clearly a skilled battler, her Corsola and Seadra barley even looked tired by the time there opponenet was unable to go on.
"And finally for the last match of the first round we have Dustin versus Catarina"
I step out from one the huge arches of the stadium into the well open area, the sun bears down on the filed as the water ebbs and flows. There are a few rock places strewn across the field so battles don't have to be purely under water, there are also three large screens around the stadium so underwater fighting is completely visible. I look across to my opponent, she looks quietly confident throwing a dive ball up and down in the air. I had checked out her profile in the lulls between matches, she was a yellow rock isle resident and had take the gym challenge on in Johto a few year prior, she had made it to the old Silver Conference but was defeated in the preliminaries before it, since then she had only ever entered the Whirl cup winning it a few years ago but since you hadn't made it further than the Quarters, this would be her last year competing on the junior circuit.
"Good luck" I shout across to her, she smiles and nods back to me
"Will both trainers send out there two Pokemon" commands the referee who is in a small row carved into the side of the stone stadium
"Cloyster, Kingler go!"
"Chinchou and Croconaw I need you!"
The hulking pair of Cloyster and Kingler emerge, Cloyster immediately dives down to the water while Kingler takes up one of the large rocky outcroppings. Chinchou splashes down into the water and begins to hop up and down while Croconaw lands on the closest rocky platform and immediately stares down Kingler
"Match begin!"
"Chinchou, use Whirlpool!"
Chinchou spins it antenna around creating a large vortex of water around itself and the platform Croconaw stands one
"Trying to keep us away are you" Catarina shouts
"Croconaw, Dragon Dance!"
Croconaw roars and is engulfed in a blue tinted energy
"Oh I see the plan, keep us away so you can power up! Well lets stop that, Kingler Crabhammer on the water!"
Kingler launches forward and slams its huge claw it the centre of the water sending a huge shockwave towards the platform Croconaw is on, it compleltey disturbs Dragon Dance making it fail
"Croco!" I shout as it falls to the floor
"You want to keep an eye down below, Rapid Spin!"
I look to the screen and see Cloyster spinning wildly, I spear itself from below Chichou slamming the underside of it launching it up out of the water, it lands down next to Croconaw in a heap
"Chinchou, Croconaw are you okay?"
The grimace but pull themselves back up to a fighting stance
"Kingler, Stomping Tantrum!"
Kingler roars and slams its spindly feet to the floor send shock waves and rock flying at my pair of Pokemon
"Croconaw, block it with Ice Punch!"
Croconaw dart out in front to protect Chinchou from the super effective move, it manages to block the oncoming rocks but is still hurt by the shock waves
"Chinchou, back into the water!"
Chinchou dives back down being careful as Cloyster has dived back down to the depths
"You know Chinchou can't hide, it greatest tool is its antenna but they are a disadvantage too, Cloyster Rock Blast"
A sea of rocks come flying from below, Chinchou is able to swiftly dodge more accustom to moving in the water than on land
"Chinchou, Discharge!"
Chinchou spins while its antenna crackles with electricity, the water light up yellow as the currents fill it, in the depths it connects and the silhouette of Cloyster can be seen fired by the electricity
"Great work Chinchou!"
"Cloyster Razor Shell! Kingler Metal Claw!"
Cloyster speeds from below while Kingler for the first time dives into the water, they both move with incredible speed slamming Chinchou with a joint attack. Chinchou calls out in pain, before letting of a huge blast of electricity damaging both it enemies. Kingler and Cloyster both jump out of the water bearing scars from the electricity while Chinchou floats and bops on the waters surface unable to go on
"Chinchou is unable to battle!"
The crowd cheer as I return Chinchou to its ball
"You did great in your first battle, leave the rest to us"
"Kingler use Crabhammer again, Cloyster dive down underwater"
Kingler launches forward slamming its huge claw to create shockwave while Cloyster retreat back down under the water
"Croconaw use Ice Punch"
Croconaw jumps forward and slams its fist into the water freezing it, the ice perforates al the water slowly closing in on Cloyster
"Rapid Spin!"
It sins in place before moving back to the surface saving itself from being frozen, rather than a water filed it was now an ice one
"Cloyster can't hide down below any more!" I shout out
"Who said we were hiding? Cloyster Razor Shell!"
Cloyster spins moving forward at pace
"Rock Smash"
Croconaw pulls its arm back glowing bright white and slams it into the shell of Cloyster stopping it dead, it hits the form ice causing it to crack and splinter. It shell open revealing it unconscious and unable to go on
"Cloyster is unable to battle!"
Croconaw roars with the crowds cheers before being engulfed in a white energy taking over its body, its figure warbles and change before revealing it evolved form
"Gatr!"
"It evolved?!" Catarina shouts
"Its been ready for a while, Feraligatr been waiting for a worthy opponent though before it went to the next level"
He roars out urging Kingler forward, it grunts clicking its huge claws
"Kingler, Guillotine!"
Kingler claw glows white and elongates before it bursts forward
"Jump and dodge"
Feraligatr leaps up as Kingler slams its claw into the ice and becomes stuck
"Finish it up Feraligatr, Dragon Claw!"
Feraligatr descends and slams its huge blue claws into the back of Kingler who is sent flying into the wall of the stadium, its left in a heap on the floor unable to go on
"Kingler is unable to battle, the win goes to Feraligatr and Dustin"
The crowd roars as I skid out to Gatr trying not to slip on the ice, I jump onto him in a hug
"That was great work buddy! You're so much bigger now too!" I say as he pushes me into the air with ease
I talk with Catarina and give he my condolences, he wishes me luck for the rest of the tournament. I spot Grandma in the crowd who is jumping up and down waving to me. The rest of the tournament goes easily, my quarter-final opponent uses only a Magikarp and Gyarados, I use Chinchou and Lapras focusing on the Gyarados, once it taken down my opponent forfeits as his Magikarp only know Splash. The semi final is a little more difficult but Lapras and Feraligatr team up and manage to pull through putting me into the final against Lotus. The pair of us are brought out onto the field before the end of today's battle, the crowd cheer and chant when Lotus is alluded too while there barley a murmur except for Grandma when I am. Lotus had revealed her 4 Pokemon during the tournament, Seaking, Corsola, Seadra and Mantine. The crowd filter out of the stadium, I meet up with Grandma and Charles afterwards who insist on taking me for a meal. I also take Togepi back who Grandma had been looking after during the tournament
"Congratulations Dustin, but you must keep on your toes, Lotus is an accomplished trainer. Its my understanding that she is on a similar level to that of the Johto gym leaders" Charles says sipping at his tea
"Yeah, I checked out her trainer profile in the breaks, she seems really strong. If she wasn't a princess I would imagine she be a great circuit trainer" I reply
"Well, regardless I'm sure you will do your best Dustin, I think your going to go all the way in fact" Grandma says to me with a huge grin
"I'll do my best"
"So who will be your fourth Pokemon?"
"Oh I have a plan for that don't worry"
