Chapter 32: The Kanto League

The Tohjo Mountains stretched out in every direction as Firestorm and I soared eastward from Blackthorn with Starr riding Swift not far behind us. By now, the sheer slopes of Mt. Silver towered over the southern horizon as we crossed over into Kanto, and from there the terrain gave way to rocky highlands, and then forested hills. Until finally, a wide, flat-topped mountain appeared on the horizon ahead of us, the only landmark for miles.

"*Is that it?*" Firestorm asked.

I grinned. "Yep. That's Indigo."

The massive rock face practically glimmered in the mid-morning sun, its surface streaked with red and purple. I caught sight of the cave entrance at the base of the mountain, beyond which lay the sprawling labyrinth of Victory Road that any first-time competitors would have to pass through before being allowed entry. Good thing I wasn't actually participating in the tournament.

Warm updrafts sent us soaring upward until we were flying directly over the city, and I finally caught my first glimpse of the tournament site. A massive central building was ringed by an impressive array of stadiums. I had spent so long training on Midnight Island that I thought I had a good idea of what stadiums were like, but like Rudy had said, these put Midnight Stadium to shame—able to fit an endless number of spectators and boasting towering screens to report ongoing battle statistics. Surrounding the main stadiums were smaller battlefields and lines of training ground, where trainers' Pokémon could be seen launching attacks into the air.

As we neared the airspace over the plateau, it became increasingly obvious just how many other trainers were making the same journey, as the sky was absolutely swarming with flying Pokémon. A scattered group of uniformed people riding Pidgeot circled the area, waving colored flags to direct the aerial traffic. I nudged Firestorm's side in a way that told him to slow down, and then we waited until one of the rangers gave us the go-ahead to land in a roped-off patch of dirt on the southwestern edge of the plateau.

Everyone making the flight today had to be guests. Most of the competitors had probably been here for at least a month, training and preparing for the tournament to begin tomorrow. There was still the occasional frantic and out-of-breath trainer sprinting up the grand stairs from Victory Road at the last minute, however.

"*I've never seen this many trainers in one spot,*" Firestorm said, craning his neck around to take in all the details surrounding us. "*Just think of how many people we could battle here.*"

I gave him a nudge. "Hey, remember we're not here to compete, we're just supporting Rudy and Darren."

Firestorm shrugged. "*Doesn't mean we can't have fun in the meantime.*"

A sudden burst of air rushed into my face as Swift landed alongside us. Starr jumped down from his back right before I recalled both him and Firestorm to make room for the other fliers landing all around.

"Man, that took way too long," Starr said, stretching widely.

I raised an eyebrow. "It was only a thirty minute flight?"

"Yep. Too long, if you ask me. Shame Ajia can't just have Espeon give us a lift everywhere."

I snorted. 'Espeon'—in other words, Mew. "I think 'Espeon' has better things to do," I said dryly.

Starr shrugged. "Whatever. Speaking of, is Ajia here yet?"

"I texted her earlier. She said she was busy and that she'd be getting here later today."

"Attention all guests!" a recorded voice blared from speakers mounted around the landing area. "Please see the visitor's booth for a spectator badge and a map of the tournament site outlining which areas are off-limits to all non-competitors. Tickets for designated seats can also be purchased at this time."

Well, that wasn't going to be a problem. I'd already reserved a basic spectator badge, which was enough to get me into the tournament site and let me watch the preliminaries. If anyone I knew made it into the top cut, I'd think about buying seats for it, but otherwise it was too expensive to consider.

"So I'm gonna go meet up with some friends," I said, pausing slightly. "You can come with me, if you want?"

"No thanks. I'll just entertain myself around the city until Ajia gets here," Starr replied.

"Alright, I'll catch up with you two later," I said, waving to her before I walked off.

After sending a quick text to Rudy to let him know I'd made it here, I waited in line to pick up my badge at the visitor's booth. Within seconds, I'd received his reply of, "Alright! I'm over at public battlefield C. See you there!"

All I had to do was show the attendant my ID and she handed me a glossy card that read '99 Kanto League Championships' with the word 'spectator' under it in big, bold font. Simple though it was, I couldn't deny that it felt really cool to hang the badge around my neck and freely set foot inside the tournament site. Who didn't dream of visiting Indigo Plateau during tourney season? Granted, that dream usually included being an actual participant, but I'd long since abandoned the idea of being a competitive battler, and just being here was cool enough.

So I wandered the tournament site, passing under the shadows cast by the grand stone arches at the entrance. My eyes traced the ridiculous array of vendors' stalls that had been set up along the walkway, which was absolutely packed with trainers. I saw battle enhancements of every shape, size, and color, the majority of which I didn't even know the names of. An absolute rainbow of different types of Pokéballs. Walls upon walls of TMs. An assortment of League-branded merch like shirts, bags, and plushies (including a ridiculously huge plush of Bubba the Venusaur, this year's tournament mascot.) It was almost dizzying.

I really wasn't too keen on draining my account while I was here, and that was almost definitely going to happen if I stayed here too long. Instead, I pressed on through the vendors' alley and made my way toward the public battlefields that rimmed the eastern edge of the tourney site. Once there I was met with the sight of dozens of trainers, all with Pokémon by their side—some of them studying new moves, others holding mock battles. Attacks were kept fairly low-key. A quick glance at all the signs lining the area revealed why: 'Moves with ratings exceeding 90 are strictly prohibited on the public battlegrounds. The complete list of League-approved moves with ratings can be found here," followed by a code that could be scanned to visit the webpage. Well that made sense—there weren't exactly any shields out here to keep big, explosive attacks from going out of control.

I wandered along the outskirts until I reached battlefield C, then weaved through scattered groups of trainers. I passed by a crowd gathered around a Dragonair practicing looping figure-8s in the air, then a duo of Marowak and Scyther doing a synchronized Swords Dance. And then when I reached the far corner of the battlefield, I finally caught sight of an olive-skinned, spiky-haired boy standing alongside a full team of Fearow, Nidoking, Pupitar, Houndoom, Breloom, and Tauros. He turned in my direction. Then his eyes lit up and he waved, proudly holding up the competitor badge hanging from a cord around his neck. Before I could respond, the Houndoom dashed forward in a blur of black, rearing up to put her paws on my shoulders and licking the side of my face. Some things never changed.

"Well about time you got here, Jade," Rudy said in a mock scolding tone as he strolled over, hands on his hips.

"I got here as soon as I could," I said, laughing as I shoved Ebony down. "This is literally the first day that the tourney site's open to non-combatants."

"I know, I know, just trying to give you a hard time," he said, elbowing my arm. "I still think it sucks that you're not actually in the tournament. But at least you've been keeping up with badge collecting, yeah? How many you up to now?"

"Five," I said.

He nodded approvingly. "Ever considered entering the Johto League?"

"I'm a little late for that this year," I said with a laugh.

"Next year, then."

I shook my head. "Nah. The gym battles were just the best way to keep my team from getting bored."

"Fine, whatever works for you," he said, shrugging. "I can't say it's too different for me either. After the rebellion ended, training and badge collecting has kinda been what's kept me going, yeah?" It was kind of a surprise to hear him mention that. Neither of us exactly brought up the rebellion's end very often.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter that you're not entering," he went on, waving a hand dismissively. "In fact, it's a good thing. Y'know, it's getting close enough to the preliminaries that I really shouldn't train with anyone who I could be fighting in the tournament. So you need to be my training partner. My team needs all the practice it can get!"

I couldn't help chuckling a bit under my breath. There hadn't been a single time we'd met up that he hadn't challenged me. And while I'd always left out the experiments in the past, Rudy's Pokémon had been making leaps and bounds in strength lately. It could actually be a fair fight now.

"How does three rounds of one on one sound?" he asked, taking a few steps back to put some distance between us.

"Fine by me," I said. "You send out first."

He spun around, sizing up all of his team members. Ebony hopped up and down in front of his face, but he gave her a pat on the neck and said, "Not this time," with a small laugh. He glanced at each of the rest of them in turn, muttering various things to himself. And then his gaze fell on the rock-armored cocoon sitting off to the side, ignoring everyone else.

"I choose Pupitar!" he exclaimed.

The rock-type gave no response at first. Her eyes were half-lidded with the usual bored expression, which I would have chalked up to her species not being very expressive, although she'd never exactly showed much interest in anything or anyone as a Larvitar either. Rudy didn't seem too fazed by her (lack of) response though. He just waited patiently while she seemingly considered the idea. Finally, after a lengthy pause, the rock-armored cocoon hopped forward heavily, the pointed end of her shell digging into the dirt with each hop.

"So you're entering the Indigo League tournament, and you haven't gotten one of your team members to their final form yet?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, screw you," he said, giving me a shove. "No one gets a pseudo-legend to its final form in their first year of training."

I smirked. "I know, just giving you a hard time." It wasn't like I'd have been able to do any better.

I took a good twenty or so steps back to put some distance between us before I let Stygian out of her Pokéball. The Absol appeared in front of me in a burst of white light, then glanced around briefly before her eyes fell on her opponent.

"*Interesting,*" she just said. Probably referring to the fact that I normally didn't use her or the other experiments in my battles with Rudy. He must have noticed too, because his eyes widened slightly, but then he just pumped a fist and shouted, "You got this, Pupitar!" Pupitar gave a slight rock that seemed to be her species' equivalent of a shrug.

"Let's open with a quick Night Slash," I said.

Stygian dashed forward, dark aura flaring to life around her forepaws as she ran. Pupitar didn't move. Sure, it was unlikely she could dodge in time. But she just sat there as Stygian closed the gap between them. Within seconds, the Absol reached her opponent and swung a paw down, carving shallow gashes into Pupitar's shell.

Then Rudy suddenly yelled, "Headbutt now!"

Stygian was mid-move and didn't have a chance to react. Without warning, the rock-type shot upward and smashed into her face. The Absol staggered backward, clutching a paw to her forehead and glaring daggers at the pupa.

Alright, shouldn't have rushed in like that. If he just had Pupitar go for the counterattack on every move, her endurance would win out over Stygian's strength. Had to play this smarter.

"Swords Dance!" I called out.

Stygian circled back to where her opponent most likely couldn't reach and began honing her claws in a complicated, rhythmic series of forms, her movements growing sharper and more forceful in the process.

Rudy watched her dance, furrowing his brow. Then he just shrugged and said, "Alright, we'll go with Rock Polish."

Shoot. I'd expected him to press the attack while Stygian was setting up, not respond with a setup of his own. Since when did Rudy use setup moves, anyway?

As Stygian finished her dance, Pupitar began spinning against the dirt, slowly at first, but quickly increasing in speed. The rocky surface of her shell smoothed over, the plates of armor clicking against each other, almost like they were loosening.

"Alright, now for a Rock Smash," Rudy said, grinning.

The rock-type vented a burst of gas from her shell, instantly propelling herself forward like a rocket. Whoa—I'd definitely never seen Pupitar do that before.

"Cut her off with a Night Slash!" I ordered.

Stygian dashed forward. Her claws, honed from the earlier dance, flared up with a far larger and more vicious aura. She rushed forward, intent on landing a hit first, hopefully knocking her opponent prone, and then we'd be free to dish out a follow-up attack.

The two met at the center of the battlefield. The Absol's claws landed first, cleaving deep gashes into the rock-type's armor. But the move didn't stop her momentum, not by a longshot. The pupa plowed straight into Stygian just as fast, bowling her over like she was a ragdoll. She tumbled over her side, but then sprang to her feet quicker than I'd thought possible and smacked Pupitar in the back before she had a chance to react.

And then I realized the same thing that Stygian just had—Pupitar was fast, but only in a straight line. She still had trouble turning on a dime.

Rudy shook his head. "Alright, you are still too fast and we gotta fix that. Bulldoze!"

Pupitar burst up into the air before Stygian could slash at her once again. She reached the apex of her leap and closed her eyes in concentration before plunging back to the ground, unleashing a shockwave of rolling dirt all around her. Stygian leaped back in a hurry, but the waves reached her in seconds. She jumped once, twice, avoiding the first two, but then tripping over the churned-up earth left in their wake.

Damn it, now Stygian's paws were covered in mud and she was obviously fighting the urge to stop and kick it off but also had to keep moving to avoid the nonsensically fast Pupitar and argh. None of her hits were doing enough damage. Granted, there was always Iron Tail… We hadn't exactly perfected it after learning it from Jasmine while training in Olivine, and it was hard to land, but…

Pupitar let out another burst of gas, shooting forward.

Ah, screw it.

"Iron Tail!" I yelled.

Stygian's bladelike tail began to glow, flickering at first, then gradually increasing in brightness. But it was slow, and the Absol had to jump back to avoid the oncoming attack. Finally, the light faded to reveal a metallic sheen, and the dark-type lunged at her opponent. She stopped, pivoted on her front paws, then swung her tail in a wide arc—

—and went completely over Pupitar's head.

"Dammit!" I hissed under my breath.

"Another Headbutt!"

Alright, bad idea, bad idea, had to salvage this. Something, anything—!

"Sucker Punch!" I blurted out.

The second before Pupitar made contact, Stygian ducked down and slipped behind her in one smooth motion. Before the rock-type had a chance to react, Stygian caught her with a heavy strike right to the back of her head, right between the armor plates. Pupitar pitched forward, eyes going wide for a second. Then she kept going, faceplanting into the dirt at full speed.

I pumped a fist in the air. And in the seconds it took Pupitar to begin wrenching herself free from the earth, I almost forgot to order a follow up.

"Now go for the Iron Tail!"

Stygian crouched low, tail glowing again. Pupitar struggled, the boost gas digging her horns deeper into the dirt. Not fast enough. The Absol's tail shed its glow, fully metallic. She swung it in a downward arc, striking the pupa in the back of the head with a resounding clang and knocking her flying. The rock-type tumbled across the battlefield before finally coming to a halt.

Pupitar picked herself up from the dirt, giving us… what would have looked like an either annoyed or pissed-off face if it weren't her default. Though there was also subtler tells. The way her body had started trembling. Her eyes twitching. Our moves had done more damage than I'd thought.

The next few seconds dragged on weirdly long as Pupitar paused, seemingly considering something. Then, without warning, she let out a burst of gas… and shot right past Stygian and back to her trainer's side.

"Done already?" Rudy said, staring at her incredulously.

The rock-type gave no response, continuing to eye me and Stygian with the same annoyed (?) glare.

He rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, you're the boss." He gestured to me and Stygian. "First round is yours, I guess."

I stared blankly. "What was that about?"

Rudy shoved his hands in his pockets. "Ah, you know how she is. Doesn't always wanna battle, but then gets grumpy when she doesn't get to." He gave the cocoon a playful jab before recalling her.

Huh. Then, again, now that I thought back, that had been the case when we trained on the Rebellion as well. Back then, he'd always brush it off with the fact that it'd all be worth it when she became a Tyranitar. At least, before he got bored and switched to training Ebony nonstop. I'd never seen him so calm about it.

"But like, it's not her fault!" Rudy added quickly. "Just part of being a Pupitar, y'know? Prob'ly more boring for her than it is for me. That's part of the reason I wanna get better, so that she can evolve. I think she'll like having legs again."

I smiled. "I think you're right. In any case, that was a lot tougher than our last match."

"Yeah? I'll take that as a compliment then, cuz she won't," he said with a slight laugh. "Anyway, you won that round so you send out first."

I nodded, recalling Stygian. My hand hovered over the rest of my Pokéballs, but then settled on one.

"You're up, Aros!" I called out. The buglike dragon took shape in front of me, already tensed for battle. But then his red-lensed eyes fell on Rudy and he relaxed slightly, mouth curled into confident smirk. "*Well this should be fun.*"

"Don't underestimate him," I warned. "He's entering the league, after all."

"*I got it, I got it,*" the Flygon said waving his tail fan. His tone wasn't too convincing.

Rudy grinned upon seeing my pick. "Time for the real star of the show," he said. "Nidoking, you're up!"

The armored, rabbit-like beast lumbered forward, striking a dashing pose once he reached the center of the battlefield. Nidoking. One of the Pokémon that Rudy had been training the longest. The team's powerhouse.

"Did you see his new belt?" Rudy asked. "It's pretty badass, isn't it?"

Nidoking lifted his bulky arms to better show off the tattered black belt tied around his midsection.

"Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning that. Guessing you taught him some new fighting-type moves?"

"You'll see," Rudy said, still grinning cheekily.

I snorted. "Alright then." I motioned to Aros and said, "Open with Dragon Pulse!"

The Flygon opened his mouth wide and breathed out a jagged burst of violet dragonfire. Nidoking responded by lunging to the side in one deceptively fast motion; his thick hind claws scraping the dirt as he skidded to a halt. He flashed a grin that seemed to mirror his trainer's, then flexed his foreclaws as if asking for more.

Egh, what a waste. Aros was way too far away to guarantee a hit. We'd have to close the distance.

"Alright fine, fly closer and use Dragon Claw!" I yelled.

Rudy's grin still hadn't lessened. And he wasn't the sort to fake confidence to psyche out his opponent. He was planning something. Nidoking stamped a foot and held both arms forward, clearly readying himself for a counterattack. Aros vibrated his wings and shot forward, claws flaring up with dragonfire. The poison beast made a lunge at the last second but Aros swerved around him effortlessly, drawing back his claws and slashing down right alongside the row of thorns running down his back. Nidoking grunted in pain, stumbling forward. But then he swung his heavy arms in a wide arc before the Flygon could make a move to get out of the way, catching hold of his tail.

"What the hell?" I muttered.

Rudy's smirked. "Ice Beam."

Oh, hell no.

Nidoking pointed his horn, ice crystals glittering around it before a jagged beam of bright blue energy shot forward, striking Aros right in the face. The bug-dragon let out a pathetic cry as his wings slowed and he crashed into the dirt, shivering like mad.

Ice Beam. He knew freaking Ice Beam, the one thing Aros was hopelessly weak to. He couldn't possibly endure another one of those. Had to do something fast.

"Get in the air!" I yelled desperately.

It'd take Nidoking a good couple of seconds to charge up the energy for another beam. More than enough time to put some distance between them. It'd buy me some time to think, anyway.

Aros shook the frost off his wings, shaking all over. But he grit his teeth with a look of determination and wrenched his tail out of Nidoking's grip before taking to the air. His flight faltered a bit at first, but he quickly put on speed, flying so high I had to squint at the sunlight.

"Coming back down anytime soon? You know regulation battlefields have a height limit," Rudy pointed out, sounding far more amused about it than he had any right to.

"Oh, quiet," I shot back. He was right, but I wasn't about to admit it. I motioned to Aros and yelled. "Dragon Pulse, and spread it out!"

Aros inhaled deeply before breathing out another burst of dragonfire. But this time instead of a single jet, it exploded into wide flurry of embers raining down on Nidoking. The poison beast raised his heavy forelimbs overhead, shielding his face. His horn glittered with ice crystals, and I sucked in a breath. But then Nidoking paused, eyes tracing Aros's path through the sky. There was no point in wasting the energy on a move that was so easily dodged from far away.

Rudy clearly realized the same thing too, because he nodded and called out, "Toxic!"

Nidoking opened his mouth wide, gathering a pool of sludge in his throat and spitting it out so that it splattered apart in the air. Aros turned away to shield his face, but several drops of the stuff splashed against his side. He shook them off with a sound of disgust, but the damage was done—his scales remained tinged with a sickly purple. Couldn't afford to waste time, then. Had to go for an all-out offensive. While also avoiding Ice Beam. Ugh, what a pain… Judging by the smirk on Rudy's face, that was exactly why he'd done it, too.

"Sand Tomb!" I called out.

Aros pitched his wings backward and shot toward the ground, keeping his eyes on Nidoking the entire time. The Flygon reached the earth within seconds, digging his claws into the ground and clenching them tightly. At once, the dirt around Nidoking dissolved into a vortex of sand, sucking him into its center no matter how hard he thrashed against it.

"Alright, he's immobilized! Now stay behind him so he can't hit you!" I yelled.

Aros took off flying in a wide arc, quickly putting himself out of Nidoking's prime Ice Beam range and pelting his back with more dragonfire. The poison-type struggled to pivot, but the sand weighing down his lower half made it difficult. Wrenching his legs upward only made him sink deeper.

"Dig!" Rudy called out, and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. Was he insane? Using Dig against a ground-type. Nidoking would be a sitting duck while he was underground!

Nidoking didn't waste a second diving headfirst into the sinkhole, scattering fistfuls of sand behind him as he tunneled downward.

I pointed forward with what must have been a manic grin on my face. "Get him with Earthquake!" And then, for whatever reason, the alarm bells went off in my head. Moves rated over 90 were banned on the public battlefields. Earthquake was definitely on that list.

"Wait! Wait wait wait!" I called out frantically just as Aros was preparing to slam his legs into the ground with all his might. God, the last thing we needed was toppling over a dozen trainers and Pokémon. What other moves could hit Nidoking while he was underground? Bulldoze maybe? I wasn't so sure. But wait—I'd already used up all four of my move commands with that stupid Earthquake.

Nidoking popped his head out of the dirt a good twenty feet away from where he'd submerged, now perfectly free from the Sand Tomb.

"Now!"

Ice Beam fired, striking Aros perfectly while he was still waiting for me to order something. A wave of frost rushed over his body from the impact point, and he flailed his wings in an attempt to get away. But it was too much. His tail thrashed desperately against the air for several seconds, then his wings gave out and he crashed to the dirt, unmoving.

I let out a low groan, screwing my eyes shut while I grabbed his Pokéball to recall him. Then I shot Rudy a glare. "Been using TMs, I take it?"

He grinned. "You noticed."

"Well it'd be a little hard not to!" I yelled, laughing slightly.

"Also, it's an Expert Belt, not a Black Belt," he added, jerking a thumb toward Nidoking, who was now flexing.

I rolled my eyes. "You think I can tell the difference?"

"Obviously not."

Ouch. I'd walked right into that.

"Whatever, we're one round apiece and you have the first sendout again," I said with just the tiniest bit of irritation leaking into my voice.

Rudy pivoted on his heels and had barely looked over his lineup before turning back and announcing, "I'll use Tauros, then."

A recent addition to his team. The young bull gave a snort and trotted forward, shaking his mane proudly.

After that Ice Beam nonsense from Nidoking, I was fully expecting more unexpected moves. I just obviously didn't know exactly what kind, which made it hard to anticipate. Obviously, the best choice would be the team member with the fewest exploitable weaknesses. That was Chibi, but… I still wasn't totally sure if anyone on Rudy's team was a match for him. And there was no point to this if it wasn't an even match. So, in that case…

"Your turn, Firestorm!" I called out, releasing him. The fire lizard took shape in front of me, flaring his wings and spitting a few embers.

"Let's open with Work Up!" Rudy exclaimed. Tauros gave a flick of his tails before launching into an energetic march, tossing his head with each hoofbeat.

I pointed forward. "Get in the air and use Flame Burst!"

With a mighty flap, Firestorm shot skyward. He opened his mouth wide, gathering a large ball of flame, then launched it downward. But Tauros was fast. By that time, he seemed to have somehow finished his march already, because he was able to break into a full gallop and avoid the worst of the fireball. It hit the dirt right behind him and exploded into a flurry of embers.

Firestorm was too high to land a direct hit without Tauros being able to dodge everything with ease. At worst, he'd take a few minor scorches. Same tactic as last time, forcing us into close quarters. Fortunately, Firestorm was good at that.

"Fly down behind him and use Fire Punch!"

Firestorm pitched his wings back, shooting into a steep dive. He flared his wings out once he neared the ground, aiming to close the distance before his opponent could try anything. Tauros lunged with his horns, but the Charizard was moving much too quickly and tilted a wing to instantly loop behind. He drew back an arm, flames bursting to life around his fist, then swung it, landing a scorching blow to Tauros's back. The bull recoiled backward, pivoting on his forelegs, face scrunched up with pain and then—

"Rock Tomb!"

Dammit. There it was.

Firestorm's eyes went wide, and he spread his wings to gain altitude again. But he'd already lost too much of his momentum from the Fire Punch, and wasn't ready for the giant boulders that erupted from the ground around him, smashing into his belly and knocking him to the dirt. Tauros didn't waste any time charging at him the moment he crashed to the ground, which had the added impact of knocking him flying right back into the rocks.

"Get back in the air!" I yelled frantically, clenching both fists tight.

Firestorm struggled to pull himself free from the rubble, but his movements were slow, and he had to raise his arms to catch Tauros's horns before the latter could ram him again. What was I doing? This was the same gambit Rudy pulled last round. Couldn't get flustered just from one unexpected move. Rock Tomb was weaker than Ice Beam anyway, and it wasn't like Tauros had any equipment powering it up either. Firestorm wasn't down and out yet.

"Another Rock Tomb!" Rudy yelled.

"Smokescreen!" I blurted out.

Tauros reared back, ready to strike. But the Charizard breathed out a billowing cloud of black smoke right into his face, and he stumbled backward, coughing. And in the moment it took for him to regain himself and slam his hooves into the dirt, Firestorm shot into the sky, one wing slightly crooked. Stones erupted from the ground right behind where he'd been just seconds earlier.

Rudy's eyes followed Firestorm turning tail back into the air. Then he just shrugged and said, "Alright, another Work Up then."

Ughh no, not more setting up. That was the whole reason we'd pressed the attack in the first place. Did Tauros even have any long-range moves? I could maybe play it cheap and just have Firestorm stay out of reach the whole time? Either way, couldn't waste time, had to give a command.

"Flame Burst!" I called out, because I really didn't have anything better to say.

The Charizard breathed out another raging fireball, and this time his aim was true, striking Tauros right on the back and exploding with a plume of embers that made him grunt in pain. But the normal-type had already finished his march, and despite the damage, his movements were as sharp and energetic as ever.

Rudy put a hand to his chin, thinking. Then the corners of his mouth turned up and he ordered, "Swagger!"

Really? That was awful bold of him.

Tauros slowed down, fighting back the pain from the previous hit. And then he began to strut, tossing his mane and whipping his tails with an overconfident smirk. Firestorm glanced away, determined not to look at it. But as the seconds went by, his eyes darted back more and more frequently. He muttered something under his breath. I saw his muscles tighten up with anger. Saw him go slightly cross-eyed.

"You wanna power him up? Alright fine." I stamped a foot to the dirt and yelled, "Fire Punch! But don't get too close to the ground! Be ready to dodge the rocks!" Man, that was a tall order right now, especially with him flustered by the confusion. I already regretted it, but taking it back would be even more confusing.

Firestorm dove. I flinched, half expecting him to just crash into the dirt, but he flared his wings and caught himself, moving so fast that he'd hopefully be hard to hit with more rocks. Tauros braced himself, ready to meet his opponent head-on. The Charizard drew back his fist, raging flame licking his scales, and then—

The fire went out. Firestorm stared stupidly at his own fist for a few seconds, then forgot to flap his wings and crashed to the ground with a dull thud.

I smacked a palm to my forehead. Dammit.

"Wild Charge!" Rudy called out.

Tauros drew himself back, his body crackling with… electricity? Yeah, strings of lightning leaped off his fur as he charged forward, slamming himself into Firestorm with full force. The fire lizard faceplanted into the dirt and didn't move after that.

I stared, my brain taking several seconds to process the full weight of what had just happened.

"Heeeellll yeeeaaah!" Rudy yelled, jumping three feet into the air

"Oh my god, I am never gonna hear the end this, am I?" I asked, putting both hands to my forehead in what was only slightly exaggerated defeat.

"Hell no!" he exclaimed, pumping both fists above his head

I'd lost, and it wasn't even a close loss on the last two. And I hadn't even really won the first match, Pupitar had just gotten bored. That was even worse. Granted, we probably would've won that round anyway. At least I could tell myself that.

I recalled Firestorm and put my hands on my hips. "Well fine, if you call getting a single cheap shot with new moves your strategy, let's see how that carries you."

"Not my fault you weren't expecting it," he said with a smirk. And in his defense… any opponent in the League would be expecting those moves. I just didn't care to do any research because I wasn't entering.

"Alright, you asked for it, next time you're fighting Chibi," I said, sticking out my tongue.

He scoffed. "Bring it on, we're not scared of him anymore."

"*I beg to differ,*" Fearow cut in dryly.

He craned his neck to glance back at the shaggy bird. "Well hey, no one said you had to fight him."

I tilted my head. That wasn't the first time today that he'd just casually replied to his Pokémon without thinking about it. "You're getting better at Pokéspeech, huh?"

Rudy paused, considering it. "Yeah? I mean, I never cared too much about it in school, but then… I guess you guys made it look cool, so I started working on it again." He shoved his fists in his pockets, like he was making an embarrassing admission and not describing something really cool.

"I think it's neat," I said.

He just shrugged and turned around, grabbing a potion from his bag and spraying down Tauros's scorched fur. Behind the two of them, Breloom was chatting with Fearow about something while Nidoking posed for random passersby. And Ebony… well, Ebony was currently running circles around Pupitar, trying in vain to get the latter to play with her, while the pupa slowly rotated herself so that she wasn't facing the energetic pup.

He had a pretty solid team. The six in front of me, not to mention Raichu, who must have been in storage at the moment. And they'd all obviously been training a lot. It honestly seemed like they had a shot at making it to the top cut.

"Hey, good to see you here!" a voice behind me called out. A familiar voice. "Let me guess, this one already dragged you into a battle, yeah?"

I whirled around and sure enough, there was Darren strolling up to us, a soda in one hand while he waved with the other.

Rudy jerked his head toward us. "Well look who decided to show up!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands forward dramatically.

"He's exaggerating," Darren said, raising a hand to the side of his mouth in a mock whisper. "I've been here for two weeks."

"Slacking off for two weeks, more like it," Rudy shot back. "Are you a tourist or a competitor?"

Darren rolled his eyes, but then my attention was stolen as a furry black shape dashed up my side, clinging to my shoulder.

"Ow! Claws, claws!" I cried, freezing with my arms out to the side—moving only made the claws dig in more. A huge fan of pink feathers edged into my peripheral vision, and it wasn't hard to guess who the culprit was.

"Alright, get down Weavile," Darren said, struggling to lift her until she finally jumped down herself. The dark-type grinned up at us toothily. Then she immediately dashed off as Ebony rushed after her, correctly identifying her as a much better playmate than Pupitar.

"So you're competing too?" I asked upon seeing the competitor badge hanging from his neck.

"Yeah, this one bullied me into it," he said, jerking a thumb towards Rudy.

"Oh whatever, you wanted to do it too," Rudy said dismissively, standing up and shoving the empty potion bottle back into his bag.

Darren shrugged. "Mostly for the novelty, but whatever."

While he'd insisted in the past that the competitive battling scene wasn't his thing, I couldn't help but notice that he'd been keeping pace with Rudy's badge-getting throughout the past nine months.

"Anyway, are your teams hungry?" he asked. "I was just about to take mine to the feed tent."

Rudy gave him an indignant look. "We just barely got started on our training. We've got at least two more hours before it's time for a food break."

The rest of his team didn't seem to feel the same, in particular Ebony, who took that moment to conveniently reappear next to us and yell out, "*Snacks!*"

Rudy glanced back and forth between his team and us before putting his arms up in mock defeat. "Yeah, alright fine."

We stopped by the Pokécenter for a quick heal (none of our team members were too terribly injured) before following Darren out to a huge tent where they had a Pokémon feeding station set up. It allowed trainers to pay a flat fee for each member of their team and the Pokémon could eat as much as they wanted from a wide variety of foods.

With all three of us letting out our teams at once, I got the opportunity to see Darren's full team of Venusaur, Sandslash, Golduck, Alakazam, Weavile, and Skarmory. All of them but Skarmory had been on his team during our Midnight Island training (the steel-type had joined the party sometime a few months ago.) Even if Darren wasn't as big into competitive battling as Rudy, there was no denying that he had a solid team.

Rudy chattered nonstop about the strategies he'd been developing for each of his team members, then badgered me until I spilled the details of my most recent gym battle. Compared to my previous one versus Jasmine, it hadn't been the most interesting win. Gym Leader Claire's Kingdra had been kicking my ass with crazy fast moves until I sent out Chibi and took advantage of the rain by spamming Thunder over and over. Normally I wouldn't have wanted to win like that, but… Chibi had been wanting to let off some steam for a while, and it had seemed to do him some good.

Now, on the other hand, the one who seemed like he most needed to let off steam was Aros. He kept glowering at Rudy in between shoving fistfuls of food into his mouth like he was trying to show the food who was boss.

"Got something to say?" I asked dryly.

The Flygon glanced away. "*He's gotten better.*"

I gave him a pointed look. "Well yeah, of course he has. He's been training a ton. I mean, he's entering the Indigo League tournament. There's no shame in us losing to him."

Aros huffed. "*I'll just have to go all-out next time.*"

I rolled my eyes. Either he was just lying to look better, or had actually been giving a weak effort—I wasn't sure which one was worse.

Around twenty minutes later, and just as we were preparing to leave the Pokéchow tent, I received a text from Ajia that read, "Hey, I just got here. Already found Starr. Wanna grab lunch and chat?"

"Sure thing," I texted back. Then I turned to Rudy and Darren and asked, "Mind if I take off? Gonna grab lunch with a friend who just got here."

"Leaving us again, I see how it is." Darren said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha. I'll be back later this afternoon, alright?" At this rate I was never going to live down that time I left for the afternoon and then vanished for five days.

Rudy gave me a look that said I was insane. "Um, how about no. I've still got like a billion moves I wanna practice." He paused for a bit before adding, "And you need more practice too."

I snorted. "I'm not even in the tournament."

"All the most reason to improve," he said earnestly.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" I yelled, but for some reason it was just dumb enough that I was laughing all the same. "Like I said, I'll be back in a few hours, and we can all beat the stuffing out of each other just like old times. Deal?"

Rudy scoffed. "I don't need multi battle practice, this isn't the Hoenn League."

"Ah, come on, it'll be fun," Darren said, elbowing him.

"Whatever. But I swear, if you two gang up on me again, you're gonna get it." What exactly we were going to 'get' remained to be seen.

After checking to make sure that my team was done eating (and having to stop Jet from shoveling treats into my bag for later) I recalled them all and gave one last wave to Rudy and Darren before taking off.

Ajia texted me the name of the restaurant and I found it on my Pokégear map. It was a smaller place about 10 minutes out from all the stadiums. And while it still had plenty of trainers inside, it wasn't anything like the wall-to-wall packed establishments that filled the tourney site.

I quickly spotted Starr and Ajia after the latter waved to me from a booth in the far back of the room. I waved back, then went and placed my order at the front counter before going back to join them.

"Good to see you," Ajia said brightly as I sat down across from her.

"I'm just glad you could make it," I said, grinning.

"Of course!" she said with a wink. "In any case, you said you had friends competing in this one, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I just got done meeting with them."

"How d'you think they'll do in the tournament?" Starr asked with the slight edge of a smirk.

I paused. "Well, I don't know if Darren is all that into it, but his team is really well-balanced. And Rudy… he's gotten really hardcore recently. I actually lost to him, just now."

"Niiice," Starr said, laughing slightly. I rolled my eyes, determined to not let it get to me.

Ajia put a hand to her chin, as though thinking about something. "You three trained together last year, right?"

"Yeah," I said.

The unspoken implication was clear. It was unlikely that the three of us would have gotten as good if we hadn't trained under Stalker. But Ajia didn't continue that train of thought. She just leaned back, glancing wistfully around the restaurant, and all the League memorabilia lining the walls. "Man, being here brings back memories."

"What year did you compete here again?" I asked.

"It was in '96. I made it to the top 16, though I honestly don't know how, I was pretty terrible back then," she said, giving an embarrassed smile.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, you couldn't have been that bad."

Ajia chuckled. "I dunno, you should've seen me. I took a break from training after that, and then I started traveling in Johto. And then I got mixed up in all that Rocket stuff, trained under the commander, and, well… for better or worse, I got a lot, lot better. That's definitely the only reason I won the '97 Johto Championships."

I smacked my forehead. "I still can't believe I didn't watch that one live. Spent that whole stupid summer sulking because I failed the trainer exam."

Starr snorted. "Wow, really? Even I watched that one."

Ajia raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" she asked with just the slightest bit of a wry grin.

Starr scowled. "Oh, don't get the wrong idea. We were enemies, alright? I had to stay informed on your location and your strengths and your—"

"Uh huh, sure," Ajia said, elbowing her playfully. Starr just rolled her eyes with an exaggerated scoff.

The side mention of Team Rocket had dragged up the memory of what Chibi had been badgering me about, though. I really didn't want to bring it up, but at the same time, it wasn't fair to just ignore it.

I glanced around a few times, just to make sure that I wasn't in danger of being overheard. But with all the noise in the restaurant it was almost impossible to pick up individual voices.

"Hey, uh… I know I've asked you a million times, but… Chibi was wondering if there's any news on the Rocket front," I said. Starr raised an eyebrow at my words, but then turned to Ajia just the same.

Ajia leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. "Same as last time, I'm afraid," she said. "No more targeted Legendaries, no more major combat unit missions. It's all business as usual."

"That's what I told him, but he wouldn't buy that," I said. "Kept saying that they're probably working on something big."

She paused, considering something carefully. "Well… he could be onto something there."

"What? But you just said—"

"Nothing's actually happened," Ajia added quickly. "But one of my contacts keeps hearing about how the higher-ups are really, really upset about losing Mewtwo."

Starr laughed. "Of course they are. Take away their ultimate weapon, they're gonna be pissed."

"Not just pissed," Ajia said, shaking her head. "They straight-up can't proceed with any of their plans until they have a way to deal with it."

I tilted my head. "Well, that's good, right? That's why we haven't heard anything."

"Probably just afraid if they try anything, Mewtwo's gonna show up out of nowhere and kick their ass," Starr said with a smirk.

Ajia gave her an exasperated look. "Starr…"

"Alright, I'll stop." She let out a sigh. "Look, we all know they're not gonna give up. Just means that when they do try something it's gonna be fast and decisive. Something that'll get them the biggest advantage in the shortest time, before there's any chance for a counterattack. Also something that is totally none of our business," she added, giving me and Ajia a pointed look.

Eh… right.

None of us brought up Team Rocket again for the rest of the conversation. I was also fairly certain that I didn't want to relay anything we'd said to Chibi.