John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - Obstagoon

Wraith - H-Zoroark

The New Normal – 10-12 – The Second Battle

Blaine had offered us to join him for a dinner, but Volkner and I both declined as we wanted to return to our respective partners as soon as possible. So with that 'distraction' over, Roxanne and I were able to spend whatever time we had until the battle training together.

During our preparation, Roxanne actually asked if she could try to play a bigger role in the upcoming battle, since it appeared that we had the advantage against our opponents. I thought it through for a moment before replying that I was happy to oblige.

With some planning, we managed to come up with a strategy that should be able to hard counter whatever tactics that Samson and Winona had come up, and it would also give Roxanne a chance to shine.

Still, I kept one of my stronger Pokémon ready to use as backup. Just in case they were needed.

Now it was already the day of our second battle. I had arrived at Ever Grande City by myself because Roxanne had some urgent Gym matters to handle in the morning, and I had nothing better to do today because Cynthia wasn't available. So, with any intense training ruled out to prevent tiring out my Pokémon prematurely, I decided to become a spectator for once and watch a few battles while I waited for our match.

Our battle was in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to kill.

I could have gone to Mauville City and check up on how our new store was being set up, but my parents reassured me there was no need for that for now. I just needed to be there during the grand opening.

So with that in mind, I headed to the VIP section of the spectator stands, since my position automatically granted me a seat there, and sat myself down as I waited for the morning's battles to begin.

Just as I sat down, I heard a voice call out from behind me.

"John? What a coincidence." I turned around to see Steven and Bruno sitting down next to me, "Didn't think you'd be here."

"Oh! Hello to you both. I didn't expect to meet you guys here." I greeted, "How have you both been doing?"

"It's been good. Bruno and I have been doing some great training in." Steven said, "I feel more prepared than ever. And this Tournament has been an excellent reprieve from the training."

"It would be better if we could have joined." Bruno grunted.

"Yes, yes, you've said so many times now, Bruno. But you and I both don't have the title for it, even if our strength might qualify." Steven placated.

"Maybe next year." Bruno rumbled, before falling silent again.

I blinked a few times as I watched their back and forth. Since when were these two so close together? And did Steven say that they were training together? Since when did that happen?

"…I'm sorry, I have to take it a step back for a moment. How did you the two of you meet?" I asked confusedly.

Steven shrugged, "It was quite a while ago now. I invited him to talk because I saw the potential in him, and thought that we could work together. Long story short, that's what we started doing. I think it's been a good partnership thus far, wouldn't you say so, Bruno?"

"I am content." He agreed in that blunt way of his, "Training with someone strong brings its own advantages. I have noticed my Pokémon fighting better since we started combining ideas – Steven is a good partner. It is useful."

"I see." I nodded, and now that I thought about it, it made sense. The pairing between the two was certainly odd, but I could see how their personalities complemented each other. I never would have expected these two to become friends in the first place, but now that they have, I felt that it was a fortunate coincidence for them to have met.

I shook those thoughts away as I realized that I had been just sitting there and staring at them, "…So, how have you been finding the battles so far? Any pairing caught your eye for being particularly noteworthy?"

"If you wanted to ask about Samson and Winona you could have just asked us directly." Steven chuckled, "But for your information, I didn't spend any special attention on them. I thought they were competent, but little else caught my interest."

"Their teamwork is merely professional, but no more than that." Bruno added, "They lack true cooperation, but understand the basics of working together. But competence should not be underestimated."

"I've spent more attention on the uneven pairings, especially those involving the Hoenn Elite Four." Steven admitted.

"Oh? I was interested in them as well. And how do you think they're doing?" I asked.

"Watching them fight like this has been very useful for me." Steven explained, "I'm used to them seeing them fight in regular battles, where they're more able to rely on their Pokémon's great strength or tried-and-tested strategies to secure them the victory. But with a new partner, they've had to work around them. It's been interesting seeing how they adapt."

"Some have adapted better than others." Steven continued, "Glacia and Fantina was a good example of what not to do. I still can't believe she lost on the first round. I had hoped to be able to study more of her matches."

I had forgotten about that, but Glacia and Fantina had definitely not gotten along well with each other. Their personalities clashed way too hard, and they kept getting in each other's way during the battle. Considering that they were both above average for their positions, that wouldn't have been an automatic defeat, but Giovanni and Norman had knocked them out of the Tournament.

Fantina had spent a little too much time showboating and overextended herself which caused Glacia's Glalie to be exposed and alone. Fantina must have thought she had time to dazzle the crowd while Glacia handled Giovanni by herself, only to be quickly proven wrong when both Giovanni's Donphan and Norman's Kangaskhan ambushed the Ice specialist and secured a quick knockout.

The fight just went downhill from there. Giovanni's Ground types proved to be less susceptible to Ice types than Glacia might have expected, and they were barely unable to reorient themselves before they ended up losing.

"…I was hoping more from Chuck when I watched him." Bruno sighed, "He may have won, but that was more due to Clair's recklessness than his own strength. He lacked discipline and focus. He was too energetic for his own good."

I didn't watch that fight between Clair and Gardenia against Chuck and Wattson, but even though I suspected that Bruno was being a little too harsh on his fellow Fighting specialist, I took his word for it.

"You said you were more impressed with Maylene and Koga, right?" Steven asked his training partner.

"Indeed. I feel a strong connection to Koga, as I can feel his strong will and discipline in every fight that he participates in." Bruno confirmed, "He may not be a Fighting specialist, but he is most certainly a martial artist. His tutelage of young Maylene has been one of the more interesting pairings for me. It is a shame that they lost."

"Oh yeah, I saw highlights of their match as well against Lorelei and Wake." I nodded, "I remember how their initial burst of aggression really gave Lorelei a wake-up call. No pun intended."

"Their teamwork was pretty impressive to look at." Steven agreed, "I don't think I've faced a trainer who's nearly as good at utilising pressure and momentum like Koga was. There were some points in the fight that Lorelei and Wake were genuinely about to lose. He really deserves to be more than a Gym Leader."

I shrugged, "Shame that it wasn't enough."

"Momentum and pressure can help make up for a deficit of strength, but it cannot entirely substitute it." Bruno stated firmly, "Ultimately, Maylene is still learning. Her strength was lacking, and that cost her team the fight. However, I believe she has learnt much from her time with Koga, and I look forward to challenging her in the future as well."

"You look forward to challenging everybody, Bruno." Steven chuckled, "But sad as I am that Maylene was knocked out, I was really glad for Brock and Sidney to have been voted in again to continue fighting in Round 2. Maylene might be an underdog as well, but Brock has by far the more compelling story."

"Oh? I didn't know you were so taken with their performance." I commented, thinking back to their unfortunate loss against Lucian and Surge.

He shrugged, "Crude as it might be for me to say this, but Brock's weakness forces Sidney to reveal his hand if they want a shot of winning. Lucian is no easy opponent."

"I'm sure Brock tries his best." I defended, "He's just a little young right now."

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to insult Brock." Steven apologised, "I just meant that working with a weaker partner has forced Sidney to utilise every trick in his arsenal as a Dark type specialist. He fights just like he did when he went all out against Karen. And I suspect, considering that their next opponent is Pryce and Candice, that Sidney might have to throw everything he can at them if they want to even hope to win. There is much I can learn from that."

That was a little cold for him to say, but I didn't begrudge him for it. These battles were learning opportunities, after all.

The sudden shout from the announcer drew our attention, "Let's continue this conversation later. I think we should concentrate on the match." Steven suggested, "I've been waiting to watch this one."

I nodded and quieted down. The match was between Volkner and Jasmine vs Lorelei and Wake, which explained why Steven was so interested. With his intention to become the Champion of Hoenn, any matches relating to the Elite Four, even the ones not related directly to Hoenn, were going to particularly interesting to him.

On my end, I was torn between cheering for the budding couple in Volkner and Jasmine, or my friend in Lorelei and Wake. Neither team were stronger than the other here – Volkner was basically an Elite Four in terms of strength – so I decided to stay neutral and just enjoy the match.

Since neither of us felt like providing any commentary to the fight, we all sat there in comfortable silence as we watched the fight play out. Volkner and Jasmine had sent out their Lanturn and Magnezone respectively, while Lorelei and Wake sent out their Froslass and Gastrodon.

But as the match went on, it appeared increasingly obvious that Volkner and Jasmine were coordinating better with their moves and generally had more synergy than Lorelei and Wake.

The most obvious example of this was regarding the weather. Obviously, Volkner and Jasmine – with their duo focus on Electric type attacks, wanted to set up the Rain. But while Wake wanted the same for his Water types, Lorelei wanted the Snow.

However, in my eyes, the smart thing to do was for Lorelei and Wake to work together to keep the Snow up. The Snow would only benefit Lorelei, but at least it would deprive Volkner and Jasmine of their crucial Rain.

Yet, for whatever reason, Lorelei's team was content to let the Rain remain, whether that was out of selfishness from Wake or consideration from Lorelei. Either way, I believed they were betting that the boost to Wake's Water attacks, and Gastrodon's immunity to Electric type moves, would make up for any power increases given to Volkner and Jasmine.

If that truly was what she was thinking, then the way the fight was going was proving her wrong. Because instead of focusing on Gastrodon, which was more of a support Pokémon than an actual attacker, Volkner and Jasmine jointly fired off an enormous bombardment of Thunders that completely devastated the surrounding area around Froslass.

Froslass might be known for her evasiveness and speed, but that meant nothing compared to the sheer artillery of Thunders coming crashing down around it. Without her Snow Cloak activated, Froslass was forced entirely on the defensive, and Gastrodon could do little to take the pressure off of its partner.

With Magnezone having used Magnet Rise, the only target that Gastrodon could hit with its supereffective Earth Powers was Lanturn, but Volkner had evidently trained it up to be able to as defensive as possible because Lanturn continued firing off Thunders even as it tanked through Gastrodon's Earth Powers.

Seeing this, I suspected that Gastrodon might not have been one of Wake's stronger Pokémon – and that it was only chosen because they wanted a Pokémon immune to Electric attacks. That would explain its lacking power.

However, what really caught my attention was how much Jasmine had grown at a trainer.

Back at Olivine, I thought that she was certainly strong, but only when compared to the average trainer. Now, she really was living up to her title as a Gym Leader, as her Magnezone sniped Lorelei's Froslass with a powerful Lock-On assisted Flash Cannon that blasted the Ice type out of the air.

With all of the glancing blows that Froslass had already took, the Flash Cannon took it down in one hit. To my surprise, there was no double KO with Destiny Bond – Lorelei must not have had the time to set it up.

"I wonder if I can beat Glacia if I let her keep the Snow up – just by brute forcing through it…" Steven suddenly mumbled to himself.

"Do not try." Bruno quickly shut that down, "Your strength is not so overwhelming that you will be able to accomplish that. The risk is too large."

"…I was hoping for a little more encouragement than that." Steven grumbled.

"You did not hire me to be your cheerleader." Bruno said bluntly, but there was a minute twitch of his lips that told me that he was joking.

The match continued between the two, and Volkner and Jasmine continued to focus down Lorelei while doing their best to ignore Wake. The next Pokémon Lorelei sent out was expectedly her Glalie, as it was the one of two Ice types she had that wasn't directly weak to Electric attacks (the other being Jynx).

Unfortunately for Lorelei, Glalie was even slower than Froslass, which really didn't bode well for her chances. Realising this, Wake switched out his Gastrodon for a Ludicolo, clearly hoping that its Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps would make a difference.

Except the second that he swapped, both Volkner and Jasmine changed targets to focus down the newly emerged Water type. Ludicolo might not be weak to Electric type attacks, but that didn't stop it from being blasted into oblivion.

Lorelei tried to fight back with Ice Beams and Blizzards, but both of Volkner's and Jasmine's Pokémon resisted her Ice type moves. At this point, Lorelei began trying to set up the Snow to stop the Rain, but it was far too late. The situation was far from salvageable at this point.

Ultimately, the Electric pair dominated the fight, and without any heroic or desperate tricks from Lorelei and Wake, Volkner and Jasmine proved to be the eventual victors.

It was an impressive demonstration of teamwork and understanding of each other's abilities. I felt that it was a well-deserved win from the two Gym Leaders, and it seemed like my viewing partners agreed.

While the next fight between Chuck and Wattson and Drake and the Waterflower sisters were being prepared (which I was near certain that Drake's team was going to destroy them), I returned to chatting with the two of them.

"So, back to you guys, how's both of your training been going?" I asked, "I assume since you've mentioned that you've been training together that it's going well?"

"It has." Bruno answered first, "I realized that my Fighting types could hit even harder. And Steven has taught me methods of making my Fighters more durable. If we ever have a chance for a rematch, John, you will find me to be a more challenging opponent."

"To be honest, I was surprised that you didn't ask me for a fight straight away." I replied amusedly.

"You are busy now. It would not be right to ask you for a fight when you are preoccupied." He said, "But I will not decline a challenge from you."

"Maybe some other time." I responded, "And what about you, Steven? Got any plans?"

"You already know of my ambitions to become Champion of Hoenn, so I don't need to reiterate that." He said, "Actually…I want to run a suggestion by you, John. Could you let me know what you think?"

That made me curious. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

"You've been in the Elite Four for a while, so you must have an idea on what the environment and mood is there." I nodded, "In that case, how likely do you think it would be to have a foreigner appointed to the Elite Four of Hoenn?"

His words caused my eyes to snap to Bruno. He gave me a wordless nod of acknowledgment, which only further compounded my surprise.

Steven wanted Bruno to join the Hoenn Elite Four?! What the fuck!?

Despite my inner turmoil, none of that showed on my face, "I don't think it will be very easy. I'm assuming you're going to be proposing after you've already become Champion of Hoenn?"

"Naturally." Steven confirmed, "I wouldn't have the political power otherwise."

"Well if the proposal came straight from the Champion then it would make things easier…" I said thoughtfully.

My face scrunched up in thought as I took a moment to think things through before continuing.

"…I can't say too much, but I have my own plans in the works which should hopefully set a precedent for you and make things easier." I eventually decided to reveal, "If it's successful, then you'll definitely hear about it and you can use it as a basis for Bruno's own ascension."

Understanding flashed across his eyes, "I see. Thank you for letting me know." Evidently having figured out what I had just implied, "That does make things easier."

"I'll be honest, this really wasn't what I was expecting." I commented, "I thought you would stay more local, Bruno."

"Steven managed to persuade me." Bruno replied, "And I do not think I would fit in well with the already established dynamics of Indigo. I am comfortable working with Steven, and would not mind continuing to."

"Ah, that makes sense." I nodded, holding back my surprise at just how much they well they got along with each other, "Well all the best to you. I hope it works out well."

"This is just planning for the future, but thanks." Steven said, "I hope your plans work out well too."

"And I hope you win your next match." Bruno added, "Perhaps you should contact your partner and meet up with her." He pointed at the time.

Oh shit. "Oh shit, yes I should. Thank you." I quickly exchanged my goodbyes and ran off to meet up with Roxanne.

Our match was right after Drake's.

Unlike in our first fight against Will and Flannery, this time Roxanne walked into the battle arena with firm and determined steps. She knew we held every advantage this time, so she held onto her confidence and brought it in with her.

That was good. Because she was going to be the star of the show today.

As we walked in, we exchanged a quick wave with our opponents. Samson waved at me with a cheerful expression, while Winona returned a short, but polite, greeting.

Although the announcer looked like he was starting to feel the fatigue of having to do back-to-back introductions of all these famous trainers, the reaction from the crowd was no less exciting. Especially now that there were fewer trainers to root for, many supporters of those who had fallen out of the Tournament had joined in and began supporting those that remained.

"Stick to the plan." Roxanne whispered to me, and I gave off a faint nod as I readied my Pokémon and waited for the announcer to finish counting down.

"FIGHT!"

"Get'em, Steelix!" "Come out, Luna!"

"Let the winds carry you, Swellow!" "It's your turn, Espeon!"

Steelix came rumbling out of its Pokéball, letting out a fearsome roar as it extended itself to its full height – towering over each and every one of our Pokémon. Both Swellow and Espeon turned and focused on the large, imposing figure of Steelix.

Just like we had hoped for.

While both Swellow and Espeon were momentarily distracted by Steelix's intimidating presence, Luna sneakily finished setting up her Gravity.

The instant that the Gravity intensified, a surprised shriek came out from Swellow as it fell helplessly out of the sky – as if an invisible hand from Luna was forcefully pressing down on it.

Seeing the opportunity in front of it, Steelix roared out as huge spears of rocks rose from the ground, waiting hungrily to impale the falling Swellow. In desperation, Espeon tried to rescue Swellow with a Psychic to shove it out of the way, but a well-timed barrage of Shadow Balls from Luna interrupted its' rescue attempt.

Realizing the painful doom that awaited it, Swellow struggled frantically and pushed back against the intense Gravity, doing whatever it could to avoid the sharpened pit of spears that awaited it. However, no matter how much it fought or writhed, it was not able to muster up the strength to push back against the strength of Luna's Gravity.

This was what Luna used to train up the likes of Tyrant and Vordt. Trained or not, Swellow wasn't able to resist it.

With a single move, Swellow's famed mobility was ripped away from it.

And so Swellow met a painful end as the devastating field of spikes shot upwards as they impaled themselves into the helpless Flying type, utterly shredding through its health. Then, with another roar of power from Steelix, the spears of rocks reversed themselves in the air and shot downwards – pinning Swellow painfully to the floor before an explosive Earthquake violently shook the ground and finished off the pinned Flying type.

Swellow lied broken on the ground. It was a poor end for a Pokémon that had yet to accomplish anything in this fight, but that was just how it had to be.

There was a moment of shocked silence at Swellow's swift defeat, and Winona visibly grimaced as she withdrew her fallen Pokémon, with self-blame written all over her face, even if it wasn't really her fault. It was just that my Pokémon were eminently suitable for taking down pesky Flying Pokémon like hers, while Roxanne's Pokémon, for all their sluggishness, possessed the right amount of power to achieve an instant knockout blow with a well-placed attack.

That was the core of our strategy. We knew with our team that Winona was going to be the weak link, so we were going to target her down first and force this battle into a 2v1. Even if Samson was harder to deal with, he would be overwhelmed in a 2v1 fight.

"Stand tall, Tropius!"

I had to fight down the urge to grin as Winona sent out her Tropius. Knowing what Pokémon she had; we predicted that this would be the one she'd send out once her Swellow was taken out. It was the only one of her Pokémon that wasn't made vulnerable or helpless by Luna's Gravity.

Unfortunately, it would not fare much better than her Swellow. We had planned for this too.

"Stone Edge, Steelix!" "Helping Hand, Luna! Boost your friend!"

"Magical Leaf, Tropius! Cut them down!" "Reflect and Psychic, Espeon!"

Proving that Will wasn't the only one with a powerful Helping Hand, the normal barrage of rocks transformed into a storm of boulders as Steelix received the Helping Hand boost from Luna. The bombardment of stone shot forwards, unfazed by the razor sharp volley of leaves coming its way. Sure, a few boulders were cut down, but that was hardly a drop in the sheer number of boulders coming barrelling their way.

The last second Psychic from Espeon did well to disintegrate many more, but Steelix's geokinesis was nothing to scoff at, especially not with the Helping Hand boost from Luna. And with the Gravity from Luna still in place, Tropius didn't have the mobility to dodge out of the way of the incoming cannon fire of rocks.

So, forced into this position, Tropius hastily summoned up a huge Leaf Storm that shredded through the Stone Edge, forming a barrier of razor sharp leaves that protected the Tropius. Luna tried to sneak in an Ice Beam to catch Tropius off-guard with a quadruple supereffective attack, but a Light Screen from Espeon blocked most of the damage.

Yet their focus on defense meant that Steelix now had space to snake forwards, his metallic form spinning through the air like a drill. Another Helping Hand from Luna caused Steelix to begin glowing with power, and its Iron Tail tore a trench through the ground as it swung its tail around like a heavy sledgehammer towards Espeon.

"Teleport out of there, Espeon!"

Espeon barely Teleported out of the way in time – it would have been smashed straight into the dirt like the frail Psychic type it was.

However, by Teleporting out of the way, that gave Steelix the freedom to slightly reposition its attack so that its tail came brutally hammering down onto Tropius, who was still trying to recover from its hasty Leaf Storm. Seeing the attack coming, Tropius instinctively tried to fire off a flurry of Air Slashes and Magical Leaf, hoping that one would flinch the Steelix, but they merely bounced off Steelix's sturdy metallic exterior.

The Iron Tail slammed into it, and Tropius let out a grunt of pain as its knees buckled from the sheer impact of the attack, then another merciless Iron Head caused its knees to collapse entirely. Espeon tried to support its ally with a quick Shadow Ball and Psychic combo, but Luna formed a Light Screen to protect Steelix while it finished off the wounded Tropius.

"Ice Fang, Steelix! Knock it out!"

"Helping Hand again, Luna!"

With the Flying type now crumbled before it, Steelix let out a roar as it bit down with its frozen maw, delivering a fatal amount of Ice into quad-weak Tropius with their combined power. A cry of pain was the last sound that Tropius made before it was knocked out of the fight.

A Grass Knot from Espeon finally sent Steelix tumbling to the ground, but it was far too late. The fight had already become a 2v1 in our favour.

And now with Espeon being the lone Pokémon on their side, we played it super safe. Steelix would rush forwards to corner the Psychic type, while Luna was in charge of healing it with Life Dew and protect the Steel type with Light Screens.

It was a typical tank and healer combo, but it was working out very well. Luna's supporting moves were truly making Steelix unbeatable.

Samson's Espeon made a valiant attempt to try to hold off our duo of Pokémon, but the battle was in the bag. Despite its attempts to mimic Will's Gardevoir by Teleporting around to make space while throwing out attacks, Espeon wasn't nearly as Psychically proficient as Will's were, and so its Teleports were simply slower and its attacks didn't hit as hard.

Its attempts were merely just stalling out the inevitable.

All the while, I stuck to my promise to Roxanne and maintained a supportive role while I allowed her to slowly finish off the fight. Espeon tired out much faster, thanks to its constant need to evade and Teleport, and after a minute or two of running away a Stone Edge from Steelix finally tripped up the Psychic type for long enough to be slammed into unconsciousness by another heavy Iron Tail.

Ultimately, the battle ended not with a bang, but with a slow whimper as Samson's second Starmie also fell to a surprise Rock Blast from Steelix.

We had won.

I let out a small smile as the loud cheers boomed out from the crowd. This was an absolutely textbook victory, and I was proud that we had practically planned that down to a fault.

Our teamwork had really shone brightly.

Likewise, the star of today's battle had a big grin on her face as she waved happily to the surrounding audience, most of whom were cheering her name.

Her Steelix had made a firm impression today.

While we celebrated, our opponents made their way towards us. I noticed immediately that while Samson didn't look too disappointed at their defeat, Winona was a different story.

She looked quite bitter at her pathetic showing.

"Well played from you guys." Samson spoke up, "I didn't realize that you could so effortlessly target down Winona like that. Neither of us expected it."

"We should have, but we overlooked the power of your Gravity." Winona added a little bitterly, "That's on us. We didn't realize the extent to which you countered my Flying types. All of our strategies were nullified by that one move."

"Nevertheless," Samson quickly interrupted, "Roxanne, you fought hard today. Your Steelix was an unstoppable monster."

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit." She said humbly, "Without John's Clefable supporting me, my Steelix would have fallen to your Shadow Balls or your Leaf Storms."

Then she turned to Winona, "But, Winona…surely your Altaria could have fought back against the Gravity, right?" Roxanne questioned curiously, "I mean, I've seen how strong it is. Why didn't you use it?"

"Mhm, you're not wrong about that." Winona nodded, "My Altaria does have the strength to go against it. But I chose not to use them anyways."

"Why not?" Roxanne asked again, but I had already guessed the reason.

"It's about image." Samson answered for her, confirming my thoughts, "Altaria is her prized starter. It is her strongest Pokémon and a symbol of her strength as a Gym Leader. Were it to lose a battle, that would be a much bigger stain on Winona's image as a Gym Leader than if any of her other Pokémon fell. 'For fun' tournament or not, it wouldn't look too good."

"Which is why I didn't use it, because I believed that it would still have lost to John's Clefable regardless, especially with its Dragon type being weak to Fairy. Not only that, but Skarmory would do little better against your Earthquakes, grounded as it would be by the Gravity." Winona added, "I knew that the battle was lost as soon as you grounded my Swellow and knocked it out within seconds of the battle beginning, so everything after that was just me playing damage control."

"But should not fight at your strongest? To show off your strength?" Roxanne looked more confused, "Would that not be better?"

"That's what you're told to do, yes, but there are often far more considerations at play." Winona explained, "This Tournament is being watched by practically everyone around the world. The main prize for most of us is the chance for us to show off how strong we are and cement our status and reputations as Gym Leaders."

"But you cannot win every match. There are just some trainers that are just stronger than you." Winona continued, "In those situations, you have to figure out how to lose well. To lose in a way that isn't too embarrassing and keeps your reputation intact as best you can. It's crude and unpleasant, but my years of experience as a Gym Leader has taught me this."

"It might be difficult to hear, but Winona is right." Samson spoke up, "Knowing how to lose well and maintain your dignity is an important skill for a Gym Leader or an Elite Four." He gave me a pointed look, to which I nodded.

"Do you remember Shin?" I asked Roxanne.

"Yeah…oh, I see what you mean." She nodded, "Right…I understand. Thank you for teaching me."

"You don't have to thank us, we're just doing our jobs as your seniors." Winona chuckled, "And besides, you're the one that stomped me into the ground. You don't have to worry about losing with dignity for the time being."

Then she shot Roxanne a look, "But next time, don't think it'll be so easy."

And with those words, we parted ways. Roxanne and I exchanged one last parting wave to the crowd before we entered back into the privacy of the break room. I went to grab some food while Roxanne sat down on one of the armchairs, deep in thought. Yet she still had a pleased smile on her face from the afterglow of the battle.

I smiled at her happiness; I felt she more than deserved it. But more than that, I was happy that we got through the second round, even if I thought we got a little lucky with the matchup. Now, there was only one more fight to go before the Top 3 would be decided.

Even though I highly suspected that our next round wouldn't be so easy...they would not stop me from making it to the Top 3.

No matter who they were.

A.N. So Winona and Samson didn't put up the best showing there, but that was as expected considering their comparative strengths. Walker would have been destroyed by John in a fight, so Winona would not fare any better. And while Samson is a formidable trainer and would have most certainly won against Roxanne 1v1, but John has dealt with Will earlier. Samson is just a lesser Will.

Overall, they had a lucky matchup here, and that's why I tried to emphasize more on John's supporting abilities and how its able to support Roxanne to secure the win with their teamwork. But I promise that the next fight won't be such a breeze…Hope you enjoyed!

And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!