*Yawn*
"You guys ready?" I ask with a warm smile on my face. While the air was cold enough to sting a little, the warmth I felt watching my Pokémon interact made my heart melt.
Grookey, Shellos and Rookidee sat in front of me, silent but with eager looks. I was sitting down on the grass with a guitar in my hand, early morning. Playing some notes, my mind wandered on what to sing.
I didn't know what to play. But my fingers moved on their own, until I started to sing History Maker by Dean Fujioka. I wanted to sort of encourage my Pokémon even if they stumble in any way. Not every battle had to be a win, as long as they did their best.
🎵 Can you hear, my heart beat?… Tired of feeling... Never enough. 🎵
My voice was quiet at first. I didn't want to wake the whole house. Just enough to carry over the strings.
🎵 I-I close my eyes and tell myself, that my dreams will come true… 🎵
Looking at my Pokémon, I watched Grookey sway side to side, mimicking my body movement. With every head nod, he tapped his stick on the ground, making a thud.
🎵 There'll be no more darkness, when you believe in, yourself you are unstoppable.🎵
🎵 Where your destiny lies, dancing on the blades you set my heart on fi-re🎵
I slowly started to close my eyes gently, letting my voice gently move through the air. Shellos was already sleeping, as Rookidee simply bobbed its head up and down to my voice. I lost myself singing, almost forgetting that I had a small audience.
🎵Don't stop us now, the moment of truth, we were born to make history!🎵
My tone slowly rose, passion starting to creep into my voice. I could feel my movements becoming more dramatic, putting in more effort. Letting my Pokémon witness what I have in store for them.
🎵We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around. Yes we were born to make history!🎵
It was too late as I finally heard my own voice, realising I was singing out loud. Opening my eyes, I look around and spot my dad standing there, leaning on a tree with a smirk.
'Oh-' I thought, covering my mouth.
"…Hi?"
He slowly blinked as if trying to remember something, then waved me over quickly. "Champ. Come inside now!"
Something in his voice made me immediately return my Pokémon to their Poké Balls.
"What's wrong dad?"
"There's a champion title battle on TV," he said, making my eyes widen. "Right now."
I practically jumped off the floor and hurriedly sprinted back to the house. Following father inside, heart thumping harder than it probably needed to. Now this was something I had to watch!
Mom was already on the couch, lightly rubbing her eyes.
'Whoa.' I thought of seeing the stadium on television. The place looked exactly like a castle, sort of like the battlefield in Pokémon generations where N and Alder fought. One thing to note was that there were no spectators close by.
On one end was Alder.
And the other, a young girl. She had long, wavy blonde hair with butterfly hair clips, green eyes and a pink dress. A close-up shot showed a better picture of a fragile, sheltered lady. Embarrassingly enough, it took a little bit before I realised who it was.
'Caitlyn, a future elite four member.'
Alder led with Reuniclus while Caitlyn led with her Musharna.
The match started slowly.
Musharna opened with Charge Beam, electricity arcing through the air. Reuniclus tanked it without flinching, responding with Shadow Ball that sent Musharna skidding back. There was a back and forth of attacks until Alder's Reuniclus seemed to be at its limit.
Before it went down, walls randomly appeared around the stadium.
'Trick Room?' I immediately thought. Some guy who was a creep with a Dusknoir used it in the Diamond and Pearl anime, which reminded me of how it looked. Not that a pink room would be hard to identify anyway.
The atmosphere shifted immediately. Caitlyn frowned at the sight of Alder's Escavalier, which, even I have to admit, was intimidating. Clanking its own lances as if telling Musharna to square up.
"OOH~" Dad excitedly called out. Watching the usually slow Pokémon speed blitz forward.
"Dayum." I couldn't help but mutter, putting a clenched fist over my mouth. Dad, at this point, had an arm around my shoulder while jumping around in excitement.
Caitlin swapped into Gallade, trying to regain momentum. But wasn't able to do much as the poor guy got two shots instantly by some sort of bug move.
Escavalier, from then on, tore through her team under Trick Room. Three Pokémon fell before Caitlin managed to stall it out with Metagross, finally being able to knock it out.
By then, the damage was done.
Alder's Krookodile cleaned up what was left. Leaving him with four Pokémon left, while Caitlyn had none.
'Well, that was brutal.' Watching the girl who seemed to be around a few years older than me, tremble a little. I felt bad watching that stunt. The camera soon panned to Alder, who was next to Caitlyn and tried to console her.
Just to be ignored, as she pouted, looking away and heading off with her butler.
That must be Darach from the battle frontier.
'One day I'll be up there.'
The broadcast faded into post-match analysis, and Dad finally exhaled.
"What do you think, champ? That's the power of a champion for ya! That girl, Kate... Katie? Was able to beat the Elite Four consecutively before challenging Alder. Even though she lost, it was a great effort."
"…Consecutively?" I question with an eyebrow raised.
Huh?
Hearing about the challenge prior to that, even dad didn't get to watch due to the different times zones. Apparently, Caitlyn had to beat Drayden, Grimsley, Shauntal & Marshal. At first, I was confused on how she even got past anyone besides Marshal, but each elite four only eyes four Pokemon.
Which made sense.
Five consecutive six versus six would be brutal as hell. But her feat of just beating the elite four in a gauntlet was probably the most impressive thing there. Still, how the hell did she beat the gauntlet...
Dad and I started to converse more about Pokemon, while mum left to go get more sleep. The first topic was about my shiny rookidee. Funnily, the first time Dad saw the little guy, he almost had a heart attack.
"I still can't believe you caught a shiny Rookidee. This little guy is worth a lot." He said in awe, scratching under his neck.
"Dee..." The tiny bird crooned at his touch.
He crouched a little, eyes narrowed in appreciation. "You catch it in the forest? I wouldn't be surprised if it's the offspring of Alfred's Corviknight."
I blinked. "As in the gym leader?"
"Yeah," he answers. "Gym leaders and Rangers like myself will sometimes send some of their team members to dominate nearby wild areas. Keeps the general area sort of safe."
We spent a few hours just chatting on the couch before I had to leave.
...
---
By the time the afternoon rolled around, Spikemuth felt a little louder than usual.
In the main district, as I walked through. There were a multitude of lights open with more people talking to each other on the side of the street. A small bit of nervousness crept in before I crushed it.
The location for the tournament was the gym, which was the only acceptable place here to hold battles.
When I arrived, the wide metal doors pulled back to let people stream inside. Trainers, spectators, parents, and kids who were definitely too young to be participating but looked like they wished they were.
In the main area where the battleground was, is caged, while the outer rim had a few rows of seats which were only a quarter filled.
"Hey, did you hear? There's a rogue Heracross pretty close to town."
"Really? I thought they were only deeper in the forest?"
"Me too, but one just wiped my team recently... The bugger just left me alone after beating me up."
"Mama! Let's go sit down."
It felt like a community event, which the more I think about it.
This was one.
Near the registration area, I spotted Piers almost immediately. Hard to miss him, really, with that look he has going for him. He leaned against a railing, arms crossed, talking with a couple of gym trainers.
Next to him was a girl with a Morpeko by her side.
Marnie.
She sat on some sort of black square, just casually spoiling her Pokemon which looked adorable. Watching the guys talking to Piers walk away, I took the chance to just say hello.
"Kenji," Piers said before I could talk. "You're here early."
"I'm looking forward to battling, what can I say?" I reply.
He snorted in amusement, probably remembering how I pestered him to battle when we first got our starters.
We had some small talk as more trainers showed up. Some looked nervous, some were talking to friends and others just coolly leaning on a wall, looking tough. Piers was able to get me my match-up and soon sent me over to the waiting area.
Not too far away was a little barbecue area that started to sell some hot dogs. The smell almost made me go get a bite myself, but I soon locked in.
Piers mentioned that there are thirty-two participants in this single-elimination tournament.
That will be interesting.
While waiting, I glanced up at the stands which I easily spotted my parents. My mother, who was already looking at me, camera in hand, waved. While dad, who was next to her, just gave me a short nod.
As if this guy wasn't gushing over Alder just a bit ago...
I waved back anyway.
She beamed as I'd just won already, making me get a permanent smile I couldn't take off my face.
When my number was called, I stepped onto the battlefield and tuned everything else out. The lights dimmed slightly, neon strips flaring brighter. The crowd noise softened into a low hum.
Around fifty showed up to the event, with most of them watching from the seats. I weirdly didn't feel any nerves. Maybe it was the previous battles at the park, but this place felt familiar.
After several minutes had passed, the tournament finally started.
My mind zoned out the initial announcement and talks of the host. Not really paying any attention. I came here to battle.
Not too long after, it was time to battle.
Myself and a kid, just a few years older than me, were up next. I think I've seen him working at the grocery store nearby.
"Are you both ready?" The referee shouts. Seeing my opponent and me nod, he soon started off the match. "Begin!"
We both threw our Poké Ball.
"Shell!"
"Nickit!"
'A Nickit, huh.' I thought, squinting my eyes. I've battled a few at the park, and they mostly had [Quick Attack] and [Snarl]. My game plan should be to outlast the guy in a full-on slug fest, as Shellos has a healing move.
"Get in there, Nickit, [Quick Attack]!"
"[Mud-Slap], blind it, Shellos," I order.
Shellos fired mud bullets, which the Nickit dodged and weaved by with precision. Watching the fox get a clean hit on Shellos, I didn't hesitate.
"[Yawn]/[Snarl]!" We both shout.
Shellos immediately sent a white cloud heading straight to Nickit, as Nickit in turn sent out a burst of dark energy. Both moves his each other with the sea slug getting the worst of it, starting to breathe heavy.
'That's alright.' I thought, narrowing my eyes.
"[Screech] now!" My opponent shouts.
I had Shellos use [Recover] to heal any damage he may have gotten prior. The screech soon set in as Shellos groaned in pain, which made me worry for just a moment. Did that move do any damage? Thankfully, the move soon ended with Nickit fast asleep.
"Nickit, wake up!"
"[Harden] twice." I order. Shellos growled with vigour, his skin started to shine. After letting him set up a little, we soon started to attack. Shellos hit a few [Water Pulse], which did some nice chip damage.
After Nickit woke up, the battle purely became a stamina fight.
It took a little bit before I was finally able to win. I recalled Shellos and let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. The referee announced the result, and I stepped off the field.
First round done.
"Sing me to sleep while you're at it, mate!"
"Boo!"
"Boooringgggg!"
My mind was occupied with other thoughts while some of the spectators talked. Unknown to me, though, father was full-on glaring at the guys, which quickly shut them up.
'I should go grab a sausage sizzle before the next battle.' I thought, drooling at the idea.