Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Cecilia’s entire group of friends scowled at me as I walked back, so I instinctively kept my head down and quickly made my way back to my seat. I had handled that confrontation very well, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit it made my heart race. Denzel looked at me with a worried look in his eyes as I sat down.

“What happened? Did she fuck with you?” He asked.

I almost blurted out the truth before I paused, contemplating what to say. Denzel was my friend, and someone I absolutely trusted, but I had promised not to say anything. But at the same time, I didn’t want to lie to him.

“No, it was fine. Just a misunderstanding,” I said in half-truth. “She won’t do it again.”

“Good, because that was weird. And her buddies over there kept looking at me like I killed their entire family the whole time. Anyway, it’s time to draw our next number soon, and then we can battle again,” Denzel said, grinning.

“Sounds good. Right after two more sets of battles, right?”

“Yup. Hey, check this guy’s Shroomish out, it’s really good…”

We observed the rest of the battles, commenting on anything we found of note. Around five minutes later, Cecilia walked up to the stands, as if nothing had happened. She had her chin up, a refined air around her, and a smug smile. Gone were her tears and her hysterical behavior. She was now completely in control as if she had flipped a switch.

“Huh,” I whispered to myself.

We went for two more rounds of battling, and both Denzel and I made quick work of our opponents. I sent out Togetic against a Ralts and a Combee, keeping them at a distance with Fairy Wind and dealing heavy damage with Ancient Power. The second battle, however, had been difficult. Togetic barely managed to take out a Staravia before I had to return her against a ruthless Pidgeotto. Frillish managed to take it on with a lot of maneuvering with Water Sport. The amount of leverage I was getting out of the move boggled my mind, as Frillish somehow managed to only be slightly slower than an actual flying type. By the end of the day, though, I had made it to the round of sixteen, and so had Denzel.

We were famished, so we decided to leave for the Pokemon Center, get some cafeteria food, and then decide on what to do. Denzel went back to the river on Route 205 to spend more time with Feebas, while I took Elekid to train near the meadow. I wasn’t under any impression I’d be able to use him for the tournament, but it was good to get ahead of these things. Strangely enough, I was more nervous about my therapy session tomorrow than I was about the tournament because I knew these trainers in the round of sixteen would be no joke. They all had the Coal badge, and some had been on the Circuit before. The best I was hoping for was third place, but maybe if I got lucky with my opponents, second place would be within reach.

The next day, I woke up early and drenched in sweat as usual. With my head in my pillow, I groaned and hit my bed out of frustration, but ended up hitting the bed frame. I squealed in pain and cursed, clenching my hand as I stepped into the shower. It’d be a while until Denzel woke up, and he had his appointment anyway, so I ate breakfast with my team. Togetic seemed to get along well enough with Elekid, but Frillish didn’t seem to like our new friend. He eyed him with suspicion, always with that creepy stare I knew so well. Oh well, he’d have to get used to it.

After an early morning run with Elekid and another shower— man, I was really taking advantage of the free water here— I waited for Denzel to finish his session in the lobby. I waved at him as he walked down to the lobby.

“How was it?” I asked anxiously. “What did she ask you?”

“We just… talked. About anything really, it was really nice. I even got to vent about my mom a little,” He said, scratching his cheek. “You’ll do fine, it’s like a conversation with a friend.”

I nodded. “If you say so.”

“C’mon, don’t you trust me?”

“I don’t know, you did get me attacked by a gang of Budew that one time,” I teased.

He put his hands in the air. “Come on, how many times are you going to bring that up?!” He said, eliciting a chuckle.

“Ready for the round of sixteen?” I asked as we left the Center.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. I honestly hope I get that TM, but I doubt I can get first place.”

“I’m more interested in the money, honestly. They wouldn’t be giving out an actually good TM in a tournament for new trainers like us. It’ll probably end up being as useful as Rock Polish— which is completely useless.”

“Actually, if you had a rock type—”

“You know what I mean, Denzel,” I said, rolling my eyes.

The tournament was more packed than it had been because Floaroma inhabitants were actually there to watch now that there were only sixteen of us left. There was only one battlefield left, and a podium had been set up to its left, where two men were fiddling with a microphone and testing their audio.

“Holy shit, commentators,” Denzel choked.

“That’s kind of annoying. I feel like they’ll mess up my groove.”

“No, it means that we’re the real deal now! And I bet the news will film every match and put it on T.V. instead of just doing interviews. Crap, I think I need to go to the bathroom—”

“You won’t make it back in time,” I said, grabbing his hand. “Come on, I’m nervous too, but we have to face this head-on.”

Multiple channels were currently filming in the area. One of them was talking to Louis and Cecilia, while others were focused on commenting about the tournament setup itself, the stakes, and its history, for example. They ran this tournament every single month except during summer, although the first two months of every Circuit were always the busiest. I paid them no mind. I appeared calm, but I knew that if one of them came up to me, I’d just stumble over my words and make a fool of myself. Instead, I immediately went to draw a ticket, and my eyes widened when I pulled number one.

I’d be the first. At least potions and one of the Nurse Joys were there this time, so we’d be able to heal our teams.

There was both bad news and good news. I had observed my opponent like a hawk yesterday, and I knew exactly what his Pokemon were and how he fought. The bad news was that he had both a Plusle and a Minun, meaning that I was most likely screwed. Excellent trainers knew how to work around the type advantage, but I doubted I knew enough to work past it. My mind raced as I attempted to find the best strategy to win, and suddenly as I walked onto the pitch—

“Ah. I got you,” I muttered, holding back a grin.

“Ladies and gentlemen, trainers and civilians, welcome to the second day of the Floaroma tournament. We hold these every month, so make sure to come back! My name’s Ricky, and I’ll be your announcer today,” The commentator said before coughing. “Sorry about that. On the left, we have Grace Pastel from Jubilife City, owner of the Coal Badge. On the right, we have Gavin Barnes— also from Jubilife and also owner of the Coal Badge! I’m excited to see what these two trainers have in store for us today. Do your best! After all, who knows who might catch the attention of a gym leader? Anyone could be watching!

I rolled my eyes and picked tails, winning the coin flip. Of course, it didn’t matter. Gavin sent out his Plusle, I immediately sent out Frillish, and the referee declared the start of the match.

“Thundershock!” He yelled out.

“Okay, buddy! Get close! Water Sport to dodge!” I said, clenching my fists.

The thing about Plusle and Minun was that even though they packed a serious punch for their size, they were also extremely fragile. Unfortunately, we hadn’t mastered Hex yet, and water moves wouldn’t be very effective. We’d lose in a long-distance battle because electric attacks were simply faster than water and extremely hard to dodge, and that meant—

“...Frillish gets hit by a Thundershock! Will it go down?! Oh, ladies it gentlemen, it stopped itself from falling with Water Sport! What an innovative strategy from Grace Pastel, but will it be—”

Shut. Up. I thought, focusing entirely on the battle. Frillish was only seconds away from his opponent.

“Nuzzle when it touches you!”

There it is.

“Water Pulse,” I said coldly.

Frillish used a jet of water to stop all of his momentum, splashing the Plusle in the process, who squealed in surprise. The electric Pokemon attempted to jump toward mine as electricity began to envelop its body, but multiple rings of water hit it point blank, sending it flying toward its trainer.

“Wrap around him and absorb!”

“Plusle, get it together! You need to Nuzzle!”

Frillish let out a gleeful cry before wrapping around Plusle. He absorbed his energy, rendering it weaker and weaker.

“Spark! Thundershock! Anything!” Gavin let out in a panicked scream.

Frillish lit up and spasmed as he was hit with multiple attacks, but he didn’t let go. I winced as both Pokemon screamed in agony as they kept hitting each other, squirming on the ground. After a brutal twenty seconds, both went down, and we recalled them. The plan to hit the Plusle with our strongest attack to stagger it and then rush it with Absorb while it recovered had worked, but not as well as I had hoped.

“...what a ruthless showdown between the two and their Pokemon! We don’t see many battles like this folks, but strap in, we’re only halfway through!”

I exhaled and released Togetic, while Gavin let out his Minun. Plan B was a go, but it was less solid than my tactic with Frillish.

“Run up, and then Electro Ball!”

“Your turn, princess! Fairy Wind, and trip him up with Extrasensory!”

Wind began to coil around Togetic and then blew toward the running Minun, but it was fast. By the time Fairy Wind had made contact, it was already right under Togetic, even with Extrasensory.

It pushed through the damage and threw a ball of pure electric energy right at Togetic, who was hit and fell to the ground. My heart dropped.

“Nuzzle it!”

“Growl, then Ancient Power!”

Togetic screeched, scaring the Minun for a split second before it hit her with Nuzzle. Her body convulsed, and she struggled to move.

Paralysis, I thought. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Finish her off with Spark!”

I stomped my foot against the ground twice, and Togetic barely managed to get a Sweet Kiss out. Minun crashed into the ground and stopped his attack.

“Hit it with Ancient Power. Push through!” I yelled, biting my lip.

Large chunks of earth floated upward. Togetic dropped some along the way because of the Paralysis, but she managed to get a hit on Minun, who rolled away. It got up and stumbled around.

“Again,” I said.

“Wake up!” My opponent begged.

Another Ancient Power hit the electric type, causing it to faint. I swallowed and released a breath it seemed I had been holding for the entire battle. That had been close, but I had won. Just barely. Togetic couldn’t even stand when I recalled her. I was sure that with another few seconds, she would have fainted as well. The announcer cheered and yelled out platitudes, which did make me feel good about myself, but I couldn’t be complacent. I was moving on to the quarter-finals, but this was just the beginning. I gave my Pokemon to Nurse Joy, hoping the little time she had would be enough to fix them up. They had almost never been this hurt, and I scared myself at how much I had enjoyed that battle. They followed me of their own volition, but my heart broke after every battle high, realizing how much they had suffered.

I shook my head. It was too late to turn back now. Next was Denzel’s match against Louis Bianchi.

TEAM:

Togetic - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory

Frillish - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse

Elekid - Thundershock, Swift, Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer