Lunch ended, and the three of us walked to our first tournament.

  Dendra and Aiden looked relaxed at first, but as we approached the Battte Hall Stadium, their faces began to tighten with anxiety. Aiden’s fingers fidgeted around, fixing his clothes while an unusually energetic Dendra, even by her standards, was biting her nails, something I’ve never seen her do before. Fortunately, my experience as an arbiter in Azalea’s tournaments is keeping me calm.

  After all, this is just another tournament that I will participate. The only difference is that this time I’m battling instead of judging.

  As the growing form of the stadium grew, we saw its entrance. It was crowded by a small group of people, mainly children, with some having their parents with them. They were probably the trainers taking part in the tournament as the organisers had asked us to wait here.

  They were standing around a giant board placed to the side of the double doors. At the edge of the gathering were the familiar faces of Katy, Emilia, Ronald and Jess, they were looking at the board together with their pokemon, a Wimpod, a Yanma, a Vulpix and a Starly, respectively.

  Velocity, being as perceptive as she was, turned her head around as we approached and chirped, taking Jess’ attention away from the board. She, following the Starly’s gaze, noticed us and waved, while briefly alerting the others.

  “Hey guys,” she said.

  We exchange some brief greetings before Katy asked.

  “Are you guys ready?”

  I nodded.

  “Of course,” Aiden said.

  “Y—yes,” Dendra stammered.

  “Good—”

  “Because you’re going in first.” Ronald interrupted with a smile, pointing at Dendra.

  “What!?” Dendra shouted, suddenly not ready at all.

  Katy pointed over her shoulder with her thumb at the board. Plastered there was a giant paper informing the times of each match. A brief reading showed that the organisers separated the sixteen groups into two units, and that there was an interval in the middle of today’s schedule. The first eight groups would fight before this interval and the other eight would go after.

  By the way the matches were written on the board, it appears that four matches will be happening at the same time in order to make things go faster.

  And Dendra’s name was in one of the first four matches. Just as she was about to speak, someone wearing purple and wielding a megaphone walked out of the Battle Hall and turned it on.

  “Good afternoon trainers,” he said, the sound travelling through all the crowd. “I would like to ask all the participants of the first eight groups who will be battling soon to follow me, please and thank you.”

  “Well, looks like we’re going,” Ronald said.

  “Everyone’s here is going except Scott and Katy,” Jess nodded, looking at the two who would remain. “Your groups will be battling after the break.”

  “Good luck, Dendra.” I said, before she left.

  “Thanks, but I don’t need!” she responded, but her cracked voice gave her away.

  Dendra, Jess, Emilia, Ronald, Aiden, and almost twenty other trainers all followed the megaphone guy to the inside of the Battle Hall through an alternative staff path. Katy and I looked as the rest of the people waiting, mostly families of some trainers, began to enter the Battle Hall through the normal entrance for the stands.

  “We should get going if we don’t want to stand up during the matches,” I said.

  “Let’s go.”

  The stands were packed with people, almost ten thousand if the comments from the announcer were to be believed. Strange, Akashi said he would comment but he wasn’t in the booth that the Battle Hall used for this occasion. We sat down near the entrance, on the right side of the field. I opened my bag and grabbed a notepad small enough to fit on my pockets and a pencil.

  Katy raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to scout ahead?”

  “Yes,” I smiled, “you aren’t?”

  “I’m going to,” she answered with a smile. “I don’t think I need a notepad to remember the best trainers though.”

  “Well, I prefer everything written down. Memories can be unreliable sometimes.”

  She shrugged and then turned to look as the mayor of Violet City, an elderly man wearing a purple kimono, the colour of the city, welcomed the public and expressed his admiration towards pokemon battle, thanking the employees who made it happen and the trainer who applied. It was a great speech. I almost believed in him.

  After that came the customary singing of the Indigo Anthem.

  And finally, four arbiters and their Kadabra partners entered and took their place to the side of the four battlefields. Then, eight trainers exited the tunnels on each side of the arena, between them was a clearly nervous Dendra.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “How do you think we’re going to do?” Katy asked while looking at Dendra.

  “We?”

  “Project… and Aiden I suppose.”

  The arbiter waved their hand and Dendra and her opponent released their pokemon. Ress, Dendra’s Krokorok, took the field snarling at his opponent, a Nidorino. The Nidorino’s trainer stared worriedly at the foreign pokemon.

  “I can’t speak for everyone since I don’t know you three, but Dendra was already pretty strong for a first year when she was in Azalea, and Jess is very strong after all the training we did in our journey. If they don’t encounter some first year wonder like Red or Blue on their group, they’ll move on easily.”

  The Nidorino charged at the Krokorok which turned out to be a bad call. Before the purple pokemon could gather enough energy to form a move, the dark type had already dashed forward with twice his speed, landing a mean hook with pure fighting type energy.

  “I assume you also think you’re going to breeze through the group stage?”

  I smiled even as I briefly looked over the other three matches. Those were more equal than Dendra’s was shaping up to be, no pokemon in the second evolution, although there were some that didn’t evolve, a Pinsir for example.

  “I saw your fight against Whitney,” she commented. “You’re probably going to move on from the group stage. Your team is strong.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  The fainted Nidorino was recovered by its trainer. It was able to withstand some more moves from Ress, but it quickly lost before landing a single attack at the now smug pokemon. The trainer then threw a pokeball which opened to reveal a Psyduck who looked weaker than the Nidorino.

  “I think one of us can reach the finals. That’s if we end on opposing brackets.”

  I began to nod but paused. I knew that Katy was strong from the hints I got from what Dendra told me about their journey. Though, her statement seemed purposely wrong somehow.

  “You don’t think one of us can win?” I asked. The Krokorok was pummelling the Psyduck while shrugging away its Water Gun, but I turned to the side, suddenly interested in what she was saying.

  “I don’t think so. I’ve looked at some of the other participants profile,” she said, and then she took her small laptop from her bag. She opened it and promptly showed me the Pokemon League site with a profile open. I looked at the photo and blinked. It was probably a twelve-year-old blond kid with brown eyes, smiling at the camera with a high chin.

  “I’ve seen this guy before.” I whispered, trying to identify where I’d seen him.

  She hummed, “I suspected that you might know him.”

  “What? Why?”

  The arbiter announcing in his microphone that Dendra won the first match distracted us momentarily and we cheered her with claps. It was good that we did, because she noticed us and waved back before leaving through her tunnel.

  I turned back as she opened her laptop again and gave it to me.

  “Check his sponsor.”

  I looked through the information at the bottom. There was his name, George Reed, which I also found familiar for some reason. It was obviously not the kid that captured the Charmander though, who was also named George. Below his name it showed that he already had three badges, and at the section where his sponsor should be… My mouth dropped as I read the sponsor’s name.

  Agatha, the name that everyone in Indigo knew, even more than Lance. Furthermore, the name was only Agatha, no surname. I was shocked that Agatha was sponsoring someone since she’s never done it before, but what’s more surprising was the Pokemon League only putting her first name, considering how strict they are. Well, maybe thirty years in the Elite Four and being a Great War veteran got her some privileges.

  “That’s crazy,” I said. “I didn’t know that Agatha was sponsoring someone.”

  “Oh, yeah...” she said, her hand scratching her head in embarrassment. “That’s why I thought that you two might know each other, considering the famous rivalry between Agatha and Professor Oak.”

  The word rivalry sparked me, and I finally remembered the strange kid who shouted that he was going to be my rival at the National Gallery of Goldenrod. Something about being a ghost type trainer and my rival. At the time it was just weird, but it makes sense if this George was projecting the rivalry between our sponsors onto us.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I remember now. This guy came up to me and shouted something about how he was going to be my rival… and if I remember correctly he said he was a ghost type trainer, which might explain Agatha’s sponsorship.”

  “Aha,” she exclaimed, a bright look in her face, knowing that she was right, “so he is your rival.”

  “Well, I mean, he was just a kid who shouted that he was my rival in the middle of an otherwise silent Gallery. I don’t think that actually makes him my rival. I didn’t fight him or even saw him since then.”

  She hummed, “Either way, I think he’s the top contender to win the whole tournament. I watched his third badge match—he challenged Jasmine for that one—and he won easily. If it wasn’t for the tournament only accepting three badges and under he’d probably already would’ve gotten his fourth from Falkner.”

  “So whoever ends up with him on his side of the bracket is going to lose, it’s what you think?”

  “Yes,” Katy confirmed, taking her laptop back. “Still, maybe we can upset him, I will send you the video and we can discuss his weakness and what we can do against him over dinner.”

  “Good idea,” I waited until she finished sending it over e-mail. “Can I ask why you’re being so helpful with this?”

  She hummed, “Project, the group, is kinda my “project” you know. In the beginning it was just going to be me and Ronald journeying together, but then I had this idea, and my dad and Ronald liked it so much that we had to try—”

  There was a pause in the conversation as another group of trainers entered the battlefield. We recognised two people, Emilia and Aiden, among the eight. They took their positions in the battlefield opposite to their opponents. The arbiters made the motions to each trainer to release their pokemon. The distant sound of pokeballs opening briefly filled the air and then Katy continued.

  “At first, I tried to convince people in my class to form a group, but then no one wanted because of, you know, Johto… And so Ronald and I decided to only ask people who were serious about pokemon training, and dad gave the idea to only invite people who have sponsorships… I guess that all my classmates talking about how it wouldn’t work also made me more eager for this to work, so if someone from Project could get first place it’d be… Scott, are you listening?”

  I wasn’t in fact listening.

  My eyes were glued to the battlefield where Aiden’s battle was happening. His opponent released a Shinx, which was pretty intriguing, but not nearly as shocking as the fact that Aiden released a Gyarados. A Gyarados that was not the one he had before. This one was twice the size of his, didn’t have the same bright colours that his starter had, and was very interested in battling the opponent’s pokemon.

  “just a second Katy,” I said as the pit in my stomach grew.

  I took my eyes off the pokemon and focused on Aiden’s belt. I saw only three pokeballs there. That detail brought some sense of guilt over me before I crushed it. Yes, I’d told Aiden about the fact that his Gyarados was missing his family and didn’t want to travel but I never thought he would exchange him for another Gyarados.

  Maybe… maybe I’m reading this wrong, I shouldn’t make assumptions until I can actually talk with him.

  The battle continued between Shinx and Gyarados continued. This time, the Atrocious Pokemon listened to Aiden.

  Scott Wood:

  Cape/ Heracross: Tackle, Harden, Leer, Fury Attack, Endure, Arm Thrust, Aerial Ace, Horn Attack, Counter, Brick Break, Pin Missile, Rock Tomb,

  Jungle/ Bulbasaur: Growl, Tackle, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Bullet Seed, Leech Seed, Power Whip, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Sunny Day, Seed Bomb, Acid Spray

  Mesa/ Baltoy: Harden, Mud-Slap, Rapid Spin, Sand Attack, Confusion, Sand Tomb, Dig, Psybeam, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Double Team,

  Valley/ Minccino: Pound, Baby-Doll Eyes, Echoed Voice, Charm, Sing, Play Rough, Swift, Mud- Slap, Dig, Bullet Seed,

  Mountain/ Cryogonal: Bind, Ice Shard, Rapid Spin, Icy Wind, Mist, Slash, Body Slam. Take Down, Substitute, Night Slash.

  Dendra Navarro:

  Chopper/ Hariyama: Tackle, Feint, Arm Thrust, Fake Out, Whirlwind, Detect, Force Palm, Focus Energy, Sand Attack, Bulk Up, Mud-Slap, Mud Shot, Swift.

  Cross/ Hawlucha: Tackle, Hone Claws, Wing Attack, Detect, Aerial Ace, Feather Dance, Encore, False Swipe, Swift,

  Ress/ Krokorok: Power Trip, Leer, Sand Attack, Hone Claws, Sand Tomb, Scary Face, Bite, Torment, Dig, Swagger, Sandstorm, Mud Shot, Mud-Slap, Rock Tomb

  Twirl/ Tyrogue: Rapid Spin, Tackle, Fake Out, Swift, Feint, Detect.

  Teddiursa:

  Jess Brin:

  Quake/ Hippopotas: Tackle, Sand Attack, Bite, Yawn, Sand Tomb, Dig, Crunch. Sandstorm, Take Down, Rock Smash, Mud-Slap, Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, Rock Slide,

  Velocity/ Starly: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Swift, Aerial Ace, Whirlwind, Acrobatics, Air Cutter, Swift, Agility

  Blade/ Zangoose: Scratch, Leer, Fury Swipes, Quick Attack, Metal Claw, Hone Claw, Slash, Power Trip, Agility, Rock Tomb, Icy Wind

  Wave/ Mantyke:

  Soot/ Torkoal:

  Katy Anderson:

  Tylla/ Palpitoad: Tackle, Pound, Echoed Voice, Growl, Acid, Supersonic, Mud Shot, Bubble Beam, Flail, Screech, Bulldoze, Bounce.

  Blaine/ Winpod: Aqua jet, Rollout, Sand Attack, Defense Curl.

  Asha/ Ducklett: Water Gun, Defog, Wing Attack, Water Pulse, Aerial Ace, Bubble Beam, Feather Dance, Gust, Icy Wind.

  Nico/ Spheal: Fissure, Defense Curl, Rollout, Growl, Water Gun, Powder Snow, Ice Beam.

  Otto/ Biddof:

  Emma/ Chinchou:

  Eevee:

  Aiden Hagashi:

  Gyarados: Splash, Tackle, Bite, Ice Fang, Crunch.

  Gyarados: Tackle, Twister, Whirlpool, Ice Fang, Brine, Scary Face, Waterfall, Crunch.

  Swablu: Peck, Growl, Fury Attack, Round, Take Down, Protect, Aerial Ace, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Agility.

  Horsea: Water Gun, Smokescreen, Focus Energy, Water Pulse, Twister, Agility, Dragon Breath, Agility.