The quarter finals matches ended.
We were on a twenty-minute break to rest and to heal the pokemon who needed it. I glanced at the digital clock on the wall, 3:10 p.m. In ten minutes, the first semifinal match will begin. Katy versus Yael. Katy commented that she thought they’d give us more time—seeing as the main field turned into a lake—but there wasn't any change.
The staff restocked the food table and the four of us, the last trainers left, had already eaten a little. Now we were just lying around, waiting. Katy and I were sitting on one of the big sofas in the middle of the room. Yael was at one of the tables to the left side, looking at the pokeball that was laying in the middle of it, while George was resting on a green beanbag with his eyes closed on the other side of the room. Katy was writing and reading from her notepad again. She had a plan and was trying to memorize it.
I cracked my fingers and Katy hissed at the sound before going back to her plans. I held back a sigh, I liked plans of course, I’ve been planning my journey for years—even though that plan was completely ditched—but even I didn’t like to memorize a plan for something so chaotic as a match. There were ideas to keep in mind based on factors you know like what pokemon the opponent had or what moves were shown already, but deeper than that and it turned into a mess. Humans and pokemon are just that unpredictable.
“Scott.”
It took a few seconds to register that Katy had just spoke, “What?”
“Between the two of us, someone needs to advance to the finals and win the tournament, better if both of us go,” she whispered seriously. “What’s your plan for George?”
“Go out there and try to win. Preferably have fun too.”
“Funny,” She leaned forward. “Now what’s your plan?”
I sighed, “I don’t have a detailed plan. I chose the pokemon that will fight, and I think I know what he is going to release first so I have an order. That’s it.”
“I don’t think you are taking this seriously enough.”
“I think you’re taking this too seriously,” I countered. “Look, it’s just a tournament for beginners. I refereed dozens of them. The prize is just the experience and money and that’s it. It's not worth the headache.”
She held my stare for a second before turning to her pad, “Agree to disagree.”
That was the end of it. I would like to say that the rest of the break was quiet, but with three minutes left for the first match to begin the crowd made so much noise that it reached us, in a lobby that was deep in the Battle Hall facility. The main screen with the broadcast of the event, which had been showing commercials until now, changed to show the three young commentators.
“Well folks, there seems to be quite an addition to our already illustrious crowd,” William said. “From the commenters desk, from the broadcast crew, and from the organizers and sponsors of this great tournament, we’d like to welcome Agatha, of the Elite Four, and Pokemon Professor Samuel Oak, the 221st Indigo Champion.”
The screen changed to show what could only be a luxury box above the crowd. On the other side of the glass was an old grey-haired woman in a purple dress with a wooden cane on her lap. She displayed her famous look, a mocking smirk on a hard face, as she glared straight at the camera. Casually floating behind her was one of the rarest pokemon in the entire world, Mismagius. The incredibly powerful pokemon was talking to another, this one sitting on top of Professor Oak’s armchair, a small pokemon… wearing a Pikachu costume? Nevermind. The professor himself was also looking at the camera and smiling, but his smile was small and strained, as if he’d been kidnapped to be there.
He probably had, now that I think about it.
“You still think it’s not that serious?” Katy said with a mocking tone before turning to her pad.
I still thought it was not that serious, but stayed quiet. She needed the focus. Especially now that she had a distracting audience.
Three minutes went fast.
Standing to the sides of a newly repaired battlefield were Katy and Yael, they looked nervous. Of course they were. Something I forgot about these tournaments was that at the end of the day people flocked to the stadium to see the high level matches. They left their jobs earlier, set aside household tasks later and brought their children. Basically stopped whatever they were doing and came, and for a tournament with this much advertising, they packed the stands. It didn’t help that everyone probably knew of Aiden and George’s match which could easily be the final of a five badge tournament.
All that to say, it was packed. There was so much noise that even the sound equipment couldn’t fully stop the sound of conversations from leaking to the broadcast. William was boasting about how many people were watching from home and pokenet while Akashi raised his hands to the heavens, saying they were rich. Before being corrected by Camille on the fact that they didn’t receive more for attendance.
I was nervous and I wasn’t even there.
“Trainers!” The arbiter shouted over the growing noise of the crowd. “Ready?”
The two semifinalists nodded, pokeball in hand.
“Trainers release your pokemon!”
The metal orbs hit the ground and divided themselves, releasing scarlet lights that seemed to shine brighter in the face of such an occasion.
At the left side of the battlefield, red turned blue as a plump figure formed. Nico, the playful Sealeo, stood in front of Katy’s square. In opposition, the vengeful dragon that one day will evolve into the Desert Spirit appeared, Vibrava. Its body twitching at the mere thought of a fight.
The arbiter waved his arm, starting the fight.
Vibrava sprung from the ground to sky. Nico's eyes followed the dragon upwards, and widened when the dragon turned into a green and brass blur blazing in his direction. A shout from Katy jolted him and he unleashed a ray of pure ice energy from his mouth. Twisting to the side to dodge, Vibrava lost speed but was approaching still. Now focused, the Sealeo took a deep breath, inflated his chest like a balloon, and expelled blue energy as a giant cloud of snow and ice that engulfed the middle of the arena.
Cautious of freezing inside Powder Snow the winged pokemon stopped. It was about to circle around when Yael’s shout stopped it. Vibrava listened and then landed hard with its legs. The dragon's whole body glowed brown. Energy was infused into earth. It rushed forward and turned everything that was organic material in the ground into an immense and violent sand tornado threatening to wash and bury the ice type.
Nico wasn't idle though. Since the dragon landed it had been charging an Ice Beam, and it was ready to retaliate. A laser of ice tore through air, through sand and wind, weakening the storm, and finally striking the pokemon's right side and wing. Nico let out a prideful happy bark as ice grew into the stricken place. But then jumped to the side as the Sand Tomb finally hit. It was not buried but was thrown high into the air as the wind hit. He used Defense Curl before hitting the hard ground near his trainer.
Vibrava’s green eyes looked sideways at its frozen and damaged side and let out a high screech of pain and rage. The pokemon tried to run at Nico but couldn't with its two right legs and wings frozen. That was of little concern for the furious pokemon. It opened its small mouth and a completely deformed pulse of the most pure dragon energy I'd seen in a while ripped the leftover sand, ground and ice in its path towards its target.
Yael was shocked. His eyes were as big as Nico's. That might’ve been the first time that Vibrava had ever used Dragon Pulse. It was not the last time it would be used in this match though. Another ice cloud easily stopped the weakly formed pulse. Only for a second pulse, better than the first, to strike through and hit the Sealeo.
Katy shouted something that made the ice type roll out of the way of the third.
Nico, bruises all over his body from the vibrating attack, glared at the energized, immobile and panting bug-like pokemon. Dragon Pulse left the dragon again just as a giant Ice Beam left Nico's. Despite Vibrava's rage fueling his draconic energy and making the newly learned Dragon Pulse powerful, in comparison Nico might as well be a master of Ice Beam. The beam of blue energy stabbed the pulse, disabled it as it cut through, and struck the tail of the evasive Vibrava, growing a giant block of ice in it.
Katy, beaming at the situation, shouted something.
Nico mirrored her smile with a wide playful grin, leaned back as far as possible and slammed its whole body into the ground. For a second I thought an Earthquake was coming, but no.
The ground divided itself like a giant Tyranitar’s maw. Its teeth, uneven rocks ready to crunch its prey. In a dimple was its creator, a Sealeo, and in the middle of it, being swallowed like small candy, was a flightless Vibrava. The pokemon struggled against the ice coating its right side and tail like plastic. Purple energy flared around its form. It had heat but it was no fire. Worse, it was weak to ice. Thus the dragon spiralled down into darkness, despite the buzzing of its partnerless left wings.
Katy pumped her fist into the air. Her tired pokemon was also happy, and showed it by clapping his newly evolved limbs and howling. The arbiter announced the ice type's victory as Yael extended his hand and returned Vibrava from the deep to its pokeball.
I frowned as I watched the dragon trainer's face and body. It was the language of a cornered animal. A prey who knew it would have to fight to its death.
I was right. Yael released his starter, not waiting even one battle later. The dragon that'd washed the field with purple flames was back, Deino. The blue scaled dragon softly stomped the ground with its front legs and noticed the gash running to one side of the ground with a passing curiosity, its lack of eyes not hindering it in the slightest.
Nico began charging an Ice Beam as soon as the battle began.
Yael did nothing, and his pokemon responded in kind, ignoring everything as it walked around. A sense of danger echoed through my mind. There was an idea on my mind ever since I first saw Deino fight, and now I think it was true. Yael was barely in control of that dragon. Katy and Nico probably didn’t know that.
Unleashed, the blue beam travelled and hit Deino's head. Ice began to encase the pokemon’s reptilian face for an instant before purple fire exploded around the pokemon. Chunks of burning blue and purple ice fell around Yael's side of the battlefield.
The blind head closed on Nico. A small mouth opened and a destructive circle of purple energy drumming air ripped the earth and sky towards the Sealeo. The move covered half the space of Katy’s section, leaving no escape.
Katy yelled something, which I'm sure was Powder Snow, seeing as Nico expelled the move in the form of a barrier. The buffer-cloud of snow and ice grew and grew in front of the ice type until the pulse attacked it. The two moves, one defensive and the other offensive collided. Draconic energy tried to engulf the barrier, pushing the ice cloud back, eroding it even as it was pushed back up and away from Nico, quickly losing its fuel.
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Explosions occurred along the limits of both attacks—the two rival energies raging against each other—and Nico was thrown back. The two moves were fighting equal to equal, which was insane, since one was supposed to be weaker than the other.
A second Dragon Pulse slammed in the back of the first.
Katy clicked on the button and returned Nico as the two draconic moves circled each other and united like black holes erupting into a supernova.
The cloud was wiped out, but that wasn't enough for the Twin Dragon Pulse. The twisted pulsing mass of energy thundered against the pink barrier and shook the battlefield. Pushing and pulling everything until an entire layer of the ground was gone. The camera changed to show psychic pokemon teleporting behind Katy, who was laying on the ground away from her box. Led by an Alakazam, the group of psychic pokemon moved their hands and items and reinforced the barrier until it glowed red, until the move—a signature tactic of Deino's evolution—began to lose steam, until it vanished.
The energy was still dispersing when some people, Battle Hall employees and the arbiter among them, helped Katy up. They began to quietly talk among themselves. Katy said something harshly, not quite a scream but close.
The group stayed in silence for a second and then the arbiter nodded to the protest of the other people. He walked back to his spot and Katy limped to hers. The psychic pokemon teleported, spreading around the limits of the battlefield, with Alakazam staying behind Katy.
A pokeball was taken from Katy's belt and Asha was flying through the skies.
The pokemon was calmly analysing her opponent when she caught a glimpse of its trainer on a turn. Her face grew dark. I could see why. Katy, beyond her limp had scrapes on her arms and legs, dirt on her body and twitched at every movement. She winced when she looked up at her pokemon.
The arbiter announced the start of the battle.
A braided line of bubbles exploded on Deino's side. The dark dragon responded with a Dragon Pulse to that direction. A second line of bubbles exploded behind him. Deino unleashed another Dragon Pulse as soon as it turned around but the flying type was already gone. Asha was using Aerial Ace to move between uses of Bubble Beam, a classic hit and run tactic.
A growling and the slightly battered Deino had enough after the sixth run. Mouth wide open the dragon madly threw his head around and unleashed so much purple flame that the sky above looked like a burning ocean.
Asha beat a hasty retreat, fleeing the fire towards Katy's side of the field. Deino somehow sensed her and a multitude of Dark Pulse followed the Ducklett across the sky. She accelerated and dove to the ground with her wings closed. A breakneck pull and another Bubble Beam once again hit Deino, this time on the face. The dragon gave a single unsure step forward, and then began to run. Jumping over Fissure’s chasm the pokemon unleashed three Dark Pulse in different directions. Asha flapped, and a giant breath of ice energy shot forward, stopping the draconic energy. Deino immediately chose that direction.
Katy pointed and Asha followed the command. The Ducklett flapped forward, cutting towards the dragon as I gawked. Deino looked up and unleashed Dragon Breath. The flames approached Asha. They strangled her for a second before they broke out from her sleek shape, blue energy stomping purple out.
Asha had used Icy Wind to reach Deino, but now what?
She showed what.
A feint made Deino miss a dark bite. Aerial Ace pushed Asha’s entire body against her opponent’s bigger frame. The two sailed together and Katy and Asha’s plan was now clear. They wanted to throw the dragon into the pit.
According to the rules they would not win since Fissure was not active and so couldn’t knock out a pokemon, but Deino would be considered out of bounds as he couldn’t get out. It would be a technical draw, the battle would be considered void and the two pokemon would be retired for the rest of the match. The only thing I was curious about was if the plan had been made right now.
Unfortunately plans rarely go as planned. Deino’s front legs grabbed Asha and raised her enough so that she was looking straight at the furred head. Asha was ready to weather pulse or breath, but Deino didn’t do that. Deino roared.
Roar slammed the Ducklett. The move twisted air and knocked the flying type away, her muscles locking in terror. Deino was still flying back, but a roll backwards with his back made the dragon stop a meter away from the rift on the ground.
Asha chirped in frustration and tried to gust the hissing serpent to oblivion but its claws pierced the ground and held its body. A pulse of purple energy raced past the wind and slammed into the flapping bird. The sound of the light pokemon hitting the ground was heard. Deino lowered his head and spewed fire. Purple flames crawled on the ground, they licked the ground not unlike hands pulling the rest of its infernal shape forward towards the fallen bird.
Asha straightened up and jumped back, fleeing away towards the sky. Deino growled at that, and the battle restarted.
The water type tried to go back to the basics. Her string of exploding bubbles hit Deino one time. This time, however, the dragon was infuriated. Deino roared in rage at the ground and when the second Bubble Beam came. The dragon tanked the attack, raised its head to the fading sun of the afternoon behind where Asha had shot her move from and triggered an eruption from its mouth. Purple engulfed the battlefield as the dragon poured everything it had inside to the outside world. A firestorm raged inside the glowing pink barriers. A small blue burr raced as flames pursued her, not out of an intention to catch it, but out of need to fit everywhere they could. To burn everything it could reach.
There was nowhere to hide between the crimson barriers and the purple flames, and Katy didn’t hesitate. Asha returned to her pokeball as soon as Alakazam held back the blazing storm for a moment. The crowd was silent as the arbiter announced that they would wait for the move to end. An attack from one battle—unlike changes to the battlefield—couldn’t be taken to the next.
The storm died in two minutes, but the flames continued. Spots of the soil were alright as well as spots of the psychic barrier. There were dancing flames in the very air still, burning the last of the oxygen for fuel.
It was in that battlefield that Tylla was released. The pokemon immediately dropped a blast of water on the ground to cool the hot soil under her. The water evaporated but it was slightly better to stand there. She quickly noticed that her trainer was hurt, and she acknowledged that with a glare at its opponent.
Near the fissure the dark dragon stood.
Deino was standing, but not without consequence. The dragon was tired for one. His chest quickly rose and fell. Its Dragon Breath also had burned everything, including its creator, not as bad as others considering they were of the same type but even then, bearing the firestorm had given the dragon first-degree burns and a few of the second. Scorched, tired, yet unbent. The dragon awaited.
Tylla already had a plan in mind as soon as the battle started. She, like Asha before, shot a straight Bubble Beam at the dragon. Deino took the attack and returned a Dragon Pulse. The Palpitoad bounced to the side, evading the pulsing circle of purple energy. Deino heard when she landed and sent another Dragon Pulse, and Tylla bounced again. The pattern repeated until the Palpitoad landed near Deino, and the dragon relinquished the opportunity to land his Dragon Pulse.
Tylla was ready for it. Her entire body glowed with grey energy, and she pounded through the Dragon Pulse. Deino recoiled, surprised at the new action, and that was when a ball of gunk the size of a basketball flew out of the water type’s mouth.
The ooze hit the dragon and covered its right side and back. It was almost black but it wasn’t. It was a dark shade of purple. Not the pure purple of draconic energy but something that could possibly come out of someone’s gut through their mouth, a sickly colour of purple. Its colour wasn’t the most interesting thing about it though, it was the fact that it was melting the dragon under it.
Deino screamed in pain as the acid from Palpitoad entered the burns from its own draconic fire. Yael’s eyes were wide, his mouth open in horror as he watched his pokemon writhe in pain. Katy was less sympathetic, her eyes were narrowed as they burned into the dragon, her victorious smile seemed cruel, but I knew it was simply the smile of someone satisfied with a working—if cruel—plan.
I wasn’t really surprised that Tylla concealed knowing Acid. It was a very painful move to use in a spar or in a pokemon battle with low stacks. I also wasn’t surprised that she used it on Deino, even burned like he was if there was a pokemon in this tournament that warranted the move, it was him.
The rest of the match was obvious.
There was only one way this would end. Tired, burning, melting Deino would bend, finally lay down and be returned to his pokeball. Yael would release his next pokemon. And the subsequent dragon, no matter which one, wouldn’t be Tylla’s equal. They would fight. The dragon would lose. Katy would limp away to a medical facility with a smile to be healed together with her pokemon, looking down at her pad to plan for her next and final match with the knowledge that all her plans had come true, and that nothing could go wrong when one plans their steps carefully.
Deino seemed to read my mind. That dragon read my mind and rejected the obvious path. The purple scaled, black furred, rage infused pokemon did not bend, did not lay down, was not returned. It stood straight, ignored its burns, ignored the acid eating its red flesh, ignored the clamor of its body to rest, and aimed its head at Tylla.
Something happened right there. It's almost broken body glowed with darkness. Somehow, that dive into Cape’s dark energy reserves in our last match—and the remembrance of Brian’s diary—made me temporarily in tune with dark energy, and so I knew immediately what that shape was. Yael’s horror wasn’t for the fact that his pokemon was in pain. It was for the fact that it was going to use Assurance.
I noticed instantly but Professor Oak and Elite Four Agatha were quicker still. Professor Oak’s elderly Alakazam and Elite Four Agatha’s imposing Mismagius were already inside the arena, with the field between them, as Deino's form grew.
The dark energy inside the pokemon bulged its muscles, and in some places created muscles where there weren’t any, making the black dragon stand almost two times bigger than before. Its form was monstrosity, indifference and cruelty in a single structure. The memory of Brian’s Hydreigon, calm, collected and focused made it difficult to imagine two more different pokemon.
Tylla was paralysed, but what saved her was that the dragon first instinctively tried to use Dragon Breath, but Assurance was a dark type move and would only allow kin.
The Palpitoad bounced away as soon as the dragon started to let a Dark Pulse barrage fly. The good news was that Deino wasn’t aiming. The bad news was that he was shooting everywhere. The amber barriers were stressed before, but under the power of two extremely powerful pokemon, one of them Champion level at least, nothing happened, even though everyone knew those pulses would absolutely destroy these barriers seconds ago. Now they looked no more dangerous than a gust of wind.
That wasn’t the case inside however. As a pokemon that had intensely trained her bounce, Palpitoad was using her full concentration to dodge the chaotic and dangerous pulses of dark energy. It was a testament to her ability as a fighter that she lasted thirty seconds under an assault that would’ve instantly taken down a heavy sixth badge pokemon. It was a sad fact, however, that she couldn’t bounce when there wasn’t any earth under her feet.
The Palpitoad planned to land at a place after one pulse passed through, but after it passed there wasn’t anywhere to land. She fell face first into a crater, and when she looked up, a second Dark Pulse was about to make a mockery of the crater she was currently in.
The elderly Alakazam shook a single spoon and three things happened. First, all the pulses of dark energy travelling across the battlefield were snuffed like a small collection of candles doused by a bucket of water. Second, Tylla appeared outside the barrier, right at the psychic’s feet. Third, Deino slept—somehow suddenly free from poisonous gunk and Assurance’s influence.
For a single second the camera focused on Alakazam, and for a second the Alakazam stared at the camera. In my mind a single sentence manifested, so graceful and real that I almost thought it came from someone beside me. Greetings, chosen. I hope you’ll not embarrass me, the one who picked you, before my friend.
The voice was as quickly gone as the Alakazam on the screen. I shook my head and focused on the new image displayed. The two trainers sported devastated looks. Katy’s face was ashen and Yael’s was guilty.
Minutes passed and things began to happen; Tylla, awake and disturbed, was returned to her pokeball, Katy was escorted by the Battle Hall personal to the exit, hopefully to a hospital, the arbiter and a Nurse Joy were talking to Yael, probably telling him something that should be important, but by the apathy in his face, was something that he already knew.
After some more minutes, the screen changed to the commentators. I blinked when I noticed that I had completely tuned them out in this match. I would have to watch the video again to get their commentaries, and I would, as sometimes they commented important nuggets of pokemon battle advice.
“It’s an unfortunate fact that moves sometimes take more than a pokemon has,” Michael said, in the middle of his colleagues. “Assurance, the move used by Deino to grow his already dangerously low strength was too much for him and he will have to spend a long time away from battles to heal his injuries and regain his strength. Trainer Yael, with that information on hand, decided to withdraw from the tournament, seeing as the anchor of his team wouldn’t be able to compete.” He paused for a second to let everyone digest that information. “That means that the next match, the one featuring Trainers George Reed and Scott Wood, will be for all intents and purposes the finals of the tournament. We’ll take a small break of ten minutes to fix the battlefield and then we’ll come back one last time, for this great tournament’s final match.”
I didn’t have a choice. Instinctively turning to the other side of the room, I locked eyes with the dark type trainer. George, like me, was still reeling from the announcement. I imagined that the unhinged character that Agatha—possibly—portrayed would be laughing right now.
I looked forward to the screen, to the sponsors advertising their products, and thought about Katy. About how her wish came true. One of us was in the finals and could maybe win the tournament. Unfortunately for her, that wish seemed to come from a genie.
