Day 51 of the journey to Kanto. Cloudy.
At last, there was no rain today. Reiji let everyone out for breakfast together, though this would be their last outdoor meal for a while.
From here on, Toxicroak and the others would have to spend most of their time indoors. After breakfast, he recalled them into their Poké Balls again.
Only Eevee and Pelipper stayed outside. Once the camp was packed up, Reiji prepared to set off.
They were heading up the mountain today, so he would not ride Tauros. The tournament was about to begin, and Tauros was one of his group-stage Pokémon. Better to let it rest for a couple of days.
For the climb, Pelipper would carry him. Walking up would take all day, but Pelipper only needed to fly over a few ridges to reach Indigo Stadium. It would be much faster.
"Peli! Peli!" Pelipper sounded excited about the tournament. From what it had heard, there would be countless Trainers competing, more than a hundred thousand people watching from the stands, and even more watching on television. Pokémon tournaments were the biggest broadcasts in the Pokémon world.
"Let's go, Pelipper. We'll be at the top soon." Reiji patted Pelipper's big beak and had it take off.
A little over an hour later, they arrived at Indigo Stadium. It was summer, and the whole mountaintop was covered in lush green. On the way up, Reiji had seen plenty of other Trainers doing the same thing, riding Flying-type Pokémon up the mountain.
Anyone without a Flying-type still had options. There was a winding mountain road, and the cable car connecting the foot of the mountain to the summit could take people straight up as well.
After arriving at Indigo Stadium, Reiji went to the competitors' village first. He showed his Pokédex and Badges, registered his identity, and only then was he allowed inside to stay while waiting for the Indigo League to begin.
The competitors' village had shared rooms and single rooms, split between two different dorm buildings. Trainers traveling with companions were placed in shared rooms. Those who came alone were assigned single rooms.
Of course, no one was forced to stay there. Anyone who preferred a hotel outside could book one. Travis and the others would definitely be doing that. No need to even ask. A rich kid with bodyguards would find a hotel much more convenient.
Shun was traveling with Bruno, so he would have access to the rooms reserved for the Elite Four, assuming Bruno came as well. He would not need to stay in the competitors' village either.
The free food and lodging here were mainly for solo Trainers like Reiji, or groups like Ash and his friends. They could stay until the Indigo League ended.
After finishing registration, Reiji took his room key and went looking for his door. Just as he reached the hallway, A.J. stepped out of the room next to his. Reiji had not expected him to arrive this early, but the timing worked out. He had been meaning to find him anyway.
"Yo. You're here early."
Reiji checked the number and found that his single room was right beside A.J.'s. What a coincidence.
"I just got here. You're pretty early yourself," A.J. said with a smile. He had not expected them to meet again so soon either. "Want to grab lunch?"
"Sure." Reiji tested the key, confirmed that it opened his door, then closed it again and left with A.J.
He had nothing to put down anyway. Anything valuable stayed on him. Leaving it in a single room was not safe. If something got stolen, he might not even know until it was too late.
"I was looking for you, actually. Do any of your Pokémon know Defense Curl? I want one of them to teach my Forretress."
"My Sandslash and Graveler both know it," A.J. said easily. "After lunch, we'll find an open spot and let Forretress learn it. It's a basic move."
"By the way, did you collect info on the Trainers entering this Indigo League? Give me a copy." Reiji had no intention of doing all that work himself. If he could get it for free, he would.
"Sure. It's not like I can beat you anyway. Giving you a copy won't change much," A.J. said.
He did not mind sharing. Next to the chance of reaching Elite Four tier, a bit of tournament intel was nothing.
They reached the main cafeteria, got their food, and sat in a corner. A.J. glanced around at the Trainers eating there and began pointing out the big names.
"See that short-haired guy in green? That's Fergus. He competed last year too. He's a seaside Trainer, so most of his Pokémon are Water-types. His ace is Gyarados. After that, he has Golduck, Nidoqueen, Tentacruel, Vaporeon, Seadra, and a few others."
"Over there, the green-haired guy in the red jacket is Corey. He's another returning competitor. His ace is Venusaur, and his Pidgeot is strong too. He also has Scyther, Sandslash, Hitmonlee, and Rhyhorn."
"And see those two brothers? Their older brother is Reggie. He's one of the favorites to win the whole thing this year. He placed in the top three at the Indigo League two years ago, though no one knows why he's entering again."
"Two years ago, his ace was Torterra. Not long ago, I heard his Electivire was beaten, so people stopped treating it as his ace. But now he has a pseudo-legendary Garchomp that came out of nowhere. He used that one Garchomp to sweep through all eight Gyms and earn the Badges he needed."
"Garchomp?" Reiji paused. "Not Gabite?"
He asked because Reggie's Gabite had been knocked out by Poliwhirl in one punch before.
But now that it had evolved, Garchomp had to be at least level fifty. Knocking it out in one punch would be harder now.
If A.J. could hear what Reiji was thinking, he would have rolled his eyes into the back of his head. That was a pseudo-legendary. Who looked at a Garchomp and thought, I'll have Poliwhirl one-shot it? Was this guy still half-asleep?
"It evolved not long ago," A.J. said. "I heard he suffered a brutal loss in Fuchsia City. That loss was what pushed Gabite to evolve into Garchomp. Apparently, he's coming here to settle the score at the tournament."
Reiji nearly spat out his food.
So Gabite had evolved because it wanted revenge. Which meant this was his fault.
A proud pseudo-legendary losing to Poliwhirl of all Pokémon must have been hard to swallow. If Reiji had known this would happen, he would have let Brandon teach Reggie a lesson instead of letting Poliwhirl flatten Gabite. What a sin.
"You…" A.J. noticed Reiji avoiding Reggie's direction the moment his name came up. "What's with you?"
"Nothing. Keep going." Reiji waved him on. He had no intention of telling A.J. that he was the reason Reggie had taken such a nasty loss in Fuchsia City.
"That green-haired boy is Yoshiki*. His ace is Golem, and most of his Pokémon are Ground- and Rock-types. He's one of the better rookies this year. Pretty strong."
"And that kid in the hat, sitting with the orange-haired girl with the side ponytail and the squinty-eyed guy—that's Ash. He's another rookie to watch."
"Over there, the red-haired boy with the cap is Ritchie. The brown-haired boy is Gary. And that blue-haired girl is Assunta. They're all rookies this year, but any one of them could make it into the knockout rounds and reach the top sixteen."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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