Day 53 of the journey to Kanto. Cloudy.
A new day began, and the second round of the group stage was about to start.
Reiji got up early, ate breakfast with his Pokémon, and went back to the draw hall. Today, the competitors would once again draw their field, match order, and opponent.
Some people had already drawn yesterday and were already battling first thing in the morning. Competitors who drew later, like Reiji, had to do it before nine at the latest, then take one of the later matches. It was a small loophole, but still a loophole.
If a competitor wanted to avoid the stronger names, they could simply wait outside the draw hall and watch. If the favorites drew early, they could draw late and lower their chances of running into them. If the favorites waited until later, they could hurry in and draw early instead.
There were only so many competitors. Once the big favorites and veterans from previous tournaments were removed, most of the rest were newcomers.
People loved talking about dark horses, but common-born dark horses like Reiji weren't exactly everywhere. And he wasn't even a normal one. He was a transmigrator with a cheat.
Even someone like A.J., who had risen fast as a commoner over the last two months and already had Advanced-tier strength, was rare. And A.J. wasn't really a two-month rookie either.
His journey had only lasted two months, sure, but he had already been a Trainer before that and had already started training his Pokémon. Who knew how long he had actually been at it?
Reiji himself had taken more than half a year to reach this point, and now he was starting to get stuck. The early period of fast growth was over. From here on, progress would only get slower. Either he endured it over time or spent money to speed things up. There was no other shortcut.
That was just reality. It was the same everywhere.
The Pokémon world worked the same way. Spend money, or get stuck.
"Contestant Reiji, please draw your battle field."
"Sure." At the receptionist's prompt, Reiji pressed the red button on the counter. The cursor on the screen stopped at once, landing on the Ice Field.
"Trainer Reiji, your second group-stage match will be on the Ice Field. You are scheduled for match eight. Your opponent is..."
"I see." Reiji looked at the portrait on the screen. He recognized that face. Without saying anything else, he turned and left the draw hall.
Gulzar, who was also in the draw hall, saw the portrait too and murmured, "I didn't think I'd run into Rai-nii this soon..."
"Gulzar, who did you draw?" Travis had just finished his own draw and walked over. When he saw Reiji's portrait, he blurted out, "Wait, him? Gulzar, this match is going to be rough."
Travis knew Reiji. He knew exactly how strong Reiji was. At the very least, Reiji was stronger than him. The fact that Reiji had saved them from the poachers said enough.
If Travis ran into that poacher boss now, he wasn't even sure he could get himself out safely. That was how large the gap still was.
"What about your opponent?" Gulzar was calm. He had always wanted to know how far he was from the person who had first guided him onto the Trainer path.
Now that they had drawn each other, this was the perfect chance to test himself and see exactly where he stood.
He still hadn't forgotten what Reiji had told him: that he was still too weak to be of any help. Gulzar had always wanted to know how strong he needed to become before he could finally stand beside him.
"My opponent?" Travis's face immediately fell.
Because his opponent was himself.
...
"Boss, I found a boy who looks exactly like Travis. He's Travis's opponent today. I hope you'll watch his match."
Travis's bodyguard had been standing with him during the draw. The moment he saw Ash's portrait, he stepped aside and called Gym Leader Luana.
"I know. I'll watch."
"Yes." The bodyguard answered, then ended the call and looked back toward Travis.
Travis was already leaving the draw hall with Gulzar. The bodyguard quickly followed to protect him.
"No way. How can there be a Trainer who looks exactly like you?" Gulzar still didn't buy it. The whole thing was too strange, especially since the two of them weren't long-lost brothers.
"You'll understand when you see him. He really looks exactly like me. I'm starting to wonder if he's my dad's secret kid or something." Travis sounded drained. The resemblance was just too ridiculous.
"Cough, cough." The bodyguard heard him implying that his father had cheated and couldn't exactly scold him, so he gave a careful reminder instead. "Travis, please be careful with that kind of joke. If the boss hears it..."
"I know, I know. You're so annoying." Travis waved him off helplessly.
The bodyguards were useful. They kept him safe and handled all kinds of annoying daily details. But they were also a pain. Sometimes he couldn't sit here, couldn't go there, couldn't say that. They made him so irritated that this trip hadn't been fun at all.
"Come on. My match is number six. We'll watch mine first, then yours." Travis pulled Gulzar straight toward the Rock Field.
His second group-stage match was on the Rock Field, and his opponent happened to be that idiot Ash.
Ash, Misty, and Brock had also found out who his opponent was, and they were just as shocked by how much Travis looked like Ash.
"Ash, are you sure he isn't your long-lost twin brother?" Misty asked, tapping her chin with one finger. "Why else would he look that much like you?"
"How would I have a brother?" Ash denied it immediately. He even called his mom on video to make sure.
The moment Delia picked up, Ash opened his mouth wide and asked, "Mom, my opponent this round looks exactly like me. Do I have a brother or something?"
"What are you talking about, Ash? You're my only son!" Delia's face suddenly filled the screen as she yelled through the video call.
Ash asking whether he had a brother was basically accusing her of something. What if someone else heard that? The thought alone made her blush.
"Ahem. He really does look like Ash," Professor Oak said. He had a laptop in his hands and had pulled up Ash's opponent information. On the screen was Travis, with a Pikachu standing on his shoulder.
"Wow, he really does look like Ash." Delia didn't pay any attention to Professor Oak coughing to cover his awkwardness. She hung up and leaned over the laptop to stare at Travis's registration photo.
He really looked far too much like Ash.
Add a Pikachu, and the two of them were almost identical. If not for the different hats—and the fact that she had personally bought Ash's—she might not have been able to tell which one was her son.
"Stop staring. Ash's match is about to start," Professor Oak reminded her. Delia had been staring at that photo for more than an hour. At that point, she might as well watch the actual match.
Travis against Ash should be interesting.
...
At the Indigo Plateau Conference, even the announcer was stunned when Ash and Travis entered the field.
"Good heavens! We have two competitors who look exactly alike! Could they be twins?"
The announcer quickly checked the information in his hands and began explaining to the audience.
"Our green-side competitor is Ash from Pallet Town. Facing him on the red side is Travis from Kumquat Gym in the Orange Archipelago."
"They are not twins, yet they look exactly alike. Could this be a battle of self-surpassing? Two identical Trainers facing each other—what kind of match will they give us? Let's find out!"
"They really do look alike. Are they sure they aren't twins?"
"It's like watching someone battle himself. Look, they both have Pikachu with them too. Even their Pokémon are the same."
"Same face, same Pokémon. That's seriously weird. How does someone like that even exist?"
"Meowth, he really does look like the twerp. Even the Pikachu is the same. I'm starting to mix them up, meow..."
"Jessie, even the Pikachu looks the same. We're always failing to catch the twerp's Pikachu, so maybe this time..."
"Hehehe. You thought of it too, didn't you? Then it's decided. Once their match is over, we'll find a chance to grab Pikachu."
"Hehehe..." x3
Three muffled, suspicious laughs rose from a corner of the stands. Then someone shouted for drinks, and the trio instantly snapped out of their sinister snickering and turned back into enthusiastic vendors, hurrying over to the customer with bright smiles.
Even if they were going to steal Pikachu, they might as well earn some extra money while they had the chance.
Once the Indigo Plateau Conference ended, making side cash this easily wouldn't be so simple anymore.
...
Meanwhile, far away in the Orange Archipelago, Gym Leader Luana sat in front of the television and saw Ash for herself. Just as the bodyguard had said, this boy really did look exactly like her son Travis.
She could at least be sure he wasn't her son. She knew perfectly well whether she had cheated, and how many children she had given birth to.
Unless emotional cheating could somehow cause pregnancy now. Giving birth from a distance? That would be some terrifying future technology.
"Hm? This boy really does look like little Travis," Travis's grandfather said, studying Ash carefully. Other than their clothes, even he could barely tell the faces and Pikachu apart.
Then he glanced at his daughter.
Luana felt his gaze and glared back fiercely.
How could he suspect something like that? She was his daughter. His own precious daughter. And he was actually doubting her?
"Cough..."
Travis's grandfather looked horribly embarrassed and could only cough to hide it.
...
Back in Pallet Town, Delia and Professor Oak were also watching Travis enter the field. Even they had to admit the two boys looked almost exactly alike.
Professor Oak didn't suspect Delia, of course. He knew who Ash's father was, and he knew Delia had stayed in Pallet Town all these years. There was nothing to suspect.
"They really do look similar," Delia said, still amazed.
She knew she was innocent, but she couldn't help wondering why this boy looked so much like Ash.
...
As the match between Ash and Travis began, both of them sent out their first Pokémon on the Rock Field.
Reiji was watching from the main cafeteria in the competitors' village while having lunch.
His own match probably wouldn't be until the afternoon, so there was no rush. He simply stayed in the cafeteria and watched.
Once the battle began, Ash immediately found himself in a bad matchup. Travis opened with Starmie, while Ash sent out Muk.
Ash's Poison-type Muk had a x2 weakness to Travis's Psychic-type Starmie.
Seeing the matchup, Reiji gave a helpless smile. Somehow, he felt Travis was already doomed. Ash was the master of bad matchups. The moment he fell behind on paper, the match might as well be handing him free points. No matter how it played out, Ash probably wouldn't lose.
Either Ash would get a sudden flash of inspiration, or his opponent would make a mistake. Somehow, the battle would always tilt in Ash's favor. When Ash was in a bad matchup, he was hard to beat. When he had the advantage, though, winning somehow became much harder.
The result went exactly as Reiji expected. Ash, stubborn as ever, had no intention of switching Muk out.
Muk went up against Starmie. Starmie's Water-type moves did little to Muk, and instead, Muk managed to poison it.
Before it was poisoned, Starmie could still go back and forth with Muk. After the poison set in, it visibly wilted. Every so often, its body even jerked from the poison damage.
Whenever Starmie used psychic power, Muk simply curled itself into a ball and let Starmie do whatever it wanted. That also forced Starmie to keep burning through its strength, making things worse and worse.
In the end, Starmie ran out of stamina and fainted completely. Travis had no choice but to recall it.
After winning the first round, Ash hugged Pikachu and celebrated. He clearly hadn't expected to win that one so smoothly.
For the second round, Travis threw out Noctowl's Poké Ball, planning to use an aerial advantage to beat Muk.
Ash saw the danger and recalled Muk, then sent out his own Pidgeotto. He intended to answer Travis's Noctowl with a Flying type of his own.
Both were bird Pokémon, and both were raptors—predators of the sky. Owls might look cute and dopey in Reiji's past life, but they were still birds of prey.
The two birds fought in the air for several minutes before the winner finally emerged. Ash's Pidgeotto came out on top.
The reason was simple. Noctowl's name said enough—it was a nighttime hunter.
Pidgeotto, on the other hand, was a daytime forest predator, and this match was happening in broad daylight. It had the better conditions. Add Ash's protagonist luck on top of that, and the win wasn't surprising.
This battle wasn't really a bad matchup. Both Pokémon were Flying types. Ash's only real edge came from the difference between day and night.
If they had fought at night, the result might have been very different. Noctowl would clearly have had the advantage then.
After the second round ended, Ash had won twice in a row and still had three Pokémon left.
Travis only had one Pokémon remaining. He felt helpless. He hadn't expected this group-stage match to be so difficult. This Trainer who looked exactly like him had seemed funny at first—kind of goofy, and even goofy in battle. But he was actually strong. Travis had underestimated him.
For the third round, Travis sent out his final ace.
It was the Pokémon Reiji had given him, and right now, it was easily the strongest one on his team.
"Gyaaaa!!"
Gyarados appeared on the field. It was about the same size as Gulzar's.
The average Gyarados was around six and a half meters long, but this one was at least seven or eight meters. Its body was thick and powerful, and it looked well fed. Travis had clearly taken good care of it.
"That's... Gyarados?" Ash swallowed when he saw it. A fierce Pokémon like Gyarados had an immediate, intimidating presence, and even he felt the pressure.
But he didn't back down. He sent Pidgeotto straight in. Travis only had one Pokémon left, so Ash planned to use his numbers advantage to break through that final wall and win the match.
Pidgeotto managed to circle around Gyarados for a while, but it eventually went down.
Ash then switched in Muk and successfully poisoned Gyarados. Even though Muk was defeated afterward, it had already done its job.
Finally, Ash locked eyes with Pikachu. Pikachu understood him at once and rushed onto the battlefield, full of fighting spirit.
With Pikachu's acting skills, it managed to get Gyarados paralyzed too. Then it climbed onto Gyarados's head and used Thunder, knocking Gyarados out cold.
Reiji had to admit that Travis's Gyarados was ridiculously tough. If Travis had sent it out first, it might have taken down two of Ash's Pokémon by itself. After that, his last Pokémon would have had a much easier time.
Unfortunately, Travis let Ash build momentum early. In the end, Ash traded three Pokémon for Travis's Gyarados, leaving only an exhausted Pikachu still standing.
Ash successfully won his second group-stage match. He excitedly high-fived Misty and Brock, his two outside advisors, in celebration.
Far away in the Orange Archipelago, Gym Leader Luana sighed when she saw her son lose. In the end, Travis was still a little short.
Thump.
"That brat. All he does is play around, and now look—he lost." Travis's grandfather slammed his cane down hard, so angry that his white beard nearly bristled.
"When the tournament ends, have Travis come home," Luana said. "After that, I'll leave him to you, Dad. You have to supervise his training properly. That brat embarrassed himself in this match. He embarrassed Kumquat Gym too."
Luana decided she couldn't go easy on him anymore. That brat needed proper discipline. If he kept playing around, she would have his backside beaten.
...
Meanwhile, over at the Ice Field, Reiji had also finished watching the match. Seeing Ash win without any real danger, he figured Ash's luck still hadn't run out.
He smiled helplessly and looked away. Ash's bad-matchup master aura was too strong. Even Reiji wasn't sure he could suppress it.
Against a protagonist like Ash, there were only two safe options. Either crush him with power that was at least one full level higher, or don't battle him at all and remove the chance of random variables from the start.
Ash's match was over, which meant Reiji's own match was almost here.
"Ice Field, match eight of the group stage. Gulzar, are you ready?"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]