"Staryu, Scald!" Dig was exactly what Reiji had been waiting for. The moment Sandslash went underground, he could flood the tunnel with boiling water.
"Hya!" As soon as Sandslash disappeared into the hole, Staryu canceled Gravity and sprayed hot water from the point on top of its body, pouring it straight into the tunnel Sandslash had just dug.
"Not good. Sandslash, get out of there!" A.J. knew he was in trouble the second he heard Scald and immediately shouted for Sandslash to come back up.
But it was already too late. Sandslash had barely broken through the ground when Reiji had Staryu use Gravity again, pinning it at the mouth of the tunnel.
Scald kept pouring into the hole without stopping. Once the tunnel filled, Sandslash's whole body was soaked in boiling water, and it passed out right there.
Since Staryu was standing on top of a stone pillar, it was only affected by Gravity. The ice and boiling water never reached it. In a normal match, the only thing Staryu couldn't do was move, while Sandslash had to get close to attack.
Too bad Sandslash never got the chance. It had been stuck downhill from Staryu the whole time, flooded, frozen, and then cooked by Scald. How was it supposed to get close?
Scald attacked by spraying the opponent with boiling water. It also had a 30% chance to burn the target.
A move hot enough to cause a burn was more than enough to knock Sandslash out, especially when Sandslash had a x2 weakness to Water.
"Sandslash has been knocked out by Scald! A.J. has lost his second Pokémon! With only Forretress remaining, can he somehow pull off a comeback?"
A.J. clenched his teeth as he watched Sandslash faint. That loss felt awful. Sandslash had been taken down without even touching its opponent. Of course he was frustrated.
But frustration didn't change the result. A loss was a loss. On the battlefield, only the outcome mattered.
Even in a straight fight, if Reiji had sent out Rhyhorn, Sandslash still would have lost. It couldn't win through raw strength, and it couldn't beat Reiji's tactics either. What was left to fight with?
For the third round, A.J. didn't send out Forretress. He raised his hand and told the referee he forfeited.
He didn't want Forretress to get burned for no reason, so the match ended there.
One Forretress against three pokemon…
Yeah, no. It couldn't win.
Forretress was an assistant Pokémon to begin with. Expecting it to sweep all three opponents was asking far too much of him.
If it had been Reiji's Forretress, maybe there would have been a chance. His ordinary Forretress? Not happening.
"Ah… what a shame. A.J. has chosen to forfeit the third battle. The winner of this group-stage match is Reiji!"
"It's a pity we won't get to see the third battle, but let's congratulate Reiji on advancing. We hope he brings us even more exciting battles in the matches to come!"
...
With A.J.'s forfeit, Reiji's third group-stage match ended in a way he hadn't expected. He had thought it would be a tough fight, but he hadn't even needed Gyarados. Farfetch'd and Staryu had been enough to finish it.
He hadn't expected Staryu to beat Sandslash by itself either. That Sandslash had looked strong before, but Staryu had worn it down and pushed it out of the match.
[Staryu]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Gender unknown]
[Potential: 48.54%]
[Level: 44.15%]
[Ability: Natural Cure/26.66%]
[Moves Mastered…]
Looks like Staryu hadn't been slacking off lately. Even Butterfree, who loved being lazy, had reached level 42. A good, honest kid like Staryu definitely spent all its time training.
After the Indigo Plateau Conference ended, Reiji planned to evolve Staryu too. At the very least, he would use a high-grade Water Stone and evolve it into Starmie.
Once Staryu's potential rose a little more, he could use a high-grade Water Stone to push it up to Elite Four potential. That would be enough.
Staryu was always meant to be an assistant Pokémon. Reiji only needed to spend some time raising its potential to Elite Four tier. He wasn't expecting Starmie to become a main attacker. As long as its Psychic power improved, it could help Poliwhirl and the others train.
Most of Staryu's training had gone into Confusion, which was why Reiji had used Gravity in battle. Its Psychic-type moves had the highest proficiency, followed by its Water-type moves. Everything else was just extra coverage.
He had no idea where Staryu had learned all those moves, but as long as it didn't neglect Gravity, the rest didn't matter much.
Standing in the competitors' tunnel, Reiji closed Staryu's panel. Farfetch'd and Staryu had both done well in today's group-stage match, so he would give them extra food later and let them celebrate properly.
Honestly, their performance had surprised him. He hadn't expected the Pokémon he caught early on to have all reached Advanced tier. Some of them were even higher level than Gyarados.
Thinking about it, Gyarados might actually be the lowest-level one among the little guys. Forretress was the last Pokémon he had caught, but it had started from a much higher point, so Gyarados was still at the bottom in level. Even so, its actual combat power was definitely stronger than the others.
After roughly going over everyone's levels in his head and deciding to give them all a treat later, Reiji took Poliwhirl and Eevee to the large cafeteria. He picked up three meals: one for himself and two for his Pokémon, then found a seat and sat down for lunch.
The competitors' cafeteria also provided Pokémon food, but most contestants only brought one or two Pokémon with them. Nobody brought a whole team of ten or more to eat there unless they were seriously broke.
They were all young Trainers, after all. They still cared about their image. Embarrassing yourself in a public place like this would spread in no time.
During lunch, Eevee hopped onto the table to eat. Poliwhirl sat in a chair like Reiji, and Reiji had even prepared a spoon for it. With boxing gloves on, Poliwhirl had to use a spoon.
The big screens in the cafeteria were still showing matches from all four side venues. As Reiji ate, he looked toward the Rock Field feed, where the host was introducing a new group-stage match.
By coincidence, the Trainer currently battling was another old acquaintance: Gary.
Reiji remembered Gary's third match was also on the Rock Field, scheduled quite a bit after his own. Once Gary's match began, the camera even cut to his cheer squad.
The host clearly hadn't expected a contestant to bring his own cheer squad. Still, once the match started, strength was what mattered. No amount of cheering would win the battle for him.
Gary's opponent was Yoshiki, and Reiji realized that Gary still hadn't escaped his original fate. In the three-on-three match against Yoshiki, Gary lost.
The result played out more or less the same. Gary's first Pokémon lost, Yoshiki's first Pokémon went down soon after, then they moved on to their second Pokémon…
In the end, Gary was left with Nidoking, while Yoshiki still had Golem.
Yoshiki's Golem won by grabbing Nidoking's horn with Seismic Toss and dropping from the sky. With that, Gary lost his place in the Indigo Plateau Conference during the group stage.
"Damn it…" Gary stood under the scorching sun, teeth clenched, staring hard at the unconscious Nidoking on the battlefield. It had lost to Golem.
No matter how much he hated admitting it, his Indigo Plateau run ended in the group stage. He hadn't even made it to the knockout rounds, so how was he supposed to talk about beating someone as strong as Reiji?
He didn't even have the right to compete on the same stage as him, yet he had treated Reiji like a rival in his head. Maybe he had given himself far too much credit. The gap was still big.
As the camera shifted to Yoshiki, the winner, Reiji let out a barely noticeable sigh. If he had met Gary in the knockout rounds, he wouldn't have minded giving him a proper wake-up call with a full six-Pokémon sweep.
Unfortunately, Gary hadn't even made it that far. Reiji couldn't do anything about that. Not getting the chance to knock some humility into that proud kid really was a little disappointing.
Still, Gary had already started to wake up. The Silver Conference in the Johto League would be a good stage for him. Gary would return as Ash's strongest rival and finally settle the rivalry that had started the day they were born.
As for Reiji, he had no plans to enter the Silver Conference. After the Indigo Plateau Conference, his Pokémon would all be close to the quasi–Elite Four wall. He would help them break into Elite Four tier, then start preparing for Sinnoh.
If the timeline hadn't changed, his real target was the Legendary Trainer. That guy's Pokémon were at least Elite Four-tier Legendaries. If Reiji wanted to beat him, his own team had to be Elite Four tier too. Winning the Lily of the Valley Conference in the Sinnoh League would require that much at minimum.
To prepare for Sinnoh, Reiji didn't even plan to enter the Hoenn tournament. He would use the time Ash spent competing through two regions to prepare for the Lily of the Valley Conference.
He had at least more than a year. That was enough for these little guys. With enough resources poured into them, he refused to believe they couldn't reach Elite Four tier.
After lunch, while thinking through his plans for the next year, Reiji took Poliwhirl and Eevee to the lakeside. There, he released more than ten Pokémon, including Butterfree, Farfetch'd, and Staryu.
The only one he didn't release was Zapdos. That bird's voltage was unstable, and letting it out could easily get him shocked. Better to keep it inside its Poké Ball. He had already asked Nurse Joy to examine it, but she had said she couldn't find anything wrong. It was as if Zapdos's voltage had risen too quickly for it to control.
When Nurse Joy asked why a gray Spearow had voltage at all, Reiji brushed it off by saying shiny Pokémon could have unusual traits.
After that, he never let Zapdos get another checkup. If Nurse Joy kept asking, the whole thing would fall apart. He didn't dare continue, so all he could do was let Zapdos sleep inside its Poké Ball and stabilize its voltage on its own.
Once everyone was out, Reiji first praised Farfetch'd and Staryu. "Farfetch'd, Staryu, you both did great today. Keep it up."
"Far! Far!" Farfetch'd nodded. It had been staying at Mikan Gym, protecting the orchard and picking fruit. It hadn't slacked off. While guarding the orchard, it had also been practicing its blade work.
It had learned Leaf Blade while picking fruit. One swing of its leek sent oranges falling by the basketful, and Cissy always praised it for being so helpful. It had saved her a lot of trouble, and she had never treated it poorly when it came to food.
"Hya…" Staryu only answered quietly. It was still the same shy little starfish, not fond of speaking.
"All right, go play. No training this afternoon. Just relax." Reiji waved them off, then sat down on the grass with Eevee in his arms. He took out the last Poké Ball and released Riolu.
The little dog still didn't want anything to do with him, and Reiji had no solution for that. For now, he could only keep taking care of it and deal with the rest once they returned to Mikan Gym. If Riolu still refused to communicate, then he would have to give up.
Not every Pokémon was like Farfetch'd. Not every Pokémon could be brought around by a Trainer and learn to stop hating humans.
If Riolu refused to communicate, there was nothing Reiji could do. Because of Scyther, Riolu hadn't even been able to talk properly with Poliwhirl lately, and it had closed itself off even more.
At this point, he could only leave it to chance. A Riolu was already hard enough to reach. A Riolu with emotional scars was worse.
"Far?" Farfetch'd saw Reiji release Riolu and wondered if it was another new teammate. But this new teammate ignored its Trainer completely. After coming out, Riolu sat by the lake on its own, chewing on a blade of grass and flicking stones into the water.
"Far? Far?" Farfetch'd turned back to Reiji and pointed a wing toward the lake, asking what was going on.
"Riolu?" Reiji smiled and rubbed Farfetch'd's head. "That kid's like you used to be. It hates humans."
"Far?" Farfetch'd's face flushed at once. Even having Reiji pat its head didn't embarrass it this much.
Back then, it had tried to kill Reiji. It just hadn't succeeded.
"Leave it alone for now. It refuses to talk, just like you did at first." Reiji sighed helplessly. Back then, he hadn't been able to convince Farfetch'd either. He had planned to release it, and only accepted it after Farfetch'd let go of the past and chose to follow him on its own.
"Far? Far?" Farfetch'd asked what Reiji planned to do with Riolu.
"Nothing I can do. In a while, I'll give it back its freedom. It can go wherever it wants." Reiji waved a hand and flopped back onto the grass. He just wanted to enjoy the lazy afternoon under the shade. Riolu's problem was too draining for a Trainer to deal with right now.
"Far?" Farfetch'd watched him lie down and realized Reiji was probably going to give up on Riolu, just like he had almost given up on Farfetch'd back then.
"Far? You're not going to help?" Farfetch'd called to Eevee. Everyone seemed oddly unconcerned about Riolu. Back then, at least Slowpoke had helped it.
"Vee. Vee." Eevee lay on the grass beside Reiji and shook its head. It wasn't close with that dog. They didn't talk much. As far as Eevee knew, Riolu was closer to Poliwhirl.
"Far?" Farfetch'd hadn't met Eevee before either. It must have been another Pokémon Reiji caught later.
"Vee." Eevee nudged Reiji's arm, asking him to pet it, then dozed under his hand and stopped answering Farfetch'd.
Unable to get an answer from Eevee, Farfetch'd flew to the riverbank and found Poliwhirl. "Far…"
"Poli." Poliwhirl shook its head and sighed. "Poli, poli. That kid's problem is worse than yours was…"
"Scy." Before Poliwhirl could finish, Scyther raised its scythes and warned Farfetch'd not to stick its beak where it didn't belong.
"Far?" Farfetch'd wasn't afraid of Scyther. It was stubborn too. But Poliwhirl's words had embarrassed it badly.
Seeing Scyther ready to fight, Farfetch'd didn't want to start anything. It gave up on asking more and flew over to the lake, landing beside Riolu. Then it pretended to whistle, trying to get Riolu's attention.
It was wasting its time. No matter what Farfetch'd did, Riolu didn't react. It didn't even lift an eyelid. Even when Farfetch'd waved its leek right in front of its face, Riolu gave no response. Its aura was completely still, like a dead pool of water.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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