The battlefields outside Pummelo Stadium were packed by the time Reiji got there.
He spotted familiar faces everywhere. Gulzar, Travis, Ash's group—most of them had been at last night's gathering. Sou, Keith, A.J., and a few others he had not seen last night were here too, all trying their luck in the preliminaries.
Tai was here as well.
Their eyes met from across the crowd, then both of them looked away at once. A quick glance was fine. Anything longer would look suspicious.
A little girl stood beside Tai, with a Flaaffy following her. That had to be the one Reiji had given him. Which meant the girl was probably Tai's little sister.
Of course.
The man really was hopeless when it came to his sister.
He also saw Shingo, the Trainer he had met in Johto, and the girl who had once been hunted down.
Whenever Reiji ran into someone he knew, they only traded a quick greeting before splitting off again. Everyone had their own battlefield to pick. There were plenty of them, each with a referee and staff checking Trainer IDs.
Reiji wandered around for a while, stopping to watch a few matches here and there. At one field, he found Amber and Blaine. They were standing outside the fence, coaching Amber through her match. When she won, Reiji called out a few words of encouragement through the protective net.
"Rai-nii! Rai-nii, I won!" Amber hugged Pikachu and spun around happily. Then she turned back and gave Reiji the biggest smile.
Click.
Elisia lowered her camera and smiled. "Rai, this one's for you. Good luck out there."
"Thanks, Elisia." Reiji took the photo.
In the picture, Amber was smiling bright enough to hurt, with Pikachu beside her after the win.
"Feeling confident, kid?" Blaine asked with a grin. "The preliminaries shouldn't trouble you. I'm guessing you don't need anyone yelling advice from the sidelines."
Amber was different. This was her first real tournament match, so Blaine and Elisia had to keep an eye on her. If they did not, she might not even get through the preliminaries.
Reiji had already fought through the Indigo Plateau Conference. After all the training since then, getting stuck here would be embarrassing.
"The preliminaries should be easy enough," Reiji said, waving as he left. "We'll talk again in the group stage."
He searched for a while longer. There were more than ten battlefields in the area, and he finally found one where he did not recognize anyone. Good. He went into the stands and watched.
The preliminaries were much hotter than he expected. Every battlefield was crowded. With this many Trainers around, the total number had to be somewhere in the ten-to-twenty-thousand range.
Ridiculous.
Luckily, Pummelo Stadium had pulled most of the tourists away. That was where the real noise was. During the four preliminary days, the main stadium was hosting Elite Four exhibition matches and Elite Four challenge matches. Plenty of visitors only wanted to see big-name Trainers throw powerful Pokémon at each other, and the organizers had given them exactly that.
The preliminaries were not the star of the show yet, so using the Elite Four to draw the crowd away made sense. Some veteran Gym Leaders, including Cissy's father, would be taking part in the exhibitions too.
Once the group stage started, the tournament would take the spotlight back. The organizers were not stupid enough to let the side show swallow the actual event.
Reiji glanced at one of the big screens outside the stadium. It was showing an Elite Four battle, but no one on-screen was going all out.
An exhibition was an exhibition.
The explosions were big, the crowd loved it, and that was about it.
He turned back to the match in front of him.
The Trainer on the field was strong. He had already won two matches in a row, and now no one wanted to step up. Everyone had seen enough to know he was not an easy badge.
If no challenger appeared within three minutes, the field would move on. The winning Trainer would have to leave and find someone else to challenge, while the battlefield brought in two fresh competitors.
The organizers had four days to sort through a mountain of Trainers. They were not going to let one field sit frozen because everyone got scared.
Reiji waited in the stands for a little over a minute.
Still no one.
Fine. He stood and headed down.
The guy was Advanced tier, which was good enough to scare off most of the field. Not good enough to make Reiji keep watching.
Everyone wanted easy wins. The problem was, the preliminaries did not have that many free meals.
Anyone here was either clueless, already had the four badges and just wanted the tournament experience, or trusted their own strength enough to gamble their entry badge.
At the gate, a staff member scanned Reiji's Pokédex.
"Reiji, your Pokédex checks out. This is your first preliminary match. If you win, the result will be recorded and synced with the central system. Losses won't be recorded."
"Got it. Thanks."
Reiji took back his Pokédex and stepped through the gate into the fenced battlefield.
Across from him, the boy finally looked relieved. He already had two badges, plus his starting badge. One more win, and he could leave the preliminaries behind and spend the rest of the time enjoying the city.
The referee raised a hand.
"Both competitors, get ready. This will be a two-on-two preliminary battle on a neutral field. Send out your Pokémon at the same time."
"Go, Magneton!"
"Go, Whiscash!"
"Whiscash?"
The boy froze when the muddy fish hit the field. He had clearly expected Reiji to use a Water type.
Reiji smiled.
He had watched the boy's last two matches. The kid liked opening with Electric types. So, Whiscash.
Hanhan and Dugtrio would have worked too, but both were quasi–Elite Four tier.
Using them in the preliminaries felt a little shameless.
"Begin!"
"Magneton, return!"
The boy saw Whiscash and bailed immediately. As soon as the referee called the start, he recalled Magneton and threw another Poké Ball.
"Go, Victreebel!"
"Tch."
Reiji recalled Whiscash too.
Whiscash was basically a budget Swampert, and Grass was still a x4 nightmare. Letting it take a Victreebel attack for pride would just be stupid.
Now the boy had shown both Pokémon: Magneton and Victreebel.
That was enough.
"Magmar, you're up."
Magmar landed on the field, heat rolling off its body. Reiji looked across at the boy and muttered, "Go on. Switch again. See where that gets you."
"Damn it. Magmar…" The boy stared at the Poké Ball in his hand, already stuck.
Victreebel hated Fire. Magneton did not like Fire either.
Wonderful. His whole lineup had walked into a stove.
"Forget it. We fight. Victreebel, Razor Leaf!"
Testing Magmar with Grass moves was pointless.
The flying leaves sliced across the field, hit the heat around Magmar, and burned away before they could do anything.
"Magmar, Heat Wave."
"Grruuh…"
Magmar drew in a deep breath and blew.
A wall of hot air swept over the field. Victreebel had nowhere to dodge.
"Victreebel, Protect!"
A green barrier snapped into place. Victreebel hid behind it, but Heat Wave kept roaring over the field.
Protect bought time.
It did not make the heat disappear.
The barrier faded.
Victreebel took the rest of the blast head-on.
"Vree—!" it shrieked as flames flashed over its body, then vanished.
Reiji smiled when the flames faded. "Burned already. That's going to hurt more than the attack did."
At this point, the boy's best move was to surrender before things got uglier.
"Victreebel, return!"
He pulled Victreebel back.
That was his second switch. No more running. From here on, he had to fight it out.
"Go, Magneton!"
"Magneton, Thunderbolt!"
Since Magneton had just entered the field, the boy took the first move at once.
"Magmar, Iron Tail into the ground. Catch Thunderbolt with Thunder Punch."
"Grruuh."
Magmar raised a fist wrapped in crackling electricity, drawing Thunderbolt toward it. Its tail hardened like steel and stabbed into the dirt, sending the current straight into the ground.
The boy stared.
"No way…"
Magmar had barely moved, and his attack had vanished.
"Magmar, Heat Wave."
Still holding its fist up, Magmar took another breath and blew hot air toward Magneton.
Magneton cut off Thunderbolt and flew higher, trying to escape, but Heat Wave covered too much ground.
Flames burst over its metal body. It dropped out of the air and hit the ground with a harsh metallic cry. When the fire disappeared, it forced itself back up.
Another burn.
With both of the boy's Pokémon burned, the match was basically over.
Magneton tried to hold on, but Flamethrower dropped it soon after. Victreebel came back out looking half-wilted before the battle even resumed, and Fire Blast finished the job.
Reiji took his first preliminary win.
The boy threw the entry badge over with a face full of frustration, then recalled Victreebel and headed straight for the Pokémon Center. Both of his Pokémon needed their burns treated.
The referee scanned Reiji's Pokédex and logged the result.
The tournament staff were using temporary Pokédex units for the preliminaries. They were basically little network terminals tied to the Pokémon Center's system. They could send in match results, but they could not change anything afterward. Simple. Clean. Hard to tamper with.
Once Reiji had the badge, the field went quiet again.
No one moved.
They had all watched him crush the Trainer without much trouble. The last guy had already scared people off. Reiji had just made that guy look easy.
Nobody wanted to be next.
If no one stepped up within three minutes, Reiji would have to leave the field and go hunt for another opponent.
This time, someone finally walked in.
Reiji did not recognize him. The man wore a hood and a mask, which was suspicious on principle, but he had already passed the entrance checks. The staff had scanned his face and confirmed his identity before letting him in.
Officially, he was clean.
The referee raised a hand.
"Both Trainers, get ready. This is a two-on-two preliminary battle. Send out your Pokémon at the same time."
The count reached three.
Two Poké Balls flew.
"Go, Tauros!"
"Go, Arbok!"
"Keh-keh."
Gengar stirred in Reiji's shadow the moment Arbok appeared, and its warning slid into his mind.
That Arbok was wrong.
The Arbok's eyes were bloodshot, and its body had the restless tension of something that had not slept in days. Gengar's warning brushed through Reiji's mind: careful. That thing could snap at any moment.
And it was strong.
Tauros probably could not handle it.
"Got it," Reiji muttered.
He had opened with Tauros because he did not know what the masked man would send out. When the opponent was unknown, Tauros was a safe enough first pick.
Of course, this was apparently the kind of preliminary match where someone casually threw out a quasi–Elite Four-tier Arbok.
Great.
Tauros was not winning this. At best, it could make Arbok spend some energy before going down.
"Tauros, don't freeze. Stomping Tantrum!"
Arbok's Intimidate had hit hard. Tauros's legs were trembling, but Reiji's voice pulled it back into the fight.
"Moo!"
Tauros's eyes sharpened. It lifted its front legs and slammed them into the ground.
A shockwave tore across the field.
Arbok flicked its tongue over its mouth. Its eyes were ugly—mocking, hungry, a little too eager. Its tail hardened into iron and smashed down.
The impact crushed Tauros's shockwave.
Then Arbok's own force kept coming, slamming into Tauros and knocking it off balance.
That was all Arbok needed.
It shot forward low to the ground, body twisting fast across the battlefield. Its jaws opened, showing black fangs wet with poison.
Nope.
Reiji raised the Poké Ball he had already prepared and recalled Tauros before Arbok could land the bite.
Tauros was outclassed. The moment Arbok moved, Reiji knew it wasn't a fight Tauros could win.
If those fangs landed, Tauros would need more than a recall and a rest. Poison treatment, extra trouble, and for what? A fight it was not going to win anyway.
No thanks.
Reiji pulled it out before Arbok could bite. That was Tauros done for the match. Sending it back in would only give Arbok another target.
He still had answers. Rhydon and Dugtrio could handle Arbok from the Ground side, and Slowking had Psychic covered. But this Arbok was quasi–Elite Four tier, and the masked man still had one Pokémon hidden. No reason to assume the second one would be any easier.
So Reiji chose something strong, reliable, and already exposed.
"Go, Rhydon."
"Rrrh!"
Rhydon hit the field with a heavy thud.
Arbok flicked its tongue at it.
Rhydon stared back, then roared hard enough to shake the ground.
A snake trying to scare a predator.
Cute.
Back on the deserted island, Rhydon had seen its own kind eat snakes. Crunchy, apparently.
"Hss… hss…"
That roar did what Tauros could not. The frenzy in Arbok's bloodshot eyes cooled a little, and it slid back toward its Trainer instead of lunging again. Some small piece of sense had finally crawled back into its head.
Behind the mask, the man let out a quiet breath.
Not Elite Four tier.
Good.
Team Rocket had sent him here for one reason: force Reiji to show certain Pokémon.
Rhydon was on the list.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]