Nova wanted to make a move, and it just so happened that Diane was eager to pick a fight with him. So, without much discussion, the two agreed to settle things with a Pokémon battle.
Truthfully, if the two Old Men had not been there to watch over this lawless place, and given that neither Trainer cared much for rules, the tension between them was high enough that a life-or-death wild brawl would not have been surprising. But the presence of the Old Men made the hot-headed young Trainers calm down a little, enough to settle the matter in a more proper way. Compared to a wild brawl, where a Trainer could be badly hurt or even killed, a formal Pokémon battle was far more civilized. This was also the method Gilbert decided on after thinking it over carefully.
When it came to wild brawling, Gilbert had already seen how wild Nova's Pokémon could get during the cross-country race. Even if Diane's Pokémon were stronger overall, there was a real chance Nova could trick her with some underhanded trick. After all, Diane was the second daughter of the Wrenleigh family. Even though Remington had said they were cutting ties with her, they still shared the same father. Could Remington really stand by and do nothing if Diane got hurt? In other words, if someone actually got injured in this pointless battle, the people standing behind these young Trainers would not let it go. Both sides ran League-recognized Gyms, so it would be improper for them to solve every disagreement with a wild brawl.
Gilbert's suggestion was backed by Mort, so the objections from the two younger Trainers did not matter anymore.
Diane did not like calm, formal battles at all. With her wild personality, she would rather Nova's Pokémon tear into hers, or hers tear into Nova's, right then and there. Nova disliked polite, formal battles just as much. Diane was twenty-two years old and had grown up training at Purple Dragon Gym. Even though rumors in the Trainer world said she was not always serious about raising and training her Pokémon, the years of experience and resources she had could not be erased by Nova's two-plus years of effort.
In a wild brawl, Nova had a hundred ways to deal with Diane. But in a formal battle, he had no advantage at all. He could not understand what the two Old Men were thinking, forcing their own student to fight using his weakest style against Diane's strongest one.
Was this really supposed to test young Trainers? What young Trainer could pass a test like this?
It was like forcing a master of dirty tricks and terrain traps to fight using nothing but a straightforward contest of skill. It was an unfair way to set up a match.
Besides, how was he supposed to slap Diane's face in a proper battle? Just thinking about it made Nova's hand itch.
The problem was that Gilbert and Mort did not seem to care much whether Nova lost. To them, it was not such a bad thing for a young Trainer to lose a match or two. They had not always won when they were young either.
In fact, Gilbert quietly felt that Nova had been winning too much lately, reminding him of Mort back in his prime, when Mort seemed impossible to beat.
Mort had always been the golden child, the best among his peers, and he had rarely ever lost. But then he ran into real trouble at the Master Tournament and it broke something in him for a while. Gilbert, on the other hand, had lost more battles than he had won since he was young, often getting beaten by his own difficult senior, Mort. But look at things now. Gilbert could steadily out-battle Mort in terms of raw strength.
So Gilbert honestly believed that letting Nova lose a few more battles now would only help him later, with no real downside.
What Gilbert did not know was that Nova was no longer just a simple sixteen-year-old boy. He carried the memories of a man in his thirties from another world, and he did not think the way a young Mort once did. Winning or losing did not really matter to Nova. What mattered right now was that he wanted to slap Diane across the face. Not even Arceus was going to stop him from thinking about it.
If he did not make Diane understand that he was not someone to be pushed around, she would never leave him alone. This was especially true because this reckless woman lived in Purple Gold City. And here was the thing: Aresdra's idol group would likely be active in Purple Gold City often in the future. If Aresdra ever ran into this shameless woman while she was busy chasing after him, would he even survive it?
As for Aresdra, the matter between him and Thelma had not even been settled yet. Nova could not afford to make things any more complicated than they already were.
Luckily, even though Gilbert had set the rules from above, Nova still had ways of working around them from below.
Fine, a formal battle it would be. As long as his resolve did not waver, there were always more solutions than problems.
The bet between the two sides was almost childish. If Nova won, Diane would keep a two-meter distance from him whenever she saw him from then on. If Diane won, Nova would be dragged to Purple Dragon Gym to be used as a tool for annoying her older brother. It was agreed he would only be used as a prop for teasing, nothing more serious than that, and the timing would have to work around Nova's schedule. Otherwise, Nova would never have agreed to such a ridiculous bet, no matter what.
On a flat, sandy stretch of land far from the spatial rift, this pointless Pokémon battle entered its setup stage.
Since this was not an official battle arena, there was no energy shield to contain the power of moves, so leaked energy was expected. Because of this, the rules for a battle on open, unprotected ground were stricter than those for a formal arena battle. The most important rule was this: a Pokémon was strictly forbidden from touching the opposing Trainer.
If a Pokémon made contact with the other Trainer through anything other than a move, that Pokémon would be disqualified immediately, and the match would be lost on the spot. If a Pokémon's move actually struck the opposing Trainer, that would count as a serious foul, and the whole match would go to the other side.
This rule was exactly what Nova was aiming to use. He called over the Pokémon he planned to send out and gave them their instructions, explaining the plan in detail.
This was where each Pokémon's personality showed. Their reactions to their Trainer's mischievous plan were all different.
Meowscarada raised both paws to show support for Nova's plan. If two paws were not enough, the cat did not mind raising its feet too, just to make the support clear. Getting the chance to deal with the woman who had been bullying Nova sounded like the best kind of fun.
The two males on the team hesitated a little. Vibrava was still very young and had never done anything like this before. Nidoking, meanwhile, worried that if it landed a solid hit, would the opponent end up flattened like a pancake?
Nova was not impressed by their hesitation.
"Azir, you have taken down real threats before. I saw you use Fury Cutter eighteen times in a row without blinking. Why are you acting so shy all of a sudden?"
"And Arno, you are practically a veteran. Can't you control the strength of a simple hit?"
In the end, Nova's little scheme was set. The battle was ready to begin.
The first Pokémon to step onto the field for Nova was Vibrava.
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