Eric treated Poliwag's wounds and fed him basic Pokeblocks.
In the next 4 days, he and Poliwag developed a good relationship. Poliwag was very determined to get stronger, similar to Gastly. Eric prepared advanced Pokeblocks for him, and bought him a tier 1 water crystal as well. He wanted to get Poliwag up to par for the tournament.
Eric had also bought a flying type crystal for Spearow as well, which was partly the reason for the huge increase in her strength.
Thanks to all of that, Poliwag, who was level 12 when he caught him, reached all the way up to level 17 in these 4 days.
---
Back to the present.
Poliwag stood in front of Ponyta, eyes full of determination.
"Poliwag, muddy water!"
Eric immediately went with the big move.
A huge amount of muddy water rose up, heading towards Ponyta.
"Jump high Ponyta!" David said hurriedly. He didn't expect Poliwag to know muddy water.
Ponyta had no option but to jump, but Poliwag was ready.
"Water Pulse!"
Ponyta couldn't dodge this and was hit directly, suffering massive damage.
"Don't let up Poliwag. Use water gun!"
As Ponyta fell from mid air, he was hit by a water gun, taking further damage! Ponyta would be almost defeated already if Poliwag was above level 20. But right now he was at about 40% health.
"Ponyta! High horsepower!"
"Protect! Then counter with Pound!"
Ponyta then rammed into Poliwag at an unavoidable speed. Poliwag instantly used Protect, blocking the move. Then he hit Ponyta with his tail, sending it back.
"Again use High horsepower!"
"Bubble beam!"
Both trainers commanded at the same time. Eric knew Poliwag couldn't dodge so he countered with bubble beam.
Ponyta recovered from pound then blitzed towards Poliwag. Poliwag hit Ponyta with a bubble beam, but was also hit by high horsepower. Both pokemon took major damage!
"Bear with it Ponyta! Follow up with a double edge!"
"Poliwag, water gun!"
Water gun was poliwag's fastest move. Eric hoped he could recover and use it on Ponyta.
In the end, both Pokémon hit each other simultaneously and passed out.
"Poliwag and Ponyta cannot battle! It is a draw!"
"Well done Poliwag. Now rest."
"You did well Ponyta."
David quickly sent out his next pokemon.
It was a Charmeleon!
Pokémon: Charmeleon
Gender: Female
Level: 25
Type: Fire
Ability: Blaze
Held Item: None
Potential: Light Blue
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Ember, Smokescreen, dragonbreath, fire fang, fire spin, slash, flamethrower, Dragon Pulse, Dragon Rush, Dragon Tail, Thunder Punch
Eric stared at the Charmeleon with interest. It was clearly David's starter. Both her potential and move pool were amazing.
"This should be a good opponent for your debut, don't you think?"
Eric said quietly as he held Gastly's ball in his hands.
In the past week, the one who's grown the most out of Eric's Pokemon was none other than Gastly.
Eric spent most of his resources on him, to the point that he was now completely broke!
2 tier 1 Ghost crystals, 1 tier 1 Poison crystal, Advanced Pokeblocks, Tms, he's spent more than 2 million pokedollars on Gastly alone.
The resources weren't the only reason, however. In order to capture more Pokémon of yellow potential or higher, Eric took many risks. Most of these Pokémon were leaders of a group in some territory. Eric and his Pokemon had gone through many life or death battles these past 4 days, sometimes coming very close to death, and the one who took the most pressure among them, was Gastly.
The current Gastly was on a different level than a week ago, both in terms of quality and experience.
Pokémon: Gastly
Gender: Male
Level: 22
Type: Ghost/Poison
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Blue
Moves: Lick(B++), Hypnosis(B+++), Confuse Ray(B+++), Astonish(B++), Disable(B+++), Clear smog(B+++), Toxic(B+++), Ghost Ball(I), Hex(B+++), Protect(B+++), Will-O-Wisp(B++)
The moment Gastly appeared on the field, Ghost type energy spiked in the area.
Not only had he reached level 22, crossing the level 20 barrier, his move mastery had also significantly improved. Ghost Ball reached the Intermediate level, and Eric finally understood the value of move mastery.
The power of this move was now slightly higher than Shadow Ball at Basic level mastery. But the intermediate level wasn't just about a power increase. Gastly can now use this move with a lot more versatility, even casting 2 Ghost Balls simultaneously!
The referee signaled for them to begin.
"Chameleon, flamethrower!"
David immediately ordered Charmeleon, taking the initiative.
"Gastly, dodge and counter with Ghost Ball!"
Gastly easily dodged the flamethrower and used Ghost Ball.
Eric had asked him to not use Ghost Ball at full strength, as he wanted to keep it as a trump card against other, stronger opponents.
Charmeleon was sent flying after getting hit. David was taken aback by its power.
"Charmeleon, use Smokescreen!"
Charmeleon barely recovered and used Smokescreen, covering the entire area with smoke.
Eric looked at David in amusement. This might be worse for Charmeleon than Gastly.
"Gastly, Ghost Ball! You know what to do!"
"Charmeleon, flamethrower! Keep firing into the smoke."
Charmeleon covered the whole area with flames, hoping to catch Gastly who can't see inside the smoke. She then stopped, waiting to see if she hit him.
But just then, Gastly appeared behind her from inside her shadow and hit her with Ghost Ball at point blank range!
Critical hit!
Charmeleon passed out instantly, leaving David stunned.
"Charmeleon can no longer fight. Gastly wins! Contestant Eric will move on to the next round"
The referee declared after a slight delay. He too was a bit taken aback with the battle ending so suddenly.
David clearly has never faced a Gastly before, Eric thought.
It was foolish to try something like this against Gastly, who can travel through the shadows.
With that, Eric successfully reached the top 32.