There were a few hours until the finals, so Eric left the stadium to grab something to eat. After the finals would be the reward ceremony. Everyone amongst the top 16 are supposed to get something. Eric was looking forward to that.
When Eric reached the Takoyaki stall, he was in despair. Due to the increase in the number of people today, they had already run out of takoyaki.
This hurt Eric more than the loss in the finals. He was not expecting to feel like this over takoyaki of all things. Was he a foodie?
And of course to ruin the day, Alan showed up.
"Yo, Eric! You did great out there. Too bad you didn't get to the finals, but that was awesome!"
"..."
Eric was in no mood to even give his usual short replies. All he wanted right now was Takoyaki.
"Wow! You are really depressed over losing. Don't be so sad, you got to the semi-finals. That is something to be proud about."
Alan had mistakenly assumed he was sad about the tournament. Well, he was a little bit. But it was mostly the takoyaki.
"Come. Let's get some takoyaki to cheer you up."
"…"
"Oh… they are out. Welp. Nothing we can do about that, hahaha"
"…"
Eric felt a desire to delete Alan from existence. Then he took a deep breath and calmed down. Alan wasn't worth going to prison for. Maybe when he's strong enough to beat the whole league singlehandedly…
Alan felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
"Hey Eric, do you also feel cold suddenly?"
Ah forget it. He's not worth it.
---
It was 5pm.
The final match between Belle and Iris had begun.
Belle won, but not as easily as her other matches. The match began with Iris using Pawniard and Belle using Pikachu. Iris was a bit better with her strategy after her battle with Eric.
Pawniard managed to hit Pikachu a few times and worn him down to about half health. But in the end, Pikachu's electric attacks were abnormally strong for a Pokémon at the beginner level. Pawniard couldn't take them and was defeated.
After Pawniard, both Skarmory and Murkrow were weak to electric attacks. They both also fell to Pikachu. Had they not have a disadvantage against electric types, Iris could've pushed Belle harder.
But in the end, Belle won with just her Pikachu, and was declared the champion of the Redwood Tournament.
"We did it, Vice leader Sparkles! Belle is the strongest!"
"Pi Pichu!!"
After a short celebration, it was time for the Award Ceremony. All 64 trainers that participated were gathered in the main grounds of the Redwood Stadium. As mentioned before, Redwood Stadium was massive, and had multiple grounds.
Eric stood in the front, alongside other Semi finalists. Iris kept looking at him from time to time, hesitating. She had forgotten to hand her contact information earlier and wanted to give it now, but she didn't know how to go about it. In the end, she made her decision and handed over a piece of paper to Eric.
"Here. Add me when you get a phone."
Eric was a talented trainer, it was always good to make connections with people of his caliber. She also wanted to fight him at a later date, unsatisfied from her performance in the last match.
Eric just nodded and kept the paper.
After some time, the mayor of Redwood Town came up to the stage.
"Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining me today."
The mayor bowed and then continued,
"Over the past five days, we have witnessed something truly special. We've seen thrilling victories, heartbreaking defeats, and moments of pure brilliance that will be the talk of the town for quite some time."
He paused, before continuing,
"But more than that, we've seen the spirit of competition at its finest. Trainers who refused to give up. Pokémon who gave everything for their partners. And a crowd that brought the energy every single step of the way."
The mayor continued for some more time but Eric had stopped listening at this point. It was too long.
Eventually, the mayor ends his speech and calls upon a trainer from the league to hand over the rewards.
Then, a woman with fiery red hair walks up to the stage. She's wearing cat-eye red sunglasses, a black leather jacket, white top, and a pair of textured grey jeans. On her wrist is a black metal bracelet that has large spikes on it. She is also wearing a skull shaped black ring on her right hand.
She looks as if she came from a punk band. 6 Pokéballs are attached on her belt.
"Hello, everyone! How are y'all doing. I'm Blaire Williams! I'm not that keen on formal speeches, so let's get straight to it."
She snapped her fingers and 2 Machamp stepped forward, muscles rippling as they carried a massive, pyramid‑shaped container, which was nearly the size of the stage itself. They set it down with a heavy thud in front of the sixty‑four trainers.
"This box contains 16 incubated Pokemon Eggs!"
She gestured, and the Machamp removed the covering. Inside, the eggs rested on four tiers of shelves:
Top shelf: 1 egg
Second shelf: 3 eggs
Third shelf: 4 eggs
Bottom shelf: 8 eggs
"As you can see, the top egg goes to our champion. The runner‑up gets first pick from the three eggs on the second shelf; the remaining two go to the other semi‑finalists. The third shelf belongs to the quarter‑finalists, and so on. You get the idea."
Someone then brings 3 small boxes and places it in front of the participants.
"These have your number tags. This gentleman will pull them out at random. Whoever's number is called out gets to choose the egg first."
It was not told which egg contained what Pokemon. But Eric could tell, thanks to his system. The quality of these Pokemon was much higher than he expected.
The Pokemon egg on the top shelf was of a light purple quality Eevee! This was a S- grade Pokémon!
Even the 3 eggs on the Second shelf had Blue potential.
While checking their status, One egg amongst the 3 immediately caught his eye…