Chương 163: Chapter 156

Faced with Nidorino's lunge, Gengar stabbed his feet into the ground and slid back to avoid it as if using roller skates. His opponent landed with a heavy thud, and it gave chase with its horn pointed at him, aimed to impale.

"Nidorino, herd with Poison Sting!" Edgar shouted.

"Finish with Peck!" He's calling for weak moves. Is that intentional? Or is he just bluffing and plans to call for something stronger once Gengar is close? Despite being in battle, Sam had almost missed his chance to register for the Conference. When the season ended, potential competitors had a week to sign up, and he had waited until the very last minute to acquire a teleport here in an attempt to maximize the time he had to train.

He would have only had two weeks to practice if he had left right at the end of the season, but delaying his arrival had given him almost a full extra week to prepare. That meant he and his team had plenty of time to correct gaps in their movesets and strategies, but the downside was that they hadn't arrived until late last night. Sam's lateness meant his preliminary fight was first, with the placement intended as a disadvantage that'd give the punctual trainers more time to prepare.

Since he was one of the first to fight, more people would likely be watching his battle since many enjoyed catching the very start of the preliminaries. Knowledge about him and his team would become more widespread, but thankfully, Sam had already publicly shown off some of his Pokémon once before in the Violet City Tournament. In a way, it fit that he was fighting Edgar here. Edgar had a certain expectation about Gengar that no longer held up, and Sam planned to use that to his advantage and pull off an easy win.

But it wasn't that Edgar was weak. Honestly, Edgar was likely one of the stronger newcomers here. However, facing Edgar now meant Sam wouldn't need to worry about the "information" game. He'd already greatly shown off Haunter, so as long as he only used Gengar, he wouldn't need to give too much away. (It was slightly cocky for Sam to think that he could win with only one Pokémon, but he truly believed in that possibility. The weeks he spent in training had let him learn just how strong Gengar truly was, and then they had spent all of that time consolidating and building even further than that. Edgar wasn't aware of any of that growth. Thus, he didn't have a chance.)"Counter with Shadow Ball," Sam ordered as a barrage of poisoned needles chased Gengar across the field.

"Shut it down for Hypnosis."

"That's not going to work!" Edgar yelled.

"We've already seen that trick!" A further shout from Edgar saw his Nidorino stop its Poison Stings, and it didn't follow up with Peck as previously called. So far, the strategy he applied had been very Chuck-like in that he'd been trying to force Gengar to get close. But, as Gengar lifted an arm to conjure a sphere of shadows, the Nidorino jumped up and back, and then it let its horn stab into the ground.

From there, Nidorino slid into the earth as if it were water, and its Dig allowed it to avoid any further moves from Gengar.

"Like I told you before, we've been preparing for this! Our streak had been perfect until you came along!" Edgar yelled.

"And you know what? We haven't lost any other battle since! So for all this time, we've been preparing counters for your team, and now we're in the perfect place to take you out of the tournament before it's even begun!" Edgar's grin was so past cocky that it wasn't even funny, but Sam just blinked neutrally at the other boy.

"Huh," he said. One of Edgar's eyes twitched.

"... What?" Edgar asked suspiciously.

"To be honest," Sam said.

"I haven't really thought about you since the last tournament." A mix of boos and jeers came from the audience—but also a sparse bit of laughter. People liked a good heel. Sam hadn't been trying to garner a reaction; he had only been trying to focus on the battle. But for Edgar, Sam's words were like a dagger pushed into his gut. His face went bright red, and he actually stomped on the ground just to try to burn off some of that rage.

"Get ready to blast out, Nidorino! Prepare your Thunderbolt!"

"Gengar," Sam replied calmly, "it's in your domain." Gengar had been idly sliding around on the ground. He could still float, but he had lost his innate levitation upon evolution. The Levitate ability would have made it trivial for him to avoid the effects of Ground Type moves. Now, doing the same would require more effort, but Sam's words had revealed to him a certain truth. As a Ghost Type, Gengar could phase through solid objects, and as far as he or Sam were concerned, the ground was a solid object.

And even more than that, light often failed to pierce into the earth. By using Dig, the Nidorino had surrounded itself by darkness. Gengar had free range to attack it from all sides.

"Panic it," Sam ordered. Gengar dove into the floor, and Edgar stuttered.

"A-attack! Dig! Get it!" Nothing moved for several long seconds. But then, something in the ground began to shift, and part of the field broke open. Nidorino, having been hit by an incredibly close-ranged Confuse Ray, scrambled to escape. Tearing itself out of its hole, it panted out of pure fright with its eyes rapidly darting around. A shadow rose up behind it. The Nidorino turned around far too late. Gengar's Shadow Ball smashed into its face, and the sheer power of his move meant Nidorino was sent flying back.

"Nidorino is unable to battle! Trainer Edgar, please send out your next Pokémon," the referee announced. The audience applauded even as Edgar grit his teeth. Sam took a moment to check on the three other battles.... Gengar had been the first Pokémon to score a knock-out.

"F-fine! If you're giving me no choice, then I'll pull out one of my best early!" At first, Sam had been a bit confused about why Edgar had used an unevolved Nidorino. Edgar seemed like someone who liked to make use of evolution. However, the answer came when Edgar's second Pokémon made an appearance; he did have a Moon Stone, but he likely only had a weak one that had been used on something else. The earth shook when his Nidoqueen's armored body hit the battlefield floor.

The regal blue Pokémon was twice the size of Gengar, and seeing that, it gained an almost mocking grin.

"Body Slam! Ice Punch!" Edgar's called-for combination of attacks seemed nonsensical at first—why use Body Slam when a Normal Type move wouldn't affect Gengar? But the answer came obviously enough; calling for Body Slam helped the Nidoqueen build momentum. And, with that momentum, Ice Punch would land with that much more force. But Sam just sighed yet again. It was cheesy, but he had the perfect line for this.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," he said, and the portion of the audience paying attention to him groaned.

"Gengar. Disrupt." Gengar's smile became so wide that half of his body was teeth. Rather than stay on the ground, he bounced into the air, and he leaned to the side so that Nidoqueen's Body Slam passed right through him. Credit to it, Nidoqueen was part of a team that had earned eight badges, and it had the reaction time to spin on a foot and snap around. A fist sealed with ice hurtled toward Gengar, but it was only hurtling toward where Gengar had once been.

For all the skill it had in melee combat, Nidoqueen lacked the speed to even approach Gengar's own. With ease, he rotated behind it, staying behind its back, and an echoing giggle saw his Spite cause the Ice Punch to sputter out. Half-melted frost sloughed off the Nidoqueen's fist.

"Thunder Punch!" Edgar yelled. Really stocked up on the TMs, huh? While Spite had affected the Ice Punch, a Thunder Punch could still come out in full force. Except, again, Gengar just stuck behind the Nidoqueen. It wasn't even something that hard for him to do. Ever since his evolution, Gengar had become the fastest Pokémon on Sam's team by far. At least, he was the fastest Pokémon when no one else was using Agility.

"Just attack it," Sam said tiredly. Spheres forming in his hands, Gengar didn't bother to grow his Shadow Balls that much. He simply formed a palm-sized sphere, tossed it at his opponent, and it would crush the Nidoqueen's blue armor, and then he'd rapidly change positions when it tried to turn around and do that all again. The ease at which he outmaneuvered his bulky opponent was practically comical, as no matter what the Nidoqueen did, it simply could not catch him.

Of course, its power meant it was a serious threat if it ever hit, but Gengar's speed meant that was a very large "if." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The only thing Sam could guess the Nidoqueen could potentially use was Earthquake, but he doubted Edgar would fall for that.

A wide-ranged, area attack was its best chance of hitting Gengar, but Gengar could float, and even though Sam knew Gengar didn't have Levitate, Edgar probably thought Gengar was immune.

"Whatever!" Edgar shouted.

"Just use Thunderbolt!" The same TM move as Nidorino. Edgar definitely splurged. Sam waited until the spark formed, and a lightning bolt shot straight up only to spike back down. Nidoqueen clearly intended to have its attack hit itself and explode off its body, but there was a flaw with that plan: It would be only one strike, and Gengar hadn't been hit yet.

"Night Shade," Sam said. Immediately, the area around Gengar turned pitch-black. Even the Nidoqueen was utterly consumed. When the Thunderbolt fell, some static crackled past the Night Shade's sides, but Gengar's innate, ghostly strength and control had grown so much that his move didn't even shake. Eventually, when he sucked his darkness back in, he revealed the unmoving body of the Nidoqueen beneath. Edgar gritted his teeth. Gengar had been struck.

But while Gengar's species didn't have much stamina, he was much better at taking a special attack than a physical one, especially when that special attack was sourced from a Pokémon that was a better physical attacker in the first place.

"... Return," Edgar grumbled.

"Trainer Edgar, send out your next Pokémon!" the referee shouted.

"I know. I know! I'm just... thinking." He frowned, staring at the field. Gengar remained mostly untouched, and Sam still had two Pokémon left. Soon, though, Edgar came to a decision, and he plucked a somewhat worn Pokéball from his belt.

"Arbok," he named. With these matches being a three-on-three battle, Arbok was the final member left on Edgar's team. Sam remembered seeing an Ekans in the Beginner's Tournament; Edgar likely had this Arbok with him for his entire journey. That experience was shown in full force when the Arbok reared back, and it bore a frightening design on its chest that made Gengar shudder.

The effect brought on by its Intimidate ability would make him wary about getting close, but Sam knew that wouldn't matter when he heard Edgar call for his Arbok's first move.

"Arbok! Use Glare!" Sam wanted to laugh. A move with eye contact? Really? Edgar was so focused on just trying to take out Gengar that he had completely forgotten about the strategy Sam had used to win the Violet City Tournament in the first place.

"Hypnosis," Sam said. Sure, Arbok had its Shed Skin ability trained, giving it a way to quickly remove its forced sleep, but Gengar was still faster than it. Whenever it started to shake off its slumber, he could move to use Hypnosis against it and ensure it fell back asleep. Also, Dream Eater was a Psychic Type move. Gengar healed himself while dealing super effective damage. It did not take long. Although Arbok was likely one of Edgar's strongest, it never once got a chance to attack back.

Just like the two Pokémon before it, Edgar's final team member fell to Gengar.

"Arbok is no longer able to battle!" the referee called out.

"Trainer Edgar has no more usable Pokémon. Trainer Samuel wins!" The audience's cheers were uproarious. Looking around, Sam had not only finished his match first, but he had done so with only one Pokémon on his team. He was the first trainer to pull off a victory in this year's Conference. And, with how the preliminary matches worked, challengers were only given the chance to move on based on their performance.

Edgar would likely be placed in another preliminary battle, and unless he won that flawlessly, he was unlikely to obtain the rating needed to compete. Dazed, the reality of his situation seemed to sink into Edgar. He had lost so utterly that his chances of moving on were impossibly low. He returned his Arbok, the Pokémon vanishing from the field. Meanwhile, Sam didn't return Gengar, but Gengar very purposefully slipped into his shadow like a flat piece of paper slotting into an envelope.

Sam then left the field without even sending a second glance to his opponent. With the preliminaries being so rushed, there wasn't even time for a handshake before the next two trainers were already being sent out to take their place. The current schedule was packed, and the preliminary battles were set to be a continuous event that'd last all day in an attempt to save time. However, though Sam didn't send another glance to Edgar, the audience was certainly looking at him.

And a small number of trainers within it sent him serious yet considering looks. By doing so well so early on, Sam might not have revealed much, but he had established himself as a potential threat. In one battle, he had proven his team to be strong. No further opponent would underestimate him, and he could likely expect each and every one of his future opponents to come in expecting his team's strength.

"Mom?" Sam rubbed his eyes just to make sure what he was seeing was not a prank.

"And Redi?"

"Sam!" Two identical shouts came from down the hallway. From one end of a tunnel beneath Silver Town's main arena, Sam watched his mother pick up her pace to meet him. Redi, meanwhile, dashed over to get in front of him. Before she got too close, however, she skidded to a halt and started to rub her arm, awkwardly chuckling without knowing what to say after being apart for so long.

"It's been a while," Sam said.

"Since Ecruteak! But we've sent messages to each other once or twice, I guess."

"Yeah. I told you I'd be in the Ilex Forest."

"And you were late because of that, you jerk!" Redi huffed in annoyance, but Sam just laughed. There was so much he wanted to say to catch up with her, but a flash of movement from behind caught his attention, and he caught sight of a Pokémon he did not expect to see.

"Wait, is that Porygon? No. They're Porygon2! Wow, you managed to evolve them that quickly?" To his amazement, Porygon actually reacted. Rather than aimlessly floating in the air, the now much more rounded Pokémon brought up its head in a very Redi-like motion. It stayed in place like usual, but it acted with a surprising amount of animation to go through its own version of strutting in pride.

"Yeah! Mr. Pokémon is all about learning new things, so he sent me to someone who could help out," Redi said.

"Turns out, all Porygon needed to do to evolve was eat an enormous computer database!" Sam waited to hear the punchline, but none ever came.

"Porygon ate a database?" he asked flatly.

"Uh-huh. Something about them being a learning datavore?" Redi said with a shrug.

"But we have people working on turning data gathered from that event into something recreatable via disc, so there's going to be Porygon2 all over the place! All thanks to us!" She puffed up her chest, and Porygon imitated the motion behind her. Redi didn't notice, and because of that, Sam couldn't stop his laughter.

"But it's not just Porygon!" Redi continued, blasting through to get a word in edgewise the second Sam started to calm down.

"It's everyone on my team! We're all way, way stronger!" Sam took a moment to settle down.

"Please," he said teasingly.

"Can't be much. You only have, what, four Pokémon on your team?"

"Actually," Redi said, leaning in with a knowing smile, "Right now, I have five." Sam blinked at her, struck speechless for the second time today, and a grin crossed Redi's face at his reaction.

"But what about you, huh?" she said, nudging his arm.

"You got your last Pokémon? Mine was kind of a volunteer from back home, so I didn't need to catch or trade for her, but you said you had a plan? Something about trading for a Pokémon that can help with transportation?"

"Something like that," Sam said, patting a certain Ultra Ball on his waist. Redi sent him an intrigued look, but she didn't press. She hadn't revealed her newest team member, and neither had Sam. They could have found somewhere to show off their Pokémon, but that would have defeated part of the reason they had split up. They might have still been friends, but they were competitors. The best place to show off their teams would be in the Conference itself.

"Come on! Let's catch up." Sam was in these lower tunnels to leave after his preliminary match, and after Gengar's performance, he doubted he'd need to come back for a second one. Redi told him that she wouldn't be up for a battle until late afternoon, but she had still been allowed in due to being registered in the Conference. Sam's mom had been able to join her due to the familial connection alongside Redi's vouch, but she wasn't allowed to send out any Pokémon.

It would have been fine to keep speaking down there, but voices carried, and they didn't exactly have a way to tell if someone was listening in. They left the arena and left the general area of the Conference to find a more private place to talk. Instead of anywhere too busy, they ended up settling down in a quiet park.

This wasn't exactly a private location or anything reserved for the Conference, but the only people around were a few obviously competing trainers who had claimed the park's public battlefields to give their teams a less occupied place to train. Sam, Redi, and his mother sat at a bench table to talk.

"Porygon managed to evolve mostly because of Mr. Pokémon," Redi explained. Across from her, now that they were done walking, Delcatty released herself just so she could sit in Sam's mother's lap.

"I mentioned this before, but Upgrade discs for a Porygon's evolution are being developed. Mr. Pokémon and the guy who helped me already worked out deals for various rights to them, and since Porygon was the one who evolved, we're getting a significant share of that." Sam nodded along. He could tell by the sharp look in his mother's eyes that her business sense was going off.

"That's good," he said.

"I'm happy for you. You said a big part of why you headed out on a journey was for the money, right?"

"S-sure," Redi said, suddenly stuttering.

"But I was just going to do that by advertising. Money is just money, but this level of income isn't going to last forever. Really, I brought it up because I wanted to give you this." She wiggled in her seat to slip off her backpack, and she swung it around to let it rest in her lap. However, when she began to zip it open, Sam stopped her before she could pull anything out.

"You... Hold on. Are you trying to give me money?" His voice was serious, and Redi froze.

"... Maybe?"

"You're trying to pay me?"

"Uh, yeah? It was your information that let Porygon evolve!"

"But I didn't do it for payment!"

"But I want to give you at least something in return!" And Sam just frowned. Redi huffed, resting her arms on her pack.

"Ugh. Sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean." He rubbed the side of his head.

"It's just, well, I don't know. How do I say this?" He sent a careful glance to his mother.

"I talked to grandpa," Sam said quietly.

"The Ilex Forest has a lot of strange Pokémon. There was some... wacky stuff involved. I learned a lot about the New Pokédex." Immediately, Redi seemed to forget everything about whatever she had planned to give Sam. She leaned forward in intense interest, hands practically slamming onto the surface of the park's public table.

"Tell me," she breathed. Next to Sam, his mother was silent, and her expression was surprisingly calm. He bit his lip, trying to figure out what to say that wouldn't hurt, but she just shook her head to reassure him.

"It's alright, Sam. I made my peace long ago. You don't need to worry about me, and besides, I've always suspected something was up with that man." With that, Redi was practically vibrating in place, and Sam knew he couldn't wait. He began.

"The New Pokédex isn't from the future or anything like that," he said.

"It wasn't sent to my grandpa, but it was sent back to him. He's the author—mostly. He's the one who wrote all of its information down." Redi then hit him with a barrage of questions, trying to squeeze as much information out of him as she could. Sam willingly answered everything she asked, and every so often, his mother would chime in, often asking something simple just for a slight bit of clarification. He went over all of the events of the Ilex Forest, explaining to them the same things he explained to his team.

The topic of the conversation was honestly slightly uncomfortable, but he had brought it up for a reason. He wanted to get the information out instead of holding it all in.

"Wow." Redi lightly patted her face just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"So, if all of that is true... Celebi is your second grandpa?" A beat passed. It was interrupted when both Sam's mother and Delcatty started to choke off to the side.

"H-huh?"

"I mean, it's pretty obvious?" Redi said.

"Celebi was the one to bring your grandfather over. So that means Celebi is responsible for why your family is here. So all of that together means that Celebi has a similar connection—like I said, it's your second grandpa!" She tilted her head to the side.

"Or great grandpa. Or great grand ma?" Redi asked.

"Do Legendary Pokémon even have a gender?"

"... I don't know," Sam replied, staring ahead blankly. Redi then nodded as if that statement carried all the answers in the world.

"So, then, about the money..." Thankfully, her question brought Sam back down to earth.

"No. Sorry. It wouldn't be right. The New Pokédex is my grandfather's, and because of that, it's my choice to decide on what to do with the information in it," he said.

"I didn't tell you that stuff to get a payment. I told you that stuff because you're my friend. Think of it as a gift. It's just as simple as that." Hearing Sam's explanation, Redi sighed and fell back in her seat. She kicked her legs under the table.

"Fine, I guess. But this still sucks. You get to have this cool backstory and get to experience all those cool events, but all I got to do was meet with a bunch of important researchers and talk to famous people."

"Did Ursaring evolve, at least?" Sam asked.

"... Next full moon is in two days," Redi grumbled, "but Mr. Pokémon seems confident about that one." From there, their conversation mostly devolved into idle chatter, and Sam and Redi told each other about everything they'd been up to. Sam talked about all of the crazy events he'd experienced, making sure to keep certain team developments vague, and Redi did the same, speaking about all of the experiments Mr. Pokémon had sent her to. Though they might have been apart, neither of their journeys had calmed down.

A month and a half had passed, but their teams had grown stronger for it. Occasionally, Sam's mom would chime in, mostly just to ask a question more than anything else. Honestly, she just seemed happy to see her son act so animatedly for once. They talked for quite a long time.

"Oh, shoot!" Redi's face paled when she sent a glance to her PokéGear.

"I have to go! My match is almost up!"

"I'll come with. I want to watch," Sam said.

"And, mom, I'll show you my team later, alright?"

"I'm looking forward to it," she said with a smile. With that, they all stood to return to the Conference, moving through the crowded streets. It was a simple journey back to the arena, except— Amanda let her son lead the group from the front, giving him the duty to keep an eye out for the signs that marked the way to the arena. She let herself fall back to meet with Redi, giving them the chance to have a quiet, unheard conversation.

"I'm curious," Amanda asked softly.

"Just how much did Sam turn down?" Without saying even a single word, Redi shifted her backpack around to let it hang off a single arm. With a simple zip, the pack opened. The decently-sized bag was filled to the brim with cold, hard cash. For a while, Amanda did nothing but stare at that immense sum. Eventually, she managed to bring up an arm and close the bag.

"Oh my." It took her a moment to gather her thoughts.

"Let's keep this between us, hm? I think it would be best if Sam never learns how much that was, alright?"

"... Alright," Redi whispered. However, although the sheer amount of cash Sam had just unknowingly declined was a mind-boggling sum, Amanda couldn't say his decision had been for the worse. After all, knowing her son, and knowing what he was capable of after seeing his match? Once he started to reveal the true power of his team in the Conference, the sponsorship offers that would come rolling in would make even that amount look like a paltry sum.