Chương 117: Chapter 113

As hard as I was trying to focus, my mind just wasn't in the game. Ninetales was currently sitting back, her eyes glowing as the opposing Munchlax furiously devoured a pile of snow. Her Confuse Ray was tricking it into thinking that the snow was food, and, as a result, its points were going down at a constant rate. Its trainer, the same bow-tie wearing man from the previous day, was desperately trying to get Munchlax to attack. Unfortunately for them, it was too distracted by its current "meal."

We were lucky his Munchlax had such a glaring weakness. Otherwise, its Thick Fat ability would have let it practically negate most of Ninetales's Ice Type moves. As a persona, Robin was nice simply because they didn't talk too often. I could watch the battle and focus on the problem I was currently dealing with instead. At the end of the appeals round, when the Coordinators that would move on were announced, every competing Coordinator received personalized feedback from Wallace himself.

They were delivered in the morning since he worked overnight to write them, but that didn't mean the notes suffered from his lack of sleep at all. In fact, when Wallace reappeared on the stage the next day, he looked and acted wide awake, and the notes themselves were incredibly detailed. For me, Wallace wrote me advice based on my Pokémon's showing in both the performance round of the Wallace Cup and the Contest in Sage Town.

The two Contests I had competed in in both Jubilife and Canalave happened too long ago to still be relevant enough to be worth commenting on. Wallace complimented Florges on her brilliant performance, said my team tended to rely too heavily on their control of moves, then finished it off by saying their control was some of the best he'd seen, however. It was a classic compliment sandwich designed to soften the blow of the negative feedback, but I ended up focusing on the negative feedback, anyway.

Everything my team did revolved around using moves. (I was also half considering the issue of Cynthia's whole questionnaire packet, but I had already decided to leave that alone until after the Contest.) When it came to my team's use of moves, it all came from our training. Repeated practice of what they could do let them increase their power, focus, and accuracy, all while imparting a slow development of their bodies as well.

I considered it our speciality, but at the same time, proper use of moves were key when it came to battling. I didn't understand what Wallace meant when he said my Pokémon relied too much on control. That was basically the point of Pokémon battles, right? My eyes focused back on the battle right as Munchlax broke out of its confusion. The overweight Normal Type glared angrily at Ninetales, but I wasn't worried in the slightest.

Her skill was what was letting me unintentionally lose focus, and I was confident she would win. It was a bit insulting to our opponent that I had lost focus, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. It did hurt me, however, since this lack of focus was the complete opposite of my recent attempts to treat battles less casually after what happened with Paul. Forcing myself to shift focus back to the fight, I waited for just the right moment to call out"Dark Pulse," telling Ninetales to use her new TM move.

Munchlax had been closing in with its fist glowing bright for Mega Punch, but an explosion of literal darkness knocked it back. The move dug into its body painfully. Munchlax clenched its jaw and flinched. With the secondary effect coming into play, the last of Munchlax's points were burned away and the buzzer went off. The match was ruled in our favor. The crowd cheered at our victory as Ninetales leapt up to join me in the trainer box. I rubbed her head affectionately and waved to the crowd.

My opponent let out a sad sigh and waved as well. I then returned my starter and made my way off the field. I continued to think. Each member of my team had exceptional control over their moves, with the sole exception being Dedenne simply because we had been focusing on his raw power instead. Sure, we had our flaws, but few could match my team with what they could do. Their moves were fast, efficient, and contained honed power that had come from hundreds of hours of practice.

That had translated into a great base to work into our Contests, but did I need to do more? I supposed my team's speed might not have been up to par, with moves like Agility and Aqua Jet acting as crutches to keep up with their opponents. Certain attacks took a bit to charge up, which, while it might have meant an increase in power, also meant they could potentially be interrupted. My plans were already changing in my mind.

Rather than return to the public waiting room, I went to a private room I had requested for my team. I didn't want to run the risk of exposing my identity as I talked to my team. It took a bit of effort to take off my mask since there was such a large wig attached to it, but doing so let me breathe a bit easier. As brilliant as Valerie had been when it came to this costume's design, it still tended to get hot underneath.

"So," I said to the Pokémon I had left in here earlier.

"How is it going?" Florges, with her eyes closed, attempted to give me a smile as if to say everything was under control, but it really just made her frustration evident. Dedenne seemed exhausted despite having not fought today, and even Whimsicott seemed a little tired. I had swapped Kirlia out for Altaria last night. Kirlia wasn't interested in the Contest, and, while he wanted to show his support, sending him to the ranch would at least let him train with Azumarill.

Altaria, right now, was just staring blankly forward at Florges. I had no plans to let Florges battle today as she still needed to rest up after her performance yesterday, but that didn't mean she would spend all day in her Pokéball. Out of all the Pokémon on my team, she was the one that was most adept at Contest performances, and I had wanted to use her expertise to fill in the gaps of Altaria's training for his rematch with Lisia's Ali.

He had come around on the idea of participating in a Contest battle, especially since it would mean a battle against a fellow Dragon Type, but we were forced to cram as much practice and information as we could into only a few hours. Altaria was, of course, Altaria. Doing so was requiring a considerable effort. I rubbed my temples in frustration as Altaria squawked loudly at one of Florges's gestures. I was starting to doubt this was a good idea.

A knock at the door prevented me from helping Florges with Altaria, and I sent a glance Ponyta's way to whisper a question.

"Anyone I need to keep my identity a secret from?" He tilted his head to the side then shook it to say no. When I called out in response to the knock, I didn't bother using my voice changer.

"Who is it?" I yelled.

"Dawn and Zoey!" came a voice.

"One second!" I stood up to open the door and positioned myself behind it to not expose my face to anyone in the hallway. The two of them entered the room, and I closed the door behind them. Zoey froze.

"Wait, you're Robin?" she asked incredulously. I blinked and looked at Dawn. She seemed confused by Zoey's reaction as well. I couldn't help but notice Dawn's eyes were a little puffy when I glanced at her.

"You didn't know?" I replied.

"No, I had no clue," Zoey said. She stared at my team in stunned silence and looked Florges up and down during the Fairy Type's attempts to teach Altaria. Her eyes slowly came to a better understanding as she looked at each and every one of the Pokémon present. This room was just a small dressing room with a small stand in front of a mirror and a tiny couch in the back. There was barely enough space for the humans in addition to the Pokémon, so I stood to the side to make room on the stool. Zoey let Dawn sit down.

"So, I lost," Dawn said. I genuinely didn't expect that.

"What happened?" I asked.

"My opponent was using a Vaporeon. I didn't know it had the Water Absorb ability, so Piplup's Whirlpool did nothing but cost us points. Then, when Piplup attacked with Peck, its Acid Armor just made his attack splash into it like it was made of a liquid."

"It probably was," I commented.

"Vaporeon can actually turn their body into liquids."

"Oh," she sighed. Dawn hung her head as Zoey patted her on her shoulder. I was watching this exchange with mild discomfort because I remembered what happened in the anime. Dawn won the Wallace Cup. Doing so marked the turning point in her career as a Coordinator and let her rebuild her confidence from the losses she sustained previously. Then again... This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"How many ribbons have you earned?" I asked suddenly.

"Two. One from Floaroma Town, and one from Alamos Town." I sent her a strange look. Dawn won the ribbon in the town from the Darkrai movie? Steven's presence changed enough to actually make that difference? Based on how she was acting, she didn't seem quite as torn up about it as she could have been, but she wasn't letting her loss not affect her, either. I couldn't help but wonder if my influence had negatively impacted Dawn's future Coordinator career.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. Dawn tilted her head up to face me from where Zoey was comforting her.

"For what?" she asked.

"For what you've been going through. For losing. Being a Coordinator is tough, as I've recently realized, but the important thing is to not give up. Losses can teach a lot to a person. What did your match against that Vaporeon teach you?"

"That Piplup isn't good against Water Types," she replied.

"And?" I continued. Dawn pursed her lips in thought.

"And that we shouldn't use flashy moves if they aren't going to work?"

"Sure, but I was more thinking that you need to know your enemy." Dawn paused to consider my words before nodding and facing the floor in thought. I turned to talk to Zoey while Dawn considered that idea.

"So what brought you here, anyway?" I asked her.

"Is it about our conversation from yesterday?" Zoey stared at my face for a long time before shaking her head.

"I still can't believe you're actually Alex," she mumbled.

"No, we came here because May is on standby for her next match. You were our best option."

"So I was your second choice, huh?" I sniffed. Zoey laughed.

"No, it's because you're my next opponent." I paused. There was a publicly available bracket, but I had been too focused on Wallace's notes from last night to give it a second look. I had seen that May, Lisia, Dawn, and Zoey had passed with Jessilina not continuing, but I hadn't actually looked into the matchups for the second set of matches. All I had noticed was how Lisia and I were on opposite sides of the chart.

"Wait, who's May's opponent?" I asked quickly. Zoey tilted her head.

"Lisia. Why?"

"Oh. I don't think May is going to win." Zoey frowned at my lack of confidence in her acquaintance, and Dawn looked up in confusion. There was paper with the brackets listed out under the mirror, so I walked over to check.

"Well, checking this, you would have battled Lisia next, Dawn. I hate to say it, but you were doomed from the start."

"There's no need to be so rude! Why are you just assuming Lisia is going to win?!" Zoey accused.

"Besides the fact that she's Wallace's niece and has been training for Contests her whole life? Well, not only that, but she's skilled enough to be favored to win the Hoenn Grand Festival. Also, she promised me that Altaria and Ali would get a rematch. Even though May is just as good of a Coordinator, there's no way Lisia would lose with that promise on the line." At that news, Zoey went silent for a while.

"You know, May's favored to win the Johto Grand Festival, too." I hummed.

"Maybe May has a chance after all," I offered.

"Hopefully," Zoey murmured. She didn't. May's Beautifly put up a strong effort against Lisia's Corsola, but the constant stream of Rock Type moves harried it enough that Corsola was able to soak its wings and hinder its flight. Even with May leading beforehand, the match quickly turned to Lisia and stayed that way until the end. This was yet another difference from the anime. The final match of the Wallace Cup had been between May and Dawn. Lisia wasn't even present.

Without much else to do, Dawn and Zoey left to console May after watching her battle on the television in the room, and I went back to working with Altaria. He needed to get it in his head that he needed to look good in Contests, and not to let himself slip into goofy mistakes. I supposed this difficulty was another reminder that Altaria's was my sole Pokémon who wasn't a Fairy Type. He didn't understand appearances as well as everyone else.

I hoped that his Mega Evolution would help even things out, and with how the brackets were set up, I began operating under the assumption I would face Lisia in the final round. Honestly, it was rather arrogant of me to do, but I wanted to push to the top, anyway. Settling for anything else would just mean I might not try as hard, and it was time for me to actually try to get somewhere rather than coast along.

We stepped back and changed around how we were handling Altaria to adjust his practice to take place throughout tonight and tomorrow as well. It would be less stressful than forcing ourselves to try to prepare him in only a few hours. When the time came, I left Altaria, Florges, and the rest in the dressing room and ascended the stairs to the battlefield in my complete Robin guise. Across from me, Zoey took up her position in the elevated trainer box as well. The master of ceremonies began to introduce us.

The field was the same as it was for the other rounds, consisting of a pool with two large platforms floating on top of it. Coordinators could request to include the platforms, which I had done before the start. If neither side asked for them, the field would only be water and nothing else; perfect for some species of Pokémon but not the one I planned to use. The announcer was dramatic as always, hyping both Zoey and I up.

When it seemed like she was about to call the start of the match, Zoey and I both grabbed our selected Pokéballs and sent each other a nod of respect. Last time I matched her, her Glameow had won the match despite being out-powered. This time, the Pokémon I chose might not have been the strongest, but he was one of the best when it came to his level of skill. We sent our Pokémon out, and our second match of the Wallace Cup begun.

Reappearing from the appeals round was Zoey's Finneon, immediately entering the water and diving underneath. I sent out Ponyta, who reared back, raring to go and ready to finally make use of his new TM moves. The timer began to count down.

"Safeguard, Aqua Ring," Zoey ordered. Finneon, from under the water, began to glow in a shimmering blue-green. Two layers of moves formed around its body; a mystical Safeguard to protect it from status conditions, and a film from Aqua Ring to provide passive healing. Despite the immediate effect of costing us points and setting up defenses, I questioned Zoey's choice in her orders. Finneon would have been hidden underwater without those moves up, but now Ponyta could easily see where it was.

I suppose it didn't matter due to the refraction of light offsetting its location from the surface, but Ponyta didn't solely use his eyes to attack. In my own command, I flexed my finger on my right hand in a sign that only Ponyta could detect with his skill as a Psychic Type, and he immediately used Psybeam right at Finneon. This was a code we had worked out that consisted of subtle movements of my hand for him to follow.

I didn't need to speak at all for this, which would make everything he did seem like it was done of his own volition. The iridescent beam of Ponyta's Psybeam struck the fish. Zoey lost more points than I expected. I chalked it up to Ponyta's impeccable accuracy to hit an underwater target so easily. I flexed a different finger, and Ponyta began to dash in a circle around the platform with Agility. I wanted him to build up speed. Zoey shouted her next order.

"Water Pulse!" Finneon leaped into the air with an impressive jump that caused the droplets brought up with it to shimmer and reflect under the glow of its defenses. A ring of water burst from its mouth, pulsing in and out and varying its size. It was aimed accurately at Ponyta, but, rather than dodging, he ran forward right at it. Since Water Pulse rapidly changed the size of its ring as it moved, it would occasionally have a gap in its center.

With his speed boosted with the Agility from before, Ponyta was able to use his momentum to reach the attack right when it was at its widest. Pulling in his legs and ducking his head, he just barely moved through the attack without being hit by it at all, then gracefully landed onto the floating platform on Zoey's side of the field. Zoey's points were practically cut in half. I was astonished. The crowd was going wild. Zoey was caught off guard as well but quickly returned to her confident appearance.

I didn't think anyone expected that kind of response from Ponyta. He was probably one of the only Pokémon that would be able to do something like that due to his speed, cleverness, and small size. That Green Scarf I bought for him felt more suitable than ever. Zoey resumed giving her Pokémon commands.

"Silver Wind!" she shouted. Finneon jumped out of the water once more, and silvery dust emanated from its butterfly-wing tail to send out a Silver Wind that disrupted the field. Water was sent onto the platforms to dampen the surface and reduce the grip, forcing Ponyta to slow to a stop. In addition, the attack sliced into Ponyta's side with its sharp winds, dealing super effective damage thanks to the Bug Type energy contained within. An idea coming to mind, I hurriedly clenched my hand.

Ponyta's eyes snapped open, and instead of falling, Finneon was caught in his telekinetic grasp thanks to Confusion. The fish's eyes widened as it flailed and tried to escape. Zoey ordered it to use Silver Wind once more, and despite the super effective move hitting Ponyta again, he withstood the move and maintained his grip. Ponyta confidently stood stock still. Finneon was slowly being dragged to his position through the air.

"Waterfall, quickly!" Zoey yelled. Ponyta's feet were already crackling with Electric Type energy when Zoey yelled that out, but Finneon was trying to escape anyway. Rushing water surrounded its body in a tight layer, and the added mass finally let it escape. Rather than hitting the ground and flopping like a fish, the Waterfall let Finneon rush forward, using the water to move itself. The two Pokémon crashed. The Waterfall impacted Ponyta as his Wild Charge pulsed through the water.

Ponyta wasn't able to take this attack as well as he had taken the Silver Wind, but the Electric Type damage was still doing work. It was unfortunate Wild Charge dealt recoil damage to its user, because otherwise spamming it could win him the fight. It didn't matter, though. The buzzer suddenly went off. Zoey and I snapped our heads to face the scoreboard. To our shared surprise, the battle was already over. Zoey was out of points. There was a genuine period of complete silence where neither Zoey or I moved.

We were forced to process what just happened as the crowd cheered around us. Ponyta, while not fainting Finneon, had out-performed it so strongly the judges had already removed all of Zoey's points. Between the leap through the Water Pulse, the withstanding of the Silver Wind, and his lack of need for verbal orders, practically every little action he had done had cost Zoey points and brought us the win. Ponyta hopped the gap between platforms to return to me. Finneon swam around underwater underneath.

I sent Zoey a look, who still seemed to be in minor shock. We both returned our Pokémon and stepped off the stage to deal with the aftermath. I was apologetic to Zoey, but she waved me off, saying that making yourself look better than your opponent was the name of the game. Due to the fact there were thirty two competitors moving into the second round, the day ended with this set of eliminations, leaving eight Coordinators left.

Within those eight, Lisia was included, as expected, and the Vaporeon trainer that beat Dawn was still in, as well. I also saw that one Coordinator with a Liepard mask included in the remaining eight, having won two matches in a row with their (unsurprising) Liepard. Notably, there weren't any characters from the anime still competing. They would all stick around to watch the remaining rounds, but somehow, I had usurped the outcome to be more heavily in my favor.

I would have liked to say I didn't know how to feel about that, but honestly, it felt good. Wallace said my team relied too much on their control, but as I spent the rest of the night thinking about it, I came to a conclusion. His feedback was a cleverly hidden trick, wasn't it? It was still genuine advice I needed to think about for the future, but if I were to follow it now, I could potentially mess up my team's demonstrated level of skill.

If I told them to shift away from focusing so hard on how they use their moves, then I would be telling them to stop using what made them stand out. Our control was our highlight, not something to fall back on. If we were going to win, we couldn't forget what we've already trained. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the Coordinators eliminated today had fallen into that trap. I was lucky Ninetales completely countered her opponent in our first match.

If I had zoned out against Zoey, not even Ponyta's incredible skill could have saved us from a lack of strategy. I had tonight to prepare for the next day, but as much as I wanted to return to that isolated forest grove to practice with my team, I instead rushed to meet up with Steven to ask him a favor. It would be a risk, but Wallace had complimented my Pokémon's control. I wanted to use that in our favor.

"I have to know, do you have any TMs on you?" I said quickly. Steven was still in his hotel room when I ran into him, so neither of us were disguised or located somewhere public. It was honestly the perfect place to ask him for this since neither of us would need to speak quietly or hide from casual observers.

"I do," he replied.

"I prefer not to rely on them too much, but there are moves I've taught my team—""Is one of the moves Hyper Beam?" I asked. He went silent.

"I've seen many powerful and high level Pokémon make use of that move, but no one on my team knows it," I said.

"I still remember when Drake used it several times in a row without needing to recharge back in Meteor Falls, and I've been inspired ever since. I want to teach it to Altaria. Except, I can't afford any new purchases right now."

"I thought you still had most of your reward money left over?" Steven asked. I shook my head.

"No, it's all gone after purchasing the Pixie Plate."

"How much was it?" Steven, who was rich in his own right, actually paled when I shared how much I paid with him.

"Perhaps you could request the League to reimburse you?" he offered meekly.

"No," I sighed, "even though it's a major artifact, the plate counts as my possession and my possession only due to how it can't leave my presence. If I could loan it out, I could be reimbursed via the rules in place for that, but I can't, so no money for me." Steven frowned and hummed, tapping his chin in thought.

"I do have a TM for the move, yes, but you are aware that Hyper Beam is an extremely dangerous move that can potentially lead to injury if improperly used against your opponent? If you only have until tomorrow to practice, I'm hesitant to go along with your plan."

"I understand, which means I should only have Altaria use it against foes that could withstand the attack. Say, perhaps a Mega Pokémon like Lisia has?" Steven shook his head in an amused chuckle. Standing up, he walked over to his bag placed on the nearby table and withdrew what looked to be a glass case containing a large number of discs. Practically all of them were steel gray.

"I'll be honest, most of these are just TMs for Steel Wing," he confessed.

"I like to hand them out as gifts to promising trainers, but in your case, I do indeed have a TM for Hyper Beam. Please be careful with it, Alex, as while it might not be rare, it's purposely valued highly to dissuade weaker trainers from purchasing it. After everything you've been through, you are definitely not a beginner, but I can't help but to be nervous whenever someone wants it." I cautiously took the TM and gave him a genuine thank you in return.

Afterwards, I hurried out of the room to head to the Pokémon Center and teach Altaria the new move in preparation for tomorrow. We wouldn't have much time to train, but if we spent it all practicing, Hyper Beam could be just the trump card we need.