Chương 63: Chapter 61

"Altaria I really need you to try to work on your Cloud Nine. I understand you like flying in clear skies, but for this strategy to work, you can't instantly cancel out your ally's weather." Altaria squawked and flew back down to the ground, where Whimsicott was bouncing on his feet next to me. The rest of my team was either watching, or in Azumarill and Mawile's case, engaging in a footrace around the edge of the interior training room I managed to reserve.

After celebrating in a private room at a local restaurant last night, we spent today lightly training and casually testing new strategies. My current goal was to try one I've been thinking of that involved Altaria, but he was stubbornly refusing to not use Cloud Nine.

"Look, we can do this without weather, but if you leave it up for just a bit we can pull it off a lot more quickly, alright?" I said. Altaria stared at me silently, then took off back into the air causing me to sigh.

"... Let's try again. Whimsicott, you know what to do." Smiling, Whimsicott created a small ball of flame in his hand then tossed it into the air. The sphere soared up, almost touching the raised ceiling far above us, then expanded and began to give off harsh sunlight with Sunny Day. Altaria glared at the weather move unhappily, but he at least didn't use his ability to instantly remove it like he had done all the times he had in the past.

"Okay, now Growth, Whimsicott. Quickly." Whimsicott took in the energies of the sun, and began converting it into more energy as fast as possible. His green horns glowed as they took in the sunlight. At the same time, the cotton on the back of his head and body expanded out and grew even more dense as his Growth move created pockets of stored energy for him to draw on to empower his attacks. He only had a few moments to use the move before Altaria had enough and removed the weather.

Luckily, that was all the time Whimsicott needed as his Prankster ability helped him use Growth much faster than normal.

"Perfect. Thank you for putting up with that, Altaria," I said.

"Try Power Swap now." Altaria closed his eyes and focused, using one of his new TM moves as the energy Whimsicott created with Growth was drawn out of his body. A yellow glowing ball shot out of him and slammed into Altaria, changing his form to mimic the benefits Whimsicott gained from Growth. For Altaria, that meant his fluffy feathers thickened up to store the excess energy, and his wings extended a bit farther out than normal.

"I think this is it. Use a move of your choice. Not a sound-based one, please," I asked Altaria. Altaria clicked his beak, annoyed that he couldn't use Hyper Voice, and caused Azumarill to pause in her race and glare at him for stealing her "thing." However, Altaria paid her no mind. Following my request, he started to form the purple ball of Dragon Pulse in his mouth. It quickly reached its normal size, but then it started to grow past that.

It drew more and more energy out from his mouth before it was twice the size of Altaria. Altaria's eyes grew worried as his attack far surpassed what he could control normally, and Ninetales jumped forward. The chaotic ball of Dragon Type energy shot down at the ground under Altaria, pulsating and wobbling as if it was about to explode.

Ninetales barely managed to get there in time and ran straight into it, the attack breaking against her and dealing no damage as her Fairy Type physiology completely negated the move. After seeing such a powerful attack, the room was in stunned silence. Not even Mawile moved, who had just won her race against Azumarill and would have celebrated normally.

"... Wow," I said. That was all I could manage.

"Maybe... I think we should practice this combination a bit more, and save it for a future battle. Maybe not tomorrow, but use it more safely in the future, alright?" No one objected. That night, I was sitting in the main room of the Pokémon Center alongside a number of other trainers. Thomas wasn't there, as he was working as an Ace Trainer outside, and Wally wasn't here either, opting to find out the results in his room so he could sleep immediately after and wake up early the next day.

The three screens above the main desk flashed with the Pokémon League logo, as everyone held their breath to see who their next opponent would be. Once again, the names were listed in groups of four pairs each, showing off which of the four battlefields they would take place in. As they flashed by, I noticed that Hope had won her battle against Rory, and she and Wally would be battling unknowns once more. Strangely, I also saw Thomas's name early on as well. His positioning was a bit different than usual.

I would have expected him to fight on Saturday, following the League's normal pacing of battles. When my name came up, it was almost exactly halfway through, which meant I would be battling in one of the earliest spots on Saturday. My battle would take place in the Grass arena this time, but seeing my opponent's name made me pause. What kind of name is 'Loam?' I waited until the rest of the names finished appearing to leave.

When I walked towards the stairs with a few other trainers, I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked at who was trying to get my attention.

"Well, howdy there! I reckon you're Alex, right?" I blinked.

"Cowboy," I said.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I just... your outfit is very... themed." The young man in an honest-to-Arceus ten‐gallon hat, vest, and boots smiled brilliantly and chuckled.

"That's mighty kind of you to say. I purposely cultivated this here image myself." I nodded slowly.

"I uh, I can tell."

"Anyhoo, you can call me Loam. I recognized you from your battle yesterday. Mine was right after yours, after all." I nodded again, still a little out of it due to the absurdity of the man in front of me.

"Let's move out of the way, we're blocking the trail for all these other people," he said. I went with Loam to sit down on a nearby couch, and he smiled again.

"I have to say, it'll sure be nice to fight a fellow Type specialist."

"You're a Type specialist? What Type do you work with?" I asked, intrigued. Loam sat up a bit straighter.

"Ground, just like my sponsor, Clay," he said proudly. That cowboy-themed Gym Leader in Unova? That explains so much.

"Speaking 'bout my team, I wanted to have a talk about our battle. I think it'd be swell if we revealed who we'll be using to each other," Loam said. I narrowed my eyes. I haven't revealed Whimsicott. Is he trying to figure out who my sixth team member is? Noticing my suspicion, Loam chuckled.

"Well, you're clearly a Fairy Type trainer, wanting to hide your tricks an' all. How about I tell you who I'm using first? I've got Donphan, Sandslash, Gabite, Marowak, Mamoswine, and my starter, Mudsdale. See? That was easy. Now you go." I tightened my lips.

"Before I do, I have to ask you a question," I said.

"... Yeah?"

"Would I have found that out if I researched your battles online?" Loam looked away from me. Aha. Figured out your trick.

"It's getting late, I think it's time for me to retire for the night," I said.

"I promise that my five team members will be who I used in the last battle, but my last member will stay secret for now. I'll see you on Saturday, Loam. Good luck with your training." Loam didn't stop me as I left and returned to my room. I hadn't expected to encounter cowboy subterfuge, but people were desperate to win and wanted to gather every little advantage they could get. As the platform raised up to the battlefield that Saturday morning, I couldn't help but to feel nervous.

I had done my research on Loam, and what I found made me worried. He had been to another region before this one, and had dominated both preliminary battles in this one with his starter, a Mudsdale. Loam had a number of battles under his belt, and I was able to see the team he used in the Vertress Conference in Unova last year. He had a lot more Unovan Pokémon than what he told me, and it included Pokémon like Seismatoid, Krookodile, and even the pure Normal Type, Stoutland.

However, it seemed he was at least telling the truth, and was mostly only using Pokémon he had caught in Hoenn. With his experience, I expected this to be a tough battle. I wanted to be able to save some strategies for future matches, but I also wanted to win. While he was a more experienced trainer, our teams would be roughly the same in power, and I would have to wait and see what he came up with to battle me. The Grass Type battlefield was a lot different than the Rock one.

Instead of having any large boulders, it had a short layer of grass covering the ground, and scattered around were sets of thick bushes and tall grass for Pokémon to hide in. The announcers were different on this battlefield, too, consisting of a male and female pair named Bill and Jill. I didn't pay much attention to them as they weren't nearly as lively as Bob and Jim had been on the Rock battlefield.

Loam, on his platform on the other side of the field, shot me a bright smile and tipped his hat as the referee went over the rules. Six Pokémon each, double battle, six switches: the same rules as yesterday. My hands hovered over my selection before the referee told us to start, and the second she did, I tossed forward a Dive and Heal Ball.

"Azumarill, Florges, as we planned!"

"Get a move on, Donphan, Sandslash!" Our four Pokémon appeared on the field, and they all moved at once. Donphan and Sandslash were the first to move. Donphan jumped into the air, and the tire-shaped elephant rolled into a circle and landed, spinning in place and launching sand and dirt in the air, creating a Sandstorm. Sandslash, meanwhile, immediately dug straight down into the grassy field, moving through it as if it was diving into a pool of water.

At almost the same time, Florges slowly began to float forward while focusing, and the grass on the ground grew denser, a Grassy Terrain coming into effect. Next to her, Azumarill breathed out as water coalesced on her body to coat her with Aqua Ring. She looked around as swirling winds of sand and dust whipped across the field, and glared at Donphan.

We had planned to set up a Belly Drum here, going for quick knockouts at the start of the battle, but without knowing when and where Sandslash would attack, it was too much of a risk.

"Stay back and defend Florges," I called out.

"Keep an eye on the ground, especially below you." Here, Donphan finally began moving forward. The grass was torn up underneath it as it sent even more dirt and dust into the air. The spinning motion of its rolling body as it used Rollout caused the sandstorm to whirl around it, creating a large cloud of dirt that obscured its exact position, its ability Sand Veil coming into effect.

Florges conjured a set of Magical Leaves at this time, whose homing ability allowed them to disappear into Donphan's cloud and presumably hit their target, but we couldn't tell for sure. Azumarill preemptively put even more water around her appendages as she prepared a Liquidation for whenever Sandslash emerged. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Donphan, rather than attacking Florges and Azumarill directly, began to roll in circles around them.

I recognized this trick from Loam's previous battle, and called out to inform my Pokémon.

"It's distracting you so Sandslash can attack! When one moves in, both will!" Azumarill's scowl deepened as she and Florges positioned themselves back to back. The announcers complimented Loam here, saying his Pokémon had already cornered mine, and I was annoyed that within the first few moves we had already been forced to shift to the defensive. Loam smirked and tilted his cowboy hat back to see a bit better, and called out to his team.

"Move in, y'all! Get the walker!" The ground shifted ever so slightly underneath Azumarill's feet, and Donphan and its obscuring cloud rushed towards her. Florges conjured more Magical Leaves to attack, and Azumarill realized what was happening and swung her fist down with Liquidation. From here, a few things happened very quickly. First, Sandslash jumped out of its hole, its claws aimed forward towards Azumarill with a Dig attack.

Florges reflexively released her Magical Leaf, which hit Sandslash, and Azumarill punched down right into its face at the same time. Before the Dig could land, Sandslash was knocked out from that super effective barrage; Azumarill's attack boosted with her Life Orb, and Florges's attack boosted from the Grassy Terrain. Donphan reached its target at this point and slammed into Azumarill from the side with its speed enhanced Rollout.

Azumarill was knocked back but managed to use Aqua Jet to reorient herself to land on her feet, and Donphan turned on a dime and attacked Florges with even more power than before. After that powerful hit, Donphan had now reached its maximum speeds and was absolutely tearing through the field, moving so fast its body was outpacing its obscuring cloud. Loam recalled the unconscious Sandslash, and without waiting even a moment, sent out his next Pokémon, a medium-sized purple Dragon with sharp claws and fins, Gabite.

While Gabite was present, my team didn't have time to worry about it, choosing to focus on the larger threat instead. Donphan rolled around the field for just a moment longer, then rushed straight at Florges.

"Disappear, Florges!" I screamed. With incredible force, Donphan jumped into the air, using all of its momentum to end its Rollout in one final attack. Florges's body turned green and mimicked the texture of the grass, disappearing from view and just barely managing to move out of the way of Donphan. Camouflage let her blend in the environment and caused her enemies to lose track of her, in addition to temporarily changing her Type to be the pure Grass Type.

With its target gone, Donphan corrected its course after it landed and moved towards Azumarill instead as she held out her arms. Donphan slammed into Azumarill and she managed to stop it dead on, reinforcing her body with Protect and taking no damage. Donphan was caught off guard, essentially crashing into an unmovable wall, and Azumarill brought her tail forward to hit it with Aqua Tail as she held it in place.

The super effective Water Type move slammed into Donphan, disorienting it from the amount of damage it took. The Magical Leaf from earlier did seem to have actually hit and damaged it, which meant Azumarill could potentially easily finish it off with one more move. However, that's when Gabite moved in. Hidden within the sand of the Sandstorm, Gabite had snuck behind the distracted Azumarill and slashed at her back with Slash.

The damage didn't interrupt her follow-up Liquidation, meaning Donphan still fainted, but Gabite attacked so suddenly and unexpectedly she took critical damage. Florges, seeing her ally in danger, finished creating the Wish she had been creating off to the side, and sent forward a weak Fairy Wind. Her current Grass Type meant it was a slightly weaker attack, but it still came out just as fast as normal. The sparkling mist popped against Gabite as it lunged forward at Azumarill.

The slow, passive healing of both Aqua Ring and Grassy Terrain healed Azumarill's previous wounds, and she effortlessly grabbed her opponent with Play Rough. As she did so, her hands were cut on Gabite's Rough Skin, but she still picked it up and "playfully" suplexed it into the floor. The Fairy Type move dealt a massive amount of super effective damage to Gabite, and it was already on the verge of fainting.

However, once more, Loam sent out his next Pokémon immediately after recalling his last, and Marowak replaced Donphan on the field. The Pokémon wearing a skull threw its bone forward, which slammed into Azumarill's head and continued to fly past her, the impact causing her to stumble forward. Gabite, wounded on the ground, swiped at her feet, its attack causing her to trip. With her balance lost, the returning Bonemerang came right back and hit her face, knocking her out.

Florges managed to send out a second Fairy Wind to finish off the incredibly weak Gabite, and Loam and I returned our Pokémon. That's half his team down, whereas only Azumarill has fainted for me. I might have the advantage now, but I need to make sure to preserve it.

"That sure was impressive, Alex. Not often do I get an opponent to take out so many of my Pokémon so quickly," Loam shouted.

"Your Donphan and Sandslash had an impressive combo, which would have worked if they weren't going up against my Pokémon." Loam chuckled.

"Well, that's a bold claim. I didn't expect to see him out this quickly, but here we go. Mudsdale, have at 'em." While we were talking, Marowak swung its bone around to both kick up dirt and conjure sand to refresh Sandstorm, and Florges was healed by Wish as she refreshed Grassy Terrain. On his side of the field, a Pokémon that looked like a large brown Clydesdale appeared, and I tossed forward the Premier Ball to send out Ninetales.

The Sandstorm that Marowak just refreshed was overtaken and replaced by hail, and after a single order by Loam, Marowak took its bone and began wailing on its ally with its Bone Rush attack. The announcers expressed confusion, but I knew what was going on. Each hit caused Mudsdale's body to tense as it prepared itself for battle. An apple core sat on its neck as it healed some of the damage it took with Leftovers, and I yelled at my Pokémon to attack.

"Don't let it set up further! Ice Beam, Magical Leaf, now!" I yelled. Marowak wasn't just beating up its ally meaninglessly. Every attack Mudsdale took increased its capability to take hits as it grew used to battle, thanks to its ability Stamina. With its Leftovers healing and the huge boost to its defensive capabilities Marowak was giving it, Mudsdale would become an incredibly hard to defeat Pokémon if this process wasn't stopped now.

Marowak managed to get four weak but fast attacks off on Mudsdale's side before my Pokémon let loose their attacks. Before the Ice Beam and stream of Magical Leaves hit the two of them, Mudsdale calmly moved in front of Marowak and took the attacks head-on, using Protect to prevent every bit of damage from affecting them. When the assault was over, Marowak jumped onto Mudsdale's back, and the two ran forward like cavalry towards my side of the field.

However, they only had approximate knowledge of where both Florges and Ninetales were thanks to Camouflage and Snow Cloak hiding their exact position once they had finished attacking. I held my tongue to not reveal our strategy as Ninetales sent a faint beam towards Mudsdale and Marowak. It was hard to see, but a layer of illusions were layered over their senses with Confuse Ray, just to make it even harder for them to detect my team.

"I reckon this might be a problem," Loam said, unfortunately noticing what Ninetales had just done.

"Mudsdale, use Earthquake. Marowak, get your bone ready for when you see your opponents." Mudsdale reared back and slammed its feet into the ground. The flat floor of the field shattered and broke apart, creating various platforms of uneven earth. Florges was able to avoid the majority of the Earthquake, as she was floating, but Ninetales barely kept her balance as the ground shifted beneath her feet.

Unfortunately, since the ground broke apart and shifted heights, Florges's position within the nearby brush was revealed and Marowak used this opportunity to throw its Bonemerang at her. It slammed into her shoulder, moving past her, and she wasn't fast enough to respond as it sailed back to return to its flinger and hit her in the other shoulder. With a target located, Mudsdale ran towards Florges with Marowak still on its back as she prepared her next move.

At the same time, I yelled out for Ninetales to use Blizzard, and Florges swapped positions with her ally at the very last moment.

"Earth Power defense!" Loam hurriedly shouted. Before Ninetales had time to send much more than a cool breeze forward, Mudsdale stomped its feet and Marowak leaned over and slammed its bone into the ground. A wall of earth rose in front of them as the Blizzard slammed into them, the terrakinesis from Earth Power protecting them from damage.

As soon as the powerful Ice Type attack ended, Mudsdale jumped over the wall, aiming to use its full force of weight to slam into Ninetales with the quadruply effective Steel Type move, Heavy Slam. The only issue was, Ninetales wasn't where it landed. Even more, Blizzard hadn't ended. Ninetales's Confuse Ray from earlier paid off as she was able to trick her foes to leave their defenses, letting her properly land her super effective attack.

Mudsdale easily withstood the attack thanks to Stamina, but Marowak barely stayed up through the damage. Unfortunately, while Ninetales managed to land a super effective Ice Type move, the sudden chilly temperature snapped her two foes out of confusion. Mudsdale jumped towards Ninetales before she could run away with Agility, and the horse purposely landed on her with a second use of Heavy Slam.

The four-times super effective move knocked Ninetales to the ground, and her long, wild mane was pinned under Mudsdale's hooves. Marowak brought up its bone and swung down on her immobile form with Bone Club, and the attack finished her off. Florges, a distance away due to the Ally Switch from before, looked on in fury as her friend was knocked out. The grass around her vibrated in accordance to her will, and she spiraled in place, conjuring a mass of petals around her to send them forward with Petal Dance.

The Grass Type move reached a level of power not seen before without Calm Mind. Boosted from both the Grassy Terrain and her temporary shared Type, Florges's attack encompassed her foes with a barrage of pink petals, completely obscuring the two Ground Types from view. I returned Ninetales and looked on carefully, while Loam simply frowned. When her move ended a few moments later, Florges was panting and wobbling in place from confusion.

Unfortunately, Mudsdale was undamaged but exhausted thanks to Protect, but that wasn't the case for Marowak. The Ground Type had fallen off the horse and was now laying on the ground, unconscious. When Loam returned the fainted Marowak, I returned Florges as well. Her confusion would make it difficult for her to battle, and her anger at seeing Ninetales knocked out might have her make poor choices in the future. I sent out Altaria, which Loam followed up by sending out Mamoswine.

I then sent out my second Pokémon, Mawile, to have her Steel Type threaten the Ice Type. It was a bit of a risk to send out Mawile right now, as she was vulnerable to Loam's Ground Types, but I hoped to use her Type Advantage to take out his Mamoswine. Not every Pokémon on his team was new in Hoenn, and Mamoswine was his second strongest, having fought in the Vertress Conference in Unova with him. In terms of current power, Loam had the advantage, but I still had him outnumbered.

The weather disappeared as Altaria used his Cloud Nine ability to clear the skies, leaving everyone else on the broken up chunks of the field below. Not wanting Mawile to faint quickly from Earthquake, I gave Altaria the command to go through with a simple strategy we had worked on in practice.

"Bring Mawile over to Mamoswine, Altaria," I said. Altaria swooped down to pick Mawile up off the ground before she could be subjected to a super effective Earthquake, and the pair flew into the air above. Mudsdale walked towards Mamoswine, moving slowly in an attempt to recover the energy it expended with that second Protect while it healed with its Leftovers. I had Altaria and Mawile ignore it for now, as it was mostly undamaged and just tired.

Stamina would mean their attacks would deal little damage to it anyway. As the flying pair approached Mamoswine, the mammoth-like Pokémon roared its name, and several chunks of ice formed in its fur-obscured mouth. It sent those Ice Shards forward, intent on damaging the Dragon and Flying Type Altaria with a four-times super effective attack, but instead of dodging, Altaria just positioned Mawile underneath him, who protected him from the attack with Iron Defense.

Altaria then proceeded to drop her the moment the two of them were directly above Mamoswine. Hurtling down towards the field, Mawile spun in place to build momentum for her falling Iron Head attack. Mudsdale, a distance away, turned around and kicked up dirt in a Mudshot attack that would have hit, but Altaria intercepted the attack and flapped his wings to get the mud from the ineffective Ground Type move off his body.

Without anything stopping her, Mawile easily slammed her Steel Type-infused jaws onto Mamoswine's back, and the force of her super effective, Sheer Force boosted move pushed it to the floor. Mamoswine, with its unwanted rider, didn't give Mawile any time to follow up. It immediately rolled over as Mudsdale neared, and knocked Mawile off.

Altaria tried to stop Mamoswine's next attack with a super effective Flamethrower, but it seemed that Loam had trained its hidden ability, Thick Fat, which insulated it from the Fire Type move. Mawile quickly stood up to move next to Mamoswine and to try to attack with another Iron Head, but while Mamoswine was still in the process of returning to its feet, her balance was thrown off by a wave of shifting earth from Mudsdale's Bulldoze.

The uneven ground and super effective damage caused her to stumble, which gave Mamoswine enough time to send shockwaves through the ground with a stomp and faint her with Earthquake. Mudsdale is tired, and Mamoswine is damaged, but I'm not sure how Altaria can win with his direct attacks. Mudsdale will resist anything thrown at it with Stamina and leftovers, and Mamoswine threatens him too much with his Ice Type moves. I could send out Florges again, but she'd just be an easier target over Altaria....

Looks like it's finally time to reveal what Whimsicott can actually do. While I went over my options, Altaria maintained his distance in the skies above. The Grassy Terrain faded, Mudsdale unfortunately benefitting from the healing this entire time, and Altaria reinforced himself with Cotton Guard, able to do so after using his Flamethrower as he wasn't wearing his Choice Specs for this battle.

Mamoswine sent out a few more Ice Shards, but Altaria either dodged them all or managed to avoid taking damage from them by using Cotton Guard to his advantage. His luck wouldn't last forever, though, so I sent out the Pokémon Loam so desperately wanted to learn more about. As Whimsicott landed on the field, Loam looked a bit confused.

"I'll be honest, I expected your Ponyta." Whimsicott jumped up and floated in the air, letting a slow breeze gently carry it over the field. The motion meant Mudsdale and Mamoswine's Earthquake and Bulldoze wouldn't be effective, but he was vulnerable to ranged attacks. As if on cue, Mamoswine sent a few Ice Shards forward which easily hit the slow moving Whimsicott. The impacts caused wisps of cotton to get knocked out of his fluffy hair, and sent the fibers throughout the field.

Mudsdale, Mamoswine, and even Loam didn't think to dodge the chunks of cotton spreading everywhere, and the sneakily hidden Stun Spore soon took effect, locking Whimsicott's opponents in place. Loam cursed as I gave Whimsicott his next command.

"Leech Seed!" Now that his opponent's movements were limited, Whimsicott sped up in the air to properly move at his normal speed, and reached into his cotton to pull out several large seeds. He proceeded to throw them at his opponents, whose paralysis condition meant they were unable to dodge the extending vines that wrapped around their body. While Mudsdale's Stamina meant it would take little damage from direct attacks, Leech Seed ignored its victim's defense since it directly drained their vitality.

Unless Loam could take out two flying opponents, he was on a timer until Mudsdale and Mamoswine fainted.

"This ain't good. Mudsdale, Mudshot. Mamoswine, Icicle Crash." From the ground, his two Pokémon began to use their strongest ranged attacks against my team. Mudsdale repeatedly kicked the ground, trying to hit its midair opponents with chunks of mud, while Mamoswine conjured large icicles that were launched at its foes. Thanks to their debilitating status effect, their attacks were slowed and easier to dodge, but a few of them still managed to hit.

Whimsicott was hit by a Mudshot, and Altaria ended up taking a super effective Icicle Crash. However, Whimsicott resisted the attack, and Altaria significantly reduced the damage from the impact thanks to Cotton Guard. At one point, Mamoswine poured as much energy into a single Icicle Crash as it could and launched the enhanced attack directly as Whimsicott. He was unable to dodge the faster-than-normal incoming attack, and it crashed against his Grass Type body, dealing super effective damage.

Or, it would have it Whimsicott hadn't used Protect and merely mimicked taking damage when it hit. My team continued to dodge and peppered their opponents with the occasional Hyper Voice and Fairy Wind. Rather uneventfully, the two strongest members of Loam's team fainted by simply waiting it out with Leech Seed. The referee called it once Mamoswine fell.

"Loam has no more Pokémon remaining. The winner of this battle is Alex." As he returned his pair of aces, Loam sighed.

"This is what I get for not using my old team." The audience cheered for the end of the battle, although it was a bit muted as the battle ended on an uneventful note. They had enjoyed the action of the beginning, but simply stalling and waiting for your opponent to faint from a passive damage move wasn't very exciting, and wasn't a popular strategy to watch at all.

Whimsicott floated down and spiraled in the air around me, while at the same time I was once more forced to push Altaria to the side as he tried to suffocate me at the end of a battle. After affectionately running my hands through their fluff, I returned both of them to meet Loam in the center of the field.

"I don't know if you intended it, but it was a nice trick walking around with your Ponyta like that," Loam said.

"I could have sworn that was your last team member, and my strategies didn't account for it. Thought we could adapt, but didn't expect to be shut down by a Whimsicott, of all things." He shook his head.

"It's even an Unovan-native species, too. Should have prepared better."

"Honestly, it was your Gabite," I said.

"Fainting it secured my team's advantage in numbers. Why did you use it against a Fairy Type specialist when you have so many other Pokémon to choose from?" Loam shrugged.

"I caught it here, figured I should use it here, too. I wanted to save my stronger Pokémon for the higher rounds, but clearly that was a mistake. Good job, Alex. Guess I'll go compete in one of the smaller tournaments now instead." We shook hands, then waved to the audience, and I moved off the field. I bought a celebratory lunch for my team, and spent the rest of the day relaxing and letting everyone recover.

"So you're telling me that you haven't seen any of my battles?" Wally shook his head.

"No, I wasn't going to watch any of the recordings until we were officially matched. I want to beat you, but I don't want to prepare too hard ahead of time! If I treat you as if I didn't expect you to be matched up with me, the fight will be more fair that way!" I briefly stopped running the brush through Ninetales's mane as I considered what Wally was saying, causing her to whine to beg me to continue. I proceeded to do as she asked, but then stopped again upon fully processing Wally's words.

"Wait, more fair? You're purposely doing this to give me a handicap?" Wally's eyes went wide.

"No, no, no! I just felt if I spent weeks ahead of time making strategies, it's not going to be fair to you. I wanted to have a proper battle, and not spend a month thinking of the perfect way to beat you, then sweeping your team," he said.

"Wally... I hate to say it, but there's a decent chance that neither of us will battle the other before one of us is knocked out. There's too many people in the tournament for it to be likely." Wally frowned.

"Alex, you're being defeatist. As long as we keep reaching higher and higher placements, we'll have to battle each other eventually." I hummed.

"I suppose you're right. We'll just have to wait and see." Almost on cue, the screens in the Pokémon Center we were in switched to display the names of the upcoming round. The winners of this last set of double battles would move on to the final rounds, where trainers would solely fight in one-on-one battles. Right now, Wally and I actually managed to get into the top 64, down from the top 256.

All of the prestige was for the trainers in the top 32, so much so that local restaurants would actually let those trainers eat free once they achieved that rank. To be in the top 32 of the Conference, was to be in the top 32 of the region, and was one of the most elite tiers for casual trainers. I don't think Ash ever placed lower than the top 16 in the anime. If he can place that high, I'm sure my team and I can too.

The next round would take place over a single day, on Monday, and we would have tomorrow to make sure everyone was well rested. Only the truly powerful trainers would be able to go far, as the entire next week of the conference would require placing trainers to battle every single day. Wally's name was one of the first, again. However, Thomas also showed up on the first set of four, although he wasn't fighting Wally. I breathed out in relief seeing that I wouldn't have to fight either of them just yet.

The next set of four came and went, and my name showed up on the fifth set, meaning my battle would take place mid-afternoon, and I was on the Ice battlefield. However, my opponent's name made me pause, so much so that Wally looked concerned when I visibly froze. I didn't necessarily have anything specifically against my opponent, but I wanted to avoid another battle with him if possible. However, it seemed that my luck just wouldn't play out that way, as I stared at Winston's name listed directly next to mine.