I see the city waking up as I stroll along the main road. The shops are being open. There were people leaving their houses with suitcases and backpacks. What caught my attention was how quiet everything was happening. Azalea was never this quiet, the people seemed more spirited there.
I left the eastern gate and entered Route 36. I was going to see Aiden where he supposedly trained with Akashi. I had to talk to him before the elimination stage began to find out what happened with his Gyarados.
I shouldn’t feel guilty. I knew that. I’d just figured out the problem. That’s all.
Still, I wanted to find out the result, what’d happened to the young Gyarados. It was a selfish decision. I just wanted to be able to concentrate on the upcoming matches without wondering about other things.
I had found out where he trained from Jess. Despite the teasing, those two had developed a friendship, or more probably a friendly rivalry. He should be talking strategy with Akashi just outside the city, in a clearing on the side of this route.
It was a surprise when I entered the clearing to see Aiden running in circles on a dirt track.
“What’s he doing?” I muttered as I walked further in.
Akashi was nowhere to be found, but near the track were some bags arranged around a group of stumps. I sat down on one of them and waited for him to notice me or for his… training to end.
I released Jungle and Cape to keep me company.
Cape looked around and snorted at the running Aiden, probably remembering how out of breath he got during the journey. The bug type sat down and extended his arm in my direction and I dutifully rummaged my backpack and gave him his camera.
Jungle laid down in the grass and then squirmed a bit, trying to bury himself in the grass and dirt. The Bulbasaur looked up and closed his eyes to the sun above.
I occupied myself by opening my laptop and looking at the same ten-minute video that I had seen the night before with the group. Cape briefly looked at it, but he had already seen it and he didn’t like watching the same thing twice, not so soon at least.
In the video, a tall and slim Marowak with a purple-coloured body and a longer bone than usual rushed through all the nine pokemon he had to fight.
It didn’t matter if the opponent fought close or at a distance, if it was fast or if it was strong. The foreign pokemon fought with a relaxed body and expression, as if there wasn’t anything worth paying attention to. He won all his battles, so he was right.
Of course, winning nine battles wasn’t the problem. Cape, Chopper and Tylla—Katy’s Palpitoad—could probably win all the three matches by themselves just like the ghost type, even Quake might be able to do it. The real issue is that this Alolan Marowak’s pokeball was the fourth one in George’s belt.
The pokeballs on a trainer’s belt commonly had the strongest pokemon on the left side of the body and then the rest of the pokeballs went from there to the right in order of strength. Which meant that George Reed had three pokemon stronger than that Marowak.
Could the ghost type trainer be pulling an act? Maybe. I didn’t really know him well enough to say either way. Still, it’s always better to assume that it's the truth, that he has stronger pokemon, and not be surprised than otherwise.
I created a new document in my laptop and began to plan against him and against ghost types in general, removing everything the trainers in the three matches tried and failed.
Some time later I felt Cape looking up from his camera’s screen. Aiden was walking towards us, apparently done with his run. He was sweating and huffing, and didn’t look surprised to see us but the tight look on his face suggested he was tense.
“Hi, Aiden,” I said with a smile.
“Good morning, Scott,” he said tiredly, sitting at one stump away from me. He crouched down and took a towel from his bag. Swablu, who was apparently flying nearby landed on the grass.
“You do know that we have a tournament later today, right?” I reminded him as he took large gulps from a water bottle.
Aiden, like most of Project, had also gone through the group stage, but not without losses. He lost his second match, but his opponent lost two matches others matches. Aiden then had to win a tie break against another trainer with two wins.
“Yes, and we’re ready,” Aiden said. “Do you need something?”
I wanted to talk to him about the Gyarados, but giving a warning beforehand might make him more open to talk about what might be a heavy topic.
“Can you look at this?” I said, extending my laptop towards him.
He put the towel around his neck, grabbed the laptop and cautiously put it in a stump in front of him, trying to not get sweat on it, which I appreciated.
While Aiden watched the video, a pair of Oddish began to talk to Jungle, I observed them speaking to each other until I heard the video ending as the arbiter declared Reed the winner.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“He’s strong,” he said, shrugging at me.
“Did you notice that the Marowak was his fourth pokemon?”
Aiden’s eyes widened a little bit, and he looked back at the screen, and then probably put the video at the parts where George collected his pokemon and put him in the fourth slot.
“That seems to be the case yes,” he said. “I suppose you’re showing me this because he’s my next opponent?”
“Your opponent in the quarters, and mine in the semifinals… if we get there of course.”
“I’m not surprised. There’s always someone more stronger out there, even for you.” He nodded while patting Swablu’s head. “I already knew we wouldn’t win the tournament… frankly, I didn’t expected to pass the group stage, as you well known.”
It’s true. Aiden wouldn’t have passed if it wasn’t for his new Gyarados. There was sadness in his voice now, and even his Swablu’s proud stance deflated. It made me feel bad for thinking he’d just exchanged his pokemon.
“Can I ask what happened? It doesn’t sound like you wanted to do it.”
There was silence for a few seconds. Aiden was glaring at laptop’s screen.
“Sure,” he finally said. “For the first year of a Blackthorn trainer’s journey we have a handler, someone who takes care of paying for our stuff from the Blackthorn vault, scouting competitions and were to capture acceptable pokemon, all of that with the goal of collecting the eight badges as a challenge.”
He paused.
“Before you ask, Akashi isn’t my handler. He’s really just a friend from Blackthorn,” he said. “My handler payed for all those visits to doctors to see what was the problem with Gyarados. So when I told him what you told me, he notified the elders from Hageshi clan, who were not happy with Gyarados. After deliberating for a week the elders gave me two choices.”
He then seemed to hesitate. He wasn’t sure he took the correct decision. Cape was not looking but I could feel he was listening to the dragon trainer.
“You don’t need to tell me,” A small part of me hoped he wouldn’t. I was not good with emotional support. “But you should know that I’m not going to judge you, no matter the choice you made.”
Swablu cooed, and that seemed to be enough to shock Aiden into talking.
“The first option was to return to Blackthorn with Gyarados and allow him to live with his school near the rivers of Blackthorn as my pokemon. The second was to exchange him for a more mature and battle-ready pokemon... They known that if I return to Blackthorn without the eight badges I wouldn’t be allowed to be a Blackthorn pokemon trainer. I would’ve had to leave the clan and become a civilian.”
I leaned back. There was too much to process. I wasn’t versed in clan politics so I didn’t see the immediate problem, but then it was like another part of me stepped out and backhanded me. I had spent years collecting enough money to leave on my journey.
Aiden would have to do the same. I didn’t even know if the clan would pay for pokemon food for Gyarados.
But why would a clan not allow someone to be a trainer just because he couldn’t get the eight badges? Just for tradition? How could a clan threaten banishment just because your pokemon doesn’t want to fight right now.
They’re a clan and tradition is what they do, but… I can't believe they would do that.
Aiden seemed to read the conflicting emotions in my face. He took a deep breath and looked at the ground.
“They were punishing me.”
“What?”
“In the Hageshi clan, when a child reaches twelve years old they’re given a Magikarp. Magikarp is a difficult pokemon to care and train. They’re stubborn for anything that’s not food, they barely work, their tank needs to be regularly cleaned. They have a need to interact with their school so they need to be taken to their river, and a lot of other things. If you can do it for three to five years they evolve not out of anger...”
My eyes widened the more he talked since he was basically giving me the secret to have my own well-mannered Gyarados.
“The Magikarp I chose trained. Not a whole lot, but he trained, barely six months and he was the biggest Magikarp of his age group. Another year and he evolved. They told me… They warned me that it was too soon, that I should wait one or two more years before leaving in my journey but I was arrogant, the distinction of being the youngest Hageshi of my generation to go on a journey and succeed was too much. It was too much for me to pass.”
The silence between us grew. The pokemon around sensed the mood. Cape stopped taking photos, the three grass types stayed in silence, and the Swablu became a statue.
“I don’t know what to say Aiden,” I finally said. “I don’t think anything I can say that’ll be helpful for you now.”
“I known. I don’t even know why I said all that stuff.” He got up and began to collect his bags. “I have to go take a shower before the tournament... Can I trust you to not spread the method of evolving a Magikarp?”
“Of course.” I nodded, and watched as he left, Swablu perched on his shoulder.
The camera clicks continued, and Cape grumbled something.
I sighed, “You know I’m not good with that kind of thing Cape.”
The pokemon was about to say something but then looked behind me.
“Don’t worry about it.” A voice came from behind us.
Turning around, I see Akashi sitting in another stump, with one leg crossed over the other, his foot resting on his knee. Of course the dragon trainer was listening to the conversation.
In between the trees outside the clearing was the silhouette of a Charizard, a specimen that would’ve towered over the couple in the mountains even though it was sitting on the ground. The flame on his tail appeared now and then and it was the size of Chopper when he was a Makuhita. That flame should’ve been making all of us uncomfortable, but no. It wasn’t any hotter than it was a minute ago.
“He doesn’t look like it, but he’s stronger than most other kids his age,” the dragon trainer said.
“What’s going to happen to Gyarados?”
“He’s going to be set free to live near Blackthorn.”
I grimaced, “Will he be able to reunite with Aiden?”
“If he wants to continue being a Hageshi? No,” Akashi said, no approval or otherwise on his expression.
"Are you okay with that?"
Akashi sighed, “I won’t say that there’s no logic or reason in what they did. If they don’t enforce the clan rules in one person, everyone that comes next would try to get over those rules by pointing that, if Aiden got an exception, everyone should also get one. It’s cruel, but a clan can easily die by one exception.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh we do,” he said. “Look around at Kanto and Johto. At one time there were only clans. There were more clan members than families or individuals. Each town housed three to ten clans. However, the modern time came with the fall of the dragon to the moon.”
I knew what he was talking about being a history buff myself. The Year of the Fairy, when the first Joy defeated a Blackthorn Champion and held the title for over thirty years, being challenged over and over by the dragon clans while building what’s now the Joy clan.
Stolen novel; please report.
“I’m not particularly proud of our history, but the supremacy of the dragon clans of Blackthorn was a weight that only other clans could endure. When that supremacy ended there was no overarching reason for clans to exist. So the four dragon clans bore witness to the fall of the clans and we catalogued their reasons for doing so, one of the most common causes were the exceptions.
“A clan is a place of family, of connection, but is also a place of rules. The members lose respect and deference to the rules of a clan, and you’ll know that that clan is fated to end. Even the Joy came to understand that later.”
“And the rules can’t be changed?” I asked. I knew that he was making sense, and I was hating it.
“Oh, yes. When a law or a ruling based on that law doesn’t make sense, we have a discussion and that’s what the elders did, and they have a point. Think with me, will you? The clan has an interest in having strong dragon trainers, like me, who are able to reciprocate the clan’s generosity in paying our bills. The first year is a test to see who deserves the clan’s resources. The clan could’ve ruled that Aiden was not fit to be a trainer, but they recognised that to be foolish is to be young and gave Aiden a chance to learn his lesson. He should be grateful for that.”
My mind raced and I hated the fact that what Akashi said made sense. However, he wasn’t talking to a child or an ignorant teenager.
“That’s just talk.”
“What?” Akashi asked, and the Charizard head lowered down from a tree to look at us with sharp eyes.
“Aiden said he was punished, and he was. That’s a whole lot of propaganda that just spew out of your mouth, but in the end, choosing between two bad options was a punishment for not listening to the clan, for defying their authority. They don’t want strong trainers, they want subservient trainers. Trainers who will do what they tell them to do. Am I wrong?”
There was a pause in the conversation, and then the staring Charizard snorted and turned away, apparently there was something more interesting in the woods.
“… You’re not wrong?” Akashi said, taken aback but with a smile on his face. “When did I tell you that wasn’t the case. Aiden is a subject of the clan and that’s why he’s able to access the clan’s resources. I understand what you mean, everyone wants to be free to do whatever they want. However, if you want to gain something, you need to give something back. Clan relations can be seen as strange from the outside, but they’re called a contract in the modern world.”
He then stretched his arms and legs and got up, “I would love to continue this debate, you know, but I have a tournament to comment.”
I did my best to not let my embarrassment show at being so easily rebutted. Maybe I wasn’t the great debater that I thought I was.
“That’s right, I didn’t see you yesterday,” I hastily changed the subject.
“Ah,” he now looked at me like I was an idiot. “It would be a waste of my talents to comment the group stage. Today is the start of the commentary.”
Aiden took a pokeball and retrieved his Charizard. I got up and retrieved Jungle. Cape would be walking with me. We began to walk towards the exit of the clearing.
‘By the way, I already told you that I knew about you helping Brian, right?” Akashi commented easily.
I was still reflecting on the fact that Akashi knew Brian, and Brian’s moniker was Poltergeist. Apparently, all the trainers knew each other at some point?
“I also saw in your file that you’ve helped in a emergency in Azalea, the Coalossal one, correct?”
Now I had a file? “Yes.”
“That’s nice. You know, people tell us, Blackthorns, that we’re too separated from the rest of Johto and that’s a criticism that I happen to agree, and one that the younger generation is trying to change. I hope you’ll continue to fight for Johto.”
“Why are you saying that?” I glanced at him.
“Why not? It’s not like there’s any negative in giving out encouragement to help the region… If you could also help to make Lance’s reign more amicable it would help Blackthorn. Ha ha.”
I slapped my face, “Of course. Also, don’t worry about me learning the secret to evolve Gyarados, I won’t use it and won’t share with anyone.”
Akashi looked at me, and then laugh, “You’re a really funny guy, Scott. Growing and taking care of the Magikarp is a part of it, yes. But do you really think the Hageshi clan would tell children who will soon be travelling around the region and meeting all sorts of charismatic people the secret to evolve Magikarp?”
-
We’re once again on the Battle Hall lounge.
The space seemed a lot bigger now that there were only sixteen trainers instead of the thirty-two.
The first battle was a fight between two trainers we didn’t know, the only thing we knew is that the winner wouldn’t go further. The two were the weakest of the sixteen, and in the brackets, they were arranged to meet Jess or her opponent, the dragon trainer.
Speaking of, they were the next ones.
On the big screen, the commentators were speaking about the battle. There were three of them sitting around a news anchor table. In the middle was an older man who smiled a lot. To his right was Akashi, and to the left was a muscular woman wearing black clothes. She had a thick brown clock around her shoulders, exposing her strong arms and aviator glasses on her redheaded head.
“So Akashi, what can you tell me of the strategies of those two young trainers?”
“Oh, is there a strategy? You must have better eyes than me William. I’m seeing no such things.”
“As expected of Akashi,” she said. “I’ve never met a clan member as rude as him.”
“Well… Camille, what do you think of the match up? A Nidorina versus a Gloom.”
“They’re two poison type pokemon. The one who hits the harder wins obviously.”
“Right… Well, audience you’ve heard it here. Don’t worry, however, I will not be inviting anymore trainers to my program.”
It was not a program, and he himself was also a trainer, a pretty famous one at that.
Dendra, Jess, Katy, Aiden and I were sitting between two couches, away from the other trainers. The dragon trainer was alone, as was George Reed. The seven other trainers who were divided in their own groups.
“Good battle Jess.” Katy nodded as the first fight came to a close and the girl from Sinnoh got up.
Following an employee, Katy and the dragon trainer exited the room.
A minute later, the two trainers appeared, walking up to the battlefield.
“I’m afraid to ask, but what do you two think of the next participants from what you’ve seen from the group stage. Assuming you’ve watched it of course?” William asked.
“For the girl, it’s clear she’s experienced in battles. She’s very creative and has a good intuition. The dragon boy, as expected, doesn’t have a lot of moves, but compensates for it with raw power. I’m sure Akashi can expand on that, however.”
“Since I was the one who told you that information, I suppose I can,” Akashi said. “Dragons can be stubborn. It takes a long time for them to learn anything when they haven’t evolved yet. However, as Yael showed in the group stage, you can’t really dismiss a dragon for the number of moves it has. I would say that the girl is a great trainer for a first year.”
“Who do you guys think are going to win the battle?”
“The girl,” Akashi said, surprisingly enough.
“The boy,” Camille said.
They launched sharp glances at each other, and the host gave his opinion, “Well, I would cautiously say that unless Trainer Yael can display more than just power, the winner should be Trainer Jess. She’s just a more complete trainer right now.”
“I think Jess will win,” Katy said.
“Why?” I asked, curious about Katy’s opinion.
“She’s travelled with you, She must’ve experience dealing with a superior opponent.”
The match began, and both trainers released their pokemon. On one side was Quake, the Hippopotas, Jess’ starter and strongest pokemon. On the opposite field, a blue reptile with three grey ridges protecting its big head.
Bagon, the pokemon that one day will become a Salamence.
“And the match starts with a mismatch for Trainer Yael. Bagon is his third strongest pokemon while Hippopotas is Trainer Jess’ starter. Furthermore, its the only pokemon he’s show that can’t punish the land based pokemon from the skies” William commented.
The two other pokemon that the dragon trainer released in this tournament were a Noibat and a Vibrava, both could probably put a better fight against Quake.
The arbiter began the fight and Quake moved. The Hippopotas stomped his front feet in the ground and earth rolled into itself, forming six orbs of mud the size of the dragon type itself formed around the ground type.
Quake roared and the orbs turned into projectiles. They began in different positions but then turned, all six mud balls curving towards the dragon.
The dragon leaned forward and ran, responding to the flying objects by smashing through the ones in front of him with his rocky head. The Bagon stops halfway on the battlefield, just before crossing the white line, and purple flames inundate his mouth for a second before being unleashed into the ground type.
The flames wash over Jess’ side of the field and climb up the now flaring pink barriers of the Kadabra. The contrast between pink and purple painting Jess magenta for a second.
Quake is clearly not between the flames. That becomes more clear when he emerges from the earth on the side of dragon type. The ground type crunches the dragon’s shoulder with dark energy. The response comes as a grey Headbutt that cracks Quake’s stone skin. The pokemon immediately releases the Bagon and dives into the ground as if it was water, evading another Headbutt that strikes the ground. The simple normal type move cracks the ground near the arbiter’s zone.
I had watched his other matches, but it’s still alarming to see that a move used regularly could be so much more powerful in the hands of a dragon.
Quake emerged again, this time behind the dragon, in Yael’s side of the field. Jess screamed something, and the ground surrounding Quack formed big lumps of soil that became rocky boulders. Quake threw his head to the side, and the giant rocks rolled through the ground in the Bagon’s direction.
The pokemon broke the first of four boulders with his head, but then cried in pain, the next boulder smashing into his body. He jumped in time to dodge the third, but not the fourth.
The group leaned forward to see what’s going to happen. The dragon was laying in the ground, but it was moving. A minute passed and the arbiter finally announced that the Bagon was out of combat.
The screen changed to show the hosts.
“And the dragon trainer experience his first loss in the tournament,” William commented.
“Unsurprising,” Camille hummed.
“Bagon as a first choice was an unfortunate one,” Akashi commented. “However, there’s still a chance for him to to turn it around.”
“Indeed, and that chance begins now. Trainer Yael wasted no time in deciding to release his now famous Vibrava.”
The hoennian’s Vibrava was the pokemon that most times appeared in the group stage. The pokemon that won the most battles for him.
The green-winged pokemon appeared in the sky. Buzzing around, his green eyes locking into Quake.
The dragon trainer screamed something and his pokemon swooped down and opened its mouth, screeching at the Hippopotas who recoils from the loud sound that even managed to activate the psychic barriers, sparing the crowd from the stunning noise.
The Vibrava smashes into the ground near his fellow ground type, his tail glowing with violet energy. Spinning its whole body, the dragon smashes its shining tail into Quake’s body.
The pokemon is thrown away like a rag doll through the air, but rolls with the fall. The Vibrava flies forward in high speed, and the Hippopotas huffs an enormous lump of air at the quick pokemon, hoping to put the dragon to sleep.
The flying pokemon, however, buzzes to the side and accelerates, smashing into Quake with a curving glide.
The two combatants begin a brutal melee. The Hippopotas tries to hit, but the Vibrava flaps its wings to dodge and then smash into Quake with its head or tail.
Quake was a good one-hit pokemon at close distances, but a drawn-out fight showed his weakness, his speed. He briefly tries to command the ground, but Vibrava, using its own ground energy as a club, bashed his opponent’s influence away, preventing anything from interfering with their close combat.
They exchange some attacks but another Dragon Tail puts Quake down.
The Vibrava huffs tiredly and takes to the air. A sign that stopping the power of a pure ground type wasn’t as easy as it seemed.
Jess promptly exchanged the unconscious Hippopotas for her Zangoose. Blade looks at his now flying opponent and frowns.
The Vibrava circles around and makes for the normal type. A swing of a claw and a flying energy blade flew towards the approaching dragon who tackled right through it with a glowing head.
Blade welcomed the melee and it was soon clear that he was the faster combatant. The same treatment that the Vibrava gave Quake was now given to the dragon. Blade slides under wing, arm or tail to deliver Metal Claw after Metal Claw, and dragon it may be, but it clearly had the fragile body of a bug pokemon, something that would only be remedied with its evolution into the Desert Spirit.
The dragon, now with bruises and cuts across his body, was not done still, and flapped its wings to gust away the Zangoose. It was not that effective because of a metallic claw buried in the ground, holding the glaring normal type in place.
The now free Vibrava flew high and prepared itself for one last try. It glowed for a moment and then separated itself into six copies of itself. The pokemon and its clones closed around from many angles, trying to confuse the normal type.
Blade looked around and, following the command of Jess, used Quick Attack to reach a corner of the battlefield before being caught by any copy. The pokemon turned back, looked at the group of Vibrava closing in and shot from his mouth a cloud of misty wind.
From the group of six winged pokemon, only one slowed down, and that was the surprised one that the Zangoose jumped on and began to hack with his metallic claws.
The pokemon screeched and tried to run but a slash to a wing and the pokemon fell down. Vibrava tried to at least bring the Zangoose by smashing its body into his opponent, but the Zangoose once again proved it the faster pokemon, and the dragon smashed into the pink barrier and fainted.
“I guess the fact that the Vibrava didn’t have any long distance move was finally punished” Akashi commented. “The result was still a surprise though.”
“I would have to agree with the Blackthorn trainer,” William said with a smile.
“You’re surprised?” Camille rolled her eyes. “It was you who said that if the girl was strategic she was going to win. And also Akashi picked the girl to win the match.”
“Oh, yes,” William said, scratching his chin. “I guess it was just a reflexive phrase. I tend to agree with a lot of people, and to be fair to Trainee Akashi, I would say that he, as harsh as it might be, just picked Trainer Jess because he knew you would pick Trainer Yael.”
Before an indignant Camille could respond, Akashi, who was looking at the screen in front of them, recoiled.
“It looks like the hoennian will use his starter.”
“What?!” the other commentator and the host said simultaneously, turning to their monitors.
The screen turned back to the battlefield.
A nervous-looking Yael was holding a pokeball in his hand and the first slot in his belt was empty.
He threw it, and a quadrupedal pokemon with a blue scaled body appeared on the field. It has black fur covering its head, neck and eyes. It sniffed around the ground and released a bellowing roar that scared Blade, who watched the dragon pokemon with wide eyes, a mixture of curiosity and fear on his face.
“What pokemon is that?” A trainer sitting on another couch asked the trainers near him.
“Deino,” Katy, Dendra and Aiden reflexively responded, not that the confused trainer heard it since they whispered the name.
I was not surprised that they knew the dragon and dark type pokemon since Katy’s dad was from Unova, Dendra was from Paldea, and Aiden was a dragon trainer from Blackthorn.
I would also not know it if I wasn’t interested in history. It was basically unknown in the old regions, but the new continent knew very well the third evolution of the Deino line, Hydreigon. It was, after all, the number one cause of death of the colonists who were settling the new continent.
“How does a trainer from Hoenn has a Deino?” Aiden asked. “No, how can someone have a Deino starter?”
It was a good question, but we didn’t have time to speculate because the battle began and ended at the same time.
Without waiting for its trainer’s commands, the dragon opened its mouth and breathed out purple flames. Unlike the Bagon’s, these flames washed the whole section in front of Jess.
The ground melted as pink barriers lit up, protecting the outside from the scorching heat. The dark violet flames bellowed as they rushed to the Zangoose.
Blade gave a cry of pain as its body quickly heated, but before the flames could reach the furred pokemon, a giant mass of red light smashed in front of him. A cloud of fluff white plumes formed into two wings, one glowed grey and smashed back the draconic flames, and the other hugged the Zangoose’s body while glowing pink.
A tall Altaria regally gazed down at the Deino who, while blind, could somehow feel the gaze of the fellow dragon since it growled at her, but didn’t move otherwise.
The camera closed on the arbiter who was talking to Akashi, who somehow had descended to the field from the commentator’s box.
A minute passed and the arbiter nodded to Akashi who stood aside. The arbiter’s voice echoed through the monitor’s sound system.
“After consulting with Dragon Trainer Akashi from Blackthorn, it was decided that Zangoose is to be retrieve since he technically lost the battle.”
Jess retrieved her pokemon with a pale face, and the arbiter continued.
“Trainer Jess, you still have a pokemon left, would you like to continue the match?”
Jess seemed to consider it for a second, but the still burning soil near her feet seemed to convince her otherwise. The only safe space to release a pokemon was a small circle where the giant Altaria was, the rest was burning and dissolving.
She shook her head, and the arbiter nodded with a grimace.
“The winner of the battle is Deino, and the winner of the match is Trainer Yael.”
