I left the Magenta Plaza PokéCenter without Nautilus. Nurse Joy said he would be fine, but it would take him at least another hour to fully recover from the injuries Krokorok gave him. Mélanie apologized, but I reminded her this was what a Trainer's life was like. I was still worried about him, but there wasn't much I could do.
I thought it would be good to get my mind off it, so I walked to the Prism Tower. Along the way, I got a notification about the tournament.
The number of participants has been reduced to 748. With many Trainers planning to leave Lumiose City to continue their journey across Kalos, we will begin a lightning round in Centrico Plaza in 20 minutes.
Participants will battle in 1v1 format over the course of an hour, battling until their Pokémon are unable to fight or the end of the hour.
Good luck!
"Shit," I muttered. Nova was in great condition, but Nautilus still needed at least an hour to recover. "Well, at least Tetsu is feeling good despite her loss."
Mélanie walked out of the Center and said, "You should hurry. I already see a crowd gathering at the edge of the plaza."
I nodded and rushed over. Several lab assistants were telling people where to go. Most waited inside the park. A few tried to go into the wild zone but were stopped by Trainers already inside. Once I got inside, I sat on a bench and waited. I watched as most Trainers fidgeted nervously and talked to others around them. The vast majority of Trainers were teenagers. They looked so young and innocent, it was hard to think of them as ready to handle dangerous monsters.
Once the twenty minutes were up, the lab assistants at the edge of the park made their way to the center. "Alright, we need everyone to get their phones out. Now, in the Profile app, you should see a lightning symbol. Click on that, please."
"What if we don't see it?"
"Then you should not be here."
I saw the person who asked disappear toward the park entrance. I guess someone was bound to try.
"Now, when the lightning round starts, you can challenge anyone you want. Your phones will update the Team app with any fainted Pokémon, which will update your Profile and remove you from the lightning round. For the next hour, you can only challenge or be challenged if the lightning symbol is still present. As the message said, each battle is a one-v-one. If you lose, make your way out. The lightning round ends after an hour or when there are less than one hundred participants, whichever is first. Does everyone understand?"
There was a rumble of agreement. Most were itching to start, while a few looked pale and sick. I stood next to the bench. This was going to get chaotic, and I didn't want to get sucked into it.
'Well, they didn't say we have to battle.'
"The hour starts now!"
My phone buzzed immediately. Someone walked up to me, a younger boy who looked ready for a Boy Scouts outing. I grabbed Nova's ball, and we both released our Pokémon. His Espurr appeared quietly, staring at me like it knew all of my secrets. I shifted my focus to Nova, who stared daggers at her opponent.
"Yawn!" / "Yawn!"
I smirked at the kid's surprised expression. "Ember!"
That pulled his attention back to the fight. "Fake Out!"
The cat disappeared just before the Ember hit, appearing in front of Nova and smacking her nose. Nova flinched, and then both promptly fell asleep. The boy scout looked frustrated and started yelling to wake his Espurr up. Nova, on the other hand, only slept for several seconds and woke up to me saying, "Crunch."
She shook her head, which was basically her whole body, and gathered the Dark-Type Energy in her jaw. Espurr woke up and screeched when Nova's teeth sank into her pelt. The super-effective attack quickly caused Espurr to faint. The kid cursed and returned his Pokémon before walking toward the entrance. I didn't even have time to grab Nova's ball before my phone chimed with another challenge.
An older teen, probably sixteen, based on the growing facial hair, stepped closer with a PokéBall in hand. His sleek black blazer, white dress shirt, slim-fitting black slacks, and shiny black dress shoes told me I was facing a young master. The Goomy he released confirmed it.
"Let's start," he said. I nodded, and both of our Pokémon readied themselves.
"Rain Dance!" / "Disarming Voice!"
The teen winced as the fairy sounds did super-effective emotional damage. Nova kept the attack going as I'd had her train. Goomy had set up rain for itself, most likely to boost a Water-Type attack, but it was slow and the teen probably didn't expect a long-distance Fairy move from Nova.
"Water Pulse!"
"Dig!"
Nova dipped underground and dodged the incoming attack. "Yawn!" I wasn't sure if she could still hear me, but Goomy would either take damage from Dig or get Yawned to sleep. Both were good for me.
"Protect!" the teen yelled. His Goomy surrounded itself with a translucent shield just as Nova came up to hit with Dig. The shield absorbed the impact and promptly shattered. Nova then Yawned, setting up the win.
'Perfect.'
"Dig again!" I instructed. She went underground again. Goomy fell asleep after a few seconds, leaving it wide open for attacks. "Disarming Voice!"
Nova came up again, hitting with Dig and then Disarming Voice. Goomy fainted after taking Disarming Voice to the face for several seconds. The teen scowled and stormed off. I watched as he did, looking into the crowd as he disappeared. Closer to the wild zone entrance, a young woman with an afro demolished another Trainer's Doublade with her Sableye. We locked eyes, and she raised her phone towards me.
My phone buzzed with another challenge, but it wasn't from her. A silver-haired child, maybe ten or eleven years old, sprang from behind me and shouted, "Prepare to lose, old man!"
I looked at the kid and snorted. "Alright, kid. Let's see what you got." Nova stepped forward, and the child frowned. I saw the woman smirk and walk away. There was some yelling nearby, but my attention was on her. I stared as she found another Trainer to battle and ended the fight against a Tropius in seconds. 'Her Sableye is gonna be a problem.'
I heard another yell, so I looked at the kid, who was pouting at me. "You're gonna regret not taking me seriously!"
"Why do you think I'm not taking you seriously?"
"Because you're not even paying attention to the battle!"
I shifted my attention to the battle, seeing Nova fighting the kid's Floette. Calling it a battle was highly inaccurate. Nova was chasing the Fairy, shooting Ember after Ember. Every time Floette got hit, it would heal with what looked like Synthesis. However, it never actually attacked.
"Yeah, doesn't seem like I missed much."
"What did you say?!"
"Nova, Dig and Yawn." She preferred using Ember as her main attack, but she needed to learn more tactics than spamming the move. I'd had her practice building its power to hopefully learn Incinerate or Flame Burst to at least diversify her Fire-Type attacks. For now, though, Dig and Yawn would be her bread and butter to get those hits. Especially against special defense tanks. 'I need to come up with a name for that combo.'
"I saw you use that earlier! It's not gonna work on us. Floral, use Safeg-."
Nova popped up and tackled Floette with Dig, interrupting the instructions. She then Yawned and spat a fat Ember in its face. Drool trailed behind the attack and exploded all over the orange flower. 'Disgusting,' I thought to myself. 'Maybe she can learn Belch.'
Floette soon fell asleep before she could prevent it from happening, and her fate was sealed. The kid realized as much and returned his Pokémon. He gripped the ball tightly. His knuckles turned white, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he looked at me, gave me a nod, and ran out of the park. I watched as he ran out, wondering if I would have had that much self-control if I'd been in his position.
Ultimately, it didn't matter. I had battles to win. Nova won challenge after challenge, with each battle getting progressively more difficult. This was a perfect experience for her. It would've been great for Tetsu, but I didn't want to risk being knocked out of the competition.
As I battled, I kept an eye out for other Trainers like that woman and her Sableye. With so many battles, it was hard to keep track of others. But three more stood out from the rest of the rabble. An older tanned woman and her Golbat demolished every Pokémon I saw them battle against. The Poison-Type's gigantic maw took up an unsettlingly large portion of its body. Another Trainer was a blond guy who looked like a surfer. I expected him to use Water Types, but he cycled between a Magmar and Nuzleaf. Both looked strong in different ways. His Magmar's physical moves sent tremors through the ground that messed up the momentum of battles that were nearby. His Nuzleaf, however, was quick and precise. Once it moved, injuries appeared before its opponent reacted. I couldn't imagine what they would be like once they evolved.
The final Trainer to look out for was, of course, Mitchel. His Pansear moved and dodged with grace, its agility on another level from his battle against Viola. That was the only Pokémon he used, but I had a feeling his Dwebble probably improved by leaps and bounds as well.
I felt the pressure of their talent. I had four Trainers to compete against. Four Trainers to beat before winning the tournament. I focused on my battles again. While they were difficult, I wasn't worried about losing. That didn't mean I could get complacent, though.
"The lightning round is up! Please stop your battles!"
Psychic barriers popped up between Trainers, stopping battles and preventing people from starting them.
"We are now down to twenty Trainers. Eight Trainers will randomly be selected to battle and reduce the number to sixteen. Tomorrow, we will start the final stage of the tournament. If you are not selected to battle today, congratulations! Tomorrow, the winner of Professor Sycamore's Lumiose New Trainer Tournament will be decided. Please rest and prepare!"