Today was Round Two of the Club League preliminaries.
It was also the day the Kinnow City Youth Trainer Tournament's Round of 64 knockout stage began. The venue wasn't near the Pokémon Center this time but at the Grand Arena in the northern part of the city.
That arena looked a lot like a World Cup stadium from Reiji's previous life; he'd caught a glimpse of it when he went north of the city to find a teacher for Rhyhorn.
A venue like that could seat well over a hundred thousand—two hundred thousand spectators was no problem—but you needed a ticket to get in.
After Reiji and Shun got the breakfast for their Pokémon ready and fixed their own breakfast, they turned on the local TV station.
Since the knockout venue required tickets, there was no need to go—watching on TV from the villa worked just as well.
With Lance appearing as the special guest alongside two female hosts on site, fireworks blossomed around the arena, and, in Lance's voiceover, the Youth Trainer Tournament was declared officially open…
The camera cut to the jumbotron: portraits of the 64 trainers who'd advanced to the knockout stage were split into two spinning wheels.
After a few breaths, the reels stopped. Two trainers appeared on the big screen to contest Match One.
As the match was about to start and the host called the trainers to enter, three dim round frames appeared beside each trainer's portrait—slots for the Pokémon they would send out.
The Youth Tournament's knockouts were still 3-on-3 matches; only at the semifinals would it become full 6-on-6.
Once the trainers entered, the broadcast shifted from the jumbotron to the battlefield. At the referee's prompt, both trainers sent out their Pokémon. The two sides were—
Jolteon vs Exeggutor.
Jolteon countered Water and Flying, and was weak to Ground.
Exeggutor countered Ground, Rock, Water, Poison, and Fighting, and was weak to Flying, Poison, Bug, Ghost, Fire, Ice, and Dark.
Neither side had a typing advantage against the other's lead, and neither intended to switch on the spot.
When the referee's flags came down, the battle began.
Jolteon's trainer knew exactly where his edge lay and immediately ordered Agility, then Bite to clamp down on Exeggutor.
Exeggutor's trainer knew his own weak points just as well—and knew his opponent's—and called for Stomping Tantrum.
Jolteon, streaking like a golden bolt, was too fast. Exeggutor had barely lifted its foot when Jolteon darted in and clamped down on the greenery atop Exeggutor's heads—then refused to let go.
Seeing this, Exeggutor's trainer decisively recalled Exeggutor, using one switch and lighting up Exeggutor's icon on the big screen.
Next, he sent out his second Pokémon: Quagsire, immune to Jolteon's Electric attacks.
Upon seeing Quagsire, Jolteon's trainer also recalled Jolteon and sent his second Pokémon: Grovyle.
"Whoa, Grovyle—the Hoenn Grass starter," Reiji remarked when the TV showed one of the competitors using a starter Pokémon—and that both sides had already spent one switch.
Judging from the lineups, the trainer with Jolteon and Grovyle had to be loaded—or at least from a rich family.
Even if not rich, his family likely had an old soldier who'd bled for and rendered service to the League; otherwise, you couldn't receive a League starter so easily.
By comparison, Exeggutor and Quagsire were much more down-to-earth—Pokémon that were comparatively easy to obtain.
When Jolteon's trainer sent out Grovyle, the other side recalled Quagsire and sent out his third: the Flying-type Pidgeotto.
Seeing Pidgeotto, Jolteon's trainer recalled Grovyle and threw Jolteon back in.
At this point, both trainers had used two of their three switches—only one remained apiece.
Jolteon's trainer had recalled Jolteon once and Grovyle once.
Exeggutor's trainer had recalled Exeggutor once and Quagsire once.
On the field now: Jolteon vs Pidgeotto.
After all the back-and-forth, they'd returned to that setup. Exeggutor's trainer chose to use his last switch, recalled Pidgeotto, and sent Exeggutor back out.
With Exeggutor on the field again, he had spent all three switches; Jolteon's trainer still had one left.
From that exchange alone, you could see it: whoever switches first, loses tempo.
Your lead matters, but knowing your opponent's team matters more—so you can predict the lead and seize control from the start.
With the battlefield back to the two original leads, the fight resumed.
In the end, Exeggutor's trainer took Game One. The battlefield was Grass Field, and Exeggutor used Grass Knot to trip Jolteon, then pinned it in place with Confusion and put it to sleep with Hypnosis.
Despite the win, Exeggutor's trainer felt no joy—he could no longer switch, and all three of his Pokémon were revealed. His opponent still had an unrevealed third. He wasn't at ease.
On the other side, Jolteon's trainer recalled the fainted Jolteon and sent out Grovyle again.
Once a Pokémon faints, sending another out doesn't count as a switch—so he still had one switch left.
Seeing Grovyle, Exeggutor's trainer quietly exhaled. Because he'd won the previous game, the winner moved first.
Game Two ended quickly. Exeggutor had spent too much stamina beating Jolteon and fell to Grovyle in the ensuing fight.
Both sides now had one greyed-out icon, but Jolteon's trainer still had one switch remaining.
After a moment's thought, Exeggutor's trainer chose to send Pidgeotto. He gambled the opponent wouldn't withdraw Grovyle.
If the opponent had wanted to switch, he would've done it already—not waited until now.
At the referee's prompt, Jolteon's trainer indicated he would not recall Grovyle. Exeggutor's trainer finally relaxed a little. The winner—Grovyle—moved first.
As expected, Grovyle fell to a fresh Pidgeotto—Flying trumped Grass—and Grovyle's icon turned grey.
At this point, anyone could see Exeggutor's trainer was ahead.
He still had Pidgeotto and Quagsire able to fight.
Jolteon's trainer had only one Pokémon left—still unrevealed. Yet he didn't panic. Calmly unclipping the ball at his chest, he sent out his final Pokémon.
Boom—
"Boom, boom, boom—ROARRR…"
"What is that…?" Reiji stared at the screen as the last Poké Ball hit the turf with a thud, throwing up dust and flattening the grass. What emerged made him suck in a sharp breath.
It was a hulking Electric-type, pounding its chest as peals of thunder rolled around the arena, violent currents crawling over its body with visible sprays of sparks—Electivire.
This Pokémon had a monster's build and trunk-thick arms, black striping like a tiger across its body, and conductor organs on its tail and head that let it store even more power to unleash terrifying destructive force.
He'd long suspected Electabuzz's evolved form had been discovered somewhere—but actually seeing such a ferocious Electivire made the hand holding his chopsticks tremble.
"R-Reiji, that's— that's…" Shun jumped to his feet the instant Electivire appeared. He didn't even notice his chopsticks hit the floor. His head buzzed; he could hardly believe his eyes.
What did he just see? Something that looked like an evolved Electabuzz…
"That's Electabuzz's evolution—Electivire," Reiji said, recovering quickly. He'd known about this for a while and answered Shun's question.
"Is this what you meant when you said, 'If you raise Elekid right, it won't be any worse than Infernape'?"
Shun immediately recalled Reiji's earlier, oblique hint—murky at the time, now surging like a tide.
He hadn't expected Electabuzz to have an evolution—let alone one this powerful.
He turned to look out into the yard at his own Elekid, still shorter than he was, eating breakfast with the others. The idea that it could grow so massive was unbelievable.
As for Electivire, Reiji must have known long ago—he just couldn't say.
And only now, with Electivire exposed in public, could he speak openly.
Before this appearance, there hadn't been a whisper about such a Pokémon—probably because every faction had kept it tightly under wraps until this very moment.
At the commentary desk, Lance and the hosts—and the whole crowd—fell silent under the oppressive aura that rolled off Electivire…
That raging electric pressure shook everyone in the arena, shocking them as much as seeing a rampaging Gyarados.
As one of the Elite Four, Lance didn't look especially surprised—he already knew about Electivire—but this was his first time feeling that fury up close.
The two hostesses weren't so composed. They'd observed Electivire from a distance before going on air and been given a primer so they wouldn't get caught out—basic host homework.
But distance was one thing. Now, with electrons crackling through the air, even the black hair beneath their headsets lifted with static.
As the broadcast went wide, everyone watching outside the arena saw that monstrous, brutal Electivire.
They couldn't feel the electric pressure through the screen, but they saw the violent arcs racing over Electivire's frame, the way its presence pressed the battlefield's grass flat, rippling outward like waves.
Electivire's entrance alone cowed the crowd; even those not there in person could sense the domineering force that filled the field.
"Look at the Grass Field—the turf's bowing under its aura! The whole field's changing around that thing!"
"This Pokémon is insanely strong—it's affecting the arena itself!"
"Yeah—even through the screen, it feels vicious…"
They couldn't feel the bite of the current, but when Electivire unleashed Thunder, golden lightning webbed across its body in an instant.
From the mics on the field, the deep buzzing that rolled off that hulking frame was Electivire's savage electric roar; the entire battlefield seemed to seethe, and a chorus of miniature thunderclaps boomed in the air.
One Thunder was enough to show its power—power enough that a single Electivire could supply every building in a large city with electricity for a year.
And that "year of power" had just been dumped in a single burst. That was how terrifying this Pokémon was.
Over at the Electric Club, the general manager watched from his office and sighed. According to the plan, Electivire was supposed to debut on a Club stage.
But someone else had revealed it first. There wasn't much he could do. The trainers participating in the Electabuzz evolution trials weren't just their own people.
They needed a lot of data, and they couldn't use the breeding-house Electabuzz stock for experiments—so they had to recruit outside trainers.
Employees were manageable, but external trainers who already had Electivire were beyond the club's leash. Contracts or not, if someone broke the agreement, all they could do was collect a penalty fee—no way they'd go banging on doors. And those folks didn't care about the money anyway.
Still, having Electivire break early wasn't all bad—the club just lost a bit of "first reveal" shine. The Electric Club could pivot immediately and schedule their Electivire users to take the stage, siphoning some of the Youth Tournament's heat.
Meanwhile, calls went out to the department store and the main breeding house to prepare—after seeing Electivire's strength, a wave of trainers would come looking to buy Elekid.
As for the black market—no point calling. It was still on lockdown: no one in, no one out, and who knew when it would reopen…
(End of chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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