"Eevee, Sewaddle —show him who you are!"
"Charmander, Murkrow —let's beat them!"
The teams squared off, Eevee and Sewaddle brimming with determination, while Charmander and Murkrow exuded smug confidence.
"Eevee, use Baby-Doll Eyes!" Alexis started by setting the flow, lowering his opponent's Attack. "Sewaddle, String Shot on Charmander!"
"Murkrow, use Haze!" Alan countered immediately, the dark mist filling the field. "Charmander, Ember on Sewaddle!"
The Lizard Pokémon fired a ball of flame just as Murkrow's thick fog spread across the arena, the gust of its wings blowing away the haze moments later.
"Sewaddle, String Shot on Murkrow and pull yourself up!" Alexis acted on instinct, allowing Sewaddle to latch onto the bird Pokémon, swinging up and away from the Ember's reach. "Now, Eevee —Quick Attack!"
Eevee darted forward in a blur of silver, slamming into Charmander before it could recover.
"Charmander, Growl to soften the hit, then Scratch right back!" Alan's tone carried controlled aggression. His eyes shot skyward. "Murkrow, use Gust to shake off that bug!"
"Sewaddle, prepare to use Synthesis!" Alexis commanded. "Eevee, fall back and use Curse!"
The battle arena quickly became a beautiful storm of motion. Both Trainers and their Pokémon moving as a single entity, commands blurring into reflex. It was as if, for a moment, their minds had become one, each command being put to practice before it could be fully mouthed. A dash to dodge an Ember, a Quick Attack to retaliate, a Synthesis to recover, a Bug Bite exchanged for a Peck.
For a moment, to the crowd watching, it was less a battle and more a dance — the rhythm of two rising stars colliding.
"Eevee, Covet on Murkrow!" Alexis barked an order, his brow covered in sweat from the mental exertion. "Sewaddle, switch targets and Tackle!"
"Murkrow use Gust, don't let him reach you!" Alan urged, knowing that his Murkrow would not be able to take the hit. "Charmander, Ember!"
At that moment Alexis smirked, knowing Alan had fallen in his trap.
"Now Eevee switch to Quick Attack on Charmander!" He yelled.
With Murkrow high in the sky trying to avoid the Covet, it did not have enough time to come down and aid Charmander. With Eevee's superior Speed using Quick Attack, the Lizard Pokémon was as good as done for.
Alas, the result of that battle, that day, would never be known.
Right as Eevee and Charmander were about to clash, a loud bang could be heard from below ground, followed by the shaking of the very foundations of Ibis Stadium.
"Huh? Uh, what is going on?!" The shaky voice of the announcer, devoid of its bright timber and jolly mood, could be heard from the speakers.
Then came the explosions. All around Ibis Stadium, in the arena, in the stands, everywhere was full of explosions. The fastest to react were not the employees of the League, nor the people in the stands. It was the Trainers, those who had experienced life in the wild, those who had survived real danger.
"Run, now! Everyone get away from Ibis Stadium!" An old man's voice shouted above the explosion and the cries of the crowd. He had taken over the announcer, using the speakers that remained functioning to instruct the crowd. He could be overheard ordering even the announcer. "You too young lady, get out of here this instant!"
Alexis and Alan reacted just a breath later, running towards their Pokémon and putting them inside their Pokéballs, both young men dashing in the same direction—not towards the exit, not towards a place they could leave. They dashed towards the stands, where the rubble and the explosions had possibly trapped people, theirs minds set on helping.
In between the terrified screams of the crowd, the sound of the stadium rumbling, barely standing, the two rookie Trainers directed people out through the emergency exits. As they tried to keep them in order, they saw a piece of the retractable roof falling down. As it was about to crash down into the crowd, they heard a shout, and an eerie, pink energy held the roof in place.
"Mr. Rime, Psychic!" A man instructed, his long, straight, purple hair totally still, his expression unreadable. Even amidst the chaos, his posture remained calm, his black suit having no creases, his pale pink shirt perfectly buttoned. Once the roof issue was sorted, Mr. Rime throwing it towards the center of the arena, the man directed his attention to the two Trainers. "You two can help more, get to searching for survivors."
His command was quickly met with obedience, the rookie Trainers having already recognised who the man was. Member of the Elite Four, Psychic type specialist, Valerio Corsini-
"I'll take the left!" Alexis said, turning to the left and running towards a big pile of debris.
"I'll go right then!" Alan shouted, his attitude from earlier completely gone, replaced by an expression of worry and determination.
As the two split, Alexis reached the pile of debris and had to stop himself from vomiting on the spot.
"What... what the hell..." he muttered as he saw the blood pooling under the debris, a hand the only thing visible—probably from a victim that was too unlucky and could not run in time.
"Help! Someone help me!" A woman's voice could be heard from under the debris, accompanied by the cries of a child. Not having any time to recompose himself, Alexis jumped into action, moving piece of debris after piece of debris, at some point releasing Eevee and Sewaddle to help.
After moving much of the debris, he found a singular woman holding a child, both barely hurt bar some scratches. She had somehow ended up under two pieces of debris that acted as a roof, saving her from being flattened.
"Come on, get out of here!" Alexis ordered, his tone devoid of his usual friendliness or the excited edge from the battle, replaced instead by the cold desperation of the moment.
His mind was a mess, a mix of confusion, fear, and the desperation to help people.
'One, more, at least one more!' His mind screamed.
Then, for the first time since the explosions began, silence fell —thick and heavy, broken only by the crackle of burning debris. Ibis Stadium barely standing in place, Alexis and Alan went all around the stands, searching for just one more survivor, one more person. Unfortunately, the attack was far from over.
From the clouds of smoke that covered the area, a group of unknown people appeared, wearing green, ash brown, and grey uniforms, accented with pale gold. Their faces were covered by a black scarf, hiding their features. Amongst this group one stood out, as he wore no scarf and his muscular physique distinguished him from the rest.
As the group approached Alexis and Alan, who had met in the center of the Arena after rescuing as many people as they could, were startled when they heard the apparent leader of the group.
"Pity... there are people still in the stadium," he said, his voice sounding almost reluctant. "Get rid of them."
As the grunts of the group approached the rookie Trainers, Valerio appeared, forcing them to stop dead in their tracks.
"Axis Organisation..." Valerio muttered, his voice loud enough to be heard, its calmness belying his wrath. "So you've resorted to this level of mindless violence..."
"As if you could judge us," the leader of the group answered, squaring off against Valerio. "You get to live comfortably while we are chased out of our lands by those League bastards!"
"You were offered deals, and your people attacked instead of negotiating!" Valerio shouted, breaking his composed appearance for the first time. "And still, even when we did not respond, you continued attacking!"
"Enough!" The leader shouted. "In the name of the Axis Organisation, we are officially reclaiming this land!"
Tension at an all time high, Alexis and Alan found themselves way out of their depth, surrounded by what seemed to be an extremist group, their only defence their tired Pokémon and Valerio.
"I wish I hadn't ran away from home now," Alan regretted, his voice low and serious, contrasting with his almost joking comment.
"Too late for that now," Alexis answered, squaring off against two of the grunts. "Two for each, then we help Valerio?"
"Two for each, then we help Valerio." Alan confirmed.
That day, two rookie Trainers would have a taste of what the real world had in store for them.