"Come on! Come on!!"
The crowd cheered of their own accord for the Trainers they fancied, or for their friends and relations.
One after another, the matches were decided.
The winners naturally had delight all over their faces; the beaten stood where they were, blank.
Eight Badges. To collect eight Badges they had crossed mountains and forded rivers, tempered themselves, gone from city to city — it was very hard work.
And in the end they were beaten at the first hurdle: one round and out, unable even to reach the second.
Still, it was a normal thing. Where there are matches there will always be winners and losers.
In the end it came down to strength.
All that hard work showed itself in this one round, and whatever the reason, a loss was a loss.
The Trainers who had lost walked off the field with ashen faces and regret written on them.
Some would lose heart; others would have their fighting spirit lit, and if it would not do this time, they would enter the next Indigo League Conference.
The matches went on. They were not interrupted because somebody had lost — it was a very common thing, and the staff of the grounds and even the spectators were used to it.
There was nothing to be said about it. Their craft simply was not equal to the other man's.
Eight fields were running at once at the Conference, and on one of them, on the eastern side, a powerful presence suddenly appeared.
A Gym-class had come out.
Vance looked over. It was a Trainer with an old head on him, and in front of him stood a Gym-class Drapion.
"A Gym-class already? That was quick."
Vance murmured it. From the material he had gathered, a Gym-class existence was absolutely among the upper ranks of fighting strength.
At this early stage it all but settled the outcome on its own.
And the battle went as expected. Once the Gym-class Pokémon moved, the Elite-class Pokémon opposite had no power to strike back at all, and was beaten.
The Trainer was fairly ordinary too, and the Elite-class Pokémon he had trained was an ordinary Pokémon; he could not fight across a rank, could not make up the gap between them with battle technique and fine command.
The Pokédex in his hand vibrated, reminding him that it was his turn to go out.
His information had come up on the great screen overhead as well.
"Time to begin, lads."
Vance patted the Pokémon at his belt and set off towards the field.
A great many eyes turned on him. Vance's face was quite calm; he was not nervous in the least.
He looked towards the high stand. Steven, over there, even gave him a gesture of encouragement, and Cynthia gave him a nod.
He looked back again and saw Cerise and Ambrose and the rest waving to him from the spectators' seats.
Moving his eyes further, he saw that the trio had stopped selling as well and were up there cheering for him at the tops of their voices.
When he came out onto the field the referee and his opponent were already in place — that Trainer called Perrin.
Very young, his clothes neat and proper, and every appearance of good manners.
After a friendly handshake the two sides took their places.
"Both sides will throw their Poké Balls at the same time. The number of Pokémon for this match is three..."
The referee did his duty and explained it to them both, and when he saw they had no objection he swept his hand down and had them send out their Pokémon.
"Then I choose you."
Vance took out a Poké Ball and threw it.
"Ssh-ssh!"
The Sandslash came out of the Poké Ball and appeared on the field.
"Rraah, rraah—"
The moment it was out the Sandslash felt a wave of scorching heat in its face. The Pokémon sent out opposite was a Charizard.
One of the Kanto region's starter Pokémon.
By the presence it gave off it was a Pokémon of Advanced strength, its energy level as high as 39, not far from breaking through to Elite.
"It seems I guessed wrong. The man has something about him."
To come out with a stroke like that from the start — a level 39 starter to open with — meant the other Pokémon in his hands would not be weak either.
Still, this was a situation the Sandslash could deal with.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash whetted its claws and looked at the Charizard.
"Begin!"
The referee announced the start, and at once a Flamethrower came sweeping across from the other side.
"Block!"
A slab of rock tilted up in front of the Sandslash and held off the searing flames.
When the flames scattered there was no sign of the Sandslash left.
"This is bad. Charizard, up, quickly!"
Perrin saw that something was wrong and had the Charizard get into the air at once.
He had been through a good many battles; he had that much battle sense in him.
"Whooaa—"
The Charizard beat its wings, left the ground and was about to fly up into the sky.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The soil below loosened, and the Sandslash sprang up out of that patch of ground.
"Charizard, quickly, use Steel Wing."
Perrin hurriedly changed the move. This Sandslash was far too fast.
"Bang—"
The Sandslash's Swift was flung out hard, struck the Charizard's body and knocked it flying backwards.
"What!! How can a Sandslash have that much power behind its moves!!"
Perrin said it in shock. He had not foreseen it; he had thought Steel Wing would be enough to keep them safe, and that once the blow had been weathered he would strike back.
He had simply misjudged the power behind the Sandslash's moves.
And in that same instant Vance had the Sandslash open a continuous assault, pressing after the Charizard and fighting in close against it.
"Shff, shff, shff—"
A good many wounds appeared on the Charizard, and blood was running from them.
"This is trouble."
Perrin felt the weight of the pressure all at once. When he had seen it was a Sandslash he had relaxed; now he could see he had been naive.
The other man was certainly an extremely strong Trainer, or he would not have been driven into a position like this.
One really could not look down on anybody. He would have to give it everything he had.
"Charizard, Dragon Claw!"
Perrin called it, setting Dragon Claw against the Sandslash's Fury Cutter.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
After another fierce exchange Perrin discovered to his horror that his Charizard was actually no match for the Sandslash.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash struck with all its strength and drove it back once more, and new wounds were added to it; before it could catch its breath the Sandslash was on it again.
"Charizard..."
"Ssh-ssh. Too slow."
In the tangle the Sandslash got behind it, both claws slashing out, and cut the Charizard down as it tried to take off.
There was a sound of something splitting the air behind it. It turned its head, and what met its eyes was the Sandslash, curled into a ball, coming down out of the sky.
"Thud—"
A dull sound, and the Charizard lost consciousness. It heard its Trainer calling to it, but it had no way to answer; its awareness sank into layer upon layer of darkness.
"Ssh-ssh—"
Seeing the Charizard on the ground, the Sandslash went up and looked it over carefully, and only when it had made sure the Charizard was unable to battle did it set its mind at rest.
Good, good. Nothing could go wrong that way, and the win was safely in hand.
Besides the Sandslash's own carefulness, there was the time it had been caught out by exactly this before.
That had cost the Sandslash, which had always thought itself careful, a good deal of grief, so it was particularly watchful about it.
Several seconds went by and the Charizard did not get up, so the referee announced the result.
"Charizard is unable to battle. Sandslash wins."
"Clap, clap, clap—"
"Ssh-ssh—"
Out in front of the whole crowd the Sandslash was rather embarrassed. That applause seemed to be for it — not all of it, but some of it.
Sss — the taste of it was not bad at all. Even a temperament as steady as a mountain was slightly affected.
Ha ha ha. Mustn't let it go to one's head. Hold steady.
The Sandslash stuck out its chest, looking rather pleased with itself.
"Thud—"
The sound of something heavy landing. The Sandslash looked up and saw a huge tusked boar appear on the field.
"That's a Mamoswine, an Ice and Ground dual-type. Enormous, strong on defence, and plenty of burst power too. Its energy level is 43."
Vance's voice sounded beside the Sandslash's ear, setting out the Mamoswine's details for it.
"Well? Do you want to go on fighting?"
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash nodded, full of fight.
A Mamoswine, was it? Then it would have a bout with it.
The Mamoswine stood about three metres high; the Sandslash in front of it was only a little over one. The contrast in size between the two Pokémon was glaring.
So was the contrast in energy level — it was a full 7 above the Sandslash.
And yet the Sandslash meant to stay. Only an Elite-class, after all, and it, the Sandslash, had fought plenty of those.