Chapter no.176 Where do you stand ?

" Though there are some morons you will find on your journey, trainers who capture a relatively decent amount of pokémon, win the badges but lose at the conferences, because they have spent their entire time poking their noses into matters they have no business with, instead of training and evolving their pokémon. Then, they just start afresh with a new region, hoping to catch newer pokémon, and repeat the entire thing."
Austin sweat dropped as he heard Cynthia dissing what Ash did in the anime ?
"Let me guess, they lose again"
Cynthia arched her eyebrow. "What else did you expect?"
"But… but what about the pokémon they caught earlier? What about them?"
She shrugged. "Sitting in the corals, perhaps. Waiting for their trainer to come back and train them sometime, I suppose. Pathetic, I tell you."
"I don't think that I'd like to follow that route."
"Good. As long you stay sensible, you always have a chance of winning a league conference." The blonde-haired girl laughed. "The Sinnoh league holds its annual conference in December, every year, so I had around sixteen months before my first try. That got me a lot of time to prepare for."
"That didn't mean I did pokémon training and nothing else. There was a lot about Unown research and visiting places, though I'll admit, I never got to see any legendaries like you do. I'm insanely jealous."
Austin scoffed.
"I had finished acquiring all my badges by the first ten months. The rest of the time, I spent on Mt. Coronet. It is a wonderful place for training."
"Tell me about the Sinnoh conference." He asked while making it seem like he was ignorant on what it was.
Even though he knew many things about Pokémon like the back of his hand , it didn't mean that he still didn't enjoy talking about it with a friend.
"It's not called Sinnoh Conference, dummy." Cynthia chortled, much to his chagrin. "It is called Lily of the Valley Conference, hosted every year on Lily of the Valley Island."
"Oh."
"You'd be surprised by the starting rounds of the Conference. For one, you need to register yourself as fast as possible, since they take only two hundred and fifty six participants every year. The rest, they have to wait for the next year."
"Isn't that unfair?"
"Not really. You get a four-day duration to come up and put your names in, and the dates for registration are announced months prior. If you still cannot make it to the registration in time, the blame's on you."
"I guess." Austin mumbled.
"The eliminations are a group of four matches, winning it will bring you to the Top-32. You'd need to fight one battle every day for four days consistently, so you better keep your pokémon arranged in teams and in the peak of health for that. There are some trainers… you'd find, who only keep a tiny team of six or seven perhaps, and train them to their best. However, if even one of their pokémon gets a fatal injury, they run the risk of getting eliminated in the next match. That is why it is always better to have a large team, for insurance if nothing else."
Austin had to agree. She had a point. Besides, his own thoughts paralleled hers on the subject.
"The best strategy, I think, is to take around seven to eight pokémon at a time, train them rigorously, and then rotate them with the next batch. It helps to have multiple team-sets to rely on."
"I was working on something like that." Austin admitted.
" And here I thought you were catching dangerous pokémon to impress me." The Sinnoh girl teased.
Austin just mumbled something incomprehensible, causing her to chortle even more.
"Tell me more about your experience at the league." Austin tried, wanting to change the topic.
"Spoilsport." Cynthia muttered playfully. "Well, the talented trainers are actually those you face from Top-32 onwards. The matches become a six-on-six from there onwards, instead of a three-on-three, right till the finals." She paused. "There was this trainer called Reginald, who was a prankster. He and his ghosts gave me a really hard time in the finals. Also, there was this guy called Reggie"- Austin stiffened at the mention of Paul's brother—"he gave me a really hard battle in the semi-finals, but then I managed to defeat him. Come to think of it, your own team reminds me heavily about his own—large, powerful, heavy hitters."
Crap.
"Just like him?" Austin asked, more to himself than to her.
"Yeah," Cynthia was oblivious to his reaction, lost in her own nostalgia. "All of them strong as hell. It took a lot out of Garchomp, but he managed to defeat his Rhyperior and Gyarados."
A Rhyperior and a Gyarados.
Austin repeated in the back of his mind.
"Yeah, and that reminds me, you should start looking a moon stone for your Munna and Clefairy."
" Because of Evolution."
" Ding , Ding , Ding , correct. You know your smarter then you look ."
" Hey !"
" Kidding."
"I am waiting to see how you'll do in the Pokémon League , it will certainly catch the eyes of those at the top."
"Do you think that they will… you know, try to get my team from me?" he couldn't help but shudder at the thought of his team getting snatched from him.
"Nothing like that." Cynthia denied. "However, they would get acquainted with you. For some, like Steven for one, you are like an experiment of sorts... I think. For Lance, from what I have heard, you are a significant… entity, no thanks to the interest that Mewtwo has demonstrated in you. The fact that you have also managed to acquire a little legendary interest doesn't help matters."
"That's what you meant about Lance wanting me tied."
"It was metaphoric, but yes."
"And you?"
Cynthia widened her eyes, caught off-guard by the sudden question. "What about me?"
"What about you? Where do you stand?"
"I…" Cynthia tightened her hold on his wrist. "I stand with you."
Somehow, Austin felt that he couldn't have been happier with any other answer.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
[ 𝐎𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 ]
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐙𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬.
𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧. 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝: 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐈𝐧 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨'𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬' 𝐄𝐫𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭.
𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐛 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬. 𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐱.