Chapter 166

Author Note:

Apologies for such a late chapter. I’m operating on three hours of sleep, so revisions were tough. Please tell me if anything doesn’t make sense, or if there are any blatant mistakes!

The first part of this chapter received edits / rewrites on July 3rd, 2025.

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Sam was silent as Xavier failed to respond. The woman in the suit brought herself back up, sent him a polite nod, and then hurriedly turned to leave.

Xavier didn’t even watch her go. He just stared at the wall of the hallway before him. Sam stepped to the side to let her pass, but all of his attention was on his friend ahead of him.

“Xav—”

Sam didn’t even get to say Xavier’s name. Xavier just turned and stormed down the hallway. As fast as he could, Sam scrambled to catch up, running to chase after his friend.

“Xavier!” Sam shouted.

Finally, Xavier heard him, and the other trainer snapped around with a sharp reply of, “What?!”

However, when Xavier saw it was Sam, he froze and immediately schooled his expression. Sam caught up and stood across from his friend.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked. “I heard—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Xavier interrupted. “Don’t listen to anything she said. Focus on our match. I don’t care for anything you have to say.”

A scowl flashed over his face, but Sam stood defiantly despite that. Xavier’s feet were slightly pointed to begin walking away, but Sam refused to have things end like that here.

“I’ve been watching your battles,” Sam said to him, meeting Xavier in the eye. “Both the ones that happened here and the ones posted online. Xavier, you’re doing well, but you haven’t been acting the same. You still have the same confidence to your orders, but after every match, it’s like—”

“Why bring this up?” Xavier snapped.

Sam took a deep breath.

“Because we promised we would give it our all in our fight,” he told him. “Because, right now, that doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen. And I don’t want us to have a battle we’d regret.”

Xavier stared Sam in the eye before ultimately letting out a breath. He looked away. His next words came out muttered.

“You don’t think I can do that?” he asked. “Fight?”

And Sam just shook his head.

“No, I definitely think you can, but I can tell it wouldn’t happen in a way either of us would like. It almost seems you aren’t fighting to win your battles anymore. It’s more that you're fighting just to get through them. If I had to describe it as anything, it’s like..” Sam looked up. “Huh. Yeah. It’s like you’re fighting only to prove a point.”

A tense silence stretched out through the hallway. The corners of Xavier’s mouth twitched down for a frown.

“Everyone’s always trying to prove something,” he muttered.

He lowered his head, and Sam saw him clench his fists against crossed arms.

“Is this about what she—”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Xavier said tersely. “Unlike you, I didn’t get any support. You got to travel all through Johto with so many people at your back, and I...”

His sigh was a growl.

“All I ever got were messages telling me I needed to win.”

“But you’ve met people. You’ve made friends. You have a team,” Sam told him. “We finally have our battle coming up, and that battle is in the Conference!”

“I started my journey with two Pokémon given as ‘tokens’ and bluntly told ‘good luck,’” Xavier snapped. “If I want them to— Winning isn't an achievement. It’s a requirement. And, yes, I’m trying to prove a point. I’m trying to prove that I can do exactly that.”

Xavier tried to snarl, but all he did was grimace, and Sam watched as Xavier once again forced himself to look away.

“...So that’s why you’ve been acting so off. That’s why you haven’t been enjoying your battles.” Sam went quiet to think. “And then, is this why you never send out your sixth Pokémon? Because you think it’s weak? Because you think it won’t help you win?”

Vibrations came from beneath Sam’s feet. It was as if his Ghost Types were laughing at the blunt question.

And, in reply, something flashed across Xavier’s face. It was far too mixed for Sam to truly identify what it was—anger, acceptance, denial, worry—but he could at least recognize part of it.

As a Ghost Type specialist, he was rather adept at recognizing spite.

“Did you know there’s a bracket?” Xavier suddenly asked, and the way he snapped out the question caused Sam’s train of thought to come to an abrupt halt—an intentional move on Xavier’s part, if Sam had to guess.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Sam said, and he was willing to go along with the change in topic for now. “There can’t be a bracket. I mean, the match-ups might not be truly randomized, but they are still mostly—”

“Random?” Xavier finished for him, looking Sam in the eye. “They are. Of course they are random. But I should specify that they were random. The League wasn’t lying when they said each round was randomized, but they didn’t specify when that randomization occurred.”

Sam could put the clues together. There were always breaks between the final matches of the day and the next round’s announcement, but they could easily be just that—a break.

Okay. So that’s a weird trick, but it’s only a trick. From a competitor's perspective, there’s not much difference between a pre-made bracket and match-ups being randomized each round.

No, the weird part of this is that they didn’t tell us. And that, somehow, Xavier knows.

“So you’re saying that the Conference has been planned out since the start,” Sam said slowly. “How did you even learn this in the first place?”

Xavier waved a hand.

“The League likes to reward trainers who think outside of the box, and they also like to encourage trainers to ask for help,” he said, bitter. “I had a theory, so I asked a question, and then I was given a bracket containing the list of every future match.”

For a moment, Sam had to go silent just to process the implication.

“So you know—”

“Yes,” he answered. “I know the trainer one of us will be facing next.”

Sam’s thoughts were running a mile a minute. He almost forgot why he had come here in the first place. If Xavier was bringing this up to him, now of all times, then there was only one answer for who their next opponent would be.

Pushing off the wall, Xavier stood to properly face Sam. Though he was only slightly taller than him, the weight of his presence made him seem as though he was towering. Consuming. All-demanding.

Then, Xavier took a step forward.

“The bracket includes every possible match-up until the end, and I’ve checked to confirm that it’s held true for every round until now.” Xavier’s voice was low. “So, if it continues to hold true, then know this—the next trainer one of us will face will be your friend.”

“Redi,” Sam breathed.

“Exactly,” Xavier replied, and a far-too-familiar dark look reappeared on his face. “Redi. Your friend. Your traveling partner. If she wins, she’ll be the one to face the winner of our match. And I’ve seen her battle. She makes it easy. I already know exactly what I’d need to do to defeat her team.”

“Is this supposed to be a threat?” Sam asked quietly.

For the first time in this conversation, Xavier put on a smile.

It didn’t suit him.

“Her new evolution? That Ursaluna? Countering it is simple—just pin it down and slice it from range,” he said. “When Hyper Beam is used, block or dodge, and then take advantage of the recharge to attack and bypass its defense.

“Her Porygon?” Xavier continued. “It’s strong at range, but it struggles up close. It’s too easily overwhelmed in melee. With its perfect accuracy, you tank the hit to give yourself room to get close, and then you grapple it to stop it from escaping with Teleport.

“Her Dragonair? It’s cocky. It’ll be surprised if its speed is ever outmatched.

“Her Wyrdeer has experience, but that’s its weakness. It thinks that it knows all of the answers, so it’ll flounder when faced with something new.

“And finally, her Kangaskhan,” Xavier said, that false smile gone at this point. “She made a mistake bringing it here. All Kangaskhan have the same weakness, the same vulnerability. What she missed is how easy it is to target its—”

“Stop!” Sam didn’t mean to shout, but his voice came out in a yell, nonetheless. “I get it. I get it. You can beat Redi—or at least you think you can. You don’t need to lecture me about your plans. And, I get why you’re doing this. You’re trying to make yourself a villain. You’re trying to convince me that if I don’t beat you, then Redi will be out of the tournament as well.”

He went quiet for a moment.

“Xavier, do you really want to lose that badly?” Sam whispered.

Not answering, Xavier took a step back. Sam finally felt like he could breathe. Both of them glared at one another, though they both glared for very different reasons.

“So that’s your plan,” Sam said, continuing to speak softly. “That’s why you changed the topic so abruptly. You’re... Ugh. You’re frustrating. All of this was to distract me. You’re trying to win, but you also want an excuse for if you lose our fight.”

Xavier didn’t answer; he forced himself to look away. However, for Sam, that silent reaction was confirmation enough.

“You’re overwhelmed by pressure, and you're looking for some way to break that off," he said. "You’re trying to make me worried so that I’ll fight you with everything I have, and you’re trying to give yourself an excuse so it wouldn’t be as bad if you mess up.

“But that was your mistake from the start, and that’s why I’m here in the first place. Xavier, it doesn’t matter what you’re thinking, or whatever anyone else might be expecting from you,” Sam said. “I don’t care about whatever responsibility or obligation that’s unfairly on your shoulders—and you shouldn't either. We have a fight coming up. That’s it. No one else matters for this. We’re not fighting because it was scheduled, we’re fighting because we promised.

“I was never going to hold back,” Sam continued, staring right at Xavier, staring right at his friend. “Not against you. Not in the Conference. Not against someone who looked me in the eye and promised that they’d win.”

Unhappily, Xavier lowered his gaze to the floor.

“And if you think that identifying surface-level flaws means that you can beat Redi, then you’re vastly underestimating her strength,” Sam added.

“...She’s a bad trainer,” Xavier mumbled.

That was such a blatant attempt to make Sam angry that it might as well have flopped onto the floor like a dead fish.

“I don’t even know why I tried,” Xavier growled. “You just don’t get it. This doesn’t matter—none of this matters. The only thing that matters is winning and securing that win.”

“Why?” The seconds counted down. Sam looked at him. “Is that really what you think?”

And, once again, Xavier didn’t answer. He merely chose to cross his arms and not look Sam in the eye.

“Alright. Well, if you’re going to be like that, then I’ll accept your challenge,” Sam said. “We’ll fight. But don’t think that our fight will happen in the way that you want.”

The battle was not the challenge Sam had accepted.

“I talked to someone the other day—someone important,” Sam said slowly. “I turned down a very generous offer because it went against what I believe in about the Ghost Type. But doing so let me come to a realization: when it comes to who I want to be, I want to be someone who helps out. A guide.

“So, let me help you. We’ll battle, Xavier, but we won’t be battling to win. No, we’ll battle for that reason we already established—we’ll be battling to prove which of us is the better trainer, not just to see who would win.”

“That’s the same thing,” Xavier replied flatly.

“It’s not,” Sam responded. “You’ll see what I mean.”

Xavier tried to glare at him, but the attempt failed when Sam easily met his gaze. After a few seconds of trying to hold it, the other boy let out a long groan and began to walk away.

“You’re annoying!” he snapped out.

“And you’re a good trainer,” Sam shouted after him. “You don’t need to prove anything to anyone, and don’t let any of them ever tell you otherwise.”

Storming down the hallway, Xavier left Sam, but Sam intentionally stayed behind. He let the other trainer get just far enough away to give himself the chance to shout without Xavier speaking back.

“And by the way,” Sam called out, “this is going to be a full team battle. So, since we're going to have a proper match, I expect all of your Pokémon to be sent out.”

Xavier stumbled.

“A full, six-on-six battle,” Sam said at a normal volume. “It’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

In the distance, Xavier turned at the corner to continue toward his assigned dressing room, and after a few further seconds of silence, he did his best to slam the door.

Sam held back his laugh and waited until he was sure Xavier was absent. Only then did he look down at his shadow.

“I hope I didn’t just screw us,” he said, mumbling to his Pokémon. “We still have the numbers advantage, but I want to fight and win against Xavier and not just have another, random battle against another, random trainer. We’ll do everything we can to win, but we’ll also do everything we can to make this more than just an average match.

“I want to move on in the Conference, but I’m also selfish. I want to win and have a good battle, but I also don’t want Xavier to make any decisions that he'd regret.”

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Redi caught Sam in the tunnels just before he was about to step out onto the field. She only said one short phrase.

“You better win, Sam.”

And then she was off, running back to the stands to watch the battle from a better angle. Sam knew her match was coming up soon, but it wouldn’t be right away. Her battle was scheduled closer to midday, which meant she’d have an entire lunch break to either celebrate her victory or mourn her loss.

Mourn her loss? Yeah right. She’s going to win.

But if Redi won, she’d face whoever came next. Even with Sam’s goal to do... something about Xavier, he wanted more than anything else to be the one to knock Redi out of the tournament. He didn’t want Xavier to do that in his place.

You know, that sounded better in my head.

When he stepped out into the arena, the audience was roaring. At this point in the tournament, with only thirty-two trainers left, names were beginning to become more well-known. Sam could hear his name being shouted as well as shouts calling out in support of his Pokémon. The Gastly and Haunter in his shadow weren’t supposed to react and reveal themselves to this, but he could see the edges of the shadow beneath his feet waver as some of the Ghost Types drew back from the noise and others leaned forward out of a faint desire to approach.

On the other side of the arena floor was Xavier, and Xavier was a one-trainer procession as he walked to his side of the field. His expression was locked in grim determination, and he remained silent as he took up position within his trainer box.

To the roars of the audience, Sam bowed slightly in respect.

“Let’s have a good battle,” he said as he looked at Xavier.

He got only the barest twitch in response, the absolute minimum level of acknowledgement.

Really? Only that after so long?

“This will be a full team, six-on-six battle, with trainers sending out one Pokémon each!” the referee announced. “Trainers will have access to seven switches, and the battle...”

To Sam’s ears, the referee’s words trailed off.

Instead, the echoes of the audience drowned out all other noise, and the whispers of the announcers bounced around him. A thunderous beat pounded in his chest.

He would beat Xavier here.

The referee raised two flags in his hands, and both Sam and Xavier grabbed their first Pokéballs. Typhlosion hit the field with a soft cry of her name, and Xavier’s Poliwrath landed across from her, a faint flex to its arms showing off its prodigious amount of muscles.

“He chose to send out his Water Type first to have a counter, huh?” Sam mumbled to himself.

When the speech ended, the referee looked to both trainers and started to shout.

“Trainers! Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“I am.”

“Then, on my count,” the referee said.

Numbers reduced

Sam only half-paid attention.

As he and Xavier locked eyes, Sam knew that neither of them would be holding back.

“BEGIN!” came the referee’s voice.

“Smokescreen. Swift. Burn,” Sam ordered as fast as he could.

Typhlosion’s flames flared out to full blast as she reared up on her hind legs for a powerful exhale. Smoke flooded the field to surround her opponent in a ring, obscuring her at the same time, and Xavier’s Poliwrath hunkered down with its arms brought up for a defense. The only unhidden area was a small circle around it, and that made it more on edge than if it couldn’t see at all.

Feet carefully shifting to allow it to rotate its body, the Poliwrath tried to maintain its awareness of every angle around it. When the stars from Swift suddenly ripped out of the smoke, it used its arms to block them, but it was unable to block them for long due to Typhlosion running around to cause her attack to strike it from behind.

She had a follow-up to this move, of course, but Xavier was already prepared with a counter.

“Bubblebeam.”

Immediately, the foamy spray that shot out from the center of the Poliwrath’s spiral stomach caught the following Will-O-Wisps. The violent pops of each bubble disrupted the flames to snuff them out, and Xavier was quick to call for his Pokémon’s next move.

“Mind Reader,” he ordered.

Poliwrath will be able to detect Typhlosion in her smoke, Sam realized.

Poliwrath’s eyes narrowed, and it jumped in place to snap itself around. Sensing where Typhlosion was, it filled its body with energy to fuel a Protect, and the flames of a Flamethrower harmlessly washed off and failed to do damage.

“If it can detect you, go full offense!” Sam shouted. “That’s enough preparation! Send out all of your Parade!”

Typhlosion had been hiding in the smoke for a reason. She had intentionally been using her weaker moves as a distraction. Poliwrath had made a mistake by using Protect so soon, and all around it, purple lights glowed in the smoke. A twilight of wisps grew and grew as the Smoke Screen lit up with hundreds of glowing stars.

“Hah. I see. A new strategy,” Xavier muttered.

“A new trick,” Sam corrected with a smile. “Pretty neat, right?”

As if it were a magnet, every star collapsed right toward Poliwrath’s position. It couldn’t risk using Protect again so soon after its last use, and it had no room to dodge with Typhlosion’s smoke taking up so much space.

Yet, upon seeing so many purple flames rush Poliwrath, Xavier just sighed, and the sound seemed to echo throughout the arena.

“Close Combat.”

But why? Close Combat lowers a Pokémon’s defense! Why call for it here?

Sam got his answer when Poliwrath shifted from a defensive stance to an aggressive one. It saw every glowing mote hurtling toward it and took that flood as a challenge.

As the first embers neared, it struck with its fist, breaking through the targeted mote burst to cause it to dissipate into smoke. Another rushed it from the side, but it spun to swipe its elbow through it and break it up as well.

Then, the rest came, and Poliwrath used its entire body in a furious offense that evaporated Typhlosion’s move. Its arms punched and swung, and dozens upon dozens of wisps vanished before they could reach its body.

Though Poliwrath could not be called a perfect fighter, it was an overwhelming fighter, and the vast majority of Typhlosion’s Infernal Parade was destroyed under its raw, Fighting Type skill. The few motes that did get through, however, almost seemed to have no effect. Sam could see them deal damage—only a minimal amount, unfortunately—but somehow, they also failed to inflict even the slightest of burns.

“Why?” Sam whispered under his breath.

The announcers’ echoing voices served as the answer for him.

“Amazing! Xavier’s Poliwrath shows an impressive display of its mastery as it utterly breaks through Typhlosion’s moves. Still, I’ve noticed that no burn seems to be landing—”

“And that’s likely because of Poliwrath’s Damp ability,”  the other announcer said, chipping in. “Damp shouldn’t have any relevance here, as it's primarily used to stop the initial spark of moves like Explosion, but Xavier seems to have taken advantage of Poliwrath’s innate moisture to help it resist drying out!”

Every mote that seared into Poliwrath was a mote it had purposefully let through. If Poliwrath were to take damage, then it would only allow itself to take damage where it was not at risk. The Infernal Parade hitting it might not have been a resisted Fire Type move, but the heated aspect of the Parade’s wisps could at least be withstood. Poliwrath’s natural dampness prevented any heat from properly searing.

Truly, Xavier had practiced this technique specifically to counter Sam.

However, it wasn’t perfect. Sam immediately caught onto this counter’s weakness, and he didn’t fail to capitalize.

“Keep it up, Typhlosion!” Sam yelled. “It’s wearing off! Dry it out!”

Though the initial wisps only dealt a bare amount of damage and failed to inflict a burn, each one that hit Poliwrath still saw some of its dampness slowly begin to dry away. Damp was providing a defense, but that was not the true purpose of Damp, so it wasn’t going to last. Additionally, the pure aggression of Close Combat meant Poliwrath was giving itself more and more openings over time.

All of that came to its head when Sam heard a slight sizzling even through Poliwrath’s continued anti-wisp assault. One of the wisps, the smallest one, drifted down to land on its body, and instead of fizzling out due to the moisture, it left a small, purplish mark.

“Perfect!”

Other wisps began to do the same, and Poliwrath was beginning to truly take damage. It was not yet suffering from a full burn, but the very start of that condition was now beginning to form.

And once Poliwrath is burned, its physical power will be cut, and it won’t be able to keep up this defense. Creating wisps is trivial for Typhlosion at this point, too. Infernal Parade hardly takes any effort from her. Pretty soon, that burn will let her deal extra damage, and Poliwrath will fall.

However, as much as the current situation served as a good sign for Sam, it was also a sign for Xavier.

He only needed to say one word.

“Payback.”

And with that command, Sam suddenly realized that Poliwrath had never dropped its Mind Reader from earlier.

Practically out of nowhere, Poliwrath leaped, and it jumped right over the cloud of wisps that consumed the point where it had been standing. Poliwrath twisted around in the air for a drawn-back fist to turn as dark as pitch, and every ounce of pain it had suffered was taken and doubled to power this one attack.

“Detect!” Sam yelled.

Xavier said nothing.

Poliwrath crashed through the smoke, the shockwaves from its blackened arm smashing into the ground to send all of Typhlosion’s cover back. Exposed, her Detect let her avoid the move by mere inches, but Poliwrath was still right in her face.

“Bubblebeam,” Xaver then ordered.

Poliwrath acted faster than Sam would have thought.

Though, it wasn’t that Poliwrath was fast, it was simply that Poliwrath was already prepared for this follow-up.

Before Sam could even think about a response—and before Xavier even finished his command, truthfully—foam once more left the center of Poliwrath’s chest. A stream of powerful bubbles exploded outward, and all of them seemed to burst against Typhlosion’s chest.

The Water Type energy of that attack seemed to seep into her, and her fur became soaked with dripping, bubbling pain.

She howled.

Shouts came from the audience.

Pushing up, Poliwrath flexed to maintain the stream of its move.

I know it’s painful, but come on! We just need a second longer!

Typhlosion was flagging, but the second Sam saw the sparks bounce off of Poliwrath’s back, he quickly returned his Pokémon before she fell.

“There,” he sighed. “Thank you, Typhlosion. We’re in a great position because of you.”

Her Smokescreen was gone. None of her wisps were left. She had taken a significant amount of damage, as well.

But all of that just meant the field was cleared for Sam’s next Pokémon, and Typhlosion was now primed to make use of the boost from her Blaze. But the real victory came from those sparks. So focused on maintaining that Bubblebeam, Poliwrat hadn’t put up a defense to stop the last few wisps from burning its back.

“Hah! It worked! Your Poliwrath’s power is going to be cut in half from here!” Sam shouted out, already feeling victorious.

Xavier sent a glance to the marks on Poliwrath’s blue back, but his gaze betrayed not even a single thought or any hint of doubt.

“So? A burn only affects his physical power. And this doesn’t affect any other members of my team.”

“But Poliwrath is now weaker! And it’ll be taking damage over time!”

As Sam shouted, Xavier sighed. He rubbed his forehead.

“...All of that just for a slight burn,” he mumbled.

Still smiling, Sam released his next Pokémon, Drakloak. She was eager to properly fulfil her planned role on the team, and from atop her head, Dreepy squeaked out a taunt.

Xavier ignored the energetic Dragon Type and grabbed a ball of his own.

“Come back, Poliwrath,” he said. “Yanmega. Full speed.”

“Will-O-Wisp! Into Hex! And, if not, then Thunder Wave!”

Sam’s orders almost seemed to be predictive. When Drakloak hissed to conjure her wisps around her, Yanmega had already built plenty of speed to dodge. So similar to Will-O-Wisp, her Hex failed to catch up as well, and the massive dragonfly Pokémon shot past where she was rushing above the ground to hit her with a Bug Buzz that threatened to knock her to the floor.

“A dragonfly against a Dragon Type, huh?” Sam quipped. “We’ll see which one of our Pokémon is the true master of the air!”

He was mostly trying to be cheery to try to get Xavier to snap out of it, but honestly, coming up with cheesy comments was actually pretty fun.

Another Will-O-Wisp from Drakloak was disrupted by a boost of Bug Buzz that pushed it back, and then Yanmega dived down for another fly-by.

It got right on top of Drakloak before she let herself burst.

Electric energy zapping off of her, the Thunder Wave spread across enough area that Yanmega had no room to dodge. As it flew past Drakloak, lightning licked across its body. When the Yanmega pulled back up, its momentum almost seemed to stall, and Dreepy let out a cackling laugh at his sister’s opponent failing to match her speed.

“How about that, Xavier?!” Sam shouted. “We managed to put a stop to your acceleration!”

“Yanmega will continue to build. It doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, but it’s made you more vulnerable to our attacks. Just watch: Hex, Drakloak!”

Yanmega shot backwards, perfectly taking advantage of the three-dimensional space to try to avoid this attack in the air. As it did, blades of wind sliced out from its wings, and they cut through every flame of Hex Drakloak had sent its way.

Unfortunately for it, where the heavy vibrations of Bug Buzz had disrupted the earlier uses of Hex, Air Slash failed to stop the same attack. Instead, the slashes simply meant that each cut divided the flames in two.

The ethereal flood of fire reached Yanmega, and Drakloak cut to the side to avoid the incoming Air Slash. Above her, the Yanmega jerked with pain as her Hex seemed to merge with the lingering electricity to painfully pulse through it.

“Aaaand... U-Turn!” Sam shouted.

Though Yanmega did not faint, it was exhausted enough that its movements slowed. With Paralysis locking its movements, Drakloak was able to catch up, and she bounced right off its chitinous body to turn to light, giving Sam a free return.

“Great job, Drakloak! That’s Yanmega neutralized, and we still haven’t even used your best attack!”

Though he was talking to his Pokémon’s Pokéball, Sam made sure to maintain his smile and speak loud enough so that Xavier would hear.

And Xavier certainly did.

“...So I was right. You really are sticking to the same strategy. There’s not even an ounce of originality to your plan,” Xavier said. He returned his second Pokémon inflicted with a condition.

Despite Xavier’s attempt at a taunt, Sam just smiled and kept his head high with pride.

“Originality? A different strategy? Come on, Xavier! I’ve traveled with Redi! You have to be better at taunting than that!” Sam shouted as he sent out Trevenant. “All my journey, I’ve been working on and developing my team’s core strategy! All my journey, I’ve talked to and discussed with my team to figure out the best possible backbone of a plan!”

Trevenant landed on the ground in front of Sam, and his roots were already poised to pierce into the floor. He wasn’t allowed to use any moves just yet as Xavier had not replaced his Pokémon. Still, Sam grinned, knowing his tree Pokémon had plenty of room to set up now that the threat of Yanmega was gone.

“Taunting us isn’t going to work,” Sam said, his voice more serious. “Xavier, we’re pouring everything we have into this match. You said it yourself, nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is winning, right?”

Immediately, Sam knew that was the wrong thing to say.

Hearing his own words thrown back at him, Xavier grit his teeth and took on the most genuine scowl he had worn all day.

“You know what? Fine! If you want a fight fueled by emotion, then you’ll get a fight fueled by emotion!” he shouted. “I was planning on avoiding this match-up, but if you want it so much—”

With the shout of, “Honchkrow!” a new Pokémon appeared on the field.

This was the same Pokémon that had once chased Sam in the forest north of Mahagony Town, and this was the same Pokémon that had only been present due to Trevenant’s call.

The two Pokémon on the field knew each other, but that was not a good thing. The instant Honchkrow’s gaze landed on Trevenant, a dark glint entered its eyes, and its face became shrouded by the darkness cast by the rim of its feathery hat.

“Now’s the chance for your revenge, Honchrow,” Xavier said in a low voice. “Ignore everything I told you earlier. Do it. Use your attack!”

Sam felt his smile waver as the Honchkrow let its gaze be visible once more. There was nothing but cruelty to its looks as its eyes locked onto Trevenant’s singular iris.

Trevenant tried to brace himself, but his opponent burst off the ground with incredible speed. Like a flash of darkened lightning, Honchkrow carved a wing right across his chest, leaving a jagged groove behind.

Rather than stay in the air, the Honchkrow then landed behind him, sliding to a halt across the dirt on the field. Dealing with the force of the impact, it shook its wing, and a dark energy scattered off of it as Trevenant let out a long howl of pain.

“Night Slash,” Sam said, identifying Honchkrow’s chosen attack.

Shrouded by darkness, that move was more capable of landing critical hits, and Honchkrow were clever enough to apply their species’s unusual luck to enhance their critical rate even further than that.

Combined, that meant this Night Slash had landed critically to bypass all of Trevenant’s defenses. He hadn’t had the time or instinct to put anything up. With this super effective damage, he only managed his single cry.

Then, he collapsed.

“Trevenant is no longer able to battle,” the referee announced. “Trainer Samuel, send out your next Pokémon.”

Words briefly failed Sam.

Just like that, Honchkrow had taken out Sam’s most defensive Pokémon with a single move.

Only a single thought entered Sam’s mind.

Oh, I've definitely made a mistake.

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Author Note:

Sometimes shonen anime moments work. Other times, shonen anime moments just make things worse.

If Honchkrow had been holding a Scope Lens, its total crit bonus would be +3. With a +3, every Night Slash would be a guaranteed critical hit instead of the "mere" 50% chance it has with its current +2. Thankfully, Xavier is unaware of hidden abilities, so Sam won't need to worry about a Moxie boost from Trevenant's knock-out.

Pokémon included in this chapter:
Honchkrow
Poliwrath
Yanmega

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