Chapter 158

Author Note:

If you missed it, there is a poll going on for the next fiction! You can find it here!

Also, I might have gone a bit overboard with this chapter. It’s quite long, so forgive me if anything is slightly off.

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Sixteen rows of sixteen. Over two hundred trainers lined up in a grid. The audience’s roars were deafening, and each and every one of those shouts came out solely to celebrate them.

The sky was open, allowing the light of the night’s stars to shine through, and a massive, empty brazier sat unlit at the top of the arena’s edge.

When its fires blazed, the Conference would begin.

But on the ground, a small, constructed stage elevated a handful of people above those rows of competing trainers. At the stage’s front, a podium served as the speaker’s stand, and Sam could already see several very important people he recognized—the head referee, the head nurse, a handful of Ace Trainers in charge of protecting both the Conference grounds and Silver Town, and then there was also Indigo’s Champion himself.

However, as the shouts of the crowd slowly began to quiet, it was not the Champion who approached the podium. Rather, an old man so short that Sam had failed to notice him walked up a stepstool to reach the microphone. He was dressed exactly like a teacher trying to be “hip” with the kids, complete with baggy shorts and a backwards hat, yet the cheers that erupted at his presence all seemed genuine.

A soft smile crossed the old man’s face. Half of him was hidden behind a long, white beard.

“So many trainers have made it to the Conference this year. The competition has never been this intense before!”

Roars. The small man let out a hearty laugh, and the speakers let that sound echo throughout the arena.

Sam finally recognized who the old man was.

Every region had a Champion in charge of all things related to Pokémon, but the Pokémon League itself also needed someone who helped with the other side of management. As important as the Champion was, they were only part of that show. The Pokémon League President handled all unrelated matters.

Charles Goodshow was that President. He was in charge of the day-to-day operations of all of the League’s staff in Indigo, Hoenn, and Sinnoh.

“I’ve seen quite a number of impressive battles. I’ve heard quite a number of curious things,” President Goodshow said, stroking his beard. “Over two hundred trainers in one competition? That’s a new record. Well, if you don’t count the five-hundred-person tournament that happened two decades ago.”

He laughed. If the man wasn’t so thin, Sam would have been reminded of Santa Claus. The laughter that came from the crowd was a bit more awkward, and when Goodshow finally quieted down, he stared out at the rows and rows of trainers, and it felt as though he managed to make eye contact with every person here.

“The Conference is a tradition spanning back hundreds of years,” he said. “Trainers from every era have always competed to determine the best of the best. You all continue that tradition, standing here today. Your achievements and accomplishments have brought you here. And now, we will find out who stands at the top.

“But it is not a trainer alone who fights in these matches,” Goodshow continued. “It is not a trainer alone who manages to reach the Conference. You have your teams! Your Pokémon! Your friends and family and everyone you’ve met along the way! This is a competition, but it is also a celebration! Be proud of yourselves! All of you! Because you have finally made it here, today of all days!”

Another loud cheer erupted. Within the rows of trainers, people stood taller than ever before.

They had earned their eight badges and made their way into this tournament. Out of the thousands upon thousands of trainers that attempt the Gym Challenge each year, only they had been the ones worthy of making it to the end.

“Now then. I could go on and on about all these little things, and I know Lance wants to make an announcement too, but I think we’ll skip that.” He chucked. “Instead, I’ll just say this: we’ve held you back for long enough! After a long preliminary, take the night to rest! Learn about your opponents! Meet them! Discover who you’re about to face! Make your plans, create your strategies, but more than anything else... Just! Have! Fun!”

He laughed once again, and a small light in the stands behind him caught Sam’s attention. A woman in a runner’s outfit charged up the steps of the arena. In one hand, she held a flaming torch that seemed to be tinged with green.

President Goodshow went quiet to watch her approach that brazier, and a pair of Ace Trainers at the top of the steps moved to the side to give her room to throw the torch in.

“I get the honor of saying this every year, and now I get to say it again,” the old man said quietly as the torch sailed through the air. “With the burning of Ho-Oh’s flames, let the Silver Conference... BEGIN!”

The brazier at the top of the arena erupted, and the fire that blazed within seemed to give off all forms of light. In Kanto’s Conference, the flames were of Moltres, a Legendary Pokémon, with the fire having been collected long ago in the past and said to have never stopped burning.

But in Johto, these flames were of Ho-Oh, a Legendary Pokémon said to command rebirth and life itself. Where myths about Moltres’s flames claimed they had granted humans ingenuity, myths about Ho-Oh’s flames claimed they had granted the first human life.

The light that came from the flames was a mixture of all colors, a rainbow tinted by every hue at once. Yet, that beautiful collage only lasted a second, and the initial burn died back down to a more general mix of reds and oranges.

The brazier would remain lit for the entire Conference, and the flames would be collected again at its end to be used next year.

Just like how Ho-Oh’s fire burned in that brazier, the spirit of the Conference and the will to fight would burn in every competing trainer’s heart.

“Now then. The boring stuff. Pay attention, hm?” Charles Goodshow said.

Those words were just for the rows of trainers, and Champion Lance shot the old man a sharp look before stepping off stage with him to exchange furiously whispered words. In the back, the head nurse left with the handful of Ace Trainers to have a quiet discussion, but the head referee stayed behind. The balding man moved up to the microphone to speak about the tournament to the trainers and everyone else still listening in.

“Welcome. Charles’s speeches are always quite enthusiastic. He tends to keep things... short.” The referee cleared his throat. “But we need to cover the important part, now. Listen closely. I am going to explain exactly how this year’s Silver Conference will work.”

Every trainer’s eyes were on him.

“With two hundred fifty-six competitors, we will go through eight rounds of battles to establish this year’s Conference champion. Unlike usual, we’ll be sticking to the basics, following a classic bracket format with no twists or alternate rounds,” he explained. “The only exception to this will happen in the final here. There, the two defeated trainers from the semifinals will have a match to establish third place, and then, only then, will we have our final battle to determine this year’s champion.”

“But that only concerns four of you,” the referee continued as he took in everyone here. “We only have a single week to get through those eight rounds, and due to the... expanded number of competitors this year, expect the schedule to be compressed.”

He scrunched up his nose.

The basic intention for Conference matches was that each battle should involve a full team in a true six-on-six match. However, due to the sheer number of competitors and the size of the tournament, the time that would require would make that unfeasible, so they were putting limits on the early rounds.

Initially, trainers would only be allowed to fight with three Pokémon teams, much like the preliminaries. However, with each round that progressed, one more Pokémon would be allowed, eventually settling at the desired full, six-team matches in the fourth round.

In most cases, the rounds would give trainers one battle each day, and that would hold true for the entire tournament. Yet, with eight rounds required over seven days, one of the days needed to see two rounds take place.

And the tournament had gone with the insane decision to make that day the first.

“On the first day alone, one hundred and ninety-two battles will take place,” the referee said, a sour note to his voice. “Half of you will fight two battles that day. Three-quarters of you will end up eliminated.

“My hope is that you enter those battles prepared. For most of you, those will be the only battles you see, so give them your all. Don’t make the foolish mistake of holding back while preparing for the later rounds. That will only cause regret, and there are enough reasons to cause regret elsewhere in your life.

“I suppose I’m meant to comment on Lance’s announcement here, but...” He sighed, wiping his forehead. “If Charles wanted to push past that, then I will too. The only thing I’ll do is to emphasize that you must give it your all. Don’t even think about holding back. And keep in mind that there is more than just this tournament going on.”

He looked around.

“Stay out of trouble, and win your matches. We start tomorrow morning and will be using every arena. Try your hardest, and good luck. But remember, the League will be watching.”

The rest of what he spoke about was far less serious, mostly just going over how opponents would be assigned. Battles would be randomized, mostly. Trainers had been ranked by approximate power, and rather than a true randomization across the entire tournament, trainers had a range from which they could draw their opponents.

Hearing that, Sam frowned.

And since I’m at the end, I won’t be fighting anyone that strong. Or even anyone I know. Redi and Xavier are too far above me. I probably won’t be facing anyone ranked above half.

“As one last note, you will not know who you are fighting until after the previous round is over,” the referee said. “You only need to worry about your upcoming fight. The next round’s opponents will only be announced after everyone else has already gone.”

The overall intention with the pseudo-random matches was to keep the “fairness” of randomization while also ensuring there was never too much of a difference in strength. There was the slight implication that “weaker” trainers would get further in than they otherwise would, but by the third or fourth round, the number of competitors would be so far reduced that trainers would be up to fight anyone who was still in their round.

After that, a few final rules were shared, mostly just a handful of warnings and notes on certain regulations. The head referee then looked around at everyone for the last time, nodded his head once, and wished them luck.

This part of the opening ceremony ended just like that.

Voices began to spread throughout the arena as everyone discussed their hopes for the upcoming tournament. They came from both the crowd and the trainers below.

Also, a band and a variety of performers started to move onto the arena floor. After all, the League wanted the opening ceremony to be more exciting than just a few talks.

But as the trainers began to leave that lower floor to give the performers room, Sam sent a final look over his shoulder up to Ho-Oh’s flames.

This was the Conference. He and his team had made it, but he had to remember that moving on would not be easy. Just tomorrow alone would be packed. He wouldn’t just have two trainers to face, but it was also the full moon. That meant watching one of Redi’s evolution attempts. And then, added to that, Cassandra was hosting an event.

He wasn’t sure if he’d go.

Still, his battles tomorrow would be a true test of his team’s strength, but Sam didn’t feel nervous. He was looking forward to it.

Turning back around to continue to leave the arena, his heart beat in his chest.

After spending so long in training, he knew his team would win.

He had made sure of it.

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All of the match-ups were made known in the Pokémon Center that night. The screens above the nurses’ counter rotated through pairs of opponents alongside the usual check-up information. Since it took a while for the display to rotate through all of the competitors, trainers could also go up to the counter to request information on their next opponent’s identity, or they could read them on the nearby bulletin board, but that board was so crowded Sam chose to sit back and wait for his name to appear on that screen.

Redi joined him. They stood in silence and stared out into the room, watching the other potential competitors. Sam didn’t miss the way several trainers stared back. Though he had personally been placed “last,” people hadn’t exactly paid much attention to other trainers’ rankings. To them, he was still the trainer who had one the very first preliminary match with a single Pokémon.

For that reason, Sam was a threat.

When Redi learned of her opponent, she wished Sam luck and then did the surprising move of running up to her room for research.

When Sam learned of his opponent, he found that they were... someone. He had no idea who they were.

Yes, his opponent was an experienced trainer, but they weren’t anyone Sam had encountered before. All he knew was that they must have a strong team to get here. And when he went up to his room as well to research them, he knew that must have been true. After all, as he knew from Typhlosion, Starter Pokémon were powerful.

And his opponent, Rolando, had three of them.

Alongside a Rapidash, Starmie, and Victreebel, Rolando was listed to have an Ivysaur, Wartortle, and Charmeleon. Sam was able to find Rolando’s team and recordings of his past battles thanks to an entry on the League’s archival website.

Just from a first glance, Sam could tell Rolando always preferred to use a Fire-Grass-Water core. And from the recordings, Sam could tell Rolando often relied on that for coverage to win his fights, using the advantage of super-effective moves to pressure his opponents until they fell.

It was a simple strategy, but it was an effective one. Though Rolando had never won any of the three tournaments he participated in, he had managed to reach the semi-finals twice.

“I don’t know if he’s going to use any of his Starter Pokémon, or if he’s going to go with his non-Starter core,” Sam mumbled, “but we should expect an even spread of Types. In all of his battle recordings, he never doubled up.”

All of Sam’s Ghost Types crowded the Pokémon Center bedroom behind him, and the only source of light was the tiny monitor screen set on top of a small, wooden desk. Everyone pushed each other to try to peer out from behind Sam’s head, but they settled down once Gengar and Mismagius reminded the Gastly and Haunter that they could save room by merging with the shadows.

“Rolando. Our first opponent. We’re looking him up, and he’ll be looking us up, which means what he’ll see is...” Sam hummed. “He’ll be aware of all of you except for Trevenant and Drakloak. Except he’ll think I have a Primeape and a pure Fire Type Typhlosion. He knows I’ll have a tricky team. A Ghost Type-leaning team. But he doesn’t know we’re a pure Ghost Type one.

“He’ll probably think Gengar is the biggest threat, but he’ll also know I have Typhlosion in my back pocket. Except Typhloson wouldn’t be that great against two-thirds of his team, so I wouldn’t want to use her, so then he would know that as well.”

Gengar started to laugh; Sam’s reasoning was getting ridiculous. Not only was he trying to anticipate his opponent’s choices, he was also trying to anticipate how his opponent would anticipate his own choices.

There was a give and take here, and Sam knew he’d be liable to go insane if he tried to predict every possible outcome. However, this was exactly why having a core strategy was good: it gave him a specific yet reliable plan to fall back on.

“We have two battles to win tomorrow, but we’ll focus on the first for now. As much as the referee said to give it our all, we also have to strike a balance between a few things. Conserving stamina, strategy, and energy. How much we want to reveal, how much we want to use. We usually play slowly, but if we can make the battle fast...”

Sam paused.

“Actually, what if we just sweep?”

Outright trying to set up a sweep wasn't exactly a strategy that would usually work, but this was probably the only round it’d be viable. Teams were small. Trainers hadn’t revealed much. As much as specifics about Rolando’s team were unknown, the same was true for Sam’s.

The plan was kind of obvious, but he could do it.

The more Sam thought about it, the more he realized he liked it.

As he turned around to check with his Pokémon, Mismagius started to giggle, and his two physical attackers rotated their arms in preparation.

“Alright. Then we have a strategy. I’m actually kind of surprised. That was fast.”

It was late, and as much as he wanted to spend more time working out the details, with potentially two matches coming up in one day, he and his team needed the rest.

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“...Three Pokémon each, with four switches allowed,” the referee said at the side of the field. “Trainers, send out your Pokémon!”

Sam nodded as he held back his slight laughter at the field before him. For these early rounds, trainers would fight on one of four themed battlefields—rock, grass, ice, or water—with this outcome being random.

For his battle, the field failed to benefit either trainer. The ground was covered with a thin layer of ice, and the field was interspersed with a handful of frost-covered boulders.

This kind of terrain would harshly impact most forms of movement, but Sam wasn’t worried.

Most of his Pokémon could float.

But to Sam’s surprise, Rolando sent out the Pokémon he least expected to see here: a Rapidash. The horse’s hooves should have caused it to slip on the icy floor, but the flames on the Pokémon’s ankles heated its legs, and its feet neatly seared through and melted the ice to give it solid ground to run on.

Its hooves were getting a bit wet, but otherwise, Rapidash’s Fire Type was letting it ignore the frozen state of the field.

“Interesting,” Sam mumbled, but Rolando’s Pokémon didn’t change his choice.

“Mismagius!” he shouted.

In a flash, Mismagius appeared on the field. Sam could tell she wanted a creepy entrance but had no shadows to rise out of, so she brought her arms out to let darkness pulse out from behind her with a cry.

“Remember our plan, and make this fast. You’ll have the chance to rest afterwards, so give it your all and let everyone else handle our next match.”

Mismagius’s eyes were shrouded by the darkness of her hat, but she sent a look back toward Sam that let him see her utter confidence on display. Across from them, Rolando was giving his own Pokémon words of advice, and his Rapidash was trotting in place to demonstrate to him that its hooves could indeed sear right through the ice on the field.

The referee waited for a moment to make sure both trainers were ready. With one last check, he then blew his whistle.

The only shout that mattered pierced through the air.

“Begin!”

“Shadow Sneak, Mismagius! To the rocks!”

“Rapdiash, come back!”

When the horse disappeared from the field, Sam blinked in surprise.

He hadn’t expected a switch so early.

They were not facing an inexperienced trainer. Rolando had compared Mismagius’s potential to his Rapidash’s and judged the match-up was not in his favor. For everything his Rapidash could do on the field, another of his Pokémon was better.

“Venusaur,” Rolando named, and the ice cracked under the weight of the Pokémon that appeared.

Ah. So it evolved.

...And he’s mixing his team, too.

If a fully-evolved Starter Pokémon was appearing now of all times, Sam could tell Rolando had taken the head judge’s words to heart. He was not going to hold back.

“Continue,” the referee said.

“Nasty Plot. Stay hidden and observe. Don’t let it get to you.”

“Sleep Powder! Everywhere! Cover the field!”

Mismagius lingered behind one of those boulders, using the large rock to hide her and let her build up her Nasty Plot. Her yellow eyes almost seemed to pierce into the Venusaur, but the Venusaur just shook, unconcerned with its seemingly absent opponent, and the large flower on its back sent pollen up and out over the entire field.

So he prepared for us. Even if Mismagius stayed in a shadow, that’s avoidance and not protection. She’ll fall asleep if the pollen touches her darkness.

Hiding won’t work. All we’d do is open ourselves up to easy attacks.

We need to go on the offensive, but first, we need to make sure we don’t get hit by that powder.

“Night Shade,” Sam said.

A sphere of darkness burst into existence around one of those icy boulders, and Mismagius’s control over Ghost Type energy let her push away any Sleep Powder that drifted near here.

“There!” Rolando shouted, his eyes locking onto the darkness the moment it appeared. “Vine Whip! Grab it!”

Though Mismagius had avoided the Sleep Powder, Venusaur now knew where she was.

Vines whipping out from its body, branch-thick tendrils smashed straight through to stone to swipe into Mismagius’s darkness. Venusaur could not see her, but it could feel her, and the shock of her hiding place being destroyed meant she wasn’t in a position to avoid this move.

Rather than smash through her like that stone, the vines wrapped around her body, and she was yanked right toward the Venusaur. It hadn’t even moved a single step.

“Now! Razor Leaf!” Rolando yelled as Mismagius hurtled toward her opponent.

He wanted to end this battle quickly, same as Sam. A fast fight would prevent Sam from setting up or even using that many status moves.

...Which meant Sam needed to take a risk if he wanted Mismagius to escape.

“Shadow Sneak! Get back!” came his shout.

They already knew Shadow Sneak did not let her phase through moves, but that self-inflicted damage was less than the damage of that Razor Leaf. Before the spinning, leaf blades could slice right through her, Mismagius grimaced and shifted back. She turned into something akin to a darkened gas, taking damage as the Vine Whip pulled through her and the Razor Leafs hit a spot she was never dragged into.

Where the vines passed through her body, her purple flesh took on a nasty, discolored grey.

“And Pain Split!” Sam continued, not even giving up a single moment to his opponent.

“Synthesis! Vine Whip! Razor Leaf again!”

Mismagius held out her arms, channeling her injury into her Pain Split to share the damage she took. The Venusaur groaned in pain, she recovered a bit of her vitality, and the leaves on the Grass Type’s body glowed to let it undo the drain it had just taken.

Its Vine Whip missed her, but Venusaur wasn’t aiming at Mismagius. Forgotten by the previous exchange, the Sleep Powder from before was knocked back up into the air from where it had settled on the ground, and Sam could barely return her in time before she was put to sleep.

“...and Samuel recalls his Mismagius! What an exciting battle! Already, a fourth Pokémon is being forced out!” a cry echoed from the speakers set throughout the arena.

Oh yeah. I forgot they had announcers here.

Sam had been so focused on his battle that he had forgotten everything else existed.

Across from him, Rolando smiled.

The current state of the field was totally against Sam’s favor. Venusaur’s Synthesis meant it had all but recovered from the damage of Pain Split, and its Sleep Powder meant there were traps all over the field. A single Vine Whip would either hit and deal damage, or it would puff the powder into the air and send Sam’s Pokémon to sleep.

There was also the fact that Venusaur was a tanky Pokémon. It would take several moves to faint. Combined with the recovery granted by Synthesis meant Sam would need a strong Pokémon to faint it.

But the threat of Vine Whip and Sleep Powder meant anything he sent out would have trouble approaching in the first place.

Rolando’s trying to counter anything I do. My team works best when we have mobility, but he’s trying to completely prevent that.

I suppose I could send out Typhlosion here, but do I really want to use her in the first round? Even then, she’s the obvious choice. Why wouldn’t I use a Fire Type against a Grass Type?

So much for sweeping.

The only good thing was that Sam had learned to not underestimate his opponent without taking a loss. If Mismagius had fainted, he would be worse off, but he now knew that Rolando would be as tough as anyone else with just the previous exchange.

And this was only the first round.

Faced with limited options, Sam spent a while considering it until the referee called out to him for taking so long. Rolando had already revealed two of the three Pokémon he would use in this match, and though Sam’s choice wasn’t the perfect counter due to the Type disadvantage, he at least saw an opportunity to make use of the team members Rolando had chosen.

“Trevenant!”

Trevenant did not have many ways to deal damage to another Grass Type, but he would at least be immune to most powder-based moves.

And, if I’m right, his presence should bait out—

“Venusaur, return!” Rolando called out.

Sam fought to keep his face even.

He actually took the bait.

As expected, Rolando sent out his Rapidash, intending to win this fight with his usual strategy: coverage moves. Trevenant’s Grass Type made the Fire Type an obvious counter, and Rolando looked confident that he could take out a relatively immobile tree.

Just like it had demonstrated at the start of the battle, the Rapidash’s hooves sank into the icy floor, and Trevenant did something similar to let his roots stab into the earth. Between the two of them, he was more uncomfortable with the chill, and he also seemed to be less mobile in a fight.

“Continue,” the referee said.

Rapidash took off running immediately, lowering its head while its body became coated in flames.

“Flare Blitz!”

An uncommon move.

He must have trained hard to have his Rapidash learn that.

The fire that wrapped around the Rapidash’s body meant most of Trevenant’s moves wouldn’t work. No Forest’s Curse, and no Leech Seed. The second it impacted, it would deal super-effective damage to boot.

That just meant Sam would need to make sure Trevenant went unhit.

“Phantom Force,” Sam said.

And Trevenant took a single step back to completely disappear.

Off to the side, the referee held up a whistle in preparation, frowning at the sight.

It hit Sam then that Phantom Force was much like Hex; a move almost unknown in Johto. From the referee’s perspective, Trevenant had just disappeared from the field. He wasn’t aware of exactly what Trevenant was about to do, but he was ready to call a penalty if it lasted too long.

Let’s make this quick.

As Rapidash charged right through where Trevenant had just been, it left a trail of watery hoofsteps behind it. Right where it started, Trevenant reappeared, and he was far enough away to give himself a chance to use a new move.

“Growth,” Sam said.

Rolando frowned.

“Flamethrower. If they want you to stay at range, then stay at range.”

Trevenant was hit, but he crunched down on a berry. The Sitrus berry’s juices healed him, and he disappeared once more to reappear behind one of the boulders, much like Mismagius before him.

“Flare Blitz. Through the rocks.”

As it stood, the cover protected Trevenant and gave him time for more uses of Growth.

Still, rather than directly attack him, Rolando’s Rapidash began charging through the field. With ease, its Flare Blitz saw each and every stone shatter from the force of its attack. It was taking recoil damage, but every removed boulder was one less place Sam’s Pokémon could hide.

Clearly, Rolando expected his Rapidash to handle Trevenant, but he was taking a risk. He was giving Trevenant the chance to repeatedly store energy with Growth, but at the same time, Growth only increased offenses. Not defense.

...And a single Flamethrower had already forced him to eat his Sitrus Berry. In a way, Rolando’s strategy wasn’t even wrong.

Just Misguided.

“Phantom Force,” Sam ordered.

As the very last stone shattered from the Flare Blitz, Trevenant disappeared, and Rapidash slowed to a halt, huffing and puffing from the self-inflicted damage it just took. The heat of its flames meant the field lacked massive patches of ice, turning most of it into a muddy brown. The stones, too, were just fragments. The battlefield was almost back to its normal state, it was now maybe just a bit cold.

But Trevenant had been building up, and as he reappeared, his sole red eye lingered on his opponent. It glowed brighter than ever before.

“One last move, Rapidash,” Rolando said. “We’ve set the field to win. So take it out with Fire Blast!”

Much stronger than Flamethrower, this move was a legitimate threat, and its burst would see much of the field be covered with heat.

Sam remained quiet. Trevenant had a counter.

After all, Trevenant’s entire strategy was about defense. If Typhlosion could use Detect, why couldn’t he take inspiration from that and figure out Protect?

Dipping into his stored energy, Trevenant brought up his arms and infused himself with it, the flames passing over him harmlessly. Sam didn’t need to say anything before he suddenly fell through the floor, and he practically hopped out of the ground behind Rapidash.

It neighed in fright.

Still, this was a strong Pokémon, and it wasn’t one to pull back from an opponent’s moves. It jabbed its horn right into Trevenant’s chest.

He took it.

And then his arms wrapped around its neck. He threw himself over its lowered head, and his roots jabbed into its back.

“No! Flare Blitz, quickly!”

Trevenant was burning. So was the Rapidash. Sam could see the glaze that seemed to come over his eyes.

This was stirring up the bad kinds of memories.

But Trevenant was not the same Pokémon he was back then. He’d been traveling with Sam, and he was on a team filled with friends.

His bark tore open for him to let out a horrible wail—a war cry. Roots and claws jabbing into Rapidash’s body, and though the move he used was resisted, it was boosted many times over from the energy he’d built with Growth.

Rapidash ran, burned itself, and tried to get Trevenant off, but it couldn’t. Rolando couldn’t exactly return his Pokémon either with Trevenant on the Rapidash’s back. No matter how much it ran back and forth, it could not get him to fall, and his Horn Leech continued to drain it.

Eventually, its eyes rolled up, and it slid across the floor.

Funnily enough, the now-muddy field actually helped Trevenant, as Rapidash’s collapse sent him falling, and the mud put out his burn. Yet, despite all of that, he was burned yet healthy.

He picked himself up, dripping with mud, and his eye still pierced through the shadows that now covered him.

“Ch-Charmeleon,” Rolando said.

There was something about the fear in his voice that made Sam smile.

As a Pokémon so close to a Dragon, the Charmeleon did not back down from a threat, and it charged Trevenant with its claws glowing.

Rolando did not stop it.

Trevenant’s claw, wreathed in shadow, snapped out to grab its throat, and he threw it to the ground and drained it until it fainted.

“Venusaur,” Rolando said next.

His heavy, defensive Pokémon appeared on the field.

Trevenant was still healthy.

When the Vine Whip was called, Trevenant was already gone, and the Venusaur let out a horrible roar when Trevenant burst out of the shadow underneath it.

Being struck in its vulnerable stomach, Trevenant’s Phantom Force landed critically. The Venusaur coughed once before falling flat, eyes closing, and Trevenant dragged himself out from underneath.

That was that.

“I have never seen such an impressive turnaround in such an early match! Just like his bout in the preliminaries, Samuel Greyson sweeps through his opponent’s team! The battle is over!”

The referee called the match in Sam’s favor, of course, and Rolando seemed slightly stunned before returning his Venusaur. He had earned all eight Gym Badges only to be crushed just like that.

Sam had established himself as a threat in his first battle, and now that was proven to not be a fluke here.

“Good battle,” Sam said.

“Good battle,” Rolando said, shaking Sam’s hand at the side to avoid the field’s mud. “You didn’t even get to experience my trick.”

“The Sleep Powder?”

“No. The Pokémon I used. I normally go with Grass-Water-Fire for a reason, but this time I went with Grass-Fire-Fire. I thought that was clever enough to catch you off-guard, and with that much light from the fire...” He let out a sigh. “It didn’t exactly work.”

Sam left the field after thanking Rolando for a good battle, and they both waved to the audience before disappearing in the tunnels below.

With this, Rolando was eliminated, and Sam was moving on to the next round later today.

...Except, he might have just revealed most of what Trevenant could do and just how aggressive he was now running his team. As much as it wasn’t a true reflection of his strategy, he had won, and future opponents would be more prepared.

Oops?

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Author Note:

I enjoy sweeps, but this is basically the last time Sam will be able to pull one off.

I’ll be using Victory Road trainers for Sam’s “random” battles, but Generation II lacks any trainers on Victory Road outside of the player’s rival. I’ll mostly be looking at the Kanto games’ trainers, specifically Fire Red and Leaf Green, as trainers are nameless in Gen I.

Pokémon (and people) included in this chapter:
Charmeleon
Ivysaur / Venusaur
Rapidash
Starmie
Victreebel
Wartortle

Charles Goodshow

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