I picked up Nautilus and walked back to my room at the Center. Professor Sycamore's tips weren't exactly radical or impactful, but there were two things he said that took up my mental capacity.
"Do not hyper-focus on battle training. Physical conditioning is important for every Pokémon, even the more stationary ones. Speed, attack, defense, special attack, and special defense, for lack of better terms, need to be trained outside of battle," he'd said. He didn't tell me how to do it, but just knowing it made me feel better since I felt I was already on the right track with Tetsu's Gravity.
"Spend quality time with your team. The training is important for their physical health, but they are more than battlers. Their emotional and mental well-being is crucial in helping them manage the stress of battling and recovering. No one likes to feel used, and they will perform better when they can trust you to take care of them after the battle."
That one gave me pause. Since I started my journey out of Santalune City, I hadn't actually played or had fun with the team. Most of our traveling was spent training and preparing for the tournament. As I walked, Nautilus floated over to my head, taking his spot and settling in. I felt the warm energy of his Psychic meditation wash over my scalp.
"I missed ya today, buddy," I told him. It made me think of Nova. I hadn't spent much time getting to know her. If I kept that up… 'Yeah, I see what Professor Sycamore means.'
"Unfortunately, we still have to battle," I told him, reaching up to rub his mantle. "Not for the rest of today, though. We got lucky. But you missed out on a lot."
I explained the lightning round, told him about Luciana's Sableye, and shared my propaganda against Alain. He listened intently, making faces and sounds of shock as I talked. I loved the little squid.
Once we were back in the center, I released Nova and Tetsu, letting them settle into their spots. Tetsu bounded over to the bed, rolling to trap herself in the blankets. Nautilus settled onto the couch, using his improving telekinesis to manipulate the remote and find the Ninetales cartoon. Nova, on the other hand, just stood in the middle of the kitchen.
"Nova," I called out. She turned to me, waiting for me to continue. "You can do whatever you want."
She cocked her head to the right. "Fu?"
"We're not training tonight," I told her. "So, we're just gonna relax tonight. Everyone else already has something they like to do. I'm going to make dinner. You can find something to do for yourself while you wait."
We stared at each other for a while before she just… sat on the floor. I wanted to laugh, but that would have been rude. "Do you want to help me make dinner?"
She perked up immediately. 'Huh. Hopefully, this goes better than Nautilus' attempt.'
I felt a pressure in my head, which often originated from one particularly angsty source. Turning to see Nautilus glaring at me.
"Get fucked, you squid.'
He huffed in annoyance and grumbled as he focused on his show again. I chuckled to myself and faced Nova again.
"Alright, I'm planning on making some chili tonight. Do you want to choose the ingredients?"
She nodded enthusiastically. I pulled out all the ingredients I thought would go well in a chili. Cheri Berries, red and black beans, onion, garlic, ground Tauros meat, peppers, tomato sauce, Tamato Berries, corn, salt, several spices, and Dolliv oil. Nova sniffed around the ingredients, pawing some toward me. Once she sniffed each ingredient at least three times, Nova excluded the Cheri Berries, garlic, tomato sauce, corn, and one spice.
I stared at her. "Thank you for choosing the ingredients, but for this to come out well, we need the garlic and tomato sauce. I'll need to add them."
"Co," she huffed, giving me a single nod.
"Awesome. Let's get cooking."
I preheated a pan, adding oil and the ground Tauros meat. Nova grabbed a wooden spoon to stir the meat as I started chopping, going for a fine dice on everything except for the Tamato Berries. As I chopped and the meat browned, I started adding ingredients. Once the stock was in, I set the heat to low and left it alone.
"Thank you, Nova," I said, looking at her. Her breaths were just slightly deeper than normal. "Cooking can get intense, so I'm glad I had your help."
Nova closed her eyes and smiled. Seeing her, I couldn't help but smile too. She cracked an eye open, saw me smiling at her, and immediately made a sour face and growled. I rolled my eyes at her. "Whatever, you little shit. Dinner will be ready in an hour or two. You can take a nap until then. You must be tired from all of those battles."
The moment I said nap, Nova hobbled over to the bed and joined Tetsu.
*BZRRRT*
*BZRRRT*
*BZRRRT*
I grabbed my phone and opened the text from Mitchel, who'd added me to a group chat with an unknown number.
[Mitchel: hey, u seen the video?]
[Mitchel: VID_crash_out_cathy_12.mp4]
[Mitchel: 1 of us is going to fight her]
I clicked on the video link. It took me to a PokéBase forum, f/crashouts, and a video started playing. A Drilbur broke out of the ground and slammed into a Riolu from underneath. The Drilbur's claws glowed silver and slashed across the Riolu's chest. Riolu's Trainer, a blonde teenager, hurled colorful insults at her opponent and her Drilbur. The blonde Trainer was so furious, she started foaming as she screamed.
[Unknown ID: omg yeah i did see that]
[Unknown ID: she's not the best battler, but she's a menace with her insults]
[Unknown ID: this is Luciana btw]
[Luciana: the matches are out now dont let her crash out surprise you]
I watched the video again. The blonde's explosive outburst startled both Trainer and Pokémon, allowing her Riolu to set up an Agility and get the upper hand. My phone then vibrated again. It was a message containing details about my match tomorrow. We were close to the end of the tournament, and I'd made it to the top sixteen. And, just as Luciana said, I was going up against the blonde Trainer from the video, Cathy Dupree from Driftveil City. If I won, I'd battle either Luciana or a Trainer named Aubrey.
I tapped on Cathy's profile, seeing two Pokémon. She had a Riolu and a Lombre, a Lombre she hadn't used outside of her Gym Battles with Grant and Korrina. As we ate dinner, I watched her Gym Battles and whatever other battles she had posted to her PokéBase account.
Her Riolu was fast, preferring to use fast attacks like Quick Attack, Bullet Punch, and what the match captions called Vacuum Wave. Based on her battles, Riolu definitely had Inner Focus as an ability. When I mentioned that to Mitchel and Luciana, they both replied Prankster was highly likely as a second ability.
Her Lombre's moveset consisted of Leech Seed, Bubble Beam, Bullet Seed, Icy Wind, Mega Drain, Synthesis, Rain Dance, and, surprisingly, Fire Punch. It was clear that she was training Lombre to be a tank, especially with Rain Dish and Own Tempo as possible abilities. However, she only used Lombre during Gym Battles and always sent them out first, leaving Riolu to clean up whoever was left. It was a sound strategy, but I had plenty of battles to study her.
At least, compared to me. I only had three recorded battles: my Gym Battle with Viola, the battle against a Team Flux grunt, and one of my tournament battles. And I hadn't used Tetsu in an official match yet. I looked at the match details, grinning widely.
˹ Match 3: Marco Pérez Vs Catherine Beaufort ˺
Location & Time: Vert Plaza @ 7am
˻ Format: Singles – Full Teams ˼
'Oh, hell yeah.'
"Alright everyone, let's relax before we kick some ass tomorrow."
0-0-0-0-0
"The format is a 3-versus-2 singles battle. Switches and items are not allowed!"
Today was Tetsu's first battle against a Trainer's Pokémon. I wasn't expecting her to steamroll or even beat Lombre, but she was integral to my plan. It would fall apart immediately if Lombre could move around with that Fire Punch. But that's why I had Nova and Nautilus to fall back on.
"Are both Trainers ready?" the Sycamore Labs' research assistant called out. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her.
"To kick some butt? Always!" Cathy shouted.
"Ready," I replied.
"Begin!"
"Go, Lombre!" / "Time to shine, Tetsu!"
We released our Pokémon at the same time. Tetsu shuddered involuntarily, reminding me about Lombre's Fire Punch. Cathy's faced immediately twisted into a scowl.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" she screamed. Her Lombre rolled his eyes before narrowing at Tetsu. "Of course you're using a completely new Pokémon, asshole!"
I couldn't stop myself from snorting in amusement as she stomped on the floor. Her Lombre sighed in resignation. I used the opportunity as well as I could.
"Leech Seed. Stealth Rock. Spikes."
Tetsu fired immediately. The surprise attack was too quick for Lombre, who didn't even notice the Leech Seed until after Stealth Rock and Spikes were on the field as well. She only fired off two layers of Spikes before Cathy realized what I was doing.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Cathy cried. "Disqualify his cheating ass, ref!"
"The battle has already started," she answered neutrally.
"Acid Spray."
"Fuck you then, bitch ass ref! Lombre, fuck them up! Leech Seed, Rain Dance, Fire Punch that bitch!"
Lombre responded with a grunt before stomping around with their arms raised, creating a localized cloud of charcoal gray. Lombre then spat out some seeds and burst forward with more speed than I was hoping, dodging a hidden rock that appeared and shot toward them.
'Fuck, Swift Swim!'
"Gravity and dodge!" I instructed Tetsu. She reacted beautifully. Her daily practice with Gravity manifested in forcing Lombre to crash to the floor, the Fire Punch they held sputtering out as both Spikes and Stealth Rocks did their damage. Tetsu then used Metal Claw to create more distance, sending out another Acid Spray for good measure.
"Are you fucking kidding me!" Cathy screeched. "Get up right now! Oh my Arceus, you're fucking dead meat!"
She'd switched her focus from Lombre to me and Tetsu. "This is bullshit, you fucking hack! You think you're better than me? I'll show you!"
"Please refrain from any more cursing. Any more acts of un-."
Cathy pulled out Riolu's PokéBall and released her second Pokémon, who landed on several Spikes and got pummeled by Stealth Rocks. Cathy's face, which was already red, looked ready to pop as she belted at the top of her lungs, "FUCK THAT MARCO BITCH UP!"
Riolu nervously turned to Cathy, saw her face, and ran forward in fear. Before Riolu could take more than a few steps, a Mr. Mime appeared next to Cathy. The Psychic Pokémon scanned the field, eyes glowing a slight blue, and promptly teleported Cathy and her Pokémon somewhere.
"Catherine Beaufort is disqualified for breaking tournament rules and League laws. Marco Pérez is the winner!"
I stood there, frozen in place.
"What the fuck?"