Anthony wasn't able to celebrate his first victory in an official tournament, or rather, he was unwilling to do so as he saw how worried his and his friend's Pokemons are about Pikachu as well as Mary herself. It was one thing to theoretically know that all Pokemons are more durable than humans, who will probably start to bleed out and die when they are not tended to immediately after their heads are bashed into the ground; however, seeing the real thing is still different. The shaken, pained eyes that immediately turned blank and seemingly disconnected from its brain, and not to mention the fact that Pikachu got hit by Bide at point-blank range, would make anyone worried, even though they are most likely to shake off after a few hours.
_Even Miltank is regretting its moves..._
As Anthony looked at Mary, who was hugging Pikachu while crying, he also glanced at Miltank, that seem to not to even dare to look at its friend and instead looked at Anthony. Its eyes were teary and seemed to be asking its trainer what to do if something bad happened to Pikachu. Seeing this, Anthony sighed, immediately understanding that Miltank regretted its instinctual and perfect execution of the plan they had.
Anthony, who doesn't need to kneel down, hugged Miltank and patted its back, knowing the feeling of being drowned by the adrenaline of being able to battle seriously. Miltank buried its face into the shirt of Anthony before making a dragged-out 'Miiii' sound, while a wet feeling was felt by its trainer in his shirt.
"Shh... shh... Pikachu will be fine..."
This scene caused the crowd to go quiet as Anthony soothed the emotions of the other Pokemons until the medics were able to ready their stretchers for the pokemons who didn't have Poke Balls yet. After another round of coaxing, Miltank was successfully put on a stretcher alongside Pickachu while Zubat, Treecko, Skitty, and even Mary's dad's Arcanine are in tow.
Interns who have done their battle can enter and observe how the healing process of the Pokemons differs when a Pokémon has a Poké Ball and when it doesn't. Anthony still stayed to coax Mary to go to their side, and the little girl, still crying silently, nodded when Anthony did so.
Anthony sighed in relief that he didn't need to deal with a crying child; however, he couldn't help but look at his mom and Mary's dad, that are at the two opposite sides of the spectator's bench. The two are not doing anything and are just looking at each other in silence. Actually, Anthony can feel the stare of Glen, his mom, and future Elite 4 Karen, too.
Though he chose to ignore them.
_Why are these parents not consoling their children and want me to do it instead... I'm hurt because my Pokémon is crying, too, you know..._
____________
Karen played with her silver hair as he watched the two children vacate the premises. For a moment, she also looked at the panelists at the front of the spectators' area, that are scribbling on their clipboards for a moment before passing them to Prof. Oak. She then sighed.
"That girl really messed up. While the strategy of incapacitating one of Miltank's arms is a good one for her apparent personality, which is definitely not derived from you, she or Pikachu is still not mature enough to pull off a victory using such a strategy. I still stand on using the clock to get a victory by technicality rather than betting on her Pokémon to outspeed a ranged Bide."
While Karen shook her head, Hana nodded at this. This is because of a very simple principle: Hana is not very good at strategies as a child and just learned how to incorporate logic in her recklessness as she grew up, while Mary definitely knew what she was doing and needed to stop copying anyone, or else she would just fail herself.
While thinking of this, Karen looked at Hana.
"I do wonder, though, what your son would likely do if Mary used the alternative tactic."
Hana shook her head at this again.
"You seem to be underestimating my son with that tone. I'm sure he will find a way, for example, he can still make Miltank catch Pikachu's tail while in Rollout, and then instead of Bide use two headsmashes to make Pikachu fall into unconsciousness. Though it would be very hard to pull off, I can at least see Anthony try this."
Karen smiled at this while looking at the two Pokemons that are now fighting, the butterfly of Kanto and the butterfly of Hoenn: Butterfree and Beautifly, as their trainers were instructed on the whats and whys of the battle.
"And Miltank will cry harder if it succeeds."
_________________
The panelists with their lab coats scribbled in the designated boxes where they put their personal comments, all of them were scribbling on it seriously. Unlike other rookie tournaments, this one is for kids who have been eyeing to be a field researcher and, of course, know that they need to be strategic while also being strong in battles against Pokemons, which is why they have to give lots of comments on the strategies and how they should be improved.
So far, they were very satisfied with the two kids, named Anthony and Mary, and their bond with their Pokemons. However, of course, the experienced trainers that they are (despite their main profession as associate field researchers), they still have some thoughts on the two kids who have fought.
In the notes of their evaluation sheet, Prof. Oak was reading some of the comments.
"Apparently, these two children are the closest to the 'throneless champions': Ma'am Hana and Sir Ben Dover... However, I feel like the Mary kid is forcefully making herself command Pokemons like Ma'am Hana; she should work on stopping herself from thinking that she can be someone else."
"The kid Anthony most of the time commands Pokémon like Sir Ben Dover; however, he can't see his mother's genes being ignited once the battle became too exciting, causing him to ignore his surroundings. While this is not bad, as having similarities with his father and mother is normal, he should be able to strike a balance on this matter."
Prof. Oak chuckled a little at this as he shook his head.
_Hana's influence is seen as the villain here... though I can understand because it's hard to be as reckless yet as successful as her, this is not a TV show after all, so most of the time Hana will find herself being an exception to the rule..._
This is also not to mention that Hana can somehow still strategize properly when given the situation that she really needs to do so... one can see why no parent wanted their child to have such a personality, as it would only lead to dysmorphia and may even harm the development of their child.
_Anthony... as expected, has potential, but in order to fully realize it, he has to be able to curb himself down._
Prof. Oak sighed, remembering the time when Anthony ignored all of the raging sounds of an impending stampede in the Viridian forest, and the matter just now where Anthony forgot that there's a time limit.
_Well, that wouldn't be my problem._
__________________
Similar to the critiques, Anthony also started to analyze his own performance.
_I really need to do something about my impulses... how can I train a battle-ready Miltank into becoming disciplined enough to be able to know the needs on how to win a battle, and can't even control myself to be able to do the same... this is becoming a huge shame..._
Anthony can't help but sigh as he looks at Mary, who has already fallen asleep on his shoulder from all the crying she has done. Anthony, however, didn't feel any embarrassment because of the natural phenomenon that his true age is already pushing 30, though he still feels the annoying stares from his mother, his friend Karen, Glen, and Glen's mom, as well as Mary's father. He really can't do anything about their attitude lest he wants to get into a mental hospital.
Ignoring them, Anthony continued his self-analysis.
_This has gone so bad that I forgot that my Pokemons are still a child... though I really can't do anything about that, I still have to be reminded that not because Miltank is able to run a fade in the Viridian Forest, it will also be able to fight its friends without remorse... if you think about it, Miltank kind of have the same problem as me and I honestly doesn't have any solution to it..._
Anthony, who knew that only maturity could fix his unconscious fixation on making battles as long as possible, sighed. Though he does wonder if his mom even had such a problem.
_I reckon that she's the type of person that will have attitude problems as a kid... wow, I hope my mom can't read minds._
Wiping off the thoughts about his mom, Anthony then delved into his strategies.
_Hmm... in terms of strategies, it's good to say that I'm lucky that Mary idolizes my mom as that stubbornness in incapacitating the sides of Miltank can very well be expected from her, this allowed me to pull off some kind of deceit and make Mary and Pickachu focus on the 'use belly as a shield' part rather than the part where they're loading Bide and making Miltank observe the pattern of Pikachu's attack and retreat so as to time the catching of the tail of Pikachu._
In this regard, Anthony already realized that his answer if Mary ever used the clock and strived for a unanimous decision victory would be the same: catching Pikachu's tail and then smashing it to the ground until it fainted. This would cause Miltank and company to be sad like the ones before, but that's the only way Anthony can counter a very fast Pokémon.
Also, if Mary really is patient enough to use the clock as her weapon, then the chances of the 'catch Pikachu's tail' command succeeding are slim, and Anthony might need to make Miltank hurt itself to make a final struggle of using Bide to land a serious hit on Pikachu.
In this regard, Anthony is quite shocked.
_I'm so close to losing despite having a very talented Pokémon... I really have to get better, Pokémon battles here are not turn-based, after all..._
As Anthony swore to be a better trainer and make sure that his emotions would be properly kept in check, Mary woke up and was fetched by her dad and his Arcanine, seemingly to cheer her up. Anthony looked at such a scene before looking at the two trainers that were already at it with their Butterfree and Beautifly, respectively.
The two Pokemons started to spew out spores of all kinds while also using Gust to make them dance in the air.
_That would be a bother to clean later..._
_______________
In the guest room of the Kanto Region's Pokémon Lab, a paper bag is shuffling continuously as if something or someone is inside it. Not only that, the 'something' inside the bag seemed to be anxiously looking at the old woman in front of it, who was sewing a hole in the backside of a dirty yellow cloth that resembled one of the most beloved Pokémon in the world: Pikachu.
"Mimikyuumikyuuu..."
Mimikyu, the disguise Pokémon, looked sadly and apologetically to its trainer, Elite 4 Agatha.
"Good grief, I said it's fine, stop saying sorry, this sort of thing happens often."
Agatha sighed, her voice not as hoarse and unfriendly as she coaxed Mimikyu to stop apologizing. This attitude is inherited by all Mimikyus that are rare in the Kanto region due to a prolonged time of inability to find human companions due to their so-called heinous look.
For Agatha, however, all of the humans who have died of a stroke or heart attack are just weaklings, because she personally has seen the appearance of Mimikyu multiple times, and the worst that happened to her is a moderate case of astigmatism. And all of these 'sightings' happened in her elderly life.
_Those weaklings even made Mimikyu develop an ability that enables it to create a cloth out of pure silk to create a Pikachu impersonation rag doll._
Just as Agatha was blaming old people older than her, several Ghost-type Pokémon such as Gengar and its evolution Ghastly and Haunter, as well as the Ghosts of Hoenn like Duskull and Dusclops. All of them received an apology from Mimikyu that they didn't dare ignore; they glanced at their trainer with seriousness.
Agatha, as an Elite 4, doesn't need any words from her Pokemons as she sighed.
_What in the world is Oak doing letting those insufferable lots enter his lab..._
After mocking her ex... rival, ex-rival, Agatha put the already mended Pikachu rag cloth in front of Mimikyu that's inside a paper bag, the Pokemon happily jumped into it and after a series of shuffling sound, Mimikyu, with its iconic Pikachu imitation look emerged from the bag and jumped towards Agatha, who caught it with tenderness whilst pushing her license and a note inside the cloth of Mimikyu.
"Apprehend all of them and protect Hana's child. If your or his safety were compromised, use force."
Mimikyu and co. knew what this meant: As long as the targets are not dead, everything under the sun is acceptable.
_These people are really lucky Hana knows that one wrong move of hers can implicate the career of her son in the future..._