Pokémon: Master of the Rain Team

”Forretress, Defense Curl and Rollout.”

Reiji was not going to give Slaking a free turn just because Truant had kicked in. If the opponent was lying there, Forretress was going to take the opening.

Forretress rolled straight into Slaking and sent it flying. With Truant active, Slaking could not fight back at all. It could only take the hit.

Another crash followed, and Slaking was knocked away again. This time, it immediately pushed itself back up. Truant had worn off.

”Slaking, Rest!” Tommy saw how exhausted Slaking looked and how many wounds it had taken. He also remembered that Rest could clear poison, so he immediately had Slaking sleep.

Slaking started dozing off. Reiji did not rush to attack. Toxic Spikes were still on the field. Even if Slaking woke up, it would just get poisoned again. The bad poison counter would reset, that was all.

”Forretress, Spikes.”

”For!” Forretress opened its black shell, revealing its dark eyes, and began spinning again. This time, it scattered Spikes.

If it also had Stealth Rock, that would have been perfect. Toxic Spikes, Spikes, and Stealth Rock together would leave anything coming in half-dead. At that point, the other side might as well stop playing.

”Damn it, again?” Tommy could only watch as Forretress set all three layers of Spikes.

The look on Tommy’s face said everything. Reiji’s dirty tactics had worn him down completely.

Three turns passed quickly. Slaking woke up right as Forretress finished setting Spikes, but the moment it stood, it stepped on Toxic Spikes and seized up.

Forretress had found enough time to add more Toxic Spikes right under Slaking’s feet.

”Damn it! Slaking, Flamethrower!”

”King!” Slaking had just healed with Rest, only to wake up poisoned again. Naturally, it was furious. It roared at Forretress and spat out flames.

The roar startled Forretress for a second, but it immediately tucked back into its black shell. Slaking could yell all it wanted. It still could not hit it properly.

Forretress started rolling, and Flamethrower could not catch it. Even when the flames brushed the edge of its shell, they did no real damage.

Slaking’s strength was physical attack. Its Flamethrower came from the special side, so it was never going to do much to Forretress.

And the only physical Fire-type move Slaking knew was Fire Punch. Did it still dare use that? Had its face not hurt enough already?

The battle dragged on like that until bad poison finally finished the job. Slaking collapsed and lost the ability to battle.

”Come back, Slaking.” Tommy’s eyes went dull as he recalled it. Reiji’s dirty tactics had beaten him down hard enough to leave him dazed.

He had thought the gap between them was not that big. He had watched Reiji’s earlier matches too. Aside from Poliwhirl, the rest of Reiji’s Pokémon had not looked that amazing. Everyone kept calling him a dark horse, but Tommy had thought it was ridiculous.

Before the match, he had planned to beat that dark horse himself and prove he was the real surprise of the Indigo Plateau Conference.

Instead, Toxic Spikes alone had left him helpless. His team’s weakness was too obvious when he only used Normal-types. Once Pidgeot and Snorlax were gone, Reiji pulled him around by the nose.

His fifth Pokémon was another Normal-type.

Tauros.

”Moo!” Tauros appeared and had not even managed to Intimidate Forretress before it stepped on Toxic Spikes. Purple light flickered over its body as poison drained its HP.

Then Spikes cut into it too, taking away another quarter of its HP.

It was half-dead the moment it entered.

”Damn it! Tauros, Double-Edge!”

”Moo!” Tauros let out a loud cry, pawed the ground, and charged at Forretress with everything it had.

Reiji yawned.

Had this kid already forgotten the pain?

With Forretress’s natural physical defense, plus six stages of boosts, its physical defense was probably over a thousand by now.

With those ridiculous defenses, Reiji felt only defense-ignoring moves like Curse could reliably beat his Forretress.

Being invincible really was lonely.

Why isn’t Forretress moving? Wait…

Tommy suddenly calmed down, and his brain started working again. It was probably Counter.

”Tauros, stop! Stop now!”

But Tauros had already charged too hard. It could not stop in time and slammed straight into Forretress, only to be blown back by Counter.

Boom.

Tauros hit the ground, and the poison flared again. The second tick of bad poison was enough to knock it out. Its level was clearly not that high if it could not even take one Counter.

”Come back, Tauros.” Tommy recalled it and took out his last Poké Ball.

His strongest partner.

Kangaskhan.

”It’s Kangaskhan! Contestant Tommy has no way to clear Spikes and is down to his final Pokémon. Can Kangaskhan turn this match around?”

”Well…” Reiji smiled helplessly. For a second, he thought he had made the kid cry.

He had not expected Toxic Spikes to work this well, and he definitely had not expected Tommy to have only one Pokémon that could clear hazards.

Technically, he had two answers. Snorlax was immune to Toxic Spikes, and Pidgeot could clear them with Defog. Unfortunately for him, both were already out.

Destroying the field was one way to deal with hazards.

But why would Reiji tell him that?

”Kangaskhan…” Tommy did not know what move to call. He also did not want Kangaskhan to get hurt.

”Kan!” Kangaskhan gave him a thumbs-up, telling him not to take it too hard. It urged him to keep fighting. It would always stand with him.

Toxic Spikes did not care about their bond, but Kangaskhan did not show any pain. It endured the bad poison without a sound.

”Kangaskhan, even if we can’t win, we’re finishing this match!” Tommy burst into tears. His fighting spirit reignited as memories of his life with Kangaskhan rushed through him. ”Kangaskhan, Mega Punch!”

”Tch.” Reiji suddenly felt like the villain bullying a child. He waved at Forretress. ”Roll around. Don’t let it hit you.”

”For!” Forretress tucked back into its shell and rolled around the field like a tire. Kangaskhan could not get a clean hit on it.

If Tommy had not started crying, Reiji would have ended this with Counter. But the kid was already in tears, and using Counter now felt a little rude. He could let him have this last stretch.

The match ended without much suspense. Even when Kangaskhan finally caught Forretress, its Fire Punch still could not break through the shell. In the end, Kangaskhan ran out of HP and fainted.

”Kangaskhan is unable to battle! The winner of this semifinal is Contestant Reiji! Congratulations to Contestant Reiji for advancing to the finals!”

The crowd erupted.

”Dark horse! Dark horse! Dark horse! Reiji! Reiji! Reiji!”

The audience did not care how deep Tommy’s bond with Kangaskhan was. Reiji had won the semifinal, and the stadium cheered for him.

Not everyone joined in, of course. Many locals were furious. They called Reiji dirty, saying he had bullied a child with cheap tactics and knocked out Kanto’s last seeded contestant.

Reiji could only shrug. He took Eevee and stepped off the platform, disappearing into the competitors’ tunnel under the roar of the crowd.

He changed his appearance in secret and headed to the Pokémon Center. If the reporters wanted to block him again, too bad.

Why didn’t he accept interviews?

Simple.

He did not like them.

That was enough.

Fame did nothing for him right now. It would only get in the way.

Once he became an Elite Four-tier Trainer, he would not mind being famous. At that level, reputation could open doors. The fame from the Indigo Plateau Conference’s baby tournament was not enough to be worth the trouble.

Once the Group B semifinal ended, the big screen displayed Reiji and Reggie’s portraits. That would be the final battle. Tomorrow, everyone would know who this year’s Indigo Plateau Conference Champion was.

People were already talking about today’s match and looking forward to tomorrow. Most of them agreed that Tommy had lost in the most frustrating way possible, all because he had no way to deal with Toxic Spikes.

One Forretress had swept five of his Pokémon. And that Forretress was terrifying. It was not even afraid of fire. No one knew how Contestant Reiji had raised it.

While everyone was busy talking, Reiji had already reached the Pokémon Center.

At the Pokémon Center, Reiji handed Butterfree’s and Forretress’s Poké Balls to Nurse Joy.

Butterfree would have to withdraw after treatment. The finals were tomorrow, and it definitely would not recover in time.

Forretress depended on its condition. It had swept five Pokémon today and had not really been injured, but it had used up a lot of HP. Even if it could not make the finals, that was fine.

Reiji still had five main Pokémon untouched: Pelipper, Poliwhirl, Kingler, Rhydon, and Accelgor. Gyarados and Slowpoke had also recovered enough to fight tomorrow.

He still had one extra slot to work with, which was better than he had expected. Butterfree and the others reaching Advanced tier had made his tactics much more flexible.

There were only two Pokémon to treat today, so the process was quick. After collecting them, Reiji returned to the competitors’ village with Eevee. This time, Blaine did not ambush him at the door. Maybe the old man had something else to do.

The main cafeteria was almost empty. Reiji ate dinner, then went back to his room to rest.

Tomorrow was the final match. After his Pokémon finished eating, he told them all to sleep well. The Indigo Plateau Conference would end tomorrow.

His final opponent was Reggie, and Reiji had already researched him thoroughly. He had watched more than one of Reggie’s matches.

Like Reiji, Reggie had many main Pokémon, and several of them were close to quasi–Elite Four tier.

First was his Sinnoh starter, Torterra. That was absolutely his strongest force.

Next was Electivire, another clear mainstay.

Then there was Garchomp, which had become famous during the tournament. A pseudo-legendary’s reputation was not for show, and it could never be underestimated.

Aside from those three, Reggie also had Abomasnow, Drapion, Gyarados, Aggron, Ursaring, Onix, Camerupt, and more.

Every one of those was a heavyweight. At minimum, they were all level 50 or higher.

According to public records, Reggie had been a Trainer for at least three years and had traveled through several regions. He had at least ten main Pokémon.

Reiji had found that information by searching through the internet, checking Reggie’s past tournament records, and combining it with A.J.’s information.

For someone like Reggie, entering the Indigo Plateau Conference really was bullying children. That was not an exaggeration.

Reiji’s strongest Pokémon, Poliwhirl, was only level 52. Most of his others were around level 50. Facing an opponent like this in the finals, he would be lying if he said there was no pressure.

He had reached the finals, but he had already lost one main Pokémon. Reggie, on the other hand, still had all ten of his main Pokémon available. That alone showed how strong he was.

Against Reiji, Reggie had more room for error, while Reiji had less.

With that many Pokémon available, guessing which six Reggie would bring would not be easy. Reiji could only adapt once the match began.

After all this training, Accelgor had finally learned Rain Dance. It had already learned Double Team and Toxic before the tournament began.

[Accelgor (shiny)]

[Type: Bug]

[Gender: Male]

[Potential: 64%]

[Level: 45.21%]

[Ability: Hydration/25.23%][Hidden Ability: Unburden/18.13%]

[Moves]

Bug-type: [(Bug Buzz/33.34%) (Leech Life/34.23%) (Struggle Bug/16.53%)]

Normal-type: [(Protect/38.14%) (Recover/22.82%) (Baton Pass/16.62%) (Quick Attack/15.22%) (Double Team/11.72%)]

Grass-type: [(Absorb/26.11%) (Mega Drain/30.42%) (Energy Ball/18.14%)]

Poison-type: [(Acid/33.27%) (Venoshock/15.21%) (Toxic/5.43%)]

Psychic-type: [(Rest/18.12%) (Agility/13.42%)]

Other: [(Hidden Power Electric/41.23%) (Mud Shot/37.22%) (Rain Dance/7.91%)]

Reiji had not checked Accelgor’s panel in more than twenty days. Its potential was unchanged, but its level had risen by three. At level 45, it was still far behind Reggie’s Pokémon.

But Accelgor’s level was not the most important thing. As long as it had reached Advanced tier, that was enough. Its first job in battle was to survive.

That depended heavily on its two Abilities. Hydration could clear status conditions, while Unburden could boost its Speed. Both were useful.

Accelgor had been training all this time. After learning Rain Dance, it had practiced running through the rain and dodging attacks from the other Pokémon.

Aside from the two new moves, its other move mastery had not risen much. Most of its time had gone into learning those new moves.

That was fine. Its job was to kite the opponent. As long as it did not get caught, speed would handle the rest.

Reiji closed Accelgor’s panel and lay on the bed with Eevee in his arms, thinking about tomorrow’s match.

The only Pokémon he had not used yet were Pelipper and Accelgor. It was finally time to send them in.

After the tournament, he would still need Pelipper to recover before they could return to the Orange Archipelago. Otherwise, he would not have a way to travel. To avoid serious injury, it would be better to use Pelipper mainly for weather support.

As Reiji thought about how to face Reggie and his ten heavy main Pokémon, sleep slowly took him.

Dratini was too young to help. The Pokémon tied to his other identity could not be used. Pelipper would mostly support from the back.

Tomorrow’s match would come down to the other five.

No matter what happened, he had made it this far.

He would give it everything he had.

[End of chapter]

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