gifplay_arrowgifgifPokéumans: re-lived part 1 "From parallel worlds" Chapter 8 "The inevitable tournament episode"“Lex, you are a dream manifester.” An awkward silence followed the revelation, with neither of us being sure how to continue. “So… what does that mean?” I asked. Kalleq continued. “Right, of course to you this means nothing without an explanation, alas it is a complex subject, it’ll definitely take multiple dreams to explain fully.” “Oh…” I exclaimed, disappointed. “Is there a problem, Lex?” Kalleq asked. I let out a defeated groan. “It’s just… I’m just so tired of never understanding anything about myself, this is what? The billionth time I’ve been told I have some condition thing that no one bothers to properly explain to me what it even is!!!” “Patience young pokéuman, I see that your frustrations are valid though, I promise that I will do my best for this to go differently from all those previous experiences, and, while I won’t get to go into all the details right now, we can still start.” ahem . “So, you remember what I had told you about the dream dimension?” I nodded, intrigued yet cautious. “Well, as I had told you, all pokémon draw their power from it, moves, abilities, everything that you could think of, which, in the most literal of terms means everyone is a dream manifester in some form or another, of course this isn’t what we’re referring to when people use the term “dream manifester”, tell me, young pokéuman, remember the wishing stars from generation 9?” “The weird meteorite things that gave you dynamaxing energy?” I replied. “Yeah, but what does that have to do with the dream dimension?” The shiny tox continued, “Of course, it’s hard to draw the connection with what the games provided, however do you ever wondered why they’re called wishing stars? Well, it was said in my time that the powerful surge of dynamax energy was so great it could grant your heart’s desire, which wasn’t too far removed from the truth, you see, while to the average pokeuman dynamax only cause a boost in their physical powers and abilities, hence the growth in size, when the energy was first discovered it was essentially a surge of wild and rampant energy, energy that seemed to be specifically linked to willpower and desire from a “leakage” of the dream dimension, and so the pokémon who needed to contain and harness it, got the legendaries, you can assume which specifically, to give certain pokemon the ability to harness the “desiral” energy from the dream dimension that was linked with what would go on to become dynamax energy.” This ability to harness dynamax came with side effects though, suddenly these special pokemon found their natural abilities would grow stronger according to the specific needs of themselves or others, like a genie, but only limited to what they were able to already do, for example if a pokemon needed a specific type of water, like say ocean water, a water type pokemon with this power could produce it, this gave them the reputation of wish granters, though as time went on and your ability became more clear and defined it became less impressive, downgrading from wish granting to dream manifesting, which is close enough.” I was about to ask several questions, but once again I could feel myself starting to wake up at the worst time possible “I will continue to explain these next few days young pokéuman, I promise to you I’ll make sure that you understand the situation you find yourself in eventually… just remain patient, and as a favour, try not to tell anyone.” “You better…” I said, before nodding. And then everything got bright… I woke up yet again to loud music I was hardly fond of blasting across the room, as the first weekend of my life as a pokéuman, I would’ve liked to have had the time to reflect on all of the insane changes that my life has gone through on such a short span, only two weeks ago I was an average, unskilled and unimportant kid and now I’m a creature from the biggest media franchise in the world. Unfortunately, due to both the rigid schedule of my “new home”, and my purposefully upsetting choice of roommates, I did not have the time to properly dwell on these thoughts as I was almost practically forced into keeping up with the routine by a crazed obstagoon who seemed to almost enjoy making me suffer in the slightest way possible, but it at the very least seemed like the lessons from the previous days have stuck as he left me alone slightly more than usual, not without some threatening glares of course. The four of us misfits walked towards the cafeteria, Demian and Dylan in front, occasionally intentionally shoving or tormenting passing pokéumans, while Gael and I were at the back trying not to draw attention to ourselves and communicating through sticky notes, with Gael occasionally scaring off passing humans to keep up with the other two. I couldn’t help but notice that he always pushed me aside and extended his wings in front of me whenever he did though, so I asked in a sticky note: “- Hey so like are u trying to draw attention away from me or smth?” “- A little bit.” “- You’re doing a lot for me, y?” “Cuz it’s clear you’ve gone thru a lot.” I guess I should give back the favour at some point, he’s being too nice to me. I thought to myself. “- Well, I appreciate it a lot, but u rlly are doing too much for me lol.” “- Eh, its whatever really, just glad I’m no longer just stuck with these idiots, I think demian had something planned for today so you wanna go hang out in the common area or like watch smth in the dorm?” “- sure, whichever u want tbh.” With that we finished talking and enjoyed our breakfast, we once again sat in a corner with a bunch of other dark and poison type mons who interacted a lot with dylan and demian, gael and I mostly just stayed stoic and didn’t draw attention to ourselves, I had gotten fried eggs over tortillas with ketchup and a side of refried beans, gael meanwhile got scrambled eggs with hot sauce and veggies. …these were still chicken eggs right? After coming back to our dorms and an uneventful period of us not doing much with a lot of tension in the air due to the new awkward dynamic of the four of us, eventually Demian and Dylan would go on to leave us alone inside the dorm, we chatted for a bit and we considered watching something on tv but we found ourselves with a lot of social energy, possibly from the past few days of just talking and talking about our interests so passionately, so eventually not being one to abandon plans I decided to ask him to show me the common floor, which he gladly accepted to do. “I’d like to be that person who shows you around the whole base, or at least what’s allowed, but I don’t really tend to go many places myself, I mainly just go to the arcade to get videogames and occasionally other stores for treats.” Gael explained as he glided across the halls, we had at first walked leisurely but eventually our excitement got the better of us and I started having to run to catch up with him across the paths. pant pant “What areas are we not allowed to go to?” I asked, my curiosity spiking. “The poison gym already felt like an unauthorized zone already, what could be worse?” “No, it’s not forbidden because of that, it’s basically just large storage areas that keep all our materials we obtain and you have to work there to be able to enter there, basically anything that would already need security in the real world, this is like a city after all, sure it’s a little different but we still have to rely on making sure everything is running smoothly, we do get to save on producing energy and a lot of prime materials though so that’s a plus.” Gael continued as we turned in different directions. “Slow down a little!” I said half-jokingly, in truth it wasn’t horrible to be going in such a fast pace, just because I’m not active doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy going on a run, but obviously keeping up with a creature that can glide around in the wind isn’t terribly enjoyable. “A-and how does work uh… work here exactly? Is everyone assigned a role based on our species?” I then asked, Gael seemed to slow down somewhat to think about the answer, which helped me catch up. “Well… there’s no real currency here, just kind of a general level of trust, most shop owners here are given basic general records of all the pokeumans registered here, nothing too intrusive as far as I know though I can’t say I fully trust it given our headmaster.” Gael elaborated with a lamenting tone. “Yeah…” I shrugged. “He wasn’t exactly great when I met him.” “He’s not the only one…” Gael continued, “But, regardless, since there is no currency, jobs here are essentially volunteer work based on abilities, skill, and more than anything passion, or just interest, it all works surprisingly efficiently all things considered, you’ll also notice that a lot of the people working these kinds of jobs are either not much older than us and barely in their 20s, or the few people in the base who are fully over 30, doing things that they lost their chance to do as humans, this is usually as people in the middle tend to be in the prt but luckily for both of us it isn’t obligatory.” He smiled with his comforting toothy grin. “I’d like to continue playing videogames competitively, maybe take a job as a maths teacher too, who knows.” I couldn’t help but smile back, though much less noticeably, and nod in agreement. “Yeah, me too, even as a human I always knew I had teaching English as a safe job to always fall back on” “You seriously gotta help me with English, Lex.” We continued talking, eventually made it once again to the main hall, I won’t bore you with the details of explaining it again but it’ll be impossible to give it justice, since it was a Saturday there was this tianguis going on, which for those who aren’t Mexican is kinda like a bazar or a market that’s set out in the open usually on the weekend and they sell pretty much everything fairly cheaply, though I think in here they just had them showing off personal creations and giving them away purely through bargains and trades, the variety of pokemon all walking and going on their days like could also not be understated, from a swanna haggling a golisopod to a group of an ursaring a comfey and a magneton chatting while chowing down on some tacos and other street food, everyone was talking about different things “You should totally break up with him he’s not good for you-“ “You’re not participating in the tournament tomorrow?-” “This isn’t water you produced, right?-” “Nah, I’m too exhausted but I’m definitely gonna watch it-” “Can’t wait for them to reveal who’s participating in the tournament!!-” “I wish I was a fire type so I could make glass this good-.” it was magical in how mundane it all was. Eventually we made it to another section that had various little businesses and shops, like a mall in a way and we made it to the arcade, which also seemed to double as somewhat of a videogame library where people would pick up copies and return them once they were done with it, Gael talked to me about some of his favourite video games, even giving me a few recommendations especially after I mentioned I had a steam account that I only really used to play undertale, we checked a few of the actual arcades present, stayed there for a bit and then just kinda walked around to see what we could find, we went to a candy store, came across an accessory store, even though we don’t wear clothes it does seem like there’s a lot of pokemon who choose to still have something to set them apart, dyes, jewlery, hats, etc. were all decently commonplace in the pokemon we came across, at some point we both stopped chatting due to tiredness but we didn’t really notice as we were simply content being with each other, I did find out Gael’s species is nocturnal yet he prefers being active during the day, a weird oddity he has that he couldn’t explain well, but in his case it could’ve helped the tiredness. We passed near the showers and bathrooms, where I learned about the sand showers ground types used and lava showers, gael excused himself and told me he wanted to take a brief wash, and adviced to not follow given... yeah, I could probably get one shot by a grain of sand, so I waited outside with my own thoughts circling back to my dream messenger’s words. “I’m a dream manifester… apparently.” “Hey Lex! Didn’t think I would see you again so soon!” Came from a familiar, jovial voice that I immediately recognized and could feel myself relax with. “Oh, hey Rodri! Why are you in the common area?” I asked, getting reintroductions done with. “Oh, just trying to get a gift for someone, don’t worry about it too much buuuut since we’re both here we could talk, I really hope things haven’t been bothering you too much, you seem to be enjoying pokeuman life all things considered.” “Y-yeah, I manage.” I was very close to telling him about all the fun I was having with Gael despite it all and everything I had learned from Kalleq but decided against it, neither would’ve liked it… but it was starting to prove too much for me to keep to myself. surely Rodri is trustworthy enough for me to tell him something “W-w-well, there is one thing I forgot to mention from yesterday about the unusual stuff… thing…” I gulped nervously, not even being able to look in his direction before continuing, not allowing him to inquire further before I was finished. “I have a… dream messenger um… I’m not sure if you recognize what that is.” I answered, only to be met by a sudden chuckle. “Oh! That makes sense, I already kinda had a feeling.” Said Rodri. “W-huh?!” “Of course I know what dream messengers are!! They’re fairly common nowadays!! Heck, a pal back at the prt had one, y’ remember the talonflame that tried to rescue you? Yeah, Angel had a bit of a heart attack when he had to deal with that on top of turning into a bird!” Rodri laughed, I was perplexed, however. “W-wait, they’re common? How come I’ve not heard about them at all then!! Shouldn’t I be warned?!” “Well, we can’t really do anything to study or stop them, they sometimes show up, talk to one person and suddenly, boom! They end up getting involved in an important event, always to the benefit of pokeumans so they’ve definitely become trustworthy enough not to worry about them, they usually just give out basic guidance and warnings though it seems…” Rodri suddenly thought for a moment, shifting tone to a more curious one “Lex, from the moment I saw you in pke’s chambers I knew there was something special about you, and if you have a dream messenger then it only proves my theory further because you see, according to prt records back when dream messengers were a lot more unheard of, pokeumans meeting one was because they were usually the holder of a special power all the way from the time of the pokemon world.” I jumped internally, he’s this close to figuring it out. “Of course, it has been a long, LONG time since we’ve heard any records of a pokeuman with special powers, but… like I said, I KNOW there’s something different about you Lex, do you have a special power?” Rodri inquired. I wasn’t sure how to react, and I immediately felt like I told him too much, he seemed to take the facts I was a dream messenger well but… should I trust him about my dream manifester status as well? Kalleq wouldn’t want me to… and it’s not like Gael would think any differently if he himself knew. “No. I do not.” I answered, gritting my teeth in fear. “Will… will you tell the prt?” I asked, my arms were shaking at this point and though I wouldn’t notice it my mohawk was flaring up and letting out sparks everywhere, I was expecting the worst and for Rodri to tell me that he understood but had to tell the prt because of his responsibility even though he swore he didn’t want to and- “I’ll see what I can do.” Rodri answered in a serious and formal tone. “T-thanks.” I said. Rodri smiled softly, “Look, we’ll figure it out as it goes along… oh! Right, I almost forgot, nurse Angelina wanted you to have more of this.” He then said, before handing me another bottle that I immediately recognised as the drink they gave me while at the prt hospital, unfortunately, it came with a fully unlabeled plastic bottle, it looked almost like apple-flavoured cola (those who get it get it) I almost immediately chugged it down and finished it. “Well, I better get going, remember Lex, stay strong and I’ll try to help if you need it.” Rodri said, back to his normal approachable demeanour before walking to an accessory shop, around the same time Gael left the showers. “Was that Rodri?” He asked. “Yeah, but he didn’t do much.” I replied, hopefully trying to defuse any tension “Guh, he’s way too close to the headmaster for my liking.” Gael said as he shook of a little bit of the dust he still had left. I don’t think that sounds right for hi- My train of thought was interrumpted as I felt the warm particles of sand hitting me. “OW!! OW!! GOD- ARCEUS, WATCH IT!!!!” “Oh crap I’m sorry I’m sorry it’s just I’m not used to coming here with someone… let alone someone four times weak to ground.” I was furious, but I merely sighed in irritation. “Look it’s fine just… yeah really be careful next time, I’m gonna take a shower myself, I can do that right? Washing off dirtiness isn’t gonna make me feel sick because I need to be around garbage or whatever?” I asked, trying to not think about any of what had just transpired. Gael shrugged. “As far as I know, it’s just water and you’ll be fine, plus you’re part electric type, you’re not made out of grime or rubbish like a muk or a garbodor.” “Somehow that sounds like it should be offensive.” I commented before shrugging off myself and heading to the showers, and yep, they were perfectly normal showers, I headed into one and showered, yup, showers, for showering, showers. As I felt the water and soap wash over me, I couldn’t help but sing to myself as the songs I listen to that I often have stuck in my head somehow sounded a lot clearer than usual, more than the conversations happening in real life, again, almost like I was wearing headphones, that didn’t mean I didn’t catch some of the murmurs thrown around though. “You really think Miguel isn’t winning this tournament?” Came from an indescribable voice (all of them male because well, yeah.)“Look, I’m sorry but a year-long streak is too ridiculous for it to continue this long, I get that he’s becoming this base’s hero and he’s super badass and shit but he has to lose at some point, hell, we don’t even know who’s in the tournament yet!” Hmmm… they sure are mentioning this tournament a lot, first Rodri now... everyone? I thought to myself as I dried myself off, interestingly, it was here that I finally noticed that I can turn my mohawk off as I hit a bald spot while drying my head, guess that’s how I’m able to sleep without electrocuting anyone. I met back with Gael, who was sitting beside a piercings and tattoos store, we noticed each other and started to walk back to our dorms, eventually striking conversations again. “Where are demian and dylan anyway?” I asked, curious as to why we are allowed this much freedom. “I don’t really want to know but…” Gael continued. “Do you know why I wanted to show you around today? It’s a pre-tournament Saturday and so with the hype there are a lot of people preparing themselves to watch in on Sunday so they want to take care of as much as possible today, so a lot of businesses are active including Demian who I am not involved with, but I am aware of having some… shady deals.” The gliscor explained, I immediately caught what he meant. “Seriously? Even here? I guess I wouldn’t be made fun of for my surname if we didn’t.” I sighed and decided to switch topic. “Wait actually I’ve been hearing a lot about this tournament and what’s all that about? Is it like a sports thing or whatever and are there famous athletes that do pokemon battles?” “No actually.” Gael explained, “pretty much anyone can sign up but the reputation of the tough fights and the thrill of battle is what scares away total newbies from it, plus some people don’t make it even if they sign up, they’re actually about to announce the participants in like a few minutes or so.” “Right.” We cut our conversation short as we had arrived at our dorm and Demian had returned from whatever shit he was doing, Dylan wasn’t here though which was odd, neither of us bothered each other as shortly after we entered an announcement from headmaster Nacho himself suddenly blared. “Good afternoon pokéumans of the desert of the lions base, I shall now announce the accepted participants of our bi-weekly tournament of the 23rd of October 2022, first off is America Navarro the Vibrava. “Yo Gael ain’t her the hot chick who humiliated you in your ground type class?” Demian chuckled. “Shut up!” Calmly replied Gael, keeping up his facade though I could tell it had been a struggle this time. “Miguel Resendiz the Lucario,” continued the announcement. “Boooooo, who wants to see an overgrown dog beat up everyone for 20th time this year!!!” Shouted Demian as he took a swig of a coke bottle. That name rang a bell, I suddenly found myself reminded of the conversation, so this Lucario guy is a big deal? Typical… “Mateo Tenorio the Furret, Chucho Aparicio the Archen, Lex Mota the low-key Toxtricity.” “WHAT!!!” I jumped. “HUH??!?!?!” Gael shouted as he glided into the air in surprised Demian spat out his drink. “NO FUCKING WAY!!!!!! No no no I knew you were dumb but this dumb?!?!?! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!” The obstagoon started laughing louder than a loudred like a maniac, drowning all the rest of the names announced. “Why did you sign up for the tournament?!!” Gael shouted at me. “I-I didn’t!!! I literally just found out about it today I swear!” I replied, adrenaline and confusion at max. “I-i-i…” Gael turned his head over to the hysteric obstagoon “Demian! Did you sign him into the tournament?!” “I wish I had!!” Laughed Demian. “Oh, Lex this is why you don’t cross me, you’re about to get what you deserve, ooh- imagine if they put you against that blue mutt it’s gonna be hilarious!” Gael and I looked at each other in worry, him briefly dropping the act, before we could add anything more we were suddenly interrupted by a knock to our door, all three of us rushed to open it with me surprisingly being able to squeeze to the front only to be greeted by the floating grin of- “Wassup Lex!! You’re entering the tournament too? Bro that’s pretty cocky for a newbie who sucks at charging your moves and can’t even- PHHMPH” a brown furred paw covered his mouth before he could continue. “Raúl!!” Screamed Itzel the tatsugiri as Litleo restrained Raúl who was desperately trying to break free. “Ugh, sorry Lex, we tried to stop him but-“ “HEY!!” Shouted Demian. “Get away from our fucking room, NOW!!!” the trio of pokemon ran back to their room but not before giving Demian a dirty look. Demian shut the door and turned his head with a murder-crazed grin towards me “You are going to be so dead tomorrow.” I looked at him in horror, I turned to Gael, not knowing what to do. “Well, I’m gonna go tell Dylan about this, Gael, you’re in charge of Lex for the moment.” The obstagoon said before leaving the dorm with a chuckle. “I-I can’t withdraw can i? not when the headmaster is involved…” “No, I don’t think you can, Nacho would never let you, if anything he’d probably take as much glee from it as Demian.” “Is he really that bad?” for some reason despite me not having any reason to disbelieve Gael I still found myself incredulous. “Maybe, I just really don’t like the guy, he hates any pokemon that looks dangerous and if he could he’d just let pokextinction deal with us, I remember I almost made it to the pokextinction base before I got rescued and I didn’t even get a full party…” “Yeah… things went hard for me as well, but I’d rather not talk about it.” I remembered how Alan never got rescued and well, he was turning into a dark type, he was also slightly older than everyone else in the facility. “It’s fine.” Said Gael somberly. “I’m starting to get sick of Demian, I know he’s the one who signed you up to this tournament to humiliate you and it’s just- GUH.” Gael hissed, literally, he hissed like a bug before catching himself. “Sorry, that was my pokemon side talking” “It’s fine, that’s probably normal for us now.” I said, letting Gael know I didn’t have a problem with that behaviour “I… don’t see why Demian would deny doing it though?” “Then Dylan probably did it for Demian, that stupid goblin, I don’t even know anything about him!!! He’s basically nothing more than Demian’s yes man I don’t even think he has a brain!! I’m just… I’m tired… I finally get along with someone normal and now he’s going to ruin your life, and probably mine right after because I just can’t take it anymore…” I approached my hand into his shoulder. “Do you wanna talk? I mean, I never planned on being viewed positively anyway so, who cares if some random toxtricity enters a tournament once and loses first round? And if things go better then great, it’s unlikely but we might as well y’know.” I spoke, smiling at him awkwardly. “You have a point.” Gael smiled back. “Again, sorry, it’s just been difficult, but if you’re gonna have no choice there I better try and help as much as I can.” “Right… so what exactly do you know about the tournament?” I asked. “Well, it has 4 rounds, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final, no matter how far you go you’re pretty much gonna lose the moment you fight Miguel the Lucario.” Gael explained “Is he really that strong? I overheard people talk about him a lot with really big claims.” Gael rolled his eyes. “Partly, he has won basically every tournament since he arrived earlier in the year, he’s got pretty much everyone kissing his feet and is treated like he’ll be the upcoming legend from the base of this generation though I think partly it’s because lucarios tend to be held on high regard due to many rumours regarding them, people keep treating them like they’re super rare even though like an eight of the base is Lucario.” “Huh… you’re right.” I found myself back to the times I’ve been outside the base with other pokemon, because while I mainly focused on the diverse amounts of species, on the back of my mind I did notice a lot of lucarios, there were male lucarios, female lucarios, shiny lucarios, oddly coloured lucarios, lucarios galore! “Still, no chance if you get him, it might honestly help you gain some sympathy if you end up facing him, hmmm, there are 16 participants, it’s all knockout rounds, unfortunately I couldn’t quite get all of them in the announcement… we’ll have to see tomorrow though I do have to ask one thing Lex.” “Huh?” “What’s with that eelektrik guy, he said he was also competing in the tournament, do you know him?” Gael asked curiously, by this point we were both sitting on the couch with gael swinging his tail around as it hovered near the floor. “He tries to talk to me during electric battle class but I-I really don’t care, apparently he’s our front door neighbour or whatever.” “Hmmm, could give you an advantage if you faced him since you’d likely be more familiar with his moves, your best bet could be facing a grass type, your worst bet besides mr. legend over here and I can fully witness to this, is America, you DON’T want to face her.” Gael elaborated, snapping his claw to emphasize his point. “Is she gonna shake off a sand bath harder?” I quipped. “Hey, I said sorry!” Gael and I laughed, it was a little jarring how one moment ago we were all so frustrated but, while I usually struggle going from one mood to another, in this case I didn’t feel uncomfortable, it was nice that we were able to lift each other up and I liked his company. The rest of the day passed, we had lunch and a light dinner cuz of the tournament and I went to bed thinking about all I’d gone through today. **I have a special power… maybe it’ll help me with the tournament? Rodri said dream messengers provide guidance so maybe Kalleq can help me with this, maybe this is what was meant to happen... ** “What seems to be troubling you young pokéuman?” I was back at the dream dimension, once again in that ethereal seemingly endless field landscape with my dream messenger standing in front of me. “Just… a lot of things happened today, and I think I might need your help with them, I found out some… interesting things.” I replied. “You see… I think you already know that I live with a bunch of bullies, and I believe one of them has signed me up to a tournament against my will and since I can’t really withdraw I was wondering...” “About your special powers?” “Yeah, actually, I-I told someone in the prt about our conversations and he told me dream messengers are apparently very common… I-I didn’t tell him about my powers though!!” I stated once I noticed kalleq’s surprised and worried expression as I explained. “H-he promised me he wouldn’t tell anyone, I hope.” “It’s understandable, a shame but within reason, and he’s not wrong, dream messengers have become somewhat of a casualty these days, of course, your powers do make our situation more special than that…” The shiny toxtrcity seemed to think for a moment. “I think you did well in confiding this with me, I can sense that you’re not a battler but luckily for you dream manifestation can help you during it, after all it’s little more than an enhancement to your normal abilities as is.” “Right, right, but I don’t even know how to channel this ability, I struggle with my own moves as is!” “Well, I don’t think I can promise to train you to a fully experienced fighter in just one night, especially with how short these dreams are, but I can give you one very important tip.” Kalleq said, I tilted my head in curiosity. “At the end of the day, your ability is all about desire, it’s about willpower and a need to fulfil something in specific, I can advice you to focus headfirst on every attack you want to pull off and not into something more abstract like just winning, probably try to strategize and figure out what you need the most for each battle.” He added. “Right, that… that just sounds like general battle strategy though.” I mentioned incredulously. Kalleq looked apologetic. “Right, right, it’s the best we can do under the circumstances, however it should still help you with your moves regardless, but if you want help with your powers specifically, I’d say pay attention to your hands.” I tilted my head again but eventually decided to turn my face at the palm of my hands, I could barely make out a blur before suddenly I was flashed by a bright white light waking me up. The next day started a bit differently from our usual routine, instead of being woken up by loud trashy music I was gently woken up by…. Demian? “Wake up sleepyhead, people are looking for you.” He said with a grin, Gael standing beside him with an unreadable expression. The door knocked and so I stood up, groggily, tried to make myself presentable as quickly as possible (the shower yesterday helped though) and opened the door to find a monferno and a watchog in front, tasked with leading me to train for the tournament, only I was allowed to go so I bid farewell to Gael and the others so they wouldn’t suspect anything. The duo of pokemon led me through a couple of hallways and stairs before eventually letting me inside a secretive door on the opposite end of the stadium room. Inside I found myself in a small training gym with all 16 participants chatting alongside each other, including… “Yoooo it’s Lex!!! About time he got here!” Came in from the voice I now found irritating of Raúl the eelektrik, immediately after everyone else started talking and mumbling with each other. “Is that the newbie?” “Has he even had a battle before?” “How long has he been in here?” “I’m from the prt I don’t even recall what search party got him.” It was uncomfortable, as I walked the whole way through the entrance eventually making it to a bench, everyone had stopped dead in their tracks to glare at me, in indescribable ways, aside from one who glared at me in a seemingly much more amicable, yet for different reasons terrifying manner. “Wassup man, I had no idea you’d enter a tournament this early?” said Raúl “Shut up, I was signed up here against my will.” I groaned, not wanting to keep up a conversation in this tense ambience. “Dude, relax, it’s my first tournament too, they wouldn’t have let you in anyway if you didn’t have a shot after all.” I rolled my eyes. “I can’t imagine why they’d do that otherwise.” I replied sarcastically. I sat down for a moment, until a sudden burst of fire buzzed right past me, or rather, one singular burst, one that looked almost like a bird of some kind, a pokemon? The bird flew for a bit, even startling Raúl before suddenly cycling back and landing on a new figure, a red and white crocodile with a face that looked like a skull and sparks of fire dripping from his mouth like saliva, it reminded me a lot of day of the dead for some reason. “Greetings, participating pokéumans.” the newcomer said. “The name’s Aldo Ledesma the Skeledirge as most of you will know already and I will be the announcer for today’s tournament! I’m happy to say I can finally reveal the full tournament bracket so you can see which of you will be facing who!” with that the bird, who I still couldn’t tell if it was its own pokemon or not suddenly pulled over a whiteboard which showed the details of every single round, practically every pokéuman here jumped and started shoving each other to get a close view of who would face who. I waited until the commotion calmed down to see myself. “First round: Lex Mota the Toxtricity vs Mateo Tenorio the Furret” FIRST ROUND!? My humiliation in front of arceus knows how many people will be the opener of the tournament??? I stared at the board in shock “Hey do you think we’re gonna get to face each other?” I suddenly found myself being asked by the same eelektrik. “I’m confident I’ll get to reach the semifinals, I’ve been training for a long while to finally enter this tournament!” I couldn’t even answer him, I was in complete distress, how the hell was I going to figure out a way to not utterly let myself be destroyed out there??? I can only hope I get some kind of miraculous beginner’s plot armor “Everyone, attention please.” Said the skeledirge, “Now I’m aware that many of you have been training for a long time now and we can even see a lot of tournament regulars today!! kudos especially to Mr. Miguel “the legend” for his spectacular performance throughout the year, and so, as a treat I managed to convince the organizers to let your closest friends of the base accompany you while you continue to train for a few hours!” As he finished speaking the doors to the training facility opened and in it came several familiar faces, from our neighbours Itzel the tatsugiri and Litleo the… litleo, who came presumably for Raúl, but way more importantly than them, Gael, who had by this point become the closest person I have in the whole base. “Gael!!” I waved at him excitedly (as best as I could show it) and he waved at me back once he spotted me, he showed his now characteristic toothy grin that despite it being supposed to be terrifying was nothing but comforting for me, we ran over to each other, but I accidentally tripped and fell on top of him in an accidental hug. “Gah!! Sorry man.” I said as I stood up and helped him get up as well, he apologized and we laughed it off, being too caught up in each other to notice the reactions we had gotten throughout the room, but most people were too caught up in the reunion with their friends either way. “So… I saw the announcement of the tournament bracket.” Gael said, this time with a much more worried expression. “I know, I’m gonna be absolutely destroyed in there and it’ll be the first thing everyone is going to see!!” I exclaimed in fear “Ehhh your chances aren’t too dead, a Furret may know dig but without STAB you could be fine with some luck, and your typings are neutral to each other, on account of dealing with a normal type that is.” “STAB?” I asked. “Oh uh, the bonus amount of damage you get when you perform an attack that shares a type with you.” Gael explained. “You didn’t know that was thing?” “Uhhh… no not really.” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. “I just thought pokemon with a certain type just made them have more access to moves and effects of that type is all, I’m a bit clueless with the game mechanics.” “Oh, it’s fine, if you want I can help you train now that I’m here, I mean I’m an average battler myself, but I am enough of an expert in the pokemon gameplay that it has helped me a good amount.” The gliscor beamed with pride, I nodded and so for the next hour or two we went ahead discussing strategy, deciding just to focus on the current battle against my first opponent so that we at least went down in a fair and enjoyable, if a bit forgettable fight, I won’t bore you with the details (totally not because the author like his self-insert is also terrible at understanding game mechanics) but we also trained a few moves here and there, mainly cuz everyone else was doing it too, he was definitely a lot better about the theorical aspect of pokemon battles with his competitive knowledge but faltered a little in the practical, still, while he couldn’t help me charge up my moves fasters he recommended me to try to charge multiple moves at the same time to be more unpredictable and even create combo attacks, which definitely seemed interesting as I knew for a fact you can’t do those in game. Eventually though, the referee, a honedge, came to let us know that the tournament will start in 30 hours and so it was time for all the visitors to exit and get ready to watch the matches by the sidelines, meanwhile all of us got done training and were taken to the entrance of the field of the stadium, we could hear the crowd loudly chanting “10, 9, 8, 7” all of us were walking together quietly following various pokeuman officials, even Raúl was quiet for a change, suddenly we entered the field as the crowd reached one and several pyrotechnics burst and the skeledirge from before popped out of a platform covered in smoke and fireworks that he produced himself, several confetti canons shot up and the crowd went wild, the bird accompanying him flew around the stage in various impressive maneuvers before coming back and taking the form of a microphone that the fire croc quickly grabbed and tapped on lightly. “Hello!!? Let me hear you desert of the lions base!!!!!” he screamed to an adoring wild crowd located all across the stands, but despite that many people the skeledirge managed to be the complete center of attention, not helped by the extremely eye-catching outfit he was wearing, a white tuxedo that was glimmering with reflective light it almost seemed like it was producing its own with gold accents all over, in his suit collar there were various embroidered gems, which looking closely were shaped in various form such as a beetle, a lightning bolt, a spiral, and various others that I would come to realise represent all the pokemon types, and his bow tie was made to resemble a gold medal. “Welcome to our bi-weekly tournament everyone!! my name is Aldo Ledesma, and I will be your announcer for today!!!” The crowd went wild, chanting ALDO ALDO ALDO to the point where the fire type himself had to pause and wait before he could continue. “Heh, yes, thank you everyone but that’s enough about me because today, y’see today is all about the 16 pokeumans who signed up and were selected to duke it out in a pokemon battle!! we’ve got a few familiar faces, but some newcomers too! Will any of them surprise us? Well, we’re close to finding out, but first? Let’s get to know them some more, please, everyone, GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR PARTICIPAAAAAAAAANTS!!!!!!!!!!” the announcer shouted with an almost singing-operatic intonation to his words, but before I could dwell on it I could see the pokeuman workers direct us to walk to the stage and take a position around the main platform, many of them waved at the stage, Raúl himself was shouting “WOOOOO” and waving his tail around in excitement, others however were a lot more calm, the Lucario I assumed to be Miguel (the only Lucario in the whole group in fairness) had a confident yet neutral expression that wasn’t easy to read, not with many people, so instead I focused on the audience, I tried to maintain a neutral expression as well, which I probably already had due to my appearance, and I quickly spotted the duo of the tatsugiri and litleo in the front row seats on one direction, I looked around in other directions before eventually spotting Gael way more in the back who merely waved at me, I was about to wave back until I noticed Demian and Dylan grinning at me evilly, with Demian simulating a slit throat gesture with his paw, even if I had his intelligence I would still get the message. We stood in position for a while as the announcer talked for some more and even performed a song I had never heard of before. Hmm, this must be an opening ceremony of some kind I found myself thinking, I couldn’t help myself but be happy about the performance, I do love a good show, which is probably the music loving tox part of me speaking, still looking around the whole place was littered with cameras, cameramen (mons?) and several pokeumans trying to avoid the direction of the cameras, looking up to the stands I noticed a few VIP sections, which included a lot of seemingly important pokeumans like headmaster Nacho and- oh it’s Rodri! He seemed very excited about the show and even waved at me as well! I also noticed a booth that seemed to be a commentators booth, quickly realising that this was all being broadcasted on tv, I couldn’t help but smile against myself, this was the only time I ever had some kind of media attention at all, not even appearing as an extra on any news or anything like that, this was a total first for me, then I realised that if things went really badly, then everyone tuning in would see it as well… Despite that turmoil, I still had a fun time in the show, but once it finished and several psychic types were dashing across the stage moving all the props with telekinesis and helping all the pokeuman performers exit the stage while trying to not get caught by any of the cameras, it came time for the first match to begin and I was not at all prepared, all the participants bar me and the furret had presumably gone back to the training grounds as we positioned each other on opposite sides of the stage. “Ladies and gentlemon of our beloved base! It’s finally time for our tournament to begin!!!” Another long period of the crowd going wild happened. “Our first battle will be between Mateo Tenorio the Furret, returning after a full month’s absence and newcomer not just to tournaments, but to the base as far as I’ve been told, give it up for Lex Mota the low-key toxtricity’s debut everybody!!!!” The crowd’s mixed reaction all blended into a singular noise that I wasn’t sure how to react with, I waved and even bowed politely and shyly, hoping that gave me a tolerable reaction to the audience at least, the referee from before motioned for us to get closer. “You may only use moves in battle, no maiming allowed, you may withdraw from battle, but try to give the audience a show, now, I want both of you to shake hands and begin once I slash the centre of the ground, that’ll be my signal for you to start the battle.” Both of us nodded, shook hands and then once again moved to the opposite area of the battlefield, I was nervous like I’ve never been before, but I tried to maintain my composure, I think I intimidated my opponent a little, which isn’t really something I was proud about. “READY?!!!!” the announcer shouted, we stood still. “BEGIN.” The skeledirge continued as the honedge slashed the ground in a perfect line in the middle of the arena. “SLAM!!!!” Shout the Furret almost immediately as he dashed across the stage before slamming into me with his long, long body, catching me off guard and making me fall on the floor. “AND IMMEDIATELY MATEO USES HIS STRONGEST MOVE AGAINST THE NEWCOMER, HOW WILL HIS OPPONENT RESPOND?!!?!” shouted Aldo. The Furret stood still for a moment as I composed myself, reading my improvised battle stance I used in battle class, I backed up on reflex before my opponent spoke. “Well? What are you waiting for, I want to see what you’ve got newbie.” “R-right!” I jumped nervously, I started charging an acid, something I still wasn’t able to speed up, but I instead shifted to a spark, keeping him up close before firing up the acid, causing him to be pushed a few meters back. “AND WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT FOLKS!! LEX STARTS OUT BY ATTACKING WITH A SPARK AND ACID MOVE IN RAPID SUCCESSION!!! COMPLETELY TAKING HIS OPPONENT BY SURPRISE, NOT BAD FOR A NEWBIE!!!” The announcer said, I couldn’t help but grin against my better judgement. “W-well since we’re both starting with our strongest attacks!” I shouted, the audience cheered. “WATER PULSE!!!!” said my opponent as he shot a rippling burst of water, I jumped out of the way, taking a slight beating from not being prepared and falling to the floor, but quickly standing up I can’t let myself be humiliated by my inexperience… god, I wish I could remember how battle mechanics worked in the games… I felt an unusual surge of energy but only for a moment, the furret growled. “AGILITY!!” he shouted before dashing across the arena and landing another slam, I shot a few acid sprays, at first missing but eventually hitting the ferret pokemon. Suddenly a memory flashed in an instant on my mind Furrets aren’t particularly strong pokemon, their special stats are pretty weak so if you could land a few acid sprays you could reasonably take them down with a thundershock or two I remember the advice I had gotten from Gael when we were training, I shot another successful acid spray as the furret tried to stand up. “I’m not done just yet!! AGILITY!!! SLAM!!” The furret shouted as he once again started speeding up across the arena before slamming me a couple of times with his tail and body, I was starting to feel exhaustion come over me but I didn’t want to give just yet… I charged and shot a few more acid sprays, but I couldn’t get them to last this time, my opponent had simply become too fast… oh right, duh!! Scary face can lower speed, a furret’s main strength is their speed, don’t underestimate the status moves. Do you just know this? I replied at the time. “SCARY FACE!!!” I exclaimed as I stared at the running furret who stopped dead in their tracks almost as if paralyzed by fear, with that, despite how tired and bruised I was, I smirked. “UNBELIEAVABLE EVERYONE, LOOKS LIKE LEX IS CALLING HIS MOVES IN ENGLISH INSTEAD OF SPANISH?! WILL HIS STRATEGY PAY OFF?!?!?” The announcer shouted at his birdophone. I gave out another scary face and charged an acid spray, but as I was about to let it out I strummed the protrusions on my chest and shouted “ACIDSHOCK!!!!” spitting out the acid and charging a thundershock at the same time. “AAAAAND LOOKS LIKE THIS IS THE FIRST COMBO ATTACK OF THE TOURNAMENT LADIES AND GENTLEMENT, THE DEFENSE LOWERING BOOST OF THE ACID SPRAY COMBINED WITH THE POWERFUL ATTACK OF THE THUNDERSHOCK MAY JUST PUT AN END TO THIS BATTLE!!!!!!” Both attacks hit the furret, causing him to fall to the floor in defeat, the referee floated nearby as the crowd started counting down the seconds until he fainted, for a moment it looked like it wouldn’t happen, my opponent almost stood up, but then electric sparks appeared throughout his body, he was paralyzed. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3… 2… 1…” “AND HE’S DONE IT!!!!! THE WINNER IS LEX!!!!!!!!” The crowd went wild, but I could feel the battle take its toll on me, I was panting heavily by this point and having never done something so extreme in this body, I quickly fainted as well. “So… how did it go?” Asked the familiar voice of my dream messenger “Huh?” I asked as I adjusted to my surroundings. “Just kidding, I already know, you’re a natural at this Lex.” Kalleq replied before I could do anything, he then winked before everything got bright once again…. “Ughhh… what happened?” I woke up in another familiar environment, one I quickly realised to be the common floor’s infirmary, I was once again in a hospital bed only instead of a small room it was a large one with several beds. “Yo Lex!!” Came from the voice of a familiar eelektrik laying on another hospital bed, beside him were Itzel and litleo. “Hi… um, what are you guys doing here?” “All the first round matches already finished, didn’t you realise?” Said Itzel. “Both you and Raúl made it past the first round, and he’s right, you did surprisingly well for someone so new to the base!!” “Calling your moves in English was a pretty good strategy, I think it threw him off…” Added the Litleo in a whisper. I was a little surprised at hearing that. “A-ah, really? I-i’m just happy I didn’t get squished really.” I answered, before any of the others could reply though a figure dashed rapidly through the air between other patients and visitors, a familiar greyish blur gliding through the room. “Gael!!” I smiled. huff huff “Sorry I didn’t get here earlier, it took a while to get out of Demian’s watch, you should’ve seen him he was so mad that you held your own as well as you did!!!” “A-ah, it’s fine I just woke up after all, did I really miss the rest of the first round?” I asked. “Huh? You just woke up? I didn’t think you were that exhausted from Mateo’s attacks.” Gael questioned “I don’t think he was fainted for that long I think he just fell asleep.” Commented Raúl. “No one asked you.” Growled Gael “Hey!!” Exclaimed both Itzel and Litleo “Dude, no need to get so defensive.” Replied Raúl “He was just trying to be nice.” Added the tatsugiri. “Look, whatever, I would’ve liked to at least been able to know how the other rounds went so I knew who I’m facing next, I wasn’t really looking to win anyway… just not get humiliated.” I said, attempting to defuse the tension in the room, particularly Gael who I didn’t want to get into a fight just because of me. “You didn’t miss much.” Explained Raúl. “From what I can tell, apart from me making it out of a super intense and cool battle against some archen-“ “You beat him in three strikes it really wasn’t all that.” Bitterly added Litleo. “Shut up he was tougher than he looked!!” Raúl blushed. “Anyway, yeah, others who made it include the lucario and the vibrava, to no one’s surprise.” Everyone, included Gael rolled their eyes at that comment. “The final’s probably going to be between those two…” Whispered the Litleo. “At least it’ll be an entertaining final.” Argued Itzel. “No it won’t, we know Miguel will beat her to a pulp.” Added Raúl, Gael looked like he was about to argue but instead crossed his arms and looked away and rolled his eyes, however, his eyes suddenly jumped open as he came to a realisation. “Wait!! America made it?!!?” Gael exclaimed with a worried tone “The vibrava?” asked Itzel. “Yeah, she was in the match just after Lex actually, she wiped the floor with her opponent.” “Oh no…” Gael exclaimed in shock, at first I didn’t understand why, until it hit me. “Wait, don’t tell me she’s my next opponent!!” I exclaimed “Why what’s… oh… OH!” Exclaimed Itzel “Well, there goes your stay in the tournament kid, and that’s only if things go well.” Raúl commented snarkily. “I was actually looking forward to facing you for a bit, oh well.” “RAÚL!!” exclaimed the other three people in the room. “Again!! No one asked you!!” Exclaimed Gael. “Hey it’s fine, what’s important is that you have fun, you’ll probably only get stronger by your next tournament and-“ Itzel tried to argue but I cut her off to vent my frustrations “Ughhh!! I don’t even want to be here!! I was signed up against my will!! I didn’t even need to make it past the first round in the first place!!” I placed the front of my head on the bed’s pillow to scream directly at it. “Why does this ALWAYS happen!!” “Lex?” Asked Gael, I turned over to look at him, he seemed genuinely apologetic but… none of this was his fault, he’s the person who was trying the most out of everyone here. “Look I’m sorry about this all… I’ll try to figure out a way to get back at Demian I swear-“ “It’s fine.” I simply responded. “No it isn’t!! Look, I swear to you that once all of this is done, I won’t keep standing up for Demian, not after this.” Exclaimed Gael, I merely sighed in response. “Let’s just get this over with” “-AND BEGIN!!!” Me and my opponent stood still for a moment, both of us looking directly at each other’s eyes, The vibrava had a fierce and brutal glare, not a malicious one, but a determined look that made it possibly more dangerous, I tried not to show nervousness, but it was impossible as everything was stacked against me, even with my muddled hearing I could still make out the occasional person chanting my name in the crowd, if people wanted me to be an underdog of the tournament, I was sad to disappoint. **Please… I just wish I’m not humiliated. ** Nothing, I decided enough was enough and I charged my strongest attack “SPAAAAAAARK!!!!!!!!!!” “SANDSTORM!!!!” She shouted, letting out a massive cloud of rapidly spinning sand and dust, which covered the arena in a flash and sent me flying and dragging to the floor as I could feel every little particle of dirt hit me in the most painful manner possible, it was like when Gael shook himself after the sand shower, but a million times worse. “Gah!! Argh!!” “AND LEX CHARGES IN WITH A SPARK LADIES AND GENTLEMON!!! A VERY ROOKIE MISTAKE BUT NOT LIKE IT MATTERED ANYWAY AS AMERICA CHARGES IN WITH A POWERFUL SANDSTORM!!! ONE THAT’LL SURELY HURT WITH THE TOXTRICITY’S DOUBLE WEAKNESS TO GROUND!! COULD WE GET SOME CAMERAS IN THERE?!?! PEOPLE AREN’T TUNING IN TO JUST SEE SAND!!!! WHAT ARE WE? THE MONTERREY BASE?!?!!” The announcer shouted. I tried to stand up, but every time I did another large burst of sand would force me down. I could see the silhouette of the vibrava approach, but it was far too hidden beneath the sand for me to make it out properly. I tried charging an acid spray, but before I could react I heard a voice shout “EARTHQUAKE” before suddenly the ground started shaking violently, making me even more vulnerable to the sandstorm attack, I was already falling victim to exhaustion again, but then I was struck by a crack on the ground approaching me at a velocity too fast to avoid, and I blacked out before I could even register it. “He’s awake!!”“Are you ok?” When I woke up I was greeted by four familiar faces in front of me, Gael and the trio of pokemon I kept stumbling across seemed to be arguing before noticing me stirring awake and looking at me in a mix of concern and surprise. “Lex…” Gael spoke. “I lost didn’t I? I lost a second round again?” I laughed to myself, I laughed angrily, tears fell from my eyes slowly as I did so. Gael didn’t respond, his expression was similar to when he was around Demian, the others looked awkwardly amongst themselves, almost a little guilty. “Why did you charge an electric move towards a ground type?!” Questioned Raúl. “That’s like the one thing you should know not to do as an electric ty-“ “NO ONE ASKED YOU RAÚL, FOR THE LAST TIME, REMEMBER I’M A GROUND TYPE TOO AND I COULD END YOU RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT!!!” Exclaimed Gael, I could see Itzel get in Raúl’s defense trying to de-escalate the situation and an argument forming between the others but I didn’t care, I jumped out of bed and immediately started heading towards my room. “LEX!!” I ignored Gael and the nurses’ call, even someone else who’s voice I couldn’t recognize between all the commotion called me, I realised later down the line this would only make me look like a sore loser but I at that point had given up, the damage was done, I walked down from hallway to hallway, I was about to reach the stairs when I noticed a gliding figure following me. “Wait up!!!” Screamed Gael as he approached me, I was upset, but I was too tired and he was way too fast when he was gliding for me to make the effort in avoiding him. “Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made a scene there, I just didn’t like how uncaring they were and-“ “It’s fine, it’s whatever, who cares anymore, what’s done is done, that bastard Demian’s plan was a success let’s just…” I sighed and panted, still tired from the battles. “I want to forget about this.” “Right, it’s just…” Gael suddenly launched himself into a hug. “I’m sorry, I really wanted to help you, there must’ve been something we could’ve done to stop this from going so badly!” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little despite it all, the way he hugged me reminded me of Ash’s gliscor in the anime, who was always a favourite of mine, immediately I felt a little better, more comfortable, tears were practically falling out of his eyes and I felt bad, because if there’s one person who had no fault in this disaster, it was him. “It’s fine Gael, I mean it, we did what we could it was just not something we could really change the outcome of.” I smiled and hugged him back, I even let out a few tears myself, truthfully I couldn’t help but be hopeful that in the end all of this would just be forgotten, it’s not like I planned to join a tournament ever again, and I’m sure everyone else had better things to spend thinking about. Gael seemed to take it well, I stayed in the hug with him for a bit before he eventually let go, much more composed and we walked to our dorm closely together. “Hey um… what was that about this happening before?” he asked. “Oh… right, it’s just that I once was made to enter this nation-wide maths contest where I made it past the first round several times despite never wanting to go or do well, I didn’t even study for any of them yet I would always fail to make it past the second round, the tournament reminded me of that… it just feels bad to be told you have potential but to squander it.” I spoke. “I’m sorry to hear that, I think I actually remember those contests, not even I made it actually, I didn’t realise you were actually good at maths.” Gael commented. “I never said that I was bad at them, I just cannot stand maths.” I explained, we stayed in silence closely for the rest of the walk, when we opened the door to it, we were greeted by a manic looking obstagoon and his lackey beside him, sporting both grins who looked even more manic than usual. “Well, well, WELL, lookie what we got here, finally crawling back to where you came from, all humbled and beat up.” The cruel dark type stated cruelly with an expression I was TIRED of seeing at this point, he sat on the couch with a relaxed position, he sat as if daring us to approach him- no, expecting us to approach him, but I ignore him, it took me all my willpower to do so but I ignored him as I walked to my bunk bed. “Oh you little shit, you little arrogant shit, haven’t you realised already? EVERYONE in this base already knows how worthless you are, they already saw how easily you were beaten down to a pulp, do you seriously think you’ve got any shot at standing up to me? ME? DO YOU EVEN REALISE HOW POWERFUL I AM?!! I’ve got connections ALL over the base in places you’re probably too scared, and that goes for the both of you, to even head to because you guys are worthless members of your species, wimps basically, there is something wrong with all of you!” He ranted, standing up from his couch and approaching us instead, we ignored him. “SERIOUSLY?!!? You’ve got nothing to say to that?!?! You guys are fucking mistakes!” “OH, THAT’S FUCKING IT!!!” I shouted, unable to take it anymore “SPARK!!!” I charged up an attack and lunged myself at him, crashing into his bunk bed, luckily we didn’t damage anything seriously but as we both crashed and then proceeded to fall on the floor, with Demian hitting himself in the head, when we both stood up we were controlled by our own anger and adrenaline, and he lunged at me with a powerful fury swipes attack “HOW!! FUCKING!! DARE!! YOU!! YOU LITTLE SHIT ARE GOING TO GET WHAT’S COMING TO YOU, I’M GOING TO END YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW YOU ABOMINATION OF-“ “DEMIAN STOP!!” suddenly it was Gael who launched himself at Demian, putting himself in front of me and pushing him away from me, this took Demian completely by surprised as you could see an expression of shock on both him and Dylan’s face, the latter of whom finally got himself involved in the fight and started dragging Demian away from us before he kept hurting himself with fury swipes. “You… I knew it, I could see you were taking a liking to him, after all this time you… you choose to betray me? Heh, but I always knew you were nothing, you’re just as bad as him, if not worse, don’t think I don’t know what you are.” “I don’t care Demian!! I’m DONE with you!! You’ve been nothing but an idiotic pest to everyone in this base and you’ve ruined my life, I’m not gonna let you get away with ruining Lex’s!!!” Gael responded. The day went a lot more quietly after that, no one spoke at all, and we all went to bed before we knew it, I didn’t even bother trying to find out how the rest of the tournament went, I think the Lucario ended up winning anyhow, I cried myself to sleep, not even caring about who listened.