Jubilife Tournament

"Welcome everyone to the special Jubilife local tournament! I'll be today's host and referee for the tournament!" Nurse Joy said enthusiastically to the crowd that had come for the tournament. The crowd cheered and was ready for the tournament

The battlefields, usually a serene training ground behind the Pokémon Center, underwent a striking change. The usual benches had been swapped out for grand bleachers, accommodating the larger-than-normal crowd.

People were currently sitting on those bleachers ready to watch the tournament. If Shuichi had to guess, there would be around 300 people watching, it was a little nerve racking to perform for a crowd.

"I will now explain the rules." Nurse Joy announced as everyone paid attention. "For the first round, it will be a one-on-one match with no switches. For the quarter and semifinals it will be a two-on-two match with no switches, and for the finals it will be a three-on-three matchup with one switch allowed."

Nurse Joy continued. "Furthermore, no items will be allowed with the only exception being an Everstone." Everstone did nothing except prevent evolution so it was allowed.

Shuichi was standing with the other trainers and could see his competition, as expected Paul and Nando were here, however there was another one that Shuichi didn't expect to see.

A blonde haired youth with a green scarf, white-orange striped shirt, grey long pants and brown shoes was standing next to Paul. It was Barry the rival from the games. Shuichi didn't remember if Barry had also appeared in the show so it was surprising to see him here.

Nurse Joy looked around to see if anyone had any questions, seeing no-one ask anything she continued. "Now that that's all settled, let's start with the first match of Shuichi vs Sebastian!" The crowd cheered on for both trainers as Shuichi and Sebastian were announced.

Shuichi being up first was both a blessing and a curse, on one hand everyone could see one of his Pokémon and try and plan against it. On the other hand his Pokémon would get the most rest before the next match if he would advance.

Shuichi stepped up and stood on one side of the battlefield, on the other side was a youngster with black hair, blue cap, orange shirt, blue shorts and blue shoes. His opponent looked a little nervous in front of this cheering crowd.

Nurse Joy stood in the middle of the battlefield. "On the count of three, both of you will release your Pokémon." She announced and both Shuichi and Sebastian nodded.

"One. Two. Three!" Nurse Joy said and both threw their Pokémon. "Get ready, Eevee!" Shuichi said as Sebastian said "Machop, I choose you!"

Eevee and Machop stood across from each other, Machop was a bluish-grey Pokémon with large arm muscles and three brown ridges on its head. Sebastian breathed a slight sigh of relief seeing a normal type.

Shuichi could feel Machop and Eevee's readiness as both of them didn't underestimate each other even with the type advantage.

Machop was a fighting-type which would hold the advantage against a normal-type like Eevee. That was the norm however Shuichi wasn't worried, Eevee had tons of options.

Shuichi chose Eevee because of the information war, Paul and Nando both knew Shuichi had an Eevee but only Nando knew Shuichi also had a Clamperl. And that was not the only information he planned to keep secret.

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" Sebastian decided to take the initiative with a fighting-type move, Machop ran at Eevee with its right hand glowing white. Eevee was ready for a dodge.

Once Machop was close enough did Shuichi respond. "Eevee dodge to the right then Tackle!" It was a complicated order but one that was practised with Eevee.

Eevee indeed understood as he did a slight side hop dodging the Karate Chop and setting off for a Tackle straight into Machop's stomach sending it across the field. "Machop!" Sebastian cried out in surprise.

"Quick Attack!" Shuichi wasn't done yet as he had Eevee sprint across the field leaving a white streak "Machop Dodge!" Sebastian tried to mount some sort of defence however Eevee tackled Machop once more, sending it flying again.

"Finish with Swift!" Shuichi seized the opportunity, not allowing the opponent a moment to counter. Eevee's tail ignited in a yellow glow as stars shot forth, which Eevee launched with a swift flick of his tail.

Machop could barely stand after the previous two attacks and was completely defenceless for the incoming stars, the stars crashed into Machop. "Machop! no!" Sebastian was devastated at the assault.

Once the dust settled it was clear Machop was unconscious and Nurse Joy enthusiastically called the match "Machop is unable to battle! The winner is Shuichi!" The crowd that was silenced during the fight erupted into cheers even harder seeing such a strong start to the tournament.

Shuichi recalled and praised Eevee for doing great, he did what he wanted him to do which was win without using Protect. Protect was a life saving defensive move that could turn the match around instantly, saving it for the semifinals would be optimal.

Nurse Joy called for the next two trainers to come forth after clearing the battlefield, Sebastian went to a Chansey that was standing by for Pokémon that would be knocked out or hurt. Eevee didn't need to get checked up on because he won without a scratch.

As Shuichi was walking to the sidelines someone was approaching him, someone with a very familiar harp in hand. "Impressive battle Shuichi." Nando calmly said.

Shuichi looked at Nando and nodded at the man. "Thank you Nando, It's been a while." Greeting Nando after not seeing the bard for over a week.

Nando nodded back "Indeed, a while it has been. I see you've also taken this tournament for a spin." Nando seemed to be in a good mood to start rhyming.

Shuichi smiled bitterly, "I have to make money somehow, being a trainer is no cheap job." It really wasn't, Shuichi had also run out of poffins in the last two days. It did make his Pokémon more motivated to win because they would be able to eat them again.

Nando agreed with Shuichi's words "Indeed, my own pockets are rather empty due to a particular spending of mine." Shuichi wondered what that 'particular' spending could be but before he could ask another person interrupted them. 

"Man! That was so cool how you overwhelmed that Machop! You have to tell me how you train! If you don't tell me how you train within 10 seconds I'm going to fine you! Ten, nine, eight-." A blonde hyperactive youth that was named Barry spewed all those words and more before Shuichi could interrupt.

"Woah, calm down. First off, thank you. Second, I'm not going to tell you how I train." Shuichi stopped Barry's talking dead in its tracks.

"Wha- Hey! You can't just keep all the secrets! Just tell me one or two please?" Barry insisted and even Nando was having trouble pleasing this guy.

Luckily someone else came to the rescue "Barry and Lisa, please come forward for the next match!" Nurse Joy announced as the previous match was over. Shuichi didn't see much but he doubted he would struggle against his future opponent.

One would say it was being overconfident of his own prowess when even Shuichi had lost battles before.

Barry looked surprised "Ah! That's my name being called up! I'll talk to you later about those secrets, okay?" And with that he was running off to the battlefield.

"He's quite active." Nando commented seeing Barry sprint away, Shuichi agreed "Hyperactive more like." giving his own two cents into Barry's character.

('I wonder if his team is the same as in the games?') Shuichi pondered about Barry's team, in the games his team was mostly a starter with the Starly line. Maybe he would have one of his later Pokémon now like Heracross or Munchlax.

Nurse Joy counted to three and both threw out their Pokémon. "You're up Heracross!" Barry said as Lisa sent out a Luxio. Luxio was the evolution of Shinx and was pretty much the same except for being bigger and having more dark fur.

Heracross on the other hand was a large, blue, winged bipedal beetle-like Pokémon with a big horn extending upwards from the middle of its face. 

Heracross were infamously known for being a difficult Pokémon to catch, the only way to even try and lure one out was to slather honey on a tree and hope for the best. However Heracross was worth all the trouble as it is one of the strongest bug-type Pokémon.

('Seems like it's his game team, there might also be surprises however.') Heracross almost confirmed that Barry's team was similar to the one he had in the games. 

Feeling out Heracross's emotions confirmed its confidence but underneath that confidence laid a big fighting spirit normal for fighting-types, seems like Barry has trained it well.

"Use Horn Attack!" Barry, true to his nature, started to go on the offence immediately. Heracross's horn was shining white as it flew at Luxio.

"Dodge it Luxio!" Lisa rushed to call out for a dodge and Luxio complied by dodging to the side, Heracross missed however before Lisa could even say anything else Barry was already on it again.

"Keep it up with Fury Attack!" Barry enthusiastically kept up the pressure and Heracross made a sharp turn to go straight at Luxio again, this time it was a relentless flurry of jabs with its horn.

"Keep dodging!" Lisa panicky instructed Luxio to keep dodging however the attacks were ceaseless and soon it slipped up and jabs started to land.

('Barry is keeping up the pressure to ensure Lisa can't get a breather, If Luxio had a move that could hit omni directionally it would stop Heracross from going in. However, Lisa is panicking making her not think straight.') 

Shuichi could analyse the battle from the emotions of the Pokémon, they often mirrored their trainers emotions and Luxio right now was in panic mode.

More and more jabs with the horn were hitting Luxio, seeing his chance to finish it Barry smiled. "Finish it with a Horn Attack!" Heracross's Horn glowed once more and this time Luxio was too damaged to dodge.

A strong Horn Attack smashed into Luxio's side sending it flying, once it hit the ground it was clear it was knocked unconscious. "Luxio is unable to battle! The winner is Barry!" Nurse Joy called it and the crowd cheered once more.

"He's also quite talented." Nando commented after seeing Barry win in overwhelming fashion. 

Shuichi noddingly observed, formulating his own analysis. ('Barry's hyper-aggressive strategy is relentless, bombarding opponents with ceaseless attacks making them panic and capitalising on their mistakes.')

Barry ran over at Shuichi once again and began his ceaseless talks on him once more while completely ignoring Nando to the side. Shuichi wondered how someone could have so much energy.

"Nando and Geoffrey, please come forward for the next match!" Soon it was time for Nando's match and he was called out by Nurse Joy.

Although Barry may be hyperactive he's still somewhat aware of some social clues, so when Shuichi started to pay attention to the match he quieted down a lot more. Geoffrey was also someone Shuichi knew, he was the same youth with the Marowak that beat Eevee.

('Geoffrey could be said to be the dark horse in this tournament.') Shuichi thought. He was interested in seeing what Nando would do against Marowak.

Nurse Joy counted as usual and both threw out their Pokémon. "Sunflora please," Nando said as Geoffrey threw out his Marowak. Both Pokémon appeared on the battlefield with Nando's sunkern having evolved into a Sunflora.

Sunflora was a sunflower-plant like Pokémon, with two leaves as arms and two feet. Seeing Sunflora, Shuichi put two and two together ('He must've bought a Sun Stone here in Jubilife and is now strapped for cash.')

Sunkern evolved into Sunflora due to the use of a Sun Stone, evolutionary stones were able to be bought from some stores however their price was pretty big. 

Eevee would also need a stone however Shuichi first wanted to build a foundation with Eevee, and those stones were pretty expensive which is not something Shuichi could afford at the moment.

Sunflora's emotions were similar to how it looked, happy and elated to have evolved with some confidence. It seems like it had a little slump after its defeat to Shuichi and Dawn.

Marowak and Geoffrey were also confident, which was to be expected from them; they were, after all, pretty strong even with the type disadvantage.

"Grass Whistle, please" Nando was the first to act and Sunflora responded by placing one of its arms into its mouth, the leaf started to glow and Sunflora blew on it creating a very relaxing melody.

So relaxing in fact that Marowak forgot it was in a battle and slowly drifted off to sleep, "Marowak! Wake up!" Geoffrey yelled at Marowak trying to get it to wake up.

"Leech Seed, please" Nando calmly moved on with his attacks and applied a leech seed. Sunflora released a brown seed from the back of its neck and threw it at Marowak, the seed hit Marowak and vines started to wrap around Marowak.

('What a vicious strategy, make them sleep into Leech Seed to slowly drain them in their sleep. How fitting of a bard to use music.') Shuichi inwardly commented about Nando's strategy.

The vines then started to glow red as energy was being drained from the sleeping Marowak. Even with its energy being drained it still didn't wake up, Geoffrey was still screaming at Marowak and his voice even turned raspy from it. 

"Razor Leaf, please" Nando called out the finishing move when enough energy was drained and Sunflora shot out razor sharp leaves from its arms at Marowak.

Marowak awoke from the pain of the Razor Leaf however it was too late, too much of its energy had been drained by Leech Seed and now a strong Razor Leaf had also done a lot of damage. 

Marowak was quickly rendered unconscious again and Nurse Joy called the match. "Marowak is unable to battle! The winner is Nando!" making the crowd erupt in cheers once more, Shuichi swore he could even hear some woman screaming his name.

Geoffrey was shut down from the start and couldn't even utter a command, it was crushing to see someone this strong being so overwhelmed.

('Sound huh? In our last battle he had no such strategy. Was he holding back or is this something developed after our battle?') Shuichi noted the use of sound and draining moves seemed to be Nando's strategy.

"Man, and here I thought you were the strongest here. It seems there are more strong trainers." Barry put in his own two cents after the match.

Nando came back over to Shuichi and Barry's side, "Congratulations on the evolution, now I can see your 'particular' spending" Shuichi commented on Sunkern evolution into Sunflora.

Nando nodded "I realised after our battle that Sunkern was not able to keep up anymore, so I bought a Sun Stone." explaining why he evolved Sunkern.

Barry quickly picked up on something "Wait! You two have already battled? Oh man! You've got to tell me about it! Who won?!" Firing off quick rapid questions that Shuichi already had trouble following.

Nando on the other hand began to explain the meeting and the following battle, hearing the story again made Shuichi think of where the group currently was.

"That reminds me, last time I saw you you were travelling with Ash and the rest. What happened?" Nando realised Shuichi was on his own now and not with Ash anymore.

Shuichi didn't want to go into drama especially with Barry being there to ask ceaseless questions. "We had a difference in battling preferences and decided it was best to split off, but we've parted on good terms."

Nando knew there had to be more to the story than just that but he had enough class to not ask, however Barry on the other hand wasn't so tactful. "What do you mean by difference in battle preferences? And who is this Ash? Is he also strong?" 

Dealing with Barry's hyperactive nature quickly gave Shuichi a headache, Ash was an active person however Barry took it a step further and just continued.

"Paul and Samantha, please come forward for the next match!" Nurse Joy called out the next match and it was Paul's, Shuichi would definitely pay attention to this one.

('I wonder what Pokémon Paul is going to use, I doubt Elekid right off the bat so is it Chimchar again?') Shuichi tried to guess which Pokémon Paul would start off with.

"Ninjask, standby for battle!" Paul threw his Pokéball and out came a small, cicada-like Pokémon with two pairs of wings. Ninjask's body is mostly black with accents of yellow and grey with its head being yellow, but there was a solid band of black between its gleaming red eyes.

('A Ninjask? When did he catch this?') Shuichi was surprised by the sudden new Pokémon. ('Did my influence already change his team?') Shuichi guessed it was due to his own actions that Paul had already discarded Chimchar.

Paul's opponent had sent out a Kirlia, Kirlia was a small, humanoid Pokémon. Its upper body and arms are completely white, while its waist and legs are light green in colour, making it appear to be wearing tights. Around its waist, Kirlia appears to be wearing a mini-skirt. It also had light green 'hair' with red accessories.

Kirlia was also an 'emotion' similar to Mesprit, it could sense emotions similar to Mesprit and even Shuichi now. 

Speaking of sensing emotions Ninjask had a fair lack of them, it didn't seem like he took Shuichi's advice to heart.

Kirlia was also sensing Ninjask's emotions and its own emotions were going for a loop due to it, there was sadness and pity in its emotions when it felt Ninjask's own near lack of them.

Kirlia was a psychic and fairy-type Pokémon, yes fairy-type. Shuichi had learned about the type in trainer school. To say he was surprised was an understatement, he wondered if there were other things he never knew about.

On the other side, Ninjask was a bug and flying-type so it held the advantage against Kirlia and Paul wasn't going to miss that. 

Paul kicked off the match with a command. "Agility!" Instantly, Ninjask's body radiated a white glow, amplifying its speed across the field.

It then became faster and faster almost like it was teleporting across the battlefield, Ninjask were already an extremely fast species so to add more speed would make it nearly unfollowable. Coupled with its speed boost ability that added even more speed.

Ninjask zoomed across the battlefield with it only being visible for an instant everytime it turned, Kirlia and Samantha had trouble following Ninjask.

"Kirlia Confusion!" Samantha desperately tried to mount some sort of a counter however whenever Kirlia tried to focus on Ninjask it was already gone.

"Fury Cutter!" Paul began the offence and Ninjask zoomed around and with its claws turning red began slicing at Kirlia, before Kirlia even had time to turn Ninjask was already gone and onto the next spot to attack.

Fury Cutter was a move that got progressively stronger with each consecutive hit, and having a Pokémon that was nearly impossible to hit or even see could make Fury Cutter incredibly strong.

('Ninjask's biggest weakness was the lack of durability, yet Paul had managed to double down on speed making it extremely evasive. It was different from his usual battle style of countering the first move') Shuichi knew Paul's initial battle style so he probably kept that secret for the quarter or semifinals.

"Kirlia, teleport around the field!" Samantha tried to keep calm and get Kirlia moving, when Kirlia teleported away Ninjask also 'teleported' and was right on Kirlia's tail again.

The match ended soon with Kirlia not being able to mount a defence and getting knocked out. Nurse Joy called the match and Paul advanced to the quarterfinals. The crowd was getting more and more fired up due to these amazing matches.

More and more people started to stream in to see what all the excitement was about, and even some police officers had to be called to keep everyone in order. For a free event one could say this was a huge success already. 

Paul looked over at Shuichi for an instant before looking away, it was clear he wasn't going to talk to him. "Man! What a battle! He's so strong!" Barry said completely taken over by Paul's strategy.

Soon he completely ignored Shuichi and Nando as he went over to try and talk to Paul, Paul on the other hand completely ignored him and it became a one-sided conversation by Barry.

"I assume you've also battled him seeing how you were paying attention when his name was called up?" Nando asked now that Barry was gone. Shuichi nodded.

"I may or may not have fought with him before and I might've won ₽700 off him." Shuichi replied jokingly before explaining the whole story to Nando, leaving aside he could sense the emotions from Paul's Pokémon.

Nando shook his head upon hearing Paul's style "Pokémon are not tools, they're beautiful and elegant creatures." Although Shuichi didn't exactly have the same opinion as Nando he did think Pokémon and humans weren't all that different.

With Paul's match being the last of the preliminaries it was now time for the quarterfinals where it would be a two-on-two matchup. 

"Shuichi and Richard, please come up for the quarterfinals!" Nurse Joy announced and the crowd was excited to see Shuichi again.

Shuichi stood once more on the battlefield and got ready to send out his Pokémon, once Nurse Joy said the word and Shuichi threw his Pokémon out. "Get ready, Clamperl!"

Worried about Eevee's stamina, Shuichi made a strategic choice to introduce Clamperl. It was a calculated reveal, keeping Combusken's prowess under wraps for a more opportune moment.

His opponent sent out a Staravia, which took to the air immediately. Staravia's emotions were calm which revealed it was an experienced battler. 

"Quick Attack Staravia!" Richard decided to take the opening move as Staravia dive bombed into Clamperl.

('It was good to take the initiative, unfortunately for them, I have the perfect counter.') Shuichi thought as he responded to the attack.

"Iron Defense!" Clamperl retreated in its shell and a light blue sheen appeared over him, two days wasn't much time to train and Shuichi didn't focus on Iron Defense either so no real changes happened.

Staravia crashed into Clamperl however, it didn't look like it did much damage to Clamperl as Staravia was blown back. "Staravia!" Richard cried out, he didn't expect to be the one sent reeling back.

As Staravia reeled back from the collision, Shuichi seized the opening. "Water Gun!" Clamperl unleashed a forceful stream, striking Staravia head-on.

Even after the damage, Staravia continued on "Staravia shake it off! Use Wing Attack!" Richard tried to calm down with a small breather.

Staravia took to flying once more, but before it could even gain enough speed Shuichi already had a counter ready.

"Clamperl get ready with a Whirlpool!" Whirlpool's biggest weakness was that it took a long time to charge, however with the recent two days of training, that had finally been fixed and now it was time to unleash it.

A giant whirlpool was quickly formed and Staravia who had picked up enough speed to go for a dive bomb saw a giant whirlpool above Clamperl, seeing Staravia in a bad spot Shuichi gave the order to fire.

The whirlpool was sent to Staravia as it crashed head on with the whirlpool trapping it inside, "Recover with Aqua Ring!" Taking advantage of the entrapment Shuichi had Clamperl set up two rings of water around himself as Staravia was trapped.

('Aqua Ring is going to recover some stamina and that tiny bit of damage Clamperl took from that Quick Attack, now to wait and unleash the final Water Gun once it was freed.') Shuichi had the battle planned out and now it was time to wait.

Staravia was finally let go out of the whirlpool and fell into a downward spiral, as Shuichi was getting ready to attack again Richard suddenly recalled Staravia.

"I forfeit Staravia." Richard said with a little dejection and Nurse Joy nodded understanding the reason, he didn't want Staravia to be hurt more. "Staravia is unable to battle! Trainer Richard, please send out your next Pokémon!" Nurse Joy announced.

"Let's go, Nuzleaf!" Richard said as a humanoid Pokémon appeared. Its body is mostly brown along with tan markings, save with a green leaf on top of its head. It has hands that each resemble boxing gloves. Nuzleaf was a grass and dark-type Pokémon.

('Clamperl was back to top condition as the Aqua Ring restored him; however, having no ice-type moves to counter grass types was not good. Something to fix for the future.') Shuichi was considering his options when he made a startling decision.

"I forfeit Clamperl." Shuichi shocked everyone as he recalled Clamperl, Nurse Joy also took a second to declare Clamperl as being unable to battle however she understood the choice.

There were no switches officially however if one forfeited their Pokémon they could switch, it was a risky choice and now it was back to a one-on-one.

Shuichi didn't want to reveal Combusken just yet. "Get ready, Eevee!" so he threw Eevee back out there, he had rested enough from the previous fight. The crowd cheered seeing Eevee again and were even cheering out his name.

"Swift, Eevee!" Shuichi shouted to overpower the crowd's voices, Richard however wasn't going to sit by as he also shouted out "Razor Leaf Nuzleaf!"

One Pokémon sent out stars with its tail while the other whipped its head and sent out a storm of leaves which both collided in the middle, there was however a clear winner as some stars broke through the storm and collided with Nuzleaf.

Seeing Nuzleaf impacted by the stars gave Shuichi an opening. "Quick Attack!" He instructed Eevee and he sped across, "Rollout Nuzleaf!" Richard desperately gave the quick counter and Nuzleaf rolled into a ball and rolled towards Eevee.

Rollout would speed up with every hit it did however this was just the start of the attack. Eevee and Nuzleaf collided in the middle with Eevee eventually overpowering Nuzleaf, the difference in power was too much.

('Eevee is stronger, then in that case letting off the pressure would be a mistake.') Shuichi decided his next course of action, if he backed off and Nuzleaf got rolling then it could turn ugly quickly.

"Swift again!" Shuichi took the initiative with Nuzleaf recoiling from the Quick Attack, Eevee once more made stars and this time Richard had no time to mount a counter and the stars all hit Nuzleaf knocking it out.

"Nuzleaf is unable to battle! Shuichi is the winner!" And just like that Shuichi was at least guaranteed ₽720 for reaching the semifinals, if he could make it to the finals he would at least be guaranteed ₽1,800.

Though Eevee managed to overpower the Rollout, Shuichi didn't want to risk any lingering damage. He had Chansey swiftly check up on Eevee for a quick heal.