26 (XXVI) Stark Reminder

The crowd was shouting and screaming as they raised their crumpled sheets of paper with their bets in the air. The atmosphere was electrified as they surrounded a large round caged ring. The mat of the ring was designed in the likeness of a pokéball.

In the opposite corners of the ring, a large bipedal Pokémon resembling a humanoid panda bear stood in one corner. It had a stocky build with a round belly, short legs, and long arms with massive paws. Its head and belly were covered in thick white fur, while its lower body, chest, arms, and back were covered in an equally thick dark gray fur.

In the other corner was a bipedal, birdlike Pokémon with colorful plumage. It had a blue-green mask-like marking across its face with an orange blaze running from its forehead to the back of its neck, and a small, red patch at the tip of its beak. On the back of its head were two rectangular, tassel-like feathers. Its red, cape-like wings have blue-green undersides and were connected to its feathery tail.

Their trainers were banging against the cage shouting orders as Pangoro and Hawlucha approached and grappled each other over the shoulders.

The interlock was disadvantageous for Hawlucha as Pangoro, using his superior strength and size, lifted him and threw him against the cage, Pangoro charged forward as he raised his arm horizontally and gathered energy charging Hammer Arm.

Hawlucha utilized his superior agility, flipping through the air as he kicked off the cage, extending one of his legs forward as he flew through the air back at Pangoro as energy gathered in his leg as he charged High Jump Kick.

Both Pokémon clashed against each other as Pangoro's fist slammed against Hawlucha's foot. Each of their energies clashed together briefly as each vied for supremacy over the other. A small explosion erupted from their clash as Pangoro flew backward out of the small cloud, skidding on his feet and grunting.

Hawlucha rapidly flipped backward out of the cloud and kicked off the top of the cage as an air current surrounded his feet. He blitzed around the cage, disappearing and not reappearing until he launched himself off a different part of the ring before he appeared before the Pango's face swung his claws down unleashing a devastating Aerial Ace.

Pangoro quickly countered raising both arms and grabbing Hawlucha, roaring into his face with a giant gash swelling his left eye closed. Pangoro's arms swelled as the energy gathered reached its peak and he spun Hawlucha, throwing him violently into the air with a Vital Throw.

Hawlucha bounced against the ceiling of the cage before falling against the mat. Everyone in the crowd began counting down in unison as Pangoro shuffled his arms and glowered menacingly down at him.

"TEN!"

"NINE!"

"EIGHT!"

"SEVEN!"

"SIX!"

As the crowd reached five, Hawlucha's eyes sprung open as he did a flip up onto the mat and quickly launched himself into the air. Pangoro was taken aback as the small bird Pokémon began glowing brightly as Hawlucha became cloaked in a harsh light at the top of the cage.

Pangoro covered his eyes with his forearm as Hawlucha launched himself toward the large panda. Hawlucha exuded a fiery aura as flaming wings appeared behind his wings trailing as he crashed against Pangoro slamming him into the ground.

The crowd was stunned momentarily as they erupted in a deafening roar screaming at the upset. The Pangoro had been the reigning champion of the Underground Circuit in Viridian City for the past few years since Team Rocket had taken over. No one had expected Hawlucha, a rising star newcomer to beat the odds and overthrow the reigning champion!

Hawlucha placed one of his feet on top of Pangoro's head and raised his hands into the air. The crowd roared loudly at the new champ with everyone throwing their thumbs down.

Hawlucha turned his head to the rafters before spotlights illuminated a balcony seat, revealing a lavishly suited unidentifiable man who was grinning, he raised his hands and waved them around the room to the crowd. He stood up and took a step forward before throwing the thumbs down.

The crowd grew more disorderly as everyone began jeering at and booing Pangoro. Hawlucha closed his eyes and raised his hand before extending his talons from his three fingertips.

In the back of the crowd, a figure could be seen exiting the room as the crowd once more screamed loudly! The hooded figure turned the corner and leaned against the wall before grabbing their chest and gasping for air.

Isaac removed the hood and closed his eyes, 'Is this the freaking Roman Colosseum in 70 BCE?' He thought as he shook his head. Despite this being the fifth time he had watched Pangoro fight, he couldn't watch the end of the match a single time.

Isaac was always the first person to return to the teller and hand in his ticket. Over the last week, he had turned his remaining ₽3,200 into ₽9,600. Seeing who the challenger was and seeing the increased potential and higher level, he took a risk and bet ₽5,000 on a 3:1 odds.

He quickly took his ₽20,000 and disappeared before the match had officially concluded. Thankfully due to the massive upset, the house won far more than he took that night. Due to his paranoia, he had wandered the streets of Viridian City the entire night constantly checking over his shoulder.

As the sun began to rise, Isaac quickly began making his way through the back alleys slipping through buildings as he made his way across the city to the PokéCenter.

As he approached his destination he sighed in relief as he slowed his pace down to a casual stroll. Moments later, Hanzō appeared in front of him, melding away from his surroundings as his camouflage had worn off.

"Did anyone follow us?" Isaac asked, to which Hanzō shook his head. Isaac smiled and knelt in front of Hanzō and extended his fist to which Hanzō returned the fist bump, 'Small Victories...' He thought and patted the top of Hanzō's head.

Their relationship hadn't improved much in the last week, but it was enough for Isaac to get Hanzō to work with him, the first few nights when Isaac entered the Viridian Underground Circuit were filled with anxiety and stress as he wandered around the city lost thinking he was being followed and trying to lose his imaginary pursuers.

Eventually, Isaac began to learn the streets of the Viridian well during the last week. Attending the PokéSchool had helped Isaac increase his bond with all of his Pokémon through the mock battles and allowed him to easily complete his Daily Quests gaining additional stats for himself.

Unfortunately, almost everything he learned was reinforcement from what he knew through the games and anime, albeit with slight differences.

He learned that unlike the games from his previous world and the system he currently had allowed him far more insight into the innate status of a Pokémon rather than the generalized information that everyone in this world currently knew.

They classified Pokémon into four tiers rather than his system who split potential into eight categories.

Trainer-Ranked Pokémon which they classified as Copper and Bronze.

Leader-Ranked Pokémon which were Iron and Steel.

Elite-Ranked Pokémon which were Silver and Gold.

Champion-Ranked Pokémon of Platinum and Diamond.

They couldn't see levels so they had no means of classifying where wild Pokémon were along the list initially but could ultimately be given a rather unreliable classification through a machine that had recently gained popularity. Unfortunately, the machine was out of most trainers' pocketbooks.

Breeders could identify a generalization of the Pokémon's potential of bred Pokémon due to the differences in egg-hatching speeds. Pokémon were split into four categories when it came to breeding, Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Ultra Rare.

Each of the egg groups were classified depending on the rarity of the Pokémon and the time it took for the egg to hatch. The rarity of the Pokémon was the baseline with Common taking about a week, Uncommon taking roughly 2 weeks, Rare taking between 3 and 4 weeks, with Ultra Rare always taking at minimum a month.

Isaac returned Hanzō to his Pokéball as he turned toward the main street that split Viridian in two, and began heading toward the PokéSchool. He had the money to pay for the courses now and today was his last day of school, he was ready to finish this and get started on his journey to Pewter City.

After successfully winning every battle in the PokéSchool, Isaac was itching to tackle the Pokémon League Challenge and obtain his first badge. He had stopped at a café along the way and picked up a bagel with cream cheese and a large latte before he stepped onto Viridian's Campus for the last time when a notification appeared before him.

『Temporary Quest Received!』

『Apply everything you've learned at the PokéSchool and obliterate the finals!』

『Primary Objective: [Pass your finals]』

『Secondary Objective: [Achieve a Perfect Score]』

『Failure: [Fail to pass finals]』

『Time Limit: 6 hours』

『Reward: ₽2,500, ???』

『Penalty: [₽25,000]』

———

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