329 CH97 (327), Final Global Competition Day

The sunshine of this fine Kyoday morning suddenly shone upon my innocently sleeping face, ripping me out of my sweet dreams. I saw the perpetrator standing beside me, smiling at me sweetly, uncaring about my interrupted dreams.

"Good morning sweety," mom greeted me, and all did was groan a bit before looking at the clock. Seeing that it was 8 a.m I unwillingly rose from the couch I used as a bed since I gave my bed to mom and dad.

Their reservation was only for today, so I told them yesterday that there was no need to rent a room and had them bunker in mine for the night. I was currently regretting that decision a bit.

"Morning mom," I mumbled before suppressing a yawn. "Care to share why we woke up so early? The competition only starts at 10, and my first battle is only scheduled for 10:45, so waking up at 9 would have been more than enough," I questioned while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

She shook her index finger from side to side while looking at me with a face that screamed you're wrong, so I was expecting the rebuttal that followed.

"That's where you are wrong honey. 9 is way too late," she said with a shake of her head before she began listing all the reasons why that was the case.

"You still have to freshen up, change into new clothes, eat breakfast, and receive Rose, Weiss, Ace, as well as their parents at 9:15," she said and I was a bit confused at the last bit.

"9:15? Where did you hear that from? I'm pretty sure we agreed to meet in front of the Motochika Grand Stadium at 9:50 during our chat just yesterday night," I rebutted while pulling out my phone and opening our group chat to show her the last bit which had that in writing.

"That may be the case, but I spoke with Lily, Rouge, as well as Willow in our own little chat group, and they told me that they would be arriving at the Fontaine Teleportation Hub at 9:15, so we're going to meet them there," she returned with a careless shrug.

"Oh, and Kinji, Jessica, Aaron, and Misty are tagging along with them as well," she added before she ushered me to the washroom while placing some clothes into my arms.

20 minutes later I was sitting at a table inside the hotel restaurant eating breakfast with my parents. Dad had chosen the table and filled it with stuff from the open breakfast buffet for us while mom was waking me up. You know, to save time, and all that.

We left the restaurant at 8:50 a.m and made it to the Teleportation Hub at 9:03 a.m. Before I could say anything, mom told us that we should just sit on the bench across from the hub and wait there for them to come out.

She cited that it was better to be a bit early than it was to be late, and there was no way to rebut that without sounding petulant, especially since I fully agreed with what she said.

We talked a bit more about my time here in Ransei, and the time, 12 or so minutes, flew by with mom inquiring about what I had eaten during the last two days, and if I had made sure to stay away from the bad stuff.

We saw them as soon as they stepped out of the building and stood up to make our way toward them. Mr. Gold was the first one to notice us, and he alerted the others. Rose ran up to us without waiting for the others and tackled me in a hug.

"Mika!" She shouted moments before she slammed onto me. "Congratulations on making it to the semifinals," she said while she was hugging me.

She only let go after the others arrived, and the others began greeting me in our usual style, with short hugs. They all congratulated me for making it to the semifinals.

"Not that I doubted you making it this far. If you had lost I would have suspected foul play," Ace said while overenthusiastically patting my back.

"I agree," Aaron was the first to support him, and the others nodded as well.

"At least, on the Pokemon front, we knew that you would be unchallenged," Kinji amended. "The personal front seems more open since we saw some risky moments there," he added after that.

"Still, I believe in you, and I trust you'll become the champion there as well," he finished while throwing his arm over my shoulder with a smile. The others chimed in as well, expressing their belief in me as well.

"Going by his bragging, Yu even made a fortune thanks to his trust in you," Ace said with a chuckle. "Not that he is the only one," he added with a shrug.

"I think all of us did the same after he bragged about it after his first windfall after the regional tournament," he finished, and the others agreed.

"I did earn a nice bit, and if Kanto was not more restricted regarding betting on student competitions than Orre, I would have made even more," Misty shared.

"Yeah, Rota is the same in that regard," Aaron agreed with her. I even saw the parents nodding along, which made me smile.

"Oh, I also have to say that your Gyarados have attracted quite a bit of attention, and even the members of my family have expressed their interest in them," Misty informed me before she looked a bit thoughtful.

"Are you planning to reveal Jade and Ryujin as well, 'cause that would dial up the interest by quite a bit more," she inquired while giving me a slight warning.

"Yes, I promised them that they will get their turn as well, and I always keep my promises," I answered her, and Ace reacted with a "hear, hear", which made the other laugh a bit.

"Besides, no matter how curious they become, I doubt anyone would dare to threaten or force me with anything after I win and start my apprenticeship. There's also the Academy and the Aura Guardians," I said to assure her and the others, especially mom. I saw her look a bit worried when Misty said that, but my reminder calmed her down.

After that, we made our way to the stadium and we did some small talk on the side.

"So, what do you know about your next opponent?" Rose asked me curiously and most of the others looked over curiously as well, showing that they had not looked it up on the official website.

I knew that the info was already available there yesterday evening since I looked it up before going to sleep. Well, at least Kinji and Aaron seem to have looked it up looking at the grins on their faces.

"Hm, luckily it's not Brian since I would not have wanted to send another northerner packing before the finals if I could avoid it," I said happily, and they agreed with me.

"My opponent is a boy named Allister Parley, who is representing the western continent and Galar. He is a ghost-type specialist and has revealed 3 Pokemon so far. As usual, all Pokemon are currently at the (high) silver stage, and they are pretty tricky to face. His three Pokemon are Polteageist, Cursola, and Chandelure," I briefly introduced my first opponent.

"Oh, so it's that guy. He's a tricky opponent alright," Ace let out. "I've seen one of his battles. His Polteageist is hard to fight due to its small size and the fast speed it gains after using shell smash. It cursed its opponent and ran away until the other side fell due to the Curse. Cursola used something along those lines as well. His battle style is pretty hateful," he pretty much summed up Allister's favorite battle style.

"Say, have you already decided who you will use?" Aaron asked, and I nodded.

"I'll definitely use Manami since she is the nemesis of stall fighters with her Rain Absorb and self-healing capabilities. Ryujin will also get a turn, and the final one will either be Hera or Mars since they are immune to the ghost moves due to their normal typing," I shared with them.

"Makes sense," Aaron returned, and Rose piped up from the side.

"Ne, Mika. You've already made it to the semifinals and you still don't plan to use Horus or Mothra. Are you planning to use them at all?" she asked curiously and everyone else seemed really interested in the answer as well.

"I have to," I said with a shrug. "They made me promise that I would let them battle in the finals if I was not willing to use them before then, so I'm definitely going to use them both during the finals," I revealed and they all got excited when they heard that.

"I can't wait to see everyone's expression when they find out how strong those two are, especially the other finalist," Ace gloated and the other laughed as well. I heard Jessie murmur "the poor boy" before giggling as well.

While they were still laughing, we finally made it to the stadium, but there were still close to 15 minutes until the meeting time with the others, and none of them had arrived yet, so we had to wait there.

We found ourselves some benches close to the stadium entrance and I asked them if they had eaten any breakfast on the way here. When they gave a negative reply, I dragged Ace, Kinji, as well as Aaron with me, and went to buy everyone, including those that had yet to arrive, some breakfast of the sandwich variety.

When we came back with the sandwiches and drinks, the others had arrived as well. Even Yu was there despite telling me that he would be here shortly before the finals. I first greeted them all before asking Yu about his early arrival.

"I decided to sacrifice some of my precious sleep to cheer for you during the semifinals as well," he said jokingly, but I could feel that he was serious, so I had to suppress my laughter. The guy really valued his sleep.

I then handed everyone their breakfast, new arrivals included, but I stopped them before they could eat or do anything else.

"Let's go inside and find some seats before doing anything else. The first semifinal battle starts in less than 5 minutes, and we will be late if we wait until you're done eating, or asking questions," I told them and they all stood up and followed me inside after I said that.

We found ourselves some seats somewhere in the back of the middle rows, and Brian's battle against the guy from the eastern continent/Kalos started just as we sat down.

Both were ground-type specialists, so it promised to be an interesting battle if nothing else. Not to mention that the winner would be facing me in the finals, so I was paying extra attention to them both.

Everyone began eating their sandwiches while watching the battle between Brian's Excadrill and his opponent's Krookodile. The fight was a really close one, but Krookodile managed to take down Excadrill after a struggle that went on for nearly 15 minutes.

Krookodile got a boost from its Moxie ability after that, but even that failed to help it overcome Brian's Flygon in its tired and hurt state, so it lost within two or so minutes.

Still, I could understand why the guy kept Krookodile in even though he knew it could not win. The time Krookodile could rest would be unable to help it recover enough to be useful, so he had hoped that Moxie would allow it to hurt Brian's next Pokemon a bit before it got knocked out. Even if that did not work out all that much.

Anyway, Brian chose to keep his Flygon in as well, and Dio's next Pokemon was a Mamoswine. A lot of people around me winced at that feeling bad for Brian. Flygon did its best and delivered a great fight, is much so in fact that it managed to hurt Mamoswine quite a bit but in the end, it lost against the onslaught of ice.

Brain sent out his Torterra as his last Pokemon, and after doing its best for nearly 10 minutes, Torterra managed to take out the Mamoswine. However, it looked a bit tired and got slightly hurt in the process, which was not good for Brian's chances.

Still, one of the cameras zoomed in on both Torterra as well as Brian, and their determination was plain to see. Neither had given up hope yet. Not even after Dio's Nidoqueen appeared did that change, and Torterra did its best even if it lost in the end despite struggling with all its might.

With that Dio advanced to the finals and established himself as my last opponent. Their battle took nearly 45 minutes, and I got to see the strength of his Pokemon during that time. They were pretty strong, but whether they would be able to give Mothra/Butterfree or Horus/Xatu a good fight was another question.

Anyway, my battle should have normally started in a minute, but one of the staff members informed me that the battle would start at 10:50 instead since they had to repair the battlefield first, so I only made my way to the gate after the fight was over.

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