Chapter 13 "Battle Tournament pt II"

The next day, started the quarter finals of our little tournament. John got placed against Paul from Sinnoh, Gary went against May with her Solrock, Cynthia got to go against Andrew, and Ethan went up against Lily. To be honest, none of the matches were spectacular. But Cynthia's Gible versus Andrew's Dreepy was kind of awesome, both of them being Dragon types. Unfortunately for Andrew, Dreepy wasn't as proficient with Dragon type moves so Gible took the win.

Gary had an easy time against May, having Squirtle maintain distance and use long range water attacks. Solrock apparently didn't have great proficiency with his psychic moves yet so couldn't really do much. On the other hand, Lily's Lunatone managed to completely wreck Ethan's Cyndaquil, using rock type moves to do super effective damage to the fire type.

When John was done with his match though is when the Drama actually started. Paul throughout his match treated Turtwig like he was a tool and nothing more. I know because Lance wasn't happy about that. He looked at Professor Oak and Oak just nodded.

In the match, John had Charmander focus on using the move Ember. His goal was to weaken Turtwig until either Turtwig couldn't do anything, or he was weak enough Charmander could get in close for a Metal Claw. I know because that's what he'd been training to do with me and Danu. But Paul was definitely getting into my buddies head.

"Turtwig, prove you aren't worthless. Pound." Paul said, once again proving he wasn't a nice guy.

John grit his teeth and said, "Charmander, dodge the pounds, then light him up some more!"

And that's basically how it went until Turtwig collapsed. Unable to keep chasing the more agile Charmander, Turtwig literally just collapsed on the floor.

And that's when both Oak and Lance stepped onto the field.

"Paul Atronax of Veilstone City, it has been determined by Alliance officials that you are not fit to be a Pokemon Trainer. Your blatant disregard of your pokemon's nutrition and care has caused us to have an emergency meeting which has just concluded."

I don't know why, but this is giving me a very weird sense of Déjà vu. Like it's not something that's supposed to happen. But I certainly am not going to get in the way.

"Fine, take the weakling away," Paul says as he leaves. I see another young man come down who looks like a slightly older version of Paul and talk to Professor Oak. I can't hear what's being said, but that trainer takes the pokeball for Turtwig and snaps it in half.

That means Turtwig no longer has a trainer. I look at my mom and dad for a moment, before deciding I need to at least try.

When the Professor and Lance come back up to sit down, I take a deep breath and say, "Professor, would it be possible for me to take care of Turtwig?"

All of the adults look at me in slight surprise.

"Arthur," Professor Oak says, "You know rookie rank trainers are only allowed one pokemon unless the is a preexisting condition."

"Yes sir, however I'm not asking to become Turtwig's trainer. I'm asking to take care of him. I think I know what I want to do when I get older and Turtwig would be a step in that direction."

Now I've got their interest, I can see it in my parents eyes.

"I want to study Pokemon Psychology. Try to determine the best ways to help them recover from mental damage, and I'm not talking about psychic attacks though I suppose I could be. Chikorita had slight abandonment issues, and I knew I couldn't let someone else choose her. I imagine Turtwig will have similar issues. He'll also need to learn what being a trainer's pokemon should actually be as I think we can all agree that Paul guy wasn't doing it."

My parents get a thoughtful look in their eye, while Professor Oak smirks looking at Lance. Thankfully, I know my Uncle and he only thought about it for a second.

"All right," he says quietly, "Arthur, you will be getting a waiver to allow you to have and care for more than one pokemon on one condition. I know your parents already signed you up for the Oak Academy. So during your schooling, you will be an Assistant Researcher to the Oak Lab. I trust that will work for everyone?"

I nod my head eagerly, and the Professor smiles. "It works for me. I would say that maybe Turtwig won't be you next actual pokemon, as Professor Rowan of Sinnoh might want him returned. However, we do have some pokemon at the lab that have been through traumatic experiences of all kinds. Don't worry Nicole," he says looking at my mom, "We'll start him off in the same area he's already at. I will see about possibly getting him a Psychic type though, so that he might be able to actually communicate and understand his future patients."

Everyone seems happy with that. "Thank you Uncle, thank you professor. I need to go to make my match, but I won't let you down!"

*****

Not going to lie, I don't think my feet hit the ground all the way to the battlefield. With Paul just being flat out removed, the tournament directors allowed everyone to heal and rest their pokemon for a half hour, before redoing the round. Everyone seemed in agreement on that one, though it also meant Danu had a very slight advantage as she was still completely fresh.

They switched things up a bit, so May was going up against me, Lily was going up against Andrew, Cynthia was fighting Ethan, and Gary and John were going to get their battle now.

Solrock would be a tough opponent, though I felt like Danu could take the sun shaped rock. I noticed yesterday that with the battle experience she got from battling her Leaf Dance as I'm calling it improved. I wouldn't say it's at any kind of mastery level yet, but she can actually control the leaves a lot better than we had been during practice.

The ref starts with, "Welcome to the Quarter Finals! This match will be between May of Mossdeep City, and Andrew of Goldenrod City. It is a one versus one match, with the first trainer to recall or have their pokemon knocked out being the loser. Trainers, are you ready?"

I nod my head, at the same time May nods hers.

"Battle!"

"Danu, set the field!" I call out, knowing she knows to start with Grassy Terrain.

"Solrock, Let's go!" May says. She seems like a lot better trainer than those I had to fight before.

"Solrock, Calm yourself!" May calls out, smirking at me. Obviously I'm not the only one who things calling out your attacks before using them is pretty dumb.

"Danu, we've got time, set your guard." Set your guard is my command for not just safeguard, but also the move she just learned, Light Screen. We are still practicing for Reflect, but Light Screen was just in time for this battle.

Danu quickly sets the safeguard, and moves into setting up Light Screen. The way she does it is a bit different from other pokemon, as she creates five psychic barriers around her. Being very much a Zone of Control pokemon, it makes sense. At this point, Solrock comes over at May's command to try to stop Danu, though it's just a little too late to prevent Danu from using Light Screen.

Sure enough, the Solrock spins a little bit and even I can feel the heat coming off of it. Has to be the move Heat Wave. Which probably means Solrock has a telepathic connection to May behind it. I can probably deal with that, but telepathy will be hard to deal with.

"Danu, Leaf spin!" It's not an actual move, but Danu and I were working on this to try and deal with Cynthia's Gible using Sandstorm. All of the leaves that are around the area start to spin like it's a storm, though it's just Danu's Magical Leaf attack.

May keeps having Solrock use Heat Wave, trying to dry out the leaves and such. I just smile before I shout out, "Execute!"

On that command, all of the leaves that are floating around rapidly close in and strike Solrock. With how much force was put behind them, it's rather impressive. I hear a smattering of applause for the move, but know better than to look away. That Solrock isn't down just yet.

"Danu, Magic Razor Leaf." I say calmly, hoping not to many people heard me. We don't have a code phrase for this move, but it's the only one I can think of that will allow us to win quickly before Solrock uses another Heatwave or other fire type move.

Danu gathers energy on the leaf on top of it's head before whipping it down and launching what looks like a crescent moon which quickly homes in on Solrock. Before May can even give a command it's already hit and Solrock drops. This time, fainted.

"Solrock is unable to battle, Chikorita is the winner." the ref announces.

I shake hands with May, before saying, "I couldn't let you get off another Heat Wave, or my Danu would probably have fainted from the heat. I hope you don't take it too hard."

She laughs, "Oh no, me and my sister are going to become Gym Leaders. But our parents made us come to this summer camp before we can start our duties. Something about getting used to being a kid, not just a gym leader. But we are such powerful Psychics, we didn't get much of a choice."

I nod at that. I had heard that the truly powerful psychics were either made into gym leaders, or elite trainers or were otherwise heavily watched by the Alliance. Something about former Gym Leader Sabrina going postal and killing a bunch of people who had come to challenge her gym.

Either way, I had won my Quarter Final match. Which meant I was in the top four. If I won my next match I would be in first or second place, while if I lost I would have one more match to try and take third place.