Chapter 18: Trainer Ranks

Cynthia and Gabby rushed over to Xander and Dahlia who congratulated the pair on their victory. The trio then walked back to the waiting room for the arena to get cleaned up and for Kent to change out his Pokemon for his main team. The battle between Dahlia and Kent was soon to begin. 

"You guys know you can talk to me right?" Dahlia laughed when she saw the pair sitting as far away from her as they could. It was easy to guess what was on their mind. 

"But you're about to fight Mr. Kent's main team. We don't wanna distract you," Cynthia explained while Xander nodded beside her. 

"Battles can come at any moment so you won't always have time to get into the right state of mind. Once you get to this level, you'll be able to switch between relaxed and battle mode on the drop," Dahlia explained why she seemed so relaxed and why the pair did not need to worry about her

Seeing that Dahlia did not seem to be worried, the duo moved seats and sat on each side of her. 

"How strong are you, Dahlia?" Xander asked, curious about just how high her strength was

"It's hard to say. I'm technically a Master Trainer but since I only won the Junior Conference, it makes it hard to believe that. I want to fight Kent in order to see if I should really be able to call myself one and not an Advanced Trainer," Dahlia explained her goal for the match. This was fairly typical with newly crowned junior conference winners.

Trainers were divided into 4 grades, determined by their number of Gym Badges as well as if they had won any conferences, though Rogue Trainers broke this rule.

Xander and Cynthia were considered Beginner Trainers since they only had 1 Gym Badge and didn't have full teams. Most Beginners were barely considered able to protect themselves against Wild Pokemon.

After them were the Intermediate Trainers. These were Trainers that had between 4 and 6 Gym Badges. Most Trainers had full teams and at least one fully evolved 3-Stage Pokemon. One had to be at this level if they wanted to join the Pokemon League as an employee. 

The next tier was Advanced Trainers. A person needed between 7 or 8 Gym Badges at the least to be called one and these were the trainers that were capable of battling at conferences. Most Advanced Trainers had fully evolved teams.

Lastly were the Master Trainers. The only way to be considered a Master Trainer was to win a conference but not all Masters were evil. Gym Leaders and Regional Champions were both considered Master Trainers but there was a large gap between the two. A Master Trainer could fight off groups of lesser trainers or handle Pokemon Stampedes all on their own. 

Many who won the Junior Conference would only consider themselves Advanced Trainers since the battles between theirs and the Senior Conference were two very different leagues. 

The pair nodded along and talked with Dahlia about their plans for the future. trying their best to silently take her mind off the upcoming battle. After a few more minutes, the referee came to get them.

It was time to battle. 

The trio followed the referee back to the arena where Kent was standing in the same place where they had last seen him. Dahlia waved to Xander and Cynthia before going to where they stood. 

"Are you ready, Ms. Dahlia?" the referee asked

Dahlia nodded, her hands stroking the Pokeballs on each side of her belt

"And you, Mr. Kent?" the referee turned to ask the Gym Leader

"Yep. We're good to go over here," Kent kept flexing his wrist, eager to have a real battle

"Good. According to the rules, this battle will be a dual battle between Junior Conference Winner Dahlia and Gym Leader Kent. Each trainer will send out two Pokemon and battle until both of their Pokemon are no longer able to battle. If both of you are ready, the battle shall now begin!"

Kent picked up two Pokeballs with one hand while Dahlia took one in each of her hands before throwing their Pokemon out at the same time. 

"Dusknoir. Blaziken. I choose you!" Dahlia shouted out as white beams of light emerged from her Pokeballs

"Machamp, Hariyama! Let's do this!" Kent called his Pokemon as they emerged from their Pokeballs. 

Two Pokemon stood on each side of the field. 

Machamp was a Pokemon that resembled a short human with 4 arms, grey skin, and several brown ridges on the top of its head. It was also wearing a golden belt and shorts with a red orb in the middle of the belt. Hariyama was a large Pokemon that resembled a sumo wrestler. It had two massive hands but small feet. These two were classic Fight Type Pokemon that Advanced and Master Trainers used because of just how powerful they were. Both were specialized in heavy attacks but they were notoriously slow. 

Blaziken was a Pokemon that was a cross between a chicken and a human. While its arms were thin, it had thick legs that helped with its impressive speed, kicks, and jumping ability as well as sharp talons on all of its limbs. Dusknoir was a Pokemon that resembled a cyclops with a single glowing red eye and thick upper body but it had only a wispy tail instead of feet. 

"Nice. Dahlia has the advantage, at least when it comes to typing," Cynthia analyzed. Ghost types were immune to Fighting Type moves which meant that Kent would be limited in how he could damage it. 

"Not only that, her Blaziken is a fast Pokemon. It will be able to dance around both of Kent's Pokemon," Xander analyzed. "She has a lot of advantages but he is not the Gym Leader for nothing. He will surely have some tricks to deal with them."

The pair summoned all of the Pokemon, wanting them to see just how strong they would become in the future.