Chapter 40

The following day, Team Crystal Fang lost to Team Checkmate. They were easily defeated because they didn't have any B stage pokemon. The winning teams for the second day of the tournament were from Class Red's Team IWannaBeTheVeryBest, Class Sapphire's Team Checkmate and Class Platinum's Team Snowflake.

Principal Doss Galvan explained the mechanic of the semi-final and final rounds to the remaining teams. "Each team leaders will draw a stick from this container, two of them are long and one is shorter. Whoever gets the long sticks will battle for the semi-final round tomorrow. The losing team will automatically get the third place and the winning team will proceed to the final round. As for the lucky team who will get the shorter stick, they would directly advance to the final round. Whoever wins in the final match will become the First Year's Champions and the defeated team will get second place."

He commanded, "Team Leaders, please come up on stage."

The team leader from Class Red drew first and got one of the long sticks. Next, the team leader from Class Platinum, Maria, drew second and got a long stick, too. Lastly, Leon still drew from the container for formality's sake and got the shorter stick. This meant that Leon's team would directly proceed to the final round and that the other teams would battle in the semifinals.

"Alright! The battle for tomorrow has been decided!" said Principal Dos Galvan, "Everyone rest up and see you then."

Teacher Alex, together with their fellow classmates, congratulated Team Checkmate before they headed back to their dormitories.

The next day, the audience was packed. The academy allowed outsiders to watch the fight live and the crowd were cheering for their favorite team. After the principal's opening remarks, the two teams were called to enter the battlefield. After Team IWannaBeTheVeryBest and Team Snowflake took stage and began their greetings, they had entered their respective command towers.

Both teams were equally matched as soon as their battle began. They eventually reached the last minute wherein a hologram of the Legendary Articuno appeared that was worth a hundred points when defeated. The illusion was not as strong as the real deal since it was just for a show. Team Snowflake got the last hit and eventually secured the win and advanced to the championship tomorrow.

Team Checkmate was in the audience watching and they were already pumped for the finals. The principal gave his closing remarks, then everyone went back and was excited for tomorrow's championship match.

Championship Day*

It had finally arrived. Team Checkmate and Team Snowflake sized up their opponents. Both teams already knew what pokemon they would be using against each other since they had reviewed all the battle data they had gathered from the previous fights.

Team Snowflake's pokemon team were consisted of:

Dragonair (B rank low stage)

Alolan Ninetales (B rank low stage)

Camerupt (C rank peak stage)

Piloswine (C rank peak stage)

Quagsire (C rank peak stage)

Glalie (Crank peak stage)

Team Checkmate's pokemon team had also improved. Almost all of them were at C rank peak stage while Mark's Prinplup had advanced to B rank low stage. Leon informed Mark and Woody of their opponent's strengths and that they were equal in terms of their pokemon stage.

When both teams had entered their respective command towers, the countdown began.

"Ready… Go!" the announcement rang.

Team Checkmate still used the same strategy from their earlier battles. While Toshi jungles in their area, Jin would head to the enemy's jungle. Prinplup and Espeon to protect and score at the top lane, while Pangoro and Sylveon at the bottom.

When the pokemon arrived at their designated lanes, Pangoro and Sylveon were evenly matched against Quagsire and Glalie at the bottom lane. The top lane, on the other hand, was in a pinch. Prinplup and Espeon were immediately being pushed back. Team Snowflake used the "3-1-2 formation" which means that three pokemon were at the top lane, one as jungler and two were at the bottom.