Vermillion City Tournament Pt. 2

When it was 10 AM, the TV screens lining the front wall of the room lit up and the pictures of the various competitors appeared. The announcer began to explain how things were going to go, "Two battles from each gender division will occur at a time, the winner from those battles will move onto the next round. If a pokemon faints, it is out. If there's a tie, no one moves onto the next round. A twenty minute break will occur after the first round to allow all those moving to the next round to heal their pokemon and plan their strategies. Good luck to everyone!"

Vali focused on the TV as the various pictures were scrambled. Eventually, they finished and Vali found that she would be in the third battle of the first round against a girl with long red hair and light purple eyes by the name of Yuki Evans. Zaria whistled softly, "Looks like I'm up first."

"Good luck, Zaria," Vali murmured earning a mischievous grin.

"Thanks and good luck to you as well," Zaria offered in return with a small laugh.

Steven was also up first, so Vali got a bit closer to the screens to watch. The screens would shift between the battles thus allowing everyone to get a good look at their opponents and see some fun battles. Zaria's battle was against one of her classmates who was using an Oddish. Steven's battle was against a boy around his own age with spiky black hair tipped with a bright Purple and teal eyes that went by the name of Satoshi Yamamoto. Funnily enough both Zaria and Satoshi used Zorua as their first pokemon. Zaria's battle ended fairly quickly since her classmates Oddish didn't seem to want to listen to the girl at all. Steven's battle against Satoshi was fairly exciting with Steven using Skarmory. Satoshi started the battle off with Shadow Ball which Skarmory dodged seemingly without any effort before retaliating with Swift which the Zorua attempted to dodge only to end up being hit by two of the stars sending it flying. Skarmory followed up with a devastating Steel Wing that sent the Zorua to the ground rather harshly. Satoshi grimaced, "Mika, are you okay?" The Zorua stumbled to it's feet with a low grunt and glared at Skarmory, "Use Double Team and Shadow Ball!"

Mika the Zorua seemed to vibrate for a few seconds as copies of it appeared before they began to shoot Shadow Balls at Skarmory. Skarmory dodged the attacks as Steven called out, "Clear them away with Air Cutter!"

Skarmory beat her wings sending razor sharp gusts of wind towards the various Zorua. A boom sounded as they hit the ground kicking up dirt. When it faded, Mika the Zorua was trembling with the effort it took to stay up only to faint when it attempted to charge up a Shadow Ball. Satoshi returned Mika the Zorua and shook hands with Steven before the screen switched to the other matches.

Vali forced away the anxiety that bubbled up in her stomach at the sight of at least a hundred people in the stands as she reached her trainer box. Yuki Evans stood across from her with a slight smile, "Bonjour, Valkyrie."

"Hello, Yuki," Vali greeted the girl with a light smile.

The referee called out, "This is a one on one battle between Yuki Evans of Vaniville Town in Kalos and Valkyrie Potter of Pallet Town in Kanto. Trainers release your pokemon."

"It's time to battle, Ember!" Yuki called out and a fox-like creature Vali had never seen before appeared, "Ember's a Fennekin which is the fire-type starter in Kalos,"

Fennekin were fox-like quadrupeds mostly covered in light yellow fur. They had dark red tufts of fur sticking out of their ears with a puffy tail tipped in the same color. They had a white muzzle and bright red eyes. Vali nodded as she palmed Balto's pokeball having promised him the first battle, "She's a beautiful pokemon," Yuki offered her a light smile, "Come out and battle with me, my friend!"

Balto appeared and barked as his tail wagged earning a few coos from the crowd. Yuki looked at Balto with a raised eyebrow, "A fire-type versus a fire-type?"

"I'm trying to become a fire-type master plus I promised Balto to use him first," Vali replied earning a small nod.

The Referee raised his hand, "Are both trainers ready?" They nodded with matching grins, "Start!"

"Balto, let's kick this battle off with a game of hide and seek!" Vali called out earning a bark and Balto quickly began digging through the dirt platform the pokemon were battling on.

Yuki frowned a bit, "Ember, use Howl and keep your ears peeled for that Growlithe."

Ember the Fennekin nodded before she let out a howl that causing a wave of red wave to go over her body. Balto popped out of the ground underneath her and slammed his glowing tail into Ember. Ember was tossed to the side, but quickly righted herself as Vali called out, "Keep it up with Hide and Seek, Balto."

Balto disappeared into the ground again as Yuki's frown deepened, "Ember, are you okay?" Ember barked as her ears twitched as she attempted to keep track of Balto's underground movements, "Use Will-o-Wisp inside the holes and see if you can force him out!"

Ember darted towards the nearest hole in the ground and began spitting out bluish white fire balls that floated into the tunnel system. Balto reappeared while she was doing that and slammed his Iron Tail into her sending the Fennekin into the hole that she'd just been sending Will-o-Wisps into before he dove after her. It was a tense few moments as they heard growling and sounds of fighting within the ground before Ember came barreling out looking a bit worse for wear. Balto followed her panting with a bleeding ear and a few cuts. Balto darted towards Ember and bite down with his jaws coated in Fire Fang. Ember struggled against him and attempted to use Ember only to find Balto unaffected. If anything, it made him stronger. Balto released Ember from his jaws as her struggles began to fade and lept backward eyeing her warily. Ember growled at him and took a step froward before collapsing causing the referee to call out, "Winner Valkyrie Potter of Pallet Town and Growlithe."

Balto darted over to her and she bent down to pet him, "Good job, Balto."

Vali stood up and moved to meet Yuki in the middle. They shook hands with Yuki saying, "That was a good battle despite us losing."

"It was," Vali agreed with a small smile, "I'm just glad we did so well despite not knowing what a Fennekin was,"

Yuki let out a laugh, "Well, I'm going to get Ember checked out at the pokemon center. Good luck with your next match."

"Thanks," Vali said as they let go and she returned Balto before heading to the healing area they had set up for the tournament.

Vali gave Balto's pokeball over to the Nurse Joy in charge, "It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes."

Nodding, Vali headed to sit down and watch the matches.

The matches of the first round passed pretty quickly as did the second. Vali ended up battling against a girl from her old class who sent out a rather small Rattata. Smaug was disappointed by his opponent and actually pouted at not having a good battle seeing as he managed to knock out the Rattata almost immediately. When the third round came, Vali found herself face to face with Ellen who sneered at her. Ellen had done surprisingly well with her Squirtle and Ekans though she'd almost lost during the last battle. Ellen sent out her Squirtle and Vali replied with Pikachu who peered at Squirtle who suddenly looked a bit fearful. Ellen frowned as she shrieked, "You can't use a Pikachu!"

"Since there isn't a rule about me using the same pokemon in all the rounds, I can," Vali looked at the referee.

The referee nodded to her, "The tournament has no rules against it."

"That isn't fair," Ellen pouted at the referee.

Vali barely managed to avoid face palming as she wondered just how some of her classmates could be so damn childish. Then again, she is mentally thirteen, so that probably makes a difference. Shaking her head as the referee called out, "Trainers ready?"

"No!" Ellen shouted as Vali nodded to the referee.

"If the trainer on the blue side will not battle then she forfeits to the trainer on the red," The referee called out making Ellen stiffen.

Eventually, the battle began and Vali started off, "Pikachu, end this quickly. Use Electro Ball."

Pikachu charged up and released his Electro Ball within a minute showing that their training was working out nicely. The ball of electricity slammed into Squirtle causing the turtle to shriek and disappear into his shell. Ellen growled and shouted, "Use Bubble!"

"Dodge it and use Electro Ball again," Vali called out in a bored tone.

If there was one person from Pallet town Vali didn't want to deal with, it was Ellen Ross. She was even more childish than Draco and the idiot had dressed like a dementor to scare her. Dealing with either of them was headache inducing if only from the sheer disbelief and annoyance she felt towards the two, Ellen Ross was almost worst than Draco especially since all she did was whine about how hard things were. It made her wonder how Ellen even managed to pass the trainer exam or how she'd survive until reaching Vermilion. Inwardly sighing, she focused on the battle which left Pikachu as bored as her. Eventually, Vali had Pikachu put Squirtle out of his misery with an Iron Tail to the back of the head which knocked the poor water type out. Ellen growled as she returned Squirtle, "Useless thing."

"Squirtle would be stronger if you actually trained him," Vali was so calling Professor Oak about the group of her former classmates, "Pikachu, do you want to see if she actually has anything interesting or no?" Pikachu shrugged and stayed on the field, "Okay then,"

Ellen sent out her next pokemon which was the same Ekans as before. Vali focused on it as it hissed and heard, "Another battle? Stupid pain in the ass brat. I didn't agree to this."

So even Ellen's pokemon didn't like her, how shocking. Vali shook her head lightly pushing her sarcastic thoughts to the back of her mind, "Pikachu, do your best to avoid any poison-type moves and just get this over with."

Pikachu nodded and quickly disappeared into the ground with Dig. Ellen screeched out, "What is it with you and Dig?"

"It's a viable and useful tactic," Vali ran a hand through her hair.

With Ekans being snake-like, it was able to sense the vibrations in the ground and managed to avoid being sent flying by Pikachu. Pikachu used Electro Ball to block the Poison Sting before using Thunder Shock on Ekans. Ekans hissed in displeasure rattling his tail before retaliating with Poison Sting. Pikachu used Iron Tail to block the attack. Thankfully, the steel-type move kept him from being poisoned. Pikachu sent another Electro Ball towards Ekans before using Quick Attack to start attempting to confuse the snake-like pokemon. Ellen screamed out attack only for Ekans to ignore her as it sent Poison Sting needles towards Pikachu whenever it could. Pikachu kept shocking the snake-like pokemon which eventually caused it to pass out with an annoyed hiss. Pikachu made his way back over to her as Ellen returned her pokemon and promptly took off. The crowd let out displeased murmurs at the unsportsmanlike conduct and she made her way towards the waiting room seeing as Pikachu hadn't sustained any damage during the bout. Zaria was there when she arrived, "That battle sucked."

"The only relatively nice battle was against Yuki Evans," Vali complained as she went to sit down.

"How the hell did any of them manage to get a trainer's license?" Zaria asked as she sat down next to Vali.

Vali shrugged lightly, "I have no clue, but I'm definitely going to be talking to Professor Oak. Did you hear her talk about that Squirtle?"

Zaria made a tching sound, "She definitely doesn't deserve to be a pokemon trainer if she treats them like that."