Chapter 39

Meanwhile, Prinplup and Espeon were slowly getting pushed back by Hariyama. Even with their combined efforts, the difference in stage was obvious.

Hariyama got furious when it heard the announcement that Bayleef was out and felt that play time's over. It sent out another Earthquake. Espeon once again used its psychic powers to levitate him and Prinplup to avoid it. This was what Hariyama was aiming for and immediately used Whirlwind to blow them away.

When they saw the Whirlwind heading towards their direction, Espeon and Prinplup braced themselves since they wouldn't be able to resist it. Suddenly, another strong gust of wind hit the incoming Whirlwind and both canceled each other out. When they all turned to the direction where it came from, Espeon and Prinplup were glad to see Toshi, assuming Hariyama's form, who also used Whirlwind to cancel Hariyama's attack.

"Toshi, push the enemy back to give room for Prinplup and Espeon to take the pokemon cluster spawn," Leon instructed.

Toshi immediately used an empowered Surf, thanks to the previous Rain Dance by Prinplup, and pushed Hariyama back towards their own goal. Seviper had no choice but to fallback as well, or it would be eliminated easily by the three pokemon.

When the pokemon cluster spawned, Prinplup and Espeon were free from disturbance and took all of them.

Hariyama and Seviper were now on the defensive. Seviper used Sludge Bomb. It couldn't use any close range attacks fearing being outflanked by their opponents number.

Prinplup used Hydro Pump and easily pushed away Seviper's attack.

When Seviper was about to avoid it, Espeon used Copy Cat on Prinplup and used Hydro Pump as well, to make the area of effect larger and reduced Seviper's chance of avoiding it to zero. Seviper got hit by the double Hydro Pump and fainted after.

An announcement was heard, "Seviper has been knocked out and can no longer battle!"

Hariyama could only do nothing but watch as it was being held up by Toshi.

Team Infernal Groudon was in a pinch.

Now that Seviper was out, Hariyama was slowly being pushed back by the three pokemon. When Ninjask arrived, Hariyama was already all worn out.

While Team Infernal Groudon was trying to form a plan to salvage the situation, an announcement suddenly rang, "Donphan and Luxray has been knocked out and can no longer battle!" They were too busy dealing with the top lane and forgot about the bottom lane, despite their pokemon's plea.

When Jin arrived at the bottom lane, Donphan and Luxray were quickly overpowered.

They already lost four pokemon and the bottom goal has been destroyed. "We surrender," they reluctantly declared.

"Team Checkmate from Class Sapphire are the winners!" the principal announced.

The crowd from the stand, comprised of all the first year students and some staff members, cheered. The battle was also being broadcasted live for everyone in Pallet Town to watch. The fight displayed incredible strategy and teamwork.

Leon's classmates swallowed a bitter pill. Leon was as strong as Woody and Mark, if not stronger. If he joined the fights before, they would have lost faster.

Team Checkmate joined the crowd stand after their fight to witness all the battles. They wanted to gather information for their fight tomorrow. When they arrived at the bleachers, they were greeted by their classmates and were congratulated. Some approached Leon and apologized for thinking that he was just freeloading. Leon told them that he didn't mind and held no grudge. The whole class was now unified and wanted their class representative to win the championship. Alexa was happy that her class won and congratulated the three.

As the day ended, the principal had announced the six winning teams that will fight against each other tomorrow.

Red (Team IWannaBeTheVeryBest) versus Yellow (Team Volt Quake),

Crystal (Team Crystal Fang) versus Sapphire (Team Checkmate),

Emerald (Team Green Guardians) versus Platinum (Team Snowflake)

"Let's stick with the same strategy tomorrow," Mark suggested. Leon and Woody nodded.

"Agreed. We can still take them out with the same strategy before while mixing it up a little bit," Leon added.

The Principal said his closing remarks and the rest of the participants went back to their perspective dorms to rest and do some last minute preparation for tomorrow's fight.