173: Cynthia, Tournament Starts

Hisoka's Current Pokemon: Gardevoir, Milotic, Ryhperior, Misdreavus, Chansey, Porygon2, Buneary, Gible, Lapras, Aerodactyl, Onix

***

Pokemon Academy, Komoda City.

While the contestants were registering their names for the tournament, at this time, there were two beautiful women sitting inside the Principal's Office. One of them was Lorelei, one of the tournament officials.

"Why did you suddenly come to Kanto?"

Lorelei crossed her legs elegantly and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes were staring at the woman opposite her.

The person on the other side was a slender young lady with grey eyes and creamy-blonde hair that covered her left eye. She wore black trousers, a black top, and a long black coat with a pair of black high heels on her feet. She had an ice cream cone in her hand, and she seemed to be enjoying it.

The beautiful woman was Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh. Lorelei, without a doubt, knew that the door would be torn down if word got out that Cynthia was in the Principal's Office. Cynthia was just that popular.

"This vanilla ice cream is really tasty."

Said the blonde, too engrossed in her ice cream to listen to her.

Lorelei: ...

Lorelei groaned in frustration.

"Can you stop eating your ice cream, Cynthia?"

However, she was ignored once more as Cynthia continued to eat her ice cream with a blissful expression on her face.

Lorelei: ...

"Huh? Where is Mr. Simon? Why he isn't in his office?"

After the blonde finished eating her ice cream, she raised her head to Lorelei.

"Mr. Simon has an important meeting to attend at the League headquarters. So I will temporarily serve as the principal of the Pokemon Academy."

Replied Lorelei.

"Now, can you tell me why you came here?"

"The president of the Poketch Company asked me to come here to discuss with the Silph Company and Devon Corporation on the fossil resurrection machine. They want to join in the research, but President Stone from Devon Corporation is hesitant to let someone else join in. That's why they sent me here."

Cynthia explained after wiping her mouth with a tissue.

"But that's not the main reason why you are here, right?"

Lorelei obviously wouldn't believe she was here for that. She had known Cynthia for a long time. Although Poketch Company was a top company in Sinnoh, they didn't have the power to command Cynthia, the youngest champion in the world to date, let alone let her act as their representative.

Cynthia spread out her hands in surrender.

"Okay, you got me there. I'm here for my cousin, Giselle. Tomorrow is her birthday, and she is clamoring for me to come to her birthday party."

"Giselle, Giselle... I remember her now. She is one of the top students in the academy."

Murmured Lorelei as she grabbed a folder that belonged to Giselle from the drawer and opened it.

"Yeah, it's her. I'm quite fond of her. Don't you think she looked a lot like me when I was a kid?"

Cynthia nodded after seeing the picture in the folder.

"Nope, your hair is blond, while hers is brown."

Lorelei pointed out.

"Well, you are right, but our face looks quite similar, right? Look, we even have the same hairstyles."

"Sigh. Whatever you say, Cynthia."

***

Right now, it was half past eight in the morning, and the tournament had already begun.

As the sun rose in the sky, Hisoka was standing in the arena - about the size of a basketball court with bare soil, facing his opponent on the other side.

As soon as the referee started the match, both of them threw their Pokeball into the ring.

With loud pops, two Pokemon appeared with a flash of light. One of them was Weavile, which belonged to Hisoka. The other Pokemon was a Golem, a Rock/Ground-type Pokemon native to Kanto.

"Golem! Use Earthquake."

Without wasting time, the opponent took the initiative to attack as Golem stomped the ground hard, causing a massive shockwave around the ring.

"Ice Beam, Weavile."

Hisoka countered.

Weavile jumped into the air to avoid the impact of the Earthquake while condensing a blue sphere within her mouth. Once a big giant sphere was formed, she fired the sphere in the form of a beam at the Golem.

The Ice Beam struck the Golem head-on as it exploded, forcing it to take a couple of steps back. Thus, interrupting its Earthquake.

In return, the opponent ordered Golem to use Rollout, a common but effective tactic for the Golem species due to their round shape. Paired with their hard shell, it made them the perfect living bowling ball.

'Rollout, huh? Too bad, but I already know the way to crack this thing.'

Thought Hisoka as he ordered Weavile to make an upward slope using ice just before the Golem could hit her.

The opponent was surprised by Hisoka's plan as his Golem went flying in the air after rolling up the slope. Seeing his Golem flailing its arm helplessly in the air, the opponents commanded his Golem to use Protect in a desperate bid.

But before the Golem could execute its trainer's order, Weavile was already next to it, preparing herself for her final attack.

"Finish it off, Weavile. Brick Break!"

Hisoka yelled.

As soon as the Protect barrier went up, it was shattered under the force of Weavile's punch as Golem was sent flying across the arena and crashed to the ground.

Once the dust settled down, everyone could see Golem passed out on the ground with swirly eyes. There were also a few cracks on its shell that were caused by Weavile's Brick Break just now.

"Golem is unable to battle. The winner is Weavile!"

After the referee announced the result, cheers erupted from the audience.

"Thank you!"

Hisoka put Weavile away and bowed slightly to the crowd. He then left the ring while waving at everyone.

Time slowly passed by as more and more people were eliminated from the tournament.

"Crobat lost its ability to fight. The winner is Alakazam!"

"Magmar fainted. Gyarados wins!"

It took the whole morning for the first round to finish. Right now, he was having his lunch with Jimmy, who had also won the first round.

Both of them were waiting for the second round, which would start at two o'clock in the evening later. Thankfully, both of them were in different groups, so they wouldn't meet until much later in the tournament.

"Hey, you!"

Suddenly, he heard someone shouting behind his back.

"Not again."

Hisoka groaned as he turned around. However, it wasn't the little girl who interrupted him earlier this morning. It was a group of boys around twelve years old. They were all wearing the student uniforms of the academy.

"You're the guy who bullied Giselle earlier, aren't you?"

A blond-haired boy stepped forward swaggeringly and pointed at him with a disdainful look.

Hisoka nodded nonchalantly.

"Yeah, so she sent you four brats to beat me up, huh?"

He stressed the word 'brats' while looking at them up and down.

"Pfft!"

Even Jimmy, who wanted to help Hisoka, couldn't help but let out a snigger.

The boy's face quickly turned red as he ordered his lackeys to attack Hisoka.

"Beat him up, boys!"