Sixteen rows of sixteen. Over two hundred trainers lined up in a grid. The audience’s roars were deafening, and each and every one of those shouts came out solely to celebrate them.

  The sky was open, allowing the light of the night’s stars to shine through, and a massive, empty brazier sat unlit at the top of the arena’s edge.

  When its fires blazed, the Conference would begin.

  But on the ground, a small, constructed stage elevated a handful of people above those rows of competitors. At the stage’s front, a podium served as the speaker’s stand, and Sam could already see several very important people he recognized behind it—the head referee, the head nurse, the Ace Trainers in charge of security, and then also Indigo’s Champion himself.

  However, as the shouts of the crowd slowly began to quiet, it was not the Champion who approached the podium. Rather, an old man so short that Sam had failed to notice him walked up a stepstool to reach the microphone. He was dressed exactly like a teacher trying to be “hip” with the kids, complete with baggy shorts and a backwards hat, but the cheers that erupted at his presence all seemed genuine.

  A soft smile crossed the old man’s face. Half of him was hidden behind a long, white beard.

  “So many strong trainers this year. The Conference has never been so intense!”

  Roars. The small man let out a hearty laugh, and that sound echoed throughout the area.

  Sam finally recognized who the old man was.

  Every region had a Champion in charge of all things Pokémon, but the Pokémon League itself also needed someone who helped with the other side of management. As important as the Champion was, they were only part of that show. The Pokémon League President handled all unrelated matters.

  And this old man, Charles Goodshow, was that President.

  The short man behind the podium was the one in charge of the day-to-day operations of all of the League’s staff in Indigo, Hoenn, and Sinnoh.

  “I’ve seen quite the number of impressive battles. And I’ve heard quite the number of curious things,” President Goodshow said, stroking his beard. “Over two hundred trainers in one competition? That’s a new record. Well, if you don’t count the five-hundred-person tournament that happened two decades ago.”

  He laughed. If the man wasn’t so thin, Sam would have been reminded of Santa Claus. The laughter that came from the crowd was a bit more awkward, and when Goodshow finally quieted down, he stared out at the rows and rows of trainers.

  Somehow, it felt as though he managed to make eye contact with every person here.

  “The Conference is a tradition that spans back hundreds of years,” Goodshow said, his hands moving to rest on the sides of the podium. “Trainers from every era have always competed to determine the best of the best. You all will continue that tradition, standing here today. Your achievements and accomplishments are what brought you here. And now, you will battle to find out which one of you stands at the top.”

  The crowd cheered again.

  “But it is not a trainer alone who fights in these matches!” Goodshow continued, and despite being a small man, the weight of his presence drastically outsized his diminutive form. “It is not a trainer alone who manages to reach the Conference! You have your teams! Your Pokémon! Your friends and family and everyone you’ve met along the way!

  “This is a competition, but it is also a celebration!” Goodshow yelled. “Be proud of yourselves! All of you! Because you have finally made it here! To the Silver Conference, standing here, today of all days!”

  An uproarious applause chased his shouts. Within the rows of trainers, people stood taller than ever before.

  Every trainer standing there had earned their eight badges and made their way into this tournament. Out of the thousands upon thousands of trainers that attempted the Gym Challenge each year, only these two hundred fifty-six had been deemed worthy of making it to the end.

  “Now then. I could go on and on about all these little things, and I know Lance wants to make an announcement too, but I think we’ll skip that.” Goodshow let out a slight chuckle. “Instead, I’ll just say this: we’ve held you back for long enough! After such a long preliminary, take the night to rest! Learn about your opponents. Meet them. Discover who you’re about to face! Make your plans, create your strategies, but more than anything else... Just! Have! Fun!”

  He laughed once again, and a small light in the stands behind him caught Sam’s attention. A woman in a runner’s outfit charged up the steps of the arena. In one hand, she held a flaming torch that seemed to be tinged with green.

  President Goodshow went quiet to watch her approach that brazier, and a pair of Ace Trainers at the top of the steps moved to the side to give her room to throw that torch in.

  “I have the honor of saying this every year, and now, I have that same honor once again,” the old man said, the echoes from his voice quiet as the torch sailed through the air. “With the burning of Ho-Oh’s flames, it is time! Let the Silver Conference... BEGIN!”

  The brazier at the top of the arena erupted, and the fire that blazed within seemed to give off all forms of light. In Kanto’s Conference, the flames were of Moltres, a Legendary Pokémon, with that ancient fire said to have never stopped burning.

  But in Johto, these flames were of Ho-Oh, a Legendary Pokémon said to command rebirth and life itself. Where myths about Moltres’s flames claimed they had granted humans ingenuity, myths about Ho-Oh’s flames claimed they had granted human life.

  The light that came from the brazier’s fire was a mixture of all colors, a rainbow tinted by every hue at once. Yet, that beautiful spectrum lasted only a second, and the initial burn died back down to a more general mix of reds and oranges.

  That brazier would remain lit for the entire Conference, and the flames would be collected again once it was over to be used next year.

  Just like how Ho-Oh’s fire burned in that brazier, the spirit of the Conference and the will to fight would burn in every competing trainer’s heart.

  “Now then. The boring stuff. Pay attention, hm?” Charles Goodshow said.

  Those words were just for the rows of trainers, and Champion Lance shot the old man a sharp look before stepping off stage, beginning to send the short man furiously whispered words. In the back, the head nurse left alongside the Ace Trainers to have a quiet discussion, but the head referee stayed behind. That balding man moved up to the microphone to speak about the tournament while all of the trainers and everyone else were still there to listen in.

  “Welcome. Charles’s speeches are always quite enthusiastic. He tends to keep things... short.” The referee cleared his throat. “But we have not covered the most important part. Listen closely. I am going to explain exactly how this year’s Silver Conference will work.”

  With just that line, he captured the full attention of every person here.

  “With two hundred fifty-six competitors, we will go through eight rounds of battles to establish this year’s Conference champion. Unlike usual, we’ll be sticking to the basics, following a classic bracket format with no twists or alternate rounds,” the head referee explained. “The only exception to this will happen in the finals. There, the two defeated trainers from the semifinals will have a match to establish third place, and then, only then, will we have our final match to determine this year’s champion.

  “But that only concerns four of you,” the referee continued as he slowly panned his gaze over the rows of trainers. “We have only a single week—seven days—to get through those eight rounds, and due to the... expanded number of competitors this year, expect the Conference’s schedule to be highly compressed.”

  His nose scrunched up.

  “On the first day alone, one hundred and ninety-two battles will take place. Expect to see the full first two rounds be completed then.” There was the slightest of sour tones to his voice, and murmurs erupted in the crowd. “Half of you will fight two battles that day. Three-quarters of you will face elimination.

  “My hope is that you enter those battles prepared. For most of you, those will be the only battles you see, so do not hold back. Don’t make the foolish mistake of trying to keep too much hidden. It is better to try and face defeat than it is to not try and lose without ever showing off your best.”

  He went on to let that statement linger, and he once again looked at each and every trainer here.

  “I suppose I’m meant to comment on Lance’s announcement here, but...” He sighed and wiped his forehead. “If Charles wanted to push past that, then I will too. The only thing I’ll state is that you should keep in mind that there is more than just this tournament going on.”

  The rest of what he spoke about was far less serious, mostly just going over how opponents would be assigned. Battles would be randomized—mostly. Trainers had been ranked by approximate power, and rather than a true randomization across the entire tournament, trainers would have a range from which they could draw their opponents.

  Hearing that, Sam frowned.

  Since I’m at the end, I won’t be fighting anyone that strong. Or even anyone I know. Redi and Xavier are too far above me. I doubt I can face anyone ranked above half.

  The overall intention with the pseudo-random matches was to keep the “fairness” of randomization while also ensuring there was never too much of a difference in strength. There was the slight implication that “weaker” trainers would get further in than they otherwise would, but by the third or fourth round, the overall number of competitors would be so far reduced that trainers would be up to fight anyone who was still in their round.

  “And as a final note, you will not know who you are fighting next until after the previous round is over,” the head referee said. “You only need to worry about your upcoming fight. The next round’s opponents will only be announced after everyone else has already gone.

  “We start tomorrow morning and will be using every arena,” he said, finishing his short speech. “Try your hardest, and I wish you luck. But always remember that the League will be watching.”

  This part of the opening ceremony ended just like that.

  Voices began to spread throughout the arena as everyone discussed their hopes for the upcoming tournament. The conversations came from both the crowd and the trainers below.

  Sam shot Redi a glance. She was practically bouncing on her feet in excitement. Other trainers looked similarly giddy, but there were those whose faces were unreadable.

  Xavier was among them.

  Behind, as they all left the field, a band and a variety of performers started to move onto the arena floor. The League wanted the opening ceremony to be more exciting than just a few talks, and with so many people having tuned in for this, this was the perfect chance to show off Pokémon performing in more than just a battling role.

  But, as the rows and rows of trainers began to leave to give the performers room, Sam sent one final look over his shoulder up at Ho-Oh’s flames.

  This was the Conference. He and his team had made it, but he had to remember that moving through the rounds would not be easy. This would be a true test of his team’s strength.

  Yet, despite the weight of that challenge, Sam didn’t feel nervous. He only felt confident. After all of those weeks and months of his team’s dedicated effort, there was no other possible outcome.

  In the end, they would stand at the top.

  He had made sure of it.

  All of the match-ups were revealed within the Pokémon Center that night. The screens above the nurses’ counter rotated through the match pairs, listed beneath the usual check-up information. Since it took a while for the display to rotate through all of the competitors, trainers could also go up to the counter to request information on their next opponent’s identity, or they could find the listed matches on the nearby bulletin board. However, that board was so crowded that Sam chose to sit back and wait for his name to appear on the screen.

  Redi joined him. While waiting, they stood in silence and stared out into the room, carefully observing all of their fellow competitors. Sam didn’t miss the way that several of them watched them back. Though he had personally placed last, people hadn’t exactly paid much attention to other trainers’ rankings. To them, he was still the trainer who had won the very first preliminary match with just a single Pokémon.

  For that reason, Sam was a threat, and Redi held a similar weight in their heads.

  Eventually, when Redi learned of her opponent, she wished Sam luck and then surprised him by running up to her room for research.

  When Sam learned of his opponent, he did the same, and he found that they were... someone.

  Honestly, he had no idea who they were.

  However, his opponent had to have been an experienced trainer to make it here, but they weren’t anyone Sam had encountered before. All he knew was their team, official battle record, and the events of all of their archived matches.

  The League’s website honestly listed a lot.

  But what Sam also knew was a fact from Typhlosion; he knew that Starter Pokémon were strong. Just that fact alone said a great deal about his first opponent.

  After all, the trainer he’d be facing, Rolando, had three Starter Pokémon on his team.

  Alongside a Rapidash, Starmie, and Victreebel, Rolando was listed to have an Ivysaur, Wartortle, and Charmeleon. Sam was able to watch all of them in action thanks to the videos on the League’s website.

  Just from a first glance, Sam could tell Rolando always preferred to use a Fire-Grass-Water core. And, from the recordings, he could also tell Rolando frequently relied on coverage moves to win his fights, using the advantage of constant, super-effective attacks to pressure his opponents until they fell.

  It was a simple strategy, but it was an effective one. Though Rolando had never won any of the three tournaments he participated in, he had managed to reach the semi-finals twice.

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  “I don’t know if he’s going to use any of his Starter Pokémon, or if he’s going to go with his non-Starter core,” Sam mumbled to his team as he leaned back and watched a battle recording for what felt like the fiftieth time tonight, “but we should probably expect an even spread of Types. In all of his recorded battles, he never doubled up.”

  Every one of Sam’s Ghost Types crowded the Pokémon Center bedroom behind him, and the only source of light in there was a tiny monitor screen set on top of a small, wooden desk.

  His Pokémon pushed and shoved and tried to peer out from the darkness behind Sam’s head, but they settled down once Gengar and Mismagius reminded the many Gastly and Haunter that they could occupy the same space by sinking into a shadow.

  “Rolando. Our first opponent. We’re looking him up, and he’ll be looking us up, which means what he’ll see is...” Sam hummed. “He’ll be aware of all of you except for Trevenant and Drakloak. Except, he’ll also think I just have a Primeape and a pure Fire Type Typhlosion. He’ll know I have a tricky team. He’ll expect a tricky, Ghost Type-leaning team.

  “...But Rolando won’t know that we’re a pure Ghost Type one,” Sam continued, still whispering. “He’ll probably think Gengar is the biggest threat, but he’ll also know I have strong, non-Ghost Types to pull out in my back pocket.”

  Sam then blinked.

  “Except,” he started, “Typhloson won’t be that great against two-thirds of his team, so I wouldn’t want to use her, and then he’ll probably expect that. But then he’ll probably expect that I’ll expect that, and then he knows that I know, and then all of that together means—”

  Gengar burst into laughter; Sam’s reasoning was ridiculous. Not only was he trying to anticipate his opponent’s choices, he was also trying to anticipate how his opponent would anticipate his own choices.

  There was a give and take here, and Sam knew he’d be liable to go insane if he tried to predict every possible outcome. However, this was exactly why having a core strategy was so good: it gave him specific yet reliable plans to fall back on.

  “We have two battles to win tomorrow, but we only need to focus on the first for now. As much as the referee said to give it our all, we also have to strike a balance. We have to conserve stamina, strategy, and energy. How much do we want to reveal, and how much do we want to use? I know we usually play slowly, but if we can make our battle go fast...”

  He paused.

  “Actually, what if we make our battle go fast?” he asked. “What if we just sweep?”

  Outright trying to set up a sweep wasn't exactly a strategy that worked in high levels of play, but this was probably the only round it’d be viable. Teams would still be small. Trainers won’t have revealed much. As much as specifics about Rolando’s strategies would be unknown, the same would be true for Sam’s.

  So though the plan was kind of obvious, Sam realized he could do it. A sweep in the first round wouldn’t require fainting a full team of six Pokémon, only three.

  There was a dumb brilliance in its simplicity, and the more Sam thought about it, the more he realized he liked it.

  As he turned around to check with his team, Mismagius started to giggle, and his two physical attackers rotated their arms in preparation.

  “Alright,” Sam announced. “Then that means we have a strategy. And... Huh. I’m actually kind of surprised. Overall, planning was actually kind of fast.”

  It was late, and as much as he wanted to spend more time working out the details, he also had to recognize he should go to sleep.

  With potentially two matches coming up in one day, being well-rested was critically important. So, just past midnight, Sam and his team headed to bed to get that needed rest.

  “...Three Pokémon each, with four switches allowed,” the referee called out from the side of the field. “This battle will follow the standard rules and regulations. Trainers! Send out your Pokémon!”

  Sam nodded as he held back his slight laughter at the field before him. For these early rounds, battles would have a chance to be held on one of four themed battlefields—rock, grass, ice, or water—with the outcome being random.

  For his battle, the field failed to benefit either him or his opponent. Rather than anything basic, the ground was covered with a thin layer of ice, and the field itself was interspersed with a handful of frost-covered boulders.

  This kind of terrain would harshly impact most forms of movement, but Sam wasn’t worried.

  After all, most of his Pokémon could float.

  But to Sam’s surprise, Rolando sent out the Pokémon he least expected to see here: a Rapidash. The horse’s hooves should have caused it to slip on the icy floor, but the flames on the Pokémon’s ankles heated its hooves, and its feet neatly melted through the ice to give it solid ground to run on.

  “Interesting,” Sam mumbled to himself quietly, but it wasn’t like Rolando’s Pokémon had him change his choice. “Mismagius!”

  In a flash, his witchy ghost Type appeared on the field. Sam could tell she had wanted a creepy entrance, but with no shadows to rise out of, she just brought up her arms to let darkness pulse from behind her.

  She let her name out in a wail.

  “Remember our plan, and make this fast,” Sam told her quickly. “You’ll have a chance to rest afterwards, so give it your all and let everyone else handle our next match.”

  Mismagius’s eyes were shrouded by the darkness of her hat, but she sent a look back toward Sam that let him see her utter confidence on display. Across from them, Rolando was giving his Pokémon similar words of advice, and his Rapidash trotted in place to demonstrate that its hooves could indeed sear right through the ice on the field.

  The referee waited a single moment to ensure both trainers were ready. Then, with one last check, he blew his whistle.

  The only shout that mattered pierced through the air.

  “Begin!”

  “Shadow Sneak, Mismagius! To the rocks!” Sam yelled.

  “Rapdiash, come back!” Rolando immediately countered.

  When the horse disappeared from the field, Sam blinked in surprise.

  He genuinely hadn’t expected a switch so early.

  He had to remember that they were not facing an inexperienced trainer. Rolando had compared Mismagius’s potential to his Rapidash’s and judged the match-up to not be in his favor. For everything that his Rapidash could do on the field, he thought another of his Pokémon was better.

  “Venusaur,” Rolando named, and the ice cracked under the weight of the heavy Pokémon that appeared.

  Ah. So it evolved.

  ...And he’s mixing around his team makeup, too.

  If a fully-evolved Starter Pokémon was appearing now of all times, Sam could tell Rolando had taken the head judge’s words to heart and was not going to hold back.

  “Continue,” the referee said.

  “Nasty Plot. Stay hidden and observe. Don’t let its attack reach you.”

  “Sleep Powder!” Rolando yelled. “Send it everywhere! Cover the entire field!”

  Mismagius shot behind one of those boulders, using the large rock to hide her and let her build up her Nasty Plot. The gaze from her yellow eyes almost seemed to pierce right through the Venusaur, but the Venusaur just shook, unconcerned with its seemingly absent opponent, and the large flower on its back sent pollen up and out over the entire field.

  So he prepared for us. Even if Mismagius stays in a shadow, that will be avoidance and not protection. She’ll fall asleep the second the pollen touches her darkness.

  Hiding won’t work. We need to go on the offensive. But first, we need to make sure Mismagius isn’t hit by Vensaur’s powder.

  “Night Shade,” Sam said.

  A sphere of darkness burst into existence around one of those icy boulders, and Mismagius’s control over Ghost Type energy let her push away any falling speck of Sleep Powder that drifted near.

  “There!” Rolando yelled, and his eyes locked onto Mismagius’s darkness. “Vine Whip! Grab it!”

  Though Mismagius had pushed away the Sleep Powder, Venusaur now knew exactly where she was.

  Vines whipped out from its body, and branch-like tendrils smashed straight through the stone to swipe into Mismagius’s Night Shade. Venusaur could not see her, but it could feel her, and the shock of her hiding place being destroyed meant she wasn’t in a position to avoid this attack.

  Rather than smash through her like it had smashed through that stone, the Venusaur’s vines wrapped around her body, and she was yanked right toward her foe.

  Beneath them, the ice meant nothing; the Venusaur hadn’t moved even a single step.

  “Now! Razor Leaf!” Rolando yelled as Mismagius hurtled toward her opponent.

  He wanted to end this battle quickly, just the same as Sam. It was even a counter to Sam’s general strategy; a fast knock-out would prevent Sam from setting up or even using that many status moves.

  That, unfortunately, meant Sam needed to take a risk if he wanted Mismagius to last.

  “Shadow Sneak! Get back—escape!”

  He was ordering Mismagius to take damage here.

  They already knew that Shadow Sneak did not let her flawlessly phase through moves, but the self-inflicted damage her technique caused would be far less than the damage of Venusaur’s Razor Leaf.

  So before the sharpened, spinning leaves could slice right through her, Mismagius grimaced and turned to shadow just so she could jerk herself back. Her body became something akin to a darkened gas, and the Vine Whip pulled right through her while the Razor Leaves passed through a spot she never reached.

  However, where the vines passed through her body, her purple flesh took on a nasty, discolored grey.

  “And Pain Split!” Sam continued, trying to not give his opponent even a single inch.

  “Synthesis!” Rolando countered. “Vine Whip into Razor Leaf again!”

  Mismagius held out her arms to channel her injury into a Pain Split that shared the damage she took. The Venusaur grunted in pain, she recovered a bit of her vitality, and the plant on the Grass Type’s body glowed to let it undo the drain it had just taken.

  The following Vine Whip ended up missing her, but Venusaur hadn’t been aiming at Mismagius. Forgotten by the previous exchange, the Sleep Powder from before that had settled onto the ground was knocked back up into the air.

  Sam could barely return Mismagius in time before she was put to sleep.

  “...and Samuel recalls his Mismagius! What an exciting battle! Already, a fourth Pokémon is being forced out with no faints in this match!”

  The cry of an unknown voice echoed out from the speakers in the arena.

  Oh yeah, Sam thought to himself, I forgot they had announcers here.

  He had been so focused on his battle that he had forgotten everything else existed.

  Across from him, Rolando smiled.

  The current state of the field was totally against Sam’s favor. Venusaur’s Synthesis meant it had all but recovered from the damage of Pain Split, and its Sleep Powder meant there were traps all over the floor. A single Vine Whip would either hit and deal damage, or it would puff the powder into the air and send Sam’s Pokémon straight to sleep.

  There was also the issue that Venusaur was a tanky Pokémon. It could take several unboosted moves and not faint. Combining that with recovery from Synthesis meant Sam’s Pokémon would need to undertake a dedicated effort to faint it.

  Or one really strong attack.

  Still, the threat of Vine Whip and Sleep Powder couldn’t be ignored. Anything he sent out would have trouble approaching it in the first place.

  Rolando’s trying to counter and prevent anything I can do. My team works best when we have the freedom of mobility, but his strategy is to completely prevent that.

  I suppose I could send out Typhlosion here, but do I really want to use her in the first round? She’s the obvious choice, but it’s also something he’d expect. After all, why wouldn’t I use a Fire Type against a Grass Type?

  ...But there’s another option.

  Mismagius won’t be the one to sweep today.

  The only good thing about this was that Sam had learned to not underestimate his opponent. Rolando had proven himself to be just as tough as anyone else here with just that previous exchange.

  And this was only the first round.

  Faced with limited options, Sam spent a while considering it until the referee called out to him for taking so long. Rolando had already revealed two of the three Pokémon he would use in this match, and though Sam’s choice wasn’t the perfect counter due to the Type disadvantage, he at least saw an opportunity to take advantage of the team members Rolando had revealed so far.

  “Trevenant!”

  Trevenant might not have had many ways to deal damage to another Grass Type, but he would at least be immune to most powder-based moves.

  And, if I’m right, his presence should bait out—

  “Venusaur, return!” Rolando shouted.

  Sam fought to keep his face even.

  I can’t believe he actually took the bait.

  As expected, Rolando sent out his Rapidash, intending to win this fight with his usual strategy: coverage moves. Trevenant’s Grass Type made the Fire Type an obvious counter, Rapidash’s flames could burn away any lingering powder that reached it, and Rolando seemed convinced that those same flames could easily take out a relatively immobile tree.

  And just like it had demonstrated at the start of the battle, the Rapidash’s superheated hooves sank into the icy floor. Trevenant went through a similar motion to stab his roots into the ground.

  Between the two of them, Trevenant was more uncomfortable with the chill, and he also seemed to be less mobile in a fight.

  “Continue,” the referee said.

  Rapidash took off running immediately. It lowered its head while letting flame coat its body.

  “Flare Blitz!” Rolando called out.

  For Johto, this was an uncommon attack.

  The fire that wrapped around the Rapidash’s body meant most of Trevenant’s moves wouldn’t work. Forest’s Curse would fail, and the same was true of Leech Seed. Also, the second the Flare Blitz impacted, he would take super-effective damage, to boot.

  Still, that just meant Sam needed to ensure Trevenant would go unharmed.

  “Phantom Force,” he said.

  With a single step back, Trevenant completely disappeared.

  Off to the side, the referee held up a whistle in preparation with a slight frown crossing his face. It hit Sam then that Phantom Force was much like Hex: a move almost unknown in Johto.

  From the referee’s perspective, Trevenant had just disappeared from the field. He wasn’t aware of exactly what Trevenant was about to do or even what Trevenant had done, but he was prepared to call for a penalty if Phantom Force wasn’t a real move.

  We’ll need to make this quick, otherwise the referee might think I just ordered Trevenant to escape.

  As the Rapidash charged right through where Trevenant had just stood, it left a trail of watery hoofsteps behind it. However, right where the Rapidash had started, Trevenant reappeared, and he was far enough away to give himself a chance to use a new move.

  “Growth,” Sam said.

  Rolando frowned.

  “Use Flamethrower. If they want to stay at range, then we’ll let them stay at range!”

  A strong exhale saw the Rapidash’s flames consume Trevenant, but he crunched down on a berry. His Sitrus Berry’s juices healed him, and he used Phantom Force to disappear once more and reappear behind one of those icy rocks.

  “Flare Blitz,” Rolando said, immediately changing gears. “Chase the Trevenant. Remove its hiding spaces. Go right through the stone.”

  As it stood, the cover protected Trevenant and gave him more time for more uses of Growth. However, Rolando wasn’t willing to grant Sam’s Pokémon any cover, and the Rapidash charged right through the boulder with ease, utterly shattering it and easily changing direction to smash through the next one.

  It never let up. Each time it broke a boulder, Flare Blitz saw it take damage from recoil, but it kept going despite that.

  Trevenant’s Phantom Force let him reposition and stall, but over time, every potential hiding space on the field was reduced to nothing but rubble.

  Clearly, Rolando expected his Rapidash to handle Trevenant regardless of his stalling, but he was taking a risk. He was giving Trevenant the chance to repeatedly store energy with Growth, but at the same time, Growth only increased offenses. Not defense.

  Already, Rolando had learned that a single Flamethrower would force Trevenant to eat his Sitrus Berry. In a way, his strategy wasn’t even wrong.

  It was just misguided.

  “Phantom Force,” Sam ordered again.

  As the very last stone shattered from the Flare Blitz, Trevenant disappeared, and the Rapidash slowed to a halt, huffing and puffing from all of the self-inflicted damage it just took. The heat of its flames and its cross-field charge meant the previously icy floor was now just a muddy brown.

  Yet, for all this time, Trevenant had been building up. As he reappeared in the open directly across from the Rapidash, his sole red eye locked onto it, almost daring it to attack.

  His iris glowed brighter than ever before.

  “One last move, Rapidash,” Rolando said, no doubt to his voice. “We’ve set up the field to win! Don’t worry about going any longer, just take it out with one last hit! Use Fire Blast!”

  Much stronger than Flamethrower, Fire Blast was a legitimate threat. Even with the delay of Phantom Force, the attack’s explosive burst would see the entire field be covered with heat.

  But Sam remained quiet.

  Trevenant had a counter.

  After all, Trevenant’s entire strategy was about defense. If Typhlosion could use Detect, why couldn’t he take inspiration from that and figure out Protect?

  Dipping into his stored energy, Trevenant brought up his arms to infuse himself with strength, and flames hurtled down from the sky. When the Fire Blast exploded, its fire passed over him harmlessly.

  Sam didn’t need to say anything else before Trevenant suddenly fell through the floor, and he practically hopped out of the ground right behind Rapidash.

  It neighed in fright.

  Still, this was a strong Pokémon, and as tired as it was, it wasn’t one to pull back from an opponent’s attack. Reflexively, it jabbed its horn right into Trevenant’s chest.

  He took it.

  And then his arms wrapped around its neck.

  “No! Flare Blitz, quickly!”

  Trevenant was burning. So was the Rapidash. Sam could see a glaze that seemed to overtake Trevenant’s eyes.

  Bad memories.

  But Trevenant was not the same Pokémon he was back then. He’d been traveling with Sam, and he was on a team that supported him. He was surrounded by friends.

  His bark tore open for him to let out a horrible wail—a war cry. He then used that motion to throw himself over onto the Rapidash’s back. Roots and claws jabbed into the Fire Type’s body, and though the move he used was resisted, his Horn Leech was boosted many times over from all of the energy he’d built with Growth.

  Rapidash ran, burned itself, and tried to get Trevenant off, but it failed its every attempt. Rolando couldn’t exactly return his Pokémon with Trevenant clutched to its back. And, no matter how much the Rapidash ran back and forth, it could not get him to fall, Trevenant’s Horn Leech drained it more and more, and then whatever energy it had left vanished.

  Eyes rolling up into its head, the Rapidash collapsed. It slid across the floor.

  Funnily enough, the now-muddy field actually helped Trevenant. Since the Rapidash’s collapse sent him falling, the mud put out his burn.

  He might have been lightly scorched, but he was otherwise healthy. His leaves were bright green and full of energy, and the light from his eye pierced through the shadows that dripped off of him from the mud.

  “Ch-Charmeleon,” Rolando stuttered.

  There was something about the fear in Rolando’s voice that made Sam smile.

  As a Pokémon so close to a Dragon Type, the Charmeleon did not back down from a threat. Immediately, it charged Trevenant with its claws glowing.

  Rolando did not stop it.

  Trevenant’s own claw, one wreathed in shadow, snapped out to grab the Pokémon’s throat. Before the Charmeleon could do anything else, he had already thrown it to the floor, and he went on to drain it with Horn Leech until it was knocked out.

  Rolando recalled that Pokémon, too.

  “Venusaur,” he named next.

  His heavy, defensive Pokémon appeared on the field, but Trevenant was still healthy.

  When the Vine Whip was called for, Trevenant was already gone. After only a few short seconds, the Venusaur let out a horrible cry when Trevenant burst out of its shadow underneath it.

  Being struck in its vulnerable stomach, Trevenant’s Phantom Force landed critically. The Venusaur coughed once before falling flat, eyes closing, and Trevenant pulled himself out from underneath.

  And that was that.

  “I have never seen such an impressive turnaround in such an early match! Just like his bout in the preliminaries, Samuel Greyson’s Pokémon has swept through his opponent’s team! The battle is over!”

  The referee called the match in Sam’s favor, of course, and Rolando seemed slightly stunned before returning his Venusaur. He had earned all eight Gym Badges, but he had been crushed just like that.

  Meanwhile, Sam had established himself as a threat in his preliminary battle, and that had been proven to not be a fluke after this match.

  “Good battle,” Sam said.

  “Good battle,” Rolando replied, shaking Sam’s hand at the side of the field to avoid all of the mud. “Ugh. It was a good battle, but I can’t be happy about it. You didn’t get to experience my trick!”

  “The Sleep Powder?”

  “No. The Pokémon I used. I normally go with Grass-Water-Fire for a reason, but this time I went with Grass-Fire-Fire. I thought that was clever enough to catch you off-guard, and with that much light from their flames...” Rolando let out a sigh. “It didn’t exactly work.”

  Sam left the field after thanking Rolando for a good match one last time, and they both waved to the audience before disappearing into the tunnels below.

  With this, Rolando was eliminated, and Sam would be moving on to the next round later today.

  ...Except, he might have just revealed most of what Trevenant could do as well as just how aggressive he was now running his team. Though it wasn’t a true reflection of his strategy, he had still won with that, and his future opponents would work harder to be prepared.

  Oops?

  I enjoy sweeps, but this is the last time Sam will be able to pull one off.

  I’ll be using Victory Road trainers for Sam’s “random” battles, but Generation II lacks any trainers on Victory Road outside of the player’s rival. I’ll mostly be looking at the Kanto games’ trainers, specifically Fire Red and Leaf Green, since trainers are nameless in Gen I.

  Sam’s Team:

  Badges Earned: 8 (Mineral, Fog, Plain, Hive, Zephyr, Rising, Glacier, Storm)

  Approximate Team Strength: 8 Stars

  (Fire / Ghost Type, Female, Timid Nature +Spe/-Atk)

  Abilities: Blaze

  Held Item: Charcoal

  Moves: Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember, Flame Wheel, Curse, Will-O-Wisp, Incinerate, Detect, Quick Attack, Swift, Flame Charge, Flamethrower, Double Team, Infernal Parade, Confuse Ray, Hex, Shadow Ball, Night Shade, Shadow Claw, Agility, Blast Burn

  (Fighting / Ghost Type, Male, Impish Nature +Def/-SpA)

  Abilities: Vital Spirit

  Moves: Scratch, Leer, Low Kick, Karate Chop, Fury Swipes, Assurance, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Cross Chop, Curse, Brick Break, Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Bulk Up, Rage, Rage Fist, Close Combat

  (Ghost / Poison Type, Male, Naive Nature +Spe/-SpD)

  Abilities: n/a

  Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Confuse Ray, Spite, Mean Look, Hex, Shadow Punch, Night Shade, Acid Spray, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Nightmare, Curse

  Mismagius (Ghost Type, Female, Hasty Nature +Spe/-Def)

  Pokéball: Friend Ball

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Growl, Psywave, Astonish, Confusion, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Night Shade, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, Psybeam, Will-O-Wisp, Psychic, Hex, Power Gem, Pain Split

  Trevenant (Ghost / Grass Type, Male, Quiet Nature +SpA/-Spe)

  Pokéball: Moon Ball

  Abilities: Harvest, Frisk (Developing)

  Held Item: Sitrus Berry

  Moves: Horn Leech, Tackle, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Growth, Ingrain, Leech Seed, Forest’s Curse, Shadow Claw, Phantom Force, Protect

  Drakloak (Dragon / Ghost Type, Female, Serious Nature, +-n/a)

  Pokéball: n/a

  Abilities: Infiltrator (Developing)

  Moves: Astonish, Infestation, Quick Attack, Bite, Lock-On, Agility, Double Hit, U-Turn, Phantom Force, Take Down, Dragon Pulse

  Dreepy (Dragon / Ghost Type, Male, Rash Nature, +SpA/-SpD) [Partnered with Drakloak]

  Pokéball: n/a

  Abilities: Clear Body (Developing)

  Moves: Astonish, Infestation, Quick Attack, Bite

  Auxiliary Pokémon: A gathering of , a handful of

  At Home (non-battlers): ,

  At Carl’s Ranch: (more than twenty), (Annihilape’s brother)

  Pokémon (and people) included in this chapter:

  Charmeleon

  /

  Charles Goodshow

  huge thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.