"I choose Axel Blaze.", declared Steven with a proud face.
Axel was like a dark horse to all of them. Most of these trainers knew how good they were as they had been attending these types of parties for quite a long time. They knew how good Cynthia was, and how dangerous Steven and Wallace were.
However, none of them knew about Axel until he came and directly won against Cynthia. So, there were a lot of rumors going around about Axel. Some said that his power was too much for Cynthia to handle. Some said that all of this was just a rumor and it was in fact Cynthia who defeated Axel.
So, Steven wanted to see how good Axel was. They had fought before but Steven had already eliminated multiple Pokemons from Axel's team and his Aggron was very weak at that time. So, Axel won easily. This time, it would not be so.
###
Joseph went to Cynthia and asked the same question, "Who do you choose?"
"I also choose Axel Blaze to fight."
The murmuring got louder after hearing that Cynthia also wanted to fight with Axel.
"Hmm, Since both of them want to fight with Axel, it would be impossible to fulfill the request of both of them. So, I declare that Axel would not be selected in this fight and both of them would choose another trainer for the fight.
Joseph wanted to fulfill the wish of his son but he had to be impartial in this situation. So, he made a good neutral decision.
"I choose Krishna.", said Steven
"I choose Crasher.", said Cynthia.
The Five people who were selected from the fight were:
Axel
Susan
Krishna
Crasher
Cynthia/Steven
A break of 2 hours was given before the start of that battle. The Pokemons of trainers also had to rest before the battle.
"Krishna, how confident are you to win against Steven's Machoke?", asked Axel.
Krishna was the only one that was from the Kanto region right now apart from Axel. So, he wanted Krishna to win against Steven. The Pokemon that Krishna was using right now was Toxel. It was the pre-evolved form of Toxtricity. Toxtricity was a powerful Pokemon but its baby form was not so much.
Krishna mainly had water-type Pokemons as he excelled in water types. He just wanted to have an electric-type Pokemon to study. That was why he caught this Pokemon. However, he didn't know that he would be fighting in a competition like this.
"Axel, I am gonna be honest with you. I am not so confident in winning against him.", said Krishna.
"Yes, I know but you must do something. If you lose, then I am the only one from Kanto. This would be very humiliating."
Krishna knew what Axel was talking about. Kanto, being the most powerful region only had one trainer left and this was not even in the finals. It would be very embarrassing.
Surprisingly, Lance lost against Crasher which Axel didn't think would happen. Lance had a very powerful Riolu which was just on the verge of evolution and still he lost. He was obviously due to bad luck. Crasher had much more powerful Pokemon and it looked like he was just holding that Pokemon's evolution for this battle.
The first battle was between Cynthia and Crasher. It was a very surprising decision for Cynthia to choose Crasher as Crasher was from the Sinnoh region. So, why would she want to eliminate the trainer from the same region?
The battle was fierce because the Pokemon of Crasher was very good. The battle went on for quite some time but Cynthia won at the end.
The battle between Krishna and Steven was also not so easy. Krishna did everything to win against Steven but everything was looking impossible for him.
Finally, he lost against Steven but the battle was very interesting. Nobody thought that an unknown trainer like Krishna would be so powerful.
The battle would be held the next day as all the trainers were now tired.
"Sorry Axel, I could not win against him.", said Krishna with an apologetic tone.
"Don't worry, let's wait for the decision.", said Axel in a relaxed way. Why was he so relaxed?
###
"After discussing the battle and the previous ones, we came to the conclusion that Cynthia won this round and Steven would be eliminated. So, Cynthia would be replacing Crasher and Krishna would remain on the top 4.
The semi-finals and the finals will be held tomorrow. So, I urge all of the remaining trainers to be ready for it.
Now, please enjoy the drinks and food around here....."
Joseph went on to explain about the food, drinks, and the view out on the island.
Krishna took a long breath to relax.
"If it was not a competition like this, then I would have won.", said Krishna.
"Of course you would have.", said Lance trying to make him feel better.
Krishna would definitely have won. Krishna was older than all of them and he had many powerful Pokemons. He had tier 3 king rank Pokemons too. So, he was not afraid of fighting against a trainer like Steven.
"Hey, Do you guys want to have a get-together? We have not met and talked for a long time.", suggested Lorelai.
"You know what? That is a great idea. We are just free right now."
"Why don't we also invite the trainer from other regions like Cynthia?", asked Axel.
"Oh really? So, you have taken a fancy to Cynthia. Should I tell this to Kate?", asked Ryker.
"What the hell are you saying? I'm just telling that out of courtesy.", said Axel.
Lance was the one to explain why Ryker was being such a dick.
"Axel, you have not been to these types of events but normally, the trainers from the other regions are like our enemies."
"Enemies?"
"Yes, enemies. They try to do anything to get more information from us and try to beat us in the future. You must realize that these trainers will be the overlords of their regions in the future. As of right now, Kanto has done a lot and taken a lot of land and influence of Hoenn region. Such things could happen to other regions too.
So, most of them are wary of us. Do you understand the situation?"
"Yes, I do but I don't understand why there is so much fight for just a simple thing. I just hate politics.", sighed Axel.
"That is how the world works Axel. You have to embrace it."
###
"So, now that we are alone, are you going to tell me about the kidnapping thing?", asked Lance.
All of the Kanto trainers were now in a private room.
Axel's face changed instantly after hearing the question.
"Lance, I don't want to talk about it right now.", said Axel in a serious voice. He really didn't want to remember it right now.
Lance quickly understood that this was not a joke right now. So, he changed the topic. However, he noticed that something bad happened to Axel and Axel was not going to let that person live freely now.
All of them were laughing and talking in the restaurant but Axel asked for an early leave. He knew that Wartortle might not be able to win this competition with Cynthia in the mix. So, he needed it to learn a new move or upgrade its existing moves to power up.
Axel only had around 14 hours to do it and he was not so hopeful. However, as he saw Wartortle fight, he could tell that there were a lot of things that it could improve upon.
Axel went to the ground and then called out Wartortle.
"Let's start with 'Water gun'. As of right now, I don't want you to learn 'Hydro pump'. 'Hydro pump' takes some time to learn and even more time to master. We only have less than a day to do something.
So, we will focus on 'Water gun'.", said Axel and called out Slowemperor and Feraligatr.
Even though Slowemperor was an ice-type Pokemon now, it knew a lot of water-type moves. Axel wanted Feraligatr and Slowemperor to teach Wartortle about 'Water gun'. He also wanted them to learn some things"
"Now, Magnus (Slowemperor) doesn't know 'Water gun' but it does know other water-type moves.
Magnus, first start with 'Hydro pump'. Use your normal power, not your full power. Wartortle and Feraligatr, watch how it uses it."
Slowemperor took a deep breath and then fired up a powerful 'Hydro pump'. Both of their mouths were wide open seeing the power of the attack.
"I just want both of you to realize the power of water-type moves. And Magnus is not even a water-type Pokemon. You can imagine the power of water-type moves from a pure water-type Pokemon.
"Now, did you see the force of the attack? It was very huge because the quantity of the water was also huge. Now, for your 'Water gun', I want to do the opposite."
"War?"
"Fera?"
"Yes, Opposite. Just imagine that your water gun is very thin but also very sturdy. What do you think would happen?", asked Axel to both of them.
Yet, none of them had the answer to it.
"Magnus, try to use 'Water gun' first", said Axel.
And Magnus performed the move.
---
Ding!
Magnus has learned 'Water gun'
---
'Water gun' was a dropped-down version of 'Hydro pump'. So, it was hard for Slowemperor to do it as it was already a water-type Pokemon.
"Now, try to make it as thin as possible and also try to make the 'Water gun' very sharp. You can also use your psychic powers to meditate first.", said Axel.
Slowemperor took some time to use that move. It wanted to do it in the first turn. It wanted to impress its juniors. It took around 5 minutes, visualizing the attack and then suddenly it opened its eyes.
It then opened its mouth and shot out a powerful and fast 'Water gun'.
BANG!!!
---
Ding!
Water gun has leveled up to 40. It is now faster, sharper, and has more penetrating power.
Ding!
A Pokemon has learned a move and leveled it up to 40 in the first turn. Calculating rewards....
Ding!
Magnus has received a passive move called 'The Tutor'. Magnus could now easily teach the concept of moves to other Pokemons. It learning concept of creative and new moves had also heightened.
---
Axel was not expecting so many things just from a 'Water gun'. He was very happy. He believed that there were a lot of things that could be done with this passive move.
"Magnus, teach that move to both of them. Wartortle, after you learn this move we are going to learn another thing. So be ready.", said Axel.
###
As Axel was not there, Lance went forward to ask Hector about Axel's condition.
"It is not much of a physical injury as those have already been healed but mental trauma that he is suffering. He hides it very well but I can tell that he is not free from those memories.
We talked to the doctor and he said that it would take a long time to heal. Sometimes, some events may trigger and the patient might recover faster but those are just very rare."
"So, do we know who did this?", asked Lance.
"As of right now, we don't know. We have captured a guy who calls himself L but he is not telling us anything. He is a tough nut to crack."
"I have a guy that could help you.", said Lance with a smile.