The day of the First Year Tournament had finally arrived and all of the students were extremely excited. The First Year Tournament was a celebration of sorts for the First Year students in that they did not have classes the entire week of the tournament. The previous week was filled midterm examinations and the tournament served as a break before the winter holidays.
Off the northern coast of the main island was another island about the same size as the one that held the main campus. Housed on this island were several stadiums in addition to a few buildings. However, the primary purpose of this island was to house the multitude of battles during tournaments. The First Year Tournament was best known as the major event to end the first semester of an Elite Academy school year while the Novice Tournament (consisting of Second to Fourth Years) and the Elite Tournament (consisting of mainly Fifth Years and capable underclassmen excluding First Years) were held the following semester.
The island housed five separate stadiums: four of which were approximately the same size and one that was placed conveniently in the middle of the four so that it was surrounded. The central stadium was much larger than the other four and was the location of the semifinal and final matches of tournaments. At this moment, all of the students and faculty were gathered in the central stadium as Headmaster Beaugard, down on the battlefield, addressed the entire crowd.
"Good morning to you all. As we're winding down towards the end of the first semester of this school year, I am pleased to announce that today starts the First Year Tournament!"
The crowd roared with cheers and excitement. Ryo, who was standing in the Trainer Lounge with the other participants of the tournament, gazed at the television screen that displayed the Headmaster. The same nervousness that was in his stomach during his entrance exam appeared to have returned now. Domo, who was standing next to Ryo, nuzzled against his Trainer's leg, causing the boy to look down and smile. Ryo realized that he would be battling his peers and he was sure that they would be much stronger than handpicked Pokemon during a proctored battle exam. He breathed heavily as Beaugard continued.
"As you all know, these Trainers are young, but I am proud to say that their midterm scores are the best and highest in school history. With that being said, I expect to enjoy some interesting and very competitive battles! With that being said, I would like to introduce everyone to our sixty-four participants!"
The double doors of the Trainer Lounge opened as each of the participants ran out onto the large battlefield waving to the erupting crowd. Ryo's heart pounded heavily as he smiled and waved awkwardly to the cheering students. Domo was just happy to be running free. The students stopped in a rectangular formation, with Ryo being one of the ones in the front row. He looked down the line and saw Sophie with Minnie, her Dratini, and Duke as well. A slight nudge hit Ryo's shoulder as he felt Troy's large index finger flick his shoulder blade. Ryo also could not help but feel Kelly's icy presence as well.
"Without further ado, I would like to say let's have a great tournament!" Beaugard ended his opening speech as the crowd roared once more.
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Ryo had time to mentally prepare for Troy seeing as how the large boy had told him a few days ago that he would be facing him in the first round. Had Ryo found out the day of the tournament, it would have troubled him, but he was now past the worrying stage and more focused on the actual fight. To make things better, Ryo was happy that he was the first match in this particular stadium.
As Ryo waited in the blue lounge of the North Stadium with his three Pokemon, he heard a knock on the door and was surprised to see Len there with his Aipom clinging to his shoulder. A smile emerged on Ryo's face.
"Ya ready, kid?" Len said with a smile as he approached Ryo and his Pokemon.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Ryo chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm going to win this whole tournament. If it's the last thing I do."
"That's a great mentality to have. Confidence is essential," Len nodded as his Aipom hopped off his shoulder to wish Ryo's Pokemon good luck. "Anything you wanna ask me? Any advice you'd like to hear? Professor Wood told me to look after you. Said you sought my help."
"Well," Ryo said, "how was your First Year Tournament?"
Len chuckled scratched the back of his head, "To be honest... kind of easy. I had already received an enormous amount of Training from my father so... it was kind of natural. Didn't face too much competition."
"Then why are you even at Elite Academy?" Ryo laughed.
Len laughed a bit harder, "Haha. Well, I can't control the law. You gotta be 18 years of age and have received a diploma from an accredited Pokemon institution to be a Trainer, let alone anything else in this world. Sign of the times."
"Is that what Kanto and Johto are fighting about?" Ryo said sarcastically with a snicker.
"Ha!" Len smirked. "Another topic for another day. Bunch of babies fighting over a toy if you ask me."
"Hey, my father is one of those babies!" Ryo laughed again. He really did enjoy having Len around to give advice and to ease his mind off of making a fool out of himself in this battle.
A voice was heard on the public address system:
"Contestants One and Two please report to the battlefield."
"Well, you're up," Len said as his Aipom hopped back onto his shoulder.
Ryo nodded as he returned all of his Pokemon to their PokeBalls. He turned on his heel as he opened the door to the battlefield. He was met with the enormous roar of several of his fellow students waiting on the first battle in the North Stadium.
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Ryo stood in the blue corner of the battlefield as he stared at his opponent in the red corner, Troy, the menacing, big Trainer. Holding a PokeBall in his hand, Ryo began to wonder what kind of Trainer Troy was. Was he as abusive to his Pokemon as he was to humans?
"Can't let him win," Ryo thought to himself.
"Prepare to lose, geek!" Troy shouted with an evil grin.
The referee approached center field from outside of the battlefield. "This first round matchup of the First Year Tournament will be between Ryo from Celadon City, Kanto and Troy from Castelia City, Unova. The match will be a three on three battle and the winner is determined when all of the opponent's Pokemon are no longer able to battle. Are the contestants ready?"
Ryo and Troy nodded in unison.
"In that case, please release your Pokemon simultaneously. Go!"
"Let's go, Abel!"
"I choose you, Grey!"
Emerging on the field to start the battle was Ryo's Rufflet against Troy's Durant.
"Peck!" Ryo shouted as he pointed forward.
Abel quickly flapped his small wings as he flew in the direction of Grey. Springing forward like a dart, Abel's beak bashed into Grey's face, sending the Durant back and awaiting instruction from his Trainer.
"Iron Defense!" Troy commanded as Grey's steel coat shimmered brightly in the sunlight.
Ryo gritted his teeth and muttered, "So its defense went up. We'll have to keep attacking until something happens. Abel, Aerial Ace!"
Abel flipped backwards in the air before darting at Grey again at a speed faster than the prior attack. Once he reached Durant, Abel repeated began bashing his beak into the Iron Ant Pokemon's body, but it appeared that it did not phase it as much as the previous attack did.
"Don't you get it?" Troy said folding his arms. "Grey's defense increases to a higher level after Iron Defense. Let me show you a real attack! Iron Head, Grey!"
Grey snapped his mandible while receiving the hits from Abel. Once the Rufflet attempted a hit on Grey's head, the Durant fired back with an attack of his own by bashing his cranium into Abel's head. The Eaglet Pokemon was sent flying back towards Ryo, landing at his Trainer's feet. Getting to his feet, Abel wavered left and right as he tried to find his balance. However, Troy took advantage of this situation by demanding another attack.
"Get out of there Abel!" Ryo shouted.
"Agility and then Iron Head!"
Grey began to move at an extremely pace as it scurried in Abel's direction. The head of the Durant began to shimmer once again as it did previously and Abel's head was reacquainted with Grey's Iron Head attack, completely knocking out the Rufflet. The crowd cheered as Troy had defeated Ryo's first Pokemon.
"Rufflet is unable to battle!" the referee shouted. "Please choose your next Pokemon."
Ryo groaned as he returned Abel and took out another Pokemon.
"His Durant has got to be weakened by now; Abel put plenty of attacks on him. I could use Domo because of the type advantage, but he's my strongest Pokemon. I should save him for later."
"Today, geek!" Troy shouted impatiently as his Durant waited as well, mandible snapping.
"Let's go Moju!" Ryo shouted as he released his Tangrowth. "Wrap!"
Moju's vine arms slung forward Grey who tried to maneuver out of the way but was unsuccessful. Moju's arms sprang back to him like elastic as he held the Durant in the slamming it down on the ground repeatedly. However, Grey managed to bite at one of Moju's arms, causing it to fall off. Free from the Tangrowth's grasp, Grey scurried over to the other side of the battlefield. Moju's arm grew back instantly as it charged toward the Durant with a new command from Ryo.
"Vine Whip!" Ryo shouted.
"Agility!" Troy countered.
Moju continued to chase Grey around the battlefield, slinging his arms in an attempt to whip the Durant into unconsciousness. But, with the power of Agility, Grey was able to dodge all of the attacks at a rapid rate. The constant dodging caused Moju to get his arms tangled together, which eventually confused the Tangrowth as he collapsed onto to the ground with knotted up arms.
"Moju!" Ryo exclaimed.
Troy snickered and said, "You're even worse than I thought! Your Pokemon beats itself up! I'll gladly help your Tangrowth out! Grey, use Fury Cutter!"
With a snap of his mandible, Grey ran towards Moju and repeatedly slashed his sharp mandible at the Tangrowth, which, in turn, helped Moju break free, but severely harmed the Grass-type Pokemon with the Bug-type attack. Moju flew backward as he lost two more arms, but a new set of arms grew in their place.
"Ingrain, Moju, quick!"
Moju clamped his arms to the ground as he tried to restore his health, but the process would prove to be timely as Grey had just received another order from his Trainer.
"Bug Bite, Grey. Finish this!"
Grey jumped towards the ingrained Moju, landing on the Tangrowth's face as he took multiple bites out of his vines. Moju's arms came out of the ground as he fell backwards on the ground with Grey continuously biting at a violent rate until the Tangrowth was completed fainted. Once the damage was done, Grey hopped off Moju's body, revealing the unconscious Pokemon.
"Tangrowth is unable to battle. Please choose your final Pokemon," the referee said, looking towards Ryo who had a bit of a discouraged look on his face.
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Having defeated her first round opponent with relative ease, Kelly decided to see how the other matches were coming along. She made her way to the North Stadium and found her clique of friends in the audience.
"Who's winning?" Kelly said as she sat down.
One of the guys pointed to the screen atop of the stadium. It showed that Troy had all three of his Pokemon remaining while Ryo only had one Pokemon left.
"Can't say I'm surprised," Kelly chuckled as she crossed her arms and legs while leaning back in her seat to observe the remainder of the match.
"Yeah, I think Troy's about to finish off this bum's final Pokemon, no sweat."
"The kid ought to just give up! There's no way that one Pokemon can beat three other Pokemon in a row. Not under these circumstances!"
Kelly shrugged in agreement as she smirked saying, "Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see. One thing's for sure, the kid's Houndour is tough."
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Ryo exhaled through his nose as he took out his final PokeBall, clenching it tightly. He could not believe that he had been beaten so easily, even despite all of the training he had done before the tournament.
"Why am I still losing!?" A lump emerged in his throat as he looked down at his feet before hearing a bit of heckling from the crowd. However, they were immediately silenced by some professors who were chaperoning the event.
"Just give up, geek!" Troy said with folded arms as Grey snapped his mandible again.
"I can't lose..." Ryo whispered to himself. "I can't!"
"Choose your final Pokemon. Last warning," the referee stated.
"Domo, let's go!" Ryo shouted as he released his Houndour.
Domo immediately appeared on the battlefield in an offensive stance, growling at his opposition.
"Dig!" Troy shouted as Grey immediately burrowed underground.
"Use your instincts, Domo!" Ryo shouted.
Domo's maw immediately sniffed the ground as he randomly waltzed around the battlefield like a metal detector searching for treasure. Suddenly, Domo stopped in place as he dug into the ground and up came the Durant in the face of the Houndour. Domo, however, was quick to strike back as he caught the Iron Ant Pokemon in his mouth.
"Fire Fang!"
Domo's mouth became engulfed in flames as he cooked Grey to a burning crisp before spitting the Durant back out towards Troy. Domo returned to the other side of the battlefield and got back into an offensive stance, growling in fury. His eyes looked even more intimidating with the scar there.
"Durant is unable to battle! Please choose your next Pokemon!"
Troy smirked as he returned his Durant, "A feisty Houndour, eh? I know just how to counter that! Let's go, Pink!"
He tossed a PokeBall forward, releasing his Timburr. The Muscular Pokemon twirled his giant lumber in his hands as he awaited instruction from Troy. Domo's growl was even louder than before as he too awaited instruction.
"Bulk Up and then attack it with your lumber!" Troy shouted.
The thick, pink veins on the Timburr's body began to visibly pump blood at a much faster rate as Pink's body grew a bit bulkier. Once his body reached a maximum of bulk, Pink ran towards Domo and swung his lumber at the Houndour. Domo quickly ducked and dodged out of the way of the lumber as Pink continued to attack.
"Smog!" Ryo replied.
Domo back-flipped out of the way of Pink's final swing at him and howled as the battlefield became covered in a thick smog that caused Pink to hack and cough, slowly sucking away his power due to the poisonous toxins in the air. Amid being in the smog, Pink lost sight of where the Houndour was, which ultimately led to the Timburr's doom as Domo tackled Pink from behind, landing on top of him. The smog slowly cleared as Pink struggled to break free of Domo's grasp.
"Ember!"
A fiery ball appeared in Domo's mouth as the Houndour leaned back before unleashing the attack on Pink at pointblank range, knocking out the Timburr instantly. Once again, Domo returned to his side of the field in an attacking position, growling as he awaited on Troy's final Pokemon after making quick work of his first two.
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As the battle between Ryo and Troy raged on, Kelly found herself impressed with Ryo's Houndour. While her friends were conversing among themselves about how Ryo's comeback had to be a fluke, Kelly thought to herself:
"Although his Rufflet and Tangrowth were easily knocked out by Troy's Durant, Ryo's Houndour made quick and effortless work of Durant and Timburr. Sure, Durant was probably weakened by the previous battles, but that Houndour is certainly a force to be reckoned with. The look in its eyes as it battles... I'm impressed with how he raised it. Maybe he's not that amateur of a Trainer. Just a tad bit behind the learning curve. Interesting."
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Spending no time waiting to release his final Pokemon, Troy tossed his PokeBall forward, "Go Yellow!"
Troy's Electrike appeared on the battlefield, sparks flying from her body.
"Don't let me down, Yellow! Let's knock this geek out!"
Domo was not fazed by the emergence of Troy's best Pokemon and even Ryo had a hint of confidence in his body language as he stood up straighter than he did before.
"Spark!"
"Ember!"
Both Domo and Yellow opened their mouths as they each respectively unleashed a ball of fire and electricity towards each other. The two attacks collided with one another causing an explosion on the battle field. Once the dust settled, the two Pokemon went after each other. Domo unleashed another Ember but Yellow successfully dodged the attack and Sparked Domo in the face.
"Get out of there, Domo!"
After being attacked, Domo leaped back to his side of the field, wincing a bit from having taken the Spark attack head on. Static energy shrouded Domo's body as the Houndour was unable to move from his position due to paralysis.
"Oh no..." Ryo gritted his teeth as he watched Troy prepare a final attack.
"Wild Charge!"
Yellow's entire body became covered with an electric current as the Electrike darted towards Domo.
"Foul Play!"
Domo prepared himself as the skull on his head started to glow in a golden color. Once Yellow made impact with Domo, the Houndour snarled as a wave of dark energy was sent into Yellow's body. After a pausing moment, Yellow's body was sent crashing into the opposite direction, leaving Domo standing there victoriously. Yellow landed on the ground with a powerful thud as she had been defeated. Troy dropped to his knees in disbelief.
"Electrike is unable to battle. The winner is Ryo from Celadon City!"
The crowd erupted in a roar as Ryo ran onto the battlefield and hugged his victorious Houndour, Domo.