"But where did they even get Pokémon like that? I want one too!" Jace was still hung up on it, visibly envious.
Serena offered a slightly forced smile and pointed at Larvesta, who was quietly curled up off to one side on the floor.
"Speaking of rare, yours holds up just fine next to theirs. Not to mention you've got shiny Pokémon on top of that."
Jace glanced at Larvesta, then back at the two Charizard, and it finally clicked. "Oh—you know what, you're right."
"If you think about it like that, pretty much everyone here has rare Pokémon, doesn't he." Only now did it fully register for Jace.
"Look—Auron's got his shiny Charizard and his shiny Dratini. Tim's Dragon types go without saying, those are all pretty uncommon. Peter's Vibrava is a pseudo-legendary. Simon and Serena each have a pseudo-legendary Dragon Messiah. And you—" he turned to Lena— "you've got a pretty rare Milotic yourself."
Jace finished rattling off the list. Everyone glanced around at the Pokémon lounging or floating about the living room and couldn't help but nod.
"Honestly, yeah. So why are we even worrying about those guys?" Tim instantly felt a lot more grounded.
"Still, to be fair—if Simon and I actually run into a Zoroark, that's going to be a rough matchup." Lena pursed her lips. Though they all had rare Pokémon, hers still couldn't see the field right now.
Auron spread his hands. "Type disadvantage. Nothing anyone can do about that."
Serena mimicked the gesture and spread hers too. "Right. I'm in the same boat if I end up against that Lucario. Type matchups—what can you do?"
"And it's not just those two, either. I also saw someone out there with a Sea Lion Wyrm. That one is incredibly strong too. I watched her fight—whatever happens, we absolutely cannot let her Sea Lion Wyrm successfully use Meditation. If it goes through, it'll sweep us clean."
After Serena said this, everyone took the warning to heart. Among all of them, the Pokémon currently able to take the field—aside from Haunter and Mismagius—basically had nothing that could deal serious damage to a Water type.
Sensing the mood grow a bit heavy, Jace quickly stepped in to lighten things up. "Why are we stressing about all of this right now? We'll see what happens when the time comes. You can't judge strength just by looking."
After Jace said this, Auron glanced at him with a flicker of surprise. That wasn't the sort of thing he'd usually expect to hear from him.
"True enough. We'd be better off using this time to think about strategy." Tim also nodded in agreement.
Auron smiled. "Fair point. It's still early anyway. Let's hang out a bit longer and then go grab dinner. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be right back in the thick of it—might as well enjoy ourselves while we can."
"That makes sense." Peter figured anything the master said had to be right and immediately canceled the screen projection.
Auron blinked, laughing helplessly, and gave Peter a light swat. "I mean, yes—but we should still keep the attitude of being strategically dismissive but tactically prepared, you know? We don't need to stress too hard about it, but gathering more information never hurts."
"Oh, right. Got it, master." Peter caught on immediately, then pulled out his phone and started slowly replaying those two opponents' battle videos.
Auron shook his head with an amused smile, then made his way around to where Snorlax was lounging on his back behind the sofa. He settled in beside him and began grooming his fur.
"Snorlax, who knows—you and Crobat might actually get a chance to fight in this tournament."
"Kar~"
Watching Snorlax's lazy demeanor, Auron couldn't help but chuckle. "Honestly, I don't really want to put you on the field either. I need to be training Charizard and Clawitzer. But the prizes for this one are just too good..."
Auron happily rubbed Snorlax's belly. Tsk tsk—that softness. Nothing else came close.
In a 2v2 freshman battle tournament, you could indeed only send out two Pokémon. But he hadn't registered which two at the start.
That was sort of an unwritten rule at the school. You might have ten battle-ready Pokémon, but you could only field two.
However—if you'd been sweeping cleanly up to that point and your second Pokémon had never actually gone out, then the moment you needed to send one out, they wouldn't care which one you'd originally planned. They'd only look at which Pokémon you actually put on the field.
"Hmm? Oh right—where's Crobat? I've been learning some bat-type Pokémon massage techniques from my teacher these past few days. I was actually hoping to have her give it a try."
The instant Snorlax heard this, his little legs twitched.
(Boss lady—DANGER. Remember to fly far away. Don't come back until the master stops having this idea, okay?)
Auron's sharp senses picked up on Snorlax's legs moving. He smiled and patted Snorlax's belly reassuringly.
"Still competing for attention? Don't worry—when I eventually learn the massage techniques for flying-type Pokémon, I'll definitely start with the ones for you first. How could you ever get left out? No need to compete. I like all of you equally."
Snorlax shifted slightly to the side, a quiet wave of melancholy washing over him. But there was nothing he could do about it. He could only silently pray in his heart that his master would truly learn—and learn well.
Elekid came bounding over then, eyeing Snorlax curiously before plopping down at Auron's feet in the exact same pose, mimicking him perfectly.
His entire face screamed a single desperate plea.
"Me too!"
Auron patted Elekid's hard belly and smiled. "You—you need to hurry up and evolve into an Electivire first. Only then can I groom your fur."
Elekid's head drooped with disappointment after hearing this.
"But even though I can't groom your fur right now, I can give your armor a treatment. Polish it up so it really shines. How does that sound?"
Elekid's eyes lit up at once, and he nodded eagerly. Who wouldn't want a freshly buffed suit of armor?
Auron laughed, stood up, and headed into the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of Crustacean Pokémon Care Lotion, and while he was at it, called over Clawitzer, who had been watching the two Dragon Messiahs roughhouse nearby.
"Alright, line up. Essential oils—spa time!"
.........
The following morning, Auron and the rest of the group made their way back to the battle arenas on the main campus grounds. These would be the final three rounds of qualifying. That afternoon, the second phase of the tournament would begin.
"Not having to go to class—man, that really is something."
The moment Jace arrived at the arena, he let out a contented sigh.
During the freshman battle tournament, classes were suspended for everyone—whether or not they had a match that day. It applied across all departments without exception.
"Sure, but let's hope you won't be failing your exams at the end of the term because of it."
Jace grinned cheerfully at Tim. "Failing? I already asked around—our class advisor said that as long as you achieved a certain level of results in a school-organized battle competition, you wouldn't fail any exams at the end of the term. After all, we are in the Battle Department."
Tim blinked. "Wait—seriously? That's incredible."
Serena and Auron also stared in surprise. "Whoa—you can actually do that?"
The words had barely left their mouths before both of them immediately pulled out their phones and started messaging their own class advisors, asking whether their respective departments had the same rule.