First thing the next morning, Auron was already up. Yesterday afternoon's 1,221 contestants had been cut down to 611 by today.
Today was the round that would whittle those 611 down to 300. The afternoon would then see 300 narrowed to 150—so today was going to be a grind.
To make sure his Pokémon were in peak condition, Auron had woken up a bit earlier than usual this morning and taken them all out for a jog.
Auron ran out in front. Behind him trailed Clawitzer, Elekid, and Snorlax.
None of the three were particularly fast, so Auron kept a leisurely pace at the front.
Crobat, Charizard, and Dratini, on the other hand, were up in the air.
Charizard, young and cocky as ever, was currently locked in an aerial chase with the eldest among them—Crobat.
Dratini, meanwhile, flew happily alongside Auron, looping cheerful little circles around him every now and then.
"Crobat's gotten so much faster again." Auron jogged along, head tilted upward, watching the two Pokémon race across the sky.
Crobat needed only the slightest flap of her wings to leave Charizard in the dust by a wide margin.
Charizard, for his part, refused to give up. Even so, he puffed out his chest and poured everything he had into chasing after her.
Crobat glanced back at Charizard's determined expression. Without a word, she narrowed her eyes, gave her wings a single beat, and vanished from sight in an instant.
Charizard: ((|||))
"Pffthahaha!"
Auron couldn't help but laugh out loud watching this. He had no idea how Crobat had been training lately—her strength was clearly greater, but since they hadn't actually sparred, he couldn't say exactly how much. What was undeniable, though, was that her speed had been improving by the day. Charizard was no slouch in that department either, and yet Crobat left him so far behind he couldn't even see her tail.
Charizard landed beside Auron with a dejected huff. Auron stopped jogging and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Now you know what your big sister is made of, don't you?"
"Graow."
Charizard nodded.
"And yet last time she offered to teach you something, you weren't having any of it."
"Graow!"
Charizard bristled indignantly. That wasn't because he didn't want to learn! He'd just been young and arrogant back then—he hadn't seen what Crobat was truly capable of. Try asking him now and he'd be more than happy to learn from her. A hundred percent.
Auron read the expression on his face well enough to guess what he was thinking.
"Haha, alright. Tonight, go talk to her yourself. Ask her to teach you a thing or two. Sound good?"
Charizard squirmed a little, but in the end, nodded.
"Graow."
"Good. Now let's keep running—warm up!"
"Myu~"
"Graow!"
"Pika~"
"Chpa!"
"Rrr!"
And so Auron set off again alongside his Pokémon, all fired up and raring to go. (Dratini excluded, of course. She was flying. She was coasting.)
.........
"Ding-ling~"
"Quick, check—what round are you guys in?"
Auron pulled up his phone. "I'm in round 2."
Jace grinned. "Me too—round 2."
Tim glanced at Simon's screen, then at his own, and reported: "I'm round 5. Simon and Lena are both round 3."
Peter wore a pained expression. "So I'm the only one in round 1? I'm going first again?"
Auron smiled. "No—Serena's hasn't come through yet, has it? What round are you in?"
Serena let out a little laugh. "Hehe, I got a bye~"
"I've said 'jealous' so many times it's lost all meaning. When am I ever going to get a bye?"
Tim patted Jace's shoulder with a sympathetic sigh. "Don't even dream about it. As long as she's in the tournament, there's no chance for any of us to get one."
Jace covered his face with both hands and nodded slowly. "Yeah... I'm starting to think she's Jirachi reincarnated. This luck is just absurd."
"Hey, hey—what are you guys even saying? How could my sister possibly be Jirachi reincarnated?" Lena shooed at them indignantly, then suddenly turned toward Serena's direction, squeezed her eyes shut, and clasped her hands together in fervent prayer.
"Ah—Jirachi on high, please bless us with a slightly weaker opponent this time around..."
Serena's face flushed red. She'd had absolutely enough of being teased like this. She rushed over and threw her arms around Lena in a bear hug, squeezing until she couldn't say another word.
"Hahahahaha~"
Right in the middle of the laughter, round 1 kicked off. Peter quickly headed toward the arena indicated on his phone.
"Hey—you guys think we might end up fighting each other in the next round?"
"Shut up!"
The instant Jace opened his mouth, everyone shouted him down in unison.
"Crow mouth, seriously."
"Uh—that's not a crow mouth. That's a perfectly reasonable prediction."
"Still doubling down, are we?"
"I'm wrong! I'm sorry!"
The moment Tim rolled up his sleeve, Jace caved instantly and apologized.
Auron laughed, but didn't bother watching their little squabble any further. He settled quietly off to the side, running his fingers gently along Dratini's scales as he waited for round 2 to begin.
Dratini lay draped across Auron's lap with a look of pure bliss, her little tail swishing lazily back and forth beside her. Thoroughly comfortable.
"Ding-ling~"
"Alright, no more messing around—my match is starting."
A phone buzzed, and Jace immediately held up his hands in surrender toward Tim.
His Bulbasaur had already been pinned flat to the ground by Tim's Monodragon, who was sitting right on top of him.
Bulbasaur, for his part, was absolutely not the type to just take it lying down. He lashed out vine after vine, whipping Monodragon's backside until it was bright red.
"Your match doesn't even use Bulbasaur. Why do you care?"
"What do you mean? I still need to bring him along! What—am I supposed to leave him here and let your Monodragon sit on him the whole time?"
"My Monodragon's backside is literally red right now, you know that?"
"Tch. If my Bulbasaur had been around longer, it'd be Monodragon lying under him right now."
Seeing the two of them about to start up again, Auron quickly stepped in.
"Haha—you two can settle this when you get back. Right now, go fight your matches."
At that, both Jace and Tim turned to look at Auron with identical expressions of quiet displeasure.
"We never said we were going to fight each other, though."
"Minor details. Sort it out when you're back."
Auron didn't give them a chance to argue. He grabbed Jace by the arm and started pulling him toward the field.
"Big bro, my arena's over that way."
"Oh—right."
Auron quickly let go of Jace's arm. Jace, shaking his head helplessly, headed off in the other direction.
"Haha." Auron watched Jace's retreating back and smiled. That little prank had been satisfying.
"Both sides, release your Pokémon."
By the time Auron stepped onto the field, his opponent was already waiting on the other side.
"Go, Clawitzer!"
"Go, Ice Rock Golem!"
Auron took one look at the Pokémon on the other side and let out a low whistle. Another one with absurdly high Physical Defense. Still—thankfully, Ice Rock Golem's speed was even slower than Clawitzer's.
"Swish!"
The flag dropped. The battle began.
"Clawitzer, Nasty Plot."
Pick the softest fruit to squeeze. Attack the weakest point.
It didn't matter how high the Physical Defense was. If the Special Defense wasn't, that was where you hit.