Both Pokémon lost the ability to battle within seconds of each other, but a difference of even a few seconds was enough to decide the match. Snorlax, fighting with everything it had left, held on just long enough to claim victory in the first round.
"Good!"
"Well done, Randolf!"
"Snorlax, awesome!"
For a moment, the members of Heavenly Dragon Academy's school team and the crowd in the stands sat in stunned silence. Then the cheers broke out all at once.
Randolf recalled his fainted Snorlax and returned to his camp to a hero's welcome. He and Snorlax had fought with everything they had to bring home that first win, and though it had been a close, hard-fought battle, a win was still a win. It gave the team's morale a much-needed boost and saved Heavenly Dragon Academy some face. Whatever happened in the matches that followed, at least this one wouldn't look bad on the record.
"Captain, I…"
Aspen, who had lost the opening match, looked visibly deflated. He didn't think his own strength had been inferior to his opponent's — for a while there, he'd even felt he had the advantage.
But the result hadn't gone his way, and losing the very first match had knocked the wind out of the team's morale. That was a hard thing to swallow.
"Do you know where you went wrong?" David asked.
"I… I know. I shouldn't have kept fighting head-on with him all the way to the end…"
Before Aspen could finish, David cut him off.
"There's nothing wrong with fighting to the end. The problem is how you did it. Once Snorlax used Belly Drum, you had two real options: hold back and wait out its dangerous window, or commit fully once you decided to trade blows. What you can't do is go in halfway — hesitate, pull back, second-guess yourself. That gets you nowhere."
There was real disappointment in David's voice as he said it.
Once the opponent had already committed to going all-out, Aspen's best move would have been to stall, to wait out that narrow window where Snorlax was at its most dangerous, and let the advantage come back around naturally.
But if Aspen chose instead to meet the attack head-on, then he needed to commit completely — full power, no hesitation, no half-measures. In a fight like that, the one who commits wins. Wavering back and forth, wanting to fight but pulling your punches at the same time, was the surest way to lose.
"I…"
"It's fine. Take Rhyperior to get looked at. Just remember this for next time — the qualifiers are here so all of you can learn from mistakes like this one. I don't want to see it happen again, understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
"Good. Go on, get Rhyperior treated first."
Aspen recalled Rhyperior into its Poké Ball and headed off. Imperial First High had brought its own team doctor along, so there was no need to trouble the tournament staff.
Even with the first match lost and the crowd from the other side still buzzing with excitement, David stayed calm.
Just as he'd told Aspen, David had gone into the qualifiers wanting to give his weaker teammates real match experience — a chance to test themselves against real opposition. If all he'd cared about was winning, he could easily have had the team's strongest members handle every match themselves. Given the gap in strength between the two schools, the outcome would never have been in doubt.
David had expected Aspen might lose this one. With the overall strength his team had, dropping a match or two here and there wouldn't matter in the end — David himself was there to anchor the team if anything went wrong. Still, now that they'd actually lost a match, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"Luke, you're up ne—"
Before David could finish, Josiah stepped forward from the opposing side.
"Team Captain David, it's a shame we never got to face off during the last Novice Cup. I lost to Leonardo — the same trainer you beat. I know exactly how strong he is, so if you were able to defeat him, your own strength must be something else. This seems like a good chance to learn from you. What do you say?"
Josiah was challenging David directly, and the First High team could hardly believe what they were hearing. They'd spent the last few days seeing firsthand just how strong David really was — nothing like the rest of them, even though they'd all started out as rookie trainers together. His strength was on a completely different level. What was Josiah thinking?
Had this guy eaten the heart of an Urshifu, or the guts of a Raikou, to challenge their captain so boldly?
Even Heavenly Dragon Academy's own team, though they hid it better than the First High side, couldn't quite mask their surprise. This clearly wasn't part of whatever plan they'd walked in with.
"Heh. Now that's interesting."
David's eyes glinted as he studied Josiah. He found himself curious about what game the other boy was playing.
Still, David had no intention of being drawn in so easily. Judging by what he knew of Josiah's strength, the boy was, at best, about on the level of Kuki Motoichi — someone David had faced before and found unremarkable. There was nothing here that interested him.
Besides — someone else on his team had been waiting for a shot at Josiah.
"I'm not particularly interested in fighting you," David said. "But our class monitor's been looking forward to a rematch."
"If you want to fight me, you'll have to wait. No sense spoiling the suspense of the tournament this early."
The message was clear enough: if David stepped onto the field, the result wasn't in question. He said it with more than a little arrogance — but to anyone who understood the gap between them, it was simply the truth.
"You—!"
Being brushed off so casually, with such open disregard, stung the Heavenly Dragon Academy team. They knew David's side was strong, but the team-battle format they'd drawn had at least given them a sliver of hope for an overall win. Watching that hope get waved away so easily was hard to take.
Josiah, though, didn't so much as blink at David's words. He simply turned and scanned the row of First High trainers waiting on the sidelines.
"Is that how it is? Fine, then. If Captain David won't step in personally, I'll settle for testing the rest of your team."
Seeing that David had no intention of taking the field, Josiah didn't back down either. Instead, he used the moment to challenge Willow directly. If he couldn't bait David into a fight, he'd settle for taking a point off someone else on the team.
David wasn't the only one with an ego — Josiah clearly wasn't giving his own defeated opponent, Leonardo, a second thought.
"Hmph!"
Standing nearby, Luke bristled at the challenge. If he hadn't already agreed to leave Josiah for Willow, he'd have shown the other boy exactly what he was dealing with. His own Metagross, with its four steel fists, would have made short work of an unevolved Hakamo-o without much trouble.
Willow didn't say a word. She simply walked onto the battle stage in silence. Respect, after all, was something you earned through your actions, not your words.
"Both trainers, get ready! Let the match begin!"
"Take him down, Hakamo-o!"
"Time for a rematch, Sceptile!"
Hakamo-o Type: Dragon / Fighting Ability: Bulletproof Energy Level: 36 Aptitude: Deep Purple
Sceptile Type: Grass Ability: Overgrow Energy Level: 34 Aptitude: Deep Purple
The two Pokémon appeared before their trainers at once. The instant they saw each other, both sides seemed to remember exactly who they were facing. Sceptile held its breath, its focus sharpening — this was a chance to settle an old score.
Hakamo-o remembered its previous run-in with Sceptile just as clearly. It knew this would be no easy fight, and its expression turned serious.
The tension between the two Pokémon built steadily, the air thick with the promise of a real battle about to break out.
Off to the side, David watched the standoff with genuine interest.
"Now this could be a good one," he murmured.
Sceptile, having recently evolved from Grovyle and now just one step from reaching Superior level, had already climbed to Energy Level 34 — putting it only two levels behind Hakamo-o.
"This should be a solid match."