Steven leaned against the stone railing of the stands and watched the golden-haired figure on the battlefield below.
"So this is what it's like..." His lips curved slightly.
He had fought in his share of battles. Watching from the sidelines was a different experience altogether — one he was still getting used to.
"This match is between Cynthia from Celestic Town and Jyota from Sunyshore City! Both Trainers, please send out your Pokémon!"
Cynthia drew back her arm and threw her Poké Ball. A burst of white light opened on the field.
"Togepi ~ ヾ(≧▽≦*)o"
Togepi appeared, immediately waving its small arms at the crowd.
Steven chuckled. "Leading with the little one, is she?"
He wasn't worried. Togepi had its way of making things interesting.
Across the field, Jyota — listed in the programme as a student from Sunyshore City — called out his first Pokémon.
"Go, Kricketune!"
Steven hadn't expected that.
Kricketune was a crimson Pokémon with a lean, elegant frame. Long, curved antennae swept back from its head, each with a red sphere where they connected to its skull. Its belly curved into the distinctive shape of a violin, marked with black spots and a pale vertical stripe running down the centre. Its lower half darkened to deep red. Its arms were slender, blade-like, and its black wings were folded neatly at its back.
Still Kricketune... Steven thought. One more stage to go before it would be worth putting against Togepi. But then again, against Togepi—
He revised the thought.
Actually, let it try.
"Kricketune, X-Scissor!" Jyota moved first.
The Bug-type moved with quick, confident strides, its arm-blades catching the light as it crossed the field.
"Togepi — Metronome!"
There it was. That edge in Cynthia's voice that didn't appear in conversation — the particular calm authority that settled over her the moment a battle began.
"Togepi ! q(≧▽≦q)"
Togepi raised one hand and waved it in a small circle.
Several rocks materialized out of thin air around Togepi's body — and launched.
Ancient Power.
"Kricketune, break off! Dodge!"
Kricketune threw on the brakes, twisting left, then right, reading the trajectories —
Bang.
One connected. Kricketune cartwheeled several metres and landed hard.
"Togepi!"
Togepi broke into gleeful laughter.
And then the familiar shimmer moved through its body — a faint, layered glow across all its stats.
Ancient Power's bonus effect. All stats raised.
Steven looked at Jyota's Kricketune with a measure of genuine sympathy.
"Serene Grace," he murmured. "That's a rough matchup."
Metronome had just produced a Rock-type move — super effective against a Bug/Flying-type — and the all-stats boost had triggered on top of it. Serene Grace doubled the probability of secondary effects. A move that would normally trigger once in five times became nearly certain.
Cynthia's Togepi had drawn the short straw at birth and come out holding Serene Grace.
"Togepi — Metronome!"
"Togepi~"
Togepi waved again.
A gust of heated air swept across the field. Then flame bloomed — from below Kricketune's feet, from around it, encircling it in a spiralling column of fire that rotated and tightened with each revolution.
Fiery Dance.
The flames moved with an unsettling elegance, coiling and releasing and coiling again, like something alive. Kricketune was at the centre of it, and the air around it was becoming difficult to endure.
Then the yellow shimmer passed through Togepi again.
Special Attack raised.
"Again—?!" Steven's mouth pressed into a flat line. He almost felt bad for Jyota.
Fiery Dance raises Special Attack on activation — and Serene Grace doubled the odds.
Togepi was playing an entirely different game from everyone else on the field.
Kricketune went down. Jyota recalled it in grim silence.
"Kricketune is unable to battle! Togepi wins!"
"Well done, Togepi!" Cynthia smiled.
"Togepi~ ( •̀ ω •́ )✧"
Togepi posed.
Jyota pushed his glasses up with one finger. He released his second Pokémon.
It looked like a purple monkey — sleek and quick, with two long tails, each ending in a rounded, three-fingered hand built for gripping, grabbing, and hitting things.
Ambipom.
"Ambipom — Fake Out!"
"Togepi — Metronome!"
Ambipom's two tail-hands clapped together sharply. An invisible shockwave of pure force launched across the field at speed — priority move, near-instantaneous —
A green barrier shimmered into existence around Togepi.
Protect.
The shockwave dissolved against it.
Fake Out had a move priority of +3. Protect ran at +4.
Steven stared.
"That... it countered a priority move with a higher-priority move it rolled randomly?"
He closed his mouth.
Jyota's eyes, behind his glasses, had gone very wide. He was mentally calculating whether he could file a formal appeal on the grounds that this Togepi was somehow cheating with its own randomised move.
He couldn't. Serene Grace was a perfectly legal Ability.
Just an extremely irritating one.
Jyota recalibrated. He now had a quiet, private hope that Togepi's next Metronome would produce Self-Destruct.
"Ambipom — Double Hit! Go!"
Ambipom was fast. It covered the distance in a blink, both tail-hands raised and glowing white.
Togepi's small hand began to wave.
Steven leaned forward.
What was it going to be this time? Aura Sphere? Spacial Rend? Judgment?
"Togepi!"
A stream of water shot from Togepi's hands directly into Ambipom's face.
Ambipom blinked. Shook its head. Then both tail-hands came down.
Togepi went flying, rolled across the ground in a lopsided tumble, and came to rest at Cynthia's feet.
"...Water Gun," Steven said.
He let out a single quiet laugh. "Looks like it finally ran out of luck."
"Togepi! இ௰இ"
Togepi lay on its back and waved its limbs at the sky in distress.
"It's alright, Togepi. You did well." Cynthia crouched down and scooped it up, murmuring to it gently.
In the opposing corner, Jyota let out a long, shaking exhale and touched his glasses with both hands.
Finally.
One normal Metronome. Just one. That was all he had needed.
Cynthia recalled Togepi.
She reached for her next Poké Ball.
From the field, a wave of suppressive, heavy presence rolled outward the moment the flash of white light resolved.
Spiritomb.
"What—" Jyota took an involuntary step back. "Why does it feel like the air just got heavier—?"
Spiritomb floated at the centre of the field, its swirling purple gaseous form drifting around the Odd Keystone that anchored it. Its eyes held a focused, cold awareness.
"Ambipom — U-turn, fall back!"
Smart. Most of Ambipom's moves were Normal-type — they simply wouldn't land on a Ghost. Better to switch out than fight into the type immunity.
Ambipom turned.
"Sucker Punch."
Spiritomb's gaseous mass lurched forward before Ambipom had taken a second step.
Bang.
Ambipom hit the ground and stayed there.
"Ambipom is unable to battle!"
Steven rested his chin in one hand.
"That could have gone better for them," he said lightly.
A Champion-class Spiritomb following a Togepi with Serene Grace. Jyota had made Togepi cry and ended up in a worse situation for it.
The math simply hadn't worked out in his favour today.