Round 1, Match 2: Leon vs. Claire and Clyde
Claire sat calmly on the bed in the suite she shared with her twin, the only sign of her nervousness the slight swinging of her feet and the consistent twirling of the end of her ponytail. Her brother Clyde, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. He paced from one side of the room to the others, his footsteps in sync with Claire’s swings. Even at time like this, they were more alike than either would ever admit to.
Claire sighed and diverted her eyes from her brother’s pacing, looking instead out their window towards the sea. Despite growing up near the sea in Snowpoint City in Sinnoh, this sea was quite a bit different in ways she could never have imagined. The sea near her home in Sinnoh was cold and fickle; with an icy breeze and constant waves washing up on the rocky shores, it wasn’t a sea for you to lie on the beach, or go snorkelling, or collect seashells.
In Kalos, though… She smiled, recalling the first time her family came to visit her aunt in Kalos. Aunt Susie lived in Couriway Town, close to the mountains, but Claire’s parents had decided to make a whole vacation out of the visit and they took the train around to a few different places in Kalos, including the very beaches along Route 8 where she had her twin had picked up the ship to head to this place. The beach had been so beautiful; the sand so soft and warm between her toes, the water so crisp and clean you could see the water Pokémon swimming in the depths.
Not that Clyde had appreciated it, she remembered with a snort. The moment they arrived on the beach, he whipped out his surfboard and dived into the waters, swimming as far out as he could to ride the waves. He had spent so much time crashing and falling that he hadn’t hardly the opportunity to appreciate the fine surroundings, but that was just his manner, and Claire had long since forgiven him for that.
Indeed, they’d both come a long way from the constant spats and tussles they used to get into as kids, working hard to turn their differences into advantages. Clyde’s impulsiveness and determination partnered well with her own thoughtfulness and instinct. Even their Pokémon worked well together, using their special abilities in tandem to bring down their foes easily, no matter the type.
She was really glad that the Safiri woman had let her and Clyde come and compete together. Alone, neither of them would have been worthy of the match, but together they just might stand a chance. Safiri had been sceptical at first, but eventually allowed them in after a short phone conversation with someone, presumably Diamant.
Claire was still somewhat confused on how the particulars would go, though. All of the other trainers had only been allowed to bring one Pokémon, so she and Clyde fighting together against one opponent would be strongly in their favour. She had expected that the tournament bracket might have been changed for them to fight a double battle with two opponents, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
A knock on the door jolted her out of her reverie and Clyde answered it swiftly, similarly surprised. Only a half hour had passed of their hour reprieve, so it was too early to head down to the stadium. Instead of their servant, a silent blond gentleman, Safiri was standing in the doorway, one hand on her hip and the other hand holding two small, blue paper bags, the kind in which you might receive a small gift. Without waiting to be invited, Safiri strolled into the room and took a seat on the sofa, holding both bags gingerly on her lap.
“Is that something for us?” Claire asked, sliding down off the bed and walking over towards the little reception area of their suite. Clyde had already taken the single chair, so she was forced to sit down next to Safiri.
The woman nodded and handed a bag over to each of them. Claire neatly removed the tissue paper while Clyde tore into his package, demolishing the bag. Within moments, each of them was holding was appeared to be a slim metal necklace with a complicated clasping mechanism in the back. The only decoration was a simple blue stone in the front.
“Are these for us?” Clyde asked, a note of disgust in his voice. He clearly wasn’t thrilled at the idea of wearing something so girly.
“They’re for your Pokémon,” Safiri responded coolly, her hands resting almost daintily across her knees as she leaned forward in the chair. “Diamant was enthusiastic about the both of you participating as one unit, but we still needed to determine a way for that to work practically and not give you a strong advantage over the other trainers.
“This,” she nodded towards the necklace in Clyde’s hands, “is our solution. Please, release your Pokémon and put them on so I can explain how it works.”
Claire set the necklace down on the small coffee table and reached for her belt to pull out her Pokémon. Clyde did the same and soon both Curie and Duke were released into the suite. Curie was a bit on the small side for a Gourgeist, standing at not quite three-quarters of a meter. She was completely overshadowed by the larger Trevenant as they stood by the side of the couch, waiting for their trainers.
Claire picked up the necklace and walked over to Curie. The Pokémon trilled happily at its trainer’s appearance, nuzzling her hand. She returned the gesture with a quick nuzzle as she slid the necklace around its “neck.” Despite the complicated appearance of the clasp, it closed firmly and easily, sliding down slightly before resting right above the line where her black markings began. Next to them, Clyde reluctantly placed his jewellery on Duke, the necklace barely fitting around its trunk above its arms.
Claire looked expectedly at their Pokémon, then back at Safiri. “What does it do?”
In response, Safiri pointed a finger towards an expensive-looking vase on top of a chest of drawers on the other side of the room. “Would you please both have your Pokémon use an attack on that vase? Preferably a low-power attack; I’d rather not having to do too much cleaning up in the room.”
Claire looked over at Clyde and they both nodded.
“Curie, use Bullet Seed on that vase!”
“Duke, give ‘em a blast of Astonish!”
Within a second, Curie began spitting out seeds at the vase, knocking it over and sending it crashing into the floor. Duke, however, was never able to even begin his attack as a short burst of blue electricity crackled from the necklace around its trunk, impairing his abilities and keeping him from attacking.
“Duke, what’s wrong?” Clyde rushed to his Pokémon’s side just as the blue lightning was subsiding. The trainer glared at Safiri. “What the hell did you do?”
“The necklace your Pokémon are both now wearing acts as an inhibitor,” Safiri replied smoothly. “Its function is somewhat similar to the paralysation that is caused by some Pokémon attacks, seizing up their muscles and making them unable to respond. The devices are linked in such a way that only one of your Pokémon will be able to act at any given time and the other will be paralyzed. Which Pokémon is affected is chosen at random to make it a more compelling drawback. Diamant and I believe this will be sufficient in making sure that the two of you fighting together will not have a significant advantage over the other contestants.”
Claire pursed her lips and eyes the necklace sceptically. “It doesn’t hurt them, does it?”
“A small jolt, but nothing more. Our intention is to create an equal battle, not to unduly injure your Pokémon.”
“I guess we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Clyde spat.
“Not particularly, no. I would not advise you to drop out of the tournament at this time. The devices will be removed when the tournament is complete.” Safiri gave a short bow. “Your servant will be by to collect you when the match is about to begin. In the meantime, you may practice with your Pokémon and the devices if you choose. Any damage will be cleaned by the time you return from the match in the evening, if you do return.”
Neither sibling noticed the hint of threat in Safiri’s last statement as the strange woman turned around and walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind her.
Clyde immediately snarled and walked back over to Duke, fiddling with the necklace around the Trevenant’s neck. “Damn, I can’t even get this thing off!”
“I guess that’s on purpose,” Clair responded, dropped a hand lightly on Curie’s head for comfort. “They wouldn’t want us interfering with them before or during the match. There might be some kind of key necessary to take them off or something.”
“I guess so.” Clyde sighed and slumped to the floor. “I don’t have to like it, though. Couldn’t they have just made us fight in a double battle or something instead?”
“Even then, we’d be more skilled at that sort of battle than any of the other contestants, so it still wouldn’t be fair,” Claire replied, working through the logic in her own head as she talked. “I don’t really like it either, but I guess we do need to play by their rules.”
Neither sibling really wanted to put their Pokémon through the necklace-induced paralysis more than necessary, so they both agreed not to practice with it on. While it might put them at a bit of a disadvantage in the battle, they also didn’t want to wear their Pokémon out before their first match anyway. Before long, both Pokémon were back in their balls and Clyde had resumed his pacing.
When another knock on the door came a half hour later, both Claire and Clyde almost jumped out of their skins, but this time it was just their assigned servant, there to escort them to the battle. Claire’s hands trembled as she left the room with her twin, and she forced her fingers to play through some imaginary scales at her side to help relax her as they made their way through the innumerable hallways and staircases. She couldn’t be sure, but she felt like they were taking a very different way to the stadium field than they had on their way to their room for dinner. She was beginning to wonder if they were leading them in different ways on purpose when the last door opened out onto the stadium field.
The first thing she noticed was the stars, large, bright, and glorious this far from the mainland. She’d never seen so many before and had a hard time picking out even the most familiar constellations simply because there were so many stars to pick them out of. She wanted to stare up at them long enough to see if she could at least pick out the Great Ursaring, but then Clyde was tugging on her arm towards the side of the field and she was forced to turn her attention to the field as she followed him.
The ice field from before was gone, replaced with the same, plain field they first saw. Their opponent, the younger trainer who preferred going by the name of Leon as opposed to the “Justin” that showed on their phone, was already in place on the other side of the field. Off to the side, the other trainers were all sitting in the stands, Safiri standing among them. Claire didn’t see Mr. Diamant anywhere around the others, remembering belatedly that he had gone off to a separate area during the first match as well.
Casting her eyes around, slowly getting used to the darkness, she eventually spotted him in a small, enclosed room on the opposite side of the stadium from the contestants. He was standing next to a red-haired woman that Claire recognized from earlier in the tournament building.
Almost as soon as Claire spotted Diamant, his voice rang out across the stadium. “As the previous winner, Idalia will get to pick the theme for today’s stadium grounds.”
Claires eyes flickered back towards the contestants and saw Safiri holding a microphone up to the older woman. “Well, why don’t we have a grass-based stage?” she said haltingly over the microphone, her voice reverberating across the stadium.
Perfect! Claire thought, mentally cheering as the ground opened up and the new playing field began to rise from above along with the trainers’ boxes. She didn’t know what kind of Pokémon Leon used, but the grass field could only help her and Clyde, so at worse it would be a draw; at best, they’d have complete run of the field.
In a few moments, she had Clyde were on a platform even taller than Juliet and Idalia’s had been, probably 5 meters or more. Across the way, they could make out the form of Leon, clutching desperately to the railings as his platform ground to a halt.
Between them was one of the most dizzying Pokémon battle fields Claire had ever seen: a seemingly endless field of vines and thorns, so tall the tips of the thorns came almost to the platforms, and so thick, she couldn’t make out the ground below. Interspersed between the vines were occasional platforms attached to thicker vines and trunks and covered in moss.
Across the field, Leon released a Pokémon into the field of vines. Although Claire couldn’t see the Pokémon through the vegetation, she could hear his voice from across the stadium. “Theodore, go!”
“I wish we could see what we’re fighting,” Clyde grumbled to his sister under his breath.
Although she agreed with him, she answered, “We can use nicknames too, and at least he’ll be as much in the dark as we are.”
“Even more, I guess,” Clyde chuckled. “Since we’ve got two.”
The twins nodded and released their Pokémon into the field.
“Curie, go!”
“Duke, kick his ass!”
In unspoken agreement, Claire and Clyde had both sent their Pokémon out to the same spot, a relatively large platform that was visible from their side of the arena but should be invisible to Leon.
In Diamant’s box, the red-haired woman spoke into the microphone. “The match will begin… now.”
“Let’s split up and take him from the sides,” Claire whispered to her brother. He nodded back and both of them motioned to their Pokémon, directing them to the sides of the field with non-verbal communication to keep their opponent guessing as long as possible.
Leon didn’t give them much time to set up their subterfuge, however. “Theodore, find one of ‘em quick and use a Body Slam attack!”
Within moments, a tan and green blur smashed its way through the vines and leaves, not even noticing the thorns that were brushing against its body. For a moment, it stopped and turned its head, looking around, and Claire was able to identify its species.
So could her brother. “That’s a Chesnaught,” he whispered fervently. “Ha! We’ve got this one in the bag!”
With a smug smile, Claire agreed. A dual-type grass and fighting Pokémon, most of its moves would have little effect against either of their Pokémon. Curie and Duke were completely immune to Normal- and Fighting-type moves, and Grass-type moves would be weak against either of them.
Despite the heavy cover, it wasn’t long before Theodore was able to find Curie. Neither twin could see the attack, but both of them heard the heavy crash as the Chesnaught attempted to Body Slam the Gourgeist. Claire knew the attack wouldn’t hurt her Pokémon at all, but her heart still skipped a beat when Curie flipped into the air, likely knocked around as the Chesnaught’s attack also caught the branches and vines.
Regardless of the reason, their cover was blown, and it wouldn’t be long before Leon would switch up his strategy. Even if he hadn’t yet seen Duke, he would know better than to use any more Normal- or Fighting-type moves. Time to go on the offensive.
“Curie, use Trick-or-Treat!”
At the same time, Clyde also called out, “Duke, head over and hit him with a Confuse Ray!”
Simultaneously, two separate spots of light appeared in the mass of vines and thorns. Blue lightning appeared off to the west, giving away Duke’s location as the Pokémon was trapped by the effects of the necklace, while a burst of purple fog appeared in the air where Curie’s status-changing effect hit Theodore.
“Why did you do that?” Clyde hissed angrily. “You know he’s already weak to Poison, you should have hit him with Sludge Bomb!”
“At least I am following our standard attack strategy. We need to work together!” Claire whispered back, trying to keep her voice down. “If Curie’s attack had been the one that failed, you wouldn’t have had any super-effective moves to hit it. Now, you can take it out just as easily as I can.”
While the twins argued, Leon quickly called his Chesnaught back into action, zeroing in on Curie’s position. “Theodore, hit that Gourgeist with your Shadow Claw attack!”
“What?!” Claire instantly whipped her head around, searching through the foliage to locate her Pokémon. How could the Chesnaght know a powerful Ghost-type move like Shadow Claw? “Curie, dodge it, please!”
Smoldering with anger, Clyde also called out, “Duke, murder that Chesnaught with your own Shadow Claw!”
No longer paralyzed by the blue lightning, Duke leapt into action, just as the blue lightning surrounded Curie, brightening up the immediate surroundings. Claire gave out a muffled groan as she witnessed the Chesnaught’s attack through the branches, its arm surrounded by a black aura tinted with a purple glow around the edges. Powerless to even roll with the hit thanks to the paralyzation, the Shadow Claw raked through Curie with no resistance and the Gourgeist was tossed to the ground, down and out.
Claire slumped to the bottom of the platform, holding onto the metal bars of the protective fence as tears flooded her eyes. Curie was definitely out of the fight, and possibly seriously injured with an attack of that magnitude. She wanted nothing more than to run down the ladder and collect her injured Pokémon, but she felt like she needed to stay with her brother, to be strong together. They could still win this, even with Curie out of the match.
Leon gave a loud “Whoop!” but didn’t have much time to celebrate with Duke still tearing down on Theodore. The Trevenant’s own Shadow Claw ripped into the Chesnaught’s back, and the bulky Pokémon roared with pain, somehow withstanding the hit.
“Theodore, hit that other guy with a Shadow Claw, too!”
“Duke, give him another Shadow Claw right back!”
Both Pokémon ran at each other, ready to swipe, but at the last moment, paralyzing bursts of blue lightning enveloped Duke, sending the Pokémon crashing deeper into the vines. Theodore, already full swing into his attack, missed and kept going, barreling deeper into the foliage.
“What the hell? Curie’s done, Duke shouldn’t be shocked anymore!”
Claire sniffled and wiped her eyes, standing back up to support her brother. “No way, that would definitely be unfair to the other player. It’s probably still a fifty percent chance, just that if it’s on Curie it doesn’t matter. You can still pull off this win for us, though, so don’t screw it up!”
Clyde looked back at her with an arched eyebrow before turning his attention back to the match. “Duke, come back towards the top, find that Chesnaught, and hit him with everything you’ve got!”
“Theodore, kill that tree with a Shadow Claw! You can do it!”
Through the vines and leaves, Claire could see the Trevenant making its way back up to stand on a platform near the twins. It was still a bit shaken, but thankfully uninjured. It looked around warily, turning its head this way and that as it attempted to locate the other Pokémon.
From her higher vantage point, Claire could also see the Chesnaught. It, too, was making its way to a high point to locate Duke and had surfaced on a platform to the side of the stadium, near the box where Diamant and the red head were watching. For a moment, Claire just watched Diamant as he watched the match, his eyes following both Pokémon, a hand placed thoughtfully on his chin. Wow, the guy is really paying attention to this match…
Suddenly, Duke perked up. It seemed to have located Theodore, either by scent or sound or some sort of Ghost-type Pokémon sense. It roared and its arm instantly began sprouting the black-and-purple aura of the Shadow Claw move. Hearing its opponent, the Chesnaught also readied his move, and both Pokémon leapt at each other above the vines, claws extended for each other’s hearts.
Claire averted her eyes, clenching tightly to the fence with one hand and her brother’s arm with the other. She couldn’t bear to look, didn’t want to see Duke ripped open the same way Curie was, falling to the ground with a blank stare in its eyes.
A huge crash as both Pokémon re-entered the vines covering the stage, then silence.
After a few moments, Claire dared to open an eye and looked up at Clyde, his face a study in determination as he stared out at the stadium. She followed his gaze out towards the arena but could see nothing but endless vines and thorns. Where was Duke? Where was Theodore? Had they really won?
A rustle of thorns near their location caught Claire’s attention and she happened to look down right as Duke crunched through a tangle of vines to a mossy platform, its arms raised in triumph despite the seeping purple wound in its chest. There was no sign of the Chesnaught.
“Theodore? Theodore!” Leon called from the other side. He must have seen Duke emerge and was concerned about his own Pokémon. “Theodore, where are you?!”
As Clyde called praise down toward his Trevenant, Claire looked back up to Diamant’s platform. He must not have seen the full outcome either, since he was talking animatedly with the red-haired woman and no end to the match had been called. After a short but heated discussion with frequent hand waving, the woman walked over to a console and pressed a button. Within a few moments, the vines and thorns began to pull back and disappear into the ground. Knocked out cold on the bare ground were both Curie and Theodore, with Duke standing nearby, pumping its arms in triumph.
“The battle is concluded.” The red-haired woman announced over the intercom. “Claire and Clyde are the winners.”
Clyde gave a whoop and flipped over the fence, launching himself down to the ground to run over to his Trevenant. Claire took the normal route down, and by the time she had reached the bottle of the latter, Safiri and Leon were preparing to the leave the stadium, Leon with a dejected look on his face and a Pokéball in his hand.
Fighting the urge to rush over to her own Pokémon, Claire veered over to the defeated trainer. “Hey, Leon, good battle,” she said, arm outstretched.
“Thanks,” he mumbled back, not meeting her eyes but shaking her hand anyway. “I guess I never thought I would win anyway. You two take it all the way, okay? If I’m getting kicked out, I at least want the guys who beat me to win.”
“We will.” Claire smiled and watched the two head back to the doors, then rushed over to her Pokémon. Curie was down on the ground, the purple lines of the attack faded but still visible. Claire was able to easily pick the small Pokémon up in her arms, cradling it like a baby.
She turned around and was able to walk back over by her brother when she was startled by the appearance of the red-haired woman from the announcer’s booth. “Oh!”
The woman laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m here to take you and your brother to get your Pokémon healed. My name is Ruby.”
“Hi, I’m Claire.” Why did you give her your name? Of course she knows your name! Claire mentally chided herself, but Ruby had startled her so much, and she was so tired from the long day and the gruelling match, that she was just glad she didn’t say anything even dumber.
Ignoring the useless comment, Ruby smiled. “Why don’t you guys get your Pokémon back in their Pokéballs? Then you can follow me to our healing center.”
Reluctantly, Claire set Curie back on the ground and recalled it to its Pokéball. Clyde had already returned Duke, so they were all ready to go. With a nod, Ruby turned around and started walking to the edge of the field. Off by the bleachers, the other contestants were being herded back to their entrance by Safiri. Huh, she must have already brought Leon to the healers to take care of Chesnaught. That was fast.
Claire and Clyde followed Ruby into yet another entrance and followed yet another complicated set of passageways through the building. “This place is so confusing,” Claire mentioned, hoping to strike up a conversation with the woman. It hadn’t worked with the servant, but Ruby seemed friendlier anyway. “Don’t you guys get lost all the time?”
Ruby barked out a single laugh. “That’s Diamant’s fault, I’m afraid. The guy has a love affair with labyrinths. I would hate to see him design a school or a hospital. But, it’s not that bad once you learn it. And everyone who works here has the layout memorized before they even begin.”
“Wow, that sounds difficult.”
“It’s not so bad, really. Ah, here we go.” She gestured to a swinging metal door in front of them, identical to a row of others. “Come right on in.”
Clyde went through first, pushing the door open with a bit more force than was really needed. Claire followed behind him and Ruby brought up the rear.
A woman that looked slightly like Ruby, but with long silver hair pulled back into two large loops, stood behind a counter in the centre of a small white room. To the side of the counter were a few chairs and a table with some magazines. The room even smelled like a doctor’s waiting room.
Ruby walked up to the counter and talked to the woman for a moment, then waved Claire and Clyde over. “This is Argenta, our resident nurse. Please give her your Pokéballs and she’ll make sure your Pokémon are all healed up. Once she’s done, she’ll call your servant for you to take you back to your rooms. Have a pleasant night!”
With one last cheerful grin and a wave, Argenta disappeared back out the door. Claire and Clyde both handed their Pokéballs over to the woman. Argenta’s smile wasn’t quite as bright and kind as Ruby’s was, but at she wasn’t as cold as Safiri. “It will just be a few minutes to get your Pokémon back to fighting strength. You’re welcome to sit down for the time, if you wish.”
Clyde immediately flopped down in a seat and picked up a car magazine, but Claire stayed standing at the counter as Argenta turned around and placed the Pokéballs into a machine of some sort. It looked similar to the machines Claire had seen at various Pokémon Centers, though it was entirely transparent.
“You guys must be pretty fast,” Claire commented, trying to make small talk with the woman, “since you’ve already taken care of Leon and all. Very impressive.”
“Leon?” Argenta glanced over at Claire, her eyebrows quirked in confusion. Claire almost did a double-take when she got a close-up look at the woman’s eyes, which were definitely strange. Her irises were pure black and she only had small, white dots for pupils.
“Uh, I mean, Justin I guess his real name is,” Claire replied, averting her eyes to the side wall to keep herself from staring at the woman. What would cause her eyes to be like that? She’d never seen anything like it before.
“Oh, you mean the one who lost.” Argenta shook her head, her silver hair gleaming in the strong light of the room. “No, he didn’t come here. I only care for the winner’s Pokémon.”
“Well, I guess it makes sense to have multiple healing centers, this being such a big stadium and all.” Without anything else to say, and Argenta apparently not caring about keeping on the conversation, Claire stayed at the counter, waiting in uncomfortable silence until the machine played a short tune to announce it’s completion.
Clyde tossed the magazine down and joined Claire at the counter as Argenta turned around with the Pokéballs. She handed one to each of them, then smiled. “Your Pokémon are fully healed. We hope to see you again.”
Clyde broke into a grin. “Me too. If I see you again, that means we’ve won again!”
Claire clipped Curie back to her belt without a word and the two twins walked to the door. Outside, their eerily silent servant was waiting to take them back to their room.
As they walked away, Claire snuck one last glance through the door as it swung shut. Argenta was standing in the exact same position and pose as she had when they left for the door, still as a statue.
