Chương 173: Chapter 166

Sam was silent as Xavier failed to respond. The woman in the suit brought herself back up, sent him a polite nod, and then hurriedly turned to leave. Xavier didn't even watch her go. He just stared at the wall of the hallway before him. Sam stepped to the side to let her pass, but all of his attention was on his friend ahead of him.

"Xav—" Sam didn't even get to say Xavier's name. Xavier just turned and stormed down the hallway. As fast as he could, Sam scrambled to catch up, running to chase after his friend.

"Xavier!" Sam shouted. Finally, Xavier heard him, and the other trainer snapped around with a sharp reply of, "What?!" However, when Xavier saw it was Sam, he froze and immediately schooled his expression. Sam caught up and stood across from his friend.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"I heard—""It doesn't matter," Xavier interrupted.

"Don't listen to anything she said. Focus on our match. I don't care for anything you have to say." A scowl flashed over his face, but Sam stood defiantly despite that. Xavier's feet were slightly pointed to begin walking away, but Sam refused to have things end like that here.

"I've been watching your battles," Sam said to him, meeting Xavier in the eye.

"Both the ones that happened here and the ones posted online. Xavier, you're doing well, but you haven't been acting the same. You still have the same confidence to your orders, but after every match, it's like—""Why bring this up?" Xavier snapped. Sam took a deep breath.

"Because we promised we would give it our all in our fight," he told him.

"Because, right now, that doesn't feel like that's going to happen. And I don't want us to have a battle we'd regret." Xavier stared Sam in the eye before ultimately letting out a breath. He looked away. His next words came out muttered.

"You don't think I can do that?" he asked.

"Fight?" And Sam just shook his head.

"No, I definitely think you can, but I can tell it wouldn't happen in a way either of us would like. It almost seems you aren't fighting to win your battles anymore. It's more that you're fighting just to get through them. If I had to describe it as anything, it's like.." Sam looked up.

"Huh. Yeah. It's like you're fighting only to prove a point." A tense silence stretched out through the hallway. The corners of Xavier's mouth twitched down for a frown.

"Everyone's always trying to prove something," he muttered. He lowered his head, and Sam saw him clench his fists against crossed arms.

"Is this about what she—""You wouldn't understand," Xavier said tersely.

"Unlike you, I didn't get any support. You got to travel all through Johto with so many people at your back, and I..." His sigh was a growl.

"All I ever got were messages telling me I needed to win."

"But you've met people. You've made friends. You have a team," Sam told him.

"We finally have our battle coming up, and that battle is in the Conference!"" I started my journey with two Pokémon given as 'tokens' and bluntly told 'good luck,'" Xavier snapped.

"If I want them to— Winning isn't an achievement. It's a requirement. And, yes, I'm trying to prove a point. I'm trying to prove that I can do exactly that." Xavier tried to snarl, but all he did was grimace, and Sam watched as Xavier once again forced himself to look away.

"... So that's why you've been acting so off. That's why you haven't been enjoying your battles." Sam went quiet to think.

"And then, is this why you never send out your sixth Pokémon? Because you think it's weak? Because you think it won't help you win?" Vibrations came from beneath Sam's feet. It was as if his Ghost Types were laughing at the blunt question. And, in reply, something flashed across Xavier's face. It was far too mixed for Sam to truly identify what it was—anger, acceptance, denial, worry—but he could at least recognize part of it. As a Ghost Type specialist, he was rather adept at recognizing spite.

"Did you know there's a bracket?" Xavier suddenly asked, and the way he snapped out the question caused Sam's train of thought to come to an abrupt halt—an intentional move on Xavier's part, if Sam had to guess.

"That doesn't make any sense," Sam said, and he was willing to go along with the change in topic for now.

"There can't be a bracket. I mean, the match-ups might not be truly randomized, but they are still mostly—""Random?" Xavier finished for him, looking Sam in the eye.

"They are. Of course they are random. But I should specify that they were random. The League wasn't lying when they said each round was randomized, but they didn't specify when that randomization occurred." Sam could put the clues together. There were always breaks between the final matches of the day and the next round's announcement, but they could easily be just that—a break. Okay. So that's a weird trick, but it's only a trick.

From a competitor's perspective, there's not much difference between a pre-made bracket and match-ups being randomized each round. No, the weird part of this is that they didn't tell us. And that, somehow, Xavier knows.

"So you're saying that the Conference has been planned out since the start," Sam said slowly.

"How did you even learn this in the first place?" Xavier waved a hand.

"The League likes to reward trainers who think outside of the box, and they also like to encourage trainers to ask for help," he said, bitter.

"I had a theory, so I asked a question, and then I was given a bracket containing the list of every future match." For a moment, Sam had to go silent just to process the implication.

"So you know—""Yes," he answered.

"I know the trainer one of us will be facing next." Sam's thoughts were running a mile a minute. He almost forgot why he had come here in the first place. If Xavier was bringing this up to him, now of all times, then there was only one answer for who their next opponent would be. Pushing off the wall, Xavier stood to properly face Sam. Though he was only slightly taller than him, the weight of his presence made him seem as though he was towering. Consuming. All-demanding. Then, Xavier took a step forward.

"The bracket includes every possible match-up until the end, and I've checked to confirm that it's held true for every round until now." Xavier's voice was low.

"So, if it continues to hold true, then know this—the next trainer one of us will face will be your friend."

"Redi," Sam breathed.

"Exactly," Xavier replied, and a far-too-familiar dark look reappeared on his face.

"Redi. Your friend. Your traveling partner. If she wins, she'll be the one to face the winner of our match. And I've seen her battle. She makes it easy. I already know exactly what I'd need to do to defeat her team."

"Is this supposed to be a threat?" Sam asked quietly. For the first time in this conversation, Xavier put on a smile. It didn't suit him.

"Her new evolution? That Ursaluna? Countering it is simple—just pin it down and slice it from range," he said.

"When Hyper Beam is used, block or dodge, and then take advantage of the recharge to attack and bypass its defense.

"Her Porygon?" Xavier continued.

"It's strong at range, but it struggles up close. It's too easily overwhelmed in melee. With its perfect accuracy, you tank the hit to give yourself room to get close, and then you grapple it to stop it from escaping with Teleport.

"Her Dragonair? It's cocky. It'll be surprised if its speed is ever outmatched.

"Her Wyrdeer has experience, but that's its weakness. It thinks that it knows all of the answers, so it'll flounder when faced with something new.

"And finally, her Kangaskhan," Xavier said, that false smile gone at this point.

"She made a mistake bringing it here. All Kangaskhan have the same weakness, the same vulnerability. What she missed is how easy it is to target its—""Stop!" Sam didn't mean to shout, but his voice came out in a yell, nonetheless.

"I get it. I get it. You can beat Redi—or at least you think you can. You don't need to lecture me about your plans. And, I get why you're doing this. You're trying to make yourself a villain. You're trying to convince me that if I don't beat you, then Redi will be out of the tournament as well." He went quiet for a moment.

"Xavier, do you really want to lose that badly?" Sam whispered. Not answering, Xavier took a step back. Sam finally felt like he could breathe. Both of them glared at one another, though they both glared for very different reasons.

"So that's your plan," Sam said, continuing to speak softly.

"That's why you changed the topic so abruptly. You're... Ugh. You're frustrating. All of this was to distract me. You're trying to win, but you also want an excuse for if you lose our fight." Xavier didn't answer; he forced himself to look away. However, for Sam, that silent reaction was confirmation enough.

"You're overwhelmed by pressure, and you're looking for some way to break that off," he said.

"You're trying to make me worried so that I'll fight you with everything I have, and you're trying to give yourself an excuse so it wouldn't be as bad if you mess up.

"But that was your mistake from the start, and that's why I'm here in the first place. Xavier, it doesn't matter what you're thinking, or whatever anyone else might be expecting from you," Sam said.

"I don't care about whatever responsibility or obligation that's unfairly on your shoulders—and you shouldn't either. We have a fight coming up. That's it. No one else matters for this. We're not fighting because it was scheduled, we're fighting because we promised.

"I was never going to hold back," Sam continued, staring right at Xavier, staring right at his friend.

"Not against you. Not in the Conference. Not against someone who looked me in the eye and promised that they'd win." Unhappily, Xavier lowered his gaze to the floor.

"And if you think that identifying surface-level flaws means that you can beat Redi, then you're vastly underestimating her strength," Sam added.

"... She's a bad trainer," Xavier mumbled. That was such a blatant attempt to make Sam angry that it might as well have flopped onto the floor like a dead fish.

"I don't even know why I tried," Xavier growled.

"You just don't get it. This doesn't matter—none of this matters. The only thing that matters is winning and securing that win." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Why?" The seconds counted down. Sam looked at him.

"Is that really what you think?" And, once again, Xavier didn't answer. He merely chose to cross his arms and not look Sam in the eye.

"Alright. Well, if you're going to be like that, then I'll accept your challenge," Sam said.

"We'll fight. But don't think that our fight will happen in the way that you want." The battle was not the challenge Sam had accepted.

"I talked to someone the other day—someone important," Sam said slowly.

"I turned down a very generous offer because it went against what I believe in about the Ghost Type. But doing so let me come to a realization: when it comes to who I want to be, I want to be someone who helps out. A guide.

"So, let me help you. We'll battle, Xavier, but we won't be battling to win. No, we'll battle for that reason we already established—we'll be battling to prove which of us is the better trainer, not just to see who would win."

"That's the same thing," Xavier replied flatly.

"It's not," Sam responded.

"You'll see what I mean." Xavier tried to glare at him, but the attempt failed when Sam easily met his gaze. After a few seconds of trying to hold it, the other boy let out a long groan and began to walk away.

"You're annoying!" he snapped out.

"And you're a good trainer," Sam shouted after him.

"You don't need to prove anything to anyone, and don't let any of them ever tell you otherwise." Storming down the hallway, Xavier left Sam, but Sam intentionally stayed behind. He let the other trainer get just far enough away to give himself the chance to shout without Xavier speaking back.

"And by the way," Sam called out, "this is going to be a full team battle. So, since we're going to have a proper match, I expect all of your Pokémon to be sent out." Xavier stumbled.

"A full, six-on-six battle," Sam said at a normal volume.

"It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it." In the distance, Xavier turned at the corner to continue toward his assigned dressing room, and after a few further seconds of silence, he did his best to slam the door. Sam held back his laugh and waited until he was sure Xavier was absent. Only then did he look down at his shadow.

"I hope I didn't just screw us," he said, mumbling to his Pokémon.

"We still have the numbers advantage, but I want to fight and win against Xavier and not just have another, random battle against another, random trainer. We'll do everything we can to win, but we'll also do everything we can to make this more than just an average match.

"I want to move on in the Conference, but I'm also selfish. I want to win and have a good battle, but I also don't want Xavier to make any decisions that he'd regret." Redi caught Sam in the tunnels just before he was about to step out onto the field. She only said one short phrase.

"You better win, Sam." And then she was off, running back to the stands to watch the battle from a better angle. Sam knew her match was coming up soon, but it wouldn't be right away. She was scheduled to go up closer to noon, which meant she'd have an entire lunch break to either celebrate her victory or mourn her loss.

"Mourn her loss? Yeah, right," Sam mumbled.

"Redi is going to win." But if Redi won, she'd face whoever came next. Even with Sam's goal to do... something about Xavier, he wanted more than anything else to be the one to face Redi in the tournament. As much as he wanted Xavier to start properly trying again, he also didn't want Xavier to fight her in his place. There was more than just Conference placement riding on this match. When he stepped out into the arena, the audience's cheers were a roar.

At this point in the tournament, with only thirty-two trainers left, specific competitors were becoming more and more well-known. Sam could hear shouts of his name as well as shouts that cheered for his Pokémon. The Gastly and Haunter beneath his feet weren't supposed to react and reveal themselves here, but he could see the edges of his shadow waver as some of those Ghost Types drew back from the noise and others leaned forward out of a faint desire to approach.

Xavier was on the other side of the field, and he was a one-trainer procession as he walked to his trainer box. His expression was locked in grim determination, and he remained silent as he took up a position opposite to Sam. To the roars of the audience, Sam bowed his head in respect.

"Let's have a good battle," he said to Xavier, but he got only the barest twitch in response, the absolute minimum level of acknowledgement possible. Really? Only that, even after everything else?

"This will be a full team, six-on-six battle, with trainers sending out one Pokémon each!" the referee announced.

"Trainers will have access to seven switches, and the battle..." To Sam's ears, the rest of the referee's words didn't matter. Instead, the echoes of the audience drowned out all other noise, and the whispers of the announcers bounced around him. A thunderous beat pounded in his chest. No matter what, he would defeat Xavier here. Once he was done speaking, the referee brought up two flags, and both Sam and Xavier grabbed their first Pokéballs.

Typhlosion hit the field with a cry of her name, and Xavier's Poliwrath landed across from her, a faint flex to its arms showing off its bulging muscles.

"So he chose to send out his Water Type first. He was expecting Typhlosion, huh?" Sam whispered to himself. When the referee's speech ended, he looked to both trainers and gave one last shout.

"Trainers! Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"I am."

"Then, on my count," he said. Numbers went down. Sam only half-paid attention. As he and Xavier locked eyes, Sam grinned as he recognized that neither of them would be holding back.

"BEGIN!"

"Smokescreen. Swift. Burn." Sam's orders came out quickly and concisely. Typhlosion's flames immediately flared out to full blast as she reared up on her hind legs for a powerful exhale. Smoke flooded the field to surround her opponent in a ring that obscured her at the same time. Xavier's Poliwrath hunkered down with its arms brought up for a defense. The only unhidden area was a small circle around it, and that made it more on edge than if it couldn't see at all.

Feet carefully shifting to allow it to rotate its body, the Poliwrath tried to maintain its awareness of every angle around it. When stars from Swift ripped out of the smoke, it swung its arms to block them, but it was unable to block them for long due to Typhlosion circling around to cause her attack to strike it from behind. She went through with her classic follow-up to this move, of course, but Xavier was already prepared with a counter.

"Bubblebeam." Typhlosion's chasing Will-O-Wisps were quickly snuffed out by the foam of bubbles released from the center of Poliwrath's spiral stomach. Going from there, Xavier then called for his Pokémon's next move.

"Mind Reader," he ordered. Poliwrath will be able to detect her in the smoke, Sam realized. Poliwrath jumped in place as its eyes narrowed, snapping itself around to track where Typhlosion ran. Quickly, it filled its body with energy to fuel a Protect, and the flames of a Flamethrower harmlessly washed off of it, failing to burn or even deal damage.

"If it can detect you, then go full offense!" Sam yelled.

"No more preparation! Send out your Parade!" The smoke had been there for more than just obscuration; Typhlosion had been using it alongside her weaker moves as a distraction. Poliwrath had made a mistake by using Protect so soon, and all around it, purple lights glowed in the smoke. A twilight of wisps grew and grew as Typhlosion's Smoke Screen lit up with hundreds of glowing stars.

"Hah. I see. A new strategy," Xavier muttered.

"A new trick," Sam corrected with a smile.

"Pretty neat, right?" As if Poliwrath was a magnet, every star collapsed right toward its position. It couldn't risk using Protect again so soon after the last use, and it had no room to dodge with Typhlosion's choking smoke taking up so much space. Yet, upon seeing so many purple flames rush Poliwrath, Xavier just sighed, and the sound of his exhale seemed to echo throughout the arena.

"Close Combat." But why? Close Combat lowers a Pokémon's defense! Why call for it here? Sam got his answer when Poliwrath shifted from a defensive stance to an aggressive one. It saw every glowing mote hurtling toward it and took that flood as a challenge. As the first embers neared, it struck with a fist, breaking through the targeted mote to burst it into smoke. Another rushed in from the side, but Poliwrath spun to swipe its elbow through and break apart that one as well.

Then, the rest of the wisps came, and Poliwrath used its entire body in a furious offense that evaporated Typhlosion's Infernal Parade. Its arms punched and swung, and dozens upon dozens of wisps were lost to violence before they could reach Poliwrath's form. Though Poliwrath could not be called a perfect fighter, it was an overwhelming fighter, and the vast majority of Typhlosion's Infernal Parade was destroyed under its raw, Fighting Type skill.

The few motes that did get through, however, almost seemed to have no effect. Sam could see them deal damage—only a minimal amount, unfortunately—but somehow, they also failed to inflict even the slightest of burns.

"Why?" Sam whispered under his breath. The announcers' echoing voices provided the answer for him.

"Amazing! Xavier's Poliwrath shows an impressive display of mastery as it utterly breaks through Typhlosion's wisps! Still, I've noticed that no burn seems to be landing—""And that's likely because of Poliwrath's Damp ability," the other announcer said, chipping in.

"Damp shouldn't have any relevance here, as it's primarily used to stop the initial spark of moves like Explosion, but Xavier seems to have taken advantage of Poliwrath's innately moist body to help it resist drying out!" Every mote that seared into Poliwrath was a mote that it had purposefully let through. If Poliwrath was to take damage, then it would only allow itself to take damage where it was not at risk.

The Infernal Parade might not have been a resisted Fire Type move, but the burning heat could at least be withstood. Poliwrath's natural dampness prevented any of those flames from properly sinking in, and thus, it was unable to be burned. Truly, this was a technique designed to specifically counter Sam. But it wasn't perfect. Sam immediately caught onto this counter's weakness, and he didn't fail to capitalize on that flaw.

"Keep it up, Typhlosion!" Sam yelled.

"It's wearing off! Dry it out!" Though the initial wisps only dealt a bare amount of damage and failed to inflict a burn, each successive hit still saw some of Poliwrath's moisture evaporate away. Damp was providing a defense, but that was not the true purpose of Damp, so it wasn't going to last. Not just that, but the pure aggression of Close Combat meant Poliwrath was opening itself up to further attacks more and more over time.

All of that came to its head when Sam heard a slight sizzling even through Poliwrath's anti-wisp assault. One of the wisps, the smallest one, drifted down to land on its body, and instead of fizzling out due to moisture, it seared into Poliwrath's back to leave a small, purplish mark.

"Perfect!" Other wisps began to do the same, and Poliwrath began to truly take damage. It was not yet suffering from a full burn, but the very start of that condition was now beginning to form. And once Poliwrath is burned, its physical power will be cut, and it won't be able to keep up its defense. Creating wisps is trivial for Typhlosion at this point; Infernal Parade hardly takes any effort.

Xavier's plan to stall is failing—Poliwrath will exhaust itself first, and Typhlosion will be in the perfect place to start dealing increased damage. However, as much as the current situation was a good sign for Sam, it was also a sign for Xavier. As the wisps began to sink in, he only needed to say one word.

"Payback." And with that command, Sam suddenly realized that Poliwrath had never dropped its Mind Reader from earlier. Practically out of nowhere, Poliwrath leaped, jumping right over the cloud of wisps that crashed down to consume where it had been standing. It twisted around in the air to draw its fist back, and its arm turned as dark as pitch as every ounce of pain it had suffered was taken and doubled to power this one punch.

"Detect!" Sam yelled. Xavier said nothing. Poliwrath crashed through the smoke, the shockwaves from its blackened arm smashing into the floor to send all of Typhlosion's cover back. Exposed, her Detect let her avoid the move by mere inches, but Poliwrath was still right in her face.

"Bubblebeam," Xaver ordered. Poliwrath acted faster than Sam would have thought. It wasn't that Poliwrath was faster than Typhlosion; it was simply that Poliwrath was already prepared for this follow-up. Before Sam could think of a response—and even before Xavier finished speaking his command—a foam once more left the center of Poliwrath's chest. That stream exploded outward, and all its bubbles exploded against Typhlosion, bursting less than a foot away.

The Water Type energy seeped into her, and her fur became soaked with dripping pain. She howled. Shouts came from the audience. Pushing up, Poliwrath flexed its arms close to its body to maintain its Bubblebeam. I know it's painful, but you can do it! We only need to last a second longer! Typhlosion was flagging, but the second Sam saw the sparks bounce off of Poliwrath's back, he quickly returned his Pokémon before she fell.

"There," he sighed.

"Thank you, Typhlosion. Now, we're in a great position because of you." Her Smokescreen was gone. None of her wisps were left. She had taken a significant amount of damage, as well. But all of that just meant the field was cleared for Sam's next Pokémon, and Typhlosion was now primed to make use of the boost from her Blaze. However, the real victory came from those sparks. So focused on maintaining its Bubblebeam, Poliwrath hadn't put up a defense to stop the last few, lingering wisps from burning its back.

"Hah! It worked! Don't underestimate us, Xavier! Your Poliwrath's power is going to be cut in half from here!" Sam shouted, already feeling victorious. Xavier sent a short glance to the discolored marks on his Poliwrath's blue back, but his gaze betrayed not even a single thought or any hint of doubt.

"So?" he said.

"A burn only affects his physical power. And this doesn't affect any other member of my team."

"But Poliwrath is weaker! And it'll be taking damage over time!" Despite Sam's shout, Xavier sighed. Tiredly, he rubbed his forehead.

"... All of that just for a slight burn," he mumbled. Grinning, Sam sent out his next Pokémon, Drakloak. She was eager to properly fulfill her planned role on the team, and from atop her head, Dreepy squeaked out a taunt, but Xavier ignored the energetic Dragon Type to grab a ball of his own.

"Come back, Poliwrath," he said, his fighter disappearing into red light.

"Yanmega. Full speed."

"Will-O-Wisp! Into Hex!" Sam yelled.

"And, if not, then use Thunder Wave!" Sam's orders proved to be prescient. When Drakloak hissed to conjure her wisps around her, Yanmega had already built plenty of speed to dodge. So similar to Will-O-Wisp, her Hex failed to catch up as well, and the massive dragonfly Pokémon shot past where she was rushing above the floor to hit her with a Bug Buzz that threatened to knock her out of the air.

"A dragonfly against a Dragon Type, huh?" Sam quipped.

"Well, we'll see which of our Pokémon is the true dragon between them!" He was mostly acting cheery to try to get Xavier to snap out of it, but honestly, coming up with cheesy comments was actually pretty fun. Another Will-O-Wisp from Drakloak was disrupted by another pulse of Bug Buzz, and then Yanmega dove down for another fly-by. It got right on top of Drakloak only for her to let out a burst. Electric energy zapping off of her, her Thunder Wave spread across enough area that Yanmega had no room to dodge.

As it flew past Drakloak, lightning licked across its body, and when it pulled back up, its momentum almost seemed to stall due to the paralysis limiting its movements. Dreepy let out a cackling laugh when his sister's opponent failed to match her speed.

"How about that, Xavier?!" Sam shouted.

"We managed to put a stop to Yanmega's acceleration, too!"

"Yanmega will continue to build speed. It doesn't matter."

"Yeah, but it's made you more vulnerable to our attacks! Just watch: Hex, Drakloak!" Yanmega shot backwards, perfectly taking advantage of the three-dimensional space to try to avoid this move in the air. As it did, blades of wind sliced out from its wings, and they cut through every flame of Hex that Drakloak sent its way. Unfortunately for it, where the heavy vibrations of Bug Buzz would disrupt the flames, Air Slash failed to stop the same move.

Instead, the slashes simply meant that each cut merely divided the Hex's wisps to double their numbers. The ethereal flood of fire easily reached the paralyzed Yanmega, and Drakloak banked to the side to avoid the Air Slashes that carried through. Above her head, her opponent jerked with pain as the Hex seemed to merge with the lingering electricity to painfully pulse through it.

"Aaaand... U-Turn!" Sam yelled. Though Yanmega did not faint, the damage from Hex and the strain from paralysis had exhausted it enough that its movements slowed. As paralysis prevented any fast reactions as well, Drakloak was able to catch up, and she bounced right off its chitinous body to turn to light, giving Sam a free return.

"Great job, Drakloak! That's Yanmega neutralized, and we still haven't even used your best move!" Though he was talking to his Pokémon's Pokéball, Sam made sure to maintain his smile and speak loud enough so that Xavier would hear. And Xavier certainly did.

"... So I was right. You really are sticking to the same strategy. There's not even an ounce of originality to your plan," Xavier said as he returned the second Pokémon inflicted with a condition on his team. However, despite the attempt at a taunt, Sam just proudly smiled and held his head high.

"No originality? The same strategy? Come on, Xavier! I've traveled with Redi! You have to be better at taunting than that!" he shouted as he sent out Trevenant.

"All throughout our journey, we've been developing our core strategy! All throughout our journey, we've worked to come up with the best possible backbone for our plan! This is what we're best at—why would we change it? I mean, we've already proven time and time again that it works!" Landing in front of Sam, Trevenant's roots were already poised to pierce into the field, but he wasn't allowed to use any moves just yet as Xavier had not replaced his Pokémon. Still, Sam was satisfied.

His tree Pokémon would have plenty of freedom to set up now that the threat of Yanmega was gone.

"Taunting us isn't going to work," Sam said, his voice becoming more serious.

"We're pouring everything we have into this match, Xavier. You said it yourself; nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is winning, right?" And, immediately, Sam knew that was the wrong thing to say. Hearing his own words thrown back at him, Xavier grit his teeth and took on the most genuine expression he had worn all day. He scowled at Sam.

"You know what? Fine! If you want a fight fueled by emotion, then you'll get a fight fueled by emotion!" he growled.

"I was planning on avoiding this match-up, but if you want it so badly—" With the shout of, "Honchkrow!" a new Pokémon appeared on the field: the same Pokémon that had once chased Sam in the forest north of Mahogany Town, and the same Pokémon that had only been present there due to Trevenant's call. The two Pokémon that had been sent out knew each other, but that was not a good thing.

The instant Honchkrow's gaze landed on Trevenant, a dark glint entered its eyes, and its face became shrouded by a darkness cast by the rim of its feathery hat.

"Now's your chance for revenge, Honchkrow," Xavier said, his voice low.

"Ignore everything I told you earlier. Do it. Use your attack!" Sam felt his smile waver as the Honchkrow let its eyes be visible once more. There was nothing but cruelty to its look as its gaze locked onto where Trevenant stood. Trevenant tried to brace himself, but his opponent exploded off the ground with an incredible speed. Like a flash of darkened lightning, Honchkrow carved a wing right across his chest, leaving behind a jagged groove.

Rather than stay in the air, the Honchkrow then landed behind him, sliding to a halt across the dirt of the field. Dealing with the force of the impact, it shook its wing, and Dark Type energy flicked off of it as Trevenant contorted for a howl of pain.

"That was Night Slash," Sam said, grimly identifying Honchkrow's chosen attack. Shrouded by darkness, Night Slash was exceptional at landing critical hits, and this was a Honchkrow clever enough to apply its species's unusual luck to enhance that critical rate even further—it had its Super Luck ability trained. Combined, Night Slash had landed critically to bypass all of Trevenant's defenses. But he hadn't even had the time or instinct to put anything up.

This fast, critical, super effective attack meant he only managed a single cry. Thus, Trevenant collapsed. The referee's voice echoed over the field.

"Trevenant is no longer able to battle!" came the shout.

"Trainer Samuel, please send out your next Pokémon!" Briefly, words failed Sam. With a single hit, Xavier's Honchkrow had taken out Sam's most defensive team member. The sight of his fallen Pokémon caused only one thought to enter Sam's mind. Oh, he realized, I definitely made a mistake.