[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

The Preliminaries and First Round Match of Jill Laurent and Taggarty Lee.

[Kamaitachi]

The trip over from Baccate had taken a bit longer than expected, mostly because Dr. Adelaide Robinson kept darting off to check on things as if her scientific odyssey was the prime objective af her quest. Tag had rolled his eyes, chasing after her from time to time, but mostly he'd keep walking with Liz. They'd slow their pace and chat a bit more about contests, as Tag asked question after question of her while they waited for Adelaide to return and catch up.

They finally arrived at the Petropolis site, after a quick stop over at the Petropolis Pokemon Center, this time, sans incident. Once they arrived, Tag gently bid the two travelling companions farewell as they split up to their lines for registration.

"You must be Taggarty Lee."

Tag raised an eyebrow as he moved up to the table. The woman sitting there beamed up at him happily, holding out a clipboard.

"Do I know you?"

"I've seen you on TV. They televised your Gym Matches. Luke Ario covered it on the Channel 4 news. You've got two badges right? You're famous."

Tag sighed, signing the paper and filling everything out. He looked up at the woman, who retained the same unceasing smile. It was a bit unnerving.

"Thank you, Mr. Lee. I think I'm going to place my bets on you; you're one of brightest Furoh has to offer."

"Uh..." Tag frowned. "Thank you...I'm done registrating."

"Thank you. Looks like your first battle is on field...D-4. Take your Pokemon over to the Nurse, and she'll prepare them for you."

Tag nodded curtly, moving away from the registration tent, looking for anyone he knew. He noted that the field before him was spread out with dozens of Pokemon fields. Several battles had already erupted in their full ferocity, and trainers were moving in and out of the areas at rapid speed. It appeared that the organization had been quite efficient. Trainers were advancing or leaving upset at an alarming rate. Stopping over at a Nurse, she quickly and calmly took his Pokeballs on a tray, then slotted it into a Machine.

"This will set all of your pokemon to a standard level as set by the Tournament Committee. They will learn all the moves, they would know up to Level 50, but will be unable to evolve unless they were already at a level where they could do so." Tag took in the information and nodded, noting that most of his Pokemon were already around Level 50, so there wouldn't be too many new moves for him to play with. With a gracious nod, he moved over to let someone else to receive their procedure. Clipping the Pokeballs back to his belt, he moved into the array of Pokemon Battle Fields.

Before long, the tattooed trainer found himself standing in line at field D-4.

"Next up...Taggarty Lee and Pistol Jones!"

Why was that name familiar.

"Hey, big tattoo jerk!"

Tag moved out to the battle area, looking up as the voice pierced the air. He recognized the look immediately. Self Proclaimed Ace Trainer Pistol Jones, whom he'd faced in a tournament over in Petropolis.

"Yeah. I remember you." Jones crowed from his side of the field. "You beat me last time, but I'll get you this time. I've been training hard since-"

"Don't care, idiot." Tag called back across the field. "Talk doesn't win battles."

"Arrogant asshole. One win against an Ace Trainer and you think you're all that. I'm gonna wipe the floor with you!" Pistol Jones screamed across the field, immediately losing his cool. He flung his hand out pointedly at Tag before twisting his entire body in a throw. The Pokeball landed on the field, bursting out to reveal a very ferocious looking Charizard.

Tag sized the fire lizard up calmly, noting that the Charizard he'd faced over in Arasam under Otis had looked much fiercer. Even with their power levels similar, Tag was pretty sure that any one of his Pokemon could easily take on any of Pistol's Pokemon.

"Tonbo"

The pokeball dropped on the floor next to Tag, as he slipped his hands into his jean pockets. The pokeball hit the ground, opening and shooting a burst of light onto the field. The flashing light died down, revealing Tag's adorable Slowpoke. The dopey Pokemon made an yawn-sounding "Sloooooooow", as he stared vacantly at the enemy trainer.

"Taggarty Lee versus Pistol Jones, commence!" The referee raised his flags sharply, accompanied by a sharp whistle.

"I hope you're ready to feel the burn! Sure, you chose a water Pokemon, but what can that Pokemon do..."

"Tonbo! Rain Dance!"

Before Pistol had a chance to finish, Tag turned the tides of battle in his favour immediately. Sure, he had to type advantage to begin with, but he wasn't going to leave anything to chance." The Rain localized around field D-4, drenching the arena with cold, wet water.

"Hey, dude,where's your etiquette?" Pistol seemed visibly irritated that Tag hadn't even allowed him to finish the statement.

"Idiot. This is a battle. Fight or get out. You don't have any other choices." Tag growled, still irritated that Pistol was still talking and not taking the battle seriously.

"You asked for it! Charizard! Shadow Claw!"

With his claws glowing with fierce shadowy energy, the Charizard flew forward, slashing downwards at the slow moving Slowpoke. Tonbo received the attack, pressed into the ground from the shadow trails of energy that emanated from the claws.

As Pistol's Charizard retreated, Tag noted that Tonbo looked fairly unpeturbed. He had taken the hit in the way that he always took hits, and barely even registered the pain.

"That's better." Tag nodded, a satisfied smile appearing on his face. "Water Pulse!" Opening his mouth as if he were yawning again, a swirling ball of water shot out, and with Tonbo's psychic powers, curled up into a whirling ball of watery energy.

"Poke." With a mental command, the pulsing, tightly woven ball of swirling water lanced forward. In the rain, it continued to grow, taking the falling water into itself, swelling to nearly twice the size and ferocity. The Water Pulse slammed heavily into the Charizard.

"Charizard! Use Air Slash!"

There it was. Pistol Jones stopped trying to talk, he was finally ready to battle.

"Psychic."

The two attacks met with a heavy clash. Charizard's aerial slash met the blast of psychic energy from the Slowpoke. Both attacks showed little sign of giving way, since near equal force had gone into each one. Instead, the resulting explosion did nothing but scatter some of the rain around.

"Charizard! Shadow Claw!"

Tag sighed, not wanting Pistol's Pokemon to land another hit. While Tonbo did not have the mobility of the Charizard, he at least had a distance move.

"Water Pulse!"

"Cut through it!"

Rookie mistake.

Tag watched as the Charizard attempted to meet the move head-on, and watched with grim satisfaction as Tonbo's attack engulfed it entirely. The ensuing watery explosion cleared, revealing that the mighty Charizard had been knocked down in two clean hits.

"Charizard is unable to battle. Tonbo wins! Taggarty Lee, please proceed to the Island Arena to meet your next opponent."

Pistol Jones looked crestfallen and wet as he recalled his Charizard, glaring once more across the arena at his victorious opponent.

"Next time, you're mine, Lee!" He croaked sadly, clutching the pokeball with his companion in it.

"I look forward to it." Tag nodded respectfully, not wishing to gloat over the match. With that, he turned and headed to the Island Arena, as he'd been instructed.

* * *

Following the ever-present and helpful event staff, Tag made his way down an elevator and across a bridge, heading over to the "Island Arena."

It appeared to be nothing more than a carefully crafted rock formation out over the salty waters. At the center, a lovely seafoam green arena made a perfect circle, obviously resembling a pokeball. It certainly lived up to its name of "Island Arena", even if it was a bit more of a peninsula than anything.

He sat down, watching the match in progress with mild interest. Both trainers looked young and inexperienced, and still seemed a bit unsure as to what their Pokemon could actually do at such a high level. Perhaps it had been flukes that either of them had made it; he didn't really care either way. The kid with an Oshawott finally landed a knockout blow on his opponent's Swablu, ending the match.

"Next up! Taggarty Lee versus Jill Laurent!"

While perking up at his own name, he felt a smile come over his face as he heard the name of his opponent. She had made it past the preliminaries, unsurprisingly. If the rest of the trainers were as uncertain as the two he'd just witnessed, it made sense that she'd passed sans problem.

He strode to his side of the field, taking up his usual relaxed posture. Unable to wipe the small smile from his face, he let out a small wave. "Hello. Good to see you again."

"The contestants will now decide which style of battle they would like. 3 Pokemon each. Will it be...Single Battle? Double with Reserve, or a Triple Battle?"

"How about a Double?" Tag shrugged "Just like fighting a gym leader, right?" It seemed about right. The last time they'd seen each other, they'd both just lost to Chloe in gym style fighting. This seemed like a good time for both of them to hone their skills.