After the initial round, Claire and I walked around aimlessly, while Vio was getting treated at the Centre. When we came across a stand where you could weave your own flower-crowns, Claire dragged me along, happily paying so we could make a wreath each.

Looking at the supposedly easy to understand images, I felt a looming headache, but watching Claire start fiddling with the flowers with a wide smile on her face, I couldn’t help but be infected by her enthusiasm. Following the instructions, I started to twist the flower-stems together, trying to get them into a stable arrangement, without ruining the petals and leaves. Noticing that the flowers didn’t quite behave as I wanted them to, I focused, determined to make a flower-crown.

Sadly, focus and determination were not the ingredients needed to make a flower-crown, at least not a beautiful one. The end-result of my effort looked more like a rope, which I would need to hang myself, than a flower-crown. The leaves had mostly been removed by my attempts to weave them and the petals had suffered, like a wild animal had ravaged them.

“I’m done!” Claire spoke up, a wide grin on her face and a nicely woven flower-crown on her head.

“I see.” I grumbled, trying to hide the flower-rope behind my back. Claire merely glanced at the one hand I still had in front of me, and to the shredded leaves and petals on the floor, before reaching to take my hand.

“Let’s continue, there’s so much to see.” She pulled me along and when we walked past one of the many hedges, I covertely dropped the flower-rope, knowing that the stems would soon decay.

Soon, it was time for the next round of the tournament, so Claire and I split up, each of us heading to their own ring. My opponent was already there, a Trainer I had met before the party Claire had dragged me to. It took me a moment to remember her name, but given that she was the one who had dragged Jess along, after he had invaded my space, I somewhat remembered her. Not as much as I remembered Jeff, given that we had met a few times in the library since then, but I remembered her.

“Good Morning.” She greeted me, alongside the attendant.

“Good Morning, Dani, Emily.” the attendant replied, making sure both of us were listening before she continued, “To remind you of the rules, it is a single-Pokémon battle victory by knock-out, forfeit or endangering the audience. If you are unsure whether an attack might harm the audience, don’t use it.” she reminded us, getting nods in return.

“Great, trainers, take your positions.” she ordered and Emily and I walked off, each of us taking position on one side of the field. It was Emily’s first battle today, so I had no idea what Pokémon she had registered, while she knew I was sending out Vio. Not that it helped her, as the registration had been final before the first battle, but she did have time to consider a strategy.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I caressed Vio’s Pokéball, before sending her out. “Go, get them, Vio.” I quietly wished, as I pressed the button.

On the other side of the field, Emily called out a little louder, “Go, Rocky.” and from the Pokéball in her hand, a Geodude emerged. Given that Claire and I had fought a few of those on the way here, I had a few ideas how they fought in the wild, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t trained her Rocky to battle in a different way.

The attendant gave the signal to start and Emily immediately called out to her partner, “Rocky, hurry.”

At her command, the Geodude was enveloped in a shale-grey light, giving it an almost metallic finish. In the meantime, Vio wasn’t idle, working her mental tendrils into the rock-head she was facing. The purple energy of her psychic powers added an interesting counterpoint to the shale-grey, as it was slowly working its way in, staining the grey with purple.

“Run her over.” Emily ordered, and with surprising speed, the Geodude curled into a ball before shooting forward, rolling far faster than I had anticipated. Luckily, while the speed surprised Vio and me, Vio was quick enough to dance to the side, gracefully spinning while her giggling laughter echoed across the square. Vio kept pushing her mental attack while the Geodude managed to anchor one of its arms in the ground, using it as a fulcrum to keep rolling, its speed barely slowing at the turn and even speeding up afterwards.

Vio managed to dodge out of the way again, but with less margin and by now, the Geodude was too fast to catch it with her Draining Kiss.

“Try disrupting it with your voice.” I ordered, watching as the Geodude made another turn, its speed ever increasing, even as Vio did her best to mess with its mind. The problem was, the Geodude barely used its mind, it simply continued rolling, without any truly difficult movements, other than the turns.

On the next pass, Vio waited until the Geodude was almost on her before dodging out of the way, letting out a shrill Growl, her voice piercing into my ears and making even me flinch. Sadly, the Geodude wasn’t really affected, it even managed to clip Vio, turning her graceful pirouette-dodge into a stumble and almost sending her to the ground.

“Out of the way!” I shouted, gesturing to the people watching on the side, in the path of the Geodude. There were only a few of them, which was why I dared to do what I had in mind.

Just as the Geodude was about to use its arm to swing around, I called out to Vio, after checking that nobody was in the way any longer.

“Give it your all, focus and full blast.” I ordered, watching Vio’s lips curl into a smile, as her psychic powers went into overdrive, focusing down into a narrow beam that connected her head to the head of the Geodude. In that moment, they were concentrated enough to become visible and the effect was quite impressive. The Geodude tried to swing around once more, only to be struck by Vio’s Psybeam, its body locking up for that crucial moment and its Rollout turning from a controlled, brutally efficient attack into an uncontrolled, ballistic flight. It hadn’t gone far when a red beam of light struck it in mid-air, causing it to vanish into its Pokéball.

“I lost.” Emily admitted, a wry smile on her face.

“Good Fight.” I called out, as I rushed to Vio. She didn’t look too hot, having taken multiple glancing blows and pushing herself to the limit with that last attack. But she had won and for that, I was utterly proud. Pulling her into a hug, I let her hide in my arms, cuddling and praising her as I walked over.

“Good fight, both of you. Emily, well done on the recall, Dani, good that you warned the spectators but that move was a little risky. Please take care not to overdo it, this is for fun, not a battle for survival.” the attendant chided me, and I could only nod with a blush creeping on my face.

Walking away, I moved to where my next opponent had been battling. Sadly, the fight was already over, so I could only ask around in order to find out what I was facing. When I did, my face immediately fell, as the match-up was almost as bad as it had been for the Machoke in the first round. My opponent’s partner was a Mawile, a reasonably powerful fairy- and steel-type. The people I talked to couldn’t give me an accurate guess on its power-level, as the fight had been rather brief. The opponent had been a local who had registered their pet-Glameow and didn’t put up much of a fight.

Meeting up with Claire, we went to one of the stalls, getting thin, wafer-like pancakes with a topping of flowers, berries and cream while our Pokémon rested at the Centre. There was just enough time until the next battle to treat our Pokémon, but a bit of fatigue would accumulate.

Finally, after lunch, it was time for the third round and considering my opponent, I already had a headache. My best, or rather my only, chance was to muddle the Mawile’s mind to the point that Vio could avoid its powerful jaws, or the fight would be a brief one. Trying to evade and use Draining Kiss was pointless, due to the Mawile’s innate resistances. No, the fight would be won or lost by keeping the Mawile’s jaws away from Vio.

After briefly greeting Henri, my opponent, we both moved to our positions. Closing my eyes for a moment, wishing the best to Vio, I pushed the button, sending her out. Opposite of me, Henri did the same.

His Mawile looked as fearsome as I had expected, its massive jaws already open, as if to swallow poor Vio up.

The moment the signal to start was given, with only a single ‘Go.’ from its trainer, the Mawile suddenly shot forward, with insane speed. Vio was trying to use her psychic powers to muddle its mind, but she had barely established the connection when the Mawile was already right in front of her, giving her a vicious Sucker Punch. Vio’s concentration was interrupted by the blow, and the Mawile never gave her a chance to reestablish her footing. She tried to dodge away, but mid-spin, she was struck by another blow, this one with the Mawile’s jaws, tearing into her and tossing her aside like a ragdoll. I managed to call her back into her Pokéball before she hit the ground, but the fight was most definitely over.

“Good fight.” I forced myself to compliment my opponent, before walking away, not wanting to talk any further. I had let my sweet, little Vio down.