“Today, we have four challengers seeking to earn the Oracle Badge. Two are currently in possession of three badges and the other two are in possession of four badges. Are there any trainers at the appropriate level willing to help me test their mettle?” Kodra’s loud voice echoed across the training field, overpowering the dim noise made by some fifteen trainers working with their Pokémon.

At his call, seven people moved out of the crowd, signalling their willingness and indicating the number of their badges with their hands. One had six, two had five, another had four, two had three and one brave soul stepped forward while in possession of two badges. It was an interesting format, one that we hadn’t seen before, where Kodra had apparently organised a couple of locals to face off against us under his watchful gaze.

“Challengers, you can pick your opponent yourself, including the number of Pokémon you are sending out,” Kodra explained, though his explanation didn’t tell us all that much. We would battle but how the actual performance would be rated was a mystery. Was a close loss against someone with five badges better than a win against someone with four? Was it better to challenge a tougher foe in order to face a serious challenge or should you try playing it safe? Without knowing the conditions the challenge was actually testing, it was impossible to make an informed decision.

I exchanged a few glances with the others, who could only shrug in ignorance, just like me, but gestured for me to go ahead and pick. After a moment, I decided to go with my gut feeling and my gut said to pick a worthy challenge, without overreaching. I wanted to have my fifth badge, so I stepped toward the female trainer who had five badges herself.

“Hi, I’m Dani and would like to challenge you,” I gave her a grin, getting one in return. The trainer I had challenged was a little older than me, maybe in her mid-twenties but it was hard to tell and a bit shorter than me, with frizzy, auburn hair, a deep tan and a wide smile on her face.

“Hi Dani, my name is Addi, your opponent for the day. How many Pokémon do you want to send? My current team is five, so if you already got your full team, I won’t be able to accompany you,” she explained, as we were shaking hands.

“Oh, Arceus, no, I’ve only got four and one of those isn’t quite ready for this yet. So, I’ll go with three, if that works for you,” I told her, getting a nod in return.

“Normally, substitutions are not allowed, each Pokémon fights one-on-one until one faints or the trainer recalls them, forfeiting the battle. Given that neither of us knows the line-up of the other, we don’t need to work with a fixed order. Does that work for you?” she asked, the rules quite easy and simple. Having no problem with them, I simply accepted with a shrug, as I considered the order I would use my three tempered partners.

Around us, the other three had picked their opponents, all of them taking the safe route, Claire challenging the one with four badges, while Lucas and Cliff both took on people who had three, just like them. There had been a brief discussion between Lucas and Claire, but they had settled amicably.

On Kodra’s signal Claire and I, alongside our respective opponents, moved forward, Kodra taking up position behind our opponents, so he would be able to observe us easily. Reaching down, I made a decision and pressed the button on Su’s Pokéball, sending the surly feline out as my first contender. At the same time, Addi sent out her Pokémon and I briefly frowned, trying to remember the details of her partner. It was a large stag, with an oddly shaped crown, a Stantler, if memory served right. I didn’t remember too much about it, other than that the crown gave it some Psychic abilities, but nothing more. It was an almost perfectly neutral match-up type-wise unless the Stantler had trained for some coverage.

“Start by cutting its speed,” I called out, right after Kodra gave the signal to start. If nothing else, Su should have a speed advantage and that was something I wanted to capitalise on.

opposite me, Addi ordered her Stantler to confuse Su and its crown started to glow with an all-too-familiar purple light, one that I had seen so often around Vio’s horns. With that experience, I could vaguely guess how strong the light needed to be, before the attack would be unleashed and while Su started to dash forward, sparks gathering around his paws as he readied himself to paralyse the Stantler, I called out a warning, letting him dodge away just in time. That bit of success was enough to bring a wide grin to my face, especially when Su got the Stantler before it could unleash another attack, his claws sinking into the deer’s rump, arcs of lightning playing over its body, causing it to stagger around, its body clearly affected.

“Now, retreat,” I ordered, while the Stantler tried to stomp on Su in an attempt to bring its bulk into play.

From that moment, it wasn’t much of a fight, thanks to Su’s massive advantage in agility. It became a simple game of hit and run, with Su darting in, disrupting the Stantler’s attempts to use its psychic powers and immediately retreating, preventing the Stantler to use its normal attacks. Addi and her Stantler tried to fight back, but it quickly showed that they simply weren’t a good match-up against Su and me. There was little fanfare and soon, Addi admitted defeat, calling her Stantler back and leaving a proud feline on the field of battle.

Next to me, Yo, Claire’s Meditite, had just managed to get a double-knock-out against her opponent Golbat, something I hadn’t quite expected. I wasn’t sure how they had managed to get both Pokémon to faint at the same time, but they had.

After a moment to make sure all Pokémon were in good shape, it was time for round two, with me sending out Vio. When I looked across the field, I saw Addi wince, something I could instantly empathise with when I saw her Pokémon. Her Croagunk stood a little higher than Vio and had some extra bulk, but the blue toad with orange cheek pouches was one of the worst opponents for little Vio. Sure, his Poison attacks would be painful for her, but the combination of Poison- and Fighting-type meant that the Croagunk’s ability to resist psychic attacks was practically non-existent.

I even managed to catch the pained expression on Kodra’s face, but there was little anyone could do. On his signal, I gave Vio a command to muddle the Croagunk’s mind, mirroring what Addi had tried to do with her Stantler, only that Vio didn’t try to focus her attack, instead spreading it out in a massive wave, encompassing the entire area, giving the Croagunk no room to dodge. It was an exhausting trick we had practised, but in this case, it worked wonders, the impact of psychic powers enough to stagger and confuse the Croagunk. Once that happened, Vio immediately followed up, concentrating her psychic powers into a thin beam, accurately striking the Croagunk’s head and sending it to the ground, almost in time to witness the opening moves of the match next to us. Croagunk was out cold and Vio stood victorious, though her breathing was quite laboured.

She happily walked back over to me, where she got the care and love she deserved after her win, while we were watching Myna, Claire's Staravia, battle it out with a Houndour, bird against dog. It was an interesting battle between Myna’s agility and the Houndour’s attempts to set the offending bird on fire. Ultimately, the battle of attrition was won by Myna, though it was a close thing and I didn’t think Myna had much more in her.

Everyone could catch a short breather before it went into the next round, the last one for me. Sure, I could send Aura out to fight, but he wasn’t ready yet and I wasn’t about to send him out with no chance to win.

Instead, Charm was my last Pokémon and when I saw my opponent, I felt myself wince, just like Addi had, moments before. Opposite Charm stood an imposing specimen of a Pokémon and while it wasn’t that much larger than him, I was pretty sure it had almost doubled his mass. The Swampert’s blue body, glistening with moisture looked quite bulky and I had a feeling it was about to simply run over Charm.

I let out a soft curse, trying to come up with the best way to fight, and quickly realising that trying to battle it out with the beast would end up badly. No, it would have to be similar to the way Su had fought her Stantler.

“Charm Smokescreen,” I instantly commanded, the moment the match began. Charm dutifully coughed up a cloud of smoke, hiding while using his flickering tail-flame to confuse his opponent.

Sadly, it wasn’t just me who could come up with tactics and where Vio had covered the entire field with her psychic powers, the Swampert let out a loud belch and suddenly, a wave of muddy water swept forward, inundating the entire area. Even I had to step back a little or get my feet wet and I could hear a pained groan from Charm.

In response, Charm tried to fight back with repeated belches of Dragon Breath, trying to use the primordial oppression to paralyse the Swampert and slowly outlast his foe.

Sadly, it was not to be and while the Swampert wasn’t able to directly strike at Charm, it didn’t need to, it was strong enough to simply take his attacks while repeatedly striking the entire field and soon, the flickering flame on Charm’s tail made me call him back, just as he was about to keel over from exhaustion.

But I had won two out of three, which should count for something.