Chapter 869: Blaze Family Pokemon Competition
Alakazam took 10 minutes to rank up. It was a pseudo-champion rank Pokemon now. Axel could not believe that he would have 4 pseudo-champion-rank Pokemon someday.
Unlike other Pokemons, which would rile up and become excited after their rank up, Alakazma was like an epitome of calmness. Even its eyes didn't flicker after the rank-up. This surprised Axel in many ways. When he was going to see the status page of Alakazam, Alakazam flew in the sky and said to Axel.
"Axel, I have to do some training. I will not be participating in the competition. I will meet you during the tide battle. "
After saying that, it just vanished out of thin air.
What was wrong with Alakazam? Its nature and behavior had completely changed. Before, it was not so talkative but it did love to have some fun and enjoy dinners. But now, it would only meditate as if it were trying to unveil the secret of the universe.
"This is quite normal. Light is on the verge of understanding psychic powers to a higher level. With its high computing power, it could do a lot of things that we could not.
So, give it some space and it will be okay."
Serena came to the rescue telling Axel what he needed to hear.
He thought to give it some space.
###
All of his team members were now trying to move to a new location, 'Ironforge'. Since there were a lot of members in their team, it would take some time for all of them to move to a different place entirely.
For such a huge migration, a special plane was normally used. The cost of using this air plane is very high but Axel had no choice but to do it.
"Let's go home. I miss my mother and father.", said Axel with a smile.
###
It had been some time since he had visited his home. He really wanted to see the progress of the day care and also the progress of Agnes on her Wartortle and Dragonite.
Agnes was in constant touch with Axel. She was the one that was organizing this competition. When it first started, it was just the fight between the Pokemon of family members.
But now, his commanders and his friends were also participating in this competition. Axel found out that the hotels in Hakone city were already full. The nearby towns were also packed with hotel rooms. The influence of 'Blaze Family Pokemon competition' had reached such a level.
Of course, the family had been working hard to increase their influence and also market the competition. Their restaurants were also doing a fine job in marketing.
Regrettably, Hector could not participate in this tide battle. One of the commanders had to watch these team members in transportation. Hector was given this job.
He was the first commander under Axel and he was well respected by all the team members. So, he was perfect for the job.
Agnes had send invitation to all of the existing trainers and now she looking for a very speiific trainers that could make the condition interesting.
###
Far away,
A girl with a long blond hair reaching to her legs was standing looking at the mirror. No body knew what she was thinking about but she did gave a very serious look.
"Cynthia, what are you thinking about?", asked an old woman with white hair. Even though she was old, she didn't look very old. She was still wearing her latest outfit.
"Just thinking about that competition.", sighed Cynthia.
"What? About that? Cynthia, how much do I have to tell you not to think about it? Axel won due to pure luck and underestimating him. Now, your Garchomp is very powerful. You have nothing to worry about. I think you should not even go to that competition. It is a waste of time."
"Grandma, you don't know about Axel and his Charizard. That Charizard was very strong and it not only won the battle against Grachomp but also humiliated it.
I am not afraid to lose again. I know that Axel is very strong. I am afraid for Garchomp. It had already lost the battle once and it had to deal with a lot of things to become so good and powerful. If it lost that battle again, I don't know if it would recover mentally again."
That was the problem with proud and powerful dragon-type Pokemons. Dragon-type Pokemons also lose some battles but the ones who were always respected for being so powerful were the problem. If they were to lose multiple battles, their pride would not let them be so humiliated that this might break them.
So, Cynthia actually didn't want to participate in this competition but she had promised Garchomp that she would give it the chance to get its vengeance. So, she could not back down.
"Cynthia, I think you are thinking about it in a completely different way. You are not going there to participate and learn. You are going there to dominate the battle. You are going there to rule over your generation. If you don't have any confidence in your Pokemon, then how can they be confident themselves?"
Cynthia's eyes widened after hearing her grandma saying those words.
###
It took a couple of days and they finally reached Axel's home. Everyone got busy with the preparation. The commanders also helped as much as they could.
It was a rare sight where the Pokemons were not helping their trainers. They were just resting and sleeping while their trainers were working tirelessly day and night.
"Agnes, tell me how the competition will be held after 2 days?", asked Axel.
"Brother, the competition will go on for 5 days. I was planning to extend it to 10 days but since you will be busy in tide battles, I had to shorten it. We are losing 5 days of sales.", sighed Agnes.
"Just let it go. Why are you worried about money now? We are already well off. Now, tell me how many are participating in this competition?", asked Axel.
"Well, we are planning to increase the number of participants in this competition but since it could only be held for 5 days, we had to shorten the list."
She kept on saying that she had to make a lot of scarifies for Axel. Axel was now getting irritated but since she had done so much for the competition, he could not say anything.
Agnes had also become the favorite child of his parents. Since she was home all the time and had to handle all the family business, she was considered a prodigy in Hakone city. She monitored the new restaurants and also the day care and she was very young.
Meanwhile, since Axel was always outside, his contributions had been shadowed by his little sister. The people of Hakone City were confident that Agnes would be a bigger star than Axel.
Axel didn't give any comment on it. There was no way such a thing was going to happen but he also didn't want to criticize Agnes.
"There are some good participants this year. First of all, our family. So that is 5 members. Then your 10 commanders. After that, there are 5 trainers from Hakone City and finally, there is Lance, Steven, and Cynthia."
"Cynthia? She is coming too?", asked Axel.
He always thought that Cynthia didn't like such stupid competition. But now here she was participating in it. He was also quite surprised to see that Steven had joined this time.
Kate had not joined this time and he already knew about it. Well, they were not meant to be with each other.
"Yes, she is. I sent the invitation to almost all of your friends and acquaintances and only 3 of them agreed to come. All of them were busy with something and Cynthia agreed to come.
Brother, you need to win this competition anyhow this time. Specially, the pseudo-champion rank one."
"Why? We created this competition for a good get-together and to get some pointers. Why are you pressuring me to win this competition?", asked Axel.
"Brother, you don't know. You just came today but you and Cynthia had been the talk of the town. One of the reasons why the city hotels and the hotels of nearby cities are so packed is because of her and Steven.
They are from Hoenn and Sinnoh regions. They had come to support Steven and Cynthia. Especially Cynthia.
The people of Sinnoh region are claiming that Cynthia would surely win while Hoenn supports Steven and Hakone city supports you.
I heard that there were also some minor fights happening around the city due to this issue. This thing has heated up and if you don't win this battle, your name and the reputation of Hakone city would be tarnished.
So, you must absolutely win this battle."
'What the hell is happening in my city?', thought Axel.
Fighting and winning against Cynthia was the least of his worries right now. He had a tide battle to fight. He also wanted to see all the progress of his Pokemons.
Yes, except for Shedinja, everyone was coming to this competition. Even Tauros and Charizard.
This was a once-a-year event and none of them wanted to miss it.
But now he had to worry about Cynthia. Frankly, he didn't even know if he could beat her. He had heard a lot of rumors about her and how her Garchomp had gotten extremely powerful.
'Looks like I have no choice but to take this seriously.', sighed Axel.
He cannot lose inside his own city. He had to win this.
The rest of the day went like that. All went towards preparations.
###
"Leader, do you think that we will be welcomed here?",
"Of course, it is the city of my trainer. We will be treated like royalty here. Don't worry about it."
As Axel was thinking about the competition, Axel saw a herd of Tauros and Bouffalants. He instantly recognized them. This was herd of his Tauros.
"You guys came fast. What about the place and the tree that you guys have?", asked Axel.
"Oh, there are some of us that are protecting it and we are just here for some days. After I win the competition, we will return back.", said Tauros.
"Oh, you are that confident in winning this, huh?", asked Axel with a smile.
"Of course, I have not been sitting still till now. I have grown extremely powerful.", said Tauros with a roar.
Axel wanted to see how good it was against Pokemons like his Pidgeot. Both of them had grown exceptionally strong and both of them were at tier 1 king rank.
He also wanted to see the fight between Absol and Venusaur. Both of them were good in their own ways.
###
The next day,
Tomorrow was the start of the competition. Axel had registered all of his Pokemons for the fight. He wanted to see how good they had become and it was a good time for him to analyze their weakness.
As he was looking at the stadium making sure nothing was wrong, he heard a voice.
"Axel.. AXELLL.. over here.. Yes, here.. we are here."
This was the voice of Lance. Axel turned around and saw that Lance, Steven, and Cynthia were talking towards him.
Lance gave him a big bear hug.
"Damn, feels like ages since we last met. How are you?", asked Lance.
"Not so bad. I got nearly killed on an unknown island."
"Really? What happened? Tell me more."
Axel told his story earning quite a few gasps and surprised expressions.
"Man, I don't know how to say this but you are very unlucky. You got kidnapped and now you were trapped in that cave with some deadly Pokemon controlling it.", said Lance.
Axel had nothing to say to that. Even he was questioning his luck. He was supposed to be the protagonist.
At that time, Cynthia stepped forward and shook Axel's hand.
"Axel, this time, I am not going to lose. Mark my words."