Professor Sawyer's lecture on 'Win Conditions' was like drinking from a fire hose. He deconstructed battle theory with a level of detail Jan had never even conceived of. They covered concepts like 'Action Economy,' weighing the value of a setup move versus an immediate attack; 'Tempo Control,' dictating the pace of a match to favor your own strategy; and 'Resource Management,' treating a Pokémon's health and energy as a finite resource to be spent wisely. Jan's digital notebook was filled with frantic, color-coded notes by the time the class ended. He felt like his brain had been taken apart, analyzed, and reassembled, now with a dozen new compartments he didn't know how to use yet.
"That's all for the theoretical portion," Sawyer announced, his tone crisp as he closed his own well-worn notebook. "Your data has been updated with the relevant reading materials. I suggest you review them. Your first practical session begins in ten minutes at Training Field Gamma. Do not be late. Lost AP will be the least of your concerns if you annoy Coach Fredrin."
With that ominous warning, he and his Sceptile exited the room, leaving behind a class of twenty students blinking in the intellectual aftershock.
"Whoa," Sai said, stretching his arms over his head. "My brain feels like it just tried to lift a Snorlax. All that theory stuff is boring! Let's get to the real action!"
Asher, in the back, just laughed. "I dunno, I thought it was kinda cool. Like putting a puzzle together, but with explosions!" His Riolu, Rio, mimicked his casual stretch.
As the class filed out everyone changed into their gym uniform, Jan joined the stream of students heading for the training fields. The mood in the corridor was a tangible thing, a buzzing mixture of anticipation and raw, nervous energy. All the theory in the world was one thing, but this was what they had all come here for: to battle.
Training Field Gamma wasn't just a field; it was a technological marvel. They entered a massive, hangar-like building that opened into a vast indoor space. The ceiling was a holographic projector, currently displaying a clear blue sky that felt utterly real. The ground was composed of modular, high-impact tiles that could likely withstand a Hyper Beam. The vast area was divided into ten full-sized battlefields, each separated by a transparent, shimmering energy barrier that would appear the moment a battle began.
A man who could only be Coach Fredrin stood in the center of the room, arms built like tree trunks crossed over his chest. He was a mountain of a man with a booming voice, a shaved head, and a warm but intense grin. He wore a coach's whistle around his neck and a sleeveless version of the instructor's uniform that showed off his powerful build. At his side stood a Haxorus, its axe-like tusks gleaming under the artificial sunlight. The Pokémon was a living statue of power, its presence so immense it made Leo press a little closer to Jan's leg.
"Welcome, grunts!" Coach Fredrin bellowed, his voice echoing through the enormous space. "Professor Sawyer may fill your heads with all that fancy book-learnin', but I'm the guy who teaches you how to use it! Here, we don't talk, we DO! We don't think, we ACT! Theory is the map, but battle is the territory, and out here, the territory bites back!"
His energy was infectious, a stark contrast to Sawyer's calm, academic demeanor. This was a man who lived and breathed the heat of battle.
"Today is your first day, so we're gonna start with a little test!" he roared. "The Combat Aptitude Test, or 'CAT' for short! It's simple. I'm gonna pair you all up randomly. You'll have one one-on-one battle. I don't just wanna see who wins or loses! That's the small picture! I wanna see what you've GOT! Show me your spirit! Show me your bond with your partner! Show me you can think on your feet! Your performance today will establish your baseline rank for the semester! So don't hold back!"
He pointed to the massive scoreboard that overlooked the fields. "Your pairings are coming up... NOW!"
Names began to flash on the screen, shuffling and re-shuffling before finally locking into place. Ten matches, twenty names. Jan scanned the list, his heart hammering against his ribs. He saw
Sai v. Kento
Then Asher v. Melia. His eyes raced down the list until he found his own name.
Jan v. Paula.
His stomach did a nervous flip. He glanced across the room and saw Paula standing with her Kirlia. She was looking at the scoreboard, her expression utterly unchanged. She met his gaze for a split second, her eyes holding the same cool indifference as they had in the classroom. Then she turned her attention to the battlefield, already analyzing it. She wasn't nervous. She was preparing.
"Alright, find your assigned fields!" Coach Drake commanded. "The barriers will go up in one minute! Let the sparks fly!"
Jan walked towards Field 7, Leo trotting beside him, his senses on high alert. This was it. Their first official battle at the academy.
"Okay, buddy," Jan said, crouching down to look his Growlithe in the eye. "Remember our training. She and her Kirlia are going to be tricky. We need to stay focused, stay fast, and hit hard when we get the chance. You with me?"
Leo let out a determined "Grrrrowl," and licked Jan's hand, his eyes full of trust and fire. Whatever happened, they would face it together.
On the other side of the field, Paula took her position. She hadn't said a word to her Kirlia, but the two moved with a silent, perfect synchronicity. A shimmering, transparent wall of energy rose up around their battlefield, muffling the sounds from the outside world and locking them in. It was just them now.
Before their match began, a loud buzzer indicated the start of the first set of battles. Jan's attention was drawn to the field next to his, where Sai and Kento were facing off.
"Get ready to feel the thunder, big guy!" Sai yelled, his customary bravado on full display. Sparky was bouncing on the balls of its feet, crackling with energy.
Kento, the broad-shouldered boy from Hoenn, simply nodded. "Mudkip and I will do our best," he said, his voice calm and steady. His Mudkip slapped the ground with its fin, looking determined.
"Battle, begin!" Coach Fredrin voice boomed over the intercom.
"Sparky, full speed! Use Quick Attack!" Sai commanded instantly.
Sparky became a yellow blur, rocketing across the field. But Kento was ready.
"Mudkip, use Water Gun on the ground in front of you!"
The Mudkip spat a jet of water, creating a slick, muddy patch right in Sparky's path. Sparky hit the mud and slid, its momentum thrown completely off balance. It was a simple but brilliant move, using the environment to counter raw speed.
"Now, Mud Shot!" Kento ordered.
Mudkip launched a glob of thick mud that splattered against Sparky, slowing it down even further.
Sai clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch. Cheap tricks! Sparky, get out of the mud and use Thunder Shock!"
Sparky struggled out of the mire and unleashed a crackle of electricity. The attack struck the Mudkip, mudkip being a wate-type took quite a heavy damage
"He's taking the type advantage seriously," Jan muttered to himself, analyzing the battle. Sawyer's lecture was already coming into play. Sai was relying on power and speed, but Kento was controlling the battlefield the tempo.
"We're not done yet! Use Thunder Wave!" Sai yelled, switching tactics.
A wave of paralyzing energy shot from Sparky's horns.
"Mudkip, dive into the mud!" Kento commanded.
The Mudkip dove into the slick puddle it had created, and the Thunder Wave passed harmlessly over it. It was another clever, defensive use of a simple move. Kento was proving to be a surprisingly adept strategist.
"He's good," Jan observed. Leo whined softly, agreeing.
Sai was getting visibly frustrated. "Alright, no more games! Sparky, get in close! We're ending this now!"
Despite being caked in mud, Sparky charged. Kento seemed to be waiting for this.
"Let him come," he said quietly. "Now, Mudkip... Tackle."
Just as Sparky got within range, the small Mudkip shot out of the puddle like a cannonball, covered in slick mud, and slammed headfirst into the Elekid. The combination of the mud's weight, the surprise, and the solid hit sent Sparky flying backwards, landing in a heap with swirls in its eyes.
The energy barrier fell. "Elekid is unable to battle! The winner is Mudkip and Kento!" the field's automated voice announced.
A stunned silence fell over Sai's side of the field. He stared, wide-eyed, before recalling Sparky to its Poké Ball. He had lost. On the first day. Kento recalled his Mudkip, patting its Poké Ball. "Good work, partner." He gave Sai a respectful nod and walked off the field. Sai stood there for a long moment, his fists clenched, his usual cocky smirk completely gone, replaced by a look of pure shock and humiliation.
Jan felt a pang of sympathy for his roommate, but it was quickly replaced by a fresh wave of nerves. Kento had proven that even a seemingly simple strategy could win battle. Paula and her Kirlia were leagues more complex than that.
A few fields over, another battle was wrapping up. It was Asher Ketchum versus Melia, the fiery girl from Kalos. Her Litleo was breathing hard, while Asher's Riolu, Rio, was flipping and dodging with incredible agility.
"Don't let it rest, Litleo! Ember, rapid-fire!" Melia commanded.
The Litleo spat out a volley of small, fiery bullets.
"Rio, spin and dodge!" Asher called out, his voice full of excitement. "Make it a dance!"
Rio didn't just dodge. It moved with a fluid, unpredictable rhythm, twisting its body, using its arms to parry the embers, and even doing a backflip over the last one. It looked less like a battle and more like a performance. Jan was mesmerized. Asher wasn't giving commands so much as suggestions, and his Riolu was interpreting them with a level of creativity and freedom he'd never seen before.
"Okay, Rio, our turn!" Asher grinned. "Use Force Palm, but aim for the ground!"
Rio clapped its paws together and slammed them into the tile in front of Litleo. The blast of aura energy didn't hit the Pokémon, but it cracked the ground and sent a shockwave that kicked up a huge cloud of dust.
"What?" Melia exclaimed, her view completely obscured.
"Now! Circle around and use Vacuum Wave!" Asher yelled.
From within the dust cloud, a blade of shimmering air shot out, striking the disoriented Litleo from the side. It was a direct hit. Litleo stumbled and fell, unable to continue.
Asher's win was the complete opposite of Kento's. Where Kento had been methodical and defensive, Asher had been chaotic and brilliantly inventive. He used his Pokémon's natural agility and unorthodox tactics to create openings that simply weren't in any textbook. He was, Jan realized with a sense of awe, a true prodigy.
A loud chime from his own field snapped him back to the present. The screen above flashed
*BATTLE BEGIN*
It was his turn.
"Kirlia, let's begin," Paula said, her voice a calm, even whisper. The Emotion Pokémon glided forward, its movements graceful and silent.
"Leo, you're up!" Jan said, his own voice sounding much louder in the enclosed space. "Let's start with a bite"
Leo shot forward, aiming to close the distance immediately.
"Predictable," Paula murmured, almost to herself. "Kirlia, Teleport."
Just as Leo was about to bite, Kirlia vanished in a shimmer of pink light, reappearing on the opposite side of the field, completely unharmed.
Jan gritted his teeth. "Don't let it get away! Use Bite again!"
Leo pivoted and charged again. And again, just before impact, Kirlia teleported away, this time appearing behind Leo.
"Confusion," Paula ordered.
A wave of psychic energy, invisible to the naked eye, washed over Leo. He yelped and shook his head, stumbling for a moment as his thoughts were momentarily scrambled. He was still standing, but he was disoriented.
"She's not even letting us get close," Jan thought, his frustration mounting. "She's just going to keep teleporting and chipping away at us with ranged attacks. This is her tempo, her game."
He remembered Sawyer's lecture.
'Disrupt your opponent's rhythm.'
He couldn't play her game. He had to make her play his.
"Leo, use Ember!" Jan commanded.
Leo shook off the last of the Confusion and spat a series of small, fiery projectiles.
"Dodge," Paula said simply.
Kirlia moved with ethereal grace, sidestepping each Ember without needing to teleport. It was faster and more agile than Jan had anticipated. While Kirlia was dodging, Paula issued another command.
"Magical Leaf."
Six glowing, razor-sharp leaves materialized around Kirlia and shot towards Leo. They were homing attacks; there was no dodging them. The leaves struck Leo from multiple angles, causing him to cry out in pain.
Jan felt a knot of panic tighten in his chest. They hadn't landed a single hit, and Leo was already taking damage. Paula was dissecting them with surgical precision. Her face was a blank slate, revealing nothing. She was like a machine.
"Okay, new plan," Jan whispered, forcing himself to stay calm. He looked at the field, at Kirlia, at Leo breathing heavily. He couldn't win a ranged battle, and he couldn't win a direct speed battle against Teleport. He had to change the battlefield itself.
Another fragment of Sawyer's lecture surfaced.
'A win condition isn't always about fainting the opponent. Sometimes, it's about removing their ability to execute their strategy.'
Paula's strategy depended on Kirlia having open space to teleport and move freely. What if he took that away?
A crazy idea began to form. It was risky, and it might not even work.
"Leo, can you hear me?" he called out. His partner's ears twitched in acknowledgment. "I need you to trust me. Use Ember, but don't aim for Kirlia. Aim for the ground. All around it. Go!"
Leo looked confused for a second, but the trust between them was absolute. He obeyed, spitting a continuous stream of embers not at his opponent, but at the high-impact tiles surrounding Kirlia.
Paula's eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch, the first sign of emotion she had shown. "A pointless gesture," she said coolly. "Kirlia, use Psybeam while it's distracted."
A focused beam of multicoloured psychic energy shot from Kirlia's hands.
"Leo, keep moving! Don't stop!" Jan yelled.
Leo ran in a wide circle, spraying the field with embers while narrowly dodging the Psybeam. The psychic attack scorched the tile where he had been a moment before. Jan's heart was pounding. The tiles were designed to withstand powerful attacks, but they weren't immune to everything. A faint orange glow began to emanate from the spots Leo had repeatedly heated. They were getting hot.
"Keep it up, Leo! One more pass!" Jan urged, seeing his chance.
Leo, panting with effort, completed another circle. Now, Kirlia was standing in the middle of a ring of super-heated tiles. It hadn't noticed yet, its focus entirely on Leo.
"Now, Leo! Full power! Flame Wheel! Right through the middle!" Jan roared.
This was the ultimate gamble. Leo shrouded himself in fire and charged, a spinning comet of orange flame.
Paula's eyes widened slightly. She had seen the true plan. "Kirlia, Teleport away!"
Kirlia's body began to glow with pink energy, but just as it was about to vanish, its feet shifted. It stepped back onto one of the heated tiles. A jolt of pain, small but sharp, shot through the Pokémon. That single, tiny distraction was enough. Kirlia's concentration flickered for a nanosecond. The Teleport failed.
And Flame Wheel connected.
The impact was explosive. Leo slammed into Kirlia with the full force of his momentum and fiery power. The psychic Pokémon was thrown back, landing hard and skidding across the tiles. For a moment, there was only the sound of Leo panting.
Kirlia pushed itself up, trembling. It was still conscious, but heavily damaged. Jan's plan had worked better than he could have hoped.
"I don't believe it," Jan breathed. He had her. He had broken through her perfect defense.
Paula looked at her trembling Kirlia, then at the glowing tiles, and finally at Jan. There was no anger in her eyes, but a new, sharp light of analytical surprise. She had miscalculated. She had underestimated him.
"You are more resourceful than i expected," she stated, her voice still even. "But this is not over. Kirlia, use Calm Mind."
Kirlia closed its eyes, and a serene aura enveloped it, raising its special attack and special defense. She was preparing for a final, powerful assault.
"We can't let her power up!" Jan knew. "Leo, use Bite! Don't let it go!"
Leo charged, his fangs bared, aiming to end the match.
"Now," Paula whispered. "Psychic."
Just before Leo reached her, Kirlia's eyes snapped open, glowing with an intense blue light. An invisible force seized Leo, lifting him off the ground and holding him helpless in mid-air. He struggled, but he was completely trapped in the psychic grip.
"It's over," Paula said, her victory seemingly assured.
But Jan saw one last chance. Leo was trapped, but he wasn't silenced. "Leo! Use Roar! With everything you've got!"
It was a move they rarely practiced, but it was his only option. Trapped in the psychic hold, Leo inhaled deeply and let out a sound that was far more powerful than a Growlithe should be able to produce. It was a primal, earth-shaking roar of defiance. The sheer sonic force of it slammed into Kirlia at point-blank range. The psychic Pokémon, its mind focused entirely on maintaining the Psychic attack, was caught completely off guard. Its concentration shattered, and the blue glow in its eyes vanished.
Leo dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. Kirlia staggered back, its ears ringing, its defenses broken.
"NOW, LEO! BITE!" Jan screamed, pouring all his hope into this final command.
Leo lunged one last time. There were no more tricks, no more teleports. His fangs, glowing with a faint dark energy, clamped down. Kirlia cried out and slumped to the floor, its fighting spirit finally extinguished. The field's monitor flashed.
*KIRLIA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! THE WINNER IS GROWLITHE AND JAN!*
The energy barrier around the field dissolved with a soft hum. For a moment, Jan just stood there, breathing heavily, his entire body trembling with adrenaline. Leo ran back to him, barking triumphantly, and Jan fell to his knees, hugging his partner tightly.
"We did it, buddy," he whispered into Leo's fur. "We actually did it."
Across the field, Paula silently recalled her Kirlia. She gave the Poké Ball a soft, reassuring look before clipping it to her belt. Then, she walked towards the exit, but paused as she passed Jan.
She stopped, looking down at him and the still-panting Leo. He expected a cold remark, or maybe just silence.
"The heated tile strategy," she said, her voice a low monotone, "was unorthodox. But effective. You earned your win."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away, her posture as straight and proud as ever.
Jan watched her go, stunned. It wasn't praise, not really. It was an observation. A statement of fact. But coming from her, it felt like the highest compliment in the world.
"Excellent work, Jan!" a booming voice startled him. Coach Fredrin was standing there, a huge grin on his face. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! You were outmatched in skill and grace, so you changed the whole playing field! You used your head! Ten AP to you for an outstanding strategic victory!"
The praise from the coach, combined with Paula's backhanded compliment, sent a wave of warmth and pride through Jan. He stood up, feeling exhausted but on top of the world. He looked over at the other fields. Sai was leaning against a wall, silently watching, a complex expression on his face. Asher caught his eye from across the room and gave him a big, enthusiastic thumbs-up.
His first practical test was over. He had faced one of his strongest classmates and, through a combination of trust, desperation, and a flash of inspiration from a boring lecture, he had won. He had a long, long way to go, but for the first time since arriving on this impossible island, he didn't just feel like a student.
It's just the first day but he manage to apply what he learned in real Battle
Jan smiled
He felt like a real trainer.