Pokémon World Online [Pokémon and Sword Art Online Crossover Fanfiction.]

Chapter 18: Qualifiers

By the time the qualifiers began, we had each gone to another region within the game, training our Pokemon, as well as catching new Pokemon. Of course, due to Monster Tamer+, I couldn't have a full team of Pokemon, yet it was the least of my problems. The thought of Galactic's plans made me sick to the stomach, we wanted to put a stop to their plans, yet what we could do? We were horribly outnumbered, the odds were against us.
All we could do was hope the other competitors would help us to fight against them.

As we went to sign our guild up for the competition, we were instantly faced with a road block. If we were signing up as a guild, we couldn't all participate at the same time, we would have to take turns. If one of us were to lose, we all lost. While I was okay with it, I wasn't sure if the others were. Just before I was about to ask the others what they thought, Minori quickly offered some insight.

"It's fine. How about if two of us go and do some investigating? Maybe if we find out exactly how many people are part of this plot, we might be able to get the larger guilds to help us stop them. I mean, we've already got Galactic and Kingdom Key to worry about, yet I feel like there may be more." Minori whispered to me.

"I guess... That would be a good idea, yet who would go?" I quietly asked. Minori looked back at the others, asking them who would like to go investigate. Once she was finished, she turned back to me.

"Haruka and Kurosuke both want to. Besides, I don't think it'll matter in the end, they would be able to participate in the finals anyway. Only one of us would be participating today anyway." Minori explained. Nodding a little, I registered our guild for the competition, before walking back to the others with Minori.

"So... We'll need to go over to the waiting area soon. And decide who will actually participate today, out of myself, Minori, Murasaki and Cayden." I explained.

"Hmm... I'm not feeling so confident that I'll win. It'd have to be someone who's likely to win, to be honest. Maybe Amika should, since she's the guild leader, I dunno." Murasaki responded, shrugging a little after she spoke.

"Agreed. It's a shame you can't use Tamer+ with this, even if everyone here probably knows it exists. Oh well." Cayden explained.

"Oh. O-Okay. Everyone probably knows about my fear of crowds, yet... I'll try to ignore it. I need to win, after all..." I mumbled. I felt incredibly nervous, remembering that there would have been a small crowd there. It was okay, it wasn't like everyone in the game would be watching anyway.

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While we all went to different regions to aquire new Pokemon, as well as to train our existing companions, for some reason, I decided to stick with my original team. Perhaps I was a little sentimental about it, after all, my team had accompanied me throughout this game. I assumed it was the reason, when in reality, I guess I was just a little indecisive about who to add to my team.

For the qualifiers, we were not shown what Pokemon the opponent had, so I simply chose Raichu at random, hoping the opponent wouldn't bring out a Pokemon it was weak to. The opponent sent out a Houndoom, a Pokemon that wasn't weak against Raichu, nor was it strong against it. The outcome would simply depend on which Pokemon was stronger.
As the timer ticked down for the match to begin, I looked over at my friends. Seeing them supporting me gave me all the confidence I needed, I was going to win.

Once the timer hit zero, I commanded Raichu to use Quick Attack, damaging the Houndoom, even if it was a small amount. I had momentarily considered using Light Screen to weaken any special attacks, yet it seemed more likely for physical attacks to be used. Just as I guessed, the Houndoom used Fire Fang, the attack taking away a quarter of Raichu's health, more than what Quick Attack had done. At this rate, if Houndoom kept attacking, I was likely to lose.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a few seconds before commanding Raichu to use another move instead, Thunderbolt. Perhaps if I were lucky, it would paralyse the Houndoom, before it could burn Raichu. I kept my eyes closed as the attack went through, praying the status took effect. Hearing the sound effect that followed after paralysis had been inflicted, I let out a sigh, just as I heard the other trainer curse in annoyance.
I opened my eyes, the paralysis effect preventing Houndoom from making an attack this turn. Both Raichu and Houndoom's health seemed about equal, or at least it was for now. After another hit from Thunderbolt, Houndoom's health was two-third depleted, one more attack would bring it to zero. Regardless, it had hit Raichu to Fire Fang, not only bring it's health down a little, yet inflicting a burn on it. This last Thunderbolt would, hopefully, finish the battle.

"Raichu, Thunderbolt!" I shouted. While I had opted for interface controls for the battle system, I ended up using the voice recognition system instead, shouting my command as loud as I possibly could.
I... Kind of got a little excited, it was just a qualifier, after all!

"The winner is... Amika! Representing Starshine! Your guild will move onto the actual battle competition, which will be held at a later date. The losing party, however, I believe our administrator would like to speak with you for a few moments. He insures it won't take up too much of your time." The announcer spoke. There was something about what they said that seemed highly suspiscious to me, yet I temporarily put it at the back of my mind. After all, we were celebrating our victory first.

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We took the celebrations back to the hotel we were staying at, waiting for Haruka and Kurosuke to return from their investigation. It was just after the sunset when they returned, both looking as if they witnessed the world end.

"A-Are you two okay? What happened?!" Minori asked. The two looked at each other for a few moments, before they both spoke up.

"They... They're killing..." Haruka mumbled, slowly moving to sit in a chair. She had her gazed fixed to the floor, I could see tears falling from her face, hitting the wooden floor.

"The players... The losers of this competition... N-No, not even that..." Kurosuke added. There was a deathly silence after he finished speaking. No, not quite, it was as if their air was filled with absolute despair. The horror that had been uncovered, I'd be lying if I said we weren't scared. We were absolutely terrified.

The sound of glass shattering seemed to snap me out of my thoughts, my gaze quickly moving to Minori, who had previously been holding a glass of juice. At her feet were shards of glass, which vanished with a mass of pixels. Her hand was shaking with pure rage for a few moments, before her fist eventually slammed into the table next to her.

"Laughing Coffin... They've got to be organizing this... I remember seeing those play- no, I'm not even going to call them that. I had seen those monsters around Galactic's base a few days before I left. However, whether or not the current leader is affiliated, I don't know," Minori muttered.

"Those guys, they're seriously bad business. If they're part of this, we're in way over our heads. We may win the Pokemon battle competition, but how are we with actual battles? We're probably below the average level for players now, with our time below. Our level doesn't change while training Pokemon- well, I think training Venu would help with levelling for Amika, yet aside from that..."

"Hmm... The actual competiton isn't for a while, we have time to train. As well as that, I think it would be best to get in touch with a larger guild, to see if there's anything they would be able to do to help stop this plot." Cayden explained.

"I really do hope the larger guilds would agree to help, I mean, some of them honestly just ignore the regions. Still, someone's bound to listen..." I responded. I really hoped there was something that could be done to stop the PK plot.

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A/N: I feel kinda proud to say that I'll be working on the next chapter as soon as this is posted... Although for about 5 minutes, it's nearly 11PM. I said I'd post on the 11th, yet I'm REALLY cutting it close.
Anyway, since I feel super bad for yet another delay, during November-December, a little preview for the next few chapters. Simply, a few cameos, two chapters worth, maybe three, depends. (And a side story I WANTED to write for Halloween, alas, lack of inspiration, oh well, I'll get there.)
I'm particularly excited to write this one chapter, or scene in particular.
In any case. I'll now be posting PWO on Wednesdays, with Hello World on Thursdays. Goodbye World is on hiatus for the time being, it's a little silly to write a prequel and a sequel at the same time. I thought I had everything planned out for Hello World, but I was incredibly wrong. Anyway, I've got another chapter to write!