A Pixel in the Dust

Chapter 35 - Arrogance

'Let's see... There doesn't seem to be any Unoccupied Trainers. Man, looking for a Battle Partner is harder than I thought.'

At the Battlefield, unlike last time when Bane was here, there were plenty of Trainers Battling against each other, but that meant that there were not enough Free Trainers to battle...

Which meant that I'm stuck looking for a "Spot" to open amongst the countless Trainers around here.

'...Hm?'

When I looked around, I could see plenty of people occupying the Stands behind one of the Fields, looking over a Crowd. That Field they were watching was also surrounded by a bunch of other Trainers, who seemed to be nervously watching the Battle unfold.

'What's happening over there?'

I couldn't see over them, and jumping up in the Air would seem too suspicious, so I had no choice but to squeeze through the crowd to see what was going on...

...And it was a Bloodbath.

"Hahaha! How's that? Even if you use all your Cheap Tricks, you think you could actually take out my Toxicroak!?"

One of the Trainers had a Toxicroak on their side, while the other Trainer had a Graveler, stress all over his face...

The Ground was warped, which sounded like it was Graveler's doing.

To make matters worse, it seemed like Graveler was on his last legs.

"...Hey, what's going on?" I asked the Trainer to the right of me.

"Ah, you just got here. Apparently, the Kid with the Toxicroak kept harassing that other guy to Battle. Something about Ranking Up quickly... When they got to it, Toxicroak kept avoiding all of the Attacks flawlessly, and just kept on moving around, making them impossible to hit. Its attacks also pack a punch, hence the Graveler's Condition." He said.

'He forced a Battle? Who the hell is this guy?'

"What? Done already? BO-RING. But, fine. I just got here and heard about this "Ranking" thing. Beating someone of a Higher Rank than me would explosively increase my Rank, right? Well, at least I read the Rules. Blah, Blah, Blah, I can only battle with someone One Rank Higher than me. It doesn't matter. In the end, I'll still climb to the top!"

'...No, seriously, Who the hell is this guy?'

"Ugh! G-Graveler! Rock Tomb!" The other Trainer ordered.

The Graveler seemed extremely exhausted, but still tried to attack.

...It was extremely slow, and missed without the Toxicroak even moving a muscle.

"Kehahahaha! How are you so Slow? No Fun! No Fun!" The Toxicroak laughed.

'...Isn't this just Bullying?'

I looked at the Referee, but...

They looked much more nervous than everyone else.

'...He probably knows something. But what could it be to make him that nervous? He looks like he'll wet himself any second now.'

It was odd to see a Grown Man so awkward and nervous, but from what I could tell it had to do something with that Kid with the Toxicroak.

And before I even noticed...

The Battle was over.

"La~me. Couldn't you have put up a bigger fight? All you had were 2 Pokemon? I mean, COME ON! You didn't even have a Full Team! I mean, neither do I, but this is just Sad!" The Kid said with a smug look on his face.