Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 4 - Mission

Following the announcement of the squad, Kudou led the twelve of us back inside the stadium, into a large office. A long rectangular table sat in the middle of the room, with two chairs at both ends and several more seats lined up along both sides.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat." Coach Kudou gestured, taking his own spot at the head of the table with Darragh, whilst Xene and Jordan took the first available chairs either side.

Eager to be among friends, I quickly took a seat between Xene and Skyra. Everyone else sat down, with the former Japanese team members noticeably close together, with the four new faces mixed amongst themselves. Midorima had gotten as close to the front as he could, sat beside Jordan and directly opposite from me. Meanwhile, Kiria took her seat towards the back, and Caleb sat right at the very end, leaning back on his chair and resting his feet on the vacant one next to him.

"First of all, congratulations are in order." Kudou said, looking across at us all. "You have all shown exceptional skill, and that's why you were chosen for the team. This year, in the first Continental Cup, there is a larger focus on individual skill, owing to the fact that there are just six teams in total competing for the trophy. Therefore, rest assured that you were all chosen based on your own merits, and not necessarily team synergy."

"You say that," Mira, the Indian girl spoke up, running a hand through her hair. "But despite what you said about not being biased, I count five former members of your previous Japanese team – almost half of the whole squad."

Victor and Yu looked at each other worriedly, whilst Skyra seemed to ignore the comment. Hikaru almost looked offended, as if this girl was accusing her of making the team off of anything but her own skills.

"That may be true," Kudou nodded. "But, as I'm sure my team will agree," He gestured to Darragh and the two boys either side. "The five that I have chosen are unquestionably strong and talented. I would not have chosen them again this year if they had not displayed their strength yet again. You need only look at the other former Japanese members who came here today and were not chosen to see that there is no bias in my judgement."

I thought of Magnus, Sol, Ix, and indeed, Nelly, all of whom had tried their hardest, but hadn't made it.

"I would think it not particularly wise to question our manager's decisions so early on." Midorima sat with his arms crossed.

"I agree." Shu-ling, the Taiwanese boy, nodded.

"Like it matters now." Caleb sniggered from the end of the table. "We're the ones on the team. Ain't nothin' gonna change that. All the other guys were just too weak."

"Weak?" I repeated the word, feeling a wave of heat wash over me.

"Yep. They didn't make it, and that's their fault for being too weak."

"You shut your mouth!" I hissed.

"Oh? You wanna go, Tubby?" Caleb sat upright, baring his fangs.

"Any one of the people out there deserve to be here more than you do!"

Kiria looked up, intrigued.

"You sayin' I don't deserve to be here?"

"How could you? You're nothing but a brute – you don't even care about your Pokemon, you just-!"

"Calm down." Skyra's hand fell on my arm.

"But... Coach!" I changed my gaze. "Why him?!"

"Because he's strong." Kudou sighed. "When it comes down to it, raw brute force isn't always optimal,"

Caleb frowned.