Strange Rhythm

"Metang! Flash Cannon!"

"Gible! Dragon Breath!"

"Haunter! Shadow Ball!"

If their earlier clash had been at close range, it had now turned into a wide-area bombardment. Steven and Cynthia had noticed it too—Blake's tactics were, how should they put it, somewhat underhanded. But those tactics were usually most effective in close-quarters brawls. In a long-range exchange like this, they took on a different meaning.

In this situation, it was purely a contest of firepower. Explosions erupted across the entire field, and dodging had become meaningless. There was nowhere safe to hide. The only defense left was to counter attacks with attacks. Even Protect was useless now, because no one's attacks let up, surging like endless waves. The moment one side revealed an opening, the other two sides' attacks would descend in an instant. All three sides were now competing on reserves—seeing whose ammunition stockpile could last longer.

"Chandelure! Protect!"

Suddenly, James's voice rang out. Chandelure appeared in the center of the field, and a blue barrier rose, blocking the attacks from all three sides at an extremely tricky angle.

"All right, that's enough. Let's not hurt anyone's feelings."

James stood and spoke. The match had taken a strange turn, and even his usually composed son had gotten carried away. To keep them from truly losing their tempers by the end, James decided to pause the match.

"Uh... whew, you're right. I got a little carried away."

Only then did Blake realize what had happened. He had actually gotten carried away. He could clearly have hidden himself in any number of ways and watched the others fight, but he had chosen to have Haunter trade blows head-on with Shadow Ball. That was not like him at all. No, he still needed more training. He had to remain calm no matter what happened and be ready to use all kinds of tactics against his enemies at any time.

"Did I get a little carried away too?"

Steven suddenly came to his senses as well. He seemed to have gotten carried away too. Metang was clearly better at close combat, yet he had kept using Flash Cannon.

"You're right. I... seemed a little strange just now."

Cynthia froze as well, looking at Gible beside her. She liked attacking, but not like this.

"It seems we were influenced by something."

Blake realized something was wrong too. He had become incredibly excited just now. This was not something as simple as getting carried away.

"What's wrong?"

Professor Carolina and the others came over. Seeing the confused expressions on the three faces, they immediately realized something was amiss. Professor Carolina was the first to ask.

"We were acting strangely just now, as though something had influenced us. We were overly excited. That wasn't our fighting style, nor was it Haunter's and the others'. But clearly, none of us noticed it at the time."

Blake chose his words carefully as he spoke, glancing at the other two. Steven and Cynthia nodded as well, showing that they felt the same way.

"Come on, let's go to the hospital and get checked out."

James looked at the three of them and recalled their near-frantic fighting style. He too realized something was wrong. This had not been a simple case of getting too worked up. All three sides had been fighting in a way that nearly exhausted their strength. That was not normal.

"I'll call for a car."

President Stone began to worry as well. He only had this one precious son. Nothing could happen to him.

"Do any of you feel unwell anywhere?"

Louise dropped her playful demeanor and began checking them over from head to toe.

"Not really. It's just... just that I feel a little tired. What about you two?"

Blake stopped Louise, who was still trying to lift his shirt to check him, and spoke.

"More or less the same. It feels like I haven't slept for a whole day and night."

"Me too. I'm a little sleepy, and Metang doesn't seem to be doing too well either."

Cynthia and Steven spoke.

"The car's here! Get in!"

President Stone called out. With one phone call, the car had arrived in no time. Steven was the heir to the Stone company, after all. Those employees depended on the father and son for their livelihoods. Nothing could happen to them!

They got into the business van, and the driver floored the accelerator toward the hospital. Though Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center was also a doctor, she mainly treated Pokémon. For humans, there were more specialized doctors.

"This is strange. What did you do?"

The doctor put down the report in his hand and looked strangely at the three teenagers before him.

"Doctor, is something wrong?"

Seeing the doctor's odd expression, Cynthia immediately asked anxiously.

"No, no, don't worry. I just find it strange. According to the examination, there's nothing wrong with the three of them. It's just... odd. Simply put, their bodies are extremely fatigued, as though they had just run for a whole day and night. But based on the physical examination, their bodies are very healthy—almost excessively healthy. They don't resemble fourteen- or fifteen-year-old teenagers at all."

The doctor looked at the report in his hand, completely unable to understand what was going on. This was practically challenging his professional knowledge. What was this violation of common sense?

"Doctor, the Pokémon examination results are out."

Just as the doctor was at a loss for how to explain it, Nurse Joy came in with the medical reports for the three Pokémon. When the doctor took them and looked, his vision went dark. Excessive energy depletion? Energy overflow? No, didn't that sound contradictory?

The doctor looked toward Nurse Joy. She wore a helpless expression as well. She found it unbelievable too, but the facts were what they were. At first, she had suspected the machines were malfunctioning, but after repeated checks, she confirmed that there was nothing wrong with them. Yet the three Pokémon really were in a bizarre state.

"Could it be some kind of outside force?"

Blake thought for a moment before speaking.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

the doctor asked curiously.

"Thinking back, it really did seem like we were influenced by something else at the time, and the Pokémon were the same. The reason for their abnormal physical condition may be that they truly used too much of their own energy. But the reason we lost some of our rationality may have been because that outside energy entered our bodies. That would also explain why the Pokémon have an energy surplus, and why our bodies show up as excessively healthy."

Blake looked at Steven and Cynthia as he spoke.

"That makes sense. It really is possible."

Steven considered it and felt that Blake's explanation was indeed possible. After all, he was currently in the strange state of feeling both tired and energized.

"No matter what, there's nothing wrong with your bodies. Still, I recommend that you get some proper rest. Your condition is certainly strange, but at least there don't seem to be any health problems."

The doctor did not quite understand what they were talking about, so he ultimately gave his advice from a doctor's perspective.

"Thank you for the advice, Doctor. We'll be going now."

The three of them stood and spoke.