Blaia, the Rockruff

‘C’mon, Blaia. This is the big day, you can do this.’

I heard the pop’s from my bones as I stretched and hopped in place. Today was my first race in the Arrow Tournament. I’d always wanted to join one of these, and finally, after months and months of practice, I managed to get past the qualifiers.

My goal wasn’t to win, I could never imagine winning against some of the titans in this tourney. But that didn’t matter, really, I’ve always loved running. Simply being part of this community was a dream come true.

“Yo! Blaia!” I heard a familiar voice yell at me. I turned my head to see a Sneasel, not quite running to me, but more like jogging to keep herself warm.

“Hey Irene!” I got on my hind paws to fist bump her, which she happily returned. “I cannot believe this is happening! We’re here! You and me!”

“I know! Isn’t this amazing?! Look at how many runners there are!”

It was true, aside from us two, there were around twenty or twenty-five more Pokémon getting ready for the race. And now that I was looking at them, a new thought entered my mind.

‘Wait… is there an actual chance that I might win?’

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking.” Irene said, with that smug grin that I loved to hate. “And honestly, I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“Could you imagine if one of us won?”

“Well, it’s only the first race, and it doesn’t go by placement, it goes by time and score, so…”

“What’s the time threshold again?”

“A minute flat, I think.” She responded, stretching her arms and moving them around to get some blood flowing. It was always fun to see her do exercises I never had to learn due to being quadrupedal. It was even more fun when the two of us got together and swapped warm-up routines only to realize how dumb we looked and how little they were helping. Not like that stopped us from trying again other times.

“A minute for four-hundred meters? That doesn’t sound bad at all.”

“Right?! I had to triple-check due to how easy it looked. But hey! That just means we’re definitely going past this round!”

“Alright, everyone! Gather around, one last check before the race.” A Toxicroak yelled. He was wearing the official badge of the Arrow Tournament, so we knew he was staff. He seemed as excited as we were, maybe a bit more tired than us, probably due to the registrations and processes that had to be done earlier that morning.

We all got closer to him, expecting the same talk we’d had like three times before.

“I’m gonna go through the list, you all tell me if you’re ready. Reminder that this is your last chance to back out if you think you cannot do it. Although I’d still recommend at least trying, there’s no shame in not getting through the first round, you all got accepted past qualifiers because you’re good, don’t let any results make you forget that.”

“Wow, this guy is pretty decent at encouragement.” Irene whispered to me.

“I know, right? Much better than my actual trainer, haha.” I whispered back.

“Alright, let’s see. Scyther Alex!”

“Ready!”

“Maractus Sonya!”

“Ready!”

I used that time to look at my competition. Everyone was jumping in place or moving around to not lose the energy they needed. Not that I was any different, with my front paws going up and down against the dirt below me.

“Rockruff Blaia!”

“Ready!”

There only seemed to be one Pokémon that forfeited, a Jangmo-o that injured their back paw during warm-up. It made me remember that one year where the same thing happened to me during qualifiers, making me lose any chance I may have had to join the tournament. It wasn’t a fun time, but hey, these things happen, sadly. The rest of us simply encouraged them to try again next year and wished them a good recovery.

“Sneasel Irene!”

“Ready!”

I looked at her, she was shaking, but in a good way. She kept rubbing her claws together while she hopped around. Yep, it was clear that her excitement was through the roof. It put a smile on my face.

The both of us met in one of the qualifiers, three years ago. I was simply training when she came to me and told me that I was doing one of the exercises wrong and that I would hurt myself like that.

I didn’t like to be corrected, but I didn’t know her and I was younger by then, so I just shyly said thanks before doing it exactly like always. That was indeed the same year where I injured myself. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming, but my dumb idiot younger self couldn’t accept that I was wrong.

Whatever the case, Irene didn’t manage to qualify either, but she did check on me after the event. From there, we got to meet each other and… well, here we were. Two best friends finally ready to give it our all.

“Okay, that’s everyone. Gonna go through the rules again, even though you all probably know them. Sorry! It’s my job!” The Toxicroak said, making me snort. “No flying, no floating, no creating water and swimming in it.” He said that last part looking at a very specific Corphish behind him that also had the same staff badge.

“Dude! That happened one time!” The Corphish responded, annoyed.

It made all of us laugh, this was the community I knew and loved. I was happy to officially be part of it, even if they kept saying that just by trying we were part of the team.

“You already know the rules, I’m not gonna finish this. Just remember to have fun, okay?” The Toxicroak was met by our cheers and claps. “Alright then! Everyone to their spot!”

Me and Irene excitedly did just that, getting out of the practice area and into the center of the stadium proper. Granted, it wasn’t that big of a stadium at all, the Arrow Tournament wasn’t that big, and they couldn’t afford a big show. Somehow though, I preferred that.

On my right, there were benches and spots for the small crowd. There were a few Pokémon that were just fans, but most of them were the runner’s families and companions that were there to cheer them on. Sure enough, I saw a very familiar Tyranitar with an Amaura beside her. My mom and my brother.

They didn’t hesitate to cheer and yell towards me, I would have been embarrassed about it any other day, but right now, it was my moment. I waved at them, smiling and determined to give it my best.

Irene was on the spot next to me (we may or may not had haggled a bit to be together). She was doing the same thing as me, waving and jumping at her parents. I never met then, but from the stories Irene told me, they were good.

“Everyone ready!” The Toxicroak shouted.

That was the cue to get in position. The nervousness made me pay close attention to the dirt under my paws. Crumbly, soft, but it was clear it had been handled carefully to give it as flat of a surface as possible. Good. Last thing I wanted was to trip on a patch of uneven dirt.

“Counting down! Three!”

I crouched a bit. My muscles didn’t ache or hurt, the warm-up had made its magic, it was now time to run.

“Two!”

I turned a bit, to see Irene with complete and utter focus on the lane in front of us.

“One!”

“Good luck, Irene.”

She smiled, looking back at me. “Good luck, Blaia.” She furrowed her brows, giving me a look with a very obvious meaning. ‘Let’s do this.’

I focused on the lane again. My breath was shaky, but I knew that always changed when I started moving. I was ready.

…

“GO!”

I launched myself forwards. The beginning had to be quick to not waste time in accelerating. Once I gained my footing, I slowed down just a small bit to keep the energy going. I saw a few mons in front of me, all running as fast as they could. I wasn’t worried about them, I knew from experience that tiring yourself out at the beginning was a bad idea.

Even though I was too focused on the path to turn my head, I knew Irene was right beside me. I could hear her grunting and her breathing. She was going for the same approach I was, which made sense, we did train together.

I passed a line of red paint on the ground. One hundred meters.

My breathing stabilized quickly, now focused on efficiently managing my oxygen and providing me energy as much as it could. It was exhilarating, I felt like a master.

The ground was cold. Perfect. The coolness of the road struck my paws with each step, making a wave go through me, almost incentivizing me to get going with the next movement just so I could stop the contact with the floor.

Another line. Two hundred.

The runners that were at the front were already falling behind, while me, Irene, and two others kept at a nice pace. This was what always happened when I watched the first rounds, a lot of overconfidence, thinking that this distance wasn’t that long and that they could sprint the whole way. It was very very rare that that mentality got them anywhere. It was very common too, considering the qualifiers were done with only one hundred meters.

Speaking of which, another line. The last line, in fact. Three hundred meters done.

It was time, I started picking up speed. The ending of a race is where I needed to do my sprint, use any form of energy I still had in me and just go. It didn’t matter how tired I was after it, because the race would have already finished.

I was the first one to sprint, it was a bit earlier than what I was used to, I normally started it at around seventy-five meters left, but I came here to give it my all and that’s what I was going to do.

It felt weird to be in first place for that moment, not even I thought that I was that good compared to everyone else. The race wasn’t over, of course, but that period of time where I was on the lead felt magical, like I could do anything I wanted.

I was expecting the others to catch up and demolish my lead, but all I got was the sound of a panting Sneasel beside me. Irene was in her final sprint too. It was between the two of us.

I mentally smiled (I was breathing too quickly to do it physically). This was what we were hoping for, the two best friends as the top two. It was happening.

The finish line was close, very very close. I gave it my all and did a final push. My limbs were burning, but I didn’t care. I made a noise similar to a scream as the crowd cheered us on. It took me a few moments to realize that Irene was screaming too.

And before I could acknowledge it, I crossed the finish line.

I felt myself stumble, getting slower and slower until finally collapsing against the ground while I tried to regain my breath.

I didn’t have the energy to smile, but in my brain, I was ecstatic. I did it, I finished a race, and I got, at worst, second place. I couldn’t believe it.

I felt a claw wrapping my paw. Irene was on the ground, panting and exhausted, like me. We looked at each other, and both of us grinned weakly. This was the best outcome we could have had.

I heard some footsteps and Pokémon throwing themselves into the ground. More and more were getting to the end. As I started breathing regularly again, I weakly sat on the floor, looking behind me. Everyone had already finished, and the group of families were already rushing to us.

It didn’t take long for some very familiar claws to scoop me off the ground and hug me tight.

“I KNEW you could do it, Blaia! Goodness, I’m so proud of you…”

At any other moment, I would’ve struggled out of my mom’s hold. But not only was I too tired to do so, I also felt like I deserved it. As she put me back down, I felt a tackle on my side, throwing me back into the ground, and pinned by…

“Blaia! You did it!” My brother yelled as he hugged me.

“Bruno, I almost fainted now because of you. Get off! You’re too strong!”

He reluctantly let me go, chuckling to himself. “It was SO cool seeing you run like that. Did you win? It looked like you and Irene were in sync!”

“Heh. I actually don’t know, we’ll have to see what the staff say.” I replied, getting off the ground… again.

A look to the side showed me Irene getting the same treatment from her parents. At least I wasn’t the only one getting assaulted with affection.

As our parents started talking to each other, I jumped to Irene. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” She said, still recovering a bit.

“I’ve never felt like such a badass.”

“You two were amazing.” Bruno jumped in. While he didn’t know Irene as much as I did, they still knew each other. It wasn’t a bad feeling to have him with the two of us, and I was sure Irene held the same feeling.

We walked back to the beginning of the lanes, where the staff were waiting on all of us.

“Good job, everybody!” The same Toxicroak as before announced. “It’s time for results! Sadly, we have three runners disqualified. With a minute and four seconds, Sonya.”

“Yeah… I panicked.” The Maractus said, a bit of a sad smile on her face. “Next year, I guess.”

The Toxicroak smiled at that last comment. “With a minute and two seconds, Chris.”

A Snover held his paw up. “That…” He was still panting, and recovering his breath. “… is still a personal record… so I… I’m so okay with that…”

Some of us runners cheered him on, a personal record was still really impressive.

“Lastly, with a minute and half a second, Ismael.”

The Pansear groaned. “Dammit! So close! You better believe I’m trying again next year!”

This time, I was the one who smiled, those were exactly my words last year after the qualifiers. “You got this, Ismael!” I said, supportingly. Ismael smiled at that, with determination in his eyes.

As the rankings were announced from the bottom, more and more mons were being surprised by their own performance. It wasn’t until we got to the top two that my attention went back to the Toxicroak.

“So, Blaia and Irene, our top two. It was a close race.” The Toxicroak said with a smile. “In fact, it was so close, that for the first time in five years, we have a tie for first place!”

‘…what?!’

I was speechless, and a look to the side revealed Irene was experiencing the same. I jumped to her, hugging her tight. “We won! The two of us!”

She screamed out of happiness. Both of us were starting to cry a bit, that’s how emotional we were. On our first race ever done for the tournament, not only we tied, but we tied for first place. Yeah, this really was the best outcome we could’ve ever imagined.

The others cheered, it was such a surreal feeling. The Toxicroak eventually broke our hug to hang some medals on us. They weren’t gold and silver, they were both gold. I never even thought I’d ever have one of these on me, less so having my best friend with one of the same kind.

“I’m dreaming. I have to be.” I thought out loud. But the thought was somewhat strong, making me scratch myself just in case. Ouch. Nope, it was real.

We stayed like that for more than an hour, not believing what had just happened. Our parents were making small talk and Bruno was celebrating with us. At some point, it was time to leave. I gave Irene one last hug before the three of us went home. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally, but I wasn’t going to complain about either.

At home, we had dinner, and I quickly went to sleep. I had another race in two days, so I had to rest and make sure I kept the training going tomorrow.

I lasted a grand total of thirty seconds before my brain gave up and made me fall asleep with the dumbest, goofiest grin decorating my face.