PREFACE Pt. 1
CHAMPIONSHIP TOUNAMENT FINALS
(UNOVA)
JULY 21st
8:00 PM
Orange tinted clouds rolled by overhead, signaling the coming of the end of the day. The temperature and humidity refused to lessen, despite the sun slowly slipping to the horizon.
I used my forearm to wipe the sweat from my brow as my dad and I approached the south entrance to the colosseum. The crowd around us cheered and chanted, excited for the battle later that night. Questor Wolfe versus Ritsuka Sendo.
(If people weren't at the colosseum, they were at home getting ready to watch the Championship Finals on their televisions. That battle was supposed to be the best match-up in the past ten years. Although it was a somewhat astonishing proclamation, it passed with little skepticism.)
"Come, Seisui," I heard my father say as he reached for my hand. I looked and acknowledged him with a smile. As we approached the ticket man, my mind drifted to thoughts of the Pokémon Battle, secretly wishing I could be one of the Championship Finalists. We reached the ticket man and he took our tickets, scanned them, and then waved us through the gate.
My father – still holding my hand – was weaving his way through the thickening crowd, pulling me along behind him. We passed several food vendors, the smells of hotdogs fries and light beer wafting towards us. I turned and stared at a Machamp who was showing off his obscenely large muscles. That must have slowed my father and I down because he tugged on my arm, wordlessly informing me that time was of the essence.
We took a sudden left, hopping on an up escalator that to me, seemed to have materialized using the air around us.
Up and up and up we went, the series of escalators seemingly endless. We eventually reached the upper level seats. From the point where the escalator deposited us, we walked a short distance around a wide bend almost running into a Psychic and her Gardevoir. We approached a tunnel with a sign above it reading SECTION 512. We left into the tunnel and walked a short set of stairs. My father sat me down in a seat in the front row of that section. That seat was smack in the middle of the colosseum. I looked my father and beamed so brightly I might have blinded him if my teeth were light bulbs. He looked at me smiled back and said, "You stay here while I go get us drinks. What do you want?" My reply: "Coke, light ice please!" With that he took his brief intermission from my presence.
I looked to my left and saw a trainer a few seats down who was hugging her Kecleon tight. She saw me looking waved her hand for me to come over. She appeared to be in her early twenties and had blonde hair and blue eyes. She smiled at me, a dazzling smile that made even me weak at the knees. She set her Kecleon down and started rummaging through her bag. The Kecleon approached me wiggling its eyes in opposite directions. I reached out to touch it and the cunning Pokémon disappeared. I let out a little gasp which caused the blonde haired lady look in my direction. She smiled and comforted me, saying, "It's okay, the little stinker's just messing with you. He'll probably reappear behind you. As if on cue, I felt something touch my shoulder. Kecleon, I thought. But the Kecleon had just reappeared in front of me and something was still on my shoulder. I turned to see my father looking down at me with a peculiar look on his face. "My," he said, "things just get curiouser and curiouser." He looked up at the blond haired lady who was still rummaging through her bag and sounded the question, "Cynthia?"