A/N: So, I got this idea dancing in my head for some months (6), I finally decided to type it down. Even though I love currentshipping, there will be none in this.

Disclaimers: I don't own Pokèmon

Another blackout in Sunyshore City, the second in a week.

Nothing to be surprised about. Actually, blackouts became kind of one of Sunyshore's City peculiarities, just like the beach and the lighthouse.

But, differently from the last two, these weren't pleasuring, either for the residents or for the tourists.

The growing amount of complaints were super effective at Cynthia's ears; despite she was a patient and polite champion, the situation was over her limits.

Volkner's prospectives weren't the best, he got an ultimatum (and this time it was definitive): either he stopped with the whole gym modifying stuff, or he'd have to quit his role as a gym leader. Nothing more, nothing less .

If this didn't seem to bother the gym leader too much, it surely made Flint pretty worried; so much that he had to fly all the way to the lighthouse, hoping to knock some sense back in that empty electric head.

As he expected, Volkner was at the top of the lighthouse, sulking.

"Hey there! Seems you got some troubles from the above"

Volkner didn't answer, he just shrugged and grunted, almost to make clear his friend there was being a nuisance. Flint understood it, but this time, he wasn't going to give in. He and Volkner had been friends since childhood and, as bizarre as it could sound, Flint was the one to know his own limits. He sure caused thousands of troubles, but he exactly knew when to stop if the consequences could turn unpleasant.

"It's such a sunny day, what are you even doing locked up like this?"

"Can't you see? I'm looking at the waves."

Flint sighed, just how patient he had to be!

"I see... You can stare at them even on the beach, you know it…"

The electric master turned and shot a sharp glare at his mate "I've already got my bunch of pain in the ass, so if you're here to lecture me about how cruel I am to leave Mrs. Benson without electricity for her radio, leave already!"

He sat down beside his friend "I know it's boring for you challenging weak trainers, but you have to find some other way to waste your time"

Volkner gave him a challenging glance "Like?"

There, Flint beamed, showing him a leaflet, Volkner took it giving him a questioning look. There was a yellow script in the middle of the paper: PWT

"What is this?"

"Do you remember the structure in Driftveil City? The one they recently renewed?" the electric master nodded; Clay really had mountains of money to spend and the right brain to don't let them go wasted.

"It's hosting a series of pokèmon challenges, for both newbies and Gym Leaders" The little emphasis in which Flint accentuated the last two words seemed to catch Volkner's interest

"Go forward…"

"See, here you have the chance to fight gym leaders from all over the world."

A little spark glimpsed on Volkner's eyes as he heard the sentence, the Elite Four took a sight of it and smirked "Are you going to give it a shot?"

After considering the option a little, the Electric Master finally gave in "It's better it's a great event, or I swear I'll kill you!"

xXxXxXx

Two weeks later, Flint and Volkner were at the acceptance desk in the PWT structure. A girl with curly green Hair smiled , writing Volkner's name on the list. She handed him a sheet "Here's this week's program. Tomorrow at then A.M. we'll wait for you in the central hall, were the first battles will be settled. Your names will appear on the screen along with your opponent's. If your name is framed in yellow, this means you're battle is from midday to 1 P.M., if it's orange, you're battling from 2 P.M. to 3 P.M., green from 3 P.M. to 4 P.M. and blue is from 4 P.M. to 5 P.M."

she looked up for any hints of questions in Volkner's face, when she noticed there were none, the girl kept on listing the rules like she was some kind of robot "To gain the PWT champion title, you have to win three consecutive battles. In the case you lose in the first or second one, you'll have the chance to fight again for the third and below palces. Second place is held by the one who loses the final match. No items are allowed, just berries or the ones held by pokèmon. Since this is the first tournament after the reparation, the only battle mode is single battle. You can subscribe four pokèmon, but you can use just three per battle. Is everything clear?" she grinned from ear to ear, it was almost Volkner nodded while Flint was still trying to link colors to the time gaps.

"Where do I put my pokèmon's names?" the assistant handed him yet another sheet "Here" Volkner signed down his four chosen pokèmon: Rotom, Luxray, Electivire, Jolteon.

"Okay, that's all for today. Rooms for the challengers are on the seventh floor, the restaurant is the first door on the left, here at the ground floor. See you tomorrow morning, and good luck!"

She gave them a wide smile that just Flint had the heart to give back.

"You know, you can at least be polite with girls!" Flint hit his friend on the nape "I can't smile with an empty stomach, where was the restaurant again?"

The Elite sighed, pointing at the door the girl indicated them.

The place wasn't crowded yet, maybe because it was still too early for lots of people to eat, or maybe someone still had to arrive.

Volkner scanned the crowd around him, he could recognize just few people, he couldn't even tell if someone was a gym leader or not.

His eye was caught by a masked man settled two tables away from them, he had lilac hair, which recalled him of.. "Hey Flint, doesn't that guy look like Lucian?" the fire master lifted his head from the menu "Of course he does, they're brothers"

"I didn't know that bookworm had any relatives…"

The Fire master hit his head with the menu, eventually the word respect would have entered that empty electric head "He's an Elite Four as well, he's from Jotho."

"So, he can't subscribe to the challenge, what is he even doing here?"

Volkner's question answered itself, when a fascinating woman sat in front the object of his chattering. She wore a tight pink top and had two huge bracelets on her wrists which seemed to emanate a green light "I think I've already seen her somewhere though..." whispered Volkner to his friend "She's Saffron City's gym leader…"

"Oh, yeah! The one with the Alakazam! I saw some of her battles on TV! She's strong, I'd love to challenge her!"

Flint made a strange expression "I don't know man, I mean, for you she'd surely be a though opponent, but she's... scary…"

Recognizing the Fire Elite Four, will stood up from his table walking towards him, waving at Flint "Hey, it's been a while!" he cheered, patting the fire master on the shoulder. He then blinked at Volkner "Is he the guy who likes to cause blackouts?"

Volkner answered with a glare, most for his frustration though. He didn't know who the man was, yet that masked guy acknowledges his actions. News spread fast.

"And you're the brother of the elite who loves books more tha—" he was cut off when Flint kicked him under the table "…his own life. You know, Volkner has a high respect for him"

Flint was really hopeless at acting; luckily, hovewer he was bothered, the Jotho Elite decided to let go, changing the subject of the conversation "So, I guess you're taking part to the tournament"

"Yeah, you know there's a lack of worthy trainers out there, I was feeling bored, so Flint suggested for me to sign up here"

Will nodded sighing "You poor guy, you don't even know how much I understand you, I'm almost in your same situation"

Volkner raised an eyebrow, thinking the guy was exaggerating a little. The other didn't seem to notice, as he went on with his speech "Our Gym Leaders are among the most scary ones, so, sometimes trainers just wait for an eternity before challenging them, consequently I'm left out of challengers for long periods."

Volkner's eyes went wide "You mean that in Jotho leaders are so strong that people couldn't collect all the badges?" judging from the emphasis Will put in his description, Jotho League seemed the scene from a horror movie.

The psychic master sat back, lightening a cigarette "No, it's not exactly like this. I mean, yes, surely Pryce, Morty and Clair are though, but they're not the main problem. There's, for example, the simple but cute Whitney, apparently she's defenseless, if you give a look at her, you'd mistake that girl for an elementary school kid." He paused, puffing the smoke out (and having his two mates coughing) "Well, if it wasn't for the boobs" Flint and Volkner stared at him curiously "Well, whenever she loses, she cries her lungs out, wounding their opponent's poor ears. That's why people is discouraged by defeating her." a waiter brought him an ashtray. People can't smoke inside (But Elites can). After taking another long drag, Will kept on with his speech" Then there's Falkner. Don't misunderstand me, I'm a great friend of his, but he's short tempered, he tends to yell and sometimes pick physic fights against the one that defeat him; especially if they destroy his precious flying pokèmon with an ice, rock or electric type one"

Volkner chuckled "I think me and your friend wouldn't get on well, then."

"Not to ruin your dream, but almost no one does"

Despite the initial fight, Volkner was starting to enjoy Will's personality. As his cigarette was turning off, Flint handed him a lighter"Say, do you know who is taking part to the competition? As long as I understood, the Gym Leaders Tournament is more for advertising. Three battles means eight participants. To make up for it, I'm seeing lots of young trainers around here. "

Will inhaled smirked, turning his cigarette off for good. (Most for his mates' lungs sake) "Clay sure knows how to make business. Give people a little taste of what you can do and suck the hell out of their money next time." he looked around as to ensure the Driftveil Citry gym leader wasn't around "By the way I don't know exactly who's coming from isn't for sure: he doesn't like too many eyes pointed on him. Pryce, the ice gym leader is pretty old, he didn't take part because of the travel. Maybe you'll meet Clair, the dragon type leader; the fighting master Chuck and the bug master Bugsy. I phoned Morty last week, he was uncertain whether to take part or not. I can't point out at the moment"

"So, the crying baby isn't coming?" asked Volkner, sipping at his drink. Will shook his head "I don't know. I don't have any contact with her, thank god."

A waiter came to the table where Will was sat, Sabrina called him in a stern tone "When you're done intoxicating the whole area, you're begged to come back here..."; Volkner believed he had a shiver running down his spine. She really was scary.

The Jotho Elite Four stood up excusing himself, she was able to scare him as well "Let's meet anytime soon, guys!" he beamed, going back to his table.

"Appearance apart, he doesn't resemble Lucian at all" observed Volkner, eyes still plastered on the new met. Flint shrugged, resembling the vision of the menu "Well, those two are pretty at the antipodes, but you can't even imagine the love they feel for each other. Will is a guy who loves joking around, but when it comes to his brother, he becomes overprotective. That's the reason why I stopped you before. He's a good guy and all, but when he sees red, better for you to run away."

"Does he visit often?"

"When time allows it. You know, it's tahnks to him if Aaron became an Elite Four"

Volkner was surprised at the new, he knew the bug master was from Jotho, but he never asked how he gained his position at the league "How so?"

"Aaron challenged the Johto league, he did get far, he also managed to defeat two of Lance's pokèmon. I think the people detaining this record are really few; knowing that there was an Elite that was going to retire, Will thought of sending him to us."

Despite he took the information with a careless expression as always, Volkner couldn't help but feeling a little envious inside. He'd pay gold to face Lance, or a Champion. He always wanted to, but whenever he convinced himself to take the league challenge, he felt something inside that stopped him. As time passed by, he recognized this feeling to be fear. Fighting the Elite Four and the Champion would have been a strong emotion, he'd feel super fulfilled. But what about the future? What could he aim at? The higher you are, the fewer opponents able to stand you find.

"Is something worrying you?" Volkner fell from clouds as Flint spoke to him. He shook his head "Nothing...I was just thinking about what to eat..." he pointed at the menu "Do you think the Driftveil Sandwich Deluxe is good?"

...Flint really hoped for someone in this tournament to rise his friend's spirit once again.