Hey guys, here we go with Chapter 4! Now we get into the battling, delve a little more into some of the characters, and find out who our specialty people are. Also, prepare for some subtle but not so subtle foreshadowing, because this chapter is rife with it. Anyway, that's enough from me. Let's get this ball running.

Also for those reading, I do apologize for taking forever on this one. This week has been a little crazy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I DO NOT OWN POKEMON.

"That's so romantic!" Bianca exclaimed in the room at the resort.

She, Hilda and Serenity conveniently were able to get a room together, as they had hoped. And even though it was three of them to one room, the room was spacious enough to accommodate them. Upon their arrival to their room at the resort, Bianca demanded Serenity tell them exactly what had happened before they found her. She regaled them in the story of how this man tried to completely take advantage of her, even pinning her against the wall. She was so scared. But then, he came, and saved her. Zero.

"Oh my gosh, if we see him around, we'll have to do something to thank him!" Bianca said, placing her hands on her face as she began to blush. "Perhaps a glorious night out with yours truly would be an adequate payment for his heroic deed!"

Serenity leaned in towards Hilda. "Does she do this often?"

"Get used to it, Serenity. This happens all the time with her."

Suddenly, there was a knock on their door. Hilda rose up to answer. Serenity slinked over to Bianca, still shaken from the earlier events. She was glad to have Hilda there. She was so strong, so fearless. It was inspiring. At the same time, Bianca was great for comfort, holding fast to Serenity's arm, giving her the feeling that if anybody wanted to get to her, they'd have to go through Bianca to do it.

Hilda turned the doorknob and opened the door slightly. The figure at the door was a tall, dark-skinned man in a suit. Hilda couldn't recognize him.

"The three of you are needed at the Coliseum. Make yourselves ready. Busses will leave in ten minutes with, or without you." Without another word, the man in the suit vanished into the hallway.

Hilda looked at the clock on the night stand. It read 11:39. Bianca and Serenity looked up at Hilda, expecting her to say something, but Hilda herself didn't quite know what to say.

"Who was it?" Serenity asked, loosening her hold on Bianca.

"He didn't say," Hilda shook her head.

"What did he want?" Bianca asked.

"He said we need to be at the bus port in ten minutes. But he didn't say why."

"Well let's get going then."

The girls all got up and searched around for their shoes. Hilda laced up her favorite running shoes that she wore whenever she expected to be moving around a lot, like in Pokémon battles, or if she didn't know what to expect. Bianca slipped on the first pair of pumps that she found inside one of her fully packed luggage bags. She reached over to the night stand and opened up the case for her glasses and perched them gingerly on her nose. Serenity pulled up her high-leg boots she brought, and within minutes, the three girls were out the door, down the hall and outside the resort, where a small handful of the original mass was standing, equally as confused as they were.

"Man, it's 11:40 and we still haven't heard anything!" Brendan shouted, falling onto a bed in his room.

"Be patient, hun, we don't even know if what that guy said about midnight was true or not," Zinnia replied, sitting down beside him on the bed.

"I know, but…"

"Did you just call him 'hun'?" Dawn blurted out with a grimace.

"Did she just call you 'hun'?" Ethan blurted out with a smile.

Brendan pulled his knit cap over his face to hide his red face. He and Zinnia had exchanged numbers before they left the Coliseum a few hours ago and had been texting on their poke gears. She had been calling him 'hun' since they started texting, and in an attempt to be charming, he always referred to her as beautiful. But he didn't want the guys, especially Ethan to be in on his sprouting romance, for fear Ethan might Jynx it. He thought it might be a good idea to invite the girls to hang out with them, so he invited them to their room to wait for the issue of the next challenge.

Zinnia hadn't told either Misty or Dawn about it, not for fear of Jynxing it, but because Dawn seemed totally focused on the now-existent Paul situation, and Misty never seemed all that interested in getting into other peoples' love lives. She rolled her eyes at Dawn's outburst. Sure, Dawn might be the oldest of the three of them, but that didn't give her the right to treat her of Misty like children.

"When did this start, and why haven't you told me about it?" Dawn demanded.

"I'm sorry Dawn, I didn't realize I had to tell you everything about my life. It's no business of yours who I date."

"You sly dog, look at you. Workin behind the scenes to find yourself a woman," Ethan said, jabbing Brendan's arm.

"Come on, man, do you really have to do this now?" Brendan replied, still hiding under his cap. At the sound of the word 'date', he blushed even brighter.

"Honestly, though, how can you be so…so…okay with this! For Arceus's sake you just met him today! He could be a total perv! Misty, come on, don't you agree with me?"

"Hey, leave her out of this! This is between you and me, because apparently you don't think I can pick my own boyfriends!"

"What are you saying?!"

"You always seem to have a beef with the guys I like, Dawn. Ever since you and Paul split up. Well don't go projecting that insecurity onto me! I'm smart enough to pick and choose for myself who I like and who is good for me!"

She turned her back to Dawn and grabbed Brendan's hand, hauling him out of the room and slamming the door behind her. Ethan seized up from the tension. Dawn's face was flushed, full of both rage, sorrow, but ultimately, regret. In her mind, she had asked herself, was Zinnia right? Was she projecting her pain from losing Paul onto Zinnia and Misty? She plopped down onto the floor where she stood. Misty sat beside her to console her, but she didn't know what to say. She knew she agreed with Zinnia, but Dawn didn't need to hear that right now. Not with hot tears rushing out of her eyes. She just needed a friend by her side.

"Well that was all rather…abrupt," Alain said, being the only one disconnected from the situation.

"It's a long story, Alain. And it's been going on for a while," Misty said, keeping her attention on her sobbing friend.

Ethan was still frozen where he sat, trying to process what just happened. It was like whiplash, with a little mystery thrown in. He remembered back to when Paul confronted Zero and how she clutched his arm. Was that somehow connected? It must have been! That Paul was the same Paul, but how would he have ended up with a girl like Dawn? And what made them split up? So many questions rattled around in his mind as he sat, watching the sobbing girl.

"Ethan!" Alain called.

With a sudden jolt, Ethan looked up at Alain. "Time to go. Let's give them some time."

Ethan replied only with a nod. He stood up slowly, wishing he could stay, wanting to wrap his arm over Dawn and whisper into her ear that it was going to be okay. But Alain was right. Given the circumstances, and the fact that they weren't very well acquainted, it wouldn't be of any help. He waited for Alain to pass the space between the beds so he could follow him out. As Alain reached for the doorknob, it began to turn. The door swung open vehemently, and in came Zinnia and Brendan.

Everyone looked up, expecting some additional retaliation from her and possibly from Brendan, but it wasn't anger or frustration on their faces. Rather, as Alain deduced, it was anticipation. Something had happened when they left the room, something that made them come back.

"We need to get to the bus port now!" Zinnia exclaimed.

"Why? What's going on?" Alain asked.

"There have been these guys in suits walking around telling certain trainers to go to the bus port. Misty, I saw them at our room. They wanted the three of us there, and when he saw Brendan, he pointed at him, too."

"Yeah," Brendan started, "he told me to grab my roommates as well. Like he knew who you guys were just by looking at me."

"Did he say why?" Ethan asked, finally breaking his silence.

"No. Just that the busses are leaving at midnight. So we need to get there now!"

Without much prodding, the group, even Dawn, composed themselves and made with all haste to the bus port. There were so few trainers out there, substantially less than what they had started with. Then it began to click in each of their minds what Zero had said earlier that day. "They call back the ones that made the cut at midnight." His prediction seemed to be coming true, but where was he? Brendan and Ethan especially scanned the crowd, looking for the blonde psychic in a blue coat, but sorting through this crowd of probably 50 trainers was proving to be difficult.

Their search stopped as they piled into the busses intermixed with dozens of other trainers. Zinnia, holding tight to Brendan's hand during this process was able to sit next to him. She hadn't gotten the chance to tell him what that was all about, why she had gotten so angry with Dawn, or how she was really feeling about him. But the bus was still noisy, too noisy to chat. She took in a breath and laid her head on his shoulder. 'I'll tell him in the morning,' she thought, as sleepiness overtook her. Brendan didn't stay awake much longer, leaning against the window of the bus.

Dawn ended up snaking her way away from Misty, looping around several people and stealing the seat next to Ethan. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't want to be sitting next to Misty. This time she didn't grab his arm, or even lean against him. She only sat next to him. He could see the rage she was trying to hide behind her beautiful blue eyes. It made him worry for her. What was it that was eating away at her? And why wouldn't she talk about it?

He still considered himself fairly lucky though. Here was this gorgeous, obviously passionate, fireball of a young woman sitting next to him yet again, by her own choice. Hope arose in his chest that day. Hope that maybe that desire to hold his hand would come up. Maybe she would start being to him what Zinnia was being to Brendan. But for now, he would wait, biding his time. 'It'll be worth it,' he assured himself, turning his gaze out the window.

Misty sat next to Alain. She couldn't explain why, but he made her nervous. He was always so calm, so stoic, so mysterious. Being near him like this, Misty could feel it. He was strong, and strong willed. Power exuded from him, no doubt due to years of experience battling and traveling. It made her feel something she hadn't felt for some time, not since… No, she wouldn't let her mind go there. 'The past is in the past,' she reminded herself.

"Something bothering you, Misty?" Alain asked.

He had noticed her face shifting through different emotions, though he was totally oblivious to the ones concerning him. He had a sense for picking when people were upset. He had seen since the resort that Misty was upset, but he didn't know why. The obvious would denote it had something to do with Dawn, but that wasn't it. It was something else, something deeper.

"I'm fine, really. Just worried about Dawn, and Zinnia."

"Yeah, it looked like the two of them really got into it," Alain replied, uncrossing his arms. He shifted slightly in the seat so he could look at Misty.

"It's not really anything new, to be honest. They've been going at it like that since Dawn and Paul broke up."

Paul, that name again. He was the guy with purple hair that faced off with Zero without any hesitation. The thought was frightening to Alain, though he wouldn't show it. He had some kind of secret, something enough to make his pulse race. Paul must have sensed that too, if he was as smart and capable as he seemed, but he didn't show any signs of reservation. And Dawn dated that guy. But at the moment, his concern wasn't about that. It was about Misty and making sure she was alright.

"And I take it you get caught in the middle trying to hold everything together."

"…Yeah." Misty hugged her arms.

Images of fighting, late nights, and thousands of tears began flowing back through her mind, like blood from a freshly reopened wound. She felt so many times that she was the only fighting to keep it together.

"For months it went on like that, Dawn attacking Zinnia's relationships, knowing she was only angry about her and Paul breaking up."

"She and Paul were together for four years? Long time. What happened there?"

"I guess only Paul really knows, since he's the one that broke it off."

"Did he ever tell her why?"

"I think so," Misty paused. "But it just doesn't make sense to me. Why would he think having her around was a weakness?"

"A weakness? What does that mean?"

"Paul went to Veilstone High, and he was one of their Ace trainers. If I'm not mistaken, he was number one, undefeated, at that school. His plan was to become a competitive battler, and participate in tournaments across Sinnoh, and maybe even go international."

"Solid plan, at least, if you're good enough."

"Yeah, well anyway, she and Paul met when our schools hosted a meet to pick the best two to send to the Sinnoh Regional Doubles Tournament, where the winners would go on to the International Doubles Tournament. One student from each school would get picked."

"So how did Paul stack there?"

"Paul was incredible. His battling style was so fluid, so calculative, almost like he researched each opponent before he battled them."

"Did he?"

"No, I don't think so. Paul is smart, not paranoid. They met at the end of the tournament, after Paul won and picked his partner from Hearthome Academy. They didn't really do too well at first. Paul seemed to be way too into himself, at least around the rest of us. But when they were alone, she said he was always really sweet."

"So what happened?"

"They started 'officially' dating after Paul came back from the International Doubles Tournament. He and his partner lost to these two guys from Hoenn. Dawn was super excited to see him, and that's when he made it official. None of us were surprised really. They would text each other all the time while he was gone." Misty paused and laughed. It had been so long since she'd seen Dawn as happy as she was with Paul that the memory made her happy. "We really thought they'd be the ones to make it."

"But?"

"Two years into their relationship, we all graduated. Dawn started going to a local contest prep academy, and Paul started putting his name into different pots for tournaments. He had a good streak for a while, increasing his reputation. But he didn't always win. Those were the tournaments that seemed to stick to him the most. Most of the time, he would lean on Dawn. She was always so supportive. Zinnia and I would always do what we could to lift his spirits, too, but he seemed to want to push everyone out but her. Then after a while, he started to push her away too."

"I see. So he took out the frustration of his losses on her. Poor Dawn."

"We tried being as supportive as we could, but it didn't take long for her to start taking it out on us."

"Did you ever say anything to her about it?"

Misty hesitated, and looked away, up a few seats to Zinnia, who was fast asleep on Brendan's shoulder.

"I can't. I'm not strong like Zinnia is. And if I do, I'll lose Dawn. I can't do that."

Misty started to tremble as tears began welling up in her eyes. She couldn't stand the thought of her friends fighting, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought about the pain of losing Dawn and Zinnia, the only friends she had since she moved to Sinnoh. She clutched her shorts with her hands until her knuckles were white and stared down into her lap. "I can't…" she muttered.

Suddenly she felt something. Something warm, strong. She opened her eyes and saw Alain's hand gripping hers tight, without hurting her. She looked up into his face. The midnight moon shone down over him, illuminating soft, blue eyes. For some reason, this simple gesture chased away her fears, and in that moment, she felt safe. She wrapped her thumb over his and smiled up at him. No words were spoken, but they both smiled.

The bus came to a stop. Everyone who had fallen asleep was abruptly awoken. Like a herd of cattle they filed off of the bus. The group looked around and noticed only two other busses present, each carrying approximately 40 trainers. Even more strange was as soon as each bus was empty, the busses departed quickly, as if to escape some looming danger that wasn't far off. Misty clutched Alain's hand, and he hers. Zinnia and Brendan stayed close together with Dawn and Ethan between them and Alain and Misty.

"Is this it?" Alain asked aloud amidst the sleepy murmuring.

"There are a lot fewer than I was expecting," Dawn said.

"But why? Are we the ones that passed?"

Fire erupted from ceremonial torches placed all around them. Only now did they realize they were not actually at the arena. The titanic coliseum was visible from where they stood, but there were a ways out from it. The torches surrounded them, flames rising at least ten feet into the air. It was both ominous, and exciting, though some trainers didn't seem impressed, or intimidated.

"For those of you standing here tonight," a familiar sounding voice shouted, "congratulations. You stand among the best in your generation of trainers." Lance and the other Champions were collectively standing before the group with the coliseum directly to the north behind them. "Out of over 300 trainers, only 120 of you remain."

The trainers nervously murmured amongst themselves. That was simply unbelievable. So many of them had been disqualified, and it was only the first day! Each and every trainer steeled themselves. This was not the time to have the seed of doubt begin to grow. Lance continued his speech.

"The selection process will proceed as planned, but only those of you here tonight will be participating. Over the next three months, each of you will undergo a series of one-on-one exhibition matches. The purpose of these matches is to show what you as a trainer are capable of doing with only one Pokémon at your disposal, a challenge one calling themselves a Champion does not regularly face, but must on occasion. During these exhibition matches, you may not substitute your Pokémon once it has been selected. It will be selected before the match begins, so your choice cannot be influenced by your opponent's choice."

Lance paused, then he continued: "With that being said, tonight, each of you will upload every single Pokémon you regularly carry on your person as well as stored in your PC that you intend to use at any point in your time here. This way any of you may access anyone else's information so that they might make the best possible decision in choosing a Pokémon. Before I dismiss you for the night, are there any questions?"

The crowd was silent. It seemed that every trainer present was nervous about sharing such information. Though it was only fair. Official tournament rules in every region mandated uploading your team of use for the tournament. The rest of it seemed pretty straight forward. Win the most amount of one-on-one rounds and proceed to the next portion of the selection process. Murmuring continued until a single hand guarded in what looked like armor over a long-sleeved coat shot into the air.

"I've got a question," Zero spoke, "when do we start?"

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There you have it, chapter 4. Had to end it with the badass saying something badass. For those actually following this story regularly, I do apologize for the lateness of this post. Things have been absolutely hectic for me lately. But yes, now the real test is about to begin and we will see who stacks where. Still taking suggestions for teams and individual Pokémon, though I have a pretty good idea of who I'll be using for the sake of the story. Hope you enjoyed chapter 4 and I'll see you in chapter 5!