*I forgot to add last chapter that Anthony Christian has won a 4 chapter arc for his character

*RushedFast and Pokestets23 has also won 2 chapter arcs for their character


The next three days were nothing but training. I took my Umbreon everyday down to the beach and practiced its moves. So far, it knew Shadow Ball, Pursuit, Roar, and Bounce. Lily often came with us and worked with her Luxray.

"One more time Umbra, use Pursuit!" I yelled. Umbra prepared to disappear and slam into the rocks we were practicing with, until she accidentally hit Flux.

"Hey!" Lily shouted. I muttered an apology as her face brightened up.

"I got it! Why don't we have a battle? That way we can both train and prepare for the Task." Lily said. I grinned and said, "Don't expect me to go easy Lily."

"Good, then I won't feel bad when I beat you." We both took our place and waited…and waited…

"Flux, use Electro Ball!" Her Luxray swirled on her side and threw a ball of electricity at Umbra.

"Umbra! Dodge!" Umbra swiftly avoided the attack and braced itself.

"Use Pursuit!" I yelled. I grinned as the dark-type landed a direct hit.

"Lucky shot Laert. Flux, use Thunder!" My eyes widened as a massive bolt of electricity hit my Umbreon. It fell down and struggled to get up.

"Come on Umbra!" I grimaced. My face brightened as it stood tall and proud, only to cringe as a wave of electricity passed over its body.

"Yes, now it's paralyzed. Flux, lets end this with an Electro Ball!" I bit my lip knowing that Electro Ball's power would double now that Umbra's speed was cut in half.

"Counter it with Shadow Ball!" Both pokemon produced spheres of energy and tossed them at each other. They impacted in midair and left a flash of bright light in my eyes.

"Look's like it's almost over Laert." Lily smiled. I looked at my Umbreon's poor state.

"It's not over till its over. Umbra, use—"I was cut off by a screaming voice. I looked around and saw a boy running towards us.

"You have to come! He's here!" He ran off back to the Dome. Lily and I looked at each other.

"Let's go." We ran as fast as we could.


"I know this may come as a surprise, but throughout this program, famous sponsors may come and help you with your Tasks. Before your match up tomorrow, we asked five famous people from the five regions to come and talk to you guys. Please help me introduce Brock, the rock-type gym leader from Kanto, Tracy, Professor Oak's assistant, Noland, a Battle Frontier Brain, Zoey, a famous pokemon coordinator, and Grises Hawforth, a Unovian sponsor. Please ask them all the questions you want. They shall be here until the first Task. However, you cannont talk to any sponsor that is not in your region. So a trainer from Kanto cannot confer with Zoey or Tracy and will only be allowed to talk to Brock. So please, enjoy the rest of your day!" Riley announced. Everyone was in awe of the five people on stage. Some were even drooling.

I've never heard of Grises Hawforth. Wonder who he is…

As everyone crowded around their sponsor, I rushed over to Riley and asked, "What region should I join?"

He stared at me skeptically.

"Hmmm…." He trailed off. I was trying to send brain waves like Alakazam to say "Hoenn, Hoenn, Hoenn, Hoenn"

"How about Unova?" He smiled and patted my hair. I stared dumdfoundly and cursed at all Alakazams. I slumped over to the Unovian crowd and listened to Grises talk about his journey.

"Now then, I understand you are all probably going to be battling and making hard decisions. The only advice I can give you, is to build strong communications with you're pokemon. Without them, you aren't a trainer, and without you, they aren't pokemon. Remember that." He winked at our group. Many of them seemed confused by his words.

"How old were you when you started you're journey?" Someone asked. We all looked at him as he laughed.

"Around 14. I admit that is older for an average trainer, however, my dad owned a Milktank farm and needed me to help out." He smiled. We asked question after question, asking for tips on battling, attacks, abilities, and items. However, he just nodded and answered each question with a question of his own. By the time we left for dinner, we were all confused and frustrated that our sponsor wasn't as good as the others.

"How come we get a crappy sponsor while Sinnoh gets Zoey? She's amazing, she beat Dawn with a Glameow! That takes some serious skill." A Unovian said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Maybe next week, we'll get an amazing sponsor and the rest of the regions will get lame sponsors?" I said. Everyone agreed with that idea, except for the trainer.

"Unless we all fail the Task tomorrow, then we won't be there for another sponsor." He said. All of sudden, I realized what he was saying. Riley didn't tell us how many people were being cut, but just that there was going to be cuts. It may just be that he cuts an entire region.

"It would really suck if the sponsors were the key to winning the Task tomorrow. My only hope is if I win the matchup." Everyone frowned and lost their appetite. Despite not being in their region, I felt their anxiety. We finished our dinner and all headed back to the Dome, which turned into a full battle stadium. Riley was in the center with a microphone.

"Welcome to your first Pokemon Random Match up! We will pick two trainers at random and they shall battle it out to secure themselves a spot in the next week. The trainer that losses will leave the program before their first Task. There are only two trainers that cannot be chosen tonight and those people are Jason Marx from Johto and Laert Runis from Gaen. Let's begin!" He launched a pokeball in the air and his Lucario came out. It used Aura Sphere on a huge button that revealed a huge screen. 40 faces scrolled down until the first one stopped to a person named Jay Evans from Hoenn. The other stopped at a Unovian named Blake Hale. I recognized him as the one who helped me in ForeFear Forest. Both of them stood up and walked down to the battlefield.

"Begin!" Riley shouted. Jay revealed a small Linoone while Blake sent out a Braviary.

"Bravo, use Air Slash!" The bird-pokemon threw a swirling sphere of air at the normal-type.

"Linoone, dodge, then use Ice Beam!" Blake's eyes narrowed with fear.

"Dodge it!" He yelled. His Braviary flew up in the air, but the slim line of ice hit it directly.

"Brav!" It yelped. Jay grinned and yelled, "Use Slash!" His Linoone, like a speeding bullet, jumped and slashed at the bird. It grimaced, but slapped it away with it's wing.

"Bravo, Brave Bird!" His Braviary burst in blue energy and tackled the Linoone to the floor. It backed up, but cringed as it took the recoil damage.

"Linnone, hit it with another Ice Beam!" Jay yelled with a smile. His Linoone opened its mouth to prepare another attack.

"Stop it! Giga Impact!" Blake shouted. I glanced at his Braviary, which was a swirling funnel of power, and saw it slam the Linoone down once again. When the dust cleared, Jay's Linoone had fainted and Jay's face was filled with sadness.

"Congradulations! Blake Hale has won the first Pokemon League Match up. He has secured himself a spot in the second week of this program. Congradulations Blake!" We all cheered for him, but some of Jay's Hoenn friends didn't. I thought I saw a tear form in Lily's eye.

"Everyone have a good night!" Riley shouted. We all went back to our rooms.

I can't believe it; I would hate to be in Jay's shoes…

I remembered Jay's face as he progressed through the battle. His voice was more confident, his face brighter, but his tactics had holes. Instead of using Ice Beam again, he could have buffed his defenses or speed with a status-affecting move while Blake's Braviary was affected by its recoil. I left my room and headed to the Hoenn wing, where a large group was outside Jay's door. I went over to Lily and hugged her. Her tears drenched my shirt.

"I can't believe. Jay was my childhood friend. He and I went to school together. It's just not fair!" She sobbed. I tried to comfort her until Jay walked out of his room. His suitcase was packed and his Champion Ball was in his hand. Despite his loss, he still had a smile on his face.

"Hey guys…guess I'm leaving." He hugged everyone and shook my hand.

"You're a really good trainer, I wish we could've battled." I said. He cracked a grin.

"Visit me in Hoenn sometime, we can battle there." We all went to the docks to wish him goodbye. Riley was waiting there with Lance. He held out his hand and Jay placed his Champion Ball in it.

"Although you haven't stayed here very long, we hope that you had an excellent time." Riley smiled. Jay returned the smile and gave his suitcase to Lance. He turned to us and said, "Good luck to all of you! Although I lost, I'm still going to be the best trainer in the world! So watch out!" Everyone cheered and he shook hands with Riley. Riley then handed the Champion Ball back to Jay's startled hands.

"You can keep you're pokemon. It seems it has grown quite an attachement to you. We hope that you still train hard, Mr. Evans." Jay nodded annd boarded the ship. It let a huge steam of smoke and drifted off into the sunset. Jay waved once more, then headed inside.

Everyone went back to their rooms in packs, talking about Jay or about the Task tomorrow. I tried to catch Blake's eye, but he ignored me and went to his room.

"I-I hope I never be in a match-up." Lily whispered. I grabbed her hands.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that doesn't happen." She leaned forward and kissed my lips. Despite everything, it was probably the best night of my life.


*Hope you liked it, it was kinda emotional (Not really). Jay was really fun to write about, as well as Blake.

*Next Chapter – Brave, Laert and Lily face their first Task, the Disadvantage Task. What will happen as the possiblity of getting cut surrounds Laert's mind.

*Special shoutout to Anthony Christian for Blake's character, RushedFast for Jay's character and Pokestets23 character, which will appear in future chapters

*Expected update for Brave- 3/25 or 4/1