DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon. Pokémon is published and owned by Japanese video game company Nintendo, and was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996.

The following is a loose novelization of the events of the video games Pokémon X & Y. Several events, lines of dialogue, and Pokémon owned by the characters will therefore be different.

"Man, the action's REALLY heating up!" Tierno exclaimed.

"Speaking of which, I think it's our turn, isn't it?" Skylark asked, smiling warmly as Tierno practically melted.

"...U-Uh huh!" Tierno mumbled, following the girl to the battlefield.

Serena facepalmed hard. "Ugh, Tierno...He needs to get out of Lalaland soon, or he's gonna be in huge trouble..."

Reaching the battlefield, Skylark gave a small bow to the audience before she drew two Ultra Balls, shocking Tierno out of his current state. "Fletchinder, Spritzee, time to battle!" Tossing the Ultra Balls, they both opened to unleash a Fire/Flying-type that looked like a grown-up Fletchling, and a pink Pokémon that looked like a bird fused with a whiff of perfume.

"Whoa, she used Ultra Balls on them?!" Calem demanded. "Wouldn't that mean they were already high-leveled when she caught 'em?!"

Tierno gulped, realizing the same thing. "...Umm...I think I'm in serious trouble...!"

"C'mon, Tierno!" Shauna yelled. "Don't give up before the match even starts!"

"R-Right!" Tierno stammered, getting his game face back on. "Corphish, Quacklin', let's get it started!" Tossing a pair of Poké Balls, Tierno released his Pokémon to the field, all while Serena and Trevor scanned Skylark's from the sidelines.

"Fletchinder, the Ember Pokémon, and the evolved form of Fletchling," Serena's Pokédex declared. "When hunting, it expels embers from its beak that set the tall grass aflame, then pounces the bewildered prey that leap out to escape the fire."

"She's a smart predator, no doubt," Serena observed.

"Spritzee, the Perfume Pokémon," Trevor's Pokédex read aloud. "It emits a scent that enraptures those who smell it. In the past, women of royalty carried a Spritzee as opposed to wearing perfume."

"Sounds pretty unique," Trevor noted. "I wonder how she'll fare in battle, though."

"Corphish, Rain Dance!" Tierno ordered, Corphish dancing around as rain clouds formed. "Quacklin', Swords Dance!" Tierno's Farfetch'd spun his leek around like a baton, powering up his attack stat.

"Looks like he's not wasting anytime putting Skylark at a disadvantage!" Calem exclaimed, Azurill nodding in agreement while perched on his shoulder.

"Agreed," Jaros replied. "Rain Dance'll cut the power of Fletchinder's Fire-type attacks down, and boost Corphish's, while that Farfetch'd will be able to attack hard and fast right outta the gate."

"Yeah, but is it me, or does Skylark not look all that worried?" Harmony pointed out, Skylark's expression looking rather confident, as did her Pokémon for that matter.

"Let's make this fast!" Tierno yelled. "Corphish, Aqua Jet on Fletchinder!" Corphish leaped into the air, coating himself in water as he shot toward Fletchinder like a rocket.

Skylark grinned. "Quick Guard!" Fletchinder landed and stretched her wings out in front of herself. As Corphish was about to connect, a red shield surrounded Fletchinder, stopping the Ruffian Pokémon in his tracks. "Now, Fire Blast!" Taking a deep breath, Fletchinder immediately released a gigantic flame in the shape of the kanjī 大, burning Corphish and knocking him out in one blow.

"Holy crap!" Brighton shouted. "She fried Corphish in one hit!"

"Type disadvantage, weather disadvantage, and she still managed a one hit knockout!" Bridget exclaimed, gulping nervously. "I REALLY hope I don't have to face her in the next round!"

"Quacklin', use Leaf Blade on Spritzee!" Tierno commanded as the Wild Duck Pokémon ran in to attack the Fairy-type, his leek turning into a glowing green blade.

"Spritzee, Thunderbolt!" Skylark called, the Perfume Pokémon unleashing a blast of electricity that shocked Quacklin' hard, causing him to fall over as he fainted.

"Unbelievable!" Mr. Bonding yelled over the speakers. "Skylark wins with just two attacks!"

"No way!" Calem shouted in disbelief. "Tierno lost in a shut-out in the first round?!"

Tierno recalled his Pokémon, falling to his knees in utter shock. "I-I can't believe I got beat so easy...!"

"Tierno?" Skylark asked, walking up to the boy and extending her hand with a smile. "I'm sorry I had to eliminate you so quickly, but I didn't wanna disrespect you by holding back."

"Uhh, sure, I guess that makes sense," Tierno replied, blinking in surprise at how friendly Skylark was being after demonstrating such scary-high power. Finally, he got back to his feet, smiled his usual Tierno smile, and shook Skylark's hand graciously, the crowd cheering in approval.

"Man, Tierno's amazing," Jaros said with a grin. "I've never known someone to face a loss that devastating and take it like a man."

"Yep, that's Tierno," Shauna replied with a smile. "Nothing can dampen his spirits for too long."

"And now, for the next battle!" Mr. Bonding called.

Calem grinned, hopping off the bench. "Well, looks like it's my turn!"

Joey grinned, running out to the battlefield. Just as Calem reached the side opposite of the youngster, though, Azurill suddenly leaped off his shoulder, bouncing around on her tail in front of him.

"A-Azurill?!" Calem asked, surprised.

"So, starting off with Azurill, huh?" Joey inquired.

"Hold up, I haven't even officially caught her yet!" Calem called, only for Azurill to bounce higher to meet faces with the boy, showing him her enthusiastic smile. "...Uh, you sure you wanna do this?" Azurill gave a quick nod, which Calem returned. "Okay then. Chespin, back her up!" Tossing a single Poké Ball, Calem sent out his Spiky Nut Pokémon, who greeted Azurill in a friendly manner.

"Then I'm going with Vivillon and Zigzagoon!" Joey yelled, tossing a pair of Poké Balls to bring out a dark blue and white winged Vivillon, and a brown and cream coloured raccoon Pokémon. Calem immediately brought out his Pokédex, scanning the latter.

"Zigzagoon, the Tiny Raccoon Pokémon," the Pokédex read aloud. "A Pokémon with an abundant curiosity, it constantly shows an interest in everything, thus always walking in a zigzag fashion."

"I'm worried about Calem using a wild Pokémon for this battle," Trevor noted. "How well can they be expected to work as a team here?"

"I guess we'll find out," Tierno replied, taking a seat next to his friend.

"Azurill, Helping Hand!" Calem ordered, the Polka Dot Pokémon touching her tail to Chespin and causing him to glow with added power. "Chespin, Rollout!" Chespin rolled up into a wheel, speeding toward Vivillon.

"Vivillon, Stun Spore!" Joey shouted, the Scale Pokémon releasing orange mist from his wings. Despite this, Chespin still managed to get a good hit in, heavily damaging Vivillon, but skidded out of control as he became paralyzed from the Stun Spore.

"Crap," Jaros muttered. "Without being able to build up momentum, Rollout can't do its maximum damage."

"Zigzagoon, Headbutt!" Joey commanded, Zigzagoon dashing across the field in a zigzag pattern before slamming headfirst into Azurill, sending her tumbling.

"Oh no, Azurill!" Serena cried.

"Azurill, you okay?!" Calem demanded, only for Azurill to get back to her feet with a VERY mean look on her face. She then proceeded to bounce off her tail at Zigzagoon, almost knocking him clean out of the battlefield.

"Whoa, she can hit HARD for a little mouse Pokémon!" Shauna exclaimed.

"I'll bet that Azurill has the Ability Huge Power!" Skylark replied. "It doubles the power of her physical attacks!"

"Not to mention she's got kind of a temper on her!" Merrill added. "That is one mouse you do NOT wanna piss off!"

Calem gave his head a quick shake, brushing off the shock and taking advantage of the situation. "Chespin, try a Vine Whip on Vivillon!" Chespin fought through the paralysis, whipping out a pair of vines from his head and cracking them across Vivillon's wings, knocking him to the ground. "Azurill, Bubble!" Azurill took in a deep breath before firing foamy bubbles at Zigzagoon and Vivillon, knocking them both out.

"And Calem takes the victory!" Mr. Bonding declared.

"WAY TO GO, CALEM!" Grace shouted from the stands, causing her son to blush with embarrassment.

"Man, you and Azurill were definitely the top percent!" Joey exclaimed as he recalled his Pokémon, jogging over to high five Calem.

"Thanks," Calem replied with a smile before kneeling down in front of Azurill. "So, how about it? Wanna make it official?"

Azurill nodded happily, to which Calem pulled out a Poké Ball. The Polka Dot Pokémon poked the ball with her tail, causing it to open and pull her inside in a flash of light. The ball didn't shake at all, quickly letting out the ding for successful capture.

"Alright, I got Azurill!" Calem declared, holding his Poké Ball up as the crowd cheered.

"Dun-Dun, use Ice Beam!" Shauna called, her Dunsparce unleashing a chilly blast at Louise's Psyduck, a yellow Water-type Duck Pokémon. Despite the type, disadvantage, Psyduck took massive damage, fainting as he fell onto his back.

"Litleo, use Ember!" Louise ordered as she recalled Psyduck. Litleo, a brown Lion Cub Pokémon, quickly heaved out a barrage of fireballs, wounding and burning Dun-Dun.

"Froabble, beat it back with Smack Down!" Shauna yelled, her Froakie charging a metallic gold orb of energy in his hand before chucking it at Litleo, knocking him out cold.

"And Shauna wins with her Froakie and Dunsparce!" Mr. Bonding declared, Shauna cheering with her Pokémon in victory.

"Ami, Rei!" Merrill shouted, tossing out his fox-like Pokémon to face off with Charlotte. One was a blue, serene looking Pokémon, while the other possessed bold, orange and yellow fur, resembling wisps of flame. Calem quickly dug out his Pokédex, scanning the two.

"Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokémon," the Pokédex described while pointed to the blue Ami. "It has evolved to be suitable for an aquatic life. With cells similar to water molecules, it could melt in water."

"And the other one?" Shauna asked as Calem aimed the Pokédex at Rei.

"Flareon, the Flame Pokémon," the Pokédex answered. "Its body temperature tops close to 900 degrees Celsius before battle. After inhaling deeply, it can blow flames increasing to almost 1,650 degrees."

"That's more than enough to melt iron...!" Trevor pointed out, his eye twitching.

"Weedle, Goldeen, go!" Charlotte summoned, releasing Weedle alongside a white and orange Goldfish Pokémon with a horn on her head. One look at her opposition, though, and Merrill's Flareon merely rolled her eyes and laid down on the field, resting her head on her front paws.

Merrill sweatdropped. "Eheh, doing this again, huh? Whatever, I'm sure Ami can handle this one alone." Merrill's Vaporeon smiled and nodded, stepping forward.

"Huh, looks like Rei has a bit of an attitude problem," Harmony pointed out.

"On the other hand, Ami seems all too happy to prove herself to Merrill," Skylark added.

"Two-on-one should be a huge disadvantage, but...we'll see," Jaros noted, looking intrigued.

"Goldeen, use Horn Attack, and Weedle, use Poison Sting!" Charlotte ordered, wasting no time. Her Pokémon charged across the field, horns forward as they sped toward Ami.

"Ami, Double Team!" Merrill commanded, his Vaporeon vibrating her body as she created three illusions of herself, the four running around the field as Weedle and Goldeen were left to figure out which was the real one.

"Weedle, String Shot!" Charlotte yelled, the Bug/Poison-type spitting out thread across the field that tripped a pair of illusions up, causing them to disappear before the third Ami behind them leaped over the thread.

"Goldeen, Horn Attack that one!" Charlotte directed, Goldeen bouncing into the air and jabbing her horn straight down at the Vaporeon, only for her to vanish. "Wha?!"

"Ami, Water Pulse!" Merrill ordered with a grin, as the last Vaporeon, conveniently behind Weedle, charged up a blue, watery sphere of energy. She quickly launched it, knocking Weedle out before he could respond in time.

"Goldeen, take her out with Horn Drill!" Charlotte shouted as she recalled Weedle. Goldeen's eyes narrowed as swirling energy built up in her horn, eventually launching herself at Vaporeon and spinning in mid-air like a high-powered drill.

"Too slow!" Merrill called as Ami leaped at Goldeen, likewise spinning in mid-air and rolling around the attack, avoiding it gracefully.

"Water Pulse!" both trainers yelled, the two Water-type Pokémon unleashing twin spheres of watery energy. The Water Pulses collided, exploding into a small wave of water that soaked the field, including Rei, who woke up from her nap looking a bit irritated. The Flame Pokémon stamped her paws down, giving a death glare to Goldeen, all while Ami wisely decided to make herself scarce.

"Rei, good to go?" Merrill asked, his Flareon giving a small growl. "Okay, then use Flamethrower!" Rei took in a deep breath before unleashing a column of flames from her mouth.

"Goldeen, Water Pulse!" Charlotte called, the Goldfish Pokémon countering Flamethrower with her Water Pulse. However, despite the type advantage, the Flamethrower evaporated Water Pulse before the flames that were left shot through and burned Goldeen.

"Now, Flare Blitz!" Merrill roared, Rei charging across the field. As she went, though, the Fire-type Pokémon became coated in blue flames, essentially becoming a high-powered living fireball. Rei tackled into Goldeen hard, the flames around her exploding in their faces as Goldeen was knocked out, Rei likewise receiving recoil damage. She turned her snout up and walked away, unimpressed with Goldeen's resistance.

"A-And Merrill wins in an impressive showing!" Mr. Bonding proclaimed, the crowd roaring appreciatively. "And, with that, the eight Trainers advancing to the Quarter-Finals are Serena, Jaros, Trevor, Bridget, Skylark, Calem, Shauna, and Merrill!"

"Jeez, with Pokémon like that, Merrill's gotta be the favourite to win!" Bridget observed as Merrill and Charlotte shook hands.

Jaros grinned, adjusting his fedora. "Well, we'll see about that. I didn't come out here to bow out without a fight."

Tierno and Harmony sweatdropped, the former of which muttering, "Neither did we, but oh look..."

"Aw, cheer up, you two!" Skylark said, putting a hand on the two's shoulders. "I'm sure you'll do way better next time!"

Tierno blushed, scratching his cheek. "Eheh, well, if you say so..."

Calem smirked, watching as Merrill started to head back toward the benches. "Merrill...Whether we face each other in the tournament or not, I want a shot at him before this all wraps up."

"Get in line," Serena replied with a grin. "After our last battle, I've got unfinished business with him."

Shauna blinked in surprise, nudging Trevor. "Um, those two seem a bit too eager to battle someone as tough as Merrill, don't they?"

"Not at all," Trevor corrected, Pikachu likewise shaking his head. "Everyone here wants to prove that they're the best. If Merrill really IS the favourite to win, then that means they gotta go through him to prove themselves. Same goes for us."

A few minutes later, the group were assembled back at the temporary Pokémon Centre, healing up their teams after the exhausting first round. As they did, the doors flung open, and Calem had little time to react as Grace suddenly ran in, grabbing her son and hugging him tightly, much to his immense embarrassment and to his friends' schadenfreude-esque enjoyment.

"Oh, Calem, that was magnificent!" Grace cried as she held her son to her bosom. "It reminded me so much of your father and I's battles back in the day! I just know he'd be so proud of everything you've managed to accomplish in such a-"

"Mom...can't...breathe!" Calem gasped, leading to an embarrassed Grace releasing her death-grip on her son. "...And thanks. It means a lot to me that you came."

"Well, after I'd heard about your victory in Santalune City, I just HAD to come to cheer you on in the tournament," Grace replied with a smile.

"How'd you know about that?" Tierno asked.

"I told her all about it," the group heard Alexa declare as she walked in. "Calem Xavier. I KNEW your name rung a bell with me."

"Wait, don't tell me...?" Serena started to say.

"Yep!" Alexa responded with a broad smile. "Me and Grace here are old friends. I used to report on her races whenever she came to the Kalos Region back in the day."

"Is there anybody in Kalos you DON'T know?" Calem asked, surprised.

"I guess I AM rather well-known here," Grace admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "And here I thought coming to Kalos was a good way to get away from all the fame of the glory days. Pretty silly, huh?"

Jeez, they really ARE practically the same person, Trevor realized. She's way more experienced, but she's not completely immune to the same air-headed mistakes as Calem. Or rather, I suppose that's where HE gets it from.

"So hey, when do we find out our next opponents?" Shauna asked.

"The quarter finals start in about an hour, just enough time to give everyone time to recover after the last battles," Alexa replied. "Everyone will get randomly paired together again, and the battles will get underway. And once the Quarter-Finals are over, everyone has the night off, and the Semi-Finals pick up after lunch tomorrow."

"Well, whoever I'm paired up with, I'm ready to make it clean past them," Trevor proclaimed.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu said confidently.

Around an hour later, Trevor and Pikachu weren't quite as confident, for of all opponents that they could get randomly matched against, it was the one who steamrolled over Tierno with seemingly zero difficulty: Skylark. The powerful yet friendly girl gave an equally friendly wave, causing the two to gulp as they found themselves having to eat their words.

"Looks like it's you and me to kick it off, huh Shauna?" Calem asked, grinning confidently.

"Yep, looks like a rematch from our battle all the way back at the beginning of our journey," Shauna replied. "Just so you know, though, I've gotten WAY stronger since then."

"And don't I know it," Calem noted, shaking Shauna's hand. "Good luck."

Serena smiled, approaching Bridget. "It looks like we've been paired up. I'm definitely looking forward to battling that Bibarel of yours."

"And I'm looking forward to seeing what your Pokémon can do up close and personal, too," Bridget responded, giving a thumbs up.

Jaros gave a small chuckle. "Well now, look who THAT leaves." The redhead turned to face Merrill, who stared him back in the eye, the tension so thick you could poke it with your finger.

"May the best man win," Merrill declared, beaming with confidence.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Jaros replied, running his finger across the brim of his fedora as everyone realized, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if they thought the first round was intense, they hadn't seen ANYTHING yet...

Pokémon Spotlight!

Calem's Azurill
Ability: Huge Power
Gender: Female
Nature: Naughty
Characteristic: Highly curious
Attacks: Bubble, Bounce, Helping Hand

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, couple of things I should take note of. First off, as I failed to mention last chapter, Return Favour is the only case where I'm referring to an attack by its Japanese name. Why am I doing this in the first place? Because it's redundant as all heck to have the attack named 'Return' when the word 'return' is also a commonly used command given when recalling Pokémon to their Poké Balls. On that note, the only reason I haven't used that as of late is because the battles in the past couple of chapters have been either Double Battles or rapid-fire Single Battles, and writing that in slows the action down.

Speaking of action, before anyone asks, the reason I cut down most of the action between Shauna and Louise is because there wasn't really much I felt needed to be shown, other than Psyduck and Litleo's Pokédex entries. Well, there's plenty of occasions where I can show them, and I wasn't exactly planning on having Louise be anything special. I do apologize for that, as I don't especially like using characters as filler, but that's just how it came to be in this case. Sorry.

Finally, if you haven't noticed the trend of Merrill's team, I'll spell it out for you: His team is made up of Eeveelutions named after the Sailor Senshi from the original Japanese manga of Sailor Moon. Likewise, each one also knows at least one attack shared by their counterpart, except in the case of Ami. The original plan was for Merrill's Vaporeon to know Bubble Beam, but we'd forgotten that Vaporeon hasn't been able to legally learn that move in YEARS, no thanks to a certain character in the anime. Thus, I substituted it for Water Pulse.

Anyway, check in next time as the tournament rages on into the Quarter-Finals, and we learn which four Trainers will be moving on to the Semi-Finals. Ja né!