"So this is Naxren Town," Loca said looking around at all the buildings, very few were over two stories. Although the town seemed quite large as they walked down one of the streets there were very few people to be seen, Wolfy had been hoping to ask someone for directions to the Pokémon centre, "It's quieter than I thought it would be."
"Yeah it is," Wolfy replied searching around for some sign of people; there was nobody on the paths, no cars on the roads, even the shops were closed. He finally resigned himself to opening his Pokégear and using the map function to find out how to get to the Pokémon centre. They followed the directions and quickly found the Pokémon centre a couple of streets away.
They entered to find an exhausted looking Nurse Joy sat behind the desk, her shoulders were drooped and she had bags under her eyes. "Good morning," she said yawning, "How can I help you? Need your Pokémon fixed up before the tournament?"
"Tournament?" Wolfy asked excited, "What tournament?"
"The Annual Naxren Tag-Team tournament of course," the nurse replied as she took both of their Pokémon to the back room, Gible waving from his tray. Once she returned from the room she continued to speak, "Every year, trainer teams from all over Lillen arrive to enter the tournament; they come and prove their ability to work in a team. I've been working through the night to fix all of their Pokémon."
"Actually we're just here to challenge the gym," Loca said leaning against the counter, "can you give us directions?"
"Of course I can but it won't do you any good," Nurse Joy said with another yawn, "The Gym Leader Vinen hosts the tournament, the gym will be closed until it's finished."
Loca looked to Wolfy a little disappointed, however he was a little happy at the prospect, "Why don't we enter the tournament too Loca? We could do with the training before our gym battles."
She was obviously hesitant, she stewed it over for a while until Nurse Joy broke through her thoughts, "Did I mention that the winners get a Pokémon egg each?" Instantly Loca brightened up and was nearly running out of the centre a few minutes later after Nurse Joy had given them back their refreshed Pokémon and directions to the stadium.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Wolfy called from a few paces behind as he ran to keep up, Loca was full on sprinting now, rushing through the deserted streets.
"Didn't you hear Nurse Joy?" she yelled back without breaking stride, "We only have an hour left before they close registration for the tournament."
"But the stadium is five minutes away," he shouted but she didn't slow her pace, "You must really want that egg huh?"
"Don't you?" she replied as she turned a corner around a Pokémart, "The moment of excitement when you finally discover what kind of Pokémon will hatch from your beloved egg, the joy of having a cute baby Pokémon to love and raise."
"Depends if it's a Magikarp egg or not," Wolfy said under his breath. Within a few minutes they had reached the large stadium on the edge of town, the area was packed with spectators buying merchandise from stalls that lined the path to the stadium entrance. Loca grabbed his arm and dragged him through the crowds, slipping in between people herself but causing Wolfy to crash into them. Before he knew it they were lined up to register. There were dozens of people lining up and a few individuals calling through the crowd for someone to join them, hoping they could enter too. Standing in front of Loca and Wolfy were two twins, their blonde hair and yellow dresses matched perfectly, each had a small yellow Pokémon on their shoulders. One of the Pokémon had red markings in its fur whilst the other had blue but both were insanely cute. Wolfy pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it to the red one first; Plusle, the Cheering Pokémon. Plusle is known to cheer on other Pokémon and encourage them; they have also been seen charging their electricity from telephone poles. When working together with Minun, their potential is near limitless. He then pointed it at the one with the blue markings, knowing before the Pokédex said so that it was a Minun. Minun, the Cheering Pokémon. It cheers on its friends in battle, when its friends are losing it gives off sparks from its body. When teamed with a Plusle their power can be devastating.
"Checking the competition?" the twin with Plusle asked smiling in a friendly manner, "Plusle and Minun are the best Pokémon team there is."
"They're so cute!" Loca said almost exploding with excitement, "I want one!"
The twins laughed before the one with Minun spoke, "That's very kind of you. I'm Grace, this is Harmony."
"I'm Wolfrick but you can call me Wolfy," he said whilst Loca practically drooled at Plusle and Minun, "This is Loca, we're travelling together."
"It's nice to meet you," they said together in unison before Harmony continued, "have you competed in this tournament before?"
"No, in all honesty we only started our journey four days ago," Wolfy said running his hand through his hair, suddenly it seemed a little foolish to be entering the tournament, "We haven't actually been in a Multi-battle before either."
Both the twins stared dumbfounded before looking at each other, the shock on their faces only added to Wolfy's apprehension. Loca managed to peel herself away from the twin Pokémon long enough to talk, "Have you two?"
"We started our journey over a year ago," Grace said after giving herself a mental shake, "We only ever battle together. Last year we came third in the competition, this year we're gunna be first."
The twins seemed determined and strong; they continued to chat as they slowly made their way to the front of the line. Once the twins registered they ran through the entrance that the marshal had told them to go through, the green door. There were also three other doors, the teams had been entering through whichever one the marshal instructed them to use, those entrances marked which group a team was in. The four groups (Red, Yellow, Green and Blue) set up the first two matches of the tournament; the winners from each group were entered into the semi-finals where they face the winner from another group. The winners of those battles got to face each other in the final.
"Pokédexes?" the marshal asked as the twins ran off, he held out his hand in which they placed their Pokédexes. The man then put them in slots on the machine in front of them, on the screen their pictures and a little background information appeared, "Team Wolfy and Loca please go through the red door."
"This is it Wolfy," Loca said as they took back their Pokédexes, "Our first challenge as a team, you ready?"
"Always!" Wolfy replied, together they walked off through the red door. Inside was a small waiting room with only two exits, the way they came and another corridor at the far end of the room which Wolfy presumed to be the way to the stadium battleground. The Red group waiting room had chairs and benches dotted around, lockers covered one wall and vending machines covered the other. Two well fed men were standing next to the vending machines, one eating a chocolate bar and the other a packet of cheese flavoured crisps. Sitting on one of the sofas in front of a large television screen were another team, two school girls from the local Trainer School, both watched the opening ceremony of the tournament on the screen. The last pair sat in the corner, whispering to each other and giving the other team's dark looks. One was a man with spikey red hair; his deep set eyes watched everything as he sat in his white vest and dark jeans. The other had blue hair that covered most of his face and scars on his arms, his black vest seemed to almost show them off. The way they were assessing the competition led Wolfy to mark them as their greatest completion in the group.
"Well this is different," Loca said looking around at the teams, cringing slightly at the well fed men as they each started a new snack from the machine, "I wonder who we're up against first?"
"Welcome to the fifty-first Annual Naxren Tag-Team Tournament!" the commentator's voice burst out of the television, as the camera showed the roaring crowds. The stands were packed with men, women, children and even some Pokémon. A knot appeared in Wolfy's stomach, seeing the multitudes of people only made him more nervous. "This year the tournament is presented by the new Naxren Gym Leader, Vinen!"
The camera showed a young man with green hair and a kind smile, his brown overcoat almost reached to the hem of his green combat trousers. He waved to the crowds, obviously enjoying every call of his name as the crowd began to chant it. "Welcome contestants and spectators!" he called over the roaring only to incite more chants and yells, "We have thirty-two trainers, sixteen teams in four groups but only one team can win! Only they will take home the special prize for this year's tournament; two Pokémon eggs! The mystery eggs are donated by the Pokémon breeding school in Sionik City, only the headmaster knows what will hatch from them."
The camera moved to show two eggs sat side by side on a cushioned pedestal, one black with red markings, the other a pale blue with white stripes. Standing next to them was Vinen, gesturing to the two eggs with his arm outstretched. The crowd roared again as the eggs came on screen, their excitement was almost contagious. "The first round matches will be held four at a time on the stadium floor, after that the matches will be held on one of the large arenas, the environment of which will be selected at random at the beginning of each battle. The battles will be selected at random from within the groups, if you look to the big screen now it will show the match ups for the first round."
The camera looked to the board, showing pictures of each pair at the left and right edges, each picture with a coloured border that showed their group. Wolfy and Loca were in the second match of their group, against the well fed men. Wolfy looked over to their opponents, they had at least looked away from the vending machine to see who they were up against but they still shovelled food in their mouths with appalling accuracy. The school girls and the pair in the corner both rose and walked down the corridor.
"And here come the first contestants, introducing from the Red group, Mary and Julia from the Naxren Trainer School" their names were met with a wave of cheers from the crowd as they entered the stadium, walking to the red battlefield. Each group had a similar field with the lines marked in their colour, all four set up in a kind of rectangle. "Now welcome their opponents, the winners of last year's tournament; Chad and Nixon!"
"This is kind of intense isn't it?" Loca said whilst the other names were announced, each accompanied by a cheer and the occasional boo from the crowd.
"A little bit," Wolfy said watching each contestant enter the arena, "at least we get to watch first so we can pick up a few tricks."
Loca nodded as the last of the entrants took their places.
"Now, let's get this tournament underway," Vinen's voice yelled over the excited crowd, "Contestants, begin!"