Chapter Thirty-Four— The Tournament Begins

I dreadfully walked out the front doors of the Snowpoint City Gym into the horrid, freezing landscape outside. The gym itself wasn't much warmer, but at least it didn't have wind chill that made it feel thirty degrees colder than it actually was.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Wait, he was just in Canalave with Ash and Co. How the heck is he in Snowpoint City?" Well, I'll tell you. It's actually been about three months since I met back up with Ash and everyone else. The reason I'm in Snowpoint has to do with what I told everyone about wanting to do something normal. I said I wanted to challenge the gyms, if just to calm down from annihilating Team Rocket's entire existence. (I've had every TR member I've encountered arrested by Officer Jenny in these three months. They're not happy.) We all agreed that it would be better if we split up, Ash could continue getting his remaining badges while I go get mine. This way, I wouldn't slow him down by having everyone revisit each town all over again just so I could get my badges. Bianca's the only one who came with me, since Ash and May wanted to stick together and Brock had to be there so the couple wouldn't get hopelessly lost.

Funny, considering I said I would travel with them again. We've kept close contact though. I tell them when I'm in a new town or if I have a new badge or how my training is going, or they'll call me and we'll catch up with each other's progress. It's almost like we're traveling together so it isn't too bad.

I've finally gotten my final badge, which is great because I couldn't stand the weather of this city any longer. It's a great city and everyone is friendly, especially Candice, but it's just too freaking cold here.

The gym was cold too, but it was kind of fun sliding on the ice and slamming into giant snowballs. At least the physical activity kept me somewhat warm. Riolu was the leading factor against Candice's team; I couldn't be prouder of him. Everyone else helped out but he was the biggest role. Staraptor was at an obvious disadvantage so I swapped her out for the Kirlia I caught not long ago. I hadn't used her much, but she did well. She and Riolu got along pretty well, but Riolu was friendly with all of the pokémon I caught. He doesn't seem to suffer shyness and fear around other pokémon like he does humans.

I've registered many pokémon in my pokédex, but the ones in my party right now are Riolu, Rapidash, Kirlia, Buizel, Shieldon, and Magneton. They were the ones I used to defeat Candice.

Funny thing to notice, just because you can only use six pokémon at a time doesn't mean you can only have six with you. The pokéballs won't activate unless they're put through Nurse Joy's pokémon healing machine, but you can have more with you. I'ts good to know since certain events that happened during my two year absence have caused me not to trust the PC storage system, so there is one pokémon I dare not put in it. Well, two pokémon, but I don't even think about putting Riolu in it. She was a gift, and not easy to find, so I take good care of her. Both her and Riolu are about my most spoiled pokémon.

Anyway, getting back on track, I received my final gym badge from Candice, this being the last because I really didn't want to come here (Because of the weather.) So I'm really glad I beat Candice on my first try.

I hurriedly walked back to the Pokémon Center, where Bianca was waiting for me. She didn't want to go to the gym, and decided to wish me luck from the warmth of the Center. She doesn't seem to like the cold either, so I understood her decision. It was just a few blocks from the Gym to the Center, but I had already lost the feeling in my feet and fingers, and I couldn't stop shivering.

I finally came to the front doors of the Center and went to open the doors with my left arm, then found that I couldn't get my arm to bend. Curious, I tried my arm again, this time with more force. This attempt resulted in me landing on my ass from slipping on the ice in front of the door. Pleading that no one saw it, I tried once more with less force and sturdier footing. Nothing; my elbow, wrist, and fingers wouldn't move. I thought for a moment, temporarily forgetting the cold, before I found the answer. Rolling up the sleeve of my second coat - because I'm not crazy enough to wear the old one with four feet of snow outside - I saw frost building up on the false covering of skin. Ripping it off, I felt the metal of my arm. ...And immediately retracted it from temperature. The cold must have froze the mechanics in my arm, that had plenty of evidence. Slamming into snowballs probably didn't help either.

Rolling the sleeve back down, I quickly opened the Pokémon Center doors with my right hand and walked inside. I would have to wait for my arm to warm up before I could use it again. Another thing to note is how dangerous it is to have a mechanical arm at temperatures like these. Metal gets colder faster than the human body does, so the area where my mechanical arm connects with my body could have easily suffered frostbite. I knew of this danger though, so I took precaution by keeping that area as warm as possible by wrapping cloth around it. It was about the best I could do.

Bianca was sitting in the lounge area at a table by the fireplace, sketching something in her notebook. I hurried to join her, sitting in the seat closest to the fire. The warmth felt amazing.

"Hey, Bianca," I greeted.

Riolu barked his greeting as well, although tiredly, sitting on the table between us.

"Hi David. Hi Riolu," she said back. "How was the gym battle?"

"I won," I said, showing her the badge. "That gym is freezing cold."

"It's freezing cold outside..." Bianca said, pointing outside.

"Yeah I know. But I don't have to throw myself into giant piles of snow outside."

"What?"

"I had to go through giant snow boulders in the gym. As if it wasn't already cold enough."

"Oh. Wait, there was snow in the gym?" Bianca asked, surprised by this revelation.

"Yeah, I'm guessing that's why it was so cold. To keep the snow and ice from melting."

"There was ice too?"

"Yes."

"Why would you bring it inside...?" Bianca asked, half to herself, half to me.

" I don't know. Maybe because it's an Ice-type gym?" I offered. "But at least I have all the gym badges now."

"That's weird..." She shook her head. "So we can join up with Ash, May, and Brock?"

"Yeah, we just have to catch the next boat to Lily of the Valley Island."

"How long until the Sinnoh League?"

"A little less than four months I think," I answered. "Though I'm not sure I want to enter. I never was good at competing in anything."

Riolu barked, scolding my lack of confidence.

"I think you should enter," Bianca said after waiting a moment. "There's nothing to lose in trying, right?"

"Except my pride," is what I felt like saying, but I kept quiet.

"I guess I could give it a shot. Some people can't even get all eight badges so it's not like I'm at the bottom of the food chain."

Now that I thought about it, there really wasn't anything wrong with trying but my pessimistic side asked what the point would be if I lost in the first round. What if the crowd laughed at my poor performance?

I shook my head.

This is nonsense, the crowd would do something that cruel. Even if I lost in the first round.

"May was having trouble with contests, but she still entered the Grand Festival," Bianca said, trying to further convince me.

"Yeah, but May did great though. She lost against Dawn, but she made it to the final rounds. I don't know what contest trouble she was having, but it didn't do anything.

"Then Dawn had to go and lose to that one girl. Zoey, was it?"

"Dawn didn't lose on purpose. I'm sure she tried her hardest," Bianca said, defending Dawn.

"Right, I shouldn't sound so mean.

"Still, out of all the people who were competing, for May to be third out of the whole thing is impressive. Convenient that Sunnyshore City's repairs were going on at the same time," I said, thinking out loud.

"What do you mean? How is it convenient?"

"Well, the gym needed repairs, so Ash didn't have to choose between his gym challenge and watching May compete."

"Mmm, I think Ash would have still chosen to watch May."

"Maybe you're right," I said, shrugging. "Speaking of Sunnyshore, I can't believe Volkner use to just give badges away. Glad Ash helped Volkner find the 'spark' to battle again before we got there."

"Didn't Team Rocket wreck the city also?"

"Yeah. The power went out in the town because they turned the Sunnyshore Tower into a rocket that damaged the gym and the city. How the heck did they do that in one day!? I wouldn't even be able to do that! And I know rocket science."

"I didn't know it was possible to change a tower into a rocket."

"It's possible, theoretically, just not practical. Or easily done in a short time. By three people. I don't know how Team Rocket did it."

"They did it somehow. Ash described the whole thing to us."

"Jessie, James, and Meowth might be capable of more than I give them credit for. I don't know why they're still stealing pokémon but if I find them, they'll be blasting off into a prison cell."

"Why do you dislike them so much?"

"They're annoying as all Distortion World and they kidnapped Riolu for what can only be assumed as for a quick buck, that's enough for me to hate them."

I glanced out the window. It was getting dark. I must have took longer in the gym than I thought. I experimented moving my arm around before stretching. The fireplace had defrosted it, so I could move now.

"I'm going to go to my room," I said, yawning. "We'll need to get up early if we want to get to Sunnyshore before the boat to Lily of the Valley Island leaves."

"Alright, I'll go to bed soon, too."

I waved goodbye to her and headed upstairs with Riolu, who was already asleep.

Walking into my room, I sighed with exhaustion. Bianca and I had separate rooms for obvious reasons, but that was chewing a hole through the funds I acquired from gym challenges and friendly battles with other trainers. Something they never pointed out in the show: rooms aren't free. And having to pay for two rooms at every Pokémon Center we stayed in gets expensive incredibly quickly.

But the reasons are obvious so I'll just have to deal with it and keep quiet about the current state of our finances in front of Bianca.

I woke up the next morning very reluctantly. Feeling the air in the room, I was hesitant to leave the bed. The temperature of the room wasn't cold, the Center's heater made sure of that, but it was still colder than the bed was. It was like a warning of the weather outside the Center. I was looking forward to feeling the weather of Sunnyshore City.

"That's all of it, right?" I asked Bianca as I put my bag on the bed.

"I think so," she answered.

"Alright, I'm going to fly to Sunnyshore for the ferry schedule."

"Okay, I'll wait here then."

"I'll leave Riolu here as company," I said.

With that I walked out of the room with Staraptor's pokéball and flew towards Sunnyshore.

I arrived in a rush about four hours later, not even giving Staraptor time to fully stop before running back into the Center. When I reached Bianca's room I was already winded, but I had to hurry.

"Bianca!" I shouted when I entered the room. "We have to leave now!"

She jumped in surprise.

"Ah! David! You startled me. Why the rush? Did something happen?"

"The ferry's due to leave in two hours! We have to go or we'll miss it!"

"Huh? What?"

"There's no time!"

I hurried her out the door, Riolu running after us looking just as confused. We were back outside in record time and I quickly climbed onto Staraptor, whose feathers looked pretty ruffled from being left outside.

"Sorry, girl," I apologized, petting her neck as Bianca climbed on behind me.

When Riolu was settled on my shoulders, we took off.

"If we're lucky, we'll make it in time," I told Bianca, glancing back at her.

"I thought this was why we woke up so early? To prevent this from happening," she said in a scolding tone.

"Well I didn't realize the ferry was going to leave at the crack of dawn. I thought it would have been closer to noon," I responded, harsher than intended.

It was quiet after that and I was kind of glad. Bianca didn't really sound too upset and I was only upset with the situation, but I feel like it might have turned into an argument if we continued. I didn't want to argue with her; the last thing I wanted was for things to be awkward between us. And nothing says awkward like sitting next to the person you've just been yelling at for the next two hours.

After a while, Bianca spoke up.

"Hey," she started.

"Yeah?"

"If we're flying there, why can't we just fly to the island?"

"I thought about it, but it wouldn't be a good idea. Security requires everyone to go through the main gates from the ferry, otherwise you can't register. Trying to prevent unwanted people from getting in."

"Unwanted?"

"Yeah; you know; spectators, unqualified trainers, thieves, that sort of thing."

"Wait, they don't want spectators? I thought they always allowed people to watch in-person?"

"They do. It's just that this year is a little different. Instead of the way the normally do it, they're giving us a three month grace period between registration and the tournament."

"Three months?"

"Yeah, something about security and preparing for the tournament, or something like that."

She looked at me strangely.

"Here, I'll just read what it said," I said, taking out the announcement. " 'Due to security concerns, this year's tournament will have a three month delay between registration and the start of the tournament. This three month delay will allow competitors to further prepare themselves while also allowing other trainers to gather their remaining badges required. Any trainer who achieves all eight badges within the three month period can still register, however, trainers who register early have more time to prepare, and I think we all remember from last year: hotel rooms are limited. Those who take too long may have to camp outside. The Pokemon League Committee thanks you for your cooperation and we hope for another wonderful tournament. ' "

I finished reading the announcement and put the paper back in my pocket, taking extra care not to move around to much on Staraptor.

"Well, that's... interesting at least."

"Yeah, and it leaves a lot of reasons why I want to get there early: One, I need all the time I can get; two, I am not sleeping outside; three, these 'security concerns' bother me."

"Oh right. I wonder what they mean by that."

"I might have to go find out," I said, thinking of what to do when we got there. The obvious is to take care of the basics: rooms, registration. But I need to think on how to prepare.

The rest of the trip went on in silence, me being lost in thought and Bianca afraid to interrupt me, so she looked at the scenery instead.

By some force of luck, we arrived at the ferry just in time, as the man who took our tickets informed us that the ferry was about to depart. We boarded the ship, looking around as we headed for our room( the sheer amount of passengers forced us to share a room.) We found it without much difficultly, the ferry had two decks for passenger cabins; our cabin was on the left side of the ship above the other deck. The view of the ocean was nice and so was the room, but there was just one problem.

"You're kidding... There's only one bed. WHY is there only ONE bed!? This must be a mistake. I'll go find someone to change this-"

"David?" Bianca interrupted. "It doesn't bother me."

"Eh? W-what? I- er, well, I, uh, suppose it'd be too much trouble to change it. S-sure, yeah, I can just s-sleep on the floor."

"You don't have to do that," she said. "What's wrong with the bed?"

"Heh? W-well, there wouldn't, um, be enough room. Y-yeah, that's why. S-so you can have the bed. I'll just sleep on the floor. S'no big deal at all."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Damn, is she making this difficult.

"Y-yeah, of course! There's no problem at all sleeping on the floor. I-I'll be f-fine."

"If you're sure."

"Y-yeah, I'm gonna take a walk 'round the ship. B-be back soon."

I left the room quickly, leaving Bianca and Riolu behind, and walked a ways down the hall before leaning on the railing. Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked down at the water.

"Geez, did she really not see what was wrong with that? Or was she making fun of me?" I spoke softly to myself. "I wouldn't think she would be that oblivious, but she's not the kind of person to just poke fun at people."

I thought about it some more until I realized something that made my face flush red with embarrassment.

"I'm a damn idiot."

Of course there being a single bed isn't a mistake, of course it doesn't bother Bianca, and no wonder she seemed so oblivious to the whole thing.

It's only a hour and a half long trip to the island.

We don't need a bed.

The most it could be used for is a nap.

"I'm so freaking stupid! Ugh, how did I completely forget-? How could I just assume-? Bianca's going to think I'm an idiot."

Still feeling warm from embarrassment, I slowly waked back to the room. Opening the door, I saw Bianca lying on the bed sketching lazily in her book. Riolu was playing on the floor.

Bianca looked up at me as I walked in.

"Oh, you're back already?" she asked.

"Y-yeah. I just needed some fresh air for a moment."

"Are you feeling alright? Your face is red."

Her pointing it out only made me feel even more embarrassed.

"I-I'm fine. It's nothing," I answered, trying to calm down.

"Here," she said, patting the bed beside her. "Come look at this sketch I'm working on."

"Okay," I answered slowly.

She moved over slightly to make room, and I climbed on the bed to lay next to her. Once I was comfortable, I looked at her sketchbook.

"Oh, it's all three of us."

The sketch was of Riolu, Bianca, and I sitting on a hill; talking to each other. There was a tree in the background, and all three of us looked like we were enjoying ourselves. Looking at the drawing made me forget my earlier embarrasment, I complimented certain parts of the drawing and answered any question Bianca had about what would make it look better. Not that I knew a thing about art.

"Overall, it looks very nice," I commented. "Very peaceful, like we don't have a care in the world."

I frowned.

"Hmph. That's what it should have been like all along - since I first came here two years ago. No Team Rocket, no kidnapping, no violence, no death. Just... peace."

"David..." Bianca started. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here, alright?"

"Thanks, but I'm fine. For now at least." I paused. "But... thanks. That means a lot."

I suddenly felt very warm. The feeling was nice, and I held onto it as long as I could.

The rest of the trip was spent with Bianca drawing while all three of us talked together. Without a care in the world.

The registration area was crowded, and the thought that everyone here was trying to compete made it almost overwhelming. But I had a plan in mind, I was as going to act on it from day one.

Having pushed though must of the crowd after departing the ferry (not all of which were very happy about it) we managed to get in line with only a few people ahead of us.
When it was my turn, I handed my badge case to the lady at the table.

"Hello, 'mam," I greeted politely.

"Hello, welcome to the Pokémon League tournament! I'll take your badges for just a moment."

She took my badge case and ran each of my badges through a machine next to her. After each one was scanned, the screen lit up, displaying all of the badges as well as information about them such as when I got them and with what pokémon. The fact that she could get that information just from scanning them was unnerving.

"Now, may I see your trainer card please?"

I did as she requested, and she inserted the card into a slot on the machine. This time the screen displayed information about me, such as the date I received my trainer card, my starter pokémon, and my hometown (which was listed as Nuvema Town.) A list of other miscellaneous information also appeared.

"Okay, your registration is complete. Is the woman with you in your party?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "She's not a pokémon, she's a person. I have my pokémon party right here." As I said this I looked at the woman strangely, who looked at me strangely while Bianca stood by me, looking uncomfortable.

"Sorry sir, I meant if she was accompanying you. "

"O-oh. O-of course. Sorry 'bout that. Yes, she's accompanying me." Now I felt stupid. Again.

"Okay, being one of the first few to register, we still have plenty of rooms left at the hotel." She reached under her table. "Here is your key, your room number is 125."

I took the key from her, then hesitated.

"Um, this is just one key."

"Yes sir."

"I don't suppose we could get another key for my friend here?"

"I'm sorry sir, but with the limited number of rooms it would be better if those who could share a room would, that way more people can have rooms. It wouldn't be a problem for the both of you to share a room, would it?"

"Ah, well-"

"Just share the room, you baby!" someone shouted.

"Yeah! Quit holding up the line! I have training to do!" came another.

"She's just a girl! No need to wet yourself over it!" came a third, much older voice.

I felt my anger start to climb.

"No, it won't be a problem. Thank you," I said rather coldly. My fairly good mood from earlier was now gone.

"Oh, just a second sir. I forgot that that room is currently being renovated for the tournament. Allow me to give you another room."

"Fine."

The woman gave me my badges and badge case along with my trainer card and another key - this one for room 380 - and allowed us to walk through into the main grounds. The first thing was to put our stuff in our room, I decided.

The room was a lot nicer than the one on the ferry, not that the one on the ferry was bad, but this one blew it out of the water. ...No pun intended.
The room was one the third floor with a balcony that over looked part of the island's coast, a TV, a small kitchen-like area and a large bed.

Wait...

One bed. Again.

I let out an audible sigh that even Riolu took notice of.

I bet that woman did this on purpose. Renovations my ass.

"What's wrong, David?" Bianca asked.

"There's only one bed. Again." I paused to let out another sigh. "Well, the floor it is then. Good thing I brought the sleeping bag."

"You don't have to do that," Bianca told me, letting out her own sigh.

I looked at her.

"I am not going to force you to sleep on the floor, Bianca. I'm completely fine with it."

"No, I mean what's wrong with just sharing the bed? It's quite large this time, so we'll both have enough room. What is the problem?"

"W-well, the problem is... is... ... is..."

"What?"

"It's 'cause, well, you know... uh..."

"If there's really something wrong, what is it?"

"Ah, um..."

"It's settled, we can share the bed."

I sighed for the third time, this one in defeat. Curse my lack of words.

"Alright, but I get this side of the bed."

"Sure, but why that side?"

"Because the guy is supposed to sleep on the side closest to the door."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"In case someone who's not supposed to comes in," I answered, putting my bag on the floor and digging through it. Even if I reluctantly agreed with her, I was still extremely uncomfortable with this, but the matter no longer seemed to be in my hands.

After a moment, I had retrieved everything I needed for my training out of my bag.

"Tournament pokémon - check. Training simulator - check. Training journal - check. Research for each pokémon's training regimen - check. I just need to speak with my long-distance friend within this week and I'll be all set. I'm going out to start training now."

"Right now?" Bianca asked. "But we just got here."

"Yeah, but if I want to complete my plan, I'm going to need all the time I can get."

"Oh, okay then. Don't train to hard."

My attitude, which had still been cold since registration, softened along with my gaze.

"I won't. Maybe we can do something later."

She smiled.

"That sounds nice."

There was that feeling again. That warm feeling. As nice as it is, I'd like to know what it is or what is causing it. It's an... unfamiliar feeling.

Once again trying to hold onto the feeling, with doubled effort due to earlier events and how anomalous the feeling was, I left the room. If I finished my training fast enough, I would have the whole rest of the preparation period to spend with Bianca. It would take a long time, probably most of the three months we had, but if I was smart, and if I was fast, I could do it. More eager than ever to get started, I hurried outside.

Once I was outside, I began looking for a nice spot to train.

I avoided the crowd of people coming from registration, since I had been humiliated in front of just about all of them, I would rather the location of my training be kept secret. Instead, I headed for the forest near the hotel, hoping to find a nice clearing away from view. After a few minutes of walking through the forest, I came to a cliff that stuck out towards the ocean. Admiring the view, I contemplated the usefulness of the area for training. Existing knowledge has told me that sometimes cliffs aren't the most sturdy ground to stand on. Plus, with the training I had in mind, this cliff would need to be pretty sturdy. Taking as much time as I could afford to examine the cliff revealed something even better though. Underneath the cliff was a large absence of rock, replaced by a grassy coastline that was hidden from the cliff. While the cliff definitely lacked the support required to be useful, the area below proved fruitful. After a few more minutes of exploring, I found a short path that led down to the coastline. Now examining the coast, a lot of it was open space, but the area underneath the cliff was a wide mouth cave that reach into the cliff around three feet. The cliff itself jutted out over the coast just enough to provide an overhang and conceal the lower coast from view. The common prying eye wouldn't notice it, leaving the area of excellent use for the training I planned. Secluded from the rest of the island, no one could see what I was doing.

Remembering that I would still need to gather the rest of my team, I grabbed the pokéballs that contained the pokémon I would work with from my bag and my belt. After releasing them, I looked at them each individually, examining their stats values and move-sets with my pokédex. I'd spent a lot of time thinking of strategies on the trip here, and though no of them had all the required pokémon present, I could at least start on a few and take some time to come up with others. Removing the training simulator from my belt, I prepared for what would be the first step for every pokémon I trained.

"So guys," I spoke, readying the simulator for each of them. "If we're going to get ahead in this tournament, really get ahead, we have to start at the beginning. And wipe the slate clean."

XXX

So, uh, hi, guys. Been awhile, huh? *Looks at last chapter's upload date* Oh. Yikes. Four months isn't that long, right?
*Dodges cinder-block*
So, yeah, sorry about the unannounced four months of silence. A lot of things came up (definitely haven't used this excuse before) and I just had a hard time finding time to write. (Maybe because the time was so hard...?) Pondering sentence structure aside, one of the main reasons I took so long is because I recently found employment. That's right, yours truly is now a productive(?) member of society. Unfortunately, this eats up about all my time, leaving very few days to buckle down and write. Couple that with the internet freaking out and losing all progress I make, resulting in me starting over completely (if I had a nickel for every time it happened, I wouldn't need a job) and hitting every writer's block in the wall. I just really didn't have a lot of motivation to write. Do misunderstand though, this story will be finished and I will not give up on it. I just might go slower - not that I was fast to begin with.

Anyway, as you saw in the chapter, we are at the big finale of the story. I'm going to need OCs to star in their roles as miscellaneous trainers to battle it out in the tournament. If you have one already or think you can come up with one, SEND IT TO ME! (via PM, I'm not accepting anything in the reviews. That's a poor reason to review.) The requirements, however, are as follows:

Name - The character obviously has to have a name. It can be just a first name, a full name, or just a nickname if that's your thing.

Gender - Gotta know if they're male or female (or in-between? No, let's not go there.) Just so I don't make a mistake based on name.

Personality - If you can, let me know a bit on how they act. Are they cheerful, moody, or just plan crazy? Do have some sudden attachment to David? Or do they hate his guts for no explained reason?

Physical Description- If you can, give me a short description of your character such as hair, clothes, things like that.

Pokémon - And lastly, what pokémon does your character have? I need six pokémon, and four moves for each. If you don't want to or can't come up with them, I can try to fill in the blanks. Don't be lazy now, though.

And that's about it, pretty standard for anytime an author asks for OCs. 'Cuz I'd rather not come up with them myself (plus, who doesn't want to star in a story? Okay, okay, I know the fact that it's my story kind of reduces the appeal but come on, guys) and this will give you guys something to do while I take the next two years writing the next chapter. I think that about wraps things up, so I'm going to sign off with the review replies.

Review Replies:

Naruto4Evar: That's okay if you're against it. I wasn't expecting everyone to agree with it or like it. I just wanted to know people's opinions on it. Don't worry though, It's not goong to take over the story. Maybe a bit of the ending of the story but it certainly isn't the story's main focus. Or at least not this one's.

ultima-owner: If that's true then I would be certainly right with how insignificant they are. Although, on certain occasions in the show, they're show to be the good guys. Or at least not bad ones. So it kind of seems like they aren't bad. Just bad at being bad. But then Unova came along and dropped that theory in a pitfall. So... I don't know?