Disclaimer: You seriously don't know by now?
Saturday morning Karen wakes up in her temporary home. The hotel suites are huge; with a kitchen, living area, bedroom, bathroom (with a nice, large tub for relaxing) and even a separate room for the pokemon beds the hotel gave her. When Karen first saw the place, she asked if she had been given the wrong key, thinking it was supposed to be for a returning champion. But the hotel clerk told her all of the rooms were pretty much the same. Karen lies in bed fiddling with the buttons on her nightgown thinking about everything that brought her to this point. She had to give up a lot… but at the same time she has gained a lot. She has seen things that no one in her town has, or is even willing to. She has learned to not just take someone's word for things. And she has seen with her own eyes that there are all kinds of people; smart, arrogant, kind, cruel, selfish, selfless, determined… and probably many more.
"UMBREON!" Umbreon charges into her room (Karen left the door opened in case of a problem) and jumps on her bed. Karen's thoughts are interrupted by the little black pokemon seeking attention. Laughing, she rubs Umbreon behind the ears.
"Ready to check out the tournament?" Karen asks. Umbreon jumps down and walks over to the door waiting for her. "Outside smarty. Humans can't go around naked." Karen could swear that she heard Umbreon snort as she walked into the living area. After closing the door Karen gets dressed and checks herself in the mirror. Black all the way, like usual. With a final grin she opens the door and collects her pokemon. Umbreon is walking next to her while the others are in their pokeballs. They head down to the lobby to check out the schedule.
---
"Hey there sleepy!" Karen turns to see Will standing near the desk with one of his Xatus. "I was wondering when you would decide to get up."
"It's only noon." Karen replies with a grin.
" 'Only' she says…" Will just shakes his head. "I found your name on the brackets." He motions to the wall. All the way around the room there is a long set of papers set up with the brackets. The only place where there is writing is on the very bottom. Will points her name out to her near one end of the paper.
"Wonder who this 'Morris Peatnr' is…" Karen wonders.
"That would be me." A young man about the same age as them comes up to them. "I was wondering where my name was… They really need a better way to do this." Karen checks him out for a moment. Why he is wearing a suit and tie she can't figure out, until she recognizes the symbol on his jacket. It's a school uniform.
"You any good?" Karen asks him. Morris grins.
"Top in my class. I know every move of over 200 pokemon by heart. Every combo, every step, I already know." Karen decides she doesn't like this guy.
"He's the psychic, not you." Karen says motioning to Will. Morris shakes his head and gestures to Will.
"Won't last the first round. No psychic ever has." With a final grin, he turns to leave. "And you won't last either Darkie. My mind is a computer. Who needs pointless fighting to train when you have a brain? But then, not every one has the privilege of going to the elite Crasie School." Laughing, he walks out the door. Karen is seething. Will doesn't need to be psychic to sense what is coming.
"Don't get so worked up." He says. Karen turns to him. "No one from those schools has ever gotten past the third round. The first three to four rounds are to get rid of losers like him. The real trainers are the ones left standing at the end."
"So what is the Crasie School?" Karen asks him.
"It is a place where you learn a lot of stuff out of books and call it pokemon training. If you pass tests on paper you are given a badge. You don't actually work for it. It becomes up to the trainer to get battle experience." Will looks at Xatu as the pokemon pulls on his sleeve. "Hungry are ya?" Xatu nods.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. Where is the cafeteria?" Karen starts looking around.
"Downstairs." Will points to a stairway leading down to a lower level. Both trainers and their pokemon head down.
---
"Is it true that no psychic has ever made it to the second round?" Karen asks as they are sitting at a table. All pokemon out, all chowing down. Karen is mostly just playing with her food. Will grins.
"Nope. Last year's champion was a psychic. There was another one a few years before that… and there is usually one in the top twenty." Will takes a sip of his juice. "He's just trying to spook us. So do us all a favor and kick him to the moon." Karen can't help but smile.
"Excuse me!!!" Both Karen and Will turn to see a Pokemon League representative standing at one end of the room. "Just to let all of you know, the Opening Ceremony will be tomorrow at one o'clock. All registered trainers must report to the arena by twelve-thirty."
"Where in the arena?" a trainer calls out.
"The same area where you registered. It will be roped off so you can get to it. Make sure you sign in. Trainers are asked to have one pokemon out with them when they go into the arena for the Opening Ceremony. We only ask that it not be too large, like an Onix or Steelix. Full directions can be obtained at the hotel desk. Any other questions?"
"We need tickets for our families!" another trainer calls out.
"Go up to the desk and you will find you have a package. It is ten tickets for each trainer, good for the entire tournament. The passes are not specifically marked, so if you don't need all of yours and someone needs extra, you can share. Anything else?" The room is silent. "If you have questions League Coordinators will be on hand both here and in the stadium for the duration of the tournament. Thank you." The rep leaves and the talking resumes.
"We better get ours." Karen says.
"We also need to pick what pokemon will be walking with us." Will says. He looks at his pokemon. "Tough choice."
"Umbree…" Karen looks down and sees that her pokemon have decided for her. Umbreon is standing straight up and all the other pokemon are pointing at her. Karen smiles.
"You taking care of my decisions?" She asks them. The pokemon just smile at her. "If you are all sure…" Karen strokes Umbreon. The pokemon go back to their lunches and Karen to hers. Will seems thoughtful.
"I just thought of something… I never found out where my name was on the brackets." He looks over at his pokemon who are now finished with their lunches. Karen finishes off her steak and notices her pokemon are finished too.
"Well, let's go see." She says. "We can get our tickets too." They head back upstairs.
---
Back in the Lobby
---
"Ah, Miss Oleke." The clerk at the desk hands over a small envelope. "Here are your tickets." Karen opens it and does a quick count. Ten tickets, just like he said. "Will there be anything else?" the clerk asks.
"When do the matches actually start?" Karen asks him. Will is scanning the brackets for his name. Karen can't help but wonder why he didn't look for his name before hers.
"Tuesday morning. We offer wake-up calls for any trainer who requests them."
Karen grimaces. "I'll get back to ya on that one." The clerk just smiles. Karen puts the envelope into her purse and looks over at Will. "Hey Will! Which end did you start on?" Will points to one of the walls. Karen starts scanning the brackets from the other side. It takes her less than five seconds to find his name. "Over here Will!"
"You're kidding…" Will is tracing his finger up the bracket. "Karen, remember what my grandmother said about us in the tournament?" Karen nods. "According to the brackets… the only way we will face each other is if we both make it to the finals." Karen's jaw drops.
"No way…" she finally gets out. She shakes her head. "Well, I don't know much about prediction, but I'll worry about the round I'm on." She smiles at Will. "I'll see ya around. I want to get these tickets to Grandma Tomson."
"I've got to get mine still. I'll see ya later." Karen heads out as Will goes up to the counter.
---
Tomson residence
---
"Karen!" Alisa greets her at the door. "How are you?" Karen grins.
"It's only been two days." She says. Alisa smiles.
"Let me have some fun." Alisa steps back to let Karen in. Aaron is coming out of the living room.
"Hey there! We'll be heading down to the stadium to get our tickets in a couple of hours. I can't wait to see you battle."
"Actually…" Karen takes the envelope out of her purse. "They said that the trainers get ten tickets for family members. So I'll save you the trip." Karen hands the envelope to Alisa. Her grandmother smiles as she takes out the tickets.
"Thank you Karen!" Alisa says. "I'll let Crysta know, she's coming up this evening with Thomas. I'm pretty sure Erica and James will want to see you too, they were worried because they couldn't afford tickets." Alisa smiles as she sees the confusion on Karen's face.
"We're gonna have a right little family reunion up here." Aaron chimes in. "Erica is your mother's sister. James is her husband. They have a daughter too… only eight though, so Lelia can't be a trainer yet. We also had a son, Andrew. We'll see if they can come up… Alexis was saying a couple of weeks ago that her Pichu wasn't feeling well. I'm sure that Corin will want to come… he's your cousin, Andrew's boy. I heard he just came back from his own journey for a break." Karen feels like she is gonna cry. Alisa senses it and puts an arm around her.
"Don't you worry about a thing. It'll be all right, you'll see. You're not alone, not now, nor ever." Karen finally looks up with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you…" she finally says. She spends the rest of the day with her grandparents, eagerly awaiting the 'family reunion' and the start of the tournament.