Everyone was trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Hunter suddenly appearing out of the blue and asking to join the tournament wasn't like him at all. He normally preferred to sneak around and track down any legendary pokemon that he heard rumors of. His main interest was battling legendary pokemon, so why was he wasting his time with a tournament like this?

No one could figure it out. A lot of people were upset that Charmeleon let him enter the tournament, but since he didn't specify any conditions to enter the tournament he didn't really have a choice. They were the rules and he had been the one who made them, so he had to go along with it. Even more infuriating than that was that Hunter didn't even choose to represent a country, like every other competitor was doing. Charmeleon had left that as an option, but no one thought that anyone who won a spot in the tournament would actually go against tradition. Of course, some people in Ignis were glad about this, seeing as how if he did decide to represent a country it would have most likely been Aequor, who couldn't compete this year. Ignis and Aequor had always been enemies. Apparently they didn't have much confidence that anyone could beat Hunter.

"Is this some sort of trap?" Quill asked.

"I don't know." Aamira said. "He might be doing this to get closer to us. Or to someone else."

"What do you two think you're doing?" Ninetales came up behind them out of nowhere. The two of them had just been enjoying the festival like Charmeleon had told them to, but this whole situation with Hunter was really frustrating Ninetales. At least, that's what they thought.

"The match doesn't start until tonight, right?" Aamira asked. "So why can't we enjoy the festival?"

"Charmeleon made Typhlosion the commissioner for the tournament. He hadn't imagined it would be so difficult organizing this whole event. There aren't any challenges this year that come before the tournament. Therefore to make the matches more… interesting, Typhlosion thought it would be a good idea for all of the contestants to get to know each other before hand."

"Will Hunter be there?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know. He might show up, he might not. It doesn't really matter since he gets to completely bypass the first round."

"But we still have some last minute training to do!" Quill said. "We can't let people we're going to fight against see us training, so when are we going to do it?"

"If you're not ready by now, you have no reason to be entering a tournament." Ninetales snapped at him. She had always been pretty nice before, but something was definitely irritating her, and it seemed too big to be about hunter. Last night she seemed frantic at the sight of Hunter, but this time around seemed a lot worse.

The two of them followed her to the stadium. They went up a flight of stairs that was behind a door in the back of the stadium. They couldn't tell where they were going, but it was most likely really high up, maybe even the seats at the very top of the stadium. They were half right. They went through a door at the top of the stairs and entered a box that seemed like it would be reserved for someone really famous who came to watch the tournament. Waiting up there were a bunch of really tough looking pokemon who Aamira and Quill took to be the other contestants. They were all talking with each other happily and hardly anyone paid any notice when they walked in. The only ones that seemed to be missing where Roy, Sandshrew, and Hunter. Aside from Typhlosion, there was one other pokemon there who they recognized.

"Hey, Dragonair!" Quill said. "You're competing too?"

Dragonair nodded. "Flygon's become much more agreeable since you all showed up. He decided to give me some vacation time to come see the spring festival and I decided to enter the tournament while I was here, since he hadn't sent anyone else to compete."

"Why hasn't he sent anyone?" Aamira asked.

"Too busy building flood gates." Dragonair said. "This is the time of year when the weather in the mountains gets warmer and the snow starts to melt. We have many lakes and ponds in our mountain and they all start to overflow once the snow melts. Normally I slow it down by gradually decreasing the temperature and helping to evaporate the extra water using Sunny Day, which carries the water to Sylva to help all of the plants and trees."

"So what will happen to Sylva if you can't evaporate the water?" Quill asked.

"We found a replacement from Sylva." Dragonair said. "She really loves the plants there and was only too happy to help with her Sunny Day. If I remember correctly, her name was Roserade. She said she met you once before."

"Ninetales, could you find Roy and Sandshrew anywhere?" Typhlosion asked.

"Yes, but…" Ninetales had an awkward expression. "They were arguing when I found them. Apparently when Roy found out that a Skarmory and Luxray were competing, he didn't want Sandshrew to enter. Being blind, with their eyesight he would be at a bit of a disadvantage."

"Well it's not as if he's really blind." Typhlosion said. "His hearing and other senses are a lot more developed than most pokemon. It's almost as if he can see."

"I know, but Roy's his older brother. He's still worried. Luxray can see through solid objects, which would pretty much make his Dig useless. Most of his strongest attacks won't work on Skarmory. His favorite was Sand Attack that he used to lower pokemon's accuracy, that way he could win even if they were stronger than him, but with Skarmory's Keen Eye ability…"

"Yes, I see…" Typhlosion said. "But I've already mapped out the matchups. If he drops out, I'll have to refigure the whole tournament, which won't be easy."

At that exact moment, Team Sandstone walked in. Sandshrew looked a lot like Aamira after she lost her temper and Roy seemed to be feeling a mixture of confusion and worry.

"It has nothing to do with your eyes." Roy said. "I'm just saying that they'll be bad match ups, that's all."

"But I've been practicing a lot!" Sandshrew shouted. "It's not fair that you get to decide that I can't enter just because their eyes are better than mine!"

Roy sighed. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Now that everyone, minus Hunter, is here, I'll unveil the matchups, shall I?" Typhlosion said.

He walked to the far end of the room and lifted up a screen. Behind it was a board that looked almost like the same type their map was on. There was one matchup that Typhlosion obviously knew would cause some tension. The very first match. Sandshrew versus Skarmory.

"You're shaking." Sandshrew said to Roy. "Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?"

"You're going up against Skarmory first." Roy said.

"He can't drop out now." Typhlosion said. "If you had any concerns, you should have spoken to me beforehand. It's too late to reconfigure the match ups."

"Well who are you going up against?" Sandshrew asked Roy.

Aamira saw it before Roy did. He had been too concerned about his brother's matchup that he hadn't even noticed his own yet. He would be fighting Aamira in the last battle of the first round.

"Aamira." He said.

"Then switch with me!" Sandshrew said. "If you don't want me fighting Skarmory, I'll just fight Aamira!"

"Are you crazy?" Roy asked. "If anything, she'll be a tougher opponent for you."

"Fine by me!" Sandshrew shouted. "I wanted to enter this tournament to fight her anyway!"

'To fight me?' Aamira thought. 'I had no idea…' She thought about this and looked at the board again. "I wouldn't mind fighting Sandshrew. Is it okay for Roy and Sandshrew to switch opponents?"

Roy looked like he was about to object, but then something seemed to come to mind and he stopped.

Typhlosion looked between the competitors and the board.

"I've been wanting to fight a Riolu." Skarmory said. "Truthfully my first choice would have been Aamira, but Roy's a close second, so I wouldn't mind either.

Typhlosion sighed. "Very well. But I'm not doing any more swaps." He touched the places on the board where Sandshrew's and Roy's names were and they almost magically changed spots. "The first match will begin tonight at dusk. Study the matchups and get to know each other before then. I'll come and call you down to the front row of the stadium before the first match starts, which will now be Roy versus Skarmory."

Typhlosion left them all to go attend other things. Aamira took a better look at the matchups. The first match, as he said, would be Roy versus Skarmory. After that would be Quill versus Luxray. Aamira looked around and found the pokemon she thought best matched the name. 'Great, Quill's up against a cat pokemon. He doesn't like cats too much…' After that was Dragonair versus Ninetales. No doubt that would be a good battle. As she suspected, when Aamira looked over at Dragonair, she seemed to be calculating some sort of strategy. She was just as smart as her older brother. The second to last match was Togekiss versus Mamoswine. Mamoswine was a pretty big pokemon, and being an ice type it had a huge advantage. No doubt everyone was thinking that their match would be decided quickly. And finally, Aamira versus Sandshrew. Aamira didn't know what to think. Sandshrew wanted to fight her pretty badly, because they were rival teams, she assumed, and she didn't really know much about his power level. For all she knew, he could be easy to defeat or even capable of defeating her. She was completely in the dark.

After looking over the matchups, everyone started talking with their opponents. Sandshrew didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, so Aamira just stood by and listened to everyone else's conversations and even joined in every once in a while. Togekiss was a really sweet pokemon, she found out. She felt calmer just being near her. Mamoswine looked intimidating, but he was really more of a gentle giant.

Quill was a little nervous around Luxray at first. Fire and Electric type pokemon never really got along well, so a lot of pokemon would no doubt be looking forward to their match. As expected, Luxray was itching to battle, but he seemed a lot calmer than most pokemon from Tempestas.

"It's because the storms are over." Luxray said. "We calm right down once we let loose all of that build up electricity. This year was my best year yet. Thirty five straight wins and three losses."

In spite of his impressive amount of wins in one of the notorious war countries, he seemed much more agreeable to Quill than Pikachu had when they first met him. He left himself getting pumped up for their battle as well.

Skarmory, surprisingly enough, was a huge pokeringer fan. Apparently she was the leader of a pretty famous team and everyone was flocking around to get an autograph.

"I just love the adrenaline!" She said. "No pokemon can outmatch my speed and strength in the air! At least that's what I like to think. Those new bug and dragon type teams that showed up sure were surprising. I couldn't believe we got knocked out of the tournament before the semifinals this year. Next year for sure we'll take home the prize!"

"And what are you going to do after you win your next tournament, Miss Skarmory?" Togekiss asked. Being a flying type, she was much more interested in the sport than anyone else there.

"I plan on retiring for good." Skarmory said. "My steel is still shiny, but I'm getting a bit old. That was proven to me last year. It's about time I hang up my wings, so to speak. I might even retire if I manage to win this tournament. I just want one more big win to seal the deal."

Only one other pokemon wasn't speaking aside from Sandshrew. That was Ninetales. Aamira could tell that something was bothering her the way she spent all of the time looking out the window instead of getting to know her opponent better.

"What's up?" Aamira asked.

"Do you think that history repeats itself?" Ninetales asked.

Aamira hadn't been expecting a question like this. "I guess it could. Why?"

"Apparently ever since the great war, there have been strange incidences. Almost each one of them had a Honchkrow lurking around behind the scenes."

"A Honchkrow?" Aamira asked. "Wait, how could you know something like that?"

Ninetales pulled out a book from inside of her Collection Bag. "I'm not sure if you remember this from the last tournament. It's my great, great grandmother's diary. People say that Ninetales could live for a thousand years. Technically, that's only an average. She lived longer. A lot longer. My great grandmother, grandmother, and mother all died before she did, so when she died, she left me her diary."

"So she lived through a lot of those things?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. Only as an observer. She never got involved in any of the events that played out. Though she did spark a certain legend. Apparently you should always listen to Ninetales, because when they show up it's for an important reason. She was there to record a certain legend that I hear you're looking to find."

"She was!" Aamira asked.

Ninetales nodded. "Unfortunately, this diary is old. There was a large span of time when things were completely calm and nothing was written in it. The pages are dusty and some are torn in places and the ink in earlier parts of the book is so faded it's almost impossible to read. It's also written in a language that isn't commonly spoken anymore. She taught me a bit of it, but it's still difficult to translate her diary."

"What do you know so far?" Aamira asked.

"It does seem to concern you, but I'm not sure how. It keeps mentioning something about memory and a legend, which I think must have to do with the legend you were involved with when you had to defeat Mismagius. It talks about three heroes, but it doesn't mention exactly who they are. I'm guessing that two of them would be you and Quill, but Lucario's gone, so I doubt it would be him."

"Is there anything else though?" Aamira asked. "Anything that might prove there's something in history that's repeating?"

Ninetales looked around then motioned for Aamira to follow her outside when no one was looking. Aamira followed her and they hid in a different box a few hundred yards away from the one everyone else was staying in.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Ninetales asked while making sure the glass window was secured. "Glass isn't exactly a new invention, but to make it, Ignis has to order sand from a country across the sea and Aequor delivers it to us. Even though Aequor and Ignis don't really get along, we depend on each other to make a profit from glassware."

"That really is something." Aamira said. "And I'm guessing the interlocking economy is one of the few things keeping the countries from warring with each other."

Ninetales nodded. "Now back to this book, apparently it always revolves around Aura Readers and Aura Guardians."

"Wait, how do you know about Aura Guardians?" Aamira asked.

"Ruko told me not to tell you, but I think this is more important. He never mentioned that Quill was an Aura Guardian, but being a member of a famous Investigation Team, I managed to figure it out. I haven't told anyone else, so don't worry."

Ninetales opened the book to one of the first pages. "The three stories that seem to be the most important all revolve around Aura Readers and Guardians. Apparently a long time ago, legendary pokemon were just as common as any others. But something happened that caused them to nearly die out. Humans saw this and started to wage war against pokemon, thinking they must somehow be better than them, since they weren't dying out at all. Things were looking bad for pokemon everywhere when a new pokemon they had never seen before showed up. That pokemon was Mew."

"Mew was there?" Aamira asked. "It's too bad he died some time ago or we could just go to Desolo and ask him what was going on."

"Apparently this war was actually around the time when he died. He showed up and astounded all of the other legendary pokemon with his ability to transform. The legendary pokemon decided to use his DNA mixed with human DNA to create a new pokemon that would protect the peace between pokemon and humans. They didn't want to make a pokemon that was too strong, so a few of the legendary pokemon added some of their own power to both suppress Mew's power and give the new pokemon a small amount of theirs. That new pokemon that was born was Eevee.

"This was a time before evolution, when pokemon could transform freely between any of their evolved or pre-evolved forms. Eevee had the ability to transform into any form depending on the environment. The forms known at that time were grass, ice, fire, water, and electric. Espeon and Umbreon hadn't come to exist just yet. Mew taught her to control her abilities for a time, and then decided to find her a new mentor. A Houndoom. Houndoom was like a father to her, so Eevee never imagined that he was actually working for an evil human king who was trying to take over their world. Apparently at this point, he had already managed to take over Atra and was trying to take over Desolo, which was why Mew was put in charge.

"Lugia and Ho-oh were his biggest concerns. Nothing seemed to be able to defeat their duo. While fighting them, he managed to kill Mew and create a clone who was, like Eevee, a mix between Mew and a human's DNA but without the Legendary pokemon's power to control his. His psychic powers were said to be much stronger than mews. This was, of course. Mewtwo. He hadn't suspected Mewtwo to betray him though. So he managed to take over Atra and protect it from the humans. At that point the human king was attacked by Lugia and Ho-oh and fell into the sea. He created a city under the water, which is now Aequor. He hid there for a long time until his Houndoom, who had been lost in the battle returned with something in his mouth. It was one of Lugia's feathers.

"The creature he created from the feather was like Lugia, but with an evil heart. He had trained him for some time to destroy Lugia and Ho-oh. When he sent Lugia's clone to battle them, he was caught up in a storm and wound up unconscious on the beach with amnesia. By that time, Eevee had found a human partner who she really trusted. The two of them went everywhere together. They happened upon the Lugia clone and named him Shadow based on the dark color of his feathers.

"Some time after was the first report of a human turning into a pokemon. While raising Shadow, Eevee's human friend had fallen in love with her and gave his soul to Houndoom so that he could be turned into a pokemon. He lost his mind though and attacked her as soon as the transformation into the first Umbreon was complete. Eevee learned how to use the power of light to balance his dark powers and became the first Espeon. At the end of their battle, both were exhausted, but Umbreon was brought back to his senses and Espeon used her amazing power to turn him back into human and swore to do the same to herself once her battle was over. She was one of the few who still believed that the human's king was still alive. The only others being Umbreon, Lugia, and Ho-oh.

"It would be sometime later when Shadow was fully grown that he was reunited with the human that created him. When that human tried to control Shadow, Shadow fought back and killed the human. He then went on an uncontrollable rampage. Lugia and Ho-oh didn't realize that what he needed most at that time was Espeon. They attacked him and regretted it immediately. Shadow became even more enraged. The only one who could stop him at this point was Espeon. She would have to fight her own son."

"That's terrible!" Aamira said.

Ninetales nodded. "At the end of their battle, they supposedly used so much power that it ended in a draw and both were turned to stone. Their statues are said to still be hidden somewhere. Apparently if you look closely at their eyes you can see that both of them were crying as they died."

"So what does this have to do with Aura Readers and Guardians?" Aamira asked.

"It has nothing to do with Aura Readers. However, it's reported that Espeon was in fact the very first Aura Guardian. After her death, an egg was found in the temple where she was created. The egg hatched into an Eevee who was also an Aura Guardian. His mother being an Espeon, this would make Quill a direct descendant of the first Aura Guardian."

"So is there another story about the first Aura Reader?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. This one came sometime later. Houndoom apparently survived and had teamed up with a Honchkrow, though Honchkrow scarcely appears in the story. It was said that the two of them wanted some sort of power that could be granted by Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit, so they manipulated the three of them into fighting. Their battle did manage to create a new power, but they weren't able to get a hold of it. Right where their powers collided, a new pokemon suddenly formed. While their powers do make it possible for life to exist, they never expected something like that to happen. That pokemon was the first Riolu."

"First Riolu!" Aamira said. "Uxie mentioned something about the first Riolu! But he was completely out of his mind at the time and couldn't really tell us anything else."

"This Riolu was nothing like Eevee. When she was created, she was just like a baby pokemon. It was said that because of Uxie's power over knowledge this Riolu was just as intelligent as any adult pokemon. He even knew his own name and that the three of them had created them. He even scolded them for fighting like that in the first place."

Aamira couldn't help laughing. She didn't know this Riolu, but it sounded like someone she would like.

"As you might have guessed, this Riolu was the first Aura Reader. He spent most of his life as a scholar and an explorer, traveling the world learning whatever he could. Even secrets that were said to hurt him severely until the day he died.

"Houndoom had attempted to steal his power shortly after he evolved into Lucario in order to use an ability you know now as Aura Release in order to resurrect Shadow Lugia. Their battles never seemed to end. They were a perfect match for one another. Since Houndoom was a dark type, he was weak against Lucario as a fighting type, but since Lucario was a steel type, he was weak against Houndoom as a fire type. Their battles came down to sheer power. In the end, apparently Houndoom's Honchkrow partner led Lucario into a trap and Houndoom was able to steal his power. By this time, Lucario was old and had already had several children, so luckily his Aura Reader abilities weren't lost.

"Lucario died that day and Houndoom managed to resurrect Shadow Lugia, but apparently Espeon had placed a curse on him that would only allow him to use attacks when commanded to do so by a human partner. Shadow hated humans, so this greatly weakened him. And he couldn't become partners with just anyone. It had to be someone of the same bloodline as the human that Espeon had fallen in love with. She was sure that he wouldn't have any descendents, but she hadn't taken into account that he had a twin brother. They had been separated at birth so neither of them ever knew the other existed. I can't imagine what my grandmother had to go through to figure that out. Anyway, it was his twin's descendent that would become Shadow Lugia's partner.

"He waited until he found that human and stole her memory so that she would be easy to manipulate, but she managed to escape. That human ended up partners with a different pokemon. Ironically, an Eevee. Neither of them had any idea where either of them had come from, so they set out to find their past together. It also happens that the human was an Aura Guardian and the Eevee was an Aura Reader, so this started the partnership between human and pokemon Aura Readers and Guardians.

"At the end, they managed to defeat Shadow Lugia, though at the cost of Eevee's life, and he regained his senses. Apparently right as she died, Eevee managed to evolve into an Espeon, which brought back the memory of his mother. He immediately went back to Espeon and turned back into stone. It was his belief that he no longer had a place in the world since he lived thousands of years before then."

"So where does Honchkrow appear in this story?" Aamira asked.

"Apparently he was one of Shadow's henchman who apparently tricked the human and Eevee into meeting with Shadow and nearly destroyed the world by doing so. Keep in mind that this was hundreds of years after the first Lucario died, so there was no way this could be the same Honchkrow."

"I guess it runs in the family then." Aamira said.

Ninetales chuckled. "Yes, it seems so. A while after this occurrence was when Ho-oh's tower was destroyed. You know how your ancestor who was later turned into Mismagius had been responsible. Apparently the group of humans who were able to convince her to lead an attack on Ho-oh had a boss. This boss of theirs had a Honchkrow who was responsible for turning her aura dark and making her lose any reasoning she had left."

"So a Honchkrow caused that too…" Aamira said. "So in a way a Honchkrow was responsible for the legend I had to go through with Quill and Lucario. And once again their was a Honchkrow who helped Mismagius. And now that same Honchkrow is helping whoever it is behind this new legend."

"It all ties together." Ninetales said. "And Honchkrow seemed to link the parts that normally wouldn't flow together. Keep in mind, the three legends I just told you were brief summaries. This diary details everything that happened at that time and many pokemon are mentioned, sometimes more than once. Honchkrow being a part of these legends was as brief as any other pokemon mentioned. It took quite a bit of digging for me to realize that Honchkrow in the past have played small, but very major parts in these legends. And now that our Honchkrow is running amok, it seems as if history is repeating itself."

"There's something that I've noticed about all of these legends…" Aamira said nervously. "And that's that, near the end, someone always seems to die…"

Ninetales nodded. "Shadow, Espeon, Lucario, Eevee and Shadow again. If this pattern of death continues, I can only advise you to be extremely careful. And be sure that Quill hears about all of this."

"He already heard all of it."

The door opened and Quill walked in a little nervously. "So you knew I was there all along."

Aamira nodded. "I thought I would wait to say anything. With you standing outside, it would be less likely that anyone else would eavesdrop on us."

"So can you tell us anything about the legend that we're involved in now?" Quill asked.

"That's what's so frustrating." Ninetales said. "I was afraid of history repeating itself, so I've been trying to decipher it. Apparently there's a legend and a prophecy both associated with each other. My great, great, grandmother didn't write anything about the legend, but she did record the prophecy. It was the last thing she ever wrote in here. It's very worn down from the years it wasn't used and since I hardly know any of the language it's written in, deciphering it isn't exactly easy. I can only make out a few words here and there. There's this one part that I think might refer to you two that I've been trying to figure out, but you have no idea how much of it could be changed by one small character that's been worn away."

She opened the book to one of the last pages. Somehow it didn't surprise Aamira that it was written in the language that she had somehow come to understand. It was true that only a few words could be deciphered, but there was a whole half of a stanza that was just barely readable

" 'The traitor lurks as the fourth who causes great strife to the two siblings who struggle with life.' "

Ninetales stared at Aamira, obviously surprised that she was able to read it. "I'm not going to ask how you could read that, but maybe since you can, you could help me with something." She pointed to the part that mentioned the two siblings. "If you look closely, there's just a single character that was worn away. I can't make out what it was, but there's no way to tell exactly what it means without that one character."

Aamira nodded. "Two could easily be twenty or even two hundred, though I doubt it. But if there was another word associated with it, like 'last' or 'told'. Then it could translate out into 'the last two siblings' or 'the two prophesized siblings'. Who knows? That one missing letter might change the entire prophecy and completely change the meaning."

Ninetales nodded. "So you can see why I'm so intent on finding out what this letter is. It might even spell out what happens to the two of you. After all, that phrase that translates into 'who struggle with life' isn't often times just thrown around. It could be something dangerous. Especially since it mentions a traitor."

Aamira and Ninetales were too busy trying to figure this out to notice Quill quickly look away. Honchkrow had been involved in quite a bit of this. He knew that Honchkrow was trying to get him to betray Aamira, but why? And what if that last letter somehow really did point to him being a traitor? There was just no way that something like that could ever happen!

"It's already late in the afternoon." Ninetales said. "You two should go back to your room for some last minute preparations. The tournaments still a few hours from now."

The two of them headed back as she suggested. They decided to get some last minute training in, much to the delight of a few passing pokemon. They started to clear out once the two of them used their new moves. Quill used Eruption and out of panic Aamira used Sucker Punch. Eruption was too strong for Sucker punch to counter completely, so the two attacks ended up causing a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Luckily no one was hurt and none of the buildings were damaged, but it came pretty close.

Typhlosion was passing by when this little incident occurred. He stared at them for a minute, acted like he was about to say something, then just continued walking in the opposite direction. The two of them spent the remainder of their free time trying to move a few tons of dirt to cover the damage they had caused.

When they finally finished, they headed inside to rest up before the first match began. They found their other team members playing with Shuppet, who had joined their team only yesterday. Aron had apparently gone on a mission with her just that morning and they hardly ran into any trouble because Shuppet only had to eat the enemy's feelings of hatred in order to keep them from attacking. It was a useful ability to have. They also saw that Shuppet's "bed" had been added to their room. It was a molding that went around the ceiling that looked like the eaves on a house.

Shuppet hung herself on the molding from the horn on her head and was about to fall asleep right before Quill and Aamira were about to leave.

"Aren't you coming?" Quill asked.

"Nah." She yawned and closed her eyes. "I don't sense any vengeful souls there. I won't be able to get a meal, so I should conserve my strength."

"Well alright then." Aamira headed out after Quill and their other team members ran ahead to get some good seats. Unlike competing members, they weren't guaranteed a seat in the front row.

It was dark out now. The stadium was lit by torches with flames curling into the night sky. It was a tense atmosphere that had all of the competing pokemon itching for their chance to fight.

Aamira and Quill took their seats with the other competitors in the front row. The box they had been in before was now occupied by the pokemon representing the competing countries. Charmeleon stepped forward and greeted the crowd in his father's place. After the introductions were over the first two competitors were called out to the field. Roy and Skarmory took their places and the first match of the first round began.