Alfred, for once, woke up early. Another first is that he's also alone.
The Oxenstierna estate is huge, he has no other word for it. And as such, they have a large number of guest rooms, so, for the first time since traveling together, the pair got their own rooms rather than sharing.
It's not like there isn't room for two beds though, as the bedroom he just spent the night in is by far the largest he's ever seen. He got a full queen-sized bed all to himself! With rich alpine wood furnishings, and a floor to ceiling window that leads onto a balcony, overlooking the cliff on which the house sits, it's certainly the snazziest place he's ever been. He's almost afraid to touch anything incase he breaks it, and given how excitable Mathias is, he get's the feeling things get broken a lot around here as it is.
Still, he get's up and stretches, getting ready for the day. Today, their going to explore the city, and more importantly, register for the tournament. And Al won't lie, he really wants to see the competition, to get a feel for things before it all kicks off in just two days time.
Standing in front of the full length mirror, Al grins, putting his game face on. He's got a plan, and he's going to stick to it.
"Enter the tournament, win, meet and beat the champ, then take down the gym."
"Ambitious as always I see."
"GaAHh!"
Al jumps, spinning around to see Arthur smirking at him in the doorway, trying not to laugh.
"Geez, Artie, don't sneak up on a guy like that."
"Don't call me that!" The blonde snaps on reflex, "Come on, Mathias is waiting."
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
The people of Snowfell here them long before they are seen. Alfred and Mathias, laughing loud and proud as they make their way through all the twists and turns of the city, Arthur a half step behind them.
Alfred is beaming as they bound out of the bakery, arms full of donuts, cakes, pastries and all kinds of sugary goodness. He may not fully get Lukas, but Mathias, now there's a guy he understands completely. Two sentences in after leaving the front door, and he knew he'd just found a new best friend.
Given both blondes wild and excitable nature's, it's no surprise their fun takes them to a near by park with a battlefield just waiting to be used.
"I could sooo take you on!" Al cries, jumping across the field lines, grinning back at his new friend as he stuffs a cake in his mouth.
He's not even bother by the cold any more, too focused on this new challenge.
"Yeah right, I'll whoop your ass!"
"Bring it!"
"Your on!"
Arthur, who is bundled up tight in his winter coat, sighs as he resigns himself to being the tag-a-long and damage control of this new duo. Even so, he doesn't plan to freeze out here with them, but when he tries to leave them to it, they both team up to twist his arm into being their ref.
"Fine!" He huffs, breath puffing out in front of him.
"Your the best Artie!"
"Your a bro Art!"
"Don't call me that!" Who he's snapping at, even Arthur doesn't know, "This'll be a one on one match, no time limit, got it?"
"Sure!"
"Prepare to eat your words little man!" Mathias booms as he moves to stand opposite Al, finishing off his pastry.
"Bouffy time to shine!"
"Let's do this Skråstreg!"
They both throw their pokeballs at the same time, two cries filling the air upon release.
"Bouuufff!"
"Weeeeavile!"
To the side, Arthur blinks in surprise, "You evolved Skråstreg."
"Yup! And he's a million time stronger now!"
Never having seen this Pokemon before, Al is quick to pull his Déx out.
"Weavile the sharp claw Pokemon. They live in cold regions, forming groups of four or five that hunt prey with impressive coordination. It carves patterns in trees with its claws as a signal to others."
Alfred smiles to himself as he reads the entry.
'Dark and Ice type huh? Perfect, now I can try out that move.'
A cold blast of air makes Arthur shiver, "That's it." He grumbles, fishing out one of his pokeballs.
"Lamp?" Lampent asks, looking around worriedly at the new environment.
"Come here."
Alfred and Mathias watch bemused as Arthur hurriedly unzips his jacket to pull Lampent in and close it back up again.
"Aahhh, so warm." He sighs in relief.
"Cold?" Mathias teases but Arthur pays him no mind.
"The benefits of having a partner with the Flame Body ability. Now, trainers ready? Good then hurry up and start!"
"Bouffy Horn Attack!"
"Dodge and use Hone Claws!"
Charging, Bouffalant runs straight for Weavile, but going by Mathias' smirk, Al should have known it wouldn't be so simple. Pokemon like trainer, Weavile smirks as it effortlessly jumps, using it's hands to guide it as it somersaults over Bouffy to land some distance away behind it. Once down, it turns, claws shining as it glows with power, it's Attack and Accuracy rising.
"Ice Punch, go!"
"Look out Bouffy!"
Bouffalant tries to run, but slips on the snow and is forced to catch it's balance, unable to get away as a result as Weavile is simply too fast, practically skating as it speeds across the snow covered ground.
"Turn your head!" Al hurriedly calls just in time as Bouffy obeys, moving it's head so Weavile's fist slams into Bouffalant's puffy head of hair.
Both trainer and Pokemon blink, surprised to see Bouffy still standing after such a strong hit, a layer of ice freezing the fur at the point of contact.
Grinning proudly at his partner, Alfred calls out, "Now Bouffy, Revenge!"
Swinging it's head down, Bouffy strikes Weavile with it's horn, sending the Pokemon flying across the field.
"Weavile is unable to continue, Bouffalant wins. Finally." Arthur sighs, still hugging Lampent close inside his coat.
"Damn," Mathias gives a low whistle as he recalls his partner, "Your not half bad. Not many can take a straight hit from Skråstreg and stay standing. I'm impressed."
Alfred happily pats his partner a job well done, grinning proudly.
"That's 'cause Bouffy is the best, all my partners are."
XoxoxoxoxoxoX
"And this is the Snow Star Stadium!" Mathias grins, proudly holding his hands up to the large building before them.
The stadium is a mix of icy blue's and shining silver, shaped like a massive star from above, giving it it's name. The central open battlefield fills the middle, while five smaller fields sit within each of the five points, and before the main entrance, is the Grand Plaza.
All around the trio, the market is abuzz with activity as stalls call out, and sell to customers as crowds of people bustle about.
"When we're not hosting some kind of event this also doubles as our gym!"
Arthur knows Mathias is using the noise of the crowd as an excuse to be even louder than necessary, but by now he's learnt that there's no stopping him, only Lukas can do that. And that aside, he's more interested in the stadium than anything else.
"Last time I was here, they had only just started to lay the ground work."
"It's cool right?"
"It is impressive. So who runs the gym?"
If it was possible, the blondes grin widens, "It's a secret!"
"Come on, let's go sign up!" Al cries, tugging Arthur by his coat sleeve into the building.
As Mathias wanders of to by drinks, the pair busy themselves with registration.
"The preliminaries are a point based group system. If you make it through them, then your onto the knockout stages. All matches are one on one. You can register up to a team of six Pokémon you intend to use throughout the tournament." The receptionist explains.
"Sounds good to me. I'll be using these guys." Al grins as he hands over his pokeballs, Arthur doing the same beside him.
"And I'll be using these three."
Whilst they're waiting for their Pokemon and data to be recorded, they here a voice call out from the crowd.
"Hey is that Al?"
At hearing what he thinks is someone calling his name, Alfred turns to scan the mass of people.
"It totally is! Al! Artie! Over here!"
Out of the crowd, a recognisable flash of pink catches the pairs eye and instantly they know who it is.
"Feliks! And Toris too!"
Alfred smiles, waving back as he can now clearly see the pair making their way over to them.
"Wow, this is, like, so cool running into you guys here."
"It's good to see you both again." Toris greets once they're close enough.
"Same to you." Arthur nods, quickly turning to take back their cards and Pokemon as the receptionist finishes the registration process.
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
The four wander away as they talk.
"So are you two here for the tournament?"
"Are you guy's competing too?"
You bet! I mean Contests are, like, our true calling. But still!"
"What Feliks means is it's good experience for us. We can learn a lot from battles that we might never have thought about only thinking in terms of Contests."
"Really?"
"Yes," Toris colours slightly, looking away, "actually, I realised that while watching you two battle."
"Yeah," Feliks agrees, not in the least embarrassed to admit such things, "That whole using Inferno to cancel out Blizzard and protect your partner all at once? Amazing~ My head was totally buzzing with ideas from it!"
Toris nods along with the flamboyant blonde, "I don't know if you realised it, but there was a sort of..." he pauses, trying to think of the right word, "finesse to it."
"Of course, that is why I battle too."
The four jump —with varying degrees of yelps of surprise— at the sudden voice, turning to see Ivan appearing out of the crowd, Natalia right behind him.
"Ivan," Arthur sighs, seeing Feliks hide behind Toris out of the corner of his eye, "you've really got to stop sneaking up on people."
"Ah, but it's so fun seeing all of you jump like that, very synchronised. You'd earn high points." He grins down at the group.
"Ivan! You here to compete?" Al asks, quickly recovering.
"Why else?"
"Natalia too?"
"I go where brother goes." She gives Alfred and Arthur a sharp look, sizing them up, "You may have gotten in brothers way before, but this time I'll be the one to take you down for him." She promises seriously.
Loving the buzz of growing challenge Alfred happily declares, "Bring it on!"
"Whoa, who's all this?" Mathias asks as he returns with three cups-to-go, "I ain't buying all of you drinks too, I'm not made of money." He jokes as he passes Al and Arthur theirs, "Waaait," he squints at the four new people, "don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Mathias, this is Feliks," Arthur introduces, indicating the cowering teen.
"...Hey..." He mumbles, his shy side taking over.
"Toris,"
"Hello."
"Ivan, and his sister Natalia."
"Hello!"
"...Hello."
"They're friends. You might recognise them from the Contest and tournament than you saw Al and me take part in."
"Oh yeeeeah!" The blonde snaps his fingers in realisation, "You guys rocked! Aww this year is gonna be so sweet with all you guys competing!"
Alfred bounding with excitement at the idea, throws his arms up as he cries, "This is gonna be so awesome!"
From somewhere inside the crowd, a voice shouts back, "But not as awesome as me!"
Both Arthur and Al share a look, recognising the loud and proud voice.
Spinning around to look in the direction the call came from, they scan the crowd. But there's hundreds of people here, making it difficult to find anyone, even someone as distinctive as him.
"Looking for something?" Ivan asks, using his height to see over most of the masses as he follows the pairs line of sight.
"Yeah, it sounded like..." Al starts to explain, but trails off as through a gap in the crowd Al finally spots him. "Gil!" He shouts, waving and running after the albino who's back is turned to them, Arthur following at a fast walk.
Hearing the familiar call, the red eyed man turns, grinning wide when he sees the two blondes heading his way. But instead of walking up to meet them, he turns back around to get the attention of someone standing behind him.
Alfred's eyes widen and his mouth drops open, stopping dead in his tracks as Gil steps aside and reveals who it is.
"MATTIE!"
"Al-aah!"
Alfred unreservedly screeches as he charges arms wide into his brother. Matthew, not expecting the tackle at all, is easily knocked off his feet as the pair tumble to the ground.
"Oh. My. Arceus! Mattieeee!" Alfred continues to squeal, bear hugging his twin in the snow, much to the confusion of the crowd.
"Kesesesese!" Above them, Gilbert cackles at the sight, his Torchic chirping away on his head, whilst Arthur raises an eyebrow at them as the rest of the group make their way over.
"Ooh, that looks like fun." Ivan grins, chuckling at the pair.
"It's really not." Matt gasps out, trying and failing to free himself.
Natalia, however, takes that as an invitation to latch onto Ivan's waist, "I'll hug you brother."
Mathias takes one look at the twins as he makes his way over, grins, shouts, "Dog pile!" and promptly jumps on top of them.
Gilbert, not one to miss out on the fun, quickly joins, throwing himself on top as his Pokemon jumps off his head, out of the way. The fun is clearly too good to miss for even Feliks to feel shy as he too, jumps in, pulling a helpless Toris down with him. Ivan, as either an attempted to free himself from his sister, or simply for the fun of it, grins happily as he throws himself on top, electing groans from below as Natalia lands with him. Arthur tries to stay out of it, but hands, he's not sure who's, find their way out to grab and pull him down.
Now that everyone is down, and a sizeable space has formed around them as the crowd gives them a confused but wide berth of space, Gilbird hops up their bodies to be on top, chirping happily as it settles it's self.
"Cuuuub..." And out from under and between all the bodies, Matthew's Cubchoo —which he'd been holding when Al tackled him— sighs in relief as it finally frees itself.
Authors notes: Reunions all around!
The Snow Star Tournament is about to begin, and with all these competitors, it's anyone's game! So place your bets people on who will win!
What's next for our heroes? Stay tuned to find out!
R & R people.
Till next time stay awesome!