Alesia clutched her temple in pain as she opened her eyes for the first time in Arceus knew how long. Greeted by a sweet, fruity scent for some reason, she found herself in a plain, undecorated room as she lay on a soft surface. Her vision was blurry, but as it cleared up, the abstract figures overlooking her turned out to be Riolu, Popplio, and a Mr. Mime.

"Hey," Popplio urged gently. "Are you okay, Alesia?"

"I don't know…" she complained. "I have the worst headache… anything else?"

"No," Mr. Mime said, giving her the Oran Berry he had been holding under her nose.

"Really?" Alesia sounded surprised. She accepted the berry and bit into it, before finishing it off. Almost immediately, her energy returned. "But that Honedge beat me up hard. Not a single broken bone?"

Mr. Mime seemed confused. "Why would you have any broken bones? You're only allowed to use elemental attacks in the Tournament."

"...As in moves that have types?"

"That's correct." Mr. Mime nodded. "Those can't give you any injuries, only deplete your Health Points."

"Um, these Health Points. Are they a separate thing from your overall physical health and well-being?" Alesia questioned.

"...Yes," Mr. Mime affirmed. "Health Points are connected to your aura. Honestly, I thought you knew that."

"...Yeah. I guess you did." Alesia realized now was the time to stop acting suspicious regarding her lack of knowledge of this strange Pokémon-inhabited world. "Thanks for everything. Am I okay to go now?"

"Absolutely." Mr. Mime gestured at the door.

Alesia got down from the chair, which had been adjusted to a low height for her, and she left with Riolu and Popplio in tow.

"Sorry I let you guys down," she apologized as they traveled through the corridors.

"Eh, it's not that bad," Riolu responded. "Popplio and I both won so now we're through to the next round!"

'Oh, joy.' "...Well, fine then," Alesia said in a dull tone, unable to summon enthusiasm where there was none. "It hurt like hell the first time, but I'm still alive. I guess I can do it again." Wanting to get away from the subject, she asked, "What exactly is aura?"

"Aura is an energy that all Pokémon innately possess," Riolu explained.

"Is it kind of like a soul?"

"Well, no. It's determined by your species. Every species has its own list of potential moves. So that means all the moves you can or can't learn, Alesia, coincide exactly with the moves which that Eevee in the audience can learn." Now that they were standing directly in front of the doorway, he pointed at the seating area of the stadium. He doubted Alesia could see which Eevee he meant, but that wasn't necessary for him to get his point across. "But where your aura differs from theirs is that there's an upper limit to how strong you can ever become, and that varies from member to member of the species."

"I guess I got a good one then," Alesia remarked. "Knowing Dig. That'd be useful in just about any situation. I mean, if the floor isn't metal or some similarly solid material."

"You can use that?" Popplio asked in surprise. "We've never seen you do that before."

"That's because I haven't," Alesia explained rather simply. "And I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it again without training. In that battle, it was really more of a survival instinct thing… or maybe my aura going haywire? Almost like it's not mine."

"If you're actually a human, that's probably the reason," Popplio suggested. "Humans probably didn't have auras since there aren't any records of them using elemental moves like us Pokémon do."

"Whatever you say… wanna go and join the others while we wait for our next battle to start?" Alesia pointed at the staircase leading up to the seats.

"Sure!" Riolu and Popplio both went up the stairs with Alesia following them. The trio scanned the area until they found the residents of the village grouped together. The brown-feathered Braviary twin was first to notice them, and motioned for them to come over.

Popplio eagerly hopped onto the seat directly next to him, but there was a pained squawking noise from beneath him as he felt himself plant onto something that did not feel flat enough to be the base of a seat. He got up to find the Toucannon of the village was already there, unnoticed due to his small stature.

"Oops. Sorry, little fella," Popplio apologized.

"...Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Toucannon warned him warily as Riolu held back snickers.

Once each member of the trio had his or her own seat, they were spoken to. "Nice job winning," Gallade congratulated them warmly. While Riolu and Popplio nodded pridefully, Alesia hung her head. While it was technically true that the team had won, as two out of three members beating their opponents meant they got through to the next round, not having contributed to it made Alesia feel as though the praise was undeserved, compounded by the idea of having to endure a beatdown again and again without anyone to help her.

Alesia nervously waited, trying her best to savor the minutes of freedom she had left before she would be sent back into the battlefield.

After briefly being trapped in her own thoughts, she turned her attention to her companions. Popplio had a pair of binoculars. "I'd give her a six," he commented, then took the binoculars down from his face and gave them to Riolu. "What do you think?"

Riolu's face lit up with glee. "Eight. Definitely at least an eight for that Lopunny."

"What are you doing?" Alesia asked, taking note of the paper Popplio was writing things on. It appeared to have several Pokémon names, each with a number between 3 and 10. Was it some sort of rating?

Popplio was about to explain, but Riolu tapped him. "Remember not to tell," he quietly reminded.

"You mean that we're watching girls and giving them ratings?" Popplio asked loudly.

"What?!" Alesia snapped. "That is DISGUSTING!" She grabbed the binoculars from Riolu's grasp. "I'm going back to our room."

Appalled by the actions of the two teenage boys, she stormed down the stairs and walked next to the wall of the stadium, then threw aside the binoculars, which were, as far as she was concerned, tainted with perversion. She entered the doorway leading to the rooms.

She recoiled when she stepped in something cold and wet. She looked down to find a deep green liquid that had stained her front left paw and was trickling out from underneath one of the doors.

Wanting to vent her grievances, she knocked on the door. But there was no answer.

"Hello?" she called. "Whatever you're doing in there, please be more careful with it."

There still wasn't a response, one of agreement or otherwise. She groaned and then began to walk in an awkward fashion, with the stained paw not touching the ground. She was heading back to the bathing room, intending to wash her paw clean of the green dye, not to mention complain to an employee about the situation.