Prologue
She was a fierce-looking woman, with piercing gold eyes and lavender hair that was styled into a faux hawk fade, with part of her hair tumbling in long, curly waves down the side of her face. Koffing-shaped earrings dangled from her ears, and a scar ran horizontally over the bridge of her nose. She wore a studded, black leather jacket and skintight leather pants and boots to match. Her violet lips curved into a smirk as she looked across the Goldenrod Game Corner towards the pool hall where several of members of her crew were gathered. The crowd she hung around was filled with the most boisterous roughnecks Johto had ever known.
One of her chrome dome companions—who was currently playing—looked down at the table nervously while his opponent lined up his shot. Thus far, he'd not been able to clear more than two of the striped balls. His opponent, however, had been making just about every single shot he'd made. Sweat trickled down the side of his face as he watched his red-hooded opponent carefully strike the cue, sending it rolling across the table and nailing the eight ball at an angle, sending it straight into the corner pocket.
"Dammit, he's too good," grumbled one of the bikers as he watched his comrade hand over what he owed.
Taking the money, the youth slid the bills into his pocket and proceeded to disassemble his cue stick, placing the pieces into the case before slinging the strap over his shoulder. As he turned to leave, he heard the sound of someone clapping their hands, prompting him to turn around. As he did, he found himself needing to look up into the face of the woman in front of him as she towered over most of her crew.
"Nicely done, kid. Color me impressed," the tall woman said with a wry grin. "It's not every day that someone can mop the floor with my crew in the pool hall, yet you've managed to do it every single time."
"Thanks, but I'm not a kid," the young man replied with a furrowed brow.
"Well how am I supposed to know that? You keep half your face covered every time you're here," said the woman with a mirthful chuckle.
"Fair enough," he responded before turning to walk off.
As he walked away, the woman's attention was drawn to the young man's sweater where she could see a small, red and white sphere attached to a holster. She could also see that there was poké gear on his wrist.
"So you're a trainer too huh?" she mused, twirling a curly lock between her fingers. "Perhaps, we could battle the next time we meet."
Ethan paused mid-stride and turned to look over her shoulder. He was half tempted to battle her right then and there, but judging by the three spheres that she had on hand, he was sure he would get worked over by her. Still, the thought of seeing how far Cyndaquil had come was very tempting.
"I'll definitely take you up on that offer," Ethan replied, a smirk curving onto his face as he turned to leave.
Exiting the Game Corner, the young man reached into his pocket and took out the bundle of cash he'd made and began to count it. After finishing, he smiled to himself and pocketed the money.
"Good, I finally have enough to get started."
A faint ringing noise caught his attention, prompting him to look down at his gear. Seeing who it was, he pressed the green button on his gear to answer the call.
"Hey Lyra, what's up?" he asked, continuing to walk down the busy sidewalk towards his apartment.
"Hey Ethan, just calling to see how the birthday boy is doing. What are you now, twelve?" Lyra teased, earning a groan from Ethan.
"For the last time, Lyra, I'm eighteen," Ethan mumbled, rolling his eyes at Lyra's laughter coming through the gear.
"I'm sorry, it's just that you still look the same! Do the Game Corner employees still ask where your parents are whenever you go in to play?" Lyra prodded further.
"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer," Ethan grunted.
"The fact that you're not saying no is proof enough," Lyra giggled.
"Anyway, I've got enough money saved up to pay my rent for the next few months. Now I can go badge hunting without worrying about it for a while," Ethan said cheerfully.
"That's great! I'm assuming you really made bank today huh? Let me guess, you ran into that biker gang again."
"Yeah, they were there… but they weren't the only ones I played against. They were just the easiest marks," Ethan said casually.
"You say that like they won't beat your ass one day. I just hope this doesn't come back to haunt you," Lyra said in a worried tone.
Ethan shrugged. "I'm not too worried about it. Those guys respect a guy who can play as well as I do."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised mister three time pool champion. For you, it's a walk in the park. All that aside, it's good to hear that you're ready to take the journey you've always wanted. By the way, I heard from Brendan the other day. He's all moved into his new home in Hoenn!"
"That's good to hear. I was gonna give him a call today to see how that was going. He and I were planning to start at the same time. Obviously I jumped the gun a little since I already have Cyndaquil and have been training him for several months now."
"Well, you always were one to get ahead of yourself. Anyway, I gotta get going. I need to go help out at the daycare today. There's been a lot of new trainers coming by lately. It's going to be a lot of work," Lyra sighed, thinking of all she had to do once she got to the daycare.
"Yikes, that sounds stressful. Hopefully it won't be too bad. I'll stop by the daycare tomorrow after I head out."
"I'd appreciate that. Thanks Ethan!" Lyra chirped happily.
"No problem! See you tomorrow!"
"See you tomorrow!"
Ethan ended the call and continued to walk toward his apartment. Reaching down to his belt, he took hold of Cyndaquil's ball and released him, allowing the fire shrew to leap onto his shoulder.
"Hey there pal," Ethan said, reaching up to stroke Cyndaquil on his head. "Did you get enough rest?"
The shrew leaned into Ethan's hand and let out a happy squeak. The two continued on toward the Goldenrod Village apartment complex. Ethan walked through the automatic doors and ascended the stairs to the third floor. As he reached his door, he held up his gear to the scanner that was just above the knob and waited for it to verify his gear. Hearing the door unlock, he opened the door and went inside.
His apartment was a one bedroom unit with a small kitchen and bathroom. In the living room, a sectional sofa sat in front of a flatscreen T.V. Cyndaquil hopped down from Ethan's shoulder and scurried over to his food bowl. Finding it empty, he turned around and squeaked at Ethan.
"Alright, hang on a second Cyndaquil," Ethan called out as he took off his shoes.
Moving into the kitchen, he opened up the cupboard and took down a box full of specially made Pokémon food that he'd gotten from Lyra's grandparents. Opening the box, he poured some of the food into the empty bowl for Cyndaquil, who immediately set to devouring it.
"You were really hungry after all that training we did today huh?"
Cyndaquil gave a jubilant squeak and continued eating. Ethan moved from the kitchen into the living room and sat down on the sofa.
He took out the money he'd won from the pool games he'd played and placed it on the table in front of him. Reaching for the remote on the coffee table, he turned on the T.V. An announcer's voice could be heard covering live footage of the latest Champions Tournament.
"Man, I do not envy Lance's position right now," Ethan said as he watched Lance's Dragonite get hammered into the ground by Cynthia's Garchomp.
"And Dragonite goes down! That makes it the third Pokémon that Garchomp has defeated!" Shouted the announcer over the roar of the crowd.
"Yeah… and the scary thing about this whole thing is that Cynthia hasn't even played her trump card yet," Ethan muttered in reference to the small glimmering sphere on the glove of Cynthia's right hand. "Once she does that, it's all over…"
Time passed, and the tournament soon came to a close with Cynthia as the victor. The tournament host began interviewing Cynthia and after a few minutes, handed her the microphone for her to make a special announcement.
"Good evening everyone, and to those who are tuning in, hello to you as well. I hope you all enjoyed the tournament. As you know, every year, each region holds conference battles to crown a new conference champion. As a result, that champion earns a chance to battle that region's Elite Four and potentially their champion. This year, however, each conference―in collaboration with regional Elite Four members—came together to create what we will call the Pokémon World Tournament!"
Ethan sat up at Cynthia's words. His eyes grew wide as she went on to explain the tournament further.
"Trainers from each region can register at their local Pokémon Centers. Upon registration, you will receive one of the newly developed poké gear models which will allow everyone to view their match history as well as each other's ranks. Speaking of ranks, there are five ranks trainers must climb in order to make it to the final event held right here in Sinnoh. The aforementioned ranks are bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond. Each trainer, with the exception of gym leaders and Elite Four members, will start at bronze and work their way up to diamond."
So it's an even playing field for everyone huh? Sounds fair enough, thought Ethan as he continued to listen.
"Now, here's the catch. Those participating will only be allowed to use the Pokémon that live in their home region, which means that you won't be able to use another region's Pokémon in battle unless that Pokémon happens to live in your region as well. You may travel to other regions and battle there, as long as you keep these rules in mind."
Sounds like they're trying to have a battle of the regions or… something like that? Not sure how I feel about not being able to use Pokémon from another region, but I guess that's just part of the challenge…
Cyndaquil meandered over to the couch and jumped into Ethan's lap and curled up. Ethan smiled and began to stroke Cyndaquil's fur while he listened to Cynthia continue her explanation.
"Getting back to ranks, there will be a special reward for those who reach the rank of gold. A keystone, along with a mega stone of your choice, will be sent to you via the new transfer system we have set up in local centers. This will allow you to use mega evolution to further increase your chances of reaching the next rank. Once you reach the platinum ranking, you will qualify for a seat in the finals, but be careful not to lose too many battles beforehand or you may end up being eliminated before you get your chance. The stakes will be much higher once you reach platinum rank as losing will cost you a lot more."
That makes sense. Once you reach platinum, a lot of trainers will be vying for your spot as it almost guarantees you a place in the finals. I'm assuming you can't refuse battles either once you're targeted. I wonder if there's any way to gain immunity, Ethan pondered.
"As I mentioned before, there is one rank that is higher than platinum and that rank is diamond. There is one way to obtain this rank and that is to defeat a member of the Elite Four. This will give you the diamond ranking and therefore granting you a guaranteed spot in the finals. The winner of the tournament will be given one million pokedollars and the chance to battle with me for the tournament finale, and should you manage to defeat me, a special reward will be given. What is that you might ask? You'll have to reach me in order to find out. That being said, good luck to you all and let the games begin!"
Ethan turned off the screen and sat in silence. Just then, his gear began to ring. Seeing who it was, he grinned and answered the call.
"What's up Brendan?"
"Yo Ethan! Did you see what I saw just now?"
"If by that, you mean Cynthia's announcement of a new tournament—"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about! I heard rumors going around that there was going to be some sort of big event planned for this year, but I had no idea that it was gonna be something like this."
"It does sound pretty awesome, doesn't it? It looks like I'm going to be changing my plans a little for the next six months," Ethan replied smirking.
"Oh yeah, you said you were saving up to take the gym challenge. So, I guess this means you're going to compete in the World Tournament too huh?" Brendan responded.
"Damn right I am! I've been putting things off for far too long. It's high time I had my fun, right Cyndaquil!?"
The fire shrew hopped off the couch and faced Ethan. Cyndaquil then flared up his back flames and gave an excited, shrill cry, in response.
"He sounds pumped up. Treecko and I are eager to get going too. My dad's giving me some time off from research so that I can participate, so this will give me plenty of time to catch and train some new Pokémon."
"And while you're at it, you can finally talk to that new girl you've been telling me about. What was her name again… May?"
"I'll do that when I'm good and ready, thank you very much," Brendan replied hastily.
"So, like with Lyra… never?"
"That was—hey wait a second, how the heck did you even know about that!?"
"That wasn't too hard really. You talk a lot in your sleep, and most of the time it was about Lyra…" Ethan answered, holding in a chuckle as he heard Brendan groan over the phone.
"Wait, so all those times we camped out together—" Brendan paused, his face burning at this point as he heard Ethan's laughter over the phone. "S-Shut up! It's not funny. It's hard working up the courage to talk to someone like her… not that you would know, because you never really put yourself out there in the dating world anyway."
Ethan rolled his eyes and leaned back against the couch.
"That's because I haven't really found anyone I'd be interested in. Lyra's great and all, but we've both agreed that we're more like siblings than anything else. I'm not exactly looking for a relationship at the moment, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to it happening. If I meet someone I click with…" Ethan trailed off.
"I hear you bro. Anyway, I gotta get going. It's getting late and I need to prepare for tomorrow. Catch you later Ethan! If you decide to come to Hoenn, let me know so we can have a battle. After all, we're rivals now aren't we?"
"Oh you can count on it! Take care of yourself dude, and I'll see you at some point. Tell your family I said hello!"
"Will do! Seeya!" Brendan, said before ending the call.
"Things are getting a lot more interesting aren't they?" Ethan said aloud to no one in particular.
Standing up, he stretched for a moment and then looked down at his winnings on the coffee table. As he did, an image of the tall woman he'd met at the Game Corner, popped into his mind.
Perhaps we could battle the next time we meet.
"Something tells me she's going to participate in this as well, which means that crossing paths with her and her gang is inevitable…"
Outside the Game Corner, the sound of loud laughter could be heard as the gang and their leader exited the establishment. They all congregated around their bikes, each one talking about the World Tournament that was announced.
"So, what'cha think Sasha, you gonna enter?" one of the members asked their leader.
"I'm thinkin' about it," Sasha replied after mounting her bike and starting it up. "There's bound to be all kinds of strong trainers out there, and I wanna battle every single one of them…"
Even you, pool boy… Sasha thought with a chuckle, a smile curving onto her face as Ethan's masked face popped into her head.