Akira didn't spend much with Ash once they had left Professor Oak's lab, especially since he was wanting to spend some time with the newest member's of his team and since he still had to give a name to both his Growlithe as well as his Sneasel this seemed like a good opportunity to do so.
As Akira sat on his bed with Victor still soundly asleep beside him, Akira watched his Pokémon playing around with each other. While he was looking at the two Pokémon that he had yet to name. As he was looking at his two unnamed Pokémon, he was struck by the perfect names.
"Growlithe and Sneasel. Can you come here for a moment?" Akira called out, which caused both Pokémon to turn towards their Master. Though they were quick in following the command that Akira had given them. As he and his Pokémon stared at one another, Akira started to speak. "Growlithe. What do you think of the name Akamaru?" Akira inquired of the canine Pokémon. Growlithe gave his Master a quick yip of acknowledgement which caused Akira to give the now named Pokémon. With one Pokémon now named, Akira turned towards Sneasel and once again started to speak. "Now Sneasel, what do you think about the name Mistral?" Akira questioned the Pokémon.
Just like Akamaru, Mistral gave her Master a cry of approval which caused Akira to give the now named Sneasel a smile. "Alright everyone. It's time to go back in your Pokéballs since I would like to get some rest for the tournament that we will be participating in." Akira informed his team before calling them into their Pokéballs.
Once his Pokémon were all safely stored in their Pokéballs, Akira stripped himself to his boxers and got into bed.
Akira woke to the warmth of another body beside his and with sleep still clogging his mind, he was momentarily struck with fear which sent his body shooting up into a sitting position. Looking towards the area where he felt the body, Akira saw that it was none other than Victor.
Now with the affirmation that no one had broken into his home within his mind, a sigh of relief escaped Akira. Though as he watched Victor a new worry began to sprout within Akira's mind. "Is he still breathing..." Akira contemplated as he reached his hand towards Victor to check the pulse of the other male. Though before Akira could do that, Victor started to stir which caused another sigh of relief to escape Akira.
Now that Akira knew that Victor was still breathing, he decided to get ready for the day to ensure that he and his Pokémon were not late for the tournament especially since he didn't want to miss seeing Ash's battle.
By the time that Akira had finished fully getting out of his bed he could see that Victor was sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Good morning Victor. Did you sleep well?" Akira inquired of the slightly older boy.
For whatever reason that was unknown to Akira, Victor came flying out of the bed to land on his knees. "I'm sorry Master. I didn't mean to fall asleep in your bed. Especially not for the length of time that I did." Victor spoke out in a rushed voice.
To Akira it seemed as if Victor was trying to appeal to him in hopes of getting a less painful punishment and though he had no plans for punishing him, he knew that Victor had led a difficult life. "Victor. I have told you that you don't have to call me Master especially not within my home. Also, if I had an issue with you sleeping in my bed then I would have woken you up and had you sleep somewhere else..." Akira spoke out in hopes of calming that fear that must be flooding through Victor's body. Though as Akira was finishing speaking, he knelt down to look Victor in the eyes. "...now will you please stand up and go take a shower. I have a tournament to get ready for and I would like you to come with me." Akira informed Victor.
Victor was quick to do as Akira had ordered and moved with much greater speed than any normal person would have after just waking up. Since Victor was new to living within Akira's home and didn't have much time to get familiar with the layout of it, he was unable to determine which way to go. This was something that Akira could clearly see since Victor's face was covered with confusion. "The bathroom is through the door at the far right of the room. I'll get some clothes picked out for you while you are showering." Akira explained to Victor.
Though Victor gave no response to what Akira had just told him, Akira did receive an expression that told him how grateful he was. Once Victor was given the directions to the bathroom so he could follow Akira's order, he once again moved with great speed to do as he was instructed and soon Akira saw Victor vanish from view.
While Victor was getting ready for the day, Akira was doing the same and since he was only going to get filthy from participating within the tournament he decided that he would shower once he was finished with it. Though as he was getting dressed he was also picking out clothes that he thought would be able to fit Victor and as Akira saw, he didn't have many which caused him to decide that he would have to buy the other boy some clothes of his own as well as set up a place where he would be able to sleep since he didn't want Victor to breakdown every time that he got out of bed.
Just as Akira was placing the last piece of clothing on the bed, he heard the shower water stop which told him that Victor had finished with his shower. Knowing that there wasn't much time before they would be leaving, Akira started to finish up with the last bits of his outfit which included the belt that held the Pokéballs that contained his Pokémon as well as his bag and shoes. As Akira was pulling on his footwear he heard footsteps approaching him which could only belong to Victor. "You can wear the clothes that are on the bed." Akira called out towards Victor who only gave a mumbled thank you as a reply.
Akira along with Victor and many of the other tournament participants sat on the sidelines watching the first of the tournament matches start. The first two combatants were female Tamers that Akira didn't recognize and as such didn't have much care on who won the match though he was interested in watching it.
Just like the battle that he had with Gary during his few days amongst the Tamers, this match was a two versus two affair which caused excitement to bubble up within Akira at the possibility of seeing Pokémon that he hasn't seen before.
As Akira and the other participants of the tournament as well as the spectators sat within the Arena the noise that they were causing was suddenly interrupted by the announcer of the tournament which informed everyone around that the tournament was starting. This sent both combatants that were within the Arena to send out their Pokémon and as the red energy that came from the Pokéballs cleared it revealed to Akira two Pokémon that he has already seen before.
One Tamer had a purple rodent Pokémon which Akira had seen belonging to many of the Team Rocket members he had fought while the other Tamer had a Growlithe. Since Akira himself had one of these canine Pokémon, he started to root for this female to win this match.
Moments after both Pokémon were called into the Arena, the Tamer that Akira was wanting to win sent her Growlithe after the smaller rodent. Due to the noise that was all around him, Akira was unable to hear the Growlithe's name or hear what attack it's Tamer had ordered it to perform though from the speed that the creature was going he assumed it to be a Quick Attack.
Akira as well as the rest of the crowd watched anxiously as Growlithe sped towards it's smaller opponent. Just as the two Pokémon were about to crash into each other, Akira watched as the rodent jumped into the air to dodge the attack and as the creature came descending back towards the ground, the fangs that protruded from it's mouth started to glow a bright yellow as well as enlarged themselves. As the rodent grew closer to Growlithe, it smashed it's fangs into the canine Pokémon which sent Growlithe sprawling on the ground.
Once the rodent had finished it's attack as well as fully descended to the ground, it jumped away from the Growlithe who was already pushing itself up off the ground. It was evident to all that were watching that Growlithe had taken some major damage from the rodent Pokémon's attack.
All around Akira the crowd grew quiet as they waited for the next attack, this caused Akira to think that maybe he would be able to learn the Growlithe's name as well as hear the move that they would be using though right as Growlithe's Tamer started to speak the crowd once more caused him to miss what the Tamer was saying. Though thankfully the attack was one that he was able to figure out.
The Ember attack that Growlithe used went spiraling towards the rodent Pokémon, who once again tried to evade the attack by jumping into the air. Though Growlithe's Tamer must have foresaw this since Akira could see multiple fireballs flying up into the air and what ended up being the most surprising part of the attack was that Growlithe went soaring towards the rodent and smashed into the other Pokémon. This second phase of the attack sent the rodent flying across the Arena and eventually crashing onto the ground.
While everyone around him was focusing on whether the rodent Pokémon would stand back up, Akira was focusing on the strategy that the Tamer had just used. "She used the Ember attack as a smokescreen to cover up her real attack. That was genius!" Akira concluded as he turned his attention back to the match at hand.
Now that Akira had his attention fully on the battle he saw that the rodent Pokémon had already been returned while Growlithe had returned closer to it's Masters side to await it's next command.
The other Tamer once again threw another Pokéball into the air which would reveal to those watching what Pokémon she had chosen to use next. Akira was slightly surprised to see another purple rodent though upon closer examination, Akira could see that the two Pokémon that this Tamer used were in fact different species. This was made even more clear from the blue innards of this Pokémon large ears.
Akira could tell that this battle was long from over and within a span of only a few heartbeats both Pokémon went charging at one another.
Authors notes: Thank you to everyone who had read this chapter as well as your continued support for this story. As always please review and comments on your thoughts about this chapter as well as the story itself. Until next time.