This is pretty much how Piers's thought process went.

"Well done, Victor!"

"That was great!"

"123! Challenger 123!"

Victor wasn't sure what to do when he stepped out of the stadium and heard all the cheers. He waved, then stopped waving as he wondered if he should be accepting their admiration when he still had another round of battles ahead of him.

Leon, when he finally noticed, just laughed it off. "Fame takes some getting used to," he commented, and Victor flinched. He wanted people to cheer his name, but seeing fantasy become reality turned out to be a bit jarring.

The elevator door behind Victor, and Hop stepped out with a smile across his face, finally letting his happiness for his friend take over. "Nice job, but the real challenge starts with the finals."

"Yes," Leon agreed. "Many trainers will try to make their way to face me in the championship match. And though some have doubted..."

"Like you?" his brother interjected.

Leon ignored him. "...I hope you're the one that makes it there."

"That makes both of us," Victor said as he looked up at who he hoped would be his future opponent, his mind wandering to images of himself winning the cup. "Hey, as a reward for winning the semi-finals, can I wear your cape for just a minute? Just to see what it feels like."

Leon laughed a short but hardy laugh. "You'll have to pry it off my cold, dead shoulders first."

"Can't I just beat you in a battle?"

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched cry as Gloria ran frantically from the stadium and over to her friends.

"VictoraredwaveofbadnesswashedovertheskyandthemonitorsaidthateverythingisfinebutIdon'tthinkit'sfineatall!" she sputtered out, not making any coherent sense.

"Hey, you found your glasses," Victor said with a smile as he dismissed this strange behavior, not even attempting to separate the words. Gloria huffed and turned away, no longer carrying if he was warned.

"You know what," Leon said as he clapped his hands together. "It's been a long day, so how about I treat you all to dinner tonight?"

Hop smirked at that. If he was going to have his rich brother pay for his meal, then he was going to go all out. "Fine, but I'm picking the restaurant. You have the worst taste in food."

Leon agreed and promised to meet them in an hour and a half to get dinner. They figured that it would give them at least two hours to heal their Pokémon and get a bit of rest in themselves.

As the kids left, a news report caught Leon's eye. It was about the strange energy wave that passed by and the video that Chairman Rose released to the internet and any monitor under his control in an attempt to keep the peace. Leon glared at the footage in front of him. "Rose, you idiot."

"About the chairman," a voice said from behind. Leon turned and saw that it was a Macro Cosmos employee talking to him. "He needs to have a word with you."


The road to the hotel was packed with people wanting to talk to Victor. Some wanted his autograph, some wanted to take his picture, and a handful of them were screaming about him being the next Champion, with even more saying he was going to get creamed. Once Victor started posing for those pictures, Gloria felt that they needed to rush him to his room so it didn't go to his head too fast.

The hotel lobby was hardly any better as the press was waiting to ambush him, and didn't give him a second before barraging him with questions.

"Was it a tough fight?" one asked.

"What would you say to your rival?" another asked while ignoring the fact that said rival was right next to him.

"Is there any trainer you hope to fight in the finals?"

"How do you respond to allegations of kidnapping, attempted murder, and selling one of your rivals into slavery?"

"Is that lass your girlfriend?"

"Do you really think you have a chance against Leon?"

"That's enough!" Gloria shouted as she put herself between her friend and the reporters. "At least give him a bit of time to respond!"

Victor thought back and decided to answer these questions in the order that he heard them. "Tough match, good fight, no one in particular, no comment, absolutely not, and he's going down."

Across the hall, the family of another rival of his was having similar problems.

"She's not mentally abusive!" Marnie yelled at a rather rude reporter. "We made her that shirt because we thought it was funny!"

"Yes, steroids were involved," Piers lied. as messing with the press was one of the perks of his job. "Leon uses many of them. Just wished he understood that it's the Pokémon need to take them."

"I'm not a vampire! I don't care if that's exactly what a vampire would say!"

"One-hundred percent pure werewolf."

"Leave my kids alone!" their mother shouted, effectively chasing some of them away, to Marnie's relief and Piers's disappointment. "This is always the worst part of these tournaments!"

Soon afterward, security got involved and ushered the guests to their rooms until they had successfully gotten rid of the press. Once the lobby was emptied, their Pokémon were happy and healthy, and the boys got to unwind a bit, the three friends made their way back down to meet with Leon once he arrived. They arrived on time, but Leon was not to be seen, so all was normal. A half-hour passed without the champion's arrival. Still nothing new. Another full hour passed by without a sign of him, and they finally started to worry.

"Where is he?" Hop asked as he paced the floor. "Even he's never this late. And even if he were straight up lost, he would have called by now."

"It finally happened," Victor said as he threw his hands in the air. "He got so lost that he's not even on the same plane of existence anymore."

"Does that mean that you win by default?" Rotom popped out to ask. Victor thought about this and wondered if he could accept the tainted victory.

"Relax," Gloria said in a nonchalant tone. "I'm sure he just went into the wrong backyard and got heated, jailed, and/or shot."

The boys blinked in surprise.

Hop broke the silence. "That's why I'm worried."

"I know where he is," a familiar voice said from the back of the room, causing everyone to scream.

As the panic washed away, they realized it was the Spikemuth Gym Leader, who had been sitting there the whole time.

"Where did you come from?" Victor demanded.

Piers smiled like the jerk he was. "When two people love each other very much..."

"Where's my brother?" Hop demanded as he interrupted the smart mouth.

"He was escorted to Rose Tower," Piers answered as he got up and stretched. "This was a few hours ago."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "What's he doing at Rose Tower that's lasting hours?"

Piers's face fell at this. "Did you not see the news?" The looks on the other's faces told him enough, and he pulled out his phone, covering the story of the red energy wave and Rose's response.

"That's it!" Gloria shouted. "I saw that in the stadium!"

Victor whipped his head around at that. "You saw that and didn't tell us?!"

"Shut up, Victor."

Piers put his phone away, and concern returned to Hop's face. "We need to go now."

"Are you sure?" Gloria asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Leon's the strongest trainer in the world. What can we do to help?"

"I don't need to win a tournament to know that I'm strong," Hop said in reply. "But it would be nice if the winner had my back."

It didn't take much longer for Victor to make up his mind. "Always."

Piers tsked at the three scheming children before him. "Sneaking into rich guy's tower after dusk. I don't know, we'd have to break in and..." His train of thought was interrupted by his own laughter as he failed to continue the charade. "Just kidding! Let's break in!"


Piers immediately texted his sister, who wanted in on this action. Once she was downstairs, they only had to take a few steps outside before running into Oleana, Rose's right hand.

"You!" Hop called out. "Where's my brother?"

Oleana, stone-faced as ever, didn't appreciate the outburst. "Hello, children. Your concern is unnecessary. Champion Leon is in a very important meeting with the chairman, discussing the future of the world."

"Like whatever caused that red wave of death?" Victor scoffed.

Oleana's expression cracked for a second. "It wasn't a death wave!"

"Well, whatever it was," Gloria said with a scowl, "it's evil and needs to be killed. Or befriended. Whichever's easier."

Marnie thought back on those words and remembered an article she had read a while back. "There is allegedly a girl from Sinnoh who befriended Satan with chocolate..."

"Look," Piers interjected. "We're a bunch of crazed lunatics. Either you let us in, or we'll force our way through."

Oleana, knowing what this man was capable of, decided that she could at least buy her boss a little more time before vandalism broke out. "Alright, I can compromise. How about a little game?" And with that, she called over a nearby employee with dark glasses, silver hair sticking out of his hat, and the exact look of a league worker. "This man has the key to the tower. Find him in town, best his six Pokémon, and the key is yours."

They all stared in confusion as they struggled to process this. "Seriously?" Hop asked. "Hide and seek?"

"Of course," the businesswoman said as the guy already took off.

Piers, equally disbelieving, watched him go. "What are you, five?"

Oleana didn't reply, merely turned to take off herself. "Good luck."

The group circled around and made a plan of attack. "Well, he definitely has the home-field advantage," Victor said.

"How are we going to search this whole large town?" Gloria asked.

Marnie looked to the street, and saw a couple of Team Yell grunts celebrating Marnie's adventure to the semi-finals. "I have an idea," she said with a crafty smirk.


Victor: Dash (Cinderace) Corviknight, Drednaw, Excadrill, Fraxure, Grapploct

Gloria: Ace (Inteleon) Dishwasher (Obstagoon) Rogue (Thievul) Hattie (Hatterene) Harry (Grimmsnarl) Stabitha (Pawniard)