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Chapter 8

"The strongest guild of the frontier"

Xatu gaped in astonishment at the Riolu in front of it with his arm outstretched like a beggar. It simply couldn't believe the gall of the blue – and – black Pokémon. Even if he is a Riolu, he should at least have a scrap of common sense! Xatu decided that he had enough. There was no reason, no gain to continue humoring the foolish Riolu. But, as he was about to shoo the Pokémon away, something interesting caught his eye.

The Riolu sported scars all over his body, one on both arms and several on his left leg. Not to mention, the scars looked relatively recent. Upon further inspection, Xatu noticed that the Riolu had a fairly fit figure. He was definitely one that has seen his fair share of combat.

'It's said that Riolu are known to be formidable fighters on the battlefield,' Xatu surmised internally as he gave Blue's body an intense inspection, 'With the way this one looks, it seems as though he's been through a fair share of battles.'

Xatu's shrewd mind quickly went to work at formulating a cunning plan, 'Perhaps, this Riolu could be my ticket to success... hm, hm, hm...'

"Hello?" Blue was confused and a little annoyed at Xatu's sudden silence, "Hey, are you awake?"

Blue waved a paw in front of Xatu's face, trying to get a reaction out of the unmoving bird. Suddenly, Xatu's wings shot up and tightly grasped Blue's paw. Blue, surprised, quickly withdrew his arm, accidentally smacking Xatu in the beak in the process.

"Whoa!" Blue shouted, "I'm sorry, are you alright?"

"Riolu!" Xatu suddenly shouted in a loud voice, "I have a proposition for you!"

"A what?" Blue stepped back out of surprise, but Xatu quickly followed him forward, kicking aside several baubles while he moved. Xatu grabbed tightly on to Blue's paw, staring at him with bulging eyes.

"A proposition! A deal! A trade, if you will!" Xatu said maniacally, "How about it, Riolu?"

"Hold on, hold on!" Blue shouted back pulling himself out of the crazed shopkeeper's grasp, "Slow down, what in the world are you talking about?"

"Hm, hm, hm..." Xatu chuckled darkly as he solemnly placed his wings on his chest, "It's simple..." He pointed at the two charms Blue had in his paws, "You're interested in those charms, are you not?"

"I suppose...?" Blue replied uncertainly. He was disturbed by Xatu's sudden change in demeanor, but he was curious about what the bird meant by 'a deal.'

"Furthermore!" Xatu opened his wings wide, forming some sort of odd looking pose that made it resemble a totem pole, "By your words, am I wrong to assume that you are hopelessly penniless?"

"If that means 'I have no Poké with me,'" Blue said bluntly, crossing his arms in annoyance, "Then I'm pretty sure I already told you that."

"Very well!" Xatu announced loudly, "Then I have a proposition for you!"

"Now you're just repeating yourself."

"Quiet!" Xatu squawked impatiently, "Now, listen up!"

Xatu spun around and quickly withdrew something from inside its tent. When it turned back around, it had in its wing a colorful sheet of paper. Blue eyed it curiously as Xatu handed it over to him to see. It was an advertisement of some sort. Crude drawings of strong, beefy – looking Pokémon were strewn all over the page. At the bottom of the page was a couple lines of messy writing.

"What's this?" Blue said, staring at the muscled Pokémon drawn on the poster with mild amusement.

"Read it, and you'll see," Xatu said, pointing at the writing at the bottom of the poster. Blue stared at the writing for a while, but could only manage a puzzled expression as he tried to read it.

"Uh..." Blue mumbled, trying to make heads or tails of the symbols scribbled on the poster, "Hm..."

"Could it be..." Xatu gaped at him in disbelief, "You cannot read?"

Blue scratched the back of his head sheepishly and nodded. Xatu covered his face with its wing and groaned in frustration. It snatched the poster out of Blue's paws and mumbled something rude under its breath. It smoothed out the poster and cleared its throat and began to read out loud.

"'Come one and come all! Machoke's Guild invites the strongest and the bravest to partake in a festival of muscle and sweat! Today, when the sun is at its highest, Machoke's Guild will be holding a grand battle royale at the main plaza! Show off your strength, skill and bravado in front of the strongest guild of the frontier!'"

"Grand battle royale?" Blue repeated questioningly as Xatu rolled the poster up, "What does this have to do with the charms?"

"Hm, hm, hm...!" Xatu chuckled and handed the rolled up poster over to Blue, "It has everything to do with the charms, Riolu."

Xatu pointed at Blue and stated dramatically, "You'll be partaking in this battle, Riolu!"

"Eh?" Blue yelled in surprise, "Why?"

"Consider it a trade of sorts," Xatu said, "If you battle in this boorish event and win, I'll give you one of these two charms as a reward. Is that fair?"

"I don't see how this benefits you in any way," Blue remarked, staring at the poster, "I have no problems with fighting, but I don't understand why I have to do this. Besides, shouldn't I be getting Poké?"

"Forget the Poké!" Xatu said hastily, brushing Blue's question off with a wave of its wing, "Consider this a favor for me. I – uh – really want to see you battle and win in this event, that's all."

"Besides," Xatu continued in a sly voice, "It'll probably take you about a week to scrounge up enough Poké to even afford those charms. This deal's completely in your favor, Riolu."

Blue eyed Xatu suspiciously. He was skeptical about the entire thing, since it sounded too good to be true. But, he didn't have much choice. Xatu had a point, he had no Poké, and had no idea how to even get some.

Blue glanced at the poster again and thought about it. All he had to do was go to this place and fight, right? And if he won, he'll get what he wants. When he thought about it that way, it didn't sound as bad. Besides, despite having multiple issues with his memory and knowledge, there was one thing he was quite confident of. His strength.

"Alright, I'll bite," Blue said, "I'll do this grand battle or whatever. Just promise me that you'll uphold your part of the deal, alright?"

"Very well then!" Xatu exclaimed, extending a wing out to Blue, "It's a deal!"

Blue nodded as he and Xatu shook on their agreement.

I sighed contently as I pushed my now – empty plate toward the center of the table. The food was absolutely delicious, especially spending an entire night having eaten nothing at all. Sitting back in my chair, I watched my companions as they ate their meals. Azurill was resting inside of a pie tin that once contained an entire apple pie. Sunflora was delicately slicing apart the berries on her plate into small portions with her leafy hands before eating them. Loudred on the other hand...

"Burrrrrrp!" He released an incredibly loud – and smelly – belch after he unloaded his entire meal into his massive mouth. I couldn't even tell what he ate before it all just vanished into his enormous gullet!

"Loudred!" Sunflora shouted as she glared at him, "You're being so disgusting, oooh!"

"Eheh," Loudred scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "It's just my compliments to the chef, ha, ha!"

I spotted said chef giving Loudred a dirty look from behind the kitchen counter. Feeling embarrassed, I mouthed an apology to him. But the chef glared at me as well before ducking back into the kitchen.

"Wow!" Azurill shouted gleefully, bouncing up and down in her little pie tin, "That was cool! Can you teach me how to burp like that, Loudred?"

"Heh. It takes years and years of training to get that sort of belch power!" Loudred said proudly and shamelessly, "It's a skill that not just any Pokémon can learn!"

"That's amazing!" Azurill sounded so genuinely impressed that I couldn't help but smile as I took a sip out of my drink. Sunflora just sighed and shook her head, covering her face with her leaves out of embarrassment.

At first, I thought Loudred was just a big, scary Pokémon. But, as I watched him earnestly try to teach Azurill the secrets of belching, I found my opinion of him changing. He wasn't just a big, scary Pokémon that shouts a lot, he was a friendly guy who, well, shouts a lot. I giggled as Azurill tried to do one of Loudred's belches, but only managed a quiet puffing noise from her mouth.

"Ooh, I just can't do it!" She stamped her feet inside the little pie tin out of frustration while Loudred chortled in his seat.

Amused, I plucked Azurill out of her pie tin and looked her in the eye, "Azurill, girls like us shouldn't be trying to make rude burping noises like that, right Sunflora?" I glanced over to the flowery Pokémon, who nodded in return.

"I don't care! I wanna burp just like Loudred does!" She pouted unhappily. I sighed in response and put her on the table. Sunflora offered her a few pieces of the berry she was slicing up, which cheered Azurill up almost immediately.

"Here Fée, you have one too!" Azurill said, handing me a berry piece with her tail. I thanked her and took it.

"Oh my gosh, you two are just too cute!" Sunflora said gleefully, clasping her leaves together cheerfully as she watched us chew on our berries, "You two are just like sisters!"

"Oh no, it's not like that," I blushed, feeling a little bashful, "We've been friends for a long time, that's all."

"Oooh, that reminds me!" Sunflora said as she handed another small berry piece over to Azurill, "Which town did you two come from? Spring Town? Post Town? Oooh, was it Seaside Town? I love meeting people from other towns! Eek!"

I shook my head and smiled at Sunflora. She must've assumed that we were a part of that huge crowd today, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sunflora. But I've lived in Treasure Town pretty much all my life."

"Me too!" Azurill added, "My brother and I lived here for a long time too!"

"Oh my gosh, really?" Sunflora didn't sound disappointed at all, in fact, she sounded even happier, "Well, Loudred and I are also Treasure Townnites! Ooh, that's a good term! I should write it down later."

"So you're also from Treasure Town, eh?" Loudred chuckled, "How'dya feel when you woke up today and saw a ton of strange new Pokémon wandering around? I pretty much screamed in surprise when I saw that crowd!"

"Yeah, and everyone heard it too..." Sunflora remarked snarkily, glancing over at Loudred. Loudred just grinned and leaned back in his chair nonchalantly.

"I was really happy!" Azurill squeaked, eager to be a part of the conversation, "It was like being at a big festival! I saw so many new faces and lotsa cool and scary looking Pokémon!"

Azurill bounced over to Loudred and roared at him, pretending that she was a big, scary Pokémon. Loudred responded by pretending to be scared while Azurill continued her scary Poké – impression.

"I wasn't actually in town this morning," I admitted to Sunflora, "But when I got back, I was really surprised to find that I couldn't get back in without waiting in line, heh, heh."

"Oh my gosh! That must've been awful!" Sunflora said, looking concerned, "I can't imagine how tiring it must be to be stuck in that huge crowd all day, ooh!"

"Well, it wasn't all bad," I said, thinking back to earlier today, "I got to see a lot of new Pokémon, and I met a few new friends too."

Feldie and Lazur's faces came swimming into my mind. I wondered how the two of them are doing now, and whether or not they managed to get into town now.

"That's nice," Loudred said, gently nudging Azurill in the cheek, "Our guildmaster's always going on and on about making new friends."

"Guildmaster?" My ears perked up when I heard him say that word, "Are you two... explorers by any chance?"

"Yep! You're completely right!" Sunflora said in an excited voice, "Loudred and I are both explorers! Well, apprentice explorers, anyway!"

"I'm skilled enough to graduate anytime I want though," Loudred boasted, puffing his chest out proudly. Sunflora gave him a sly glance.

"Oho, and who's the one who came back the other day all beat up and exhausted during their last expedition?" She snickered as Loudred deflated like a balloon.

"T – that's low, Sunflora!" He said, his blue face rapidly turning red, "What about you? Don't forget about that time I had to go save your leafy behind when you got cornered by those outlaws? If it wasn't for me, you probably wouldn't have all your petals right now!"

"Oooh, you promised to never bring that up again!"

The two of them glowered angrily at each other while Azurill and I watched in amusement. Inwardly, I felt a little envious. From the sounds of things, they've gone on a lot of adventures already. Both with each other and by themselves. They sounded so carefree, so casual about the whole thing, and yet, when I was trying to go into the Beach Cave yesterday, I was pretty much ready to faint before I even entered the cave!

But that's probably why they're explorers already and I'm not. They've already taken the first step and became apprentices, and now they're confident and strong enough to go out and have adventures. I felt a small burning desire flare up from within me. I wanted to be like them, to be able to just casually go out and have adventures too! I wanted to explore just like them!

"Speaking of which," Sunflora snapped me out of my thoughts when she addressed me, "What are you planning on doing later, Eevee?"

"What am I doing later?" I quickly pooled together my options. I still had to find Marill and Blue, of course. But I also needed to find a place that could help Blue with his injuries. A sense of urgency rose from within me as I remembered about Blue's injured leg and arms, "I... I need to go find my friends."

"You need to find your friends?" Loudred repeated energetically. He pounded his chest with a beefy arm and grinned, "Well you can leave it to us! We're experts at finding things, right Sunflora?"

"That's right, eek!" She squeaked as Loudred suddenly grabbed her arm, "We'll help you as much as we can, Eevee! It's the least we can do to make up for what happened earlier."

"Thank you so much Sunflora! Loudred!" I bowed my head down gratefully, "I'm so glad I met you two!"

"So who are we looking for?" Loudred sniffed sheepishly as he got up from the table, "You got a name, a face, anything?"

"We're looking for my brother Marill!" Azurill said cheerfully as she leaped off the table and only my back, "He looks kinda like me, but bigger and rounder. He's also really scared all the time so he'll probably faint when he sees you!"

"I'm also looking for my friend, Blue," I added, "He's a Riolu, and he should be in town somewhere by now. We got separated in the crowd earlier, and I've been trying to find him ever since."

"Oh my gosh, a Riolu?" Sunflora said with a surprised look on her face, "Now that's a rare sight! I haven't seen a Riolu before, but it should be easy to find him in town, right Loudred?"

"I've met Riolu before on an expedition," Loudred commented, rubbing his large, circular ears thoughtfully, "I remember them being pretty rude, kinda unsociable Pokémon. They're also pretty strong too. One of them nearly knocked my block off when I approached them, heh."

"Unsociable? Rude?" I said questioningly. True, Blue was a little weird at times, but for all the time I've had to get to know him, he wasn't cold or distant at all. In fact, he was pretty nice and charming. I thought back to all the times he encouraged me and hugged me back at the Beach Cave. Suddenly, I felt a strange blush creep on to my face. I quickly brushed my face with my paws and tried to think about something else.

"I'm not saying your friend is like that," Loudred quickly replied, "I'm sure your pal is a pretty swell guy, to have a friend like you! Just because the Riolu I've met are rude and jerks doesn't mean your pal is, right Sunflo – ow!"

"Loudred, that's enough of that!" Sunflora scolded, smacking him angrily with a leaf, "Her friend is probably somebody really important to her, so don't go around saying bad things about him!"

"But I didn't..." Loudred mumbled under his breath.

"Anyway," Sunflora said, ignoring Loudred's gripes, "Loudred and I will go look around the shopping plaza and the guild areas while you and Azurill should stay within the main plaza. If we find your buddies, I'll have Loudred give you a signal."

"You wont miss it!" Loudred gave a big, smug smile. Sunflora sighed and shook her head.

"We'll meet you in the main plaza, by the fountain if we find either Azurill's brother or your friend, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan," I replied, giving Sunflora a smile, "Thank you for your help again, Sunflora. Loudred."

"Ooooh, it's no big deal," Sunflora said as she tried to cover her blushing face with her leaves, "I just love helping others, don't you Loudred?"

"Yep!" He shouted. The plate of berry slices that Sunflora worked on so intensively earlier was instantly sent flying by the shockwave created by Loudred's voice. The four of us watched, aghast, as the white plate went sailing through the air and hit the opposite wall of the restaurant. Where it immediately shattered into a million white pieces.

"Oops." Loudred scratched the back of his head sheepishly while Sunflora began to hit him over and over with her leaves.

"Loudred, you oaf!"

The chef was peeking out at us again, and he didn't look very happy at what we just did. I gulped and quickly turned to face everyone.

"We should get going now."

The four of us nodded and quickly dashed out the front door. From behind me, I could hear the chef yelling angrily at us.

I guess I wont be able to eat here anymore...

A crowd of Pokémon watched with bated breath as a group of Geodude slowly hovered into the air. Then, the Geodude clasped their hands together and formed a large ring with their bodies in midair. With a hearty bellow, the Geodude slammed down and struck the ground with a resonating crash. Dust and sand went flying everywhere as the Geodude impacted the earth.

"Woooh! Yeaaah!" The crowd of Pokémon around the Geodude all cheered loudly as the cloud of dust settled. In the center of the crowd was a large, rocky circle. Perfect for a combat ring.

One Pokémon stepped into the ring, silencing the crowd immediately with his commanding presence. The Pokémon was ripped, covered from head to toe with powerful, sinewy muscles, which he showed off by flexing in front of the entire crowd. Then, he struck a dynamic pose, pointing upwards to the sky with a clenched fist while kneeling as a legion of round, ball – like Voltorb exploded behind him, sending sparks and flame into the air. The crowd went ballistic, whooping and cheering for the brawny Pokémon like mad.

Said Pokémon grinned at all the attention he was getting. He stood back up straight and pointed towards the crowd with his well – toned arms.

"Dynamic!" He exclaimed showily as he made another flexing pose, "I, Machoke of Treasure Town, welcome you all to my grand festival of muscle and strength!"

His words were punctuated by a flock of Pidgeotto zooming over the crowd, scattering confetti and streamers from their talons. A crew of bug – like Kricketune began to play a lively melody with their claws, while a group of Minccinno and Cinccino sang along, serenading the crowd with a bubbly, uplifting song.

"Now, I know you're all ready to jump in and start the rumble," Machoke shouted over the cheers and the music, "Trust me, I am too!"

He grinned at the crowd and pounded his fists against each other, making a loud sound akin to an explosion.

"But the bean counters at my guild told me that I gotta announce this first," He shrugged with a bored look on his face, making the crowd laugh out loud, "Nothing I can do about that folks!"

A Mankey swung down from a nearby rooftop and landed next to Machoke. He handed Machoke a small scroll of paper and then leapt out of the ring and vanished into the crowd. Machoke unfurled the scroll.

"Ahem!" He coughed loudly, more so out of dramatic emphasis than actually clearing his throat, "Let it be known that all Pokémon battling here today will be under the watch of The Machoke Guild! Any Pokémon looking forward to apprenticing under our banner should try their best and battle as hard as they can! We don't care about winners or losers, we want you to show us your best stuff!"

He crumpled the scroll up into a small, papery ball and chucked it into the crowd, "And that's that! You wanna be apart of my guild? Then you get out there and battle as hard as you can! Show us that you have what it takes to be a part of the strongest guild of the frontier!"

He made another flashy pose in the center of the arena. The Voltorb crew behind him set off another series of loud explosions, which signaled the beginning of the festival of muscle.

"Now, let's begiiiiiin!" Machoke shouted and leapt high into the air as the crowd around him began to applaud and yell. He snapped his fingers while in midair, summoning a Staraptor to swoop down and snag him right at the apex of his jump. Machoke flew in a circle around the crowd, giving everyone an encouraging thumbs up before departing for his seat on the roof of a building.

Blue made a low whistle, impressed by the series of events. He and Xatu had walked from the shopping plaza over to the main plaza. Half of the entire plaza had been cordoned off just for this event. Tall scaffolds and platforms were set up for musical performers and other entertainers. The shop stands around the plaza had been repurposed by the guild, and were now selling memorabilia that advertised Machoke's guild. Blue wandered over to one of the stands and saw that the store was selling long strips of cloth that had Machoke's mug plastered all over it.

"Machoke Focus Bands! You'll never faint if you wear one of these babies!" A Machop manning the store boasted. He was wearing one of the headbands, "Only 700 Poké! Available for a limited time only!"

Blue scratched his head. How could a gaudy headband prevent someone from fainting? As he was trying to puzzle out the logic behind such a thing, he was suddenly forcefully pulled away from the stand.

"Riolu, we're not here to gawk or shop!" Xatu scolded angrily, "Now come with me, we're signing you up for the main event!"

"I understand, now stop pulling my arm!" Blue winced as he felt the scar on his arm twinge in pain as Xatu yanked on his paw.

Xatu lead him through the crowd and toward a large wooden stand at the side of the circular ring. Blue looked up at the stand. There was a large billboard attached to the top of it, displaying a rather surprisingly well – drawn picture of Machoke, and two other Pokémon beside him. Blue assumed that it must be his partners.

"Ah, excuse me!" Xatu said as they neared the stand. Two, girly – looking Pokémon stood behind a table, one clad in white and the other dressed in all black. Both of them were busy scribbling away at pieces of paper strewn all over the surface of the table. The white - colored one looked up at Xatu with a tired look in her eye.

"Are you another contender?" She said with an exhausted voice, "Name and place of origin, please."

"Oh no, no, no, no," Xatu quickly said, waving his wings wildly, "I'm not the one contending, it's this Pokémon here."

He gestured over to Blue, who was gazing up at the incredibly gaudy – looking sign above the stand, "He's the one."

"Is that a Riolu?" The Pokémon leaned over the table and stared interestingly at Blue, "Wow, I've never seen one before!"

"Kirlia, stop staring at the contestants and do your job," Her partner scolded as she pulled Kirlia back on to her seat, "You can ogle them all you want after the event's over."

"Who said I was ogling, Gothorita?" Kirlia said indignantly, "Don't think I didn't see you sneaking glances at that Gurdurr earlier. Honestly, I can't understand your taste."

"You're just too childish to appreciate the charm of a well – muscled Pokémon!" Gothorita retorted snobbishly "You must look past the surface and see the inner strength!"

"Oh yes, because gross, sweaty body builders are so good – looking inside as they are outside," Kirlia replied dismissively, "Now that Tyrogue earlier, that was a hunk!"

"Um...our registration please?" Xatu interrupted, "Can we get him entered in the event already?"

"Oh, right, of course," Kirlia quickly said, blushing, "Riolu, right? Where are you from?"

"Uh..." Blue mumbled. He didn't know what he should say. Would they accept 'from the ocean' as an answer?

"It doesn't matter where he's from," Xatu replied impatiently, brushing off the question, "Just write down Crystal Cave or whatever."

"Alright then, Crystal Cave it is," Kirlia said as she jotted it down on a piece of paper, "Mmhm, okay! All done."

The green – haired Pokémon bent down underneath the table and withdrew a small, rounded object. Blue noticed that it had the number '27' printed on its surface as she handed it over to him.

"This is your badge," Kirlia explained, pointing at the object, "You'll enter the ring and fight once your number is called. Your number's 27, don't forget it, okay?"

"Alright," Blue nodded as he held the badge up to the sunlight to get a better look at it, "Thanks, uh, Kirlia."

"Good luck!" She shouted as Blue and Xatu left to join the crowd of contestants, "If you win, don't forget that I was the one who signed you up!"

"Kirlia..." Gothorita groaned, shaking her head and covering her face with her hand.

"Contestants number 10 and 56, please enter the ring!"

Two shadows flew out of the crowd and landed inside the arena. One of them had a short, lanky figure. His arms and waist were wrapped with faded white bandages, and he was wearing small, brown shoes on his feet. On his chest was a gleaming white badge that had the number 10 printed on it. The Pokémon glared at his opponent as he cracked his knuckles menacingly.

Standing opposite of contestant 10 was a similarly short, but muscular Pokémon. He resembled a small, child – sized panda. He sneered at the lanky Pokémon and played with the tiny leaf that he stuck in his mouth.

"Tyrogue from Pokémon Square and Pancham from Unity Town," The announcer was a Buneary floating in the air, holding on to a Drifloon. She looked down at the two contestants standing in the ring and said, "Are you two ready?"

"I'm ready." Tyrogue announced, taking up a fighting stance.

"Let's go get this over with already!" Pancham shouted, tapping his feet against the ground impatiently, "Let's go!"

"Alright, both fighters ready!" Buneary raised her left paw – the one that she wasn't using to hold on to the balloon Pokémon – and swung it down, "And begin!"

Once he heard the signal, Tyrogue charged toward Pancham at a blisteringly fast speed. He drew back his right fist, readying himself to punch the black and white Pokémon right in the face. The crowd cheered loudly at the Tyrogue's daring move.

But suddenly, right before Tyrogue's attack landed, he froze in midair. The cheers faded as everyone watched Tyrogue crumple on to the ground, stunned. Pancham snickered and moved back a step, letting the lanky Pokémon fall down on to where he was standing.

"What happened?" Asked several members of the audience. Pancham, however, wasn't interested in answering any questions and instead, leapt forward with his arm drew back.

"Hya – ha!" He shouted – half laughing and half howling – as he thrust his arm forward, right at Tyrogue's fallen form. However, right before the panda's punch struck, Tyrogue's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed Pancham's fist, stopping his attack

"That was a dirty trick," Tyrogue snarled, his face dirty from hitting the ground, "I wont fall for that again!"

"W – wait!" Pancham said in a scared voice, the leaf slipping off his lips, but Tyrogue had already gotten back up on his feet. Swiftly, Tyrogue yanked on Pancham's fist and pulled him off the ground, flipping him into the air helplessly.

Tyrogue watched as Pancham flailed wildly in the air for a second. Then, right before Pancham hit the ground, he jumped toward the panda with his right foot outstretched. He crashed into Pancham in midair, his foot digging itself deep into Pancham's side. Pancham was sent flying over the crowd as Tyrogue deftly rebounded off Pancham's body. Tyrogue stood up tall and struck a victorious pose as a crashing noise was heard in the distance.

"A – ah..." Buneary and Drifloon gaped at the unconscious Pancham lying in a small crater beside the crowd. Buneary quickly recomposed herself and announced, "Pancham has fainted! Our first victory goes to contestant number 10: Tyrogue from Pokémon Square!"

"Wooooh! Yeaaah!" The crowd went wild as they cheered for their first victor. Tyrogue walked out of the ring in a dignified fashion as a couple of Audino rushed past him to go resuscitate the unconscious Pancham.

"Now that was exciting!" Buneary exclaimed loudly, "But there's more to come! Let's welcome our next contestants...!"

"That was a pretty impressive move he did there, don't you think? Quickly paralyzing that Tyrogue with a forceful leer to stop his attack in midair."

"Ha ha!" Machoke laughed, "Too bad he underestimated Tyrogue's spirit! I keep telling ya, Hariyama, that guts and valor always triumph over dirty tricks or cunning plans!"

The massive, hulking Pokémon nodded. He crossed his arms as he sat next to Machoke, staring intently at the ring below them. He looked over the crowd of contestants standing at the side of the ring, all of them waiting for their chance to duke it out in front of the crowd.

"Any Pokémon catch your eye yet?" Hariyama asked. Machoke grumbled and cupped his chin.

"It's too early to tell," He said, shrugging his muscled shoulders, "All of them have potential. But what we want are the strongest, the bravest and the best of the best!"

"Of course," Hariyama replied, having heard the same speech before a million times, "I suppose we'll find one eventually."