Chapter 2

Charlie yawned as he laid on the ground staring up at the sky. It was a beautiful day and no one could change it. Life couldn't have supposedly got better for him or his friends; every day was a new adventure in life. He loved being a Pokemon trainer, not only had he meet powerful opponents but he had two of the best friends in the whole world he could ask for. He even had his team of his own powerful Pokemon that he could always trust.

At first he seemed to only care for himself and only winning any battle, but during his travels he matured in a lot of ways. His two friends made sure of that ever since he ran into them. Kevin he knew since he was a small child and was his closet friend, he also seemed to know a bit more then Charlie did which made him a tough rival to beat. In a hand full of battles Charlie only a few when he faced his childhood friend.

Blossom they met only a few months after they started their journey. She was a Pokemon healer and knew many ways to cure a Pokemon from poison, burns, and other health problems they would face. She joined them on their journey after longing to see the world for herself; the new face didn't bother Charlie or Kevin one bit.

All three of them were really good trainers and could hold their own in a battle but the three would often team up with one of their friends for a double battle or the time they had to take down a rampaging Tyranitar that was attacking a city. He shivered at that memory, that battle wasn't fun at all.

"Oi Charlie!" he heard Kevin calling, "Get up would you? We're near the tournament ring!"

"Oh right." He said, brushing his pants off as he stood up, "Sorry about that guys."

"Always the last one to get up," Blossom sighed, "It makes me wonder if you'll ever be on time for any of your battles."

"Hardy har." Charlie said, giving a noogies on Blossom's head.

"Come on let's get going," Kevin said calling back his Empoleon from the lake, "We only have a few days before the tournament doesn't take anymore challengers."

"Fine, fine." Charlie said, putting on his backpack and called back his sleeping Charizard, Coal, from the field.

The trio began to head out down the road again, often breaking into conversation about who would be facing who and who was better at a video game. One of Kevin's favorite games was one that involved a controller shaped like a guitar. Of course, him and Charlie were the only ones to know what it was while Blossom was left confused.

"I could totally kick your ass on the game Chuck," Kevin said as he took a drink from his water battle, "Just like I can with you in battles."

"Just because you played it constantly back at the academy and barely talked about anything besides that game for weeks doesn't mean that you can beat me in a battle." Charlie said, folding his arms.

"Oh come off it," Kevin said, "since day one I've beaten you in combat. You got lucky a few times but you could never always win."

"Guys…" Blossom said, kinda annoyed, "could we talk about something that doesn't involve your friendly rivalry?"

"Yeah sure," Charlie said, willing to change the conversation, "So Kev, will your girlfriend be there?"

"Hailz?" Kevin asked, "I think so, why?"

"Well think about it, she's been using that same dog team ever since you helped her in class one day and she's managed to beat the Elite Four with them. She's gotta be tougher now." Charlie said, smiling at the thought of his Charizard fighting Hailey's powerful Houndoom.

"Who knows," Kevin said, shrugging his shoulders, "She might be, but knowing her she'll avoid big competitions."

"We might as well keep moving guys," Blossom said, looking at her watch, "its 12 PM already."

The rest of the converstation went from Hailey being in the tournament to who would win the tournament. The three didn't realize though that not only would their questions be answered but a lot of familiar faces would be there as well. The walk lasted about two hours or so before they came to a large city with a dome that was the size of two football fields put together. Charlie could barely keep his excitement in himself, they finally arrived at where they needed to be.

"Oh man we are finally here baby!" Charlie said, shouting a victory cheer as they entered the city.

"About time," Kevin said, looking around at the buildings that surrounded him and his friends, "pretty big place to hold the tournament."

"Well it makes sense," Blossom said, "after all isn't this one of the largest tournaments being held?"

"I hear that it's the largest so far." Charlie said as he walked up to the dome.

The dome that would hold the tournament battles was indeed large on the inside as it was on the outside; there was a massive battle field for the trainers and their pokemon to use, a fine restaurant, and even hotel rooms for the trainers. The three were indeed very impressed by what they were looking at, admiring it all. Charlie was the first to go to the sign up register.

"Hi, I would like to register my team." Charlie said to the young woman behind the desk, who looked up with a friendly smile.

"Very well sir," she said typing away at the computer, "please place your Pokeballs here."

She pressed one button and a tray with six holes in it appeared, Charlie nodded and placed each Pokeball of his team into the tray. There was a bright light that scanned all six Pokemon. On the computer screen Charlie could see the photos that were chosen for each of his team mates. After the scan was over, he took his Pokeballs back.

"Thank you for registering Charlie," the young woman said, "you're lucky that you got here in time we're almost booked."

"I'll say," Charlie said, placing his Pokeballs back on his belt, "thanks for registering me!" With that he went off to Kevin and Blossom and told them were to register up.

The rest of the day the three friends sat at the restaurant eating and talking. The tournament was about to start in two days and already the trio was excited. Charlie being the most excited, he looked forward to his first battle in the ring.

"Man I can't wait to start battling!" he said as he took a drink of his soda, "When me and Coal get out there I'm gonna give these people a show!"

"Don't get too cocky Chuck," Kevin said, shaking his head a little, "don't forget some of the toughest trainers are here and they don't go down easily."

"Kev is right Charlie," Blossom said, frowning a bit at Charlie's ego, "This isn't a gym battle where you know what types to use against the gym leader, these trainers have all types of Pokemon and strategies."

"Yeah I know," Charlie said, becoming serious, "I'll have to watch myself here because I know a few of our rivals will be here as well."

The three were quiet for a bit, looking out at the window of the restaurant they were at. Trainers from all over where gathering talking, and forming strategies with the time they were given. Charlie seemed a bit worried, but he kept his cool as he turned back to his friends with a smile.

"But I'm sure we're not gonna go down without a fight right?" he asked, the two of them smiled and nodded.

After dinner they left and began to walk around the dome, looking around at the sights the giant place had to offer. Charlie was interested in the Pokemon gear store and sword displays, Kevin wanted to look around at the music store and Blossom wanted to be at the flower department. They couldn't remember the last time they had fun in a big place like this, it was near 7:00 P.M when they decided to stop looking around.

"Man did I have fun!" Kevin said, holding a bag of new CDs by him, "They had some of the classic stuff I liked and do you know how hard it is to find most of it now?"

"Last I heard you could barely find any of them anymore," Charlie said, putting on his new fingerless gloves.

"Well they had some rare flowers I thought weren't around anymore." Blossom said excitedly, "some of them can be used for medicine and treatments for many diseases."

"Hey Kev," Charlie said, looking over his friend's shoulder, "Isn't that Hailey over there?"

Kevin turned around and then back to his friends. He smiled and turned around to go talk to his old girlfriend. After watching them for a bit, the reunited pair left to go find out what the other was doing during the time they were apart. This left just Charlie and Blossom alone.

"That's Kevin for you," Charlie said, putting his arms behind his head, "he sees something he wants to be with and he gets it."

"Oh I can say the same for you buddy." Blossom said, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Oh come on Bloss," Charlie said, giving her another noogies, "when have I ever done that?"

"Well the time when you went after Saphira when she was just a Gible and it took you almost all night to catch her is one thing."

"That's different." Charlie said.

"How is that different?" Blossom asked, "Coal and you kept running after her and she wouldn't stop until she ran out of breath!"

"You try catching a dragon type then Blossom." Charlie replied, "they're not the easiest thing in the world to catch."

"Oh whatever." Was her reply.

The two sat alone on a bench for a long time. For both of them it seemed kinda awkward. Deep down Blossom truly had a big crush on her friend, but she could barely even try to tell him. Charlie seemed to not notice her feelings most of the time, but when he managed to save her life from a horde of hungry Gyrados he did blush when she hugged him for about twenty minutes. In short terms, each side had feelings for each other.

"Um…" Blossom stammered, "Do you think there will be team battles?"

"I…I think so," Charlie said, his face a bit red, "besides there are so many trainers here they would have to do that."

"Yeah, the question is when they do that though." Blossom said, looking at Charlie a bit, whose eyes didn't meet her's.

"Yeah…" is all he said, looking at the number of trainers on the giant billboard.
Blossom's face burned a bit red as she looked down at her feet, she felt like she couldn't do anything to tell him. She scooted a bit closer to him as he continued to stare at the billboard. She literally forced herself to gather the courage to say something again, this time stammering a bit more.

"C-Charlie…" she said, her voice a bit quiet.

"Yeah what is it?" Charlie said, noticing that she was a bit closer to him. This made him a bit nervous.

"I…I…" was all Blossom could say before a voice from behind them made them jump.

"Well look who is here." Said the voice, which was cold and seemed pretty confident.

Charlie got up and turned around. He snarled at the sight that was in front of him. It was a man in his early twenties and had dark orange here that reached down to his neck. He wore a pair of sunglasses on his face while the rest of him wore a sleeveless shirt and jagged blue pants. It was one of Charlie's hated rivals, Joel.

"Who let you in here?" Joel asked, "Last I checked this tournament was for people who were actually good."

"You should ask yourself that ass," Charlie said, snarling at his rival, "I thought you were done training Pokemon Joel."

"Well that's half true," Joel said, removing his sunglasses, "I stopped for a bit but when I heard that most champions were coming towards this tournament I couldn't resist coming to kick some ass."

Charlie snorted at that remark; Joel gave him a death glare before reaching down to pull out his first Pokeball.

"I'd watch it if I were you kid," he said with a threat tone in his voice, "or you'll find your team not only beaten but destroyed."

"Bring it on then jackass," Charlie said, reaching for his Pokeball as well, "I could use a warm up!"

"Charlie please don't start this." Blossom said, pulling his arm away from his Pokeball, "If you start a fight they could kick you out right away."

"Gck…fine." Charlie said, leaving his Pokeballs alone. His eyes didn't leave Joel's though. The two rivals glared at each other for about ten minutes before Joel turned around.

"Don't lose just yet kid," he said before beginning to walk away, "I want the pleasure of kicking your ass myself." And with that he walked away until he was out of sight.

"Man that guy gets my nerves fried!" Charlie said, clenching his fist.

"That's why I stopped you from fighting with him," Blossom said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips, "If you start a fight with him you could easily lose your temper and we know that's not a good thing."

"Yeah I know…" Charlie said, sighing as he sat down on the bench by Blossom, "thanks Bloss."

"D-Don't mention it." She said, blushing a bit from him sitting close to her.

The rest of the day was spent wondering who would face who, Kevin and Hailey reunited with Charlie and Blossom that evening and began discussing their plans for the tournament. However little did anyone know that this tournament would awaken forces beyond their understanding. That night, a boy with red eyes, even redder then Joel's, stood outside of the dome looking at it with lust.

"So it begins…" he said walking into the dome, a smirk appearing on his face.