The contestants awoke the next morning to brilliant blue skies and a crisp, salty ocean breeze blowing in from the east. Waves crashing against the shore roared in the distance, punctuated by the shrieking of Wingull and one or two Kricketune beginning to tune up for the day. Several Trainers had awoken early and were currently gathered around the computer board, talking excitedly. Although the tournament wouldn't start until the next day, the information on all of the Trainers had been posted overnight and many Trainers were looking up their own entries for amusement, or eagerly trying to find out as much as they could about the competition. A rankings list showed that Blaziken, Lucario, and Metagross were currently the most popular Pokemon in the tournament.

Curious, Maecenas looked up Alex de la Roche's entry and surveyed her Pokemon team with interest. Roserade, Blaziken, Beautifly, Aggron – it was an impressive line-up, all right. He noticed a link to several press cuttings from previous tournaments she'd entered and clicked on it.

The headlines were, not surprisingly, filled with "Rock" puns – "Fire from the Rock," "Rockin' the Stadium," and so on -- but Maecenas was impressed to find that Alex had placed first in the Hoenn League and been a semifinalist in the Hoenn Grand Festival. This girl was one talented Trainer!

Putting these thoughts out of his mind for the moment, he closed the entry and leaned back against the side of the computer board, impatiently tapping a finger against his Manaphy's Pokѐball. He just couldn't wait for someone to challenge him to a practice battle. All of his long weeks of practice were about to pay off in a big way.

***

A few yards away, Alex de la Roche herself was flipping through the Pokѐtopia Times and half-listening to a playful argument between two Trainers – a boy and a girl, probably dating – that was taking place behind her. The sea air was exquisitely crisp and energizing, and although she wasn't usually much of a morning person, Alex was already awake, alert and feeling ready for anything.

"All right, then, Alex, how about a practice battle to settle this?"

"What?" Alex set down her newspaper and looked over at the tall, blond Trainer dressed in orange who had spoken, before registering that he'd been speaking not to her, but to the long-haired girl dressed in blue standing next to him. Alex laughed nervously and walked over to her.

"Oh, no, don't tell me your name is Alex, too? This could get really confusing. My full name is Alexandria de la Roche."

The other girl smiled warmly at her and shook her hand. "Sorry about that! It is kind of a coincidence, isn't it? I'm Allesandra Cesarini."

Her companion, apparently not wanting to be left out of anything, jumped into the conversation. "And I am Markus Pearl, Alex's one and only true love – this Alex, I mean," he added hastily, nodding towards Allesandra, who rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, anyway," she continued, "Markus and I were planning to have a little practice battle, to get ready for the tournament. Anyone want to come and watch us?"

Megan Rayme, who had been leaning against the computer board and drinking an early-morning cup of coffee, her hair pulled back into an unruly ponytail, perked up at this. "All right, now this I have to see."

Maecenas, looking ready for anything as usual, didn't hesitate a moment before running over to join them. "Count me in!"

Kane seemed to materialize out of thin air, somehow still managing to project his usual suave atmosphere despite being covered in scratches, bruises and the occasional bandage from the battle of the banquet the previous night. "Most excellent. And I presume you'll allow me to referee?"

Markus looked at him askance, but eventually nodded grudgingly. "Oh, all right then. Let's go, everyone!"

Markus, Allesandra, Kane, and a growing knot of spectators moved off, talking and laughing among themselves. Alex, feeling a bit left out, stood where she was and watched them go, unsure whether or not to join them.

Someone coughed in an attention-getting way behind her, and she turned to find a tall, thin Trainer with reddish-orange hair and headphones – Xavier, was it? – walking up to her.

"You're Alex, right? I'm Xavier Omnik from Mossdeep City. I was thinking – as long as they're all off having fun, how about we go and have a practice battle of our own?"

Alex brightened. "Sure! I'd be happy to. Don't think I'm going to go easy on you, though!"
Xavier grinned, one of his hands already moving towards his Milotic's Pokѐball. "You know I wouldn't want it any other way."

***

The air filled with tension as the two rival Trainers, Alex and Markus, took their positions and faced each other from either side of the grassy field a ways off from the village that they'd decided to use for their battlefield. The small crowd of Trainers that had gathered fell silent in anticipation as Kane raised his hands and began:

"This will be a three-on-three single battle. Both Trainers will be allowed to substitute Pokemon as they deem necessary. All of the usual rules will be in effect, but there is no time limit.

"Let the battle … begin!"

Alex threw a Pokѐball, which sailed out over the dew-laden grass and burst open in a flash of light. "Come on, White!"

Markus was quick to follow her. "I'll go with Dark, then!"

The Togekiss and Honchkrow appeared in midair and soared off, their shadows racing on the ground below them.

Kane dropped his authoritative tone and immediately began a running commentary. "And they're off! Both Trainers have chosen to start with their aerial Pokemon, so it looks like we're in for a battle between light and darkness! Again, that's White the Togekiss from Allesandra Cesarini, and Dark the Honchkrow from Markus Pearl."

All this time the two Pokemon had been flying through the air, colliding with each other and scratching and clawing with an astonishing intensity. Now they broke apart and moved back to their Trainers.

"White, Aura Sphere!" called Alex.

"Counter with Dark Pulse!" shouted Markus.

The Honchkrow shot an odd blob of dark purple flames from its beak with an eerie screech, but before the attack could get very far, White's Aura Sphere slammed into it at full speed, causing it to vaporize instantly. The ball of blue energy continued its trajectory and crashed into the Honchkrow, which cawed in pain and struggled to stay airborne.

"And our first real confrontation between the two combatants ends in favor of the Togekiss!" Kane broke in again. "An excellent move there by Allesandra Cesarini, one of Sinnoh's top-ranked Trainers – and really quite a pretty girl, too."

Markus looked away from the battlefield long enough to shoot him a look of undiluted hatred.

"…Well, ahem, anyway … where was I? … A nice piece of prediction there on her part, as the Aura Sphere was clearly powerful enough to stop Honchkrow's most powerful special attack in its tracks. However, I've fought that Honchkrow before myself, and I'm guessing that Dark and Markus still have some sort of trick in store…"

"Hopefully Dark Pulse isn't Honchkrow's only weapon, or it won't be able to do anything if this keeps up," Megan mused to herself from the sidelines. "What they need right now is a change of strategy…"

Markus had apparently been thinking along the same lines. "Use Fly, then go right into a Drill Peck! Come on!" He was already starting to look a little unnerved, but the Honchkrow obeyed him instantly, and powerfully soared high into the air.

Alex's expression grew, if anything, even more confident. "All right, then! White, time for Plan B."

Following through with the attack, the Honchkrow sliced through the air like a rocket, wind screaming past it as it headed straight for the Togekiss.

Seconds before the collision, White launched a sizzling sphere of electricity from its mouth, hitting Dark at close range. With a surprised caw, the Pokemon fell heavily to the ground and struggled to get to its feet, blue sparks arcing from its feathers.

His airborne opponent wasn't about to give it a chance to recover. The very air around the Togekiss rippled and billowed, then formed itself into a scythe, which White launched toward Dark with a flap of its wings. The attack connected blindingly fast, leaving a large sear mark across its victim's feathers.

"And that's the classic Para-Flinch combo in action!" shouted Kane triumphantly. "Air Slash following paralysis from a Thunder Wave leaves the opponent totally incapacitated. These moves are gaining favor among Sinnoh Trainers lately, and it's easy to see why. Honchkrow's going to be hard-pressed to recover from this devastating assault!"

"All right!" Alex cheered. "Plan B rocks! Just like we practiced!"

Markus' fists were clenched, and his teeth gritted. "Come on, Dark! You can do this! Don't just lie down and take it!"

Breathing raggedly, the Honchkrow again took awkward flight, and flapped into a position above the Togekiss, looking for an opportunity to attack.

This was, it seemed, to be Dark's final mistake. Before almost anyone watching the battle knew what was happening, an incredible, fiery Hyper Beam had been blasted from White's mouth, launching the Big Boss Pokemon high into the air as it took the full force of the attack and was caught up in the beam. Markus' Honchkrow shrank into a far-off speck hundreds of feet above the ground and then vanished; leaving only a panicked screech echoing through the windy air and the last few sparks of energy from the Togekiss' attack settling slowly to the grass, as well as a few scorched and smoldering tailfeathers.

Kane squinted upward, looking for any sign of Honchkrow. "It's too close to call until it lands, but this could be it! Dark's taken several pretty damaging attacks already, and with a full-fledged Hyper Beam on top of that …" He trailed off, shaking his head.

"I can't believe how one-sided that was," said Savannah Hart wonderingly. "Dark never even got a chance to attack!"

"I know," Maecenas agreed, shaking his head. "Markus is supposed to be such a good Trainer – he's got all those badges and everything – you'd think he'd be able to counter Alex better."

Megan, standing next to them, was about to agree, when she saw some movement or other from the corner of her eye. "Hang on a second – what was that?"

Gasps filled the crowd as Honchkrow – looking battered, but still very much alive – soared back into view from a direction opposite that it had vanished into, looking determined and seeming to reflect a harsh white light. Immediately it zeroed in on Togekiss and rushed toward it at the speed of a jet.

Alex's mouth fell open in shock. "What … but… how?!..."

Markus pumped his fists in the air, an uncontrollable grin spreading across his face. "Now, Dark! Unleash Sky Attack!"

The light sparkling around the Pokemon erupted into a torrent of flames, and two wings of fire streamed out behind Dark as it slammed into White with amazing force, producing a shockwave that blew back the hair of everyone present, and knocked Maecenas' hat off completely.

Markus still wasn't done, though. "Finish it up with a double Night Slash!"

Dark's wings took on a dull purple light, and their feathers sharpened into wicked-looking points. With one final cry of "Honchkrow!" it brought them together with considerable force, both slicing into White. Seconds later the Pokemon fell to the ground, clearly unconscious.

Kane looked like he couldn't believe his eyes, a condition shared by all of the audience. Finally, he managed, "Togekiss—Togekiss is unable to battle! That means….The first victory goes to Markus and Honchkrow!"

A wave of cheers and whistles spread through the crowd. Dark struck a pose for photos like the natural movie star it was, then flapped over to land on Markus' shoulder and preened its feathers, looking superior and unconcerned.

Alex patted her fallen Pokemon on the head and recalled it to its Pokѐball, then turned furiously to Markus. "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

"It was my plan all along," he bragged, grinning and taking on a lecturing tone. "We tricked you into getting confident and letting down your guard, then, after Dark got launched by the Hyper Beam, he circled around, still out of sight, and charged up for the Sky Attack. You totally fell for it!"

Alex's look of rage gradually turned into a rueful grin. "Nice job, but that's still only one out of three. I don't think you'll be able to surprise me twice!"

Markus recalled Dark to its Pokѐball and unclipped another one from his belt, twirling it on the end of his finger unconcernedly. "Bring it on, sweetheart!"

Confident grins lit up the faces of both of them as the next two Pokѐballs sailed out into the air.

***

Several miles away, in the heart of the Pokѐtopia city proper, identical confident grins graced the features of Alex de la Roche and Xavier Omnik as they prepared for battle. The two had found a dingy courtyard walled in by office buildings to use as a makeshift stadium, and their practice match was about to begin. Alex was already looking forward to testing out her team against a good, strong opponent for the first time in a few months, and it was clear that her opponent felt much the same.

Xavier grabbed a Pokѐball and tossed it into the air. "Any final words before my awesome victory, Alex?"

Alex tipped her beret back to a jaunty angle. "I think you've got it backwards. But let's get this under way!"

"GO!" they shouted in unison, and two Pokѐballs erupted against the concrete.

Xavier had begun with Milotic, which stretched and coiled gracefully in place, rainbows arcing from its scales. Alex's Roserade materialized and stared down its much larger opponent.

Alex couldn't believe her luck that Xavier had begun with a Pokemon that was weak to hers. "Well, this should be easy. Roserade, go!"

"That's what you think," Xavier shot back instantly. "Music on!"

A bouncy, surf's-up theme burst from his radio, amplifying as it echoed off of the walls. Milotic leaped into action and began firing off Ice Beams in syncopation to the beat. Roserade tried desperately to dodge, managing to evade all of the frigid blasts with great effort. Patches of ice now covered the ground on Alex's side of the stadium, which would make it difficult for Roserade to maneuver.

Alex was shocked by the ferocity of the assault. She had seen a battle of Xavier's on TV once, and remembered his unusual musical battling style. Now a thought occurred to her.

"I thought your Milotic only liked slow songs!" she protested, and groaned inwardly as she realized what little sense that statement would make in any other context. That would just go to show how unusual this tournament was already becoming.

Xavier's permanent grin got, if anything, even brighter. "We've worked on adapting new music styles into our battle strategies! I hope you like it!"

Back on the battlefield, Roserade was shaking its head to clear it, but the upbeat theme persisted, preventing it from thinking clearly. It looked up in shock to see an enormous wave building behind its opponent, perfectly matching the steel drums as they built into the refrain.

Xavier cheered. "All right! Surfin' Sinnoh!"

Alex gritted her teeth. It looked like the battle was about to wipe out.

At last, the first battles have begun! I want to apologize for not writing anything for so long. It was recently homecoming week at my school, and I was having way too much fun to write. I hope the end result is worth the wait!

This is Part One of the practice battles. Both of these two will conclude in the next chapter, and at least two new ones (Megan vs. Maecenas, Varacei vs. Mycroft) will take place. Requests for battles are still open—any I don't have time for in the practice battles might be used once the official tournament starts. That's coming right up as well!

I now have an avatar, which is a drawing of Maecenas—the OC, that is-- done by myself. I'm still getting the hang of Photoshop, so it doesn't look quite as good as I would like, but now you have a pretty good idea of what he looks like. I might provide a better version eventually.

I would have continued the second battle longer in this chapter, but I kind of ran out of time. Trust me, Xavier vs. Alex will get a lot more dramatic soon!

And now for the character credits:

Maecenas-yours truly

Alex-nellchan0013 (hope you liked how the battle started! Don't worry, I'll rescue Alex pretty soon.)

Xavier-LastPrelude

Megan-Fire Drastar

Kane-KK the Prophet (He makes a better referee than you'd expect, eh?)

Sevvy-kyuuketsuki fang

Alex and Markus-Legendary Fairy (Part two of the battle coming soon! Leaf vs. Snow is next.)

That's all for now, but with any luck the next chapter will be up sooner! Thanks for all your support.

Maecenas out.