A/N: I own a copy of at least one game from every Generation, but that's about it.

STEVEN

They had chosen a low-key eatery just outside of Silph. Co., figuring that they would be able to blend into the massive crowd of people both coming and going from the awe-inspiring building. Though to be honest, Steven had to wonder if Cynthia really cared if people noticed her or not. She was still in her trademark dark-colored dress, and her hair was still as long as it ever was, so people were inclined to glance in her direction. Steven had opted for a pair of aviator sunglasses in an (very poor) attempt to hide. Cynthia found this amusing.

"You really think a pair of glasses will keep you anonymous?" She asked him. "You're kind of a recognizable face being the poster boy for Devon Corp, Steven." She said, winking once. Steven sighed.

"I'm just trying not to be obnoxious. Sometimes I wish I were like the head of Silph. Co. Do you even know who's in charge of that place anymore? I never caught his name the last time he met my father." He said. Cynthia shrugged.

"Last I heard it was being managed by a board of directors." She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to lie, Steven. You've been acting a little bit…odd ever since we signed up with Trodaire. What's going on?" She asked. Steven gulped. There was no escape from Cynthia when she wanted a question answered.

"It's nothing." He tried. No chance.

"Is it that you think his training methods aren't working?" She asked.

"No, it isn't that. I've never seen my guys slugging as strong as they've been in that gym. I can't remember them ever being as in shape as they are now."

"Is it because you're worried that people will make fun of you for training with a guy who doesn't have official league certification?"

"No. He's the best guy I've ever worked with in getting a team of Pokemon better, and I've worked with a lot of guys."

At this last admission, Cynthia looked genuinely annoyed. "Then what is it?" She asked. "What's gotten into you? Are you embarrassed by all of this?"

The silence she received told her everything she needed to know. Her features softening, Cynthia sighed.

"What about this is embarrassing?" She asked. Steven shrugged.

"I'm supposed to be keeping my team in tip top condition preparing for this tournament and I can't even do it myself. I don't feel like much of a champion, or even a former champion. I mean, how does Lance do it?" He asked. Cynthia raised an eyebrow.

"How does Lance do what?" She asked. Steven shrugged.

"You know, be the best and a Dragon Master the way he is. I mean, it's like he does it by himself! I don't understand it." He replied. To Steven's surprise, Cynthia laughed. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Nothing, really. Are you saying that you want to be like Lance?" She asked. Steven shrugged. This answer, not the definitive "no" she was hoping for, caused Cynthia to frown. "Well, trust me when I say you don't want to be like Lance. And I am dating you because you are you and not Lance. Believe me, you don't want to be Lance." She said again, this time with a funny look in her eyes. Before Steven could say anything to ask about it, he decided that it was better to just leave it…for now. So instead he just smiled.

"Well, thanks for that Cynthia. It makes me feel better." He admitted sheepishly. Cynthia smiled back.

TRODAIRE

WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.

"Hold up!" Trodaire barked. He blew a whistle to get everyone's attention in the gym, and then walked over to Steven's Aggron. The beast had been beating the heavy bag for PSI readings for almost thirty minutes now, and that was enough to get Trodaire worried. "Easy, big guy! I don't want you breaking your hands or my machine! These things aren't cheap!" He said. Aggron just grunted sullenly, and then stomped away to remove its padded boxing gloves. As it walked out of earshot, Trodaire snuck over to Steven.

"Is something bothering him?" He asked the Steel master. Steven was hesitant.

"I'm not sure, maybe." He said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because he's been fanatical about developing his punching power to the point that I'm getting worried about him." Trodaire replied. "Aggron's looked like he's been in a bad mood for the whole week. What gives?" He asked. Steven glanced over to Cynthia, who just shrugged.

"You're the owner of the Pokemon. You tell him." Cynthia said. Trodaire raised an eyebrow. Steven sighed.

"You know that gossipy magazine Battle Royale?" Steven asked. Trodaire nodded.

"Yeah, the rambling, oft-hysterical and pointless waste of trees? What about it?" Trodaire asked. Steven cleared his throat.

"Well, as much as you and I agree about the quality of the content, Trodaire, the fact is that that magazine is one of the most popular battle-zines in the entire world. So there's a lot of people that will take it as gospel truth." He said. Trodaire got a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had an idea where this was going…

"What did it say?" Trodaire asked. He then realized. "No…they didn't…"

"They did." Cynthia said. "They published their WORLD TOURNAMENT PREVIEW package. The entire magazine was just an analysis of all of the teams. There was Lance, Alder, Wallace, and even Lance's elusive friend." She said with a slight smirk, which quickly faded as she spoke again. "And then there was an in-depth article on Steven Stone."

"What did they write about Steven?" Trodaire asked. Before anyone could say anything, they heard a loud throat-clearing noise. There was Paulie, his reading glasses wedged onto the bridge of his nose, reading aloud from the offending section.

"'The saga of Steven Stone is one of both great intrigue and utter bafflement,'" Paulie began reading. "'On one hand it is intriguing because the former Hoenn Champion scored well enough in his regional tournament to score an invite to the World Tournament, despite being a self-admitted 'lousy battler' these days as he is more inclined to look for rocks or date the beautiful Cynthia of Sinnoh.'" He coughed once, and poor Cynthia blushed a deep crimson. Steven took her hand in his and squeezed it, in a sort of "I don't care what they say" kind of way. Paulie kept going, his voice getting more serious as the article went further. "'However, it is baffling that Steven Stone is to be considered anything more than a mere warm-up for Kanto's Dragon Master and perhaps one of the greatest living trainers today: Lance. This can be attributed to the types of Pokemon that Mr. Stone uses, which are nice and powerful Steel types that couldn't put a dent in the weakest of Dragon hide. Steven's best hope rests in the ability of his Aggron, a serviceable fighter who though may be strong clearly lacks the power to go toe to toe with even some of Lance's weaker Dragons.'" Paulie finally finished, and cleared his throat again. "Look, Stevie, it was written by that hack A. S. Holman. We all know he's got a man-crush on Lance anyway-"

He was interrupted by a roaring noise. Everyone looked in the direction to see that Aggron was taking out its frustrations by stomping the hell out of some long-ruined heavy bags. Steven and Trodaire immediately ran over.

"Hey hey HEY!" Trodaire yelled. "Easy, big guy! It's okay, it's okay!" He said. Meanwhile, Steven was ordering Aggron to stop and clear its head. Aggron listened to its master and its new trainer, before sighing and sinking to the ground, sitting glumly amongst some ruined heavy bags. Trodaire glanced up, and saw that the rest of Steven's team, as well as Ritchie and some other students in the gym, were staring at Aggron in awkward confusion.

"Paulie! Keep things going in here, will ya? Everyone needs to keep working, come on!" He clapped his hands, and everyone else in the gym went back to their business. Trodaire looked over at Steven. "What's bugging him so bad about this article?"

"Aggron's my oldest Pokemon and probably my best friend." Steven explained. "He's easily the hardest worker of all of my team."

"I've got plenty of first-hand experience to confirm that." Trodaire agreed. "So why's this little bitch writer getting him so mad?"

"Aggron's not one to easily admit it, but he's a proud fighter. And, well, I guess that story really bruised his pride." Steven said. "I don't blame him. He's a little undersized for an Aggron, and has dealt with that pretty much his entire time with me. Anytime someone attacks his abilities, he takes it personally."

Trodaire didn't say anything at first, his face expressionless. For a moment, Steven and Cynthia thought that he was stumped. This was a seemingly little thing for Aggron to get upset about, but then again, what did they know? Perhaps this story had cut deeper than they realized. Suddenly, Trodaire perked up.

"Ritchie!" He shouted. "What do you think of Steven's Aggron?" He asked the kid, who was working the heavy bags (what was left of them after Aggron's rampage) with his Machop Bracer. Ritchie shrugged.

"That thing's a tank." He said honestly. Trodaire turned to Paulie.

"What about you, Paulie?" He asked. Paulie chuckled.

"I think it could knock down a building if it wanted to!" He grunted. Trodaire pointed to Cynthia. She shrugged.

"I think that he's awesome. I think that Steven is lucky to have a Pokemon of its strength." She said. Trodaire looked at Steven. Steven smiled.

"He's my oldest friend. I think the world of him." He said proudly. Trodaire looked at Aggron.

"And I think you're a ball of strength and fury that could cut through mountains." He hardened his gaze. "So that's your coach, your coach's assistant, a random trainer, your master's girlfriend, and your master that all think you're hot stuff. On the other hand, you've got this schmuck reporter who's never met you assuming that you're nothing. So tell me, big guy: Who you gonna listen to? Who do you think is right?"

Aggron seemed to ponder these words for a while. Then after a pensive few moments, a devilish grin crossed the corner of its mouth. With a proud grunt, it raised itself off of its knees and strode over to the heavy bag and the PSI counter. Paulie was about to stop it, saying that Aggron had had his fair share hitting the thing, when Trodaire silently waved him off. Aggron stood in front of the machine, breathing deeply for a few moments. Then, with a roar, slammed the bag with its left fist as hard as it could. The numbers on the machine reader soared, before settling. 5011.

There was a chorus of whooping throughout the gym (Excadrill was the loudest), and Aggron responded by pounding its chest and letting out a mighty roar. It could now hit as hard as a Dragon.

As Steven stared at the reading, dumbstruck that his old friend possessed so much power, Cynthia discreetly wrapped his hand in hers and gave it a small squeeze.

"Y'know, maybe this isn't such a crazy idea after all…" She whispered slyly. As Steven watched the rest of his team take time to clap Aggron on the back for its display, he could only nod in agreement.

They were three months away from the big day, and now it was starting to look like "the little steel team that could" might just in fact have a chance.

ERIKA

She didn't really know quite what to expect, seeing as how she'd never really taken the time to have an outside pair of eyes study her team as well as her. She'd only brought the three Pokemon she'd be using for the contest: her Vileplume, Bellossom, and Tangrowth. Trodaire had assured her that he would be ready for her that afternoon, but as she walked into the Fight Club of Saffron she assumed that there must have been a mistake: most of the lights were off and it didn't appear that there was anyone there.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Erika asked, as she let herself in the front door. Thankfully the door was unlocked otherwise she would have assumed that she had been mistaken entirely that Trodaire was willing to work with her team. She smiled. Trodaire. Such an exotic name, expecially for someone from Orre. She'd looked it up in her spare time, and thought that the meaning of the name was fitting for a gentleman like him.

Speaking of which, she saw that Trodaire was walking towards her…well, walking was a bit of a misnomer. He was walking yes…but walking on his hands. Erika was impressed. Quite honestly, she was stunned that he was capable of doing this.

SABRINA

Right next door, a certain psychic was watching through the window and nearly fell out of her chair.

"Since when has he been able to do that?!" She shouted in utter disbelief.

"Lady Sabrina, are we spying on Master Trodaire's establishment again?"

"No!...I mean, not spying per say but really just discreetly watchi-…you know what? Zip it, Alakazam!"

"As you wish, My Lady."

ERIKA

"Oh my…" Erika smiled. "Is there anything you can't do?" She said teasingly. Trodaire righted himself back onto his feet, and shrugged.

"Get a lot of gym members, remember to shave consistently…you know. The little things." He shrugged. "I can do a lot of martial arts and similar physical feats. But that's because I've been doing them pretty much all of my life. Don't expect me to solve a nuclear physics problem or something like that."

"I didn't have that in mind." Erika giggled. "Now, what did you think you had in mind for the contest?" Trodaire grinned.

"Well, I had an idea, but first I need to see the trio you were planning to use. Can you send them out?" He asked. Erika complied, and when Trodaire saw the three Grass types his smile widened. "Perfect! Next question, can any of you three do Petal Dance?"

Bellossom and Vileplume gave an affirmative. Trodaire nodded.

"Excellent. Big guy, come over here." He beckoned to Tangrowth, who ambled next to Trodaire. "Do you know Vine Whip?" When Tangrowth nodded, Trodaire looked like a kid whose Christmas presents had come a day early. "Awesome!" He turned to Erika. "Can Bellossom and Vileplume control their Petal Dances? As in, can they direct them? Can they hold them suspended in the air, etc?"

"I believe so." Erika said. "What do you want them to do that for?"

Trodaire outlined his plan for the next few minutes in great detail for the three Pokemon and their trainer. Erika's eyes widened.

"Oh, that's excellent! That'll display my Pokemon's mastery of their moves perfectly!" She said excitedly. Trodaire nodded, and clapped Tangrowth on the back in support.

"That just means you're going to have to sharpen your Agility, huh?" He said. Tangrowth gave an unsure noise of agreement, to which Trodaire laughed. "Don't worry big guy, you're with me for the next month. We'll get it down." He turned to Erika. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Erika asked. Trodaire shrugged.

"I have to give a demo at the Silph. Co. Expo in four days, and while I know what I'm going to do, I don't know how to perform it. Do you think you could help me out?" He asked. Erika nodded, her face etched with thought.

"I think so. You want me to help choreograph a performance, then?" She asked for clarification. Trodaire nodded. "I'm guessing it involves your knowledge of martial arts?" She asked again. Again, Trodaire nodded. "Okay, what style were you planning on using? If I recognize it, I can absolutely help you come up with ideas." Trodaire heard this, and cleared his throat.

"Have you ever heard of Zui Quan?"

The look of excitement and glee on Erika's face gave him his answer.

A/N: If you look up "Zui Quan" or know Chinese…you'll spoil the surprise…but Read and Review regardless! See you next time!