I was overcome with a sense of strange, competitive urgency and the only way to let it out was to just scream. "Come on! Run!" I yelled, my heart banging furiously in my chest.

My heart was thumping so fast and so strong that I was terrified it was going to beat right out of my chest. I watched, anticipation reverberating and nerves stretched to breaking points as my Pokemon stampeded across the track. I desperately tried to pick out my Pokemon from within the cloud of dust, but it was almost impossible to deduce who was who. But there was one thing I could make out. A tiny rolling pink ball streaming ahead of the pack. It was launching itself effortlessly into the air, clearing the hurdles without any trouble. It gained more and more speed as it rolled, pulling away from the group with frightening speed. I'm pretty sure my jaw was hanging open as I watched the bizarre sight unfold.

"Look at that folks!" The announcer was hollering into the microphone, its static screeching hurting my ears. The crowd was screaming in excitement, probably twice or even three times more than they had been when it had been Summer and Kate's turn at the contest. Was Christian really that much of a celebrity? "Christian Hart is making Jigglypuff use Rollout to compensate for its low speed!"

My heart juddered to a stop. "What a dirty trick!" I found myself saying out loud.

From next to me, Christian laughed delightedly. I cursed, clamping my hands over my mouth. I hadn't expected him to hear that over the screaming of the crowd.

From where I was standing, as the Pokemon advanced around the curved track, it was proving extremely difficult trying to figure out what Pokemon was leading. I couldn't see the overhead screens either. Unable to see who was in the lead and who was trailing behind, I compensated by just screaming encouragement at my Pokemon.

"Come on, Meloi, Cairo, Monty! You can do it!"

I was dithering between being worried one minute and not worried the next about how my Pokemon were faring in the first course. I knew that Meloi was a determined little sod, much like myself. Anything she couldn't make up for in speed, she would find some way to compensate for it. Monty was wicked fast, even I knew that. His attacks had always been speedy and nimble, so I knew he would have no problems keeping up and could maybe even be a pack leader. As for Cairo, I knew his wings and agility would be an advantage. He wouldn't have to strain himself as much to jump over the hurdles either. But I was still worried…

It turns out; I had good reason to be.

The race finished and the results quickly flashed up on screen. Christian and I edged around the track, craning our necks and straining our eyes to see how we had done.

I swore.

Christian's Jigglypuff had somehow rolled itself into first place, followed almost immediately by his Grovyle. However, Monty had somehow clawed back into third place (albeit a good five seconds after Jigglypuff and Grovyle), but to my despair, Christian's Staraptor had finished in fourth place only a second after Monty. Cairo had come through after Staraptor, followed by Meloi in a dismal last place.

I let out a low, agonising groan as the times flashed up on-screen. In first place overall was Summer with one minute seventeen, second place was Christian with one minute nineteen, Kate with one minute twenty, and then myself with a horrible time of one minute thirty one.

"How on earth did you claw your way up to second?" I asked Christian darkly who was smiling and waving at the crowd as the announcer shouted out the results. Girls were chanting his name, much to the obvious distaste of Summer and Kate, and probably to poor Nikki up in the stands. I still couldn't believe this. I knew Christian was well-known in Sinnoh, being something of a celebrity, but I hadn't expected that would have translated to here. Christian seemed to be taking it all in his stride.

Christian grinned at me as I quizzed him again how he had somehow taken the second place. "Remember, it's not about the individual Pokemon's times." He explained. "It's the overall score.

I couldn't argue with this.

"I hate you," I deadpanned.

He was still grinning as he started to explain what he meant. "You can still redeem yourself," he stated lightly. "The next rounds are the Relay Run and Pennant Capture. And even if you do horrible on the Relay Run, I'm sure you can bring it back in the Pennant Capture."

"How?" I asked.

"Look at Summer and Kate's Pokemon. Especially Kate's."

I blinked, confused. "They're all birds?"

"Exactly. And in the Pennant Capture, anything goes." Christian said with a wicked smile. "Your Pokemon can use any attacks it wants to take out its competitors and grab their flags. And look at that fine specimen of an Ampharos you've got there…"

"Ohh…" The penny finally dropped and I understood. A triumphant grin spread across my face. "I get it."

"The Relay Run is probably good for your Pokemon too," Christian continued to explain as the points were totalled and tallied up. We still had a few minutes to kill before the final points were revealed. I was eager to delay the process as long as possible anyway; I didn't want to see how badly I had done.

"I'm pretty sure what your Pokemon lack in speed they can make up for in stamina." He surmised.

I frowned. "I don't get it. How can having good stamina help me on the speed course?"

"It means your Pokemon can last longer on the track. It takes ages to switch out a Pokemon and release another one. The less you can do that, the better. Imagine how much distance you could get on someone by the time they recall one, release another and that Pokemon starts running?"

I thought about this. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Jeez, Christian. How do you know all this?"

Christian shrugged lightly. "My agents make me research everything I do before I enter them. They think it'll be "bad press" for them and me if I lose. So I have to do it right."

"God…" I whispered, thinking of the pressure and stress that poor boy must have been under, just for him to do something that he really loved. "That must be hard."

There was a look on Christian's face that I couldn't quite identify. "C'est la vie." He said lightly.

"And now! Here are the totals for the first round!" The announcer boomed, making me almost leap six feet in the air.

We watched as overhead boards tallied up the points. I immediately started to pick out the board, looking for my own score. But as soon as I caught a glance of it, I wanted to hide my head in the sand. A terrible total of 127 points was flashing back at me, right at the bottom of the leader board. Fourth place. But I already knew this. I had had the worst overall time.

"Don't panic." Christian interjected smoothly. "It's all about points after all. If they have bad rounds and you have good ones, you still could come out on top."

"Who are you trying to kid, Mr One-Hundred-And-Forty-Five points?"

Christian grinned. His total of 145 was just below the current leader Summer's 150 points, followed closely by Kate's 143. It was only me trailing embarrassingly behind with a mere 127.

I had to admit though, when it came time for it, the relay run went a lot better than I had expected. While it was true that my three weren't as fast as most of the other competitors, they had an advantage with their stamina, just like Christian had predicted. We had barely cleared a lap before both Kate and Christian had to recall their first Pokemon and replace them with another. And replacing took a long time. By the time they had released another Pokemon, Meloi had already streaked ahead, Summer's Staraptor close on her heels.

In all, I only made four substitutions. I switched out Meloi for Cairo when she showed signs of tiring, but Cairo was fast enough to quickly catch up with his competition, taking another few laps. Monty took Cairo's place a few laps later, easily and effortlessly clearing a couple more. Monty got ahead, so while he was comfortably ahead of the whole pack, I switched him out for Meloi. And for the final ten second dash, I let Monty take over.

I was amazed when the points were displayed on screen. I had taken third place! Third place with a total of ten laps! I was two laps ahead of Kate who had managed just eight, but one short of Summer who had finished with eleven. And as for Christian…

"Thirteen?" I gasped in shock.

Christian merely shot me another dazzling grin.

With the totals in for the second round, the leader board now looked like this. Christian had taken an additional 130 points from the Relay Run, making his total a cool 275. Summer had gained 110 points to add to her score of 150 giving her an overall 260, demoting her to second place. My extra 100 points now gave me a relatively more comfortable score of 227, edging me ahead of Kate's overall 223. I couldn't believe it! I was currently in third place overall! But how…?

Taking Christian to the side, I quizzed him on how on earth I had beaten a trainer with three Flying type Pokemon, often the speediest Pokemon ever.

Christian had a theory. "Flying Pokemon don't normally fare all that well in Speed Contests. Their stamina and power aren't brilliant, meaning they're a pushover if they collide with something. I mean, I was watching Kate's Pokemon through the competition. They were going so fast that they kept hitting into rocks and other Pokemon. This would slow them down. And most Flying Types take a while to get up to full speed as well."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, still confused but Christian silenced me immediately.

"Just don't think about it, and be happy you are where you are," he said with a good-natured grin. "Not many first time competitors get anything beyond fourth place on their first time. Stay focused on the competition, Sienna."

I sighed. "Fine…" I said in a drawling voice, before stomping off to get ready for Pennant Capture.

The Pennant Capture actually went really well for me! Meloi excelled in this one in particular, easily dispatching her rivals with wicked thunder attacks causing them to drop whatever flags they had for her to eagerly gather up. Monty also fared really well, getting in with ninja like speed and stealth, stealing flags out from under the noses of the other Pokemon. Cairo did well too, flying expertly above the heads of the other Pokemon, easily evading attacks and keeping whatever flags he caught firmly to himself.

I was so busy gathering up all the flags my Pokemon were giving me; I barely had time to watch my competitors.

The results for the Pennant Capture took no time at all to gather up. Christian had taken the lead, capturing an amazing twenty-six flags. I was shocked. I had thought I had done well! However, Summer and I tied by capturing twenty-two flags each. Kate trailed in last place with a dismal score of twelve flags. I winced. Probably due to the fact her Flying Pokemon were easy targets for Meloi's electric attacks. I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

I was on tenterhooks as the Pennant Capture Points scores were revealed. Christian's total score for Pennant Capture was a 78, whilst Summer and I took another 66 points each. A further 36 points were added to Kate's score.

I was desperately trying to add up totals, but maths had never been my strong point. While I was struggling with numbers and figures, the announcers decided to throw another spanner in the works and give out bonus points!

Christian's team of three pokemon took an additional ten points each giving him another thirty points, plus another twenty for being the points leader. Summer took a tie for points' leader giving her a further twenty, plus another ten. I was shocked to get two extra scores of ten, giving me an extra twenty points to my total. My head was swimming. Where were all these extra points coming from! And what were they for!

They released the final scores in reverse order. In last place, was Kate who had a final total of 259. My heart leapt. I hadn't taken fourth! My picture flashed up next, with a score of 313! I couldn't believe it! I had taken third place!

They were getting ready to announce the winner. I wasn't worried about Kate winning. I knew, and I'm pretty sure Kate and most of the audience knew for a fact Christian had already won. He had gained too many extra points at the end of the competition for Summer to catch up with him.

And I was proved right. Summer's came up for second place with an admittedly impressive total of 356, but the crowd exploded in cheers when Christian came out on top with an incredible score of 403!

We barely had any time to celebrate before we were ushered away to get our points logged on our battle card. We didn't have any time to even celebrate or congratulate (or offer commiserations) to our fellow competitions, before we were banished back to the seats as they had to get ready for the next contest. As we moved away, a sudden hoard of fans descended on the track, all heading towards Christian. All women too. I cringed away, but was suddenly shocked to see Nikki running at the head of the crowd. I could only watch in amazement as the normally shy and retiring Nikki totally ignored me and threw herself into Christian's arms, sharing a passionate embrace in front of the whole stadium. I'm pretty sure someone even got it on camera. The crowd of fans started muttering and murmuring angrily at this. They started to get really restless, all obviously angered at seeing their idol kissing another girl, but Christian knew how to diffuse the situation. He quickly called over his Staraptor, helped Nikki on, leapt on himself, and flew both him and Nikki up to the top of the stadium. Leaving me behind.

"Gee, thanks." I said huffily, watching them disappear up into the rows of seats in the stadium, leaving me behind in a sea of angry Christian Hart fans. I cast a look behind me at Cairo who was floating lazily next to me, watching the crowds in amazement. "Hurry up and evolve into a Flygon so I can do that too."

"Vii?" Cairo asked confused.

"Never mind," I said haughtily. But my anger slipped away when I saw my three Pokemon looking at me quizzically. I smiled, remembering that they had just won me third place and saved me the humiliation of coming last. "But you guys did really well. I'm really proud of you all. We got third place!"

Meloi was the only one who seemed happy. She danced about, letting loose little bolts of electricity and cheering. Monty just looked disdainfully at me as if telling me off for putting him through that indignity. Cairo still looked confused at the concept of evolving, trying to look up and down at his body as if he was about to spontaneously evolve right there on the spot. I let out another exasperated sigh, recalled my three Pokemon to their balls and stalked up to the seats.

I was given a quick kiss and congratulations from Elliot before he had to rush down to compete in the Skill Course. He chose Roserade, Cacturne and Umbreon to compete with. I cheered him on, screaming encouragement as he worked his way through the courses, eventually finishing with an overall second place!

No sooner had the Skill course concluded than it was time for the Jump Course. None of us were competing in this one so we simply watched and relaxed, the six of us laughing and joking at the expense of some of the other competitors. Next, it was Jasmine's turn to participate in the Stamina Course. She used her Sandslash Terra, her Quilava Sulphur and her Azumarill Mizu. She did reasonably well, coming in a close third. She was disappointed in her performance though, but I did my best to remind her there wasn't anything wrong with third place. It didn't really work.

We were all amazed, but not exactly surprised when Scott cruised easily into first place in his Power Course, using his newly evolved (and quite terrifying) Rhydon, Marowak and Quagsire. I was slightly disappointed he only used Pokemon that I had already seen before. So far, I only knew four of his Pokemon. I really wanted to know what others he had. He seemed like such an unnaturally strong trainer for his age… In a way, he kind of reminded me of a younger Elliot…

It was late by the time the Pokeathlon concluded for the day. After the five courses had been and gone, the announcer thanked everyone for their attendance and participation. We then left.

"I didn't expect it to be this late," I said with a sigh, looking out at the darkening skies.

"Maybe not a good idea to go to Goldenrod this late," Elliot pointed out. "It's another hour by the time we get there. Maybe a good idea to get dinner somewhere tonight and just pitch camp and head to Goldenrod first thing in the morning."

"I think so too," Christian cut in. "I originally planned to leave for Sinnoh tonight, but… I think I'll stick around tonight and leave tomorrow. At least we can all get one last night together,"

Nikki had tears in her eyes and she was clinging onto Christian like he was her last tie to the world. Scott looked indifferent at the display of affection, and oddly enough, so did Jasmine. I swallowed, and then spoke up again.

"Shall we get dinner?"

"Oh, I want to go and get something from the battle points counter, first." Christian piped up. "Is that okay?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, of course. Go for it."

"I want to go see the prizes too!" Jasmine said, her words practically crashing into each other as she gabbled them out and took off, overtaking Christian as she did so.

I sighed after her, before also voicing my want to look at prizes.

I was surprised with the choices of prizes. They had a bizarrely wide range, starting with things that were ridiculously cheap. Bags of berries for twenty battle points, boxes of apricorns to make Pokeballs with for fifty points, and then there were the more expensive things. Most of them I wasn't too familiar with, many of them were items you gave to Pokemon to evolve them by trading, a concept I still didn't know much about. I saw one thing in particular that caught my mind.

It sat in the centre of a small velvet cushion, looking like a fire was burning and glowing right from the centre of its rocky heart.

"A Fire Stone…" I breathed out slowly.

I wasn't stupid. I knew that a lot of Pokemon couldn't evolve without certain conditions being met. Some had to be happy, some could only evolve at a certain time of day, some could only evolve through trading and some needed special evolutionary stones.

I knew that Kiba was one of those.

Kiba, a young Growlithe, could evolve into Arcanine by the use of a Fire Stone.

Only problem was, Fire Stones were almost impossibly hard to get a hold of. And the one staring me in the face clocked in at a full thousand battle points.

"I can't afford that…" I whined, practically sliding down the glass panel separating me from the prize cabinet, amidst odd looks from the cashier.

"Evolving someone?" Christian asked.

I hadn't noticed Christian had sidled up to me. Elliot and the girls were busy investigating a collection of items to be held by Pokemon in battle, and Scott was… I don't even know where Scott was.

"Uhh…" the question threw me as I thought about the real implications about evolving Kiba. He was so cute, playful, fluffy and most importantly, easy to handle now… that would change so much once he was evolved. And Arcanines were huge and powerful, I mean, I was still a little intimidated by the one my mum owned. I couldn't be guaranteed I could get such a big, powerful Pokemon to listen to me. "Well… I'm not sure. I have a Growlithe… and he's… well, I'm wondering if it would be better for him to evolve."

Christian smiled at me. "Well, why not get it? Just keep it until you're ready to evolve him. And then if you decide not to, just sell the stone. You'll get a decent price for it."

"Can't afford it," I said miserably. "I only won three hundred and odd points back there."

"Hmm." Christian murmured. "Well I'm sure that can be easily taken care of."

"I'm not stealing." I said at once.

Christian grinned. "I'm not asking you to steal anything," he said smoothly before tapping on the desk to get the cashier's attention. As soon as she turned to face him, he spoke. "One Moon Stone and one Fire Stone, please."

"That'll be one thousand five hundred points, please."

"Wuh?" was all I managed to say before my Points Card was swiped from my hands and handed over to the cashier. Before I even knew what was happening, Christian had been handed two wrapped packages and my Points Card was returned to me.

"Here," Christian handed me the bigger of the two parcels. "One Fire Stone."

I looked at it astounded. I could feel a faint heat radiating from the wrapped parcel and what felt like a pulse beating through it. A Fire Stone. A Fire Stone that I could use to evolve Kiba. Gratitude started to well up inside me, and I looked up at Christian in awe. I couldn't believe his generosity.

"But… but why…?" I found myself asking. It was the only thing I could legitimately say.

He was smiling again, like he always did. "Think of it as a late birthday present." He said with a cheeky wink.

I still couldn't believe it though. I had assumed Christian was saving up all the points he could get for the Moon Stone, and that he couldn't afford anything else other than that. Confused, I had to ask him. "But… didn't you want to save up for the Moon Stone?"

"They had them half price, meaning adding your points to mine gave me enough." He said with a grin. "You'll still have maybe a hundred points left."

I looked up at Christian with a wide smile. I understood why Nikki loved him so much. He was a kind, generous and well-mannered young man. I couldn't believe I had ever been sceptical of him. "Thank you, Christian,"

"You're welcome," he replied.

With that, he walked back to join Nikki, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her into a soft embrace. The way the two of them smiled at each other sent a warm fuzzy feeling over me. They were a good match. Same as how I certainly hoped Elliot and I were a good match. But as I saw Nikki and Christian embrace, my eyes inexplicably touched on Jasmine. My heart plummeted when I saw the look on her face. She looked sad as she watched Nikki and Christian. Like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. And an unmistakable tinge of jealousy reflected in her normally sparkling, cheerful eyes.

I made myself look away. Jasmine had always joked about her being the only one out of me, herself and Nikki to not have had a meaningful relationship, but until now, I thought that was all it had been. Just a joke. Was it possible that the issue ran deeper than the proud Jasmine cared to admit?

I looked down at the Fire Stone in my hands. I could feel its weight pressing down on me in more than one way. I could evolve Kiba now. I held in my hands the ways and means to evolve him.

But did I want him to evolve? Did I want him to change? Change from the over-affectionate, playful, cuddly and excitable Growlithe I knew and loved to a massive, strong powerhouse of an Arcanine?

As well as that, I was missing the most important point.

Did Kiba want to evolve?

Author's Note

Well, we've officially got the filler and mindless chapters out of the way of this fic. Next chapter? Sienna and Cal are finally reaquainted :)

Sniper Mudkip: I do still read, I don't always have time to review every story that I read, but I really am still reading! :) And yeah, Sienna now has the means to evolve Kiba. But will she really do it? It's a big desicion for her (and me!)

WarriorSwift: Haha! Meloi is a walking disaster! :) And thank you! I'm sure your drawings are just as good!

Aeroga: Christian is scheduled to come back later on in the story :) And thanks for joining the Spirited group!

Splashstorm: Hey, don't worry about it! Everyone has a life outside . But I'm glad you've been able to catch up!

Wowfan123: Wow, you caught up in just over a day? Nice! :) Thanks for joining! I'll be posting up details of the contest within the next xouple days :)

May and Dawn are the best: I've never seen a Pokeathlon being written about either... so I thought I'd give it a go.

TwewyReaperGirl: YUM! OM NOM NOM!

So, yeah. Everyone who hasn't already should check out the SpiritedGroup on DeviantART (link on my profile) as there has been some amazing fanart and fanfiction posted up.

I'm also gonna hold a contest in which someone can get their OC a cameo role in the story. All you'll have to do is submit an OC bio alongside a short piece of writing that details your OC in a battle against any one of the Spirited cast. (Just so I can see how you battle them). Details will be posted on the deviantART.

Thanks everyone :) Please R & R