Even now, I shudder to think what the residents of the calm, peaceful Violet City would have thought when six battered, bruised and bloody trainers entered their local Pokemon Centre, moaning, groaning and complaining over being "ambushed by Onix" in the middle of Union Cave. Forget strange looks, I was scared they'd try and have us committed. Although we certainly did harbour our fair share of odd and frightened looks from some of the younger trainers, particularly due to Elliot, who had blood cascading down his head and who was still very groggy and barely able to speak coherently. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't horribly worried about him. I hated seeing him like that, injured and vulnerable. I felt a lot better when the caring Nurse Joy whisked Elliot and Scott away for first-aid treatment, even despite Scott's angered protests that there was nothing wrong with him.

With Elliot and Scott in safe hanfds, we three girls and Bailey decided to leave them to it, unwind, get showered and eat dinner later. I sighed with relief as I stepped into a warm shower, letting the gentle heat wash over me and soothe my aching limbs. However, as I attempted to wash the dried blood out of my hair, I squealed with pain as the water aggravated the open and still raw cut on my head. It took a long time and a great deal of pain to get rid of all the blood, and even once it was clear, I didn't dare try and shampoo my hair until the cut closed up. I certainly didn't want to feel like I'd just stuck my head into a vat of acid. I stepped out of the shower, shivering at the cold air and dressed quickly before hurrying back to the shared room Nikki, Jasmine and I would be staying in. Neither of them had returned yet, so I collapsed onto my bed, all of a sudden feeling exhausted.

My muggy and disordered thoughts eventually drifted to the upcoming Battle Tournament that Bugsy had told us would be taking place in Violet City sometime very soon. I had to admit I was getting quite excited at the prospect. I turned my head on the pillow, and as I did so, caught sight of a leaflet propped up against the table lamp on the desk.

I reached out and took it, opening it up. It was a standard issue leaflet that all Pokemon Centres distributed for out of town trainers to highlight the main sights and attractions of whichever city they were in. The Violet City one didn't have a lot of information on it compared to most other leaflets I'd seen, but there was a semi-interesting article on the origins of the Sprout Tower, some information on the very famous Violet City Pokemon Academy for prospective trainers, another article on the Violet Gym (that unfortunately gave little helpful information on the Gym Leader or the Pokemon he/she used) and finally, a short paragraph on the Battle Tournament.

I found out that this famous Battle Tournament was held every year, and it seemed to grow in popularity every time it was held. I found it surprising that there was never any prizes or money offered to the ultimate victor of the tournament, but in fact the title of the Champion was enough to ensure trainers to keep coming back. After further reading, I discovered that the tournament would be taking place two days from now.

It was at this point that Nikki reappeared in the room, her long black hair lying in wet tendrils around her slim shoulders. She offered me a smile. "Hey. What are you doing?"

"Researching," I flapped the leaflet at her. "It had some information about that Battle Tournament on it,"

"Oh really?" Nikki asked, plucking it from my fingers and consulting it. "Oh, the day after tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "So that gives us tomorrow to relax. Or train. Whatever people would rather do, I guess…"

Nikki sat down on the bed heavily, murmuring something incomprehensible. I frowned a little, but decided not to pursue it, choosing to inquire after our absent friend instead. "So, where's Jasmine?"

"In the bath," Nikki said, stretching her arms and letting out a little moan. "I think she's going to be in there for a while…"

I nodded. "What about Bailey, Scott, and Elliot?"

"Bailey's in his room, and I think Scott and Elliot are still getting seen to by Nurse Joy,"

I let out a sigh. "So, it's just us two for a bit."

"Yep…" Nikki said a little nervously.

Nothing more was said for a few moments as I lay on the bed. I was stuck for something to say for a while. Nikki wasn't good at instigating conversation. Or even keeping up conversation. She just wasn't a talkative person, at all. And I had to admit, I quite liked that. It was nice to get a bit of peace and quiet sometimes without Jasmine or Elliot or Bailey talking in your ear non-stop.

Bailey…

A thought struck me and I sat straight upright in my bed, turning on Nikki immediately. She was distracted by something on her phone and didn't even see me sit up. "Nikki," I said sharply, trying to get her attention.

"Yes?" she asked, peeping up at me through a curtain of black hair.

"Do you think Jasmine may… like Bailey?"

This time, I got her attention completely. Her eyes widened and she immediately set her phone down. "What?" she squeaked.

I quickly relayed all the evidence I had amassed on the matter to Nikki. Elliot's theory that Jasmine only acted like a bitch to Bailey because she didn't know how else to behave, the fact I was certain she had thrown her own Gym battle to make him feel better, his constant caring and fussing over her even when she didn't want to know, the way he protected her in the Union Cave and then finally, the sweet, tender display they had exchanged when Jasmine thanked him for protecting her. Nikki's eyes grew wider and wider with every thing I said until she resembled a startled Hoothoot by the end of it.

"You know, I've been thinking all that myself…" she said softly. "I knew Bailey had a thing for Jasmine, and I was starting to think Jasmine might possibly be feeling the same way, but I didn't want to say anything."

"Me neither," I said with a sigh. "We'll just have to see what happens,"

"Yeah," Nikki said with a nod. "At the same time though, I kinda want to—"

Nikki was abruptly cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. She quickly fumbled for it, but stopped in surprise when she saw the caller ID.

"Is that Christian?" I asked, just of politeness. It was always Christian.

"No," she said, her frown deepening. "It's my dad!"

She answered the phone and began talking to her dad. She didn't sound panicked, so I didn't think it polite to listen in. Instead, I stretched my still aching body across the bed, glancing at the darkening sky as I did so, and started to idly play with a Pokeball. It wasn't difficult to zone out from Nikki's quiet voice, not that I'm sure she would have minded me listening. If it had been something important, she would have left the room after all. Eventually, just as the prospect of sleep was about to get the better of me, Nikki ended her phone call.

"What was that all about?" I asked her lazily as soon as she snapped her phone shut.

She looked a little bewildered as she stowed her phone away in the safety of her bag again. "My dad says to go down to the PC downstairs." She said, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He's sent me something from Unova,"

"Unova?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah. My dad's a Pokemon researcher. He does all sorts of work abroad in other regions looking at Pokemon not native to back home," Nikki explained. "He was posted to Unova last month, but this is the first I've heard from him since he went there."

I nodded, before swinging my legs off the bed I was lying on. "Well, what are we waiting for? We better go see what he sent you!"

The two of us quickly padded down to a mostly empty Pokemon centre lobby, and headed straight for the computers at the far side of the room. Nikki accessed the PC that she needed and loaded it up, and then found a video message addressed to her in her inbox. She shot me a perplexed look before pulling it up. A kindly looking middle-aged man with a mop of black hair, comically wide glasses and a slightly dazed expression flashed up on the screen.

"Hello my dear," the man's voice was soft, yet cultured and with an air of professionalism to it. "I'm sorry I haven't been keeping much in touch with you and Scott. I hear from your mother you've been going around Johto with Sienna and the others? Be careful out there, okay? Now, as you know I've been travelling around Unova and I found something I think you'd really like. I know you've got your Ninetails, Charmeleon, Numel and Magby, but I think you're more than ready to have a fifth team member. So, I've sent you over a Fire Pokemon from Unova that I came across the other day. It's called a Pansear."

"Oh my!" Nikki cried out in surprise.

"Good luck with your travels, my darling. Give my regards to Scott and to your friends too. And Christian, next time you see him. Goodbye. I love you. Have fun with the Pansear."

At that, the video message terminated and the Pokeball slot holder ejected itself from the tower of the computer, revealing a Pokeball. Nikki looked at it like it was a bomb about to go off. I couldn't help but smirk. I had no idea what a Pansear was, but I had to admit I was eager to see it. After some gentle prompting, Nikki took the Pokeball nervously, glanced at me, wide-eyed and then tossed the Pokeball to the ground.

I came face to face with a small orange and yellow monkey-like Pokemon with bright, inquisitive eyes that immediately began screeching loudly as soon as it left the Pokeball. Nikki quickly dropped to her knees and tried to shush the Pokemon, but it responded by letting out a burst of flames that narrowly missed singing her hair. I burst out laughing as the over-excited monkey Pokemon took off, scampering around the Pokemon Centre, and an irate Nikki had no choice but to take off after him.

"Nikki is never going to get any rest now with that Pansear," I chuckled to myself. "I thought Magby was bad enough!"

And with that, I turned on my heel and went back to the room, leaving Nikki to deal with the over-excited monkey Pokemon by herself. I smirked to myself, a comical thought entering my head.

"I can be a really bad friend when I want to be!"

The following day passed slowly and calmly. A day of rest was well-received by all six of us, although I spent most of that day sparring with Bailey and his newly acquired Onix, and Nikki with her brand new Pansear, which she had, so originally, named Darwin. By the end of the day, the three of us were exhausted, but I was pretty sure we were all a little more experienced and more confident about undertaking the battle tournament the following day.

However, nerves were high for everyone the morning of the tournament.

The Battle Tournament was accepting sign ups at eight in the morning to nine o'clock only, and apparently there would be no exceptions to this rule, so the six of us woke up early and went down to the local Pokemon academy where the sign-ups would be taking place. I had assumed that leaving early, around quarter to eight, would guarantee us a good spot in line, perhaps even first spot, but I was so wrong.

"Oh my God," was all I could say as we rounded the corner and the academy rolled into our sight.

I had never seen so many trainers in my life before. Not even at peak time in the busiest Pokemon Centres. Not even clamouring around a trainer with a rare Pokemon. Not even congregating in front of a televised Elite Four battle. Everywhere I looked I saw gaggles of trainers, all different ages, some with Pokemon at their heels, some without, some in excited, jostling groups, and others standing on their own. My eyes swept up and down the ranks of trainers, my mouth hanging open like an ensnared Magikarp.

"I didn't realise it was going to be this popular…" I heard Bailey say nervously from beside me.

"Me neither…" I admitted.

Nikki squeaked nervously from behind me, but Elliot, Jasmine and Scott all looked totally at ease. In fact, Scott crossed his arms and looked, almost hungrily, at the trainers in front of him. "This is nothing." He said decisively. "I bet I could beat everybody here,"

"Don't get cocky," Elliot reminded him good-naturedly, before turning to me. "Well, Sienna… you wanted training… Looks like you got it,"

"I'm gonna be careful what I wish for from now on…" I remarked.

We began the lengthy queuing process to get signed up for the tournament. The proctors insisted on having us in single file, and somehow, I got sandwiched right at the front of my group, behind another young girl and in front of Scott. As the line suddenly moved without my realising it, I stumbled and hit straight into the girl in front of me. She squeaked in surprise and immediately turned around to look at me.

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologised hastily, waving my arms back and forth. "We're kinda squashed up like sardines in here, huh?"

The girl smiled slightly, her unusual cobalt blue eyes glittering in the wan morning sun. She played nervously with a lock of bronze hair, and smoothed down the folds of her thick black hoodie. "Y-yeah. We kinda are…" she said in a soft, demure voice.

I smiled at her. "This your first time at one of these?"

She looked a little distant at this point, her eyes flitting to the side, like standing here talking to me was the last thing she wanted to be doing. For a few long and painful seconds, neither of us said or did anything. Eventually, she swallowed and seemed to gather herself again."Yes, it is actually."

"Me too," I tried to say as warmly as possible. "I thought it would be good training, you know?"

She nodded, but said nothing else.

"I'm Sienna, by the way." I said, holding my hand out to her.

"M-Melinda." She said, taking my hand and shaking it awkwardly and briefly.

"Nice to meet you," I grinned. I then looked up and down the line, trying to figure out if she was with anyone. "Are you here on your own?"

"Y-yeah."

"I'm with a bunch of my friends," I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, hopefully indicating the rest of my travelling party. "We're all entering."

"I heard a lot of really tough trainers are entering this year. N-not that I'm worried or anything," she added nervously.

"I heard that too," I nodded. "But I am worried…" I admitted, scratching the back of my neck.

Melinda opened her mouth again, as if to say something more, but then all of a sudden the line surged and separated, as another sign-up desk suddenly opened up. Melinda squeaked slightly as the desk was suddenly open for her to sign up.

"Good luck," I said as she took a step forward. "Maybe you and I will end up battling?"

"M-maybe…" She said, turning around mid-step and offering me a small smile. "I'll look forward to it."

Only a few moments after Melinda left, it was my turn. After signing up and having my details logged and recorded both digitally and on paper, I was forcibly separated from the rest of my party, and ushered straight into the academy. I followed the signs helpfully pinned up along the corridors, and eventually emerged into a giant room that reminded me suspiciously of a school gym hall. A bored looking proctor then told me I was to wait there in the hall until the sign-ups finished at nine o'clock, where we would be briefed on what would be happening. With nothing else to do, I shuffled away and took in the unbelievable sight before me.

The sheer number of trainers had shocked me enough when I saw them outside, but now seeing them all crammed in together in this enclosed space made it seem even more intimidating. I crept slowly through the ranks of trainers, not wanting to disturb anyone or bring attention to myself. It was eerily quiet, despite the number of trainers sin the room.

It suddenly occurred to me that every single person in this room was now officially my competition, and I swallowed an oppressive lump that had just formed in my throat. Nervously I glanced around, while stealing an unoccupied space between a couple of trainers that appeared to be on their own. With a spot secure, I surveyed my competition. My first overwhelming impression was that there were a lot of girls. Most of them were giggly, screechy types, most of them not looking any older than twelve or thirteen. Oddly enough, there seemed to be only one boy for every five or six girls, but as I scanned the ranks further, I realised just the sheer variety of people here. Sure, there were lots of young teenagers, but I was surprised to see young kids, older teenagers, young adults in their mid-to-late twenties, and even some people that looked like they were married and had a family themselves.

All of a sudden, a cheesy pop song began playing overhead. I looked up stupidly, and blinked a few times, before chastising my idiocy, realising it was coming from speakers nearby. Another noise from my left startled me, and I glanced across to see a young man, almost comically tall and broad to match, with a shock of spiky brown hair that bobbed up and down with every movement he made. He was singing along idly to the pop hit on the radio, rolling a Pokeball in his palm as he did so. He had a rather dazed, bemused look on his face however that I couldn't help but smile at.

I looked to my right out of curiosity. It was mostly girls, all in groups, and I had to admit, they looked fairly unimpressive, and rather unthreatening if I was brutally honest. However, my eyes travelled past the main scrum of youngsters, until they landed on the figure of another girl. I had to fight to keep back a gasp. She was nothing like the others. She stood right to the back, as if she was trying to distance herself and avoid everyone around her. I squinted, trying to get a better look at her. She was wearing a simple, yet flattering and eye-catching purple dress that flowed around her ankles. Long white blonde hair was skimming her delicate face, one eye obscured by a sweeping fringe. The eye that was visible however, I realised with an involuntary squeak, was firmly fixated on me.

I found myself wanting to tear my gaze away, but I couldn't. It wasn't as if she was just merely looking at me, it was like she was staring at me. It was a strange, probing stare that made a peculiar shudder run down my spine. It almost felt like she was staring into my soul, like she was trying to figure out everything about me that could be told from appearance alone. Feeling a little awkward, I inclined my head to the ground.

There was still no sign of Elliot or the others, so I tried to find some way to distract myself until they appeared. I swept my gaze around the people surrounding me again; trying to spot people I anticipated could possibly give me trouble in the tournament. A lot of people had Pokemon out for company, and thankfully, and quite surprisingly, they were all behaving themselves impeccably. I saw common, uncommon and rare Pokemon alike, and some that I hadn't even seen before. I assumed they must have been Pokemon from other regions, but even that made me think. This competition really must be worth something if it was attracting so many trainers from other regions…

Trying to keep myself looking cool and collected, I kept looking around. I found myself looking in particular at a thin and petite young girl, with the strangest deep blue hair I had ever seen, lovingly hand-feed a rather vicious-looking Mightyena. I grimaced and took a few steps back. You would think I would be used enough to Mightyena, my mother breeding dog Pokemon like she does, but that was exactly why I was wary. I knew what those kind of Pokemon were capable of. At that point, I remembered reading something in some magazine about a study conducted that trainers often picked Pokemon that were in some way representative of their own personalities. And looking at this girl with her small, heart-shaped face and delicate features, I was beginning to wonder if there was more to this particular girl than met the eye.

I moved my gaze, suddenly afraid I would be caught staring and looked at another girl. This particular girl had a jolly looking Pikachu on her shoulder, and the girl herself from a distance looked simply like an explosion of blue, green and purple. The Pikachu was playing with locks of her long brown hair that were currently jammed under a cute blue and green beanie hat, and the girl was giggling happily at her Pokemon's affection. I found myself smiling, but a stab of nerves still permeated through. I knew cutesy appearances weren't always representative of the person underneath. For all I knew, that could be an Elite standing there.

Nervousness was beginning to get the better of me now, and I wrung my hands together. I was really starting to wish the others would hurry up and rejoin me. I hated standing so long on my own. "What is taking them so long…?" I muttered to myself darkly. "How long does it take to sign up, for goodness' sake?"

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know?"

I almost jumped six feet in the air as the voice sounded, and I whipped around to locate its source. The only likely candidate it came from was a boy, whom I hadn't even noticed up until now, standing only a few feet away from me. His brown eyes flashed with mischievousness as he manoeuvred his thin body through the ranks of trainers to stand next to me. "Nerves getting the better of you?"

"I… I wouldn't say that," I remedied hastily. "Believe you me; I've dealt with a lot worse. My friends are just taking forever to get here."

"Hmm," the boy said offhandedly, casting a glance towards the slow trickle of incoming trainers, none of which were any of my friends. He looked for only a moment or two, before turning his attention back to me. "First time at one of these things?"

"Yeah. Yourself?"

"You could say that," he said smoothly. "I don't generally go in for these types of things,"

"Uh-huh…" I said warily, wondering what exactly it was he was getting at.

"Oh, but where are my manners?" he said with a sudden smile. He seemed to ooze charm and charisma as he tipped the blue hat sitting confidently on top of his silvery black hair, before holding out a hand. "Name's Crow. Crow Arabesque."

It took a lot of self-restraint for me to not crack a smile at his unusual name, but I accepted his hand with a firm handshake. "Sienna Volbeda,"

"Nice to meet you," he said, and I quickly returned the pleasantry.

With that, he opened his mouth as if it to say something else, but all of a sudden seemed to think better of it. He pointed behind my shoulder, still wearing a slightly mischievous smile. "Looks like your friends finally caught up to you,"

"Huh?" I turned around, and to my surprise, Crow was right. I could see Nikki, Jasmine, Bailey, Elliot and Scott threading their way through the crowd and making their way up to me. I turned around, my mouth slightly hanging open, to face Crow again.

"I'll leave you to it," he grinned. "I hope you and I cross paths again, Sienna. Perhaps we might even get a chance to battle,"

"I'll hold you to it," I replied as he turned his back and disappeared into the crowd again. I lost sight of him almost immediately, but I didn't even get a chance to figure out where he went as the others suddenly appeared next to me, apologising for the wait.

"What on earth took you so long?" I asked, putting my arms around Elliot's neck in a brief hug, and shaking my head at the rest of them.

"Computer fault," Elliot said, rolling his eyes and kissing my forehead softly. "Stupid technology," he murmured.

I shook my head, and quickly faked being upset. I had to admit, playing up to Elliot could be quite fun at times. "I was standing in here on my own with all these trainers like an idiot for ages thought…" I said, drawing my voice into a slightly teasing whine.

"Aww, such a shame," Scott deadpanned, shooting me a look before Elliot could even open his mouth. "Didn't realise you needed someone to hold your hand through every little thing you do."

I frowned at him, before taking my arms away from Elliot, no longer in the mood to play around. I busied myself by reassessing the crowds. All of a sudden, it was apparent there were a lot more people than there had been even ten minutes ago, if that was even possible. The place had been crammed enough as it was. "There's a lot of people here, isn't there?" I said to no-one in particular.

"Record numbers, apparently." Elliot said offhandedly. "But they should be starting soon, so—"

It was at that exact moment that a sudden sharp static noise screeched across the hall we were in, causing several shrieks of pain and surprise from unsuspecting humans and Pokemon alike. A portly man in a bright red jacket, oddly reminiscent of a ringmaster's outfit, suddenly appeared behind a podium and began addressing the crowds.

"Welcome! Welcome to the annual Violet City Pokemon Tournament!"

Applause and cheering suddenly broke out from the crowds, so I clapped along, mainly for the fact I didn't want to be the odd one out. I didn't feel like cheering. All of a sudden, I wasn't feeling excited or nervous any more; I was feeling a little distant, like this situation and I didn't quite sync up together anymore.

"I am so glad, so glad, to see record numbers of trainers here this year!" The man boomed jovially into the microphone. "Unfortunately, unfortunately, with so many trainers this year, I regret to announce that we cannot go straight into the tournament as we would like."

An explosion of disgust and annoyance broke out among the trainers, but they were silenced immediately when the man started talking again. "Instead though, instead, we have decided to hold a series of preliminary rounds to find the top twenty trainers in among you today!"

"Preliminaries…?" I murmured softly. "What on earth will they be…?"

"So in order, in order, to whittle down our competitors to the top twenty, every trainer that has signed up will have to participate in three very challenging tasks! Tasks that will test the very integrity and ingenuity of every single person here! Not only, not only, as Pokemon trainers, but as individuals, and people."

A resounding groan sounded around me, and I felt Nikki tense.

"The first challenge, yes, the first challenge will take you right back to the beginning of your journeys, and test you on the absolute basic skills of any rookie Pokemon trainer!" the announcer said merrily. "You will have twenty targets, yes, twenty moving targets, that you must hit with Pokeballs! Sounds simple, right?"

I found myself nodding.

"Well, it's not!" the announcer said, shattering my optimism. "Indeed, it's not! All three tasks will be timed! Only trainers that clock up the lowest overall times for all three tasks will be permitted to enter the battles! For every one target that you miss, you will be given a ten second penalty! And if you miss any more than half the targets, yes if you miss ten targets, you will be disqualified and you will not be able to proceed to the next round!"

Above the worried groans, a commanding male voice suddenly rose up and challenged the announcer. "What is the next round?"

I looked across to see the challenger standing with one arm up in the air, waving it slightly to gain attention. It was a young man, with olive skin, long unruly black hair and who towered above most everyone else here at the very least, six feet tall. I fought back a gasp as I realised his arms were bandaged from the elbows down. I wondered if he had an injury or a condition that had caused that. With all eyes suddenly on him, he lowered his bandaged arms and folded them across his chest.

The announcer wasn't fazed at the interruption and carried on blithely. "It's simple, my dear boy, it is simple! The next challenge is Pokemon first aid!"

Another resounding groan. This one sounded even louder and more pained than the first.

"Your task, yes, your task is…" he paused, as if for dramatic effect. "… to administer first aid to a sick and injured Rattata! You must give the injured Pokemon a Revive, a Super Potion and then a Full Heal, in that order, yes, in that order specifically! Then, once the Pokemon is healed, you must transport it to the Pokemon Centre for official release!"

A general murmur of consensus rang out, while I squeezed Elliot's hand for his attention. "That should be easy… right?"

Elliot looked at me. "Don't count on it," he said darkly. "Rattata, remember? Those things are wild. You'll be scratched and bitten to pieces before you get a chance to give it any medicine at all after the Revive. Even if you can get it to take the stuff, you don't have a hope in hell in carrying it back. It'll escape before you even know what's happening."

"Oh…" I said slowly, understanding now the possible complications that could arise from that particular challenge.

"And the final challenge, yes the final challenge…"

"I am going to strangle him if he doesn't stop talking like that," Scott muttered darkly, his hand clenched around one of his Pokeballs.

"… is a campside challenge!" the announcer cried out with relish after a prolonged pause. "Now, you must, you must pitch a tent! You must light a fire! And you mustcatch a Magikarp! Sounds easy, right?"

"Is his definition of easy the same as mine…?" I wondered in shock.

"Well, it's not! It most certainly is not! the announcer grinned in a malicious sort of way. "As I said, ladies and gentlemen, as I said, in all three of these challenges, you're timed! Yes, that's right, you are timed! Only the twenty people who clock up the lowest overall times will move on to the battles round! In the first challenge, as I said, yes in the first challenge, you have a ten second penalty for each target you miss and a chance of disqualification if you lose too many targets. In the second round, if your Rattata escapes before you have the chance to give it the medicine, you are immediately disqualified! If you administer the medicine in any order apart from Revive, Super Potion and Full Heal, you will also be immediately disqualified!"

I was really starting to hate the relish and sheer delight this man seemed to take in saying the word "disqualified".

"In the final round, in the final round, if your fire and tent do not match the standards that the proctors expect, you will be immediately disqualified. And of course, if you don't catch a Magikarp… you're also immediately disqualified."

"Oh my God…" I murmured, sinking my head into my hands. "Why…? Why are we all doing this again?"

"Oh yes, one more thing, yes, one more thing…" the announcer added slowly. "I have one more rule for you all."

"Another rule?" I thought in despair. This was already shaping up to be next to impossible; how could I handle any more goddamn rules?

"Throughout all three of these challenges, all three challenges, the use of Pokemon to assist you…" the announcer paused, surveying all of us. "Is strictly forbidden."

My heart stopped. "WHAT!" I bellowed. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one. Almost every other trainer in the room had cried out in outrage and was now protesting angrily.

"That's right! That's right!" the announcer was laughing. "You must complete the challenges assigned to you without the assistance of your Pokemon! These challenges are designed to test the integrity and ingenuity of trainers! We cannot accept trainers to compete here unless we know they are competent, even without the assistance of their friends and Pokemon!"

I looked up at the sky, wanting the ground to rise up and swallow me whole.

"Next time I want to get myself involved with something like this, someone, please Arceus, someone just shoot me, okay?"

Author's Note

Well, I finally updated. You have no idea the hell I've been through with this chapter :O

Well, this marks the official start of the Battle Tournament Arc. Not many of the OC's have been introduced yet. (It was basically a draw names out of a hat situation to see which ones got screen time first in this chapter, cos I couldn't make a decision myself). Some OC's have been alluded to, but not named, and I've only introduced two properly. Next chapter, all the accepted OC's will be introduced. A full list of OCs will also be posted next chapter, along with some more additional information.

I don't really have much time or space to reply to everyone's reviews individually, but special thanks go to:

Sniper Mudkip, Shadow Serenity 57, I have a dictonairy here, WOWFan123, May and Dawn are the best, FindMe215, WarriorSwift, ArchXDeath, TwewyReaperGirl, TCoBlackRoses, WildCroconaw, Aeroga, Zoeten and purplefan9639.

Updates will be slow henceforth as this arc is going to be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for me to write. I just ask for your continued patience.

Thank you for reading :)