"Wow, Davin, you did great!" Maura congratulated him when he returned from the arena. "I never would've expected your Vigoroth to evolve when it did."

"That makes two of us. If it hadn't, though, I'd probably be on my way home right now." Davin admitted. "What do you think, Haro?"

Haro was too focused on the screen to listen. Davin and Maura went beside him to see what was up and they saw a guy with short, spiky dark-brown hair wearing a dark-blue jacket over a yellow shirt, along with green pants, black shoes, and a headband that had a white Poké ball on a black background getting ready to face his opponent.

"The final preliminary round will be Edric from Cerulean City against Lyle from Fallarbor Town!" The announcer stated.

"I've heard rumors about that guy, Edric." Haro referenced to the brown, spiky haired boy. "He's supposed to be a tough trainer and they say he almost never loses a battle."

"Really?" Davin curiously asked. "He sounds interesting."

The judge stated the rules. "1-on-1! Start!"

"Cacturne, let's go!" Lyle released a tall green scarecrow Pokemon with spikes on almost every part of its body.

Edric grinned. "Venusaur, let's do it!" The Poke ball he threw opened and a big, light-blue creature with a huge flower on its back appeared on the battlefield.

"Venusa~ur!" It shouted.

"So he's using a Grass type against another Grass type." Haro stated. Davin and Maura looked up the Pokemon on their Pokedexes.

Maura's Pokedex
"Cacturne, the Scarecrow Pokémon. Cacturne is the evolved form of Cacnea. After spending thousands of years in harsh deserts, its blood transformed into the same substances as sand. It is nocturnal, so it hunts at night."

Davin's Pokedex
"Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon. Venusaur is the final evolution of Bulbasaur. Its flower is said to take on vivid colors if it gets plenty of nutrition and sunlight. The flower's aroma soothes the emotions of people."

Davin thought for a moment. "The final evolution of Bulbasaur... That's one of the Kanto starter Pokemon, right?"

"Yeah." Haro nodded. "It's clear that that Venusaur is his first Pokemon."

Back in the arena, the battle had started.

"Cacturne, use Pin Missile!" It held its arms out in front of itself and released a series of needles from the spikes.

"Venusaur, Vine Whip!" Long vines came out of the sides of its flower as it used them to swat away the attack. The vines then constricted Cacturne as it was lifted into the air. "Solar Beam!" Sunlight was quickly absorbed by Venusaur's flower and it shot a white beam from it that hit the trapped Cacturne. When it was let go, the half Dark type had fainted.

"Cacturne is unable to battle! Venusaur wins and Edric advances to the next round!"

"Amazing!" Davin gasped.

"He took it down in only one hit!" Maura added.

Haro simply stared with an emotionless expression. "This guy... He'll be an interesting opponent to go up against."

On the arena's screen, the trainers who had won their battles were displayed. "Tomorrow, these participants who have made it will be entering the qualifying rounds. In those rounds, all battles will be fought in double battles."


After the preliminaries ended, Davin rushed out of the trainers' room to try and find Edric. Luckily, he spotted him at the front counter getting his Poke balls from Nurse Joy.

"Hey, Edric!" Davin called as he ran over to him.

"Yo, what's up?" He greeted with his hand.

"My name's Davin and I'm from Blazehill Town. I just wanted to say that your Venusaur was awesome in your battle today."

"Thanks. Venusaur and I have been together for a long time, so there's no surprise at how strong it is."

Right then, Maura came running up to them, saying to Davin, "What's the hurry? Why'd you run out so fast?" Haro joined them after she finished her questions.

Davin gestured to the strong trainer. "I just wanted to meet with Edric. I still can't get over how strong his Venusaur was." He faced Edric. "These are my friends, Maura and Haro."

"Nice to meet both of you." All three of them shook hands. "So, I suppose I'll be seeing you guys later in the tournament?"

"You bet!" Davin nodded. "We've all trained our hardest for this moment and we're not planning on losing anytime soon!"

"That's what I like to hear." Edric nodded. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got things do. See ya later." With that, he walked past them and exited the lobby through the automatic doors.

"He seems like a nice person." Maura smiled.

"Yeah." Davin agreed. "If we meet each other in battle, that'll be great!"

"Let's just hope we can train hard enough to beat him, because there's no way I'm going to lose to that guy if I face him." Haro said with a slight rage in his voice. "Anyone from a different region entering this tournament must be defeated!"

Davin slapped him. "Haro, we talked about this! Don't be Ledo! Be you!"

The blonde rubbed his cheek and sighed. "I'm sorry. The memories still keep coming back to haunt me. I'll try to control myself."

"Good, and if you can't, I'll be there to slap you right out of your pain." he grinned.

Maura was confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

The boys looked at each other for a second and replied in unison, "Long story."