After the days battles were over Ash and his 9 friends were walking back to the pokemon center. The sun had gone down a few minutes ago and they walked along a path that was illuminated by street lights. As they were walking a few members of the group, Ash, Brock, Gary, Tyler and Dawn were all mulling over what they would have to do if they get matched up with Tobias.

"So, 5 of us made it past round 1, and round 2 is over tomorrow and none of you guys has lost yet." Said Max.

"Yeah. We might make straight past and none of us get eliminated this round." Said Dawn.

"Yeah but, Gary hasn't battled yet." Pointed out Misty.

"That's true. You'd better be at your best Gary." May said teasingly.

"Don't you worry about me. I'm going to win tomorrow no doubt." He replied.

"Wasn't you earlier who said not to be over confident?" Asked Brock with a smile on his face.

"Yeah but the difference is that I know I'm fully prepared for whoever I get paired up against."

They all knew all about Gary's pokemon knowledge and his research skills so they decided to take his word for it. As they neared the pokemon center a small group of reporters crowded around them. They were taken by surprise as they did not know what the reporters were up to until they heard one of them shout out over the others.

"Can we just have a word with Ash and Tyler?" He asked.

Ash and Tyler were taken aback by this at first but decided to go along with and answer a few of their questions.

"Tyler there have been huge news going around about your victory over 2 elite 4 members. It is a colossal feat to defeat an elite 4 member so there has been a lot of news buzzing around over your back-to-back victories. Do you have anything to say about that?" Asked a female reporter as she thrust a microphone into Tyler's face.

"I… uhh." He stuttered.

"Ash Ketchum, do you have anything to say about the overpowering performance by Tobias today." Asked another reporter.

"Wait, what?" Asked Ash.

"Tyler, many people are wondering, what is your secret that gives you so much power in battle?"

"Um… I train them?" Tyler responded plainly.

Ash! So many people are saying that you may be the one to defeat Tobias seeing as how you are the only one who has managed to beat his Darkrai. We would like to get you thoughts on that."

*Am I really the only one.* Ash wondered to himself.

"The thing is is that I make sure they're always healthy, well fed and tell them to give any battle everything they've got." Said Tyler answering another question.

"Ash, do you think that you can beat Tobias?" One reporter had just asked Ash that one burning question.

"Well there is no doubt that Tobias and his pokemon are really strong and they're not going to go down without a fight. But it was over a year ago that I lost to Tobias at the Sinnoh league. And sure I may have lost then, but since that day I've been training really hard to get a whole lot stronger. And this time, when I go head to head with Tobias, things are going to be different." Replied Ash.

"Thank you for your time Tyler."

"Sure thing." He said.

"We will be watching you in the tournament Ash." Said a final reporter as they all took off, leaving Ash and Tyler by themselves.

"Huh. That was… different." Said Tyler.

"Yeah. I've never been surrounded by news people like that before." Said Ash rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well what do you say we meet up with the others?" Suggested Tyler.

"Sure." He replied as they both made their way back to the pokemon center.

Misty, Brock and the others had already made it back to the pokemon center. Brock, Tracey and Misty were talking to Gary about his battle strategy for tomorrow. May and Dawn were telling each other about their recent contests, and Iris and Max were just eavesdropping as they had nothing to say at the time.

"So Gary, tomorrow you are going to be in a double battle. witch 2 pokemon are you going to use?" Asked Misty.

"After careful consideration, I'm choosing Nidoking and Arcanine." Answered Gary.

"Those are 2 of your oldest pokemon and 2 of your strongest as well. I think that there is no better choice than those two." Inputted Brock.

"Ok. But what if your opponent ends up using a water type pokemon? Both Nidoking and Arcanine are weak against water types." Said Misty.

"Don't sweat it. I got a strategy for any pokemon type I may get paired up against." Confirmed Gary.

"You sure sound sure of yourself. Good luck Gary." Said Tracey.

"Yeah. We all made it past this round, it would be a shame if you lost and we had to leave you behind." Said Dawn teasingly with a smirk on his face.

Gary just looked at her as if he thought he was a joke.

"Please if you and Ash made it into round 3 than I should have no problem doing the same thing." Said Gary as he regained his composure. At this point Tyler and Ash had returned to the pokemon center. They all got up to greet their friends as they didn't see them since there were swarmed by a mob of reporters.

"So what was all that about?" Asked May.

"Well, my stock as a top contender seems to be rising after I beat 2 members of the elite 4." Said Tyler.

"And they wanted my opinion on Tobias because I'm the only one who beat his Darkrai." Replied Ash.

"Yeah. I've heard that ever since the Sinnoh league no one has been able to defeat Darkrai." Said Brock.

"I've also read somewhere that he is the favorite to win the tournament." Said Tracey.

"Yeah, they were telling me that I may be the one to beat him, because I'm the only one to beat Darkrai." Said Ash.

"Makes sense…" Said May.

"Well I wouldn't worry about it for now. You've already made it past the 2nd round, all you can to is train and prepare." Brock told them.

"Right…" Tyler and Ash both said as they looked down to the floor.