A/N: Hello readers! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry for posting this a little late everyone. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
"We're finally here!" Misaki exclaimed when we arrived at our long awaited destination. "It's the Pokemon League!" The black haired trainer ran ahead of me and Clair towards the gigantic building. It was a large dome shaped structure. Four other stadiums surrounded the main building.
Misaki and I had both won our final gym badge at Sunnyshore City. Afterwards, we headed straight to here. Victory Road posed little difficulty to us. After all, compared to our battle with Leon, a trip through a cave was nothing.
When we entered through the doors of the main building, we were greeted by a receptionist who lead us to the main registration desk. As we walked to the desk, I could already see a decent number of trainers had already made it to the tournament. We registered ourselves for the tournament. "Okay, now all you need to do is win your qualification rounds." the receptionist said.
"Qualification rounds?" Misaki asked puzzlingly.
"That's right." the lady explained. "You will be battling against the Elite Four. If you can win all four of your matches, you will be fully eligible to participate in the main tournament. Follow me please."
The lady led us through another doorway. Misaki and I had to part ways for our two rounds. I had Clair wait in the lobby for us. I exited the hallway and found myself in a jungle like battlefield. Across from me was a male with green hair. His cursor read Aaron and I could tell he was a NPC. Still, that didn't mean it was safe to underestimate him.
"Allow me to explain how this will work." Aaron said. "In each of your four battles, we will only be allowed to use one pokemon each. There is no rest period in between battles to heal. Understood?"
"Yeah. I got no complaints." I said.
"Good. Then let us begin." Aaron grinned, grabbing a pokeball. I did the same and we each threw out our pokemon simultaneously.
"Let's do this Starraptor!"
"Give 'em the sting Scizor!"
My battles with the Elite Four were far from easy, but I was managing to pull out ahead. Starraptor defeated Aaron's Scizor in a fierce midair battle. My Rotom then went up against the Rhyperior of Bertha, where we won again. Against Flint, our two Infernape's had a serious clash, but we managed to win by the skin of our teeth. All that was left was Lucian, the master of psychic types. We each sent out our pokemon. On my side was Scizor, while Lucian used a Gallade.
"You've done well to make it this far." Lucian said. "However, I'm afraid this is where you're winning streak ends."
"Bring it on!" I smirked. "Scizor use metal claw!"
"Gallade! Psycho cut!"
The claws of our two pokemon clashed with each other in a dead even struggle. Both of their HP bars were slowly falling with each clash.
"Close combat!" Lucian commanded. Gallade switched from strong powerful clashes to a series of swift hits to Scizor's body.
"Scizor, fall back!" I yelled. Scizor leaped back and took to the air.
"Chase after it!" Lucian ordered. Gallade leaped into the air and prepared to strike Scizor with its blade-like arms.
"Hyper beam!" I called out. Energy poured into Scizor's two claws and fired at the airborne Gallade. The impact sent Gallade flying back and crashing into the ground. Its HP was now in the red.
"Get up, Gallade!" Lucian called out. The psychic type trainer's partner struggled to stand but it was still determined to win. One last hit would decide it.
"Finish it with slash!"
"Counter with leaf blade!"
The two pokemon charged at each other. Their attacks connected, streaking across each other. When the clash ended, they stood on opposite sides of each other. As we watched to see the outcome, Gallade kneeled over and fell in defeat.
"Alright! Way to go Scizor!" I cheered. We each returned our pokemon and Lucian walked over to me.
"You have beaten all of the Elite Four. You are now able to battle in the tournament. Show everyone the skills you used in your fights here, and win."
"Thanks. I will." I smiled. Afterwards, I went back to the lobby where Clair was waiting. After a few more minutes, Misaki walked out as well, ecstatic with her victory.
"Oh yeah! Now we can win this tournament and get out of here!" Misaki cheered.
"Someone's pretty confident." a voice called out. We all looked over to see Ryota with a grin on his face. "You're gonna have to beat me if you plan on winning."
"My pleasure." Misaki grinned. "I've been wanting to kick your ass for a while now."
"Try all you want. I'm winning this tournament." Ryota responded. As Clair and I watched the two of them go at it, another familiar voice popped up. The four of us looked over to see Cheryl and Riley.
"Hey what are we? Chopped liver?" Riley asked. "You guys aren't the only ones that are aiming to win this thing. Everyone is going to be desperately fighting to be the one to get everyone out of this game."
All our minds went back to the opening day of PWO. There, the creator of the game said the winners in each region would obtain the secret to exiting the game. That was the prize on everyone's mind. It was going to make for some fierce competition.
"Bring it on!" I smirked. "Doesn't matter who I battle. I plan on winning!"
There were still ten days before registration would be closed. That meant ten days to train for what would be the biggest battles I would face yet. It was getting late though so we all decided to hit the hay. We each had a hotel room to ourselves. Misaki volunteered to let Clair sleep in her room. I was preparing to go to bed when I heard a knock at my door. I opened it to find Misaki on the other side.
"Misaki? What's up?"
"Clair fell asleep so I thought I'd let her have the bed to herself and come here." Misaki explained. "That's alright, isn't it?"
"Uh... yeah sure." I said hesitantly. Misaki came in and quickly changed into her pajamas. She got into my bed and ushered me in as well. When I got in, she curled up next to me.
"You know, this reminds me of our first night in this game." Misaki said. "Except now we're in the same bed."
"Yeah. Brings back memories." I agreed. It was taking all I had not to turn red. I had never even had a girlfriend before, let alone slept with one.
"Good luck in the tournament Ren." Misaki said. "But just so you know, I don't plan on going easy on you if we battle."
"I wouldn't want it any other way." I agreed.
"Now that I think about it, we've never had a real battle have we?" Misaki pointed out. "We've had a ton of practice matches but not any where we actually went all out."
"Yeah it's odd." I agreed. "We've had a lot of other things happen these past few months though. A lot of battles and a lot of friends."
"Yeah. Cheryl... Riley... even Ryota. I never thought I'd meet so many people. But the one I'm really glad I met was you."
"I feel the same way."
We spent the time in bed reminiscing about our journey together. As memories flowed around the room, we eventually drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Tournament time is almost here everyone. I'd like to hear what match-ups people would like to see in the battles here. Please feel free to post your ideas in the comments section or PM me. Until next week everyone.