"Tournament?"

Kenan and the rest of his friends were in his and Rex's room in Samurott's Cove. Tyson was sitting on the couch while looking at his phone, barely listening to the conversation, Shion was munching on some chips while listening at full attention and Robyn was the one who was giving her full attention as Rex described the tournament to them.

"Yeah, it is to commemorate the Monarch's visit to the academy. The way it works is that three are three qualifying rounds consisting of a one-on-one battle, a double battle and finally a three-on-three battle. If you manage to win in all three rounds, you will make it to the victory tournament, consisting of the final eight trainers."

Kenan soon looked up when he heard about the victory tournament and soon gave a sly look before asking.

"And I assume that the victory tournament is all full battles?"

Rex nodded yes as Robyn soon began to get excited.

"Man! This is so exciting! I have been waiting for a tournament like this for a long time!" Robyn said.

Shion and Tyson looked at each other excitedly.

"So where can we register for the tournament?" Kenan asked.

Rex said that they could do it in the front office as soon everyone went there to register for the tournament, though Kenan couldn't help but feel like something bad might happen during the Monarch's visit here.


Meanwhile with the Performance Course students, many were also talking about the new tournament with some of them even planning to enter themselves.

"Idiots, the lot of them." Ema said as she sighed hearing the chatter of her peers.

"What do you mean Ema?" Lyna asked.

The two of them were eating sandwiches, in their classroom as the chatter of their classmates surrounded them.

"I mean… why would they want to enter that stupid battle tournament? We are performers, not battlers. Honestly any Performance course student joining this tournament is a waste of their skills in my opinion." Ema said to Lyna.

Lyna frowned at her friend's ignorant and elitist words, not liking them one bit.

"I mean that is a bit of a close-minded view to look at it. Especially for a coordinator like you." Lyna said back.

"Oh please, you are only interested in the tournament because your boyfriend is most likely competing in it."

Lyna's face soon blushed redder than a tomato berry as she yelled at Ema.

"HE ISN'T MY BOYFRIEND EMA!"

Ema snickered and looked unconvinced.

"Really!? You two have been spending a lot of time together since we have returned from Galar. But whatever." Ema said.

She soon finished her sandwich as Lyna soon thought about her interactions with Kenan, they were closer now since returning from Galar but she didn't know if she was ready to get into a relationship now.

If only there was a way to sort out these confused feelings of hers…

Lyna soon knew what she had to do as she went to the front office.


Ava and Chris meanwhile were relaxing in the common area, they had a long day of treating various student's Pokemon that had been injured during training for the upcoming tournament.

Needless too say that it was a lot.

"Wow, this tournament really has got everyone in the academy in a frenzy. Am I right?" Chris asked as he sipped some of his soda.

"Yeah, though I can't blame them. It isn't every day that the Monarch himself decides to drop by and visit." Ava said.

Soon however Ava felt her Pokemon rumbling in their Pokeballs. It has been a long time since she had a battle and her Pokemon were eager for some action.

And she couldn't lie, so was she.

However, Chris seemed to pick up on this as he put his drink down.

"Go ahead." He said.

Ava soon turned around seemingly at a loss for words as Chris simply smiled at her.

"I can tell that you want to participate in the tournament, both you and your Pokemon and honestly I don't mind it." Chris said to her.

"But if I participate that means you will have to carry our workload for the next few weeks." Ava said back to him.

Chris simply shrugged.

"Yeah it would be difficult, but I don't mind. I can tell you and your Pokemon really want this so I can handle the extra work for some time." He said.

Right then, Ava was never more grateful that Chris was her partner in schoolwork as she soon went to the front office to register herself for the tournament.


Finally, there was how the Ranger Course students were reacting to the tournament.

Mostly with a mixture of apathy and disinterest.

Most Pokemon Rangers weren't super hardcore battlers in the first place, and while a majority of them had respect for Ash for all the times he help them out. They still didn't care much for a battle tournament when their time could be spent being used more productively.

All except one thought about that.

Hikaru looked at a flyer for the tournament and sighed a bit.

The rational part of his brain knew that he didn't need to do this, that his time probably would have been better spent focusing on his ranger duties instead.

But he then remembered how useless he was during the incident in Galar and knew he must, no, he needed to become stronger in order to improve as a ranger.

Hikaru sighed as he took a look at one of his Pokemon, Staryu who said to him that they were with him all the way.

Hikaru was thankful for that and with a heavy heart soon went to the front office.


In the evening, Gary was in his office sipping on some coffee when one of his assistants came into his office to inform him of something.

"Sir, registration for the tournament has ended and we will begin official battles tomorrow." His assistant said to him.

Gary turned around and smiled at that news.

"Very well, it is time for the Pokemon Trainer's Academy Monarch Invitational Tournament… to begin."