Saffron City was the largest city in the region, and that fact was made evident to Roy and Antonia from the moment when they first laid eyes upon its gleaming skyline of glass and steel. The effect became even more pronounced after they dropped off the abra with Francis and his pokémon daycare and drew closer and closer to their destination. The buildings seemed to tower higher over them with each step, and it was all that the two young trainers could do to keep their necks from craning backwards as the sought the top of the obelisks which spread out before them.

"Kind of like Viridian City, huh?" Roy remarked to Antonia while they were still a few minutes away from the city's limits. "Only a whole lot more of it."

"Yeah," replied Antonia a little breathlessly.

Growing up they both had made infrequent visits to Viridian City, the largest population center west of Mt. Moon, and then to Pewter City and Cerulean City since becoming pokémon trainers. But none of those three cities prepared Roy and Antonia for the metropolis they were now entering.

For one thing, there was a quality to the atmosphere that was different, and not just in the air itself which was more polluted with sounds and smells than anything either of the travelers had experienced before. Rather it was the level of energy that seemed to animate everything in Saffron City to go, go, go as quickly as possible. People, pokémon, and vehicles rushed all around Roy and Antonia on various errands, making the two of them feel as though they were slower and heavier than usual, just by comparison.

"I'm glad that we returned the pokémon to their poké balls," Antonia said after she narrowly missed being clipped by a cab which violently rounded the corner where she and Roy were standing. She turned to one of the people jostling the two trainers and tried to get his attention, but her "Excuse me, sir?" landed on deaf ears. The same outcome followed with the next two passersby Antonia asked, but the fourth finally stopped long enough to give Roy and Antonia a heavily abbreviated set of directions to the nearest pokémon center. Before Antonia could thank her, the woman was striding off again and was soon lost in the swirling crowd.

"I don't think I like it much here," Roy said as he and Antonia started off down the street, opposite from the direction they had first been traveling. "All of these people crammed together here. It's just not natural, Toni."

Antonia nodded her agreement, but added, "Still, think about it, Roy, that woman said that Saffron City has three pokémon centers! That's amazing! How many pokémon and trainers have to be here for them to need that many?"

As she was saying that, a man stepped into their path, not out of carelessness or arrogance as had been the case in other near-misses, but deliberately. "Not only are there many pokémon centers, but there are two pokémon gyms in Saffron City as well!" he said.

Both Roy and Antonia stared openly at the stranger, not only for his intrusion into their conversation but also because of his outfit. He was a dark-haired man with a square head dressed in a white Karate gi clinched around his waist with a black belt. Before either of the trainers could say anything, he thrust a flier from a pile he was carrying under his arm into their faces.

Antonia was trying to read it, but Roy took it out of the man's hands without looking at it and said, "Thanks, we'll be sure to check it out."

"Don't miss it! One day only!" the man said with a friendly smile, and then he went off to accost another passerby with another flier.

Only when they had put half-a-block between themselves and the man did Roy open up the flier they had been handed. He and Antonia looked at a simple white page with blocky black letters announcing, "One Day Only! Pokémon Martial Arts Tournament! Exciting Prizes! Hosted by the Saffron Fighting Dojo, Saffron City's REAL Pokémon Gym!" Then it gave an address and a start time and date for the mid-morning the next day.

"What do you think?" Roy asked Antonia when he had finished reading.

"Do you think those prizes include a badge?

Roy looked over the flier again before admitting, "It doesn't say, but maybe? I mean, it is a pokémon gym, isn't it?" He glanced back down at the paper in his hand. "A 'real pokémon gym", it says right here."

Antonia spared a look over her shoulder back at the boisterous martial artist, and then back at Roy. "Why would they have to say that? And what would a 'pokémon martial arts tournament' even look like? Let's keep focused on getting the badges we need to compete in the league. We don't have the time to get distracted."

"Whatever you say, "said Roy with a shrug and he crumpled up the flier and put it in his pocket. The red roof of the pokémon center was within sight, so neither he nor Antonia said anything to each other in order to focus on making it to their destination.

There was a sense of accomplishment when they stepped through the pokémon center's sliding glass doors, but that feeling was immediately eclipsed when they saw a familiar figure standing by the front desk.

"Jesse!" called Roy as he walked over to his brother. "What are you doing here?"

At the sound of his twin's voice, Jesse turned around with a jerk, but he had a smile ready for Roy when they collided into a hug. "Roy! I should ask you the same thing! And Antonia too!" he added. "You two are still traveling together."

"That's right!" Roy said immediately. "Where are Zach and the others?"

Jesse's mouth went from a smile to grimace. "We split up in Vermillion. I had gotten my badge already while they were still struggling. We figured it'd be better for us to split up."

Roy was nodding and about to say something when Antonia sidled her way up to the two brothers. "You went to Vermillion? How tough was the gym leader down there?"

"He was pretty strong, but we were stronger," said Jesse with a grin that elicited an imitation from Roy and Antonia both. "But we can catch up over dinner. I'll let you two check in and get your rooms. See you around."

With that, Jesse strolled off down the pokémon center's hallway with a carefree wave thrown over his shoulder. Once he and Antonia had talked with a woman with a professional demeanor and a tightly-coiffed bun, Roy followed in his brother's footsteps and mused aloud, "So, Jesse has two badges now." Antonia waited for him to say something else, but he just shook his head and was about to go into his room when Antonia tapped him on the shoulder.

"See you at dinner?"

"Yeah, just the three of us!" was Roy's cheerful reply, but before his door closed, Antonia saw his expression turn pensive again.

The pokémon center served fish for dinner, freshly caught from the Cerulean River and prepared by the center's staff with roasted potatoes and a garden salad. The whole story was conveyed through the elegant script on the placard placed on the cafeteria's door and by the staff serving the meal. The whole production seemed perfected to make the traveling trainers feel sheepish and Roy, Antonia, and even Jesse all accepted their filled plates with meek expressions of gratitude.

That lasted right up until they sat down together. Roy threw himself into his food, and Antonia was hungry enough from the day's travel that she was focused on eating as well. It was then up to Jesse to start their mealtime conversation off. "Have either of you heard about this pokémon tournament going on tomorrow?"

"The pokémon martial arts thing?" asked Roy as he speared a potato on his fork. He let the piece of food linger for just as long as it took for him to rummage in his pocket for the crumpled-up flier from earlier that day. "Yeah, but Toni doesn't think it'd be worth our time."

Antonia's face's colored and she quickly said, "I meant that, while it could be interesting, there were some parts of it that didn't seem to make sense. I mean, what are 'pokémon martial arts' anyways? And the man said that Saffron City has two pokémon gyms, but not according to the pokémon league."

"That's true," said Jesse, "from what I gathered by asking around, there's only one official pokémon gym in Saffron City. The guys putting on this tournament are from an unofficial gym, or a former gym, I'm not sure. They aren't offering a badge, and they can't, I don't think, but I heard that the prize for the winner might be something even better."

Both Roy and Antonia were on the edge of their seats as Jesse leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I heard that whoever wins that tournament tomorrow gets an incredibly rare pokémon."

"That could be useful," said Roy, his food temporarily forgotten. "Any idea what kind of pokémon?"

Jesse leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion. "Nothing solid, but if they want to see whose pokémon are best at karate and all that, it only makes sense that they'd offer a pokémon that's good at those things too."

The other trainers looked at each other. "A new pokémon could help with gym battles going forward," said Antonia.

"Yeah," agreed Roy, and then he quickly added, "plus pokémon martial arts sounds kind of fun. I mean, can't you see Charmander having a blast with that?"

"Well, I know that I'm going to take part in it," said Jesse. "It'd be great to add another powerhouse to my team, and the actual pokémon gym isn't going anywhere."

Antonia bit her lip and said, "I guess we could take a day to participate. It could be good training for the gym, after all." Then she busied herself with a meal, and was content to let the boys fill the space with talking about the various people and pokémon that they had met on their respective journeys.

Their conversing went on until Roy was picking at the remains of his third helping of food, and had not flagged once. Somehow the subject of Roy's own gym battles was sidestepped in favor of Jesse's triumph over other trainers and especially the Vermillion City gym leader, a man named Surge. Antonia listened attentively, oohing and aahing where appropriate, but otherwise she largely kept quiet. Given how fixated she seemed on Jesse's every word, it did not seem to be shyness, but Roy couldn't give it a name and his twin did not seem to notice the girl's strange behavior.

Roy did not want the evening to end, but when the pokémon center's staff started to make noises about needing the young trainers to move so that they could finish cleaning the cafeteria, he relented and followed Antonia and Jesse out to the carpeted hallway lined with their rooms.

"I'm going to get ready for bed," Antonia announced when Roy started towards the lobby of the pokémon center.

"Ah, come on, Toni, stay up with us for a while longer!"

"No, Roy, Antonia's got the right idea, I think," said Jesse, which quieted both of the other pokémon trainers. "We want to be well-rested for the tournament tomorrow, us and our pokémon both. Tomorrow we can grab breakfast and then head over together."

Roy's smile somehow grew even wider. "Yeah, together!" He said good night to Antonia and Jesse, and then all but sprang to his room and was closing the door behind himself before either of them could say a word.

"I don't think I've ever seen Roy that excited for bedtime," chuckled Jesse, and Antonia joined in his laughter. "Well, I better get my rest too. I'll see you tomorrow, Antonia."

Then, he was gone too, and Antonia was left standing by herself in the hallway smiling to herself, until she realized that, somehow, she had ended up being the last of the three to go to bed.

The next day, Antonia got up early, and was surprised that Roy joined her and Jesse not long afterwards. Even the appeal of food was forgotten as the boys discussed the day's coming tournament.

It was funny, Antonia thought to herself, how much Roy and Jesse came to resemble each other the longer that they talked. Jesse grew more excited and less polished and Roy grew more thoughtful. But whatever transformation Roy might have undergone was hindered again and again because he pulled himself away from his brother in order to try and invite Antonia into the conversation. Doing so helped Jesse regain his composure as well, as he regarded his twin's efforts with silent amusement.

Antonia resisted the pull, however, content to watch from the periphery along with her and Roy's pokémon. Soon enough, it was time to go and make their way to the site of the tournament. After retrieving their pokémon from the nurse on-duty, the trio of trainers left the pokémon center and strode down the wide streets of Saffron City. Even though the level of activity in the city was comparable to the day before, the young trainers were again struck by the difference between their hometown and their current surroundings.

"It's just this way," said Jesse as he nimbly sidestepped a courier which nearly barreled into his companions.

"This is great!" Roy remarked shortly before he nearly lost his shoe when his foot landed in a storm drain. "Isn't this great?"

"It's great," agreed Jesse with a laugh, and Antonia nodded as well before stopping and asking, "What's great?"

That earned another laugh from Jesse and Antonia's face grew hot, as Roy replied, "Just being here, with you guys! It's great." He tried to think of another word before settling on, "It's awesome, walking around, going to do a pokémon tournament with you, Jesse. It's what I always-"

Before he could finish his thought, he let himself fall silent as the three trainers came upon a large mass of people crowding a park. As Roy and Jesse pushed their way through the onlookers, and Antonia followed in their wake, they discovered that a series of four small arenas had been set up. Instead of the larger pokémon arenas that they had encountered on their respective journeys so far, these looked more like they were designed to host wrestling matches, with taught ropes bordering square mats raised off of the ground. Each of the four stages had a pair of men dressed in the same white uniform and black belt of the martial artist that Roy and Antonia had spoken to the day before. An imposing man was floating between each of the four teams, inspecting their work when he was not gazing out at the growing audience.

Finally, the muscular man decided that it was time and he climbed up and into one of the stages, maneuvering his bulk around the rope barrier as though he hardly noticed it. He was handed a microphone and it looked comically small in his huge hand, but any thought of laughter vanished as soon as he began speaking. "Good morning, pokémon trainers!" he all but roared. "My name is Kiyo and I am the master of Saffron City's Fighting Dojo!" The words, amplified by the speaker connected to the microphone, hung in the air before Kenji continued, "We are here today to bring awareness to our Dojo, its proud legacy, and its rightful place in the city and the pokémon league." He paused again, either for applause or just to let his words sink into the silent crowd, then he smiled. Huge teeth in a huger smile made Kenji's face look less mirthful than threatening, but there was enough good cheer in his voice to somewhat counteract his frightful appearance. "But you are not here for a history lesson, you're here for pokémon battles! But pokémon battles that aren't like what you've seen before. Your pokémon will not be using their special techniques, their bubbles, electricity, or poisons." Kenji waved a hand dismissively at the very thought. "Instead, your pokémon will be battling only with their raw physical might. We will see who has trained their pokémon the best in the realm of combat, the punches and kicks which speak more boldly than any simple words could! And whichever trainer has his pokémon advance to the very top will win for himself a new pokémon, one who excels in this style, a rare pokémon sure to bring you many victories!"

This time there was an outpouring of applause from the gathered audience and Kiyo let it wash over him like a wave washing over a partially submerged rock, acknowledging it but not letting it move him. "So, if you dare to seek victory then step into the ring with your pokémon and let their muscles and their training!"

Roy, Antonia, and Jesse pressed forward along with the throng of other excited pokémon trainers. The long lines caused them to split up, though the four arenas arrayed in the park were still close enough that they could, with some effort, keep an eye on each other. Roy was watching the first two trainers in his line climb awkwardly into the ring and send out there pokémon as the line continued to move forward.

The first boy sent out a blue-skinned poliwhirl, who took instruction from its trainer before curling its white-gloved hands into fists and stepping into a fighting stance, and his opponent released a geodude like the one which Brock had used in his gym battles. After some further words from the barrel-chested referee the two trainers retreated to opposite corners of the ring and, after a one-word command from the referee, their pokémon launched themselves at each other. Roy was fairly sure that in an ordinary pokémon battle, the poliwhirl's water attacks would have given it the edge, but, for all of the shouted orders from their trainers, it and the geodude were reduced to simply slugging at each other with their fists. In that purely physical contest, the geodude's rocky body and smaller size gave it the advantage over its opponent.

In a matter of minutes, the geodude in the ring had seized the ankle of its weary foe and brought the poliwhirl down onto the mat and clambered atop of the round blue pokémon. Using its weight, the geodude pinned the poliwhirl down with its weight long enough for a quick count by the referee supervising the match and then it was declared the victor. Both pokémon were recalled to their poké balls and their trainers, one triumphant and one dejected, exited the ring to make room for the next pair of battlers. After a few more bouts, each taking a surprisingly short amount of time by Roy's estimation, the blond-haired boy was at the front of the line.

The girl in front of him held the ropes open for him so that he could follow her into the ring and then took a spot on the opposite end of the ring. "Good luck!" he called to her, and she gave him a thumbs up in return.

"All right, you two," the referee for their match said, "the rules for this tournament are simple. You choose a pokémon and they battle. The winner is determined by a pin, knockout, or surrender. Your pokémon have to stay within the ring at all times, no flying allowed. And no special techniques either. Breaking any of those rules means automatic disqualification. Understood?"

"Got it," said Roy quickly, but his opponent raised her hand like she wanted to ask a question.

"Yes?"

"How many rounds are there going to be?" she asked. "I mean, how many battles until there's a winner and she gets the prize?"

The referee smiled in imitation of the grimace that the tournament's organizer had worn during his speech. "There will be as many rounds as it takes for there to be just one team of pokémon and trainer left standing. Now! Select your pokémon!"

His opponent looked to be devoting some consideration to which of her red and white poké balls she was going to choose, but Roy did not have to think before pulling a capsule out of his pocket and releasing his charmander onto the white surface of the ring. The orange-scaled pokémon looked around and then quickly grew excited at the prospect of a battle. "Let's do this, Charmander!" Roy shouted, before hastening to add, "Just, ah, no fire attacks, okay? Stick with your claws, got it?"

Charmander nodded his acknowledgement and flexed his limbs to loosen them up while Roy's opponent finally selected her pokémon. "You're up, Bellsprout!"

The pokémon which took form in front of Roy's charmander was a skinny walking weed with two leaf-like hands and a head shaped like a drooping yellow bell. It looked unimpressive, and its frightened squeak when it saw Charmander and his blazing tail only added to that impression.

"Don't you worry about that thing's fire, Bellsprout!" its trainer assured it. "It won't be using fire, right?"

Roy nodded while Charmander made a more noncommittal gesture. That seemed to be enough for the bellsprout, which curled its leafy limbs into the closest thing to fists that it could make.

Satisfied that both sides were ready their referee shouted, "Begin!"

Charmander started off the battle by rushing headlong at his opponent, already swinging his claws wildly at the air in front of him. The bellsprout emitted another squeal of surprise and fear, but it did not run. Instead, the gangly pokémon backed away from its advancing opponent in a quick, controlled backstep. Charmander was trying to angle the smaller pokémon into one of the ring's corners, forcing its trainer to get out of the way, when suddenly the bellsprout reversed its motion and lunged forward. Ducking under Charmander's flashing claws, the thin pokémon peppered its foe with a series of light jabs from its leafy limbs. Charmander grunted more out of annoyance than pain and tried to seize the bellsprout, but it slipped from his grasp. The bellsprout wheeled away from Charmander and ducked past the slower pokémon to try and escape being boxed in.

It was quick enough to escape Charmander's claws, but the bellsprout had evidently forgotten about his tail and the orange appendage swept low across the floor of the ring. The bellsprout tripped over the tail and, while scrambling to stand back up, caught sight of the flaming tip of Charmander's tail only a few inches from its face and let out another frightened squeak before stumbling back to the ground.

Charmander rounded on his fallen opponent with a merry look on his fanged face. He slashed at bellsprout, but the other pokémon was able to scoot backwards and from side-to-side well enough that Charmander's claws landed only glancing blows. Growing frustrated by the whole exchange, Charmander suddenly reached down and grabbed the bellsprout's elongated head. The pokémon squealed pitifully as Charmander swung it around by its head to build up speed before launching it outside of the ring.

The bellsprout on the grass outside of the ring in a crumped heap. Its trainer rushed through the rope barrier and hopped down to be at her pokémon's side while the match's referee announced, "Bellsprout has left the arena, the winner is Charmander. Will the next entrants please step into the ring?"

"Wait, he can do that?" asked the trainer kneeling by her still-dazed pokémon.

"Can we do that?" Roy echoed.

"Maybe you should have picked a heavier pokémon. The next entrants, please!"

Roy returned his pleased Charmander to his poké ball and then removed himself from the arena. "Hey, thanks for the battle."

"Yeah, sure," his opponent said. Then she shook her head and stood up to shake Roy's hand. "Sorry, I'm not mad at you, we were just kind of taken by surprise at how fast it all happened. We've never had a pokémon battle like this before."

"Me neither."

"I'm not sure if I like it," she said with a shrug. "But hey, good luck, we'll be rooting for you."

She paused for his name and he said, "Roy."

"Pamela. I'm going to watch some of the other matches, maybe I'll see you around."

She headed off in one direction while Roy set off in the opposite way, drawn by the flash of blonde hair that was so like his own. He found Jesse standing off to the side of one of the other arenas. Next to him was a pokémon with blue scales, long, furry ears and tail, and a tough shell. "Jesse!"

"Oh, hey, Roy," the other boy said briefly before turning his attention to the battle taking place on the stage.

"Wow, I know that you said that your squirtle had evolved into a wartortle, but I didn't expect him to look so cool." The pokémon Roy was talking about didn't make any sign of having heard the compliment, but Jesse at least moved aside to give Roy space to stand next to him. "So, did you win your match, Jesse?" asked Roy.

Jesse nodded. It was only then that Roy let his eyes follow his brother's gaze and he found himself watching Antonia and her bulbasaur battling against an older boy with a round-bodied pokémon with long limbs, an upturned nose, and a look of rage on its face.

"Who's that pokémon?" Roy asked.

"It's a mankey," Jesse said. "It's a fighting pokémon, so it should be perfect for this kind of tournament. We'll see how Antonia handles it."

The two boys watched the referee shout, "Begin!" and the two pokémon begin circling each other. Bulbasaur's movements were slow and heavy compared to the fast footwork of the mankey he was facing. The mankey darted forward and backward even as it followed Bulbasaur's ponderous rotation. The strange pokémon was full of energy and itching to strike. Soon enough, it did so, reaching out to close the distance between it and Bulbasaur and rapping the squat pokémon on the forehead with its knuckles. Two more hits followed in quick succession when Bulbasaur went on the offensive. He charged at the mankey with his head lowered, catching the mankey in the midsection while it was shooting forward on its long legs. The mankey grunted and fell backwards, only to turn the movement into a somersault which brought it back up to its feet. It was ready for Bulbasaur's next attempt at a charge and it grabbed onto Bulbasaur and swung its body up and over the other pokémon's bulb to land cleanly behind him. It delivered a humiliating kick to Bulbasaur's backside to elicit a yelp and cause the clumsier pokémon to tip forward onto the arena's floor.

Now that Antonia's pokémon was on the floor, the mankey's trainer called out excitedly, "Pin it, Mankey!"

Heeding its trainer's command, the mankey wrapped its long arms and legs around Bulbasaur's body, interlocking limb with limb and applying pressure where it was needed to prevent Bulbasaur from getting back onto his feet. The referee counted to ten and then threw up his arm. "Mankey is the winner!"

Antonia looked shocked and she returned Bulbasaur to his poké ball without a sound, even though the prone pokémon was looking up at her for some kind of guidance or encouragement. She did not have any words for her opponent either, and was glumly climbing out of the ring when Roy and Jesse approached her.

"You and Bulbasaur did a great job, Toni!" Roy said.

"It was unfortunate you faced a pokémon that was perfect for this kind of battle," noted Jesse. "A fighter like a mankey doesn't need to change strategies like you and your pokémon had to."

Antonia nodded at both of their words, but she turned her face to Jesse. "You think so? I wanted to tell Bulbasaur to use his vines, and I think, I think that he wanted to as well, but we didn't want to be disqualified."

"Bulbasaur was an interesting choice."

"Well, I couldn't use my beedrill since there was a rule against flying, and using Magikarp was out of the question."

"Obviously."

Roy watched the two other trainers talk, but felt a little strange in his role as an observer rather than a participant in their conversation. Before he could examine the feeling too closely, the air was filled with booming voice of Kiyo, the Fighting Dojo's master and the tournament's organizer.

"Any pokémon trainer who has passed the first round, get back in line! The next round of the tournament starts now!"