Ch 36

I'm a little disappointed I haven't heard anything back from Jack yet," Leo said into his mic, covering it with one hand as the Tropius he was riding winged through the Alolan sky. Ride pokémon were such a great idea – even though he didn't have a flying type pokémon himself yet, he could still get one from the many trained and raised by Aether and the Alolan people to travel across the islands. It made travel so much easier between and across said islands, such as like right now, when he was flying over Akala Island on his way to the start of the tournament.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't hear anything from him ever again. A stink bomb, really?" Lusamine's voice said over the phone, barely audible over the sound of the wind rushing past Leo's face. He laughed. While it wasn't quite a stink bomb in the traditional, cartoony "explode into a cloud of yellow gas," it was pretty close. Gloom extract sealed in a plastic pouch that would, if Leo positioned it right, be opened when Jack opened the box it came in. Hopefully it wouldn't be detained by customs, though he'd sent a letter alongside the thing just in case. It wouldn't do to make Jack think he was ignoring him.

"He'll be fine. He sent me a glitter bomb, he has to be expecting some form of retaliation," Leo explained dismissively, leaning into the massive grass type beneath him as she banked hard to the left. Below him a massive plaza lay stretched out, absolutely covered in multicolored tents, people, and pokémon, all leading up to the large arena looming at the northern end of the area.

The Royal Avenue, home of the Battle Royal dome and the Akala Grand Tournament.

The Tropius circled for a short while, slowly bleeding off speed and altitude not unlike a plane, until coming in for a landing just outside of the avenue grounds. Patting the Tropius on the neck, Leo slid off the saddle on its back, tossed the beast a berry, and allowed it to fly off into the sky. Where it went Leo wasn't sure, but the ride pokémon system was not unlike a taxi service – the Tropius would probably return to Aether, rest a bit, and then go pick up someone else.

"Are you going to be entering any other tournament brackets, other than the Expert Single Battles?" Lusamine asked, changing the topic of conversation from his elusive friend to the tournament. Technically it started today, but that was only for the opening ceremony. Some of the more notable names would be announced, exhibition matches would be revealed, the tournament schedule would be updated with all the last-minute names, and so on.

"No. I was wanting to enter the doubles tournament, but Victoria convinced me otherwise. The Expert tier battles will be hard enough, and I don't have enough pokémon to make two teams. All the battling would wear my current team out too much," he said, disappointedly. There were far more battling tournaments here than he had initially expected. While the singles battles were by far the most popular – the typical one-on-one battles that most people were familiar with – there were also double battles, triple battles, and even the four-on-four style free-for-all Leo vaguely remembered from the Sun and Moon games, and were unique to Alola.

There would even be contests and such going on – it truly was an insane set up here. Comparable the Indigo League Conference in scope and size. Which Leo figured was fair enough since Alola didn't technically have a league yet, this was their version of the "Conferences." Victoria and Lusamine hadn't been joking when they'd said that this tournament was a big deal, and though he wouldn't be participating in the top-level battles, the expected rewards for first place in the singles tournament would still be awesome.

Or so he hoped.

With a thought Leo let out Link, scooping up the little Bellossom and placing him on his shoulder as he exited the landing area and entered the festival proper.

"That is probably wise. Some trainers have over twenty battle-capable pokémon – while I myself never gathered that many nor felt the need to, it does make participating in multiple tournament events possible," Lusamine said. "Are you wearing your Aether outfit, by the way? It is important that you wear it,"

"Yes," Leo said reluctantly, looking down at his current garb. Lusamine had forced him to swap out his usual clothes; gone were his usual greens and browns with maybe a jacket, swapped to a brilliant white shirt with the golden Aether logo stitched onto the arm and breast, and similarly colored cargo pants. He shone in the sun.

It was awful.

"Good. And make sure to show the tournament organizers your Aether ID, that's what will qualify you for the tournament," Lusmaine added.

"I got it, I got it," Leo said good naturedly, having heard these instructions at least a dozen times before. He wove around a group of people chatting happily in front of a food truck, the scent of plentiful spices wafting from the truck itself. "How are Gladion and Lillie doing, by the way? They been training the Rockruff well?" he asked. Lusamine and Professor Oak both had finally succumbed to their children and grandchildren's puppy-dog eyes, and let them adopt the Rockruff. Gladion and Lillie had taken one each (the latter of whom named hers Rocky), while Professor Oak had taken two, one for Gary, and one for Ash. Well, not for Ash, but there was no doubt in Leo's mind that the kid would eventually take a shining to the pup.

That left one left, one that currently sat in a pokeball at his waist.

"They've been doing well. Gladion's been getting really into training, as I'm sure you've noticed. I have to thank you again for being so patient with them," she said, and Leo waved the thanks off before realizing she couldn't see him. Instead he just laughed. Stupid video phones being the norm – it made the standard issue Aether cellphone/radiophone or whatever it was, practically a novelty in this world, feel weird to use.

"It's my pleasure. He's not a bad kid," Leo said. "Anyway, it's probably best if I cut off here. You'll be coming to watch the tournament, right?"

"When I can. I'll be here for the main event, for sure, but I don't think I'll be able to clear my schedule for the prelims. Good luck and have fun, Leo. I'll talk to you later," Lusamine promised, and hung up. Leo pulled the earpiece out of his ear and placed it in one of the pockets of his pants, nearly blinding himself when he looked down thanks to the stark-white clothing, and continued on through the festival.

There was a lot to see. Stands being set up, filled with all sorts of different kinds of knickknacks and paraphernalia, souvenirs for tourists as well as cultural items for the locals. Leo even passed a stand that sold traditional Alolan weapons – swords made of Skarmory and Sandslash claws, as well as replica armor made to look like the Jangmo-o scale garb the great warriors of old wore into battle. That had really caught his eye, and he promised himself to come visit said stand. Though, just from the passing glance he gave it, the price tags on those items were well out of his budget.

In the center of it all a large arena was being made in the traditional Alolan style, carved palm tree trunks situated in the four corners while a thick, canvas-like fabric was pulled taut over the wooden from. Whatever that was, it wasn't meant for pokémon battling, but Link was obviously interested based on the way he focused on the stand. The two observed the people for a while longer before continuing deeper, enjoying the exotic sights and sounds and allowing himself some time to just wander and explore. Still, he had places to be and couldn't just wander about all day, and so made his way to the stadium proper.

The massive battle arena, bigger than even the gym stadiums in Johto, was absolutely packed to the brim with people and pokémon. The moment the sliding glass doors opened to allow him entry he was bombarded with the roar of conversation – with this many people talking in one place, even if they were whispering, it would still be loud.

"Bell," Link grumbled, covering his ears and glaring around at the crowd. Leo couldn't help but agree with the Bellossom; this place was too loud.

With a grunt of effort he began forcing his way through the crowd, muttering apologies until he found the reception desk for Elite level trainers. The line waiting to get to the desk was almost non-existent, surprisingly, but when Leo glanced at the other desks he understood. There were far more beginner and intermediate trainers than there were elite, and few were dumb enough to claim they were elite without actually having the strength to back it up.

So it didn't take long for him to reach the front desk, though that didn't stop him from becoming distracted by all the trainers. One woman had a Ribombee dressed in a top hat dancing in the air alongside a quad of Oricorio, the dancing birds singing a lovely tune to the delight of the onlookers. Even over the roar of the crowd the song was audible, and sufficiently distracting.

"Hello! Have you already registered for the Elite level single battle tournament, or are you registering after passing the qualifying rounds?" the receptionist called, drawing Leo's attention away from the birds and to the man at the counter.

"I've already registered. Leo Angelico, Aether affiliation," Leo said, stepping up and handing the man his Aether ID. Link made a small noise in the back of his throat, his gaze still locked onto the dancing Oricorio.

"I see. I should have been able to guess that from the outfit. Leo Angelico…so you're the trainer they chose to fill their slot in the tournament," the receptionist said, handing the ID back and tapping away on the computer in front of him without looking at his fingers or the screen, instead looking Leo up and down. "I must ask, did they make you wear that, or did you wear it by choice?"

"It was forced upon me," Leo said good naturedly. Despite his complaints about how it looked, he wasn't actually all that bothered by it. Aether was his sponsor after all, they did a lot for him. The least he could do was make their affiliation known in his first true tournament.

"My condolences. Ah, here we are. Leo Angelico, no Trials completed, only three Johto gym badges…and an absolutely abysmal win-loss ratio. Right. So, to complete the sign up form, I need you to do a final confirmation of your team composition form. You are allowed to choose eight pokémon total; in order to account for any injuries that may take your pokémon out of the tournament for a time and allowing for proper team rotation, so your pokémon do not get unduly tired. Do you confirm that the pokémon submitted with your application are correct?" he asked, turning the computer screen towards Leo.

Pictures of his team, all except for Rockruff, were lined up neatly on the screen next to the species names; though Spiritomb had no picture. Even Stein had been allowed to join, Victoria thinking it might be good for the 'mon to participate in some official battles. Leo highly doubted Stein would see much, if any, use in the tournament – he was still a work in progress on his training after all.

"Yes," Leo agreed. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about using Stein anyway, though. The six-on-six battles didn't start until the top eight were decided. Before then it was going to be two-on-two's and three-on-three's. Just because of the high number of participants, if the battles were full team brawls from the beginning the tournament would likely take months to complete. Already it was two weeks long, and that was a lot of battling to cram into that timeframe – especially considering the top eight main events got special attention. And, since it was a double elimination tournament, that all but doubled the number of battles needed to get to said top eight.

You had to lose twice to get knocked out; though that changed when the top eight were decided. Then it became single elimination.

"Excellent, that means you should be just about good to go. Keep this badge with you at all times, here is the battle itinerary, and make sure you're at the opening ceremony tonight. Do keep in mind that your battle schedule will only be released tomorrow morning, and there is a very high chance that you'll be battling first thing tomorrow morning. We have a lot of battles to get through before the end of the tournament. That said, good luck, and happy battling. Next!" the man said, handing Leo a bag stuffed full of papers with a lanyard that said "Elite Participant" on top, surely eager to move on to the next applicant.

Leo stepped aside and looked down at his new bag of stuff, slipping the lanyard around his neck. Now that was over, he could go explore a little. With a moment's hesitation, he let Santiago out of his pokeball as well, and led the way out of the stadium. Exploring was always fun, and maybe he'd be able to spot some of the competition doing…training, or whatever.

"This is going to be fun," he said aloud. Link patted his head and Santiago grunted in agreement. It would be a nice change of pace from the high-stakes style battles he'd seemed to be having recently.

The opening ceremony had been an utter waste of time. All it was, was the Kahunas giving a short speech praising the Tapus, the trainers who were participating, and hyping up the battles. It lasted all of forty minutes. Really, the only thing he'd learned about the tournament itself was that Victoria was the "final boss" of the Captain tier of battles – and when her name had been dropped, the crowd had absolutely erupted with excitement. She was the end goal it seemed. The "champion," in a way, that rivalled even the Kahunas.

Other than that, though, it was pretty boring, and did nothing to prepare Leo for how big this tournament was. Oh, sure, he knew academically that it was a big deal and that there was a lot of people watching and participating, but he wasn't prepared for it. Even in the heart of the stadium, while he waited to be called to battle, he could hear the thrumming excitement of the crowd. To say nothing of what it sounded like when he stepped out onto the field.

It was deafening, the sound reverberating through the air, shaking the ground, and resounding in his bones. His heart thumped with excitement and nerves as he walked towards the trainer's stand, Spiritomb whispering agitatedly in his pocket at all the attention placed upon him. This wasn't even the main event, and the stadium was completely packed.

There were sixty four elite-level trainers in the bracket as of right now, to say nothing of the number of beginner and intermediate trainers and the various other battle formats, with dozens of stadiums scattered all across the tournament grounds. All with battles happening in them right now. And yet, the small-ish stadium he was now going to be fighting in was still packed full with at least a thousand to two thousand people. Maybe in his old world that wasn't a lot of people, but it was still very different standing in front of them, than it was being part of the crowd. Leo heavily underestimated how important this tournament was.

But, to be fair, he'd only ever watched a league conference on the TV. He'd never actually visited one.

"On the blue side, we have Leo Angelico of the Johto region! This dark horse trainer sponsored by the Aether Foundation is a relative unknown, looking to make his debut in the Akala Grand Tournament! Don't let his age fool you, he is a force to be reckoned with!" the announcer boomed as Leo stepped up onto the platform, waving at the crowd before settling in to stare across the field at where his opponent would emerge.

Banishing all thoughts on the crowd, Leo focused intently and thumbed the pokeballs at his waist. If he lost he'd still have more chances to battle in the loser's bracket, but he'd rather not. Winning meant giving his team more time to rest, and more time to analyze his opponents battling styles. Losing meant battling far, far more and having all his tricks exposed.

"And on the red side, we have the Alolan native Hazel!" the announcer boomed, and this time the crowd exploded with cheers. Leo actually winced from the noise, and chuckled ruefully to himself. Well, now he knew who the crowd favorite was. "Hailing from Iki town on Melemele Island, this is Hazel's third time in the Expert Tier of the Akala Grand Tournament, with an absolutely outstanding showing in the qualifying rounds!" Leo tuned out the announcer's voice in favor of observing his opponent, a short young woman with dark brown hair and a round face. Her posture was relaxed, yet when she stepped up onto the red platform and met Leo's eyes, he could almost see the calculations running through her mind.

Unfortunately he had very little information on this trainer. Trainer profiles weren't public information, and she wasn't quite famous enough for her team composition to be easily discovered – that, combined with the fact that he'd only learned her name two hours ago, when the brackets were officially released, meant that he'd only been able to glean a few ideas about her basic strategies. Such as; she liked ranged attacks. That could mean a lot of things, from psychic types to water types, so Leo had to be prepared for anything.

"This will be a two-on-two battle, with one substitution allowed on each side. Standard battle rules apply. Each trainer will release their pokémon at the same time. Ready?" the referee asked, booming over the crowd as he stepped up to his little podium on the side. Leo nodded in affirmation, palming Link's pokeball. He was speedy enough in the sun, and excelled in both close-and-mid-ranged combat – and while he was at a disadvantage against a fire or flying type pokémon, he was strong and skilled enough to at least wear said pokémon down if Leo didn't immediately switch him out.

"BEGIN!" The referee called, and Leo hurled Link's pokeball onto the field, the little 'mon appearing in a flash of red. Across from him Hazel released a Decidueye, and Leo immediately frowned as it landed on the battlefield, cursing slightly. While it wasn't the worst case scenario, it was close to it. He didn't know much about the grass-type Alolan starter pokémon other than its ability to shoot quills as arrows, but he did know that Link was going to struggle with this one.

He already had a hand on Zuko's pokeball when Link blurred into action, never hesitating as he summoned a substitute shield, three feathered arrows thudding into the shield not but a split-second later. He blurred into motion, flicking out a leaf blade and cleaving another arrow, this time wreathed in shadows, in twain. Leo paused as Link flung out a magical leaf, the seeking leaves countered by a flurry of pin-point accurate razor leaves, and rapidly closed the distance between the two.

Decidueye leapt into the air to maintain the distance between the two, and Link punished that momentary pause by flinging a sunny day into the sky.

"Link, you go this?" Leo called.

"Bell!" Link answered, blurring into motion as he chased after the bird from the ground, positively glowing with energy.

"Evasive," Hazel called out, just as Link blasted the still-airborne Decidueye with a solarbeam, blocking another arrow with his substitute shield as he did so. The bird squawked and fell awkwardly, feathers smoking slightly from the attack, but swiftly righted himself and blurred into a double team.

Multiple versions of Decidueye appeared on the field at the same time a series of light screens got put up, the glowing rectangular psychic barriers flickering to life in a circle around Link. A shot of adrenaline surged into Leo's veins as he realized that they would finally be able to try out their newest move, the encircling images of Decidueye proving to be the perfect target.

"Circle slash!" Leo called, and Link crouched, holding his leaf blade to the side as he built up a sunny day powered solar beam and channeled it into his leaf blade. Hazel shouted out an order as well, but it was drowned out by the power of Link's attack. Radiant green energy burned through the air as Link spun rapidly, just like his namesake, absolutely annihilating the double team and shattering a good number of light screens.

In the aftermath Decidueye had vanished, and Leo frowned. Right. The bird was a ghost.

"Shadows!" Leo called out, just in time for it to burst from Link's shadow with talons bared, slipping past his shield and slamming said talons into Link's stomach. He flew backwards from the force of the blow, spinning through the air. Decidueye kept up the pressure, shooting an arrow at the sky as he darted forward, drawing a leaf blade and baring a shadow claw on the tips of his wings as he shot towards Link.

The two clashed in a flurry of blows, leaf blade meeting leaf blade and shadow claw meeting substitute shield, while the arrow Decidueye shot arced up and up, aiming for the sunny day Link had set up.

"Sunny day's coming down!" Leo warned, shielding his eyes as the arrow hit the ball of burning light, exploding into a fiery display. Link responded by dropping his substitute shield, the shield almost shattered anyway, and tossed a seed bomb at his feet. The resulting explosion blew the two apart from each other, Link tumbling across the ground and Decidueye riding the shockwave on his wings, hitting Link with two more arrows as he rose to his feet. Link scowled and shouted out a battle cry, cutting down two more arrows and responding with a flurry of magical leaves.

"Shadows," Hazel called, and Decidueye blurred forward, darting into the thin shadow cast by the stadium walls and suddenly tripling in speed. Link readied a leaf blade just in time, the glowing green sword clashing with claws made of shadow, and blurring as the two exchanged blows. Leo chewed his lip, considering their options. At this point he doubted Link would accept being recalled – he was a proud pokémon, and constantly looking for challenging fights like this. The real question was how to get Link out of this – he was obviously on the losing end of this exchange, even though he was getting in two attacks for every one of Decidueye's. Only, leaf blade was doing significantly less damage than Decidueye's attacks. Link was at a disadvantage here, and still took too long to use fairy type moves for it to be viable in this battle.

"Shackle him!" Hazel called, and Decidueye disengaged, pushing back and drawing an arrow in the same motion, his wing forming the bow and dark energy wreathing his limbs. Link huffed and darted forward, raising a new substitute shield and glowing as he started to use synthesis, but the arrow didn't even pause. It phased right through the shield, right through Link, and into his shadow. He winced and jerked forward, suddenly unable to move as the arrow pinned his shadow, and him, in place. Leo cursed, not quite having time to puzzle out how that move worked, and furiously tried to think up a counter plan.

"Execution!" Hazel called, and Link let out a deep breath, lowering his sword and taking a stance. Decidueye backed up a ways, creating plenty of distance between the two, and drew back his bow. Arrows rained down on Link at the speed of a machine gun and though Link did his best to dodge them with the little he could move, the arrow pinning his shadow to the ground preventing him from dodging too much.

His substitute shield was absolutely covered with arrows by the time it shattered, and he himself had taken a good number of hits, yet somehow remained standing.

"Petal dance!" Leo ordered desperately, searching for some way to get Link out of that situation. Pink petals flew from Link's kilt/skirt into the air, swirling about and blocking a few arrows as a massive storm of petals rose into the sky, before turning and crashing down on Decidueye in an explosion of color. The ghostly avian cried in alarm, tearing through the petal dance with talons bared, light screens flickering into existence around him as he darted forward. No amount of petals could stop him as he appeared in front of Link, slamming one taloned foot into the smaller grass-type and sending him flying.

Link did not rise after that blow, even as Decidueye panted and fell to one knee.

"Return," Leo called, recalling his Bellossom and giving the pokeball a small smile. He fought bravely, but it was a bad matchup. There will be hell to pay when he wakes up. Link will train like never before. Leo thought to himself, looking at Decidueye with a raised eyebrow. There were a few potential specialties Hazel could be, she could even be a generalist, but either way, there was really only one choice for Leo.

Spiritomb had made it clear that it didn't want to be used yet prior to this battle, so that left only one real counter to the specialties Decidueye could indicate – ghosts, ranged attackers, and grass type.

"Zuko, you know what to do," Leo said, tossing out Zuko's pokeball. The badger-like pokémon appeared in a ball of fire, and Hazel's expression fell as she watched Zuko emerge from the flames. Decidueye visibly winced, more light screens flickering into existence, and Zuko scoffed.

Razor leaves flung out, only to be incinerated by a lancing flamethrower that singed Decidueye's feathers, the bird scrambling away and leaping into shadows, blurring in a shadow sneak. But it was not meant to be, as the light of a sunny day was soon shining down on the field, slowing the bird just enough for Zuko to encase himself in flames and blaze forward, tackling Decidueye in a flame charge. The bird rewarded Zuko with a shadow claw to the face for his trouble, but was recalled by Hazel moments later when he stopped moving beneath the flaming Zuko.

"Was hoping you'd be a grass specialist, too," Hazel called with a frown, running her fingers over her pokeballs. "Or maybe fairy. Why do you have a fire type? Still, I wouldn't be much of a specialist if I didn't have something of a counter. Shiftry, let's go!" she called, and tossed out said grass type.

"Don't get cocky now, Zuko. They've probably got a few tricks up their sleeves," Leo called, and Zuko snorted out a short burst of fire. Shiftry hissed and rustled her white mane, holding her leafy fans out and remaining perfectly still, content to let Zuko make the first move. "Flamethrower," Leo said, breaking the silence, and Zuko exhaled a great burst of flame.

Shiftry blurred into motion, not dodging but whirling her fans at high speed. Wind howled, forming a tornado of power that sucked up the flames and directed them away. Leo blinked in surprise as the flames circled around Shiftry, following the funnel, and were promptly aimed back at Zuko, who didn't even bother to dodge as the flamethrower splashed over him.

So that was a thing then.

"Swords dance, nasty plot!" Hazel called, and Shiftry began to move in an intricate pattern, flicking out the leaves of its fans and dancing about. Zuko snorted and coated himself in fire once again, loping forward at increasing speed until he was all but blurring across the battleground, Shiftry leaping away on a gust of wind while still dancing.

That was when the chase began. Air cutters slashed out at Zuko as he tried to close the distance, coating himself in flames that distorted the air from their heat, the slashing air punishing him for trying to get close. And yet, whenever Zuko would try ranged attacks like flamethrower, Shiftry would dodge, start up the hurricane again, and redirect the flames. Not without getting singed a few times, but still, she was annoyingly capable at redirecting flames.

Zuko winced as Shiftry's eyes glowed, a psychic attack of some sort forcing him to pause in his flame charge. He tripped, falling to the ground and rolling in a dramatic display that, to Leo's gaze, was clearly intentional. However it seemed to do the trick as Hazel shouted out an excited command, Shiftry darting in with fans trailing wisps of dark energy and braving the heat.

Leo bit his tongue as Shiftry closed in, Zuko just looking up to see the grass-type swinging down on Zuko with night slashes at the ready. Leo understood the idea. They had to finish of Zuko quickly, and with decisive blows. Staying at range was still getting Shiftry hurt, and they weren't actually doing much damage to Zuko with the air cutters either. He was too fast, and keeping Shiftry mostly on the defensive. So they had to capitalize on this mistake, deal a good amount of damage thanks to swords dance, and then get away before Zuko could recover.

There was just one issue with that. An issue no one who didn't know the Typhlosion line would see coming.

Zuko exploded.

The force of the blast sent Shiftry reeling, tumbling across the ground with smoke curling from her white mane. Zuko roared and chased after her, bearing down on the downed grass-type with fangs bared and smoke curling from his nostrils.

To Shiftry's credit, she didn't panic. Now that Zuko had caught her, her only choice was to fight and fight hard – so fight hard she did. Night slashes met claws and fangs of fire, and she gave just as good as she got, with one minor difference. Just being in close proximity to the intense heat was hurting Shiftry, whereas the same could not be said for Zuko.

With a snarl of annoyance Zuko pinned Shiftry's arms and sucked in a deep breath, unleashing a flamethrower right into Shiftry's face. The grass-type wailed and slammed a knee into Zuko's gut, but it was all in vain. Soon enough Hazel recalled Shiftry with a frown on her face, the announcer booming over the roar of the crowd as he announced Leo the winner. He smiled and recalled Zuko, the Typhlosion sitting on his haunches and looking around curiously now that the battle was over, and thanked him through the pokeball.

Well, that was step one down.

After the battle was a blur of activity. Once he'd congratulated Hazel on a well fought battle, and made her promise to give Link a rematch with her Decidueye he was ushered out of the arena and into a long hall, past a few other contestants all hanging around in the back, and into an after-battle area where he handed Link and Zuko's pokeballs to a harried looking Nurse Joy. After the short checkup, which lasted all of an hour, he was given the pokeballs back and allowed to go on his way – one of the event supervisors informing him that his next battle would be later that night, in a stadium on the other end of the tournament grounds. His opponent had already finished their battle, too, and as such their bracket was going to be one of the first to advance.

Leo blinked in surprise at the information, but nodded regardless – it made sense that they'd be expediting the battles, though it meant that Link and Zuko were most likely out of the running. He wanted to make sure they got plenty of rest, and were fighting fit for the rest of the tournament. That was most likely the idea, though. Trainers could cram in multiple battles per day when only using two pokemon each time – when the battles reached full six-on-sixes, they'd most likely need a full day between each battle. At least.

That done, Leo exited the stadium, blinking in the early morning sun and scratching his cheek. He was getting hungry, and there were plenty of food stalls around – it'd probably be good if he went searching for information about his next opponent too; now that the first round of battles was going on, there was likely to be much more information to go off of. Maybe he'd also be able to scope out the rest of the competition finally,

Though maybe he should ask Victoria to help…

He already knew the main threats at this level of fighting, but didn't know much about the non-canon characters. For example; he recognized Kiawe, the fire-trial captain from the games, in the list of competitors as well as Kukui, the future regional professor of Alola, but other than that there were very little he knew. Maybe this was his memory failing him since it'd been years since he'd played the games though.

"Regardless, first off I need to get food for everyone," Leo decided, meandering through the buzzing crowds and vaguely listening to the booms of the competitions. Dozens of stadiums and arenas all lined the tournament grounds, the sounds of combat overcoming even the roars of the crowds as dozens, if not hundreds of trainers all battled at once. The only tier that didn't have battles ongoing was the Captain tier, and only then because they were the true crowd pleasers. Trial Captains, Kahunas, and trainers who had completed the Island Challenge were all competing in that one, and it would be a sight to behold.

But Leo wasn't quite interested in that yet. He was more interested in the smell of food wafting through the air from the hundreds of food stalls – most of them without long lines thanks to the obscene number of battles going on now – as well as the various stalls with souvenirs and other knickknacks for sale. So he wandered about for a bit, eventually settling on a stall that was selling fresh-caught, fried fish. It was delicious, even if it was a bit too salty, and as Leo settled down at a wooden table facing a large flat-screen TV set up at another food stall, one of the many battles going on today playing live, he let out Santiago.

"We won the first round," Leo said, popping a fried veggie in his mouth – it reminded him of okra, but was distinctly different and blue in color – and handing a fish fillet to the Slowking, who ate the entire thing in one bite. "But I'm not too sure who our next opponent will be. Round two is later tonight, and Link won't be up for a battle that soon. He got knocked out and as tough as he is, I don't think using him again is wise,"

"Too salty," Santiago said, smacking his lips and eyeing the rest of the fish.

"You're probably the most versatile member of the team," Leo continued, rubbing his chin. "Mostly because psychic moves are ridiculously useful. So, unless our opponent is a ghost-or-dark type specialist, you'll be my first choice,"

"So long as I can fight, sure" Santiago said, snagging another fish and downing it in one gulp. Leo shot him an amused look and drummed his fingers on the table, scratching the side of his head.

"The real problem is finding information about our opponent. Yes, the official trainer profiles aren't officially released, but Aether should have stuff on most of the Alolan trainers. That, or I'd be able to find something in news articles relating to them – it's times like these that I miss the internet, and the ease of access of information that provided. I'm sure Lusamine would be able to help out if I asked, but at the same time, there aren't just Alolan trainers here," Leo mused, scratching his chin.

"We know this. Victoria told us," Santiago said, scratching his chin.

"She did. I'm just thinking out loud," Leo said, shrugging. All the regions were becoming more and more accustomed to interregional trainers and travel – with the advent of new technology it became easier than ever, and a new fad amongst trainers, especially high-tier ones, was to go to other regions to train. Both for exotic pokémon to add to their teams, and to pick the brains of other specialists and masters. However, Alola had been practicing something similar long before any of the others in sending their trainers out to gain experience. And the Akala Grand Tournament was the only tournament in the world – or perhaps the very first major tournament – that not only accepted foreign trainers, but had very few limitations as to who could enter said tournament.

It made information gathering that much harder, and information was part of the game.

"Just call Lusamine," Santiago said, swiping Leo's plate from him and dumping the contents in his mouth, chewing slowly. Leo glared at him for the offense, but the cheeky butthead just shrugged.

"You suck," Leo said, shaking his head and palming the rest of his pokeballs. "But, I guess it is time to feed everyone. We'll do that, and then go information gathering,"

"So you want some help looking up your opponent?" an Aether employee asked over the Aether-issued phone. It was so much easier using that thing, which had been given to him as part of his promotion, than heading to the Pokemon center to use the video phones there.

Unfortunately, however, Lusamine was a bit busy at the moment and couldn't personally help Leo out besides. As such he'd been redirected here. In the past month he'd worked with the person on the end of the line a few times, mostly when Leo had gone on conservation assignments for Aether. He hadn't done many due to spending most of his time training for the tournament, but still a few.

"You do realize that it's considered good form to leave the opponent's team as a surprise, right?" the man asked.

"Ever since the advent of the TV and live battling, that's become impossible and you know it. Those days are long gone, and those who say otherwise are just clinging to tradition for appearances sake; it's not impossible to keep a secret, but's hard to keep one for long," Leo scoffed. It was true though; in the olden days, battles were between two trainers who knew very little about each other's team, even at high levels. Nowadays that was less true, especially at high levels, like with the champion. Everyone knew the basic composition of the local champion's team, and if said champion added a new member or came up with a new trick, that secret was out the moment it was used in battle.

"Fair enough. Good work on passing the first round, by the way. Hazel's no slouch of an opponent – grass-type specialist, has lots of tricks up her sleeves. Loves powder moves. Placed tenth in the last Akala tournament. Now, what's the name of your opponent?" he asked.

"Torry Everfrost," Leo said.

"Torry…Everfrost…this'll take just a moment," he said. Leo nodded to himself and glanced over at his team, most of whom were eating. Currently they were inside one of the stadiums, in a team room designated specifically for those competing. It was quiet, isolated, and, most importantly, helped to keep team compositions mostly secret from prying eyes. Ironic, considering what he was doing now.

His last Rockruff chowed down on a pile of pokechow alongside Zuko, who carefully roasted his pile of berries and chow before eating, and Stein, who ate mechanically. Sunny and Xena ate together, while Link sat off to the side, slowly eating his own food with a frown and furrowed brows. His petals drooped and looked worn out, still recovering from the intense battle, and he almost seemed to have a…melancholic air about him. Leo would probably need to address that eventually, but not now. Link was a big boy; he could handle a loss.

A bored hum caught Leo's attention and he turned just in time for Diana to gently lean into him, pressing into his side as she vibrated in anticipation. She hardly ate anymore, now that she'd evolved. And when she did eat she simply sucked up some dirt through one of her air vents, to provide a bit more sustenance. She was a cocoon – she didn't need to eat, she needed to grow. It was still weird, considering how much energy she had to be burning moving around as much as she did. He wondered where she got it all from?

"Say, you remember that Pancham you brought back last week while you were protecting the researchers gathering data on Komala, the one that had its foot caught in a plastic ring?" the man on the phone suddenly asked. Leo scratched Diana's carapace absently, earning himself a hum.

"Yeah," he said. "What about it?"

"Well, he was released back into the wild today. His recovery went well – although the ring was cutting off circulation to his foot the damage wasn't irreversible yet, and it was decided he was plenty ready to go back home," he said, and Leo smiled.

"Good, that's great news," he said, gently shoving Diana away. She rocked back a few inches, then rocked forward into Leo again, then repeated the motion on her own with an amused hum. The Pancham he'd caught had been pretty irritable and could barely put any weight on his foot – it'd taken tossing a pokeball at the small panda, catching him, and letting him out back at Aether to actually get close enough to get the plastic ring off in the first place, so it was good to hear that he'd made a full recovery.

It was those little things that made the odd jobs he did for Aether's conservation efforts kind of fun. Besides the whole "wandering around meeting large amounts of pokémon" thing it tended to entail.

"Alright, I think I've got something. Torry Everfrost; he's a foreign trainer from Sinnoh I believe, so we don't have much on him. Nothing, really, other than what we've seen in the tournament so far. Skimming through the qualifying rounds, it seems like he uses a bunch of ghost or dark types, so be careful of that. He used an Absol in the qualifiers," he said, and Leo hummed. Dark and ghost types, huh? He could handle that. In fact, four of his pokémon would be good for that; Diana, Xena, Sunny, and Spiritomb if they were up for fighting. He was a little hesitant to use Sunny against someone who used ghosts, mainly because she hadn't figured out how to use foresight or any dark-type moves yet and so her movepool would be limited.

This might actually be a good matchup for him and his team, unlike if he ran into a water-type specialist.

Ah, the joys of being a generalist. In a two-on-two format like these early battles, it was hard to beat their versatility. We'll see how well it goes in later rounds, though. He mused to himself.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it," Leo said.

"No problem. Just do me a favor and beat this guy without losing a single pokémon, alright? I've got a hundred on you to do that," he said, and Leo laughed.

"I'll do my best. See ya," he said, and hung up. That out of the way, he turned back to his team and let them finish their meals. He'd go over a few things with them, and see who should be sent out first against Torry. Then it would only be a matter of waiting.

"So, for curiosity's sake, will there ever be a bigger ceremony to kick off the tournament? Because there was that little thing we all went to when it started, but that really wasn't much," Leo asked one of the staffers in the small stadium he was waiting in. Santiago stood resolutely by his side, silently judging everyone who entered the little waiting room. Admittedly, he drew many interested gazes as well. It wasn't everyday you saw a Slowking, after all.

"Oh yes, of course. You a foreigner then?" the girl ask, pausing as she finished restocking some towels kept in the waiting room.

"I'm from Indigo," Leo replied.

"Yeah, you wouldn't know then. We honor a different Tapu each year, and this year its Tapu Koko, the deity of battle. Tapu Koko demands we fight as quickly as possible, and only celebrate the stronger trainers. Last year we honored Tapu Bulu; the opening ceremony lasted two whole days," she explained with a smile, and Leo thought about what he knew about Tapu Koko.

"…is that because Tapu Koko wants to know which trainers to challenge to battle?" he asked dubiously, and she laughed.

"If we're lucky!" she said, and Leo smiled thinly.

…he wondered if, if he won, Tapu Koko would show up to battle him again.

"Leo Angelico, make your way to the stadium. Leo Angelico, to the stadium," a crackly voice called over the loudspeakers. With a grunt Leo stood, running his thumb along his pokeballs, patting Spiritomb's keystone, said goodbye to the staff, and promptly made his way to the tunnel. The crowd's endless chatter echoed in the chamber once again, and he took a deep breath while waiting for the announcer to call him out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the last battle of the day! Hailing from Johto and sponsored by Aether, he had an outstanding showing earlier today against Hazel, a crowd favorite and grass-type expert. Please welcome Leo Angelico!" he boomed, and Leo stepped out into the electric lights of the stadium, expression set and eyes locked on the empty podium across the battlefield as he climbed the ladder up to his own podium. The sky overhead was dark, yet the energy from the crowd was no less excited for it – in fact, it was still positively electric.

"And next up, another foreigner this time hailing from the far-off Sinnoh region, this ex-gym trainer is sure to leave you dazed and confused. Give it up for Torry Everfrost!" the announcer boomed. Leo raised an eyebrow at the young man who stepped up onto the trainer platform across from him. He looked nothing like a ghost-or-dark type trainer, as Leo had come to expect from them. Instead of moody and broody, he was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man with a small smile on his face that looked borderline playful.

It immediately made Leo suspicious. He knew what playful and ghost-types meant.

"Trainers, are you ready?! BEGIN!"

"Diana, be ready for anything," Leo called.

"Absol," Torry called, and Leo nodded. Well, that lined up with his information, at least.

Diana's vents hummed violently as she blasted forward, Absol leaping out of the way, planting his feet, and jumping again as a spire of rock burst from the ground beneath him. The canine showed borderline supernatural dexterity as he leapt about the arena, dodging Diana's charges and rocks without retaliating. Leo was content to keep silent for a moment, keeping the exchange between the two pokémon to the probing that was happening now, and letting them build up a sense of security about Diana's movement patterns.

"Must be using detect or something," Leo muttered with a frown, watching as Absol leapt in the absolute perfect place to dodge both Diana's charge, and two spires of rock that burst from the ground, threatening to blast him away.

"Ice beam," his opponent called. Absol leapt away, mouth open and glowing with energy as he blasted a straight beam at Diana – who erected a stone pillar to block it. She hummed, glancing at Leo curiously. Ok, let's try some real offensive. Leo mused.

"Diana, bulldoze," he ordered, and she rocketed forward, the ground seeming to ripple beneath her as she exerted some of her terrakinesis. Absol fired another ice beam that Diana wholly ignored, crashing through it and narrowly missing Absol, who dodged with a yelp. He did not, however, dodge the bulldoze forming beneath Diana, a wave of earth catching his paws and sending him rolling. Diana punished him for this mercilessly, spires of rock blasting up out of the ground all around Absol – who managed to somehow dodge the worst of the attack, despite being on the ground – and forming a sort of stone forest.

The crowd roared its approval.

"Set up, Absol!" Torry called, Absol immediately falling into a strange, loping dance, and Leo frowned. Right. Can't let that happen.

Then he paused and looked up at Torry himself, taking his eyes off the battle and trusting Diana to do what she thought was best for the moment. His expression was excited, yet calm. Despite Absol being on the back edge, unable to retaliate with how focused he was on dodging Diana and her rocks as well as his set up moves, he appeared wholly confident. Maybe that was part of being an elite trainer. Maybe he had tricks up his sleeve.

Leo didn't want to take the chance.

"Adjust! Finish this!" Leo barked as Diana blasted past Absol once more.

Immediately the hum of Diana's vents became much more pronounced. She did not pick up speed, but as she spun around to make another pass at Absol, one could tell something was clearly different. Absol tensed and leapt out of the way of her charge once more, dodging by inches – only for her to unleash a dark pulse that caught him mid-air, sending him stumbling.

Air blast out of Diana's vents, violently redirecting her movements in a split second and sending her hurtling towards the still-tumbling Absol, who scrambled with surprise but still couldn't wholly avoid Diana's attack. She clipped his rear end and he rolled, leaping up and running away with a limp. The announcer boomed something over the intercom, but Leo ignored it.

"Trap and eliminate! Then pass it off!" Torry called, and Absol let out an ear-piercing shriek, a keening wail that had even Diana pausing in her mad charge to his position. It lasted for a solid three seconds, long enough for even Spiritomb, in Leo's pocket, to start hissing irritably. Then, in a flash of blue light, Absol returned himself. Torry smiled cheekily at Leo as he released his next pokémon – a set of floating swords, a Doublade.

"Make sure they can't get away, and play defensive," he ordered. Leo frowned. What were they getting –

"Oooh, and it's a perish song-baton pass combo! Don't be alarmed, folks, even if your pokémon heard the song they will be perfectly fine. The effects of the move should be limited to the battlefield itself, thanks to the barriers provided by the event coordinators – even the trainers in their podiums should be unaffected!" the announcer boomed, and Leo paled.

Well crap.

"Return," Leo called, raising Diana's pokeball. He had one switch, at least.

"Block!" Torry countered, and Leo cursed loudly as Doublade leapt in front of the recall beam, dispelling it. Tricky little –

Diana blasted forward, darkness trailing off of her as she shot out a massive dark pulse, the attack slamming into Doublade and sending the sword-ghost reeling as she bore down on it. She visibly winced as she charged slammed into the swords, the edges scraping against her carapace and leaving long slash marks as the ghost slid away and danced through the air, shining in the light of the spotlights.

Diana shrieked suddenly, slowing as pain wracked her and forcing her to slow, giving Doublade enough time to make some distance and start setting up. Diana was on a time limit, and he was not.

"Diana, do as much damage as you can. Forget about taking damage, just go wild," Leo said, gritting his teeth and glaring at Diana's pokeball. Doublade had positioned itself between him and Diana so it could block any attempts to recall, and while Leo doubted he'd be able to get past that defense to recall her, he'd still keep an eye out for it.

Diana hummed angrily, the ground rumbling at her displeasure as she rose off the ground, levitating midair with darkness trailing off of her armor. Doublade unsheathed itself, levelling the blades at her and tensing as she blasted forward, stone spikes shooting out of the ground and slamming into Doublade, knocking it off guard and allowing Diana to slam into the swords. Then she exploded in a dark pulse.

Doublade retaliated with a whirlwind slash, weathering the attack and barely throwing Diana off itself, only for her to fire another dark pulse at the ghost. It danced backwards, cleaving through the worst of the attack with a night slash. Diana was an unstoppable juggernaut, however, as she blasted forward again and slammed into the ghost once more, stone spires bursting out of the ground and trapping both her and the Doublade in close proximity. Doublade shrieked horribly, the sound like metal scraping against metal, its blades shining as one destroyed the pillar pressing its sheathes against Diana, while the other hit Diana herself – who retaliated with another dark pulse.

Now freed, Doublade shot away from Diana, wheeling through the air like a boomerang in case any more rocks tried to hit it, but Diana didn't follow. With a heart-wrenching cry of pain Diana fell to the perish song, and the violent hum of her air vents sputtered out.

Leo felt his heart clench at the sound, and recalled her with a heavy heart.

"That was amazing, Diana. You did great," he praised. And she did, too. Both Absol and Doublade were injured now – enough that his next teammate had a fighting chance against Torry's team. If only she hadn't been done in by a cheap trick, and instead by honorable battle. Cheap tricks are still a viable strategy. He thought with a sigh, clipping Diana's pokeball to his belt. Since he's from Sinnoh, I was hoping for a Froslass or Mismagius as the ghost type. Better the devil I know…

"And Leo's monstrous Pupitar finally falls! Is this the beginning of the end for Leo, or will his next pokémon turn things around for him once again?!" the announcer boomed, the words echoing in Leo's ears .

Now was the conundrum. Who to pick? Zuko was probably the best bet because of his advantage against Doublade, and the area of effect attacks he could use for Absol, but he was still tired from Hazel's battle. Ironically Sunny was probably the best counter for Absol, what with her unique moveset and all, but Doublade was a hard counter for her. He chewed his lip a bit in indecision, eventually grabbing Spiritomb's keystone from his pocket.

"You ok with battling, bud? I know you said you wanted to wait, but –" Spiritomb cut him off by hissing angrily, absolutely seething with anger towards the Doublade. Well, that answered that question. "Give 'em hell then,"

And with that, he chucked the stone cube into the battlefield.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Doublade was tense at first, but upon the keystone hitting the ground and nothing happening, it turned towards its trainer in confusion.

"Trainer Leo, please release your pokémon," the referee called, and Leo sighed. Just as he opened his mouth to start giving orders, Spiritomb acted.

Ice and snow swirled through the air, coating Doublade in a thin layer of frost, as the shadows started to creep forward. Torry shouted out a command, but it was too late – Spiritomb's ghostly body burst forth like a tidal wave of purple and black darkness, tendrils of shadow lashing out as Doublade attempted to counter, a night slash on one blade, and a shadow claw curling off the other, cutting through the tendrils with ease.

But that was just a distraction. Spiritomb condensed into its humanoid form in an instant, retracting its tendrils and slamming one purple fist into Doublade's sheathes in a nasty sucker punch, its other hand snapping out and grabbing one of the blades by the hilt. Torry shouted in alarm, Doublade's pink sash wrapping around Spiritomb's arm and attempting to drain its life force, but the ghost wasn't going to give it any leeway.

Spiritomb held the blade close to its face, and used hypnosis. That the other sword coated itself in a night slash and cut into Spiritomb's chest didn't phase it, its ectoplasmic body just sucking itself back together as it continued to try and lull Doublade to sleep, the sword's struggling and erratic attacks slowing until, finally, it clattered to the ground asleep.

"Dream eater," Leo ordered, and Spiritomb cackled, glowing with a pink energy as it started to devour…something of Doublade's, healing itself in the process.

"I forfeit Doublade," Torry said, recalling his ghost rather than let Spiritomb get a free meal and free energy.

It was the smart, tactical decision. After all, those attacks of Doublade's had to have hurt, even if Spiritomb didn't show it, and letting Spiritomb heal up from dream eater on the off chance Doublade would wake up before it fainted was a losing bet. Which just left Absol for Spiritomb to deal with – and this time they didn't have to worry about perish song. Forcing a draw like that counts as a loss. Unfortunately detect was still a thing, which meant they had to play it smart.

"What in Arceus' name is that ghost?" Torry demanded, locking his gaze onto Spiritomb.

"One you probably don't want to catch," Leo admitted far too cheerfully. Torry frowned and let Absol out onto the field. The white and black canine limped slightly from where Diana hit him earlier, and Spiritomb hissed menacingly, momentarily losing cohesion.

"Begin!" the referee boomed, and the battle resumed once more.

Spiritomb didn't charge forward, instead taking a fighting stance and making a big, sweeping motion that sent a wave of frigid air hurtling across the battlefield, frost collecting on Absol's fur as he loped straight at Spiritomb. Four orbs of purple fire flickered to life around his horn, visibly staving off a good portion of the chill in a technique Leo was all too familiar with – will-o-wisp.

They wanted to cripple Spiritomb's close-range, then.

Leo opened his mouth to bark out a command, but Spiritomb surprised him by doing two things at once; forming will-o-wisps around itself, the fiery orbs wobbling and wavering; and punching at Absol despite the distance between them. Neither Leo nor Absol expected Spiritomb's arm to extend, much less to cross the ten foot distance between them with such speed as it slammed a sucker punch into Absol's side. The canine yelped and stumbled, the will-o-wisps darting forward and sinking into Spiritomb's arm even as he frantically dodged Spiritomb's own will-o-wisps, meeting the ghost's attack with hastily fired air slashes and a single, astoundingly precise slash with his curved horn.

"When did Spiritomb learn will-o-wisp?" Leo muttered with a frown, watching as Absol fired an ice beam that sunk straight into Spiritomb's body. "Shadow ball, keep it on the defensive!" The ghost cackled in anger and started to punch the air, firing shadow balls with every punch like some sort of awkward cannon. Absol showcased its nimbleness and skill by dodging most of the attacks, though he still took a few glancing blows thanks to his injuries slowing him down.

"Mega-slash!" Torry barked, and Absol immediately changed tactics, darkness trailing from his horn that was almost immediately overwhelmed by a burning green light. Spiritomb didn't hesitate, running forward to meet Absol head-on, fists clenched and prepared to attack while Absol leapt into the air, swinging his horn down as hard and decisively as he could.

Both pokémon were using their movements as nothing more than feints, however. Spiritomb exploded into a wave of shadows, the mega horn slashing uselessly through the air even as Absol crackled with electricity. Arcs of yellow lighting blasted into Spiritomb's ectoplasmic form as it surrounded Absol, thrashing and bashing him with everything he had at close range. Torry cursed while Leo clenched his fists on the railing, the swirling purple and green shadows that was Spiritomb illuminated with flashes of electricity from the Absol trapped inside.

That is, until Spiritomb retreated, flowing away from Absol and leaving both it and the canine panting for breath. Spiritomb's form wavered, its cohesion starting to fail, and seeing a chance to strike Absol took a step forward – only to faceplant into the dirt, out cold. Leo let out a breath, and smiled. What a terrifying trainer to fight.

Roars of approval erupted from the crowd as the announcer boomed out praise.

"And what a battle between two equally talented trainers! Give it up for Torry Everfrost and his team – they put up quite a fight, but in the end could not stand up to Leo's Pupitar and ultra-rare ghost type!" the announcer boomed, and Leo leapt over the railing of the trainer's box, calmly walking over to Spiritomb and picking up its keystone. The ghost sunk its ectoplasmic form into the keystone, whispering and cackling madly, the stone itself covered in a layer of frost.

"Thank you, bud. That was great, and you deserve a rest," Leo praised, patting the keystone kindly and shoving it back into his pocket. Spiritomb whispered in his ears, more of a babble really, then fell silent.

"That was a great battle, kid," Torry said, having leapt down from his own podium and approached Leo. He stuck his hand out, and Leo shook it, smiling at the older boy. "You deserve the win – and can I say, I love battling trainers like you. The overly aggressive, no-holds-barred all-out offensive type – when you fall to my tricks it's exciting, and when you overcome them with brute force and raw power, it's equally awesome," he praised.

"Thanks! I never saw the perish-song, block combo coming. It takes a lot to take out Diana, and you did it without even losing a pokémon," Leo said. Torry laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Fat lot of good it did with that crazy ghost of yours. I'd look into getting one of my own, but my team's pretty full up right now. But hey, maybe I'll see you later in the tournament – I may have lost now, but I'm itching for a six-on-six rematch," Torry said, and Leo smiled. Considering Torry just lost in a major tournament, even if he wasn't knocked out of the running yet he was being very friendly about the whole thing.

"Well either way, it was a pleasure. And maybe after the tournament, if we don't see each other again, we can still have that battle," Leo promised, and Torry grinned. It was a savage, playful grin that left Leo with little doubt as to what his thoughts on that was. It almost made him regret offering. Almost.

Leo grumbled to himself as he trudged back to his hotel, the room reserved for him by Lusamine, with his hands stuck in his pockets. It was a hotel specifically built with tournament challengers in mind, complete with a fully functional pokémon center in the front lobby, and as such Leo would be dropping off the pokemon who battled today there for an overnight checkup. With the exception of Spiritomb, who probably wouldn't want to leave Leo's side. Leo scowled as his thoughts of getting his team checked up led to him thinking about Spiritomb, which led to him recalling the meeting he just came from.

Immediately after beating Torry a few reporters had pulled him aside and started hounding him on information about his team. He'd dodged most of their questions and eventually managed to sneak away, only to be hounded by a few more people who recognized him inside the stadium and wanted to congratulate him on his success so far. That, and they started to recognize him from his dancing dragon videos, which he'd all but forgotten about, and pestered him to give them a little show until he'd managed to sneak away, citing that he wanted to keep his team on the down-low until the tournament was in full swing. The whole thing had been one giant headache, and he wasn't sure how to handle all the fame.

Not only that, but by the time he'd gotten away a good few hours had passed, which left Leo with even less time to sleep, investigate his next opponent – who he thankfully wouldn't face until tomorrow evening – get his team checked up, and just unwind a bit after the exhausting, albeit exhilarating, first day he'd had. Leo rubbed his forehead. That was another thing, he still had to research his next opponent; which meant turning on the TV when he got back to the hotel room, and trying to catch the highlights of today's battles. Seeing who his opponent was and how they battled would be a massive boon over just hearing about it.

Leo wound his way past the now-empty food and souvenir stalls, head down and stuck in his own thoughts as he let his feet guide him. So stuck in his own thoughts was he that he didn't notice the person shouting at him to catch his attention until Spiritomb started hissing threateningly.

"Calm," Leo said absently, turning around and patting Spiritomb's keystone. Behind him stood a Lucario, pointing at him with one paw while a girl, no older than eighteen with long blond hair ran to catch up with him. He raised an eyebrow at her as she skidded to a stop, resting her hands on her knees – she was wearing a light blue shirt and black slacks – as she panted to catch her breath.

"W-wait, wait a second please," she said, gasping for air. Leo raised an eyebrow, gaze flicking to the Lucario, who was still pointing at him, even as the fighting-type directed its gaze towards the girl, one eyebrow raised in an unimpressed look.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not able to help how unimpressed his tone ended up coming out as. He couldn't help it, he was a little irritated right now.

"I – sorry, I ran quite a way to catch up to you, was afraid I missed you in the stadium until Lucario caught sight of you," she said, standing upright and sucking in greedy lungful's of air. Leo waited patiently for her to catch her breath, wondering what all this was about. He looked at the Lucario again. This wouldn't turn out like Boone, would it? Where she scooby-doo villain unmasked herself and her evil pokemon disguised as a Lucario as some crazy person? He hoped not.

"Sorry, but I'm a little tired right now," Leo started.

"Spiritomb. I have one too," she said quickly, and Leo paused, meeting her golden eyes with a surprised look. Wait. Wait a moment. Hold up. He'd been considering this ever since he'd caught Spiritomb, but for this encounter to happen now? "My name is Cynthia, and I'm a trainer from Sinnoh. If you're willing, I do believe there is much we could talk about,"