What did you say?

As the first round ended, Zach once again walked to the centre of the battlefield and addressed the crowd.

"That was a great first round, and every one of the kids has shown us how great of a pokemon trainer they will be as they grow up, but this is not the end. We will now begin the second round; in this round, we have 17 people; similar to last time, one person would be left out, but it would be chosen randomly. As for who that would be, we will get the answer right now," as he said that, the screen once again lit up, and the faces of all the people started shuffling up before it came to a pause showing who would be moving up the ladder.

"Are you sure?" asked Alan stunned.

"Sure about what?"

"That you did not buy that dude named Zach?" he looked at Steven as if he was a ghost, "how can you be the one to not fight in two rounds?"

"This is what you call lady luck," said Steven while raising his nose high.

"Tsk."

Zach, too, was surprised by the outcome, but nothing could be done, "Congratulations to participant number 33: Steven Stone, you will be going to the next round."

"Now, onto the matchups for the second round, we will have a total of eight matches to choose our top eight. The first one to start this round will be...." as he said those words, everyone looked back at the screen where it showed two people who would fight for the next round, "Number 2: Sabrina Saffron and Number 28: Daniel Joy. Both participants, please come to the stage."

As the matchups were out, Sabrina and Daniel walked up to the stage.

"Why is he trying to provoke you?" asked Steven when he saw Daniel looking at Alan as he walked to the stage.

"I guess he needs to be taught a lesson," said Alan with an evil grin and stood up from his seat before he ran towards the battlefield.

"Oi, where are you going," shouted Steven, and his voice attracted everyone's attention, from the two participants to Alan, who was running towards Sabrina.

Sabrina frowned when she saw this, but she did not say or do anything, maybe not yet.

"Hey," said Alan when he was standing right beside her, "I know you don't talk much, but I need to...."

He went ahead and whispered something into Sabrina's ears under everyone's gaze before he once again ran up to his seat but not before giving a small evil smirk to Daniel.

"What do you think your boyfriend said to that girl? Don't tell me he is choosing her over you," said Carolina as she gave her granddaughter a sideways glance.

"From what I know of him, he is probably onto one of his shenanigans. It is Daniel's fault for provoking him in this and the last round. I don't know what he said to Sabrina, but I almost feel bad for him," she replied with a calm expression, not bothered by what her grandmother just said, but she immediately took out her Pokedex and sent out a text.

Caroline, who saw this, gave a smile, 'young people' she thought.

Alan, who was back in his seat, looked happier than he had ever been.

"What did you say to her, and why does she look so angry?" asked Steven as he could see Sabrina's face contorted into anger.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification.

Cynthia Sharon: What did you say to her?]

"Oh, I just said that Daniel is making a master plan to snatch her doll and run away."

Steven looked at Alan and then at Daniel, who was about to be destroyed by Sabrina, "remind me to never be on your bad side."

[Ding: Pokegram Notification.

Cynthia Sharon: ...]

"Also, remember we will be clapping our hardest when Sabrina wins to add some emotional damage," he told Steven with a serious look and being a good friend, Steven agreed.

Back on the battlefield, Sabrina stood with her eyes covered by her hat, but the aura radiating out of her was something everyone could see, making everyone wonder what Alan had said to her.

"Both participants, bring out your pokemons."

"Ralts, I choose you," said Daniel as he threw his Pokeball while Sabrine casually floated the Pokeball in front of her before it opened and released the Abra.

Everyone knew Sabrina was a psychic, and the reason she never spoke to her pokemons was that she could directly communicate with them using her psychic powers.

Alan took out his Pokedex and looked at the two pokemons.

[Ralts.

Type: Psychic/Fairy

Level: 9

Stage: Beginner Stage (Low)

Blood Bond: Daniel Joy]

'He may have trained hard but still not as much as Eve and me,' thought Alan when he saw the level of Daniels Ralts. It had gone up by only one level while Alan and Eve had raised from level 6 all the way to level 9. Both the pokemons had the same potential, but what mattered the most was the hard work put in their training.

He then scanned Sabrina's Abra.

[Abra

Type: Psychic

Level: 12

Stage: Beginner Stage (Mid)

Blood Bond: Sabrina Saffron]

That was one of the strongest pokemon he had seen so far among those who were participating. But it was fair too since he knew what potential Abra had, and that was what scared him the most.

'If a pokemon with light violet can reach level 12 so fast, then what about...,' he turned towards Cynthia, who was paying attention to the match.

As if sensing his gaze, she turned towards him and made a face as if asking, 'what?'

Alan shook his head and looked back at the battlefield.

'Eve and I have not slacked a bit, and yet we are level 9, and the potential of Eve is Dark Blue, one of the best there can be. If the growth of a Dark Blue is this much, what about a Dark Green? Or a Dark Yellow?'

This was when Alan realized one of the horrors of the pokemon world.

'Is this why they say that being a trainer is easy, but staying on this path is not?'

If the potential of your pokemon was low, how was it those other trainers who were not in a wealthy family made money to feed resources to their pokemons? He had the God Eyes, which let him see the potential of a pokemon, but what about others?

Was it even possible for a trainer with a yellow potential pokemon to catch up to a trainer with a green potential pokemon and so on?

"Begin."

As he was busy in his thoughts, the loud voice of the referee snapped him out of his daze.

"Ralts use double tea...," but Daniel's words were cut short when Abra disappeared and reappeared behind Ralts and followed it up with a Shadow Ball.

At a point-blank range, the Ralts had to bear the full brunt of Abra's attacks, and it went flying across the field. But that was not the end; the Abra disappeared once again before it was where the Ralts flew off to and struck it with a thunder punch.

"No, Ralts!"

With just two hits, the Ralts was knocked down, unconscious, no more able to battle.

The referee came forward and declared the win for everyone to hear.

"Ralts in unconscious hence unable to battle, Abra is the winner. The victory goes to Sabrina Saffron from Kanto Region."

*CLAP* *CLAP*

In the silent stadium, the claps of a single person rang out, and it was none other than Steven.

When he saw Alan not doing it with him, he realized what was happening. He kept a calm face but spoke in a low tone, "just you wait, I will get you back for this."

Once the result was out, both participants returned their pokemon and walked off the battlefield field.

Daniel gave Alan a hateful look while Sabrine looked at Alan and walked away.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification.

Sabrina Saffron has added you as a friend.]

Alan, who saw the notification, immediately looked at her, confused before receiving a message.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification.

Sabrina: Thank you for saving my doll.]

Alan read it and realized what had happened. He shook his head and looked at Sabrina before giving her a wary smile, 'girl; I didn't even do anything to save your doll.'

[Alan: My pleasure]

As the round progressed after the first match, the participants got eliminated one by one. Those who were likely to win won their matches with only one double knockout; hence, both participants were eliminated.

As round two concluded, the heated round three was about to begin. Those who were left standing were those who were strongest in this batch.

And very soon, the matchups for the next round were out, and this time, even the adults were looking forwards to the battles.

Cynthia Sharon vs Misty Williams.

Gary Oak vs Steven Stone

Alan Salvador vs Leaf Green

Sabrina Saffron vs Wilson Jenny

The first two contestants walked towards the stage as the matchups were announced.

"The first fight of this round will now take place; may both the participants introduce each other."

"Cynthia Sharon.

"Misty Williams."

"This will be a one on one battle; the match will stop when a pokemon is unconscious or not able to battle any longer."

"Bring out your pokemons."

Misty looked at Cynthia, who was standing calming in front of her as if she was sure to win.

'I will show you...,' cursed Misty in her mind before she called out her pokemon.

"Go, Staryu."

In response, Cynthia held her Pokeball and threw it into the air; her actions had no hesitation, unlike Misty.

"Do you best, Drake."

As the lights flashed and pokemons appeared on the battlefield, everyone knew how easy of a battle this was going to be, for Cynthia, of course.

Alan took out his Pokedex and scanned both the pokemons

[Staryu

Type: Water

Level: 10

Stage: Beginner Stage (Mid)

Blood Bond: Misty Williams]

[Gible

Type: Dragon/Ground

Level: 15

Stage: Beginner Stage(Peak)

Blood Bond: Cynthia Sharon]

"That Gible is a monster," said Steven as he looked at the level of Cynthia's pokemon, "I have heard that her pokemon is of Violet potential."

Alan gave Steven a sideways glance before rolling his eyes, "pot calling a kettle black?"

Steven knew what it meant and just scratched the back of his head. Alan looked at the Beldum, who was playing happily with Eve as he knew the potential of Pokemon.

During one of their training sessions, he asked Steven about the potential of his pokemon even though he already knew the answer; but he never thought Steven would be so open about it to him and tell him the potential of his pokemon.

'A Violet potential Beldum, what would happen when it becomes a Metagross?'

Alan looked back at the battlefield where the fight was about to start.

"Begin!" said the referee in his loudest voice.

"Staryu, use Tackle," ordered Misty, trying to take the initiative.

Cynthia however did not say anything but Gibble was already on the move. He ran towards Staryu as well using his fastest speed possible and its head covered in a steel coating.

Midway into the battlefield, the both clashed into each other.

*Bang*

As they clashed, Staryu who was weaker than Gible slid across the battlefield.

"Staryu get up and use Water Gun," she said, trying to make use of the type effectiveness.

"Drake use dig," said Cynthia and Gible immediately dun deep into the battlefield, dodging the Water Gun.

"Tsk, don't run away," provoked Misty when she saw Gible dodge their attacks.

"Who is running away?" asked Cynthia when her Gible appeared below Staryu.

"Staryu, dodge."

"Drake, use metal claw and then finish it off with a Dragon Breath," commanded Cynthia before she started walking off the stage.

"Huh?" everyone looked at her confused but then they realized.

Gible slashed Staryu, who was unable to dodge the unexpected attack, with his Metal Claw before he blasted it off the stage with a Dragon Breath.

"Gib-Giblle."

"Staryu is unable to battle, Gible is the winner. The victory goes to Cynthia Sharon of Sinnoh Region."

Under the gaze of everyone, Cynthia Sharon walked off the stage, after proving her dominance.

Misty dropped to the ground when she saw how badly she had been defeated.

"Next two participants please come to stage," not caring one bit, the referee called the next contestants.

"Go do you best," said Alan as he looked at Steven.

"I don't care about win or lose, you do your best and have fun," said Devon as he looked at his son.

"You got this," said Lisa as she fixed Stevens clothes and sent him off.

"If you can't win tell Beldum to Tackle the trainer himself," said Alan jokingly.

"Not everyone is as shameful as you," replied Steven while showing his fist to Alan.

"I will cheer for Gary," said Alan as he too made a fist and bumped it into Steven's, "he will need it."

With that, Steven walked towards the battlefield with steady steps.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification.

Cynthia: Who do you think will win?

Alan: What do you think?

Cynthia: If I have to give an answer from just the face value, then your friend will lose.

Alan: You might be in for a surprise

Cynthia: ???]

Alan did not say anything but smiled.

As both of the participants reached one end of the battlefield each, the referee stepped up once again, telling them the rules and asking them to introduce themselves.

"Steven Stone."

"Gary Oak."

"Take out you pokemons," said the referee.

"Go Beldum," said Steven as a shiny Beldum appeared on the battlefield.

"Crush them, Squirtle," said Gary as he threw his pokeball.

With a bright flash of light, one of the royal pokemons of Kanto region appeared on the battlefield.

When the referee saw them that they were ready, he waved his hands before shouting.

"Begin."