It was beautiful spring day in San Francisco. Flying through the clear skies were Wingull and Starley by the hundreds, flocks of the birds socializing with each other as onlookers fed them crumbs. In the Bay, Milotic and Seaking swam through crystal water, and schools of Remoraid searched for food, nibbling on the feet of giggling children. Man and Pokemon lived side by side in peace.

Perhaps the most symbiotic relationship of Man and Pokemon, however, was in the arena. On this particular day, a massive tournament was being held at the Golden Gate Recreational Center, dozens of proud participants coming from across the globe to compete in the mixer. Even the local Gym Leader had taken the day off to compete, hoping to bring a favorable place for his city. Crowds gathered in the thousands, with more than million watching world wide.

Also on this day, a much smaller competition was being held at White Beach. Open to any hobby trainers, the beach had several areas cordoned off in front of a set of bleachers, where the battling would take place. With the pleasant weather, it was the perfect day for a small tournament.

The eight spots for the competition were quickly filled, and the starting match up figured out by drawing. One would face two, three would face four, and so on. The nearby sitting was half-full, mostly just passerby who couldn't make it to the Rec Center's tournament. Still, everyone was excited to see new blood battle, and today's competition looked especially fresh.

---

"Ok. Number five. That means we're one of the opening three matches!" Standing on the sidelines, a young man with messy black hair shifted his weight from one hip to the other, biting his lip. "We can do this. It's just some one-on-ones. My team and I have been practicing, and we're more than ready to win this."

The boy blanched. "Wait, I can only use one of you!" Pulling out his two pokeballs, the youth seemed to weigh each ball in his hands, carefully considering each. "You're both fast, and hit strong from afar, but you do better with the other.. Yeah, I guess I'm going with you for this one, buddy." Pocketing his other ball, the man stood there for another moment, before pulling out the ball once again.

"Lets think about this one more time.." Biding his time, Zacharias pondered every move he could, waiting for the competition to start.

Alice sat nervously, cross legged beside the arena gently folding a piece of paper in her hand. She had drawn number four, that meant once the first match ended, she and Celia would be thrown into the ring and forced to fight until one Pokemon remained standing. Alice had been reluctant about the idea of joining a tournament, she knew that the practical application of battling was her weak point, but she also knew that she really didn't have much of a choice. With the price of boat tickets, the hotel she had been staying in over the last couple of weeks and food, her pockets were beginning to run dry. This tournament had a small prize pot and if she won, then she would probably have enough to get out of the city and start traveling the country. The idea excited her greatly and a small smile crept onto her lips.

"Not long now Celia sweetheart." She beamed, unclipping the Pokeball from her belt and rolling it around the palm of her hand. the concept of battling made Alice nervous. It was a violent idea, revolving around making quick decisions based off of facts and instincts under pressured situations. Chapter one: The most fundamental basics of Pokemon battling are easily explained... She began to recite by heart. It was the opening chapter of her favourite Pokemon theory book. Reciting simple facts helped to calm her nerves, to focus her. She closed her eyes and began repeating important lines from the text silently to herself, mouthing along with the words. Under no circumstances was she prepared for the upcoming battle, but she was certainly ready to try. She knew that Celia was raring to go, she always was. All she needed to do was match her Pokemon's enthusiasm.

"Keheheheheheheheh"

Holding her number tightly in her long sleeve covered hands Trix was grinning away excitedly, her tired looking eyes checking over the entry to see if it was truly real. She was so happy to have been allowed in such a tournament, and with such a number at that. Suddenly she was snapped out of her happy daze by a hard slap on the back of her head "Ow!" Small tears showed up in the corner of her eyes as Orin flew around tot he front of her to gesture with its cloth to the people that had moved away from her to avoid the creepy girl..

"That was mean Orin, why did you hit me? I thought you would be proud me and flash got in" Not that she took notice of that, but in truth she did not care even a little if people were not coming near for the moment. Drifting down to the floor to plant itself onto its 'face' Orin stayed there for a few moments before flying back up suddenly! He tried to fly around the back of her and get her to stand up at the very least as sitting in the corner of the room was not the best idea apparently.

A group of people talked nearby, between the four cordoned areas. After a few minutes, all four broke apart, one going to each ring, and one going to where the waiting participants stood. "We're going to be starting soon, I'd just like to go over the rules with you folks. This is a one-on-one battle, with each participant being allowed one Pokémon each. Each of you will release your Pokémon at the wave of the referee's hand, and will end your match once the referee calls it."

"You may have noticed that the the match areas each include a section consisting of water. This is for any of you who have aquatic Pokémon, but would still like to participate. However, you must remain within the arena area, and your Pokémon may not fly more than fifty feet into the air. You are also not allowed to leave the cordoned area underground or under water. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification. Any questions?"

Zacharias raised his hand. "Will we be allowed to switch Pokémon between matches?"

The referee nodded. "Yes, and we will be providing healing stations for everyone to rest their Pokémon between matches. In the event of your switching Pokémon between rounds against someone with only one registered Pokémon, they will be informed of this change before the round begins. Any other questions?"

Time slowed to a crawl as Alice took a deep breath. Somewhere in her mind, she was aware of the fact that the first battle was ongoing. She knew she should probably have been watching, strategically getting an insight into her competition's battling style would greatly help her in the tournament to come, but once she began concentrating on something she found it hard to stop. She sat cross legged in the sand, reciting key parts of the text in her mind. She focused on type advantages and disadvantages. The sun was blisteringly hot today, the heat made Alice feel sluggish, being so different from the climate back home. She could only imagine how Celia would feel in such temperatures. Her thick fur was not suited to such a temperature, if they ended up fighting a fire pokemon Alice knew that it would be a real struggle. The arena was simple, the water would probably be Celia's best friend, allowing her to moderate her temperature, she had read something similar in a book somewhere.

All of a sudden, the crowd erupted into applause, ripping Alice from her meditative state. The battle was over which meant Alice and Celia were up. A couple of men in uniforms dashed out to the arena and started clearing up after the battle. A man she recognized as the tournament organizer approached her, wearing a smile too large for his face.
"Miss Kyte, are you and your Pokemon ready for battle?" Alice could only muster a small nod, pulling herself to her feet and shakily making her way to the arena edge. This was it, her moment. Celia's moment. She took a deep breath and pulled down her goggles. They did nothing, but ultimately they helped her focus on the battle. Truthfully, they looked ridiculous, but they did the trick. She turned the Pokenall over in her hand carefully, breathing deeply as to not start trembling in front of the crowd. It was now or never.

Beatrix listened to the rules ad instructions, her body swaying back and forth a little at the excitement of that she would not only get to see some cool fighting but also take part in it! That being said she did have something to ask so she dashed to the front of the crowd to put up her hand, speaking out of turn even if she was noticed or not.

"Will we be able to use the whole environment to our advantage?"

She may have been giving something away there, though unless they were smart enough to use it against her then it did not matter. After getting her answer she would move up to get a good look at the first fight. This was the big advantage to being a higher number that she loved, the fact that she could view the others battle before she would meet them, Orin looked displeased but they never mentioned any rules about this after all~

The referee motioned towards the scary young lady. "Feel free to use the arena area to the fullest. Getting knocked out of the arena will begin a five-second timer, after which you will be disqualified. Special consideration will be given towards certain Pokémon moves. Anything inside the arena area is fair game to use."

Seeing no other questions being asked, the referee stepped back and motioned for the first match to begin.

---

Zacharias watched the first matchup, a Magnemite against a Timburrr. The pair were a surprisingly good match up to spectate, developing into a fast-paced chase of cat and mouse, Magnemite trying to pull back and attack while Timburr wanted in close. At first it appeared as if Timburr would win, after delivering a vicious Mach Punch to the floating Pokémon. Magnemite's retaliatory Shock Wave, however, was particularly brutal and ultimately won it for the Pokémon.

Continuing to watch the field, the next two competitors stepped out to begin their match. Both looked nervous from his vantage point, but anything could be going on from where he stood, out of the way. Zacharias continued to nervously fiddle with his Pokeball, eager to begin his own match. "Soon, team. We're next."

The boy standing opposite Alice ran his fingers across his belt of Pokeballs, eyeing her carefully. Three. He had three choices to pick from while she only had Celia. She knew that if her opponents type countered Celia's then the battle would be lost in a matter of minutes and so would the prize. She clutched her Pokeball in her hand as her opponent finally settled on one of his Pokeballs.
"On my right Alice Kyte." The presenter shouted from the side of the arena "And her opponent today Kyle White" There were scatterings of applause and cheers from the crowd as the presenter raised his hands "contestants, go!" He screamed and before Alice could really think, she was arcing her arm and tossing her Pokeball into the arena.

A small grin began to play on Alice's lips as the bursts of light scattered and Celia stood opposite a particularly small looking Sandshrew.
"Grit, use Dig!" Her opponent was quick on his feet, issuing his first command within instants of the battling beginning. Alice's heart pounded in her ears and her mouth was dry. A long series of facts and figures she had absorbed over the time flashed through her mind as she tried to find something she had read that would help her in this situation. Finally, she found something, but before she could speak the ground near Celia erupted and the rival Pokemon jumped out, striking Celia and sending her soaring into a nearby boulder.

"Oooh, that's a strong hit from Kyle's pokemon" The announcer's voice taunted Alice "But Alice's Swinub is still standing and ready for the counter attack." Celia stood, obviously reeling from the blow but still far from being out of the fight.
"Celia, use odour sleuth!" Alice shouted, met by a murmur from the audience. She knew that the move was more often used against ghost Pokemon, but she had spent ages with Celia and knew that her Pokemon's sense of smell excelled and if she could keep track of the location of the Sandshrew, the battle would be their's.
"Use dig again Grit!" Kyle barked. Obediently, his Pokemon scurried underground, leaving Celia standing alone near the edge of the ring.

Alice allowed herself a quick glance at her opponent to find him smugly staring back. She knew that he believed the match was his which only meant that he hadn't figured out her plan. Alice glanced back at the field and focused, squinting her eyes and murmuring to herself. Her mind raced as she crunched a series of numbers in her head, using her opponent's previous attack to figure out the timing on the current one.
"Celia, jump now!" She yelled out quickly. Her pokemon reacted with lightning reflexes, hopping out of the way just in time to see the Sandshrew leap out of the ground next to it "Now! While it's vulnerable, attack with Powder Snow!" An icy blast erupted from the nose of the pig Pokemon, strong enough to send the Sandshrew hurtling into a nearby patch of water.

"Sandshrew has lost the will to battle!" The announcer cried out "Alice brings it back to move onto the next round" Alice finally let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding as she called Celia back into her Pokeball.
"Holy crap girl, you were amazing." She murmured to her Pokeball, clipping onto her belt and removing her goggles. The tournament was far from over, but she couldn't stop smiling all the same. She took a few excited steps away from the arena and dashed towards the healing station. One down, but the others wouldn't go down without a fight.

((I may have gone a little overboard on post length...))

Zach watched the next match with a certain intensity. He had his eyes on the guy at first, seeing that he had three Pokemon to choose from. Seeing the flashes of red light, however, he quickly revised his opinion of the girl as a Swinub was released. How could she get a Swinub? Any kind of Ice type was rare in San Francisco, outside of the occasional Lapras or Spheal. She must be from out of state. It looked like things would be interesting, and he was right. The match went to that Alice girl.

Bouncing on his heels, Zach walked up to where he would be battling next, eager to get the match started. The announcer turned to look at both of his contestants. “Our battlers are Zacharias Mann and Julio Garza of San Fransisco!” Motioning to each of the boys as he said their names, a polite amount of applause filled the section of beach.

Zach tried to study his opponent, having decided to try and choose his Pokemon based on what he could gleam from his foe. The man was tall, taller than even Zacharias, and his dark olive skin tone said that he was used to working outside. Maybe he had a Pokemon to help him with that? Except he also had a handsome face and body that said he worked out a lot, he could just be a fan of the tanning booth and have something less practical.

Deciding this was a waste of time, Zach just took a Pokeball off his belt. Time to get serious. Opposite of him, Julio did the same. “Ready! And, begin!” Julio was the first to throw his Pokeball, followed shortly by Zacharias. Red lights filling the air, a pair of Pokemon were released, a Lotad and an Electrike.

“Lotad, Astonish!” Julio’s Pokemon rushed forward at a surprisingly fast speed, a ghostly aura surrounding it as it crashed into Electrike.

Thankfully, the attack didn’t cause a flinch. “Silas, give him a Thunder Wave!” Electricity danced across the Pokemon’s body before bursting out, covering a wide area in static. Covering Lotad, the electricity seemed to tighten the muscles in the small Pokemon’s body.

“Lotad, pull yourself together! Give it a Surf, full power!” Ah, that explained why Julio was so tan. Unfortunately, the paralysis seemed to take a lot out of Lotad, as it struggled to move its body.

Zacharias smirked. “Throw an Electro Ball, give it all you’ve got!” Eyes wide, Julio could only watch as a ball of electricity grew in front of the small Electrike. Allowing it to charge to a massive size compared to the Pokemon delivering it, Silas let the blast loose with a concussive ‘boom’. Charging forward, the attack knocked the Lotad out in a single hit.

“Lotad is unable to battle! Electrike and Mann are the winners!”

Running up to its master, Silas jumped into Zacharias’ arms and licked the man’s face. “Hahah! Good job Silas, it looks like that strategy worked just like we planned!” The pair walked off to the side of the match area, waiting for the next battle. Drawing a few stares from their one-hit attack, Zach was sure the next competitor would take them very seriously.

Beatrix continued to watch the matches that went on one after another, most of the people simply went with the tried and true react to what your enemy is doing with what move they thought was best. "Predictable" She muttered under her breath with a smirk, though there were a few that stood out from the crowd, those were the type of people she really wanted to face!

----

Soon she stood in the arena, modster looking teen was across from her with a smirk across his face. "Everyone! Our next match is between Beatrix Loren and Jake Xeva! Ready?" At the announcers ready the pair of them picked out their pokemon, though Beatrix only had one and Orin was floating next to the others watching, kinda worrying some...

"Begin!"

With that the two pokemon were unleashed, Hitmonlee for Jake and Litwick for Trix, which caused the former to give out a laugh when he saw the smaller candle pokemon compared to his own, though Trix was not going to waste any time. "Astonish" She gave the simple command which caused Flash to attack!

"Heh. Lee, dodge the attack!" With surprising speed the pokemon avoided the attack by jumping to the left "Keep going Flash..." The battle looked so one sided, as the Hitmonlee was simply avoiding and toying with Flash "Lee can dodge anything that you throw at him, you want me to put you out of your misery? Promise you won't cry when I finish this alright?"

"Hehhehehehehehehehe"

"HUh?"

Her rather sad looking face suddenly turned into a rather creepy grin, a dark aura coming off her "Your going to lose~ No mercy for those that taunt me~" [Extending a sleeved hand towards Flash she spoke up loudly and with some surprising amount of passion. "Astonish-full speed!" Jake looked surprised at first but regained his smile soon after "JUMP LEE!" Leaping high up into the air, leaving Flash looking up in a confused state, Lee was raising his foot right above his head "Finish this Lee!"

"Can not move when in the air? It is over... Fire spin" As Lee came down towards the little candle, Flash's flame on top of its head burst into a torrent of flames above it! Causing Lee to cover tis face. Trix knew that flash knew what to do next but in a low voice she spoke it anyway. "Astonish" Bursting forth from the flames Flash slammed into the Hitmonlee's midsection, sending it flying into the flames unguarded and then into the ground.

For a moment silence came over the arena as the realization overcame some that it was the Litwick that was the one playing around with the other pokemon. "Hitmonlee is unable to battle! Litwick and Loren are the winners!" Calling Flash back, Trix headed back, knowing that she did not show all that much but it was enough for more than a few to see her as a threat.

With her recently rejuvenated Pokemon, Alic took a seat somewhere near the back of the bleachers and watched the other battles unfold. The winners looked tough, battle ready. Probably a lot more used to the battling scene than she was. The thought of going up against one of those two made her nervous. To make matters worse, one of them used a fire Pokemon. The blistering heat would no doubt boost that Litwick's capabilities and the type match up was awful for her Pokemon to start with. However, all she had to do was hope that the guy with the elekid beat her in the next round. The Ground typing of Celia would totally neutralize the Elekid and make for a relatively easy fight, much like her upcoming battle.
"Hey. You." someone spoke, taking a seat down next to her. She was slightly taken aback to turn and find her opponent from her last battle sitting beside her.
"It's Kyle, right?" She stammered back "Y-you battled really well..." The guy shrugged, obviously being a man of few words.
"You were better." He shrugged. There was a moment of silence between them that felt like it lasted an eternity before he stood up and unclipped a Pokeball from his belt.
"Here." He said dropping it into Alices lap "He'll be better off with you." And, before Alice could say anything, he disappeared into the crowds.

Alice held the Pokeball in her hands carefully. Kyle had six Pokemon around his belt, so she had no idea what was inside the ball. On the top of the ball, in messy handwriting, said the word 'Biscuits.' Alice assumed that was the Pokemon's nickname, but excluding that fact, she had no idea what was inside the Pokeball. She decided she would dash aside and quickly check, just go meet her new Pokemon before the next battle started, but as she stood up, a tournament official called her over.
"Your next battle is about to start, can you please make your way down to the battling area." With little other choice, Alice simply clipped the Pokeball onto her belt and made her way down to the arena, preparing herself for her next bout.

Zacharias watched with interest as the scary seeming girl finished her battle, using an impressive Astonish through its own Fire Spin. Deciding it was worth talking to her, Zach walked up to where the girl was standing, before freezing a few yards behind her. A chill ran up the teen's spine.

'W-What is this? Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?' Looking around, Zach couldn't see anything out of place. 'Is it just in my head?' He wondered if his Pokémon could feel the same thing, but decided against it. Glancing at the girl once again, the young man decided it might be safer to wait a while, and instead walked over to where the Pokémon healing station stood.

Taking his Pokémon back, Zach heard the next match being called to begin. 'The Swinub girl is fighting, and the guy with the Magnemite? I wonder if he has any other Pokémon to battle with. This'll be interesting.' He left to watch from the side lines, hoping for an interesting fight with lots to learn and think over later. Glancing at the two Pokeballs on his belt, he wondered if he should've trained more before jumping in to a tournament.

"Next up! Thomas Preston versus Alice Kyte!" The announcer shouted from the side of the arena, Alice took a deep breath and hurled Celia's Pokeball into the center of the ring. The small swinub stood before a large, tough looking Scraggy. Alice's mind instantly loaded a memory of a type chart she once saw that listed Pokemon's advantages and disadvantages. Her ice type Pokemon stood little chance against the Scraggy's fighting type. She could see from the look on her opponent's face that this was intentional. Alice took a deep breath and pulled her goggles down, the world slowing down around her as her mind raced. If the Scraggy landed a decent blow on Celia, the battle would be over and Alice would walk away with her tail tucked between her legs. That meant Alice and Celia needed to make sure that they never landed an attack.

"Celia! Attack with mud slap!" Alice shouted. Celia was slow, but by some miracle, the Scraggy was slower. Celia sprayed the fighting Pokemon with a wave of dirt, making it stagger back.
"Scraggy, don't let it distract you! Attack with Brick Break!" Her opponent shouted. The scraggy lumbered forwards, but Alice's plan seemed to be working. The Pokemon seemed dazed, finding it hard to see properly with dust and sand in his eyes. Celia easily shuffled out of the way of the attack. Alice knew that it was a strong start, but she also knew that there was no way that it would last. Now her opponent was aware of her plan, there was no way he would let her do it again. She had to think of something else. She had to figure out something new.

"Scraggy! use brick break again!" Her opponent yelled. It was obvious the Pokemon hadn't recovered properly and struck out with its tiny fist, Celia stepped out of the way with ease sending the rival Pokemon veering into a rock, breaking it into pieces with it's fist. Small shards of rock exploded around the arena and suddenly Alice had an idea.
"Celia!" She called out, her Pokemon looking up at her. She pointed to a point in the arena and the pig nodded, trotting as fast as she could to the indicated point. The Scraggy recovered quickly and was in pursuit within seconds.
"Use Mud Slap again Celia!" She shouted and her Pokemon obliged, spitting a cloud of dust into the air with her hind legs. The Scraggy tried to dodge, but was clipped by the cloud of mud.
"Come on Scraggy! Hit the thing! Use Brick Break" Her opponent yelled. Alice smiled cunningly as her opponent waltzed into her trap.

The Scraggy dived forwards, arm raised to deliver a powerful strike. Celia rolled out of the way and the Pokemon smashed into the rock she was standing before, sending the remains splashing into the water. The size of the boulder made quite the wave, flooding a part of the field.
"Now! Celia! Use Powder Snow, freeze the wave!" Alice shouted. A look of sudden panic flashed across her opponent's face as the Snorunt took a deep breath and breathed out a wave of icy wind, turning the falling water into shards of ice that rained down upon the Scraggy. The Pokemon looked tough, but the onslaught of hail was too much and the Pokemon was knocked out by one large lump of ice to the head.

"Remarkable! Alice and Celia win without taking so much as a single hit!" The announcer shouted. A wave of relief and excitement filled Alice. At first, she had never actually believed she could win the prize money, but now there was an actual chance. She only had one more opponent to defeat and now, she was ready.

Sitting down on the side lines for now, Beatrix released flash once again, though this time to allow it to sit on her lap for the time being. It may not have been harmed but she wanted to comfort him a little before his next match, after all it was not like the flying stick that called itself a sword was going to be doing anything this time around.

Speaking of the devil; Orin moved up to the part of the stands where Trix was just below, after all if it was not going to be within its ball it would at least have to stay next to her. Otherwise someone may try to cart him off to the lost and found... Well that was Trix's logic for why he would not leave her side anyway. With the three of them there, they waited for the next match to start, after all she had to finish this up before dinner time.

Zacharias watched the match between Alice and Thomas with interest, the match up resulting in a seemingly one-sided match up. The end result, of course, was interesting. 'A great use of the environment. I'll need to keep that in mind with her, if we battle she's not afraid to use everything at her disposal.' Thinking for a moment, Zach stood to prepare for his own battle.

Walking towards the roped off arena area, Zach waved at the passing Alice, smiling as he walked by. "That was a good match, I hope we get a chance to battle." Before she could reply, though, the referee began waving his arms.

"Beatrix Loren and Zacharias Mann! Please get ready for your match!" Still smiling, the teen nodded his head to Alice before going to his side of the arena, picking out the Pokemon he would be using.

"Beatrix Loren and Zacharias Mann! Please get ready for your match!"

Beatrix peered up in a lazy manner as her name was called, her body soon following suit as she got up in her own time as she tried to remember who it was she was facing. "Ah, right, him" She commented to herself as Flash hopped off of her lap and onto the floor where it started to follow its mistress towards the starting point of the arena.

After moving into place Beatrix leaned down to Flash to whisper some words to it, a smile coming across her face as she gave her little plan to her pokemon. Standing to her feet she placed her sleeved hands behind her back with a smile, Litwick readying a move for when the match started. She did not intend to win so easily as last time, this would be a real challenge.

Watching his opponent, Zach made a last minute decision and pulled a Pokeball off his belt. "We can do this, Hestia. Just do your thing, and there's no way we can fail!" Smiling down at his Pokeball, Zach saw that his opponent was also ready. The referee rose his hand.

"This is a battle between Beatrix Loren and Zacharias Mann! Ready! And, Begin!" The ref's arms fell in a chop, simultaneously blowing his whistle!

Throwing his Pokeball, Zach was tense as the battle began. "Go, Hestia!" Overhead, the once pleasantly warm sunshine began to grow brighter, the comfortable heat quickly becoming stifling. Sweating, the teen watched his Pokemon emerge from its ball, ready for battle!

Beatrix heled one of her arms up to try and block the sun from her eyes, she so disliked abilities like that given that she was not really a sun person... Rain was much better in her opinion, that being said she decided to give them all a little shade. "Flash, use smog if you please" With that command the little Litwick took in a BIG breath before looking strained as its flame on top of its head started to pump out a thick smog in a attempt to block out the sunlight.

"Hestia, avoid the smog as much as you can! Launch a Hex!" With that, the little Vuplix ran off, veering to the side away from the water to try and avoid the thick, roiling cloud of gas. Approaching from the side, a ghostly purple fire lit within her mouth as she neared. Launching it from the edge of the cloud, Hestia backed away towards the arena boundaries without seeing the result of her move.

Flash hopped backwards deeper into the smog, avoiding the hex thankfully but a smile couldn't help but creep across Beatrix's face at the sight of the attack. "Interesting, interesting~ This little one is full of surprises!" She looked very excited about this fight now. Looking to the smog cloud she couldn't help but smile "Smog Rush" Suddenly Flash produced a steam of smog towards where it remembered the Vuplix being! However the attack was a ploy, as it dashed its little form through that very same stream and attempted a Astonish!

Hestia's eyes, much like her trainer's own, widened at the maneuver! With no where to run, Vulpix was forced to hunker down and take the attack, her frailness to physical attacks making the move hurt. "No! Hestia, Hex at point blank! Make it hurt!" Again the ethereal purple flame filled the Vulpix's mouth, letting it loose at close range. While it hadn't had the full second it needed to charge to full strength, the Pokemon hoped it would at least guarantee a super effective hit!

The attack slammed into Flash as he was just coming down from the head on attack, though what likely saved the little Litwick was the fact the Hex didn't hit him under a condition and was only used at lower power. "Heheh. Hex, a very powerful skill, though I am not sure you have the abilities to make it truly deadly~" She commented to the other trainer with a smile, though in truth attacking a fire type pokemon was a bother in some ways given that it was resistant to Flash's fire spin. She had wondered if the other trainer had noticed Flash's first unique ability to infiltrate such things as the smog unharmed. He looked more focused on the battle though, which was good enough for her. Litwick continued its assault, trying to keep the fox busy so it couldn't use its hex again.

"I wouldn't count her out of it!" Zach continued to focus on the battle, taking note of the little ways the Litwick moved and Hestia dodged. Things seemed to be going well, but before he could issue a command, Vulpix misstepped and slipped in the sand, letting her opponent score a hit! Sliding back and away from the Litwick, Hestia struggled back to her feet.

There weren't many options for them. Ember wouldn't be very effective, had a chance of making his opponent stronger, and was still over all a worse choice than Hex. Essentially, they only had one move. At there was a bit of breathing room. "Full power Hex! Aim wide, don't let that Litwick out of your range!"

Beatrix knew by this point that there was a difference between her pokemons speed and the others, however what she had was the advantage of having more than a single move to use! "Using the same move won't work! Flash, keep close and use smog!" With that the two attacks clashed with each other, the hex bursting through the black cloud and barely clipping Litwick causing it to stumble back a little from the sheer power of the attack. By this point the little candle was looking pretty tired.

Vulpix was looking rough from the smog attack, and Zach was unsure if the little fox was poisoned or not. "Back off from that Litwick!" Doing just that, Hestia bounced backwards, not turning her back on Litwick, ready to avoid any attacks incoming. "Hex again! Keep pushing Hex, it's our only chance!"

She could tell that the more that Vulpix used Hex the easier it became for her Litwick to avoid it, having becoming use to the standard attack. Was all it had was fire moves? That she could hardly believe, but as always if Flash could stay close then the Hex charge up time would be the downfall of the Vulpix. "Flash, finish this! Use Fire on yourself and then finish the Vulpix with Astonish!"

Hestia fell, knocked over by the Litwick's Astonish! "Come on, Hestia! You can get back up, I know you have it in you!" Struggling up, the Vulpix briefly stood, before falling back to her stomach. She didn't have anything left. Returning her to her Pokeball, Zach smiled. "Good job, girl. We could've had it, we'll get better."

To the side, the referee called the match. "Vulpix is unable to battle! Litwick wins!" A round of applause followed this, Zach waving at the small crowd before retreating to the stands.

By the end she had won, though Flash was looking pretty beaten up and she didn't feel like this was the best outcome... Was it really because of the fact that he could only use one move against her while she combo-ed hers? She could tell that the guy had a lot more to give than that, heck he lasted so long by just doing that after all. A scowl came over her face before she turned around to head to the healer for Flash.

Alice had only just stepped away from the arena when she heard the crowd erupting into whooping cheers as she heard the last battle end behind her. Her final opponent had been decided, but Alice didn't really care. To have come this far, that was enough. She had travelled across the ocean, walked for miles down the coast and now she and Celia were placing in the finals of a battling competition. Theirs was a dream come true. She sighed and collapsed, sitting down in the war, sand. If she lost here, she would probably have to return home to Scotland. She was already running low on money, and unless she found some somewhere, there was no way she was going to manage to stay in the country. Before the tournament began, she had worried that it would be the end of her time in America, but me she was just happy that she had made it here in the first place.

"Oh." Alice mumbled, reaching down to her belt and picking up the new Pokeball "I almost forgot about you." She smiled, running her fingers over the button "Guess we should probably say hello, huh?" With a gentle flick of the wrist, Alice tossed the Pokeball into the air and in a flash of red light, a small red monkey stood before her. "So you're Biscuits, huh?" Alice beamed "I'm Alice, your new trainer, it's a pleasure to meet you." The Darumaka looked up to Alice, head tilted slightly. The Pokemon seemed to be processing the situation, keeping his distance from Alice obviously untrusting. It was understandable, he was traded to Alice without warning, but Kyle seemed more of an aggressive trainer and Biscuits looked like a very intellectual Pokemon. "I think the two of us are pretty alike Biscuits, I'm looking forwards to training with you." The Darumaka hesitated a moment before nodding slightly. With her new Pokemon on her side, Alice felt like she had a chance to take this tournament. All there was left to do was wait until the finals began.

Walking over to the healing station, Zacharias once again handed his pokeball over to the attendant, this time with a disappointed smirk on his face. The teen sighed, leaning on the table as he though over his match, wondering where it all went wrong, but had a hard time of deciding. 'We really gave it our all, huh?' Well, at least it was understandable that they lost. It just meant they'd have to pick their training up even more, work harder to overcome their plateaus.

Nodding at the attendant, Zach took his Vulpix back and walked over to the stands once again, where everyone was waiting for the next match to begin. While walking, however, he noticed one of the finalists in the sand, a curious little Pokemon sitting there with her. Intrigued, he walked over and hunched down, pointing out the Pokemon. "A Darumaka? You don't see those a lot around here, they're mostly a jungle Pokemon. Swinub are also a pretty uncommon sight. Where'd you get such a cool team?"