A Late Start

Preparation day

I tied Silas' scarf back around his neck after pulling it from the dryer. He did a little dance around in a circle.
"I know you hate it when I take it off, but I really have to start washing this thing more, you wear it everywhere, so It gets really dirty." He rolled his eyes, clearly expressing his apathy towards his own hygiene. "You laugh now, but Don't blame me if that thing becomes too thin to keep wearing." I ran my fingers slowly over the frayed edges with a sigh. "I really do hope there's a tailor in Virbank that can fix this old thing for us.
"You ready for your big day?" Mom came in with a question.
"I guess so, just hope everything goes well today. I feel like Lucy's been staring holes in me since I started training with Erah." I gently tapped the empty metal spheres on my hip.
"She's just a concerned parent, I'm sure you know all too well how that goes right?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I chuckled a little, realising Erah's situation might not be too far from my own. I quickly headed out to the living room with Silas. "You almost ready Erah? we've gotta be in Floccessy in like an hour." I got a quick chirp from Erah in response before Lucy started telling him something in their Language. Silas looked at me like he was expecting something. "What? you know I can't understand what they're saying." He gave a little chuckle before jumping off my shoulder onto the floor. He ran over to join in their conversation and I couldn't help but feel just a little excluded. "Alright guys, ready up, we gotta get on the road."
"And what of that friend of yours?" Lucy chimed in from across the room.
"Ethan's going to be meeting us there, he left early to make sure we could get registered in time."
"Good luck out there Lex, I'll be rooting for ya." Mom stated, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Thanks, mom. Hopefully, we'll bring home at least some prize money, even if it's not the grand prize." I pulled Erah's Pokeball from my belt. "Hey, Erah. Are you walking or want a ride?
"He'll take the ride." Lucy butt in before he could even respond. The younger Pokemon walked up to me and tapped the button on the sphere in my hand before I could even process what just happened.
"Uh, okay then.." my voice trailed off. "Silas, you coming?" I turned to head out through the front door, Silas jumped up on my shoulder as I pulled the door shut behind us. I gave Silas a scratch on the chin before we left town.

We arrived in Floccessy to see a pretty big crowd gathered all throughout the town. There were even portable food and drink vendors lining the streets.
"Not a bad turnout," I mumbled to myself as I made my way towards the field we were meant to be competing on. Despite my best efforts I couldn't seem to spot Ethan throughout the crowd. By the time I got to the registration booth, there was no sign of him.
"Excuse me, miss, are you here to register for today's event?" The attendee asked when I came close.
"Oh, uh actually I think I'm already registered, my friend was supposed to be coming through earlier to sign us up." I said back "I was actually just trying to find him." She took a second to check through her notes.
"Your friend is the boy with the Geodude and Dewott, yes?"
"Yeah, that's him."
"And you're here with Eevee and Riolu?"
"Mhm."
"Excellent, here's your pass, your teammate is waiting inside."
"Uh, my pass?"
"Tournament standard, they won't let you in without it. Just helps us determine who is in and who is out."
"Right, okay." I made my way towards the building that everyone was supposedly hanging out in. There was someone outside who stopped me but let me in after they saw my card. I assumed some kind of security guard.
There was a huge crowd of trainers inside and a large board with all the team postings on the back wall. Eventually, I picked Ethan out of the pack and walked over.
"Hey Lex, was wondering when you'd get here," he greeted me with a hand on the back of his head and an awkward smile.
"Why are there so many trainers here? I thought you said it was a small, local tournament. I don't even recognise most of them." I kept my voice down since we were inside.
"Yeah, about that... I lied, well, kinda. It IS a local tournament, small. Not so much."
"And why didn't you tell me this?"
"If you knew how big it was I knew you wouldn't have come."
"Well, you were right about that. This is crazy."
"Lex, the prize is like a hundred thousand, split between the two of us. Do you have any idea how big this could be if we win?"
"A HUNDRED THOUSAND!?" I couldn't help but shout. "Who in Floccessy is hosting a tournament worth a hundred thousand?"
"Um, Alder ex regional champ turned teacher..." his voice trailed off
"Wait wait wait. You're telling me that Alder himself is hosting it? Half of Unova is going to be here!"
"That's kinda why the prize is so high."
"How many teams are there?" I sighed
"Thirty-two all together. But prizes start at top 4."
"Thirty-two... Just how long is this thing gonna last?"
"Well, it's only 5 rounds, and there are no second chances with each match expected to take about an hour. Probably like 3 or 4 days?"
"3 to 4 days? I thought we were gonna be here for like. A few hours at best."
"Hehe, funny how that works huh?" I gave him a deadpan stare. "At least It'll be good training... Right?"
"You owe me big time for this. You know that right?"
"Yeah, I figured as much. But look at it this way, we only have to make it to the semifinals and we walk away with twenty-five grand each."
"Oh, yeah ONLY to semifinals," I retorted with all the sarcasm I could muster."
"Not to mention, You're famous Lexi, people will be afraid of you."
"I'm 'famous,' really? How. I'm just some girl from the outermost city in Unovas western peninsula. How do you figure that I'm famous?"
"It's all about your brand. You're not just 'some girl' you're the Ace of Aspertia and the speech you gave after your gym challenge, about putting Aspertia on the map, bringing us all the way to the top. That was broadcast live, all across the region, on the biggest news network in all of Unova. People know who you are. Not to mention, you're this mystery trainer who just popped up out of nowhere, beat Cheren with only one pokemon after a few months of training AND your partner is shiny. It's a recipe for fame Lexi."
"First of all, It's not my brand. You came up with it on the spot and all those rumours just came from our schoolhouse. I'm not some wild enigma, it's just how people see me."
"Exactly! And how the people see you is a huge part of your national identity, roll with it." At this point, I had noticed quite a few of the trainers in the room had stopped their conversations to stare at us.
"Uh, Ethan. Can we talk about this somewhere else? I think we're causing a scene." I whispered to him, hoping nobody would notice. He looked around, noticing all the people staring and a cocky smirk came across his face.
"That's right everybody," he began and I immediately gave him the biggest death glare I could. "The ace is here and she's going to take every last one of you down." Silas and I both tackled him before he could say anything else and I immediately covered his mouth with my hand.
"Sorry about that everyone," I tried to put on a happy face to break through the embarrassment Ethan had just forced me into. "My friend here is just a little excited for our first tournament together. Isn't that right Ethan?" I tightened my grip on his face. He gave a muffled grunt in response. "If you'll give us a moment we need to go and talk strategy," I practically dragged Ethan out of the back exit to the building and Silas followed along close behind.

Once I was convinced we were out of earshot of everybody else I gave Ethan a hard shove into a nearby tree.
"What the hell was that?" I asked, furious.
"It was just a little pregaming Lexi," all the confidence had drained from his voice. "To get everyone thinking about you."
"Why would you want everyone to be thinking about me?"
"Intimidation?" He responded like he wasn't sure of the answer himself.
"You got caught up in the moment and you weren't thinking. You mean." He gave a solemn nod. "Look, Ethan. I know you weren't trying to do any harm and I think It's cute that you seem to think so highly of me. But this whole brand you've made for me. It's just not who I am. I'm not a star, I'm not some kind of prodigy and I don't want people to think that I am. It was kinda funny as a gag for the news, for the camera, that's why I went along with it then. But when we're not being recorded, do you think you can tone it back a bit?" Another nod "we're going to go back in there and this time we're not going to cause a scene, we're gonna walk in and keep it casual. Got it?" He gave another nod.
"S. Sorry for getting out of hand Lex, I just wanted you to get as hyped up for this as I am."
"It's okay, Ethan. Just, try to tone it down a little, Please?" I was taking deep breaths between sentences to try and bring myself back down. Ethan gave a weak smile and put his hand on my shoulder.
"I'll try not to bring it up again."
"Thank you." Silas jumped back up on my shoulder and we all went back inside. Most of the group had returned to their individual conversations and didn't seem to notice us coming back in. I looked up at the blackboard at the back of the room with the tournament bracket chalked upon it, just as Ethan said, thirty-two teams, all listed and labelled. Most of the teams had fairly generic, tough-sounding names like Rising Storm or Raid Warriors. Others went for alliterative names or even just jokes. I wasn't paying too much attention to it all except for one name in particular.
"Aspertian Aces, Seriously Ethan?" I gave Ethan a sarcastic look
"What? It's a good name don'tcha think?."
"You really are leaning into this whole brand you're creating aren't you?"
"Hey, we gotta get our names out there somehow don't we?"
"Wouldn't just making it through the gym circuit be enough for that? Most trainers drop out before the 6th gym."
"Well, yeah. Probably. But if we can make enough of a buzz BEFORE getting that far we can be like celebrities before even reaching Castelia."
"Since when did you care about notoriety?"
"Since I learned about all the bonus opportunities that come with being famous."
"What, like free ice cream on Tuesdays?"
"Get real Lexi, I mean like exclusive deals, crazy new items. High profile tournaments. Think of the money we can make through it all. Plus, we're going to the league regardless, may as well make it entertaining for ourselves."
"You sound like a child with dreams of fame and fortune, but I can see where you're coming from. Let's just keep it for the cameras and NOT in front of people just because alright?"
"Whatever you say, Lex."
"Anyway, It looks like we have the first game, So we'll be up shortly. You sure you're ready for it?"
"Ready and raring to go as always. Are you sure that YOU'RE okay with this though?"
"Not really any turning back now anyway, may as well give it everything I've got."