The Arcane Tournament

Reflecting and Preparing

It wasn't long before the day had come to a close and the battles had concluded. The roster was scrambled up and the remaining 16 combatants were shown who they'd be up against the next day.

Gold was set to face off against Yellow. He was barely able to take in the other scheduled battles because of the fear that struck him when he saw the matchup. Yellow was an incredibly skilled trainer and while Red had beaten her in battle years ago, Gold had never fought the woman.

He met up with Silver on the way back to the hotel and they found that this time the seating for dinner wasn't assigned. They sat down at an empty table and were joined by Wally, May, Emerald, and a boy wearing a white hat.

"Hi Gold!" May said with a wave. "Is it alright if we sit with you guys? Wally told me he'd met you earlier."

Gold's head bobbed up and down and he went back to eating. "Go ahead, the more the merrier. I saw you guys both won your battles."

Wally nodded but didn't say anything. "Mhm! It was pretty close though, my poor Mawile got completely overwhelmed. Now I'm up against that Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia."

Gold's head perked back up. "Wait, Cynthia." He turned to Silver. "Wasn't Blue supposed to battle the Champion of Sinnoh?"

Silver and Gold shared the same expression as they realized what that meant. "She beat Blue." Silver whispered.

The boy in the hat sighed. "I watched her battle and that Garchomp is definitely a threat, but don't psyche yourself out May. Plus, you'll have three Pokémon to use instead of just two."

May didn't seem to assured by this. "I know, but she's been Champion since I was young."

Gold recalled what he'd researched on Cynthia. During the last tournament, she had been knocked out early on by Selene in a very narrow battle that mostly came down to a surprise Oricorio that Selene used.

"You might want to ask Selene for advice," Gold proposed. "She's the one who beat Cynthia last year."

May considered this but sighed. "I guess, but she's probably busy preparing for her own battle." Gold couldn't recall who Selene had been matched up against.

"Well I'm against some guy named Alex." Wally volunteered.

Gold turned around and spotted Alex chatting across the room with Red and Yellow. "Alex almost became the Champion of Kanto and Johto. He's a pretty great trainer and I haven't fought him since he went off to Hoenn to train a few years back. Watch out for his Tyranitar and Typhlosion."

Wally considered this and nodded. "Right. I only have a couple Pokémon so I need to really think about who I'm using."

The boy in the hat frowned. "Wal do you still only have six Pokémon? What're you going to do when there are back to back full battles?"

"I-I'm not really sure. D-doubt I'll even get that far." Wally replied but started to think about it. His eyes suddenly lit up. "I've got an idea! It's a surprise though, you'll all see tomorrow."

Gold turned to Silver as he remembered who his friend was set to fight. "You're up against the Champion of Unova, aren't you?"

Silver nodded. That explains why he's been so quiet. "I'm not really sure how I'm going to beat someone so strong."

"I watched her battle today," Emerald jumped in. "You've got a strong team but I don't recommend bringing Feraligatr. She used a Serperior and it beat both of her opponent's Pokémon."

Silver took in the information and smiled at his former opponent. "Thanks! I'll keep that in mind!"

Gold put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You've got this, bud! Sounds like we all need to focus on team building. I'll be up against Yellow, one of Red's former rivals."