The Arcane Tournament

It All Ends Here

Gold reunited with Silver and the two boys recapped the battle he had fought against Rosa.  "I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I'm glad you ended up going with Weavile!" Silver said.

Gold nodded. "Mhm! I wasn't sure at first but I kept thinking about your point and you ended up being right. Just a few blows from it were enough to knock out any of my Pokémon, so there was no reason not to use him."

"And then Ursaring managed to pull it all together." Silver finished recounting. "Now you're up against Wally, are you ready?"

Gold shrugged as the boys made the trek to the hotel. "Yeah, I'm not super worried. He's not exactly a Champion with a Reshiram. I do need a plan for dealing with that Goodra since it'll be a six on six battle but I should be fine."

"You seem pretty confident, Gold." Silver commented.

"Sure am!" He told his friend. "I've got this in the bag now! I just took down a freaking Reshiram! Now I'm up against someone who isn't a Champion, and then I'll either face the trainer I beat four years ago or someone who I could beat with my eyes closed."

Silver frowned. "Selene's a pretty strong trainer, what makes you think you could win so easily?"

The Champion rolled his eyes. "Drake beat her last year and he was a pretty easy final match, looking back on it. Sure she's gotten a bit stronger, but she's never battled me before."

"And you've never battled her," Silver countered.

The two continued their argument for a little while until Gold waved it away. They arrived at the hotel and picked out food from the buffet. The dinner crowd was noticeably smaller this time around, with most of the older participants not being present.

Gold didn't give it much thought and sat down at his usual table. "Great battle, Gold!" Elio told him as he sat down.

Brendan nodded. "Your team is crazy strong, I can't wait to see how your battle against Wally goes!"

His friend looked down at the ground and started to rub his left wrist with his other hand. "I-I didn't think I'd get this f-far. I-it'll be a fun battle, though."

"Fun's the word I'd use." Gold stated. "Looking forward to a warm up for full team battles before finals."

Several expressions soured and May narrowed her eyes. "Someone's... sure of themselves."

Wally looked over at his friends, almost as if he was begging them not to engage, and Emerald changed the subject. "Selene, you and May had an incredible battle as well. I was entranced the entire time."

Selene's face flushed red and she smiled. "Mhm, just imagine how it felt doing the battling. It was definitely a battle to remember. Now I get to fight the former Champion of Kanto and Johto."

Silver looked around. "Where is Red? And everyone else? Usually, they're all eating dinner down here too."

May stared down at her PokéNav. "Lisia was supposed to be here tonight too... weird."

Gold could feel the tension in the air. Everyone seemed to be giving him a side eye just because he was speaking realistically. "So Selene, you figure you'll be able to beat Red?"

The Alolan Champion shrugged. "Maybe. I didn't make it to six-on-six battles last time though, so we'll have to see how it goes. I haven't even decided on the team I want to use and you never know what Pokémon he'll bring to battle."

If I had to guess, probably his strongest. Gold thought. "Yeah I'm not sure which Pokémon I'm going to be breaking out either. I don't know all of Wally's Pokémon so it'll be an interesting match to plan for. Mega Gallade's a guarantee, though."