Pokémon BW: Rise of Clarity (book 3 of the HBoD series)

Chapter 43: Kicking Off the Unova League

"Man, I think winter is finally almost here," Alex breathed into her hands as she, Robert, and I walked along with the other trainers competing in the Vertress Conference. We'd just stepped out onto the main stadium field, the crowd cheering from the stands as we made our appearance.

"The battles will warm us up in no time," Robert said, turning around as he waved enthusiastically to the crowd.

"There's quite a bit more people this time around watching," Alex noted. "You'd think after the Clarity incident that less people would have showed."

"It's the opposite, actually," Robert told her as we all began to line up on the field. "The general public got to hear how a train with Clarity and a bomb on it were taken out by the trainers aboard. Not to mention the rumors that several trainers helped out in Castelia. There's so many people because they want to see what these trainers are made of if they were able to help stop Clarity."

"Sounds about right," I shrugged as I took a quick one over of our competitors. "Oh hey, I can see Hilda and Hilbert."

"Where?" Robert poked his head out from the line to see them, then frowned. "Hugh's here."

"Hugh?" Alex looked. "But I thought he wasn't a trainer?"

"He wasn't..." Robert trailed off as a memory came back to him.

"That damn Team Plasma! I won't allow them to get away with this! I'll get my own Pokemon! I'll train them and train and train! Then I'll take them down. One! By! One!"

"Hugh..." Robert whispered softly.

"Alright then folks, now that the trainers have all gathered on the field, we can get on with this year's Vertress Conference!" A resounding cheer came from the crowd, the sound deafening. "And this year, I shall be doing the announcing!" The large televisions hanging over the stadium flickered on to reveal Alder in the announcer's booth, giving a toothful grin. "Your previous Champion!"

The crowd's erupting cheers quickly petered out as what he just said registered. Alder blinked, then boomed with laughter. "Oh right, I forget that wasn't made public yet. Well, better now then never I guess. As of a few days ago, I lost to a challenger who bravely made their way through the Elite 4 to face me. And so," Alder gestured behind him to the darkness, where a figure was already coming forwards. "I'd like to have you all welcome Unova's newest champion-!"

"N!"

"No," I stared, slack jawed as N strode into the light to take the seat next to Alder as the crowd quickly began cheering again.

"Literally how!?" Alex's hand was gripping my shoulder tightly while Robert simply stared intensely at the screen.

"Thank you for the introduction," N gave the former champion a nod. "While I myself cannot condone Pokemon battling for the sake of sport, I am willing to listen to their voices today to see if I can truly understand what a 'trainer' is."

The crowd didn't seem to know what to make of that as only a few scattered applauses could be heard. 

"Ahem," Alder coughed into his fist, bringing attention back to him. "With the events and tragedy that have occurred recently, the fate of the conference was in question. However, due to an overwhelming amount of support from the people of Unova, we have decided to go ahead with the tournament! Not only that, but due to recent events, all eyes are on this league from around the world. So make sure to do your best out there trainers. Now!" The screen changed, this time showing the 128 trainer cards. "Let's get the match-ups started! For the Preliminary Round, this is who'll you'll be facing!"