Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 63: That Funny Feeling...

 Now, the top 8 could finally begin. Usually, trainers could only dream of this success, but for 8 people, it was a reality. Although, the room where the matches were announced felt frighteningly empty. Alex, Lucas, Ellie, Harry and four others. Alex had even started to sit at the table with Ellie, Harry, Lucas and Seijo, given that all of his friends had been eliminated in the previous rounds. The group didn't mind much, though, and Lucas was more than happy to talk to Alex about his team and his strategies going into his matches. Just as long as he wasn't giving anything away for when he would inevitably have to fight one of the three people he was sitting with.

"So, why did you pick trade evolutions as your team?", Lucas asked as the people of the league prepared to show the standings for who would be fighting next. Alex thought for a second and then said,

"Well, Gastly was my first ever Pokemon since it haunted our house for a while before my parents caught it and gave it to me. Since then, I've just had the idea of trade evolutions, and when I started my journey, I was able to make it a reality."

"Won't that limit your team, though?", Harry spoke leisurely as he tossed a Pokeball up into the air before catching it again. Alex simply shrugged and said,

"There may come a time when I will want to have other Pokemon on my team that are not trade evolutions. But, for now, I am more than content to stick with my squad."

"I think it's great to be able to stick to a team like that! I just pick what ones I like, honestly.", Lucas admitted. Meanwhile, Ellie had chosen to furiously note down anything she could think of in her notebook, choosing not to speak at all. Puzzled by Ellie's silence, Alex asked,

"You don't feel like talking, huh?"

Ellie didn't know he was talking to her until he found him gazing at her, to which she stuttered before speaking with a few nerves

"Um, no, not really.", she said quietly, causing Lucas to chuckle slightly as he said to Alex,

"She's just shy. Don't worry about it."

Ellie was then taken away from their attention, much to her relief. Suddenly, the giant screen began to project the next matches of the tournament, meaning that they could finally see who was fighting who. Most were matched against people they had never heard of, but then Ellie was drawn to go against Alex. Ellie became visibly frozen as she gazed at the screen, and Alex appeared slightly shocked as well. But, he didn't do much about it. He simply turned to Ellie and said,

"Well, I wish you luck, Ellie. And, the rest of you guys, in your matches."

He then kicked his chair into the table and walked away, out of the facility, no doubt to train up a bit more so his Pokemon could be on top form for fighting. Meanwhile, Ellie looked down at her notebook and realised that she had frighteningly little data on how Alex would fight, nor on what Pokemon he would use. He had shown himself to be capable of using a variety of Pokemon in the previous rounds. But, now that Alex was Ellie's opponent, she really would need to put in some work.

Ellie set aside her notebook, placing it neatly in her bag before closing it and departing from the table. She departed without a word, clearly lost in thoughts about the battle rather than the people in front of her. Lucas looked disappointed to see her leave, while Harry just commented,

"She's clearly in her own world."

"Yeah, she is.", Seijo responded as he tapped his fingers on the table, asking, "You guys wanna do some battling? Feels like forever since I've had a battle, my Pokemon are itching to fight."

"Hell yeah, I'm down!", Harry exclaimed, suddenly jumping up from his seat. Lucas nodded in agreement with Harry and the trio left to go to the Pokemon Centre for their battle.