Begin! The Lapras Cup!

After picking their pokemon up from the Poke-cation service, Cass, Kaumi, and Dark headed out to the deck of the ship.

"Hey Dark! Check this out!" Cass pointed eagerly at a slip of paper. Dark squinted at it. It listed the name of each passenger, who they would battle, and when they would battle. "It starts today, the tournament, that is. I battle at�1:30. Dark, you battle at 1:00."

"And I battle at 2:00," Kaumi pronounced, finding his own name. "This is good, we can still make it to each other�s matches�Shiki! You battle on the deck of the stern in 15 minutes!"

Dark drew in a short breath when Kaumi shoved her to make her go. "I can walk, thank you," she huffed. He and Cass followed her to the stern. Exactly five minutes before the match, Dark met her opponent. The young man had short brown hair and a part-irritated part-mysterious looking face. He must�ve figured out that Dark was his challenger and scoffed. However, despite his judgment, he took her on. Stepping to the designated area, he motioned Dark into hers. Cass nodded, and she went.

A member of the ship�s crew raised two flags, then swiftly brought them down. "You know the rules. One pokemon each; easy knock-out style."

This struck Dark. Which pokemon should she use? But she didn�t have to even think because the man let a Growlithe into battle.

�Water type�� Dark thought hard. �Ground�rock�That�s good.� The pokeball flew from her hand and Drowzee vaporized. "What?! Hold on! I didn�t choose this one!"

"Sorry, one each."

Dark was forced to use the psychic pokemon. She gritted her teeth. �Why did that one come out? I didn�t call on it!�

"Fire spin!" Drowzee appeared to be dumb and slow�the continuous attack caught her off guard and she stumbled.

Burning with frustration, Dark commanded her, "Disable!" Drowzee�s eyes glowed blue, and Growlithe sweatdropped. The canine was lifted up, whirled around, and dropped onto the ground, dizzy and confused.

"Hyper Beam!" A flashback slammed into Dark like a bad dream. The Clefable�falling just in time�She couldn�t let her Drowzee go through that!

"Hypnosis!" It was a good call, and too perfect. Like she�d guessed, the powerful yet light hypnotic waves caught the beam and they both vanished like mist. "Head Butt!" and Drowzee pummeled into Growlithe headfirst. The fiery dog was hit so hard that it almost fell over the railing. It slumped over.

"The match goes to Drowzee!"

The man across from her scowled as he retrieved his pokemon inside the pokeball. The loss seemed to have cost him, but Dark knew it was only a simple tournament.

Next was Cass�s match, and the same rules applied. Her match was against an amiable and bouncy young girl who wanted nothing more than to view Cass�s pokemon. When the crewman shouted, the girl chose a Wigglytuff and Cass, her Pikachu.

"Pikamie! Tackle it," Cass said coolly. She battled with ease and didn�t ever get carried away. Well, almost never. The Wigglytuff�s face puffed up with an angry crimson shade after the blow. Cass almost felt bad for her challenger; it was as if she couldn�t control the pink pokemon.

"Tu�uuu...uf!" Explosion�the attack threw Pikamie into Cass, who fell down and coughed from the blow.

"Pikachu is the winner!" He whispered to the girl, "You know, suicide moves aren�t good here. You want another try?" The sobbing girl nodded. "Okay! We�ll find you another match." The two walked away.

"H-hey! She should be out of the running!" Cass was furious.

"She�s just a little girl�"

"When did you ever favor kids, Dark?"

Kaumi split them up, preparing once more to insert his knowledge. "She�s the captain�s daughter. She gets everything she wants, and I bet you�ll be seeing her in the Cup again."

On their way to Kaumi�s battle, Dark realized she�d only seen him fight once before, and it wasn�t a real match. She looked over to him, apparently not noticing her gaze. His face was stern and set, just how he�d looked when he'd helped her so long ago at Surge�s gym�There was just something about him that warmed Dark. He�d always been there to save her in the nick of time, always. Her face pinked as she looked straight forward again. She just had to get to see his skills. He must�ve been a great trainer.