"Why? Is something wrong?" Red began to ask until he felt Pika's body become tense on his shoulder.

At the sight of the Sudowoodo the mouse Pokemon's cheeks began to spark in a defensive manner and it uttered a soft growl.

Red looked over to the section of seats where the Gym Leaders from Kanto were all sitting together and managed to make eye contact with Blue. He stared back for a moment then raised an eyebrow when he noticed the two spooked Pokemon. Red looked back with equal confusion then let out a sound of mild frustration. There was no way for them to reach Blue without creating a disturbance.

"Red, what's wrong with Pika?" Green asked, finally catching on to the concern.

"I don't think he's the only one.. Gold's not moving," Ruby added.

If Gold's face had been visible beneath the armor's helmet it would have been plain to see that his mouth was hanging open and that he had also gone pale. "S-Sudobo?" he asked, too stunned to call out for another attack after recognizing the Imitation Pokemon as his own.

Togebo looked back at it's trainer with the same fear as the other Pokemon had expressed, unsure of how to handle the situation.

"If you're not goin  to make a move then allow me to show you our brand-new dance step; Shadow Rush!"

"...Shadow what?" Sapphire blurted.

The Sudowoodo charged forward in a reckless lunge, not seeming to care what it hit first.

"Sudobo, stop!" Gold cried, quickly removing the helmet, but even seeing it's own trainer's face wasn't enough to bring the Pokemon back to its senses.

"Sudobo!"

Gold rushed out in front of Togebo and spread out his arms, but Sudobo simply sent both of them flying back with Gold landing in a heap and his Togekiss being forced back into its Pokeball after making contact with the ground.

Crystal covered her mouth with both hands, but there was no hiding the horror in her eyes. Yellow let out a horrified squeal beside her, but the two girls' cried were drowned out by the roar of the rest of the audience.

He jumps out of the crowd, Kihaku quickly following him, and he gestures for the referee to call a time-out as he checks on Gold. "Hey... You alright?" He holds a hand up in front of Gold's face, his index finger extended. "Follow my finger." He moves his finger to the left, then right, then back to the center, and he frowns at the glazed look in Gold's eyes before waving the ref over. "He's got a major concussion. He's in no state to continue this battle."

Mirror B. shrugged in feign innocence. "If the boy is unable to call out another Pokemon then I believe it is a white-out which means it's my match, if I'm not mistaken..."

The MC nodded before turning out towards the audience and lifting his hand. "Both the challenger and his Pokemon are unable to continue. The battle goes to Mirror B. of the Ore Region!" he officiated.

There was another roar from the audience as Red, Green, Ruby and Sapphire all weaved their way through the crowd to reach the arena in a less direct fashion.

After assisting Ruby and Seishin to lift Gold, Red looked up at the monitor that had been displaying the progress of the battle and let out a sympathetic groan. The left side of the screen that had showed Gold's picture along with his Pokemon and their status went dark and was pushed off-screen while the right side showing Mirror B. and his Pokemon expanded. The image then flipped over to a larger picture of Mirror B. with the text "WINNER" over it.

Red shifted his gaze back to the real Mirror B. as he strutted away from the arena in a disco-esque manner after calling back the Sudowoodo.

"What a turnaround! It looks like the mysterious Ore Region is off to a great early start in the tournament, but there are still plenty of trainers here from Johto who could rise through the ranks..." The MC commentated as the  three boys carried Gold away from the arena.

"...It looks like our first Shadow Pokemon experiment was a complete success. We should report this to Master Nascour," one of the Peons who had been monitoring the battled smiled to the other before temporarily cutting off the commandeered video feed.

Back in the stadium, Yellow and Crystal had quickly left their seats in the audience to catch up to the others on the ground level as they took Gold to the Infirmary Station.

"...How is he?" Crystal asked in a concerned tone.

He glares at Miror B. "I should have you disqualified from the tournament for not calling off your Pokemon when the Trainer rushed onto the field. Consider yourself lucky that he needs immediate medical attention, or I would do exactly that." He walks off with the rest, supporting Gold. When they get to the infirmary, he sighs and turns to Crystal. "He took a pretty hard hit, but he should be fine after a bit of rest. This armor of his absorbed most of the impact. He just needs a while in the infirmary, and he'll be be back up and moving around like nothing happened. You should probably stay with him, though. I have a feeling we won't be seeing the last of those people or that mysterious "Shadow" Pokemon." He carries Gold in and lays him down gently on one of the empty beds before heading over to Nurse Joy and having her heal Togebo. As soon as he comes back with the Poke Ball, it jumps out of his hand and opens, the Togekiss coming out and flying over to it's Trainer with a worried expression on it's face, and he smiles reassuringly at the Pokemon. "Don't worry, he'll be fine." The Pokemon seemingly understands him, and sets down on the ground, continuing to stand vigil over it's Trainer. He pets it behind the wing, which is now folded up against it's body. He turns to the other Trainers in the room. "If you'll excuse me, there is something I have to do." He exits the room, leaving Kihaku to help watch over Gold, and walks part of the way down the hall, before looking around and ducking into an empty room. He brings his Xtransceiver to his face and pushes the call button, calling Riley. When he picks up, he sighs. "I need you to talk to the officials for me, specifically Blue, because he knows me and he will back me up. Tell him your relationship with me and he should listen to you. I'm sure you saw that there was something not right with that Sudowoodo as well, not to mention the way he reacted upon seeing it. He acted like it was his Pokemon. I'm starting to think that something bigger is going on here... Anyway, I just wanted to ask you to do this. Bye." Seeing Riley's nod, he hangs up and heads back to the group in Gold's room. "Sorry, I had to make a call." He taps his Xtransceiver for reference and is about to lean against the wall when he hears the next match-up be announced over the PA system.

The seven trainers sitting in the smamm infirmary room all looked up towards the speaker on the ceiling as the next match was announced, bot none of them recognized either of the names that were called. There was a simutameous sigh of mild releif from all of them.

"I guess that means we can stay here a little longer," Red said, sitting back further in his seat.

"That sure was a dirty trick he pulled, though. What kind of attack was that, anyway?" Sapphire asked, clenching her fists.

Green furrowed her brown and foldered her arms. "It sounds like we'll deffinately have to watch out around all nine of those triners from the Ore Region..."

The others all gave a grim nod in agreement before the door opened again and Nurse Joy entered the room with a slightly irritated look on her face.

"Listen, I understand you're all worried about your friend, but he needs to rest now. One of you can stay here, but the rest of you will have to wait outside," she explained firmly. 

Crystal stood up before any of the others could say anything. "Um... if it's alright with you all, I'll stay with Gold..." she volunteered sheepishly. 

"Except for Yellow, you guys are all in the tournament. It would be a problem if you were called up to battle and  weren't there, so it might be be best for you all to head back to the Stadium for now. Togebo and I will keep an eye on him and the rest of his Pokemon, and I'll be sure to come get you all if anything changes with Gold," Crystal continued.

The others all nodded in agreement before Nurse Joy shooed the six other trainers out of the room.

"So who exactly did you call anyway, Seishin?" Red finally asked as the group all took a seat in the waiting area.

He turns to Red. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you that at this time." He pulls Red off to the side for a moment. "I can tell you, however, that I am having the person I called notify the Gym Leaders and other officials to keep an eye on Miror B and the other Trainers from Orre." He nods for them to rejoin the group, and they all head back into the arena proper in time to see the match that was announced begin. It's over surprisingly fast, and the screen shows the winner as said Trainer walks off, and the MC announces the next match.

Red let out a grumble of mild annoyance at Seishin's secrecy, but still gave him a nod in understanding. It was good to know that someone would soon be notifying the Gym Leader and League Officials that the trainers from Ore seemed suspicious, but it still almost sounded like Seishin didn't trust them.

Yellow abruptly stopped a moment later, bringing the whole group to a halt just before re-entering the arena. "This is as far as I can go," she said.

"Crystal will have to go into the stands again when she get back too, but I'm sure at least one of you will be able to see up and we can go see Gold together. In the meantime, I'll be cheering for all of you, okay?"

Yellow gave them all a wave before she turned towards the Audience entrance.

"You can all go ahead of us, too," Ruby said.

"Sapphire and I have a little business of our own to take care of, but well be back before the next rounds for our blocks," he explained before taking Sapphire's hand and leading her in the opposite direction Yellow had gone, towards a locker room that had been set aside for the Trainers taking part in the tournament.

The rest of the group had not made it back in time to see the winner of the previous battle, but they were still able to hear the MC's follow-up commentary.

"...And just like that, the Sinoh Region is on the map after a quick Double-Battle!"

there was a pause, accompanied by a cheer from the audience.

"Now, why don't we check in on our neighbors over in the next Stadium? If I may direct you attention to the monitors, we continue the Tournament with a set of battles from the B and D Blocks!"

He smiles, hearing the MC's announcement. "Looks like my home away from home is doing well." Seeing the look of confusion on Red's face, he turns to face him. "Why I say this is because I am not actually from Sinnoh, I only trained there for a while. I am actually from Rota, back in the Kanto region. I left when I was a young child, about 4, and started training with my teacher as we traveled back to Sinnoh. Thus, I did most of my growing up in the Sinnoh region, and came to think of it as a second home." He turns and walks back into the arena, Kihaku only a step behind him.

"...Rota?" Red repeated, still just as confused as before.

"A small city that's even further north than the Cerulean City," Green explained. "It's such  a remote city that you can only get to it by chartering a special boat from Cerulean Cape and it costs quite a pretty penny from what I've heard, so not very many people do it very often. Usually only for special events by invitation only."

"I don't really know much about it myself, but I've seen the name mentioned a couple of time in books about Legendary Pokemon when I was researching Mew before I met you," she continued as the rest of the group entered the arena. 

No sooner had the trainers made their way back to their place among the other's taking part in the tournament did the lights dim and a large monitor  drop down from the ceiling. The screen flashed to life and after a moment of static showed an image of the second arena where the B and D blocks were. The camera until it stopped on the second arena's MC. Strangely, the two MC's almost looked like they could be twin brothers.

Also, just barely visible in the audience nearest to the arena was the back of a head of bright red hair that Green would recognize anywhere.

"Looks like Silver made it after all..." she chuckled just before the camera zoomed in further on the MC as he prepared to announce the third match.

He nods at what Green says, and when then screen retracts back into the ceiling, he turns to Red. "It's my family's ancestral home, and has been since the days of Sir Aaron." He glances over to Green momentarily. "I assume you know who that is, since you said you were researching Mew. However, for Red's sake, I'll explain." A pair of glasses seemingly appear on his nose and a history book for the Rota area is now in his hand. "Sir Aaron was the first of a long line of Aura Guardians that have kept watch over the Tree of Beginning ever since." He has flipped to a spot in the book where on page has a drawing of Sir Aaron, and the opposite page has a drawing of the Tree of Beginning, the text on the page so small that it is obviously handwritten and requires a specially made pair of glasses to read. "His partner, and the partner of almost every Aura Guardian since, was a Lucario, because they can also sense and use aura. This Lucario will have been given to the Guardian when they were a child, usually four or five, as an egg, and thus, they grew up with it until it evolved." He turns the page to show a child holding a Riolu egg on one page as a drawing, and then next page has a drawing of a child playing with a Riolu on the top half of the page and an older version of the same child meditating next to a Lucario. " As such, the Aura Guardian and the Lucario have a bond more akin to brothers than friends or partners." He turns the page to show a drawing of the Lucario and the same child, now an adult, living together in the same house, and the page opposite shows the pair laughing while sitting at a dining room table, as if a joke had just been told that both found funny. "And this is the way it has always been." He takes off the reading glasses and slides them into his breast pocket, then sticks the book back into his coat. "Alright, history lesson's over!" He claps his hands, seemingly breaking the spell he had cast over the two of them. "And if you're wondering why that book looks so old, it's a family heirloom passed down from Sir Aaron himself. It gets passed down from Aura Guardian to Aura Guardian as a 'coming of age' present."

The story left both Red and Green with a smile on their faces. 

"So the Lucario kind of becomes like family for an Aura Guardian, huh?" Red mused. It sounded a bit like how Gold felt after growing up in a house full of Pokemon. It really was a shame that he had been taken out of the tournament so early, he thought as he spotted Mirror B. in the crowd and his brow furrowed into a mild scowl. He was sitting in a section of seats that had been designated for winning trainers who were moving on in the tournament.

But Red's anger didn't last, however, when Ruby and Sapphire re-entered the arena. This time it was Ruby who was excitedly leading Sapphire through the crowd of potential challengers and the two were wearing new outfits. 

Ruby resembled a rock star with a wild dark red jacket trimmed with black along with studded cuff links over an equally wild shirt that was black with patterns of yellow and lime green on it. He worse a thick belt that matched his jacket with a long silver chain that held his Pokeballs. His pants were a black leather and his boots were the same dark red as the rest of his ensemble with a buckle around the ankle and a studded black ring near the top.

Sapphire's outfit resembled a pop idol with a cut-off white blouse covered by a deep blue vest with a large bow. She wore a ruffled skirt that matched the blue color of her vest along with with bloomers and high-heeled shoe that were laced up nearly to her knees and also topped with bows. On her head, her bandanna had been replaced with another blue bow and her Pokeballs were attached to what appeared to be a charm bracelet on her wrist.

"Sorry we took so long, but I still had a few last minute alterations to make and I wanted to be sure that we'd be ready to make a good appearance for our first match," he explained.

He blinks, then looks between his own attire and their outfits. "Wow, you make me look under-dressed!" He gestures to his current, fancier version of his normal clothes with a smile on his face. He chuckles and turns in surprise when he hears the announcer call Riley's name. "Well, looks like my teacher is up. Let's see how he does."

 Upon hearing his name, Riley walks up onto the battlefield and waits for his opponent to do the same, and he notices his pupil nod at him and smile, then mouth 'Good luck.' Once his opponent walks onto the battlefield, he waits for the referee that start the match, then he sends out his Lucario, who growls upon forming from the red stream of data, and forms an aura bone before spinning it and smashing one end into the ground, then dispelling it.

His opponent then walks into their area of the battlefield and then spotlight shines on them, revealing it to be Snattle. He throws a Poke Ball into the air, and it opens, and when the Pokemon forms, it reveals that he sent out a Quagsire. The referee motions that Snattle has the first move, to which Snattle nods. "Quagsire, use Mud Shot!" A bullet of mud shoots out of the Pokemon's mouth at Lucario. "Lucario, use Bone Rush to block it!" A light blue, semi-transparent bone forms, which the Lucario swings at the ball of mud, knocking it to the ground, and the Pokemon then charges in before hitting the Quagsire 2 times in rapid succession before the bone dispels, although the attacks don't seem to do much. "Quagsire, use Waterfall!" A huge wall of water comes crashing down on the Lucario, forcing it to the ground, and Snattle smirks. "Lucario, use ExtremeSpeed!" It seemingly vanishes from where it's lying, then reappears behind the Quagsire as it goes flying from the impact, crashing into a wall and fainting. "Quagsire, return! Go, Scizor!" The Pokemon forms from the stream of data and is floating in mid-air. "Scizor, use Metal Claw!" One of the Pokemon's pincers takes on a metallic sheen, and it swings it at the dragon, closing it on one of the Lucario's legs. "Lucario, use Close Combat!" The Lucario rushes in and hits the Scizor repeatedly, doing a fair bit of damage as the Bug-type Pokemon goes flying back several feet before skidding against the ground, then floating into the air once more using it's wings. "Scizor, use Silver Wind!" A large, shiny blast of air that seems to have silver dust in it impacts the Lucario, sending it skidding back a few feet, but it manages to stay standing. "Lucario, use Close Combat once more! It rushes in again and hits the Scizor hard, sending it flying backwards, where it faints, and the last attack finally fully affects the Lucario, causing it to faint as well. "Go, Starmie!" The Pokemon forms from it's Poke Ball. "Go, Salamence!" The dragon Pokemon roars loudly, and it lands, shaking the floor slightly just from it's weight. "Starmie, use Shadow Storm!" The star-shaped Pokemon spins rapidly before a dark aura whips up a medium-sized tornado around the Dragon-type, dealing a fair bit of damage. "Salamence, use Fire Fang!" It does a moderate amount of damage to the Starmie, as well as giving it a burn. "Starmie, use Shadow Break!" The Pokemon starts to spin, then rapidly moves forward, hitting the Dragon-type once before swinging around and hitting it again. "Salamence, use Crunch!" The dragon Pokemon flies forwards before biting down hard on the Starmie, causing it to flinch before fainting. The referee announces Riley the winner as Snattle recalls his Pokemon, and Seishin smiles. "That's my teacher for you. I've only ever seen him lose once." As he says this, Riley and Snattle walk off the battlefield to get their Pokemon healed and the next match starts.

Sapphire nodded in appreciation of Riley's clear skill and strength, but her brow was still furrowed into a frown. "Yeah, but what the heck kind of move was that? It almost looked like the same kind that weirdo with the big hair used against Gold."

"You're right, but I've still never seen anything like them before..." Red mused.

"Me either. At least, not in any contest I've ever been in," Ruby added with his own concerned tone while Green made the confusion unanimous with an uncertain shake of her head.

Up in the audience, Crystal still hadn't returned with news about Gold as Yellow sat with a somewhat fearful look on her face. While the rest of the audience was cheering an applauding the match she had fallen silent as soon as the trainer of Orre had released him Starmie. The Mysterious Pokemon had emitted the same terrible, dark aura as Mirror B.'s Sudowoodo had. Riley had managd to defeat it, what was making these Pokemon so melevalant?

"Excuse me, are you Yellow?" a voice suddenly asked, casuing her to jump slightly before turning her head. The one who had adressed her was a rather short, round man wearing a suit with a long, brown overcoat, a red tie, grey vest and dark blue oants. Both his rapidly receeding hair and mustache were grey and curly.

"Y-yes, I'm Yellow."

"I am Mayor Es Cade from Orre," the man introduced himself with a warm smile. "Your friend Crystal told me that I would find you here after she told me about the disturbance one of my fellow representative of the Orre Region have caused. I must say I'm quite shocked by his actions and have given him a sound talking to for nearly putting that poor boy in danger."

Yellow turned the rest of her body in her seat to face him. "Mister Mayor, I don't think that Pokemon knew what it was doing when it attacked Gold, there was something wrong with it!" she pleaded.

"Oh?" The Mayor raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I can't explain it...but it almost seemed like it was just fighting for the sake of fighting and it even looked a little different somehow. That Starmie one of your other trainers used just now was the same way..."

The smile on Es Cade's face faltered slightly when Yellow looked back out onto the arena, but he recovered as soon as she looked back at him. "Why don't you come with me and tell me more?"

without even waiting for Yellow's consent, he took her by the wrist and lead her out of the arena.

He frowns. "You're right... It seems like it was the same kind of attack..." He thinks. 'Not to mention it had the same malevolent aura and energy as that Sudowoodo...' He sees that Riley noticed it as well. 

He walks out of the competitors area into a secluded, empty room before using his Xtransciever to call Riley. "I saw that you noticed that Starmie's aura as well. It's the same as that Sudowoodo." Riley nods. "Yes, I noticed that. I'm starting to think that there's something that the competitors and officials from Orre are hiding from the rest of us... We should continue to watch them, because they are definitely up to something. And be careful, those weird Pokemon who can use those 'Shadow' moves are extremely powerful."

He nods, then cuts the connection and walks back into the arena right as Crystal reaches the group of competitors.

"Gold finally woke up," Crystal explained. "I came back to tell Yellow first because I didn't want to drag any of you away from the tournament until there was a break, but she wasn't in her seat..."

"What?" Red asked in alarm, turning his head along with the rest of them to look up at the spot where Yellow had been sitting and confirming that she was indeed gone.

Sapphire folded her arms. "Do you think she might have just left to use the bathroom?"

"I suppose it's possible... but I don't think I passed her on the way here," Crystal mused before she was cut off by the MC once again.

"And now for the final battle of the tournament's first day!" He began, earning a roar from the audience as he pointed to diret the focus back up to the monitor. The image switched back over to the display of the compettators standings for the B and D Blocks. The picture of each competator's face flipped over and shuffled again before two cards flipped over to reveal the two trainers who would be battling. One was from Hoenn and the other from Unova, but neither one apppeared to be of any particular note or recognition.

Red turned to the group. "Look's like we don't have to worry about the next match," he said with a gesture of his thumb towards the screen. 

"Come on, let's find Blue and go check on Gold. If Yellow isn't back in her seat by then we'll all search for her."

He's as worried as Red, but manages to hide it slightly better. "If you don't mind, Crystal, would you allow me to check on his aura? I just want to make sure it wasn't damaged in any way." He smiles in a friendly way at her as he asks, hoping she'll say yes, because he's silently worried about what the dark aura of the Pokemon he seemed to know might have done to his own aura.

"...His Aura?" Crystal repeated, not quite understanding, but still looking visibly concerned.

"Nurse Joy seemed to think that everything was okay, aside from the bump on the head... but if you really think that there might still be something wrong with him then I suppose you can take a look once we get to his room as long as he's okay with it."

Red nodded. "But first things first. Let's go find Blue," he said before leading the group though the crowd. All of the other competitors are focused on looking up at the monitor to watch the match in the neighboring arena as the six weave their way through to the opposite side of their own arena to where the Gym Leaders are sitting.

Outside, Mayor Es Cade lead Yellow through an enclosed hallway that circled the outside of the arena until they reached a large, reinforced door near the end of the hall.

"This is my private viewing box," he informed her before opening the door. Inside was a small section of cushioned seats that were larger that the benches that most of the audience sat on and the entire wall that faced the arena below was replaced with a large pane of glass. Monitors were also mounted in the upper corners of the glass wall with a close up feed of the arena.

"Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. I am going to have a word with a few of my fellow representatives from Orre first and then you can tell me all about the problem," Es Cade continued with a pleasant smile.

"Okay," Yellow nodded politely back before quietly choosing a chair and sitting down as The Mayor exited the room. As soon as he closed the door behind him there was a nearly inaudible click as the door locked and outside a sliding section of wall slid over the door to conceal it entirely.

The smile on Es Cade's face faded once again and he adopted a severe scowl as he crossed the hall and entered another room that used an electronic pad for access where Snattle and a handful of uniformed peons waited.

"IMBECILE!" The Mayor roared in a completely different tone than when he had addressed Yellow.

"How could you allow yourself to be defeated with a Shadow Pokemon at your disposal?!"

He cowers slightly, but doesn't back down. "I-I'm sorry! I underestimated the Aura Guardian!" All the peons are hiding behind him, cowering in fear. The man frowns at him. "See that it doesn't happen again, you fool! I'll give you one more chance! Here, and don't mess it up this time!" He throws some Poke Balls containing a Shadow Solrock and a Shadow Lunatone at him, taking the Shadow Starmie back and throwing a Poke Ball with a Lanturn in it at him as well. He quickly catches them, and the Mayor storms out of the room, quickly calming himself and schooling his expression back to that of the kind Mayor. He walks back into the area where the officials from Orre are sitting and sits down in his seat.

Meanwhile, in Gold's room, they are gathered around his bed, and he is standing next to him. "Can you remember what happened to get you here?"

"Yeah, it was that battle..." Gold said with a heavy sight, lowering his face into his palm and wincing slightly as he felt the bandages wrapped around his head.

"I guess I really blew it, huh?" he grumbled. Blue let a scoff and folded his arms.

"That's putting it Mildly! Gold, what were you thinking jumping out into the ring like that?"

"Yeah, what happened?" When you talked to Red on the phone I thought you said that you weren't even going to be able to take part in the Tournament," Green asked. Gold let out another sigh. He removed his hand from his palm, but kept his vision trained on his own knees as he recalled.

"I... stowed away," Gold admitted.

"About a week ago, that freakshow in the purple suit I battled showd up at the Pokemon Daycare. He said he was doing some kind of special research for his region and wanted us to donate any Pokemon Eggs we were looking after that hadn't been claimed by their Pokemon's Trainer's. Gramps and Granny said 'no', but he and his goons kept harassing us every day that week," he explained.

"Finally, on the eighth day we thought he had finally given up, but that night they managed to brake in to the Daycare and steal one of our eggs. Aibo and I chased the thugs all the way to Olivine City before I caught up, but I was outnumbered and their Pokemon were all using some kind of weird attack I've never seen before. Luckily, I still managed to save the Egg, but before I knew it that Disco Dope had taken Sudobo instead and escaped on the S.S. Aqua so I snuck on board... that's where I found the armor," Gold continued.

"I disguised myself so he wouldn't recognize me and took part in the tournament so I could teach him a lesson, but then he used Sudobo against me..."

He places a hand on his shoulder. "I know how you must feel. I would do the same thing if they used Kihaku against me. Luckily, that armor you found managed to protect you from most of the impact." He clenches his fists after pulling his hand away, but then forces himself to calm down. "I promise, should I fight your opponent, Gold, he will not walk away victorious." He smiles reassuringly. "I might even be able to subdue your Sudowoodo long enough to restrain it and bring it back."

Gold shook his head. "No, I'm not going to ask you to do that for me. Sudobo is my Pokemon, so it's my responsibility. Besides, if it wouldn't even listen to me I don't think it would listen to a stranger. It would probably just attack you too, and I don't want anyone else to have to get hurt...." 

He sighed. "I'm still not sure what exactly that guy did, but I know that my Sudowoodo is still in there somewhere... If I could just get another chance to talk to SUdobo I know that I could get through to it..."

"Gold..." Crystal began to say sympathetically, but he didn't even seem to acknowledge him. She was about to speak again, but Blue polite stopped her with a jesture of his hand and a shake of his head.

"I think Gold wants to be alone for now, so it would probably be best if we all left for now," he said as tactfully as possible. The others all nodded in agreement and began to file towards the door.

"We'll check back later if you're feeling up to it, Gold. In the meantime, we'll all do everything we can to help make sure that you get you chance to get Sudobo back," Red assured him before closing the door behind him. 

Out the lobby of the infirmary was a television with a feed from the tournament. A roar from the audience was a signal to the group that the final match of the first day was nearing it's end.

"Sounds like we should all head back to the arena..." Sapphire said solemnly.

"I'll stay here in case Gold changes his mind or if he needs anything," Crystal volunteered once again.

He nods, heading back to the arena, and Kihaku follows close behind him. Once they all get back, the MC announces that we matches are over for the day before asking everyone to head back to their rooms and get a good rest for the following day's matches. He nods to the assembled group, then turns to wave to Yellow in the stands but remembers that she isn't there. "Hey, guys. Yellow's not back. I think we should go look for her. Do any of you have a means of communication, like a PokeGear, Xtransciever, or even a Poketch? I think we should stay in contact with each other, because we'll have to split up to cover this entire place. Come to think of it, does Yellow have one? I could just call her using my Xtransciever." He slides his sleeve up slightly to show the device on his right wrist.

"Sapphire and I both have PokeNavs with a call feature," Ruby affirmed as he held up the round, yellow device in his hand while Sapphire gave a nod.

"...But we don't have anything like that," Green murmured as she brought her hand up to her mouth. Both Red and Blue lowered their heads in thought as well, but Red was rapidly becoming impatient. He began to grit his teeth.

"There has to be some way..." he grumbled. Blue's face suddenly lit up with an idea.

"Hey, Emerald and Silver are here too in the other stadium, aren't they? Why don't we ask one of them to loan us one of their deices?"

Red let out a negative groan as he looked towards the exit. "No, it would take to long to find even one of them in this crowd, especially if we also have to make our way into the other stadium...and fighting through the crowd to get back to the Infirmary for Crystal's PokeGear would be just as bad..."

As Red continued to think, Pika's ears suddenly perked up with it's own idea after it's trainer shifted one of his arms. The Mouse Pokemon hopped down from it's perch on Red's shoulder and began to squeak frantically. When Red finally turned his head to acknowledge the Pokemon it indicated his pocket. Red dug inside and pulled out the only thing that was inside: his Pokedex.

"That's right! Our Pokedex! They resonate when they're near each other!" He suddenly blurted out before flipping the screen open revealing an icon for each Pokedex in the vicinity and each was marked with a unique ID number. 

101 indicated Red's own Pokedex while 102 indicated Blue's and 103 indicated Green's. ID number 107 and 108 beside them was Ruby and Sapphire. In a different area on the map separated by a wall was ID Numbers 104 and 109, Emerald and Silver. In still another area not too far away was ID Numbers 108 and 109, that was Gold and Crystal in the Infirmary Ward.

Finally, in the far upper right corner of the screen, just barely still within range, was the ID Number 001 indicating Red's first Pokedex that now belonged to Yellow.

He gestures for Red to lead the way, since he has the only way to locate Yellow. "Lead on, navigator. You have our only way of locating her, so it's up to you."

Meanwhile, with Yellow in the viewing room, the Mayor has walked back in. "Now then, Yellow. You're going to tell us everything you know about this mysterious energy you seem to be capable of using." He gestures down to the stadium floor with a nod of his head, his hands crossed behind his back.

Yellow turned towards the Mayor with a slight start. The last time he had addressed her, Es Cade had been kind and understanding, but now he was firm and almost angry. Maybe he had been scolding someone after he had left her.

"I-I... I don't know exactly what it is," Yellow began reluctantly.

"But it felt dark... and cold. Those Pokemon all seemed like they were in plain and they looked lost somehow, like they didn't even know why they were fighting... I couldn't even hear their voices anymore..." she explained, but Es Cade merely raised an eyebrow. 

"Their 'voices'?" He repeated and Yellow nodded.

"It was almost as if they were missing something... like a piece of their heart had been locked up..." she continued before clenshing both fists over her chest and raised her legs up uncomfortably. Es Cade then approached her a put a hand on her shoulder. When she looked back up at him he was smiling reassuringly once again, but something about his touch still made her feel uncomfortable.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, my dear. The Orre Region has an especially harsh environment, you see, and  so the Pokemon from our area and naturally born a little more rugged. They might seem aggressive at first, but I assure you that they need to be in order to be able to survive," he lied.

"I'm afraid our Region's Pokemon also aren't quite used to batting in such extravagant Stadiums like you are used to, so I'm sure it must be a quite shocking to them at first."

Yellow thought about this. It was possible, she supposed, but something still didn't seem right... Before she could think any further, Es Cade spoke again.

"Now then, it's getting quite late and you need your rest so I will more than happily escort you back to your room," he said as he gestured towards the door for her to go first. The Mayor kindly slid the door open for Yellow, but standing on the other said was a man wearing a purple suit with long, stringy white hair that stood up in odd waves accompanied by a Dusclops. 

Yellow took a half-step back, but the Beckon Pokemon stepped forward and raised its hand to draw her attention to it's face. It's singular eye glowed a bright red and Yellow collapsed back into Es Cade's arms.

"This girl has seen too much. it'll be a problem if she tells anyone else, especially from the League. It'll be best if we keep her with us," he said as he handed Yellow off to the other man who held her with one arm around her waist and her arms and legs dangling.

"We should also keep a close eye on anyone she's here with in case she my have already said something."