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

Chapter 24: The Rustboro Rumble!

"So, do you know where Rustboro Gym actually is?"

"Well, I'm hoping we find out pretty soon!", Ellie shouted back, causing a chuckle from Lucas. They turned a sharp corner around a tall office building, and ran through the row of houses, looking for any sort of loud noise or crowd around any sort of buildings. But, nothing down this street gave them much of that at all. So, another corner was turned, and this time, a large crowd could be seen gathered around a large stadium. There was no doubt in either of their minds that that was the place they needed to be.

But, the large crowd intimidated Ellie. She had already found it overwhelming before in the Pokemon Centre, and from just a glance at the crowd, she could tell that it was about fivefold that amount. Lucas caught the expression of panic and asked,

"Hey, you doing okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a big crowd, that's all." Ellie said as a slight blush overcame her cheeks. Lucas looked down, then to Ellie, then grabbed her hand, asking,

"Well, I'll guide you through it then! If that's okay with you."

Surprisingly, it did help calm her nerves. Knowing that Ellie would have someone by her side eased her anxiety a bit, and she sheepishly nodded.

"Great! Then, lets make our way in."

Lucas led the way through to the crowd, then gripped Ellie's hand tighter as they went through the busy crowd. There were so many people around, each pushing and shoving to enter the stadium or get a ticket. Still, Lucas managed to make out someone in the crowd, stood near the ticket booth. He grinned wide and yelled out,

"Harry!"

Harry's ears suddenly perked up upon hearing his name being called, and Lucas began to walk quickly towards him, dragging Ellie as he did. Ellie then split the hand-holding as soon as she saw Harry, instead just sticking nearer to Lucas than usual.

"So, are you guys here to watch the match too?"

"Yeah, we are!"

"Well, its all sold out here. I didn't even manage to score a ticket.", Harry said with a heavy tone of disappointment, followed by a sigh. Lucas looked at the tickets that Ellie was holding, and hoped for one more to fit Harry into the group watching. But, only three remained in her hand. Lucas sighed, wondering if Seijo would mind if they took a ticket for Harry.

"Hey, do you wanna go into the stadium with us?"

Lucas looked to Ellie as she suddenly handed a ticket to Harry, who looked stunned that they even had tickets, let alone were offering one to him.

"How did you guys get these? These are VIP!"

"Well, Seijo had a few. One of these were meant to be for him, but something tells me he's going to be in that Pokemon Centre for a while."

"So, you're sure its okay for me to take one of these?"

"Of course! Any friend of Lucas' is a friend of mine!.", Ellie said with a smile. Harry held the ticket in his hand, and it felt amazing.

"Thank you so much. Now, lets watch this thing!"

"Yeah!", Ellie and Lucas exclaimed as they walked up to the entrance, Ellie once again taking up Lucas' hand, this time without Lucas even offering. He didn't mind though, as long as she was happy with it, so was he. Harry caught them holding hands, but decided not to say anything. He instead asked,

"So, do you guys actually know who's fighting today?"

"Well, apart from that the Rustboro gym leader is battling, no."

"Well, I did some research beforehand. Roxanne, the leader of Rustboro, is supposed to be going up against the new gym leader of Mauville."

"What happened to Wattson?"

"Got too old for battling. Had to retire. So, someone else has taken over the mantle of gym leader. This is actually set to be their first match."

"Alright, then. That just makes me more excited to see who it is!", Lucas answered with enthusiasm, already thinking about who the person could be.

They approached a person acting as security and Ellie flashed two tickets for Lucas and herself, while Harry showed the ticket for himself.

"Alright, for VIP, you'll have to take a left and go down the corridor. There should be a woman there, she'll take care of it from there."

The trio nodded and wandered through, rearing off to the side of the large entrance and finding a door labelled with a VIP plaque above. Ellie pushed open the door and found a woman standing at the side, dressed as an Ace Trainer. She looked over the tickets and allowed the trio passage through.

"Enjoy the match! I'm sure it'll be a good one!", she shouted as she walked past, and as they entered up the stairs. The Ace Trainer smiled as they walked past, letting her green hair and red and yellow coat flow freely in the wind. Then, something suddenly buzzed in her ear, a loud voice over the intercom,

"Where are you? You're supposed to be in your dressing room!", Watson shouted into her ear, being scared that something had happened to her. But, the Ace Trainer answered in a cheery mood,

"Well, I'm greeting some of the VIP's. They were a little short-staffed, so I wanted to help out a bit."

A heavy sigh came from the intercom, followed by a stern voice,

"You're lucky you pass just well enough as an Ace Trainer."

"I guess I am. So, I'm assuming you want me down there."

"Yes, the match starts in ten minutes! You don't-"

"Want to be late for your first match. I know Dad."

"Well, just don't be late."

"I won't be."

Static faded through the intercom and the Ace Trainer let out a sigh, flipping her hair back and smiling.

"It'll be a good match, I'll make sure of it."