Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 3 - Naming the Squad

Three days later, Darragh drove us up to the Pokemon League. Nelly and I had been training together each day, pushing each other's Pokemon to get ready for the test that awaited us. Though I had only practised for a couple of days, I had felt myself falling back into the swing of battle quite easily, and I had made sure to bring my new Pokemon up to speed. Hawlucha adapted the smoothest, being right at home amongst the likes of Grovyle, Buizel, Xero and Solaris, coincidentally, the faster members of my team. My Torracat, Taiga, not wanting to be outshone, made a valiant effort to keep up. Nectaria and Gloop, my Steenee and Sliggoo, weren't too far behind, and all of them had the potential to be as strong as my regulars. With any luck, I would take them with me to the world stage and unleash that potential.

As we neared the stadium – the same place that the team for Japan had been selected – we noticed a large amount of people also making their way inside. I had no idea how many people had actually been shortlisted, but with 48 Asian countries, I was willing to bet that it wasn't a small number. I wondered if Kudou envied Australia/Oceania's coach, considering they would have a smaller pool of Trainers to choose from. Then again, maybe that limited the overall strength of such a team? Though, thinking back to the Australian captain from last year, Chloe, I knew that sheer numbers weren't what made a good team. In the end, every team would be just twelve people – equal.

"You two head through into the stadium." Darragh said. "I'm going through to meet Percy – talk about deja vu."

He was right. The exact same thing had happened last year.

"Ok. Bye, Dad." Nelly said as we split from him.

Walking into the foyer of the stadium, we could hear a rumble of voices from within. Even amongst the cacophony, I could hear a mixture of accents. This would be interesting, to say the least.

"Hey!" I heard a familiar voice.

We turned to see Hikaru coming towards us. Sol and Yu were with her.

"Hey guys!" Nelly smiled.

"You made it!" I grinned.

"Like we'd miss this." Sol laughed.

"Let's all do our best and get on the team together!" Yu cheered.

"It's just like the kid says." Hikaru put her hands on her hips. "As your former captain, I order you to make it onto the team!"

"I don't think being the former captain wins you any bonus points." Ix had appeared, fixing his hair.

"Yeah, I know that!" Hikaru stood tall. "I was just sayin'!"

"Right. Yo." Ix gestured to us.

"Hey." I held up a hand.

"No Penelope?" Nelly asked.

"Nah." Ix sighed. "I tried to convince her, but the chick's not down for it. Said it was fun the first time, but she wasn't cut out for it."

"Aw, but she was good!"

"Yeah, well, same with Ray, too, apparently."

"Yep." Hikaru shrugged. "He said he'd be content to cheer us on from the sidelines this time."

"I don't think Julia's trying this time either." Sol remembered. "I seem to recall her saying that she was going to join her mother in nursing."

"That's a shame..." Nelly sighed.

"No chance of a full reunion, then." I said, a little shaken. That was three of Destiny Angel already out of the picture. That just left the six of us, plus Skyra, Victor and Magnus, if they were around.