"Here it is!", Seijo exclaimed as they finally reached the border of Rustboro. Lucas and Ellie followed close behind, excited at the prospect of the new town. But, Lucas's Pokeball wobbled in his pocket, reminding him of his need to check up on his Pokemon first. They continued walking, but Lucas still decided to search up the location of the Pokemon Centre, just to get there as soon as possible. Ellie peeked over his shoulder to see what he was searching for, then looked straight ahead.
"There's no need to search for where the Pokemon Centre is, Lucas.", she said as she pointed in the direction of the Pokemon Centre. It wasn't extremely noticeable, but from looking at it again, Lucas began to question how he didn't see it before.
"Thanks, Ellie.", Lucas said awkwardly, trying to hide his slight embarrassment. Ellie noticed it through the blush in his cheeks, but decided not to say anything about it, simply responding,
"Well, we're not going to get there quickly enough at this pace.", she said as she began to walk faster. Lucas matched it easily, as did Seijo, and in no time they were already comfortably stood outside of the Pokemon Centre. The automatic doors flew open, revealing the most crowded and busy Pokemon Centre that they'd seen in a while. Nurse Joy's desk was getting overwhelmed with a flurry of people, so much so that there was a second Nurse Joy, a young boy stood off the side assisting a few people.
"Does anyone know why its this busy?", Lucas asked the group and Ellie had absolutely no idea what could have possibly caused the influx in people. But, Seijo was ready with a guess,
"I think there's supposed to be an expedition match at the Rustboro Gym. I was invited, but I knew that I wasn't strong enough to stand up to any of the other gym leaders."
"So, the exhibition matches are between gym leaders? That sounds awesome!", Lucas exclaimed, but Ellie seemed slightly reluctant.
"Sounds like a lot of people though. If there are this many people in this Pokemon Centre, just imagine how busy it'll be in there."
"I suppose. And, tickets will definitely be sold out by now.", Lucas said, slightly disappointed but accepting of the fact that he wouldn't be able to do it. He just thought
"Maybe next time."
Then, a shout suddenly came from behind the desk,
"Next please!"
Lucas walked over towards the desk with Ellie and Seijo behind him, handing Shroomish's and Torchic's Pokeball to Nurse Joy. Then, Ellie and Seijo both placed their Pokeballs on the counter and the boy took the Pokeballs into the back without saying a word. Then, a person came out of the crowd and looked up at Seijo,
"Wait, you're the Petalburg Gym leader!", the small girl shouted out to the rest of the Pokemon Centre, which quickly caught everyone's attention. Soon, everyone was scrambling around to meet Seijo, much to the trio's dismay. Seijo managed to hold the first wave off but knew that Lucas and Ellie shouldn't be bothered like this for nothing, especially considering they were already getting looks from the wave of people. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three tickets. Ellie quickly grabbed them, as Seijo said to them calmly,
"Just go to the Rustboro Gym. I was going to surprise you with these when we got there, but I suppose this is as good at time as any."
Lucas stared starry-eyed at the tickets, which were VIP tickets, addressed to him and two guests. He looked up to Seijo and shouted,
"Thank you so much!"
"Yeah, you're welcome. Just, get out of here before it gets too crowded!"
Ellie grabbed Lucas by the arm, clutching the tickets in another hand, and they dashed out of the Pokemon Centre. Lucas managed to balance after the sudden pull from Ellie and started to run at pace with her. He looked to her and asked,
"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."