Fire rained down from the skies as Charizard circled his adversary, Goodra, making sure to steer clear of the multitude of electrical attacks being sent his way. It had been a close battle up until this point for both Shauna and Trevor as they each were down to their final teammates. Trevor, from what most could tell, had the advantage. Charizard's mega evolution afforded him a faster flight speed and a more backing to his firepower due to his new ability. Goodra remained on the defensive, warding off the occasional Dragon Pulse that followed shortly after each stream of fire.

"Keep up the pressure Charizard, we've got her on the ropes!" Trevor shouted encouragingly.

Charizard roared an affirmative and swerved around a stream of draconic fire that ripped through the air, nearly clipping his wing as he avoided it. In retaliation, Charizard flapped his wings rapidly, loosing several sharp blades of wind that battered the dragon where she stood. Goodra braced herself as the attacks came, planting her feet as she was buffeted by the harsh winds that sliced against her slimy scales.

"Hang in there Goodra, we can win this!" Shauna called out. "Let's show them what you're made of, Hydro Pump!"

Goodra drew breath and blasted the sky with multiple thick streams of fast-moving water that put Charizard on the run. Trevor watched as each attack missed its target, a smile growing on his face as Goodra continued to expend energy with every attack. At Trevor's command, Charizard barrel rolled away from another blast and dove swiftly at Goodra, his mouth gaping and charged with draconic light. This was it, he had her... at least, he thought he did until Goodra's horns suddenly shot out like vines and wrapped themselves around Charizard, dragging him to the ground and forcefully slamming him onto the arena, making the attack he'd prepared fizzle out.

"Wh-What!?" Trevor exclaimed, sweat trickling down his face as he saw Charizard struggling to break the hold of the slimy horns that bound him.

"Oh my, looks like someone's in a bind!~" Shauna said in a sing-song voice while placing her hands on her hips and grinning. "Power Whip is a cool move isn't it? I knew you'd get too eager so I saved it for last. Looks like I win!" Shauna giggled, holding up a victory sign and winking before issuing the final command. "Goodra, Hydro Pump!"

Charizard's eyes went wide as Goodra sucked in air and blasted him in the face at point blank range with a strong burst of water, putting him out of commission within seconds.

"Charizard is unable to battle! Goodra wins the round meaning Shauna moves on to the quarter finals!"

Shauna shimmied giddily in place before running to the center of the ring to meet Trevor, pulling him into an immediate hug.

"That was fun! I can't believe I won that, I really thought you were going to win," Shauna admitted with a laugh.

"I honestly wasn't expecting that result. You and Goodra are a really good team, you deserved that win. I got a little too eager at the end," Trevor said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it Trevor. You did your best, and that's all that matters. Just be sure to cheer me on in the next round okay?" Shauna replied while taking his hand to walk with him off the battlefield.

"Of course I'll root for you. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't... right?" Trevor replied, a blush tinting his cheeks as Shauna squeezed him tight and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"That was quite the battle you two. I was on the edge of my seat!" Tierno said as he and Serena met up with the duo after their match had concluded.

"Thanks! I was really nervous at first, but Goodra and I pulled it off in the end. By the way, congrats on your win Serena! I know Tierno wasn't an easy match was he?" said Shauna as she gave her friend a congratulatory hug.

"Thank you Shauna. It was a really tough fight, but I wanted to win and I wasn't going to let my nerves get the better of me. I have a goal in all of this and I'm not going to let myself go down easily before reaching it," Serena replied, her eyes shifting to the board as Seth and Hugo's faces lit up the big screen
above the arena.

"It's time for the last match of the preliminary rounds everyone! The winner of this match will move on to join the other seven quarter finalists to battle it out for a spot in the semifinal round!" The announcer boomed, stirring up the excitement of the crowd.

Seth strode confidently out onto his side of the field, determination in every stride as he came to a halt in his trainer's box. He knew that this match would be no easy task considering the overall power of his opponent. Hugo was strong, there was no doubt about it. However, he'd already made one crucial mistake during the opening matches, and that was revealing his strongest teammate right out of the gate. As daunting as a Mega Aggron appeared, Seth
was all-to-familiar with how to handle something like that.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Ah yes, I do recall meeting you early on in my journey. Viola's gym am I right? I seem to remember you mincing words with an acquaintence of mine, I believe it was... Enzo if I recall correctly. Rather prideful that one was. It's a shame what happened to him though I suppose he had it coming," Hugo said shrugging.

"Yes... we did meet there. As for Enzo, what happened to him is neither here nor there," Seth replied casually. Though I won't pretend it wasn't tragic, thought Seth as he took a deep breath. "All that matters now is this match and what awaits us after it..."

"I can't say that I don't agree with you. Those who cannot rise to the occasion will ultimately fall by the hand of those far superior to them... just as you will fall to me in this match so that I can take my rightful place by the side of my equal," Hugo said with a sneer.

"Funny, I seem to remember someone calling me an ignorant fool at one point. Declaring victory before the match begins despite not having seen the opponent's best is a pretty ignorant thing to do don't you think?" Seth replied, smirking as Hugo's eyes widened after hearing his own words used against him.

Dismissing the statement, Hugo reached for his first teammate and enlarged the ball, signaling that he was ready. Seth followed suit and readied his choice as the judge began the match.

"This is the final match of the preliminary rounds. The winner of this match will move on to the quarterfinals! Trainers, send out your first Pokémon!" Boomed the judge.

"Rhyperior, come forth!" called Hugo as he released his first pick onto the field.

In a blinding flash, the Drill Pokémon burst out of his ball and onto the battlefield, a mighty roar heralding his arrival. The rock behemoth had two massive arms with blade-like protrusions on his elbows. There were holes in the center of his hands which acted as a sort of projectile cannon. Orange rock plating covered his body and a long, club-like tail anchored itself to the ground. Seth had seen this beast fight and was well aware that of its overwhelming strength... a strength Seth planned to take full advantage of.

"Carbink, engarde!" Seth shouted in a commanding voice as he launched his companion into battle.

"Mattie, didn't you tell him to get serious?" Jolie asked Mathilde upon hearing Seth's choice.

"I did, and he is," Mathilde chuckled into her hand. "I just hope his opponent won't be too embarrassed when Carbink picks apart that Rhyperior."

"Now you've got me curious about what kind of harebrained scheme Seth has up his sleeve. Then again, I shouldn't be too surprised that he went with such an obscure choice from the start..."

"Oh it's harebrained alright, and if Seth does everything exactly the way he did while training Carbink, it's going to drive Hugo Noibatshit crazy the entire match," Mathilde said smirking.

Out popped the rock rabbit onto the arena floor, its eyes widening the moment it saw the monstrosity that it was pitted against. Hopping around to face its trainer, Carbink gave Seth a quizzical look with its eyes.

"This is going to be a pattern with me isn't it?" Carbink asked as it turned its body partially so it could see Rhyperior scowling down at it.

"I know he looks big, but you've taken on challenges like him before. This won't be any different," Seth replied with a confident smirk.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," Carbink muttered, remembering the previous challenges that it had been up against.

"Don't worry, you're going to do just fine. After all, you're my key to winning this battle," Seth replied, fixing Hugo with a stern look.

Carbink perked up as it heard those all-too-familiar words. Seth had said them in his battle against Clemont in Lumiose City and if it recalled correctly, it had been able to overcome two foes that were far more powerful than it was. Feeling more at ease, Carbink turned to face Rhyperior, a determined look replacing the expression of worry it once had before.

"Both trainers ready?" asked the judge who looked between the two combatants for a sign of readiness. "You may begin!" she shouted upon confirmation from both sides.

"A Carbink huh? I'm not sure if you're either brave or just plain stupid. That little thing doesn't stand a chance against the likes of my Rhyperior. Allow me to demonstrate! Rhyperior, use Earthquake!" Hugo commanded with a snap of his fingers.

Rhyperior snarled and slammed his club-like tail onto the ground, using the force to aide his leap into the air. As Rhyperior plummeted, Seth shouted his command of Magnet Rise right as Rhyperior slammed the full weight of his body into the ground. Carbink's body sparked with an electrical current that caused it to levitate off the ground which made the shockwaves pass harmlessly beneath. Hugo knitted his brows in frustration as Carbink was made immune to any ground based attacks.

"How annoying..." Hugo growled, clenching his fists as he issued another command. "Fine, if that's the way you want to play it, Rhyperior show no mercy! Iron Tail!"

Rhyperior roared and exploded forward, stampeding toward Carbink with his tail glowing with intent to smash the little rock rabbit into the ground. As Rhyperior closed the distance, Carbink's body began to glow with a bright purple light as Seth shouted, "Skill Swap!"

The same purple light overtook Rhyperior and a ball of violet energy was pulled from his body into the tiny frame of his opponent. A similar sphere of energy was ejected from Carbink's body and absorbed into Rhyperior's. A loud crash was heard as Rhyperior's tail made contact, sending Carbink sailing through the air and smashing into the wall behind him, creating a dust cloud that shrouded Carbink's body from view. Hugo dawned a smug look of satisfaction as he saw the dust clear to reveal Carbink stuck to the wall. Thinking he'd won, he was about to speak when Carbink pried itself from the wall and hopped down, shaking off the damage as though little had been done to it.

"Inconceivable! That was a direct hit from an Iron Tail, how is that thing still standing!?" Hugo exclaimed in alarm.

"Despite how small it is, Carbink is surprisingly strong on the defensive end of things. With the added bonus it just got thanks to your Rhyperior, it just got even sturdier," Seth replied with a grin. "Solid Rock is a great ability, but it doesn't do a whole lot of good if Rhyperior doesn't have it anymore now does it?"

"You... are you trying to make a fool of me? Well I won't stand for it! Rhyperior, let's show this upstart what happens when someone makes a mockery of us! Heavy Slam!" Hugo roared.

"Sharpen and use Gyro Ball!" Seth countered.

A silver aura outlined Rhyperior's body as it charged fiercely at Carbink. The Jewel Pokémon's body began to take on a more jagged looking appearance as it awaited its approaching opposition. Rhyperior leaped high into the air and spread his arms and legs wide as it attempted to body slam the rocky hare. As swift as it could, Carbink spun out of the way as Rhyperior crashed into the ground and then reversed its course toward the great rock beast, ramming into his face multiple times as it spun like a top in a back and forth motion until Rhyperior passed out after several heavy impacts.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle! Carbink wins the round!" the judge declared as Carbink stopped spinning and attempted to steady itself.

Hugo angrily returned Rhyperior and stuffed him back onto his belt and grabbed his next Pokémon. Casting Seth a disgusted look, he released his next choice, a Vaporeon, into the fray.

"Let's see how you handle this! I hope that little pebble can swim. Vaporeon, use Hydro Pump!" Hugo ordered.

"Brace yourself Carbink, stand your ground and use Skill Swap again!" Seth called out hastily.

Within seconds, two purple orbs of light zipped by one another and were absorbed by their targets, endowing them with the abilities of their former hosts. The cannon blast of water-instead of pulverizing the opposition-was quickly absorbed into the Rock-type's frame, restoring its stamina almost instantly.

"I'm growing rather tired of your tricks! Vaporeon, Shadow Ball!"

"Counter with Gyro Ball!" Seth retaliated.

Vaporeon opened her mouth wide and spat a volley spectral orbs toward her opposition who began racing toward her like a spinning top. Each sphere bounced off of Carbink's body as it tore off after Vaporeon, managing to land a few glancing blows after a few passes before Vaporeon started avoiding it. Each time Vaporeon dodged Carbink's onslaught, she would fire another Shadow Ball in an attempt to tip Carbink off balance.

As another spectral sphere whizzed by, Carbink skidded to a halt and launched a Moonblast toward Vaporeon who retaliated with a powerful Ice Beam that cancelled out the attack, creating an explosion that knocked Carbink onto its back. Taking advantage of the downed adversary, Vaporeon broke into a sprint and pounced upon her foe, her tail aglow with a silver light. Hugo, hoping to end the match shouted, "Iron Tail!"

"Stone Edge!" Seth defended.

As Vaporeon swung her tail downward, a massive jagged stone punched its way out of the ground and crashed into her, repelling her back into the air. Vaporeon bounced and landed hard on the ground. After struggling to pull herself up she collapsed, unable to continue. Hugo gritted his teeth at the results.

"Vaporeon is unable to battle! Carbink wins the round!" the judge declared again.

"This is impossible! How on earth could my Vaporeon lose to something as pathetic as a Carbink!?" Hugo snarled, recalling Vaporeon in disgust. "I even paid to have it toughened up a bit and it still lost... how ridiculous!"

"I'm sorry but... did you just say that you paid someone to train your Pokémon for you?" Seth asked with an arched brow. "If you ask me, you have no right to be calling anyone's Pokémon pathetic if you don't even train your own..."

"When your family has as much wealth as mine does, training them yourself isn't really necessary. Why do it yourself when you can have someone else do it for you and you can reap the benefits? All I need is for them to be strong and to obey me, I don't really care how it gets done," Hugo admitted with a chuckle.

"That's the main reason why you're going to lose. You don't care about the well-being of your own Pokémon, and yet you have the audacity to say that you
and her are equals. Unlike you, she actually takes care of her own Pokémon and personally sees to their training. She's a giving soul with a kind heart and if you think you're on the same level as her you are sadly mistaken," Seth snapped back.

"I suppose you think that you're on her level then? How amusing. Why don't we finish this shall we? This last Pokémon will see to it that you fail. You've made a mockery of me this entire match and that ends here! Aggron, to battle!"

The great iron behemoth loosed an earthshaking roar as he landed heavily onto the arena floor. Carbink, who had been in top form for the entirety of the match, began to falter at the sight of the monstrous metal beast. Carbink half expected Seth to recall it but that command never came. Instead, Seth decided to stick with Carbink in spite of the fact that he was at a severe disadvantage, and to make matters worse, Hugo was reaching up to touch the small stone embedded into his wristband, causing a worrisome glow to envelop the arena. When the light died down, an even more imposing monster reared its head.

The aura that Aggron was emitting was nothing short of impressive to say the very least. Just by looking at it, Seth could tell that it was indeed well trained, even if it wasn't entirely by Hugo himself. He'd observed it during the first round of the preliminaries enough to know how destructive it was. Seth knew he would need to be cautious even with the plan he'd concocted to combat it.

It's definitely going to be tough. It may not hold a candle to my dad's Aggron but it's still an Aggron nonetheless. I'll need to be careful if I'm going to pull this off...

"Flash Cannon!"

Aggron opened his maw and shot a beam of hot white energy toward Carbink who immediately took evasive action, leaping aside to avoid the blast as it exploded behind it. Carbink hopped upward again to avoid a followup shot and was soon forced to the ground and pinned beneath the claws of its bulky aggressor.

"Your little Carbink has annoyed me for the last time! Flash Cannon!" Hugo roared.

Aggron gripped Carbink tightly and flung it into the sky before aiming another Flash Cannon at the airborne rock rabbit. Before the blast could connect, a rectangular barrier of light materialized in front of it, reducing the power of the attack significantly before it struck Carbink and sent it toward the ground. Seth breathed a sigh of relief as Carbink managed to slowly get back up and ready itself for another round.

"Just like a stubborn Bug-type... no matter how many times I squash it, it never stays down. No matter, if it's a test of endurance you're after then you're out of luck. Aggron's defenses are unmatched by any other Pokémon as you'll soon find out. Your little Carbink won't leave so much as a dent in it no matter how much it tries. Aggron, fortify yourself with Iron Defense and then use Metal Claw!" Hugo commanded fiercely.

"Carbink, you know what to do. Stand your ground and use Iron Defense as well, and when he gets close let him have it!" Seth instructed.

Carbink stood firm as it mirrored its opponent's defensive actions. While it didn't like the idea of being a sitting Ducklett, it knew exactly what its trainer had up his sleeve. As the terrifying claws of its adversary descended upon it, Carbink's eyes glowed brightly and a violet sphere of energy flew out of its body while another was pulled from Aggron as it brought its claw down ontop of Carbink, creating a massive dust cloud upon impact. Hugo looked on hopefully as the dust began to clear, a grin spreading onto his face when Carbink was revealed to still be on the ground. As the judge began to raise their hand, Carbink began to stir.

"Finally, I thought it would never-what!?" Hugo exclaimed as Carbink slowly hopped up before the judge could make the call. "Just what is going on here!? Carbink should be finished by now!"

"You're right. Normally it would be... however, you seem to have forgotten one major detail that's been a part of this match from the beginning. Carbink may not be as tough as Aggron is when it comes to defenses, but with a certain ability, well... you can see where I'm going with this," Seth said smirking.

"No... when did you-" Hugo froze as he recalled the past few moments just before Aggron struck Carbink.

Somehow, during all that chaos, Carbink had stolen Aggron's ability from it and replaced it with what was once Vaporeon's ability... an ability that was completely useless on Aggron in his current state. Hugo recalled every move that Seth had made during the past few matchups and soon came to a horrifying realization.

He had been set up from the start. Each ability Carbink had stolen was just a stepping stone to get to Aggron's ability. What made it more infuriating was that Hugo originally hadn't intended on using Vaporeon in the first place which made it a happy accident that Seth was able to make the switch in the first place. He'd been outdone and that made him even angrier. Gnashing his teeth, Hugo gave his next command.

"Iron Tail!" Hugo bellowed.

"Sand Tomb!" Seth defended.

Carbink's eyes began glowing a bright pink color as it focused on its approaching adversary. A swirling vortex of sand soon sprang up around Aggron as he neared, stopping him a few feet shy of his target. The mighty metal giant roared in annoyance as his course of action was halted by mere sand. The more he tried to move, the more rooted he became, furthering his frustration.

"Don't let that insignificant pest best you Aggron! Blast it away with Flash Cannon!" Hugo shouted, irritation evident in his command.

Aggron snarled in annoyance and opened his maw to prep the attack. As he did, Carbink's body was outlined in a bright gold light that caused the ground the suddenly start cracking. The cracks expanded rapidly toward Aggron as if they were locked onto his position.

"Checkmate..." Seth declared as he gave the final command. "Earth Power!"

The cracks beneath Aggron's feet began to glow with a golden light and without warning, several pillars of energy erupted from the ground with a loud bang! A mushroom cloud rose up from where Aggron stood and after a few moments another loud crash was heard. When everything cleared up, the judge immediately raised their hand.

"Aggron is unable to battle! Carbink wins the round which means that Seth will be moving on to the quarterfinals!"

Amidst the cheering of the crowd, Allie breathed a sigh of relief. She had been so glued to the match that she didn't realize how nervous she'd looked to everyone else who had been watching. From the start she'd thought Seth had lost his marbles. Under normal circumstances, at least... as far as she was concerned, no trainer would ever think of doing something as ludicrous as what she'd seen Seth do. Her heart must have stopped nearly a dozen times during the match. She had half a mind to scold Seth for it but since he won she supposed reprimanding him wasn't needed.

Just watching him made her tingle all over with excitement. She was eager to see what other tricks his Pokémon were capable of. The words he'd said about her during the match brought a smile to her face. Seth was one of the very few who understood who she was, and she'd be a fool not to appreciate him for it. There were only three remaining participants in her contest which meant that she would need to be prepared for any of them to be her opponent.

This is it, she thought, her eyes shifting to the board to see the matchups for the quarterfinals. Just two more rounds to go!

Serena had been paired up against Grayson while Shauna was facing Vincent. Jamie was pitted against Seth and Felicity would be against a trainer named Alexis. With the matchups set, the host of the conference announced that everyone would be given an hour to prepare their strategy before everything resumed.