"12 of 32 competitors have made it through the tournament so far. What is in store for us all today? Well lets take a look at our next four matchers!" The announcer threw a hand at the big screen above her and all eyes flickered to it.

"Our first match, Dawn vs Nathan!" The announcer instantly moved on to the next match, to not keep the crowds waiting. 

"I am in the centre stage?" Dawn gulped nervously.

"The second match of today, Iris vs Lucy!" 

"Now, for our third match up, it is Erika vs Davina!" 

The announcer coughed into her hand, killing the noise like the next match was the biggest. "And finally, the fourth and final match of the day...It's Clemont vs Sarah! Good luck competitors" 

Everyone looked at one another and moved around to their respective areas. Ash and Brock stayed in the main stadium, Cilan went to the second stadium to watch Iris, Miette deciding to tag along and Serena went with Bonnie and Misty to watch Clemont. 

"That reminds me, where is May?" Ash looked at Brock, Pikachu also peering over Ash's shoulder to be involved in the conversation. 

"She decided to stay at the lodge for a little longer, said she would catch up" Brock replied without glancing over. He focused on Dawn and Nathan preparing to battle.

"You all know the rules!" The announcer threw her hand up and fireworks blasted out into the sky. "Let the battles, begin!"

"Piplup, I choose you! Dawn instantly brought out Piplup, without hesitation.

"Conkeldurr, you go first" Nathan had one hand in his pocket and while spinning around, he released Conkeldurr from its pokeball. The huge Pokemon looked down at Dawn's Piplup, who immediately gulped.

"Don't worry Piplup, we can take him!" Dawn clenched her fist with determination, but the suave Nathan flicked his hair to the side and smirked.

"I wouldn't be so sure" He replied, before taking his hand out of his pocket. 

Meanwhile, the other battles had also just begun. Iris was using Dragonite against Lucy's Charizard, a battle Iris knew all too well against Ash. 

"Thunder punch, lets go!" Iris shouted up to the sky, where Dragonite and Charizard flew.

Dragonite immediately charged up the electrical energy within its body, shifting the energy into its fist. Dragonite's face showed his fearlessness as he charged up at Lucy's Charizard, training paying off as Dragonite's speed was unmatched. The thunder punch sent Charizard straight into the ground, causing a small crater to form around Charizard, who was slowly getting up. 

"Dragonite, dragon rush!" Iris wasn't letting up, punishing Charizard fast and efficiently before it could move.

Dragonite's horns started to glow blue in colour as he flew down at Charizard. Then, out of the blue light, a dragon shaped aura surrounded Dragonite and he flew down like a rocket, exploding into Charizard. The once small crater grew in size, rocks smashing down against the now ruined arena.

"Charizard is unable to battle!" The referee noticed Charizard had fainted once the smoke cleared. The crowd gasped in shock, Iris's Dragonite had defeated Charizard in two moves.

Lucy huffed in annoyance, and brought out another pokeball.

"Time to stop playing nice" She scowled and then threw the pokeball into the air.

In stadium four, Clemont was way into his battle, with Sarah pressuring him.

"Haxorus, aerial ace!" She called out to her Haxorus, who swiftly glided against the ground, its wings glowing white. Garchomp slashed down against Clemont's Luxray, who immediately ducked his head to avoid taking major damage. 

"Don't give up now Luxray, use electric terrain" Clemont gritted his teeth, hoping Luxray could pull through. 

The arena immediately became surrounded by electrical energy and Clemont pushed his glasses up, becoming a little more confident.

 "Now, use wild charge!" Clemont decided it was his turn to attack, going full force.

Luxray increased in speed, surrounded by the electricity from the arena and his own energy. He blasted straight into Haxorus's belly, who stood its ground and stayed strong. Despite being a weak move against dragon type Pokemon, Luxray had still done adequate damage to Sarah's Haxorus.

"Now, follow it up with swift!" Clemont grinned, realizing that he had one non-electric type move up his sleeve.

The close range gave Luxray a small window of opportunity, but he capitalized on it with ease, swinging around so his tail faced Sarah's Haxorus and at the same time, during his 360 degree spin, the stars came flying out, smashing into Haxorus. The close, direct hit proved too much, sending Haxorus a few feet back.

"Haxorus, you 'kay?" Sarah asked, with a wad of gum in her mouth. Haxorus slightly nodded and she smiled, feeling pretty pleased with her self. "Good, now use dragon claw!"

Haxorus's eyes flashed momentarily, like he was a new Pokemon entirely. His claw turned a dark purple as he charged at Clemont's Luxray.

"Luxray, wild charge!" Clemont sounded crazy.

"What?!" Serena and Bonnie shouted out momentarily. 

Luxray vs Haxorus, a very effective dragon claw against a not so effective wild charge. Everyone waited, the tense moment feeling like slow motion. 

Bonnie saw Clemont's smirk and instantly looked over at Luxray, who was charging at Haxorus. But, Luxray stopped moving and zig-zagged around Haxorus, who slashed at mid-air. 

Sarah's eyes widened in shock as she realized it was too late. Luxray dived straight into Haxorus's back, the move finally bringing him to his knees, giving Clemont more time then he needed. 

"Thunder fang!" 

Luxray was so close to Haxorus, he was idle for one second and then he had his teeth in Haxorus, the electrical energy surrounding them. Haxorus yelled out in pain, but Clemont wasn't done.

"Luxray, back off now!" Clemont continued to strategically move around, anticipating Sarah's attempts to catch him off guard.

"Haxorus, use-" Sarah stopped as she watched Luxray move back. Haxorus turned to her, confused as to why she didn't call a move. This moment of miscommunication gave Clemont his final opportunity.

"Wild charge, one last time!" He shouted out. 

Luxray put everything into his stride, his electrical energy output hitting its maximum potential. Luxray slammed himself into Sarah's Haxorus, who had turned, so the strike had hit his belly once more, a very weak part of Haxorus prior to the previous attacks. Haxorus tried to stand, but instantly collapsed onto the floor and fainted. The electric terrain then went away and the crowd erupted into a raucous cheer, confused and shocked to see Luxray beat Haxorus, who had seemingly appeared to be stronger at the beginning of the battle.

"Haxorus is unable to battle" The referee's words dissatisfied Sarah, who folded her arms in annoyance.

"I won't let you get off so easy next time, Haxorus, it is your turn!" She shouted, confusing Clemont.

But, another Haxorus came out of the second pokeball and then Clemont realized his opponent was a very tough one indeed.

The dragon vs electric type seemed difficult for Clemont, but with a 3 vs 2 on his hands, he was looking to attack with everything he had at his disposal.

With the tournament going on, everyone but Ash and Brock had forgotten that May was still in her lodge. 

The lodge was dark, with no lights on. It seemed empty, baron, completely devoid of life. Then, a small lamp flicked on. May's silhouette shone in the light as she cowered even more into the corner. She was completely alone, but she ducked her head into her chest and threw her arms out.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She shouted into the air, before lashing out at nothing. May then slumped on her bed and slowly began to cry.

She cried for what seemed like no reason at all, but there was always a reason. May's crying suddenly turned into an innocent giggle, then, she began to laugh maliciously, completely devoid of any sane thought processes. May looked up, her face illuminated by the lamp. Her eyes had turned red in colour and she smirked.

The darkness had taken over and now Team Shadow had one more person at their disposal. 

-------------

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. 

I don't think you guys quite know how much effort I put into these chapters xD 

They only take around 2 hours (per 2 chapters) to write, but I before I write anything I check over the last three chapters to remember what happened but at the same time, I keep track of everything I put into those chapters so I don't miss anything important. I also have to go back every time Team Shadow battle, because most of their Pokemon have appeared and I need to list their moves in notepad or something.

Today I also started writing out a bracket for the tournament so I can remember who is in and out of the tournament. 

Thanks for the support, keep expecting two chapters every week!