12 The New Gen Tournament!

Alan did not say anything when he heard the name of the person they wanted him to help against. He just shook his head and walked towards his tent; he would not allow them for obvious reasons.

"Where are you going?" called out Leaf when she saw Alan walk away.

"You should know my relationship with Cynthia, right? She is a friend, and you are about to ask me to snitch on her," he turned back as he spoke, "do you think I would do that?"

"Come on! We just want to beat her once, and we will for sure reward you for it. How about a rare TM?" said Misty when she saw Alan would not agree with them.

'Do they think they can buy me? What kind of ten-year-old are they?'

"The answer is still no; you guys might as well try to beat her in the tournament by yourself or gang up on her; I don't care as it is during the tournament. But don't expect me to help you with it; you will have a better chance if you ask someone else.."

"Did you think we were asking?" this time, Gary walked ahead of the group, standing right in front of Alan, "from what I..."

"Why are there so many people here today?"

Suddenly a voice rang out from the side as someone walked in with two ice cream cones in hand, followed by a pokemon.

"What's up, Cyn," called out Alan when he saw who it was.

"Don't you dare tell anything to her," whispered Daniel.

"Hi Alan," she replied with a smile and handed one of the cones to Alan, "this is for you; you like the chocolate flavour, right?"

"Thanks," he said with a smile and spoke with a sly tone, "these guys were asking me if I could help them take you down in the tournament; how did you end up getting on their wrong side?

"Really?" asked Cynthia while looking at the group, but her face was the usual plain face this time, unlike how she was smiling with Alan.

Their faces almost lost colour when Cynthia looked at them, especially when her eyes turned blue.

"I just remembered we had to do something; we will take our leave," said Misty as she dragged everyone with her.

"You better not meet me in the battle, or I will show you," said Gary before he was dragged away.

"Bye-bye."

Alan waved his hand as he saw them disappearing before he looked at Cynthia, "you did not have to use your aura to scare them off."

"Are you prepared for today?" she ignored what Alan said and asked her question while eating her ice cream.

"I have tried my best, I might lose considering a few things, but Eve and I will make sure not to make it easy," he said with confidence, to which Cynthia gave a pleased smile.

"I will still be taking the first place," she said, not believing she would lose for a second, "I was here just to give you the ice cream; I am going back; grandma and mother will soon be here."

"Aren't the parents not allowed to come or contact us during the camp unless it is an emergency?"

"Today is the last day, so all the parents are welcomed, more so when we all will be having our first tournament even though, not an official one. I bet not many parents would want to miss that; make sure you are early; my grandma has a very cool pokemon which you will like," once she was done talking, she ran back the way she came.

"I guess I should prepare my cheeks for an assault," he told himself before walking into the tent.

*****************

Alan took a bath and changed into a new set of clothes before he walked towards the place where the tournament would take place. He wore his favourite black pants and boots with a baggy white shirt. His black hair danced with the wind, while his black glasses made him look more mature than his age.

All the training he had done during the past month with Human Training Enhancements or HTEs had helped his body grow taller and bulkier than before while also getting rid of some of his baby fat around the face.

He soon reached the pokemon stadium built inside the Oak Laboratories, and sure enough, he was surprised by the number of people who had come.

The stadium was big enough to hold more than three hundred people, and more than a hundred people were presently sitting with their respective children.

'Half of them are the people I have only seen on Tv,' he said as he was shocked by the people who had come, 'sure enough, this is nothing like a training camp but rather a meet and greet between the rich.'

"MY CUTE BABY, I MISSED YOU!!"

He heard a loud yell, and he immediately shivered physically and mentally. He turned towards the owner of the voice, and there he saw his mom waving her hand at him from the other side of the stadium and sitting beside her was his father.

"I think she is calling you," said someone from his right.

"Thanks," he said before he ran towards his parents before his mother gave another shout.

"Cute baby?" said Cynthia, barely holding her laugh.

"I see that you have made a friend," said an old woman who was sitting beside her.

"Yes, his name is Alan," she said to her grandmother before looking towards Alan, "and he is a cute baby."

She was surely going to tease him with this for a few months, maybe more.

"I would like to see what kind of a person you chose as a friend," her grandmother replied while looking at Alan and his family. A slight frown appeared on her face when she looked at Alex and Ellie.

"I plan to; I have already told him I will show him that pokemon."

"You brat, are you using my partner as a showcase for your friends?"

Cynthia did not say anything but showed her tongue before she looked around, seeing who else was here.

"I can see you have worked hard during this month," said Alex as he stood up and hugged Alan tightly, "I missed you, little brat."

"I did not miss you at all, dad," he said as he returned the hug, but Alex knew he was joking.

"Leave him already; I need to check up on my baby," said Ellie before pushing Alex away and holding Alan in her arms.

"Have you been eating properly? Were you changing your underwear every day? How come you grow up so much in just a month? And how is Eve?...." as she kept firing off questions, Alan did not have an option but to answer all of them.

It was then that Alan noticed the necklace Ellie was wearing.

"Is there any special occasion today?" he asked while looking at Ellie and Alex, who gave him a confused look.

"That necklace, isn't it the one you gave to mother when you proposed her to a marriage?" he said, pointing at the necklace that was hanging from Ellie's neck.

It was a necklace made of a golden chain with a rainbow sphere hanging from it with a black spiral carved inside it.

"Ah, this?" said Ellie before she hurriedly placed the necklace back inside her dress, "since you are going to have the first tournament of your life, I decided to wear something special," she hurriedly gave him an answer before changing the topic, "did you made any friends or better a girlfriend?"

"Oh come on, mom, I am ten; who makes girlfriends at ten?" he replied before he took a seat between Alex and Ellie, "but I did make two friends; one of them is here while the other one should be here soon as well."

"Oh, who is the one here?" asked Alex, curious about the first friend his son made, and Alan pointed where Cynthia was sitting.

"Remember that woman we met when we came to Pallet town? It turns out she had a daughter, that's my friend, Cynthia Sharon."

As if sensing someone was looking towards them, Cynthia and her grandmother looked towards the Salvador family.

Alan and Cynthia just gave each other a nod while Carolina and Alex stared at each other before nodding with a smile.

"Oi Alan," someone called out, and Alan immediately formed a smile when he saw who it was.

"Belll," a small figure came flying towards him before it crashed right in his chest, "dummm."

"Hello, buddy, if you by mistake stop controlling yourself, I might die from your headbutt someday," said Alan as he looked at the pokemon in his arms.

The pokemon had a light golden colour, different from its kind—a shiny pokemon.

"Bel bel."

A black light flashed before Eve came out and jumped at the pokemon, standing at its body flying in the air.

[You stupid head]

"I think my pokemon likes you more than it likes me," said a boy with light blue hair as he walked towards Alan, followed by a tall man and a woman, both dressed in black formal suit and dress.

"Hey buddy," said Alan as he hugged Steven, another friend he made during the camp, "are you trying to kill the only friend you made with your pokemon?"

"You know Bell likes playing, and headbutts are what he loves the most; at least he controls himself with you and Eve."

Alan turned towards his parents before introducing the newcomer, "mom, dad, this is my other friend, Steven."

His meeting with Steven was coincidental as one night he found Beldum running around and playing with Eve while he was taking a dip in the river near his tent. Steven came to get his pokemon and decided to stay; the next thing they knew, they became good friends after a short talk.

They would often train together since Eve was the only friend Beldum made, and Steven wanted them to spend more time together. Alan, too, was happy that Eve made a friend; there was Drake too(Cynthia's Gible), but he did not know if biting each other was being friends in the pokemon language.

Beldum was a pokemon who did not have great intelligence in its first form and could only communicate with emotions. They rarely opened up to anyone other than their trainer, making them shy and weak in the first form of evolution.

Steven was glad Beldum made a friend, and through it, he too found a good friend.

They started training with each other and thus became good friends over the month.

"So you are Alan? The one Steven was talking so much about."

While they were greeting each other, the man standing behind spoke with a plain voice.

Alan stared at the man and became nervous by the gaze thrown at him, so did Steven, as he did not know how his father would react.

The man bent down till he was at eye level with Alan and held him by the shoulder, "thank you for being friends with my son, I know he can be a handful, but I will hope you can take care of him. And make sure he gets a girlfr..."

"Will you stop saying embarrassing things," the woman cut the man off as she shook her head, but Alan stared at the man and gave his biggest nod.

"Yes, I will help him out."

"Perfect, I like you already," he said with a wide grin, "my name is Devon Stone, but you can just call me uncle Stone."

"You need to ask me about an opinion too," said Steven from the side.

"We will see about that," said Alan leaving Steven stunned.

"Haha," laughed Devon as he tapped Alan's shoulder before he turned to Alex and Ellie, "sorry for the late introduction, my name is Devon Stone and this is my wife Lisa Stone. It is nice to meet you."

"Alex Salvador and Ellie Salvador, it nice to meet you both as well. I was surprised when my son said he made friends and I was looking forward to this meeting as well," replied Alex as he he Devon then sat together and had their conversation while Ellie and Lisa sat together having their own conversations.

"I guess they became friends at first meeting too," said Steven as he saw the adults talking to each other.

"Who are we to complain," said Alan as they both giggled.

"So are you prepared for todays fight?" asked Alan before he looked at Beldum and Eve playing tag with each other.

"Are you trying to make fun of me? The only move Beldum can use is Tackle, neither can it learn an TM moves yet, so there is no way I am winning so I will be cheering for you," replied Steven.

They started talking about random stuff before it was time and the person holding the training camp appeared.

Everyone stood up as a respect for Prof. Oak as he walked to the centre of the battlefield inside the stadium.

"I welcome and thank all of you who have come taking time off from your busy schedules," said Oak as he looked at everyone who had come, "Every five years I hold a training camp in hopes that the heroes who will carry the next generation can meet each other. Every one of the children who participated will play a major role in shaping our world, one way or another."

"Like every previous camp organized, I will be hosting a tournament for all the children who participated. Those who obtain the top three will be given special rewards so I hope everyone of you will try their best during the tournament."

"With this I once again welcome every one of you and mark the start of this tournament."

"The New Gen Tournament."