Chapter 3 First Encounter with Wallace and Steven

Their search for the guide continues until Bill discovered someone familiar among the crowd who looked around at the crowd curiously.

" Steven, here." He shouted out startling them and waved his hands in the air. He was trying to stand out in the crowd and attract their attention. The mentioned person walked out of the crowd, and the one following him is a blue-haired boy.

Both of them are a few years older than him around 14-15 compared to his 12 almost 13 years of age in a few months time.

( Alex will be 13 a month after the Pokemon League Tournament ends.)

" Bill, you are also here with them." Steven asked him surprised that he will hear. "What are you doing here? Are you travelling through the Hoenn region this time? No, you don't like traveling, so Is there something interesting in Hoenn which attracted your attention and forced you came here personally."

Knowing that Bill has no wanderlust, he must be here for research reasons only.

Bill came forward and hugged him tightly very happy to see him.

" Steven, I have never been so happy to see you. Please tell me you are the one that the Hoenn League sent to receive us?" Bill asked with a hopeful look on his face. He really hopes that it will the case.

At the very least, there will be no fights with him present there with them. He has experienced enough enthusiasm for a month time. A moment of peace will be much appreciated.

Steven is confused about why Bill will give him this look. But, he still replied to the question he was asked, " Yes, I am. Not only me but Wallace is also a guide. We will be helping you deal with things here. "

Then he turned to the group and greeted himself to the two blonde girls, " Hello Cynthia, Elsa, Lucian, Julius. It's good to meet you again. How are you all? "

" Its good to meet you, Steven." Cynthia and Elsa greeted him with a smile.

When they smiled at each other, Alex's eyes twitched rapidly. He doesn't like the look that Steven has given to his two blonde friends. He barely hid the unhappy look on his face but not before the two noticed the look he has when they happily greeted Steven.

They were happy to see him like that.

While Steven interacted with the others, Wallace walked up to Alex.

" So, you are Alex Bart," Wallace spoke out.

" Yes, I am Alex Bart from Floral Town in the Kanto Region." Alex has formally introduced himself.

This also made Steven turn to look at the younger boy in front of himself. Just like any genius in the region, he himself has heard about him. Even though he hasn't participated in any big league tournament, his tasks and mission record aren't a hidden secret.

They all know his strength, at least the strength he hasn't hidden from the people.

Even though they don't doubt these reports and Alex's strength as the strongest in his region is undisputed but it doesn't stop the young challengers from contesting against him and confirming his strength for themselves.

" Hello Alex, I am Wallace from Sootopolis City. And, I wish to challenge you for a Pokemon battle."

His words surprised many people around there. Although Alex is a complete stranger as one of the strongest in the young generation, both he and Steven widely know.

To think he will openly challenge someone is a surprise. He has never been one to challenge someone, normally it is another way round.

But, what they don't know is both Wallace and Steven both belong to the same category of people. They both are battle maniacs.If Steven isn't busy greeting the others and acting polite, he would have already challenged Alex. He wished to face him and evaluate whether his strength were as accurate as the rumours.

He even cursed in his heart when Wallace challenged Alex before him. His first goal was Cynthia then Alex but his friend beat him to it.

Alex who is challenged just arched his brows and then agreed.

" Sure, so are we having a battle on land or that lake over there. " Alex asked about the terrain on which they will battle.

His question made Wallace aware that he knows his specialty. But Alex wasn't worried about his strength and was willing to battle him anywhere.

" We will be fighting by the lake if you don't mind," Wallace said with a gentleman smile on his face.

" Well then let's get going." Alex immediately started to tread towards the lake. He has no idea why but he is miffed right now and needs something to thrash around.

With Wallace initiating a battle, he gets a free punching bag so he agreed for the battle quickly.

Wallace and others followed behind. The crowd of people who are gathered has some trainers among them who wished to see this battle. This group comprised of spies from Team Magma, Team Aqua, Hoenn League, and other organizations both legal and illegal.

When they arrived at the lakeside, Alex turned to his friends, " Hey guys, can you release two flying Pokemon we can ride on?"

" Why?" Steven asked confused by this question.

Alex wanted to say something along the line that, 'Wallace is too weak for me to face him on land. I can vaporize him easily. In the water battle, he will have a greater chance to give me some challenge. '

But for the sake of politeness, he spoke, "We will have the battle over the lake and we will fly on your pokemon. I don't wish to have all of you get involved in this battle. " he the points towards the center of the lake and continued, "There we have a better to release some restraint and go all out.

I am sure you wish to have an all-out battle with me don't you, Wallace?" Alex asked his challenger.

Wallace nods instead of replying. Although Alex doesn't say the harsh words about him doing this to give Wallace a better chance, everyone in Alex's group, Steven and Wallace knows the truth.

This fight location has nothing to do with an accidental injury of an audience or a chance to go all out, it is just that Wallace is too weak for Alex to take him seriously.

This hurt the pride of both Wallace and Steven. Steven regards Wallace as his rival and if someone disregards him it is similar to that person looking down on himself.

But, he didn't act rudely and spoke out how he felt for one important reason, Alex is the undisputed strongest, and yet neither he nor Wallace can beat the second and Wallace is on par with the fourth strongest of the list.

There is still some distance in strength between the two.

As for why they don't doubt the authenticity of the list, they have been warned by Drake, the Hoenn Champion, the List only showed the lowest threshold of Alex, not his strongest strength.

You are not his rivals yet so train harder. Steven has a pseudo king Pokemon, metagross. He knows just how strong they can be. This is his capital to challenge Cynthia.

Yet, Alex has at least two pseudo-King pokemon shows just how much stronger Alex is compared to himself.

For the sake neutrality, Julius and Lucian released their pokemons, Noctowl and Skarmory.

After issuing the instructions, the two flew Alex and Wallace towards the center of the lake.