Thomas could scarcely believe what he had just heard. He had only been watching league battles since the summer started, but to hear that the trainer whose battles he’d watched the most, his fledgling idol, was going to be in Goldenrod battling today was enough to send his brain into overload.

“Tommy, what’s wrong?” Tori asked him. “Your face looks weird.”

How could he go to watch the battle with Tori tagging along? She would blab to Mom first thing as soon as they got back to the ranch. He had to figure out how to keep her quiet so he could go see it; there was no way he was going to miss this.

“Hellooo? Is anybody home?” Tori sang, she started playing the drums on his head. “Earth to Tommy.”

He checked his watch - 2:20. He would have to bring her with him, there was no getting around it.

I’ll just have to suck it up and see what she wants. No matter what it is, it’s worth it if I can watch this battle, he thought to himself.

“Okay sis, listen,” he told her, setting her down from off his shoulders. “The people on the news said that Agatha is going to be in Goldenrod today and that she’s planning on challenging the gym.”

“Who’s Agatha?” She interrupted.

Who’s Agatha?

He couldn’t believe Tori had just asked him that question. Although to be fair, she had refused to sit and watch any battles with him over the summer on the television. She said that it made her feel sad to watch the Pokémon fight each other.

“Agatha is a Pokémon trainer.” He told her. “You know how I finally convinced mom to buy me the league pass so I could watch battles this summer?”

“Yeah?”

“Well Agatha is one of the trainers whose battles I’ve been watching,” he said. “She’s only 18, but she’s extremely strong and she’s really popular right now. It seems like her battles are all anyone is ever talking about. Remember Jon was talking about her with me earlier this morning when we were standing in line at the market?”

Tori gave a blank stare in response.

Thomas rolled his eyes, “Anyway, she’s already beaten all of the gym leaders in Kanto and now she’s coming to Goldenrod today because she wants to challenge Penelope, our gym leader, to a gym battle.”

Tori's eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared into her hair and a nasty smirk spread across her face. “And you want to go and watch the match don't you?”

“Yeah, I want to go watch Agatha battle…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was practically begging her at this point. “Look, I know Mom doesn’t really like battling, but ever since I started watching the matches this summer I can’t get enough of it. I’ve been watching Agatha's battles pretty much non-stop and I want to go and see her challenge against our gym. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, I can’t miss it.”

“But what about Mom?” Tori asked him. “Won’t Mom be upset with us if we go?”

“She might be upset if she finds out.” He smiled and patted her on the head. “If you keep this a secret between us…”

Thomas paused briefly to consider the gravity of what he was about to offer. “...Then you can ask me for any favor you want. How does that sound?”

She was extending her arm before he even finished his sentence. “DEAL!” She all but screamed.

He clasped his forearm with hers and shuddered at his deal with the little hellion. She agreed so fast there was no doubt in his mind she already knew exactly what she was going to ask him for.

“Well, let’s head over to the gym then!” Thomas exclaimed excitedly as he pulled her away from the crowd. “The stands are probably going to be packed since the match is starting soon. It’s already almost 2:30.”

They found the stairs and headed down to the first floor. As they were walking down the stairs, Thomas noticed Jonathan still ringing customers up in his checkout line.

He hesitated for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he should go over and talk to Jon. The clock was ticking though, and he decided against it; they’d be lucky enough to find a seat in the gym at this point. Jon wouldn’t be that mad at him when they saw each other on Monday… Hopefully.

Better luck next time man, he chuckled to himself. At least Thomas would have a story to tell his friends on Monday when school started.

Thomas and Tori left the Mart and caught the next bus over to the gym. After a short ride the bus arrived at their destination, a massive ovoid structure with a retractable roof that was currently opened to the afternoon sun. There were hundreds of cream-colored tarps ringing the inside of the stadium, stamped proudly with the badge of the Goldenrod City Gym. Thomas watched the tarps fluttering in the dry afternoon wind, he hoped that whatever seats he and his sister found were shaded by one of those. He swore in his mind as he saw countless people streaming inside the stadium through open doors and gateways.

He and Tori hurried up to the building and although they had only a few minutes left to find a seat, Thomas found himself frozen as he and his sister walked up to the door. His palms started to sweat and his heart beat more quickly in his chest. His first ever live match; he couldn’t walk through the door.

This is ridiculous, he thought. Just because I’ve never been here before... I’m not even the one fighting, I’m just watching the match...

“Are you okay Tommy?” Tori asked him. She had been walking through the door but stopped and when she realized he was frozen at its threshold. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Nothing, sis. Come on, we've got 5 minutes left to see if we can find a seat.”

Thomas followed his sister into the lobby as she walked through the front door and the two of them made their way over to the front desk. Thomas had never been inside the gym before so he had no clue where he should go to see the match. There were loads of people milling around in the lobby or standing in line to order concessions while they were waiting for the match to start. Hopefully he and his sister could still find a place to sit.

As they approached the reception counter, Thomas nervously greeted the man seated there. “Excuse me, sir? This is our first time in the gym and we were wondering where to go to find seats for the match. We saw on the news that Agatha was arriving at the gym this afternoon to challenge Penelope.”

The receptionist pointed to a door just off to the side, clearly labeled spectators, without even looking away from his computer. “Just got word that her boat docked and she’s about to head over. Good luck finding a seat.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Thomas said. He and his sister walked over to the door. “You ready sis?” He laughed nervously.

“What’s the big deal?” she asked, walking through the door.

His mouth dropped open as he followed behind her. If half the city was in the Department Store shopping, then surely the other half must have been packed into this stadium. Everywhere he looked there were already people seated, chatting away while they waited for the announcer to start the match.

The inside of the stadium looked exactly as it did on the television whenever Thomas watched a battle from the Goldenrod Gym. The ring in the center of the stadium was massive, even from the height they were standing at and short green turf was planted to cover the majority of the ring. A large rectangle with trainer boxes on either end was painted in the middle of the turf to mark the pitch.

The door he and Tori had come out of was right at midfield with stairs in front of them leading down closer to the field and stairs behind them climbing up to the nosebleeds. As Thomas looked around he realized there must have been thousands of people already seated and that there was no way they would be able to walk down the stairs to get closer to the match.

“Move away from the door you moron,” someone said as they bumped into him from behind. “No one can get through the door while you’re standing in the doorway like a jackass.”

Thomas stumbled forward and glared as the guy walked by to go find his seat. “Bastard...” he muttered under his breath.

There was an usher standing just inside of the door and he called out to the siblings. “Excuse me sir and ma’am? If you could kindly move to the side to let other guests in I would gladly direct you to an open seat.”

The usher smiled at them as they moved over towards where he was standing. “There, that’s better. I have no doubt that the lower level is completely full but if you take the stairs right behind us here you might be able to find some seating up at the top.”

He pressed his hand to his earpiece and nodded in confirmation. “Move along now and find a seat, we just got confirmation Agatha has arrived at the stadium. We’ll be starting just as soon as she finishes preparing herself in the locker room.”

Tori and Thomas turned and started walking up the stairs towards the upper level; he still couldn’t believe how many people there were. At this rate, he was worried the two of them might have to sit in the highest row. Or worse, that they might not be able to find a seat at all.

Finally after walking past rows and rows of spectators they found a row; shaded by one of the tarps it was near the top of the stadium and had two empty seats right on the end.

Thomas cleared his throat politely. “Excuse me, are you saving these two for anyone?” he asked the girl who was sitting on the other side of the open seats.

The girl had her back to him and was talking to an older woman, her mother or older sister Thomas guessed, and when she turned to look at him, his breath caught for a moment.

It took him less than a second to realize he had never seen any girl as beautiful as this one. She had long, straight, dark brown hair that went all the way down her back and mixed in were beautiful blue highlights, the color of the clear sky. She was tan, no doubt from spending her time out in the sun, and her eyes were the deepest blue he had ever seen. They reminded him of the ocean on a beautiful summer’s day. Even though she looked to be the same age as him, he wondered why he hadn’t seen her before.

There were multiple schools in the city but there was only one trainer school so he guessed she must go to school somewhere else. You didn’t have to be going to school to be a trainer to want to come and see an exciting gym battle.

“No, they’re open. Feel free to sit there.” She gave him a small smirk turning the corners of her mouth up; her voice sounded like music in the back of his mind.

Tori quickly sat in the seat next to the girl leaving the one on the end open for her brother. How could Tori just take the seat next to the girl like that? Thomas was hoping that he could have sat next to the blue-haired girl but now there was no way he and his sister could switch seats without the girl overhearing him ask his sister to move.

“Uh, Tommy? Are you going to sit down? Why are you just standing there?” Tori asked him.

The girl was still looking at him and her smirk had turned into a full smile now. She had beautiful, straight white teeth. Thomas blushed and sat down as fast as he could, looking straight forward out onto the pitch. They were pretty high up; he hoped he could see everything okay.

“I love your Lotad plushie. He’s so cute,” he overheard the girl telling his sister.

“Thanks, I just got him earlier today from the Department Store,” Tori said to the girl. She displayed the Lotad proudly for the girl to marvel at.

“What's his name?” The girl asked.

“Sir Taddington,” Tori answered. The girl doubled over laughing and Thomas was sure he would never hear anything that beautiful for the rest of his life.

“That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard,” said the girl, wiping at her eyes. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Victoria but you can call me Tori,” she beamed back, clearly pleased that the girl thought she was cute and funny.

“Tori, that’s a pretty name,” the girl said. “And I think I overheard you say that this is Tommy? Is he your brother?”

“Yeah, he’s my brother. Tommy, say hi,” Tori said to him.

“Hello. I’m Tori’s older brother, Tommy,” he all but croaked. His voice came out broken, like he hadn’t drank water for three days. He blushed again and faced forward looking over the field.

Why did I just introduce myself as Tommy? I hate going by Tommy. What the hell is wrong with me? He had never felt this embarrassed before. Coming here was the worst idea he’d had in a long time; in addition to looking like a total idiot in front of a pretty girl, he had no doubt Tori was still going to blab to mom that they went to a gym battle just as soon as it was convenient for her.

He saw the girl smiling out of the corner of his eye.

“Well Tori, Tommy, it’s nice to meet the both of you,” she smiled. “My name is-”

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” The announcer screamed through the microphone. “Thank you for joining us on this beautiful Saturday afternoon!”

The girl gave them one last smile and faced forward to look out over the pitch.

“Boy, do we have a treat for you all lined up this afternoon! Everyone is no doubt here to see Agatha begin her Johto League gym circuit!”

The crowd erupted into a frenzy of cheers and applause.

“She’s made all of Kanto bend the knee to her Pokémon prowess and now she’s here to challenge the Johto League! Can she complete the circuit in 8 months like she has so boldly claimed?”

The roar of the crowd was deafening. Tori tried her best to cover her ears, but Sir Taddington was only good for covering one. Thomas put his arm around her and pulled her over into his side.

“We’ll find out soon enough! But before we have our main card we have to start with our undercards! We have a couple of challengers today that want to take on the gym! Since these trainers aren’t sanctioned by any gym leader, they’ll first need to prove their strength by battling some of Penelope’s gym trainers!”

“Let’s raise the barrier and then we’ll get started!” Right as he finished speaking, Thomas watched as 4 Mr. Mime walked to each of the corners of the pitch. They mimed out a glass wall and he watched as a translucent barrier coalesced into existence covering the entire pitch.

“What are those Mr. Mime doing, Tommy?” Tori said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

He tried to smile reassuringly at her, “They’re using their Psychic powers to keep the audience safe from any stray moves that may come from the field. Don’t worry sis, all gyms are supplied with max level Mr. Mime - there hasn’t been anyone injured in a long time.”

She shuddered and squeezed herself tighter against Thomas' side.

Damn it… I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that last part, he thought to himself.

The barrier shimmered out of sight right as the door on either end of the ring opened up. Out stepped a trainer from each one.