Alex walked along the row of seats, trying to avoid the gazes of all of the students who stared at him. In the past few days, he'd had a lot of that. It made a slight change from people staring at him admirably and instead giving him a kind of weird look, as if they were trying to figure him out. He didn't understand why the sudden change but he couldn't decide which way was worse.

He hated attention that he didn't deserve or want. He used to crave attention but now it just felt like a burden that wouldn't go away, constantly dragging him down. It didn't make him feel cool any more. He didn't even want to feel cool. All Alex wanted was for people to stop looking at him but of course they never would. Not when there were rumours flying round like crazy.

"'Scuse me." he said to the people who annoyingly stuck their legs out, making it impossible to pass. They looked up at him, holding eye contact for just long enough to when it felt awkward, leaving their legs in his path on purpose. Feeling annoyed, Alex just pushed his way past, no longer caring for manners. He also didn't bother looking back at their stupid faces, he'd had enough.

"Hey." Lenny said as Alex finally made it to the empty seat beside his friend. The people nearby shuffled along to create some distance between them and Alex. He shook his head. Whatever weird and wacky rumours people were coming out with, they didn't make sense and definitely didn't warrant that kind of behaviour.

"Alright mate?" Alex said, trying to put on a grin as he looked around the arena. It looked as though the entire school had showed up to the main battlefield as the stands were practically full and students were still coming in. "What do you reckon this is all about?"

"If I had to guess, probably Cynthia doing another public service announcement about that attack." Lenny shrugged. Alex nodded. That was all anybody had spoken about in the last week. The mysterious attack in the library had not only put the room completely out of commission but the librarian, Mr Tobias was also still unconscious with no signs of recovering. It drew odd parallels with Alex's own condition and for whatever reason people thought that he had something to do with the attack.

In fact, the school was generally divided on the subject. The way people saw it, he and Cooper had been involved with both incidents involving some kind of permanent sleep condition. The first was obviously their battle and they had both been at the library at the time of the attack. Seemed like an odd coincidence for most people. Some people saw it like Alex did. He couldn't possibly be the culprit as he was a victim in literally half of the cases but others were keen to point out the Alex had miraculously recovered and had come back even stronger. They theorised that it was all a stunt for attention. Just thinking about this ridiculous point of view made Alex angry.

"Is anyone sitting here?" Alex heard a familiar voice to his right. He looked up and saw the one person who could easily put a smile on his face. Megan. Megan, Lucy and Bella were just finishing up shimmying past all of the people in the row, ending up at some empty seats besides Alex and the best part was that Thomas wasn't even in sight. Alex grinned to himself.

"Yes, I'm reserving this seat for a Miss Carter, you wouldn't happen to know her would you?" he grinned. She smiled back and sat down next to him, the girls behind her taking the next two seats. "How's the ankle?"

"It's fine now." she smiled. Alex loved her smile. It made him feel so happy inside and it wasn't a look she often wore when she was with Thomas. It was reserved for friends. And Alex. "Thanks to you."

"Oh, it was nothing." Alex said sheepishly, trying to hide his blushes as she took his hand and leaned on his shoulder. As long as Thomas wasn't around, she could do whatever she wanted with him and if that meant cuddling then so be it.

"Thank you for all taking time out of your studies today." Alex turned his head just in time to avoid kissing Megan. He shouldn't do that even if he wanted to. She was in a relationship and it wasn't right. In the middle of the arena, Cynthia had entered, holding a microphone with a large smile on her face. Something told Alex that they had been wrong about the content of this assembly.

"I want to talk to you all about something rather exciting. As you're all aware, The Pokémon World Tournament is taking place next summer. Usually, entering such a high level international tournament requires qualifying all season long but given that the event is being held in Sinnoh, the Battling Association has made a very interesting decision. One place at the tournament will be held by a young prodigy. Someone who has never competed in an event before. Someone who is still at school." The room filled with excited whispers. Everyone could see where this was going.

"In order to decide who the lucky battler will be, the BA had a brief look at the rankings for schools in Sinnoh over the last few years with the top performing schools being picked out as the best. In a few weeks time, there will be a battle to see which school is really the best; New Moon Academy or Full Moon Academy. Whichever school triumphs in this inter-school battle will get to enter one student into the most prestigious event in the battling calendar. We will decide who we put forward for the battle at a later date but for now I would like to welcome a very special guest. He is a former PWT champion and he'd like to give you all a bit of a pep talk. Please can we show our appreciation for Darren Leonard!"

The murmurs that had been getting louder and louder as Cynthia's speech went on finally erupted in cheering and clapping as a tall man with a moustache entered the arena, wearing a suit that was just tight enough to show off his impressive muscles. He acknowledged the crowd with a grin and a wave as he headed towards Cynthia to gain control of the microphone. There were only three people in the arena who weren't clapping. Alex and Megan still hadn't let go of each other, savouring every moment they were allowed to spend together but oddly enough, Lenny was also unmoved. In fact, his expression was of utter shock, his jaw hanging loosely open.

"What is he doing here..." he muttered to himself.

"What do you mean Lenny? What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"That's... that's my Dad."