Back in the Azelf common room, Alex was buzzing. He'd just blown away everybody who thought he was some joke of a battler and won his way to the final of the tournament. That ought to show Williams. Now he was just one step away from being the best in the year and all he had to was defeat the one person who he set out to defeat right from the start; Edward.

"Congrats on making the final Alex!" Bella smiled as she walked into the common room, followed by her group of friends.

"Thanks Bella!" He grinned back. Their battle in the quarter finals had been pretty insane and had been his only real challenge so far in the tournament. However, Alex had a feeling Edward would change all of that.

"Do you think you'll win?" Megan asked.

"Megan, I don't think, I know I'll win."

"That's pretty cocky." Edward said from across the room, his voice teeming with sarcasm and cockiness of his own.

"Coming from you that's pretty rich." Alex replied.

"Touché." He nodded. "But I was referring to the fact that saying you know you'll win is cocky considering you can't win."

"Why can't I win? Some rule I don't know about?"

"No, you can't win because unlike the other rounds, the final is a three on three match."

"So?"

"So you'll need to use three Pokémon."

"So?"

"So," Edward rolled his eyes, "You'll need to use that Garchomp of yours that doesn't obey you in the slightest."

"Oh." Alex said, finally realising the point that Edward was making. "Well not necessarily. If I beat all three of your Pokémon with only one of mine, I won't have to use Garchomp at all."

"You say that, but you know it won't work out like that. Your Garchomp is the only thing you have strong enough to even scratch my Pokémon." The smirk on his face said it all. Edward knew he was right and Alex couldn't help but agree with him. Now that he'd seen Edward's Pokémon in action, he was concerned about his chances of victory to say the least.

"We'll see." Alex said.

"Until tomorrow then." Edward smirked, as he turned to head to their room. Even the way he walked somehow showed his confidence.

"You know he's right don't you?" Lenny said, who was sitting next to him.

"No way man, I've got this in the bag." Alex laughed but even he knew it was a false chuckle. To win he'd need to beat Edward two on three and his Pokémon were far stronger than his own. It seemed impossible.

"I'm not saying that you don't." Lenny replied. "All I'm saying is that for you to win, all you need to do is use your Garchomp. That thing is insanely powerful. Edward won't stand a chance."

"I know how powerful it is." Alex nodded. "I've been on the receiving end of one of its attacks and I don't want it to happen again." Whilst he no longer needed to wear the cast on his arm, Garchomp's brutal claws had left a nasty scar on his arm and he didn't want anyone, himself or his opponent, to feel that kind of pain.

"Suit yourself." Lenny sighed as he too got up and went back to their room. By now, most of the people in the common room had filtered out as it was getting pretty late and nobody wanted to miss the big match tomorrow. Several people, including a bunch of burly looking third years wished him good luck as they went off to bed.

"I'm gonna get some sleep as well." Megan said, kissing him on the cheek as she got up.

"Night!" Alex smiled at her. With the common room now basically empty, Alex was left thinking to himself. No more loud interruptions or generally noisiness; he could just sit down and think about the situation. He needed to use three Pokémon against Edward and he had three Pokémon. However, one of them was extremely dangerous and he didn't feel safe or comfortable using it.

After a while, he decided the best thing to do would be to talk to his Pokémon. He stood up and quickly made his way outside, into the cold and into the darkness, until he was a fair distance from the dorm. Shivering slightly, he reached for Garchomp's Pokéball and threw it down, releasing the mighty dragon. Garchomp looked Alex right in the eye and he stared right back, determined to not lose to his own Pokémon.

"Gar." Garchomp gave a deep, angry growl.

"Garchomp, listen to me." Alex said firmly. For a moment Garchomp went silent. "I need you tomorrow. I need you to obey my commands in battle. I can't use you if you go all savage agai-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Garchomp gave a bloodcurdling cry and took a wild swipe at Alex with its razor sharp claws. Not scared at all, Alex sidestepped the attack before ducking under the next attack. Angered by its miss, Garchomp glared at Alex with its furious yellow eyes.

"You see why we need to work together?" Alex sighed. "You're powerful but what's the point of all of that power if you can't even land an attack? You need me to help you bring out your true power - your speed. If you use your speed correctly, not only will your attacks actually hit your opponent, but you'll be able to hit a string of several attacks, probably knocking out your opponent with ease."

Garchomp apparently didn't like advice and so it retaliated by taking yet another wild swipe at Alex. Sighing to himself, he evaded the attack and returned his disobedient creature back to its ball. That had all been rather hopeless. Maybe he'd need to beat Edward with only two Pokémon. No, that was never going to work. Eventually, Alex reached a conclusion.

*

Cynthia had just been about to turn in for the night when a most peculiar thing had happened. She'd finished a horrendous amount of paperwork, writing reports about third years and the atrocious exam results that most of them were heading for. In any case, it had been five straight hours of work and she never wanted to think about it again.

What had caught her eye was a beam of light coming from the Azelf dorm. It was interesting because most of the lights around the island had been going out as it was getting late and all of the ordinary people were going to bed. As the island was consumed in darkness, one very bright bit of light could easily been seen as strange. However what unfolded next was especially strange.

Cynthia could just about make out a lone figure walking out from the doorway of the dorm and taking strides towards the main building. Who was going outside at this time? Intrigued, Cynthia walked over to what was usually her stargazing telescope and she pointed its attention to the mystery person.

Oh, of course. As soon as she'd thought to herself that it couldn't be an ordinary person, she should've realised that it was Alex Murphy. Even so, it was a big day for Alex tomorrow. It was his chance to prove himself so even he of all people should know that he needed some rest. When he was a short way away from the dorm, he sent out a Pokémon.

It was the Garchomp that she'd heard so much about. Come to think of it, despite her talks with Alex about his situation regarding Garchomp, she'd never actually seen the Pokémon herself. It looked every bit as strong and ferocious as her own Garchomp but it clearly wasn't tame. It took several angry swipes at Alex which he just barely managed to avoid. There was great power behind the attacks but no technique. If only Alex could find a way to train the beast, it could be an incredible asset to his team. Perhaps she would see him use it in tomorrow's battle. That would be Alex's true test.

After another attack from Garchomp missed its mark, Alex appeared to give up, returning his creature to its ball. He looked disappointed with himself. After a couple of minutes Alex began walking back to the dorm.

Wait! No he wasn't! Alex had turned away from the dorm and was heading off towards the forest! What on earth was he doing?