With a furious expression, Davos' held Jared in his vice-like grip, while he and Jolteon stormed to reception. Because Jared was afraid of what would happen to Pidgey through Davos' 'plan' if it could be even called one, he had let the bird fly away through an open window to meet up when this was all over.

Throwing Jared to the floor, Davos accused, "This little bastard tried to steal from me! Against an official trainer no less! As he is an outer gym member of this gym, I demand an explanation from the Gym Leader!"

The two receptionists were shocked upon seeing the large man and his Joltean, this could be none other than Davos Misson! At only twenty years old, he had gained full sponsorship from the Oak family, and at merely thirty years old he gained his first gym badge. He then went on to become an official trainer by defeating the Cerulean Clan's gym leader in a fair fight! Many believed it was only a matter of time before the Elite Four had another serious contender!

Being extra courteous, the middle-aged woman bowed, "Sir, I apologize, but Gym Leader Brinock Harrison is still in the middle of intense training. However, his father, the substituting gym leader is available.

Davos spat, "Hmph, forget it, I've already given your clan more than enough respect. As an official trainer, I have the right to detain criminals, and now I will be bringing this lawbreaker with me to be tried in Pallet Town!"

Finally, Jared screamed, "He's lying, all I did was ask to become his student! You can't do this, I'm still a member of this gym, and he said he would have me executed!"

Among the many eyes that were drawn to the show, several began to slink away.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged woman's expression sunk a little, but she tried to stay professional, "Members of the gym can only be judged by the gym. Please wait, the acting gym leader is already on his way..."

.

During the next five minutes, Jared began pleading his case to everyone in sight, but none of them dared speak for him.

A familiar voice slowly spoke, "Davos Misson I presume?"

Tied up, Jared frantically turned to the newcomer as if he had found his savior. He then yelled pathetically from the ground, "Bannock! this man claims I tried to steal from him, but I didn't, please believe me. I was only looking around his room while he wasn't there, but I didn't take anything!"

Without respect, Davos parroted similar words with folded arms, "Hrmph, Bannock I presume."

Seeing the boy had practically half confessed by admitting he was in Davos' room, Bannock's expression sank. This could no longer be brushed off... 'how was that boy so foolish?'

"Davos, how about you let me handle this internal matter?"

Without looking Bannocks' way, Davos spat, "I'm here for your son!"

Many in the crowd began to take on furious expressions. An outsider dared to speak to the old gym leader like that?!

Bannock was frowning now, as he gathered his words.

Turning to the old man, Davos smiled slyly, "There is only one way to settle this. Call Brinock. As an official trainer, and before everyone here, I invoke the right to challenge him over who will handle this matter. If I win, I will take this criminal away to be judged. If I lose, you can do with the boy as you wish, and I will pay 50,000 poke in compensation."

As all eyes turned to him, Bannock was at a loss.

His son had defeated Davos three times in the past, and could likely defeat him again, but he wasn't here! He was secretly hunting a crobat, and nobody should have known this fact. This was all too coincidental, and Bannock was smelling a trap.

Davos had lost convincingly only four months ago, there's no way he should have been back so soon, so when he had shown up a week ago and announced his challenge yet again, Brinock had naturally delayed the match without thinking much of it. Normally this would be fine, as he had a month to legally stall the challenge, but he no longer had that option! Bannock knew that he was no longer in his prime, and not only that, but through the long peaceful years of his retirement, his training had long since turned lax.

If he was forced to fight in place of his son, there was a good chance that he would lose! Every badge lost weakened his clan's prestige! This would not be a problem in the past, but these were tumultuous times, and winds of a small revolt were blowing. Although Brinock was not concerned about his clan not being able to weather this storm, he, as a kind-hearted man did not want to see bloodshed! Even if the inner gym members saw the conspirators as enemies, he had lived for over three hundred years. There was no such thing as an eternal enemy, and he believed everything could still be negotiated.

Still, Bannock was able to comfort himself, after all, losing wasn't guaranteed.

Davos' team had a glaring weakness against strong ground types. This was why Davos had continuously lost to Brinock. He also knew that the only pokemon that held an advantage over rock types was his Kingler, which skewed things even further. 'one pokemon cannot hold up a whole team.' Brinock reasoned to himself.

'Still, I should still try and call Brinock back, he might make it before tomorrow...'

"Wait until Tomorrow, I need to prepa-"

But Bannock was cut off, "If he isn't ready now, I'll just have to take the boy. I'm very busy, and I can wait an hour at most!"

"You're going too far Davos, this is not showing my clan any respect!"

But Davos' was undeterred

"Fine, an hour and ten minutes."

Many in the crowd began to curse this tactless man. Adding an extra ten minutes was simply an insult!

Bannock was growing suspicious, 'a day was a reasonable request, Davos' should have seen no reason to keep pushing...' Then he came to a realization, 'I'm sure of it now, someone must have told Davos that Brinock was out of the gym, but who?'

Moving his eyes to Jared, he felt doubtful but he could do nothing now except grit his teeth, "I will fight you in place of Brinock, but three hours is the minimum. Meet me at the official arena, and bring up to five pokemon."

With those words, the crowd exploded.

"This is huge, we have to hurry back, your mother would kill us if we let her miss this!"

"I can't believe it, I never thought I would have the chance to see Bannock fight!"

An old man chuckled to the youngster with smugness, "I've seen it, and I believe Elder Bannock is going to teach that upstart a lesson!"

As news spread, the whole city seemed to enter a kind of frenzy. Farmers abandoned their fields, scholars dropped their books. Shut-ins left their homes, and future hopefuls took a break from training. In a world that is crazy about pokemon, the chance to see elite-level pokemon fight it out was always a huge event!

The official arena sat at the heart of the castle. Even if it was cleaned methodically every single day, it was never used except on rare occasions, such as an official challenge.

If you looked from the air, it was as if a mass migration of people were heading to one place. In only two hours, the streets were empty, and homes were temporarily abandoned. If someone were to come upon the scene, they would believe they were in a ghost town!

As people flooded the castle, guards were tasked with ensuring all procedures were met.

A man in one of the eight lines at the castle entrance was lectured, "Sir, pokemon over three feet must remain in their Pokeball."

While in others, an ancient-looking old man stubbornly complained that he needed his rhyhorn to get around.

.

With only ten minutes to go, Jared was looking around the massive stadium. All around were historic-looking stone walls with various rock pokemon painstakingly carved into them. Five full meters sat the arena proper. WIth rocks and boulders strewn about here and there, it seemed even the air took on the smell of gravel. This was the place in which the battle would take place.

For lighting, the sun lit up the circular arena's floor through a ceiling that mirrored the arena's circumference perfectly. The stands themselves were shielded by stone ceilings in a circular design, and this gave the effect of a spotlight shining down as if to draw the spectator's eyes.

There were more people than Jared originally imagined. Instead of the two thousand or so, there was at least double that.

As Jared struggled to crane his neck, he couldn't help but inspect his four escorts. Three elderly men and a young woman, and their robes all bore the fancy calligraphy of all the inner Gym members.

Stopping on the young woman's face, Jared then remembered who she was. He had seen her massive butterfree the day he had entered the Pewter Gym for the first time.

.

With only a minute to go, Bannock began climbing down the long steps opposite the challenger. Jared now keenly noticed the same excitement and anticipation present as you would see in a major sports match on earth.

Still, there was something strange about this setup. For whatever reason, people congregated only in specific places rather than spreading evenly throughout.

After some thought, he soon realized the commonality.

In each pocket, a different strong-looking pokemon would be present. One side was an Onix, and by another a massive, tough trunked Doniphan. Perhaps they existed to shield the crowd in case of stray attacks?

With the voices of the crowd rising, Jared almost expected an announcer to begin speaking from somewhere to quieten them down.

Jared was then shocked the next moment when a loud voice silenced the crowd by reverberating in every single inch of the arena. That was not the shocking part, it was the fact that it was all coming from a single man. What kind of lung capacity was this?

"I have been challenged by Davos Misson to decide the matter of who should judge Jared for the crime of stealing from an official trainer."

After being pointed at, many eyes turned Jared's way. Accusing stares, and murmurs began in earnest, but Jared tried to pay them no mind.

As if waiting for the murmurs to cease, Bannock continued a few seconds later.

"Here are the rules, five pokemon, and five knockouts. Three switches are allowed, and the challenger must pay 50,000 in compensation and forfeit the right of judgment to Pewter Gym upon defeat. "

Davos felt confident, as he chucked a pokeball, "Agreed, then let it begin!"