The rest of the battle was thankfully much more normal after my warning and it was close too as Brendan and Gregory both only had one pokemon out at the end and they were both beat up. It was a showdown between Brendans Sableye and Gregory's Camerupt. Both pokemon were fighting without commands from their trainers as both men sought a single key moment where they could snatch the victory. The Sableye was much faster than the Camerupt but couldn't capitalize on this because the Camerupt had created a wall of stone around it that forced the Sableye to come from the front or waste energy and time busting through the wall.-

Suddenly the Camerupt sneezed and Brendan commanded his pokemon to capitalize on that opening with a shadow sneak. It was a trap to lure the Sableye in though as the Camerupt spat out a few dark colored sparks of fire right on the Sableye that failed to retreat in time. "Will-o wisp, this match is over already if Gregory turtles up." I said and no one disagreed. Will-o wisp was a particularly nasty move for stall tactics as it basically guarantees a burned status which will continue to sap the strength of the one inflicted with it over time.-

Brendan seemed to realize this and once Gregory started to shore up his defenses the guy sighed before forfeiting since he couldn't win anymore. There was no point in stubbornly holding on either as all it would accomplish would be to make his pokemon suffer needlessly. With that the tournament was over and all that was left was to hand out the rewards. Gregory in first received the egg with a wide smile. Brendan in second actually swapped his prize with Mays in third since he already had a variant and didn't think he could handle the Tropius as well.-

At least that was the way he put it but in truth I could tell he really just didn't like the pokemon for his team. Not that I could blame him as the pokemon simply didn't fit his style. Kabuto was a much better fit as it evolved into Kabutops that was both pretty strong and fast as well. May was happy as a clam getting the Tropius though so all was well on that account. Floyd and the fifth place competitor got the ancient variant Wingull and Azurill but judging from the looks they gave me were unhappy that they missed out on my training as well.

"In a weeks time all of your pokemon should be fully or mostly recovered so at that time seek me out in Littleroot. I'll start your training when all of you appear." I said after handing out all of the prizes before leaving. The press and several sponsors swarmed the top five after that as everyone scrambled to grab some of these rising stars attention. It was rather funny watching them struggle to deal with so much frantic energy from these overzealous people.-

"We'll need to hold more matches in this style in the future. They are useful for training better trainers." Drake said when I showed up in the VIP booth again. "Up to you guys honestly, I'll be leaving the region shortly after I finish training those three." I said with a shrug. "Aye, Orre right? Can't say as I see the appeal from what I know of the place but you've probably got your reasons." the old man said with a chuckle. "It's nothing special really, i just want to launch my own investigation on why nothing wants to live there while checking out the local challenge scene." I said honestly.-

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"Oh? A surprisingly scientific pursuit for you Alex, you must have a theory if even you are interested in that phenomena." Birch said surprised at my reason. Not that his surprise wasn't well warranted as I was the most scientifically minded person. "I believe that the godly pokemon are involved but until I can either ask them myself or investigate below the sands I won't know for sure." I said honestly. "i can see why you might think that given the information on the region. If you happen to find any interesting stones while you are investigating I hope you keep my father and I in mind." Steven said with a smile.-

I chatted with everyone here casually for a while before they all started heading back to their work since for higher officials like them they rarely have time to relax. I wasn't envious at all as while they had more power politically than anyone else they were also bound by the responsibilities that came with that power. Steven technically didn't have any responsibilities since he wasn't the champion at the moment but still tended to stay in the region to help out as needed.-

"It's going to be strange not hearing from you for such a long period of time. You might have given me more than a few headaches but I more or less enjoyed our time talking." Birch said clearly feeling some sort of way. "Bah! I'm not gone yet so don't go getting all sappy on me since you're stuck with me for at least another three weeks." I joked and he laughed. We stayed to see to the clean up as there was trash and stains in the colosseum that needed to be cleaned up.-

We were mostly Just here in a supervisory manner as the league staff got most of it on their own and only some of the more questionable things needed input from us. The crowd had stayed to see the hand out of the rewards and then promptly left in a chatter so the many tents and camp sites were getting cleared up as they all started heading home. A few were staying however to help rebuild Slateport which was nice to see since that was sorta the point of this tournament.-

Birch and I headed back to Littleroot once we were not needed anymore and I released my team since the next few weeks would be mostly us relaxing as we waited for Yani to evolve for the last time and catch up with the rest. For the first week I and my team mostly just worked on our auras while taking breaks every now and again to freshen up our minds since nonstop meditation gets boring fast. Additionally we also socialized with the few pokemon that Birch had in his pasture by his lab. Most of them had been sent by May to aid his research during her journey but there were a few that Brendan had caught.-

Funnily enough Birch had a sort of arrangement with all these pokemon where he he cataloged what he could noninvasively before getting the rangers to return them to the wild. The funny part was that after experiencing living in the pasture a few pokemon refused to leave as this was way better than their lives in the wild. Free abundant food and protection from predators meant that the more passive pokemon just settled in permanently in the pasture while the good professor didn't have the heart to just force them out.