Last time, on Tony's Journey…

Tony and Cheren began their rematch, Tony choosing his Dwebble Rock Candy and Cheren choosing his newly-evolved Emboar. Unfortunately for both sides, the battle ended in a tie: now, Tony has no choice but to send out his highly-disobedient Swadloon Clover to battle against Cheren's Boldore!

What will happen next? Find out now!

To say that Clover was highly unamused to be out of her Pokéball would be a gross understatement; she was enraged.

It was difficult to tell, of course; Clover always looked like someone had spit in her Pokémon food, and her expression now, deadpan and moody, was no different than her usual expression. Still, the "Loon…" that she growled from her lips sounded especially hostile that evening.

Tony winced. "L-look, Clover," he called, "I know you don't like me, but this is really kind of important, okay? Could you maybe consider fighting with me?"

Clover rolled her eyes. "Loon…" she consented at last. It's not as if she had anything better to do.

Tony breathed a tiny sigh of relief before turning his attention to Cheren's choice: Boldore was a rocky Pokémon, disk-shaped and covered in hard stone armor. Red crystals sprouted from its blue body, glimmering in the artificial light of the arena. "Dore…" the Rock-type rumbled, crawling forward on stubby legs.

"Well, well," Grimsley said, his voice lacking some of his usual enthusiasm. "It seems that we're witnessing a rerun, ladies and gents. Cheren had chosen his Boldore and Tony his Swadloon! If memory serves, these two were the choices that they selected for their battle in the N1 tournament! It seems that there might be bad blood between these Pokémon… er, if Boldore can have blood… that must be resolved!"

There was no bad blood between the Pokémon – partially because Boldore, in fact, didn't have any blood – but there was certainly something between the trainers. Cheren wanted to surpass Tony and his coldness and practically bloodthirsty attitude was annoying his rival to no end.

It was sad, really; when the day had begun, the tournament looked like such a fun idea, a chance for old friends to get together and see how strong they had all become over the span of the last month. Now it was anything but that; now it was war. Neither Tony nor Cheren were having fun anymore.

This time, the blond was the first to make his move. "Clover, Razor Leaf, now!" he ordered.

"Loon!" the Swadloon cried, her leafy cloak flapping as they unleashed a vicious swarm of hardened razor-sharp leaves at her Rock-type opponent.

"Boldore, dodge and use Power Gem!" Cheren countered, his voice just as harsh as Tony's was.

"Dore!" the Rock-type rumbled. He rapidly stepped to the side, dodging the boomerangs, as a beam of scarlet flashing energy blasting from his crystalline spikes and lancing through the air towards the Bug/Grass-type.

Tony gritted his teeth. "Clover, dodge it!" he shouted.

The Swadloon hopped back, the beam missing her and striking the ground, a red crystal sprouting up from the impact point. "Razor Leaf again!" her trainer ordered as she landed. Mercifully, she followed her orders once more, throwing off more sharpened boomerangs at the Rock-type.

"Charge and take it!" Cheren shouted, surprising everyone. However, the bigger surprise was that Boldore followed the order. He launched himself forward, his stony legs tapping across the battlefield, rapidly closing the distance between himself and his green opponent. Horrifyingly sharp leaves dug into his rocky hide, greenish daggers stabbing into its stony flesh.

Tony raised his eyebrow. What's he…?

Clover's normally half-closed eyes went wide as she quickly found Boldore right up in her face. "L-loon?!" she exclaimed, desperately hopping back from the Rock-type.

"Now, Stone Edge!" Cheren ordered.

"Dore!" Boldore's crystals glowed brightly as chunks ripped themselves off of their owner's body, glowing with a mysterious energy. Before Tony could give an order, the tiny stone fragments shot off like a scattershot of bullets.

"L-loon!" Clover shrieked as she was pelted by razor-sharp stones, her leafy coat torn and bloodied by the attack. A chunk struck her eye, leaving it swollen and blackened. Another struck her mouth and she bit her tongue, blood leaking down her cheeks.

Grimsley gave an impressed whistle as the Swadloon hit the ground with a pained whine. "What a hit!" he exclaimed.

Tony groaned miserably. "Clover!" he cried to his prone Pokémon. "Are you okay?"

"L-l-loon…" Clover growled hatefully as she forced herself to sit up, shaking the dust and blood from her body. She glared at the motionless Boldore, who would have glared right back if he actually had any eyes to do so. Instead, he simply grunted angrily, his trainer's anger rubbing off onto him.

"Can you still fight?" Tony asked Clover, fearing for the worst.

The Swadloon spat on the ground – and then she spat on Boldore for good measure. "Loon!" she hissed angrily, giving her trainer a nod.

Boldore swiped the bloody spit from his face (if it could be called that) with his stubby leg, simmering with rage. "Dore…" he rumbled angrily, his crystals glowing brightly.

"Grass Knot, now!" Tony shouted suddenly, surprising his opponents.

"Loon!" Clover chirped, glowing bright green and summoning forth blades of flexible grass up from the earth and wrapped tightly around Boldore's body. The surprised Rock-type grunted as the leaves engulfed his body in their emerald grip.

"Looks like Boldore's been caught!" Grimsley crowed.

"D-dore!" Boldore groaned, not liking the soft but firm feel of the Grass Knot.

"Boldore!" Cheren shouted. "Don't move a muscle!"

"Does he even have muscles?" Tony asked in a snarky tone. "I mean, he's a rock…"

"Shut up." Cheren returned his attention to Boldore. "If you move, you'll trip up in the Grass Knot! Trust me, that hurts!"

"D-dore…" Boldore grunted warily, freezing up completely.

"But if he doesn't move, how's he going to fight back?" Tony asked.

Cheren winced. "Uh…"

"Clover, get 'im!" the blond trainer shouted. "Razor Leaf!"

"Loooon!" the Swadloon shrieked, whipping up more leafy boomerangs and launching them at her immobilized opponent.

"Dore!" Boldore groaned as the blades sliced into him again, more scratches marring his stony hide. Fortunately for him, the attack had also sliced through most of the Grass Knot.

Cheren saw their chance and took it. "Break free, now!" he shouted.

"Dore!" Boldore roared, flexing its stubby legs and tearing free from the grassy prison.

Tony and Clover's eyes went wide in unison. "Oh, no! Grass Knot again!" the trainer shouted.

"Jump back!" Cheren countered. Boldore did just that, hopping backwards just as grassy tendrils shot up from the ground once more, failing to entangle the Rock-type again. "Now, Power Gem again!"

"Dodge and String Shot!" Tony ordered.

"Loon!" Clover chirped, struggling to leap to the side and spew a blob of sticky goo at her foe. The crystalline beam just glanced her cheek and a long line of silk shot answered it.

"Dodge!" Cheren countered.

"Dore!" Boldore grunted, leaping to the side and dodging the webbing.

By now, the crowd was going wild as the two Pokémon clashed again and again, the last two trainers, the strongest of all of those who had competed, neck and neck as they struggled to steal victory from one another.

Despite the sharpened piece of metal pushed against his bleeding neck, Grimsley put forth the best performance he could given the circumstances: "Ladies and gentlemen, it seems our two finalists are truly evenly matched! With the trophy and title as the first Roulette Rumble championship at stake, these two strapping young lads are putting everything they have into winning this battle!"

Tony wiped a drop of sweat from his brow as he glared at Cheren, panting heavily. His rival stared back, also breathing heavily. It was almost as if they were actually fighting one another and not their Pokémon instead.

The blond scowled. As much as he hated to admit it, he was almost enjoying this battle. Cheren's skill with his Pokémon had increased amazingly since the last time they had met one another. The Unovan boy was putting everything he and his Pokémon had into his fight, every ounce of energy, power, and concentration that they could muster. He was a real opponent, one who was truly testing every one of Tony's skills, one wasn't going to be nice to him if he lost, who wasn't going to give him any special Gym Badge or TM if he won. He was just out to fight Tony and nothing else.

Well, Tony was more than happy enough to oblige. "Lucky, try Grass Knot again!"

Sandrine was used to the Mademoiselle's rather… eccentric way of thinking.

Eccentric was putting it nicely. While Antoinette Labelle was an heiress from an incredibly wealthy family and was quite concerned regarding her reputation and how her actions could affect the rest of her kin, she was often prone to doing things that Sandrine thought were incredibly crazy. That day's little stunt regarding using a device originally designed to propel explosive ordinance to deliver flowers instead wasn't something that most girls, rich or not, would do, even if it was to deliver a bouquet to a potential suitor. That was crazy, yes, but Sandrine's loyalty to the Mademoiselle was more powerful than her skepticism. She could deal with that.

But this, on the other hand, was even more ludicrous in the Kalosian maid's opinion.

"Sandrine, je vous présente Dena Nominator," the Mademoiselle said, gesturing grandiosely to the shy-looking blonde standing next to her. "Mon nouvel ami."

"Charmed," Dena said with a brief and very stiff bow, her voice practically monotone.

Now, Sandrine was hardly a snob. She was a maid, after all; she wasn't in a position that allowed for snobbery. She herself had many friends who were not of a high-ranking social caste, many of whom she knew from her days in the Kalosian Special Forces. She appreciated friendship between humans and she certainly was not opposed to her Mademoiselle having friends on a lower rung in the ladder of society.

What she did mind, however, was the Mademoiselle pulling people like this out of nowhere and declaring them to be her good friends.

"Dena was wallowing in self-pity in the bathroom," Antoinette said, switching to Unovan and adding an unhealthy dose of melodrama to her tone, "her heart broken by her own foolish decisions in the past, haunted by the horrid woman she once was!"

Dena blushed and looked away, feeling humiliated.

"Being the cher that I am, I naturally took her in," Antoinette boasted. "She is in need of a friend."

Sandrine slowly nodded, closing her eyes so that the Mademoiselle and her guest didn't see her roll them. "Mais oui, Mademoiselle," she said, holding back her sigh. "Please," she told Dena, "sit down. Are you hungry?"

"Uh… No, Ah'm fine," Dena replied. "Ah'll just… sit down over there…" She silently shuffled off to find a seat.

"Mademoiselle," Sandrine whispered, "puis-je parler avec vous?"

"Why are you speaking Kalosian?" Antoinette asked. "We have a guest who doesn't speak it. Be polite, Sandrine!"

Sandrine. "Mademoiselle, please listen to me," she said, switching to Unovan to avoid argument but still keeping her voice low. "I do not think inviting this woman here is wise. You do not know where she has been."

Antoinette huffed and folded her arms. "Do not know where she has been? She is a woman, Sandrine, not a stray Miaouss."

"You know what I mean," Sandrine retorted. "You do not know anything about her, do you? She may be a criminal."

Antoinette laughed haughtily before she remembered that they were trying to keep quiet. "A-a criminal?" she whispered, still giggling. "Her? Sandrine, you jest! She is as tame as Laporeille!"

"Even Laporeille can be dangerous, Mademoiselle," Sandrine pointed out, casting a wary glance at Dena. The brunette was staring out at the battlefield in complete silence

Antoinette shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Non, non, Sandrine," she said, "no more. She stays and that's final. She needs a friend and I am going to be that friend."

Sandrine sighed. "Very well, Mademoiselle," she conceded.

"Now, onto the important subject," Antoinette said, rubbing her hands together. "Has Antonio arrived?"

"He had, Mademoiselle," Sandrine said, looking down. "He left."

Antoinette blinked. "Eh? He left?!" she shrieked. "Why did he leave?! Why didn't you stop him?!"

Sandrine winced and Dena nearly leaped out of her seat. "T-the last round of the Rumble, Mademoiselle," she stuttered, "it was starting and…"

Antoinette raised her hand for silence. "I see…" she muttered. She looked up at her maid. "Was he even more handsome in person?" she asked.

"I suppose so." If you like scrawny blonds who look like they're ten. "B-but Mademoiselle, I'm afraid…"

Antoinette shuffled past her, walking towards the row of seats. "Is he winning the final battle?" she asked eagerly. "He is, isn't he?"

Before either Sandrine or Dena could answer there was a loud and startled gasp from outside, followed by a "Looooooon!" and a loud "Thump!"

A bloodied and bruised Swadloon slammed against the window, causing all three women to jump a little, startled. "L-loon…" the Swadloon moaned, sliding off the window and landing down in the shrieking audience.

Dena winced, turning to Antoinette and Sandrine. "Ah don't think he's winning," she said, stating the obvious.

Antoinette's face turned red with fury. "Sandrine, ready the launcher again. I need to shoot something at Antonio's opponent. Did you bring any tear gas grenades?"

Sandrine's hand found her forehead. "Mademoiselle…" she groaned.

Author's Note:

Clover: "Loon…" Medic…

Well, looks like Tony's down to one last Pokémon! Which one will he choose and will it be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Tune in next time to find out!

Reader Question Time! Lucario is confirmed for SSB4! What is your opinion on this? Answer after you review!

Tony's Party:

1: Lucky, female Butterfree

Ability: Compound eyes

2: Sunny, female Larvesta

Ability: Flame Body

3: Lancelot, male Escavalier

Ability: Swarm

4: Strike, male Scolipede

Ability: Poison Point

5: Clover, female Swadloon

Ability: Leaf Guard

6: Rock Candy, female Dwebble

Ability: Sturdy