Mel was watching the last few rounds of the day, relaxing, with Larvesta hanging off her shoulders.

"Hey," Ithica said, plopping down next to her. "How's the view from here, any good?"

"Yeah." Mel grinned. "Apparently I'm now your trainer so I get the good seats." She grinned teasingly at Ithica.

Ithica snorted.

"Yeah, right, my coach," she said. One hand dropped to her belt to let Dragonair out before she caught herself and she made a face. "And I keep forgetting I can't let anyone out between bouts, since I'm a competitor."

"Yeah, nope," Mel agreed with an easy grin. "At least you remembered before I had to whap you. After the tournament is over for the day and we're heading back you can let Dragonair out."

"I know," Ithica said. She settled back to watch the last battle of the round. "Pity Steven doesn't have to fight any battle but the last one." She grinned teasingly at Mel. "You're being deprived of a chance to ogle him."

Mel snorted quietly. "Yeah but the last battle will make up for that, I'm sure," she said with a bit of a grin. "So I'm not too worried."

"I'll try to make it a good show," Ithica promised. "A three on three won't be much, but it'll be something. Especially if he pulls out that Aerodactyl or Metagross."

"He might use Metagross, he likes that one, and it'll make things interesting." Mel shrugged a bit.

Ithica grinned.

"That is exactly why I made sure to get my hands on a TM for Flamethrower," she said. "And I have a dark-type. That Metagross is going down."

Mel snickered but didn't disagree with her. "Poor Steven," she said instead, grinning. "This will be a lot of fun for me."

"It'll have to be a three on three match, per League regulations," Ithica mused. She leaned back in her seat. "That just means I need to be ready for any three of his pokemon. Like you said, Metagross is a pretty safe bet. Probably either Skarmory or Aerodactyl." She hummed slightly. "Aggron? Cradilly? Maybe Claydol..."

Mel snickered and left her to her musing, instead watching the next round of matches with interest. There were some pretty good trainers around, after all.

The rest of the day went quickly, and Ithica was up bright and early the next morning, ready for the next round of battles. There were only a few more battles between her and the Champion match, and she intended to win them all. There was no way she would be leaving before she managed to beat Steven.

Mel was very amused at this, and also rather pleased. Because Ithica did indeed continue to win the matches, even though they were getting more challenging. But she was doing well, and Mel was genuinely pleased.

Finally, Ithica stood victorious over her last opponent of the tournament. She'd made it all the way to, and through, the final round, and had qualified for the Champion match. She grinned brightly as she met Steven's eyes from across the arena and then went to tend to her pokemon.

Mel snickered a little. Oh yes, this was going to be quite entertaining for her. She twiddled her fingers at Steven before she hopped up and went to go see Ithica.

Ithica was in the arena pokemon center, looking at her Togepi egg while her team was with Nurse Joy. She looked up when Mel came over.

"Hey," she said. "Enjoy the show?"

"Yeah." Mel smiled a bit. "I've enjoyed the whole thing. But I think tomorrow will be a lot of fun." She grinned a bit.

"Tomorrow is going to be awesome," Ithica said, grinning brightly. "Tomorrow is my chance to win it all, and I'm going to try mt damnedest to topple Steven." She glanced at Mel, smirking. "I'm sure you'll be there to comfort him after."

Mel snorted quietly. "Even if I wasn't, that wouldn't deter you," she pointed out, grinning. "Which is fine. I expect no different from you now."

"I would hope not, at this point," Ithica said, grinning. She adjusted the egg in her lap a little. "So I think I have a rough idea of how tomorrow is going to go. I think I can reasonably expect Metagross, Cradily, and either Aerodactyl or Aggron."

"Right, none of which should give you overmuch trouble. Not easy, certainly, but not terrible, either." Mel plopped down next to her.

"The Cradily might be a bit of a problem," Ithica admitted. "If he decides to use it, at least. Best I have to beat it would be Milotic, but it would still be a gamble. Milotic will have to be fast."

"Yeah, but I think Milotic can do it," Mel said, shrugging a bit. "It might be close, but I don't doubt you'll win."