Ithica grinned.

"Most people would be rooting for the defending Champion," she teased. "After all, I'm kind of the interloper, even if this is my home region, as far as anyone else is concerned."

Mel snickered. "Actually you have a fair few people rooting for you just because you're new and popular," she said. "Besides, it's good to lose every now and again."

Ithica grinned.

"Do you mean for me, or for him?" she teased. "I mean, I haven't lost yet, after all."

"Both," Mel said after a moment. "I'm fairly sure you'll win tomorrow, but one day you'll lose, and that'll be good for you too."

Ithica snickered.

"Well, this isn't that day," she said. She tapped gently on the Togepi egg. "This one would have been helpful, I wouldn't mind having a Togetic or a Togekiss for the League matches, my team right now can handle it just fine."

Mel nodded, peering at the egg for a few moments. "Give it another two days," she guessed. "Maybe three."

"You think so?" Ithica asked, curious. She looked down at the egg and tilted her head a bit. "I would have thought longer than that. But if you're thinking a couple of days, then I'll make sure I'm ready then." She grinned. "I never paid attention to egg steps in my games. And I only paid attention to my Ks in Go because I was trying to hatch a ton of 2ks for the Magikarp candies."

"Oh I know." Mel smiled. "I remember that too. But yeah, I think just two or three more days. If I'm right." She shrugged a bit.

"I'll trust your instincts," Ithica said, nodding. She snickered. "You really joined the wrong team, I think. Yellow team missed out on you."

Mel snickered. "Well, fortunately, it doesn't matter anymore," she said with a grin. "Now we're just here."

"I would not surprise me in the slightest to find the three teams somehow cropping up eventually," Ithica pointed out, grinning. "That would be awesome."

Mel snorted. "It would be entertaining, certainly," she agreed. "I'd probably just watch from the sidelines."

Ithica snorted.

"Please," she said, grinning. "They wouldn't give you a choice, not with how good you are with pokemon."

Mel snickered. "Yeah but I can be stubborn," she said with a little shrug. "But anyway, for now, yeah give that egg a few more days, and you've got your match tomorrow."

Ithica nodded.

"Alright," she said. She stretched a bit and settled in for the night. The next morning dawned bright and early, and Ithica was up and ready to go, anxiously fidgeting with an empty pokeball. The match was set for the evening, so as to be broadcast live to the region during primetime TV, so she had to figure out how to kill the day until it was time to face the Champion match.

Mel was ready for that, and pretty much immediately pulled her into helping her gather food supplies and working on new batches of food and treats for the Pokemon.

Ithica jumped into making pokeblocks, throwing random berries into the machine to see what would come out. She soon had people lining up to take turns at the machine with her, hoping for the chance to make high-quality pokeblocks.

Mel snickered and kept on making the pokeblocks, just trying new combinations. Every once in a while she'd give a tidbit to Eevee or Vulpix to see what they thought, since they were the pickiest.

Ithica made pokeblocks for a while, and ended up signing more than a few autographs for kids who were brave enough to approach her about it. As the time slot for the Champion battle got closer, though, she started getting more anxious.

"Argh, I just want this to be over already," she muttered to Mel.

"Soon enough," Mel murmured, shoving a few more berries at her. "We're almost done here."

Ithica fumbled the berries for a moment, and looked at them.

"Where did you even find a Starf berry?" she asked, glancing at her friend. "And an Enigma berry? There's literally no place where these grow wild that I know of."

"Nope, I traded for 'em," Mel said with a shrug. "Made some blocks for a nice gentleman and his Growlithe, and he gave me a couple bags of berries in return."

"Ah, Gentleman," Ithica said, nodding. "You always get the best battle spoils out of Gentlemen and Ladies." She paused. "I mean, outside of League battles, at least." She grinned. "But hey, good for us, these'll make really good blocks."

"Yes they will." Mel grinned. "I like how for you it's battle spoils, for me it's exchange stuff."

"Of course it's battle spoils," Ithica said, grinning. "Gotta be able to keep myself stocked with healing stuff. Hyper potions and full restores aren't cheap."