"Nope they're not. Fortunately you don't really have to worry about that." Mel grinned a bit. "Come to think of it, neither do I, really."

"It's always a good idea to carry full restores," Ithica said. "No telling when you'll run across something that can inflict status changes." She drummed her fingers anxiously on her leg. Wasn't much longer now until the match.

"I meant--oh nevermind." Mel huffed a bit and shook her head. "Alright, come on. Let's head over there."

Ithica just nodded, rolling am empty pokeball between her hands. She wasn't worried about losing the battle, not really, but she was still anxious about the battle itself.

Mel huffed a bit and shook her head. Well, at least she'd managed to distract Ithica for most of the day, that was pretty good.

"Anything you need before you get out there?" she asked.

"Celebi to catapult me a little into the future to kick this thing off already?" Ithica asked wryly, still fidgeting.

Mel snickered at that. "Really, you haven't got that long left," she said. "Just a little longer."

"I don't hear you protesting the Celebi though," Ithica said, grinning. She took a breath and clipped the empty ball back to her belt just as the bell sounded for her to take her place in the arena. "That's my cue."

"You'll be great," Mel told her with a grin. "Now go kick his butt."

Ithica grinned and got onto the platform that would take her up to the arena. Time to clinch her victory.

She had been right about him choosing Metagross. She had also been right about him choosing Cradily and Aerodactyl. Apparently, the announcers and audience were surprised at the latter two choices, because the very sight of the two fossil pokemon sent everyone into a frenzy. But she knew how to handle them, she just had to pick her strategy carefully.

It came down to two pokemon: Metagross and Zoroark. Milotic had been her match against Cradily, and she'd kept it in battle against Aerodactyl until the flying pokemon had gotten in a lucky Thunder Fang. Dragonair had taken over after that, but it had been close and Ithica didn't want to risk Dragonair against Metagross if she didn't have to. But Zoroark was a good matchup, especially when it came out of its pokeball looking like Milotic instead. Ithica could see the brief moment of confusion on both Steven and Metagross, and she immediately used it to her advantage, using Metagross' psychic nature against it and piling on the dark-type moves.

The battle was close, closer than Ithica would have liked, but she managed to eke out a victory.

Mel was waiting just off to the side, as promised, and she was grinning hugely as the crowd absolutely erupted when Ithica won.

"I knew you'd do it!" She was still grinning as she went to go hug Ithica.

"Oh my god I beat the Champion," Ithica said, a little dazed. "I just beat Steven Stone in his own region." She grinned hugely. "That was awesome."

"Yes it was." Mel grinned. "It was awesome, and if people didn't love you before, they do now."

"Oh god I've practically catapulted myself into the sun, haven't I?" Ithica asked, looking at Mel. "And I can't exactly go hide in the mountains or anything."

"Yup you have." Mel grinned. "It's okay. I don't think you'll have a fan club following you around. Just asking for autographs whenever they see you."

"Gah," Ithica said, shaking herself a bit. "Okay, new plan, first ferry to another region, I'll be on it." She grinned a bit. "Though I guess I have to go to the award ceremony first?"

"Yes," Mel agreed. "Yes you do. You'll like that part. I'll even go grab our tickets while you're busy, if you wanted."

Ithica took a deep breath.

"No, it's alright," she said, shaking her head. "Let's see if I still want to flee to Kanto or something in the morning." She paused. "Okay, never mind, I probably will. But we should probably, you know, plan that a little bit first."

"Okay," Mel agreed. "So ferry for tomorrow instead of last one tonight, sounds good." She grinned.

Ithica snorted.

"I mean, we could," she said. She grinned. "But then you wouldn't get any time to console Steven after his loss, unless you book me the ferry and the follow along later on another one."

"We'll see what happens," Mel said with a little shrug. "He may not even want comforting, you never know."

"Please," Ithica said, snickering. "He obviously likes you. Like, really likes you."

Mel flushed a bit but didn't deny it. "Still, we have no idea how he deals with losses, not everyone wants comforting," she pointed out, mostly to be contrary now.

Ithica rolled her eyes.

"You won't know until you go see him," she pointed out. She gave Mel a gentle shove. "Go. I can find my way to the podium."

Mel snickered quietly but shook her head and left. She headed over to where she'd last seen Steven, looking around for him.