Jade did her best not to wince as her wound was examined. The stinging sensation of the cut spread throughout her entire leg.

She was still trying to wrap her head around what just happened. A contestant goes out of the way to cause harm to another trainer just to get ahead. Of course, she heard about cheaters, but she never thought she would experience something like this.

But the fact that the battle was postponed made her question something. How did the judges even suspect foul play if everything was made to seem as if it was a complete accident?

After a few moments, the answer came to her. That image she saw when Mismagius shrieked. Did everyone who heard that also see that image? That was the only thing that made sense.

Jade looked over at her ghost-type pokemon who hadn't left her side since she was carried away from the battle arena. "Thank you."

Mismagius glanced at her before nodding her head.

"Jade!"

The coordinator and Nurse Joy glanced over their shoulders just in time to see Rhyme and Niko rushing towards her. The younger of the two wrapping her arms around Jade in a tight hug.

"We were so worried about you! Are you alright!?"

"Y-Yeah I'm fine."

"Did you two come with the contestant to the Grand Festival?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yes. How bad is it?" Niko asked.

"Well the Ice Shard didn't seem to cut too deeply. But Jade will have a hard time walking for a bit unless she gets the proper rest needed for that wound to heal." Nurse Joy explained. "I'm not sure if it would be a good idea for her to continue on with the battle rounds."

"Is there a way to just sit down while continuing with the battle rounds?" Jade asked.

"I... suppose that could be another option. But we'll just have to see what the judges think."

Jade slowly nodded, though she gripped the hem of her dress. 'It's really going to end like this? Not going to the final round just because of someone playing dirty?'

There's no way that she could let it end like this.

"If it helps, I think that girl Pearl has done something like this before." Niko said. "But ran off before she could properly get punished."

Rhyme looked at her in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah. She did Pokemon Showcases for a bit but then disappeared suddenly." Niko explained. "Heard someone got injured around the time she vanished."

Nurse Joy nodded. "I'll be sure to tell the judges."

As soon as she rushed off, Jade looked at her bandaged leg before sighing. "There's gotta be some way to work around this..."

"I'm sure that they'll figure something out." Niko assured her. "There's no way they can just make you both quit."

"Rhyme, did you happen to see anything when Mismagius screeched?" Jade then asked.

"Yeah. I saw that cheater making her pokemon use Ice Shard to hurt you." the young trainer answered.

'So everyone that heard it really did see what I saw.'

Though throughout all this, she couldn't help but wonder what Destiny's reaction to all this was like.

.........

Destiny watched the screen anxiously, her Glaceon sitting beside her. Honestly the sudden pause of the battle shocked everyone. But if what Mismagius had showed them was true, then it made sense.

Still she never heard of something like this happening in a contest. If anyone was going to cheat, it was likely just using outdated or fake ribbons to make themselves qualify for the Grand Festival.

But what purpose did that little stunt served? Just to bring potential opponents down with her if she got caught? Destiny couldn't wrap her head around the logic of it.

With cameras and different types of pokemon, it was nearly impossible for little details to go unnoticed.

It's then that the screen showed the moment where Jade got injured, this time zoomed in and focused on the Dewgong. The footage slowed, showing that the Sea Lion Pokemon had glanced over at Jade once its order was given before using Ice Shard. Moments later, an announcement came on the overhead.

"Attention. Due to the intention of harm to another contestant, Coordinator Pearl will be disqualified from the Grand Festival. Coordinator Jade is on the way to recovery. After the next match, we will have an update on Coordinator Jade. Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate through this sudden event."

'At least there's one good thing that came out of this.' Destiny thought. Jade was getting the care she needed and the person responsible was getting what she deserved. Still the next match was hers. Would she even be able to focus on a contest battle knowing a dear friend was in pain and might not be able to continue?

She supposed she had no other choice if the ones running the Grand Festival chose to keep the show going. It wasn't like the wound Jade got was life threatening. Just serious enough to raise some concern. The least she could do was give it her all... just in case Jade did recover enough or found a way to continue.

Considering how much she had grown, Destiny doubted that Jade would take this sitting down. She could easily see her trying to try every option that would allow her to continue on with the Grand Festival.

Destiny's opponent, Lark came up to her. Though he seemed just as uneasy as she did.

"So... may the best trainer win?" he asked,  extending his hand out for Destiny to shake.

Destiny shook his hand. "For Jade."

Lark seemed caught off guard for a moment but then nodded. He may not know the contestant that got injured personally, but didn't mean that he wasn't affected by this incident. Just like all of them, she was just a trainer doing their best at something she loved to do. He hoped that this situation wouldn't ruin contests for her. "For Jade."

A few minutes later, their names were called for them to start their battle. Destiny and Lark took a breath before walking over to their designated areas.

Hopefully after their battle, things would start turning out for the better.

Jade

Leafeon (Ability: Leaf Guard) Leaf Blade, Magical Leaf, Nature Power, Grass Whistle

Delcatty (Ability: Cute Charm) Attract, Shadow Ball, Blizzard, Hyper Voice

Mismagius (Ability: Levitate) Psychic, Perish Song, Hex, Confuse Ray

Umbreon (Ability: Synchronize) Dark Pulse, Swift, Shadow Ball, Iron Tail

Garchomp (Ability: Sand Veil) Dragon Claw, Power Gem, Bulldoze, Stone Edge

Lopunny (Ability: Run Away) Double Kick, Quick Attack, Bounce, Drain Punch

Rhyme

Prinplup (Ability: Torrent) Bubble Beam, Peck, Metal Claw, Pound

Plusle (Ability: Plus) Helping Hand, Nuzzle, Quick Attack, Spark

Minun (Ability: Minus) Helping Hand, Nuzzle, Quick Attack, Spark