The preliminaries soon began. It was game down to the top 8. They were shuffled into this bracket:
1 Liam Coleman
2 RP
3 RP
4 Jack Coleman
5 Misty
6 Wallace
7 RP
8 Shiranui Tsukiko

Liam went first. The final match each trainer would use three Pokemon, the rest only two. Liam's opponent called on Corphish.

"[i]Corphish, The Ruffian Pokemon. orphish catches prey with its sharp claws. Its pincers will never release prey. It has no likes or dislikes when it comes to food-it will eat anything. This Pokémon has no trouble living in filthy water.[/i]"

Liam called on Laparas to handle the opponent, scoring a lucky hit with Thunderbolt. His opponent went next called on Octillery.

"[i]Octillery, the Jet Pokemon. Octillery grabs onto its foe using its tentacles. This Pokémon tries to immobilize it before delivering the finishing blow by trapping them with the suction cups on its tentacles, then smashes them with its rock-hard head.. If the foe turns out to be too strong, Octillery spews ink to escape.[/i]" The Octillery's Sniper ability caused it to score a critical hit, which finished the weakened Transport Pokemon. Liam switched her out for his Vaporeon. 
 A timely battle resulted in a narrow victory for Liam's Vaporeon, allowing him to advance. 
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next battle was Liam's dad, Jack going, he used Golduck and Slowkng to best his opponent's Gyarados and Ludicollo. 
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The next match, Misty from Cerulean City, vs Wallace of Sootoplis City. Both trainers are or have been Gym Leaders for water types, and a great show was expected. Misty used Starmie and Gyarados. Polluted stood by her side, cheering in her Pokemon in its usual manner, Wallace used Seaking and Milotic and beat Misty, advancing to the next round.

1 Liam Coleman
[s]2 RP[/s]
[s]3 RP[/s]
4 Jack Coleman
[s]5 Misty[/s]
6 Wallace
7 RP
8 Shiranui Tsukiko