[h2][center][color=7ea7d8]Tobias White[/color][/center][/h2]

The televisions around the waiting room droned on and on, the voice of the reporter or presenter loud enough to be audible but not loud enough to completely drown out the noise of music and cheering coming through the walls. If they could hear it even here, inside the arena, then it must be deafening out there in front of the crowds; in fact, he knew it was, having been a part of that crowd enough times at the Sunyshore Gym.

What would that be like to be at the centre of that? How would it feel to battle in front of thousands, with a wall of noise pressing in around you and bright lights making you the centre of attention as cameras recorded your every move? How many challengers over the years had buckled to the pressure, failing due to stage fright rather than a lack of skill?

It was something to consider. Something you didn’t think about as a spectator.

Tobias stared at the screen, eyes focused behind his glasses, but he only half listened to the commentary as he concentrated on his own thoughts. Normally he would pay the opening ceremony of the Gym Challenge more attention, he liked to try and guess which challengers would make it the furthest, but it was hard to be excited about it this year when he was going to be a part of it rather than just a spectator. He felt restless, foot not quite tapping as it bounced up and down; not quite anxiousness but not excitement either. If he had to describe it, he felt impatient; the opening ceremony was just the preamble to the real challenge, it was unnecessary, it was a distraction. Frankly it was for the audience, not for them.

That being said, his sponsor would be out there. His parents would be watching at home. Both of these facts gave him the patience to endure the delay. It was only one more night after all.

Beside him a Magnemite hovered, its small form twisting this way and that as it spun around to see as much of the room as possible. Every person and Pokémon in sight caught his interest at one time or another, it’s singular eye swivelling in their direction only for it to be immediately distracted by someone or something else as the eye swung away again. [color=7ea7d8]“Don’t wander too far.”[/color] The Electric-type, which had been drifting away from its trainer, stopped moving for a second before it started drifting slowly towards something else.

Turning back to the television Tobias left the magnet Pokémon to its own devices for now; he’d only had it for a few weeks now but it has quickly proven itself to be the curious type. Everything, no matter how mundane or even if he had already seen it before, was subject to intense scrutiny’ with so many new people and Pokémon around he wouldn’t be able to stop it from wandering with anything short of returning it to its Pokeball. As long as it didn’t cause any trouble it was fine to let it look around.