The preliminary rounds continued on as one by one, half of the contestants were eliminated, leaving thirty-two trainers left in the conference championships. Felicity had just finished trouncing her opponent, marking the end of the first round of the preliminaries. A one hour intermission had begun which meant that battles would resume again at one o'clock sharp. Thus far, Seth and his friends had managed to make it by the first preliminary bout as they'd all hoped and were spending the break in a manner of their choosing. For Seth, that meant taking time to study up on possible opponents for the next preliminary match.

As he looked at the board, he saw that there were only a few from Allie's competition left in the conference including himself. Grayson was on the list as well as two others named Vincent and Hugo. After his match, Seth had been able to watch their battles to determine just how much of a threat they posed. He'd battled Grayson before and knew exactly what the man was capable of. They had battled once over the course of his journey and based on that, Seth determined that he was quite possibly one of his biggest obstacles when it came to the final requirement of the contest.

Hugo looked as though he'd pose a problem as he'd managed to make quick work of his opponent without too much difficulty, and after getting a better look at him, Seth recognized him as the other trainer that he'd met at Viola's gym. Then there was Vincent, another powerful trainer by the looks of things who also, like Hugo, managed to overwhelm his opponent and come out victorious. They were both cunning and, by the looks of things, very thorough with the training they gave their teams.

"Looks like I've got quite the road ahead of me don't I?" Seth said to himself as he looked at the remaining contenders.

"You say that like you don't relish the challenge."

Seth turned his head and looked over his shoulder, unsurprised to see his mentor standing just a few feet behind him. Mathilde smirked when she caught his eye, and walked casually up beside him and looked up at the standings that were posted.

"Don't you have wedding duties to attend to or something?" Seth inquired, arching his brow as his teacher gave him a side-long glance.

"I do, but there isn't anything that says the bride-to-be can't slip away for a bit now is there? Mine and my husband's wedding, our rules," Mathilde said grinning. "Besides, did you honestly think I was going to miss any of this? What kind of teacher would I be if I skipped out?"

"Point taken," Seth replied while looking away. "So... about what happened last month...."

Mathilde sighed and placed a hand on Seth's shoulder while gently tilting his head up to look her in the eyes.

"You needn't worry about it. If you're worried that I'm angry with you for what you did, you should know that I'm not angry at all. I had a feeling that something like that was going to happen, so I left it up to your discretion," Mathilde replied, letting go of his chin and smiling. 

"Right... I forgot about that part. Still, that doesn't take into account that I knowingly disobeyed your one rule not once, but three times. Honestly I'm surprised you still acknowledge me as your student after that. You're not one to bend the rules when it comes to serious matters like that. So what changed?" Seth asked curiously.

"You're right, I am a bit of a stickler for certain rules... but since I'm the one who made them, there's nothing that says I can't make a few adjustments now is there?" Mathilde said winking. "While I had initially told you never to use what I taught you to kill, I also told you that you should only use what you've learned to defend not only yourself, but those who need it. After all, you were just following my instructions weren't you?"

"So what you're saying is that you knew—"

"That you'd end up actually killing someone, yes. To tell you the truth, I had been bracing myself for when that day would come from the moment you had your first run-in with your princess," Mathilde said with a knowing smirk.

Seth's cheeks tinted red at Mathilde's remark. She knew exactly how Seth felt about Allie and was most likely never going to let him hear the end of it.

"Speaking of, have you prepared what you'll say to her once you reach the end of all this?"

"Don't you mean if I reach the end? there is still the possibility that I could lose you know?" said Seth as he placed his hand in his pocket to fidget with the ring.

"Yes, there is that possibility, but from where I'm standing I can see that you have yet to get completely serious. I watched your match against Thomas and from what I saw, you could have easily taken him down without having to use Gogoat at all. In essence, it could have been a flawless match. Something tells me that you knew that already because you sized up each opponent that was thrown at you, didn't you?" Mathilde replied, grinning as Seth's eyes disclosed the truth by widening ever so slightly.

"Well, you did teach me not to show my hand all at once. Had they seen my best from the start it would make it easier for them to form a strategy to defeat me wouldn't it?" Seth responded casually.

"And it looks like you learned that lesson well enough. Our training sessions seem to be paying off. I look forward to seeing what you have planned for the next round," Mathilde added, looking up at the time on the screen before continuing. "Since you've got around forty five minutes left, I assume you'll be thinking of your next opponent and the possible scenarios you'll be dealing with am I right?"

Seth nodded in reply.

"I suppose I shouldn't keep you much longer. I just thought I'd say hello before the next match starts. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to grab something to eat. I skipped breakfast this morning because of all the planning and my stomach hates me for it. Good luck in the next round," Mathilde replied, pulling him into a tight hug before walking off to find something to eat.

As she disappeared, Seth reached into his pocket and took out the ring he'd bought and looked at it again. It was almost unbelievable that he was really going to go through with it. But the more Seth thought about it, the more sense it made. She helped him in one of his most difficult battles early on in his journey, and managed to change his point of view of her completely.  Allie also helped Melody with a good chunk of what she needed to get started on her dream. Not to mention the fact that she befriended Melody and was even willing to take action the moment she found out that Enzo had done her harm.

Allie was, to him, an amazing woman who any man would be fortunate—no, blessed to have as their wife and he'd be damned if that man wasn't him. Mathilde had been right in saying that he hadn't completely taken the first match as seriously as he could have. He wasn't there for the trophy or the glory of winning the League, not that he'd mind if he did. He was there for one reason and one reason only and that was to confront Allie and ask her for her hand. Sliding the ring back into his pocket, he decided it would be best to fuel up before his next match began.

As the hour quickly passed, it was time for everyone who was still competing to gather once more. The second round of the preliminary matches were about to begin. The announcer's voice could be heard over the noisy roar of the crowd, quieting them down for a moment while he spoke.

"Weren't those first round matches amazing folks!?" boomed the announcer, earning a cheer from the crowd as he continued. "It's always exciting to see such passionate trainers battling it out for supremecy, and you're going to see more of that here in just a moment as the second round of the prelimaries begins. Why don't we go ahead and look at the board to see who will be facing who this time around. As you know, there are thirty two trainers remaining, half of which will be moving on to the third and final round of the preliminaries!"

As the announcer talked, the board began to light up with the names and faces of the remaining competitors.

"Why don't we see who will be facing who in the next round, shall we?" exclaimed the announcer as the board began to randomize the names of the trainers, shifting their photos over to the appropriate side before finally locking them into their intended slots.

Seth glanced up at the board and took note that he wasn't facing any of his friends, something he was very thankful for. However, he did notice that Shauna was facing Trevor and Serena was squaring off with Tierno. Jamie and Felicity weren't fighting each other just yet. As he found his own picture, he soon realized that his opponent was one of the three he'd been scouting... Hugo. They were the third match in the second round.

"Now that the pairings are in order, let the second round of the preliminaries begin!"