Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the rights to Pokemon.
"You want us to what?" asked Lance.
"To hold a battle royale," answered Charles Goodshow, grinning widely as he did.
"Why?" asked Steven.
"Because I saw one of those while I was holidaying in Alola!" answered Charles Goodshow. "While watching, I thought to myself, "Imagine how cool it would be if we had four Champions do one of these.""
Lance, Steven, Wallace and Cynthia shared a look.
"Charles, you may look like an old man, but at heart, you're a bigger kid than many actual kids," said Cynthia with a smile.
"So you'll do it?"
"We will," said Wallace.
(Several weeks later)
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! BOYS AND GIRLS! THANK YOU FOR COMING!" said Charles.
The crowd cheered.
"ARE YOU READY, TO SEE FOUR CHAMPIONS DUKE IT OUT!?"
The cheers grew louder as Lance, Steven, Wallace, and Cynthia stepped onto the battlefield, each with a Pokeball in hand.
"THEN I'M PROUD TO PRESENT, THE FIRST! EVER! BATTLE ROYALE OF CHAMPIONS!"
The Champions released their Pokemon. Lance released his Dragonite, who looked warily at its opponents. Steven released his Metagross, with it attempting to glare its opponents down. Wallace released his Milotic, its scales gleaming under the spotlight. Cynthia released her Garchomp, who proceeded to give a mighty roar.
Charles was shocked by how loud it was but recovered in time to say his next words.
"Let's go over the rules one more time," he said. "Each trainer will be using one Pokemon, and the winner will be the last one standing. Are we all clear on that?"
The Champions all gave Charles a thumbs up.
"Good. BEGIN!"
And attacks flew across the battlefield.
Cynthia always thought a good battle was a thrilling one. And without any doubt, this was one of the most thrilling battles she's ever had.
Her Garchomp dodged a freezing burst of Blizzard from Milotic, and began preparing a Flamethrower for Metagross' attack. When Dragonite attacked Metagross with a Fire Punch though, she had Garchomp switch targets to Milotic who tried another Blizzard attack.
"Outrage!" she commanded after her Garchomp fired a scorching stream of flame at Milotic's breath of cold wind, and her opponents scrambled to react. Milotic managed to bring up the green shielding of Protect, and Metagross was able to dodge in time. Dragonite, however, was not so lucky and was hit by the full force of Garchomp's Outrage.
Milotic effortlessly dodged the green flames of Garchomp's Dragon Breath, before gracefully leaping over Metagross' colourful Psybeam attack. It then ducked under Dragonite's purple Giga Impact so elegantly that Wallace had to remind himself he wasn't in a contest.
Wallace smiled to himself. His Milotic was able to show her beauty in ways he didn't think possible. Perhaps he should see about implementing Battle Royales in Pokemon Contests, but that's a thought for another day. Right now, he has a battle to fight.
"Dodge that Thunder, then fire a Water Pulse at Garchomp!"
This battle was most interesting.
Steven felt that keeping track of multiple opponents in a Battle Royale should not be this hard. He fought far more Team Magma and Team Aqua Grunts at once before, and it was easy to keep track of all his opponents then, so why was this one so difficult?
"Milotic! Ice Beam at Metagross!" said Wallace, taking Steven out of his thoughts.
"Dodge that!" said Steven, and Metagross obeyed. The white and cold beam instead landed on Garchomp who was on the other side of Metagross.
Steven saw Wallace smirked in satisfaction. It would appear to Steven that Wallace had adapted better to the Battle Royale than he did.
Lance clenched his fists in frustration. Since Garchomp's Outrage attack earlier, the tide of battle was constantly against him, and he had trouble reversing it.
It didn't help that it was just plain hard keeping track of three powerful opponents, never knowing what they might do and whether or not it will be in his favour. Dealing with Team Rocket Grunts were a lot easier, but then, they tended to be a lot weaker if more numerous. He often just had his Dragonite grab one opponent...
A light bulb lit up in Lance's head.
"Dragonite, get near me! I have a plan!"
"Yes!" said Charles. "I knew this battle would be one of the most awesome I've ever seen!"
The crowd cheered, clearly agreeing with his sentiments.
"Dragonite just took attacks from the three other combatants. Can Lance recover from this!?"
As if to answer the question, Dragonite shrugged off the attacks and despite its injuries, flew towards Metagross.
"Alright! What does Lance have pla- What!?"
Charles' jaw dropped, and so did the rest of the audience's for that matter, as Dragonite grabbed one of Metagross' legs and immediately flew towards Garchomp. Dragonite continued to surprise everyone when it used Metagross as a bludgeoning weapon to toss Garchomp towards Milotic.
Charles watched as Dragonite then threw Metagross towards Garchomp and Milotic before they could recover.
"Draco Meteor!" he heard Lance say. Dragonite flew up high and at the apex of its flight, it rained draconic fireballs on its foes.
"That's completely amazing!" shouted Charles at the sheer power of the move.
With bated breath, Charles and the audience waited for the dust to settle. When it finally did, the results were clear.
"Metagross, Milotic, and Garchomp are unable to battle!" said Charles. "The winner of the Battle Royale of Champions is Lance and Dragonite!"
The audience then gave their loudest cheer yet.
After the battle, the champions attended a press conference.
"What was it like fighting in the battle royale?" asked virtually every reporter.
"It was chaotic, but one of the most thrilling battles I've ever had," answered Cynthia.
"A four-way battle allowed my Milotic to show her finesse and grace in ways I didn't previously envision," answered Wallace.
"It was hard keeping track of everyone on the battlefield," said Steven. "It was fun though."
Everyone turned to Lance, who spent some time thinking about the battle he just had and what his response will be.
He eventually gave his answer.
"In a word, incredible," he said. "During the battle royale, I was initially frustrated since the Outrage attack put me on the backfoot for most of the battle. There was also so much going on, and yet, it was important to keep track of everything. And then inspiration hit me, and I was able to claim victory."
"Will there be more such battle royales?"
"Considering how well received the battle was, YES!" said Charles. "Expect to see more of them in the future."
The reporters shared excited looks with each other, already looking forward to future battle royales.
A month later, Bob the newspaper intern was slumped over onto his keyboard.
He tried to look at the mess of words on his screen. The deadline was in an hour, and his write-up of the most recent battle royale was a mere quarter-way done.
There had been four competing trainers, with three Pokemon each. A resttalking Snorlax had kept the battle going for nearly an hour. Even worse for keeping track, a Zoroark and two Ditto had been among the battlers. Or had that been two Zoroark and one Ditto? Or three Ditto?
Bob slumped back down. He was beginning to suspect why battles royale had yet to truly gain popularity as a spectator sport...
Author's note: When I asked for feedback on the ending, Spacebattles' Oh I am slain! wrote that final scene, so give him thanks for his help.