Jasper turned on the TV in his living room and a boring news channel flickered onto the TV. He grabbed the remote and changed the channel.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," The announcer on the channel he turned to said. "I am proud to welcome you all to the final round of this year's Poké-Master Tournament!" The scene changed to an aerial view of the arena, which was shaped and colored like a Pokéball. "We have seen some pretty intense battles so far this week, but I bet you that nothing we've seen yet will compare to this. In the opposing corner we have the winner of the Ladder Battles, ladies and gentlemen give a big round of applause for Darnell Rohlfs!"
On the white half of the arena a middle aged man with dark skin entered via an elevator that also resembled a Pokéball. He pumped his fist in the air and the crowd cheered.
"Darnell has conquered the entire tournament to get here. Now he has a shot at defeating the world's best Pokémon Trainer and claiming that title for himself. And here he comes now!"
Jasper jumped up and down in the air excitedly. "MOM, MOM!" He shouted eagerly. "COME QUICK, BIG BROTHER'S ABOUT TO COME ON!"
Jasper's mother walked into the living room with a basket of laundry in her arms. She smiled and as she set it on the table and sat down next to Jasper. "Ok then, let's watch him."
"Here he is folks, the hailing champion of the…" But when the elevator on the red side of the arena rose up, it was empty. "Hold on a second, where is he?"
"Hey!" Jasper shouted. "Where is big brother?"
"Something seems to be wrong ladies and gentlemen. The elevator has risen up but our champion is not on it. Perhaps he has come down with a case of the flue?" Then out of the audience a member flipped out of the crowd and onto the center of the elevator. "There he is folks!" The announcer shouted. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to give to you the Pokémon World Champion for six years running, please give it up for Gil Nuding!" The entire crowd burst into a scream of applause.
"YEAH!" Jasper shouted.
"Now viewers of the world, I am overwhelmed announce that the final battle of this year's Poké-Master Tournament is beginning!"
Gil smiled as he pulled out his first Pokéball. He pressed the button in the center and it instantly grew larger. He then threw it and it burst open releasing his Weavile.
Darnell sneered. "Is that it?" He taunted. He threw a Pokéball and released his Tyranitar. It roared and the crowd cheered even more.
"Round one is underway ladies and gentlemen. Darnell was able to make it this far off his party's shear brute force. But will that be enough to best our champion? Let's watch and find out."
"Alright Tyranitar, use fire fang and finish this runt off quickly!" Darnell's Tyranitar ran up to Weavile and bared its teeth, which released blazing fire.
Gil remained calm. "Weavile, dodge and hit him with metal claw." Weavile swerved around Tyranitar with blinding speeds just before the fire fang made contact with it. Its claws then grew longer and more metallic as it uppercut-slashed Tyranitar on the back, dealing devastating damage.
Darnell gasped. "You'll pay for that! Tyranitar, stop fooling around and use hyper beam!" Tyranitar opened its mouth and a yellow orb started charging up. It then released the hyper beam straight towards Weavile. Weavile dashed out of the way of the attack and Tyranitar attempted to change the beam's direction and hit it but the beam ran out before even coming close to Weavile. Tyranitar started panting and recharging from the hyper beam.
Gil smiled. "Now Weavile, use quick attack." Weavile lunged at Tyranitar and started rapidly punching and kicking it with a graceful and dancelike manor. Each graceful blow hurt Tyranitar more and more.
Darnell growled. "That's it! Tyranitar show this twerp whose boss and use earthquake!" Tyranitar scowled and stomped powerfully on the ground causing it to shake violently.
Much to Darnell's surprise however, Weavile jumped high into the air avoiding the attack. Gil pointed his finger out at Weavile. "Icy breath, go!" Still in the air, Weavile took in a deep breath and shot out a gust of ice cold air mixed with frozen ice crystals. They pelted Tyranitar and caused him to fall to the ground unconscious.
"Well there you have it folks," The announcer said. "Brute force isn't always the way to go. Weavile's soupier speed and agility easily conquered the large and slow Tyranitar. The first battle goes to Gil."
Gil held out Weavile's Pokéball and it shot out a red beam retracting Weavile back inside. Gil took out another Pokéball and released his Shedinja.
Darnell retracted Tyranitar and threw another Pokéball. He grunted with confidence as his Magcargo. "I may have the last battle, but I know I can win this one."
Gil smirked. "Is that so?"
"Magcargo!" Darnell shouted. "Flamethrower!" Magcargo opened his mouth and a jet of flames shot out at Shedinja. It was easily able to dodge the flames. Darnell smirked as Magcargo instantly launch another flamethrower at Shedinja as soon as it dodged. "Magcargo isn't as slow as he looks."
Shedinja dodged each flamethrower that Magcargo launched at it. Gil sighed. "Looks like we're gonna have to stop these flames Shedinja. Use confuse ray." Immediately after dodging another flamethrower, Shedinja shot out a colorful ray at Magcargo. When it hit Magcargo its head started spinning around in confusion. "Now use shadow sneak." Shedinja dove into the ground and disappeared into its own shadow.
"Snap out of it Magcargo!" Darnell yelled at Magcargo. It shook its head and snapped out of confusion. Magcargo tried to locate Shedinja but it was nowhere to be found in the arena.
"Use shadow ball." Gil ordered. A shadow appeared on the wall behind Magcargo. Shedinja stuck itself out and launched a shadow ball. It made full impact with Magcargo, who was launched forward. Magcargo then tried to turn around and launch a flamethrower at Shedinja, but ended up hitting the wall. "Now Shedinja," Gil said. "Bug buzz." Magcargo turned around anticipating the next attack to come from behind it again. But instead Shedinja burst up right in front of Magcargo's original orientation and let loose an ear piercing vibration from its wings. Magcargo cried out in pain. "Finish it off with silver wind." Gil said. Shedinja spread its wings and released a beautiful, silver gust of wind from them that buffered Magcargo so hard that it fainted.
"Now wasn't that something folks?" The announcer said. "It was clear that Darnell's strategy was to use Magcargo's fire type moves to negate Shedinja's wonder guard. But unfortunately for Darnell that plan won't work unless you can actually hit Shedinja. The second battle goes to Gil!"
Gil put Shedinja back into its Pokéball and threw out his next one. His Feraligatr was released and let out a mighty roar.
Darnell grabbed a Pokéball and threw out is Sceptile. "You got lucky those last two battles but there's no way you can win this one! Sceptile use leaf blade!" The spikes on Sceptile's forearms extended and it used them like blades to attack Feraligatr. Then, much to everyone's surprise, the attack actually hit Feraligatr. Sceptile slashed at Feraligatr multiple times and each hit made contact with Feraligatr. "Alright!" Darnell shouted with excitement. "We got him now Sceptile!"
Gil let loose another smirk. "You think so. That's enough Feraligatr, time to use rage." Feraligatr scowled and roared loudly causing Sceptile to stagger backwards. Feraligatr then rushed towards Sceptile, picked it up, and threw it towards the wall of the stadium in a fit of powerful rage. "Now use slash!" Feraligatr charged at Sceptile and slashed it with its sharp claws before Sceptile even had time to get up. "Ice fang for the final blow!" Feraligatr opened its maw wide and its teeth were incased in ice. It brought down its teeth in order to bite Sceptile.
"Oh no you don't!" Darnell shouted. "Sceptile counter with leaf storm!" Sceptile's eyes flinched open and it held out its arms causing a barrage of leaves to pelt and damage Feraligatr. Sceptile jumped up to its feet. "Now, use bullet seed!" Sceptile shot out large seeds from its mouth and pelted Feraligatr. They eventually broke its guard and sent Feraligatr to the ground. "Ok, use synthesis to recover while it's down!" Sceptile took in a deep breath and it started taking in sunlight; which allowed Sceptile to recover.
Feraligatr quickly got up. "Don't let it recover Feraligatr. Use hydro pump to end this battle." Feraligatr inhaled, and then spat out a jet of water with more force than a fireman's hose. It hit Sceptile head on and knocked it backwards against the wall. Feraligatr kept spitting out water for few more minutes. "Ok Feraligatr, I think it's had enough." Feraligatr ceased its attack and Sceptile fell to the ground soaking wet and unconscious.
"Now that was an exciting battle folks." The announcer said. "It looked like for a second there that Sceptile would easily take the victory over Feraligatr with its grass type moves. But Gil proved that brute force can be the way to go if used correctly. Utilizing the intense rage built up in Feraligatr by Sceptile's attacks it was able to overpower the poor grass lizard easily. Even when Darnell thought he regained the upper hand Feraligatr was still able to dominate Sceptile. The third battle goes once again to Gil!"
Feraligatr was retracted and Exploud was released.
Darnell sent out his Machamp. It flexed and made the crowd cheer it on. "Alright Machamp, use cross chop!" Machamp's hands started to glow as it charged at Exploud.
"Stop it with screech." Exploud opened its mouth wide and let out a high pitched scream, stopping Machamp in its tracks. "Now use take down!" Exploud charged at Machamp gaining momentum quickly, and then tackled it with extreme force.
"Counter with strength!" Darnell commanded. Machamp used all four of its arms to stop Exploud. Then it picked it up and prepared to throw Exploud.
"Give him a taste of hyper voice Exploud." Exploud inhaled deeply and screamed so loud that sound barriers went up around the audience and the trainers to protect their ears. Machamp dropped Exploud and covered its ears. But this was not enough to shield it from the pain. "Now finish it with thunder fang!" Exploud opened its mouth wide and electricity shot out from its teeth. Bringing its teeth down the defenseless Machamp was all it took to end the battle.
"Things aren't looking that good for Darnell folks," The announcer said as both trainers retracted their Pokémon. "He's down four Pokémon and Gil still has all six of his left. If he wants to win this battle he better have two extremely powerful Pokémon left."
"Alright," Darnell said. "Time to bring out the big guns." He raised his right hand in the air, signaling that he needed water. His half of the arena slid open and filled with water. "You're going down now! Gyarados show this fool who's the best!" He tossed his Pokéball out and his massive Gyarados was released into the water. It looked at Gil and roared at him.
Gil was not intimated in the slightest way. He calmly took his fifth Pokéball from his belt and threw it into the air. His Skarmory appeared and soared circles around Gyarados. "Alright, we'll pull the first move this time. Use steel wing." Skarmory's wings started to slow a bright silver color as it used them to slash at Gyarados. It screamed in rage.
"Don't let him do that to you Gyarados," Darnell shouted. "Use dragon rage on it." Gyarados fired a shot of swirling firing from its mouth at Skarmory.
"Use agility!" Gil shouted. Skarmory moved faster than the eye could see and avoided the dragon rage attack.
"Keep it up Gyarados!" Darnell yelled. "It's bound to get tired some time." Gyarados continuously fired the dragon rage attack from its mouth; which Skarmory kept dodging.
"Use metal sound!" Gil ordered. Skarmory dodged another dragon rage attack and then clapped its wings together creating an irritating sound that caused Gyarados to flinch. This created an opening which Gil was quick to take up. "Now use furry attack!" Skarmory started to rapidly pecked, scratched, and slashed Gyarados. "Now end it with brave bird!" Skarmory flew up high into the air, and then suddenly dove down at super speeds towards Gyarados. The impact was so hard that it caused Gyarados to fall to the ground. Gil retracted Skarmory and smirked. "Big guns eh?"
"It's just about over now folks." The announcer said. "Anyone who's watched one of Gil's matches knows what Pokémon that he saves for last. Darnell has no chances of winning this battle."
Darnell growled with fury. "I'LL SHOW YOU!" He shouted. He called back Gyarados and pulled his sixth and final Pokéball out. "Ok you're my last hope, better make this count." He threw out his Pokéball and his Gengar appeared ready for battle.
Gil also threw out his final Pokéball. Before it even opened the crowd erupted into the loudest cheer ever. When the Pokéball did open, Gil's Gallade appeared.
"Alright Gengar!" Darnell shouted. "Use…"
"Use psycho cut." Before Darnell or Gengar could react, Gallade used the blades on his forearms to slash Gengar. Gengar fell over and the whole crowd started cheering.
"Well there you have it folks!" The announcer shouted. "I am proud to announce that for the seventh year in a row our Pokémon Master is once again, GIL NUDING!"
Jasper was jumping up and down on the couches cheering. "YEAH YOU GO BIG BROTHER! YEAH!" Jasper greatly looked up to his older brother. He was the perfect person to look up to. Jasper knew that one day, he wanted to be just like him.