Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak gazed out into the yard and watched Ash and his friends battle with their Pokemon for fun. "I can't believe he's grown up so much already!" Mrs. Ketchum sighed as Ash's Pignite knocked out Dawn's Buneary, much to her apparent distress.

Professor Oak chuckled. "He's only thirteen, Delia. Still, I see how far he's come too. I think the day he becomes a Pokemon Master may be coming soon."

Mrs. Ketchum checked her watch and yelled "Ash! It's time!" With shouts of excitement Ash and all his friends (Misty, Dawn, Brock, Cilan, May, Gary, and Max) all rushed inside the house. Usually the party would have the cake and presents, or that's how a normal kid's birthday would go. But Ash had recently gotten into following competitions that were in different countries, particularly those that occured in the European Union. Today was an international competition with several of the best trainers of the area competing.

The jingle started and the logo for the European Union Pokemon Championship began. Three seconds later, the screen transitioned to a smarmy-looking announcer who obviously couldn't believe his luck. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," he began with a broad smile, "to the 235'th Pokemon Battle Championship of the European Union! Before we begin, we would like to thank our special sponsors for today: Poketopia, the world's newest and largest man-made resort devoted entirely to Pokemon Trainers, and their upcoming World Elite Trainer Competition."

The feed cut to a commercial highlighting Poketopia's amazing features and vast size. After a while, Misty asked "Wouldn't it be great if we could actually go there?"

"Yeah," Brock replied, "but I can't imagine how we'd be able to afford the trip." Ash said nothing; he was imagining the same thing. "An entire resort devoted to Pokemon Battles..."

"-Coming soon to your nearest Pokemon Gym, you could win a chance to enter in the Pokemon Battle Championship of the Prominence Territory. Ask a specialized Gym member for eligibility details."

"What's the 'Prominence Territory?" Max asked, clearly lost.

"The Prominence Territory is us: Hoenn, Johto, Unova. We don't call ourselves the Prominence Territory, but the American media does," Gary replied.

'I didn't know that," Ash interjected in interest.

To this, Gary chuckled. "When one stops chasing Pokemon, he tends to learn a couple of other things. Especially when working for Gramps."

The screen transitioned back to the reporter, Harold Starner. "The officials down at the battling area are telling me that we are ready to start. Now for those of you just tuning in, the Trainers in today's battles will be fighting by the Old Rules!" At this, Professor oak gasped. Before anyone could ask what The Old Rules were, the smug Starner added the explanation: "For the benefit of our younger audiences, The Old Rules are a lot like the rules of today. However, before being changed forty years ago, the Rules allowed for the Trainers to bring in as many Pokemon as they could catch, with them knowing as many moves as they could possibly learn. Needless to say, the battles took a while!" He chuckled. "Aside from that, the rules included battles on obstacle course-like fields. Other than that, no other changes of note have been made.

"Now, without further ado, let's watch the first two competitiors, Alfonso Gelhieri of Spain, AAAAAAAAND..." he added with tangible enthusiasm, "The FABULOUS BREINIK OF THE FORMER CZECK REPUBLIC!" The camera panned to the field, where the two competitors were facing each other. One man wore a large, billowing traditional yellow robe lined with fur, attire that that went out of style in Spain at least a century and a half ago. He also wore a red beret and shoes that reminded Ash of the Pilgrims that first stepped foot on America. The attire of this man, whom the captions identified as Gelhieri, was enough to make everyone groan in disgust, but what was truly despicable about this man was the man himself. Despite his bulky clothing, the man was very skinny and lanky. He had knobby hands, a head of curly black, oily hair, a hooked nose that protruded at a forty degree angle, and a saggy, naturally angry-looking face, with a droopy frown and bulging eyes. The other man opposite him, however, didn't seem to even be aware of his appearance one way or another. This man, who was captioned to be The Fabulous Brienik, was a plainly-dressed fellow of at least eighty years of age. He had a smart, middle-length white beard, an air of fatigue and melancholy, and a stare that clearly indicated that he was blind. The old man barely acknowledged the applause he was receiving, unlike the vain Gelhieri, who kissed the air and shouted in Spanish.

The two seemed to be fingering their first Pokeballs. Dawn suddenly broke the silence. 'Why do they call him 'The fabulous Breinik'?"

Ash, excited to explain, jumped on the question. "Because he's basically legend! His entire career, he beat nearly everybody. He wrote the book on modern Battling. He's been the Champion Pokemon Trainer in all of Europe for at least thirty-five years in a row!"

"Forty-three, actually." Professor Oak added. By now, Ash's Mom was in the kitchen preparing for the festivities later. "Back when I was a kid," Professor oak continued,"he was my favorite Trainer to watch and listen to. He really is a legend. He once defeated three people, and eighty Pokemon, with only his Feraligator."

Everybody gasped in awe at this. THAt was impressive! On the television, the bell rang, and the battle began. Gelhieri let out an Aggron, which roared and stomped around before rushing at Breinik before he even unleashed his own Pokemon. The old man grinned... and unleashed Hirayama, which grabbed the charging opponent and tossed it over its shoulders, leaving it to land in a heap before scarmbling to right itself. Gerhieri gestured and shouted in Spanish. The Aggron roared again, and used Metal Claw to try to clobber its opponent. In response, the Hariyama used Reversal, which caused the Aggron to reel and stagger, much to Gelhieri's angst. "It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!" Starner hollered, obviously having as much of a good time as Ash and the Gang were.

The Aggron fainted, and Gelhieri called it back with a scowl that howled for vengeance. He threw his next Pokeball with a few choicy words in Spanish, and let out a Dragonite. At the sound of the crowd, and the announcer's yelling of "IT'S DRAGONITE!" in at least ten different languages, Breinik called his Hariyama back and promptly replaced it with a Cloyster. Gelhieri seemed to see very clearly that this wasn't a good matchup, so he switched, with Breinik switching to match his pokemon's weaknesses: Galvantula against Chandelure; Tyranitar against Lucario; Blaziken against Slowking; Spiritomb against Hydreigon. Each change occured faster and faster. As Ash and Professor Oak seemed to be barely capable of containing themselves, Misty seemed confused. "Why won't they attack?"

"They're testing each other," Ash answered, "it's what they're both known for. They're trying to get their opponent to reveal his Pokemon. Sooner or later, one of them is going to attack- they're just waiting for the right opportunity."

The switching continued. It eventually got so fast that it was nearly impossible to see what each competitor even had! "WOAH!" Starner couldn't contain himself: Abandoning any pretense of professionalism, he was close to swallowing the microphone and spitting profusely as he clearly thought the sight to be too much to take at one time. "THERE HASN'T BEEN SUCH QUICK CHANGES FOR AT LEAST TWENTY YEARS! NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I EVER THOUGHT SUCH FEATS TO BE POSSIBLE!" This guy was probably exaggerating, but the sight was indeed spectacular: The lights and sounds of the activating and retrieving Pookeballs was reminiscent of a laser light show. And all the while, neither opponent struck a blow. Breinik seemed to be daring his opponent with his eternally-doleful eyes as he mercilessly chucked twenty Pokeballs a minute into and out of the line of fire.

The impatient Gelhieri had had enough. He stopped at his Dragonite and ordered it to use Outrage. In response, Breinik's Bronzong, the pokemon he had out at that instance, after recovering from the move, used Future Sight. On the other end of the screen, everybody was getting more and more excited, clenching their fists and yelling "Get 'em! Get 'em!", "Come on! Use Psywave!", and "Come on Old Man! You GOT this!" The Dragonite tried to use dragon Tail, but was not only hurt by Future Sight, but also by Flash Cannon. Before the Dragonite even had time to reel in pain, however, the Bronzong followed up with Rock Slide. The Dragon yelled, shook its head, and fainted. The livid Spaniard jumped up and down in a fit, yelling something in Spanish that may be better off untranslated. Starner appeared to be close to getting a heart attack from the yelling he was doing: "AMAZING! THE FABULOUS BREINIK NOW HAS TWO MORE POKEMON THAN GELHIERI! THIS COULD BE A SHORT MATCH AFTER ALL, FOLKS!"

A commercial break started, and the group decided to have the birthday party while they were waiting. Thirty minutes later, with everyone full of cake, they sat back down to watch the rest of the battle. "-believable turn of events here, folks! The Fabulous Breinik is now down to his last Pokemon!" Everyone let out sounds of outrage, no one more so than Ash. "HOW DID THAT-"

The camera panned to the old Breinik, who stared without seeing straight into the camera. In place of his dulcet looks he had since the beginning of the match were lines of concentration; he wore a serious frown that only seemed to say one thing: 'I am through toying with you'. He stared at the camera and his opponent for ten full seconds before raising his last Pokeball into the air with a flourish of his wrist and fingers. He slowly activated it, yelling something in his native tongue (which made Gelhieri seem taken aback). The flash soon subsided with a bestial roar eminating across the stadium, a roar that Ash never heard before. "What Pokemon is that?" he asked dumbfounded at the strange creature he was looking at. It was humanoid, albeot possessing of the usual humanoid features. It was a greenish-grey, seemed starved, because of an emanciated ribcage, and had stringy hari that fell over its black, evil eyes. It had a weapon-like tail with barbed edges and a large spike at the end, enormous fangs that could surely cleave a full-grown man in two, and claws nearly as long. Ash thought it looked a lot like a zombie, but it was nearly twenty feet tall and only a foot-and-a-half from shoulder to knobby shoulder. It stretched its arms, looked towards the sky, and roared again. The roar! It was like listening to the grinding of metal, the burning of a vast furnace, and a car wreck all rolled into one sound. Ash asked again: "WHAT is THAT THING?!"

Professor Oak for a moment seemed unable to speak. "Is it possible?" The large monster onscreen glared down at its opponent's Pokemon, a whimpering Arcanine, smacked its lips, making a "COOOUUL!" sound, and roared as its opponent attempted to flee. It snapped onto all fours, swiped at the smaller Pokemon, and spun around and around, trying to snatch its prey. Eventually, it shot a dark-green, pronged tongue at the Arcanine and managed to grab it. As it hoisted its opponent into the air, the Arcanine let out some horrible, terrified yelps- before the tongue coarsed with electricity, which shocked the large dog into unconciousness. After three seconds' footage showing him to be flabberghasted, Starner regained his excitement and yelled "UNBELIEVEABLE! IT'S INCREDIBLE! YES FOLKS, THE FABULOUS BREINIK HAS A PRETT!"

"What's a Prett?" Dawn asked, obviously freaaked out.

"A Prett is one of the more dangerous Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon in all of Europe." Professor oak finally replied. "See its ribs? It's not because it's being starved. Those things are known in folklore as being resurrected humans empowered by the soul of a Pokemon. I suggest taking a good look at it, because it is the first Pokemon you've ever seen that has six types."

"SIX?! Is that legal?"

"Of course it is!"

"What typing is it?"

"I believe it was Ghost, Dark, Dragon, Fire, Psychic and Ground."

As this short discussion was taking place, Gelhieri seemed to be panicking. Every single one of his Pokemon were being easily stomped by his opponent's monster. Soon enough, he too was on his last Pokemon. this one was also unfamiliar to Ash and his friends. It was a fluid mass of transparent purple. It swayed and oozed around, leaving a trail of ice in its wake. It reminded Ash of Muk, but this had no features at all: no face, no mouth, no eyes, no hands. It was an amorphous blob- nothing more. Before anyone had the chance to ask what this pokemon was, Professor Oak decided to explain what it was: "That's called a Ghota. It's a poison/water/ice Pokemon from Portugal. With that, though, this guy doesn't stand a chance against a Prett." Sure enough, it couldn't seem to hurt the Prett. But neither could the Prett hurt its opponent. They spent some time either eyeing each other or jabbing at each other to no avail. The Ghota then started to glow and began to engulf the Prett. Just as it seemed that the Ghota had it, however, the Prett's eyes glowed blood red, it yelled as loud as it could- and the air in the entire stadium turned the same blood red as the prett's eyes. There was a sudden BOOOOM! as a camera recording the arena cracked and broke.

"HOHO, FOLKS!" starner yelled a bit too loudly, "THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE MATCH! THE FABULOUS BREINIK HAS DEFEATED HIS OPPONENT YET AGAIN! HIS PRETT HAS DEFEATED GELHIERI'S GHOTA WITH FURY STORM! THE MATCH IS OVER!"

As everybody cheered like it was the Super Bowl, commercials for poketopia came back on, talking about the upcoming competition in Prominence that allowed the winners to compete at the Poketopia Battle Championship. Ash looked at the onformation this time. The deadline for entering was not for another eight months. What if he could-

"Eight months?" came may's voice intruding on his thoughts all of a sudden. "Ash, maybe you could get into that! Wouldn't that be great?" Everyone agreed to this.

"Wait a minute." Ash said suddenly. "What if they don't take me? The qualifications are probably hard to meet, and I still haven't exactly won any championships." This stumped all thought for a minute before Max said "Hey. How about you take up the position as Frontier Brain from Brandon?"

"That's a good start," Gary added in support, "but you'll probably need to do more than that."

"You got an idea?" Ash asked.

"No. But I bet Brandon would." was his short reply.

"Maybe iris could help us too!" Cilan added helpfully. "I heard she managed to become a regional champion. If you could get a recommendation from her, I bet that'll help loads."

"Well, I guess we'd better get going then!" Brock stated as if that settled it. "Ash, you really could qualify for this. You'd better start right away."

"And you can count on all of us to help you get there!" Misty finished, smiling.

"Mom? Professor? What do you think?"

"Neither of us have an idea for you, Ash," Professor oak replied, "but we think that you should do it. "

"Good luck, Ash dear!" Ash's Mom added in farewell.

"Well then," Ash declared, more confident in the idea now, "I guess that's settled."

"Before you leave, Ash," Gary added quickly, "head over to the lab. You'll need all your Pokemon, and perhaps even mine, to do this."

"You're giving me your Pokemon?"

"I can't think of any other time they'd get to do what they've loved to do."

"All right!" Ash was really excited now. "Let's go everyone!"

-Meanwhile-

Jessie watched the kids leave the house with her binoculars. The Team Rocket Trio were hiding a a large tree near the Ketchum residence, wearing suits that had large leaves on them for camoflauge. "Great. Now that those brats are all together, maybe we could get their Pokemon!"

"I have another idea." Meowth interjected after putting down his own binoculars. "Those kids are tryin' to get into that Competition."

"Yeah, so?"

"You saw what those Pokemon could do on TV, right?"

'I see what you mean." James added with an evil grin. "If we follow them to this Competition, help them along, maybe..."

"..Then we can get a shot at those new Pokemon!" Jessie finished. "Why didn't I think of that? Follow those kids!"

Well folks, the stage is set! Please let me know what you think by leaving a review on this chapter. I would also appreciate anyone who could help me with the personalities of the pre-exisiting characters- I don't watch the show, and so I am a bit lost! :)