The battle royale has come to its conclusion. There are only six trainers still standing! Who will win? Who will fight against who? Will anyone be able to defeat the monstrosity that is Misato? We'll have to find out!

KedharS: I haven't read Jujutsu Kaisen, so no.

Aquahaze675: That's odd, Keahi isn't supposed to be liked lol.

Tambry96bj: Hopefully it should be good.

Thunder Fire: True, but in a battling sense, not really. She's also pretty much just Olivia's right-hand because she's her best friend, not for any tactical reason.

VerySeriousPerson: Waifu-Rotom. And we'll see Will's reaction, don't worry. I haven't gotten your PM as far as I know, I'll have to check.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 498

"Snows! Ice shard!" Ayame ordered. Snows opened his mouth and fired several chunks of ice at Misato's back. Misato spun around immediately, scanning the ice, and leapt into the air, the shards flying under her feet as she glided over the stadium.

"Discharge," Misato said, releasing a shockwave of electricity out of her hands, the curtain of lightning rolling towards the approaching pokemon.

"Ora!" Zera shot forward, their fur crackling with energy, and they leapt in front of the attack. The shockwave bent and turned inwards, surrounding Zera, and being absorbed by the pokemon's fur, adding the electricity to Zera's own, their wounds beginning to mend.

"Electricity won't work on us," Raizer grinned. "Zera's volt absorb will nullify your lightning."

"Oh, that could work!" Akira said, brightening. "It's like Nami's water absorb. It doesn't matter how much power Misato has in that case! That Zeraora will absorb the electricity and use it to restore their injuries, she won't be able to do anything about it!"

"That's great!" Lila cheered.

"Understood," Misato said. "Tactical readjustment."

Misato held her hand up, ghostly energy swirling around it. She shot forward in a flash, raising her hand, swinging upwards and striking Zera in the chest with a powerful blast of ghostly energy, knocking the electric pokemon into the air.

"Zera!" Raizer shouted.

"Oh, no you don't!" Darla snarled. "Melody, dragon pulse!"

"Altaria!" Melody opened her mouth and fired a blast of dragonic energy at Misato. Misato swung her head around and jumped back, dodging the energy burst as it exploded the ground she had been standing on.

"Snows, ice beam!" While Misato was in the air, Ayame ordered her Glalie to strike at her with an ice beam. But that wouldn't be enough. Misato raised her hand and focused the electrical aura wrapped around her into a single point, firing a charge beam directly into the center of the ice beam, displacing it and plowing through to hit the Glalie on the other side, sending Snows rolling back and crashing into the ground.

"Snows!" Ayame cried, running to her Glalie.

"Gla… lie…" Snows groaned. He was badly injured, but still conscious.

"Consciousness detected. Transitioning to elimination," Misato declared, refocusing on the crippled Glalie. Before she could move, though, she found herself frozen in place. "…Error. System refusing to respond to commands. Damage assessment. All systems functional, no problems detected. External source-"

Before Misato could finish her assessment, she was flung into the ground by the force that was holding her up.

"Nicely done, Eifa," Alden smiled, his Espeon's eyes going from glowing red to their normal coloration. "It's about time we switched to the offensive, as well."

"Espeon!" Eifa nodded.

"Oh! That's right!" Lila gasped. "Since Misato's Rotom is now in her body, that means it's tangible! Which means she can be hit with psychic attacks!"

"Yeah, her body might be a robot, but she's still physical," Dakota noted.

"Threat assessment complete," Misato said, picking herself up from out of the dirt, electricity crackling around her as her plasma aura readjusted itself. She turned her head to Alden. "Reengaging initial protocol."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were angry, Misadoll," Alden smiled.

"Negative. Anger is an emotion. This unit does not possess emotion."

"What a pity," Alden sighed, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "That means you can't enjoy the thrill of battle… or the frustration of defeat, leading you to try even harder the next time! But that's okay, Misadoll. I've already figured out how to beat you!"

"Espeon!" Eifa nodded in agreement. Her ruby flashed, and a crimson aura spread around her body, her fur standing on end.

Warning, special attack of opponent rising exponentially. Approaching current levels of special attack.

That was what flashed in Misato's sensors as she observed Alden's Espeon.

"It's psych up," Dakota noted.

"Psych up?" Lila asked, glancing at her in surprise.

"It's a move that copies the stat boosts given to the opponent's pokemon," Dakota explained. "If your opponent has maximized their special attack, for example, all it takes is a single psych up to copy that stat boost. I considered teaching it to Faux in order to use her against Satsuki the next time I fought Akira, but I decided it wasn't worth it."

"Of course you did," Akira said, rolling his eyes.

"So that means Alden's Espeon just copied all the stat boosts that Misato had used to raise her special attack?" Lila asked.

"Awesome!" Dakota cheered.

"Eifa, psybeam!" Alden ordered.

"Espeon!" Eifa's eyes flashed and her ruby began shining with a rainbow colored light. A massive beam of rainbow energy shot out from the ruby right at Misato, who raised her hand. She fired a shadow ball that struck the beam, the two attacks colliding in a massive explosion.

Before the dust could finish clearing, Zera was upon Misato, fist raised. It was difficult for them to resist unleashing their electricity on the target, but they saw what had happened last time, and was not about to let Misato absorb their power again. Instead, they struck Misato with a powerful close combat, barraging them at full force. But Misato parried the attacks skillfully, seeing each one coming and allowing her body to move as it was designed, the pokemon's speed no match for the advanced reflexes of her robotic frame.

But Zera wasn't attacking alone.

"Ice shard, Snows!" Ayame ordered.

"Melody, dragon pulse!"

Draconic energy and shards of ice flew Misato's way, pelting her from two sides as she focused her attention on the actual threat. Her body was reinforced, but close combat attacks would still do some serious damage. But as she raised her hand to counter a blow aimed at her stomach, her body began to glow red and her arm froze in place, too short to stop the hit.

"ORA!" Zera hit Misato right in the solar plexus. If she had been human, her diaphragm would have been thrown into disarray, knocking the wind out of her, if the pain hadn't made her black out. But as a mechadoll, the attack did not have the usual disruptive effect, even though she could sense it sustaining massive damage to that section of her body.

The force of the blow itself sent Misato into the air. The sky and ground spun around her, but where a normal human or pokemon would be disoriented her sensors allowed her to quickly regain her bearings and straighten out, spreading her wings.

She had barely time to assess the damage when more attacks were launched her way, barely escaping them.

Misato needed to reassess the situation as she flew through the sky, distancing herself from the enemy pokemon. The biggest threat present was the Espeon. She did not have a good countermeasure to its psychic ability. Her speed allowed her to keep ahead of it, but if she stayed in one place too long she would be grabbed by a psychic attack and tossed around. It would normally not be a problem, but there were three other pokemon who she had to take care of, and one of them was a Zeraora that could keep up with her speed and was immune to her strongest attacks.

"Developing countermeasures." Misato directed her body to automatic evasion, her sensors picking up incoming attacks and altering course to dodge without the need for input from her direct processing unit. With her body on automatic response, she could direct her processor towards developing methods of attack.

The easiest target to eliminate would be the Glalie. It was on its final slivers of health, a single strike would be enough to defeat it. The Altaria would be the next easiest pokemon to take care of in theory, but because it would require more than a single hit she could not guarantee that she could eliminate the threat before the Zeraora and Espeon would interfere to any degree of statistical certainty. The Zeraora would be harder to directly remove from the equation, but when Misato ran the numbers she acknowledged that the threat he raised to her combat power against the other pokemon made it the most valuable target.

Eliminate Glalie first. Odds of success to eliminate target with no significant damage sustained to vital functions, 89%. Then direct attention to Zeraora. Focus on wearing down gradually while avoiding enemy attacks. Odds of success to eliminate target with no significant damage sustained to vital functions, 61% When Zeraora faints, use electricity to attack Altaria and Espeon. 94% chance that Espeon will withstand the first attack, 68% chance that Altaria will withstand the first attack. Odds of success on second attack: 78% chance Espeon will withstand both. 12% chance Altaria will withstand both. Odds of attacking twice without getting hit by psychic… 34%.

Overall odds of success: 83%

Acceptable.

Misato turned around and in a flash she was gone, startling the trainers. For a while now Misato had been regulating her speed in order to conserve her system operations. This served a secondary effect as well. Her opponents had become used to Misato's high speed, so the sudden burst of speed would catch them off-guard momentarily. Which would provide Misato with the perfect window to strike.

Misato appeared over Snows, holding her hand out.

"Thunder." Before Zera could react and absorb the lightning, Misato struck the Glalie with a bolt from above, electrocuting that pokemon with one of her strongest electric attacks.

"GLALIE!" Snows cried in pain, losing consciousness.

"Snows!" Ayame cried. Misato turned from her Glalie and shot forward, a blur of orange and blue, lunging for her next target, Zera.

"Ayame's out!" Lila gasped.

"Whoa! I forgot how fast she was!" Dakota nearly jumped out of her seat, startled.

"Shadow ball." Misato created an orb of darkness, closing the distance between herself and Zera, firing it at point-blank range at him.

"Zera!" Zera shot out of the way at a speed that Misato had not calculated, dodging the attack. The shadow ball flew off into the distance. But Misato was already reacting, taking to the air, dodging just before Eifa could hit her with psychic.

"Zeraora has pumped themselves up with agility, boosting their speed!" Lila noticed. "Now they're even faster than Misato is!"

Flying overhead, Misato flapped her wings and sent a wave of ghostly energy at Zera with an ominous wind attack to strike the pokemon, but Zera quickly ran out of the way, boosting their speed with agility even further.

Speed rising. Available countermeasures: undetermined. Calculating maximum speed from current levels. Odds of success at eliminating target at top speed: 46%. Unacceptable numbers. Redirecting priorities. Available countermeasures: undetermined.

"Now, Zera! Go!" Raizer ordered. Zera charged forward and stepped off the ground, lunging into the air. Misato was hovering far above the battlefield, but she had not yet determined the maximum jumping length of Zera when factoring in the speed boost of agility. Zera raised their hand, and prepared to strike Misato even as she flew back and prepared a counter.

But before she struck, Zera collided with a massive rock, knocking them out of their.

"Zera-!" Zera groaned, wiping the blood from their nose as they landed on the ground, turning their attention to the pokemon that had just interfered.

"I wonder, Misato, are you feeling pressed at the moment?" Gerard asked.

"Negative. Your interference is not required. I am capable of fulfilling my orders within a statistically acceptable range of probability," Misato responded.

"Well, that just won't do," Gerard said, shaking his head, walking forward. He wore a coy smile, his Diancie floating over his head. "I'm not a big fan of 'statistically acceptable'. I prefer guaranteed."

"Impossible. There is no way to guarantee an outcome with 100% certainty," Misato replied, floating down beside him.

"That's where you fail and we humans succeed," Gerard scoffed. "Your CPUs and programming tell you there's no such thing as 100% certainty? I don't know a human alive who would believe that in every case."

"Understood. I will update my data on humans. Saving information to file: irrationalities," Misato said.

"Was that a joke?" Gerard asked, resisting the urge to laugh. "How amusing. Dia! Diamond storm!"

"DIANCIE!" Dia held her hands up, a large tornado of sparkling diamonds swirling around her. She sent the blast of diamonds flying towards the three enemy pokemon still standing, fully involved in the fight now.

"Gerard has stepped in as well!" Lila cried. "That makes two mythical pokemon entering the battle!"

"Eifa!" Alden shouted, Eifa running forward, her ruby glowing red.

"Espeon!" Eifa shouted, creating a massive crimson barrier in front of her, focusing her psychic powers to wrap it wide to protect all three pokemon.

As strong as it was, though, it wasn't perfect. The diamonds struck the barrier, pelting it like a rainstorm of bullets, the reflect screen cracking in multiple places.

"Raizer," Alden said, turning to his brother. "If you want to win, you and Zera need to take out that Diancie."

"What?! Bro, you sure?" Raizer asked, startled.

"You want to fight me, right?" Alden grinned. "Trust me. That pokemon is a mythical pokemon, just like your Zeraora. I think you're the only one who's got a chance to stand against it."

"You think you can last against Misato, then fine," Raizer nodded. "This is me warning you by the way, big brother."

"Misadoll? Not a problem," Alden said, waving his hand. "Eifa and I can take her. As long as we've got an idol playing backup singer, of course."

He looked pointedly to Darla and Melody. Darla rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, but I always take center stage," Darla smirked. "And I only have one partner."

In spite of that, she nodded in agreement to plan.

"You just want to fight her yourself, don't you?" Raizer asked. Alden grinned, nodding his head. Raizer sighed. His brother never changed. He understood that entirely.

"My Sense is shaking," Alden said, the barrier shattering into pieces. Misato leapt through it, firing a shadow ball right at Eifa.

"Ora!" Zera blasted the shadow ball away with a thunder punch, leaping past Misato and lunging for the Diancie.

"Hope you survive it!" Raizer called, chasing his pokemon.

"I'll be borrowing a little gift from you, as well!" Alden called after him. Eifa flashed red again, copying Zera's speed. She turned, firing a psybeam at Misato, who dodged to the side.

"We meet again, Gerard!" Raizer called. "But this time, no one's here to interfere!"

"You're underestimating Dia because of her looks?" Gerard scoffed. "A battle maniac like you should do a little bit more thinking. Dia, earth power!"

"Diancie!" Dia held her hands up, the ground beneath Zera erupting in a chain of explosions. But Zera's speed was more than enough to dodge.

"Sorry Gerard," Raizer said, shaking his head. "But that's not how this is gonna go! Right now, we're thrumming with electricity after this shocking battle! And we're revved up and ready to go! Zera, let's finish this one!"

"ORA!" Zera shouted. They leapt from the ground, their fists crackling with blue lightning, preparing to strike with a powerful barrage of plasma fists.

"Diamond storm," Gerard ordered.

"Diancie!" Dia fired a tornado of diamonds at Zera, but they never got that far. Chains of plasma roared out of their fists, decimating the diamonds as they approached, much to Gerard's shock.

"Zera's only getting more power as the fight goes on," Raizer said. "Or did you not realize they had used some power-up-punches in between their close combats?"

"Dia!" Gerard shouted. "Protect!"

Dia created a barrier of sparkling diamonds around her body to protect herself from Zera's attacks.

A fierce grin spread across Zera's face, their eyes wide. Raizer smirked as well.

"That won't be enough to protect you!" Raizer declared.

"ORA!" Zera nodded in agreement, punching the barrier with full force.

"What?!" Gerard sputtered, stunned. The barrier began to glow… and was starting to disperse! Zera was absorbing the energy from the protect attack!

"How?!" Lila sputtered. "The Zeraora is forcing its way through the protective barrier?!"

"That shouldn't be possible, right?" Dakota asked frantically, looking to Akira for confirmation. Akira shook his head, equally confused and disbelieving.

"Plasma fists turns every normal move into an electric attack!" Raizer called out, Gerard's eyes widening in realization. "And Zera turns electricity into power!"

"ORA!" Zera forced their way through, absorbing the rest of the lightning into the attack, striking Dia in the chest with two punches.

"DIANCIE!" Dia cried in pain, the destructive plasma ruining her. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Dia!" Gerard shouted, running over to his Diancie and scooping her up. She was still breathing, at least. He sighed in relief, recalling her. He turned to yell at Raizer, but Raizer and Zera had already turned his attention back to Misato, who was avoiding Eifa's psychic attacks.

Gerard said nothing, staring at his face as it appeared on the bracket, storming off the battlefield. He should have just minded his own business in the end.

"Zera, go!" Raizer ordered. Zera charged forward, raising their fist, preparing to strike Misato from behind. But Misato's auditory receptors picked up the approach and she dodged to the side, avoiding the blow.

"Countermeasure complete," Misato stated. Her eyes flashed, and the blue plasma around her body began turning gold. "Psych up."

"Huh?" Alden's eyes widened in surprise.

"Misato just used psych up?" Lila clarified, surprised.

Of course she did. Misato's body was designed to adapt to any situation. Having observed the effects of the attack, she developed a program for it all on her own. Just like a TM, she had uploaded the data directly into Sparky, teaching them how to use psych up. It was just fortuitous that they were compatible with the move.

And now Misato had the speed and power to match the Zeraora. She lunged forward, raising her fist and slamming it into the electric pokemon's stomach. No move, just a punch, but it was enough to knock the wind out of the attacking pokemon. And unlike Misato, Zera needed to breathe.

"Zer…" Zera coughed, rising to their feet, but Misato was already attacking at a speed that Zera could not even account for, a barrage of punchs pummeling them.

"Melody!" Melody fired a dragon pulse at Misato, but she shrugged it off. The threat was the Zeraora. It had defeated the Diancie that Gerard had used like it was a simple Ratatta. Misato had to eliminate the threat now.

But before she could continue the assault, she found her body frozen again. Eifa had caught her with psychic again. Misato was flung backwards, carried through the air by Eifa's psychic grasp, and she was slammed hard into the ground. And it was enough for Zera to recover, turning towards the cloud of dust that indicated where Misato had just landed, lunging forward like a bolt of lightning.

"ORA!" Zera shouted, raising their fists and preparing another close combat attack. Misato rose to her feet, just in time to see Zera preparing to attack her. Her brain made all the calculations in the fraction of a second before Zera's first punch collided, choosing the most probable method of success, even if it was a risk.

Zera unleashed a barrage of punches on Misato that surpassed those she had used on them in power and intensity. Enough punches that it began to make Lila feel antsy. Misato may have been fighting as a pokemon… but technically she was a competitor, right? If she got crippled or killed, then…

Well, she was a robot, so not killed, but…

"Um, that's-"

Before Lila could finish, Zera let one final punch hit Misato in the face, knocking her through the air, and sending her crashing to the ground, Misato skidding through the dirt and nearly hitting the announcer's table.

"Zer… a…" Zera panted, wincing in pain. The force of Misato's blows were starting to take their toll.

From the dust, Misato rose to her feet, much to the shock of the audience. There was no veil of plasma wrapped around her, no orange markings, no wings. Just Misato skin torn in several places to reveal hard metal underneath, visible dents in portions of her body. She flexed her limbs momentarily, ensuring that no serious damage had been sustained to her functions.

"What the… aren't…" Raizer was dumbfounded, not sure what he was staring at.

"Rorororo!" The crackling laughter of Sparky rang in Zera's ear and they turned, just in time to be hit in the face with a powerful shadow ball.

"Zera!" Raizer shouted, his pokemon hitting the ground, their face badly hurt by the fully maximized shadow ball. Sparky shot forward, a blur of lightning, gathering even more ghostly energy and pummeling Zera with the shadow ball, their speed letting them create enough shadow balls to black out the stadium with the force of the blows, each one landing. Sparky shot back to Misato's side, cackling.

"O… ra…" Zera rose to their feet, panting, beaten down badly. They took a step forward, raising their fist, and then pitched forward, unconscious.

"Sorry, partner," Raizer said, closing his eyes in sympathy. Zera had given it their best, but it hadn't been enough. Whatever Misato had done, it had caught him off-guard. He recalled Zera to their golden pokeball.

"Um, uh… what was that?" Dakota asked, confused.

"I-I don't know," Akira said, shaking his head.

"I know that Raizer's Zeraora was knocked out, so he's out of the battle royale, but… other than that…" Lila looked to Misato.

"Substitute," Misato responded simply, not a trace of pain in her voice. Her Rotom floated around her, cackling.

"Substitute?!" Akira sputtered, jumping out of his seat. "You call that a 'substitute' attack?!"

"So she… rather than, like, using a pokedoll, she used her own body as a substitute for her pokemon?" Dakota asked for clarification. "That's just…"

"I separated from Sparky. This allowed me to take the brunt of the blows while preserving the health of my pokemon, giving them the opportunity to eliminate the target," Misato explained with the same cadence of a computer reading off a chart.

"That… that's just too much! Look at you!" Lila gasped.

"No significant damages have been sustained to my functions. Everything is operating within acceptable parameters," Misato replied, walking forward, approaching Alden and Darla, the last opponents left. "Sparky."

"Rotom!" Sparky crackled, fusing with her again. Her pace quickened as the plasma wrapped back around her, the orange marks reappearing. She stepped forward, leaping off the ground, and taking to the sky again as her wings spread.

"Now I can use electricity once more," she stated plainly, holding up her hands, building up an electrical current.

"Shit! Alden!" Darla glanced at the Commander, who was watching the robot girl with hard eyes.

"Eifa!" Alden shouted. In spite of her posturing, he could see that Misato was on her last legs. Raizer might have been knocked out, but he had left a parting gift by severely weakening the mechadoll, even if she wouldn't admit it. "Darla, you're going to have to give it your best, too."

Darla bit her lip, glancing at Lila for a brief moment. Fuck.

Darla didn't want to do it, but she supposed she didn't have a choice. She closed her eyes, and began to focus.

"What?!" Lila gasped. "Wait, Darla!"

"Dragon Force," Darla said, snapping her eyes open. The redness in her eyes was bright and shining. Blue and red light suffused around her, her hair standing on end as Melody began to glow, too.

"What… what's that?" Akira asked, turning to Lila.

"That… Darla, no," Lila said, shaking her head, not even listening to him.

"…So that's Dragon Force, huh?" Alden asked. "Not gonna lie, I was hoping for something a little more-"

"You're next," Darla snarled. "Melody!"

"Altaria!" Melody flapped her wings and flew forwards, opening her beak. A blast of draconic energy shot towards Misato, who easily dodged it. She wasn't about to lose an aerial battle.

"Thunder," Misato declared, raising her hand and preparing to unleash an electric attack to decimate the dragon.

"Now, Eifa!" Alden ordered.

"Espeon!" Eifa's eyes flashed red, and she switched places with Melody using her ally switch. Misato's attack continued, and she struck the light screen Eifa had already raised, the electricity from her thunder attack being displaced as the barrier began to crack. Eifa's eyes flashed red and the ruby on her forehead began to glow again, and an aura of red light appeared around Misato once more, freezing her in place.

Eifa landed on the ground, keeping Misato in the air with her psychic attack.

"Thanks for being the decoy," Alden thanked Darla. "Want to do the honors?"

Darla nodded.

"Draco meteor," she ordered, the aura around her lightning up.

"Altaria!" Melody spread her wings, and the sky overhead began to darken. The sun was already setting on the horizon but it wasn't the night that was filling the sky, but dark clouds crackling with a violet lightning. The clouds swirled together, warping around a single point, which spread. Like an egg being pushed out, a massive chunk of stone broke free from the cloud and fell towards the stadium, crackling with energy and increasing in power as it fell from the sky, straight towards Misato.

Misato struggled, trying to free herself from the psychic bonds that were holding her down, but she couldn't. She released as much of her stored power as she could, but as she analyzed the situation she realized that wasn't the way to free herself.

Victory impossible. Switching priority. Highest ranking possible. Second place. Initiating process.

Misato would have to sacrifice her chance at victory for second place. It was the only solution. Once she used this move, she would not have the strength to maintain a fight against whichever pokemon remained.

Fortuitously, the move she had used was one that had seen several uses in this match already, so teaching it to Sparky would be no trouble at all.

Move taught.

Just in time. Now she just needed to free her pokemon.

"Substitute." Sparky leapt out of her, trainer and pokemon separating once more. But Misato was still being held up by Eifa's psychic.

"Shit!" Alden cursed. It was one thing to leave Misato in the air to be hit by the draco meteor while she had the Rotom's energy to take the hits. But unlike with Zera's punches, getting hit by this draco meteor could be lethal. She could be smashed into scrap metal, and that wasn't a call he was willing to make.

"Eifa!" He shouted, turning to his Espeon, but Eifa had already made the call. She pulled Misato away from the weakened Rotom, using her psychic power to put as much distance between the two as possible. Meanwhile, Sparky turned their attention to their new target.

Due to magic bounce, Misato could not determine the effect that this move would have on the Espeon. If it failed, she would be in third. That would not be acceptable. So she had left Sparky with very specific orders.

"Rotom!" Sparky flashed with a bright blue light, using ally switch to trade places with Melody just as the draco meteor was about to hit them.

"ALTARIA!" Melody cried, being struck by the full force of her own most powerful attack.

"Melody!" Darla shouted. "No!"

"No, Melody!" Lila wailed, the meteor crashing to the ground and exploding, the entire stadium shaking. When the dust settled, Melody was lying unconscious in the center of a giant crater in the middle of the stadium.

"Melody… Melody is…" Lila stuttered, tears in her eyes. She quickly composed herself. "Ahem. Darla's Altaria is unable to battle, so she will be facing Raizer in the next round. That leaves the only pokemon remaining Alden's Espeon and Misato's Rotom."

Eifa turned her attention to the small, twitching ghost pokemon. It was fast, but no match for Eifa without using Misato's body as a container. And Misato, freed from the psychic though she might have been, had also hit the ground hard, barely in a condition to stand let alone keep fighting.

Vital functions still maintained. Probability of successful fusion with Sparky… 6%. Unacceptable probability. Chances of victory without combination… 2%. Statistically improbable.

If Misato were human she would have sighed in resignation. She raised her pokeball and recalled her Rotom before Alden had the chance to strike.

She was not disappointed in her loss. That would have been the human thing to feel in this situation. Instead she began working on determining her most likely path to victory against the Commander and developing countermeasures against the techniques he had exhibited. She knew that she would not be permitted to unite with Sparky in a formal match, as trainers were not allowed to directly interfere in the tournament proper. But she had observed the battle closer than any other he had fought, and recorded every moment of it. That would be useful in working out a plan for victory with the Phantom. In the end this may have been a loss, but it was an acceptable one.

"With that, the battle royale is over," Lila announced. Alden Volt won the battle royale, and thus he'll be fighting in the final match of the first round, against Misato Daisan! As for the remaining matches, look to the scoreboard to see who will be fighting who in the tournament proper!"

First Seed: Alcea Vermeil vs. Gabrielle Breaux

Second Seed: Madison Whitmore vs. Richard Valon

Third Seed: Blake Harker vs. Sylvia Driscoll.

Fourth Seed: Dokukage vs. Keahi Revanche

Fifth Seed: Lana Canley vs. Ian Davidson

Sixth Seed: Ayame Toujou vs. Gerard Alkwest

Seventh Seed: Raizer Volt vs. Darla Drake

Eighth Seed: Misato Daisan vs. Alden Volt

"Now, due to the size of the matches, even though they are three vs. three, we will be splitting up the first round. The first four matches will take place tomorrow afternoon, and the next four will take place on Wednesday!" Lila explained. "Then, on Thursday we'll move on to the six on six matches of the quarter finals, and have the first two matches on Thursday and the last two matches on Friday! Then we'll take Saturday for the semi-finals, and the final match will be on Sunday! Times will be posted on the website! So make sure to reserve your seats, because the matches are going to be great!"

Lila winked to the audience, putting on a big smile, even though she was boiling with stress and anxiety about the battles that would take place in the coming week.

The Phantom Cup is really getting started now! I hope I've sufficiently hyped up the first eight matches, either in this battle royale, or with previously developed subplots coming to a head! It should hopefully be good!