Chapter 3

The Team

Michael was pacing around the training field behind the lab, deep in thought, picking his team was hard, but he had mostly decided on his standard team, the one he had used to beat Cipher's leader all those years ago.

Beside him was Volt, his first Pokémon and the one that spent the most time outside its Pokéball. The Jolteon had been a gift from his late father back when it was an Eevee.

"Wanna meet the rest of the team for the tournament buddy?" Michael questioned.

"Jolt!" The electric type responded enthusiastically.

Michael tossed five more Pokéballs into the air, releasing Razor the Salamence, Tusks the Walrein, Goliath the Aggron, Celeste the medicham, and Mons the Arcanine.

All of his Pokémon smiled and greeted him in their respective cries. Michael then sighed and said "you guys have been with me through thick and thin, but I need a favor, one of you is gonna have to sit out this tournament, and after looking at the other contestants, I have three weaknesses to ground types which I can't afford. Mons, can you do me a favor?"

Mons gave a disappointed look, but then nodded and barked happily

"Thanks, buddy," Michael said before scratching the Arcanine behind the ears.

Michael then pulled out a silver bell from his bag and stared at the massive forest behind the lab. Professor Krane had set it up as a nature preserve where Michael kept most of his former-shadow Pokémon, he still had all their Pokéballs and visited them often.

This bell was special, as it called the four most important occupants of this preserve. Michael took a deep breath and rang the bell, a soothing ringing filling the air.

Within a few seconds, three Pokémon emerged from above the treetops and flew up to the clearing behind the lab. The three legendary birds of Kanto that Michael had saved arrived within seconds as usual.

Michael smiled and put on his gloves, giving his Zapdos a scratch on the neck. Amp cooed in satisfaction.

Then Michael walked to Flare and held out his hand. The Moltres closed its eyes as Michael stroked it on its head just in front of its fiery mane and all the way down its beak, his gloves protecting his hand from Flare's scalding hot skin.

Finally, Michael went over to Chill and rubbed its belly on the white feathers over the center of its chest, even with his gloves the Articuno's feathers were freezing to the touch.

As the three legendary birds looked at their trainer with happiness, he looked up to see a massive Pokémon descending. It was a massive Pokémon resembling a cross between a bird and a whale. It was primarily silver-white colored but had blue undersides with slightly varying tones. It had a ridged mouth similar to a beak, although it had pointed teeth on its lower jaw. Its head had a point to the back, and Its eyes had pointed blue spikes on them. The Lugia had a long, slender neck and a smooth, streamlined body. Dark blue plate-like protrusions ran down the length of its back, and there were two smaller, more pointed ones on the end of its tail.

Everyone backed up to accommodate the 17 foot tall Pokémon that normally resided in an underwater cave just off the coast of the reserve.

Michael took off his gloves and rubbed Silver's massive belly, causing the Lugia to crane its neck down and nuzzle its trainer affectionately, knocking him down.

"Good to see you too buddy, there is a huge tournament in town, and while you said you're always up for one, I'm gonna ask again, are you sure you want to make these kinds of public appearances?" Michael questioned as he got back up.

"Yes, it's been so long since I've battled for you, I'm more than up for it!" Silver assured telepathically.

Silver hadn't spoken to Michael during the purification process, as he slowly regained his reasoning Michael could tell how good-hearted and kind the Lugia was, but it was certainly a surprise when he learned it could communicate with telepathy.

Michael smiled and said "Alright then, we've got two weeks to train, and there's a new strategy with hydro pump I want to practice!

A few weeks later the tournament was in full swing, technically speaking there were two tournaments back to back, the qualifiers which were double battles with a single pair of Pokémon. After all, was said and done there were 8 trainers left for the official start of the Pokémon World Tournament.

"Will the right finalists please step forward when called!" The announcement requested.

Michael wasn't exactly confident about winning considering the lineup. The top 8 had chosen their Pokémon carefully for the qualifiers, and that meant all of them had surprises waiting.

"Up first we have the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia! and the Kanto champion Lance!" The announcer introduced with a roar to the crowd. Cynthia had won with a Lucario and a Gastrodon, everyone knew her ace, however, and Michael wasn't looking forward to facing her signature Garchomp. Lance had used an intimidating combination of Salamence and Gyarados.

"Next we have Michael Andrews from right here in Orre!" The Announcer continued down the lineup. Michael had won his qualifiers with Tusks and Volt, but luckily they didn't require you to reveal what Pokémon you would be taking into the tournament. The master ball on his hip was eye-catching enough.

The announcer continued down the lineup with "next we have Leon from Galar, Lt. Surge from Kanto and Steven Stone from Hoenn" Leon had used a Charizard and a Haxorus, Surge had used a Raichu and a Magnazone while Steven had used a Skarmory and a Claydol

"Finally we have two more Orre natives, Rui Walters and Wes!" They had won both their matches easily, and Rui was definitely the wildcard for Michael, as he had never seen Pokémon like her Florges and Zebstrika. Wes had simply won with his Umbreon and Espeon. An impressive feat considering his opponent had used a Scizor and a Bastiodon.

All 8 of the contestants' pictures popped up on the jumbotron, preparing to randomly select the first two combatants. Michael was hoping to face Wes or Rui in the finals. The first round and the semi-finals would be four on four double battles, the finals however would be a full six on six single battle. Michael had a feeling he would need a full team to beat his fellow snagger.

"And without further ado, Let the 50th Pokémon World Tournament BEGIN!"