Episode 5
You are about to read the story of a Pokémon-themed reality game show that could take place in the real world. The entire story is a work of parody protected under the First Amendment and all events are entirely fictional. In several cases, the names of famous people or technology involved with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company may be used.
"Welcome back, everyone. I'm Bill from Nintendo and you're watching the final episode of The Amazing Pokémon Journey broadcasting live from Nintendo World Headquarters in New York City, New York. When we came into this competition, we had six teams of twelve trainers trying to be the very best like no one ever was. Over the course of the past four episodes we have whittled those trainers down to just two teams. Today I'm joined by a special guest host, Reggie Fils-Aime, the President of Nintendo of America…and my boss!"
The camera view widened and revealed Reggie "The Regginator" Fils-Aime was standing next to Bill the entire time.
Reggie smiled and said, "Good to be here with you Bill. I've been hearing a lot of great things about this competition and I thought what better time for me to exercise my Presidential Powers and make an appearance on this show than the big finale?"
Bill looked amused by this answer, but he was honestly curious why Reggie was going to co-host the episode with him today. Reggie's appearance had been scheduled in advance, but Bill hadn't been notified who his co-host was going to be until Reggie came on set earlier in the day.
Bill looked at Reggie and said, "So why are you my co-host today, Reggie?"
Reggie responded, "I can't say just yet, but I'm here to reveal the final challenge of this competition and offer a very special prize to both of the teams."
Bill jovially asked, "Wow. Can you tell us what the final challenge is going to be Reggie?"
Reggie responded, "I'm afraid I can't just yet, but rest assured, it is a challenge that neither team has ever seen before, and the good people of this country are going to see it for the first time ever here today. We will all find out in good time."
The crowds could clearly hear the banter of the hosts, and hearing that they were going to be seeing something that the public had never seen before brought them to an enormous cheer.
Bill turned to Reggie and said, "Wow, that crowd is sure fired up! This all sounds great, Reggie. The teams have just arrived in New York City. We told them to look for the giant Pikachu, and there's only one giant Pikachu in NYC right now...ours."
Reggie replied, "That is right. A giant inflatable Pikachu is soaring above our stage and will hopefully bring some luck to the trainers who will be competing underneath it. While we wait for the teams to arrive, could you please inform our viewers and the crowd about the schedule for today's final challenge?"
"No problem, Reggie," Bill looked down at the card he was provided and started to read off of it, "Since only two teams will be competing in the final episode, and because this is a live broadcast we will not be having any immunity challenge today. Instead, once the teams arrive they will be presented with one final challenge….but only Reggie seems to know what that challenge is!"
Reggie smiled and said, "Don't worry Bill, everyone will be finding out soon enough."
Bill responded, "Reggie the suspense is killing me. I'm used to knowing what's in store for these guys."
As Bill and Reggie continued to banter, taxi cabs containing the members of Team One and Team Five arrived at Rockefeller Plaza. Neither team could believe the size of the crowd that had gathered to see them compete in this event. They were so busy competing in the show over the past month they didn't have the chance to watch television, and because of that they had been kept out of the loop over the show's growing popularity. In the long run it wasn't much of a big deal because this crowd was more than willing to let them know they had their support. Several supporters made signs cheering on the teams, and their applause was deafening.
Bill looked over at his monitor and said to Reggie, "I believe the teams have arrived right on time, let's go take the stage."
The remaining two teams were lead to the front entrance of Nintendo World Headquarters by some of the show's stagehands. An enormous stage, surrounded by die-hard Nintendo and Pokémon fans, stood in front of the store. Since the building was created in 2001, Nintendo had hosted some enormous launch events at this location in the past, but what they had scheduled for today was going to dwarf all of those earlier events and cement Nintendo's reputation in the public psyche.
Bill took the stage behind the detailed podium they provided him. As the teams made it to the front of the stage, Reggie Fils-Aime entered, and the four trainers cheered. The contestants knew who Reggie was, but none of them had any idea he would be participating in this episode.
Reggie looked at the teams and said, "I'm so happy and pleased to see you four standing here before me. You have all fought so hard, pushed yourselves beyond the limits of any other Pokémon Trainers, and earned the right to be standing here in front of us, right in the heart of New York City. Today, we have one final challenge for all of you, but before we do, I have a special surprise for both teams."
The four trainers held their collective breath as they waited for Reggie to unveil his surprise.
Reggie continued, "As many of you may know, we at Nintendo have just announced a partnership with Universal Studios, who plan to bring the Nintendo brand to their world-renowned theme parks. You four will be the first to ride those attractions! For making it this far, both teams have been awarded an all-expenses paid vacation to Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure once the construction of their Nintendo themed rides and attractions are completed! Congratulations to the four of you!"
The trainers cheered. They were told they would be rewarded for their hard work in the competition, but this revelation blew all of their expectations out of the water. All that was going through Trainer Black's mind was that this prize would make for the best honeymoon any newlywed couple could have asked for.
After the cheers subsided, Reggie resumed his speech, "So how are we going to determine which of you are the very best? Bill, I know you've been dying to know the answer to this just as much as they are."
Bill nodded and laughed. Suddenly, the center of the stage opened up and a platform raised itself up from under the stage. However, the teams still had no idea what was being raised up, a giant sheet still covered everything.
Reggie stood next to the raised platform and began to speak, "Up to this point, you four have been challenged in all of the aspects of the Pokémon games that you have played, so here's something you haven't seen before. Trainers, here is your final challenge!"
Reggie pulled back the sheet and revealed what was underneath it, two full-sized Pokken arcade test units. On the arcade unit's screens rolled game footage of Pokémon fighting just like champions would battle in games of TEKKEN, Soul Caliber or Mortal Kombat.
The trainers were stunned at what they saw, so Reggie began to explain what was about to happen, "As many of you know, Nintendo has been asked for some time now by our diehard fans to offer players the chance to play as Pokémon that could fight in real-time," then Reggie turned directly at the camera and said, "I'm looking specifically at you, Linkara."
Reggie gave a face to the camera and continued with his instructions, "That is why Nintendo teamed up with the developers of TEKKEN, one of the greatest fighting franchises in the world, to make exactly that, a real-time fighting game featuring Pokémon. We are calling it, Pokkén!"
The trainers found themselves cheering along with the crowd at this big announcement. There was no guarantee Pokkén would ever get released in the United States, or if Nintendo would ever consider porting it to home consoles like the Wii U. This event may be the only time the west would ever see this game.
After the cheers subsided, Reggie continued, "Now these are just test units, but you four will officially become the first civilians outside of Japan to play this awesome arcade title before it is available to the rest of the world. Here are your rules: Each trainer will battle an opponent from the opposing team in a single-elimination tournament. If both members of a team get eliminated during the first round of battle, your team will lose and the winning team will be crowned Grand Pokémon Champions. If both teams have one remaining trainer that has not been eliminated after the first round, we will have a sudden death round where the winning trainer from each team will battle each other in one last event to see who is the very best like no one ever was."
The teams were mesmerized by the images on the arcade demo units. They were so excited they were going to actually be playing this game!
Reggie continued his instructions, "You may pick to play as any Pokémon currently selectable in the game, but you will not be allowed to change your Pokémon between rounds, so choose your Pokémon wisely. The team who wins this final challenge will win a $100,000 prize and will be awarded the title of Grand Pokémon Master!"
A supermodel dressed as Officer Jenny walked over to Bill and gave him some instructions to read out, "First up, Trainers Red and Black, please take the stage. You will be battling first."
The two rival trainers walked onto stage and took a position in front of their designated arcade stations. The game units had been set to freeplay, so neither one of them needed to insert any quarters to get their games started up.
As the two trainers navigated the Pokémon selection screen, Bill and Reggie took a seat behind their announcer desk. Each announcer had a dedicated monitor tied directly into the arcade machines, providing both of them a live feed of the fighting tournament.
The two trainers selected their Pokémon, and Bill began to comment on the start of the match, "Round One, Trainer Black has chosen Lucario, and Trainer Red has chosen Machop. Begin!"
Right off the bat, Trainer Black struck the first blow. He was used to playing fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct against Trainer White, and because of that Black was very comfortable with the control layout of the arcade machine. Lucario hopped all around the screen, making it very difficult for Trainer Red's Machop to land an attack. Within no time, Trainer Black won the first round.
At the end of the first round, Reggie commented, "That's the end of the first round, Trainer Black is up by one. If he wins another round, he will be safe, but if Trainer Red can win two rounds back to back, he will eliminate Trainer Black and put his team one step closer to being crowed the Grand Pokémon Champions."
Round Two began, and as soon as it started it felt like a completely different group was fighting. Machop's strength lied in its brute force and devastating fist attacks. Lucario was capable of doing plenty of punching and kicking on its own, but its ranged attacks were dependant on Aura moves, and Trainer Black was simply unable to unleash Lucario's Aura moves consistently. Knowing this, Trainer Red went on the offensive, outmaneuvering Trainer Black's Lucario and attacking it before Trainer Black could hit Red's Machop.
Bill noticed Trainer Red's new strategy immediately upon the beginning of the round and said, "It looks like Trainer Red has found a second wind!"
The contestants had not been given much explanation about the game's controls before they started the challenge, and because of that Trainer Black was outright guessing which commands would unleash Lucario's special attacks.
Reggie noticed Black's frustration at understanding the game's controls and said, "It seems like Trainer Black is having trouble getting down the rhythm of unleashing Lucario's Aura attacks. Machop is just whaling on him."
Lucario went down and Trainer Red won the second round, bringing the match to a draw.
As the trainers prepared for the third and final round, Bill commented, "This is it. This final round will determine which trainer will be safe from elimination."
Trainer Red knew he had a working strategy against Trainer Black, and once the third round started Red employed the exact same tactics he had before. Lucario's quick movements were just no match for Machop's devastating close-quarter attacks. Before his opponent knew what hit him, Trainer Red won the third round.
As Lucario fell, Reggie made the final ruling, "That is it guys, Trainer Red has won, and Team One is one step closer to winning this competition! What a comeback!"
Bill nodded and said, "That's right, Reggie, and now it's time for the next battle. Will the trainers please alternate?"
As the trainers switched positions, Reggie reminded the audience just what was going to be at stake, "Trainer Blue from Team One and Trainer White from Team Five are about to take their positions. I have to remind you all that since one member of Team Five was eliminated in the last challenge, if Trainer White is defeated by Trainer Blue, Team One will win this competition."
As the Teams rotated their participants, Trainer Black shouted at his partner, "Honey, it's all up to you!"
Trainer White nodded at her fiancée and took her position behind her arcade station. She knew what was at stake, and she was going to do her best.
The trainers took their positions behind their arcade stations and the game's Pokémon selection screen quickly booted up. Trainer White searched for a Pokémon she felt would be able to move quickly and still perform devastating attacks so she chose Suiccone. Trainer Blue knew that she would need a well-balanced Pokémon which could deliver ranged attacks against her opponent, so she chose her favorite Pokémon, Pikachu.
Once the trainers locked in their decisions, Bill reported them to the audience, "It looks like Trainer White has chosen Suiccone. Trainer Blue has chosen Pikachu. We're just about ready to get started in what could be the final Pokkén challenge of the day."
The game counted down, and the battle began. Before Trainer White had even become interested in playing games of Pokémon, as a young girl she was an accomplished fighting game player. In fact, she would regularly challenge Trainer Black to games of Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct when their relationship was just starting up. Trainer Black probably would not admit this on television, but Trainer White would usually beat him at whatever they played.
Trainer Blue on the other hand, had very little experience playing fighting games. While she was able to understand the game's controls it was difficult for her to unleash special attacks, especially Pikachu's thunderbolt. White capitalized on Blue's handicap and pummeled Blue's Pikachu with a barrage of quick attacks.
Bill noticed Blue's issues during the round and commented, "Trainer Blue seems unable to unleash Pikachu's special attacks, and is just being hit repeatedly by Trainer White's Suiccone!"
White's Suiccone was fast, agile and fierce, which made it perfect for Trainer White's fighting style. Trainer Blue was still trying to unleash Pikachu's electric attacks consistently, but with Suiccone able to unleash devastating attacks quickly, her battle was not going well. It wasn't long before Trainer Blue's Pikachu fell in the first round. The crowd went wild.
As the game reset, Reggie commented, "Trainer White has won the first round! Now we are going into round two! If Trainer White wins this round or the next one, we may see a sudden death event here today."
As the round began, Trainer Blue repeatedly let out a flurry of thundershock attacks, but Trainer White simply jumped over them. As soon as White's Suiccone got up to Pikachu, she resumed pummeling it with fast attacks that Trainer Blue's Pikachu was simply unable to avoid. The second Pokkén battle played on American soil would not even go three rounds, Trainer White defeated Trainer Blue in two.
Once the judges confirmed the results of the second round, Bill made the official announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am not surprised to inform you all that this final challenge will be going into Sudden Death!"
Reggie elaborated on this announcement to the audience, "That's right, Bill. Each team has one surviving Trainer who has not been eliminated. By the rules we have established at the beginning of this episode, Trainer Red must battle Trainer White. Whoever wins this battle will win the entire competition for their team."
Trainer Blue left the stage feeling a little guilty about her loss, but as Trainer Red took the stage he gave her a big hug and whispered something the cameras could not hear into her ear. The audience did not know what he said to her, but Blue returned Red's hug and walked offstage with a bit more pride in her step.
Trainer Red logged back into the arcade station and once again selected his Machop. Trainer White reselected her Suiccone, and within no time, the game's battle timer started to count down. Once the countdown concluded, the word FIGHT flashed on both trainers' screens, and the battle began.
Trainer Red immediately sent his Machop after his opponent's Suiccone to try and close the distance between the two of them, but Trainer White's Suiccone could move much faster than Red had anticipated and Suiccone would deliver the first strike.
Trainer White's fingers were a blur on the controls. In fact, her hands were moving so fast, the HD cameras recording the show were not able to see them clearly. When the show's producers saw this, they asked one of their grips to grab one of their reserve cameras which could record in a high framerate, just to get White's hands clearly visible on screen.
White's fast attacks served her well and within no time, she brought her opponent's health bar down to zero and won the first round. The audience held their collective breath as the game reset.
The second round began and Trainer Red, knowing he was one round away from elimination, stepped up his game. As Trainer White's Suiccone continued to dodge and move quickly across the screen, Red unleashed a perfectly timed power attack that made contact with Suiccone before it could hit him. With Suiccone stunned, Trainer Red was finally able to close the distance between his Machop and White's Suiccone, and he could start spamming Machop's more damaging attacks. Unable to recover, Trainer White could only watch as her Suiccone's life bar drained to zero.
Stunned at the turn of events, all Reggie could say as White's Suiccone lay defeated was, "It looks like this match will go to three rounds."
As the timer counted down for the third round to start, Bill reminded the audience just what was at stake tonight, "Ladies and gentlemen, this will be the night's final battle. The person who wins this match will win The Amazing Pokémon Journey for themselves and their teammate. Good luck to both of you."
Trainer Red prepared to enter the round using the exact same strategy he had in the previous one, however, as the round began Trainer White was not responding to his movements in the exact same way he had expected. While Trainer White may have lost the previous round against Trainer Red, she had learned something invaluable from it, the exact timing of Machop's attacks.
White's Suiccone would let Trainer Red's Machop close the distance between the two of them, but would then dodge out of the way just as Machop was about to unleash his attack, almost as if she was anticipating his moves before he made them. Once Machop would unleash its futile move against nothing, White would then come in and pummel Machop with a series of fast combination attacks. Red's head was spinning at this predicament.
As she continued to pummel Trainer Red's Machop, White screamed out, "You play with the spirit of the wind and eventually you'll get blown away. NOTHING is going to stop me from having the wedding of my dreams!"
The crowd erupted in cheers as Machop's health bar drained to zero. The battle was now over, and with it, the competition had reached its conclusion. Once the show's technicians verified the game data on their end, they gave a thumbs up gesture to Bill and Reggie. Reggie turned to Bill and motioned that Bill, who had been the show's host since the very beginning, should be the one to announce the match's winner.
With Reggie's encouragement, Bill announced, "Ladies and gentlemen in one of the greatest battles I think any of you will have witnessed here today, I'm pleased to announce that Trainer White has won this tournament, and because of that, Team Five wins The Amazing Pokémon Journey!"
The crowd erupted in cheers at the winning team. Upon seeing Trainer White win the event, the backstage crew told her partner to go back on stage to join her. As Trainer Black took the stage to be with Trainer White, Trainer Red slowly walked off the stage with his head held low. As soon as Red stepped backstage, Trainer Blue was there to grab him and give him a much needed hug. After their hug concluded, several stagehands guided the members of Team One into their interview booth to get their final thoughts about the competition.
After they sat down on the comfortable couches they were provided, Trainer Red was the first member of Team One to speak, "This has been an amazing event that I'm proud to say I was a part of. You can be darn sure that I'll be releasing plenty of v-logs about my experiences at this event on my YouTube Channel within the next few weeks."
After she finished collecting her thoughts, Trainer Blue spoke, "I know we didn't win this final competition, but I'm really happy for what we have already won and what we were able to accomplish while we were here. I'm also really happy to say that my dress designs have been selected for next year's spring collection, and if you liked the dress I designed in the previous episode you should be able to find it on shelves everywhere soon."
Trainer Red added some of his final thoughts, "It's also nice that, even though we didn't win the grand prize, we got to keep all of our winnings from the previous episodes. I can't wait to replay all my Nintendo games on my New Nintendo 3DS XL and you can be darn sure I'll be using some of the eShop money we won to buy a lot of new digital games for the system, as well as renew my subscription to the Pokémon Bank."
Off screen, the show's producers asked Trainer Red what he whispered into Trainer Blue's ear before the final round.
Trainer Red replied, "What did I say to her? Just that she did her best and I was proud to call her my partner."
After Team One concluded their interview, Team Five was put up on stage next to Reggie, Bill, and the dozens of supermodels Nintendo had hired to present the winning team their grand prize.
With a microphone in his hand, Reggie announced to Team Five what they won, "Team Five, for winning The Amazing Pokémon Journey, you have not only won all of the prizes you have earned over the course of this competition, as well as the all expenses paid vacation to Universal Resorts, you have won a grand prize of one hundred-thousand dollars!"
Confetti fell as the crowd cheered. A supermodel walked onto stage with an enormous check emblazoned with Pikachu's face on it. Trainer White accepted the check along with a bouquet of flowers presented just for her. They were roses, her favorite.
After Trainer White accepted her flowers, Reggie continued with their prize announcements, "I know, money is great, and I'm sure it will be able to give you both the wedding you've always wished for. By the way, if you want to have a Pokémon-themed wedding just tell us and we'll be more than happy to set you up with all of the centerpieces and decorations you could ever want."
Trainer Black nodded and said, "Thank you, Reggie."
Reggie added, "You're both welcome, but we're not done yet. We have something special and unique for you that I don't think any of you were expecting! Bill, wheel it in!"
Bill pushed a very tall object covered in a white sheet onto the stage.
Reggie took a corner of the sheet in his hand and said, "Here's your final prize, let's see what is under this sheet!"
Reggie pulled the sheet off the object and revealed what was under it to everyone. A gasp fell over the audience, as they had just won one of the most famous collectibles in the history of Pokémon, a working Pokémon Snap print machine.
As the members of Team Five lay in shock at what they were seeing, Reggie said, "That's right guys, this is an actual Pokémon Snap printer, and it works too. We've had these in storage for the past fifteen years collecting dust, but I had some of our lab technicians refurbish it. With this, you can print out all of the photographs you want from Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo 64, just as well as you could when these units were installed at every Blockbuster Video in the country. Or if you'd prefer, it would make for one hell of a conversation piece in your gaming room."
Trainer Black grabbed Trainer White and put his arm around her. The two were not yet living together, but it was wonderful that Nintendo was willing to give them the first piece of what would become their new home.
As Trainer Black and Trainer White held each other, Bill announced one last surprise for them, "Wait guys, don't cry yet, we still have to give you your award. We have one more special guest here today and he insisted that he give you guys your award personally. Ladies and gentlemen, to present the award to the winning team of The Amazing Pokémon Journey, I present to you the creator of Pokémon and the reason we are all here today, Satoshi Tajeri!"
The crowd of spectators gathered at Nintendo World screamed and cheered so loudly you could feel the vibrations shake the concrete as Mr. Tajeri walked onto the stage.
The words, "We're not worthy!" rang through the crowd as Mr. Tajeri prepared to speak.
Bill handed the creator of Pokémon a microphone and stepped back as he spoke, "For your strength, dedication and perseverance, I am happy to grant you the title of Grand Pokémon Master. Congratulations, you are the very best like no one ever was."
Fireworks shot out from behind the stage and lit up the beautiful New York skyline. White laid her head on Black's shoulder as they looked up at the dazzling display.
As the fireworks continued to ring out, Trainer Black's voice could be overheard as the fireworks started to fade away from the screen, "Do you ever feel like you're in a dream? Well, I'm just sitting here, next to the most wonderful girl in the world, waiting to wake up."
The screen completed its gentle fade away from the fireworks display to an interview room where the winning team was sitting very closely together with their arms wrapped around each other.
Trainer White punched her partner gently in the arm and said, "Oh shush, you. This isn't a dream, and I'm still going to be here when you wake up. Now, when are we going to set a date?"
The camera faded as Trainer Black gave a very long pause to deliver his answer.
What a beautiful ending to a beautiful competition. I'm Bill from Nintendo, speaking on behalf of Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoshi Tajeri. Just remember to always try to be the very best like no one ever was, and don't let any rival tell you otherwise. Goodnight, everybody!