A.N. Well, regular update is pretty much out the window…oops.
But, a quick note before this chapter begins!
The Champion's Team has now changed from what it used to be to make sense with the plot idea I now have in mind. When I first constructed the Champion's team, I didn't have much to go on except for a small plot idea, but now I have a better one, hence the team change. It will make sense later on in the story!
Champion's Team: Musharna, Hypno, Cresselia, Darkrai, Mismagius, Altaria
Also, for the battle scenes during the tryouts, there may be intercuts of people talking in the stands.
That's it for now! Let's begin!
Disclaimer: Potato.
The PWT stadium in Driftveil City was packed to the brim. Cheering spectators occupied all the seats, and the soon to be Gym Leaders, Coordinators were sitting in separate rooms, waiting their chance to go out on stage and show everyone what they could do. The Frontier Brains, Elite Four, and Champion were all waiting in separate rooms until they were introduced to the crowd.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed and a single spotlight shone on the commentators' box, which was situated above the spectator seats. Two people were sitting in the box. One was a middle-aged man with navy hair, and he was wearing a brown suit with a green tie. The other was an older man with spiky red hair who was sporting a poncho, as well as white pants and brown sandals.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the middle-aged man said, silencing the crowd. "Welcome to the Baliar Island Tryouts! My name is Freddie 'The Scoop' and I'll be bringing you all the on-the-spot action, along with my cohost, the ex-Unova League Champion, Alder!" The crowd let out a huge cheer upon hearing Alder's name – though he had been dethroned by Iris, who was dethroned by Nate soon after, Unovians still had a sense of respect for the ex-Champion. "Alder," Freddy addressed his cohost, "Would you like to explain how this is going to work?"
"Of course!" Alder replied, turning towards the audience. "The Gym Leader tryouts will be broken down into groups of three. That means that three different types will be trying out in succession, with a thirty-minute break between each. The last two Trainers that wish to specialize in each type will be battling against each other one the preliminary rounds are done. All trainers are only allowed to use one Pokémon in the preliminary round, and two in the final round. Each winner of the eighteen final rounds will be the Gym Leader for that type!"
"Thank you, Alder, for that exemplary explanation!" Freddie said. "And now, it's my pleasure to officially start the tryouts!" The crowd began to cheer as the big screen, located above the commentator's box lit up, displaying four pictures of four Trainers. "We're going to being by matching up the first thirty-six Trainers." Thirty-six pictures appeared up on screen, and at Freddie's command, they began to spin around in a circle, eventually stopping and showing two different pictures. "Match number one will be Robin vs Regan! Match number two will be Peter vs Mortimo! Match number three…"
As Freddie continued on with the matchups, Robin, who was sitting in the waiting room for the Gym Leaders, sighed and took out a Pokéball from her bag. Inside the Pokéball was her Khangaskhan, one of her most devastating Pokémon on her team. The question was, did she use Khangaskhan now, or wait?
"But if I loose the first match…" the Johtonian muttered to herself, "Then I won't be able to use her. I'm ninety-five percent sure that Furret and Lopunny can get the job done themselves. But I'm left with five percent, and that can grow to be more if I'm not careful."
The last matchup was called out, accompanied by a resounding cheer from the crowd. "And, without further ado, let's begin the first match! Robin vs Regan!" Both Trainers stood up and walked out of the waiting room and onto the battlefield, where they were met with ear-splitting applause and yelling. Robin flinched a bit at the noise, but Regan tossed blonde tresses over her shoulder and smiled at the cheering crowd. The referee, wearing a black and white striped shirt and black pants stepped up to the ref stand, carrying red flag in one hand and a green one in the other.
"Trainers ready?" The ref asked, looking over the battlefield. When both Robin and Regan nodded, he raised one hand in the air. "Both Trainers are only allowed Pokémon each! Battle…begin!"
"Lopunny!" Robin yelled, grabbing a Pokéball from her brown messenger bag and tossing it in the air. "Let's show 'em how it's done!" The Rabbit Pokémon sprang out of her Pokéball and landed neatly on the field.
"My Wigglytuff!" Regan called, elegantly tossing a Pokéball in the air. "Knock them senseless!"
Robin decided to start off the battle by calling for a Return attack, Lopunny jumping in the air as bright white and blue lights surrounding her, then kicking the opposing Wigglytuff in the face. The Balloon Pokémon was sent flying backwards into the wall behind Regan. After Wigglytuff shakily stood up, Regan commanded a Hyper Voice attack. Wigglytuff obliged and, after rolling up its ears, sent a torrent of red sound waves straight at Lopunny, causing the Rabbit Pokémon to flinch and cover her ears. Regan then called for a Doubleslap attack as Lopunny was still trying to shake off the effects of the Hyper Voice. However, she recovered in time for Robin to call for an Agility, allowing Lopunny to avoid Wigglytuff's Doubleslap. After a command from Robin, Lopunny followed up with a High Jump Kick, sending Wigglytuff flying into the air, then landing on the battlefield with a painful smash, followed by a cloud of dust.
"Wigglytuff!" Regan cried. "Get up, get up!" As the dust cleared, Wigglytuff could be seen trying to stand up, and after some effort, succeeded. Relieved that her Pokémon was alright, Regan called for a Brick Break. Wigglytuff's right hand began to shine as it rushed towards Lopunny. Robin then told Lopunny to counter with High Jump Kick, both Pokémon rushing towards each other, Fighting-type attacks at the ready. The collision sent the two Normal-types flying backwards, both skidding painfully on the battlefield.
"Lopunny!" Robin yelled. "C'mon, I know you're not done yet!" The Rabbit Pokémon slowly stood up, shaking a little with the effort. "Good!" The Johto native looked over to where Wigglytuff was still lying on the ground. "Bounce, now! Hurry!" Upon her Trainer's command, Lopunny sprung into the air, then slammed squarely onto Wigglytuff, driving the Balloon Pokémon into the ground.
"No, Wigglytuff! You can still fight!" Regan yelled, balling her hands into fists. "Get up, now!" But as Lopunny jumped out of the small crater that she had created, Wigglytuff did not get up.
The referee looked down at the battlefield, and seeing Wigglytuff knocked out, raised a red flag in the air and called "Wigglytuff is unable to battle – Lopunny is the winner! The match goes to Robin!"
As the crowd began to cheer, Robin ran over to Lopunny. "We did it! We're going to the finals, Lopunny!" Lopunny clapped her hands excitedly as Regan recalled her beaten Wigglytuff and burst into tears. "Aye. Well then…" Robin held out a Pokéball and called Lopunny back into the ball. She turned around and walked towards the room where the rest of the Trainers were waiting, as Freddie started to announce the next match.
She was going to the finals.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The second Normal-type battle (Mortimo vs Peter) soon ended with Peter as the undisputed victor. The victorious Peter came back into the waiting room and looked over at Robin. With a smirk, he sat down on a bench and became engaged in a conversation with another Trainer.
"He's not taking my spot." Robin growled. "Not if I can help it."
Back on the field, Freddie and Alder were getting ready to announce the next matchups for the Fire battles.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the big screen!" Freddie called over the excited buzz of the crowd. Four pictures of the Fire type contenders popped up the screen and began to spin around. "Our first matchup!" The pictures stopped spinning, but only two appeared on screen. "Dominic vs Red Eyes! And our second battle with be Mary vs Ronald!"
In the waiting room, Red Eyes and Dominic stood up and walked towards separate doors, all eyes in the room on them.
"It's like being called up to the whiteboard in class." Nema whispered to Lyssa.
"What do you mean?"
On the battlefield, both Trainers were standing at the ready, the crowd dead silent.
"Trainers ready?" The ref asked. "Both Trainers are only allowed one Pokémon each! Battle, begin!"
"Arcanine, let's go!" Red Eyes yelled, throwing a Pokéball in the air. The Legendary Pokémon came out with a mighty roar and gazed around the battlefield, sizing up the opponent.
"Fine! Flareon, you're up!" Dominic called, sending out the Flame Pokémon.
"Extreme Speed!" Red Eyes commanded. Arcanine rushed at Flareon with incredible speed surrounded by a white light. Flareon had no time to move before Arcanine barreled into it, sending the Pokémon flying back into the stadium wall.
"Get up!" Dominic snapped as Flareon got to its feet, trembling. "Now, Flame Charge!" Surrounded by flames, Flareon sped towards the opposing Arcanine, but the contact didn't do much, only knocking Arcanine back a few feet.
"Outrage!" Red Eyes said. Arcanine's body began to glow purple as it let out a terrifying roar, pulsing red waves emitting from its body as it charged at Flareon. The Flame Pokémon slammed into the wall for the second time in minutes, completely knocked out from the powerful attack.
"Flareon is unable to battle! Arcanine wins! And that means the match goes to Red Eyes!"
With a nod, Red Eyes recalled Arcanine, thanking it for doing a good job, then walked off the battlefield and into the waiting room.
"I thought that you were saving Arcanine." Lyssa remarked as Red Eyes sat back down on the bench.
Red Eyes shrugged. "I felt like using him this battle. And if need be, I can always use him again."
"Well, have it your way, then." Lyssa replied. "But the next battle you have isn't going to be so easy."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just look at the screen!" Nema cut in. "'Cause Mary's got a Delphox! I've never seen one of those before!" The blunette pointed excitedly at the screen, where the second battle was already starting. The two Trainers, Ronald and Mary, had called out Magargo and Delphox respectively.
"So?" Red Eyes responded. "If Mary wins, I have Houndoom, if Ronald wins, I have Blaziken. It's simple."
The two girls shared a look, causing Red Eyes to frown. "What?"
"It's not a Ranger battle." Lyssa sighed, turning her attention back towards the screen. "And you can't just power your way through the battle, you've got to think strategically. Maybe you could get away with not doing that when you battled Ben and Summer, but now it's more important."
"Oh yeah? What's your strategy?" Red Eyes snapped at his younger sister.
"Evasion."
"Seriously?"
"It's a legitimate strategy." Lyssa replied.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The second Fire battle finished up, with Mary as the winner.
"Once more, I'm asking all of you to turn your attention to the screen!" Freddie called. "We'll be announcing our Water type matchups right now!" Four new pictures appeared on the screen and began to spin around. "Match number one! Wendy vs Antoinette! And match number two! Irving vs Monica!"
The first two Trainers took their positions on the battlefield as the referee raised an arm in the air. "Trainers ready? Both Trainers are only allowed to use one Pokémon! Battle…begin!"
"Alomomola! Time for a show of true elegance!" Antoinette called, tossing a Pokéball into the air. The Caring Pokémon came out and landed gracefully on the battlefield.
"Octillery! Show them some moves they won't forget!" Wendy exclaimed, calling out the Jet Pokémon.
Wendy started by calling for a Octazooka against Alomomola, a black jet of watery ink shooting in the pink Pokémon's direction. Antoinette countered with Shadow Ball, sending a purple blob into the middle of the Octazooka, scattering the ink with a small explosion.
"Alomomola! Wake-Up-Slap!" Antoinette yelled. Alomomola glided up to the Octapus-like Pokémon and began slapping it silly with its pink fins. "Now, close-range Hydro Pump!" Before Octillery had time to dodge, a high-pressured blast of water smacked it right in the face, sending the red Pokémon flying backwards and skidding painfully on the battlefield.
"Octillery, you can't be beaten yet!" Wendy cried. "Smash that thing with an Psybeam!" A colorful beam shot out of Octillery's nose, heading straight for Alomomola.
"Counter with Shadow Ball!" Antoinette commanded. The two attacks collided in the air, creating a purple and pink explosion that covered the whole battlefield in smoke. "While they can't see you! Move up and use Wake-Up-Slap once more!" Covered by the smoke, Alomomola shot over to the confused Octillery and slapped it once more with its fins.
As the smoke cleared, a thump could be heard from inside. Once the battlefield was visible again, Octillery could be seen lying on the ground, unconscious, with Alomomola looking over the knocked-out Pokémon.
"Octillery is unable to battle! Alomomola is the winner! The match goes to Antoinette!" The referee announced.
With a high-pitched squeal, Antoinette ran over to her Alomomola and gave it a hug, jumping up and down all the while. Wendy recalled her beaten Octillery and shook her head in disgust. "I didn't want the position, anyway…"
Antoinette called back her Alomomola and ran back to the waiting room, adding in a happy skip ever other step. As she entered the room, the other two Water Trainers stood up and exited through separate doors.
"You know…" Stephan said, looking up at the big screen. "After the Water battles, it's gonna be Grass."
"Your point?" Georgia asked.
"Well, that means that Trip's next." Stephan replied, pointing over at Trip, who was scrolling through pictures he had taken earlier with his camera.
"I'm ready." Trip interjected, not looking up from his camera. "I've got a strategy, I'll be fine."
"Would this strategy involve powering through the opponent's team with no setup moves whatsoever?" Alex asked.
"Be quiet, Cheshire." Trip snapped. "I know what I'm doing."
A.N. Woah. Sorry that this chapter is so late! I've been visiting with family and volunteering so that doesn't leave me with much time to write. Also, I really don't like writing battle scenes – but it's a must.
However, do expect the chapters to be a little longer (I'm going to do three types per chapter, so there's going to be six chapters worth of tryouts) but the characters will be arriving at the island soon! Promise!
Bai for now!