Draco: Oh, good Alpha, I am absolutely shameless.

PRE-SUBMIT EDIT: This topside author's note was written shortly after the announcement of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Several long breaks took place during the writing process of this story. END PRE-SUBMIT EDIT

So... I really enjoyed Pokémon Battle Revolution. I don't understand why it got so much hate, but I believe it has something to do with Stadium having minigames that Battle Revolution lacked. Regardless, it is what it is, and there has not been an arena game since. Yes, the core series made the full #VideoGame3DLeap in Generation VI, but the battles aren't as cinematic as they were in Pokétopia. That said, I do understand the mentality - with 3D battles now part of the core series, the arenas don't really offer much. The officials have spoken; there needs to be a real good reason for there to be another arena game.

Now, if you have a problem with Generation VIII not including compatibility with the entire National Pokédex, screw you with a knife. I, for one, understand that 800+ unique species of creature - each with a unique combination of stats, possible abilities, learnable moves, and (as of Let's Go) overworld behaviour - is an unreasonable workload for any company's workers. Especially considering the Pokémon Company is based in Japan, which has a serious problem with workaholism.

All of that said... I do feel like Generation IX is coming out a bit too fast on the tail of Legends: Arceus. A little more time for Gen VIII to ripen - Sinnoh and Hisui in particular - would've been appreciated. But the last time I felt as though a new Generation (specifically Gen VII) came out too quickly, I came up with an entire Pokémon game to fill in the preexisting release date, like an asshole. And for reasons I'm not going to pretend to understand, when I felt Gen IX is coming out too quickly, I once again came up with an entire Pokémon game to fill in the preexisting release date, like an asshole.

Well, if they need a real good reason for there to be another arena game, "not every Pokémon can be used in Galar, Sinnoh, or Hisui" sounds like a pretty good reason to me.

But let me be totally frank with you guys. This isn't just an arena game for compatibility with every Pokémon. I took that concept, and I ran with it, with absolutely no shame whatsoever. This might be my most gratuitous fantasy ever, which is saying something considering the bullshit fantasies I came up with after playing through Galar for the first time.

For one thing, the existing arena games don't have any way to raise your Pokémon. You don't travel the area, you traverse a series of menus. Rental Pokémon are... well, I find that the ones in Battle Revolution make for pretty decent teams, but they're all middle stage at most; I'm told the Rental Pokémon in the 64 Stadium games were atrocious, and in both games the Pokémon themselves are pre-set and non-customizable. There's not much in the way of a story to be had; you barely get any interactions with other Trainers, even the key figures like the Gym Leaders or Colosseum Masters. And as much as I love announcer chatter, there are certain times when it's obvious what sort of limits you run into with a human recording commentary for 493 Pokémon, and myrad moves, and abilities, status conditions, battlefield effects, etcetera - without sounding bored as frick because he had to say the same thing and sub in different names.

This right here, this arena game I've come up with, defies all of that. There is a Battle Chateau proxy at which you can raise your Pokémon. I generated a fully-explorable - and ground-up reimagined - version of Pokétopia with shops, tutorials, NPCs, etcetera (with some menus in lieu of travelling from place to place, but about on the order of Legends: Arceus). Not only are there decent rental Pokémon, but the rental Pokémon start in their lowest stage at no higher than Level 10, to be raised and customized as you wish. I generated a minor storyline as a sort of "hey, let's see how you fare" test for the informed player, and came up with full-fledged interactions in all of the Colosseums.

And announcer chatter? Well, I already had an idea to make that a little less of #MadLibsDialogue, and a friend of mine introduced me to a certain work that proves my theory sound. A game properly known in English merely as "Colorful Stage", but with the rather more precedent-following Japanese title of Project SEKAI.

Which proved that Piapro Studio can, in fact, make properly-intonated dialogue as well as musical vocals. PRE-SUBMIT EDIT: Even though ALL fanwork sites are neglecting to include proper categorization for Virtual Singers who are no longer Vocaloids. {glare} END PRE-SUBMIT EDIT

THIS IS A POKÉMON FANFICTION BY DRACONAI AURACTO. DO NOT READ THIS FANFICTION UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT WILL BE SHORT. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Welcome to Grand Stage.

Pokémon and all related properties © Nintendo. Virtual Singers of Piapro Studio © Crypton Future Media.

Performance at Pokétopia

Darkness shrouded Arrival Colosseum, masking the source of the footsteps that walked out onto the battlefield. Only once they had come to a stop did a single spotlight shine down to illuminate their owner - a bright-haired girl dressed in shades of white and gray, with a pair of long teal twintails that reached nearly to the ground beneath her. Her eyes were closed, her hands folded before her, as music began to fill the Colosseum, and after a long moment she began to sing.

"I've had companions on my journeys
They've always tried to stay here at my side
And every time we parted ways for too long
I'd remember the departure, and I'd cry

I hope that we'd be always reunited
Until the day would come that we had died
I'll happily go onward to the afterworld
Because even that's no final goodbye"

A small figure emerged into the light beside her - a pale yellow figure that looked like it was wearing hakama, with what seemed to be a long tail of hair emerging from its head that was in fact a set of jaws. As the Mawile came to a stop in the light, the vocalist turned to her and offered a smile as the music changed key.

"I thought I'd never see you again, my dear"

The rest of the Colosseum illuminated, revealing the other Pokémon that surrounded her - a Mantine, Liepard, Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Cherrim, bright white Zoroark and Ninetales, and a Sirfetch'd with its leek blade at attention - as well as five other vocalists that greeted her with a smile.

"But it looks like everyone is here!"

The crowd began to cheer as Miku's friends dashed forward to join her.

"Let's go!"

"I'll put my friends up to the test
And try our luck with all the rest
We wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was!"

Outside the Colosseum, the rest of Pokétopia began to illuminate, signifying the grand reopening that had arrived.

"Let's go!"

"We're not the ones with all the might
Just wanna have fun day and night
And have the time of all our lives
Let's make it last!
We'll have ourselves a blast!"

Miku raised her hands skyward, and Luka, Rin, Len, Meiko, and Kaito all pumped their fists into the air.

"Let's go!"

Draco: Yes, I dead-ass wrote an anime-style theme song for this thing. And a friend of mine might actually be helping me give it form, no less. I ran absolutely wild with this idea.

I presented it as a concert in this intro chapter, but mostly because opening cinematics are not usually conducive to written form. Like, N's coronation could be written out, but I imagined this one as being more like the DP/BDSP intro, where it montages all sorts of elements from across Pokétopia for absolutely no reason except to be visually appealing (and maybe to show off some more obscure Pokémon in battle to establish that yes, everyone is, in fact, here).

PRE-SUBMIT EDIT: In posting this story, I am deviating from the submission pattern I've used since the release of Kingdoms Unknown. The story is NOT complete as I submit this. However, everything that is important has been written, and will be submitted on a daily basis. All that remains is a progression of victories in each of the Colosseums, and quite frankly, I'm not sure if I'll ever stop procrastinating and write that. So I'm going to submit this and leave it as incomplete until such time as I finally get motivated to write Pokémon battles again. END PRE-SUBMIT EDIT

So, first time starting up the game: language selection screen, then opening cinematic. (Mostly because different languages have different theme songs in the anime and I assume the same would apply here.) Then we open up a character composition screen, where you pick a body type (five varieties for each gender), skin tone (only separate because I don't think you could fit forty full-body shots on the same menu screen)... and whether you prefer to travel by plane or by boat, which then immediately fades in to a cutscene of your composed character arriving at Pokétopia by that method of transportation. Remaining character setup will be addressed in-character in the next chapter.

Battle Revolution had six body types - Young Boy, Young Girl, Cool Boy, Cool Girl, Muscle Man, and Little Girl. I imagine including all of those, plus the addition of a male "Little Boy" and a female "Bodybuilder" to make them match, as well as a "Veteran Man" and "Veteran Lady" for people like me who can already pass as a Unovan/Kalosian Veteran and have no intention of retiring from our Trainer careers. The international versions also had three skin tones like the core series has had since Sun/Moon... but I feel like Battle Revolution's lightest tone was a bit darker than the core series' lightest tone, so I'm imagining a spectrum of four.

I had a friend of mine construct a protagonist so I wouldn't be tempted to give the protagonist a team specifically designed to curb-stomp the important opponents. She will be introduced next chapter.