Draco: Hello to everyone who didn't spam me begging for artwork commissions! Anyone else excited for Champions? I know I am! We don't even have any information except the basic concept, and I am absolutely ecstatic. Thought I'd celebrate with a little something!

Pokémon and all related properties © Nintendo.


Unnamed Islet, Galar

"Yep, confirmed. There's a Power Spot out here."

Gloria sighed in frustration. "Of course there is. Never mind how little sense that makes."

Sonia lowered her detector with a furrowed brow. "I mean, we're literally sitting in between Circhester and the Isle of Armour," she pointed out. "No one in their right mind would doubt that this is Galarian territory. If there are Power Spots all the way down in the Crown Tundra, it's not that surprising that Eternatus' influence would reach this place." She glanced around. "And... it's not like there's anything to get in the way of a Dynamax."

The islet was absolutely barren, all told, little more than a flat expanse of rock surrounded by sand. Claims that the Fighting Master's Shield could crush mountains seemed all the more plausible in light of this place, which genuinely looked like it could have held a mountain at one point. With a smirk, Gloria got to her feet. "You've got a point there," she conceded. "It'll serve our purposes well enough."

"Your little 'invitational' with Cynthia's book, right?" Sonia mused. "Better get busy if you're gonna mark out battlefield boundaries, especially if you're going through with the Battle Royal idea."

"You sure you don't want to join us?" Gloria asked. "The more the merrier."

Sonia shook her head. "I couldn't even match up to Leon, there, missy," she reminded her. "I'm not about to join a fight with every region's reigning Champion and all their plus-ones just to be a jobber."

"Most of them aren't defending the Champion's seat, you know," Gloria argued. "Besides, Dawn declined - said she and Lucas had friends over."

"You get the point," Sonia insisted.

She started back towards the boat, and with a shrug, Gloria turned back around. "Rotom, open Nightcord." Her Rotom Phone soared out of her pocket, opening the app, and Gloria tapped her way to the voice channel. "Morning."

"Hola!" Juliana replied. "How's the site look?"

"We've got a Power Spot," Gloria confirmed. "Give me until tomorrow, and I can have everything set up for a battlefield."

"Don't be like that!" Hilda protested. "We're all happy to help - right, guys?"

"You said it," Gold concurred. "We'll defer to you for the measurements, make sure we the fit whole Dynamax thing, but it's better we all make it happen together!"

Gloria smiled. "Alright, then," she conceded. "But this isn't gonna be a quick job."

+x+x+x+

And it wasn't a quick job; Red, Gold, May, Hilda, Nate, Serena, Selene, Gloria, Juliana, and all of their Pokémon spent the better part of the day carving a battlefield out of the rocky islet. It was a positively exhausting effort, but by the end of it, there was a rudimentary yet respectable stadium-sized battlefield laid out for them.

The next day, the combatants ferried themselves out to the islet; the 'reigning' Champions had each been allowed to invite another competitor or two to make a real tourney out of it. Red had brought Blue and Leaf along; Gold had invited Silver; May had invited Wally and Zinnia; Dawn had sent Barry to have fun without her; Hilda had invited Cheren and Bianca; Nate had brought Hugh; Serena had invited Calem and Emma; Selene had brought Hau and Gladion; Gloria had brought Hop and Marnie; and Juliana had brought Nemona and Kieran. Elio was trying not to draw attention to himself, though Gold had promised to claim he was one of his invites; Rosa was technically Nate's guest, but Gloria had a suspicion that she was really here for Hilda.

There was a table and a score board set up, yet as Gloria did a headcount she couldn't help but give a sigh of frustration at the total of twenty-eight people present. "Alright, looks like we're all here!" she called out to the crowd. "Did everyone bring your Battle Passes?"

The gathered trainers all raised cards - homemade 'passes' with the Trainer's name and their six Pokémon on them, on the recommendation of Lucas.

"Excellent," Gloria praised. "I'm afraid it looks like we don't quite have enough for an even bracket. I know no one wants to get ahead because they didn't have an opponent, but-"

"Um, actually...!" May raised her empty hand, and the crowd turned to her as it fell behind her head awkwardly. "I noticed the headcount in advance, and... I might have bent the rules a bit to fix that.

"What are you talking about?" Selene asked. "You invited someone else from Hoenn?"

May's PokéNav went off with a tone, and she drew it out. "They're... not from Hoenn."

She started towards one shore of the islet, and the crowd followed. A figure was visible travelling through the water, approaching Galar; hands went for Poké Balls when they realized it seemed to be the shape of the Primordium, until it got close enough for them to see it was too small for that. Then, as it made to surface, they realized it seemed to be mechanical, with stiff fins and a tail that seemed to actually be a mass of pipes.

Wally stepped forward. "A... robotic...?"

"...Sea Basin?" Zinnia finished, equally baffled.

The robotic Sea Basin approached the point where the sands shallowed, and fully surfaced; its top half was a transparent dome. After a moment, it opened, revealing three people sitting inside - the boy at the controls had a bright top, dark pants, and a head of spiky brown hair, while in a seat behind him were a redhead in a denim ensemble and a silver-haired young man in a consuming dark longcoat.

The boy leapt out first. "Hey! Are we late?"

"Right on time!" May insisted.

The longcoated fellow decked the back of his pilot's head. "Seriously? They obviously weren't expecting us." He turned to May. "Didn't you tell them?"

"I was just getting around to it," May insisted. Turning back to the crowd; "These guys are from the region of Orre."

"That answers... two questions," Juliana mused.

The redheaded lady stepped forward. "Sorry for the surprise," she insisted. "My name's Rui."

"Wes," the longcoated fellow introduced.

"And I'm Michael," the boy concluded. "May mentioned you guys were having a little battle between Trainers who have been through high stakes, and said you were a couple seeds short of a full tourney. I figured you wouldn't say no to us filling out the bracket."

"Interesting," Zinnia mused. "And how exactly do you know May, huh?"

"You know how Pokémon Centers let you meet Trainers far away and send your Pokémon to a common point and do battle?" Rui asked. "Same basic principle. Learned we had a fair bit in common, so we kept in touch every so often. I guess you could call us pen pals?"

Leaf stepped forward. "Does that mean you guys haven't heard of Cynthia's book?"

Michael shook his head. "I've got a copy," he admitted, "but we never really felt like we had much to contribute to it. May hasn't spilled any confidential behind-the-scenes stuff, if that's what you're worried about."

Blue set his hands on his hips. "You haven't met any legendary Pokémon?"

"I'm going to say no," Wes insisted, "and you're going to believe me."

"Then what exactly did you have in common?" Gladion argued.

"Let's not ruin the mood with a dark story," Rui insisted. "You're all here for battles, right? Are Wes and Michael allowed to join, or what?"

"You're not joining?" Bianca asked.

Rui shook her head. "I'm not a Trainer, myself. I'm just along for the spectacle."

Gloria sighed. "Even if we say yes," she insisted, "that still leaves two fights with a bye."

"Whaaaat?!" May exclaimed, whirling around with a shock. "I could've sworn I counted thirty of us!"

"Dawn and Lucas noped out, remember?" Barry pointed out.

May slumped. "So we're still two parties short of a bracket, huh?"

Juliana gave a nervous chuckle. "Funny you should say 'parties' and not Trainers..."

"What did you do?" Kieran accused.

Nemona grinned, bringing her hands together. "Me and Juliana got enough Pokémon for two teams each, at least!" she proclaimed. "We were gonna ask if we're allowed to switch out in mid-tourney or if we've gotta stick with the same Pokémon all the way through, but if we just need a couple extra entries, we could pull double duty. If there's no hard feelings, that is?"

"Aue!" Hau caught his hands behind his head with a grin. "That's no problem, right, guys?!"

Silver crossed his arms. "But then what happens if the tourney ends up so that you've got both parties in the same match?"

"I mean..." Nemona started towards the scoreboard; it was set up so that two trees of sixteen converged in the center. "No one on this side is gonna fight anyone on that side until the finale, right? So put my teams up here and up there, and Juliana's teams down there and down here..." She tapped the four corners of the tree before turning around. "...and it's not a problem until we're all done!"

"Setting aside the question of exact placement," Cheren mused, "what exactly do you intend to do if, say, both of your teams make it all the way to the end?"

"She's gonna get the crown either way, right?" Bianca insisted. "I say we just call that a tourney."

Nemona looked like she wasn't pleased with that idea, but Gloria spoke up. "Alright! That's a bracket, then! Juliana, Nemona, bring your passes to me; the rest of us, lay them on the table and we'll shuffle!"

Juliana grabbed Nemona's Battle Passes before she could object, approaching the table where everyone else was laying theirs down. Once the pile was thirty high, Gloria picked it up and started to shuffle it like a deck of cards as Juliana laid down the two doubles on two separate points; after a moment, Gloria cut the deck in two and laid one on each pile, and Rui picked up one and started to shuffle it anew while Gloria did the same with the other. Once both sets were shuffled, the two of them approached the scoreboard, where several magnets were set up to pin Battle Passes to their places on the bracket as they lined them up face-down.

"Alright!" Blue proclaimed. "We've got a full tourney!"

The gathered Trainers cheered with enough joy that they were probably heard in the Master Dojo; Rui grinned. "You mind if I man the scoreboard?" she offered. "I promise I won't bias."

"Fine by me," Gloria conceded. "Means I don't have to multitask." She stepped away to join the crowd, and Rui waved her hand over the table at random before picking a match near the bottom of the left-hand side; as the crowd watched, she flipped over the first two Battle Passes to show the Trainers and their Pokémon.

Zinnia and Juliana.


Draco: I mean, how Mulch does your luck have to be to blindly fire off spam praising the 'character development' and 'vivid imagery' of a textbook? Like, I've been getting empty, generic, insincere praise in PMs for a couple months now, but Collection of Notes was the first time some jackass did it in a review and they chose the single worst story for their bullshit. 106K works in the Pokémon fandom alone and you pick the frickin' textbook. And you drop it on the list of contributors, no less. More of Chapter 1 is my 'canon' ramble in the author's note than is actually part of the work.

Sorry, back to the fun stuff. By all appearances, Champions is lined up to be pretty much exactly what I enjoyed about Battle Revolution - a pure combat environment, allowing for things that the current-on-release core series entries do not quite allow for. At present, that is 'different empowerment options from different regions getting to face off', and that is what I'm trying to reflect with this little bit here.

This chapter is mostly an excuse to share all of my 'canon' teams - regardless of whether they're relevant to the tourney. These are the teams I've raised for each non-Red player character that I've chosen as Cynthia's contributors, the consequent rival teams that result from all of those decisions, pick-and-chooses from rivals who have multiple contradicting teams, a few extra evolutions for characters who have no excuse for having unevolved Pokémon, fills for a few empty slots in the teams of meaningful NPCs who don't have sixes, and one contribution by my friend AdavalWasHere (plus an altered rival for the purposes of making that a trinity). In the case of those who end up as League fixtures who are required to have limited teams, the teams listed are their 'personal' teams for when they're not on League business and don't need to hold back. And in the case of Nemona, her second team is just a mix-and-match of some Pokémon she uses outside of the base game rival battles in Scarlet/Violet.

I'm also going to list the tournament bracket, and invite anyone who likes to theorize about that sort of thing to offer your wagers on how the tournament would progress. It is my hope that when Champions comes out, I'll be able to pit the all these Battle Passes against each other and see whose predictions come true.

+x+x+x+

Red: Pikachu | Venusaur | Charizard | Blastoise | Snorlax | Lapras
Blue: Sandslash | Alakazam | Exeggutor | Cloyster | Ninetales | Jolteon
Leaf: Jigglypuff | Gyarados | Kabutops | Flareon | Aerodactyl | Hitmonlee

Gold: Typhlosion | Togekiss | Espeon | Gyarados* | Dragonite | Hitmontop
Silver: Weavile | Magnezone | Gengar | Crobat | Alakazam | Feraligatr

May: Sceptile | Hariyama | Magcargo | Milotic | Castform | Metagross
Brendan: Swellow | Raichu | Wailord | Breloom | Claydol | Blaziken
Wally: Altaria | Delcatty | Roserade | Magnezone | Azumarill | Gallade
Zinnia: Goodra | Tyrantrum | Altaria | Noivern | Garchomp | Salamence

Dawn: Empoleon | Luxray | Lopunny | Togekiss | Glaceon | Lucario
Barry: Staraptor | Rapidash | Floatzel | Heracross | Snorlax | Torterra
Lucas: Infernape | Clefable | Alakazam | [Ranger rescues]

Hilda: Serperior | Carracosta | Volcarona | Eelektross | Druddigon | Bisharp
Cheren: Liepard | Simisage | Unfezant | Gigalith | Haxorus | Emboar
Bianca: Stoutland | Simisear | Musharna | Mienshao | Chandelure | Samurott

Nate: Samurott | Gigalith | Darmanitan | Zoroark | Sawsbuck | Mienshao
Hugh: Unfezant | Simipour | Bouffalant | Flygon | Eelektross | Emboar
Rosa: Serperior | Lucario | Magnezone | Vaporeon | Arcanine | Mandibuzz

Serena: Delphox | Venusaur | Aegislash | Aurorus | Lucario | Lapras
Calem: Meowstic (Male) | Clefable | Flareon | Altaria | Absol | Greninja
Emma: Crobat | Malamar | Whimsicott | Jellicent | Volcarona | Mawile

Selene: Decidueye | Sylveon | Wishiwashi | Salazzle | Aerodactyl | Kommo-o
Hau: Alolan Raichu | Flareon | Komala | Noivern | Crabominable | Primarina
Gladion: Crobat | Weavile | Lucario | Porygon-Z | Charizard | Silvally
Elio: Incineroar | Toucannon | Lycanroc (Dusk Form) | Tsareena | Alolan Ninetales | Alolan Raichu

Gloria: Cinderace | Toxtricity | Blastoise | Alcremie* | Flapple | Urshifu
Hop: Dubwool | Corviknight | Pincurchin | Snorlax | Cramorant | Rillaboom
Bede: Mawile | Gardevoir | Galarian Rapidash | Reuniclus | Gothitelle | Hatterene
Marnie: Liepard | Toxicroak | Scrafty | Morpeko | Bisharp | Grimmsnarl

Juliana (1): Meowscarada | Pawmot | Ceruledge | Palafin | Revavroom | Baxcalibur
Juliana (2): Infernape | Tinkaton | Lokix | Clodsire | Cyclizar | Ogerpon
Nemona (1): Lycanroc (Midday Form) | Goodra | Dudunsparce | Orthworm | Pawmot | Quaquaval
Nemona (2): Decidueye | Ribombee | Milotic | Dusknoir | Kommo-o | Oinkologne (Female)
Arven: Greedent | Cloyster | Scovillan | Toedscruel | Garganacl | Mabosstiff
Penny: Umbreon | Vaporeon | Jolteon | Flareon | Leafeon | Sylveon
Kieran: Dragonite | Politoed | Porygon-Z | Grimmsnarl | Incineroar | Hydrapple
Carmine: Mightyena | Toucannon | Morpeko | Ninetales | Scrafty | Sinistcha

Wes: Espeon | Umbreon | Ampharos | Octillery | Altaria | Hitmontop
Michael: Jolteon | Breloom | Ninetales | Gardevoir | Glalie | Dewgong

+x+x+x+

=Tournament Bracket=

Left side:
-Nemona (1) vs. Hilda
-Barry vs. Elio
-Serena vs. Emma
-Red vs. Gold
-Silver vs. Gladion
-Wally vs. Hugh
-Juliana (1) vs. Zinnia
-Blue vs. Hop

Right side:
-Kieran vs. Gloria
-Cheren vs. Nate
-Nemona (2) vs. Michael
-Leaf vs. Selene
-Calem vs. Wes
-Hau vs. Rosa
-May vs. Marnie
-Bianca vs. Juliana (2)