7 Challenge Cup Rules!
Roy was dressed and ready for his first tourney debut like the other children that would appear. His mom had a habit of dressing Roy, Troy, and Diana in a certain way. For instance, she adopted the habit of dressing Troy in the colors red and white, while she dressed Diana in Green and Gray.
Roy, on the other hand, was dressed in blue and black.
That was how it was now, Roy was wearing clothes similar to Red but blue and black instead. Roy decided to go full pokemon trainer mode for this. His parent took them to the clothing store and they shopped it up.
Currently, they were driving to the colosseum where the battles were going to take place.
"I'm so nervous, this will be fate-changing." Diana couldn't help but shivered a bit. It was from both nervousness and excitement.
"Stay focused, that's a part of it. Do the best you can that's all that matters, not everybody can be a winner." Royce was able to take these days off for this competition, in order to watch.
The parents of the children participating were allowed free entry to watch. They were even given front-row seats.
"Okay, no pressure." Diana took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks.
Troy was silent and was rubbing his hands together the whole way there. His head was tilted downward as he had his eyes closed while muttering something to himself. If one were to guess, they might think he was praying.
Roy also had his eyes closed, he was just thinking to himself and relaxing through the whole ride there.
Eventually, they arrived at Cherrygrove's square where an enormous colosseum appeared. This colosseum took up a whole area for itself. Roy estimated that it was bigger than three American football stadiums put together!
No one could miss it from afar. There were only three of such colosseums created in Johto—with one being here in Cherrygrove City, another in Goldenrod City, and the last one being in Blackthorn City.
"Let's go." The five figures parked and entered the colosseum, they were stopped and confronted by a trio of men with stiff expressions. However, Roy and his siblings showed them the qualification tokens they received in the mail.
Once this was shown, their cold and stiff face did a one-eighty in that of smiles. They became pleasant and outgoing before calling someone over to escort Roy's parents to some special seats.
As for Roy and his siblings, they were taken elsewhere.
They were escorted by a slender man who wore an all-black suit and well-greased up and spiky hair.
"Here you are young lads, you can wait here with the rest of the participants. There will be 2 men coming here to explain the competition to you soon." The man explained graciously before turning to leave.
What greeted Roy and his sibling in this room was a great crowd of kids around their age from all over the region of Johto. Some even came from Blackthorn City, which was well known for its hot spot—the Dragon's Den.
Some of the kids looked toward Roy, Troy, and Diana, but only for a brief moment before going back to what they were doing previously. The room was quite massive, it had two stages, with one being especially large but each on a separate side of this spacious room. Both had mic stands on them and several comfortable-looking chairs and couches.
"Hey, they put us here because they're going to tell us the rules. They're not only going to tell us about the rules but to tell us the winnings for certain place holders."
"Yeah, I heard about that. They're also being really harsh, they're giving the top 32 winners amazing pokemon, so you're guaranteed something good. As for those who come in 33rd place and lower, they will be given nothing and sent home."
There were people discussing the situation and couldn't help but feel disheartened when they knew that most people here would get nothing in return. The world was harsh and the Pokemon Alliance showed no mercy when it came to this; they wanted nothing but the best of the best.
The strong were respected. There were far too many criminals in the world and they needed strong trainers as a line of defense against evildoers and organizations. Some of which, hid in the dark that they themselves, the Pokemon Alliance, were unaware of.
Roy sighed to himself when he heard them. Even if he failed, he still would have a chance to rise because of his ability. However, others would have to struggle but it wasn't like they couldn't rise. They could take other jobs such as being a Bounty Hunter, Becoming a bodyguard, being a Breeder, Etc.
The ones destined to fail are those who just didn't have a skill for anything—mainly the lazy ones. Roy, despite being able to see aptitude and soon to have a quest system, would still need to be on high alert.
He had something to prove, Roy had come here to prove that he could become a Dimensional Sovereign. A Dimensional Sovereign was the way to true power and Roy wanted that.
This was the path to Eternity itself.
AN: That novel will be made after this one is completed.
Fright appeared on Diana's face while Troy's heart sped up when he overheard the conversation. Certainly, the Pokemon Alliance gave out the best pokemon with the best aptitudes. It wasn't like these pokemon weren't in the wild, they were just hard to find. And even if you did find it, how would you know that the pokemon you just overlooked was so amazing?
This was Roy's advantage, and he would use it to the fullest. A prime example would be the amount of Zubat in a cave system, he was sure he could find a really good one among so many. Most would have poor aptitudes but Roy would search for the best one he could find.
Right as Roy was thinking of these things, a man came out from backstage. He wore an all-white suit, with a cyan blue dress shirt underneath—similar to the typical white collared worker shirt, and a white tie. The man took it a step further and even wore white dress suit gloves. He had blonde hair and blue eyes with fair skin, he was very handsome and could be considered a pretty boy.
Another man was with him, but he was dressed in casual clothes. Blue jeans and a black and yellow dress sweater vest, with a tie.
By this point, every kid that was invited to this battle tournament was present. They didn't dare to miss out on such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The man in the white suit stepped toward the mic with a smile and said. "Everyone welcome, my name is Lauren! This is a competition as you all know. I'll be frank and clear, those from first to thirty-second place will be rewarded."
The white-suited man began to explain the rewards from each placement.
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-Those who ranked from 1-32 would be given a pokemon.
-Those who ranked from 1 to 15 would be given the ladder, but this included being able to choose a Held item or one Evolutionary stone.
-Those who ranked from 1 to 10 would be given the ladder, but this included receiving a Pokedex. Their Pokemon Alliance League License will be upgraded to Copper rank. They will be given 10,000 contribution points from the Pokemon Alliance they could spend at any branch.
-Those who ranked from 1 to 5 would be given the ladder, but this included being able to choose an extra Held item, which included being able to choose a special evolutionary item such as a Metal coat, King rock, Dragonscale, Etc. You will be given 15,000 contribution points from the Pokemon Alliance to spend at any branch. You will be given a special Void Backpack
-Those who ranked from 1 to 3 would be given the ladder, but this included being able to choose from amongst the Royal starters as a pokemon. The first-place winner will receive the first pick among the starters. You will be given 25,000 contribution points from the Pokemon Alliance to spend at any branch. However, the first-place winner would be given 50,000 contribution points.
===
Everyone was in an uproar when they heard about the rewards they could receive. Roy was thoroughly astounded. He was usually never surprised to this extent, but these rewards were so remarkable that he couldn't help but feel this way.
'The Pokemon Alliance is really going all out on this one!' Roy couldn't help but consider.
"Such good things, I have to bring my A-game and become the champion." A kid said with determination in his tone.
"Haha, you become champion? In what reality?!" Another boy sneered and mocked.
The room was so loud that Roy could barely hear himself think. Diana stared at the stage with a dumbfounded expression, those rewards were so abundant and generous.
"T-this is an opportunity of a lifetime!" Troy's eyes widened in shock, but no one heard his voice through the loud voices coming from every intersection of the room.
"Settle down everyone, we're not done!" The white-suited man's voice boomed through the mic—causing everyone to immediately go silent.
"Everyone will be split up into groups—to be precise, 8 groups. There are 256 of you, there will be 32 of you in each group. You guys will battle until there is one winner among you. The rules for battle will be explained to you by your group overseer."
The man in the white suit stepped back and the casually dressed man stepped forward. All at once, eight people appeared from the backstage curtain and stood next to each other.
"These eight will be your group overseers. They will explain the rules to you before engaging in battle. Look there, we have a list of everyone's name and which group you belong to." The causally dressed man pointed towards the wall when it suddenly opened up and revealed a large list of names in different colors.
"Your names have a different color on the list, this means the group you belong to. If you look behind you, there is another stage. You will stand in the colored circle on the floor according to the group you're assigned. Afterward, the group overseers will take you to a separate room to begin the competition."
After saying this, the casually dressed man said nothing more.
It was dead silent for a moment before people started rushing over the board list filled with names.
"Oh, I'm a part of the Blue group." Some kid said.
"I'm from a part of the Green group." Some girl spotted her name and smiled.
Roy hoped he wasn't in the same group as his siblings; that would really be bad. He searched for his name and found that he was a part of the Purple group. His sister was a part of the Yellow group and his brother was a part of the Black group.
They all went to their respective groups and waited in the colored circles assigned to them. The circle was painted on the floor, so no one could make any mistakes unless they were color blind.
"Purple group, I will be your overseer for today. I hope you listen to the rules and do the best you possibly can." An old lady with a head full of white was overseeing them. Surprisingly, she had little to no wrinkles and looked good for her age.
"You guys may call me Mrs. Linen." The woman smiled and said gently.
"Thanks for having us, Mrs. Linen!" Everyone said in unison.
"Very nice, now follow me." Inside this spacious room were 8 doors, she went through the door that was purple and all the kids followed, including Roy.
Once everyone was in the room, she began to explain the rules.
"We're playing by Challenge Cup rules. First, there are several crates filled with Poke balls. Each Poke ball has a pokemon inside that you 'MAY NOT' summon. Yes, this is a blind pick battle, so be sure to pick a Poke ball carefully, you don't know what you might get."
Some people were stunned, while some had expected this.
"The Pokemon in the Poke balls are all Poke Cup Tier pokemon, so baby-formed pokemon. As you win your battles, the Tier will rise and you will have to pick another set of pokemon for battle again."
"You can't look at your pokemon until you've left the room or finalized your pick. Anyone caught summoning and looking at their pokemon will be disqualified. Come to me if you have confirmed and locked in on your Poke ball pick." Mrs. Linen said bluntly.
As Roy listened, this reminded him of Pokemon Stadium 2's Challenge Cup—if he remembered correctly.
'So it was like this.' Roy smiled and rubbed his chin with interest.
Right then, a man walked in with a plain dark green shirt and blue pants. He was carrying a flag in his hand, he was clearly the referee. He said nothing and waited off to the side silently, but he was still keeping a close watch.
"Now, everyone, the crates are over there. You may choose your team, but only three pokemon may be chosen. Enjoy!" Mrs. Linen smiled and took and seat without saying anything more.
There were a total of three crates of Poke balls. Everyone surrounded the crates in a hurry and started picking carefully.
However, Roy's eyes concentrated on these Poke balls and he could see the different types and colors of aura around them. This indicated what type of pokemon was inside the Poke balls; giving Roy an advantage!
