The Knockout Begins

Julian spent another few days watching the league and enjoying his time with his fiancées, the preliminaries finally came to an end, the top 128 are selected and the knockout rounds are about to begin.

This day was like every other day but the voice of people is much louder as the preliminaries are over and the main players of this tournament are finally revealed, these 128 are the best of the best in Kalos. from now on they don't even need to win the league to go big.

Just being in the top 128 will grant them a lot of opportunities, some of them get scouted by pokemon rangers while some of them could be hired by the league themselves and make a great agent out of them.

From here on, the lives of these trainers are set and their efforts to get here have set them up for their future.

But now the real fight begins, the better their position on the tournament, the better they will get treated by people who want to hire/recruit them.

Julian looked out of his apartment and saw people are already making their way towards the grand stadium, Julian hasn't checked out his opponent yet but from what he has found online about him, he is better than a normal trainer but he is not the one to look out for.

Julian got ready as he is the trainer to start of the top 128, his battle will be the first one to be witnessed by the audience and the world, so he has to get to the stadium, this also explains why there are so many people rushing to the stadium early in the morning.

Julian put on his long black coat, with Crystal in its small pocket, and headed to the stadium accompanied by his fiancées.

When he got there, the stadium was crowded and lively, not wanting to grab any attention, he sneaked into the trainer's entrance without being noticed by the crowd, his fiancées took the VIP entrance and went up to watch the battle through a private room.

Julian headed towards the waiting room and entered, as soon as he entered the whole room went silent as the other trainers inside the room looked at him, some of them knew they will have to face him in the league. If they win, this frustrated some of them while some of them were excited, some cursed him for participating in this league.

They wondered why would he participate in this league even after winning so many of them but they couldn't do anything but think about it, they have no confidence to say that to his face.

Some of the trainers were not sour like them, some of them were genuinely excited to face Julian and learn more, they are rather interested in improving themselves than going after fame, money, and status, they only cared about advancing and growing strong with their pokemons.

Julian felt all these gazes directed towards him but he didn't care, he just found and seat and sat down waiting for his call, the upcoming battle would be him showing off his powers, telling his future opponents that he won't be going easy on them, he wants to end it with a bang, just like in the preliminaries.

After half an hour, the voice of the audience grew louder and louder as the start of the league was commencing, the sound of fireworks shooting up the sky and bursting, the voice of the announcer yelling out of excitement.

Julian knew it was time, a worker wearing a backstage uniform walked towards him and informed him it was time for him to take the stage.

Julian nodded and got up from his seat and headed towards the battlefield, he walked down the passageway, and the closer he got to the exit, the louder the voice of the audience became, every time he does this a chill run down his spine, not from fear but from excitement, he knows how much people love him, seeing so many people support and cheer for him is intoxicating, it makes one feel they are different from others, luckily Julian doesn't drown himself in it because he would get lost and distracted.

Announcer "IT'S TIME, THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR, IT'S TIME FOR THE KNOCKOUT ROUNDS, ladies, gentlemen, and pokemons, it's time for the battle you all have been waiting for, the battle that has been talked about since the preliminaries ended, the battle which is expected to end in a blast.

Yes, it's that battle, the battle in which the greatest trainer to ever step his foot in the league is participating, yes, it's the battle between the greatest trainer of all time JULIANNNNN, and his opponent John (says with a straight face).

Let's first welcome trainer John, he is an upcoming trainer who is surely going to have a good future, he passed the preliminaries with the record of four wins and 1 loss, welcome John"

The announcer introduced John. Trainer John walked into the massive battlefield nervously, as soon as he entered the crowd started to boo him pretty viciously, it was not that he was a bad trainer, someone arrogant or cocky, he was just a normal trainer, his only mistake for being booed is because he was chosen by the computer to be Julian's very first opponent in the knockout rounds.

John whose opponent is Julian who has an overwhelming fan following became the target of these people, John could not help but cry in his thoughts

John 'Man, I just wanted to participate in the league and give it my all. Why did it have to end like this? Arceus you are cruel, this is not fair'.

John thought and took his position on the battlefield as he got showered with boos, his dream of getting cheered by these people after putting a hard-fought and well-executed battle was put to an end.

Announcer "NOW PEOPLE AND POKEMON, IT'S TIME, LET'S GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE NEST TRAINER, THE ONE YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING TO WATCH, PLEASE WELCOME JULIAANNNNNNNNNNNNN"

The announcer gave it his all, almost hurting his throat in the process as he introduced Julian, if this goes on the league will have to hire a new announcer.

Hearing his name, Julian made his way into the battlefield.