71 Brackets Announced

About 10 minutes after the free-for-all started Scyther was sitting on top of a pile of Pokemon, by the last few minutes everyone saw Scyther as the threat and everyone went against him, they lost.

Scyther was currently sitting satisfied, cleaning his blades with some of the weaker Pokemon, effectively saying that they are weaklings and pathetic all without talking.

They finished in about 8, but the announcers hadn't come to check on his side so he was just waiting until the announcer's voice came up, "We have our first winner, Ash Ketchum moves onto the next round!"

By that time Ash and Scyther just walked out. He didn't bother to return him until he also went up into the spectator section, there were a few people, and indeed Gary's cheerleaders were over at the side of the ship sunbathing.

People from the top questioned him, but he ignored most of them

—

Brock was mainly fighting Zubat leaving Gravler to fight on his own most of the time, he was doing well enough fending off incoming attacks and taking what he couldn't dodge.

When suddenly he heard the announcer say Ash had finished, he felt happy for his friend when suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw something, he saw some girls hear that and talk to each other, then when he saw Ash up in the stands he saw a bunch of girls approach him.

As soon as he saw that a fire was lit he grabbed his bat, put it back on his shoulder, and took control of the battle.

—

Over a few minutes, more people started advancing, eventually, Brock came out and questioned Ash about what those girls were doing and also violently shook him back and forth.

That continued until Misty also came out and pulled on Brock's ear as soon as she heard what he was upset about.

Green and Gary finished earlier, Green went out to probably scam people, and Gary went off to do Gary things. The only one left was Yellow.

It took about 5 more minutes for Yellow to finish, in the field the majority of the Pokemon weren't even knocked out, they were just tied up in webs or asleep, which counted since they were incapacitated. So Yellow walked out looking more tired than Kitty, who was out and celebrating.

Yellow wanted to go to sleep but as the friends were there they all picked her up and carried her off to the main sundeck to wait.

By the end it took a full 2 hours for every one of the 32 rooms to be finished, and like always some people were complaining about how it was rigged, the system this was in was trash, they would have won if, etc. Thankfully with Surge being Surge, he made them all shut up.

Eventually, the announcer came back up on the stands, "Well I can say those battles were blood pumping, I felt the adrenaline just watching them. But now that the top 32 have been decided we shall announce the formatting of the tournament."

"We will begin tomorrow with the top 32 having 1-on-1 battles one at a time, once we reach the top 16 the challengers will be allowed 2, and in the top 4 will be 3 on 3 battles." The crowd started murmuring amongst themselves hearing that.

"Each one will be taken on different days. Tomorrow it will be in the top 32, the next day it will be in the top 8, and so on. Now those that lose before the top 4 will have a losers bracket so that someone rejoins the top 4, then the next day we will have the final battles to announce who gets what prize."

"Now until tomorrow let the festivities continue I hear the chefs make a dish that is to die for!" and after that, the celebrations continued with dinner, then by the end, everyone went back to their rooms and went to sleep.

The next morning they got up and had to pull Misty out of her bed since she was snuggling with the mountain of stuffed Pokemon so she didn't want to get up, but they eventually forced her to get out of bed and change.

Speaking of which Ash could start moving his arm around more now, the bone in his arm was completely healed but the muscles were still getting used to it, he didn't need to have it strapped to his chest for support anymore, but he still had it on.

When everyone was ready they went to the dining room to eat and feed their Pokemon, they had like 2 hours before the tournament for the top 32 started, they thankfully all advanced but that just meant there would be a good chance that they would end up battling each other.

They really didn't bother thinking about it, except Yellow, honestly when Ash looked around at the competitors, not counting his friends and Gary, there were maybe 3-to 4 people that might give him a challenge depending on how much plot armor they have, like Ritchie, if he doesn't have plot armor like in the league he will stomp him.

But that was when it happened, speaking of which the ship isn't at the bottom of the ocean so either Team Rocket isn't there or they are waiting, some say they wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything, and to that, the only correct answer is do you seriously believe that or are you just saying that.

Anyway, they ate and decided to just wait for the Announcer to talk back up, looking around he couldn't see Surge or the Elite 4 anywhere to be found, but they probably had a room for themselves for those kinds of things.

About an hour and a half later the announcer finally stepped back up, "Well how is everyone feeling it is time for the first day of the tournament to start so we will announce the battles and post them on a board in the front deck shortly, I hope that you all give us blood boiling battles!" When he finished people gave the best cheer they could muster considering it was early morning.

Over my table, Brock stood up, "Well I guess we should go see our matches, let's hope we don't need to battle each other in the first round."

"Yeah but knowing our luck maybe 2 of us will even get to the top 4," Misty said, slouching in her chair.

"Well just be sure to not lose immediately, only I'm allowed to bully you all," Ash said scurrying away Misty took a second and then began shouting at Ash as Brock held her back.

And Yellow fell asleep on the table halfway through the speech.

Over by Ash he went ahead and saw a crowd of people swarming the board, so Ash had to squeeze in to snap a picture then dip out. He went over to find somewhere to sit and saw Gary sitting over by a bench so he took a seat next to him but not too close.

Looking over the picture he saw what battles would happen he also saw something else, "So we are on opposite brackets."

"Yep so if we want to battle then we need to both make it to the finals, but at least Green is at your side," Gary answered back.

"Yep, to be honest, how many trainers on this ship do you think could make you put in effort?"

"I don't know maybe 5-6, then their Yellow which everyone except me knew about for some reason, but anyway I don't know about her," Gary said, slightly glaring at Ash.

"You never asked, besides we haven't sat down to talk except your usual text at 1 in the morning flexing how you are pay-2-win."

"Sounds like a skill issue to me, like my great role model always said you need to spend money to make money."

"You don't have a role model and you haven't made enough money to justify everything you've bought."

"Oh yeah then tell me 1 thing that I have bought that has been a complete waste of money, and you can't say the Cruise, the car, the fancy hotels, the visits to restaurants, everything I've paid for my cheerleaders, buying overly expensive Pokemon food that probably isn't even worth the price I got it at, evolution stones, tutors, and anything else I can't think of off the top of my head."

"Welp, you got me there I can't think of anything, you have a point," Ash said getting up to leave, "But if I don't at least see you in the top 4 I'm not going to let you live it down."

As he walked away he took another look at the brackets, him and Garry were on opposite sides so they both needed to get to their side if they wanted to battle each other, Misty and Green were on his bracket but Yellow and Brock were on the other.

As for the first round, everyone was battling some Mob character but he was fighting a man called Giant, he recognized him as the guy who was kidnapped and robbed by Team Rocket that one time, and as far as he knows his main Pokemon is a Hitmonlee.

'Now that I think about it, that whole plotline was never resolved, they never found him nor did they return Hitmonlee, that's probably fine.'

He went ahead to prepare since his battle was the 3rd that would happen and most battles would be boring. Well except for Travis vs. Ritchie which was way too convenient to be a coincidence.

He just walked off and sent the picture over to Brock and he went off to find a place to sit, 30 minutes later the battles started, and 2 boring battles between 2 mob characters. 

Then it was Ash's turn so he went up to one side and on the other stood a large man with a trench coat.

Ash had a Pokeball spinning on his finger, "Machoke go have some fun." 

The flash of light flew out and in its place was a large humanoid Pokemon doing a stretch preparing for battle.

"A Machoke reminds me of the P1 Grand Prix alright then how about this," Giant released Hitmonlee, and as he started bouncing.

The announcer came up, it's time for an epic showdown between two mighty fighters! In one corner, a hulking powerhouse known for its incredible strength and raw power. Let's hear it for the Muscle Pokémon, MACHOKE!"

"And in the other corner, a master of martial arts, a swift and agile fighter, known for its incredible kicks and acrobatic moves. Give it up for the Kicking Pokémon, HITMONLEE!"

"This battle is sure to be a clash of titans! Who will come out on top? Will it be brute strength, or will finesse and speed prevail? Get ready for a Pokémon battle like no other! Trainers, release your Pokémon, and let the battle begin!"

The crowd went wild hearing the announcer as the battle started, "Brick Break aims for his legs."

Machoke dashed forward preparing a chop aiming for his legs, Hitmonlee tried to stretch his legs to dodge but Machoke grabbed him by the leg to pull him down and chopped his lower body.

"Hitmonlee, High Jump Kick"

Hitmonlee was flipped over so he used his arms and sprung up where his leg stretched and landed a Kick into Machoke.

"Grab him and Seismic Toss!" Machoke grabbed the extended leg and spun him around before throwing the Pokemon into the air.

"Hitmonlee, Blaze Kick"

"Finish this with Cross Chop"

They commanded at the same time, Hitmonlee in the air spun around and flicked his foot igniting it and putting his weight down, meanwhile, Machoke crossed his arms and jumped up, as the two approached the fire from Hitmonlee caused an explosion.

When the smoke cleared Hitmonlee crashed to the ground, unable to continue the fight and Machoke landed behind and did a pose.

The referee steps in. "And the winner is... MACHOKE! What an incredible display of strength and determination. Machoke proves once again that power and strategy can overcome even the most agile opponents. A well-fought battle by both Pokémon, but today, Machoke reigns supreme!"