If Leon vs. Alain, or the Tournament in the anime is not your cup of tea, why not read another version of the Masters 8?
The story continues from Pokemon Journeys episode 109, with a brand new bracket from the anime. Ash has finally entered the Mast...
Lucario directed his aim and shot his huge aura sphere towards the giant in front of him.
Raihan had never seen things this absurd in his entire life. The size of the aura sphere could only be done when the Pokemon had Gigantimaxed. How come a regular Pokemon could do something like this? Is he a protagonist or something?
"Max Rockfall!" Raihan ordered his giant Duraludon to make his final G-max move, hopefully using the rock to knock out Lucario before Duraludon got knocked out by the gigantic Aura Sphere.
A big plane of rock appeared in front of the white giant and it started slowly slamming towards Lucario. It slammed the whole battlefield, but the Aura Sphere broke through and one-shot the giant. Duraludon was reduced to its regular size, with swirls in its eyes.
"Duraludon is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum!" the judge announced.
The crowd roared in happiness. Goh and his pokemon screamed for his best buddy Ash in the stadium.
Raihan took a deep breath and praised his pokemon for having a great fight, and then walked towards Ash, "That's an amazing battle! Well done, kid! Mind if we take a picture?"
Ash awkwardly smiled at Raihan's phone and was told to not lose any battles from this point out. Raihan patted Ash's head and walked away, accepting his defeat.
"With the final promotion match ended, here is the final version of the Masters 8 for the upcoming tournament," the commentator announced. One by one in descending order, the ranks of the Masters 8 contestants were revealed on the stadium screen.
"Rank 8, Champion of Alola, Ash Ketchum!"
Ash was so happy to see himself being part of the Masters 8. He pinched himself to see if it was a dream, but he did not wake up. He was finally one of the strongest trainers in the world! He could already call himself a Pokemon Master, a dream that he had wished to achieve for so long! In front of him, there is only one more thing to do: defeat the reigning champion, Leon!
Everyone else he saw on the screen was someone he knew and was Champion Level strength. He wished he could battle all of them in this tournament, but he knew The Pokemon Company would not allow that to happen.
"Since the contestants have been decided, we will divide them into 2 brackets right now. This year will continue last year's tradition, a random selection of trainers into 2 brackets for elimination. Let the selection begin!" the commentator pressed a red button, and the screen started to shuffle the contestants...
And the results were as follows.
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"The first match will be Iris vs. Lance next week. The quarterfinals are 3x3, while the other matches would be 6v6. All these matches will be held in the Wyndon Stadium, the largest Pokemon stadium in the world. Tickets are available for sale online. See you all, and have a great night!" the commentator announced, as the crowd started to leave the stadium.
As Ash was leaving the stadium, a special message was sent to Ash's Rotom Phone, "As a contestant in the Masters 8, you are eligible to watch every match that you are not involved in the VIP room of the Wyndon Stadium."
"Great!" Ash smiled at Pikachu, "Now we can study how all my other opponents battle."
"Studying them? That doesn't sound like you," Goh smirked at his friend.
Ash was shocked to see him appear out of nowhere, "Everyone in the tournament is tough. They are all champions of their regions. Even Alain is tough: he was the one who beat me in the Kalos League Finals."
Ash got flashbacks of his Greninja battling Alain's Charizard. That was one powerful Charizard, definitely stronger than his own since he did not have the mega stone for it. He still could not forget how he and Greninja launched that golden water shuriken, but it still could not knock down the Charizard.
"It's okay," Goh said, "You are the second match in the tournament, you have time to practice. You can win this!"
Ash looked at his friend and took a deep breath, "Yeah, never give up till it's over! Let's get to training!"
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Narrative: And so, Ash has finally squeezed into the Masters 8, and is recognized as the Champion of Alola. His next match would be against Alain, a rematch for both of them. Could Ash overcome Alain's Charizard? That's a story for another day.
