What up peoplezez

Sorry for the long wait between chaptahs. I'm kinda in between colleges right, and quite frankly the boredom has sapped away my momentum. I'll try to keep the story going as soon as I can

Emjoy

Despite his insistence that this was to get him back into his old groove, Brighton couldn't help but think this was Jack's way of getting back at him. Not long after the group made their way out of the Desert Resort, they had arrived at a hamlet that was called Nimbasa town. There, Jack had him sign up for some sort of tournament that just happened to be taking place there. Jack kept saying it was to help him get back in the swing of thing because he still didn't have that much battle experience since getting back, but Brighton felt the was reason Jack talked him into this was to get back at him for running off to deal with that mess with Neo Team Plasma. Now that they were waiting in the Pokémon Center waiting for the tournament to start the next day, the only thing Brighton could think of doing is complain.

"OK, explain to me again why I have to do this," Brighton muttered.

"I told you, you need more experience battle than with those Plasma thugs," Jack said. "From here on, the Gym Leaders are a lot tougher than what you faced so far so you need all the training you can get".

"Yeah, somehow I doubt this isn't because I had to fight a bunch of Plasma goons while you're back was turned," Brighton retorted.

"And here we go again," Jack groaned. "I told you, I don't blame you for having to run off and deal with them. I would have done the exact same thing".

"Sure," Brighton scoffed. "And after everything that's happened to me, I should just accept how things are and just respond accordingly".

With a huff, Brighton stormed out of the room and made his way down to the lobby, brushing off ogling Trainers that were staring at him. Zoroark, who had been checked out by Nurse Joy for the tournament and was waiting for him, quickly ran up to him and made his way by his side.

"So, I take it the preparations for the tournament are going well," Zoroark said.

"Hmph," Brighton grunted.

"Ok, what's the problem this time?" Zoroark asked.

"You mean besides the fact that this whole experience has been the worst few months of my entire life?" Brighton retorted. "Honestly, is it too much to ask for one day without people staring at me, asking for photos, or trying to jump me from behind".

"Brighton, you do know that there are some things beyond your control, right?" Zoroark asked. "I know all of this is still a big shock to you, but you don't have to deal with everything all by yourself. Jack is trying the best he can to help you adjust. He wouldn't have had you sign up for this tournament if he didn't think it would help you. And besides, it's not like I have any other plans right now".

Deep down, Brighton knew that Zoroark had a point. Jack had promised Jeremy that he'd help him get readjusted to this world and he had certainly been trying. On the other hand, Jack's so called 'help' had resulted in him almost getting run over by a bunch of Sawsbuck in a forest, getting lost for several days in said forest, nearly getting cooked to death in a Volcanora induced desert heat wave, and town upon town of gawking fans that still gave him the occasional nightmare. This left him feeling that if he intended to get out of this in one piece, he would probably have to do all the thinking for a while.

"All right, I'll go through with this dumb tournament," Brighton muttered. "But next time I'm deciding what we're doing".

The next day…

Brighton, for obvious reasons, wasn't too thrilled by how long it was taking just for the tournament to start. He had to spend the first fifteen minutes with the tournament staff to verify the three Pokémon were up to their standards. He had decided to go with Zoroark, Samurott, and Golurk because, as Zoroark kept telling him, they were the exact same Pokémon he had used in a previous tournament the town had held. Then, he had to be shown his designated waiting area for when he wasn't battling, something he felt was completely pointless. Now he, Jack and, oddly enough, Max were waiting along with the other trainers who had signed up for this tournament for the announcers, Jeremy and some media mogul named Freddy the Scoop, to announce that it had officially started.

"Ugh… why is this taking so long?!" Max whined. "I can't prove I'm the superior trainer here by just waiting around!"

"At this point, I don't care if you're superior target practice," Brighton moaned. "I just want to get this nonsense over with so I can get on with my life".

"Hey, I've been practicing you know," Max snapped. "I'll have you know I've beaten both the Nacrene and Castelia Gym no problem".

"And it took you, what, a million tries just to do that?" Brighton retorted.

"Quiet," Jack hissed. "They're about to start".

With nothing else to do, Brighton could only watch as his 'brother' and a guy with an ugly brown blazer made their way up to the announce table raised a little above the battlefield. Brighton assumed that this guy was this Freddy person because he was the only one he couldn't recognize out of the two of them.

"Ladies and gentleman, I hope you've fastened your seatbelts because we're gonna be in for a bumpy ride," Freddy said. "On behalf of all the Trainers here, I'm Freddy the Scoop, and I'll be calling all the action for you here at the Nimbasa Battle Tournament!"

"Is all that showboating really necessary?" Brighton muttered.

"Appears to be," Max shrugged.

"It is my esteemed pleasure to introduce to you Unova champion Jeremy," Freddy said, "who will be here calling the action with me in this exciting series of battles".

"Thank you Freddy," Jeremy said. "Ladies and gentleman, I'm thrilled to be here in order to judge this tournament. The trainers here all ready to prove they're strength and I hope you will show your support over the next few days as we find out who among them is the toughest".

The crowd gave a raucous cheer at Jeremy's speech. However, Brighton was only half paying attention to what he was saying. Instead, he was doing his best to tune him out so that he could focus more of his time to try and guess who he would have to eliminate so he could get all this behind him.

"Thank you for that wonderful introduction Jeremy," Freddy said. "Now the rules: each round will be a single elimination one-on-one battle. In each battle, trainers are allowed to use one of the three Pokémon they chose to compete with. The last trainer remaining after winning four matches in a row will be declared the winner and will receive our prize: a lovely set of Driftveil Wings".

Around him, Brighton could see the other trainers muttering about how great the prize is. However, he couldn't care less about get a set of some gaudy looking wings. As far as he could tell, there was no way he would have any real use for them and it would be a burden just to drag them around all the time.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let's get on with the fun," Freddy said. "If you will look on the main screen, we will determine by random shuffle who each of our trainers will be facing in the first round".

Sure enough, the facial profiles of each trainer appeared on the monitor that was overlooking the stadium. Immediately the profiles flipped over and were apparently being shuffled to make the first round matches. Sure enough, after a couple of moments, the profiles reappeared on the screen, each paired with a different one for the battles, and from the look of it, he would be starting the tournament off against a girl around his age with bubblegum pink hair.

"And there you have it," Freddy said. "Our first round matches have all been determined. Now let's get on with the first match of the day: Brighton vs. Ilyssa".

The other trainers left the battle field for their respective waiting spots, leaving Brighton, Zoroark, and this Ilyssa girl to take their positions for the battle. A lot of the cheering the crowd was doing seemed to be directed toward him, but as usual he found all this praise completely unjustified.

"Well Jeremy, you've probably been waiting for this battle for a while," Freddy said. "What is your take on each of these trainers?"

"Well Freddy this is a match that I feel will be considerably in my brother's favor," Jeremy said. "Ilyssa might be a considerable trainer here in her hometown, but she's going up against Brighton, a trainer who unquestionably has a storied legacy here in Unova. However, from what I've been hearing lately, that legacy appears to have soured recently".

"So are you saying there's a chance he might lose today?" Freddy asked.

"I wouldn't say that," Jeremy said. "He doesn't seem to have lost any of his old battling skills. I think it's just the stress from everything that has happened to him lately. We should expect him to dictate the pace early in this battle and maintain control thruought the tournament".

"Well, if that's the case, then we shouldn't wait any longer," Freddy said. "Let's get this match started.

"The one-on-one match between Ilyssa of Nimbasa Town and Brighton of Nuvema Town is about to begin," the ref said. "Trainers, release your Pokémon".

"All right Tranquill, you're up!" Ilyssa yelled.

The pigeon Pokémon appeared out of its Pokéball in a flash. It seemed rather eager to compete in this battle.

"Golurk, let's get this over with," Brighton muttered.

The gargantuan Pokémon came out of its own Pokéball with a thud, causing Ilyssa to lose her balance a little bit. When she finally managed to regain her composure, the ref finally signaled for the match to begin.

"All right Tranquill, use Air Cutter," Ilyssa commanded.

Golurk, Stone Edge," Brighton commanded.

Flapping its wings at high speed, Tranquill sent several light blue crosses to Golurk at the same time the Ghost summoned several pointed stones and sent them toward the pigeon. Both attacks collided in mid-air and created an explosion.

"Tranquill, Aerial Ace," Ilyssa commanded.

Tranquill shot through the smoke the previous attacks caused. The crowd gasped as it looked like Golurk was vulnerable.

"Grab it," Brighton said.

When Tranquil got close enough, Golurk quickly grabbed a hold of it. Tranquil tried to break free, but the ghost was too strong to escape from.

"Dynamic Punch," Brighton commanded.

With as little movement as possible, Golurk threw Tranquill in the air and followed it up with a punch made of white light before the Pokémon could even react. While the attack didn't knock Tranquill out, it did leave it disoriented enough for Golurk to capitalize with another Stone Edge, effectively taking it out of the match.

"Tranquill is unable to battle!" the ref declared. "Golurk win, which means the match goes to Brighton!"

"And there you have it," Freddy said. "Brighton proved to be too much for Ilyssa and her Tranquill to overcome. Brighton will now move on to round 2".

After recalling Golurk to its Pokéball, Brighton made his way to his waiting area with Zoroark right on his heels. Once he got within the area, Jack and Max made their way over to him.

"Whoa, that was incredible," Max said. "I didn't think you would have Golurk use Tranquill's attack the way you did".

"Oh please," Brighton muttered. "All it took was Ilyssa trying to be overzealous".

The rest of the first round matches proceeded rather quickly. Thanks in no small part to Brighton's performance, the other trainers tried their best to outmaneuver their opponents and move on in the tournament. So far, the only person to even come close was Jack, who quickly subdued an opponent who had made the mistake of using a Patrat after he had sent out Sawk.

"Well ladies and gentleman, the action in this Nimbasa Battle Tournament has been fast and furious," Freddy said. "We now move on to our final battle of the day: Max vs. Shane".

As the crowd cheered, Max hastily ran to his spot on the field, tripping as he got there before getting up and waiving at the crowd. On the other side of the field, a guy with sleek black hair, a black trench coat and shirt, dark blue jean and what looked like hiking boots made his way to the opposite side of the field. From the look on his face, Brighton thought that Shane guy looked less happy about being here than he was.

"Hey wait a minute, I know that guy," Jack said.

"You do?" Brighton asked.

"Of course," Jack said. "He was featured in a Unova magazine not too long ago. People have been calling him the "Perennial Choke Artist" because in every League tournament he's ever been in, he always winds up losing in the final battle. I wonder what he's doing here though".

"How would I know," Brighton muttered.

"Well Jeremy, this should certainly be a battle to remember," Freddy said.

"No doubt about it Freddy," Jeremy said. "We've got Max, who from the few people I've met who know him find his battle style a bit klutzy, who is looking to prove he's not the loser everyone says he is. On the other side, there's Shane, known for his less than stellar performances in every League he's been in, and his unpredictable battling style. This will be a battle no one will soon forget".

"The battle between Max of Accumula Town and Shane of Commerce City is about to begin," the ref said. "Trainers, release your Pokémon".

"Darmanitan, let's roll," Max yelled.

The Pokémon Brighton remembered as a stone statue from Max's battle with Jack came out. It seemed to no longer be a statue, but was still not as impressive in its physical form.

"Excadrill, let's go," Shane yelled.

What looked like a dirt brown mole with three metal like appendages on the ends of its arms and head came out of its Pokéball. From the way it was standing, it was clearly a lot tougher than Darmanitan.

"Battle, begin," the referee declared.

"All right Darmanitan, let's show this guy how strong you are," Max said, "Use Rock Smash".

One of Darmanitan's long arms began glowing an orangish-red. It then charged at Excadrill and threw a punch at it. Surprisingly, Shane didn't seem the least bit concerned about the attack.

"Sandstorm," Shane commanded.

Dragging its front claws into the ground, Excadrill created a dirt tornado and sent it toward Darmanitan. The tornado stopped Darmanitan's attack cold and kept it from moving.

"Now, Drill Run," Shane commanded.

Bringing its two claws into the claw on its head, Excadrill began spinning like a drill right into the sandstorm. As soon as it hit it, there was an explosion of dirt the covered the whole battlefield. Once the dust cleared, Excadrill was the only one standing from the contest.

"Darmanitan is unable to battle," the referee declared. "Excadrill wins, which means the battle goes to Shane".

"And there you have it," Freddy said. "Shane didn't waste any time and deals with Max into a matter of seconds and moves on to round 2".

"Now that was a one-sided battle," Jeremy said. "Nothing against Max, but Shane clearly came into this tournament to prove a point".

Stunned at how the battle turned out, Max recalled Darmanitan in disbelief and headed back to where the others were standing. Shane recalled his Pokémon and went over to a waiting area on the other side of the battlefield.

"Oh man how did that happen?" Max asked.

"You clearly came into this tournament not expecting your opponent to be able to take advantage of types," Brighton said.

"Hey, that's not fair," Max snapped.

"It's the hard truth dude," Brighton snapped. "Live with it".

"That's it," Max yelled. "When we do eventually get to battle, I'm beating you for sure".

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Brighton scoffed.

"Well ladies and gentleman, our first round battles have certainly been as thrilling as we could expect," Freddy said. "Now that we know the trainers that have made it to round 2, let's see who they will be facing off against tomorrow".

Once again, the profiles appeared on the screen and began to shuffle for the round two matches, coming to rest after a few moments. To their luck, neither Brighton nor Jack was paired up with that Shane guy, but they knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to deal with him.

"And there you have it," Freddy said. "Our second round matches have been determined. Trainers, rest up for tomorrow and make sure the tomorrow's battles are just as fierce as todays were".

And there you have it. Another successful chapter in the books

Again sorry about the wait between chaptahs. I should have the next chaptah up as soon as I can

R&R plz

NITRO PSYCHO OUT!