Thunderous roars rang out around all of the stadiums in the vicinity. The main battle arena was double the size of the four smaller arenas. Adjacent to the arenas stood a Pokemon Center, providing health care and assistance to all participants. In the middle of the main arena stood the exact same announcer as the one on the previous advert, about a week ago.

"Today marks the beginning of a new journey for over 600 Pokemon trainers!" she announced with the utmost amount of enthusiasm. Her words were met by another humongous cheer. Everyone was clearly excited for the very first Pokemon Battle Tournament! "Sadly, the tournament can not fully function with 600 trainers present. We had already theorized over this problem and have many qualifying events lined up. The first event will be starting in one hour, so all trainers better be ready!"

Meanwhile, within the stadium, there were several large rooms for participating trainers. All of Ash's friends sat together in one room, with one Pokemon out each.

"Say, where is Ash?" Clemont wondered, tinkering with his glasses as usual.

"No one has seen him since yesterday when we all went off to train" Serena replied worriedly. She looked out of the window and into the sky. "Where are you, Ash?"

Everyone else shared the same expression, wondering if he would show up on time. They all knew it wasn't like Ash to be late, but he still had an hour to go.

The Night Before...

Ash stood up from where he was sitting and looked around at all of his Pokemon. They were all exhausted by now, having been training all day.

"Ok, that's enough now. Lets get going" Ash got out all of his pokeballs and one by one, returned his Pokemon. Beneath him, at the bottom of the hill, the shadows still loomed over the forest. The shadows slowly began to rise up the hill, while Ash was busy sorting out his things within his bag. Ash suddenly noticed the strange feeling around him, the silence creating tension. A shiver ran up his spine as he threw his bag onto his back and slowly turned around. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder as his eyes grew wide. On the tip of the hillside, a large shadow rushed up into the air like a giant curtain and then cascaded down onto the ground, before dispersing like fog. At the top of the hill stood Parker, with his Umbreon stood by his side. Ash felt another presence in the area and turned around. Behind him, stood Tristan and Jake, the twins of Team Shadow. Stood by their sides were two Absols. These Absols both looked very different to the regular Absol. Their fur had been changed, so now it was a dark black, representing that of a shadow. Their horns had even been given a different colour, as they both had purple horns. Ash was creeped out by the difference in these Absols. They was not white like they was supposed to be, they matched the colours of Team Shadow.

"Pikachu, be ready" Ash murmured to Pikachu, who in turn jumped in front of Ash. Ash turned around and faced Parker, who had his hands casually in his pockets. "What do you want from me?"

"Well, we are going to make the tournament a little easier by eliminating you right now" Parker explained, clicking his fingers. Umbreon leaped in front of him and got into a battling stance.

"Eliminating me now won't help your chances, there are still another 600 trainers" Ash clenched his fists, feeling the anger rushing through his body. Parker replied with a chuckle, shaking his head.

"You see, my dear Ash Ketchum, we are going to take out all of these trainers through other means. You don't have to worry about them after I am finished with you"

Ash took out another Pokeball and didn't even hesitate. "Hawlucha, I choose you!"

"Lucha!" Hawlucha stood in front of Ash, watching Umbreon closely. Umbreon took a step back defensively, knowing that Hawlucha was a fighting type and thus had an advantage.

"No matter what type of Pokemon you use, I will win!" Parker knelt down to his Umbreon's height and looked directly at Ash. "Umbreon, hypnosis" he said with a cold voice. Ash didn't know how to react, he had never encountered a Umbreon that could use hypnosis and he was shocked. The spheres of purple aura surrounded Umbreon as it stood on all fours in complete silence. Notably, Umbreon had his eyes closed, meaning all of its focus was on this one move. Hawlucha stood still and then suddenly collapsed onto his side, falling into a deep sleep. Ash then realized he had trouble behind him and span around to face the two Absols.

"Absol, future sight," Tristan said to his Absol, who suddenly froze like a statue. His Absol seemed incapacitated as it stared into space.

"Absol, double team" Jake ordered to his Absol. It began making copies of itself, completely surrounding Ash and Pikachu.

"Don't get confused Pikachu, stay focused" Ash had seemingly forgotten about the prospect of the future sight being in use and focused instead on the double team. "Use thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leaped into the air and charged up as much electrical energy as possible, but it there wasn't much left after a whole day of vigorous training.

"PIKAAAAAAA-CHUUUUU!" Pikachu shot out his thunderbolt around the whole hill, connecting with every single Absol, except for two. Jake and Tristan's Absols had leapt into the air, looking down on Pikachu. Tristan's Absol was glowing with psychic energy. The energy suddenly disappeared, but a bright light shone over Ash and Pikachu. They both looked up, seeing a beam of psychic energy shooting down like some sort of cannon. As soon as the beam smashed into the ground, Ash and Pikachu went flying backwards, rolling on the ground. Pikachu jumped up almost instantly, wanting to protect Ash for aslong as possible.

"Umbreon, hypnosis" Parker suddenly said, overwhelming Pikachu. His Umbreon repeated the hypnosis once more, sending Pikachu asleep. Now, Ash had two Pokemon laying on the ground and he too was badly hurt. "It is hopeless, Ash"

"I...won't...give up!" Ash struggled to his feet and got out two new pokeballs. "Sceptile! Buizel! I choose you!

"Sceptile!" Sceptile roared, understanding the situation.

"Bui, Bui!" Buizel folded his arms, a big grin on his face at the though of a fight.

"Sceptile, use leaf storm! Buizel, sonic boom!" Ash shouted in desperation.

A large wind broke across the hill as Sceptile created a huge storm of leaves. He cast them over the three dark Pokemon, sending the move over towards them. Buizel flipped into the air and swung its tail, two waves of energy around the leaf storm. The sonic booms added more wind to the leaf storm, making it more ferocious. But, Jake let out a sigh and threw out his palm.

"Absol, flamethrower!" He said, watching the leaf storm with no worry whatsoever. Absol took a step forward and held itself in place, before opening its huge jaws and letting out a ferocious flamethrower. The flames shot straight into the leaf storm, burning it up as if nothing was there. And then...

"Umbreon, hypnosis" Parker's voice had gone from his casual one to a tired tone, suggesting he was finding Ash no challenge at all. Just like his other Pokemon, Sceptile and Buizel dropped down into the grass.

"Quilava, Charizard, I need you!" Ash said, throwing up his last two poke balls. "Flamethrower, both of you!"

Quilava and Charizard combined their flamethrowers, sending out an extra powerful flamethrower at all three Pokemon.

"Absol, protect" Jake said and his Absol executed the command instantly, stepping forward and creating a large shield around the three. The flamethrower penetrated the shield, but it eventually dissipated. "Now, Absol, hyper beam!" 

Absol opened up its mouth and began charging up a lot of energy into a big ball. The mix of purple and pink surrounded the energy ball growing in the Absols mouth, until it was fully charged up. Absol unleashed the hyperbeam at Quilava, sending aftershocks through the hill. The hill began to shake and Ash tried to keep his balance. The members of Team Shadow stood still, acting as if nothing was happening.

"Charizard, dragon tail!" Ash was panicking now. His mind was going at thousands of miles per hour, thinking of any way out of this. Quilava lay fainted on the ground, surrounded by the bodies of his sleeping comrades. Charizard, who was swinging his tail down like a whip, was the only one left standing. Both Absols moved with quick speed, avoiding the attack. Charizard swept up the dust from his attack, flying up into it for cover.

"Charizard, flamethrower!" Ash shouted, hoping that Charizard could still pinpoint his targets. Charizard took in a breath and then shot out a powerful flamethrower. The fire connected with Jake's Absol, sending it back a touch. "Now, slash!" Charizard flew down, baring his claws. He slashed and hit the Absol once more, sending it even further back. It continued to roll backwards and ended up rolling down the hill.

"Absol!" Jake didn't anticipate this and he ran down the hill after his Pokemon. Tristan looked on in frustration.

"Charizard, flamethrower the ground in front of Umbreon!" Ash had finished his strategy and Charizard continued to obey, sending a flamethrower into the ground. It caused an explosion and smoke rose from the ground, blinding Parker's Umbreon.

Tristan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, feeling annoyed by what was going on. "Absol, ice beam!"

"Charizard, flamethrower one more time!" Ash was feeling confident now, trying hard to fight back so he could get away. His Pokemon still hadn't woken up and he had no time to return them because of the attacks. 

Charizard's flamethrower connected with Tristan's ice beam and the ice melted instantly. The flamethrower hit Absol with a direct hit, causing critical damage. Absol struggled to get up, but that's when Ash's eyes fell over its front left paw. A small stone sat in the middle of a band, that was strapped to Absol's foot. Then, Ash's widening eyes fell over Tristan, who threw out a fist, revealing his megastone. 

"You leave me with no choice, Absol, MEGA-EVOLVE!" Tristan's Absol began to change shape in the midst of a bright light. Absol became slightly taller and even grew wings. "Now, giga impact!"

With those words, Absol stopped down onto the ground and a large yellow beam of light formed just above Charizard, who looked up at the light. Within half a second, the beam shot down and exploded over Charizard, sending him straight into the ground. As soon as the move faded, Charizard was unconscious, lying on the ground. Ash dropped to his knees, feeling defeated.

"It is a real shame, Ash Ketchum. This could have been easier without a fight. Now we will have to take you with us, you might prove useful in the long run" Parker turned to Tristan with a grin, his plan for Ash changing "Do it"

"Absol, dream eater" Tristan ordered his Absol. there was an eerie silence as nothing was happening in the real world. But, in the sleeping Pokemon's minds, they were all being mentally damaged by the mega Absol. Ash looked around in panic as the remaining four Pokemon of his began to scream out and wriggle around in pain, before feinting on the spot before they could even wake up again. Ash felt completely defeated, devoid of life. He stared at the ground in silence, his eyes glistening with tears for his fallen Pokemon. He understood they did all they could, whereas he felt he couldn't do anything for them and was helpless. Then, everything began to go black as Ash was encased in a shadow.

Present day

Everyone felt the need to go look for Ash, but Dawn was confident that he would show up, so everyone believed her and continued to lie in wait for him. They were not aware that Team Shadow had Ash.

After the hour had passed, an alarm rang out around the arena. Everyone had to go, so they continued to worry about Ash, who would never miss something like this in a million years.

"For this first competition, we are going to give each trainer two tags. One must go on your chosen Pokemon for this qualifying event and the other must go on you. Each tag per Pokemon is worth five points, whereas the tag for a trainer is ten points. There are out of bound signs just before the city, so you have plenty of free space to work with. The goal is to return once you have 100 points. after 45 minutes, whoever does not have 100 points will be eliminated! Is everyone clear about the rules?" 

There was a few murmurs and a lot of nodding as everyone waited for their tags. It took a long time to disperse the tags and once everyone was ready, the alarm rang.

"The game will begin on the alarm in two minutes, so you have time to move around"

Clemont decided to take a direct route into the forest. He didn't run, so his Luxray could keep up and stay by his side. Serena, who had Braixen, decided to follow Clemont and stick with him, so they could help each other out. The first thing they saw shocked them. Ash was stood in the forest, with Pikachu on his shoulder. They both had tags, which meant they was in the tournament. Ash was facing the waterfront, completely ignoring his Kalos friends.

"Ash!" Serena shouted, preparing to run forward. Clemont put an arm out to stop Serena and she looked confused for a moment.

"Look closely at him" Clemont warned her. As if on cue, Ash turned around. His eyes had become red and he looked demonic. Pikachu had a scowl on his face and his eyes were too red. A voice from behind shocked Serena and Clemont.

"Umbreon, hypnosis" Parker said nonchalantly, as he always did. Braixen and Luxray couldn't react to the sneak attack, they both dropped down, immediately falling asleep.

"Absol, dream eater" Tristan came out of the trees with his normal Absol. Both Braixen and Luxray yelled out in pain and then fainted in front of their trainers, who both continued to look on with shock.

"Ash, have Pikachu use thunderbolt on these poor souls" Parker yawned into one hand and walked away. "Then take their tags"

"Ash?" Clemont turned to Ash, who stared with an emotionless face at Clemont, before scowling maniacally.

"Ash, it's us, don't hurt us!" Serena yelled out, wondering why he was like this. It was clear some sort of mind control was going on.

Ash still didn't even hesitate. "Hahaha, so much fun! Pikachu, thunderbolt! Hahaha!" 

"PIKAAAAAAAAAA-CHUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu didn't even leap up or charge up his thunderbolt, he shot it straight into the air and down onto Clemont and Serena. They both tried to withstand the thunderbolt, but it was so powerful that they both fell down to one knee. Ash walked over and took all four tags, before walking in a straight line, following the slow walker Parker. 

"A-Ash" Clemont said weakly, before dropping down to the ground.

"Please, Ash" Serena tried to shout, but her voice was just as weak. She tried to reach out for Braixen, but she too fell down. 

Ash walked over to Parker and handed him the tags, scoring 30 points in total.

"All right, well done Ash" Parker had an evil grin printed across his face as he pocketed the tags. "Now, let the games begin!"