The BBS Magazine

The Pokemon world has just concluded its Pokeathlon Olympics, and what a week of leaping, running, swimming, teamwork and general bashing-up-each-other it was! Trainers came from all over the globe to duke it out against each other for that shiny gold medal. And let’s not take away from the silver medalists and those who netted shameful, shameful bronze either!

This year’s events went fairly smoothly, all things considered. The big four regions of Japan has a strong showing again, and Unova’s trainers this time performed better than the previous Olympics in the initial events giving themselves more time to recover from jetlag. The rangers of Fiore and Almia had a respectable showing as well, although some still hold that using Pokemon that they don’t actually own in a Pokeball was merely exploiting a loophole in current rules. Orre had a modest number of participants this year as Shadow Pokemon were no longer allowed due to the large number of injuries and broken javelins (an event that was also cancelled for the year, along with Dodgeball with Qwilfish), but a few medals were still taken out by the desert nation.

A small riot had broken out in Goldenrod (where many of the participants stayed in) when it was discovered the Game Corner had been replaced by Voltorb Flip, and the nearby National Park is now seeking damages from having hosted a few side events (both Tuesday’s and Thursday’s Bug-catching competition had to be cancelled), but otherwise it was a success all around, and one simply cannot wait for the next Olympics!

Below is a few of the highlights in events this year.

Boxing

The choice of a Psychic type referee proved to be a good one for this year’s boxing event, as at any slight indication of a boilover lead to a quick smackdown by the Munna in charge.

The semifinal between Chuck and Bruno’s Pokemon was worth the hefty admission fee, as the Primeape and Hitmonchan traded blow for blow in an engaging duel. Hitmonchan proved victorious in the end with its powerful elemental punches, eventually taking its toll on the enthusiastic Fighting type who had chased Hitmonchan all around the ring.

The other semi featuring Brawly resulted in a shock loss to his rival, who triumphed with his small plucky Tyrogue by points decision. The trainer was taken to mumbling about ‘that cheating Sabrina’, and it was later discovered he was the former gym leader of Saffron, the Karate King. He had been thought to be dead but he revealed he had simply gone and hid in a cave for a number of years, an understandable response to losing a gym and livelihood. The strange training proved successful when the Tyrogue began the final by throwing Hitmonchan out of the ring. Chuck’s Primeape meanwhile came out with the bronze after socking the Machoke squarely in the jaw, winning by knockout.

Diving

Hoenn went in as huge favourites for this event, with both Wallace and Juan leading the way of the large contingent of water trainers from the water region. Orre fielded a surprise competitior, but it turned out that Sandshrew were no good at diving after all. Misty also challenged for the gold with her Golduck, while a trainer’s Kirlia also had a strong start.

Unfortunately the competition had a long delay after Crasher Wake was unanimously disqualified; he changed his mind with what Pokemon of his would participate and so instead of a Floatzel a Gyarados had been summoned, and the diving platform was unable to handle its large size.

Once repairs were made the rest of the competition continued without incident. Juan’s questionable choice in Walrein did not lead to success as it lost to its other competitiors, but Wallace was able to bring Hoenn the gold with his reliable Milotic, with Misty snagging second.

Equestrian

This event had an unusually big turnout. The reason was most likely the unexpected entry by Elesa’s Zebstrika, who maintained a very high standing throughout. It even gave Blaine’s Rapidash a run for its money. However, in an unexpected twist, Clair’s Kingdra was permitted to enter based on the technicallity that a ‘sea horse’ is still a horse.

Blaine’s Rapidash still took Gold however, and after a little incident of unsportsmanship conduct, Clair and her Kingdra were disqualified, and Elesa and Zebstrika took Silver.

Football

Once again the football category was taken out by the Kanto team which fielded a typically strong team. Matches involving the team were typically one-sided affairs with blotted scorelines. Psychic Pokemon from Sabrina’s party helped manipulate the ball’s trajectory frequently, and had the rule of restarts requiring the ball to return to the middle of the pitch not been implemented this year the scorelines would have blown out to ridiculous margins. Bruno’s Hitmonlee nabbed this year’s golden boot award as well, but by far the most influential member of Kanto’s football team was the Snorlax brought with them, belonging to no official trainer but affectionately referred to as ‘The Wall’, reflective of its incredible clean sheet record as goalkeeper.

Runner-ups were Team Hoenn’s, who defeated Unova in the semi finals in somewhat controversial circumstances when an Ace Trainer’s Gengar possessed the other team into scoring several own goals.

Gymnastics

After last year’s events, where large quantities of equipment was ruined from misuse, accidental fires and just sheer inability to support the weight of a rather ambitious Snorlax, much was invested into the equipment to ensure it could withstand the competitors. Nonetheless the audience took to filling the backmost rows of the stadium, and the judges brought many heat-resistant umbrellas.

An early surprise in the all-round point scoring came from a Bulbasaur, who impressed early with its use of vines in navigating the bar routines, and it also offered a strong performance in the floor routine by using them as ribbons. It put itself out of the running by crashing headfirst into the vault. Another was a Hitmotop who did a very engaging breakdance on the floor, but it then refused to even attempt to begin any of the routines requiring some altitude.

An Ace Trainer’s Ambipom nailed its rings routine and remained solid in all other aspects, setting itself up as the leader of the pack. It looked likely to remain in the gold medal position until the last few entrants where a Kirlia blew the competition away with a perfect floor routine and strong performances elsewhere. Controversy then entered when the Ambipom’s trainer angrily accused the other of using Psychic powers in manipulating the equipment, but the judges decided to uphold the Kirlia’s scores. To the dismay of both though a Blaziken then outdid the two of them to snare gold, now able to rectify its performance from last year by not setting the stadium on fire when starting with a Sky Uppercut on the rings, and finishing every performance with a fiery Blaze Kick. Having no Psychic powers to blame it on the Ambipom’s trainer huffed off before the medal ceremony had even began.

In the separate Trampolining event, the Snorlax was declared the winner.

High Jump

For this year’s event fish bowls and other similar water-containing objects were banned as starting points for Pokemon for the jump, much to the disappointment of various water-type users, effectively eliminated from the competition. This didn’t stop a few hopeful fishermen from trying their luck with their array of Magikarp, Goldeen and so forth but barely any cleared the first height. As usual the use of flight was also not allowed in the event.

Blaine’s Rapidash, an early favourite, was suddenly disqualified, although in hindsight it was not too startling that it would have accidentally set fire to the landing mat with its body. A Stunfisk was a surprise second-place achiever for the region of Unova, using Bounce to hurl its flat body over the bar on numerous attempts to beat out Misty’s Politoed for the silver. But even it was unable to overcome the eventual winner in a Spoink, which cleared each height with ease.

Long Jump

This event as usual attracted the largest number of disqualifications, despite efforts from Sabrina made to ‘convince’ judges that her Abra could compete in the event legally. Pokemon that could fly were also disqualified to the chagrin of Skyla and every bird trainer ever who had hopes of surprising everyone with their Pokemon. Falkner in particular was in a foul mood upon hearing about the decision and ranted loudly as he departed the arena about how his father shouldn’t have given him so many Pidgey in the first place.

A Psychic hailing from Hoenn had a solid start, eclipsing the rest of the competition with a well trained Spoink. To his distraught however upon its second jump it suddenly evolved into a Grumpig and so the later attempts of the Pokemon to jump across were far less successful. Its early work was still rewarded with a bronze medal. Second place went to Blaine’s Rapidash who was enjoying a very successful Olympics, but the Gold this time was taken by Erika’s Jumpluff, who on the last jump finally got the breeze it wanted and set a new world record of 12,342 metres with the smallest of movements. The award ceremony had been delayed due to the sheer distance it had to travel back.

Running

This was a much awaited event to see who would take out the 100 metre dash. Favourites included a Dodrio and Jolteon hailing from Kanto, and a Rapidash from Sinnoh, all being to reputable travelling trainers. Electrode had been excluded despite a passionate plea from Watson, due to the small yet unavoidable issue of it not having any actual legs to run with.

In the end though the winner came as a total surprise; just as the starting gun went off a Suicune appeared from nowhere and outran the whole group to clinch first place for what was presumed to be a victory for Johto. It did not reappear to accept its medal however, but Eusine accepted it on its behalf.

Swimming

The swimming event had always been a poular one. However, there weren’t as many competitors this year. Many speculated that this was due to Lance being able to enter the competition with his Gyarados. At the announcement of his entry, many competitors dropped out. As a result the pool was only filled by three competitors; Lance, Misty and her Lapras, and a Fisherman from Hoenn who came with a Feebas.

The event started off like many expected. Lapras and Gyarados were at the front, while Feebas was far behind.
As they approached the halfway point of 10,000 kilometers, Gyarados started to use Rage. He started to gain speed and was soon far ahead of Lapras. Lapras then resorted to its secret technique, which was to use Ice Beam to freeze the water in front of him. He then jumped on the ice which doubled his speed. He soon passed Gyarados, who had apparently used up all of its energy, and then immediatly fell asleep.

Lapras ended up passing the finish line first. An hour later, Feebas finally crossed the finish line. However, it was determined that by using a move, Lapras was diqualified, and Feebas was awarded Gold.

Synchronized Swimming

One of the few events that dealt more towards the artistic fields, this event attracted many and its venue surprisingly filled up very quickly. The event was extremely entertaining to watch as almost all the teams had an equal chance of clinching gold. Another surprise came when Aqua Admin Shelly was among the company from Hoenn. Her team of Wailmers from Team Aqua’s Lilycove base scored a massive appeal to the audience as well as the judges. Marlon headed the team from Unova and his team consisting of three pairs of Tirtougas and Mantykes achieved the highest score for technique among the rest. The team from Almia was disqualified after one of their Remoraids accidentally fired a Water Gun at a judge.

Spectators were buzzing with speculation over the winners but there were more surprises in store for everyone. Bronze went to Kanto’s Seafoaming Seels and Admin Shelly claimed Silver. It was the team of six Magikarps from Sinnoh’s Lake Valor that took home Gold. They scored a perfect score in creativity for their splashing which no team would’ve ever thought of and were appropriately titled “Masters of the Art of Synchronized Splashing” by fans.

It was noted that a certain salesman was seen at the grandstand trying to sell a Magikarp for £500 after the medals ceremony.

Pokemon-and-Trainer Triathlon

The entries in this competition were somewhat surprising to say the least. The most recognizable was Sissy, a gym leader from the Orange League and a top competitor with her Blastoise. Other contestants were Lara Laramie, with her Rapidash who previously won a marathon, and Gary, who entered with his Dodrio.

There were three parts to the race. First was a curvy path leading to the second part which had a lake with pieces of ice floating in it. Finally was the final stretch, which was two miles long. As usual, there were also some suprises left for the competitiors.

The race started off exactly as it was expected to. Gary and his Dodrio were neck and neck with Lara and her Rapidash. However, Sissy soon caught up with them when they were stopped at the ice. Blastoise jumped right in and took the lead. Gary soon got Dodrio to gather the courage to jump ice flow to ice flow. Lara’s Rapidash would not budge.

In the final stretch, Dodrio caught up with Blastoise quite easily. About 100 feet away from the finish, one of those surprises kicked in when water started to flood the straight. Dodrio was caught in it and slowed down. Blastoise picked up the pace however, and won the race for itself and Sissy.

Weightlifting

Although the crowd of spectators was small, there was a ruckus loud enough to make anyone think that they had just stepped into a boxing arena. Fans of this event’s competitors were screaming for a display of strength and muscle, and strength with lots of muscle they got. From Johto, Chuck led the contingent of Black Belts from the Fighting Dojo. Matching Johto muscle for muscle, Kanto entered with Bruno and his famous Machamp – the powerhouse that had brought Kanto its champion title for five consecutive years. Hoenn saw a smaller team of trainers from the previous year but Brawly had the crowd screaming when he tried and managed to lift up a barbell with 209.9 lbs Beldum weights midway, ‘accidentally’ exposing chiseled abs beneath his shirt. Sinnoh made its debut, fielding a competitor, a rather cute-looking girl by the name of Maylene.

This time, the showcase of power and strength were much different from previous times given the new faces. Surprisingly, it was the small girl from Sinnoh who won the gold with her Lucario. Bruno took Silver after his Machamp made a slight mistake of getting its extra arms in the way. Brawly’s Hariyama was disqualified after it had accidentally snapped the barbell into two. Chuck and his Poliwrath claimed Bronze once again, losing to its counterpart by a slim margin.

 

Written by a.bizon, bobandbill and Temporal Diamond.
Edited by Bay Alexison and bobandbill.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2012 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Articles, Fan Works. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.