Two days later, Micheal and Katie arrived at the Pokémon Center. There, they found many people standing and waiting for something to happen. Micheal counted thirty-four people in the lobby in total. The duo awkwardly stood around as some competitors conversed, nobody knowing what to do.

A voice bellowed through the Pokémon Center. “Welcome, one and all, to the Pokémon Conquest Tournament! We have thirty-four dedicated individuals from across the region ready for the ultimate domination battle!” The announcer Micheal had met days before appeared from the second floor, waving his fist excitedly. “Who’s ready to be crowned the ruler of the Ransei Region?”

The crowd erupted with cheers and applause, each ready to fight for their kingdom’s survival. “Each of you will be assigned a room at the Shiny Stantler Inn. You’ll see an interactive projector with a game board of many capabilities. Make no mistake: While digitized, it is a perfect recreation of the existing board game with a few quality-of-life updates you’ll be sure to discover.

“To those joining us at home, the rules are simple: Each kingdom may hold up to six warriors. PvP battles are identical in targets to the board games. Fontaine is a standard battle, Greenleaf is a game of capture-the-flag, and so on. A warlord who loses may quit, join their attacker, or wander. A wanderer may cross a kingdom once per turn and, if defeated, may join that warlord. Winning as a wanderer does nothing.

“Each turn, every warrior can perform a single task. Delegated kingdoms are evaluated at the end of a turn automatically. Each turn will last ten minutes, and the games will last until the end of Year 3 unless a player captures everyone. If multiple warlords make it to the end, the empire with the highest total power wins. Finally, if you’re in a battle and the turn ends, the challenger will automatically lose. With the rules out of the way, who’s ready for a conquest?”

The crowd’s cheering became louder as Micheal and Katie quietly clapped in the back. Katie turned to her friend, whispering, “I wonder if they’ll let us choose our kingdoms.”

“Doubtful, but one can hope,” he replied, thinking about the semantics required.

The announcer threw two ultra balls to his sides, cheering, “Then, let the games begin! Alakazam, use Psychic. Hypno, use Hypnosis.”

“Wait, wha—” Micheal got cut off as psychic energies surged through the room and lulled everyone to sleep.

*                             *                             *

Micheal woke up alone in a hotel room like the one he’d stayed in for several nights. A projection sat on one wall, zoomed in on the fire-type kingdom of Ignis. He would play the role of Hideyoshi and his Chimchar. His initial allies included Hanbei with a Mareep and Kanbei with a Duskull.

On the opposite wall hung a camera above a window. Knowing he could be televised, Micheal put on a show, puffing out his chest. “Did someone say Ransei’s domination? Let’s see what we have to work with!” He walked to the projector and clicked around the screen.

The screen presented him with four options when he entered his kingdom. The cave offered training, the ponigiri station and shop provided him with energy and items, and the bank upgraded the other facilities. He would hold off on fighting until he had a more concrete plan.

He zoomed out to see the world. Lines represented possible attack plans for each kingdom, with four entering Ignis. “Four kingdoms can attack me,” he reasoned. “Conversely, I can attack four others. Greenleaf would be easiest, being full of grass types. Mareep could probably handle Motochika’s water-type allies. Pugilis isn’t a threat—my Duskull is impervious to his attacks. The same almost applies to Oichi and her normal types. But Sandile and Onix are wildcards.”

The fire-type warlord returned to his kingdom, sending his team into the caverns. There, he found trainers with a Bibarel and Machop. “Four turns or a super-effective move. Come at me.” The trainer skipped his turn, understanding the ranges of each Pokémon across the chess-style battlefield. When his opponents neared, he knew he would be close enough to attack on his turn. After approaching his enemies, he bombarded them with his team’s attacks. Three turns later, the battle ended, and both trainers joined him.

Micheal stepped back and sighed. The world map returned, displaying a timer. Seven users needed to end their turns. When they finished, the map zoomed across the region to display progress. Of the sixteen kingdoms, only two others recruited soldiers. Interestingly enough, Mitsuhide of Nixtorm attacked Nobunaga of Dragnor but lost. “Trying to get an early lead, huh?” he asked.

February of Year 2 came around, and Micheal’s army had low energy. Groaning loudly, he knew there would be no training this turn, and there likely wouldn’t be any training the next either. Micheal defeatedly entered the ponigiri shop. The first-stage facility only had normal ponigiri that would increase his energy by a single stage. “Would you like another helping? Be careful not to overindulge!” warned the woman on the other side of the stand.

Micheal knew of the coin toss. In the best case, his team’s energy would max out. In the worst, it would minimize. But it was more likely to help than harm. “Why not?” he shrugged. Accepting the offer, a fanfare revealed the favorable outcome.

Having used up his team’s turn, the map displayed the waiting screen. He deduced the third of the competitors who’d completed their turns had improved their kingdoms without training, much like him. With his extra time to wait, he paced around the room. “No kingdoms have fallen yet, though some have clearly started trying. Oichi is a wildcard, so I can’t sit idly by and wait for her. If she gains another member, I will train one more month before attacking. If not, I’ll attack her next month,” he smirked.

Unfortunately for the trainer, the turn’s end revealed she gained a Minccino as an ally. Despite his confidence, he thought out loud, “I guess I’ll get another.”

He entered the mines again, sending his entire army to face a trainer with a Venipede, a wild Starly, and a Bidoof. Realizing he’d already gone silent on live television, the trainer began his act again. “You know, I’m the warlord here. Everything in the kingdom walls is mine, including this cave. I should give it a grand name worthy of my stature.” He placed his hands on his hips. “I wonder who could come up with the best name for this cave. While I’d love to hear your ideas, this is a one-way conversation. Isn’t it?” He chuckled.

After focusing on the battle for a minute, he screamed, “The Molten Caverns!” He paused. “No, too on the nose. What about…” The battle finished, and he saw the Venipede-owning warlord wished to join. He looked at the bug’s tail and noticed a hint of green. It was a pretty detail that he hadn’t previously paid attention to. He wished it were on the others in its evolution line. A beautiful color. Almost like a—”Jaded Caverns!” he called. Overly excited, his hand slipped, and he declined the warrior’s offer to join.

Micheal slumped over. “The whole point of that was to recruit someone! But that’ll just make this battle more interesting,” he suggested, cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

April rolled around. In the previous turn, Kenshin of Illusio challenged Shingen of Terrera but lost. Micheal scrolled to Oichi’s normal-type kingdom of Aurora. Skeptical that her power was decently lower than his, he reasoned she’d only trained for a single month. “Let’s have some fun. I can’t leave Ignis unprotected, so let’s just bring Chimchar, Duskull, and Machop.”

When he created the challenge, a bubble appeared in the screen’s corner. A woman stood on the other side in a room similar to his. “Lady Oichi?” he guessed.

“Lord Hideyoshi. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know why I’m here. I’m taking you down!” he cheered, placing a hand on his forehead and laughing—mimicking a warrior card he had of Hideyoshi back home. While acting was draining, he was having fun. Plus, he wanted to give the viewers a better experience.

When the battlefield loaded, Oichi laughed. “Three against five? Pitiful. Once I’m done protecting Aurora, I’m coming after your miserable army.” Micheal didn’t respond, opting to focus on his battle. “Oh, Meowth got your tongue? Too shocked for words? I believe the words you’re looking for are ‘I resign.’” While Oichi’s personality was more shy than her avatar’s, making the woman act out of character, her arrogance was putting on a better show than anything he’d done up to that point. And yet, for every turn that passed, he could hear her grunts and growls growing louder and more annoyed.

His plan worked wonders. In half the allotted turns, Onix’s lack of range allowed Micheal to corner and defeat the Rock Snake. Machop swiftly took down Sandile and Audino, while Micheal’s Chimchar defeated the rest.

Oichi’s blood-curdling scream caught the warrior off-guard. He knew the first loss of the tournament would be brutal; that much was obvious. Of course, it was entirely possible someone else lost before her, and they didn’t know it yet. With how poorly the trainer took it, Micheal thought to lighten her spirits, offering, “You fought admirably, and I’m impressed. How would you like to join my army? We could rule over Ransei together.” He extended his hand as though she could accept it through the screen.

Oichi shook her head. “No. I would never join you. You took everything from me. Goodbye.” She quickly cut off the feed.

Micheal stood dumbfounded. “Well, that went about as well as I thought it would. Would have been nice to have another warlord at my side, though. Anyway…” The recruitment screen appeared. Everyone but Oichi offered to join. He accepted them all, spreading them out between the two kingdoms.

The screen returned to the overworld. With three minutes left, Micheal knew he didn’t have enough time to train. Thus, he delegated Ignis to develop his army. And when the timer eventually hit zero, he watched as the calendar rolled to the next month.

The delegated kingdom recruited a trainer with a Beldum. Micheal’s heart sank. This was the third Beldum he’d seen in the last few days. A gut feeling told him to return to the Andesite Caverns and catch the one he’d helped, but he knew he couldn’t. To drag the Beldum away from its friends would be horrible, even if it meant making new ones while traveling.

He wondered if that perspective was hypocritical, refusing to catch the Beldum while still ending up with his team of three. But he’d grown up with Growlithe; he was family. Cacnea had been sitting with other cacti alone. And Wooper was a gift from Team Evo and would have gone with them if he hadn’t accepted the gift.

The fire-type warlord snapped himself out of his trance and turned to the camera. “Call me what you want, but I think we could easily take down Greenleaf this turn.” He selected the grass-type kingdom and noticed their highest power was 62.

His lowest was 76.

Micheal brought Chimchar, Duskull, and Beldum to join his team. “Let’s check out what our latest recruit can do,” he offered confidently.

Upon issuing the challenge, the grass-type warlord appeared on his screen, draped in a green outfit. “Hideyoshi. I can’t say I’m surprised. It was only a matter of time before one of us in the trio attacked another.”

“Gotta keep that rivalry going, y’know? Though, I do love your outfit,” Micheal replied, gesturing to the man.

Motonari looked down and laughed. “Would you believe me if I said this wasn’t planned? I forgot to do my laundry, and this was all I had left.”

“You’ll have plenty of time for laundry when I take you out of the tournament! So accept my battle or get out of my way.”

“In that case…” Motonari accepted the challenge. A battlefield loaded with three flags: Two in opposite corners and one in the center. The armies spawned in the remaining corners. A small hedge maze prevented direct access to any flag. “Welcome to Greenleaf. My kingdom. Hold all banners to win. If you don’t, I win.”

Micheal waved a hand in the air. “Yes, yes, I’m aware of your customs.” He already formulated a plan: Beldum and Chimchar would go to the corner flags while Duskull defended the center. Natural barriers protected the ghost-type from the enemy.

Motonari recognized Beldum’s threat against his army. Being on a flag meant healing every turn. And healing on top of type resistance meant Beldum would be nearly unstoppable. Thus, the grass-type warlord sent his entire army to the flag Beldum had targeted, capturing it before it could.

“Damn it,” Micheal muttered, hitting his leg with a fist. Getting his team to help Beldum would be risky. He would lose if Motonari sent even a few Pokémon to the other flags. But it was a risk he had to take. The trainer slowly dragged Duskull and Chimchar toward the Beldum from two directions, blocking the grass-type warlord’s access to the other flags. 

The tides of battle quickly turned in Micheal’s favor. With Beldum’s high defense, strong resistance, and Chimchar’s fire attacks, Micheal’s victory was inevitable. With two turns remaining, he took down Motonari.

“Well played. Congratulations,” Motonari said with a chuckle.

“You did well, too. Your strategy almost worked. And that’s the kind of strategic mind I need. What do you say? Let’s put our rivalry to rest and join forces. We can take over all of Ransei as a team. Will you join me?”

Motonari scratched the back of his head. “I appreciate the offer. But I think I’ll resign. Like I said, and as you’ve made clear: I do have responsibilities I should take care of. Best of luck. I’ll be rooting for you. I’ll tune in to the tournament when I get home.”

The two shared a laugh. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you. I’ll see you around, Lord Motonari.” With that, the call ended, leaving Micheal alone with his thoughts again. “Two down, fourteen to go. Then, Ransei will be mine. And I will fulfill the legends.”