The roaring audience drowned out any hopes the Luxray might have of trying to hear his own thoughts. Hundreds of thousands of voices wildly chanted and cheered over one another, all extremely eager for this next battle. Lux, who was down at the arena's pit, was mere moments away from taking part in the supposed "greatest battle" the arena would ever see. And somewhere in the audience, his 5 faction-mates were up there in the stands, watching and anticipating what was to come.

As it happened, Lux was an incredibly powerful fighter, possessing a unique physical strength rivaled only by the strength he was able to put into his own electric attacks. Yes, in his past, he'd been abducted, beaten down, and forced to participate in illegal underground deathmatches in an arena not completely unlike this one. And, just like he hoped to make the case this time too, he had quickly risen to champion-status in only a matter of months. The only difference now was, unlike back then, he was fighting in this arena of his own volition.

For you see, this arena had something of a ranked hierarchy, which could be climbed by partaking in, and successfully being declared the victor of, the battles therein. You didn't necessarily have to incapacitate or kill your opponent to win these fights, nonono. Often times -- especially in Lux's case -- merely getting one's opponent to willingly surrender would more than suffice as a victory. And indeed, it was with growing infrequency that Lux was pitted against an opponent who wouldn't just surrender mere moments into the fight before any blows could even be dealt. It was, of course, common knowledge to most of the Pokemon that Lux's power was something far beyond the limits of nearly any other 'mon's -- something most could never even hope to come close to matching. As a result, this led to Lux swiftly climbing the arena's ranks with very little resistance on his way up. And now, he was #2 among them all, subordinate only to a Pokemon he'd come to know all too well since waking up in the strange land: Gash.

To describe Gash as "strong" was an insult to the 10-foot-tall, near-invincible Garchomp. Like Lux, Gash had a rather astonishing fighting record at this coliseum: 402 wins with but 1 loss, which comically dwarfed Lux's current 64-0 record. Though, nobody quite knew where that one loss on Gash's otherwise perfect record came from. Some speculated it must be a mistake, while others thought it to be forged as a stunt of sorts, to keep people guessing and tuning into the fights.

Regardless, today the two were finally scheduled to face off, and every Pokemon in all the land would be there to see it.

...or so was thought to be the case.

The first sign of something being "off" about this fight was the extended time it was taking to get Lux's opponent into the arena with him. Lux had been there for about 5 minutes now, patiently waiting for Gash to enter in from the other side of the coliseum, preceding the traditional formalities before the battle began. Instead, however, Lux was standing in the middle of the arena all alone, surrounded by what must've easily been at least 100,000 Pokemon in the stands, growing more and more impatient for the legendary battle to ensue. Lux's mind began to pace faster. Lux *was* going to be fighting Gash, right? It's not as if there was anyone else who could even come close to matching his overwhelmingly fearsome strength, after all...

That's when it happened: the announcer's voice suddenly blanketed the audience's deafening chants.

"Everyone, EVERYONE, THE BATTLE OF THE AGES IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!! As you all know, it's my personal responsibility to hand-pick the matches for these fights as they come, but today, folks... today is going to be a little different...!"

Lux raised a brow, turning his head to look around. The audience grew quiet. Confused. Tense.

"That's right, everyone! I'm sure as you can all see the one and only undefeated prized fighter himself, Lux, on the arena's grounds, you must have all expected that surely, truly, CERTAINLY, his opponent must be none other than the fabled militant leader of F-Faction, Gash! Well, folks, if that was your assumption, then you'd be dead wrong! Because today, you see, I've received a personal request straight from Gash himself for who to pit our dearest Lux up against in this fight of the century. Someone whom even Gash is certain can defeat Lux without so much as breaking a sweat..."

Whispers and speculative chatter immediately rose up through the audience.

"Yes, folks. Today, our #2-ranked fighter won't be taking on our reigning #1 champion, Gash..."

...

The audience held their breath, as did Lux.

"...he'll be taking on... #0: Bohr."

... ...

...huh?

'Bohr'?

Lux squinted his eyes a bit. Had he heard the announcer clearly over the crowd's murmurs? #0? Bohr??? What was going on???

Before he could question it for another instant, he saw a silhouette begin to manifest from the entrance across the arena's wall in the other doorway. It looked like the silhouette of a... Slaking???

Lux frowned. Was he seriously supposed to be up against a Slaking? A Slaking was not a fighter. Slakings were lazy and apathetic and... well... Slakings. They weren't exactly... arena-type material, generally speaking. But, if this was his opponent, then did that mean this Slaking, Bohr...

The Slaking finally came into full view of the audience, emerging from the doorway. He was quite bulky. Not particularly "fat," per se; rather, he possessed that strange hybrid build of equal muscle and, well, fat, as most Slakings tended to have. Something else Lux quickly noticed was that, unlike Gash, who was abnormally massive even by a Garchomp's standards... this Bohr character hardly looked much larger than any other Slaking he'd ever encountered before. Maybe a bit so, but not nearly to the degree that which an absolute gargantuan beast such as Gash was. But then, if Bohr was #0, did that mean he was supposed to somehow be... *stronger* than Gash? Was such a thing even possible???

The crowd was still muttering, and the announcer continued.

"The rules of the battle are simple, folks! Anything goes, as you know. The fight ends when one fighter is either fully incapacitated, willingly surrenders, or, of course... is killed."

For the first time he could remember in a fight, Lux started to feel something welling up inside of him that he'd long since forgotten. An uneasy weight within the deepest trenches of his bowels, spreading through the rest of his body like a virus...

Fear.

Bohr finally reached the arena's center, stopping just about 10 feet away from Lux, who, for the first time in his fighting career, was at a complete loss for words.

"Bohr, Lux," the announcer continued, "I wish you the best of luck. You may begin."

In a surreal blur of tension, confusion, curiosity, and utter uncertainty, the once-deafening crowd was now completely silent. The fight had begun, and yet, not a sound echoed across the massive coliseum. Nobody knew what to expect. An undefeated legend, up against someone whose rank nobody had even been aware existed moments ago.

The two fighters stared at each other for a long moment before Lux finally managed to speak. "So, uh..." he began awkwardly, "I guess let's--"

Just then, the strangely intimidating Slaking reached one muscular hand to the ground. His fingers effortlessly penetrated the solid stone floor of the arena with ease, and in one swift motion, he ripped a massive chunk of it out of the ground, yanking it with his gigantic muscles and hoisting it up, as though it were a feather.

Before Lux could even process the inhuman exercise of sheer strength, Bohr had already thrown the massive boulder at him. Lux barely managed to dodge the attack by leaping out off to the side, narrowly avoiding it as it collided with the arena's stone wall, sending tremors through the entire coliseum.

Lux landed in a crouch, panting heavily. He remained uninjured, but he was already feeling his energy depleting, and his eyes were wide in utter disbelief. "Wha- What the...??? How... how could he...?" he thought to himself, still trying to grasp what he'd just witnessed. The floor of the arena was reinforced with a thick layer of carbon-based coating to prevent exactly that kind of thing from happening. In other words, the floor should have been tough as diamonds. And yet, just like that, he...

The audience too was in a stunned silence yet still. For the first time in the history of their bearing witness to these fights... Lux was... on the defensive???

Bohr, in the meantime, had already leapt off towards Lux once more, fully intending to finish this fight before it even began.

Lux barely had time to react as the massive Slaking came crashing down on top of him like a meteor. In one swift motion, Bohr grabbed Lux by his neck and lifted him off the ground, then slammed him back down, sending a massive shockwave of stone chunks and dirt flying into the air.

"GRAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Bohr roared, standing over Lux as he struggled back onto all-fours, staggering in place.

Lux's ears were ringing, his vision blurred, and his body was numb. That... was... the... strongest... blow... he'd... ever... been... hit... with...???

Bohr, who seemed to be completely heedless of Lux's current state, prepared to strike again, raising his fist high into the air.

Quickly, Lux lunged sharply to the side once more, barely avoiding Bohr's fist as it came crashing down into the arena floor, blasting another hole clean through it. Lux landed in a crouch, wheezing heavily as he fought to catch his breath. Perhaps if he could create some distance between the two of them, he'd have enough time to get an attack of his own off.

Bohr, however, was not one to be so easily deterred. As Lux attempted to move, he leapt up into the air, and came crashing down on top of him yet again, slamming him back down into the hole he had just blasted through the arena floor prior.

Bohr grabbed Lux by his neck and lifted him up into the air, then slammed him back down yet again, sending a second shockwave of stone chunks and dirt flying into the air.

The Slaking exerted a primal roar, standing over Lux as he struggled back onto all-fours once more, nearly falling back over several times in the process. It was in this moment that it dawned on Lux: this is who must've been responsible for Gash's one and only loss. This Slaking *was* stronger than Gash.

Lux was barely moving now, his body completely numb and his vision blurred. His hearing still rang, but not nearly as much as it had before. In fact, he could barely hear anything at all, aside from Bohr's voice.

"Huh. You're still standing," he thought he could hear Bohr mutter. Indeed, to everyone's amazement, Lux had just somehow endured two unfathomably powerful blows which surely would've left an unrecognizable, bloody mess of any other unfortunate soul in that situation, perhaps even surprising Bohr just a bit.

Of course, it was clear by this point that Lux was clearly outclassed. He wanted to surrender, but to do that, he'd need to retrieve and wave the white flag on his side of the arena that he'd normally paid no mind to going into these fights. He turned his head toward the flag, which appeared a good 40 feet or so away, leaning against the wall.

Bohr, however, had noticed Lux's eyes as he turned his head toward his flag, and prepared to strike yet again.

Barely reacting in time, Lux rashly threw himself at an angle, narrowly avoiding Bohr's menacing fist as it came crashing down into the arena floor, blasting a hole larger than the previous ones through it. Before Lux could steady his own landing, however, this time, Bohr circled his arm around, yanking Lux up by the tail. The audience gasped, knowing there was no preventing what was coming now.

Bohr swung Lux in a wide arc, then released his tail and sent him flying across the arena's floor. Lux slammed into the stone wall on the other side of the arena, and slumped to the floor. A pool of blood quickly began coalescing beneath him. Still, Bohr advanced toward Lux, who had neither the strength nor mental clarity at this point to get his body to move.

The crowd had gone absolutely silent, unsure of what to think, or even say. This had never happened before. No one had ever seen Lux get so utterly crushed by a single opponent in the arena. And on top of that, no one had ever even known Bohr existed until moments ago. Just who was he...?

Bohr approached the near-unconscious Luxray, reaching for his tail one final time. With an iron grip, he lifted Lux into the air, then slammed him back down face-first against the unyielding stone floor. Bohr wasn't sure if the cracks he heard from the impact this time were from the floor itself, or from Lux's bones.

Now, Lux didn't so much as even try to get back up. He just lay there in the middle of the arena on his side, barely breathing, fur stained by the pool of red surrounding his limp body.

Bohr towered over Lux's motionless body, whose eyes he could see the life slowly draining out of as he struggled to breathe in an irregular, unrhythmic fashion.

"Good kitty," Bohr softly spoke, kneeling down to pet the fallen Luxray, barely clinging to life.

The crowd didn't make a sound. They couldn't.

Standing back up, Bohr calmly walked toward his end of the arena. Unbelievably, the crowd watched as Bohr reached for his own white flag, holding it up and waving it decisively.

The announcer didn't immediately say anything, being equally as stunned by what had just taken place as everyone else. It was clear that Bohr had just annihilated and very nearly killed Lux in the span of only 5 minutes or so. And yet, he was waving his flag to... surrender???

"...what just... happened?" The announcer softly spoke into the microphone, before coming back to his own senses.

"--well, uhm, I don't really know what to say, really... It seems that, despite what we've all just bore witness to, that Bohr has chosen to... surrender?"

Even the announcer sounded uncertain of his own declaration.

The crowd was still stunned. Never before had they seen someone with such unparalleled power as Bohr. And here he was, surrendering in a battle that he had incontestably won without even the slightest struggle against one of the arena's most legendary fighters. It was... unexpected, to say the least.

Without any further action, Bohr put his flag down and walked back into the coliseum, vanishing into the very same doorway he first entered through minutes ago.

After a long, drawn out silence, the crowd eventually slowly began to file out of the arena, some still struggling to grasp what had just happened. Indeed, the scene that played out had spoken for itself: a completely untouched Bohr had been standing tall, as his opponent, the previously-unscathed #2-ranked fighter in the entire arena, lay motionless, clinging to life, puddled in his own, unfamiliar blood.