*Author's Note* - Since I am transcribing battles, and want to maintain the purity of the played experience - Trainers in this world are taught a battle etiquette that assumes attacks won't be executed till both trainers call their attack
Top of The Class
It had been a whirlwind 48 hours since my mom woke me up to meet professor Kukui. I had met my Rowlet then. I can still remember holding him up in the air with pride. I decided to call the little boy Kane, and I still remember him cooing with joy. The two of us explored the wilderness of Melemele Island, the small bird perched on my shoulder, swooping down to battle any wild Pokemon that came our way. I wasn't sure when we'd add to our team, and I was beginning to believe our next friend wouldn't be met for a long time.
A small Pichu changed that though. Something about the way she stared at me, I knew we were destined to be together. So before anything was said, I tossed a ball her way, and not long after I was battling my way through the trainer school with my new Pichu, Mikachu at my side. It wasn't long until we were facing the toughest trainer of the batch. I knew he didn't stand a chance against me and my team.
Rising Star Joseph was his name. He scoffed, claiming I didn't stand a chance. I couldn't tell if it was because I was a girl or if it was just his own arrogance. Either way, I knew there was no way I could lose. I bit my lower lip as the kid sent out a Grimer. Or at least, I thought it was a Grimer? A look of confusion plastered on my face only made the kid's cocky expression grow larger. The Sludge on the Grimer was grayer, and some bright yellow liquid oozed from its mouth.
"You're not from around here, despite your darker skin, are you?" The boy asked smirking.
As he rubbed under his nose with his index finger, he added, "Pokemon here have acclimatized to the more temperate conditions of living. You could call this, Alolan Grimer." His explanation was punctuated with too hearty of a laugh. This kid was really getting on my nerves.
"Whatever. I'll have no problem taking it down, at this level, the best it can do is poison us!" I called out in frustration. He was getting to me really bad.
I tossed out a Pokeball as I called out, "Mikachu, I choose you!" The small Pichu flipped out of the ball crying out, "Piii!" Gosh damn it, she was such a cutie. She rubbed her cheeks expectedly, and looked back at me winking. It was like the little girl was saying, "I got this!"
I couldn't remember for sure what kind of attacks that a Grimer has, so I decided to start things off by giving the bugger some hard to squash feelings. "Mikachu, use charm!" I cried out! The Oozing monster shivered at her cuteness. The little Pichu held her hands up, almost pleading for love from the Grimer as I saw the thing's ooze harden a bit. It seemed they started with a harden, well, it wouldn't affect a special attack, and we were clearly faster.
"Alright, Mikachu, let's hit it with a Thunder Shock!" I cried out as the little dear cried out in reply an obedient "Chuuuu!"Electricity arced from the small static pockets on her cheeks along the ground straight into Grimer's body. The electricity coursed through the ball of ooze, but it didn't seem to do much. I bit my lip again, this wasn't good.
I let out a breath as the cocky kid chided me, "that was nothing for us, Grimer, hit back with a bite!"
The large ooze jumped at Mikachu and took it in its hands. It chomped down hard before tossing the little baby aside. I could tell the dear was hurting hard, but her ability kicked in, and static coursed through the Grimer, half holding it in place. It was definitely suffering from Paralysis now. It was the small victories I thought as I winced in empathetic pain for my electric friend. I held out her Pokeball and cried,"Mikachu, that's enough for now!" A red beam shot from the ball and materialized the Pokémon back into the ball.
Kane puffed out his feathers as the bird flew onto the battlefield. Already bonded with his battle cousin, my starter clearly wanted revenge. "We got this Kane! I believe in you!" I yelled at my grassy bird friend. The Grimer stayed still - incapable of moving. It seemed for now anyways, the paralysis was doing its job, but I knew better than to rely on it for the rest of the battle. Even with the reduced speed from Paralysis, Kane wasn't the fastest around, it was very possible he would only be matching this Grimer in speed.
"Hit it with Leafage!" I cried out, but the puffs of leaf seemingly melted in the toxic sludge. I could hear the grass tufts sizzling inside the Pokemon's body. I messed that up. And it was clear that Joeseph wasn't going to let me live it down.
"Go back to class!, Grass moves are ineffective against poison types. His dark typing doesn't negate that!" He chided. My teeth found the flesh of my lip again, not cool. I was going to draw blood soon.
"Show them what's what with a Bite!" he demanded of his pokemon, and the Grimer chomped down on Kane's head, but he took it like a champ. I could tell it barely affected my grassy, birdbrained friend. It did minimal damage, but I wanted to minimize it further.
"Kane, show it who's boss!" I cried out, my voice wavering. I needed to get better at that, I had to trust my choices. Kane had a quick claw hung around its neck, and it glowed as it granted my little bird a speed boost. Kane growled and I gulped. In response, though sweating, Grimer emitted a poisonous gas that quickly seeped into every pore of Kane. I held my breath, unsure how I would handle the stuff.
"Hit it with a Peck Kane! Keep on the pressure!" I cried out, He did, but it didn't do much damage. I breathed out as another bite chomped down on Kane. This wasn't good. The poison was clearly draining my partner's health much quicker than we were wearing down the Grimer. It bit us in reply to the shining-light, and beak of Kane digging into Grimer's body. The poison heightened by the pressure of Grimer's teeth.
"Let's try and out maneuver it! Start a barrage of tackles" I demanded. It seemed to Keep Kane going first, if nothing else. Kane going first was vital for us to win. He dove down for a tackle, flapping his small ineffective wings. Head butting the rival pokemon. This time however, the bite didn't come. The poison was still affecting Kane, but it was clear that the Paralysis kept Grimer from returning the blow. I was filled with confidence. We could win this. I just knew it!
Another tackle, this time a bite being its just reward. It was clear that Kane and Grimer could both only take a couple more hits each. I needed that paralysis to kick in, or Mikachu would have to finish the battle, which wouldn't do well for Kane's honour. I crossed my fingers as I cried out tackle once more, glaring at Joseph. I didn't know what i was expecting, but I could see the frustration in his eyes as the paralysis held Grimer in place. I knew it, we could do this, I could feel it in my gut, as I cried don't stop and A final drop kick knocked out the poisonous dark sludge.
A rush of light surrounded Kane as he leveled up. I quickly embraced the little bird in a hug, as I dabbed at the small boy with a cotton swab. After a good minute and a half, I could tell I had cleaned off all the toxic sludge. The little bird cooed happily as it was clearly over the bout of poison. Joseph shook my hand begrudgingly, "Who needs to go back to school again?" I asked as I cocked an eyebrow and he gave me my prize money for the win. Yeah, things were going to go fine.
