Saturday, November 18th, 2017
"So John mentioned you rescued your Pachirisu from some Sneasel?" Erin asked from where she sat to my left.
I shifted slightly in the uncomfortable stadium seat and looked back at her, "Yeah, there were two of them that were attacking when we found her. Why?"
Erin frowned as if she'd expected me to say that John had been wrong. "It's a little weird. Normally Sneasel steal eggs for their food and it's unusual for them to attack other Pokemon, especially something like a Pachirisu that can fight back." She paused thoughtfully and then asked, "Did she have any other injuries that would have made her easier prey?"
"The nurses at the Center didn't mention anything like that, but she was pretty badly hurt so it's possible." Erin nodded, accepting my explanation, and then returned her attention to the center of the stadium where they were setting up the field for John's match. I was about to do the same, before realizing that a ranger-hopeful might have the answer to something that I'd wondered about earlier, but then completely forgot to pursue. "Is there somewhere that I should be reporting unusual wild Pokemon behavior to? Like a pair of Sneasel attacking an otherwise healthy Pokemon or a cluster of invasive Pokemon?"
Before Erin could respond, Cait spoke up from my right, sounding a bit distracted as she wrote down notes from the previous match, "Like that Vikavolt that you mentioned before?"
That instantly caught Erin's full attention and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Where did you see a Vikavolt?"
"It was about a half a day south of Brainerd," I replied and then felt like I needed to explain, "It was a pretty stressful encounter so it took a day or two before I realized that I should have reported it." The fact that I didn't know at the time that it was an invasive species went unsaid.
In lieu of a normal response, Erin looked at the ground and grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Stupid trainers."
Still busy with her notes, Cait didn't hear Erin judging from her lack of reaction while I was taken aback. Despite my surprise, I figured that her statement wasn't entirely without merit so I apologized, "Sorry I didn't report it."
Erin looked back up at me and gave me a confused look before sharply wincing. Quickly, she clarified, "Sorry, I didn't mean you. Honestly, the fact that you asked me that makes you better than like ninety percent of trainers. I meant whoever released that Vikavolt in the first place. There shouldn't be any Thunderstones in that area and there definitely aren't any magnetic fields."
"So you think someone released it," I finished for her.
"Right," Erin said with a nod, "And now there's a probably trained and almost certainly angry bug where it shouldn't be. The good news is that it's fairly unlikely to survive the winter. Grubbin and Charjabug are a lot better at dealing with the cold than Vikavolt."
For the second time in the short conversation, I was moderately taken aback by the severity of Erin's statement. I decided not to comment on it though since even though what she said was callous, she probably was right from a purely conservational perspective.
"And to answer your question, there should be a number on the DNR website for the ranger tip-line. You can just call that and they'll send a ranger out to look into it."
"Got it, I'll keep that in mind," I said and Erin nodded approvingly. Since I didn't have anything else pressing to ask, I let the conversation die and we silently watched as the last bit of cleanup on the field was completed.
We ended up not having to wait too long since it was less than five minutes when the introductions that I suspected were pre-recorded started playing, "On the north side, is Bill, who's had some impressive showings at the Arden Thrills events over the last couple years!"
"The what?" Erin asked and looked at Cait and me for an explanation.
I was about to admit that I wasn't sure either when Cait said, "It's a local battle tent event. I've actually competed against him a few times and he's not bad. I didn't know he had his own Pokemon though."
Bill had been walking into position while Cait had been talking, and John's introduction started a second after Bill halted, "And his opponent on the south side is John! With two ground types already and a third on the way, it looks like there's a new specialist in town!"
While John moved to take his place on the field, Erin glanced over at us again, "I've never really paid attention to battles before. Would it be alright if I asked some questions during the match?"
She seemed oddly apprehensive about the entirely reasonable request so I quickly assured, "Sure, not a problem. I'll do my best to answer," I promised, glad to see that Erin was showing some interest in John's goals even if the reverse wasn't true.
Now that the introductions were finished, there was a countdown on the jumbotrons with both trainers sending out their Pokemon. There was some cheering from the rest of John's family farther down to my left, but Erin instead opted to ask, "Why did they choose those Pokemon?"
Without knowing Bill's other Pokemon, I wasn't able to confidently say why he'd chosen his Dwebble, but I could hazard a guess as to why John had picked Rockruff. "With half of John's team being ground type, he probably wanted to start with his Pokemon with the most flexibility. That way he's got at least a decent first matchup and can choose a Pokemon that's more specialized for his second."
"Alright, but why Dwebble then?" Erin asked. On the field, both Pokemon were improving their defenses with Rockruff creating clones of herself with Double Team and Dwebble's rock flashing silver as it used what I guessed was Iron Defense.
"Bill predicted that John would lead with Rockruff and so he countered with his steel type," Cait explained. I would have been thrown by her casual statement if I hadn't finally looked up the full list of Minnesotan Pokemon after her match. It was difficult to tell from a distance, but the rock on Dwebble's back was actually a large chunk of iron ore. When it eventually evolved, the ore would turn into a large steel bar in place of the rock that a normal Crustle has.
Once she'd finished creating her fifth clone, Rockruff began charging across the field towards Dwebble, whose claws took on the same metallic sheen its rock had. With its Metal Claw ready, the crustacean Pokemon started skittering towards Rockruff, though it was clear that they'd be meeting on Bill's half of the field with how much faster Rockruff was than her opponent.
While the two Pokemon charged at each other, Cait continued her explanation, "And it would have been the right call. If it wasn't for that." Right as Cait finished, Rockruff and her clones opened their mouths to bright orangish-red teeth. One of the stadium's cameras was pointed right at Bill and I could clearly see him mouth something that looked like 'shit.' Cait must have noticed too since she snorted, "And that's why trainer audio isn't broadcast anymore."
At the sight of a move that was quadruple effective against his Pokemon, Bill yelled something and Dwebble halted. The bug Pokemon braced itself against Rockruff's onslaught, only for Rockruff to likewise slow her charge. The dog Pokemon and her five clones padded around Dwebble, completely surrounding the Pokemon and leaving it uncertain which one of its opponents it actually needed to pay attention to.
Once they were in position, the six Rockruff started taking turns lunging at Dwebble, but it was able to ward off the attacks by swinging its claws at whichever Rockruff was attacking. While most of Dwebble's Metal Claws missed, a couple did connect and destroyed two of the Rockruff clones. Once there were four Rockruff on the field, they switched to attacking in opposite pairs so Dwebble couldn't counterattack both at once.
On the second such paired lunge, the real Rockruff was able to bite down with Fire Fang on one of Dwebble's arms, making the small Pokemon cry out. Rockruff shook her head slightly, exacerbating the wound before Dwebble managed to swing its other claw across its body to scratch at Rockruff's snout. John's Pokemon opened her mouth in surprise at the swipe and then dodged back to rejoin her clones. Despite her forced retreat, Rockruff appeared to be doing a lot better than Dwebble as its arm that had been bitten lay limp at its side, while Rockruff still looked mostly healthy.
With a command from Bill, that disparity was suddenly reversed when Dwebble released a wave of green energy. Rockruff couldn't dodge in time and the energy washed over her and her clones, shattering the latter. As for Rockruff, she sagged slightly and when one of the cameras zoomed in, it showed that her eyes were barely open.
"Alright, I don't actually know what that one was," I admitted before Erin could ask.
"Secret Power," Cait said without hesitation. "It has a different effect based on the terrain, with grass causing sleep. It's a very common move in the league since it's the TM that you get from the St Paul gym and just about every Pokemon can learn it."
"Oh, I actually know that one," Erin chimed in. "A lot of rangers teach it to their partner Pokemon because it can also be used to create bases in the wild. Actually, I think that's what my brother was doing before the Brawl started."
Dwebble hadn't been idle while we had been discussing its move and used Iron Defense again before slowly crawling over to where Rockruff stood. The drowsy Pokemon swayed slightly and struggled to keep her eyes open even with John shouting encouragement from across the field. Before she could be fully roused, Dwebble swung its good claw backward and then swiped forward directly into Rockruff's unguarded flank.
John's Pokemon awoke with a loud yelp and Dwebble's attack slightly backfired when Rockruff turned and bit on whatever had attacked her. Her instinctive attack didn't have the best outcome though since this time Rockruff's Fire Fang landed on Dwebble's rocky exterior rather than the Pokemon's much more vulnerable body. After what I assumed was a painful bite for both parties, Rockruff jumped backward to put some space between them.
After another call from John, Rockruff began digging at the field and within seconds she was kicking large amounts of dirt at her opponent. Dwebble was quickly buried under the onslaught of dirt and was stuck trying to use its one good claw to dig its way out. The moment that Dwebble's claw was exposed to the air, Rockruff was there and bit down on the appendage. Pulling sharply, she dragged Dwebble out of the pile of dirt and smacked Dwebble into the field's grass.
John's family cheered as 'Knockout!' appeared on the jumbotron and Bill returned his first Pokemon. While the trainer selected his second, Cait commented, "That actually went pretty well for both of them. John obviously got the first KO which is huge in a two v two, but Rockruff was hit a few times with Metal Claw. Honestly, that's just about as good as Bill could have hoped for."
Bill's second and final Pokemon turned out to be a Bellsprout, which prompted an unexpected groan from Erin. "I'll be happy if I never have to see another Bellsprout in my life." When I gave her a confused look, she explained, "I've volunteered at some Bellsprout removal projects and they're an absolute pain to deal with."
On the field, the subject of Erin's frustration dug its legs into the field where Bill had sent it out, only a few feet in front of himself. A moment later, two vines erupted from the field near Rockruff and swiped at the dog Pokemon, who was barely able to get out of the way in time.
"Mostly because they tend to do that," Erin said with a grimace as the vines took another swipe at Rockruff. This time John's Pokemon was able to jump over one of the vines, but that put her directly in the path of the second. With no way to dodge, Rockruff's teeth once again lit up with fire and she bit her opponent's attack. Bellsprout shuddered a little but quickly recovered and used the vine to slam Rockruff into the ground before she could release her bite.
Without wasting any time, Bellsprout smacked Rockruff with its second vine, leaving the dog Pokemon struggling to regain her footing. Another Vine Whip knocked Rockruff back down to the ground and John returned his Pokemon without waiting for a knockout to be called. Nidorino appeared on the field seconds later and he began dashing across the field towards Bellsprout.
Bill's Pokemon did its best to slow down Nidorino by trying to grasp or just smack the Pokemon with vines, but Nidorino was able to move mostly unscathed by either dodging or using his horn to sever the attacks. The few attacks that did hit were mostly shrugged off, forcing Bill to change tactics and give a new order. A moment later, Bellsprout stopped attacking with its vines and shook itself, causing a small cloud of powder to fall off its body and start drifting towards Nidorino.
After a command from John, Nidorino stopped in his tracks right before the cloud and eyed it warily. He then tilted his head back and made an odd rumbling bark before turning his attention back to Bellsprout and glaring at the other Pokemon. Bellsprout also took the opportunity to use a status move and grew slightly larger before resuming its efforts to hit Nidorino with Vine Whip.
"Do you think that's Stun Spore or Sleep Powder?" I idly wondered as Nidorino was forced to resume dodging and severing Bellsprout's vines.
"Stun Spore," Cait answered confidently. "Sleep is good for getting a single hit in, but that won't be enough given the type matchup. Stun Spore would at least give Bellsprout a chance."
"It can't be Poison Powder because Nidorino is immune right?" Erin asked. When I told her that was right, Erin looked relieved, "Okay, good, I wanted to make sure. Type biology isn't really something I've studied."
On the field, Bellsprout's attacks had shifted slightly so that it was no longer trying to hit Nidorino, but rather herd him into the powder. Unfortunately for it, Nidorino was able to continue using his horn and spikes to slice through Bellsprout's vines and was only forced to take a couple of steps towards the cloud of Stun Spore. After the fifth of Bellsprout's vines was severed, there was a noticeable slowdown in the rate of attacks, finally giving Nidorino some much-needed breathing room. Around the same time, the Stun Spore cloud slowly began drifting down to the ground and the powder settled into the grass between the two Pokemon.
Now that he wasn't having to constantly dodge and had a clear view of his opponent, Nidorino reared his head back and then snapped it back forward at Bellsprout. About a dozen small purple darts shot out of his horn at the motion and flew towards Bellsprout. The plant Pokemon tried to dodge the move, and while it had limited success with moving its wiry body out of the way, its head and leaves were pelted by Nidorino's Poison Sting.
At John's command from across the stage, Nidorino suddenly leaped across the section of the field where Stun Spore had settled. Still reeling from the flurry of Poison Stings, Bellsprout was unable to react in time and Nidorino's horn connected in the middle of his opponent's head. Bellsprout's body crumpled to the ground, leaving it in an uncomfortable-looking position with its legs still stuck in the ground as 'Knockout' appeared on the screens.
Both trainers returned their Pokemon and then began walking towards the center of the stage for their post-match handshake. Bill had to walk around the edge of the field to avoid the remnants of the Stun Spore, so the two trainers ended up shaking hands on the sidelines instead of in the middle of the field.
While John's family and I cheered and applauded, Cait returned her attention to her notebook to jot some things down. As the stadium's noise started to die down, I heard her hum and quietly comment, "John must have taken my advice and worked on Nidorino's accuracy to go for that maneuver."
Erin wasn't quite as rambunctious as the rest of her family and must have also heard since she stopped clapping to ask, "What do you mean?"
Cait looked momentarily startled at the question before explaining, "Nidorino's ability makes it more powerful, but less accurate. If he'd missed or messed up the jump, then he would have landed right in the Stun Spore so John must have been confident before deciding to go with that final Peck. Honestly, the smarter and safer play would have just been to stay at range and keep using Poison Sting."
"John doesn't always go for the smart play," Erin snickered. "Thanks for the explanations by the way."
Cait and I had barely said that it wasn't a problem when the rest of John's family jumped to their feet to try to find John. It only took the six of us a few minutes to find John and give him his loud congratulations, with Julie being particularly vocal about how cool the battle had been. John's dad suggested that the seven of us go out to dinner together, but I begged off joining them, saying that I wanted to get some last-minute practice in for my match the next day.
My decision was met with some disappointment, but they finally accepted it after I'd repeated the lie a few times. I wasn't willing to risk myself getting sucked into the illusion of family like I had when I'd stayed at their house.
Sunday, November 19th, 2017
Cait looked around Nicollet Park and was disappointed, though not surprised, at how empty it was. Yesterday there had been about fifty people in the stands for John's match, but that number was significantly lower for Thomas's debut. Cait felt bad that Thomas's first match wouldn't have the same number of spectators that she and John had, though it was expected given that it was a novice tier match in the late afternoon on a Sunday.
Most people weren't terribly interested in watching novice matches in the first place, since the default two versus two format admittedly didn't always lend itself to the most interesting matches. And many of the people who were interested in watching the lowest-ranked trainers compete had already done so either yesterday or earlier in the day and had since left the stadium. For her part, Cait didn't understand the people that left after only a few hours of watching matches. Even now that she was a contestant and didn't have to pay the admission fee, her plan was to watch as many matches as possible while the Brawl was running.
Ultimately, it was bad luck that Thomas had got this battle slot since being earlier in the day was just about the only way to get any attention in the novice league. The Brawl itself barely promoted the division, which Cait somewhat suspected was an intentional move to try to incentivize trainers to earn more badges. With the amateur and above leagues featuring more experienced trainers and Pokemon, there was significantly more public interest there, which meant more money for the Brawl and for the competing trainers. Cait once again differed from the majority in that she enjoyed watching novice matches as much as other tiers since it was an opportunity to observe trainers develop both their teams and themselves.
John was evidently thinking along the same lines since he abruptly commented, "This sucks. There's barely twenty people in the stands." Cait absently nodded, though the next thing that John said got her full attention, "It's too bad that Thomas's parents couldn't be here."
"They could have been here if they wanted to," Cait replied hotly.
"What?" John asked and gave her an incredulous look, "Cait, they're dead."
Cait shook her head at the assertion and started to reply, "No. No, he said that-," then trailed off as she worked to recall exactly what Thomas had told her. She had tortured herself for almost a week by replaying their meeting in her head so even now, months later, she was fairly certain that she accurately remembered it. When she reframed the conversation with what John claimed, it did make sense, but something still seemed off. Now unsure what to think, Cait lamely finished, "He said he was homeless."
John grimaced at the reminder of their rival's exact situation and then a moment later, he raised his eyebrows with understanding, "So you thought his parents kicked him out once he became a trainer?" Cait was still struggling to reconcile the information so she simply nodded again, allowing John to continue, "That's not unheard of, so I get why you thought that, but I'm pretty sure it's not what happened to Thomas. He seemed completely broken up when the topic came up."
The two trainers fell silent and didn't resume their conversation when John's family returned from their trip to the concession stands. Cait absently thanked Julie when she was handed a hotdog and slowly began eating the mediocre stadium fare. She had fully accepted her original assumption about what Thomas had said, but now she had a nagging feeling that there was something else that she and John were missing. The only thing that distracted Cait from her musings was when she was surprised by Erin sitting on her right instead of with the rest of her family.
Cait was still thinking about the matter when the introductions for the match started, "Your trainer on the north side is Thomas! He earned two quick badges, then didn't challenge any gyms for over a month. What sort of training has he been up to since his last challenge?!" Cait watched as Thomas walked onto his place on the field, suspecting that he hadn't done nearly as much training as the announcer was trying to imply. Once he was in place, his opponent's simpler introduction played, "Currently sitting at three badges, Veronica narrowly missed promoting into the amateur league last week during a close match with Meggan!"
Cait frowned slightly at the news that Veronica had almost made it into the amateur league and considered it another sign of Thomas's bad luck. She knew better than most that there wasn't actually that big of a difference between a two and four badge trainer, but going against someone more experienced was always tough.
The two trainers on their field sent out their first Pokemon, revealing that the first matchup would be Thomas's Fletchinder, Blitz, versus Veronica's Glameow. As the two Pokemon materialized, John leaned over and asked, "Did you look up her roster? I forgot to."
"Yes, her other Pokemon are Diglett, Magby, Pinsir, and Remoraid," Cait replied as she considered both trainers' leads. Blitz was a fairly good choice on Thomas's end since he only had one bad matchup, and that was against a Pokemon that Veronica would have been unlikely to lead with due to its possible opponents. On the other hand, Glameow was a slightly unusual choice since Magby was more favorable against Thomas's team as a whole. The fact that Veronica had gone with Glameow despite that made Cait concerned that the surprisingly versatile Pokemon would have something up its sleeve.
To start off the battle, Blitz darted across the field with a Quick Attack towards Glameow, whose eyes had begun to glow purple. Cait immediately recognized the move as Hypnosis and John must have been able to identify it as well since he off-handedly commented, "Man, our opponents have really liked their status moves."
Cait didn't spend any time considering John's observation beyond agreeing before returning her full attention to the battle. Thomas had clearly warned Blitz not to meet Glameow's gaze since he had switched moves to Ember, but the move was having little success actually making contact. Cait made a quick mental note to suggest to Thomas that he practice using both moves at the same time in order to create a line of fire while still moving at full speed.
Even though none of the fire had actually hit his opponent yet, Blitz's Embers had the desired effect as Glameow was quickly forced to abandon its Hypnosis attack when the grass around it started to ignite. However, his suboptimal speed suddenly became a factor when Glameow leaped into the air and Scratched at Blitz before he could react. Both Pokemon fell to the ground together, but Blitz was able to force his opponent back with another quick stream of Embers before Glameow could press its advantage.
Blitz took back to the sky and began flying in quick circles above Glameow, using Double Team to create several afterimages. Once it looked like there were four of Blitz in the air, he resumed unleashing streams of Embers at Glameow, who reacted in a similar way to last time. Veronica's Pokemon once again jumped into the air to attack one of the Blitz, only to twist its body at the last second and hit the real one with another swipe of its claws.
"That was a lucky hit," John loudly complained at the same time that Erin muttered something along the same lines.
"It was Feint Attack," Cait pointed out, then for Erin's benefit added, "It's a move that always hits."
This time, Blitz managed to stay in the air after being hit by the other Pokemon, though he did have to flap his wings extra hard to regain his balance. Instead of opting to use Ember for the third time, Blitz's wings began to glow white as he dove down towards Glameow, who had gracefully landed on the burnt grass after its last attack. Despite Blitz's quick approach, Glameow moved almost lazily as it opened its mouth before expelling a large ring of water that flew up towards its opponent.
Blitz instantly reacted to the Water Pulse by tucking in his wings and diving straight through the ring as the glow of his attack shifted from his wings to his beak. Another quick Water Pulse was fired off from Glameow's mouth when Blitz was barely inches away from his target and this one was too close and too tight for him to be able to avoid it in the same way. The blast of water knocked Blitz off-course and Glameow instantly pounced, pinning Blitz to the ground by standing on his chest. Blitz tried to repeat his previous success by shooting another round of Embers at Glameow, but another Water Pulse extinguished the flames and knocked out Thomas's first Pokemon.
"That was a rough one," John said with a wince and Cait wasn't able to disagree. Other than some singed whiskers, Glameow was almost completely unharmed, leaving Thomas in a one versus two fight. Thomas took several seconds to consider who to use in the lopsided fight before sending his starter out. John frowned at the choice, "Wait, why not Nin?"
Cait was likewise uncertain about her rival's choice so she gave the only answer that she could think of, "Maybe he thought that Nin would have troubles against Glameow?" It wasn't entirely an approach that Cait agreed with, given that Peren would have a much harder second matchup against Veronica's Pokemon than Nin would have had.
On the field, Thomas gave some quick instructions to his Pokemon, who nodded before closing his eyes. A few seconds later, a large seed sprouted from the flower atop Peren's head, which the Pokemon launched into the air. Bizarrely, the seed went straight up in the air instead of towards Glameow, and Peren snatched it out of the air with his mouth.
"Um, what move was that?" Erin cautiously asked as Peren swallowed the seed and started walking towards the center of the field.
"I'm… not sure," Cait admitted and a glance revealed that John looked as lost as she felt. Leech Seed was a move that Deerling learned fairly early on, but she couldn't think of a single reason why a Pokemon would use it on themselves.
Unconcerned by Cait's, and likely much of the audience's, confusion, Peren continued his trek towards Glameow, being careful to avoid the patches of grass that were still ablaze. Despite the drastic speed difference between her two opponents, Glameow took the same approach as the previous fight, sitting down on the burnt section of the field and staring at Peren with glowing purple eyes. Peren completely ignored the threat of being put to sleep and kept walking forward until he arrived at the field's midpoint. A moment after stopping, more seeds began emerging from his flower, though these ones shot towards Glameow at blistering speeds.
For several seconds, Glameow tried to ignore the attack and maintain its Hypnosis, but the Bullet Seeds were ruining its concentration. The purple glow quickly faded from Glameow's eyes, though Cait was left wondering how Peren had been completely unaffected by the move, despite staring directly at the other Pokemon for at least ten seconds. Suddenly it clicked into place and she realized that the first seed that Peren had created must have been a Worry Seed. Slightly impressed that Thomas had already taught his Pokemon several non-standard moves, Cait was forced to reevaluate her assumption that he hadn't done much training during his tenure as a research assistant.
With Hypnosis not an option, Glameow started running across the field towards Peren, but its task was made much more difficult by the seeds that Peren continuously pelted it with. Glameow tried to fire back with Water Pulse several times as it moved, but each of the rings were easily popped by Peren's Bullet Seed before they got too close. Once it reached about five feet away from Peren, the battered Glameow suddenly leaped forward, landing a clean Scratch on Peren's front.
Peren had clearly been surprised by how quickly Glameow had closed the remaining distance and Veronica's Pokemon jumped again to press its advantage. Peren was able to react this time and reared back to kick his opponent back down to the ground. Glameow lay stunned on the burnt grass for a couple of seconds and Peren used the opportunity to back up rather than press his advantage. Once Glameow had managed to stagger back to its feet, the Pokemon repeated its previous pounce, but once again Peren used Double Kick to knock it down. This time, Glameow stayed down after being hit.
"That went well, but now he has to face either Magby or Pinsir," John said glumly. "Not loving those odds."
Sure enough, Veronica returned her Glameow and after a moment of deliberation sent out her Magby. The small Pokemon immediately spewed out a line of Embers towards Peren, but Thomas's starter was easily able to dodge due to the distance. Undeterred by the fact that all its first attack had accomplished was to reinvigorate the fire burning the field, Magby continued breathing fire at his opponent.
This time, Peren didn't move to avoid the Embers approaching him, and instead his entire body flashed white. When the light faded, Peren's coat had changed colors so that it was the same ashen gray as the burnt grass beneath his hooves. Magby's Ember attack washed over Peren a second later but he barely seemed to notice.
"Whoo! Let's go!" John loudly cheered, which earned him quite a few stares in the mostly empty stadium. John's face flushed at the sudden attention and in a much more subdued voice added, "He's definitely got this now." Erin tried and failed to not laugh at her brother's gaffe, while Cait smiled tightly. Thomas definitely had a better chance now, but she didn't quite share John's confidence.
Meanwhile, Peren had closed some of the distance between the two Pokemon and had started kicking up the dirt beneath his hooves, sending ash and dust flying through the air towards Magby. Veronica had hesitated at her opponent's sudden type change and finally gave a new command to her Magby, who was shaking off the dust that had landed on it. The red Pokemon began spewing purple haze out of its mouth, which slowly began moving to cover the field's floor. Peren kept trying to use Sand Attack to force his opponent to stop its new attack, but Magby simply angled its head down to protect its eyes and continued using Smog.
With Sand Attack not having the desired effect, Thomas gave another order and Peren began running at Magby. With Magby looking at the ground and the Smog somewhat blocking his trainer's view, Peren was able to reach the other Pokemon unhindered and hit it with a full-speed Tackle. Magby was knocked backward from the hit but was somehow able to maintain its footing and immediately spewed another cloud of Smog directly into Peren's face.
Peren shuddered as the poisonous attack hit him and shook his head to try to recover. While he was doing so, Magby switched to expelling a much thicker, white smoke that billowed out across the field. The mixture of Smog and Smokescreen quickly reached the edges of Nicollet Park's smaller field and the off-purple cloud slowly began to gain more height. Having cleared his head, Peren once again charged at Magby, but the other Pokemon pushed out another puff of Smokescreen before ducking and disappearing beneath the cloud.
Peren paused for a moment, trying to find any sign of his opponent, then started firing Bullet Seeds at seemingly random areas of the cloud of smoke. Even with the aid of the cameras watching the battle, Cait didn't have any better idea of where Magby's position was. The one thing that she did know was that Peren's Bullet Seeds were firing at a much slower rate than they had when he'd been shooting at Glameow.
"Magby has to be poisoned in there too, right?" John asked, clearly trying to find some hope in the suddenly unfavorable situation.
Cait frowned, "Yes, but that doesn't really matter. Peren has already taken more hits and his exposure was much worse than Magby's."
Peren continued firing Bullet Seeds with no apparent effect for several seconds, then suddenly the cloud of smoke and smog was pushed away, fully revealing both Pokemon. Magby looked only slightly worse for the wear after its stint hiding in the poisonous clouds and Peren started to turn to face the other Pokemon. Before Peren could retaliate, Magby followed its Clear Smog with another round of Embers and the fire hit Peren dead on.
Now breathing heavily, Peren lunged at Magby for another Tackle which Magby moved to match. The one difference was that a ring of fire appeared around Magby and then burst when the two Pokemon collided. Unfortunately, Magby's Flame Wheel was more than Peren could handle and Thomas's Pokemon dropped unceremoniously to the floor of the stadium. After it had been blown back by Clear Smog, the purple cloud had slowly started to creep back to cover the field, but a beam of red light returned Peren before he was covered.
"Dang, I really thought he had that," John said as the two trainers walked around the edge of the field. "It's too bad that we couldn't all get wins in our first matches, but I guess that was still a pretty good showing." Cait nodded slowly, but her full attention was on the stadium screen that was showing Thomas. She had watched plenty of trainers react to wins and losses over the years, but none of them had ever looked quite as indifferent as Thomas did while he shook his opponent's hand.
A/N: So you know how I said that Camouflage wouldn't be in every fight? Turns out that with how many weaknesses Normal/Grass has, changing types is a very useful option to have.
Thanks to krazykz and Star for their beta help. Next up is Chapter 19: Rival Two
