Friday, November 24th, 2017

"Our next battle is the one that you've all been waiting for! This week's Featured Friday match is between two trainers who received their starters on the same day and even worked together to earn their first badge! Now they'll be battling against each other in the full four-on-four slugfest that we at the Blizzard Brawl are calling our Tommie-Johnnie match!"

As I stood in the tunnel, waiting to step onto the field, I silently groaned for what was at least the tenth time that week, regretting that someone at the Brawl had discovered the information that the announcer had just conveyed to the audience. Well, to be specific, the fact that it was discovered wasn't the problem. It was that they decided it was noteworthy enough to warrant a headliner match.

When we'd been approached about the idea, my initial reaction had been to decline, but I hadn't been able to come up with a reasonable excuse. Granted, I hadn't tried particularly hard to come up with one after seeing how excited John had been about the opportunity. He'd ecstatically told the Brawl representative yes, leaving me to reluctantly agree as well.

I realized that I should be paying attention and resumed listening to the announcer, who was thankfully still finishing up John's introduction. I stepped onto the field as my own introduction started, "On the south side is Thomas Fitzgerald! He's a generalist, unlike John, but that might not do him any favors in this particular matchup!" The crowd cheered around me as I walked into position, which was a very unnerving experience after the relative quiet of my first match.

As I reached my designated spot, I looked across the field to see John standing on the other side with a large grin on his face. The earbud that I was wearing crackled to life and I heard him say, "You ready to get this show on the road?" As he asked his question, the psychic barrier around the field went up and mercifully muffled much of the noise the crowd was making.

Feeling a bit better now that I could almost pretend that the crowd wasn't there, I returned his grin and replied, "Ready to win is more like it." Despite my initial reluctance, I wanted to do my absolute best since I knew the battle meant a lot to John and I didn't want to let him down. As such, I'd spent almost the entire previous day getting some last-minute training and strategizing in, though I'd quickly come to the same conclusion as the announcer regarding my team. Even though I had a wider range of Pokemon types than John, none of my Pokemon apart from Peren had particularly good matchups, and even Peren had an unfavorable one against John's Nidorino.

"Ooh, it's-" John started to reply, but was cut off by the referee.

"Trainers select your first Pokemon. Once you have both made your selection, the battle will begin after a countdown. Good luck." I nodded instinctively at the instructions and saw John do the same across the field.

In my mind, the selection of the first Pokemon was what would determine how the rest of the battle went, so it was what I'd spent a good chunk of time strategizing. I couldn't lead with Peren since I couldn't risk starting him against Nidorino, and Scout was eliminated for the opposite reason. With how many bad matchups she had, I wasn't willing to send her out blind either.

With both of our Pokeballs in hand, the announcer began the countdown, but she was muffled as the crowd had been. Thankfully, the countdown was displayed on the jumbotrons as well so I didn't have to strain to hear. The moment that the number one was replaced with 'Brawl!', I pressed the button on my first Pokeball. Two flashes of red light later, the first matchup was revealed to be Nin versus Drilbur.

I was slightly thrown at Drilbur's appearance since I'd expected John to lead with Rockruff but decided that it was actually better for me. Unless John had some weird tricks up his sleeve, it would be a fully melee fight, which meant Nin had slightly better odds than he would have had against Rockruff.

Through my earbud I heard John tell Drilbur to start off with Hone Claws, prompting me to quickly flick the mute switch on the transceiver clipped to my side. Now that John couldn't hear me, I told Nin, "Use Glare and Leer before getting in too close. Don't use Mean Look or Wrap though." My Pokemon sharply nodded at the instructions, then began slithering across the field as Drilbur scraped his claws together.

I felt a bit bad about telling Nin not to use the move that he had worked so hard to learn when we were finally in a situation where it was usable. However, I wanted to force John to use his one-allowed switch as soon as possible, so the last thing that I wanted to do was use a move that prevented that.

When Nin was about ten feet away from Drilbur, he stopped and lifted his head out of the grass to stare at the other Pokemon. The mole Pokemon had still been sharpening his claws while Nin got closer, but he completely froze up at Nin's appearance. A moment later, John laughed across the comms, "I should have known it would start like this."

I quickly unmuted myself to reply, "Hey, you knew what you were getting into." That prompted another laugh from John, which echoed across the otherwise silent field. With Drilbur still paralyzed, Nin continued to stare at the other Pokemon. A quick glance up at the jumbotrons confirmed my suspicion that he was using the opportunity to give the other Pokemon death glares, which I realized probably wasn't the most exciting viewing experience.

Thankfully for the audience, Nin stopped using Leer after a couple of seconds and then finished slithering forward so he was right in front of Drilbur. With Drilbur still unable to move, Nin reared back his head and then snapped it forward, hitting the other Pokemon directly on the nose. Drilbur instantly unfroze at the hit and John told his Pokemon to use Metal Claw at the same time that I shouted for Nin to keep up the pressure.

Nin started to go in for another Headbutt but was forced to shy away from the other Pokemon when large metallic claws swung towards him. The missed Metal Claw gouged the field, revealing dirt as the grass was unceremoniously stripped off, which was a good reminder for why I didn't want Nin to use Wrap. Drilbur was left slightly off-balance when his attack missed, leaving him open for Nin to whip his tail at the other Pokemon, and he once again smacked the mole Pokemon in the nose.

"Rapid Spin!" John called and Drilbur began spinning like a top before I could tell Nin to get away. Unlike the games that I was used to, Rapid Spin appeared to be a fairly dangerous move here, especially with Drilbur's sharpened claws. The Pokemon almost sounded like a buzzsaw as it chewed through the field, sending even more grass and dirt flying around. Nin tried to slither away but was quickly overtaken, though thankfully he was primarily knocked away rather than sliced up like I'd been afraid of.

That said, I could see a few cuts on my Pokemon when I glanced at the jumbotron for an enlarged picture. I couldn't immediately think of a counter to Rapid Spin so I called, "You can't fight him like that, get some distance between you!"

"Stop and use Secret Power!" John ordered and Drilbur's rotation began to slow and a second later, a wave of brown energy shot out of the Pokemon. The wave curved slightly as it moved through the air due to some residual spin, but it was low enough to the ground that it didn't matter. Not being particularly good at jumping, Nin had no way of avoiding the attack and was hit full-on by the Secret Power.

I'd figured I would see at least one Secret Power over the course of the battle, so I'd looked up the details of the move online and found that it was surprisingly well documented. In this case, the attack had been brown because Drilbur had used it on the dirt that he'd exposed, which meant that the side-effect would be an accuracy loss for Nin. Despite that downside, I knew it was still the best opportunity for him to attack so I told him to get back in there with another Headbutt.

Drilbur was still trying to recover its balance, leaving him completely open for Nin to Headbutt the other Pokemon in the chest. This time, John's Pokemon was able to retaliate after the attack and swiped at Nin with another Metal Claw, further scratching the already battered snake Pokemon. Nin attempted to use his tail to force Drilbur back with a Pound, but the swing went wide, leaving Drilbur unhampered and able to continue scratching at Nin.

John's Pokemon swiped with his claws several more times and then Nin suddenly moved and began crawling up one of Drilbur's arms. Within a second, Drilbur was completely Wrapped up with his arms pinned to his sides.

"Shake him off with another Rapid Spin," John called, which was exactly what I was afraid of. Drilbur began spinning around again, but to my surprise, Nin held firm and wasn't thrown off of the rapidly turning mole. Wrap strength was something that we had never practiced, which I belatedly realized was because I had allowed him to pick his own practice. Nin had already been confident with that aspect of his moveset so he hadn't ever picked it as something to work on.

As surprised as I was, John looked even more shocked that Nin was managing to hold on and the two of us silently watched as Drilbur continued to spin with no clear change. After about fifteen tense seconds, Drilbur finally began to slow, revealing that he was still Wrapped and that Nin had started Biting him at some point as well. John's Pokemon noticeably swayed before falling over face-first into the dirt, pinning part of Nin beneath himself.

The dull buzz of the crowd got louder and a glance at the jumbotron confirmed that the knockout had been called for Drilbur. I thought I heard the announcer saying something about an early lead as John returned his Pokemon to send Rockruff out as his second choice for the battle. Freed from Drilbur's weight, Nin shakily lifted his head off the ground, but it was obvious that he was hurt and woozy after the exchange.

Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to recover since a small rock flew from where Rockruff stood and beaned him on the top of his head. Nin was instantly knocked out from the hit and a moment later I heard the ref's voice telling me to select my next Pokemon. With a small smile, I returned Nin and quietly told his Pokeball that he'd done a great job. I then selected my next Pokemon and sent Peren out to go against Rockruff.

I'd been hoping to get John to use his swap to return Rockruff for Nidorino so I could counter with Scout, but he gave no indication of changing Pokemon. While the announcer said something about a starter battle, I muted myself to give Peren his instructions, "Try to get a Leech Seed going right away, but otherwise use Double Kick when she's close and Bullet Seed when she's far. If you can, get to that dirt that Drilbur dug up and Camouflage."

Peren nodded and cautiously began walking towards the dirt pile that I'd mentioned. Getting him switched to ground type would be a huge boon against Rockruff and Nidorino, and if John ended up sending out Wooper, then I could always have him switch back to grass. I finished considering my own orders and unmuted myself, realizing that John had likewise hidden his orders this time which made me a bit nervous.

As if to prove me right, Rockruff sat back on her haunches and started Howling, psyching herself up for the battle. Our current slow approach would mean giving Rockruff more time to prepare so I called out, "Get in there!" Peren instantly broke into a run to close the distance between the two Pokemon, then slowed when he'd gotten within about five feet of Rockruff in order to fire several seeds at her. The slowdown was prompted by the fact that the more fragile Leech Seeds needed to be fired slower and more carefully than Bullet Seeds.

As the seeds sailed through the air, John yelled, "Now!" At the command, Rockruff abruptly stopped using Howl and charged towards Peren, ducking under the seeds that sailed overhead. Peren quickly switched to using Bullet Seed in an attempt to stop the other Pokemon, but Rockruff was undeterred by the few rounds that she was hit by. When Rockruff had almost reached Peren, she opened her mouth to reveal the red teeth that I knew would be there.

"Force her back!" I ordered at the same time that Rockruff lunged. Peren kicked out with his front legs, but Rockruff's jump had been shorter than he'd expected, allowing the other Pokemon to go under his legs and land underneath him. Rockruff bit down with Fire Fang on Peren's left rear leg forcing me to yell louder in order to be heard over his pained cries, "Stomp!"

"Stomp?!" John incredulously said at the same time that Peren's other hind leg came down directly on Rockruff. The hit rattled the dog Pokemon and she released her grip on Peren to fall to the ground, looking dazed.

"Get some distance and Leech Seed," I quickly said and Peren backed up with a slight limp. Once there were a few feet between the two Pokemon, he fired off additional Leech Seeds and this time they hit their target. The seeds immediately sprouted from where they'd landed in Rockruff's fluffy tail and a green orb of energy began moving from Rockruff to Peren.

John looked torn for a moment then called, "I'm swapping!" As soon as he'd finished saying so, he returned Rockruff to prevent any further drain of his Pokemon's energy. With only one real option given my current Pokemon, he selected another Pokeball and sent out his Nidorino.

I sighed in relief at the sight of the spiky Pokemon. It hadn't happened quite the way that I'd intended, but I'd still gotten the outcome that I was originally going for. That said, with the damage that Peren had taken, I was tempted to push my luck before doing my own switch, "Try another Leech Seed!" Peren nodded and then fired a flurry of small seeds at his new opponent, only for Nidorino to use Fury Attack to burst the seeds midair with his horn. Not wanting to try to force the issue, I announced that I was swapping Pokemon as well. It almost felt like a waste to switch him out with how much progress he'd made to reaching Drilbur's dirt pile, but I knew that I should stick to my original plan.

With Peren getting a much-needed break, I sent out Scout and told her, "Keep your distance with Thunder Wave and Thundershock." I realized as I finished giving the instructions that I'd forgotten to mute myself, though it wasn't exactly an advanced strategy so I figured that was fine. While Scout worked on building up electricity for her attacks, John gave his instructions, though he did so while muted.

When John had finished, Nidorino took a moment to take a deep breath and focus himself before charging across the field towards Scout. As soon as he got in range, Scout unleashed the electricity that she'd built up, creating an oscillating wave that rippled out towards Nidorino. The wave wasn't very tall, which meant that John's Pokemon was able to hop over it as he ran. However, it did happen to tilt up at the same moment, clipping one of Nidorino's back legs, so it wasn't a complete miss.

Nidorino's leg dragged slightly as he continued making his way towards Scout, but he seemed fine otherwise. She quickly built up charge for another Thundershock, and while this time the arc of electricity hit Nidorino dead on, he didn't look particularly phased by the hit. With neither attack noticeably slowing him down, Nidorino had gotten uncomfortably close to Scout, making it her turn to run. The instant that her back was to him, Nidorino fired a Poison Sting dart out of his horn.

"Look out!" I tried to warn her, but it was already too late. The attack hit her bushy tail directly and Scout stumbled forward onto the field's grass, though her tail remained upright. That meant that even though she was lying on the ground, she was still just as big of a target as she'd been while standing. "C'mon, you can do it. Get back up," I urged Scout. She rose back to her feet, though not before getting hit by another Poison Sting when Nidorino fired another round of barbs.

Even though she'd only been hit a few times, Scout was already breathing heavily and I made a quick note that I'd have to work on her endurance before Follow Me was even an option. What mattered now was the current battle so I said, "Keep up what you were doing before, but keep an eye on him this time." Scout nodded before taking off running again, and this time she ran laterally to Nidorino so that she was able to see him the entire time.

Nidorino continued firing Poison Stings as he moved, but now that she was watching for the attack, she was able to dodge. Once the distance between the two Pokemon had been reestablished, Scout fired off another Thundershock, visibly sagging as the electricity left her body. This time, Nidorino shuddered when he was hit by the attack but I was more worried about Scout. Between how tired she looked after using the last Thundershock and the fact that Nidorino was starting to gain on her, I realized that she must have gotten poisoned.

Our current strategy only worked when Scout was able to outpace her opponent, and with that no longer being the case, we had to switch to inflicting as much damage as possible. Feeling awful about the command even as I gave it, I called out, "Just keep using Thundershock!" Scout skidded to a halt and was able to fire off two more arcs of electricity before Nidorino caught up. She was in the process of building up the charge for a third when the fight ended in the most predictable manner possible: a quick flurry of Nidorino's horn.

I softly apologized to Scout's Pokeball as I returned her, then grabbed Blitz's to send him out next. My bird Pokemon hovered in front of me expectantly and I quickly rattled off, "Get Double Team up and then stay in the sky and use Ember." Blitz didn't get a chance to acknowledge the commands since he was forced to suddenly gain height to avoid another round of Poison Stings. The fact that I hadn't noticed the incoming attack was the only reason why I didn't flinch as the purple darts shattered against the psychic barrier between me and the rest of the field.

"Sorry about that," John said from across the stage and I waved off his apology. Meanwhile, Blitz had flown over to Nidorino and started tightly circling the other Pokemon, using Double Team to create four afterimages. He then started firing Embers below and I was once again glad for the fight that we'd had with Wooloo that had prompted learning the move. While Blitz was sturdier than Scout, I still didn't want him anywhere near melee range against Nidorino given the option.

There was a clear downside to using Ember in that it didn't activate Gale Wings, so Blitz wasn't moving nearly as fast as he usually did. That made Nidorino's job of shooting Poison Stings at the Pokemon above him significantly easier than it would have been otherwise. Both Pokemon ended up having to move to avoid the other's attacks fairly frequently, which meant that Blitz's Double Team got destroyed quickly since the images couldn't dodge. On the ground, Nidorino's efforts to dodge Embers meant that the grass was beginning to get scorched, but the fire never spread with how quickly they got stamped out.

Though they hadn't lasted long, Blitz's doubles did their job well enough and Nidorino had been hit by a few real Embers while he'd been attempting to dodge a fake attack. Now by himself, Blitz continued to circle his opponent in the same manner he'd done to Glameow during the previous Brawl match. I told Blitz to set up another Double Team to keep up the pressure while absently wondering if this would be a good start for Blitz learning Fire Spin.

With no other ways of hurting Blitz, Nidorino eventually fell to Blitz's fire since avoiding the attacks was much more difficult for him. Blitz had been hit by a few Poison Stings in return and I knew that he had a bad matchup against the rest of John's Pokemon, but I still breathed a sigh of relief as Nidorino was returned. With the biggest threat to Peren taken out of the picture, we were finally in a spot I was almost comfortable with.

Even though I'd correctly guessed that John's next Pokemon was Wooper, I was left uncertain about how to approach the matchup. One of the possible approaches was quickly eliminated when Wooper began swaying back and forth, creating rain clouds at the top of the field. I hadn't really wanted to use Ember against a water type in the first place, but the rain sealed the deal on that for me. "Alright, get in there with Peck, but make sure you don't get hit," I called to Blitz over the light rain, which thankfully wasn't hitting me because of the psychic barrier.

Blitz streaked across the field towards Wooper in answer and from the looks of it, he was only slightly slowed by the rain. When he'd reached the halfway point on the field, John called out to his Pokemon and Wooper stopped his dance to shoot a stream of water. Blitz had been expecting the attack so he easily changed directions to dodge and slightly altered his course to get behind his opponent. Wooper turned to track Blitz as he flew, which made avoiding the attack quite a bit harder given that Wooper was firing a continuous stream of water instead of short bursts.

"Use Double Team and try to outlast him," I called to Blitz across the field, figuring that Wooper couldn't keep up that stream of water indefinitely. Blitz zipped back higher into the air so that he was flying higher than the peak of Wooper's stream of water, then flew around to recreate his afterimages. Wooper tried to put on another burst of water to hit Blitz, but it still wasn't enough to reach him and the stream slowly started to lose height.

"You can pace yourself," John told his Pokemon encouragingly and a few seconds later the stream of water stopped. Blitz instantly dove back down towards Wooper and I saw John grin from across the field. I tried to shout a warning, even though I knew it was too late. As I'd belatedly realized, Wooper wasn't actually running out of water, which was evidenced by the giant stream of water that erupted from the Pokemon's mouth. Blitz and all of his images were completely engulfed and he was knocked down and back several feet from the water pressure.

Once he'd gotten free of the stream, Blitz struggled to regain some height but his soaking wet feathers were not helping matters. "Dry off with Flame Charge," I called from across the field and Blitz created several small flames around himself. While Blitz had been struggling in the air, Wooper had waddled over to the hole that Drilbur had dug, then turned around and Slammed his tail down into it. A wave of water and mud erupted out of the hole, extinguishing the fire that Blitz had created and knocking him down to the ground. Blitz tried to sit up and fire a few sputtering Embers at Wooper, but the other Pokemon sprayed him in the face with another Water Gun and a knockout was declared.

I returned Blitz and sent Peren back out as I heard the announcer say that while I was down to my last Pokemon, I still had the advantage. I wasn't entirely sure how true that was given the damage that Peren had taken earlier, but I knew we at least still had a chance of getting the win.

"Try using Camouflage," I told Peren, though was disappointed when his coat turned from half tan-half orange to being fully green. I'd hoped that the wet ground would be enough to give him some much-needed water typing, but apparently, we weren't that lucky.

"Nice try," John said before muting himself to give Wooper some quiet instructions.

"Was worth a shot," I replied with a shrug before doing the same with my Pokemon. "Let's just keep this one simple. Bullet Seed to take him out as fast as possible." While it would have been nice to go for another Leech Seed to get Peren some energy back, I had a feeling that the safer call would be to knock Wooper out as quickly as possible. Peren nodded and carefully started making his way, clearly favoring the leg that Rockruff had bitten, across the wet field as the rain slowly began to taper off.

On the other side field, Wooper began to expel a dark gray mist that quickly obscured John's half of the field. Clearly remembering his experiences against Veronica's Magby, Peren hesitated at the sight and shifted his footing uncomfortably. I was fairly sure that the move was Haze, and while I couldn't remember its exact effects, I knew it wasn't harmful. "Just be careful. We don't need to rush in," I told him.

The Haze wall finally stopped advancing when it had reached about three feet away from Peren. There were a few seconds of no visible movement on the field and then a jet of water emerged from the wall, hitting Peren right in the face. He quickly shook off the water and then returned fire with a salvo of Bullet Seeds, but there was no indication if he'd actually hit or not. Five seconds later, another spray erupted from a different section of the wall, which Peren jumped out of the way of and retaliated with more Bullet Seeds.

"Just keep firing. You'll get him eventually," I told Peren and he began shooting into the Haze indiscriminately. With him focusing on attacking, the next jet of water hit Peren dead on, but his quick retaliation must have worked since a second later 'Knockout' appeared on the screens.

With my vision still obstructed, I wasn't able to see the switch, but the muffled roar of the crowd was enough to tell me that John had sent Rockruff back out. My suspicions were confirmed a moment later when I heard loud Howls coming from the other side of the Haze wall.

Like last time, I wanted to get Rockruff to stop Howling as soon as possible, but the Haze was making things a lot more difficult. If I had Peren go through, there was a chance that he'd run directly into Rockruff and even if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be able to see the fight. If we waited for her to stop on her own, it was likely that she'd be powered up enough for a single Fire Fang to take Peren down.

With no great options, I quietly told Peren, "Get a bit closer and fire Bullet Seeds at the Howls, then back up." My starter took several careful steps towards the wall, spent a few seconds firing a stream of seeds, and then backed up past where he had originally been standing. Not one second after he'd started backing up, the Howls abruptly stopped and two large clumps of dirt sailed through the Haze wall, narrowly missing him and creating holes in the wall in their wake.

Rockruff bolted through one of the holes a moment later but was immediately slowed when Peren pelted her with seeds. Despite the pressure Peren was putting on, John's Pokemon continued pushing forward, though she had to work for every inch of progress.

"Back up, but keep using Bullet Seed," I told Peren, glad that we had specifically practiced moving and attacking at the same time. He was unable to acknowledge the command while maintaining the attack, but he slowly began to step backward, keeping the distance between the two Pokemon more or less consistent. In fact, the distance was steadily growing as Rockruff tired under Peren's onslaught.

Just as I was starting to think that we had actually won, Peren took another step backward and his injured leg buckled. He quickly righted himself, but it was too late since the slight stumble had caused Bullet Seed to go wide. I watched helplessly as the suddenly unhindered Rockruff jumped forward and clamped her red teeth on Peren's front. As expected, the single attack was enough to finish the fight and Peren collapsed.

Before I even had a chance to return my knocked-out Pokemon, I was almost bowled over by the noise of the stadium as the psychic barrier disappeared. As if the cheers of the crowd weren't loud enough, the announcer's voice clearly cut in, "-makes John Zimmerman the winner of the Tommie-Johnnie match! Maybe we should've changed the order!"

Still slightly stunned by the sudden loss, I returned Peren and stared blankly across the field for several seconds. Now that it was exposed to the air of the entire stadium, the Haze wall quickly disappeared and I saw John making his way across the field towards me after he'd returned Rockruff. I suddenly remembered that we were supposed to shake hands after the battle and began trudging across the damp field.

We met in the center of the field and solemnly shook hands, then John grinned and pulled me into a bro-hug. The crowd's applause only grew at the gesture and I found that I was smiling when we separated a second later.

Speaking loudly to be heard over the crowd, John said, "Your Pokemon are great! Man, I can't believe Peren knows Stomp already."

"I don't think it's really a full Stomp," I hedged but before either of us could say anything more, the ref's voice came out of my earbud, telling us to exit the field. I wasn't sure if it was at my deflection or the referrer's sudden intrusion, but John laughed and the two of us walked off the field together while discussing the battle.


A/N: When I was originally planning this section of the story, I didn't realize that putting three battle-heavy chapters in a row might not be the best idea. Hopefully, it wasn't too bad and I'll definitely pay more attention to that in the future.

The next one will really be something different so I'll see you next time for Chapter 20: Thirty Bad Days