Episode 13: Pokémon roulette!
"Is wartortle alright?" Brittany asked as Fay handed her a pokéball.
"Just fine. Niko, so is prinplup. He just needs a bit of rest, but he seems to be doing great otherwise." Fay said, turning to Niko and handing him a pokéball as well.
"Thanks, Fay. I appreciate that." Niko said. He then turned to Lauren, who was on the phone talking to her father back in Canalave City. He didn't want to intrude, and so turned and followed Brittany and Fay to a booth to relax for a bit.
They had just arrived on Circus Island, a small land mass in the middle of route 230 whose sole purpose is to host the Battle Arcade and all of the employers there. And while it was a small town, the group only had one interest in mind—the fifth frontier facility, and hopefully the fourth Frontier Print. After defeating the brain here, Niko and Lauren would set themselves up to rematch Palmer in the Fight Area.
Once Lauren was finished with her conversation, she walked over to join the group at their booth. Sitting down, she looked up at Niko and smiled cheerfully.
"How was the call?" Niko asked, not only curious but also asking for the sake of conversation.
"Fine. He was just wondering how I was doing, and that he's proud of me." She said, looking down at the table now. "He also wanted to know what I'm doing next. I told him I don't know yet." In that moment, Lauren looked a little melancholic.
"Well, we'll figure it out after we beat Palmer, alright?" Niko replied with a seemingly genuine smile. Lauren nodded, smiling and leaning in to Niko.
That evening, the group showed up to the Battle Arcade after relaxing in the Pokémon Center for a couple of hours. Like they noticed hours earlier, the facility was just a massive tent with articular domes. As they entered, the group noticed that the facility was dimly lit with strange patterns on the walls and floors, sort of resembling a circus tent. In the center of the facility was a large battlefield with the shape of a pokéball in the center. Only instead of the usual beige-colored field, this one was half red, and half black. On the sides of the tent were a litany of slot machines and other sorts of arcade games.
"Hello! Welcome to the Battle Arcade! How may I help you?" A young man in a suit said as he quickly approached the group.
"Hi, I'm Niko, and this is Lauren. We're here to challenge the Frontier Brain."
"Ah. Of course. The Arcade Star is free at the moment. Will you be battling together or individually?"
"Individually."
"Of course. Let me confirm her availability, then. One moment." He said before spinning around on his foot and walking away.
The group stood there, marveling at the arcade setting. At one point, JJ wanted to go and play some of the games, but Fay halted him. "Not right now. After Niko and Lauren win." He said, tugging on JJ's t-shirt.
"Fine." The curly blonde said in an oddly childish tone. Just as he said this, the person who greeted them returned.
"Arcade Star Dahlia accepts your challenges. Who will go first?" Niko stepped forward. "Very well. Niko, right? Please give me the three pokémon that you wish to compete with."
"Oh. Really?" Niko asked.
"Indeed. These battles are for show. And the unique style of battle requires it." He said. Niko then hesitated, pulling out three pokéballs and handing them to the man. "Excellent. I will be right back." He said, before taking them to one end of the field. There was a massive monitor that displayed 16 different squares and six pokéballs, three on each side. Suddenly, Niko's three pokémon showed up on the left side, and on the right, were a dusknoir, medicham, and ludicolo. The man came back and handed Niko his pokémon and then walked back to the middle of the field, typically where a judge stood.
Just then, the lights all dimmed and focused on the opposite end of the battlefield. Out of seemingly nowhere, a tall woman with vine-like black hair, a yellow long-sleeve crop top, fitting blue pants, and yellow heels appeared. She began dancing, as if listening to some pop song.
"You!" She said, pointing to Niko while dancing, and apparently singing as well. "No need to worry. Let chance do what it does. Like surprises from the game board, life goes through twists and turns. No need to worry. Things will go as they will. But, enough of that. I know one thing for certain. You have arrived here not merely because you were lucky. Let us not waste any time. I wish to test your skills myself!" She pulled out a pokéball. "I accept your challenge!"
Niko grinned as he pulled out a pokéball as well. His friends took their seats in the stands, just as several strangers did the same. It was clear to them that being able to witness a match with the Arcade Star was a privilege in and of itself.
"Dusknoir, I choose you!"
"Magmar, let's go!" Niko shouted, summoning the spitfire pokémon for his first official battle. Just as he did so, both pokémon froze for a moment as the monitor above the judge lit up. "What the—?"
"Ah, child, you don't know anything about the Battle Arcade, do you?" Dahlia asked with a smirk. Niko shook his head in response. "Each battle is three-on-three, but there's a twist. Every time a new pokémon is sent out, the roulette wheel is spun on the monitor. "She motioned her hand to the monitor, which instantly showed an image of a wheel with red, purple, and gray spaces on it. "The wheel will either land on a red, purple, or gray space. If it lands on red, then my pokémon are affected. If it lands on purple, then yours are affected. If it lands on gray, then the field is affected. Understand?" Niko nodded. "Very well. Let us spin the wheel, and see where we land!"
The wheel on the monitor began to spin rapidly, the three colors merging seemingly merging into one. Eventually, it began to slow down and ultimately landed on red. Dahlia raised an eyebrow with a look of interest, rather than concern. Then, a list of afflictions appeared, and they began lighting up, one by one, until it eventually landed on one.
Suddenly, dusknoir fell asleep.
"Ah, this'll be interesting." Dahlia said, striking a pose. "Let's begin!"
"Magmar, sunny day!" Niko commanded, and magmar looked up to the ceiling and raised his hands to the side. Suddenly, the dimmed lights became irrelevant as the room brightened significantly. "Now, flamethrower!"
The spitfire pokémon unleashed a jet of flame that successfully hit the sleeping dusknoir, who couldn't do much to defend itself. Magmar kept this up for some time until he and Niko noticed blue flames emitting from dusknoir. Suddenly the flamethrower was broken and dusknoir was awake, shooting out blue flames everywhere.
"Shadow punch!" Dahlia commanded, thrusting her hand forward. The gripper pokémon punched forward, shooting a spectral fist at its opponent.
"Fire punch to counter!" Niko commanded. Magmar retaliated, the sunny day empowering him further. He met the shadow punch and easily repelled it before charging forward towards dusknoir. "Fire punch again!"
"Trick room!" Dahlia commanded, and suddenly a large light blue rectangle with light blue walls and ceiling appeared on the field, all transparent. As soon as it appeared, the room disappeared again. Niko then noticed magmar slow down significantly, while dusknoir moved at the speed magmar previously did, hurling shadow punches left and right, knocking the spitfire pokémon backwards and onto the ground.
"Magmar, flamethrower!" Niko commanded. Luckily, sunny day was still in effect. He could still count on that. Just as dusknoir launched a shadow punch at magmar while the latter was still on the ground. Magmar took the hit before unleashing a powerful jet of flame at dusknoir, engulfing it in fire and causing it float around frantically. "Now, finish it off with fire punch!"
"Dusknoir, shadow punch!" Dahlia shouted, but it was no use. Even when slowed by the trick room, magmar managed to land a powerful fire punch on dusknoir, knocking it into the wall of the trick room and causing it to reappear briefly.
"Dusknoir is unable to battle, magmar wins!" The judge declared. "Arcade Star Dahlia will now send out her next pokémon!"
"Medicham, I choose you!" Dahlia commanded. As soon as medicham appeared, the roulette appeared once more and began to spin. This time, it landed on a gray tile, and then a new list of conditions appeared.
Suddenly, a sandstorm erupted.
"Medicham, use zen headbutt!" Dahlia shouted. Through the sand, the meditation pokémon charged forward, its head erupting with light blue sparks.
"Magma, flamethrower!" Niko shouted. However, he noticed the fire was weaker than before. The sunny day is gone…He thought to himself. In the moment, though, it didn't occur to him that he could change the weather.
Nevertheless, medicham charged through the flamethrower and hit magmar, knocking him backwards through the sand. The spitfire pokémon shook his head and brushed sand off of his body before getting back up. Medicham charged forward once more to attack, but magmar was ready this time. He launched a fire punch at medicham's head. But just like with the flamethrower, the attack was weaker, and the zen headbutt hit regardless, knocking magmar to the ground once again.
"Magmar is unable to battle, medicham wins!" The judge declared. "Challenger Niko will now send out his second pokémon!"
"Magmar, return. You did good, buddy. I'm really proud of you." He grinned, looking up to see the pokémon Dahlia had. Noticing her third pokémon was a ludicolo, he knew that he needed to save one of his pokémon for it. This information made his decision to use his second pokémon easier. "Prinplup, I choose you!"
Just as the penguin landed on the field, the roulette reappeared and the sandstorm dissipated. The wheel spun a third time, this time landing on a purple tile. Like with red and gray, another list of afflictions appeared.
Prinplup cried out as he briefly lit on fire, leaving several burn marks on his flippers and back.
"It's okay, prinplup. We can win this still. Use hydro pump!"
"Medicham, zen headbutt!" Dahlia shouted. The meditation pokémon charged forward, running through the hydro pump and still hitting prinplup, who managed to land a drill peck as medicham collided with him.
Both pokémon fell to the floor, prinplup already exhausted after using a couple of attacks. Niko commanded him to use drill peck once more.
"Endure!" Dahlia shouted. A white aura surrounded medicham as it took the drill peck while still standing up. "Now, reversal!"
"Block it with metal claw!" Niko commanded. Several small orbs surrounded medicham as it tackled prinplup, launching it across the field and well past Niko. Prinplup slowly got back up before lighting on fire once more. The burn was taking effect. "You can do this. You're tough, prinplup! Use hydro pump!"
"Medicham, zen headbutt!"
Prinplup charged forward until he got back on the field, using a powerful hydro pump up close on medicham. This time, the psychic type didn't run through the attack, and instead shot backwards before rolling across the field.
"Drill peck!" Niko commanded. Prinplup charged forward and landed once final attack on medicham, who was unable to get back up.
"Medicham is unable to battle, prinplup wins!" The judge declared. "Arcade Star Dahlia will now send out her final pokémon!"
As Niko expected, Dahlia summoned her ludicolo to the stage. As soon as the carefree pokémon appeared, the wheel spun for a fourth time. This time, it landed on a gray space, and forced another trick room to appear.
"Ludicolo, swords dance!" Dahlia commanded.
"Use drill peck!" Niko commanded. Prinplup rushed forward, his beak elongating. However, his opponent suddenly commanded a torrent of green leaves to shoot towards prinplup, hitting the penguin and knocking him onto his back. "Prinplup!"
"Use drain punch!" Dahlia commanded. A swirling white and beige aura surrounded ludicolo's fist as he slammed it down onto prinplup, absorbing the penguin's energy. Ludicolo then took a step back as prinplup lay there, unable to battle.
"Prinplup is unable to battle, ludicolo wins! Challenger Niko will send out his final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Return, prinplup. Great job, buddy. Now, let's finish this. Staraptor, I choose you!"
"I knew that was your strategy. Saving staraptor for last. Well done." Dahlia smirked. The wheel then appeared once more, this time landing on a red tile, and then suddenly ludicolo was paralyzed. "Oh. Well then, that'll make things a little more difficult. No need to worry though, ludicolo. We'll still win this."
"Staraptor, aerial ace!" Niko commanded. The predator pokémon then rose into the air, flying in a backwards circle before diving down at ludicolo, white tendrils emanating from his beak. Like usual, Niko began to notice blue sparks also emitting from staraptor, but thought nothing of it for the moment as the flying type crashed into his stunned opponent.
As staraptor returned over to his end of the field, flying above Niko, ludicolo began to move again. They aren't making this easy for us, Niko thought to himself. He then commanded staraptor to use quick attack while ludicolo was using swords dance.
This time, however, the blue sparks became more apparent. Niko looked up with awe as staraptor was completely engulfed in light blue energy, sparking every which way as he crashed into ludicolo, who managed to land a drain punch in the process.
"Brave bird…interesting choice." Dahlia observed. "Didn't seem to do you too much good, considering ludicolo sapped more of your energy." She smirked. "Use waterfall!"
Ludicolo began to glow bright blue as he jumped upwards, slamming a palm into staraptor while begin covered in a coat of water, launching the two upwards.
"Double team!" Niko commanded. Staraptor quickly duplicated himself to evade the rest of the attack before flying around the field, high up in the air. "Now, aerial ace!"
Staraptor dove back down once more, hitting ludicolo in the chest and dragging the carefree pokémon across the field before knocking it onto its back. Staraptor then returned to Niko's side as ludicolo tried getting back up.
"Ludicolo is unable to battle, staraptor wins! The victory goes to the challenger, Niko!" The judge declared. The crowd—including Niko's friends—erupted in applause.
"Great job, staraptor. And it looks like you learned a new move, too!" He said as staraptor also smiled. Dahlia then nodded approvingly, walking into some backroom, presumably to heal her pokémon. This was the first time Niko saw his challenger doing so since battling Palmer back in the Fight Area.
He then returned staraptor and proceeded to join his friends in the stands, only to see Lauren standing there as usual.
"Congrats." She said softly, hugging Niko and kissing his cheek. "You killed it."
"And so will you." Niko said, returning the hug before heading off to join their friends. Like with before, the judge took Lauren's three pokémon and entered them into some machine under the monitor. Dahlia's team didn't seem to change, though, and only the left side of the monitor changed to display Lauren's three pokémon.
Once she was given her pokéballs back, she pocketed two of them and waited for Dahlia to appear. She looked up at her three new opponents, who were arranged in no particular order, and smiled.
"Alright then. Well, Lauren, I hope for this battle to be just as exciting as the previous. Dusknoir, I choose you!"
"Haunter, let's go!" Lauren shouted, also summoning her ghost type. Once more, the wheel began spinning, eventually landed on purple. Suddenly, haunter found himself unable to move.
"Dusknoir, shadow punch!" Dahlia commanded. The gripper pokémon then shot out a spectral punch, and repeated the attack while haunter continued to take each hit in succession. Lauren grit her teeth—this was not going well, and they just began the fight.
Haunter, who through his paralysis remained in the air, floated down to the ground from the constant onslaught of shadow punches. Eventually, Lauren noticed him trying to move; the paralysis was wearing off quicker than expected.
"Fight through it, haunter! Use dark pulse!"
"Shadow punch!" Dahlia shouted. Dusknoir attempted to launched another spectral fist, only for it to be destroyed by the oncoming nexus of dark energy that haunter focused at his opponent. Dusknoir, hit in the chest, was launched backwards, rolling through the air as haunter began his own barrage of shadow punches.
"Now, hypnosis!" Lauren commanded.
"Will-o-wisp!" Dahlia directed. The blue flames were exchanged for the red hypnotic rings as dusknoir collapsed to the ground, asleep, while haunter took a nasty burn from the blue fire. However, despite the burn, haunter and Lauren had an advantage.
"Shadow punch!" Lauren commanded. Just as haunter launched a spectral punch at his opponent, he lit up on fire; the burn was taking effect. Lauren grit her teeth again. "Use dark pulse now!"
Haunter continued to wail on dusknoir, each attack successfully hitting. However, it didn't take long for dusknoir to awaken. The gripper pokémon unleashed a flurry of shadow punches. Haunter parried with his own spectral punches, but also mixed in a dark pulse into it, which hit dusknoir square in the chest, knocking the ghost type over.
Haunter began to pant heavily. The match was more exhausting than normal. Once more, he lit on fire and collapsed to the ground just as dusknoir did.
"Dusknoir and haunter are both unable to battle! Challenger Lauren and Arcade Star Dahlia will now send out their next pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Infernape, I choose you!" Lauren shouted.
"Medicham, let's go!" Dahlia said. As soon as medicham entered the field, the wheel reappeared on the monitor and began to spin. This time, it landed on red, and medicham suddenly caught fire, leaving a burn mark on it. "Zen headbutt!" Dahlia shouted.
"Infernape, mach punch!" Lauren commanded. To meet the meditation pokémon, medicham charged forward and slammed her fist into medicham's light blue sparkling head. The impact of the collision rippled across the field. "Flare blitz!"
"Endure!" Dahlia shouted. Just as medicham was about to use endure, the burn ignited once more, forcing the psychic type to fall to its knee, but nevertheless use endure as infernape engulfed it once more in fire. "Now, reversal!"
"Dodge and use blast burn!" Lauren commanded. Infernape jumped backwards a few times, dodging the orbs of reversal before slamming her fist into the ground. A wave erupted underneath the field before bursting upwards on medicham, further covering the meditation pokémon in blue fire.
"Medicham…zen headbutt!" Dahlia shouted. Medicham lowered its head and charged towards its opponent. Meanwhile, infernape stood still, awaiting Lauren's command and resting from the blast burn.
"Mach punch!" Lauren commanded. Infernape attempted to use mach punch, but zen headbutt ultimately hit first, knocking the flame pokémon backwards and onto the ground. "Alright, fine. Use flare blitz this time!"
Infernape covered herself in orange fire as she burst forward at an exhausted medicham, who still felt the effects of the burn. This time, the attack succeeded in hitting medicham, launching the psychic type across the field. It landed at Dahlia's feet, defeated.
"Medicham is unable to battle, infernape wins! Dahlia will now send out her final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Ludicolo, let's go!" Dahlia commanded. As soon as ludicolo entered the field, the roulette began to spin again. Now, it landed on purple, and infernape instantly collapsed onto her face, sound asleep. Dahlia smirked. "Use waterfall!"
Blue water surrounded ludicolo as the carefree pokémon charged across the field towards infernape, who was still asleep. Moments later, ludicolo slammed into its opponent with the full weight of its body. The water was enough to wake infernape up, but she was significantly weakened upon awakening.
"Infernape, mach punch!" Lauren shouted. The flame pokémon slowly stood up and, fist glowing white, lunged forward and slammed into ludicolo, who responded with a familiar white and tan swirling fist, known as drain punch. Both pokémon repelled each other, only it was ludicolo who remained standing in the aftermath.
"Infernape is unable to battle, ludicolo wins! Challenger Lauren will now send out her third and final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Slowking, I choose you!" Lauren called out.
For the last time, the wheel began to spin, ultimately landing on red. Just as quickly, a final condition was chosen at random, and ludicolo stood completely still; it was frozen.
"Slowking, use nasty plot!" Lauren shouted, knowing that ludicolo couldn't do anything. "And again!" Lauren commanded. Each time, slowking smirked at the frozen ludicolo, figuring out a strategy of his own. After nearly a minute of strategizing, slowking turned to Lauren and nodded. "Alright, then. Let's finish this, slowking! Use psychic!"
Slowking's eyes started to glow light purple as he picked up ludicolo with his mind and tossed the carefree pokémon across the field. Lauren asked him to repeat the attack, this time in the opposite direction.
"Now, zen headbutt!" Lauren shouted, thrusting her hand forward. Slowking lowered his head as his shell began to release light blue sparks. "Now!"
Slowking burst forward towards ludicolo, who stood still. Upon contact, the zen headbutt broke ludicolo free from the ice, but knocking it backwards nevertheless.
"Ludicolo, use razor leaf!" Dahlia shouted. Ludicolo got up slowly, but swiftly summoned a torrent of leaves, all of which struck slowking, knocking it down to one knee. "And swords dance now!"
"Psychic!" Lauren commanded. Slowking's eyes began to glow again, and ludicolo was picked up into the air by slowking's powerful mind. "Throw it around!" Slowking obliged, launching ludicolo into the air before letting go. "And now let's win this! Use zen headbutt!"
The shell began to sparkle a light blue color as slowking charged towards where ludicolo was to land, and then leapt into the air with an unusual amount of energy, colliding midair with ludicolo and sending both of them back to the ground. Ludicolo collapsed onto the ground as slowking stood over it victoriously.
"Ludicolo is unable to battle, slowking wins! And the victory goes to Lauren!" The judge declared.
Lauren held out her arms as slowking approached her, embracing her as well. "I'm proud of you, slowking."
"Slow…" The royal pokémon said softly before being returned to his pokéball. The lights completely turned on now, significantly brightening up the room. Lauren turned to see Niko and her friends approach from the right, and the Dahlia from in front of her.
Niko stood beside her as Dahlia withdrew two small gold pieces, each with a tent engraved on them. She smirked. "How fabulous of you both! Your love of Pokémon shone through, and, in turn, your Pokémon believed in you. That is why you handled everything thrown your way splendidly." She handed them the gold pieces. "As proof of your victory, I award you with the Arcade Prints."
Niko and Lauren both took the pieces, looked at each other, and smiled eagerly.
"Now, the closest facilities to Circus Island are the Battle Castle in the Resort Area, and the Battle Tower in the Fight Area. I wish you the best on your quest!" She said, laughing at her own rhyme. "Have a wonderful day!"
"Thanks, Dahlia!" Niko said, waving to the Arcade Star as she danced away.
Niko and Lauren, along with their friends, exited the Battle Arcade after succumbing to JJ's need to play the games. Niko in particular wanted to enjoy himself, but his mind was preoccupied—his final frontier battle was next. Soon, he and Lauren would have their rematch against the Tower Tycoon.