Ghoul and Dashie. Two Rival Pokemon Trainers. They originally crossed paths in Galar. As fate would have it, they would meet again in Paldea! They both went to Uva Academy. Despite their experiences, they basically wanted to brush up on hidden Pokemon mechanics while learning more about the new region. Ghoul had a girlfriend back in Galar whom Dashie considered a best friend. No. Like a sister.
Ghoul's partner Pokemon was Belle the Eevee. He had short curly brown hair. With brown eyes there was also a pair of black framed glasses. He took off the school uniform in private to wear a black shirt with Eevee's face on the front. Bringing over from the Galar region was his Rillaboom.
Dashie's partner Pokemon was Mickey the Pikachu. She had long red hair and green eyes. Also removing the ugly school uniform in private to wear a long sleeved light blue shirt. Bringing over from the Galar region was her Cinderace.
There they were, standing face to face inside Area Zero, the giant crater conveniently placed in the middle of the Paldea region. Dashie's hair has a little wild after a recent encounter with an Iron Bundle. She always hated those things. Using her hands, she quickly brushed it back to normal.
"I still find it hilarious that we both picked Sprigatito," Dashie said.
"I know. Rivals can't pick the same starter," Ghoul joked.
"That's not a real rule," Dashie replied while shaking her head.
Both of their partner Pokemon stayed outside of their pokeballs. Pikachu was peacefully sleeping behind Dashie to heal from the Iron Bundle. Eevee was playing with a feathered toy behind Ghoul.
Ghoul swiftly took out a great ball. He tossed it up a few inches in the air and caught it as it landed. He smirked as he twisted it around in his hand.
"I think it's about time to compare each other's new team against each other, don't you think," Ghoul stated.
"Oh definitely," Dashie replied as she took out a pokeball. "Go! Eglantine!"
Tossing the pokeball onto the field, a Meowscarada came out. The cat meowed as it recognized the rival's face. It flaunted the cape as it waited for Ghoul to make his move.
Out of Ghoul's great ball, his Palafin came out. Ghoul quickly returned Palafin back to his ball. Dashie and Meowscarada allowed it to happen out of mutual respect and pride. Dashie had no problems with letting her opponents go all out. The trainer waited to see if Ghoul would send out Palafin again in his Hero form or would bind time by using a different Pokemon first.
"Go, Harley," Ghoul shouted.
Using a pokeball, his own Meowscarada was sent onto the field. Starter vs starter. The rivals knew this was a perfect start to their long-awaited battle.
"Use Flower Trick," Ghoul commanded.
"Trailblaze," Dashie stated.
Harley took out a bouget of flowers. She danced around with it. Eglantine jogged in place for a bit. Grass slightly grew on the ground where it stepped. They starred each other down waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike as the first hit is the most important one.
Harley held the bouget with one hand and hid it under her cape. Using her other hand, she snapped her fingers. The flowers suddenly appeared a few inches above the other Meowscarada's head.
Just as the flower trick was going to fall on her, Eglantine rushed towards her opponent. The flowers hit the ground and exploded on impact. As Dashie's Paldea starter ran up to her enemy, a trail of grass grew and followed her every step.
Eglantine seemingly picked momentum. She swiftly bumped her body into Harley's. Harley lost her footing and stumbled back. Harley hissed at her rival as her flower bomb respawned into her right paw. Eglantine snickered as she moonwalked back to her trainer with great speed.
"Yes, she got faster," Dashie cheered pumping a fist in the air. "Do it, again!"
"Sucker punch," Ghoul whispered softly in a tone that only his Meowscarada could hear.
Eglantine started jogging in place. Before she could react, Harley punched her hard in the gut. Dashie's starter gasped for air at the sudden impact. Sucker punch was a unique move that could attack the opposing Pokemon before they have a chance to move as long as the other was preparing to deal damage. Harley was only able to learn sucker punch thanks to bonding with another Pokemon that knew the move.
Dashie wasn't going to let the tutor move hold her back. Harley and Eglantine gave each other some distance as they waited for further instructions.
"Play Rough," the rival trainers shouted in unison.
Their Paldea starters rushed at each other. Eglantine was slightly faster thanks to the trailblaze attack. They clawed at each other's faces rapidly. Harley slapped her rival in the chest with a flower bomb making it explode on impact. Eglantine hissed as her claw swipes got weak.
They kept clawing at each other faster and faster creating a brawling cloud. Dashie and Ghoul watched in anticipation as the cloud grew and grew. Both Meowscaradas echoes out a distinct but faint cry. The dusk slowly began to settle.
Both of their starters were knocked out in a tie!
The Pokemon were returned back to their trainers. Dashie took a few second to stare at Eglantine's pokeball in her hand. She whispered something to it as if to say thanks before putting it away. The trainers then took out a different pokeball.
"Go, Oswald," Dashie said.
"George, you're up," Ghoul said.
From Dashie's pokeball, a Cinderace popped out. From Ghoul's pokeball, a Rillaboom popped out. Their starters they received from their journeys in Galar.
As George landed on the battlefield, his hidden ability activated. Grass heavily grew from Eevee to Pikachu. Behind Dashie, Mickey the Pikachu seemingly purred at the new soft texture to rest on. The aroma from the freshly planted grass was making Mickey heal her wounds faster.
"Dynamax bands don't work in this region," Ghoul sighed.
"And thanks to Oswald's ability to change types, I don't need terastilization yet," Dashie teased while sticking her tongue out.
"Grass Slide," Ghoul commanded.
George stared back at his trainer with a look of confusion. The Rillaboom banged on his drum in frustration. George shrugged his shoulders and mumbled a few words.
"What do you mean you forgot?!"
"Now, Pyro Ball," Dashie shouted.
"Wait, I'm not ready!"
Oswald the Cinderace kicked a pebble up in the air. He juggled it on his foot. As it got faster and faster, it ignited on fire. The fire engulfed the entire pebble and began to grow with each kick. Soon, it grew into the size of a soccer ball as he kept kicking it around. Cinderace had an ability to change his type based on the move he uses, but there was no need to change at this point due to being fire type at the start.
Oswald seemingly let out a mischievous laugh before kicking the fire towards George. Ghoul could only stand still in panic as his Galar starter was hit with the ball. George cried out in pain as the pyro ball hit him in the face. It was super effective. No need for a critical.
The drummer Pokemon fainted instantly. Ghoul sighed as his Galar starter feel backwards unconscious. Letting out an annoyed huff, he returned it back to its pokeball. He placed the pokeball back in his pocket but quickly changed his attitude when he came up with an idea to easily change the tide to his favor.
Letting out an evil snicker, he pulled out a premier ball. The evil laugh got loud as he pressed to button to expand it. Dashie got a little concerned as she waited in anticipation. Ghoul shouted as he summoned his next Pokemon.
"Atrocitus is next!"
A fire breed Paldean Tauros popped on the ball. He echoed out a war cry as it landed on the field. The wild bull intimidated the Cinderace on entry with an aggressive snarl. The striker Pokemon got scared. He easily got nervous on the new Paldean form he never saw. This made his attack stat slightly drop. Atrocitus winked as he knew what was next.
"Sike!"
Ghoul giggled as he returned the Tauros back to his premier ball. Wasting zero-time, Ghoul took out a different premier ball. He tossed the new premier ball onto the battlefield with glee.
"Victor, victory is yours," Ghoul cheered.
To replace Atrocitus, a Baxcalibur appeared on the battlefield. Dashie and Oswald couldn't help but let out a laugh at seeing the ice dragon appear instead of the Tauros. Victor the Baxcalibur saw that his opponent had a type advantage, even if Cinderace lost some of his attack stat from the wild bull. Victor turned his head around to glance at his trainer. Ghoul winked at his dragon type causing it to nod and turn back to face Oswald head on.
Dashie got cocky as she was about to give Oswald another move command. In secrecy, Ghoul pulled out his tera orb. Ghoul began to charge up the orb without his rival noticing thanks to the Baxcalibur blocking most of his body.
"Pyro Ball," Dashie laughed.
The Striker Pokemon began powering up int's signature move. Ghoul's tera orb finished charging just in time and he threw it at Victor. Crystals formed around Victor's body. Dashie gasped when she realized what was happening. She tried to make her Cinderace cancel the attack but it was late.
When the crystals around Victor broke he wore a giant crown in the style of the ground element. Now, as a ground type, Victor would be able to tank Oswald's pyro ball. Victor and Ghoul snickered in unison as their plan came into fruition as Oswald's pyro ball grew to full size.
The fire rabbit's eyes grew large when he saw the ground type crystal crown on his target's head. Being from the Galar region, he had no idea how terastilization worked yet. Dashie and her rival just recently decided to transfer over their Glara starters to this region. But, due to his Libero ability, his gut instinct told him this was going to be bad.
Oswald kicked the pyro ball directly towards Victor's stomach. The Baxcalibur brushed away the smoke. The attack barely left a dent in him thanks to the type change. Gulping in fear, the fire type turned to his trainer waiting for orders.
"Oh, by the way, Victor's ability makes him get stronger when hit by fire," Ghoul giggled.
Ghoul snapped and pointed to his dragon. Victor echoed at a loud battle cry. The dragon felt his body begin to overwhelm with power, and he wanted more! Dashie knew she had to finish the Baxcalibur fast before things got ugly.
"Double kick," Dashie ordered out of desperation.
"Dragon Dance," Ghoul yawned.
The Striker squeaked as he used his Liberto ability to change into a fighting type without the need for terastilization. He rushed up to his opponent. Victor ignored Oswald as he danced around in place.
Oswald kicked Victor with all his might twice in the gut as the dragon continued to dance. Due to the Paldean Tauros intimidate ability from earlier, the kicks didn't really hurt as much as it should have. Oswald jumped back to his trainer in dismay as his attacks were meaningless.
The dragon finished his little dance. He was now much stronger than before and slightly faster! The grassy terrain from Rillaboom was still active. The grass made Victor recover from Oswald's attacks as if nothing happened. Dashie's Pikachu was now fully healed thanks to it. The grass began to fade away as the time limit was now up.
"Victor, let's finish it with an earthquake."
"Hurry, Bounce!"
Ghoul's dragon stomped the ground hard as the crown on its head glowed brighter due to using a move that was a ground type. The grassy terrain was now completely gone. The ground below Victor slowly began to shake.
Dashie's rabbit swiftly changed his typing to flying through Libero. Before the ground could shake harder, Oswald jumped high into the air. The earthquake continued and caused little cracks at where the Cinderace used to stand. It stopped as the starter stretched out a leg in a kick formation.
"Icicle crash," Ghoul said with a devilish grin.
Using it's increased speed, Victor was able to perform two attacks in the time it takes for his opponent to do only a single attack. The Striker Pokemon was about to crash down on the dragon with a kick. With the rabbit's foot just mere inches in front of him, Victor swung his tail 3 times. Giant icicles came flying out of Baxcalibur's tail.
Oswald screamed in pain as the icicles directly hit his body in multiple areas. There was no way he could have dodged any from being in mid attack and his opponent's speed increase from the dragon dance. And thanks to being a flying type, the ice was super effective. Before his kick could land, he fell flat on the ground. Oswald is now longer suited for battle.
