Renz was the first to throw out his Pokémon. Garchomp appeared with a roar, menacing the opposing trainer... until he realized it was Renz’s mom. He gave a cheery little wave, and then resumed his battle stance. From an old looking Pokéball tossed out by Terisa was an Espeon.
“Garchomp, Stealth Rock!”
With Renz’s shout, small stones began pressing themselves out of the ground on Terisa’s side of the field, but remained inactive once the tips were out of the ground. Terisa saw his strategy, but she had one of her own. She didn’t give the Espeon any command. The catlike Pokémon just sat on the battlefield, licking its paw.
“Okay, Garchomp. Missy is fast, but you can outspeed her! Dual Chop Crunch Combo!”
The bipedal dragon rushed forward, aiming to slash the Espeon into the air with Dual Chop and then follow up with a Crunch. However, before he could reach his opponent he was lifted into the air by a Psychic. The dragon tried to move, but was suspended in place.
“Now, Missy! Quick Attack!”
There was only a streak of white light as the Espeon lunged forward, still suspending the Garchomp mid-air with Psychic and striking multiple times in rapid succession with Quick Attack. When the attack was finished, Garchomp looked a good bit worse, but Missy had taken some damage as well because of Garchomp’s Rough Skin.
“Okay, that was a mistake. Missy, keep your distance with Swift!”
Missy leapt into the air, spinning and sending stars at the dragon type, who was still trapped by psychic.
“Garchomp, use Dragon Pulse to block those!”
Garchomp tried to charge up a Dragon Pulse, but the stars hit him and stopped him from completing the attack. Renz was worried. Garchomp was already taking a lot of damage, while Missy had taken almost none. If this kept up he would lose.
“Garchomp, use-“
“Missy, Psychic!”
The already suspended dragon was lifted into the air and then slammed to the ground. Garchomp was now out of the Psychic suspension, but he was not doing very well. Renz pulled out his partner’s Pokéball, and returned him. There was a grimace on his face. Garchomp was the only one on his team who could reliably counter his mom’s Pokémon, and he was already out. He thought for a few seconds and then pulled out another Pokéball, throwing it out and calling Caesar into battle. His mom got a very surprised look on her face. Her son had just sent out a poison type against a psychic type. But if he made that mistake, so be it.
“Missy, you can outspeed Nidoking easily. Go, Psybeam!”
But they were in for a surprise. As the streak of swirling purple-pink light streaked towards the shiny Nidoking, there was a rumble as Caesar dug underground, completely avoiding the attack. The Espeon looked around, and then closed its eyes and attempted to sense it’s opponent’s location. Suddenly the Espeon leapt back as a Stone Edge shot out of the ground, clipping the Espeon in the side and causing it a good bit of pain in one leg.
“Missy! Are you okay?”
“Espe.”
“Good! Morning Sun!”
The few clouds visible in the sky faded away as brilliant but soft light struck the injured Pokémon. However, the Healing from Morning Sun was quickly negated as Caesar burst out of the ground, striking Missy in the chin with a heavy blow and chunks of earth flying up as the Nidoking came out of the ground. Both Pokémon retreated a few steps, and stood waiting for their trainer’s next order.
“Missy, Last Resort!”
“Caesar, Megahorn!”
Missy darted forward faster than she had when she used Quick Attack, a pink blur making a desperate lunge to take out the opponent. Caesar was hit hard... but Missy rammed right into his head. There was a moment’s pause as the two Pokémon pushed at each other, and then there was a small explosion as Caesar’s horn glowed a lime green and then blasted back the Espeon to her trainer’s feet, where she made a struggle to stand up, but collapsed back down on her side. She wasn’t fully knocked out, but she was definitely to injured to continue.
Terisa bent down and gently stroked her Pokémon’s head, and then returned her to her Pokéball. She pulled out another Pokeball and sent out her Dewgong.
“Prince, Aqua Jet!”
The Water type began its attack, but was interupted as some of the Stealth Rocks jabbed up into its underside. It winced with pain, but managed to pull off the attack, slamming into Caesar. However, as he was hit Caesar grabbed the Dewgong, taking the damage and then grabbing Dewgong by the flippers and swinging it up and over, and slamming it into the ground.
“Nice Counter, Caesar! Now keep up the pressure and use Toxic!”
While the Prince was rolling to his feet after being slammed to the ground, Caesar lunged his horn into the blubber of the Dewgong, pouring poison into the opponent. Prince didn’t seem to notice much pain, because his blubber absorbed some of the damage.
“Prince, Waterfall!”
Prince clapped his flippers and a torrent of water poured over the already hurt Caesar. The Nidoking winced, and Renz was about to return his Pokémon when he saw a glint in Caesar’s eye. The Nidoking, still dripping from the attack, leered at the Dewgong and with a swift movement had slammed into him with an Iron Tail, knocking Prince back and out into the road. The Pokémon skidded to a stop, rolled back into his feet and then lunged forward again with another Aqua Jet. Caesar tried to use Stone Edge, but his opponent was too fast. Caesar doubled over, clutching his gut and falling onto one knee. Renz knew that this was enough and returned Caesar to his Pokéball. He had one Pokémon left, and his mom had two. Knowing her, her final Pokémon would probably be Falkner the Pidgeot because it would be immune to his ground types. But he also had to pick a Pokémon that could deal with Prince. He made his decision, and picked up the last Pokéball he could use this battle.
“Krookodile! I’m counting on you!”
The Dark/Ground type appeared on the field with arms crossed, glaring at Prince. Renz knew that Pilo would have had the best chance type-wise, but he didn’t think that Pilo would have the level of skill or speed needed to win this.
“Krookodile, we have to finish this fast. Take out Prince with an Earthqu-“
Renz cut off his command when he realized that an Earthquake would be a very bad move. His mom took advantage of the pause.
“Prince, one more Waterfall!”
The Dewgong sent another torrent of water at Krookodile, who seemed to disappear entirely as the water flowed where he had been standing. Suddenly he was behind Prince and delivered a Crunch to the neck. Prince writhed, but couldn’t escape Krookodile’s grip, and his strenght was fading as Caesar’s Toxic began to tell on him. A red beam of light struck Prince and Krookodile’s jaws closed on air as the Dewgong was returned to its Pokéball. Renz’s guess proved correct when his mom chose Falkner as her final choice. He realized that they had both begun with their Starter, and were wrapping it up with their first Wild Capture. As soon as Falkner entered the field, more Stealth Rocks shot into the air and struck the Pidgeot.
“Falkner, let’s finish this now. U-Turn!”
“Krookodile, dodge it with Dig!”
Krookodile wasn’t fast enough, and he was hit square in the back as Falkner dived down, looped around and struck Krookodile, resulting in a Critical Hit. The super-effective attack knocked Krookodile to the ground. Things were looking very bad for Renz... but then Krookodile’s ability kicked in. The Critical Hit had caused Krookodile to reach his Anger Point, and Krookodile glowed with red energy as its attack power rose off the charts. With one movement Krookodile dived forward, burrowing into the ground and disappearing from sight. Falkner flapped up high, squinting down, his Keen Eye searching for the slightest furrow in the ground below.
Falkner spotted what he was looking for. He began swooping down before Krookodile began to come out, using Sky Attack right where Krookodile would burst out of the ground. But Krookodile was too fast, and with its Anger Point activated it went over Pidgeot and slashed its claws along the bird's back. Krookodile landed on one knee, obviously in pain from the critical hit, but still resisting to the last. Falkner crashed to the ground. There were deep claw marks along his back, and puncture marks on his stomach from the Stealth Rocks. Both Pokemon panted, both conscious but neither in any shape to fight much longer.
Then with one quick move, it was over. Falkner lay crumpled on the ground, one more slash mark across his back, and Krookodile stood next to Renz.