Private/Closed The Lottery Tournament Semi finals

[Martin Pine]

The stadium's audience were in awe at the spectacle before them, cheers and noise erupting from the stands with each introduction, faint and clever strategy. There were no clear favourites between Brace and Shiori, the crowd supporting the both of them and their Pokemon. A commentator would occasionally speak up, his voice filled with excitement that was fuelled from the battle. Exhilaration spread throughout the viewers in the stadium and those watching at home.

Finion looked out of the spectators window with an excited look. The room in which the other contestants were in provided a good view of the pitch and Finion took full advantage of that. It was entertaining to see the two of them battle and whilst he was enjoying it he was also watching for a strategy of any kind, weaknesses that he could use. It was a little unfair, but given that they were all facing each other they would eventually have figured each other out. Best to have a head start, at least in Finion's opinion. His eyes left the pitch for a moment, Finion looking to the other two people in the room for a moment before looking away.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

And the tide was turned very quickly. The leech seeds barely had the chance to leech any energy from Riptide before the Hydro Pump easily punched through the Dragon Pulse and slammed directly into the Feebas. Unlike the previous Hydro Pump, in which it's effect was mitigated by a Blizzard attack, the Dragon Pulse was not nearly as effective. Riptide was sent flying back, skidding to a stop at the feet of the Marine Knight and not moving. Riptide was down.

The Marine Knight paused a moment, looking down at his second Pokemon before returning him back to his Pokeball. This kid was good. Real good. Selecting the third Pokeball from his belt, he sent out his third Pokemon. In a flash of light, a second fish Pokemon appeared. This time, a Magikarp lay on the ground flopping about.
"Karp! Karp!" The Magikarp exclaimed pathetically.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Seeing the Feebas recalled into the pokeball, Brace pumped his fist in the air in success. While it was a victory, it was not the end of the battle, the one winning could quickly change in a flash. The next Pokémon sent out was also unsuspecting...a magikarp. Was he purposely messing with him?

“Uh...that’s different.” Brace muttered. “Blue, could you-“

blue acted before Brace could even finish his sentence. Suddenly, streams of water gushed up from his hands, Panpour fusing the streams together to form a sprinkling fountain in the shape of a heart before he dispersed it, allowing a light mist of raining down on the battlefield, giving Panpour a glistening look, the ape winking at magikarp.

“don’t tell me...” Brace groaned as purple and red facepalmed. “Attract?! At a time like this?!”

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The Marine Knight was prepared for anything. An attack move, or possibly a buff-up technique. But what he wasn't expecting... was a move like that. The Magikarp stopped flopping, watching the Panpour's display. It's head seemed to cock to the side, but in reality it had just flopped over. The fish Pokemon's expression remained blank, however. Magikarps were notoriously hard to read, after all.
"Magikarp, attack!" The Marine Knight commanded. Through the rain, the Magikarp sped forward with unnatural speed. Strange dark energy began to form around its tail. The fish jumped, flipping in the air and using its tail to slash down towards the Panpour with an attack that looked rather similar to a Night Slash attack.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Blue! Snap out of it would ya?!” Brace called out. “Hit him with a hydro pump like you did Feebas!”

but Panpour continued to ignore his commands. Instead, he prepared a shadow claw attack, aiming to raise up his talons and parry the night slash with his own extended claws. Amidst it, Blue would give another wink, making Red barley keep his stomach from heaving

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Bouncing back as the Night Slash was parried, the Magikarp landed back on the ground. The Panpour winked at the Magikarp, and for just half a moment, the Magikarp seemed to hesitate. But quickly, it launched itself forward once again with another Night Slash attack using its tail. The Marine Knight narrowed his eyes. He didn't like where this was going, and hoped that his Pokemon would be able to keep their head during the fight.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Gah...all he needs to do is hydro pump him away and this could be over with. What’s he even thinking?”

Purple and red both shrugged as the match continued, Blue preparing his shadow claw yet again, this time, his shadow claw was batted to the side by the attack, the parry being a little more rough, causing minor damage to his arm.

Amidst this, Blue played the actor, falling from his stagger, landing on the grass under him, a feigned pained expression on his face, as if a boy band lead singer had just fallen down in a music video, with no clear aim to attack at all...

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Once again, the Magikarp bounced off the attack and landed back on the ground. It appeared that this attack managed to get through a bit better, much to the Marine Knight's satisfaction. It appeared that Brace was having trouble keeping his Pokemon from flirting, however. This could be used to their advantage.... But that was when the Marine Knight turned his attention back to the battle. He watched the way that the Panpour fell. In fact, he recognized that fall. The actor had done that fall a few times before! And not to mention... that Panpour's fall was a very good one. This wasn't good...
"Keep it together..." The Marine Knight muttered, crossing his arms and watching his Magikarp.

Seeing the Panpour fall once again, the Magikarp seemed to hesitate once more.
"Night Slash, Raza!" The Marine Knight's command cut through the air like a knife, snapping the Magikarp out of its hesitation. The fish Pokemon lunged at the Panpour once more, slashing at the Panpour with dark energy.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Panpour, not moving a muscle, watched as the attack came down in on him, the fish now only a few feet away.

“What are you doing?! Get out of the way!!” Brace commanded him, practically tearing his hair out.

Panpour put the back of his left hand on his forehead, as if he was Romeo dying on stage, a single half translucent gold heart coming from his chest. He closed his eyes and awaited the next result, fetchingly draped on the grass below. Panpour was using charm on the fish, hoping to not only lower it’s attack by a good margin, but to sow in the attract factor.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The Marine Knight watched as the Panpour shifted its pose on the ground, not moving to dodge or block. The Magikarp noticed as well, and for a brief moment its eyes seemed to widen slightly. But it was too late. The attack was already in motion, and there was nothing the Magikarp could do to stop it. The Night Slash slammed into the Panpour with full force, striking the water-type much, much harder than a Magikarp should have to the power to land.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The attack slammed into Blue, the attack being far stronger than what was advertised on the pudgy Magikarp exterior. Between the evolite and charm’s physical attack reducing properties, Panpour was barley hanging on, lying on the ground, bruises and scratches all over him.

“Blue...can’t you see he’s not being effected??” Braxer questioned. “C’mon, stop messing around...”

rising up from the ground, Panpour looked over to Magikarp, the Panpour’s eyes strained but still awake. It slowly approached the fish, weather not having the ability to run, or choosing to do so was up in the air. But what WAS known was that as he closed the distance, looking right into Magikarp’s eyes, he intended to give the orange scaled friend a confusing sweet kiss to the side of it’s cheek.

Brace’s Jaw hit. the. ground. “WHAT?!?”

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The Magikarp watched as the Panpour got up once again and began to walk towards it. It's tail emitting a dark energy once more, it lunged towards the Panpour with a final Night Slash. But the Magikarp made one fatal mistake. Just like before... it had hesitated. That moment of hesitation allowed the Panpour just enough time to approach, so that when the Magikarp lunged forward Blue was able to plant a kiss on the Magikarp's cheek before the attack could land.

Just like Brace, Shiori's jaw dropped. He was not expecting that in the slightest, and neither was the Magikarp. The fish Pokemon seemed to freeze in midair, its eyes flew wide, and instantly its form shimmered. Then the form of the Magikarp disappeared. In its place, a full-grown Zoroark stood, frozen in shock at this Panpour that had kissed her on the cheek. Her face seemed to grow darker as she blushed, frozen in place. For the first time in a while, Shiori was speechless.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“What even is this fight...”

Brace hid a blush in his hands as he could barley watch the painful scene drag on any further. When he peaked up just a little, he didn’t see Magikarp standing there...but a zoroark. Did...did kissing the ugly fish turn it into a beautiful Zoroark just like the storybooks say?? He could hardly believe his eyes!

“W-wha... I-um...ah....”

he couldn’t find the right words to describe what he was thinking. Thankfully, Blue didn’t need him to say a word. He held out a hand to Zoroark, carefully and gentally taking her by the hand. He’d proceed to ballroom dance with her, taking her whilst lost in the flair of the moment...right out of bounds.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Almost as in a trance, Raza took Blue's hand. The Zoroark offered little to no resistance as the Panpour seemed to take her in some sort of slow dance, slowly moving to the side of the arena. Shiori watched for a few moments before shaking off the confusion. No! It wasn't too late! Yanking off the mask covering his nose and mouth, Shiori's whole demeanor suddenly changed. While during the battle, he had been stoic and tough looking, the trainer suddenly seemed to be as he was in the waiting room. Just a normal guy.
"Raza!" Shiori yelled over to his friend. "RageCandy!"
Almost out of bounds, the Zoroark suddenly stopped and looked back towards Shiori. It was then that her eyes lost the trancelike quality, and she realized what was happening. Grabbing Blue even tighter, Raza suddenly stood up to her full height before attempting to football spike the Panpour out of bounds without her.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

One two three... One two three...

dancing with his new dark typed partner, Blue got ever so close to the edge, and when it came kind to let his partner go...there was resistance. Surprised, blue looked back...to see a rather angry looking Zoroark not at all pleased about the situation it found itself in. Blue could only offer a sheepish shrug before he was horrifically yeeted off the side of the arena, landing with a loud-

*BANG!*

looking over the side to see if his friend was alright...Brace and his squad found Blue chest up on the ground, unconscious with a single rose in his hand, as if prepped for a open casket funeral.

“....Where did he even get that...?” Brace blinked, still coming to terms with what just happened. “Purple, go get him please...Okay, now it’s time for something completely different. You got this red?”

red happily hopped onto the stage, the feisty ape getting pumped, jogging fast in place.

“Alright! Show her what we are made of! Low Sweep her off the stage!”

Red was quick to attack, the fire on his head burning brightly, rushing over to deal a super effective tripping move aimed at her legs whilst she was still getting over the infatuation infiltration, which would remove the footing she had so she could join her fallen ‘flirt’.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Toby was unsure if he was supposed to laugh, cry or groan at the match, it was just a trainwreck. Not only did that glorified cosplayer use a Feebas, he also had a Magikarp around for his Zoroark to use as an illusion. The surprise factor was interesting, but personally he wouldn't have used a Magikarp for an illusion. A Fighting type would be much more tempting to bait a Psychic attack that was not effective on the Dark type. The fact that Braces Boy managed to put up a fight frustrated him even more. A third rate trainer with a fourth rate team should not be able to do this much against the ramshackle team of Marine Knight, even if it used a Feebas. "This is just painful to watch, that Zoroark better win this fight. Use Night Slash to cut the grass or something, use that brain of yours for a second if you have one." He stood next to Finion as he gave his two cents on the fight. The temptation to just burn the grass away was insane, but he'd have to wait to see his field. Of course, he could just use Scylla and never deal with it, but he couldn't put all his eggs in one Chansey pouch. "Come on, kick this kid's ass back to his home and get this show on the road!" Neither of the combatants were people he'd root for, but the fact that Shiori had a Milotic won him some favor points. Even if he looked like someone who just went to a convention.

 

[Martin Pine]

Finion was not expecting the battle to play out how it did but he did find it amusing. An entertained grin came across his face more than once as Blue continued his lovely antics against what was now known to be a Raza. His Pachirisu let out a shocked gasp upon seeing the Magikarp turn into a Zoroark, Finion letting out a small laugh and stroking the electric squirrel that was cradled in his arms. “Yes, quite shocking” He’d had his suspicions.

Upon hearing Toby’s groan both Finion and Sparky glanced towards him. The orange haired trainer listened to the other trainers words whilst the Pachirisu lost interest halfway through, comfortably leaning back into Finion’s chest. Toby had some pretty good ideas but his frustration was clear. “You really don’t like those monkey Pokemon do you?” He wasn’t being rude, merely striking conversation. He could understand why Toby was annoyed, he’d seen a little bit of the conflict before the match started.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Toby crossed his arms and huffed. "Dislike does not cover it. The fact that someone willingly chose to not evolve their Pokémon and decided to join a tournament like this just pisses me off. That Marine Knight at least has a bit of an excuse for not evolving that Feebas, but it is still just a Feebas. If it was a Pokémon that didn't evolve, I could have peace with it as they tend to be strong. Skarmory is a good example of that, those stinking monkeys are not. Besides, what kind of moves is this kid using? Charm and Attract? No self-respecting trainer does that, especially because Attract only works on Pokémon of the opposite gender. It is not reliable and frankly an insult to your opponent by not taking them seriously. If I were him, I'd have taught that blue monkey Scald or something. Anything that is more reliable than Attract." The Johtonian spat out the last sentence of his rant that was just soaked with frustration and hatred. Looking down at Finion's chest, he brought a hand up to his face and clenched the bridge of his nose. "....please tell me that Pachirisu has something useful. One fool in the tournament is more than enough."

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Shiori's eyes grew wide with panic as the Pansear began to rush over towards Raza. The trainer's mind went blank as he was at a complete loss of what to do.
"I... I... I..." Shiori stammered, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. What was he doing? What should he do?

Luckily, Raza knew what to do. Feeling rather upset that she had been taken in so easily, the Zoroark looked over as a new opponent, a Pansear, jumped onto the field and began to charge towards her. The monkey Pokemon attempted to knock her feet out from under her, but Raza was ready. The Zoroark launched herself into the air with a Bounce attack at the last moment, dodging the Low Sweep and jumping over the Pansear.

Watching his friend jump into the air, Shiori suddenly remembered. The mask! Quickly, Shiori put the mask back over his mouth and nose, closing his eyes. The trainer took a second to get back into character, before his stance suddenly changed. Just like that, he was back to the confident, fierce, and tough stance of the Marine Knight. His eyes opened, watching Brace with a flinty stare.

Midair, Raza crossed her arms in an X. They began to emit a dark energy similar to that of a Night Slash technique. Raza released the dark energy, and instead of slashing towards Red with a shadow-blade like technique, the Zoroark released a dark shockwave of black energy. This was Night Daze, the signature move of the Zoroark line.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Pansear looked up in surprise as the Zoroark recovered quickly, bouncing upwards. That’s when the Zoroark began to radiate with some new crimson energy. Was it dark pulse? Brace hadn’t seen this technique before, or anything quite like it. Not wanting Pansear knocked out by the oncoming attack, he called out to the burning ape.

“A good offense is a good defense! Overheat!”

He didn’t like using the move, as it drastically reduces Pansear’s ranged attacked effectiveness for the whole match, but he deemed it necessary here. Red began to glow fiery hot, releasing a powerful flaming shockwave from all angles similar to that of a flaming self destruct. The two attacks clashed at each other, canceling themselves out. Amidst the fiery explosion, Pansear emerged close to Zoroark, pumped up and ready for action!

While it reduced special attacks, physical ones were just fine. Using low sweep again, but in the form of a sweeping chop, he swung a fist right at her thighs

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Raza landed, watching as the Pansear rushed towards her again. Intending to keep the monkey-like Pokemon at a distance, Raza jumped over Red as he attacked her. The attack still clipped her in the leg, throwing her off slightly. It was enough to hurt, but not enough to slow her.

"Raza, keep your distance! Night Daze again!" The Marine Knight commanded, gesturing with his trident. The Zoroark landed on all fours, backflipping away from Red to gain some distance. Once again in mid-flip, Zoroark unleashed another dark shockwave of the Night Daze towards the Pansear. Underneath the mask, the Marine Knight grinned. Raza's illusions were good, but her true specialty came through when she was fighting without it.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

As Raza made distance away from Red, the Brace took notice of the was it was going. It was going to unleash another attack! Since he only knew of this dark pulse-like attack and night slash, there would only be one reason why it would be wanting distance.

“Quick Red, to the other side of the stage!”

Red was quick to get on all fours and rush over to the other side, a dark burst of energy running behind him. The blast had range...but it didn’t reach across the entire stage. Red got near the edge before the burst stopped. He may have dodged the attack, but this had a downside.

Red’s special attack was cut, so a ranged Fight was almost certain defeat. He needed to get close to do any Significant damage at this point. With him now at the far side of the stage that now left a large gap between them.

“Okay...we need to cut this distance.” Brace nodded. “Let’s get their faster! Flame charge!”

Chuckling, the red ape lit ablaze, using it as ignition to spring him toward the dark type. With the bow boosted speed, Brace shoved his fist forward, mimicking what red should do.

“Spring loaded Fire Punch!”

Pansear took flames from the flame charge, fueling that into his fire punch. Combined with the speed he was going, he aimed to land a knock out punch onto Zoroark!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The Marine Knight watched as the Pansear raced across the field towards Raza. It was moving fast, but the distance was still rather large. Raza glanced back to the Marine Knight, waiting for an order on what exactly to do in this situation. The Marine Knight gave the command when Red was about halfway towards Raza.

"Raza, Bounce!" The Marine Knight called out. The Zoroark seemed to rocket into the air, dodging Red's attack before the Pansear could even make it close to her. Raza grinned down at Red from midair, her trajectory heading towards the area close to where Red had started his Flame Charge.

"Now, Sludge Bomb!" The Marine Knight said. An all-around attack like Night Daze may not be effective at larger range, but perhaps a more honed in attack might. On her decent, Raza held out a claw towards the Pansear. Dark purple sludge began to form in it, forming a rather large ball of sludge. Fully formed, it launched towards Red.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Bouncing up and out of the way of Red’s attack, the Pansear growled, doing a heel turn whilst the speedy Raza prepared another attack. A new one.

“I don’t know what this is, but Flame charge through it!”

raising his speed yet again, he rushed toward Raza even faster than before. The attack however was an unexpected one. Sludge bomb. The attack hit Pansear, only slightly dampened by his flame veil and proceeded to swamp the monkey, shooting him in the opposite direction of the dark type.

“Red?! You alright?!”

Red wasn’t exactly called a tank, known to burn brightly and break easy. The Pansear coughed, trying to prevent and poison from getting in it’s mouth. The poison directly on his body burnt up with his flame charge, at the very least preventing the poison effect.

“Well...that was a pretty solid attack...” Brace complimented, looking down. “But there’s one thing you didn’t account for...”

Suddenly, Pansear’s flames lit up bright around him, much brighter than it was previously. It’s eyes glew bright yellow. Brace looked up, a determined expression on his face.

“When Red gets really hurt, Blaze kicks is flames into maximum gear!”

suddenly, the Pansear flashed across the battlefield with flame charge once more, practically coming over in the blink of an eye. His speed had been upped three times throughout the battle! A tornado of flames surrounded him, all focusing into a tight radiating aura around his fist. Aura flared up violently, a huge face of a dragon made of flames reared up, teeth bared.

“Flames of the Dragon Fire Punch!!”

Pansear would deliver a destructive fire punch, The dragon’s mouth snapping on Zoroark Right as he would impact her!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

As Brace spoke over to the Marine Knight, the actor was distracted by the sudden change of temperature. Watching the Pansear, Shiori realized what was about to happen. There was no way Raza was going to be fast enough to dodge this attack... But then again, maybe she didn't have to. After all, she had only managed to get hit once with a passing blow from Red. With no options left, the Marine Knight went with a desperate gambit.

"Raza, Counter!" The Marine Knight yelled. The Zoroark took a defensive stance the moment Red took off like a cannon. Bracing herself, Raza's eyes widened at the power of this punch. The strike landed, hitting Raza square in the chest. There was a sound like an explosion as dust and dirt were flung everywhere.

The dust slowly settled to reveal Raza, still standing. The Zoroark was breathing heavily, and as the dust cleared one could clearly make out the Assault Vest item she was wearing. It looked rather singed and a little damage, but it appeared to have protected her from quite a bit of the flames that had snapped around her.

Dark energy swirled around Raza's right arm, making it nearly impossible to see it. Then with blinding speed, Raza threw a punch of dark energy towards the Pansear with twice the power!

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

The smoke cleared, Brace confident that Red would knock out his opponent no sweat. He was shocked to see Raza still standing! The fire dragon cut through the biggest of Pokémon, how could she still be standing?? It was all made clear after she revealed a charred assault vest hidden beneath her fur.

that’s when the counter smashed into Pansear in the form of an uppercut, Red flying up into the air. He was a smidge from being defeated before he even attacked, this was overkill! Brace rushed onto the field, catching Pansear before it had a chance of falling roughly. Red’s eyes were swirled and his face was a big bruise. That would take a while to heal.

“That was brutal...you’ll be okay bud.” Brace reassured, turning around with him in hand and walking to his side of the field. “Purple, why don’t you- purple...?”

“Pom~?”

aipom tapped lightly behind Zoroark, trying to get the dark type’s attention. It looks like aipom snuck onto the stage while he was dealing with Red! Aipom chuckled, leaping up to zoroark’s face, making a clap with his hand in front of her, before delivering a gut punch with his tail hand. It was fake out!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Watching Red go flying, Raza took a moment to get her breath back. She had experience fighting small and unevolved Pokemon that were way stronger than they looked, but still, those two had been too much! Just when the Zoroark was starting to catch her breath, there was a tap on her shoulder. Not expecting that, Raza quickly spun around. There was a sudden clap at her face, causing the Zoroark to flinch back. At the same time, there was a sudden strike to her gut that knocked Raza back as well. The Zoroark let out an uncontrolled yip as the Aipom punched right where Red had punched with his fire dragon punch. Raza fell down to all fours, looking over at Purple. She slowly reached out a claw towards the Aipom. Although her body was shaking, her eyes were filled with rage. As she was about to touch the Aipom, her limbs gave out. Raza collapsed, totally unconscious.

The Marine Knight's eyes flashed with rage at this sudden and underhanded move. How dare they! All the Pokemon had been sent out with some sort of announcement, and there was none here! The Marine Knight returned Raza to her Pokeball, switching it out a grabbing an Ultra Ball from his belt. He'd show them no mercy.

@Martin Pine

 

[Martin Pine]

“AND CEASE BATTLING” The announcement boomed throughout the entire the stadium, stopping the commentators and vibrating the seats slightly. It continued. “WITH 6 POKEMON FAINTED ITS OFFICIALLY HALF TIME. TRAINERS, RETURN YOUR POKEMON AND RETIRE TO THE WAITING AREA FOR TEN MINUTES” The crowd began to settle, some rising out of their seats to begin searching for refreshments and snacks whilst others began to converse amongst themselves.

Once Brace had recalled a Purple from off the pitch it began to lower into the depths of the stadium, a cover coming over the space that was once a battle ground. It seemed that the ground was being changed for the next round. At the end of both sides of the pitch there was an entrance to a small room. It was hidden from the audience and had no cameras in, granting them complete privacy whilst they rested through the half time break. There was a chair for them to sit on and a counter for them if they should need it.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Huh? There’s a halftime now? There wasn’t any in the previous matches.” Brace blinked. “Oh well, gives us time to cool down, eh purple?”

he looked a little scolding toward purple, who had hopped on the battlefield without any warning. The aipom didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned however, chuckling and holding in laughter. He turned his attention to his three unconscious monkeys. Red was bruised up and knocked out cold, Green was shivering a bit from the ice beam in his slumber, and blue had a content smile on his face, still grasping the rose with both hands.

“This is gonna be a while...”

taking them to the break room, he had just finished wiping som excess dust off of Red, who was now conscious, but unable to battle. The other two sat down calmly as their trainer helped care for them.

“Nice work out there guys, while some were a bit uh...unexpected, we still managed to make it work! It’s the famous wild style, am I right?”

they all pumped their fists triumphantly in the air, Brace laughing a bit as they did so. He just worried about the future of this match. His opponent had readied an ultra ball, and with Brace’s own sixth Pokémon...

he shook the thought out of his head. They’d get through this, just as how they got all the way here. They wouldn’t lose now!

 

[Martin Pine]

Toby's rant was ... interesting. He disagreed with some of the things said but he could see where the other trainer was coming from. The Jhotonian seemed to be very proud, taking pride in strong Pokemon and honourable battles. Finion could tell that he cared about Pokemon though, he wasn't a heartless a-hole focused on strength and winning. "Well ..." Before Finion could respond Toby spoke again, mentioning Sparky in a not so positive attitude. The Pachirisu was not pleased. "Whoa, hey hey" The sinnohlian spoke gently but firmly to his Pokemon, wrapping a hand around Sparky's torso and preventing the squirrel's advance from out of his arms and towards Toby. The Pachirisu had an annoyed look. Big fluffy ears pressed against a cute round head, all while the adorable little pocket monster was silently growling. Upon seeing that Sparky was somewhat under control Finion returned his attention to Toby, thinking for a moment before speaking.

"You'll have to wait and see I suppose" Finion smiled an almost smirk, feeling a random bout of sudden confidence as he looked up to Toby with a friendly but competitive expression. He turned again to face the pitch, politely bringing up his opinion on at least a little of what the other trainer talked about. "I think that ... evolution isn't just the trainer's choice. Pokemon change when evolving-sometimes. And sometimes they're aware of that and chose not too, o-or they chose not to for other reasons" Finion had a few unevolved Pokemon but he had not brought them to the tournament. He shrugged and continued "I'm sure both Shiori and ... Brace had reason and a good reason to not evolve the Pokemon they didn't. You have to give them some credit in making it this far, right? Even if they have some unevolved Pokemon and peculiar move sets and styles" He watched the finishing battle with a smile, listening for Toby's answer. He wasn't trying to shut the Jhotonian down or tell him he was wrong. Finion was just trying to offer his own perspective.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The Marine Knight froze mid-throw as a voice boomed throughout the arena. Slowly, he lowered the Ultra Ball and put it back on his belt. The Marine Knight glared at Brace for a moment, watching as the boy retrieved his Pokemon. Swishing his cape, he turned and made his way back towards the small waiting room.

Now out of the lights, cameras, and people, Shiori let out an exhausted sigh as he leaned against the wall. Slowly he slid to the floor, taking off his mask and setting it aside. The actor took a few moments, taking a revive from his utility belt and reviving Raza.

"What am I doing, Raza?" Shiori said to his friend. The Zoroark merely shrugged. "We've faced some incredibly strong kids before, but nothing like this kid. He's good, real good."
Shori looked down at the mask, running a hand through his hair.
"I don't know if Marine Knight Gyarados is going to be great for this battle. He's too uptight about all of this... I think I might need to change things up. I need a character that I won't break out of, like I did before." Shiori said. The actor looked off, thinking. His gaze slowly went down to the red cape he wore...

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

Only three Pokémon remained on either side. 3 mysterious ones for Shiori and at least one known of Brace’s: Aipom. It was anyone’s game. After going over a battle plan with the remaining members of his team except his last member, whom everyone agreed to leave out of the meeting. A new air of confidence around him, Brace walked up to the tournament stage as the break was coming to his close, the apes following behind him.

Brace fastened a red bandanna over his head, getting into a fighting Stance. It seemed that even Brace wasn’t left out from his tactics meeting. Getting into the fight, he was ready to finish it!

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Shiori threw open the door to the arena. The actor appeared to be completely different from before. His blue armor, gold trident, red cape, and intense fanged mask were gone. Instead, he was dressed back in relatively normal clothes. In fact, the only thing different from the way he was dressed in the first waiting room was the mask. Shiroi had torn off a strip off the bottom of his red cape, cut two eye holes, and tied it around his head as a simple mask. He slid to a stop, striking a pose similar to that of one that the power rangers would make.

"Alright!" Shiori called over to Brace, pointing at the wild boy. "This has been a lot of fun, so its about time I start enjoying it! Hold onto your socks, because I'm about to knock them off!"
The actor was smiling an excited smile, and seemed to be overflowing with energy. It was a complete 180 from the serious and intense demeanor of the Marine Knight, seeming more kidlike.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Is that the same guy...?”

they had completely transformed! Entirely different than before, Shiori struck a pose, showing she meant business. The crowd went wild for her flashy entrance. This entrance made Brace himself get stars in his eyes.

“Wooow...alright! Let’s make this an amazing match!”

tightening his band around his head, he struck a pose as well, grinning ear to ear. It was then that it became clear why he was here. He was here for fun, not to win!

 

[Martin Pine]

When the crowd's applause was at it's peak the announcer once again began to speak. His loud voice boomed through the speakers and reverberated throughout the excited stadium. "WELCOME BACK TO THE SECOND HALF" A pause, time for the crowd to respond with noise whilst beneath the ground a light rumble occurred. "THE PITCH FOR THE SECOND HALF WILL BE ... SWAMPLANDS" A new pitch arose from the underbelly of the stadium, filling the wide open space between Shiori and Brace. It was a relatively flat pitch with a still and shallow river sitting in the middle of it. There were no structures or natural objects around but by no means was it simple. The pitch was a muddy expanse. On each side of the river the pitch was half filled with bodies of water, all differing in size and dotted around the place. Upon closer inspection one would notice that the water's depth varied. Some were mere puddles that could reach one's ankle whilst others were more like a pool a person could swim in. It was clear that the pitch was going to be tricky, slippy and treacherous whilst also offering good movement options or hiding places if one was clever.

"TRAINERS! RELEASE YOUR POKEMON!" The match had resumed.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Swamplands huh? That’s gonna be interesting...” Brace muttered. “But, i better start careful. Come on out Vigroth!”

Tossing the pokeball out, Vigroth emerged in a flash of light, beating his chest aggressively. The Vigroth then flashed out the equivalent of gang signs, it’s wacky eyes nearly bulging out of it’s head and tongue hanging out like a cartoony dog. Vigroth was one of his most energetic Pokémon with shocking stamina and claws as sharp as steel. It was a safe choice.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The actor grinned at the sight of this Pokemon. This wasn't one that Shiori was familiar with, never to a region were they were native to and never having really seen one. But still, from Shiori's guess it appeared to be some sort of a normal type or normal type/fighting type. "Well, well! An interesting choice, but I can't say I'm surprised! I'm going to start off strong as well. It's time for you to meet my closest friend, my first companion! This Pokemon has been with me since the very beginning, so let's go! It's time for me to... Unleash the Beast!!!"

Shiori unclipped a normal Pokeball from his belt before posing once again and throwing it. In a flash of light, the Pokeball burst open to reveal... another Magikarp. However, unlike the one that Raza had created an Illusion of, this one looked a little different than normal. It had gold stripes racing down its side, and the scales around its eyes were blue in color. The blue scales gave the Magikarp a similar look as if it was wearing a mask.
"Karp! Karp!" The Magikarp exclaimed, flopping around in the muddy puddles.

"Now, Beast! Let's show them the true power of Karpman! Bubble!" Karpman commanded, pointing to the Vigroth. The Magikarp righted itself for a moment and opened its mouth, firing a stream of bubbles towards the opposing Pokemon.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Hmph, he better not have refrained from evolving to keep them cute and cuddly. Perhaps he prefers the agility." Toby scoffed as the match continued. The pitch had changed and by his first impression, Water types and Pokémon that didn't touch the ground had an advantage on this one. As Brace released his Vigoroth, he approved of it in his own way. "Well look at that, Buck Teeth does evolve his Pokémon. A Vigoroth, not a bad choice. It hits hard and actually does more than Slaking with its attacks that are few and far between. He'll struggle in that mud though, there's no real chance to build up speed and slipping is always a risk in mud. That Gyarados guy has the advantaaahh....."

Toby stopped halfway through his sentence before facepalming himself. "....please tell me that this isn't happening. He did not just send out a Magikarp, did he? Evolve the freaking thing, Gyarados would have been a much better choice! What kind of tournament is this? Both of these guys have absolute trash in their teams!" The Jothonian ranted, surpressing the urge to toss both contestants into that river and tell them to clean up their act.

 

[Shen: King of Digimon]

“Is that...another zoroark maybe...?”

brace had a hard time believing there was a Magikarp on his team. Things got stranger however when it began to fire off a bubble attack, a move a Magikarp couldn’t normally know. Vigroth gave a evil grin when he saw this.

“You know what to do Vigroth!”

*Slash!* *Pop!*

Vigroth’s sharp talons swiped at the bubbles, popping them before it could reach his body to do damage of any kind. The sharpness of these claws glistened in the sunlight.

“While that’s a weird Magikarp you got, my Vigroth buddy is great at cutting through the harshest of stuff with his sharp talons! Bubbles are nothin’!” He said, putting his thumbs up while Vigroth showcased it’s claws. “Now Vigroth! Close the distance with Feint attack!”

The Vigroth barked, jumping to the left before vanishing. Feint attack was a tricky move that could send warping behind it’s target, firing a move that couldn’t be dodged by the most double teamed spammed target. Vigroth warping behind their target, rushed to deliver a dark aura cloaked swipe.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

The attack struck the Magikarp, smacking it into the mud. The Magikarp seemed to jump right back up however, and Shiori smiled.

"As you should know, there's more to our Pokemon than meets the eye! Now, let's see if your Pokemon knows how to swim! Beast, Hydro Pump!" Shiori commanded. From the mud, the Magikarp twisted itself so it was looking up at the Vigoroth. In the same instant, it opened its mouth a beam of highly pressurized water burst out. With the point-blank angle that the Magikarp had, it was attempting to use the attack to launch the Vigroth into/towards the river.