“Don’t believe in yourself; believe in me, who believes in you?” Chad asked as he walked through the gym’s automatic glass doors.
Lucielle held out a paw in the universal expression for ‘please wait’, as she unclipped Chad’s pokeball from the belt and released him in the challenger’s box. “We’ll be over here watching,” she informed him, before moving over to claim an empty table and releasing the rest of the team to watch. Lucielle and Ginette claimed the two chairs, forcing Gaston and Alexandre to sit on the ground.
Chad could only shrug, stepping out onto the field. “Normally, yea. But my role as team leader is sort of riding on this. I apologize if it seems disrespectful,” He explained, finishing with a slight forward bow with his arms straight down his sides.
Author-chan here! This is the third and final song that influenced me into having themed battle tracks for this work. "No Guardian Angel" by T. Stebbins.
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Chad didn’t wait to see Ramos’ first pokemon, he immediately started setting up like before, this time flooding his body with Ki as his muscles flexed and grew. The ki faded, leaving his body steaming, as his first opponent solidified into a blue orb floating in the air with three white puffballs surrounding it.
<”Jumpluff, stall tactics.” Ramos commanded lightly, his soft tone carrying decades of experience, as his partner spat a blast of seeds towards the fire type.>
Chad intercepted the projectiles with a quick burst of flame, incinerating them, before he began to power-walk to the left. With his ankles glowing from the magenta wings, he simultaneously compressed raw fire and energy into a sphere of raw plasma before letting it float into the air. The miniature sun seemed to perk up all the nearby plants, with several seeming to turn to bask in its glory.
“Sunny Day may help you burn hotter, but it also helps me take you down faster!” The grass type called out, as it leapt forward at an incredible speed to strafe past Chad. When at a sufficient angle, the Jumpluff spat out another barrage of seeds, forcing the lizard to leap and roll forward to escape them.
Once again, Chad coated himself in Ki, pushing his muscle definition from ‘decent’ up to ‘gym rat’, as he curved towards the puffball. “I would love to see you stall faster,” he joked before belching a cone of flame towards the grass type. There was a flash of light blue as his foe flew up and over the flames, diving back towards where he held two fire daggers, ready and waiting. Both made contact, with Chad sliding back and the Jumpluff bouncing across the grass before rolling to a stop. As the puffball began to rise up, Chad chucked his two daggers at them, the raw fire energy digging in and earning a final wail from his foe before they went down again. Not waiting for the ref to make the call, the fire type pumped his body with the brown fighting energy one last time, escalating from ‘gym rat’ to ‘ugh gross’ levels of musculature.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
<”Jumpluff is unable to battle. Gym Leader Ramos, please send out your next pokemon!” The referee called out, as Ramos aimed the red recall beam at his pokemon. Only a moment later, he threw forward another ball, revealing a yellow and green bell-like plant with large googly eyes and two sharp leaves sprouting from its sides. “Weepinbell, he’s already setting up. Poison him!” The old man demanded with a glint in his eyes.>
Chad immediately pulled back at the order, coating his ankles and head in psychic energy as he eyed the poisonous plant pokemon. Across the field, the air began to haze as a purple powder floated off the grass type. “Thankfully I’m no one-trick dragon,” Chad reassured himself, as he conjured another ball of plasma in his hands. He was able to throw it up in the air just as a glob of purple gunk flew at him from the organic cannon.
The audience began to chatter as the second sun began to orbit with the first in a slow dance, rather than merge or cancel each other out. Weepinbell’s leaves rotated to soak in the rays, as it rotated its mouth to track the fire lizard. Steadily, the cloud of poisonous powder began to flow forward across the field in a slow march. With perfect timing, before Chad could unleash a gust of flames, the little bell fired off a near-instant solar beam, forcing Chad to abort and dodge.
This continued for a few shots until Chad seemingly chose not to dodge, the raw solar energy searing his left shoulder as he blasted back with a potent gush of fire. The burning blast cleared out half the poison power and forced Weepinbell to retreat. But appearing from within the flames, Chad unleashed a point-blank burst of more fire, trading for a final solar beam from the plant before it too fell unconscious.
<”Weepinbell is unable to battle. Gym Leader Ramos, please send out your final pokemon!” The ref called, as Ramos immediately made the switch, as a large brown and green goat took to the field. “You’re leaning a little too hard on type advantage, whippersnapper. Gogoat, show this sprout fire isn’t everything.”>
The new quadruped stared down his tired opponent, his hooves flaring with light brown energy as he lightly dug at the ground with a front hoof. “Think you’re hot stuff for getting this far?” He asked, beginning to walk to the right as the two circled each other.
“Only literally, but I’ve still got a ways to go.” Chad responded, as a pair of fiery wings burst out of his back, forcing him to charge across the ring. The goat smirked, charging in as well as the dirt began to rumble and split behind him. Chad, not spotting the glowing green vine poke up from the ground, caught his foot and tumbled forward before colliding with a pair of horns and a thick skull.
With both combatants again at opposite sides of the field, Chad slowly stood up, a flap of the wings steadying him on his feet while the goat prepared another charge. “Though, there is one thing I’m pretty sure only I know,” Chad said, trailing off as he gathered yet another micro sun in his hand. Prepared for a final attack, Chad tossed the sun up into the air, sending it on a straight line for the other swirling two.
“Oh? And what might that be?” Gogoat responded, his hooves blazing with ground energy as he lowered his head. A silent signal sent both running in at full tilt, while the third sun began to orbit the other two.
Just as the new solar body was swinging around to the front of the two others, Chad leapt into the air. “Orbital mechanics,” he responded, firmly grabbing his left wing with both hands and compressing it down into a large katana. As the third sun interposed itself between the field and two other suns, gravity inverted; both combatants rose into the air, including the onlookers, chairs, tables– if it wasn’t bolted down, it was floating.
Gogoat was tumbling through the air towards Chad, who threw a short puff of fire behind him to accelerate towards, through, and past the goat while swinging the katana with a solid cut clean through their body. With the sun vanishing behind the other two again, gravity resumed its hold, pulling everything back to the ground. Chad spun around and took a ready stance, his right fiery wing flaring and katana at the ready.
Gogoat struggled to his feet, huffing in annoyance as his gaze bore into the lizard. “Always something new,” he grumbled, lining up for another charge. Chad shifted his stance, aiming the sword back and behind him on his right. Coating himself in white energy, Gogoat bolted straight at Chad, determined to knock at least one of them out. Chad attempted to move, only to find his feet tied down in place by vines, and instead lowered his stance further. In a split-second, just before the charging goat pummeled him into next Tuesday, Chad swung forward in a well-timed slice.
The crowd waited in silence as Gogoat went past, before Chad fell to a knee coughing, followed by Gogoat collapsing to the ground unmoving.
<”Gogoat is unable to battle! Challenger Chad wins!” The ref announced, to a mix of applause, cheering, and angry shouts from the audience over their ‘ruined’ tea party. Chad’s own team were giving their own mixed reactions, from Ginette’s exuberance beside Lucielle’s polite golf clap, to Gaston’s rhythmic stomping paired with Alexandre’s complaints about ‘showboating’.>
“How. Am I. This. Tired. After. Five. Minutes?!” Chad shouted between deep breaths, earning a laugh as Ginette swept over to help him to his feet. Leaning on her for support, he offered a claw for a handshake.
“You spent HOW MUCH?!” Chad shouted, catching the attention of the entire building with his rage. The four, realizing what had happened, cast their gazes down in guilt; except for Alexandre who upheld his aura of ‘You should’ve given me more money’.
“We just wanted to relax a little, do something for ourselves.” Ginette defended the group, still unwilling to meet his eyes. “You’re always super cautious, and never let us buy anything for fun.”
Chad, torn between grilling his teammates and grilling the protein audibly searing on the pan, roared with rage as he resumed the one thing he had control of. “Lucielle, when Korrina beat a challenger, do you remember how much money it cost them?” The jackal shuffled nervously, silently answering no. “Had I lost today, our savings would’ve been a third of what it was before the match.”
Ginette looked lost and confused, while Lucielle bit her lip. Gaston was visibly uncomfortable, while Alexandre huffed. “Seems dumb to think you were even capable of losing today; not like you’re that much of a pushover.” His statement spiked the anxiety in the group further, tensions running as high as the heat of the stove.
“And now, we’re barely going to have enough funds for supplies for the trip to Lumiose City.” Chad continued, visibly irritated when he flipped a cut of meat and spotted a tinge of burnt black at the edge. “Are you OK with catching and eating Caterpie and Pidgey?”
“I won’t let it come to that!” Ginette asserts, finding her resolve. “I’m going to challenge every trainer I can for some extra cash after dinner; anyone with me?” Alexandre slammed his fists together in excited agreement, while Lucielle and Gaston expressed their participation in more muted means.
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Bite, Stomp, Rock Tomb, Dragon Dance, Hone Claws, Rock Smash, Bulk Up, Detect, Protect, Dragon Tail, Ancient Power, Stone Edge, Rock Slide
Focus Energy, Double Kick, Poison Sting, Horn Attack, Dig, Venoshock, Sludge Bomb, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Bulldoze, Protect
Detect, Protect, Extreme Speed, Aura Sphere, Close Combat, Bulk Up, Power-Up Punch, Bone Rush