Pokémon Forums Story: The Champion Battle: Part 1
Arlo walked towards where the Champion was supposed to be, after healing up his Pokémon to the best he could. The barely lit hallway had no AC, and yet he felt a chill. His heart was beating fast, with both excitement and anxiety. As he kept thinking back on his journey, the feeling slowly grew. His walking speed slowed down. Deep down, he really couldn't believe it. This is it. He's not afraid of losing, but he still felt nervous. This is the final battle. The hardest battle he'll ever face. He's come so far since he chose Snivy from Prof. Pine a few… uh... weeks… ago? Or maybe a few months? It feels like it's been 2 years, but that's impossible. Regardless, he almost stopped walking to just think about how crazy it is that he's here now, about to fight the strongest trainer in the region who barely anyone's even seen, before he felt a Poké Ball shaking in his pockets. Serperior let itself out. It was itching to fight and looked visibly irritated at Arlo's speed while its tail bounced excitedly.
"Heh. This isn't the time to slow down, is it? Only a few steps left until we fight 'the strongest trainer in the region.' C'mon, we'll show them that that should be our title!" He petted Serperior for a second and grinned before taking a deep breath and running towards the next room. Serperior's eyes looked smug as it slithered alongside Arlo, slowing itself a little bit to match the human's running speed. He entered the room, smiling confidently from ear to ear, but paused after he entered. Not a light was turned on. He heard the sound of someone getting up. Then, footsteps. And then, a voice. He returned Serperior to its Poké Ball.
"Oh...? Sorry for the darkness. It's rare that someone reaches this place, so I like to conserve electricity. I'll turn them on now."
The lights turned on. It was the size and shape of a stadium, but it had a ceiling and no seats. No seats, but a throne on the other side. And in front of the throne, a woman stood, readying her Poké Balls.
"Welcome. I'm Rozanne, the final challenge you'll need to face if you'd dare dream of becoming the Champion. All the challengers who've come here have failed rather quickly, but I see potential in you. You know, I'm notified every time someone challenges the Elite Four, and I've seen that you've progressed through them faster than all who've reached me before. Maybe I'll finally have a good battle for the first time in years."
She walked forward, towards the part that looked like a battle court, grasping her Poké Balls like she's barely stopping herself from throwing them.
"So, challenger, would you tell me your name?"
"I'm Arlo, the last trainer you'll ever face as the Champion! What are the rules?"
"Oh... that's right, rules. Six Pokémon, no trainers using items, and one gimmick. Well, let's battle. Show me what you've learnt on your way here!"
Rozanne glanced at her variety of Poké Balls. An Ultra Ball, a Dive Ball, a Great Ball, a Moon Ball, a Nest Ball, and a Fast Ball, before sending out a Mawile from the Ultra Ball.
Arlo looked at Serperior's Poké Ball and decided he shouldn't send it out, not yet, much to Serperior's dismay as it furiously shook around with simultaneous excitement and annoyance in its Poké Ball. Arlo sent out Lucario instead, who sparkled brightly for a second upon leaving its ball.
"One—
Two—
Three—
Go!"
Rozanne shouted, with a loud voice that echoed throughout the arena.
"Dynamic Punch!" roared Rozanne, and Mawile gathered its energy for the very few seconds Arlo spent deciding what to do before launching itself at Lucario with the speed of a missile while shouting "MAAAAWWW!!!!!" at a volume that Arlo felt made an explosion sound like mere footsteps. He told Lucario to swiftly counter it with Vacuum wave, which it did almost instantly, slightly breaking the impact.
Lucario was still pushed back and injured, however, and though it tried standing up, it did unsuccessfully as the attack left it confused. Arlo put his palm to his head and grunted in frustration. Mawile was also pushed back and was panting, with a few scratches visible on its body, and launched itself standing. It needed a few seconds before it could move again, though, thanks to the energy that attack took. "Lucario, quick! Before it can attack! Bone Rush!!" Lucario was dizzy and couldn't focus, but it still managed to slowly run towards Mawile and create a bone of Aura. As fast as it could with its confusion, it landed a super effective hit, and another, and— "Substitute!" It almost seemed like the Mawile had teleported with how quickly it had replaced itself with that green plushie once it gathered its energy back. "Stealth Rock!"
The rocks scattered nearly everywhere across the battlefield, and the Aura Pokémon, just snapped out of its confusion, moved, vigilantly watching its steps to minimize the amount of stones that poke it, while paying close attention to the rest of the battlefield. It saw the plushie near it, completely destroyed on the ground, and it saw Mawile dive back into the arena from somewhere. It couldn't tell from where it came. The Deceiver Pokémon seemed to have exhausted quite a bit of energy to not just move itself that quick back there, but use two moves in such quick succession. Lucario felt tired as well, having taken quite a few attacks and having been poked by a few sharp stones. "Close Combat!" Lucario heard Arlo shout and moved instantly. "Play Rough!" It heard Rozanne command Mawile, who moved just as fast as Lucario. A cloud of smoke appeared when the attacks collided, and when the smoke dissipated, Mawile stood tall, on the brink of fainting, and unleashed a loud victorious cry for a second before having to stop due to its injuries. Lucario was collapsed on the ground, unable to continue fighting.
"It's been a while since I've battled a challenger who could do this well. Go on, show me what else you can do!" Rozanne sounded genuine and chuckled, and Arlo didn't reply. He gritted his teeth, returned Lucario to its Poké Ball, and looked at his Pokémon. Serperior was still excitedly shaking its ball around in his bag, knowing it shouldn't let itself out on its own in the middle of a battle, especially one like this.
Unfortunately for Serperior, Arlo has decided he's still not sending it out yet, and sent out Pyroar. It took some damage from the pointed stones before adjusting itself to the field and immediately roared a roar even louder than Mawile's deafening cries, an unpleasant surprise for both trainers' ears. Mawile tried to roar louder, but soon realised it didn't have enough energy to let out anything more than a normal cry, and just decided to angrily glare at Pyroar, who, having just ate a bunch of food to heal from the last fight since Arlo was running low on potions, yawned. Mawile took it as mockery and gritted both sets of its teeth with the little energy it still had. Rozanne sighed, before focusing back on the battle.
"Pyroar! Use Fire Fang!" The 火-maned beast gathered flames around its teeth and leaped to the opposite side of the battlefield. "Mawile, retaliate with a super effective Dynamic Punch!" But Mawile was too slow, still tired from the last match, and got hit first. That, however, didn't stop it from following Rozanne's commands. In fact, it almost seemed like it waited for Pyroar to bite it so— "GROOAAAAAAAAR!!!!!" Pyroar cried, hit in the face by the super effective attack. Mawile had toughed the attack out for its trainer. Pyroar was pushed back and took a few seconds to stand back up (dizzily, as it was now confused). Arlo looked towards Mawile, and saw it standing. He panicked for a split second, but when he looked closer, he saw that it had fainted but kept standing somehow. Arlo was amazed, but really didn't have the time to keep focusing on that. He watched Rozanne bring Mawile back to its Poké Ball, thank it, and take out a Great Ball.
"I see you know type matchups well." Rozanne sounded relieved. Arlo replied, offended by the idea that he might not know something so essential to becoming a trainer, "Of course I do! How else would I even get here?!" Rozanne lowered her eyelids slightly, and crossed her arms. "Well… I've met some who didn't even know Water beats Fire. I guess the chart's a little hard to memorise for some…" Arlo wanted to reply, but he was just flabbergasted. He couldn't believe it was even possible to get past the eight Gyms while knowing so little about battling. Wait. How did they even get here? If they were strong enough to get here without knowing basic type matchups, how strong would they be if they knew more about battles? Would he even be facing the same Champion? Powerful trainers have a lot of influence. How different would everything be, he wondered? Maybe nothing would change, but still, it's ridiculous that someone could make it this far without knowing how to battle, and...
Before he could finish thinking, he was interrupted by a loud dragon's cry. He sighed. So much for staying focused on this important battle. "SAAAAAA!" Cried the blue and red Dragon Pokémon, Salamence. He quietly gritted his teeth, knowing Pyroar had no super effective moves against this thing. But he couldn't switch it out, because that would give Salamence a free turn to attack the new Pokémon and Pyroar would have to take damage from Stealth Rock a second time when he has to use it again, which didn't seem ideal considering that Dynamic Punch did a whole lot of damage. There was only one way out of this... a last resort plan he'd thought up for a situation like this but didn't actually want to use. An all or nothing strategy. The Tailwind Salamence just used this second didn't really help his doubt in its chance of success, but this would be better than switching Pyroar out, giving Rozanne a free attack, and sending it out later to do nothing.
"Pyroar! Use Endure!" "Salamence, attack it with Rock Slide!" Pyroar was shoved by the rocks, but survived, albeit barely. Rozanne looked with suspicion and had a feeling she knew what came next. "Salamence, Aerial Ace!" "Pyroar! Throw your Bright Powder, dodge, and use Endeavor!" Bright Powder should lower the move's accuracy, helping Pyroar dodge, and letting it land its attack, leaving Salamence barely standing at the very least.
Salamence was blinded by the powder, and missed its attack, breaking some nearby rocks instead. Pyroar leaped and used Endeavor, leaving the Dragon Pokémon just as damaged as it was.
"It worked!" Arlo thought to himself joyfully.
"Salamence! Rock Slide!" He tried to give Pyroar another command, but the Tailwind launched the rocks too fast for Pyroar to respond.
"Hm... I… didn't think Pokémon could use items and not just berries. That's an impressive strategy you used there."
Arlo grinned from ear to ear. "Heh! We spent weeks practicing how to use it! I, uh… might have to go to go to an eye doctor thanks to the times it went wrong... but it did learn how to actually use it in the end!"
Arlo returned Pyroar to its Poké Ball, proud of how well it did against the odds, and looked to the rest of his team to decide who was next. Pawmot, Duraludon, and Manectric were his options. Serperior's still shaking its ball around, but it's still not time to use it.
He took out a Poké Ball and sent out...
A Pokémon that's going to be revealed in part 2!
Comments
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Honestly, the hardest part of this is trying to balance difficulty and ease. I can't make it too easy or the champion's no threat despite all the build up. I can't make it too difficult because then it's impossible. Striking the balance was hard. I also made an effort to try to make the battle feel alive, which was also a little hard.
Also, I had to occasionally write things in a way that didn't make sense, would never happen, or couldn't happen for the sake of letting the story flow.
The thing I'm the most dissapointed in is probably how little happens for the length.
I'll start working on part 2 as soon as I can.
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Look, I get what you're saying
It's supposed to be a long, epic battle, you put a lot of time and effort into it, looks pretty long, post it, go back to read it, and see that it feels short and a bit underwhelming
It is hard to find that balance
However, I think you did an amazing job!
I really am excited to find out what happens next!
(P.S: I really like the addition of the picture!)
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pretty good. i don't have much to say about arlo's character writing specifically since this has been a collaborative effort and it's been going on for a while, but nice to see this reach an end and i'm interested to see the final parts, looking like a 3 parter or more at this rate so i figure i may as well review.
i liked the varied tactics in battle with different uses for moves and how the pokemon do battle cries on hit like in the games, as well as the traded knockouts so far. my favourite part was that mawile's moveset was unique to see compared to what you would expect from it just biting, though it didn't really use its jaws much either other than gritting its teeth, but i liked that it made some lasting impacts with its effects like dynamicpunch and stealth rock. at the least it does feel like rozanne has a plan going on her turf with all this setup like rocks and tailwind.
if i had to critique, i would say abilities could be shown more like Intimidate but i suppose the battle cries kind of serve a similar purpose. and also i have to point out that aerial ace missing because of brightpowder is not game accurate because it has perfect accuracy, but it's not a huge deal for me because i can just imagine salamence doing a general strike and the maneuver was interesting enough. i assume that's something that was for the flow.
also i'm not sure how i should picture pyroar throwing the brightpowder but perhaps you could say that about how held items work in general.
in general the descriptions of attacks using different time/energy to execute and recovery time or even being used in succession does bring to mind the gameplay of the legends games and i liked mawile pulling substitute to escape the bone rush combo as kind of a fighting game maneuver. that was neat.
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At last it has come!!!
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I was going to make it use Dual Wingbeat, but then decided that since Pokémon don't really use items this way in the games, so maybe having powder in its eyes would make it hit the air instead (and also because Aerial Ace is cooler, and coolness matters in stories like these). The more absurd part of the battle is probably how often Dynamic Punch hits and is used. It has 50% accuracy, making it an already absurd thing to even just have on a champion's team, but it never missing has such a small chance to happen. I wanted to write it missing but making the fights last too long in a battle with 6 Pokémon would make the battle a little too long and this took me long enough (my main thought writing the length of each fight was "Pokémon often only last a couple of turns in the games anyways") (also, it'd make the champion seem non-threatening and make the reader wonder how she got that position. Which isn't how you want a champion to come across if it's not related to some kind of theme in the story). I also wanted to make Lucario and Pyroar struggle a little more from confusion, but that'd make it too long and disrupt how the story flowed. Abilities also suffered from the same thing. I couldn't really include them much because then this'd either get longer or feel cluttered (though I'll try to find a way to incorporate them somehow in the next battles).
Also, yes, the way attacks work was a little bit inspired by Legends Z-A! I don't like the real-time battles much, but given that this was a story and not a game, they're the better option here.
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