Chapter 27: Paul
"This will be a three-on-three battle. A Pokemon will be considered eliminated if it's unable to battle. The last one with Pokemon remaining wins with each trainer allowed two switchouts.
BEGIN!" The robotic voice buzzed out announcing the start of the battle. Both Paul and I gripping a Pokeball, sent out our battlers.
"Magby standby for battle."
*Phsszssst*
"Squirtle!"
"Magby!"
Paul's expression started to sour seeing the disadvantage he was at at the start. So before any attacks could be fished out, he returned Magby.
"Return Magby. Grotle standby for battle." Paul says halving his switchouts to one. Seeing this I just shake my head.
'What a waste of a switch out. At least test the waters out man.' I thought to myself seeing a red beam. My mind couldn't help but judge the move being a gym trainer, I've seen it all man.
Using a Pidgey against an Onix, normal-type moves against rock/ground Pokemon which just bounce off, rich dudes bringing a zigzagoon to get one shot and many more moments that make me want to rip my hair off.
*Phsszszst*
"Grotle!"
Seeing that Paul's Pokemon is sent out, I start the battle off. Usually, I would start out of {Aqua Ring} but I don't want to keep Squirtle in the field for too long, some chip damage would do.
"Squirtle {Aura Sphere} now."
Before Paul and Grotle could react. A ball of aura was immediately sent without pause towards its opponent making contact.
*Boom*
"What? How can that Squirtle…" Paul said trailing off at the end. He quickly regained himself though as Grotle walked out of the smoke with a couple of scratches. "Grotle move forward while using {Razor Leaf}."
"Grotle!"
A flurry of leaves started to form and take shape as they surrounded Grotle. Watching this I start to think about my next move.
I wanted Squirtle to achieve a little more before I take him back, but unfortunately, there isn't I can do against Grotle's AOE attack.
"One more {Aura Sphere}," I command pulling out his Pokeball. Paul oblivious to my plans shouts another command as the torrent of leaves heads towards Squirtle.
"Grotle don't waste any time and use {Growth}."
*Boom*
A sudden {Aura Sphere} impacts Grotle again which interrupts it's set-up move. With the {Razor Leaf} close, I return Squirtle to his Pokeball.
*Phsszszt*
Grotle who was hit by another move, was sent a few steps back with more scratches to its skin.
Unexpectedly for me the {Razor Leaf} wasn't over and kept on rushing and was headed for me. Watching this with a bored look I get ready to jump off the stadium.
"Fairy…"
Clefairy's eyes getting a pink hue released psychic energy to stop all of the leaves, in turn saving me.
"Cle clefairy!" The little Pokemon shouted puffing its chest in pride. But soon after this Clefairy became aggressive and ran to the stadium without my confirmation.
'Well, this isn't too bad I suppose.' I murmur. With the pink fluff now in front of me the battle commenced.
"{Leafage} don't give it room to dodge!" Paul shouts seeing the opportunity. Grotle was still somewhat close to my side of the battlefield as he was moving forward.
"Dodge with {Minimize} then make space."
"Fairy!" The Pokemon growls out as it shrunk a little. With a huge claw coming for it, the little fluff barely dodged as it ran away for its life.
"FAIRYYY!"
As the little Pokemon ran, its opponent wasn't idle.
"Grotle {Razor Leaf} quickly!"
With this more leafs immediately surrounded Grotle and we're shortly after sent towards Clefairy.
"{Gravity} on the whole field," I say with a huge smirk creeping up on my face. Clefairy getting the memo created a field of adjusted gravity.
This in turn made Grotle's attack hit the ground and dissipate into thin air. Paul watching this got a surprised look for the second time this battle.
"What in the hell is happening?" He blurts out never seeing something like this before.
An {Aura Sphere} Squirtle who sends the attack out like an instant canon and now a Gravity-controlling pink ball.
"Full powered {Stored Power}."
Clefairy hearing this, charges up all its energy as fast as it could and quickly sent it out. By the time this happened though, Paul was able to grab Grotle's Pokeball and return it.
The psychic energy ended up hitting the ground and created a crack in the field.
*Boom*
*Phsszszst*
"Elekid, standby for battle," Paul said after some time for thought. Watching the guy send out his next Pokemon I already thought of a way to sweep him.
'My other Pokemon need some action so I'll let him handle this.' I thought to myself hearing Paul say his last Pokemon. With this, I also returned Clefairy making my opponent scrunch his face.
*Phsszst*
"Elekid!"
"Geodude!
Remembering that Paul didn't have any more switches I get a smile. He would be forced to keep on battling with Elekid till one of our Pokemon fainted.
To which I already have a natural advantage. While type advantages aren't everything, my Geodude's move pool is way more suited to take Elekid out. So in short I should win pretty handily.
"{Sandstorm} Geodude, it's time for a team sweep!" I announce stretching my hands out, trying to get a reaction out of Paul. This wasn't for naught though as my opponent started to clench his fist with an annoyed look.
"{Cross Chop} Elekid, you have to land this hit," Paul says with his voice quickly rising.
Geodude was able to successfully set up a {Sandstorm} because of the initial distance of Elekid. But this was soon closed as the electric Pokemon was next to Geodude.
"Kidd!" The Pokemon shouts doing a crossed chop at the Geodude. But the attack hit nothing but air as in one moment went the next, its opponent dissapeared.
"Let's go Geodude, hit it with a {Mega Punch}."
"Dodge it Elekid!"
Elekid who just finished hit high damage attack, couldn't recover in time as a Geodude with {Sandveil} got behind and smacked it.
*Thud*
The impact sent the poor electric Pokemon to the floor instantly knocking it out. Paul seeing this returned the Pokemon and soon after sent his next one out, not giving Geodude any time to breathe.
"Grotle!"
Grotle who was sent out, was huffing and puffing with visible scratch marks on its body. It was tired but still had a job to battle.
"Grotle use {Razor Leaf}." Paul adamantly said. Watching the Pokemon use the same move for the third time, I thought of a counter.
"Geodude keep on spamming {Rock Throw} and keep a distance."
*Crack*
With the floor cracking due to Geodude grabbing a few boulders. A few were quickly hurled at Grotle as it made an impact with {Razor Leaf}.
*Crash*
The leaves were swiftly dealt with as a combination of the {Sandstorm} and boulder withered down the grass attack.
But after this even more rocks we're heading for Grotle without pause.
"Use {Leafage} and close the distance," Paul commands gritting his teeth realising that his chances of winning are less than double digits.
"Grotle!" The Pokemon roared out as it keeps on smashing rocks with its claws covered in grass energy.
But unfortunately for Paul, this couldn't be kept up as one boulder got past.
*Boom*
With this one boulder hitting the Pokemon, it was shortly after sent flying towards Paul making Geodude stop its assault.
"Tle…"
With Paul's Grotle now having swirls in its eyes, the match was decided there and then.
Literally…
"I forfeit the match," Paul says with a sigh, raising his arms. The person who managed the matches seemingly heard this and sent the confirmation.
A robotic voice started to talk as Paul returned his Pokemon to its Pokeball, with me doing the same.
*Phsszzst*
"Paul from Veilstone City Sinnoh has forfeited the match, making Forrest from Pewter the winner!"
'I need five more to get a rank in the battle club.'
More than a couple of claps could be heard around the stadium snapping me out of my thought process. I almost forgot that these battles were public to anyone here and there was a crowd.
"Great fight Forrest!"
"Dude, did you see that Clefairy save? That was sick!"
"I need to take a shit."
Multiple voices were speaking as I exited the stadium with Clefairy and Tyrogue by my side.
…
"Hey!" A voice says catching up to me. Looking back I recognised who it was. "Could you give me permission to get the replay of the battle?"
The man I recognised as Paul my previous opponent asked.
"Sure man, I'll come with you," I say not seeing anything wrong with it. A replay of a match that occurred would be recorded but not distributed. Even though people could record a video of a battle, it doesn't have all the angles that the technology the club uses to analyse a battle.
This is why it's mostly restricted to getting the tape before it's shortly deleted after a day. Because it lets you fully see your opponent's style but I don't exactly have one, so I don't mind.
Paul with a grateful look walked next to me as Tyrogue looked at him curiously and Clefairy looked livid.
"Clefairy…" the little Pokemon growled out as she grabbed my pants. "Fairy?" Clefairy getting a confused look realised that it got dragged by my leg and was now holding on for the ride.
Chuckling at its antics I just move on ahead with Paul next to me.
"You're from Sinnoh, right? What are you doing here in Kanto, aiming for the Indigo league eh?" I asked wanting to start some small talk.
"I'm not rich enough to aim for the league on my first journey. More than half of my money was spent getting here."
Hearing the little banter he's going on I give him a "Are you serious" look.
"What? Isn't like almost all you're Pokemon bought. Last time I heard rare Clefairy, experienced Scyther and monstrous Lairon aren't common to have." He says.
"I caught all my Pokemon besides Squirtle and Lairon before he evolved. I guess you wouldn't know seeing that you're broke." I said taking a jab at him. This seemed to not hurt him at all but made him chuckle a little. "So what are you at Kanto for?"
"Well, my brother told me to visit another region before aiming for a league first. Mostly for funds and to explore." Paul says after contemplating a bit. "You think you could give me some tips on battling, I saw that you used to be a gym trainer on Pokebook."
"You stalking my Pokebook profile now? Well, I'm sure I can help you tommorow if you want." I say with a smug tone. Paul hearing this got a little irritated but was fine.
"Don't even start. Your clout is from a Crystal Onix you don't even own." He says taking a jab back at me. Hearing this I clutch my chest in defeat.
"Ouch man, now that hurts." I jokingly say. On the way to the desk, we bantered for a little bit more before we finally arrived.
Talking to Paul was more fun than expected as he took my insults well and actually delivered some back. I mean the guy insulted me with a valid argument.
Unlike the other brainless kids who throw Pidgeys and Rattatas as Onix's and complain on Pokebook. This man is a pure menace to whoever he talks to.
"Hello, we'd like the footage of our Pokemon battle." We both say to the woman at the counter. Shortly after this we were able to get the recordings and went on our separate ways.
Before that though we got each other's contacts and headed towards our separate hotels for the night.
(A/N: Sorry for the late chapter. I wanted to watch Spider verse with my mum so we had to watch the first movie with her before heading to the cinema. A bit late to watch the movie I know, but watching it with family is great 🙏
Bro, she complained to my sister and me about it being "to be continued". She's like "Why watch a multiple-part movie, I need an ending to feel happy/sad after watching" 😂)
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone