The field is a dirt court outside. There are a couple patches of grass here and there, but the court is mostly clear. The sun is at its highest and the temperature is warm. The teams are lined up on either side waiting for the signal to start.
Someone calls start and the game begins. Two pokemon from each team meet the ground and the trainers activate their Integrators'. Pansear and Buizel come out on Booth's side. The other team sends out Dwebble and Seel.
Ben closes in after the signal and starts testing the Dwebble. Booth has Pansear approach the Seel who is on the left. Booth prepares his attack as they move.
'Don't get too close, we control the center of the court. Either they make a move or Ben will force them to.'
The Seel summons an Icy wind and shoots part of it at Ben and part at Booth. Expecting this Booth tells Pansear to use Yawn. A drowsy Yawn catches the Seel in the middle of its attack, while Booth meets the Icy Wind.
'Ouch! That's cold! Pansear, warm us up, this is ridiculous.'
Icy Wind is more than cold air. On its own the move will partially freeze an opponent and lower their speed by 20 to 30 percent. If the opponent is already injured then the move can do massive damage.
"Booth watch out!" Ben exclaims.
Rock Blast fires out to the right of Pansear. Booth sees it and commands Pansear to take action.
'Forget this, charge the Seel!'
Thanks to Pansear warming up quickly they are able to dodge the attack. The Dwebble trainer sees Pansear getting near the Seel and stops firing Rock Blast to not catch his teammate in an attack. The Dwebble trainer isn't worried as he completed what he set out to do. His plan was to get the Pansear to approach the Seel.
'Looks like they want a fast game too. Pansear, go to the Seel's left and we'll Fury Swipes.'
Pansear carefully works on maneuvering to Seel's side. Booth builds power for a Fury Swipes and tries to find his opening.
Buizel on the other hand is doing great. After firing a Rock Blast at the Pansear, the Dwebble opened itself up for Buizel's attacks. The opposing team wanted to preserve their Seel and put the Dwebble at risk for this purpose. Dwebble's job now is to tire the Buizel enough for the next pokemon to come in and clean up.
After getting some hits in, Ben's Buizel is in a comfortable lead. Ben judges that the Dwebble won't hold on for much longer and tells Booth his plan.
"The Dwebble is almost down. When Yawn activates I'll finish the Dwebble and back you up."
"Alright."
Booth goes over the plan briefly in his head. 'When Ben finishes the Dwebble the next pokemon will come in immediately after. By knocking them out right after one another there is little they can do.'
Booth praises Ben's thinking momentarily then focuses back to the Seel. The Seel launches a Water Pulse which causes Booth to back up a bit to avoid it. Pansear rushes in and uses Fury Swipes.
An Ice Shard flies directly at Pansear. He slashes the Ice Shard with Fury Swipes and pushes the Seel towards Buizel. Pansear manages to land one good cut before running out of power. Booth starts gathering more power for a Flame Burst finisher after the attack.
"Ben, it should be anytime now." Booth relays to Ben.
Ben, who was waiting for this situation, blasts the Dwebble with a Water Gun.
Beep Beep
The Dwebble is down first. Soon after the next trainer lets out his Crabrawler. At the same time Pansear leaps at the Seel. The Seel desperately puts it's guard up. Pansear uses the maneuver it learned from Glameow and tears the unsuspecting Seel's arms out of the way. Sparks start to fly from Pansear's mouth.
A fireball inflates quickly and burns in the air. Smoke follows the fireball as it erupts in the face of the Seel. The Flame Burst shatters and flings embers all around. The main explosion sends Seel tumbling backwards.
Not missing his turn Ben uses Pursuit with Buizel. A dark glow surrounds Buizel's arm. Buizel's arm slams the Seel from behind, dealing a critical hit.
Beep Beep
The Seel is also knocked out right after the Dwebble. Booth is amazed by how fast the game has shifted in their favor.
"Booth, this is the part where we usually run." Ben says suddenly. Waking Booth from his celebration.
"What?"
Ben's Buizel moves out of the way, opening Crabrawler's path to Pansear. Booth doesn't react fast enough though. A Rock Smash clobbers Pansear in the gut. A loud thump sounds as if announcing a successful hit.
'Run Pansear. Retreat... This sucks.' Booth gives a command and continues to groan in pain.
The Crabrawler trainer predicts this and catches Booth's retreat with Pursuit. Booth and Pansear are pummeled multiple times with Crabrawler's fists.
Beep Beep
Booth calls his Pansear back and Damon sends out his Morgrem. Booth is discouraged at his loss, but he is still very interested in the match.
'It's three on two now. There's just Crabrawler and Taillow to deal with. It's hard to choose who to focus on first. Defeating Taillow first gets rid of Crabrawler's fast support. Without it Crabrawler will have a tough time against attacks from outside its range.
On the other hand if Crabrawler gets one opening he can deal considerable damage. This makes focusing on either one difficult. Luckily we have the momentum in this battle, so we don't have to take any risky moves. We can just have them come to us instead.'
Damon's idea is similar to Booth's. Damon keeps the Crabrawler busy while Ben does the same with the Taillow. If the game continues this way, even if the other team manages to knock out Ben or Damon, Tyler will come in with his Sandshrew and finish up.
Morgrem land's a third Sucker Punch, each punch putting Crabrawler's power into disarray for a second. Buizel also keeps the Taillow occupied. Buizel not only took an Icy Wind, but is pretty tired already. The Taillow takes a few hits, but manages to break free.
"Tweeet!" The Taillow darts towards Morgrem and launches a surprise attack. An Aerial Ace slashes at the Morgrem from the side. Damon tries trading blows with Taillow using False Surrender. The Taillow's wing slashes Morgrem, while Morgrem stabs the Taillow.
Crabrawler doesn't miss it's opening here and uses Rock Smash. A heavy fist slams the Morgrem. Damon uses Sucker Punch to counter the Crabrawler's next hit, but it ducks out of the way. As soon as Morgrem's punch misses another Rock Smash lands into the Morgrem.
The Integrator sounds, and Damon immediately pulls his Morgrem from the battle. Ben follows the Taillow and uses Aqua Jet. Buizel is suddenly covered in water from head to toe. Buizel's tail starts to spin and Buizel shoots off like a bullet. The Taillow is rocked back by the water tackle knocking it down for good. Taillow's Integrator sounds off.
'Very well done! Damon knew he would be in a bad situation anyway and decided to trade hits with the Taillow. Now the Taillow is down, and the Crabrawler is on its own. With this Tyler and Ben should be able to close up this game a lot easier.'
Tyler sends out his Sandshrew and commands it to start rolling right away. After knocking out the Taillow Ben began running away. At this point Buizel is looking fatigued from using so many moves.
Crabrawler goes all in to finish the Buizel, but Tyler's Sandrew gets to the Crabrawler first. Sandshrew's hard shell smacks the Crabrawler sending it back. Tyler then uncurls the Sandshrew and has him use Metal Claw. Sandshrew's small claws grow thicker and sharper. The claws shred the Crabrawler who faints shortly after.
The game is called and Crabrawler's trainer returns his pokemon. Both teams meet at the side of the court to congratulate each other.
"That was an excellent play with the Buizel and Pansear at the beginning. I tend to look only for safer plays, so I miss a lot of good opportunities. Thanks for a great battle guys." The team leader compliments.
"Yeah, it was a great battle. We should try having another battle later this week." Damon says.
"Yeah, Let's do that."
After giving their congratulations the two teams share their thoughts on the battle.
One trainer shares his opinion, "Controlling the opponent's speed is usually a sure way to control the pace of the game. The way your team held the center of the court or picked its positions taught me a lot. Even if your pokemon lost speed to Icy Wind, you were able to hold the advantage easily because of your place on the court."
"Yeah, I also found it very helpful. If anyone wants to work on their footwork and positions on the court I could use a partner and I would be happy to help." Booth offers.
"Thanks, that would be a big help." The trainer says.
Booth makes his offer available to anyone else who's interested. A few others including Tyler join in. Booth is naturally happy to have more trainers to work with. Working in a group generally makes experimenting much smoother. Additionally, groups can solve problems quicker too.
The trainers make some plans for the week. A couple stay while others say their goodbyes. Booth reflects on the outcome and is happy with it.
'I'm glad the other trainers are eager to improve. With this I can get some practice with my reaction time and maybe get some other hints as well.'