'Sucker Punch, Aqua Jet, Shadow Sneak… what's with people's love for these moves. I mean it's okay to go second, alright.
I understand why people like these moves. Priority moves in this world are a kind of last resort to trainers. But if I'm being honest, I find them frustrating. I mean you got yourself into this spot, so just let me hit you.'
Damon sends in his Morgrem to aid Booth. Booth is still recovering from the sudden Sucker Punch from Croagunk.
Booth collects his power and has his Pansear stick close to Morgrem. The Poison Jab from earlier had poisoned Booth. Booth prepares his last move to get one last good hit in.
"Damon, I'm on a timer here. I'll try to make an opening."
"Alright, go for it."
The Houndour leaps in and shows its teeth. Pansear sucks in air and shoots an Incinerate. Two fireballs fly out of Pansear's mouth with searing heat. One fireball hits the ground, while the other hits Houndour.
The blast knocks Houndour out of the air and Booth chases after it. The Houndour sees the obvious trap with the fireball on the ground and retreats towards the Croagunk.
As soon as Booth sees the Houndour turn, he smiles and launches a third fireball. Damon is shocked, but he doesn't stop attacking.
An Incinerate can fire up to three fireballs at max. But because the power consumption is also higher, Booth usually just uses 1 or 2.
The last fireball hits the fleeing Houndour and knocks it out. Croagunk stands its ground and fights the Morgrem.
Booth, on the other hand, starts to have multiple problems from the poison.
'The poison isn't doing much damage, but it's causing my power to recover at a snail's pace. At this point it's better to just give up my position and switch out.'
"Tyler, I'm switching out."
"Ok."
Booth recalls his Pansear and Tyler's Sandshrew comes in. The other team sends out their Duskull and aids their Croagunk.
Morgrem uses False Surrender as the Croagunk trades with Poison Jab. Damon receives the blow and shakes it off. False Surrender strikes the Croagunks cheek, pushing the Croagunk a few feet from where he started.
While Croagunk is good at dodging attacks and dealing damage, it's not very good at taking hits. Damon realized this after a few jabs. Croagunk's high mobility should have allowed it to overwhelm him with attacks, but its frequent cautious play alerted Damon. After using False Surrender, Damon confirmed his suspicion.
Damon follows the Croagunk and batters it with Morgrem's fists. Tyler waits close by anticipating a move from the Duskull.
Duskull's first attack always makes its opponents nervous. Tyler and Damon know an attack is coming, but there's little they can do about it. The best they can do to counter Shadow Sneak, is stay on their toes.
Damon wants to launch another move into the Croagunk, but if Duskull interrupts him he could lose a lot of power.
When Croagunk starts gaining back ground, Damon gives in and prepares a move. Morgrem's hair sticks up on its skins and power starts to build up. At the sight of Morgrem preparing its move the opponents get ready for their counterattack. Tyler's Sandshrew also tucks in for its Rollout.
Damon takes a step forward and suddenly Duskull's shadow sweeps out from beneath Morgrem's feet. It's too late to react, and Morgrem receives a blow to its legs. Pain goes through Morgrem's legs making it hard to stay standing.
Croagunk unleashes the Poison Jab it prepared from earlier and tries to back Damon into a corner. A similar surprise comes from Tyler. A white ball charges towards the Croagunk. The Rollout almost connects, but the Duskull gets in the way.
Duskull takes the tackle, and manages to stay standing. It uses Payback and counters Sandshrew. The heavy blow from Payback doubles in power after the user receives a hit. Even though the move hit Sandshrew's hard shell, Tyler feels at a loss for breath from the violent attack.
Tyler takes a big breath and sticks to the Duskull, determined to not let it get away again. He quickly takes control of the area near Duskull and gets back at it.
Meanwhile, Damon is forced onto the defensive. Croagunk's Poison Jabs swing left and right, slowly knocking down Morgrem's health. When the Poison Jab ends, Croagunk goes back to playing conservatively. Morgrem has already taken quite a bit of poison, so all Croagunk has to do is wait.
'As I thought, Croagunk is very good.' Booth thinks. 'It's speed and attack are great, but it's poison is what makes it unique from other close range pokemon. The poison will dissipate quickly thanks to the hardiness of pokemon here, but in this case waiting isn't an option for Damon.
If he backs off now, he can get rid of the poison, but the Croagunk will be able to recover its power. Knowing Damon he won't let this happen of course.'
Damon walks up to the Croagunk carefully, not taking any chances. For the second time, Morgrem's power builds up for an attack. At the same time, the Croagunk trainer builds power for its own attack.
In a clever move, Croagunk uses Low Kick to try and topple Damon. Damon, however, takes this hit and responds with an Assurance. Assurance takes the leftover power that has built up on Croagunk throughout the battle and recycles it for an even more powerful attack.
Morgrem's fist sinks into Croagunk's rubbery stomach and makes a satisfying sound. Croagunk's stomach sinks in and its face crumples. The Croagunk trainer's integrator sounds off signaling Damon successful knock out.
The audience is stunned. Too strong! From the look of it, Morgrem's Assurance had enough power to knock Croagunk out two times over.
Damon doesn't rest and moves towards the Duskull. Morgrem moves very slowly, as it's received two blows to the legs. But even in this state, the opponent doesn't dare to underestimate its power.
Duskull stays away from the Morgrem, choosing its spots out of the Morgrem's range. Tyler doesn't let it do this for long and catches up to it.
Two silvery claws slice through Duskull, putting a stop to its resistance. The last Integrator beeps as Duskull floats to the ground.
The battle judge calls the game for Booth's team and the match ends.
After the match, the opposing team wishes them luck as both teams go to get their pokemon healed. Damon and Tyler return their pokemon and walk with the other team.
The opposing team is very friendly and even trades information to help Booth's team review their battle.
One of the opponents gives his advice on team battle tactics, "One of the hardest, yet best things to work into teams are bulky pokemon. While they can take an extra hit here and there, they're not much bulkier than other pokemon. In order to make them work, figuring out how to use their movement is super important."
Tyler nods his head at the trainer's statement. "I agree. I had trouble figuring out Sandshrew at first because I took too many attacks."
"That's surprising. Whenever I've seen you use Sandshrew it seems nearly invincible." Booth says.
Tyler laughs at the compliment, "That's the idea. Although I'm not perfect. Rollout is a crutch that has helped me escape whenever I made a mistake."
"Yeah, being a bulky pokemon doesn't necessarily mean you have to tank hits. As long as you are patient and keep track of your opponent you'll find an opportunity to attack eventually."
Booth contemplates their advice until the pokemon are healed.
Both teams get their pokemon back, and Booth's team thanks the other team. The other team wishes them luck as the two teams say goodbye. Booth's team separates and finds a spot in the stands to talk about their match in depth.
About 10 minutes later the next match starts, and the teams pay attention to the battle. Booth is a little nervous for the next battle, so he thinks about some other stuff to distract himself.
As Booth is looking around, he sees the breeder he met at the Pokemon Contest Hall. Booth walks over and greets him.
"Hey, you came to see the tournament." Booth says.
The breeder is a bit surprised to see him. "Hey, I didn't know you were in the team competition, uh." the breeder pauses a second before continuing, "Ah, I guess I never told you my name, my name's Oscar."
Booth laughs. "I'm Booth. And yeah, I joined the competition to get some experience battling, and so far I've had a great time."
"That's good. I come to see the tournaments every month. The tournaments are always exciting, but this tournament in particular has a lot of good trainers. It's pretty cool that you've gotten so far."
"Hahaha, is that so. Well, I can't take all the credit, the rest of my team has been great to work with."
Booth talks for a while, enjoying the conversation. After talking he manages to calm his nerves. When Booth leaves, Oscar gives some encouragement to Booth. Booth says goodbye and returns to his team to get ready for the upcoming battle.
'It won't be long now. The last battle of the top 8 is finishing up, and from the looks of it we'll be going up against Reed's team.' Booth exhales and smiles faintly. 'I'm looking forward to it!'