Ethan waited to see what Jessie and James thought about the sudden question for a double battle, as they had obviously been battling alongside another for years. After a few seconds of back and forth, the young duo who challenged them finally reached their group. As Ethan opened his mouth to greet them, firm hands grabbed his shoulders and shoved him forward. With heels dug into the dirt, Ethan skidded forward like some awkward upright plank.
Jessie's voice spoke from just above his left shoulder, and James’ came from his right. “Our friend here has some experience in doubles! But! He will coordinate both his pokemon!”
Ethan’s face drained of color as his gas lighting from the day before came to bite him in the ass. Yesterday, during their small talk around the stew, he’d confided that his ‘experience’ with battling was in doubles… just that it was in videogames form from his prior life. During the night of drinking at the bar, he’d shared some of his life from before with the rocket trio. They took it much better than most, probably because they’ve faced down legendaries beside Ash and have seen things that would shake a mortal man.
He didn’t think the ramifications of his actions would come so swiftly.
Completely oblivious to his inner turmoil, the two young trainers in front of him looked excited and introduced themselves. “Great! So, what sort of rules do we want to follow? We just finished getting our third badges from Eterna City! So, we’re both pretty good!”
“Uhh…” Ethan stammered.
“How about four pokemon? Two from each of you, and four for our friend here? He has a wide array of pokemon, from young to strong! Just take it easy on the younger ones? One switch each? We’ll judge the battle, try not to order your pokemon… say, more than thirty meters from here? Use the environment and all that?” Jessie purred, slinging her vile plans into motion against the two young adults unable to withstand her charm.
After a second of conferring the two guys nodded. “Sounds good to us!” They drew their trainer licenses as they approached Ethan and Jessie and James gave him a final shove from behind, causing him to stumble forward.
Now not in a position to refuse, Ethan threw a withering glare back towards his ‘friends’. Ethan dug around his collar and withdrew his lanyard with his license on it, tapping it against—Ethan scanned the names before him—Jack and Jamie’s. Same last name on the pro-offered cards too, siblings.
The battle of the four J’s would have been better…
After finalising the rules on Jack’s phone, they each separated down the route to stand a good distance away from one another, preparing for battle. As Ethan stalked to his end, he glared. “You’ll pay for this. Maybe we’ll rearrange our split from the stand…”
Jessie gave him a cheshire grin and a nod like she was acknowledging a child. “Of course, of course. Win first though.”
James was in between the two sides and raised his arms up high. “Trainers, are you ready?”
“Yup!” “I’m good!” “No…”
“Good!” James, completely ignoring Ethan’s sulking, lowered his hands in a flash. “In the open, please! Release!”
Ethan did have plans of trying some double battles, but the suddenness of it all left him unprepared.
He’d actually have to order his pokemon during this battle.
------------------------------------------
Jack threw out his silky best friend, knowing that his starter would enjoy some exercise. His eyes roamed to Jamie’s choice, happy with what he saw.
“Larrrrr!”
Linoone and Lairon! A solid team for attack and defence!
With a smile at their choices, his eyes roamed to their opponent, Ethan. The man didn’t have many registered battles at all. From what he saw, he had a pokemon named Tinkatink, but he was unfamiliar with its species. From out of the two pokeballs before him, a Chatot and… what had to be a Tinkatink, judging by its bright pink unfamiliarity, appeared with cries of joy.
He’d seen Chatots down near Pastoria City long ago, but not many had them as partners. They were musical in nature, so sound based moves were likely, but he had no clue about the Tinkatink. It had a little hammer though, it must be physical.
“Lairon! Get in there!” Jamie yelled from his side, starting off the battle.
“Tinkatink! Fairy Wind that big piece of metal! Chatot, use your favorite!” Their adversary, Ethan yelled with a rush.
“Linoone! Quick Attack!” He joined in, blood pumping.
Lairon was surging fourth, its bulk shaking and snapping the loose leaves and twigs surrounding them all as he settled into a charge. Linoone blitzed past, quick and agile in a gleaming aura of white, aiming straight for the tiny pink humanoid who was… charging? Why is it charging at the bulking train of metal heading towards them? Did it not hear its trainers' orders?
As he flicked his eyes to see its trainer's reaction, a bright chorus of sound smashed into Linoone in an unavoidable wave of vibration. The Chatot was still on the ground, singing its name rapidly in a sound based move. It could have been any of them!
Linoone slowed, but still surged forth in a fierce Quick Attack tackle into the pink Tinkatink, knocking them aside and into a nearby tree. The crash sent them both rolling as the final leaves in its canopy fluttered down all around.
“Tinkatink! Metal!” Ethan hollered, a slight edge of worry in his voice.
The Tinkatink stood, hammer at the ready with a scowl of displeasure on its baby-like face. With a furious cry, dark-type energy swam across her hammer as she slammed it into Linoone's side, sending Linoone into a crumple of pain. Without looking to see the results of her action, the little pink blob sprinted away with a fervor bellying its size, screeching and hollering gibberish as she locked onto Jamie's Lairon.
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Ethan’s Chatot took to the air, sending another burst of sound towards Linoone as it staggered, battering his partner with vibrations that shook down to the bone.
“Linoone, go for Tinkatink!”
“Chatot! Sing! Let Tinkatink have fun.” Ethan yelled.
The flying Chatot began to sing a slow, dour song, as she fluttered up above in the trees, and Jack saw the moment when Linoone was done for as his partner's eyes blinked lazily and confusedly.
“Recall!” Jack shouted, earning a nod from their blue haired judge. After recalling his friend back into his ball, he chucked out his next pokemon.
“Jack has used his return! No more switching for him!” Their judge yelled above the din of battle.
As his final pokemon appeared and swished its massive tongue about in a display of dominance, Jack focused on Jamie’s Larirn. He blanched as he watched as the little pink humanoid hammer Lairon’s metallic mass with psychotic vigor, swarming and scrabbling onto its bulk as it tried to knock the pink gremlin loose. Dull clangs and moans of pain echoed from the brawl.
“Lickitung! Help Lairon!”
“Lairon! Squish that little poke!” Jamie screamed, losing his temper.
“Tinkatink fall—” Ethan’s command was cut off as Lairon flipped onto its back like a Wailord breaching the ocean, crushing the tiny pink pokemon beneath a white aura and massive bulk—A Body Slam. The much smaller pink pokemon let out a squeal of pain, but that sound of pain was swiftly replaced by fury as the smaller pink pokemon grasped the… remains of its hammer.
Without warning, the pink terror ripped and tore with its bare hands, coated in steel type energy. Lairon moaned in anguish as it tried to right itself from its backwards flop. Tinkatink’s hands tore through metal, tearing chunks out of the Lairon’s metallic defences as Lickitung’s tongue lashed out, wrapping up the much smaller pokemon into its saliva’d grasp.
Tinkatink wiggled and screamed in a rage, trying to free herself from the tongue enveloping her as Jamie recalled his now much too injured Lairon in a daze of shock.
Neither of them had expected the small pink pokemon to do that much damage.
“Lairon is unable to battle!” The judge called.
“Recall!” Ethan yelled with worry and dismay. “Please let Tinkatink collect her metal for her hammer. It’s very important, like a Far’Fetched’s leek.”
Jack nodded without giving the man much attention. Lickitung unraveled Tinkatink and the small pokemon collapsed with angry sobs. She crawled over to her destroyed hammer and cried as she collected the pieces. It was… heartbreaking in a way. The bright foreign pokemon tried to mash the pieces together to fix her hammer, but it was beyond simple reconstruction.
“Chatot,” Ethan began, as a lull entered the battle. “Help Tinkatink bring her things here.”
An un-declared time out happened as Ethan’s pokemon helped one another. Even the small Ralts that traveled out with Ethan helped out by collecting metal scrap. A minute later, the crying pink pokemon sat on the ground next to its trainer, sniffling and trying to fix her hammer with the large pile of metal beside her.
After some quiet consoling words to his pokemon and a berry offering, Ethan spoke again. “Chatot go back to where you were… Sorry for the delay.”
“Ethan and Jamie will release their next pokemon on my mark and the battle will continue! Ready?” The blue haired judge asked, looking to and from both sides.
“Yup!” “Yeah…”
“Release!”
Jack watched as Jamie’s Orthworm hit the field and frowned. Jamie’s Orthworm wasn’t going to do much versus a flying type, the lack of long ranged options made it a poor choice. At least Chatot wouldn’t be able to do much versus the steel type.
Ethan threw out another ball, releasing a very rare Munchlax! He caught Jamie’s hint of surprise in his periphery as he smiled at the sight. The happy furry teal pokemon put on its best game face as it turned to look at its trainer. Jack saw the moment its eyes landed on its crying friend and its smile faltered.
“Trainers, ready?!” The judge called. His red haired companion now by his side with a downtrodden frown.
“Go!”
“Munchlax! Lend a Helping Hand.” Ethan called as the pokemon broke out into motion. “Chatot! Burst’em!”
“Orthy! Smackdown and defend!”
“Lickitung, use Belly-Drum! Set-up and finish this!”
Jamie’s Orthworm flicked its tail at a frightening speed, sending a fragment of rock straight at the flying Chatot. The fragment struck the colorful bird, causing it to drop like a stone straight to the ground. At the same time, Munchlax started a wiggle dance, clapping its hands in five rhythmic bursts, and Lickitung smacked its belly with both hands and its tongue, wincing as pain shuttered through its body.
Jack wasn’t an expert, but he knew a lot of moves. Helping Hand wasn’t one he was familiar with. Helping Hand, if that was the move that Ethan actually ordered, must have also been a set-up move. It was a race against the clock.
Lickitung finished her drumming in a burst of strength, and Munchlax finished clapping and wiggling… sending an aura of white to the now standing Chatot who was taking deep breaths. Orthworm charged ahead, aiming to get in close to give Lickitung some time to arrive—
He barely caught the motion of Ethan, the judge, and the red haired woman covering their ears.
What followed next was beyond anything he’d ever expected from such a small bird. A visible shockwave burst forth. The sparse leaves that still clung to the branches of the trees of their surroundings blitzed forward faster than the blink of an eye as a shockwave of booming air burst. His ears popped, leaving a dull ringing as it felt like he sprinted straight into a concrete wall from the concussive force of sound and air.
Lickitung flew back like Arceus had reached down and flicked her, shattering a tree as she tumbled through the air. Orthworm didn’t fare much better, barreling into and through three trees before getting stuck against a fourth trunk—Its body bending, head on one side, tail on the other in the shape of a U.
Jamie fell on his ass, legs flying into the air from the force of the move as Jack thanked Arceus for not being in the direct path of that invisible Hyper Beam.
Silence descended as the echoing voice of Chatot’s “CHAAA!” rang through the dimly lit forest of their surroundings. Branches creaked and toppled, leaves crunched and fluttered, and blood pumped thunderously.
After an awkward silence, their judge coughed into a fist, eyes wide with shock. “I’m going to go ahead and call the battle there… Unless you two want to continue?
Him and Jamie looked to one another, stared into each other's eyes, then nodded at the exact same time.
“We lose.”
“Fuck that.”
—-------------------------
Ethan watched as both Jamie and Jack recalled their pokemon and ran away, without another word being spoken. They didn’t even bother running past them, just out of the trail and into the forest itself to go around.
Ethan was about to bitch at Jessie and James for this whole shitshow when Tinkatink’s bark of haughty satisfaction broke his thoughts. He sent her a concerned glance, feeling a chill go down his spine at her evil grin. She watched them run away with… a little too much happiness.
….
At least she wasn’t crying anymore.
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