The 'Battle Spot' is what they called the place. Hosted by the Pokémon League, it was a place where trainers, young and old, could come and battle it out just for fun or to become the best competitive battler depending on the format. The rules were pretty simply as far as the formats were concerned. No two of the same Pokémon could be brought nor could any two different Pokémon carry the same held item. For single battles, each trainer brought three Pokémon, four Pokémon were brought for doubles and six were brought for triples and rotation battles with three Pokémon on the field at the same time. Each battle had a thirty minute time limit.
There were two formats in the Battle Spot. The first was the 'free battle' format where random matchups could be performed without any strict rules in play. In other words, it was a free for all. But, for those aiming to be the best, there was a ranking system in which much harder battles could be fought. Unlike in free battle, there were stricter rules and more emphasis on fairness among trainers. Legendary Pokémon, however rare they were, were not allowed there.
One trainer, Magnolia, had found that ranked battles were for those super competitive trainers who brought their hyper strong, well-bred Pokémon and super strong tactics. After just one double battle in that format against a powerful fire team, she decided that scene was light years beyond her skill level. She instead took her mediocre skills to the free battle format.
With her chosen three Pokémon ready to go in a single battle, she calmly stepped out into the arena and stood in a red rectangular box. As always, there was an enormous of spectators in the stands, but Magnolia's attention was solely focused on her opponent. Her randomly selected foe was a boy around her age with the ever popular Pangoro hat. As he took his spot in the blue rectangular box on his end, the announcer's voice rang out introducing the trainers.
[WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TO THE FOURTEENTH BATTLE OF THE BATTLE SPOT CHALLENGE IN THE FREE BATTLE ZONE. OUR CHALLENGERS TODAY ARE, IN THE BLUE CORNER, FROM LUMIOSE CITY, MAGNOLIA! AND IN THE RED CORNER, AN ADVENTURING TRAINER NAMED TANNER! ARE YOU READY, TRAINERS?? BEEEGIIIIN!]
On cue, Magnolia threw out her chosen lead Pokémon, as did the boy named Tanner. In a flash of light, two Pokémon appeared and glared each other down.
[AND SO IT BEGINS! MAGNOLIA LEADS WITH THE ELDER TREE Pokémon, TREVENANT, AND TANNER IS STARTING WITH SCIZOR, THE PINCER Pokémon! BASED ON TYPES, IT’S NOT A VERY GOOD TYPE MATCH UP FOR MAGNOLIA, WILL SHE WITHDRAW?]
Magnolia, however, did not see this start up as a disadvantage. In these competitive scenes a bad lead Pokémon will certainly spell doom for a trainer, but type advantage or not, she had been hoping for this ever since the team preview. She adjusted her glasses and gave her first order.
“Go! Will O’ Wisp!”
“Way too obvious, U-Turn Scizor!”
Magnolia believed, she believed her Trevenant could at least survive this hit. The faster Pokémon here was obviously Scizor and that was made painfully clear as the red pincer Pokémon smashed into Trevenant, knocking the Elder Tree onto the ground and in then switching places with Tanner’s second Pokémon, Rotom-Wash.
“That…did a lot more damage than I thought it would.” Magnolia adjusted her glasses and confirmed the set with that one hit-and-run tactic. “So it’s a choice banded Scizor then. That’s going to be a problem and so is this Rotom Wash!”
Trevenant was not knocked out, but suffered very heavy damage. Fortunately, Magnolia had given it a Sitrus Berry and it quickly devoured it to regain a good deal of its vitality back. Back on its roots, it released a spout of blue flames which burned the levitating washing machine. Afterwards, Trevenant harvested and ate another Sitrus Berry which was almost a full heal for the Elder Tree.
[AND SO THE FIRST TURN ENDS WITH AN EXCITING PLAY. SCIZOR HITS HARD AND HITS FAST AND GETS TO SWITCH TO GAIN SOME GROUND, BUT WITH A DOUBLE SITRUS HEAL FROM TREVENANT’S HARVEST ABILITY, IT’S NEARLY BACK UP TO FULL HEALTH! HOWEVER, THE SITUATION HAS CHANGED AGAIN! AS A WATER AND ELECTRIC TYPE, ROTOM-WASH ISN’T IN A FAVORABLE SPOT ESPECIALLY AFTER BEING BURNED.]
“That…didn’t change anything, really.” mumbled Magnolia. Her father spoke about it a lot, but it really was incredibly important to predict what your opponent was going to do. Tanner had done well in predicting a will o’ wisp and switching out to Rotom who wouldn’t mind being burned. “Although Rotom’s not going to do much against Trevenant either way though…hmm shall I play it safe then?”
“Alright, Trevenant, use Phantom Force!”
She picked that move to avoid a possible burn herself, not that it would matter much since Rotom was obviously much faster. Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump also wouldn’t do too much damage…unless it was choice scarfed; she couldn’t see from this distance what item it had.
"Humph, come back, Rotom!" However, as Trevenant disappeared, Tanner withdrew his burned Rotom. “Scizor, get back out there!”
“Huh?” Magnolia was confused. Was that switched purely so Rotom could absorb that burn? If so, had she gone for a burn this turn, she could have gotten away with it. She had just been out predicted.
“Scizor, can you Pursuit?”
Tanner ordered his Pokémon to move, but it had no way of knowing where Trevenant was. Instead as it looked around the arena, it did not notice the wooden claw extending behind it.
“Scizor!” Tanner called out to his Pokémon, but it was too late, Trevenant scored a powerful hit.
“Alright, a critical hit, not bad Trevenant!” Magnolia praised her Pokémon as it regrouped in front of her. It responded with low grunt. “Unfortunately, we know what’s coming next…”
“We’ll show that cursed tree some real damage now, use Pursuit now!”
There was no literally no escape. Trying to switch would only end up making her Pokémon suffer more damage, but a choice banded super effective Pursuit was enough to put Trevenant down and out.
[AND THE FIRST Pokémon GOES DOWN AFTER A STRANGE SERIES OF HIT-AND-RUNS FROM TANNER. HOWEVER, WITH SCIZOR NOW LOCKED ONTO USING PURSUIT THIS COULD BE A GOOD CHANCE FOR MAGNOLIA TO REGAIN SOME GROUND ON HER OWN.]
“Hmm…well that wasn’t bad at all. As I’d expect from that super competitive looking team, it’s going to be a tough win…but that’s all the better! Let’s do it, Vaporeon!”
Her second Pokémon was the Bubble Jet Pokémon, Vaporeon. If that Scizor decided to stay in, her defensively trained Vaporeon could wall it out pretty well, but of course,
“Good work, Scizor, take a break.” Tanner withdrew Scizor into its pokeball. “You should have no trouble with this one, Rotom!”
The levitating possessed washing machine returned to battle. Magnolia felt a little discouraged. Her previous experiences with this Pokémon as well as the stories she heard from others made her well aware of this Pokémon’s threat level. This Pokémon was known to take extremely powerful hits and dish it back. She was more worried about this Pokémon than even a Mega Kangaskhan. Of course, her only counter to either of those had fainted the previous turn.
There was really nothing Vaporeon could do in this situation, but Magnolia wanted to save her final Pokémon from taking a powerful thunderbolt which she knew was coming. Tanner paid little mind to Vaporeon's stat changes with Acid armor and went straight for the powerful Thunderbolt as predicted. However, even with a Big Root boosted Aqua Ring, a second thunderbolt was enough to down Vaporeon’s non-existent resistance.
[AND VAPOREON GOES DOWN! THE RED CORNER ONLY HAS ONE Pokémon LEFT WHILE THE BLUE CORNER IS STILL GOOD EVEN WITH A BURNED Pokémon. THE FEARSOME CHOICE BANDED SCIZOR IS WAITING IN THE WINGS POSSIBLY TO END THIS NEXT Pokémon IN ONE HIT! BUT, IT’S NEVER OVER UNTIL ITS OVER, WHAT Pokémon DOES MAGNOLIA HAVE LEFT AND IS IT ENOUGH FOR COME FROM BEHIND VICTORY?]
“Here’s our last stand then, Bouffalant, Go!”
[OH, IT’S THE BASH BUFFALO Pokémon, BOUFFALANT! THAT GLORIOUS AMAZING AFRO AIN’T JUST FOR SHOW, TAKING IN THE SHOCK FROM SOME FEARSOME POWER THAT CAN SEND EVEN A TRAIN FLYING!]
It had been bad call after bad call from the start, but it was too late to back down. Bouffalant was her strongest physical Pokémon and one Head Charge or Wild Charge could easily take down a Rotom Wash that had been softened up from a burn. The real reason she had kept her final Pokémon from switching in was because she wanted more burn damage on that Rotom so Bouffalant could Head Charge right through it and a possible Scizor switch in. As expected, Tanner ordered his Rotom to Volt Switch out. In his place was not a damaged Scizor, but instead his third and untouched Pokémon, Machamp!
However, Bouffalant may as well have not even felt that Volt Switch and Machamp had barely enough time to get his footing down when it was hit with a direct, Reckless boosted Head Charge!
Machamp was sent flying. Magnolia had seen some absolutely terrifying things done with a choice banded Bouffalant, but unfortunately for her, hers did not have one and that was the difference between a clean one-hit-knock-out or a Machamp just barely surviving and going on the counter offense with a Counter!
Now, it was Bouffalant that was sent flying which was amazing sight to see. Magnolia returned it to its pokeball before it crashed into the ground. “Game, set and match…” Magnolia sighed. “Counter… Machop, Machoke and Machamp can’t naturally learn that move so it must have been an egg move and what a gamble! If that’s a focus sashed Machamp with the No Guard ability, it didn’t even matter if my Bouffalant was choice banded or not.”
And that was why she feared those super competitive teams the most. Those teams were just incredibly strong and balanced. There was just nothing she could do about those guys except push them down to the wire.
As a show of sportsmanship, Magnolia and her opponent shook hands and congratulated each other. The bitterness of a clean defeat, the joy of a clean victory, in the end none of those things really mattered because one could easily follow the other. At the end of the day, it was for fun and even though she lost, the excitement of battling, the potential of a good fight whether she one or lost was what all trainers, young and all, sought for. At least, for most trainers.
There were two formats in the Battle Spot. The first was the 'free battle' format where random matchups could be performed without any strict rules in play. In other words, it was a free for all. But, for those aiming to be the best, there was a ranking system in which much harder battles could be fought. Unlike in free battle, there were stricter rules and more emphasis on fairness among trainers. Legendary Pokémon, however rare they were, were not allowed there.
One trainer, Magnolia, had found that ranked battles were for those super competitive trainers who brought their hyper strong, well-bred Pokémon and super strong tactics. After just one double battle in that format against a powerful fire team, she decided that scene was light years beyond her skill level. She instead took her mediocre skills to the free battle format.
With her chosen three Pokémon ready to go in a single battle, she calmly stepped out into the arena and stood in a red rectangular box. As always, there was an enormous of spectators in the stands, but Magnolia's attention was solely focused on her opponent. Her randomly selected foe was a boy around her age with the ever popular Pangoro hat. As he took his spot in the blue rectangular box on his end, the announcer's voice rang out introducing the trainers.
[WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TO THE FOURTEENTH BATTLE OF THE BATTLE SPOT CHALLENGE IN THE FREE BATTLE ZONE. OUR CHALLENGERS TODAY ARE, IN THE BLUE CORNER, FROM LUMIOSE CITY, MAGNOLIA! AND IN THE RED CORNER, AN ADVENTURING TRAINER NAMED TANNER! ARE YOU READY, TRAINERS?? BEEEGIIIIN!]
On cue, Magnolia threw out her chosen lead Pokémon, as did the boy named Tanner. In a flash of light, two Pokémon appeared and glared each other down.
[AND SO IT BEGINS! MAGNOLIA LEADS WITH THE ELDER TREE Pokémon, TREVENANT, AND TANNER IS STARTING WITH SCIZOR, THE PINCER Pokémon! BASED ON TYPES, IT’S NOT A VERY GOOD TYPE MATCH UP FOR MAGNOLIA, WILL SHE WITHDRAW?]
Magnolia, however, did not see this start up as a disadvantage. In these competitive scenes a bad lead Pokémon will certainly spell doom for a trainer, but type advantage or not, she had been hoping for this ever since the team preview. She adjusted her glasses and gave her first order.
“Go! Will O’ Wisp!”
“Way too obvious, U-Turn Scizor!”
Magnolia believed, she believed her Trevenant could at least survive this hit. The faster Pokémon here was obviously Scizor and that was made painfully clear as the red pincer Pokémon smashed into Trevenant, knocking the Elder Tree onto the ground and in then switching places with Tanner’s second Pokémon, Rotom-Wash.
“That…did a lot more damage than I thought it would.” Magnolia adjusted her glasses and confirmed the set with that one hit-and-run tactic. “So it’s a choice banded Scizor then. That’s going to be a problem and so is this Rotom Wash!”
Trevenant was not knocked out, but suffered very heavy damage. Fortunately, Magnolia had given it a Sitrus Berry and it quickly devoured it to regain a good deal of its vitality back. Back on its roots, it released a spout of blue flames which burned the levitating washing machine. Afterwards, Trevenant harvested and ate another Sitrus Berry which was almost a full heal for the Elder Tree.
[AND SO THE FIRST TURN ENDS WITH AN EXCITING PLAY. SCIZOR HITS HARD AND HITS FAST AND GETS TO SWITCH TO GAIN SOME GROUND, BUT WITH A DOUBLE SITRUS HEAL FROM TREVENANT’S HARVEST ABILITY, IT’S NEARLY BACK UP TO FULL HEALTH! HOWEVER, THE SITUATION HAS CHANGED AGAIN! AS A WATER AND ELECTRIC TYPE, ROTOM-WASH ISN’T IN A FAVORABLE SPOT ESPECIALLY AFTER BEING BURNED.]
“That…didn’t change anything, really.” mumbled Magnolia. Her father spoke about it a lot, but it really was incredibly important to predict what your opponent was going to do. Tanner had done well in predicting a will o’ wisp and switching out to Rotom who wouldn’t mind being burned. “Although Rotom’s not going to do much against Trevenant either way though…hmm shall I play it safe then?”
“Alright, Trevenant, use Phantom Force!”
She picked that move to avoid a possible burn herself, not that it would matter much since Rotom was obviously much faster. Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump also wouldn’t do too much damage…unless it was choice scarfed; she couldn’t see from this distance what item it had.
"Humph, come back, Rotom!" However, as Trevenant disappeared, Tanner withdrew his burned Rotom. “Scizor, get back out there!”
“Huh?” Magnolia was confused. Was that switched purely so Rotom could absorb that burn? If so, had she gone for a burn this turn, she could have gotten away with it. She had just been out predicted.
“Scizor, can you Pursuit?”
Tanner ordered his Pokémon to move, but it had no way of knowing where Trevenant was. Instead as it looked around the arena, it did not notice the wooden claw extending behind it.
“Scizor!” Tanner called out to his Pokémon, but it was too late, Trevenant scored a powerful hit.
“Alright, a critical hit, not bad Trevenant!” Magnolia praised her Pokémon as it regrouped in front of her. It responded with low grunt. “Unfortunately, we know what’s coming next…”
“We’ll show that cursed tree some real damage now, use Pursuit now!”
There was no literally no escape. Trying to switch would only end up making her Pokémon suffer more damage, but a choice banded super effective Pursuit was enough to put Trevenant down and out.
[AND THE FIRST Pokémon GOES DOWN AFTER A STRANGE SERIES OF HIT-AND-RUNS FROM TANNER. HOWEVER, WITH SCIZOR NOW LOCKED ONTO USING PURSUIT THIS COULD BE A GOOD CHANCE FOR MAGNOLIA TO REGAIN SOME GROUND ON HER OWN.]
“Hmm…well that wasn’t bad at all. As I’d expect from that super competitive looking team, it’s going to be a tough win…but that’s all the better! Let’s do it, Vaporeon!”
Her second Pokémon was the Bubble Jet Pokémon, Vaporeon. If that Scizor decided to stay in, her defensively trained Vaporeon could wall it out pretty well, but of course,
“Good work, Scizor, take a break.” Tanner withdrew Scizor into its pokeball. “You should have no trouble with this one, Rotom!”
The levitating possessed washing machine returned to battle. Magnolia felt a little discouraged. Her previous experiences with this Pokémon as well as the stories she heard from others made her well aware of this Pokémon’s threat level. This Pokémon was known to take extremely powerful hits and dish it back. She was more worried about this Pokémon than even a Mega Kangaskhan. Of course, her only counter to either of those had fainted the previous turn.
There was really nothing Vaporeon could do in this situation, but Magnolia wanted to save her final Pokémon from taking a powerful thunderbolt which she knew was coming. Tanner paid little mind to Vaporeon's stat changes with Acid armor and went straight for the powerful Thunderbolt as predicted. However, even with a Big Root boosted Aqua Ring, a second thunderbolt was enough to down Vaporeon’s non-existent resistance.
[AND VAPOREON GOES DOWN! THE RED CORNER ONLY HAS ONE Pokémon LEFT WHILE THE BLUE CORNER IS STILL GOOD EVEN WITH A BURNED Pokémon. THE FEARSOME CHOICE BANDED SCIZOR IS WAITING IN THE WINGS POSSIBLY TO END THIS NEXT Pokémon IN ONE HIT! BUT, IT’S NEVER OVER UNTIL ITS OVER, WHAT Pokémon DOES MAGNOLIA HAVE LEFT AND IS IT ENOUGH FOR COME FROM BEHIND VICTORY?]
“Here’s our last stand then, Bouffalant, Go!”
[OH, IT’S THE BASH BUFFALO Pokémon, BOUFFALANT! THAT GLORIOUS AMAZING AFRO AIN’T JUST FOR SHOW, TAKING IN THE SHOCK FROM SOME FEARSOME POWER THAT CAN SEND EVEN A TRAIN FLYING!]
It had been bad call after bad call from the start, but it was too late to back down. Bouffalant was her strongest physical Pokémon and one Head Charge or Wild Charge could easily take down a Rotom Wash that had been softened up from a burn. The real reason she had kept her final Pokémon from switching in was because she wanted more burn damage on that Rotom so Bouffalant could Head Charge right through it and a possible Scizor switch in. As expected, Tanner ordered his Rotom to Volt Switch out. In his place was not a damaged Scizor, but instead his third and untouched Pokémon, Machamp!
However, Bouffalant may as well have not even felt that Volt Switch and Machamp had barely enough time to get his footing down when it was hit with a direct, Reckless boosted Head Charge!
Machamp was sent flying. Magnolia had seen some absolutely terrifying things done with a choice banded Bouffalant, but unfortunately for her, hers did not have one and that was the difference between a clean one-hit-knock-out or a Machamp just barely surviving and going on the counter offense with a Counter!
Now, it was Bouffalant that was sent flying which was amazing sight to see. Magnolia returned it to its pokeball before it crashed into the ground. “Game, set and match…” Magnolia sighed. “Counter… Machop, Machoke and Machamp can’t naturally learn that move so it must have been an egg move and what a gamble! If that’s a focus sashed Machamp with the No Guard ability, it didn’t even matter if my Bouffalant was choice banded or not.”
And that was why she feared those super competitive teams the most. Those teams were just incredibly strong and balanced. There was just nothing she could do about those guys except push them down to the wire.
As a show of sportsmanship, Magnolia and her opponent shook hands and congratulated each other. The bitterness of a clean defeat, the joy of a clean victory, in the end none of those things really mattered because one could easily follow the other. At the end of the day, it was for fun and even though she lost, the excitement of battling, the potential of a good fight whether she one or lost was what all trainers, young and all, sought for. At least, for most trainers.