[Josh Devlin]

"Man, that hit the spot," Josh's voice cracked while he was stretching, departing a nearby sports bar after quite a good late lunch. "It wasn't exactly cheap, but you can never go wrong with bar food." Having filled his gym paperwork out while waiting on his meal, he was ready for his 2 PM appointment. It was just getting to the Gym itself - while the pathing wasn't complex, it was on the far end of town. He walked a few blocks to the south, waiting for his food to settle somewhat before releasing Aslan and hopping aboard the fire-type.

The two crossed quite the wealthy neighborhood before arriving at the Gym. From the outside, it seemed like the place had a very small reception area where challengers were to report. That made sense, considering the application was located online. Josh dismounted and recalled his Pokémon, then walked to the door and swung it open. Passing through a breezeway and another door leading into the Gym itself, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and let out a cough - the place smelled like a wine cellar. There was a single female in the room. "Hello, are you whom I submit my Gym paperwork to?" the yellow-dressed racer asked.

---

Number of Pokemon Battling: 4
Format: Single

Pokemon 1: Saber the Lv37 Male Manectric
Type: Electr
Ability: Lightning Rod
Moveset: Electro Ball, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave, Discharge; Spark; Fire Fang

Pokemon 2: Aslan the Lv38 Male Pyroar
Type: Normal Fire
Ability: Moxie
Moveset: Noble Roar, Headbutt, Endeavor, Work Up; Flame Charge; Flamethrower

Pokemon 3: Bladestorm the Lv36 Female Skarmory
Type: Steel Flying
Ability: Sturdy
Moveset: Steel Wing, Feint, Air Cutter, Metal Claw, Spikes, Agility

Pokemon 4: Snacker the Lv34 Male Sharpedo
Type: Water Dark
Ability: Rough Skin
Moveset: Slash, Night Slash, Bite, Waterfall

[Jenesis]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Josh Devlin

The receptionist processes your paperwork, then after a few moments, waves you on through. Belladonna is there waiting with four of her Pokemon, as follows:

Nidoqueen Poison Point	Toxicroak Poison Touch
Tentacruel Clear Body	Toxtricity Punk Rock

You will pick two of Belladonna's Pokemon. Then, she picks two of yours.

[Josh Devlin]

While it wasn't quite as cruel as Dahlia was to her challengers in the Battle Arcade, this was quite the difficult challenge indeed. While he got to pick which two of the Leader's Pokémon he thought he could take down, he would need to do so with the worst of his team! Furthermore, psychic and ground types weren't exactly known for being good racing Pokémon. Even before the word go, it already sounded daunting. Josh stood at the challenger's pedestal and closed his eyes, going deep into the tank.

Nidoqueen was a ground-type, and ground-types were the end of Josh's Gym Challenge back in Johto. He had challenged Jasmine in Olivine Gym a half-dozen times. All he needed to do was win once for the Mineral Badge...but to no avail. This put Nidoqueen completely off the table - one he could not select. Toxtricity was a Pokémon had never seen before, but based on its name and appearence, it had to be an electric-type. His team wouldn't be too bad at dealing with that--that would be a lock, for sure.

This left the Tentacruel and Toxicroak, neither of which were good options. The water-type was great at playing the waiting game, but if he picked Toxicroak, her choices would be Snacker and Aslan, and the match would be over in about fifteen seconds. As much as he didn't like it, the Tentacruel and Toxtricity seemed like his best shot with his current team. He locked the choices in and stared Belladonna down.

---

{WC: 255}
{PC: 2}

[Jenesis]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Josh Devlin

Belladonna picks Bladestorm and Snacker from your team.

She motions you to step into the trainer's box at the end of the field, and send out your first Pokemon.

[Josh Devlin]

"Wait, what?" Josh said to himself as the arena's scoreboard lit up with the Leader's choices from his team. Why in her right mind would she voluntary want to battle a steel-type with nothing but poison-types, let alone drag him out from the start of the battle? "Something's wrong," he continued monologue-ing as the pedestal receded into the ground, the trainer's box it was part of rising out of the ground and keeping him safe from the poisonous carnage to come. "Something's really wrong."

When the lifts locked the two trainer's boxes in place, Josh got a look at a rather small crowd in the gallery - to be expected, given the size of the town. "This is not how I planned this to go, but...Bladestorm, they're all yours!" The Poké Ball containing Josh's Skarmory rocketed out of the side of the platform, revealing a pumped metal menace that looked ready to kick some serious butt. The arena appeared to be regulation size, giving her plenty of room to accelerate and use her air compression attacks. "...I guess?" he mumbled.

---

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CHALLENGER                  LEADER
Josh Devlin                 Belladonna Berardi

1> Bladestorm        1208   1>
Nm          0  0  0  0  0   Nm          0  0  0  0  0
2> Snacker           1089   2>
Nm          0  0  0  0  0   Nm          0  0  0  0  0

{WC: 180}
{PC: 3}

[Jenesis]

0yZeAeObp_ = Average! Because you have Regular Weakness, your word count requirement is 500.

You are challenged by Bella's Toxtricity!!

	Toxtricity  Lv36
		5 Energy
	Large	Naughty
	Punk Rock
MOVES
Nuzzle, Taunt, Screech, Swagger, Toxic, Discharge
NOTES

[Josh Devlin]

As soon as the side judge waved the green flags indicating the battle was to begin, Josh shouted for Bladestorm to start laying a minefield of razor-sharp Spikes all over the battlefield's perimeter. "You didn't think I saw that coming from a mile away?" Belladonna taunted Josh, the obnoxiously loud poison-type loosing a riff that rang Bladestorm like a tuning fork. While it didn't harm the Skarmory directly, it sent the bloodthirsty Skarmory into a fit of rage.

"You have to stick to the game plan, Bladestorm!" She wasn't listening to Josh at all - all she wanted to was crash into the Toxtricity as hard as she could with her wings. Sounding a battle screech, she took to the air and divebombed the Toxtricity as hard as she could, with every intent to snap its strings. The moment she entered her foe's electric field, though, she found herself unable to pull up from her dive, causing them both to crash.

"Toxtricity, send that bird brain back to her nest!" the shrewd Leader commanded. "Discharge attack!" Plucking at its chest and producing a screech that made even Josh squint, a powerful electric blast, even more so than Saber's attack of the same name, sent Bladestorm flying as fast as two supermagnets repelling each other. The only thing that kept Bladestorm in the battle at all was her tough, metal armor, indicated by the red number "1" to the right of her image on the scoreboard.

Bladestorm's disposition toward the Toxtricity was nothing short of livid. With blatant disregard for her own safety, she rammed the Leader's Pokémon a second time, this time with her other wing. Finding itself in a similar position, the poison-type plucked the bumps on its chest a second time, slingshoting the Skarmory all the way across the arena and into the base of Josh's trainer's box, the force of the impact knocking him off his feet and into the back railing. Thank Arceus for safety protocols of sanctioned matches - if this was a battle anywhere else, his Skarmory could have died on the spot!

Snacker would have to win this battle on his own. Josh released the Sharpedo into the arena's pool, trusting the angry, swift shark would be fast enough and strong enough to take this electric-type down...but what about the Tentacruel after it?

---

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CHALLENGER                  LEADER
Josh Devlin                 Belladonna Berardi

1> Bladestorm           0   1> Toxtricity         880
KO          0  0  0  0  0   Nm          0  0  0  0  0
2> Snacker           1089   2>
Nm          0  0  0  0  0   Nm          0  0  0  0  0


{WC: 391}

[Jenesis]

33 - 90 = -57. Very Hard! Because you have Regular Weakness, your word count requirement is 1100, reduced by 391 for the previous battle, for a remainder of 709 words.

[Josh Devlin]

Once the judges dropped the green flags again, Snacker circled the pool's edge, building speed. The Leader's Pokémon simply watched, and waited, for the challenger to make a move. "We have to strike now," Josh thought, glaring at the electric-type. "Snacker, use Waterfall!" The speedy Water-type's wake grew, his eyes becoming a bit heavy from watching his Pokémon swim in circles, before taking a sharp turn and leaping at the Toxtricity with an open, serrated maw. A strong hit knocked Belladonna's Pokémon into the water! "Awesome job! Now we have the advantage!" he cheered for Snacker.

"Or so you think," the cocky Leader interjected. "A little water only helps my Toxtricity rock all the harder. This match ends here! Discharge attack!" Though the electric guitar riff was muffled by virtue of its source being submerged, the aquatic environment served as a conductor, making the attack even more effective than normal. When combined with Sharpedo being natural electric conductors, the result was a devastating blow that would have sent Snacker straight to the emergency room if it weren't for battle safety protocols in sanctioned matches.

Regardless, Snacker went belly up in one blow, the poison-type surfacing with quite a few wounds as well. It mattered not, though - Josh had suffered a humiliating and total defeat. "It is over. You have lost. Let my assistant know when--or if--you'd like a rematch! I wouldn't recommend any time soon though..."

When he returned to the Gym's entryway, Josh found his exit paperwork pinned to a small cork board by the door...along with a notice that his rematch had been scheduled for August 2, 2020...and a bill for 360 Pen for "prize money owed". He grumbled when he saw the size of the fee - that was no small chunk of change! Furthermore, it almost exactly matched the amount of money in his wallet! At least he could afford to pay it...but those funds were supposed to go to restocks on medical supplies! He would have to take on another contract to build up his bank account again, and soon...!

---

Thread end.

{WC: 350}
{PC: 5}

[Jae]

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Josh Devlin

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