Pokemon: Childhood Dreams

I stood in one of the trainer boxes for stage six, looking at the touch screen in front of me. The screen displayed the opposing trainer’s information which had the usual win/loss record as well as their team composition. Since trainer’s could only bond to six pokemon, there was no point guessing what pokemon they would use as it would always be their six bonded pokemon. Or in the case of rookies, their one to three bonded pokemon.

It is frowned upon to battle with a pokemon that you have not bonded with, though it happened on occasion when some trainers wanted to field test their pokemon before bonding. Though it didn’t usually go well for them as an unbonded pokemon is usually weaker and of lower intelligence compared to bonded pokemon. Not to mention that they lacked the synchronicity that bonds provided, that allowed trainer and pokemon to communicate as quick as thought. This allowed the trainer to provide strategic inputs during the fast paced battle as well as potentially suggesting a direction to dodge.

My opponent is a 15 year old named Jack Hampton and has two pokemon, a female nidoran and a graveler. He has two wins and one loss. I tapped on the betting section, confirming the minimum bet of $200. The opponent can either accept the minimum bet amount or suggest a higher amount which I would be able to accept or deny.

In a minute, Jack entered the opposing trainer box. He accepted the minimum bet amount and I slotted my two pokeballs into a device on the counter in front of me. This device allowed the easy release and recall of your pokemon without having to point at them. This can help you recall a pokemon to avoid a major injury. Pokemon deaths are very rare in trainer battles and only happened when there was a major difference in the strength of the pokemon which would never happen at a place like the Battle Arena.

I had slotted Hellen into the first slot, which would automatically release her when both trainers were ready. There were no switches for rookie matches. I hit the ready button, as did Jack, and our pokemon were released. Hellen, the giant bulbasaur, appeared at the same time as the opponent’s nidoran.

Hellen looked around observing the arena before her gaze settled on the nidoran.

“Bulba!” She yelled out and the nidoran looked apprehensive at her large size.

A couple of seconds later a countdown started from five, both on the screen and from a speaker that let out a female voice.

I focused on my bond with Hellen, confirming our strategy for the fight. I had already informed her at the pokecentre of how the matches were set up and to be ready to start fighting at the beep.

For this fight with nidoran, we would be using a stationary turret strategy where Hellen conserves energy by standing still and using her razor leaves as offense and vines as defense. I knew we couldn’t effectively poison the female nidoran, so poison powder was out. Sleep powder could still be used if nidoran was too tanky since it resisted grass type moves.

Though resistances and weaknesses exist in this world, they weren’t like the game where it was half and double and so on. Things are a bit nuanced depending on how much of an attack is type energy versus physical. The physical part of the attack will have an effect as well as the type energy imbued in the attack which is the part that can be resisted by corresponding types or be super effective against them.

I tuned back in to the countdown.

“...2, 1, BUZZ.”

Hellen whipped out some razor leaves, which nidoran began dodging while advancing. Nidoran was quite nimble and able to dodge the first few leaves, but as she approached Hellen she was starting to get grazed.

I assumed the nidoran was closing in to deliver some fury swipes, since poison sting wouldn’t be very effective and would cause the nidoran to be hit as she prepared the move.

Soon, nidoran was in range of Hellen’s vines and Hellen did a horizontal sweep with one vine forcing nidoran into the air, at which point her other vine whipped in smacking the nidoran on the face. Nidoran tumbled through the air and hit the ground. As nidoran began to recover, she was hit with several razor leaves and collapsed. After a few seconds, in which I urged Hellen to wait, it was apparent that nidoran was knocked out.

Jack recalled nidoran and released his graveler. Again, the countdown played. For this fight, I opted for the same strategy to start and depending on how the graveler fought I could adjust.

“BUZZ.”

Graveler immediately entered a rollout, charging towards Hellen. I signalled to her with our bond and she prepared by resting her vines on the ground while rapidly firing razor leaves at the huge target. Right as graveler was about to reach her she sprung into the air using her vines, sailing right over graveler. While in the air she did not relent with her razor leaves, turning and firing at the graveler as it tried to course correct.

The graveler continued to use rollout, picking up speed. It zoomed back towards Hellen who launched herself into the air again. This time the graveler screeched to a halt by digging its arms into the ground. As it stopped, Hellen was already shooting it with razor leaves from the apex of her jump. The graveller used the rocks and earth it had scooped up to pelt Hellen with four rock throws.

Hellen quickly stopped using razor leaf and whipped the first incoming rock with both her vines, using the momentum to try to dodge the rest. Unluckily, she was clipped by the last rock sending her spinning but she was able to land safely using her vines to stabilize and soften her landing.

At this point, the graveler was breathing deeply and looking pretty hurt, with a bunch of leaves embedded in it. Upon landing, Helen immediately let out a trio of razor leaves which impacted the graveller in the face, knocking it to the ground. It did not get back up.

“Bulbasaur!”

I sent feelings of pride over to Hellen as she basked in her victory.