Summary: 2B terrorizes some poor, unsuspecting Trainers on the Battle Courts...
Warning! Chapters 13-17 were all published back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 14 - Battle Court Debut!
Zoey was watching with interest as 2B entered one of the Battle Courts. Like most Gyms, the Viridian City Gym had a set of attached 'Battle Courts,' which could be used by any Trainer for a nominal service fee. Such Courts always attracted Trainers of all levels, as they knew it was a reliable way to find battles within their own skill level.
There were some limitations on such places, such as any move that drastically altered the terrain being forbidden so that the Gym didn't have to remake the Courts constantly. Yet, despite the limitations meaning they weren't a perfect representation of either wild pokémon battles or Gym challenges, the sheer number and variety of opponents you could find at most Battle Courts made them useful.
The two of them had both registered on the local Battle Board, a place where you could post your name, badge level, and who you were willing to fight. The system was incredibly useful, as it helped prevent newbie Trainers with only their starter from facing off against, say, a six-badge Trainer with a full team. The ability to select who you wanted to fight also allowed you to include a text blurb, which kept the system useful even for veteran trainers with new team members. They could, despite their badge level, include that they were using only a new pokémon, and get fights appropriate for that pokémon instead of their veteran team members.
Given that it was the early season, it hadn't taken long for both of them to be challenged. They had, in fact, needed to wait longer for one of the Courts to be free than they'd needed to wait for the challenges themself. Though Zoey had deliberately chosen to let 2B and her challenger go first, as she was a bit…concerned about said challenger.
Dude was a complete dick who was eyeing 2B's tight leather pants in ways Zoey didn't like. Something only made worse by the fact that 2B had, for reasons Zoey didn't yet understand, allowed him to challenge her despite him having 2-Badges and this being 2B's first official battle ever. Zoey's own challenger had grimaced when she'd quietly explained that, and agreed to wait and observe the battle in case this was one of the entirely-too-common Trainers that tried to bully newbies. It was looked down on heavily, but it still happened despite the cultural stigma against such behavior being strong.
Zoey had, of course, tried to warn 2B as well. Frustratingly, the girl's expression hadn't even twitched…even as she'd doubled the already high wager the challenger had offered up. Zoey just hoped that 2B's lack of reaction meant she knew what she was doing, despite her lack of battle experience. She was a Professor-Sponsored trainer, so hopefully that was the case…
... ... ...
2B appreciated that her companion had attempted to warn her about her challenger. Tabias was his name. She hadn't needed the warning, though. She'd sensed the cruel hostility in him, both through her aura and from simple experience. Malice was nothing new to her, of all people. She'd seen it from too many in her past, Machine and Android alike.
This, then, was one of the not-so-good humans that Daisy had warned her about. Unpleasant as it was to discover one, she also felt it was her duty to give him a reality check as well. Perhaps he could yet be salvaged, if it was proven to him forcefully enough that he was on the wrong path.
"Rhyhorn! I choose you!"
Her challenger threw out his pokémon first. A Rhyhorn that was, at least, well-cared for looking. Indicating he wasn't truly an entirely lost cause. The pokémon was also quite powerful from what she could see, nearly ready to evolve by all markers she knew to look for. 2B cocked her head for a moment, then nodded. Chinchou wasn't up for this yet. Which meant her choice was obvious. Possibly overkill, but this was a 2 vs 2, so she could always let one of the others try his next pokémon.
Throwing out her own pokéball, she didn't bother to shout anything silly. Her opponent, seeing Jigglypuff appear, seemed a bit taken aback. Then he snorted and started the battle.
"Bulldoze!"
"Water Evade."
Tabias's Rhyhorn was quick, stomping the ground with Ground Type energy and causing chunks of rock and earth to fly forward in an AOE effect that should have easily hit Jigglypuff. Except, of course, that Jigglypuff was even faster, and 2B's simple order had been a command for an entire tactic rather than a single attack. Before the various boulders had gotten even halfway across the field, Jigglypuff had rocketed up with a combination of its light body and Water Pulse, evading the attack area entirely by getting off the ground.
Water Pulse had, once 2B had studied it, been a 'must' for 2B to acquire a TM of for her first companion. The reason for that had been simple…it was insanely adaptable. Virtually every pokémon used the move slightly differently. Jets of water like a beam, condensed balls of water similar to an aura sphere, surging waves of water like a mini-surf, even a ring of water the size of a waterfall enclosing the pokémon that had used it, in one Contest 2B had watched. 2B had been both impressed and determined to make the most of the move.
Instead of only using the TM for Water Pulse, she'd done that and then had half a dozen different pokémon at the ranch who also knew the move teach Jigglypuff their own variants. It had taken over a month of work, but the result was that Jigglypuff wasn't locked into a single variant of the 'attack.' Instead, combined with the malleability she'd already learned from making combo moves, Jigglypuff could switch rapidly between 'variants' for best effect. The one she'd just started with was her most frequently used, a pulse of water that, when combined with her species' ability to float, acted more like Aqua Jet than Water Pulse.
It wasn't quite as fast as how a true Aqua Jet would allow a small pokémon to bounce around. But it was still fast, and Jigglypuff had learned to rapid-fire the move as a way to enhance her evasion. Of course, 2B didn't believe in evasion for the sake of evasion. All evasion was ultimately nothing more than repositing to a new place to attack from, and her pokémon were universally taught this mindset.
Which meant that 'Water Evade' was not a command to merely dodge.
Something which her opponent learned a second later as Jigglypuff used her species' ability to hover and fired down with a second Water Pulse. This one was formed far more like a beam attack, with water spiraling at high speed straight towards the Rhyhorn. To Tabias's credit, he managed to overcome his surprise and call out a desperate counter.
"Rock Throw!"
Already surrounded by a great deal of broken ground, it was easy for Rhyhorn to launch several pieces of rock in an attempt to intercept the beam. It worked…sort of. Instead of taking the full force of the attack, the Water Pulse was weakened greatly. But the super effective attack still clearly hurt it badly, from the shocked cry of the Rock/Ground type. Nor, of course, was it over. 2B had prepared for Pewter, after all, and this was the perfect chance to test their tactics against a common pokémon used by Flint.
"Close and Break."
Jigglypuff fired off another Water Pulse to accelerate toward the distracted Rhyhorn, giving out a squeaky and adorable roar…even as her fist glowed with Fighting Type energy. The Rhyhorn recovered just in time to see its tiny doom coming for it. The pokémon's face was one of pure, horrified confusion as it ate a speed-enhanced Brick Break to the face. Jigglypuff bounced away into a floating backflip a moment later, ending up back where she'd started and clearly ready to continue from the adorable karate pose she struck on landing.
…only for the Rhyhorn to topple over, clearly unconscious…
"W-What?! What was that?! Jigglypuff can't do that! You must be cheating!"
2B cocked her head.
"Brick Break and Water Pulse are both TM learnable moves for the Jigglypuff line. Just because you did not expect them, does not mean I am cheating. Please send out your next pokémon."
Tabias spluttered, fumbling with Rhyhorn's pokéball. He returned the unconscious pokémon, then angrily threw out another.
"Fine! Let's see how you handle, Pidgeotto! Quick, Pidgeotto! Aerial Ace!"
2B had intended to withdraw Jigglypuff, but responded on reflex when Tabias attacked before she could.
"Fairy Gatling!"
Pidgeotto was fast, faster as it dove than even Jigglypuff had been while moving via Water Pulse. But Fairy Gatling was the single most practiced and devastating move that 2B's first partner knew. Practiced since she was still an Igglybuff, the move was second nature to her now, and no longer had the buildup time originally caused by it being three moves combined. Which, unfortunately for Pidgeotto, meant that the bird pokémon effectively dove face first into machinegun fire formed of Fairy Type energy.
The move was only normal effectiveness, but it was potent in its own right even before the additional momentum from Pidgeotto's Aerial Ace was considered. There was a cry of pain, then a dust cloud as the Aerial Ace move went out of control and Pidgeotto slammed into Jigglypuff...or where Jigglypuff had been. The little pokémon had managed to ride the recoil of Fairy Gatling to get at least partially clear of the attack. She'd still been clipped and thrown a fair distance, Aerial Ace was such a fast move that almost no one ever managed to dodge it fully. But Jigglypuff had robbed it of enough energy that she only wobbled once before retaking another fighting stance.
"Jigglypuff!"
Her command to 'bring it on' was, sadly, quickly denied as it proved that Pidgeotto had been knocked out by the combined damage of Fairy Gatling and its face-first impact with the ground…
... ... ...
Zoey stared, slack jawed. She was only broken out of her confused state when her own challenger laughed softly.
"I think you were worried about the wrong person. I'm not challenging that Jigglypuff anytime soon, that's for sure! Now, I think I spotted another Court just open, so why don't we have our own battle?"
Zoey could only nod dumbly and follow after him. Five steps away, she abruptly realized something and whispered urgently to herself.
"Wait…that was totally the sort of ridiculous thing Ketchum did too. Is everyone in Kanto a monster? Should I be expecting that from this guy too?!"
Thankfully, her momentary panic went unnoticed and would eventually prove unfounded as her Teddiursa and Ponyta did perfectly fine against her opponent's Poliwag and Oddish…
... ... ...
"Ice Burst."
Zoey's eyebrow twitched as she watched yet another pokémon from a more experienced Trainer go down to the move that her pokédex was still listing as 'unknown.' The fact that it, as well as several of the moves she'd seen 2B's Jigglypuff pull, were registering as moves was telling. The pokédex was far more than a mere identification tool, which is why she even had one despite being a Coordinator. Only lab trainers got one for free, but others could purchase more limited versions of the devices, and Zoey had done so in Johto. They were utterly invaluable, if you could afford one, as even the 'civilian' model you could buy from Sliph Co had quite a few important features.
Features like move identification.
Specifically, move identification that was sensitive enough that it could and did differentiate between combo moves and move variants like those used in Contests…and completely original moves. Combo moves, that is moves that weren't actually a single move but two moves fused into a single execution, weren't honestly that rare. In point of fact, they were a staple of both high-level Contests and high-level battles. Seeing them in use during Division 2 battles was completely normal. Even seeing them in Division 1 League Conferences wasn't anything to write home about. Not to mention that, if anything, they were even more common in Contests. Though usually there they were much weaker and used for aesthetic purposes rather than being battle tactics.
The problem was that what 2B's Jigglypuff had done earlier, and what her Vulpix was doing now, were not combo moves.
It was entirely probable that they may have started life that way. But however they'd come into being, they weren't combo moves any longer. No, they were smooth and refined enough that her pokédex was identifying them as Unknown Move. Not 'Unknown Combination' or, better yet, as a breakdown of two existing moves like it normally would. No, it was identifying them as moves. Fully realized, unknown, and likely completely original, moves.
Zoey stiffened as she heard a familiar chime. The distinctive sort that came from a real pokédex instead of the civilian knock-off versions like hers. She looked around and spotted the culprit, who was looking at his pokédex in confusion. His non-Kanto pokédex. Fuck. Time to exit stage left. Hopefully, her new friend had some idea what she'd just done. If not, it might be time for a midnight exit into Viridian Forest…
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N: Structure, structure, structure! If Pokemon were real, rather than a game or anime, there would need to be a lot more structure/infrastructure to support how the Trainers work. Because not all Trainers would be the same level, nor would they go up in level in a set progression. The Battle Courts and Battle Board are a way to address this. A system which I think is a sane solution someone in-universe would have hit on pretty quickly. Places where you could find out who was looking to battle and what general skill level they were. So you didn't get those much memed fights with an Early Route Bug Catcher challenging your level 80 starter with Mewtwo as a chaser.