A bit of a false start

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Town Whore Emilia – If you’re so eager for me to demonstrate my skills, then I guess I have ****!

• Dugtrio – Fairly Weak, Healthy
• Gloom – Capable, Healthy
• Mankey – Fairly Weak, Healthy
• Onix – Capable, Healthy

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VS

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Martial Artist Charlotte – Please do! I may not stand a chance, but I’m excited at the chance to learn.

• Machop – Capable, Healthy

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“Um, I only have one pokemon, so I’ll just send mine out now…” Charlotte mumbles. “Go, Machop!”

A small, humanoid pokemon lands on the floor of the rundown dojo.

“One pokemon each, huh?” You mull over your options for challenging the Fighting-type pokemon.

“Oh, I don’t mind if you use all the pokemon you have available. You don’t have to pick only one. I just want to see you battle.”

“Hmm… that doesn’t sound very fair. Let’s make it one pokemon each,” you reply.

“If you insist…” Charlotte sighs, shifting her eyes to the side.

Alright, you’ve made up your mind. You throw your pokeball while declaring, “Mankey, I choose you!”

Mankey emerges and immediately charges at the enemy. “Oh, uh, go get ‘em Mankey!” That’s strange. Usually you have to raise your voice just to make it focus on battle.

Mankey continues its beeline for Machop, runs right past it, and leaps directly into the open chest of Charlotte’s gi. It sticks its head out of the opening, looking as content as can be.

“Mankey, what are you doing!? That’s our opponent! You traitor!” you scream.

“Ah, that’s right. Master Kim gave you her Mankey, didn’t she? There there, that’s a good boy.” Charlotte gently pets your pokemon. It’s cute to watch for a few seconds, but then a thought starts forming in your mind.

“Wait a minute. The fact that I have to yell at Mankey just to make it follow my commands… Is it because you’d been spoiling it rotten when it was with Master Kim!?”

Charlotte couldn’t look more red-handed if she tried. “Well, Mr. Mangles and I are friends, so-”

“MR. MANGLES!?” you exclaim. You trudge across the dojo, ignoring a very confused Machop, and seize your Mankey from its newfound nest. “Nobody gives my pokemon nicknames but me!”

“But I already called him that before-”

“NOBODY!”