It's Surprisingly Close

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GO!

"Hello, Viridian City! I'm Vivian Grey and I'm coming to you live from the Viridian Pokécenter training area. Behind me, you can see two of the newest trainers in Kanto. In this corner, we have Indigo Sycamore from Pallet town! It's his second day as a trainer and as you can see, he's quite the talent. Look at that Charmander move! No hesitation whatsoever, and he controls that Charmander like it's another limb! And in this corner, we have Skye Gold from Viridian city! It's her second day as well and despite a devastating first battle, she's holding her own against this fire-breathing lizard. Beautiful acrobatics from her Pidgey as it swoops through the sky, dodging every fireball shot its way. These are two incredibly skilled beginners, and everyone out there better watch out for Skye and Indigo!"

God dammit, her Pidgey is insanely agile. Your Charmander has been using ember almost non-stop since the start of the battle, but somehow every single fireball misses the Pidgey by millimetres. He can't sustain this forever, and it doesn't look like it's working.

"Charmander stop and retreat." You order, and he stops spewing fire from his mouth to fall back in front of you. Skye gives you a cocky smirk as her Pidgey hovers in the sky, safe from your champion's assault.

"One-sided fight huh? I might actually win this." She says confidently, and her Pidgey does backflips and barrel rolls, swooping through the skies to taunt your flightless Pokémon. Charmander growls at the display, furious at being mocked.

"Don't get too cocky, Skye, ember isn't the only thing that can reach you. Charmander use growl!" You shout, and Charmander lets out a piercing roar that's magnitudes louder than when you fought Blue. You see everyone else wince in discomfort, though you're somehow fine. Pidgey squawks in alarm, but Skye calms it with a wave of her hand.

"Come down from there little birdy..." You say in a menacing sing-song voice. "Charmander use growl!" Your Pokémon roars again, making everyone except you grimace. Pidgey gets the worst of it and wobbles mid-flight, losing some altitude before it stabilizes in a hover.

"I can do this all day." You taunt, seeing Skye get frustrated at the repeated sonic attacks.

"Grrr... Pidgey use tackle!" She orders, just as you expected.

"Charmander! Ember!" You counter, and he spews fireballs from his mouth at the swiftly diving Pidgey. But instead of flying into the attack as it should, Pidgey rudely barrel rolls to the side, nimbly dodging the speeding balls of explosive fire and slams into your Pokémon with a resounding thud. Luckily the two growls weakened it, so it didn't do as much damage. But it was still annoying. Charmander falls onto his back and before he can get to his feet again, Pidgey is back up in the sky, safe and sound.

"Ha! I can do this all day? More like, you'll be doing this for another minute before I win!" Skye crows triumphantly. Vivian is animatedly talking into the camera, her words incomprehensible from this distance, but you can see her waving her arms in excitement as she wildly gestures toward the two of you. This isn't working! How are you supposed to beat an enemy that's both faster and constantly out of range? If you had Bulbasaur, you'd use vine whip like what Blue did, but your only ranged ability is Ember and your Charmander is too low on PP to fire more than one or two more barrages. You had to eliminate her air superiority, but how? You look around the arena, trying to see if there are any environmental factors you can use to your advantage, but there's nothing there. Just the four walls and the open sky above.

“Charmander use growl.” You order, giving your Pokémon something to do while you scan the battlefield. He roars again, continuing to weaken the annoying bird and it wobbles in the air again.

“Is that all you’re gonna do? Scream at me? Come on Indy, I thought you were good at this.” Skye taunts, and your blood boils in your veins from the frustration. It isn’t like you only want to use growl, but she won’t give you any other options!

“Charmander use growl.” You say flatly, glaring at Skye with a venomous gaze. That’s 4 growls so far. At this point, her Pidgey’s damage output is almost zero. And you can stack two more growls before they become ineffective.

"Pidgey do a flip," Skye says flippantly, and her Pidgey somersaults in the air. Fucking show-off.

"Charmander use growl."

"Pidgey do a flip."

"Charmander use growl."

"Now what are you gonna do? Growl won't work anymore. I can just stay safe in the sky, and nothing will ever happen." She mocks, and this gives you an idea. Drawing this fight out isn't in her best interests. This thing is being live-streamed to god knows how many people and Skye is a smoking hot woman with a weak Pokémon. Sooner or later, people would show up to get some scraps from your battle, and that wouldn't go well for her.

"Hey, Vivian?" You say, and she looks at you distractedly.

"Yeah?"

"How many people are watching this?"

"Ehh, about ten thousand, give or take a few hundred. That's right, these two trainers are worth your attention, because look at this battle of wits! I wonder what complex strategies race through their minds as..." She continues speaking to the camera and you tune her out.

"So Skye, I wonder how many of those ten thousand are trainers, hungry for a win and horny for someone to fuck..." You say, and her face pales as you keep going, "The longer this fight drags on, the more people who might decide to show up and watch..." You continue slowly, letting her come to her own conclusions.

"Oh fuck you, you manipulative bastard!" She shouts.

"Stop hiding in the sky and fight me!" You shout back.

"Pidgey dive down!" She roars.

"Charmander get ready!" You say, and your Pokémon gets into a combat stance as her Pidgey dives down, a keening wail sounding as the air shifts through its feathers.

"Tackle!" Skye screams, and like a missile, her Pidgey homes in on your Charmander to attack. You wait, knowing that if you order your Charmander to attack too soon, she would dodge it and then land a hit. When her Pokémon is about 30 feet away, you decide it's too close to dodge. With this one ability, you knew this fight would be decided.

"Charmander use scratch!" You yell, and her Pidgey preemptively barrel rolls to dodge the ember it was expecting. But nothing spews out of your Charmander's mouth, and both Pokémon charge into each other. They each get sent backward, your Pokémon leaving furrows of torn grass as it gets hurled back a good 10 feet from the tackle. Her Pidgey gets sent flying onto its back, and both of them stop to catch their breath. Despite all the attack debuffs you stacked onto her Pokémon, it still did a ton of damage to your Charmander. His health is just below half, but Pidgey's has to be far lower than his.

"Pidgey fly!" Skye shrieks in panic, and you know that this fight is over.

"Charmander use ember." You order calmly, and he sprays fire across the area, striking the Pidgey with half a dozen fireballs as it desperately tries to get in the air. It makes it about 10 feet in the air before the overwhelming barrage of projectiles drops its health to zero, and it falls to the ground unconscious.

"YES! Great job Charmander!" You shout in glee, and your victorious Pokémon lets out a roar of triumph. You recall your Pokémon and watch as Skye recalls her fainted Pidgey. That was a hard battle, but you won. A victory well-earned. Skye sighs and gives you a sad smile, knowing what's about to happen.

"Not bad Indy. Well, to the victor go the spoils." She says, stretching her arms out wide. She starts to unzip her hoodie, but you shake your head, giving her a wink as Vivian bounces over to you, her breasts intentionally swaying as she skips.

"Well done Indigo! That was an excellent battle, and your use of psychological warfare at the end was divine! Isn't he so smart? I never would have thought of that idea." She gushes, before sticking her suspiciously dildo-shaped microphone in your face "Do you have any words of inspiration for any budding Pokémon trainers like yourself?"

"Uhhh... If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." You say, not knowing what else to say other than the main quote of the book your parents made you read every year.

"Such wise words from a young man. You heard it here from The Viridian City Times. Now get ready for the moment you've all been waiting for... THE FORFEIT!!"