taunting Ezra Zeke was becoming one of his lifelong passions and day to day joys whenever he saw him. that meant whenever the rocket grunt showed up to his gym he was absolutely ecstatic. especially since he had previously teased him about getting a free badge off of him. he waited, excited on the stage for the other rocket to show up. ready to give him a fun battle at the very least. and get in his daily dose of teasing the hell out of him. "helloooooooooo ezra! welcome on in." he wondered if ezra knew this was his gym or if he had chosen one at random. he desperately hoped he didn't know. it would make it all the more entertaining.

The sound of a familiar voice caused his eye brows to raise and his ears to perk up, like a hound who just heard their owner call their name. "...Glitch?" Confusion spilled out from his mouth as he was met with the fellow rocket grunt. "You're a gym leader?"

The question hung in the air as he made his way towards the center stage. Inwardly, Ezra's head spun with a thousand and one questions, all questioning both his skills and ability to earn the badge. Friend or not, Glitch's appearance wasn't enough to calm the raging emotions inside him or provide any protection against his worries.

But he pressed on regardless of those fears. He had to. "So, uh, how do we start...?"

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glitch maverick

this was going to be so much fun, he already knew it. of course it was just a matter of time before they got into the nitty gritty of it all and it seemed like Ezra Zeke wanted to get into that right away. he would be happy to oblige him of course. "just step up here on the stage and let your first pokemon out! then i'll let my first pokemon out and we'll beat the shit out of each other until our pokemon faint or someone gives up!" and that was that. just a simple and regular pokemon battle from what he could tell. just with the added benefit that someone might be getting a gym badge out of it. he wasn't really too fussed about if he won or lost but at the moment he was extremely excited to get it going. so he took his own spot on the stage and stood proudly. "no need to be shy, let's get this show on the road!" after all, that's what he was here for.

Ezra nodded along to Glitches explanation as he approached his designated spot on the battlefield. It was all pretty basic, and yet, each new step added another dumbbell to the already substantial weight he had clung around his ankles and heart. Whatever dwindling excitement he might've held was being smothered to death by this crippling feeling of absolute anxiety. Even a familiar face wasn't enough to overcome it.

He gulped. Feet spread apart, hand curled into fists of stress, the man stared back at the fellow Rocket, a nervous smile smeared across his face. "Ahaha, you're right," His words were that of agreement, but it was clear that it would take a lot more than positive words to ease him. Still, he did as he was told and reached into his pocket for one of his two Pokémon. Then, with a swift flick of the wrist, he tossed it into the air in front of him.

A crackle of bright red light leapt from the ball's jaws. In it's midst, the outline of a mushroom began to take shape. "Let's go, Mushy!"

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glitch maverick

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Notes: Sent out his Breloom

a breloom, a good choice from Ezra Zeke considering most of glitch's pokemon were weak against grass types. that happened when you specialized in fossils that have a certain typing. slushie wouldn't be any good here so he would simply have to put jerky in the spotlight again. releasing the dracozolt he realized that he started with this pokemon a lot in his gym challenges. he would really need to start changing it up once he got a more fuller team. "alright! let's get this started shall we?" he was starting to enjoy battling after all. it was kind of fun. and of course he was going to take the first move if he could, it made things a lot more fun when he took them by surprise.

"let's rush into this with a dragon rush!" jerky obliged with a roar as its legs began to glow and it raced towards the breloom at full speeds in order to try and smash into it with the dragon type attack. the harder and faster they hit in the beginning the better off they would be in the rest of the battle.

- jerky uses dragon rush to start the fight
jerky's moveset: dragon tail, charge, discharge, bolt beak, ancient power, dragon rush

The appearance of Glitch's emerging _ signified the formal start of the battle. This, as well as his Breloom's excited twitching, allowed Ezra to finally feel a sliver of excitement for the upcoming challenge ahead of him. Maybe he'll actually end up being okay. With furrowed brows, the trainer immediately countered the gym leader's command with his own, "Mushy, DODGE THAT!" Ezra wasn't an experienced trainer. Rather, most of his battling knowledge comes from practical experiences or through listening to the stories of trainers he's either read about or interviewed himself. And yet, despite his lacking experience, the man was well aware of the power packed behind that dragon-type move. One hit would be devastating this early into the battle.

Without much time to respond, the Breloom utilized his strong legs to leap into the air, barely avoiding his opponent's ferocious attack. "Now use Bullet seed!" Ezra's cry was met with the sound of several barrages of seeds rapidly firing out of the pokemon's mouth while it was still in the air. If left unhurt, the breloom would use the momentum (as well as his bullets) to slice enough time to reposition himself to the far right side of his opponent.

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glitch maverick

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Notes:
- Mushy dodged the dragon rush by leaping into the air, towards the Dracozolt's far right
- While repositioning in the air, Mushy attempts to fire back a bullet seed
- If left unmatched, he will end up landing to the far right (as planned) after using the move. (If u wanna throw another move before he does that, feel free, I'll just say he never hit the ground or w/e)