A Lopunny had appeared seemingly out of the blue, somersaulting and displaying impressive acrobatics as Lopunny usually do. She looked really heckin’ cool when throwing that Ice Punch at the machine, but the device barely moved in response, the music pausing for a moment only for a screen to display the colourful words: GIT GUD.
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That one had to hurt.
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”Ah, I thought she did really well though…” The pink-haired man said to himself, considering for a moment before choosing a pokéball among his own. Most of his team had gotten a chance to enjoy themselves at the tournament in different ways, so he thought it would be good to try something like this with the pokémon who hadn’t had a chance to come out and play just yet.
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In this case, it was his Druddigon, the red and teal dragon roaring as she came out of the pokéball. ”Hey, wanna hit that thing with everything you got?” He beamed.
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In response, the dragon set her gaze on the machine, leaning forward as she readied herself before charging to bash with IRON HEAD.
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Honestly, between the crowd and the game, Vic was yet to notice that his boss was there, or that this was his Lopunny...
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He did notice the snow cone stand though.
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Priorities!



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+ Laurence Anderson
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4S3AIXku

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

MEH
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Well… That was uncalled for. Kind of rude, wasn’t it?
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”Aw, that was a nice try! Good job, girl,” Vic praised so the pokémon wouldn’t feel down because of the machine’s reaction, and he was about to go give her some pets before calling her back to her pokéball, but something suddenly flew right over his head...
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A Bisharp.
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It hit it with a powerful strike, and already sensing that Candy Cane wouldn’t be too happy about that, he called the Druddigon back to her pokéball before she decided to start a fight.
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’MEH’ the screen read one more time.
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Seriously?! Just how hard would they need to hit it to impress this thing?!
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Out of curiosity, he turned to look for the Bisharp’s trainer, his gaze then finding no other than one of the Head Rangers.
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”Oh...Hey. Tough luck, huh?” He laughed lightly, bringing out a second pokéball.
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This time, it was his Samurott, who shot a highly pressurized HYDRO PUMP at the device without need for any instruction from its trainer.



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+ Laurence Anderson
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hkE8Ov7t

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The Samurott stared at the machine after his attack was done and over with, as if he expected it to break or to at least do something in response to it. Hey, it had been a pretty good attack, hadn’t it?!
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Sadly, much alike the Druddigon and Bisharp before him, all he got was a ’meh’ on the screen, the old pokémon narrowing his eyes at this before watching an eager Medicham try her luck with a High Jump Kick…
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She also got a ’meh’ on the screen.
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”Huh… Maybe it’s looking for a specific type of move or something?” Vic said, because of course his immediate thought wouldn’t be that this thing was rigged to make them feel as if they had failed no matter how good they did. He called back a Samurott, in his place releasing a small, squishy, Goomy.
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”Gummy, how about you throw an attack at that thing? Anything you want!” He was kind to the little one, allowing her to take her time. After all, the Summer heat didn’t quite agree with Goomy’s constitution, and that’s why he had so far been reluctant to let her out of her pokéball to play in the sand.
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It was then when he turned to look at the man who was technically his boss, a bright smile illuminating his expression when being offered a snow cone. ”That’d be awesome, thanks!”
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And while Vic was distracted with talking to Lars, the Goomy jumped as if a bouncing ball, quite literally using her whole body to slam against her target despite being so very small.



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+ Laurence Anderson | Gummy uses BODY SLAM
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u187yWl5

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Needless to say, the little Goomy was disappointed. As she stared at the screen, she flopped down to the ground, falling almost completely flat like the slimy blob she was. But, thankfully, Vic was ready to come to the rescue, beaming at the tiny lilac dragon. ”Gummy! You did so good!”
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It helped, and she was doing much better by the time she returned to her pokéball, the man then turning his attention to the Archeops that tried to attack the machine with an all too recognizable Dragon Claw. In return, this pokémon also only got a ’git gud’.
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”This is so weird… You’d think that would have been worth at least a little more than that. Oh… Do you have Pinap Berry flavour?”
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He called out a pokémon of his own, this time a small but confident-looking Larvitar that jumped out of his pokémon. ”Hit that thing!”
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Maybe a different type of attack would do the trick? The Larvitar was quick to action, putting his little paws on the ground and causing a few rocks to rise, these then dashing towards the machine at top speed.


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+ Laurence Anderson
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REn_QUgb

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

”Ha! Well, if they’re having fun that’s what matters, right?” Vic grinned when Lars called back the Archeops, and to him, that was indeed the moral of all this – even if admittedly he was starting to feel a bit bad about this machine constantly telling his pokémon they weren’t doing a good job even when they landed powerful hits.
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”Oh… Sure, I’ll give that a try.” Distracted by the thought of snow cones, he watched his Larvitar use a Rock Slide on the machine, and of course, even though the pokémon did pretty well, the screen still displayed the familiar ’meh.’ He was about to say something to cheer the Larvitar up, but then the Avalugg came, and it came with a Blizzard.
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”Wait… wait! You’ll–” Too little, too late. Before anyone could do anything about it, the Rock and Ground type was frozen in place, Vic left staring at the ice statue that was once his pokémon, too shocked to even bother checking out how the Avalugg did. ”Arceus… Aw, I’m sorry, buddy.” He felt terrible, and with a sigh, he called it back to its pokéball so they could deal with the freeze later.
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Then, he released a Sylveon. Pointing at the machine. “It’s all you. Give it all you got!”
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That was all it took, the pokémon attacking its target with a MOONBLAST in response.

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+ Laurence Anderson
[break]✔ Endeavor: Sustain freeze
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Ok7WslVM

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

”Don’t worry about it, it’s fine. Those things happen.” He smiled even though he felt a little bad, but what else was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like he could tell his boss, who also happened to be besties with one certain powerful ice bird, that it was kind of fucked up that his Avalugg had frozen poor little Larvitar.
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Sprinkles, as the Sylveon was called, watched the screen display a ‘meh’ and in return she smacked it a few times with her feelers as if trying to make the answer change. It didn’t, and Vic ended up calling her back to her pokéball, worrying she would Moonblast that as well.
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Lars had released a Luxray, which also got a ’meh.’
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So, this time, Vic brought out his Dragapult, who yawned upon coming out of his pokéball and looked at him tiredly, as if expecting orders. ”The machine. Darts it.” The pink-haired man smirked. The Dragapult nodded, and so did the freeloading Dreepy he always carried with him.
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Freeloading Dreepy who were more than happy to be shot towards the machine at top speed, exploding upon impact.
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But don’t worry, they were fine, it’s the ghost pokémon advantages.


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+ Laurence Anderson
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PQlvpXsL

[attr="class","pokeclass"]