noah finally arrives, pokeballs already juggled in between his hands. a slight sheen of sweat is on his skin, perhaps from the rush needed to get here, or a workout gone just a tad past the expected time. still, he's quick to assume his position on the other side of the ring. two pokeballs are tossed. they strike the chain link fencing like minior and with a pleasant rattling, summon noah's team.

"so sorry!" noah wipes his brow with his forearm. before him, the red lights solidify into the poised shapes of a medicham and hariyama. "i'm noah- but you already knew that. what's your name, man?"

he blinks, peering over at his opponent's selection. a small set of stairs lead to the caged ring's door. it's latched close, but all one needs to do is lift the metal fastener to enter.

"interesting choices!" noah says. the thunderous roar of stage lights turning on one by one rock the excited heavens of their arena. "let's measure up our medichams, yeah?"

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

the ditto manifests the hariyama's form. a fleshy mirror. its thought-drenched wobble previews the snap to one reality, but even the doppelgangers we witness behind the reflective panes take the time to sync breath.

"alright ian! give it all you got!" noah balls his hand into a fist: a lightning rod for the rolling energy of the fight.

noah's medicham meets the other's punch with ICE. icy shrapnel scatters among the violent angles of thunder. the punches continue after the initial fist, but they are not strong enough. not committed enough.

close behind noah's medicham, two broad palms rise like war banners. his hariyama begins to summon a SURF that rushes for everyone before it.

the medicham continues to distract, eyes stern underneath its pink cap.

"let's go, man!"

notes: medicham uses ICE PUNCH; hariyama uses SURF

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

"oho, it's like you can read my medicham's mind, man." noah jests and is clear to filter any potential inkling of sarcasm out in case the other may interpret it so.

while noah's medicham is forced to DETECT, the gym leader's hariyama isn't so lucky. the ZEN HEADBUTT slams against the crest of the muscled fighter, causing it to FLINCH as it stumbles back.

noah claps his hands together, eyes bright with awe. "hey, you and your pokemon aren't half bad! reminds me of my own style, ian." he shouts, voice rattling through the metal links of the cage. "keep them off of fong!"

the medicham, having evaded the HEAVY SLAM, attempts to weave itself in between noah's hariyama, arms raised in case its doppelganger attempts to follow up with further fists.

notes: medicham uses detects to evade heavy slam; hariyama is hit and flinched; medicham moves between ditz's medicham + noah's hariyama

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

"flattery won't win you points in this gym battle!" noah laughs.

noah's hariyama, flinched and unable to find its balance in time, is blown back by the WHIRLWIND. his medicham resists for longer. when the hariyama lands on the chainlink wall, a violent clattering of metal rattles across the cage: a sign for the medicham to let go.

the winds take the medicham as it lifts itself into the wind. an ENERGY BALL curves toward the pinned hariyama like a comet-like tennis ball and smashes into the fighter, forcing it to wail.

above the ruckus, noah's voice carries strong: "don't given! get right back in there!"

the medicham is flies toward the wall by the whirlwind. focused with its arms close to its body, it tightens its core to stay parallel to the floor. its feet land flat on the hariyama's stomach like a tramponline— and as the hariyama grunts once more to expand its muscular gut, the medicham is launched.

a BULLET PUNCH glows on its fists as it aims to aggressively strike the ditto-hariyama by the end of its aerial trajectory.

notes: hariyama pinned on wall and energy balled (OW) / medicham bounces off of hariyama's stomach to try and bullet punch ditto-hariyama

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

masked ditto-flesh warps around the medicham's fists. the imitation fools the medicham well enough— for its gray knuckles had expected gross compact muscle. the enormous hand strikes the medicham away, hurling the pokemon wayward before an ENERGY BALL whips to strike it.

"ah!" noah exclaims. he senses the battle getting away from him, drops of sweat hot against warmer skin. "fong, wash 'em away!"

water rushes from the hariyama's body. the hariyama runs alongside its conjured wave to crash brine and muscle against any in its way.

his medicham is on the canvas. it remains still, smoke pulling away from its limbs like grey feathers.

notes: medicham fainted(?) / hariyama SURFS

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

"looks like it is." sucking in breath, the gym leader assumes a martial pose. fists clenched. arms in ascetic arcs and lines.

as the tide whooshes off from the canvas square and into dark drains, noah's smile can be discerned through the droplets dangling from metal links. from the waters, noah's medicham is returned. netted by red light.

"my hariyama and i may not have been together for as long as my other pokemon," the gym leader says, "but fong's basically my other ace!" he assumes a second stance, his hariyama mirroring noah's: wrists glued together, palms stretched wide.

"force palm! move in!"

his tiring hariyama marches forth. screaming beams of energy fire toward his opponent's medicham, splashing into fireworks of cyan as they strike metal or flesh.

notes:
- medicham is returned!

- hariyama advances forth and FORCE PALMS.

[attr="class","pkspr"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon medicham"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon hariyama"]

Killian Decker

the fist comes in like a meteor of storms. altogether alien and familiar, the medicham's strength is overwhelming, struggling to pull hariyama's senses out of orbit.

the ensuing tussle is a cyclone of brine and electricity. through their palms, energies coursed through like belts and rivers— until finally, one fell.

noah's hariyama slumps toward the ring's canvas: a boulder at last, settling upon its chosen sediment. "ah! nice one, ian."

he recalls his hariyama in a red bolt.

"you got me." the gym leader laughs, attaching his hariyama's pokeball on to his holster. "you're pretty good. why haven't i heard of you before?"

he leaves his podium, badge carefully cradled in his hand for retrieval.

Killian Decker