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noah laughs as he arrives, tickled by the fanfare of the minor gym leader's introductions. her performance reminds him of an old career. of a simpler time. one made fogbound by rocket's breath.[break][break]

"you're getting into this, andrea!" the gym leader ascends onto his podium. all grins, he tosses his two pokeballs against the cage.

the metal fencing rattles as a HITMONCHAN and CHESNAUGHT manifest from cardinal light.[break][break]

"glad to finally meet you face to face." noah rolls his shoulders, stretches his quads. "alright! just show me you and your pokemon are capable of handling close quarters combat. you can do that right?"[break][break]

he expects much from the minor gym leader.[break][break]

the bell rings.[break][break]

his HITMONCHAN rushes toward the dragon-hooded girls' pokemon, while his CHESNAUGHT fires suppressive PIN MISSILES overhead.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - hitmonchan rushes forth / chesnaught uses PIN MISSILE[break][break]

"Glad to finally meet you too!" The dragon-hooded girl waved at Noah with a smile. Unsurprisingly, both of his chosen teammates were Fighting types. "We'll do our best! Right, Kokoro and Buzz-Buzz?"

Her Kommo-o nodded emphatically, while her Buzzwole... was distracted by the pretty ladies among the audience, doing a bunch of bodybuilding poses in order to impress them. By flexing, the alien mosquito Bulked Up, its already swollen physique swelling even further.

Meanwhile, Noah's Pokémon went on the offensive. "Kokoro, Protect!" At Andrea's order, the shiny dragoness erected a barrier of light that deflected the pin missiles, while also prepping herself for Hitmonchan's attack.

noah faber //2v2, doubles

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the gym's klieg lights gleam and dazzle across the buzzwole's muscles. as the ultra beast steals the stage, the barrage of PIN MISSILES whistle as they descend, piercing the protective panel like trumbeaks stuck on tree trunks.[break][break]

the HITMONCHAN weaves past the PROTECT. arms tight to its lithe body, it swerves close toward the buzzwole before throwing a crackling THUNDER PUNCH toward its center.[break][break]

"your buzzwole's yolked out of its mind, andrea!" noah says. "i'm kinda jealous."[break][break]

in the mean time, his CHESNAUGHT lunges for the kommo-o, arms raised. before its fists descend, the hands fuse to "shield bash" the remaining PROTECT.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - hitmonchan runs past protect to try THUNDER PUNCH buzzwole / chesnaught runs up to kommo-o[break][break]

“Buzz-Buzz, brace yourself!” Heeding its trainer’s warning, the Ultra Beast steeled itself for Hitmonchan’s fist of lightning, which didn’t do as much damage as it should thanks to it bulking up.

Andrea flashed a smirk at Noah’s comment. “You shouldn’t have gotten that close to him! Now you’re gonna see how he gets so yolked! Leech Life!” With that, the alien mosquito thrust its terrifying proboscis towards the humanoid boxer’s torso, attempting to suck out the opponent’s vital fluids.

Meanwhile, noticing the Chesnaught’s advance, Kokoro rattled her gold and pink scales with extreme intensity, the booming beat of her Clangorous Soul vibrating against the steel cage they were surrounded by.

noah faber //2v2, doubles

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the buzzwole refuses retreat. that defiant stillness. that refusal to move, to be displaced. such a staunch stance ignites the battlelust within noah. like the boiling sands of the ultra desert kicked up by war winds, noah howls: "that's what i'm talkin' about!"[break][break]

a LEECH LIFE is thrust into the hitmonchan. life is siphoned and although paralysis fails to manifest upon the ultra beast's generous body, the boxer does not seem discouraged. quickly, the lithe fighter pries itself from the proboscis. quickly, it dips low. a RAPID SPIN of glove-like fists cycles across the buzzwole's legs: smaller, thinner limbs compared to the beast's massive arms.[break][break]

as the steel cage rattles, the chesnaught nears. a NEEDLE ARM swings toward the shiny kommo-o, thorny peaks eager to strike scale.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - hitmonchan hit/rapid spins legs of buzzwole | chesnaught needle arms kommo-o[break][break]

Siphoning just enough to restore its health, the Buzzwole looked newly revitalized. A short-lived victory, for the opponent's retaliative maneuver caught the chronic leg day skipper off guard, causing them to fall flat on the ring canvas.

"Get up, Buzz-Buzz! I know you can!" Andrea cried out supportively from ringside.

Groggily standing back up, the Ultra Beast corrected its posture, before extending a well-articulated hand forward, Taunting Hitmonchan with a 'come at me' gesture.



"Kokoro, take the hit and hit 'em back with a Drain Punch!" The dragon tamer ordered her Kommo-o next, who met Chesnaught's thorny thrust with a lifeforce-stealing punch of their own.

noah faber //2v2, doubles

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"ohhh, that's the spirit andrea! that's more like it!" with every forceful strike, the cage rattles like a stoked crowd. "give me more!"[break][break]

noah's hitmonchan glares, the ridges on his head reminiscent of the jagged pass as it struggles to withold its dormant furor. finally, all hell breaks loose.[break][break]

as if reverting to a primeval era, the hitmonchan closes the gap with a barbaric advance. a BULLET PUNCH threatens the buzzwole with a relentless bludgeoning.[break][break]

the DRAIN PUNCH matches the gym leader's CHESNAUGHT. as vitality is siphoned from the pericarp dreadnought, the thorns on its arm burst into LEECH SEEDS.[break][break]

the kernels flare outward like firecrackers and attempt to take root in between the kommo-o's scales.[break][break]

"you and your pokemon are beasts! dang, andrea!"

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - hitmonchan taunted/kommo-o hits drain punch + leech seed attempted on it[break][break]

Hitmonchan's fist of iron connected, each strike causing the Buzzwole's bulging musculature to deflate ever so slightly. It would take a lot more than that to fell the mighty behemoth from Ultra Space, but for now, the opponent had him on the ropes.

Seeded by her grassy foe, Kokoro winced, her energy slowly being sapped. The golden dragoness rattled her scales once more with twice as much intensity, hitting Chesnaught back with a point-blank sound blast from her Clanging Scales, made all the more devastating by the echoes of her Clangorous Soul. The steel cage vibrated so much from the deafening shockwave, it looked ready to explode.

After her ears had stopped buzzing, Andrea responded to the Gym Leader's comment with a swell of pride. "Of course I'm a beast! My dream is to become a Pokémon myself! RAWR~!" The dragon-costumed girl roared wholesomely.

Taking note of the contemporaneous fight, Buzz-Buzz took a moment to assist his scaly ally with another Taunt, this time directed at the Chesnaught. No more seeds for you, mister!

noah faber //2v2, doubles

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"you wanna become a pokemon?" noah asks, but he questions not out of ridicule, but of a sincere desire to understand. [break][break]

upon the ruckus of scales, his chesnaught skids. each sound wave peddles the shelled tank backwards, forcing the creature to fuse its arms into a SPIKY SHIELD before slamming the united weight down toward the canvas to anchor it.[break][break]

"are you not happy the way you are right now?"[break][break]

as the seeds threaten to burst from the kommo-o's scales once more, his hitmonchan's fist crackles with energy. a THUNDER PUNCH arcs toward the buzzwole's side as it TAUNTS.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - chesnaught hurt by scales, skids back and spiky shields to protect & anchor itself; hitmonchan tries to strike buzzwole with thunder punch as it taunts[break][break]

The Hitmonchan’s boxing glove crackling with a thunder god’s might was an omen of things to come. “Buzz-Buzz, counter it with your own Thunder Punch!” Two electrified fists collided, the same move used by different fighters. Whose will would prove the strongest?

Realizing that her opponent was guarding against her vocal assault, Kokoro switched tactics, summoning a shower of Draco Meteors. The meteorites ricocheted off the metal fencing, some of them redirected at Chesnaught’s blind spot. The rest impacted the ring, riddling the canvas with holes.

“I’ve wanted to become a Pokémon ever since I was little!” Andrea was able to reply to Noah’s inquiry now that her dragon was no longer making a ruckus. “I’m not unhappy the way I am right now, but you don’t just give up on your childhood dream!”

noah faber //2v2, doubles

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"i get it!"[break][break]

the meteors are torn from rational orbit. when struck, the metal links bend beneath them before slinging them toward the canvas. [break][break]

forced to provide alternate protections, the chesnaught erects a REFLECT. though the panels are ineffective against the DRACO METEOR, they prepare for a future of bruises.[break][break]

the LEECH SEED sustains the chesnaught throughout the calamity. however, as a meteor arcs toward noah's hitmonchan, the boxer is forced to adjust. rather than take the meteor, the HITMONCHAN takes the punch.[break][break]

the THUNDER PUNCH slams into the hitmonchan and delivers it to the bent cage fencing. limbs fall limp, gloves strike canvas like rocks as it faints.[break][break]

"you got us on the ropes." noah says. "but this is how i like it!"[break][break]

his chesnaught roars, and fires another LEECH SEED toward the buzzwole before charging forth, thorned arms flexed like swollen cacti.

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - chesnaught uses REFLECT and is healed by LEECH SEED; hitmonchan faints; chesnaught tries to use LEECH SEED on buzzwole as it charges towards them both.[break][break]

They may have knocked out one of the fighters, but Chesnaught proved to be a much bigger threat with its Grass-type shenanigans. Andrea's whole team was seeded, putting them on a proverbial clock.

Battle fatigue finally caught up with her Kommo-o, who hunched over and panted heavily, the remainder of its energy sapped by the seeds. For all intents and purposes, the scaly dragoness was out of the fight.

"It's OK, Kokoro, you did a great job! You deserve some rest!" The young cosplayer said, calling the Kommo-o back into its ball. "It's up to you now, Buzz-Buzz! Catch!" The girl tossed a shimmering Z-Crystal towards her Buzzwole. The Ultra Beast crushed it into bits, absorbing its stored Z-Power.

"ALL-OUT PUMMELING!!!"

Unleashing the might of his temporarily-acquired Z-Move, Buzz-Buzz barraged his opponent with a volley of gigantic fists made up of pure Fighting-type energy. An all-out pummeling, indeed.

noah faber //2v2, doubles

☉

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a flare of light expands and like a pearl before its hardening, collecting precious iridescence into the fists of andrea's buzzwole. [break][break]

"a z-move won't stop us!" noah says.[break][break]

between blazing biffs, the chesnaught weaves its shield and thrusts thorned punches. sown seeds flare too. orbs of siphoned energy bubble and pop—[break][break]

but ultimately, the chesnaught succumbs. a final punch lands squarely in its gut, launching the armored warrior against the cage.[break][break]

the chesnaught is recalled and a sharp whistle comes from noah himself: "let's goooo!"[break][break]

he laughs.[break][break]

"a z-move that brings you up close and personal? what a way to cinch the battle for my badge." he leaps off his podium. "congrats, andrea! you pass!"

[attr="class","bottom"]Andrea Vaneau[break]
tl;dr - chesnaught faints![break][break]