A smile tugged on a trainer’s lips as she fingered the single poké ball at her waist. The strong magnetic pull creating the link between the sphere and the belt loosened its hold as she pulled the ball lightly, and it dislodged, enlarging after she tapped it. Her fingers grew further apart to match the size of the circular object, and she waited in anticipation for permission to launch it.
A scrawny man stood to the side of an arena with a flag of green and a flag of red, his bright yellow shirt very distinguishing. He wore a cap with a poké ball symbol on its front, and he seemed focused as he scanned the battle ground. “Random battle arena: ice!” he called, alerting the two trainers on the freezing field but not causing them to lose where their attention was placed. “Recreational battle between Georgia and Nathan. Rules are as follows: one fire type pokémon may be sent out and used for battle; at no stage will a trainer be allowed to swap pokémon; the battle will last until one pokémon faints, and the other will win.” He took a breath, setting his eyes on one trainer and then another. “Trainers, release your pokémon.”
With a smirk and a planted kiss, the female trainer tossed her poké ball and watched as it clinked onto the ground and opened. A flow of red energy spilled from within to take the shape of a quadruped before the ball was drawn back to her belt. The light soon materialised into a deep orange pokémon with a fluffy mane and tail of yellow, along with a clump of fur resting upwards between his long and jagged ears. His excited eyes narrowed into a look of determination as they placed themselves onto the pokémon opposite him: a torkoal.
The male trainer at the other end of the arena had looked slightly less confident but still as focused, and he adjusted his jacket and flicked his dark hair back. His pokémon stood on stumpy orange legs with black bands that were required to support his hefty charcoal shell with spots of red. The creature whose neck extended a fair way up snorted smoke every few seconds, as if full of it and in need of expelling it frequently.
The referee’s voice overrode any tension between the pokémon as he commanded the trainers to step backwards onto a platform that would lift them up into a safe-box where another supervisor stood. He himself exited through a door behind him, disappearing into a room with tinted windows. Speakers on each corner of the arena vibrated as an announcement rang out. “Battle begins in three...two...one... Start!”
“Torkoal, use flamethrower!” demanded the fire pokémon’s trainer over the speaker system, and without a second thought he obeyed, nearing the flareon before unleashing a stream of hot flames.
“Flareon, dodge to the left!” Georgia shouted through a microphone extending from the machine-bench below her hands, and the speakers projected her voice loud and clear, allowing the flareon to dodge the attack without a problem. However, he slipped during his escape, falling on his belly with a grunt and a frown. Georgia reflected his expression, shivering as she thought of how cold the ice must have been.
The eevee evolution got to his paws again and began targeting Torkoal after being commanded to shoot a fire spin. He sprung off the ice and launched a spiral of fire in the other fire type’s direction, and the slow pokémon barely had time to react before he was stuck in the centre of the barrier surrounding him, embers spitting from the walls. The torkoal was dumbstruck for only moments before emerging with minimal damage, leaving the fire spin extinguished due to insufficient fuel.
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