Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 65: Switch Up Battle Styles!

Ellie sat in the darkness of the tunnel, waiting for her match to officially start. She was mostly thinking about deep breaths in and out, trying to compose herself so that she wouldn't look like a mess on stage. Despite everything, she was still petrified of going out there and failing. Just the idea of coming so far only to fail in front of the biggest crowd that she had ever known sent chills to her core. But, Lucas appeared in her head again, telling her,

"I'll be here for you, no matter what."

It comforted her, even if just for a second, that she could have a shoulder to cry on, regardless of the result of the next match. It was a comforting thought for sure and helped her fight against the thoughts, especially now that the battle was approaching rapidly. Meanwhile, at the other end, Alex stood, leaning against the concrete wall of the tunnel. The truth was, despite how he seemed on the outside, he was nervous. This was shaping up to be his most challenging battle yet, and with the research, he had gathered, he pieced together how strong Ellie was as a trainer. Trained under the two main professors of the region, travelling with a gym leader and a trainer who had made just as good progress as Ellie in the tournament. But, when the time came, he walked out of that tunnel with a confident expression, compared to Ellie's look of sheer determination. Both were just a ploy though, to hide their anxiety.

The referee emerged from the floor of the stadium, alongside the rocky battlefield. It looked like a dried-out desert, with cracks between the earth on which they stood. But, it was also an extremely flat battlefield, having no positions of high ground and no places to hide. Truly, this was a battlefield not for hiding or getting better positioning. It was going to be a battleground for scrapping. The referee looked to the two and commanded,

"Select your first Pokemon!"

"Taillow, let's go!"

"Electabuzz, I choose you!"

Taillow puffed up its cheeks as it emerged from the Pokeball, letting out a determined cry as it soared into the air. Electabuzz appeared from its Pokeball, thundering electricity coursing through its veins. Ellie would have found the Pokemon completely unrecognizable had she not studied Alex's collection of Pokemon that he could use beforehand. Although Taillow did indeed have a weakness to Electric, Ellie still had confidence that Taillow would be able to put in some work against Electabuzz, and that its scrappy nature would allow Taillow to pull through whatever Electabuzz threw.

"Let's start! Taillow, Quick Attack!"

A sudden burst of speed enveloped Taillow's wings, propelling it forward in a flash, smashing its beak into Electabuzz's torso. Alex jumped at the sudden attack, then shook his head as he refocused. Taillow swept back from the sudden attack, running in circles in the air, looking for the next opportunity to strike. But, Alex hoped to get Taillow before it could even think about striking again.

"Brick Break!", he called out as Electabuzz ran and jumped towards where Taillow hovered. But, Ellie shouted quickly,

"Dodge!"

Taillow flew further into the air, making the attack miss by a bit. Taillow did a loop in the air, then flew straight down towards an unsteady Electabuzz, ready to attack.

"Peck!", Ellie cried. Taillow began hammering Electabuzz's body with pecks at Mach speed, driving its beak into its face, torso, wherever it felt it could harm Electabuzz, and slowly driving it into the ground. But, the pecks were not doing much to hurt Electabuzz. The electric type could weather through, and Alex could clearly see that, while Ellie couldn't.

"Thunder Punch!", he yelled and Electabuzz's arm spread to the side, fizzling as electricity coursed through its veins. Then, when Taillow was still attacking, it was struck critically by a Thunder Punch, launching Taillow far off to the side into a stray rock on the battlefield.