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Location: Lamia District Stadium

Marco was dragging his feet in a similar fashion to his earlier battle. After being victorious, you would think that he would have gained some confidence. However, he was really worried about this next battle because he would be facing against someone special to him; Tera, his first real friend. The black-haired boy sighed and stopped once again near the entrance to the battlefield, how could he battle against her? He was really happy that she had won her battle and he wanted to cheer for her all the way to the end, but could he really do that when he was her next opponent? Wasn't this like betraying their friendship? Surely this went against the friend code, right? Marco passed his hands through his messy hair in frustration. The boy didn't realize -in his panic state- that he was overthinking the situation. Tera wasn't the type of person to discourage him from winning. In fact, she would likely cheer for him with a smile. Charmander watched his friend's inner struggle with some slight amusement; he was not aware that their next battle would be against Tera and his beloved Flare. The fire lizard might just be panicking himself if he knew that...

Murkrow decided to be the reasonable one and speed this process along. They were already taking too long to reach the battlefield and their opponents were likely waiting for them! The avian Pokemon flew in front of Marco and flapped his wings as if scolding the boy. "I...I know, but this is Tera! I don't want her to not like me..." Marco whispered the last part which was probably what weighted on him the most. He didn't want to lose Tera since she was his first friend so he was struggling with this battle. The trio eventually emerged into the battlefield which was already loud with the audience excited about the new Round. There were several others that would be participating in this round, but the numbers were shrinking with each round until only one person remained. After he won his battle against Faye, Marco really wanted to see how far he could go. However, after seeing his opponent for this round, he wasn't sure that he should aim to make it any higher. Maybe this was the end for him.

"H-Hi Tera," Marco responded weakly to her enthusiastic greeting. Tera seemed to be acting cheerful as usual. There was something slightly different about her, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Marco suddenly became very nervous because he wasn't sure how to respond to Tera. Upon seeing Flare, Charmander's eyes had turned to bright stars and he waved at female fire-type with lots of enthusiasm. He was thrilled to see her!

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Pokemon:

show spoilerhide spoiler

Friendship Points:

Gender: Male
Level: 16
Nature: Naive
Ability: Blaze
Held-Item: Fire Gem
Experience: 0/1000
Move Set:

► Scratch
► Dragon Rage
► Ember
► Smokescreen

Inventory:

║ＨＯＵＳＥ: Charizard║ ＷＨＥＲＥ: Lamia District Stadium, Arena║ ＷＩＴＨ ＷＨＯ: Flare, Marco and his Charmander║ ＷＯＲＤ ＣＯＵＮＴ: 265║

Flare had watched as the male Charmander enthusiastically waved at her, prompting her to wave back, albeit with less enthusiasm but she did not break eye contact. She still didn't quite understand why he'd get so energetic around her, but she grew used to it and felt comfortable with it now. When the referee had made his appearance to announce the official start of the battle, Tera continued to look at Marco as he greeted her, though he seemed to be troubled by something. Was he bad with crowds and being in the public eye like her sister was? Well, whatever it was, she couldn't shake this feeling of worry, but she had to do something first. "Yoroshiku onegashimasu!" She said this greeting of respect, a greeting that her mother had ingrained into her to say before any competitions at a young age, towards Marco and his Charmander while bowing at a forty-five degree angle. With this said and done, the pink-haired girl was ready to rumble!

"Hey ya betta not go easy on us Marco!" Tera said as she cupped her mouth to make her voice boom across the field for him to hear better. "Let's go Flare!" Without missing a beat, Flare jumped into the arena, ready and waiting for Tera's next command. "Les get the ball rollin' with a smokescreen attack! 'Member ta keep ya eyes peeled too!" Upon hearing the move being called out, the female Charmander's deeply took a breath in to then quickly blow out a thick black smoke from her mouth that would surround part of the arena.

[[Flare used Smokescreen(100% ACC), Marco's Charmander's accuracy is dropped by 10%]]



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║ＨＯＵＳＥ: Charizard║ ＷＨＥＲＥ: Lamia District Stadium, Arena║ ＷＩＴＨ ＷＨＯ: Flare, Marco and his Charmander║ ＷＯＲＤ ＣＯＵＮＴ: 319║

The girls vigilantly watched as Marco's Charmander released some smoke of his own, hindering Flare's vision. Though she did try her best to track him through the smoke, she wasn't sure of his exact location anymore, just a vague idea. Looking back at the boy, Tera could still see that the troubled expression still hadn't left his features. Maybe she could help him out the way that Ava did? She didn't know what to say though, but she didn't want to try to help him. "Oooi Marco! Forget about the crowd! Jus focus on the battle! On me, Flare and your Charmander!" She shouted with her mouth cupped once again, still thinking that he was uncomfortable because of the crowd. She really had no clue...

Thinking about his move pool choices(she figured that his Charmander would have similar moves because their Pokemon were both the same species), she couldn't figure out what he was planning, but then again she herself didn't have much rhyme or reason to the moves she was telling Flare to do. All she knew was that fire moves weren't very effective against fire Pokemon and Charmander was a fire type so it wasn't a good idea to use Ember if she wanted to hit with a bang. "Les give'em another helpin' of smokescreen Flare!" The girl said as she pointed to an area without much of smoggy smoke. If what they wanted was a smoke filled arena, then that's what they were going to get! Flare looked back at the girl, unsure if this was the right choice, but when she saw the girl's unwavering expression, the Pokemon complied. Doing as she was told, the fire lizard Pokemon took in another puff of air to release more of the black smoke which clouded the battle arena even more and making it more difficult to see. Flare only hoped that Tera knew what she was doing...

[[Flare used Smokescreen(100%>90%), Flare's attack hits! Marco's Charmander accuracy is dropped by 10%]]



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║ＨＯＵＳＥ: Charizard║ ＷＨＥＲＥ: Lamia District Stadium, Arena║ ＷＩＴＨ ＷＨＯ: Flare, Marco and his Charmander║ ＷＯＲＤ ＣＯＵＮＴ: 364║

It didn't seem like her attempt to soothe Marco's worries had been successful as he still seemed to be troubled. She felt sad seeing him look so uncomfortable, but she just didn't know what else to say and decided to leave it be. At times like these she wished that she could reassure people the way her parents did.

Tera's eyes widened, taken by surprise by the speed of the command, as Marco instructed his Charmander to initiate the first real attack of the battle. Just as she was about to tell Flare to dodge, her Charmander yelped in pain as the ball of dragon energy unexpectedly struck her square in face. Tera had thought that the smokescreen would help hide Flare, but be it because of the boys' careful planning or a stroke of good luck, Marco's Charmander was able to connect his attack.

Being in the thick of the smoke and judging from the angle of the attack, though she couldn't tell for sure, Flare could guess that the male Charmander had leaped high above to make this aerial blow which made her guess once again where he could be in all this smoke. "Flare!" She shouted, unsure about her Pokemon's status due to the smokescreen covering a lot of the field. Her Charmander quickly replied with a strong cry as she shook off the remnants of the dragon rage attack(not that Tera could see), so as not to worry the girl. If Flare had learned anything from the last battle, it was that Tera was quick to emotionally flip on a dime when it came to her Charmander's well-being. As much as the fire Pokemon appreciated her concerns, it wasn't exactly a good thing when it came to battles.

Relieved to hear her fire Pokemon's voice, she readily gave out another command. "Alrighty then! Les hit'em back with Air Cutter and move some of that smokescreen around!" Upon receiving the order, Flare began gathering a blue energy around her arms. Following what the male Charmander did, Flare took to the air and released a flurry of air cutters into the smoke, aiming for what she thought where the male might be.

[[Flare used Air Cutter(90>80%), Flare's attack hits!]]



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║ＨＯＵＳＥ: Charizard║ ＷＨＥＲＥ: Lamia District Stadium, Arena║ ＷＩＴＨ ＷＨＯ: Flare, Marco and his Charmander║ ＷＯＲＤ ＣＯＵＮＴ: 364║

"Great job Flare!" Tera said to encourage Flare as she saw the blue air blades her Pokemon had thrown cut through the smoke, clearing the way, even if it was only for a few moments before the smoke went back to how it originally was. One of Flare's air cutters even managed to hit Marco's Charmander! While Tera was happy about the attack connection, Flare stayed vigilant, preparing herself as best as she could should another attack come soon.

Tera ears perked when she heard the boy nervously yet loudly call her name, grabbing her attention. The pink-haired girl then happily grinned as Marco continued talking. Sure he still sounded nervous, but he looked like he was in better spirits. The boy was fun to be around and he reminded her so much of her little sister so she was more than happy to see that he was easing up. The pink-haired girl couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion for a number of reasons. Why was the crowd so quiet after the boy had spoken? Wasn't it normal to like your friends? Also, she found it a little peculiar as to why he would mention this now of all times. Maybe he was like her in that she blurted all of her thoughts out whenever she got too excited about something! Then again he wasn't her so she really couldn't say... Ahhh! There was no point in dwelling on it! Whatever the reason was, as long as the boy was back to his normal self, all was good to her! "Pfft I like ya too dude! And that's the spirit! Give it all ya got 'cause we sure will! Right, Flare?" The female fire Pokemon shouted to quickly agree with her trainer.

The boys were quick to send Flare another growing dragon rage attack her way, striking her down. When Tera saw her Charmander swiftly get up before she could ask if she was okay and looked back at her, the girl knew that her Charmander was ready to move. "Yoshaa! Use air cutter again Flare!" Flare acted quickly once again as she charged up, allowing the blue energy to wrap around her arms before releasing it in the male Charmander's direction.

[[Flare used Air Cutter(90>80%), Flare's attack missed]]



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The Battle is over and the winner is... Marco and his Charmander!

Due to the same typing, the decision came down to the moves and nature of the pokemon.


-Flare has a timid nature that meant that her speed was increased at the cost of attack. Meanwhile, Charmander has the naive nature so that special defense status were decreased for a higher speed.

A breakdown of the moves used is:

Flare: two smokescreens, two air cutters (one missed and one hit)
Chamander: one smokescreen, 3 dragon rages (all hits)

despite air cutter having a higher base power, only one hit while all three of the dragon rages made contact

No fire moves were used for STAB nor was the blaze ability activated.

Overall, Dragon rage did more damage and had the advantage of being a set power that is not affected by nature or status.

Shadow, since you won, you can make your post to end in the matter that you chose without going overboard.

Congrats to everyone for your battle.

Both combatants had clearly displayed their fighting spirit! Neither Pokemon nor Trainer had showed any signs of giving up during their battle. The excitement in the air was certainly palpable and was only amplified by large audience that overlooked the battlefield. The amount of energy within the stadium was truly an amazing spectacle all on its own. Some members of the audience waved colourful banners, while others stood up from their spot in the bleachers with hands cupped to their mouth, fervently giving loud cheers that rose above the rest. But that was nothing compared to the excitement that was to come.

Once Oliver observed one of the two combatant's Pokemon collapse, his decision had been made. Taking a step forward from his place at the edge of the arena, Oliver kept both flags down at his sides, before taking in a deep breath. An expert in his field, Oliver was proud to announce this battle's winner. "Alright, this battle has come to a close." His bright eyes lit up as his clear voice projected through the small mic he wore on his ear, commanding the attention of the entire stadium. "The Winner is..." Raising his right hand, he pointed his green flag at the only Pokemon still standing. "Marco Guerrero and his Charmander!" Suddenly, a loud roar had erupted from the audience, as cheers and applauds dominated the air around both young trainers. Although both Pokemon had fought adamantly and had given their all, it was a shame only one could walk way a winner. "Marco will be moving on to the Semifinals! Stay tuned folks for what's come!"

Lowering his flag, Oliver soon expressed his personal congratulations to the winner and prepared to take a small break before judging the next battle in the long lineup of matches. He truely had his work cut out for him.


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(Huge thank you to all those who have participated!)