Mike and Lazarus head towards one of the underground floors used as a battle ground.
"So, the matchups are selected randomly?" Lazarus asks exiting the elevator, "And what about the terrain?"
Mike shakes his head, "No. They are not exactly random. All matchups are selected by our matchmaking algorithm that takes the ability and type of the pokémon into consideration before pairing pokémon with similar skills together. But the terrain, on the other hand, is always random.
This is done to make sure a pokémon doesn't get too much of an advantage just because the terrain suits it. If we used a generic stadium environment every fight, water pokémon would be fucked. So the dome simulates different types of terrain and environment to avoid giving a single type too much of an advantage.
So, one time you might get a rocky terrain with no source of water, and a jungle with a humid environment the next. It all depends on your luck. Besides, these matches aren't about winning. They are about learning how to fight creatively, especially when the environment doesn't favor you. When you are out in the wild, you won't have the option to choose your fighting conditions.
So the league makes sure every trainer knows this before they set foot outside the cities. Gotta make sure the newbies get at least some experience fighting in an environment antithetical to their pokémon. Those who rely too heavily on their type advantage are short-sighted. You can't win against experience and skills, no matter how much type advantage you have."
"And what if a trainer wants to fight against a specific pokémon type in a specific environment? Do you allow that?" Lazarus asks before looking around the arena.
The underground floor is designed like a stadium. There is a transparent dome in the middle made of reinforced acrylic.
And the seats are filled with trainers watching and analyzing the fights with their instructors and pokémon beside them.
"We do allow that. Socialization is a very important part of being a pokémon trainer. This place is also meant to educate new trainers on how to interact with each other. You can challenge a trainer to a fight, and if both trainers agree to the terms, the league will oversee the match and enforce the rules."
Mike leads Lazarus up the stairs and to a seat in the middle of the arena.
The seats are at an angle where the further they are from the dome, the higher their position, so that none of the trainer's view of the dome is blocked.
They move past trainers, and Lazarus notices that every chair features a holographic projector on top of a desk-like arm attached to them, which also has a space for trainers to put their electronic devices.
As the both of them take their seats, Mike says, "Tiny cameras surround the dome that capture everything in detail and project everything going on inside as a three-dimensional hologram at your desk, so you get a better view of what is going on inside the dome. Everything here is meant to help you learn as much as you can. And let me know if you want the recordings to watch later for analysis purposes."
"What about injuries? Do Pokémon get hurt? Is there a chance for them to die?" Lazarus asks.
"Injuries, yes, but they are rare and we have medical personnel on standby, so they get healed pretty quickly. As for pokémon deaths, no, our algorithms monitor every microsecond of the fight. If it looks like a pokémon might die, we withdraw it using your pokéballs. The withdrawn pokémon loses the fight, obviously. So the chance that a pokémon gets seriously injured is not very high."
Lazarus nods as he looks at the dome, preparing for the next fight.
Mike turns the holographic projection on.
A small hologram lights up in front of their seat, showing everything happening inside the acrylic dome in detail.
"Observe the fights and learn as much as you can. It will be your turn soon. And you should let your pokémon observe how different pokémon fight. So they have an idea of what to expect."
Lazarus unclips both his pokéballs and releases his pokémon. Kamish and Aurora come out of the pokéball.
Kamish looks around the arena, and for the first time in his very short life, he sees another pokémon besides Aurora.
Kamish excitedly yelps and looks at Lazarus.
"Yes, I know, exciting. I'll take you to meet some of them later. Stick with me for now." Lazarus says to his overexcited dragon.
Aurora just ignores everything and hops onto Lazarus's lap.
Lazarus pets his snow white fox sitting on his lap, "We are inside the arena I told you guys about. Two pokémon are about to fight, and I want you to observe the fight, especially you, Kamish. It will be your turn next. Hope you are excited about that."
Kamish is overjoyed hearing that, and even Aurora has a look of interest on her face.
The Dreepy and Vulpix look at the transparent dome and see the terrain inside it change, the rocky floor recedes into the ground, and a couple of seconds later, it's replaced with another floor.
This new floor has a couple of small ponds with some plants floating on top of them.
After the terrain for the battle is chosen, two pokémon are released inside it.
One of them is a Shinx, which is the first evolutionary form of Luxray. A Shinx is an electric quadrupedal feline pokémon resembling a lion cub with light blue and black fur.
The other is a Buizel, a bipedal orange water pokémon with a yellow air sac coiled around its neck like a scarf.
It has two tails with a cream-colored underside and tail tips.
Kamish and Aurora watch the dome, able to clearly see everything going on inside with their superior eyesight, while Mike and Lazarus observe the fight through the hologram.
Speakers throughout the stadium make an announcement, "The next match will take place between Trainer Ethan's Shinx and Trainer Selina's Buizel. The arena selected at random for the match is a pond ecosystem with high humidity. Standard rules apply for the match. Psychic links are not allowed for this match.
The match will last fifteen minutes. And if the match exceeds the allotted time limit, it will be considered a draw. The match ends when one of the fighting pokémon is no longer able to fight, or its trainer forfeits. The match will begin in two minutes."
"Who do you think will win?" Mike asks Lazarus as both pokémon take their fighting stances.
"I don't think Buizel has another type besides water, does it?" Lazarus asks. "Let me confirm something first."
Lazarus navigates to the pokédex app on his wristcomm and finds Buizel's entry out of more than 900 known pokémon in the world.
Pokémon Species: Buizel
Species Description: Buizel is a sleek, orange-furred Pokémon with cream-colored markings and a distinct flotation sac around its neck that resembles an inflatable collar.
Its streamlined body is built for speed and agility in water, with two tails that act like a propeller, allowing it to swim against strong currents.
Type: Water
Type Ability: Hydrokinesis.
Hydrokinesis is the ability to control water in all its forms. Drawing it from ambient moisture, existing sources, or even generating it by converting energy.
A user can launch high-speed jets, change water's temperature to scald or freeze, and shape it for offense or defense.
By combining water with terrain (like sand or soil), they can manipulate the battlefield to obscure, trap, or mislead opponents.
For more information on this, click…
Natural Habitat: Buizel is known to inhabit aquatic environments such as lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans.
Buizels are more likely to live in freshwater lakes and rivers than in oceans, as they prefer freshwater over saltwater.
Evolutionary Stages: 2 - Buizel And Floatzel
For more information, click…
Once he is done looking through the entry, Lazarus gives his opinion, "The Shinx has the type advantage, Buizel has environmental advantage. Water conducts electricity. The Shinx will win, and quite easily, I imagine. Besides, the Buizel is probably not strong enough to manipulate the water source."
—
Two trainers stand on the opposite sides of the dome, both 18 years old, about to command their pokémon as they fight.
Ethan takes a deep breath, "Alright, Jazz, you are going to win this match. No doubt about it. Just unleash a Thunderbolt the moment the match starts."
Inside the battle dome, Shinx hears this through the speakers and nods eying its opponent with narrowed eyes.
On the other side of the dome, Buizel's trainer, a girl with short black hair, is also encouraging her pokémon.
"In 5…4…3…2…1 and begin."
Buizel jumps away from where it is standing, the moment the chime denoting the beginning of the match is heard.
Shinx shoots arcs of lightning at Buizel, moment after the jump.
Buizel manages to dodge the arc of plasma, thanks to Selina's excellent insight into how Ethan and Shinx would start the battle.
But by only a few inches. Despite being fast, Buizel can't outrun electricity.
The hot plasma still managed to burn some of Buizel's orange fur before falling into one of the ponds and electrifying it for a few seconds before dissipating.
"Another one," Ethan orders.
Shinx gathers energy to fire another Thunderbolt, taking advantage of Shinx's momentary break.
Selina orders, 'Water Gun."
Buizel fires a jet of water at the electric pokémon from its mouth.
The water shot at Shinx travels at a visible speed, giving it enough time to shoot lightning at the incoming stream of water.
Electricity and the beam of water collide.
The heat from the Thunderbolt vaporises the water, turning it from liquid to gas and filling most of the dome with mist.
"Alright, good, now stop the Water Gun and jump."
Selina immediately orders Buizel to stop, since water is a great conductor of electricity.
The electricity travels through the water but dissipates before it reaches Buizel.
"Jump and Iron Tail on descent," Selina orders. "Throw it into the pond."
Buizel leaps into the air and hardens both of its tails, turns mid-air, and descends upon Shinx.
"Locate the Buizel, and get away from your current location." Ethan orders Shinx.
Shinx tries to find Buizel through the mist when suddenly Buizel's Iron Tail hits Shinx across its side and flings it towards one of the ponds.
Shinx drops into the pool of water with a splash.
Buizel also jumps into the water alongside the Shinx.
Inside the pond, Buizel grabs onto Shinx and pulls it underwater, intending to drown it before it can gather enough energy to unleash another one of its attacks.
But unfortunately for Buizel, Selina underestimates the amount of energy Shinx still has left.
"Thunder," Ethan commands.
Shinx, with every ounce of energy it has left, unleashes lightning all over the pond.
Just as the water gets electrocuted, the algorithms overseeing the match predict Buizel would get heavily injured if the electricity reaches it.
So a robotic contraption on top of the dome acts in less than 0.25 seconds and shoots a red laser that pierces through the pond and captures Buizel back into its pokéball before it can get any serious injury.
Speakers around the arena announce Shinx's victory before it is also captured back into its pokéball.
—
Unable to see through the mist, Kamish watches the hologram instead, impressed by how both Pokémon fought, and is eager for his turn.
Mike turns to Lazarus and asks, "If you were the trainer of the Buizel, what would you have done differently?"
"Exactly what Buizel's trainer did, except the last part, that wasn't very clever. I have no idea why she did that. I would tell Buizel to stay away from all the water sources. Try to disrupt Shinx's vision by generating a mist of some kind.
I wouldn't use any water-type attacks since the speed at which a small Buizel can unleash them wouldn't do any damage to Shinx. Instead, I would conserve energy by dodging every move Shinx throws at Buizel and use it for common physical moves such as Quick Attack or Iron Tail. Beyond that, I don't think there is much that could be done in this situation."
"Hmm." Mike nods, thinking about what Lazarus said before replying, "Using physical moves is the right choice here. But if you obscure Shinx's vision, it will just unleash lightning everywhere, and in this type of terrain, the chance Buizel gets electrocuted by it is very high.
But if by some luck, Buizel manages not to get hit by the lightning, you may be able to win the match by taking advantage of Shinx's depleted energy and unleashing some physical moves upon it. This was just a bad matchup for Buizel. Not much it could have done here. Sometimes, even a favorable environment can work against you. "
Lazarus nods as he sees the dome prepare for another pokémon match.
Mike turns to Kamish and says, "Are you ready? It's our turn now."
If Kamish could speak, he say something like 'Of course I am ready. I am a goddamn dragon. I was born ready for this shit.'