“Sentret is unable to continue, Zigzagoon and Gabriel Santos win the battle”.
It takes me a second to realize the battle is over, Zigzagoon runs towards me and pick him up, “you were great buffy”, I hug the small racoon pokemon. He did exactly what I asked of him, going from Covet to Sand Attack could have completely failed if not for Zigzagoon reacting properly.
I didn’t notice Ruben returning Sentret, when our eyes meet, his gaze no longer holds the same disdain, he approaches and brings his hand out for a handshake, “good battle”, after saying those words he leaves the arena, I follow him with Zigzagoon walking next to me.
“Well, I know you guys have a limited selection of moves with low level pokemon, but take this battle for instance, Zigzagoon here kept using Covet as a counter to Sentret, when your pokemon is struggling against a move, you should try a different strategy. For example, Sentret should have tried to bait Zigzagoon into attacking, with a more defensive approach Covet would not have been as successful”.
Jerry’s words make me go back and think about the battle, if Sentret took a more defensive approach, it would have been much harder for us to beat them. Instead, we got to react to their offensive making Covet work for us.
After that, the fifth battle went quickly, Meowth against Skitty, with both felines moves working in a completely different way. Meowth used Fake Out and Feint, taking advantage of its mobility to harass Skitty, making it hard for the other pokemon to properly react. Sadly for Meowth’s trainer, Skitty was surprisingly resilient and over the course of the battle managed to charm the adversary, which resulted on the pokemon refusing to attack and later falling sleep to Skitty’s song.
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“With that all ten of you had your battles, now let’s go back to Arena 1, teacher Jordan must be waiting for us”.
Our group follows Jerry to the first field, were teacher Jordan received us. When we arrive, there are two other groups waiting in the arena, with Irene being in one of them, I don’t see Flavio or Melody.
As we wait for the other groups to finish, Jerry collects the pokeballs from us, I get a chance to say goodbye to Zigzagoon before handing him over. I wonder if I can see him later, I will ask after the class is over.
When all ten groups have arrived at the field, teacher Jordan starts clapping his hands, getting our attention before speaking.
“How did it feel to have your first battle in the academy? Thrilling, right? Some of you might be wondering what the point of this exercise is, why did I have you battle using a random low level pokemon?”.
“Pokemon Battles are all about the trainers, your knowledge and creativity in the field are the most important factor in deciding who wins in the end. That’s the reason I had you all go straight into battling, by engaging against your fellow students you must have realized there is more to battles than standing there giving orders.”
“We will be doing this every Monday, you will receive a different pokemon each class for you to try in the field. Our goal is for you all to use and battle against as many pokemon as possible, because by the end of this course you will be competing against each other in a small tournament, with incredible prizes for those in the top 3”.
“By the way, you all have earned 5 points just for being here, those of you who won their battles get an additional point. So, take these battles seriously, you will be receiving a mail with a document attached, a list of all the possible pokemon and their moves for next class, study, improve, and get ready to battle”.
“Class dismissed and see you all on Friday”.
With that said, students began leaving the building, most looking very excited for next Monday. As I was walking towards Flavio and Melody, teacher Jordan looked at me and signaled for me to come closer.
“Young Santos, I need to speak with you”, his voice isn’t exactly soft, somehow, just like when he approached me yesterday, he manages to put me in a position where most of my classmates see me receiving a different treatment, “please wait here, I will come back in a minute”.