May the Games Begin... [Eira, Marcus, Z, Zandrophin][CLOSED]

Closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Marcus tried to separate his thoughts from his emotions, but was failing. He sat in the corner not knowing whether to cry or to punch something. Sofa rested his forehead on Marcus' trying to comfort him. "Vigoroth. Vig..." Sofa wrapped his arms around Marcus' neck and embraced his friend.
"Thanks buddy. I don't know...I feel like I shouldn't be as upset as I am, I don't even know why I feel like this..."

Sofa stepped back and started talking in Pokemon on a long string of 'vig's and 'vigoroth's with a lot of claw gestures. "You know I don't speak Pokemon, I can't get what you're trying to say if it's too complicated."
Sofa pointed a claw at Akane and then the houndooms. "The queen? What, do you have an idea for the contest? Alright...let's see if you can manage to tell me."

Sofa proceeded to pantomime with circles and claws traveling all around. "Okay...okay, I think I know what you're trying to say. How did you think of that? No offense, buddy, but you're not the smartest Pokemon in the league." Sofa just shrugged and waited for Marcus' response. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. That's a good idea, we should do that. But how are gonna lead up to that, we can't exactly open with it can we..."
A roar of applause drew Marcus' attention away from his performance and towards Eira's. He watched her and her Spheal in wonderment. She sure looks happy. That's good. By the end of her routine, Marcus was standing up and clapping with the rest of the audience.

Man is she lucky. She just goes out there without knowing what's going to happen and it all works out for her. That was awesome. That was beyond awesome. But now it's my turn and her little snow day just ruined any chance of us using Sofa's idea. Marcus eyed one of the houndooms for a few moments. Or maybe not...

"Okay, so we're going to stall, I need you to try and make it look as showy as possible until I give you the signal, then you...you know what? Let's just wing it. It'll be fine." Sofa stared dumbfounded at his trainer. "What? Do I always need a plan? Am I that predictable?" Sofa nodded profusely. "Get out there, will you? And remember, make sure to always put on a show."


Marcus followed Sofa far behind him, stopping well out of the range of danger as his Pokemon went to the middle of the hall to meet the Houndoom waiting for him. The flame dog had learned from his predecessor's mistakes and decided to stay right where he was, with stable footing. Perfect.

"Ladies and Gentleman; since this is the first chance I've had to speak with you, I was a bit distracted last time, I would like to formally introduce my Pokemon as well as myself to you." The whole time Marcus was addressing the audience, Sofa was slowly circling the Houndoom just 10 feet from its snarling teeth, always making sure to be facing it and its very warm breath. Every now and then, the Houndoom would let out a flamethrower in an attempt to antagonize his enemy into getting close. With every release of flames, Sofa would just barely step out of the way with more grace than he looked possible of having, leaving the crowd to gasp in response.

"My newly evolved Vigoroth here is named Sofa. I," Marcus said as he bowed with as much gravitas that he could possibly muster, the audience gasping at another near miss, "Am Marcus Glyser. I would like to apologize for my unruly attire; I didn't know I going to be participating in a contest when I came to town today. You see," The audience gasped louder than normal; Sofa had slipped on the ice. The houndoom saw his chance and blew a billowing flame straight for the vulnerable Vigoroth, but Sofa used his forward momentum to roll out of the way; a sigh of relief was shared throughout the hall. "You see, I am a Pokemon trainer, I have had no experience with contests before today except for knowing the rules for them and knowing that they exist." At this, Marcus let out a short chuckle. He glanced over to the two Pokemon, then down to the ground they were standing on. "So I hope you can forgive me and my Sofa for being a bit...unorthodox with our performance style, we're just trying to get used to it. I thank you for your attention. My father raised me to believe that you always introduce yourself formally whenever you can, because it is a sign of respect to both the person you're meeting and yourself." The houndoom started to think that he was getting nowhere with his attacks and he wasn't going to coax his opponent in, so he was getting anxious and felt like faring the slippery ice, but when he looked down at his feet, he realized that his flames had melted all of the cold substance around him. "So without further adieu, I give you...the cyclone." Marcus turned around with his arm held out to be as showy as possible as the battle truly began.

Filled with excitement at the prospect of catching that annoying Vigoroth and finally burning him to get him to stop dancing around, he started his dash for Sofa. "Sofa! Toy with him a bit more! Sucker punch!" When the Houndoom got within range and was breathing in for his flamethrower, Sofa suddenly squared off on the dog and burst forward with a sudden flash of speed. Right when he was going to release his flame, Sofa brought his arm down as he ran past and knocked the front legs out from under him. The flames burst out and crashed against the floor, creating a cascade of fire like a river running from houndoom's mouth. He stood back up clearly much more annoyed than he was earlier, his snout twisted with rage and pain from smacking into the ground. He charged up again, this time focusing his flame to a controlled burst.

"Once again! Sucker Punch!!" Right when the houndoom was about let loose his inferno, Sofa rushed in with another burst of speed, this time getting very close to the ground and bringing his claw up into the houndoom's chin in an uppercut before running past again, forcing the flamethrower to shoot up into the air like a fountain made of fire. This time, Sofa stood on the other side of the hall, closest to the audience, just standing there with his arms crossed.

"Alright Sofa," Marcus paused and looked at the audience, letting out a small smirk. "just stand there." The houndoom shook his head, clearly not hurt, but visibly furious to everyone in the hall. He sprinted full speed at Sofa, not caring what possible plan those two might have, going for blood. As he got closer and closer, the audience began to stiffen as both trainer and pokemon remained unmoving. The Houndoom stopped within touching distance to Sofa, still no reaction. He then began to breath in deep, deep, deep for a final flamethrower that would let out everything he had. The whole audience sat on the edge of their seats. Right before Houndoom reached the limit of its lungs, Marcus called out, "Alright buddy, you know what to do! Aerial Ace!"

Sofa took off like a rocket right as the flames blasted from the houndoom's mouth, having much more speed then he could have gathered as a Slakoth, sprinting around the houndoom until he became a blur with his right arm out along his side pointing forward as if to cut through the wind, the clear aura trailing behind him like he were a comet. As he ran around in circles, the flames bent to the wind current generated by Sofa's high speeds, curling them up and over the two Pokemon. The Houndoom showed no signs of stopping, made blind with rage, he poured every last bit of fire he could from his chest. As Sofa sped up more and more, the flames started to rise higher and higher, the aura started to blend with his enemy's attack, and right as the flame reached its peak; Houndoom was reaching its limit.

Marcus raised his voice to be heard over the winds his partner was creating, "Okay, Sofa; wanna show them again? Y'all might recognize this move from earlier." Sofa jumped up, only getting a few inches of air, his feet glowing a dull orange. "He may not be the best jumper," Curling his body up into a ready position, Sofa used Mega Kick on the ground, propelling himself up above the towering inferno, spinning around it with his built up momentum by twirling around with his arms outstretched. "but he still has very strong legs."

Right as the flames stopped dripping from Houndoom's mouth, the winds subsided and the fires leveled out underneath Sofa almost into a doughnut shape; all that was missing was the hole. "Alright, Sofa; let's bring this home! RETURN!" Sofa closed his eyes: thoughts of all the times Marcus carried him through the woods, all of the naps; the summer days spent sitting out in the sun; the day after Marcus' mother's death and how he didn't sleep at all for over 30 hours just to comfort his friend; just a little while ago when Sofa evolved and their embrace afterwards, it all flashed across his mind. Sofa opened his eyes as he was falling, a few feet from the flames. He brought his right claw out in front of him as he fell through the hole that was now opening for his descent. Once he was through, Sofa pulled his claw in as he did a front flip right before coming down on the houndoom, one claw down hitting the ground to brace his fall as he brought one knee into his opponent, one knee pointing up, his face looking down and body towards the queen.



Slowly, Sofa lifted his head as Marcus came to join him in the front of the performance area. How did that work so well? Come on man, take your own advice. Act like you've been there. "Once again, ladies and gentleman," Sofa stood up and stepped away from the Houndoom. "I thank you for your time." Both trainer and Pokemon bowed at the same time.

---

Any confusion with why certain moves did what?
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sucker_Punch_%28move%29
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Aerial_Ace_%28move%29
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Return_%28move%29

I recommend reading what the move does, the direct japanese translation and any other trivia that will shed more light.