Journey Towards Greatness

Julian and Ramos spent quite a time discussing the price, the amount of product and kept bargaining for a few minutes, at last Julian had to just give up, he was no match for an old man who has lived for so long.

Though Julian is quite rich, his old habit of bargaining has never disappeared. ​​

Once the deal was done, it was finally time for them to have their battle, Ramos brought Julian to the top of the massive tree, on his way Julian looked around as he climbed the tree through the stairs that seem to be made from the tree trunk itself.

There were long stems that acted like ropes attached to the main branches of the tree, many pokemons were moving around the tree using these long stems, when these pokemons noticed Julian, they would watch him with curiousness in their eyes.

They wanted to know who this person is, the pokemons are very friendly with Ramos but wary of this stranger and kept their distance, Julian just smiled seeing these.

It was quite a long climb up the tree, Julian was just amazed by Ramos's ability to climb those long stairs at his age and he wasn't even tired.

Ramos then brought Julian towards the battlefield, Julian looked at the battlefield and didn't find anything out of ordinary except a few plant ropes there were dropping down from the tree. Since the battlefield is right on top of the tree, the surrounding was filled with branches and leaves, the only opening is the big hole on the top from where all the sunlight came from.

Julian took in a deep breath, he could smell the leaves in the air, the smell of the forest was not something new to him as he has spent so much time in different forests around the region.

Ramos "What do you say? Do you want to get straight to battling or do you want to look around?"

He asked.

Julian "I think we should get to battling, I will look around afterward if something catches my attention"

Julian replied. Ramos nodded and walked towards the other side of the battlefield and looked at Julian, Julian also took his position on the battlefield and waited for Ramos to start this battle.

Ramos took out a small leaf from his pocket and placed it on his mouth and blew on it creating a high pitch whistle, suddenly a man wearing a gardening uniform came out of nowhere and took his position as a referee.

Referee "This battle will be a three vs three pokemon battle, during the battle only the challenger is allowed to switch pokemon while the gym leader cannot, the person with no pokemon at the end of the battle will lose"

The referee explained the rules and asked both Julian and Ramos to choose their pokemon.

Ramos went first and just as Julian had read on the internet he sent out his first pokemon, which is Jumpluff, though this pokemon looks weird and immobile, Julian knows it far from the truth, Jumpluffs are very fast and have a great special defense, the only things they lack are attack and special attack, their defense is above average but it is enough to keep the pokemon conscious on the battlefield.

Julian thought for a second before finally sending out his first pokemon as well, Clauncher.

Julian is very careful right now, he knows that his opponent's pokemon neither has a great attack or special attack but what worries Julian the most are the status moves that Jumpluff might know, status moves don't need a high special attack or physical attack stat to be effective.

Status moves are long-lasting, will affect their opponent's performance, and worst of all, they can be stacked up with each other to cause more damage over time which can end a battle really quickly. If status effects like Burn, Poison, and Paralysis were stacked together on a pokemon, it would be like a very old man who is minutes away from dying.

With both pokemons on the battlefield, the referee gave the call to start the battle, as soon as the battle signal was given Ramos made his move, he didn't wait for Julian to make a move at all.

Ramos "Aerial Ace"

His Jumpluff which was bouncing in the air suddenly rose high up in the air with one jump and rushed towards Clauncher at full speed, its body disappeared midway and then reappeared right in front of Clauncher about to hit him.

Julian "Protect"

As soon as Clauncher heard the call, he created a forcefield in front of him and blocked the attack, since Aerial Ace couldn't be dodged, it was best to use Protect, as soon as Jumpluff's body hit the protective forcefield, it bounced back and landed close to Clauncher.

Seeing this Julian saw his chance and called out another move.

Julian "Quick use Vise-Grip"

Clauncher deactivated the Protect and quickly swung his bigger claw at Jumpluff, but as soon as Jumpluff hit the ground it bounced like a soft cotton ball and dodged Clauncher's attack.

Julian was surprised, he didn't expect Jumpluff to actually bounce as soon as it made contact with the ground, he miscalculated. Since he has never faced a pokemon like Jumpluff before he was caught off guard.

Trainers never trained pokemons like Jumpluffs because of their weak attack and special attack so Julian had never encountered one across him on the battlefield until today.

Ramos smiled and made his move.

Ramos "Jumpluff, use Stun Spore"

Ramos commanded. As Jumpluff is still in the air and Clauncher missed his attack, he found himself in a vulnerable position and Ramos took advantage of it, Jumpluff released sparkling spores all around it.

Julian "Water Gun, quick"

Julian was caught off guard for sure but he was not letting Ramos win this exchange, Clauncher raised his claw and aimed directly at Jumpluff with Water Gun.

The stream of water shot at Jumpluff and hit it, the Stun Spore that came in its way was also washed away but it didn't stop the move from affecting Clauncher, he was still not able to dodge it.

While Jumpluff was sent spinning through the air, the Stun Spores latched onto Clauncher and Paralysis took effect.

Now that Paralysis is in effect, Clauncher might not be able to move during a certain attack and leave him vulnerable, it also slowed him down, Clauncher already had bad speed so reducing his speed even further could cause a little problem.