Contest Battle

"Would anyone like to volunteer? Anyone?" Ms. Hazel swept her gaze across the crowd.

"I would like to volunteer, Ms. Hazel." Paul stated as he stood up and looked at his teacher.

"Is that so? Very well then, Mr. Crimson. You're going to perform first, to show how it should be done to your classmates. Is that fine?" She looked at Paul, asking for confirmation, and the latter agreed with a nod. Ms. Hazel then called out to Amber, who's performing skills were better than most of the class, while also having a strong pokemon. Thus, the Contest Battle ensued.

"This is a one-on-one Pokemon Contest Battle. On the left side, we have Mr. Paul Crimson and his pokemon Eevee! The right side, however, we have Ms. Amber Rose and her pokemon Happiny! I would also serve as today's judge thus I will also operate the score screen." Ms. Hazel took over the position of being a referee and a judge, although all the students are familiar with the mechanics and flow of a Contest Performance and Battle.

Ms. Hazel returned on the table beside the battle arena and operated on the computer of the Battle Class no.1. As the large screen at the wall turned on, the class was also surprised as it was the first time it was used. There were two pictures present on the screen, with Paul on the left, and Amber on the other. The pictures were taken from their ID Pictures which were captured on their first week of school. Below both of the pictures, a pokeball could be seen, with a yellow bar surrounding it, making it look like a yellow donut with a pokeball in the center. This yellow bar represents the score of Paul and Amber, while between the pictures is the time limit of the battle duration, displayed as "5:00".

She continued speaking after the soft applause of the 1st year class, "This Contest Battle has a time limit of 5 minutes, with each contestant having 100 points each. The points will lessen according to the performance of the pokemons from each player. The victor could be decided by having the higher score than the other after 5 minutes, reducing the opponents score to zero, or if an opponent's pokemon is knocked out."

After the reminders, Ms. Hazel let both students to take out their own pokemon.

"Eevee, let's go!" Paul cheered his pokemon as he threw its pokeball. Eevee came out, still, with little yellow stars surrounding her.

"Go Happiny!" Amber followed, as she threw Happiny's pokeball into the arena, while Happiny has little hearts around her as she appeared.

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Name: Happiny (Light Blue)

Type: Normal

Gender: Female

Ability: Friend Guard

Level: Adept

Held Item: None

Moves:

(Innate) Minimize, Light Screen, Pound, Copycat, Defense Curl

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Amber's Happiny improved to the Adept level boundary two months ago, thus Paul estimates its current strength to be around Level 18-25. He wasn't sure though, but he would make sure to be on guard as Happiny's physical strength is no joke, as she was able to inherit her owner's heavy fist.

Seeing the participants ready, Ms. Hazel nodded as she finally ensued the battle, "Let the Contest Battle, begin!"

"Happiny use Minimize!"

"Eevee, Quick Attack!"

Both students commanded simultaneously at the start of the battle. Happiny became one-half of its size, as she wasn't that proficient with [Minimize] yet, while Eevee was shrouded with light as it sped towards the former.

Paul immediately followed a command, "Use Double Team!"

Eevee, hearing its trainer, suddenly multiplied. Thus, there were six Eevees who raced towards Happiny.

Seeing the precarious situation, Amber instantly instructed, "Happiny, use Copycat and then scatter!"

Happiny then multiplied into three small Happiny and then initiated to run into three separate directions.

"Eevee, use Swift!"

The mammalian pokemon's copies immediately dispersed, as the original remained, who was located right near the three small Happiny. It shot stars from its mouth towards the three pink pokemons.

Knowing that Happiny will not make it, Amber ordered, "Use Light Screen!"

A pink transparent screen appeared in front of the Happiny in the left as her copies disappeared. Only a single screen emerged, unlike its usual three screens. It seems like Happiny wasn't that used to performing the move [Light Screen].

Eevee's [Swift] immediately hit the screen which broke after a second length barrage, hitting the pokemon who attempted to run behind it.

"Piny~!"

The pink pokemon was hit by the rest of the move that the light screen was unable to block, thus tossing her half a meter away. Though, the pink pokemon immediately stood back up, evidently that the move [Swift]'s effect was still decreased partially by [Light Screen].

Both of the contestants' scores lessened, as Paul cancelled Eevee's [Quick Attack] while Happiny's [Minimize] and [Light Screen] wasn't that effective in the end. The former move having not much use due to the barrage of stars, while the latter move being fragile to Eevee's [Swift]. Though, Amber's score was decreased more compared to Paul.

Amber tense state calmed down as she saw Happiny standing up again. "Stay strong Happiny! Use Pound."

The pink head instructed Happiny, as both pokemons were near each other.

While Amber commanded the pink pokemon, Paul telepathically spoke to Eevee, 'When Happiny comes close, jump back to dodge and then use Double Kick.' Paul knew Eevee received his instruction as it nodded subtly, despite her not looking backwards.

Happiny immediately run towards Eevee and jumped. As Happiny was near Eevee, the latter immediately jumped back, as if anticipating it's move and initiated to use [Double Kick]. Broken rocks scattered as Happiny landed her [Pound] without any target. She looked up and saw Eevee's legs lighting up with white light.

As Eevee was expecting Happiny's move, she was able to hit Happiny with [Double Kick] twice, both with its forelegs and its hind legs.

"Hapi~!"

Happiny gave a sharp cry as the fighting type move [Double Kick] was super effective to her. She was dragged two meters into the ground, marking the path her body hit.

Amber's score sharply dropped as Happiny's [Pound] missed while Eevee's [Double Kick] hit twice.

Knowing Happiny's health stats, Paul anticipated that Happiny could still stand, and it still did. He made the final command to Eevee. "Eevee, use Quick Attack!"

Amber was struck with shock and panic, as she saw Happiny's current state. She wasn't able to do or speak anything as Eevee's silhouette sped towards Happiny who was trying to stand up. As Happiny was finally able to stand straight, the pink pokemon's eyes dilated as she saw Eevee's attack arriving.

"No!" Amber cried, as Eevee hit Happiny which made the latter's body fly out. Dust enveloped the spot its body landed on. As the dust settled, Happiny could be seen lying on the ground, her eyes turned into spirals.

Amber's yellow bar emptied, as her pokemon was out of battle.

"Happiny is unable to battle, thus automatically marks Amber's score as zero. The victor of the Pokemon Contest Battle is Paul!" Ms. Hazel announced as Paul's picture enlarged and moved into the center of the screen, while Amber's photo disappeared.

The class applauded as Paul embraced Eevee who jumped into his arms. 'Amber has a good starting strategy, though Happiny wasn't able to use her moves proficiently yet. She was also overwhelmed every time Happiny was struck with an attack.' Paul thought as he approached Amber, who looked down and was crying while embracing the now awake Happiny.

"Hey, Amber." Paul gave the pink head a gentle pat on the shoulder. The former's greeting made Amber look up and saw her friend.

"Hi Paul…" Amber started, as she started to tear up. She immediately hit Paul's arm as she cried. "You're so mean! You didn't even hold back a little!" Amber ranted, as she rained Paul's arms with her arms.

"Ouch! Hey, Amber! Calm dow- Ow! Stop it!" Paul tried to calm the pink head down. After a few seconds, Amber finally stopped.

"You did great though, while I was pathetic." Amber stated as she calmed down.

Paul immediately rebutted his friend, "No! You actually did well! I was surprised with your starting moves as your tactics were spot on. Though after your Happiny got hit with [Swift], you got flustered. You forgot that Eevee's way faster than Happiny. So, despite Happiny's physical prowess, she wasn't able to hit Eevee with [Pound] and it went downhill from there."

"Now… the way you put it; it makes me seem that I really did well at the start." Amber nodded absently as she thought.

"Yeah… You really did. Though, I think you need to practice Happiny's moves more, as I think she could do a lot better. I also think that you should strengthen your mentality as your pokemon would inevitably be hurt every pokemon battle." Paul honestly commented to his friend.

"Yeah, thanks Paul. Uh… sorry for hitting you though, it was just a habit" Amber muttered as she gave her friend a hug.

"Habit when you're irritated, yeah." He laughed good naturedly as he gave responded to Amber's embrace, which made the latter pout, but also made her laugh, nonetheless.