Battle Royale pt.2

"Liepard, I choose you!" cried the young girl from the yellow corner while throwing out an Ultra Ball.

"Go, Scizor!" Stark shouted from the red corner as he threw his own Luxury Ball.

"Come out, Braviary!" Steve Rogers called from the blue corner and tossed a Pokéball into the air.

The crowd went wild at the reveal of two Pokémon they hadn't seen throughout the whole tournament. While the little girl had swept through all her competition with solely Liepard, neither Tony or Steve had ever shown the two Pokémon they brought out now and they were excited to see if they were as powerful as their main's.

"Come, Arbok," Brock said calmly as a Dusk Ball opened from within his hand. He ignored the boos and jeers that followed and focused on the three Pokémon that eyed him eagerly. He sighed at seeing he was going to be ganged up on like he'd expected.

[Scizor: Lvl.59 vs Braviary: Lvl.61 vs Liepard: Lvl.67 vs Arbok: Lvl.52]

A rotating hologram floated high above the arena, showing an image of each Pokémon alongside its current status and health, displayed via a red bar.

"Let's take him down together," Steve said to the other two contestants to which they nodded. "We should come up with a plan of attack then."

"I have a plan," Tony snorted. "Attack."

"Zor!" The Bug/Steel Pokémon clanged its two pincers against each other as it nodded in agreement with its master.

As the Captain sported a disappointed look, the young girl noticed the Arbok coiling up and spoke up, "I have to agree with Mr. Stark. The longer we wait, the more we stand to lose."

After saying that, she gave a command to her Pokémon to start the battle.

"Oooh and theres little miss Shuri's now famous opening move, Fake Out!" shouted the emcee over the roaring crowd. "For those who don't know, Fake Out is guaranteed to flinch any Pokémon without fail!"

"Nice kid!" Tony cheered and gave a command of his own. "Scizor, Swords Dance."

Steve sighed and gave up, turning to his Braviary instead, "Use Bulk Up buddy."

"Brav!"

Shuri looked at the two shameless old men who just utilized her attack to set-up with a gaping jaw. Seeing Tony's unrepentant gaze and Steve's confused one, she glared at them before crossing her arms and snorting, "If you two geezers are going to be like that, then don't expect me to be any different. Liepard, U-Turn!"

"Lie!" Liepard cried out in agreement as she slammed into Arbok and turned into a green beam of light that returned it to her Ultra Ball.

Then, under the anticipatory gazes of the crowd, Shuri pulled out another Pokémon that hadn't been used yet, "Go, Reuniclus!"

[… Reuniclus: Lvl.60 …]

By now, Arbok had long recovered from flinching and Brock used his opponents' conflict to start stacking Coil. This was exactly what he'd hoped would happen and why he didn't send out the big guns first.

As someone who started in Alola, he knew that anyone who set up in Battle Royale's would be targeted. Since he was going to be anyways, he didn't bother with avoiding it but rather hoped his competition didn't know this fact and would start seeing each other as real threats.

Until then, he would quietly mind his own business and bulk up while they argued amongst themselves.

"What's the problem?" Steve asked, confused.

Before the girl could retort however, the announcer cut in with an explanation of sorts, "Ooh, it seems like young miss Shuri won't let her competition take advantage of her attack lying down! Let's see what this young challenger does next!"

"Hmph," Shuri snorted and raised her chin imperiously before giving a command, "Reuniclus, Calm Mind."

"…"

The audience was dumbfounded at how anticlimactic this Battle Royale was turning out to be. Unlike previous rounds which were packed full of action, besides an opening move, no one had attacked yet.

All of that was about to change though, as Rumlow seemed content with three coils and made his first move, "Arbok, Gunk Shot on Braviary."

"Ar-Bok!" With an explosion of purple, an absolutely massive ball of poison shot from the snake's jaw and shot towards the flying Pokémon. With a three times boost to both his attack and accuracy, there was no way it was going to miss.

*BOOM!*

"And Braviary comes crashing down from the skies! I do believe that if it wasn't for those Bulk Ups, it would've been a one hit KO!" The announcer bellowed and the audience roared soon after.

Despite their former dislike for Brock, they could appreciate a powerful display from just about anyone.

"Brav…" the bird cried as it twitched and spasmed atop the arena floor. Before long, dark smoke began to rise from its body and it vomited black gunk from its mouth.

"Looks like Arbok has managed to poison Braviary!" The announcer called. "Aaaand there it is! It seems Rogers will be the first one to lose a Pokémon in this semifinals match! Truly, despite his faults, no one can say that Mr. Rumlow doesn't deserve to stand on this stage after this!"

"Scizor, Bullet Punch."

"Reuniclus, use Psychic!"

As Arbok was in the midst of recovering from its last shot, the two attacks slammed into the coiled up Pokémon at once. While the Steel type move only managed to knock down its sturdy defense by about a third, Psychic managed to easily slip past its buffed up state and directly attack at its weakness.

"Ar~Bok…" the cobra cried out in pain as the combo was too much and overwhelmed him, knocking it out of the bout.

Brock recalled his Pokémon with a look of indifference while inwardly satisfied at its performance. Though nothing amazing in the grand scheme of the match, he hadn't counted on the girl bringing out a Psychic type right out of the gate. Thus, taking out one of his three opponents Pokémon was a win in his book.

Looking down at his remaining Dusk Balls, he grabbed one in the middle and tossed it out, while across the arena Steve did the same.

Though Rumlow may not have anything to counter Stark's Scizor at the moment, he could definitely give the other two a run for their money before going down.