The second member of the team is properly introduced

With his Pokémon refreshed and his backpack full of new items, Sal made a detour back into Route 202 to train with his new Gligar. ’That’s something. I still haven’t named my Gligar yet,’ he thought to himself. He pulled out Gligar’s Pokéball and called the FlyScorpion Pokémon out.

“Ok, I still haven’t named you, or even looked at your stats in more detail. Let’s see… you’re a Ground/Flying type, so how about… Clay?” he asked, and the Gligar nodded happily. “Ok then. Just one more thing to do,” and he pulled out his Pokédex to scan Clay once more. The ‘Dex revealed the rest of the Gligar’s details, and Sal committed these to memory before closing it back down.

With the naming done, Sal started to take a leisurely walk around Route 202, his newly named Gligar following him. “So, I guess the first thing we need to do is practice your Razor Wind, Clay,” he said. Clay simply nodded again, still following, as Sal looked around for an opportunity to battle.

As Sal walked further along Route 202, watching a few Starly taking flight, he once again sunk deep into his own thoughts, now able to let his imagination run wild while he looked around for a battle. As he kept walking, the sight of a young boy in the middle of the road soon snapped him out of his trance. The child was thrashing about in an odd manner on the ground, so Sal called Clay back into his Pokéball and rushed over to check the kid wasn’t having a fit or something. On closer inspection, he just seemed to be venting out his anger.

“It isn't fair!” the boy shouted. “I never win, no matter what! I don't know what I'm doing wrong...” After saying this, he looked up and noticed Sal, and his face turned red quickly. He was clearly embarrassed that anyone had seen him in that state. He got to his feet before addressing Sal directly.

“Hey!” he shouted, now sounding rather angry, “What were you doing just a second ago? It's pretty creepy to just watch people like that, you know?” He tapped his foot on the floor, scowling at Sal. “So anyway, you wouldn't happen to be a trainer would you? ‘Cause I really need to battle right now. I haven't managed to win one yet but I'm getting better. I can feel it! Come on, fight me! Please?”

’This kid certainly has a problem, but this seems to mean a lot to him… Plus, it’d make excellent training for Clay, no matter what we end up facing,’ Sal thought, before replying to him.

“Sure, I’ll battle you then. Let’s see what you’ve got. Clay, you’re on!” he said, and he threw a Pokéball into the air, revealing his Gligar. “This is the Pokémon I’ll be using; he could use a good fight,” Sal explained, and waited for the kid’s reply.

The boy pumped his fist, shouting in excitement before pulling out a Pokéball and throwing it onto the ground beside him. The ball burst open, and in a flash of light a Stunky appeared. The Poison type blinked, looking a little unsure of its surroundings, and the young trainer bent down, petting the Pokémon. Sal didn’t recognise the creature, and pulled out his Pokédex to learn about it.

’Stunky, the Skunk Pokémon. The foul fluid from its rear is so revolting that it can make people feel queasy up to a mile and a quarter away,’ the reliable machine said. “That sounds pretty interesting. Should make for a nice battle,” Sal said, glad to know of Stunky’s unique odour beforehand.

"Hey buddy, I know we've been doing pretty bad lately but things are going to turn around for us," the trainer said to his Pokémon. The Stunky looked over at Sal and his Gligar, before sighing heavily. Sal was a little surprised to see the skunk Pokémon’s lack of enthusiasm, especially considering how energetic its trainer was. "Don't be like that, we can do this! I believe in you Stunky, come on! Poison that thing with some Poison Gas then Focus your Energy and Scratch it!"

’A 3 move round already? That’s surprising. Still, I guess he has a plan,’ Sal thought, and he turned to Clay, remembering his moves and forming a plan. “Ok, let’s try this. Razor Wind through the Gas, then throw a Sand Attack towards him as he comes in for the Scratch.”

The first round of the battle surprised Sal immensely, as all of his orders went as planned. The Razor Wind cut through Stunky’s Poison Gas before it reached Clay, stopping it before it could do anything, and the Sand Attack luckily caused the Poison/Dark Pokémon to miss with its Scratch. The battle was going his way right from the start. However, as he looked across the field, his opponent was getting rather annoyed with the first round.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Hurry up and order, it's your turn!” the boy yelled, clearly frustrated at his orders being cancelled so easily.

“Okay, just stay calm would ya?” Sal replied, and he thought through his options. ’With that round going so well, I guess there’s no reason to not just go on the offensive this round, considering Stunky’s aim will be reduced. Still, I daren’t go in close just yet, in case of Poison Gas.’ With that in mind, he gave his orders to Clay. “Clay, take advantage of Stunky’s temporary blindness and go on the offensive. Fire another couple of Razor Winds at it! If you can’t manage a second, then just give it a Sand Attack if it comes close.”

“Okay, just stay calm would ya?” Sal replied, and then he gave his orders to Clay. “Clay, take advantage of Stunky’s temporary blindness and go on the offensive. Fire another couple of Razor Winds at it! If you can’t manage a second, then just give it a Sand Attack if it comes close.”

"I can't be calm! I have to win this, don't you get it?" The young boy shuddered and then yelled at the top of his lungs, "POISON GAS AGAIN AND THIS TIME MAKE POISONED!"

fairly tired from the first round, the little Gligar known as Claw began to move his wings about, but this time, the Razor Wind did not come out. Instead, he just looked rather stupid sitting there and flapping his wings. The little Stunky didn't know that nothing had happened since he had turned around once again put his tail in the air, ready to deal another great big f- [OOC: Oh this is a children's website, sorry my bad] -erocious Poison Gas in the hope that it would do its job of poisoning the Ground/Flying-type.

The gas that billowed from the tail of the Stunky was not a gas that you would expect to have poisoning effects. Due to the fact that it was a big horrible dark black-coloured gas. Not only that, it was far larger than the last attack. So not only had the little Gligar back-fired with his attack, his opponent looked just as silly, having actually back-fired [OOC: I know, terrible pun, I apologise for myself].

Sal recognised the gas as a different move known as Haze. He also knew that not all Stunky's could use it. What would he do with this knowledge?

"POISON GAS AGAIN AND THIS TIME MAKE POISONED!" the kid responded, which sounded a little odd to Sal, considering the last time he had used Razor Wind it had rendered Poison Gas useless. Still, the boy was clearly a new trainer, so he tried not to think anything of it, and looked back to the battle.

Sal knew that his orders were a little shaky, as Clay hadn’t perfected Razor Wind, but he kept his hopes high. Unfortunately, it appeared that luck was not on his side, as Clay’s attempt at using the move once more failed miserably. ’Great, now Clay’s going to be a sitting duck while Stunky manages to poison it. I should have tried safer orders after all,’ the teenager thought, as he cursed his luck. However, Stunky seemed to be having problems with its Poison Gas too, and as it finally performed the move, the gas coming from its rear end was different to before. It was a thick black mist of sorts. “That’s not Poison Gas… it’s Haze!” Sal said, as he was already familiar with the move from watching battles back at home. He stood there, astonished, as the Haze filled the area, blocking his vision.

’Now I have to battle in the dark? If only I had a reliable wind-based attack, I could clear this Haze in an instant,’ he thought, remembering Falkner, the Gym Leader back in Violet City, and his Flying types. 'As it stands, I’ll have to make do with what I have. Could I risk trying Razor Wind? No, it’s likely that Clay needs to wait before using it again. In that case, I’ll just defend for now.' With his planning done, Sal shouts his orders into the black cloud. “Clay, stand your ground for now. If you hear or see any movement, throw a Sand Attack at it, and if Stunky comes in to attack, fight back with a Tackle!”

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU I SAID POISON GAS ALREADY!" screamed the young boy, obviously furious now that his Pokémon couldn't even use the move he was asking it to use.

In the midst of the Haze across the whole field, the orders from the opposite could be heard as well, for a far more in-control trainer. “Clay, stand your ground for now. If you hear or see any movement, throw a Sand Attack at it, and if Stunky comes in to attack, fight back with a Tackle!”

And thus, the fight continued, but this time in the dark, or close to it. The little Stunky, who could barely see his opponent had didn't really move from his last position, but instead, tried his darnedest to fire off the correct move, spurting more foul gases from his rear end, tail pointing north as due course. The Gligar, effectively grounded for this round tried to muck up some dust and Sand to form some sort of Attack, but what it mainly did was add more stuff to the cloud that they were fighting in, making it almost impossible to make each other out any more, the Haze, Sand, dust and poison gas all mixing to form a rather thick cloud.

Not only will this cause problems in the ensuing rounds, but the little boy was getting even more impatient.

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU, STUNKY! IF YOU REALLY CAN'T DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD, THEN TRY GETTING IN THERE WITH A HEADBUTT AND THEN A SCRATCH!!!" the young boy was obviously exasperated. But from the thick cloud, he couldn't see his Pokémon or his opponent, and Sal was no better. Thankfully, the smoke did hide the sweatdrop on Sal's face.

OOC: Is Headbutt one of the generic moves all Pokémon learn, or is it just another special move for Stunky? I can’t see it on the list, at any rate.

Clay tried a Sand Attack, as ordered; however it simply seemed to add to the Haze already in place, giving Sal more to worry about. This battle was certainly turning out to be interesting, if a little hard to predict. ’I’ll have to use Razor Wind at some point, just to try and get rid of some of this Haze. As long as Clay has some vision, there’s a chance he can land some hits. As for now…’ As Sal was thinking, his opponent was just getting more frustrated. He clearly didn’t see his Pokémon learning a new more to be useful whatsoever.

“WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU, STUNKY! IF YOU REALLY CAN'T DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD, THEN TRY GETTING IN THERE WITH A HEADBUTT AND THEN A SCRATCH!!!” he yelled, and Sal felt pretty bad for the Stunky right now.

“Ok, try another Razor Wind. If you see your opponent as a result, hit it with a Tail Whip. Otherwise, just stay put and Tackle him if he makes contact with you,” Sal said in response, hoping the Haze would clear, if only to calm the boy down.

OOC: Fair enough. But with that in mind, there are plenty of moves that could be counted as generic; Slash and Scratch to name a couple. I mean, Bite and Tail Whip are up there. I take it Headbutt is toned down to more of a Tackle strength move though?

Also, was Razor Wind not as strong as before, or does Haze just stick around longer than Poison Gas or what?

With his Gligar still blinded, Sal watches the Haze and hopes for the best. He hears what he assumes to be a Razor Wind, but the wind doesn't do much to the Haze at all. Damn, that was my main idea to get out of this mess. I guess all there is left to do is wait for it to disperse, or wait for Razor Wind to get stronger. Meanwhile... he thought, knowing there wasn't much more he could do.

"I guess you should just wait until you locate Stunky, then give it a couple of Tackles, Clay. There's really not much we can do right now," Sal said half-heartedly, unsure of what to do. This was the first time he had really felt outmatched at anything involving strategy, and even now it was because of Haze being pulled out at the last minute. Still, it was interesting, and could prove to be valuable experience.

OOC: That's pretty much how I figured it, but it was worth checking.

"Tackle it back, Stunky! Not much else we can do, I suppose. So keep Tackle-ing, and don't stop!" was the response from the agitated boy, although he seemed to be controlling himself more now.

The two Pokémon waited until they could see, which was rather quick from the Razor Wind attempt, and then they began trading blows. Both Pokémon Tackled with all their might, but as they finished, Clay came out the victor, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Sal’s reaction was exactly the same to his Gligar’s; he had won, but it hadn’t been easy. He made a mental note of Haze’s usefulness for any future battles against users of the move.

"Awh, damn it!" the boy exclaimed. He was clearly bothered by the loss, but he took it rather well, sniffing a little before recalling his Stunky. He then walked up to Sal. "I'm sorry I was so rude, mister. I have some problems with my anger so it's kind of hard to control myself sometimes. Anyway here," he said, before handing Sal 300 Pokédollars. "I'm sure you don't want to listen to me whine, so here's your money. I enjoyed our battle, and I learned that my Stunky has a unique ability! So I guess it's not so bad I lost this time after all. Thanks for helping me discover that my Stunky is one of a kind, sir! I'll see ya around sometime, okay?"

“Yeah, I enjoyed the battle too. That Stunky’s cool, so good luck training it,” Sal said, as a parting sentence, and the boy headed off once more, still looking a little downhearted. With that out of the way, Sal considered his options. He could stay here in Route 202 to train with Goku and Clay, and have to give Clay a berry, or he could head to Jubilife to cash in his Egg Voucher. He grinned, knowing there was only one real answer to this. “Ok Clay, return for now. We’re off to Jubilife’s Mart to grab that Egg that Goku worked so hard for,” he said, holding up the Ground type’s Pokéball as the now familiar red light surrounded Clay, sucking him back into the ball. With his Pokémon back in their Pokéballs and Clay’s Razor Wind a little closer to being perfected, Sal headed back to Jubilife to see what Pokémon awaited him at the Mart.