[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Your next opponent is Fisherman Harris.

Alright, battle #3...ya know, since it's 5 battles to get 1st place, single elimination...that probably means that there's 32 contestants in this tournament at most (2 to the 5th power= 32).  And seeing as Nathan is in Round 3 (which would have 8 contestants in a 32 person bracket) and hasn't encountered Bug Catcher Burt, Anaster, Heart, nor Spira yet...that must mean that between those 4 trainers, at least two of them are going to be facing each other in Round 3 (assuming none of them lose/are disqualified), depending on how everyone was seeded!  What an exciting thought!  There's only room for 4 trainers in the semifinals, and there's 5 notable trainers from the player standpoint...who will get there, I wonder?

In any case, Nathan needs to swap a few items and pokemon around for this battle.  Now that he's about halfway through this, he needs to stay at the top of his game!  If he can win this battle, he could potentially place 3rd or higher...

Spoiler

- Mizu the Dratini* (Eviolite)
- Doduo B (FoHR)
- Doduo C (Persim Juice)
- Seaking (Lum Berry)
- Phanpy (Hard Stone)
- Delta Parasect (Leftovers)

----------------------

As Nathan faces his opponent, he gives the fisherman a courteous nod.  "Alright, ready when you are."  He tosses the Safari Ball, and its contents end up not on land, but in one of the pools of water!  He's not leading with one of his Doduo or Delta Parasect this time!

And then a tiny little draconic head peeks out from the surface of the water.  Except it's a very noticeable pink instead of a harder to notice blue, and it's causing the water immediately around it to sparkle more than usual.  Nathan's first pokemon for this battle is:

Mizu, the shiny Dratini!


Even if the crowd can't see it, Nathan's very obviously got a smile on his face as he crosses his arms, says, "So, whatcha think of my catch of the day?" and waits to see the fisherman's response to seeing this insanely rare pokemon.

That oughta get the crowd's attention again, too!  Though if anyone's paying attention to Gallade, they'll notice he's just kinda smiling along with Nathan, not surprised at all, quietly chuckling at both the amazed reactions from everyone and what he'd just realized.  Ah, NOW he gets why Nathan started with Delta Parasect in that second round of battling...hopefully this works out a bit better for Nathan than attempting to use Delta Parasect did, though.

The Gate-keeping Round: Frantic Fields (Normal) - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Mizu's ready and raring to go, eager to get this battle started!  A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and Mizu certainly has a lot of growing to do on that journey before she can be a big, super strong Dragon!  All eyes are on her, but her eyes are focused squarely on the opponent in front of her (whatever pokemon it happens to be)!  Unlike most of the pokemon in this tournament, she considers herself a member of Nathan's little group (3 Loyalty), so her small amount of Disobedience (1) won't be an issue at all!  And even though it's for different reasons than Nathan, Mizu wants to win this battle too!