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[Pokémon] The Dusk Brawler

TheBringerOfLife

TheReviver
43
Posts
9
Years
I haven't read this yet, but just by skimming through this I have came to a (potentially early) conclusion that this is scores better than your first submission.
I look forward to reading it in it's entirety soon, and I will most certainly leave feedback again.
~TBOL
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Hey! After reading your flash fics I decided to check one of your other fics. Okay, let's get started!

Chapter One

Samuel Milone always loved pencils. He hated the feel of them in his hand, the wood shavings left in his sharpener, the broken black tips scattered across his tidy desk, and the rasp of graphite on paper. What made him buy them by the carton were the erasers. All it took was a bit of rubbing to remove every trace of your mistakes. So few things in life worked the same way.

I quite like the opening paragraph here. Gives an idea of Samuel's characterization already.

"Yeah, you're right, Luna," he said, leaning back on his black office chair. "She's given up on making you sleep in your bed."

Sam heard the door slam shut downstairs. "Speak of the devil, and she appears. Let's go!"

Since you have Sam still speaking, you can combine the two paragraphs into one paragraph.

I think you went a bit much on the description of the kitchen. I know you're introducing the world and such, but it seemed to drag the chapter a bit. After Sam's mom appeared you could go to the backyard scene straight away.

So far the chapter has a calming tone to it. The interactions between Sam, his mom, and his Pokemon is pretty cute. You did however mentioned this will be darker than your other fic, so that peace probably won't last long. D: I don't have an idea what kind of plot you're going for yet, although the beginning and end has references of Sam doing school assignments.

Chapter Two

An underground Pokemon brawl, huh? Reminds me of a fan-made Pokemon movie trailer where the concept is very similar featuring the Pokemon anime characters, haha. Anyways, this chapter gives a much better sense of the story now. I like the mention of Sam jotting down notes of some Pokemon while observing the brawls, thought that was smart of him to do that.

I like the battle between Eevee and Combusken and the fast-paced action you have going on. I think the description of the moves are handled nicely. Jason didn't show good sportsmanship there. :P I did notice you referred Combusken as "it" instead a male or female. Then again, Sam probably doesn't know the Pokemon's gender.

Chapter Three

On his right was Brandon Oak, next in line to inherit the family title of Professor Oak.

I assume Brandon is different from Blue Oak (or Gary Oak if you want to also mention anime canon)? I know you have Brandon be related to someone else to have him the advantage of getting the scholarship and it could be a chance Oak has two children at least, so I don't mind this too much. Others might not agree with me, though.

Feel bad for Sam not getting the scholarship. The tuition for that school does sound very expensive. @_@ And I can see this will be Sam's motivation to keep doing Pokemon brawls.

One thing I noticed throughout the fic is you seemed inconsistent with your paragraph formatting. There are times I see you did double space between paragraphs and other times you didn't.

Story started out a little slow, but after the Pokemon brawl review things got more interesting. Your idea has a lot of potential, so I'm looking forward to more chapters!
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Thanks for the input, Bay. I'm trying to create a balance between light and dark, as you may see in the chapters I have so far, but the story still has a lot of ground to cover before I'll know exactly how it will turn out. I look forward to receiving more input and commentary as I continue work on this project.

No problem! Yeah trying to balance those two tones isn't easy. And the "has a lot of ground to cover" I assume that's the case. All right, Chapter Four now!

Sam felt his sweat freeze on his skin. Looking down at the ground, Sam said[S-HIGHLIGHT],[/S-HIGHLIGHT] "back to bed, where I'll wake up, think this all a horrible nightmare, and vow to never tell anyone, not even my therapist."

As the man approached, Sam said[S-HIGHLIGHT],[/S-HIGHLIGHT] "I won't run away."

Noticed a couple instances you forgot to put a comma in a dialogue.

"Then here's what we[S-HIGHLIGHT]'[/S-HIGHLIGHT]re gonna do. You're gonna battle my nuzleaf. You win, you get to say whatever you want. You lose, and your lips are sealed. Either way, you get to leave."

Forgot an apostrophe.

"Sand attack!" Sam countered. As the nuzleaf stepped forward, Luna kicked up a bunch of trash. A piece of paper caught the nuzleaf's face, causing it to overstep and trip on a bottle. Luna followed up with a double kick that sent the nuzleaf flying. It skidded to a stop, then scrambled back onto its feet.

"Razor leaf!" the boss shouted. The leaf atop the nuzleaf's head twirled, flinging a volley of spinning leaves. Luna's swift stars turned them into green confetti, then the stars slammed into the nuzleaf, making it stagger backwards.

Love the way you used the surroundings during the battle here. Also the "turned them into green confetti" is a nice description.

"Sure, kid. The name's Lucky Red, Red for short, but you might know me better as Jason's dad. We'll be here a few more days. You're more than welcome to brawl here again. But just remember I know who you are."

Oh hi Jason's dad. :P

That was an unexpected encounter for Jason there. I mostly noticed a couple mistakes here. Shall be interesting if Sam and Lucky Red bump into each other once more. Great chapter, overall!
 

POKEMON_MASTER_0

caffeine 1mg/mL, 240 mL po q4h prn fatigue
88
Posts
15
Years
Hello there. I think I've lurked for long enough. I was first drawn to this story because the premise - betting on Pokemon battles - reminded me of a series of Pokemon video game tournaments I played in at bars up in Vancouver. Though there was nothing illegal about them, the small number of players coupled with the bar atmosphere gave them the sort of "underground" feel that I get from the fights in your story. And in general I like dark stories, so this one is up my alley.

In terms of the latest chapter, there's not a ton of action, which isn't a bad thing. It seems like it's just wrapping up a few loose ends involving finances and the lack of a mask. I'd assume that it's there to pivot into a big fight in the next chapter. In all, good job and keep at it.
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
"I'm not going to take Brandon's money," Sam told his eevee. "This is my problem, no his. So, are you ready?"

"Not", I think?

I thought it's very nice of Brandon to offer Sam the money for that school, but understandable Sam doesn't feel right about taking it from him. Also good idea for him to get himself a mask if he's going to continue those underground brawls. Even though he's not at the cafe now, his comment on cafes being good study places I can so relate back when I was in university haha.

As Pokemon_Master _0 said this feels more like getting a couple things getting taken care of before Sam goes further into brawls, but I can see this as a setup for bigger things to come. Looking forward to next chapter!
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Sam was introduced to the bunny on the fourth night. The bunny, marked by a white rabbit mask, worked for the police. Lucky Red explained the tenuous agreement between them and the cops. Since busting the brawling rings themselves would require immense resources and likely cause civilian casualties, the cops settled for catching individual brawlers and keeping an eye on the rings. In return, brawling rings followed rules to keep the cops off their backs – no murders, arson, kidnapping, the like.

The mention about the cops here is interesting.

"Let's finish this," the golden-masked man said. "Hypnosis."

"No, Luna, look away!" Sam shouted, but Luna already exhausted from the fight, fell asleep at the first glance of the poliwrath's belly. Luna slumped over onto the damp concrete and started snoring.

"Luna, wake up, just wake up!"

"Wake-up slap!" The poliwrath slammed Luna with an open hand, sending her flying across the lot. Luna yelped in pain each time she bounced off the concrete, and she slammed to a stop against a brick wall.

Should already be expected Poliwrath using Hypnosis, but I still like the wake-up slap that follows soon after. Poor Luna though sleeping and then getting hurt. :<

Ouch over Sam's lost there. Luna having a broken leg doesn't sound good either.Yeah, it would be a miracle an Eevee can be able to beat a Poliwrath (it's possible since Luna was able to beat Pokemon bigger than her, but third evolved forms are probably a whole other league). Makes me wonder if Sam's Eevee will evolve eventually. Can't wait to see what happens next!
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Luna is a stubborn little fighter there (even with a broken leg), haha. Since she doesn't want to evolve into either Vaporeon, Joleton, or Flareon, would be interesting which one she'll be instead. Heh, I thought Pete is a pretty fun Chaot there. Gotta love parrots being repetitive. :P

Luna able to defeat three Pokemon sure makes for a great comeback! Also the letter concerning getting a better costume does sound intriguing.

Spoiler:


Looking forward to next chapter!
 

POKEMON_MASTER_0

caffeine 1mg/mL, 240 mL po q4h prn fatigue
88
Posts
15
Years
I thought the three-on-one battle was really great. I found it hilarious when the beedrill swatted the makuhita, as it mirrored my own confusion when Sam announced the battle. And with the second chance coming up, I'm thinking that Luna will evolve soon. I have a hunch as to which eeveelution she'll become, but I'll keep that to myself, haha.

Spoiler:
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Hm, three thousand does sound quite a bit for a costume, although I guess that's the price to pay to not let your identity known. The costume itself sounds cool, really digging the feathers springing up haha.

"Jesus, what the heck was all that?" Robert asked.

"The stupid way to get a pidgeot's approval. It's a thing they do to determine the alpha of the flock."

"So, you bite each other, and then try to look bigger."

Sam took off his mask and held up his forehead. His vision began to darken and swim with flashes of white. "Pretty much," Sam answered. "Got any bandages and water? I think I'm going to pass out."

Trying to get Pigeot's approval sounds very painful there, ouch. Should be interesting though how Sam deals with Pigeot in the ring and how the development of Sam and Robert's "arrangement". Until next chapter!
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
A part of me felt like it would be interesting how Sam deals with Pigeot not listening to his commands, but then again he's only temporary and probably will slow down the story's pacing.

Spoilers incase!

Spoiler:
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
The noise and smell were both intense and chaotic. The jazz music playing from the speakers in the ceiling was surpassed only by the crowds of people attempting to talk over it. Many smells assailed Sam's nose. Amongst them, the most potent were
Missing description there?

Sam craned past the ticket counter at the Club. The mahogany stage was reserved for pokemon, which stuffed themselves on the platters of pokemon food set out on tablecloths. Down below, half of the floor was given over to buffet tables fifty feet long. Buckets of pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage links, bacon strips, biscuits, and hash browns sat in tubs of hot water, mixed fruit sat in buckets of ice, and bagels, biscuits, and doughnuts were stacked in pyramids on wide, flat plates. Jars of maple syrup, fruit jams, cream cheese, and peanut butter cluttered up the ends of each table. The other half had long benches, most seats filled with people eating and talking.

Two huge coffee thermoses, marked Regular and Decaf, sat on a table by the window, flanked by four water coolers marked with different fruit juices, two coolers of ice water, and another thermos for tea. Ten stacks of Styrofoam cups sat next to each beverage. Nearest the door was a shelf, with tubs of silverware and stacks of plates that stuck out from spring-loaded holes.
After she paid the forty dollar entry fee – fifteen each person and ten for Luna – they took a plate and piled food onto it. Martha made bacon and egg sandwiches with bagels while Sam wrapped pancakes around his sausage links, tying them together with juicier strips of bacon and drizzling them with syrup.
And opposite of that quite a bit of description there, lol. I don't think you need to list all the food being present as readers can figure out that several breakfast foods are set aside. Besides that you later mentioned what food Sam and his mother took.
"It's wonderful, being on stage, having everyone cheering for you. I always liked acting for that."

"That's just petty pride," she said, "that drives you to seek the approval of others. It seems insignificant compared to having your own approval. I think you will understand this soon."
Makes me wonder if this will relate to Sam's brawling fairly soon. The stage show itself is pretty neat, though!

Spoiler:
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Four years ago, Sam had a role as the villain in a play and had to spend weeks practicing a booming, haughty laugh. Since that year, he had played the haughty villain every time, making his villainous laugh better every time.

Sam opened his eyes, spread out his arms, clamped his hands closed, and let out a long, deep, wild laugh, pouring his excitement and confidence into his voice.

"You really think you have me beat? I've been holding back for this very moment! Come on out, Shadow!" Sam threw the pokeball forward and Luna sprinted into the arena. "Handle this one, Luna, I have other matters to tend to." As he turned, he told Luna in a whisper not to use psychic.

While outlandish villain laughs tend to get stale for me at times, I think this particular part fits considering Sam in a way is performing for an audience.

I feel the Luna vs. Machamp battle is lacking a bit compared to the ones before. I guess I can see Luna having the advantage being smaller, but it doesn't seem Machamp put up too much of a defense there. The overall match between him and Red Crusader is still neat, and I like you gave the Sandslash a couple characteristic quirks. The more detailed stuff concerning renting Pokemon is interesting too, reminds me of the Battle Frontier post game stuff.

I'll admit I'm still trying to figure out the meaning of Sam's dream there, haha. It seems he inspires to be a Pokemon professor, only for things to fall apart. I will say, though, that yeah I think everyone have those moments that they thought something that's going on in a dream is real. Looking forward to more!
 

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Chapter 13

"Have a look," Thomas said, pointing at a photograph of Feathers. "That's my guy. He makes his pokemon fight in underground arenas for money and sport, and people gamble on the outcome."

"He sounds tough. How are you going to arrest him?"

"They're tough with their pokemon, but catch them alone, and they're helpless. I'll just wait outside the ring and bust him when he leaves. I've put a few dozen brawlers behind bars that way. Say, you seem interested in this stuff. You wouldn't be interested in a career in criminal investigations, would you?"

"Me? No, I'm hoping to be a pokemon researcher someday." He held up the journal. "All that police work sounds too scary for me."

He seems on edge, Officer Istan thought. Maybe hurting pokemon bothers him, or it could be a fear of criminals in general. He picked up a piece of paper and swatted himself.

Looks like the officer already has a hunch Sam is Feathers. I do think though you can have him notice Sam's body language as they were talking. Why Thomas feels Sam is on edge? Did he notice Sam look tense, a change in his voice and expression?

"It's more about patience and care than anything else. The problem is, it's so much easier to evolve an eevee with a stone than with years of care, and there's no guarantee you'll get the form you want, and nobody has the patience anymore for a connection evolution."

The officer's papers glowed purple and floated in the air towards espeon.

"Hey!" Thomas shouted. "Leave those alone!"

Luna flipped the collection over before placing it right-side-up on the table. Luna leapt off the officer's back, and he sat up straight to check his papers.

I think this is a good oppurnity for Thomas to muse some thoughts concerning what Sam said. For instance, Thomas probably agreed on him that some people are lazy when it comes to pokemon evolutions (criminals, for instance). The part with Luna collecting the papers was funny, though. :p

I got the review for this chapter done, but you then added Chapter 14. XD I might be able to read Chapter 14 tomorrow, so Chapter 14's review will either be added to this post later or in another one, will let you know!

Edit: And got Chapter 14 done too!

Chapter 14
Sam took a bench near the edge of the park, far from the entrances and the bustle around the fountain. Luna sat on his lap and wrapped her tail around his wrist, projecting an image of Officer Istan's papers onto his mind. He looked over both sides of the officer's work and read every inch of the papers.

Once he was finished, he took out his phone and called Robert.

I feel for this particular part is a good opportunity to have Sam reflect his meeting with the officer earlier, at least for a couple sentences. For instance, he can think back his reactions during his meet up with Thomas.

"The Peruvian special comes with the standard package: flash grenades, smoke bombs, a plastic tranquilizer gun, and twenty rounds, your standard cop-deterrent. If you run out, ask for the purple special, and we can work out a resupply. Instructions for using everything are in the box, and if you have questions, there's always the internet. Got that?"
Because you can find almost anything on the Internet, haha.

Sam running the law like that must be very exciting, huh? Something tells me though he'll be over his head and probably will get caught soon.
 
Last edited:

Bay

6,385
Posts
17
Years
Fred shoved Thomas' hat off his head and grabbed him by the back of his neck. He jabbed his knee behind Thomas' kneecap, bringing him face to face with the bucket. Thomas grabbed for the edges and pushed himself away, but Fred's grip remained firm on his neck. His face inched closer and closer to the water, and after a minute, he could see the water rippling from his breath.

When his nose was an inch away from touching the water, Fred's grip relaxed. "That was one minute." His hand left Thomas' neck. Thomas let go of the bucket and began to stand up, but Fred grabbed his neck and plunged his head into the water. Thomas held his breath and thrashed around, straining to grab the edge of the bucket or tip it over, but his drugged body couldn't fight against the officer holding him under. As his lungs were starting to ache, Fred pulled him out of the water, and Thomas gasped in a breath of air.

Never been dunked into water before, but must be a bad experience, urgh.

Commissioner Walford tapped Thomas on the shoulder. When he turned around, the Commissioner punched him in the cheek, knocking him onto a desk. Thomas stood up and wiped the blood trickling on his lips.

"Morning, Commissioner."

Quite a welcome.

Ten minutes later, Nick handed him a stack of papers, and Thomas took them into the meeting room. He spread out the pieces onto the table and stuck them in place with sewing needles, pricking the finish on the table as he strung his evidence together. He added the files on Feathers to his information map, tying together Feathers and Samuel Milone.

When he ran out of thread, he stared at the red webbing sprawled out over the papers. He could see everything – their connection to drama, the timing of their eevee's evolution, their gestures and attitudes, he knew Sam was Feathers.

A "eureka!" moment for Thomas there.

"Psyducking Sinex bastards," Thomas said. "They're behind this, aren't they?"

Walford tried to keep him on his feet, but Thomas blacked out, dropping to the floor. The Commissioner ordered two officers to carry him to a bed before he turned to the phone on his desk. He picked it up on the first ring.

"It went as you expected," the Commissioner said. "He just passed out, but he'll be raring to go once he's up."

"Good," the voice on the other end said. "See to it that Sam isn't captured until he's ready."

Dang, things started to really picked up again and pretty excited where this story goes next. If indeed it'll be a while until you back to this, for sure I'll come back!
 

Sike_Saner

*aromatisse noise*
169
Posts
17
Years
Hey ah na na. By now you know the drill: here come quotes, comments, and jokes.

Spoiler: Click to proceed
a jar of lumpy brown snacks

I hope for his sake they were chocolatey nut clusters or some such.

One of the stove's dials was missing, and the plastic covering of the microwave's buttons were worn to nothing.

At least said buttons (presumably) still work. The 2 button on ours does exactly shit-all.

Mr. Sobottke, busy scraping out words of chalk onto the dusty chalkboard, didn't notice Sam open and read the paper.

Sometimes I misread words the first time around. This poor teacher briefly became "Mr. Skibootle".

"There's three hundred bucks on you, and four thousand on Matt," he said as he strangled a bar of soap in his hands.

That poor soap...

He smiled, revealing the filthiest teeth Sam had ever seen in his life. Three of his front teeth were missing, and the rest looked as if someone emptied a can of black spray paint into his mouth.

My mouth hurts just thinking about it.

"I'd like to place a wager."

"You can't bet on your opponent!" a crowd member said, waving around a cup that sloshed beer everywhere. "Rules are rules!"

"A hundred on myself," Sam said, taking a bill out of his wallet.

"Well! Looks like the kid's got guts! Tell 'ya what, you win, and I'll give you all the winnings, just so no one accuses me of being a cheat."

instantly suspects he'll be eating those words

The attack was so intense, the opponent's pokeball made an emergency return, zapping the medicham back inside its digital interior before the pokemon left the ground.

That's a spiffy feature right there, the kind of things poké balls should have.

Might dink up a match if the ball malfunctions, but a dinked match beats a dead pokeyman anyday, far as battles go.

[quoteHis first three attempts at plastic melding turned into useless lumps, the fourth caught fire, and the fifth, his attempt to create something in camouflage colors, more closely resembled vomit.[/quote]

Oh god and I'm sure all those attempts just smelled lovely, too.

"I don't know how you boys can lose track of time so easily."

It just flies like an arrow when magikarp come up.

"Oh. Well, sweetie, that's great! How does Zafirro's for tomorrow sound?"

Sam could already taste the cheesy goodness of a triple-stuffed deep dish pizza.

COVETS IMMENSELY

He felt sorrow welling up in his stomach as he ate

Maybe he ought to stop eating sorrow and start in on those pancakes.

Sam reached up and took the stones off his shelf. He set each one on the bed in front of Luna.

"You'll need to evolve if we want to win. Take your pick."

Luna looked at each stone and turned her back on them. Sam returned the stones to the shelf.

"We stick to the original plan, then." He ran his fingers through Luna's coat and said, "You'll evolve any day now. Or night. Which one would you prefer?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders, and Sam said, "Yeah, I suppose it doesn't matter. You'll be great either way."

"Vee." Of course I will, she seemed to say.

What she really meant was I still want to be a leafeon, dernit.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Shut up!" Pete squawked as he landed on a cash register. "Shut up, up, shut up!"

I love chatot. I taught one of mine fly. Consequently he goes "Squadalah!" every time he takes off.

Sam walked up to Lucky Red. The ringmaster said, "You're up against Slick. Ready for it?"

?

Slick_zpsuxs9djda.png


???

He sipped a can of generic root beer

I want to believe it looked exactly like this.

Cloud the pidgeot, a thick, muscular bird with a chip in its beak, hissed at Sam.

Adorable.

Sam took another step towards Cloud. The pidgeot screeched and flapped his wings at him. Sam lowered the beak's slot, took off his right glove, and placed his hand in his mouth. He pressed down with his teeth, harder and harder, until he broke through his skin.

He held out his bleeding hand towards the pidgeot. A drop of blood hit the floor as Cloud hopped off his perch and walked towards Sam. Cloud slowly approached Sam's hand, opened his beak, and bit down. Sam could feel Cloud's beak scrape against his finger-bones. Sam forced himself to stay still as his blood dripped down Cloud's beak. Cloud's grip tightened and he could feel his bones creaking.

OH WHAT THE SHIT, OW. Sam what even. What even. If you want to lose your hand there's far more efficient ways to do it. Or do you not want your dismemberment handed to you?

That wasn't meant as a pun but I'm declaring it one retroactively.

A minute passed. Sweat trickled down Sam's neck and his left hand twitched. Then the pidgeot released his hand

burger. His handburger.

Cloud placed his wing into his own beak and bit down, drawing blood, and then he held the wing towards Sam. Sam bit down on the wing, just hard enough to pierce the delicate skin above Cloud's wing bones.

Don't try this at home, kids. Poultry should always be thoroughly cooked.

Sam also received an appointment, at eight PM that Saturday, for a rematch with the recruiter. Robert had hoped for an earlier time, so that Luna might evolve into an espeon, but he accepted the fact that one cannot predict an evolution.

Sam. Her name is Luna. You might as well just start accepting your inevitable ownership of an umbreon now.

[quote"Hey! Let me down, Luna!"

The glow vanished, and Sam fell onto his bed. He leaned up, turned his alarm clock off, and rubbed his head. He felt Luna jump onto his bed, but when he looked at her, his mind froze. He rummaged through his memories of the previous night and even checked under the bed for his invitation to the GameMaster's ring. It was there. Last night happened. Yet, inexplicably, his Luna was an espeon.[/quote]

Oh. She's an esbreon.

As Cloud flew around the beam, the attack slammed into an invisible barrier and showered tiny ice crystals onto the field.

Pretty!

Two men in brown and yellow masks

I want to believe they were stunfisk masks.

Walford brushed his hair aside and grinned.

Oh god damnit I read that as Wailord.

He spread out the pieces onto the table and stuck them in place with sewing needles, pricking the finish on the table as he strung his evidence together.

Poor table. :(


Will be back for more of this, yes. :>
 
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