NCO R1: Pennant Capture

NCO R1: Pennant Capture-Literary Edition
"Ladieeees annnnd gentlemennnnnn! Welcome back to the Speed competition, the first round of the Nuzlocke Challenge Olympics!" the announcer shouted. "Here in the Beach Dome, we're gonna get started on the Pennant Capture! Are you folks excited?!" The crowd's enthusiastic roar almost drowned out the Pokémon assembled in front of the athletes.

"That's what I like to hear! In the red uniform, a local trainer with all eight Johto Badges, six previous medals, and the wit of an Alakazam…It's AuPyre, commanding Corr, Betty, and Pandra!" The black-haired boy grinned broadly, though it had a bit of a sheepish edge to it. His Typhlosion put a comforting paw on his very nervous Crobat, while the shiny female Gyarados pandered to the crowd a bit.

"In the blue uniform, a Sinnoh girl with just one Badge, but the skill to win them all…Heeere's Allison, running with Allen, Ayumu, and Charlie!" Just to show off, Allen flew in increasingly high and tight spirals above a prototype of my Victory Pose, then did the same motion downwards to land back on my shoulder. In front of me, Ayumu and Charlie executed perfect triple flips.

"In the yellow uniform, a trainer all the way from Unova with three Badges and attitude to match…Please welcome Team Hxdas to the arena—Ganondorf, Tsubaki, and Anemone!" By far, these were the strangest Pokémon I'd ever seen, and I almost wished I'd brought my camera. Ganondorf was a tall, red, bipedal pig with tapered ears and gold designs on his body. Tsubaki, which I knew was Japanese for "camellia," looked a whole lot like a sentient flower bulb. Anemone's most distinguishing feature was an extra layer of pants-like skin on or possibly surrounding her legs.

"In the green uniform, a man with the strength and spirit of the Tauros he raises…local rancher Tor Caleson and his boys Oskar, Vilhelm, and Glenn!" A forty-something man with close-cut black curls awkwardly waved at the crowd. The Quilava adjusted his red kerchief, the Geodude looked very uncomfortable, and the Wooper? Well, he was displaying an energy level fit for an Ambipom.

A red flare went up, which we took as our cue to step forward with our first entrants. "OK, let me explain the rules for this event. Flags worth one point each will appear completely at random over the playing field for ninety seconds. Each Pokémon has thirty seconds to collect at most nine flags, after which point they'll have to return to the starting line and switch out for their next teammate. Stealing from opponents is encouraged. The team with the most flags at the end wins. Ready…set…GO!"

Corr, Allen, Ganondorf, and Oskar dashed into the arena. As per our discussion before the event, Allen focused most of his energy on avoiding his stronger opponents and the obstacles. By the twenty-second mark, he'd already collected five flags. "Hey, Allison, watch this!" he squeaked, zooming towards a flag across the playing field. What he didn't notice was that Ganondorf was charging for that flag, too.

"Look out!" I yelled. Allen's head turned to me for a fraction of a second—and he crashed into Ganondorf with a very audible WHACK. "Ouch! Ganondorf trips over a rock and collides with Allen, neither of them collect that flag or steal one…But the Pignite keeps on trucking!" the announcer cried. Pignite…isn't that one of the Unova starters? I thought. Any thoughts about what made him tick would have to wait for another time, as Allen shakily flew back to me and landed on my shoulder. "Never again," he declared, sending his five flags to the ground with a clatter.

Ayumu smiled sympathetically. "Good to know your limits." She raced in there the instant an air horn went off—the athletes' signal to change teammates. In contrast to Allen's frailty, Ayumu could get hit by an opponent without losing a flag. She was also much faster than a lot of them, even taking a flag from right in front of Vilhelm. "That was mine, damn it!" I remember him screaming. "Deal with it, rocky-boy," Ayumu retorted. She returned with seven flags.

Charlie could also take hits pretty well. He put his acrobatics to good use when he used Pandra's body as springboards for a triple jump and snatched his third flag out of her mouth. The crowd gasped, and the announcer basically went nuts: "WHOA! Charlie takes a flag from BETWEEN PANDRA'S JAWS! That takes guts of STEEL, my friends!" Charlie returned with eight, giving Team Allison a total score of twenty and a very close third place. Hxdas took second by one more flag, AuPyre took first with twenty-five, and poor Mr. Caleson brought up the rear at seventeen.