Prologue Part I: Welcome To Our Coverage

OAK:   Hello there, Pokemon enthusiasts, and welcome to WPKM's continuing coverage of Pokemon League's Battle of Champions and, quite possibly, one of the most exciting moments in Pokemon history! For the first time ever, a battle between two undefeated Pokemon League Champions will occur in front of cameras to be broadcast live for all of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova to see!  The Pokemon League, in partnership with WPKM Radio, is proud to present to you...

FUCK, I     VS.     SANDY

THE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS

OAK:   I'm Professor Samuel Oak and I'll be providing you with all the latest developments from our studio in Goldenrod City.  Out at the stadium in Ever Grande City is DJ Mary, who will be relaying all the action on the field as it happens live.  How are things out there in Ever Grande, Mary?

MARY:   Well, Professor, the spectators here are on the edges of their seats as we await the arrival of our two champions.  The excitement in the air is palpable and my heart is beating at a mile a minute! I can't wait to see what choices our champions will be making for the upcoming battle!

OAK:   Neither can I, Mary.  As you know, our champions have agreed to select their battling rosters in person today in a rather untraditional, alternating one-by-one exchange that will surely be having the audience holding their breaths as these two titans go head-to-head in what is guaranteed to be a captivating strategic face-off.

MARY:   Without a doubt, Professor! Selecting which Pokemon they intend to use one at a time in front of each other will be just like watching these two champions engage in a game of chess, especially with the alternating pattern of their selection.  Down on the battlefield, Johto's own Professor Paul Elm and his assistant Naomi have rigged up a selection station where both trainers will be able to access their PC boxes simultaneously, directly download their Poke balls, and give us all read-outs of their Pokemon's various battle statistics.  Let's see if we can get Professor Elm to comment further.  Professor Elm!

MARY:   Umm...Professor?

NAOMI:   You'll have to excuse the Professor; he has some final adjustments to make on the analyzing matrix on the computer, but I'll be able to answer any questions for him.  Besides, the Professor is a bit camera shy.

MARY:   Well, Naomi, what kind of statistical analysis can we hope to see from this device?

NAOMI:   Well, Mary, it's been a long road to hammer out the exact formulae and standards of analysis, but in the end, Professor Elm has developed a system in which a Pokemon's potential endurance in battle, combat strength, agility, and relative species power have all been assigned a numerical value, and we can use that data to compare Fuck, I's Pokemon to Sandy's and potentially predict the outcomes of each battle.

MARY:   That is absolutely incredible! Can you tell us more?

NAOMI:   Certainly.  You see, we've broken down Pokemon's battling capabilities into eight specific values.  Firstly, there's what we are calling the Pokemon's "level", which is an overall comparison of a particular species of Pokemon's from average strengths and weaknesses at point of birth all the way to the strongest recorded strengths of a Pokemon of that same species; each Pokemon is assigned a "level", ranging from one to one hundred, one being the Pokemon at newborn state and one hundred being at a state equal the highest recorded attributes for that particular Pokemon.  When a Pokemon reaches Level 100, it is considered to not possibly get any stronger.

MARY:   And if I remember correctly, each of our champions agreed to come into the battle with Pokemon of the same level, using this scale as a reference?

NAOMI:   You are correct, Mary.  Both Fuck, I and Sandy will be exclusively using Pokemon at Level 70, which should prove to be quite the battle; Lance, the Pokemon League Champion that succeeded Fuck, I and preceded Sandy had his strongest Dragonite measured by this scale and it only registered at Level 50, so these are going to be some hard-hitting Pokemon out on the field.  To measure exactly how strong these Pokemon are, we go into the finer statistical values.  A Pokemon's Attack value determines how much damage that Pokemon can deal its opponent when it hits with a physical attack, while its Defense value determines how much damage that Pokemon receives when hit with a physical attack.  A Pokemon's Special Attack and Special Defense are very similar, but instead of using physical attacks as the focus point, we use the special attacks for the various Pokemon types, such as Electric-type attacks or Fire-type attacks.  Then, there's a Pokemon's Speed which determines how swiftly a Pokemon can act in battle and whether they can execute their trainer's given command before their opponent.  Then, we examined all the possible attacks a Pokemon could use in battle and assigned power ratings to each of them, and when factored in with the attacking Pokemon's Attack or Special Attack value, we can quantify "damage" caused by each attack.  A Pokemon's Hit Points, or HP, is a determined evaluation of a Pokemon's stamina and ability to withstand constant damaging attacks; if a Pokemon's received damage points exceeds its Hit Points, that Pokemon faints from the stress of battle and is considered unable to fight any longer.  We've also determined accuracy percentages for each possible attack and the chances of an attack causing a status condition, such as paralysis, or the temporary lowering of an opponent's battle stat values, but what will really come into play is what we are calling Power Points, or PP, which determines how much energy it takes for a Pokemon to execute that attack.  A move like Tackle takes very little effort from the Pokemon, but a move like Hyper Beam takes a significant toll on the Pokemon's endurance.  The PP of a particular move is the estimated number of times a Pokemon can execute that move over the course of a Pokemon battle before it becomes irrevocably exhausted.  If a Pokemon runs out of PP for all of its known moves, you'll start to see it struggle to keep up with the commands of its trainer and will end up hurting itself in the process of trying to continue the fight.

ELM:   It's ready!

MARY:   Thank you very much for all of that useful information, Naomi! You heard it, Professor Oak; the selection computer is ready for our Champions, now all we need--

MARY:   Wait a second! There seems to be some commotion coming from the crowd.  Could it be--?

MARY:   Ladies and gentlemen! Sandy and Fuck, I have just entered the stadium! The crowd is going wild as these two iconic figures in the Pokemon world make their way across the battlefield to their respective seats besides Profesor Elm where they will choose the six Pokemon they intend to use in the upcoming battle!

OAK:   I can hardly wait! We'll be taking a look at the selection process in just a short while.  Stay tunes, Poke-maniacs!