Since I'm commenting on ties, it's only fair I do so here as well as in round 2. If nothing else it might give people food for thought going into the semifinals.

But really, this tie is a no-brainer. Dicks sucked. It was a completely juvenile idea, with completely random development and structure. The writing itself, at the lowest technical level (spelling and grammar), is fine; there are some nice turns of phrase. But in the end it's a competently sculpted turd of a story.

Friendship suffers the same basic flaw as Live Arm in round 2: the author cares deeply about Pokemon, and by gawd, you'd better too, if you're not going to have the pants bored off you. But boring as it is, it's written well enough. So in a tie-breaker I'd vote for it.