Thanks so much TossDaCook!
That was my suspicion, that they were reserving the noise channel for move sounds during the battles. Also didn’t realize FireRed LeafGreen was a remake, thank for pointing that out.
To be honest, I’m brand new to this and although I’m old enough to have been a kid right at the GameBoy era, I never played Pokemon. So I’m trying to absorb the themes, the sounds, the structures all at once. I know that I’ll be failing to get close but I’m having great fun exploring the space. This is a very deep rabbit hole.