[PPC] Lucian(Yggdrasill) vs. Marion(Wumpi)

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian walked into the area and took a nervous glance around. He quickly fiddled with the Pokeballs on his belt, making sure they were all there and in order. He looked up into the roaring crowd and flashed them a hesitant smile before turning his attention back to the arena and waiting for his opponent.

 

[Anonymous]

Marion tossed Marowak's pokeball into the air and caught it as if it were just a toy. She was fidgeting far more than she usually did before a battle but it was with excitement, not nerves. Despite her excitement, though, she managed to maintain a calm demeanour.

"Huh, I should really be more careful." She mumbled quietly to the pokeball, clipping it back onto the long sash she was carrying the rest of them on. "I'll be needing you soon, after all. It'd just be the worst if anything went wrong at this point."

With that, she headed out.

She was initially suprised by the cheer as she did. She was small name, especially compared to the other contestants. Still, the audience were probably used to cheering right now. Fighting an overwhelming urge to pose (or at the very least flash a grin and a victory sign) she somehow managed to make it to the sideline of the battle area without making herself look like an idiot, maintaining a calm, composed air.

"Uh, good luck!" She shouted across the arena to her opponent, not knowing if she was really supposed to say anything but not wanting to seem impolite.

((OOC: Which tense do I use? I am so confused.))

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian laughed softly to himself. His opponent was a young women, probably about five years younger than him. Despite this, he realized angrily, she was much taller than him, and seemed much more calm. Despite all of Lucian's experience, he still couldn't countrol his nerves before an important match. It had been this way during all of his gym matches and especially during his matches against the Elite Four of the four regions.

"Uh, good luck!" he heard her shout. He smiled. Good luck? He didn't need luck, he had skill. There was no way that he was going to be beaten by some virtually unknown girl. He had a reputation to protect. But perhaps she was better? She had to have at least a little skill to have made it this far.

"Empoleon, let's finish this match before it even starts!" he shouted and threw his first Pokeball high in the air. The ball struck the ground and burst open in a flash of light. With his partner by his side, he felt his nervousness fade away to be replaced with determination. He would win, simply because he couldn't lose.

Smiling, he pointed across the ring at Marion. "Your move!" he called and laughed again.

((OOC: Past tense I think. That's what I'm using.))

 

[Anonymous]

Marion's hand instinctively hovered over Marowak's pokeball. Normally, especially when the trainer she was facing wasn't that good, the bonekeeper pokemon was her first choice even if it would be at a disadvantage. If anyone recognised her remotely, Marowak would be what they expected to see.

No. Here, she couldn't afford to force one of her pokemon into a very disadvantageous situation. At this point she noticed her big mistake - her chosen pokemon, though they were her closest and most loyal and the ones she trusted most, were not varied enough. She didn't have anything that had an advantage against a water pokemon. Then again, if she remembered correctly, Empoleon was part steel-type, a type her team could take out quite well. Anything that could strike at steel's weak point would he countered by it's own weakness to water but...

Her hand moved down to another ground pokemon. It still had the disadvantage but it was a sturdier one that would get hurt far less easily.

"Piloswine, go go go!" She yelled as she tossed it's pokeball into the air, her calm air vanishing for a second and showing her excitement.

Piloswine burst out of the pokeball as Marion quickly calmed down again, trying to regain her dignity.

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian looked over the large, hairy, pig-like pokemon on the opposite side of the ring. Why a Piloswine? he wondered. Piloswines were weak against water and steel. His Empolean was both of those types, so the only explanation was the Piloswine knew some sort of powerful ground move, probably earthquake.

He was now completely absorbed in the fight, no more of the nervousness that had plauged him earlier remained. Across the ring Marion still stood calmly and it angered Lucian how regularly she seemed to be treating the match. Did she think he was just another normal trainer?

He would show her.

"Empolean, hit it with hydro pump!" he shouted and the large penguin obeyed, sending a massive stream of water out of its mouth at at the enemy. The Piloswine was much to big and slow to dodge, and years of training together made Empolean a pretty good shot.

 

[Anonymous]

Marion winced visibly. It wasn't like she hadn't been expecting that, it would be very stupid not to expect a water-type pokemon NOT to use a water move an something that was weak against them. The steel weakness, as far as she was concerned, was a non-issue she was happy to ignore for now.

She was aware that Piloswine had no chance of avoiding the attack and she hated just letting it get hit but she had been expecting it from the second she saw the strong water pokemon and Piloswine was, despite its weakness to water, the pokemon she had that would take the hit best.

"Piloswine, come on. You've shrugged off worse than that!" She said calmly but clearly, lying more than a little. "Turn so it doesn't hit you head on and use Hail! Lean into the attack so it can't knock you!"

Following orders, the bulky pokemon twisted its body, the torrent of water striking its middle and dispersing the force over a larger area. It leaned into the attack to avoid being knocked over, instead skidding backward a little. As soon as the attack let up the pig like pokemon roared loudly, the water from the previous attack flying into the air and coming down as large hailstones, increasing in frequency until the arena area was covered by a violent hailstorm

Marion smiled, Piloswine's snow cloak ability was kicking in. While the hailstones were battering the birdlike pokemon on the other side of the arena they simply sunk into the pig's thick fur, colouring it white and making it harder to distinguish from the area around it.

"Keep it up, Piloswine, you're doing great!" She yelled, breaking her calm again for a second to cheer her pokemon on. Her Piloswine, like most others of its kind, was willing to fight even beyond the point of exhaustion just for words of encouragement. She didn't plan to let it risk real injury that much but if her cheering could give it the tenacity to take a few more hits then it stood a chance of winning.

((OOC: :| I realized only when I tried to describe it 'OH NO WHAT THE HELL HOW WOULD HAIL WORK?' I hope I described it somewhat plausibly.

Also I bet you were expecting earthquake, huh? :p))

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian's smile widened. The Piloswine's one chance to strike at his Empoleon had been wasted starting a hailstorm. He could barely keep himself from outright laughing... until he realized that the Pokemon had all but dissapeared in the ice.

"Empoleon, find that blasted Piloswine and finish it off!" he screamed. He wouldn't allow his foe the first knockout.

Empoleon seemed reluctant to move further into the hail, and Lucian disliked forcing his Pokemon to do something they didn't want to do. But how could Empolean hit something it couldn't see?

Then he realized the obvious answer.

"Empolean, use surf!" he commanded and the penguin began to summon a huge wave of water. He had a brief moment of hesitation, what if the wave was mis-aimed and hit the audience or even the opposing trainer? That could get ugly, but he had trust in Empoleon to prevent that from happening.

Let's see that pig dodge this, he thought as the wave surged forward.

((OOC: Yeah, I was POSITIVE that you would. Man, didn't see hail coming at all. And I had the same problem describing how surf would work. In fact, I didn't do that very well. Hopefully it's realistic enough.))

 

[Anonymous]

"I don't think so!" Marion shouted, calm demeanor all but entirely lost for need to encourage the piglike pokemon. "Piloswine, use Dig!"

The wave began to sweep across the arena and suddenly Marion realized her plan to avoid the attack had a vital flaw - water could easily flow into the hole that Piloswine had made. She quickly went through the scenario in her head, having to go in the opposite direction would get rid of much of the force behind the water, reducing the attact to little more than 'make piloswine wet'.

However, trapped below the surface there was a danger much more real than any attack that Empoleon could throw out - what if Piloswine were to drown. Marion's eyes widened with horror at the thought. Quickly she formulated a plan, trying to avoid the dangers of drowning and getting hit by the wave as well as trying to get an attack in on the Empoleon.

"Piloswine!" She shouted " Please don't try to burrow beneath Empoleon! Instead you should surface once you hear the wave go above you, not a second later. Once your head is above the surface, try to hit it from there!"

Usually dig allowed a rather cheap stike from below, even the defence that steel-types were known for wouldn't prevent Empoleon from getting knocked about by it. Having to use the attack after surfacing the head would mean the attack lost its main advantage - the element of surprise. Even if the hail shrouded Piloswine's emerging head Marion had had to yell very loudly to allow Piloswine to hear her above the hail while underground. However, Piloswine was still aiming for Empoleon from below so with a bit of luck the attack would at least do something even if it no longer had surprise working for it. The wave washed over the field, soaking Marion with spary as it reached its end and the water drained away into nothing as Piloswine burst out of the ground, wet but for the most part unharmed, and charged toward the Empoleon without pause.

 

[Yggdrassil]

Why hasn't the announcer declared my victory yet? puzzled Lucian. Surely the attack hadn't missed? He found himself running his hand through his hair, something he did whenever he was frustrated. Lucian had no way of knowing whether the attack had hit or not, because the icy storm hindered his sight.

Empoleon was just standing still, his eyes staring straight ahead into the raging hailstorm. Lucian wondered what he was thinking.

"Empoleon, I'm sorry but you're going to have to-"

He stopped midsentance. Something had moved inside the storm. Empoleon tensed up and Lucian focused on the area right infront of his Pokemon. He didn't have to wait long before the Piloswine appeared, charging straight at the penguin.

Lucian swore. The hairy quadropod was too close and moving to fast to dodge, so the only option was to meet its attack head on.

"Steel wing, now!" he yelled to Empolean and the bird spread its wings apart. Each wing flashed silver for a second, hardening for the innevitable collision.

"Wait for it... wait for it... now!" Lucian shouted and Empolean slammed its wings together onto Piloswine a second too late. The attack landed, but it struck the large pig's sides while its head slammed into Empolean's stomach. The penguin was send flying backwards a few yards but managed to keep his balance. Lucian noticed the penguin was becoming weaker, the hail was slowly taking its toll on the Pokemon's stamina.

The Piloswine had dropped to its knees and Lucian was amazed at its nearly unlimited energy. It was a miracle that it was still conscious after a hit like that, but then the same thing could be said about Empoleon. It all came down to who struck next, he realized.

"Empoleon, this is it!" he called as the Piloswine pulled itself up.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe ignoring the possibility of a steel attack hadn't been such a good idea after all. Piloswine wouldn't be able to absorb another hit.

She went through her options in her head. She could try to finish this now with earthquake, but it was slow and chances were the penguin would get its move in first. The hail was offering less cover now, Piloswine was near the edge of the storm where it was more visible and snow cloak couldn't be relied upon. Dig again would be far too predictable.

It dawned on Marion that there was no way that Piloswine could win this one.

So he could instead prepare the field for the next pokemon. She didn't have another ice-type, the hail would beat down upon the next pokemon she sent out. She didn't like sacrificing Piloswine but it was the safest option.

"Piloswine, I'm very sorry." She shouted, not as excited as she had sounded before. "Please use Sandstorm!"

The pig roared once again, the hailstones became discoloured, fading to yellow, and crumbled apart. A strong wind picked them up and the sand spun around the pokemon as if a sphere had been neatly cut out of a sandstorm, the rest of the area unaffected. The piglike pokemon's remaining cover faded.

 

[Yggdrassil]

Empoleon flapped its wings threatiningly as the hail slowly turned to sand. Lucian swore again. Why couldn't this trainer just play by the book? Each attack was so unorthidox... it ruined every strategy he had.

And now this sandstorm. Why would she sacrifice her Pokemon's cover? Had she given up on Piloswine's chances of victory? If she had, it was her loss.

He couldn't wait to defeat the pig. It had caused much more damage than it should have.

"Empolean, one more hydro pump!" then, as an afterthought, "Stay back, though! Don't get too close!"

The penguin opened its mouth and yet again launched the beam of water at Piloswine. Come on, don't get up this time! prayed Lucian.

 

[Anonymous]

"Piloswine, try to use Earthquake!" Marion shouted. She didn't expect it to succeed but she wasn't going to let Piloswine fall without even trying.

The large pokemon moved only its back legs, a faint glow came from its front feet as the bulky pokemon began its decent, fur swinging up and leaving its eyes visible for a second.

Before it hit the ground, though, the powerful torrent of water struck it square in the chest, knocking it backward. Stood on only its hind legs, it overbalanced, flying through the air and landing on its back, skidding across the ground. As Marion reached for its pokeball the hairy pokemon struggled to its feet, desperate to try to get the attack in. It didn't seem to grasp the meaning of 'try'.

Marion couldn't say she wasn't impressed, even she, it's trainer, hadn't been able to foresee the pokemon hanging on after that. Still, any more and she would be risking real injury to Piloswine and she wasn't comfortable with that at all.

"No, it's fine. Stop." She said, calm air back. "You've done more than enough."

With that, the pokemon exhaled and relaxed, its legs giving under it as it topped to the ground with exhaustion.

"Piloswine is unable to battle, the round goes to Lucian!" The announcer shouted. Marion was noticing it for the first time, she had been too absorbed in the battle to pay any attention to it earlier. The crowd roared as Marion took Piloswine's pokeball and recalled it. She had already made her choice for the next pokemon. She had made the choice the second she'd had Piloswine use sandstorm.

She pushed her glasses up, deciding on an opening move. Normally, she would have had the pokemon use Earthquake but the move was predictable in the situation anyway, more so since she had just had Piloswine try it. Besides, a weaker and harder to predict move would be sufficient with Empoleon as weakened as it was.

"Marowak!" Marion said, tossing the bonekeeper pokemon's pokeball into the arena and catching it as it returned to her hand. She wasted no time in ordering an attack - with luck the lack of a pause as well as the complete shift in tactics from defence to all-out offence would catch Lucian off guard. "Use Brick Break!"

The bonekeeper emerged from its pokeball running and didn't slow down for a second. It leapt into the air deftly, club raised above its head. For a second Marowak's club glowed white, tearing though the air as the pokemon brought it down with surprising force considering its size.

((OOC: Marion's too much of a dork to play by the book. But hey, earthquake was THERE it was just TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE))

 

[Yggdrassil]

The club slammed into Empolean's head with a horrible crack and Lucian knew immediatly Empolean was out. Sighing he held his Pokeball out and summoned the penguin back in. "Saw that one coming" he frowned.

"Both trainers are down one! Who will Lucian send out next?" the announcer called. Luckily, Lucian had know the answer the second the Marowak had emerged from its ball.

"Staraptor, tear 'im apart!" He called and launched the ball as high as he could. It burst apart in the air to reveal a majestic Black and White bird. Its eagle like eyes scanned the field until it saw its opponent far below it. Staraptor gave one great call and Lucian could see its intimidation was affecting Marowak.

"Sure you don't just want to give up now?" he shouted to Marion. Without looking to see how she would respond he called to his Pokemon, "Aireal Ace!"

The great bird shook its head up and down twice, the red feathers on its head flapping all over the place and then it dove straight down to the ground and turned up at the last second to score a devastating slash across Marowak's helmet with his large talons.

Lucian smiled. This was a guaranteed victory, he could feel it. Few Pokemon had ever been able to hit Staraptor - Its speed and ferocity had made it almost legendary and every trainer who had witnessed it had given up hope as soon as the bird began its onslaught of furious flying attacks.

It doesn't matter what crazy moves you've taught your Marowak. he thought. Random techniques and luck can't take out Staraptor!

((OOC: I assumed t was okay to say Aireal Ace hit since in the game its unavoidable but if I can't tell me))

 

[Anonymous]

Of course Marion didn't want to give up. What a stupid question.

"Marowak, don't let it scare you!" Marion said calmly, knowing that it was too late for that and the damage had already been done. Marowak would be constantly on edge, unable to hit its hardest.

With luck, not-its-hardest would be sufficient. Anything else she switched in would likely suffer the same problem and so it wasn't something that anything  could be done about. Marion had a lot of confidence in Marowak's abilities, maybe too much, and was certain the bonekeeper was very capable of winning.

Fortunately, Marowak's skull helmet absorbed the bulk of the damage from the flurry of strikes until one caught under it and Marowak yelped in pain. Though she winced when she heard the sound, Marion was confident that the yelp had been more due to surprise than actually hurt, especially with it being on edge from the Staraptor's intimidating presence. Still, even though the sandstorm she cloud see that the bird pokemon had managed to leave long scratches on the bone of Marowak's helmet - anything strong enough to do that was not to be underestimated.

"Marowak, I don't need to tell you what we do to birds!" Marion instructed, trusting that Marowak really did know what to do.

It did. The pokemon took its club and slammed it into the ground sending rocks flying into the air. The Rock Slide attack flew toward the Staraptor, rocks smashing against each other and making an awful racket.

Marion grinned, thinking to herself.

Marowak should be able to do this. No matter how intimidating that thing is, it can't come down to attack Marowak without being hit by the sandstorm. Marowak has a huge advantage here.

((OOC: I'm fine with it hitting. It'd be somewhat difficult to have a devastating blow to Marowak's face, though - there's a helmet there. So I wrote the after effects of the aerial ace attack as best I could imagine, taking damage with the helmet there, tell me if you think I got it wrong.))

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian would have jumped for joy if he didn't think that it would make him look like an idiot. Everything was going just as he had planned. The only thing in Staraptor's way now was the sandstorm, but that had temporary solutions.

He had anticipated the rock slide, that would be one of the only attacks that Marowak could use that would do anything at all to Staraptor. When it hit Lucian couldn't help but wince, for it was much more powerful than he had expected. If Marowak hadn't been distracted by Staraptor's intimidation the bird Pokemon would have surely dropped straight out of the air. However, with the blow weakened Staraptor managed to shrug it off and prepare for its next command.

First, Lucian decided, a path would need to be cleared through the sandstorm. "Whirlwind!" he called and Staraptor began to beat its wings furiously until a strong wind picked up and sprayed the sand in the opposite direction. Marowak was blown back slightly, but the wind wasn't focused on him and therefore he didn't go far.

Lucian smiled. Next he would finish off her second Pokemon.

"Staraptor, get ready..."

((OOC: MAN, was I careless with that last post. I completely forgot about the storm and about his mask. Sorry about that, hopefully this one was better.))

 

[Anonymous]

Though her own yelling was hardly subtle, the whirlwind had given Marion an important clue as to the next move - if he was clearing the sand away then Staraptor was going to be coming down into the area around Marowak, more than likely to attack.

"Marowak," She said to the intimidated bonekeeper "As soon as it is low enough you should jump up and use Double Edge to knock it out of the sky."

Marowak's attacks were a lot more predictable, limited further by the fact that two out of four of them the bird pokemon above them would either brush off or not even notice in the first place, than Piloswine's. Marowak was much better suited to attacking without much thought for infuriating the opponent and that meant that there was very little it could do to surprise anyone.

Still, Double Edge was a powerful enough move to do damage despite Marowak being so intimidated. Marowak's bone mask would shield it enough that it wouldn't take recoil damage.

Marowak braced itself for the jump, trying to avoid looking at the Staraptor.

((OOC: Actually it's the rock head ability, not the bone mask. Shielding itself with the skull just sounded better :p

Also it's fine, I almost forgot it, too :p))

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian had been carefully watching the Marowak to see what it would do. Suddenly he saw it tense up.

She knows I'm going to send Staraptor down he realized. He couldn't stop her from preparing for his descent, but he could prevent her from knowing what move he was going to use until the last second. Staraptor and Lucian had been in scenarios like this many times, and there was only one move they ever used.

Staraptor turned to Lucian, awaiting the signal to attack. Lucian nodded and Staraptor let out a loud chirrup as he folded his wings back and dove straight down at Marowak. As soon as he got close however the Marowak slammed straight into him.

The two pokemon used all of their force - Marowak with his Double - Edge and Staraptor with his Brave Bird. Though equal at first Marowak's weakened attack allowed Staraptor to push it back further and further.

Lucian was shaking. He couldn't help it. Despite the fact that Staraptor was overpowering it the Marowak wouldn't give up.

"C'mon, Star! More power!"

((what sound do birds make? I couldn't see a Staraptor chirping so I put chirrup but thats the same pretty much so...))

 

[Anonymous]

Marion frowned. Not only was Marowak weakened but Staraptor had gravity on its side, too. Marowak, in its terrified state, had attacked head-on rather than aiming to one side to give the bird touble with flying as she had hoped it would.

She couldn't really tell what move the Staraptor was using but if it was that powerful then she had a pretty good idea. Unlike Marowak, Staraptor didn't have anything to protect itself from the recoil damage of Brave Bird. So if she was right then they were in luck.

"Marowak, push away from it and drop then try using Double Edge again. Aim for its wing this time!"

The Marowak kicked itself back, away from the bird, and landed on its feet, skidding back. No sooner had it landed than it tensed for another jump, leaping at the bird a second time.

((Squark? Shriek? Screech? (the sound, not the move). I'm not really sure myself.

But yeah, Chirping seems exceedingly un-battle-like XD))

 

[Yggdrassil]

Lucian smiled. It wasn't quite what he had expected, but it would do... except that as soon as the Marowak leaped Staraptor flinched - a result of its Brave Bird's recoil - ruining his current plan. This meant it had practically no chance of avoiding the incoming attack, which slammed onto its wing. The bird Pokemon screeched.

Lucian felt sorry for his partner, but he realized that now the match was almost guaranteed. Staraptor was grounded, but it wasn't out of tricks.

"End it." Lucian commanded. The bird summoned and compressed its remaining power into a beam of pure energy that it launched from its mouth straight into Marowak's chest. The bone head Pokemon was sent flying and collapsed infront of Marion at the same time Staraptor fell, its energy exhausted from the Hyper Beam.

"Amazing! Both Pokemon are down! It all comes down to what Pokemon these trainers have left!" the announcer shouted. The crowd roared, their excitement uncontrollable.

Lucian let out a stream off the worst words he could think of. Staraptor wasn't supposed to faint, only Marowak. He didn't like this at all. If her next Pokemon had a type advantage he was in a lot of trouble.

"Well, good job I guess." he said to the unhearing Staraptor as the beam of light pulled it back into its 'ball.

"You ready to finish this?" he shouted over to Marion.

((OOC: Well, there's my one forced out.))

 

[Anonymous]

Marion sighed, she could see Marowak struggling to get up but she knew it couldn't. She'd thought the bird would be an easy target once it was out of the sky, she hadn't expected that Hyper Beam at all.

"That was wonderful." She said, recalling the beaten bonekeeper. "You can rest now."

Four pokemon to choose from and she was only allowed one. Her hand rested on Mismagius' pokeball but she decided against it. This was a vital battle and Mismagus was used to not fighting all out, sometimes even throwing battles completely. It might not be able to fight as well and another pokemon.

She weighed her other options. Fearow, like Mismagus, was unused to battling. She would be perfectly willing to use either earlier in a match but with just one shot left she didn't want to be relying on them totally. Beedrill was powerful and reliable but easy to counter and it loooked like she was choosing first.

That left one pokemon that would risk getting her laughed out of the arena.

...oh well. She wasn't big name anyway. No-one would remember.

"Dunsparce, come on out." She said, releasing the land snake.