Lucas755 vs shadow_lugia

4vs4 triple
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 30%
Banned Moves: OHKO's, direct healing moves limited to 3/Pokémon, chills to 5/Pokémon.
Arena: The Gridiron.

An open-air American football stadium. After years of disuse and neglect, it has greatly dilapidated. There is a field in the middle with a large seating area ringing around the outside, going upward as it gets farther out, much like this picture. It would take one action for a fast pokémon (base 90 speed and higher) to run the length of the field, or run from one end of the stands to the other, two actions for a faster pokémon. Near the bottom of the stands used to be scattered entrances that led under the stands, into a circular hallway that ran the length of the stands, but those entrances are caved in with concrete. At either end of the field, there are containers of football equipment. A pokémon may use one action to put on a piece of equipment. If it is body padding, it increases defense +1. If it is a helmet, it increases special defense +1. In addition, head-related attacks (Headbutt, Skull bash, etc.) do 5% more damage, unless the defender is wearing a helmet as well. A pokémon may only have one helmet and one set of padding on at a time, and can only use one of each for the whole battle. One piece of equipment lasts until the pokémon takes 30% damage of special damage for helmets and physical damage for padding. Also in the containers are footballs, which can be used as typeless projectile attacks. Its base power and whether it is a special or physical attack is determined by the method of using it. Every round, there is a 5% chance of heavy snow, which decreases speed for non-ice types -2 and decreases visibility to 20 yards, when outside.

Click to expand...

Lucas755's active squad:
Ivysaur (F) <Overgrow>
Kirlia (M) <Synchronize> Item: Choice Specs
Diglett (M) <Sand Veil> Item: Soft Sand
Heracross (M) <Guts>
Venonat (M) <Compoundeyes>

shadow_lugia's active squad:
[Fern] ivysaur (F) <Overgrow>
[Spectre] spiritomb (M) <Pressure>
[Pearl] spoink (F) <Thick Fat>
[Nevra] shuppet (F) <Insomnia>

Aaaaand let's get this started!

Lucas755 sends out.
shadow_lugia sends out and attacks.
Lucas755 attacks.

I'll send out Ivysaur, Diglett, and Venonat.

DQ warning for shadow_lugia.

Ahhhh crap crap crap. Why must Spore distract me D:<

I'll send out Spectre, Nevra, and Fern, I guess.

Fern, first use Sleep Powder on the Venonat, because... well, let's not give him any ideas by saying. Next, use Vine Whip on Diglett. Finally, another Vine Whip on Diglett.

Spectre, first use Confuse Ray on Ivysaur. Then use Taunt on Diglett, and finally, use Sucker Punch, but if Diglett used Protect then use Spite.

Nevra, this is your first battle, sweetie! You can do this! First, use Screech on Diglett, and then Dream Eater on Venonat, but if he's not asleep then use Confuse Ray. Finally, Shadow Ball on Ivysaur.

Fern: Sleep Powder [Venonat] ~ Vine Whip [Diglett] ~ Vine Whip [Diglett]
Spectre: Confuse Ray [Ivysaur] ~ Taunt [Diglett] ~ Sucker Punch/Spite [Diglett]
Nevra: Screech [Diglett] ~ Dream Eater/Confuse Ray [Venonat] ~Shadow Ball [Ivysaur]

Diglett, you're fast, so you can do this before anyone else. Dig underground 10 feet and make a small cave big enough for maybe two of you, like we did last time. Next, use Toxic on Spectre. Lastly, pop up out of your cave and use Earth Power on Spectre.

Dig cave ~ Toxic [Spectre] ~ Earth Power [Spectre]

Ivysaur, you start by using Toxic on Nevra. After that, use Seed Bomb on Nevra. Finish it off by using Seed Bomb on Nevra.

Toxic [Nevra] ~ Seed Bomb [Nevra] ~ Seed Bomb [Nevra]

Venonat, for your first battle, I want you to attack Fern all-out. Use Psychic, Zen Headbutt, and then Psychic again. If you fall asleep, use Sleep Talk in place of Zen Headbutt and Snore in place of during the actions in which you are.

Psychic/Snore [Fern] ~ Zen Headbutt/Sleep Talk [Fern] ~ Psychic/Snore [Fern]

4vs4 triple
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 30%
Banned Moves: OHKO's, direct healing moves limited to 3/Pokémon, chills to 5/Pokémon.
Arena: The Gridiron.

An open-air American football stadium. After years of disuse and neglect, it has greatly dilapidated. There is a field in the middle with a large seating area ringing around the outside, going upward as it gets farther out, much like this picture. It would take one action for a fast pokémon (base 90 speed and higher) to run the length of the field, or run from one end of the stands to the other, two actions for a faster pokémon. Near the bottom of the stands used to be scattered entrances that led under the stands, into a circular hallway that ran the length of the stands, but those entrances are caved in with concrete. At either end of the field, there are containers of football equipment. A pokémon may use one action to put on a piece of equipment. If it is body padding, it increases defense +1. If it is a helmet, it increases special defense +1. In addition, head-related attacks (Headbutt, Skull bash, etc.) do 5% more damage, unless the defender is wearing a helmet as well. A pokémon may only have one helmet and one set of padding on at a time, and can only use one of each for the whole battle. One piece of equipment lasts until the pokémon takes 30% damage of special damage for helmets and physical damage for padding. Also in the containers are footballs, which can be used as typeless projectile attacks. Its base power and whether it is a special or physical attack is determined by the method of using it. Every round, there is a 5% chance of heavy snow, which decreases speed for non-ice types -2 and decreases visibility to 20 yards, when outside.

Click to expand...

Round 1​

Two trainers tentatively enter the old, run-down football field. The referee is waiting for them in the center, wearing a football referee’s uniform in a lame attempt to fit in with the setting, so they hurry over. After a quick rundown of the rules, the ref signals for the trainers to select their battlers.

Soon enough, a diglett, a venonat, two ivysaur, a spiritomb, and a shuppet are released into the stadium. The diglett blinks (it’s a fairly overcast and chilly day, so there’s not too much sunlight, which he likes), looks from side to side, briefly seems to wonder why two of his teammates are out with him… and groans in what appears to be horrified realization… His ivysaur teammate comes to the same conclusion at about the same instant, though her reaction is somewhat more enthusiastic, while the venonat just stands there confused, wondering what the heck is up with those two…

The other ivysaur, named Fern, watches Ivysaur with a disapproving frown on her face. Her two ghost teammates, Spectre and Nevra, float eerily beside her, both leering at their opponents and looking eager to begin causing mischief.

Then the ref signals for the chaos match to begin…


The second after his commands are given, Diglett begins digging furiously, his head popping out of sight as he descends into the earth. The two ivysaur also make their moves: Ivysaur charges at Nevra and spits up a glob of sickly-smelling purple toxins into the shuppet’s face, while Fern shakes her leaves and releases a cloud of sparkling white powder from her blossom that blows toward Venonat.

Nevra shrieks and floats away from Ivysaur, but not quickly enough to avoid the poison, which she feels burning as it sinks into her ghostly flesh. Venonat can also not react in time and inhales a good amount of Fern’s floating spores. Before he can contemplate any other action, he feels a strong lethargy suddenly overtake him. Antennae drooped, he drops to the ground, curled up and laying on his side; his compound eyes don’t close, but he is very obviously sound asleep.

Fern nods in satisfaction, but suddenly, a tremendous roar comes from the sleeping bug; she jumps back, startled, but can’t avoid an unexpected barrage of sound waves that pummel her. It doesn’t last long, and Fern recovers quickly, but she watches Venonat warily; the slumbering bug is now making no noise other than soft crooning snores, but Fern doesn’t intend to be caught off guard again.

Spectre, meanwhile, stares at Ivysaur, his swirling, gaseous “face” twisted into a sinister grin. Ivysaur stares back, her expression quite clearly saying “bring it.” Suddenly, a flash of white light obscures Ivysaur’s vision completely; it fades quickly, but leaves behind in Ivysaur’s vision dozens of tiny glowing motes that dance around before her eyes, ignoring her attempts to blink them away.

Ivysaur shakes her head irritably, trying to ignore the floating lights, hearing Spectre chuckle evilly to himself. At that moment, Nevra recovers from the shock of her poisoning and lets out a painful, earsplitting screech, causing Ivysaur to wince and try to cover her ears, while Venonat twitches on the ground, still asleep, but affected by the noise nonetheless.

Far beneath all the action, meanwhile, Diglett has hollowed out an area big enough for himself and maybe one other small pokemon to fit comfortably. Having completed this, he recalls his order to poison Spectre, and begins the process of building up toxins in his body… then notices that there’s no one down here to spit the poison on. And he hasn’t been told to go back up until later… A little annoyed at the poison going to waste, he spits out what little he had made onto the wall of the cave, where it spatters harmlessly.

Back above ground, Fern is also annoyed by a lack of her designated opponent. Her vines are extended, ready to strike, but Diglett refuses to show himself, and finally she retracts them, grumbling. She quickly turns her attention back to Venonat, however, as he begins mumbling softly in his sleep.

Eyes narrowed, she readies herself for whatever he might send her way… and is quite surprised to hear a screech of pain coming from one of her teammates - Spectre, to be exact. The spiritomb is surrounded by a shimmering green aura which, if Spectre’s pained expression is any indication, is composed of his own lifeforce - or undeath-force - being leached out of him. Spectre thrashes and shrieks, but the aura just keeps growing bigger, until finally, it seems to shrink and coalesce around his keystone, before wrenching itself free - eliciting an unearthly, pained keening from the spiritomb - and flying over to the still-sleeping Venonat, where it illuminates his body briefly before sinking beneath his bristles.

Nevra and Spectre share a look, the latter’s insubstantial visage now scowling angrily. Not about to let the little bug get away with harming her fellow ghost, Nevra narrows her eyes at the happily-sleeping Venonat. Her yellow-on-blue eyes begin to glow softly, as she extends her consciousness into Venonat’s mind.

She smirks as she views Venonat’s dreamscape, a verdant, tropical forest that the purple bug is dancing happily through, without a care in the world. Suddenly, some of the trees begin to disintegrate, crumbling to dust and vanishing. Venonat can’t really react - he is still asleep, after all - but a sense of confusion and pain now fills his mind, which Nevra delightfully savors along with the bit of dream she just devoured.

Spectre, meanwhile, ignores his last target - other than to snicker as Ivysaur slams face-first into the grass trying to catch one of the elusive balls of light - and floats over to the hole left by Diglett. Peering into the small tunnel with one eye, he frowns, wondering if he should even bother trying to taunt Diglett from up here. He ends up throwing a few half-hearted insults down the tunnel, preferring to save his more creative and vicious taunts for when he can actually be sure of his target hearing them.

The ghost then settles his “body” around his keystone and waits, keeping a close eye on the hole. Soon, he hears faint shuffling sounds coming from within, followed shortly by Diglett’s head popping back up. The mole pokemon scrunches his eyes in concentration - his next attack is difficult, and he needs to be fast to make up for the time lost climbing back up.

Spectre feels a small, localized shaking beneath his keystone as Diglett’s attack builds up - and takes that as his cue. Catching Diglett completely off guard, the spiritomb suddenly lunges forward, extending out from the keystone and striking Diglett sharply on the side of the head.

Squeaking in agitation, Diglett glares at Spectre and, without any further hesitation, unleashes his attack. The ground explodes violently from underneath the spiritomb, sending up a huge sheet of soil and rock into the air that completely obscures him from view. When it finally settles, Spectre is sitting in a small hole blasted into the field, his keystone scuffed and scraped.

Before Diglett can feel too proud of himself, however, a vine suddenly cracks across his face like a whip. Eyes watering from the stinging pain, Diglett turns his attention to Fern - just as she is herself distracted by another bellowing snore courtesy of Venonat. Frustrated, she meets Diglett’s gaze again, and surprisingly, an understanding seems to pass between the two foes - one of complete mutual annoyance with the chaos of triple battles!

Alongside all this, Ivysaur and Nevra face off. Ivysaur manages to ignore the glowing motes in her vision for now, and aims her blossom at the ghost. The petals unfurl slightly, and a densely packed ball of seeds shoots out from the center. The seeds explode open - literally - upon contact with Nevra’s body, releasing a tremendous burst of green shoots and vines that sends her sailing through the air with its force.

Still, Nevra recovers quickly, and focuses on an attack of her own. Wisps of purple-black ghost-stuff form out of thin air and coalesce into a sphere shape atop Nevra’s horn. With a nod of her head, the shadow ball shoots down at Ivysaur. It explodes on contact, and all the caustic ghostly energy it contained engulfs Ivysaur, burning painfully into her skin. Ivysaur grits her teeth in agony, feeling like her entire body is on fire. After several painful seconds, the ghost-stuff finally dissipates, though a patch of skin on her forehead seems to have been burned quite badly.


Battle notes:
Since Venonat was asleep, Screech only lowered his Defense by 1.
Sleep Talk resulted in Giga Drain, which was a critical hit. (Also, Sleep Talk’s target is always random.)
Ivysaur hurt herself on the second action.
Diglett’s Earth Power cost more energy and did less damage because he had to climb all the way up his tunnel before using it.
Shadow Ball was a critical hit, and also lowered Ivysaur’s Sp. Defense.

Terrain notes:
A small, Diglett-sized tunnel leads down about eight feet underground, to a small, hastily-built cave big enough for two small pokemon.

Next round:
Lucas755 attacks first.

Diglett, come out of your hole for now. Start out with Toxic on Spectre, then Earth Power on him, and Shadow Claw on Nevre. If they protect, use Curse and use the move you would have during the next action.

Toxic (Spectre)/Curse ~ Earth Power (Spectre)/Curse/Toxic (Spectre) ~ Shadow Claw (Nevre)/Curse/Earth Power (Spectre)

Well, Ivysaur, If they're going to lower our defense, let's bring it back up again! Start out with reflect (works like ingame double battles, covering all active Pokemon, right?). Next, use Swords Dance. Finally, use Seed Bomb on Spectre. If he protects, use Swords Dance again.

Reflect ~ Swords Dance ~ Seed Bomb (Spectre)/Swords Dance

Venonat, keep using Sleep Talk. If you wake up, use Psychic on Fern.

Sleep Talk/Psychic (Fern) ~ Sleep Talk/Psychic (Fern) ~ Sleep Talk/Psychic (Fern)

((How long does Screech last?))

Fern, first, you should use Safeguard, which is one of Bulbasaur's egg moves. We don't want any nasty status effects. Then use Secret Power on Venonat because we want him to be paralyzed. Finally, another Secret Power, but on Ivysaur.

Safeguard ~ Secret Power [Venonat] ~ Secret Power [Ivysaur]

Spectre, use Snatch on Ivysaur first, because we want that Reflect on our team <3 Then Snatch Swords Dance from him, and finally, use Sucker Punch on Diglett.

Snatch [Ivysaur] ~ Snatch [Ivysaur] ~ Sucker Punch [Diglett]

Nevra, first, use Disable on Venonat, which I hope will get rid of Sleep Talk and Snore. Then wait until after Spectre uses Snatch on Ivysaur, then use Psych Up on Spectre. Finally, wait for Diglett to use Shadow Claw on you, then use Payback on him.

Disable [Venonat] ~ Psych Up [Spectre] ~ Payback [Diglett]

Spectre again settles his body down around his keystone, his strange swirly eye observing the battle intently, darting back and forth between all the participants, as a faint aura of dark energy flickers around him. Let the fleshy ones wear themselves out, he thinks. He'll be lying in wait, ready to steal away their defenses when they least expect it...

He does flinch a little, though, as Diglett suddenly projectile vomits a goopy poison all over him. He shudders as the toxin permeates his ghostly body, eating away at him from the inside. He glares at Diglett, but isn't too upset; he'll have the last laugh, soon enough... ah-hah, right there, the venonat's doing something! Perfect! He stares, trying to determine if the bug is doing something that he can appropriate for himself...

Unfortunately for him, Venonat is talking in his sleep again, and Spectre can't tell what technique he's going to use. Undaunted, he merely turns his attention to Ivysaur and settles down to wait again; Venonat, meanwhile, begins shaking violently on the ground. Nevra, ordered to target him and thus the only one really paying attention at the moment, frowns in confusion as she watches this, trying to figure out what the bug is doing. He appears to be... shedding?

Indeed, Venonat is shaking loose a small cloud of purple bristles, as well as large clumps of the various spores and poisons he stores in his body. Once he has created a pile of this mixed detritus almost as large as himself, he shudders again, and small lines of silver energy suddenly extend from his body to the pile. As they begin crawling over and through it, it seems to stand up of its own accord, taking on a shape roughly analogous to Venonat himself, though without any of his individual features. The shimmering energy conduits seem to support the shape of the construct, and it stands in front of its still-slumbering creator, ready to defend him from harm.

At about the same instant, a shimmering haze of pale green energy extends over shadow_lugia's side of the field, encompassing Spectre, Nevra, and Fern, the last of whom has her eyes closed, concentrating hard on bringing up this shield. After a second, the light fades out of the air; however, the three pokemon are now sheathed behind their own personal auras of light.

Nevra scowls a little from behind the safeguard (She couldn't have done that before I got poisoned?), but keeps focus on Venonat, reaching into his mind once again. This time, she focuses not on his dreams (an assault which his new substitute would surely block anyway), but on the synapses recently fired to produce his subconscious mumblings. Finding these, it is child's play for the ghost to implant a mental block that will temporarily stop them from working. She grins as she pulls out of his mind, pleased with herself.

Meanwhile, Ivysaur has begun to stare intently at the space in front of her, face scrunched up in concentration. Spectre, grinning in anticipation, rises out of his keystone, the faint black aura now flaring around him, tendrils reaching out menacingly toward Ivysaur. Any second now... He suddenly takes note of a vine that Ivysaur has slowly extended, and is now holding it ready above her face, still concentrating hard. Spectre frowns, thinking that this doesn’t look much like a Reflect…

…And the vine slams down with a smack!, right into Ivysaur’s own face. Spectre stares, his face blank, while the tendrils of dark energy vanish into thin air only inches from Ivysaur.

Damnit, those things are fast! thinks Ivysaur irritably, as she glares at the floating light that had zipped out of the way juuuust as she was going to catch it. The stupid thing giggles at her as it bobs back and forth in the air, and she scowls at it, following it with her eyes and completely ignoring the spiritomb whose plans she unknowingly dashed. Oh, you’ve won this round, you little…

Spectre’s inward fuming is interrupted as the earth explodes underneath him again, courtesy of Diglett. As he is pelted painfully by flying earth and rock, he notes Fern’s blossom begin to glow with strange green energy. As the earth thrown into the air by the explosion settles, the ivysaur aims her blossom at the still-slumbering Venonat; the energy forms itself into a powerful beam and shoots toward the purple bug. Before it can reach him, though, it is intercepted by the little substitute. The tiny construct is almost blown apart by the amount of power in the beam, but manages to stay together - though just barely.

Shaking off Diglett’s attack, Spectre again surrounds himself in a dark aura, muttering darkly to himself. Dark tendrils reach for Ivysaur again, but only half-heartedly - Spectre can tell that she doesn’t look any more lucid than she had a minute ago.

And indeed, while Ivysaur seems to at least attempt a swords dance, her mind and eyes are still clearly on the elusive balls of light; as she begins to spin the large leaves around her blossom, one of their razor-sharp edges catches her in the back of the head, leaving a nasty-looking cut and completely distracting her from completing the move.

Nevra shares a glance with Spectre, who looks furious as his attempt to snatch their opponents’ moves is once again wasted. She reaches out with her mind, linking with him and equalizing with his mental and physical state - which, she realizes too late, are exactly the same as her own. All she can really do now is share in her fellow ghost’s frustration.

Oblivious to all this, Venonat slumbers on. Subconsciously, he registers the command from his trainer and starts to carry it out, but this time something is wrong - the usually instinctual response is blocked somehow. Rather than muttering in his sleep, the bug’s soft, churring snores become more agitated, and his antennae twitch in discomfort. Slowly, the football field - and the five pokemon tearing it up - starts to filter back in through his compound eyes…

Diglett, cloaking his unseen claws in ghostly energy, begins digging his way toward the two angry-looking ghosts. As he gets close enough to Nevra to strike, Spectre suddenly lunges out again and catches him with a quick sucker punch to the face. Diglett is thrown off a bit by this, but still manages to whip his claws out of the ground and slash at the shuppet floating only a few inches above him, the ghostly energy dripping off them allowing them to contact the ghost where his regular claws would have just passed through harmlessly.

Nevra lets out an unearthly shriek as Diglett’s claws burn into her, but holds onto the pain, savoring it and using it to fuel her counterstrike. As Diglett’s claws disappear below the earth again, the shuppet dives down, her horn laced with shimmering dark energy, and furiously stabs at the mole pokemon over and over. Her horn lacerates Diglett’s thin skin, and he squeals in pain, trying to back away and escape. She finally lets up, but not until Diglett is covered with bleeding wounds that leave him looking very hesitant to attack the shuppet again.

Ivysaur, meanwhile, seems to be coming back to her senses, grimacing at the blood dripping down from the wound she inflicted on herself. Looking for the ghost responsible for confusing her in the first place (the distracting lights thankfully nowhere to be seen), she locks eyes with Spectre, and grins as she prepares for revenge… revenge that comes in the form of a ball of rock-hard seeds. Spectre hisses angrily as the seed bomb explodes in his face, with such force that it blows him almost two yard lines away.

Ivysaur yells triumphantly, only to be struck by a green energy beam - the same that had almost wiped out Venonat’s substitute - a second later. Fern smiles to herself as her opposite counterpart turns to face her. She‘s actually starting to feel a bit more comfortable with the battle now - everyone’s been so focused on the ghosts that she’s managed to avoid much injury, and she’s eager to take on the other ivysaur directly. Suddenly, though, she frowns, as she feels an uncomfortable tingling in the back of her head… then, without any warning, she collapses as every nerve in her body erupts with pain.

Caught completely off guard, Fern is unable to mount any kind of resistance to the mental assault, and can only writhe in agony on the ground, unable to think about anything but wanting the pain to stop. Finally, after what seems like hours to her, whatever had invaded her mind pulls out, and she lays on the ground, gasping. When she regains enough strength to lift herself back to her feet, she looks around for the source of the attack… and, through tear-blurred vision, spots Venonat only a few feet away, standing beside his battered substitute, his multifaceted eyes shining with the fading remnants of a psychic glow.


Battle notes:
Shadow_lugia’s team is protected by Safeguard for 2 more actions.
Snatch can’t be targeted - it goes after the first opponent that uses a self-targeting move. A moot point, of course, since Ivysaur hurt herself on both those action.
Sleep Talk produced Substitute.
Quite a round for critical hits, this one (ironically, not the move with the increased crit chance): Fern’s first Secret Power, Ivysaur’s Seed Bomb, and Venonat’s Psychic.
I'll edit in the end-of-round statuses later; they don't really affect anything, and I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer.

Terrain notes:
A small, Diglett-sized tunnel leads down about eight feet underground, to a small, hastily-built cave big enough for two small pokemon.

Next round:
shadow_lugia attacks first.

Ivysaur, I want you to concentrate on Diglett, because type advantages are awesome. First, use a Leech Seed on him, then a Razor Leaf, and finally, Knock Off, because that Soft Sand is sure to get annoying.

Leech Seed [Diglett] ~ Razor Leaf [Diglett] ~ Knock Off [Diglett]

Spectre, you're the most hurt, and it's fortunate you were capped. First, use a Faint Attack on Venonat, to get rid of that Substitute. Then use Nasty Plot. Finally, use Psychic on Ivysaur, but if Nasty Plot was Snatched, then use another Nasty Plot.

Faint Attack [Venonat] ~ Nasty Plot ~ Psychic [Ivysaur]/Nasty Plot

Now we come to you, Nevra. First, use a Calm Mind. Then use Psychic on Venonat, and finally another Psychic on Venonat.

Calm Mind ~ Psychic [Venonat] ~ Psychic [Venonat]

IT'S LIKE A TAX

BUT MORE PAINFUL

Diglett, looks like you're due to take a beating this turn. Let's fix that. Use protect first, then use Earth Power on Nevra twice.

Protect ~ Earth Power (Nevra) ~ Earth Power (Nevra)

Ivysaur, start out with Sunny Day. After that, use Solarbeam on Spectre twice.

Sunny Day ~ Solarbeam (Spectre) ~ Solarbeam (Spectre)

Venonat, start off with Psychic on Fern. For the second action, use Protect. Finally, use Psychic on Fern again.

Psychic (Fern) ~ Protect ~ Psychic (Fern)

Her body and brain still tingling a bit from the psychic assault, Fern turns to aim at Diglett, but keeps a wary eye on Venonat. Truthfully, right now she’d prefer to try to take out the little bug before that can happen again, but she accepts her trainer’s decision of where her talents will have the greatest advantage. To begin with, she fires a tiny seed from her blossom - not an explosive cluster like Ivysaur seems fond of, but one filled with parasitic vines ready to attach themselves to Diglett.

The mole pokemon, however, is prepared: the seed reaches only about a foot in front of him when it bounces off a spherical, greenish energy shield surrounding him. Landing on the ground, the seed opens up and many small, thin vines curl out; not finding a live body to attach to, however, they simply dry up and flop to the ground after only a few seconds.

Spectre, meanwhile, cackles evilly, and seems to draw his own shadow up around him. In an instant, he vanishes into it, disappearing from everyone’s sight. Unconcerned, the now wide-awake Venonat prepares to attack Fern’s mind again… but is distracted when another shadow rises up from the ground and lunges at him. His substitute, already falling apart, leaps into the shadow’s path; it successfully protects its creator, but the faint attack overwhelms the tiny scrap of energy it had left, and it disintegrates into a pile of goopy purple fuzz.

Venonat pays this little attention - he’s still not entirely clear where that substitute came from in the first place - and aims another psychic attack at Fern. Each miniscule facet of his compound eyes glimmers with pale blue light as he extends his psychic power into the ivysaur’s mind; recognizing the feeling, Fern cringes, but can do nothing as the pain receptors in her brain are abruptly triggered again. However, maybe because she wasn’t taken by surprise this time, or maybe Venonat had simply been lucky earlier, but the pain does not reach the same incapacitating level as it had the first time. It’s still excruciating as hell, though, and Fern is left panting as Venonat withdraws from her mind, her body trembling.

Ivysaur and Nevra, meanwhile, both take a break from direct attacking. Nevra closes her eyes and lets the noise and commotion of battle fade away, clearing and strengthening her mind. Ivysaur’s action is more noticeable: from her flower, a bright beam of light shoots straight into the sky, vanishing behind the cloud cover. A few seconds pass, and then the dreary gray clouds abruptly and unnaturally part, revealing bright blue sky and allowing the sun to shine through. Everyone squints (Diglett squeals in distress and ducks underground) as the rays hit their eyes; the sun is extraordinarily bright, and quickly heats up the field - what was once a brisk autumn day now feels like the beginning of summer.

WHY? Diglett thinks, squinting in discomfort as he tentatively pokes his head back up. The weather was the only thing good about this whole horrible situation! Why? Why? WHYYYYYYY?! When the universe doesn’t offer an answer, Diglett growls angrily and releases his frustrations in the form of another eruption of earth power, this time aimed at Nevra. The ghost reels backwards from the explosion, though her earlier mental preparation does allow her to mitigate a bit of the damage.

Noticing Fern approaching Diglett, Nevra puts aside thoughts of revenge (for now) and turns to the now-vulnerable Venonat. Her eyes taking on a blue glow, the shuppet extends her consciousness into Venonat’s… or rather, tries to. The little bug pokemon, believing he would be quite happy with his type disadvantages remaining nicely unexploited, thank you very much, extends a transparent protect shield around himself, and however much Nevra tries, she can’t reach his mind within it, and eventually gives up, scowling.

Ivysaur, meanwhile, flattens out her leaves and sighs in delight, letting the sunlight warm her body. Photosynthesis bursts into activity within the leaves, absorbing as much solar energy as they can hold, and then some. Much more quickly and efficiently than would have been possible with the cloud cover, Ivysaur lets the excess energy build up and focuses it into her flower, a bright point of intense energy that illuminates the petals from within. Within seconds, a brilliant beam of light erupts from the flower, tearing through the air toward its target…

Spectre barely has time to think Oh crap before he is hit by the solarbeam. Not a being fond of light in general, the spiritomb screams in pain as solar energy burns through his body, hissing obscenities at Ivysaur. When Ivysaur does nothing but smirk as the solarbeam dissipates, Spectre grumbles and hunkers down around his keystone, glaring at Ivysaur and imagining creative ways in which he could hurt the plant-lizard… Slowly, the ghost’s scowl morphs into a very sinister grin, and he gives Ivysaur a creepy, eager look, one that seems to speak of plans, dark plans, nasty plans, all having to do with her. Ivysaur’s smirk falters ever so slightly. That is… disquieting.

While all this is going on, Fern continues to target Diglett, this time releasing a flurry of razor-edged leaves. Already preparing for another earth power attack on Nevra, Diglett can’t bring up a protect shield this time, and the leaves slice through the air unhindered; he grimaces as he receives several bleeding cuts on his head, but keeps focus on the shuppet, sending her flying skyward with another explosion from below. (As this happens, he notices, offhand, that the green veils surrounding his three opponents have completely faded away.)

Her sheet-like body now rather tattered, Nevra remains focused on Venonat, trusting that Fern will take care of Diglett. For the second time, she tries to break into his mind, and this time, she finds nothing blocking her way. Venonat suddenly collapses, buzzing piteously as the psychic intrusion overwhelms him. At about the same time, Spectre does the same, targeting Ivysaur, his mind still spinning with malicious ideas of how to break Ivysaur’s mental defenses and cause even more pain…

Fern hears the other ivysaur scream, and looks over to see both her and Venonat writhing on the ground. She can’t help but feel satisfied at Venonat getting a taste of what he’d been doing to her… Of course, that moment is when Nevra can’t keep up the attack any longer, and Venonat shakily gets to his feet, takes a moment to regain his composure, and meets Fern’s eyes, his own already glowing again…

Ivysaur is panting heavily when Spectre finally releases her from his psychic hold. That…hurt…wow… Still, as she recovers, she notices that the spiritomb is looking rather worse for wear - he almost seems to be growing more transparent as she watches him, and he grimaces as the poison within him grows ever more potent. Regaining her smirk, she lets solar energy flood her body again, eager to make the first kill, so to speak, of the day…

As Venonat releases Fern and she can make sense of her surroundings again, she hears Spectre’s unearthly cry of pain and anger as another solarbeam practically seems to burn him away. Not wanting her team to take the first loss, she rushes at Diglett, her focus on a small, purple sack that the mole has had tied around his neck, almost out of sight under the ground… Diglett, his eyes still on Nevra, yelps as Fern suddenly swipes at him out of nowhere with her front leg. The attack leaves only a tiny scratch that he barely even registers - but he feels a sudden panic as he realizes that Fern has knocked loose his sack of soft sand! He looks around frantically, but his weak eyes can’t spot it anywhere, and he quickly has to give up as his trainer shouts another command…


Terrain notes:
A small, Diglett-sized tunnel leads down about eight feet underground, to a small, hastily-built cave big enough for two small pokemon.
Sunny Day will be active for 2 more actions.

Battle notes:
Safeguard wore off after the second action.

Next round:
Lucas755 attacks first.

Diglett, Earth Power on Spectre, then Nevra twice. Screech if they protect.

Earth Power (Spectre)/Screech ~ Earth Power (Nevra)/Screech ~ Earth Power (Nevra)/Screech

Ivysaur, Sleep Powder on Fern, then Solarbeam on Spectre (or its replacement), unless the sun is no longer out, in that case, use Seed Bomb instead. End with Seed Bomb on the same target as the previous attack. Use Swords Dance if they protect.

Sleep Powder (Fern)/Swords Dance ~ Solarbeam/Seed Bomb (Spectre/replacement)/Swords Dance ~ Seed Bomb (Spectre/replacement)/Swords Dance

Venonat, Psychic on Fern three times. If she protects, Screech.
Psychic (Fern)/Screech x3

DQ warning for shadow_lugia.

OK, Spectre, we all know that Diglett is being a bitch, so put it to sleep with Hypnosis. Then use Dream Eater for the rest of the round, unless Hypnosis misses, in which case, use Hypnosis until it falls asleep.

Hypnosis [Diglett] ~ Hypnosis/Dream Eater [Diglett] ~ Hypnosis/Dream Eater [Diglett]

Nevra, Diglett shouldn't be too much of a problem this round, so you deal with other things. First off, use Confuse Ray on that freaking Venonat. Then use Psychic on Ivysaur twice.

Confuse Ray [Venonat] ~ Psychic [Ivysaur] ~ Psychic [Ivysaur]

Finally, we come to you, Fern. Don't be too concerned for Spectre; hopefully he'll be okay, and it'll just distract you. Let's just focus on TAKING REVEEEEEEENGE. First, use a Protect, because we really don't want you sleeping. Then, use a Body Slam on Venonat, and finally, a Frustration.

Protect ~ Body Slam [Venonat] ~ Frustration [Venonat]

Still grumbling, Diglett begins preparing to let loose yet another Earth Power attack (Of course, it won’t be as good now, he thinks sullenly). Spectre, now struggling to stay conscious as Diglett’s poison eats at him from within, feels the ominous rumble from right beneath his keystone, and desperately tries to catch the mole’s eyes before he can finish the attack…

…But Diglett is simply faster. Before he can project a single hypnotic wave, the ground underneath Spectre explodes, sending him flying into the air. Even without the soft sand to amplify his power, Diglett’s attack is still strong enough to overwhelm Spectre almost immediately. His spectral face becomes stretched and distorted as his spirit, in defeat, retreats into the keystone that binds it - when the rock slams heavily to the ground, all that is visible of the spiritomb is a small purplish glow leaking out from its cracked surface.

The stone sits inert for a few seconds before vanishing into the recalling beam of shadow_lugia’s pokeball. The trainer puts Spectre’s ball away and instantly reaches for another to continue the fight…


Terrain notes:
A small, Diglett-sized tunnel leads down about eight feet underground, to a small, hastily-built cave big enough for two small pokemon.
Sunny Day will be active for 2 more actions.

Battle notes:
Since this wasn’t really a full round (or even a full action), Nevra won’t take the increased poison damage until next round.

Next round:
shadow_lugia sends out and attacks.
Lucas755 attacks.

DQ warning for shadow_lugia.

Why do I keep forgetting this >:(

Okay, I'll send out my female Spoink, Pearl who is my only choice.

So, Fern and Nevra, just do the same thing that you were going to do last round. As for you, Pearl, use Confuse Ray on Diglett. Then, use a Heal Bell, so Nevra doesn't drop dead. Finally, use Zen Headbutt on Diglett.

Confuse Ray [Diglett] ~ Heal Bell ~ Zen Headbutt [Diglett]

Diglett, use Protect then Screech twice.

Protect ~ Screech ~ Screech

Ivysaur, take advantage of that last bit of sun and use Solarbeam on Pearl, then use Protect. end it with Seed Bomb on Pearl.

Solarbeam [Pearl] ~ Protect ~ Seed Bomb [Pearl]

Venonat, use Protect and then Psychic on Fern twice.

Protect ~ Psychic [Fern] ~ Psychic [Fern]

Round 5​

In a burst of light, a spoink named Pearl leaps out of her pokeball to join the hodge-podge of pokemon on the football field. Namesake clasped tightly over her head, she starts up a rhythmic bouncing while quickly analyzing her opponents and allies. She seems a bit concerned about Fern and Nevra’s beat-up appearances, and braces herself for what has apparently been a pretty tough battle as her trainer gives her instructions…


Moving in tandem, Pearl and Nevra prepare to attack, while Fern crouches down and readies a protective shield for herself. The spoink’s pearl and the shuppet’s horn both begin to shimmer with ghostly auras, which become beams of glittering light aimed straight for the eyes of Diglett and Venonat, respectively. Both of whom are keeping strangely still, Pearl notices too late…

The twin confuse rays are instantly nullified as they hit the invisible barriers brought up by each of their targets. Nevra glowers angrily, while Pearl’s determined expression droops a bit; she had hoped to enter the battle with a little more effect. A burst of light off to the side suddenly directs her attention to the third member of her opponents’ team - Ivysaur has her leaves spread out once more, gorging herself on solar energy, and giving Pearl a grin that she really doesn’t like the look of…

The next thing she feels is scalding heat as a solarbeam slices through the air. Ivysaur smirks proudly as Pearl squeals in pain, her bouncing becoming shorter and more frantic. She’s still trying to recover as Diglett moves forward, and is caught completely off-guard by a horrible, high-pitched screech that pierces her eardrums like a knife, making her actually skip a bounce in shock. Fern, also, is on the ground wincing from the audio assault, a painful ringing in her ears, having dropped her Protect just one second too soon. Nevra, however, floats apart from the others and seems perfectly unaffected.

Fern is the first to recover; shaking her head irritably, she rushes toward Venonat, then stops short and leaps into the air. Venonat’s eyes can’t really widen in trepidation, but he definitely gives the impression of such as the ivysaur comes slamming down on him with all her weight, painfully squishing him into the ground. His limbs scrabble helplessly underneath her for a few seconds, then his eyes glow a familiar blue; Fern suddenly finds herself lifted into the air, before being flung backward by an invisible force and slammed into one of the craters left by Diglett’s attacks. Venonat, still looking slightly squished, pushes himself up with an annoyed buzz.

As Fern crawls from the crater, her head pounding from the aftereffects of so many psychic assaults, a sudden high, clear musical chiming fills the air. The sweet sound utterly entrances the ivysaur, distracting her from her injuries; searching for the source, she spots Pearl, her eyes closed in concentration, with a small bell-shaped light floating in front of her, tolling gently in time to her bounces.

Nevra, too, is entranced by the sound, closing her eyes in contentment. Each sweet note reverberates through her body, making her feel relaxed and happy, and completely distracting her from the poison that’s been eating away at her… Wait… Blinking in surprise, the shuppet realizes that, actually, she can’t feel the poison at all anymore! She looks at Pearl just as the heal bell dissolves into the air; the spoink meets her eye and winks.

Now feeling quite invigorated, Nevra hums tunelessly to herself as her eyes begin to glow and she seeks out Ivysaur’s mind with her psychic senses. Finding her attempts blocked by Ivysaur’s Protect shield, she just ripples her lower body in imitation of a shrug; she knows her target won’t be able to keep that up forever, and without the poison she doesn’t feel the same sense of urgency as before. Her mood is further improved when Diglett suddenly lets loose with another screech, and once again misses her completely. Not only that, but the clouds have finally beaten whatever force was holding them back, billowing in and obscuring the angry sunlight, returning the sky to its nice, nocturnal-friendly, uniform gray. From where she floats, things are looking up!

Fern and Pearl, of course, took the full brunt of Diglett’s sonic assault; Fern just stands there cringing, fighting a piercing headache brought on by the two screeches, not to mention all the psychic attacks she’s endured throughout the battle. She feels badly disoriented and unable to concentrate, and it’s just…so…frustrating… Ordinarily, she would try to repress such feelings - not conductive to keeping one’s head in battle - but on an order from her trainer she stops struggling for control and lets her anger have free reign. Almost without making a conscious decision, she charges at Venonat, snarling, and tackles him to the ground; she starts pummeling him mercilessly, letting her frustration fuel her blows.

Venonat squeaks in distress, but as soon as Fern lets up, looking a little winded but satisfied, he strikes again at her mind with psychic power. The ivysaur falls off him and clutches her head, groaning in pain. As Venonat continues to twist a knife in her brain, a new, unexpected sensation spreads through Fern’s body, overlapping the pain: a sudden surge of power as the plant that she lives in symbiosis with releases its emergency energy reserves into her system. Venonat, pulling out of her mind, notes with confusion that the ivysaur seems to have acquired a strange green glow from somewhere…

The other ivysaur, meanwhile, fires off a seed bomb, this time at Pearl. Still distracted from Diglett’s screeches, the spoink barely notices it before it hits, and can‘t do much to defend against the resulting explosion of greenery. Ivysaur doesn’t have much time to gloat, however - Nevra’s eyes are glowing with psychic power again, and this time she has no protection against her. The shuppet strikes with a vengeance, and Ivysaur grits her teeth to keep from screaming - she thought she’d been done with this with Spectre out of the way!

Just as with Fern, though, Ivysaur’s plant reacts to her hurt, rapidly growing hundreds of microscopic rootlets that dump a huge amount of plant energy throughout her animal body. As with Fern, the influx of power produces a green aura around Ivysaur, not to mention giving her quite a rush; when Nevra lets up, she is breathing heavily and appears exhausted, but as she looks at the shuppet, her eyes are blazing with a power and ferocity that almost makes the ghost lose her composure for a second.

Off to the side, Pearl squeaks unhappily, still recovering from the blow by the seed bomb. She’s not feeling too good about herself right now - not even five minutes in, and she’s accomplished practically nothing for the team but being beat up by that other ivysaur! But she forces aside her self-pity to focus on the attack her trainer has ordered; taking aim at Diglett, she half-closes her eyes and begins to meditate, clearing her mind of all thought and emotion, allowing a large amount of psychic energy to pool up inside her pearl. Her spring-tail begins to compress tightly, lowering her body to the ground…

…And releases, propelling her forward like a bullet straight at Diglett’s exposed head. In her trance-like state, Pearl only feels a vague thump as the pearl over her head connects with something; Diglett feels substantially more, as the psychically-charged gem slams into him directly between his eyes. As Pearl falls back and regains her rhythm, Diglett cries out in pain, his eyes tightly closed, as he experiences the most excruciating headache ever. Blinking away her trance, Pearl takes note of the diglett, now randomly cursing out everything everywhere, and feels some confidence trickle back.


Terrain notes:
A small, Diglett-sized tunnel leads down about eight feet underground, to a small, hastily-built cave big enough for two small pokemon.

Battle notes:
Ivysaur’s and Venonat’s defense penalties were reduced by 1 in the first action.
Screech missed Nevra both times.
Zen Headbutt was a critical hit.

Next round:
Lucas755 attacks first.