Prairie Chicken vs. Kratos Aurion

2 vs 2 Single
Style: Set
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 40%
Banned Moves: OHKOs, Chills (3 per pokemon)
Arena: Super Shonen Proving Grounds 300%!!

There's flat earth, packed dirt, and some rocks that can be used for cover. Many a battle has been fought here, and the proving grounds are brimming with the hot-blooded spirits of heroes and villains from ages past. Because of this, all combatants in the proving grounds automatically have Anger Point in addition to their regular abilities. Critical domains of all attacks automatically start one stage higher than normal. (Base critical hit rate is now 10%, 20% for Critical class attacks). Furthermore, when a combatant drops to below 50% health, they gain the Guts ability as well.

Click to expand...

Prairie Chicken's Active Squad:

[Muffin] Grimer (m) <Sticky Hold>

[Cupcake] Cacnea (m) <Sand Veil>

Kratos Aurion's Active Squad:

[Regal Bryant] Nidoran (m) <Poison Point> @Moon Stone

[Aqua] Eevee (f) <Run Away> @Water Stone

[Raine Sage] Eevee (f) <Run Away> @Exp. Share

[Tenebrae] Eevee (m) <Run Away> @Soothe Bell

[Colette Brunel] Pichu (f) <Static> @Thunderstone

[Sheena Fujibayashi] Azurill (f) <Huge Power> @Moon Stone

[Emil Castagnier] Piplup (m) <Torrent> @Lucky Egg

[Marta Lualdi] Buneary (f) <Klutz>

[Ghost in the Machine] Porygon-Z (x) <Download> @Enigma Berry

[Sheol] Skelitten (f) <Pressure> @Dusk Stone

Prairie Chicken sends out
Kratos Aurion sends out and issues commands
Prairie Chicken attacks
I ref and try not to screw up my first real battle.

Going with Muffin (Grimer, M).

Here's looking at you, damage cap!

Hm... auto-vaporeon start gogogogo! I mean, uh, Aqua. I'm using her.

We'll start simple: natural gift, then swift and secret power for kicks. If Muffin decides to be lame and protect, detect or otherwise make himself completely undamageable, buff yourself up a little with growth.

Natural Gift/Growth ~ Swift/Growth ~ Secret Power/Growth

(And I'm sure you'll do fine, Summergale. Thanks for picking this up.)

Oh cool, Natural Gift is a base 90 move that never misses aaaaaaaaa

Gonna have to block that one with your face, Muffin. Dig down and Acid Armor for a little while.

Dig - Acid Armor - Acid Armor

(Thanks, Summergale!)

2 vs 2 Single
Style: Set
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 40%
Banned Moves: OHKOs, Chills (3 per pokemon)
Arena: Super Shonen Proving Grounds 300%!!

There's flat earth, packed dirt, and some rocks that can be used for cover. Many a battle has been fought here, and the proving grounds are brimming with the hot-blooded spirits of heroes and villains from ages past. Because of this, all combatants in the proving grounds automatically have Anger Point in addition to their regular abilities. Critical domains of all attacks automatically start one stage higher than normal. (Base critical hit rate is now 10%, 20% for Critical class attacks). Furthermore, when a combatant drops to below 50% health, they gain the Guts ability as well.

Click to expand...

The Super Shonen Proving Ground is... completely empty. There's some rocks, some dirt (scratch that, a lot of dirt!), and absolutely no sign of life. At least, until three people show up with a League-issued Alakazam. Two of the people seem perfectly fine with the teleportation, but the third holds up her hand and begins to look slightly green. Worrying, because that's the referee. She quickly gabbles the terms of the battle before staggering off to a nice big rock to try and get rid of this nausea. The two combatants raise an eyebrow at each other and go to their places, before releasing a Pokemon apiece.

Prairie Chicken (OO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Commands: Dig - Acid Armor - Acid Armor
Status: Feeling pumped and raring to go.

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point>
Health: 100%
Status: 100%
Commands: Natural Gift/Growth ~ Swift/Growth ~ Secret Power/Growth
Status: Lamenting the fact all this dirt is ruining her fur.

"Round one.... you can... urp..."

Ignoring the fact that the referee is about to be sick, Aqua opens her mouth to reveal a ball of energy. It is pulsing faintly, and shifts through several colours before deciding it wants to be off-white. Muffin's eyes widen and he tries to get away, scrambling to dig a tunnel. However, being composed entirely of sludge is sort of counteractive to digging a hole, but sheer determination allows him to do it - all for naught, as Aqua chooses that moment to release her Natural Gift. The beam of light arcs round and slams into the Grimer, pushing him further into his tunnel. Muffin chooses to lie looking dazed for a moment.

The Eevee steps curiously towards the hole and reasons that he is not technically 'undamageable', so she goes ahead and charges up a Swift. She swings round, her fluffy tail swirling through the air, and a whole load of stars materialise. The momentum provided by her spin launches the stars forth, they zoom down the tunnel. A series of squishy thuds and a low groan tells her the attack was successful. Muffin decides that while he's down here, he may as well be useful. Grimers are already poisonous and foul-smelling, but the layer of slimy mucus Muffin is coating himself in turns it up to eleven. The awful stench wafts up the tunnel and makes Aqua's eyes water, even as she wafts a paw in front of her face.

After the terrible smell subsides, Aqua runs through her next command. Technically, she can still reach Muffin - even if he does smell like the bad end of a Bidoof - so Secret Power it is. She focuses, reaching out to the terrain around her. The natural world responds swiftly, lending her a sizeable sum of power that she eagerly taps into. Her small jaws open once more to reveal another ball of light, but this time the ball is a muddy shade of brown. She releases the beam and allows it to arc into the tunnel, and it slams into Muffin like an ice-cream truck. His acidic armour does absolutely nothing to protect him, and he's left feeling dazed... And absolutely furious. How dare she do that, that wasn't fair! He decides that the solution to this is clearly, obviously, more acid, in preparation for utter carnage later. He forces his internal reserves into overdrive to cover himself in acid again, and up above he can hear Aqua trying not to retch. Through a haze of pain and fury, he feels morbidly satisfied.

"Stop! Round's over... ugh."

Prairie Chicken (OO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point>
Health: 67%
Energy: 89%
Commands: Dig - Acid Armor - Acid Armor
Status: Feeling quite hurt, but raring to go and hurt something. Preferably Aqua. ( +4 Defense +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point>
Health: 100%
Status: 87%
Commands: Natural Gift ~ Swift ~ Secret Power (Rock)
Status: Struggling not to vomit. How can anything smell so bad?!

Notes:
o Kratos got lucky with Secret Power; while it didn't confuse Muffin it was a critical hit.
o I interpreted Dig as still being reachable.
o And no problem, what good is a ref who doesn't do battles :D Just wish someone could do my battles :(
o Prairie goes first next time, if I understand what I've seen from other battles?
o See anything wrong? Tell me!

Everything looks good to me (and was an entertaining read), save for two things: Muffin should have +4 defense, not +2, if both acid armors were successful, and if Aqua criticalled then you should probably make a note of Muffin's anger point being activated.

And actually, I was planning on taking that Mass Effect match of yours shortly, so don't worry about that (even though I have yet to cough up the money for that game and so will probably make some sort of horrible mistake with the arena or something) :D

Okay, fixed! I added the attack order, too. I think that's how it works?

Yup, that's right.

Nice ref, but would Swift and Secret Power really have hit a Digging pokemon like that? Maybe I should have clarified, but I thought the first stage of Dig was meant to be an evasive maneuver. Also, when Secret Power hit:

His acidic armour does absolutely nothing to protect him, and he's left feeling dazed...

Click to expand...

Secret Power - 70 Normal 100%
Target: Single
Class: Projectile/Status/Stat Modifier
Stat: Physical

Click to expand...

Secret Power is listed here as a Physical attack. Does that means Acid Armor's defense boost would have blocked some of the damage (and wouldn't have fed off of Aqua's Special Attack stat, if that's what happened)?

Swift would arguably have hit since it's capable of homing in and could have followed its target; secret power could probably have hit if the tunnel was a straight shot down and Aqua made an effort to aim directly at Muffin. I suppose it's not entirely clear whether or not that was actually the case here, though. Additionally, critical hits ignore defense boosts, so secret power would've done full damage regardless of acid armor. It is definitely physical, though.

Oh, okay. FIGHTAN TIME

Surface from Dig, preferably while shouting "Shoryuken," Natural Gift, and then Secret Power. For any attacks after Dig, there's additional orders: if you are hit with an attack that drops your health below 50%, Pain Split immediately, but only once.

Dig (surface) - Natural Gift/Pain Split - Secret Power/Pain Split

Hm. Quick calculation says that you'll definitely hit the cap if all those moves are successful, Aqua. Which means you'll take a lot of damage. Which means it would be unfortunate for poor Muffin there if you could match that in a single blow that strikes after he's already made his third move. Very unfortunate indeed.

...In other words, it's bide tiem. And I'm sure there's probably some sort of crazy animé reference I could make that is somehow relevant, but I don't watch any these days so I wouldn't know. :P "Just flatten him" seems appropriate, I suppose.

Charge Bide ~ Charge Bide ~ Release Bide

Prairie Chicken (OO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point>
Health: 67%
Energy: 89%
Commands: Dig (surface) ~ Natural Gift/Pain Split ~ Secret Power/Pain Split
Status: Feeling quite hurt, but raring to go and hurt something. Preferably Aqua. ( +4 Defense +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point>
Health: 100%
Energy: 87%
Commands: Charge Bide ~ Charge Bide ~ Release Bide
Status: Struggling not to vomit. How can anything smell so bad?!

"Go on, then.... ugh..."

Aqua is the first to move, and she gladly steps back from the edge of the hole. Swiping clean a patch of dirt (if she's going to sit in one spot all round, it had better be clean), she plonks herself down and focuses. A soft red aura glows around the Eevee, unbeknownst to Muffin, who is limbering up. Finally, Aqua is knocked from her place by a big blob of purple slime bowling into her. He's gurgling something that, from what she heard of Prairie Chicken's commands, was probably meant to be "Shoryuken". The move stings, yes, but she turns that pain into power and keeps it for later. It's all for a good cau-- OW OW OW

Her thoughts are broken off by a beam of off-white light much like the one she used earlier, which hits her straight in the face. My face! My wonderful face! she whines, before reminding herself that this is more fuel for the fire. The fire of her revenge. She stores this energy, feeling warmth and weariness spread through her in equal parts. Muffin, sitting nearby, looks as smug as a blob of slime can look - which is pretty damn smug, apparently.

He rubs his hands together and cackles (it honestly sounds like more gurgling, but then again that's Grimers for you) before focusing. A ball of energy forms, flickering and flashing. He reaches out to the environment, and while it is repulsed by him it grudgingly allows him some power. Muffin takes as much as he can - in his rage, he doesn't care - and fires it in a beam of mudbrown light at Aqua. It's an easy hit; the Normal-type doesn't even bother to move.

That is, until the red aura surrounding her since the round began flares ever brighter. He didn't notice it before, but even in his heightened sense of rage and power, Muffin knows that this is going to hurt. Lots. Aqua seems to know it, too - her foe is all out of moves for this round, and all her pain has been stored into this one moment. With a savage roar that an Eevee honestly should not have been capable of, the blood-red aura flares brighter than ever as she throws herself upon Muffin. He wails and shrieks in a gurgling voice as she mauls him, and the pain feels like he's going to pass out. The referee sits a little straighter, and looks a lot less sick (maybe even worried? Frantic?) as she pulls out what appears to be a PDA. Suddenly, the pain is a lot less intense, but Muffin is still left reeling and dazed by the attack.

Aqua moves away, gasping for breath and glaring hatefully at the Grimer. That felt good.

"Round two is over!"
"And try not to kill each other next time..."

Prairie Chicken (OO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point + Guts>
Health: 27% <CAPPED>
Energy: 64%
Commands: Dig (surface) ~ Natural Gift ~ Secret Power
Status: Barely holding on and wondering how an Eevee could do that. ( +4 Defense +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point>
Health: 60% <CAPPED>
Energy: 54%
Commands: Charge Bide ~ Charge Bide ~ Release Bide
Status: Weary, but even her blood burns for battle. ( +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

Arena Notes
There is a stunned silence on the battlefield. Globs of purple slime are flecked everywhere, a signal of the carnage Aqua has wreacked wrecked reeked caused.

Notes
o WOW. The damage being put out in this round was intense. Natural Gift rolled a critical hit, and because of Muffin's Anger Point already having been activated, his attacks added up to 48% damage.
o This meant that without the cap, and because of Anger Point activating on the second action, Aqua would have done 92% damage!
o Kratos issues attacks, then Prairie, then I ref. (Good grief I keep forgetting this bit!)
o See anything wrong? Tell me!

Aqua should be at 60% health if she started at 100%, and since his health is now below 50%, Muffin should have guts as well.

Alright, fixed.

Natural gift three times, I guess, and growth if you don't think you can hit him. I'd be more elaborate or witty, but I'm rather distracted and annoyed at the moment and I'd just like to get my attacks out of the way so I'm not holding it up. *shakes fist at internet provider*

Natural Gift/Growth x3

(psst Summergale did you see this)

I'm going to be disappointed if this doesn't work.

Imprison - Swagger - Explosion

Prairie Chicken (OO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point + Guts>
Health: 27% <CAPPED>
Energy: 64%
Commands: Imprison ~ Swagger ~ Explosion
Status: Barely holding on and wondering how an Eevee could do that. ( +4 Defense +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point>
Health: 60% <CAPPED>
Energy: 54%
Commands: Natural Gift/Growth x3
Status: Weary, but even her blood burns for battle. ( +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves )

"Round three, begin!"

Always the speedier of the two, Aqua jolts into action, parting her jaws to reveal a ball of off-white energy. Muffin cringes as a brilliant beam shoots forth from her mouth and slams into him. However, he grudgingly slithers back into a pile in order to execute his next move.

The move is unfamiliar, and he only knows it because somewhere along the line a father of his knew it, but he executes it anyway. Aqua shudders as a chill settles across her mind. It's like a fine web cast over her thoughts, and as the small Normal-type frantically tries to fire another beam of energy at her foe, she realises with a sinking feeling that the Imprison worked.

Her commands didn't cover this, and Aqua wastes valuable time trying to find a loophole. "If you don't think you can hit him," then it was Growth.... but she knows she can hit him, she just can't use Natural Gift to do it...
Muffin tries to get comfortable, and brainstorms for a few moments. How to offend her, incite her even further... Aha! He has it!
You're pathetic, you know! You can't even attack now, and you're stupid and you have dirt in your fur!

Aqua's head flicks towards the Grimer, and she freezes mid-thought. How dare he slander her lovely coat! She's furious and unbelievably enraged; her fur bristles and she snarls angrily. He is not going to get away with that, and she decides her attacks can go get stuffed as she runs towards Muffin. Halfway there she trips on a protruding rock and slams down on her face with a muffled squeal, causing herself harm.

Muffin finally reaches the end of his orders. If it was at all possible, he would have gone white with fear now. Explosion? Seriously? That's going to faint him! Surely He must be mishearing! With one pleading glance towards his trainer - who remains an impassive mask - the Grimer inhales, the air flooding his body and becoming poisonous... and very, very explosive. He forces more of the noxious chemicals into his system to maximise the damage, beginning to glow purple as the air leaks from his gloopy skin. If he is going down, he is going to take that thrice-damned Eevee with him.

Finally, the pressure is too much. Muffin's either going to have to breathe out, or explode. He takes the latter option, and the referee barely has time to press some buttons to shield herself and the trainers before the Grimer simply bursts, and even still it deafens all present. Being a participant in the fight, Aqua recieves no such protection, and she is thrown into the air by the red and orange fireball, her fur charred and still smoking as she bounces across the floor...

...and stands up. The movement is slow, and her paws cross each other several times as she staggers upright, but she's still standing. How long that's going to last is entirely another matter, but it's something the Eevee will deal with later. Much later, she'd prefer, given how badly she's hurt right now. With nothing to vent her rage upon, Aqua simply sits down and tries to blink the flashing lights from her eyes.

"Uh, I guess the round's over?"
"Dear god someone call an ambulance."

Prairie Chicken (XO)

[Muffin] Grimer (Male) <Sticky Hold + Anger Point + Guts>
Health: 0%
Energy: 42%
Commands: Imprison ~ Swagger ~ Explosion
Status: Knocked out!

Kratos Aurion (OO)

[Aqua] Eevee (Female) <Run Away + Anger Point + Guts>
Health: 20% <CAPPED>
Energy: 47%
Commands: Natural Gift ~ Nothing ~ Nothing
Status: Holy crap. Did he do this?! ( +6 Attack ) ( 1.5x energy consumption on damaging moves ) ( Moderate Confusion: 50% fail rate ) ( Moves Imprisoned: Natural Gift, Bide, Swift, Secret Power )

Arena Notes:
There is complete and utter devastation. In the area where Muffin exploded, the ground is completely blackened. It lessens as you go further away. There's ash everywhere, and in the very heart of the blast zone lies a barely-there Grimer.

Notes:
o I said try not to kill each other guys! D:
o Aqua did nothing on action 2 due to her commands not giving her anything to use.
o She then confusionfailed on action 3. The RNG Gods do not like you, Kratos :(
o Prairie Chicken attacks first next round.

A question about the damage calculation: Aqua only took 24 damage, which is the standard damage for Explosion if I've read the Damage Guide right. However, Explosion is a physical attack, so Muffin's +6 attack should have boosted that damage. Furthermore, if Aqua hurt herself in confusion, wouldn't that also deal additional damage?

Prairie Chicken said:

A question about the damage calculation: Aqua only took 24 damage, which is the standard damage for Explosion if I've read the Damage Guide right. However, Explosion is a physical attack, so Muffin's +6 attack should have boosted that damage. Furthermore, if Aqua hurt herself in confusion, wouldn't that also deal additional damage?

Click to expand...

You are, in fact, correct. She should have taken 30 damage, not 24. Probably should add the confusion damage too - then it's bed for me.