[11] Lord of the Fireflies vs Byrus (Ref: Pathos)

Castelia City Square

Castelia City is the gateway to Unova, its port welcoming trainers from around the world. Today those trainers include a fair number from Asber, turned out to compete or spectate on the first round of the League Championship. The city square at the center of Castelia has been reserved for the first round of battle, its broad cobbled expanse providing plenty of room to fight and the central fountain offering a refuge for pokémon that would rather swim than stand. Skyscrapers rise on all sides, framing the scene with the imposing prosperity of Castelia City.

More than just Asber's own trainers have turned out for the battles, though; plenty of curious Castelia residents and tourists mill about the rim of the arena, hoping to catch a few exciting battles. To ensure that they don't go unsatisfied, the regional authorities have generously--and forcefully--provided some of Unova's most powerful pokémon for the trainers to test-drive and show off for the crowd. Unfortunately, with the number of battles that need to be run through before the TCoD League's lease on the square expires, some of the fights might have to be truncated a bit.​

Lord of the Fireflies (O)

Barbecue (m) <Gluttony>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- "Hrmmm..."

Byrus (O)

(m) <Defeatist>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- "Let's go!"​

Before Barbecue can get a word in, archeops flaps his wings and spirals to the ground, landing heavy enough to send a powerful, seismic wave Barbecue's way. The simisear shakes unsteadily as the ground spirals underneath him; he grows so unsteady his bones seem to shake, knocking into each other, leaving a somewhat permanent effect on his limbs. Even after the ground steadies, he can feel the vibrating in his limbs; it makes it harder for him just to walk. Not to mention, that really hurt.

So he's definitely excited to get his revenge on. He slams a fist on the shook-up ground, which responds to his beckoning; large boulders sprout suddenly from the normally solid Castelia city streets, rising up to grab archeops in a teepee-formation. Archeops squawks under the pressure of the boulders; they squeeze him tight, pushing him in and rendering a similar affect on him as the bulldoze did to Barbecue - he feels the effect on his limbs slowing him down, and not just because he's temporarily trapped in a tiny rock cave.

He can still attack, though. He roars, a deep, high-pitched screech, and the earth answers him like it did Barbeque - flinging into the air around the simisear and tossing him high with surprising force. Barbecue lands hard on the ground, sand lying around him, and gets to his feet painfully; so far, he seems to be on the worse end of the battle. Sure, he trapped the archeops, but it doesn't look as wounded as he feels.

He slams the ground again, and another layer of rocks burst up around the former layer, doubling the trap surrounding the archeops. It also doubles the pressure on him, and he groans under the weight; he can hardly move at all. Still, it does mean that at least the simisear won't be able to reach him, if it wanted to.

It does mean, though, that he's so slowed down he can be outsped. And he can hardly move. He grunts and tries to get out, but it's impossible. He glances around a rocky edge to try and spot the simisear, unsure of what to do, and figures it's best to create a substitute. He begins to claw at the rock around him, forming a bit into a somewhat archeops-like shape; when it's recognizable, at least a little, he breathes some life into it, and it pops up beside him, just as trapped as he is. At least it'll protect him... sort of.

Barbecue tilts his head, just as unsure of his plan of attack as the archeops was. He decides to yawn anyhow, since both rock tombs hit. He opens his maw wide, yawns deep, unsure of whether the archeops can even see him, and if he did, whether it worked - but he tried. That's all he can do, right?​

Castelia City Square

Castelia City is the gateway to Unova, its port welcoming trainers from around the world. Today those trainers include a fair number from Asber, turned out to compete or spectate on the first round of the League Championship. The city square at the center of Castelia has been reserved for the first round of battle, its broad cobbled expanse providing plenty of room to fight and the central fountain offering a refuge for pokémon that would rather swim than stand. Skyscrapers rise on all sides, framing the scene with the imposing prosperity of Castelia City.

More than just Asber's own trainers have turned out for the battles, though; plenty of curious Castelia residents and tourists mill about the rim of the arena, hoping to catch a few exciting battles. To ensure that they don't go unsatisfied, the regional authorities have generously--and forcefully--provided some of Unova's most powerful pokémon for the trainers to test-drive and show off for the crowd. Unfortunately, with the number of battles that need to be run through before the TCoD League's lease on the square expires, some of the fights might have to be truncated a bit.​

Lord of the Fireflies (O)

Barbecue (m) <gluttony>
Health: 75%
Energy: 88%
- "Er..." Speed -1.

Byrus (O)

(m) <defeatist>
Health: 67% | 15% sub
Energy: 83%
- "Unf." -2 speed. Stuck in a rock tomb.​

Barbecue pulls a determined face, flames spreading across his body as he gets down on all fours - and the he kicks off, dashing towards archeops at alarming speeds. He zigszags sideways, gathering speeds as he closes the distance between him and the rock-tomb and the flames surrounding him burns hotter, and at the last second archeop's jumped forwards and took the impact; Barbecue slammed head-first into the dummy archeops, speed and flames knocking the two together. Barbecue stumbled back, rubbed his head and grinned; he felt rather limber after that, not so shaky anymore, but the substitute didn't look too bad from the impact. Only a slight crack in it, pretty good overall.

The real archeops, meanwhile, had been busy. Inside the rock tomb he'd been digging away, and he was several feet underground now, arcing sideways to try and place himself somewhere under the simisear he planned on attacking at some point in the future. For now, though, he paused in his digging and took a deep breath, content in that he was no longer, at least, trapped and smooshed between boulders. And his substitute quickly followed him, sliding down the tunnel after; neither of them seemed particularly at ease underground, but it was better than where they'd been before.

And up above, Barbecue frowned. He no longer had anyone to... attack. His rock tomb stared at him and he stared back, unsure of himself. Since orders were orders, he kicked the ground and the rocks flung into the air; they swerved around and piled onto the hole in the ground where archeops had dug down, covering it up, only a few pebbles falling down the hole to alert archeops of the attack. Barbecue's frown deepened, his rock tomb ruined and his attack useless.

In his hole, safe, archeops began sharpening his claws against the dirt, preparing for later when he'd have to resurface. They quickly grew bright and deadlier than ever, and a grin spread cross his face, his substitute watching with admiration. Yes, he'd show that simisear... soon... hehe.

Up above, Barbecue kicked the ground again, tossing more boulders around quite uselessly; they piled above the hole in the ground, blocking it pretty damn well but doing nothing more than that. Barbecue was, if nothing else, determined to keep that archeops underground.

Unfortunately, archeops had other plans.

The ground beneath Barbecue's feet exploded from under him - he yelped in shock as he was flung into the air and archeops swiped at him, leaving a nasty gash across his side. He swung through the air, trying to rebalance himself, but he landed pretty hard on his back while archeops climbed out of his newly-dug hole, his substitute beside him. Grunting in pain, Barbecue righted himself, lighting his new wound; goddamn that archeops!​

Castelia City Square

Castelia City is the gateway to Unova, its port welcoming trainers from around the world. Today those trainers include a fair number from Asber, turned out to compete or spectate on the first round of the League Championship. The city square at the center of Castelia has been reserved for the first round of battle, its broad cobbled expanse providing plenty of room to fight and the central fountain offering a refuge for pokémon that would rather swim than stand. Skyscrapers rise on all sides, framing the scene with the imposing prosperity of Castelia City.

More than just Asber's own trainers have turned out for the battles, though; plenty of curious Castelia residents and tourists mill about the rim of the arena, hoping to catch a few exciting battles. To ensure that they don't go unsatisfied, the regional authorities have generously--and forcefully--provided some of Unova's most powerful pokémon for the trainers to test-drive and show off for the crowd. Unfortunately, with the number of battles that need to be run through before the TCoD League's lease on the square expires, some of the fights might have to be truncated a bit.​

Lord of the Fireflies (O)

Barbecue (m) <gluttony>
Health: 60%
Energy: 74%
- "... Owrhg!"

Byrus (O)

(m) <defeatist>
Health: 67% | 11% sub
Energy: 66%
- "Ahaha~" -2 speed, atk/accuracy +1.​

Barbecue grins, finally having someone to target. He's weak, but not discouraged, and he gets down on the ground, flames spreading across his little limber body. He dashes towards archeops, gathering speed as he crisscrosses the torn-up battlefield, finally reaching the archeops only to have its dummy take the hit - the two crash together, Barbecue stumbling backwards, flames burning out, while the substitute still looks mostly intact. Barbecue shakes his head, clearing his mind; he does feel a bit limbered up from that work out, at least.

Unfortunately, it won't last long. Archeops slams his fists into the ground, impacting something deep within the earth, and it shivers underfoot; Barbecue stumbles, his knees shaking and hitting eachother all clumsy-like, and he falls on his face as the ground beneath him gives way. He legs are so shaky that whatever speed he picked up from before is completely gone now, and he slowly picks himself back up, all covered in dirt and scratches and feeling pretty shaken up.

He wipes off a bit of dirt, frowns, then kicks the ground quite furiously. The boulders from before fly into the air, souring towards archeops and tumbling down on him - or not, as once again the substitute takes the hit. This time it seems to be too much, and the substitute finally breaks, crumbling under the weight of the rocks and not coming back up. Archeops mumbles at the loss, but doesn't hesitate before slamming his fists into the ground again. Once more the ground shivers to life, and Barbecue quickly falls flat on his face, hitting himself particularly hard; his knees are all a-shaking and he can barely pick himself up, they're shivering even after the earth stops shaking. He finally straightens himself, but he looks a mess; scratches all over and dirt covering his face, bruised as well, and he's finally looking pretty beat up from the battle.

While Barbecue collects himself, archeops wastes no time. He grabs a few boulders and begins scratching at them, moulding them into a substitute similar to the one he had before. Within moments a mini-archeops is formed beside him, and he takes a second to breathe onto it, white energy flowing from him into the mimic; it glows and comes to life, moving somewhat oddly but otherwise very lifelike.

And just in time. Barbecue stares at the two, unsure, but figures that since he did kill a substitute and his rock slide hit he should probably yawn. So he does, opening wide and tired-like, because he is pretty tired after all. Archeops hides behind his dummy, ignoring the site completely, and the substitute is of course immune to all sights of tiredness. Barbecue frowns, unsure if it worked or not, but pretty sure it didn't.​

Castelia City Square

Castelia City is the gateway to Unova, its port welcoming trainers from around the world. Today those trainers include a fair number from Asber, turned out to compete or spectate on the first round of the League Championship. The city square at the center of Castelia has been reserved for the first round of battle, its broad cobbled expanse providing plenty of room to fight and the central fountain offering a refuge for pokémon that would rather swim than stand. Skyscrapers rise on all sides, framing the scene with the imposing prosperity of Castelia City.

More than just Asber's own trainers have turned out for the battles, though; plenty of curious Castelia residents and tourists mill about the rim of the arena, hoping to catch a few exciting battles. To ensure that they don't go unsatisfied, the regional authorities have generously--and forcefully--provided some of Unova's most powerful pokémon for the trainers to test-drive and show off for the crowd. Unfortunately, with the number of battles that need to be run through before the TCoD League's lease on the square expires, some of the fights might have to be truncated a bit.​

Lord of the Fireflies (O)

Barbecue (m) <gluttony>
Health: 30%
Energy: 61%
- "Go to sleeeep..." -1 speed.

Byrus (O)

(m) <defeatist>
Health: 57% | 10% sub
Energy: 51%
- "No, you sleep." -2 speed, atk/accuracy +1.​

Barbecue concentrates very hard, closes his eyes and tries to sleep, but he finds something blocks him - something mental in his mind, like a wall, stopping him from falling asleep. It feels, strangely, like he could sleep - but it wouldn't be at all restoring, it would just be regular sleep. Not the kind he was intending. He opens his eyes again, staring numbly at archeops, and wondering what, exactly, is going on.

And, of course, archeops has no answers. Except for one: pain. The ancient bird slams his feet into the ground, tearing the city into complete disarray; the floor cracks open, stretching like a hungry mouth towards Barbecue, and the fearful simisear screeches and tries to run but the shaking earth is too unsteady underneath him. He trips and falls, his legs still unsteady from before, and lands heavily on his side, too achy to get up; he curls up in the fetal position until the ground stops shaking, and tries to reassure himself that it won't happen again. It can't, the earth is supposed to be solid...

But it does. Archeops grins as he slams joyfully into the ground once more, and it shivers to life, more cracks splitting open, the fountain falling over and water spilling out wildly; Barbecue whimpers pitifully, the shaking underneath him so powerful it simply pulls the life out of him. His head slams against the ground so many times it feels like he's a milkshake, until finally the world goes blank and he sees nothing at all.

The ground stops shaking, archeops grins, tired but glad to finally be rid of his opponent. And, overall, it was much easier than he'd anticipated.​