Byrus vs. Kratos Aurion

Thanks for picking this up, Jack.

Much as I'd like to stop it hogging all the experience, I think Ghost in the Machine is the robospaceduck for the job.

urk, not sure how this slipped past me.

Start with confuse ray. If Ghost uses magic coat, safeguard or protect, go with substitute instead (10%). If it uses substitute, snatch it.
Follow up with some dark pulses, unless it transforms into a type resistant to dark, go with water pulse instead.

Confuse ray/snatch/Substitute (10%) ~ Dark pulse/water pulse ~ Dark pulse/Water pulse

Go ahead and set up safeguard so we don't have to deal with any negative status for a while. A thunderbolt will break the sub in one hit unless something goes wrong; then do some actual damage and hopefully cause paralysis with discharge.

Safeguard ~ Thunderbolt ~ Discharge

Quick summary for my reference

2vs2 single
Style: Set
DQ: 10 days
Damage Cap: None
Banned Moves: OHKO's, weather moves, attract, pain split, destiny bond, perish song, leech seed, paralyzing moves (moves that can indirectly cause paralysis, like thunderbolt, are ok). Chills are limited to 2/pokémon, direct healing moves are banned. Indirect healing moves can be used, but they will only inflict damage and not heal any health.
Arena: The Garbage sea

Living up to its name, the garbage sea is what seems like an endless mass of filthy garbage, stretching as far as the eye can see. The foul stench given up by the reeking mass of waste has a 15% chance of completely overwhelming a battler, causing them to waste an action retching and struggling to regain control of themselves. This can only happen a total of three times to the same Pokémon, after that, the Pokémon gets used to the smell. This doesn't affect poison types, ghost types and robotic Pokémon like Porygon. Baby Pokémon have a higher chance of being affected by it. (up to the ref to decide how much)
The battle itself takes place on a huge metal platform, which is sturdy enough to hold a Pokémon of any weight. Railings surround the platform so nobody can fall off too easily, not unless they're thrown over. If a Pokémon lands in the garbage, it sustains moderate damage (up to the ref to judge) and is tossed roughly back onto the platform by a junkyard monster lurking in the rancid mess.
The sky overhead is gloomy and dark, but sheds enough light for the battlers to see by. It appears strangely resistant to any attempts to change it however.

Click to expand...

Pokémon

Byrus' Active Pokémon:

Kratos Aurion's Active Pokémon:

Pre-round

Waiting for over a year in the middle of a sea of garbage wasn't exactly the best way to pass one's time, even with the flies mysteriously absent and all parties at least somewhat immune to the smell. Kratos Aurion had recalled Regal Bryant and sent out a pink-and-blue robospaceduck; it stood there hovering, waiting, occasionally doing pirouettes, while the opponent retreated into his keystone, poking his head out occasionally. Throughout this year, it did not rain, the Sun never emerged from behind the clouds, and temperatures remained a constant 16 degrees Celsius/61 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then came from the heavens an emergency referee, riding on a Pidgeot, jumping dramatically from the avian; he recalled the Pidgeot into her Great Ball and bowed before the two trainers. He checked on the Pokémon, found them to be satisfactory, and without further delay bade the round commence.

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:92%
Energy:99%
Status: Eager to restart the battle
Confuse ray/snatch/Substitute (10%) ~ Dark pulse/water pulse ~ Dark pulse/Water pulse

Kratos Aurion (XO)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:100%
Energy:100%
Status: Assessing the situation
Condition: Sp.Atk. +1 (Download)
Safeguard ~ Thunderbolt ~ Discharge

Round 6 begin!

Ghost in the Machine searched inside its memory and its backups. However, search as it did, it did not find any instructions on how to set up a safeguard shield. It beeped once and turned to Kratos Aurion, who facepalmed. Tak, upon seeing this, grinned and expelled from his mouth a beam of glittering lights. The Virtual Pokémon tried to calculate the code it found in the dancing fluorescence. It fumbled with the binary and found the number... forty-two.

It stared blankly for a moment before remembering its next command. The three-dimensional Pokémon summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky. Tak just kept on grinning - until the Thunderbolt came upon him with a deafening roar.

The Spiritomb gathered his vengeful thoughts - of which there was no shortage - and converted them into Dark energy which he pulsed at Ghost in the Machine. Deeply disturbed by this onslaught, the Porygon-Z let loose his source of electricity, electrifying the whole arena (except for the trainers and the referee), surely affecting Tak. The Spiritomb shrunk back into its keystone in response and let out another, even more vindictive wave of Darkness in the already-dark sea of garbage.

Round 6 end!

Damage and Energy Calculations

Action 1
Attempt at Safeguard: 1% energy
Confuse Ray: 4% energy

Action 2
Thunderbolt: 12% damage, 6% energy
Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 4% energy

Action 3

Discharge: 18% damage (critical), 6% energy
Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 4% energy

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:60%
Energy:87%
Status: Thinking unspeakable thoughts
Confuse ray ~ Dark pulse ~ Dark pulse

Kratos Aurion (XO)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:74%
Energy:87%
Status: FORTY-TWO? SIX BY NINE...
Condition: Sp.Atk. +1 (Download), Moderately confused (33%)
Failed~Thunderbolt~Discharge

Arena Notes:

• The flies are back! Nah, just kidding.
• On Byrus' side of the platform, a railing and some pieces of the floor are missing.

Notes:

• Discharge was a critical hit
• The first Dark Pulse would have caused flinching had Tak acted first in the round
• Porygon-Z can't learn Safeguard, if Bulbapedia, Veekun, and PsyPoke are to be trusted.
• I randomized which stat was gained as a result of Download, as Spiritomb have the same Attack and Sp. Attack.
• Ghost in the Machine's (I'll abbreviate that to Ghost from now on, if that's okay) confusion was severe in nature for this round and will be moderate in nature for next round, just to clarify.
• Neither Thunderbolt nor Discharge caused Paralysis.
• Sorry for the lateness, homework and dinner got in the way.

Next round:

1. Kratos Aurion commands
2. Byrus commands
3. I ref unless Zhorken would like to take this.

Ghost is fine; that's what I call it.

Oops! Sorry Ghost, I just assumed that you could safeguard because Byrus had mentioned it. It's totally his fault, blame him.

Welp, no sense trying to get too fancy while you're all confused. Magic coat if he's told to try any more status-inflicting shenanigans (including taunt or torment, yay 5th gen), and otherwise use charge beam, discharge and signal beam. If you're fully confused, just... attempt to sit in one place and ponder 42 as serenely as possible so you don't hurt yourself too much.

Charge Beam/Magic Coat/42 ~ Discharge/Magic Coat/42 ~ Signal Beam/Magic Coat/42

Thanks again for taking this, bulbasaur.

I just presumed Porygon-Z had safeguard since it has pretty much everything else! Flippin' versatile normal types.

Taunt to trigger magic coat, unless he hurts himself in confusion, then just go wild with dark pulse all the way.... Unless he confusion fails, then go for a calm mind, but only once. Obviously just go for dark pulse if you're taunted though.

Taunt/Dark pulse ~ Dark pulse/Calm mind x2

Pre-round

There was a sound, a faint sound, of buzzing. It was barely detected by the trainers, but it could only mean one thing. The flies were back.

At first, no one could see them. Then, they increased in proximity and number, although those figures were still nowhere close to the original ones. The referee sprayed on bug spray and offered it to the trainers, who gladly accepted. He did not spray it on the Pokémon, one being a ghost and another being a virtual ghost.

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:60%
Energy:87%
Status: Calming himself down.
Taunt/Dark pulse ~ Dark pulse/Calm mind~Dark pulse/Calm mind

Kratos Aurion (XO)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:74%
Energy:87%
Status: Examining the flies.
Condition: Sp.Atk. +1 (Download), Moderately confused (33%)
Charge Beam/Magic Coat/42 ~ Discharge/Magic Coat/42 ~ Signal Beam/Magic Coat/42

Round 7 begin!

Ghost saw a vivid flashback of the pattern of the Confuse ray, which set it back to work on the problem of forty-two. It was rather hopeless, but it tried. A few seconds into the calculations, a little spark flew from its tail and it beeped mechanically, "MEMORY FAILURE AT ADDRESS 0x2A. SELF REPAIR SEQUENCE # 101010 ACTIVATE".

Tak grinned at this stroke of luck and pulsed out a wave of darkness, both fiery and icy, killing all of the winged insects in the vicinity and thus rendering the applications of repellent unnecessary. It also had the effect of expanding Ghost's vocabulary by a couple of unpleasant words.

The Virtual Pokémon stated, "REPAIR SEQUENCE COMPLETE" and stared intensely at Tak, waiting for him to make a move. Tak accepted this invitation and sent out another of the pulses. Kratos Aurion covered her ears after the first sentence or so, staring at Byrus, who, despite himself, had his mouth open by the end of the stream of thoughts.

Ghost didn't take kindly to the mentality of its opponent, and so released an uncontrolled and undirected flow of electricity. By instinct, Tak retreated back into his keystone, although this did not spare him from the onslaught of electricity. He released another round of dark thoughts in response, less severe than the preceding one, and stuck his tongue out. He then retreated into his keystone, two helix-shaped beams of energy with colours blue and red following him into the stone, leaving him with the humming of mosquitoes to contend with.

Round 7 end!

Damage and Energy Calculations

Action 1
Confused: 1% energy, 2% damage to self
Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 5% energy

Action 2
Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 5% energy
Discharge: 11% damage, 6% energy

Action 3

Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 5% energy
Signal Beam: 10% damage, 5% energy

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:39%
Energy:72%
Status: Not at all tired of using the same move
Dark pulse ~ Dark pulse~Dark pulse

Kratos Aurion (XO)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:33%
Energy:75%
Status: Running low on power
Condition: Sp.Atk. +1 (Download), Mildly confused (25%)
42 (Confused) ~ Discharge ~ Signal Beam

Arena Notes:

• No flies
• On Byrus' side of the platform, a railing and some pieces of the floor are missing.

Notes:

• No critical hits
• No Dark Pulse caused flinching
• Ghost was confused during the first round.
• Discharge did not cause paralysis.
• Since Ghost was struck by fairly powerful attacks this round, its confusion will be of Mild nature for the next round.
• Signal Beam did not cause confusion.

Next round:

1. Byrus commands
2. Kratos Aurion commands
3. I ref unless Mersault or Zhorken would like to take this.

I need to stop making such long DQ times, it just encourages me to procrastinate.

Anyway! I'd love to give you more varied commands Tak, but your movepool kinda sucks. Gotta have some drawbacks for the lack of weaknesses I guess.
Let's gamble with confusion some more. Use confuse ray to worsen his confusion, unless Ghost tries to prevent it with something like substitute, double team, protect or magic coat, in that case, go with dark pulse. When or if you successfully pull off confuse ray, use dark pulse for the remainder of the round. If Ghost turns into a type resistant to dark, use water pulse.
Also go with confuse ray if he uses bide, regardless of his current confusion level.

Confuse ray/Dark pulse/Water pulse x3

A quick question, bulbasaur: do you round the base power for moves up or down when they don't end in 0? I would assume down, but I thought I'd check first.

I keep the decimals and round at the end.

Hrm, all right. Not sure why I thought the answer would be helpful either way considering I don't know the rest of your scale. Let me just be direct, then, if you don't mind: how much damage would Ghost do with a non-STAB 95 base power special move at this point?

12% damage, if it is not supereffective or critical.

Thanks. Guess I go with the original plan (porygon y u no learn any 100-bp moves not called iron tail or dream eater). Time to get reckless, I suppose.

Hover right over to Tak and keep going until you've effectively "phased" through him. Once you're inside him (this isn't dirty at all), keep your eyes shut/your video receptors turned off/whatever and zap cannon your little virtual heart out. If you don't think you'll be able to phase through him, or if you think you might get messed up by being inside him when you use zap cannon, then just stay right next to him and fire away at point-blank range as best you can. If that's the case, then close your eyes/turn off video/whatever you need to do to stop confuse ray as soon as you're done attacking him to avoid confuse ray. Not sure if that meets the criteria for switching to dark pulse, but as long as it stops him even once (and you don't start pondering 42 again) then the fact that you're faster should get us through this. If you can't get close enough/into him on the first action, keep trying.

"Phase" and Zap Cannon/Approach and Zap Cannon ~ Zap Cannon ~ Zap Cannon

Pre-round

After the round, all fell eerily silent. One could hear the chirping of grasshoppers and the "empty room sound". The referee looked around the junkyard and tried to find the garbage monster; he contemplated several possibilities before finally deciding that it was probably hiding in the North-West corner.

Ghost had slowed down his pirouetting and was staring directly at Tak, who did not feel uncomfortable as would be expected. In reality, he was as tense as the Porygon-Z, and it could be felt in the air. The two trainers seemed relaxed, though, and Kratos Aurion was veritably sleeping. The referee walked over, tapped her twice on the shoulder, and walked back to his place before he took out the familiar flags and waved them in the air.

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:39%
Energy:72%
Status: Trying to relax
Confuse ray/Dark pulse/Water pulse~Confuse ray/Dark pulse/Water pulse~Confuse ray/Dark pulse/Water pulse

Kratos Aurion (XO)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:33%
Energy:75%
Status: Nervous but excited (as much as a computer can be) about the following round.
Condition: Sp.Atk. +1 (Download), Mildly confused (25%)
"Phase" and Zap Cannon/Approach and Zap Cannon ~ Zap Cannon ~ Zap Cannon

Round 8 begin!

Tak the Spiritomb waited for Ghost to make its move. The ever-present creepy smile on his face vanished, however, as Ghost floated over and merged into his body. It produced a ball of electricity which didn't have much distance to go before it zapped the Forbidden Pokémon. Tak judged that he would not be able to aim his Confuse Ray, and so defaulted to the second option, a wave of darkness that would affect any Pokémon on the field. Ghost shifted uncomfortably in Tak's body as the wave washed over him.

Never tired of doing the same thing as long as it worked, Tak waited to see if Ghost would do anything that would render it susceptible to being Confused. Pleased that the previous round had gone as expected, Ghost fired another ball of electricity at point-blank range, which obviously hit. Tak, upon deciding that he wouldn't be able to confuse Ghost, pulsed another wave of darkness and chaos of thoughts, lapping at the shores of Ghost's virtual sanity. It proved too much for Ghost to handle and it shut off, leaving Kratos Aurion devastated and Byrus victorious. Triumphantly, Tak grinned and retreated into his keystone before Byrus recalled him and shook hands with Kratos Aurion, who in turn recalled her Pokémon and offered a ride on her Aerodactyl. They took to the skies, leaving behind (hopefully forever) the Garbage Sea.

Round 8 end!

End of Battle between Byrus and Kratos Aurion

Damage and Energy Calculations

Action 1
Zap Cannon: 15% damage, 9% energy
Dark Pulse: 13% damage, 5% energy

Action 2
Zap Cannon: 15% damage, 9% energy
Dark Pulse: 20% damage, 5% energy (critical hit)

Pokémon

Byrus (XO)
Active

Tak
♂ Spiritomb with ability Pressure holding Blackglasses
Health:9%
Energy:62%
Status: Complacent
Condition: Very severely Paralyzed (33%)
Dark pulse ~ Dark pulse

Kratos Aurion (XX)
Active

Ghost in the Machine
Indeterminate Porygon-Z with ability Download holding Enigma Berry
Health:0%
Energy:57%
Condition: Knocked Out
Zap Cannon~Zap cannon

Arena Notes:

• No flies
• On Byrus' side of the platform, a railing and some pieces of the floor are missing.

Notes:

• By "Phasing", I assume Ghost was supposed to approach and somehow make Tak phase into it, right? In my imagination, it takes a considerable and conscious effort to phase, and Tak wouldn't accidentally phase in ordinary circumstances. However, I guess Ghost would be able to be "inside" Tak, and thus accomplish what I assume to be your intentions.
• The second Dark Pulse was a critical hit. Tough luck there, Kratos Aurion.
• Great game. If only the RNG had been kinder...
• End of battle prizes are as follows: $6 for Kratos Aurion, $16 for Byrus, and $10 for me.
• Experience distribution is as follows: 3 for Tak, 2 for Regal Bryant, and 1 each for Ruaig and Ghost in the Machine

Ah, this was a 2 vs 2 battle, so this is actually the end.

....The end to a ridiculously long battle, haha. I enjoyed this Kratos, we will have to have a rematch sometime. One that hopefully doesn't take over a year to complete.

And thanks for picking this up again bulbasaur. I think the stench of my arena scared most of the other refs away... (no one will ever understand my love for garbage dumps)

How could I have missed that? *facepalm*

I'll update it to be in accordance to that fact in a bit. Good game!

Uh, not to be a sore loser, but I really wasn't expecting zap cannon to behave that way (the "phasing" confusion was my fault and I should've either been clearer or just not bothered). Generally speaking, zap cannon doesn't "miss" because the user fails to start the attack properly at all; it misses because, once the electricity has been generated and gathered, it's so powerful that it's difficult to control and so is prone to flying off and zigzagging around in random directions after launch, or flying off to the side instead of straight ahead, etc.. Like...

Attacks and Abilities Guide said:

The user forms a ball of unstable electric energy and fires it at the opponent. The erratic nature of the attack makes it difficult to control and aim, but it is extremely powerful and paralysis is guaranteed if it should strike.

Click to expand...

The idea was to get Ghost close enough that the zap cannon would hit at point-blank range before it had a chance to go off on a random trajectory. I figured that would have at least improved the accuracy, if not removed the accuracy issue altogether. Now maybe you did take that into account, zap cannon just happened to miss anyway and that was just how you felt like describing it, in which case I'm fine with that; if you'd really prefer to stick to your interpretation of zap cannon instead of rewriting then I can live with that, too. I don't mind taking the loss, it's just that I'm not entirely sure it should've behaved like that, and I'd appreciate a little clarification.

Hmm... Sure, why not.

Let me redo the calculations, and we'll see where this goes. Expect a re-do of the round sometime soon.

EDIT: I'll actually edit the round sometime soon, but I'm done my re-calculations and... ouch. They're going to be a surprise.

EDIT2: OK, done.

Damn. Of course. Not that surprising at all, really, considering my rather deplorable luck of late. Critted here, haxxed out of the VGC tourney again... damn, man.

But oh, well! Very good game, Byrus. It was fun. Thanks for the rewrite, bulbasaur, even though it didn't actually end up mattering, and thanks again for reffing. I'm just glad this is finally over, haha.

(from now on in my battles any effects involving any randomizing are banned and everything has no guard grumble grumble)