Round Five
Negrek (1/1)
Liberalis ♀
Ability: Synchronize
Item: Enigma Berry
Health: 92%
Energy: 45%
Commands: Future Sight ~ Covet/Stored Power/Chill ~ Swift/Covet/Chill
Status: Still fast asleep, but suddenly aware of her surroundings.
Asleep (two more actions); +2 attack, +3 special attack, +1 special defense.
Chiropter (1/1)
Lydda ♀
Ability: Blaze
Health: 82%
Energy: 55%
Commands: [eat berry] ~ Shadow Claw ~ Substitute (15%)
Status: Trying to think of a way to avoid destroying her treasure.
Mimicked move: Light Screen; +1 attack, +1 defense, +1 speed.
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Lydda scowls. She just dug up her treasure! She would've liked to spend a little more time with it... But ah well, can't be helped. If she can't have it, no-one can. She stuffs the berry whole into her mouth, but it's much tougher than she expected a berry to be; after failing to crush it with her jaws, she has to spit it back out. Undaunted, she attacks the berry in her hand with her teeth, yelping once when she catches a finger my mistake. Juice soaks her muzzle and dribbles down her neck. Once she's conquered the thing, she wipes a sticky hand on her chest fur and removes her hat for a moment of silence. Aye, it's probably for the best she disposed of her treasure, though. She should just be glad she got before it was too late, she reminds herself, donning her hat again.
Meanwhile, although Liberalis is still trapped in her trance, unable to move any more than she needs, she is perfectly aware of Lydda's awful, noisy slurping sounds. She can't be dreaming; she feels far too
real. There's a blunt pain in her side like someone kicked her. (She concludes that
someone kicked her.) Even more alarming, the familiar feeling of her trusty berry bag is missing from around her neck—she fears that it has fared much worse. Well, only one thing left to do: get revenge. (
"And you know they're gonna use the things you love against you", sing the speakers—an idea for her to keep in mind, perhaps.) She projects her mind into the near future again. The first thing she notes is that there are two Lyddas, one a few steps in front of the other; the second is that neither Lydda is wearing her tricorn hat. Before she can ponder either development, the hat floats into view, surrounded by the telltale purple glow of telekinesis. Both Typhlosions stare at it warily, though it becomes apparent, as the hat gets closer, that the one in front has its gaze fixed several feet away from the hat. It passes over the front Lydda, and stops over the other's head. She jumps for it, and the other mimics this move, clawing at thin air... Oh,
perfect, thinks Liberalis.
Oh, that was perfect
, you sly cat, you. She fixes her strike at the best possible moment; then, not wanting to spoil anything, she snaps straight back to the present.
And not a moment too soon. She isn't on the ground anymore; she barely has time to register the claw gripping her around the middle, digging into her sides, before the other rakes across her vulnerable stomach. With a piercing screech, she flails her claws out in retaliation. Her hind claws swing? uselessly, but her left foreclaw connects, tearing across her attacker's sticky face; the right snags something stiff and rough, but soft. Another yowl rings out, this time not hers; the claw constricting her midsection disappears, and she falls, instinctively twisting herself upright and dragging the stiff thing with her.
Her eyes fly open when she hits the ground, and she absorbs the scene as quickly as she can. Lydda towers above her, clutching her face and still grwling. (Honestly? After that little swipe?) Her tricorn hat is already missing; Liberalis realizes, looking down, that the hat is the stiff thing now under her foot. Without another thought, steps off the hat, grabs the hat between her teeth, and dashes off before Lydda can drop to all fours. Nevertheless, the Typhlosion is hot on her trail within a second, back blazing. Liberalis is starting to panic: there isn't really anywhere to run to. Her stomach is still twinging where Lydda clawed it, but there's no time to worry about that now.
Wait,
time... Hoping for her life that her idea works, Liberalis slows her pace to a walk. Sure enough, now that the two Pokémon are moving at different speeds, the timey-wimey room decides to stick its nose in again. Lydda slows to a near-stop, drifting through the air as if it were syrup, staring in disblief as Liberalis liesurely trots off at lightning speed. The Espeon stops and sits down once she's safely on the other side of the stage. Brimming with pride, she lets go of the hat and levitates it onto her hat. It's a bit of a loose fit, but it's a much, much more satisfying prize than her berry would have been.
Lydda returns to normal speed and skids to a halt, cursing. She's lost this round; there's no way she'll get her hat back with the scoundrel on the defensive now. She'll have to be craftier, but at the moment, she's not feeling all that confident in her craftiness. Aye, she'll need more hands on deck for this. A decoy ought to do the trick. Another stream of fire, and some more life breathed into it, and Lydda's got another double to help her. This double is accordingly missing its hat, though, and Lydda gets her first good look at her hatless self since she put it on. At first, she feels a pang of disappointment, as if it were rubbing in the fact that she really doesn't have her hat. But then she realizes she looks as fearsome as ever even without it, and some of her confidence comes back. Arr, the dog—cat—
blaggard will regret having been so brazen.
Liberalis, watching carefully, knows which Lydda is the real thing, so another attack won't be crucial to her plan. Still, some extra damage can't hurt. She bows her head, and a flurry of bright yellow stars sprays out from a point just in front of her gem, hurtling in the general direction of the twin Typhlosions. The effigy slides quickly in front of the original without lifting its feet. Each star that hits the substitute blows away its colour for a moment, revealing the flames underneath. Its colour returns looking somewhat washed after the last star hits, and the air around it wavers as its heat escapes.
Well, only one thing left to do. Liberalis lifts the tricorn hat from her head and levitates it over towards Lydda, keeping an eye on the real Typhlosion. The double shudders, but it doesn't seem to find anything wrong with the hat. The real Lydda does, though: she's infuriated. She doesn't want her to
give it back; that's just an insult! But even worse, she's not giving it back. The Typhlosion jumps and claws at it despite herself, but Liberalis jerks it just out of reach. And just like the Espeon saw in her sleep, the substitute mirrors its master's frantic hopping, giving itself away as the double. Past-Liberalis clues in very quickly, and on the third jump, the great crackling sphere of energy makes its entrance, practically on top of its target. However, the substitute swoops in to take the hit, reverting to a condensed flash of fire as it flies. At the last split-second, it forms a slanted screen in front of Lydda, who has toppled over in surprise, and the ball ricochets off of it and veers between the rafters and into the wooden ceiling. It blips out of existence when it hits, leaving in its wake a perfectly round dark patch, and stunned silence. The battlers are stunned; the audience is stunned; even the song has ended.
Lydda sits up slowly, looking bewildered. In her moment of panic, she completely forgot about her substitute, and it takes a moment for her to realize what just happened. Then she remembers her hat, floating in place above her head, and makes one final grab at it. Liberalis jerks the hat—
her hat now, she reminds herself—out of the way just in time. She draws it back towards herself, to a roar of cheering and applause, and puts it back on her head. Then she returns staring in disbelief at the charred patch of ceiling. Her plan was so
clever, how could it have failed? But she's not too disappointed. That would just have been icing on the poffin. Not even! Sprinkles, perhaps; the hat is most certainly the icing. Oh, if only Mewtwo could see her now...
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Negrek (1/1)
Liberalis ♀
Ability: Synchronize
Health: 80%
Energy: 27%
Actions: Future Sight ~ Covet ~ Swift
Status: Wearing Lydda's former hat. Feeling somewhat drained, as her premature feeling of victory settles.
+2 attack, +3 special attack, +1 special defense.
Chiropter (1/1)
Lydda ♀
Ability: Blaze
Health: 61%
Energy: 42%
Actions: [eat berry] ~ Shadow Claw ~ Substitute (15%)
Status: Sitting up, winded but otherwise more or less fine, aside from her pride.
Mimicked move: Light Screen; +1 attack, +1 defense, +1 speed.
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Arena Notes:
- There's a dark patch on the ceiling where Future Sight hit. (I think that makes the ceiling relatively low for a stage? I don't know much about stages.)
- The Trick Room encompasses the stage from floor to ceiling. Trick Room (one more action).
Notes:
Energy and Damage:
- Liberalis's health: 92% - 12% (Shadow Claw) = 80%
- Liberalis's energy: 45% - 8% (Future Sight) - 4% (Covet) - 6% (Swift) = 27%
- Lydda's health: 82% - 8% (Covet) - 15% (Substitute) = 61%
- Substitute's health: 15% - 12% (Swift) - 18% (Future Sight) = negative a lot
- Lydda's energy: 55% - 5% (Shadow Claw) - 8% (Substitute) = 42%
