[09] Full Metal Cookies vs Kratos Aurion

Okay then... cover your ears immediately and Calm Mind. I doubt that either one on its own will be completely effective, but hopefully doing both while hiding in the back of a hole will drastically reduce the effects, if not cancel them out entirely. Tangled Feet will kick in after this, so see if Mind Reader, or Foresight if you're super-confused and think Mind Reader takes too much concentration, won't take care of that (I'm assuming you'll have to leave your hole, or at least move closer to the opening/poke your head out, but it doesn't matter much at this point). Keep your ears covered while doing this, just in case Phil stopped Tone-Deaf when you covered your ears and tries it again. Now that he's closer to the ground a nice Stone Edge is in order; if you don't think that it will reach, though, then, just go for broke and Hyper Beam. If you're really, really confused, just try and Calm Mind again.

Cover ears and Calm Mind ~ cover ears and Mind Reader/cover ears and Foresight/cover ears and Calm Mind ~ Stone Edge/Hyper Beam/Calm Mind

Full Metal Cookies (XOO) <185>

Philharmonic (M)
Health: 50%
Energy: 61%
- Absorbed in merely keeping himself aloft.

Kratos Aurion (XOO) <228>

Sancho Panza (M)
Health: 76%
Energy: 75%
- In good shape.

Philharmonic has no trouble at all getting closer to the ground. Spilling air from his wings, he circles lower, scattering feathers as he goes. The chatot's flight is wobbly and erratic, and so is his voice, at first, when he starts to jabber nonsense fragments of noise. In his hole, Sancho has his paws firmly clasped over his ears, his eyes closed as he blocks out all distractions, reinforcing his mind against intrusion.

Philharmonic, who has no notion of his opponent's defenses, goes on with his signature attack, alternately muttering darkly to himself and letting out the keening wail of an air-raid siren. The chatot's jerky flight brings him ever closer to the ground, and his tone-deaf attack only grows more frantic, bursts of what sounds like the Sinnoh regional anthem at max volume interspersed with something like a blender chewing a brick smoothie. Now and again the chatot goes through quiet periods or sequences of loud noises that are at least not too obnoxious, but for the most part his shrieking is quite difficult to ignore. Even with his ears covered, Sancho isn't able to block out the sound entirely, and the unsteady chorus nibbles on the edge of his consciousness, dulling his senses and aggravating him despite his best attempts to block it out with his calm mind. Philharmonic, his voice growing increasingly hoarse and his movements uncoordinated, works up to a grand finale of simulated jackhammers and operatic singing, then falls silent with a few dry coughs.

Worn out and aching, the chatot finds it hard to concentrate on his flying. The world before his eyes is blurred and wavering, and despite his best efforts, Philharmonic finds his mind wandering even as he tries to focus exclusively on his flight. The chatot drops a few feet, circling unsteadily, then slips a few more, until at last he goes into a long, shallow dive, rocking back and forth unsteadily, and plows facefirst into the grass.

Sancho lowers his paws, then shakes his head with a snort of annoyance. A constant ringing fills his ears, all other sounds feeling muffled and distant under the perpetual keening. Scuttling up his tunnel until it becomes too steep for him to crawl, Sancho then digs his paws into the dirt and starts to climb. The lucario pauses now and again to shake his head, clinging to the side of the wall as hard as he can. The constant buzzing in his brain mingles with mild befuddlement, and his movements feel sluggish and clumsy.

When the lucario is almost to the top of the tunnel, he reaches for a handhold that isn't there; as Sancho paws desperately at the side of the tunnel to try and haul himself up, the side of the tunnel under his feet gives way, sending him sliding back to land hard at the bottom of his tunnel in a cloud of disturbed dirt.

Aboveground Philharmonic is picking himself up off the ground, looking a sorry sight indeed with his feathers sticking up in all directions. The chatot grumbles to himself and wavers upon regaining his feet, then stumbles sideways in an attempt to keep his balance. The flying type weaves back and forth a few times before coming to a quivering halt, rocking back and forth on his feet and muttering to himself. Philharmonic gathers his cloudy thoughts and raises his wings until they point, however shakily, straight out in front of him. A swirling ball of blue-green energy bubbles up into the air between them, and finally Philharmonic lets the aura sphere go with a stagger and a small squawk.

The aura sphere shows none of Philharmonic's unsteadiness and shoots off straight as an arrow, parallel to the ground, then dives into Sancho's hole and seeks out the lucario where he lies. The lucario, who is still recovering from his fall, yelps as the aura sphere slams into his stomach, then grimaces and slowly pulls himself around so that he can start his climb again. This time Sancho is extra careful, stopping to rest whenever it feels like his simmering confusion might overwhelm him. At last he reaches the lip of his hole and is able to poke his head out, getting his first look at his opponent in a long time.

Philharmonic is still wobbling around on the grass, keeping himself upright only by the most desperate sideways shuffles when he starts to lose his balance. Sancho averts his eyes almost immediately; the chatot's weaving gait is only making him feel dizzy. Pressing his paws hard into the earth, Sancho sends a wave of power rippling out towards the area under where the chatot is, splitting underground rocks into jagged shards that dig their way towards the surface.

Philharmonic lets out a scream as the dirt around him erupts with sharp hunks of rock, long spears of stone slicing into his body as they push blindly up into the air. Sancho smiles, a bit crookedly, as his opponent disappears behind a cloud of dirt and flying rock; when the air clears gain, Philharmonic is lying in the middle of a forest of rocky pillars, bloodied and in even more disarray than before, but still able to fight. Nevertheless, the chatot is recalled at the judge's signal--and Sancho Panza, too. There's only one round left for the battlers to add to their scores; it all comes down to whatever pokémon they've been saving for last.

Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <139>

Philharmonic (M)
Health: 31%
Energy: 44%
Knocked Out!

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <178>

Sancho Panza (M)
Health: 48%
Energy: 63%
Knocked Out!

Terrain Notes
There is a moderate-sized hole near the middle of the field, with a pile of displaced earth next to it. A thicket of long, thin shards of rock has pushed its way out of the earth a couple of meters away from the hole.

Final Notes
- The effectiveness of Tone-Deaf was reduced both by distance and by Sancho's covering of his ears. However, the attack overcame these barriers to an extent because it was a critical hit.
- Randomizer says Kratos Auroin sends out first next round, then Full Metal Cookies attacks, then Kratos Aurion attacks.

Hm... I'd like to get an evolution out of this, if nothing else. Yakuza, you're up.

I think it's time for Rinna to see some action!

Okay baby, start things off with a Fake Tears! Use your cute Eevee-ness for all it's worth. Then unleash an assault of Shadow Balls! If he tries to protect himself, just use Growth.

Fake Tears / Growth ~ Shadow Ball / Growth ~ Shadow Ball / Growth

man i'm gunna loose...

Oh, we can give Rinna something to cry about, Yakuza. Method acting and all that, am I right? Get in close and barf a nice, juicy Toxic all over her. Then Haze that special defense drop away and make those Shadow Balls a little weaker. A one-turn Fly dodge-and-attack should finish off the round quite nicely.

Toxic ~ Haze ~ Fly

Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <139>

Rinna (F)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Cheerful and ready to fight.

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <178>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- You wanna mess?

The crowd waits with bated breath as the battlers select their last pokémon. This time, the pokéballs hurled from either end of the arena burst open to release an eevee and a murkrow. The former's rare silvery fur incites quite a few comments from the crowd, but if Yakuza is offended by the lack of attention cast his way, he doesn't show it. The murkrow taps his claws against the dirt, red eyes roaming over the arena as he takes in the cluster of shattered rocks, the hole near his side of the field and, finally, his opponent.

Yakuza's orders have barely left Kratos Aurion's lips before the murkrow is on the move, dashing across the grass, faint burbling and sloshing sounds emanating from his stomach as noxious toxins stew and mingle. Caustic bile rises to the back of Yakuza's throat as he stops right in front of Rinna, and he chokes it up and spits it all over the eevee's face.

Rinna squeals and ducks her head, pawing at her face in an attempt to get the nasty goo off. It's to no avail, though, and the toxic attack burns through her fur easily enough, stinging the skin beneath and promising to seep into her bloodstream. The eevee looks up at Yakuza, eyes shimmering with pent-up tears, and gives a pointed sniffle. Then she starts bawling away, and she's only mostly acting--getting splattered with toxic is not a great way to start your day.

Rinna's tears probably don't have the effect she was expecting on Yakuza; rather than being moved to sympathy, the bird lets out a burst of awful, cawing laughter. The eevee really thinks that he's going to show mercy because she's shed a few tears? Any good gangster knows that if a wuss starts crying on you, that's your cue to bust the other kneecap, too, and teach them a lesson in courage. Still cackling to himself, Yakuza raises his wings in front of his face, then slowly sweeps them outwards, a dense gray fog rolling out from between them as he does so.

The haze expands into a thick, obscuring cloud that encompasses almost the entire arena; several spectators express considerable displeasure about the fact that they can't exactly see what's going on in the battle any more. Rinna isn't exactly thrilled, either; the awful, chilly haze numbs her even beneath her thick fur coat, and it's creepy, too. She has no idea where Yakuza is lurking, and the thought that the awful murkrow could pop out at her from anywhere is far from comforting. The eevee's big ears twitch as she tries to catch some sound that might lead her to determine where the murkrow is; she hears a faint rustling and takes a guess at the general area where it might be, then starts charging up her shadow ball.

A dense blob of seething ghost energy forms in front of the eevee's face, shot through with streaks of deep purple and wobbling unsteadily as it expands. The eevee headbutts the shadow ball towards the spot she chose, and it whirls off through the haze, by chance hitting Yakuza dead-on.

The murkrow is certainly startled when the shadow ball comes whizzing out of the haze and slams into his chest, but his dark typing gives him considerable resistance to its effects. The murkrow stares out through the haze, in a rather grumpy mood--how is he supposed to dodge anything if he can't even see it until it's a couple inches from his face? Whatever the case, he might as well try, so the murkrow stands alert, staring into the fog in the direction from which the shadow ball came and waiting for any sign of another attack on the way.

Rinna is cooking up another shadow ball, ready to launch it at the same spot as before--a small grunt of surprise confirmed her suspicions after she fired off the last one, and so she launches her new shadow ball in the same direction. Yakuza hears the attack before he can see it as it comes whirling through the air, but though he kicks off from the ground, he isn't fast enough to dodge the shadow ball entirely. It catches him in the stomach and knocks him back to the ground.

Hissing to himself, Yakuza leaps into the air again, flapping hard to pull away from the ground and the low-lying haze; he breaks free of the fog to the general celebration of the crowd, then goes on climbing until he is little more than a dark dot in the sky. High above the arena, he tucks his wings in against his sides again and goes into a steep dive, shooting towards the ground with his crooked beak at the ready to gouge whatever lies below him. If he's lucky that's going to be Rinna and not the ground, but with the dense haze lying over everything, he's doing little better than taking a shot in the dark.

The murkrow's approximation of his opponent's location proves to be correct, though, and Yakuza comes hurtling down atop Rinna, beak carving a deep gash across her back and the force of the attack knocking her off her feet as Yakuza shoots past, pulling up and coming in for a gentle landing a meter or two away in the haze.

Rinna whimpers and slowly pulls herself back to her feet; the wound on her back smarts something horrible, and the awful, cold haze isn't making her feel any better. It does seem to be lifting slightly, though--peering through its depths, she thinks she can see a dark shape not too far off that might be Yakuza.

Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <292>

Rinna (F)
Health: 84%
Energy: 84%
- Rather disheartened. Badly poisoned (4% next round).

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <354>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 92%
Energy: 84%
- Fairly confident.

Terrain Notes
A deep haze lies over the arena, obscuring the damage dealt to it last round (3 more actions).

Final Notes
- Rinna's fake tears failed--not that it mattered, given the haze.
- Kratos Aurion attacks first next round.

Good work, Yakuza. Now Taunt Rinna, nice and loud, give the broad (wrong gangsters but shhh) a good ol' verbal lashing. Then Faint Attack twice, timing it so that you dodge any incoming attacks if at all possible. I know, I know, you can't see that well in the mist, but try for me, mm? See if disturbances in the mist give her movements away. If she burrows underground, try to stay just out of physical reach in the air and switch to Swift.

Taunt ~ Faint Attack/Swift ~ Faint Attack/Swift

oh poo.

Let's see what we can do here, baby... Start with Swift. Then, wait until he's right there in your face and give him a big ol' Body Slam and don't get off; pin him down! Then unleash all your anger at the silly little bird with Frustration. If he does manage to get away from you and you can't reach him at all last action, use Swift again.

Last ditch attempt at winning go!

Swift ~ Body Slam ~ Frustration/Swift

Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <292>

Rinna (F)
Health: 84%
Energy: 84%
- Rather disheartened. Badly poisoned (4% next round).

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <354>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 92%
Energy: 84%
- Fairly confident.

Yakuza squints through the fog; although it isn't strictly necessary for him to see his opponent or vice versa, it certainly would help. He makes out a blurry shape that might be Rinna not too far behind him in the haze--with at least a general idea of where to direct his taunts, the murkrow starts up with a will.

Rinna's ears perk up as Yakuza's voice comes drifting through the haze. They soon enough flatten back against her skull, though, as the eevee's tail bristles with anger. The murkrow unloads a powerful volley of insults and vulgar suggestions at the eevee, goading her into attacking him, if she even dares. Rinna is more than ready to shut the bird up with a good retaliatory strike; the silvery tip of her tail glows with energy as she spins around, dragging it in an arc through the air. Star-shaped projectiles fly off her tail and shoot away into the haze. A few of them strike Yakuza, and the murkrow grumbles, massaging his chest before starting his next attack.

Darkness bleeds out from the murkrow's feathers, surrounding him in a cloak of shifting shadows for a moment before he vanishes immediately into a dusky world just adjacent to the material one. Here the haze is no hindrance to sight and Rinna glows like a beacon of energy in the gloom, guiding Yakuza to just the right spot to reenter the material world. Appearing behind Rinna, he darts forward and rips a long cut down her flank, the dark energy still sparking around his beak worsening the wound.

Rinna lets out a cry of surprise and whirls around. Yakuza is backing up, but not fast enough--he's quite unprepared when the eevee hurls herself on top of him, crushing him to the ground with her weight. The murkrow lets out a strangled cough, the breath knocked from his body, and struggles against Rinna's weight--but the eevee shows no sign of getting up, and she's too heavy for the murkrow to easily dislodge.

Annoyed, Yakuza stops squirming and lets darkness envelop him again--Rinna lets out a gasp as burning dark energy sears her stomach and all other areas of her body in contact with the murkrow. Then she flops belly-first to the ground as Yakuza vanishes from beneath her. The eevee barely has time to regain her feet before Yakuza returns, bursting back into existence behind her in a cloud of darkness, and lashes out with his beak again.

Rinna turns slowly to face her opponent, her tail bushed out and her teeth bared. Yakuza only gets a moment to look at the eevee's murderous expression before she rams into him with a headbutt, bearing him to the ground again. This time she doesn't just lie around, though; Rinna seizes one of Yakuza's wings in her teeth and worries at it, clawing and kicking whatever parts of the murkrow she can reach and even buffeting him with her poofy tail. Dark feathers fly everywhere as Rinna vents her spleen on Yakuza, and the last forlorn shreds of haze fade out of the air. When Rinna finally tires of attacking and backs off, she's feeling quite a bit better after releasing her pent-up aggression--while Yakuza, bedraggled and aching, is far less pleased.

Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <261>

Rinna (F)
Health: 62%
Energy: 70%
- Feeling a bit better. Badly poisoned (5% next round).

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <315>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 57%
Energy: 75%
- Lying on the ground, torn up and irritable.

Terrain Notes
There is a moderate-sized hole near the middle of the field, with a pile of displaced earth next to it. A thicket of long, thin shards of rock has pushed its way out of the earth a couple of meters away from the hole.

Final Notes
- Full Metal Cookies attacks first next round.

Okay Rinna, give it all you've got!

Give hm another Body Slam, then Double Edge! If you've fallen under 50% health by this point, I want you to use your Shadows Of The Night. If not, use Double Edge again.

Body Slam ~ Double Edge ~ Shadows of the Night / Double Edge

Oh, dear. This will never do. Flying is probably not going to work too well at this point, but that's okay--just Protect against the Body Slam. Now that you can actually see her coming, just dodge-and-attack with Faint Attack twice to finish up. If, for whatever reason, you don't think you can manage that, though, let's try something fun--wait for Double-Edge and then use Assurance. She'll probably use her sig move the second time, though, and I don't like that flinch chance even if you do resist it--so if you still can't move for whatever reason, Dark Pulse. Maybe she'll flinch, heh.

Protect ~ Faint Attack/Assurance ~ Faint Attack/Dark Pulse

Note: I forgot about adaptibility last round; the only thing that changed was Yakuza's health, which I don't think should matter much.


Full Metal Cookies (XXO) <261>

Rinna (F)
Health: 62%
Energy: 70%
- Feeling a bit better. Badly poisoned (5% next round).

Kratos Aurion (XXO) <310>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 57%
Energy: 75%
- Lying on the ground, torn up and irritable.

Rinna backs up a few paces, a look of deep concentration on her face as she gets ready to drop on top of her opponent again. Yakuza pushes himself up off the earth, raising a rumpled wing in front of his face as if for protection. Rinna charges and then leaps into the air in a belly-flop position--only to come down on top of an invisible screen of pure energy instead of her opponent. Rinna slides unceremoniously off the dome of the protect and lands in a disgruntled heap, while Yakuza, feeling smug, lets the screen drop.

Rinna is back on her feet in a flash, though, scrambling to put more distance between herself and her opponent. Yakuza watches carefully as she prepares up an even bigger run-up than before, then comes barreling at him once again. This time when the eevee leaps, she goes more for horizontal than vertical distance, curling into a ball in anticipation of cannoning right into her opponent. All that happens, though, is that she flies right through a burst of dark energy and stumbles to a halt on its far side, looking around for her opponent.

Yakuza doesn't take long to appear; another cloud of dark energy signals his arrival just behind the eevee. As before, the murkrow rips into Rinna with his beak before scrambling back as she turns around. Rinna hisses at Yakuza, her ears twitching as she considers. That last attack hurt, but she thinks she's in good enough shape to try another double-edge. And this time, the crow isn't going to get away.

Once more she backs up, and again she runs at Yakuza--but this time, she's ready as the murkrow fades away into shadow. She skids to a halt, turning left and right in hopes of catching sight of Yakuza as he reappears. There's no avoiding the faint attack, though; Yakuza leaps out of thin air in a burning cloak of darkness and lays out another long cut down the eevee's side before she can even react. Rinna is at least somewhat prepared, though; pushing off the ground with all her might, she hurls herself into Yakuza in a spinning tackle. The murkrow is crushed into the ground and Rinna keeps going, rolling and sliding awkwardly across the grass until she comes to a dazed halt. Both pokémon are down and bleeding, and before either can even think to rise again, they are engulfed in red light and recalled by their trainers; it's time for the final judging to commence.

Full Metal Cookies (XXX) <210>

Rinna (F)
Health: 35%
Energy: 51%
Knocked Out!

Kratos Aurion (XXX) <279>

Yakuza (M)
Health: 38%
Energy: 63%
Knocked Out!

Kratos Aurion is the winner; he will advance to the next round and get $20 in prizes. Full Metal Cookies gets $10, and I get $15 for reffing. Zef Barra, Sancho Panza, and Yakuza all get two EXP; L'arc-En-Ciel, Philharmonic, and Rinna all get one.

Nice battle, you two. Good luck in round three, Kratos, and good match, Full Metal Cookies.