[15] Superbird vs surskitty (ref: Mai)

1 vs 1
DQ: 3 days
Damage Cap: 35%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, direct healing, Pain Split, moves that KO the user; Chills are restricted to 3 uses in the match
Arena: Centrico Plaza

Centrico Plaza is the crown jewel resting in the core of Lumiose City. Just the Prism Tower, standing at the very center of it, is already one of the most widely recognized landmarks of the entire region; and even the rest of the location isn't too shabby, with verdant gardens, beautifully patterned cobblestone pathes, the sound of the river running underneath the floor, and a surrounding circle of mid-height Kalosian houses, the splendorous local arquitecture adorning the plaza as a foil. Many businesses have come into being at the ground floors of the area, but today, the world-famous roundway of egg hatching is all Asber's, with barriers sealing off all of the many roads leading into the city's very own hub -- and of course, curious crowds gathering at the edges to watch the competition.

For this round of the tournament, each player has been loaned a fresh Pokémon from Kalos. Battles in this round will not last longer than five rounds; if neither Pokémon has fainted by the end of the fifth round, the winning trainer will be the one with the greatest sum of health and energy remaining on their Pokémon.

Superbird's rental Pokémon

female Skiddo <Sap Sipper> @ Oran Berry

surskitty's rental Pokémon

female Tyrunt <Strong Jaw> @ Oran Berry

Up next:
1.Superbird issues commands
2.surskitty issues commands

Hmm, not bad. Hey there, Skiddo, let's do this!

Let's start with a Leech Seed. If Tyrunt looks like it's going to use protect to avoid the attack, just go with Bulk Up instead. On the second action, if Tyrunt protected last turn, go for the Leech Seed now; elsewise, try a Worry Seed to weaken its biting moves a bit. If it has a substitute up, use Brick Break on it. For the third action, if Tyrunt protected against Worry Seed on action two, try that again. If there's a Substitute up, use Brick Break. Elsewise, Rock Smash.

Leech Seed/Bulk Up ~ Leech Seed/Worry Seed/Brick Break ~ Worry Seed/Brick Break/Rock Smash

Let's start out with a Dragon Dance, and if you can try to evade the Leech Seed with it, that would be nice, Runty! Then, since you should be faster now, throw down a medium Substitute and Ice Fang!

Dragon Dance ~ Substitute (15%) ~ Ice Fang

Sorry I didn't get to this one sooner! Your regular referee appears to be, so to say, under the weather, so I've gotten this first round down.

1 vs 1
DQ: 3 days
Damage Cap: 35%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, direct healing, Pain Split, moves that KO the user; Chills are restricted to 3 uses in the match

Click to expand...

More than once in that same day, the logistics did not smile upon Superbird and surskitty. It was ultimately quite a while before they could begin their battle, but when they did, they went in just as fierce as other tournament participants had on proper schedule.

Superbird's rental Pokémon was of a species that some had even seen around in the city -- popular, docile, and useful, just enough traits for it to be all over urban areas. surskitty had gotten a different deal: long extinct, ruffianous, and too violent to serve any human purposes, but nonetheless, charming. The two vastly different Pokémon eyed each other closely as another tournament match got underway.

Skiddo waited a little on the foe's move, who made it clear rather quickly that she wasn't about to stay in her corner defending -- she started to trot at increasing speeds, zigzagging her head about as if to evoke a more serpentine creature. The goat Pokémon tried to get her attack in before it was too late, and just barely made it -- the seed she shot out of her grassy collar managed to bury itself behind the mark's neck, but each time its vines sprouted out, they were cut by the back and forth swing of the sharp collar.

Now filled with the power of her ancestry, Tyrunt started to move even faster than before, biting out a chunk of the pavement below with her massive jaws. The uprooted bricks barely fit in her mouth, but she somehow managed to chew them into a single jagged block, and then into her own shape. A low-pitched roar filled the construct with life, causing it attempt to roar in turn -- but its chords, if there were any, lay bound in stone.

Recognizing the move Substitute, Skiddo moved in accordance to plan. She rushed in, then started to jab the concrete dinosaur with alternated swings of the horns on each side of her head, finishing each sequence of blows with a sharp downards pummel with both of her front legs. As she fought the statue, its real master prepared behind, with frost jutting out of her fearsome fangs... But she got overly excited for the attack and leaped far ahead of her enemy, snapping at nothing but air as the undaunted foe finished her own work steadily.

As the round came to a close, the Leech Seed finally succeded at sprouting proprely, spreading its tendrils all across Tyrunt's upper back and leaving her to yelp in minor pain as they sucked her energy.



Additional notes:
- I rolled for whether Leech Seed would succeed despite Dragon Dance, and it just barely did, so I had it land but not grow properly (and thus, not have effects) until the third action.
- Ice Fang on the third action missed. Holy bad luck, Batman.
- surskitty commands first next round.

Um. It's been like a week, so I'm a little curious about what's supposed to be happening here. I'm not supposed to have commanded yet.

Sorry, I've been sick and waiting to see if I'd feel any better since my head's been full of fuzz, and ... I don't, so sucks for me, I guess.

Hone Claws if you don't think you'll be able to hit her, Runty; otherwise, Ice Fang, unless you've been Worry Seeded, in which case Stone Edge.

Hone Claws/Ice Fang/Stone Edge x3

Well, Skiddo, we'd prefer Stone Edge to Ice Fang, I think, and it has more of a chance to miss. Let's go for that Worry Seed now. Then, let's try something slightly ambitious - Dig on the second action, and then when you come out on the third action combine it with a Horn Leech. If you don't think that'll work, just use Horn Leech twice. If you're at less than 95% health, target health with your Horn Leeches; otherwise target energy.

Worry Seed ~ Dig+Horn Leech/(Horn Leech ~ Horn Leech)

Team Superbird - O

[Skiddo] (F) <Sap Sipper> @Oran Berry
Health: 100%
Energy: 87%
Status: Glad to finally manage to Brick Break all those bricks 'til they broke.
Commands: Worry Seed ~ Dig + Horn Leech/(Horn Leech ~ Horn Leech)

Team surskitty - O

[Tyrunt] (F) <Strong Jaw> @Oran Berry
Health: 84%
Energy: 86%
Status: Simply incredulous.
Commands: Hone Claws/Ice Fang/Stone Edge ~ Hone Claws/Ice Fang/Stone Edge ~ Hone Claws/Ice Fang/Stone Edge

As time passed, confusion prevailed amongst the two battlers: the battle seemed to be at a standstill. Eventually, one of them spoke up and commands were given along with a brief apology from the first commander. And then they waited again. The rental Pokémon, itching to execute their orders, began to fidget in place. (It was pretty awkward.)

Finally, the referee came running into the plaza, a little winded. After a few minutes of apologies, the battle began again.

Skiddo, at least, was ecstatic and ready for action. She began charging at Tyrunt immediately, another seed growing out of her collar and ejecting itself onto the small dinosaur. The seed landed on Tyrunt much easier than the last, digging down in her skin and spreading tiny, threadlike roots. It began to instill a deep worry in the tyrunt: what was Skiddo doing? What was that seed capable of? All she knew was that needed all these seeds off, but the seed itself sunk into her skin and left no visible trace. So creepy. Still distracted, she began to tear up the pavement in an attempt to fulfill her orders; maybe if she beat up Skiddo, she would feel better? She kicked up some cobblestones, but tripped as she sent them flying and the skiddo pranced giddily away, easily dodging all of them. That didn’t make her feel much better at all, and the sting of the leech seed acting again threw more salt in the wound.

The skiddo, meanwhile, was pretty happy about it. And the torn-up cobblestones were easier to dig in, she realized, quickly tunneling under the pavement. She was safe there. Tyrunt, meanwhile, grunted inappreciatively; the tunnel wasn’t that deep, but she figured there was no way she could land a stone edge from where she was. So she set herself to sharpening her claws instead; the repetitive action made her feel slightly better about the queasiness the seed instilled in her, acting as a calming stress relief.

Skiddo, having dug a significant tunnel under the plaza, figured it was time to come back up. She turned in place and charged back up aboveground, landing and jabbing Tyrunt with her horns. Glowing a bright green, they began to leech more health off the anxious dinosaur—panicking at the sight of more creepy health-leechy things, Tyrunt flailed and kicked up another stone edge in response, knocking Skiddo back and preventing her from sapping any more of her health. But immediately after, the leech seed twitched for the third time that round and drained the frustrated dinosaur’s health, transferring it over to Skiddo. The little goat made a happy bleat at the small sensation of relief; she clearly felt satisfied in the events of the round.

Team Superbird - O

[Skiddo] (F) <Sap Sipper> @Oran Berry
Health: 85%
Energy: 72%
Status: Amused.
Commands: Worry Seed ~ Dig + Horn Leech

Team surskitty - O

[Tyrunt] (F) <Insomnia> @Oran Berry
Health: 66%
Energy: 74%
Status: Frustrated, but satisfied that she finally got to hit Skiddo. +2 attack, +1 speed, and +1 accuracy. Leech seeded.
Commands: Stone Edge ~ Hone Claws ~ Stone Edge

That was nice and fancy. Now, let's return to something a bit more simple. Horn Leech for energy if you can, Horn Leech for health if something's preventing you from targeting energy, and Bulk Up if you can't land Horn Leech either way.

Horn Leech(Health/Energy)/Bulk Up x3

(Just a note - I should be commanding first, unless I'm completely wrong, but you didn't actually put up the command order, and Worry Seed's effect isn't listed in the end-of-round stats!)

Superbird said:

(Just a note - I should be commanding first, unless I'm completely wrong, but you didn't actually put up the command order, and Worry Seed's effect isn't listed in the end-of-round stats!)

Click to expand...

Retconned that in; Tyrunt's ability was already listed as insomnia in the end-of-round stats, though. Abilities are listed <like this>.

Take advantage of your speed boost to throw up a large Substitute, then go for Stone Edge.

Substitute (20%) ~ Stone Edge ~ Stone Edge

Team Superbird - O

[Skiddo] (F) <Sap Sipper> @Oran Berry
Health: 85%
Energy: 72%
Status: Amused.
Commands: Worry Seed ~ Dig + Horn Leech

Team surskitty - O

[Tyrunt] (F) <Insomnia> @Oran Berry
Health: 66%
Energy: 74%
Status: Frustrated, but satisfied that she finally got to hit Skiddo. +2 attack, +1 speed, and +1 accuracy. Leech seeded.
Commands: Stone Edge ~ Hone Claws ~ Stone Edge

As soon as the round began, Tyrunt took advantage of her heightened speed and began to dig again. The ground, already torn up from Skiddo’s dig and several stone edges, was easily torn through: this time, though, the excavated material was not immediately flung at Skiddo. Instead, Tyrunt reached over and began to shape the dirt into a stubby likeness of herself, life force transferring itself from dinosaur to dirt. The blob began to shape itself (Tyrunt was grateful for that, as it was pretty hard to be a decent sculptor with tiny arms) into a more lifelike form, imitating its parent and growing small legs and arms of its own.

Skiddo, transfixed by the display, came back to her senses when the new substitute turned and stared at her (with eyes made of a bit of broken brick—creepy). Right, she had a battle to fight—she began charging at Tyrunt again, more than ready for a repeat of those horn leeches. They felt great! But as she charged, the dirt-and-brick substitute stepped in and blocked the blow: it wasn’t the feeling of draining energy she was used to, she thought as the substitute finally twitched and knocked her back. It was more like extracting energy previously deposited in the golem, when normal pokémon didn’t have their health ripped from another’s. … Or something. This was a silly tangent. Either way, she still felt better after the move than before: she had won out, ever-so-slightly, on the energy exchange, and felt just a bit peppier. She didn’t even notice that Tyrunt was thinking just the same thing: as the substitute blocked the blow from horn leech, Tyruny took the time to scarf down her oran berry, feeling a bit exhausted from putting so much of her health and energy into it.

She prepared to do the same thing again, horn glowing in anticipation, but before she could Tyrunt interrupted with a volley of stones ripped from the pavement. They tore into her grass coat, causing her to wince in pain: again, she charged back in retaliation, but the substitute still blocked the attack. It pushed her back off with significantly less force the second time around; Skiddo could tell it was barely being held together, and much of its dirt was crumbling off.

Fine for her, but less fine for Tyrunt, who was devasted. What happened to her friend? Who she had put so much of herself into, literally?! Torn by the state of her substitute, Tyrunt began a furious scheme of vengeance—though it was basically the same as the plan before, actually. She dug up more cobblestones and kicked them angrily at Skiddo, but in her rage, she barely even aimed: the rocks flew straight past the little goat. Skiddo took this as an opportunity to try one last horn leech: the substitute interfered for a third time, but it would be its last, as it collapsed into a pile of dirt and brick near-instantly. Skiddo breathed a sigh of relief at the feeling of her pilfered energy, but Tyrunt looked at the pile of once-substitute in horror. Her friend was dead!

Team Superbird - O

[Skiddo] (F) <Sap Sipper> @Oran Berry
Health: 72%
Energy: 74%
Status: Feeling refreshed.
Commands: Horn Leech ~ Horn Leech ~ Horn Leech

Team surskitty - O

[Tyrunt] (F) <Insomnia>
Health: 53%
Energy: 54%
Status: Mourning her substitute. +2 attack, +1 speed, and +1 accuracy. Leech seeded.
Commands: Substitute ~ Stone Edge ~ Stone Edge

Let's try a Swagger, unless she protects herself, in which case Hone Claws, and then Stone Edges, I guess. [ SHRUG ]

Swagger/Hone Claws ~ Stone Edge ~ Stone Edge

Short of protecting, I don't think there's any good way to evade that Swagger attack. Instead, try to Dig under it if you can, but if you can't then don't worry. Just try to be underground for the Stone Edge during the next action, and Chill down there to clear your mind a little bit. Come up at the end of action three.

If you miss the chance to Dig action 1, try to do it action 2 instead, and at least dodge one of the Stone Edges. If neither of them goes through, just do a Horn Leech on the third action.

Dig (Down) ~ Chill/Dig (down) ~ Dig (up)/Horn Leech

1 vs 1
DQ: 3 days
Damage Cap: 35%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, direct healing, Pain Split, moves that KO the user; Chills are restricted to 3 uses in the match

Click to expand...

The skies were painted in increasingly complex tones of red as the hour grew later and later. Perhaps this would be one of the very last matches to conclude, although it'd likely yet miss the absolutely smashing end that the tournament round as a whole would take.

With no time to waste, Skiddo crunched the asphalt with her hooves again, smashing a new hole into which to start digging in. Tyrunt ran after her, spouting lines about how awesome tyrannosaurs are, but she was left to scream the down into the deepening hole, through which her voice was muffled.

Safe belowground, the goat Pokemon lay down to rest, patiently awaiting for the time to move, though there was no way to keep tabs on the progress of the enemy's movement. Above, surskitty's rental Pokemon thrashed about in a grumpy rage, sharp stomps turning tiles on the floor into rough-edged crumbs that bounced straight upwards at each of the dinosaur's steps.

The stampede in the open sent distant sounds down the tunnel, and the end of this noise worked as a cue. Picking up speed again all of a sudden, Skiddo just about charged through the soil in front of her, digging through it until she burst back into the surface of Centrico Plaza, flipping her opponent on her head to conclude the sheer annoyance brillantly.



Additional notes:
- All three of Tyrunt's moves missed as a result of Skiddo being underground, including Swagger.
- Superbird commands first next round.

So does digging underground have priority ...?

surskitty said:

So does digging underground have priority ...?

Click to expand...

No, but Tyrunt can't check whether the enemy used Protect before the enemy uses a move.

Well done, Skiddo. Doesn't look like we can fit in a KO next round by any circumstances, so let's just stand our ground for now - we have a nice lead, after all.

Digging is out of the question - they'll see it coming this time, for sure. So let's just play it a bit safe.

Protect ~ Defense Curl ~ Protect

Chill x3; I don't think it's enough to get your numbers sufficient, but whatever. Sorry, Runty!

1 vs 1
DQ: 3 days
Damage Cap: 35%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, direct healing, Pain Split, moves that KO the user; Chills are restricted to 3 uses in the match

Click to expand...

While surskitty attempted to help her rental back on her feet, a familiar echo rended the skies. Flaming streaks rushed from the blue. Somebody had ordered Draco Meteor on a different round. Time was very much up for Asber.

One last round began, and just as it did, the impacts came. Overpowering tremors sent both Pokémon hurtling through the air. Skiddo landed awkwardly, then shelthered herself from the flames with a lustrous shield of energy. Tyrunt landed upside-down again, but this was fine; she lay placid in the face of the danger, resting on top of her own head.

The quakes settled, but the great cloud of dust and the raging dragonfire made battle difficult. Fortunately, the Pokémon were ordered to focus on self preservation. Skiddo curled up into a tight corner, sheltered from the iridescent flames, while Tyrunt, not as terrorized by them, continued to relax on her awkward position.

Steadily, the disaster grew worse, and the battle simply could not go on for much longer. In a hurry, the referee tallied the conditions of the battling Pokémon to deliver the final judgement...



Skiddo's final stat sum is 153. Tyrunt's final stat sum is 105. Therefore... Superbird wins!

Congratulations, Superbird! You advance into the next round. Prizes for this match are as follows:
-Superbird gets $10
-surskitty gets $5 and a free Tyrunt
-I guess I get the $10 for doing most of the reffing again
As usual, go ahead and claim them in the bank.