blazheirio889 vs. Keldeo

blazheirio889 vs. Keldeo

blazheirio889 said:

2vs2 Single
Style: Switch
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 40%
Banned Moves: None
Terrain: ASB Central Stadium

Although designed to be a state-of-the-art battling facility and located at the very heart of ASB Central's battle district, ASB Central Stadium actually sees very little use. Most battlers prefer the infinite variety of the holodrome's simulated arenas to the basic, if impressive, stadium field, and official tournaments tend to feature tours of other regions rather than a homefield brawl. There is one advantage to the stadium, though--its proximity to the holodrome grants it access to a full range of simulation options, allowing trainers to trick out their team to whatever extent they like before battling.

There's nothing much to say about the battlefield: it's a large, rectangular arena covered in astroturf. A circular pool will open in its center if a Pokémon requiring water to move around in is sent out. In this arena, Pokémon can summon absolutely anything they need for their attacks: tidal waves, boulders, and so on are in ready supply.

Other: This battle takes place between a referee and one other member. The referee will use their own team of Pokémon, but the other battler may choose either to use their own team OR choose any six nonlegendary Pokémon with any items and abilities to use for this fight. In the former case, their Pokémon gain experience as normal. In the latter case, they may choose to apply the experience earned by their rental Pokémon, minus one point, to their team in any manner that they choose.

The prizes for this battle are $20 to the winner, $10 to the loser, and $15 to the referee. This battle does not fill a battle slot for the mentoring referee.

Click to expand...

Battle Order

1. Keldeo sends out.
2. blazheirio889 sends out and issues commands.
3. Keldeo issues commands.
4. ?????
5. Profit!

Let's start off with Rhyme!

This is where I wish I had a Sharpedo. Who cares about type advantages, clearly I must thrash Rhyme around with a shark!

... Oh well, Parapluie, let's just pretend you're a shark for now. Maybe the astroturf can supply you with a shark costume.

Why don't we start off with a Rock Tomb? Then, if Rhyme has been trapped on the ground, go ahead and use a Bulldoze. And let's end with a nice Thunderbolt.

If Rhyme has clones on the first action, use Charge Beam and sweep it around. If you're unable to hit her for whatever reasons (most likely she can only avoid getting hit using Protect, but we like to cover all our bases. Destroy Substitutes, no-one likes those :C), use Charge Beam anyway and see if we can't nab a special attack boost.

On the second action, if Rhyme isn't pinned to the ground, use Rock Tomb. Exceptions being, of course, if there are clones, in which case sweep a Charge Beam around. Again, also do that in case you can't hit her or her Substitute.

Last action, use Surf if there are clones, and see if you can splash some water on yourself as well to heal yourself a bit. If you can't hit Rhyme or her Substitute, use Agility.

Rock Tomb/Charge Beam ~ Bulldoze/Rock Tomb/Charge Beam ~ Thunderbolt/Surf/Agility

Well, being pinned to the ground would be rather bad, so start with a small Substitute. For your second action, wait until she hits your substitute with Rock Tomb and then Double Team for 1 clone, but if you don't have a sub up for some reason, Protect instead. If you Double Teamed on the second action, wait until she uses Surf and then Encore that, but if you Protected last action, don't wait and Encore her Charge Beam instead.

Substitute (10) ~ Double Team (1 clone, wait) / Protect ~ Encore (wait) / Encore

Round One

Round one, start!
Blazheirio and Keldeo met at the centre of the arena, accompanied by a very uncomfortable-looking referee, before shaking hands and parting to their respective sides. With but a few choice words, the trainers sent out their pokémon and got a good look at the opposing side.

Pre-round stats
blazheirio889 (oo)

Parapluie (♀) <Dry skin> @
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Playing with her own ears and staring at the pool longingly.
Commands: Rock Tomb/Charge Beam ~ Bulldoze/Rock Tomb/Charge Beam ~ Thunderbolt/Surf/Agility


Rhyme was the first to move, shaping the astroturf into a lump her own height. She breathed into the mannequin eagerly, and it flickered for a moment as the arena turned it into an exact likeness of its maker. Its fuzzy white chest even heaved slightly with breath, and she blinked every so often, tiny nose twitching slightly. Content, Rhyme hid far behind it, the decoy distracting a confused Parapluie effectively.

Pushing aside her wonderment, Parapluie summoned a few glowing stones from nothing, concentrating deeply. They formed a ring around the nonchalant substitute, who didn't even spare a glance to the strange spectre surrounding her. With a sharp yelp from the yellow lizard, the glowing stones grew in size dramatically and flew straight at the emolga, trapping it within a heap of rubble. The substitute beneath was beginning to sag visibly, the phyiscal illusion flickering sporadically, but it stood true.

Bewildered, Parapluie's brow furrowed and eyes clamped shut as she concentrated once again, conjuring a familiar set of luminescent stones. Rhyme shuddered, thankful that the rocks were fired at a likeness and not the real deal. Predictably, the rocks were flung seemingly on their own accord onto the already-high-piled mound of stones, thoroughly crushing the emotionless substitute that lay inside. With a vapid puff of smoke that no one saw, it vanished.

Rhyme gulped. Although she couldn't see it, she could sense that her subsitute had vanished. To come out into the open to form another would leave her open for attack, so instead, she flung herself from her hiding place at what seemed like terminal velocity. Her pure speed left behind but a streak of colour where she had been; one such instance formed into a substantial clone, which quickly came to life and began following just behind its source. Rhyme skidded to a stop quickly, the clone following suit. Parapluie looked left and right quickly— which clone was real? Hadn't she just crushed Rhyme under a pile of rocks? Was reality... really real, after all?

Without much time to fashion a detailed plan, lest both emolgas come after her with a taste for her blood, Parapluie quickly summoned a river from the previously stagnant pool nearby. The raging torrent dissipated Rhyme's decoy without struggle, and managed to knock Rhyme onto her back as well. She fell into the swift current, inhaling water fruitlessly as its forceful tendrils pushed her every which way.

After what seemed like an eternity, the water fell into the drains at the arena's edges steadily, leaving behind a soaking wet Rhyme. She coughed up about a gallon of water and glared at her vacant-looking foe with a look that could kill, but upon hearing her trainer's command, she quickly assumed a more pleasant expression. Bright-eyed, she trotted to her yellow "friend" and divulged what a truly ferocious attack that had been. Why," she said, "I'm not certain I could take another such beating! Nice work, pal." Parapluie beamed. Why had her opponent given her such a good tip? She would be sure to use the water move more often in the future, regardless of her actual commands.

Post-round stats
blazheirio889 (oo)

Parapluie (♀) <Dry skin> @
Health: 100%
Energy: 87%
Status: Feeling proud of herself. // Surf is encored for the next round.
Commands: Rock tomb ~ rock tomb ~ surf


Arena Status

• There's still some water in the gutter on the edges of the field.
• There's a large pile of rocks on Keldeo's side.

Notes

• Keldeo commands first next round.

I think Parapluie should have used Rock Tomb on the first and second actions because her commands were to use Charge Beam if Rhyme had clones or Parapluie wasn't able to hit Rhyme, barring substitutes. Could you clarify, blazheirio? In addition, Surf hits every Pokemon on the field, so both Rhyme and her clone should have been hit by it.

For the reasons Keldeo stated, Parapluie should've used Rock Tomb on the first and second actions. And again, Keldeo is right in that Surf hits every Pokemon on the field, so it should've gotten rid of the clone (precisely why I ordered it in case of clones).

Normally you're not required to post calculations in your reffings, but since this is a test battle, I'd like to see them so I can evaluate you better. I'd also like to see rolls for secondary effects and the like, if possible.

I can't really evaluate your calculations right now since the commands were incorrectly interpreted; I'll save that for when you fix things and include calculations.

As for your prose, well. It's extremely bare-bones; usually, refs dedicate one paragraph to each action (6 in all in a 1v1), both because they flesh out the attacks and to break things up to make it easier to read. You really have to flesh out the attacks because as it is now, stuff like "creating a carbon copy of herself" really isn't much different from saying "Rhyme used Substitute". Your description of Surf was better, though it could have still been developed a bit more. I recommend you look through and read other reffings, particularly those by advanced and elite referees, to get a better idea of what you should be aiming for. Also, the flavour for Encore is quite different than other interpretations I've seen -- it's supposed to be the user cheering on the target to keep using that move.

Besides that, I noticed two typos ("... just as Rhyme touche down", and you put the word "boost" twice in the notes about Charge Beam), and there was a bit of sentence awkwardness when Rhyme used Double Team ("blurring" isn't quite a word you'd use to describe speeds. Also, "... this blur materialised into yet another copy, mirroring its source's every move, albeit a less substantial one." There's some confusion as to what "a less substantial one" could refer to; I'd have rewritten that to something like "... this blur materialized into another copy, albeit a less substantial one, that mirrored its source's every move.") Generally, these problems should be solved by proofreading quickly.

I'd prefer it if you also rewrote the prose when you redo the commands and calculations so I can see how well the feedback was taken into consideration. However, it /is/ quite a lot of work for a single round (if the entire round was interpreted wrong, flavour usually isn't reworked), so I wouldn't mind if you just fixed the commands and posted calculations.

blazheirio889 said:

For the reasons Keldeo stated, Parapluie should've used Rock Tomb on the first and second actions. And again, Keldeo is right in that Surf hits every Pokemon on the field, so it should've gotten rid of the clone (precisely why I ordered it in case of clones).

Click to expand...

What about this, though:

blazheirio889 said:

If you're unable to hit her for whatever reasons (most likely she can only avoid getting hit using Protect, but we like to cover all our bases. Destroy Substitutes, no-one likes those :C), use Charge Beam anyway and see if we can't nab a special attack boost.

Click to expand...

Doesn't that suggest that in the case of a substitute, Parapluie should have used charge beam?

Everything else will be fixed shortly.

I can sort of see how it could be interpreted as that, but "destroy substitutes" basically means "default to initial offensive command".

When you make edits, it'd be appreciated if you could post here so Keldeo can see, too. c: (also I tend to browse TCoD on my phone so I might read the VM and forget about it later OTL)

This is looking much better! Your prose is definitely at least on par with that of a novice now. Keep that up!

Your calculations seem good, save for Rock Tomb's energy. It's got 60 base power, which translates to 3% energy, and then an extra 1% is added due to the speed decrease effect. Not quite sure where you got that extra 1% from? (also you accidentally wrote rock slide in the calculations for the first action, but that's fairly moot)

Finally, you should put encore duration in Parapluie's status.

That... should be it for this round. Great improvement!

The fixes blazheirio mentioned are fairly minor and have no bearing on my commands this round, so I'll go ahead and do that unless someone has an objection.

I hate to say this, Rhyme, but what Emolga can actually do to Helioptile is pretty limited and those Surfs will hurt, so just U-Turn out at the earliest possibility. Tell her you just can't wait to show that super-powerful attack to your friend Robin!

U-Turn (Robin) x 3

Aaand I can't really do anything else, so go ahead and keep Surfing, Parapluie.

Surf ~ Surf ~ Surf

Round Two

Round two, start!
Pre-round stats
blazheirio889 (oo)

Parapluie (♀) <Dry skin> @
Health: 100%
Energy: 87%
Status: Feeling proud of herself. // Surf is encored for the next round.
Commands: Rock tomb ~ rock tomb ~ surf


Rhyme decided fairly quickly that she didn't like that water at all. The battle was certainly beginning to wear her down, and she felt as though it was going nowhere fast. Didn't Keldeo have other pokémon? Why was Rhyme doing all the work? Rhyme resolved to finish for now, but she'd go out with a bang. She glided over to her opponent and threw back her arm. The life orb glowed softly as it reached into Rhyme's inner energy reserves and provided her with a spurt of adrenaline. Then the fist flew forward and hit Parapluie square in the jaw with a sickening crack, sending the helioptile reeling. She landed hard on the astroturf, and while she slowly recomposed herself, Rhyme absconded to Keldeo's pocket. A new pokémon, verdant in colouration and stocky in build, took Rhyme's place on the field.

And unfortunately, she barely had a minute to think before she was assaulted by a powerful torrent of water. Thankfully, dragons were natural swimmers, and Robin was able for the most part to keep her head above the water, though the whole fiasco was without a doubt draining. That was, however, the raging water met with the pile of stones on Keldeo's end of the field, throwing the smaller ones into the mix. One such stone slammed into Robin's ribs, causing her to gasp for air as she sunk, side too wounded for her to continue paddling so vigourously. After what seemed like an eternity, the water calmed, and Parapluie landed nimbly on her feet, smirking at Robin's discomfort, and feeling quite proud of herself. After all, as such a seasoned surf veteran, why shouldn't she be proud? There were none better at the trade than she.

Post-round stats
blazheirio889 (oo)

Parapluie (♀) <Dry skin> @
Health: 92%
Energy: 82%
Status: Panting, but full of energy yet. // Surf encored for two more actions.
Commands: Surf

Arena Status

• The stones have been distributed pretty much evenly, though most are still on Keldeo's side of the field.
• The field is waterlogged.

Notes

• Keldeo commands first next turn.

Switching out (from U-turn/Volt Switch/Baton Pass or manually) ends the round; a fairly recent example is Superbird vs. ultraviolet, round 3. Also, Rhyme's health and energy totals don't match those in your calculations, and your "Commands:" section still has the ones from last round.

In addition to what Keldeo said, would it be possible to post rolls and what you're rolling for with your damage calculations for the next round?

Your prose is, again, quite good. A small problem is that I don't think U-Turn would've actually been strong enough to toss Parapluie into the pool. I mean it's pretty much flavour here, so I don't think it matters much, but there are instances where trainers will try to toss opponents into water to disrupt their commands. In those cases, you need to think hard about whether they'll successfully knock the target into the water (off the top of my head, you may want to look at the most recent round of uv vs. MD, although that's not precisely the best example because Dragon Tail is explicitly stated as tossing targets quite far away. It'll give you a good idea, however, and if you snuffle around I'm fairly sure there are other examples floating elsewhere).

Okay, I fixed everything up! I'll put the arithmetic with my calculations next time, sure. Also, normally I wouldn't have made u-turn send Parapluie that far; that was largely because of the life orb. If it's a stretch even still, then, I won't do it again. I've fixed it for this round, just to be safe.

Ah, the arithmetic isn't necessary; just the final figures are fine. What I'm talking about are the numbers you roll out of 100 to see if secondary effects kick in, for example?

Yeah, even with the life orb, it's somewhat of a stretch, especially since Keldeo didn't specifically command Rhyme to knock Parapluie into the pool. Again it doesn't matter so much in this battle, so don't sweat it, but in future battles it might well make a difference.

Dazel, when you edit things, please post in the thread to say you've done so! Otherwise the battlers won't really know.

It appears the arena and end-of-round notes have disappeared for this round, however. And Encore only lasts three actions total; I assume you meant to write in Parapluie's status that it should last for three more actions?

When it comes to switching, the round doesn't end immediately after the switch; rather, it ends after the action of the switch. So Parapluie should've Surfed Robin. And Rhyme's beginning-of-battle summary seems to be the same as her end-of-round stats; I assume you just pasted the wrong stuff into the beginning.

Ah, yes, I'm sorry! I had to leave pretty soon after saving the post and was unable to post about it until about an hour ago.

The issues you've stated should be resolved, now!

Just one more minor correction. Since Parapluie used Surf again, her Encore count should be down to two. Also, I'm not quite convinced that an unboosted non-STAB'd Surf would have to power to move boulders so easily (still a bit of a stretch for a STAB'd Surf, really). It's great that you're thinking of such things, but as with the U-Turn thing, try to think more realistically about the scenario (as realistically as you can with Pokemon, I guess).

Since those are minor things, Keldeo can go ahead and command now.