Meursault vs. Keldeo

[size=+2]Meursault vs Keldeo[/size]

Arena:

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...

Meursault's active squad

Malmö the female Ralts <Synchronize> @ Lucky Egg
Ruin the genderless Baltoy <Levitate> @ Sachet
Delve the female Gastly <Levitate> @ Lum Berry
Usagi the female Cleffa <Magic Guard> @ Soothe Bell
Berlin the male Larvitar <Guts> @ Lucky Egg
Bass the male Munchlax <Pickup> @ Normal Gem
Myryam the female Ferroseed <Iron Barbs> @ Lucky Egg
Iñárritu the male Hawlucha <Unburden>
Ringi Cordeiro the female Chimchar <Blaze> @ Lucky Egg
Ishidou Natsuo the female Gyarados <Intimidate> @ Cell Battery


Keldeo's active squad

Shay the male Cranidos <Mold Breaker> @ Dawn Stone
River the female Ralts <Synchronize> @ Lucky Egg
Vesper the female Crobat <Inner Focus> @ Black Sludge
Toby the male Pangoro <Iron Fist> @ Expert Belt
Anne the female Wooper <Water Absorb> @ Weakness Policy
Robin the female Fraxure <Mold Breaker> @ Shell Bell
Rhyme the female Emolga <Static> @ Life Orb
Kiel the male Pawniard <Defiant> @ Lucky Egg
Aisha the female Shuppet <Insomnia> @ Sachet
Airplane Baguette the male Castform <Forecast> @ Wise Glasses

• Meursault sends out!
• Keldeo sends out and commands!
• Meursault commands!

Oh okay, I'm a test ref now! Let's go wiiiith... Ringi!

I'll go with River. For your first action, go with a Toxic for some nice residual damage. If there's a Substitute or clones, she's Taunted you, or she's underground, use Disarming Voice instead. Next, give her a Telekinesis, but if you're Taunted or there are clones or a substitute up, go for Psychic instead. End with a Charge Beam to see if you can't net a boost - aim it into the hole if she's Digging, and sweep it around if there are clones. For all three actions, use Calm Mind if she's Protecting, Detecting, or unhittable with your other attacks (conditions for the others overrule Calm Mind in all cases).

Toxic / Disarming Voice / Calm Mind ~ Telekinesis / Psychic / Calm Mind ~ Charge Beam / Calm Mind

Okay Ringi, Keldeo seems to be expecting us to Dig, so lets oblige! Dig down on the first action, and start Honing your Claws while you're down there. Finally, see if you can manage to trap River in a Fire Spin while she's standing near the mouth of your hole.

Dig down ~ Hone Claws ~ Fire Spin

Meursault vs. Keldeo: Round 1


Ah yes! What a beautiful day to be me, the amazing Music Dragon, referee and narrator, ready to take you on the journey of a lifetime! As I enter the stadium, cape flowing in the wind, and take my place on the Referee Throne, which was my father's, and my father's father's before him, and thus mine by rights -

Someone in the audience shouts "You're not even an approved ref yet!"

I shift uncomfortably on the throne.

Meursault and Keldeo take their respective places on opposite sides of the arena. They think I do not notice, but I can see in their eyes that they are conspiring against me; well, so be it! They have no power in this battle.

With an elegant flick of the wrist, Meursault tosses a Pokéball and releases... Ringi Cordeiro, the Chimchar! Ooh! Better watch out for this one; she looks feisty.

Unfazed, Keldeo selects a ball of her own and sends out... River, the Ralts! A curious specimen! Ah, this is where it gets interesting...



Audience Status:
Excited. Everyone's cheering; people are waving foam fingers and spilling popcorn everywhere. Clearly they can't wait for the battle to get started! Someone is holding up a sign that reads "WE LOVE YOU MD". But on closer inspection, it is not a real person, just a mannequin with the sign taped to it. Who could have put it there?

Arena Status:
Concerned (severe). Seems to be thinking: "Oh no, not again!"


The boxing bell strikes and the battle officially begins! Immediately, Ringi leaps into action and starts tearing at the ground with her claws, ripping up patches of fake grass and soon the moist earth underneath it. Clumps of dirt spray behind her. In a matter of seconds she has vanished from view, but she does not stop; she continues to burrow further and further until the sunlight fades and the din of the audience dies out…

River, whose reflexes were too slow for her to do anything sensible during this time, assesses the situation and decides that a Toxic blob would have no chance of hitting now. Instead, she takes a deep breath and then unleashes a terrible, shrill, drawn-out cry not unlike that of an offended baby. The cry echoes loud and clear across the stadium and several of the spectators make futile attempts to cover their ears with foam fingers - but down in the tunnel, Ringi barely notices the noise in the midst of her digging. Soon the sound dies out, and the audience breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Finally satisfied with her work and certain that she is safe from harm, Ringi slumps against the wall of the tunnel and wipes the sweat from her brow. Here, well beneath the surface, it is dark and damp and clammy. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she gets to her feet and brushes the grime off her claws. They could definitely use some honing after all that digging... Carefully, she begins to scrape them against each other, sharpening the edges little by little. In the meantime she plans her next move; her mind is completely fixated on the current battle. She does not know of the ancient horrors that lurk far below her.

Meanwhile, River has seated herself on the ground with her legs folded and her eyes closed, retreating into her mind. One by one she erases the physical sensations that distract her: she cancels out the bright daylight, then the clamor of the audience, then the gentle touch of grass against her feet. Words and images pass through her mind, but she does not linger on them. Awareness, but with one-pointedness of mind: this is samadhi. Sitting still, thinking of not thinking: this is nonthinking. Such is the art of zuò chán. It grants +1 Sp. Atk and +1 Sp. Def.

Her meditation finished, River slowly opens her eyes and allows the world to wash over her again. Now… she is ready to start the battle proper. Sparks and charged particles coalesce around her as she approaches the tunnel’s opening with measured strides. She can feel the electrical energy surging through her body, welling up inside her – the surrounding air crackles, and the excitement in the audience is palpable. She steps up to the hole in the ground and peeks down, ready to unleash her Charge Beam. Down below, she catches only a quick glimpse of Ringi’s grinning face before a gout of fire comes blasting through the tunnel! – she jerks her head back but is too late to avoid the coiling flames. A vortex of fire engulfs her and sears her flesh, though in a weak, base-power-35 kind of way. But if she feels any pain, her face does not betray it. Stoic, that one!

Ringi lets out a little monkey laugh, pleased with a job well done. But her expression soon changes to one of mild concern as River’s face appears above her again, accompanied by a halo of rippling electricity. With a thrust of the arms, River releases the built-up energy in a cascade of sparks and light – Ringi barely has time to shield her face before the beam strikes and sends her tumbling down the tunnel, out of sight.

All the while, flames continue to swirl around River, bathing her in unbearable heat. She grits her teeth and hopes her trainer’s next commands will get her out of this bind…


Audience Status:
Really excited now. The first attack’s always a crowd pleaser, and this one was flashy. A man walks around the stands selling hot dogs; he puts on a smile, but secretly he is sad because his girlfriend left him. He tries to assure himself that it’s not the end of the world and that there are plenty more fish in the sea, but the words ring hollow in his mind.

Arena Status:
Has had a tunnel dug into it. Seems to be thinking: “I knew it! I knew this would happen, I fucking knew it.”

OTHER NOTES:

• Normally, I would not let Charge Beam reach all the way into a Dig tunnel, but Ringi deliberately placed herself within line of sight of the opening to attack.
• Please let me know if there's anything I can improve, both of you!
• Meursault commands first next round.

Arright, evaluation time! I love your prose, as always. I should point out though that Ringi knows exactly what ancient horrors lie beneath her, though.

Keldeo and I are indeed conspiring to give you contrived and occasionally confusing commands to ref, and I intend to keep doing that sporadically over the course of the battle. Since incurring weird edge cases might sometimes put one of us a distinct disadvantage, we're going to call this match a draw at the end regardless of the apparent outcome. (So you can tune out now, Ether's Bane :P)

We had intended for Ralts to try and use Telekinesis on the second action, but with the way Keldeo ended up wording her conditionals, Calm Mind was a reasonable way to resolve it. I wouldn't have reffed Charge Beam as having standard accuracy on the third action, but I'll accept it as the drawback of attacking from underground. Numbers look good otherwise, good job.

Now, on to commands! Keldeo, feel free to respond however you want; I have no conspiracy in mind this round. Ringi, we're going to start by digging straight up into River. After that, we're gonna give her a Shadow-Up Claw! Unless she's protecting, in which case you should do a Swords Dance. On the final action, hit her with a Gunk Shot. If she by some miracle protects twice in a row on that action, lay down some Stealth Rocks.

Dig (up) ~ Shadow Claw+Power-Up Punch / Swords Dance ~ Gunk Shot/Stealth Rock

edit: Wait, I think your crit rolls are off. They should be out of ten, since all the moves used this round were in domain one based off the D&E guide.
edit two: Also, I think you forgot to roll for Fire Spin's accuracy? It's not in the rolls section, at any rate. edit four: Whoops, disregard this, I'm dumb.
edit three: Also also, re: Fire Spin's damage, I thought base damage/energy costs could only be integers, so they were rounded down for damage if it wasn't a multiple of ten, and up for energy? (Otherwise Charge Beam would cost 3.5% base, for example.) I don't think this impacts anything, though. Note this is all unofficial, and can be overruled by Meursault if they disagree.

Hmm, okay! It doesn't look like there's a nice way to avoid that Dig, so how about Psyshock + Future Sight? Just send the Psyshock blast up with the Future Sight ball to power it up or whatever. If you don't think you can do that, just Future Sight. Next, why don't you see if you can Ally Switch with her? I know the description says it can only be used on allies but it seems like it should be able to be used against opponents too. But if that won't work, Teleport out of the Fire Spin instead. End by Countering that Gunk Shot, but if you didn't manage to pull off Psyshock + Future Sight earlier or Gunk Shot misses, use Psychic on the third action.

(Psyshock + Future Sight) / Future Sight ~ Ally Switch / Teleport ~ Counter / Psychic

Keldeo said:

edit: Wait, I think your crit rolls are off. They should be out of ten, since all the moves used this round were in domain one based off the D&E guide.

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Oh, derp. I was going off the in-game crit chances. My bad; I'll re-roll.

Keldeo said:

edit three: Also also, re: Fire Spin's damage, I thought base damage/energy costs could only be integers, so they were rounded down for damage if it wasn't a multiple of ten, and up for energy? (Otherwise Charge Beam would cost 3.5% base, for example.) I don't think this impacts anything, though. Note this is all unofficial, and can be overruled by Meursault if they disagree.

Click to expand...

I've been given conflicting information here, so it's a bit unclear, but: according to the last post in the D&E Guide, you're not supposed to round down until the very end of your calculations, so you should treat Fire Spin as having a base damage of 3.5%. You're right in that I should have put down 2.5% instead of 3% for Charge Beam (before accounting for the secondary effect), though in this case it doesn't affect the rounding anyway.

I noticed the 3.5 base for Fire Spin myself, and decided it was minor enough to be a ref quirk. As for the energy, my approach has always been to just go with the base listed in the database minus STAB, since it already accounts for extra effects.

Meursault vs. Keldeo: Round 2


The first shots have been fired; it looks like the battle is well and truly under way. I’m starting to feel more at ease now that I’ve made it through the first round. Maybe I am cut out for this job after all. The onlookers certainly seem to be enjoying themselves, at any rate! But though I should be focusing on the task at hand, I cannot help but worry about what Meursault and Keldeo are getting up to. They whisper to each other and shoot occasional furtive glances my way. What are they planning? What’s really going on here? It’s almost as if they’re… testing me.

Zhorken’s words echo in my mind.

”This is going to be a test battle, Music Dragon. A test battle. For testing you. You’ll be assigned a mentoring referee and – will you please put that down, I’m talking to you – Music Dragon, are you listening?”

There’s definitely something strange about this whole battle, but I can't seem to piece it all together. Hmm…


Audience Status:
Ready for more action! All that fire and electricity got them really worked up. What’ll it be next? Howling hurricanes, spears of ice, earthquakes? Be sure to provide them with entertainment, dear battlers. Life in Asber isn't easy for non-Trainers. They need this.

Arena Status:
Has had a tunnel dug into it. Otherwise uninjured.


At the bottom of the tunnel, Ringi gets on her feet, dusts herself off and cracks her knuckles. It’s time for payback. Extending her freshly sharpened claws, she starts to dig furiously, working her way upwards with incredible speed...

Above ground, River has already begun executing her next command. She may be trapped in a twister of fire, but her mind is still free to travel! A barely perceptible shimmer of psychic energy envelops her, and with a concentrated thought, she coaxes open a small hole in time and lowers her mind into it. On the other side, a chaotic, noisy mess of twisted geometries and strange temporal fluctuations awaits her, a world full of rifts into other times and places. All too easy to get lost in here – better not linger. Her third eye’s gaze sweeps quickly through the interdimensional labyrinth, searching for the right opening. Very soon she finds a rift leading into what looks like a perfect opportunity to strike: on the other side, she can see future Ringi pointing and laughing at something, leaving herself open to attack. Perfect. She focuses her mental energy into a powerful blast and, with a great deal of effort, pushes it into the rift and sends it hurtling towards future Ringi. That should wipe the smile off her face.

Her job done, she slowly begins to reel her mind back in. Time to leave this place. On the way out, she catches sight of something strange: In the distance, behind myriad rifts and corridors, there is a flash of movement – and it carries the unmistakable aura of a living being. Is she not alone in here?

But suddenly her physical body is thrown back as Ringi bursts from the ground and shoulder-tackles her in the chest – reflexively, her third eye slams shut. The force of the impact sends her skidding across the astroturf. It takes a moment for the pain to register; she groans and makes a half-hearted effort to right herself, but collapses, too exhausted to stand.

Positioned perfectly above a floored opponent, Ringi wastes no time in following up on her attack. Her trainer has instructed her to simultaneously claw and punch, but how would that work out? Maybe if she swiped with her left hand and punched with her right…? No, no time to work this out now. Brandishing her claws, she gives them a little shake – mostly for show – and watches them distort and glow purple with ghostly energy. Then she leans back and, with as much force as she can muster, gives River a mighty slash right across the face. The Ghost-infused claws cut deep into River’s skin – she yelps in pain and leaps to her feet in a fit of newfound strength. Ringi backs off, pleased with her performance.

With some distance now between the two, Ringi decides that the time is right for her third and final attack. She coughs and hacks and gives her chest a little pound, and soon enough she retches up a lumpy ball of purple sludge. She weighs it in her hand, takes aim, then throws it as hard as she can. Fastball. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

River braces herself. Trapped in the vortex of fire, she has no chance to run away or dodge; she’ll have to catch the incoming projectile and redirect it. The stench has already reached her, but she ignores it; every muscle in her body tenses and her eyes fix on the slimy chunk hurtling through the air towards her. Everything seems to move in slow-motion – her hands reach out –

– and the slimeball hits her square in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and splashing venomous goo all over her body. She falls on her back with a groan and the audience lets out a disappointed “aww”.

Ringi points and laughs. Ha! What a sucker! She doesn’t even know Counter! What did she think was gonna happen?

... Something flashes in the corner of her eye.

From out of nowhere, a massive sphere of psychic energy comes rocketing towards her. She barely has time to turn around before the blast catches her; it strikes her in the side and sends her flying across the arena. She lands with a muffled thud and the spectators gasp in shock. There is a moment of awkward silence while they try to figure out what just happened. Then the stadium explodes into wild cheering and applause.

The whirling flames enclosing River suddenly unfurl and blow away with the wind. River laboriously gets up on one knee, wipes a blotch of poison from her face, and affords herself a smirk.

They say she who laughs last laughs best.


Audience Status:
Going wild! It really looked like Ringi had the upper hand there, but River turned it around in the end. Hard to tell if they’re rooting for anyone in particular. This is looking to be an even match.

Arena Status:
Has had a tunnel dug through it; the tunnel is shaped almost like a U-bend, with both exits right next to each other.

Calculations:

Other Notes:

• I’ve experimented a bit with the layout and formatting, courtesy of a very special someone. If anything is hard to read or looks bad, let me know and I’ll fix it!
• I realized I’ve been doing rolls incorrectly; if there’s a 30% chance of success and you roll in the range 1-100, you want to roll strictly more than 70. Fortunately that extra percent wouldn’t have made a difference in the last reffing anyway. Sorry, still trying to figure out how to be consistent with everything!
• Shadow Claw and Power-Up Punch cannot be combined due to their contradicting natures: Shadow Claw swipes with the claws, while Power-Up Punch uses the knuckles; they are elementally opposed; and Shadow Claw attempts to pierce through an enemy’s defenses, while Power-Up Punch deliberately hits the opponent’s toughest spot. Ringi decided to go with the first attack specified in the combo, namely Shadow Claw.
• Psyshock and Future Sight, on the other hand, are sufficiently similar to be combined. The result is an empowered Future Sight attack that will hurl the target away for physical damage instead of frizzling them with psychic energy.
• After performing her combo, River had to forgo her next action due to exhaustion. Then, she failed to use Counter because she doesn’t know how to.
• Keldeo commands first next round!

Okay, some unofficial comments:
-I always thought if a combo fails, the Pokemon used the comboed moves successively, instead of using one of the moves and proceeding with its commands. If this is true, Ringi should have used Power-Up Punch on the last action.
-I think you're not supposed to say how long Future Sight's duration is? The flavor on its page sort of implies that, but in this case it didn't matter.
-Your prose is great, as always! Calculations look fine to me too.

Keldeo said:

Okay, some unofficial comments:
-I always thought if a combo fails, the Pokemon used the comboed moves successively, instead of using one of the moves and proceeding with its commands. If this is true, Ringi should have used Power-Up Punch on the last action.
-I think you're not supposed to say how long Future Sight's duration is? The flavor on its page sort of implies that, but in this case it didn't matter.
-Your prose is great, as always! Calculations look fine to me too.

Click to expand...

I dont know that theres a hard and fast ruling on failed combos, but using them successively seems like it would be an odd choice. Failed combos Ive seen have been resolved by the entire action failing, or by picking one of the attacks and just using that. I dont have time to dig for precedent right now but Ill do so this evening - along with a full review.

pardon my double post but, here's a log of the discussion i just had with zhorken and eifie on the failed combo thing:
in summary, "ref discretion." in this case, it makes sense to have Ringi perform only Shadow Claw. if I hadn't commanded anything for the final action, then she might use Power-Up Punch - but I had commands for it, so those should take precedent over the remains of the combo.

Numbers are spot-on, as is your prose. Future Sight is indeed supposed to remain an enigma, but it doesn't matter in this case and he never explicitly stated how long it'd last anyway, unless I've missed something.

Hmm. Thanks for the information! I did mention the Future Sight duration in the rolls, but only because it actually struck that round.

Anyway. Keldeo, you're up next.

All right, that makes sense. Anyway, River, go for a Confuse Ray to start us off. If there's a substitute, Psychic to throw it into the stands, and use Confuse Ray next action - unless a/the substitute is blocking you again, in which case Psychic to throw it into the stands until you're able to Confuse Ray her successfully, in which case you should. If you're Taunted, Psychic to throw whatever target into the stands, and continue to Psychic them, mental intrusion-style, from where you are (throw Ringi into stands before wailing on her with mental intrusion if/when you destroy any substitutes). If she protects or is unhittable, including if she closes her eyes (if there are clones, use Confuse Ray anyway, but like, spread it out since it's vision based; if she's underground or somewhere else you can intrude in her mind with Psychic but not reach her with Confuse Ray, do Psychic) on the first action, Calm Mind and delay your actions. Continue to Confuse Ray, with Psychic and Calm Mind conditionals being the same as the first action (if you're tormented and that would prevent you from doing what you would do, switch to Calm Mind for an action, or Psychic if Calm Mind would be what you'd do), until she's confused. After that, use mental intrusion Psychic to worsen her confusion and do damage at the same time (same thing with Torment), emphasizing the former if she tries to Slack Off or Chill (if she's unhittable when she's confused, go with Calm Mind). Oh, and if she tries to Fake you Out, don't fall for it. You'll do fine.

Confuse Ray / Psychic / Calm Mind x3

Use Double Team for 5 clones! Nuts to this whole "spread it around" thing, you can avoid the lights! Follow that up with two Iron Tails as long as you aren't confused. If you are, I want you to use Focus Energy to get over it ASAP, and then Iron Tail.

Double Team (5) ~ Iron Tail/Focus Energy x2

Meursault vs. Keldeo: Round 3


In the break between rounds, I take the opportunity to quickly check my cell phone. Someone’s left me voice mail.

"Hi honey! Did you remember to book tables for dinner tonight? Call me when you're done with work and I'll pick you up. Also you forgot your lunch again so I ate it. Love you, bye!!"

Tables. Right.

“Meursault! Keldeo!”

They both turn to face me. I gesture for them to come closer.

“You’re, uh, you’re both disqualified in… let’s say two hours. Better hurry up.”

“What? But that’s – “

“Chop chop, let’s wrap this up quickly. Go!”

Before they can say anything, I ring the bell that signals the start of the round.


Audience Status:
Cheering loudly. There’s been plenty of action so far, and they’re hoping it stays that way!

Arena Status:
Has had a tunnel dug through it; the tunnel is shaped almost like a U-bend, with both exits right next to each other.


No sooner has the boxing bell rung than Ringi leaps into action, running in wide circles around the arena and rapidly picking up speed. River watches perplexedly as her opponent zooms about, showing no sign of trying to attack. Instead, Ringi moves faster and faster and faster until she is but a blur of motion sweeping across the turf. The blur smears and distorts and splits into several pieces, each one speeding wildly around the stadium. When they finally grind to a halt, there are no fewer than six indistinguishable Ringis scattered around the arena. Each one turns to face River and gives her a mischievous smile.

River eyes her six opponents carefully. Working the illusions, eh? Two can play at that game… but first she’ll need to find the right target. She scrutinizes each clone in turn, but despite her best efforts, she finds nothing that would reveal the real Ringi; they all look identical. Spreading her Confuse Ray around wouldn’t achieve anything, either. Very well – she’ll have to guess. She holds up her hand and projects a glittering beam of light from her palm; the beam falls like a floodlight on the nearest clone, bathing it in colorful, swirling particles. She keeps the Confuse Ray trained on her target for several seconds… but there is no reaction. The clone just leers at her. Eventually, River gives up, and the clone promptly vanishes.

The five remaining Ringis, all looking quite smug, begin to circle River ominously. River does not notice, but the real Ringi’s tail is glowing subtly; a dull gray liquid is seeping from its pores, covering it in a layer of metallic film. When River’s back is turned, Ringi pounces. She swings her Iron Tail in mid-air, and it strikes the back of River’s head with a horrifying clang, knocking her face-first into the ground.

The Ringis back off, seemingly very pleased with themselves. River scrambles to her feet and tries to catch sight of the one that attacked her, but it’s too late: the five clones have repositioned and are now lined up in front of her, grinning at her tauntingly. She studies them while she charges her second Confuse Ray, searching for something – anything – that would give away the real one…

A droplet of liquid metal falls from the leftmost Ringi’s tail.

Gotcha.

Another ray of brilliant light bursts from River's palm, and this one doesn't miss; the clones vanish in a puff and Ringi’s eyes go wide as the beam falls on her. Her field of vision is swarmed by a mass of glowing dots, green and emerald and red; soon they blot out everything and she can no longer see. She tries to look away, but finds herself unable – a strange feeling of weightlessness washes over her and pulls her in. The bright dots trace out intricate, mesmerizing patterns before her, like a kaleidoscope; meanwhile the noise from the stadium becomes garbled and slowly fades away, as if she were being submerged in a sea of dancing colors. In a dreamlike daze she stumbles towards the beckoning lights. Dimly, she is aware that she should be doing something, but cannot remember. Then her trainer’s voice echoes from somewhere far away:

“Focus! You have to focus!”

With a gargantuan effort, she wrenches her eyes shut. The dancing lights are still there behind her eyelids, but less tantalizing now. She focuses all her attention on her bodily sensations: the pumping of her heart, the steady expansion and contraction of her lungs, the reassuring touch of solid ground underneath her feet. Awareness of her own body balances her. Bit by bit, the hallucination fades: the hypnotizing lights diminish and slow down, and control of her senses begins to return.

But suddenly, a terrible screech erupts in her head. Burning pain shoots through her every nerve, and the hallucinations flare up again, dark red specks jittering madly before her eyes. Someone is inside her mind, squeezing it in a viselike grip, driving needles into her brain – an image of River’s face flashes before her. She concentrates every ounce of her willpower on expelling the intruder, shutting out the noises, ignoring the pain that engulfs her body – the walls of her mind are buckling, and she’s not sure how long she can resist…

… but just as she is about to give in, the pressure fades, and she can feel River’s grasp on her brain relenting. The dancing lights, too, mellow and wash out, and the pain subsides into a throbbing but tolerable headache. A wary calm settles over Ringi. She takes a moment to collect herself before she opens her eyes. River is glaring at her from across the stadium, a mixture of caution and astonishment on her face – clearly she wasn't expecting such resistance.

She'll think twice about trying that trick again.


Audience Status:
On the whole, the audience seems a bit disappointed; attacks that target the mind aren’t all that interesting to watch. But I myself am not at all displeased! Today we got to see an excellent illustration of what's known as the ganzfeld effect. If you're interested in psychology, look it up!

Arena Status:
Has had a tunnel dug through it; the tunnel is shaped almost like a U-bend, with both exits right next to each other.

Calculations:

Other Notes:

• Confuse Ray is decidedly single-targeted; it has to be concentrated on an enemy for some time, or else it is about as harmful as watching a lava lamp. It cannot meaningfully be spread across multiple targets.
• Confusion starts at 50% failure rate, drops by 10% every action, drops by another 10% if taking heavy damage, and drops by 10% when using Focus Energy/Calm Mind etc.
• Focus Energy reduced the severity of confusion and the damage from Psychic. Something I wanted to bring up: as far as I can tell, there is no precedent whatsoever for Focus Energy being broken by distraction, but the description suggests that it can be done. Honestly, I feel like a combination of severe confusion and mental intrusion is about as distracting as it gets; I considered removing the critical hit chance buff as a result, but I'd rather not go out on a limb before I'm even approved. What are your thoughts on this?
• Meursault commands first next round!

Meursault, your DQ is up in 48 hours! I mean, it's not like I'm actually going to disqualify you, but I think of this announcement as being part of my ref test. Wahaha!

I think the more conservative ruling on Focus Energy was appropriate here. It's not as if the Psychic attack was explicitly commanded to interrupt Ringi's focus here.

And good call on disallowing the sweeping Confuse Ray. The only things I would typically allow to target multiple clones are spread moves and multi-hit moves.

On to what I think I'll consider your Final Challenge: get over that confusion and spam Fire Blast, Ringi!

Fire Blast x3

Stored Power ~ Stored Power ~ You're my Stored Power

...what do you mean it doesn't work with that?