[15] Vipera Magnifica vs Totodile (ref: Eifie)

3 vs 3
Style: Set
DQ: 7 days
Damage Cap: 40%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, direct healing, Pain Split, Perish Song, Super Fang, moves that KO the user. Trick Room does not affect command order.
Arena: Tower of Mastery

After a long spiraled climb around a humongous Mega Lucario statue, approved trainers will find the topmost location of the Tower of Mastery to be a large semicircular balcony with a lovely view of distant mountains, the sea, and awe-inspiring clear skies. It has been historically the place where chosen trainers are given Mega Rings, designated with the purpose of reminding those trainers to set their sights ever skyward.

For this round of the tournament, Battle Arena (or, as it were, Battle Korrina) rules will apply. Each pair of Pokémon sent out will only battle for up to three rounds before being recalled, at which point the sums of their remaining Health and Energy percentages will be compared to determine the winner of the bout, and the next two Pokémon are sent out thereafter. The first to win two bouts wins the match as a whole. Furthermore, while sending out Pokémon at the beginning of each bout, the trainers will also PM their assigned referee to pick one of the Masteries listed below, and the Masteries chosen that way will be publically announced in the battle thread before commands are issued (however, in the third and final bout, the masteries from the previous bout are applied, and no new ones are chosen). These two Masteries will be the only ones applicable in the current bout, and by fulfilling the conditions that they outline, players can have a score of 20 added to their final Health and Energy sum (up to a maximum of 40). More details are outlined in the tournament round post. The following are the masteries that can be chosen from:

• Movepool Master: Awarded to the Pokémon that used the highest amount of different moves during the bout.
• Elementalist: Awarded to the Pokémon that used moves of the highest amount of different types.
• Skill Striker: Awarded to the Pokémon that used the most moves with 70 or less Base Power (after accounting for effects that change a move's Base Power).
• Efficiency Expert: Awarded to the Pokémon that spent the least energy during the bout (restored energy, such as that gained by Chills or energy-targeting indirect recovery, does not contribute to this Mastery).
• Set-Up Specialist: Awarded to the Pokémon that had the highest net total of stat changes at the end of the bout (e.g., 6+ Attack and 2- Defense makes for a total of 4+).
• Plague Pawner: Awarded to the Pokémon that inflicted the most status conditions on the opponent.
• Daredevil: Awarded to the Pokémon that had the least Health remaining at the end of the bout.
• Own Worst Enemy: Awarded to the Pokémon that took the most self-inflicted damage during the round (only self-inflicted damage from regular sources like recoil and costs are counted; intentionally attacking oneself does not contribute to this Mastery).
• Obstinate Orders: Awarded to the trainer that used the least conditionals in their commands. Only the trainer who is issuing the first commands in the current bout can choose this Mastery.

Vipera Magnifica's active squad

Master Belch the male Sliggoo <Gooey> @ Leftovers
Darude the male Trapinch <Hyper Cutter> @ Lucky Egg
Li Feng the female Seviper <Shed Skin> @ Black Sludge
Libertad the female Hawlucha <Unburden> @ Flying Gem
Kamohoalii the male Carvanha <Rough Skin> @ Life Orb
Rockefeller the male Shellder <Skill Link> @ Water Stone
Melia the female Eevee <Adaptability> @ Eviolite
a fucking whale the female Wailmer <Oblivious> @ Lucky Egg
Calcifer the male Litwick <Flame Body> @ Dusk Stone
Faraday the male Eelektrik <Levitate> @ Thunder Stone


Totodile's active squad

Sobek the male Croconaw <Torrent> @ Lucky Egg
Sekhmet the female Luxio <Intimidate> @ Shuca Berry
Camazotz the female Zubat <Inner Focus> @ Black Sludge
Ganymede the male Kirlia <Trace> @ Dawn Stone
Baí Zé the male Absol <Super Luck> @ Razor Claw
Hel the female Froslass <Snow Cloak> @ Ice Gem
Korra the female Frogadier <Protean> @ Flying Gem
Poe the female Pancham <Iron Fist> @ Muscle Band
Aeris the female Klefki <Prankster>
Roxy the female Houndour <Flash Fire> @ Absorb Bulb

Up next:
1. Totodile sends out
2. Vipera Magnifica sends out
3. Eifie announces the chosen Masteries
4. Vipera Magnifica issues commands
5. Totodile issues commands

Let's go with Korra to start off with!

There aren't many counters to a Protean Pokémon... But I guess I'll lead with Faraday.

And here are the Masteries!

Totodile: Elementalist
Vipera Magnifica: Movepool Master

Vipera Magnifica commands first, then Totodile posts commands.

Okay Faraday, listen up. Start with Thunder Wave. If you are taunted, or Korra has clones or a substitute, use Shock Wave. If he used a ground or rock type move, use Giga Drain.

After that, use Thunderbolt, unless Korra is rock or ground type, in which case use Giga Drain. Use Shock Wave if she has clones.

Finally, Use Signal Beam. Switch out for Thunder Wave if she isn't already paralyzed AND you aren't taunted AND she doesn't have a substitute AND she isn't ground-type. Use Secret Power if she isn't paralyzed but one or more of the above conditions isn't met.

Thunder Wave / Shock Wave / Giga Drain ~ Thunderbolt / Giga Drain / Shock Wave ~ Signal Beam / Thunder Wave / Secret Power

All right. First off, use Protect. Then put up a Substitute to absorb the Thunderbolt. Finally, use Acrobatics - that will help you shrug off the Signal Beam.

Protect ~ Substitute (15%) ~ Acrobatics

Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂ @ Thunder Stone
Ability: Levitate
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Hovering about snakily.

Totodile

Korra ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Protean
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Looking around suspiciously.


Huffing and puffing, Eifie and Totodile stumble up the final flight of stairs to find Vipera Magnifica already waiting for them at the top of the Tower of Mastery: apparently his Seviper was able to give him a lift to the top simply by sitting him atop her head and uncoiling her body upwards. "I've got to get one of those snings (snake things)," Totodile mutters to herself, fumbling with her belt. After a few exhausted, half-hearted tries, her fingers come to rest on a glimmering red Cherish Ball, relic of new Asber's earliest promotion, and with a quick press of a button (taking the ball off her belt and throwing it is far too much effort after the lengthy climb) her Frogadier materializes on the balcony, immediately taking up a defensive stance and warily surveying her surroundings. Vipera Magnifica gulps to himself—Li Feng's not going to like facing this one—and reluctantly recalls his prized snake possession, or snossession, sending out one of his other snake-like creatures, a smooth-bodied Eelektrik, instead. Both trainers take their positions, the referee swings herself up on the rail at the edge of the balcony with no regard for safety, and the battle begins.

Immediately suspicious of her new opponent, Korra maintains her defensive position, closing her eyes to focus as a dome of near-transparent energy, visible only by the shine of moonlight glinting off it, expands around her. Its elemental energies start to flow through her, and when she looks up again the Water-type energy flowing through her system has made way for the more easily-influenced Normal-type energy of her shield. This isn't enough to deter Faraday, however; with a hiss, the Eelektrik coils himself into an S-shape and abruptly straightens his body again, firing off a quick pulse of electricity from his top fin that glances harmlessly off the glittering shield.

Dropping her protection, Korra scrambles to find herself a new defense. Hastily yanking several stones from the ground, she stacks them atop each other to build a small stone statue that looks absolutely nothing like a Frogadier. With a fingertip she takes some suds from her bubbly scarf, dragging them across the statue's forehead and intoning, "Simba...". Simba awkwardly starts twitching, testing out his completely inflexible limbs, but luckily he has no need of movement as Faraday releases another bolt of crackling electricity and Korra dives behind Simba to shield herself from the attack. Simba's right side collapses from the shock, smoking slightly, and explodes into ash, sinking back into the cracks in the floor.

Korra's movement doesn't cease there, though; hardly even stopping to remark upon Simba's almost-destruction, she leaps out again from behind him, whirling gracefully through the air as her Flying Gem begins to glow blindingly white, surrounding her with the same Flying-type energies that are now flowing within her. She sweeps her right leg in an arc, catching Faraday on his left side, and brings them both crashing to the ground. Faraday attempts to take advantage of his foe's temporary drop of guard, charging up a pure white beam of light to fire from his mouth, but he's too slow: by the time he launches his attack, the Frogadier's slipped back behind Simba again, and all he can do is shatter the remains of Simba into harmless bits of dust and rubble.


Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂ @ Thunder Stone
Ability: Levitate
Health: 86%
Energy: 90%
Status: Getting frustrated fast.
Used: Thunder Wave ~ Thunderbolt ~ Secret Power

Totodile

Korra ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Protean
Health: 85%
Energy: 87%
Status: Mourning Simba's untimely death. Who will rule the land now?! Flying-type.
Used: Protect ~ Substitute (15%) ~ Acrobatics

Arena Status

• Nothing of note.

Damage and Energy

• Korra's Health: 100% - 15% (Substitute) = 85%
• Korra's Substitute: 15% - 12% (Thunderbolt) - 7% (Secret Power) = 0%
• Korra's Energy: 100% - 2% (Protect) - 8% (Substitute) - 3% (Acrobatics) = 87%
• Faraday's Health: 100% - 14% (Acrobatics) = 86%
• Faraday's Energy: 100% - 2% (Thunder Wave) - 3% (Thunderbolt) - 5% (Secret Power) = 90%

Notes

• Speed order: Korra (97) > Faraday (40).
• Chosen masteries: Elementalist and Movepool Master.
• This battle is now taking place at night, because why not. (This is only for flavour, because the only bits I've seen of this place are a few seconds of a gameplay video where it appears to be night, and now it's all I can see.) I guess it just took them that long to climb the stairs.
• Acrobatics used up Korra's Flying Gem.
• VM's commands, as far as I could tell, were ordering Secret Power for the third action, not Signal Beam (not that it really would have made a difference). I guess the top of the Tower of Mastery is probably not high up enough for the sky effect, so I went with the man-made terrain effect for Secret Power.
• Secret Power destroyed Korra's Substitute.
• Totodile commands first.

All right, Korra. Let's pull out all the types.

Power-Up Punch ~ Ice Punch ~ Gunk Shot

Start with Swagger. Then use Flash Cannon, unless Korra hurts herself, in which case, drop your thunder stone and use Acrobatics. Finish with either a Crunch, or a Flash Cannon if you previously used Acrobatics.

Swagger ~ Flash Cannon / Acrobatics (drop item) ~ Crunch / Flash Cannon

Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂ @ Thunder Stone
Ability: Levitate
Health: 86%
Energy: 90%
Status: Getting frustrated fast.

Totodile

Korra ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Protean
Health: 85%
Energy: 87%
Status: Mourning Simba's untimely death. Who will rule the land now?! Flying-type.


Oh my gosh, how could this have happened to Simba? Is Korra going to have to step up to be the new king of the jungle?! She knew she was right not to trust that... that wily snake! Ugh! The Frogadier is so mad, she doesn't even bother to properly assess her surroundings as she was trained before swinging her arm back and then leaping forward to punch Faraday in the FACE. Her fist bounces right off his scaley scales, and the Eelektrik hardly looks fazed at all, a faint glimmer of a scowl crossing his face for only a short moment. Who knew snakes were so tough? At least that blow ought to have toughened up Korra's knuckles a little.

Faraday snarls out a distinctly un-snake-like laugh to startle Korra out of her brief reverie. He coils himself tauntingly into several rude shapes in midair, descriptions of which shall not be given to protect the innocent. Korra's immediately incensed, but then the Eelektrik floats over to her and lets a long, sticky trail of drool fall from his mouth onto her forehead. Smearing it all across her face with his tail, he hisses, "Ssssssssssssssimba..."

Now that is it! How dare that uncouth, depraved monster desecrate Simba's memory like that?! Simba was a very nice rock! Korra is having none of this. With an indignant, croaking roar she launches herself forward at full force and Faraday easily twists out of the way, cackling to himself. The Frogadier's momentum sends her slamming straight into the rail of the balcony with a thud, and the referee falls backwards off it with what is bound to be an even larger thud.

No living memory exists of the next few moments on the balcony...

A few minutes later, the head of an extremely long-necked Furret peeks over the railing, and the disgruntled referee hops off it to find Korra still glaring daggers at her opponent, rubbing a huge bump on top of her head with one hand. Finding this all extremely amusing, Faraday twists himself into a few more rude patterns as he soars as gracefully through the air as an Eelektrik can soar, Thunder Stone dropping carelessly to the ground, and batters Korra over the head repeatedly with his tail and fins. The blows leave Korra reeling and seeing stars, and ooh, that's a pretty nice one up in the sky there! Korra likes it. Korra likes it a lot. Maybe it's the spirit of dead Simba, may the RNGods (Rock 'N Gods) bless his soul. Korra closes her eyes to say a brief prayer in memory of Simba.

Then Faraday spits a blast of glimmering Steel-type energy at her, and reality comes flooding back. Tottering unsteadily on her froggy feet, Korra struggles to blink the remaining glare of the silver light out of her eyes...


Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂
Ability: Levitate
Health: 81%
Energy: 75%
Status: Quite pleased with himself.
Used: Swagger ~ Acrobatics ~ Flash Cannon

Totodile

Korra ♀
Ability: Protean
Health: 54%
Energy: 83%
Status: Only vaguely aware of what's going on... Fighting-type. Moderately confused (15% failure chance). +3 Attack, -1 Special Defense.
Used: Power-Up Punch ~ [confused] ~ [confused...?]

Arena Status

• A Thunder Stone is chilling randomly in the middle of the balcony. The jagged lightning bolt on its surface glints sadly in the moonlight as the precious stone ponders its careless abandonment. Perhaps it will not consent to lend Faraday its mystical evolutionary powers...

Damage and Energy

• Korra's Health: 85% - 7% (confusefail) - 16% (Acrobatics) - 8% (Flash Cannon) = 54%
• Korra's Energy: 87% - 2% (Power-Up Punch) - 2% (confusefail) = 83%
• Faraday's Health: 86% - 5% (Power-Up Punch) - 81%
• Faraday's Energy: 90% - 4% (Swagger) - 7% (Acrobatics) - 4% (Flash Cannon) = 75%

Notes

• Speed order: Korra (97) > Faraday (40).
• Chosen masteries: Elementalist and Movepool Master.
• Korra hurt herself in confusion on the second action. Her jacked-up Attack meant that it hurt a lot.
• Korra rolled exactly a 25 for confusion on the third action (she needed 26 or higher to attack successfully), so instead of actually hurting herself in her confusion again she spent the action just kind of running around like whaaaaaaat. This didn't reduce her failure chance any.
• Flash Cannon lowered Special Defense. Jeez. (This may be a great time to mention that Acrobatics rolled a 6 for crit. Sorry, Korra.)
• Vipera Magnifica commands first for the last round of this bout.

Excellent. It seems bribing the folks at random.org worked out in my favor.

Good work, Faraday. Start with Acid Spray. Then use Giga Drain followed by Crunch. If Korra is poison or bug type when you are about to use Giga Drain, use Aqua Tail instead. If she is dark type when you are about to use Crunch, use Signal Beam instead. If she tries to use Attract or Swagger, then Protect.

Acid Spray / Protect ~ Giga Drain / Aqua Tail / Protect ~ Crunch / Signal Beam / Protect

(Eifie, if that Acrobatics was a crit, shouldn't it have done more than 16% damage?)

Vipera Magnifica said:

(Eifie, if that Acrobatics was a crit, shouldn't it have done more than 16% damage?)

Click to expand...

It would've gotten a crit if it had rolled a 5 or below. I thought about granting it an extra point or two because of how close it was, but ultimately decided against it.

Right, I forgot we went back to the old crit mechanics.

Let's hope for a quick turnaround. Smack Down first, then use Gunk Shot, then Dig in one action. If on the first action you were confused, use Smack Down on the second action rather than Gunk Shot. If by the third action she still isn't on the ground, just go with Ice Punch instead of Dig.

Smack Down ~ Gunk Shot/Smack Down ~ Dig (one action)/Ice Punch

Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂
Ability: Levitate
Health: 81%
Energy: 75%
Status: Quite pleased with himself.

Totodile

Korra ♀
Ability: Protean
Health: 54%
Energy: 83%
Status: Only vaguely aware of what's going on... Fighting-type. Moderately confused (15% failure chance). +3 Attack, -1 Special Defense.


Blinking herself frantically back to awareness, Korra is the first to move: snatching a hunk of rock that was once Simba's head from the ground, she takes careful aim and then hurls it at one of Faraday's fan-fins. The piece of Simba strikes true, smashing straight into its target, and without that fin to balance him Faraday goes writhing and crashing to the ground. Weakly he coughs up a torrent of purple acid, which wears away a bit at Korra's newly toughened-up rock-skin, but hardly seems to faze her.

Fine. Korra will show Faraday how truly to bend poison to one's will! Her skin turns bright purple as she scoops up a clump of suds from her bubbly scarf, infusing it with Poison-type energy until it absorbs a deep violet colour to match. She flings it forward with a mighty cry, and Faraday twists and hisses in pain on the ground as it impacts with his scales, the caustic energy searing his skin. Flailing about awkwardly on the ground, the Eelektrik struggles forth, his tail surrounding itself with a sheen of water as he swings it around. The force of the blow sends Korra skidding backward to hit her head on the railing, the last vestiges of her confusion rapidly leaving her.

Time is short. Korra must put her all into her last strike. "FOR SIMBA!" she cries, smashing through the stones of the balcony floor to build a tunnel underneath. It's hard for her to go very deep, but she perseveres onward, and above it's certainly enough to deter Faraday from attempting to snap his jaws at her impressively like he was planning. As the Eelektrik hears rumbles from beneath him growing louder and louder he frantically attempts to lift himself up off the ground again, but his injured fin just won't respond. All he can do is lie there pathetically until Korra bursts up from the ground and smashes into him with all her limbs, pummeling him with all her strength until the ref steps in, flags raised, and both Pokémon are recalled.


Vipera Magnifica

Faraday ♂
Ability: Levitate
Health: 41%
Energy: 67%
Status: Battered and bruised.
Used: Acid Spray ~ Aqua Tail ~ nothing

Totodile

Korra ♀
Ability: Protean
Health: 42%
Energy: 66%
Status: Just as battered and bruised, really. Ground-type. +3 Attack, -3 Special Defense.
Used: Smack Down ~ Gunk Shot ~ Dig

Arena Status

• The abandoned Thunder Stone has been recalled with Faraday. Who knows what secret feud they could be having inside his Poké Ball?

Damage and Energy

• Korra's Health: 54% - 3% (Acid Spray) - 9% (Aqua Tail) = 42%
• Korra's Energy: 83% - 3% (Smack Down) - 7% (Gunk Shot) - 7% (Dig) = 66%
• Faraday's Health: 81% - 9% (Smack Down) - 19% (Gunk Shot) - 21% (Dig) = 41% (capped)
• Faraday's Energy: 75% - 3% (Acid Spray) - 5% (Aqua Tail) = 67%

Notes

• Korra's confusion wore off after she was hit by Aqua Tail.
• Technically, from what I've heard, you're supposed to specifically command one-action Dig to be used to dodge in order to avoid your opponent's move. The post saying so is pretty unclear, though, and Totodile was commanding second and all so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
• Honestly I'm not sure how one would burrow through a stone building but I also have no idea what this place is because I haven't played X/Y?? It ends up not affecting the final outcome so I'm going to postpone judgement on this until later, anyway. I'm thinking... not so much in favour of Dig working here. I will have to watch more videos.
• The battlers are exactly tied when it comes to health and energy totals. They are also exactly tied for the Elementalist mastery, with 6 different types used each. Neither battler repeated a move, but Korra failed to move twice while Faraday failed to move once, meaning that Faraday narrowly snatches the Movepool Master Mastery and is the winner of this bout!
• Next up: Vipera Magnifica sends out, then Totodile sends out. Once the Masteries have been selected, Totodile will be commanding first.

I'll use Libertad the Hawlucha next.

And I'll use my spooky pal Hel.

The Masteries are...

Totodile: Plague Prawner (in which she heaps hordes of shrimp upon her unsuspecting opponents)
Vipera Magnifica: Elementalist

Totodile commands first. Good luck to both!

All right, Hel. We won't be subtle to start with.

Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Ice Beam

Right, Libertad, we're not going to win this with just force, so we'll have to be sneaky.

Make all the Double Team clones you can. Then use Acrobatics, and finally, Swagger.

Double Team ~ Acrobatics ~ Swagger