[15] Eifie vs JackPK (ref: Superbird)

2 vs 2 Inverse Battle
Style: Set
DQ: 7 days
Damage Cap: 35%
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs, Pain Split, Perish Song, moves that KO the user; direct recovery is restricted to 1 use in the match (by any Pokémon), Chills are restricted to 5 uses (per Pokémon), and damage-dealing Normal-type moves are restricted to 3 uses (per Pokémon).
Arena: Route 19/Grande Vallée Way

The great wooden bridge across the valley will be the site of this battle. It's long and wide, with high protective rails (though they may be not much more than a widely spaced net of ropes). The bridge is very sturdy and will readily withstand much of the action, although inevitably it isn't entirely unbreakable, and sufficiently extreme trauma may cause it to snap. The fall is unlikely to be painful for many Pokémon other than those of the Fire-type, however, as the height isn't too great and what waits below is not much more than soft marshy ground and calm waters. While the thing is still standing, at least, the battle gets a picturesque backdrop, with just the right setup of waters, hills, and skies.

The most important trick to this battle as it's being influenced by the mysterious powers of the Psychic known as Inver, who causes super-effective moves to deal not very effective damage while not very effective or entirely ineffective moves deal super-effective damage. To battle under these circumstances is known as an Inverse Battle. Furthermore, as Normal-types are extremely advantaged in these battles, Pokémon whose only type is Normal may not be sent out in this match.

Eifie's active squad

Adelle the female Espeon <Synchronize> @ Wise Glasses
Wheelbarrow DuMFling the male Mamoswine <Oblivious> @ Shell Bell
Royal Road Eagle Feathers the male Chatot <Tangled Feet> @ Metronome
Lena the female Meganium <Overgrow> @ Big Root
Siradhan the male Natu <Early Bird> @ Mental Herb
Cool Beauty Violet Temptation the female Mismagius <Levitate> @ Chople Berry
topping percentage the shiny male Paras <Dry Skin> @ Weakness Policy
Shih-Na the female Zorua <Illusion> @ Black Glasses
Agent C.W. Fluff the female Arcanine <Intimidate> @ Safety Goggles
Super Smile Tomistoma the female Totodile <Sheer Force> @ Eviolite

JackPK active squad

Gwen the female Spinarak <Insomnia> @ Red Card
Sheena the female Frogadier <Torrent> @ Lucky Egg
Reynolds the male Inkay <Contrary> @ Payapa Berry
Lancelot the male Doublade <No Guard> @ Dusk Stone
Louise the female Roselia <Poison Point> @ Shiny Stone
Luke the male Zorua <Illusion> @ Lucky Egg
Lululemon (is a yoga store) the female Squirtle <Rain Dish> @ Rocky Helmet
Pokey the male Diglett <Arena Trap> @ Eviolite
Snowball the female Spheal <Ice Body> @ Lucky Egg
totally a rhyperior the male Luvdisc <Swift Swim> @ Protector

Up next:
1.JackPK sends out
2.Eifie sends out and issues commands
3.JackPK issues commands

damn, I was really hoping not to send out first...

After much deliberation, I'll start with Pokey!

Whew, good thing my Pokey counter is also a good Zorua counter. Come on out, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation! Brandish that Chople Berry for the world to see! Let TtC weep as it serves its ultimate purpose and he misses out on the chance to ref it!









Hey... three of these sprites are all the same! What gives, Cool Beauty?!



That's better, I guess. I suppose your beauty is just classic, spans the ages.

So, my lovely Cool Beauty Violet Temptation, let's go for a Mystical Fire straight off. If your opponent is unhittable for some reason, or Biding, Nasty Plot instead and (if he's not using Bide) try again the next action. Don't use Nasty Plot if you can see that he's preparing to Snatch.

Next, if your opponent has been revealed to be that tricksy Zorua fellow, punish him for his misdeeds with a Shadow Ball. If he's still Pokey after you hit him, or he's Biding, let's dazzle him with your most astonishing display of cool beauty and violet temptation, yes? If he has a substitute, though, or Confuse Ray won't work for some other reason, stick with Shadow Ball. If your opponent has clones, sweep Mystical Fire around.

Let's end with a Shadow Ball, or Nasty Plot if you successfully confused him or you can't hit him or he's Biding, and he's not preparing to Snatch. Psychic if you can't do your thing.

If you ever can't use a move because of Torment, go with your other offensive option. Good luck, my spooky friend!

Mystical Fire / Nasty Plot ~ Mystical Fire / Shadow Ball / Confuse Ray ~ Shadow Ball / Nasty Plot / Psychic

Hey! We don't have a ton of Special moves in our movepool, so I'm A-OK with getting our Special Attack lowered by Mystical Fire. In exchange, set up a medium Substitute (15%) to ensure she doesn't confuse us on the next action, and hopefully soak up whatever she uses on the third action, too.

For your second trick, cherry-tap her with a Rock Smash to make sure that Chople Berry gets used up ASAP.

After that, hmm. It'll be pointless to go for inverse-super-effectivity since the Chople Berry will be working, and Levitate makes her immune to your Ground STAB, so instead let's go with a Rock Tomb to ensure you're faster than her from now on.

Substitute (15%) ~ Rock Smash ~ Rock Tomb

I'm going to regret pointing this out, but shouldn't this have been the clause that determined Cool Beauty's move on the second action?

Eifie said:

If he has a substitute, though, or Confuse Ray won't work for some other reason, stick with Shadow Ball.

Click to expand...

(also p.s. Pokey is a boy)

The referee flew over to Anistar City on his Xatu, feeling a little dejected from his loss in the last round, but hey, at least he was still involved somehow. Money was money, after all. And as he walked along Route 19 towards the battle site, his eyebrows raised. Inverse battles were rare, but quite fun. He waved hello to Psychic Inver, who happened to be exiting his house as the referee walked past it, and the two continued together past Terminus Cave all the way to the bridge. It was a well-made bridge, for being made of wood – very sturdy, and not likely to collapse. Unlike some certain other bridges various Asberians had battled on before.

In short order, the first two of the six combatants that would be battling today arrived, and without much small talk, they each sent out their pokémon. On one side, a menacing purple ghost witch, who cackled gleefully as she saw her opponent, a tiny mole pokémon with dirt clinging to his underside as he stared curiously up at her. The referee, clearly happy to see a rare fully-evolved pokémon on the field, raised both flags, and signaled for Inver to do his thing. Generously aided by the referee’s helpful Xatu, he focused his power and...nothing actually changed. For the humans, at least. The pokémon seemed to feel something – a little awkward, vulnerable even – but before long their trainers were giving orders, and the battle began.


Cool Beauty Violet Temptation starts off the match, being slightly faster than her opponent, by tilting her head backwards just a little and letting her mouth fill with flame. After a moment of charging, she spews a blast of Mystical Fire out of her mouth – slower moving, perhaps, than a normal Flamethrower, but with a slightly wider area of effect, and great deal more color; blues and greens and yellows and purples and deep reds can be seen flitting around the fire’s normal orange color. Pokey scrunches his body up as he’s bathed by the flames, enduring the attack, which isn’t actually quite as strong as it looks, and as soon as they dissipate he pops back up and spins around, releasing a few bunches of dirt from his waist warmer. Mud seems to rise out of nowhere to replace that which pulls itself away from Pokey’s omnipresent covering of earth, and before long the Diglett is gently putting the finishing touches on a dirt sculpture of a small dinosaur. With a final bop with his head, Pokey imbues his creation with some of his life essence, and the creature begins to hop up and down a little, ready to defend its creator.

As it turns out, it is forced to do so immediately. Following up her Mystical Fire, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation has another tempting distraction prepared – a ball of sinister shadows which the Mismagius whips up in a hurry, anxious to destroy the Substitute as soon as possible. Unfortunately, she finds as the attack makes a sizable dent in her opponent’s creation but fails to actually destroy it, it’ll take another action. In the meantime, Pokey rushes forward, preparing what is most likely a fighting-type attack – if Cool Beauty Violet Temptation is judging it correctly, it seems like a Rock Smash. Instinctively, she bites down on her Chople Berry, and not a moment too soon, for just as she does so Pokey hops towards her head-first and rams into her with enough strength to crush the rocks he plans to bury her in next action. Cool Beauty Violet Temptation feints back with the momentum, shaking off her opponent as soon as possible, and surveys her opponent’s side of the battlefield.

That Substitute is going to continue to be quite a problem, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation ascertains, and decides to do something about it. That something ends up being another Shadow Ball, which she quickly begins to prepare, her shadowy essence leeching into the attack as it forms. Pokey watches his opponent warily, but when the Shadow Ball is launched his faithful Substitute puts itself right in the way of the attack. After a small explosion of dust, the creation is no more, blasted into oblivion by a second attack, but at least Pokey now has the opportunity to strike back. Seeming to straighten himself out a little, Pokey uses the latent Rock-type energy that most Ground-types happen to have to tear several boulders out of the cliffs on either side of the bridge, and levitate them to right above Cool Beauty Violet Temptation’s head. The Mismagius realizes what’s happening well in advance, but due to the Inverse Field, finds herself unable to phase away from the attack, and so tries to simply float out of its range. But she has no such luck – the rocks topple down on top of her, crushing her against the bridge for a moment until she finally figures out how to use her Ghost-type powers in this environment and dislodges herself from the boulders. She shoots a glare at her opponent, who returns the gesture. The battle has only just begun.


Referee Notes
~Rock Smash did not lower Cool Beauty Violet Temptation’s Defense.
~Thanks for pointing that out, JackPK. I completely missed that.
~JackPK commands first.

Ummm this is probably really cheap and/or really stupid of me, but I feel like trying anything more complicated when commanding first this early in the battle would just bite me in the butt even more.

Pokey, you're faster, so start by digging down! Stay down there for the whole round, waiting until after Cool Beauty's made all three of her moves if you can, and then dig up at the end of the third action, using the force of your digging to try to put some more oomph behind a Rock Smash!

If she somehow ends up in your hole with you, then lol idk abandon the plan and just repeatedly Rock Smash her I guess?

Dig (down) ~ wait/Rock Smash ~ wait and Dig (up) + Rock Smash/Rock Smash

EDIT: wait Dig will probably fail on the bridge. I don't have time to mull recommanding right now so I guess I will recommand later if nobody's said anything, or let Eifie sucker-punch me by sneaking her commands in before I come back??? idk it's up to y'all whether Dig works and/or whether I recommand

Well, I did say I was totally cool with you recommanding, so I'll wait.

Okay that plan's out, so I guess we can just, like, lob a ton of Sludge Bombs at her or something? because sure, moles can spit balls of grime, that makes sense

If she's kind enough to neither hit you super-effectively nor inflict a status (including minor statuses like confusion and attract), then I guess let's return the favor on the following action, and set up some Stealth Rocks on the second action and/or a Sandstorm on the third. If she has clones, then definitely use Sandstorm (if that's applicable, Sandstorm overrides any other command you have for the third action).

If it looks like she's preparing Me First, then just use Rock Smash. Also use Rock Smash if you would use Sludge Bomb but can't because of Torment or for any other reason. Also also use Rock Smash if she's protecting because lol low energy requirement.

Sludge Bomb/Rock Smash ~ Sludge Bomb/Stealth Rock/Rock Smash ~ Sludge Bomb/Sandstorm/Rock Smash

(That was fast! Thanks, Superbird! :O)

All right, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation, this is gonna hurt, but it'll pay off, I promise. Start with a Telekinesis so that we can see one of the seven wonders of the Pokémon world: a Diglett's feet. :O Also, it'll help you Zap Cannon him in the face. It doesn't look like he's going to be actively waiting for you, so on the third action try waiting for his Sludge Bomb if you can before hitting him with Facade (if you're already poisoned, though, don't bother waiting). I'll explain later, but I'm sure you've figured out why already; my lady is quite the quick study!

Telekinesis ~ Zap Cannon ~ Facade

Commands are issued, and Pokey is initially very surprised when his trainer tells him to dig into the bridge – wouldn’t he fall through? But before he has a chance to become truly anxious, JackPK backpedals frantically and gives a somewhat more logical chain of commands. As soon as he finishes, Pokey nods, and begins to form a glob of sludge in his mouth, similar to a Toxic only a lot bigger. Cool Beauty Violet Temptation, not in the best of moods, interrupts her opponent by using her latent psychic abilities to lift him up into the air, but Pokey is unshaken and releases his Sludge Bomb anyway with perfect accuracy. The attack washes over the Mismagius, who shivers in disgust. She’s normally resistant to this stuff, how is this fair?

But anyway, she’s got her opponent trapped, doesn’t she? Why not make him a bit...uncomfortable? Pokey, doing his best to ignore the fact that he’s no longer on any sort of ground at all – the wooden bridge may not have been earth, but at least it was a surface; he almost felt naked up here, with nothing but his dirt coating to protect his abdominal regions from view – just tried to launch another attack. Noticing that his opponent is charging some sort of electric attack but not paying much attention because what does he care, he’s immune to electricity, Pokey uses his rock-type power for the second time this battle, this time to pick up the rocks under which he buried Cool Beauty Violet Temptation last action and crush them all up into tiny little pieces. The stone fragments begin to scatter in the air and float lazily around Cool Beauty Violet Temptation, who barely even seems to notice. Instead, the Mismagius lets out a cackle as she releases a tremendous pulse of electricity that travels unhindered through the Stealth Rocks and courses through Pokey’s body, leaving its signature residue and stiffening up the Diglett in a very uncomfortable manner.

Pokey isn’t used to this at all – static electricity, he’s finding, is something that he really doesn’t enjoy. He’s glad he doesn’t have to deal with this normally, and he’s also glad that, like other types of paralysis, it doesn’t seem to be impeding his ability to fire more globs of sludge. Using perhaps the only one of his facilities that is still functioning properly through the paralysis, he spits another Sludge Bomb at Cool Beauty Violet Temptation, and like before it hits her squarely. But this time she seems to be ready for the attack, and as soon as it makes impact she darts forward, nimbly avoiding the Stealth Rocks encircling her, and, cackling as if to hide pain but yet in a strangely forced-sounding way, rams into Pokey, sending him flying backwards through the air until the telekinesis holding him up abruptly disappears and he falls harshly back onto the surface of the bridge. He shoots his opponent a glare, advancing on her slowly as she delicately retreats, making sure not to hit any of the stealth rocks. Next round, she was gonna get it.


Arena Notes
~Stealth Rocks are floating somewhat randomly around Cool Beauty Violet Temptation’s side of the arena. Attacks that require Cool Beauty Violet Temptation to move will have a 50% chance of colliding with the rocks on the way, and knockback from opposing attacks may also knock her into the rocks.

Referee Notes
~Move quickly while you can, folks, I’m not sure how long I’m gonna be able to keep this reffing speed up when I get off of fall break.
~Diglett have a coating of earth around their underside that sticks with them anywhere they go, whether that involves levitating or not.
~Eifie commands first.

Shouldn't Telekinesis be lasting one more action, since Cool Beauty Violet Temptation moved second on the first action?

Eifie said:

Shouldn't Telekinesis be lasting one more action, since Cool Beauty Violet Temptation moved second on the first action?

Click to expand...

I generally don't do that (see: Taunt in Birdcrest vs. Faorzia), mostly because that's not how the games do it. And plus, with Taunt and Torment and stuff that actually relies on the opponent moving, those moves could actually disrupt the move that the opponent is using - Telekinesis is very hard to achieve the same effect (not that it can't still be done, but...) and generally you would be getting the same number of perfect-accuracy attacks out of it anyway.

Excellent work, my lady. Quickly put up a medium Substitute, then lock that and his most dangerous move away with Imprison. I am somewhat unhappy with that Eviolite, so let's Thief it away, since my lady is apparently too refined to learn a technique such as Knock Off... should he have a Substitute or be otherwise unaccessible (clones included), however, let's Mimic that Sludge Bomb for later. If you couldn't use Imprison last action, do it now instead.

Substitute (15%) ~ Imprison ~ Thief / Mimic (Sludge Bomb) / Imprison

omigosh Attract is not banned in this battle, this is ridiculously cheap but so was Telekinesis + Zap Cannon

Okay, Pokey, we're not going to be able to block Cool Beauty from using that Substitute, but we really want her not to take your item or have access to Sludge Bomb. Imprison I don't care so much about since it'll wear off (eventually...) and since she's being so adamant about using it.

So use Attract! Try to look super sexy in, like, a mysterious, strong-and-silent-type kind of way. That'll make you less susceptible to being stopped by your paralysis and also hopefully that's the kind of thing ghosts are into! They're all about being mysterious themselves, so hopefully it's also what they dig in others!

Then, let's get rid of that Substitute! Start with an Ancient Power, since it's the cheapest-energy non-Normal move you have access to that's unlikely to require a lot of movement. Plus, the database description talks a lot about spirits and ghostly fire and stuff like that, so try to do it in like, a sexy way. Make it look like you're doing it more to show off to her than in an aggressive way. Aim it directly at the Substitute instead of aiming at Cool Beauty and letting the Sub jump in the way.

The Sub should be nearly but not quite halfway broken after that, and there won't be a need to keep looking sexy since Cool Beauty will have performed or failed all her moves by then, so just finish off the Sub with a Sludge Bomb.

Attract ~ Ancient Power ~ Sludge Bomb

Having destroyed her opponent’s Substitute, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation is somewhat tempted to make her own, and, after all, why not? Her opponent can’t really destroy it in one hit, so it could buy her some time. With her signature cackle, she siphons some of her life energy into some of the leftover dirt from Pokey’s Substitute, drawing the rest of the material for her Substitute from her own, and when she’s finished creating her work of art it is a terrible mutt, looking like an adorable traditional Substitute doll except transmuted with an ugly golem – utterly revolting, though tempting perhaps for a ground-type. Tempting enough for Pokey to express surprise and admiration, and appreciation that she would use his dirt to create it. And he then expresses his undying love, claiming that over the course of the battle he’s grown very attracted to her and that he was testing her resolve with his previous Sludge Bombs, and that she’s more than passed his test – she’s the strongest pokémon he’s ever met, and they should start dating.

Cool Beauty Violet Temptation is somewhat unsure how to interpret her opponent’s sudden declaration of love. She knows that she is really tempting, and that her opponent probably did get attracted to her, but a glance back at her trainer makes her unsure whether or not she ought to reciprocate Pokey’s affections. As a safe middle ground, she decides to give him a test of her own, tapping into some psychic power and analyzing her own moves so far, then placing mental locks on her opponent. He would have to be original. The message to Pokey is clear: “Impress me.”

Pokey strives to do just that with his Ancient Power, concentrating and using an ancient, archaic energy that could easily be confused for psychic energy. It is telekinesis, to be sure, something Cool Beauty Violet Temptation can appreciate – slightly less so when the boulders go flying towards her Substitute and batter the doll around, knocking some dust off of it. Maybe he was trying to show off, but Cool Beauty Violet Temptation isn’t entirely convinced. If he really loves her, he might be fine with giving her that prized possession she can see him clutching. Smiling somewhat pretentiously at Pokey, Cool Beauty Violet Temptation floats lazily towards him, exchanging facial expressions with the Diglett as she gets closer. She points at his Eviolite. He shakes his head. She asks why not, don’t you love me? He replies that he’s saving it as a gift for when they get closer together. She decides to suddenly rush forward and swipe it, leaving Pokey with a slap on the face as she retreats behind her Substitute.

Clearly, Pokey’s Attract did not have its desired effect. To heck with it, then, why not just try to finish this battle off. His Eviolite was important; he needs to get it back, and that Substitute is now an obstacle. While Cool Beauty Violet Temptation turns her back to travel back behind her Substitute, he charges and launches another Sludge Bomb towards the Substitute, destroying it and giving her nowhere to hide. When Cool Beauty Violet Temptation realies her doll is gone, she glares at Pokey, who gives her sad puppy eyes in exchange – doesn’t she want to share gazes? It’s romantic! Cool Beauty Violet Temptation really is not sure what she should do about this, and as the round draws to a close she desperately looks towards her trainer for instructions.


Referee Notes
~Pokey’s attacks lowered the infatuation by the amount of damage they dealt, because they were hitting the Substitute and not Cool Beauty Violet Temptation herself.
~Sludge Bomb was a critical hit, which did nothing except lower the Attraction percentage any more – it would have destroyed the Substitute anyhow.
~JackPK commands first.

It has been brought to my attention that I really need to make my Attraction standards less harsh. As such, I plan to change them such that each action deducts 5% from Attraction chance, damage dealt from attacks against the user deducts a percentage equal to damage dealt, and damage dealt to a Substitute acts the same as the above (the full amount of damage, regardless of whether that's more than the Substitute took before breaking). This would change the ruling only in that (as all the attraction rolls were rather high) Cool Beauty Violet Temptation's attraction chance at the end of the round would increase to 12% (which would be 18% had Sludge Bomb not been a critical hit).

I will only change the ruling if all battlers are okay with the change. If not, the battle will continue as it was, and continue with the previous set of rules for the remainder of the battle. If so, the amendments to my attraction scale will take over for the rest of the battle.

I'm okay with it. I can't imagine that Jack wouldn't be.

I'm totally OK with the revision!

Okay, go ahead and command. JackPK first and then Eifie.