Arena: GOD HAETS YOU >(
You're not sure how or why your Pokémon have ended up battling in an arena like this. The area of battle is a great green-grey sheet-metal cube twenty meters to a side. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the daggerlike five-foot spikes placed in a grid pattern, three feet apart, on every wall of the cube. This wouldn't be so bad - the spikes are big enough to avoid fairly easily - if not for the fact that every ten minutes [five actions] or so, perhaps oftener, the cube flips over. Perhaps someone or something is rotating the cube, perhaps gravity is shifting; either way, it's rather disorienting. Add to that two opponents at once...
Pokémon over five feet not recommended.
No way out, nowhere to hide and killer spikes five feet in length lining every surface. There's no other way to describe it: this battlefield is hell, or someplace equally torturous and deadly. Not that Itoshiki Nozomu is particularly intimidated by this. The place is bleak, hopeless and full of impending suffering... just like his
soul. The Spinarak clings to one of the ceiling spikes, staring dully around at the spiked walls and floor as he waits for his opponents to make an appearance. Carrion the Spearow and Flames the Growlithe, when they are released, do not take their situation as lightly as their opponent does. Flames vaguely remembers hearing something about this spiky cube arena flipping around, and he isn't looking forward to being tossed around and impaled on one of those nasty-looking points. Carrion, while hoping to avoid most of that flipping nonsense by staying in the air, is nevertheless a little nervous. There
are an awful lot of spikes around, after all. And both of his foes are much larger than he is, even the "delicious bug" his trainer pointed out to him. It looks more like it could catch him than the other way around, but at least it seems more preoccupied with being depressed and staring at the spikes than with food.
Round One: Begin!
Carrion throws himself off of the spike he has perched on and into a spiraling climb, shooting straight between the spikes and right at Nozomu. His spinning motion causes him to drill painfully into the Spinarak's abdomen, and Nozomu hisses and nearly loses his grip as the Spearow's added weight throws him off-balance. Wrenching his beak free at last Carrion takes wing and flutters out of the way, not wanting to present himself as a viable target for Flames. Not that he has any reason to worry--Flames is just sitting at the bottom of the cube, staring up at his two opponents with a dismayed look on his face. Agility or no, he can't jump that high! Upset at his inability to reach his targets the Growlithe throws his head back and lets out a long, frustrated howl. The sound echoes eerily around the arena, and while it unnerves Carrion andNozomu somewhat Flames finds himself feeling invigorated. Oh, he might not be able to reach them now, but just wait and see what'll happen to them as soon as they get within the range of the Amazing Terrifying Scary Dog!
Great. Just great, Nozomu thinks to himself as the last echoes of Flames's howling die away.
I have a huge bleeding hole in my back and the mutt is making loud, annoying, creepy noises. TODAY SUCKS. BUT WHAT ELSE IS NEW. Still whining mentally about his crappy day and the unfairness of it all, Nozomu readjusts his position on the spike and then sets to work spinning himself a duplicate Spinarak with his sticky silk. A few moments of weaving and shaping and his doppelganger is fully-formed; it twitches a little when Nozomu forces a good deal of his life energy into it but is otherwise still as its creator vanishes from sight and goes off to continue sulking in his magical hidey-hole.
[Carrion: -0H, -3E, hmm, the big bug
is pretty delicious...] - [Nozomu: -40H, -12E, in pain and in despair] and [Nozomu's Substitute: 25H remaining] - [Flames: -0H, -1E, attack +1, disappointed but confident]
Landing on a spike that is lower on the wall than his previous position, Carrion glares down at the pumped-up Flames and scrutinizes him carefully for a few seconds. He should be able to hit him from here, and
should be safe from his next attack since the delicious bug appears to be his intended target... reassured, the little bird takes aim and fires off a tri -colored beam of energy. Bright red, yellow and blue streaks rush down toward Flames and hit him full on in the face, the blue beam managing to coat his muzzle with a fairly thick layer of ice. Flames panics and paws at the ice, trying to force his mouth open wide enough to breathe fire and melt the ice, but to no avail. His jaws simply won't budge. Nozomu, meanwhile, pops out of his secret hiding place and, ignoring Flames's wild scrabbling and scratching down below, spits a multitude of sharp, poisonous spines down at the floor before popping right back in again. Carrion squawks and scoots closer into the wall to avoid getting hit, and miraculously enough Flames manages to thrash away from the area the majority of the spikes land on, but the damage is done--the tiny spikes are now littering the floor and will make things quite unpleasant for whoever is unlucky enough to step on them. (As if things weren't unpleasant enough in this terrible arena.)
[Carrion: -0H, -3E, hey look I frozed a fire dog!] - [Nozomu: -0H, -2E, still in pain and in despair] and [Nozomu's Substitute: 25H remaining] - [Flames: -8H, -2E, attack +1, face frozen, freaking out]
At last Flames is able to force enough fire into his sealed mouth to heat it up, and he stops rolling around so that he can focus on melting the ice. The going is quite slow, and holding the flames there in his mouth is quite uncomfortable, but he sits and bears it. It's the only way he'll be able to free up his jaws again. The puppy is so intent on removing the ice that he fails to notice the shadow cast over him by Carrion, who is hovering directly above him and glaring a challenge up at Nozomu's still-motionless substitute. It isn't long before the real Nozomu makes another appearance, this time slinging more sticky thread. This time, however, he aims the strand downward instead of at the spike, attempting to mire Carrion down the way his life is bogged down with
misery and
despair. As soon as the thread leaves Nozomu's mouth the bird is gone, however, darting back to the relative safety of one of the spikes on the wall. It is Flames, then, who suddenly finds himself draped with spider webbing on top of having a frozen face. The distance between the two makes aiming the attack and creating a proper web difficult, and so the Growlithe is not glued to the spot; the webbing does, however, tangle itself quite thoroughly in Flames's fur and between his right legs.
[Carrion: -0H, -2E, glad that he isn't stuck to anything] - [Nozomu: -0H, -1E, still in pain and in despair] and [Nozomu's Substitute: 25H remaining] - [Flames: -0H, -1E, attack +1, face frozen, spider-webbed,
really freaking out]
Round One: Close
Carrion is quite pleased with himself at the moment, and he allows himself a little smug preening time as he waits on his spike for his next orders. Nozomu, always the polar opposite of pleased, vanishes back into his secret place yet again and leaves his body double to look creepy and dour in his place for the time being. Flames would dearly love to try rolling along the floor in an attempt to rub off the spider web that is now stuck to him, but he knows that that would mean risking rolling over those poisonous spikes. All he can do for now is stay put and try to thaw his face out. It shouldn't be much longer now; he can already feel the icy muzzle pressing against his snout getting slicker as it melts.
Post-Round Stats
Team JD (3/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Carrion (M) [Keen Eye]
Health: 100%
Energy: 92%
Status: Satisfied
Team skoot (3/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Itoshiki Nozomu (M) [Insomnia]
Signature Attribute: I'm in DESPAIR!
Health: 60%
Energy: 85%
Status: despaaaaaaiiiir
Nozomu's Substitute: 25% health
Team Ruieko (3/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Flames (M) [Flash Fire]
Health: 92%
Energy: 96%
Status: Frozen (mild); Spider-webbed (light); Attack +1; a very sad puppy
Arena Status: Toxic spikes are scattered along the floor of the cube, mostly concentrated near the center. Nothing else has changed.
Ref's Notes
-For future reference, 25% health substitutes are no longer allowed as per the September 1st news. I went ahead and allowed it this time, though, because the command was issued before the rules changed.
-Tri Attack froze Flames's muzzle shut, preventing him from attacking Nozomu's sub. I took a little energy off for his panicky thrashing and his attempts to heat his mouth as well.
-Forgive any weird formatting errors like words running together. Something is going wrong between the doc I'm writing this in and copypasting it into the post. :/ Stupid formatting issues. There's always
-I figure now is a pretty good time to say that I'm most likely going to have to drop this battle. I'm simply finding it hard to focus on reffing (or anything) at the moment, and with school starting again soon I just don't feel comfortable handling six battles, especially not when one of them promises to be as time-consuming and lengthy as this one. I will see what I can do about finding a replacement, though, or you guys can go pester someone specific if you'd like them to take it and think they will. Sorry, but... yeah. I need to cut back a little. :/
