MurrMurr vs. Involuntary Twitch, Round Nine
Pre-Round Stats
Team MurrMurr (1/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Gnar (M) [Levitate]
Sig Mod: Gamma Ray Corruption
Health: 55%
Energy: 71%
Status: Speed -1; cold and very uncomfortable
Gnar's Commands:
Substitute 10% ~ Shadow Ball/Shadow Sneak ~ Astonish/Shadow Sneak
Team Twitchean Union (1/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Waita (M) [Thick Fat]
Health: 81%
Energy: 76%
Status: Confused (light), Poisoned (very severe: 1% last round, 2% this); a little woozy, but determined
Waita's Commands:
Swagger/Ice Beam/Hail ~
Swagger/Ice Beam ~
Ice Beam/Blizzard
Arena: Outside the Battle Arena
The battle takes place right outside the Battle Frontier's Battle Arena facility, out in the open air. The immediate area is covered in nicely manicured grass and a few flowers. The Arena building itself is surrounded on three sides by water and a small pond sits on the other side of the battlers, so water moves can be used and Water-types that need to swim can do so. The battlers cannot move away from the immediate area, so heading towards the plaza or another facility is forbidden.
Since this match is happening so close to the Arena, it seems such a shame not to follow Greta's rules... or, at least, a variation on them. As such, both battlers will send out their Pokémon and attack for three battle rounds (a total of 9 attacks per Pokémon) before the ref calls a halt. After the three rounds both Pokémon are recalled and unable to continue in the current battle, and their current health, energy and status are noted for later. Both trainers will then send out their next Pokémon and continue for the next three rounds. At the end (which should be nine total rounds), the health and energy of all Pokémon is totaled and whichever trainer has the highest score wins.
The following rules also apply:
-If a Pokémon has fainted, either due to HP loss OR energy loss, the battle stops right where it is (even if it has not yet been three rounds) and both Pokémon are recalled. Fainted PokÈmon DO still count toward the final score, but as either their health or their energy is at 0% they won't add anywhere near as much.
-If, at the end of the three rounds, a battler is afflicted with a status condition, that condition detracts from their final score as follows:
Paralyzed, Burned, Confused: -10 points
Poisoned, Attracted: -15 points
Asleep, Frozen: -20 points
If the Pokémon has more than one status condition, only the first one they were afflicted with detracts full points; all others afterwards only detract five, no matter what they are.
Round Nine: Begin
No more willing to give up his lead than his trainer is, Gnar allows himself one last shudder and then tries to force himself to move as quickly as possible as MurrMurr has wished. But even incredibly fervent wishing does not always make it so, and before Gnar can collect himself and get over his intense chill he hears Waita yelling at him. The Spheal rails at the Duskull, flinging every merciless insult he can think of his opponent's way. The first few remarks sting as though they, too were blasts of frigid ice energy, every comment about his mother or his dumpy frame (listen to the pot calling the kettle black!) or his level of intelligence stoking the flames of rage ever higher inside of Gnar; the insults become lamer and probably less deserving of Gnar's attention as Waita begins to run out of ideas, but the damage is done. Single eye now glowing a furious, livid red, the ghost ignores his orders and tries to through a quick shadow ball together. Anger and carelessness, however, result in only a small, unstable construct that detonates almost as soon as Gnar puts it together. The backfire launches shards of ghostly energy back through Gnar's body, injuring him and leaving him twice as angry as before.
Waita, for his part, is unsure of what he's supposed to do next. He narrows his eyes and squints through the settling dirt storm, watching Gnar struggle and curse. He's clearly already confused, and Waita is fresh out of ideas for new biting jibes anyway. And what his opponent is doing right now certainly doesn't look like any safeguard he's ever seen. A shadowy aura surrounds Gnar's body; it flickers and stutters erratically as he tries to rush forward, and goes out completely when he loses his sense of balance and flops over uselessly in midair. Waita snorts. No, he definitely doesn't have a command accounting for the condition "if Gnar fails to do anything of any consequence at all", but he doesn't feel like worrying about it at the moment. His head still hurts, and simply sitting and laughing as the unfortunate Duskull gets his comeuppance is much less taxing than mentally wading through an unclear or incomplete string of orders.
Gnar redoubles his wild flailing, desperate to give Waita one more good lesson before the end--he can see the referee, one hand over his face, reaching for the whistle around his neck. His blood-red eye rolls wildly around in his head as he strains, forcing the ghostly energy out of his body with so much effort that it looks painful. Before he can sink into the shadows on the ground and charge forward, however, he loses all control over his attack and the dark aura around him warps and then implodes, all of its energy pressing in on him and eating away at its exterior before fizzling out into unhelpful nothingness. Completely burned out and stunned into stillness, Gnar can barely muster the focus to move his eye out of the way of the ice beam that reaches across the ruined lawn and hits clean in the center of his face. Waita, feeling much better and more relaxed after his laughing break, has enough presence of mind to land a decisive hit mere seconds before the whistle touches the referee's dry lips. Its shrill signal cuts through the muttering of the crowd and the hissing of the wind, and both Spheal and Duskull disappear into their pokéballs in identical flashes of red. The ring of grass in front of the Battle Arena is now vacant.
The audience breathes a collective sigh of relief as the Frontier's Golduck are rushed into the area and they part to allow the blue Pokémon through. They watch as the creatures raised their webbed hands to the sky and, after a few seconds of waiting, the wind dies down completely and the airborne dirt settles back into its rightful place on the ground. Adults shake the soil out of their hair and children wipe their eyes on the hems of their parents' clothing as they wait for the ref and a few other officials to finish tallying up the final scores.
Round Nine: Close
Post-Round Stats
Team MurrMurr (1/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Gnar (M) [Levitate]
Sig Mod: Gamma Ray Corruption
Health: 27%
Energy: 65%
Status: Attack +2, Speed -1; Confused (mild); freezing, disoriented and in an incredibly sour mood
Team Twitchean Union (1/3 Pokémon Remaining)
Waita (M) [Thick Fat]
Health: 76%
Energy: 66%
Status: Poisoned (very severe: 2% this round); feeling vindicated, if a bit puzzled by his trainer's orders
Arena Status: The ground has been absolutely decimated by Draco Meteor, large craters scarring the lawn and the walkways in front of the arena. Loose dirt and grit is swirling around the arena, stinging unprotected flesh and irritating eyes; the improvised sandstorm has now died away, and the air is clear once more.
Sandstorm: ended
Pancake's Score: 95 - Purr's Score: 64 - Gnar's Score: 82 -
Total: 241
Ganteiana's Score: 121 - Phanel's Score: 19 - Waita's Score: 127 -
Total: 267
Ref's Notes
-Gnar hurt himself in confusion on the first and third actions; he was still fully confused but didn't hurt himself on the second.
-Waita didn't have a command telling him what to do if Swagger succeeded and there was no Safeguard, so he did nothing on the second action.
-Waita's confusion faded at the end of the round.
-And so, with a total of 267 points to 241, Involuntary Twitch is victorious. She gets $20 for winning, Ganteiana and Waita get 2 exp, Phanel gets 1 exp and she moves on to the third round. MurrMurr gets to keep his $20 from earlier, Pancake and Gnar get 1 exp and Purr gets 2 exp. I get $15 for reffing. It was a close game all the way (even closer had it not been for that awful string of RNG-hatin' on Gnar at the end), so well done, both of you.
