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

[Eifie]

Round Four​

Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Jumping from one foot to the other in anticipation.

Totodile

Hel ♀ @ Ice Gem
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Unruffled.

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Eager to get started, Libertad immediately lifts off the ground and begins zooming in wide circles through the air, her form blurring as she picks up more and more speed. Shadowy copies of herself flash into existence as she goes, trailing behind her until, when she comes to a stop, nine identical Hawlucha surround her to descend gently back onto the floor of the balcony. Hel glances in annoyance from clone to clone, debating which one to target. Stupid diversion techniques. Libertad can't just face her directly, can she? Hel would demolish her in an instant. Choosing one of the middle Hawlucha at random, Hel takes a deep breath and exhales a cold stream of ice, the temperature around her dropping rapidly as her Ice Gem exudes a harsh, blue-white glow and then cracks in two. The beam goes straight through its target and the clone disappears with a cawing laugh as Hel curses to herself under her breath. Next time, she'll get that Hawlucha good.

As one the nine Hawlucha begin spinning and flipping through the air, the clones following the original's movements exactly in a dizzying display of athleticism and grace. Hel glances from one clone to another, searching intently for any hint that might give away the real Libertad, but even if she could find her she'd lose track of her immediately in the whirling cloud of Hawlucha and gleaming Flying Gem that proceeds to roundhouse kick her around her freshly-washed red bow, leaving an unsightly dirty footprint on her side. Furious, the Froslass scans the troupe of Libertads one last time, but they've started darting around even faster after discarding that Flying Gem, and it's more hopeless now than ever. Hel grits her teeth and focuses on sending a surge of crackling static to her crystal horns. With a sharp cry she releases two twin bolts of electricity that combine into one to strike the third Hawlucha from the right—which promptly disappears with a poof and a dramatic puff of smoke.

Laughter rises from the crowd of Hawlucha as Hel silently seethes. The Libertads take turns swooping tauntingly in front of her, making rude gestures and daring her to try attacking this one, no, this one, no, this one... Finally, Hel has had enough. She'll show that cowardly Hawlucha for daring to provoke her! The Froslass inhales again, meaning to unleash another line of ice and snow, but somehow she breathes in too hard and ends up falling flat on her back, smacking her head hard against the stone floor. Ugh! No! How could she have messed that up?! As Hel struggles to get back aloft and regain her bearings, Libertad's spiteful laughter echoes gratingly in her ears.

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Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 100%
Energy: 83%
Status: Cackling gleefully. Has 7 clones.
Used: Double Team ~ Acrobatics ~ Swagger

Totodile

Hel ♀ @ Ice Gem
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 74%
Energy: 91%
Status: Boiling over with rage. Severely confused (45% failure chance). +2 Attack.
Used: Ice Beam (hit clone) ~ Thunderbolt (hit clone) ~ [confused]

Arena Status

• There are two small holes connected by a tunnel in the stone floor of the balcony.

Damage and Energy

• Hel's Health: 100% - 20% (Acrobatics) - 6% (confusefail) = 74%
• Hel's Energy: 100% - 2% (Ice Beam) - 5% (Thunderbolt) - 2% (confusefail) = 91%
• Libertad's Health: 100%
• Libertad's Energy: 100% - 10% (Double Team) - 3% (Acrobatics) - 4% (Swagger) = 83%

Notes

• Speed order: Libertad (236) > Hel (110).
• Chosen masteries: Plague Pawner and Elementalist.
• Libertad had to lift off to use Double Team since there wasn't enough room on the balcony. The additional effort of staying in the air cost 1% extra energy.
• Libertad's Double Team made 9 clones. Both of Hel's successful attacks hit a clone.
• Hel hit herself in confusion on the third action.
• Vipera Magnifica commands first.

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

Use Taunt and follow with Iron Head twice. If on the first turn Hel protects or is unhittable, then Chill instead and try to Taunt on the next action. If she is unhittable on any other turn, just Chill.

Taunt / Chill ~ Iron Head / Taunt / Chill ~ Iron Head / Chill

 

[Totodile]

Wow. Much Swagger. Very confuse. Wow.

Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Ice Beam

 

[Eifie]

Round Five​

Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 100%
Energy: 83%
Status: Cackling gleefully. Has 7 clones.

Totodile

Hel ♀
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 74%
Energy: 91%
Status: Boiling over with rage. Severely confused (45% failure chance). +2 Attack.

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Libertad could put some effort into properly taunting her opponent, but she's sure there's no need. She and her clones simply lie back, point, and laugh, and indeed, that's enough to rile up her opponent even more. She can practically see smoke rising from Hel's horns as the Froslass clenches her tiny fists in fury. Unfortunately for the complacent Hawlucha, she's taken things a bit too far: Hel suddenly wheels around to face the real Libertad and lets loose a blast of ice and cold wind in her direction. Libertad's too startled to make a move and the attack buffets her backwards into the railing, where she falls to the ground with an embarrassing oof as her clones instantaneously disappear around her.

Okay. Fine. Libertad will go back to attacking directly, then. Picking herself off the ground, she wills a rush of Steel-type energy into her helmet, the moon glinting off her head as an iron sheen surrounds it. She lowers her head and then rams it forward into her opponent's own mask, sending Hel stumbling backwards through the air. The impact shakes off a lot of Hel's dizziness and confusion, though, and she's quick to react with another burst of electricity from her two horns. With the absence of several doppelgangers her attack strikes true, and Libertad squawks in agony as electricity surges through her system. Unwilling to accept defeat after she was doing so well, she quickly summons up another iron helmet and batters into the Froslass once again, and this time her opponent grimaces hard in pain, the fatal flinch ruining her concentration to strike a third time.

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Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 71%
Energy: 69%
Status: A little shaken.
Used: Taunt ~ Iron Head ~ Iron Head

Totodile

Hel ♀
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 50%
Energy: 82%
Status: Finally getting somewhere. Mildly confused (5% failure chance). +2 Attack.
Used: Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ [flinch]

Arena Status

• There are two small holes connected by a tunnel in the stone floor of the balcony.

Damage and Energy

• Hel's Health: 74% - 12% (Iron Head) - 12% (Iron Head) = 50%
• Hel's Energy: 91% - 4% (Ice Beam) - 5% (Thunderbolt) = 82%
• Libertad's Health: 100% - 16% (Ice Beam) - 13% (Thunderbolt) = 71%
• Libertad's Energy: 83% - 4% (Taunt) - 5% (Iron Head) - 5% (Iron Head) = 69%

Notes

• Speed order: Libertad (236) > Hel (110).
• Chosen masteries: Plague Pawner and Elementalist.
• Kind of in a hurry because I really should be getting ready for work, but there were a lot of repetitive moves this round and I wanted to get this done. Sorry it's so short. Please point out any inconsistencies you might notice, though I hope I managed to do everything right.
• Having been Swaggered and Taunted, Hel will be less susceptible to emotion-based moves from now on.
• Hel hit the real Libertad on the first action, destroying all her clones.
• Iron Head flinched Hel on the third action.
• Totodile commands first. This will be the last round of this bout.

 

[Totodile]

Huh, that actually worked. Cool.

Use Thunder Wave, then Confuse Ray, then Ice Beam. If a Sub is up, use Ice Beam instead of the status move. If she has more clones, wipe them out with Shock Wave.

Thunder Wave/Ice Beam/Shock Wave ~ Confuse Ray/Ice Beam/Shock Wave ~ Ice Beam/Shock Wave

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

Okay Libertad, we're going back on the defensive now. If we can get both of those Masteries, victory shall surely be ours.

Immediately Dig your way down, away from that Thunder Wave. Don't dig in a straight line though, as we don't want Hel to be able to fire attacks down the hole. This may take a bit of extra energy, but it will be worth it. Make a little burrow for yourself and get cozy. Chill away until the end of the round. IF somehow Hel manages to follow you (it shouldn't happen though, as she is twice your size) or attack you while you are underground, throw up a Protect.

Eifie, you mentioned possibly re-evaluating whether or not Dig should work in this arena. If you end up deciding against it, my alternate commands are thus: Detect, then make a 20% Substitute, and then Chill.

Dig (down) / Detect ~ Chill / Protect / Substitute (20%) ~ Chill / Protect

 

[Eifie]

I am going to say no to Dig. I can't really find any pictures of the Tower of Mastery from different angles, but either the balcony is jutting out of the side (in which case there's not enough vertical room to dig without plummeting to the ground anyway) or it's at the very top of the building, in which case you'd be digging through solid whatever the building is made of. That's the part I've been stuck on, like, what is this building made of? It seems to be just stone all throughout, so I think the only Pokémon I'd allow to dig through it would be like, something like Rhydon that could drill through it. Both Greninja and Hawlucha are more agility-focused than strength-focused, so I don't think either of them could manage it. (I can rewrite and recalculate the third round if you want, though it doesn't make a difference to the outcome.)

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

In that case, I'll use the alternate commands I listed above, but with the added conditional of using Iron Head on the third action if a crit breaks the substitute early.

Detect ~ Substitute (20%) ~ Chill / Iron Head

 

[Eifie]

Round Six​

Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 71%
Energy: 69%
Status: A little shaken.

Totodile

Hel ♀
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 50%
Energy: 82%
Status: Finally getting somewhere. Mildly confused (5% failure chance). +2 Attack.

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Resolving to be a bit more careful from now on, Libertad crouches in a defensive position and focuses intently on her opponent's every movement, poised to react the instant Hel strikes. The Froslass summons up a jolt of electricity from her horns again, a thinner and quicker pulse this time that's intended more to disrupt than damage, and Libertad quickly leaps out of the way, letting the electricity absorb harmlessly into the ground. Lighting down next to a pile of rubble that some messy Pokémon seems to have left behind in the previous bout, she deftly fashions the powdered stone into a vague likeness of herself, much more corporeal than the previous ones to make up for its lack of real resemblance to an actual Hawlucha. She dusts off her hands and sweeps a wing over the scupture's head, imbuing it with a bit of her own life energy and it instantly takes flight, messily fluttering down to settle in front of its creator.

And suddenly, there's nothing left for her to do. Libertad's trainer's assured her that her Substitute will take care of the rest of the work, so she's free to just kick back and chill out for a bit. And so she does, visions of victories and medals and trophies swimming in her head as she watches Hel go to down on her protector, battering away at it with not one but two blasts of frigid air before it crumbles back to the ground, not to be used a third time... at least not tonight. Tension fills the air as the referee steps in, both flags raised, to end the bout, both trainers waiting with bated breath to find out whose Pokémon will be deemed the winner. From the Pokémon's states, this one seems just as close as the last.

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Vipera Magnifica

Libertad ♀ @ Flying Gem
Ability: Unburden
Health: 51%
Energy: 67%
Status: Assured in her victory.
Used: Detect ~ Substitute (20%) ~ Chill

Totodile

Hel ♀
Ability: Snow Cloak
Health: 50%
Energy: 70%
Status: Waiting nervously for the verdict. +2 Attack.
Used: Thunder Wave ~ Ice Beam ~ Ice Beam

Arena Status

• There are definitely no holes in the balcony floor. Nothing to see here.

Damage and Energy

• Hel's Health: 50%
• Hel's Energy: 82% - 4% (Thunder Wave) - 4% (Ice Beam) - 4% (Ice Beam) = 70%
• Libertad's Health: 71% - 20% (Substitute) = 51%
• Libertad's Substitute: 20% - 16% (Ice Beam) - 16% (Ice Beam) = 0%
• Libertad's Energy: 69% - 2% (Detect) - 10% (Substitute) + 10% (Chill) = 67%

Notes

• Hel's confusion wore off after the first action.
• Annnnd there we go. Libertad's total at the end of this bout is 118 to Hel's 120. Libertad takes the Plague Pawner mastery, as she was the only one to inflict a status condition (confusion), and the Elementalist mastery as well, with 5 different move types to Hel's 2. That brings Libertad up to 158, making her the winner of this bout and giving Vipera Magnifica the victory! Many congratulations to both for getting this far and for a battle hard-fought (in Totodile's case as much against the cruelty of the RNG as her opponent). VM gets $30, $16 of which will be awarded automatically by the database and $14 of which he can claim in the bank by linking to this post. Totodile gets $15, $7 of which she will need to claim in the bank by linking to this post. And I get $25 which I obviously totally need. In addition, VM gets a Rare Candy and moves on to the next round, while Totodile gets a buyable Hidden Ability Pokémon of her choice! You can claim those prizes by poking Zhorken.

 

[Totodile]

Nice going VM! You really ran circles around me. Good luck further on in the tournament!

And thanks for reffing, Eifie!

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

¡Felicitaciones, Libertad! You can rest all you want now.

That was a fun battle. Thanks a lot Totodile!

And Eifie, your reffings are snupendous (snake stupendous) as always.