"Gather round, children, and let your old granny tell you how Asber was run back in her day. There were none of these newfangled smartphones, and the closest thing we had to an ATM was a plain old TM! No sir, back in my day, we had to walk into the bank, spell the url where we earned our money out loud to the teller, and he had to transcribe it
exactly correct, and we had to be damn sure of our math, or else we'd be thrown out and told to learn us some 'rithmetic! And if you wanted to buy a Pokémon, you had to be a marathon sprinter and tell the bank teller
and the registrar down the block what you were doing at the same time! These days all you gotta do is push some buttons and it's done. You don't even gotta say what the money is for, or where it's from! There's just no human element to it anymore! I tell ya...
"And what's this business of referees taking naps that are less than a week long? Back in my day, every other round was a new emergency ref because the last one fell into a coma! And we didn't complain about it! Yeesh, honestly..."
"Mx. Meursault, we'd like to start the battle if you don't mind..."
"Quiet you! Well, I guess the coma thing
did sort of put a damper on things in the end... Eventually the Head Referee fell into one herself, and there was nobody to stop the hooligans from holding that Metronome battle in the middle of Lacuna Square. No telling what comes from them, ya see? It could mean a few minor street repairs, some sweeping up, or it could mean a meteor hits the Bank, killing everyone inside and crashing the region's entire economy."
"Mx. Meursault-"
"Fine! Fine, nobody cares about
history these days, I guess."
Despite the weeks of protest from the Asber Historic Preservation Society, which consisted of two angry suburban mothers and their seven year old daughters they dragged to their meetings, the two battlers and their not-at-all elderly referee arrived at the ruins of the old Asber Central Square. Sylph and allitersonance took their places at either end of the block, while the referee sat herself on the stoop of the bank where they once held a job. Her sigh echoed across the arena, bitter over the technology which had forced her from a comfortable office job back into the field.
The trainers sent out their Pokémon. From Sylph, a Pidgeotto and Vulpix, and from alliter, an Igglybuff and Porygon2. The four stared at each other for an awkward moment - well, awkward for everyone except Alter Ego, Porygon2, who initiated the staredown. They had initiated the Trace app on the first Pokémon they saw out of the ball, which just so happened to be the opposing Pidgeotto. They got the data on Riza's eyes, and then zoned out while processing her ability without averting their gaze. The silence was terribly awkward, so much so that the referee was about to resume her history lesson, but blessedly they were interrupted by a loud PING from Alter Ego. The ref was startled so much that they dropped their whistle, but it was of no consequence: the battlers had mistaken the sound for her blowing it anyway, and the match began.
allitersonance [OO]
Alter Ego (X) <Trace - Keen Eye> @Dubious Disc
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Staring blankly into Riza's eyes.
Igglybuff the Prodigy (M) <Cute Charm> @Soothe Bell
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Shifting his feet awkwardly while his partner holds a staring contest with their opponents.
Sylph [OO]
Riza (F) <Keen Eye> @Lucky Egg
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: Head cocked slightly in Alter Ego's direction.
Chaos (F) <Flash Fire> @Fire Stone
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
Status: 'What's with the round duck?'
-BEGIN ROUND 1-
Riza was first to act, having pre-prepared a mixture of venoms in her cheeks. With a few beats of her wings, she flew a short distance across the rubble to the Prodigy. She spat it out as she passed over him, and it landed with a splat right on his head tuft. Seeing that her work was done, she soared back to her ally Chaos, who was busily conjuring a faint green cylinder of light around their side of the block. The Safeguard was just wide enough for the two to comfortably fit inside, and stretched from somewhere beneath the street far into the thick clouds above. Prodigy spent a moment or two on a vain effort to wipe off some of the gunk, but he was unable to reach with his stubby arms, and his flailing about only spread it around more. He issued a few chirps to ask his partner for help, but Alter Ego was unmoved. He instead levitated up, and up, and then back down and down again, then side to side, and did some sort of strange flip in midair. Their movements were seemingly erratic, but they were precise; one might even call them frame-perfect. They let out a shout to finish, and the thick clouds above finally burst into a torrential rain, hardly giving the referee time to fumble for an umbrella in her kit. As the rain beat down on the Prodigy, the goop spread even further down his face. With a huff, he spat out what got into his mouth, and crossed his arms in irritation. He sat there, and did with a thought as Chaos had. An identical cylindrical wall of green light shimmered up into the sky around him and his ally.
[Alter Ego- HP: 100% PP: 95%; Igglybuff the Prodigy- HP: 100%, PP: 98%] [Riza- HP: 100% PP: 96%; Chaos- HP: 100% PP: 97%]
Riza circled around and set her sights on the Igglybuff again. She soared back over to him, lower this time. With her wings spread as far out as they would go, and sufficient momentum reached, she tensed their muscles to the strength of metal. They began to glow with steel-type energy, their light dazzling the Prodigy as she struck him full force in the forehead. She relaxed her wings again, and with a flew back to the safety of her trainer's end of the block with a few beats. There, Chaos had already summoned a number of glowing lights which hovered faintly above her tails. With a point of her snout, they each took their turn to move out toward Alter Ego in a line, and each took their turn to fizzle out on the Safeguard.
Alter Ego let out a robotic "HA HA HA", as they were programmed to do whenever an opponent launches a pointless move. This was followed by the next program in the queue: THUNDER.sxe. A thin blue light went from their nose up to the clouds above, and rumbles could be heard, growing louder as the seconds went by. Suddenly, a bolt came down and struck Riza in a flash. She squawked in pain, but it was over quickly, and she had kept her wings moving so they would not stiffen from the shock. Iggly Prodigy, for his part, took the time to run over as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him and give Chaos a piece of his mind. He has been spat on and clotheslined by a bird, had to sit out in the pissing rain, and now this fox though she'd try slipping something through his Safeguard? Nobody slips anything through the Safeguards of
Igglybuff, the Prodigy! He punched her and kicked her with astonishing force, unleashing as much of his pent up anger at once as he safely could.
[Alter Ego- HP: 100% PP: 88%; Igglybuff the Prodigy- HP: 88% PP: 90%] [Riza- HP: 83% PP: 92%; Chaos- HP: 83% PP: 92%]
Riza turned her head to see that her target was presently assaulting her comrade. 'Good,' she thought, 'Saves me the trip.' She turned sharply, stiffening her wings once more to the point where they glowed with the power of steel. She struck the Prodigy on his side, knocking him away from Chaos, who for her part was simply stunned. She hadn't been expecting such force from such a small baby, nor had she been expecting her last move to fail! She did know there was a Safeguard up, but she assumed her trainer knew what she was doing and had some clever loophole in the wings! She also told her to delay her attacks by an action if she couldn't get them off, but what good would that do? The green light was still up. Sure she could send her Confuse Ray at Igglybuff, who was outside the Safeguard, but she was ordered to hit Alter Ego specifically. And then there was the matter of whether she should simply Dark Pulse now, after all she
had issued a Confuse Ray, it just didn't do anything. Before she could make up her mind, she was interrupted by another bang of Thunder called down by AE, and more pained caws from Riza. The Prodigy took advantage of the relief provided by his partner's attack and resumed his rampage in no time. He ran back to Chaos with all the determination of a very angry Hostess Snowball who had some unfinished business to attend to. He launched into Chaos with a flying kick and pinned her down as best he could while he beat her mercilessly. Eventually he found himself feeling the painful effects of the Toxic he'd ingested earlier and decided he'd given enough, returning to the relative safety of his own Safeguard.
-END ROUND 1-
allitersonance [OO]
Alter Ego (X) <Trace - Keen Eye> @Dubious Disc
Health: 100%
Energy: 81%
Status: Preparing next round's function queue. Covered by Safeguard.
Igglybuff the Prodigy (M) <Cute Charm> @Soothe Bell
Health: 75%
Energy: 82%
Status: Irritated by the weather almost as much as the damage he's taken. Badly poisoned (1% health this round, 2% next). Keeping up Safeguard (1% energy per action).
Sylph [OO]
Riza (F) <Keen Eye> @Lucky Egg
Health: 66%
Energy: 88%
Status: Flapping her wings to limber up again. Covered by Safeguard.
Chaos (F) <Flash Fire> @Fire Stone
Health: 66%
Energy: 91%
Status: Stunned silence. Keeping up Safeguard (1% energy per action).
Numbers:
Alter Ego- Energy: 100 - 5 (Rain Dance) - 14 (Thunder x2) = 81.
Igglybuff- Health: 100 - 24 (Steel Wing x2) - 1 (Toxic) = 75. Energy: 100 - 1 (Safeguard) - 14 (Facade x2) - 3 (Safeguard upkeep x3) = 82.
Riza- Health: 100 - 34 (Thunder x2) = 66. Energy: 100 - 4 (Toxic) - 8 (Steel Wing x2) = 88.
Chaos- Health: 100 - 34 (Facade x2) = 66. Energy: 100 - 2 (Safeguard) - 4 (Confuse Ray) - 3 (Safeguard upkeep x3) = 91
Notes:
-
Please feel free to point out any errors with this reffing, be they technical or just typos. I've written this and my reffings from yesterday on a new keyboard that is yet to be broken in, so they probably abound.
-
I hope the text doesn't imply that Thunder won't paralyse while Riza is moving, because it can, the rolls just happened to fail both times. disregard this she's under Safeguard anyway, duh
-The last Steel Wing
barely avoided activating Cute Charm; rolled 70, needed less than 70 to avoid activation.
-Chaos tried and failed to use Confuse Ray on the second action, and did nothing on the third since the conditionals were contradictory.
-Both sides have Safeguard in effect, costing Iggly Prodigy and Chaos 1% energy per action. 2 actions remain for each.
-It is raining (6 more actions)
-allitersonance commands first.
Alter Ego the genderless Porygon2 <Trace> @ Dubious Disc
Mewtwo the male Abra <Synchronize> @ Lucky Egg
Channa the female Marshtomp <Torrent> @ Lucky Egg
Cselkcess the male Nincada <Compound Eyes> @ Lucky Egg
Daenerys the female Zweilous <Hustle> @ Lucky Egg
Needle the female Zorua <Illusion> @ Lucky Egg
Sock the male Dratini <Shed Skin> @ Lucky Egg
Igglybuff the Prodigy the male Igglybuff <Cute Charm> @ Soothe Bell
Ryouko the female Ralts <Synchronize> @ Lucky Egg
Corpse Warblade the female Honedge <No Guard> @ Exp. Share
Tiamat the female Horsea <Sniper>
Riza the female Pidgeotto <Keen Eye> @ Lucky Egg
Chaos the female Vulpix <Flash Fire> @ Fire Stone
Zeno the male Natu <Synchronize>
Hall Om Mig the female Ducklett <Big Pecks>
Benjamin the male Froakie <Protean>
Chica the female Torchic <Blaze>
Bonnie the male Buneary <Run Away>
Foxy the male Fennekin <Blaze>
