Keldeo vs Eifie: The Wrath of Khan

[JackPK]

[size=+2]Keldeo vs Eifie II[/size]

Spoiler: Arena

Format: 3v3 single, Battle Arena-style
Style: Set
DQ: A week or something, whatever
Damage Cap: 40% unless Keldeo and Eifie would prefer something else
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs and whatever else Keldeo and Eifie would like

Outside the Crystal Battle Tower
How— how dare these battle facilities host wonderful, mastery-filled battles without anybody telling the proprietors of the original battle facility, the one, the only Battle Tower (Generation II)?!? (Yeah, we’ve gotta work on improving the name.) Offended by this clear oversight, the owners of the Battle Tower have hastily put together a slapdash battle format to attract Trainers to their historically significant site. But since they mostly got the rules through hearsay from Unova, which held a kind of warped version of the original, this may not be the most authentic mastery-themed battle…

As is typical of this style of battle, it features three bouts of three rounds each, with the winner of each bout determined by the sum of the Pokemon's remaining health and energy. For example, a Pokemon that ended a round with 50 health and 50 energy, for a sum of 100, would win against one with 70 health and 20 energy, which sum to 90. The winner of the entire battle is based on the total of each trainer's sums, with a draw if there's a complete tie.

The battle will be held on the cobblestone path leading from the beaches of Route 40 up to the entrance to the Battle Tower itself. Now, the proprietors are well aware of the destructive reputation of Asberian Trainers, so we’re not actually allowed inside — but we can have a great battle out here in the open, right? There are plenty of trees flanking the battlefield, a huge sandy beach, and the ocean will provide all your water-resource needs. It’s perfect!

What’s not perfect, though, are the masteries. The Battle Tower owners seem to have gotten the names of the masteries — which they’re calling Crysteries, get it, since the tower is made out of crystal — through a telephone-game kind of grapevine, so they really only barely resemble those officially used by Korrina. If a Pokemon fulfills a Crystery more than its opponent does, 10 points are added to its health + energy score, with +5 to both scores if they tie.

The Crysteries are as follows:

For bout one:
Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. This is calculated by adding the Pokemon’s number of modified Speed stages to the sum of the priorities of the moves it used. (So, for instance, a Pokemon that used Agility [+2 Speed], Protect [+4 priority] and Quick Attack [+1 priority] would have a score of +7.)
Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage.
Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. (Multi-hit moves count for as many hits as they land.)

For bout two:
Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks.
Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find.
Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used.

For bout three:
Advocate: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often healed its foe of a status condition.
Owner’s Frenemy: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often disobeyed its owner’s commands. (Any instance of not using a commanded order counts toward this Crystery — for instance, being fully paralyzed or fully confused; being asleep when the owner didn’t command any conditionals for sleep; being Taunted when the owner didn’t command any damaging conditional options; etc.)
Delicious Hors d’Oeuvres: Awarded to the Pokemon that ate the most things.

Keldeo's active squad

Shay the shiny male Rampardos <Mold Breaker> @ Zoom Lens
Viola, Disciple of Lirrin the female Happiny <Serene Grace> @ Oval Stone
Buona Benigni Jr. of Conte the female Wormadam (Sandy Cloak) <Anticipation> @ Hard Stone
Super Smile Tommy the female Wooper <Water Absorb> @ Weakness Policy
M. H. Milky Way of Boo Foo Woo the male Castform <Forecast> @ Wise Glasses
Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! the shiny male Piloswine <Oblivious> @ Lucky Egg
Moominpapa Vodkazot Jr. the shiny genderless Unown (!) <Levitate> @ Choice Specs
Lily the female Ekans <Shed Skin> @ Lucky Egg
Kaley the female Charmander <Solar Power> @ Sun Stone
Dias, Disciple of Myrreth the male Ralts <Synchronize> @ Lucky Egg


Eifie's active squad

Plumtallica Fanseed the female Skiploom <Chlorophyll> @ Red Card
Metallica Siradhanboy the male Natu <Early Bird> @ Mental Herb
Jo-Ni TiMF Travler of Dears the female Luvdisc <Hydration> @ Polka-Dot Bow
metopping fanpercentage the shiny male Paras <Dry Skin> @ Weakness Policy
Shih-Mf the female Zorua <Illusion> @ Black Glasses
Tribal Coyote of Grand SlaMF the male Anorith <Battle Armor> @ Lucky Egg
Buckwheatallica Fanboy the male Skiddo <Sap Sipper> @ Leftovers
Super Smile ToMFto the female Darumaka <Hustle> @ Zoom Lens
Super Smile ToMFstoMF the female Totodile <Sheer Force> @ Lucky Egg
Udon the female Slowpoke <Oblivious> @ Kee Berry

• Keldeo sends out
• Eifie sends out and commands
• Keldeo commands
• I ref
• Butterfree gets around to integrating shininess in the forum's sprite interface

 

[Keldeo]

Let's do it, Lover Man!!

 

[Eifie]

Hah! I see your plan to go mental, and raise you one Super Smile ToMFstoMF! Time for the Toph-stomping of your life, Lover Man!

Hey, so I have a funny idea! If he starts Thrashing, you're going to Counter it the next action! And if his thrashing about doesn't end there, you're going to Counter it again! You should know what a real Thrash looks like, I hope, since you learn it too. Otherwise, uh, maybe spam Waterfall because lmao I'm such a jerk. It's our only chance of beating a Piloswine, okay? Piloswine is nigh unbeatable!

If you're unable to hit him (barring Substitutes) or use the attack you're supposed to use Dragon Dance. Also do so on the third action if you've successfully hit with a damaging move on both of the previous actions. I have a conditional left, so uh, if he has a Reflect up on the first action, use Scald instead of Waterfall.

Also, if he's preparing an Avalanche, you should have the time to Counter it since it takes so long to prepare.

To victory deMFeat!

Waterfall / Scald / Dragon Dance~ Waterfall / Counter / Dragon Dance ~ Waterfall / Counter / Dragon Dance

oh yeah, pls to drop the Lucky Egg straight away. you don't even get points for eating it here, how sad

 

[Keldeo]

Okay, I'm too lazy to do the calcs but I think this works out decently. Let's start with an Icicle Spear Adorable Cannon. If it hit three or fewer times, do it again; otherwise, Endure to net those tasty Moving Faster points. End with a delayed Endeavor.

Lover Man: ADORABLE CANNON (drop item) ~ ADORABLE CANNON / Endure ~ Endeavor

edit: Also, drop your egg as soon as possible too! I'll be picking them up.

Keldeo: get eggs ~ hold eggs awkwardly x2

 

[JackPK]

[size=+2]Keldeo vs Eifie II: Round One[/size]

Spoiler: Arena

Format: 3v3 single, Battle Arena-style
Style: Set
DQ: A week or something, whatever
Damage Cap: 40% unless Keldeo and Eifie would prefer something else
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs and whatever else Keldeo and Eifie would like

Outside the Crystal Battle Tower
How— how dare these battle facilities host wonderful, mastery-filled battles without anybody telling the proprietors of the original battle facility, the one, the only Battle Tower (Generation II)?!? (Yeah, we’ve gotta work on improving the name.) Offended by this clear oversight, the owners of the Battle Tower have hastily put together a slapdash battle format to attract Trainers to their historically significant site. But since they mostly got the rules through hearsay from Unova, which held a kind of warped version of the original, this may not be the most authentic mastery-themed battle…

As is typical of this style of battle, it features three bouts of three rounds each, with the winner of each bout determined by the sum of the Pokemon's remaining health and energy. For example, a Pokemon that ended a round with 50 health and 50 energy, for a sum of 100, would win against one with 70 health and 20 energy, which sum to 90. The winner of the entire battle is based on the total of each trainer's sums, with a draw if there's a complete tie.

The battle will be held on the cobblestone path leading from the beaches of Route 40 up to the entrance to the Battle Tower itself. Now, the proprietors are well aware of the destructive reputation of Asberian Trainers, so we’re not actually allowed inside — but we can have a great battle out here in the open, right? There are plenty of trees flanking the battlefield, a huge sandy beach, and the ocean will provide all your water-resource needs. It’s perfect!

What’s not perfect, though, are the masteries. The Battle Tower owners seem to have gotten the names of the masteries — which they’re calling Crysteries, get it, since the tower is made out of crystal — through a telephone-game kind of grapevine, so they really only barely resemble those officially used by Korrina. If a Pokemon fulfills a Crystery more than its opponent does, 10 points are added to its health + energy score, with +5 to both scores if they tie.

The Crysteries are as follows:

For bout one:
Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. This is calculated by adding the Pokemon’s number of modified Speed stages to the sum of the priorities of the moves it used. (So, for instance, a Pokemon that used Agility [+2 Speed], Protect [+4 priority] and Quick Attack [+1 priority] would have a score of +7.)
Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage.
Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. (Multi-hit moves count for as many hits as they land.)

For bout two:
Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks.
Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find.
Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used.

For bout three:
Advocate: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often healed its foe of a status condition.
Owner’s Frenemy: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often disobeyed its owner’s commands. (Any instance of not using a commanded order counts toward this Crystery — for instance, being fully paralyzed or fully confused; being asleep when the owner didn’t command any conditionals for sleep; being Taunted when the owner didn’t command any damaging conditional options; etc.)
Delicious Hors d’Oeuvres: Awarded to the Pokemon that ate the most things.

The old, original Battle Tower is a bit neglected nowadays, with fancy facilities like the Battle Maison and the massive Battle Frontier drawing away more Trainers. It has a certain charm, the brochures say, but of course that’s not enough to spark much tourism. So the proprietors have decided to take a page out of their rivals’ book and jump on board with one o’ them fancy, newfangled Battle Arena-style battles. They’re all the rage in Kalos and Unova! The Battle Tower’s owners, though, don’t really speak Kalosian or Unovan, so some of the finer details are a bit… lost. That’s unfortunate.

Also unfortunate is that the only interested parties they got were Asberian Trainers, whom everybody knows destroy everything. So as Keldeo and Eifie walk up the path for their rematch, the receptionist jolts out of her seat and comes to meet them, guiding them back down the path toward the gatehouse. “Here’s where you can battle, right here,” she says, and the battlers shrug, because it doesn’t matter, really. Anywhere’s good for a battle!

The referee lists out the first bout’s Crysteries, and with them in mind, the battlers send out their first Pokemon. On Keldeo’s side is an eager furry pig Pokemon who’s ready for revenge after being KO’ed so viciously in the last battle, while Eifie chooses a tiny crocodile with a rare hidden ability and a wide grin.

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████████ 100% Health
███████████ 100% Energy
██████████████████████ 200% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: “There are no toys here, but I will still have revenge.”
Commands: ADORABLE CANNON (drop item) ~ ADORABLE CANNON / Endure ~ Endeavor

Team Eifie Elfie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF (F) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████████ 100% Health
███████████ 100% Energy
██████████████████████ 200% Total
Speed: 43
Status: Normal.
Condition: Chomping at the bit.
Commands: Waterfall / Scald / Dragon Dance~ Waterfall / Counter / Dragon Dance ~ Waterfall / Counter / Dragon Dance

As soon as the ref’s flags wave, Lover Man and Tompstomp both toss their Lucky Eggs off into the distance. “I’ll be right back!” Keldeo mutters as she runs off to the beachside where Lover Man’s landed. Meanwhile, the Piloswine is himself preparing an adorable cannon of icicles. He carefully crafts his frosty breath into the shape of a fucking howitzer, exhales a few pieces of icy buckshot into the barrel, and shuffles back behind his cannon. With a triumphant growl, he takes the pull-string in his mouth and tugs, and with a comforting “I love you,” the howitzer fires five shots in various arcs around the field. Three overshoot their mark, but two fly true and strike Tompstomp.

Well, that was simply no way to make a good first impression, Tompstomp grumbles. However adorable that cannon may look to the initial observer, it’s really pure evil, she decides. So if Lover Man is going to use his frosty breath to battle, Tompstomp can show off her own aquatic powers to counter that! With that decided, Tompstomp starts trotting toward her foe, building up speed little by little. Not long before reaching the Piloswine, she lets loose a gush of water from her mouth, and with a final burst of speed she catches up to the watery bullet just as they both make impact, splashing the water everywhere as Lover Man is knocked back.

“That’s OK, just try the Adorable Cannon again!” Keldeo shouts as she sprints back up from the beach and past the battlefield toward the forest’s edge, where Tompstomp’s Lucky Egg had landed. Agreeably, Lover Man breathes another round of ammunition into his cannon (which was starting to melt, but that’s fine, it can last a little longer) and pulls the string to fire. “You’re my best friend!” a child’s voice exclaims as five more chunks of ice go flying. This time, four of them hit their mark — the last of them landing hard in Tompstomp’s mouth as she cries out in pain from the first few — but the fifth is so far off that it goes crashing through a ninth-floor window of the Battle Tower.

As Tompstomp starts getting up to speed again, a man comes barging out of the Battle Tower, shouting, “You’re going to pay for that window!” and all sorts of cliches like that. The ref and Eifie profusely apologize, as does Keldeo when, breathing heavily, she jogs back to the battlefield, both Lucky Eggs in tow. By the time we placate the man (who, it turns out, is the Battle Tower’s manager), it looks like Lover Man’s a little more roughed up, and Tompstomp is glaring angrily at us for missing how great her attack was. Sorry, Tompstomp. I’m sure it was just as great as the last time.

Tompstomp clicks her jaw, soooo tempted to use Waterfall again since everybody missed it just now, but no, her Trainer ordered her to use it just twice, and she’s nothing if not good at following directions. So instead she reaches into hammerspace, pulls out a pair of sunglasses, and points commandingly at Eifie, who starts playing “Eye of the Tiger” at max volume on her phone. Tompstomp’s “dance” to the music is not so much dancing as a light Rocky-type workout mixed with plenty of flexing and growling angrily at Lover Man, but it does the trick, and she feels a rush of power and speed flow through her as the song fades away.

Meanwhile, glad to finally be done with that display and be able to use his delayed attack, Lover Man channels all of the pain he felt from those Waterfalls into his own speedy trot forward. Funneling an obscene amount of energy into his attack, he blazes forward and slams heavily into Tompstomp, then gets up, dusts himself off, and jumps a couple of times on the Totodile’s still-prone body. Tompstomp grunts in pain as Lover Man prances happily back to his Adorable Cannon.

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
█████████ 80% Energy
████████████████ 142% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: “The Adorable Cannon strikes back.”
Commands: Icicle Spear ~ Icicle Spear ~ Endeavor

Team Eifie Elfie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF Tompstomp (F) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
██████████ 92% Energy
█████████████████ 154% Total
Speed: 64.5
Status: +1 Attack, +1 Speed.
Condition: Reeling from the heavy impact.
Commands: Waterfall ~ Waterfall ~ Dragon Dance

Spoiler: Rolls:

Unless otherwise stated, all rolls are on a scale from 001-100 where the roll must be equal to or lower than the accuracy in order to hit, the effect chance in order to have an effect, or the critical hit chance to crit.

On confusion/paralysis/attraction etc. rolls, anything equal to or lower than the failure chance is a failure; anything higher lets the Pokemon use its command.

Action One
Lover Man uses Icicle Spear.
~ Icicle Spear has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Icicle Spear rolls to hit 2 times.
~ Icicle Spear’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). Both hits fail to crit with rolls of 75 and 99.

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Waterfall has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Waterfall’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 73.

Action Two
Lover Man uses Icicle Spear.
~ Icicle Spear has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Icicle Spear rolls to hit 4 times.
~ Icicle Spear’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). One hit manages to crit, with rolls of 34, 42, 17, and 2.

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Waterfall has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Waterfall’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 13.

Action Three
Tompstomp uses Dragon Dance.
~ Tompstomp boosts his Attack and Speed by one stage each.
~ Tompstomp’s recalculated Speed: 43 × 3/2 = 64.5

Lover Man uses Endeavor.
~ Endeavor has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.

Spoiler: Calculations:

For all calculations, please completely ignore all the rules you learned in school about order of operations. Everything in this section just goes left to right.

Action One

Lover Man uses Icicle Spear.
~ Base power 2.5% × 2 hits = base power 5 + 1.25 for STAB + no stats have been boosted + 1 EXP bonus × 0.67 since Water resists Ice = 4.1875 rounded down = Tompstomp takes 4% damage.
~ Base energy 3% - 1 for STAB = Lover Man expends 2% energy.

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Base power 8% × 1.3 for Sheer Force = base power 10.4 + 2.6 for STAB + no stats have been boosted + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = 19.5 rounded down = Lover Man takes 19% damage.
~ Base energy 4% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 3% energy.

81% health, 98% energy
96% health, 97% energy

Action Two

Lover Man uses Icicle Spear.
~ Base power 2.5% × 4 hits = base power 10 + 2.5 for STAB + no stats have been boosted + 1 EXP bonus × 0.67 since Water resists Ice = 8.375 + 1.25 for one hit being a critical hit = 9.625 rounded down = Tompstomp takes 9% damage.
~ Base energy 6% - 1 for STAB = Lover Man expends 5% energy.

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Base power 8% × 1.3 for Sheer Force = base power 10.4 + 2.6 for STAB + no stats have been boosted + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = 19.5 rounded down = Lover Man takes 19% damage.
~ Base energy 4% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 3% energy.

62% health, 93% energy
87% health, 94% energy

Action Three

Tompstomp uses Dragon Dance.
~ Dragon Dance does not deal damage.
~ Base energy 2% = Tompstomp expends 2% energy.

Lover Man uses Endeavor.
~ Tompstomp’s current health 87 - Lover Man’s current health 62 = Tompstomp takes 25% damage.
~ 25% damage × 0.5 = 12.5 rounded up = Lover Man expends 13% energy.

62% health, 80% energy
62% health, 92% energy

Crysteries

• Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. Lover Man (0) / Tompstomp (+1)
• Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage. Lover Man (0) / Tompstomp (0)
• Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. Lover Man (7) / Tompstomp (2)

Arena
The area around the battlefield has a handful of ice chunks slowly melting in the grass. A window on the Battle Tower’s ninth floor is broken, and the manager is insisting we pay for it. Surely we can pull some strings and have the Asber Pokemon League pay for it instead…?

Notes:
1. Speed order: Tompstomp (64.5) > Lover Man (50)
2. For the sake of being able to mentally pronounce Super Smile ToMFstoMF’s name, I am hereby symbolically renaming Metallica Fanboy Metallica Phanboy, turning the F in his initials into a P and making the Totodile’s nickname the much more manageable Tompstomp.
3. Icicle Spear hit twice on the first action, then four times on the second. The last hit on the second action was a critical hit.
4. I’ve waffled back and forth and decided that a Pokemon who delays its action until after its foe isn’t technically giving itself -1 priority, even though that’s kind of how I’ve always justified it working in my head. So Lover Man has 0 toward Moving Faster instead of -1 like I was tempted to give him. Let me know if my instincts were right and this actually should count as negative priority.
5. Crysteries won’t be factored into the “total” bar in the HUDs until the end of each bout.
6. I like to imagine the Asber Pokemon League knows its battlers are so destructive that it just preemptively buys insurance for all battle-related arena damage they cause, so no, we don’t really have to pay for that window.
7. I'm so, so, so sorry this round took so long! I've been pretty busy IRL but hopefully things have now settled down enough that I won't have trouble carving out time to ref from now on.
Next round, Keldeo commands first, followed by Eifie.

 

[Eifie]

This time I do know my Pokémon's genders! Super Smile Toph Stomp is a girl!

 

[JackPK]

you saw nothing

 

[Keldeo]

I have no idea what to do, so just fire off some Freeze-Drys (dries?) If they take a turn to Protect, Detect, Endure, Thrash, or Aqua Jet, or are otherwise unhittable with Freeze-Dry besides Substitute and Dig, counter with your very own Endure (but only do this once in the case of Thrash.) I guess we have one more conditional, so if they have Double Team clones, Freeze-Dry is spited, they are Digging, they have Captivated or Confided in you, or you can't Freeze-Dry for whatever reason, let loose with an Earthquake. Good luck, Lover Man!

Freeze-Dry / Endure / Earthquake x3

 

[Eifie]

I'm so sorry Jack...

Three Aqua Jets while he Endures away will put us so far in the lead that it won't even matter if he takes that Crystery. The other options are all similarly boring, so let's do it!

Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet

 

[JackPK]

[size=+2]Keldeo vs Eifie II: Round Two[/size]

Spoiler: Arena

Format: 3v3 single, Battle Arena-style
Style: Set
DQ: A week or something, whatever
Damage Cap: 40% unless Keldeo and Eifie would prefer something else
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs and whatever else Keldeo and Eifie would like

Outside the Crystal Battle Tower
How— how dare these battle facilities host wonderful, mastery-filled battles without anybody telling the proprietors of the original battle facility, the one, the only Battle Tower (Generation II)?!? (Yeah, we’ve gotta work on improving the name.) Offended by this clear oversight, the owners of the Battle Tower have hastily put together a slapdash battle format to attract Trainers to their historically significant site. But since they mostly got the rules through hearsay from Unova, which held a kind of warped version of the original, this may not be the most authentic mastery-themed battle…

As is typical of this style of battle, it features three bouts of three rounds each, with the winner of each bout determined by the sum of the Pokemon's remaining health and energy. For example, a Pokemon that ended a round with 50 health and 50 energy, for a sum of 100, would win against one with 70 health and 20 energy, which sum to 90. The winner of the entire battle is based on the total of each trainer's sums, with a draw if there's a complete tie.

The battle will be held on the cobblestone path leading from the beaches of Route 40 up to the entrance to the Battle Tower itself. Now, the proprietors are well aware of the destructive reputation of Asberian Trainers, so we’re not actually allowed inside — but we can have a great battle out here in the open, right? There are plenty of trees flanking the battlefield, a huge sandy beach, and the ocean will provide all your water-resource needs. It’s perfect!

What’s not perfect, though, are the masteries. The Battle Tower owners seem to have gotten the names of the masteries — which they’re calling Crysteries, get it, since the tower is made out of crystal — through a telephone-game kind of grapevine, so they really only barely resemble those officially used by Korrina. If a Pokemon fulfills a Crystery more than its opponent does, 10 points are added to its health + energy score, with +5 to both scores if they tie.

The Crysteries are as follows:

For bout one:
Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. This is calculated by adding the Pokemon’s number of modified Speed stages to the sum of the priorities of the moves it used. (So, for instance, a Pokemon that used Agility [+2 Speed], Protect [+4 priority] and Quick Attack [+1 priority] would have a score of +7.)
Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage.
Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. (Multi-hit moves count for as many hits as they land.)

For bout two:
Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks.
Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find.
Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used.

For bout three:
Advocate: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often healed its foe of a status condition.
Owner’s Frenemy: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often disobeyed its owner’s commands. (Any instance of not using a commanded order counts toward this Crystery — for instance, being fully paralyzed or fully confused; being asleep when the owner didn’t command any conditionals for sleep; being Taunted when the owner didn’t command any damaging conditional options; etc.)
Delicious Hors d’Oeuvres: Awarded to the Pokemon that ate the most things.

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
█████████ 80% Energy
████████████████ 142% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: “The Adorable Cannon strikes back.”
Commands: Freeze-Dry / Endure / Earthquake x3

Team Eifie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF Tompstomp (M) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
██████████ 92% Energy
█████████████████ 154% Total
Speed: 64.5
Status: +1 Attack, +1 Speed.
Condition: Reeling from the heavy impact.
Commands: Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet

With such a successful final attack last round, Lover Man is eager to continue his success story with some super-effective Freeze-Drys. But Keldeo told him to watch out for some particular moves of Tompstomp’s and react differently to them. So he sits and watches as Tompstomp stretches his legs in preparation for a speedy strike. Recognizing the attack at the last minute, Lover Man grits his teeth and surrounds himself with a bluish glow to ensure his survival. He’s nearly too late — just as the aura appears, Tompstomp surges forward in a swirl of water, and Lover Man staggers back from the hit.

That hurt, but Lover Man knows how to be ready if more Aqua Jets come his way. As Tompstomp jumps up and envelops himself in a veil of water, Lover Man materializes his blue aura once again to take the speedy super-effective strike. Lover Man glances back doubtingly at Keldeo, who surely must know he’s not in enough trouble yet for Endure to be required for him to keep holding on through these hits, but Keldeo just nods encouragingly and tells him to keep going for it.

Indeed, Tompstomp starts preparing once again for an Aqua Jet, so Lover Man tenses his muscles and tries to push through the increasing effort required to keep Endure going repeatedly. This time, though, it’s not to be, and the protective aura never manages to appear before Tompstomp jets forward in a swirling surge of water, soaking Lover Man to the bone in briny water. The Piloswine snorts in frustration, shaking his bangs out of his eyes as he looks desperately at Keldeo for a way to come out on top in the bout’s final round...

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
████ 35% Health
████████ 74% Energy
████████████ 109% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: Wet and in pain.
Commands used: Endure ~ Endure ~ Endure (failed)

Team Eifie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF Tompstomp (M) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
█████████ 86% Energy
████████████████ 148% Total
Speed: 64.5
Status: +1 Attack, +1 Speed.
Condition: Dancing in anticipation of an early win.
Commands used: Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet ~ Aqua Jet

Spoiler: Rolls:

Unless otherwise stated, all rolls are on a scale from 001-100 where the roll must be equal to or lower than the accuracy in order to hit, the effect chance in order to have an effect, or the critical hit chance to crit.

On confusion/paralysis/attraction etc. rolls, anything equal to or lower than the failure chance is a failure; anything higher lets the Pokemon use its command.

Action One
Lover Man uses Endure.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Aqua Jet has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Aqua Jet’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 82.

Action Two
Lover Man uses Endure.
~ Endure has a 50% chance of working twice in a row. With a roll of 4, it succeeds.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Aqua Jet has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Aqua Jet’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 82.

Action Two
Lover Man uses Endure.
~ Endure has a 25% chance of working three times in a row. With a roll of 79, it fails.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Aqua Jet has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Aqua Jet’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 44.

Spoiler: Calculations:

For all calculations, please completely ignore all the rules you learned in school about order of operations. Everything in this section just goes left to right.

Last Round

62% health, 80% energy
62% health, 92% energy

Action One

Lover Man uses Endure.
~ Endure does not deal damage.
~ Lover Man expends 2% energy.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Base power 4% + 1 for STAB + 1 for Tompstomp’s boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 9% damage.
~ Base energy 3% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 2% energy.

53% health, 78% energy
62% health, 90% energy

Action Two

Lover Man uses Endure.
~ Endure does not deal damage.
~ Lover Man expends 2% energy.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Base power 4% + 1 for STAB + 1 for Tompstomp’s boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 9% damage.
~ Base energy 3% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 2% energy.

44% health, 76% energy
62% health, 88% energy

Action Three

Lover Man uses Endure, but it fails.
~ Endure does not deal damage.
~ Lover Man expends 2% energy.

Tompstomp uses Aqua Jet.
~ Base power 4% + 1 for STAB + 1 for Tompstomp’s boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 9% damage.
~ Base energy 3% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 2% energy.

35% health, 74% energy
62% health, 86% energy

Crysteries

• Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. Lover Man (+8) / Tompstomp (+4)
• Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage. Lover Man (0) / Tompstomp (0)
• Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. Lover Man (7) / Tompstomp (5)

Arena
The area around the battlefield has a handful of ice chunks slowly melting in the grass. A window on the Battle Tower’s ninth floor is broken, and the manager is insisting we pay for it. Surely we can pull some strings and have the Asber Pokemon League pay for it instead…?

Notes:
1. Speed order: Tompstomp (64.5) > Lover Man (50)
2. Endure succeeded on the first and second actions and failed on the third. Lover Man never got close to 1% health (and couldn’t have, with the damage cap), so it didn’t do a thing except put him in the lead for the Going Faster Crystery. Since Endure failed on the third action, that usage of it didn’t count toward the Crystery.
Next round, Eifie commands first, followed by Keldeo.

 

[Eifie]

Okay, so uh, it turns out that sending you out was maybe a bit of a dick move, Tophstomp. I mean, you didn't even end up using Thrash. It's also unfortunate that Lover Man needs this KO to evolve, but we're not going to give it to him! Oh well, Mamoswine is hideous. And judging from Piloswine's type chart, it's going to be an inverse battle god, anyway.

So, let's beat him up with Waterfall. I don't really care if he Protects or whatever, since it'll cost him more energy than it costs you, anyway. In fact, let's just spam it for the KO. If he used Endure on the second action and you successfully hit him both times, just switch to Water Gun on the third. And I guess if he has a Substitute, use Uproar. And if he used Reflect on the first action, or if you're frozen, use Water Pledge the second action in place of Waterfall.

Waterfall ~ Waterfall / Uproar / Water Pledge ~ Waterfall / Water Gun / Uproar

zzzzzzz... good night

 

[Keldeo]

We've probably lost anyway and I'm too lazy to do the math for this, but start by using Rest so we can survive the round. After that, let's try our luck with a Sleep Talk, and if it called anything but Icicle Spear, end with a Snore. Otherwise, or if you can't tell, just Chill I guess.

Rest ~ Sleep Talk ~ Snore / Chill

edit: NOW LOVER MAN DOESN'T EVEN NEED A KO TO EVOLVE, HA

 

[JackPK]

[size=+2]Keldeo vs Eifie II: Round Three[/size]

Spoiler: Arena

Format: 3v3 single, Battle Arena-style
Style: Set
DQ: A week or something, whatever
Damage Cap: 40% unless Keldeo and Eifie would prefer something else
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs and whatever else Keldeo and Eifie would like

Outside the Crystal Battle Tower
How— how dare these battle facilities host wonderful, mastery-filled battles without anybody telling the proprietors of the original battle facility, the one, the only Battle Tower (Generation II)?!? (Yeah, we’ve gotta work on improving the name.) Offended by this clear oversight, the owners of the Battle Tower have hastily put together a slapdash battle format to attract Trainers to their historically significant site. But since they mostly got the rules through hearsay from Unova, which held a kind of warped version of the original, this may not be the most authentic mastery-themed battle…

As is typical of this style of battle, it features three bouts of three rounds each, with the winner of each bout determined by the sum of the Pokemon's remaining health and energy. For example, a Pokemon that ended a round with 50 health and 50 energy, for a sum of 100, would win against one with 70 health and 20 energy, which sum to 90. The winner of the entire battle is based on the total of each trainer's sums, with a draw if there's a complete tie.

The battle will be held on the cobblestone path leading from the beaches of Route 40 up to the entrance to the Battle Tower itself. Now, the proprietors are well aware of the destructive reputation of Asberian Trainers, so we’re not actually allowed inside — but we can have a great battle out here in the open, right? There are plenty of trees flanking the battlefield, a huge sandy beach, and the ocean will provide all your water-resource needs. It’s perfect!

What’s not perfect, though, are the masteries. The Battle Tower owners seem to have gotten the names of the masteries — which they’re calling Crysteries, get it, since the tower is made out of crystal — through a telephone-game kind of grapevine, so they really only barely resemble those officially used by Korrina. If a Pokemon fulfills a Crystery more than its opponent does, 10 points are added to its health + energy score, with +5 to both scores if they tie.

The Crysteries are as follows:

For bout one:
Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. This is calculated by adding the Pokemon’s number of modified Speed stages to the sum of the priorities of the moves it used. (So, for instance, a Pokemon that used Agility [+2 Speed], Protect [+4 priority] and Quick Attack [+1 priority] would have a score of +7.)
Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage.
Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. (Multi-hit moves count for as many hits as they land.)

For bout two:
Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks.
Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find.
Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used.

For bout three:
Advocate: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often healed its foe of a status condition.
Owner’s Frenemy: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often disobeyed its owner’s commands. (Any instance of not using a commanded order counts toward this Crystery — for instance, being fully paralyzed or fully confused; being asleep when the owner didn’t command any conditionals for sleep; being Taunted when the owner didn’t command any damaging conditional options; etc.)
Delicious Hors d’Oeuvres: Awarded to the Pokemon that ate the most things.

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
████ 35% Health
████████ 74% Energy
███████████ 109% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: Wet and in pain.
Commands: Rest ~ Sleep Talk ~ Snore / Chill

Team Eifie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF Tompstomp (M) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
█████████ 86% Energy
███████████████ 148% Total
Speed: 64.5
Status: +1 Attack, +1 Speed.
Condition: Dancing in anticipation of an early win.
Commands: Waterfall ~ Waterfall / Uproar / Water Pledge ~ Waterfall / Water Gun / Uproar

Lover Man’s a bit skeptical of Keldeo’s plan, but maybe it’ll work out for him. In any case, before he can start, Tompstomp rushes forward again, gushing water in front of him for another blow. He powers his way into the curtain of foam just as it strikes Lover Man, knocking the Piloswine back, but his foe doesn’t do anything to retaliate. Instead, Lover Man simply sits down and closes his eyes, beginning to nap as a warm green glow surrounds his body.

Healing?! We can’t have any of that, Tompstomp insists furiously. He spews another bullet of water and rushes for a second powerful Waterfall strike, but it does nothing to wake Lover Man up from his energy-intensive sleep. Indeed, all it does is give the Piloswine’s glow a second, purpleish layer as the mysterious damage cap goes into effect. Lover Man snorts in his sleep and starts mumbling something about taking Tompstomp down to his level, but that doesn’t make any sense — the Totodile is the one with less health at the moment. The Piloswine sleepwalks over and nudges Tompstomp a bit, but it’s just not enough to do… well, anything.

Tompstomp just can’t let an opening like that pass without another strike, so he readies another Waterfall and strikes hard and true at the close range. Lover Man, on the other hand, just stops sleepwalking and sleepmumbling, sits back down, and lets a third aura, this one blue, wash over him as he recovers some much-needed energy. Just before the referee waves his flags to end the bout, Lover Man’s green and blue auras fade away and he blinks his eyes drowsily. He turns to Keldeo as if to ask, “Did I do good?”, so earnestly that Keldeo can’t help but nod. But when the referee calculates the standings, it’s Tompstomp who takes the lead and the bout. Both Trainers recall their Pokemon — the Lucky Eggs by Keldeo’s feet disappearing back into the Poke Balls, too — and mull their choices for the second bout.

Meanwhile, at the side of the battlefield, the Adorable Cannon finishes melting.

Team Keldeo (OOO)

Lover Man, ¡Olé! ¡Olé! (M) the Piloswine
<Oblivious> Unaffected by Attract, Captivate and Taunt.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
█████████ 81% Health
█████ 40% Energy
█████████████ 121% Total
Speed: 50
Status: Normal.
Condition: Sad not to have proven the Adorable Cannon’s superiority.
Commands used: Rest ~ Sleep Talk (Endeavor, failed) ~ Chill

Team Eifie (OOO)

Super Smile ToMFstoMF Tompstomp (M) the Totodile
<Sheer Force> Sacrifices side effects for 1.3× base power.
@Lucky Egg Gives the holder an extra experience point.
███████ 62% Health
████████ 77% Energy
██████████████ 139% Total
Speed: 64.5
Status: +1 Attack, +1 Speed.
Condition: ”Victory is mine!”
Commands: Waterfall ~ Waterfall ~ Waterfall

Spoiler: Rolls:

Unless otherwise stated, all rolls are on a scale from 001-100 where the roll must be equal to or lower than the accuracy in order to hit, the effect chance in order to have an effect, or the critical hit chance to crit.

On confusion/paralysis/attraction etc. rolls, anything equal to or lower than the failure chance is a failure; anything higher lets the Pokemon use its command.

Action One
Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Waterfall has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Waterfall’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 14.

Lover Man uses Rest.
~ Lover Man restores his health.
~ Lover Man falls asleep and will wake up at the end of the third action.

Action Two
Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Waterfall has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Waterfall’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 30.

Lover Man uses Sleep Talk.
~ Lover Man’s pool of available moves: (01 Icicle Spear) (02 Endeavor) (03 Endure) (04 Rest).
~ Lover Man rolls a 2, calling Endeavor.
~ Lover Man has more health than Tompstomp, so Endeavor fails.

Action Three
Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Waterfall has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Waterfall’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 87.

Lover Man uses Chill.
~ Lover Man restores his energy.

Spoiler: Calculations:

For all calculations, please completely ignore all the rules you learned in school about order of operations. Everything in this section just goes left to right.

Last Round

35% health, 74% energy
62% health, 86% energy

Action One

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Base power 8% × 1.3 for Sheer Force = base power 10.4 + 2.6 for STAB + 1 for boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 21% damage.
~ Base energy 4% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 3% energy.

Lover Man uses Rest.
~ 100 - 14 = Lover Man restores 86% health.
~ 86 × 0.5 = Lover Man expends 43% energy.

100% health, 31% energy
62% health, 83% energy

Action Two

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Base power 8% × 1.3 for Sheer Force = base power 10.4 + 2.6 for STAB + 1 for boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 21% damage.
~ Base energy 4% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 3% energy.

Lover Man uses Sleep Talk, which calls Endeavor, which fails.
~ No base energy for a failed move + 1 for being called by another move = Lover Man expends 1% energy.

79% health (capped at 81%), 30% energy
62% health, 80% energy

Action Three

Tompstomp uses Waterfall.
~ Base power 8% × 1.3 for Sheer Force = base power 10.4 + 2.6 for STAB + 1 for boosted Attack + 0 EXP bonus × 1.5 since Ground is weak to Water = Lover Man takes 21% damage.
~ Base energy 4% - 1 for STAB = Tompstomp expends 3% energy.

Lover Man uses Chill.
~ Lover Man restores 10% energy.

58% health (capped at 81%), 40% energy
62% health, 77% energy

Crysteries

• Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. Lover Man (+8) / Tompstomp (+4)
• Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage. Lover Man (0) / Tompstomp (0)
• Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. Lover Man (7) / Tompstomp (8)

Final Totals

██████████████ 131% Total
███████████████ 149% Total

Arena
The area around the battlefield has a handful of ice chunks slowly melting in the grass. A window on the Battle Tower’s ninth floor is broken, and the manager is insisting we pay for it. Surely we can pull some strings and have the Asber Pokemon League pay for it instead…?

Notes:
1. Speed order: Tompstomp (64.5) > Lover Man (50)
2. Sleep Talk called Endeavor, which failed because Lover Man had more health than Tompstomp.
3. Lover Man, since he was asleep, was not aware of what attack he used, and thus defaulted to Chill on the last action.
4. Fun fact: If Sleep Talk had managed to call Icicle Spear, Lover Man would have retained the Skill at Striking Crystery and thus narrowly won (139-135 if Icicle Spear hit the minimum number of times).
5. But as things played out, Eifie and Tompstomp took the bout.
6. Per this ruling, the Lucky Eggs returned to their Poke Balls as the battlers did. Sorry, Keldeo, I know you were trying to save them for the last bout.
Next round, Eifie sends out first, then Keldeo sends out and commands, and finally Eifie commands. Remember, the Crysteries next round are Efficacy Dispeller, Setpiece Special, and Plagiarism Honor.

 

[Eifie]

Let's go, Plumtallica Fanseed!

 

[Keldeo]

Sorry for the wait! I'll go with Kaley.

For each action, make sure to wait fully until they've moved, even if it means both of you lose the whole action waiting. I'm not really sure what to do, so let's open by using Fling to throw one of the ice chunks at her, if you can, even if she's not hittable. If you can't reach or Fling the ice but she's hittable, change that out for a Heat Wave, sweeping if there are clones, but if you can't reach or Fling the ice and she's unhittable, make a small Substitute. There's no way this'll go wrong, am I right?

Follow that up with two Flamethrowers, sweeping if there are clones, but switch out for Round if they have a substitute or you can't use or hit with Flamethrower (if there are clones and you can't use Flamethrower, just target Round at a random one idk.) Snore if you're asleep, or if they're unhittable, or if you can't use either Round or Flamethrower, or if the conditions for Round are fulfilled but you can't use it, to waste the least energy. Have fun!

Fling (ice, at Fanboy) / Heat Wave / Substitute (10) ~ Flamethrower / Round / Snore x2

 

[Eifie]

Okay, Plum Seed! Your movepool sucks! And I am tired! And also, I have literally the most hilarious idea. (It's not actually that funny.)

Start by Bouncing up. You are perfectly capable of remaining aloft, so please do so and do not come back down. Then use Sunny Day so that Kaley's own Solar Power will damage her while she can't take advantage of any of it! This is 100% worth the obvious drawbacks of this plan in order to get in 2% damage! Then I would like a lovely Snore of your own.

Bounce (up) ~ Sunny Day ~ Snore

LOL KALEY HAS A SUN STONE. SCRATCH THAT. give me a minute

k let's just do the thing we do best. Leech Seed, then Encore that Fling, and then Leech Seed if the first missed, otherwise go for Sleep Powder lol

Leech Seed ~ Encore ~ Leech Seed / Sleep Powder

 

[JackPK]

[size=+2]Keldeo vs Eifie II: Round Four[/size]

Spoiler: Arena

Format: 3v3 single, Battle Arena-style
Style: Set
DQ: A week or something, whatever
Damage Cap: 40% unless Keldeo and Eifie would prefer something else
Banned/Restricted Moves: OHKOs and whatever else Keldeo and Eifie would like

Outside the Crystal Battle Tower
How— how dare these battle facilities host wonderful, mastery-filled battles without anybody telling the proprietors of the original battle facility, the one, the only Battle Tower (Generation II)?!? (Yeah, we’ve gotta work on improving the name.) Offended by this clear oversight, the owners of the Battle Tower have hastily put together a slapdash battle format to attract Trainers to their historically significant site. But since they mostly got the rules through hearsay from Unova, which held a kind of warped version of the original, this may not be the most authentic mastery-themed battle…

As is typical of this style of battle, it features three bouts of three rounds each, with the winner of each bout determined by the sum of the Pokemon's remaining health and energy. For example, a Pokemon that ended a round with 50 health and 50 energy, for a sum of 100, would win against one with 70 health and 20 energy, which sum to 90. The winner of the entire battle is based on the total of each trainer's sums, with a draw if there's a complete tie.

The battle will be held on the cobblestone path leading from the beaches of Route 40 up to the entrance to the Battle Tower itself. Now, the proprietors are well aware of the destructive reputation of Asberian Trainers, so we’re not actually allowed inside — but we can have a great battle out here in the open, right? There are plenty of trees flanking the battlefield, a huge sandy beach, and the ocean will provide all your water-resource needs. It’s perfect!

What’s not perfect, though, are the masteries. The Battle Tower owners seem to have gotten the names of the masteries — which they’re calling Crysteries, get it, since the tower is made out of crystal — through a telephone-game kind of grapevine, so they really only barely resemble those officially used by Korrina. If a Pokemon fulfills a Crystery more than its opponent does, 10 points are added to its health + energy score, with +5 to both scores if they tie.

The Crysteries are as follows:

For bout one:
Moving Faster: Awarded to the Pokemon that used the hastiest moves. This is calculated by adding the Pokemon’s number of modified Speed stages to the sum of the priorities of the moves it used. (So, for instance, a Pokemon that used Agility [+2 Speed], Protect [+4 priority] and Quick Attack [+1 priority] would have a score of +7.)
Going Mental: Awarded to the Pokemon that hurt itself in its confusion for the most total damage.
Skill at Striking: Awarded to the Pokemon that successfully landed the most hits on the opponent. (Multi-hit moves count for as many hits as they land.)

For bout two:
Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks.
Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find.
Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used.

For bout three:
Advocate: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often healed its foe of a status condition.
Owner’s Frenemy: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often disobeyed its owner’s commands. (Any instance of not using a commanded order counts toward this Crystery — for instance, being fully paralyzed or fully confused; being asleep when the owner didn’t command any conditionals for sleep; being Taunted when the owner didn’t command any damaging conditional options; etc.)
Delicious Hors d’Oeuvres: Awarded to the Pokemon that ate the most things.

Team Keldeo (XOO)

Kaley (F) the Charmander
<Solar Power> Boosts special moves by 3% in exchange for 1% damage per action in strong sunlight.
@Sun Stone Restores 2% damage and energy in strong sunlight.
███████████ 100% Health
███████████ 100% Energy
██████████████████████ 200% Total
Speed: 65
Status: Normal.
Condition: Coolly regarding her foe.
Commands: Fling (ice) / Heat Wave / Substitute (10%) ~ Flamethrower / Round / Snore x2

Team Eifie Elfie (OOO)

Plum Seed (F) the Skiploom
<Chlorophyll> Doubles Speed during strong sunlight.
@Red Card Bans the last move the holder was hit by for the rest of the battle..
███████████ 100% Health
███████████ 100% Energy
██████████████████████ 200% Total
Speed: 80
Status: Normal.
Condition: Bobbing in the breeze.
Commands: Leech Seed ~ Encore ~ Leech Seed / Sleep Powder

The few remaining icy spears shine wetly in the sunlight as the Trainers send out their choices for the next bout. On Eifie’s side, a fuzzy green Skiploom drifts in the breeze with cheerful disregard for its type disadvantage against Keldeo’s fiery-tailed Charmander, who stomps imposingly, eager to show her stuff. But before Kaley can act, Plum Seed launches a shiny seed from her flower, chattering happily to herself as the seed catches hold on the Charmander’s chest and quickly sprouts roots to hold itself in place. Frustrated by this sly move, Kaley easily hoists one of the dwindling icicles from the ground and tosses it like a javelin into her foe’s face.

Plum Seed isn't too upset, though, since the ice had already melted to a shadow of its former size. In fact, with the ice still melting, she feels much safer being struck by it than anything else the Fire-type might come up with. That in mind, Plum Seed begins to cheer about how well Kaley threw the piece of ice, how hard it hit, how terrifying the attack was. Kaley, her ego suitably stroked, decides to oblige her foe. Her Trainer clearly hadn't had the forethought to see how great that Fling was, so Keldeo would be so happy at her proactivity, Kaley thinks. So again she hoists a tiny piece of ice — the only one she can find, in fact, with the sun beating down on the field — and lobs it across the field at the Skiploom.

This time, the strike is barely more than a splash of water. With all the ice gone, Plum Seed looks for an alternate way of putting Kaley out of commission. Drifting over the Charmander, she sprays a cloud of spores that quickly take effect as soon as Kaley breathes them in. Soon, the Fire-type is fast asleep, but Plum Seed isn't quite out of the woods yet. The snoozing Charmander lets out a loud snore, so loud as to make the Skiploom wince at the almost physical pain to her eardrums. On that sour note, she drifts back to her Trainer to hear the next round’s commands.

Team Keldeo (XOO)

Kaley (F) the Charmander
<Solar Power> Boosts special moves by 3% in exchange for 1% damage per action in strong sunlight.
@Sun Stone Restores 2% damage and energy in strong sunlight.
██████████ 97% Health
██████████ 93% Energy
█████████████████████ 190% Total
Speed: 65
Status: Seeded. Asleep (95% chance of staying asleep). Has an Encore on Fling (2 more actions, paused during sleep).
Condition: Feeling pretty well, even if her plan was totally ruined.
Commands used: Fling ~ Fling ~ Snore

Team Eifie Elfie (OOO)

Plum Seed (F) the Skiploom
<Chlorophyll> Doubles Speed during strong sunlight.
@Red Card Bans the last move the holder was hit by for the rest of the battle..
███████████ 94% Health
███████████ 90% Energy
████████████████████ 184% Total
Speed: 80
Status: Normal.
Condition: Everything according to plan, yet still lagging behind.
Commands: Leech Seed ~ Encore ~ Sleep Powder

Spoiler: Rolls & Calculations:

Unless otherwise stated, all rolls are on a scale from 001-100 where the roll must be equal to or lower than the accuracy in order to hit, the effect chance in order to have an effect, or the critical hit chance to crit.

On confusion/paralysis/attraction etc. rolls, anything equal to or lower than the failure chance is a failure; anything higher lets the Pokemon use its command.

For all calculations, please completely ignore all the rules you learned in school about order of operations. Everything in this section just goes left to right.

Sendout

100% health, 100% energy
100% health, 100% energy

Action One

Plum Seed uses Leech Seed.
~ Leech Seed has 90% accuracy. It hits (narrowly) with a roll of 89.
~ Base energy 5% - 1 for STAB = Plum Seed expends 4% energy.
~ Kaley is seeded.

Kaley uses Fling with an ice chunk.
~ Fling has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Fling’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 36.
~ Base power 3% + 0 for not STAB + 0 for no stat boosts + 0 EXP bonus × 1 for the standard type modification = Plum Seed takes 3% damage.
~ Base energy 2% = Kaley expends 2% energy.

The Leech Seed saps 1% health from Kaley and restores 1% health to Plum Seed.

99% health, 98% energy
98% health, 96% energy

Action Two

Plum Seed uses Encore.
~ Encore has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Base energy 4% = Plum Seed expends 4% energy.
~ Kaley has an encore (3 more actions).

Kaley uses Fling with an ice chunk.
~ Fling has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ Fling’s critical hit domain is 1 (5%). It fails to crit with a roll of 83.
~ Base power 1% + 0 for not STAB + 0 for no stat boosts + 0 EXP bonus × 1 for the standard type modification = Plum Seed takes 1% damage.
~ Base energy 1% = Kaley expends 1% energy.

The Leech Seed saps 1% health from Kaley and restores 1% health to Plum Seed.

98% health, 97% energy
98% health, 92% energy

Action Three

Plum Seed uses Sleep Powder.
~ Sleep Powder has 75% accuracy. It hits with a roll of 2.
~ Base energy 3% - 1 for STAB = Plum Seed expends 2% energy.
~ Kaley falls asleep.

Kaley has a 100% chance of staying asleep.
Kaley has an encore (2 more actions).
Kaley is asleep.
Kaley uses Snore.
~ Snore has 100% accuracy, so it hits without needing a roll.
~ I rolled for Snore’s possible crit, but it failed. I forgot exactly what it rolled because I deleted it in revising this and forgot to save it, so I couldn’t find it when re-revising.
~ Snore has a 30% chance of making the foe flinch, but Plum Seed has already moved in this action so I’m not even going to bother rolling for it.
~ Base power 5% + 0 for not STAB + 0 for no stat boosts + 0 EXP bonus × 1 for the standard type modification = Plum Seed takes 5% damage.
~ Base energy 4% = Kaley expends 4% energy.
Kaley’s sleep reduces to a 95% chance of staying asleep.

The Leech Seed saps 1% health from Kaley and restores 1% health to Plum Seed.

97% health, 93% energy
94% health, 90% energy

Crysteries

• Efficacy Dispeller: Awarded to the Pokemon that avoided or blocked the most super-effective attacks. Kaley (0) / Plum Seed (0)
• Setpiece Special: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a Fastball Special with pieces of the arena, its foe, or anything else it can find. Kaley (2) / Plum Seed (0)
• Plagiarism Honor: Awarded to the Pokemon that most often used a move its foe had already used. Kaley (0) / Plum Seed (0)

Arena
The ice chunks have fully melted away. A window on the Battle Tower’s ninth floor is broken, and the manager is insisting we pay for it. Surely we can pull some strings and have the Asber Pokemon League pay for it instead…?

Notes:
1. Speed order: Plum Seed (80) > Kaley (65)
2. Nobody answered my ages-old questions in the Question Box :( so I had to assume my assumptions were right.
3. Whoops, I had actually meant to have all the ice melt by the end of last round. (Hence the Adorable Cannon melting at the end of the writeup.) But I had neglected to update the arena note about it, so I decided to allow the ice chunks to have not quite melted yet. But they were already fairly melted and continuing to do so quickly, so the first Fling was only the base power of a Never-Melt Ice (30) and the second was the next base power tier down (10). After that, all the ice chunks did fully melt.
4. Speaking of Fling, it’s always Dark-type, weirdly enough. No super-effectivity for using ice against a Skiploom, sorry.
5. Since all the ice melted by the end of action two, Kaley has no icicles left to Fling and thus her Encore ended prematurely.
6. I haven’t reffed in awhile, so let me know if you see anything wrong! I’m not sure if this is going to be a permanent comeback or not, but my bosses just hired three interns for the spring and one permanent full-timer, so hopefully I’ll be able to ref more often at least for the rest of the winter/spring.
7. In honor of tentatively attempting to come back to reffing after awhile, I’m trying out a new integrated rolls/calcs section so I can just do all the math in sequential order instead of having to constantly flip back and forth. I don’t know why I wasn’t doing this before.
EDIT: 8. According to Metallica Fanboy in the Question Box, the Encore should not automatically end when Fling is unable to fling anything; instead, Fling should just fail. The third action has been revised.
EDIT: 9. Ugh, okay, everything should be put back how it should be. Kaley will still be Encored into Fling when she wakes up, but while asleep she can act freely.
Next round, Eifie commands first, followed by Keldeo.

 

[Eifie]

um... okay... sorry, Plum, I really have no idea what to do with you. let's just... try to let sleeping salamanders lie, okay? we can do that by... Bouncing up to that ninth floor window! come on, you can do that in a single bounce! just... bounce somewhere impressively high on the side of the tower, okay? and don't come down. drift like a leaf in the wind! a stationary leaf in the wind.

once you're there... I don't fucking know, man. let's compensate the manager for that window by throwing some money through another one. shatter it with the force of money cat! and then forget about your bad deeds so you can't incriminate yourself if they try to question you, I guess.

Bounce (up) ~ Pay Day @ non-broken window ~ Amnesia (ponder the complexities of life without veritaserum)

 

[Keldeo]

Alright, if you're asleep just Chill and then Sleep Talk twice, I guess. If you have to Fling something, I'll take off my shoes and you can throw them at the windows or something, or if that's not allowed you can rip up the grass or something and throw that - just don't toss your Sun Stone. When you wake up, use Flame Charge at one of the trees to burn your Leech Seed off. If you still have actions left once you've done that, Sunny Day if it's the second action in the round or Mimic Bounce if it's the third. If you can't Mimic Bounce because you were asleep when Plum Seed used it, just Flame Charge at another tree instead.

Kaley: Chill / Flame Charge @ tree ~ Sleep Talk / Flame Charge @ tree / Sunny Day ~ Sleep Talk / Flame Charge @ tree / Mimic (Bounce)

Keldeo: take off shoes ~ nothing x2

 

[JackPK]

So Metallica Fanboy finally got back to me in the Question Box and points out that Fling's Encore shouldn't have automatically ended when Kaley ran out of things to fling. Therefore, I've revised the third action. Instead of using Snore, Kaley was still locked into Fling, so she gets back 4% energy and Plum Seed gets back 5% health.

I imagine this will pretty heavily affect strategies, so starting with Eifie, please either recommand or let me know if you want to keep your existing commands.