The Octagonal Tower: marvel of architectural absurdity, interdimensional gateway, and so abandoned that trainers can just waltz in and have a brawl on one of its characteristic eight-sided floors. "Kids these days and their weird arenas," Negrek complains as she materializes out of the shadows. "Think that they're too good for plain-vanilla terrain, do they? I mean, you can't even see this bloody place, all shrouded in darkness and crap. Why you'd ever want to fight in a place that feels like it wants to eat you is beyond me, but I suppose it pays the bills." Irritably waving away a tendril of darkness that had been experimentally been trying to slither around her shoulder, Negrek settles down on the cold, empty floor to wait.
By the time Lord Shyguy arrives, showing up before his opponent no doubt because he picked the arena and therefore has no difficulty finding it, Negrek is muttering something about the impracticality of building a tower at a dimensional junction if you're not even going to bother furnishing it and how it's amazing the lights even work, where you can see them out of the haze of malevolent shadow. Once Lord Shyguy arrives, though, it's not a long wait for his opponent, turbler of the mysterious lack of capitalization, to arrive. Both trainers are new to the League and excited to start their first battle, shaking hands under the referee's watchful eyes before turning and taking up spots against opposite walls. Scrambling back to her feet with a sigh, Negrek prepares to referee as the pokémon are released.
On Lord Shyguy's side of the field a bouncy treecko materializes, hopping from foot to foot as his bulbous yellow eyes sweep over his surroundings. What the treecko, named Chaos, sees seems to please, as a sly smile spreads across his face. He doesn't seem as happy to catch sight of his opponent, a small and somewhat intimidated-looking budew, but no doubt the coiling black that shrouds the tower resonates with the treecko, if his name is anything to go by.
Round One
Lord Shyguy (OO)
Chaos (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Looks almost at home in the darkness.
turbler (OO)
Thorn (F) <Shiny Stone>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Less than pleased to find herself in such a cold, dark place.
The battle starts with Thorn simply watching and waiting, while Chaos leaps forward, fleshy foot- and fingerpads slapping against cold stone tiles as he charges right at his foe. As he nears Thorn he raises his right hand, a shimmering white aura of power forming around it before he brings it down on the hapless budew. There is an audible crunch as Chaos' hand, enhanced with claws made of pure energy, sinks into Thorn's side and rips a chunk out of the budew's flesh. Thorn squeals with pain, but Chaos isn't done yet. Rocking back on his tail, the treecko lashes out with a pair of powerful kicks, striking the budew once, then again. Thorn positively howls as the second kick sees Chaos' foot slamming into the wound opened by crush claw and coming away smeared with yellowish sap-blood. That's not all the treecko comes away with, though--retreating slightly and panting with exertion, the treecko winces as a sudden wave of nausea washes over him. One of the thorns for which his opponent is named scratched his foot while he was in the process executing double kick, and unbeknownst to the treecko, poison is seeping into his bloodstream through the tiny cut.
While Chaos recovers, Thorn tries to catch her breath herself. Dizzy with pain, the budew nevertheless concentrates on increasing her metabolism, causing a short but profound growth spurt that will ramp up her special powers. For a couple of seconds she glows green, growing perhaps two inches taller, before the attack finishes and a larger and more-confident-looking Thorn emerges from the glimmering light. Before her opponent can even react, she follows the growth up with a far more direct attack. The flow of sap oozing from the ragged hole in Thorn's side has mostly been stemmed by the generation of new cells during her growth spurt, but what still leaks out of the wound turns a noxious purple as the budew calls on her poisonous side. Vile toxins gather in Thorn's mouth before she spits a stream of foul-smelling, purple and brown liquid at Thorn. The startled treecko tries to dodge, but the toxic splatters all down his side anyway, hissing and stinging as it starts to eat through his skin.
Yelling in disgust, Chaos tries scraping the toxic off, but only succeeds in getting the foul stuff all over his hands. It's too late, anyway--the potent poison is already entering his bloodstream, worsening his condition. Putting the toxic attack out of his mind for now, Chaos decides it's time to strike back. Spinning around, he darts away to put some more distance between himself and Thorn. After giving himself some room to get up to speed, Chaos banks around at Thorn, running flat-out before leaping high into the air and bringing his paws down in a quick, double-handed slash attack across the budew's face.
Thorn reels back, a thin, weeping gash appearing across her front, but isn't off-balance for long. Compared to the earlier combo attack, an aerial ace is nothing, and by this time Thorn's fighting spirit is roused. Once more toxins answer her call, gathering in her mouth, but this time what Thorn spits out isn't a stream of liquid but a nasty clump of congealed sludge. The sludge bomb strikes Chaos full in the chest, hurling the treecko backwards as it explodes into a shower of poisonous globules. As the round comes to a close, both battlers are looking messy already--Chaos covered in nasty poisonous goo, and Thorn in her own greenish blood.
Lord Shyguy (OO)
Chaos (M)
Health: 85%
Energy: 86%
- Slimy and uncomfortable. Badly poisoned (4% next round).
turbler (OO)
Thorn (F) <Shiny Stone>
Health: 84%
Energy: 89%
- Bleeding from a gash in her side and a cut across her face. +1 special attack.
Terrain Notes
There are small patches of toxic liquid dotting the floor all in front of Thorn where the stuff dripped off of Chaos.
Final Notes
- There's really no way you can combine crush claw and double kick, so Chaos just executed the two of them in quick succession instead.
- At the same time, there was no way for Thorn to know that Chaos was using a combo rather than just a regular crush claw, and so she did not protect. It's unlikely that she would have anyway--percentages are only used to measure a pokémon's health and energy, but are meaningless within the context of the match itself. Asking a pokémon to protect if it anticipates taking a certain amount of damage is about as meaningless as telling a boxer to block a particular strike if he thinks it's going to knock off more than 10% of his health.
- Chaos was poisoned by poison point in the process of using his combo, not that it really matters. One of his double kick strikes was a critical hit.
- Lord Shyguy attacks first next round.