The Tesla Power Field is usually a remote, deserted place, nothing but the hum of the energy pylons at its four corners to break the silence of the lonely, floating steel platform. Today, though, the field has a visitor in the form of Grimdour the Desecrator, who seems oddly at home beneath the perpetually stormy sky. Who he expects to meet at such a remote locale is unclear, but his manner is unconcerned. He tosses a pokéball to himself as he watches the clouds tumble across the lightning-rent sky overhead.
At last a dark shape appears overhead. It draws nearer, circling down over the arena and resolving itself into an aerodactyl with a rider on its back and another human clutched in its claws. As the toothy pokémon swoops down over the arena, it dumps MurrMurr into the arena and then circles up again, tipping deftly to avoid a sparking pylon. MurrMurr recovers from the shock of being dropped onto the steel floor and slowly gets to his feet. "All right, everybody ready to go?" the referee calls from above. "Pokémon, people, let's get rolling."
Grimdour is quite prepared to release his battlers, having only two of them to call on. Storm the shinx and Venom the ekans take shape on the featureless steel platform. The shinx looks up in wonderment at the glowing pylons and flashing lightning; he can feel the electricity in the atmosphere, and, naturally, finds it extremely agreeable. Venom seems less enthused, but the snake's expression is difficult to read.
MurrMurr considers the pokémon before him for a moment, then reaches for two pokéballs of his own. The bursts of light they release settle into the shape of a duskull and a gible. The ghost's eyes glow sullenly as they run over his opponents and the strange surroundings. Meanwhile, Purr slavers and grumbles in what can only be anticipation of battle. Overhead, the referee calls out, "Okay, then. Battle commence!" Meanwhile, her aerodactyl considers watches the tasty-looking little pokémon below with unwarranted attention.
Round One
Grimdour the Desecrator (OO)
Storm (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Admiring the arena.
Venom (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Calm and ready to battle.
MurrMurr (OO)
Gnar (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Dead.
Purr (M)
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%
- Grrrr.
Storm puffs out his chest and hisses, eyes glittering yellow as he stares down the pokémon across the field. Though small, the shinx is able to put on quite a show, enough of one to make his opponents think twice about attacking. Purr stops slobbering for a moment, blinking at Storm with a sort of dazed look in his beady eyes, and even Gnar's restless single eye pauses, fixed on the shinx. Nevertheless, and much to the surprise of his opponents, the lethargic-looking Gnar is the first to move. The ghost melts into his own shadow, then sweeps across the arena as a smear of darkness. Storm tries to keep the ghost in his sights, but Gnar slips around him and reappears, slamming his ghostly hands into the shinx's flank. The duskull slips back towards his partner before the dazed can properly retaliate--but this only brings him into the line of fire so far as Venom is concerned.
Venom rears up, yellow eyes trained on his opponents as foul chemicals far down in his intestines swirl and combine, forming a noxious mixture. The snake lets out a warning gurgle, then opens his mouth wide, spewing a wave of noxious purple liquid all over his opponents. Purr growls and leans away, stubby arms flailing in a futile attempt to shield himself from the stinging goop. Gnar remains silent, shaking himself slightly to dislodge the gobbets of acid that have settled on his gaseous body.
Storm bristles, electricity rippling through his short coat. Training disapproving eyes on Purr, the shinx lets a thunder wave rip, a crackling thread of electricity streaking through the air and striking the gible dead-on. Purr doesn't appear to notice, continuing to wipe slime off himself in a bemused fashion.
As Storm continues to stare, unable to figure out why his thunder wave was ineffective, the gible evidently loses interest in cleaning the acid off his body and gets on with an attack of his own. The gible makes what is a surprisingly large leap for a creature with legs as short as his, then lands heavily, arms spread to the side and a look of concentration on his face. Tremors ripple out from the point of contact between the gible's feet and the floor. Gnar, who is presently hovering back to float by his partner's side, doesn't notice a thing, but both Storm and Venom feel the earthquake acutely.
At first they are only rattled, the earthquake rumbling through the steel floor and causing Storm to stagger. The attack only gets worse, though, the heaving and trembling of the floor growing bad enough to actually knock the shinx off his feet and bounce Venom up and down along the floor. The mighty tremors storm through the arena for several seconds more, and when they subside both Storm and venom are left bruised and shaken, overwhelmed by the mighty quake.
Storm is the first to recover, pulling himself back to his feet with an unhappy grunt. At this point, though, his injuries only serve to fuel his fury, and he turns wrathful eyes on his opponents. Once more they spark with unnatural golden light, and the shinx's fur stands on end, hissing and crackling with electrical charge. It is an impressive display, and again the shinx manages to get both his foes' wary attention. Gnar even blanches, hoping that those sparks aren't meant for him.
With Storm's leer buying him time, Venom is able to get down to an attack of his own. There are two very serious issues with his command, though--first, that there's no sand or loose material of any sort for him to use for his attack, and the second, well... he doesn't know how to use a sand-attack. The general idea of it sounds easy enough, but obviously there's something he must be missing; there's no sand here! He hasn't learned how to create it out of nothing, and if that's the trick of the attack, then he's utterly at a loss. He scrapes his tail against the floor a couple of times in a hopeful sort of way, but it's no good.
The ekans' mood isn't improved when Purr, freed of Storm's hypnotizing glare, goes in for another attack. The gible heaves himself into the air again and lands to generate another tremor. This one is no less terrible than the first, and the ekans finds himself being thrown around, in danger of colliding with his own partner as the floor goes crazy beneath him. Both shinx and snake ride out another unpleasant seismic event and then lie where they've fallen, dispirited and in pain.
Meanwhile, Gnar has recovered from his moment of weakness, with the earthquake attack from Purr instilling him with new confidence. Holding the wispy tendrils that pass as hands up before his face, he swirls them through the air, glaring daggers with his ruddy eyes. In the space between his tendrils a red spark forms, growing larger as he pours more and more energy into it. Weird red-purple flame flickers before the duskull's face as the will-o-wisp takes shape, and once it has reached the size of a small orange, he pulls his tendrils back, releasing the attack.
The will-o-wisp darts and wobbles through the air, moving on an erratic path towards Gnar's downed opponents. It dances dangerously close to Venom's face--but the snake pulls back and the will-o-wisp shoots right past him, extinguishing itself harmlessly against the steel floor. Gnar hisses, enraged, and balls his tendrils into fists--he can't
believe his luck!
Meanwhile, Storm has gotten to his feet and is preparing for his next attack. He's not going to let this round be a waste; the gloves are off! The shinx begins powering up for an earnest electrical assault, fur humming with discharge and his muscles tensed for a quick charge. The very arena comes to his aid, the electricity flowing through the pylons around the arena responding to the shinx's preparations by sending lancing tendrils of power down to strike him. The shinx grins as the pylons' energy flows through him, invigorating him--this is gonna be good! With a snarl, he leaps forward into a quick run, then slams himself bodily into Purr.
The snarl of the spark attack discharging is rapidly drowned out as the pylons go mad, the burst of electrical power having destabilized their control systems. Lightning roars through the air overhead, prompting a swift protect attack from the referee's mount, and the arena trembles in the throes of another quake. This time, all of the pokémon suffer, though--even Gnar. The floating ghost is torn at by random discharges of electricity that shiver through the air, immune to the tremors caused by the discharge but not going unscathed.
When at last things calm down a bit, Purr pulls himself away from Storm, growling at the shinx, and proceeds to plunge everything into shaking chaos again. His already-battered opponents are once more thrown around, at the mercy of the arena's convulsions. When at last the tremors die down, Venom and Storm don't even try to get up; they are bruised and bleeding, downcast and dispirited. Venom, who has once more been given the command to use sand-attack, can only turn a pleading look upon his trainer. Unfortunately, the ekans still doesn't know how to make use of that particular attack.
Gnar is only too happy to add to his opponents' misery. The ghost is cooking up another will-o-wisp, his tendrils sweeping back and forth through the air again as he calls upon the fire. This time, when the red and purple clot of flame goes dancing through the air, Storm's struggles to get out of its way prove futile. The weakened shinx is an excellent target for the slow-moving attack, and the will-o-wisp collides with one of his paws, searing away fur and leaving a painful burn behind on the skin beneath.
Grimdour the Desecrator (OO)
Storm (M)
Health: 50% (capped)
Energy: 92%
- Lying on the ground, in considerable pain. Burned (3%/round).
Venom (M)
Health: 50% (capped)
Energy: 97%
- Damaged and despairing.
MurrMurr (OO)
Gnar (M)
Health: 88%
Energy: 90%
- Covered in gooey acid, but very confident. -1 Attack, -1 Defense
Purr (M)
Health: 87%
Energy: 79%
- Covered in gooey acid. Grrr. -1 Attack, -1 Defense
Terrain Notes
The arena has taken a heavy beating already, and the steel floor is warped and dented in many places. Small cracks are beginning to appear in some areas.
Final Notes
- Leer and acid are both attacks that strike both opponents rather than one.
- Ekans cannot learn sand-attack. Even if it could, there's no sand in this arena to use with it.
- Grimdour the Desecrator attacks first next round.