Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

'Used to be your whole team would suck against any type, so that's progress,' Zack grinned. He caught Dexio's eye and held up five fingers. Dexio shrugged, perplexed, so Zack pointed to an imaginary watch, then held up five fingers again. Dexio smiled and nodded, then paused and shrugged again. Zack closed his eyes and swore under his breath.

'We'll be five minutes!' he shouted across the center, turning heads. There was a few arenas laid out around the back of the pokémon center where trainers were engaged in friendly battles. Zack and Helena made their way to the outdoor arenas, and felt hot sun on their skin.

A couple of ten year olds were hogging one of the arenas, so Zack told them to 'Get the hell outta here, s**t-tips.' And they scrambled away from the 'mean' 'a*****e' 'jerkdick' as Zack pretended not to hear them.

'Think you're ready for me, little sister?' Zack asked, slinging his backpack to the ground as he entered his trainer box and drew a pokéball from his belt.  

[Spinne Biss]

Watching the children run away from Zack was all too familiar. Though as the Redgrave recalled it was usually Zack chasing off people bullying her when they were younger.

"Probably but I'm also over losing, crying just takes time away from training and trying again." The last few days had been so full of close encounters where Helena couldn't afford herself the luxury of having a moment to breakdown that she was well past being afraid of setbacks.

As she stepped over to her side of the arena she would close her eyes. Taking the ball from her belt the teen would relax herself as she summoned him.

Tyrant turned to her when he arrived. Their eyes met. And then he roared, maw opened wide and Helena screamed right back at him. As the noise between the two died she would stick out her tongue.

Tyrant licked her face in response and she'd pull away laughing. "Ewww, gross gross gross." Stepping around yo Tyrants side she would look at Zack as she wiped the saliva from her face.

"It probably says some really worrying things about my personality that Ecarlate and Tyrant are the only two Pokemon I can sync up with." She shrugged. "But that's okay because Tyrant is going to be a good boy who does everything I say." He snorted at her. "Or he doesn't get any belly rubs."

Perking up the dinosaur would turn to face Zack and let out a breath through his nose, eyes alive with determination.  

[Marsuru]

'Ugh, what is that again?' Zack muttered to himself when Tyrant materialised. He wasn't too familiar with every type of Kalosian pokémon, let alone ones that had been dead for thousands of years. He was experienced, but not that experienced. Times like this, having a pokédex would actually be useful.

'Look at you, got that thing whipped,' Zack said across the arena. More than a few heads turned in fright when the Tyrantrum appeared, and even more were shocked when it seemed so docile with its trainer. After their initial faux screaming match.

Zack wasn't too sure what to use against the brute. His team leaned distinctly more towards special attacks, which he assumed would rip right through the Despot pokémon's thick hide. It'd be a more even battle with Malis, but he didn't want to give what was clearly a rock type too much of an advantage. But then again he ******** it,' he said to himself. 'Let's bring the old bird out of retirement.'

The trainer put his initial ball back on his belt, then brought out another. He hadn't spent much time training this pokémon at all, so this would be the perfect opportunity to spread its wings. He threw it out, and the ball exploded in a flash of light.

His pokémon materialised. Her dark grey body huge and worn with scars from battles ages past. Her maw parted to reveal rows of serrated fangs, that led back to a pair of hungry eyes. And then she parted her wings to reveal a wingspan that would dwarf that of any ordinary Aerodactyl.

'Antiq,' Zack said, 'Let's take my sister to school.'  

[Jump Einatz]

"You've heard of me, huh?"

Salieri hadn't worked up much of a sweat scrambling up the tree, but at the top she found herself starting to perspire. The sun came down hard through the glass ceiling. A curious design for a Grass type gym. Strong sunlight would make Solarbeam threatening throughout the day. At the same time, it'd power up Fire type moves. She looked for a way to shutter the ceiling, wondering why Ramos would keep it exposed, until he opened his mouth.

It must not have been about the Types for Ramos. The sun fed his garden. That was his passion. And suddenly Salieri found herself facing a dilemma that was becoming all too familiar: the integrity of her opponents.

Each of the Gym leaders she had battled was entirely dedicated to their craft. Was it the dominion that dictated their hobby, or the other way around? Regardless, the theming went beyond strong. It was embodiment. Something Salieri could respect, and that's where the dilemma came in. How could she have respect for these nobles so consistently? Matheson taught her that nobility wasn't the same across the board. As naive and overly optimistic Sal considered Math, she was coming to those conclusions on her own now. It made her rampaging crusade across Kalos more difficult to muster. At least the rampaging part.

She blinked away that train of thought. Now wasn't the time for empathy. Strategy had to be considered. The most obvious choice of Pokémon to use was Banksy, but that wasn't her Pokémon. She had sworn to herself she wouldn't use Moze's Pokémon for her league tour, and so that was out of the question. Durendal would get his time to shine. If it was more than a one on one, he would be the anchor after someone else.

"Consider me an herbicide." At this point Salieri had recalled Durendal, and so all her Pokémon were in their balls. One of those balls spun on her finger playfully. "I'm here to wack weeds...and I did enjoy the playground it was sick. What are the rules?"  

[Marsuru]

((Gonna be sticking to Gen 6 moves unless it's like a Quillon or Ratio or something))

Coumarine City Gym

The arena was barren with flat dirt collected in a rough rectangle atop the tree. It was deep enough for pokémon to use moves such as Dig, and firm enough to walk on. At its side was a small wooden stand with several rows of pokéballs. Ramos inspected each ball, then plucked one from the stand, as if selecting the right tool for gardening. He then slowly made his way into his trainer box, his age apparent with each slow, stiff movement.

'If yer ready, Salieri,' he said, apparently and potentially deaf to her boasts. 'Let this be a one 'n one battle.'

He tossed the ball underhand and let it roll onto the arena floor. It blew open, and Ramos's level 50 Jumpluff named Jumpluff flew into the air. It immediately began to soak up the sun's rays, bolstering its speed with Chlorophyll.  

[Jump Einatz]

"Ivan, who's that Pokémon?" Sal asked. The Pokédex sitting in her arm holster lit up.
"Jumpluff, the Cottonweed Pokémon. Even in the fiercest wind, it can control its fluff to make its way to any place in the world it wants."
"Sounds hyperbolic." If it was, it probably wasn't far off from the Pokémon's actual capabilities. Jumpluff was cute, but Sal knew better than to underestimate a Gym Leader. Often times they had custom techniques to cover their type specialization weaknesses. It would be difficult to tell what Ramos had planned without seeing it first, and the Jumpluff was a few levels higher than her Pawniard.

Still, they didn't come this far to fret.

Salieri tossed her Pokéball in an aggressive overhand. Out sprang Durendal, taking a deep breath before getting into a fighting stance. Sal held out a palm to catch her rebounding Pokéball. "I'm ready, Ramos! Durendal, steel yourself!"

Durendal shifted one foot back and another forward, swirling his arms gracefully with a spin to complete his Swords Dance. He felt invigorated with strength as he eyed the Grass type cautiously, not sure what to expect aside from speed. Just how fast would his opponent be?  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena moved to th trainer box, using the railing to keep herself upright. She was still exhausted from the depletion of her aura and using what she had regenerated to make sure Tyrants temperament was right for the match was playing a dangerous game.


Still, her relationship with Tyrant was different than the rest of her Pokemon. "hold," she said then she turned her attention to Zack and spoke not just loud enough for him to hear but for nearby onlookers as well.

"I will let you have the first move, after all it would be rude of me to pick on a trainer without any badges!"  

[Marsuru]

Coumarine City Gym

Ramos itched his beard, and kept his smile. His old eyes didn't miss a trick; this Pawniard was strong. Close to an evolution but, he could tell, something held it back.

He said his commands in a soft voice, one that had long left its days of excited yelling behind. As soon as the battle began, Jumpluff used its 'Cotton Guard' to create fluffs of cotton all around its body. They might look as soft and downy as a cloud, but they were in reality tough as nails, boosting the grass type's meagre defences by three stages.

Shalour City Pokémon Center

'Careful, pointing that out just makes it worse for you when you lose,' Zack said. Antiq may be old as moss but she was still faster than that Tyrantrum. She took off flying. Helena must've worked real hard to get her dinosaur under control, wouldn't take more than a little push to ruin it for her.

'Supersonic!' Zack commanded, and Antiq opened her maw to unleash a high-pitch screech that would cause Tyrant's cold blood to boil and send him thrashing in confusion. It wasn't the most reliable attack in the world, but if it rolled a 1 then it would hit.

Regardless, Zack would follow up by having Antiq take to the skies and unleash 'Ancient Power!' to cause several stone spikes to jut out of the arena floor around wherever Tyrant happened to be and strike his flanks.  

[Jump Einatz]

Sal took glance at Ivan's screen. Cotton Guard boosted Defense faster than Durendal could raise his Attack. They couldn't win the arms race this way, and the deficit just grew. No choice, time to poke and see what happens. "Make 'em scream."

Dune brought his arms back as wide as he could before clapping together. The shrill high frequency noise that followed was enough to make Sal wince, and enough to Torment their opposition. Salieri aimed to force more options out of Ramos to see what else the old man had hidden up their sleeve. In the future, it could give them an opening to buff themselves again, but for now it would help them control the tempo of the match.

Still, she grit her teeth and braced herself for what was to come. Oftentimes she carefully planned her assaults, but Sal was itching to go on the offense. Training with Gurkinn had belayed her battle lust for days. A proper Pokémon battle was bringing it out of her again.  

[Marsuru]

Coumarine City Gym

Jumpluff huffed with anger at the awful, awful sound Durendal made. Fine, if he was going to do that every time she made the same move, then she wouldn't make the same move and see how he liked it!

Before Ramos said anything, Jumpluff began taking in sunlight so that she could immediately fire a 'Solar Beam' and force Dune to start moving. The attack formed as a slight ball of energy between Jumpluff's stubby nubs, which then exploded in a roaring beam of pale green light that shot towards the steel type.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Crunch," Helena said and Tyrant would move to leap into the air. Unless the number was one to two then he would trip and crash into the air and take the ancient power. Otherwise he would tear through the skies, and the ancient power,off powerful legs to try and bite into Antiqs right wing. As a bonus? On a four his confusion would end.  

[Jump Einatz]

Salieri recognized the Solar Beam as it charged. As she figured, the sunlight was, literally and metaphorically, where Ramos shined. Dune would have just a sliver of time to react.

Durendal pressed his hands back together before the impact came. This time, when he took them apart, it was to slash. His Metal Claws dug into the Solar Beam as it connected, shining and sparkling in the torrent of powerful sunlight. Dune grunted and completed his slash with a might heave, cutting the beam cleanly in two. The halves exploded in the dirt behind him, kicking up a cloud that faded as he looked up at his opponent again.

His attack was strong, and future attacks would be stronger if he rolled a 1. Using it defensively still put him on the backfoot against Jumpluff's safer option, and the dull tingling crawling up and down his arms told him the damage was merely mitigated, not stopped. He knew another Solar Beam wasn't coming right away. When it did, a trainer of Ramos' caliber would adjust the next shot to compensate.

Gotta close the distance. "Aerial Ace."

Dune became a red and silver blur, dashing on a fine line at Jumpluff. He leapt up, reared an arm back, and swung it forward in a horizontal jumping slash in an attempt to cut through the cotton born defenses.  

[Marsuru]

((Uh oh, I've started something here))

Courmarine City Gym

Ramos raised his eyebrow when Dune split the Solar Beam in two. Interesting. Then the pokémon disappeared. He was fast, but Jumpluff was still faster, and when the Aerial Ace slashed into her, she used the opportunity to trade her own attack. With a move like Aerial Ace, the user moved with such speed that nuance was incredibly difficult - you move like a bullet, you have the manoeuvrability of one too. While it was hard for Jumpluff to outright dodge Dune's strike, it also made it nigh impossible for him to dodge her counterattack.

Jumpluff rebounded, flyng through the air to make distance between Dune and herself. It was after a second or two that he'd start to notice it. The Infestation. In the moment Dune struck, Jumpluff sent a ream of tiny insects that slipped inside his metal armour and began to gnaw away at him from the inside. There wasn't much he'd be able to do to get rid of them either; crush one bug, and two more would take its place. Every turn, the Infestation would burrow deeper, and take off another 1/8 of Dune's maximum health in addition to the roughly 10% of his health taken from the initial attack.

Couple the mitigated Solar Beam damage with damage from Infestation, and Jumpluff only needed a few more solid hits to end this battle. Her little brow furrowed with determination.

'Solar Beam.' Ramos gave the command in his characteristic, calm tone. Jumpluff complied in roaring thunder, blasting at Dune with another beam of green energy.

Shalour City Pokémon Center

Zack winced when Tyrant tripped and fell on its face, and got spiked by the Ancient Power. With those stubby little arms, it'd struggle to get back up too. Well, they had the advantage, might as well make use of the opening.

'Ancient Power it again,' Zack said, the shrug audible in his voice. With Tyrant flat on his face, but no longer confused, he was a prehistoric sitting duck for another round of Ancient Power spikes. It was unlikely that he could avoid them from that position. Two Ancient Powers alongside Tyrant's confusion damage, and Zack really only needed one more hit to win.

((Rolling for the random power boost to all stats from the first Ancient Power. 1 gets it))  

[Marsuru]

((Holy ******** xd Also, rolling for the number of turns for Infestation))  

[Jump Einatz]

((The dice gods have blessed you))

"Not again," Sal groaned, flashing back to her Gym battle with Viola as Durendal scratched at his armor. There wasn't much Biz Marquis could've done about the Infestation either. Now they were on a clock, and every hit they took would lower the timer.

Sal and Dune had a feel for the Jumpluff now. She didn't hit hard. Instead, it was a death of a thousand cuts. It made her no less dangerous. If anything, she was the toughest foe they had faced in a Gym yet.

Thanks to Torment, it was easier to predict when another Solar Beam might occur. Durendal didn't need an order to make his reaction this time. Crimson sparks of lightning coursed through his body. The voltage wasn't enough to cook the bugs inside of him. It would be enough to boost his speed and reaction times to levels he couldn't achieve otherwise. With Fleché a la mode, he had the mobility to dodge the Solar Beam. He darted under it and moved forward, trying to close the distance again.

One of Salieri's early advantages in the league was the depth of her roster's movepool. Oftentimes, it took her opponents by surprise. Last week, Fleché a la mode had been televised, and though the Pokémon researchers they brought on TV to explain the phenomenon had differing opinions, they all reached a common conclusion: it made Durendal fast, and it must have a serious drawback to not be used constantly.

Dune turned Fleché off when he was in the clear, having made a semi-circle around to get closer to Jumpluff. If he got hit while it was active, he'd end up flinching. And with Jumpluff's speed and Ramos' skill, they could lead their next shot if they predicted where Dune would go, Fleché or not.

PLaying it safe won't work here, Jumpluff is better at it. We have to play to our strengths. Salieri still had tricks that hadn't been televised yet. She didn't want to use them so early into the week, but the gap between her and victory was getting wider. Time to be bold.

"Balestra a la Mode!"

Gusts of wind formed near and around Durendal's body as the Pawniard's ability changed, inverting his Pressure to create and control pressure zones, and thus the wind. He Levitated above the ground, going up higher. From this height, he could see some of the tree's topmost branches. The dirt near him swirled close and he swatted it away. It trailed behind him like a scarf of Mars colored dust.

He winced as bugs ate into the soft skin below his armor. The sensation was excruciating. Sal watched Dune's hit points tick away on the big screen. This is gonna hurt Dune, but you'll have to bear it.