Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Spinne Biss]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

Tentacruel's job outside of the farmhouse was to put out the flames that spread from the farmhouse but otherwise they were going to let it burn. Magmortar's arrival was coming but not yet.

First, Emily would leap over the broken and collapsed entryway. He would appear suddenly through the smoke, landing into the main room. Crouching low, her eyes settled on Zack. Focused. Sharp. But also wild and fiery. There was a rage in them that danced with the spreading flames.

Kicking forward, she'd aim to close the distance in an instant. At the same time she'd bring her knife point forward to bury itself into Zack's gut as she'd lift herself. If the motion was successful her momentum and strength would let her pick Zack up and throw him over the counter where the momentum itself would free him of her knife and she'd land on the other side with a new hole in him.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict took the time after reading the responses to think about what to say while he finished getting ready. Two of those still in bed had rolled back over at the invite one had gotten up but said she wasn't hungry. He exchanged numbers with Robin and was off. Luckily the responses hadn't left his mind, but he'd needed to not pause every couple seconds while getting the rest of the way ready, so had put off replying immediately.

Mia had smoothed things out with him, which was good. She had been the one to reach out about the cannon thing, too. Scary as heck that. Hers was the easiest, he sent a thumbs up to her.

Sal was the second easiest. They probably still needed to work on actual teamwork, though. I accepted. Not surprising they reached out to her too. We should. Doing a gym match in a bit, once I've eaten, then got Mia. Talk after?

Juliet was the one he knew the least. Probably could trust the least too as a result. She was also the person who had saved his life, so there was that. Her message was the most unsettling. If a noble thought he should.run, this was a bad idea. But also, saying no was a bad idea. He's going to sponsor me, have a gym battle today to announce it. Any pointers will help.

Meanwhile Ben was grabbing a quick bite to eat he could run with from a fast food place before heading to the gym to meet this stylist of his.  

[Jump Einatz]

Unknown Cave

"Adjusting volume, captain." Prou telekinetically grabbed the other seats and Moze flicked on the large monitor hanging on the wall. A few channels later, and Helena had just Mega Evolved Loki.

"Yo she's got a Mega!" Moze pumped his fist. "Boss moves. You don't see these matchups that often, always a great time. Not to brag, but you sure know how to pick 'em."

He looked to Ratio. For as long as he'd known the man, he'd never seen the dark crusader so ravaged. Miracle aside, it was a testament to his strength. When Moze saw Ratio like this, passively solid as a rock, it gave him hope for Arnaud. His father was solid too. He could hold out until Moze found a way to help him.

That hope didn't stop him from being concerned for his teacher. His friend. Prou was already on it, riding Moze's feelings and lifting her hand in the air. A pink mist swirled from the floor, starting wide like a rug before converging and slowly, gently, creeping up Ratio's chair. The daily Heal Pulse massage she'd already administered could only do so much to speed up the regeneration process. Her column of Misty Terrain could at least help ease the pain shared between Ratio and Celarsi.

"...how much longer do you think it'll take to be whole again?"

Coumarine Gym

The Light Screen cut the damage of Psyshock, yet the boosted attack still left a hefty impact on the tree's considerable bulk, as expected. Lacking mobility like the nimble Loki, Abomasnow had to fight like a fortress. Loki escaped his vision, but with his trainer, he had two sets of eyes.

"Yer six."

So Loki was behind him! Abomasnow's body rattled, shooting off an attack after the Teleport and before he even began to turn. His pivot was preceded by the falling of frozen, crescent shaped leaves spinning from his body. Until he had eyes on Loki he couldn't aim as precisely. Razor Leaf covered a wide area, taking care of that problem. The flurry of Razor Leaves whirled outwards in a circle around him, threatening to cleave anything nearby.

Loki would have to abandon his Psyshock to dodge the Razor Leaf, lest he was willing to trade again with a powerful slice (that would critically take him out on a 1). Regardless of Helena's call, Abomasnow would complete his scan to find Loki after the exchange, and breathe out an Ice Shard at the Psi Pokémon. The frigid dart was faster than Abomasnow could move, whistling with priority at Loki to .

All the while, the Hail pelted away at him and the Leech Seed sapped his vitality back into Abomasnow. A quarter of his health was already lost. Ramos and his Pokémon were as trees, walking the long road towards the victory.

Lumiose City

Bertrand Balibar was sponsoring a commoner. Juliet ran the text through her head again. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead. She sat up straight, fully alert.

~Congratulations! You must be quite the trainer.~
~Impressive.~

Bertrand Balibar was sponsoring a commoner? Juliet's brain went from relaxed to doing flips, thoroughly sending her reeling. Alone on the bench, she looked up and just said, "What."

~You didn't hear it from me, but he's somewhat boorish.~
~If he regales you with military history or tales, pretend to like it, even if it's inaccurate.~

Twice now, Juliet had come upon Benedict narrowly escaping life threatening situations. He didn't seem like the type to look for trouble, yet here he was. Certainly, the offer of that kind of money was a nigh-insurmountable offer to refuse. Perhaps Benedict did not know how corrupt the tops of the Four Houses could be. To be invited to their circle was like walking into the Pyroar's den.

~Do not appear lazy in front of him. He loathes all things lax.~
~And whatever you do, don't~

Juliet stood up, walking briskly in a new direction. This was news. This was big news. The nobility at large would not stand for this. Juliet felt bad for Benedict, knowing that he was about to enter her world. A world of secrets and lies. And because of who he was, he was liable, like the commoners and foreigners who came before him, to not complete the League.

But maybe, if she was around, and lucky, she could shield him.

~try to best him. In anything. His pride is bigger than his army.~
~We may be competitors, but I'm rooting for you now.~

Coumarine City

"ACCEPTED??!!"

~Yeah~
~That's wild~
~Wowwww ok ok~
~Sure call me whichever~
~*whichever~
~*whenever ******** autocorrect~

"You're literally seething right now."

Salieri was already calling up Mia, but the line was busy. She sent a long string of keyboard mashing, thought-to-page texts. "Nope I am chill. I am zen. The Aura is with me," she told Math through grit teeth, her fingers in a frenzy at the keys.

"I'm gonna find the bathroom." Matheson got up.

Salieri had a lot of qualities Matheson admired. She was passionate, smart, courageous. Loyal to her people. She was funny, she was a great trainer, and could stretch her leg over her head. Tough as nails, but sweet underneath it all. Tender at her best moments. And all of this was wrapped in a package shaped like a cute girl with a nice a**.

But when Salieri got like this, it was hard to bring her back. He wanted to help her. He wanted to help the real Salieri. Not this one. "Please don't explode while I'm gone?"

Sal put down her phone and sighed, breathing deep. "Bomb diffused. I need to process this."
"Well hey, great job not, uh, yelling at your friends. That was good."
She rolled her eyes. "There are other people I need to yell at."
"Speaking of bombs being diffused," Matheson started, backing up quickly and leaving earshot. "Gotta find that bathroom."
"I image-ine you will," she snarked.
"You're not even using it riiiiiiight..."

That left Salieri to her own devices outside the Gym, waiting for Helena to arrive.  

[Spinne Biss]

Coumarine Gym

He's reactive but strong.

Helena grew cruel as she watched the battle unfold. Loki could feel her intention, process it, predict it. He traded the Razor Leaf for his Psyshock, the blast tearing into Abomasnow at their close range. Thrice now he had struck his opponent with an augmented Psyshock, which meant that they needed a much stronger blow now.

Next time we'll use Reflect first.

The moment it happened, Loki moved. Abomasnow's mouth opening wide allowed Loki to predict the move and as the shard shot out he was already in motion, the micro movement allowing him to just barely dodge. At the same time with the focus that came with a double Calm Mind, and the processing speed that only an Alakazam had, Loki moved his spoons. They would enter Abomasnow's mouth before it could close and then the monster was at his mercy.

His light screen can't protect him from here.

Unless the opponent could stop it, the psyshock would explode internally creating a critical hit that would reverberate not just his flesh and thick muscle, but every organ in his body would suffer the blast.

Fall down already.

She didn't need to feel it to know that the constant pelting and absorbing was wearing Loki down. He wouldn't last much longer but, hopefully, with this the match would end.  

[Marsuru]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

Unfortunately for Emily, there was no such thing as moving anywhere in an instant for mere humans, and there was a lot of furniture to navigate between her and Zack. Overcoming his initial surprise that a girl flew in through the half-collapsed and flaming farmhouse door, Zack steeled himself for another fight. As the girl launched herself towards him, Zack staggered over Adrian, who reeled on the ground from the explosion, and shoved past Audrey, who was still asleep on her chair, though considerably slumped. He would hear Emily collide with the kitchen counter next to where he'd been standing, now between the two farmers, and hot on Zack's back.

'Gotta get them outta here,' Zack thought, sensing the fire eat away at more of the farmhouse. In the meantime... 'Hazard, ******** her up!'

And with that, Hazard would swoop down in front of Emily and transfix her with a Mean Look, the shimmering image of a nasty pair of eyes lighting up in the space between the pokémon and person. Didn't matter if she closed her eyes, tried to ignore it or what, Emily wouldn't be able to escape from the blazing farmhouse.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

The shadows cast by the flickering flame would, for a moment, sync up and darken. The time between seeing it and realizing what would happen wouldn't matter as Kecleon sped through the connected shadows with Shadow Sneak. He'd appear behind the Kirlia to smack her aside.

Emily's eyes flickered as the flames danced against them. Hazard Mean Look wouldn't stop her.

"Get your ******** pets out of the way, I'm only here for you," she'd snap, voice rough and low but loud enough to be heard over the flames.

She'd throw the hunting knife at Zack with a practiced precision, the knife aiming to stick itself into his right legs thigh and take away his mobility if it managed to stick.

Magmortar would burst through the burning entryway with a roar, and then aim his cannon arm into the enclosed room. He didn't fire yet, though. Instead he was making a threat. They weren't getting out this way.  

[Marsuru]

Zack felt his connection to Serene blot out in an instant. s**t, what happened to her? He didn't have the luxury of time to spend wondering with Emily on his tail. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw her aim and throw, and darted around the square dining table, keeping it between them. As he turned the corner around it, he felt a hot stab of pain as the thrown knife sliced the side of his leg.

Not quite as immobilising as what Emily no doubt planned, but still hurt like a b***h.

The trainer grit his teeth. He couldn't even complain that he hadn't done anything to deserve this s**t, as not five minutes ago he'd punched an old lady in the face.

[PETS? That implies affectioooooon! Kekekakaka!] Hazard bellowed. That Mean Look was totally gonna stop Emily, but maybe not before she killed Hazard's trainer. The entryway exploded in a heap of flames, revealing the Magmortar. Zack barely had time to register it.

'Not gonna lie, tiny bit scared right now,' Zack said, grinning. With the dining table in the way, it gave him a small amount of breathing room. 'Let me guess, you're takin' out trainers for the nobility.'  

[Spinne Biss]

"No," Emily said as she drew another knife, her eyes locked on Zack. There was a rage in them,but it didn't seem to be at him. Her body was calm, controlled. She wasn't seething or out of control. This was hatred minus anger.

"Just you." She took another knife from a holster at her backside. The Brunette had her hair in a thin tight braid and underneath was shorts and t-shirt was a tough flame-resistant material. This wasn't her first time in an fiery storm.

"I am Inferno," Emily introduced herself. The flames continued to eat out the farmhouse around them, but it wasn't spreading fast enough to interrupt their fight. Not just yet anyways.

Then the anger lit up her eyes, bleeding across her expression as she remembered the event of three days ago. "And your sister kicked me in the vagin."

Then she acted at the same time Kecleon did, going for another Shadow Strike as Emily shot toward Zack. She'd step up onto the side of a seat over a knocked over rocking chair before jumping into the air and coming down at Zack knees first.  

[Marsuru]

Man, ******** this. Zack grabbed a pokéball from his belt as Emily talked, pressed its button as she stepped onto the chair, and had Lethal wrapped out his arm, aimed and ready to fire by the time she was halfway through the air. Once airborne, her mobility options were s**t, and no amount of last-minute twisting would counteract Lethal's aim.

He shot an immediate blast of water with Aqua Jet, taking priority over everything except Shadow Sneak. He would aim to strike Emily's centre of gravity with the jet, and send her snapping backwards into the ceiling. Lethal was powerful, but he didn't want to kill the attacker. The one-two hit of Aqua Jet into Ceiling Attack should ******** her up though.

Meanwhile, Hazard had no way to counteract the Shadow Sneak, only now realising that Kecleon was in play. She flew forwards as the attack struck her from behind, reeling around. Her normally manic grin turned a tinge nasty as she locked eyes with the chameleon pokémon. In fact, she looked so angry that she straight up burst into flames. Now the Gengar resembled a flaming sprite, still in the general shape of her ghost form but made up entirely of fire, her grinning face at its center.

She had used Reflect Type on the Magmortar, shedding her Ghost/Poison typing for his Fire type.

[SURPRISE! Kekeke! Now I'm a Fire Hazard!]

Half-expecting the Kecleon to keep up its Shadow Sneak assault, Hazard got ready to deliver some Payback against the blow. If Hazard was hit, her return fire was almost guaranteed to hit as well.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

Emily felt the pain of the jet of water slam into her shins, legs up from her descent protecting her chest from being hit. She'd cry out, feral and angry and then her back would slam into the ceiling and she'd fall.

Kecleon did Shadow Sneak but this time he emerged under Emily, catching her and bringing them both down safely to the ground.

Emily would point her knife at Zack, expression settling into a narrowed glare. Kecleon turned to face the Fiery Hazard, the flames flickering across his emotionless eyes.

"Put it away." Emily said and Magmortar cocked his cannon. "I'm only here for you. Mano e mano. You shoot me with that ******** thing again and I'll blow you the ******** up."

Then, as if a show of good faith, she'd throw her knife into the ground where it would stick, half exposed.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Anistar City
Lines hadn't been a problem, and food was coming. Ben looked at his text from Sal and shuddered. He was pretty sure he could read the tone of those texts, and honestly it looked like she was mad. Probably. He sent her a thumbs up too, not really sure how to keep that whole thing going. Explanations could wait until they could talk to each other properly. Assuming she listened.

He shook that thought off and read back over Juliet's texts. She was offering a bit of advice that basically seemed to amount to... Well.. Don't be yourself.
'Might be less about me being good and more about all the positive press. Guessing it looks better if one of the people fighting back is someone it could be assumed he was already vetting for sponsorship than if it's done later. Now's the opportune time.' So it might be more about keeping whatever good press he had to offer from others then? Maybe. He didn't have enough information.

'I'll try to use the advice to avoid an incident. Thanks a ton Juliet. Going dark for a bit though, gym battle to prep for with the stylist. Hopefully I'll see you around.

Ben put the phone away and took a nice, deep breath. Food. Dress-up. Gym battle. Then he'd call Mia. A bit on the plate, but no real issue there, yeah? And Sal. Today started so great until those two showed up too.

************

Anistar City Gym-Changing room
Ben was still eating when he arrived at the Gym, but close enough to done that he was ready to toss the trash once he got into the changing room. Inside was a woman who had a very serious expression. Severe? Yeah, a severe expression sounded right. She had black hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in Balibar's colors. Blouse, cardigan, pants with terrible pockets. Actually, pockets were an insult. The hair was pulled into a bun, and she didn't seem too happy to see him.

"You're late." The first words out of her mouth. "Never be late to your appointments. To start with, I'll need your social media information. Just send it via text. I'll be changing all of the important information anyway. If you don't have a particular site, I'll make one for you. You need to be visible, Mister Montgomery." She was stressing the Mister pretty hard. He almost felt like it was an... uh... Insult.

"Oh, yeah, can do." When he took out his xtranciever, there was a clear intake of breath through teeth from the woman that drew his eyes back to her.

"You have one of... those. Okay. Fine, that's fine. They told me you might. Send the information and hand it over, I'll be changing you to a holocaster while you're battling. Yes, you'll keep your number. Also yes, I'll be reading your messages, so I know which contacts are allowed to be transferred over." Ben found his eyes rolling. She hadn't even introduced herself. Rude. But he did as asked. As expected.

"So, ah, you have me at a disadvantage, knowing my name and all. May I ask yours, Miss?" Ben waited a moment for her to answer as she took his Xtransceiver. At least, his public one. boy was he glad to have two. Mia would have been pissed if her tech was intercepted here.

"Bali Balibar. Lady Balibar." He winced. Okay. That wasn't great. "I already have your outfit here. You're running this late or we'd have had time to make sure it was more fitted. Be sure to wear the accessories, the silver is important." Ben sighed as she started directing him in hurrying to get ready.

Yeah, this was going to be a long, frustrating not-friendship. Probably meant to drive him to quit the league in frustration if at all possible.


*****

Anistar City Gym Proper:
The maze sucked, but it gave him time to calm down. Really, what kind of gym leader though that putting people in a maze they had to figure out before allowing them to fight was a good idea? He imagined Sal would probably just blow past it without even trying to solve it. Zack might too. But that wasn't Ben. Benedict needed time to breath, and psyche himself up for a match.

"But seriously, a maze? Geeze." Ben whispered, trying to keep his cool as well as possible. He was pretty sure he'd managed to slip his secondary xtranceiver into his new outfit unnoticed, but who knew with that... Every time he was almost away from thinking about how frustrating that experience was, Ben found himself drawn back to it. There was a reason nobles and commoners didn't spend time together regularly...

By the time he would finally arrive at the gym leader proper, Ben would be riled up, and a touch more aggressive than normal.

((Heard we were doing pokemon updates, so I'll put mine here like Maaz did a while back. Italics will be the added attacks.))

show spoilerhide spoiler

((Name: Essence
Species Name:Roselia
Gender:Female
Level: 40 -> 41
Held Items:

Biography: This pokemon was frightened into submission upon seeing Sir Ricard Lancelot.

Techniques:
Absorb
Growth
Water Sport
Stun Spore
Mega Drain
Worry Seed
Poison Sting
Leech Seed
Magical Leaf
Grass Whistle
Synthesis
Giga Drain
Sunny day
Solar beam
toxic spikes
sweet scent
Cut
Psych up
Ingrain
Petal blizzard
Toxic
Poison Jab
Weather Ball
Venoshock
Endure

Abilities: Natural Cure, Poison Point

Name: Francis
Species Name: Pidgeot
Gender:Male
Level: 35 -> 36
Held Items:

Biography: Pokemon met on route 3, defeated by Essence.

Techniques:
Tackle
Sand Attack
Gust
quick attack
whirlwind
twister
mirror move
heat wave
Feather Dance
steel wing
air slash
Fly
Agility
Wing attack
Hyper Beam
Giga Impact
Sleep Talk
Sunny Day


Abilities: Keen Eye

Name: Jerath
Species Name:Rhyhorn
Gender:Male
Level: 25 -> 30
Held Items:

Biography: Caught during the stampede on Route 9

Techniques:
Horn Attack
Tail Whip
Fury Attack
Scary Face
Smack Down
Stomp
bulldoze
Probably other moves after leveling 5 times

Abilities: Lightning Rod

Name: Manny
Species Name:Meditite
Gender: Male
Level: 25 -> 30
Held Items:

Biography: Caught after showing himself to be too curious in Connecting Cave.

Techniques: Bide
Meditate
Confusion
Detect
Endure
Feint
Force Palm
Calm Mind
Hidden Power
Psych Up
Psychic
Mind Reader
Reflect
Probably other moves after leveling 5 times
Abilities:Telepathy

Name: Caboose
Species Name: Pikachu
Gender:Male
Level: 34 ->36
Held Items:

Biography: Found through Wondertrade. Before this, after being traded by its original owner to another, he was put through Wondertrade once before and went through some fairly intense training with a trainer who didn't want him in the end.

Techniques: Thunder Shock
Tail Whip
Growl
Play Nice
Quick Attack
Electro Ball
Thunder wave
Feint
Double Team
Spark
Nuzzle
Slam
Thunderbolt
Discharge
Charge Beam
Magnet Rise
Strength
Rain Dance
Sudden Storm*

Abilities:Static, Lightning Rod

*Not actually a pokemon move))

 

[Marsuru]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

'Or,' Zack said, 'Go ******** a nail.'

He called Emily's bluff, and swung Lethal to the side, aiming directly at the Magmortar. Any attack from the fire type would hit Emily too, and fire-proof clothing didn't help when your skin was exposed. And besides, even if she were somehow immune to that, Zack saw what the pokémon's blasts did to the solid rock of the farmhouse. It'd be suicide.

Lethal launched a Water Pulse at the fire type, powered up by his Mega Launcher ability. His aim was further honed by his Scope Lens, which gave all of his attacks the chance to Critical Hit. If he rolled a 1, Magmortar would feel like it had a hole punctured through its massive belly and collapse in defeat, with Lethal's attack having the strength to blow apart any attempts to counterattack and sail on through. Anything other than a 1, and it'd still be a powerful blast that'd put the Magmortar on the brink.

In the same moment, Hazard struck with her attack, levelling a Psychic blast at the fire type, which would cleave off around a third of his total health. More than enough to finish off anything Lethal started. And if that wasn't enough...

---

Outside, Serene staggered to her feet. That Shadow Sneak had been rough, but still not enough to take her out completely. She shook herself off, remembering that as far as head traumas went, this wasn't really too bad.

She saw what was happening through the window, but her eyes flickered with fear at the Tentacruel just outside. Hadn't seemed to notice her just yet, what with its attention on putting out the flames as they spread, but it was only a matter of time.

And then she picked up on what Zack was doing. One all out assault to take down Emily's big gun and keep the Ramos' out of the crossfire. It might not be much, but she decided to help.

So, as Lethal and Hazard both moved to attack, Serene launched her own Psychic attack to strike Magmortar in the back, as she could still see him in the doorway. It would give her away to Tentacruel, but Serene believed in Zack's plan, as personally scary it might be for her. If she landed her attack, it would take off around a fifth of Magmortar's health.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

((Assuming Serene is using telepathy she will be able to hear Emily's ******** this guy.

Kecleon would jump in the way of the psychic attack, his tongue shooting up toward the ceiling as the psionic blast slammed into him and sent him sprawling. As his tongue hit the ceiling it would cause part of it to cave, bringing a Rock Tomb down toward Hazard.

I'm just trying to help my god damn girlfriend

Magmortar fired at the same time that Zack did. His own Thunderbolt aimed at the water(type) gun on Zack's arm. The electricity would crackle through the water before making its way toward its target, ensuring both would take a massive blow, except Zack would also take the bolt if it hit.

I don't want to kill your ******** Pokemon

Speaking of Zack and being hit, Emily would growl as she'd kneel down, picking up her knife and chucking it immediately, the blade aiming to catch Zack in the side of his thigh.

You stupid ******** stop it already

Finally, Magmortar would indeed be struck by Serene, but he would not move. Stoic and powerful, even when enduring ******** would notice the little thing. Bugs would then suddenly crawl out from his eyes and leap toward her in the form of ********>  

[Marsuru]

So here's how it happened: Lethal's Water Pulse and Magmortar's Thunderbolt traded blows, taking both pokémon to around 15-20% health left. Serene's Psychic hit home, leaving off the rest of Magmortar's life. Even if it stood standing, it was unconscious when it did so, supported by its own girth. That was the big gun down.

On the downside, Thunderbolt ran up Zack's arm, sparking and spraying with electric shock and a loud bang as Lethal jumped off Zack's arm and the trainer went sprawling backwards to the floor. Lethal crashed through the window, the sudden rush of oxygen causing the surrounding flames to surge.

Emily's throwing knife would miss when Zack hit the floor, the dining table now in the way of her line of sight. But Zack wasn't all she had to contend with, for at her feet lay Adrian. Or rather, a second ago, Adrian lay at her feet. Now he was up, roaring with all the ferocity of a man whose quiet life had been invaded, assaulted, then blown up. He would try to take Emily by the waist and tackle her to the ground, putting his full weight into it. There, he would push his thumbs to her neck and choke the life from her.

If she didn't do something, Adrian would keep pressing harder, harder until he heard the satisfying wet crack of her windpipe caving in.

Meanwhile, Hazard exploded in a roar of fire. Rather, she used her Rupture technique to explode into a cloud of whatever element she was composed of, which in this case was fire. Any physical attacks would deal half damage in this form as they phased through, with the collapsing ceiling hitting the ground below her.

[Nice trrrryyyy! Kekeke!] she laughed. The moment her Psychic hit, it activated Kecleon's Colour Change ability, which turned the pokémon into the psychic type. And so, as Hazard had eventually learned which types her moves were effective against, she launched a Shadow Ball at the other pokémon. Since it was super effective, and Kecleon had already taken so much damage, the one strike would take it out.

---

Outside, Serene paled under the Tentracruel's gaze as it turned, bugs crawling out of its eyes like something from a horror movie. They leapt over, taking hold of the little psychic, biting into her flesh.

Serene screamed, both in disgust and fright, as she flailed to get the Infestation off of her. In doing so, she accidentally launched a Confuse Ray at the Tentacruel, who was close enough for his Infestation to leap from his face onto Serene, and close enough to struggle to dodge her attack.  

[Spinne Biss]

Route 12 - Farmhouse

Smoke would immediately escape through the new hole in the ceiling, the sudden vacuum enough to tear away the oxygen until it was replaced by what was coming from outside via the windows and collapsed entrance.

As more of the farmhouse began to fall apart, things would only grow more intense. The vacuum wouldn't extinguish the flame but direct it, the fire collecting in a flame whirl that only spread it faster through the building.

Kecleon would avoid Hazard's attempt with another Shadow Sneak, this time appearing behind Adrian as he tackled Emily to the ground and utilizing his own strength to toss the man away from her.

"Get out of here, you a*****e," Emily snapped at Adrain as she jumped to her feet. Wherever Zack was, he likely wasn't having a good day after taking a Thunderbolt.

And then the brunette would go after Zack, kicking the table in an attempt to either whack him with it or, if he was just getting up, knock him back to the ground.

Meanwhile outside Tentacruel would become confused and then he'd attempt to spray, this time from his beak mouth, even more bugs at the little psychic, a one would be a success, a two would be him accidentally choking on the bugs.