Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

((Rollin again
EDIT: oh snap son))

"Deal with it," Sal prompted, hoping Durendal wouldn't think that meant to dodge again. He didn't, and he raised up his arm in preparation to slice through the Mega Drain with a Psycho Cutter.

Suddenly he stopped moving entirely, becoming fully paralyzed for just a moment. It was enough to stop his attack before he started, and he was hit with a full contact Mega Drain.

Salieri rubbed her chin, thinking this over. Durendal could take about two more -maybe three if they weren't full contact- Mega Drains before he passed out. Despite healing herself off of his hit points, Essence wouldn't be back to full health. One more Aerial Ace would do it. If we have to we can end the battle that way, but I wanna try something else first.

"Pound 'em."

Durendal ran at Essence as she landed. A few steps away and he used Fleché, charging his nerves with electricity for priority movement. Compensating for his Paralysis briefly, he sped up and was right in front of the Budew.

Fleché was cancelled as he got to close range. It was more difficult to use the technique when he was paralyzed, but his Inner Focus allowed him to block out the strain on his muscles as he swung a leg up with his previous momentum.

The power of his Revenge attack had doubled due to the damage he'd just taken. His foot became enveloped in a spiraling red aura as he brought up a high spin kick, aiming it at Essence's head.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

The time was bought as the opponent was caught fully paralyzed, and couldn't follow up in time for Essence to land. It was a breath of fresh air for Benedict, but he was still worried about the outcome. It wasn't up in the air quite yet, that pawniard had the advantage almost entirely.

Things screwed up even more when the budew revealed that her amazing jump didn't have a graceful landing on her feet as an end result. Instead, she landed on her side and began wiggling her nubs wildly as she tried to figure out a way to get back to her feet. But it wasn't going to happen, the opponent was moving up too fast, and being on the ground wouldn't make her a small enough target.

Essence seemed to know this as well, and her fear sprouted on her face. "In!" Was all she heard, and rather than question it, the pokemon immediately rolled inwards, towards the pawniard. More specifically, she rolled towards the leg that Dune would still be standing on as the other raised in a spin kick. If she was lucky, she'd be under it and touching the other leg with her nubs, nervousness not drawing her attention to that.

The moment of her dodge attempt, however, she sprouted worry seeds around her, an ability brought on by her fear more than anything. If these connected with Pawniard, his abilities would be removed and replaced with Insomnia.

If the dodge went well, and Dune somehow managed not to hit her, Ben's voice would ring out again with a simple command. "Drain him dry!" If Essence wasn't hit by the revenge, her nubs would try as hard as they could to hold on to the leg she was near and start mega-draining it.

((I will leave the success of this dodge to your whim. ^_^'))  

[Jump Einatz]

((C'mon lucky 2, 3, or 4
EDIT: woooord))

Salieri couldn't help but giggle at Essence's rolling dodge. It meant that Durendal had missed, but it was still cute. Dune blushed, frustrated from his inability to finish the fight.

The Worry Seeds clung onto Dune and would cancel his ability to use Fleché for the remainder of the fight since it relied on Inner Focus. Now his mobility was even more limited. But Essence was still in a compromising position underneath his outstretched leg. "Level the field-"

As soon as he felt her nubs on his other leg, he discharged a Thunder Wave from that limb. Assuming she hadn't rolled away, she'd be paralyzed as well, and once again Durendal would be faster.

"-and end it."

Durendal brought his outstretched leg up and then dropped it down with the power of Aerial Ace. The strength that allowed him to move with confounding speed was used for the strike instead of the propulsion, coming down in an throttling axe kick towards the Budew's face.

If Budew had stuck around for the Thunder Wave and was still attempting to use Mega Drain, Durendal would let her in order to ensure his attack succeeded. He knew he wasn't at his limits yet, and two Mega Drain wouldn't have healed her all the way. If the first Aerial Ace had almost dealt enough damage to knock her out then this one would finish the job.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

(My turn to roll I suppose.
Edit: Okay then.)

The first move to go off as those nubs latched to be sure the opponent couldn't get away, a bad move since she couldn't possibly have much grip, was the mega-drain, which wasn't evaded it seemed. The thunderwave rolled through the pokemon's body at that moment though, and Ben knew what that meant...

She was going to lose.

The foot raised and a mega-drain went out, pretty much guaranteeing that she would be downed. It wasn't possible to get back to full strength in so few, he knew. So did that pawniard. Unless there was a critical hit involved. Even then, Essence couldn't possibly get back to full strength, no. Best case would be somehow guaranteeing a tie.

When the foot came down into his pokemon's face, Benedict let loose a sigh of defeat. "Looks like it's over."  

[Jump Einatz]

"Yep, looks like it."

As soon as Benedict spoke up, Durendal removed his foot from the Budew's face and stumbled backwards, panting slightly. The last Mega Drain hadn't knocked him out, but it had done a fair bit of damage. He probably wouldn't have stayed conscious after another one. The Worry Seeds digging into his leg weren't helping him calm down either. He wasn't used to not being able to keep his cool. No wonder those little seeds gave people Insomnia.

To spare him from the Insomnia, Salieri recalled Durendal into his pokeball so he could rest. He may have won the battle, but it showed Sal that he still had a lot to learn when it came to relying on speed. Mentally, she took these notes down and walked over to Benedict to collect her prize money.

"Not bad, Ben, not bad." Even though Durendal had been put in a surprisingly limiting position, Sal was still feeling a little smug. She considered that, from Benedict's perspective, she might seem cruel by experimenting with her moves during battle. It wasn't that she didn't take it seriously. It was that she was confident she would win. "Too bad those Mega Drains weren't Giga."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict recognized the cockiness on her face and offered her a grin. He had returned Essence when the pawniard had removed his foot. It had gone how the rookie trainer had expected, but the struggling had been so close to being enough. "You're right. Giga might have won it." He said with a laugh.

"I guess one day of training doesn't make her a master pokemon." That pawniard had seemed so very well-trained, with some odd technique, and the learning of aerial ace. He was relatively sure that the steel/dark type didn't know that naturally. Odds are, without that technique Essence would have had a better chance. Not a good one, but better. "Thanks for giving me a bit of experience. If that's the sort of thing I'll be expecting at a gym, I'm probably gonna need to give her a reward first."

Francis turned back to Biz and tilted his head. [That took a while. Why didn't he have a one-liner?]  

[Jump Einatz]

Biz was smiling ear to ear, happy to have seen that display of badassery coming from Durendal. And in her own way, Essence had been badass as well. [Huh? Oh, that's because that guy never talks. Like, ever. He's still badass though-]

He paused. Wait, so if you could be badass without talking, was silence badass? Or was talking badass? The Chespin crossed his arms, visibly brainstorming hard. He still had so much to learn about what it meant to be badass.

Salieri's grin shifted from competitive and feral to friendly yet rough. It seemed like Benedict wasn't just a pick-up artist after all. Maybe he was even an alright guy, though it was possible that his modesty was a facade and he was in fact the hustler type. Salieri didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"No problem. You're not the only ones that got experience." Her brain was already racking up things she needed to work on for the future. Keeping Fleché a secret for longer, increasing Durendal's mobility, teaching him an attack with a useful function, etc. That was the sign of a good battle.

"She's still fresh, but your Budew put up a good fight," Sal told him while clicking at her Pokegear. Benedict would make a good addition to her growing list of rivals, which included TK and Helena, by proxy of being Loki's trainer. She held up her Pokegear to Ben, the screen displaying a new page for his contact info.

"How about it? Let's trade. You can be my rival."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

(I didn't know you could just give rivalries away.)

Francis tilted his head confused, no longer quite certain how to take the idea of being a badass any longer. Still, it seemed to him that his mentor was the one to follow. [Not as badass as you though. I think you've got it down right.]

Benedict chuckled and nodded. "I thought she'd be down right off." He wasn't sure how this had turned into a normal conversation, but considering how this other trainer was acting, it seemed like the moment had passed. Besides, it sounded like there was every chance that the two were going to meet again at some point in the future.

The working with the pokegear threw him off for a moment, but Benedict nodded as he understood. "Yeah, alright. Rivals then." It felt weird making that agreement. Somehow, he felt that this wasn't quite the rival he'd imagined having once upon a time. Maybe one of those noble people? Or someone who'd gotten really far in a foreign league. but then, that was before he'd learned about Dragonite's uselessness.

After a moment, Benedict would exchange his Pokegear information with Sal, and would then turn his attention to Francis. Sure, Essence had gotten some good training in, even if she needed a center now, but the pidgey needed the most work of the two. "Any tips on pidgeys?  

[Jump Einatz]

((Collecting Pokemon is so nineties, collecting rivals is in))

[I do? I mean, yeah I do.] The Chespin flicked his nose with his thumb, sparkling with a smile. Having a protege was cool. Maybe even badass.

Salieri looked to Biz and Francis. "I dunno, I don't have any bird pokemon. No offense but Pidgey is kind of basic, so teach him the unexpected. Like Heat Wave or something. I don't have any real tips, but it'll come to you." She waved to her pokemon. "Yo Biz, let's get a move on. Time to go to the center."

Biz Marquis hopped off the fountain and gave Francis a quick salute. [Don't stop believin', bro.] He walked away to his trainer's side.

Sal looked back to Benedict. Either she had turned this player's pick up line into a pokemon battle or that was his plan from the start. She wasn't sure, but it ended on a good note regardless. Better than rejecting him for sure.

"How about a tip on girls?"  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict stared after Sal as she started moving on, and didn't notice the approach of Francis. [Did you see that? That guy was badass.] The bird chirped, referring to his new mentor. The two would surely meet again, of course. There was no chance of that. It was almost enough that he didn't miss his family from when he'd been caught.

Benedict was about to say something back, something along the lines of getting a little more intense training in, before Sal turned back to him and he found himself confused for a moment. Tips on girls? Well, if she swung that way, he couldn't really argue.

"Depends on the girl." He said, with a shrug. "If you say something stupid enough, what they say back will let you figure them out a little better."  

[Jump Einatz]

A short laugh bounced out of Sal's mouth as she rolled her eyes. "I don't need the tip dingus, I meant I'll give a tip to you. Consolation prize."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict couldn't help laughing back. Truth was, he knew this region well enough to know that he'd likely be able to find girls willing to give their attention just by getting badges. It was a simple truth. Heck, if he had eight badges, they'd probably not care what ridiculous things he'd say.

"Alright. I'm curious, what's your tip?"  

[Jump Einatz]

She put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "If say something stupid to a girl and she takes the bait, then you wasted your time on a joke. Sincerity'll net you a real catch."

Sal winked at him, clapped his shoulder, and walked past the other trainer towards Santalune City. "I'll see you around, Ben. Train up for the rematch."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

He frowned after Sal. The problem with that was, she was assuming he was looking for more than what'd be found in the person who took the bait. Of course, there was always the sort that saw past it, or accepted it as just an ice breaker...

"Thanks." He called, and turned to Francis again. "You. We need to work on some things before we walk into that gym..."  

[Zamaku]

Lumiose - Gotengo

Despite his hunger, TK smiled a little to himself when Mia told him Sal counted him among her rivals. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it felt like it was significant in some way.

"It was like Cardboard," the youth explained, while pondering over a dish he could make out of Egg's, a large supply of crackers, and milk. Really, nothing came to him. Not unless the inhabitants of the Gotengo had a fresh supply of beef or even lobster or crab would work really. Not that even if he had the proper ingredients could he make something a five star restaurant would serve, but cooking was one of his responsibilities back home, some one had to cook for him and his three siblings and if Adrianna did it they all would have probably ended up with food poisoning. So he was confident he knew his way around a kitchen pretty decently. If he had the ingredients, TK wasnt too concerned about going hungry on this adventure of his. Now all he needed was the ingredients...

Something Mia said about it being cool if he came back to the Gotengo struck the silver haired youth as odd. "So, what happens when a kid in the Gotengo grows up...?" His question would end up coming across as slightly hesitant, but laced with a curious undertone.