Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon had created enough distance before using its Poison Powder to be ready for another attack from behind. This time, when Vivillon rotated to face Lilt, its eyes glowed blue and it blasted a "Psybeam!" at the tiny bird.

If Lilt went through with her Peck, she'd likely take a faceful of Psybeam at the same time, and the telekinetic blast would also serve to cushion some of the damage to Vivillon.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Catch her!" Helena ordered and Lilt would proceed to do just that as the psybeam hit and she pushed through to peck Vivillon.

Instead of letting the opponent get away, however, Lilt would stay at the zero distance, insideof Vivillon's wings if they were to flap - safe from dusts and gusts - and she would begin to peck rapidly to try and finish the opponent here and now.  

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon continued to fly up from the momentum of the Peck, having lost about a third of its health. She kept flying back to keep Lilt just out of Pecking distance, tilting side to side to dodge the stray Pecks that came too close. Now they were very close to the webs clinging onto the ceiling, and Vivillon used "Infestation!"

Tiny, faceless black insects with gaping maws rained from the webbing like writhing stalactites. One of them spiked down between Vivillon and LIlt, and they would all fly at the little bird to eat through her flesh.  

[Spinne Biss]

Lilt wouldn't give Vivillon the chance to get an infestation between them. Instead she'd charge in with a quick attack. If it hit, it'd push Vivillon into the ceiling and force the infestations to course correct before they could continue after Lilt.  

[Marsuru]

Route 7 - Rivière Walk

As Helena's match heated up, Zack found himself a good way into Route 7. He wandered a riverside road, keeping pace with an arrow of Ducklett who swam the glistening waters. The river was the widest Zack had seen in a long time, with rows of dark green trees on the far bank. With so few trainers around, he could hear the distant whistling and nattering of wild pokémon rather than the high energy clashes of pokémon battles. The day's heavy sun had done a good job of drying out the dirt road; with every step, Zack kicked up a small cloud of dust that flew on the breeze.

Farther ahead, there was a small commotion. The river split off into a stream that carved a gap in the Route. Normally, the gap was a non-issue. A solid wooden bridge had been erected to allow travellers easy passage, but right now that bridge was out of order. A crowd mostly made up of trainers had formed in front of a rotund blob, which was sprawled out, filling up the bridge and snoring. It was as if a yo momma joke had come to life.

"A Snorlax," Zack muttered incredulously. As he got closer to the semi-circle of stumped travellers, he called out, "Hey, what's that thing still doing there?"
"Sleeping, clearly," someone said.
"Seriously, is he blind? No offence to blind people."

I hate this country, Zack thought, grumbling to himself.

"Well then, why hasn't anyone gotten rid of it yet?" he said through gritted teeth. An elderly man stepped forward wearing an apron splashed with paint. The way the other travellers parted to let him pass gave Zack the impression that this man was their leader, though in all likelihood he was just another person finding their day ruined by obesity.
"Oh, don't you worry about this lazy lump," he said with an amiable chuckle, "I sent a young trainer to retrieve a pokéflute to wake it up. She should be back any minute now."
"Sir, she's been gone for an hour."
"She's probably on her way back then. Just a little longer."

"You have got to be kidding me," Zack said, pinching his brow. Were these people really pokémon trainers? Trainer licenses must be given away for free in cereal boxes. "Why on earth do you want to wake this thing up? That's just going to make it harder."

He took out a pokéball and called on Serene. The silvery psychic pirouetted as she appeared, then nearly fell over when she saw the size of her opponent. The young Ralts would have been worried, but then she heard Zack's command of "Loki Tactic." She immediately ran forwards and jumped, clinging onto Snorlax's flab. When the most resistance she was met with came in the form of a content snore, Serene used Teleport to take both Snorlax and herself over the river, and let gravity do the rest.

The resulting splash slapped water as far as the dirt road. Most of the travellers scattered away from the soil-filled wave, but a few didn't take their eyes off the 'battle'. Serene teleported above the embankment, not quite managing to reappear at ground level but only having to drop a short way to reach her target. Snorlax floated face-down in the river like a corpse. After a few seconds, a violent burst of bubbles found the surface, and another, and another. Finally, the pokémon jolted awake, startled and disorientated as it fought to gulp oxygen rather than river water.

To make sure the Snorlax didn't find its feet too quickly, Zack commanded a Confusion. Serene launched a volley of whipping psychic light, which beaned Snorlax between the eyes and made it splash all the more furiously, and all the more uselessly. Some of the travellers had even started to laugh, making it impossible for Zack not to smirk a little bit.

"Okay, this is just torture," he said, tossing an empty pokéball at the Snorlax and catching it as soon as the capsule snapped shut. Serene teleported without prompting, grabbed the ball before it hit the water, and teleported back without getting too wet.
"Oh, well I suppose that's another way of doing things," the old painter said with a hint of disapproval. "Are you going to give the fellow a nickname?"
"I was thinking maybe 'Fatass'," Zack said, holding the ball up to catch the light. "On account of its girth."
"Dude, that's a horrible name," someone said, "And it's against league rules."
"What are you, a Name Rater? ******** off," Zack said as he put Fatass' ball away and recalled Serene.

It wouldn't be long before Route 7 was clear once again. Zack hadn't gone far by the time the last person left. He was too busy turning his backpack inside out and panicking. His belongings scattered to the roadside, Zack held his bag upside-down and shook it until the last remnants of lint debris fell out. He dropped the bag to the floor and slumped his shoulders.

"I don't believe it," he mumbled. "I can't find my notebook anywhere."  

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon couldn't outspeed Lilt's Quick Attack, but she it still deter her with a "String Shot!"

A twister of dense sticky silk ruptured out of Vivillon's mouth straight at the Fletchling, growing wide to envelop everything before it. Flying into the String Shot would compromise Lilt's wings, and in that moment of slowdown Vivillon would flap back to hide inside a swarm of Infestation bugs.

Regardless of whether or not Lilt somehow changed it's course fast enough to dodge the String Shot, Infestation would still move to converge on her, swarming up in spiraling tendrils to infiltrate and destroy.  

[Spinne Biss]

That webs that served to host the infestation would also serve to capture Vivillon as Lilt pushed the enemy into it with a pursued Quick Attack. The infestation didn't matter at this point as the Fletchling fought through the pain to win.

"Peck!" Helena called.

The webbing of the arena was pressed around Vivillon as the two had spent so much time going up, so as the infestation bit into Lilt, she'd begin to peck at Vivillon's torso, too close to the enemy now to be hit directly by anything.

With that - if the strategy worked, the enemy was in for some damage. If they could do nothing to stop Lilt or get away, Vivillon would go down relatively quickly.  

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon was pushed into the ceiling, taking a little damage from the Quick Attack in the process. Viola quickly snapped a photograph of the heat of the battle, thoroughly impressed. Helena had undergone a big change in how she battled since last time. The berserker style was working well for her, but Viola would still try her hardest to make sure that fire would burn out.

As Lilt retracted her head back to sling it forward for the Peck, slowed from the String Shot, Vivillon opened her mouth and fired a "Psybeam!".

Lilt may have been past the reach of her wings, but Vivillon could still attack her in other ways. The Bug angled the Psybeam down as the Fletchling came in. Like before, if Lilt kept up her Peck, she'd take a second telekinetic blast to the face that'd push her down with gravity, giving Vivillon time to fly away from the ceiling.

Infestation continued to spin around Lilt in a hideous black cloud. With Vivillon's superior power, the tradeoff on the attacks coupled with Infestation's power would be in her favor.  

[Spinne Biss]

"Juke it!" Helena called as Viola gave her order.

Vivillon's psybeam would fire and Lilt would keep her head retracted before immediately attacking again. If Vivillon moved, it'd be with a "quick attack" aimed to shove her back into the ceiling, using the moves superior speed to outmatch the bug/flying type, however if she didn't move, she'd face that peck that was setup before, also called by Helena who carefully watched every moment of the battle.

The infestation wore on Lilt, but she refused to give up through the pain. They weren't about to be humiliated a second time.  

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon shifted away from the ceiling after her Psybeam missed, prompting Lilt's charge tackle. The last time Lilt charged at Vivillon like this, Viola used a String Shot to slow down the bird's Peck attacks. This time, Viola saw the tactic coming and ordered the more offensive "Psybeam!"

Now Vivillon fired at Lilt from a head on position at the incoming Lilt, planning once again to trade off on attacks and gain some distance with the blast back. If Helena kept attacking Vivillon head on and blasting through the attacks, Viola knew Vivillon would take major damage, but she was also confident her higher level would take out Lilt before Vivillon herself would go down.  

[Spinne Biss]

Lilt had time, as Viola called out the order and Vivillon went to make it, to move under the psybeam and ensure that this wasn't a trade up blows, but a one sided beat down - all while ensuring that she lost no speed in her quick attack. If it hit, Vivillon would be pushed again into the ceiling once more.  

[Jump Einatz]

Vivillon was gutted back up into the ceiling with the Quick Attack for the second time. Viola knew her pokemon was at the end of it's rope, so in order to soften Lilt up for her next pokemon Viola ordered a "Poison Powder!"

Repeated flaps of Vivillon's wings would conjure up a cloud of poisonous scales. They'd linger around her and rise upwards, so even if Lilt was still at the shortest range and was above the Poison Powder, the cloud reaching her would be almost an inevitability.  

[Spinne Biss]

The order was pointless as Lilt began to fall. She had pushed herself as far as she could, but the ongoing damage of infestation taking her out was inevitable. Helena recalled her before she could hit the ground and tightened her lips.

Vivillon couldn't have a lot left in it, Helena thought. She could use Caboose, but the idea of struggling to hit a flying type with thundershock just to finish it off didn't appeal to her.

She could use Loki to teleport up there and finish the opponent off, but if she used a part ground type bug next, it would cost her the match instantly.

Feather could take the Vivillon out, but she'd be at a disadvantage against a bug/poison type.

Caboose would lose half his ability to fight if the opponent was part ground, so he wasn't in as bad of a position as Loki was, but it was still difficult. Snaps was out of the question entirely.

"Alright, Feather." Helena released the Flabébé. "Take to the air," she said and Feather would push herself up with Fairy Wind.  

[Jump Einatz]

By now the Poison Powder had dissipated, and any leftover Infestation bugs dissolved into dust. Vivillon fluttered downwards, shaky but determined to meet the Fairy Type in battle.

Getting a Powder move through the Fairy Wind would be difficult, so Viola ordered a "Gust!" instead. With a mighty flap of her wings Vivillon tossed out a blast of swirling air to slam the tiny Feather into the arena floor.  

[Spinne Biss]

Feather simply destroyed a portion of the incoming gust with another Fairy Wind as Helena ordered it. Then the little flower floated about with a smug, dancing this way and that in the air as she controlled her fairy wind, but she did not attack yet.