Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

From the looks of things, Loki had teleported and finally decided to get in close. Because he left Magnet Bomb's range so suddenly, the ball of metal slowed to a halt. Magneton didn't let it explode, instead keeping it on Helena's side of the arena to limit Loki's movements. If he got too close to it again, the bomb would rush towards him and explode.

And that just left Loki's Psybeam. Teleporting into the air was a mistake. He wouldn't be able to teleport again immediately and he had no other way of dodging, especially not while attacking. Magneton was too Sturdy to lose his balance against the psychic's attack, but not fast enough to avoid it, which wasn't the plan anyway.

Instead, the plan was to use 'Supersonic.' He didn't have to aim this one, or even be facing Loki when he did it. Because he was so close, the Supersonic was bound to hit its target as Magneton sent out a high pitched wave of sound that would scramble Loki's impressive brain and leave him confused. Unless Helena thought of a way around it.

But for this to go through, Magneton would have to take the Psybeam, which pinged off the back of one of his heads and left a small dent. Luckily, he was resistant to psychic attacks, or that could've been dangerous.  

[Spinne Biss]

Kadabra's power was chaotic. With all the ways it could change, it meant that Kadabra didn't innately completely control it. Not only did it come from Kadabra's body, but from their spoon. Loki was no exception to this. He had the sense of his own psionic energies, to emit, control and weaponize them. Supersonic splintered that sense and disorienated Loki into confusion.

Like ones sight splintering to resemble a bugs. Loki's first instinct was panic, and that panic brought about his first instinct. Loki teleported as high as he could get, nearly touching the dome of the arena.

"Calm down," Helena commanded to her Pokemon. Loki already knew this, what he felt now wasn't much different from how he felt facing Tyrant. Calm down, get a grasp of things. He couldn't close his eyes or he'd lose sight of everything completely, or so he told himself. Instead, Loki looked at his spoon.

"I'll guide you," Helena said. Loki began to fall as he started to recollect himself. The sight of the spoon would increase his power temporarily, but mostly it would serve as a catalyst to let him recollect himself.

Helena watched Magneton and listened to Clemont. They both knew, once their opponent made a move, that they would have to react. Until that moment, the two of them were going to take advantage of time.

Helena had her eyes on two moves for this match. Two theories to test out, to learn and to use.

Once put into action, they would both lay the groundwork to controlling her opponent, the match and securing victory.

More importantly, Clemont had started the game with the advantage. Everything he did was likely to try and further that advantage. He wouldn't be able to see the steps in Helena's strategy, she decided, not if she didn't undo his own work.

Instead, she'd build things up, and blow him away in a single moment. She would strip him of his advantage and destroy him before he could regain his footing. To do that Loki would have to master the first move and while Clemont had scattered Loki's perceptions, all he had really done was make it easier for Loki, who grew stronger when faced with stronger opponents, to gain control over even that.

Step one, learn Calm Mind.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City - Centrico Plaza

'Aww maaaan... hey wait a minute.'

Wayne and Aipom were lost. They had spent the better half of the day thus far trying to find the southern boulevard pokémon center or, as a consolation prize, Professor Sycamore's lab. Instead they wound up on the backstreets time after time. They tried to follow road signs at first, but at Wayne's insistence that Kalosian road signs were only useful for people who spoke Kalosian, they eventually went without. But luckily enough for them, they had another chance. The quest to find Zack Redgrave had once again spat them out in the middle of the city, and this time there was a sign more or less in National.

[Helena Redgrave vs. Clemont]

The sign on the side of Prism Tower said it as clear as day. Wayne lit up. Maybe now he could finally stop walking around aimlessly. Aipom breathed a hot sigh of relief in his ear and together they ran up to the tower, leaping and punching the air on the way.

---

The spectator stands were purposely blacked out to avoid causing a distraction. It was kind of like a movie theatre crossed with a sports stadium, with thin wire meshes at the very bottom of the stands, which were still raised over arena. It turned the battleground into a gladiator pit, and by the time Wayne got there, the fight was well underway. He didn't need a seat, and the ache in his legs was long forgotten. A pokémon battle was all he needed.

'Whoa...' he gasped. Aipom was less impressed, instead more concerned about getting something to eat. The waffles had been hours ago, and he was a greedy little monkey. When the crowd roared with applause at one of the moves, Aipom's tail swooped down and snatched an unguarded bag of popcorn, depositing it in the pokémon's paws. Then Aipom happily munched away, feeding himself with his tail.

'So where's this Redgrave lady?' Wayne asked, mostly to himself. It didn't take a second to spot Helena in the challenger's box. 'Cool.'
'That's Zack's sister,' Aipom said through a full mouth. 'She'll know exactly where he is.'
'Right. Siblings have a kind of spider sense for each other, I think,' Wayne nodded. 'Dude when did you get popcorn? I want some popcorn.'
'No,' Aipom said, stuffing another piece of popped corn into his mouth. ''ou 'on't.'
'Oh. Okay.'

Lumiose City Gym - The Arena

Before he could do any calming down, Loki would have to face being blown out of the sky with a 'Zap Cannon.'

Since he couldn't teleport again immediately, fly, and any moves he made would be through a hazy wave of confusion, he was a sitting duck. Zap Cannon wasn't particularly accurate against moving opponents, but luckily gravity was a constant, and easily accountable for.

If it hit, Loki would be ripped to shreds and taken out.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Cyllage City Gym - The Arena

Benedict gave a confident wink to go with the grin. He didn't know for sure how well the next bout of fighting would go. Francis was still down. His other pokemon might not last against whatever this gym leader put out. Especially not if he was annoyed at having lost a pokemon.

Lunatone wasn't a pokemon he knew, not especially well. It was rock, probably. This was that gym after all. Whatever else it was might well be trouble for Essence. Much like that Dragon type from before was. The call of "psywave," however, gave enough information. that move he knew.

As for Essence, she was momentarily fixated on the gaze. Unnerving. She forced her eyes off of it, and focused on her opponent as a whole. Calm. A small smile crept up on her face, as if amused. Really, it just hid her fatigue.

"Forward. Drain. Mobility. Drain." He called, and Essence would follow the command. Mega Drain would go out, and she would, with luck, be able to punch a hole in the psywave to pass through before the psychic pokemon could fix it. After all, the ability was based somewhat on luck, and on the base power of the user. Meaning she could potentially overpower it. Or at least weaken the point she'd pass through. With luck, it might even pass through and hit the Lunatone.

Either way, once she passed through, another Mega Drain would go out, as much meant to buy time and keep her on her feet as it was to hurt the opponent.

What they needed now was a good plan.  

[Spinne Biss]

Lumiose City Gym - The Arena

"Push yourself away!" Helena said.

Loki complied with a Psybeam into the dome, at an angle that would push him out of Zap Cannon's way. The strategy worked, but the beam didn't have to go very far, and if it had it would have been a failure - only because a few moments later Psybeam grew out of control and the psionic energies burst in Loki's face.

The Pokemon gave a cry but continued to try and refocus his energies. His eyes on the spoon, and Helena's eyes on the battlefield, they prepared themselves for Clemont's next tactic.  

[Marsuru]

Clemont sighed at Helena's stubborn refusal to lose. He really didn't enjoy battling, and would prefer to get this over with a soon as possible. If he sent another attack out at this point, Loki was almost certain to Teleport away. Teleporting while confused was risky, however, as the pokémon could well teleport himself out of the arena by accident and lose via ring out. It was worth a shot. All Clemont had to lose at this point was time.

'Stagger Thunderbolt,' the gym leader ordered. Each pair of Magneton's magnets then charged a beam of electricity and shot them out one after the other. Since they didn't combine the beams into one, each Thunderbolt was only at a third power, but they would serve well as testers, to force Helena to make a move.

If the first hit, then so would the others. If Loki avoided the first Thunderbolt, then Magneton would be able to readjust his second and third and attack when it was hardest for Loki to avoid damage. With any luck, Loki would hurl himself out of the arena and this stage of the battle would be done. If Loki teleported successfully, then he'd leave himself open to getting hit by Magneton's follow-up attacks. If he somehow avoided the second hit, then the third had every chance of hitting him.

All Clemont needed was to tag Loki once. Getting hit by an electric blast would stagger the psychic type just long enough for Magneton to hit him with a 'Metal Sound' wave, a horrible screech of metal that would dramatically reduce Loki's special defence. After that, any of Magneton's special attacks would be enough to take the Kadabra out.  

[Spinne Biss]

Loki disappeared in a flash of light, avoiding all three thunderbolts. Helena held his ball in her hand, looking down at the psychic type.

Okay. Helena looked out over to Clemont. She'd entered this battle confident, perhaps too confident. He was a good combatant, and it would be a lot harder to simply beat him than she was hoping for.

I'll take this more seriously.

Feather was her only other viable Pokemon. She couldn't take on a monster like Magneton, though. Their type difference, and Feather's move-set made it an impossible choice. She didn't even have Metric or Écarlate on her either, and she couldn't just send Loki back out into the fray.

Tyrant wasn't a choice. Helena told herself this, but as she looked over the battlefield, she began to consider how she could use him. How do you give a Pokemon orders, when they wont listen to you?

You instigate them. She could force Magneton out of the game temporarily using Tyrant. She just had to force him to roar.

However, when she reached for his ball, she hesitated. There was always a chance that doing this put Clemont and/or his Pokemon in danger. It took her a few seconds to build up the confidence that she was in control as long as she held his pokeball.

"Okay, it wont be so bad." She plucked the ball from her belt and looked inside of it. "I can tame you."

Helena released Tyrantrum into the arena. She aimed to arc his arrival right into Magneton's Magnet Bomb. It would go off, exploding right in his face. Tyrantrum landed angry and Roared.  

[Marsuru]

Lumiose City Gym - The Arena

Clemont admitted some surprise when he saw what Helena threw out next. His scanner told him the levels of her pokémon, but not what species they were. So this was her secret weapon. His scanner did tell him that she was unsure of her choice. It seemed her plan was simply to overwhelm him and hope for the best.

Magneton dissolved into light and retreated into its ball. It was still mostly fresh, and could be called out again once Clemont made his next choice. Not a big loss, though perhaps a poor counter to a Tyrantrum. The Roar simply saved him having to recall Magneton himself.

Whatever he chose now had to take Tyrant down. It was as simple as that.

So he made his choice, asking his robotic hands nicely. They brought a ball out of Clemont's backpack, passed it to his palm, and the gym leader lobbed it into the arena. His pokémon burst out, gliding through the air, its cute face wearing a serious look when it saw its opponent. Clemont's second pokémon was a level 50 Emolga.

And unless he moved, Tyrant would get Thundershocked by the electric terrain trap that Magneton had set up. The panels would invert a second later, so maybe it'd be better if he just stayed where he was and took it.

Route 4 - South of the Gate

'Aha! Now I hold the upper hand!' the gardener grinned. 'Ever since our last encounter, I have done nothing but train. I live and breathe with righteous fury! I battled in Ambrette and honed myself like a well trimmed hedge. Now you will meet your end!'

As if to demonstrate the point, the gardener's Crawdaunt snapped its claws viciously. Zack frowned.

'Wait. We've battled before?'
'Use Razor Shell!'
'Well okay.'

Crawdaunt rushed Malis, who doddered around on the spot, his scales shining with drunken sweat, beer bottle sloshing around in his claws. Then Crawdaunt shot past, swinging his claw with supreme power, aiming to cleave the Charmander across the chest and end the battle. But Malis staggered out of the way. Even inebriated, the fire type's dodge training shone through and he automatically avoided the other pokémon's attack. But it clipped the bottom of the bottle and knocked it back. The top slammed into the Charmander's mouth and he accidentally necked the whole thing.

The gardener didn't let up. Crawdaunt span on the spot, opened his claw and unleashed 'Bubblebeam!'

Forceful bubbles ploughed into the fire type's chest before he could move. They smashed him backward, toppling him over until he came to a stop on his tail end. Malis sat up, wincing. He was lucky that Crawdaunt didn't specialise in special moves, or that would've taken him out. He still had a mouthful of beer, and couldn't bring himself to spit it out.

Crawdaunt bore down with another 'Razor Shell!' just as Malis swallowed. His tail flame kept flickering, waving around as if it too were drunk. Then he burped. But he didn't just burp. The gas caught fire, unleashing a gargantuan blast of flame that swamped Crawdaunt. The hot flames blossomed around the water type's attack, throwing it out of line and letting Malis weave around it.

He flipped on his palm past his opponent, landed wrong and fell into a heap. Crawdaunt came out the other side of the fire looking confused. Malis picked himself up, hiccuping and burping out little jets of fire. His jaw nearly dropped off his face when he spotted what had become of his bottle. It lay on the floor, smashed to bits, the last dregs of beer bleeding onto the road.

The gardener was saying something, but he didn't hear. He breathed heavy, world swimming, Crawdaunt split into two hazy blurs. It came at him with another attack but it didn't matter. Malis's tail flame blazed ferociously, his Scary Face taking Crawdaunt by surprise. Just enough surprise for him to leap onto the water type and start ripping it apart.

Zack shook his head while the gardener cried in silent horror, mouth agape. The trainer shrugged. 'Guess we know what kind of drunk he is.'

The gardener shot Zack a dark look. He recalled Crawdaunt, and aimed an accusatory finger at Zack, as if blaming him for all that was wrong in the world. 'You really are,' he announced, 'a weed.' He pointed to Malis, who seemed perplexed after his opponent dissolved into light and vanished. 'And that little monster is... is...'
'Hey, I do remember you!' Zack grinned cheerfully. The gardener sniffed indignantly and strutted off. Zack watched him go. 'd**k.'

Malis staggered towards his trainer, mourning the loss off his bottle. Zack smiled. The little b*****d had no idea what was to come. 'At least you learned a new move there.'

The Charmander frowned, struggling with what Zack had said. Zack gestured to the scorch marks left after Malis burped fire.

'Flamethrower,' he said. Malis nodded with understanding, then slumped onto the floor.

A noise filtered from the Lumiose gate house, just as it had on the first day of the league. There, on a television screen in the corner, was the gym match currently playing out in Lumiose City Gym. Zack was mildly surprised to see Helena's name on there. He was more surprised to see the pokémon she was using.

'Oh christ,' he muttered, getting closer for a better look. 'Hope you know what you're doing, little sister.'  

[Spinne Biss]

So that's what they do. The electricity moved through Tyrant who looked down to identify the source. Then he raised one foot and slammed it down into the panel, setting off a wave of Earthquake. Unless the panels were made of some pretty powerful, earthquake resistant stuff, it was likely they'd all end up warped and possibly broken, or at least the one Tyrant stood on which took the direct, Earthquake causing force to its metaphorical face.

Tyrant's eyes fell upon Emolga, its tasty face staring back. Tyrantrum did what he did best - he charged.  

[Marsuru]

Luckily the panels were designed to function in a battle arena, so they were fine for the most part. The one Tyrant hit directly cracked, and began to spark with electricity. Clemont frowned.

'I hope you're not planning on breaking all of those,' he said, his voice coming through a small speaker on Helena's end of the arena so she could hear him, 'They're not cheap.'

Tyrant charged, and Emolga charged back. She was more experienced than Magneton, so Clemont didn't have to coach her in how to start a battle. She knew what she was doing. Emolga used Agility to boost her speed, gliding like a bullet. Tyrant was top heavy, so the first act should be to use that to their advantage.

'Electroweb,' the gym leader commanded. Emolga's cheeks sparked, sending out arcs of electricity that knitted into a net. Emolga aimed to swoop beneath Tyrant and between his legs, casting her net onto one foot and then the other, binding them together as she passed. It was a risky move, and only possible thanks to Agility. But if it succeeded, then Tyrantrum would be unable to stop his charge from tripping him up, and end up crashing onto the deck where he'd get shocked again by another panel. Also his speed would be down.

And with his diddy little arms, he'd have a hard time getting back up before Emolga could bombard him with Thunder attacks. Even if her special attack wasn't particularly high, a continued barrage would deal plenty of damage.  

[Spinne Biss]

Tyrant knew these tactics. He had learned them by process as they had been used to whittle him down. The webbed scar on his chest tingled at the frustration of it. Still, he knew the type. People who attacked without regard for how immediate the impact of failure could end their lives.

Emolga would fly into a trap. Unless she anticipated the hidden Stealth Rock that Tyrant put into play the moment Emolga charged him back, she'd be smacked off course the moment she got close. An act that would let Tyrant plant a Dragon Clawed foot on the entirety of her body if she, when and if she was hit, couldn't escape.

Helena replied to Clemont with a simple, "I don't remember anything in the rules saying I have to pay for that." She marked the issue in the 'not my problem' folder of her brain.  

[Marsuru]

'I'm fairly certain destruction of property is against the law. Or do you want me to come to your house and start breaking things?' Clemont grumbled, barely paying attention to the match.

Luckily, Emolga anticipated that her opponent might want to attack her as well, so she wasn't caught completely off guard by Tyrant's novel use of Stealth Rock. Her lightning reflexes coupled with Agility let her weave around the Stealth Rock, which went smashing into the arena floor. It cracked another panel, much to Clemont's annoyance.

But the rock was a distraction at least, so Emolga couldn't finish off her Electroweb because she was too busy avoiding the Dragon Claw that would've smashed into into bits. So sadly, all she managed was latching the net onto one of Tyrant's legs. It would slow him down but not trip him up.

Emolga span out as she turned around. Now on Helena's side of the arena, she flew backwards, holding out her wing-like membranes to slow down. Readying another burst of Agility, she shot up vertically, now several times more agile than her opponent, and arced overhead.

Once she was above Tyrant, the electric squirrel folded up her wings and dropped like a cute, fluffy rock. The plan was to drop in close to Tyrant and then spread her wings wide as she unleashed a Thunder Wave before speeding off to safety, leaving her opponent paralysed.  

[Spinne Biss]

"I'm not going to complain if I let us have a Pokemom battle in my home and a bunch of stuff gets broken. That's just common sense," Helena retorted. Unlike Clemont, her eyes were glued to the battle.

Tyrant brought a foot down onto another panel, breaking it into a series of rocky chunks that shot up after Emolga in the form of Ancient Power. As she got high up, ready for the next phase of her plan, Tyrantrum would strike the ground again, releasing a second wave of Ancient Powers with more chunks of the arena's floor.

Emolga's descent would be littered with this assault, until she abandoned her gambit in the wake of the flurry, tried to speed it up with a new addition of the tactic, or was struck by Tyrantrum's series of attacks. It was unlikely that even micro-movements would allow her to dodge every single Ancient Power, even with a double agility.  

[Marsuru]

Clemont stuck out his lip and frowned. That was the only battle Helena would win today.

Emolga smirked when she saw what Tyrant was trying to do. She twirled herself into a spin as she freefell. The first shard of Ancient Power would've speared her, but instead she flipped around it, caught the edge and planted her feet on its side, pulling it into her spin. Then she had it beneath her, levelling off and riding the shard like a surfboard through the air. Thanks to it being a reinforced material, it was able to weather the other shards that occasionally clipped it. Emolga's Agility let her weave around the bigger pieces while steadying herself with her wing.

Since Tyrant had ho plan in mind in case Emolga broke through its assault, it would take the Thunder Wave and become paralysed, while Emolga leapt off her shard board and took to the air under her own power. So far so good.

As she flew off, Emolga span around, and unleashed a Charge Beam. Unless he leapt to a safe panel, Tyrant would get hit by the blast. If he merely sidestepped onto the panel beside him, he'd be stepping onto a trap panel and receive yet another shock. If Charge Beam hit, then it had a good chance to raise Emolga's special attack. If Tyrant avoided or blocked the blast, then Emolga would try to rain a Thunder onto his head.  

[Spinne Biss]

Helena didn't plan on letting Tyrant win the match for her. In fact, she wasn't sure if he could. Still, it was nice to see some pointers from another person's perspective.

Her plan had an end result, as well. Tyrantrum's Roar was that point, and as he used it in response to Emolga's Thunder Wave, before she could follow up with her next move.

Unless Emolga had an ability that dealt with Roar, Magneton would be returning to the field. Helena would return Tyrant and release Loki in this scenario.

Then, Loki would open his return, his perceptions restored, with gaining control over the growth of his powers. The destruction of his psionic perceptions as he was confused had forced him to use methods of strength to try and regain control.

Now he planned, as Helena had planned, to use these methods to grow stronger.

Unless Magneton responded quickly to Loki, who stood on one broken and useless panel, he would use the first Calm Mind.