Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

Helena released Lilt so that she stood before her trainer. The two of them faced Viola from their side of the arena and Helena tried her best to keep her eyes on the match and her head in the game.

She felt the eyes of the audience as they bore into her and she grasped one hand in the other nervously. "Okay," she squeaked out as she pretended that nobody watched them from the stands where she herself had stood not ten minutes ago, "I'm ready."  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

"Hey there, Helena!" Viola said with a warm smile, "Is this your first gym battle? It's okay to be a little nervous but try to relax, okay?"

She glanced at Lilt and sized the pokémon up with an experienced eye. Reaching up towards the criss-crossing webs that spanned the pit, she plucked a pokéball from the tip of a strand of webbing. Several similar strands hung above her head, each containing a pokémon suitable for a different type of opponent. Gym leaders had to be prepared for any challenger.

"In case you hadn't noticed, this is a bug type gym," Viola grinned. "This match will be two on two, and we'll send out one pokémon at a time. I hope you're ready, Helena. I'm not going to go easy!"

With a swift throw of the pokéball, Viola summoned a fresh Surskit. The scoreboard buzzer sounded, and the match began.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

"Right," Helena said, mostly to herself, as Viola told her to relax.

Everything else was a drum of information. She knew it essentially, and the explanation only reminded her of being told the same thing over and over again. This person said it, or that article had written about it - she knew it all by heart.

So when Surskit materialized, Helena couldn't figure out why she hesitated at first. Surskit - she knew the Pokemon, the type, the ability and had a general idea of the moves it might have.

For a moment, she couldn't recall a single thing about the opponent's Pokemon, and the information came to her in fragments.

"Growl," she breathed on a breath she had held without noticing. Lilt did just that, in it's adorable-but-meant-to-intimidate-chirpish-growl. The beautiful voice of the species and the passion of it lived up to its pokedex.

If it worked, and Surskit felt the effects of growl, it would hopefully make the opponent easier to deal with once they closed the distance.  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

Viola lifted a hand slowly as she formulated an attack strategy, then whipped it in front of her.

She commanded her Surskit to move with a Quick Attack. Skirting across the gym floor on tiny stem-like feet, the skater pokémon sped towards Lilt but not directly at her.

The plan was to quickly rush past the flying type, unexpectedly fail to strike, then attack from behind with a "Bubble!"

If Helena was expecting the Quick Attack to make contact and became too flustered from the manoeuvre, it would give Surskit the opening it needed to hit with critical damage.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

Helena tensed up at the order and Surskit started it's attack plan. She had used growl to prepare Lilt for a physical confrontation, but the idea of one still scared her.

"Tackle!" she shouted through pressed teeth and a tense jaw and Lilt did just that. Surskit, who simply wanted to try and get past, would suddenly find itself faced with Lilt trying to crash into it with the tackle attack.  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

Surskit still had the benefit of distance and Quick Attack's speed. While Lilt would rush towards it, the bug type pokémon could easily circle around, barely breaking stride while skating across the arena in an arc.

Turning without losing a trace of momentum as Lilt missed its attack, Surskit followed through with Bubble, striking from behind as intended.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

The bubble attack crashed into Lilt as she flew through the air with the momentum of her tackle attack. The added force caused her to hit the ground hard and the tiny robin bounced once before she landed on her side, faced toward Surskit.

"Watch out for it!" Helena shouted. She had stood stunned while Lilt had flown through the air and hit the ground, had remained silent, still and scared until the Pokemon climbed up to her feet.*

((* I am completely aware of how long I emphasized that to be, if you wanna act within time frame.))

"Don't let it get near you and keep growling!" If she could avoid the bubble attack and force Surskit to come after her directly, she hoped to win that confrontation.  

[Marsuru]

((Nah, I would never take advantage of a cheap shot in a battle ninja ))

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

Surskit span around, gliding across the floor and performing little tricks of movement. Showboating to show off its confidence and please the crowd. When Lilt was back up, the bug type span back into a ready position opposite the flier.

It was growling again. The challenger must have thought that she could outlast a weak barrage of attacks, or be able to cripple Viola's first pokémon to make it easier on her reserve. Lilt was injured, and judging by its difficulty to stand back up, Viola decided that it was close to being finished off. But by now, Helena would be wise to more direct sneak attacks. She had to be kept guessing.

"Speed around it and trail Bubble!" Viola ordered. Surskit would then rush forward with Quick Attack, but retain a decent distance from the enemy pokémon. Instead of striking, this time it would move in a circle around Lilt while launching a Bubble attack.

The combination of high speed movement and an incoming wave of pressurised foam was intended to split Helena's attention, preventing her from preparing a good counter to the incoming "Quick Attack!"

If Bubble hit, it would be for reduced damaged because of being spread out. And if the second Quick Attack made contact, it wouldn't be nearly powerful enough to knock Lilt out. However, its intention was to knock the flying type off balance and open it up to a point-blank Bubble, a sharp burst of white froth that would most likely defeat the tiny bird pokémon.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

Helena was tense and conscious of the battle. The more she immersed herself in it, the less the eyes on her mattered. Still, she felt as if one wrong move meant Lilt would faint. Her heart hammered in terror and relief from Lilt getting up the first time.

Viola made her move and Helena called out, "watch out!"

Surskit's attack tugged at whatever hope Helena had, whatever kept her in the match and away from a forfeit. That is, until Viola gave the new order. Helena tensed up more as she thought of a way to deal with Viola's combo.

She waited, until Surskit was too close to dodge around it, and then she called out "tackle it!"

In a physical confrontation Lilt was bound to win at this point. She only needed to actually confront Surskit and, if the little Fletchling landed the attack as it stepped into Surskit and aimed to slam it backward, it would hopefully put Surskit into the thick of its own bubble attack.  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

"Careful!" Viola called out as Helena made her command. The scenario was similar to their first encounter, and so was the challenger's response. Viola allowed herself a smile.

Surskit couldn't change direction at this point, true, so she didn't. Instead, she extended her legs to their limit, which made her body drop to just above the floor right as Lilt attempted a tackle.

The flying type would then miss, soaring over a target that had vanished in an instant. As Lilt went over her, Surskit span on the spot, now sliding backwards, and launched another "Bubble!" right at the flier's underside. With any luck, it would put Lilt out of the battle.

Already weakened by being spread out, the earlier Bubble was almost harmless by this point. Plenty of it still floated in the air, occasionally catching the light or popping when it touched a surface.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

Lilt hit the ground from this second attack. What happened after Surskit launched its final attack until this moment came back to Helena slowly. She had seen and taken in all of its, but it was only after the whole thing was over that Helena processed it.

Lilt had cried out when the attack hit, and every fraction of a second prior to that crushed, frustrated and humiliated Helena.

Her head swam, dizzy and light, as the first round of the match came to an end. Shaky and tense, face bright red in contrast to the bookworms light complexion. She recalled Lilt and grabbed her Flabébé's ball.

Helena recalled TK's words - he had basically told her to watch out for the way Viola orchestrated matches. Against TK she had tried to dance him around a field of infestation and powders - in her own match she had constantly exposed her and defeated her.

"I'm ready to continue," Helena said, voice shaky. She had no idea how she was going to win, but she knew that she couldn't give up now.

Flabébé materialized before Helena as she pressed the button on the pokeball and Helena gave the order, "stay ready to dodge."  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

"That was a good round, Helena!" Viola said, grinning.

She recalled Surskit as Helena brought out Flabébé, nullifying the effects of Lilt's growls. On the scoreboard, it showed that she still had her two pokémon, while the picture of a Fletchling next to Helena's face had been greyed out.

"I hope you're ready for this!" Viola said as she plucked a new ball from a strand of webbing and threw it into the arena. A Vivillon materalised from the flash of white, spreading its giant pink wings with a stretch, then taking flight. Vivillon flew in a short spiral, then settled in place, gently flapping its wings and bobbing up and down. The buzzer sounded again, and round 2 began.

"Now!" Viola didn't let Helena get the first move this time, "Use Light Screen!"

Vivillon flapped hard and generated a wall of glittering light that hung on the air about a foot in front of her. It only protected from attacks in a single direction, but she could freely move it around, and special moves that struck the shield would be dampened.  

[Spinne Biss]

Santalune City - Pokemon Gym

"Fairy Wind," Helena said and Flabébé complied. The blast of enchanted wind would push toward Vivillon. Dampened, it would do virtually nothing to the enemy Pokemon, but otherwise it was a solid move to use if Helena intended to wear her opponent down slowly.

She had Flabébé stay near her for now as she did not want to get caught in another of Viola's strategies.  

[Zamaku]

Santalune City - Streets

Takamaru wished he could stay and watch Helena's match, but his Pokemon where injured, and the nagging voice in the back of his head drove him to forgo the match in favor of a trip to the Pokemon Center.

After a brief "Good Luck!" as Helena disappeared behind the Gyms doors, TK made for the Center on his skates. The night air cool against his face as he made his way to the center, completely unaware of the events taking place in Lumios City.

The chime sounded as the glass sliding doors parted to admit the silver haired youth to the center. He was distracted, his attention on the screen of his Pokedex as he looked over relevant data from the day. This being the reason the youth was caught of guard as he was yanked to the side, into a wall of what felt like, fluff.

"Oh here he is! tell them, tell them how close we are Takashi! go on, tell the people!" came a sharp shrilling voice that TK vaguely recalled. It wasn't until he freed himself from her grasp and got a look at his captor that he learned it was the large plump lady with Sea green short cut hair from hours prior.

The same one that bumped into him and attempted to slap him in his first visit to the Santalune Pokemon center, throwing around words like 'Cur' and 'Mongrel' all the while.

"W-What? what are you talking about!?" the steel type trainer stammered. aptly confused as to what exactly was happening. He could not for the life of him, figure out why this woman who pretty much spat venom at him hours ago, was acting like they were anything close to resembling friends.

"Oh don't be so coy, Takashi. Isn't he just a gem, I swear i could just eat him up!" she laughed, in her cackling over sweetly sounding voice. "Why, i Saw how you battled in your gym match, oh it was just Si manufigue!" The woman gushed, He accent heavy at the end.

That clicked. Something Helena said a few moments ago coming back to him 'So, any advice I can get for the gym from the famous Takamaru Takamaru Takashi?' The famous part sticking out more so.

"Er, N-no sorry, I Need to go..." he trailed off, wandering off towards the Counter. Some where behind him he heard the Woman, whose name was still not known, giving him an excuse about being tired from his gym match, or something along those lines. Most likely attempting to explain his less the co-operative behavior in glorifying her reputation of who she rubed elbows with.

His patience for the uppity Kalos people slowly dimming. Not even his high from winning the gym match could keep him from inwardly groaning as he seen the same nurse at the counter that's been giving him grief all day.

But as it would seem, winning a single gym match made you high profile this early in the game, cause the nurse as well was singing a while other tune. instead of the usual glare and mumbled insult, she was as pleasant as could be. All Smiles and warm small talk as she healed his Pokemon, acting like she didn't just write him off as some commoner to be despised for dirtying her Pokemon Center.

"Excuse me," The silver haired trainer prompted polity, "Is is possible you have any rooms available still?" he didn't expect there to be, he should have gotten a trainer room at the center earlier, but having forgotten he was prepared to camp somewhere on Parterre Way.

So it was pleasantly surprising when the nurse returned with the news that they did, in fact, have a room available for him for the night. After Takamaru climbed the single flight of stairs and was walking down the hall to his room, he passed another, rather frazzled looking trainer, who was mumbling something along the lines of, "What am i supposed to do now...Take my room, unbelievable!"

Takamaru, who was still trying, failing, to wrap his head around the complete 180 peoples personalities could change so fast, that he didn't make the connection between the upset trainer and his magically available room.

The room itself was nothing special itself, standard trainer accommodations. A twin bed, a bathroom, a desk with a PC, a television, a small balcony behind a sliding glass door.

"One down," he sighed to himself, a small smile forming on his lips as he let his head rest against the now closed door. Pushing his thoughts about the nurse and the sea green haired lady aside, he walked over to the PC, un-clipping and setting his sling pack down on the desk. It was still way too early to crash for the night, so he figured a call home wouldn't hurt.  

[Marsuru]

Santalune City - Pokémon Gym

From this range, Vivillon had more than enough time to react to the incoming Fairy Wind. She soared above it, then offered a "Gust!" to damage the attack's momentum, forging a squall of entangled wind attacks. Flying overhead, Vivillon began to close the distance on her target.

While Vivillon was still some way away, neither it nor Flabébé would have such ease in avoiding one another's strikes as before. Viola began her command, "Infest--", then reconsidered. With a smile, she said, "Struggle Bug!"

With a spurt of speed, Vivillon arced in the air then shot down. Turning up a second before hitting the floor, the bug type flew just above it, circling the new opponent. She beat her wings, releasing half a dozen beads of trailing light, which looked like miniature green Gastly. If any one of the Struggle Bug beads hit their mark, then they would bite into Flabébé and lower her Special Attack while dealing modest damage.

If things went according to plan, then Viola would have her pokémon follow up with a torrent of Gusts.