Individual RP: Lovecraft [Deckbi]

@Lovecraft; Just let me know when you want to use that repellent. Also, you have to choose one ability for Nidoqueen.

NBP#1

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The snow was thick and heavy as Ivy shoveled the Mount Oktori outpost walk clear. It had snowed overnight again, which wasn’t uncommon at all, but the snow was usually a fluffy, white mix—not the wet, sticky kind she was removing from the around the door. The temperature must’ve risen a little, and the Ranger hoped the Pokemon on the mountain weren’t seeing any adverse effects.

She was feeling a little warm herself, even in just her black turtle neck and long canvas vest. Her coat was already abandoned on the bench along the wall. Haji, her Espeon, was curled up on it, silently watching her work. Ivy brushed long, red hair from her forehead, matted with sweat.

“You know, if you helped out, this could’ve been done already,” she said.

In response, she felt amusement brush across the mental link they shared. Haji stayed put and swished his tail. Shaking her head, she got back to forming a proper walkway for people visiting the outpost. When she was sprinkling salt to melt the last of the icy patches that wouldn’t be picked up, the swishing of wings caught her attention.

Ivy stopped as a Pidgeot flew in, bearing another Ranger. She put her gloves in a pocket as a young man with dark-dark hair and tanned skin slid off the large bird and stroked under its chin. He recalled the Pokemon with a smile and walked over to her.

“Andre,” she greeted, holding out a hand to shake.

Instead, he grabbed the hand and brought it to his lips to kiss the top of it. He had been hanging out with Leo too much. “Always a pleasure, miss Frost,” he greeted in a smooth accent.

Additionally, like Leo, his flashy greeting signaled that he wanted something. Ivy arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms once he returned her hand. “Alright, what happened?”

Andre looked startled for a second, and then his eyes crinkled as he laughed. He shook his head, still bearing his grin. “I told Leo you would not fall for it. This came in this morning,” he said, pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it over.

A snowflake landed on it as she read, discovering it was one of the reports from the research office. Ivy let out a low whistle. “Those temps are really high for this time of year,” she commented. The data sheet was from Deckbi, recording daily average temperatures. Over the course of the week, they had steadily increased to beyond-normal ranges.

“Lulu thought you might be interested,” Andre said, nodding toward the slip. If Ivy remembered, he was dating the scientist.

She nodded, reading the numbers one more time. Her stomach tried to wobble, but she steeled it. Worst case scenario meant that the volcano was going to be active very, very soon. Of course, it could just be some fluke weather pattern or even outside interference—the latter being her main motivation for checking it out. She did not tolerate poachers in her Park.

Haji jumped down from the bench and joined her, looking up at her expectantly. Then, both she and Andre’s phone buzzed. They both automatically reached for it. It was a Trainer wanting to go on a run… in Deckbi.

“I got it,” she said, raising her eyebrow at Haji. She didn’t really know the range of his abilities. He claimed they were affected by range, but his pleased look made her suspicious. They were about as far from the main outpost as it got.

She handed Andre her salt bucket. “Clean up for me, will you? We’ve got work to do. Tell Lulu to keep me posted in case the volcano is going to blow up or something—and I’ll check for a cause we can actually do something about.”

The other Ranger just smiled and waved at her, trudging back toward the outpost. Ivy dipped down to be at Haji’s level, finding that it was sometimes easier to teleport if she was lower to the ground. One second, and then there was nothing at all. Before she could even think about it, it was over, and they were in the stifling heat surrounding the fiery mountain.

When she stood up, she grimaced. The collar of her shirt clung to her skin, and she already felt weighed down by the oppressive temperatures.

“This is awful,” she said, pulling her clothes away from her skin so it could breathe.

Haji didn’t seem to mind so much. He found the nearest rock and curled up, much like a cat, to soak up the sun rays. Amusement trickled into her mind.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, sitting down by the rock to wait for the Trainer to arrive.

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 15
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 0

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Poison Point, Rivalry, Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines; ((Oh sorry, Sheer Force please))

The first thing to do was to decide who to take. Which wasn’t as hard as it could have been, Annan knew I didn’t have many mons, but still, choosing the right Pokemon was important. They were all my babies and they were all awesome but some are just so used to battling that I wouldn’t exactly trust them for a capture.

As I stood in front of my bed, watching my Pokeballs, I remembered I was going to Mount Deckbi, I decided on Rhyperior, my trusty Swampert and one of my favorite Pokemon (shame we couldn’t bring Megastones into the park) since water types would probably be able to handle the mons better (as well as help us beat the heat) and Tranquill my lovely Nidoqueen, since she gets a lot of coverage.

Happy with my choices I changed from my casual homewear (a T-Shirt, a jacket and some jeans) to a more outdoorsy outfit, a white wifebeater and a pair of cargo shorts, I didn’t particularly care for the look but it was much better suited for the heat. And with that, I picked up my stuff and started on my way to the park.

- - - - - -

To get to the park itself, it was a nice shuttle travel although I couldn’t say I cared much about the Abra travel, as I stumbled throughout the rocky plain that the mountain oversaw, my face a bit green, I saw a lady sitting by a pink cat.

“Hey!” I shouted at her general direction, “Are you the ranger?”

 

@Lovecraft;

NBP#2

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

It wasn’t long before Haji stirred—he was usually her indicator if someone was coming. As he rose to stretch like a feline, Ivy got up. That’s when she saw a young man approaching.

“Hey!” he yelled. “Are you the Ranger?”

Ivy brushed off her vest and grimaced at the way it stuck to her skin before turning to him and waving him over. She took in his garb and nodded in approval. At least he had dressed for a stifling day in a tank top and shorts. His short, shaggy hair would likely not trouble him either.

“I’m Ivy,” she told him, holding out a hand to shake. “I hope you’re ready for a heat wave. You picked an interesting time to travel.”

She motioned him to follow her as she started up the path to the mountain, explaining as she went. “Here’s the deal—the mountain temperatures are a little higher than normal. Don’t worry, it’s probably not the volcano ready to blow—not yet, anyway. As we find Pokemon, I’d ideally like to head toward the mountain center to get a look at it if that’s okay with you.”

They weren’t exactly sure what was causing the rising temperatures. It could just be a lot of Pokemon activity, but she sort of doubted that. If it were poachers or some sort of intruder, she didn’t really like having a Trainer along, for safety reasons, but they couldn’t halt business either.

The path was gentle as they approached the base of the mountain, with gentle slopes that would get sharper and more dangerous as they rose in altitude. It was still calm enough down here that there were patches of dry grasses in a gray-green color—sometimes rough terrain Pokemon grazed here.

“In theory, we can get to the center one of two ways—climb up the outside or snake through the middle. That’ll be completely up to you,” Ivy told the Trainer.

Suddenly, before she could ask him his answer, there was a slight rumble underfoot. The Ranger put a hand up to stop them and looked down at Haji. The purple cat wasn’t sending out any warning signs, so it probably wasn’t dangerous.

“Do you feel that?” she asked the Trainer.

---

Current Encounter Stats: N/A

Effects: Something underfoot.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 15
Pokemon Encountered: None
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 1,345

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines;

As I approached the ranger, I noticed a bit of discomfort on her part – the sun was scorching and her outfit was less ideal, which left me to wonder, why did she dress like that?
As she waved me over, she began introducing herself, “I’m Ivy”, she said while she shook my hand she continued talking “I hope you’re ready for a heat wave. You picked an interesting time to travel.”

She explained that it was a bit hotter than usual – which explained her situation, I guess, it probably was fine for normal situations – she said she’d like to go towards the center of the mountain to investigate; which was fine by me, a tour was always nice.

When offered two ways to get to the center, I started to reply there was a slight rumble on the floor, after the ranger seemed to check out if it was safe or not, she asked me if I felt something.

“I guess?” I said, a bit unsure “I mean, given there are a lot of Pokemon here that like the underground I was kinda expecting quakes of some kind. And oh, can we go through the middle? Some of the Pokemon I’m looking the most to see will probably like the caves better.”

Before I could hear her answer I started rummaging through my backpack, until I found a Disc Player and a CD, “I think this is a Gligar disk, can we play this?”

 

@Lovecraft;

NBP#3

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Ivy could see right away that the Trainer didn’t get exactly what she meant—her fault, really. She was used to working with other Rangers or her Pokemon who were usually in the same line of thinking that she was.

The woman thought for a second that maybe she had just imagined the rumbling, especially when the Trainer seemed unsure to agree. A little movement on the mountain wasn’t super unnatural. But then she felt it again—a smooth rolling underneath the ground, barely felt against the sole of her foot.

The Trainer was ruffling through his pack, so he didn’t feel it, but now Ivy was sure something was there. He confirmed that he wanted to go through the caves of the mountain because of the Pokemon he was looking for, and then he pulled out a shiny disk. She recognized it as a voice disk, recorded right from their shop.

“I think this is a Gligar disk. Can we play this?”

Ivy nodded at him but then closed her eyes, holding up a hand for a moment’s pause. As soon as she did, she could feel the motion under the earth more easily.

It was circling around, but then crossed so it was between them. The ground beneath her suddenly became soft, and she stepped to the side. Predicting the trajectory, she said to the Trainer, “Watch your step.”

Before Harry could become a victim of pitfalls, he quickly moved to the right. Seconds later, a small, brown mole popped out, sending dirt flying. Now that she was watching, she could see the nearly-invisible trail of semi-sunken earth where the Diglett had traveled.

“Diglett!” it called boldly, and then it sunk down so it was peering over the lip of the pit with its pink nose sticking out.

“Thought I felt something,” Ivy said, nodding toward the little Ground-type. “You can play your disk at any time—but you’ll have to deal with this one too. Playing the disk might scare it away or cause it to attack. Sometimes the wild ones don’t get along with each other.”

The mole Pokemon looked pleasant enough, but that could be deceiving. Diglett were fairly common on the mountain—moreso on the grounds here, before the rocks became thick and durable. They probably wouldn’t see many on the inside of it, although she’d seen it happen. If the Trainer wanted one of these, now was probably his best chance.

But that wasn’t up to Ivy. All she could do was wait until he made up his mind.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Diglett: 100%

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 14
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 2,619/4,000 [Common Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines;

"Watch your step" said the ranger, alerting me of the ground movement. I jumped back as I started to feel the ground soften up and start to give.

Soon a little brown mole pokes out of the ground, boldly showing itself before sinking again.

"I thought I felt something" said the lady, before she began to tell me my options.

After some moment of deliberation I settled on fleeing, "While I like Dugtrio and would love to play with Diglett over here, we're running on a schedule and I have a deal with a friend for a Dugtrio already." As I pushed the play on the disk player - after all bats and moles probably didn't interact much - I addressed the little Pokemon "Maybe some other time little guy."

And to the ranger, "Feel free to use a doll if needed and I'll pay for it."

 

@Lovecraft; Doll used. You can subtract money from stats in your next post.

NBP#4

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Harry decided that Diglett wasn’t on his list today: he didn’t want to be here all day either, and if something was wrong with the mountain, the trip might be cut short.

The Trainer shook his head and pressed play on his disk device—the call of a Gligar rang out across the plains. It would play for a certain amount of time, and hopefully, if all went well, the target Pokemon would be attracted to the noise on the player. Ivy had to give props to the people in R&D—at one time, the disks had gotten too scratched to use more than once. Now they could be reused or even rewritten over.

“Maybe some other time, little guy,” Harry told the small mole Pokemon.

Unfortunately, as soon as the group tried to leave the area, the Diglett made a sound of protest and sunk down into the ground, wasting no time in following. The wild Pokemon swung around them and veered out in front again, making them stop as it popped out of the ground once again.

Ivy frowned. “That’s not very nice,” she told the Pokemon, but the Diglett was undeterred. When they tried to press forward, it did the same thing.

The Ranger puffed air up so her hair flopped a little. Harry offered to use a Pokedoll and she nodded. “It’s probably for the best. It’d be too easy to twist an ankle or something if it keeps doing that.”

With the Trainer’s permission, Ivy unzipped a pocket and pulled out a Pokedoll—the only item the Ranger was allowed to supply. It was in the classic Clefairy shape because Ivy hadn’t restocked in a while. The newer crates had all sorts of Pokemon forms.

The Ranger pulled the string and inflated the toy, tossing it down to the Diglett. Like magic, the wild Pokemon took one look at the doll and burrowed underneath it, lowering the plush down into the ground and out of sight. Then, it was quiet. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how the things worked, but she was glad they did.

Next they traveled up to the mountain proper. The dry grasses died away and the path became rockier as chunks of earth were upheaved and strewn about. Soon enough, they reached the split in the road—one way took them in a manageable slope over the top, and the other was where they were headed, into the mountain caves.

The entryway was dark, and it sloped downward. A lot of the paths inside did that—some of them slid to really deep areas where strong Pokemon dwelled. Ivy could see that there were other caves making holes in the mountainside, but most of them were too high to reach and had no shelves or anything to support them. They weren’t for people.

Ivy motioned toward the cave but then stopped. A fluttering a wings drew her attention above. When she looked, a small scorpion-like bat was peering over one of the edges in the high cave paths. It had two tiny fangs and a tongue that peeked out. The Gligar didn’t look too keen on moving, but at least it had come. It was always nice to see the voice disks working.

“Well, looks like your disk worked right away this time. Good thing too—I’ve seen people come in with three disks and not see any of them.”

She didn’t doubt that the Trainer was going to battle, but it would be tricky to pry the Gligar from its hiding spot if it didn’t really want to move.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? ??? Gligar: 100% [Up in caves]

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 0/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines;
1850 - 500 = 1350


As soon as we started to move on the Diglett started to protest and quickly dug down, only to resurface in front of us attempting to block our path. While we could have simply hopped above it and continued on our path it’d probably only make it madder at us and start attacking – or even just keep moving around, making the ground softer and a bit of hazard.

As the ranger started to scold the mole Pokemon I saw it was determined to play around so I just offered to get it a Pokedoll so we could move on, it’s not like they were too expensive and if the Pokemon were happy it’d all work for the best in the end.

Soon, Miss Frost pulled a little Clefairy shaped doll out of her Pokemon, much like the one you see small children carry around to play some time, but I guess the ranger ones was a bit different because I had never seen an inflatable model before, or a model a Pokemon liked so much, usually it took a few minutes or so before they got close to a PokeDoll and carried them away – which was understandable, I wouldn’t be too trusting of something a random person randomly gave to me.

While we walked toward the mountain I pondered if there was an underground haven filled with stray Pokeballs, pokemon plushies, and other items trainers left or lost in the park, and the thought of little Pokemon staging tantrums and annoyance to get more of those was certainly amusing; and distracting; as I almost tripped at least three times when the ground stopped being smooth and grassy – even if it was dry and cracking – to a chunky, rocky terrain. Eventually we reached a fork on the road, one side kept going straight into the heart of the mountain – the path I chose – and the other was probably the road that circled the mountains toward the mountaintops. While it didn’t seem to have a steep slope, walking up in the heat probably wouldn’t be very pleasant but on the other hand, the higher you went the cooler it became so going up might be better than walking into the center of a volcano.

My mental ramblings were interrupted by the nice ranger, “Well, looks like your disk worked right away this time. Good thing too—I’ve seen people come in with three disks and not see any of them.”.

I stopped, a bit dazed and directed my line of sight to the spot she was looking and saw it. Kinda. The small bat was well out of reach in a small alcove in the ceiling. “Ooh, nice.” I said as soon as I saw it, but that raised another problem: “How to get around to weakening it?”

I couldn’t send Rhyperior since it didn’t have many long-range attacks, and I would trust those or any of his flashier moves to get Gligar out of his hideout. Tranquill would probably be the best choice but she was a bit too strong to deal with most of these mons.

“Go Tranquil” I said, as I released the Nidoqueen with a smile, “Use a weak Body Slam on the wall to shake Gligar off its hiding place and a Captivate to hold its attention!”

 

@Lovecraft;

BP#1

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer took a moment to analyze the situation—he was going to have to dislodge the Gligar from its post without destroying the mountain. Rangers took preservation of the environment pretty seriously. Ivy remembered the idiot Gym Leader who tried to break Oktori and grinned at the memory of writing him up and the scathing lecture.

Eventually, Harry called out a Pokmeon. “Go, Tranquil,” he called, and threw the capture device down. There was a flash of bright light, but it wasn’t a bird Pokemon that appeared.

Instead, it was a large dinosaur-like Pokemon with blue armor plates: a Nidoqueen. Ivy shook her head. She saw this Trainer went to the same school of Pokemon naming that another Trainer she had escorted through did. He had been looking for a Staryu and had named all of his partners after a different Pokemon species.

The Trainer looked at the mountain again and then gave his instruction, telling his Pokemon to use Body Slam on the rock face to shake the Gligar off and then getting its attention with Captivate.

The Gligar seemed wary but not panicky as it watched from its perch. Ivy was never certain how much wild Pokemon understood—some seemed to be able to understand speech just fine, while others were a little clueless until they were captured and worked with a Trainer. She couldn’t tell quite yet which one the Gligar was.

The Nidoqueen moved up to the cliff and thought for a moment. Her Trainer said not to hit too hard, as that would be dangerous, but a weak push wouldn’t move the Gligar either. In the end, she took a sturdy stance and then knocked her shoulder into it. It was a decent force, but it wasn’t her entire body being flung at the wall either.

Still, Nidoqueen was a powerful Pokemon, so Ivy felt the ground shake as she rammed into the mountain face. The Gligar felt it too.

Letting out a loud screech, the Flying-type fell out of the tunnel it had hunkered down in, tumbling. The screeching made Ivy wince, and it seemed to bother Tranquil too, who made a face and shook her head, flinching for a second. In that time, a couple rocks and sand dislodged from the mountain and came falling down—not enough to cause any serious danger, but they were headed toward the Pokemon.

The Gligar flapped its wings hard to get air under them, making sure it stayed airborne and didn’t fall flat onto the ground. A particularly hard gust kicked up even more dust—and flung it right at Nidoqueen, who was below.

The dust caught in her face and she made a sound of discomfort, shaking her head violently as the dirt messed up her senses. If it had gotten in her eyes, it may take a little bit for it to fall out, which could impair her vision. That would make her next instruction harder to do.

The Flying-type then called out again as a rock clipped it in the wing, sending the bat spiraling through the air. This time, it did hit the ground with a solid thunk before shaking itself off. A cry from Nidoqueen said that a rock had fallen on top of her, too.

She was quicker to shake the jolt off, however, brushing off the damage in order to focus. She had to get the Gligar’s attention and keep it.

The bat eventually pushed itself up and took to the sky again, veering almost drunkenly at first until it shook off the effects of hitting the ground. It flew above their heads until if finally turned around and took a look at its opponent.

By that time, Tranquil was ready. As soon as the Gligar looked at, she began making a soft noise and waving her arms, almost like a “Yoohoo!”

The Nidoqueen successfully got the bat’s attention as soon as she did, since it turned toward her and seemed to hover in midair—stuck on what to do next. The Poison-type wasn’t going to be able to keep that grasp forever, though, and if she did something else, the spell would probably be broken. If Harry had another step to his plan, it would probably have to be fast or else the Gligar was going to react.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 95% [Used Screech and Sand-Attack][Attention on Nidoqueen]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 95% [Acc-1][Used Body Slam and Captivate]

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 2,929/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 95%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines;

After I finished giving the commands to Nidoqueen I noticed the Gligar looking at warily; I didn’t particularly care for his state of awareness but then again I was gonna get it after the turn was over anyways. I just hoped the brush at the wall wouldn’t piss the wildlife off too much, after all the last thing I wanted was to have the battle cut short due to angry cave dwellers.

Tranquil waddled up the cliff, in a pensive way, before taking a sturdy chance some feet or so apart from the wall, to get some speed before knocking her shoulder into the wall; giving the whole mountain a mighty shake and promptly causing Gligar to go on a psychotic tumble while screaming and shrieking loud enough to make me and the ranger wince.

In an effort to not fall flat on its face, Gligar started to flap its wings hard to maintain flight, which caused some dirt to rise up and fly around – hitting Nidoqueen’s eye straight on its face, harming its accuracy for some time. I briefly wondered if it was an accident or if Gligar had done it by accident but considering the way it was falling it probably was just a bonus to avoiding the fall. Unfortunately, it made Nidoqueen fidget and accidentally dislodged a small rock at Gligar and herself, clipping his wing and making both of them yelp in pain.

After both of them got a chance to compose themselves, Nidoqueen started to wave her arms around like she just didn’t care and making soft noises at Gligar, making him focus hard on her. “Great, Tranquil! You got him right where we want him!” I yelled with a smile at Nidoqueen.

I couldn’t take too long to think or Gligar would get away though, as I looked back mentally at the moves Tranquil had I decided to try a more unorthodox strategy “Tranquill, try to use Flatter to calm him down and then try to use a Tail Whip.”

 

@Lovecraft; Sorry for the wait!

BP#2

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Gligar was still watching the Nidoqueen very carefully, transfixed on the Poison-type’s motions. The large Pokemon kept it up until her Trainer shouted out another command.

“Tranquill, try to use Flatter to calm him down and then try to use a Tail Whip,” Harry said.

The Flying-type had seemed pretty calm to Ivy, but there was always a chance that the Nidoqueen could accidentally startle it. Right away, Tranquill (and Ivy still mentally shook her head at the name) stopped waving her arms around wildly and started to clap. She made other noises too, sort of like “ooohh” or “aaahhh” as well, almost like they were compliments.

At first, it worked. Gligar was drawn closer to the Poison-type, hovering nearer subconsciously as its attention was focused on the Trainer’s Pokemon. Then, the Nidoqueen tried to fulfill the Trainer’s second move.

She turned her body slightly and began to wag her tail. Ivy blinked. So did Gligar.

Then, the Flying-type saw what the duo was doing—trying to lower his awareness and make him susceptible to attack. With a screech, the Gligar darted forward.

At first, Ivy thought it was going to bite the Poison-type, but at the last second, the little bat tilted his wings and veered to the side. Using its claw-like hands, it swung toward Tranquill’s face. With quick reflexes, the Nidoqueen threw her arm up to protect her head, and thankfully migitated most of the damage. The entire action had seemed like a way of Gligar telling her to “knock it off.”

Thanks to the lowered momentum, the Gligar was left hovering in front of Tranquil. Quickly, he flipped his body. With a whoosh of force, the Gligar knocked the Nidoqueen in the chest using his feet and used her as a springboard, pushing back into the air to gain flight once again.

The dinosaur-like Pokemon grunted as she was pushed back, but she kept her feet. Tail Whip, unfortunately, didn’t work well at far range or if the user didn’t have much of a tail to use it with.

The Gligar peered down from his airborne position. Harry’s plan had almost worked save for that last bit. Still, at least Tranquill wasn’t that damaged. He would need to think of some other way to hit the Gligar, though. A way that hopefully didn’t involve offending the Flying-type again. Ivy knew he was capable of much worse than a tap.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 95% [Used Knock Off and U-turn][Above them]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 90% [Acc-1][Used Flatter and Tail Whip]

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 4,750/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 90%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines; Sorry for delay.

Nidoqueen started to clap along while softly making noises to hold Gligar’s attention, drawing it closer and closer to her … until she started the Tail Whip.

This tipped him off the plan and just had him screech loudly and tell us to knock it off. He was pissed and doing moves like this again would only foul his mood even more. While I frantically tried to think of alternatives he just plain attacked us again with a quick bout of force and flying back to his original position in a quick, fluid movement.

Now we had an angry, wary Gligar who’d be much much more pissed off we used a vast majority of our arsenal. I started to panic - this was getting to be a bit hopeless and we’d probably need to just get a doll and runaway and try again later.

Until I remembered anger could be used for my benefit – angry Pokemon can be scary but angry Pokemon usually are too wild in movement and end up focusing less on their defenses in favor of an all out attack.

“Tranquill,” I called out to my blue dinosaur “great work so far!” I said, as I knew the cheerier she felt the better she’d perform.

“So here’s what we’re gonna do now,” I continued “if he’s aggressive, so will us. Show off a mighty growl to let him know we’re past the point of playing. After that make some Toxic Spikes and throw them on him. We could use the whittling down.”

 

@Lovecraft;

BP#3

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Trainer had a fleeting disheartened look on his face, but thankfully, that disappeared quickly as he decided to stick it out. The Park was mostly about persistence, Ivy thought. Most Trainers successfully captured what they targeted, so long as they weren’t being jerks.

The Gligar was pretty upset at how Tranquill had tried to dupe him. It was seen in the semi-erratic shaking of his body as his wings jittered. That could work in the Trainer’s favor if he used it right. The Nidoqueen had seemed to wilt a little at the Flying-type’s reaction too. Pokemon like her tended to hate upsetting others, and that might affect her performance.

Thankfully, the Trainer noticed and tried to perk her up. “Tranquill,” he called. “Great work so far!” At this, her ears twitched and a smile reappeared on her face. When her Trainer asked her to use Growl to show their defiance, she took it in stride, maybe like it was a game.

Harry thought for a moment and then added, “After that make some Toxic Spikes and throw them on him. We could use the whittling down.”

The dinosaur-like Pokemon steadied her stance and growled at the Gligar, waving her arms threateningly, although Ivy suspected it was an act of sorts. In response, the flier could only pull a face and make threatening noises back. He even darted forward in a sort of feinting move in an attempt to scare the Nidoqueen. Competition was often strong in wild Pokemon, especially ones who angered easily.

Because the Gligar was so caught up in trying to intimidate Tranquill, he didn’t seem to notice what she was doing. As subtly as she could, the Nidoqueen chewed up the ground with her feet. It loosened the dirt enough for her to grab and sort of mold—that was difficult because the ground was so dry.

Then, her upper body twitched a little. The next Ivy saw, a slimy purple substance leaked out of the Ground-type’s mouth like slimy drool. She used it to coat the ground pieces and make them poisonous while the Gligar was still distracted. They weren’t super sharp, since the ground was so hard to manipulate, but they would do.

The Flying-type was still jeering at the Nidoqueen when she sent the first poison ball flying his way. With a snap, it hit him in the lower jaw, throwing his body backward in the air. Immediately, he let out a screech and spit, shaking his head to clear it from the toxins. That allowed the next toxic projectile to hit him in the stomach.

Angrily, he whipped his body into a cartwheel and spun toward Tranquill in a rapid twirl. Not able to still attack, the rest of the toxic orbs were abandoned on the ground as she had to react. Despite her large frame, the Nidoqueen tried to step aside, and for the most part, it worked. The Gligar came sailing past, only clipping her shoulder as she let out a grunt.

The Flying-type arced back up into the air, but Ivy noticed that his path was a little wobbly. When he stopped, he kept shaking his head and listing to one side or the other.

“I think he’s poisoned,” Ivy offered, pointing out how the Gligar wasn’t flying quite right.

That would help them out in the long run, as the toxins would continually drain the bat’s strength. However, the battle couldn’t go on forever, or else the poison would eventually knock the Gligar out and prevent his capture.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 70% [PSN][Atk-1][Used Acrobatics]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 81% [Acc-1][Used Growl and Toxic Spikes]

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 6,094/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 81%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

@WinterVines; Sorry for delay

The blue dinosaur shifted slightly in place and growled at the bat, trying to make itself look more threatening but it was mostly an act. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tranquill be anything less than gentle or civil with another Pokemon. Obviously not pleased with the growling, the Batman pet reject (apparently he only liked Crobats, the nerve.) started to make threatening noises at Tranquill, edging forward in an attempt to fake Nidoqueen out.

So caught up with the power politics was he that he failed to notice Nidoqueen’s true intentions – the clever land Loch Ness monster she was, used the growl to goad him into distraction – she was grabbing small amounts of dirt from the floor, digesting them into something more loose and malleable than just plain dry dirt.

She then twitched a little, letting a slimy, slick but dull purple fluid leaking out of her mouth coat the muddy ground pieces while Gligar foamed and fussed. They weren’t as sharp as spikes but the heat and dry land made working the ground into clay harder, so it was as good as it would ever be.

He was still throwing his hissy fit by the time Tranquill started to play darts with Gligar’s face as the dartboard. The first poison mudball hit it square in the jaw throwing his entire body backwards in the air, which made him screech – opening up for other projectiles.

In a fit of anger, he whipped his body into and spun into Tranquil rapidly. Unable to keep on attacking the blue dinosaur lost her spikes, scattering them across the field – in a quick step, she surprisingly managed to get out of the way, considering her large frame – allowing the Gligar to only clip her shoulder.

He flied up back in the air, arching itself back to the roof but its path seemed a little wibbly wobbly. When he stopped, he kept shaking his head and listing to one side or the other.

“I think he’s poisoned,” Ivy pointing out, after seeing how the Gligar wasn’t flying quite right.

Poison was certainly a great help in the short term, as it’d make him less likely to do a lot and waste away some energy and weaken him up reliably. On the other hand, if we wasted too much time he’d knock himself out and we wouldn’t be able to capture him.

So I essentially put this battle on a timer. One I wasn’t sure I’d be able to meet. Amidst my thoughts I almost didn’t notice the ring of a message on my DexNav. Apparently someone had already completed my deal for a Gliscor – I should have taken that off from the Trade Network, I realized in hindsight – with a sigh, I quickly picked up a request from a Gligar explaining that I found one in a park run.

“Ummmm,” I started, “Decisions, decisions … Wait until he comes near and use Bite on him, as much as you can. But be careful not to damage him too much. We need some leeway for future captures.”

 

@Springtrap;

BP#4

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Harry’s equipment buzzed, and he took a minute to check it while figuring out what to do. Hopefully he didn’t wait too long—because the Gligar was poisoned, it would faint if the battle dragged out for too long. They didn’t allow captures on knocked out Pokemon; something didn’t quite work with the capture mechanism. Plus that just seemed underhanded.

After a minute, the Trainer turned off his device and turned to his Pokemon. The Nidoqueen looked at him expectantly, like Harry was a coordinator of a game and was explaining the rules. That might be what this battle was to her, after all, since her temperament didn’t really seem like she liked to fight to seriously hurt.

“Wait until he comes near and use Bite on him, as much as you can,” the Trainer finally directed.

Looking up at the wobbling Gligar, Ivy hoped that it worked. She knew that the flier had several long-range attacks—technically, it didn’t need to come near to let off a powerful Earthquake or some other skills. However, the bat was still not flying completely straight, so the poison seeping through his veins might obstruct some of his thinking.

The Ground-type Pokemon surveyed the area, suddenly dipping down in flight. At first, Ivy thought it was dropping out of the air because it was tired. But then right as it would’ve hit the ground, the bat veered upward, keeping out of Nidoqueen’s range.

Then, he began to pick up speed, arcing around the Poison-type carefully. Now, his height was varying from top to bottom, and Ivy saw what he was trying to do. Although the circles weren’t very uniform, probably thanks to his slightly drunken flying, the momentum was kicking up air currents, and that was collecting dust.

Soon, the air was filled with sand particles. Ivy coughed and put a sleeve across her face as the particles scratched at her skin. Gligar had whipped up a Sandstorm. Squinting her eyes, the Ranger tried to see where the Ground-type had gone, but she couldn’t make out his form in the whirling dirt. Since he had been susceptible to poison, one of his other ability possibilities was Sand Veil, which would make him hard to find in a scenario like this.

Nidoqueen looked confused too, turning her head back and forth as she tried to see where the wild Pokemon had gone, keeping in mind her Trainer’s directions.

Suddenly, the Gligar struck out from the sand, zooming in close to the blue dinosaur. He lashed out with his pinchers in a swiping motion, tip pointed dangerously. The Nidoqueen wasn’t the fastest Pokemon, but she did react, trying to shuffle her body away. However, she kept in mind her directions and snapped her jaw out at the same time, trying to snag the Gligar as it went by.

As a result, one of Gligar’s claws hit her jaw while the other scraped across her shoulder as the Flying-type jerked. Nidoqueen used the hit to gauge the distance but was slightly slow thanks to the bat bursting out of the sand. Still, she nicked his tail, causing the Gligar to cry out as he jerked upwards and disappeared into the sandstorm again.

He wasn’t going to be able to keep that up forever since the poison was wearing him down, but being nearly invisible meant that Nidoqueen was really vulnerable to attack. She could take a lot of damage before this was over if Harry didn’t do something.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 58% [PSN][Atk-1][Used Sandstorm and Slash]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 71% [Acc-1][Used Bite]

Area Effects: Sandstorm

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 8,907/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 71%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

A bit worried, Harry sighed. The bat was going down sooner or later, that much was certain, but the way things were now, there was a lot that could happen to poor Tranquill. And a lot is exactly what he couldn’t afford.

He needed a plain of action and he needed one now. Sparing a quick glance to the raging sandstorm he knew he needed a way to stop it; he only had three attacks with the needed range: the elemental beams.

A well placed Thunderbolt or Flamethrower might have been able to vitrify the sand, but then, it’d fall and break and the last thing they needed right now was a shower of red hot glass shards. Worrying slightly but trying his best not to frighten his dinosaur any more Harry said “Use an Ice Beam straight at the bat, try not to hurt too much.”

The goal here wasn’t strictly beating the Gligar, although that’d certainly be appreciated. Humidifying the sand so it became mud and harder to keep in the air was the real goal here, although with how hot the mountain were that might not be completely feasible …

“Oh well, it’s a question of time,” he thought, hoping it all worked for the best.

 

@Lovecraft;

BP#5

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

The Gligar stayed hidden away in the sandstorm it had created—even Ivy couldn’t see it, and she spent a lot of her free time here among the wild Pokemon. Because the Trainer was peering up at the whirling sand and his Pokemon didn’t seem like she knew what was up either, she figured they both had the same luck she did.

Harry then called for his Nidoqueen to use an Ice Beam on the sandstorm, with the hopes that she wouldn’t hurt the Gligar too much. With such a focused attack like that, hitting only a small portion of the sand, Ivy didn’t think he really needed to worry about it too much.

The dinosaur-like Pokemon arched her head back for a moment, and when she lunged forward, a shot of moving ice spit out of her mouth, angled up at the sands. The Ranger could see where flecks of the dirt were freezing and becoming discolored, but as soon as they were carried away on the wind, they thawed. The attack created a little bit of a frosty mist, but not much more than that. She couldn’t see if it actually hit the Gligar or not either.

The heat from the volcano was probably affecting the attack a little bit—her collar was sticking awkwardly to her check underneath her hair—but it might also be in part due to Nidoqueen’s nature too. She seemed generally happy and didn’t want to hurt wild Pokemon too much.

But still, Ivy thought maybe it could’ve done a little more. Then she remembered one of Nidoqueen’s abilities. She must have Sheer Force, the Ranger decided. She knew another Trainer who had a Nidoking that made use of it, only it was much more of a destructive problem. When under that ability, attacks gained a lot more power, but it was at the expensive of a lot of the extra things an attack could do, such as paralyzing or freezing a target. That probably mattered here too.

At least the attack would probably stall the Gligar from coming out of the sand for a short while—that gave the poison a chance to rack up damage. However, a few more minutes passed, and there was no sign of the wild Pokemon.

Then, suddenly, a stream of sand shot out from the storm like a vine. It flowed down to the ground where Nidoqueen was standing and circled around her. It was small at first, only a few inches, but then it suddenly flared up. Sand streams taller than she was shot up and started moving, whipping around her in a personalized tornado.

She cried out as the sand whipped at her. Trying to escape, she found that she couldn’t really breach the wall of sand—not without sustaining a bit of damage. Stuck, she called out to her Trainer for help.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy caught a shadow moving in the main sandstorm—probably the Gligar. Now that Nidoqueen was trapped, the Gligar could easy swoop down if it wanted. Or do something worse, like fire off an Earthquake that Nidoqueen would have a lot of trouble avoiding.

Harry would have to do something quickly to help his Pokemon.

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 45% [PSN][Atk-1][Used Sand Tomb]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 65% [Acc-1][Used Ice Beam]

Area Effects: Sandstorm; Nidoqueen is caught in a sand trap.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 10,027/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 65%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide

 

Well, this was certainly … annoying, on one hand we have a weakened Pokémon with a status condition, on the other they’re hidden in a layer of sand; and my Pokémon out on the field is trapped in a sand vortex.


Not exactly ideal conditions. Nidoqueen was getting hurt and its accuracy probably wasn’t the best it could be right now, and we can’t afford to stall or the Gligar will faint and the entire battle will be for nothing …


I grabbed Nidoqueen’s Pokéball and withdrew her from the battle, releasing Swampert by my side and said, quickly and quietly, her orders to her … ears? flippers? auricular organs? Either way she was supposed to try and Tackle the Gliscor out of the sand so I’d have a good shot with the Park Ball.

 

@Lovecraft;

BP#6

Ranger Ivy Frost

---

Harry was beginning to get antsy—it was visible in the way he shifted from side to side almost subconsciously. Ivy got the feeling that he wanted the battle to be over soon, but unfortunately, that wasn’t always up to the Trainer. The wild Pokemon had the most say generally.

As the Nidoqueen cried out as the sand continued to whip around her, the Trainer took another Pokeball off his belt and called another Pokemon to him. This time, it was his Swampert who hadn’t seen battle yet.

He did several things at once then. The Ranger missed some of it, but he wanted the Swampert to try to… tackle the invisible Gligar out from the sandstorm? Or something to that effect. As the lumbering Water-type tried to shift onto the field, Harry tried to recall his Nidoqueen.

Tried.

As he held the capture device up, the red beam of light shot out—and was deflected by the whirling sand. The Swampert was still advancing.

“Hold it,” Ivy called, taking a couple steps forward. “Your Swampert can’t join the fray; Nidoqueen is still in battle. There’s no teaming up on wild Pokemon allowed—that’s considered abuse.”

Although it was inconvenient, Harry was going to have to wait before he sent Swampert in. He had to deal with his Nidoqueen’s dilemma first. Since she was trapped in battle and he couldn’t recall her, he had to continue until she broke free and he could return her or she fainted.

Another cry from her drew their attention as Ivy caught sight of the Gligar swooping down, using the new sand as cover. It bit at her, flitting around to continue biting, like an annoying insect, trying to torment her. The wild Pokemon didn’t have as much speed as it did on the onset of battle, however, so the poison was definitely taking effect.

That only meant the Trainer had a limited time to finish, though. As the Gligar was swaying high up, attacking and then retreating, protected by the sands, it wasn’t going to be reached by normal assault tactics.

The Ranger got a mental warning from Haji seconds before the earth rumbled slightly under her feet. It was suddenly like standing on moving water; the ground was beginning to roll. An attack was incoming.

“Be careful,” she warned the Trainer. “You’re on a time constraint here.”

---

Current Encounter Stats:

??? M Gligar: 39% [PSN][Atk-1][Used Bug Bite]
Jolly F Nidoqueen: 55% [Acc-1]

Area Effects: Sandstorm; Nidoqueen is caught in a sand trap.

---

Trainer Stats

Name: Harry Slater
Place: Mt. Deckbi
Area Effects: Stiflingly hot.
Encounters Remaining: 13
Gligar Voice Disk: Worked
Pokemon Encountered: Diglett, Gligar
Pokemon Captured: None
MCR: 10,759/9,000 [Uncommon Rank*]

Items: 3x Park Balls, 2x Super Balls, 1x Hyper Ball, Fire Type Repellant, Pokeplayer, Gligar Disk, Onix disk

Pokemon Stats

Jolly F Swampert
Nickname: Rhyperior
Abilities: Torrent
EM[1]: TM Frustration

Jolly F Nidoqueen @ 55%
Nickname: Tranquill
Abilities: Sheer Force
EMs[4]: TM Ice Beam, TM Flamethrower, TM Thunderbolt, TM Rock Slide