Gen VI Run - Elysia

NBP1

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere


OOC: I'm going to have fun with this...if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll gladly answer them


*~~~~~~~~~*


After months of absence, I finally return to the Park once more... though not in a way I had imagined.

“...Mind running that by me one more time?” I asked to the Gallade and Gardevoir standing in front of me. The former was Zen, one of my teammates, and he was currently looking very uneasily over at the other Ralts evolution. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he was afraid.


<She...she says that we've been asked to substitute as a Ranger for a Run,> the Gallade replied, stammering over the link. He looked just as surprised as I was. <That Ranger you sometimes do paperwork for, Makina? She needs another hand at the Ruined Manor, and thinks you can help due to your experience with Ghosts.>


Lovely, and here I thought there wouldn't be any other strings attached to my job, I remarked silently, earning a small affirmative mental nudge from Zen over the mental link. Taking a moment to figure out how exactly to handle this, I looked over at the stranger Gardevoir. “You're Makina's partner, I'm assuming? How am I supposed to convince the staff I'm not just some random person trying to assume authority?”


The Gardevoir's face revealed no emotion, though it did hold out one of its hands. I did so in turn, and the Psychic-type handed me a small copper badge. On it were emblazoned the words, “Substitute Ranger/Trainee.” Accepting the object, I pinned the badge to he front of my jacket. “Lovely, then. How are we supposed to get this Trainer's info then, along with any items that Rangers carry about? I'm not paying this out of my own pocket, running a Gym gives a measly salary as is.”


<Aria says that her partner will take care of it,> Zen replied, nodding over to the Gardevoir. <She also says that you're allowed to take up to six Pokemon with you, so long as they're none of who you are using in the Woods tomorrow.>


Great, so that means I'm leaving you behind, Zen. I made my way over to the nearest PC, trying to decide on a team that would be best for dealing with multiple situations. A Psychic Pokemon for communication, something that could deal damage, one as a quick getaway, and three more to fill the gaps... Guess I'll take Lia, Gaard, Wist, Jester, Spectre, and Loretta. Will you be fine here on your own?


<One of us has to explain to the Rangers if you're late to your Run,> Zen replied, though the Gallade's grin was weak. <Aria says she'll Teleport you to the Manor when you're ready.>


“Right, then...let's get this over with,” I grumbled, looking over at the Gardevoir. “I'm ready whenever.”


The Gardevoir's eyes glowed, and the surrounding area shimmered- the signature sign of Teleport. Moments later, the world seemed to fade away for a moment before being replaced by the sight of a derelict building up ahead.


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:


Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 15 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered:
Pokemon Captured:
CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x3), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: Iunno, man, I was planning to have a miserable time. Just kidding. Also, I'll be sure to barrage you on AIM.
also I'm writing your grade I swear. I needed a break from literary analysis everywhere

[hr][/hr]

Sproing.

Enter the poor alarm clock of Alyssa Tanenbrae, currently occupied with the dilemma of being in pieces but managing to keep beeping pathetically, its metallic innards scattered across the floor and feebly still trying to do their original purpose: namely, waking up their owner.

"Damn you, too!"

Enter Icarus, currently occupied with the dilemma of trying to pick which shiny piece of clock guts was most appealing to him, preening his feathers simultaneously while pecking at pieces of spring and tiny screws, as well as stopping that confounding, shrill, ringing sound that was clearly doing no one any good.

Thunk.

And enter Alyssa Tanenbrae, currently occupied with the dilemma of sitting straight up and having an unpleasant collision with her bookshelf, wondering--

Holy Arceus, she was so late.

Or, at least, she could say that, except there was the unfortunate issue that her alarm clock was apparently in pieces on the floor, and the hands were nowhere near their numbers on the clockface itself. She blinked quickly, adjusting herself to the situation as fast as she can, and a quick reassessment of the situation revealed that, yes, the sun had already risen, and, yes, her Murkrow had taken the liberty of dismantling her alarm clock. Both of them. "Mother of Arceus, Ic," she breathed tiredly, one hand punching her pillow as she swung herself out of bed. "Not again. You're getting uncannily good at this."

Icarus, particularly entranced by the one piece of metallic casing that he hadn't managed to completely dismantle--the source of his cursing, no doubt, although Alyssa knew the foul-mouthed (haha, foul? Fowl? No?) bird needed no reason to sound like a drowning sailor--looked up at her and cawed indignantly, "Late, you are."

Alyssa was already moving, depositing the remains of her clock into a large box (equally filled with mismatched dead-clock parts; she would assemble them later or give them to Dante if the Alakazam got bored) and pulling on her clothing. "Yeah, well, now I'm really not taking you on our awesome romp through the haunted house."

Icarus froze and dropped the metal casing he was holding, which hit the ground with a large thunk. "What?" he asked, doing his best to shuffle his black wings and dip his beak in a farce of pity. "You not love me?"

"Yeah, yeah, we know that song and dance already," Alyssa said, having already pulled on her jeans and starting to shrug on her jacket. She had no idea what the weather would be like, actually--the online brochures and descriptions hadn't been much help--but she figured that as long as it wasn't below freezing, she'd be fine. "If you'd wanted to come along, you could've done something more conducive to my mood than destroying my alarm clock and making me thirty minutes late." Although, in all fairness, Alyssa knew that she should've hidden her clock better where the Murkrow couldn't reach it. Speaking of which, now she was late. Gross. She only had ten or fifteen minutes before she was due at the park, which, by her standards, was astoundingly tardy. "Dante," she called out into the small space of her flat. "I'm gonna have to borrow you for a sec." Satisfied, she turned back to her bed and hefted the backpack, which contained her suggested supplies for her park run (nine Pokeballs in total, some healing items, and a stunningly expensive digital camera) and her two Pokeballs.

By the time she had slid the backpack on, there was already a brief ripple in the air in front of her, a flash of blue, and a large, tan psychic-type unfolding in front of her, having materialized out of thin air. {You called, Miss Tanenbrae?}

Heh, she could've called him Alfred. He had the whole British butler thing down pat. "Do you mind teleporting me to the National Park?"

{I thought you were going to fly, Miss Tanenbrae.} The Alakazam stroked his mustache sagely.

Alyssa had planned on flying to the park (although she'd probably have to borrow a friend's Pokemon for that; there was no way she was trusting Icarus with that, both because he was, well, Icarus, and because his wingspan was smaller than the length of her arm), but now that she was late, that wasn't going to be an option. She had enough time to teleport, at least; subconsciously, perhaps, Alyssa had planned for Icarus to muck something up in the morning, probably in revenge for not being allowed to go along for the ride. But Alyssa hated teleporting; the vertigo did something weird to her balance and she was never certain that she wouldn't end up in little molecular pieces due to a tiny miscalculation. "I did, too," she muttered darkly, casting a glare at Icarus that was thoroughly ignored. "Change of plans, though. I hope you don't mind?"

{Not at all, Miss Tanenbrae,} the Alakazam replied, raising his spoons, which were starting to glow blue. {I wish you the best of luck on your run. Kindly desist from getting injured; I don't particularly dislike crushing minds out of vengeance, but the subsequent court cases get a little dull.}

Alyssa opened her eyes, resisting the urge to vomit up her last meal, and found herself at the gates to the National Park. She patted herself down. Still all there; no arms floating out in subspace. Excellent. Her hands reached her shoulder, and she found a rather large, rather furry extension of her jacket. She froze. Gritted her teeth. Sighed. "Icarus, I thought I told you that you weren't coming," she said with forced patience. She was not putting up with his shenanigans in the park. No. He would probably do something stupid like piss off an immortal dark spirit and get them all killed, and he would like it.

From his perch on her shoulder, the murkrow spread his wings and began cackling maniacally. "Damn you, too."

Well. Today was going to be a long day.

 

NBP2

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere

*~~~~~~~~~*


As the world finally came into focus once more, I looked about the surrounding area. Up ahead was a large abandoned mansion, with the exterior clearly in disrepair; the white paint coating the building was chipping in multiple places, and there were even a couple broken windows in plain sight. Off to the side, however, was a much newer building. Judging from the symbol of the National Park being painted on the side of the small, squat structure, it was supposed to be the Ranger Outpost for this zone. Figuring that would be the best place to start, I headed towards the second building, giving a light knock on the door.


The door immediately, opened, revealing a young woman in the traditional Ranger uniform. Though her metallic gray hair was a bit longer than it was in the one picture I had seen this person in, there was no doubt about it- this was the Ranger I was looking for. “Aria found you pretty fast! That's good though, the Trainer I'm supposed to take through is supposed to be here soon...give me a second, I'll give you some of the items you'll need in there.”


Nice to finally meet you in person as well? I watched Makina scramble about the Outpost, removing a large amount of Pokedolls from her pack and re-situate them in a spare bag. For a while I simply watched the Ranger's antics, but after a couple of minutes had passed with no further comment from the woman I finally asked, “So, what is this about? I'm no Ranger, unless you could the fact that you tossed me quite a few of your reports to fill out in the past.”


“You're specializing in Ghost Pokemon last I checked, and we're shorthanded,” Makina replied, stuffing the bag with what looked to be a spare flashlight and a first-aid kit. “Plus, you've entered the Park and dealt with the locals in Meteor Valley enough where I'm pretty sure you'll do fine here.”


“The Valley...the Pokemon here are mostly Psychics and Ghosts?” I asked, surprised. I had visited the Valley in the past more than any other area, but compared to the other places I had explored it was far more dangerous.


“Psychic, Dark, and Ghost Pokemon, actually,” Makina stated, counting them off on her hand. When she saw that I looked less than thrilled, the Ranger gave a grin. “You'll do fine. Aria said you brought a Psychic Pokemon with you, so just use it to contact either her or any other Teleporters on staff and someone will be out here to help you in no time at all.”


Zen, I wish I could have brought you instead, I silently remarked, grasping the Pokeball on my belt that contained Lia, my Gardevoir. While I knew I could depend on both Pokemon in a bind, Lia was far less experienced. In addition, she had a innocent view on the world that made explaining things difficult when a situation turned for the worst. “I'm assuming I'll be paid a normal Ranger's wage for helping out, then? If so, I'm in.”


“Considering you'll be pretty much doing my job here, yeah,” Makina said, zipping up the bag and holding it out with an outstretched arm. “Just keep that badge in plain sight, and you'll be fine. Now, if you don't have any more questions...I have to wait on the other Trainer. The report for the one you'll be taking through should be found in the side pocket, so you might want to take a look at it.”


Seeing that I was effectively being shooed out, I exited the building, closing the door behind me. Still, the Ranger had a point- if I had no idea who I was supposed to be escorting, I'd probably end up helping someone else instead. After some looking about (sifting past what looked to be yet another flashlight and some rations,) I found a sheaf of stapled papers with the picture of a young woman on the front page.


The Trainer's name was Alyssa, and she was apparently a new face to the park; apparently Makina thought it would be amusing to place me with someone who had no idea what they were doing as well. The young woman was exploring the area with three Pokemon, all of them fairly experienced judging from their movesets. When I saw that she possessed an Absol though, I couldn't help but be surprised. The creatures were powerful and extremely rare- while I owned one as well, it had been a challenging fight.


Off in the distance, I saw a figure quickly walking forward. Short-cropped hair, dark green clothing, a large black crow-like Pokemon riding on the person's shoulder...it definitely fit the Trainer's description to a T. “You're Alyssa, correct?” I asked as they approached closer, walking forward to meet them halfway. “My name is Akinai, and I've been requested to take you through the Manor instead of Ranger Makina-”


Before all introductions could be made, a loud cawing sound emanated from the direction of the mansion. A shadowed figure in front of one of the floor-level windows began to move, and a black-hued Pokemon flew out from the opening. As it glided closer, the creature alighted to the ground in front of the two humans. It cawed loudly, looking at each in turn before its eyes focused on Alyssa's avian teammate.


Lovely way start a run, I mused, trying to decide how to handle this. “We have barely begun, and looks like your Murkrow found a friend already,” I remarked to the Trainer.


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:


Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow
Pokemon Captured:
CC since last Encounter: 5,802

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x3), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: Time for some Murkrow on Murkrow action, lol

[hr][/hr]

"How in the world did you even--" Alyssa began, gritting her teeth in frustration as she came to the growing realization that Icarus was permanently along for the ride. "No, never mind, I don't care."

"Tagalong with silly psychic-type move not difficult for dark-type like me," Icarus crowed proudly.

Yeah, she'd figured as such. There was no helping it now; the best she could do was hope that Icarus didn't get her killed before they got back to safety. Astrid wasn't capable of teleporting him back, and Alyssa didn't want to look bad in front of her ranger by asking for help with dealing with her own starter (Makina, was it? She was apparently one of the heads of the Park, too, so there was always that). Right. Glancing on ahead, she saw another woman standing at the entrance to the Manor, shuffling through some paperwork and looking rather stressed. Alyssa knew from her research that this woman wasn't her ranger, but maybe she could ask for--

"You're Alyssa, correct? My name is Akinai, and I've been requested to take you through the Manor instead of Range Makina--"

Alyssa opened her mouth (she wasn't sure for what exactly: she didn't mind having a new ranger, but the badge that said "Substitute Ranger/Trainee" wasn't very reassuring if they were both going to suffer being nublets together), but before she could do much else, Icarus had launched himself off of her shoulder and into the air, his feathers bristling and his wings spread wide in challenge.

With speed born only of experience, Alyssa followed the Murkrow's path of focus. It wasn't very hard; a gratingly-familiar, black-feathered Pokemon was making a beeline toward them from one of the windows of the Manor, and it was raising a ruckus as it did so. A ruckus that Alyssa happened to know very well, given that she was hearing the same collection of irritated caws (interspersed with some rather creative insults) from above her head. Her own Murkrow was making excited circles around Alyssa's head and doing everything short of launching himself straight into battle.

"We have barely begun, and it looks like your Murkrow found a friend already," Akinai said shortly, deftly introducing the newest arrival (a Murkrow; what else) in front of her.

Alyssa blinked, hardly able to believe her luck (or unluck, maybe?). On one hand, Alyssa knew from experience that Murkrow were formidable fighters, even if they weren't the most conventional punch-punch-punchers and preferred using trickery over force. On the other hand, Alyssa also knew from experience that Murkrow tended to do ridiculously annoying things, such as dismantle her alarm clock or hijack important teleports. On top of everything else, she really, really wanted to get this new-ranger thing hammered out before something went wrong (which, with Icarus's presence factored in, would take a matter of minutes). She decided to deal with that first. "Wait, um, she's okay, right? And you'll--"

Alyssa's attention was torn from the current situation when Icarus, clearly abandoning all pretenses of behavior, launched himself toward the other Murkrow.

Oh, right. On the third hand, Murkrow were incredibly territorial creatures and enjoyed having skirmishes among their own whenever possible. It wasn't called a murder of Murkrow for nothing.

"I'llgetbacktoyouinasecsosorryIcarus, wait!" she shouted, alarmed against her will. It took a lot to make her shout, but the last thing she wanted was for Icarus to leap into a situation and get himself badly injured. She remembered a story about a trainer whose Gengar had nearly died when fighting a wild Zangoose.

"Your mother," the Murkrow crowed, making a wide, wheeling arc around the wild Murkrow and circling it like a hungry Vullaby might circle a carcass, "is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries!"

Very quietly, so that her maybe-ranger wouldn't notice, Alyssa facepalmed.

"And I fart in your general direction!" Icarus added.

Nonononononono.

There was no actual flatulence, as far as Alyssa could tell, but when she looked up next, her Murkrow was quite literally flying backward while shaking his tailfeathers in the direction of the opposing Murkrow, all the while cackling maniacally.

Yeah, there was no way she could back out of this battle now; even if the wild Murkrow let them leave (they tended to take personal insults very seriously, although that might've just been Ic's pride), Icarus was having way too much fun with this. Alyssa knew that the best she could do was roll with the punches and hope that it came out okay, and maybe having a second Murkrow around would temper Icarus's antics a bit. She sighed. Yolo, as they said. Time to get serious.

She sighed. "Ic, finish up with that Taunt. I don't care how; just keep it appropriate and keep the movie plagiarisms to a minimum, please." Alyssa was no expert on Murkrow behavior, but she had a feeling that most Murkrow, like her own, enjoyed using non-offensive moves to piss off her opponents. Icarus was more inclined to it than the average member of his species, and he seemed able to use non-offensive moves faster than directly attacking ones simply because of this, but Murkrow, like most dark-types, were tricksters. If she could limit the opposing Murkrow to using only attacking moves, she would be able to cut down its move choices exponentially. Alyssa looked up at the Manor; it was large enough to block out some of the sunlight and cast shadows on the area around them. "Follow it up with a Feint Attack. Stick to the shadows nearby and strike fast, and then we'll see how to go on from there."

Icarus was only happy to oblige. "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" he shouted gleefully, circling the opposing Murkrow at a safe distance while shaking his feathers and clacking his beak in an annoying way that he seemed to know perfectly. "Rosebud was the sled! Ned Stark dies! Bruce Willis was dead all along!"

Alyssa flinched. There was no surer way to incite blind rage than by spoiling awesome things. On the down side... "I, uh, hope you knew that stuff already," she muttered to Makina, glancing down at her feet and looking somewhat sheepish. She'd seen friendships die over spoilers. Okay, not quite that dramatic, but still. This whole thing had started off on an interesting foot.

She wasn't quite sure how this battling thing would work out. She knew that the best way to use Icarus's potential was to point him at a target and let him do the rest (with some minor instruction thrown in). Hopefully, he'd manage to make sure that the opposing Murkrow was too angry to try any of its pesky status moves; if not, they' d have a large bridge to cross later. The Feint Attack, another favorite from Icarus's repertoire, was more to scout than anything else. The shadows weren't entirely too thick, but Icarus was good at ducking in between them and all but fading out of sight, at which point he could flit around in the darkness and attack at his leisure, when the opponent least expected it. It wouldn't do terribly much damage to the wild Murkrow, but it would be useful to see how the wild Pokemon would react.

"Snape kills Dumbledore!"

 

BP1 (Vs Murkrow)

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere


OOC: This battle won't be confusing, not at all...Murkrow Gender?

*~~~~~~~~~*


The two Murkrow took to the air in a flurry of wing-beats, leaving the two ground-bound humans for the moment as they made lazy circles in the sky above. They were both cawing at each other loudly, with one of them shouting back in English- Alyssa's Murkrow, I could only assume.


As for the Trainer in question, she looked surprised to see me. Whether it was my badge that had tipped her off or the fact that she had known that Makina was supposed to take her in the first place, I had no idea. She gave a worrying glance to the two feuding birds for the moment, then hesitantly asked, “Wait, um, she's okay, right? And you'll-”


At that moment, the screeching grew louder, with Alyssa's Murkrow shouting ridiculous insults. Without warning, the Dark-Flying hybrid launched himself towards the wild Pokemon.


“I'llgetbacktoyouinasecsosorryIcarus, wait!” Alyssa shouted out, all attention focused on her Pokemon for the moment. I couldn't blame her- we hadn't even entered the Manor yet, and there was a battle already. I made a mental note to not accept any more reports from Makina in a long, long time for dragging me into this mess.


“Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries!” Icarus cawed out, flying backwards and waggling his tailfeathers at his foe. The wild Murkrow, in turn, let out an angry screech and attempted to ram its assailant in mid-air. Icarus easily dodged the attack, cackling madly the whole way.


Huh, so this is what it's like being a Ranger, I wondered to myself, watching Alyssa's frustration with her partner as she covered her face with a single palm. I could understand the woman's annoyance with her partner, having dealt with headstrong Pokemon in the past, though judging from the way both were acting this was a common occurrence. From what I could tell though, my job was to only observe and offer advice when needed. Since Alyssa looked stressed enough at the moment, I kept silent and watched the warring birds.


“Ic, finish up with that Taunt. I don't care how; just keep it appropriate and keep the movie plagiarisms to a minimum, please,” the Trainer called up to Icarus, giving a sigh. “Follow it up with a Feint Attack. Stick to the shadows nearby and strike fast, and then we'll see how to go on from there.”


Huh, so that was what those sayings were from. I wasn't much of a movie-goer, or anything that involved dealing with technology or electronics for that matter save for operating PCs to retrieve my team when needed. It was already enough of an embarrassment when I had tried using the stove at a hotel several months ago... the staff never found out why half of the kitchen was scorched, and I planned to keep it that way.


As Icarus called out more inane insults, Alyssa's face became redder and redder by the moment. “I, uh, hope you knew that stuff already,” she mumbled, avoiding eye contact and taking a sudden new interest at the ground.


“Honestly, I have no idea what he's saying,” I admitted, giving a small grin. Remembering that she had asked about Makina earlier, I added, “By the way, Makina is fine. Apparently they just had a mix-up at the front desk, so she asked me to help out.”


Finally, the other Murkrow had had enough of its opponent's antics. Letting out a shrilling caw, it twisted and turned in the air, showing off some fancy aerial maneuvers. It would have been an enjoyable sight to see, if it wasn't for the fact that the wild Pokemon suddenly took a sharp turn and rammed Icarus. Alyssa's Pokemon's flight lowered a moment, he finally re-stabilized as he oriented himself into the air once more- and then vanished into the shadows.


I looked about, slightly confused. Phasing out was a Ghost technique- as a Dark Pokemon, Icarus should not have been able to pull it off. It was then I noticed where the current scene of the battle was taking place. During his antics, Icarus had let his opponent towards the Manor, making their current fighting area shrouded in the darkness from the building's shadow. For being a mouthy bird, it apparently had some intellect.


As Murkrow looked about in for its opponent, it gave a squawk as it was slammed downwards unexpectedly- Icarus had finally shown himself once more. In retaliation, the wild Pokemon began to screech once more. This time, the sound was nearly visible in its volume, causing everyone in the vicinity to cringe.


I tried shouting out a warning to Alyssa that Murkrow was probably trying to prevent Icarus from disappearing once more, but my words were drowned out. For the time being, the Trainer had to act on her own wits.


*~~~~~~~~~*
Battle Statistics:

Quirky Male Murkrow: 85%, (used Taunt, Faint Attack)
??? ??? Murkrow: 88%, TNT-2 (used Aerial Ace, using Round)
*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:


Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow
Pokemon Captured:
CC since last Encounter: 12,969/9,000

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x3), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: I'll go with female, I guess. To, you know, make things less confusing. Heh.

[hr][/hr]

“Honestly, I have no idea what he's saying,” Akinai said, which did help but Alyssa's fears to rest. Somewhat. Icarus had avoided profanity or, like, explicit gore, which was awesome (and, in the case of the former, somewhat unprecedented for him) in his taunting, but the battle wasn't over yet. “By the way," Akinai added, "Makina is fine. Apparently they just had a mix-up at the front desk, so she asked me to help out.”

"Oh," Alyssa said faintly. Well, on the plus side, that meant that none of the Rangers were, like, dying in some other Run. She felt like she should make a pun about paperwork or something; surprisingly, however, nothing came to mind. "That's, uh, cool. Nice to meet you."

Conversation was markedly more difficult when trying to keep track of an aerial battle between two trick-playing birds that looked exactly like one another.

One of the birds (Icarus, hopefully?) did an elegant flip and then rammed into the other Murkrow, knocking some feathers loose and causing a bit of damage.

"Team Edward forever!" the other bird (who turned out to be Icarus; who else) shrieked, and then all hell broke loose as the other bird, justifiably incensed, opened its mouth and screamed in protest so loud that the very ground seemed to shake.

And conversation was exponentially (did that have higher connotations than markedly?) more difficult when one of the birds tossed its head back and began screeching like a demented Zubat out of hell. If Alyssa didn't know better, she would've sworn that she could see shock waves. Well, if Icarus wanted to make something mad, he'd certainly found the proper way to do so.

She could safely assume, at least, that unless Icarus had done some diligent training while he was gone, he wasn't powerful or annoying enough to change his taunts into actual blasts of sound. Yet. Hopefully. Alarm clocks be damned; there wouldn't be a window left in her house if he'd discovered that. On the down side, that also meant that Icarus was on the receiving end of the sonic attack.

Alyssa quickly began assessing threats. Her next plan, which had involved some shenanigans with Substitutes, wouldn't work, because Icarus couldn't dodge sound. Hiding in the shadows (which had been a painfully ineffective tactic anyhow) also wouldn't work, because Icarus still couldn't dodge sound.

The easiest solution, therefore, was to learn how to dodge sound, which was impossible, so there was always that.

Well. If she didn't think of something fast, Icarus was prone to start lashing out on his own. Which was also bad. "Icarus, I need you to--" Alyssa began, and then cut herself off when she realized that her commands were barely audible to her own ears, and she wasn't the one currently engaged in a bird-cat-fight twenty feet away in the midst of the epicenter. Options. She needed options. Shouting proved woefully ineffective. Icarus, with his dark-typing, would be somewhat anti-prone to telepathic engagement from Astrid; plus, bringing out the Starmie at this point in time might cause some unpredictable reactions from the wild Murkrow, incensed as it was, so telepathy was out as well. And Arceus knew that Icarus hated inaudible commands and signalling (he hardly seemed to mind verbal commands, and even then he tended to pick the ones he liked), so no crazy hand gestures.

Left to his own devices, however, Icarus was still a deadly threat. Alyssa watched with mild interest as her Murkrow (at least, she hoped it was her Murkrow; he wasn't the one emitting echoing, deafening rage, although it was still hard to tell at this distance) wheeled around and decided that Alyssa was taking too long with her orders. Alyssa knew from personal experience that if she stopped to think for too long, Icarus would act on his own; at this point, she was almost relying on this fact. She also knew that he preferred to use the moves he had learned from TMs (something about proving how he, as a trained Murkrow, was superior to non-trained Murkrow); on the down side, he didn't have the widest selection of extra moves to choose from and Alyssa hoped he would at least try to do some damage.

Icarus executed a tight aerial flip and then launched himself toward the wild Murkrow, his wings glowing... white, sort of, but with gross globs of purple interspersed on the feathers. Alyssa frowned--this was no technique they had rehearsed before, for sure--as Icarus began to climb skyward, easily shrinking to a small dot in front of the sun. She squinted upward, trying to see where and what her Murkrow was doing now while avoiding going blind from staring too long at the sun, which he had apparently decided to use as cover for his next attack.

A tiny glob of the purple stuff landed by Alyssa's feet; with one hand still covering her ears and one eye still pressed on the battle at hand, she bent down to look at it with curiosity. She recoiled before touching it; however; she recognized the substance as part of the poison known as Toxic. Suddenly nervous for the well-being of the Park, Alyssa glanced around the immediate area to make sure that Icarus wasn't showering the entire area with toxic waste; luckily, it seemed to be confined to a fairly small radius. Bugger, though; she'd have to think of a safe way to clean the stuff up once the coast was clear. It wasn't called Toxic for no reason. But what was Icarus--

There was a bloodcurdling, wordless shriek that was loud in its own accord and almost inaudible in comparison to the cries of the wild Murkrow. Alyssa looked up, her hand shielding her face from the light of the sun, to see Icarus bearing down on them, his wings pressed almost to his sides as he dropped like a stone. From the glowing white light on his primary feathers, she recognized the attack as a modified version of Wing Attack (trust Icarus not to go the simple route; although thank Arceus he even bothered doing something mildly practical), although he'd managed to coat his wings in Toxic poison. Alyssa knew that most pokemon were unaffected by their own Toxic attacks--the poison had to come from somewhere, after all, and it wouldn't make much sense to be vulnerable to the vestiges of one's own attack--and she realized that Icarus might've been using the residual energy from the Wing Attack to keep the poison off of his own feathers, but she did hope he would be careful.

 

BP2 (Vs Murkrow)

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere



*~~~~~~~~~*


Thanks to Murkrow's screeching, Alyssa was unable to issue commands to Icarus. Perhaps the wild Pokemon had done this on purpose; if so I'd hardly be surprised. The wildlife in the National Park tended to be craftier than any other Pokemon you could find anywhere else, though if it was due to living in such close quarters with nearly every creature in existence or just seeing so many Trainers on a daily basis I had no idea. After all, it's not like it was my job to know such things until about say...ten minutes ago.


Thankfully, Icarus didn't hesitate when he realized his Trainer had failed in providing a command. Raising his head up, the bird coughed up a glob of...something before flapping his wings upwards to make contact with whatever concoction had been summoned. The Murkrow's wings glowed as he did so, attempting to utilize what looked to be a complex combination of moves.


A few fragments from the mysterious glob fell downwards, the stuff making a soft hiss as it made contact with the earth. One landed not far from us, which made identifying it fairly easy. After seeing Alyssa kneel down to check and almost immediately recoil, I took a cursory glance over. The small blob was still hissing faintly, and had a vivid violet hue that normally identified Poison attacks. Sludge Bomb? No, don't think Murkrow can learn it... “Can't say I've seen Toxic used that way before,” I remarked, though my words were likely drowned out thanks to the wild Pokemon's Round assault. The bird was crafty, no doubt about that.


His attack now fully prepared, Icarus stretched his wings outward and rammed into the wild Murkrow once more, striking with one of his wings. Startled, the wild Pokemon ceased its screeching and dropped like a rock. Though it flapped its wings feebly in an attempt to stay aloft, the Flying-type fell to the ground in a tumble of feathers.


I took a few steps closer to make sure that Murkrow was alright-- it had only fallen about twenty feet away and it was still dangerous to get too close between two attacking Pokemon. At this distance, it was easy to tell that the hat-design on this Murkrow's head was smaller than Icarus's, marking it as a female. She was violently shivering, as if ill.


Speaking of Icarus, the bird was no longer glowing thanks to having completed his attack. Instead, the Murkrow bobbed about as it flapped in midair as if it was in a daze. He lowered closer to the ground, closer to his opponent-- and was suddenly smacked off-course by what looked to be a black blur.


“Icarus is probably feeling the aftereffects of coating his body with Toxic,” I said, looking over at Alyssa. “Not many Pokemon can handle dealing with poison, so he may be dazed for a bit. Looks like his opponent still took the worst of it, though.”


*~~~~~~~~~*
Battle Statistics:

Quirky Male Murkrow: 79%, (used Toxic/Wing Attack combo)
??? Female Murkrow: 65%, TNT-3, PSN (used Round, Quick Attack)
*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:


Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow
Pokemon Captured:
CC since last Encounter: 19,338/9,000

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x3), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

Icarus collided head-on with the other Murkrow and then fluttered weakly to the ground, tottering around like he was drunk.

And, yes, Alyssa knew what it was like to see Icarus drunk. The Murkrow had a penchant for sneaking into the floors above and collecting shiny things, such as beer bottles, wine bottles, rum bottles... not really shiny things, actually. Alcoholic she things. Alyssa half-wished that he would bring her something back at some point; it was enough of a pain to deal with the Murkrow's crazy antics as it was.

"Icarus is probably feeling the aftereffects of coating himself with Toxic," Akinai explained. "Not many Pokemon can handle dealing with poison, so he may be dazed for a bit. Looks like his opponent still took the worst of it, though."

Indeed, Icarus seemed to be a little unsteady on his feet after using Toxic. There was a reason, after all, that most Pokemon would spit the poison at their opponents instead of covering their wings in it like it was silly putty. She looked at him closely for signs of poisoning, suddenly worried: she'd only brought one item to the Park that could heal statuses, and if Icarus were poisoned, he certainly wouldn't be fighting much longer.

Meanwhile, Icarus had dragged himself to his feet and was stumbling toward the other Murkrow, which was shivering in a heap of feathers on the ground. Alyssa couldn't help but feel a pang of pit for the wild Murkrow; while it had challenged Icarus, it certainly hadn't deserved to have movies spoiled or poison spat upon it.

She was mildly curious in what Icarus was doing, however. Left to his own devices, it appeared he was trying to improvise. Badly, of course, because he was completely open for attack. Times like these made Alyssa question Icarus's sanity--as well as her role as his trainer. If he could battle on his own, what was she even doing here?

Icarus slowly approached the other Murkrow unsteadily, practically dragging himself along the floor with a few feeble beats of his wings. He coughed laboriously but ignored the screeching from the other Murkrow and collapsed in a heap very close to it, his golden talons dim and his head bowed. Weakly, Icarus brought one of his wings up to tap his hat--a symbol of respect and casual greeting among the Murkrow murders, if Alyssa recognized it properly.

Which begged the question: what in the world was he doing? Perhaps the Murkrow was a girl and Icarus had suddenly found himself in love, or perhaps he'd gotten hit by that last attack a little harder than he'd thought.

Then, Alyssa noticed the beady glint in Icarus's eyes and understood, albeit a little late.

The move Sucker Punch was wildly unpredictable, given that it would only work when the enemy Pokemon was prepared to attack directly. However, with the wild Murkrow still under the effects of Icarus's Taunt, there was a large chance that she would have no other choice but to openly attack, in which case Icarus would be prepared to strike her first, all pretenses of injury abandoned.

Of course, given the whole covered-myself-in-Toxic situation, there was a fair change that the injury wasn't quite a pretense, which was a bit worrying in itself.

 

BP3 (Vs Murkrow)

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere



*~~~~~~~~~*


For the time being, the battle appeared to be at a standstill. Both Murkrow were now ground-bound at the moment, with Icarus barely managing to keep upright and the other still shivering in place. I couldn't help but feel a little bad for both Pokemon- Dark-type or not, they had clearly seen better days. Still, something seemed a bit off about the whole situation.


Despite the fact that both Pokemon had traded multiple blows, nearly all of them had been minor in power. In addition, I had seen the same species weather many more attacks before becoming this worn out. Even though Murkrow were unevolved Pokemon, they still had a tendency to keep fighting until the end. Either each combatant was planning something, or relatively inexperienced. And considering Icarus had managed to pull off such a complex combo on his own...


Icarus finally managed to make his way to the wild Murkrow, albeit he was still swaying about in place. Once he was in striking range, the mischievous bird aligned himself right in his opponent's vision, attempting to stand as straight and rigid as possible. Once he was certain he had the other Pokemon's attention, Icarus did something extremely uncharacteristic- he bowed and tapped a wing to his hat in greeting.


This has to be the oddest Murkrow I've seen, and that's saying something. I stole a glance over at Alyssa, to see her reaction to Icarus's gesture. She looked just as confused, though moments later a gleam of understanding began to show up on the young woman's face.


Murkrow took Icarus's greeting as something else entirely thanks to the earlier Taunt, giving an angry squawk before jabbing at her offender with her beak. Unfortunately for her, the Trainer's Murkrow was ready and moved forward, striking lightning-fast with one of his wings. Though the Toxic venom had faded by this point, the attack still did a small amount of damage to its target. Even with his speed, Icarus was unable to strike and evade Murkrow's attack; another sharp peck and he was knocked back several inches.


Now, both attackers faced each other once more. Icarus, looking smug from his plan and acting far more energetic than he had before his “respectful” greeting, practically hopped in place. Murkrow, on the other hand, seemed to be looking at her assailant in a more calm light; the Taunt must have finally wore off. She looked lost for a moment, as if unsure on what to do next, then finally gave a small smirk (or at least it looked like one. Beaks make emotion reading harder after all.)


Murkrow slumped to the ground once more, giving off the appearance of a Pokemon on their last legs. She called out a short statement to Icarus, the tone sounding pleading in nature. Upon hearing this, Icarus stopped his preening and met his opponent eye-to-eye. Seeing that she finally had the other bird's full attention, the wild Pokemon picked herself off the ground and strutted towards her opponent, batting her eyes every now and then.


I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Dark Pokemon do pride power and technique, at least from what I saw of them, but this... “Either that's Attract, or Murkrow has actually fallen for Icarus,” I remarked to Alyssa. “You might want to snap him out of it so he doesn't fall for it.”


*~~~~~~~~~*
Battle Statistics:

Quirky Male Murkrow: 69%, (used Sucker Punch)
??? Female Murkrow: 47%, PSN (used Pluck, using Attract)
*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:


Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow
Pokemon Captured:
CC since last Encounter: 22,531/9,000

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x3), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: I know that I'm nowhere near 100% success, 'cause you told me so, but... the phrase, as they say, is... yolo?

Icarus pulled off his Sucker Punch pretty much flawlessly, and Alyssa was okay with that. It didn't do oodles of damage, but that was okay, too--Icarus wasn't so much of a full-on aggressive fighter as a disruptive one, and the fact that he'd managed to whittle away at another (equally disruptive) Murkrow this much was pretty impressive, all things considered. The wild Murkrow went flying back, her feathers flapping weakly in the wind, but as the enraged glint faded from her eyes, Alyssa began to feel nervous.

Shit. This probably meant the Taunt was wearing out. She opened her mouth for Icarus to do something--either to wheel far clear of the dark bird or to start thinking of the most obnoxious things he could to enrage the bird again, but Alyssa was too slow, and...

"Ahgod, I can't watch this," she groaned, watching through the cracks in her fingers as the wild Murkrow began strutting up and down in front of Icarus, clearly flaunting her little feathery body and mother of Arceus, what the hell. She'd seen Pokemon mating on the nature channel and stuff, but this was basically looked like a bad seventies-movie-esque seduction, except with birds, and that was a mental image Alyssa had never considered and never wanted to do again. She half expected to hear a sleazy saxophone playing in the background.

There was about a four percent chance that the wild Murkrow had been impressed by Icarus's strength and power (ha, strength and power?) and was now choosing him as a suitable mate, which made the mating ritual kind of weird, and there was a significantly larger chance that the Murkrow was just pretending to be super-foxy and was attempting to seduce Icarus, which made the (fake) mating ritual really grossly weird.

Then again, she'd seen infant Skitty seducing fully-grown Wailord, so there were always worse options.

Then again again, Alyssa really, really hadn't wanted to watch the somewhat G-version of PokePorn (Furries? Featheries?) when she'd woken up this morning. She could try to coax Icarus out of his attraction, as Akinai had suggested, but Alyssa was well aware that, with her level of prudish-ness, anti-seduction would have been about as useful as attempting to seduce the wild Murkrow herself.

See, this is why she'd started off the battle with a Taunt.

Keeping one hand over her face, Alyssa quickly settled for what she decided was the safest option to this situation and pulled out a Park Ball from her backpack. Since it wasn't particularly enforced or strong, and the Murkrow was clearly healthy enough to do a strip dance on her Icarus, there was a large chance that the capture would fail, but it was honestly that or playing roulette with Icarus. Taking as careful aim as she could while squinting to avoid the somewhat-disturbing-to-prudes spectacle in front of her, Alyssa threw the Park Ball toward the wild Murkrow.

"Yolo," she muttered under her breath.

 

NBP3

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere



*~~~~~~~~~*


Upon seeing the wild Murkrow's struttung, Alyssa's expression changed to one of horror. With a groan, she immediately covered her eyes with both of her hands as if afraid both birds were about to go into a full-on mating frenzy. “Ahgod, I can't watch this,” she said.


At this point, I had no idea if I was supposed to laugh at the way the Murkrow were acting or reassure Alyssa. It was a hard choice; Icarus was blankly watching his opponent circle him in what was likely an entrancing way for the species, while the Trainer looked as if she wanted to just hide in a corner. Eventually, I settled for the latter. Keeping my eyes upward so I wouldn't be tempted to make a comment on the awful display going on before us, I said, “If this is difficult for you, maybe you should recall Icarus? He probably won't listen to any attacks at this point.”


Alyssa removed one hand from her face, though still refused to look forward. Instead, she looked about in her belongings and fished out a small sphere- a Parkball. Keeping her eyes half-closed, she lobbed ball towards the flirtacious Murkrow.


Caught up in her act of keeping Icarus distracted, the Murkrow was caught completely off-guard as the Parkball hit her on the head. Whether it was due to surprise, or possibly her act of being exhausted earlier wasn't a ruse after all, the sphere barely moved at all before it gave off a soft ping.


Okay, erasing that image from my mind until the end of time...oh right, the Ball! I moved towards the still Parkball, placing the object into an empty pocket of the spare bag I had been given earlier. It had slipped my mind that I was supposed to retrieve all captures and hold onto them; after all, I was used to seeing my prior Rangers do that instead. “Right, then... I'll be holding on to any Pokemon you catch here until the end of the Run, and once we're done here they'll be returned once the proper paperwork is filled out,” I informed Alyssa. “Did you want to rest a moment, or are you ready to finally explore the Manor?”


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow
Pokemon Captured: Bashful Female Murkrow
CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow (69%)
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x2), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

The Park Ball, thankfully, clicked shut.

Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, she thought gratefully. Although she'd had some rather... interesting solutions to the wild Murkrow's Attract, she hadn't been too keen on using them.

“Right, then... I'll be holding on to any Pokemon you catch here until the end of the Run, and once we're done here they'll be returned once the proper paperwork is filled out,” Akinai said briskly, retrieving the ball from the ground and tucking it in her pack. “Did you want to rest a moment, or are you ready to finally explore the Manor?”

With the object of his "affections" gone, Icarus looked like he was slowly coming out of his daze. "I'd have recalled him, but he doesn't really... do Pokeballs, I guess." Icarus was one of those types, the over-affectionate starters that had an affinity for sitting on shoulders and generally pretending to be oodles awesomer than the rest of the team. Heh, kidding, but there tending to be an overwhelmingly large proportion of starter Pokemon that hate terminal fears of their Pokeballs. "If we're violating procedure or anything, though, I can probably coax him in there--" if I use Rikishi to beat him to a pulp until he's too exhausted to snark back... Alyssa almost added.

Still, she managed to zip up her backpack and coax Icarus back to her shoulder, although he looked momentarily confused that the love of his life had disappeared from existence entirely. The Murkrow folded his wings and closed his eyes, and Alyssa recognized the beginnings of a Roost, a non-offensive move that would allow him to recover some of the damage he'd taken from his previous battle. She couldn't quite understand how flying-types could condense and entire night's healing into a few moments, but then again, she'd seen some pretty strange stuff with Pokemon before. "If you don't mind, I think Icarus might like a few moments to recover," Alyssa said, although she was prepared to move on an interrupt Icarus's nap-trance-thing if the Ranger wished. "Sorry I was a little distracted during our introduction, by the way," she added. "I'm Alyssa, but I'm fairly certain you know that already. It's nice to meet you."

 

NBP4

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere



*~~~~~~~~~*


Icarus was finally snapping out of his daze, thanks to the object of his “affections” now out of sight. Alyssa noticed as well, looking relieved. “I'd have recalled him, but he doesn't really... do Pokeballs, I guess,” she explained. “If we're violating procedure or anything, though, I can probably coax him in there--”


“You'll be fine, don't worry,” I quickly replied, seeing that Alyssa didn't seem too happy about the idea of recalling her ornery bird. “I tend to keep a Pokemon out at all times when I visit, and my Flygon doesn't like being trapped in her Ball unless we're visiting Oktori or something.” Jade loved seeing the different regions of the park, but she hated cold.


Alyssa managed to get Icarus back up on her shoulder, the bird still looking worn out from his recent battle. The Dark-type ruffled up his feathers, settling on his perch before closing his eyes contentedly.


“If you don't mind, I think Icarus might like a few moments to recover,” Alyssa said, seeing her Pokemon's weariness. She watched the dozing bird for a few moments, than added, “Sorry I was a little distracted during our introduction, by the way. I'm Alyssa, but I'm fairly certain you know that already. It's nice to meet you.”


“Likewise, and can't say I blame you for being distracted,” I replied with a small grin. “Take all the time you need. We should still have plenty of time to explore this area.” Plus I need to decide on what Pokemon to use here, I silently added, going over which teammates I brought along. Lia was the smartest choice communication wise, but this area was supposed to be full of Ghost and Dark Pokemon. I doubt that she would panic in the Manor, but neither of us had visited before either. Finally, I settled on Gaard for now; the Absol would be good for warding away any potential hostile Pokemon, and he would be interested in seeing the area as well.


Once Icarus looked fully rested, I tossed up one of my own Pokeballs to call out my teammate. As the Pokemon fully materialized, I introduced him to the group. “Alyssa, Icarus, meet Gaard. Gaard, meet the people we're going to help out today.”


Gaard gave a small stretch as he was fully released from his Ball, then turned about as he saw the manor. Surprisingly, the Absol didn't enter his usual defensive stance when discovering something new- instead, he looked curious.


“That's new,” I said quietly, trying to gauge Gaard's reaction. There was no time to wonder about his reaction though; Icarus seemed refreshed at this point, so it was time to head out.


Thankfully, no Pokemon came flying out of the windows as we approached the Manor. Since we were already fairly close thanks to the earlier aerial fight ending up right in the shadow of the building, it took only a minute to reach the front entrance. The ancient wooden door opened easily, which was surprising- either Makina had left it unlocked, or she had recently entered with her own Trainer. Either way, that solved the issue of trying to figure out just how to enter.


As the door opened, something that appeared to be a fuzzy ball with wings dropped down in front of us. It fell to the dusty wooden floor, but quickly righted itself with a happy cry. While there were no visible eyes thanks to the thick covering of white fur that covered the creature, the heart-shaped nose it possessed made identifying it easy.


“Looks like we've been ambushed by a Woobat,” I said to Alyssa. I doubted the Trainer would go after this Pokemon, but it was still polite to wait and see...right?


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 14 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow, Woobat
Pokemon Captured: Bashful Female Murkrow
CC since last Encounter: 2196

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x2), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: I've seen some people do this, so could I just use/buy a doll if the escape roll fails and deduct money in my next post to save time?

Murkrow finished off his Roost technique, humming contently to himself as the remnants of his scuffle with the wild Murkrow slowly vanished. This was one of the only times he was ever quiet, so Alyssa was careful to savor it and took the opportunity to have a civil conversation with her Ranger that would be devoid of... Icarus, mostly.

She watched in surprise as Akinai pulled out a Pokeball and released a majestic Absol, his white fur flaring in the wind as he landed and surveyed the area curiously. His name was Gaard, apparently, and Alyssa was tempted to release her own Absol so the two could (hopefully) introduce themselves. Rikishi wasn't terribly territorial and hardly got provoked, and she doubted that Gaard was poorly trained in the slightest, but the last thing she wanted was to get her Ranger's Pokemon worked up. Furthermore, they'd come to explore the Park, not sit around shooting the breeze with really, really awesome Absol-lovers. Still, Alyssa was quite impressed. "He's beautiful," she murmured, nodding at Gaard. She was mildly curious as to why Akinai was confused about her Absol's reaction, but Alyssa dismissed the question as they began walking.

They were greeted by a large, blue ball of fluff on wings that Alyssa recognized as a Woobat. Icarus looked at it tiredly, shuffling his wings, but there was no apparent interest there. Thank Arceus. The last thing she needed was for her Murkrow to take it upon himself to battle every single Pokemon in the Park (not like he even could, anyway).

Still, Swoobat were pretty creepy, and, if she really wanted one, she could purchase a Woobat at the Pokemart for a relatively cheap price, which might've been easier than trying to capture one. She kind of wanted to see what the rest of the Manor had to offer, even if it meant letting this little guy go back on his own. "I think I'll have to pass," she said. "I heard that I can pay you for a Pokedoll in case the Pokemon decides not to leave us alone? Woobat, well." She smiled to herself. "Woobat might be the Pokemon I deserve, but he's not the one I need right now. Because you either die a hero, or--"

"Or you get face half-blown off because stupid!" Icarus crowed gleefully, flapping his wings. "Spoilers!"

 

NBP5

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere


OOC: “Icarus needs a muzzle, subtract $500 to avoid mauling by Woobat.”

*~~~~~~~~~*


Unsurprisingly, Alyssa didn't look too interested in this Pokemon. “I think I'll have to pass. I heard that I can pay you for a Pokedoll in case the Pokemon decides not to leave us alone?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the floating bat while smiling to herself. “Woobat might be the Pokemon I deserve, but he's not the one I need right now. Because you either die a hero, or--”


“Or you get face half-blown off because stupid!” Icarus cried out, flapping his wings in excitement. The Murkrow seemed to be back to his normally mouthy self, apparently. Like his Trainer though, he didn't look ready to launch himself into another fight without warning this time.


Seeing Icarus's reaction, Woobat began let out a string of high-pitched sounds, flapping its wings agitatedly. Though it was hard to tell the Pokemon's mood thanks to its eyes being hidden, it was safe to assume that it was officially annoyed at the Murkrow.


“You'd be correct,” I quickly replied to Alyssa, holding out a hand while I searched into my pack with the other. After receiving the money from her, I tossed a random Doll forward; ironically enough, it was a Zubat. Seeing the fellow bat Pokemon, Woobat immediately calmed down and latched on to the toy.


With Woobat out of the way, we were finally able to step inside the Manor proper. The interior had an archaic design, with a large staircase in front of us leading to an upper level. The nearby walls possessed multiple paintings, most of landscapes though there was a single painting of a distinguished old man- maybe the prior owner?


Paintings were not the only decoration in the room, however. Weapons lined the wall on the opposite side, ranging from polearms, swords of all sizes, and even a few maces. It was in front of one of the swords, lying in a decorative sheath, that Gaard had decided to check out first. The Absol was stiff as a board, glaring at the weapon with his white fur standing on end.


“That's not a good sign,” I muttered, approaching Gaard- and stopped in place once I got a better look at the weapon that had set him on edge. No way...Alexander? The blade looked almost exactly like a Pokemon that I had added to my team recently, but I had no idea that the cursed sword was one of the new additions to the park. While it was lying perfectly still, the eye on its pommel shut, I knew that it wasn't an ordinary object.


“If you were after Ghost Pokemon, you may want to look over here,” I said to Alyssa, trying to keep my voice quiet. “If not, we need to move.”


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 12 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow, Woobat, Honedge
Pokemon Captured: Bashful Female Murkrow
CC since last Encounter: 0

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x2), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

108,950 -500 = 108,450 (if someone is comparing this to my previous mart purchases or anything, I subtracted the 500 from my stats when I started writing this post, which was when I got grader wages, and then yeah. :>)

On second thought, quoting excellent, bat-themed movies and not having the foresight to shut up Icarus wasn't the best-laid of plans. Woobat took exceptional distaste to being told it wasn't quite the Pokemon that Alyssa needed right now, and it began flapping its wings faster and screeched loudly. Although its voice was far reedier than the wild Murkrow's, Alyssa could easily assume that she'd done goofed, so to speak.

More accurately, though, the Woobat had gotten agitated only after Icarus had taken the liberty of spoiling the rest of The Dark Knight (the bastard!). Overjoyed to have provoked such a response from his opponent, he began to lift off of Alyssa's head, beating his wings strongly as he tried to go skyward. He had, it appeared, recovered quite nicely from his battle with the Murkrow and had taken it upon himself to antagonize another innocent Pokemon at the Park.

"Some like to watch world bu--!" he began, at which point Alyssa tiredly reached up and pulled him back onto her shoulder, tapping his beak as she did so. It was their universal sign for shut up and be polite, please, and, thankfully, it seemed to impress upon Icarus that he should shut his beak for a while (or, at least, for the next five minutes; whichever came first).

"You'd be correct," Akinai said, holding out her hand.

Alyssa stared at the proferred hand in blank confusion for a moment. Was she supposed to shake it? Then, her eyes narrowed and it clicked when she saw Akinai shuffling through her backpack with the other hand. Right. Pokedolls cost money. That was a thing.

Icarus squawked in annoyance as she displaced him to search through her own backpack and pulled out a wallet, where she removed five hundred dollars. Thankfully, Icarus's blunder hadn't cost her terribly much (it was about the same price as a basic Pokeball), but if he insisted on pissing off every Pokemon they encountered, he'd end up racking up quite a tab.

The Woobat itself didn't look particularly threatening, even with its blue fur fluffed-up as large as possible, but it looked even less threatening as Akinai threw it a Zubat Doll (that was certainly on purpose, wasn't it?). The bristled-fur subsided and the screeching sounds vanished instantly, and the Woobat quickly snuggled around the toy and let the two trainers be.

Woobat weren't terribly dangerous (although, when they evolved, they were quite fast and deadly), and the Murkrow had been manageable, but if Icarus decided he had the balls to antagonize some sort of centuries-old undead ghost in the form of a sword (but that would be absurd), they would have some problems to face that would go beyond simply catching their Pokemon. Perhaps she could look into muzzling him, or, a the very least, bribing him to shut up.

However, Gaard and Akinai were already leading the way into the Manor, looking as if they'd done this sort of thing all the time, so Alyssa hurried after them. The second-to-last thing she needed was to get lost in the Manor simply because she hadn't walked fast enough to follow her Ranger. The interior of the Manor was what Alyssa had come to expect from old, haunted buildings: a large lobby-esque sort of affair, with dark, gothic-looking architecture and cobweb-draped furnishings. An old oil painting of an even older guy looked down at them from the wall, providing a nice change from the landscape paintings across the room.

And, of course, the Manor had its obligatory set of weaponry, although this one seemed strewn across the entry room. It really did feel like they were in some sort of medieval-era castle, and the presence of the rusty swords and maces sealed the deal.

Alyssa stopped examining the room, however, when she noticed a bristling Gaard approaching one of the weapons, stiff and uneasy. If something was here to make an Absol anxious, that was a very bad sign; these were the kinds of Pokemon that had a penchant for predicting earthquakes, not Woobat.

"That's not a good sign," Akinai muttered under her breath, further confirming that stuff was about to get very, very serious in a matter of moments. "If you were after a Ghost Pokemon, you may want to look over here," she added, still whispering. "If not, we need to move."

Alyssa frowned, studying the ground in front of her. She couldn't see what was the cause of alarm, especially not alarm sufficient enough to worry the Ranger and the Absol. Gaard appeared to be fixated on a particular sword lying innocenctly on the floor among the rest of the discarded weapons, this one with an elaborate blue tassel on the end that was twined around its sheath. The sword itself seemd perfectly normal, although the sheath was emblazoned with an eerie, frowning face. However, on closer inspection, Alyssa recognized the thing as--

She took an involuntary step backward, eyes widening. This was a Honedge; she could see the closed eye on the pommel and recognized the scarab-like mask carved into the sheath.

On her shoulder, she could almost sense Icarus's palpable excitement. Alyssa felt the slightest absence of his weight as he rocked forward, no doubt with his beak wide open to begin doing something that would get them all killed--

Nope. Alyssa snaked her hand up and tapped him once on the beak, and she felt him deflate again. Nope. Today they were not going to die; if they wanted to, though, pissing off a Honedge would be a fairly easy way to get them cursed, or, worse, kicked out of the Park for good. Ghost-typed Pokemon were interesting to Alyssa; she owned two already and was interested in picking up a few others, but, like most ghosts, Honedge had a tendency to have negative effects on those around them. In this case, hostile Honedge would wrap their sashes around their wielders and siphon out souls with hellfire powers. When evolved, they became no less formidable, with the ability to reverse their attacking and defensive stats as they switched between hyper-offense and hyper-defense, the unbreakable shield and the unstoppable spear combined into one. And they probably still kept the soul-sucking, destroyed everything in their paths, and killed whatever wasn't destroyed in the first place.

It was like someone had been stalking her Christmas list.

Icarus, being an agile dark-type, was a fair option for fighting the fairly immobile ghost-type. He'd already had his fair share of trouble, though, and she didn't want to tire out the bird with repeated battles--there was a reason she'd paid for extra Pokemon, after all. Astrid, her Starmie, would be nifty for non-verbal communication, but Alyssa felt uncertain sending the psychic-type against an attacker with such strong ghost-typed moves.

That left one option, then. Today was just going to be a day full of doubles, wasn't it?

Still keeping silent in an attempt not to wake the sleeping sword, Alyssa pulled out her third Pokeball and tapped the button on the center. Rikishi was never one to make noise anyway, and he appeared by her feet without so much as a growl, red eyes carefully studying the room as he maintained an impassive sitting position. He, too, stiffened when he saw the ancient blade in the corner, although he made no discernible movement and kept his paws planted squarely in place. When his crimson gaze caught Akinai's Absol in its field of view, he gravely inclined his head toward his bretheren but made no other sound.

Compared to Icarus, Rikishi was basically so quiet he could've been dead. Alyssa's Absol flicked his head back to focus on the Honedge on the ground, and he tilted the side of his head with his black scythe to one side to indicate that he was listening.

"Yes, it's a Honedge, and, yes, we're going to capture it," Alyssa mrmured under her breath. She almost added the obligatory be quiet so it doesn't notice us, but this was Rikishi she was talking about, after all. "Set up a Double Team, and then fire off a Will-o-Wisp. Hang back and scout it out first, and try to avoid getting too close to it if you can."

Truth be told, Alyssa knew very little about Honedge. They were recently discovered in ruins far away from where she lived, and while the soul-sucking ability had been pretty new in the pokemon researching community, nothing she'd read or encountered before had given her specific advice on how to combat a Honedge, let alone capture it. She figured that a good start would be to stay out of range of its blade, and while Rikishi had much stronger melee attacks, he was probably fast enough to get in and out--how fast could an animated sword be, anyway?

As it was, the Absol began to blur as if he were vibrating very quickly, and then he leapt to one side. However, a calmly sitting, white-furred Absol remained perched by Alyssa's feet, even as Rikishi landed several feet away, returning to his sitting position once more before preparing to leap away again. With any luck, he would be able to set up several illusory copies of himself in a circle around the Honedge. While the illusions would disappear as soon as they were hit, they provided a good deal of cover and could sometimes confuse enemy Pokemon. Some Pokemon could only attack one target at a time, meaning they would have to hit one copy and hope that it was the real Pokemon, which was why the move was banned in competitive battling: it left too much up to luck. However, more experienced Pokemon or even those with wider-ranged attacks could hit the field and clear all of the copies at once, meaning that the move itself was quite risky.

The Will-o-Wisp was quite important, though. Alyssa wouldn't typically risk using such a move indoors--there were drawbacks, she assumed, to unintentionally lighting buildings on fire--although the stone floor and walls of the Mansion looked as if they offered remedial protection from fire. Will-o-Wisp wasn't so much as a wide burst of fire as a controlled pulse of flames, meant to cause lasting and residual rather than brief and powerful damage. It was the only fire-typed move that Rikishi knew, although he'd gotten quite proficient at generating the tiny blue balls of spectral flames in a circle around him and aiming them at the opponent. With any luck, she'd be able to get a burn on the Honedge--could you even burn a sword? What did that look like?--and then they could see how things would go from there.

 

BP1 (vs Honedge)

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere


OOC: Honedge gender?

*~~~~~~~~~*


It took a moment for Alyssa to discern just what I was talking about- considering not many Pokemon possessed weapons, this was understandable. Once her eyes rested on the dormant sword however, the young woman jumped back as if the woman had suddenly caught fire.


Icarus, on the other hand, reacted in glee. The oddball Murkrow flapped its wings excitedly, opening his beak with what was likely a phrase from yet another film (just what movies were these from, anyways?) Thankfully for everyone involved, Alyssa moved quickly and tapped the bird on the beak, somehow silencing whatever remark he was about to make.


Alyssa kept her eyes on the slumbering blade, likely trying to decide which strategy would be the best to use in this situation. I couldn't blame her; obtaining Alexander had been a hard battle thanks to the insane amount of damage he dished out, and if this Trainer had prior knowledge about this same type of Pokemon she was probably weighing her options. Finally, Alyssa silently retrieved one of her Pokeballs and tapped the sphere in the center, releasing the creature within.


A white burst of light shone forth, revealing what looked to be a near mirror image of Gaard. Unlike my teammate, however, this Absol seemed to be less on edge about its surroundings and looked about in a more dignified manner. The flash got Gaard's attention, and he turned about. Seeing the fellow Absol, he nodded his head slightly in acknowledgment before moving out of the way.


Once Alyssa's Absol greeted Gaard in turn (as well as froze up once it noticed the nearby wild Pokemon,) the Trainer finally spoke, keeping her voice low as well. “Yes, it's a Honedge, and, yes, we're going to capture it. Set up a Double Team, and then fire off a Will-o-Wisp. Hang back and scout it out first, and try to avoid getting too close to it if you can.”


So, they're called Honedge? I watched the Absol break off into multiple images, mulling over this new information. Alexander had never told me just what he was supposed to be, though whether it was due to stubbornness or the blade simply had no idea I had no idea. The fact that these things had an actual species name meant they weren't exactly unknown though, which was more than a little unsettling. Just how many were out there- hell, even in this Park? Still, there was something about Absol's Double Team that seemed wrong. Not the move, mind you...prior experience was trying to remind me that the technique was a poor choice.


It was at this point that the pommel on Honedge began to blink, the sword finally awoken. Still drowsy, it watched Absol's move with mild disinterest. Once it saw that its adversary was done with whatever he was planning though, the Ghost-type finally acted. Instead of appearing worried, the blade let out a short, unseemly chuckling sound. The noise sounded almost similar to clashing blades, but there was no denying the derision in its voice. It hovered off the wall, still in pommel, and unerringly headed towards the Absol image on the far right.


Seeing Honedge moving about in certainty, it finally clicked. The sword was able to strike without fail! I had noticed it before Alexander had fully evolved, but had forgotten this quirk since he seemed to have lost it once he had somehow obtained a shield. “Careful, it can always pinpoint its opponent!” I called out in warning to Alyssa.


Honedge had finally reached the Absol, and was now whispering something to the Dark-type. Whatever the statement had been, it appeared to startle him, lowering his guard for the battle. Shaken or not, he was still able to retaliate; the Disaster Pokemon released an ember of cobalt flame, launching it without fail at the wild Pokemon. The fire seared the blade, leaving a nasty burn on its pommel and tassel.


Shuddering from the burn, Honedge backed away defensively. Its single eye closed in concentration, and a rose-colored sheen covered its body as it coated its body for added protection. For the time being, the Absol's physical moves would do much less damage. Once this was completed, the Ghost-type moved aggressively towards Absol; approaching closer, it finally unsheathed itself and was now swinging its blade in a downward arc.


*~~~~~~~~~*

Battle Statistics:

Serious Male Absol: 100%, EVA+1, SATK-1, (used Double Team, Will-o-Wisp)
??? ??? Honedge: 95%, BRN, REFLECT-1 (used Confide, Reflect, using Brick Break)


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 12 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow, Woobat, Honedge
Pokemon Captured: Bashful Female Murkrow
CC since last Encounter: 10,340/25,000

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x2), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

OOC: Male, please.

"Careful, it can always pinpoint its opponent!" Akinai shouted as the Honedge spun with unerring accuracy to point at the copy of Rikishi on the right, which was most likely the real one.

Right. A Pokemon called Honeedge would most likely be able to hone itself onto its opponents. Derp. Derp.

Meanwhile, the Honedge had leaned in to Rikishi and was making little mumbling sounds from its mouth (Honedge had mouths? Whether she was going to use the Honedge in battle or not, there was just so much to learn from Pokemon that had barely been studied). Rikishi, unfortunately, was a little off-put from whatever the Honedge had said--at first, Alyssa might've mistaken the Honedge's actions for another Taunt, but it lacked the jaunty sort of flair that she associated with Icarus's style of attacking.

Whatever the move, Rikishi didn't seem to have the enraged reaction that Alyssa would've associated with a Taunted Pokemon, so there was that. She frowned. The Absol looked a little uneasy, but he didn't seem enraged, which was a good sign. He might've been uncertain about attacking the Honedge from a distance now, but Rikishi had never been specifically inclined to use long-ranged attacks anyhow.

However, by that point, the Honedge had covered itelf in a reflective shield that no doubt meant they'd have difficulty attacking it. It had also taken the liberty of isolating the actual Absol and had finally removed itself from its sheath, no doubt preparing to use some sort of physical attack.

Rikishi wasn't a particularly bulky Pokemon, and Alyssa didn't want him taking damage unless was absolutely necessary (and even then, she never liked seeing him hurt). They needed to get out quickly before the Honedge finished attacking, and then she could consider a counter-attack. The Honedge had a head start on them, though. She didn't know if they could attack quickly enough before--

Attack quickly enough

Attack quickly

"Rikishi, use Quick Attack right on it!" Alyssa shouted. The Honedge was a ghost, really, and the sword's being possessed granted the steel immunity from a lot of normal attacks, like punches or kicking. An attack like Quick Attack, which was little more than a souped-up Tackle, would have the same effect, hopefully; Alyssa had seen normal-typed attacks pass straight through ghosts.

And that was the plan. She didn't expect Rikishi to be able to dodge out of the way; she didn't want to force him to try to go faster than the Honedge and still get caught on the tail end of an attack.

Then again, charging straight through into the attack was hardly any better off, so there was always that risk. Alyssa was banking on the idea that Rikishi would at least be able to generate enough speed to avoid the bulk of Honedge's sword (avoiding all of the attack, Alyssa knew, was never entirely an option) and pass through the Honedge, hopefully disorienting it for a little bit. While the Honedge seemed to be unfazed by attacks like Double Team, it might not expect its enemy to charge right through it and pass through its body. Hopefully.

"When you get behind it, fire off a Night Slash, Keep your distance as best as you can," Alyssa added. She didn't want to distract Rikishi by overwhelming him with multiple commands; her first priority was making sure that Rikishi took as little damage when fighting the Honedge as possible, but she knew she would need to whittle down the Honedge's health in order to capture it.

The Absol had already bent his legs and was gathering energy even as the Honedge was preparing to strike. The signature white glow of Quick Attack gathered around Rikishi's hanuches, and he prepared to lunge forward.

The whole "when you get clear" was a hopeful thing, but even if Rikishi took damage, Alyssa trusted that he was serious enough to continue attacking even if he got hurt. Night Slash was one of his more signature moves, in that he tended to use it fairly often. The Absol had always had a knack for finding the gaps in a Pokemon's defenses, somehow hitting them for more damage than normal. Alyssa surmised that it was due in part to Rikishi's highly analytical nature and as well as the natural ability of his species to sense danger. Alyssa hadn't had a chance to battle Absol all that often, so she couldn't say if they had this knack, but she did know that moves like Night Slash seemed to help Rikishi find those gaps in a Pokemon's defenses more easily.

Rikishi tended to gather the dark energy he used in his Night Slash in the roots of his claws, causing them to glow purple and elongate, almost as if he'd created claws of darkness. It was a pretty badass technique when pulled off properly, actually. The attack was basically exactly what it said on the tin: Rikishi would gather dark energy, and then he would slash. No gimmicks, no sparkles, no flair. If Alyssa squinted, she could almost see the faintest glow of purple already gathering in Rikishi's claws, but he would have to clear the Honedge before he could get a chance to do solid damage in safety.

 

BP2 (vs Honedge)

Ranger Sub Akinai Sere

*~~~~~~~~~*


To Alyssa's credit, she reacted quickly; rather than hesitate at seeing Honedge finally unsheathe itself, she ordered her Absol to act in turn. “Rikishi, use Quick Attack right on it!”


The Absol (correction, Rikishi,) met the blade head-on, using the scythe on his head to both ram and deflect the oncoming attack. The two attacks clashed, creating a ringing sound and placing the two Pokemon in a momentary stalemate. Neither refused to give in- even though Honedge was obviously hurting from its burn, the Reflect barrier was still going strong. With Rikishi unable to break through and Honedge weakened, both were forced to grudgingly back off.


I watched Alyssa to see her reaction, curious if she knew that Rikishi's attack had gone as planned. While Honedge was a spirit that possessed a sword, it still had a solid body. Ordering a Normal-typed against a Ghost would normally be ineffective, but in this case... well, it would be interesting to see if the Trainer would pull off any more out-of-the-ordinary moves.


Some of Honedge's confidence appeared to have disappeared, for it began backing away- an odd move for an offensive Pokemon. Rikishi, on the other hand, looked ready for more as it stood confidently in place. The other Absol-images were still in place, though they seemed almost out of place as the two combatants were looking right at each other.


“When you get behind it, fire off a Night Slash. Keep your distance as best as you can,” Alyssa commanded. Apparently the Trainer wished to play it safe as well.


Despite the slight distance, Rikishi was able to easily dash behind Honedge; Absol were fairly quick, and I doubted possessed swords were known for their speed. Once he was in place, the Disaster Pokemon's claws began to shine midnight-black with channeled Dark energy. With ease, he was able to slash the sword with a single powerful swipe.


The barrier around Honedge flickered from the strike, managing to absorb some of the damage. Still, it did a number on the Ghost Pokemon. It whirled about, trying to back away once more as the eye on its pommel narrowed in anger.


Why does it keep backing away? If Alexander was any proof of the species, Honedge were all about keeping close to their opponent and attacking with little worry to their own being. Either this one was overly cautious, or was up to something.


Finally, Honedge's plan was revealed. Its eye began to glow, and seconds later a white beam of light shot forth from the pommel. The blast shot directly at Rikishi and one of the images in the way, catching the Absol off-guard and knocking him off his feet. As the Dark Pokemon picked himself off the ground, it was easy to tell that he was more startled than hurt.


*~~~~~~~~~*

Battle Statistics:

Serious Male Absol: 85%, EVA+1, SATK-1, (used Quick Attack, Night Slash)
??? Male Honedge: 72%, BRN, REFLECT-3 (used Brick Break, Flash Cannon)


*~~~~~~~~~*

Trainer Stats:

Name: Alyssa Tanenbrae
Location: Ruined Manor
Area Effects: 12 Encounters remaining
Weather: Indoors
Pokemon Encountered: Murkrow, Woobat, Honedge
Pokemon Captured: Bashful Female Murkrow
CC since last Encounter: 15,386/25,000

Pokemon Statistics:

Pokemon: Murkrow
Nickname: Icarus
Gender: Male
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Quirky
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Toxic, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Protect, Roost

Pokemon: Absol
Nickname: Rikishi
Gender: Male
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Serious
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Stone Edge, X-Scissor


Pokemon: Starmie
Nickname: Astrid
Gender: GL
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Gentle
TM/HM/BM/SM/MT: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power (Fire), Psyshock


Items: Lava Cookie, Energy Root, Park Ball (x2), Super Ball (x3), Hyper Ball (x3), Digital Camera


*~~~~~~~~~*

 

Yeah, perhaps hey let's run straight toward it hadn't been the best idea in hindsight, but it worked out decently well. Rikishi had possessed (heh, possessed) the foresight to keep his scythe in a defensive position, and it had been that action that had shielded him from a nasty blow. The Honedge, despite being burned, could maintain the stalemate for a while, and Alyssa finally understood why--it must have used Reflect earlier, and the barrier was giving it remarkable strength. Otherwise, Rikishi's powerful attacks would probably tear the blade asunder like Narsil or something.

Heh, not really, but it was fun to think that way.

Well, yeah, in hindsight it'd been an atrocious idea to go with the hey let's run straight toward it approach, but Rikishi managed to fire off what looked like a pretty powerful Night Slash with a swipe of his claws, so there was that. The Reflect barrier mitigated some of the damage (again), but it would eventually have to fall, so Alyssa wasn't too fussed with that. The bigger worry was juggling around the Honedge.

As far as she knew, Honedge were physical attackers. That was what the literature said; besides, it wasn't like a sword was going to shoot mystical rainbow cannons of light from its face and--

Alyssa paused to watch the sword-Pokemon shoot a mystical rainbow cannon of light from its face.

Rikishi stumbled back from the force of the blow but managed to pick himself up fairly quickly; the blow hadn't been particularly powerful, just unexpected. Granted, Alyssa hadn't been expecting a rainbow cannon of mystical light (Flash Cannon, her brain told her wearily, with the air of "my god did we actually try the hey let's run straight toward it strategy") either, but she also wasn't the one on the receiving end of the attack. The Absol didn't seem too phased by the attack, but Alyssa didn't want to let that put her off guard: Rikishi, unlike Icarus or Astrid, didn't know any move that would replenish his health, so every chip of damage that he took would be permanent for the rest of the trip (barring her healing items, but those seemed precious).

However, that helped back up Alyssa's theory quite well: Honedge couldn't attack well from a distance, which meant that all she really had to do was stay far enough away from the Honedge that it was forced to use long-ranged attacks or try to come into Rikishi's range. Unfortunately, Rikishi also couldn't attack well from a distance, and most of his ranged techniques were normal-typed moves--which, as he had just proven, would have some effect on the possessed sword, but they would have the same effect as trying to tackle a lump of steel might.

Still, perhaps whittling the Honedge down from afar would be a good plan, and planning ahead for once would be pretty useful. Alyssa mentally ran through the long-distance moves that Rikishi knew that would be mildly useful. The Honedge didn't seem to be attacking at the moment, which gave Alyssa perhaps half a second to think of a plan. "Back off, Rikishi," she called. "We'll try picking it off at a distance, so try to stay as far away from it as possible." The Absol-doubles were still sitting around the room, inanimate, and Alyssa mentally tabbed those for nefarious tricks in the future. "Start charging up a Razor Wind, but lace in a Thunder Wave as well when you've got the energy. If the Honedge tries to attack you, force it back as best as you can with the wind, okay?"

The Absol nodded grimly and began to focus, gathering up his energy as quickly as possible. Razor Wind was an interesting technique: it required the user to charge up for a moment before being viable, so it wasn't always the most useful attack. However, when fully charged, the attack formed miniature tornadoes that could do devastating damage; Rikishi, while preferring physical attacks, didn't mind this kind of long-ranged style. Alyssa noticed the rippling in the air around Rikishi's jet-black scythe that harbinged the formation of his electricity; while he couldn't quite master powerful electric-attacks yet (which was due more to a lack of money for technical machines rather than a lack of skill or effort on the Absol's part), Thunder Wave was a weaker attack that was meant to jolt rather than to shock: in essence, it was intended to cause long-term paralysis rather than sudden damage.

Rikishi would, with any luck, be able to direct the electricity into the Razor Wind. Alyssa knew from casual watchings of the weather channel that fast moving air actually generated a current of its own, sort off--that was the scientifically accepted theory behind the formation of lightning (apparently, claiming that Zapdos was the source of all thunder wasn't scientifically viable, to Professor Oak's dismay). Inherently, moving clouds had a static charge of their own, albeit a minute one that typically didn't have much of an affect: there was a reason, of course, why thunderclouds generated lightning but were not brimming with electricity. However, the inherent charge would hopefully be enough for Rikishi to get the electricity to "stick" inside of the cloud, so to speak.

As Rikishi prepared his next attack, though, Alyssa knew it was only a matter of time before the plans started unraveling.