OP
- Pokédex No.
- 169
- Caught
- Jun 30, 2019
- Messages
- 309
- Nature
- Lonely
- Pronouns
- He/him
- Pokémon Type
-
- Dark
- Dragon
- Thread Starter
- #141
There was just one Challenge left before they could move on to Ambrette and Cyllage.
And judging from the despondent looks from two of the groups who'd tried to beat it before Julian and Eurwen, it was going to be a rough one.
They stayed together rather than split up this time – not that they had much choice; unlike the previous caves, this time there was only one way to go.
The camera drones zooming past them to provide a dramatic shot of the four red-suited figures turning around in unison to face the two teams did somewhat give away that they were the major opponents.
One of the four stepped forwards, with a dramatic pose that Eurwen had to struggle to not laugh at. "Well, well, what do we have here? A nosy little trainer has come poking around."
The next one of the four stepped up with a pose of her own. "Listen up! We don't care one bit about what happens to other people or Pokemon!"
"Our goal is to make it so that we're the only ones who are happy!"
"We're gonna take everyone else down so we can do what we want!"
Now they all spoke in unison. "We're the fashionable team whose very name makes people tremble in fear!" The four took another step forwards, striking identical poses as they raised their voices. "Team Flare!"
Eurwen's amusement vanished.
"Time out!" One of the League adjudicators stepped forwards. "This battle will be against your four opponents simultaneously. Competitors, you may each select four Pokemon to use during the battle."
Eurwen barely even reacted to the announcement. Steph stepped forwards and put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the Essence raging. "What is it?" she asked quietly.
Eurwen tilted her head to look at Steph. There was a hollowness in her eyes. "Mega Evolution. The Snorlax gatekeeper. I mean, sure, basically no-one knew about them. But this?" She gestured with one hand to the four red-suited Pokemon. "'Team Flare'? Everyone in Kanto is going to know that they're a parody. They're copying everything that happened in Kanto and turning it into…into a show."
Julian shifted uneasily, remembering what Trevor had mentioned, when they'd first met Eurwen. The turmoil in Kanto had involved some kind of powerful weapon. Just like the mysterious hints about a powerful weapon in the League's story.
Steph hugged Eurwen gently. "This is what they do," she said, quietly. "They take bad things that have happened in the real world and make them plot points. A few years ago, a tsunami hit Hoenn. The next year, the League story was about protecting Kalos from this made-up super-charged Water Pokemon."
"Why?!"
"It's always been controversial, but they've always kept doing it because…you get to be heroes in the League. I mean…" She paused for a moment, putting a hand on Eurwen's cheek. "Don't take this the wrong way, but…you couldn't stop what happened in Kanto, could you? You couldn't stop Giovanni."
Eurwen didn't say anything.
"But here…your character in the League can stop them."
Eurwen met her gaze for a long while. "Okay." She closed her eyes for a few moments, resting her head against Steph's, and Steph snuck a kiss in before backing off, making Eurwen smile. She took a deep breath. "Okay," she repeated quietly, before raising her voice and looking back to her team.
This wasn't like Kanto. She had her friends behind her here.
"Einar, Cyr, Cory, Kirstin." She gave an apologetic look to Miro and Lena, but the four she'd chosen covered each other well.
Julian had evidently gone for a similar idea, leaving out Sandra and Quacklin' – although Eurwen couldn't help but notice that Lisa looked a little nervous at the prospect of getting involved in what was clearly a difficult fight.
The sound of the countdown echoed through the artificial cave. Julian raised his Pokedex, waiting for the moment that the option to scan their opponents became available, peering over the holographic screen so he could watch the battle proper.
Fortunately, the first move the four Flare Pokemon did once the battle started was to strike another pose, which gave Julian the chance to look through his Pokedex. "Houndour, Zubat, Gulpin and Scraggy!" he reported.
"Cory, Kirstin, swap round." This wasn't a good fight for Cyr to be in, but she'd have to make do. At least he was already facing the Scraggy alongside Sam.
If Kirstin was surprised at being pulled away from a fight with a Fire-type, she was used enough to Eurwen's style of commanding to not question it, swapping with Cory as he came charging past with dragonfire burning in his eyes. "Now Confusion!"
She raised her hands – and the Gulpin man opened his mouth impossibly wide in a yawn, and she found herself stumbling, Essence fading away, and he grinned and tossed a ball of concentrated Poison Essence sideways at Cyr –
And Einar swiped it out of the air with burning claws, wincing as it splattered over him instead, and Cyr nodded his thanks and turned back to face the Scraggy, who ran at Sam and struck the Braixen with a powerful arm chop that left him stumbling before she got snagged in Cyr's vines and thrown back.
The Houndour man hadn't even tried to fight Cory – instead he'd backed off and gone after Lisa and Kamon instead, spitting horrible clouds of toxic smog over them. The battle was filled with the artificial flashes of transmitted Essence as Julian beamed Antidotes at the duo, but even with his Type advantage the Panpour couldn't match the Houndour's powerful attacks, and Julian frantically scrolling through the list of items he'd acquired until he found an X Defend and transmitted it to Kamon, trying to keep up with the moving battles and the Essence readouts on his Pokedex at the same time.
Cory circled around and went for the Zubat when the Poison-Type grew bat wings and tried to dive at Lisa, giving the Flabebe the freedom to move and send a spray of coruscating light at the Scraggy who was bound in Cyr's vines.
"Confusion!" Julian wasn't even sure who Eurwen was talking to until he noticed Kirstin shaking off the effects of the Gulpin's yawn and sending a Psychic wave at the Zubat as Cory knocked him off-balance. The Gulpin turned back to face her – and Artie nailed him with a Psybeam that blasted him halfway across the room.
That just left the Houndour, and though even with the X Defend Kamon had still barely been able to take him on, an eight-on-one battle was only going to end one way.
Julian breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the Houndour's Essence faded. Eurwen moved over to heal Einar with an Antidote before she got pulled aside by Steph.
"Feel better? Taking on the totally-not-…uh, whoever they were in reality?"
"Rocket. And…" Eurwen looked back at the Flare actors as they moved away – the Gulpin was rubbing his side where Artie's Psybeam had hit. A little smile flickered on her face for a moment. "Yeah. I guess I do."
And judging from the despondent looks from two of the groups who'd tried to beat it before Julian and Eurwen, it was going to be a rough one.
They stayed together rather than split up this time – not that they had much choice; unlike the previous caves, this time there was only one way to go.
The camera drones zooming past them to provide a dramatic shot of the four red-suited figures turning around in unison to face the two teams did somewhat give away that they were the major opponents.
One of the four stepped forwards, with a dramatic pose that Eurwen had to struggle to not laugh at. "Well, well, what do we have here? A nosy little trainer has come poking around."
The next one of the four stepped up with a pose of her own. "Listen up! We don't care one bit about what happens to other people or Pokemon!"
"Our goal is to make it so that we're the only ones who are happy!"
"We're gonna take everyone else down so we can do what we want!"
Now they all spoke in unison. "We're the fashionable team whose very name makes people tremble in fear!" The four took another step forwards, striking identical poses as they raised their voices. "Team Flare!"
Eurwen's amusement vanished.
"Time out!" One of the League adjudicators stepped forwards. "This battle will be against your four opponents simultaneously. Competitors, you may each select four Pokemon to use during the battle."
Eurwen barely even reacted to the announcement. Steph stepped forwards and put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the Essence raging. "What is it?" she asked quietly.
Eurwen tilted her head to look at Steph. There was a hollowness in her eyes. "Mega Evolution. The Snorlax gatekeeper. I mean, sure, basically no-one knew about them. But this?" She gestured with one hand to the four red-suited Pokemon. "'Team Flare'? Everyone in Kanto is going to know that they're a parody. They're copying everything that happened in Kanto and turning it into…into a show."
Julian shifted uneasily, remembering what Trevor had mentioned, when they'd first met Eurwen. The turmoil in Kanto had involved some kind of powerful weapon. Just like the mysterious hints about a powerful weapon in the League's story.
Steph hugged Eurwen gently. "This is what they do," she said, quietly. "They take bad things that have happened in the real world and make them plot points. A few years ago, a tsunami hit Hoenn. The next year, the League story was about protecting Kalos from this made-up super-charged Water Pokemon."
"Why?!"
"It's always been controversial, but they've always kept doing it because…you get to be heroes in the League. I mean…" She paused for a moment, putting a hand on Eurwen's cheek. "Don't take this the wrong way, but…you couldn't stop what happened in Kanto, could you? You couldn't stop Giovanni."
Eurwen didn't say anything.
"But here…your character in the League can stop them."
Eurwen met her gaze for a long while. "Okay." She closed her eyes for a few moments, resting her head against Steph's, and Steph snuck a kiss in before backing off, making Eurwen smile. She took a deep breath. "Okay," she repeated quietly, before raising her voice and looking back to her team.
This wasn't like Kanto. She had her friends behind her here.
"Einar, Cyr, Cory, Kirstin." She gave an apologetic look to Miro and Lena, but the four she'd chosen covered each other well.
Julian had evidently gone for a similar idea, leaving out Sandra and Quacklin' – although Eurwen couldn't help but notice that Lisa looked a little nervous at the prospect of getting involved in what was clearly a difficult fight.
The sound of the countdown echoed through the artificial cave. Julian raised his Pokedex, waiting for the moment that the option to scan their opponents became available, peering over the holographic screen so he could watch the battle proper.
Fortunately, the first move the four Flare Pokemon did once the battle started was to strike another pose, which gave Julian the chance to look through his Pokedex. "Houndour, Zubat, Gulpin and Scraggy!" he reported.
"Cory, Kirstin, swap round." This wasn't a good fight for Cyr to be in, but she'd have to make do. At least he was already facing the Scraggy alongside Sam.
If Kirstin was surprised at being pulled away from a fight with a Fire-type, she was used enough to Eurwen's style of commanding to not question it, swapping with Cory as he came charging past with dragonfire burning in his eyes. "Now Confusion!"
She raised her hands – and the Gulpin man opened his mouth impossibly wide in a yawn, and she found herself stumbling, Essence fading away, and he grinned and tossed a ball of concentrated Poison Essence sideways at Cyr –
And Einar swiped it out of the air with burning claws, wincing as it splattered over him instead, and Cyr nodded his thanks and turned back to face the Scraggy, who ran at Sam and struck the Braixen with a powerful arm chop that left him stumbling before she got snagged in Cyr's vines and thrown back.
The Houndour man hadn't even tried to fight Cory – instead he'd backed off and gone after Lisa and Kamon instead, spitting horrible clouds of toxic smog over them. The battle was filled with the artificial flashes of transmitted Essence as Julian beamed Antidotes at the duo, but even with his Type advantage the Panpour couldn't match the Houndour's powerful attacks, and Julian frantically scrolling through the list of items he'd acquired until he found an X Defend and transmitted it to Kamon, trying to keep up with the moving battles and the Essence readouts on his Pokedex at the same time.
Cory circled around and went for the Zubat when the Poison-Type grew bat wings and tried to dive at Lisa, giving the Flabebe the freedom to move and send a spray of coruscating light at the Scraggy who was bound in Cyr's vines.
"Confusion!" Julian wasn't even sure who Eurwen was talking to until he noticed Kirstin shaking off the effects of the Gulpin's yawn and sending a Psychic wave at the Zubat as Cory knocked him off-balance. The Gulpin turned back to face her – and Artie nailed him with a Psybeam that blasted him halfway across the room.
That just left the Houndour, and though even with the X Defend Kamon had still barely been able to take him on, an eight-on-one battle was only going to end one way.
Julian breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the Houndour's Essence faded. Eurwen moved over to heal Einar with an Antidote before she got pulled aside by Steph.
"Feel better? Taking on the totally-not-…uh, whoever they were in reality?"
"Rocket. And…" Eurwen looked back at the Flare actors as they moved away – the Gulpin was rubbing his side where Artie's Psybeam had hit. A little smile flickered on her face for a moment. "Yeah. I guess I do."
Cyr - Quilladin, Male, Overgrow, Naive, Capable of Taking Hits
Miro - Butterfree, Male, Compound Eyes, Naughty, Sturdy Body
Kirstin - Psyduck, Female, Damp, Docile, Alert to Sounds
Lena - Skitty, Female, Cute Charm, Impish, Impetuous and Silly
Einar - Charmeleon, Male, Blaze, Hardy, A Little Quick Tempered
Cory - Axew, Male, Mold Breaker, Serious, Good Perserverance
Miro - Butterfree, Male, Compound Eyes, Naughty, Sturdy Body
Kirstin - Psyduck, Female, Damp, Docile, Alert to Sounds
Lena - Skitty, Female, Cute Charm, Impish, Impetuous and Silly
Einar - Charmeleon, Male, Blaze, Hardy, A Little Quick Tempered
Cory - Axew, Male, Mold Breaker, Serious, Good Perserverance
Shaw - Bunnelby, Male, Pickup, Relaxed, Somewhat Vain
Sam - Braixen, Male, Blaze, Lonely, Likes to Thrash About
Artie - Vivillon, Female, Shield Dust, Modest, Sturdy Body
Kamon - Panpour, Male, Gluttony, Relaxed, Loves to Eat
Quacklin' - Farfetch'd, Male, Keen Eye, Jolly, Alert to Sounds
Sandra - Roselia, Female, Natural Cure, Brave, Proud of its Power
Lisa - Flabebe, Female, Flower Veil, Quirky, Strong Willed
Artie - Vivillon, Female, Shield Dust, Modest, Sturdy Body
Kamon - Panpour, Male, Gluttony, Relaxed, Loves to Eat
Quacklin' - Farfetch'd, Male, Keen Eye, Jolly, Alert to Sounds
Sandra - Roselia, Female, Natural Cure, Brave, Proud of its Power
Lisa - Flabebe, Female, Flower Veil, Quirky, Strong Willed
Lola - Azumarill, Female, Thick Fat, Quiet, Somewhat Vain
