Summer Camp at Goldenrod

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ajax stares as the battle winds down and blinks when Jamie saltily calls her partner back. She has trouble believing it. "...good? Good! All done, Anorith! You did it!"

The bug cautiously emerges from its cover as it confirms the situation. Exhausted, it then falls into the water and lazily drifts back to the starting area, chirping happily. Ajax retrieves his ball from the field, then picks him up out of the moat into a hug. Muddy water soaks into her clothes. She doesn't care. "Come on. Let's get you healed up."

[Lorrel]

As the training staff moves in to examine he Slowpoke, Constance lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in. When she had seen the Slowpoke continue moving after the last barrage she thought for certain she had erred.

Tru on the other hand did not quite seem to grasp what had happened to his playmate and wandered on over as the Slowpoke was being checked. Tru gently tapped the pink thing a few times, and after getting no response shrugged and decided to join his friend for a nap. Snuggling up against the pink pillow, Tru immediately fell asleep.

Blushing furiously, Constance made her way over to collect the napping Tru, apologizing to the other trainer. "Oh no, I am sooo sorry," Constance says as she quickly but gently scoops up the napping sloth and puts him in her bag. "That was a great battle! I thought I was done for there at the end when your Slowpoke kept on coming."

Waving goodbye to the other trainer, Constance heads off to get Tru some healing. The win meant she had another battle today, and Tru was in rough shape.

[CosmicOccurence]

Bors stumbled, almost falling into unconciousness at the blow. He didn't have much left in him, so Margret abandoned her plan in a panic. Just punch him Bors! and so the Whismur lashed out, ignoring his training to use ranged attacks and its vocal cords, relying on its weak muscles. But maybe it would be enough.

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Focused Orders!

Pound (1d20+2)[4] AC 2
(2d8+11)[13]

[CateranEnforcer]

Margaret
Bors stumbles as he make his weak attack and it barely grazes the more physically inclined Bidoof. Both pokemon are at their very limits but for the Bidoof that is the final straw as it dizzily collapses. The referee declares you the winner and a mild cheer rises up from the crowd. Your opponent, Joey looks crestfallen after his defeat, but you see Whitney walking over and speak to him. Gawain's keen ears can hear that she is complimenting his Bidoof's Rollout and offering encouragement. You, on the other hand, advance to the next round.

Constance
Sam replies,"Yeah it was fun! I was afraid we'd be watching a nap! I've been meaning to ask, do I know you from somewhere. School maybe?"

All
Most of the battles have already wrapped up by the time you finish. The three of you find yourselves steered together by the foot traffic heading back to the pokemon center. Eight trainers remain to battle in the next round this evening, who are given priority at the Pokemon center. It doesn't take too long before they are returned to you, but there's still about one more hour before you go back on the field to spend how you wish.

You have a chance to check in on your next opponents as well. Ajax is fighting Charlotte's Houndour which seems to be rated an even type match. Constance is up against Justin and his Joltik, another even type match. Margaret, however, seems to be battling a Makuhita, a clear type disadvantage allowing her the choice of arena.

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25 exp to your baby!

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

At the pokemon center, Ajax sets down her long-armed rock-throwing baby on the counter next to Constance's. Anorith pokes Tru awake, raises a claw and jitters for 20 seconds in anticipation of a high five.

She could have picked out Jamie from the crowd and found her, but didn't see the point. Jamie wouldn't want to talk to the trainer who broke her glass cannon right now, and Ajax can't break the ice in the best of circumstances. Her cabinmates find her playing on her camera trying to shake off the residual awkwardness.

[Lorrel]

Constance winced internally as Sam asked about school. There was no point in hiding it, that would only create problem later.

Yeah I was worried about Yawnathon, but this match was great. I used to go to Pokemon Tech, so maybe that is where you recognize me from. I generally kept to myself but we may have crossed paths in the halls or something.



On their way to get their partners patched up, Constance congratulates her cabinmates.

Great job! I can't believe we all won our first round matches. I figured Tru would nap through the first round to an early exit but he put up a great fight. How did your matches go?

Glancing at her next opponent Constance shook her head with a sigh. Joltik is a great lockdown specialist, and Tru isn't the biggest on movement to begin with. Definitely do not want to watch him drown on a water map.
Constance selects Water as the map she does not want to battle on.

[CosmicOccurence]

With Gawain's help, Margret walked up to Bors, who was toppling and on the edge of blacking out. She was quivering in excitement. She'd done it. She still didn't really believe it, but it had happened.

Good work Bors, she whispered, picking him up into her arms. Now let's go get you patched up.

----

Thanks, she responded to Constance. I don't really know how, but we managed to pull through. All credit to Bors of course.

When confronted by the choice of battle map, Margret thought long and hard. Well grass is obviously the wrong choice here ... do I go to water to try and keep some distance, or do I try and use rocky terrain to help out?

I think we'll go rocky terrain. Let's see if we can make it through another battle, huh Bors?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Mine was pretty quick," says Ajax about her own match. "Anorith's good at taking cover in mud. Got Charlotte next, she probably won't let us use that stage again."

She keeps the grass arena banned, if only because of her personal affinity for rocky places.

"Should be a good chance to try out that move you and Tru taught us, Constance. Anything you want me to tell her before we start using it on her dog?"

[CateranEnforcer]

It's not too long before your pokemon are returned to you, fully restored through the advanced healing technology. Still, you know that you can't overuse the pokemon center for healing which is likely why further matches will take place tomorrow. Additionally, while your babies are free of injury, they still are a bit tired from the day's events so far.

While waiting around at the pokemon center, you can see some of the other trainers gathered around. Joey comes by briefly, offering Margaret, "Congratulations on your win. I thought it was a good battle." Despite his loss, he seems in good spirits. He looks back nervously over his shoulder after he speaks, scanning the other trainers.

Nurse Bruce also seems to be making some rounds checking up on the newly released pokemon. It looks a bit redundant to you, but when he stops by your group, he leans down to examine your pokemon he speaks to you very softly, "Don't worry too much about your Skiddo friend. We're taking good care of him and we are getting to the bottom of everything." He smiles warmly as he continues his checkup before leaving to attend to the next group.

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YOu can pause here to talk with each other or NPCs if you like or do other investigative stuff or something but I'll set the stage for the battles as well

---

With your selections chosen, you are led back to the arenas as the afternoon begins to turn into evening. Constance finds herself across from Justin and his Joltik on the grassy field while Ajax and Margaret take up positions on Rocky fields.

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Will start the next set of battles when ready and when you place your pokemon! In this case, Ajax and Constance are slower than their opponents fo they iwll get the first action. You can use your trainer commands though if you like to gain their benefits before hand. Again sorry for the delay, just been busy duirng this season!

[CosmicOccurence]

What do you think that means? asked Margret of her friends. I know that we probably won't hear any more about it, but I am extremely curious about what that thing was. Do you think they'd share if we started asking around?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ajax shrugs. "Let's try."

She approaches Bruce again and forgets to lower her voice. "What'd you find so far? About the everything I mean."

[Lorrel]

Seeing the thick, tall grass, Constance knew she would need to play this one slow. The yellow spider had the movement advantage so Tru would need to use the terrain to limit movement overall.

Constance releases Tru into the grass near her side, keeping him out of line of site of his foe

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Constance tags the Joltik and issues Focus Orders
Tru's actions to come on his turn

[CateranEnforcer]

Nurse Bruce looks surprised that Ajax asks so directly and the campers he was checking on look at her confused. He's not taken aback for long and in a soft, comforting tone he replies. "Well, I don't want to worry you but the poor Skiddo was sick with something I had only ever heard of before today. Our administrators, Mr. Steele and President Cal, have more first hand experience with it and I expect to have an update once they've finished examining him. I expect he'll recover, but we want to make sure no other pokemon get sick the same way. Does that help?" He smiles in a understanding, almost fatherly fashion.

[CosmicOccurence]

Margret liked Nurse Bruce a lot: he was the only one who really got what her everyday was like, and the Pokegear adaptations were proof of that. However, she'd sat through enough vague lectures from her parents about why she couldn't do things without giving specifics to know when she wasn't getting a straight answer.

When the two of them had stepped away from Bruce, Margret whispered conspiratorially to her cabinmate. That was vaguer than a Munchlax's favorite food. Something must be up if they don't want to share specifics with us.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Steele and Cal have seen it before..." she trails off and nods to Bruce, not sure whether this is really encouraging or not.

By the time she and Margaret are out of earshot, she's pretty much settled on not. "Yeah," she whispers. "Sounded like he didn't want to mention its name. Like that alone would be enough to start rumors."

She puts her hand on her ball pouch. What kind of weird disease-monster does she have trapped in there?

"Steele and Cal... How much do we trust them?"

[Lorrel]

Responding to Bruce, Constance has a serious expression covering her face.
Good. Please keep me updated on how that Skiddo is doing. The things it has gone through...
Constance shudders as she recalls the whole ordeal in the woods. She reminds herself that she needs to probe them for as many answers as possible, given that she still has Hitchcock to worry about.

Once Bruce has gone Constance nods in agreement with the others.
They are definitely hiding something from us. Bruce may be in the dark about it, but the fact that no one seems panicked at what we reported, or has tried to dismiss us as crazy means that there is way more to this than we know.

[CosmicOccurence]

Something to consider for after this tournament is over. Hopefully this Makuhita doesn't do a number on my Bors.

[CateranEnforcer]

As if on cue, Hachi shows up again and begins to call out trainers to the fields for the last set of battles today. Justin and his Joltik look eager to get the field but he does stop to speak to her briefly, "Hey good luck out there! I'm having a blast in this tournament!"

Ajax's opponent Charlotte is calm and keeps her distance from the group until the two arrive at their rock field. She offers her hand to shake silent at first, but eventually relents. "May the best trainer win," she says somewhat sternly though much of her usual coldness is gone.

Margaret's opponent on the hand looks pretty relaxed. The dark haired boy wears a red bandana and he looks at the blind girl with a little bit of pity. "Nothing personal, but with all the normal type pokemon here, you're up against the guy with three best shot to win. Don't feel bad if you lose okay?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ajax shakes Charlotte's hand and simply nods. Ajax intends to be friendly, but is not really sure what her facial expression is doing. Charlotte might be able to tell that something else is bothering her.

She heads to her side of the field, sends in the baby and points to a point of high ground, where her ball throw came up just short. "A good position, Anorith! Keep trying your new move!"

The determined bug scales the rocks with its little legs, then tries to hurl some rubble as far as it can toward Houndour.

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Anorith's athletics to get to J13 from I14: (2d6+2)[7]

Attack roll for Rock Tomb: (1d20)[11] vs. 5+phys defense+terrain bonus+... is there a range penalty in this game? The houndour is just barely within the 6-square range from J13 by my count.

Damage?: (2d8+27)[37]
Effect: -1 combat stage for speed on a hit

[CosmicOccurence]

Normally when people acted like this, Marget responded with brazen sarcasm. However, in this case, she had absolutely no confidence that she was going to win this one, and didn't really know how to respond.
Sure, I guess. she said somewhat lamely after shaking his hand and heading back to her side.

As usual, Gawain served as her eyes for the battle. Bors hustled up to crouch behind one of the rocks, again waiting for the enemy to approach. Margret felt a bit silly that so many pokemon had boosting moves, but she had only thought to teach Bors offensive techniques. Dumb, she thought. I'll have to better next time.

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Use inspired orders. Evasion is 3/3/4

[Lorrel]

[b]You too! It has been very educational working with my new little partner. Win or lose I know we will come out stronger.

Constance readies herself for her match. Tru had come up big in the first match, but she needed to be ready for when he decided to take time off.

Seeing the grassy field and knowing Tru's movement limitations, Constance realized that she should have taught her little snoozeball a buffing move for when he was out of range. She made a mental note to rectify that in the future.

[CateranEnforcer]

Constance

Right off the bat, the Joltik moves forward and launches an Electro Web over Tru's head. The attack is deadly accurate and Tru strains against the lightning tendrils add they dig into him with barb like protrusions. The thick grass offers no protection from this wide reaching attack.

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Joltik uses Electro Web
Attack [20] critical hit!
Damage 54 special electic damage.

Ajax
Charlotte's Houndour is fast, faster than you'd expect. Her trainer urges her to attack and attack some more and a flurry of fire bolts shoot forth from her mouth. Only one connects however, and Anorith's own rocky attack does plenty of its own damage, forcing your opponent to hide behind the center rock.

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Houdour is actually faster, but I rolled some misses so it's fine!
Houndour uses Ember!
Attack [14] hit
Damage 33 special fire damage

Charlotte uses Strike Again!
Houndour uses Ember
Attack [1] miss!

Margaret
The pokemon are far apart and apparently the Makuhita has no ranged attacks. It waddles toward Bors while it focuses its energy and eagerly cracking its knuckles confidently.

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Makuhita uses Focus Energy!

[Lorrel]

Constance frowns as the area attack hits, and hits hard. She was surprised to see Tru still standing, but she knew we would he on his last legs.

Don't worry Tru, we have them right where we want them, Constance says with false bravado. This could not be further from where she wanted to be, but she knew she needed to keep her composure.

Tru would not be a huge fan of getting hit so hard by the web, and Constance knew that he may not want to follow all of her orders. Her opponent on the other hand had no such knowledge. Sometimes Pokemon battles were about more that what was happening on the field. Sometimes they were about what the other trainer *thought* was happening on the field.

Ok, Tru, camouflage and let's get up close and personal. Execute Advance Pattern Delta and get ready to unleash a melee strike!

Using the thick grass as cover, Tru disappears from sight, and prepares to execute Advance Pattern Delta. Constance trusts in her partner, that he will follow his nature that he will behave as expected rather than trying to listen to her, and that the her opponent will not realize what has actually happened.

Perfect Tru, Constance says after an short bit of time. Now stay low and be ready to strike next round!
The look on Constance's face was a familiar one. It was a look she had practiced often back home, one she had needeed to use on many occasions. She looked strong and confident, as though the entire match was executing according to her ultimate plan.
On the surface she looked to be in complete control. Beneath, however, she was fighting off panic with her mind racing a mile a minute. Duckletts on a pond.

Sometimes Pokemon battles were about more that what was happening on the field...

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Constance has already issued Focus Orders
Constance has already Tagged Joltik
Tru is Truant and loses his Shift Action
Tru gains a tick of HP
Tru uses Stealth (3d6+5)[16]
Tru has no idea what Constance is talking about, doesn't plan on moving anywhere. He uses Slack Off and remains hidden from sight.
Tru regains 26 HP
Tru gains 1 momentum at End of Round.
Tru has 1 Momentum

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Anorith scrambles to maintain his spot on his rocky perch, nearly blown away by Houndour's quick ember barrage. By the time he's recovered, the dog has ducked behind cover. Anorith makes a nervous, high-pitched hiss. His huge eyes twitch and swivel towards Ajax for guidance.

"Almost there, Anorith," she says, her voice clear but calm. The action has successfully distracted her from her monster problems and drawn out her analytical side. "Now do it just like back home. Keep your eyes open and get ready."

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Focused training! +1 accuracy, +2 on skill checks

Anorith is holding his action with a stone at the ready, waiting for Houndour to peek around cover to make its move. (If Anorith can actually just make the attack here and/or readied actions aren't a thing, then that's just the in-character explanation I guess.)

Readying Smack Down instead of Rock Tomb. It has better accuracy and range, which is what this scenario needs.

(1d20+1)[12]+high ground bonus? vs. 2+evasion+cover bonus?

(2d6+27)[33]

[CosmicOccurence]

Take the high ground Bors! Margret shouted as the Makuhita approached. Bors needed to make it as hard as possible to be hit, otherwise he was toast.

As the Whismur clambered up the rocks, it let out a piercing wail that hurt even Margret's eardrums.

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Focused Orders! (1d20+2)[13] . Echoed Voice Damage 2d6+26

[CateranEnforcer]

Constance
"I can play hide and seek too!" Justin calls for Joltik to hide as well. Constance and Tru lose sight of the tiny pokemon in the grass as it takes after your example. There's no telling where it might have gone. The crows crane's their necks and chatters among themselves trying to see what is happening.

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Joltik hides! He can be spotted with a Perception of 12 or higher. Constance can make a check and doing so allows you to call out his location as a standard action. This gives Tru a +5 bonus if successful. You cab also break his cover by moving close regaining line of sight. One note I will make, If you move more than 2 spaces and try to hide, you will take a -5 penalty to your stealth

Ajax
Anorith's vantage point allows it to just barely see top of the Houndour's head as it hides behind the rock, waiting for just the right moment to attack. The dark pokemon makes a move after taking a quick breath and sends another bolt of fire out, but the last attack it took had slowed it just enough for Anorith's own rock attack to get the jump on him. The embers go wide and Houndour's head jerks backwards on a limp neck. It's very clear that it is knocked out immediately. With that, the battle is very quickly resolved and Ajax declared the winner! Charlotte looks displeased but not angry like you might expect.

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Your high ground lets you see the Houndour with cover and Anorith hits first due to the lowered speed from the last attack

Margaret
The sonic attack is strong, but the Makuhita's fat body absorbs it quite well. It might take a few of those to take him down. The sumo pokemon purposefully marches over to Bors and even from the low ground he lands a powerful open palm strike. Due to his focus, it is devastatingly accurate and poor Bors is lifted into the air from the impact.

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Makuhita uses Force Palm!
Attack: [18] Crit! It's super effective
Damage 82 physical fighting damage

[Lorrel]

Constance knew this game of hide and seek could only go on so long. The spider's Electroweb could blanket an area, and sooner or later it would hit. It was time to try and take the fight to the bug. Hopefully Tru would be able to survive any counter attack coming his way.

Watching closely as the Joltik hides, Constance is able to locate it and direct Tru in his attack. Tru slowly nods, indicating he sees his target. Attacking from his hidden position Tru launches a barrages of stones on the spider, hoping to land a solid hit.

Once the strike is done, Tru shifts slightly, hoping that his opponent may not have a lock on his position.

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Constance used her Standard action to assist in Tru locating his target.
Joltik is still Tagged
Tru uses Rock Tomb on the located Joltik. (1d20+2)[15] vs AC3
Rock Tomb does (2d6+28)[38] Rock type damage VS Defense
Tru gains 1 Momentum
Tru gains 1 Momentum at end of round.
Tru has 3 momentum proving +2 Attack, +2 Evasion vs the Joltik

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The bug freezes for a second as the dust settles, then raises its claws in elation. "Great job, Anorith!" says Ajax. "Come here!"

She picks up its ball and gives it victory pets on the back of the head as she approaches Charlotte. "Good game. A lot going on in a short time."

[CosmicOccurence]

Margret blinked, stunned at how quickly the battle ended. She knew she was at a disadvantage ... but that was ... wow.

Sighing, she stood and returned Bors to his ball. We'll get you a treat soon enough bud, she whispered as she walked up to her opponent.

Your prediction was pretty accurate, she said. Best of luck in the rest of your matches

[CateranEnforcer]

Constance
Tru hurls the rocks in the Joltiks direction and from it's cry, clearly some of the make it through. The grass blunts some of the damage, but it's still super effective and the bug pokemon is very injured. Still, it shoots out its electroweb once more over Tru, hoping to finish off the injured pokemon.

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Joltik uses Electro Web!
Attack: AC 8 (3 Base+1 Evasion +2 Momentum +5 Terrain -3 Compound Eyes) [19]
Damage: 35 Special Electric

Ajax
Charlotte recalls her pokemon as the crowd politely applauds. She even smiles slightly as she approaches. "Yes, there was. I would really like to she what a real battle would look like with more than one pokemon a side. I wouldn't take this format too seriously, but if you come across my brother, I hope you beat him."

Margaret
Your opponent actually looks bashful as you approach him. "Yeah, well it still wasn't very fair to you. I didn't win cuz I was better, I just had the right pokemon. My last battle was like that too. Like I said, don't feel bad okay?" He starts to stick out his hand to shake yours, but he hesitates not seeming to know how to act around you.

After battles

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Constance's is still going on and since it's the last one of the day, it has gathered the rest of the spectators as her Slakoth tries to out last Justin's Joltik. You can even see Mia watching with the audience. You are free to try and track people down or just cheer her on. Chances are it'll over soon.