Steel Me [Battle vs. Astrid Sherinian]

[Astrid Sherinian]

Flinch, huh? So that was what this girl was going for. Astrid had only seen such a strategy actually used in passing a few times while watching tournament battles. Most of the time, it was something that just happened. The chance and intent were there, but very few people tried to rely on it. Fortunately, luck was not on Seria's side, as Lunatic was still ready for a counterattack after the torrential assault hit. If her luck kept up, this round would go the same as the last one. Lunatic seemed to think so as well, since she was already winding up for another go.

"Moonblast again!" Astrid called out. Lunatic was already preparing for the command to come, so only a split second after Astrid gave the order another barrage of moonbeams came crashing down on the field, targeting the Marill once more.

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1-3: Special Attack is lowered one stage
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[Seria Floria]

The Marill managed to cleanly hit the Clefairy, but he failed to flinch, and so the opponent was able to counter by commanding yet another flurry of moonbeams to fall down upon Aquaelie once more. He was quite beat up at this point, looking quite battered, but fortunately for him he was still able to muster up the energy for one more attack. He looked very determined to try and get that attack off properly. "Aquaelie, be careful, this is your last chance to make it good! Come on, try your Waterfall one more time!" Seria commanded, fully aware that to get that side-effect to work, required some luck, but she believed that sometimes you had to get lucky in order to win stuff like this.

The Marill repeated his performance, surfing on water he generated, winding up once more for a punch, those who saw the Marill could tell how determined he was, how desperate he was to get this to work. He would probably not take failure lying down. Well, he would, since he'd probably get knocked out if he failed to flinch, but eh, them's the breaks. Come on. This has to work! Seria clenched her fists in anticipation.

Waterfall 100% acc, 80 Base Power + 40 STAB, off of 20*2 Base ATK
Flinch Chance
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1 Success, 2-5 Fail1-5

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid braced herself for the oncoming attack. She wasn't the one getting hit by it, but with Lunatic looking as carefree as ever, someone had to express the tension of the moment. The Waterfall hit, throwing Lunatic onto her back and bowling her over in the process. But, as the water subsided, she stood right back up again, battered but unbroken. Her eyes gleamed. She waited for the command to finish it.

"Go right ahead. Moonblast!" Astrid called out. Again, beams of soft but damaging light fell from the sky, raining down on the field in a barrage of moonlight aimed at the Marill.

[Seria Floria]

Dang, it didn't work! Seria shook her head and looked tensed. Oh well. Only Severa's left... Will her only attack be enough for this? I hope so... Seria sighed as she watched the Clefairy get up and summon down even more moonlight, and at this point Aquaelie took the attack like a champ, not making even a single sound of pain, but he definitely wasn't getting up after that one. Seria sighed and recalled him back into his Pokeball, and soon Seria called out for Severa. "Fine, this is my last one, it seems. Come on out, Severa!" The Purrloin leapt out of the Pokeball as she was released, and hissed at the Clefairy.

"Now, Severa, Play Rough with that Clefairy!" Seria heaved as the Purrloin charged at the Clefairy, baring her kitty claws and began to start initiating horse play with the Pokemon, or at least trying to mess around with her roughly.

Play Rough Hit Roll [90 Base Power off 50 Base ATK]
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1-9 Hit, 10 Miss1-10

[Astrid Sherinian]

Three down! Astrid's face lit up as the Marill fell. And how well it fell, too! No signs of weakness, right to the end! Truly, it was a Pokemon to inspire others like it. But that still left Astrid with one more to contend with. Another familiar face emerged as Seria sent it out. A Purrloin, huh? Astrid had seen so many of those in the roads leading out of Virbank that she'd been about sick of them. But, she'd never actually seen one in battle before. This would be a learning experience.

But, it also didn't last very long. Like the last two before it, Lunatic was weakened enough by the last two attacks that, even though it would have been almost negligible had she been at perfect condition, she was knocked out by the attack. She went down with a smile on her face, which made Astrid wonder if she knew what was coming next.

Well, it was only natural, since Lunatic was the only one who'd been around as long as her next Pokemon.

"She even faints with a smile. Great work out there, Lunatic," Astrid said, recalling the Clefairy. "Well, you've done great so far! But now, it's time for the finale. Magnate, let's bring this one home!" Astrid called out, sending out her last Pokemon. Her Magneton emerged, sparking wildly as its three component Magnemite tried to pull themselves apart, then stuck back together. "I didn't bring my own pyrotechnics, so this will have to do. Signal Beam!" Astrid called out. Glowing energy gathered around the Magneton's magnets, coming together into a single multicolored beam that tracked across the field before aiming directly at the Purrloin.

---

1 for confusion
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[Seria Floria]

Seria heaved a sigh of relief as the Clefairy finally fell, but her face soon contorted into that of abject horror as Astrid then sent out a Magneton. Oh. Well that's not going to bode very well. Seria didn't know what the Magneton was going to use, but her expression was a little downcast. Her expression contorted into that of sheer pain when Astrid made her Magneton use Signal Beam. Of all the moves the Magneton could have had, and could have used, it had to use Signal Beam. It being a Bug-type attack, there was no way Severa was even going to live. It was going to be far too much for it. Ah... It's over. I didn't even get a chance...

The Magneton's magnets began to whirr and generate energy, creating a flashy technicolored laser display that it soon launched at Severa, which ended up blasting into her and shooting her into the wall. Without any energy to even make a sound from such an intense attack, the Purrloin passed out without any resistance. Seria blinked before going to her Purrloin, picking her unconscious body in her arms, cradling it a little bit, before recalling it into her Pokeball. Seria didn't look exactly sad about the loss, but she certainly wasn't happy.

"Thanks for the battle," Seria said simply towards Astrid as she approached her. "Good job on winning."

[Astrid Sherinian]

"That...may have been a bit much," Astrid said, dropping her announcer voice as she saw the result of Magnate's attack. Maybe she should have used Flash Cannon instead? It was just as flashy, but maybe the Purrloin could have withstood that. Then Seria could have gone for a desperate chance at turning the fight around, if possible.

Well, now it was time to do damage control, before she looked like the villain here. "Let's have some applause for Seria, for putting up one hell of a fight!" Astrid called out. Applause did come, sparse as it was from the equally sparse audience. More and more, Astrid was finding that she missed the sell-out crowds. She'd have to make her comeback more quickly, or else become a star battler as well in the meantime.

"Hey, sorry if I went overboard there," Astrid said, quietly again as Seria approached her. "You did great though! You had me on my toes, right up to the end."

[Seria Floria]

Seria had walked a couple of steps past Astrid before she stopped, seeing as Astrid was saying something. "It's alright. And thank you. I tried my best. It looks like I still have a long ways to go before I can get good." Seria said solemnly, not turning to face Astrid, but instead looking at the stands and wondering how Tanya would feel about this. Then, she spoke again. "It's been a pleasure to battle. I'm not very good, but I'm trying to get better. So I hope that, for both our sakes, we continue to improve. Maybe some day I'll actually win." Seria finally turned to face Astrid, smiling weakly as she was about to finish what she was going to say. This recorded yet another loss in the record, but she had to try her best not to be so negative about it. As she was told, all losses had to be treated positively, instead of negatively.

[Astrid Sherinian]

"You definitely will." Astrid said that with absolute confidence. "I'm pretty new to all of this myself, but I can tell you've got a lot of potential. Just keep at it and learn something from every loss and you'll be great someday. And if you need it, I'll be happy to help you out sometime." She gave Seria a bright smile, then held out a hand for her to hopefully accept and shake. "Actually, even if you don't want my help, I'd like to get a chance to hang out sometime. For as well known as I am, I actually don't have all that many friends yet."

[Seria Floria]

Seria looked down and saw Astrid extend out a hand. For a handshake, presumably. Seria looked back at Astrid's face again before gently accepting the handshake before giving her a firm one of her one. "Thank you for the vote of confidence. And, if you would have me, I wouldn't mind hanging out with you any time." Seria said calmly, smiling and letting go of Astrid's hand after she spaced out for a moment. Well, to be fair, Astrid was being nice despite the ending of that battle. "I'll be happy to be your friend. You seem very nice!" Seria flashed back to her innocent, naive self again as she had a bit of a bigger grin now.