Indelible Scars [Tanya]

[Seria Floria]

Seria sat in the commons area again as she looked rather discouraged about the recent events. She had been doing nothing but losing, and all she could do to try and feel better about it was to cradle and cuddle with Severa in her arms. The girl sighed as she looked clearly distressed. This sucks... At this rate, how am I going to be taken seriously if I keep losing... Seria simply sighed wistfully and looked up at the ceiling again, still idly stroking and petting Severa who purred from the affection. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Seria said to nobody in particular. "I'm doing the best I can, but it seems that it's not enough. Do I need to catch better Pokemon? What do I have to do..." Seria sighed and kept thinking about these things to herself.

She was, at this point, really down about everything. She didn't want to be seen as a loser with an impossible dream at all. She had to keep going, but it was difficult.

[Tanya Christianson]

Mostly out of boredom than anything else, Tanya decided to head on over to the Commons. She wasn't really sure what she was expecting. Maybe one of her friends were there or maybe she could watch one of the battles that were happening over at the Battle Dome. At least there could be some way to cure her boredom.

Once she entered the Commons, she looked around to see if there was anyone she knew. To her pleasure, she noticed that Seria was in the room, stroking her Purrloin. However, when she got a closer look at her, it was clear that something was on her mind and that it was clearly not making her happy. Tanya knew that she had to intervene.

"Hey there Seria." Tanya said calmly, moving over towards her and sitting down next to her. A look of concern was on her face for her friend, clearly gesturing that she knew that something was wrong. "You ok? It looks like something must be on your mind."

She gave her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. It seemed like Seria needed a friend at this moment. Tanya was a friend.

[Seria Floria]

Seria turned a little bit and then faced Tanya as she gave a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Seria sniffled a little bit before rubbing her eyes. "Does it look like that? Mmm... No... I'd like to say I'm fine... But I guess there's really no point in hiding it anymore," Seria sighed, looking down at the ground. "Losing sucks, you know? I haven't won a single battle since I got here... and what's worse, nobody is taking me seriously. I don't want to be seen as a loser either... So I'm just trying to think of how to get better." Seria explained to Tanya, after immediately recognizing that there would be no point in hiding her true emotions to her. After all, Tanya could probably tell immediately with how upset she looked. "Like I said, I'm not good at this... I know that much. But this is very discouraging..."

[Tanya Christianson]

It broke her heart to see Seria being sad. She knew how discouraging losing can be. Growing up in their household, the fact that she could never win in any contest appeals against her brothers was something that she found hard to let go. It was probably the main reason why she did such heavy research into being the best battler of the family.

She thought for a moment about what to say. The situation that Seria was in was a familiar one to be sure. There were times when she was starting out battling that she got discouraged by losing streaks. Yet it was a thing that happened. She didn't want to be rude about how she said that though.

"Of course no one would be good at battling if they're starting out. Don't think that for a moment that you are alone in that regard." Tanya started, injecting her words with vigor in an attempt to pass on some of that positive energy to her friend. "Losing is a thing that we all have to go through. To be honest, you learn a lot more from losing than you do from winning. At least you are battling though. At least you are making an effort to get better. That's what matters the most. Not how many wins you have. As long as you have the desire to get better, that's what should matter." 

Tanya stopped talking for a moment, giving Seria a moment to think as she tried to come up with more things to say to her. She wanted Seria to be happy. She was happier when Seria was happy. Therefore, she decided to be even more open about her life.

"To tell you the truth, I used to lose a lot. My brothers would always have battles as well as contest competitions between each other to see who was the best. Starting out, I would always lose. My brothers laughed at me at first. When I felt discouraged however, my mom told me to never give up and that everything happens for a reason." She paused, taking in oxygen so that she didn't completely run out of breath for all the words she was saying. She had a lot to say about this and she thought that Seria would appreciate hearing these words. 

"I took her words to heart and I didn't give up. I kept on fighting and eventually, I started winning my matches. I worked hard to learn about pokemon and battling and eventually, I managed to win most of my matches with my brothers. It's going to be hard, but it's a necessary thing to understand. Just think of losing as something positive. As long as you fought to the best of your abilities, be proud and learn from each and every move that you make."

She eventually stopped talking. God that was a lot to say. She smiled at Seria warmly, hoping that at least some of the words made her feel better. If she could make her feel that little bit more happy, she would feel proud of what she did today.

[Seria Floria]

Seria tilted her head to face Tanya as she started to offer some words to her. Seria was still providing her little kitty Pokemon with affection, who seemed to be pleased with the treatment and mewled happily, something that Tanya might notice, even though Seria wasn't looking at the Purrloin. Everybody loses, that's true - in a battle, only one person wins and one person loses... Right? Seria nodded, but sighed. Then, Tanya began to talk about her own story, about how she would always lose to her brothers in the contest category. Everything happens for a reason, her mom said. A reason... I wonder... Then Tanya mentioned how she didn't give up.

Seria sighed again, but she didn't seem really that upset anymore. Just more contemplative. "I see... Thank you for sharing your story. I appreciate the alternate perspective. I guess, in a way, I was stupid for looking so negatively at it. Just... the way he treated me back there, he didn't treat me like a worthy opponent... There was no respect at all." Seria fidgeted, thinking back to her last loss. "I wasn't really that salty about losing, at the end of the day. I just didn't like how I wasn't being taken seriously. Losing just... kind of compounded that negativity, I suppose. Thank you for being there for me, though. I really appreciate it." Seria smiled and gave Tanya a friendly, casual hug.

[Tanya Christianson]

It was interesting to see Seria deep in thought. She was the type of person who would just get lost in her mind if she was left alone. She even did it in public sometimes, much to Tanya's chagrin when she needed to snap her back into reality if there was something important going on. She didn't mind doing it though.

"That guy sounds like a jerk. In battle, you must always treat your opponent with respect. It's like common etiquette." Tanya chimed in, frowning at the thought that someone intentionally played around with Seria in battle. If someone was making fun of her like that, she would be pissed off. She wished she was there to give the guy a piece of her mind. Or give him a pokemon battle at the very least to put him in his place.

Tanya returned the hug that Seria gave her. She was glad that Seria was feeling better. It sucked that her opponent wasn't treating her with the respect that she deserved. When she finished hugging her friend, Tanya gave her a smug smile as an idea started to form inside of her mind.

"Hey, you want me to help you come up with strategies?" Tanya asked, still smiling at the prospect of being able to help Seria. "As Miss. Eisenberg said, it's about thinking outside of the box and coming up with ways to make your pokemon shine. If you have someone else looking, it might help come up with new ideas to improve your battling skills. What do you say? Sound good to you?"

[Seria Floria]

Seria felt better now that she was able to talk about this with somebody else, a good friend especially. It also made her feel better than Tanya recognized that it wasn't really particularly savvy to treat your opponents as if they were food. Seria would have preferred a decisive loss to something like what she had just experienced. As Tanya returned the hug, she also chimed in with asking to help come up with strategies. "Oh, strategies? Sure, why not? I'd appreciate the extra help. You seem to be a lot better than me at this sort of thing, so it would be great if I could get some of your insights. I still have some slots in my team left to fill, so I should try to round out my team with some catches." Seria nodded approvingly, smiling and generally looking much better than how she did earlier.

[Tanya Christianson]

She was happy that Seria was feeling better. She didn't like it when people were feeling sad. It messed with the positive vibes she normally liked to give out and it affected not only their own wellbeing, but the environment around them as well. Normally when sad people were around, her first thought is to immediately try to help them. It was a habit of hers.

"Before I think about specific pokemon, have you ever thought about how your team is going to win a battle?" Tanya mused, tapping her chin as she thought about tips she could give to Seria. "Like have you thought how your pokemons' ability or moves contribute to a winning image in your mind? Having a winning image is really important. By having an understanding of what exactly you want to do with your pokemon, you will be able to form strategies around the way you want to win."

She let Seria think about it for a moment, Tanya putting her head in her hands as looked expectantly at Seria. She had never actively tried to explain to anyone how to get better. She hoped that her advice would be able to help Seria improve just a little bit. She was worried that the advice she was giving wasn't actually that good.

"In a like similar path to that, you totally need to think about how well your pokemon work as a single team. Like how do their moves support each other and play to each other's strengths and weaknesses. Don't think of your pokemon as a single solitary unit. They're like pieces of a puzzle or cogs in a mechanism. They work all together so when coming up with strategies for one pokemon, always try thinking about the bigger image."

[Seria Floria]

Seria started stroking her chin pensively as Tanya posed a question that Seria actually hadn't thought much about. How her team was going to win a battle. She then cycled through the four Pokemon in her current team. Antenora, Aquaelie and Carrie were all offensively based, currently lacking in supportive options. Her only way of actively disrupting the opposing trainer was through Severa, who, as evidenced by her last battle against Oleg, was not always a guaranteed ticket to knocking out another Pokemon. She had to take a gamble when utilizing that particular strategy.

"That's a good question. Truth to be told, my only really stand-out Pokemon is Severa. My other three Pokemon are all offensively based, and recently, I have only been focusing on that side. I still have two spaces in my team left to fill out. I think I need to be able to fit in space-creators so my attacker Pokemon can have the room to actually wreak havoc. I lost my last match too because my only defense-breaker was Severa, with her Toxic, and she was the first to be knocked out..." Seria sighed and scratched her head.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya let out an understanding sound as Seria talked about her tactics with her. The majority of her pokemon were geared towards offense. While it could be effective, Tanya couldn't help but feel that it restricted her options to just full-out attacking. That tactic wouldn't work all the time, especially if she used Christopher, who could just stall it out.

"Indeed. Going full out offensive can only get you so far in pokemon battles." Tanya chimed. "I know that you have the Deerling line, which is the normal type as well as grass. Normal type pokemon often are very versatile and can be given a variety of different moves to deal with situations. Like my Lopunny Daniel, sure he can be offensive with her attacks such as Return and Jump Kick. However, he can also do a whole bunch of other stuff and by using his ability Klutz, I can fully take advantage of Switcheroo to give my opponents negative hold items. Right now I'm running a Ring Target that completely nullifies immunities."

She wanted to give out as much advice as she could to help Seria. She wanted to help her friend to get better. With that in mind, she tried to find things to say that could help Seria out.

"Offensively geared pokemon can be great if used correctly. I mean Christian, my Ponyta, has only offensive attacks. However, he is normally meant to take down 1 or 2 targets in a battle. I don't expect him to survive long, just long enough to take someone down with him. He's sorta like a missile in that vein. What pokemon do you have?"

[Seria Floria]

Seria scratched her head as she listened to Tanya. She was pretty much right. "You're right, I have a Sawsbuck now, her name is Antenora. All she can really do at the moment is to deal damage. Meanwhile, I have a Minccino and an Azurill. Though, I suspect the Azurill will be evolving to Marill very soon. You will see him eventually. Both of them are expected to cover offensive niches that Antenora cannot handle. That's what I thought about, anyway. My parents used to talk a lot about this kind of thing, so I was kinda forced to listen." Seria mused and scratched her head pensively again.

"And lastly, I think you know my Purrloin Severa. She was really annoying because of her ability - Prankster - which allows her status infliction and disruption attacks to always have priority. That is to say, it won't miss. Thus, Severa can stack the ability to Confuse her opponent with either Paralyzing or Poisoning them. Finally, because her confusion increases the target's attacking power, Severa can use it against them with Foul Play." Seria nodded.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya nodded her head as Seria rattled off all the pokemon that she owned. She was glad to hear that the Deerling had indeed evolved into a Sawsbuck. She also thought about the strengths of all of her other pokemon. She probably did a little research into them and their typing. Then she mentioned her Purrloin. God that thing was annoying to deal with.

"No wonder why your Purrloin is so annoying to fight against." Tanya muttered quietly. That was a really tough pokemon to deal with, but she was glad she managed to find a way through the struggle. She thought about advice she could give to Seria.

"Well I don't think you need to do too much with your Purrloin. Just be mindful of when to send her in. Purrloin's don't have high defenses so you really want to be mindful of which pokemon you want to use Purrloin on." She explained, tracing a circle into the sofa mindlessly. "With your Sawsbuck, by virtue of being normal type, it can probably learn quite a lot of moves. If you want to go full offensive, you might want to consider giving moves of different types to provide coverage. Alternatively though, you could try to take advantage of his grass type since they normally provide moves that increase the survivability of the pokemon. Like Leech Seed for example. You wouldn't need to fully outfit his moveset with moves like that, but it would certainly help keep him in a fight."

Tanya stopped talking for a moment, thinking about advice she could give for the other two pokemon. "As for your Azurill, if that pokemon has Huge Power, it can be quite a serious combatant. Once it evolves, it would have pretty good bulk as well. Be sure to give it physical moves and try to find ways to take advantage of its natural bulk. Finally, with Minccino, the line is really good at using moves that hit multiple times for weak damage. It's because they have Technician or in some cases, Skill Link, that increase the effectiveness of these moves. Especially in their evolved state, don't be shy to use moves that have low power because they can normally make them more effective."

Tanya stopped talking. She could probably go on about specific strategies and movesets that she could give Seria, but she decided not to. They were Seria's pokemon after all. It really depended on what she wanted to do with them. Tanya at best could only give advice to her.

"Sorry if I went on a bit. Did me talking help you out?"

[Seria Floria]

If Seria's eyes could swirl, they most definitely would be swirling right now from sheer overload of information she was getting from Tanya. Tanya enumerated each of Seria's Pokemon and made suggestions on what they could do to be put to their best use. Seria herself recalled that Minccino only knew her key attacks when she evolved, which she wasn't quite at that stage yet. Meanwhile, her Azurill did indeed have Huge Power, so it wouldn't be a problem for him. "Yes. Yes. I read you loud and clear." Seria scratched her head, if her head could spin, it would be spinning right now. "My Sawsbuck has enough coverage between Megahorn and Horn Leech. And so, she also has the Jump Kick. I also decided to give her Substitute and Swords Dance because Wynaut?" Seria cracked a joke at the end of that, before going awkwardly silent for a bit.

Seria then broke the silence. "Actually, Tanya. It would really help me if you could suggest for me Pokemon to round out my team."

[Tanya Christianson]

"Oh how punny." Tanya chided playfully, laughing at the joke that Seria made. She stayed silent, looking at Seria expectantly. It seemed like she wanted to ask her something else. She didn't mind that at all. The question she gave also caused her to think for a moment, before answering to the best of her abilities.

"One glaring weakness that stands out to me is Fighting. Your team has 3 pokemon that are weak to it and you only have one counter to it. You also have a lot of physical attackers, meaning physical walls will be hard to break through. I would really recommend a psychic type pokemon, preferably bulky. From Hoenn pokemon, I know that Grumpig or the Baltoy evolution line could be a good addition to the team. From Sinnoh, you can't really get more bulky than Bronzong. There are others out like, like I heard there's this one from Unova called Reuniclus that is apparently really good as well." 

She tried to see other weakpoints that could be filled out. The fighting type one was a glaring weakness. It easily stood out but now she was trying to find anything else that she could've missed out. Then she remembered another type that Seria could have issues with.

"You also have an issue with Bug pokemon, since they would pretty easily deal super effective damage to Sawsbuck and Purrloin. For that, you can't really go wrong with a flying or fire pokemon. Fire probably would be your best bet, since they can deal super effective damage to Steel pokemon, which can be really had to defeat. You could probably go with any, but I did hear that there was a Fire/Flying type pokemon that came from Kalos. Bear in mind though, these pokemon normally have really thin defenses. I would thoroughly recommend going for a bulky psychic pokemon first since you have next to no defense."

She wondered if Seria was going to be able to find the pokemon she was talking about. She knew that it wasn't going to be an easy task, but if Seria wanted to get better, she really should try rounding out her team to get it to be a bit balanced. Right now it was sorely suffering from a lack of defense and while offense can be good, it was one-dimensional and pretty easily countered if the need should arise.

[Seria Floria]

Seria nodded and mentally took down notes, but one could wonder if Seria was actually able to remember all this. Tanya gave her some names to suggest regarding Pokemon she could catch, but Seria wondered if she could actually find them. She thought long and hard for a second and soon had an idea in mind. She would scope that one out eventually. Then, Tanya mentioned that finding some sort of counter to Steel and Bug Pokemon would be a good idea. A Fire/Flying type from Kalos? Seemed interesting. That said, Seria was nodding whilst listening attentively, even if she seemed a bit dopey throughout it all. "Alright, thank you very much. I'll keep your tips in mind and try to choose my next two Pokemon wisely. You've been a great help. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know. I don't really feel comfortable being unable to offer anything in return."