Stepping on Stones[Astrid/Battle]

[Meili Jie]

Was it arrogant of her to already post up a poster asking for people to challenge her when she A) arrived on the island late B) already missed her first set of classes and C) after she just caught a Pokemon? A little bit but Meili is going to have to make a scene if she is going to prove to the students and the teachers of the academy that she is one of the best.

However, Meili was hoping she has more resources at the moment. The only thing she has equipped to her Pokemon are the Oran Berries that she got at the door. But they will have to do. The best trainers can improvise even in these situations. She adjusted her hat and dusted off her red and black school sailor fuku. She was ready for this.

"Hello, we're going to be doing a standard three on three Pokemon battle, substitutions allowed." Meili looked at the arena before her. It was a plain one with her only real disadvantage really being the fact that one of her Pokemon doesn't exactly have feet it can skillfully move around.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid was ready for this. Her first couple battles had gone really well, she was feeling confident about this one too. The person who'd posted up the challenge was someone completely unfamiliar, which meant that either Astrid had been paying no attention whatsoever, or she hadn't been in any of her classes so far. That presented an interesting question. Was this girl just that confident in her abilities, or had she been out training the whole time. Either way, this would prove to be an interesting fight.

"That is perfectly fine by me," Astrid said. "I guess I'll send out first, then? Xanadu, center stage! Show them the way to paradise!" Her voice escalated in volume and intensity as she spoke until it could fill most of the battle dome. As she finished speaking, she pulled out her Elgyem's pokeball and threw it out into the arena, where the alien Pokemon materialized and began to float low over the field.

Time to get started.

[Meili Jie]

Entering to accept her challenge is a girl whose black hair is organized into twin tails...she could've sworn she seen that style a million times from...somewhere. The uniform implied that she is from the Bolt Dorm, however seeing as how one of their two starters is just about any pick, anything could come out of the girl's team.

"That is perfectly fine by me. I guess I'll send out first, then? Xanadu, center stage! Show them the way to paradise!" Meili lowered the peak of her hat to hide her twitch. However, she did send out an interesting Pokemon. She took out her Pokedex for a moment to scan it. Elgyem, psychic type. It seemed there was only one logical solution to this...albeit a risky one.

"Very well, Du!" Meili sent out her Croagunk. It was silly seeing as how she just sent a Pokemon that had times four weakness against it, however, Meili has seen the Pokemon's various dark type moves in action. "Du, use Feint Attack!" For now, she doesn't know if the psychic type will start using attacks, Sucker Punch is only good if the opponent attacks after all.

Action: Du used Feint Attack!

[Astrid Sherinian]

Ooh. A Croagunk against Xanadu. Fighting and Poison against Psychic. This girl either really was that confident in herself, or she liked to live dangerously. Either way, Astrid found herself grinning as the battle began. The Croagunk opened with a Feint Attack, hitting Xanadu with a strong, effective sneak attack. "So you do know your stuff. Not bad! But..." Despite the strong blow, Xanadu hung on and remained conscious. In fact, despite being shaken and having to regain her composure, she didn't even drop out of the air, and quickly recovered from the blow. Astrid estimated that she could take one more blow like that, if it came to it, but that would put her in critical condition. Which meant that she had to make this count.

"We're still going strong over here! Xanadu, Zen Headbutt!" Astrid called out. The alien Pokemon gathered psychic energy around herself, concentrating it around her large head. She then flew at the Croagunk, aiming to crash into it with the psychically-enhanced charge.

---

1-9: Attack hits
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[Meili Jie]

"So you do know your stuff. Not bad! But..." The alien like being managed to endure the attack decently despite the amount of damage inflicted on it. "We're still going strong over here! Xanadu, Zen Headbutt!" Du made attempts to dodge but was hit head on by the glowing head of the alien. At the force and speed it was going it, there was no way Du could evade the attack. Du was pushed back by the force of the attack. Meili wondered why Du wasn't reaching for the Oran berry it was holding.

"Oi! Du!!" However, the frog's collapse told her enough. It wasn't that it refused to do so, Du was knocked out the moment attack made contact. Meili took out Du's pokeball and returned it. Got to get back the momentum... Meili reattached Du's pokeball to her belt and reached for Ci. "Ci! Dragon Pulse!" As soon as the Horsea was sent out, the blue pokemon did its best to balance herself before firing a blue pulse of energy toward the psychic Pokemon.
 

Action: Ci used Dragon Pulse!
1-9 Attack Hits
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[Astrid Sherinian]

Direct hit! And it was a solid one at that. As Astrid thought, attacking Xanadu with a poison/fighting type like Croagunk was a gamble, and it hadn't paid off. The fighting frog was already down. The girl only barely missed a beat before sending out her next pokemon though, a Horsea. And no sooner had it been sent out than it attacked with a pulsing beam of energy at Xanadu.

The beam scored a direct hit, dropping Xanadu to the ground. The alien Pokemon lied flat on her back for a second, the light in her eyes fading as though falling unconscious. Astrid waited, one fist clenched and holding her breath, although she knew that Xanadu was probably playing one of her usual tricks. "Come on, get up," Astrid said tensely. Then, after a couple seconds, Xanadu lifted herself back into the air, weakly hanging off of the psychic energy she was using to levitate herself. Astrid breathed a slightly overdramatic sigh of relief, then gave the command to continue. "Zen Headbutt again!" she said. Xanadu charged up another psychic headbutt, seeming to throw her body along behind her head as she flew at the Horsea.

---

1-9: Attack hits
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[Meili Jie]

Meili had an inner cheer when the attack made contact. A smile spread across Meili's face. With the Feint Attack from earlier this should knock down this Elgyem down. Meili was about to command Ci to use a Dragon Dance to prepare for the next opponent...but she noticed Elygem's trainer calling out to the her.

"Come on, get up," The Elgyem looks like it was ready for more as it started to levitate herself. Meili inwardly cursed. Ci was now going to take some unnecessary damage. "Zen Headbutt again!" The alien started to glow and then charge head first into the Horsea. The seahorse didn't exactly have much in the way of mobility and was knocked down. Meili winced as she saw the bruise on the Horsea's body. However, Ci managed to push itself up using its sole fin and balance herself.

"Good job, Ci, now use Brine!" Ci huffed and puffed and then unleashed a torrent of salt water toward Elgyem. With all the wounds Elgyem accumulated, it was in for quite the painful experience should the attack make contact.

Action: Ci used Brine!
1-9 attack hits
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[Astrid Sherinian]

Predictably, the attack didn't manage to finish the Horsea off. Far from it, in fact. But Xanadu was already prepared for the counterattack to come, and she went down from it quietly and wordlessly. Pain? Probably a lot, but Xanadu made no indication of feeling it.

"Good work, Xanadu. Now come back and rest," Astrid said, calling back the Elgyem. She returned the pokeball to its place, then spun on the spot as she switched it with another one. "Now, descend from the stars above, and take the world by storm! Lunatic, center stage!" Astrid threw the ball, releasing a Clefairy from within. Lunatic gave the Horsea an innocent look, blinking like it couldn't do anything harmful.

That lasted only until Astrid gave her next order. "Hit it with Moonblast!" She said. Instantly, Lunatic's demure expression was replaced with a devious one, accompanied by a literal gleam in her eyes. As though triggered by the sudden switch, a barrage of rays of moonlight quickly fell on the Horsea.

---

1-3: Lowers special attack
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[Meili Jie]

That was one down, however, Meili wasn't out of trouble yet. While they both have two Pokemon, Ci took some damage earlier. This means that whatever her next Pokemon is, that means it is at full stamina. She was going to have to take advantage of tricks to get her out of this one. Dragon Dance or Smoke Screen? Higher speed is good but Ci has no physical attacks to take advantage of Dragon Dance.

"Good work, Xanadu. Now come back and rest," If she calls upon an electric pokemon then Meili has officially run out of options. "Now, descend from the stars above, and take the world by storm! Lunatic, center stage!" Meili arched an eyebrow. She didn't need a pokedex for this since she has seen the Pokemon herself a couple of times back home. Quite frankly in the face of a Clefairy, she was wishing Du wasn't knocked out to make the match quick. "Hit it with Moonblast!" Both Meili and Ci noticed the change in the Clefairy's cutesy face to flat out demonic. Soon Ci was pelted by a barrage of beams in the color of the moon light. Thankfully the Horsea survived. She saw the Pokemon managed to chow down on an Oran berry...or more swallow since Horsea doesn't have much in the way of teeth.

"Now Ci, use Brine!" The Horsea started to launch another torrent of salt water at the Clefairy. Dragon Pulse is useless for obvious reasons and Meili felt that at this point, doing as much damage as she can is priority number 1.

Action: Oran Berry consumed, Ci used Brine!
1-9 Attack Hits
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[Astrid Sherinian]

By some miracle, the Horsea survived the attack. It then managed to heal itself for a small amount by swallowing a berry, then countered with a blast of saltwater. It splashed against Lunatic's body, doing very little damage in the process. Lunatic barely even flinched in the face of the attack. In fact, if not for minor injuries caused and then slightly aggravated by the salt in the water, Astrid might have thought that Lunatic took no damage at all.

As usual, she was taking hits like a champ.

Moonblast again!" Astrid called out. Lunatic's eyes gleamed again as she called down another barrage of moonbeams on the Horsea. Hopefully, that would be enough to finish it off. If not, then, well, she could keep going at this for quite awhile.

---

1-3: Lowers special attack
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[Meili Jie]

Due to the fact that the Clefairy has nothing in the way of wounds, the attack wasn't as effective as it could be. Meili quickly slipped out her pokedex and checked the device. It seems that this Pokemon has decent defense against special attacks. This meant that Ci isn't able to do much against the Clefairy.

"Moonblast again!" Once more the horrid pink creature's eyes called upon another barrage of moon light rays...and this time Ci wasn't so lucky...much to Meili's shock and horror. She was hoping the Oran Berry would allow Ci to take another blast but that didn't seem the case. She hesitantly returned the seahorse. Meili was biting off more than she can chew. She is just going to have to rely on her ace.

"Pen, come on out!" A trainer depending on a Charmander. A bit of a cliched image but none the less, Meili trusted this Charmander since her arrival to this island. "Slash!" The Charmander began to charge at the Clefairy with his claws ready. Clefairy is more special defense oriented so this should do the trick!

Action: Pen used Slash!
1-9 attack hits
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[Astrid Sherinian]

And another one down! This battle was going very well, and Astrid was having a hard time containing her excitement. There was just one more opponent to face, and it was probably going to be this girl's best. Sure enough, she sent out a Charmander next. Astrid's smile faded, but only for a moment. Sure, Lunatic didn't have any way of dealing better than resisted damage against a fire type, but she was resilient enough that she could take a few more hits as well. So, within a second, she was smiling again.

Of course, the Charmander went for a slashing attack rather than attempting to burn Lunatic. That was fine. Lunatic wasn't as defensive physically, but she was still better at taking high-damage attacks than reducing that damage. "We're still fine, right?" Astrid asked. Lunatic nodded. "Okay, Moonblast again!" Astrid called out. Lunatic took a few almost floating steps back to put some distance between herself and the Charmander, then called down another barrage of moonbeams to hit it. It would only do so much, but at this point Astrid was just setting up for her own final Pokemon.

---

1-3: Lowers special attack
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[Meili Jie]

Pen lunged toward the demonic Clefairy claws first and made a decent hit on the Clefairy...but it didn't knock out the Clefairy. Meili hissed at the situation. This wasn't a very good start. Even if Fairy attacks aren't effective against Fire, that is still precious health being taken off her Charmander. However, she is sure that Pen has the strength to take on multiple opponents.

"We're still fine, right? Okay, Moonblast again!" Pen, like Ci before him, was pelted by more moon lit rays. However, being fire type, it didn’t exactly pack the same punch. Pen simply endured the blasts. Meili, honestly didn’t have any other strategy other than finish this quickly at this point.

“Use Slash again!” Pen lunged over toward the Clefairy again. His eyes focused on his target, ready to make the pink demon his scratching post again.

Action: Pen used Slash!
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[Astrid Sherinian]

Another slash attack. Again, it did some decent damage, but Lunatic continued to hold on. Astrid estimated that she could probably take one more hit. Just barely, though. Meanwhile, Lunatic didn't really notice the health being gradually shaved off. She might have seemed like she was still an innocent party in this whole battle, if not for the fact that she'd shown her true colors with the first Moonblast.

"Moonblast, one more time!" Astrid called out. "Keep chipping away at it." Lunatic gladly complied, grinning once again as she called down another barrage of moonbeams. Even though she couldn't do much damage with the attacks, it was clear that she didn't have any intention of letting the battle end quickly.

---

1-3: Lowers special attack
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[Meili Jie]

"Moonblast, one more time! Keep chipping away at it." The Clefairy once more fired moon rays. Pen braced his body to endure the attacks. Meili heard beeping from her pokedex. Her eyes spread through the sole line of text and back at Pen. It seems the Charmander was weakened somehow, its ability to use special attacks. This isn't exactly good seeing as how Flamethrower is going to be weakened from here on forward.

"Finish it with Slash!" Meili might as well keep pushing on. There wasn't much she can do about it. With Pen being the only Pokemon she has left, she needs to last out her opponent and make every attack count.

Action: Pen used Slash!