Battle Tactics Class #2 - Instructor: Catherine Eisenberg

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya turned to instantly glare at Amanda. Her fist was clenched so tight that her nails were beginning to dig into her skin. She didn't care if it was post-traumatic stress or whatever that girl said. There was no way in hell that Tanya could ever justify using pokemon against trainers. She gave a concerned look towards Annie, not wanting to think about what was going through her mind at the moment. Before she could say anything else though, Miss. Eisenberg began speaking again.

Tanya admired how gracefully her teacher handled the situation. Granted, a part of her just wanted her to scream at Amanda, instead she gave compelling arguments towards why that would be a really dumb idea. It still didn't help Tanya out too much though, as she was trying to hold back from her anger bubbling over to a point where it would be uncontrollable. She tried to take deep breaths, focusing her energies in a positive way towards her learning.

She continued to write things down, making sure she got every bit of information as she could. When asking for questions, Tanya elected to remain silent, not wanting to say something she was going to regret later. One could tell by looking at Tanya though that she was not pleased in the slightest.

[Oleg Kirrlov]

Oleg sighed as Amanda raved on and the teacher calmly rebutted her. She had handled the situation professionally, but somehow he felt rather bad for Amanada. She had been scarred mentally and psychically during the attack from what he had heard, and he could understand why she was so... How should it be said, traumatized? Yes, traumatized. He then pondered if he should ask something, thinking for a long while before coming to his conclusion.

He still had nothing to ask. How dissapointing. He frowned to himself, simply taking out his notebook as he begun to take notes, making sure he would get everything down.

[James Wharton]

Nodding slightly James knew nothing about what the ability Infiltrator was, did it just go through the substitute or break it?  He was clearly going to have to search up some stuff when all his classes were over for the day.  He had listened to all of what Miss Eisenberg said, even the stuff that was to be expected of someone.  Pokemon are intelligent, that's a real no brainer.  How someone could think they're idiotic mindless creatures was beyond imaginable, but there was probably that one idiot that thought so.  Pushing aside his thoughts about what she had said about how Pokemon feel, and what they are, he began to think about the strategy tips.  Have two Pokemon out with opposite typing that could take a move that would be effective against their partner and neutralize it to neutral damage.  That was a pretty smart idea, and he'd never thought of it before.  With a pencil in hand he began to write down some of the points Miss Eisenberg had said.

[Alice Geissler]

She listened to the teacher talking about what to do in a multi-battle though she felt that Amanda had some hatred towards that mysterious terrorist group which was understandable. And then, something had completely bothered her about the way that Amanda had said that Pokemon should be used to attack humans. No, that was not the right way to settle a conflict, but this actually bothered her to the point that she started thinking of her Pokemon. The teacher had rebutted Amanda's argument and moved on to another topic which made her relieved. That was too much of a huge problem to handle and besides, attacking other trainers and people with Pokemon was downright heartless. She turned to her Misdreavus who was just listening along to the teacher and thought that Missy wouldn't attack other people as it wouldn't be right to do so. The topic at hand was defensive synergy and it was one of those things where she should've thought of during the invasion. Actually, those terrorist grunts had implemented that strategy, not that she'd know until now in this class.

[Amanda Dupomme]

Amanda frowned, crossing her arms as she sat back down, pouting childishly. Although it was a fairly immature gesture from her part, it rather significantly hid the actual thoughts going through her mind. As far as she was concerned: even with everyone claiming that attacking trainers was a terrible thing to do, she disagreed. Groups and individuals like team Origin would harm and damage without reprehension, if allowed to continue. Would it not be more logical to take down a single criminal, even if at the risk of significant injury or worse; than allow same criminal to do the same to countless others. Amanda was well aware that this would not be the end of the discussion, the way Tanya glared at her: she knew there would be more to it later. Despite it all, the young Kalosian made a mental note: the next time she would encounter team Origin, she would not hold back, even if it meant breaking a few bones.

They would pay for what they did, no matter what the cost. This wasn't some silly comic like Golbatman where people could be harmlessly apprehended. There was a cost, one she was willing to pay if the need arose.

[Crispin Yates]

Resisting every urge in his body to roll his eyes dramatically at the student that caused the interruption, Crispin focused intently on the class at hand.  The lack of common sense people had was definitely his biggest pet peeve, and had he been in a social setting he would have spoken up in a heartbeat.  As it was, he was in class, and it wasn't the time nor the place for him to speak out when the teacher did a perfectly good job of doing so.

As she continued on about different strategies, his eyebrows knitted together at the mention of one of the abilities.  Other then his Zubat having the potential to learn it he didn't know much about it.  Raising his hand he decided to get a little but more information on it, since the teacher was so willing to help.  "Oi nu ah've 'eard av Infiltrator briefly before, but 'oy exactly does it work?  Sorry ter go back a step, oi'm jist curious.  Also, is dare any gud way ter, say, soak lats av damage wi' wan designated Pokemon?"  He knew his questions may seem almost silly, but he didn't like not knowing something.  He'd prefer to know immediately, rather than wait.  It would be handy to possibly have a 'tank' down the road, too.

[Adolfina von Brauer]

Well, indeed the instructor had managed to solve that issue. Not a peep came out from behind the blonde. Good. That was how things were supposed to be- calm, quiet, simple. The only things that mattered at that point were the lower-born fools that still had to ask questions. Running on the assumption that the class would just run over the basics of multi-battles, then the overall scheme of things should have been ready to close. With that in mind, Adolfina thought to herself what would best work for the upcoming free move she could add to her Pokemon. Unless the overall class structure had changed, that should have been coming soon.

[Deleted]

Sapphira would perk up at his fellow Water Dormer’s suggestion, she kind of raised a valid point. Though would acting like a criminal to stop a criminal really do anything? To the boy it didn’t seem to matter, though there always came the chance that beating one of those, Team Origin people in a Pokémon battle wouldn’t really stop them from doing anything to you. But really it should be dealt with by the law, right? Also who wanted to get involved with a bunch of thugs? He had enough on his plate with keeping these studies going well without going off and playing vigilante.

Thankfully though the minor segue was over quickly and they could actually get back on topic. Committing most of what the teacher said to memory, it seemed that a double battle consisted mostly on reacting to your opponent, as well as trying to minimize losses. If he had to answer the Mana Dormer, it’d depend on how you use the week ones, if they deal in status effects you could keep them protected until they set up, then use them to protect your damage dealers. Of course He thought it best to just try and minimize damage without sacrificing your Pokémon to stop attacks.

[Annie Prince]

Annie barely heard anything that was said after Amanda's suggestion beyond her own hammering heartbeat in her ears. Her face felt like it was burning with the same temperatureless fire as a cut, excessively sensitive, and the cold presence of her Snorunt seemed to have faded away out of her noticing. She was vaguely aware that some argued against the matter, and she was in a dizzy way grateful to them, but she herself could not speak a word. And she was painfully aware of the people who argued for attacking other Trainers, though she could not keep track of their arguments while her heart sped up and deafened her.

Finally, Miss Eisenberg shut down the discussion entirely, and Annie sighed with relief. Adrenaline still filled her veins and left her light-headed and shaky, but the rules were made clear and the thing that troubled her was beyond the pale.

She tried to pay attention to the new topic's explanation, and as she listened she thought it made sense. Defense in a multiple battle of any sort could be improved by having one's Pokémon cover one another's weaknesses; that was logical and sensible (though Annie was still barely short of insensible from pure nerves). She shook her head to clear it and tried to take notes, though she wasn't certain how coherent her notes were.

[Sonia Strugatskaya]

Sitting back in her chair, Sonia listened as the teacher gave her two cents regarding the dumb conversation that managed to side-track the lesson. Well, this lady was no pushover, that was for sure. And honestly, the girl agreed with the woman, even though a portion of her argument was simply stating that the notion the girl proposed was illegal. That other girl never did say anything else after that though. As much as the girl wanted to create a harem, Sonia was a bit. . . iffy about that one. Seemed like a waste of effort. Such an unfortunate turn of events. Her first heroic act ended up being wasted on a nutcase. Yawning a bit, the girl began to watch closely at Culaine while listening to the teacher. It would all be over soon.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Well, that nipped that particular argument right in the bud. Good enough. Astrid still had nothing to say on the subject, simply because she didn't feel like sharing her own thoughts. That and Miss Eisenberg had capped off the subject and moved on. Astrid still felt like, as lengthy as the teacher's response was, it was incomplete. But oh well. That was a decision she'd have to make on her own, and hope that she'd never have to put into practice.

Maybe she was just being paranoid. But as someone who used to be in the public eye, the idea of using violence to prevent violence done against her was something that had occurred to on multiple occasions. Then again, Miss Eisenberg's argument about reducing Pokemon to tools still applied. Maybe she'd be better off investing in...well, an actual tool instead, and drop the thought entirely. Even the robots among her Pokemon were her friends and not weapons, after all.

After pondering the subject for awhile, she looked up again and realized that the teacher was already asking for questions again. Crap...had she just zoned out of something important?

[Catherine Eisenberg]

Catherine sincerely hoped that her words had instilled some degree of sense into the blonde. Then again, after her years as a student and her time in Unova, she knew better than to assume the best from blondes. Regardless of whether or not she had faith in the child, she'd be reporting the outburst to management so the proper surveillance could be given. Other than that, a couple more questions came up. With as pleasant an expression as she could muster while tossing issues over in her head, she proceeded to address the issues.

”Who you should try guarding will vary based on your situation and your strategy. If you have a Pokemon that has been buffed to maximum offensive capacity, you'll probably be trying to guard it to ensure that those buffs payoff. There is no 'real' answer to that, as the circumstances will vary from case to case. Only you will be able to decide who should guard who. Of course, I do suggest having more than one strategy, in case a wrench pops up somewhere.” That took care of one student's inquiry.

”As for Infiltrator, Pokemon with this ability can bypass the the effects of Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Mist, and Substitute. The ability allows them to slip through defenses- though the actual method would vary based on the Pokemon itself. As for means of using a single Pokemon to protect the others, there's a few methods. Rage Powder draws all enemy attention to the user, but most Rage Powder users aren't that defensive, so your mileage will vary with that. For a single Pokemon to tank a lot of hits, though, you'll want something with inherently high health and defenses, or something that can augment them. Examples of the latter would be things like Starmie and Sigilyph. Both have decent defenses and overall endurance, but they can augment themselves with the move 'Cosmic Power', which enhances both physical and special defense. On top of that, they have the means to heal themselves. Once they've properly setup, they could function well in that capacity. For a more 'direct' implementation, though, Slowbro and Slowking are physically and specially-focused 'walls', and both can heal themselves. Do some research to find what most interests you and best meshes with your team. Self-studying is often the best means of deciding how to implement some concept to your team.”

No more questions popped up. Good. Seemed like the issue from before was done, at least for this class period. Hopefully, nobody else got any ridiculous ideas. She was tired. She was tired for reasons that she had not desired from a day of teaching. Wondrous tidings, indeed. With an unseen pulse of psychic energy, she drew the large case underneath the desk to her outstretched hand, tugging the container up and planting it on her desk. Same as last time, it seemed. Two locks popped open, and the woman slowly opened the container of TMs.

”Well, with that, I'll close class for the day. Like last time, I'll be allowing you all to use a TM once for free. There's no rush, nor is there an obligation. Take a moment to consider what you'd like to teach to who and then come up in an orderly fashion. Just remember to use the new moves responsibly. After this, you're dismissed. If you don't wish to use a TM, you're free to go ahead and leave. If you have something you wish to go over with me, please just take a seat after using a TM and wait.” And then it was time to wait out her students.

Note: Remember, you are getting one free use of a TM, and not a free TM. Specify what you are using and on whom.

[Oleg Kirrlov]

Oleg scratched his chin as she lectured more, lazily making one word notes, like "Walls", "Slowbros" and "Cosmic". His notemaking was always rather erratic like this, but he could make enough sense of it to not be lost. He then heard the familiar locks pop open as he raised his head. Hm, more TM's. Good, good, he could use some more moves. He considered what he should take for a moment before rising up and heading to the case, popping out TM 98, Power Up Punch.

He then nodded thankfully to the teacher as he turned back to his desk, collecting his notes and everything else before heading off.

Note: Used TM 98 Power Up Punch on Jack the Pangoro.

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya did her best to focus, trying not to think about what Amanda had said. Putting all of her energy into writing her notes, she made sure to get every little excruciating detail. While the Infiltrator ability sounded nice, she wanted to do more research into the to find out if she wanted any of the pokemon with the ability into her team. Then again, maybe she should start training some of the pokemon she had in the back-burner.

Once the class was over, Tanya headed over towards the front of the classroom and got out TM80 Rock Slide. Electing not to send Derrick out, Tanya instead pressed the TM to the pokeball, letting the pokeball take in all the information so that it could be transferred to the pokemon. Once that was over, Tanya made her way out of class, but not before quickly moving towards Amanda's desk.

"We need to talk." Tanya warned ominously, glaring angrily at Amanda before heading out of the classroom. Sometimes, it felt like Tanya just attracted drama wherever she went.

Tanya used TM80 Rock Slide on Derrick the Braviary

[Astrid Sherinian]

Astrid sighed softly. She was able to pick up some of what she'd missed from the rest of the lesson, but she was already resigning herself to the fact that she'd have to ask someone else later. That last debacle had thrown her off completely. Right now, though, she didn't want to think about it. It brought up too many old, unpleasant thoughts. So, right now, she just wanted to go back and drown them all out in the first game to hold her attention.

But first, there was a free TM move to take care of. Astrid stood up, stretched, then released Phanto from her ball. The living key ring floated behind her, curious, as she made her way up to Miss Eisenberg's desk and picked out a TM. An odd move, but a fitting one for the devious little locksmith. "Use this for good, not for evil," Astrid said, paraphrasing the teacher as the TM worked its magic and Phanto learned a new move. Once the process finished, Astrid returned the TM, gestured for Phanto to follow, and walked out of the classroom.

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Used: TM 87 (Swagger) on Phanto the Klefki