Battle Tactics Class #2 - Instructor: Catherine Eisenberg

[Benji Aldaine]

Benji was totally interested now. After hearing everyone's thoughts along with his own he knew this class would give him the knowledge he craved. When Catherine began speaking again he quickly took out a notebook and began taking notes. Since they were going over so many different things today it would be best to write them down, that way later on he could go over the main points and study things that he was lacking. Not that they were required to take notes, and he knew there probably wasn't any pop quizzes, yet it was just the type of person Benji was. He loved learning new things, and reading back on them later. So as the teacher spoke, telling them different strategies, he made sure to neatly write them down, nodding at certain points that made perfect sense. When she finished he set down his pen and waited. They were asked if they had any questions or comments and he thought for a moment. His icy eyes glanced around the room and since no one else had spoken up yet he thought he would.

Raising his hand slightly he spoke, "Everything you said made perfect sense. I'm just wondering. In your opinion, during multi-battles, is it better to focus attacks on a single enemy Pokemon or focus on the entire team at once?" He paused for a moment and added. "I guess that would depend on the situation though wouldn't it?" He let his hand fall back to his side and waited for the other students to speak.

[Oleg Kirrlov]

He snickered a bit as the mention of "Team Asshole" was made. He had begun to like the teacher more and more. She made sense, and in her own way, she seemed to be down to earth too. After listening to her lecture once more, he tapped his chin in thought for a while before shaking his head. Whatever the others would ask would have been what he would have asked anyways, so might as well save his own voice for something he absolutely needed to know. Smart, eh? Or so considered Oleg, leaning back on his chair and stretching a bit.

[James Wharton]

Team Asshole eh?  That was a, unique, name for a team.  Very unique.  James wasn't quite sure why she'd called the team that attacked the island Team Asshole.  Well, he was in a sense, but for a teacher he didn't quite understand.  Most teachers weren't meant to, say anything very vulgar, like that.  It was usually frowned upon when a student would say that at his old school.  But this was a new school, so he didn't quite know what was frowned upon.  However he didn't really want to think about what was frowned upon, so he simply pushed that all to the side.

Carefully listening to the teacher James began to write down some notes in his notebook.  They were almost word for word of what she said, almost.  She spoke a little fast for him, so he just abbreviated some of the information.  As he listened to the teacher he placed down his pencil when she began to ask if there were any questions.  He waited for the other student to speak, before raising his own hand and asking his question.  "How should you act when your opponent might have a defensive move like protect?  Would you use a powerful attack or, some other move?"  He asked, not quite sure about how he should act around those users.  That and he wanted to know how to act when using protect on his own Pokemon.  "Oh, and also, how would one act when someone uses Substitute?"  He asked, now all out of questions.  

[Tanya Christianson]

When Miss. Eisenberg began speaking, Tanya decided to take notes, writing down as much as she could in as few words as possible. If an event like the one she had just experienced were to happen again, she knew she had to be prepared for it. Listening intently to her, she began writing notes, thinking about maybe using strategies like that. When thinking about it, she had only one flying type pokemon. Thinking about it like that, she might need to be a bit more creative with the moves she had for her pokemon. Though she did like the fact that the teacher called them Team Asshole.

"Would you recommend using single target moves at all?" Tanya asked, thinking about her battle back in Marvo City. "When I tried to use single target attacks, my opponent just swapped his pokemon around so that they wouldn't hit their intended target. Is there a way to make sure your attacks hit their target or should we just try and focus on multi-target moves?" She wasn't sure if the question was a good one, but she at least wanted to know the answer to it.

[Amanda Dupomme]

Amanda shook her head, listening to the teacher explain what mostly everyone else had already confirmed and what she herself believed. Yet, as the mention briefly went to ''Team Asshole'' as people seemed to put it, Amanda clenched her fist, strong enough for her injuries to hurt.

She hated those people, with a burning passion unlike anything else: she hated them. She hated them for the things that they had done, for the things she knew they would do, and for all the ill will they represented in the world. Raising her head, a serious expression on her face: Amanda finally posed her own question.

''Yes, if you are dealing with monsters that seek to destroy and harm all those around them like the despicable plague on humanity that they are. People like this ''Team Asshole''... then why bother fighting at all? We command extremely powerful friends and servants.'' Amanda spat each word with disgust, as she gestured towards the Pokemon all around them. ''Wouldn't it be easier to simply bypass the battle altogether and have our Pokemon attack or restrain the trainers? If they are too injured to command their own team, then the threat is completely neutralized.''

The girl sat up properly, glaring angrily. ''These curs have shown themselves to be no better than vermin, why should we treat them like anything more?''

[Alice Geissler]

The teacher had praised everyone who have out answers and even said her own opinion on the situation. Some of her classmates didn't say much and just sat there while the teacher was talking. She decided to just listen to what the teacher was talking about and her Misdreavus had been paying attention unlike any of the Pokemon that were in the class. Some of them looked bored to be in here and she sympathized with them a little. And the invasion from a terrorist team made her think that maybe using some Pokemon that could outnumber the enemy can be a good advantage. And multi-battles could be a good way to get some training for any Pokemon that the trainer happened to use in those battles. Most of her classmates weren't even paying attention to the lecture and just doing other things. Then, cries of outburst had addressed some of the problems that the whole class had faced while the invasion went on. It would've been easier if all of those Pokemon had helped defeat all those terrorist grunt's Pokemon.

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel sat quietly and listened to what everyone was saying. She barely had any experience with battling Pokemon 1-on-1, so she didn't have anything to say that hasn't already said. Of course, it was still fairly interesting to hear what everyone else had to say, so it wasn't a total waste of time. It was definitely something to keep in mind if she ever ended up in such a battle. Which, hopefully, wouldn't be anytime soon. Right now, even the prospect of a double battle felt a tad overwhelming, so commanding four or five Pokemon at once barely seemed possible.

The teacher began speaking once again, and...damn. She hadn't quite noticed it before, but she's kinda hot. Not that she was planning to go up and start hitting on her. She was a shameless flirt, but she wasn't stupid. Still, she was liking this school more and more. Either way, as she spoke, she scribbled various notes into her notebook, which she carried around with her. It didn't really have a single purpose. It was just something with which Adriel used to keep anything she felt like she would need to remember some time in the future. Everything from class notes to things she noticed about specific girls.

Then came Amanda's question, which...something about it rubbed her the wrong way, prompting her to speak out loud for the first time "...you know...I could spout some cliche'd bullcrap about how you "shouldn't stoop to their level". But, considering I spent a large portion of my childhood beating up kids who were bullying younger kids, that'd be kinda hypocritical of me. However, I can say this; a lot of people will frown on you doing something like that. It's practically an unwritten law; never, ever attack the opposing trainer with your Pokemon."

"No matter how justified you feel it is, there will be at least one person pissed at you for it. I can't even begin to count the number of times I got in trouble for doing what I felt was right, because, regardless of the reason, fighting was still against the rules. But more than that, what you're talking about isn't just some schoolyard tussle. These creatures are capable breathing fire, shooting electricity from their bodies, and other things. They have razor-sharp claws, fangs. Hell, when I went to the commons to watch some battles, I saw a tiny looking pangolin-like creature create a huge tremor just by stomping the ground."

"Pokemon are naturally much sturdier than us normal humans, so they can handle that sort of punishment and only come out with minor wounds and burns. But if they fail to hold back even a little, something like that could easily kill another human. I mean...if you think you're willing to deal with having another person's blood on your hands, then more power to 'ya. Frankly, I don't care what they did or how much they deserve it; I ain't willing to take that sort of risk." Letting out a sigh as she finished, she leaned back in her chair. Then proceeded to have a bit of an "oh crap" look on her face when she realized the teacher might not appreciate her speaking out like that. Welp. Here's hoping she was wrong.

[Meili Jie]

Meili jot down on her note books the various important points the teacher was pointing out on the various moves and strategies she is hearing from the teacher and the students. Though at the moment, she is much more interested in hearing what her savior during that battle had to say. Maybe she should ask for tutoring. Maybe that could improve her current skill level.

"How should you act when your opponent might have a defensive move like protect? Would you use a powerful attack or, some other move? Oh, and also, how would one act when someone uses Substitute?" This one Meili actually knew so she decided to answer after raising her hand to speak out.

"A variety of ways actually. Attacks like Roar and Whirlwind can not only bypass that protection but remove the problem all together. A well planned Future Sight attack can also go through Protect." Meili began. "As for Substitute, the above solutions I described also apply and more. Sound based moves such as Uproar or Bug Buzz can go through. I also heard that a Pokemon with the ability Infiltrator can by pass it." Meili was a little bit proud of herself that moment. Attention was then brought to the statement proposed by a blonde wave dorm student and then a brunette nature dorm student. She might as well give her two cents.

"On the other hand, they're peaceful methods of taking them down like Spore and the like. It doesn't have to be a violent take down." Meili began. "You can even go for trying to hit the switch on the enemy's pokeballs if you want to be particularly cold about it."

[Crispin Yates]

With as tense Crispin had been, as he listened to his teachers lecture he could feel himself loosen up just a bit.  Everything she said made sense, and he scribbled down some of what she said with his chicken scratch.  Just as he heard mention of team 'Asshole' his pen jerked for a moment as he looked up at her.  He was positive he hadn't misheard, and had to snort and bite down on his knuckle to avoid laughing aloud at that.  The cheesy joke at the end was just as amusing, and he found the knot in his gut when he entered the class was quickly softening.  Whether it was intentional or not, his teacher had managed to provide at least some distraction from how sick he felt from the invasion.

And, of course, there would be at least one student to ruin it.

Lowering his hand back to the desk, he looked incredulously at the students around him as they all but exploded.  Were they serious?  There was so much wrong with most of what they said Crispin couldn't do much else other than just stare slack jawed and shake his head.  There was bound to be that one person every time who got angry at someone trying to lighten the mood a bit, but still.  She appeared to be injured from the battle, how he didn't know, but he doubted it was from the other trainers attacking her.  Despite how utterly disgusting the team Asshole (oh yes, he was definitely taking that term) were as people, none that he saw during his own team's battle actually attacked them directly.  Hell, his opponent was a kid that almost kicked his ass, that was embarrassing enough as it was.  Right now he kind of wished his classmates would stop being ridiculous so they could actually learn something, you know, important.  

[Adolfina von Brauer]

As was pretty much the routine now, Adolfina remained silent while the class uttered their questions. And then someone uttered some foolishness regarding the attack on trainers. She opened her mouth to comment, then realized that it would be pointless. Instructor Eisenberg had handled the group well enough during the attack. Certainly, she could handle some child that was unable to keep her grips on reality. Sitting back in her chair, she closed her eyes, quietly sighing. It'd be great if things could just go back to the teacher giving lessons. That'd be nice. Sadly, things were probably going to be focused on the problem child for a bit.

Hopefully the instructor would neglect to answer the other questions.

[Seria Floria]

Seria remained silent, looking at the rest of the room. She had listened attentively to Eisenberg for the meantime, she had been quite reflective of things since that day of the Mavro City invasion. Most importantly, she realized she had a few holes in her lineup. She fought with her favourites, mostly, and it just so happened that very few of them were of the Flying type, so it would make it difficult to check Pokemon that packed powerful Ground attacks like Earthquake. Sure, they would get demolished by Rock attacks like Rock Slide and Stone Edge, but those actually had a tendency to miss. In any case, Seria turned her gaze momentarily to the vaguely familiar kid who seemed like she was here only to listen to the teacher, and not much else.

Something about her struck Seria as off, but after another moment or so Seria sighed deeply and began to listen patiently and intently to the others. Eventually, Amanda stood up and started spewing uncharacteristic nonsense about how they should instead aim for trainers, which made Seria sigh and rub her forehead. She turned up to face Amanda and sighed. "Please calm down, dear..." Seria heaved and kept looking up at her. Meanwhile, another girl had said her piece regarding Amanda's own views on the matter. "As vile as you may believe them to be, violence of that degree and magnitude just simply isn't right." she said softly, such that her voice was only audible to the people who were sitting directly around her.

[Astrid Sherinian]

'Team Asshole', huh? Fitting. Astrid gave a small giggle at the name, but otherwise patiently listened to Miss Eisenberg's lecture. Everything that she said was, more or less, the same as what Astrid had already figured out. Some of her suggestions were things that Astrid didn't really have the means to make use of at the moment, but they were at least things to keep in mind. Other than that, she made a mental note to look into ways other than flying or naturally levitating to get her own Pokemon clear of an Earthquake or similar. Surely the one that was literally a magnet UFO could manage something with...well, magnets.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a rather unpleasant thought, voiced by Amanda. One that amounted to 'attack the trainer, not their Pokemon'. The complete lack of practicality of that idea aside, it was a pretty unpleasant thought altogether. As terrible as it was, though, it wasn't to be completely discounted. Despite some pretty adverse reactions to it from around the class, Astrid stored the thought in her mind for later. Only as an act of complete desperation of course. Morality didn't factor into it. In a life or death situation, Astrid would choose her life every time.

That said, she didn't have anything to add that she was willing to say to the class, so she stayed completely silent.

[Sonia Strugatskaya]

After Sonia gave her thoughts to the teacher, everyone when else followed up with pretty much the exact same thing but in different words. The teacher then confirmed what she had said to be true. It seemed that she was off to a good start then. However, students began to ask questions of their own. Of course, one student began to talk about actually killing the other person fighting. Sonia was kind of confused now. Looking closer, it had been that girl that she saved from being killed by the enemy. Sonia was a bit sad that even her heroic rescue wasn't enough from saving the girl's sanity.

Guys! Don't worry. This girl is simply suffering from post-traumatic stress. She probably doesn't understand half of what she is saying. She had almost been killed by the time I had showed up and saved her. Sonia was literally. . . just showing off at that moment. Of course, she had something meaningful to say as well. So, ignoring the loonies, I'm pretty sure we're hear to learn how to battle with Pokemon. As in, fairly. Like, what 99% of our battles will be. I'm not sure our teacher is hear to teach us assassination techniques. Sonia wasn't about to question if the woman who was their teacher had such skills. She would totally believe her if she said she did though.

Someone might want to take her to the nurse or something though. My dad gets weird when he starts recalling old fighting stories and I heard enough of those. Well, she chalked them up to be post-traumatic stress stories in her book. But seriously, if these people were so out of it, why were they allowed to go to class? Sitting back somewhat conflicted, the girl let the woman in charge continue her lesson. She probably had even more to say than she did.

[Catherine Eisenberg]

Things had been going fairly well so far, Catherine felt, as a few questions did get uttered. Solid questions from inquiring minds, at that. And then something ruined it all. It seemed that, while most students had come out of that relatively unscathed, just tired and stressed, something had snapped in the blonde. That, or she was already of questionable mental health or morality from the get go- quite possible, given her history with crazy blondes so far. Others gave their input almost immediately, and the woman sighed. As one that had planned to kill another human in the past, it might have been hypocritical of her to quell the blonde's thoughts, but it was best said by one that had once had the resolve to perform the act and face the consequences of them, as well.

”Settle down.” The two words bellowed through the room. Before the elephant in the room could be addressed, all the excitement needed to be stilled. The woman then sighed, and she made no effort to hide it. ”While some of the other students are on the right track, I'm going to address this issue in its totality. I'd also advise that some of you review the legal restrictions on the usage of Pokemon Moves on humans. Each region has its own laws, but, for the most part, they all agree on one very common sense point.” Those last three words were a bit more forceful. ”Do not use your Pokemon to attack or 'detain' others. Even the helpful effects of a Pokemon's abilities can be harmful to humans if not utilized with great skill and moderation. Spore or Thunderwave might be non-lethal on Pokemon, but they could easily put a person in a coma, stop their heart, or cause brain damage.” She let that sink in for a moment before focusing her gaze on the blonde. What was her name? She wasn't in the team Catherine had to lead, so she didn't recall right off. Unlike her colleagues, she didn't make a point to learn the students names unless they tried to do more than just listen. As for her expression? Well, it had been warm up until that little problematic occurrence. At that point? Her expression was somewhat neutral, but it wasn't hard to tell that it was an effort to keep it that positive. After all, this kid had brought up some negative memories of her own.

”With that said, let's focus on your argument. Firstly, the morality and legality of it. Regardless of what justification you can draw up for it, resorting to that same violence against them isn't right. Moreover, you might want to take a moment and seriously ask your Pokemon if they're even willing to perform such acts. If you're calling them friends and servants, then you may want to value their own input. After all, you're degrading them to point of tools. And, regardless of whether or not you can manage to find the moral high ground? It doesn't change the fact that it is, in fact, illegal. Regardless of what defense you draw up, outside of a very select few cases, such as self-defense, you will be seen as a criminal and treated as such in the judicial system. Naturally, if we catch you even trying, your Pokemon would be taken from you, and expulsion would be the least of your worries.” While she paused, it wasn't to let the words sink in. No, it was to take a breath.

”Back to what I said about calling your Pokemon friends and servants. Pokemon are intelligent. Even if you neutralize the trainer, this will not stop the Pokemon from acting independently. I'm sure you've found your own Pokemon thinking and acting on their own. That's because they're not stupid. They're intelligent, just like us. And, should you attempt to attack another trainer, even if they are on Team Origin? What do you think that means when they thwart your efforts? Do you think they'll just focus on the battle anymore? You'll be fortunate if they don't have an Aura Sphere user.” She sighed again, shaking her head. ”Look, the events in Mavro were stressful. Get some rest. Sit down with staff in private and talk about it. Do something, because that is not the right way to addressing Team Origin. And that is directed at all of you.” Her expression softened, but only slightly.

”That topic is now concluded. If you have any comments or questions on it, you can bring it up with myself or other staff members outside of class hours. Back to the point at hand. For the three questions regarding targeting, I'm going to approach them all as one subject, as they are related. Naturally, the best Move to use depends on the circumstances- it's really a case-by-case scenario. This is especially true with enemies that possess moves like Protect. If you're going to utilize a single-target attack, choose it carefully. Consider what your opponent has out, and what you know they've had out before. If you have to opt-out of using the 'most damaging' move on a single target to ensure that they cannot simply block it with another Pokemon that heavily resists it, do so. Naturally, attacking everything at once will offer the greatest collective damage output, but some circumstances will cause you prioritize certain targets- or you may even lack an area-move that functions for the situation. And, while it may be worthwhile to focus your assault on a single target, remember that moves like Protect exist. One cannot intercept and use Protect, but if you focus all your attacks on a single target, only to have them negated with Protect, you've essentially left yourself open. For Substitute, sound-based moves and any Pokemon with the ability 'Infiltrator' can get through it. Really and truly, the best way to address all this is to think before you shout out your orders. Consider how a move can be lessened in effectiveness before firing it off. Proper preparation goes a long way for this, but if you just fire off moves without thinking, it won't matter. Think before you act.” Though a detour had been taken, she finally addressed the questions the other students had fired off. It was time to skip along to the next topic, though.

”Now, I'm going to cover defensive synergy. It might not matter too much if your opponent is pelting you with area-targeting moves, but, outside of that, it can certainly improve your overall defensive capabilities. For example, say you have a Flying-type and a Ground type. If the opponent fires off an Electric attack at your flier, the Ground-type can intercept and completely nullify the attack. Likewise, if they fire a Grass-type move at your Ground-type, your flier can intercept to lessen the damage. When you begin to include secondary typing, this becomes increasingly complex. Again, not that helpful if your opponent utilizes nothing but area-attacks, but, still, it's worth keeping in mind when sending out your team. If one of your Pokemon has a noteworthy weakness, especially if it's a double-weakness, try to send out a partner that resists it. If nothing else, have it in stock so you can switch out, if absolutely necessary.” She took a moment to go over the subject in her head.

”Sadly, like I said, defensive synergy only gets you so far in a large-scale battle, but, for what it's worth, it can be a valuable asset. Now, before I wrap things up, does anyone have any questions related to this subject?” That detour took longer than it should have, honestly speaking. However, it needed to be said, if only to nip the issue in the bud before ideas spread. The last thing they needed was a bunch of students willing to kill criminals and playing the role of gods as vigilantes.

[Benji Aldaine]

The idea of using your Pokemon to hurt other humans made Benji frown. He had heard of instances where people had used their Pokemon to attack others directly and even in the worst cases kill them. He had no idea why this blonde girl was even bringing up a subject like this. He knew the attack had been traumatizing for a lot of the students involved, but to even bring up something like this was distasteful. The only time he would ever even slightly think of using a Pokemon against someone else would only be in self-defense. If he was being attacked and the only way out was his Pokemon defending him...then he would do it. Yet he knew those instances were rare and he hoped he'd never have to subject any of his Pokemon to that experience. Luckily Catherine replied professionally and smoothly moved on to the actual class again. He knew some teachers who wouldn't have been so level headed so he was glad this one knew how to handle these kinds of conversations.

Benji quickly took out a notebook and pen, jotting down the huge amounts of information they were being given. He would definitely have to study up on this later and perhaps even practice these strategies. Not that he planned on doing any mulit-battles any time soon, but you never knew when you'd need this knowledge, and the attack had proved that. When asked about any questions on defensive synergy he thought for a moment. When no one else immediately asked he decided to speak up. "When using other Pokemon to defend another, do you think it is best to defend a weaker Pokemon to keep a larger team or the stronger one that does the most damage? As if using the weaker ones as pawns to defend your big damage dealer."