((NOT for the faint hearted!!!! Mine and Megaman's FOURTEEN THOUSAND WORD JOINT POST (for realz) - :D))
"Well you can stick your skanky little company where the sun doesn't shine," grunted Selene with a furious scowl as she threw the pamphlet down at the feet of the Devon Corp representative and stalked off with her fists balled by her sides rigidly, drawing nervous glances from the people she pushed past on her way. The man watched her go through his round spectacles with a bemused expression - all he had told her was that she would need to go and get a qualification in engineering for an entry-level research position with them...for some reason she had taken that as 'you are not good enough' and had gone on a breathless red-faced rampage about corporate elitism and exclusivity and how such corporations would die an uncomfortable death when the revolution came out. Before leaving. After littering the floor by his feet, of course, he thought wryly as he bent down and scooped up the tattered paper with the smiling faces beaming from the front with the words 'Devon: For A Brighter Tomorrow' emblazoned across their chests.
While Snype and Thyme were still discussing their matters, Mark had begun spending some time with Commodore. He seemed to happy to have evolved. He seemed full of energy and was even expressing emotions. Whatever file he found while in MacKenzie's tablet sure must have been something. Mark was fairly curious as to what Commodore was capable of in his evolved state. He was likely to have ended up much stronger...
As she raged inwardly, Selene's eyes caught sight of a familiar figure...Mark...and his Porygon had evolved. HA! Well! That was the most pathetic evolution she had ever seen, if he wanted to see a decent evolution she would show him a decent evolution. Pulling Ryan's Pokeball from her belt, Sel crouched down and smiled at Ryan, stroking his ears lightly.
"Hi boy, say...how are you feeling about evolving? I know you're strong enough now, and we have the Thunderstone...I don't want you to feel that you have to though, only if you're ready. It just feels somewhat poignant don't you think, being here at HoTa? The biggest corporation in the world? That's something special isn't it," she said quietly, watching as Ryan's face turned from thoughtful to downright delighted.
"Chuuuu!" he trilled, jumping up with his ears perked straight up, hugging around Sel's arm. She laughed and held him to her lightly, before setting him back down in front of her and rummaging in her bag for...ha. There it was. Pulling out a small metal tin, she opened it to reveal the precious Thunderstone that she had mined. Holding it reverently, she passed it to Ryan, hesitating slightly. "Ryan...be sure about this...no going back darling," she whispered, Ryan making eye contact as he nodded, taking the stone and closing his eyes.
After a moment, the stone started glowing a bright yellow, engulfing Ryan completely and blinding Selene. Others around them gasped and shrieked, unsure of what was happening as electricity began to crackle around them and...it was done. As quickly as it had begun, it was over, and as the light subsided Selene's newly-evolved Raichu unfurled his long tail and blinked up at her slowly. Uncertainly she reached out towards the bigger lightning mouse, gasping and laughing as Raichu squealed and threw himself forward at Sel, the two falling back in a tight hug.
"Ryan! You look amazing!" said Sel brightly, stroking over his ears, his face, his back, his arms, legs and tail reverently, eyes wide. Gaze flicking up to Mark, she smirked and pushed herself to her feet, nodding at Ryan. "Shall we go and show you off to Mark?" She walked over to Mark, Ryan by her feet, and stood in a somewhat confrontational way in front of him with a smirk.
"Mark, hey. So your Porygon finally evolved...took his time didn't he? As you can see Ryan has finally evolved himself..how's about we test out our new acquisitions? Although I won't unleash Ryan on you yet, I wouldn't want to irrevocably injure your little Pokemon, would I?" she said, her tone taunting and unpleasant as she practically mocked Mark in front of everyone.
Mark noticed Selene was walking toward his direction. It had been awhile since they chatted... so Mark welcomed her happily. Ryan had evolved into a Richu so that was sure something. When Selene made the "little pokemon" comment, Commodore had gotten himself a bit steamed. He was newly evolved! He was ready to show this girl who the little pokemon really was! Commodore seemed to odd expressing emotions... it looked silly.
"Heh, I'm all up for a battle Sel! Commodore here has been eager for another battle. I'm up for it! How does three on three sound?" Mark asked
Meanwhile Snype couldn't help but notice that Ryan had evolved. Quite a suprise. He would surely have to chat with him about the whole feeling of evolution and see just how much of him had changed. Snype whistled over to Ryan to invite him for a little chat session, assuming he wasn't going out to battle that is.
"Three on Three is perfect, and it just so happens that Bri and Brogan have vacated a battlefield for us, perfect ready-made audience," quipped Selene with a smirk as Mark spoke, looking down at Commodore coldly. For a Porygon 2 he looked...annoyed? Well, as annoyed as a Porygon 2 could look she supposed...it made her laugh in spite of herself, though it wasn't so much a cheerful, amused sound but rather a bitter and unpleasant vocalised sneer. Before Mark could irritate her with his bland niceness any further, Selene turned on her heel and walked over to her place on the battlefield, stretching out her back and her leg muscles when she took her spot. No, she wasn't going to be battling herself, but she found that preparing her body helped prepare her mind.
Not that her mind needed much preparation for this. She had been itching to release this pent-up tension and anger she had been feeling against Mark for some time - though some may assume that all the angst and pain of earlier would make her lose her focus and go all out to hurt Mark, in actual fact it gave her more concentration. The stakes were higher. She was more determined in this battle than she had been in any other at the Academy.
Hearing Snype whistle, Ryan raised an eyebrow and looked round slowly, looking remarkably like Selene in the motion. He watched Snype evenly, inwardly wondering whether he should Thunderbolt or Iron Tail him for whistling to him like a common Lillipup but he decided against either course - Selene was about to battle, she didn't need him acting up as a distraction.
Swaggering over, Ryan gave a salute to Snype with his tail, the long appendage waving and flicking behind his back as he leaned against the wall and surveyed Snype coolly. "S'up?" he asked, voice much deeper and practically crackling with energy.
Mark couldn't quite put it on his finger but there was something different about Selene... her attitude mostly... well they were about to get into a battle. Maybe that was normal? She tended to get really loud in battle and all, not to mention Mark never battled her in the academy yet. It would be fun to battle one of his first friends in the school. Mark figured he had no choice but to use Commodore. He was eager to show Sel's pokemon what for.
Mark stood on the opposite side of the battlefield and waited for Sel to call out her pokemon. Commodore floated there silently, extremely eager to get the first hit.
Snype was fairly suprised by Ryan's deeper voice. He sure had changed with the evolution... guess that was something Thyme could take an example out of. Nonetheless, Snype could get used to it. Snype leaned against the wall in the same fashion as ryan and gave off a large smile.
"Kehe... Sup Ryan? How's evolution treating you? You look as if its something you've looked forward to!" Snype said.
Watching closely, Sel's expression was inscrutable - whilst looking calm and collected she also looked as though she were suppressing some kind of rage that was threatening to boil over, full of contradictions. It was somewhat unusual for her, normally she'd be into the trash talking and psyching out, seeing it as part of the fun of battling - but this was not for fun. This was serious. She was determined to beat Mark and his Pokemon in the most humiliating way possible.
"Cat, let's go," said Selene quietly, tossing forward her Kadabra's PokeBall, smirking slightly as Cat emerged in a flash of red light and instantly held her spoons up in front of her face ready to attack Commodore. "Reflect and Drain Punch," she watched as Cat moved her spoons around herself and the air was disrupted by the barrier she had established to physical attacks. With a flourish, she flew forwards towards Commodore with fist pulled back, ready to hit with Drain Punch.
"Ryan...Ryan...nah man, not feelin that no more, you check me? Reckon I make a better Jub than a Ryan...Sel's kinda laying it down but when she's back rolling I'll check it," the Raichu said, tail flicking back and forth by his side. He felt...completely different. He had swagger, he had the streets...and he didn't feel like a Ryan anymore. He felt like a Jub - short, sharp, to the point...and the Ladies would love it.
"Dawg, no brother wouldn't wanna evolve it up a bit you get me," Jub huffed, waving his hand in an almost dismissive way as Snype asked how evolution was treating him, "I'm telling you, no homie's gonna mess with this now. I'm gonna bring it down with every homeboy." He put his arms behind his head and watched as Selene and Cat battled with an almost amused expression, "shame your Trainerman don't have no hench Pokemon for me to smack down."
Commodore was hit head on by Drain Punch. It left a good deal of damage to Commodore, but it was a darn good thing physical attacks weren't its strongsuit. It would have been much worse then. Though Selene had already fallen into Mark's trap. With Commodore's new move, he would be able to resist similar attacks.
"Alright Commodore, let's get you ready for any more of these tricks. Conversion 2!" Mark said. Commodore's blue and red pallate changed into a light green and yellow one. With conversion 2, he was able to change into a type that resisted the previous move and thankfully, bug types could resist fighting type moves. Better yet, it would benefit Commodore's other new attack, Signal beam. Reflect would still be trouble to break through but as long as Cat didn't have anything that was strong against bug types, he should be fine.
"Alright Commodore, Agility!" Mark called out. Mark planned to stall for a bit before attacking. He needed to make sure of Cat's other moves before recklessly attacking...
"Jub huh? Kehe... I like it! I can surely get used to that!" Snype said happily. Jub had changed with evolution... well... Ryan changed into Jub who seemed to have a completely different personality. One could wonder what happened to Ryan.
"Hench Pokemon? Hehe. Well I'm his first pokemon if that counts for anything. Mark is probobly gonna call me out there sometime later. I'm sure we could battle sometime!" Snype said.
Selene's brow raised with a slight smirk - Mark was lucky that Commodore's Conversion 2 brought up the Bug-type - but she was also fully aware that luck wouldn't carry him through this battle...nothing could carry him through. He was going down. Her arms remained folded, her gaze fixed on Mark coolly - if he thought that having his Porygon 2 use Agility would make it faster than her Cat he was sadly mistaken.
But, if he could play the waiting game then so could she. "Light Screen," she said, not once moving her eyes from Mark as Cat threw the barrier in front of her with a bright flash of light, adding to the Reflect to boost not only her Defence but her Special Defence. Cat looked somewhat distorted through the barriers, almost as though she were about to Teleport...
Nodding somewhat mockingly, Jub looked Snype up and down briefly before bursting out laughing, his tail flicking around as though expressing his hilarity. "Bro...not dissing you, but you ain't exactly hench...you may be his first Pokemon but man...look, it ain't a do okay?" he chuckled to himself, shaking his head to himself. Snype...hench...he hadn't heard anything that funny since...well, since ever. "You got the funny bro, you got cred," he complimented with a nod. "But back to biz...ain't no way I'm battling you...yet at least. Get built, and then we'll see...I'd do way too much damage man."
Cat had set up yet another barrier. Now she was covered for both physical and special attacks. Still, Commodore had gotten a couple boosts while they were both setting up. Still, if cat was going to play the waiting game as well, it wouldn't do Mark any good. Time to go all out and attack.
"Commodore! Signal beam!"" Mark said. With the bug typing, the attack would surely be much stronger. This was commodore's current strongest attack as is. He fired a rainbow colored beam toward Cat hoping it would at least leave a dent in the barrier. Commodore would only anticipate what she would do next.
Snype laughed with Jub. He wasn't sure if not being a "hench " was good or bad but nonetheless, he was growing to really like Jub.
"Aw comon. I've faced couple strong pokemon and I've lasted myself. It's not all about damage. You gotta have strategy to back it up. And as far as strategy goes, I consider myself an expert." Snype said. He looked at the battle going on between Mark and Sel... he mostly had his eyes on Sel though.
"Hey Jub... is it me or is something different about Sel? She seems more serious then usual..." Snype asked
"Teleport," said Selene with a small smile, narrowed, determined eyes flicking away from Mark to Cat as her form flickered then vanished into thin air, the Signal Beam passing straight through the space where Cat had previously vanished. A satisfied smile on her face, Selene looked back at Mark with slightly raised eyebrows almost in a challenge. Still, she said nothing. Nor did her face relay any of the muted anger roiling around within her body and mind, she simply looked as though she were concentrating heavily on the battle in front of her.
Glancing round, Sel surreptitiously looked for Valorie, wanting to see if she was watching her two 'best friends' battling it out...or more precisely, watching the best friend who was so unsure of herself and her feelings try to work out her jumbled mind by defeating the boy she was so guiltily jealous of in a very public way.
"Strategy? Yeah sure, but that's just the brains innit. Lucky for me, I got both like paper, brains and body," Jub snickered and looked sideways at Snype, hands still folded behind his head. "Don't think no brother is going to talk it without walking it with me though man," he frowned slightly as Snype mentioned Selene and followed his gaze over to the battle.
"S? Awwhhh yeah man, the S-Boss just got her eyes on the prize, s'all. Not at the Academy no more are we, this ain't no banter...she ain't jiggin with something though," he added with a contemplatative air, roughly translated to mean that he acknowledged that Selene seemed unhappy about something.
"What the..." Mark said as Cat teleported away from the attack. Where did she go? Geez... Mark couldn't see her anywhere. Commodore was also looking around for where Cat may have ended up.
"Keep your guard up Commodore! Don't let Cat get the jump on you!" Mark advised Commodore. Commodore was preparing to use Signal beam the minute he had locked onto Cat...
---
"Huh... wonder whats up with her... I mean, I don't see why she would be unhappy. She's battling one of her friends after all... any ideas what you think might be the problem?" Snype asked Jub
Scoffing slightly at Mark's confusion, Selene smiled to herself and closed her eyes as moments passed without Cat re-appearing...Sel had a sneaking suspicion that she was dragging the moment out purely for comic value and dramatic effect, but no matter what her reasons were it was good to know that Cat could control her Teleporting so she didn't just vanish and pop up a second later.
Eyes snapping open, Selene looked up as Cat silently materialised to Commodore's side and fired her Psybeam straight at him, spoons lifted as the purple energy blasted out in pulses at Commodore, eyes glowing purple still looking distorted from behind the Light Screen and Reflect.
"No idea man, if she's unhappy then she ain't broke no bread with me, but she'll let us know if she got any beef. Yeah...if I know Sel then she won't play if she's not good with something," Jub shrugged nonchalantely with a slight shake of his head. He hadn't really noticed anything wrong with Sel...yeah she was concentrating a hell of a lot more but that wasn't so unusual surely...
Cat had teleported right beside Commodore and fired a psybeam at point blank range. Being hit at Point blank never felt good. Great. If she was going to keep teleporting like that, then Commodore was going to need a different approach. Best to heal from their mistakes.
"Commodore! Recover!" Mark called out. Commodore gave off a dim glow and healed up a bit of his wounds from the last few attacks. Now that he knew what to expect from Cat, he would try not to get those very same wounds again.
"Signal Beam! Once more!" Mark called out. This was mostly to see if Cat would teleport again. If he did, Mark was going to have to see how to stop her before she attacked...
--
"Hmm... well, I'm sure its nothing too big... I mean, Mark and Sel are friends! She's just being competative! Nothing wrong with that..." Snype said, hoping that he was right about that...
Satisfied, Selene watched as Cat remained close to Commodore ready to strike after her successful Psybeam offense...and when Mark ordered Commodore to use Recover she decided to capitalise on the break to boost Cat's defences some more. "Light Screen again Cat!" she ordered, watching as Cat, boosted her Special Defence even higher. If Commodore was going to keep using Recover...well, Cat's increased Defence and Special Defence would definitely help her outlast the Porygon 2.
"Psybeam" she ordered as Commodore used Signal Beam, watching as Cat concentrated the pulses of psychic energy into a powerful beam that headed straight towards the Signal Beam, colliding halfway with somewhat blinding consequences, flashes of light making Sel close her eyes until the light had subsided. On opening one eye, she noted that Cat was unharmed, stood watching Commodore with her spoon raised in front of her ready to either defend or attack.
"Sure thing man...as far as I know she ain't got no beef with Mark...but she is more competitive than usual, which is saying something for S..." Jub shrugged lightly and checked his paws, noting how much thicker and more durable they looked. Ha, it was a shame he ever had to be a Pikachu...his whole being was made to be a Raichu, he just knew it. Evolving him was the best decision Sel had ever made in his opinion.
Cat's own special attack was quite a force to be reckoned with... though Commodore was fairly all around when it came to stats. Mark would have to find a way to take advantage of that. Starting with getting a little more faster then Cat.
"Agility! One more time!" Mark called out. Hopefully with the extra boost of speed, he would be able to move faster then Cat. That would help him get a couple hits in quicker. Though Cat was building her defenses up at the same time. If only Commodore could get Cat out of those barriers... or better yet, if only Commodore could break through them.
Commodore used his newfound speed to fly around Cat with fairly decent speed. At least it could rival Cat's.
"Hmm... well I hope its nothing too bad... So who do you got your bets on? Commodore or Cat? They're both holding their ground fairly well..." Snype asked
"Psybeam outward," said Selene quietly to Cat, watching with amusement as Mark called out commands to his Porygon 2 with so much passion...was that how she usually was on the battlefield?? The emotions he was so clearly displaying certainly looked familiar to her...it felt strange to feel this calm, this in control during a battle...it was something that she could get used to.
Cat's eyes glowed purple as she focused on the spoon in front of her, ignoring Commodore as he flew around her, and she glowed bright purple and fired a Psybeam out into the spoon in front of her, the psychic energy bending in pulses around her in a sphere, the psi energy refracted off the spoon in front of her. Selene nodded with satisfaction - Cat's use of her spoon, one of the most powerful and symbolic tools of a psychic pokemon, meant that she could focus her entire energies into the Psybeam and let the spoon bend it around her.
"Gotta be Cat man, gotta keep the blood in the hood. And even as an Abra she packed a punch. But yeah, that Porygon 2 ain't doing too badly at all..." Jub nodded sagely, watching the battle closely and figuring out Mark's battle style. He noticed that Selene had been less about all-out offence with this battle, which suited Cat very well indeed...she was learning.
Commodore got hit once again by the large wave of psychic energy but wasn't too baddly damaged. He was curious as to how Cat managed to do a technique like that... Commodore would love to do something similar himself. Nonetheless, Commodore was ready to attack immediately.
"Commodore! Quick! Signal beam!" Mark called out. Commodore quickly fired a rainbow like beam straight for Cat. With the boosted defense, it wasn't likely it would hurt as much as it should. Even if Commodore's attack had a type advantage. Best to just keep fireing away until that barrier breaks.
--
"Haha, I dunno, Commodre has a bit of strategy on him as well. You'll be suprised with what Mark's Pokemon are capable of. We've all been trained in our own unique way. He's trained me to be able to act independently. He trusts me enough to be able to use my own strategys against my opponents." Snype said.
"Concentrate the collision," said Selene with a smile, watching as Cat's eyes flicked toward the incoming Signal Beam and she twisted her spoon in it's direction, her Psybeam morphing once more into a direct jet of energy that impacted with the Signal Beam like it had once before. "Light Screen" she finished, deciding on a complete change in tactics, watching as Cat threw up a Light Screen around her and broke off the Psybeam - at this moment there were 3 Light Screens surrounding Cat, however Selene was very aware that her two first Screens would be wearing off soon enough. She wasn't about to let Cat's defences fall, and for that matter neither was Cat herself.
"If you say so man," said Jub with a slight roll of his eyes - God, he hadn't even been engaging that much in the conversation and this dude was jumping on the defensive already?? "All I'll say is I've been on the end of Sel's training regime. If you act independently, well that's good for you mate, but I don't think that's as rare a talent as you seem to think..." he yawned widely and looked around...this place was pretty big, pretty impressive. But he was hungry...where was that chow from before..? Looking around, he noticed a table not so far from them boasting a platter of Pokeblocks...that could work. Wandering over, he whipped his tail out and grabbed a couple, throwing one up and catching it in his mouth before chewing and returning to watch the battle.
Signal beam wasn't working... it was matching with the power of cat's Psybeam and completely negating the attack. He would have to make it a bit more stronger... luckily commodore had just the move. A couple uses and Commodore would surely outmatch Cat.
"Charge Beam!" Mark called out. Even if it didn't hit, the charge up caused by the attack would increase Commodores special attack a bit to hopefully match up against Cat's Psybeam. Commodore charged up a beam of electricity and shot Cat again. She couldn't hold those defenses forever
"Eh, maybe not. But we're own unique in our own little way right?" Snype said cheerfully. Snype followed Jub and grabbed a pokeblock for himself as well. He perfered the orange ones for some reason... they were more his taste.
So, Mark was trying to get Commodore up to Cat's level in terms of Special Attack by using Charge Beam...well, interesting...but Charge Beam wasn't 100% assured to raise Special Attack, in terms of strategy it wasn't perhaps the strongest. And Cat had just the move to make it even more ineffective.
"Light Screen!" said Selene was the Charge Beam flew towards Cat, watching as with lightning fast reflexes Cat erected a wall of light in front of her that absorbed part of the Charge Beam. The part that pushed through the barrier was weakened, so when the rest of the Charge Beam hit Cat it didn't do much damage at all. Cat winced and closed her eyes as the electricity hit her, stepping back on one leg before snapping her eyes open and concentrating on her spoon.
That was when an idea hit Selene, watching the lightning-imbued Light Screen with electricity crackling through it. "Cat, draw the additional energy into your spoon and combine with Psybeam," she directed, watching as the barriers around Cat glowed purple and the electricity flared before zipping back into Cat's spoon. As Cat's eyes glowed violet, the Psybeam pulsed out towards Commodore with the electricity from the Charge Beam coursing through it.
"Yeah man we all got swagger, no brothers the same," agreed Jub with a nod, watching the battle with a raised eyebrow as he finished his PokeBlock with an appreciative flick of his tail. The more he watched...this was so unlike Selene. She seemed way too calm for this stage of a battle...perhaps Snype had picked up on something whilst watching them, maybe there was something else going on here...
Mark smirked... Selene was so focused on special defense at the moment... but physical defense? She was so focused on dodging the projectiles that he doubted that Cat would be prepared for this. Commodore had to forget Psybeam to learn Signal beam as Mark still wanted some form of physical attack as a backup... Commodore was better with special but his own physical strength wasn't too shabby.
Mark looked at Commodore. He was able to avoid the electrified Psybeam that was aimed for him. If he was going to use Tackle, he had to trick Cat... otherwise she would just use Teleport. He hadn't trained Commodore to know moves from hand gestures or anything like that... and calling out to commodore to use Tackle would make it way to obvious... then Mark got an idea.
Commodore backed up near Mark. "Commodore, go with the same strategy as before... when I give off a fake cough, go straight in for a tackle attack... got it?" Mark whispered. Commodore nodded. With the noise around the expo, there was now way Sel or Cat would hear them, unless they had super hearing or something.
"Alright Commodore! Signal Beam!" Mark called out. Commodore went for the same movement he had been doing since the begining of the battle. He dashed a bit closer to Cat, charging up the beam. Then Mark gave out a cough as if he were conjested. Commodore got the signal and quickly stoped the feign signal beam. Commodore quickly flew right through the Light Ccreens to tackle Cat. They could stop beams, but not the user thats launching its whole body toward it.
Arms folded, Selene watched as Commodore backed up towards Mark and nodded to Cat - it was beyond obvious that they were planning something. Commodore just moved away from the battle to Mark...whose lips were moving...he was working out some kind of strategy, so Selene and Cat had to be prepared.
"Reflect, Cat," said Selene as she realised that the initial Reflect had long since vanished by now, taking advantage of the gap inbetween Commodore's attacks for Cat to throw up a Reflect around herself, boosting her Defence. As Commodore, then, began charging up a Signal Beam Selene inwardly cursed...didn't seem to be any change in tactic here...perhaps it would have been a better idea to boost the Special Defence even further, although it was high enough as it was.
Therefore, Selene was somewhat taken aback as Commodore dropped the Signal Beam and charged towards Cat in a Tackle. With Commodore's increased speed, he slammed into Cat just before Selene could instruct her to use Teleport...that wouldn't hurt Cat too much, given that Tackle was one of the weakest of Physical attacks and Cat had, somewhat luckily, put up a Reflect that would weaken the blow from Tackle but Selene was still very aware of the fact that Cat's Defence wasn't the best.
"Psybeam!" she commanded, watching as Cat leapt back to her feet and made full use of Commodore's close proximity from the Tackle, holding her spoon out so it was really close to Commodore and firing off a powerful Psybeam. Now it was Selene's turn to smirk; she didn't see how Commodore could avoid this, he wasn't that fast, and ultimately speed wasn't the main factor in evading special attacks.
Commodore was able to succesfully trick Cat with Tackle. It was weak compared to toher moves but it was better then nothing. It completely caught Cat off guard. However, he was shot at point blank range by Cat's Psybeam Now. Thankfully it was working, though now she had coverage against physical attacks. Now what was he going to do...
"Commodore... lets try tricking Cat a bit... we threw her off that last time..." Mark whispered. Commodre began to move around Cat a bit more.
"Signal Beam!" Mark called out. Commodore had to make sure the signal beam wouldn't make contact with Cat's Psybeam... though the previous boost from charge beam and the type advantage ought to leave some kind of dent. Commodore charged up a signal beam and waited a few moments... after that, he quickly floated above Cat and fired a signal beam right down onto her head.
"Teleport," smirked Selene as soon as Mark shouted Signal Beam, having to hide back a smirk as Cat flickered and vanished from view even as Commodore positioned himself above so he could fire his Signal Beam onto her head. The Signal Beam passed through the space where Cat had just vanished from and hit the floor, throwing up dust and bits of debris. Selene closed her eyes and shook her head slowly with a snicker - this was the big strategy that Mark had just thought up? Really? She didn't really want to laugh - although, of course, Mark wasn't exactly her favourite person right now, but she really couldn't help it.
As soon as Cat reappeared across from Commodore, Selene said "Psybeam" in her calm, collected tone of voice and watched as Cat returned to bending the Psybeam using her spoon, this time refracting the psi energy in spherical shapes once more. Selene watched closely, Cat didn't seem to be tiring out...the benefits of the spoon that she wielded, it may only look like a piece of cutlery to most, but to a Psychic Pokemon it was one of the most important tools that they could possess, allowing them to boost and manipulate their own Psychic energy with little exertion on their part.
At this rate the battle was going to keep going for awhile... Cat kept on avoiding attacks or resisting them and Commodore was being a trooper trying to take all of the hits that he could. Cat was a strong hitter but very frail. If Commodore could just get through that light screen and hit Cat... Maybe he would have a chance. Mark had another idea that Sel would hopefully fall for.
"Commodore, Tackle again!" Mark said. Commodre didn't fake out the attack this time. He flew straight for Cat, prepared to dodge any other attacks she might throw. For one, If Commodore was going to keep using physical attacks, then Cat would focus on physical defenses. All Commodore needed was a chance to strike...
Waiting until Commodore had drawn closer to Cat, Selene's smirk widened and she practically laughed the words "Drain Punch," ready to fight fire with fire. Yes, Cat was vulnerable to physical attacks but her Defence had been boosted quite significantly by the Reflect, and Tackle wasn't a particularly worrying physical attack anyway. Had Commodore been using Take Down, or Giga Impact or anything similar, then Sel would have rethought this move. But ultimately, even though Bug types were resistant to Fighting moves, any damage inflicted would probably negate the damage done by the Tackle, all things considered.
Cat flew forward to meet Commodore, fist drawn backwards until she lunged it forward, slamming it into Commodore even as his momentum drove forward in the Tackle attack. Another benefit of the Drain Punch, considered Selene as she watched Cat fly backwards from the impact of the Punch on the Tackle, an amount of green energy that had been collected from the Drain Punch following her, healing upon impact. Cat leapt back up to her feet, spoon held out, and Selene resisted the urge to ask if she was okay - surveying Cat's strong posture and focused eyes let her know that her Kadabra was fine.
Cat was focused on offense now... perfect. Commodore just had to keep this up until the Light Screen faded out. Then he would strike... For now, he would keep using Tackle. As soon as that light screen went out, He would strike with Signal Beam. The Drain punch thankfully didn't do too much to Commodore thanks to his bug Typing but Cat gained a bit of health from the collision. Seeing Cat had moved back a bit from the impact, Commodore seemed to have an advantage offensively against her.
"Tackle again!" Mark called out. Commodore did the same thiing from before and shot himself straight toward Cat. Just a little longer...
"Esquiva Role, Cat, and Psybeam," said Selene coolly, watching as Commodore tried to Tackle Cat...but in a rapid, smooth, fluid motion, Cat dodged the Tackle by shifting her weight in an almost cartwheel-like motion over to the right, landing crouched on the floor and whipping up her spoon in front of her face and focussing on Commodore, gathering her psychic energy into the spoon and firing the Psybeam directly at him. Seeing as he had just missed her in a physical attack, he wasn't out of range to any extent, so Selene was confident that Cat's aim would be sufficient to land the Psybeam.
Commodore attempted to Tackle Cat again.. however Cat avoided the attack succesfully and hit Commodore with another Psybeam. Commodore wasn't going to last much longer. If he could just get another hit with Signal beam... the Light Screen had to fade away sometime soon... Commodore was growing very tired.
"Comon Commodore... just a little longer. Lets head into the defensive. Recover!" Mark said. This would hopefully allow Commodore to last a little bit longer to get a good hit in before going down... but he still wouldn't last too long. For now he would have to wait for a moment to strike...
"Light Screen!" ordered Selene, taking advantage of the gap as Commodore used Recover to erect the Light Screen that had worn off that previous turn. It was difficult to tell where Commodore was up to in terms of his health - it wasn't exactly easy to tell if the Porygon 2 was tired out or not, but Selene figured it safe to assume that if Mark was instructing a healing move then he wasn't doing too great at least. Perhaps she should have sent Cat in for the kill with a final Psybeam to finish Commodore off, but as far as she was concerned it was unacceptable to leave Cat vulnerable to a hit from Signal Beam without any Special Defence boost.
"Steady, Cat, be prepared to counter," said Selene slowly, watching as Cat's spoon moved up level with her eyeline, perfectly still like Cat's whole posture - good sign. She wouldn't be anywhere near that steady if she had been tired out too much...
Another light screen... gah if Snype was out here this would have already been other. He digressed though. He wasn't going to think lowly of Commodore. He could be a forced to be reckoned with as well. Commodore was sturdy enough to keep recovering from damage. Cat just had to let up and allow a Signal beam to hit her.
"Commodore, remember what Nick told us. Stop and think for a bit before you rush in attacking... you gotta find some other tricks..." Mark said. He knew recklessly ramming into its opponent wouldn't do so good in the long run and Cat's defenses were staying strong. Another boost and Commodore could probobly hurt cat as if there were no barrier there in the first place... it was worth a shot. The problem was that Cat would be able to counter it easily...
"...Commodore! Charge beam once more! Give yourself an extra boost!" Mark said. Commodore wasn't going to be stupid and allow Cat to counter the attack with her own psychic abilities... while charging up his own abilities to use Charge beam he decided to trick her a little bit. Rather then aim for Cat, He purposely missed and shot the ground in front of her, boosting his own special attack in the process. That would hopefully be strong enough to do a bit more damage... Commodore stared into Cat's eyes prepared for her next move.
"Recover," said Selene slowly, noting that Cat was well-protected behind her Light Screen and taking the opportunity as Mark and Commodore took their time to work out their next move to allow a healing wave of green light wash over her, refreshing her health behind her defences.
Selene and Cat both watched with identical raised eyebrows as Commodore's Charge Beam hit the ground in front of Cat. Of course it wasn't possible for Sel to know if his Special Attack had been boosted just from the fact that he had used Charge Beam, given that it wasn't assured, but either way she knew that Cat was durable enough with her added Special Defences to take even a Signal Beam should it hit her...which, in truth, wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.
Cat didn't move, not even an inch. She simply stood perfectly still, conserving her psychic energy and watching Commodore closely, ready to react as soon as he made any kind of move.
Commodore eyed Cat closely as she stood still. Was she preparing to teleport or preparing to counter attack? Commodore was getting really paranoid. He needed a different strategy to work with... nonetheless, he had to continue on with the battle. Cat knew recover as well... at this rate the battle was going to last the entire expo! Commodore began to speak up to Cat.
"We're goning to be here for awhile aren't we? Your well trained I'll give you that Cat." Commdore complimented. Time to unleash another signal beam... with the two boosts in special attack, it was bound to leave a dent in this barrier. Cat would likely teleport away from it though... how to manage that...
"Commodore, Signal beam!" Mark said. Commodore prepared to charge up another signal beam. He made a movement as if he were about to fire the beam but moved back into his charging possition to hopefully trick Cat. He then fired another beam straight for her again.
"Correct, I am. Thank you," said Cat simply, her lips didn't move - rather she chose to project her thoughts over the entire battlefield. Selene smirked slightly, feeling the slight energy that Cat had embued the words with, making them that bit more forceful and illustrating how she was ready to go. Not that she was being deliberately rude to Commodore's compliment with her short answers, that was just Cat's way. She agreed with his assessment and told him so, adding the thanks on as an afterthought.
It was time to try something a bit tricky. As the second Signal Beam headed toward Cat - she had been slightly confused by Commodore's bizarre series of movements, but he had been trying the same strategy throughout the battle so guessed that he wasn't about to try another physical attack after last time, Cat stayed perfectly still once more.
Just before the attack hit, on Selene's orders, Cat began charging up her Psybeam and held a crackling, buzzing ball of purple energy on her spoon out in front of her. The Signal Beam hit, and Cat was pushed back onto one knee with a cry - the super effective attack was of course weakened by the Light Screen significantly, so it didn't do ridiculous amounts of damage, but it was still the hardest hit that Cat had experienced this battle. But, the entire beam didn't hit her - part of the rainbow beam was sucked into the swirling ball of purple energy from Cat's Psybeam - that, with her rigid concentration had remained charged by her spoon through the Signal Beam hit - and it was this combined rainbow-and-purple Psybeam that Cat unleashed on Commodore, thrusting her spoon and other hand forward as though pushing extra energy into the beam as it shot forward.
The attack actually hit this time and it certainly sent Cat down a notch. Another hit like that was sure to hurt big time. Mark wasn't so sure if he would have that chance though as Cat had shot Commodore with a Psybeam attack, mostly channeled through Commodore's own Signal Beam. Commodore wasn't able to react fast enough unfortunately and was hit by the attack. Commodore crashed right into the ground after being hit by the attack, eager to try and get up for one more attack.
"Commodore comon, hang in there!" Mark said. Commodore couldn't float around after that one attack. He ended up stationary like some kind of turret with barely enough energy last another attack. Worst of all his mind was in shambles from the Psybeam. He could barely aim even in his stationary possition. He knew he was done though. And hopefully Mark did as well.
"...Alright, Good run Commodore. Return." Mark said as he returned Commodore to his Pokeball. Well round one went to Sel but it didn't mean the match was over. Mark could still very well win this match. Mark smiled.
"Good going Sel! Looks like Round 1 is all yours! Don't get confident though. We're just starting after all." Mark said. He didn't see Len anywhere... must have still been underground. It would have been nice if he were around at the moment. Best so send out Snype.
Mark whistled over to Snype and called him over. Snype's ears perked up and he jumped right onto his feet.
"See ya Jub! My turn to rule the battlefield!" Snype said confidently. He quickly ran into the battlefield and stood in a battle pose.
"Cat was it? Name's Snype. I won't be going out so easily!" Snype said confidently. First things first, time to stop her from doing anything else related to defenses. Snype made a gesture as if telling Cat to come over to where he was with a cocky smirk on him.
"Bring it on sister." Snype taunted.
"Cat, good job, ready yourself with a Recover," nodded Selene in satisfaction as Mark returned Commodore after that first, extensive, drawn-out round of the battle. She had to admit, begrudgingly to herself perhaps, that Mark's Porygon 2 had lasted longer than she had thought it would...although...part of her suspected that this was more of a reflection of the need to her lower-levelled Pokemon as extensively as she had Ryan, Sharpay and Blu. Even Ri had somehow fallen by the wayside...well, this was a great opportunity to get that training in.
Cat glowed green, healing herself with the energy from Recover before Mark whistled...oh, how convenient, thought Selene with a wry smirk, utilising the old type advantages. Well, that was a decent strategy as far as battling went...it was just so typical of Trainers, especially of a certain lack of experience...an actual snort of derision escaped her nose as Mark shouted over to her and she raised her eyebrows at him. He had just lost...and he actually said that to her? Really?
"Just started? And there was me thinking that this battle had already wasted so much of my life..." she retorted, even though Mark's tone had been nothing but friendly, dryly. "I think I'll decide whether I get confident or not thank you very much. And ultimately...yeah, I like my chances against you. Of course I do, look at the difference between us. But anyway, I expect you think I'm going to switch out my Pokemon now..but, I don't think I will. Cat, Light Screen," ordered Selene.
Throughout Snype's little speech, Cat remained stock still with her eyes closed. His voice grated on her ears and disrupted her meditation. As Selene spoke, her eyes snapped open and she stared at Snype, spoon raised in front of her eyeline.
"I'm not your sister. I will not bring anything on order," said Cat in a bored, monotonous manner as she threw up a screen of light to boost her Special Defence against this new challenger.
Snype chuckled a bit. He had obseved Cat's moves during the battle. she had two barriers, a recovery move, Teleport, as well as Psybeam and Drain Punch. Needless to say, Cat was pretty screwed at the moment. Snype decided to stay still and cross his arms confidently. He started to use the move Taunt with his own charm included.
"Comon then kitty. Let's see those fancy attacks that beat Commodore then. I'm right here. Kehehe..." Snype taunted. That taunt would stop cat from using any of her other moves such as Recover and leave her to only use attacking moves. Snype was confident that he had Cat right where he wanted her now. Snype let out a loud yawn to further irritate her. He wasn't normally this big of a jerk but if he was going to taunt his opponent, he was going to go all out. Snype enjoyed the reactions anyways.
Knowing that Snype had used Taunt, one would expect Selene to be panicking. In terms of moveset, Cat was heavily Special based - largely due to her Psychic typing and relatively low level, meaning she had learned predominantly Special moves - and her only Physical attack was a Fighting move, that Snype was immune to. Yes, Selene was aware of all this. But she wasn't panicked. She wasn't freaking out, but nor was she ready to throw in the towel, to any extent.
"Observe, do nothing," said Selene slowly, and Cat did exactly that - nothing. She merely stood and watched Snype as he, in her mind, made an utter fool out of himself. Some would call Cat a sitting duck, which would be a fair enough assessment, but Taunt didn't last for an entire battle and the experience would help Cat regardless of the outcome. So, following Selene's orders, Cat would do nothing until she felt herself free of the Taunt.
Snype chukled as Cat didn't do anything. She was clearly out of options but not so much to the point of struggling. Snype figured he mays as well not hold back. Special defense wasn't a problem for him anyways. He knew his own strategys without the need of Mark's command so it was a good way to go about doing moves without the need of his trainer shouting them out and completely revealing everything.
"Your loss. Sometimes ya take what cha get." Snype siad with a smirk. Meanwhile his shadow had been extending right behind Cat as Snype slowly began walked up to her. Quickly, Snype's own shadow appeared behind Cat and swiped its claws at her.
Hit by the Shadow Sneak, Cat lunged forward with the momentum into a forward Esquiva Role to minimise the damage, but that one really hurt - obviously Ghost type moves were super-effective against Cat, and she could almost feel the burning of Ghost energy in her back where Snype's Shadow's claws had slashed at her. Getting to her feet somewhat shakily, Cat hadn't once closed her eyes or averted her gaze, staring at Snype the whole time. It was almost a trance-like state of meditation, as though Cat were busy memorising all sensory input. And in fact, she was.
Snype knew he had this match in the bag and was mostly enjoying playing with Cat. Sel seemed to refuse to return her though and Snype wasn't going to be all that brutal on Cat if her trainer wouldn't admit defeat. Snype could feel something was up with Sel but he had to focus on the battle at hand. If Cat wasn't going to attack then Snype wouldn't be able to use Sucker Punch... at least Shadow Sneak was doing a good number on her.
"Aw comon I wasn't even trying with that one! Kehehe..." Snype chuckled. He used Shadow Sneak once more on Cat...
This time, however, Cat didn't seem to be feeling just standing there and taking the attack. She was a Psychic Pokemon, she obviously felt the extension of the Ghostly energy behind her, and so swiftly evaded the attack by leaping up high into the air and avoiding the scratching claws of the shadow.
Landing to the side, she maintained her line of sight, watching Snype closely. This was her second turn under the Taunt, it would surely be fading off soon, thought Selene, and then would be the chance to set the groundwork for whomever Sel decided should follow Cat into this battle.
Cat had avoided the attack this time... Snype would have to finish this somehow... Snype turn his head back to Cat and gave off a large smile. The spoons she was holding... Snype wondered how she would do without them... But this was working. He just needed to hit her hard enough to make her faint before the taunt wore off. She was obviously getting used to the patterns.
Snype prepared himself to use Sucker Punch as soon as Taunt wore off. That would surely hit her hard enough before she had a chance do do anything else... For now he would experiement a bit with his new move, Knock Off.
Snype ran toward Cat and prepared to give her a good slap. If he hit, it would make her drop whatever she was holding. Her spoons in particular.
The Knock-Off hit Cat and for a moment her vision blurred - that had hit her for six, yet another super-effective move, this time a physical one too - but she didn't drop her spoon. For the very simple reason, that a Kadabra's spoon wasn't a held item as such - yes she held it in her hand, but seeing as it randomly appeared for undiscovered reasons during evolution as it was it was more of an extension of her body than a piece of cutlery that she channelled energy through.
Selene watched, knowing that Cat would strike when the time was right. She was somewhat worried that her plan would fail should Snype get another hit in before the Taunt wore off, but this worry was put to rest as Cat suddenly leapt into action and thrust her spoon out in front of her in indication that she was ready to fight, that the Taunt had worn off. She knew what to do. Her spoon glowed purple and psychic energy in a powerful pulse washed over towards Snype - this was Miracle Eye. It wouldn't do any damage, but it would make him susceptible to Psychic-type moves, taking away the protection of Dark-type immunity. Whether or not this would be a particularly useful move, Selene would find out, but it was part of an overall strategy.
Snype felt an odd chill down his spine from Cat's previous attack.. he didn't know what it was but he didn't really care at the moment. Snype had this in the bag and he was ready to make his next move that would hopefully put Cat in for alot of hurt. Snype jumped toward Cat and used Sucker Punch. Snype was aiming to elbow her right in the chest before she could try anything else.
The Sucker Punch, of course, hit Cat before she could use her Teleport and instantly knocked her out cold. Falling limply to the floor, Selene smiled genuinely, albeit briefly, for the first time during the battle and returned the defeated Kadabra, absolutely made up with her performance and all the experience she had gotten. But, unlike she usually would, she didn't talk to Cat within the PokeBall and congratulate her. That was not how she felt during this battle...that barely contained rage had begun to build once more as she looked at Mark, his earlier words replaying in her mind. As if he had the authority to tell her ANYTHING.
To this end, she practically snatched a PokeBall from her belt and released Ri, the Lucario crouching into a fighting stance the moment he landed on the battlefield and staring straight at Snype. Normally he and Snype were friendly but...he was powered by the aura roiling around Selene at this moment - as sensitive as Lucario are to reading auras - hers wasn't like he'd ever felt it before. Passion. Rage. Focus. He felt it all and fed off it. So, like Cat before him, he said nothing to Snype, simply watched him in his almost frozen stance, feeling his tensed muscles ready to spring into action.
"Foresight," smirked Selene, having to hold back a laugh as the word fell from her lips, as Ri's eyes shimmered brightly for a moment before a rush of energy passed over the battlefield toward Snype. Foresight, of course, would remove the immunity to Fighting-type moves that Ghost-type Pokemon had. And, by extension, this would also make Ri super effective against Snype with his Fighting capabilities, as there was no Ghost-type immunity to protect the Dark-type from being vulnerable to Fighting-type attacks.
With Cat out of the way, thankfully she wouldn't have a chance to set up any light screens or reflect barriers. That would make things a bit easier on Snype's end. The next pokemon was Ri though. Ri was one of Snype's first friends in the academy so he was happy to finally get into a battle with him. Something was different about him though... he had that same silent stare as Selene...
With Foresight, Snype no longer had his ghost type immunity. A glaring weakness. He wasn't sure what moves that Ri had so he would have to do some scouting. Snype prepared Detect to see what Ri had under his sleve leaving the two to a proper stare off.
"Been awhile huh buddy? About time the two of us had a battle. May the best man win." Snype said to Ri with a friendly tone , his eyes glowing a bright white color.
"Quite," said Ri quietly with the same small smirk as Selene had on her face practically constantly throughout the battle - if Selene was confident then Ri was beyond confident. Yes, they were friends, but right now Ri was seeing that as nothing other than a chance for him to utilise the knowledge he had of Snype's battle style, having known him and watched him fight for a while. In personality, the Lucario had really changed since evolving from his Riolu form - as a Riolu, Ri would have spent however long telling Selene to chill herself before then getting involved in the battle, not able to understand the conception of 'serious.' But Lucario, matured, understood the aura all too well and decided to go with it.
Snype used Detect? Interesting...but not effective. Ri lunged forward towards Snype to retaliate with Feint - as a Normal move it wouldn't cause any damage, but it would lift the effect of Detect, making the move redundant.
Yes, Ri was fighting without commands. Selene looked up at Mark with an unpleasant expression. "Not so difficult, is it, to train your Pokemon with strategies to fight without commands...even a caged Baboon could do it with ease. All that time spent going on about how you'd taught Snype to fight independently...not realising how much of a fool you sounded to people like me who had already taught their Pokemon that skill without feeling the need to publicise it, to try and make themselves look smarter than they are," she practically spat now, her tone betraying the anger she had kept concealed. "That was always your problem, Mark, you never thought things through properly. That is why you will always lose." The outburst would probably seem random, and somewhat out of context for any by-standers, but to Selene it made perfect sense in that moment - some things just had to be said.
Snype attempted to dodge with his increased sense but was still hit by Ri's attack. Snype never would have guessed there was a move that could hit though protective moves like detect. That took out alot of Snype's options... it hurt to! He felt the normal attack like any other one. This wasn't good at all... there goes one of Snype's more useful tactics.
Mark raised an eyebrow to Selene's comment. Where did that come from? Mark felt something different about Sel but now she was showing it first hand. Mark kept his chill attitude though.
"Yeah so maybe its not all that unique. I don't get your point. It's to show that the trainer trusts their Pokemon well enough to make thoughtful decisions. A Pokemon as only as good as their trainer. If I didn't think things through properly I wouldn't be in this school to begin with." Mark replied to her.
Snype got up onto his feet and used Shadow Sneak on Ri. To get the jump on him. It wouldn't effect him all that much but that was his best option at the moment. He didn't like what Sel was saying his trainer... not one bit.
"Beautiful," said Selene quietly with a wide smirk as she watched Feint batter through Detect and break it completely. And, knowing a thing or two about Snype from past experience, Sableye didn't have great stats...Ri's Attack and Special Attack stats were the highest of his set, and were extremely impressive. As were all his stats, in fact...Selene let out a laugh, watching as Snype tried to use Shadow Sneak on Ri.
Ri had decided to retaliate with Vacuum Wave, whirling his fists so rapidly they were a literal blur, consequently creating a Vacuum and firing it over at Snype. Selene's smirk widened - brilliant, Ri had understood the lessons of Priority moves well - Vacuum Wave and Shadow Sneak being in the same category, the Pokemon with the highest Speed stat would of course strike first...Selene knew that would be Ri, but she laughed to herself whilst watching closely to make sure her assumption was correct.
"The constant selling of it, Mark, that's my point," she answered loftily as though talking to a 4 year old child, "the way you go on and on and ON about it, it's as though you'd caught Arceus himself and taught him how to walk a tightrope on a unicycle! Sometimes, people just don't want to hear about it, and people just don't care. Especially when it's nothing worth boasting about in the first place..."
Selene kept on gloating about the whole independency thing and about how Mark gloated about it... he didn't tell every single person he met about his own training techniques or anything like that. He was sure of that. He was proud that Snype worked so well by himself and with Mark's assistance it was just as well.
"You make it sound like I have a panel in the Expo about that or something. Again, what does it have to do with the battle?" Mark said getting a bit more irritated.
Snype couldn't go off using his own moves. He would have to get up close and rely on his own natural abilities. Move like Shadow Sneak wouldn't do well and Sucker Punch wouldn't do anything either... While Sel was still going on and on.
"...Ri I know you have that whole Aura thing going on. What's up with Sel? I don't appreciate what she's saying to my partner." Snype said while running toward Ri and attempting to throw a punch toward him. It wasn't any kind of special attack or anything, just a punch to get face to face with Ri.
"It has everything to do with the battle, because I say it does," growled Selene, glare deepening at Mark for...for...well, for reasons she couldn't vocalise at that very moment but she knew they were there, and she didn't NEED to vocalise them. She owed Mark nothing, especially after he stole Va-NO! She did not need to justify her anger! To herself or to anybody else! Attempting to calm herself, she focused on Ri, watching as Snype ran towards him to try and...to try and punch him? Was he insane? And what had happened with that Vacuum Wave - had it hit or not? Selene found it difficult to believe that Snype had evaded it.
All she knew was that she had to take her mind off the various things she would like to shout at Mark right now, lest she start trying some hand-to-hand combat of her own.
"'That whole aura thing' is not my information to disclose. If Sel has any problems she will go to Mark directly," said Ri calmly as Snype addressed him - yes he knew what Selene was saying to Mark, but he would never publicly go against his Trainer, no matter what she said or did. He loved her too much to do that.
So instead he decided to take advantage of Snype's, in his opinion somewhat silly, decision to get try the Physical attacks by retaliating with his own Force Palm. Snype's punch hit Ri but it was really more just contact than any punch that would do any damage to Ri whatsoever. Whilst, meanwhile, Ri had taken full advantage of the close proximity to blast his own Force Palm into Snype's chest after the contact had landed.
Snype was hit by Ri's force palm. He didn't really have much else to work with at this point... he had been exposed and now had a weakness! That and his frail body was not a good combination. Snype wasn't going to last long... for once he had met his match. Its as if this strategy was made specificly for Snype. But he had to do something... Snype needed some kind of plan...
Mark was worried as well for Snype. He had confidence he would last but Ri had him right where he wanted.. Both of his typing advantages were gone and he was vulnerable. Mark then remembered a move that he had taught Snype earlier in the expo...
"...Snype! Low Sweep!" Mark called out. A fighting type move. At least it was something that could hurt Ri a bit... Snype got up onto his feet and approached Ri once more. Rather then punch him, he used his leg to try and sweep Ri right off of his feet.
With a smirk, Selene watched as the Low Sweep knocked Ri off his feet and crashing to the floor...but it wasn't due to Snype's skill, Ri was more than evasive enough to have dodged that move should he have wished so. The Low Sweep by definition was a low attack, Ri could have easily jumped up and avoided Snype's attack...but he had an alternative plan. Fighting moves were super-effective against Ri, so the attack had hurt one of his ankles somewhat, but this was all the sweeter for his next move.
Leaping up rapidly, ignoring the twinge in his ankle, Ri rushed at Snype with a Counter attack. Counter, of course, being a Fighting attack would inflict double the damage that Ri had suffered, it was a brilliant move.
Sel folded her arms and watched as Ri worked, her face expressing pure smugness. How Mark could ever think he was good enough for Valorie...they weren't in the same class! Valorie was stronger than Sel, and Sel was beyond confident that she could dominate Mark. She snorted to herself, humored by this thought, and shook her head slowly.
While Snype was able to hit Ri with the attack, Snype was quickly hit by a counter attack. Considering the damage that did to Ri, It would just end up worse on Snype's end. He was hit by Ri's attack and sent flying backwards onto his back. Snype was breathing rather heavily now... he wasn't going to win this one.
"hah...ah..." Snype breathed heavily. All of those attack has hit him hard and he was far from a tank like Commodore was. Snype attempted to get up onto his feet to stay in the battle, struggling heavily. But ultimately, he couldn't battle anymore. He had to face the facts that he lost.
"...Alright Snype. Return. Good job out there." Mark said with a sigh. Snype nodded, thankful that his trainer knew when his own pokemon had hit their limits. Snype had learned several weaknesses of his in this match. He would have to thank Ri later for pointing them out... Snype slowly walked back over to where Jub was watching them and just sat silently, still trying to regain his breath.
Sel had improved drasticly... Ri had changed alot since last time and had improved just as well.
"...Alright. Guess my next pokemon is..." Before Mark could finish, He felt a small vibration coming from the ground below him. A small hole appeared in the ground in front of him. At first, two eyes popped out of it, and soon its whole body jumped out. It was a Poliwhirl digging underground... Len? What on earth was he doing down there?
"Len? Heh. You sure have been busy haven't you? Hope your not to tired out for a battle." Mark said. Len nodded confidently and stretched his new found arms out. He was pumped up and ready to battle.
"Alright Len lets start things off with Mind Reader!" Mark said. Len simply stood there, reading through Ri's mind to predict his movements. This wasn't for dodging though, but to make sure the next attack he used would surely hit...
Of course Ri had won. Selene expected nothing less of her Lucario, especially against a Pokemon like Snype...well, yet again she had won this battle. 2 out of 3 fights, but she wasn't down with that - should Mark win this fight...well, that wasn't an option, it was just unthinkable. She had to prove to everyone, especially Valorie, that the boy opposite her was just inferior in every which way...why she had to prove this so hard? She didn't know. Well...perhaps, perhaps she did...
Flashes ran through her mind - Mark and Valorie on the beach, talking to Mark about Valorie, Mark and Valorie battling, Mark and Valorie in the forest...until now, and things had so obviously changed. Mark had ruined everything, he had gotten in the way of Sel and her best friend and she knew exactly why - he was scared, because she was just superior to him and he didn't want Valorie to see that. This, in Selene's mind, was the gospel truth and Mark's motivation...so, by extension, it became Sel's motivation to defeat the boy opposite her.
As Mark sent out Len and ordered him to use Mind Reader, Selene chuckled darkly, looking down at the floor and shaking her head slowly. Ri looked around at her, obviously drawn by the change in her aura, and stood upright out of his fighting stance, turning back to Len and Mark. It almost looked as though he wasn't going to fight.
"I suppose you think...because I said so...I'm going to go easy on you and use my weaker Pokemon don't you," said Selene slowly, looking up at Mark with an unpleasant sneer on her face, gesturing to Ri to move back with her. "But you see, Mark, even as I am a girl of my word and I don't think it's right for friends to lie to each other...I don't believe that you've been fully truthful with me, have you. And you certainly haven't been particularly open about your motivations have you? Well...I think it's time that you learned what that felt like. Ri, switch out. Ryan, you're up. I've been looking forward to trying out my new Raichu..." she smirked at Mark and couldn't help but laugh out loud. She gestured to Ryan, who of course had decided that he would rather go by the name of Jub, and the Raichu grunted.
"Oh no she did not just call me that...well, S-boss don't know my new name...later Snype, try not to die yeah?" said Jub almost lazily as he made his way over to the battlefield with a very definite, very individual swagger about him, tail swaying above his head as he saluted to Sel before turning round to face Len, eyebrow raised slightly. "Seriously blad? You call me up for this?" he sighed.
"Thunderbolt," said Selene simply, her eyes narrowed and yet again staring straight ahead at Mark as Jub powered up his lightning and sent the Thunderbolt at Len, almost as though he wasn't really putting his all into it. The attack was still massively powerful, but Jub just didn't see the need to exert himself in any sense.
Sel just switched Ri out for Ryan... but... Ryan was one of her strongest Pokemon at the moment! What was that all about? They agreed to use evenly matched pokemon but this wasn't fair by far! Len looked at the electric type as he had used Thunderbolt. He could feel how powerful it was from a distance. When Len attempted to dodge it, the electricity followed and struck him hard.
"Herk..!" Len struggled. Here he had been hoping to show off his newfound strength... but he was already sent to his knees... barely concious.
"Sel! What's the deal? I thought we were going to do an evenly matched battle! Len! Are you alright?" Mark said, worried for the newly evolved water pokemon.
Len tried to get up onto his feet but ultimately fainted rather quickly. In instinct, Mark ran up to Len and kneeled down to see if he was ok which he clearly wasn't. He had gotten involved in a battle he couldn't win. He would have had a fair chance against Ri but Jub? Out of the question. Mark simply said nothing.
Excellent Ryan," said Selene quietly as she watched Len faint and Mark run over to his Pokemon's side. An evenly matched battle...of course Mark had expected her to keep her word, why wouldn't he? Good old Sel, always cheery, sometimes on the loud side but never causing any trouble...
"It isn't nice to believe something and then find out it was never that way, is it? When your so-called friend doesn't even have the decency to tell you himself? Just face it, Mark," said Selene icily as Jub leapt up and settled himself across her shoulders like a scarf, smirking over at Mark with his tail swaying to and fro in front of Sel. "I will always beat you. And I will beat you, in EVERYTHING. You will not take my best friend from me anymore because of your own inferiority, I don't care if you're afraid that she will see you for the weakling you are. Ultimately...well..." her frown lessened somewhat and she looked saddened for a moment before her eyes hardened once more, "I thought we were friends, Mark, but you just couldn't help but turn Valorie against me because of your own damn insecurities could you." She turned away from Mark, hearing the announcement for the showcase battles...Steven Stone...he would be interesting to battle. An actual challenge...
Mark sat there silently as Sel continued to put him down. She began to mention Valorie... what did she have to do with anything? They were all friends! What had gotten into Sel? Mark never stole her from Sel... they were friends! Mark could only wonder how Sel had grown so selfish...
"Valorie? What does she have to do with all of this? You think I'm going to be upset because I lost a battle? It happens. That's part of learning from your mistakes... I've never put anyone against you! When did you grow so paranoid Sel?" Mark yelled.
"PARANOID?!" shouted Sel, suddenly furious once more and whirling around to face Mark, practically throwing Jub off her shoulders as she did so. Her breathing was laboured as she pointed an accusing finger at Mark, having to hold herself back from rushing at him to do some serious damage with her own fists. "Paranoia, does NOT come into this! YOU know very well what you've been doing!! Valorie and I were getting along so WELL before you came along and RUINED IT ALL. You SHOULD be upset, how many battles is this that you've lost now? And how long have we been at the Academy? You will never, EVER be strong, and you'll never be worthy of Va-of being at this school!"
Selene retracted the Valorie that nearly slipped out of her mouth as she ranted at Mark, speaking as coldly as a Glaceon in the Icy Plains. She returned Ri and Jub, despite a grunt of annoyance from the latter, and balled her fists, turning her head to the side slightly to indirectly address Mark.
"I'm going to heal up my Pokemon and then have a real battle against a worthy challenger. I don't even care what you do anymore, you've destroyed everything anyway and got what you wanted. I hope it makes you utterly miserable."
And with that Sel left the battlefield, pushing past the somewhat stymied crowd around them who had witnessed her outburst, and making her way over to the medic stand in the Expo, where Nurses were tending to Pokemon who had also been battling, pushing her six Pokeballs into a tray and sliding them over the counter.
