Ciel
Ciel left his paper on the table and left the classroom. At the moment, he found himself very tired. And when he was tired, it was the sad notion that a battle always helped him to stop being that way. Triac trotted after him, loyally and obediently moving right at his side. He let out a soft bay of curiosity. Ciel smiled shyly and patted his head. He would go find a battle. Maybe it would be fun.
Skye
Skye gave Thyme a small, if strained, grin. "Ih-hit's oh-kay," he told the snivy with a small chuckle. "Vuh-Volca wih-hill be fuh-fuh-fine soon. Brah-hat." The last word was spoken with affection and Volca let out a quiet snarl. Rama suddenly barked a warning and Skye threw a Pokeball, blocking everyone's view of the larva with a well-placed Lapras.
"That should shut him up," Rama muttered with a small smirk. He waved a bruised paw at Thyme. "Hurry on home, my little fiery snake. You might be delegated to fun." Ellie giggled as she carefully placed Duster back on the ground with the others. She waved her tail at them as Skye went to sit on Rei's back. A smile played about her trainer's lips and it made her very happy indeed. Volca always deserved this.
Ash (Joint post with Megaman765)
She waved a lazy hand and sighed. "It's best to make the first move sometimes... particularly with a faster opponent... oh well..." Her casual expression lifted into a smirk. "Lessee ya dance." Her eyes shut and she punched the air "Down ya go!"
Riley squeaked and dove energetically into the sand, burrowing deeper. "Firs' question," Ash began, stepping slowly towards Mark. "Whaddaya do while there's a Pokemon below your feet? What if yer Pokemon can' sense it? What do yah do t' protect yerself?"
Unbeknownst to Ash, Mark did infact make a move. Snype had used detect without Mark giving a command. It came natrual to him as this was always how they started a battle. He kept quiet about it until Riley did an attack. Saddly, detect didn't come in handy here as Riley used dig. So Mark's turn was wasted there. The Raichu was way faster so she was going to get the hit in on Snype before he could attack unless Detect worked twice in a row... which was unlikely.
"What do I do? Well... um... take a step back when you feel the ground shake? eh heh..." He said a bit nervously. Snype prepared for his next move. He braced himself for the attack now that he didn't have Detect to save him...
"Snype... as soon as Riley comes out, use Will-o-wisp." Mark said. Snype nodded and waited for Riley to emerge. He would release a stream of blue flames toward Riley soon after to weaken his physical fighting power.
Ash grinned quietly. "You can always feel the ground shake if you give it a go, my friend. What do you do to tell where it's coming from?" Riley leaped up behind Snype and moved to wrap her tail around her opponent's body. Since Snype was simply so much smaller than Riley, her tail could wrap way more than one time around the Ghost type's body. "And... if yeh can', then what's the smoothest way of lessening damage if you can't dodge?"
Ash licked her lips and chuckled. Riley had been raised fighting through fires. Burns, while they would royally suck, weren't enough to stop her assault. Nothing's Riley-proof hey?
Snype was quickly wrapped around by Riley's tail. Hopefully Riley was burned by his last Will-O-Wisp attack. Her attacks at least wouldn't hurt as much but he needed to get out. Mark still wasn't sure how to answer her question. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to sense something so far away...
"Lessening damage? Guarding of course. Or... a proper counter! Snype! Shadow Sneak!" He called out.
Snype's shadow extended behind Riley. The shadow eventually rose up from the ground into a physical form to swipe its claws at Riley and hopefully get her off of Snype.
Ash chuckled as Riley yelped, unable to dodge while carrying the Ghost-type. "Very good, ya got lots o' options there..." She grinned a little. "Next question... how, if a Pokemon attacked ya... like this," Blue electricity burst around the Raichu's body, sparking through the tail first and foremost. It was only when that happened that she let go, the Pokemon grinning.
"How do ya reduce damage to yerself?"
Mark was having trouble coming up with answers. His Pokemon could resist these attacks sure but he doubted that he himself would be able to resist moves like this. He figured that was one point Ash was trying to get across. Mark didn't know what Riley had planned with its attack... Mark snapped his fingers to signal Snype. He used Detect to dodge Riley's next attack once she made the move.
"...Electricity? All I can think of is hanging onto Rubber..." Mark said, still kind of unsure.
Ash whistled. "Good, good. Now then kiddo..." Her eyes flashed blue and Riley ducked aside, moving to slash with her tail, the appendage glowing silver. " Say it wasn't simply electricity, say it was..." She moved, aiming for his throat. At the last moment, she pulled off to the side. "A trainer attacking you, as Rockets will do. How will you keep the battle going? If you can't move quick enough, what will keep your focus?"
With all these questions on protection, Mark was going to start getting paranoid and bringing things like rubber around him at all times. Suddenly, Riley went up to Mark and had her tail up to his throat. That got Mark extremely nervous. Another wasted opportunity to attack. Snype wasn't going to take threats to his trainer lightly though, even if it was just for show. As Riley quickly pulled away from Mark, Snype instinctively dashed up to Riley and used Sucker Punch, giving her a good jab right to her chest.
Mark was trying to think of how to get out of this situation. Especially if he didn't have his Pokemon out. How does a human stop a Pokemon from attacking?
"Remaining calm... its tough when your life is being threatened though... if I'm in battle I'll have my team to protect me after all..." Mark said. This seemed to be becoming less of a battle but Mark was starting to grasp the lesson being taught.
Riley squeaked as she brought her tail to block the attack. The burn flickered around her spine but she ignored it, releasing a Thunderbolt from her cheeks.
Ash tutted. "Y' won' when ya have yerself caught in a crowding figh'... and I ain't known a Rocket to play fair. So... ya keep calm... and den what?"
Snype was zappped harshly by the Thunderbolt. Snype was not a durable Pokemon by any means but he did have plenty of tricks. Most of which involved playing dirty.
"If they're going to fight dirty, then I'll fight dirty back. I just have to keep my composure even in a bad spot. Snype! Low Sweep!" Mark called out. Snype snickered and swiped his leg right below Raichu to trip him over and bring his speed down a notch.
Ash laughed and laughed and raised a Pokeball. Riley disappeared into it and a Lucario leaped from behind Ash, leaping over Snype's head and raising a blazing leg to kick right back. "Nice, nice, I know a friend who would love your fighting style. Now... What are the advantages and disadvantages to an opponent switching a Pokemon mid-move?"
Mark had never dealt with this sort of thing before. Most of his battles were one on one matches. He usually never switched in the middle of a fight. Either way, Mark was open to playing along. Snype was hit by the attack and struggled a bit to keep his balance.
"Well... switching right into an attack probably wouldn't be a good idea... but it could save your Pokemon." Mark said. He would have swapped over to Len but he was still exsausted from the last fight... He did have Commodore... but chances are that the Lucario would really deal alot of damage to him. Still, it would let him pull of one of his strategies.
Mark returned Snype to his Pokeball and called out his Porygon-2, Commodore.
"Commodore! Use Trick Room!" Mark shouted. The Porygon's eyes gave a faint glow as the battlefield was suddenly in a large cube in a distorted dimension. The slowest Pokemon would be the fastest and vice versa.
"Well if it was a choice between switch or get hit, what kind of Pokemon would you switch into?" Kira examined the Porygon-2 and waited, looking at the Trick Room. It let out a huff of a growl, glaring at the air. Then he closed his eyes and waited.
In reply, Ash's eyes glowed blue and she clenched one fist. "Drain Punch!"
Commodore took the Drain Punch directly. Thanks to his Bulk he took the hit but it still seriously hurt him. But he wasn't done yet. He wanted to continue supporting the other Pokemon.
"You would switch into something that can resist or get unaffected by the attack of course. Commodore! Use Reflect!" Mark called out. Mark's Pokemon not only had speed, but they would be able to tank these hits alot more now.
Ash smiled. "What if Pursuit were used? Flash Cannon!" The silver ball formed and flew towards Commodore. Kira himself was bounding carefully from foot to foot. He didn't mind the lack of speed. He did wonder about his Lady's choice of opponents. Strong Pokemon, sure, and a dirty fighter, but also certainly a little boring. Then again, she was making an effort to teach the boy, not lose to him.
He supposed he could at least applaud her attempts at these sorts of things. It wasn't as though she were exactly intelligent.
Mark wasn't sure of what to do if Pursuit was used against him... he knew about the move but never really had trouble against it. Nobody he fought used that strategy... time to try this switch out strategy again. Mark returned Commodore and brought out Len to resist the attack. He was exhausted from the last battle yes, but Mark would be able to bring him up to speed quickly. He wasn't sure how long this battle would last at this rate.
"Alright Len. I know your exhausted so lets fix that. Use Rest!" Mark said. If Ash was watching his battle earlier, she would know what strategy he was going for here... As soon as Len was brought out to battle, he sat down and closed his eyes. Falling asleep.
Ash smiled and whistled softly. Kira let out a small grumble and stepped back beside her. Ash tossed a Pokeball towards the sea. By now, even if Trick Room continued, there was little stopping her Laura from playing where she desired.
Her Lapras let out a soft, baying cry, smiling at Mark from where she swam. It had been some time since Ash had been quite so intrigued. She waved a flipper.
"So... you can't answer that question," Ash mused. "Fair enough. What do you do when you see your fears?"
Ash asked a question that really got to him. What to do when he saw his fears... he immediately looked at the ocean with a nervous expression and quickly looked back to Ash.
"U-uh...w-well... um..." Mark was a bit nervous to answer the question. If he said he would tackle it head on then he would just be lying. He was too afraid to get over his fear of the Ocean. Did she know? Is that why she sent out Lapras? Mark backed up from the ocean a bit.
"I-I don't know. My fear isn't just something I can run from forever... Len! Sleep Talk!" Mark said.
Len got up on his feet, despite still sleeping. Rather then attack though, Len ended up slapping his belly a couple times, showing that he had used Belly Drum. This would either be really good or really bad... Len's attack was now maximized but he could go down easily now.
Ash nodded in approval. "That's right... now if you can carry it out is an even better question... Laura!" Laura chimed softly and electricity quickly gathered around her horn. Then it burst, launching in a Thunderbolt towards Len's sleeping form.
She smiled to herself. "Courage is the greatest thing a man can dream of."
Mark didn't expect the Lapras to know Thunderbolt... unfortunately, the attack was enough to knock out Len, putting his Belly Drum strategy into the dust. Mark sighed and returned Len back into his Pokeball. It was his own fault for calling him out when he was still exhausted.
Mark nodded. He wasn't going to back down now. Mark brought Commodore out again to hopefully get an attack in.
"Commodore, Discharge!" Mark called out. Commodore flew over to the Lapras and released a stream of electricity toward her.
sh smiled and returned her partner, stepping casually to the side from the Porygon-2's attack. "That's enough kid." The word was said without malice and she stood back. "You did a pretty good job there. It was smart, burning Riley the way you did. She was a bad match for your Sabelye as it was."
She looked over at the rest of the class. "Unless ya wanna take a crack at me too, take a look at his strategy and how to beat it for homework. Also, think about the questions I asked him in the fight. If you still wanna whack or two, step forward."
Ash returned her Pokemon. Mark wasn't going to win at this rate anyways. Still, he learned quite alot from this whole thing and he at least gained a compliment as well! Mark would have to think about switching his Pokemon for various tactics...
"Thanks. Once my team is refined I wouldn't mind a rematch." Mark said. Now he was supposedly the topic for homework. He didn't know if that was a joke or not but it would be funny if several students were studying on how to beat Mark. He was kind of flattered.
As Ash had spoken those words, Kiki had stepped forward. Just as suddenly, she had stepped back. Oh-ho. This one could sense it then. Well, that was fun. Aura flickered at her call again and she grinned at the pair. "The world ain't fair girl," she chirped. " Ya shoulda won then. But I'm more 'an happy t' fightcha now, if ya got any left." Her sightless eyes rested on the Shawn as well. "You too 'en. Double battle?"
