Monday, October 24, 2011

Battling for Boulders

So, as promised, here's a summary of how everyone else did against Brock. He had his Chansey with him, and we had plenty of healing items, so we made sure Brock's team was fully restored before the next battle.

Ragnarok went after me, but he did a 3v3 too, so I'll save that for later.

I think I'll start with Sammy. Kirlia teleported her and Don in from their Universities (Sammy decided to switch to a different Uni, and Don's always gone to one a bit further off.) so they could get badges too. She decided to do a 1on1, sensibly enough, and so it was Sudowoodo vs Oddish. Clefairy cheered from the sidelines, and Oddish stumbled forwards, gazing up at Sudowoodo. Sammy started off with Poisonpowder, and Sudowoodo hit back, knocking Oddish to the floor. Sudowoodo was pulsing a faint purple, but wasn't suffering too much for now. Oddish got to it's feet, and used absorb, recovering some health. Oddish ran madly round the room, dodging Sudowoodo's hits, while making small streams of green orbs of health float between the two of them. As Sudowoodo managed a second hit, wincing from the poison now, Oddish started to glow, growing and changing until:
'Uuuuurgh, what the hell is that stink?!'
'Glooooooooom!' It had evolved! And, it turned out, learned Mega Drain.A much larger stream of bubbles shot from Sudowoodo, sending it crashing to the floor.
'Hooray! We did it!'
'Gloom!'
'Congratulations, on your victory and your new Gloom. Here's your Badge.'

Thanking Brock, Sammy picked up Gloom and turned round to see us all holding our noses. 'What? What's wrong?'
'That smell....'
'What are you talking about? I like it.'
'Then you're one in a thousand, and certainly the only person here.'
'Oh be like that then! Gloom, Use Sweet scent, then return to your ball.'
'Glooooooom'
'Thanks.'

Next up: Doom. She wanted to take on all three, but as she only had Bulbasaur, Brock insisted on a 1 on 1. Fool. If he'd used Crobat and Croagunk too, he might actually have lasted more than thirty seconds. This was without a doubt, the quickest match I have ever seen. Bulbasaur and Sudowoodo took there positions. Sudowoodo leapt into the air, and Doom yelled 'Unleash Hell!'. Leaves filled the room, obscuring everything from vision. When they died down, Sudowoodo was exactly where he had been, poised in the air, with a look of complete shock on his face. He crashed to the floor, swirly eyed, and Doom grinned at Brock. 'Now give me my damn Badge.'

Don actually lost his 1v1 first time round due to an unlucky miss and some incredible speed from Sudowoodo, but he taught Hitmonchan Brick Break and came back for another go, resulting in a win for them.

Brock actually requested Jonny's Onix as an opponent, because of his love for them, but that ended badly for him. I'm trying to think of a technical term for Onix's most effective move, but basically, It just landed on him. The building shook, and Sudowoodo had sustained damage already. He didn't get up.

All right, time for Ragnarok. Brock sent Sudowoodo out first again, and Rag sent out Snover. Snover started off with Razor leaf, landing a glancing blow. Sudowoodo struck back, hitting hard. Snover used Ingrain to recover, but this meant he couldn't move from his spot, allowing Sudowoodo to launch a fierce attack, hitting again and again. As soon as Ingrain finished, Rag withdrew him, and sent out Charmeleon. Charmeleon used Metal claw, ducking and dodging Sudowoodo's blows, but suffered a direct hit whenever he got too close. Wincing from the Hammer Arms, Charmeleon didn't see the Double Edge, and was thrown across the room. Sudowoodo was struggling. He'd taken recoil damage, and Snover and Charmeleon had scored some good hits. They both ran at each other again, slamming into each other. When the dust cleared, Sudowoodo was on the ground, swirly eyed, and Charmeleon was hunched over, looking woozy. But he was standing.
Brock sent out Crobat next, and Rag swapped Charmeleon and Snover back. Snover managed to hit first, with an Ice shard to Crobat's wing. Using Ice Shard again, Snover was hit by Wing Attack, toppling over. 2 each left.
Pichu wandered out, and when ragnarok gave him a few words of encouragement, he clenched his paws into tiny fists, put a sort of frowny squint look on his face, and strode forwards. He used Charm, Tail Whip and Sweet Kiss, and when Crobat swooped down at him, he grabbed onto a wing, and used Thundershock. Again and again, while Crobat desperately tried to shake him off, but in the end he sank to the floor, and was defeated.
Brock sent out Croagunk, and Pichu stared as he advanced. He started to tremble, but attempted a charm. He followed it with Sweet kiss, be he missed. Croagunk tapped him lightly on the head, fingertips glowing purple. Pichu wobbled, and his lip started to quiver. He had a scuff mark on his cheek, and was throbbing faintly purple. Croagunk suddenly leapt into the air, his whole arm glowing. Rag was yelling advice to Pichu, but he was rooted to the spot in terror. Croagunk was shooting down towards Pichu, his arm was an inches from him-
Claws, glowing with a metallic shine, caught Croagunk's attack an inch from Pichu's nose. A look of complete shock crossed his face. Pichu, face scrunched up, opened one eye, saw the attack, and promptly fell backwards.
Charmeleon threw Croagunk across the room, and gestured, wincing, for Pichu to get back. Pichu ran for cover, peering out from behind Rag's legs, hugging him tightly.
Croagunk got up, looked round, and saw Charmeleon, giving him a curious and angry look. Then he saw Pichu, and stepped in his direction.
In a blur of red, Charmeleon was upon him. Croagunk tried to retaliate, but he couldn't get a move in. Without a word, I handed Rag a peach, and we all, Brock included, continued to just stare at the scuffle, Rag picking up Pichu and feeding him the fruit almost without noticing he was doing it.
Croagunk shot from the cloud of dust that had risen, landing a few feet away and sliding across the floor, coming to a stop in front of Rag. Pichu, happily munching his peach and no longer poisoned, leapt from Rag's arms. He clapped hard as Charmeleon emerged from the dust, cradling his left claw. He smiled at Pichu, and then collapsed. Pichu gasped, and then pouted, looking furious, and stormed up to Croagunk, whose eyelids were flickering, half closed. As a finger twitched, Pichu blew a raspberry at him, kicking him hard, before losing his balance and falling hard. Croagunk's head slumped, his eyes going swirly.

Dragon took a moment to regain his composure. 'Croagunk and Charmeleon are unable to battle. As the only remaining member of the battle, Pichu is the winner. Ragnarok wins!'

Brock was beaming, coming over to shake Rag's hand and heal Croagunk. 'The bond between your Pichu and Charmeleon is clearly incredibly strong. It's an honour to present you with your badge.'

So there you go. That's everyone. Brock's trying to find out if any of his friends have come through aswell, but he's promised to help us if he can.

Good Friends with Brock. So many cool things have happened since this shard business started. I hope it never ends, I really do.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

SUCH A COOL DAY!

I loved Sunday, I really did. As you know, we've been training for a while now, but we don't really have a lot to show for it. I mean yes, we have been successfully holding back the apocalyptic destruction of two worlds by calming/beating/dealing with the more dangerous collision events, but we didn't really have something to show for it. (Not even that fossil! Damn you Blackmage!) Until now.

Today, however, was the day that somebody new came through from the other world. Somebody we recognised very well. Brock.

There we were, waiting to see what would come through this time, and a sudden jab of tingling feeling in the shard tells me it's about to happen. A flash of purple light and and an explosion threw us backwards, which turned out to be good, because this meant we weren't crushed by the rockslide that burst from the light. Clouds of dust filled the field. I looked up to see a silhouette staggering out from behind a boulder, coughing. As it became clear who it was, most of us gasped, and I heard 'Oh my god!...' No way......' from behind me. I was just speechless. Brock looked round at all of us, and then behind him at the rubble. He turned back to us, looking a bit awkward. 'Sorry, but can anyone tell me what just happened?'


When we all regained our composure, and Bulbasaur had cured Brock of his sudden bout of lovesickness upon seeing Sammy and Doom, we explained everything, helped him settle in, showed him Cambridge (He loves the area by the fitzwilliam museum, it's a lot like Pewter City apparently) and generally sorted him out. I still have no idea how we're going to cover up the rockslide blocking the entrance to a cave from another world in the middle of a Cambridge field, but we'll think of something. Turn it into a hill? Meh.

Of course, once he was feeling better, we asked him if he happened to have any badges with him. Luckily, he apparently always has some with him, so we invited him over to challenge him for them. I know that we're in our own world, and these badges may serve no actual purpose here, but let's be honest, you'd just want them anyway, wouldn't you?



We've started making a sort of Gym/Battle area, somewhere to have proper sized battles without destroying the shop, by extending the basement. Thanks to quite a lot of digging, both with TMs and shovels, it now represents a medium sized cave, which suited Brock fine.
'Do you want a one on one with my rock type, or a bigger battle with multiple types?'
'Can I do the bigger battle?'
'3 on 3 ok?'
'Fine by me.'
Dragon offered to referee the battle, and we began. Brock sent out Sudowoodo, and I sent out Rattata.
'Hammer Arm!'
'Dodge it and use Iron tail!
Rattata darted round as as Sudowoodo slammed a glowing arm into the floor. He jumped up, a metallic shine passing over his body as he whipped round, striking hard with his tail. Sudowoodo winced, falling backwards, but regained his balance quickly and ran forwards, mimicing Iron tail. Rattata was aiming a Super Fang, but got slammed by the mimic, flying through the air. Hurtling towards a wall, he pushed off from it, fangs bared. Sudowoodo struck the floor, sending shards of rock into the air. Rattata leapt from one to the other, but mistimed a jump and fell, hitting one on the way down. Landing near Sudowoodo, he did Superfang again, biting him on the foot. Sudowoodo hopped around wildly, while Rattata shook his head. Biting rock may not have been the best idea. Brock withdrew Sudowoodo and sent out Crobat. Rattata still looked a bit woozy the jarring feel in his teeth, so Glaceon leapt in, keen to battle a Gym Leader at last. Crobat ducked a dived a lot at first, but Icy wind slowed him enough for Glaceon to land a direct hit with Ice Beam. Crobat was failing but landed a supersonic, confusing Glaceon. Brock withdrew Crobat and sent out Croagunk. I had another excited fan moment then, because I always liked Croagunk. He was just so cool. Not so much now though. Seeming completely unconcerned by his new and bizarre surroundings (Although to be fair, we basically just in a cave bit at the moment like I said) he padded slowly forwards towards Glaceon, who was shaking his head madly, trying to free himself of confusion. I called out, trying to help, but Glaceon was determined to keep fighting, and jumped at Croagunk. And missed completely. Croagunk calmy hit out with a brick break. This time Glaceon agreed with my idea of withdrawing, and Butterfree was keen to join in. My first three. Seemed right.
'Ok Butterfree, let's see if we can speed this up a bit, shall we? Psybeam!'
'Fre-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ee!'
Croagunk, suddenly moving with impressive speed, dodged the attack, leaping towards butterfree, fingertips glowing. Butterfree, of course, can fly, so he just rose higher, causing Croagunk to crash into a wall. Butterfree let off another Psybeam while he was stuck. And another one. Croagunk freed himself from the wall, staggering, and fell over, swirly-eyed. Yay!

Out came Crobat again. Butterfree avenged Glaceon by getting in with Supersonic first. Then another Psybeam. Glaceon had caused enough damage to Crobat that this was too much, and he was out too. But then Sudowoodo came back out and Butterfree into the floor, then the wall. Double Edge finished Butterfree off, and I caught him as he fell. Rattata snarled at Sudowoodo. He want to finish what he started, and charged. Dodging every blow, he shot up Sudowoodo's arm and hit him hard with an iron tail. Sudowoodo staggered back, swiping at Rattata, but he was too quick. He lashed out with another Iron tail, and finished him off with Quick Attack. Brock had lost, and was impressed with our Skill!

Oh yeah, and one more thing. THE BOULDER BADGE IS MINE!

This has got really long, so I'll sum up how everybody else did in another post. Bye for now!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Turns out there really WAS some treasure...

It's lucky all we've had to deal with recently have been stardard uneventful waves of monsters, this cave is taking ages to finish. This should be it now though.





So, everyone wakes up in the cave, and we notice that the strangely marked starters and the shadowy figure have gone, along with a big chunk of all our memories.


'Well, I think that settles it. I'm pretty sure we just met...but did we? I could have sworn someone was here....'


'What are on about T?'


'I......don't know'


Of course, thanks to Porygon, we've worked out that the Palkia shard had weakened the wipe's effect on me, so I had some very vague recollections, but we had no idea at the time, so nobody knew what the hell I was on about.


'Bulbasaur's been fighting. What's going on? And who's this guy?'


'Yeah, my guys look like they've had a battle, and my leg really hurts. You ok Pichu?'


'chuuuuuu...'


'I am Blackmage, and I want my treasure!'


'Why am I surrounded by Clefairy? Oooh, I'm being hugged!'


'Where's Onix? His ball is empty...'


'Oooow, my head........'





Blackmage had sent out Scyther, and was getting to his feet as Scyther explored the back of the cave.I started to get up too, but found Blackmage and Metang looming over me.


'Nobody move until Scyther completes his search. Everybody just behave and stay still.'


'I want to stand up, and we have more of a right to be here! Why shouldn't we look for treasure too?'


'Because it's mine. Metang, Take down!'


'Rattata, Quick Attack!'


The two crashed into each other, bouncing off, Metang wobbling in the air and Ratta skidding to a halt. I scanned Metang with my DSDex and grimaced. 'We need to hit hard Rattata, before he has a chance to pull out a big move, he's a few levels higher. Super Fang!'


'Ratta!'


Rattata leapt, and his fangs started to glow, and became huge, striking Metang on the head.


'No! Metal Claw!'


Metang slashed upwards, catching Rattata in mid-air, catching him on the cheek. He winced, landing on the floor snarling.


'oooh, bad move, you've angered him. You doing ok?'


'Raaa!'


'Alrighty then. Use quick attack to get on top of Metang!'


Rattat shot off a streak of purple rage. Dodging Metang's furious swipes, he sped up one an arm, coming to a stop in the middle of Metang's flat top.'


'Finish this. Flame wheel!'


Just like on Flareon's back, Rattata used his Flame Wheel like a Hamster wheel, not moving from his spot as he ran, fire enveloping him, being pounded into Metang, who started to quiver, squirming as he tried to swat Rattata off. Blackmage looked furious.


'Stop that! I don't know how, but I'm pretty sure that's cheating!'


The flame started to die down but Rattata just started up again, a look of glee on his face.


'Yeah, he doesn't like it when people manage to hit him. And you hurt Butterfree, he's mad about that too.'


Scyther suddenly let out a cry, holding up a lump of rock with something embedded in it.


'Aha! The fossil is mine! You lose!'


'Oh, THAT'S what you were looking for? I thought you meant gold or something. That looks damaged.'


'It's an entirely new fossil! Who knows what it might become!'


'It looks like a Dome fossil with a bit missing...'


'Well it isn't! It's entirely new!'


We were interrupted by Metang. Fainting. Rattata leapt off, gave a smug nod, and climbed up to my shoulder.


'Damn you! You will pay for this! All of you! Snorunt use Flash!'


By the time we were done blinking rapidly and everything came back into focus, he was gone, although we could hear footsteps hurriedly receding down one of the tunnels.


We all looked at each other, unsure what to say. Well, Doom had afew words to say, but I won't repeat them. Or what Rag called him.





After that, we the Onix staircase up to the surface, and Kirlia took us home.





Oh yeah, the Clefairy that was hugging Sammy has come with her. Welcome to the team!