Skarmory swooped around after it had recovered, and using its agility to power the attack it came in low toward Josh and Ixion. Wings tucked in close to its body, it turned the speed into a peck attack intending to split between Josh and Ixion to separate them from each other.
"That's it!" The moment Skarmory dove at Ixion, Josh squeezed his legs together hard. The fire-type took off in a burst of acceleration, the rider sweating from the added heat. "Now, Saber!" he shouted. Though he couldn't see it, Saber already had his muscles flexed, static pouring out of them. He was gonna put a bit of extra oomph into this one--not only to make himself happy, but to make Josh happy. (spark)
Saber's attack landed solidly on Skarmory's underside, and the bird screeched. However, it also put Saber in easy reach of Skarmory's claws as it turned its attention to the immediate threat. The steel bird struck out with a flurry of attacks, and tried to knock Saber into a nearby rocky outcropping with the combined force of its fury attacks and the speed at which it was currently travelling.
The Skarmory had grabbed Saber in his talons, squeezing the small Pokémon repeatedly. "Come on, Saber! Overload it!" Josh tried one more time to reach out to his Pokémon. As he and Ixion stared in anticipation, the rider pulled out two Poké Balls--one Saber's, and an empty one with which to make a capture attempt. He saw Saber's body emitting large amounts of Static, but he couldn't tell from the distance he was at whether his Pokémon was able to get one more attack off before passing out. (gonna try to use the electric sphere Spark creates to weaken it further before Saber collapses. Also roll for capture attempt shortly after that.)
With the Skarmory unable to move, Josh took the chance to recall the unconscious Saber from the piercing talons. As soon as Ixion ran underneath the Skarmory, he tossed a Poké Ball straight up and crossed his fingers. With Saber out for the count and Ixion still working on mastering Flame Wheel, this was most likely as good as it would get, barring the fire-type somehow using her tail to light the steel bird on fire.
Did Saber's last-ditch attack do anything? Also the previous capture attempt?
Ignored the attack(?) and the capture attempt as Skarmory was not within range for either to occur. It was too far above to reach.
The combined speed of Ixion with the strength of Josh's throw allowed the pokeball to arc higher than normal, and hit the underside of the Skarmory. The steel bird was trapped inside with a burst of light, and the pokeball fell to the ground (surprisingly resilient, the ball didn't even get a scratch)
The pokeball sat on the ground, slightly sunk in a divot it made in the impact, and shook side to side once . . .
a second time . . . side to side . . .
A third time, side to side, the little light blinking as it wobbled . . .
. . .
. . . and with a soft chime, the wobbling stopped and the light winked out.
Congrats! You caught a Skarmory! Saber gains +10 experience, and Ixion +6 experience for the overall battle.
When Josh dismounted his Pokémon to retrieve the captured Pokémon, he felt dizzy standing up. He leaned against the base of a nearby mesa for support, swaying back and forth as though he was drunk. After a couple minutes of this, the injured fire-type walked toward him. Knowing he would just shrivel up out here, he had no choice but to muster the strength to mount up and return to Russeton, which seemed like an eternity away.
Ixion was panting by the time she made it to Russeton's Pokémon Center. When Josh started to dismount, his arms gave out entirely, causing him to painfully and awkwardly slip and fall to the ground. He didn't even have the strength to scream for help--he found himself sprawled on the hard, dusty ground. Everything started turning to black as he found it progressively more difficult to keep his eyes open.
You head to the local gym looking for one of Ronin's apprentices...
What do you do?
Josh greeted Lisa and the strange Pokémon she had at her side. "May the best trainer win." He backed up to the trainer's box on the west side of the small arena and releases Ixion. "Be unrelenting--you're going to need it against the Leader!" He paused to allow the two Pokémon to stare each other down for a few seconds. "Try your new Flame Wheel!"
"Start with your comet punch! Knock it off-center!" Taking a bit of a scorch from the flame wheel, Hitmonchan sidesteps and unleashed a flurry of blows to Ixion as it passes by.
Woops, sorry I missed you signing on. Hopefully we can make some good progress in this thing.
The reckless charge of the Flame Wheel left Ixion off balance, opening it up to the Hitmonchan's flurry of blows. Three, four, five, six hits. And those were just the ones Josh could count. With invisibly fast punches, who knows how many more quick blows he didn't see. "Get into position for another one!" Josh ordered, Ixion regaining her footing. (2nd flame wheel)
"Grrrr . . . Stop that wheel with your revenge!" Hitmonchan let itself get scorched by the attack once again, but this time it reached inside the wheel and grabbed Ixion and tried to slam it into the ground hard.
Josh could not believe how tough the fighting-type was to deliberately set itself on fire in order to deliver a stronger attack. He could not believe how much tougher it was in interrupting the attack and lifting the young boy's mount completely off the ground. Ixion writhed and tried kicking back in desperation, but he couldn't tell what happened from his position--too much sand had been kicked up from the impact of the fall. "What tactics..." he gasped, unsure of Ixion's fate.
Not sure as to what attack this would be considered. Consider it an improvised attack, if anything.
...Except she couldn't seem to right herself at all. One. Two. Three. Four. Her entire frame shook in an effort to muster strength to stand. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. She tried to get back up, but let out a weak cry and fell again. Nine. Ten. DING!
After Saber and Ixion worked together to bring that Skarmory down, Josh could not believe he lost to one of the Leader's underlings. Perhaps he really underestimated just how strong the Gyms were. He recalled the unconscious fire-type, stepped out of the trainer's box, and offered a handshake in silence.
Sorry the battle ended up being so short, but my dice simply said Josh doesn't win this one. It's how I keep myself in check in freeform battles. Critical x2 Revenges tend to do that, plus Defense isn't exactly Ixion's greatest strength.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
"Hey, don't worry about it. It was kind of a lucky shot. Good luck with your training, and I hope to see you back again soon" Lisa offered up a genuine smile as Josh shook her hand.
By the time Josh had released his Pokémon, he knew he had made a big mistake, bringing Saber in against Roger's Sandshrew. Unable to change his mind now, he decided to just let things play out. This battle didn't really matter anyway. "Saber, show Roger your battle cry!" (Howl)
"Shrew, spin it right round!" Sandshrew ran in while Saber was howling, grabbing it by the tail, and proceeded to spin the poor Electrike like a sensei's divining top while scratching it up as Sandshrew swatted it to keep the momentum going.
Saber was very dizzy after being flung around at incredible speeds. After the second fling of the Sandshrew's claw, Saber stumbled out of the way. He shook his head, then started fuming with anger. The foe had just used him as a play thing. Obviously not standing for that, the Pokémon's legs crackled with electricity. With a loud cry that caused Josh to flinch, Saber burst forward with incredible speed. (Quick Attack +1)
There was no time for Sandshrew to curl up; it took the brunt of the attack directly, and was knocked back. "Fury swipes! Take the fight to it!" Sandshrew ran into close quarters with Saber, and began to furiously swing its claws around.
Completely ignoring the Sandshrew's four rapid blows, the Electric-type was still fuming mad. Josh didn't even have time to give any commands--Saber continued his absolutely relentless assault, throwing all notions of caution or defense to the wind. (Quick Attack +1)
Josh had never seen Saber like this--not even when he was in mortal danger from the Skarmory hunt. Perhaps knowing about Josh's loss, then the humiliation courtesy of the Sandshrew, just pushed him over the brink. He was dumbfounded at the ferocity the normally playful Pokémon exhibited.
"Roll with this one, and then curl up to defend yourself better!" Sandshrew took the hit at an angle, allowing it to use some of the momentum Saber had built up with its charges to roll away and tuck itself into a ball. The Sandshrew ball rolled up a ramp, then back down to settle in the impromptu battle area where it settled. Sandshrew stayed curled up for the time being. (Defense Curl)
There was no such thing as defense in Saber's mind. He was gonna make the Sandshrew pay for treating him like a plaything. "Wait, Saber!" Josh cried. But it was no good. The look the Electrike flashed Josh sent a chill down his spine--in his current mental state, he wasn't going to listen to a word Josh said. The small electric-type took a few steps back, then the sound of thunder echoed from his location, the discharge rocketing Josh's Pokémon forward invisibly fast. (Quick Attack, now +/- 0 due to the Defense Curl.)
"Let it come to you," Roger said, as he waited for the right moment to strike. As Saber closed with Sandshrew, right before the attack would hit, "Now! Come out and use fury swipes again!" Snadshrew came out of the defense curl right before contact, and as it took the hit from Saber it countered with another series of furious swipes with its claws.
Everything was happening so fast that Josh couldn't follow the battle even if Saber was listening to him. The one thing he could see as Saber seemed to warp around from moving so fast is that the Sandshrew seemed to strike Saber in the same location over and over again--which became his undoing in the battle in the desert. "Get ahold of yourself! It'll be easier if you don't try to completely brute-force it!" Of course, Saber thought exactly that would be the fastest method to taking his foe down. (+/- 0 Quick Attack)
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
The combined speed of Ixion with the strength of Josh's throw allowed the pokeball to arc higher than normal, and hit the underside of the Skarmory. The steel bird was trapped inside with a burst of light, and the pokeball fell to the ground (surprisingly resilient, the ball didn't even get a scratch)
The pokeball sat on the ground, slightly sunk in a divot it made in the impact, and shook side to side once . . .
a second time . . . side to side . . .
A third time, side to side, the little light blinking as it wobbled . . .
. . .
. . . and with a soft chime, the wobbling stopped and the light winked out.
Congrats! You caught a Skarmory! Saber gains +10 experience, and Ixion +6 experience for the overall battle.
Ixion was panting by the time she made it to Russeton's Pokémon Center. When Josh started to dismount, his arms gave out entirely, causing him to painfully and awkwardly slip and fall to the ground. He didn't even have the strength to scream for help--he found himself sprawled on the hard, dusty ground. Everything started turning to black as he found it progressively more difficult to keep his eyes open.
To Russeton, main thread:
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
You head to the local gym looking for one of Ronin's apprentices...
What do you do?
Josh greeted Lisa and the strange Pokémon she had at her side. "May the best trainer win." He backed up to the trainer's box on the west side of the small arena and releases Ixion. "Be unrelenting--you're going to need it against the Leader!" He paused to allow the two Pokémon to stare each other down for a few seconds. "Try your new Flame Wheel!"
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
The reckless charge of the Flame Wheel left Ixion off balance, opening it up to the Hitmonchan's flurry of blows. Three, four, five, six hits. And those were just the ones Josh could count. With invisibly fast punches, who knows how many more quick blows he didn't see. "Get into position for another one!" Josh ordered, Ixion regaining her footing. (2nd flame wheel)
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Josh could not believe how tough the fighting-type was to deliberately set itself on fire in order to deliver a stronger attack. He could not believe how much tougher it was in interrupting the attack and lifting the young boy's mount completely off the ground. Ixion writhed and tried kicking back in desperation, but he couldn't tell what happened from his position--too much sand had been kicked up from the impact of the fall. "What tactics..." he gasped, unsure of Ixion's fate.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
After Saber and Ixion worked together to bring that Skarmory down, Josh could not believe he lost to one of the Leader's underlings. Perhaps he really underestimated just how strong the Gyms were. He recalled the unconscious fire-type, stepped out of the trainer's box, and offered a handshake in silence.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
By the time Josh had released his Pokémon, he knew he had made a big mistake, bringing Saber in against Roger's Sandshrew. Unable to change his mind now, he decided to just let things play out. This battle didn't really matter anyway. "Saber, show Roger your battle cry!" (Howl)
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
"Shrew, spin it right round!" Sandshrew ran in while Saber was howling, grabbing it by the tail, and proceeded to spin the poor Electrike like a sensei's divining top while scratching it up as Sandshrew swatted it to keep the momentum going.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Josh had never seen Saber like this--not even when he was in mortal danger from the Skarmory hunt. Perhaps knowing about Josh's loss, then the humiliation courtesy of the Sandshrew, just pushed him over the brink. He was dumbfounded at the ferocity the normally playful Pokémon exhibited.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya