11.22.15 -- We are approaching the holiday season very rapidly. I understand that things get busy around this time of year, just try and make sure that you don't forget about us! And, because winter is coming, things in Rakuen are about to change! Our winter event will be starting on December first so keep your eyes peeled for it and be sure to participate. You won't want to miss out. Enjoy the last little bits of your fall!
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Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Aug 16, 2015 16:44:29 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
Ryusuke had to admit, he was liking what he seeing of Rakuen so far.
Almost from the moment he had stepped off the ferry the trainer had almost been immediately reminded of Hoenn, his home region. The salt air, the sea breeze, the warmth, the humidity... were it not for the fact that he intellectually knew where he was Ryusuke would've sworn that this was Dewford, at least from what he'd heard of the small seaside town. Regardless, it was close enough in feeling to Lilycove that neither he nor Grovyle had bothered to wait in the actual town. There was no need to visit the Pokemon Center - they hadn't battled or even bothered to train for their entire time spent aboard the ferry at the request of the owners. While at least Tentacruel and the others had gotten some time out, either due to an innate ability to swim well or simply due to being small enough not to cause problems, others like Charizard had been getting severe cases of cabin fever.
With any luck, though, that'd be about to come to an end. The port town's similarity to Lilycove, Slateport and Dewford came with a number of pluses, comfort aside - as a trainer, Ryusuke knew exactly where to go. Even before officially becoming one he and - at the time - Treecko had made nuisances of themselves on Route 121 for years. Not a place that rookie trainers tended to go due to the abundance of strong wild Pokemon, evolved or not, and for quite while they'd made a point of identifying the kinds of places those Pokemon preferred for the sake of avoiding them entirely. For the most part, anyways. Said wild Pokemon also tended to have trouble climbing trees, and for whatever reason Treecko had gotten his funsies out of messing with them from time to time and running where they couldn't follow.
Whatever the case, it meant that Ryusuke knew exactly what kinds of environments such Pokemon tended to acclimate towards, and while the lower path out of Yayli was definitely an option, it was too easily accessible. That meant a lot of trainers, far more than the cliffside path, and a lot more disturbance. Strong Pokemon would've either been captured or driven away long ago, and more to the point, it would've been nothing but Water types. Pokemon that Grovyle was strong against naturally, and that Charizard had learned long ago to properly counter. More than that.... there had to be other trainers out there that were thinking the exact same thing that Ryusuke himself was, and with any luck he'd run into a few on this trip as well, give both Grovyle and Charizard a chance to stretch themselves out.
Wind picking up and pulling at his worn, crimson red duster, Ryusuke would continue along the path up and above the cliff, hands in his pockets and Grovyle picking his way ahead by a few meters, slowing his pace just enough for the human to keep up.
Thwump. Thwump. Thwump. The Palpitoad vibrated her head, causing the ground to rattle and shake. Loose rocks slid down the cliff and into the sand below. She was attempting to make a nice little hovel for the night but the rocks falling were not large enough. She focused and tried to vibrate harder in hopes that something big would fall down. A crack started to form in the cliff wall, progress. The Pokemon looked around, making sure the coast was clear before she vibrated once again, making the crack grow in size. That was when she noticed a trainer stepping too close to the crack that she had created. She was quick to act, running up and flailing about. Her concern for the trainer and his Pokemon was probably far greater than what it should have been, but, having any living creature crushed under a landslide that she created was too great for her small Pokemon conscious to handle. How could she possibly live with herself if she caused injury or injury to anything in the world?!
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Aug 21, 2015 14:46:35 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
So far, no luck. As Ryusuke continued to walk along the path that trailed along the cliff's upper ledge, following in Grovyle's footsteps several meters ahead, nothing in particular seemed to stick out so far. No people, at any rate, and certainly no other trainers, nor were there really any other Pokemon to speak of so far, at least none that concerned them - a few Wingull and other fliers in the far distance, off over the water and far beyond their reach unless Charizard was let out specifically to go chase them down. Ryusuke admittedly was there looking for a fight of sorts, but not badly enough that he was going to go and pick one with the first thing they saw. Not without reason, anyways.
In truth, Ryusuke was more surprised than anything else. Bad luck seemed to have a habit of following him around, and in nearly every region he'd stepped foot in before the trainer hadn't been really able to go more than half an hour without running into something that wanted his head on a stick. Hell, the very first wild Pokemon encounter he'd had after leaving Hoenn the first time had damn near gotten him killed - it had only been through dumb luck that the Skorupi that had ambushed him grabbed his left ankle. Had it been the right leg he would've been poisoned well before reaching a town, and even to this day he still had a scar right under his hairline where the nasty little bugger had made a very nearly successful attempt to scalp him before Charmander had knocked it out cold.
Granted, that was something of a point. This was an entirely new region, and what may've applied to the ones Ryusuke had previously visited might not work here. He was fairly certain he'd gotten pretty good at finding the stronger Pokemon that tended to be found far off the beaten path, especially after his rather extended leave from civilization in Nue, meant specifically to do just that, but then again, what did he know? Four months was hardly a proper substitute for four years' of experience, and while Ryusuke had done plenty of fighting in that time he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to find trouble - it just kept finding him.
And so ended Ryusuke's line of thought as the ground began to shake.
It wasn't anything overly noticeable at first, just a small tremor, but one that quickly grew in size and scope until a warning call was shouted out by Grovyle, forcing Ryusuke to look up from the ground directly in front of him. Where Grovyle had moved to give it a wide berth, Ryusuke himself had nearly walked right into the crack that had started to form in the ground near the edge of the cliff, which had begun to edge dangerously close to the makeshift dirt road that the few trainers who took that route had carved into the ground with their footsteps. The source of the crack and tremors itself was fairly easy to see, the stout little Pokemon abandoning its efforts to start rushing over, arms flailing in a clearly non-threatening gesture. Tympole? No, the evolved form. It wasn't a Seismitoad, Ryusuke definitely would've recognized that after fighting his first one only a few months ago, but the exact name of the middle evolution stage escaped him.
Regardless, though, it clearly didn't intend to fight, and Grovyle himself didn't look particularly interested, watching the little Pokemon begin moving to approach Ryusuke before turning his gaze away and continuing on once it was clear the Water type meant no harm. And honestly, Ryusuke couldn't exactly blame him. Grovyle seemed to live for adrenaline when it came to fights, and after trouncing a Seismitoad... the lower evolutions, unless they came at him, simply didn't pose enough challenge to keep the Grass type's attention. He'd fought bigger and stronger, and there wasn't any fun for him in fights that he knew he could win. At least usually - every now and then the Wood Gecko seemed to get into a mood where he'd troll opponents for fun, big and small, strong and weak, but today didn't seem to be one of those days.
"I'm fine, no harm done. Just keep an eye on the road in case there's others behind." Ryusuke called out to the approaching Pokemon, moving to skirt around the crack in the ground before it could reach him and moving on to follow Grovyle.
The sun was high in the sky, making the shadow of the bird like creature quite visible. He had been scanning the beach for something good to eat, riding on the winds to go higher and higher in the air. It was upon being raised to the path that led to route one. Not far in front of him, a trainer was shooing away a Pokemon, trying to carry on with his journey. And what was that? Next to the trainer was a Pokemon. The tamed Pokemon stirred something inside of the fighter. He flew in closer, getting directly behind them before silently landing. He tried to evaluate the situation. It was just one Pokemon that probably did not have any amazing fighting skills. It was doubly good that it was a grass type. The Hawlucha nodded to himself. They were probably like many others that walked the path and did not have very many Pokemon to assist them in a fight. A smile crept on his face as he leaped in front of them, posing himself for a fight. "This is between the grass lowlife and I only." He shifted his fists, narrowing his eyes. He wanted the fight to be fair. The challenged would have to make the first move.
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Aug 21, 2015 18:35:15 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
It seemed like Grovyle, in keeping with the usual standard, had not waited for Ryusuke when he'd continued on ahead. Honestly, at times like this Ryusuke couldn't help but wonder which of them was really the trainer, or if those particular labels even applied to them anymore. Their relationship, for lack of a better word, was arguably closer to that of siblings given how long they'd known each other at this point - at any rate, it certainly didn't compare to that of most trainers and their Pokemon, where the trainer was typically the one calling the shots. Ryusuke could never remember a time where that had been the case with him and Grovyle, and for the most part the Wood Gecko simply did whatever he wanted. That's how it had always been - hell, as far as Ryusuke knew the Pokemon wasn't even officially registered as his own as he'd never had a Pokeball from the moment the Grass type had hatched. At least it wasn't more than a few minutes before Grovyle came into view on the path ahead again.
"Hey, wait up! You saw the other trainers getting off at the ferry, most of them haven't ever been here before. What are they going to think if they see you alone up here?" Ryusuke called out, increasing his pace to a slow jog until he managed to catch up to the Wood Gecko. Grovyle, at least, had the decency to stop and wait for Ryusuke to catch up, although his reaction to the trainer's words was merely a shrug before turning to continue on, much to Ryusuke's chagrin. Let it never be said that Grovyle was lacking for confidence in his abilities - while he'd been regularly taking on opponents bigger and stronger than himself even back as a Treecko, Ryusuke couldn't help but acknowledge that a lot of it had probably gone to the Grass type's head and inflated his ego beyond what might've been interpreted as "healthy".
Even as Ryusuke moved to begin trailing behind Grovyle once more, however, the Grass type would suddenly pause in his steps as a shadow brushed over the pair from above, the Wood Gecko tilting his head back to search for the source of the light blockage. Ryusuke, nearly walking straight over his partner, came to a rather ungraceful stop directly behind the Pokemon before mirroring the motion to follow Grovyle's gaze. A Wingull? No, head and wings weren't the right shape, although given how many of the things they'd seen in Yayli Ryusuke wouldn't have been surprised. If anything it almost looked like a Spearow or Pidgey, but it was difficult to tell with the sun almost directly behind the creature, creating enough glare that it blotted out most of the Flying type's features. At least until the Pokemon landed, the plumage and size very clearly making the creature out to be one that Ryusuke had seen before but never battled.
Whatever the Hawlucha said, though, didn't really need translation as the bird's.... fists? Wings? Appendages were raised, a direct contrast to the Pokemon they'd encountered earlier. Grovyle's response, likewise, was fairly telling, the indifferent expression from before replaced by a smile and narrowed eyes that spoke only of irritation.
".... yeah, you have fun with that. I'm just going to keep my distance over here." Ryusuke responded, walking backwards to put a fair amount of distance between himself and the two Pokemon. He knew that look on Grovyle's face, and whatever the Hawlucha had said.... he'd pressed the ego button. He shouldn't a did that. The trainer's words were, however, largely ignored by the Wood Gecko.
"Lowlife"? Oh. Oh hell no. Grovyle wasn't sure where the Chatot on steroids got off, but among the many things that the Grass type didn't tolerate was being judged at a glance by people or Pokemon that had never spoken to him before. No, screw that. Even if they had, who gave anyone the right to do it? Grovyle certainly didn't recall giving anyone permission, nevermind the feathered rat in front of him. Whatever the case, though, the Hawlucha had made two glaring mistakes. He'd waited for Grovyle to make the first move, and seemed to simply assume this was going to be an easy - and fair - fight. Rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms, the Wood Gecko would start to casually walk off to the side, ensuring that any missed attacks from Hawlucha wouldn't continue on to hit Ryusuke.
The moment that was done, however, Grovyle would seem to explode into motion, becoming little more than a green blur as he kicked off from the ground to rush Hawlucha with Quick Attack, immediately closing the distance with a punch aimed squarely at the other Pokemon's eyes.
Time to see how well a judge of character the Flying type was when he couldn't see the other person.
Summary: Agility subtly used through stretching, followed up with a surprise Quick Attack aiming to blind.
The bird waited patiently for the Grovyle to start his first move. The creature to a second to stretch before becoming a massive blur headed directly at him. The Hawlucha saw the speed that he was going to be facing and quickly jumped up with the intention of jumping backwards to avoid the attack. The enemy was fast though, faster than had been anticipated. His body slammed into the ground. "That's the best you got right there lizard?" he muttered out as he picked himself off of the ground. The Pokemon proceeded to crouch, shaking his head, a little thrown by the speed and attack. He would simply have to go faster, not like that was an issue. After all, with the wind that was all around him, and the type advantage that he had against the grass type, things would be fairly easy. It would just take perfect timing and a lot of dodges in order to beat the 'oh-so-great' grass-type that the trainer had chosen. Maybe the trainer would choose him instead of the prestigious creature. He decided to quickly sharpen his claws, scratching them into the ground, causing a nice screech along the way. The Hawlucha grinned before jumping up. This swine surely was going to be a challenge. Once he had gotten enough height he flipped, tucking his wings in while pointing his claws straight down as he fell through the sky, aiming straight for the Grovyle. He planned to slash straight into the enemy, his claws began to glow as the wind whipped around him, his Aerial Ace attack coming into full swing as he neared the ground.
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Aug 23, 2015 14:50:56 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
Whatever it was that Ryusuke had been expecting from the Hawlucha's challenge, it had made a critical error in starting the fight the way it had. If anything, Ryusuke was feeling disappointment. This level of competition, frankly, wasn't going to help Grovyle at all aside from serving as something of a warm up. While Hawlucha were naturally faster than the Wood Gecko, that was only without taking techniques like Agility into account, and by turning it into a contest of speed the bird had already lost. Grovyle, as he currently was, had outmaneuvered Arcanine, Aerodactyl, his own Frogadier, the list went on and on. It wasn't even just the innate level of ability at play here, either. Unless that Hawlucha got very, very creative, Ryusuke couldn't think of anything the bird could throw at Grovyle that he hadn't seen before, plain and simple.
Punch connecting but seeming to fail in his original goal of temporarily blinding at least one eye, Grovyle's grin would fade a bit as he skipped backwards to once again put a fair bit of distance between himself and his opponent, never staying still. The predatory look in his eyes, however, would remain the same - this was not a fight he was going to lose, much less go all out on. What was it that Ryusuke had called it back in Lilycove when he'd been a gamer in his spare time? Cherry tapping? A simple enough concept, deliberately going easy if only to humiliate your opponent, but with ever insult that came out of the bird's beak Grovyle felt more and more tempted to go out of his way to avoid any hard hitting moves. A risky sentiment, though, as Grovyle immediately recognized the next move used.
Hone Claws? Not a move Grovyle was particularly fond of, although that was more likely than not because of a particularly Mightyena he'd fought a few times making use of it in their early fights. Granted, the mutt had eventually opted for a more long ranged strategy after trying and failing at exactly what the Hawlucha was attempting here, but Grovyle had seen enough in the past to get a good idea of how it worked. A good thing for him that his species overall specialized in evasion - trying to catch one of his kind when they didn't want to be caught was like trying to catch smoke. Still, evidently what the Hawlucha wanted as it flew up only to immediately start dropping down, picking up enough speed that not only Grovyle but Ryusuke as well recognized the move, a favorite of the Salamence that the Mightyena's trainer had also partnered with.
Naturally dodging the move wasn't an option, not without a technique of his own, but Grovyle already had something of an idea on how to turn it to his advantage. Mistake number three on the Hawlucha's part - thinking that having a type advantage by default meant that your opponent didn't as well. Digging his heels into the ground for a hard brake, the reptile would pivot on one just as the Hawlucha's Aerial Ace came incredibly close to hitting its mark, scales momentarily brushing against the birds feathers. As the Hawlucha touched down onto the ground, however, Grovyle would complete his spin, fist coming around with it and already sparking with electrical discharge as it came down from above and behind the Hawlucha. With forward facing eyes like that, even bird Pokemon would have a blind spot directly behind them, and with his attack already started the Thunderpunch would likely hit the bird right in the back of the head before it could get off another attack.
Summary: Detect used to dodge Aerial Ace, Thunderpunch used from point blank range as Hawlucha finished the attack, coming from directly behind and aiming for the Pokemon's head.
While he was picking up quite a bit of speed, something felt off for the bird. The Grovyle himself was looking straight up and getting ready to just take the hit. Hawlucha narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out the angle that the enemy was working. He glanced around for the trainer who was silently standing off to the side, simply observing the battle. At least the man was respecting the fact that the fight was between two Pokemon. If he could just beat the tree snob then the trainer would be forced to admit that the bird was a better Pokemon and take him in. Perhaps the Hawlucha could even deny him the satisfaction of owning him. He laughed at this, and then noticed the small amount of distance between the two Pokemon. The Grovyle was preparing itself, but for what.
The flying type narrowed his eyes as they started to glow in an attempt to detect the intentions of the enemy. A small turn and a thunderpunch, the scene played out before his eyes. The plan was so simple and beautiful but sadly there was no time to dodge it. Instead he would just have to be quick to counter. He began to twist his body, the punch heading right for his face, there was no way to change that one. Instead, the Hawlucha's wings began to glow, pointed directly at the Grovyle's stomach. He released the burst of energy within his wings right as the opponent's attack hit the side of his face. The energy from the two attacks sent him flying backwards. The Pokemon flipped in the air, landing on one leg before pounding the other into the ground, sending the bird so far into the sky that he was no longer seen. He did not have time to inspect the enemy. That punch had greatly weakened him. He was done for if the fighting continued on like it had.
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Aug 30, 2015 16:40:15 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
This was why Ryusuke didn't get involved in his Pokemons' battles anymore. Not without good reason. At least in Grovyle's case the asshat was far too quick for Ryusuke - or any human, he suspected - to keep up with, especially just watching from the sidelines. By the time the trainer saw what had happened, processed the results and formulated a proper response another two or three series of blows would've been exchanged. In effect, trying to command the Pokemon in a fight would've just slowed them both down, and created a half a dozen more opening for the opponent to make use of. Among the many, many things his mother had left him, this battle style was arguably the only one that Ryusuke really appreciated, particularly as a training tool. While incredibly effective against other trainers as the vast majority of them still fought battles by commanding their Pokemon directly - likewise giving away the advantage of surprise attacks by calling out the technique names - wild Pokemon were still a challenge, forcing his team to stay at the top of their game regardless.
And such was the case with Grovyle - even as the Grass type brought an electrically charged fist down, the Wood Gecko was still on guard enough to realize the mistake he'd made even as the Hawlucha moved. In pausing for the strike, Grovyle had left open the small window that always existed during attacks - and while far faster than the Flying type with Agility in play, he wasn't that fast. Not yet. Taking that wing to his gut, however, wasn't exactly an option either. Hawlucha were strong, and with the type advantage and his species' natural lack of durability it would spell the end of the fight. Eyes narrowing in focus, the Grass type would only hope that luck would favor him in the split second the two traded blows.
Thunderpunch connecting to the right side of the bird's face, Grovyle would continue to pivot on the spot, momentum carrying him even faster than before. Agility allowing him to twist out of the way and even add a bit of extra force to the connecting punch, the Grass type would kick up off of the ground to skip away to the side as the exchange concluded. Rather than simply staying still and granting the bird yet another opportunity to strike, however, the Wood Gecko would seem to explode and split into several identical copies, all of them forming a semi circle around the bird as it took to the sky.
Summary: Agility used, adding to Grovyle's earlier momentum and allowing him to continue to twist out of the Wing Attack's path. Double Team used.
The Hawlucha felt himself going higher and higher. His single bound doing strides for his attitude on life. The fresh air really brought out the bright side in him. He knew he was probably not going to win the battle. At least then the trainer would have the option to pick up the fainted Pokemon and force it to join his team. Or he would wake up hours later with marker on his face from the nearby Jiggly Puff and be laughed at for a little while before he found another strong trainer to battle for a place in victory. The latter of the two was the more likely though as the trainer seemed rather distant from his own Pokemon and not like most of the trainers that came along the path.
It was in the downward fall of the Bounce attack that an issue arose in the Hawlucha's mind, erasing the terms that he had come to moments ago. There were now a multitude of Grovyles standing around his departure area. The bird shook his head, trying to clear the image. Was this just the pain causing him to see double or was the enemy pulling the wool over his eyes? Judging by the previous tactics used from the Pokemon, that choice was also the latter. Well, the answer was clear. He needed to give the sneaky opponent a taste of his own medicine and all of the hits that came before the bouncing move.
Hawlucha changed his downward angle so that instead of facing with his beak down ready to smack into the Grovlye, he was headed feet first into the center of the circle. It was upon landing with an intentional miss that the Pokemon then made a grand sweeping motion with his wings. The motion caused the winds to stir, pushing out from the flying-type towards the edge of the circle. A nice good Endeavor would put the enemy where he needed to be and hopefully remove some of those doubles he was seeing. The bird finished his large wing sweep and stood posed, ready for anything the Grovyle was about to throw his way.
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Sept 3, 2015 13:32:59 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
Bounce? Ryusuke had to admit, it had been a long, long while since he had seen that move. Any moves like it for that matter, actually, long enough that the blonde couldn't remember when the last time had actually been. It wasn't exactly hard to see why, either. While such techniques were incredibly effective for split second dodging, there was always a trade off - in this case, whatever went up must come down, and the reason Bounce and Fly were so good at dodging was because they went so high and out of reach. By extension that meant longer to come back down once gravity took hold or the move was executed to completion, and that meant a rather large window for their opponent to do whatever they wanted in the meantime. Work on augmenting their capabilities, come up with methods to dodge or block effectively, or even counter attack as moves like Thunder tended to be particularly effective while Bounce and Fly were in the middle of being used.
Regardless, Ryusuke pretty much figured the fight to be done by that point. Grovyle had his window, and a single good opportunity was all the Pokemon needed - so strong was his faith in the Wood Gecko that the trainer didn't bother to continue watching the fight, instead immediately turning his attention to his PokeNav when it buzzed, an almost unprecedented event in and of itself, more than worthy of his attention. Off the top of his head, Ryusuke could think of maybe two people in the world who had the number and weren't blocked, one of which he hadn't seen in four years and who he admittedly wished he'd left on better terms with, and the other..... was more complicated. Far more complicated, but they'd definitely parted as friends when Lorraine had ditched her attempt to become a Professor in favor of dealing with less than favorable conditions at home. Hand dipping into his pocket, Ryusuke would pull out the device to check and see who had contacted him and why.
Grovyle, for his part, intended to do exactly that. Even with Double Team in effect as the Flying type took to the sky, the Wood Gecko was nothing if not cautious now, especially after that last near miss from Wing Attack. It was admittedly in direct contrast to his usual self who lived for the thrill of close calls and near misses and thrived in such environments, but there was also his pride - he wasn't going to get knocked out by another fighter on day one off the ferry. It hadn't happened in any other region, and Grovyle didn't intend for this to be the first. As the Hawlucha began to descend again, the Grass type would note the move aiming for a place not near himself or any of his illusionary copies - something that mildly concerned, but still gave him plenty of opportunity to put a degree of insurance into play. Fatigue gripping Grovyle for a moment, a split second of concentration was all that was needed as the Flying type touched down - and seemingly a good call on his part.
No sooner than Substitute had been finished, the Hawlucha would use a technique that Grovyle wasn't able to immediately recognize - and in all fairness, it wasn't one used that often, requiring the other Pokemon to have taken a number of hits to be useful, something that most fighters made a point to avoid. In any case, as Endeavor was used the Substitute that Grovyle had just put up would immediately disappear, having taken the hit for the Grass type. Thankfully, however, not without having created an unintended illusion - as the Substitute had taken the hit and been hidden among the illusions, the end result had been that Endeavor seemingly had done nothing. Enough to likely cause the Hawlucha to hesitate as the move was probably the Pokemon's ace in the hole, and enough time for Grovyle to prep his own. Remaining still, Grovyle and the copies surrounding Hawlucha would begin to show visible signs of focus, preparing for their next attack.
Summary: Substitute used. Endeavor hit, dispelling Substitute. Solarbeam prepping, Double Team still in effect.
This was it. The enemy had tricked him for the last time. The Hawlucha stood ready for another attack, trying to hide his panting as the Grovyle's that surrounded him prepared for their beam attack and whatever it held. He couldn't just take it though. He had to do something in order to survive. He had fought so hard to impress the trainer who... was looking at his Pokedex? Oh no he did not. He was not even paying attention to the battle.
The Hawlucha straightened himself out and began to move his wings around. His entire body glowed a golden yellow and with each swing of his wings it grew stronger. He closed his eyes as he finished his dance by flinging his wings upwards, shooting hundreds of feathers into the air only to rain back down on all of them. Hopefully that would but the Grovyle at bay for a moment while he dealt with the inconsiderate trainer. He could understand not wanting to call out attacks. That was fine, give it an element of surprise and speed. Fine. But completely ignoring his Pokemon and the enemy? That was just plain rude. The Hawlucha no longer wanted it to be between the two Pokemon and he surely did not want to belong to such a horrible person.
The Hawlucha jumped into the air in the direction of the trainer. His leg began to glow white as he soared across the sky, aimed straight for a nice kick to the gut. No one would ignore him. He knew that missing this attack would damage him. He knew that when the beam hit he would be doomed regardless of if he missed or hit the trainer. All he had to do was one final act of justice to prove he was too worthy for such a scummy trainer.
Attacks-- Feather Dance on Grovyle circle, High Jump Kick aimed at Ryusuke Turn 4/4
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Sept 3, 2015 18:03:47 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
As Ryusuke had been thinking it before just in narrowing down the possibilities he guessed that he probably shouldn't have been surprised, but between his dad and Lorraine... well, one was far more likely than the other. Granted, Ricki was always a possibility, but she'd been silent for months now. Just the same, though, that didn't change the fact that it had likely been well over a year by this point since he'd seen or heard anything from her, and the fact that people sent him messages of any kind so rarely made the ones that did get through stand out quite a bit. Even more surprising, though, were the contents of the message. Given what little Ryusuke had learned of the Professor-in-training's mother he'd harbored next to no hope of that getting settled in anything approaching an amicable method, at least not without her father getting involved - the parents had divorced for a reason, but given that Lorraine had turned 18 a year before he did that had probably given her the leverage she needed.
Even as Ryusuke was focused on the PokeNav and the message it contained, though, something else would snap his attention back to the present, away from the device and to the battle at hand. Or at least what should have been one - it had been Grovyle's voice that had gotten the trainer's attention, largely due to the rarity of the Wood Gecko calling out with anything approaching a degree of urgency. The cause itself was immediately apparent as Grovyle stood, evidently charging a Solarbeam, with Hawlucha having used the opportunity to break from the fight and make a run at attacking the only human present in a far more direct fashion. Dodging, frankly, wasn't an option - the Pokemon was already in the air and zooming towards him, feet first, and while Ryusuke was fast he wasn't that fast.
Really, the only other option was to basically do exactly what he had at Richissime, raising his right arm to intercept the blow. While the force behind it was considerable, more than enough to knock Ryusuke onto his back from his sitting position, that was all it would manage to do as rather than the rather flexible sensation of muscle beneath the coat sleeve, the Flying type would instead feel something undeniably metallic resisting the force of his kick. Rather than be upset with the other Pokemon, however, Ryusuke's only immediate response to the bird on his arm would be to grin. He'd spent more than enough time in a dojo as a kid to understand the basic idea behind the redirection of force, and the fact that his arm was actually holding up to the abuse this time was only icing on the cake. As he was knocked over onto his back, Ryusuke would fling the arm - and the Pokemon currently kicking it - away, hopefully launching the creature on it up to the sky.
"All yours, bud!" Ryusuke called out, grin remaining. Not this time. It had been four years since he'd left home, four years since he'd started as a trainer, and he had learned from his mistakes. After that Skorupi had nearly ended things early Ryusuke had realized that at no point was there anything stopping trainers from getting involved in fights, and by extension no reason they couldn't take measures to defend themselves should that happen. His left leg had been the only reason that Poison type hadn't... well, poisoned him, and what worked once would work again.
Solarbeam having completed its charge and Ryusuke having hopefully not only managed to fend off his attacker but set the bird up for a coup de grace, Grovyle's expression could only be described as a matching one to his human partner's. Bracing his feet and taking aim at the hopefully skywards Pokemon, the multiple Grovyle copies would all simultaneously fire off the same attack as the original, multiple beams of pure, white light converging onto a single point in the air above the original's trainer.
Summary: High Jump Kick blocked with Ryusuke's prosthetic arm, momentum redirected rather than stopped to try and throw Hawlucha into the air high above Ryusuke. Grovyle's Solarbeam charged and fired, timed to follow up with Ryusuke's tactic and hit the Hawlucha hopefully before it can dodge or escape.
The High Jump Kick hit its target. Granted it was not in the place he had intended. No, the trainer had deflected his kick by raising his arm. Still, the attack pushed the two to the ground. The Hawlucha grinned as his talons tightened around the arm, his weight on top of the trainer. But the trainer was grinning back. Just like the Grovyle he had something up his sleeve. Somehow, the trainer managed to pushed the bird off, sending him flying into the air and into the path of a thousand beams of light. Granted it was probably only eight or nine beams of light but in that moment it felt like a thousand.
These were his last moments. He had lost it. He had been bested by trainer and Pokemon together even though they worked separately. At the last moment they were so in-sync even though the trainer had barely been paying attention. The Hawlucha turned to face the light, spreading his wings as the beam hit him. It sent him flying though the sky but he would have never guessed it. His eyes were closed in as he fainted from pain. The fight had gotten the best of him but at least he had learned from it. Agility was his worst enemy.
The Wild Hawlucha Fainted Insert one token to continue, just kidding
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Sept 3, 2015 21:46:21 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
And that seemed to be it. Ryusuke had admittedly been a bit concerned when the Hawlucha seemed to be trying to tighten its grip on his arm - sure, it wouldn't have hurt him, but an angry Pokemon was not a fun thing to have in your face - however everything seemed to have played out for the best. A good, strong attempt to fling the bird up had shaken it free, and the timing had been almost spot on as Grovyle's Solarbeam lanced out among the Double Teams' fakes to strike true, blasting the Flying type for a direct hit. Thankfully not towards the cliff, however, but merely further along the path that Ryusuke had been walking from before. In hindsight, the Hawlucha's attempt to attack him was probably a good thing as it seemed to be knocked out cold on hitting the ground - had it gone into the water, that might've gotten ugly, fast. Letting out a breath to calm down, Ryusuke would force himself back up into a sitting position, briefly working his right arm to ensure nothing was broken before checking the PokeNav that it was still clutched in its metallic grip. Likewise undamaged, good.
"Yeah, I'm good, don't worry. Nice aim there, though." Ryusuke answered, Grovyle having called out with a rather uncharacteristic note of worry in his voice. While the Pokemon was normally more than confident in his abilities, Solarbeam was still a relatively new move for him. At least as far as Ryusuke knew at any rate, the first time he'd seen it was during the Richissime fiasco when Grovyle had blindsided one of the bandits' Cloyster from inside a cage they'd stuffed Grovyle into following the place being gassed and the guests used as hostages. Given how concerned Grovyle seemed to be now, though, the Grass type returning at a brisker pace than normal, it seemed to be a move the Wood Gecko still didn't feel he had complete mastery over. Good to know.
"Anyways, get your work out, or still up for more? Something I want to check when we get to the next city, but no reason we can't hit up a few more battles on the way." Ryusuke said, dusting the dirt from the path off his back as he pocketed the PokeNav and stood up, turning to walk over to the unconscious Hawlucha and move it off the path. Grovyle, unsure of how to respond for a few moments, would simply remain silent before Ryusuke turned to look at the Pokemon for a response, eventually eliciting a hesitant shrug. Fairly simple codespeak for "I don't know" or "either one works", and what had been a fairly common response back when he'd been a Treecko and more of a tag along than the active decision maker that he'd grown into. Well, Ryusuke could work with that. He still had plenty of other Pokemon that needed a chance to get out and stretch their legs/wings/appendages, and if Grovyle was in no rush, neither was Ryusuke. The next city was only a day away at most, and in a worst case scenario they could find a nearby highway and hitchhike there much as they had during their time in Unova.
Moving to take the lead for a change, Ryusuke would pass Grovyle to continue along the path leading to Route 1, the Wood Gecko pausing for a moment to glance back at the downed Hawlucha before moving to follow and quickly catch up after a quick usage of Synthesis.
Summary: Hawlucha knocked out. Double Team dispelled, Synthesis used.
Together the trainer and Pokemon had been sitting together, meditating along the path. They were there to evaluate the readiness of the trainers that walked along the path and prepare themselves for the future. Together, they were a single unit that worked in perfect synchronization. Already they had earned three of the badges from the region and were back at their roots for training. There was an energy that had been compelling the Alakazam all day to return to where they had started when the Pokemon was a mere Abra. The woman, who went by Candace, had silently went along with the pulling of her Pokemon. She could feel it too, but had merely brushed it off as a powerful Pokemon in the area. They did not have room for other Pokemon on the team. The Alakazam refused to work with any other creature and their bond was too strong to have another Pokemon interfering with it.
It was in the middle of the meditating that the pair felt it. The energy was closing in on them. They both opened their eyes and stared at each other. Whatever was causing the energy was closing in on them. It no longer just felt like a Pokemon. No. It was another pairing. Candace stood up. 'We must contest with these creatures. Their bond matches the strength of ours. This is the first I have seen of this,' the words from the Alakazam echoed inside of her head. 'Of course, I can not imagine how great the challenge will be.'
The telepathic communication between the two often scared away young and new trainers. They found it frightening that the trainer could imagine what move combinations to use while the Pokemon executed them without hesitation. Most called it cheating but an advanced trainer knew that it was just a strong connection. Candace stepped forward on the path so that she could see the trainer approaching them. "Halt trainer. My Pokemon and I sense that you are different from most. I wish to have a one on one battle with you. We have yet to meet our match and I wish to see how this battle plays out." Her eyes narrowed as she saw the Grovyle behind him. Was that his Pokemon? He really was advanced if he already had an evolved Pokemon. The Alakazam's eyes began to glow red as it stood behind his trainer. 'That is not his only Pokemon. We wish to battle the one that he has the connection with.' The trainer looked to her Pokemon and nodded. "We wish to battle the Pokemon that you have the strongest bond with, please sir."
Standard battle rules: 2 dodges, 1v1, winner gets an additional 500 PD If you wish to have any special rules please post them
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Sept 3, 2015 23:41:21 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
For the moment, at least, it seemed like that Water type from earlier and the Hawlucha that Grovyle had taken on were the only wild Pokemon of note along the cliffside path. After that battle nothing had challenged them in the several minutes afterwards - or, more accurately, there wasn't another Pokemon to be seen, maybe bar the occasional one far on the beach below or in the water off shore. In any case, not Pokemon that Ryusuke saw any reason to go out of his way to battle, and the Wood Gecko walking alongside him in stark contrast to his earlier trail blazing seemed to be of a similar opinion. In truth, Ryusuke's mind was elsewhere entirely, largely musing over the message he had gotten on his Nav earlier.
Of all the things that could've been said, Lorraine had been nothing if not cryptic. "Check your PC", she said. "There'll be a familiar face there", she said. And yet, if they'd gotten to know each other at all, Ryusuke was fairly certain that it was common knowledge - he didn't need any more Pokemon, nor did he particularly want them. Well, no, a better way to put it would've been that he didn't need them, nor have the time if he got them. As it was his team, originally intended to be no more than what he could've counted on one hand, had somehow snowballed into a collective mess of strays and misfits. Obviously, himself and Grovyle, and Charizard was a given as the Pokemon had been their "chaperone" after his dad couldn't run anymore. Aerodactyl had just ended up there because the alternative was to get eaten - at the time they couldn't beat her in a straight fight and everyone knew it, the only option had been to daze her and capture the prehistoric creature while she was too out of it to break free.
After that point it had simply gotten out of control. Druddigon sent courtesy of his uncle, supposedly as an apology for not being able to help with the situation in Tokai despite being there, although Ryusuke assumed there was more to it than that - the man popped in and out of his life a grand total of maybe four times before then, and suddenly his dad's younger brother wanted to get closer? It might've just been Ryusuke's cynicism, but he couldn't help but think there were strings attached there. Gastly had just decided to tag along after that disaster in Lavender Town, then Heracross, Fletchinder, Murkrow and Frogadier had somehow ended up with him through family and friends, much as Lorraine seemed to be hinting at with whatever it was she'd dumped in his PC. Mudkip, meanwhile, had been yet another tag along that Ryusuke had stumbled across while helping out with storm relief efforts in Nue. Really, the only Pokemon that he'd deliberately caught out of choice in recent memory had been Tentacruel.
While in deep thought, however, the events of his surroundings didn't go unnoticed by Ryusuke, particularly when he and Grovyle came over the crest of one of the many low hills that the cliffs cut across, bringing another pair of individuals into sight. A woman, and what was unmistakably an Alakazam - and no matter how Ryusuke looked at it, another trainer. Out here, though? When he had decided to come to Rakuen, it had been with the understanding that it was much like his mother's own region had been. Pokemon, sure, but not much in the way of trainers bar the professionals that the League had brought in when they'd established the Gyms. In short, the perfect environment to test out how far his team had advanced since Richissime, although if the wild Pokemon were any indication... Ryusuke had a feeling that he knew where things were going the moment it became clear that the other trainer had noticed them, her and her Pokemon moving to step out onto the path ahead as he and Grovyle approached before speaking.
"Different? You don't say." Ryusuke responded, coming to a stop a few feet from her and a trace of sarcasm slipping into his voice. Admittedly not the best way to probably start things off, but given the fact that his right hand was clearly visible and clearly not the one he'd been born with.... well, between that and his eye color Ryusuke had his fair share of shit thrown his way growing up. Probably not what the woman meant and Ryusuke almost immediately regretted his response, but hey, old dogs and new tricks. It was a wonder that he'd calmed down as much as he had in recent years as opposed to hospitalizing people via fistfights with the proper provocation when he'd first left home. Granted, it was only the one time, and some buttons really weren't meant to be pressed.
"Sorry, touchy subject. A battle?" While that in and of itself wasn't exactly surprising, the woman's request aside from it was, at least enough to get Ryusuke to rub the side of his head in thought for a moment. His strongest Pokemon - Charizard, maybe, or likely even Murkrow or Aerodactyl - Ryusuke would've understood, especially if the woman was as strong as she claimed, a fact that the blonde didn't doubt for a moment. Alakazam - Psychic types in general, really - did have their share of pitfalls and weaknesses that were common among all members of the typing, but if you didn't know what they were you were in for a world of pain. His mother's own signature Pokemon and her starter was a Metagross, and while most did initially identify it for the Steel type it was, a large number of people likewise didn't realize the emphasis that was put on that monster's abilities as a telekinetic powerhouse in combat. Which, frankly, was what made it so dangerous - all of the durability and raw physical strength typical of Steel types, but still at the top of the ladder where Psychic types were concerned, giving it a fair degree of versatility. Going back to what Ryusuke had been thinking earlier, if the majority of the region's trainers were at the level he believed them to be, especially after what he saw getting off the ferry, he had no trouble believing that none of them would've been able to give this woman much challenge.
But the strongest bond? Glancing down to Grovyle, Ryusuke knew immediately who qualified for that. In a straight contest of strength, he'd lose this fight, no questions asked. Alakazam hit like a freight train, and Grovyle were, by nature, squishy. They didn't take hits well, nor were they particularly strong in a physical sense, relying on hit and run tactics to wear the opponent down with pin pricks. That, and there was the terrain to consider, as they and his own tended to thrive the most in claustrophobic or otherwise difficult to navigate areas, such as dense forest or urban landscape where they could easily outmaneuver their opponent and flee as needed. Granted, Grovyle knew full well everything that Ryusuke did, and probably even more - the Wood Gecko had attitude, sure, but the Pokemon had always been the one most involved with battling, even back when Ryusuke had only seen it as a means to further fund his search across Tokai. Hell, Grovyle had taken a full year to himself after evolving, presumably to soul search and become comfortable in his new body - on returning he'd managed to drop the runner up for League Champion's own starter, a Mightyena, earning Ryusuke the right to learn how to pull off Mega Evolution. At least before Charizard's stone got stolen.
In short, it all really came down to Grovyle's opinion. It would've been incredibly rude to turn down the challenge, but if it was a choice between that and his Pokemon's safety Ryusuke was fairly certain the excuse of having a grand total of zero badges, either from this region or any other, might be enough to get off without offense. If the Grass type thought he could win, though.... well, the Pokemon knew his abilities far better than Ryusuke did at this point.
"Up to you. Think you can pull it?" Ryusuke asked, glancing down to the Pokemon in question as Grovyle came to a stop next to him, likewise perplexed by the other trainer's request. The Wood Gecko, rather than replying at first, would instead take a moment to visibly size up the Alakazam, crossing his arms as he looked at the other Pokemon from head to toe and back again. True enough, he knew what he was doing, and it wasn't like that last fight had really tired him out at all, especially after that last use of Synthesis following the battle. Really, the only question was if he could avoid being hit - speed was useful, sure, but a difficult advantage to hold when the other guy was attacking with his mind. Still, after a few moments of thought and silence the Grass type would give a thoughtful quip that would take Ryusuke a moment to process as an affirmative.
"Sounds like a 'yes'. Did you guys have any other rules you wanted to go over, or just the ones you'd brought up before?"
The pairing stared at the new opponents as they seemed to debate silently among each other whether or not to accept the invitation to a battle. It was when the other trainer said yes that Candace gave a faint smile. The Grovyle must have been his first companion rendering it by default the strongest of bonds. The opponent asked if there were to be any other rules. She stared at the Alakazam, waiting to see if he had anything to say. 'We need to be on our way soon. We cannot stay here forever and battle.' The woman gave a small nod and looked back at the pairing that reflected them. "We wish to keep this a fairly short battle. Now then, do you wish to take the first turn or shall we?"
Candace took a few steps backwards to allow her Alakazam room to move forward and into a battling position. Trainers after all were only supposed to command, not fight themselves. Her Pokemon turned to her, lowering his head for a moment. 'It gives us an advantage to see their battling style before revealing our own. They should move first.' The trainer shook her head at her Pokemon, 'You are forgetting the Grovyle's natural speed. His fighting could utilize that and catch your defenses off guard. We need to move first and weaken him. Then we can evaluate how to officially fight afterwards.' The two stared at each other in silence for a moment before the Alakazam shook his head. 'I am going to have to disagree Candace. You know that his speed will not be a problem. If he enhances it, it will reveal everything.' The woman rubbed her chin for a moment, finally agreeing. She would not fight for the first move but rather only humbly accept it if the opponent rewarded her with it. If not... Well, the pair prepared themselves for battle, entering into a battle stance.
Post by Ryusuke Ugumi on Sept 4, 2015 0:50:37 GMT -5
Tear up this future; The story's sequel starts!
"We'll take the first move if you're offering, I guess." Ryusuke replied, the blonde glancing from the other trainer to Grovyle, only to see the Pokemon momentarily mirror the action before the Wood Gecko returned his attention to Alakazam. Given that the trainer wasn't able to understand the Grass type's spoken words, no matter how hard he tried, after so long half the communication between them wasn't just spoken - inflection and tone could only convey so much, and body language was just as effective by this point. Grovyle wouldn't have agreed to the battle if he thought he couldn't handle it, and a large part of his rather impressive win/loss record despite remaining a Treecko for eleven years was knowing how and when to pick his battles, pun not intended. The key, however, would be on outpacing the Psychic type, not just physically but mentally as well - keep things going so fast that by the time the other Pokemon was able to process what was happening, Grovyle would already have moved on to something else, be it misdirection or a genuine attack. Force the opponent to hesitate and make mistakes.
Unfortunately, that meant Ryusuke sticking to the sidelines, and not opening his mouth unless it was absolutely necessary.
Most trainers believed that commanding your Pokemon was all that a trainer was supposed to do, in and out of battle. To direct them in a direction that would enable growth and, if luck held, victory. Ryusuke's mother was a piece of work, but if there was anything she knew, it was how to battle, and even as a kid he'd taken her philosophy to heart - granted, that was back before he was forced to question what he really knew about her. Regardless, her style had been a simple one.
Don't train your Pokemon, coach them. Treat them as equals - if that was truly something you believed in as a trainer, there was no reason it should or would stop simply at formalities. There was no reason that any Pokemon capable of understanding human speech and reason would be incapable of making tactical decisions on the battlefield, nor any reason to believe that their decisions would be any less effective or slower than that of their human partner. If anything, believing otherwise almost came off as insulting, especially considering that many Pokemon were able to sense things that humans couldn't - waiting for an order from their trainer when you could sense a threat coming wasn't just stupid, but it only enforced the idea that a Pokemon was subordinate to a human, or conversely that the trainer didn't believe in their Pokemon enough to let them make the correct choices on their own. More to the point - and Grovyle was an extremely strong example of this - many Pokemon knew their abilities and limits far better than their partner ever would.
While the pinnacle of the style was something that Ryusuke doubted he would ever reach, especially since his mother's team was able to work flawlessly, simultaneously, as anything from a tag team to a full group of six, it still had its practical applications in "one on one" fights between trainers. Although it rarely was ever so simple - even here, Ryusuke was more than willing to bet that the other trainer was going to be giving commands to her Pokemon in some way, shape or form, and that would come at a cost. It would take time to issue the commands, time for Alakazam to process them, and meanwhile Grovyle wouldn't be burdened by that at all. And really, when it came right down to it.... even something as simple as yelling "Dodge!" was often more distracting than helpful, and more likely to cause hesitation and unnecessary thought during which the action could be completed.
"Good luck. Don't be afraid to tag out if you need to, I don't have a Pokeball and you're going to weigh a ton after a couple of hours." Ryusuke said as the other pair got ready to fight, the opposing trainer backing off as Ryusuke simply bumped an outstretched fist to Grovyle's shoulder. While the words may've been abrasive, though, the Pokemon seemed to understand the sentiment, turning just enough to bump his own, much smaller pair of curled up claws with Ryusuke's hand before the trainer began moving backwards to put some distance between himself and the soon to begin conflict.
Grovyle's first move, predictably, was to blitz. Much as he had against the Hawlucha earlier, the Grass type would be little more than a blur rushing the opposing Pokemon seemingly head on - and to be fair, there wasn't much else that the Wood Gecko had in his repertoire that could be counted as a trump card. Both sides knew it, and there was no point in trying to hide that. The trick, however, was to get creative with it, and that was something that Grovyle had gotten very, very good at.
While the initial Quick Attack might have seemed like a head on rush meant to immediately close the distance between himself and Alakazam, Grovyle wasn't that stupid. A head on confrontation with the Pokemon was only going to end in pain, and any chance at victory meant exploiting his opponent's weaknesses for all they were worth - there was going to be no lowered guard from the start, no chance for the Psychic type to catch him off balance as the Hawlucha had. Rather than attempting to strike the other Pokemon, the Quick Attack would allow the green blur to blow past the Alakazam and under his left arm, only to dig his heels into the dirt for a hard, fast brake. Even as he shed that momentum, however, kicking up dust in the process, Grovyle would speed up again as he burst back into motion with Agility, placing himself directly behind the Alakazam and out of the Pokemon's line of sight - both moves having taken place within the span of a second or two.
That was the key. All Psychic Pokemon, especially those that were combat oriented such as Alakazam and Metagross, had that one, key weakness - more often than not, they needed to be able to see their opponent, to visualize what they were going to do. It was what made Ghost types so effective against them, and why Dark types were immune to their attacks unless "seen" with Miracle Eye. The trick to effectively fighting a Psychic was a deceptively simple one - merely rob them of their ability to see you, and you were safe. After all, even Psychic types weren't omniscient - if they were, there would be no point to battling as they could use their abilities on anyone, anywhere, and that clearly wasn't the case.
Summary: Quick Attack used to close the distance and blow past Alakazam, hopefully before either him or his trainer can react. Agility used to brake and place Grovyle in Alakazam's blind spot, directly behind the Pokemon with Grovyle still in motion, hopefully preventing direct attack.
The enemy was moving first, giving the psychic pair the advantage that they wanted. It was not long after they announced they would go first that the Grovyle positioned himself for attacking. To the trainer, it was all a blur. She was trying to pay attention in order to assist the Alakazam but she knew that the speed would be a severe issue in her keeping up. Often times it was. She was merely a second pair of eyes to watch things that the Alakazam could not. She was certain that he was going to get hit straight on by the lizard but her Pokemon seemed so calm. She knew she had to trust him and that was when she saw it. It was only a split second but the quick attack that the opponent was performing faltered as it passed under the psychic's arm. Did he simply miss or was there intention behind it?
Candace did not have time to finish before she was positive it was intention. The Grovyle was now standing in the Alakazam's blind-spot performing an agility attack. Well at least he wasn't going for a blow to the back. Except, it wouldn't have been a blow to the back, it would have been a blow to the side? Somehow during all of the confusion her Pokemon had turned himself sideways and was on his way to swinging completely around with one leg mildly extended. 'I will be useless in this fight except for announcing the blindsides you miss,' Candace thoughts as she bowed her head, giving full control to the Pokemon.
To the Alakazam, everything looked much different. While the trainer and Grovyle were positioning themselves the Pokemon took the liberty to start himself with something that would go completely unnoticed. He spent a moment clearing his mind and calming it from all of the excess thoughts that resided in it. He needed his full brain for this battle unlike most of the ones that they participated in. With his mind empty he would be able to see things much more clearly as well as attack with a more clarified power. And then the battle started.
The Alakazam could see the initial trajectory was off as the lizard took off. Was he aiming to hit Candace? No, that would be an illegal blow in a Pokemon fight and would ruin the sport of the night for them. He was aiming to miss. But with what purpose? The Pokemon should have known that a psychic as powerful as he was would not easily get spooked. Instead, while the Grovyle was bursting forward in a single blur, the Pokemon lifted one of his feet from the ground in order to pivot and follow the opponent's movement. His leg that removed from the ground extended slightly as he turned barely a second later in order to push him backwards and remove some of the distance that the other Pokemon had made extremely close. It was after the full pivot that the Alakazam saw the Grovyle finishing up his Agility. Even more speed would prove to be a challenge... But not that challenging for the future. The creature pushed off from the ground, hoping back only a foot or two but it was enough for the moment. Granted, the lizard could close that gap in less than a second because he was utilizing his natural ability of speed.
Still with the bounce backward, it gave the psychic a second to do what he needed with the Grovyle in front of him. His mind left him for a moment as his body began to produce a red steam that lifted into the air before disappearing not even an inch off of his skin. Candace recognized the move. It was something that always hit its target due to the element of surprise. The Alakazam had placed the attack somewhere in the near future. Probably only a few moves forward but it would come at a time when the Grovyle was distracted and unsure that there was still even an attack in play. Her Alakazam was fond of the move and as long as he played his cards right and placed it properly in the future it was sure to sting.