Semi-Final Battle: Rein Vs. Sem

Thunder Punch missed its target, thanks to the Porygon-Z's agility. The electricity may have grazed the Pokemon, but the punch itself connected with an unfortunate rock that shattered from the force of the punch. That would have been a good hit, but Rein had been primarily trying to get a feel for his opponent's speed and generally ability; hitting with the attack would have been a well welcomed alternative though, and Rein couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Now Porygon-Z was on the offensive again, only this time Teleport wouldn't work, Eckart was locked on. "Psycho Cut at the Tri-Attack!" Rein ordered as the attack neared his Gallade.

Eckart swung one of the blades extending from his elbows, a pulse of psychic energy following the path of the blade, and it met the swirling combination of energies. The Tri-Attack shuddered and burst, the force of the explosion sent Eckart reeling back several feet through the air and connecting with the ground. In a second, the Gallade was back up and ready to fight.

"Let's get them back for that, Double Team!"

Where Eckart had been standing, there were now two of him. Of course, one was only a projection of himself, but it would serve to confuse the Porygon-Z, or at least Rein hoped.

"Now get in close with Close Combat!"

Eckart and his double began to rush the opposing Pokemon, weaving in and out of each other's path in perfect symmetry, an exact mirror image of the other's movements. They crossed paths, weaved around one another and switched places with every step, rushing forward all the while. Hopefully the Double Team helped keep Eckart out of harm's way until the attack was over, his defenses were dropped while he focused on only rushing forward and attacking the Porygon-Z.

[Sem]

"Dodge!" Sem yelled, though it was difficult for Isis to avoid the two Gallade effectively.  She twirled out of the range of one of the Eckarts, but as it turns out she spiraled right into the range of the real one and was clocked with a good, solid punch.

Isis was sent flying into one of the boulders that littered the arena.  The boulder crack and Isis let out a rather creepy moan, going into more convulsions until eventually regaining herself.

"Conversion 2," Sem said, using the hit Eckart landed to his advantage.

Isis' body began to shift, as if she were comprised of hundreds of small cubes, or pixels.  They rotated and shifted around, but ultimately she looked the same as she did before she used the move, however, now she was no longer a Normal-type.

"A smart move by Sem!  Conversion 2 changes the user's type to something that resists the move it was last hit by!" yelled the announcer.  "Who knows what type Porygon-Z is now."

"Shadow Ball," Sem said with a nod.

"With pleasure," Isis replied with barely a whisper.  Again Isis harnessed a ball of ghostly energy, only this time it was even bigger.  Conversion 2 was a peculiar move that not many trainer's were familiar with.  It was true that it could change a user's type depending on the last attack it was hit with, but through training Isis had been able to choose exactly what type.

If anyone paid close attention to the size of the new Shadow Ball then they would guess that she was now a Ghost-type, which was correct.  If Rein figured that out then he also knew that Isis was now immune to any of Eckart's Fighting-type attacks.

Isis launched the Shadow Ball, and a new scar was gouged into the surface of the arena as it shot towards the Gallade.

"That's a big Shadow Ball," Rein breathed as his brief moment of happiness from Close Combat connecting ended. Conversion 2. The move sounded so familiar, and the announcer had mentioned what it did, but that wasn't what was familiar about it. "Something tells me things just got a lot worse," he said aloud as the realization dawned on him. Porygon-Z had changed to something that would resist fighting type attacks, but whether through dumb luck or good training, the creature was now Ghost-type. The size of the Shadow Ball attested to that.

Rein barely had time to react as the attack carved its way toward Eckart. His options were now severely limited. His Fighting card was useless now, and the sudden change to Ghost-type meant that Eckart was more vulnerable.

Close Combat left the Gallade gasping for breath, his defenses lowered; there wasn't time to teleport aside this time. "Protect!" Rein shouted. It wouldn't be enough, he knew that before he even thought of it, but if he was lucky he could avoid a knockout.

Eckart's eyes snapped open, glowing a bright blue as the energy enveloped his body. A shield of psychic energy curved in front of the Gallade's body as the Shadow Ball closed the gap. No sooner had protect been thrown up than the ball of ghostly energy connected with the shield, shattering the energy that held it together and throwing Eckart back into a boulder; shattering it into smaller fragments of rock.

"That Shadow Ball was something, folks! It blew straight through a Protect and just kept going!" The announcer cried into his microphone. Rein was in trouble, now. Fighting had no effect, and Eckart was a physical fighter. He'd need something clever if he was going to pull off a win.

"Eckart, you all right?" Rein asked a pile of rubble off to his side, the Gallade moved a rock off of himself and stood up, slowly returning to a fighting stance. "All right, let's get a two-fer!" It may be immune to Fighting, but now it'll be more effected by Ghost, Rein thought, unfortunately, Eckart only knows one ghost type move. We'll have to combine it with another attack.

"Thunder Punch again, Eckart!"

Eckart sprinted toward the Porygon-Z, his fist clenched, sparks jumping through the air around it. As he neared his opponent, he leapt into the air, deciding it best to attack from the air, but also because he knew Rein's next call and was setting up for it.

"Shadow Sneak!"

The leap into the air cast Eckart's shadow forward, right in front of the Porygon-Z; the shadow seemed to gain depth as it rose off of the ground and attacked the no-longer-Normal-type.

[Sem]

Shadow Sneak was a fast attack, but honestly Sem would have preferred Isis had been hit with the Thunderpunch instead if he was forced to choose.  Thankfully, the blow from Shadow Sneak knocked Isis away from the Thunderpunch, but she was not faring so well now.  Porygon-Z weren't as hardy as Porygon2, their predecessors, in terms of taking hits.

Isis hovered listlessly in the air, twitching every moment or so as if she were malfunctioning.

"Recover!" Sem yelled.

A moan was his response as Isis' body again seemed to become pixelated for a moment before settling down.  She suddenly seemed much better now, ready to launch another attack. 

"Nasty Plot and Rain Dance," Sem said next.

Nasty Plot's energy was Dark-based, and so Isis needed a bit of dark thought to unlock said power in order to allow it to boost her own.  What she was thinking about Sem had no idea, and perhaps because of his past with SIR, didn't want to know.  After a moment thunder rumbled overhead as clouds quickly covered the arena, signaling that her plotting was done and Rain Dance had begun.

Rain Dance was the single Water-type move Isis knew, but it would definitely prove effective if Rein didn't know that.  If Isis didn't have any Water-type attacks that benefited from Rain Dance then there was only one other reason to use it.

Sem grinned as the downpour began, pounding the arena, fans included.  Fans had long ago learned to bring umbrellas to league battles, there was no telling when the weather would change.  Sem himself also pulled out a small umbrella from within his coat and opened it up.

"What a downpour this is!  What is Sem planning?" asked the announcer, needing to ask the obvious question.

Sableye's jeweled eyes and white grin shone through the gloominess towards Rein as the young man devised his next move.

Rein was one of the few in the arena who didn't pull out an umbrella. He'd been battling long enough to know that the weather during a battle could change in the blink of an eye, but he didn't care enough to carry an umbrella with him wherever he went. He liked the rain, anyway, so he hazarded a moment to close his eyes and breath deep; turning his face toward the falling rain and inhaling the smell of the storm. He opened his eyes.

"Rush at it!" Rein commanded.

Eckart moved fast, running across the arena toward his opponent. When he wasn't too far off, Rein followed up his command. "Teleport!" He yelled, causing Eckart to disappear not even a full second later. He reappeared instantly above the Porygon-Z.

"Poison Jab!"

The Gallade pulled his fist back as he came down on the Porygon-Z, a faint purple aura encasing his arm as he did so. Whatever Sem was planning, Rein had to try and stop him from pulling it off; Eckart didn't have much fight left in him, especially not after the hit from that Shadow Ball.

[Sem]

OOC: Looooool short post |D

BIC:
"Protect!" Sem yelled, but Isis hardly needed to be told.  A very small square came out of her body and flew in front of her.  The square was truly a two dimensional object, as if were being viewed on a monitor.  The pixel very quickly duplicated, and then both of them duplicated, and so on and so on until a large wall had formed in a matter of seconds, effectively stopping the Poison Jab.

"Thunder," Sem said with a hint of satisfaction.  In the same moment a massive bolt came down from sky aimed at Eckart.  It was powerful enough for anyone to know that it would heavily damage the arena, and hopefully ensure Isis' victory if Eckart got hit.

OoC: Hot Jam, it's been so long since I checked this thread ;_; for whatever reason I thought it was still Semmy's turn to posty-post.

BiC:

All at once the reason behind the rain dance became clear. Thunder usually wasn't the most dependable of attacks, having a pretty low accuracy, it is hard to control a lightning bolt after all. However, in the rain, it's almost a guaranteed hit; and Eckart wouldn't be getting back up from this one.

Rein had to think quickly, which he'd been doing during the majority of this particular pairing. Eckart had had the upper hand with his fighting type advantage, but that had been short lived. With the Porygon2 having changed types to ghost, Eckart was running low on options.

"Teleport Eckart!" Rein called. The Gallade closed his eyes and focused, he was tired and it took a fraction of a second too long for him to move. He avoided a full force hit, but he was even worse for wear now. The ground where the Pokemon had been standing a moment earlier was little more than a crater now.

"Shadow Ball, Eckart, put as much as you can into it!" This would be the deciding factor in the battle. Eckart was pouring his remaining strength into one last ditch effort. If it hit, it could win the match or it could fall just short. They'd never know until they tried.

The Gallade concentrated with his full force of will, the shadows around him slithering toward him along the ground and forming a sphere of inky-black energy; glowing with a ghostly purple haze. It was slightly larger than a usual Shadow Ball, Eckart was holding nothing back. With all his strength, he let it fly.

[Sem]

OOC: Trolololo

BIC:
"Conversion 2!" Sem yelled as the Shadow Ball was launched. Isis quickly obliged, her body shifting once again and rearranging itself, but still ultimately coming out looking exactly the same.

The last move she had been hit by was Eckart's Shadow Sneak, and so Isis' type instantly reverted back to Normal-type. Just as this happened the Shadow Ball hit. An explosion of darkness enveloped the field, the very nature of the energy making some people sick to their stomach.

However, Isis appeared entirely unscathed, as Ghost-type attacks had no effect whatsoever on pure Normal-types.

"Hyper Beam," Sem ordered. It was Isis' strongest move, further powered by the Nasty Plot. A circular opening appeared on her chest, and from it exploded an enormous beam of yellowish-orange energy that tore up the field as it traveled towards Eckart.

The Shadow Ball was just a bit too slow, Isis had just enough time to convert her way into a Normal-type once again, rendering the Shadow Ball completely useless. But that wasn't the worst of it; Eckart was now entirely out of steam. They'd started out strong, but losing their type advantage right off the bat had had them fighting uphill for too long.

Hyper Beam was tearing through the field toward Eckart, and he was too tired to avoid it; so there wasn't much of an option left. "Protect!" Rein cried out, and the beam of yellowish-orange energy seemed to come to a stop in front of Eckart; whose eyes were aglow a brilliant blue. He'd summoned up his psychic energy to stop the attack, but it was too much, Rein could see it on his Pokemon's face. The blast tore through the psychic barrier and Eckart was left defeated on the battlefield.

"Eckart put up a good fight, folks, but that Hyper Beam proved too much for him to stop. This battle is only beginning, but it's already proven to be one of the most intense I've ever seen!" The announcer shouted, it was a good thing too, Rein had nearly forgotten that there was an audience watching the battle.

"Return, Eckart, you did great. I'm proud of you." Rein reached down to his belt and grabbed another Pokeball, glad that the Rain Dance hadn't let up just yet. "Let's do this, Nevara!" Rein tossed the ball high up into the air and out of the light a Froslass formed; without needing any direction to do so, she immediately summoned forth a Hailstorm, made all the more simple by the rain that still plummeted to the arena.

[Sem]

"Come back, Isis," Sem said as the hail began, prompting him to quickly button up his coat and tie his teal scarf around his neck. Isis returned to her Pokéball on her own, remote controlling the device through technopathic means.

"What an impressive hailstorm from Rein's Froslass!" the announcer called. "I'm sure those folks down in front are feeling that chill. Sem has called back his Porygon-Z and now has to choose very careful for what Pokémon he'll send out."

"I have the perfect choice in mind," Sem thought to himself as he took out a Premier ball and tossed it into the ice. It burst open and released a Pokémon that seemed to blend in with the ice. It floated above the ground and was deathly still, and it seemed as if the temperature had dropped even further at its introduction into the field.

The Pokémon was also nearly identical to Rein's own.

"And Sem has chosen to go with a Froslass of his own!" the announcer said with just as much excitement as he had had in the introduction of Sem and Rein's battle. "I personally can't wait to see how this turns out."

"Jadis," Sem called to his Froslass. She was still unmoving, perfectly still. Her gaze was frozen and set as she calmly considered the fact that her opponent was also a Froslass. Did she feel compelled to prove herself better than Nevara? No. But neither was she unwilling to fight. Of all Sem's Pokémon she was the most morally grey, even compared to Sableye. She merely did as Sem commanded. She would do anything he asked, even if it was to end a life. Not that Sem would ever ask something like that, but that's what would happen. If he wanted her to fight Nevara then fight she would, and to the best of her ability. "My dear, let's scare the crowd a bit."

At first it seemed like Jadis wasn't responding, but very quickly there was a new kind of chill in the air, one that made your hair stand on end, one that made you even a little sick and cut into your very soul.

A horrible, unearthly wail could be heard as a rush of wind came in from behind Jadis. If you listened too long it sounded like the agonized moaning of a hundred lost souls. The attack was manageable when a weaker Pokémon used it, but when a more experienced Pokémon used the attack it could be quite terrifying. Sem himself was used to the bit-more-than-spooky wind by now, but he could spot several people in the audience, especially in the front, looking deathly afraid.

The wind was faintly laced with a shadowy purple essence as it tore through the hail towards Nevara. As the Ominous Wind attack flew through, the ghostly energy that was in the wind passed through Jadis' body, giving her overall fighting ability a boost. Still, she remained unmoving.

"And Sem has commanded his Froslass to use an impressive Ominous Wind!"

An Ominous Wind right off the bat, and an impressive dark force at that. Still, Rein smiled; he hadn't expected this to be a battle between two Froslass, it would prove interesting. "Protect, Nevara!" The hail falling around the stadium quickly moved toward Rein's side of the field, forming together into one sphere of ice that surrounded Nevara.

The Ominous Wind met it's target, not with a great show of force, being a gust of wind, but the effects were seen immediately. Cracks formed on the Protect as the negative energy hit it's target. Nevara was safe, but the Protect was done with, splintering into smaller pieces of ice. "Icy Wind." Rein commanded, and Nevara obeyed.

The falling fragments from Protect halted in their descent and flew toward Sem's Froslass with impressive speed. Rein knew it wouldn't do much, being an Ice Type move, but that was why the young man was about to follow it up. "Confuse Ray, Nevara."

A small ball of orange-yellow light formed in one of Nevara's hands, and she tossed it toward Sem's Pokemon, it wouldn't do any physical damage, but it should create enough of an opening to do some good damage.

[Sem]

"Icy Wind!" Sem yelled. Instantly another rush of wind blew forth from behind Jadis, taking the hail with it. The two attacks met in the center of the stage and the sound of high impacting against ice filled the arena, sounding almost beautiful.

"Ice Shard!" was the follow up from Sem. For the first time in the match Jadis moved. She held her right arm out to the side and the hail swirled around her hand, forming a blade of ice in it. And then she rushed forward with all the grace and elegance that you would not at first expect of an Ice-type. But the cold and harshness were there as well in Jadis' eyes.

With a single slash the Confuse Ray was dispelled and she continued to rush forward with great speed that came naturally to her species. The speed was further increased due to the nature of the attack. Jadis flew through the center of the field, through the wake of the two Icy Winds clashing and within a moment was upon Nevara, slashing at the phantom with her icy blade.

"Ice Shard." Rein said calmly, watching as Jadis rushed her way forward with an icy blade in hand. Instantly, Nevara mirrored Jadis' move, creating a blade of ice in her hand and parrying the attack.

"I don't even know what to make of this, folks! It looks like a fencing match between these two Ice-Type phantoms!" The announcer cried out almost joyously from the intense battle that unfolding before the crowd's very eyes.

[Sem]

This would be interesting, Sem realized. Jadis was actually quite skilled in swordplay, often dueling with his mother's Seviper at home.

Ice and snow swirled around Jadis' left hand as well, forming a second blade. The two Froslass continued their duel, much to the amazement of the crowd, but unless Nevara was also skilled in swordplay then Jadis would quickly gain the upper hand, especially considering the support she garnered from Ominous Wind.

"Hidden Power," Sem said with a smile.

Jadis hovered back into a defensive position, both blades poised as she began to glow with a lightly orange colored energy. Orbs of the same colored energy formed around her. However, instead of flinging them towards her opponent she did something else entirely. The orbs began to fade as their energy flowed into the Froslass' swords, causing them to glow with the same brilliance.

"Go!" Sem yelled. Jadis flew forward, spinning and bringing her blades around at Nevara. Jadis' Hidden Power was that of the Fighting-type affinity, and the combining of Hidden Power and Ice Shard created an effective and powerful combination. Unlike other Ghost-types, Froslass weren't affected by Fighting-type moves, but Nevara's ice sword would surely be destroyed if she used it to defend.

Sem seemed to think that his Froslass was going to be able to gain the upper hand against Nevara, of course that would be true if his own Froslass had been untrained in the art of swordplay. As it was, she frequently fenced with Eckart, so swordplay was something that she was more than accustomed to.

The two Ghost-types continued their little duel, until Sem did something completely unexpected. A hidden power, fused with the ice shards. Something told Rein that it would undoubtedly give Jadis the upper hand. Sem's Froslass rushed forward, and Rein had to think fast. "Substitute," Rein ordered, and as Sem's Froslass cut at the defending Nevara, Jadis' blades sliced through nothing more than a copy made of snow.

"Double Team," Rein followed up, and Nevara's eyes began glowing before Jadis could attack again, and in an instant, there were three Nevaras floating and twirling around Jadis. This would buy Rein time to counter the hidden power combined with Jadis' blades.

"Use Psychic, keep focused on surrounding your own swords with energy!" All three of the Froslass around Jadis followed Rein's command, all three had their own blades begin glowing blue. Reinforced with psychic energy, Rein was confident that the duel would be even once more. "Continue your dance, my dear," he said with a smile, and the three Froslass gracefully twirled forward, the real Nevara ready to strike.

[Sem]

"Thunder Wave!" came Sem's quick response to the Double Team/Psychic/Ice Shard combination.

Jadis closed her eyes as a shimmer of purplish electricity quickly glossed over her body before a large amount was discharged in the form of a wave. The attack dispelled the two fakes, leaving only the real Nevara.

"Quick thinking on Sem's part!" the announcer yelled.

Without waiting to see how Rein and Nevara had responded to the Thunder Wave Sem quickly followed up with another attack. "Thunderbolt!" he yelled into the blizzard that was still raging around them.

Since Jadis had just needed to tap into her ability to use electrical attacks, Thunderbolt was a logical step to take. Her ice swords broke away in fragments into the wind. She outstretched her hand to Nevara, her posture again as still and silent as ice itself while the blizzard raged around her - a picture of beauty.

Then, from her fingertips burst a powerful bolt of purplish electricity.

OoC: I know it's been over a year since this topic has been posted in, but Sem and I have been on a roll with this whole "reviving our old topics" thing. I figured why stop with Random Adventure?

Rein didn't have time to be disappointed that his deception hadn't worked, there was an instant between Sem's command and the strike that would follow. Luckily, split second decisions came naturally to the young man, they'd saved his hide many times in many battles. There was little chance of avoiding Sem's attack or blocking it, but Rein could try and return some of it.

"Payback!" Rein shouted right before the Thunderbolt struck its target, giving Nevara the second she needed to throw a hand up, not to block the attack, but to accept it. The attack left its mark on the ice type, but not before she channeled some of the power behind it into her own body and fired a smaller bolt of lightning back at Sem's Froslass.

"Rein's Froslass redirected the attack back toward the original user!" The announcer explained, at the edge of his seat no doubt.

"Give her no time to relax, follow up with a Shadow Ball!" Again Nevara summoned the darkness to her and hurled it toward her opponent.