Subject: [PW!][WC][R2] A Pretty Krabby Battle Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 18:40:09 GMT From: Pipian <pipian@pipian.com> Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Blizzard the white Persian is sitting in the preparation area of the Red Rock coliseum, thrashing her tail about in quiet annoyance. She's feeling particularly peeved, because she just put her *life* on the line to capture Trent Retwin (okay, so it was Avalanche's life on the line, but who's counting), and she didn't get a single Jigglypuff in return. She's beginning to wonder if she's ever going to get a tasty pink Pokemon to eat, when one of the Whirl Cup guards taps her on the shoulder, interrupting her thoughts: "Hey Persian," the man says, "I was just going over your registration info, and it looks like you only have one Pokemon registered for Round 2." He shows her the form, pointing to the space where her Pokemons' names are supposed to be written, "It looks like you wrote 'afkhfdnguadu,' but I'm assuming you meant 'Tentacool'. You're going to need to get another Pokemon before your second match starts. You could try fishing for one out by the harbor, but since you're short on time, you'd probably be better off it you just rented one from Oldman's shop." He points to the building that sits across from the Whirl Arena. Blizzard has no idea what the guard is talking about, but she figures that since coming to the Whirl Islands she's done pretty well by following random people's directions, so she takes the guard's advice, and starts towards the store. Once she gets inside, she rears up on her hindlegs, and balances her forepaws on the edge of the service counter--a rather intimidating sight--and sniffs about in a predatory manner as she attempts to locate the human who runs the shop. "Persian." She chuffs. Mr. Oldman, who has been cataloguing Pokeballs below the counter, stands up to face the large wildcat. He isn't frightened, though, in fact, he looks quite pleased to see her. "You must be Persian!" he chirps, "I've heard about you. You're one of the two Pokemon who's competing in this year's tournament. Quite an oddity I must say, the two of you. Makes for some excellent viewing. Should I assume that you're here to rent a Water Pokemon for the second round?" When Blizzard makes no move to respond in the negative, he continues, "Follow me back this way! Let me show you what we have in stock." Blizzard and Oldman walk into the back room, which is filled with many aquarium tanks, although most of them are empty. As they peruse the selections, Oldman continues to speak, "The Pokemon that you used in your first match was a Poison-type, and it's weak to Psychic-type attacks. Ideally, your second Pokemon should offset your first Pokemon's weaknesses.Your best bet for a second Pokemon would be a Water/Dark or a Water/Steel Pok?mon--but those Types don't exist!" Oldman chuckles, thinking of how absurd these Type combinations would be. "And unfortunately, we're all out of dual Psychic-type Pokemon, which would be your next best bet. It looks like your only option is to use an Attack-oriented Pokemon that can overwhelm a Psychic-type's weak physical Defense!" Oldman nods, stroking his chin. "Yeah, that's it. I'm gonna give you the strongest Attacking Pokemon I have." "Persian." Blizzard cocks her head hopefully, "<A Gyarados?>" Oldman places a Pokeball in front of her feet, "A Krabby!" "..." Blizzard narrows her eyes in annoyance, but she takes the Pokeball in her mouth, and walks out of the store with it. When she reenters the coliseum, she struts over to the training pool that's situated in the middle of the preparation room, ignoring the Hitmontop who's training her Magikarp in the shallow end of the pool, and heading for the other end, where Sting is relaxing beneath the water, and Avalanche is squatting atop the cooldeck, trying not to get wet. "Persian." Blizzard greets them, "<Observe what I have brought.>" Blizzard drops the Pokeball on the deck, and since it happens to land on its release button, the Pokemon within is set free. The red and white Krabby stretches all his limbs, and addresses Blizzard in a lazy voice, "Kokee. <Hey, Boss. What can I do for you?>" The Persian twitches her whiskers in amusement, "<You appear to be an amiable toady. Would you like to join the Pokemon Brotherhood?>" The Krabby shrugs with one of his claws, "<Nah, I'm already in a Union. Temp worker protection, y'know? So tell me, who do I gotta fight in this round?>" Blizzard, Avalanche, and Sting all shrug. "<Dunno, huh?>" The Krabby shrugs, "<Okay, what round are we in?>" Blizzard, Avalanche, and Sting all shrug again. The Krabby scowls, "<Ya mind tellin' me what tournament this is, or don't you know that either?>" When the trio shrugs for a third time, the Krabby groans, "<How the hell'd you bozos manage to make it this far?>" "<Plot convenience.>" Avalanche explains. Blizzard and Sting are still trying to figure out how Avalanche came up with such a big word, when the disgusted Krabby grunts, "<Look you may be bozos, but yer still my check for the week. Gimmee a call when your fight's up, and I'll see what I can do for yas.>" He taps the Pokeball with a pincer, and is sucked up in a flash of red light. * * * Yuki is seated in the Gym Leader's section of the bleacher's chatting with her friend Jasmine, as she waits for her match to start. Jasmine is ranting about the inhumane practice of cutting off the tip of a Steelix's tail shortly after it's evolved, and it's a subject that's making Mamoru's half of the consciousness very uneasy for some reason. Yuki is somewhat relieved when she hears the announcer calling her name over the loudspeaker, and she rushes down to the field, eager to begin her battle. Since Yuki was busy explaining her condition to the Whirl Cup administrators immediately after her first round battle, she didn't get to see much of Blizzard's fight, but she does know that the Persian's Tentacool defeated a Tentacruel with a single hit. She knows that she's going to have to defeat the Poison squid early in the match if she wants to stand a chance at winning, so she carefully readies her Lapras's Pokeball as she makes her way towards the pool in the center of the arena's field. Shortly after Yuki takes her position atop one of the white stone platforms that are on the edges of the pool, Blizzard enters the arena. She's tailed by Avalanche the Tyranitar, who's carrying Sting the Tentacool on his head. Sting really isn't particularly happy about the prospect of fighting, but he knows that Luthor lost his second round battle, and he thinks that winning a second round battle of his own would be a great way to show the insane Slowpoke up. Once Avalanche is near enough to the pool, Sting slips off of his head, and into the water. Blizzard takes her place on the stone platform opposite Yuki's, and Avalanche backs away from the combatants, partly out of respect, and partly to get as far away from the water as possible. Seeing that the trainers are ready to battle, the Whirl Cup announcer exclaims, "It looks like the next set of trainers is ready to battle! This match is between Persian, and Yuki, who's battling in place of contestant Mamoru! Persian's already sent out its first Pokemon--what will Yuki use to counter?" Yuki responds on cue, throwing a Pokeball into the pool, "Go, Tide!" The Lapras pops up in the water, singing "Gyaaaao!" "Purrr..." Blizzard licks her forepaw thoughtfully, proceeding to bathe herself as she contemplates a plan of attack, "<Sting, defeat that plesiosaur.>" "Tent <off Blizzard,>" comes Sting's response, "<I'm not taking orders from you. I'm gonna beat that> coolta." He swims towards Tide, and lashes the Lapras with a tentacle, hitting it with his many thousands of poisonous stingers. The short stingers are unable to pierce through Tide's thick layer of blubber, though, and since the toxins don't enter its bloodstream, the Lapras doesn't get Poisoned. Barely harmed by the attack at all, Tide counters with a Body Slam! Sting is knocked out of the water, and he lands on one of the floating platforms that are spaced throughout the pool. Injured, but not fainted, Sting attempts to get up, only to find that his tentacles are not responding. The stadium's announcer cries out with glee, "Tentacool is completely Paralyzed!" Seeing that she has a chance to finish the fight easily, Yuki points in Sting's direction. "Tide, use Blizzard! Blow that Tentacool out of the pool!" Tide complies, summoning forth a huge snowstorm that's localized entirely over the battleground of the coliseum. Sting isn't too bothered by the snow or the hail, since he's been with similar attacks by his Blastoise roommate many times before--but when a huge gale of wind strikes up and sweeps him off his platform, there's nothing he can do to stop it. He tries to hold on to the platform with his tentacles, but since they're still Paralyzed, he gets caught in the gale, and thrown roughly about in its currents, until he's finally ejected--right on top of Blizzard's back. The announcer notices Sting's position on the field, and shouts, "Tentacool has been knocked out of bounds! You know what that means, folks. Tentacool's eliminated from the match, and Yuki's ahead two Pokemon to one! Lapras was barely injured by Tentacool, which means that Persian's next Pokemon is going to have to fight this whole match by itself! Will it be able to withstand the pressure? What kind of Pokemon will Persian choose?" "Oh, will you shut up?" Yuki yells, sick of the announcer's melodrama. The still-paralyzed Sting, who is lying beside Blizzard in a rather pathetic fashion, lowers his eyelids partway and says, "Tentacool <Blizzard, send out that> tent<ing Krabby so we can lose and be done with it.>" "Persian," Blizzard responds lightly, "<The water-born arthropod is not currently capable of battling.>" "<'Not capable of'--what the> tent<'s that> cool <supposed to mean?!?>" Sting closes his eyes completely and groans, "<You ATE him, didn't you.>" Blizzard sighs contentedly, "<He was so eager to please. How could I deny him a chance to fill my stomach?>" Sting screams, "<Couldn't you have waited until after the match?!?>" Blizzard pouts, "<You just want me to starve to death, so that you can wrest command of the Brotherhood away from me.>" "It looks like Persian is stalling!" The announcer notes. "Is this some plan to distract the opponent?" "Not likely." Yuki scoffs, "It probably doesn't know what to do, now that I've beaten its Tentacool." "Tentacool." Sting says wisely, "<Let's get the> cool <outta here before anyone realizes you ate that> tenta <crab.>" Blizzard growls, "<But I *STILL* *HAVEN'T* *GOT* *MY* *JIGGLYPUFF*!!!>" Avalanche coldcocks Blizzard, and drags her out of the arena. "<THANK YOU.>" Sting mutters appreciatively, as the huge Tyranitar lifts him onto his back. Considering how excited he got about the most minute details from the battle, the announcer is surprisingly calm during Blizzard's exit. "Persian has forfeited the match. Victory goes to Yuki!" "Hooray, I guess." Yuki shrugs, glad that she won the match, but disappointed that she didn't face more of a challenge. She recalls her Lapras into its Pokeball, and starts back towards the bleachers, keeping an eye out for anyone she knows. Spotting Yolei, she heads in Yolei's direction. "That was an... interesting match you had there Yuki..." says Yolei. "I dunno why they even let Pokemon battle in these tournaments? Sure there are the good ones but... That was just very strange..." Yolei shrugs. "Well, at least you move on to the next round..." "I guess. Wish I'd faced a better trainer though..."