future sight is what saves him.

silas allows kyle to go free, hidden under the cover of the mist. something about the boy intrigues him; he's not after power nor glory, he's just looking to survive. perhaps that small connection was what saved the league officer from inevitable death.

solar beam shoots out at him but he doesn't flinch. he stares the yellow beam down until it's met with luxray's discharge, battling against it until both attacks subside into nothing. when the energies start to settle down, luxray's already charging.

noivern's screech is what gives the incoming attacks away. that, and the sudden increase in gravity. the sensation is all too familiar, reminiscent of the attack on slateport docks. the change is almost welcomed.

again, silas does not flinch.

the draco meteors that seek him do little to scare him because he knows the first attacks are the strongest. after that they become nothing but pebbles. noivern's sudden hurricane, sharp and intense, booms through the battlefield to combat the oncoming attacks. it's enough to redirect one draco meteor into a nearby building, crushing it almost instantly.

the second draco meteor is met with the same hurricane aided by an equally powerful fire blast. the combined moves are enough to shatter the draco meteor into mere pieces that scatter across the ground, littering the already littered streets.

rock blast is nothing against metagross' preemptive iron defense. the steel-type intercepts the attack, floating strongly after the impact as if it hadn't even been bothered.

FERNANDO SILPH is smart to keep a wary eye out because there is another unseen pokemon in play. it remains hidden for now, waiting for an opportune moment.

it's only when the attacks are dealt with does silas even bother to look across. he is greeted by the familiar sight of evelyn silph and her brother. her defection is nothing but expected; what is unexpected is how fernando's choice.

songbird's reckoning will come.

but for now, his sights are set on the councilman.

whistle.

his pokemon surround him with the exception of the noivern, who remains in the air, circling the battlefield from above. luxray falls to his side while metagross hovers at the front, acting as their vanguard while delphox remains by the side. their backs are exposed, but that won't be a problem for much longer.

they might be in a defensive formation but their intentions are anything but. they bide their time, waiting as they start to circle in the same direction as fernando.

noivern's dragon pulse keeps them busy.

kyle lopez

noivern's SCREECH is what gives it away. leading into battle always comes with observation. the isolated dragon is no exception. that's why fernando keeps his anti-aerial unit a surprise, obscured from view by the larger frames of his grounded pokemon. as a non-factor, it has the window to DOWNLOAD the noivern's information. weight, height, possible move pool, speed, aerodynamics.

fernando's primary onslaught of attacks buy enough time for the pokemon to do a complete analysis of the noivern species. with a narrow margin of error—each instance of a pokemon is a separate entity from its base species and therefore bound to differences, no matter how minor—the pokemon LOCKS-ON. all outside variables are accounted for by the pokemon's innate calculations before it launches the counter attack.

the math is quite easy:

the porygon knows where the noivern is at all times. it knows this because it knows where it isn't, by subtracting where it is, from where it isn't, or where it isn't, from where it is, whichever is greater, it obtains a difference, or deviation.

the guidance sub-system of aerial calculations uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the LOCKED-ON attacks from a position where the porygon is, to a position where noivern is, and arriving at a position where it wasn't, will deviate to where it now is. consequently, the position where the moving noivern is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position where it is was, is now the position that it isn't.

in the event of the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the calculation will require a variation. the variation being the difference between where the noivern is, and where it wasn't. if variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too, may be corrected by the porygon's calculations. however, the porygon must also know where it was.

the LOCK-ON guidance computation scenario works as follows: because a variation has modified some of the information the porygon has obtained, it is not sure just where noivern is, however it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. it now subracts where it should be, from where it wasn't, or vice versa. by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be, and where it was. it is able to obtain a deviation, and a variation, which does not exist. 

and so on. 

the HURRICANE diverts the DRACO METEOR.

a FIRE BLAST burns the second.

the noivern maintains aerial superiority, high above and out of the range of fernando's field wide GRAVITY. without anyone else making any mention of the GRAVITY, there's little reason for the noivern to be aware of it. not until it feels its effect and by then it'll be too late. the moment the pokemon enters the GRAVITY'S airspace, it'll plummet.

such distance grants everyone below a window to register the incoming DRAGON PULSE. there's even a window to dodge or PROTECT against it. the pulse never penetrates the projected barrier, battering against it but unable to pierce it. the dragon may be able to INFILTRATE past any BARRIER or SUBSTITUTE but PROTECT reigns over all.

with the pokemon concentrating on attacking therein lies an opportunity to exploit. wind speed of the HURRICANE, velocity, distance, escape patterns; all are factored into the instantaneous simulation before the TRI-ATTACK comes out. several strings of ice, thunder, and fire erupt from salemence's general position. the fire has the worst type match up so its used as a straight forward blast—easy to read and seemingly possible to dodge. the lighting and ice churn in a homing zig-zag, snaking around the pokemon as they home in based off the porygon's calculations.

meanwhile, fernando embraces the lack of retaliation. he doesn't expect something is afoot because of any external clues but the council member remains paranoid—because he's paranoid. a master of the sleight, he presumes the worst and enjoys the fleeting peace by activating one of the pokeballs in his hand. it opens and something is let out. whatever it is, it doesn't seems to manifest into something solid nor visible.

he skids back, retreating as silas advances. distance is best kept until an actual physical skirmish breaks out—and in his position, fernando wants anything but. that's why the rest of his pokemon start to retreat as well, following his lead.

maintain distance, maintain the lead.

silas makes eye contact and fernando no longer puts any merit on concealing his presence.

"do you know where you fucked up, blackwell?"

fernando answers for him. a proper formation is the right call in most situations but there's an infamous hard counter to grouping.

"FORK."

an EARTHQUAKE trembles from the rhydon and splits the earth as the shockwaves surges forward. fernando's side of the field mayf find themselves unsettled by the tremors but the attack is directed at silas. ground becomes up-heaved and the very ground beneath him becomes his worst enemy. what fernando pays for in pennies, silas will have to pay in nickels and dimes.



PORYGON2's DOWNLOAD activated!
PORYGON2 used LOCK-ON!
SALAMENCE used PROTECT!
PORYGON2 used TRI-ATTACK!
RHYDON used EARTHQUAKE!

TAUNT is in effect (1/5)!
GRAVITY is in effect (1/5)!

[attr="class","leavestop"]

[attr="class","starrytop2"]

the fire is easily dealt with, shrugged off almost, but the ice and thunder is what sends noivern plummeting to the ground. he bats his wings and screeches, boomburst echoing across as he falls and falls. the gravity drags him straight to the ground. boomburst and dragon pulse does what it can to counteract the velocity, but the damage is still substantial. the ground cracks under the pressure even before earthquake.

"i don't." 

there's a delay to the earthquake, a buildup that's required to reach its full power. he knows as much and takes advantage of the brief window he's granted. he recalls the luxray and delphox, keeping them safe from the devastation only to climb atop the metagross. taunt is annoying but there's nothing that can be done.

despite the gravity present, metagross manages to stay airborne, floating just high enough to avoid the full brunt of the earthquake. sharp spikes burst out of the ground, slamming into the steel underbelly of the psychic-type. but metagross remains strong and stable even through the ancient power.

noivern does what he can to avoid the ground, wings thundering as he remains airborne despite the intense gravity pushing down against him.

it's funny how the opposition is grouped up as well.

"do you?"

fernando might have thought he was safe from the earthquake considering the source of it stemmed from him, but the tremors suddenly double in intensity. triple, almost. another earthquake happens at the same time, shockwaves surging underneath the ground where fernando stands.

and from it, a fissure. the ground instantly splits into two and threatens to swallow the councilman and his team in. verdanturf will soon be separated into two.

--

noivern uses boomburst and dragon pulse to lessen the impact into the ground.
luxray and delphox are recalled.
something uses earthquake.
something uses fissure.

FERNANDO SILPH evelyn silph

[attr="class","leavestop"]

[attr="class","starrytop2"]

blackwell has the right idea. recalling them is the correct play. fernando has no reason to second guess the maneuver and that reason alone allows the second coming of EARTHQUAKE to pass. however, his rhydon knows its own strength. when the intensity doubles, upstaging what the pokemon is capable of, it lets out an alarming cry. something's not right.

the answer is laid bare; verdanturf is torn asunder.

"MAT BLOCK!"

numerous clefts from underneath threaten to terraform the terrain into a living death trap. several tatami mats materialize underneath his pokemon. they serve as both a bridge between the chasms as well as a platform to keep his pokemon at ground level, the sole source preventing them from being sucked into the abyss. the source is revealed to be his greninja, no longer confined to SHADOW SNEAK but instead with its hand against one of the mats, a string of strange characters sprouting from its palm.

"EN PASSANT."

GRAVITY keeps everyone grounded but they're not literally tethered to the floor. fernando's salamence and porygon their minuscule altitude, hovering several inches off the floor. the impact of both EARTHQUAKES startle them and whittle away at their health but it does little to disrupt their footing. the salamence glides forward, several flaps of its wings allowing it to overtake rhydon as the vanguard. a simple FLAMETHROWER comes out—the same technique used to roast the last metagross it came across. this time there would be no tongue twist like with @devo1 . this time, salamence has back up.

the porygon maintains its relative position, inching away from general combat as it LOCKS-ON onto silas and his metagross. between all the other attacks being thrown around, the pokemon awaits. it'll only take miliseconds for it to be able to LOCK-ON to the opponent but the effectiveness of the technique is timing.

no longer a hidden asset, the greninja approaches from a roundabout flank, circling in a running sprint while dividing into multiple copies with DOUBLE TEAM. they each move in tandem, a perfect mimicry of the original. an array of small WATER SHURIKENS are thrown out from each clone, looking to puncture the team rocket leader and his mount into pieces.

"IT'S UNDERNEATH."

while everyone else attacks the only target they can see, fernando still has to address the source of the FISSURE. considering the nature of the attack there's only two reasonable explanations: it's underground or it's invisible. while the later is equally possible, fernando is willing to wager on the former. it's only natural for a ground attack to come from a ground type pokemon.

"COUNTER IT."

a retaliatory EARTHQUAKE ripples from the rhydon's STOMPING. if fernando's hypothesis is correct and the source stems from something underneath, then the EARTHQUAKE will be even more effective—an ample counter for the pesky pokemon who escape damage with DIG. however, the order to counter it doesn't mean EARTHQUAKE alone. that's only the impact of the pokemon lumbering into place, onto solid ground and right at the edge of the FISSURE'S gorge.

a flood of water erupts from the pokemon's open maw. his mimikyu appears on the pokemon's shoulder, playing COPYCAT as they send a deluge into the gaping hole. the sound of a raging SURF will echo within the tunnels, funneling back to the epicenter of the FISSURE.

fernando continues to back up, startled by the sudden MAT BLOCK as his footing moves from grass to strung bamboo. songbird's insurance policy still clings to his back, CAMOFLAGING to blend in his his coat.



GRENINJA used MAT BLOCK!
SALAMENCE used FLAMETHROWER!
PORYGON2 used LOCK-ON!
GRENINJA used DOUBLE TEAM!
GRENINJA used WATER SHURIKEN!
RHYDON used EARTHQUAKE!
RHYDON used SURF!
MIMIKYU used COPYCAT—SURF!
KECLEON used CAMOFLAGE!


TAUNT is in effect (2/5)!
GRAVITY is in effect (2/5)!

arrogance is a double-edged sword. it is what carries him forward, what steels him through the raging battle in front of him. it is his rise, his salvation, but it is also his downfall. he hasn't accepted it yet, too stubborn to even consider it, but he's met his match.

luxray's useless while rhydon's on the field. noivern is buried under the rock slide. delphox is vulnerable to the multitude of earthquakes. metagross evades the flamethrower with ease, floating off to the side only to be met by water shurikens that threaten to pierce its iron skin. 

the source of the fissure comes from under the earth. even as the earth rumbles and quakes a drill run is what drives him forward fast enough to avoid the surfs. and then, from under the earth, comes an excadrill; his steel sharpened from a swords dance, claws jammed together as he shoots up at fernando. the weakened mat block will not hold against the intensity of the attack. excadrill goes for fernando's legs.

metagross carries silas off to the side and lands on the ground, near the chasm caused by fissure. the earthquakes are not unfamiliar, they've trained for this, they've lived through it. arrogance is what makes him pursue instead of fleeing from a lost battle.

he's counting down in his head. something else is coming. something that might turn the tide. but for now, he carries on with metagross acting as his vanguard.

1/3

--

noivern is buried under the rock slide.
metagross evades the flamethrower.
metagross tanks the water shuriken.
excadrill is hit by earthquake.
excadrill evades the surfs.
excadrill drill runs up into fernando.

FERNANDO SILPH evelyn silph

SURF fails to flush away the enemy subterrene. in battle, this means little, but this is something beyond; this is war. the price for failure results in him wading knee deep in his own shit luck, trying desperate to unclog the sudden disruption to his battle tempo.

something's wrong. terribly so. he can feel it in his bones, as well as everyone else. the way the earth splits is telling, crumbling, giving way as something tunnels upward. whatever it is, it's fast—too fast for him to evade nor hope from any assistance from his nearby pokemon. the SWORDS DANCE is a DANCE he cannot hope to stand up, turning the excadrill into a perfect spiral. unrelenting, unstoppable.

the remnants of the MAT BLOCK become nothing more than recycled paper, shredded instantly. he'll need something thicker, denser. without remorse, he tears the kecleon from his back off, slinging it at his feet to serve as a fleshy shield. the pokemon's DRILL RUN hits true, tearing into the reptile's flesh but rendering it a ground type pokemon due to COLOR CHANGE. that instant is enough for the pokemon to cry out, emitting a retaliatory SYNCHRONOISE that discharges from the pokemon. battering everyone around it. this results in launching fernando backwards, unable to maintain his footing from the shockwave's strength.

"fuck."

with an uncontrolled thud, he lands on his back, tumbling in place as his hand fumbles for his last unused pokeball. the move had been unexpected but not recoverable from. his plan of action is still smooth and his mind calm.

emptied to his last pokeball, his last safety net, fernando rolls up his coat sleeve, exposing his arm with the tip of his occupied hand. jiarchi's tag glows with a faint lavender, imbue with the color of kanto's cemetery. 

'i wish for' 
 

however, the same cannot be said for the other front.

songbird buries the wyvern, the queen laying claim to the bishop. and, mistakenly, silas leaves her untouched, granting her the freedom to transition wherever she sees fit—truly the strongest piece on the board.

as for the enemy king, silas is put in check, vigilantly avoiding being taken by any of fernando's numerous pieces.

greninja continues its approach, circling further back to flank from closer to his rear. the pokemon refrains from throwing any more WATER SHURIKENS, instead making numerous hand signs in anticipation of entering striking range.

salamence, mimikyu, and rhydon maintain their forward position. their attack pattern is simple only because it can be. the pressure of constant attacks will supersede attacking from an advantageous position that requires them to pause. keep up offense only because the metagross can only evade so much. GRAVITY prevents it from flying off and the added weight will reduce the mobility its used to, inadvertently increasing their accuracy.

porygon2 is the only one who's attack pattern differs. having taken the side line as the artillery unit, fernando's rook, it has the ample chance to target onto the excadrill the moment it lands. not unlike the noivern before it, excadrill will have its movement LOCKED-ON to, calculated, and anticipated as a TRI-ATTACK shoots toward it.  




KECLEON's COLOR CHANGE activated!
KECLEON used SYNCHRONOISE!
FERNANDO used WISH!
SALAMENCE used FLAMETHROWER!
RHYDON used ROCK BLAST!
MIMIKYU used COPYCAT—ROCK BLAST!
PORYGON2 used TRI-ATTACK!


TAUNT is in effect (3/5)!
GRAVITY is in effect (3/5)!

[attr="class","leavestop"]

[attr="class","starrytop2"]

metagross are strong pokemon but they aren't invincible. they can only withstand so much before their programming fails and they have to succumb to the damage taken. but silas' has been trained to survive through whatever means necessary. it is what allows it to tank the water shuriken. as it slips in between buildings, the added cover helps avoid the flamethrower but not the rock blasts. the buildings might help lessen the impact but the rocks still smack into its body. it recoils slightly but doesn't lose its balance. neither does silas.

porygon2 might have locked-on but perhaps it will work against their favor. synchronoise doesn't do enough to deter excadrill away, nor does it even particularly bother metagross. angered at the disruption caused by kecleon, excadrill reaches for the normal-type's fallen body, jams his claws in it, and holds it up in the air to tank most of the tri-attack. despite that, excadrill still slashes away at the ground to summon a rock slide over fernando's way.

the different elements melt away at the kecleon, soon passing through to hit excadrill as well. but he's won his battle and he still survives.

only when songbird speaks again does silas even remembers her presence. so forgettable, so boring. the three elemental attacks are strong on their own but they have no synergy together. which is why they become so weak; mud dilutes the fire, fire weakens the ice. metagross can take it, but it's reaching the brink of exhaustion. it tilts its body in a way that keeps silas safe but even he has suffered some splash damage from the attacks.

narrowing his eyes, silas looks at songbird in great annoyance and nonchalantly throws out two more pokeballs. luxray's charge into wild charge targets cloyster; delphox's mystical flare and will-o-wisp flies towards songbird and her lopunny. annoying shits.

there's no point covering three potential directions of escape. he's not running. but he does seem to be edging away from fernando and hovering closer towards songbird. perhaps he's preparing for something.

the clock's ticking down.

the rubble that buries noivern starts to shift ever so slightly. 

silas looks to songbird. "two of you against me and you're still having this much trouble. you really are a non-factor, aren't you, evelyn?"

2/3

--

metagross tanks the water shuriken.
metagross evades the flamethrower.
metagross tanks the rock blasts.
excadrill uses kecleon as a meat shield.
excadrill uses rock slide on fernando.
metagross tanks songbird's onslaught.
luxray charges and uses wild charge on cloyster.
delphox uses mystical flare and will-o-wisp on songbird and lopunny.
silas moves closer to songbird and farther away from fernando.

FERNANDO SILPH evelyn silph kyle lopez

TRI-ATTACK comes in three. first is the fire, followed by the crackle of thunder, with the freezing touch of ice to put an end to the coiling blast. the excadrill may use the kecleon as a shield but that only last until the thunder illuminates the clay doll impaled by the mole's steel claws. the SUBSTITUTE provides no buffer for the following attack. by the time anyone can realize that they've been swapped the kecleon is long gone, CAMOUFLAGED with a FEINT ATTACK that flows into an elusive SHADOW SNEAK.

fernando releases the last pokeball he has in reserve and it's none other than his most trusted safety net: glalie. the large chunk of ice immediately deploys a PROTECT upon being brought out. the ROCK SLIDE boulders bounce off the green shield harmlessly, a repeat of nearly every other instance the pokemon's been brought into. whether it's against @names in slateport or to protect @doug in rustboro, the ice pokemon holds true.

the same goes for the counter attack. routine is practiced and following through is nothing more than natural instinct. the moment the ROCK SLIDE passes the pokemon responds with a prompt exhale of SHEER COLD. air instantly turns into ice, bypassing a liquid transition as everything in front of the glalie is turned into a solid glacier. the kecleon, invisible but near the excadrill, is no exception. luckily, it'll be relatively fine due to its newfound typing.

a mild BLIZZARD radiate from the pokemon's body, applying a FREEZE DRY to anything that approaches that's not already on ice.

behind the pokemon is fernando, protected by his most reliable shield. the jirachi tag embedded into his arm finally realizes his wish. a malevolent beam of purple energy shoots off from the tag and directly toward silas. it homes in on him, piercing through anything else in its way as it finds its way straight into his heart.

it won't harm him but the pain felt within his heart surface into a resolve that bleeds into his surroundings. fernando recounts his wish but never would've imagined that his ultimate goal would pit itself against him. the ambitious council man won't realize the extent of what he's done until it's too late.


the shift to address the queen means going through the entire board. if there's one thing fernando values, it's the only capable silph his parents were able to leave him with. to take a shot at songbird is to draw the eyes of the hawk. she enters the battlefield behind fernando not to watch him but so that he can protect his ace in the hole.

"RHY."

luxray charges into WILD CHARGE and the only thing wild about it is how the attack is reduced to nothing more than a simple TACKLE. the moment any instance of electricity is DISCHARGED it ends up drawn toward rhydon's LIGHTNING ROD. the pokemon can continue to charge toward cloyster but with rhydon position in front of songbird, there's little chance of avoiding the electricity's redirection.

"DON."

the pokemon ignores the luxray that proves too speedy to stop and too annoying to chase after. instead their attention remains on silas, his metagross, and the new delphox that re-enters the battlefield. with mimikyu still on its shoulders, the pair release a torrent of SURF, modest in the form of a blast of water that easily escalates into a wave of water as it gets closer toward its intended targets.

porygon2 continues to act as artillery, blasting away with various instances of TRI-ATTACK toward silas and his metagross. the attack comes from above, arced to cover any attempts to dodge the SURF from above.

salamence remains relatively close to songbird, ready to intercept any physical attacks from the approaching luxray with its DRAGON CLAWS and THUNDER FANGS.

greninja becomes a true shinobi, unnoticed and largely ignored. from behind, various instances of its DOUBLE TEAM throw a flurry of WATER SHURIKENS at silas' backside. the array of small, sharp projectiles are more prone to hitting then causing any serious, singular damage. being able to whittle down on the metagross' and delphox's health is accomplishment enough. thankfully, its dark type will prevent the surprise attack from being detected by FUTURE SITE.




KECLEON's COLOR CHANGE activated!
KECLEON's COLOR CHANGE activated!
KECLEON used SUBSTITUTE!
KECLEON used CAMOUFLAGE!
KECLEON used FEINT ATTACK!
KECLEON used SHADOW SNEAK!
KECLEON's COLOR CHANGE activated!
GLALIEused PROTECT!
GLALIEused SHEER COLD!
GLALIEused BLIZZARD!
FERNANDO used DOOM DESIRE!
RHYDON's LIGHTNING ROD activated!
RHYDON used SURF!
MIMIKYU used COPYCAT—SURF!
PORYGON2 used TRI-ATTACK!
GRENINJA used DOUBLE TEAM!
GRENINJA used WATER SHURIKEN!


TAUNT is in effect (4/5)!
GRAVITY is in effect (4/5)!

[attr="class","ihead"]

[attr="class","ipad"]


FERNANDO SILPH has activated jirachi's wish tag! his wish is to carry out project avalon. with such a vague wish, anything is possible. the tag will interfere with events in any way it sees fit as long as it ends up fulfilling his wish in some aspects.[break][break]

a malevolent beam of purple energy fires from the tag and strikes SILAS BLACKWELL straight in the heart. deep inside his heart he can feel jirachi reach out to his innermost desire. a nameless voice interrupts his thoughts, asking him a simple question.[break][break]



great power comes with greater sacrifice. pay the price and your power will be consolidated into its truest form. your hate, your resentment, your need to crush those who defy you—what will it be, SILAS BLACKWELL ?

[attr="class","leavestop"]

[attr="class","starrytop2"]