@tag

• That Advent Children-esque ending for the bomb, BOOM
• Alexei temporarily goes deaf. His Pidgeot is punch-drunk trying to keep him in the sky
• Eventually concedes since the flight course is dangerously drunken. Lands somewhere and recalls the exhausted avian
• Sees the outpouring of attacks, finally decides to join in
• Sends out Nidoking and has him use Earth Power to help drive back whatever the hell is in the strange hole

@tag

Tldr;

- Josh flies straight at the Ultra Beast aboard Charizard
- While senses are still rattled from the explosion, Josh unleashes a full final assault
- Raichu uses Nasty Plot (Raises Special Attack by Two Stages)
- Charizard uses Flamethrower ahead of them, hoping to stop advancing attacks toward them, and hopefully clearing the way for Raichu
- Raichu uses Thunder on Ultra Beast (x2 Special Attack Boost from Nasty Plot)

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Any lapse of attention - even if only for half a second - always feels too long. The bomb detonates, a brilliant rupture of colour, blinding and all-consuming one moment and then glimmering the next. A of glass accompanies the streaks of light decorating the night sky, and Persephone's stunned, rigid and motionless. [break][break]

She thinks: I've been here before. The dying city, the beasts, the wormholes, the surge of power robbing her of her senses. [break][break]

When her hearing comes back, Persephone thinks she recognises the clanging sound of metal on wood. She has to squint against the dust and after-images of fireworks to locate the remaining beast. She can make out her Claydol in its tentacle grasp, seemingly slack as though recovering from the attack it unleashed earlier. [break][break]

"Get out of there with a RAPID SPIN!" she calls out, hoping the Claydol can still hear its trainer. Persephone bites her lip as she tosses the Pokemon's capsule into the air with a practiced motion. [break][break]

"I've got you," she adds, with a hint of quiet desperation. [break][break]

At her side, Drifblim prepares and launches a barrages of SHADOW BALLS aimed at the beast's tentacles to prevent it completing whatever abominable action it is preparing. [break][break][break]

» claydol gets smacked around after its HYPER BEAM last turn[break]
» (passage of time permitting) claydol uses RAPID SPIN to loosen nihilego's hold[break]
» perse attempts to return claydol[break]
» drifblim uses SHADOW BALL on the nihilego tentacles[break][break]

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There are still things unseen: the lonely sea, the sky

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[attr="class","merktagI"]shiv

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“Oh fuck—!” Was Bailey Coopers exclamation as she was suddenly lurched upward, straight out from the tunnel that had served as her shelter. In the air, spinning as fast as she had been thrown, the Elite Four member was made immediately aware of the feeling of vertigo. It was a surge, as if all of her organs had been chucked into a washing machine in the middle of its spin cycle.[break][break]

And it made her sick.[break][break]

Clasping both hands to her mouth, she was overwhelmed by the immediate transition... and the fall that came after it. Plummeting straight down, she wondered how she always found herself in these situations—falling from tall heights should have been nothing new to her.[break][break]

But it was still uncomfortable.[break][break]

Her mouth felt wet, like her saliva glands had gone into overdrive.[break][break]

“Fuck,” and her stomach seemed keen to remind her that the pastry she had ate from earlier had not settled. Something about the red bean paste continued to haunt her, and that was now aggravated from her constant aerial bullshit. She had been running and jumping since this battle had unfolded, and now it felt like there was a different type of bomb ticking down in her stomach.[break][break]

She was caught. “Oh no. It's coming up.”[break][break]

Instead of saying “thank you” to her savior, Bailey Cooper turned her head and vomited.[break][break]

Krookodile, who was oblivious to the state of his trainer, thrashed with a fury in the arms of the jellyfish. Even when his body is collided against other pokemon, he raged.[break][break]

And with each strike sustained, it was almost as if he grew stronger.[break][break]

The more damage sustained, the better.[break][break]


He would thrash until there was just enough room for him to press his legs against the body of the creature, letting his claws sink in deep as he pushed with a gradually increasing force...[break][break]

But he refused to release a tentacle.[break][break]

He intended to rip the appendage straight from its body in a show of force and gore.[break][break]

LGjfl6G3[break][break]

tldr: bailey is caught and vomits because goddamn she's been thrown around a lot. krookodile uses payback and intends to try and rip off one of the tentacles.

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a bright light, a deafening explosion; olivia found herself blinded as she held onto her jellicent for dear life. by the time her senses returned, the city had turned into a battlefield once more. the alien beast was calling to its brethren on the other side of the portal; and that, olivia decided, was not something they could handle. her jelly fish pokemon floated towards the ground where Olivia descended, making calls o emergency services and giving league officials and the crown both permission to enter the fringes of the market.

in between orders, olivia gave a curt nod to her jellicent - ocean eyes darting towards the ultra beast. with glee, the ghostly sea pokemon filled its tentacles with evil energies before launching out at the 'head' of the nihilego. her jellicent was hexing the pokemon as it wringed it out.

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UNCEREMONIOUSLY, THE DRAGAPULT spits out the beast ball. it makes a muted sound upon impact thanks to the sheer amount of dribble. under Isra Nightingale's illusion, several escorts arrive. their dresses shift silently. with flashes of white and green, marie jules and Remiel Calcifet make their escape with the acquired artifact. when Isra Nightingale's gardevoir TELEPORTS, the mirage fades. no trace is left, save for a splotch of drool.[break][break][break]

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THE DARK-HAIRED COUNCILMAN initiates immediate action. around the frenetic wormhole, Orion Lykos's hydreigon erects EARTH POWER pillars, forming a funnel. water bubbles from the dragon's mouth before colliding with the writhing tentacles. upon impact, a tentacle recoils and lashes forth. it wraps around one of the hydreigon's necks like a noose.[break][break][break]

however, before it can be pulled into the wormhole's guts, Thomas Benoit's clawitzer severs the offending tentacle with a potent WATER PULSE. it continues to fight back the wriggling onslaught.[break][break][break]

Ruby Walker TELEPORTS closer to the portal. despite her tears, she orders her pokemon to sedate several tentacles with HYPNOSIS and DAZZLING GLEAMS. like predatory snakes, the tentacles leap over the EARTH POWER barrier. they snake toward Ruby Walker, but Alexei Ivanov's nidoking intervenes. the earth below it erupts, smashing into an incoming tentacle and preventing it from ensnaring Ruby Walker.[break][break][break]

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as the nidoking growls, its own EARTH POWER forces boulders from the earth in eruptions of debris. they fly upward before slamming into the portal like meteors. ahead, the slateport sea surges. the salty winds whip toward the party as FERNANDO SILPH's tapu fini orders the water to heed its command. like a tidal wave, an immense wall of brine (SURF) rushes into the coast before crashing into the wormhole. the sheer amount of water causes the attack to feel endless- but finally, as the last splash of seawater hits everyone's noses, the tentacles... seem to be gone.[break][break][break]

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A YANMEGA SOARS CLOSE to the main nihilego. the engorged creature drips acids which score holes in the earth. as Annie Mei delivers aerial support with AIR SLASHES from her prehistoric insect, her type:null rushes forth with an IRON HEAD. several tentacles are deflected, but one manages to evade the yanmega's attacks. it strikes back at the type:null with a terrible crack. the type:null collides on to the ground with a harsh skidding... and after a moment, struggles back on to all fours. its helmet is chipped. but not enough to reveal what lurks underneath.[break][break][break]

Adrian Malcolm's canine rushes past. before the same tentacle can reap Annie Mei's immoral possession, it SNARLS with such force. the blind tentacle recoils and slithers back while Adrian Malcolm looks on atop his gyarados.[break][break][break]

Stormy Silph rushes to her type:null's aid. a tentacle clangs against her aegislash's KING'S SHIELD. the tinny resonance shakes her, but before she can react to the approach of another appendage, a flash of steel surges forth. @nicole's metagross METEOR MASHES the tentacle back before advancing. its ZEN HEADBUTT slams into the nihilego while the riding togedemaru NUZZLES with a flare of electricity. however, this close, the nihilego is able to wrap itself around the steel-spider.[break][break][break]

however, Olivia Abbiati's jellicent extents its own tentacles. WRINGING OUT the nihilego allows @nicole's metagross to escape, while her togedemaru clings on. as the ghostly fumes of the jellyfish's HEX consume the alien, enough time is allowed for persephone amavi's claydol to RAPID SPIN to safety. her driblim launches a SHADOW BALL. it collides with the rocky exterior, spewing acid as another crack forces itself in its crest. however, another tentacle launches from the ensuing cloud of debris to grab her drifblim's floaty limb.[break][break][break]

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thankfully, Josh Dragomir's charizard fends it off with a sweltering FLAMETHROWER. as his charizard roars, his raichu delivers a potent THUNDER that slams down through the nihilego's center. the nihilego shrieks, crying in severe staccato notes before being blown back by Balder Schwartz's solgaleo and its SOLAR BEAM. as Balder Schwartz rushes for the nihilego, Thomas Benoit's scizor mega-evolves. with lightning speeds, it slams its BULLET PUNCHES into the rocky exterior of their intruder. its body cracks further as it bleeds.[break][break][break]

after her owner is saved by the pokenger (Kazimir Wynter), the sounds of puking accompany the shadow krookodile's surge in strength. after taking round after round of punishment, the krookodile digs its claws in and tears a tentacle off (PAYBACK) with a spray of gore. the crocodile plummets and hits the ground while wrangling the severed limb. it continues to move even when detached before slowly stilling into a cold calcified state. the nihilego attempts to escape upward, but is momentarily stopped by Kazimir Wynter's staryu's PSYCHIC.[break][break][break]

the brief pause is enough for Kazimir Wynter to reach the nihilego in time. the hero kicks the nihilego back and down toward the earth. Balder Schwartz catches the nihilego, and with a guttural cry, swings the nihilego as if he were in a hammer throw competition. after the alien dizzies from the rotations, the alolan man slams the nihilego in to the ground. cracks form from the point of impact. Balder Schwartz's pokeball simply rolls off the creature and clatters on the ground.[break][break][break]

almost limping, the alien attempts to retreat defensively, but kyle lopez's mega manectric is too fast for it. in a trail of lightning, the electric canine deflects tentacles with a swing of an IRON TAIL before pinning the nihilego back into the earth with a ear-piercing crack of thunder thanks to WILD CHARGE. in this weakened state, the STATIC is able to prevent the nihilego from moving too much. immediately, mateo martinez's mega sceptile and arcanine ensnare the exhausted creature with thick vines of a FRENZY PLANT and haul it to the wormhole. as Lucas Lane clings onto Noelle Lane, her gyarados uses a HURRICANE to keep the nihilego restrained. with a heave, mateo martinez's pokemon hurl the alien invader back into the wormhole while Noelle Lane's venusaur keeps them anchored with vines.[break][break][break]


[break][break]

AS THE WORMHOLE DIMINISHES IN SIZE, noah faber watches intently alongside kyle lopez. the portal seems to be losing stability. having remained open longer than normal in a foreign plane, the energies spark and fry in chaotic storms of sound. mateo martinez celebrates, continuing his cheers from before. the EARTH POWER from Orion Lykos's hydreigon act as a crowning cap to the closing portal.[break][break][break]

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but before the portal can fully close, something leaps out of the portal. a thick tentacle, one that belongs to dahlia's corrupter, whips out in one last act of retaliation. before anyone can react, it wraps itself around mateo martinez's body. the elite four member can barely spare enough time to convey his shock before he's violently grappled into the air and dragged into the wormhole. the portal closes as soon as his body disappears into the grid of ultraspace.[break][break][break]

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congratulations! you have reached the end of the event! rewards and a follow-up will come this weekend. feel free to post/roleplay in this "round" before the event closes sometime on 2/9 PST. of course, it is not mandatory to post in this round in order to receive full rewards.[break][break][break]

to applaud your participation, everyone in the tag list below receives 3 LUCKY LETTERS to redeem tomorrow.[break][break][break]

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Annie had spent so long as a trainer, one would think that she’d be used to watching. When she gave her commands, observing the results was all she could do. And yet, as her friends charged the beast, it took all that she had left to keep herself from chasing after them, helping them somehow. How? She hadn’t figured that out yet; maybe she hoped to find an answer after a tentacle had crushed her spine.

Thankfully, logic won out in her head. Buzz kept out of harm’s way, but his trainer felt her heart skip a beat as Frankie collapsed. It found its feet soon enough, for it was a beast in more ways than one, and perhaps the strike had been a small blessing. A dozen more attacks proved to be too chaotic, even for the Type: Null; it couldn’t find the opening it needed to strike again, until the Nihilego was sent back home.

And just like that, it was over. Adrenaline kept the girl on edge, her eyes darting around for another danger that wouldn’t come. Her Pokemon returned to her side just as the realisation hit her. She was safe. They were safe. Lives had been lost, and the market was devastated. Her ears were ringing, and she was down one trainer, but her and her family were safe.

Her gaze settled on Frankie, who had already set his ever-intense eyes on her. The sight of a determined blaze in Annie’s eyes was nothing new to it, since it didn’t take much to fire her up. It was the wavering, and then the dilating in them, that rattled it. Her shaking, her whimpering, all of the terror that she’d forced aside rushing back to her, now that she could afford to be afraid.

“Don’t you ever run off like that again!“ She’d tried to sound angry. She really had, but she hated giving her family that tone at the best of times. With every other emotion flooding her system, relieved tears, or frustrated tears, or worried tears, were the first to show. A pointed finger made it halfway to Frankie’s face, before she gave in and leapt to embrace her chimera, wrapping her arms around its neck.

The sudden show of emotion confused it, but the girl’s wails and hug had it stumbling back, dragging the smaller girl along with him. Not that she cared. A few moments to let it all out would do her good, even if it was at the cost of a bewildered Null. Its wide eyes looked to the Yanmega for support, but he was no better a comforter than it, and had opted to simply rest. “What the hell would I do if you ran off and got yourself killed?”

It tried to remember its training – not just as a fighter, but as a Pokemon. Annie had spent too much time showing it decency for it to do nothing as she cried… And eventually, it realised that. It lowered its neck, slowly pushing his head against the girl’s. A battle-scarred helmet stopped it short of nuzzling her, but for those moments, it was very aware that it wanted her to stop. Not because the crying unnerved it, but because Annie looked much better with a grin on her face.

Caring was a foreign concept for an artificial Pokemon, but it decided that it could get used to it.

It took her a minute to let it all out, but her partners were content for her to take as long as she needed. Frankie’s muffled but calming whispers helped a lot, especially since half an hour before, she’d never heard a peep out of it. She let it go, rubbed at her eyes, and showed the two a small smile. “You guys… were awesome. Buzz, you just saved my life, and where did those moves come from, Frankie?” She was still crying, and her eyes were red from it, but the laughter and grin that followed seemed genuine.

“I know you guys are tired, but… could you stay with me for a little longer?” Annie was no stranger to terror – most immigrants from Kanto had seen their fair share of danger – but the night’s events were on another level. She’d recover in time, as she always did, but she wouldn’t be sleeping alone that night.

Since her idea of normal was already fairly loud, anybody could tune in on a one-sided conversation. As she walked, she took slow steps across the market; with one shoe melted off by the acid attacks, she had to take extra care not to step into any debris. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you guys weren’t here, but… Do you think you could take it a bit easier next time, Frankie? Like, go nuts beating up weird tentacle monsters, but only when I give the green light. Last thing I needed tonight was a heart attack from you going full Tauros on me.” A confused grunt barely permeated its helmet. “What I’m saying is listen up next time. But good job on the whole talking thing! I want to hear more of it.” Even if she’d barely heard Frankie’s voice, she understood that its slow grumble was a hesitant acceptance.

Buzzinga had been happy to act as a tired third wheel to the group, which meant that his sudden call earned both of their attention. He bobbed his head towards a treasure on the field. “Oh, well spotted. I’m gonna need that.” The trio redirected themselves towards what was likely a forming crowd. Should she go interrupted, Annie slotted her foot, covered only by a torn, wet and dirtied sock, into Mateo’s shoe. It was much too big for her, but when the alternative was walking across the battlefield exposed, she’d make the best of what she’d found. That was what she did best, after all.

‘…Who’s shoe is this, anyway?’ She didn't let herself dwell on the thought for too long.

❤ wizz