Was she really that late? Lash checked her watch. Nope. That one must have had finished very early if she had already fallen to the floor to rest.

Oh, well, not her problem. “Hello there, Miss. I hope I am not interrupting anything, I’m just here for a quick last match,” she noted. Given that she had already gotten the points she needed, Lash did not really care too much about anything going forward. Winning this tournament had never been her intent. Just get prizes, get some experience, maybe meet some people in this de-aged form that could be nice to know.

All things she had already accomplished. Though more of anything could never hurt. “No rush though. I am planning to take it easy with Lyca anyway,” her shiny Lycanroc was a bit exhausted from the fighting, after all. But it still took the stage regardless, being a proper trooper.

seiichi yukimura
HP: 3/3
Z-Move Status
Move used
[roll]

Well, of course it would know that. It was trying to do the same thing over and over again, after all. It was odd that the little bugger could even get that much water out, but there was no helping that. All she could do was hope for the best.

Type advantage was always annoying. But nothing she could do about that. Oh, right, the frog also used double team. Which Lyca had just used. Lash was questioning the man’s originality at this point. “Well, don’t let it copy too much then, sucker punch the real one,” she ordered Lyca, who bounded forward, trying to stop the enemy before they could set up another hydro pump.


CIAN MAHER
HP: 1/3
Z-Move unused Status
Sucker Punch used
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The bee was fast, of course. But a contest of speed was something this rock type could at the very least keep up with to an extent, at least. It managed to get away from the Fell Stinger for now. That was good.

But it also presented an opportunity. The Rock Slide had not managed to knock the bee out, though apparently it had scored a vital. But since it was relatively close to attempt the stinger, this meant a follow-up would be possible. “Accelerock, try to keep up with its speed,” she hence ordered, deeming this the best opportunity to try and get a melee hit in before the bee got away again. Or to incentivize it to stay close, which should keep it from leveraging its top speed.


Shalin Nariya
HP: 2/3
Z-Move unused
Accelerock used
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Well, they got to set up the rocks, but for the time being, the Absol did manage to dodge them well enough to actually get its Iron Tail through. It was a glancing blow, as far as Lash could see, since Lycanroc was already trying to get away from it, but ultimately that still counted. Weird system that still was.

Still, she could only shrug and accept that. “You can get as mad as you want, but even if you win all that means is that you managed to pick on little girls. That’s a no-win scenario there, mister,” she continued the verbal assault while Lycanroc attempted some more solid stones flung directly at the Absol with a Rock Slide.


Gerald Kaiser
HP: 2/3
Z-Move unused
Rock Slide used
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Well, she wasn’t lucky today. The Sand Attack didn’t do much, but Lycanrock was flung backwards by an otherwise unreliable Hydro Pump in return. But at least it managed to hold on despite the super-effectiveness.

So maybe it wasn’t a full broadside. Not that it mattered for vital points, but they could continue on. In this case, it tried to set up a Double-Team in order to hopefully avoid more attacks in the future.

CIAN MAHER
HP: 2/3
Z-Move unused
Double Team used
VGxT851u

Ugh. This new gimmick was annoying. Just throwing around massive rocks like this, how rude. But that just meant that she had a chance to try her own against it. “Well, if you want more rocks, I got more rocks,” Lash replied, raiding her arm and activating her Z bracelet.

Once that was done, she struck the rock pose, infusing Lyca with more power. It howled, quite loudly, and tried to channel that into a rising cascade of rocks of her own, sending Splintering Stoneshards to meet the max rockfall.

Genevieve Cromwell
HP: 2/3
Z-Move in use, +50 to roll
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Not a great start. That Bee was able to get through the stealth rock decently well, though fortunately it had to approach the Lycanroc at a less dangerous angle for the drill run. No blood was spilled to satisfy the crowd of potential onlookers, but it still evidently hurt as Lyca was flung back, evidently injured.

At least that was a proper hit, not some random little ember taking off a vital point. Still not the best outcome. Still though: “Don’t let up, Rock Slide next,” she ordered her Pokemon, which this time formed the rocks it tried to assault the bee with in a much more solid fashion, not to obstruct but to pay back for that drill run.


Shalin Nariya
HP: 2/3
Z-Move unused
Using Rock Slide
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“I take things you probably say to your girlfriend for 100, then,” Lash replied, rolling her eyes. Ugh.

Dark and broody? Check.
Full of himself? Check.
Treating her like a kid? Probably check.

Granted, she probably should not fault him for that, given her looks. Almost 10 times out of 10 the kid you saw was the kid you got. But it was still annoying, so she just sent in her shiny dusk form Lycanroc, ready to fight his Absol – of course an Absol, what else could it be? – right away. Though given the rules of all this, she sadly could not go in with too much reassurance. Even if she felt better, these vital points sometimes even scored the weirdest stuff as hits.

Still though, best to start with a Stealth Rock once more.

Gerald Kaiser
HP: 3/3
Z-Move Standby
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Heh. The bigger they were, the harder they fell. Or something like that. It did feel good to beat something big by being sneaky, at least in Lash’s opinion. Plus, she was being praised by someone who obviously had a lot of experience.

Because obviously, Lash was not going to buy that someone fielding a mega Machamp was not much of a battler. She’d believed that from someone running around with a little Machop, maybe, but that was something that took a lot of work to acquire and train right.

So, yeah, someone who wasn’t a battler would not have that. Hence, her response was a cool and dandy “Suuure,” but she accepted that this lady did not want to talk about this further. Instead, she wanted to get her Pokemon healed. Understandable. Still, Lash filed that one under people she would not mind to meet again.

Anyone complimenting her name genuinely was at least interesting.


Eva Morales
HP: 3/3
Win

A captain, huh? That was a fancy rank. She’d be wary of that person if she’d been out poaching for sure. But here on the pitch? That was more or less just some random person as far as she was concerned. Doubly good because Lash very much planned to only go back to said work after she had gotten her own age back, so if anything, she was the one that could get benefit here.



That being said, this captain came across as a little weird, at least to her. “Captain Nariya. I see. I think I will skip the rest of the title. Aaanyway, if you want to make money, this is probably not the best place to do that. Though there are some interesting prizes here, not going to lie.” Nodding to herself, she then gestured her shiny dusk form Lycanroc forward. “Let’s start this the usual way,” she ordered – causing her Lycanroc to start howling in order to cause sharp rocks to erupt from the ground in random places as she set up Stealth Rock.


Shalin Nariya
HP: 3/3
Z-Move on standby
Using Stealth Rock

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Oh. Was that the fabled moment? When two people’s met and it was love at first sight? No, of course not. This was a battle area! Meeting someone meant fighting them. That was more like it.

Especially when someone just asked nicely, being all bright and sunny. It was not quite Lash’s disposition, but she did not hate it – as long as the other party did not treat her like a child. Then again, she could answer with a smile, too.

“Sure, me and Lyca take on all challengers. Though I did want to grab a bite first, hmn…ah, well, I can go after. Wanna join in on that?” Lash did want to get to know a few people in this stupid new form she had acquired, so she was kind of using this tournament for that sake, too.


Genevieve Cromwell
HP: 3/3
Z-Move on standby

Using one’s instincts, huh? That was an odd way to describe mega-evolving a Pokemon, but Lash wouldn’t judge. She was still debating to try and get a mega stone from the prizes offered here. It was an interesting concept, certainly. Less spontaneous and explosive than a Z-Move, but for one more consistent. Plus, one did not have to strike a silly pose for it. That was always a plus.



Buuut in order to get to that point she had to win a few more matches first. Hence it was probably best to focus, especially when dear Eva used up her own ace there, creating a wide guard to protect itself from the rocks. “Lyca, bypass,” she ordered – and the Lycanroc understood. While the other was busy guarding against those rocks, Lyca would try to Accelerock it from the side at high speeds. It certainly was not too impressed by the even bulkier body-building Pokemon right then, though it was wary of the strength it promised.



“You seem like you are doing this often. How many tournaments of sorts have you been in so far?” No such thing as holding back questions during a battle, really. Lash most certainly was not trying to distract the other there. That would have just been lame.


Eva Morales
HP: 3/3
Z-Move on standby
Using Accelerock

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Maybe it was time for a break soon.



Soon, but not right then. At least that was what she decided. After all, the next round was already up, against some Shalin Nariya. That was a bit of an odd name, but she had gotten used to those. Hoenn had become such a hotpot of people from different regions, if someone turned up tomorrow named Mint Flavour, she would just accept it.



Plus, she had an odd one, too. Kalosian roots, sadly. But that was why she went with her nickname most of the time. Short and snappy, that was always nice. She used that to introduce herself and her shiny dusk forme Lycanroc once the other arrived. “Good afternoon, Miss. I am Lash, this is Lyca. We will be your opponents today. Well, two of them at least.”


Shalin Nariya
HP: 3/3
Z-move unused