Pokémon battle! And we'll see who is the better trainer! And we'll see who has the bigger Pokéballs!

[mischiefbreeder]

Who: Gold (mischiefbreeder) and Silver (tsuntrader), plus any spectators!
What: Silver issued a battle challenge to Gold, who accepted.
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: The Battle Dome
Summary: Gold and Silver have been in Luceti together for a year and yet have never had a single Pokémon battle. Deciding it's time to rectify, they head off to the Battle Dome to throw down!
Rating: PG? I mean, it's Pokémon...
[Gold had been anxiously waiting for this day. Sure, the standard format for Pokémon battles involved just battling whenever your eyes meet, but if they did that, there'd be constant battles all day, every day. Therefore, these things had to be planned.

...Besides that, Silver was his rival. Always has been, always will be. That makes this battle special. A battle to settle old scores... No, a battle to determine who's the best trainer out of the two of them, and furthermore... To show everyone just how it's done.

It was time. Their battle lies ahead.]

Comments

[endgames]

[He shrugs.] Better to get help when you need it than to get labeled as a masochist.

[tsuntrader]

Better to grab Potions [and possibly Yellow] for my Pokémon and get some rest than get help I don't need.

This is nothing.

[endgames]

[Tempting to poke a bruise, but he doesn't know the guy well enough for that teasing.]

Suit yourself.

[tsuntrader]

[There are plenty of huffy things he could say, like "maybe I will," "it's none of your business anyway," or "what do you care," but he'll refrain. He's past that. Right? Right.

...Of course, this leads to a nice and awkward pause courtesy of "how do I people."]

[endgames]

[Not too long, luckily! Shikamaru is too laid-back for awkwardness most times, so he'll just breeze through it.]

Anyways, I'll have to bug you some other time about how elements work in regards to pokemon. Masaomi talked about it somewhat, but he just made it sound weird.

[tsuntrader]

[Huh- oh, topic change. That's. That's a welcome topic change.]

Right, most people only have four or five... Elements, don't they? [This is a perfect time to talk about this, what are you talking about]

[endgames]

Mine has six basic ones, though some can combine two for a specialized element.

[Though you need a bloodline for it.]

But pretty much, yeah.

[tsuntrader]

[Six, and combining them? That sounds pretty- right, this isn't questions, this is answers.

But how to give a simple explanation...] We don't exactly call them elements. They're called "types." Every move has a certain type, and every Pokémon has one or two. They're divided by the advantages and disadvantages they have over each other. Pokémon's moves are also stronger when they're using moves that are their type, but that doesn't mean they're restricted to them.

[...] Take water and ice, for example. Water-types are resistant to fire, but weak to electricity and grass. Ice-types, on the other hand, are weak to fire, but their moves can wreck a grass type and electricity doesn't affect them one way or another. Water types are resistant to Ice-types, too, and most water Pokémon can learn Ice-type moves.

Even though they're closely related, they're considered two different types. There are seventeen different ones, all with their own advantages, weaknesses, and resistances.

[endgames]

[Seventeen, damn. He tilts his head, considering, committed to memorizing this.]

Do the advantages and disadvantages mainly apply to techniques, or the Pokémon themselves?

[tsuntrader]

Mostly the Pokémon, but there are also hundreds of moves and plenty of variations within them and ways to use them together.

It gets more fun when you get to the part where most Pokémon have two types. Explotaro's electric type moves worked just fine against Feraligatr, but they'd be completely useless against a Pokémon called Quagsire, which is a Water/Ground type. Ground types aren't only resistant to electric moves. They render them completely useless. [Is this becoming a pain yet?]

[endgames]

[NO MAN. This is the one time Shikamaru will show interest in something, mostly because he can make slight applications of it. He strokes his chin, though.]

This is going to take some getting used to. Earth is weak against lightning, where I'm from.

[tsuntrader]

[Oh, are we nerding about elements and typing? He can so get behind this.]

What's the logic behind it?

[endgames]

It can travel through ground easily, as with a natural lightning bolt, but being attack-oriented, from there it can take them apart.

[tsuntrader]

[...Hmm...] A Pokémon called Rhydon has an ability called Lightningrod. it draws electricity towards itself, which complements a water or flying type well in a battle with multiple Pokémon out at once.

Any electric energy it draws in passes through it harmlessly, since electric moves don't affect ground types. This ability, however, allows it power itself up thanks to the electricity it's drawn and deal harder hits with some of its attacks. That's the only case of electricity actually having an effect on ground types that I can think of off the top of my head. [And it sounds more like what he's describing... But to the opposite effect.]

[endgames]

Weird. [He shakes his head, but he's not going to argue it. That's just how things are in their world, right?]

Since we're on the subject of electric types, how would that apply to Linda? I have an idea now of how it plays into earth and water attacks [and the water one makes sense to him, at least, given one of his own battles], but what is there besides that?

[tsuntrader]

[You're weird. Stupid weird world differences.] Its attacks are super effective when used on Flying and Water types, not very effective against other Electric, Grass, and Dragon-types, and don't affect Ground-types at all.

Electric-types are resistant to Flying, Steel, and obviously other Electric-type attacks, while Ground-types are the only ones that can hit them for double the damage. Linda's a pure Electric-type, so that's all that applies to her.

Her Electric-type attacks will also be boosted in comparison to another Pokémon that's as powerful as she is since they're her type. The effects stack, too. If Linda were to use her electricity on a Water/Flying type, the results would be devastating.

[endgames]

[You're one to talk, mister-I-just-spoke-a-slash]

What if she were to work in combination with someone using water attacks?

[tsuntrader]

[Slashes totally make sense, okay]

Water conducts electricity. You saw what Gold did to us. [Ughhhh that hurt so badly stupid Gold stupid electric nonsense-] Besides, there's a move she can learn that enhances things involving water.

[endgames]

Yeah?

[What would that be. 8|a]

[tsuntrader]

It's called Rain Dance. [It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like.]

[endgames]

[The term 'rain dance' he can connect to weather, so...]

So all the dangers of being caught in a bad thunderstorm.

[tsuntrader]

More or less.

[endgames]

Masaomi know about that one?

[tsuntrader]

Not yet. There's plenty of cool stuff I could tell him about, but I'm waiting until Linda evolves.

[endgames]

Why? If there's stuff he could be planning for now...

[Actually, that is a good question. IS it worth working towards before she evolves?]