Hello, again.
Pokken Round 5, Begin!
Don't own Naruto or Pokemon.
Pokken Round 5
Day 5 of the Tournament had a good deal of the more subtle members of the audience, alongside the Mist group for the most part, interested in the contestants. Then again, one was a ghost, one was a bug, one was a poison frog, and one was a penguin. More or less.
"Shino would love something like a Scizor." Hinata remarked, only to roll her eyes at Nikorra, "And I doubt his beetles would like that idea, so don't start."
Nikorra pouted, getting the group to giggle.
Meanwhile, walking into the arena came the first match combatants.
The first was a black, shadow-like being, with a small head with a white fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also had a red spiky growth around its neck, as well as skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders, and black, claw-like hands. It had the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appears to be wearing an old, ripped cloak. It did not appear to have any legs.
The second was a bipedal, insectoid with a red, metallic exoskeleton. It had gray, retractable fore wings and hind wings with simple, curved venation. Its head was kite-shaped with three blunt horns extending above its forehead, and dark yellow eyes. It's neck and part of its thorax give the appearance of being exposed, showing black skin surrounded by raised exoskeleton. It had a large abdomen with three black, pointed stripes below the waist. It had broad shoulders and thin, segmented arms ending in large, round pincers. It's legs are defined by large hip joints, thin thighs, and wide calves, its feet ending in one clawed toe in front and another in the back.
A few watching did recoil from the two, but they were relatively low in number.
Kurenai, having come over to join them for the moment, gestured to the first. "Which one is that?"
"Darkrai, Legendary Dark-Ghost Pokemon of Nightmares." Nikorra explained. "Despite his connection to nightmares, though, it is still debatable in some circles whether he truly instigates them willingly or is just connected to them. Personally, as long as it keeps to more tame ones with us, I don't care. Nothing ever said he has to go for the scary ones all the time."
"I'll keep that in mind." They all heard in their heads, sending shivers down their spines, though not unpleasant ones.
Kurenai then said "So, any idea just how well Scizor will be able to hold out against Darkrai?"
Sayuki was the one who answered. "That depends on how much of his arsenal is particularly Normal-type, which Ghost is immune to, and how he can put it to use if he figures it out."
"And how well he can handle the potential heat within." Nikorra added, completely serious. "The wings are meant to help cool him down."
A few moments of silence later, and the battle commenced.
Scizor's wings flapped rapidly as he dodged "Shadow Ball!" and responded with "Signal Beam!"
In natural ghost fashion, Darkrai ducked into the ground. However, unlike Gengar, partly because Scizor was moving constantly, he didn't come back up. Instead, he actually attacked through the ground, with the occasional appearance in the sky.
Eventually, however, Scizor suddenly jumped at Darkrai, passing through. Once behind his opponent, Scizor's "Metal Claw!" grabbed Darkrai's arm. Spinning into position, he immediately let go and "Bullet Punch!"
Unfortunately, Darkrai reacted in time to go back into the ground, let it take the last hit.
This time, Darkrai was too quick with "Dark Void." from behind, taking Scizor out. Though the crowd couldn't help but sweatdrop a bit when Scizor shiver in his sleep, and it was clearly not entirely out of fear.
"Really?" Zygarde asked, unimpressed.
Darkrai just shrugged as the match was called, though he did help Scizor recover, who promptly sped of "WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE BEEN SCIZORS?!"
The sweatdrops, in size and number, grew, though Hinata did catch a glimpse of his mind.
"Let's just say he'd prefer no Beedrill Were'mon, let alone a female-only hive of them."
The projected image actually managed to do something that, all things consider, should've been pretty well impossible: get Nikorra to blush in embarrassed I don't think even I could handle that.
Zygarde decided to just stick to moving to the next match.
Coming in the same side as Darkrai was a dark blue, bipedal Pokemon that resembled a poison dart frog. It had yellow eyes, which were surrounded by black markings. It had orange, expandable pouches on its cheeks, and wide and flat teeth. A black marking encircled its upper arms and chest, with white bands around its chest. It had three fingers and toes, most of which were black except for it's center fingers, which were orange.
Coming from the opposite direction was a large, navy-blue, penguin-like Pokemon. It sported a wide, yellow beak that extended upward into three pointed horns that formed a trident-shaped crest bracketing blue eyes. A blue marking resembling a crown rested over its eyes and a white, lacy marking ran down its chest. A blue, fin-like projection formed a collar around its throat that ran down the length of its chest and belly. On its back were two raised, gold bumps and a second blue fin that formed its tail. It had webbed yellow feet with three toes each and feathers forming ruffs above them. It had wide, flipper-like wings rimmed with blue along the tips, and three golden claws.
"So, Croagunk versus Empoleon." Hinata spoke out for those confused, largely about the second one. "Poison-Fighting versus Water-Steel. Frog versus Penguin. Not sure how to describe this."
A nearby civilian asked "Poison-Fighting versus Water-Steel?"
"Pokemon types. It's like a nature affinity for ninja. Croagunk is a Poison-Fighting, so he'll have an easier time learning moves that involve poison and hand-to-hand combat. Empoleon, in the meantime, is Water-Steel, making it easier to him to learn water and more metallic/mirror-based moves. Doesn't mean they can't learn other moves, though, just means those will be easier, at least until you get into how they work against each other. In this case, Steel beats Poison, but Fighting beats Steel." Nikorra explained.
That satisfied the man, who intrigued them when he turned his attention back to the fight and his wife and kid.
It was thanks to the kid that Hinata didn't send any images to the couple.
This time, however, a little something unexpected happened when the match was about to start, that being Croagunk walking forward and holding out a hand. "This is a tournament match, is it not?"
Empoleon easily figured out what he meant, and used his fin to shake Croagunk's hand. "Indeed. No need to impede honor for a potential win."
"What do you know, folks, Croagunk and Empoleon are shaking hands/fins before the match." Zygarde commented on the scene. "Looks like the pair are not interested in anything but a proper match between them, unlike some of the previous matches."
Sai pinched his nose, remembering Kurotora's match.
The match started a few moments later with the two suddenly charging at each other, crossing limbs with a slight shockwave. They backed off and began in earnest.
Kushina wasn't the only one who whistled. "They're going at it."
Nikorra nodded. "Yeah. And this is without moves."
That got Hikari's attention. "They're like when you spar?"
"Yes, Hikari. Though I think that might change in just a bit."
Indeed it did, starting with "Wake-Up Slap!" and "Metal Claw!"
Croagunk was able to dodge Empoleon's attack, only to get "Water Gun!" as his attack landed.
Both were knocked to the side again, Empoleon's attack turning to a shower of water and a slight rainbow.
Which Hikari noticed "A rainbow!"
Nikorra smiled and ruffled Hikari's head playfully.
"Double Team!" resulted in a seeming army of Croagunk, who then "Sludge Bomb!"
"Water Pulse!" was the immediate counter, Empoleon instantly realizing where the attack was aimed.
Kurenai, however, wasn't so quick on the observation. "Doesn't Steel beat Poison?"
"It's more the angle, Kurenai." Kushina explained. "Even if it didn't really do anything, it would've still messed with his sight, effectively lowering his accuracy. It'd be like shooting a person in the face with water or mud, but not hard enough to truly hurt them."
That made more sense to Kurenai, just as Croagunk went with "Double Kick!"
Empoleon grunted as he braced against it, feeling the pain. "Metal Claw!" sent Croagunk back for breathing space that allowed "Surf!"
"I'm pretty sure that's game." Sayuki said, eyes wider than normal at the wave of water that came from that attack.
A lot of people were shocked by that. They didn't expect an attack like that show up, and with a simple 'word' at that!
When it died down, Croagunk was breathing somewhat hard from enduring it, having managed to dig a hold in the ground.
"Impressive endurance, Croagunk, but if you don't mind, I'm ending this. Aqua Jet!"
Empoleon shot forward, surrounded by water, only for Croagunk to dodge in the nick of time with "Jump Kick!"
This resulted in Empoleon slamming headfirst into the wall, disorienting it long enough for "Mud Shot!" to finish it.
Though it was the last of Croagunk's standing strength.
"How long...until...next match...?" He gasped out, only for Zygarde to respond with "Not long enough, given your condition. The Surf and Jump Kick did more than you think."
"So Darkrai's heading to the final round." Nikorra noted, hearing Anko's "Oh come on!" when the announcement was made. "Anko's not happy."
"Think we should 'do something?'" Hinata asked, only for Nikorra to shake her head and smirk.
"We'll leave that to Iruka."
Hinata and Sayuki giggled at the images Hinata relayed from Nikorra, making Hikari confused at what was so funny. Her confusion was forgotten when Nikorra asked her "Want to get something to eat before we watch Akamaru?"
"Okay!"
Okay, one more round after this, then it's back to the main story. Next time: Gardevoir vs. Gengar vs. Nikorra vs. Kurotora vs. Darkrai. I honestly didn't make this purposeful, but that's how it turned out. Though I will admit, I will not be thinking about how the final round will go before I actually start.
As for Croagunk's condition, right leg had a hairline fracture, so it was risky to use, and a bit of water did manage to get in him. Not enough to cause straight problems, but it was there. He'll be fine, but X, Y, and Z weren't taking the risk.
In regards to Darkrai's 'nightmare,' he had decided on trying the approach he overheard. It just ended up with Scizor surrounded by female Beedrills, wanting their 'king,' so to speak.
That's all for now. Until next time, please R&R.