The ultimate tag team of Oranguru and Passimian may have been broken with Vyasa's defeat, but the math isn't over yet! Rafe's brought out a new trump card to use, a pokemon that can do some great damage to his opponents! With a Malamar capable of reversing stat changes (and being really good against Psychic type pokemon) things are really going to turn around!
KedharS: Oh, very crazy. But then, fights with Rafe always are.
Hyphenman: That's a really interesting fact, and makes a lot of sense, in hindsight. Cool!
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1191
"What's going on?" Mason asked, looking around. Things were getting strange. It was like trick room was implemented. The fabric of reality was shifting, and the sky itself was warping around the pokemon on the battlefield.
He'd never seen this move before.
"I'm also confused," Donoma said. This move was a rarity for everyone involved. So they all looked to Alden, the resident battle expert.
But even he was baffled.
"Tospy-turvy is the signature move of Lovecraft, my Malamar," Rafe explained with a smile. "Like his namesake, Lovecraft is a being that exists outside the laws of reality. He doesn't quite behave like normal pokemon do."
"Malamar…" Lovecraft rasped, a wicked grin creeping up his beaked face.
"…That's something the two of you have in common," Callie mumbled under her breath.
"Because of his ability, Contrary, any changes to his stats have the opposite effect," Rafe continued, completely ambivalent to his sister's comments. "If you try to slow him down, he speeds up instead. If you try to reduce his attacking strength, he only becomes more powerful. It's quite fascinating, wouldn't you agree?"
"It does pose a certain… challenge," Mason admitted. "But what does that have to do with what's going on here?"
"Like I said, topsy-turvy is Lovecraft's signature move," Rafe said. "Using it, he can reverse the stat changes of all pokemon in the battle! So your Psychic types, who just buffed their stats using calm mind, have now had their special attack and special defense lowered, instead!"
"No way! Is that even possible?!" Chloe gasped in disbelief.
"Oh, you bet it's possible," Donoma grinned. She was loving this! Using a move like topsy-turvy, how devious!
"It comes with some downsides, though," Callie griped, glaring at her brother. Shuka had been fighting with a boost to her speed this whole time thanks to the agility buff she'd received from Jaina. With her speed boost now flipped, she was greatly slowed down. And Telepathy had no effect on moves like this one.
"It's a small sacrifice," Rafe said, shrugging. He had a lopsided smile on his face. "But I am sorry. We'll just have to work something out."
"Whatever," Callie rolled her eyes. "I already know the plan. Shuka, use scary face!"
"Passimian!" Shuka nodded. She turned to Lovecraft and glared at her, sending a piercing stare that would have frozen any other pokemon in place.
But Lovecraft wasn't any other pokemon.
"Malamar!" He crowed, surging forward. His tentacles glowed with dark energy.
"Brilliant thinking!" Ian grinned. "By using scary face on her partner, Malamar's Contrary actually boosts his speed by two stages."
"And since Callie's pokemon used the attack, it's not like using agility," Alden nodded. "He can make full use of his raised speed immediately."
"Lovecraft, use dark pulse," Rafe ordered. "Aim for the Gothitelle!"
"Malamar!" Lovecraft fired a blast of dark energy out from his tentacles. The energy blast slammed into the light screen, shattering it to pieces and continuing on to strike Lilith directly. The move was powerful, but not so powerful that it knocked her unconscious.
"Unfortunately, topsy-turvy doesn't nullify light screen and reflect," Rafe sighed. "So we make do with what we can."
"You haven't finished us off yet!" Mason snarled. "Rem, use dazzling gleam!"
"Gardevoir!" Rem raised her hands and her body began to glow. She fired beams of blinding light at the two pokemon opposing her. With Lovecraft's speed he was able to avoid the piercing rays, but Shuka wasn't so lucky.
"Passimian!" Shuka cried as the beams struck her head-on.
"Shuka!" Callie cried.
"It's alright," Rafe assured her. "With that drop in special attack, there's no way that move was enough to take Shuka down."
"That's right, it wouldn't be," Mason admitted. "But that's not the only move we have at our disposal, right, Lilith?"
"Gothitelle!" Lilith's eyes began to glow blue and she released a burst of psychic energy, lifting the injured Shuka up into the air.
"Shuka!" Callie shouted again. She turned to Rafe, but he was already giving his next orders. It was a surprise, seeing him this involved.
"Malamar!" Lovecraft's eyes began to glow gold, and a barrier of dark energy appeared on their side of the battlefield, cutting Shuka off from the attacks of the Gothitelle.
"You're not the only one who can set up a light screen," Rafe grinned. "But our side has a pokemon that can break them down, right, Callie?"
"If… if you mean brick break…" Callie knew what her brother wanted from her, but she wasn't sure if Shuka was up for it. She'd already taken a lot of damage before this, and despite what her brother said, the reduction to their opponents' special attack stats didn't make their moves hurt that much less. Shuka was in a really bad position with her reduced speed, and she didn't want to put any further burden on her.
But she wasn't the type to sit back and do nothing, either.
"Fine, I'll do it! Brick break, Shuka!" Callie shouted.
"Passimian!" Shuka lifted up her berry and flung it at the barrier, smashing through the reflect with ease. This opened the door for Lovecraft to continue with another devastating move.
"Malamar!" Lovecraft lunged forward, raising his tentacle and arcing it across the battlefield in a brutal swing. Even with the reduction in her speed Shuka's inherited Telepathy allowed her to evade the attack, and she leapt into the air, allowing the darkness-infused tentacle to swing across the battlefield and strike both of the opposing pokemon.
…Or at least it would have. Rem was just a hair too quick.
"Gardevoir!" She teleported out of the way. But unfortunately, Lilith wasn't quite as fast as her counterpart, and was hit directly by the blow, which sent her flying across the field.
This time, she didn't get back up.
"Nice work, Lovecraft!" Rafe called. He was sitting down again, pouring another cup of tea from his thermos. It was clear that he was done actively engaging in the fight for now.
"How dare you…" Mason hissed, recalling Lilith to her pokeball. "Attacking a poor, defenseless maid like that… have you no shame?!"
Rafe blinked, unsure what he meant. He turned to Callie, who just groaned and shook her head. She was in no mood to have a discussion like that.
"Whatever," Mason muttered, shaking his head. "This isn't over yet. You hear me?! I have other maids in my service! Sadayo, come out!"
"Lilligant!" Mason's next pokemon emerged with an elegant bow. Once again, it was a pokemon that looked perfectly-suited for Mason's… particular tastes. The feminine pokemon wore a dress made of leaves and a large flower grew out of the side of her head, like a hat or a hair decoration. More leafy protrusions extended down her back like hair.
"Hey, finally a pokemon that isn't a Psychic type!" Donoma noted. "A Grass type should be easier to handle for Callie, right?"
She would have a point… if not for the fact that Callie's pokemon was in pretty bad shape at the moment. Shuka was weakened from having to take constant psychic attacks, and it was clear that even with the light screen she was going to be in for a rough time.
"Now then, time for something easy," Mason smirked. "With that light screen in place, you're right, it will be very difficult for my pokemon to break through and attack yours. But there are other ways to do battle, you know. Sadayo, show them how you can dance!"
"Dance?" Chloe asked, confused.
"That seems kinda… odd…" Ian didn't know if he liked an order being put that way.
"Lilligant can learn quiver dance," Alden offered. "But with the chance of Lovecraft striking her with topsy-turvy, is that really the best move to use?"
Alden knew a lot about how Mason fought, and he knew how smart his ally was. He wouldn't just randomly use status buffs against a pokemon that was capable of reversing them effortlessly. No, he must have been trying something else.
The "something else" became clear immediately, when Sadayo's dance was performed.
"To see a maid dance at her master's command is quite refreshing, wouldn't you agree?" Mason asked, sounding nothing at all like a creep as he pushed up his glasses. Sadayo swayed from side to side, but in spite of her graceful appearance her dancing style couldn't be considered anything close to elegant or practiced.
"Malamar?"
"Passimian?"
Both pokemon were equally confused by the performance, which told Callie everything she needed to know.
"Damn it! It's teeter dance!" She groaned. It was a move that was especially frustrating in double battles, confusing all pokemon on the field.
"You know your status moves well," Mason nodded. "Yes, teeter dance. With it, all other pokemon on the field are confused!"
"But that applies to your Gardevoir as well!" Callie reminded him. "She won't be able to fight perfectly, either!"
Mason smirked. "Oh, not at all, no," he said, shaking his head. "Did you forget? I'm friends with Samarra now, Callie, and that means that little things like confusion won't do much to my pokemon. Isn't that right, Rem?"
Using his harmonia, Mason overpowered the confusion and reconnected with his pokemon. This was one of the things he liked most about harmonia. He could finally link his thoughts and feelings with his maids! It was paradise.
"Gardevoir!" Rem raised her hands and created more beams of light to fire at the pokemon across from her. The beams bounced off the light screen, of course, but the effect was clear. While Callie and Rafe's pokemon were confused and didn't even know where they were, Mason's were ready to launch a full assault.
"This isn't good," Ian frowned, glancing at Chloe. In his battle with her, she'd used harmonia to overpower her confusion, but that had just been incidental. This was the first time he'd seen a harmonia user weaponize confusion like this, using teeter dance as an offensive move in a double battle when their pokemon weren't affected.
From how it appeared, it was a pretty effective strategy.
"Rafe, this isn't good," Callie said to her brother. "We can hold out a little due to the light screen, but we still… Rafe?"
Rafe wasn't listening. Because of course he wasn't. He was sleeping.
Leaving everything up to her. Again.
"GRAAAGH!" Callie screamed. "Why are you always like this?! I hate this! I hate it!" She turned to her pokemon. "Shuka! Can you hear me? If you can, then you have to do something!"
But Shuka was too confused to hear her trainer's words. The fact that she hadn't fought in a pokemon battle in years wasn't helping matters either.
"Unfortunately, it looks like your pokemon can't hear a word you're saying," Mason smirked, shaking his head. "Now then, let's deal with that pesky light screen! Rem, if you would be so kind as to assist Sadayo over there?"
"Gardevoir," Rem nodded, teleporting over to Sadayo. She hugged the Liligant from behind and teleported again, this time appearing behind the light screen- perfectly poised to launch a counter-attack.
"Sadayo, use energy ball," Mason ordered.
"Liligant!" Sadayo raised her hands, forming a ball of green energy that looked remarkably similar to Shuka's berry. She fired the attack at the confused Passimian.
"Shuka!" Callie cried. "Watch out! You've gotta dodge!"
"Passimian?" Shuka glanced back at her, confused why her trainer was yelling nonsense at her. Because of that, she was unable to see the attack coming and the energy ball hit her head-on. And Sadayo hadn't gotten her stats lowered. Without the light screen to protect her, Shuka took the full brunt of the attack, and collapsed, unconscious.
"So much for your perfect combination," Mason smirked as Callie recalled Shuka back to her pokeball. She was starting to sweat. This was certainly not the situation she wanted to be in, especially with only a handful of pokemon still left in good fighting shape.
But she needed to keep going, even if her brother was slacking off like he was.
"Jaina, I need you!" Callie cried, sending her Mienshao back out.
"Mien," Jaina nodded, landing on the ground. There was one good turn in their fortune, Callie noticed. The psychic terrain had finally receded, and the grass had returned to normal. With Rem's stat reduction, things were looking up.
"Malamar?"
…There was only one problem.
"Lovecraft, can you hear me?" Callie called to the Malamar. But the pokemon just looked around like a fool, wondering where the strange voice was coming from.
This was the last thing Callie wanted, and her worst-case scenario. It was hard enough to get your own pokemon to listen to orders while they were confused. Getting someone else's pokemon to do so was almost impossible.
If only her brother was-
"Aashhhhhhhn…" Rafe yawned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He looked at Callie. "Ohh, good morning, sis, how's it going? Won the fight yet?"
Callie's eye twitched. "NO, I did not 'win the fight' yet!" She snapped. "Rafe, we're in a really rough spot, you realize that?!"
"Rem, use calm mind again!" Mason ordered. He was taking this brief interlude to get his pokemon's stats back to normal levels. But Callie wasn't having any of that. She snapped her head back around and got back in the game.
"Okay Jaina, don't let her!" She cried. "Use acrobatics!"
"Mien," Jaina nodded. She ran towards Rem and leapt into the air, preparing an aerial display of her attacking skills. But unfortunately, Sadayo had other plans.
"Liligant!" Sadayo raised her hands and fired a blast of rainbow-colored leaves at Jaina, striking the Mienshao before she could land her attack.
"Mienshao!" Jaina cried out in pain.
"Damn it!" Callie cursed as she could only watch helplessly as Rem concentrated her psychic powers to restore her stats. This wasn't going at all like she wanted, and the problem was that she was essentially fighting a two-on-one thanks to Lovecraft's confusion.
Again.
But unlike before, Vyasa wasn't here to make her pokemon twice as effective, so she was stuck giving orders to Jaina in the hopes that she could dodge the attacks coming her way.
"Rafe!" Callie cried to her brother. "Call Lovecraft back! He can't fight in his current state, and I could really use some extra help here!"
"…Nah, I don't think so," Rafe said, shaking his head. "Lovecraft still wants to fight, see?"
"Malamar!" Lovecraft bellowed. He raised his tentacle and swung it in an arc, using another brutal swing attack. But with his confusion, he couldn't think about the fact that he was also aiming at his ally with that move.
Or about the fact that, unlike Shuka, Jaina didn't have Telepathy to inform her about the incoming attack.
Because of that, when the tentacle struck her in the back, it caught her by complete surprise. She let out a cry of pain and fell forward. Thankfully, being a Dark type move, it didn't do much damage to her, but it was still enough to make her lose her balance.
The fact that the move hit the other two pokemon as well was a cold comfort.
"It looks like that Malamar is a bit of a problem for you as well, Callie," Mason scoffed, a smug smile stretched across his face. "It must be tough, having to deal with attacks coming at you from all sides like that."
"…Nah, I'm used to it," Callie smirked. "Jaina, aim an aura sphere at that Liligant!"
"Mienshao!" Jaina shouted, forming a sphere of energy in her hands. She fired it at Sadayo.
"Energy ball to counter," Mason ordered. "And Rem, while she's doing that, hit them both with your dazzling gleam!"
"Liligant!" Sadayo nodded. She formed an orb of nature energy in her hands and fired it at the incoming aura sphere, the two attacks canceling each other out.
"Gardevoir!" At the same time, Rem was preparing another dazzling gleam to hit both pokemon. And without her special attack lowered now, the move would probably sting a lot more.
But Callie was prepared. "Jaina! Use wide guard!" She shouted.
"Mienshao!" Jaina swung her hand, extending the long sleeve-like appendage growing over it like a rag. She created a screen of golden light with the attack that extended out to Lovecraft, surrounding both of them and protecting them from the effects of the dazzling gleam.
"We've been doing tag battles for a long time," Callie said, smiling. "I know what sort of moves I have to deal with! And as you can see, Jaina and I are prepared!"
"But are you prepared enough?" Mason asked, narrowing his eyes. "I still have two pokemon, while you only have that Mienshao, and a Malamar that won't even listen to you."
"…But he'll listen to me."
"Malamar!" A blast of psychic energy erupted in the center of the battlefield, flinging Rem and Sadayo backwards. Lovecraft waddled forward, a golden aura surrounding him. Rafe was standing at his pokemon's side, patting him on the back.
"Rafe!" Callie cried, her face lighting up.
"Lovecraft wants to keep fighting," Rafe said. "So I figured I might as well take a more active role in these things myself!"
Awesome! Rafe is finally back in the battle! Also, I know topsy-turvy doesn't work like that. It's not trick room, it's a move that only hits one target. But I think it would be a lot cooler if it DID work like that, so that's my decision. Topsy-turvy can be aimed at one pokemon in particular, or used to hit all the pokemon on the battlefield. Not the first time I changed the rules of the move.