(no subject)

[meteorman]

✦ Victory Road Battle Post ✦
Meet me in the parking lot behind the Dedenny's in thirty minutes if you want an asskicking.

This is a catchall for the purpose of allowing for more Pokémon battles! Think of it kind of like an IC inbox post, except instead of interaction over the Pokégear it's in-person battle threads. Go ahead and let me know below if you want a battle and any specific ideas you might have (you can also contact me any time at mister_inkwell). You're also welcome to just go ahead and post a top-level if Ford and your character are in the same general area and you want to jump directly to a call-out. I don't mind spontaneous battles! Someone jumping out at you from the shadows unexpectedly and trying to kick your ass is kind of a staple of the franchise after all.

I've also put together a little form you can fill out if you want to quickly get across the kind of battle you're looking for and/or need a jumping-off point.

<b>Preferred Pokémon Levels:</b> Anything goes, close level gap (no greater than 15 or so), exact level only. <b>Preferred Team Size:</b> Anything goes, same number (six on six, three on three, two on two, etc). <b>Items Allowed:</b> Yes/No and if yes, what kind. <b>Mega Evolution Allowed:</b> Yes/No. <b>Other Specifics:</b> Anything else you might want to add, like a specific goal for the thread (do you really want your character to win for development reasons? Do you want your Rocket to try and steal the Pokémon they're battling against? That goes here!).
Preferred Pokémon Levels: I personally prefer a close level gap so the battle isn't super one-sided, unless it being super one-sided is the point of the thread.
Preferred Team Size: I like three on three or two on two best for roleplay purposes (a six on six battle would take quite some time!), but I'll roll with whatever.
Items Allowed: I'm good with both held items and healing items but it's very easy to find a reason for Ford not to use them if you don't want them.
Mega Evolution Allowed: I'm fine with this whether or not Ford has his Abomasnow with him.
Other Specifics: Ford's location and current team are both open to tweaking. He'd be willing to take a couple of warps or swap out some of his team members to be more level-appropriate in cases where the battle is agreed on beforehand. For random challenges on the street, what you see is what you get. I'm also totally fine with Rockets attempting to steal his Pokémon, though actual success will need to be discussed.

     
✦ Currently in Saffron City ✦

Comments

OOC Plotting

[meteorman]

[rediscover]

Preferred Pokémon Levels: Close level gap please!
Preferred Team Size: Three on three
Items Allowed: No
Mega Evolution Allowed: No
Other Specifics: Anna needs to kick Ford's ass to make sure he's worthy of her sister's love. She'll be using Evita, Ginger, and Flekket.

Something BUGGING you, Pines?

[toothaches]

i need your help

That's what Maurice's text read nearly two months after he received the little bundle of buggy joy from Ford's Monster Factory. He'd asked to meet in the park (both so that there were witnesses if he died and because there was plenty of room to run away if things went badly) and apologized about six more times before he finally stuck his 'Gear in his pocket.

And there he stood. Maurice waited under a tree wearily staring down at the pokeball in his hands. He was wearing plastic bags wrapped around his hands.

if there is i ANT gonna talk about it

[meteorman]

Of course he was. Why wouldn't there be plastic bags around his hands. Ford notices this detail when he rolls up to the park, wonders at it for a moment, and then moves on. He's seen weirder.

"Maurice! You needed me for something?"

Frankly he's just curious about what it is exactly he's supposed to be helping with, because while it's not unusual for people to ask him for help with things (surely one of his PhDs will cover their issue) it is unusual for them to be reticent to give full details.

[toothaches]

Maurice tries to give the older man a smile but it turns into more of a grimace.

"Hey, Mr. Pines," Maurice mumbled with the same kind of ducked-head tone one would address a teacher. "Uh, it's about Grubbin. It's not fair to her to never get to come out of her ball but I can't--I don't know how to deal with her. And I thought--since you raise them, you could show me how to battle with her."

[meteorman]

Ah. Aha, ha. It's bugs again, and this time Ford can't really just confidently bulldoze forward with 'exposure to the fear helps to alleviate the fear over time'. He has barely been taking Bug Zapper out of his ball since the unfortunate incident Chloe witnessed over the gear a while back. It's not that that incident was Bug Zapper's fault, it's that Ford Pines is notoriously bad at facing up to things that make him feel weak and vulnerable. It's easier to be avoidant.

Which also means he doesn't really have a good excuse for saying no. Oh, boy. Time to fake it til you make it, grandpa!

"I could certainly try. How much work have you done with her thus-far?"

[toothaches]

"Uhm..." Maurice turns the ball over a few times as though he's carefully handling a bomb. "I can get her to stay. But that's about it. I haven't even pet her yet. It's destroying me, Mr. Pines." He looked up, composure coming apart at the seams, oblivious to Ford's own internal conflicts. "Am I a bad trainer?"

WHAT IF IT'S THE BON JOVI SITUATION ALL OVER AGAIN?

[meteorman]

HEY WOW THIS SUCKS

"No. No, I don't think you are." That at least he isn't faking. There's a lot to unpack about this situation but Maurice being a bad trainer isn't one of them. Frankly Ford wouldn't have been been offended if Maurice had found that Grubbin a new home with someone more equipped to care for her, but he understands the need to keep chewing on a problem until it's fixed.

"Battling together may be good for you, actually; I think your instinct was correct there. It may help the two of you form a connection. And she'll be focused on her opponent, so you needn't worry about her getting too close to you."

[toothaches]

Ford's words manage to keep Maurice from breaking down right there in public but he still looks guilty.

"She's only level one. If you don't have any Pokemon close to that, there's some grass at the end of the bike trail."

He stops beating around the bush, swallows, and holds the ball up. In a flash of light, the little grub appears between them and Maurice lets out another unflattering sound. He holds up one of his bag-clad hands and shouts, "STAY STAY STAY STAY!" as he cowboy waddles backwards away from her. Like a good girl, she stays though she does lift her head in concern and flex those pinchers of hers.

"S-see...she knows that one."

Grubbin wiggles on the spot and looks up to Ford. Oh, hey! She has...a really blurry memory of that face!

[meteorman]

Yeah, this is about how it was the last time he saw the two of them in one place. At least she's well-behaved; Ford can only imagine if she'd come from stock like Phoebe or Scylla. Maurice would probably have had a heart attack by now.

He crouches down, the better to be on her level, and reaches out almost like he's going to give her round body a pat before he thinks better of it and withdraws that hand. Mm. Better not. He can just greet her without pets.

"Pickpocket is only level four." It's a little bit of a discrepancy, but Pickpocket also only knows three moves. "And she's not overly concerned with winning."

[frozenfractalsallaround]

[It's around one in the morning, when suddenly Ford is gonna be hearing a faint, childlike voice in his head.]

Hey. Listen.

[meteorman]

[Ah yes, one in the morning, the time all good Fords are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and probably drinking a cup of coffee. Which he is, while flipping through the latest Pokémon Letters issue with the other hand. Sleep? Lmao.

When he hears the voice he doesn't drop his cup but he does very deliberately set it down to avoid dropping it later. He knows the whole 'hearing voices in your head' thing can go that way sometimes.]

...Yes?

[frozenfractalsallaround]

You should go outside.

[It's said so matter-of-factly.]

Right now.

[meteorman]

Uhuh.

[He's not convinced, disembodied voice.]

If I look out the window right now there isn't going to be some sort of life-threatening something-or-other down in the courtyard, is there?

[Because if there is, hotel management is gonna be so mad.]

[frozenfractalsallaround]

You will see nothing.

[True if he looks he will see nothing out there. It's fine.]

Until you come.

[A pause.]

I am told to sound less ominous. I cannot.

If you come outside everything will be answered. This is not a trick.

[meteorman]

That is exactly what you would be telling me if it was a trick. I'm old, not stupid.

[I mean. To a point. He's still going to get up, pull on his coat and head for the door. Then turn back around, walk back across the hotel room and pick up his coffee. This is coming with him.

He steps out into the hallway and starts to make his way down to the hotel courtyard. At least it's just one flight of stairs.]

[frozenfractalsallaround]

We're waiting.

[Once Ford finally steps outside, there won't really appear to be anything or anyone out there. Once he steps a little further outside, a real voice suddenly speaks in the darkness.]

Stanford Pines!

[Elsa of Fuckin' Arendelle steps out of the shadows.]

I challenge you!

[Look she can barely keep a straight face and she's trying to sound Serious and not start laughing.

She just wanted to surprise him and who would ever expect Elsa to be up at this time of night?]

[meteorman]

[Oh. Okay. We're doing this, are we? Ford shifts gears very quickly. An unknown disembodied voice inviting him somewhere doesn't require a whole lot of enthusiasm. A close friend challenging him to a little friendly competition? Very different.]

Queen Elsa of Arendelle! I accept your challenge.

[Time to just fuckin' slam back this coffee. Sadly he's not dedicated enough to fuckin smash the mug to the ground but it's a near thing.

Hey protip don't ever try and get Dramatic around a tabletop DM]

[rediscover]

STANFORD PINES!
meet me behind the train station in goldenrod in one hour! or else!

[meteorman]

[uh]

I suppose I shouldn't ask 'or else what'.

[Guess he's gotta just down the rest of this coffee and get his ass down to the train station, huh...?]

[rediscover]

[uhhhhh]

nope!

[She didn't. Think this through far enough to actually come up with a coherent threat. It's fine.

An hour later, Anna's waiting in the empty lot behind the train station. To make herself look a little bit more foreboding, she's standing on top of a stack of discarded wooden crates, arms crossed, with challenge written all over her face.]

Ford Pines! [HERE WE FUCKIN GO] I challenge you to a battle for my sister's honor!

[meteorman]

[Oh. This is what we're doing. Alright. Ford is glad now more than ever that he chugged that coffee. He puts his hands on his hips and looks up at her, trying to gauge exactly how serious she is versus how much is just her being hammy. He decides it's probably skewed toward the latter and he can work with that. She really is a lot like Elsa.]

I accept your challenge! Best of three?

[rediscover]

[It's definitely skewing in that direction, make no mistake. But she's also kind of serious, because this is her sister, and she feels the need to...prove a point? Make Ford suffer a little? Bit of both.

She nods confidently, and steps down from her applecrate stack, which means she's now looking up at him, over a full foot taller than her.]

Best of three it is! [She takes her Houndour's ball out of her bag and tosses it out between them.] Ginger! You're up first!

[meteorman]

[Ford doesn't wait to see what Anna is sending in before he decides on his own Pokémon. He knows who he wants to use. If this is going to be a theatrical production then it has to Polymethyl Methacrylate, whose name he doesn't say in full when he tosses her Pokéball because frankly even he doesn't have time for that.]

Polly! Let's go!

[The worst tiny gremlin imaginable is here, it's time, here she goes. She clicks her plastic teeth together and shakes out her whole body. It's time for her to do her thing, which is Be Terrible.]

Confuse Ray!

[He has to tell her now, because, see, Polly's ability is Stall. She'll move second no matter what, unless her move has priority. The Confuse Ray is an attempt at making it harder for Ginger to hit her at all, because it's inevitable that she will at least once or twice.]

[rediscover]

[Oh, that Sableye is...kind of unnerving. Anna blinks a couple of times at the way she clicks her teeth together, staring worriedly before a resolved expression replaces her uncertainty. She mutters a hasty "shoot!" under her breath, hearing Ford call out his first move, and blurts out the first move she can think of:]

Ginger! Use Crunch!

[Hopefully he can...power through the confusion. Maybe snap out of it before he hurts himself too badly.]