Session 119

As Looker's helicopter ascends, to the far east a dark cloud starts to coalesce - doubtless the rest of the International Police, Lugia, Ho-Oh, and quite probably a few other pokemon. It will take them several minutes to cross the distance, though.
Which means there is no one to distract as the party's helicopter comes under fire - literally.
Max Thorn: "Welp. Time to bail and confront, I guess."
It is hard to tell if this is stray blasts from the Moth-versus-Ignacia fight, or if Ignacia is sniping at the party, but the helicopter takes a couple fire blasts and manages to barely - but safely - crash on one of the hard light bridges.
Linnea: "Well, here we go!"
Sam Spade: "Di, Looker! Are you okay!?"
Looker: "We're fine." He is trapped within the wreckage, though it looks like with time he will be able to get out - unlike the party, who were seated closer to the edges and are thus now clear. "Go! Go!"
Sam Spade: "Okay! Come on, Chicklet, let's go!"
Tim, likewise, was toward the center, but already Sands is cutting a way free.
Linnea sends out Lulim, who seems to be aware of the dire situation. She lets out a trilling rumble, then roars out to the wracked sky above!
Max Thorn: "Right. C'mon, Amaterasu, it's time to fight fire with fire. Literally, I guess."
Linnea: "That's the spirit, friend. Time to use our special weapon, I think."
Esme and Gervais wind their shoulders in tandem. "Go time!"
Up close, the League Headquarters tower is somewhat impressive, despite its many scars. It was built sturdy - nothing else could have survived all these battles - with platforms for the Elite Four and a roof where the Champion's battles used to be held.
The lowest level held administrative offices - there is even the remains of a pokemon center in there. The healing machine might even be operational, though of course the attendant Nurse Joy would have to be long since fled or dead.
Most of the rest, including any flags that used to fly, have joined the general black char coating everything.
Linnea: "Jeez, they really did a number on this place."
Around one side flies Ignacia, eyes focused on the building, though sparing a moment to toss a Fire Blast at the party - easily dodged, practically telegraphed, at this long range.
Chicklet jumps in front of the blast and takes it.
Amaterasu doesn't bother dodging, joining Chicklet in absorbing the blast.
Linnea dodges one way, Lulim the other. "Eyes forward, everyone!"
Ignacia floats in the air, wings of flame coming from her back.
Sam Spade: "SCREW YOU, IGNACIA! YOU SUCK!"
[OOC] Max Thorn: Flash Fire, +1 Attack or SpAttack CS from Fire Moves and renders immune to Fire.
Max Thorn: "Choke on your own hot air!"
Linnea: "Any last words, my dearest villain?"
[OOC] WC GM: Does Chicklet have immunity to Fire too?
[OOC] Sam Spade: Flash Fire, same ability.
[OOC] WC GM: K
WC GM rolled up 4d10+110: 140 (8 5 10 7)
That would have been enough to knock out, perhaps kill, most pokemon. Chicklet and Amaterasu are not most pokemon.
Linnea: "How obscenely unnecessary…"
[OOC] Sam Spade: Though the text doesn't say +1 CS, it says +5 Bonus to their next Damage Roll with a Fire-Type Move.
Ignacia glances at the party. "WHAT? You…how did…" She gets a purple psychic blast to the back of her head from somewhere inside the ground floor for her trouble. "Arrgh! I'll deal with YOU later!" She dives inside.
Amaterasu chuffs, doggie-grinning as she then shakes herself thoroughly, as though throwing off water.
Sam Spade: "It's Iggy. Obscene and unnecessary describes her."
Sam Spade throws a little more weight into it.
Sam Spade: "Iggy! Come out and face your arrest like a person with a spine!" [Taunt]
Linnea: "Aw, she doesn't have a spine, that's why th' lizard has it for her!"
Ignacia seems to already be Enraged, but her favored target - Moth, presumably - is apparently closer.
Oddly, none of Ignacia's pokemon are visible just now. Nor does she seem to be carrying pokeballs any more.
Linnea: "Wait… something's wrong. Does she not have any of her companions?"
Linnea: "Oh, I just got a real bad feeling…"
Sam Spade: "For all I know she ate them."
Linnea: "Shit. You took the words right out of my mouth."
Max Thorn: "It…really wouldn't surprise me."
Sam Spade: "We'll hope for the best, and that when Lugia and Ho-oh *both* showed up, the rest of her pokemon decided that they should do what Arceus said, not Iggy."
Esme: "Seems unlikely, but would rather thing about that than the alternative."
Max Thorn: "Quite. Let's go jog her elbow."
There is a rumbling inside, then Moth - Mewtwo and human - come tumbling out in sync. They look behind themselves, smirking as Ignacia's roar rocks the tower.
Moth: "Heh. All these years, and she still falls for that trap."
Sam Spade: "Hello, Moth."
Human and mewtwo whip their heads to look at the party.
Moth: "This is a bad time. Or maybe a good time."
Max Thorn: "Honestly, if she were smart, she wouldn't be here. Or have done the things she's done."
Sam Spade: "Want some help punching Iggy?"
Linnea: "I've got a personal score to settle, too."
Sam Spade: "IGGY YOU CAN'T EVEN BE GOOD AT BEING BAD! AND THAT'S BAD!"
[OOC] Max Thorn: thanks for giving me a mild case of the giggles
Moth: "Careful with that. She's operating on pure rage now, and…"
Sam Spade: "She's not the only one."
Linnea: "Did she ever run on anything else?"
Ignacia ROARS. The tower lights up red-orange from within, beams of fire bolting out from every window.
Linnea: "Bit of a-"
Max Thorn: "Spite."
Linnea: "Jeez."
Sam Spade: "Iggy you left Ho-oh in a cave! IN A CAVE!"
Moth slowly backs toward the party.
Max Thorn: "In an illegal pokeball, no less."
Sam Spade: "…Honestly given that you can probably take the hit I probably shouldn't be trying to get her attention, but right now I don't really care."
Moth: "That is not the problem here."
Sam Spade: "Oh?"
Linnea: "Oh boy. What's the catch, then?"
The tower begins to crumble from the inside, as the glow intensifies.
Sam Spade: "Is it related to the volcano?"
Moth: "I said. She is operating on rage."
Small bits of the tower begin flying out, from the internal pressure.
Esme: "Hrm."
Moth: "And you are making her madder."
Sam Spade: "Not the first time."
Linnea: "Wasn't exactly the brightest plan building this place on a gods-damned volcano."
Moth: "Volcano?"
Sam Spade: "At the bottom of the crater, unless that's her surplus rage. I suppose I didn't consider the magic aspect."
Max Thorn: "Well. If we all get the hell out, bring the shield back up, and open the gate over the volcano…
Sam Spade: "Normally, when people say 'running on rage,' they mean letting adrenaline guide their decisions. Funneling anger into magical energy, on the other hand…Esme, Linnea? Could she do that?"
Esme: "Oh, absolutely."
Moth looks over the edge. "She was adding something here. I came to ask her about it. That was when our battle began."
Linnea: "Of course. Magic and emotion are intimately connected."
Linnea: "The problem is, using rage means you give up control."
Linnea: "I hardly imagine Iggy cares, though."
Esme: "Which if you don't care about collateral damage, is fine."
Sam Spade: "Hum."
Esme gestures to the situation they are currently in.
Linnea: "The other problem is…"
Linnea: "Rage carries a powerful momentum, and it is very difficult to stop or even slow."
Large chunks of the tower begin peeling off, revealing a molten-red blaze, an aura that reaches up above the tower and envelopes it.
Sam Spade: "Interesting."
The fiery rage begins eating into the island, heading toward the hard light emitters.
Sam Spade: "We should not be on this bridge, I think."
Esme: "No, we should not."
Sam Spade: "Into the flames, ladies! And gentlemen."
Linnea starts booking it!
Sam Spade is preceded by Chicklet.
Amaterasu takes the lead, possibly alongside Chicklet, as Max follows.
Esme hustles.
The party manages to scramble onto the island before the bridges short out. Tim barely does not make it, but clings to Sands who manages to burrow into the rock beneath where the bridge was. Moth - human and mewtwo - just floats in now-empty space, watching. Looker had just gotten out of the helicopter; Di manages to morph into a parachute.
The floating island's air is somewhat warm. With the bridges out, it is unclear what is still holding the island up - perhaps a massive thermal from all this heat.
Linnea: "Great, she's become a load-bearing boss."
Which is about when the hailstorm of bullets, water, lightning, and other projectiles arrives, the air cavalry beginning their assault from the far side.
Moth: "Well. This is…interesting. Now I get to see a god taken down."
Linnea: "I hope we live to tell the tale."
Within the aura, shapes begin to emerge - beings of pure flame, including a recognizable, though now giant, charizard.
Linnea: "Aw, shit."
Most of the shapes look to the east, countering the air cavalry. The charizard has noticed the party, though.
[OOC] WC GM: Doing anything before the combat that's about to begin?
[OOC] Linnea: Can I get a quick item use in, or not?
[OOC] WC GM: You have time, yes.
Linnea grins, quickly but carefully as she can jabbing an X Accuracy into Lulim. She lets out a brief, annoyed trill, but keeps her eyes focused on the gargantuan Charizard.
Linnea: "This is gonna be good."
Esme similary tosses an X Accuracy capsule to Gervais, who chomps it with a grin.
[OOC] WC GM: Max, Sam, are you using items or otherwise pre-combat preparing?
[OOC] Sam Spade: Nope
[OOC] Max Thorn: nah
The flame-Charizard roars a challenge, and rushes the party!
[OOC] WC GM: Round 1! Amaterasu first!
Amaterasu uses [Foul Play]!
[OOC] WC GM: Roll to hit.
[OOC] Max Thorn: need the Charizard's Attack
Max Thorn rolled up 1d20: 1 (1)
[OOC] WC GM: Thought that was after the hit?
[OOC] Max Thorn: regardless, I thought.
[OOC] WC GM: Hmm…I'll allow it.
[OOC] Max Thorn: irrelevant at the moment, although the next one might hit
[OOC] WC GM: Actually, relevant.
The charizard is easy to trick. Amaterasu reaches in, using the charizard's nature against it, and…
…finds…much less physical power than should be there? The revelation surprises Amaterasu enough to abort the attack, doing no damage.
Max Thorn: "Interesting. And alarming."
Linnea: "What is it?"
[OOC] WC GM: Attack 8 - completely unboosted from a charizard's base stats, despite this very likely being level 100.
[OOC] WC GM: Sam's next!
Max Thorn: "This guy's specced for Special Attack."
Sam Spade: "Okay! Chicklet, Lulim, Gervais! Stay cool, stay focused, hit that thing and hit him hard!" [Tagging flame-Charizard, Focused Orders on Lulim, Gervais, and Chicklet.]
Linnea: "Ha, that simplifies things."
[OOC] WC GM: Gervais!
Gervais slams his tail down, dislodging some debris. He hefts it, and hurls sending down a [Rock Slide]!
Gervais rolled up 1d20+2: 6 (4) (AC 3)
That should not have hit a pokemon this powerful. But it does.
Esme rolled up 3d8+70: 83 (7 4 2) (Rock, Physical)
The rocks pass right through the flame-Charizard! It is hard to tell if they hurt it or not.
[OOC] WC GM: Max!
Max Thorn holds up a hand, then flings it forward… Along with a flood of seeds. [Seed Flare]
Max Thorn rolled up 1d20 3d12+29: 3 (3) 55 (4 12 10) (Targets take -1 SpDef Combat Stage)
[OOC] Max Thorn: miss
The seeds burn to a crisp before they can get close.
[OOC] WC GM: Chicklet and Lulim!
Esme: "Hmm."
Chicklet darts in and drops a straight hand into the flame-Charizard's shoulder! [Brick Break!]
Chicklet rolled up 1d20+3 3d8+10+23: 9 (6) 46 (6 2 5)
[OOC] Sam Spade: AC 2
A square hit - and Chicklet knows that blow hit nothing but air.
Chicklet: "It didn't work!"
Chicklet: "It's like it's not even there!"
Lulim looks about - she might not have the same intelligence as a human, but perhaps, there's something more solid to focus on? (( Perception or Focus roll? ))
[OOC] WC GM: Either one works.
Lulim rolled up 3d6+2: 14 (2 6 4)
This…is not a charizard per se. More like a manifestation, a fire in the shape of a charizard. It does not have its own eyes, just seeing through the fire…and the source of the fire is distracted right now, striking at…where the party was when the fight started.
Lulim's eyes gleam, and she turns and dashes off in that direction - at least, before they get to the broken bridges…
Linnea: "Hey! Lulim, what the hell?"
The charizard does not seem to notice.
[OOC] WC GM: Linnea's turn, after Lulim finishes resolving action.
Linnea snaps off a crackling burst of energy toward the giant inferno [Fey Lash] before turning and taking off after her wayward partner! (( Can take over multiple rounds as necessary, just wanted to post ))
Linnea rolled up 1d20: 2 (2) (AC 3 to reduce Sp.Atk by 2 CS)
[OOC] Linnea: WOW.
[OOC] WC GM: That's a move and an attack; they can both happen this turn.
The lash, too, burns up before it could hit.
[OOC] WC GM: Esme!
Esme: "Hrm."
Esme pounds one fist into another, charging her [Magic Weapon] (+1 SpAtk, +1 Acc CS). She then follows after Linnea. "Gonna see where this goes, since don't thinking punching it would help."
The charizard rears up, building fire around its firey presence, then executes a devastating flare blitz right at…where Lulim just was.
WC GM rolled up 1d20: 3 (3)
WC GM rolled up 4d10+136: 167 (8 10 3 10)
The ground fails to dodge, taking quite a crater. The charizard seems a bit weaker - flame blitz known for inflicting recoil, but there seems to be more than that going on.
[OOC] WC GM: Round 2! Amaterasu!
Amaterasu goes along with the rest of the gang…
[OOC] WC GM: Any attack going with the move?
[OOC] WC GM: If not, Sam's turn.
[OOC] Max Thorn: let's add Odor Sleuth.
Amaterasu sniffs, seeking out…there! Even the fiercest fire is burning something, and Amaterasu has found that physical core.
Sam Spade: "Hey, you big overgrown salamander! Pay attention to me! Or are you really Ignacia? Cuz you hit about as well as she does!" [Taunt, also -3 Accuracy to the flame-charizard for one round]
[OOC] WC GM: Flame-Charizard loses immunity to Physical attacks!
Sam Spade rolled up 1d20: 8 (8)
[OOC] WC GM: Hit!
[OOC] WC GM: Gervais!
[OOC] Sam Spade: Let's t hrow in Play Them Like A Fiddle, shall we? +3d8 damage to the next physical attack that hits it.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Sorry, +3d8+10.
[OOC] WC GM: Just in time for the target to be able to be hit by physical attacks.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Yeah!
[OOC] Esme: Oh neat
Gervais charges up, swinging hard with a [Poison Jab]!
Esme rolled up 1d20+2: 22 (20) (AC 2)
[OOC] WC GM: CRIT!
Esme rolled up 6d12+85: 137 (7 8 9 4 12 12) (Poison, Physical)
Esme rolled up 3d8+10: 24 (5 3 6)
Sam Spade: "Whoa."
It is uncertain if this thing can even be poisoned, but the jab certainly disrupted its essence, even more than that flare blitz did.
[OOC] WC GM: Max!
Max Thorn considers, then runs up close and flings his hand forward again. [Adaptive Geography] -> [Astonish]
Max Thorn rolled up 1d20 2d6+34: 8 (8) 41 (4 3) (Flinch on 15+)
The flame-charizard should have been aware of Max, but…from its reaction, it apparently wasn't.
[OOC] WC GM: Astonish auto-Flinches "if the target is unaware of the user's presence", which is literally true here.
[OOC] WC GM: Chicklet and Lulim!
Max Thorn: "Projection. Interesting."
Chicklet stands still for a moment, her wing-arms together. She breathes in, then breaths out, then opens her eyes to glare at the flame-Charizard! [Focus Energy]!
[OOC] WC GM: Lulim!
Lulim casts around, frantically looking for the source of the projection. She sniffs the air, pawing at the ground, trying to find any kind of sign… [Focus/Perception roll]
Lulim rolled up 3d6+2: 11 (6 1 2)
[OOC] WC GM: No roll needed.
There is a focus at hand - a clump of rock and char, that Amaterasu has pointed out well enough to be targeted. The ultimate source of the projection is obvious: Ignacia, currently occupied in a massive aerial battle.
Lulim hisses, rearing up and crashing down again, to send a slice of psychic energy toward the focus! [Psycho Cut]
Lulim rolled up 1d20+3: 6 (3) (AC 2, crits on nat 15+)
[OOC] WC GM: Hits!
Linnea rolled up 2d6+38: 41 (2 1)
The flame-charizard is not quite down, but getting close…
[OOC] WC GM: Linnea then Esme!
Linnea: "Why did you go all the way out here- oh!"
Linnea: "You clever little gremlin!"
Linnea takes aim with a fingergun gesture, charging up a [Moonblast] - then letting loose on the focus!
Linnea rolled up 1d20: 12 (12) (AC 2, -1 Sp. Atk CS on nat 15+)
Linnea rolled up 3d12+48: 69 (8 2 11)
[OOC] WC GM: Esme! Finish it off, if you please.
The flame-charizard is shaky. One more solid hit should finish it.
Esme gathers her Hidden Power, coalescing lightning, fire, and ice… then hurls a [Tri-Attack]!
Esme rolled up 1d20+1: 16 (15) (AC 2)
[OOC] WC GM: Hits, no status aliment.
Esme rolled up 2d8+64: 68 (3 1) (Normal, Special)
The ice cuts deep, but the fire heals…then the lightning blasts through, shattering the flame-charizard's core. The construct roars, voice rapidly diminishing to a squeak, then cuts off as the fire body explodes - mostly upward.
[OOC] WC GM: +100 pokemon XP each…and, given this fight, +1 trainer level each.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Yaaay
Sam Spade: "Well, that's it for this of Iggy's projections. What about Iggy herself?"
Ignacia is in the air, bobbing and weaving among a significant aerial fleet, getting them to hit each other as much as she is outright attacking them.
[OOC] Sam Spade: Does she look like a real person? I can make a Perception roll if you want…
Simply challenging her to a battle, without some sort of power or assistance to get up near her, does not seem plausible.
Ignacia is still human…oid. Feather-like flames, or perhaps flame-like feathers, sprout from her at different locations. There is a soreness at Sam's back, as if of something missing.
Sam Spade: "I think she still has at least some of Ho-oh."
Ho-oh passes between the sun and the party for a moment…and does not cast much of a shadow, as if Ho-oh is not completely there.
Sam Spade: "I'm certain she still has at least some of Ho-oh."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License