bravenewworld | The Battle for Caldera

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The Battle for Caldera

The time for action is at hand, and the players have been set in place. Those who choose to make an attempt at diplomacy head off at the appointed time to meet with Valeria, the clerk and representative of the general who leads the Gigas army. Those who wish to take more direct action against Gigas leave with General Ironbrand to put their plans into motion. In the meantime, the refugees continue to stream into Union, while supplies are gathered and flow the other way.

The outcome of this war may very well depend on the combined results of these four efforts…

((This log will be a catch-all for all four efforts of the attempt to save Caldera. There will be four different parts of this post: Diplomacy, Aggression, Refugees, and Supplies. The first two should be well established, but the Refugees portion will encompass bringing those in Caldera who require help to Union and giving them medical aid and care, while the Supplies portion will encompass people in Union setting up shelters and gathering resources to send back to Caldera, as well as other miscellaneous tasks that may be of help. Gathering resources may entail leaving Union to explore out in other areas. You all signed up for groups, so please try to maintain these groups when posting, particularly to the Diplomacy and Aggression sections. The other two may be more free-form.

Mods will be responding at least once every 24 hours to keep the logs moving.

EDIT 5/31: Please try to group up if possible! We'll generally try to wait for threads to have 2-3 people before we jump in. Threads with 3+ may attract the attention of something a little more... interesting.))

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[Setsuna got a nod at the far side of the caravan and a slight smirk, before Michiru herself darted away towards the other side.

Once in place, Michiru concentrates and that's a ~~Deep Submerge~~ tidal wave crashing towards the caravan.

A glimmer of her Warp Band, and her Gardevoir is at her side, serious and Psychically linked.]

[The caravan is eerily silent. Whoever's inside doesn't react at all to Haruka's appearance, either having already understood that an attack was underway or perhaps being remarkably unconcerned about this entire situation.

It's only when the water begins to surge in that something happens.

With a flare of light, a brilliant blue shield suddenly appears around the Caravan; a second flare and six strange Pokemon are suddenly floating around the caravan.]

Squad 309 - On defense!

[There is a strange undulation in the air - the entire group will suddenly feel a sensation of unbalance. As if they're trying to move underwater. It may be possible that they've experienced the effects of Trick Room well enough to recognize it.

In the meantime, three heavily armored soldiers leap out, their own movements somehow much swifter than would be expected. The waters are heavily mitigated by the Light Screen that's up. They can probably expect that there's a Reflect in place as well.]

You think we travel without protection? I thought Calderans were supposed to be good at strategizing.

[ Oh. Oh, defenses are one thing, but that weird distortion to the environment hits Haruka hard. Smart of them to plan for something that takes out speedy assaults. She staggers but raises her Warp Band. ] We're more improvisational.

[ Attacking feels impossible right now, but she does summon her Rhyhorn and her Murkrow. World Shaking the Rhyhorn almost immediately tosses his head in frustration. He feels heavy! What's going on?!

That's what Haruka would like to know. Be her shield for a moment, World Shaking, while she gathers her thoughts to regroup. For some reason, her speed's just...gone.

She's glaring daggers at the man who's been calling the orders, though. That's the one. That's the one she has to take out. No matter what. ]

((Ahh no I linked the wrong thing, I apologize! Trick Room is the right link. It makes slow Pokemon fast and fast Pokemon slow. Rhyhorn would be quite happy in it, just as a heads-up.))

[[ ooc: No, I get it! Since Haruka's Rhyhorn is an ex-professional racer, I'm figuring he's faster than the average Rhyhorn and therefore displeased. You're good! ]]

((Ahh, alright, then! Thanks for clearing that up!))

[Perhaps not immediate strategy, but they DO have an analyst on their team. Setsuna is hindered by the Light Screen from attacking, but that isn't blocking her from taking in each and every Pokemon's abilities, strengths, and powers.

She raises her hand and summons two Pokemon with her Warp Band: Lethe and Cerberus. If their speeds have been reversed then Slowpoke isn't going to be so slow any more.

And her ability to use Disable is not going to be stopped by projections like a Light Screen or Reflect. Setsuna sends the mental command through the Warp Band and Lethe responds in kind by using Disable.]

[somebody decided to dump Speed EVs into a Rhyhorn so.......

Well, at least it makes things interesting. A flicker of thought between Michiru and her Pokemon, and Gardevoir starts setting up a Moonblast attack. Michiru summons her Gyarados and...damn. No Rain Dance, not with the other Pokemon in the field. Aqua Tail, on the other hand...

Gyarados is the first to strike at one of the strange floating Pokemon, swiping at it with a broad lash of her tail. Gardevoir follows up with Moonblast at the same Pokemon. Michiru uses the time to gather a Water Pulse in her palm as she takes in the situation.]

[ Haruka has had time to regain her equilibrium now. Her head still feels funny, and her limbs still feel heavy, but she's going to give it a go.

Her Pokémon go first: targeting a different Pokémon than Michiru did, World Shaking shoots a Rock Blast in the hopes of striking multiple times, while Murkrow swoops in for a Night Shade. (They'll Pursue if the enemy has more than one type of Pokémon up their sleeves.) Haruka fires an Air Slash close on their heels, but wow, she can actually see it, that's unpleasant.

Something's got to change, here. ]

Edited (jumped the gun on what she'd know) 2014-06-02 13:04 (UTC)

[There is another faint distortion in the air as Disable causes a sudden mental wrench in the minds of its targets. Trick Room has been disabled, but using it again would be detrimental to the slow Reuniclus, in any case.

If Setsuna has enough time to focus on each of the six Reuniclus in turn, she will find that they are nearly all identical. Anyone can tell that they're Psychic type, but being particular observant, she will note that the very air itself seems to shimmer with their psychic ability. Their highest strength is certainly in their special attack... But then, the wave of water that Michiru used has had barely any effect. Even with the Light Screen, they should be more badly damaged. They must certainly have extraordinarily high defenses as well - HP or Special Defense, one or the other. These Pokemon seem ideal, then, for guard duty.

Most unsettlingly, a brief comparison of their psychic power to Michiru's Gardevoir will show a significant difference in strength. These Pokemon are very highly leveled...

Reuniclus
Level 55
Highest Stats: Special Attack, HP
Attacks:
Trick Room
Reflect
Light Screen
Recover
Focus Blast
Psychic

They're going to have their work cut out here.

The Pokemon circling the caravan join... hands? Pseudopods? There is a low hum in the air.]

Take down the humans!

[Only Lethe is slow enough to move before the Reuniclus, paradoxically. As the hum intensifies, a massive barrage of Psychic power will collect above the six before blasting out in a concentrated force towards Haruka, the one they believe to be the biggest threat with her Dark-type Murkrow out on the field.

Water Pulse, Aqua Tail, and Moonblast all strike one of the Reuniclus, who releases an anguished mental cry. Rock Blast, Air Slash and Night Shade strike the other one with a similar reaction. They'll be too distracted next turn to release such an enormous Psychic blast, but still, they're standing. Or, well, floating.

...Is it really wise to go for the Pokemon, well trained and defensive as they are? Perhaps there is some value to the orders given just now.]

Edited 2014-06-03 02:02 (UTC)

[Setsuna looks past their Psychic typing, that much is obvious. Even as she is assessing them she's using her own latent Psychic abilities to touch the minds of both Haruka and Michiru, a technique they had been practicing with on and off for awhile now.]

High stats in Special Attack and either HP or Special Defense. Psychic type, means we could use some Ghosts or other Dark types...or Bugs. Careful, they are high level though.

[And that's about as much as Setsuna can send mentally. She needs to refocus her efforts on the task at hand. First, she brings one more Pokemon to the field, her ever trusty Hecate. The cat immediately lunges at the pokemon with a Fake Out and Setsuna uses that as her cue to attack as well.

She shifts her gaze to the guards and falls back into the shadows again for a Feint Attack, not going for the Pokemon this time but for one of the three heavily armored soldiers.

As she moves away, Cerberus finally joins the fray, following his partner. If they're going to go after the humans then he is going to make damn sure they don't hurt his charge. Any human in his way is going to be getting a good and hard Bite.

Lethe, meanwhile, being the darling help that she is, Yawns loudly at the cells of psychic power. She's either not impressed, tired, or trying to put them to sleep too.]

[oh you did not just...

Gyarados gives a deafening roar, and Bites the same cell as before.

Eyes narrowed, Michiru nods, despite the fact that Setsuna probably can't see her. Her Warp Band glows again, and her Milotic appears on the field. Gyarados takes the front ranks, keeping Milotic in the back. Who immediately starts ~~sparkling~~ using Captivate at one of the cells.

Michiru glances at Gardevoir, and then the two of them Teleport right behind one of the other humans. And that would be a concentrated Water Pulse heading straight for him.]

[ Haruka owes Lethe, like. A small mountain of Berries. Or a grooming. Something. Thanks to Disable, she gets her speed back just in time to jump out of the way of that attack, though she hits the ground hard, rolls, and barely manages to recover without heading over the cliff. Go figure, she thinks with a wince as she assesses the damage. For once it would have been useful to level the bug...

The others seem to be handling stat changes just fine, so when Haruka climbs back to her feet and assesses the situation she figures remaining aggressive - if as hard to hit as possible - is her piece of this particular puzzle. This tricky a situation requires backup, so she summons her Cubchoo. Good thing they practiced withstanding heat in the hot springs. ] Cover me.

[ Dashing over the cliff, she leaps up to attempt another human-targeted Aerial Ace, this one aimed at the man who'd originally given the orders. It won't go as well with the protection in place (and a knowing target), but hey. She knows it's a sure strike, and that gets her in close quarters to finish the fight....however she has to, if this melee attack doesn't work.

Rhyhorn, meanwhile, is charging down the hill with Cubchoo on his back and his head lowered: that's his Trainer, you jerks! He's going to Stomp on the first human he reaches, and Cubchoo leaps off to use Powder Snow on the cell Haruka's team hit earlier. She's not sure what's going on, but you've been misbehaving!

Murkrow is somewhat less swayed by emotion. He beats Cubchoo to striking their former target, swooping down in Pursuit. ]

[Once again, most of their Pokemon are too swift under the effects of the strange psychic powers infusing the area. Lethe gets in her Yawn at one of the Reuniclus, who seems just as apathetic about being put to sleep next round as Lethe did about Yawning. Fake Out strikes another Reuniclus, effectively unable to act now in its surprise.

The two injured Reuniclus will fall to the center of the circle, the other four spreading out to cover the empty space. The two damaged ones begin to glow, using Recover to heal themselves.

In the meantime, the three still capable of attacking will again bring their Psychic powers to bear. Their target this time is Michiru as they see that she's caught her victim unawares. The Psychic blasts will come in a burst of three this time, staggered so it's more difficult for her to avoid. Individually, though, they'll be weaker than the massive attack they previously leveled at Haruka.

The soldiers haven't sat idle, either. It's taken them a round to set up, but they look up now, and they hold a shield in one hand and a strange device in another.]

Wait until they get close!

[Which happens almost immediately. It seems that Setsuna, Michiru, and Haruka each choose a different soldier to attack.

Haruka's is the leader. He reacts most swiftly and even as the first strike of the Aerial Ace connects, he's slapped her with whatever it was he was holding. She has half a second to do something about it before it injects her with a paralyzing venom. Rhyhorn will reach the leader afterwards for the Stomp, but this will be slightly mitigated as he brings up his shield to block.

Powder Snow is almost entirely ineffective through the Light Screen, being a relatively weak attack in the first place.

Michiru's soldier, is less coordinated as she appears behind him and has no chance to retaliate. His device drops to the floor. But the Psychic attacks from the Reuniclus will come almost immediately after, interrupting her and preventing him from being too badly damaged. He scrambles around on the floor to try and recover it.

The final soldier will, strangely, only pay attention to Setsuna long enough to defend against her Feint Attack and slash at her with a sword to keep her at a distance. Then he immediately turns and tosses his device towards Michiru and Gardevoir. When it lands on the ground, it springs open and releases an electric field to send high-powered voltage coursing out through its victims.]

Statuses:
Reuniclus 1 (Used Recover): Struck with Bite, Mid Health
Reuniclus 2 (Used Recover): High Health
Reuniclus 3 (Faked Out): High Health, will Sleep next turn
Reuniclus 4 (Used Psychic): High Health, Captivated
Reuniclus 5 (Used Psychic): High Health
Reuniclus 6 (Used Psychic): High Health

Human Leader (Used Venom): Fighting Haruka - Mid Health, Struck with Aerial Ace, Stomp
Human 1 (Dropped Device): Fighting Michiru - High Health, Struck with Water Pulse
Human 2 (Used Electrocution): Fighting Setsuna - Mid Health, Struck with Feint Attack, Bite

[Lethe tilts her head up. The cells are doing weird dance moves and she's not sure if she likes them or not. The recently summoned female Meowstic lands beside Lethe and bats at Lethe's ear, Focus! And with that command Lethe opens her mouth and sprays the cell creatures with a Water Gun. Has that Light Screen come down yet?

Hecate realizes she's going to have to help keep Lethe in check or else she's just as likely to daze off in battle. What's a cat got to do around here to make sure her mistress doesn't get injured or worse? Why'd her mistress bond with this pokemon anyway? Oh well, not her business. Hecate's eyes flash and she decides to engage in a little Psychic warfare of her own. Her ears lift and she blasts a Psyshock at the cells. Oh, and with her Infiltrator ability, it wouldn't be much of an issue if they had Light Screen or not.

Meanwhile, in the other battle scene, Setsuna manages to fall back before the sword makes contact. This is helped by the fact that she activates a Light Screen just in time which assists her in blocking the blade. The psychic force field glows softly in front of her. These people are serious if they are coming at them like this!

However, she's just as serious and you just happened to attack the woman who is bonded with a seriously aggressive and proud Houndour. Cerberus growls and spins on the man gathering fire in his breath before unleashing Ember on him.]

[ow. At least she manages to loose that Water Pulse, even if she gets hit by Psychic from behind. And ow. Of course. Electricity. It had to be Electricity. Getting out of the field with Gardevoir would be the first thing and. Maybe being less stunned would be helpful.

Argh. Gardevoir takes the initiative even without Michiru, and retaliates, hitting the scrambling human with a Psychic blast, with a particular aim to keep him away from that device. Gyarados and Milotic are no less happy about their Trainer getting hit, and both serpents release a Twister at all the cells. It's almost accommodating, how they're all grouped together.

Michiru takes stock and then gathers a Brine in her hands, eyes aglow with a Nasty Plot. Deliberately ignoring the one who electrocuted her, she turns and sends it towards the leader of the soldiers.]

[ Michiru...

Haruka hadn't been able to react in time to keep herself from being poisoned; she's flat on the ground, willing her hand towards her pocket where a Pecha Berry's waiting (thank you, fon Fabre family party) but between the current state of the field and the fact she can barely move, it's slow going. World Shaking stands protectively over her; she argues feebly, mentally, with Cubchoo to fall back and fails. This is too much for the bear. But Cubchoo doesn't want to be sent home useless, either. ] Choo!

[ Cuchoo's own Brine (small as it may be) joins Michiru's in assaulting the leader; World Shaking tosses his head, then adds a Rock Blast to the attack. Murkrow strikes the weakened Reuniclus with another Night Shade.

Haruka, meanwhile, is using every ounce of her strength to fight poison-induced paralysis enough to bite into this Berry. Please let this work. Please. She hasn't fulfilled her mission yet, and she can't let her recklessness become a liability for Michiru and Setsuna. ]

Sh-showoffs.

[ Michiru or the enemy? Who knows. ]

Edited 2014-06-04 03:51 (UTC)

Take her out!

[As Haruka is down, the enemy captain charges forward to attempt to take her out of the game for good. World Shaking is in the way; one of the Reuniclus attempts to fix this minor issue by hammering it aside with a Focus Blast. The intervals between the strikes between Rock Blasts is just enough time for the soldier to make a strong strike with the hilt of his sword right at Haruka's head!

But moments before he strikes, Michiru's Brine sweeps in and knocks him forward - ostensibly, this would be a good thing were it not for the fact that he's now falling blade first towards Haruka...

Michiru is in the second most precarious position, and as she aims her Brine towards the captain, the soldier scrabbling on the ground beside her has recovered his device. He sweeps his leg out to try and knock her to the ground, after which he activates his device to spray her with some sort of incredibly sticky substance, acting as a net to try to prevent her from moving or attacking.

Setsuna is... entirely unhampered. The soldier fighting her evidently believed that it was more important to remove one or two of them from the equation entirely.

But it doesn't look too good for the Sailor Scouts...]

Choo!

[Cubchoo's Brine sweeps in just as the stumbling captain is about to skewer Haruka! Force doubly amplified by his weakened state, it blasts him back a good ten feet, and he splays on the ground, choking up seawater.]

Captain!

[The swordsman fighting Setsuna raises a shield to the flames, then realizes it's getting quite hot and throws it at Cerberus's face. Another sweep of the sword is made to keep her back before he's running to try and defend his commander.

In the meantime, Water Gun and Psyshock have struck one of the Reuniclus, and the two Twisters a few others. While a few of them retreat back into the center to Recover, the rest hover, uncertain now of what to do. ...One of them snores.

If they act fast, they can take control of this battle within the next few seconds!]

Reuniclus 1 (Recover): High Health, struck by Twister
Reuniclus 2 (Focus Blast): High Health
Reuniclus 3 (Did nothing): High Health, Asleep, struck by Twister
Reuniclus 4 (Recover): High Health, Captivated, struck by Twister
Reuniclus 5 (Did Nothing): Mid Health, struck by Water Gun, Psyshock
Reuniclus 6 (Did Nothing): High Health, struck by Twister

Human Leader (Did Nothing): Fighting Haruka - Low Health, struck by Rock Blast, Brine, Brine
Human 1 (Used Entangle): Fighting Michiru - High Health
Human 2 (Used Slash): Fighting Setsuna - Mid Health, Blocked Ember

Edited 2014-06-05 00:21 (UTC)

[Cerberus growls and dodges the shield thrown at him. Setsuna pulls back to avoid getting skewered, but she can sense that the man is distracted now so his intent to slash at her isn't followed through very well.]

Cerberus! Go!

[The Houndour, used to working in a pack, springs after the retreating swordsman. He leaps over him however, recognizing that the leader is the weakest of the bunch right now. If he can beat the other swordsman there all the better. He bears his teeth and lunges at the captain with the intent of using Beat Up to take him out.

Setsuna assists in this endeavor by trying to take down the man rushing to his aid. She Teleports in front of him to block his way and kicks at him. She's not letting you get out of this so easily.

The pokemon had more strength than there human counterparts...then again Reuniclus DOES have Recover going for it. Hecate and Lethe attack again with the same moves from before. If nothing else they can keep the pokemon focused on them and not turn their attention on the girls.]

[Michiru manages to counter that leg sweep and to get her arms up, but she gets caught up in the stuff. The soldier gets a glare...and her eyes are glowing with another Nasty Plot. Gardevoir sweeps in and levels a Moonblast at the human and Michiru follows up immediately with a Psybeam. Her mobility is about zero, but that doesn't stop her from attacking, at least.

A thought, and Gyarados throws another Twister at the cells while Milotic turns and aims a neat Water Pulse straight at Michiru's soldier.]

[ Hey, careful with that sword! ~~There's only one individual Haruka allows to penetrate her person.~~ Haruka rolls so that she's basically all but beneath World Shaking just to be sure she isn't in the way of those attacks; the more she eats of the Berry, the more she can feel the venom draining from her system. Not long now. Right, she can stand...

It's interesting, the way those Pokémon clump together. Setsuna's Houndour seems to have Haruka's prime target under control, so what if. Hm. Worth a shot.

Pulling herself up using World Shaking as a handhold, she physically turns his head so he's facing the sleeping Reuniclus and its fellows, then gives him his favorite command. ] Run.

[ And there goes Rhyhorn, Bulldozing his way towards the enemy. Cubchoo is so excited that Brine worked that she uses it again, aiming for the soldier that'd assaulted Michiru (Setsuna is in the way of the other). Murkrow continues to pick on the weakest target, Pursuing it before wheeling off to see whether he can make himself irritating to the soldiers. Anybody need a beak to the head?

Haruka's up by this point, however. And more than ready to be done with this fight. Whatever's in this caravan had better be worth taking intact. ]

No finesse. [ She whips an Air Slash at the back of the soldier Setsuna had just kicked and grins around him at her ally. She can barely stand. Clearly, that means she needs to mouth off. ] This is a Pokémon battle.

[The Reuniclus all glance awkwardly at each other as Rhyhorn gallops their way. ...Then they float up about twenty feet in the air. If Rhyhorn doesn't stop, he'll crash straight into the caravan and do some hefty damage, which seems fine with the Reuniclus.

The soldier entangling Michiru will quickly bring up his shield to protect himself from the attacks coming his way; he pushes his way forward through water, psyblast, and... moon power to reach down and hold his sword to the prone Michiru's throat.]

B-Back off from the captain or I slice her thr --

[Donk.

The threat is somewhat short lived as Brine comes from a direction he didn't anticipate to blast him in the face.

Setsuna's soldier will stop in his tracks at her sudden appearance. Shieldless now, her kick catches him off-guard, but a kick probably isn't the best weapon to bring to a fight against a sword as he attempts to slice at her once again.

Meantime, the captain is too busy being savaged to do much but scream.

The Reuniclus seem to have decided that they're really not invested enough in this battle to get beat up when their trainer is already almost dead and spend their time using Recover on themselves. If the enemy could kindly return them to their Pokeballs when they were done so they could be passed on to some other trainer once these ones were dead, they'd appreciate it.]

[It appeared they were down to one. Setsuna was glad she had a battle to focus on and not the cries of the dying captain. Perhaps she'd let Cerberus get a little TOO aggressive. She stumbles back as the blade comes at her, though for her troubles gets cut on the leg.

Setsuna gasps in pain and teleports back again.

Unfortunately for the man that cut her, Cerberus is now finished with the captain. He senses his partner's pain and blasts another Ember towards the guy. You have really picked the wrong person to mess with, buddy.]

[Michiru's soldier gets one last vindictive psychic attack. Looks like crushing enemies to the ground with one's mind is pretty useful. And stay down.

She rolls over, trying to get to her knees, at least, even as Gardevoir grabs her and Teleports them away from the soldier, and closer to the others.

With Setsuna out of the way, Michiru sends a thought to Gyarados and the serpent throws a controlled Dragon Rage at the remaining soldier, taking care not to hit Cerberus. Milotic holds, for the moment, and coils herself around Michiru and Gardevoir instead.]

Edited 2014-06-05 04:58 (UTC)

[ ....and there goes World Shaking, right into the caravan. You break it, you bought it, buddy: whatever they salvage, you're carting back to Caldera.

Haruka will make no excuses. She was busy noticing Michiru's peril, then being impressed (not that she'll show it) with Cubchoo. Good girl. Now fall back. You too, Murkrow - but keep an eye on those cells in case the retreat is a feint.

This isn't the greatest place to be standing, however, since Cerberus has decided to make Haruka's former target his own. She wanders over to the Captain, retrieves his sword and his Poké Balls, then makes her way to Michiru's side. If either of the soldiers seems to still be putting up a fight, she'll knock them over the head with that sword, but you ladies seem to have this pretty well taken care of.

She stoops to retrieve the PokéBalls from the soldier Michiru'd flattened against the ground, too, and turns to Michiru. Nice scarf. ] You okay?

The Battle for Caldera

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misread some stuff earlier, did not mean to imply we were killing people |D

yaay for "fainting"

nobody dies in sail---i mean, pokémon