bravenewworld | 20 ♪

Entry tags:

20 ♪

[Video]

Happy New Year, Union.

[Rise sits in her bedroom at the theater, smiling pleasantly into her Warp Band and waiting for the tea in front of her to cool off enough to drink. In the background, her Gardevoir can be seen taking a brush to a rather put-out looking young Espeon.]

It's been almost a year since that earthquake and the time when we discovered other living humans, and I really...

[She holds a hand up to her head.]

Ooh, sorry. I didn't even celebrate much last night. Anyway, I--owwww...

[She pauses and clutches her head again. In the background, her Pokémon both shoot her a startled look, then duck and cover under the bed. There's a sudden noise and then static from the Warp Band.]

[Action, Union Divine Theater]

[There's a sudden flash of bright light and a sort of musical blast that comes from Rise's room, knocking her door off its hinges and shattering her windows. It doesn't do much damage beyond that, though any Psychic-types in the area are probably going to have a ringing headache for several minutes from the feedback.]

[Video, a few minutes later.]

[The feed turns back on after a few minutes. The bedroom in the background looks disheveled, like someone's desk and linen closet exploded, but the person smiling rather punch-drunk into the camera and the two Pokémon rubbing their heads in the background all appear to be fine. In fact, Rise suddenly looks a good deal more mature, although part of that might just be that the psychic blast destroyed her girly hairdo.]

Heeeey, Haruka, I finally caused as much property damage as you!

[She feels around on her head, generally looking for signs of her appearance changing.]

Wait, all that and all I get is more hair again?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Should I be offended?

[ Haruka is in the theater herself. In fact, Haruka is in her room and appears completely capable of walking to Rise's room to hold this conversation, but that would involve effort. So here's a video. For now. ]

Nope! It's a proud moment when I can capture Haruka Tenoh's intensity in anything, be it a performance or basic Enlightened biology.

[ Nonsense. You've got a glamour all your own. But Haruka will let it slide, grinning as she takes in the new look. ] Just keep it light for auditions. We don't want to overwhelm the kids.

[ Pot, kettle. Kettle, vast dark voids of the universe. ]

You look good, Skitty.

You're not just saying that because I'm female and in the same general vicinity as you, right?

Hey... [ Haruka's smiling, though. Rise sassing back is fun, even if she's not about to ask for an explanation. You don't seriously seem to be selling yourself short. That's enough.

What are the odds she can casually slip out of the room while still talking and meander her way to Rise's room without being noticed? ] How's it feel?

[Without being noticed by Rise? Right now? Pretty much nil. Rise actually made her way out of the debris and into the hall to meet her.]

Actually, pretty amazing. Like I can reach out and touch people halfway across town just by thinking about it.

[ What a coincidence! Haruka keeps walking, too. ] Sounds useful.

[ Walking walking walking... ]

[Rise thinks for a second, then falls into step following Haruka. She'll know when Asemu shows up to help with the cleanup, after all.]

I don't know if I picked up anything else that'll be useful in a fight, but I should at least be better at what I've been doing so far.

[ Fancy meeting you here. Haruka thinks for a moment, then turns her footsteps towards the courtyard. ] Care to show me?

Huh? You mean like a Pokémon battle?

[She thinks.]

Well, I guess I can, but if you haven't noticed all my abilities tend to be pretty pointless in a one-on-one fight.

Then pick your stage.

[ Really, any way Rise wants to test her new abilities, Haruka's up for observation and assistance where necessary. Knowing the limits of one's allies' power is important. ] It's your spotlight, Skitty.

You say that, and I want to do something Contest-style, but that doesn't show off my Enlightened stuff either.

Hm...oh, you know what I haven't tried, though? Doing a Battle or a Contest doing my instructions with telepathy.

[Because not constantly chattering during a fight just feels unnatural.]

It's coming through a lot clearer than before, so maybe I could try that.

My ears are open. [ Not to mention that sounds really, really useful.

Here's the courtyard, though they can head anywhere Rise needs to pick up Pokémon or supplies. ] D'you need anything?

Well...if we do a proper Contest, I'm gonna spend all morning accessorizing. Why don't we just do a 2 on 2 Pokémon spar? I can do that no problem.

That works. [ Who should she use, though....Haruka checks her Warp Band to see who she even has tuned to it. There's a few folks here at the Theater, too, but....

Well, she won't lead with Gold so she won't have to make that decision right now. On the one hand, he's no challenge. On the other hand, he needs the training.

Okay, she'll go with this, then. She holds up her Warp Band. ] Ready.

[Rise takes a position on the other side of the courtyard from Haruka and holds up her own Warp Band.]

Ready!

[She then closes her eyes, sends out a telepathic heads up, and activates the Warp Band. Kaneda the Espeon appears, still pawing at his ears after the Psychic burst from earlier. At least Rise had Warped him instead of asking him to jump out the broken window...]

Edited 2015-01-16 15:51 (UTC)

[ Espeon, huh? Haruka's Pokémon of choice is Ninjask - "Slashing Through the Breeze" is underleveled to be facing a trusted member of Rise's team like Kaneda, but that just means she's in need of the experience. Besides, this is an exhibition match for Rise more than something Haruka expects to win.

And that will be a good lesson for Ninjask, too. ] Good luck.

[ With that, Ninjask disappears.

Okay, she's more moving at extremely high speeds, and will appear periodically against the Berry tree in the courtyard. Or on the wall. Or on the front gate. Or hovering in midair. But Haruka is letting Rise take the actual first move. Can you track the wind? ~~Or is Haruka just a jerk?~~ ]

[Rise kept her eyes closed. She could feel the Ninjask moving around, but still couldn't quite keep up with it. Still, she's not the one who had to.]

That's a Ninjask, Kaneda. They're the fastest Pokémon we know about, but I know you can catch her. Use Swift!

[Kaneda nodded at the silent instructions and stood perfectly still for a moment, trying to get a sense for Breeze's pattern. Then he pounced, swatting at the bug in mid-air with a perfectly accurate attack.]

[ THIS CANNOT BE

Ninjask watches that paw descend, startled. But she's -

- being whacked out of the sky, apparently, and Haruka smirks. Pride before a fall, and some excellent detection by the opposing parties. This will be interesting. ]

Don't hit. [ Breeze barely pulls herself up in time to avoid striking the ground. Don't tell her what to do, Trainer! She's got this!

Yeah, no. Haruka's composure doesn't waver. ] Mind Reader.

[ Now they won't miss next time. Ninjask swoops up high in the sky to prepare her next blow. Let's see them try and bring her down! ]

Okay, let's give her a surprise anyway. Future Sight!

[Kaneda doesn't especially like sitting around and waiting for an attack he foresaw, but on the other hand, the boom it made was pretty impressive. He sat and meditated, trying not to give a clue what he was doing several seconds in the future.]

[ More Psychic shenanigans, huh? ~~For that matter, why does Haruka's attack Bug not know any useful Bug moves? She should fix that.~~ Rather than try any funny business in the hopes of disrupting Future Sight, she decides to go for a straight-up attack and see how Rise does. ] Metal Claw!

[ Breeze wouldn't know a straight-up attack if it...well, smacked her in the face. She'll obey her Trainer's wishes, but she's attacking from behind.

This Pokémon doesn't care about foul play!! She'll use ~any methods she needs to~. ]

[The Metal Claw is effective, and gets a yelp from Kaneda.]

Kaneda!

Put up a Reflect while we wait, okay?

[Kaneda nods, and focuses his mind on physical defense.]

[ All right, they're in close. This is a pair of Psychics they're dealing with, so Rise probably has a trick up her sleeve - but this is a test battle to determine its effectiveness. Haruka should continue the attack, then. ]

Fury Swipes!

[ With a chitter, Breeze swoops around. She'll try to hit from a different angle every time her claws rake across the enemy - or the enemy's Reflect, as the case may be. ]

[Kaneda and Rise both were extremely glad for the extra protection afforded by that shield, cutting the Fury Swipes' damage down to something manageable, although Kaneda still ends up solidly beaten up. He's not meant to just absorb everything like Toyo is, darn it.]

Okay, you can do it, Kaneda! 3...2...1...

[The psychic blast from the past comes out of nowhere to hit Breeze like a mental truck, exactly as Kaneda foresaw it. Rise can't help but grin and jump up and down happily, though with some effort she keeps from talking.]

You've got him on the ropes, go for a ringout!

[With a drawn out Eeeeeeeeeessss, Kaneda charges up, then fires off a Psychic with a rather hammy PEON!, aiming to KO Breeze against the courtyard walls.]

[ Haruka's own intuition has her drawing a breath in dismay right before that Future Sight hits, but it's not enough time to do more than send a stab of panic mentally to her Pokémon. Breeze looks more shocked than anything - an attack faster than her? That cannot be! And it came from within, not without! - and isn't listening when Haruka sends her own mental shout to dodge -

dodge, damn it -

Breeze barely gets the hint in time to get out of the way of the brunt of the attack, so that instead of hitting the wall she gets blown upward into the tree. She still got hammered, though, and finds herself upside-down with her limbs stuck across various branches. This loss has cost her some dignity.

Especially since Haruka just chuckled. ] One down.

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Action whoops]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]