Seeing as how Shuckle wasn't poisoned, it would seem that Defense Curling in the face of a special move payed off, or at least wasn't punished. Either way, with a second hit of rollout, it will have been damage-efficient, and Yawn is a relatively slow move. Although Troy doesn't doubt Shuckle's ability to withstand a direct attack or two while asleep, it would be nice to avoid the scenario altogether. With that in mind... "Spin as fast as you can! Tear up the arena and use it against the bubble."
Shuckle attempts to speed up, spinning around the arena, back towards Troy, before coming back towards the bubble and swerving, kicking up as must dust and debris as possible towards the bubble and Gulpin.
Popped or not, the bubble and the dust should provide a workable level of visual obscurity to make Rollout difficult to defend against.
"Now back around." Shuckle continues the swerve, circling around in an arc in order to spin towards Gulpin while avoiding proximity with the bubble and any effects it may have as it may or not pop.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Full moveset:
Level-up moves: Withdraw (lv. 1) Wrap (lv. 1) *Rollout (lv. 5) Struggle Bug (lv. 10) *Power Split (lv. 35, as an exception to make things less boring) Power Trick (lv. 55, as an exception to make things less boring) Previous generation exclusive moves: Bide (lv. 1) Constrict (lv. 1) Mud-Slap (egg move) Egg moves: Acid Acupressure Covet *Defense Curl Final Gambit *Infestation Knock Off Sweet Scent Toxic Learned TMs: Hidden Power (Electric based on ivs)
The queen of deceit strikes again, uncoiling her vast tendrils and winding them around us all in a leathery vice grip akin to that of an anaconda cosplaying as a bear trap, snapping shut on our collective legs and whispering promises of total consumption.
ZARIA, wielder of misdirection and chaotic sower of confusion, how far doth thou aim to grasp?
Just when Troy had given up, when Zaria had completely thrown him off with acting worthy of an award, she had come back around and boldly proclaimed that her earlier statement was a blatant, flagrant, and utterly shameless lie. She knew the transfer students would know immediately. She could have picked any lie, but instead chose to announce her previous statement as the lie in front of the entire class. Did she know the teacher would conduct this particular icebreaker? Was this all planned from the onset? Is Professor Caprea in her pocket? How powerful is her influence, and how high up does it go? Why would she have such influence? Why would she deliberately let the transfer students know she lied? This timing is too perfect. Does she want Troy to suspect her ulterior motives? Is she trying to say there's more than meets the eye? How great is her ambition, and for what purpose does she taunt Troy and the other transfers with this?
Troy goes on like this for quite a while, ruminating on possible explanations for Zaria's actions but not coming to any satisfactory conclusions.
Eventually classes come to an end and the class 2-A tournament begins, with a TM on the line for the victor. Naturally, Troy is ready and raring to go, putting aside the Zaria mystery for the time being to focus solely on his battle. For the first time in front of others, he sends out Shuckle on the battlefield and gives it an affirmative nod. No words need to be said.
He is matched up with a classmate named Bobby, who insists they will be the best trainer in class, screaming even louder than Zaria did earlier today. He then proceeds to say some nonsense he probably stole word-for-word from an anime or something and takes the initiative with a Sludge attack from his Gulpin.
Troy couldn't help but notice the attack's shoddy quality, sparser than one should expect and symptomatic of Gulpin's visible inexperience. Even in spite of Shuckle's defensive focus, power split is unlikely to yield much (if any) results this battle, and Shuckle should theoretically do the most damage through brute force.
As for Gulpin's attack, although poison is usually very difficult for a Shuckle to deal with before learning Rest, it's shouldn't be an issue for a 1v1 battle with healing available in between, so long as things don't get dragged out. Troy hates to take chances, but expecting a Shuckle to dodge an attack with no setup is like expecting the sun to stop shining. Still, it's not like there's no counter-measures.
"Block it with defense curl."
Shuckle withdraws into its shell and angles itself to avoid direct contact with the sludge as the poison comes to drape itself over his shell.
"Now, shake it off with rollout!"
Shuckle begins spinning rapidly, attempting to shake off the poison while it barrels toward Gulpin.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Full moveset:
Level-up moves: Withdraw (lv. 1) Wrap (lv. 1) *Rollout (lv. 5) Struggle Bug (lv. 10) *Power Split (lv. 35, as an exception to make things less boring) Power Trick (lv. 55, as an exception to make things less boring) Previous generation exclusive moves: Bide (lv. 1) Constrict (lv. 1) Mud-Slap (egg move) Egg moves: Acid Acupressure Covet *Defense Curl Final Gambit *Infestation Knock Off Sweet Scent Toxic Learned TMs: Hidden Power (Electric based on ivs)
The risk of Taunt, Encore, and status ailments are devastating for almost any single-pokemon team. He didn't give a clear answer to Masaru earlier because of this; such an encounter should not even be called a battle. Still, even without any countermeasures, the prospect of battle fills Troy with anticipation, in a good way. His Shuckle is not completely without battle experience, but he hasn't had much opportunities to get practical training in with Shuckle, a problem that can only be remedied with many, many more battles. From the looks of things, he won't have to wait until after school hours to get started.
As Troy and the others arrive at class and take their seats, the teacher, Professor Caprea, begins her self-introduction and proposes a simple ice-breaker; two truths and a lie. Students are called up one at a time to introduce themselves and give random facts about themselves, a ritual Troy hasn't seen since elementary.
He supposes this would be a good time to take a look at some of his future battle opponents, though most of the facts these people give about themselves are so inane as to be pointless. He ends up forgetting most of them, and by the time he is called he has gleamed nothing of value. Par for the course, to be fair.
Troy stands and makes his way to the front of the room, without bothering to bring any piece of paper with him. He initially considered making three statements wherein any one of them could be accurately called a truth or a lie, with the other two statements changing in their truthfulness based on that, but ultimately, that wouldn't say anything about himself as Professor Caprea intended, other than that he liked being a smartass or some shit. Troy comes to a stop in the front of the room, turns around and crosses his arms.
"My name is Troy. I've been in hundreds of battles, if not thousands, using pokemon that do not belong to me. I will do anything it takes to win a battle, even if it costs me my dignity. I don't like talking about myself."
A crowd response is only as gullible as its most gullible member, or at least the most gullible person to say something. Even Troy thought he was laying it on a little thick by putting the bait third after Professor Caprea brought it up, but they fell for the it like a coyote realizing it's just run off of a cliff.
"The third statement is not a lie. I am not the best at externalizing my introspection, and I often find praise discomforting."
After that, Occam's Razor takes effect and the next guess is for the first statement.
"The first statement is not a lie either. My father has a vast collection of pokemon, and it's what I've been using to do rental battles on an almost daily basis, multiple times a day, for the past couple of years."
"So it's the second one?"
"The statement was that I'd do anything it takes to win a battle. 'Anything' would include dishonest or unsavory methods. As for me, there's no satisfaction to be found in a hollow victory. It's much more fun to play games on higher difficulties."
With that, Troy returns to his seat as Professor Caprea calls on the next student.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Troy didn't pay the closest attention to the conversation between Zaria and Antoinetta. He had mostly lost interest in the conversation when Tim rejected his offer and it wandered off into topics irrelevant, like what pokemon are supposedly ugly. Zaria's motives and methods remain to be seen, though the possibility that Troy was expecting something beyond reality out of her actions was creeping its way into consideration. Even with such a possibility on the table though, that does not rule out grander designs, which just makes it harder to guess whether her actions are an act or not. Either way, the conversation was taken over with the introduction of two new students.
"I'm Evey!"
"Masaru"
"Troy."
Evey goes on about the interruption this morning. He had to admit, Zaria was really loud earlier, but it's not as if it was unprovoked, nor as if the faculty had done much about the situation to suggest they had any interest in keeping it from happening again. If this is how the PMA reacts to altercations between students, then it begged the question how competent the faculty actually were. It was always possible that staff competency outweighed their disciplinary shortcomings, but the school prefect wasn't instilling any faith.
In any case, Masaru seemed interested in a battle, but wasn't requesting one directly. Judging from his demeanor and choice of company, he didn't trust Masaru enough to expect the battle to not have consequences. Troy wasn't one to turn a battle down, even if there were social risks, if only because the best training is always hands-on. However, there was a risk that Shuckle would be shut down altogether, gaining no meaningful experience and making the entire encounter a pointless waste of time. Troy's metaphorical trigger finger itched, but his team of one still had obvious weaknesses that might impede practical training.
"If you're looking for a battle, you might have to wait a while." He didn't want to delay a battle unnecessarily, but as it stands right now, it was unclear how much he stood to gain from this, making it conflict with his goals. His team was too unbalanced, and as any one-man team is, utterly helpless against a variety of moves or ailments.
Still... the allure of battle was tempting. Troy didn't want to rule out the possibility, so he gives a simple explanation that would let him work with a non-committal time-frame. "We have class, after all." Troy eyes the others, waiting to see if they had something to say or if it was time to just leave.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Troy A pleasant breeze blew in, coming from Antoinetta's Combee. Troy looked its way and held his gaze for the majority of the conversation. There was something really pleasant about a Combee's innocent smile, radiating infectious positivity.
It's a shame this one didn't seem very happy at the moment.
"Say, Troy, you didn't take your pokemon out at the ceremony, right? What kind do you have? Show us your starter! Inquiring minds wanna know! Haha, right Netty?"
"Anyway, yeah. Moving along, let's see your starter."
"No thanks." Troy responded without even looking in her direction, though he did avert his eyes from Combee as attention got drawn to him, putting it onto Antoinetta. It helped that they were next to each other. "Maybe some other time." Revealing Shuckle at this point would be pointless. There's no reason to bring a Pokemon out when it doesn't pertain to battles, training, or routine care, right?
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
"You know, there's more to being a breeder than just hatching eggs. It's also about raising and caring for the babies. Making sure they grow up happy and healthy. Giving them proper nutrition. All of that stuff. I can't tell you how many innocent baby Pokemon my parents had to take in because so called "breeders" leave them out on the streets without a parent after hatching just because the Pokemon doesn't live up to their standards."
Troy raises an eyebrow. "It's a good thing it's illegal then." Troy's father went so far as to get a personal daycare. Of course, it's used for more than just the breeding itself. The daycare is constantly brimming with young pokemon, raised mainly by Ditto and the daycare staff. The non-electric types are raised until they can fend for themselves and released into an appropriate habitat, while the rest are put into the power plant programs. It's a nice place, if only because all the pokemon there are family. It's a little mind-boggling to think of how nearly all of his father's pokemon originate from the same Ditto, who is older than Troy himself. The sheer number of pokemon born there over the years total in the thousands, and on occasion the pokemon born there make the trek back to visit. He can't help but wonder how Shuckle's mother has been doing lately.
Back to Tim, he wants to be a breeder, yet the moment someone mentions breeding a pokemon for competitive standards, he brings up a negative experience related to illegal breeding practices. "If you're not comfortable with breeding pokemon for battle, you may want to reconsider your career choice, or at least the current market demands." Maybe this is an instance of culture shock? Unovan values are pretty ultra-capitalist, though producing specific improvements in pokemon is literally part of a breeder's job description, isn't it? Well, Tim's not a breeder yet... "I suppose it would be difficult to breed large quantities of pokemon and take care of them yourself without the proper arrangements. Forget I said anything." Stepping into his father's world, even if just to look around, is quite a big leap. If Troy wanted to breed a pokemon without his resources, it would be a long and arduous process. Maybe it's too much to expect other students to be able to take that step...
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
"What a morning, huh? Things got kinda crazy there. But we got to see that shiny grass pokemon. That was amazing! You know, I saw a Butterfree like that once! It was pink instead of purple, and super pretty. Saw it when I was out on ranger patrol. Cool, right? What about you guys? Have you guys ever seen shinies before?"
"Oh yeah, I once saw a Roselia with black and purple flowers in a contest,"
"That must have been cool,"
"You like Butterfrees?"
"Oh, well the shiny was cool, but they're just not my kind of pokemon. I mean they're alright! I just wouldn't want one. Ever. They're freaky! They're pretty from afar I guess, but if you get up close and see their face, they're just gross, right?"
"Wrong! Butterfrees are adorable... I mean... aren't rangers supposed to appreciate all pokemon?”
"Not necessarily. Their job is to protect all Pokemon, but they need only appreciate the most useful pokemon available to help them do their job." Butterfree are an interesting pokemon, but they're very hard to make work in battle in a way that isn't just an inferior Venomoth. They are both users of the Sleep Powder+Quiver Dance combo. Venomoth are faster, have stronger moves, and are less susceptible to Stealth Rock, while Butterfree have the Compound Eyes ability for a more accurate Sleep Powder. Unfortunately, Butterfree don't have Baton Pass, (unlike Venomoth) and have limiting move options, so it's better off with the Tinted Lens ability (which they both have) anyway. "Butterfree tend to be less useful than Venomoth in battle, though I'm not knowledgeable enough to say whether that translates to a Ranger's job or not." Certainly, Venomoth are found in less places than Butterfree are, and pacifying people or pokemon might be more useful than actually fighting them for a ranger.
Troy turns to Zaria. "Oh, and, to answer your earlier question, I've seen countless shiny pokemon." They're useful currency, so to speak, when trading for pokemon with potential, and many are born every year in the nurseries Troy's father owns. If he had to estimate the number of indaividual shiny pokemon he's seen his father own, it'd probably be in the hundreds if not thousands, though most of them are only obtained for further trading. "You could try trading my father for one. He has a near-endless supply of shiny electric pokemon, and can get his hands on most else, though he's very particular about the kind of pokemon he wants. You'd have to breed a pokemon up to his standards." Troy looks towards Tim. "You said you wanted to be a pokemon breeder, right?
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Shiny pokemon are rare, but they are no different from regular pokemon in battles, so Troy disregarded them for the most part. Finding a pokemon up to snuff was hard enough, let alone finding a shiny one of the same standard. Admittedly, some of them possessed a certain aesthetic appeal, though he can't say that about Meganium's shiny variation, with its sickly yellowish hue. Considering the altercation it came to break up as not concerning him, he payed it no mind, instead focusing on the opening ceremony, at least when it finally began. It was full of flowery words that didn't mean anything like "enrichment" and was read off with an unnecessary slowness that was irritating to the point of madness, so basically the exact same as any other school. Troy listened to every single word, and by the time it was finished, couldn't help but think this that this should have been an email. Then again, it wouldn't have been an email worth reading either.
"Hey! Guys, does anyone want to walk to class together? Tim? Anotinetta? Er, Troy? It'd be kinda nice after everything that just happened,"
Truly, an outstanding play by Zaria, excellent in its simplicity and efficacy. In one fell swoop she establishes a rigid dichotomy to alienate all the transfer students into a group of her own making. Her purposes are unclear; preliminary hypotheses include a similar motivation to Troy's own or a simple ploy for... what's the word... Popularity? Social sway? Emotional leverage? Whatever, what ultimately matters is that their current goals seem to align.
Valerie left immediately, but Tim and Antoinetta already agreed to join. Troy stands up, towering over Zaria, giving her what Troy would describe as a flawlessly neutral expression and what others might describe as a look of disdain, not that it's any different from the typical frown he's had on since before he even entered the amphitheater. "I'll join." Seeing as how he was the last among them to agree, he figured everyone was ready already, so he started walking out of the amphitheater. "Let's go." Needless to say, Troy already had the campus layout memorized, so walking alone would be fine by him, but just by adhering to Zaria's plot, he gains the benefit of temporarily becoming the third closest person to Zaria, Tim and Antoinetta in the entire school, a position close enough for them to be useful.
Hmm... Well, third assumes they're counting out Valerie, though fourth isn't much different, so it's a moot point. Antoinetta and Zaria still seem somewhat antagonistic to each other...
The social gymnastics here are starting to get annoying. They should just all become friends already.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
"I don't know, but I couldn't just ignore it! It didn't help! I can't just-- maybe you don't get it. Nevermind. I'm sorry, okay?! Just leave me alone!"
Hrmmm...
Although Antoinetta seemed to understand, Zaria implied it was Troy who lacked understanding. Judging from Tim's ongoing mental breakdown, Zaria isn't the only one who feels this way either.
Troy thought back to Zaria's exact words.
"I couldn't just ignore it!" "Maybe you don't get it."
The statement, 'Troy doesn't get why Zaria can't just ignore it' is a true one, though the knee-jerk assumption would be that Zaria simply lacks the competency to control her emotions. Unless you can recognize outward influences and evaluate their validity objectively, you are subject to being psychologically manipulated by others; this was one of the first lessons Troy's father taught him. He can't help but reason that they should be able to just ignore it, but by making that assumption, Troy knows he risks falling victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Zaria called Troy out for his lack of understanding, and if she isn't just deflecting, then that must mean there's a bigger picture here he isn't seeing.
Although it's true that Troy underwent homeschooling between elementary and now, he's never had a shortage of people, usually his father's employees, who made disparaging comments about him. After all, he is a rich kid who uses expensive vitamins on his pokemon. In their eyes, he is but a pampered child trying to substitute skill or hard work with piles of money. Even if you cut them out of the picture, Troy's father never minced words with him, no matter how harsh. Troy knows what having harmful words thrown at you is like, especially when they're true, because his father doesn't lie. If Zaria meant that Troy should check his privilege as someone who hasn't tripped, then she's succeeded, though not to any meaningful effect, since Troy still stands by his earlier statement.
Ruling that out as anything worth consideration, Troy tries to think up another possibility. After all, it would be rude to assume Zaria just can't comprehend the idea that Troy would not be phased in her position. Troy knows that he wouldn't be phased in her position because he would even offer to stand up and fall on his face in front of everyone to prove it if it didn't go against his entire point to begin with. Her disbelief in him is not enough to control his actions, and while it might be helpful in getting friendly with her so he can use her to train train with her later, it might ultimately repel some other partners, especially when Tim over here is crying us all a river solely because he was peer-pressured into it. When dealing with those who let themselves be controlled by social hierarchy, a degree of popularity might be necessary.
This line of thought is getting off-topic. Back to what Zaria said, why couldn't she 'just ignore it'? Was she hoping to accomplish something by yelling 'LEAVE US ALONE'? Ah, of course!
Troy looked back at Munchlax. Was she in on the heist? Well, the reverse heist. Mentally measuring the angle between Zaria and Munchlax, visibility between the two was undeniable. If Munchlax somehow sent a message to her, then that would explain her actions, but Troy was watching Munchlax the whole time. Unless they had met beforehand, there was no way for Munchlax to send her a message before she stood up to make that announcement, and from her angle, there was no way to see the pokefood Troy had set on the seat between himself and Valerie.
If that was not her aim, what else was it? 'Leave us alone'... surely, it wasn't the content of the message that held meaning, unless she was addressing someone specific in the crowd over a separate situation. It was definitely possible for her to meet others before getting to the amphitheater, but seeing as how all five of them were grouped together on account of being transfer students, it was unlikely that she knew anyone in the school well.
If it's not the content of the message, perhaps it was the volume. Maybe she was trying to attract someone's attention, perhaps the faculty of the PMA. If that's the case, then she should just walk up to them and inform them of the situation. Yelling reflects more poorly on her than leaving her seat would, if keeping in the staff's good graces was her goal.
Unless... she's also trying to manipulate the rest of the students. After all, you can't be snitched on if a teacher catches you in the act. If the teachers took action, it would take care of the jeers without drawing unnecessary ire from the ones throwing them, essentially conditioning the students into being nicer to her while putting her in the good graces of her fellow transfer students. She even followed up your response with the innocent and sensitive girl act, which was a nice touch. For a while, Troy even felt like he had to prove his sincerity in order to make her cooperate get her on friendly terms with him. There may be more to this Zaria person than meets the eye. Troy respects the play, but he'll have to be careful around her from now on.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Valerie, the cunning snake, deftly and effortlessly foiled Troy's evil plot to pet her Munchlax. Behind Troy's unchanging and forever neutral frown, he grit his teeth, completely forgetting that waking Valerie up was his original plan to begin with. Troy kicks his plans into overdrive, mentally landscaping a complex game of metaphorical 4D chess, a tightly interwoven galaxy of social motivations and calculations which are shattered in an instant when he gets distracted by a sudden yell.
"LEAVE US ALONE!"
Geez that's loud... A perfect opportunity. While Valerie is distracted, Troy flicks the pokemon food towards Munchlax and it lands directly in front of his mouth, a perfect shot. It disappears in the blink of an eye. Mission complete! Troy does a mental fist-pump.
Actually paying attention to his surroundings once more, he realizes that other sophomores have begun throwing jeers at them for being transfer students. Sure, there was the tripping and the scantily-clad teddy bear scientist casually chilling on the ground on top of her pokemon, but the fact that they were targeting their group as a whole solidified the fact that they didn't have any real justification. Well, not that acting like a grade schooler is justifiable, but it goes to show that nothing but bullshit was coming out of their mouths.
Troy addressed the young lady standing in confrontation, if only because seeing this continue would be hard to watch. "Just ignore them. They're only engaging in the worst form of tribalism. The ones hurling insults like children could care less about anything embarrassing you've done and the rest are either apathetic or subject to the bystander effect." Honestly, he expected better out of the student body of a school as prestigious as this one. Teaching students how to discipline pokemon is one thing, but teaching students how to discipline themselves is a vital part of any profession relating to pokemon. If they can't even recognize the underlying cause of their behavior, then they will be swayed easily by their emotions and controlled by simple psychology, two fatal flaws for a pokemon trainer, or coordinator for that matter.
Returning to his excessively reserved attempt at networking, Troy started taking note of the names on the nametags of those around him, expanding his attention from the two people sitting next to him to include the two girls who recently arrived. Zaria, the loud one, and Antoinetta, the one who fell three times consecutively. With these four people, he has a nice blend of an easy matchup, (Combee) a neutral matchup, (Munchlax) a disadvantageous matchup, (Magnemite) and a nigh-impossible matchup (Taunt Rockruff) for his Shuckle. He might need more training targets partners when he fills out his team further, but this this will do for now.
Shuckle Lv. 10 Ability: Sturdy Item: Berry Juice - Power Split - Defense Curl - Rollout - Infestation
Xaltwind
Double
RPM
Rune_Alchemist
PlatinumSkink
Renose
SpookySquid
RisingRobin
Expendable
