Encounters - Clay

Two powerful hits in a row before he can even react is too much for Sandy, and Clay bites his lip as the Mudkip staggers and falls. Maybe sending Sandy out was a mistake - he's one of Clay's slower Pokémon and the Rattata's blinding speed is a major factor.

Fan's still not fainted... barely. One good attack will almost certainly take her down. But she should be able to get one good hit of her own in before she goes down... maybe two, if the Rattata doesn't recover fast enough.

"Okay, sis, it all comes down to this! Gotta hit this one hard before it gets its teeth into you!" The glow around Fan's fists and feet his back, brighter than before, forming an aura around her limbs. "Now! Double Kick!"

Fan flings herself at the Rattata in a flurry of kicks.

Clay's Shift: Swap fainted Sandy for Fan.
Clay's Swift: Channel Fan.
Clay's Standard: Spirit Boost (Attack)
Fan's Init: 15 (no Agility Orders)
Turn 1:
Double Kick AC 3 vs 98FADQFd1d20, 1d20
Damage (1 hit): 1d6+25
Damage (2 hits): 2d6+28
Turn 2:
Double Kick AC 3 vs 1d20, 1d20
Damage (1 hit): 1d6+25
Damage (2 hits): 2d6+28

Turn 1, 1 hit crit: 1d6+51d20·1d20·1d6+25·2d6+28·1d20·1d20·1d6+25·2d6+28·1d6+5

Clay's eyes widen when Fan keeps going after the first kick - and the power behind the second attack makes the light in his eyes flicker out abruptly. "What in the... Fan! Sis! Stop! STOP!" The last word reverts back into Chimchar language, a panicked alarm cry somewhere between a howl and a screech. He runs forward to pull her away and returns her to her apricorn ball hurriedly... which means there's nothing to deal with but him and the poor kid who's just almost lost his Pokémon.

And Clay has absolutely no idea how to handle this. He can get a grasp on how the kid feels but he has no idea how he could possibly go about making it better. Empathy does you no good unless you know how to deal with the feelings. "Arceus, kid, I'm sorry. That's the first time I've seen her like that." He shakes his head and hangs it slowly. "I know, sorry doesn't cut it by a long shot. You can take a swing at me if you want. Or a bunch of them, I probably deserve it. But we gotta get your friend help. You know where the closest healer is?"

He'd go to the Guild, but it's probably farther away, and he doesn't know if they'd treat this poor kid's Pokémon even if Clay was the one paying. Which he intends to be. In a less serious situation he might be boasting about the kid picking fights he can't handle but he's pretty sure neither of them predicted Fan going that far.

Then he remembers that herb Fan found the other day. He digs it out of his bag and offers it to the boy. "Look, I've got something that might help him. Tastes terrible but it should take the edge off until we can get him to the healer. You want it?"

"... I just wanna help." Clay can kind of understand the kid not accepting it, though knowing how expensive healers can be (especially after having to rely on independent ones in Cerulean) he really wishes he would. Right now he can afford it; he doesn't know if the kid can.

And then comes the gut-punch. Clay doubles over for a moment, gasping - he's not quite as tough as he likes to pretend to be, and right now he's feeling even less so. By the time he recovers and looks up, the kid's gone.

Oh, Mankey crap. He tries to remember how much a non-guild healer would cost - probably for a couple of days - then pours the money into a pouch and sets it by the mouth of the alley. He digs a piece of chalk out of his pocket and scrawls shakily on the wall above it:

SORY - C

He's at somewhat of a loss to think of how to keep someone other than the kid from taking it. After a long moment's thought, he sighs and digs out another coin and drops it so it rings against the wall before turning and leaving. Maybe if he's lucky it'll get the kid's attention and he'll come back to get it.

Then he turns and trudges back to the Guild slowly. He is not going to have a good night... especially since he's going to have to confront Fan about this. That is not an argument he's looking forward to.

"All right! Fan, let's see how you handle that lizard!" Clay's not sure if Red Child would want revenge on the Kecleon or just not to be reminded of the whole incident. Better to sidestep the issue.

Fan grins challengingly as she flexes her hands - then darts toward the lizard to deliver a pair of powerful kicks.

Clay uses Agility Training!

Fan's init - 19
Fan uses Double Kick!
AC 3 vs IqsqQ8am1d20, 1d20
One hit: 1d6+21
Two hits: 2d6+241d20·1d20·1d6+21·2d6+24

Fan squeaks in outrage when the Kecleon suddenly fades into a shadow of itself. Now that is just not fair! The smack is just adding insult to injury.

Luckily, that's a trick Clay's aware of by now. "It turned into a ghost! Quick, light it up!"

Clay: Agility Training
Fan uses Ember!
AC 2 vs 9QTJ3Boc1d20, Burn 18+
2d6+25 Special Fire damage1d20·2d6+25

That is a very cool pose... unfortunately for it, cool poses do not prevent Fan from heating things up a bit more. She spits more fire at it as Clay cheers her on from the sidelines.

Clay: Agility Training
Fan: Ember
AC 2 vs 6V9cModq1d20, burn 18+
2d6+25 Special Fire1d20·2d6+25

Clay bites his lip. This isn't looking good - Fan's still up, but only barely. If he goes for a Fighting attack, he's sure the Kecleon will just do that sneaky quick change into a Ghost-type again, and if he sticks with Ember the rocky shell will shed it. The obvious thing to do is switch, which makes him sad since he was hoping to give Fan a nice victory in front of Tiki and Holly, but this is looking like an enemy that, say, Missile would cope much better with.

Apparently Fan has other ideas though. Before Clay can reach for his Pokéball, Fan charges the lizard, her body glowing and changing. By the time she's crossed the distance between them, she's grown larger, with bold markings on her face and her flame whipping at the end of a longer tail. The newly-evolved Monferno lashes out with a fist at her opponent, faster than the eye can follow.

Fan uses Mach Punch with Priority!
AC 2 vs nV3aNb3l1d20+1 (1 AP spent)
2d6+28 Physical Fighting damage1d20+1·2d6+28

Clay cries out when Fan goes down in spite of her sudden evolution, and shoots the Kecleon a glare. These things are just nothing but trouble!

"Right, Missile! Let's finish off this lizard!" A Carvanha isn't terribly mobile on land, but Clay tosses him right into the fray, and Missile hurls himself at his opponent on a jet of water.

Clay uses Agility Training!
Missile's Init: 21
Missile uses Aqua Jet as Priority!
AC 2 vs OR|BWmub1d20
2d6+22 Physical Water damage1d20·2d6+22

The brutal strikes of the snake's tail do a nasty number on Missile, especially the second blow that seems to find a weak point in his scales and drive right up into his belly. Clay winces; Missile isn't going to be fighting any more battles for a while. The healers are going to give him so much grief and this time it's not even gonna be his fault.

And now Clay's faced with who to send out for his last Pokémon. Servine, Baloo, and Mufomono are all equally tough (he is not thinking of sending Red Child out against this thing), but Baloo won't deal a lot of damage against the sinuous serpent, Servine's not in much better shape there and is weak to Seviper's venomous attacks in the bargain, and Mufomono would do best against the snake but would then be facing the unknown quantity of this woman's third Pokémon.

After a moment, he sends the Sandile out. "C'mon, Mufomono! You can take this snake! Sandblast it!" Mufomono makes a hissing, coughing sound as she spits out a spray of sand that whips up into a dust devil around the Seviper.

Clay uses Agility Training
Mufomono's Initiative: 18
Mufomono used Sand Tomb!
AC 4 vs 1w5GNQbX1d20+1 (1 AP spent)
2d6+21 Physical Ground damage and the target is put in a Vortex!1d20+1·2d6+21