"Leech Seed!" Humphrey cheers, clearly a fan, "You got 'im now, Megazurd!"

Jake is rattled by Onyx, but is trying to keep a brave face.

"Shesh," Jake comments, "How are we expected to win this?"

"Train your Pokemon till they're tough enough," Joey figures.

"Meanwhile Brock trains his.  What if my pokemon can never close the gap?"

"Uh..."

"Then I'll take him down!" Humphrey boasts.

  So, big serpentine creature with a relation to minerals.  Megasaurd knows what he must do.

  Ride that sucker like a Sandworm!  Probably not the most damaging use of vine whip ever, but priorities man.  "How do I even know about that movie enough that I am doing this?"  Because shut up.

  Joe comments "Well, at least we'll get a moral victory either way?"

Brock literally pulls out a notepad and jots down a note. The Onyx, of course, gladly takes Megazurd on a ride. Straight to the ceiling to be squashed.

Liberty covers her mouth in anticipation of what may happen.

"Look out!" Humphrey shouts.

Jake gasps and winces, looking away, expecting Megazurd to wind up a splatter on the ceiling.  The mass and speed of something that size would be enough to flatten a building, let alone something made of organic material.  Joey, however, is unconcerned, knowing full well that physics like that simply do not apply to pokemon.

“Don't worry, he'll be fine.  At worst he'll be knocked out.  Hang in there, Megazurd!”

   "Mega, do the obvious!"  There are two ways this can go.  There is the awesome way following 'The Cartoon never obeyed the rules anyways' logic,  and then there is the boring way.

  Fitting with his font type, Megasaurd goes with the boring way, as he simply drops off the side like a vine based bungee jump.  "Totally worth it."

  Meanwhile, In A Rules Are As Consistent As The Cartoon Reality.

  Megasaurd coils up more vines above him like a giant spring, causing the sudden violent collision with the ceiling to recoil and smash the Onyx's face through the floor.  "Physics is highly selective!

Brock says, "Tailwhip!" and the Onyx swings its tail at the falling Magazurd!

Liberty glances at Joey and goes to pick Kozak up and hold him like a cat. Though seems she is doing so partially for comfort. Kozak wiggles.

Humphrey seems perfectly happy with Megazurd's boring tactic.

"Ha!  That's showin' 'im, Megazurd!  Tail whip aren't nothing to vine whip!"

Jake sweatdrops at Joe's tactical command.  At least he's communicating to his pokemon at all.  Progress?

  Wait, how literal are we taking mechanics?  It gets sort of hazy, but either way it's probably a good thing Leech seed is feeding Megasaurd more health after that Onyx tail makes for a rougher landing than intended.

  "So, thoughts?"     "Worth it"  "Figured as much.  Just shoot him already."  "...I completely remembered I can do that."  Yes, Megasaurd in no way forgot he can shoot razor leaves at Onyx faces, that would be crazy.

Onyx is proving to be a lot sturdier than Geodude was. His idea of "vulnerable to plants" is to roar in anger when hit instead of near-dying. He then uses dig. Fun fun.

Liberty continues to watch, eyes glued on the fight before her.

(OOC: Basically, was planning for "Onyx either wins, or comes real close", but Onyx is the only Pokemon left for you to fight)

Humphrey continues to be riveted by the battle and cheers Megazurd on.

Jake calms down a little when a direct hit from a ten ton tail isn't even worth an "ouch" from Megazurd.

"Looks like you were right, Joey.  This will take some take some getting used to."

  It's a long drawn out fight, but in the end even with the advantage of Type Difference Megasaurd is no match for the Onyx's HUGENESS Stat.  For what little it's worth, Joe calls the droning voiced plant dino back before they get knocked out.

  "I know it's in the rules and all, but 'I have more Pokemon than you' this still feels a little bit like cheating.  Either way.  MAX!"  Joe's first murder beast buddy steps out into battle.  "Nudge him!"

  Max facepaws with one paw, and pokes the Onyx in an eye with the other.  Onyx's Eyes Water!  Onyx's Eyes watering was super effective! Onyx has fainted!

  "I can't believe that worked.  If it's okay with you, can I pick up whatever badges that would qualify me for after I get my little pals checked for concussions?""

Brock nods knowingly. "Go. I'll be here and I will remember your face."

Liberty heads out with Joe and Jake. "That was intense... you gotta let Megazurd know he did so well that Onyx was one nudge away from KO."

"Noooo!" Humphrey mourned when Megazurd's victory is handed over to Max.  He shouldes and follows along mopish without comment.

"Nice finish, Max," Joey commends.

Jake exhales in relief.  "Congrats, Joe.  I have mixed feelings about that match.  I don't think my Pokemon can handle the badge match.  Even if they could...  I don't like that people are getting harmed to the point of being knocked out."

"Nothing to worry about," Joey says, "At worst prides were bruised."

  "I think at this point, it's not emotional bruising they are worried about."  Though on the bright side, the only knock outs were on the other side.

  Pokecenter is reached, checking in little brawl buddies for first aid is had.  "You all did good out there.  I'd say some kind of lesson about teamwork but 'more dudes is better than less dudes' feels less like friendship and more like a gang beatdown."

Liberty says, "Hey now. If not for Max or Mega stepping in when they did, their friends would have been knocked out. They came to each others' aid. It was a match well-fought!"

"I wanted Megazurd to win," Humphrey mopes.

"Mega's team won," Joey answers, "That's victory enough."

"Good point," Jake agrees with Joe, "More is better.  I think I'll need to get more plant type pokemon before my team can challenge Brock."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Sat 05 Apr 2014.

  "Nothing wrong with gang beatdowns, so long as we aren't on the receiving end." Max comments.  Superbird flaps,  "Yes, if you trainers felt bad about lopsided advantages, you'd never get anywhere."

  Megasaurd eyerolls, "The Ghost and Psychic Gyms are going to suck."

Liberty looks at Joe's pokémon. "Are you all OK now?"

As usual, Relic doesn't comment about anything, but he does glance up at Liberty as if thinking about her for some reason.

Kozak says, "Well.. you can't expect Megazurd to win his first gym match, I guess."

Rina shrugs. "Actually, most trainers get soundly beaten their first time or two through ANY gym. So Joe and his pokémon, while they fought well, were lucky."

Ever says, "Sooo... could be worse. He could have been beaten unconscious."

"It was leech seed that won that match," Jake surmises, "Since I don't have a pokemon with that move I'll just have to hope that my team can last without any healing."

"Yeah," Joey agrees, "A full set of six plant types should be at least as good as one leech seed I would think.  Why are you worried about Ghost and Psychic, Mega?  I didn't think plant was weak to those."

  The various short murderbeasts shrug and/or nod in response to wellness.  Pokecenter remains the best in free healthcare for those that can fit inside balls.

  "Pidge, I am fine with a lucky win over being a loser in general."

  Megazaurd comments, "Not being 'weak' won't help when everything we can do harmlessly passed through a ghost."

  Max says "I think Ghosts are, surprisingly, not fireproof.  But yeah what he said.  Then you get into the annoying KEYWORDS stuff where it turns out 90% of the attacks Bugs have do not count as 'bug' type so they end up kind of sucking against psychics when you expected otherwise, and being Bug/Poison means it turns out they are actually strong against psychic attacks and no we are not bitter what are you talking about BEEDRILL YOU LET ME DOWN.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:41, Sat 12 Apr 2014.

When Liberty fights the gym match, not having leech seed, her pokémon don't last as long as Joe's. At one point, she tried jumping into the ring herself, but is reminded that humans do not qualify as "battle pets" or "pokémon". Seems she really believes in equal treatment of her and her pokémon.

But because Brock's gym wasn't meant to be a huge stumbling block, Liberty does manage to beat Brock and get the badge. Relic proved to be very tanky. Kozak tried stealth and "ninja kicks" and stuff, but ultimately fell before Brock's pokémon because he refused to be recalled. Rina fought about average, like the normal type pokémon she is. She didn't mind being recalled, but at the last moment, her final attack downed Onyx before she had to be recalled.

There is just enough time in the day for Jake to get his...

"I'm sure our humans will figure out a strategy to win against the ghosts and psychics," Joey assuresd.

During Lib's match, Jake freaks out at her unorthodox maneuver and screams, "What are you doing?!  You'll get killed!"

Joey doesn't offer any assurances this time.  He doesn't know if a human could die of a stray Onyx headbutt.  Little does he know that humans regularly survive being repeatedly exploded into the stratosphere.  Jake is too shaken to take on a gym match oafter Liberty's stunt and steps outside to collect himself.

  "I can understand your mindset Liberty, but vague sanctioned fight rules aside I'd save it for something you might actually hurt punching, more than it would hurt you."  This isn't a setting version where Joe's meeting with Superbird involved breaking his fists punching another pokemon unconscious, after all.

Liberty glances at her friends and blushes. "But... it's not fair. My friends shouldn't fight alone."

Relic tugs on Liberty, who looks down at him. Relic looks up at her and shakes his head.

Ever says, "Look at it like this; I don't hop into combat either, but I'm part of the team. You are here for us, to heal us and give us words of encouragement."

"Your friends are not alone," Joey assures, "Not only do they draw strength from your encouragement, they have each other as well."

Jake heads for a library and soon discovers that while there have been cases where a human was hospitalized by a pokemon, usually involving an accident or villain, there has never been a case where a pokemon killed a human or another pokemon.

"Well that's reassuring," Jake says, "I guess I'll be working on getting that plant team.  While Liberty's match proves that a non-plant team can still win, an overwhelming advantage will mean less suffering for my friends."

"No pain no gain," Buzzkill says.