The November Contest! Current Status: Battle Round Five Up! (It's Over!)

[The Blue Avenger]

Right-o, the end of October is drawing near, so let's go ahead and get November started! I'll be your host, along with my beautiful assistant... uh... me. *is not narcissistic at all*

The November Contest

Combatants
River / Kablooie Louie, Tiara and Cloud Nine / Total score: 25.9

Blademaster
Weasel Overlord
Silencer
Ultimate Charizard
Kevvaelli
Dragonis
Chris 2.0
Houndoom_Lover
Negrek

This month is going to be a little different. First, we need 10 people to sign up. There will be three appeal rounds. In each appeal round, you will be given a score out of 10, which will be added to your total. For example, say I appeal in round one and get a 9.8, because I'm awesome. Next round, I get a 5.6, making my score 15.4. This way, a bad appeal in the later stages doesn't necessarily screw you over. At the end of each appeal round, the 2 people with the lowest cumulative scores are eliminated, and at the end, the two highest appealers will go on to the battle round. The battle round will be between the two highest scorers.

You will choose a different Pokemon for each of the appeal stages, but if you make it to the battle round, the Pokemon you use must be one of the ones you used in appeal.

The arena is a sandy beach alongside a crystal clear ocean. Rocks litter an area not too far away, so moves involving rocks can be used, as can weather moves, earthshaking moves, and waterbased moves. Any questions? Ask me, and I'll do my best to clarify.

Right-o, so we need 10 contestants. When you post signing up, please also post your appeal.

[Silencer]

Alright, I'll try this for once

For my pokémon I'll choose Kaiza, my male shellder.

Alright Kaiza let's show them how pretty you can be. Or better yet, how furosious the sea is. First of all Dive in the water. Then when you are down there use a whirlpool to for, well, a whirlpool with you in the center. Then let it simple restore and the burst up with a Surf in a single stream (like a geyser) with you on top. Try to form the whirlpool and the surf on the same spot. Good luck Kaiza.

[Ultimate Charizard]

Just stamping my 'please let me enter' card.

Ok ill Choose my Blastoise (m)
Lets show them some Power Blastoise, first your cannons, and then you.
Jump Forward (as if to land on your head) and Withdraw, then before you hit the ground use a Continuous Hydropump to launch yourself high into the air.
Once your high enough come down hard with a huge Earthquake! (though dont end Withdraw till Appeal is over)

[Chris 2.1]

I'm using Nobaru, my [M] Absol.

Start with a water pulse, but I want you to use the anime version: a swirling vortex of water that surrounds you. As you stand within, use a flash and illuminate the pillar of water with a bright glow; next, break up the water with a flurry of razor wind to show yourself amid falling rain.

Water Pulse -- Flash -- Razor Wind

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=silver]Damn it! I was gonna use Absol... Oh well, time to try again! I've missed contests...

I'm gonna use my female Houndoom, Astarte! Save me a spot, I'll add in my attacks soon!

[Dragonis]

OK, let's try this again. This time I'll be sending out Silent Bob, my shiny male Mr. Mime.

OK Bob start of by focusing your power and clearing your mind with Meditate. If you fell you need to make it a bit more flashy use the attack to levitate. After you've focused your power hit the ground in front of you with Thunderbolt. Then before the Thunderbolt has chance to fizzle out use Psychic to grab the electricity and form it into the shape of a great dragon. Still using Psychic, fly the dragon around as much as you can, doing aerial maneuvers along the way.

~Meditate~Thunderbolt~Psychic~

[Blademaster]

You know I'm in. I'm gonna use my Metang - the mighty Sir Grodus - once again.

OK, Sir Grodus, here's the plan:

Start off by using your Psychic powers on the sand to make a sand castle - make it as big and as elaborate as you can. You know your limits, so don't try and overdo it.

Then, use Light Screen between the castle and the surf (or all around the castle - we don't know if the judges ref it as a wall or a dome), so the waves don't damage the castle - we need it intact for your finale.

Finally, finish up by floating over the sand castle, and when you're directly over it, aim straight down and demolish it with a Hyper Beam - try not to make it too strong; just enough to blow the castle out.

Moves: Psychic (build sand castle) - Light Screen (around castle) - Hyper Beam (blow up castle)


(And yes, this appeal was inspired by the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day. So sue me. :p)

[Everoy]

I'll go with Mistral, my female Chinchou.

Mistral, start by descending into the water and starting a Whirlpool above you. Ascend straight up with Waterfall, and immediately use Thunder Wave, running the tendrils of electricity across the water in every direction.

[Houndoom_Lover]

Darn, Mephy, we'll try next time, instead;I'll use Grand-Sama, my (M) Snubbull.

Jump in the center and fill free to frail your tiny arms as you Roar and then quickly use Heal Bell while the Roar is still roaring...and give those arms some work out with Metronome.

[Everoy]

Question: So, there are ten competitors. Three appeal round, in each appeal round the lowest two cumulative scorers are knocked out. This leaves four. So, are there actually four appeal rounds, or are there three battles?

[The Blue Avenger]

Right, my mistake. There are actually going to be four people knocked out after the last appeal round.

[Pichu Luver]

[font=sylfaen] Yes water! I've been wanting to try this one for a while, so let's see if it works. I'm going to use my Electrode, Kablooie Louie.

Ok Louie! Let's try this appeal out! First use a Rollout to zoom yourself out over that water. Spin as fast as you can and when you're far enough out, start to roll in a circle, spraying water everywhere in your wake. Then let yourself sink, or hey float I'm not sure what you'll do. When you've stopped, use a Thunder and Explosion. Sending shocks and water up in a very, hmm exciting display. If you can't explode at the same time, use it immediately following the Thunder, so the shocks are still running through the water.

Rollout/Thunder and Explosion

[Negrek]

I'll give this one a go, using Negrek, my male shiny slugma.

Stay away from the water, Negrek. First, I'd like you to use a heat wave attack to melt the sand around you into a sheet of glass and show off your fire-type power.

Next, use a flash to light up the glass you've just spread with intense light and conceal your transformation. Meanwhile, use a harden attack to cool your body and coat it with a thin layer of solid rock, so that when the last glimmers of light die out it looks as though you've been transformed into a stone slugma statue.

Heat Wave ~ Flash + Harden

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=silver]Okay, it's appeal time, Astarte! Let's begin with a Sunny Day, make the sun nice and hot! Then, use a Fire Spin, but gather the flames around yourself in an intensified vortex, cause of the bright sun. Fof the grand finale, use a Solar Beam straight up from the middle of the vortex as the flames fall to the ground.

~Sunny Day ~Fire Spin (gather flames in a vortex around yourself) ~Solar Beam (straight up as the flames fail)

[The Blue Avenger]

The November Contest
Arena: Beach
Referee: Hypotenuse Man
Appeal Stage One

Fresh on the heels of the September Contest, and taking place during the Grand Festival and the October Contest (which presents an interesting little time/space paradox, but I won't get into that here...), the November Contest is taking place. However, unlike the aforementioned contests, this one is in a slightly different location: the beach. It's a beautiful Halloween day - the sun is shining, the seagulls are cawing, and the pelicans are eating pigeons. A small wooden stage has been built in a relatively calm part of the beach, far enough out of the way of the hustle and bustle. The crowd mumbles as the judges take their seats at their desk and summon the first contestant.

Silencer and Kaiza

The enthusiastic Silencer makes his way onto the stage. A fresh face in contests, but well-known in the battling field, Silencer doesn't look the least bit daunted as he releases his chipper Shellder, Kaiza, into the water. He doesn't even need to give his commands, apparently having already briefed Kaiza - the Shellder immediately jumps up and dives under the water's surface. The crowd waits silently, the air thick with anticipation. Suddenly, the water around where Kaiza disappeared begins to get turbulent... a fierce whirlpool begins to form, creating a spinning vortex going deep into the water. The whirlpool abruptly stops and inverts, creating a pillar of water up in the air, with Kaiza, mentally manipulating the water, sitting smugly on top. The crowd oohs and aahs as Silencer recalls his Pokemon and leaves the stage.

Ultimate Charizard and Blastoise

Immediately taking Silencer's place is a veteran to the battling world, a composed young man going by the name of Ultimate Charizard. He wordlessly releases his Pokemon, a Blastoise (ironically enough). He quietly gives his orders to the turtle, who nods in comprehension. UC stands back as Blastoise dives forward, withdrawing completely into his shell. Before he can hit the ground, however, Blastoise sticks his cannons back out and fires a high-pressure blast of water at the ground, turning the sand into so much mud. The Hydro Pump propels him into the air, but Blastoise cuts the water short abruptly, prompting a gasp from the audience. Still withdrawn, he slams into the ground hard, creating a fierce tremor that rips through the ground, causing a good bit of the crowd to scream and flee. Ultimate Charizard smiles sheepishly as his Blastoise gets back up and dusts himself off.

Chris 2.0 and Nobaru

Once the contest has moved to a considerably less earthquaked part of the beach ("I said I was sorry!" yells Ultimate Charizard), the familiar face of the moderator Chris 2.0 takes the stand. With a flair for the dramatic, he throws out a pitch-black Pokeball, revealing a somber Absol, Nobaru. Nobaru immediately leaps into action, summoning a huge pillar of water that surrounds the Absol. The water glows eerily as Nobaru prepares his next move. Closing his eyes, he releases a brilliant burst of light... but when he opens his eyes, he realizes that the pillar of water has already collapsed - Absol couldn't focus on keeping the Water Pulse intact while using Flash. He scowls and summons a gust of stiff wind, but the overall effect is lost.

Dragonis and Silent Bob

As Chris 2.0 disappointedly walks away from the stage, a relative newcomer steps up – Dragonis. He tosses his Pokeball to the ground, revealing a sharp burst of light first, followed by a Mr. Mime – but instead of a normal Mr. Mime’s red, this one was green. And also named Silent Bob. Dragonis steps back after giving his commands, and Silent Bob nods, focusing entirely on his task. He sits down in a lotus position and focuses his mind, levitating slightly off of the ground as a side effect. The audience oohs quietly as they await Silent Bob’s next move. Suddenly, the Mr. Mime jumps out of his trance and sends a bolt of lightning racing through the air: with nary a moment of downtime, he shuts his eyes and presses his hands to his temples, exerting his psychic force on the Thunderbolt. He manages to catch it, and begins to try and form it into the shape of a dragon. However, electricity is a tricky little thing to try and manipulate, and Silent Bob can scarcely get the shape he wants before he loses control and the Thunderbolt fizzles in the air.

Blademaster and Sir Grodus

Blademaster eagerly takes Dragonis’ place, announcing to the crowd that his Pokemon will be reenacting the legendary Independence Day. The crowd applauds politely as a Metang (infinitely inferior to the ref’s own King Ramses, of course *cough*) floats out from behind the trainer and over to the sand. Sir Grodus glows a dull blue and shuts its eyes as the sand below it begins to take form. It takes a bit of effort, but soon enough, Sir Grodus is floating above a fairly accurate scale replica of the White House. Grodus floats to the side and waves its arms slightly: a golden, translucent shield appears between the castle and the surf, the waves lapping gently at the shield. Although the shield fades into transparency quickly, the sun filters through it, creating sparkles behind the castle for a near-looking display. The serenity, however, lasts shortly. Sir Grodus hovers over the castle, making eerie spaceship-esque noises, before shutting its eyes once more and focusing. Out of nowhere, Grodus fires a brilliant concussive orange beam straight into the castle, exploding it in an impressive shower of sand.

Kevvaelli and Mistral

Hank the janitor sweeps the sand off of the stage and steps aside, just in time for the next competitor – a simultaneous newcomer and relative veteran (*blinks* that shouldn’t be possible…) named Kevvaelli. He doesn’t say a word, instead choosing to release a Pokemon into the ocean. His Pokemon, a Chinchou named Mistral, descends into the water, spinning rapidly – her motion creates a giant whirlpool trailing after her. Barely a moment passes before the Mistral bursts free from the whirlpool, jetting into the air a bit. As she lands, the orbs on Mistral’s antennae light up and spark, sending several small electrical tendrils snaking across the ocean. However, the sparks aren’t very bright, disappointing the audience somewhat.

Houndoom_Lover and Grand-Sama

Kevvaelli recalls his Chinchou and steps down. Another newcomer walks onstage (that seems to be a theme this month), a perky trainer by the name of Houndoom_Lover. She releases her Pokemon – not a Houndoom as one might expect, but a Snubbull, who tries his best to look fierce but only manages to look somewhere between “cute” and “hey, it’s frowning at me.” However, Grand-Sama’s intimidation factor gets jacked up a few points as the Snubbull roars loudly, prompting everyone in the audience as well as the judges to cover their ears – not because the Roar itself was overly loud, but because of the frightened shrieks of some of the audience members. However, the audience is soothed by the pleasant ringing of a translucent, majestic bell, tolling in front of Grand-Sama, the Snubbull focusing quietly to keep the bell going. To finish off, Grand-Sama waggles his fingers back and forth, creating a hypnotic mesmerizing rhythm. Suddenly, a giant drill materializes in front of the Snubbull, and Grand-Sama, forced to attack, chooses the nearest appropriate target: the ground. The Drill Peck starts sharply and drills a deep hole in the ground, dragging Grand-Sama behind it and leaving him at the bottom. He whines mournfully as his trainer and a few of the audience members look down at him.

River and Kablooie Louie

After Houndoom_Lover manages to extract Grand-Sama from the hole he managed to get himself stuck in and the judge’s Dugtrio fills the hole back up, a veteran contest battler takes the stage amidst a smattering of applause: it’s River and her Pokemon for this round, Kablooie Louie, the ever-grinning Electrode. River scarcely has to say a word before Louie begins to roll in place, kicking up some sand. After building up enough speed, the Electrode zooms out onto the water faster than any motorboat, spraying an impressive amount of water in the air. Louie comes to a slow stop as water falls back to the ocean around him. He floats there (it’s true! Me and my roommate figured out that Voltorbs and Electrodes should float… at least in the ocean), charging up energy, before releasing a giant bolt of electricity into the air. It arcs back down into the ocean at the same time as Louie glows a brilliant white. The two attacks let loose at the same time: the Thunder hits the water and Louie explodes, sending several good-sized shockwaves traveling back to shore, as well as providing an impressive lightshow to boot. The ref’s Poliwrath swims Louie back to shore as River leaves the stage.

Negrek and… Negrek

Another new contestant walks onstage (wow, it really is a theme, isn’t it?) and throws out his Pokeball, revealing a grey Slugma. His name was Negrek (this sentence applies to both the trainer and the Pokemon, incidentally). Negrek slowly slithers out onto the sand, leaving a slight trail of ooze behind him. Shutting his eyes, Negrek enters a moment of silent focus: the fruit of his labor is evident as a wind begins to pick up around him. As according to orders, the wind focuses on the sand around the Slugma. He emits tiny flames from his mouth and the wind picks them up, already superheated anyway. Before long, the extreme heat has transformed the top layer of sand around Negrek into a shiny layer of glass. Negrek continues on to emit a brilliant burst of light, illuminating the glass and blinding the audience… or at least that’s what the trainer wanted to happen. In reality, Negrek just sits there, confused as to why his trainer had him use an attack that he cannot possibly learn. However, he shakes it off and Hardens his skin, looking for all the world like a small Slugma statue, but Negrek’s rhythm has been thrown off too much already.

Weasel Overlord and Astarte

The final competitor is no stranger to the contest world – a rather esoteric individual by the name of Weasel Overlord. Snickering slightly, she cries havoc and lets slip the dogs of war – in this case, her Houndoom, Astarte. Astarte stalks across the stage, glaring at the audience, as she silently sends a prayer to the skies. Soon enough, it is evident that her prayer worked: the sunlight becomes intensely hot, and many spectators pull out parasols and bottles of water. Astarte continues on by breathing out a stream of fire that collects in a circle around her. The flames lick higher and higher, completely obscuring the Houndoom from view. The audience watches in suspense, wondering what will happen next. Suddenly, a magnificent yellow-green beam of condensed light shoots straight up from the center of the Fire Spin, firing way into the distance as the fire dies down. Astarte looks on smugly as the audience cheers.

---

Finish!

-Scores-

Silencer: This appeal flowed well and made good use of the arena. I was impressed by the manipulation of Surf in that manner; most trainers just use it as a wave. Creativity is always welcomed.
Score: 7.2


Ultimate Charizard: This was a simple appeal, which is not a bad thing. It perfectly displayed Blastoise’s strength and tankiness. There wasn’t much to look at, but it was by no means bad.
Score: 7.0


Chris 2.0: This appeal started out well, but, as I’m sure you could tell, it fell apart in the middle. Water Pulse isn’t a trapping move, so after it’s used, it’s not going to stay around. I liked the concept, though; if you can get the same sort of an idea to work in a future contest, go for it.
Score: 4.5


Dragonis: I don’t think you weren’t here for it, but in the February contest, we had an almost identical appeal – and it did even worse because the user wasn’t a Psychic. As it is, electricity is hard to manipulate. If you had just shaped it into a dragon, it probably would have gone okay, but asking Mr. Mime to make it do aerial maneuvers at the same time was asking a bit much. Incidentally, Meditate just seemed tacked on, like it didn’t serve much purpose: it made for a very slow start.
Score: 4.2


Blademaster: An excellent appeal, if only for the creativity factor. Metang is built for those kinds of references, and this was a brilliant out-there appeal that we just don’t get very often. My only complaint is that, while Light Screen served well functionally, it wasn’t much to look at.
Score: 8.1


Kevvaelli: Hmm… I feel like we already saw the better part of this appeal with Silencer, and so I had to dock you points for that. Thunder Wave was an interesting touch, but it simply isn’t a strong enough attack to attract attention. Mistral would have to be decently far out in the ocean to make this appeal work, and so the Thunder Wave would have been hard to see (particularly if it’s blue, like it is commonly shown).
Score: 6.5


Houndoom_Lover: Ehhh… this didn’t work at all. Sorry. The Roar and Heal Bell didn’t flow well together, and Metronome felt really tacked on. The randomizer’s choice of Drill Peck also worked against you – hopefully you can see why using a random move like Metronome can be bad more often than not. My apologies.
Score: 2.0


River: I really enjoyed this. It took advantage of Electrode’s best traits – going fast and blowing up. Seeing it ‘walk’ on water was nifty too. The shock waves worked really well in the ocean, as well.
Score: 8.7


Negrek: I applaud your creativity, and this appeal would have been awesome if Slugma could learn Flash. That was the only thing standing in your way of a good score. As it was, without the Flash, this appeal fell apart in a big way.
Score: 3.5


Weasel Overlord: You’re good at this, you know? This was a cool appeal, and the sort of thing that makes me kinda want abilities in ASB – Flash Fire would have made this even better. I digress, though; the timing was great on this one, as was the diversity of the attacks. A great way to finish round 1.
Score: 8.7

---

Okay, so that makes Houndoom_Lover and Negrek our unlucky departures from this round. Sorry guys, better luck next month.

Everyone else, send me a PM with your Pokemon and your appeal.

[Chris 2.1]

Thanks for the quick reffing HM/TBA. 4.5? Time for redemption methinks. *sends PM*

[Silencer]

4th place, sweet

Now let's hope my second appeal is just as good

btw, since when am I well-known on the battle field

[Blademaster]

(infinitely inferior to the ref’s own King Ramses, of course *cough*)

Care to prove that once Grodus evolves, Jeffy-boy?

Now, I must think of a new appeal... hmmmm...

[Ultimate Charizard]

Hmmm 5th.
Maybe a little too Simple.

Time to take it up a notch. (sends pm)

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=silver]Woo! Joint first! *high fives River* Lets go!! Shazzamin' dude!!!

*stops at all the confused stares then pm's pokemon* Go Jeff, uber-fast-judging there! *waves flag*

[Negrek]

Wowwww, that's what I get for choosing attacks really early in the morning.

Good luck to all those that advanced. ^^;

[Pichu Luver]

[font=sylfaen] YES! It worked! *slaps Weasel's hand and boogies down* Been thinkin on that one for a while now, perfectly normal that. Spending your free time coming up with contest appeals. Heh, *goes on to thinkith on new appeal.*

[Blademaster]

Before I appeal, a question:

Can a Pokemon and its Substitute both be in plain view in a Contest, as though they were both standing side-by-side? I have an appeal in mind where I want one Pokemon to attack the Substitute physically. Is this allowed?

[Everoy]

Ouch, sixth, I need to step it up...

EDIT: Wow. I misspelled "step" as "strep".

[The Blue Avenger]

Before I appeal, a question:

Can a Pokemon and its Substitute both be in plain view in a Contest, as though they were both standing side-by-side? I have an appeal in mind where I want one Pokemon to attack the Substitute physically. Is this allowed?

I would say no. The side effect of a Substitute is to mask the real Pokemon from view.

[Houndoom_Lover]

Don't worry, we'll try again next time, oh boy do I have things planned for you Grand-Hey, Boy, where'd you go...?

~Some train station~

Grand-Sama: Snubb-snu! *hands the man the ticket and runs for his life*

[The Blue Avenger]

Okay, the second round will be back up soon. Everyone that moved on to the third round, could you please resend your appeals to me?

Edit: Never mind. I have the appeals.

[Ultimate Charizard]

You didnt save the appeals? lol.

Ok resending mine.....if i can remember it.

[The Blue Avenger]

Yeah, yeah, I'm a disorganized wreck, etc., etc.

Anyway, having found the backup of the old forums, I found the appeals as well. No worries.

---

November Contest
Round 2
Referee: Hypotenuse Man
Arena: The Beach

Weasel Overlord / Pixie (shiny male Mantine) – Dive ~ Waterfall ~ Bubble
Blademaster / Pestnut (male Pineco) – Dig ~ Rapid Spin ~ Solarbeam
Dragonis / Hailee (female Sneasel) – Ice Beam ~ Agility ~ Faint Attack
River / Tiara (female Kingler) – Rain Dance ~ Surf ~ Dig
Ultimate Charizard / Charizard (male) – Fire Spin ~ Aerial Ace ~ Blast Burn
Kevvaelli / Piros (male Heracross) – Leer ~ Rock toss ~ Rock Smash
Chris 2.0 / Harley (male Cacturne) – Faint Attack ~ Leech Seed ~ Needle Arm
Silencer / Toph (female green-spiked Sandslash) – Short Sandstorm ~ Dig ~ Rollout

Weasel Overlord and Pixie

Ladies and gentlemen (and Blademaster), we’re back! After a short intermission, Weasel Overlord, the last contestant (and one of the best-scoring) from last round, steps up to the stage. Smiling, she tosses out a Pokeball into the water, releasing a brilliant sparkle and a light blue Mantine, Pixie. Weasel yells her commands out over the water, and Pixie eagerly complies. The Mantine begins by subtly dipping below the water’s surface, leaving the audience to wonder where she went. Suddenly, a pillar of water appears on the ocean’s surface, and Pixie appears on top of it. Pixie elegantly spits out a stream of bubbles that spread out over the ocean’s surface to finish her appeal.

Blademaster and Pestnut

Weasel recalls her Mantine and walks offstage, replaced almost immediately by the eager Blademaster. He drops his Pokeball in the warm sands, revealing a Pineco who looks almost as eager as his trainer, Pestnut. Pestnut immediately begins by burrowing halfway into the soft sand, prompting confused murmurs from the audience. However, this does not last long: Pestnut begins spinning in place, slowly at first, but gradually getting quicker. The sand around him is kicked up into a spinning vortex surrounding the Pineco. Suddenly, unbeknownst to the audience, Pestnut stops spinning and begins to charge up energy. As the sand tornado begins to recede, Pestnut fires a yellow-green beam of solar energy straight into the sky, the beam radiating heat felt by even the audience.

Dragonis and Hailee

Hank the Janitor takes a few moments to sweep the sand from the stage, leaving it fresh and clean for the next contestant, Dragonis, along with his Sneasel, Hailee. Hailee, unlike the previous contestants, stays on stage and begins by extending her arm. An orb of ice forms in her claws and she fires the energy outwards, creating an long icy ramp that lifts into the air. Hailee takes a step back before running onto the ramp, her feet a blur. The reduced friction of the ice only serves to boost her speed, and soon Hailee reaches the end of the ramp. However, upon reaching it, Hailee disappears from view. Still invisible, she flies off, lands neatly, and sneaks behind her trainer, leaving the audience completely confused.

River and Tiara

Next up, we have the other highest-scoring contestant from the first round, River. She tosses her Pokeball to the shore, revealing a grinning Kingler, clacking her pincers together menacingly. She crosses her claws and closes her eyes, muttering an arcane incantation. Clouds roll over the arena and thunder tolls as rain begins to dump from the sky. Fitting with the sudden dark theme, a giant sea snake begins to rise from the ocean – but what the audience can’t tell because of the dim lighting is that the monster is nothing more than a pseudopod of water. Tiara mentally manipulates the water so that it dives majestically just before it reaches the shore… with the crowd’s attention on the Surf, it’s easy for Tiara to dig underground unnoticed. She starts to burrow from the shore to the audience section, leaving a very noticeable trail behind her and fooling some of the crowd into thinking the monster was headed for them. Tiara pops forth from the ground and howls her name, accompanied by one or two scared shrieks from the audience.

Ultimate Charizard and Charizard

Following River, Ultimate Charizard once again takes the stage. This time he releases his namesake, a majestic Charizard who roars and beats his wings once. Charizard takes to the skies and spits out a blast of fire, spinning in a circle as he does so: the fire begins to form in a vortex around him, reaching all the way to the ground. Charizard stops and pauses to make sure the Fire Spin will persist, then swoops out of the fire. The audience gasps upon his reappearance, then applauds politely as he performs a variety of impressive aerial maneuvers, ducking in and out of the fire. Finally, Charizard swoops back into the vortex and closes his eyes, focusing his energy. From the audience’s perspective, it seems as if the Fire Spin suddenly exploded outward in a blast of fire: Charizard used a Blast Burn, totally annihilating the Fire Spin with its sheer force.

Kevvaelli and Piros
Hot on the heels of Ultimate Charizard (literally), Kevvaelli steps up with his teammate, a healthy-looking Heracross, Piros. Piros, like Hailee, remains on the stage. He raises one leg and slams it on the ground, followed by the other one, all the while Leering at the crowd. He then flies over to a nearby cache of boulders and, using the impressive strength of his horn, hurls it straight up into the air. Finally, Piros shoots straight up, driving his fist right into the rock. It shatters into an uncountable number of pieces as Piros continues flying up.

Chris 2.0 and Harley
After Kevvaelli manages to get Piros back to the ground, Hank the Janitor once again clears the stage, this time sweeping off all the rock chips. Chris 2.0 takes the stage after Hank leaves, muttering something about 10 years and retirement. From behind Chris jumps a sinister-looking Cacturne, aptly named Harley. Harley walks out into the sand and looks over the crowd. Without warning, however, he disappears before their very eyes: the only clue to his whereabouts is the sand he kicks up as he runs in a large circle. Harley comes back into view in the middle of the circle and stares up into the sky. He spits up a number of small green seeds that fly into the air, and without a moment of hesitation, Harley jumps up there with them, pinwheeling his arms until all of the seeds have latched on. He falls back to the ground and strikes a pose, wincing as the seeds dig their tendrils into him.

Silencer and Toph
Last up this round is the enigmatic Silencer and his green-quilled Sandslash, Toph. Toph jumps out onto the sand and clacks her claws together, raising them into the air. The wind around the beach picks up as sand is carried into the air… soon, the wind whips past, creating a full-fledged Sandstorm. As per his trainer’s request, Toph created this one to end quickly, and so she doesn’t have much time to make her move. She hurriedly burrows into the ground as the Sandstorm subsides, leaving the audience to marvel at her disappearance. Underground, Toph curls into a ball and rolls through the soft sand. As the audience murmurs quietly, Toph bursts forth from the ground, propelling herself into the air. As she lands, Toph strikes an UltraCool ™ pose.

---

End!

Weasel Overlord: This appeal, as I told Kevvaelli last round, seemed very much like Silencer’s (and, by association, Kevvaelli’s). It would have been much more impressive if it hadn’t been done twice already in the contest. The bubbles were a nice touch, though.
Score: 6.5

Blademaster: …and this was very much a copy of Weasel Overlord’s last appeal with sand instead of fire. Are you guys just not reading other people’s appeals? Ah well. Using a Dig and Rapid Spin combo to create a sandstorm was a creative idea, but the repetition cost you.
Score: 6.8

Dragonis: This was a good use of Sneasel’s natural abilities (and a nice, although probably unintentional, reference to Frozone from The Incredibles). However, it really lacked a ‘punch’ at the end. It just kinda left us hanging, and that kept you from scoring as well as you could have.
Score: 6.4

River: Here we go! This was an excellent appeal. A very creative use of Surf, as well as a great use of the arena, and a good job of setting the atmosphere. I loved it.
Score: 8.9

Ultimate Charizard: Again, this was a simple appeal, but again, it shone in its simplicity. It outlined a Charizard’s natural abilities and kept up a good tempo throughout. Plus, it was decently flashy. Nice.
Score: 7.2

Kevvaelli: This didn’t work very well. Leer felt really tagged on, and seeing a Pokemon break a rock didn’t really do it for me. Sorry.
Score: 4.9

Chris 2.0: Although this was creative, I don’t think it worked very well: the Faint Attack didn’t have much else to do with the rest of the appeal, and Leech Seeds aren’t terribly big, so there wasn’t much to see. Still, you get some creativity points.
Score: 5.0

Silencer: This worked well, I think. It kept a decent pace throughout and showed what a Sandslash is capable of. While lacking a definitive punch, it was a solid appeal.
Score: 7.0

---

Total Scores

River / Kablooie Louie and Tiara / Total score: 17.6
Weasel Overlord / Astarte and Pixie / Total score: 15.2
Blademaster / Sir Grodus and Pestnut / Total score: 14.9
Silencer / Kaiza and Toph / Total score: 14.2
Ultimate Charizard / Blastoise and Charizard / Total score: 14.2
Kevvaelli / Mistral and Piros / Total score: 11.4
Dragonis / Silent Bob and Hailee / Total score: 10.6
Chris 2.0 / Nobaru and Harley / Total score: 9.5

So our unlucky kick-out-ees this round are Chris 2.0 and Dragonis. My condolences, guys; try again next month.

Everyone else, PM me with your Pokemon and appeal.

[Ultimate Charizard]

Is this still active? I just wonder because after the forum switch all of the 'watch forums posted in' thing kinda lost track of everything so i was wondering if were waiting for appeals etc.

[The Blue Avenger]

No, don't worry. I just have been unusually busy as of late, and for that I apologize to everyone in this contest.

[The Blue Avenger]

Weasel Overlord / Theo de Veren (male Absol): Magic Coat ~ Faint Attack ~ Thunderbolt
Kevvaelli / Hanajima (female Shuppet): Will-o-Wisp ~ Flash ~ Will-o-Wisp
River / Cloud Nine (female Altaria): Sky Attack ~ Flamethrower ~ Protect
Blademaster / Unagi (male Gyarados): Dragon Dance ~ Twister + Bubblebeam
Ultimate Charizard / Corsola (female): Surf ~ Psychic ~ Ice Beam
Silencer / Chidori (female Electabuzz): Thunderwave ~ Thunderpunch + Agility

START!

The third round of the November is finally underway, mostly due to the fact that the ref is no longer quite as overworked as he was prior. Incidentally, the ref would like to send a heartfelt apology to everyone involved in this contest for making them wait so long as well as express his hopes that it doesn’t happen again.


Anyway, after a nice long break, Weasel Overlord is back up to the stage. With a dramatic flourish, she releases her third Pokemon, an Absol bizarrely named Theo de Veren. Theo leaps into action positioning himself front and center on the stage. After giving the audience a moment to ponder what he’ll do, Theo closes his eyes and focuses. Almost immediately, his fur takes on a brilliant luster, giving the Absol a bright glow. However, the glow doesn’t last for long… due mostly to the fact that Theo doesn’t either. Like the Cheshire Cat, Theo gradually disappears from view, leaving the audience to wonder about his disappearance. After a few moments of silence, Theo reappears rather suddenly, accompanied by a lightning bolt and a crack of thunder.

Weasel Overlord departs, Kevvaelli eagerly taking her place. He sends out a Shuppet, who gazes eerily over the audience. The Shuppet, Hanajima, receives her orders and gets to work. She summons a small, grayish flame in front of her and floats away from it – slowly at first, but speeding up. Then, to the audience’s consternation, the fireball follows her! Hanajima moves faster and faster, but the fireball never wavers. Finally, Hanajima slows down, and right as the Will-o-Wisp is about to make contact, a brilliant flash lights up the beach. When the audience can see again, they take note of Hanajima floating softly to the ground, surrounded by a much larger fireball.

Kevvaelli triumphantly recalls Hanajima and walks confidently offstage. Taking his place is River, followed by her majestic Altaria, Cloud Nine. Cloud Nine immediately flies out over the ocean, performing a series of nimble acrobatic maneuvers all in the interest of building up speed. The crowd oohs and aahs at the spectacle, but suddenly gasps when Cloud Nine halts the acrobatics and drops into a nosedive. Cloud Nine ignores them and begins to breathe a stream of fire at the water, creating a tower of steam that completely cloaks her. All the audience can see is a massive splash of water as Cloud Nine hits. A suspenseful moment follows as Cloud Nine remains underwater… but suddenly, she breaks the water’s surface, completely surrounded by a protective orb and totally unharmed.

Up next is the enthusiastic Blademaster. He tosses a Pokeball into the water, but the audience is completely unprepared for what comes next… from the water’s surface bursts a humongous sea snake, affectionately nicknamed Unagi. Unagi begins by performing an elaborate dance. It’s hard to say exactly how a Gyarados dances elaborately, but Unagi is having a pretty good go at it – apparently it involves a lot of spinning. The spinning continues as Unagi calls up a Twister over the ocean, the miniature tornado pulling up a little water into its vortex. Finally, Unagi spots a stream of bubbles into the tornado, sending them spinning quickly to the stop of the vortex, reflecting the sunlight and creating a glowing, glinting twister, to the delight of the audience.

After the twister dies down, Ultimate Charizard takes the stage. A chipper Corsola toddles after him, looking over the audience with glee. Corsola waddles down to the waterside and closes her eyes. Momentarily, a huge wave appears not too far from shore and rapidly approaches. The audience gasps as the wave looms higher and higher… Corsola decides to take action and begins to focus even more. She glows blue and grunts under the exertion of holding the wave back… Corsola then drops her Psychic hold on the water and shoots a frosty beam of ice at the wave, freezing some of it. However, as it’s a rather big wave, not all of it freezes, instead dropping back into the ocean. The ice sculpture left is rather… “abstract.”

Finally, we come to Silencer. He calls out his Electabuzz, Chidori, who flexes her arms and sparks slightly. Chidori begins by holding out her arms and sending a stream of blue sparks coursing around her body. The sparks aren’t that bright, but they show up decently against her bright-yellow fur. The sparks soon die out, but it scarcely matters: Chidori has already zoomed off, her fist crackling with electricity. She leaves a big dust trail in her wake as she zeroes in on the nearest palm tree and blasts it with her fist, snapping the thing in half like a twig.

FINISH!

Weasel Overlord: Eh… we’ve had a few disappearing acts already this contest. Although I must say this was executed well… The Thunderbolt was a nice touch. Again, you would have scored better were it not for repetition – the fact that you repeated again knocked you down more.
Score: 5.6

Kevvaelli: This was an odd appeal. This is not to say it was bad, but rather, it was unique. The tension built up well, and the Flash worked well to disguise the fact that it was two separate Wills-o-Wisp. Good show.
Score: 7.5

River: This appeal worked excellently. Sky Attack in itself is a cool attack, and the steam worked well. Again, nice.
Score: 8.3

Blademaster: I liked this one. The Dragon Dance led well into the Twister, and the Bubblebeam made it, well, pretty. Nice job.
Score: 8.0

Ultimate Charizard: This didn’t work so well. Using Psychic to stop water requires it to be in barrier form, and while that is doable, the Surf was big as per your commands and Corsola is not a natural Psychic. Plus, using Ice Beam to freeze an entire body of water takes a long time. The concept, however, was good, despite the execution.
Score: 5.0

Silencer: The Thunder Wave felt tacked on and didn’t add much to the appeal. Aside from that, it was fairly standard – it wasn’t excellent, but it wasn’t bad either.
Score: 6.0

---

River / Kablooie Louie, Tiara and Cloud Nine / Total score: 25.9
Blademaster / Sir Grodus, Pestnut and Unagi / Total score: 22.9
Weasel Overlord / Astarte, Pixie and Theo de Veren / Total score: 20.8
Silencer / Kaiza, Toph and Chidori / Total score: 20.2
Ultimate Charizard / Blastoise, Charizard and Corsola / Total score: 19.2
Kevvaelli / Mistral, Piros and Hanajima / Total score: 18.9

So, the finalists are River and Blademaster! River had the highest score, so she gets to choose the order: either River sends out, then Blademaster attacks, or viceversa.

Cheers, guys!

[Blademaster]

We... made it?

...

WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Unagi, Grodus, that was AWESOME!!! Pestnut, you did awesome too despite the fact you're no longer on our team but due to Jeff's busy schedule a time paradox was created in which you still are so great work to you too!

Congrats to you, too, River!

[Pichu Luver]

Yeeeeeeeeeees! *squeeeeee!* We did it, we did it! Yaaaaaaay! *huggles Kablooie, Tiara and Cloud* I'm so happy with you guys, great job! I be so very happy and bounciriffic . *slaps Blademaster's hand* Well done Blade. ^^ Good job to everyone. Now I would like to pick first and so:

I will choose my female Shiny Altaria, Cloud Nine. Enjoy and your up Blade. ^.^ Five rounds of battle right?

[The Blue Avenger]

5 rounds, that's right.

[Blademaster]

Well, after careful deliberation of both my remaining battlers' strengths and weakness against Cloud Nine, I have decided the logical choice in this battle will be...

(flips coin)

Sir Grodus, the shiny Metang!

...

Well, OK, he isn't fancy-color shiny, but come on, he's made of metal. Cut me some slack here.

Now, Grodus, we have to...

Um, in all honesty, I've never seen River in action before. Damn... We better be careful...

OK! Start off with a Sandstorm - we're on a beach, right? Then, slam that Dragon with a Meteor Mash, followed by an Ice Punch.

If Cloud uses an Earthquake, levitate out of its reach and continue as instructed.

Move: Sandstorm, Meteor Mash, Ice Punch
Sub: Levitate and continue (Would levitating cost an action? Hm...)

[Pichu Luver]

Lol Blade, shiny is shiny no matter the colour. ^^

Alright Cloud, There is not much we can do about that Sandstorm. Seems like it'll just be combined with anything we try most times so let's not hold back any punches. First use Safeguard. Then incinerate Grodus with a Flamethrower. If you can't see him, wait until he comes at you with that punch and roast him. Then blast him away from you as he comes for that Ice Punch with a Fire Blast.

Safeguard/Flamethrower/Fire Blast

[The Blue Avenger]

The November Contest
Battle Section
Referee: Hypotenuse Man
Arena: The Beach

-Team Blade-
Sir Grodus (Metang)
HP: 100% | EN: 100% | Status: Ready to go
Attacks: Sandstorm ~ Meteor Mash ~ Ice Punch

-Team River-
Cloud Nine (female shiny Altaria)
HP: 100% | EN: 100% | Status: Ready to go
Attacks: Safeguard ~ Flamethrower ~ Fire Blast

Arena status: Just beachy

~Round 1 of 5... go!~

The makeshift stage has been removed by the referee's own Poliwrath and Hariyama, making room for the two finalists to conduct a battle. River stands on one end of the clearing, her shiny Cloud Nine hovering behind her, while Blademaster steps up and releases his Sir Grodus. The attacks are given and the battle commences.
Sir Grodus kicks things off by raising its arms to the heavens and closing its eyes. A sharp wind begins to pick up, taking with it some of the sand from the beach. Within moments, a fierce sandstorm has enveloped the beach. (-5% EN Sir Grodus) Meanwhile, Cloud Nine cloaks herself in a glimmering white veil, but even that doesn't stop the sandstorm from stinging her. (-4% EN Cloud Nine)
Cloud Nine looks around, wondering where her foe is. Since she can't see him, she decides to wait, biding the time by gathering some fire energy in her throat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sir Grodus blasts into her with a fist coated in a metallic sheen. The Meteor Mash strikes hard and sends Cloud Nine floating back, but this does not stop her from retaliating: the Altaria exhales a blast of scorching flame, causing Sir Grodus to recoil as well. (-11% HP Sir Grodus, -10% HP Cloud Nine, -7% EN Cloud Nine, -6% EN Sir Grodus)
Sir Grodus tries to shake it off, although the pain is still there. He holds up one fist and watches as it is encased in a covering of ice. The Metang hurls itself at Cloud Nine, but doesn't quite make it: at the last minute, Cloud Nine blasts Sir Grodus with a humongous gout of flame, sending it flying and melting the Ice Punch. (-14% HP Sir Grodus, -10% EN Cloud Nine, -3% EN Sir Grodus)
As the round ends, Cloud Nine gets stung by the sand. (-2% HP Cloud Nine)

~End!~

-Team Blade-
Sir Grodus (Metang)
HP: 75% | EN: 86% | Status: Singed

-Team River-
Cloud Nine (female shiny Altaria)
HP: 88% | EN: 79% | Status: Safeguarded (4 more rounds)

Arena status: A sandstorm is brewing (4 more rounds)

---

River attacks first next round.

[Pichu Luver]

Alright Cloud, well done. Now I want you to use Pursuit to help you find him if your having difficulty. Then I want you to use Ice Beam and Flamethrower. If he tires to slam you with a Ice Punch, answer with Flamethrower.

Pursuit/Ice Beam/Flamethrower

Sub: Flamethrower

[Blademaster]

OK, Grodus, smash her in the face with Meteor Mash when she comes in for Pursuit. Then, that Ice Beam is probably gonna be coming from her beak, so use Psychic and force her beak shut before she can launch the attack! Then, while she's got a mouthful of ice, move in and slam her with Ice Punch!

Move: Meteor mash, Psytrap, Ice Punch