Defensive Tactics and Entry Hazards in fic

[voidcritter]

I'm running into a bit of trouble with portraying battles in fic here. I decided to change things up a bit by taking the stall tactics from the metagame and adapting them into the main character's fighting style.

For those of you who aren't into competitive battling, "stalling" is basically taking Pokemon with high defenses and a lot of bulk and using those are your main Pokemon, while dealing damage mainly through indirect offenses-things like entry hazards, poison/burns, etc. You can directly attack when the opponent least expects it but that's not really the point.

Given that the combat in fics isn't computer-coded or turn-based, how would this figure into a real-time fight? I do know that fights with a staller are a lot longer and more drawn-out, for starters...

Another issue-one of the main character's main battling Pokemon is a Forretress. That means that entry hazards (mainly Spikes and Stealth Rock; Toxic Spikes isn't going to see a whole lot of use) are going to be used a lot.

Given that the arena might not necessarily be enclosed and Pokemon are intelligent creatures, is there any way for this to be viable? How would Rapid Spin work?

Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, but it's really bugging me.

 

[Necrozma]

An example of Foretress would be that it spins around and sends around small metallic spikes which become one with the field. That way each time your opponents Pokémon sets foot at the field it will lose a little bit of damage.

Stealth Rock; your Pokémon basically makes several rock pieces float in the air. Every time your opponent switches out a Pokémon or sends a new one the rocks would come together and crush at the opponent. And they would do so every time until he would get rid of them. You could use a Rapid Spin user to spin around with such force that the floating rocks would crumble and vanish. That way would Rapid Spin get rid of the Stealth Rock.

Toxic Spikes would work great too. The Pokémon shoots a great purple ball of energy in the sky which ends up falling onto the field. The field is basically filed with poison (not visible) and the first time your opponents Pokémon sets foot on the field they get poisoned.

I hope I helped, you should be more specific. ^^;

 

[Giustizia]

I'd agree with Tsutarja with those two!

Also, drawing from the anime, (¬¬) Toxic Spikes could be portrayed as poison-tipped spikes submersed under the battlefield, that spring into action upon the entry of a Pokemon.
Rapid Spin could dig up such spikes and toss them out of harms way.

As for the length of the battles, that may be an issue as stall battles tend to become repetitive. So maybe add more double battles, as to spice things up a bit with a more offensively orientated partner?

 

[voidcritter]

The double battles are going to be worked in sometimes, since one of her friends is more offensively based. On her own, however, things are almost pure stalling.

On the topic of pacing-I don't plan to write out every single detail, preferring to skip over things and get to the important bits instead. I'm also trying to take things less from a combative standpoint and get them to more of a "tower defense" point of view--instead of ordering Pokemon to directly attack, the main character is setting up a stronghold of sorts and preventing breaches.

 

[Captain GIROG]

I'll answer the questions based on my own experience with this thingymajig.


I had a scene dealing with a stall in Field Research. It was part of a gym battle, where the gym leader was forcing the main characters into scenarios where their Pokémon should be useless. The trainer, Caitie, had to break a stalling Forretress with a Scyther.

Here's the scene:

Spoiler

...Caitie and Gregory stood on opposite ends of the stadium. Caitie let out the bug Pokémon, which screeched and flashed its blades. Gregory sent out his own Pokémon, something that looked like a pink metallic nut. "Forretress!"

The shell quickly opened, revealing two beady eyes and four tubes. The tubes shot out metallic spikes at high speed, then retracted back into its body. The shell closed again. Caitie commanded her Pokémon. "Scyther, slash it!"

The Scyther beat its wings quickly, then made a beeline for the Forretress. It deftly stepped over the spikes, then hit the Forretress with a wide slash. It had very little effect. Scyther hovered above the Forretress, then looked to Caitie for instructions. "Hit it again!" she shouted.

It made another powerful slash, which did the same damage as the first. The Forretress was completely unharmed. Caitie ruffled her brow, thinking hard. "Try prying it open!" she said.

The Scyther landed to the Pokémon's side. It tried to bury its scythe in the crease of the Forretress's shell, but the muscles holding the shell tight would not budge. After several tries, the Scyther gave up. Caitie rethought her tactic.

"One more minute," Gregory said. "You can ask for help at any time."

Caitie shook her head. There had to be a way to break that bug. "What attacks do Scyther know..." Caitie muttered.

"Quick Attack... Pursuit... Slash... False Swipe... Feint... Air Slash... Vacuum Wave... Vacuum Wave! Scyther, use Vacuum Wave!"

The Scyther flew into the air, spinning at an insane speed. It used its scythes like fan blades, sucking air toward it as it spun. The spikes around the stadium began to whip around on the ground, some embedding themselves in the Forretress's shell. Scyther turned in the air, flying past the Forretress as it spun. The wind caught on the spikes and the creases of the Forretress's shell, transferring the spin from the air to the Pokémon. The Forretress opened its shell to shoot a web out of its tube to try to stop. "Scyther, slash!"

Scyther flew down to the exposed Forretress, then buried its scythe into its soft interior. Gregory recalled his Pokémon. "Good show!" he shouted, then turned around to his students. "Scyther are extremely fast, and most of their attacks center around this...

I did not have the spikes act as they would in-game.

Instead of entry hazards, they were a constant threat. The Scyther had to flit around the spikes carefully, for fear of being impaled. Because the Scyther was in play when the spikes were shot out, it could avoid them. A Pokémon just entering battle would be unaware of the spikes, and would be poked because it wasn't looking out. *Poke.*

The Scyther had to work hard to even hurt the Forretress.

Instead of using Iron Defense to reduce the amount of hitpoints lost to a minimum, which would be a very lame way to describe a stall, the Forretress retreated into its shell and refused to come out. Totally blocked, the Scyther eventually ended the stall by using vacuum wave to cause the Forretress to spin uncontrollably, making it open its shell and shoot a web to stop the spinning. The trainer took advantage of this to have her Scyther attack the fleshy insides.

What I'm trying to say is this: forget the in-game rules. A move (e.g. Vacuum Wave, Spikes) will probably not behave as it does in-game. It's probably a lot more complex.