Unova Wilderness

Diamond's eyebrows raised again, and he nodded softly as Melaine gave her answer and speeches. The battle raged on merely twenty feet away perhaps, Diamond began to walk away from it, the wind from the impacts ruffling his clothes. He stopped after a few paces, with Lucy still definitively between him and Melaine. Lucy stood ready to leap into combat at the drop of a hat, her Aura idly burning around her body as she stood defensively in front of Diamond.

Then, perhaps, we should come to a compromise, Crown Princess. As you know, my interest in your Obelisks and Crystals is on how they affect the Aura of living things. I can see that it greatly enhances the strength of non-powerful humans, such as Riz over there, what with her crystal and staff. I too benefited - in some ways - from being corrupted by you... but I also lost something too. Lucario tries to pull me back to where I was...." he had no problem throwing Lucy under the bus. He'd deal with her later.

He stepped forward two steps, now properly facing Melaine his arms still crossed. "May I suggest, Crown Princess, that with my further understanding on how these crystals affect the Aura.... it could lead to a better and simpler process to turn more subjects to your cause? The more Shadow Humans and Pokemon you have at your disposal, the more of a chance you'll stand against the undoubtedly united world." he suggested. Diamond perhaps didn't realize how thin of ice he was treading on right now, but regardless, he delivered his proposal with the utmost confidence and grace. A respectable ideal, and one that, while dangerous should Diamond revert back to normal, could pay off hugely if he is not. A double edged sword by all means, and a well balanced one at that. If he remains loyal, Melaine gains a larger army. If he reverts to normal, there is a distinct possibility that - assuming he keeps any of his memories - he can use that knowledge against the Crown Princess.

The loophole there, of course, was Lucy. She was intelligent, and much more skilled in Aura than Diamond ever was. She was also capable of doing damage - however minor - to Melaine herself. The Lucario sighed softly, when would Diamond just shut up and make this arrogant thing calling itself royalty go away? She'd have to do it herself, she reckoned. Her stance deepened slightly, but she made no other movements.

Chloe was doing her best to hide the unease welling up inside of her, especially when Riz decided to simply tank the attack rather than react in some way. She blinked, but managed to maintain her stoic expression. All the while, her mind was racing at this development. She didn't even seem to care... she thought. Why? Is it because Fire isn't effective? Is anything effective against this power they have?

Her unease morphed into full blown anxiousness when the sky darkened around them and the flashing lights started falling like rain. This is the Shadowy Rain... she realized, recalling from two weeks ago when it had fallen over most of Unova.

Sure enough, her skin started to become irritated as small pellets of pain fell over her body. She remembered this feeling and how bad it was, especially over an extended period of time. She also knew that her Pokemon would be going through the same feeling. It wouldn't be too long before the pain was unbearable and her Pokemon were knocked out. The clock was now running. If she was going to win, she had to do it real soon.

This realization came with another barrage of strikes: large shadowy balls flying at incredible speeds. And for the first time, she actually cracked a small smile. This was the kind of attack she was well versed in fighting, and she knew that Slurpuff was the most capable of taking it on. She didn't even need to tell her to dodge...she only needed to tell her what direction.

"Slurpuff! Forward!"

The first ball would arrive before she could finish the command, but the Slurpuff was already acting, leaping in the air with a surprising amount of force. The height of the jump was well enough to clear the next shadow ball. By the third one's arrival, she was suspended in the air with nowhere to go but down. But even that was okay. As it hit her, she appeared to move with a strange amount of mobility and flexibility, using the ball's momentum to roll around it and place herself beneath it, then launching herself downward from it. The Slurpuff was clearly hurt from the strike, but the sudden movement was well worth it, allowing the last two shadow balls to miss wide right, in the direction she would've gone had she been hit as designed. Now she was heading the opposite direction, slamming into the ground with an exuberant amount of force. A small dirt cloud coated the air around the cupcake-looking Pokemon

Right before impact, Chloe called upon her other support, "Tailwind! Now!"

The Togekiss flapped it's wings once, unleashed a whipping wind. It traveled forward enough distance to sweep the dirt cloud away, revealing the Slurpuff was already charging forward, at normal speed on her first step, but at a briskly faster pace beyond her second step as the wind took her speed and boosted it significantly. This would look like a bizarre sequence and a mixing of speed, almost like it was mistimed. However, the look on Chloe's face told everyone that this was intentional. It was very clear what it was designed to do: throw off Riz's timing.

But what to do now on the offensive? The impulse came quickly to strike fast and hard, but Chloe wanted to bait out some kind of shield first. "Off-Bounce Surf! Grab the staff!"

Already flinging herself towards Riz, it would appear that the shadowy Duchess would only have a split second to react as a rapid wave of water began brewing around the Slurpuff, causing her to rise off the ground until the two combatants were at even height. But the actual attack would come a split second after that split second. Hoping the staff was already in use, the Slurpuff actually fell out of the Surf, leaving it half charged. This would cause her to hit the ground, going under the expected high block. However, instead of stopping, she took her momentum and pushed it forward, bouncing herself ahead of the wave, under the staff, and directly in front of Riz's face. All she would see is the stubborn tongue lick across her face before impact, the speedy pink ball aiming to slam into her face hard before rebounding backwards and try grabbing her staff while her opponent was in a daze. The Surf would help too, timed to rush over Riz immediately after the first strike, adding to the force that would push her back and potentially cause whatever grip she had on her staff to relinquish.

At least...all this was the plan...

---

Lucian caught Aerys' smirk in his direction. He could feel the aura of intimidation wash over him and he instinctively wanted to turn away. But he knew he couldn't do that. He felt like she would win if he did that. And if his younger sister could stand against them, showing inner strength he had never seen before, he might as well give it a try.

"Don't look at me. Look that way." he told Aerys outright, pointing towards the battle while letting a little bit of his sass loose. It was dismissive and arrogant and it was simply rude. But it was a little cathartic unleashing a small amount of pent up aggression towards them, even if it was just barbs. He knew in the back of his mind that Aerys wouldn't like that and that there'd be repercussions, but at this point he didn't care that much. They were fighting anyway. He didn't have much hope for the situation.