12th Spell: [Video/Action for Fluttershy]

[friendyousohard]

Alright, Starswirl, you've got the video running?

[There's a sigh in response, and then that odd echo sort of voice that accompanies telepathy.]

Yes, but I really do think you're spoiling him with this. Recording an entire match just so one of your Pokemon can strut around?

[Twilight shrugs in response, unperturbed by her Pokemon's complaint.]

It's only the one time, and he really was insistent. I don't usually hold with showing off, but as long as he doesn't start strutting around and being generally insufferable, I think it's fairly harmless. I just kind of wish I knew who he was trying to impress.

I have a feeling you'll find out soon enough.

[Twilight responds to that with a raised eyebrow, but she doesn't question it any further. The camera swings up to show the doors of the Azalea gym, and she shrugs and turns around to face them. A grinning, almost swaggering Heracross shoves the doors open as soon as she looks at them, with considerably more force than necessary. Twilight grimaces, but follows him inside, as does the camera. They walk straight up to the gym leader, who promptly grins at them.]

Well hello there! You must be the latest challenger. I'm Bugsy, and I never lose when it comes to bug-type Pokemon.

Megasoma here begs to disagree on that.

Oh yeah? Well we'll just see how your Heracross measures up to the Bug Pokemon authority, shall we? Go, Pinsir!

[And the battle's on. Megasoma turns to grin and wink at the camera as it starts, while Twilight seems to be realizing that encouraging this sort of behavior might have been a bad idea. She sighs.]

Well, you wanted this, now you've got it. Go, Megasoma. Show everyone watching what you can do.

[And he proceeds to do precisely that.]

A few moments later...

[Twilight walks out of the gym, attaching her new badge to her shirt, while Megasoma swaggers around, posing and flexing and generally looking way too pleased with himself for his own good. She takes the gear back from the cameramon and sighs as the view swings around to show a very unimpressed Kadabra.]

Okay, Starswirl, I admit it. You were right. That was a horrible idea.

[She turns to the camera.]

My sincerest apologies for anyone who had to sit through that. I promise, I'm never doing anything like that again.

Now to find a way to deflate his swollen head...

[She sighs, and clicks off the gear.]

[OOC: Well that turned out longer than I'd planned on. Mod-approved Hive Badge for Twilight, and your character can either speak up while the fight's going on or afterwards. But yeah, ICly absolutely all of the battle was shown on the gear.]

Comments

action

[3_butterflies]

[After the battle is over, she comes over to Megasoma. Despite Twilight and Starswirl's objections, she gives him a pat on the head with some praise.]

Good job. You rock. Yay.

action

[friendyousohard]

[Megasoma is extremely pleased by this, flexing and pushing his head up into Fluttershy's hand eagerly, but Starswirl and Twilight just turn to her and say, at the exact same time:]

Don't encourage him.

action

[3_butterflies]

[She flinches, and almost hides behind Megasoma.]

But... well, I think he deserves it, just a little...?

action

[friendyousohard]

Fluttershy, he's practically turning into a second Trixie. Do you really want to wind up traveling with him acting like that the whole time?

[Megasoma, gleefully ignoring his trainer, nudges Fluttershy's belt with his horn, right next to where she keeps her Pokeballs. What could he want now...?]

action

[3_butterflies]

[Conflict!!! She fidgets between her friend and the bug.]

But he... I... um... that is... D-do you want something, Megasoma?

afterwards / video

[viiru2alert]

[Okay, he'll admit, he laughed at that Heracross. Kind of reminds him of his own intolerable Bug-type. But he definitely takes note of what happened in the battle; even if Falkner was kind of a pushover, he wants all the info he can get, especially since he doesn't exactly have three type-advantage Pokémon anymore.]

You know, it's not that hard to get people like him to cut it out. Just squash his ego a little.

[Sollux is, in his own opinion, the undisputed master of dealing with narcissists. Still, he's being pretty nice about it today since Twilight's battle amused him so much.]

video

[friendyousohard]

What, you mean by letting him lose a battle? The problem with that is that most of the other people around here are probably going to lose to him just as badly as that gym leader, if not worse.

[And considering the battle ended with Megasoma literally punching Bugsy's Scyther across the gym, that's saying something.]

video

[viiru2alert]

Yeah, I guess you could lose a battle. What level is he? I know there are some people around here who have a crapton of level 100s, you could ask around for those.

Or you could take the other way out. Just tell him he's not such hot shit, it's pretty easy.

video

[friendyousohard]

Well, telling him that is one thing. Him believing me is another. He's won pretty much every battle he's been in, and it isn't only because he's so high-level in comparison to what he's fighting.

... Though that has a lot to do with it. Maybe he'll tone down a bit when we get back to zones where the trainers have Pokemon that aren't half his level.

video - after battle

[kyoukashotennis]

[Shiraishi watched the whole match because he's recently been curious about the Gym battles. He has to admit, the Heracross drew most of his attention here.]

That was impressive. He has a reason to be so proud of himself.

vide

[friendyousohard]

I know, but don't tell him that.

[Twilight sighs as she watches her Heracross flex and pose.]

He's lording it over everyone he can find enough already.

video

[kyoukashotennis]

I won't. [Even if all the machoing is pretty amusing.] Maybe putting him back to his ball for a while would cool him down a little?

video

[friendyousohard]

He'd probably just get offended at me for interrupting his "victory celebration", the overgrown beetle.

[For all her griping, Twilight does seem pretty impressed by how far her little bug has come.]

[Text]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[That was painful. Ow. But less because of an arrogant bug and more because he has a migraine and this involved sound and light. After this, he's probably just going to stop looking at the goddamn network. A distraction from pain is not worth more pain.]

Congratulations. You earned it.

...Also, good luck with deflating his ego a little. I don't know how you'll manage it.

[Text]

[friendyousohard]

I'll figure it out somehow. I hope you at least got some enjoyment out of the whole spectacle.

[After one last glance at her overly-proud-of-himself bug, Twilight decides to distract herself from the issue, for the moment at least.]

... How are you doing, Spencer?

[Text]

[leftinbasketforfbi]

We got to Violet in one piece and Flora is doing better. I'd say I'm doing alright.

[...And that is why he is using text. Obviously.]

Are you okay? Besides having a proud bug on your hands.

[Text]

[friendyousohard]

Perfectly fine. I just got a new badge, my new Pokemon are settling in nicely, and we're about to head out to Ilex Forest, which Fluttershy has told me plenty of great things about.

I'm glad to hear that about your Munna. We were pretty worried.

[Video]

[tobeyourhero]

[Give him a moment as he whistles over the battle. Bug Pokemon were certainly fun types to have after watching that.]

That's a seriously energetic Pokemon you've got there. I'd say you should get an ice pack or something for him.

[Video]

[friendyousohard]

I'm really failing to see how an ice pack would help the situation.

[Still, she's definitely willing to try pretty much anything.]

[Video]

[tobeyourhero]

Don't they always help whenever you bump your head really hard?

[Video]

[friendyousohard]

... When I say, "swelled head", I mean figuratively. It's an idiom meaning that he's gotten too prideful for his own good.

Besides, with that horn I'm pretty sure bumping his head is the last thing he has to worry about.

video

[islandshore]

Hey, it could be worse. When I fought Bugsy, I had Flare use Blast Burn on his Scizor... just for show.

[Not one of his prouder moments.]

But if ego's an issue, you could always put him up against a real challenge. Something that'd push him to his limits.

video

[friendyousohard]

His Scizor? Bugsy doesn't have a- [She stops in the middle of her sentence as she remembers something she's heard about a few times before.] Oh, you must be talking about his elite team. Well, at least that one was level one hundred, right?

[She ponders his suggestion.]

I don't have much in the way of competition out here in Azalea, but I could pit him against Spike or Starswirl... my Dragonite and my Kadabra.

video

[islandshore]

...No, it was his regular team. I fought him more than a year ago.

[Though maybe he has changed things up. Riku shrugs.]

Never hurts to put them against each other. It's how I train my team, since it's a lot faster.

video

[friendyousohard]

[OOC: Arrrgh, somehow I misread the last slot on his party as Scyther. Oh well, her strategy would have worked just as well on either of them.]

Weird. Maybe he changed his team... or the Scizor was injured so he had to have a fill-in.

[Well, it was only three pokemon out of six, so she won't worry too much about it.]

Yeah, and Starswirl's getting annoyed at his attitude anyway, so it could be a good way for him to let off steam... I'd just have to make sure he doesn't overdo it. Not that he's usually vicious, but he can have a temper if he thinks someone's being stupid.