[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Mason begins the series of mock battles with Arete.

He starts out with his disobedient Tyranitar, showing Terra how to handle Rock types and fossiloids who aren't listening properly. The key is to allow them to face challenges head-on, addressing their insecurities, and helping them learn for what situations fight-or-flight isn't the best choice. Of course, to most Rock types, "flight" involves withdrawing into a Defense Curl or something. Arete's Watery leanings help him demonstrate this with precision, and Tyranitar lasts a long time against the type disadvantage. He also withdraws Tyranitar before it faints. "Not fair to make a Pokemon lose a battle so drastically, through no fault of its own. Tyranitar trusts that I will only bring him out when it's safe to do so."

He also brings out a vain Archeops. Terra can see that Mason's method of flattering his Archeops isn't likely to work on Arete, but that's good information to have. Arete also gets great practice at trying to blast Archeops out of the air.

Mason makes Arete fight his Onix next. Onix takes up a huge percentage of the battlefield, and spends a lot of time worming down between the blocks and popping up for surprise attacks. The massive pool of hitpoints means Arete can be as vicious as she likes without gaining anything - only clever commands from Terra can make that battle winnable.

Finally, some of the blocks in the Gym swivel aside, revealing four Crustle making up the inner foundation. "These are my only Bug types I have on hand. Want to see how you do against four at once?"


All in all, Arete gains 1 more point of Loyalty. Terra is finding it much easier to increase her Loyalty than to increase her Happiness.