Okay, no more banter. As fun as it is, it's obviously not doing Claude any good here, and he needs that processing power elsewhere.
As he sees Dirk winding up for that swing, his mind flips through a couple possibilities. Sweeping the man's legs might work...but there's a chance the guy will dodge it completely, and it leaves Claude in a compromised position with fewer options. No, not the answer.
But, unlike a lot of opponents Claude's fought over the past five years or so...Dirk's not armored. Furthermore, the weapon he's got is basically just a big, heavy stick - it's for bludgeoning. It needs weight and momentum and room to wind up to do real damage. And it, very conspicuously, doesn't have a whole lot in the way of sharp edges. Claude...may actually be in less danger if he moves in closer, despite normally wanting all the distance he can get from an opponent in a fight.
It's not like he has a bow or anything here, so he supposes he's exactly as useful up close as he is from afar here.
The calculations are made and his course of action decided on as the candy cane starts whipping around, and Claude doesn't waste another fraction of a second. He lunges in towards Dirk, turning his body to the side to drive the hardest part of his shoulder into Dirk's chest, on the same side he's swinging the candy cane from.
For someone who's shorter than Claude...this doesn't throw him off nearly as much as one might expect, which only partially surprises Claude. He's known smaller guys with dense musculature(Caspar comes to mind), and seeing Dirk casually swinging around a candy cane probably as tall as they are (and, judging by the speed of its swings and just the sound of it slicing through the air, has some weight to it) suggests the guy's got some upper body mass to throw around. That's fine; Claude didn't necessarily base this plan on sending him sprawling. He's hoping to have knocked the wind out of him, maybe throw him off-balance...and in a way, his not moving much is a benefit.
It means Claude, having braced himself for impact and now right in front of him, can kick at the back of one of the man's legs, trying to help along that whole 'off-balance' initiative.
The Obstagoon, left to his own devices, snarls and shakes its head at that terrible screech, angrily clashing its claws together. The AI on auto-battles apparently isn't too good. But then a grunt from Claude - who hasn't entirely escaped being winded himself after that impact - catches its attention.
Obstagoon takes that slash from Talus...but, at Claude's instructions, promptly launches itself forwarde to pay the Type:Null back with interest.
Honestly, Counter is a gamble on Claude's part; it's pretty conditional. Claude's not able to watch the pokémon battle right now, engaged in a fight of his own, so he can't even gauge if physical moves are being used, and he's got no idea what type this mystery pokémon is either. (It at least doesn't look like a ghost, so it's probably not immune...) But Claude's been afraid that his team may be facing pokémon way over their own levels ever since arriving, and he's been considering all the possible ways to stack the odds for himself and his team. If Obstagoon manages to tank the hits it's taking, Claude hopes, then Counter will be a way to potentially score a knock-out that no other move could make on a higher level pokémon. And if Obstagoon can't tank the hits, then it's all a moot point. It was a gamble play he'd been considering making with Obstagoon ever since he'd learned of the possibility, long before encountering Dirk, so thankfully he doesn't need to think up the idea while he's so distracted - he just needs to fall back on a plan he'd already had.
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As he sees Dirk winding up for that swing, his mind flips through a couple possibilities. Sweeping the man's legs might work...but there's a chance the guy will dodge it completely, and it leaves Claude in a compromised position with fewer options. No, not the answer.
But, unlike a lot of opponents Claude's fought over the past five years or so...Dirk's not armored. Furthermore, the weapon he's got is basically just a big, heavy stick - it's for bludgeoning. It needs weight and momentum and room to wind up to do real damage. And it, very conspicuously, doesn't have a whole lot in the way of sharp edges. Claude...may actually be in less danger if he moves in closer, despite normally wanting all the distance he can get from an opponent in a fight.
It's not like he has a bow or anything here, so he supposes he's exactly as useful up close as he is from afar here.
The calculations are made and his course of action decided on as the candy cane starts whipping around, and Claude doesn't waste another fraction of a second. He lunges in towards Dirk, turning his body to the side to drive the hardest part of his shoulder into Dirk's chest, on the same side he's swinging the candy cane from.
For someone who's shorter than Claude...this doesn't throw him off nearly as much as one might expect, which only partially surprises Claude. He's known smaller guys with dense musculature(Caspar comes to mind), and seeing Dirk casually swinging around a candy cane probably as tall as they are (and, judging by the speed of its swings and just the sound of it slicing through the air, has some weight to it) suggests the guy's got some upper body mass to throw around. That's fine; Claude didn't necessarily base this plan on sending him sprawling. He's hoping to have knocked the wind out of him, maybe throw him off-balance...and in a way, his not moving much is a benefit.
It means Claude, having braced himself for impact and now right in front of him, can kick at the back of one of the man's legs, trying to help along that whole 'off-balance' initiative.
The Obstagoon, left to his own devices, snarls and shakes its head at that terrible screech, angrily clashing its claws together.
The AI on auto-battles apparently isn't too good.But then a grunt from Claude - who hasn't entirely escaped being winded himself after that impact - catches its attention."Counter."
Obstagoon takes that slash from Talus...but, at Claude's instructions, promptly launches itself forwarde to pay the Type:Null back with interest.
Honestly, Counter is a gamble on Claude's part; it's pretty conditional. Claude's not able to watch the pokémon battle right now, engaged in a fight of his own, so he can't even gauge if physical moves are being used, and he's got no idea what type this mystery pokémon is either. (It at least doesn't look like a ghost, so it's probably not immune...) But Claude's been afraid that his team may be facing pokémon way over their own levels ever since arriving, and he's been considering all the possible ways to stack the odds for himself and his team. If Obstagoon manages to tank the hits it's taking, Claude hopes, then Counter will be a way to potentially score a knock-out that no other move could make on a higher level pokémon.
And if Obstagoon can't tank the hits, then it's all a moot point.It was a gamble play he'd been considering making with Obstagoon ever since he'd learned of the possibility, long before encountering Dirk, so thankfully he doesn't need to think up the idea while he's so distracted - he just needs to fall back on a plan he'd already had.