Battle Convention!

[indigo_league]

Early Saturday morning, the doors of one of the largest --if not the largest-- convention centres in Viridian City open to welcome everybody to this years Battle Convention.

Spread out across several floors, and the battling fields outside, the Battle Convention is the place to be for anyone with an interest in pokemon battling. Whether you are a hardcore battler trying to hone your craft even further, or a newcomer to the battling scene hoping to learn, the Battle Convention has things of interest to everybody. It's promising to be a busy event, with trainers attending from all over Johto and Kanto. Famous battlers and gym leaders alike can be spotted in the crowds, hosting workshops or even entering in the tournaments.





The Tournament Ground

Outside of the convention centre, stands have been erected around at least a dozen Pokemon battle fields. This is where the various Tournaments will be held. Throughout the weekend, three tournaments will be held here. There is the Otherworlder Battle Tournament, a separate tournament for native Elite Four Champions, and a third Li'l Champs tournament for trainers under the age of ten.

Viewing the various battles is absolutely free, and could be a good source of insight into battle strategies employed by some of the best battlers in the region. Or, if you are attending the Li'l Champs tournament -- a most adorable insight into the dedication and friendship between young children and their first Pokemon.

Due to the number of battles, at any given time, various battles will be ongoing. The Li'l Champs tournament will be held on Sunday, while both the Otherworlder battle tournament and the Elite Four Champions battle tournament will have most of their preliminary matches held on Saturday, with the finale few matches on Sunday.

So, if you are done shopping (or maybe just ran out of money) and there aren't any workshops catching your eye, why not come down to the Tournament Grounds and catch a few battles?

First Floor

The first floor of the Convention Centre has been reserved entirely for various workshops and battle demonstrations. In essence, whatever topic related to battling you might be interested in -- whether it is using certain moves or items, battle strategies, or even demonstrations on why you should be adding X type to your roster -- you'll probably find someone here willing to talk about it. Even breeders might find something of interest here, as there are a few people giving workshops on how to breed pokemon for battle-minded customers.

Schedules are available so you won't miss anything you are interested in. Some of these workshops might only be given once, while others are repeated a few times throughout the convention, so make sure to check your schedule!

And among the crowd giving demonstration and workshops, you might even find a few familiar faces -- yes, members of the Aurora League have also been given the chance to speak about any battle topics near to their heart. Why not check out what they have to say?

Second Floor

The second floor of the Convention Centre has been reserved for the important business of commerce. Have some money to burn? Want that sweet serotonin boost of buying a thing? Maybe you deserve a little treat after winning (or losing) your battle. If so, head on up here.

Spread across various rooms, the Battle Convention dealers have everything that could be of interest to a trainer. There is, frankly, far too much to list here individually, so please accept this rough list of what your characters can find here.

Held Items -- it is possible to buy held items here, however the vast majority of them are pretty rare, so sellers will only sell you one of each. Buying several different held items is fine, but you won't find anyone willing to sell you five Amulet coins. The only exception is for held items that also double as evolutionary items. Those can be freely bought in any quantity. TMs -- It is also possible (though might require some searching across various dealers) to buy any kind of single-use TM here. The same rules apply as with Held Items -- TMs that are currently available in stores can be bought at any quantity; TMs outside of that are limited to one per person. Eggs -- There is also a small group of professional breeders present where you can order eggs with egg moves. The eggs themselves will be delivered to you in the days after the tournament. There is no limit on the amount of egg moves you can request for your egg, but there is a hefty price tag involved! These are professional breeders, so expect a base price of 6000p per egg, with 1000p per requested egg move. Training Equipment -- it's also possible to buy all manner of training equipment for your pokemon. From weights to training bags to agility aids -- if you can think of something that could help you train your pokemon in a more efficient manner, you can find it here. And the bigger items can be delivered to where you are staying, so you won't have to carry around a giant Wailord Training Bag. Odds and Ends -- In addition to all this very focused battle stuff, you'll also be able to find general pokemon items, such a wide variety of Pokeballs, Evolutionary Items, Vitamins and Potions and such. All of these will be sold for the same price as in stores.

However in addition to all of these items, the Silph Co. Booth is drawing a lot of attention. There is an announcement that they will be unveiling something truly special on Sunday, so all of Saturday is awash in rumours and guesses. There is talk that whatever they will be unveiling will be one of the prices in the tournament, though who knows if that is true. When Sunday finally comes, there is a huge crowd around the booth, watching as Silph Co. unveils

EXP-Share, the newest held item to make your training a little easier.

The EXP-Share, which will go on sale in the department stores after this weekend, is a new type of held item. Once given to a Pokemon, this Pokemon will receive EXP during battles, even while not battling itself. Have a Pokemon that is difficult to train like Magikarp? Did you just hatch a new Pokemon, but you are in an area where the wild Pokemon are too high in level for them to train against? Why not give them an EXP-Share and have them comfortably gain EXP without risking them in battle.

Battle Convention attendants can get an early start on buying an EXP-Share, though they are limited to one per customer. The price is 40,000p.

Third Floor

This is where you can go if you need a little break from all the hustle and bustle downstairs. Various food vendors and sit-down places have been set up here, allowing characters to grab a meal or something to drink, rest a little, or even go strategise for upcoming tournament battles.

As always with these type of events UBIRDS will be available to fly characters to Viridian City and back to where they were staying afterwards.

Comments

[heartofalioness]

[It takes Allura a few seconds to think, more to determine which terrain since she doesn't use them too often.]

For this match-up in particular... Grassy Terrain and Rain Dance, to start. Not only would the rain be harmless and make your Pokémon more visible and easier to hit, it would make Quagsire's Water moves more powerful. And Grassy Terrain offers a small but consistent healing effect over time, increasing the chance of them surviving the two attacks, and providing a similar boost to Shiinotic's Grass attacks.

As for other counters, there's Life Dew or Aqua Ring if Quagsire can learn them, the three draining Grass moves, and items like Oran and Sitrus Berries for more healing. And all of the core status conditions and flinching could either interfere with Archen’s ability to perform the moves successfully, cause extra damage after the Focus Sash has been used, or both.

And, of course, spreading attacks instead of focusing on a single opponent, either attacking one Pokémon each so the Focus Sash is used more quickly, or using moves that can hit multiple opponents at once, such as Muddy Water.

[dreamsofahero]

"While most of those might mitigate or delay it, you would still have the problem of your opponent being able to continue to reduce your Pokémon's health to a critical state with a single move any time you attempt to heal. But in more general terms, if you knew you might face an opponent using a setup similar to mine, how many possible ways to counter it would you be able to think of?

"Though I will say you're certainly on the right track with some of those ideas, at least."

He could give the answers, but that would defeat the purpose of all this, now wouldn't it?

[heartofalioness]

The answer brings about annoyance, not at Sion but at herself. It's missing data like that which cost her the match against Riku, or so she's thinking. Come on, think...

"Well, Sunny Day would weaken Quagsire's Water moves and put Shiinotic at risk for a powered-up fire move, or Quagsire for a quickened Solar Beam, although I'm not sure either Tyranitar or Archen can learn that one. Hail... might work, since both of yours could be damaged, but then so can Quagsire and Shiinotic. Neither Misty nor Electric Terrain would provide much benefit save for nullifying Dragon attacks, unless either Shiinotic or Quagsire have Fairy or Electric moves at their disposal.

"... I'm not as familiar with Physic Terrain. What can it do?"

[dreamsofahero]

Helping people learn these sort of things is precisely why the Collegiate Gym is modeled after a school or academy and features a publicly-accessible library. There's a lot to learn, especially for those people brought here from other worlds!

"Aside from boosting Psychic-type attacks, it nullifies the effects of certain faster moves when used against Pokémon on the ground."

That is, it makes grounded 'mons outright immune to them.

[heartofalioness]

Ah...

"That could work then, depending on if Shiinotic can learn it. ... And perhaps a few of mine could."

[dreamsofahero]

"Indeed, and simply being aware of such moves and which of yours may know them means that you could potentially make use of them should a situation like this arise."

There's a lot of overlooked potential in some of these moves and combinations, is what he's ultimately getting at. That's the point of the whole workshop, but Sion figures including such a peculiar gimmick to top it all off with will make it more memorable for people.