Arena: The Old, Abandoned Meteor Falls Where All Those Teens Disappeared One Year Ago, Today
Field Type: Flying
Complexity: Moderate
Restrictions: Limited Weather (see description)
Description:
Meteor Falls: important stop in any Hoennite's journey to the top, favored sojourn of that region's champion, and former site of a Flying Gym. This Gym was very short-lived, as the Gym League lost contact with the leader during his first match, and most challengers were lost, as well. The Gym League quickly found a replacement, and the Gym fell to obscurity. However, tales soon arose of a party of teenagers who vanished without a trace while searching for the site of the Gym; these stories are often used to spook younger Hoennites, but it is hard to find someone who doesn't believe them on some level.
Nevertheless, you have heard rumors that the Gym is again accepting challengers, so you head to the Hoenn region to investigate these reports, armed with a flashlight and your wits. Remembering that the cave is home to an excessively large amount of Zubat, you have entered the base floor with an equal amount of Repel spray. However, the dark history of the gym lurks in the back of your mind, and you can't shake a feeling of unease, almost like something is watching you.
Unfortunately, finding the Gym for which you are looking is not exactly the easiest task, as the information you gathered was somewhat ambiguous; "Meteor Falls" leaves much to be desired. As a result, you are left to pause and carefully plot out your next move.
Suddenly, a dark shape flits across your peripheral vision. Starting, you attempt to follow the blur with your light, but it is nowhere to be found. As your adrenaline level rises, your composure begins to dissipate, climaxing when the shape dives toward you as a terrifying, yet somewhat familiar, shriek pierces the air. You recoil in fear and drop your torch, which shuts off upon impact with the ground, prompting you to scrabble about the floor to find the implement.
When the flashlight is once again in your grasp, you turn the beam on the silhouette, revealing a small Zubat. As it hovers in the air in front of you, ignoring the copious amount of Repel in use, you recall an apocryphal piece of information: That eccentric of a leader made his lair in a cave, using Zubat to communicate with potential challengers. Feeling as if you have found an important clue as to the Gym's authenticity, you cautiously step forward. The Zubat darts a few meters away, then halts, wheeling to face you as if to beckon you towards it. You oblige, as the Pokemon seems your best shot at finding the Gym.
The Zubat brings you to one of the bodies of water found in the system and waits for you to devise a means of following it. You release a Pokemon capable of carrying you across oceans with Surf, and the Zubat darts to a nearby waterfall. Upon its arrival at its destination, the Pokemon crawls into a cranny in the stone abutting said waterfall and disappears.
Seeing only one way to proceed and noticing the silhouette of your guide behind the torrent, you push through the crashing waterfall and emerge into a small cavern. You immediately perceive a drastic difference in temperature; whereas the main system was damp and cool, this area is marked by a somewhat oppressive heat. Furthermore, the floor is covered by billowing clouds of fog, through which a handful of small, red lights glitter eerily. Several Solrock float through the air at various positions, casting a bright light that illuminates the rest of the area, which is revealed to be a rather large, dome-shaped room reaching dimensions of 20 x 20 x 40. Markings on the ground indicates that this is clearly an arena of sorts, and a sizable meteorite, streaked with rivulets of an unknown, red mineral and lodged in the center of the field, marks the center of the zone designated for combat.
The Zubat you followed here reappears from its hiding spot and swiftly maneuvers toward a person, whom you assume to be the leader, standing in the corner of the cave with his back turned to you, seemingly observing a vein of red ore identical to that visible in the meteorite and recording what he sees in a notepad. He greets the Pokemon as it arrives, then turns to face you and approaches.
"I assume that you are here to challenge the Gym, eh?" the man states; he attempts to continue, but you interrupt him to ask about the rumors that brought you here. The man sighs. "Yes, the Gym is open, and I am its leader. I have been In my defense, though, how was I supposed to know that a dimensional rift lay beneath the cavern floor? That provoked the Zygarde intervention, and—" he shakes his head, then says "I am rambling; that is a story for another day. Anyway, after that fiasco ended, I discovered that the Gym Committee had already found my replacement. Eventually, though, I was called upon once more to reopen the gym, which I gladly answered."
Again, you cut in, inquiring about the stories of missing teenagers. The leader rubs the bridge of his nose and says, with a hint of irritation in his voice, "That is merely an urban legend! Yes, a group of kids did enter my cave last year, but they are fine; granted, they encountered the Zygarde in its full glory, but they fled, unharmed, to Fallarbor Town. The media exaggerated the whole ordeal, though, and the entire region has been afraid of my little cave, here, ever since." He affixes his gaze on you. "I have no more time to spend disputing such tales. Do you wish to challenge my gym?" You nod in affirmation, and the leader clears his throat and says:
"Well, then, I should inform you that there are a few special conditions in play here:
-"By now, you've probably noticed the abundance of Solrock here. Their incandescence provides a wonderful substitute for true sunlight,
providing all effects of Sunny Day. However, exposure to the red ore has changed the Pokemon in unexpected ways, causing them to emit a great deal of heat, as well. As a result, the weather effect reduces the power of Ice-type attacks, rather than Water-type attacks. Also, due to the subterranean environment of the arena, the weather cannot be altered unless the user is holding the appropriate weather rock.
-"I have long known this cavern to cast an aegis of sorts over its inhabitants, but it, too, has changed since I discovered the red ore. Watch this."
The leader tosses a Pokeball to the ground, releasing a Ledyba. He caresses the Pokemon's head, causing a rippling, green light to trace the path drawn by his fingers before vanishing moments later.
"Don't ask me how it works—I did not even know how the last protection functioned—, but this new fortification dampens the strength of strikes that would otherwise be crippling while affecting weaker blows less tangibly. If I were to put a number to this occurrence, I would say that it reduces the damage modifier of all moves with a type effectiveness of 4x to 2x, rather than 2.25x.
-"If you look around, you'll notice that the walls are studded with a special gemstone that closely resembles Pinsirite. The high concentrations of what appears to be a raw form of the Mega Stone has convinced the Gym League to
allow me to bring Pinsir to all matches that take placed in this area. However, as a result of the immense energy exuded from the natural Pinsirite when sent out, a primal sense is awakened inside the Pokemon, and it refuses to hold any item that is not Pinsirite, Mega Evolving immediately upon send-out."
-"The plentiful amount of rocks is sufficient to fling during a brawl. The ground here is surprisingly fertile and allows the growth of mosses, but when that fails, I have a collection of houseplants stashed in various corners of the cavern. The waterfall through which you entered, besides being an excellent target at which to practice launching fireballs, is an abundant source of flowing water. You can probably deduce from my rambling that there are no restrictions to any moves here."
- "Although the majority of the Zygarde left the cave after the issue was resolved, a few cells lingered to monitor my activities. Somehow, the things record my conversations and send them back to the main Pokemon. You probably have seen their lights through the fog, already, as they glow for some reason, and, if you can invoke the Power(,) of Nature, you can draw upon the Pokemon's power to assist yourself in battle."
-"Oh, and another thing." The leader glances upwards. Following his gaze, you notice a massive colony of Zubat roosting at the ceiling of the cave. "Try not to disturb them. Their discomfort is expressed in quite the cacophonous manner. I suppose that a Pokemon so disposed might purposely trigger the colony's disruption by certain methods—say, Secret Power—but I feel that those individuals are quite impolite."
-"Finally, timeliness is essential here; potential challengers usually manage to find my gym in rapid succession, spurred by the same rumors that you heard, and I shall need a while to answer their questions, as well. I thus issue you a single warning: if you tarry in your challenge, I shall "call in" a report to the Zygarde; said report is usually baseless," the leader gives you a stern look, then continues, "but it is nevertheless in your best interest to evacuate my gym after I do so."
Summary:
- The default weather is, for the purposes of all Abilities, moves, and other pertinent mechanics, a duplicate of Sun, but it reduces the Base Attack Power of Ice-type attacks, rather than Water. The only weather that can be called without the use of its respective weather rock is Sun.
- The damage modifier of 4x effective attacks is x2.
- Roost has +1 priority. A Pokemon that uses Roost retains all resistances and immunities granted by the Flying type until the end of the action.
- Mega Pinsir may be brought by the leader, but it must hold Pinsirite and must Mega-Evolve immediately upon send-out.
Codifications:
- Nature Power calls Thousand Arrows.
- Camouflage changes the user into a Ground-type.
- Secret Power rolls to Confuse.
- There are no restrictions on external water and grass sources.
Battle Rules
4v4 Gym Doubles
3 Day DQ, 1 Warning
All Items
All Abilities
Infinite Chills / Recoveries
Switch=OK
3 Substitutions
0 Mega Evolutions
