6537/MECC: Shigure vs Alexis

MECC: Shigure vs Alexis
Date of Scene:	05 May 2019
Location:	MECC Stage 4
Synopsis:	Alexis fights Shigure.
Thanks to:	Alexis
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, Alexis

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Shigure has posed:
    Shigure has repaired, and resupplied from her previous bout, a new uniform, replacement gear, (Akashi's probably going to kill her if she blows up another backpack), and a bit of a cleanup, the black haired, blue eyed destroyer emerges from the competator entrance, lifting one fist to the audience, moving to take her position in the arena, going through a few final checklists with her fairies.

    As her opponent enters, the destroyer halfbows politely. "I am the Shiratsuyu-class Destroyer, Shigure. May you find victory on the dawn's horizon." she says, then draws her cannons into place, and gets ready.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis on the other hand doesn't have to worry about patching herself up after fights. Just deciding on what pokemon she is going to use next when one needs a chance to recover from a battle. Fortunately she's got no shortage of options. Or unusual opponents to consider.

Phantom ship. In some ways. Ghosts aren't anything new... One that's loaded like a small army, that is certainly a change.

But that's why she's here. A chance to pit fighting spirit with opponents she might not typically come across. Lacking a hat or such like some Trainers seem to prefer Alexis opts for a quick mimicing of a salute, since it is a military ship in some form she's about to go up against. "Yeah. Let's give these people the sort of show they're here for." With that out of the way she grabs a darker colored pokeball, expands it, and throws it. "Let's go, Grindcore!" The ball does it's usual release of energy, but this time there is an audible sound of something heavy hitting the ground as it consolidates itself. The glow receeds, only to be replaced with the sheen of silver and gunmetal grey as the saurian behemoth rears back and roars. "AAAAGRON!"

Then lowers his head and turns to peer one eye at Alexis, who shakes her head. "Competative fight, big guy. None of the Mega stuff tonight." He snorts a bit of dust and nods in understanding, then turns his gaze back towards Shigure as light glints off the pair of ceratopsian horns jutting from his head. One heavy foot scraps the ground, then the other.

Then the pounding of heavy footsteps follows as the metal beast just gets right into it, storming towards the ship-girl with a simple but efficent tackling charge.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure brings her turrets to bear, but can't get a fix on the fast moving pokebrute as it charges in. "Ahead flank!" she commands, like a reflex as she starts to make the beginnings of the motions to start running out of the way, but she's not fast enough and gets herself skewered by one of those horns, piercing through her midriff and splattering black oily fluid over the Agron's face.

    Shigure lifts a leg, and kicks herself off of Grindcore's horn, landing unsteadily and grunting as a repair team absails down her body and slaps what looks like a giant bandaid over the gaping hole in her stomach before they vanish into her uniform. "Grindcore? A fitting name." she remarks, then levels her cannons on the Steel-type. She fires a volley of AP shells, the heads digging in a ways before detonating should they hit something. "Maintain fire. Load High Explosive." she commands again, her turrets cycling with audible clanking after they discharge.

Alexis has posed:
"Thanks!" Alexis replies to the name compliment, but doesn't let it distract her. Now Alexis did watch the fight between the shipgirl and her princess friend, because that's what friends do. But also because it gave her a chance for a little insight on her other future opponent. And that is much of the reason she chose the pokemon she did. This was the expected retaliation if she succeeding in getting off the first attack.

Some people forget there's as much strategy in Pokemon training as there is throwing around elemental bombardments.

Alexis planted her foot and dramatically clenched one hand up. "Use Iron Defense now!" As he's drawing back from the impact of his own attack Grindcore drops to all fours and hunches down, his metallic hide starting to glow as it hardens. As a Steel and a Rock type he's pretty bulky in defenses, but we're not taking any undue riskes against that firepower. The cannon shots roar, and it proves to have been a smart move, as even with the buffering those AP Rounds still dig in hard before exploding and a massive cloud of smoke and probably rock bits is left in it's wake. But as it's falling, the Aggron is still there, abiet visiblly scorched and dented from the assault. The Iron Armor pokemon definately lives up to that name.

"Now," Alexis unfurled her hand to direct towards Shigure with a dramatic gesture that made her longcoat flare a bit with the motion. "METAL BURST!"

Grindcore snarls as he archs his back, and a portion of the energy from the assault that just damaged him is shot right back at Shigure in the form of dozens of streaks of what could be some form of metal shrapnel from getting shot several times. It's not quite as potent as the attack he took to charge it, but the suddenness of the counter-strike might play in their favor some too.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure brings her cannon turrets up in front of her at the call of that attack, bunkering down to let her armour absorb the return fire. Some of those shards dig into the armour plate, a few get past and leave streaking slashes across arms and legs, tearing the uniform cloth and dousing it in black oily fluid. She untucks tail once the barrage abates, standing back up and smiling. "I am honoured to fight so many powerful opponents. A mere destroyer like me, facing off against those that would give a battleship pause." she says, then releases her cannons, and does what Alexis was probably expecting next, drawing torpedoes like throwing knives, and hurling them at Grindcore. They're not as potent as the shells, for multiple reasons.

Alexis has posed:
"That's exactly why we're here, too. To face challenges we wouldn't normally get to battle against." Ghostly warships in the form of cute anime girls with a lot of guns definately count as such a thing too.

As Shigure throws the torpedo Grindcore lunges! Not away from the attack though, but to intercept it by catching the protectile in his mouth. As he chomps down on it those jagged metal edges of his maw dig in and still cause it to explode, the plumes of smoke and fire blasting out the sides and across his face. While the remaining casing is crunched and chomped as Grindcore lives up to that part of his name as well until he finally cocks his head back and swallows the rest down.

"Oh, yeah," Alexis adds. "The Aggron species eats metal. It's how they generate their armored hide." She shrugs a little. Pokemon are weird, sometimes even to her still.

"Show her what else you can do, big guy." This time she gives a command without actually using an attack name. Just that he's suppose to continue is enough. Grindcore growls, and slams one of his massive feet into the ground with enough force and sound to make it feel like the entire arena should be shaking.

But the real danger is the dozen of stone spires that erupt out of the ground from different angles, trying to skewer Shigure somewhere in the middle!

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure braces herself as the Aggron chomps down on her torpedo throwing weapons. They did their job, that's enough. She braces more as the arena starts to shake, and as those spikes erupt rom around her, she brings her cannons up. Her AA battery unfolds from the superstructure, and fires at the spikes, blunting their tips so a perfect little bubble for her within stays safe, emerging from within unscathed.

    The Warship then bows to Grindcore. "You are a very impressive opponent, I thank you." she says to him, then adds Alexis in her praise with a flick of her eyes, which are beginning to glow faintly in the shade of her fringe.

    There aren't many more tricks that a Warship can do, and so she goes back to her opening attack, bringing her cannons up and firing a volley again. These shells don't dig into anything before detonating, but the blast larger, comparatively.

Alexis has posed:
Despite the supernatural forces that spawn them the spires are still only rock, and the defensive use of firepower is the perfect means of taking the sharp stabby bits off the threat. "Clever trick!" Alexis can appreciate a creative use of abilities, even when it is an opponent in battle. That's part of the competative spirit.

Grindcore grunts, but there's a similar appreciative look in his beady blue eyes as he bobs his head to the shipgirl in return. He doesn't go all out defensive this time but he does dig his feet in and use his heavy tail for a counterweight. The explosive rounds pound into and around him, briefly disappearing in the smoke and dust of the explosions. Alexis glances at the readout on her pokedex, watching the bar approximating Grindcore's remaining health blip down even farther. The volley took a good toil, even with his typing having a certain resiliance to explosions. His metal armor hide wasn't going to hold up forever.

The slamming of heavy metal and bulk rings from the blast cloud, smoke trailing along his form as the Aggron barrels out of it. This wasn't just a quick opening strike, this was a full bore, pokeballs to the wall charge aimed at plowing his hulking form into Shigure with as much strength and momentum as he can. It really puts his bulk and triceratops-like head into perspective, when he can throw it around with that much force.

This could be rough, especially if he's as much heavier than the ghostboat as Alexis suspects he is.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure digs her heels in, bringing her turrets together in a wall of steel to face off against the charging hulk of iron and rock. Horns slam into armour with a resounding CLANK, that resonates around the arena, and the shipgirl is pushed back... but not as far as one might have expected. Her feet skid, digging furrows, but doesn't get overrun... until she loses footing and drops to a knee, the horn breaking through the plate and ripping one of the turrets clean off of its gimbal arm.

    Shigure winces as the arm on that side gives a sickening, metallic snapping sound and ends up hanging at an unnatural angle, but she doesn't let it slow her down, and instead brings the flat plate of the back end of her remaining turret around, firing a blank charge to boost the impact into Grindcore's head, trying to knock him away.

Alexis has posed:
It's hard to hear in the ruckus of metal crashing into metal, but there is an appreciative whistle from Alexis as Shigure manages to hold being thrown down by the bombastic assault to the minimum.

As for Grindcore, there's not really a whole lot he can do at such close quarters but grit and take it. The cannon recoil slams into his head, knocking it aside before his horns can do any more severe damage, and making him stomp back a few steps to keep clear of any follow-up swings. A rumbling growl emits from the juggernaught as he resituates his bearings. There's a flicker in his eyes as he peers at Shigure a moment, clearly sizing up how much fight she also has left in her still.

Then he stomps and thrusts forward, aiming his claws in less of slash and more of a stabbing strike, trying to find a spot in her rigging he can jab through again.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure's guard is broken, and as she stands, she attemps to roll away, only to get her other turret punctured. The claws pierce through the armour plate, hooking in and tearing it off of its mounting. Shigure lets this one go, and draws her blade from the small of her back.

    She lunges, even as black oil trickles down her arm from where those claws raked through her skin, aiming to send sparks across the impaled rigging piece, and set fight to the magazine. She then hops back as smoke begins to billow out of her ruined turret, which then explodes quite violently.

Alexis has posed:
That strategic strike maybe worked a little too well. The magazine detonates from being punctured, in all the dramatic bang and blast one would expect. That explosion is big enough that despite all his bulk the Aggron is still thrown away in the opposite direction as the shipgirl. It's not until he hits the ground a few moments later that one can see that Grindcore managed to partially curl himself up and rode out the blast the best he can. He bounces and rolls back a bit, before finally uncurling to flop over. Smoke billows off the big pokemon, his armor visibly scorched and burned through at this point.

But with groan of equal parts pain and determination he digs a clawed hand into the ground and heaves himself up, staggering an extra step as he stands before getting himself properly balanced again. Chunks of rock and metal clatter around his feet, some external layers having been busted free like some manner of organic ablative armor. He's still standing, but barely.

"Just a little more, big fella. All or nothing time!" Alexis thumps a fist in the opposite palm, then pulls back and makes a punching gesture of her own. "Full force ahead, ramming speed!"

"Aggron!" Remember last time, when he bodily slammed into her? This time he drops down on all fours and charges, going even more for the triceratops method with the extra force, lowering his head like the dangerous weapon it is and building up a rush strikingly fast. This attack technique was extremely powerful, and normally very threatening to the user as well...If it wasn't for the literal hard as Rock Head canceling out recoil effects. This was Alexis' trump card with this pokemon, the perfect strategic blend of what an Ability and good breeding can do!

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure sheathes her sword and braces as one may expect a wrestler to. She times her grab at those horns as the Pokemon comes charging in, and almost gets it right. She snags one, but the other pierces her already damaged arm, causing more oil to cascade from her body... but she manages to arrest the Aggron's charge after a good few feet of skidding back.

    Shigure then unimpales herself, hauls herself up onto Grindcore's back, and unsheathes her blade again, trying to dig through that broken metal armour like someone digging at ice to open a fishing hole.

Alexis has posed:
The shipgirl's desperate tactic proves to be immeadiately effective. She gets on Grindcore's back in a position that his thick arms can't reach her, as much as he tries. While she would find that not only his metal hide busted and weakened, but down his back it's layered in sections much like armor plate would be. Makes it more clear how he's able to move and even partially curl in defense like has been. It's not hard to find a spot she can stab, and impale her sword in with the strength she can still muster.

Grindcore archs back in a roar of pain... and then the sword stops. That did some respectable damage, but Shigure also finds that there's as much rock plate underneath as there is metal armor on the outside. Her stab was definately a brutal blow, but weird Pokemon element-biology keep the blade from finding a deep enough purchase to drop him entirely.

Though his flailing back at her is a bit comical to watch, clawed hands just not quite able to snag the shipgirl. "Stop trying to grab her!" Alexis finally calls out. "Use your other end!"

That is to say, his head isn't the only part of his body that's dangerous.

Grindcore stops trying to reach Shigure, and instead leans forward. So he can swing up his heavy Iron Tail, trying to slam her into his own backside with it.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure's struggling to free her blade from Grindcore's back when Alexis makes that call. She gives one final tug, then tries to get OFF the Pokemon, but is far too late. That tail comes crashing down, and with a sound like tearing metal, and a seaframe undergoing full structural failure, the shipgirl is defeated. She ends up falling into a broken heap beside the Aggron, leaking oily 'blood' into the arena and not moving, until the systems kick in and begin reversing local spacetime or whatever it is they do.

    Shigure stands, shakily, and places a hand gently on Grindcore's shoulder. "You fought well. Thank you." she says to him, then climbs back up, and retrieves her blade before it can get itself wedged in too hard. She lifts a hand to the crowd, bows to Alexis, then hobbles out of the arena.

Alexis has posed:
The tail smash is effective enough to finish the job. Though as Shigure crumples off to the side Grindcore also thumps down on his stomach, not having much left in his own tank after that. Shigure ran him ragged but good.

By the time the systems kick in Alexis has already walked up, giving the big beast an affectionate pat on the side of the head. "Great job, Grindcore." He grunts, and starts to get back on his feet once the revitalization sets in.

"As did you." Alexis bows back, while Grindcore tries to imiate the salute she did earlier. The wedge shape of his head doesn't really suit the gesture, but it's thought of paying respect to a formidable opponent that counts.