[ti]closed[/ti][S][C/Shalin] Goaltending

Shalin's wild ride looked positively vomit-inducing. Was that what Beta Testers were capable of? Bending even physics itself to suit their whims? It seemed quite powerful for a Basic Class... perhaps the most powerful Basic Class of all. "How in the world do you even survive that? I've been meaning to ask you since the race," the confused young man remarked before lobbing Aslan's and Rime's Poké Balls into the air. "Now just because they're new doesn't mean they'll be holding back," the speed demon warned.

From the moment they emerged, they looked ready to ram and trample the Pokémon before him. "Aslan, Rime, charge!!" The big lion got up to speed, then lunged toward Starr with a mighty TAKE DOWN as the fairy fox pranced toward the rock-type, her cold tails on full blast. She squeezed all moisture out of the air around her, pouncing toward Rumble with the intent to FREEZE DRY him from the tail end first. If Shalin loved using vibration as a means of attack, then putting that tail on ice would surely disable it...

Shalin's quip about "Seta's little present" caught Josh off guard as both of his Pokémon began moving incredibly slowly. Even the lion's basic attacks took an eternity to fire, and under the effects of TRICK ROOM, Rumble slithered fast. The speed-inverting dimension also came with an extremely trippy background that made the racer's head hurt. He was used to rapidly-flashing images from racing at ludicrous speeds, but these backgrounds were anywhere from mesmerizing to downright hypnotic.

Josh closed his eyes to a squint to try to keep an eye on the action while looking at as little of the strange field as he could. He needed to end this quickly... bue he didn't have a good answer to the Onix without sending himself into battle. It was something he really wanted to avoid... but he had little choice. "Aslan, CRUNCH!" Josh ordered, the Pyroar prancing in slow motion toward the meditating Espeon.

Taking advantage of his ESCAPE Core Ability he had purchased on every class, Josh withdrew Rime and took the battlefield himself... on foot. Drawing on his WATER TOME's power, an aquatic film surrounded his hands as he began casting a Mystic Knight's offensive spell. "Drown!" he cried as he thrust his hands toward the rock-type, pointing an AQUALAO torrent toward the Onix in an effort to recover his speed advantage.

With the Onix gone, the TRICK ROOM he had maintained disappeared, but not before leaving behind a new hazard: a minefield of stones that would attack not only Pokémon that came too near them, but ones that came out of his Poké Balls. Vaulting onto Aslan's saddle, Josh slapped the lion's sides with his greaves. The Pyroar bellowed loudly from the harsh spurring, vigorously bouncing Josh in his seat as he held the Thunder Brand outward, making a passing slash on Prower with his steed belching FLAMETHROWER all over Starr.

No matter the severity of the hit, the moment of Aslan's demise that Starr foresaw came to fruition. A psychic bomb detonated beneath Aslan, sending both lion and rider high into the air. While the height limit prevented Josh from suffering a large amount of fall damage, the combination of the psychic blast and the resulting plunge dealt hundreds of damage to the fire-type, forcing him back into his Poké Ball.

With the Onix down, Josh felt comfortable sending Rime back out. Quickly climbing into the arctic fox's saddle and grabbing her reins, the two prepared themselves for the battle to escalate further.

There was no escaping the Z-MOVE: HYDRO VORTEX, the camera panning outward to capture the entire waterspout. Josh was thrown from the saddle as his Ninetales desperately writhed to get control inside the torrent of water. It was no use; both of them were trapped within its suction and hurled into the net behind him... along with both of the soccer balls bouncing around the field. Not one, but two loud horns sounded as large banner text appeared toward the end of the cutscene:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!

A digital wheel spun above center field, its text too fast to read until it began slowing down. Coming to a stop on a yellow wedge with a thundercloud, both he and his Ninetales became subject to electric shocks. While his BOLTER class would normally help him resist such an attack, both he and Rime were positively soaked from the Z-Move, causing the Ninetales to drop and Josh himself to drop to roughly half health.

The PARALYZED boy shivered as the wheel spun again. He could not believe it when it came to a stop on the exact same wedge, a second powerful shock running not only through him, but his Shinx's Poké Ball. Blitz's electric typing made him immune to paralysis, but even being down a quarter of his health was huge.

Barely able to move and breathing heavily after having tumbled out of the net and landing on an arm he could no longer feel, Josh withdrew himself from combat to send out his Shinx and Rockruff. With how fast the water-type was and the paralyzed trainer unable to issue commands promptly, the lion cub took it upon himself to get the job done. With his head lowered, the young one rammed down his twin-tailed foe with a charging SPARK attack.

The vibrations made Josh flinch, nearly blowing out the sound system attached to his WorldScreen. He could feel them much like one could a cranked car stereo, forcing him to quickly go into his UI and turn down environmental volume several steps. That Pheromosa's wings disappeared from going so fast? And she rode them? Just... how?

He couldn't be distracted by that, though; he had to focus all his efforts on taking the bug-type Ultra Beast down. A spinning kick would inflict colossal, perhaps even lethal, damage upon his Rockruff. Though Nymris was fast, he seemed to be putting all his efforts into rocking the air rather than a fighting-type move. "Hold strong, both of you! Sarulf, ROCK THROW!" That the move didn't fire even after several seconds as the confused-looking Pokémon stood still was a sign that Josh had forgotten a critical step in preparing his team.

He had not equipped the rock-type in a single Class, and he didn't have a single Rock-type move innate.

The shockwave rattled both the cat and dog, cosmetic cracks appearing on the Rockruff and red spots on the Shinx as visual indicators of how much damage they had been dealt. The two ignored the smaller Vibrava, charging Nymris in a cross formation with a standard TACKLE and an electrified one by way of SPARK, Josh crossing his fingers for the Pheromosa's muscles to start seizing from the shock.