Surprise Quartet

[Whatevr89532]

The attacks crash into each other, and Lavarro stumbles back afterward, looking badly hurt and dazed but definitely still standing. He takes deep, gasping breaths, exhausted from the effort.

((Recharge turn))

[AmbushCat]

*Aurora isn't so fortunate, getting knocked onto her back from the recoil damage; seems she was counting on scoring at least a double knockout. She tries to force herself back to her feet, but finds that she's more or less lost her will to continue.*

Aurora: *wearily raises one arm upwards in surrender* Miss Referee? That's it from me. I'm done.

[Whatevr89532]

"Looks like we have our winners!" the announcer from before declares. "What a fight, you know? A pretty close one the whole way through! Let's have everyone onstage for a handshake and a bow, please!" Someone climbs onstage to offer Aurora a Revive and someone else offers Callista a Super Potion; Destin's humanoid image flickers into place as asked, looking perfectly healthy again.

[AmbushCat]

*Callista, looking a bit better after applying the Super Potion, climbs into the ring and moves to shake Destin's hand.*

Callista: Good match. Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous going in.

---

*In the meantime, Aurora accepts the Revive and pushes herself to her feet. She walks up to Lavarro, stares at him for a few seconds, then smiles lightly and offers her hand.*

Aurora: That was a fine match. Thank you.

[Whatevr89532]

Destin's image grins and tries to give Callista a handshake, but its hand is intangible so she'll have to play along a bit for it to look like a real one. "Yeah, you're tougher than you look. And surprised me with a psychic move! I should say you're lucky they changed the moveset rules for OU recently, though."
Lavarro returns his shake a bit more easily, smiling. "I agree. Wasn't sure I'd survive zat last hit, I zink I had about two HP left."

[AmbushCat]

Callista: *plays along as indicated* True, that. Take it easy, alright?

---

Aurora: I knew I wasn't going to take another hit, so I had decided to take a gamble and try to force a double knockout. *smiles weakly* Defenses were just a little bit better than I had calculated.

[Whatevr89532]

"Aah, always." Destin nods. With a casual wave to the crowd he flickers out of view again, his real appearance not obviously showing up anywhere. "See you again some time, I hope," his voice adds to Aurora on the way out.
Lavarro flips his hair a bit before ducking offstage to some officials waiting to give everyone full healing before they go (Destin, of course, having already been healed).

[AmbushCat]

*Aurora nods to Destin, then gives a knightly bow to the audience before heading offstage. Callista waves at the audience, spots a familiar face in the crowd, cringes and hurriedly follows after Aurora and Lavarro. He did want her to explain something to him, after all.*

[Whatevr89532]

The healing in this case seems to take the form of some cushy chairs in a back room with poke-center-like symbols over them which behave basically the same way as that technology, but without the need for pokeballs. These seem more relaxing and higher-quality than the ring-based healing system Callista saw at the tryouts. Presumably Destin being healed by these suggests they even work on "full" pokemon, too.

[AmbushCat]

*Callista sinks into one of the chairs without hesitation. She gasps in pain for some reason and almost blacks out, but the pain goes away almost immediately and she's able to relax more comfortably.*

[Whatevr89532]

One of the officials notices Callista's initial reaction and looks worried. "Uh, are you ok there? Is it malfunctioning?"

[AmbushCat]

Callista: *shakes her head* No, it's fine. It's my own fault, not the chair's. And really, I ain't blaming the chairs for anything. >^_^<

[Whatevr89532]

"Does zis have something to do with surviving zat last attack?" says Lavarro, curoius.

[AmbushCat]

Callista: Yeah. *clears her throat* See, about maybe... five years ago or so, I drank a potion someone in Muffinville gave me that granted me complete control over all of my brain’s functions, along with everything that implies. What this means is that in emergencies, I can shut off my own pain receptors and force myself to keep going.

What this means as far as PFL matches are concerned... well, think of it as a passive Endure. If I’m hit with something that would normally make me faint, I can get back to my feet and keep going with a sliver of HP remaining. However, each successive hit after that sharply decreases my chances that it’ll work, and eventually my body’ll tell my brain “Oh, no you don’t” (so to speak), at which point I’ll end up fainting on the spot.

As a side note, it’s also the source of my ability to use Stored Power.

[Whatevr89532]

"That's pretty impressive," one of the officials says. She looks at another one, who shrugs.
"Sounds like a reasonable enough gimmick to me. Those're allowed on OU."
"It's not a secondary ability?"
"It works differently from normal Sturdy, so it's a gimmick. What, do you want me to put in the paperwork for an official ruling?"