Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Azeria]

"I knew you weren't just a regular coffin!Now,can you help me find Shade,he's my Duskull gone AWOL."James asked the large ghost type.He had experience with these beasts...courtesy of his cousin Shauntal and his Uncle Thomas.Speaking of Shauntal,where was she,he hadnt seen her all day."I need to remember to ask Uncle Thomas if she came with them next time i see him"He thought as the Cofagrigus stood up on its four legs and pointed in the right direction."Thanks,here have a Pokeblock!"James shouted as he got out his case of them and threw one at the Coffin Pokemon after which he started walking in the direction Cofagrigus pointed him at.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Can't Type

[Jory]

Jacob nodded in the darkness. Then, realizing he couldn't be seen, turned even redder. Here goes nothing. "Yes, I am," he said gently, speaking in a low tone so as not to be overheard. His heart was pounding as he confessed his motives to Kristen, and it seemed to Jacob that it was the loudest sound in the entire Haunted House. He finally opened his mouth again, this time with a crooked grin. "And I'm glad you finally noticed. I wasn't sure if I could get any more obvious," he continued, his hand searching for Kristen's in the dark. Finding it, he interlocked his fingers with hers and gave her hand a soft squeeze.

[Aurorix]

As Slade rejoined his pokemon they were surprised, urging him to go back to his room in fear of his parents. He noticed they'd been doing a great job of handling the food and he saw much more BP and money then before. He let out a faint smile and said, "It's ok guys, I think I'm ready to face my parents when or if they return here." All his pokemon were silent after that, confused why Slade changed his mind so suddenly. "By the way, you four are doing a great job manning the stall far, I'm impressed though I knew you all would be able to handle it." Slade said giving a thumbs up to the gang. 101 didn't really show much on the outside but he felt good on the inside after hearing Slade. Xemnas gave out a little "Gible!" as a way to say thank you and Flare let out a little "yip". Sasuke just crossed his arms and did a cocky smirk meaning it was too easy. Then Slade noticed Danielle being handed a reward to which looked like an Ultra Ball. "You guys think you can man the stand a little longer? I need to go tell not to worry, and to congratulate her." They gave a simultaneous cheer as to say, 'Go on, lover boy.' Slade nodded, "Thanks guys." He walked over to Danielle hands in his pockets, he put the Fire Stone in his pocket as well. He decided to have one more battle with Flare as a growlithe before evolving him. He walked over to Danielle as she got her reward and said, "Congrats on winning." before giving a smile to her.

[DarkLight]

The tiny firebug gave what appears to be a purr as Jeremy pet the Larvesta. She then contented herself to sitting down and listening in on the conversation.

"Yes it is, sir!" Danielle replied. "Only made with the finest beans, might I add! Actually, all of the ingredients are from Kalos..." she added sheepishly. She wondered what woman could be such a pain to him until he handed her an Ultra Ball. Danielle let out a squeal of surprise before she could properly thank the man. "Oh my goodness! T-Thank you so much sir! I... I don't know what to say. I'm speechless!" she laughed. She honestly didn't expect her flower collage to win of all things. When Slade came along to congratulate her, Danielle blushed and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Slade. It's really not me though; my Pokemon had a big hand in it too!"

While her master was freaking out, Corona had already taken the initiative and took the capsule and was inspecting it. The colors on the Ultra Ball reminded her of Zared, who is also yellow and black. She called out to the Mawile and motioned him to come over. Zared looked up at the counter and found his teammate holding a type of Pokeball, Danielle and Slade celebrating something, and a man with an air of authority who seemed pleased with his cup of coffee. The Mawile pieced the puzzle together and clapped his little hands, realizing that they won the contest they did back in his old home.

---------

Nearby, Mr. Chastain and Avis looked on as Slade went over to congratulate his daughter. He gave a nod towards Avis to indicate that she could go back to her master. After Avis flew off to join the crowd, Marc smiled happily as he looked on, proud of his daughter and her accomplishments. Mr. Chastain was determined not to ruin the moment for his daughter.

On the other side, Carole Chastain was about to explode from excitement as soon as she saw Slade with Danielle. When she finally spotted her husband on the other side, Mrs. Chastain made her way through the crowd and tugged on Marc's sleeve. She was met with a chuckle before she was wrapped around by his arm.

[Chevaleresse]

Kage's parents gave polite bows as they were introduced. They looked a tad uncomfortable, but they had earnest smiles on their faces. Kage, however, was caught in a mixture of pleasant surprise and awkwardness. His parents weren't being nearly as clingy as he had expected, but he was a bit overwhelmed by Ryan's family. "Ryan's doing pretty well, I think. He made it to the top 32 in the cup, and we've still got further to go."

[TurboAura]

Parents

Seeing as Mareek had finished up his request just before his mother came over, he picked the carving up and observed the fresh crafting. From the Arm Thrust-ing stance to the Tidal wave coming up powerfully behind, this was even better than what he hoped. Since Mareek himself had been taken by his mother, he went over to Lana and passed the money over to her, aswell as an extra tip for exceeding his expectations. With that taken care of, he headed back Akako, who had finished up with the 'example shots.' "Well, is there anywhere else you'd want to go until those Robert's done?"

Just as he finished, both of them caught the barbecue smell from the 'Sizzling Grill,' and were even more suprised when they saw that it was being fully run by pokemon at the moment. Sure, all of the students ended up having their pokemon help, but they seemed to have pretty much everything covered on their own. Sadly, the main 'mystery' wore off when Slade had gotten back, just as he left again a short while after. Even still, the smell was more than enough to entice them.

Simply turning to each other, they nodded as Akako ran off towards the stall, talking to Sasuke. "Two shish-kabobs please."

Robert

Having been greatly busy by the orders, Robert was actually glad that the 'free-time' was cut short, happy that this would be a distraction for what was worrying him earlier.

Kiai was busy taking the orders, glad himself that Robert was holding up after what happened. His mind drifted to how they had all been traing for the tournament. While him and the others, especially since him, Voltage and Jetstream, were the team for three for the tournament, they had been pushing themselves farther than what Robert 'expected' out of them, while Robert himself was doing his own best to cement his own 'battle style,' keeping in focus what he had to do one step at a time.

After a while, they had finally caught up with a lot of the orders, while Kiai had gotten back into focus and was now ready to take the order of a girl accompanied by a Gabite.

[Commander]

Henry

Something about even seemed a little off. He knew the boy evolved his Pokemon before arriving back from the trip since he heard a couple rumors about it. Something deep inside him told Henry that this boy may be one of them, but he couldn't be so sure. For now, he would pretend to know nothing on the subject. "Five battle points. That's almost like giving it away for free." Henry pulled out his Pokedex and paid the amount before entering.

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Citrine

"Who's Wallace? Nevermind, let's just see what you got. Also, could you humor me as to why everyone seems to spite Henry around here. I'm getting the death stare just by standing next to him. I mean he can be a...uh...dick sometimes, but I doubt he's that bad." Citrine never really knew about Henry's life at the academy because neither he nor his father discussed it ever. It was all a mystery to her.

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Henry's Dad

The man with the Sudowoodo beside him eventually made it up to the stall. He now saw that the shy girl had taken ownership for the time being and instead went up to her as the boy left. "Excuse me madame. You don't happen to have any Suicune figures made out of wood. I once encountered a trainer who used that legendary Pokemon before joining the force. I always wished to see the Pokemon again, but this is probably as close to it as I'll ever get." He pulled out his wallet ready to pay at any given moment.

[Aurorix]

Slade:

"Was it the contest back during the trip?" Slade asked while Danielle hugged him. She hugged him in a way to where he couldn't hug back. "I asked around who won that but no one knows. By the way you never told me what or if you made anything that day." He said chuckling as he stood there locked by Danielle's hug.

Pokemon:

Sasuke nodded pointing at the price borad, one Shish was 11 dollars or BP, and since he ordered two, it was a total of 22 BP/$. As soon as Sasuke lifted his finger two plates appear on the reception desk containing one Shish each. They were still steaming as they were fresh off the grill.

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek and Ms.Sisto

"So where should I start?" Mareek's mother asked as they turned away from the stand and started walking away, Both Erce and Mars following close behind, the latter being sure to keep a close eye on the boy and his mother even as he conversed several things with the Scyther, ready to slash anyone who started any trouble for them. "Not much has happened since you left home except for a few days ago when things turned around..."

"Then let's start there," he said, hands shoved into his jacket pockets and Goggles resting around his neck with his Headphones. "What exactly did you mean by a 'very generous gift' earlier? Cash?"

"Far more than just cash," she shook her head. "Mareek, someone transferred an entire bank account into my name; right now I don't recall how much was in it exactly, but it was a lot, far more than enough to pay off everything we owe to everyone and finally get out of debt with the bills." All Mareek did at that news was raise an eyebrow, caution and even an air of suspicion in his eyes as they kept walking, though Alexandra ignored it for now and continued on with the explanation. "And that's not all; whoever owned the account before hand must've had deep pockets; along with the cash in the account they also sent Tickets and a flyer for this along with a paid trip over from Kanto...And several stock shares in the market over in Unova; I'm almost certain that's where the cash has been coming from, whoever set it up wired the profits from the bonds to just pour into the account, and the paperwork says all of them, the account and all the stocks, were all bought years ago.

"By the way you keep saying 'someone', I'm going to guess it was all done anonymously with no name or even an alias tied to it anyway..."

"Exactly," His mother said, nodding. "The invoices and all the paperwork and notifications were delivered in the mail about two days ago; at first I thought I had slipped up, forgotten a due that somewhere, but once Mars and I actually sat down and went through them, the first thing I did was go down the Mart and file for resignation as Manager, effective immediately, then I went around and paid off everything; we owe nothing to noone now, completely in the clear. But I decided to hold off on getting rid of my other job until I think things over a little more, and it didn't feel right not telling you about any of this before I did anything else; lest you would come home one day and be in for a major shock about things..."

"Galen was always interested in Finance Economics, you know..." Mareek said, somewhat dejectedly. " and as much as I don't want to admit it, he always seemed like he really knew whatever he was talking about whenever he talked to me about what I wanted to do when I grow up. And every time he visited, he seemed to have learned more and more about it from somewhere...I didn't know what the hell he was talking about most of those times, but the way he said it and explained things was just so confident and fluent...whatever he probably learned about cash flow working for Rocket and Giovanni over those three years, it definitely was obvious he had some honest inkling about what he was saying." He cast a wayward glance to his mom. "If there's anyone who can rig such a liquid system like what you're thinking the Account and Stocks might be..." his mother saw exactly where he was going with this.

"You think he might have something to do with it then," she said, finishing his verbal train of thought for him. "I have to admit, I...never thought about any connection between his interest in money since he was small and what he might've learned after leaving home, and all this."

"I mean, it's not any evidence that this is from him," Mareek said, backpedaling in his reasoning. "I'm just thinking, if anyone could... what I'm saying is it's just a possibility, I guess. We can't really know for sure if there's no trace..." He smirked a little, an ice cold gleam in his dark eyes. "But when I finally find him and take him down, I'll be sure to ask him if he decided to actually do decent for once in his life and was behind all this... and if he says yes I'll ask just how much of that money was made and how many of those stocks were bought from the suffering and Objectification of Pokemon..."

"Moving away from that conversation now," Alexandra sighed, not really wanting to spend the first time she'd seen her son in a few months talking about finances. "We can talk more about the matter later on, for now though, let's talk about the tournament coming up. I hear you're one of the ones people are rooting for to win it all.

"Oh, that...?" He asked scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, at least that's what I've heard too; There's a few others too though, another guy in the trainer program named Jacob,"

"Do you know him?"

"Know him? I can give you one better, me and him have even go toe to toe once... but yeah, I know him, I guess."

"What about the other favorite?"

"Some guy in the breeder program named Kageharu. Apparently he's blind of something, though I didn't even know he existed till the rumors and anticipation about the tourney started flaring up recently."

"What's the Jacob boy like; how skilled is he?"

"He's Good...really good. But he's also a bit predictable, sometimes uses some practiced strategies and tactics of his without thinking about certain ways the other side might be able to counter or take complete advantage and turn it around on him in the moment. Like in our last battle, he had that Lapras of his use Water Pulse to take down Nemo after it had missed multiple times from him avoiding it, afterwards he used something I had been thinking the entire time he eventually would; he froze all the water that had been wasted on the field and turned it into an Ice Ring. The very next thing I did was toss out Java into the fray and ordered him to use his strongest Discharge on the field, melted the whole thing from the Thermal Convection and electrocuted his Lapras and took it down in a single shot." He notably left out all details about words that had been exchanged in the aftermath of that though, he was honestly over it, that and there was no reason to make his mom worry... "Java and i probably would've won the battle if his Charmander hadn't known Dragon Rage; The lapras managed to get an attack off against Java right before she went down. after that he used Incinerate and I just recalled Java and called it a match... it was honestly just a fluke how things ended."

"So, one whose a bit predictable about how he'll fight and respond and set things up, and the other one you know nothing about, besides the fact that he's blind..." His mother sighed, not much intel to work with here... "Well, The Kageharu boy obviously has some way of knowing what's going on during Battle if he managed to place in the tourney at all. The most likely way is either hearing or smell, with a much stronger case for it being hearing since smell wouldn't be as efficient a sense in as many scenarios in a fight."

"That makes sense, I guess..." Mareek said, shrugging his shoulders absently. Here his mom went again, back into tutor mode like the old days when he was being lectured by her on how to battle... before Silph Co. and everything... though he knew he should listen and pay attention, it had only been with her and Mars drilling him in lessons back then that he'd ever gotten as good as he was now.

"I know it does, now listen up," she went on. "In battle, sometimes it's not enough to just fight by exploiting the weaknesses of the Pokemon on the field... sometimes you have to use the Pokemon's trainer's weakness as an advantage as well. Do you follow so far?"

"Uh...yeah..." he said, a bit uncertain. "Though, no offense mom, but I think what you're talking about is a bit of a tactic like the ones that this academy was founded to stomp out..."

"No, you just don't understand what I mean," she sighed, stopping their stroll and turning to look the boy in the eye, actually an inch or two taller than him. "I don't mean do it a malicious way, I mean if you're opponent has something about them that can easily be used to help you and your team get the upper hand, and if it's something that's ETHICAL to do so, then go for it. I'm not talking about using Night Shade right in the face of someone with a heart condition, dear son, I'm talking about situations like with this Kage boy; He can't use his sight, so obviously he must rely on sound and touch and smell to gather information about the world around him, that information which his eyes should be providing him but aren't, and of those three probably primarily sound when it comes to duking it out on the battle field... now say you and he are in a battle and he manages to get Erce into a tight corner with a loss for you right around the corner, you can recover the fight and turn things around, but all you need is to by a little time. How do you do it?"

"Simple," Mareek said, catching on immediately. "I have her use our Ninjutsu tactic and order her and her copies to make as much racket as possible, the sound will reverberate everywhere and the guy probably will be a bit disoriented for a minute or two, and I can use that time to set up and launch a complete counter offensive."

"Very good," His mother chimed, smiling warmly at him before continuing their former pace. "But then again, what should I expect but that, given your grades?" The two and their respective partners continued their catching up and talk about the competition as they walked by the Haunted house and around the grounds, catching the attention of a certain Hispanic looking man in a long coat as they passed by, lost in chat...

Galen

"Well look at that..." Galen thought to himself, taking his attention off Evan for a few seconds and smirking sentimentally at the sight of his little brother and Mother catching up. "Looks like everything worked out just I had hoped... Merry Christmas to the both of ya, Mareek, Mom... the way I'm going, at least I'll have done one genuinely good thing in my life to make up for what happened at Silph Co." He turned back to Evan, allowing his gaze to linger a bit longer though. "It's strange though; all that cash I had made over the years up in Unova and the black market while I was trolling those Team Plasma Fucktards... I could've had it made... no. That's a lie, and I know it. No amount of cash or clever investing would be enough to dig me out of the hole The Surge dug me when he went and fired that damn Discharge attack without me telling him to... But just because it couldn't help me out of my hole, doesn't mean that it couldn't help you... and it was kinda fun, playing the Stocks like it was a game or something, always thinking ahead, anticipating where to put some cheder in next, where to pull it out off and inject into others that could make bigger returns... It was like Chess, one massive, incredibly complex and exhilarating game of chess, with all my pieces having been given to me by what I learned from Giovanni and from Rocket's finance managing over the years... heck, I was actually kinda sad when it was time to get the hell out of there and I had to hire a Stockbroker using a false identity to manage them for me. But he did well enough to keep my system with the account going, they both should be fine from now on. Enough about the past now though... time to get back to he mission..."

"No nino," Galen said in his false accent. "Pero es no importante ahora; you needn't know my name, but only that I'm one of the... certain someones you were told about in the forest. You know what I am talking about, I am sure... that skarmory says it all."

Nemo and Java

Java looked at the newest customer as he came up and requested a Suicune. He sprang into action like he had rehearsed this a thousand times; using psybeam to reach beneath the counter and snatch a Suicune Sculpture as the fellow got his money out, levitating it up onto the counter and right to Lana. The thing was Varnished just like all the other sculptures that were premade were; The Suicune in a regal stance, it's head and necked arched to look off at something in the distance, mouth open as if giving a cry to show it's magnificent authority over all fresh waters, it's mane and ribbon like whiskers flowing as if caught in the north wind... And the entire circular wooden stand it was on was carved in a rippled fashion, as if the legendary dog stood on a lake's surface...

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Wick," the little living candle said, allowing his blue flame to flicker as he gestured to it for his fellow Ghost types to watch. He knew how stellar his little show was; the Sableye were evidently captivated. The Dark-Ice type looked around leisurely, seemingly lax, but in truth she was eyeing everything warily-- not because the attractions frightened her, but being pranked wasn't her idea of fun. Achlyx stuck close to Raiza, riding on her shoulder. If you'd suggest the Poison-Bug type being afraid, she would attack you viciously and without hesitation. Her natural resistance to the ill-reputed types would not come until evolution many levels later, after all, but the Skorupi did already have a vile temper. Toothless, on the other hand, was curious about the strange Pokemon and crept over to one of the Sableye to sniff them.

[Chim]

Zephyr and Commander (Henry)

It didn’t take long for Henry to catch up to Raiza. Her Litwick was still entertaining the bunch of Sableye with the fire and shadow displays.

Jory

Kristen smiled and blushed even harder. She secretly thanked whoever made this Haunted House dark enough so her red cheeks weren’t visible. She squeezed Jacob’s hand and gave him a little peck on the check before she felt something, Shade the Duskull, floating behind her. “Did you feel that? It’s like something’s watching us,” she said distracted.

Azery

Shade was still lingering around Kristen and Jacob. He stared intently; unaware he was interrupting their little moment.

Commander (Henry’s Dad) and Stratos (Mareek)

“Thank you Java,” Lana said, receiving the Suicune statue. She handed it over to the man and said with a quiet voice: “Legendary statues are 12 BP, sir.”

Stratos (Galen)

Evan glared at the man in front of him. So they were here after all… And to make it worse he couldn’t escape them. “What do you want? I don’t know anything about what your organization is trying to do so leave me alone!” he hissed barely loud enough so only Galen could hear him.

[Azeria]

Walking along,James was still looking for Shade.There was a corner coming up and when he turned at the corner,He could see a Male and Female standing there with something floating behind them.Wait was that Shade?Sneaking behind them was harder than he thought but he barely accomplished it.In the end he was right behind the couple with Shade."Hey,Shade wanna prank these guys?"He whispered ever so quietly to the Ghost trying to hold in a snicker,said ghost replied by nodding."Ok,i'm gunna sneak over to the corner there and you use Ominous wind,don't use too much power and after that dissapear before they can see you"He said before he started sneaking over to the other corner.Shade started charging and ominous wind attack barely strong enough to hurt a pokemon but certainly noticable enough to startle a human and fired it.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Can't Type

[Sutoratosu]

Galen

"Good," Augustine said. "It's better you know nothing more than you need to, it will make things a bit smoother. As for the part about leaving you alone, That will not do at all, I'm afraid. You accepted this task of being the contact, I know you did. You used the water stone to evolve your Eevee into Vaporeon and on top of all that you accepted not only that giant metal chicken up there," He pointed a finger up at the Skarmory on the roof. "But you also have in your possession a Zubat you were bestowed as well; one that you were told to use as the sole means for correspondence between you and I... I know I am not wrong about any of this."

Mareek & Ms.Sisto

"So, are you going to Evolve Java using the Upgrade Saito gave you?" Alexandra asked, their conversation having eventually steered towards what Preparations Mareek himself had been making for the tournament. "You have a point that at the last stage they tend to act a bit crazy, but as a Porygon2 he should be fine..."

"I have to admit that I was honestly considering it even before you came," He said. "When I was endurance training him and honing his Conversion2 technique I always kept it in the back of mind... but I never actually discussed it with him, just kept the idea completely to myself while I watched," he took out the Protective Disc Cover, looking down at it as he finally took a moment to genuinely consider his options. "Java seems to be eager to do it, and it would help us out in the Tournament if he evolved and got even stronger; could increase our chances of winning a considerable amount..." He took his attention of the compact disc and glanced at his mother. "That's the thing though; I'm not actually in it to win. And it honestly shows that I'm not, compared to the other guy, Jacob; the pace and difficulty of the training I've been giving my team really isn't much compared to hard I hear He and his team have been going at it this entire time. I've just been squeezing in sessions with Java and Nemo and Erce whenever I had a bit of extra time, and Erce here didn't even really get that; I had to integrate most of her speed training into our Wood Carving... though that ended up paying off well I guess." The Scyther nodded proudly, smirking at how efficient she had become thanks to Mareek pushing her to improve her natural movement and reflexes to as sharp as they could be.

"Well, I always did say the most important thing in battle was always effort...figures that you don't much care about taking home the win." His mom sighed. "But I'm curious, Mareek, where's that usual Ambition from you?"

"It's not that I've lost it or anything," He answered, shaking his head. "I've just been given a lot of reason to rethink what I should be doing and working towards since I got here. Yeah, at first I wanted to just become the best, but after meeting Jacob and a bunch of other trainers in my class who are all at least moderately talented, and pretty much all vying for the same thing more or less, to be the best, or to be an Elite Four or the Champion..." He shrugged his shoulders uncertainly, stowing the Upgrade back into his jacket. "I don't know... I guess I started thinking about that goal as being totally cliche, overdone and over preached... and honestly a bit pointless. We'll learn so much over the next two years we all be enrolled here, and yet most of the others in the first year trainer program here only want to go around spending their lives competitively battling.... I personally thought of it as stupid when I tried to continue seeing myself do the same thing, devoting my time and energy to it. Everything that we'll learn here, and all they want is to go after a few badges or go challenge the Elite Four? It just...it just seems like a waste to me. There are so many things that are wrong and can be improved in the world, and yet the majority of my Trainer Program peers just want to duke it out for the sake of a challenge when they graduate. Meanwhile people like the Rockets and the Plasmas and all the other terrorist who have been brought down in the past will continue to pop up and pretty much be allowed free reign because the Global Police and other Agencies are so damn incompetent that they can barely do their jobs, always about five steps behind..." He turned away from her, now looking at Erce, closing his eyes and sighing disappointedly as he shook his head. "What Prof. Redwood has created here, it's great, brilliant, Genius, even... he;s taken care of the mess that used to be created by kids being allowed to run around with superpowered animals without adult supervision via the LT system he's made... But I've come to begin thinking... that the LT system only solves part of the equation. Underage and dangerously under experienced trainers are a thing of the past; But Criminals ,and people with interest that are explicitly exploitive and detrimental to society who are willing to act on said interest, are not. Someone needs to go and fix the other half of the problem; someone needs to reform the entire GP worldwide and make it a competent force for good like it's supoosed to be already. Someone needs to make sure that when people like the ones I'm talking about, Like Giovanni or Ghestis or Cyrus, pop up and start wreaking havoc in their mission to get what they want; There will always be a powerful force waiting on standby with the resources and competency to stonewall and completely destroy them in their tracks." Erce only nodded at her trainer's words as he turned back to his mother. "What I'm saying, mom... is that someone needs to come up with the sister system for the LT, one that will do what LT has done for Trainers all over the world, for Law enforcement agencies like the Global Police. And I figure that person might as well be me."

"Oh my..." Alexandra said, a bit taken aback by the whole speech... "I must say... I'm surprised Mareek, but pleasantly so. You've come into your own here, so much so that you've realized you wanted to break away from a generic goal and devote yourself to something feel is genuinely right to do... My how children do grow up so fast...does this have anything to do with Galen though?"

"It does, somewhat," he admitted. "the moment I graduate, I'm going to hunt down Galen and make him answer for every single one of his crimes. And after he's in prison where he belongs, I'm going to go to work working my way up through the ranks to a position where I can really get something done... I'm going to become the head of the entire International Police Force." He looked back at Erce. "That's reason we continue to train and get stronger; so that one day we'll be able to accomplish that goal, be strong enough to change the world. People have tried using power and money to do it, people like the Terrorist leaders I mentioned before, but I'm going to go about it a far different way; I'm going to change the world with Integrity and Perseverance, I'm going to change it by never giving up in my fight to stop the type of people who cause chaos and strife in order to get what they want." He turned yet again back to his mother, eyes gleaming with resolve and complete confidence in his life goal. "So yeah... I really don't care very much about how this tournament ends or who comes out on top, even if it's Jacob; because for one, regardless, I'll still be the top of the class academically thanks to all my constant study habits, and I have even bigger things to focus on than becoming Champion someday or whatever. I'm just in it for the fun of the battle I guess, that and Java and Erce and Nemo wanted to fight in it..."

"Well just good to know you have things figured out," His mother smiled, looking at the time. "I think we should start heading back though. You wouldn't want to leave your friend to deal with all the work at the stand forever, would you?"

"Huh? oh... I didn't even notice," he said, checking the time himself using his MP3. "Yeah, it's about time Erce and I get back. Come one, I'll lead the way." with that said he and the Scyther both turned around, Alexandra and Mars walking beside them as they began backtracking the way they had came through the Festivities...

[Felicity]

Claude sighed, there was a lot to say about Henry, not much good. "Well, generally he's done some things that most wouldn't see as typically nice to others. For a lot of people, "Dick" is an understatement. Hell, just before a big battle I was about to have the other day, Henry was trying to undermine me, though that stopped after I won." Claude tried to explain. "You know him more than me, you should know that he can seem a bit more extreme to others. Hell, he recently switched out his Starter just before the Winter cup, some people see that as underhanded."

As he spoke, he led Citrine to a mirror and sat her down in front of it as he prepared all sorts of paints and powders to accentuate the girls features.

[Jory]

Jacob blushed as Kristen kissed him on the cheek. Then, at the next part, he began to look around him, searching for anything in the dark that might be causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up like they were doing. "I don't know, but I get what you mean. But it seems like we're alone. In this part of the Haunted House, anyway," he said quietly, pulling Kristen closer to him as he continued to turn his head looking for an answer. "Let's get out of here soon. This place is starting to give me the creeps." Suddenly, Shade's Ominous Wind hit the couple. Jacob shivered and looked around for the source, his heartrate climbing a little. "Okay, now this is just weird. I could have sworn I felt an Ominous Wind attack."

[DarkLight]

"Mhm," Danielle answered, unaware of Slade's immovable position before Avis came back to congratulate her. Upon seeing the flurry of black feathers, Danielle released her boyfriend and proceeded to smother her bird. "Mr. Brand told me that something got in the way, so he couldn't announce the winner in time." She then released Avis from her grasp and nodded towards the Ultra Ball that Corona was playing with. "It's nothing special, really. I made a collage of a Nidorino with flower petals, grass, and small stones on a piece of tree bark. Avis and Corona found the flowers and grass and Zared provided the stones from his cave..." She fished out her Pokedex and showed Slade the position of the said Pokemon model. "To protect it from the elements, I just added a layer of honey that they found around the forest, which ultimately made the stones shiny and all... I wish I had a picture to show you the final product though. It's better to see it than to have me describe it." She pouted a little at that thought.

Avis found herself a spot at edge of the counter, looking on as Corona tried to keep her balance on top of the Ultra Ball. It wouldn't do to have the capsule broken after they just got it. She then gave a wink towards Zared, who was down below her, as her way of showing her gratitude. The Mawile reciprocated the gesture before he noticed Danielle's parents standing by, waiting for the moment to pass. He called out towards them to come over.

[Azeria]

"Hehehehe,phase 2 is a go"James snickered before he released Luna."Luna,follow them,if they start thinking your there,phaze into the walls or hide or something.I'm gunna go follow them aswell."James said before he started sneaking off in the shadows following the Couple."Shade come with me"He whispered as he passed the Specter.

[Aurorix]

"Well, no wonder you won." Slade said surprised at the approach she took, "All I did was a pencil sketch of the lake with Sasuke in the foreground. There was nothing really special about it." He said scratching the back of his head, "Anyways, don't worry about me and my parents, I assume you've already seen or met them by now. I have enough reasons to believe they aren't here for anything bad. As for the tournament coming up though, do you know what block i'm in and anyone important in said block?" Slade asked quickly changing the subject to something less awkward.

[Commander]

Citrine

"Err...sorry about that. Henry is kind of weird when it comes to battles. He wants to help you by not helping you at all. That didn't make any sense when I first met him too, but once you get over his bitterness, he's not so bad. Hell, he even taught me about being a good trainer even when I wasn't in a trainer program which is probably half the reason I'm not failing out of it. I pretty much know next to nothing about Pokemon...or did. I don't really know what I don't know anymore." Citrine stood there idly trying to think about schooling before the small Vulpix cried out causing her to snap back to reality.

"Eiy! I did it again. Thanks, Zuko." She then looked straight at Claude. "As you can tell, Zuko kind of was and is my Pokemon. I kind of gave him to Henry so that he'd have...a friend here. Never mind about that..." Citrine really didn't like recalling that day especially after how Henry reacted. "You're probably wondering about the Skitty because it really doesn't suit him. I don't know too much, but I heard from his dad that he's been taking care of since he was really young. Back in Orre, that thing was an adorable little monster. The look on the face of those big tough guys losing to her was priceless."

Zuko shivered for a moment after Citrine mentioned those thugs in Orre. The sight of those giant behemonth trying to slam him into the depths of the earths was enough to scar any Pokemon for life. Thankfully, Citrine actually shut her mouth up for once and sat there ready for her face mask. At least the girl hadn't mentioned anything

---------------------------------------------------------------

Henry's Dad

The man with the Sudowoodo beside him gave a little chuckle. "Sorry miss, but I don't have any BP on me. Would 20 Poke suffice?" The man held out a bit of money and placed it on the counter. "If that's not enough, I could always fetch my son. I heard he has a nice stash of BP he's apparently saving in case a berry shortage ever happens. That Venonat of his must have a stomach of a Snorlax or something."

---------------------------------------------------------------

Henry

The boy went into the haunted house and was a bit disappointed so far. Something did intrigue him though. He saw a little fire show created by the Litwick before catching eyes on Raiza. "I'm surprised you're in the trainer program. You'd probably be a better Coordinator than I ever could." Henry slowly moved closer to Raiza before looking back at the Litwick's show.

[DarkLight]

"Yes, I did. I'm glad it worked out for you, some what." Danielle nodded before addressing his next concern. "If I remember correctly, you are placed in Block E with Jacob. So that answers those two questions... You're up against Victoria first, though; I doubt you would have trouble with her. The winner of Block E will go against that of Block G; Claude and Sissy are in there..."

Unlike Danielle, however, Avis wasn't satisfied with Slade's answer. As Zared and Corona got back to manning the booth, the Murkrow grabbed the Ultra Ball, placed it in Danielle's hands, and went over to peck at Slade's pocket that contains the Fire Stone. That prompted Danielle to hug her Murkrow once more. "Avis, what's with you?" Avis only stared at the pocket; that shiny Fire Stone was there!

"Sorry, Slade. I don't know what's gotten into her lately. I thought Avis was back to her normal self after that moody phase she had when she was level 20..." Danielle sighed, remembering how her Murkrow became so lethargic shortly after they all came back to school. When she took her to the nurse, Avis' checkup had come out clean, every single day. It was only after Avis got back into training that she finally seemed to snap out of it. "Did you have something in there that got her attention?"

[Aurorix]

"Why actually I do," Slade said proudly, "I guess you could call it my secret weapon." He said rubbing the bottom of his nose with the top of his pointer finger, "I could tell you what it is if you ask nicely." Giving a smug grin to Danielle, hands now behind his head. It felt good going back to his usual self after the little incident a couple moments ago.

[DarkLight]

"Oh! What is it? What is it?" Danielle asked excitedly, releasing Avis from her grip as well. "Can you tell me, pleasepleasepleaseplease?" She jumped up and down in place, hoping that Slade would spill the beans.

A ruffled looking Avis flew back onto the counter and preened her feathers. That was enough hugs and petting for one day. She still needs to conserve her energy for later, after all.

[Aurorix]

"Hmmmm.... fine, but get close. I don't want anyone else to see, and of course DON'T... TELL... ANYONE!" Slade said putting emphasis and a little gap between the last three words. He brought out a white box from his pocket, his back turned to the waves of people. He slowly lifted up the cover of the box just enough so Danielle could see the fire stone inside and after about fives seconds he closed the box and put it back in his pocket. "So, what'cha think? I was thinking before getting into a tough battle in the tournament I could Evolve Flare into an Arcainine." Slade said smugly.

[DarkLight]

Danielle inched herself towards Slade so that they are practically on top of each other. From that very brief moment that Slade opened the tiny box, she caught a flash of an orange-yellow stone that indicated that it is a Fire Stone for Flare. "I think it's a great idea! Flare would really love the surprise gift you got him." She then realized how close they were and, of course, she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him. "I also think that the Fire Stone isn't the only thing that heating up here, don't you agree?"

[Aurorix]

"N-no, I don't agree and we probably shouldn't be this close anymore." Slade said slowly inching away, he was kinda used to Danielle's teasing by now though immensely. "Hey, we should go check out that fortune teller everyone's been rumoring about?" Slade asked changing the subject. "It would only take a second and we'd be back in a flash. Who knows, she might be able to reveal dark secrets about our future." Slade said beginning to do an evil laugh.