Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Sutoratosu]

"Well, you two have fun," Ms.Sisto chimed, checking the time as she watched her son and his friend. It would be getting late before long, and she hadn't even found proper lodgings for her visit over here for the week. And she had no intention of staying out under the stars, despite her willingness to do it decades ago when she and Mars were on their own journey...

"You're not gonna stay for the opening, mom?" Mareek asked, taking out the capsules for his team and aiming Nemo's... "Apparently it's going to be a big show or something put on by all the coordinators." in a flash of red the Cubone was called home to his ball, as was Erce a second later. Only the Co-strategist remained out in the open, eyeing the boy curiously before realizing why he hadn't been called back as well...

"I'm afraid not, dear," she said, shaking her head. "I've still got to find somewhere to stay. I'll be back tomorrow just before the matches begin though, don't worry." she looked back and forth between him and Lana. "And I'm certainly expecting to see an interesting fight between your teams." Though I can tell the outcome already just from looking at this Lana girl here... she's no fighter. Hopefully Mareek will have enough sense to actually give her a decent shot and refrain from going in guns ablazing. The two are honestly rather cute together, be a shame if he messed up...

"Alright, well have a good night, mom." Mareek said, seemingly a bit distracted though at her comment on the match tomorrow. All Alexandra did was nod. Then she and Mars headed off for the gates, the Bisharp pausing for a minute and giving the kid a mysterious look before turning back around to follow his aging trainer.

"So, we about ready to head off?" Mareek asked Lana after the two had dissapeared. "We should probably hurry; chances are it'll only be a few minutes before it starts, and if we wanna find decent seats..." Java meanwhile rolled his eyes, just wanting to get over there and get it over with so that he could freaking evolve already... but was a virtue he guessed. Still, he wanted that Up-Grade...

[DarkLight]

{Danielle's Parents}

"Phew! We made it just in time~" Carole Chastain sang in relief as she plotted herself down in a seat in the middle of the audience. "Now to get some neat shots for family photos!" She then fished out her smartphone and readied her camera, not caring about her souvenirs that dropped onto the floor .

Marc Chastain could only roll his eyes, amused by his wife's antics. She was just as flighty as she once was when he first met her almost twenty years ago. With a quick apology towards the people around him, he quickly gathered up the bags so that they sat neatly in front of them. Once he was satisfied with that, he proceeded to take a seat by his wife and waited patiently for the show to begin.

{Danielle and Claude}

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Danielle replied confidently. The girl was practically jumping up and down in excitement as the duo made their way back stage. She let Corona down so that the Larvesta could familiarize herself with the stage while she, herself, petted the fluffy cotton ball who is hovering in front of her. "Oh wait," Danielle said as she noticed Avis waving the rose around. She took the rose out of Avis' beak, allowing the Murkrow to fly from her shoulder. "That's much better. Now, we are only missing Shiro, Henry and Sissy... Scratch that, I see Sissy over there!" Danielle waved Sissy over so that they could meet up for a last minute discussion.

[Tses]

Sissy noticed Claude and Danielle arriving at the stage, with the latter waving at her. She walked towards them. "Hello there." She said once she reached them. "Are you ready for it?"

[Felicity]

"Of course, we're ready to start. Let's hope Shiro and Henry get here soon" Claude repled, keeping an eager eye out for the other two coordinators.

[Tses]

"Well, let us be ready too. Sherlock, Miffy come out." Both pokemon released in front her. Miffy yawned, while Sherlock started observing the stage.

[Bfroger6]

"I'm here, I'm here!" Shiro cam erunning to where the others have already gathered. He was puffing and panting as he had been running from the stalls. On the contrary, Shun gracefully descended from his shoulder, landing next to her trainer. "S-sorry I'm late..."

[Commander]

Henry

Ten Minutes Ago...

A student came up to Henry mentioning the Coordinator show was about to start, but he suggested for Henry to not show up seeing as it would ruin the show entirely just because of his prescence. The boy simply rolled his eyes after the other boy left. Henry then looked at Raiza. "I'm really sorry about this, but I have to go. If your Deino doesn't turn up, I'll help you after the show." The boy didn't even take time to hesitate as he headed out towards the stage.

Current time

"Sorry I'm late." Henry finally made it to the back stage. "I hope someone here has an idea of what we're going to do because I sure as hell don't." Truthfully, Henry spent most his time working on moves and techniques, but none of them we're really that pleasing to the eye in his opinion.

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Henry's Family

"Let me go you dump tree thingy!" yelled Citrine as she was being dragged by a Sudowoodo. Zuko decided to forget about food and follow his master. Citrine was well known for getting into trouble. Eventually, the two came across Henry's dad who was amongst the crowd.

"I'm glad you could make it. I hope Steve wasn't too rough on either of you," responded Joseph.

"Why are we even here? I doubt Henry would bother showing up to this. Back in Orre, he always focused on battles and that's it," responded the girl.

"He'll show up. Henry may not seem like a Coordinator, but he certainly isn't one to back out of anything, no matter how much he doesn't like it," responded Henry's dad.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

When the other student told Henry to not show up anyway, she muttered, deadpan, "How stupid, then, for you to come here to tell him to get ready but to not go." The Ghost-Fire type hovering over Raiza's shoulder eyed the new student, being able to tell right away that his Trainer harboured resentment towards this kid (how unusual for her to really feel so negatively about somebody) ; his yellow eyes flashed as he plotted to follow him later and see what his soul tasted like. Then she turned to see Henry apologise and hurry off. "Good luck, pon!" she called out, not noticing her dear Litwick as he hovered off after that boy.

A shrill scream came from the crowd, and Lucifer came back shortly, phasing through the ground, obviously having not been detected by anybody else while taking care of... Business. "Wick, wick," he said, and pointed at the hole that the Drilbur came out of earlier, making Raiza look to see a disgruntled looking Toothless pop out. "Ah, there you are, sweetie! Where've you been?" she chided. "Oh, whatever... Come, let's go check out the other stalls, pon."

[Chevaleresse]

Kage made a face. "Am I being dragged to this?" The question was directed at Ryan. "I'm not a huge fan of these things, you can figure out why. No problem with the Coordinators themselves, they usually treat their Pokemon nice enough -though there are nutjobs in Contests just like anything else- but ugh." Before Ryan had a chance to reply, Kage's parents swept up from behind him.

"Yes, yes you are being dragged to this. You know that this is more than just a show." His mother's tone was seemingly light, but one could tell that it was not one that permitted argument. Kage heaved a melodramatic sigh and replied with a drawn-out "Fiiiiiiine."

[Chim]

Jory and Azery

“Fine, apparently I switched you and Slade around. Not that it matters much since both of you are alike when it comes to battling. And you better not underestimate the importance of statistics. Humans are creatures of habits! When something worked for them in the past they will try to use it again if they are cornered. All of that is recorded in the statistics and I’m prepared for it. During the preliminaries a few people already resorted, unconsciously, to their habits in order to make it to the Cup. I recognized their strategy and could tell what they would do before it happened! So no, I’m not stupid enough not to check out the competition when they are battling. I merely use any source available, unlike you!” Kristen yelled at James before turning to Jacob.

“I’m sorry but I’m not going to watch the opening. I want to go over my strategies one last time before tomorrow. I’m battling first so I want to have an early night.” She gave Jacob a peck on his cheek and left. She hurried over to her dorm and only a few minutes later she logged in onto the website she mentioned to James.

Stratos

Lana nodded and followed Mareek and his Porygon. Over the last few days she had tried to get Danielle to spill the beans about her performance, but her roommate never gave anything away. It’s not like the Breeder wanted to surprise to be spoiled but she really liked these kind of things, probably more than battling, and couldn’t help herself.

Coordinators

“Alright Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready for this amazing show? Here they are! The Coordinators!” Marcos yelled enthusiastic. He clapped his hands while leaving the stage and the crowd quickly followed his example. The Coordinators were met with an incredible applause when they took their respective spots. The second years in the lead gave the signal to start.

Kristen

I can’t believe I messed up my facts… How could I mix up the battles James and Slade fought? It’s not like I researched everything about James, but I did so with everyone who was mentioned as a strong battler.

The redhead took a deep breath and started recalling everything she had on Jacob. As usual she got her facts right and after a quick check she did the same with Henry. Of course she hadn’t studied the Orre rebel all that much, but enough to know his battle style and tricks.

Henry Baldwin; the least favorite competitor and had to deal with a lot of negativity. He will most likely keep his head cool and not screw up because of stress or pressure. Therefore we rank him last on the Self-destruction List.

Kristen recalled it perfectly but it didn’t raise her confidence, on the contrary, her nerves increased. Being a local Kristen grew up with stories about the Winter Cup. A competition that tried it’s very best to test students and throw them off their game plan. Preparation wasn’t everything as there were a lot of uncertain factors. Competitors never knew the rules about the upcoming battle, the field and had little to none tricks left. And then there was the visibility factor which left trainers that couldn’t think on their feet behind.

Aside from that there was the stress factor and battle history. It wasn’t unusual for a first year to lose his calm and lose his nerves in front of such a big crowd. Some older years still struggled with it. The battle history was basically a play by play from each battle a student fought while attending the Academy. Students that pushed their Pokémon over the limit to reach victory usually met the backlashes around this period of time.

Over the years there were some surprises, like favorites freezing on the spot, or students outdoing themselves, but not many. The Competitor Ranking Website took everything into account which earned them the reputation of being a very reliable source. And that was exactly what Kristen was afraid of.

Self-destruction List

Nr. 4: Kristen Brown. While this trainer has top grades and some skills in battles, she has never won a battle in front of a crowd. She’s her own worst enemy and will probably lose due to her nerves. The only reason she ranks fourth on this lists is because the three above have Pokémon that reached their current limit.

[TurboAura]

As Robert's pokemon had finished passing out the final orders, or atleast tried before Citrine had been taken away, Kiai made his way to the stall to lock up today's earnings while Voltage and Jet went back in their pokeballs. "Well, seems like that's taken care of... Wait, it's gonna start soon! See yah there." And with that, Robert went into a mad dash, trying his best to make sure he wasn't late. Having locked the profits, Kiai caught up with Quick Attack and ran right besides him.

"Well... He's as determined as always that's for sure." Will laughed, seeing as his son was sprinting for good enough seats. "We should probably follow him. If he's this hyped to see this, it must be good."

**************

After having sprinted all the way there, Robert sat in the closest open seat he could find and let his breathing catch up with him, having arrived a few minutes before it began. 'Phew, just barely.'

[K_H]

Jacen nodded.

"Agreed. Let's go! Last one there is a rotten Togepi!"

and with that, he sprinted off towards the Audience. Zorro balked a little, then ran in the same direction, making himself look like a certain Trainer that his own Mother had met and told him about.

"Smell Ya Later!"

Kenny ran after him, and the Rest of Kenny's team Returned into their Pokeballs.

"Hey, wait up!"

Shauntai ran after the other three.

"Don't forget me!"

They all got to their Seats, which were next to Robert's, a couple minutes early. Zorro then turned back into his true form, and the rest of Kenny's Team came back out of their Pokeballs.

Edited January 3, 2015 by K_H

[Jory]

Jacob sighed as he watched Kristen walk away. Something's bugging her, but I'm not sure what. All I know is I definitely should have looked at that website beforehand. He shook his head and began walking toward the opening's venue, lost in thought the whole time. He called out Teo and Spitfyre to walk with him for some company as well as the opportunity to watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Cup. As he was moving along he noticed Kage and what appeared to be his parents walking as well. He grinned and called out to Kage, hurrying over to meet up with his roommate. "Hey, buddy!" he said happily. "Mind if I join you guys? My date decided to go prepare for the Cup some more, so I got left out in the cold so to speak."

[Felicity]

Taking the cue from the senior students, Claude stepped forward with a dazzling smile on his face, projecting his voice over the audience, trying to captivate them. "Good afternoon my friends, Welcome to our tale of love and lies, a fable about a spoilt prince, his punishment and a fair maiden..." he stepped aside and flourished to point at Burrows, their prince

[Tacos]

Before Ryan could refuse, Kage was swept away by his parents. Ryan stood with his hand up in a half-assed wave and his mouth hanging open. Within second, Jason caught back up with them. He snuck up behind Wally and suddenly appeared in front of him dramatically. "Oh, but I am a helpless Gardevoir, waiting for her Gallade in shining armor." He bent over holding the back of his hand to his forehead. Wally couldn't help but laugh at the display. He scooped Jason up into his arms, planting kisses on his forehead as the two turned the corner behind the Contest Hall. Ryan rolled his eyes and reached over to Lexis, grabbing her arm and dragging her to the Coordinators' Opening Ceremony. The two giggled, embarrassed by their fathers.

As they arrived, the show was just starting. Ryan chuckled as Claude performed, seeming to be the opening act. "It's almost as if Jason was reborn in Claude's body." Lexis burst out in laughter, the only other person who could appreciate Ryan's stupid jokes.

[Sutoratosu]

The two arrived just as Claude was making the opening act of the show, Java pointing out a set of empty seats towards the back of the area. This was already going to take long enough as it was, so he saw no point in allowing the two to waste even more time by walking around trying to find somewhere to sit.

"Thanks, java," Mareek said, moving over to the back row with Lana. He stepped to the side and cleared the way for her to enter the row and sit down before he would, causing another round of Eye rolling from the Porygon as he watched. "Lady's first. They're not exactly the best seats, but at least they're better than no seats at all."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

With a bagful of snacks, Raiza contented herself to a seat in the back amidst students she didn't know or care for. Before entering she made it so that everybody but Lucifer stayed inside their Pokeballs (after treating them to an early dinner, of course); how much more crowded it would be if she let her whole team occupy a seat each, after all. Normally crowds and events like these meant little to the girl and she'd often more than not go out of her way to avoid such chaos, but since Henry was going to perform, she might as well go. That, and her parents probably wouldn't find her in this sea of students, even when they arrive.

[Snap Crackle Pop]

Louise nodded and thanked the Elekid that had delivered the bowl of ramen before digging into it, rather ravenously too, combined with her hunger and the fact that it was done just right. She stopped only when she felt begging eyes on her, or rather her food, and more specifically the slices of egg in it. She gave a light chucked and she picked the egg out and passed it to the dragon type, who inhaled it within a few seconds. It was one of Terra's favorite foods, perhaps next to green and blue pokéblock.

"You already ate, but I guess an extra treat never hurt," she said with a light laugh. "Work hard tomorrow, yeah?" In response, the Gabite bared her fangs in something that resembled a grin, in pokemon terms. Noticing that the crowd was thinning and the opening was close to starting, Louise stood up and returned Terra to her ball, after a light pat on her head (rather gingerly now that her rough skin was much more potent) and was about to head off to the stadium before realizing that she had to track down Axion.

*~~*~~*

Thankfully, Louise had managed to squeeze into a seat in the far back just before things began, the coordinators were already on the stage, but nothing much had happened. Even better, she didn't get lost on her way there either, and there was a seat available that didn't require her to move awkwardly through the crowd to get to it. The Haunter was always wandering fairly close to her, as arranged, but he poked fun at her for a few minutes when he refused to come out into the open and into his pokeball.

[Commander]

Taking the cue from the senior students, Claude stepped forward with a dazzling smile on his face, projecting his voice over the audience, trying to captivate them. "Good afternoon my friends, Welcome to our tale of love and lies, a fable about a spoilt prince, his punishment and a fair maiden..." he stepped aside and flourished to point at Burrows, their prince

((I'm just copying this to make sure no one missed it))

Burrows entered on the stage ready to play his role...sort of. Henry maybe went over the lines once or twice, but they probably needed more. All he really recalled about this part was that he was prince and was supposed to act...spoiled? He simply took on a proper stance to try and make himself important.

Meanwhile, Henry was in the back making sure his Pokemon we all prepared for their coming parts. Gypsie and Rosie had one other role as well. They had to make sure Paradox doesn't run off while Henry or another was busy. Henry decided not to keep her in her Poke Ball because she seemed rather excited to watch the show, even if it was from backstage.

[Jory]

After a brief conversation with Kage, Jacob had entered the stands with a small bag of food. He began to tuck in as he watched the performance begin, cheering as he saw Claude take the stage. This is going to be an amazing show, he thought to himself.

[Felicity]

"My, my, what a proud and proper prince!" Claude exclaimed in mock shock. "He seems ever so perfect, regal as could be, but are appearances to be believed?" Claude asked the audience as the others got ready for their own parts.

[Commander]

Suddenly a Skitty with a cup of tea on her head appeared on the scene. Unfortunately, Burrows had little memory of this part, but he assumed he was supposed to drink the tea. Tried his best to carefully pick up the cup of tea with his claws and took a sip of it. Much to his surprise, this substance had to be the worst thing he ever tasted and spat it out immediately. He then threw the cup right towards the right side of the stage and yelled at the Skitty scaring it off.

Shortly afterwards, a storm could be heard in the background as well as some knocking. Burrows was surprised by this. Who else was going to feed him something disgusting this time?

Meanwhile Backstage...

Gypsy prepared a Psybeam for the incoming tea cup which Henry then grabbed. Rosie shortly followed and stayed next to her trainer. "Note to self," Henry mumbled, "Never make tea ever again."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Unable to hold back a small laugh of amusement, Raiza recognized the Drilbur on the stage to be Henry's. So that must be Rosie the Skitty, then. Even as the pink kitten fled the stage, the Trainer wondered about the adorable goofball, about the reputation she had and the things Henry said about her. A monster on the field, huh..?

Meanwhile, Lucifer stared at the girl next to them, looking her over. The Ghost-Fire type looked, curiously, for the Ghost type presence that he felt. Power emanated from that Pokemon-- he guessed that it was either in its first stage and over-trained, or that it had already evolved.

[Commander]

Burrows looked around and eventually saw a figure completely covered in a brown cloak. He could hear her say a couple of things and it was almost as if she was gesturing for his help. Burrows knew better than to mess around with Pokemon he didn't know, especially from that whole Electrike fiasco, so he pretended not to notice her. This angered the cloaked Pokemon and revealed herself as an enchantress. The Misdreavus then looked up to the sky and then back at the Drilbur looking as if she was about to attack. This was the Cottonee's cue as the tiny cotton ball released a pinkish wind that sparkled and wrapped around the Prince. From the audience point of view, it looked as if the enchantress was causing this move because Doux was secretly hidden under the cloak.

Burrows was a bit confused by the commotion and started to grunt a bit. The mole didn't care for bright lights, especially whatever this thing was. His claws began to glow as he tried swiping the attack away with his claws when suddenly he started to feel himself being yanked by some invisible force. He tried swinging around fighting off this tug, but was useless against it as he was then pushed backstage. To his surprise, he saw Gypsy, the one who pulled him back, as well as Henry who looked rather disappointed.

"Honestly, it's probably just by luck that looked like a transformation," he whispered. "One fa..." He was quickly interrupted by a loud roaring sound. He looked down and saw the cause of the ruckus, Danielle's Mawile. "My ears."

Claude then narrated a bit more when a bright redish orange light could faintly be seen on the left side of the stage along with the cries of a bunch of angry Pokemon. Shortly afterward, a shadowy figure quickly rushed over the stage and then back to Henry's side. Burrow's was a bit jealous of Zared's performance as he gave the Mawile a quick glare which the Mawile didn't even notice.

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Citrine and Henry's Dad

"Where have I seen this before?" asked Citrine. She was now watching the next scene that had appeared. This time, a bulky Excalvier could be seen facing off against a small but mighty Druddigon which a couple of Pokemon could be seen cheering them on.

"That's because it's loosely based on the play. Beauty and the Beast is a well know play, but you were...er...homeless so I'm guessing you've never seen it," responded Joseph.

"No, I actually have heard of that one, but the only play I've ever seen was I Want to Be Your Canary. The sword fight in that one was probably my favorite moment of the play."

I've never actually seen it, but it's probably best not to ask about it. She's actually been behaving for once. Joseph turned his head back to focus on the play again.

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

Play

As the battle continued, Lancelot parried one of Druddigons claws and watched as the dragon was knocked back a couple of steps. The gave him the perfect time to lunge his lance forward and knock the dragon into the air. The Druddigon then fell to the ground and pretended to not be able to get back up. After his grand victory, Lancelot stood in a manly pose in which all the female Pokemon pretended to be in love with him, some of which pretended to faint in his presence.

That all quickly ended when a Murkrow was flying across the stage in a bit of panic. When she reached the group, she turned around pointing toward the incoming Mawile. Lancelot quickly ran over ready to face the beast, but he didn't seem to want to fight. The Druddigon now got back on his feet and grabbed the Mawile's hand while Lancelot did the other and dragged the Beast off the stage. The rest of the Pokemon just watched as the three disappeared before dispersing and leaving the stage.

[Commander]

The next thing to appear was a Slowking sitting on a throne looking rather depressed. Suddenly he jumped when Lancelot came in with a ferocious looking beast. He got off of his throne and inspecting this creature up close. He then turned around in disgust before speaking to the two holding Zared prisoner. Dobby translated this as that the king gave orders to eliminate the Mawile.

Suddenly, the Mawile grew angry and tossed the two captivators a couple feet away from him before directly attacking the king. Before he was about to strike the king, music notes filled across the room while a Kirlia dressed in an elegant lavender dress entered the area begging for the Mawile to stop. The music seemed to calm the Mawile down and offered his hand to Shun in which she grabbed it with her own hand. The two then rushed off the stage in a hurry.

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Henry

"Joy, now we get to hear the boring part of the play. Thank Arceus they didn't make me narrate all of this. I couldn't stand saying stuff like the beast fell in love the princess's voice so they ran off together or the two slowly grew closer inside the beast's castle. Honestly, I don't know how he does it." Henry watched as Claude began speaking about what had happened between the two scenes, but it was only to give Burrows his cue.

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Play

The play continued on now with the beast facing off with Lancelot. The battle was short, but tense ending with Lancelot lunging one of his needle arms into the beasts heart. Secretly, it was right between the armpit, but it looked rather real from the audience. The princess then quickly dashed and kneeled over while Lancelot fled after the princess scolded him.

During his last breath, the two then confessed there love for each other. Suddenly, the Mawile began floating in air while a giant red flag came onto the stage and swirled around a couple of times before leaving to the other side. The princess was shocked at what she saw. Instead of a Mawile, a young Drilbur now stood in his place. The Drilbur tried explaining, but the Kirlia shushed him understanding the situation.

The play eventually came to a close with the wedding ceremony. All of the Pokemon appeared on stage, except Carona who was busy making fireworks in the background while each of the main actors took a bow one at a time ending with the Princess and Prince dancing to a song sung by Rosie.