Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

When the match was finished, Raiza leapt up. Where did the battlers stay after their battles, again? Or would she not be able to congratulate him till after her own battle? Sitting back down, she sighed; sooner or later, her parents would arrive and see how she'd lied to them. Why'd they have to force her to be a Breeder, anyway? It wasn't really like she wanted to take over the Breeding Facility - no offense to her friend, Lana, but it seemed kinda boring to her. On the other hand, ever since her previous loss, she'd only been pushing her doubts to the back of her head. Maybe she wasn't cut out to be a Trainer either. Maybe. They'd see in the upcoming battle. Maybe she should've just signed up for the Coordinator course, remembering Henry's words.

Groaning quietly, she held her head. Deciding what course she should've taken was a pain; she had no idea what she wanted to be. Or rather, she did, but it probably wasn't something she could do.

Then warmth enveloped her cheek. "Wick, wick?" It was Lucifer to the rescue - she'd forgotten that if there was anybody who could sense her distress easily, it was her own little baby. Evidently he'd caught more than just a whiff of Raiza's troubled feelings and acted immediately... That was, to hug her face. Gently, the Trainer took the Litwick in her arms and cuddled him with a warm smile. The cute Candle Pokemon just always knew how to lift her spirits. There was that battle, and that opponent she tried to read up on, but nah, she'd worry about that later. Right now, she was enjoying some heart-to-heart with the best friend anybody could ever wish for.

[Commander]

Henry had walked off the field a bit disappointed. Even though he won, his cockiness could've ended up being fatal. He could tell something was going on with Kristen so he thought he could easily force her to surrender quickly, saving most of his tricks he'd been working on for the tougher trainers. There was also all that booing against him. Actually, he got a bit of a kick out of it.

Once he got back to the waiting room, Gypsy and Rosie glared at their trainer waiting for something. "Alright, a deal's a deal." Henry pulled out a Sitrus berry for Gypsy to eat while Rosie began running all around the area in excitement. While she was busy, Henry dug around in his backpack he placed in the corner for a stone. Once he found the grayish looking rock, he tossed it into the air.

Rosie heard the faint throwing sound and jumped and touched the Moon Stone in mid-air. The Skitty then began to glow and grow a bit. Once the light dissappeared, Roise now was a bit bigger with purple surrounding her head. The Delcatty jumped around in excitement before accidently falling over. "Why don't you walk around a bit to get used to your new body? We've got plenty of time before the next round.

Henry's attention then turned towards Danielle's battle. She did something very, very odd. Then he remembered about her first battle seeing how the Larvesta was acting. I'm having a hard time understanding Danielle's actions. Then again, my Pokemon aren't afraid of battling anything really. Even Paradox gets excited when I decide to do a training session with her.

[Chim]

ExLink and Azery

“You sure know how to talk, Red,” Phoebe said to Slade. She had a habit of nicknaming her students despite knowing their names, skills and reputation. “But do you have the skills to back it up? The Cup isn’t that easy as you make it seem. The further you go, the more you give away about your tactics. If you don’t self-destruct in the first round that is,” she grinned. Every year there were some big mouth who blew themselves up, like that Kristen girl, and Phoebe secretly enjoyed it.

“Anyway, Grandpa over there,” this time she pointed to James, “is being too cautious. If you give your opponent too much credit you start off in a bad headspace. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want to pay for Tyron’s lunch. Find the right balance in respecting your opponent and having confidence in your own skills. Do that and you’ll avoid a situation like we just saw.”

She grinned when she looked back at Danielle’s battle. “Oho, Missy seems up to something. I like her style!”

DarkLight

Marco didn’t reply. He stuttered something barely hearable, trying to find the right words as to what was happening. This year seemed to be full of unique characters because he never experienced a trainer leaving in the middle of a battle and run over to the hosts. Or was Danielle just mad? The blond host settled for an expression that was a mix between amusement and staring with his mouth half open.

Devin sighed. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but take mine. I don’t want this thing anyway,” he said, offering the microphone in front of him.

Professor Redwood, at the other end of the table, chuckled in amusement. “This year’s students really are promising.”

[Tacos]

Ryan laughed to himself as soon as Danielle hustled over to grab a microphone. I don't even need to stick around for this part. She's gonna bring Corona out of her stage fright and go on to win the battle. Such a blurred line between cliches and classics. But I have unfinished business. Ryan scooped Victoria and Glacien up, placing the little dragon on his shoulder and Glacien back on his head. Step by step, he made with way down the stairs, constantly leaning from one side to another to keep everyone balanced on him. He made his way to the exit of the stadium just in time to catch Kristen. He slowly walked over to her, in an attempt to just have a conversation.

"Hey Kristen. I saw what happened back there, and I just wanted to let you know that you did well. For someone who seems to have a ton of stage fright, you did incredibly well. But you can't let one small loss keep you down. Where do you think I would be if I let the whole situation back at camp change my whole perspective and truly make me jump off a cliff? Dead, or damn well close enough. Not being able to show the world where you truly excel is perhaps one of the worst things of all. Everyone brings a purpose to this world. How do you think your pokemon feel about you just giving up?" Ryan shrugged as Victoria squealed, the small bump exciting her. "That's just my two cents. Feel free to chew me out."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Unsure if she was allowed to leave the room at all and not too bothered to ask, Raiza decided to seek out the Ground type Breeder. "Sweetie, would you kindly show me where she is, pon?"

"Wick," obliged the Ghost-Fire type happily, zooming off just slowly enough for his Trainer to run after him. Locating the girl easily, he hovered over her head and let his flame flicker like a beacon for Raiza to see.

[Azeria]

"Heh i guess that's true,as i said Old man Fuji has been a large influence on my life,greater than my own father at least...."James said after hearing Ryan's comment on how he'd changed."Also don't call me grandpa!...i'm not that old..yet."He laughed a bit after hearing what Phoebe had called him.

[DarkLight]

"Merci Professor!" Danielle chimed as she took the mic from Devin. She was oblivious to the thought of her action being described as weird; all she wanted to do was to get Corona's confidence back. Danielle ran back to her designated spot and tapped the mouth of the microphone two times. As her thumps echoed throughout the stadium, she could hear the audience quiet down. Cheers of encouragement had turned into whispers of confusion and curiosity. "Zared, keep up your guard in case they decide to counterattack." She commanded her Mawile before she knelt down to her Pokemon's level. She then raised the mic to her mouth and began to sing the same song that she hummed on the bus ride. "You got in so late it's... Sunday morning... ♫"

Zared raised on eyebrow as he heard his master sing. He risked turning his head back to find Danielle's figure crooning softly through the evaporating pink wind. The Deceiver Pokemon was about to just rush off and attack on his own when he heard the bug begin to hum quietly along. Zared watched quietly as Corona uncurled herself and took a proper look at her surroundings. After a good amount of seconds has passed, the Larvesta chirped at Zared, waving her stubby front legs to let him know she was ready. Zared sighed with relief; he began to whisper into Corona's ear slits, bringing her up to speed on the current situation.

Luckily for Danielle's distracted Pokemon, Nico was just as confused as the crowd was when Danielle started her song. He just stared at the pink cloud and the audience, trying to figure out what she was planning. His Pokemon were also lost about what they should do; they stood around waiting for their trainer to give a command. When it was clear that she wasn't going to stop, Nico's frustration finally started to show. "T-This isn't Ymora Idol, you know! We're in the Winter Cup!" he reprimanded, but Danielle's amplified voice drowned him out. Seeing that she wasn't listening, Nico yelled at the top of his lungs so that his Pokemon could hear him. "Use Grass Knot to find them, Sandisk!"

The ground below began to shake as Nico's Heliolisk called for multiple vines in an attempt to ensnare Zared and Corona. Just as the Fairy Wind cloud disappeared, however, a blast of black smoke immediately replaced it. Danielle allowed her last note to hang in the air as she tried to hear for any signs of movement. Finally, amidst the crackles of burning vines, a familiar sneezing sound could be heard within the blackened air mass. Danielle picked herself back up and gave a grin. "We apologize for the brief disruption in your scheduled program of the Winter Cup: Top 16 matches~" Danielle announced to the audience with her mic. "Now, let the real show begin! Dazzling Wildfire!" She then put down the microphone beside her feet and proceeded to engage herself onto the battle once more.

From the depths of the smoke, a white outline of Corona could be seen before it was transformed into small blasts of fire (Incinerate) that was headed straight for both the Aromatisse and the Heliolisk. Zared's Fairy Wind then arrived to lend its support while blowing away the black fog from Danielle's side of the field. Surprised by the sudden attack, both Chanel and Sandisk were knocked off of their feet from the powered Incinerate. They quickly got back up and began to stare down the opposition.

Zared laughed at the display and crossed his arms with a smirk on his face. Corona stood beside her battle partner; she spewed out some fire from the tips of her horns and let out a battle cry to show off her abilities.

[Jory]

Jacob chuckled as he saw Danielle take the mic on the monitor, then realized he'd forgotten something extremely important. Son of a.... he thought to himself as he rushed out of the waiting room, searching frantically for Kristen. I need to get back in there before my match starts! He continued hurrying around until he found Ryan and Kristen talking. He jogged up to the pair, slightly out of breath from searching most of the waiting area already and surprised to see Kristen on the way out. "Hey, Kristen, you alright?" he asked the redhead.

[Aurorix]

Slade chuckled a bit at Phoebe's comment, "I guess I'm being a little too overconfident there." He said scratching the back of his head. Then he turned towards the screen to see Danielle grabbing the mic and singing a song. He didn't know the song being sung but it seems as though it calmed down Corona. "See Phoebe, Danielle always seems to make battles interesting in one way or another." He chuckled as he listened to the song being sung.

[DarkLight]

“What the--? That… That was a cheap shot!” Nico finally stammered at the sudden turn of events. “You did that so you could distract us from the match!”

“Don’t blame me for your OCD; I only sang so that Corona could feel at ease with the crowd. I had no intention of charming you or anything.” Danielle responded politely. She then stretched her arm forward, palm facing upwards, to offer Nico a chance to retaliate. “Since you are so upset about it, I’ll let you make the next move then. Fair?”

Danielle’s opponent sighed. He wondered if all coordinators are this crazy with their battles. “I guess it would be rude of me to say no then… Chanel, Echoed Voice! And Sandisk, go in for an Iron Tail on that Larvesta!”

“Zared, your target is the puffball; make sure she can’t speak~ Corona, evade into Signal Beam!” Danielle commanded as Nico’s two Pokemon began making their moves.

She watched (and covered her ears) as Zared rushed forward to stop the Aromatisse from shrieking so loudly. When he realized that he couldn’t pull out an Iron Head in time, Zared opted to deliver a Hidden Power Water. Chanel shrieked a decibel higher as Zared’s attack connected with her mouth, which caused her to cough uncontrollably. Sensing his opportunity, the Mawile continued to run at her as his body turned into a metallic silver color (Iron Head). After he got behind her, the Steel/Fairy type slammed into the Aromatisse, sending it flying to the middle of the field.

In the meantime, Corona tried her best to ignore Chanel’s Echoed Voice as she waited for Sandisk’s Iron Tail to make its appearance. Once the Heliolisk was nearly on top of her, Corona covered herself with flames (Flame Charge) and backed away from his tail. Once the Heliolisk landed, the Larvesta then released a Signal Beam in between her front legs and aimed the rainbow-colored beam right at the Electric type. Sandisk, with no time to prepare for the assault, was sent flying backwards…

Both of Nico’s Pokemon cried out in pain as Zared and Corona counterattacked. It didn’t help that they then collided with one another in the middle of the battlefield either. Chanel and Sandisk managed to get back onto their feet, but both of them are panting from exhaustion while Zared and Corona had them surrounded.

"Sooo~ What do you think?" Danielle asked with an innocent expression on her face. "Not too shabby right?"

Nico ignored her and concentrated on his two Pokemon, trying to come up with something. With a heavy sigh, he nodded towards his Aromatisse to give his final command towards her. "Chanel, use a Heal Pulse on Sandisk while he uses Parabolic Charge! Sorry, girl..." he added the last statement quietly so that only his Pokemon (and ultimately Zared) could hear.

"Corona, wrap yourself up in a cocoon! Zared, try and dodge it and take out that Aromatisse with another Iron Head!" Danielle told her duo.

Unfortunately for Zared, the Aromatisse was able to deliver a pulse of refreshing energy for her partner before she was shocked by the draining electric type move. As pulses of electricity rained down from the Heliolisk's frills, Corona had fired up a String Shot to wrap herself inside. The electricity bounced off of the bug's shield harmlessly as Corona sat inside. Zared grunted in pain as the electric sparks sapped some of his strength, but he was still capable of pulling off an Iron Head at Chanel. Once the Steel type attack hit its target, Zared jumped back to Danielle's side and took a breather as Chanel was thrown back to the edge of Nico's field. A small cry could be heard before a beam of red light absorbed the Aromatisse.

"You did your best Chanel. Thank you." Nico patted his fairy's Pokeball before he turned his attention back to his re-energized Heliolisk. "Alright, Sandisk, it's all up to you! Double Team then Quick Attack! Take them down!"

Sandisk's illusionary copies soon surrounded Zared and Corona. Before anyone could take a close look at the Heliolisks, Zared and Corona were then bombarded by Quick Attacks left and right. However, Corona seemed to be taking it better than Zared despite his natural resistance; it's probably all due to the cocoon though.

"Fine, let's finish this! Another Dazzling Wildfire coming up!" Danielle cried with a fist pump to the field.

Several cracks could be heard as Corona began to burn the white case. When one more stray Quick Attack finally hit its mark, Corona finally popped out and let out a barrage of flames (Incinerate) for Zared to swirl around with Fairy Wind. Once he saw the fire attack, the Mawile snapped his fingers to direct the energized pink air to swirl around the duo, creating a fiery, pink tornado that began to grow in diameter.

"No! Sandisk, fall back and shut it down with a Parabolic Charge!"

Nico's command came a little to late. The sparkling tornado was able to destroy the Heliolisk's copies while it collided with the real thing before Sandisk had a chance to escape. The flames continue to bombard Nico's partner as Corona continued to release her Incinerate towards the Fairy Wind tornado. Finally, in a last ditch effort to end this windstorm, Sandisk managed to flip open his frills and fired a Parabolic Charge. The tornado finally exploded as the electricity made contact with the fire balls, effectively ending the vortex that the Heliolisk was trapped in. Once the smoke cleared out, Sandisk the Heliolisk was lying on the ground, too exhausted to continue the double battle.

"And that is that~ Thanks for the battle, Nico!" Danielle chimed happily before she gave a wave to the audience. Zared and Corona both gave a bow before they rejoined their master. "And you two were amazing, of course~" Danielle cooed as she petted them both.

[Commander]

"Well that was a very anti-climatic battle," spoke Henry after making his way into the other waiting room. If Danielle wasn't going to be his next opponent, he probably would've stopped watching. Danielle's Pokemon both had an advantage over her opponents so it was obvious she was going to win. That Mawile though. Most of my Pokemon could take it on, but that Iron Head is going to hurt one way or another.

[TurboAura]

Since Robert's match was at the end-part of the first rounds, he had decided to stay in the stands for now. Having gotten a seat by his parents, with Nikki watching from Akako's lap, he watched as the first battles of Block A wrap up. While he fully knew that the booing and taunts would happen during Henry's match due to his common reputation, he was as confused as most when Danielle showed off that 'tactic'.

Of course, the next battle up had Robert's eyes glued to the field with fists clenched, waiting and hoping to see Shiro's best. 'Come on, Shiro. Show them what you can do. Prove to her that this is where you belong.'

Edited January 21, 2015 by TurboAura

[Chim]

Outside Phoebe’s waiting room (PCs can hear this if they want)

Evan was watching the battle on one of the screens in the hallway. He didn’t feel like going into the waiting room filled with students. There were still 4 battles before his so he decided to work on a tactic. He was tempted to use both Vaporeon and Ninetales to shut down his opponent’s water and fire attacks, when someone smacked him on the back.

“Watch out where you… JAIME? What are you doing here?”

“Hey little bro,” the boy in the wheelchair said, “And you know, I was just rolling around in the neighborhood and thought I’d say hi!” he grinned.

Evan raised an eyebrow. “Very funny. You should become a comic. Can’t get any worse compared to your trainer skills.”

“I would but it would make me too popular with the ladies. It’s a pain being this handsome.” He waved his hair around pretending to be a model.

Evan knew that his brother, despite his joking, really was popular at the Hoenn Academy. Jaime was barely taller if he managed to stand up straight, but what really made him popular were his deep blue eyes and long brown hair. His looks coupled with his skills as a trainer made him the number one in his year. After a rocky start in his first year, Jaime was undefeated for 8 months now. The boy never bragged about it except when he teased his little brother, adding the pressure for Evan.

“Shut up idiot. Where are mom and Lily? They aren’t here are they?”

Jaime frowned. “Why wouldn’t they be? They’re in the stands right now. Lily wanted to see you but mom said not to distract you before your battle.”

Evan sighed. “You know what I mean! How did she get the money to come to Ymora?” he whispered. He didn’t want everyone to know he was poor as hell.

“Double shifts…” Jaime didn’t like it either but he couldn’t stop his mother. “I told her you wouldn’t like it if she overworked just to come here. She knows you would prefer for us to watch at home but she really wanted to come. At least she promised me she would stop working double shifts when we get back home.”

Evan shook his head. “You should’ve stopped her. There are better ways to spend that money. I can handle myself.”

“That’s not it. We just wanted to see you battle. Not everyone gets into Ymora so we can’t miss this.” Jaime explained.

“What about you? Shouldn’t you be at Hoenn Academy?”

“I left early for a doctor's appointment. I skipped the tournament but I won last year and I still have next year. I don’t mind missing out this time.” Jaime smiled a little and gave Evan another smack on his back. “Relax a little and concentrate on your battle. Worrying about mom and Lily right now isn’t going to help anyone. Lily sees this as a holiday so we decided to stay tomorrow too. Anyway I’m heading back to the stands. I’m looking forward to see you get your ass kicked!” A hearty laugh and a friendly wave was all Evan got when his brother went back to the rest of his family.

Tacos and Jory

Kristen wasn’t in the mood to get advice or whatever Ryan was trying to do. “I don’t know what you’re up to or hope to achieve with this, but leave me alone. I’m not going to have this conversation with someone that doesn’t know anything about me.”

She turned around, ready to leave Ryan behind, when Jacob showed up. “No, I’m not. I thought preparing and researching everything about Henry could help me with battling in front of a crowd but I just can’t do it. I need to think about what I’m going to do next because obviously I’m not cut out to be a trainer.” Kristen’s tone was blunt and harsh, but at the same time she tried her very best to hold back her tears.

Zephyr

Lana clapped with enthusiasm when her roommate when her battle. She also secretly admired Danielle’s courage for singing a song in the middle of battle. The Breeder waited for the next competitors to arrive when she noticed something warm above her. “Oh hey Lucifer, what are you doing here?” She stuck out her hand to pet the ghost type.

ExLink

Instead of escorting Nadia to the battlefield, Phoebe stared at Slade. “I noticed this in class but you really are one of the weirdest kids this year. And I’m including Fruity so that says a lot.” She nudged her face in Claude’s direction to make clear who she meant.

“Oops be right back! I need to escort the students to the field! Oi, Steel Girl, where you at?” she yelled through the waiting room before sprinting to the door. “Wait for me!”

Hosts (Bfroger)

“And Danielle takes the win after one of the most unique strategies I’ve ever seen!” Marco yelled in his mic. Professor Redwood chuckled and Devin nodded in appreciation. The latter was impressed by how Danielle managed to get the Larvesta out of her shell. After the referee gave him his mic back, Marco took the word again. “We now know the final in Block A: Henry versus Danielle; a battle between Coordinators! But Professor Redwood, what about Block B and the upcoming battle?”

“Ah yes, the next battle is between another Coordinator and a Breeder. The Coordinators are doing really well so I’m curious if Shiro, a shy boy, can uphold their winning streak. His opponent, Nadia, is a Breeder that’s specializing in Steel Types. Unfortunately for Shiro that specific type counters his whole team offensively and defensively but some of Nadia’s Pokémon aren’t Steel types yet so that might be his way to win.

Bfroger

Tyron quickly located Shiro in the waiting room. “Your turn, kid, give them a good show and make sure you win!” He grinned and gave the Coordinator thumbs up before dragging him to the field.

A minute later the buzzer went off and Nadia released her Klink and Prinplup.

[Tacos]

Ryan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kristen, I know we had a very rocky start, but I didn't come to the Academy to make mortal enemies. I don't need to know you personally to know that your statistics prove you're an excellent battler. You just had a little bit of stage fright. You can't let one small incident spell out your whole life for you!" Ryan didn't dare move closer. He knew that she'd rather be talking to Jacob than him, but he wouldn't leave until the girl knew that she was better than to just quit.

[K_H]

Kenny and Ryu just happened to be walking to the Waiting Room when they spotted Evan standing in the hallway, and they walked over.

"Hey, Evan. Anything new going on with you?"

Edited January 21, 2015 by K_H

[Jory]

Jacob nodded, listening to Ryan before he approached Kristen and wrapped her in a gentle hug. "You just let me know if you need anything, okay?" he asked softly. "And I'd really love it if you stayed to watch my battle. Not like I have any family here to support me," he said somewhat bitterly.

[Azeria]

"Seems like that little kid-Shiro if i remember correctly-is up next.He's a shy one but from what i've heard he's obtained quite a ferocious pokemon;Druddigon a Dragon type mainly native to Northern Unova.They're quite durable and have the ability to learn quite a lot of moves most prominently Dragon and Fire.It seems like his Best choice in this battle against a known Steel type trainer."James observed looking at the screen and hearing the announcer call Shiro and Nadia up."Though,if Druddigon does NOT know a fire move,Shiro is in for a problem."

Edited January 21, 2015 by AzeryM

[DarkLight]

"See, Corona? The crowds aren't so bad, right?" Danielle asked the bug in her arms as she and Zared walked back into the waiting room. The firebug nodded happily, giving a wave to the cheering audience as they walked off the stage for the next competitors. "Now just remember to hum that song to yourself whenever you get stage fright again, okay? I don't think my singing would work twice with our next opponents..." Danielle found herself a seat besides Slade once more before she released her Larvesta from her grasp. After handing out two Sitrus berries for her Pokemon to eat, Danielle released Avis from her capsule so that she could watch the rest of the matches. Upon seeing her two teammates getting food, Avis crowed indignantly; she wanted a part of the battle too!

Danielle patted the Murkrow. "Did you hear Professor Redwood's rules before? No switches allowed. I also couldn't afford you being electrocuted by a Heliolisk should Nico sent him in, which he did by the way." The bird sighed and contented herself with making a conversation with Zared and Corona instead. Whether it was about that battle or not remained unclear to their coordinator.

With her Pokemon now taken care of, Danielle turned to face her friends, although her mind is now beginning to focus on her incoming battle with Henry. "Shiro should be fine. He's like Corona in a way. Once he's determined, he could pull off a few neat tricks despite the type disadvantage." As she looked around her, she noticed that Ryan and Jacob are now missing from the party. "Hey, did anybody see where Ryan and Jacob went?"

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek got up from his chair as Danielle's fight wrapped up on the screen, her opponent having had his ass soundly handed to him on a silver platter. He didn't whether it was simply because the guy had been cocky when in actuality he was outclassed, the fact that Danielle had pretty much vexed everyone with that little singing performance, the fact that the Nico guy had adapted rather poor to the situation throughout the fight, or simply a bumbling combination of all three of those factors culminating into the perfect storm against him. He knew one thing though, something he'd already figured out long ago; some of the coordinators around here ironically could be even more of a threat in battle than some who were in the Trainer's program... though that in and of itself was mostly because of the distraction factor they tended to bring to the table for their opponents, and trainers with poor attention spans, or who had trouble switching things up rapidly in a fight and going with the flow of the battle, tended to do poorly against them as a direct result.

"Come on, let's go walk around," He said to Java, stretching from sitting so long. "It's boring sitting around doing nothing but review a database, and it's starting to get stuffy in here to me."

"But we haven't even started on the others-"

"We don't have to right now," Mareek interjected the message being typed out on the screen. "Each and everyone of them is going to be fighting in their own matches. We can watch them in action first, save the actual research after we've got an actual impression."

A moment of hesitance, then Java seemed to finally relent, exiting the device and appearing before his trainer, eyes glancing over to the screen as Danielle and Nico both headed off the field. He honestly wanted to keep delving into the site, keep compiling everything he came across for easy reference later, and a break at this point seemed not only pointless to him, given that he never tired from his work, but even a bit unjustifiable when so much of it remained to be done... on the other hand though, a part of him actually wouldn't mind taking off for at least a few minutes, setting everything aside and just coming back to it later. It was strange, this change he'd begun to notice in himself ever since yesterday night when they'd gone to the lab... He was usually so goal oriented, so focused, like a machine, fast, efficient, he didn't take breaks, and yet out of the blue, here comes this sudden impulse that perhaps it would be okay to postpone things, to slack off for a time... and then there was the matter of why he was even thinking about any of this at all, he never used to take time to analyze and ponder how he felt. He'd had a few emotions before, sure, but they were shallow reaching at best, simple things like pride or anger, never anything more complex such as the contemplation of self...

"Are you coming, or what?" Mareek asked, only then did his Co-Strategist notice the boy had moved out of the waiting room entirely and was now holding the door open with his foot, looking at him expectantly. Another change... he found himself to be capable of becoming lost in his own thoughts... "Java? Are you alright?"

Java nodded, though he wasn't quite sure whether he was lying about that. Mareek gave one last glance over his shoulder as the Porygon2 hovered over silently and joined him out in the hall way, then removed his foot from the doorway and headed off idly, hands stuffed in his pockets as usual for the loner.

Before long the two heard a rather familiar voice talking, pausing and tracing their way back to the turn off. The sight of Evan and an older looking teen in a wheel chair confirmed what he'd already thought. He took a moment to analyze the Crippled boy's face, the similarities it held to Evan's own becoming apparent to him easily; chances are they were brothers, if not at least blood related in some other way. After a few moments though the two ended their talk and the brother left off down the hall, and Mareek couldn't help but curse under his breath as the thought of the possible opportunity that he and Java had just missed; Whatever Evan and his presumably Brother were discussing, they'd come a bit too late to get anything of use out of it. For all he knew, Evan could've been sharing something about what happened on the trip weeks ago; whatever had, he obviously wasn't going to open up about it with another student, but with a family member...maybe it would be a different story. Either way, it looked to be too little, too late.

"Or maybe not... what's this?" he said as he noticed another boy walking up to Evan in the distance, seeming to be trying to start up a conversation. What next came to his mind was something that might or might not have been unethical depending on one's viewpoint; He may have missed the chance to listen in on the other Trainer's earlier discussion, but right here was the chance to see how a bit of how he handled himself around others, one on one... and if he could get more of a feel for what he was like, who's to say that wouldn't help his little operation of befriending Evan and figuring out whether or not his possible suspicions about him were sound. That left the question however, of just how exactly to go about getting this Surveillance without getting noticed... when he saw the Screen on the wall beside the two.

"Hey Java," he said, glancing over at the creature. "See that Monitor right there displaying the battle field and the stadiums?" The porygon2 nodded simply, wondering where his trainer was going with such an out of the blue question. "You think you could hear what they're saying if you were to... sneak inside?"

Ah... Java saw now. He didn't quite know about the prospect of ease droping, but... oh wait, technically speaking that entire site he'd found and shown Mareek could count as ease dropping. Oh well, might as well not stop now, they'd already gone down the rabbit hole. He gave another nod, thinking his trainer's motivation to be nothing more than gathering more intel on the competition.

"Alright, would you be able to hear... on second thought, forget that question, I already know the answer." He instead reached into his jacket and produced his MP3 player, sticking the earbud jack into the slot and powering the device on, looking up at his Co-conspirator. "Would you be able to siphon everything you hear to my MP3? I'm talking about the actual audio between those two, not just you ripping words from songs and stringing them together into sentences."

That... was actually a good question. Java gave it a bit of thought... what he did with ripping song lyrics really wasn't too much different from what Mareek was asking, it would just be a matter of taking the raw conversation he heard itself and directly converting the data into a usable audio format for him to hear. But that presented another problem, how to get the audio to Mareek in real time; He'd be in the television screen for this, and since his trainer's music player didn't have any type of web connection, he couldn't affect anything about the MP3 unless he went inside it's own software... Mareek's pokedex however, did have a connection to the net, and that was Java's solution; convert to audio and stream the file to the Dex. Shouldn't be too hard in practice...

"Put the jack into the Dex and keep an ear out," Appeared in a message of his Dex's screen. "It can be done, but need to stream to audio directly to this using the connection to the web. Don't open any tabs or anything in the meanwhile, might interfere with the data stream."

"Alright," Mareek said, doing as Java instructed and sticking the Earbuds in a moment later. The Porygon2 turned snooper gave one final nod, then stared at the screen down the hall for a moment, disappearing into thin air. The only sign that he was in was a very faint and brief rippling of the picture, though it quickly corrected itself. Mareek walked back around the corner he'd come from, leaning against the wall non nonchalantly and tucking his Dex along with his hands into his pockets... if anyone happened to pass by, they'd only think he was listening to music...

Java meanwhile prepared the connection in his mind, focusing himself as he peered out unseen at Evan and Kenny, silent and undetectable within the monitor's computer system...

[Azeria]

"By the way Slade...if i manage to get past my first opponent,i'd probably have to face either Mareek or Lana.I've got a good idea of Lana's tactics-'ve battled her before-.But besides his pokemon i don't know too much about Mareek.Mind filling me in?"Was what James asked as he looked at the red head.He hadnt interacted much with the guy,probably due to prefering walks out in the forest but this was necessary if he wanted to proceed far into this tournament."I can't let Uncle Thomas down...after he and Aunt Linda and maybe Shauntal came all the way here for me...."He thought while looking at the screen.

[K_H]

Ryu noticed a small ripple in the Auric Field when Java went into the Screen, and turned to look towards the disturbance in order to see if he could find out what was going on. However, when he looked, he only saw the edge of Mareek's shoe disappearing around the corner and the last few ripples from Java's entering the Screen. Ryu then tapped Zorro's Pokeball, calling out the Illusion Fox. Ryu let out a quiet growl once Zorro was out, informing Zorro about what he'd seen. Zorro nodded, and then fooled Kenny and Evan into hearing him, no noise being produced in the process.

Guys, Ryu thinks that someone's listening in on us!

Kenny then nodded, acknowledging Zorro. Zorro saw this, and informed Ryu that he could search. Ryu then knelt down and closed his eyes, trying to sense any Auric Anomalies in the area. as he 'Looked', thoughts ran through his mind.

Huh, the TV Monitor seems to be- what the?! That can't be right! hang on... AHA!

When Ryu sensed Java in the system his eyes snapped open.

Found you.

Ryu then made another quiet growl, informing Zorro of what to do. Zorro nodded, and then fooled Evan and Mareek into not seeing Kenny, Ryu, or himself, speaking to Evan and Kenny via Illusion as he did so.

Ryu found our Eavesdropper. As it turns out, it's actually Java, who's streaming to Mareek.

Then, he spoke to just Kenny.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

In response, Kenny nodded, a grin creeping over his face. Zorro smiled, and then the three of them headed over to Mareek, cloaked by Zorro's Illusion. Kenny then leaned close to Mareek's ear, pulled out an Earbud, and spoke into Mareek's ear, anyone/thing that was cloaked by Zorro becoming revealed as he did so.

"Eavesdropper!"

Edited January 22, 2015 by K_H

[Aurorix]

Slade wasn't too sure if weird meant bad or good in Phoebe eyes though he took it as a complement. Slade didn't really know Claude all to well so he didn't know exactly how weird he was compared to him. Soon Danielle came back sitting next to him before asking a question.

"Hey, did anybody see where Ryan and Jacob went?"

"I think they left during your battle." Slade said with his hands behind his head. "Neither of them said where they were going though I'm sure they'll be back soon. Nice job on winning by the way, you've gotten better since the start of the year, though hasn't everyone?" Slade chuckled a bit before he began stretching. "Man, I'm hyped to see what other battles will go on today. Hopefully they'll be interesting." Flare, sitting by Slade, seemed to have dicieded on what to do with the fire stone. So he livened up more a let out a happy 'yip' after Slade was done talking. Slade smiled after Flare got out of his loom and gloom mood and rubbed the dog on the head.

"By the way Slade...if i manage to get past my first opponent,i'd probably have to face either Mareek or Lana.I've got a good idea of Lana's tactics-'ve battled her before-.But besides his pokemon i don't know too much about Mareek.Mind filling me in?"

He looked to his side to find James asking for info about Mareek, "Oh, so you're worried about Mareek huh? I've fought the guy once, it ended in a tie though." Slade chuckled a bit remembering the his first battle at this school. "I wouldn't mind informing you a bit on Mareek, though if you happen to know any info on Sissy, one of the people in my block, I'd appreciate that as well." He said with a big smile. The only thing he knows about her is the vague info Danielle gave him, for all he knew she could've looked all his pokemon and moves. Worst case he'd walk in blind to someone who knew a lot about him. He wasn't that worried but better to be safe then sorry.

Edited January 22, 2015 by EXLink32

[Sutoratosu]

Something around here felt...odd to Java. Like someone else was poking around in the computer system... then for the first time he noticed the freaking Lucario that was by the side of the Trainer talking to Evan, looked like... a dear Arceus. How they hadn't noticed the jackal before, he had no idea, but it didn't matter now, he could feel the thing trying to find him, could sense anomalies in the data... they had been compromised less than even a minute before starting the operation. It was kinda humiliating...

There it was again. This time it got through; the jig was up, and like a spring time bunery, he bolted from the system, trying to find the passage way he'd opened to get in the first place, he had to be quick, had to get back and tell Mareek to move on, get out of there... but he found himself so rushed that he couldn't locate his own exit route to the outside world... that left only one option; The web connection directly to Mareek's Dex... he just hoped he hadn't wasted too much time searching...

"It's over." Was what Mareek heard in his Earphones next, Java using a computerized voice to really the message as he rushed through back into the device's software and closed the internet pathway behind him, making sure it was closed tight. "He has a Lucario out with him, has had it out the entire time since he walked up... He had a Zoroa as well. it's done. they know."

Mareek took a second to take that news in, cursing under his breath as he gauged from how far he'd seen them down the hall how long they would probably take to get to him. A lucario? he snarled mentally to himself, chagrined over the catastrophic failure. How the hell could both of us miss that when we looked? Must've been too busy watching Evan... damn it, I'm usually good at keeping an eye out for the small details! Java came in over the earbuds again, using the same unnaturally choppy sounding computerized voice.

"I'd say get out of here... but I think it may be too late to try"

He could see what Java meant... he felt a presence close to him, like someone was standing right beside... yeah, he knew it, this was a complete Charlie Foxtrot, no doubt about it. three, two...one... where were they? He knew something was about to come...

"Eavesdropper!"

"So you found me..." He sighed, going ahead and taking the other earbud out. Java appeared in the air beside him, looking at the Lucario by the trainer's side as Mareek looked the other boy coldly in the eye, seemingly unphased by his sudden appearance... though that was only because he'd had forewarning. Things were looking a bit dicey, but he knew how to maneuver his way out of this... all he needed was to use a Red Herring. "Yeah, I was eavesdropping on you, saw that Lucario of yours while I was walking by and figured I get some possible intel when I saw you stop to talk. The thing could be a major threat on the battle field, and I don't like to leave any wild cards..." As much as he didn't like lying like this, he had no choice but to right now. What, was he gonna come out with his suspicions about Evan to this random ass stranger? Hell no, in fact, it was better the guy think Mareek was actually targeting him for the surveillance instead, make him think that Evan had just been some guy who happened to be standing around.

"Before you go condemning me though," he continued, raising his hands up defensively, though his expression remained cold. "It's only fair to tell you; every single shred of battle data about you and your team is probably already available on the web for anyone to find as they so please. anything I'd get from listening in just now only would've been extra fodder compared to that sheer amount of information." Java meanwhile, saw that he should probably just follow the boy's lead on this, nodding his head earnestly to confirm his trainers claims about the secret website...

[Commander]

Really? All of these people are getting way into this battling nonsense. Typical trainer obsessions just like everything else. Henry ended up leaving when he saw his Delcatty finished her laps around the stadium. She curled up by Henry's feet and went to sleep. Henry then beamed her back into her own Poke Ball. He overheard Evan's conversation, but wasn't too interested until he mentioned a bit of money problems. He decided against questioning it and was about to make his way outside when he heard a familiar voice.

That voice. I'm surprised he decided to even show up. He decided to keep his distance a bit and wait to see what happened. And he was certainly glad he did. He watched Kenny run over and expose Mareek. Seems like I'm not the only one who knows a bit more than they should. Now to get rid of the pest.

"You're wasting your time with that one," spoke Henry interrupting Mareek's conversation. "I'm pretty sure not a single rational thought ever goes through that brain of his. Play a simple defensive strategy and he's toast. I guess that info would be useful to you. Then again, looking too deeply into something can be quite dangerous too."

[K_H]

Kenny was about to speak when Henry interrupted. Kenny, thoroughly irked by Henry, spoke.

"Why is it that whenever I'm doing something, you always seem to cut in?!"

Zorro glared at Henry, and then made Henry and his Team think that everything had gone dark temporarily by using an Illusion. Kenny then spoke to Henry in a calm tone.

"Now leave us alone."

Edited January 22, 2015 by K_H