Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek nodded, keeping an ear out for those strange footsteps all the while. He could tell why Henry might want to phrase this a certain way... "I'm afraid so," He agreed. "So far, I've been trying to keep the damn Crows, as I'll refer to them as, and their Tower in close sight... though, All I've seen is the Tower they apparently like to land on, not the birds themselves. Basically everything I know is nothing but heresay and speculation at this point, though either way, I'm a bit concerned about whether or not the tower will hold it's structural integrity through all this..."

He couldn't shake something from his mind though... the fact of the thing with Henry's venonat finding an easedroper a few moments ago, coupled with the footsteps going down the corridor from them... no one had been there when he looked, so either he'd glanced to late, or they were, quite simply, invisible. Java was still acting like an emotional teenager in their room when Mareek tried to call him out of the ball, so it was on to plan be. Without taking his eyes off of henry, he sent out the mantis beside him, Giving her a few Tactical Hand Signs and ultimately gesturing down the hall. Her mission was simple; go see if anyone was there. She gave a quick nod, then vanished in a blur of motion. Mareek continued.

"Tell me, Henry, what do you think of irony?" He kept his eyes on the hall where Erce had gone the whole time, getting a bit of a hunch as to who could've made those foot falls... the fool had already demonstrated it once earlier. Erce's alarm screech came from around the corner. Mareek smirked. "Because I think we might have a bit right now..."

Erce

Erce rounded the corner using her agility, looking left then right quickly as she continued her patrol... only to double back at a strange sight indeed... a boy, seemingly hiding. Hey, actually, this kid looked familiar... in fact, he was the one Mareek had called on her in order to get away from, right? So why the hell was the little fool going to go and do the exact same thing he'd condemned Mareek for doing like some self-righteous prick? Oh well, not her problem to figure out the other boy's hypocrisy, she had another job to do now...

"Scy...." She began, taking in a deep breath of air as she dropped her Agility boosted speed and became visible before the ease-dropper. "THER!!!!!!!!!!" the shout was almost deafening as she expelled the air from her rather powerful lungs, loud as she could, hoping to either scare the hypocrit away or alert Mareek that there was indeed someone watching here....

[K_H]

Kenny was a little startled by Erce's sudden appearance, jumping from leaning his back relaxedly against the wall and into a surprised stance. As he did so, he accidentally knocked Otto's Pokeball off of his belt, releasing the Sea Otter Pokemon. Otto then spoke to Erce.

"Erce, leave us alone. We were just standing here, minding our own business."

Edited February 1, 2015 by K_H

[Commander]

"I've had my experience with the thugs hiding in alleys so something like this is not a surprise to me. I actually sensed him earlier, but what he hears means little. I was going to deal with it later, but it seems Erce beat me to the punch. I'll let you handle this situation though. As for the crows, keep anything you find on them disclosed. That tower is our only link, even if it is a faint one and it could so easily disappear." Henry then looked down noticing Gypsy glaring at where the Scyther had cried out. Her trainer simply rolled his eyes at the whole situation.

[Sutoratosu]

Erce

The Mantis stopped her shout and gave a few harsh, guttural growls that sounded like the cross between a dragon and an insect as the water type attempted to mouth off to her. By the time she was done she had created a full retort for the Oshawott; Why was he and his trainer just standing here within ear shot of this whole conversation then? She had seen the boy being stationary, not walking, he couldn't exactly go using the "I was just passing by" excuse here. And further more, why was his trainer ease-dropping on hers when the guy had reprimanded Mareek for it like some self-righteous prick earlier on; seemed really shitty to her that the Student would go and then turn right around and do the exact thing he'd caused hers grief over.... real shitty indeed.

Mareek

"Well obviously discretion is best when bird watching; of course I'll keep my observations under lock and key... unless of course, the Tower doesn't hold up and starts causing trouble for the town around it as it crumbles." With that said, he looked one last time at where Erce was, shaking his head and briefly muttering something in japanese...Then turning back to Henry. "Anyways, are we done here, Baldwin?" he asked. "Is this all you wanted to speak about?"

[Commander]

"I just wanted to make sure of that. If there are too many bird watchers, the birds will simply fly south instead. There has been another interesting scenario that's come up lately, but I feel we should save that for another time. So yes, that is all." Henry then tapped his cane signaling Gypsy to ignore the scene nearby. Gypsy gave one final glare before looking up to her trainer. Henry was an odd fellow sometimes. Why_not punish this troublemaker now?

[Chim]

Dobby

“His best bet is Vaporeon, but it may already be too late. He never thinks things through so people with a decent plan are his worst opponents.” Jaime muttered. “Oh well, I’m sure he’ll find a way out of this. He’s not one to go down this easily.”

Zephyr

“I don’t have experience battling in front of such a crowd, but they make a lot of noise. Not to mention Marco yelling in his microphone so I doubt you can hear her unless she’s really close,” Lana said in a last attempt to calm her friend down. Luckily for her the Cubone did the trick. “I have seen one or two other Cubone’s, but this one stands out. It’s also the only one I know personally so it makes sense to be Mareek’s,” she explained, following Raiza in order to find Cubone’s trainer.

Jory

Kristen blushed and her cheeks almost had the same red color as her hair. She tried to hide her embarrassment by quickly changing the subject. “You already have a plan to deal with Evan?” she asked impressed. “I found it difficult to prepare for him since he adapts on the spot and goes with instinct. So what about Kage and Claude? They are considered the strongest of their programs when it comes to battling and are probably stronger then Evan.”

Phoebe’s waiting room

A Skarmory entered the room, hopping towards the screen. The bird didn’t pay too much attention to other people inside. Instead her eyes were glued to the television. Her trainer strictly ordered her to watch from a distance and not interfere with battling to avoid getting disqualified.

Stratos (Galen)

“So another idiot? Great, I already have to deal with those two,” she gestured towards Pierre and Matt. The extravagant boy looked quite bored while the latter seemed to be slightly interested.

“Shut up, you’re not the boss. And let me watch, this battle might be a bit more entertaining compared to the others,” Matt said.

“Entertaining? I’ll show you entertainment!” Pierre interfered. He got up and grabbed two Pokéballs. If someone didn’t stop him, he would probably try and give a show to overshadow the ongoing battle.

[K_H]

Otto was unimpressed by Erce's retort.

"Erce, just because someone is standing within earshot of someone doesn't mean that they're listening in on them."

[Felicity]

"I should hope not. I kinda want to have a round with Evan, even if his pokemon are fully evolved already." Claude said, almost to himself. "Heh, maybe I made the wrong call with my program, recently I've felt more like a Trainer than a Coordinator"

[Sutoratosu]

Galen

"Sit down, boy..." Galen ordered, sending out his Zoroark as he glared at the flamboyent trainer from behind. Within and instant the Shadow Fox created an illusion and muffled all noise from the situation to overshadow the spectacle; making it seem to any onlookers that nothing out of the ordinary was going on in the area where the four of them sat. The fox turned to him when she had finished the quick save, but his eyes were still glued on Pierre. "Do you know the meaning of discretion, kid?" he asked. "Because that's what's needed from all of you for the time being; Don't go doing stupid shit like you were about to and drawing attention to yourself at times when it could damage the mission, Capiche? Look, piere, you can be as flamboyant as you want later during contests and what not, but for right now, sit down and just keep under the radar... it would be a damn shame if I had to tell Teach this turned into a Charlie Foxtrot before we were even a full day into the operation." Even as he spoke though, he could tell he probably had his work cut out for him... "You can shine all you want when you're mopping the floor with the other coordinators in the contest hall, kid. But if you try something to create a spectacle here and now; you're going to be drawing a boat load of notice to all of us, and that's gonna make the mission nearly impossible if we have eyes on our position right from the very start. Understand what I'm getting at?"

Nemo

Oh... well how nice! it seemed that they were going to follow him and come to Mareek, alriiiiight, not only had he found em, he was bringing them; Mareek would probably be so proud of his success... especially when Java had failed miserably.

"Cube!" He said enthusiastically, turning back and rushing towards the stair case giving a brief follow gesture before descending down the concrete slabs- hopping and taking two at a time, waiting at the bottom for the two students.

Mareek

"Alright then..." he said simply, walking away from the other boy. He followed where he'd heard Erce earlier and low and behold... who else was there but Kenny? Figures...

"So, it was you." He said, glaring at the boy with the oshawot. "You made those foot falls I heard earlier, didn't you; Henry's Venonat probably picked you up with those Compound eyes of it's... It's a bit ironic though, I try to easedrop- and you go and mouth off to me and Java like you're so high and mighty, yet here I find you... and you're doing the exact same thing." Erce let out a growl of agreement. "Tell me, Kenny Holmes, do you understand what Hypocrisy is?"

Erce

She was about to respond to that pitiful defense when Mareek beat her to the punch and rounded the corner. She simply stared on as her trainer began to deal with the listener himself, only making a sound to give a grunt of approval when he pointed out the irony and double standard of the situation. She actually found this somewhat amusing though; the tables had been completely turned, and look who was confronting whom now...

[K_H]

((Well done, but he still heard you guys, and it's not like Kenny doesn't have that bad of an idea about what they were talking about. Kenny actually was trying to find out about Evan earlier.))

"Actually, I wasn't eavesdropping just now. That stopped when Gypsy spotted me. Just now, I was simply trying to let you know how it feels to be interrupted by an Eavesdropper when you try to find out about the rumors concerning the Master of Oceans and Volcanoes."

Edited February 1, 2015 by K_H

[Sutoratosu]

((Mmmhmm, yeah, sure, whatever...))

Mareek

"Look, I don't know and I quite honestly don't care what you think is going on" Mareek began, infering enough from that "Master of Oceans and Valcanoes" comment that the fool probably had some inkling of the situation. His hands were shoved in his pocket as he glared coldly at the meddler, a stoney expression on his face. He honestly didn't like this kid, and he sure as hell didn't think anything good would come if someone as rash as him was gonna go prodding into things. It was like Henry had said...

"But a bit of friendly advice," Mareek said. " whatever it is, keep ya head out of it, bub, because chances are you're going to seriously step on some toes and end up screwing things up for the people who actually know a little bit about what their doing. You know how badly you fucked things up for me and Java back there by opening your damn mouth? Too many bird watchers, and the raven takes flight."

[Chim]

Evan

“You want to rely on luck?” Julie asked. “Not much of a skill.” She knew Evan was a bit of a hothead and tried to get him angry, or at least shake him up a little.

“Says the one turning her fat Hippo into a wall,” Evan retorted, “and it is working.”

The Hippopotas stumbled around disorientated. “Shake it off, Quake! And Ranger get in front of him. Keep using Poison Powder so they can’t get close.”

Evan cursed. This trick was getting annoying and he needed to take care of the Hippo already. Or maybe I should change targets and go for the Ivysaur. If I can create a 2 versus 1 situation I might be able to pull through. “Flame Burst!”

The fire quickly surrounded both targets, but did nothing to the poison in the air. The purple cloud fell down over the Ninetales while the creator cried out in a lot of pain. “Triton, Aurora Beam, let’s go!” A cold rainbow colored beam cooled down the Ivysaur, almost taking it out.

Julie grumbled when Evan found the Achilles Heel of her plan. Ranger didn’t know any recovery moves yet aside from Leech Seed. Her training to teach it Giga Drain wasn’t completed yet or else Evan would’ve been in serious trouble. She quickly whispered an order to Quake while her opponent’s attention was on Ranger.

“Shit, where did that Hippo go?” Evan mumbled. The flames created by Nike removed it from sight for a small period of time and now there was nothing left but a hole. Did it already break out of confusion?”

“Nike, another round of Flame Burst!” The Ninetales released another stream of intense heat that covered Julie’s part of the field, taking out Ivysaur, while in return taking damage from the poison. Evan cheered inside when suddenly the Hippo popped up and hit Nike with a Dig at full power, knocking her out as well.

On the other side of the field Julie grinned. She was at a type disadvantage, but her Pokémon was set up and could heal itself. Even the Water Pulse that hit her Hippopotas right after the Dig attack didn’t do too much damage.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"... Ehh... It seems like he wants us to follow, Lana," Raiza said, watching as Lucifer looked at her questioningly, hovering in the air. Leading the way, the Trainer began to make her way to the Cubone.

[K_H]

"While that may be true, the Crows will take flight eventually, even if there aren't too many bird watchers. Besides, the Lake seems off somehow, but I can't quite put my finger on it..."

Kenny then turned, Recalled Zorro and Otto, and headed down the corridor past the next corner.

[Sutoratosu]

"I mean it, Holmes!" Mareek shouted down the corridor just as the other boy disappeared around the next corner. "Don't you get in my way again; Next time I won't be so pleasant about it!" Then turning to Erce. "Come on... let's go find where Nemo wen-" He didn't even have to bother looking far; there at the opposite end of the hall Kenny had gone, was standing his little orphan. He seemed to be....waiting for someone?

"Nemo?" He called as he and the mantis began to make their way over. The Cubone glanced over his shoulder in surprise, then gestured proudly up the steps with his club. "What, you found them? Figures, they weren't even down here to begin with..."

[Jory]

{Phoebe's Waiting Room, Ymora Academy}

Jacob nodded to Kristen, chuckling lightly at how deeply she'd been blushing. "Of course I have strategies for them. Claude's team is going to be very difficult to deal with, though. He has that Cottonee. That thing's going to be a huge pain in the butt unless I can take it out early. Then again, I'm not sure how worried I should be about him. Obviously his strategies and tactics are quite good, but brute force may end up being my best friend in that bout. Kage has an interesting team for sure, but again I have a pretty good grasp of what they're capable of. I'm just going to have to wait and see what the results of the first few rounds are. After all, I still have Nadia to deal with in this block and then most likely Slade in the next."

[Bfroger6]

"O-okay!" Shiro typed in Robert's phone number and tucked the phone back into his pants. Even though he knew he most likely wasn't gonna be able to contact Robert anyways, he put on a forced smile.

"We, we should do that, yeah..." He would respond to Robert's question. He didn't have much to do anyways and there was still time for him to escape later that day. He could also wait for tomorrow, as he was relatively sure Anna wasn't gonna send him home first thing in the morning. She enjoyed watching Pokemon battles, because, as she said, that was the only thing she was better at than Shiro. Anyhow, something occured to Shiro right then. Since Robert gave him something, it was only fair that he gave something to Robert as well. "Just a second!" He would quickly dash into his room, grabbing the odd pocketwatch and handing him over to Robert. "T-this is my gift for you, Robert. S-something to remember me by." He would have waited until Robert accepted it before speaking again. "I-it's special, my uncle, her father... gave it to me. It was made to serve as a Mega Ring... You know, for Mega Evolution... But it's broken now..." Shiro reffered to the round hole that decorated the middle of the strange piece of stone. "I-if you bring it to Professor Redwood, I-I'm sure he'll fix it for you! Maybe you won't be able to use it yet, but still! So... yeah... Something to remember me by..."

[Commander]

Henry turned around when he noticed Mareek had been taking a while to deal with Kenny. "At least it can't get any worse. I should probably stop those two before someone else finds..."

"Glitchy, your such a good little brother. I can't believe you agreed to buy whatever I want tomorrow." Citrine came out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around Henry.

"...What?"

"Don't you remember? You agreed to buy Zuko anything he wants. And he always wants to make me happy." Citrine quickly released Henry from her grip with a gleeful smile on her face.

"I...you...I walked right into that one, didn't I? Gypsy, looks like we'll be stuck eating PB&Js and Oran Berries for the rest of the week. All of that hard work for nothing." Henry looked down to see a depressed Gypsy. Henry racked up a bunch of BP he was going to spend to spoil his team after the tournament. All of that now gone thanks to that little pest of a Vulpix.

"On that note, I'll let you be. Seems like this battle is getting a bit exciting and I want to have a good view of it." The ever so happy girl left a dumbstruck Henry tending to his thoughts while making her way back to her seat.

[Chim]

Dobby

Jaime raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute, you are in the tournament?” He took a paper with the tournament schedule on it out of his pocket. “I don’t see your name in the match-ups?”

Zephyr and Stratos

Lana follow Raiza and Nemo in silence. She wondered why the Cubone came to get her and when she saw him point with his club, she looked up to see the owner. “Hey Mareek, did you need something?”

Jory

“Sounds like you got it all planned out,” Kristen chuckled. “And you don’t have to prepare for both Kage and Claude since they are in the same block.” She grabbed a paper from her pocket. “They hand these out to everyone in the stands. The people in Block F really drew the short straw… After dealing with Kage and Claude they probably have to face Mareek…”

Hosts

“What a battle! Suddenly both trainers are left with only one Pokémon! Evan has the type advantage but Julie’s plan is already set in motion. Can Evan get out of this one? Anyway this might turn into a very long battle!” Ma rco yelled. As usually he didn’t think about just talking normally in the damn thing.

“Actually, this battle is over,” Devin suddenly interrupted after taking a look at Evan’s face. “I’m not sure if Evan found a way to beat Julie’s plan or if he came up with something on the spot. Either way this battle ends now.”

Marco raised an eyebrow and wanted to question to Elite Four Member when his attention was drawn back to the battle. Devin was right; Evan had made his move. Julie laughed at it first before her face showed signs of being overwhelmed. “I didn’t expect that…” he mumbled at a loss for words.

Stratos (Galen)

“Yet another guy with a stick in his ass that doesn’t appreciate true skill and beauty! Ever heard about hiding in plain sight? You might need to update your tactics book, Old-timer, times change and you don’t have to follow the protocol to the letter.” With a swing of his hand Pierre made his hair sway around like it blew around in the wind. “It’s not like anyone is going to suspect three students and a wheat caretaker. Besides no one even knows we exist!”

Sarah didn’t even bother listening. She knew Pierre would try one way or another to get his way. “You may not like that Evan guy but he’s not that bad. I honestly didn’t expect him to win.”

Evan

A sandstorm still blew over the field. Sand dust gathered on Evan’s glasses while he tried to figure out a way out of this situation. Fuck, I should’ve taken out the Hippo immediately. That would’ve saved me some serious trouble, but how do I get out of it? I have the advantage with water and ice attacks but that fat Hipp- Wait a minute… water and ice…

“Triton, Water Pulse on the field and freeze it with Aurora Beam. Only the field,” he strictly instructed. The Vaporeon obeyed to the letter and quickly froze a the part of the field where both Pokémon were standing.

The Hippopotas looked nervous. He didn’t like water and ice and had trouble moving around, but his trainer just laughed. “Really? Are you that desperate that you have to copy Jacob?”

That’s what I want you to think. It does help he used it not so long ago. I guess I own him one… not. “Quick Attack!”

Unlike the Hippo, Triton easily moved on the icy field. By using his tail to steer and slide around however he liked, he managed to hit the ground type at full power. The attack did barely any damage but that wasn’t Evan’s intention. He aimed for the digging spot created earlier when Julie caught him off guard.

The girl’s eyes widened when she realized his plan but it was too late. The hole was completely filled with water and Quake fell right into it. The small Hippo panicked and tried to get out of it but to no avail. He didn’t even hear his trainer yelling to calm down and kept going at it. He scraped his paws at the sharp edges of the ice and damaged himself little by little. Added up to the small amounts of damage it took earlier, all Evan needed was one more shot. His Vaporeon was already at the second hole where the Hippo popped up to take out Nike. The water splashed around from Quake’s shaking.

“Aurora Beam.”

The water that ran under the field and connected both holes froze at a rapid rate, trapping Hippopotas in the ice, unable to battle.

Hosts (ExLink)

“And Gerard takes the win! He moves on to the next battle against either Slade or Karen. What can you tell us about them, Professor?”

“Let’s see…” Redwood mused, “Slade is in the trainer program and has a rather unique style. He comes up with some of the craziest plans I’ve seen for first years but they don’t always work. He’s his own greatest enemy. Karen on the other hand is one of the few breeders left. She doesn’t specialize in a type and has a diverse team.

((You can pick Karen’s Pokémon))

Edited February 2, 2015 by Chimchain

[Felicity]

Claude was caught of guard, stuttering for a response. Oh my lord, I forgot they listed my real name down. Claude was struggling to come up with a response to make him seem confident, suave, something confident when he gave up, sighing. "Unfortunately Claude is but a pseudonym to hide my real, shamefully boring name of Kyle Burlinski." Claude could feel heat on his cheeks as he cursed the systematic way of things as well as his parents for the god-awful name.

[Azeria]

Hearing what Kristen said,James's eye twitched."Ironic for the one who got defeated so easily to think that Mareek can get past me for sure...i don't know much about his startegy though so..i'll keep my distance for the begining"Hearing who was battling next,James patted Slade on the back."Good luck,make sure you don't lose though!"He encouraged trying to be more positive.

[Commander]

Henry was able to catch the end of Evan's battle with a bit of a grin on his face. Seems like ice tactics are pretty popular lately. Thankfully, I'm fully prepared should someone try that on me. Henry's then turned to notice Lana and Raiza heading towards Mareek with his Cubone. "Great...more people who'll get dragged into this," he mumbled. "Gypsy, if Kenny does anything stupid, feel free to blast him with as many Stun Spores as you want."

It almost looked as if Gypsy was snickering at Henry's order. She didn't forget about her first battle even after all this time. This was a perfect time to get back at the boy who flung a fox right at her face. The best part was that there'd be a reward for getting back at the boy.

[TurboAura]

Robert happily took the pocket watch from Shiro, looking at it as Shiro described it a kind of Mega Ring. Despite that, the one part that truely joy-filled was how it was a way to remember Shiro by. Robert simply wiped the tears from his eyes and got his words together. "Shiro... I will cherish it always, because it's from you." After which, he put his phone away and put his free hand on Shiro's shoulder in a comforting way. "So... Anything you need to do before we head back? I mean, I'd like to know you're watching when I'm on the field myself."

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek

"Not really," Mareek began, smiling slightly. "I was just looking for you is all; figured I would wish you good luck for our match later on. These two here are gonna give it everything they have out there." Nemo nodded confidently, tapping his club against his palm again like a Mafioso about to have a "little talk" with an Racketee who had skipped out on a few payments... well, a much smaller and harmless version of one, to be honest. Erce on the other hand looked more than intimidating enough for the both of them- parring her claws against each other, letting off a subtle, grating sound that nearly sounded reminiscent of a knife against a whet stone, a glare hard as stone in her eyes and low rumble in her throat. The mantis was more than looking forward for a chance to put everything she'd worked on into practice at last... as well as seeing what this Girl was capable of dishing out in a battle...

"See what I mean?" He continued, gesturing to the two future combatants as they stood by his side. "So what do you say that we show all the people who underestimate you here just how wrong they really are and give a fight to be remembered when the time comes; Sound good to you?"

Galen

The ex-Mafioso said nothing at his subordinate's retort, hoping the recent events on the field would suffice to shut the kid up and keep him occupied. He had to admit though; Sarah had a point, seemed this Evan kid might have some decent skill to be able to pull things back from the fryer like he just did. Not that he would ever admit that out loud, of course...

[DarkLight]

'Skarmory!'

That thought had ran through Danielle and her Pokemon's minds as the steel bird hopped in front of the screen. Danielle and Corona were staring at the Skarmory's back with a somewhat fearful look in their eyes; Avis glared at the unnamed Skarmory suspiciously, as if she was daring the curious bird to make a move. Zared, however, took a more daring approach and went up to Evan's Pokemon. The male Mawile attempted to make a conversation with his fellow Steel type by giving her a polite cry and gesturing to the screen. He seems to be making a few observations about Evan's battle.

"Be careful Zared," Danielle warned her newest teammate. She didn't let down her guard as she forced her eyes back onto Evan's battle. She gave a low whistle as Evan's Vaporeon finally finished off the battle. "That was a pretty close call, if I do say so myself." As Slade's match is announced, she leaned over and gave him a quick hug. "Go and show her what you're made of!" Avis also uttered a curt reply to show her support for Slade, although her eyes were clearly focused on the screen and the Skarmory.