Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Aurorix]

"Good luck, Danielle." Slade said towards her. He hoped she would come out on top though her opponent has a good chance of winning as well.

[DarkLight]

Danielle nodded as she got up. She chuckled a little as Jacob sped off after Mareek, who just happened to waltz right into their waiting room. "Fair enough~ I'll see you guys later then!" As she walked towards the door, however, Danielle almost bumped into the drenched boy. "Hold on, Mareek, It's not just Jacob that wants to talk to you. In fact, after this match, I want to see if I can get Henry into this. It's about Evan..." With that, she walked right past him, leaving Mareek to his thoughts. Hopefully that would make the other favorite in this competition stay in this room a little while longer.

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

Danielle hopped lightly back onto the stage once more and gave a nod of respect to Henry. It's about time she could face a more skillful opponent. How odd for her to feel nervous yet excited for a Pokemon battle at the same time, considering how she used to look away from them before the Kalosian arrived at Ymora Academy...

[Jory]

Jacob nodded, a bit stung by the icy reception he'd received. Apparently, time hadn't healed that wound yet. "Mareek, we think something's very wrong here. It involves Evan and that Skarmory. We think some organization is trying to recruit him and that they're the ones who were responsible for that Donphan stampede. If that's the case, I thought you would want to know. I thought maybe you could help us figure out who's behind all this since you want to be in the International Police someday. And if it's nothing, then you stopped some classmates from doing something really boneheaded. What do you think?

[Sutoratosu]

"What the hell... has baldwin been...oh god, if he has... And how does he of all people know anything about what I'm aiming for, only people I've told are Mom, Lana, and that guy..." He paused, his hand hovering just above the door knob. Then quick as lightning, he was about face with Jacob and the others, glaring at the other favorite in particular. "I've got a few concerns as to how the hell you know anything about what I want to do with my life, Robertson, but that's obviously far beside the point here..." He turned his attention to everyone else, backing away from the exit, eyes hard as stone. "First things first though, how did all of you find out anything about this? Did Baldwin break his own advisement and go blabbing his damn mouth in here? apparently he and I were the only ones looking into it..."

[Azeria]

"No need to go over the top mate...anyways I barely knew anything about the whole thing except that Team Rocket's insignia was found near the rea where the Donphan were agitated before Danielle informed me about it."James replied while looking at Mareek wearily.He personallly didnt want to start a large scale argument as it was unescesarry."Hoewever as dangerous as Team Rocket was,this was far too organised for them. They prefered large scale takeovers and werent really known for being too discrete,The people who started the stampede were probably a few ex-rockets..but that brings up the question of why they would start it?"

[Felicity]

Claude looked at James like he wa daft. "Who mentioned anything about Team Rocket? Those asshats may not have anything to do with this." Claude walked and sat in a nearby seat, looking at Mareek warily. "Mareek, whatever you think, it's probably wrong. We actually thought that we were giving you new information, not reiterating info you evidently don't want us to know about. Like Jacob said, it's about Evan."

[Azeria]

James shrugged at claude's comment"I know they don't,all i'm saying is that their logo was found there,you're right about the part involving Evan though."He said while leaning on the wall behind him."According to Danielle,Evan said that his Skarmory came to him wanting to be caught but now he's saying it was a gift. That obviously contradicts his statement prior to this saying that it appeared out of nowhere."James continued while turning to look over towards Mareek."Considering you probably know a lot more about this kind of stuff than we do,we were hoping if you could shed some light on this but it's understandable that you wouldnt"

Edited February 28, 2015 by Dat Assery

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek stood with his arms crossed for a few moments, Mind working like some great machine as peiced it all together, blocking out the bickering and filling in the holes, doing comparisons and contrasts... finally he closed his eyes, sighing in what sounded half between a bit of frustration and disappointment. "you want to know what I think? fine. Rocket's been dead for years," he began. "and sure, from what slade experienced and the patches of fabric that both I and some of you found, they might have been ex-members of it... but everything else that's been gathered doesn't fit together with the typical Modus Operandi at all... ergo, we're all wrong here... Rocket, whether it's still dead and cold like all those bastards should be or it's up again like something out of Snakewood, had no direct hand in this. And I'll prove it-"

He reached into his soaked jacket, hand diving into the double layered inner pocket he kept the journal in just encase of rain or other water incidents. Before long he produced the leather bound book and opened it to a section as if he'd done it a thousand times before, dog earing the page before moving on and doing the same for another. He clasped it shut again, and with a subtle flick of his hand, tossed it over to James, not really caring if the boy caught it or let it drop- the damn thing had been through worse over the years.

"There's one fatal flaw with the rocket theory we all maintained... and that flaw lies in the fact that the method of distraction was via the provocation of a nearby herd of donphan to charge into the cabin area." He pointed a finger subtly to the leather book, nodding. "Read through my notes of all of rocket's known actions and operations, and you'll see what I mean. Rocket, though it was focused on the exploitation and enslavement of pokemon for profit, never actually had a habit of explicitly relying on the use of pokemon in order to achieve their goals- Their go-to tool was either technology or pure man power itself, evident in the lake of rage incident or the takeover of Si-"

He paused... shaking his head. "Or the takeover of Lavender Tower, respectively. And even in those instances when they did so happen to directly incorporate the use of pokemon into their operation plans, they always backed it up with sufficient forces and made sure to at the most have it be a minor part... from what I understand, the stampede seems to have been the major point, the climax of whatever the hell was being planned, and if rocket were in this, they wouldn't have arranged for that. They held no respect for the power wielded by mons, thought men to be superior and that they would do a better job with their own hands... pokemon were nothing more than tools and property in their eyes, as everyone and everyone's mother already knows... enough of this though, I go on any further and I'll end up giving a lecture on the history of terrorism in the world." He stepped away from jacob and closer to the others, looking at each of them inturn... before delivering his conclusion...

"Each and everyone of us here who is somehow privy to these events... has probably been hoodwinked, including myself. Rocket had no part in this, whoever was running the show just wanted people to come to that conclusion- hence... those uniforms were likely genuine relics of rocket, I know the feel and texture of the cloth, but the individuals wearing them... were not."

[Azeria]

James took a step forward and caught the booklet and opened it to take a look through it,it seemed a bit damaged but the writing was eligible."The Lavender Tower incident is something i'd rather not talk about but that's besides the point here. I have to agree with the fact you're stating in that there's someone else pulling the strings here.."He spoke while he flipped through the pages untill he reached the one about Pokemon Tower before closing the book."Perhaps they had an ulterior motive for provoking the herd besides getting Evan on his own..."James continued hesitantly.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Dat Assery

[Chim]

Hosts (Everyone, second round rules)

Brand’s excitement reached a whole new level. “Can I also explain the rules, Craig?”

Redwood chuckled. “Go ahead.”

“Alrighty! Welcome Danielle and Henry and congratulations to reach this far. Both of you will be my little test subjects when it comes to the fields, but we’re going to make it even more difficult. You know each first year can only use 3 Pokémon through the entire tournament right? Well you both already used two of them so it’s about time you showed the audience your last Pokémon!” Brand grinned. “That’s the rule of this round; one on one battle and you have to use your last Pokémon, but before you release them, let me start the magic!”

With a feel for drama, he raised his arms and slowly pointed to a giant screen above the field. “As you all can see there are a clock and one needle. We blurred out all the options so none of you can know all the fields. As soon as I give the command the needle will spin. When the needle stops, the clock will disappear and the screen will tell us which field was picked. Is that clear? If it isn’t I don’t care! Let's start! Randomize awaaaay!”

Brand’s enthusiasm got the crowd going as the needle started to spin at a rapid pace. After a minute it started to slow down. The clock disappeared and a giant forest appeared on screen. It looked exactly like the Forest on the Academy Grounds.

“FOREST FIELD!” Brand yelled. “This is the one I was looking forward to. I’m not going to lie; this was the trickiest one to build. But take a look for yourself.”

Suddenly a lot of metallic noises could be heard and the field in between Danielle and Henry disappeared, including the part they had to walk from the waiting room. A crazy metal obstruction was visible for a moment before the ground started to rise again. This time there was grass on it and something that was crushing it flat. It took 2 more minutes before everything became clear and Danielle and Henry found themselves in a small forest. They could still see each other but aside from that they were surrounded by grass and fake trees. During the process everyone had a clear view of how it worked; the trees were laying down when kept in storage and a metal construction pushed them up. There were a total of 8 trees in random places and they were connected by thick ropes.

“That went well,” Brand said. “Now, let the battle begin!” On his command small drones with cameras surrounded the field, providing the audience with the best possible view.

Surge (Galen)

“I hope that Lapras is a beautiful one so I can at least look at something decent. Arceus knows I can use it after seeing your ugly mocks all day,” Pierre chimed. He released his Ponyta as the group left the Arena and rode it with style until they made it to the Forest.

“Alright, my beautiful horse, keep the ugly Weedle’s and all those others away from me. They truly are disgusting.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. Pierre really annoyed her from time to time and she really wanted to punch him in the face, but held back. She bit her lip in frustration and glared at her teammate.

“Don’t even bother,” Matt said. “That guy won’t change. If he can’t insult people or call things ugly he becomes even more annoying.”

The girl sighed and turned to Galen. “Lead the way, Boss, it’s our first time in here and idiot over there will only get us lost.”

TurboAura

Suddenly a deep voice popped up from behind Robert. “Shiftryyy,” the Pokémon grumbled as it glared at the young trainer.

Zephyr

Lana was at the medical Centre treating her Pokémon and drying herself with a towel. Knowing how much her childhood friend cared for her team, Raiza shouldn’t have a problem figuring out where she was.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

A couple of minutes later, a near-breathless Raiza busted through the infirmary's doors, nearly knocking over a Trainer with a trayful of Pokeballs. "Oh sorry, dude-- hey! Hah... Phew. Hey, Lana! That was awesome!" she said, panting from all the running. In her arms sat a bubbly Togepi. If there was one thing she'd forgotten, it was to get Paradox's Pokeball from Henry... Though, well, she did realize it earlier, but figured that having time with her while she was outside her Pokeball would bring them closer. Ah well... it was a responsibility she took on for a friend, and she'd see it to the end. Anyway, before she spaced out and thought about how nice it felt to be acknowledged as a friend by Mr. Infamous Orre Boy, she grinned at her childhood friend, Lana. "Saw how you took him on there. You did great, girl! Whew... D'you have an extra shirt on you? I think I might have one in my bag if you don't. Gotta get out of those wet clothes," she gasped out.

[TurboAura]

As the match was about to begin, not only did the idea and execution of the field look amazing, what brought a big suprise was the restriction. 'So, that means that it'll just be Kiai out there then. Well he IS the strongest of them... Or at least, he should be able to hold his own well enough.' Turning to look over to see his partner, what he saw, and heard first, was the Shiftry behind him, giving him a jump of suprise. 'Just when did... where did that Shiftry come from?!'

Kiai and Jet were just as suprised, not sure how exactly it took all of them until now to notice it. After the initial suprise faded, Robert simply shook his head and turned back towards the Shiftry. "Uh... Sorry about that, guess I didn't see you there."

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek

"The evidence to suggest that is shaky at best," Mareek shook his head. "the stampede was obviously targeted at the camp grounds and nowhere else, and sometime during it, Reeves just so happened to 'Disappear'. Aside from that, from what we can all piece together, those were the only two major events regarding the provocation... it was a means to a single end."

He recollected his journal from James, stowing it back in it's place while continuing. "And that brings us to Reeves and his Robot Chicken... I had a feeling from the first moment I asked him about where the hell it came from that he was hiding something- he told me that he had been attacked and the Skarmory had shown up and been there when he woke up, apparently protected him and then decided to follow him around. So I decided to give the lying bastard the benefit of the doubt and just gave him a capsule to put her in after convincing him to go ahead and keep her..."

Galen

"And we're off to see the wizard..." The team leader said with mock enthusiasm, looking to his fox. "Keep us invisible, M'kay?" The dark type simply rolled it's eyes... god was Galen annoying sometimes- at least to her... for some reason it seemed that most others could more or less tolerate the man. But then again, maybe the fact that he had bought her like a piece of property years ago when she was just a cub also had something to do with her dislike of him. She might have a better live under him than those glorified slave traders before him, sure... but the fact was, she was STILL a slave... for a semi-kind master does not erase the pain of bondage in irons, nothing can erase that pain, that knowledge of knowing others regard you as below a living being, just something to be used... the pain she and her brothers and sisters had all known, but yet the pain only she among had to suffer under this man. He may have "Saved" her, but what of her siblings he left behind in the hands of the wretched? what of their plight?

"Hey, you listening?" Her massa said. Only then did she realize she'd stopped dead in her tracks and fallen behind. "Get to it already- it's not gonna be pretty if we get spotted by certain things around here."

With a grumple, the illusion fox kept pressing forward, pushing away the memories of the past as she set up a veil... glaring at Galen the whole time as they moved closer to the lake, the blue water no in sight in the distance...

But she'd get her freedom someday. Of that, she knew... one way, or another.

[Commander]

"I suppose I have no choice then. Burrows, come forth." Henry released the Drilbur from his Poke Ball watching the mole show off a little bit. This kind of reminds me of the field where we fought that Hydreigon. Maybe I'll be able to put some of these new trick to use after all. He then focused his attention back to Danielle waiting for her to send out that Murkrow of hers. This certainly was going to be more challenging compared to what Kristen had.

[DarkLight]

Danielle couldn't help but chuckle at the field. She did promise Avis that she could have this match, but she never thought that Avis would have a field that could match her abilities. Once Henry sent out Burrows, the coordinator also threw up her Dusk Ball, allowing the Murkrow to fly out into the air. "Alright Avis, have fun out there!"

The Murkrow gave a jubilant cry before she observed the field. Trees, grass and... Are those land-wires? Since when did the school have this? And how did she miss it?! While Burrows entertained the crowd, Avis took the liberty to fly around to get used to her surroundings; it reminded her of the times when she was with her murder, minus the nests of course. She finally spotted a camera drone and hovered near it; what is this strange contraption? She has never seen it before... Avis then began pecking at the camera, not knowing that the crowd was getting a close up of her bird face.

Danielle only groaned as her Murkrow was distracted by another new toy. "Avis, get a grip on yourself and use Night Shade!" She watched her bird continue her investigation on the drone. "Or not..."

Unbeknownst to those around the bird, Avis did adjust her tail and wing feathers ever so slightly...

[Commander]

After seeing Avis's display of curiosity, Henry couldn't help but facepalm himself. He looked over at Burrows who was now awaiting for orders. "Use Hone Claws followed by Metal Claws on the tree over." Seeing as the bird was distracted, now would be the best time to try and get a few things ready.

The Drilbur took off while scraping his claws together (Hone Claws). When he reached the closest tree, his claws began to glow as he attacked the tree making a vertical line (Metal Claw). It seemed like his sharp claws were able to make a couple dents in these fake trees similar to a real tree. Burrows took a quick glance back at Henry seeing that boy holding that familiar smirk.

[DarkLight]

Danielle even rolled her eyes at the bird, although Avis didn't seem bothered by the Drilbur that is setting up all. Either that or Avis was just too distracted. She finally gave a 2 short whistle notes to get the bird's attention.

Avis heard what was happening around her alright, but wasn't too worried. She was a bird that lived her life in the trees, after all. Danielle's whistling, however, finally made her turn around to face Burrows. She then perched on top of the drone and waved her wings furiously. Black feathers began making their way over to Burrows, attempting to latch onto his fur (FeatherDance).

[Jory]

Jacob nodded at Mareek's explanation, giving the other boy a firm nod of affirmation. "Thanks for your input, Mareek. We really appreciate it." He thought for a moment before looking back up at the other student. "If you have the time, it'd be great if you could come with us to confront Evan about it. Or maybe we should tell one of the professors instead..." he trailed off, thinking of their possible courses of action. "If we try to get Evan to talk, then he might just shut himself off further and be completely lost to whoever is trying to recruit him. I think we owe it to ourselves to give him a second chance. I know I'd want one in the same position."

[Sutoratosu]

"No, you keep this away from the professors for now," Mareek demanded, facing Jacob in a heart beat. "Ya hear me, robertson? All any of us have at this moment is here-say as far as it can be proven, we go to them now and try to present this without hard and cold fact, and they'll likely dismiss it as some type of rumor mongering, and then when we actually do have evidence and really need their help to resolve this, how much harder will it be to get them to listen then, after we've come and tossed around specualtions, then it would if we held everything until we had damning evidence and only then presented our case? Think, we can't afford to waste resources here, ergo, we save getting professors directly involved until we have something tangible."

With that said, he turned back to the group, not missing a heart beat. "That goes for all of you, by the way- you go running to the professors at this stage, and you could seriously fuck up things down the line when we'll need them the most." He turned back to Jacob. "As for the confrontation with reeves, you can forget about that here and now, my friend, and you can forget about for the exact same reason you yourself theorized, if we go and confront him, chances are it'll lead to people screwing up, saying the wrong damn things, and shit storms starting and Reeves ultimately saying "Fuck all of you" before turning over to the dark side like little Ani, cause no one here, and I mean no one, knows how to go about a proper interrogation, now do you?" He didn't bother waiting for a response, continuing on a roll. "No, and I'd even bet 25 bp that none of you do, and if you do, it's probably the televised, stereo-typical way of hammering the subject down until they break into pieces. No... you just leave Reeves to me, don't bring any of this up around him, and be kind whenever he's near, and actually mean it, don't pull some paper smile shit that's faked, cause some people see right through it, and it's honestly cheap as hell. We gotta make him feel like he belongs here, like he's got friends, because chances he was likely singled out because he felt like shit about this place or something." He gave a brief cough into the crux of his arm, though he ignored it.

"believe it or not, I can be more than friendly enough when I need or want to be, yeah, I know, big surprise coming from the Asocial Loner who treats everyone like he's got a block of dry ice for a heart." Again he coughed, still managing to catch it in his arm. "I've been making a few efforts for a while, since the end of the trip even, about becoming Evan's friend anyway in order to try to get him to back gradually away from temptation, so really... it's best you all not go and do something stupid that would screw up my work on this front..." He stopped. A thought came to him just then... a troubling thought. He turned to everyone gathered, eyes growing hard.

"Arceus, please, don't let any of them have already done something like a confrontation... I'm really tired of fools messing with my operation..." "Just out of curiosity though, you didn't... accuse Reeves of or speak to him about any of this already, did you?"

[Commander]

"Quick, Bulldoze while it's grounded!" ordered Henry. Burrows slammed his foot down to the ground after hearing his master's orders (Bulldoze). He managed to pull that off before the black feathers arrived causing a quick sneeze. "Alright, now use Mud Sport." The Drilbur wasn't sure how that'd move would help, but followed orders anyways. His claws began to glow red as a large blob of mud rose from the ground (Mud Sport). The Drilbur than forced his way into the core of this mud pile.

[DarkLight]

Avis growled as the Bulldoze messed up flight her feathers. Otherwise, she shook herself loose and took into the air once again, ready to execute an order.

"Ready?" Danielle asked. Her Murkrow nodded; her attention was finally focused on the opponent (or maybe it was the whole time and Danielle didn't know). "Dive bomb!"

Avis took off after the Drilbur as she became engulfed in streaks of white light (Aerial Ace - anime version). As she came closer and closer to the ground type, the Murkrow mentally prepared herself to sidestep on short notice, just in case...

[Felicity]

Claude was dissatisfied with Mareeks entire tone throughout his little tyrade. With a voice unusually void of it's friendly manner, Claude spoke up. "I directly asked Evan about it, I figured he might appreciate a little honesty instead of something just like the shit-show you're trying to pull here." The admission came with just a little bit of spite. Claude didn't know why Mareek had such a stick up his butt about anything to do with teams but he decided at that point that he didn't like how the boy was treating everything, like it could all be planned out like an operation. It's one thing to be knowledgeable on terrorist organisations and, apparently in Mareeks case, interrogation but it's another entirely to act like he can put it into practice. "I didn't interrogate him because no, I don't know anything about getting information from a criminal. That doesn't matter though, because Evan isn't a criminal. He also isn't a detective but he won't have to be to figure something is up when the most serious, driven guy in class suddenly tries cosying up to him." Claude looked Mareek in the eyes, focused. If anyone knew anything about exclusion, it was Claude. "You are evidently pretty knowledgeable about this subject, that's obvious. But making friends and being social? Not your wheelhouse when you don't have something to gain, if what I just heard you say about being friendly means anything. So, continue as you did, train, think of strategies, do what you've been doing to be one of the top trainers of the year." Claude waved his arm each time he listed off something Mareek could do, then gestured to everyone listening to the conversation. "That goes for you all. Just... make sure to be a little nicer to Evan is all. Don't go chasing him down just to suck up to him and be friendly. That's the last thing someone used to being set apart would be expecting and make it clear to Evan we are talking about this behind his back and, in general, up to something, which goes against being nice and friendly."

[Commander]

Burrows saw the incoming attack, but being weighed down by the mud on him prevented him from dodging. The attack struck him a bit hard across the chest, but it wasn't like he never was hit by an attack like that before. Henry, still keeping that smug grin, was ready to order another attack. He didn't expect Danielle to do this, but it was all in his favor. He pulled off his glasses before ordering, "Time to drill!"

The mole took a quick jump into the air spinning around and around moving faster and faster (Rapid Spin). This time though, mud sprinkled off of him shooting in all kinds of direction. One even managed to nail Henry in the face, much to his disapproval. As the trainer wiped the substance off his face, he head a couple snickers from Burrows before diving underground (Dig). "That's not funny!" yelled Henry, but he doubted anyone could hear him.

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek held the coordinator's stare evenly as he spoke, unphased the objection and Claude's subsequent argument...until the little pissant got to the last part adressed towards him, waving his arms and shooing him off like some vagrant or something, like he'd fullfilled his purpose and was at the same time being told 'Oh and by the way, I'ma just come in and move you off the project, M'kay? It doesn't matter that you've been working on all this time and I'm just now getting here, right?' But that wasn't even the part that made him want to go off on Claude the most...

"It's the same damn misconception and cliche, everyone and everyone's mother whose a trainer has to, by fucking definition, just be dying to be the god damn top dog, don't they? God, it's so wide spread, it's like a freaking stereotype nowadays...but I have to keep it together, can't sat anything stupid out of anger, if I do, I lose all my future credibility..." He was about to speak up, retort with some bit of sarcasm or satire- anything softer than the seething tongue lashing he oh so wanted to dish out... but then... a rather interesting possibility sprang. "wait... what if this is all somehow a sign, this dismissal and utterly having things retconned out from under me like this even when I've been on this for weeks now and they seem to have just started realizing something was up?"

He glanced over at Claude as the other boy addressed the others, completely silent all the while. "I mean, think about it... in all honesty, how crucial can Reeves really be to the overall plans of whatever group is trying to turn him to their side? What strategic sense would it make to go to the trouble of expending the effort and time to cause an entire stampede in order to just recruit one student and not do anything else from there? Honestly, what the hell could be so special about Evan that would warrant that? Probably nothing, because chances are... he's just a very small part of the puzzle, isn't he? It would only make sense that he would be, maybe a foothold or a scapegoat or an emergency cover or something, but something bigger than just the incident on the trip is probably at work here. No matter who talks to him or handles this particular detail, succeed or fail, it's probably going to be of little overall consequence down the line, shit might hit the fan eventually no matter what... Which means... I'm probably wasting my time micro focusing on Evan, when that effort could be better spent looking for signs around this place...

Arceus, I can't believe I didn't even consider this until now..." He gave the slightest shake of his head, resisting the urge to just facepalm himself. "It's freaking perfect though, now that I think about it...I can leave this idiot and the others to deal with Evan, keep them busy and out of the way..." "Well, you did ask for my thoughts on the matter," He said, voice calm and even while he shrugged his shoulders, as if he wasn't bothered at all by being utterly shut down and told to more or less scram from the situation. "I didn't go volunteering anything here. All I did was precisely what you asked of me and told you what I thought about it, and if you think my theory about what's going on and suggestion as to how to best to proceed amounts to nothing but a malicious 'Shit-storm I'm trying to start', then hey, so be it, just forget about the suggestion and the info."

He broke off from the little congregation and headed for the door, hand resting on the handle as he glanced over breifly. "Go on, do as thou wilt, Handle Evan however you deem fit, and I'll just excuse myself to going back to the emptiness of fighting for the ambition of making crowds cheer, day in and day out, cause apparently that's what all trainers ever care about, right Claude? being the top dog, the best of the best for repetitive, gladiator-esque combat that in all honesty serves no true constructive purpose in the world around them? oh nevermind if there are douche bags and ass wipes out in the world still who want to star massive shit here and there, nah, why focus anything on those straglers who still pose a threat to the peace, wanna take advantage of other people and make the world their plaything- stadiums and tourneys are far more important in life, right?" He turned his attention back to the door and smirked, maintaining his thick Satirical tone as he opened it...

"Anyways, I can tell when I'm being a bother, so I guess I'll just get of your hair and leave you all to handle Evan however you want and go back to my tourney, sound good?" He walked out of the door briefly, before popping his head back in and adding in a rather mocking, sarcastic tone so upbeat it damn near actually sounded cheerful, "Oh, but hey, one last little thing before I go, guys; When you ask me a question, I'm going to answer you, and my filter's not going to adjust itself to what you want to hear; it's just gonna say whatever it's gonna say, so If you don't like what you hear out of my mouth when you ask for information, then you don't have to come asking me for any help or info in the future. Ain't that great? Oh, and hey, that way, everyone's time get's saved too!"

With that bout of admitably satisfying satire fired off, he shut the door... and headed down the hall like he intended to before, except this time he wasn't making way for the dorms...

oh no, no, no...screw that, he'd stopped feeling the sharp chill of wet cloth on his skin and he'd mostly dried off from getting pissed off like that earlier anyway. Oh noooo, no. See, this was a weight more or less off his shoulders, things had looked like they'd be a Charlie Foxtrot for a moment there with everyone and everyone's mother knowing about the situation, but it'd turned out, he'd managed to kill two birds with one stones in a way- figure out that Reeves was a minor piece of the puzzle overall, and then excusing himself and leaving the others to be distracted by said minor piece to keep them out of his and Baldwin's way. Oh yeah, this had turned out well indeed, and he knew better than to just let his good mood fade instead of taking the opportunity to go give a well-deserved congratulations to a certain someone for battle well fought.

[Felicity]

Naturally, Claude was pissed. Once, Mareek had gotten so very angry at Claude for making an assumption, and here he was doing exactly that. Claude had never thought any of what Mareek had accused of him bar the idea that Trainer tournaments could be likened to gladiator combat. Though if Claude had slowed down to consider it, that comparison would more likely fit a Coordinators bout. No, Claude was fuming, clearly evident by his furrowed brow and unusual scowl. Doux had resumed fluttering about the room,, not wanting to be near his master when in one of his rare fits of anger. What had gotten to Claude was how god-damn supreme the jackass was. i shouldn't think that, i know he has some story that explains it whispered the small sensible part of Claude only to be ignored in favour of Claudes disdain, ranting in his head about many exaggerated flaws and failings of Mareek, justifying Claudes own sense of indignation. After a moment Claude repeated what he said. "So, yeah, we all agreed not to just hound Evan? Like I said, it's more likely to make things worse..."