Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Commander]

When going up to purchase all those Poke Balls, the cashier gave him a strange look, but rung them up letting the boy purchase them. Henry stuffed the large load into his back before making his way back towards the rooms. When they go closer, Henry bent over to Paradox mumbling something which she acknowledged. The little Togepi split ways by heading into the building while Henry and the other walked around to the side.

Meanwhile, back in Henry's room, the Rotom was enjoying a nice nap sleeping to the sound of loud heavy metal music. This was disrupted when the cries of a Togepi. He couldn't help but laugh of the site of this. This is all the boy had for a comeback. He would've expected more out of a trainer. Quickly he shifted the TV to a channel where a man sitting on a chair yelled, "Come at me, bro."

Back outside, Henry was looking over at the window. What is taking Paradox so long? How hard could it be to get a Rotom outside? Suddenly, he heard the window shatter and watched as a TV flew across the field slamming into the tree. The Rotom, now terrified, quickly retreated from the TV finding himself face to face with Henry. Without thinking of the previous situation, Henry pulled off his backpack and dumped all the Poke Balls onto the ground. He picked one up and flung it at the ghost.

The Rotom dodged the ball easily and stuck his tongue out at the pathetic attempt when another one nailed him straight on. Gypsy, using her Physic powers, had picked up a ball and tossed it at him. He broke out of the device rather easily only to be shot into another one thrown by Burrows. He then broke out of that and many others again and again. When only two Poke balls remained, the Rotom had enough. He broke out of the ball and fell to the ground. He waved his arm back and forth acting as if a white flag was in his hand.

"Alright, I think he's had enough. I doubt he'll be bothering...Burrows what are you doing?" While Henry was done, Burrows wanted to make sure to get the last word on this sucker. He picked up one of the remaining Poke Balls and carefully aimed it at the fallen prey. He watched the ghost get beamed in and the ball shook once...twice...three times and clicked. Henry, Gypsy, and Rosie then glared at the Drilbur. "Good going, Drilbur. Now I have to figure out what to do with this thing. Burrows griped a few words at Henry which the boy seemed to understand. "As much as I want to, we can't keep him in that ball forever. Maybe I can con James into taking it from me. He seems to like these kind of things."

Henry was about to pick up the Rotom's Poke Ball when he noticed Paradox in the window. He remembered the broken glass below and quickly pulled out Paradox's Poke Ball struggling to keep it in his hand and beamed the Pokemon over to safety in its capsule. With that out of the way, he picked up the Rotom's Poke Ball and made his way back to the stadium searching for the ghost lover.

[Jory]

{Jacob}

The young man looked at his friend quizzically, not really understanding the question. "You mean this whole Evan thing?" A sly grin overtook his face as he shook his head. "Hell no. But if Professor Cadmus told us to be careful, then that's what we need to do. So from now on whenever one of us is investigating, he or she needs to have a partner with him. No one is going up against this alone. If it has one of the Elite Four worried, then there's not a shot that any one of us will be able to be effective. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that we should be even more worried." He paused, thinking for a moment. "My brain needs food to work, though, so let's get on that. Then let's head over to the forest. I have something I want to take care of before my next match," he said vaguely, hoping that would be enough information for Danielle to agree to go with him.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Naw man, I'd just be letting her know you were here, not telling her to come or something... I bet she doesn't even think you a chauvinist pig. You two're pretty good friends from what I can tell, anyway... Ah! Yeah, I have to thank you for being a good pal to her," Raiza said, oblivious to the last part of Mareek's flustered refusal. "Lana, she's a smart and good girl... But usually she'll just stay quiet if not spoken to-- you know how shy she can be-- so, thanks for taking care of her." If one'd ask her, the fourteen year-old would say that she saw herself as the older sister between herself and Lana, although she really was the younger.

[Sutoratosu]

"You really don't have to thank me..." Mareek said, shaking his head. A few distant memories or two tried to waltz up to the border in his mind, though he put his walls to good use and immediately sent them packing... "Reall, don't. It's hard for me to find people who I can actually call 'friend' and not taste my own breakfast in the back of my throat... I'm not like the socialites around here, people like Danielle or Jacob or Claude. I can't go around having friends a dime by the dozen- it just doesn't feel right... making myself that... vulnerable... with people who I barely know..." He glanced over at Raiza, his eyes like twin masks of cryptic thought.

"So... when I find someone...find someone who I can just feel I can trust, that won't try to nail me in the heart in return for trusting them... I always make sure to treat them the best I possibly can, cause chances are... I won't find many like them."

And like that, the boy fell silent as a rock.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Studying him quietly, Raiza nodded. "I know that feel. Can't stand being open to tons of people all at once, who probably won't give two damns about me afterward. Or who'd probably use that information about me against me." That's probably why I get along best with the quieter types. "Must be why I talk to those who're looked down upon by the majority-- well, of course the ones who're actually decent human beings with brains," she added, unsure of whether or not Alvin was an outcast. If he was, well, obviously she and he didn't mix at all, nuh-uh. Seeing as the flame-headed boy didn't look like he wanted to say anymore, she decided not to press him for more forced conversation. "... Uh, sorry about... the festival," she muttered, a bit awkwardly, before clamming up herself and watching a nurse approach her with Rogue's Pokeball.

"Here you go-- Raiza, right?-- she's all patched up and better. The girl's a toughie, managing to withstand a Brick Break at point blank range," she said. "Oh, but, she's taking a nap right now. Best that you let her rest up first." Bowing a good ninety degrees repeatedly in thanks, Raiza blurbed "Thank you" over and over again. Till Rogue decided to pop out of her Pokeball, the Trainer would assume that she was fine.

[Sutoratosu]

He kept up the silence, not wanting to disturb the girl in all her gratitude at the moment... it was ironic though- all her thank yous brought back how he had been one time...back when he'd met Erce for the first time. How many times had he said 'thank you' that day? How many times had that bastard smiled his paper, serpentine smile, and nodded and told him it was nothing? How many times had that man looked him right in the eye and lied to him? Hell, in fact, how many times had he lied to him and mom both over the entire time? How long had he toyed with them, played with their trust and emotions like child would blocks?

Mareek absently grasped Erce's empty sphere, removing it from his belt. His hands went bone white as he gazed down into that glossy, pervasively red tinted reflection, warped and rounded and interrupted by glare. Over the years, whenever he'd done just so... he sometimes thought he could see the same older, red headed, lying reflection staring over his shoulder... smiling... and over the years, whenever he did... he always wanted nothing more than to smash the thing into pieces- try to kill the ghost. Try to kill it though he knew such a simple act would do nothing to harm it.

And lo and behold. Big Brother was watching. "I'm coming for you someday..." He mumbled under his breath. His arm began to shake as the muscles strained from the pressure being exerted. "I saw through that facade that day... I saw the evil in you, I saw the real you, the emptiness in those eyes, you shit eating, manipulating, lying, egotistical... I'm never going to face that type of pain again..."

"Stop." rang in his ear. "You might damn well break it at this rate. And the shards won't be easy to dig out of the palm when you do."

The warning might as well have been given to a wall though. Mareek couldn't hear him, just standing there, back to the counter, capsule still clutched in a death grip, Blood boiling, and teeth grinding like a millstone...

[Chevaleresse]

"Just ignore her and Bulldoze this field! Shake that lesser princess off her feet!" Kage shouted encouragement as well as orders to Reina. He didn't really mean to insult Colere or her trainer; he just wanted to play to Reina's sense of superiority. The Tyrunt shook her head at the other dragon's antics, and forcefully slammed the ground herself, shaking the stage and destabilizing a good portion of the field around her.

[Felicity]

Claude

"Awww, not willing to play a little? Fine, Colere, Rock Tomb, Bury our friend with the surrounding rock and try to make some stands too!" Claude yelled, putting on a bit of an act for the crowd. Colere, just recovering from the disorientation, slammed her foot into the ground to send even more of the now dislodged rocks in the ground from Reinas Bulldoze into the air as she jumped and used her tail to slam those rocks around and onto Reina. Colere tried following Claudes other order but only managed to create two decently flat platforms to stand on as she was unable to really lift any more rocks. Colere ended up finishing n one of these platforms when she landed.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"... Hey. Hey, Mareek," came Raiza's voice, a little bit after she got over her immense feelings of gratitude-- well, mostly. Just when she finally thought of something to talk to the guy about, he looked like he was staring really hard at a Pokeball and... Well, like he was thinking very violent thoughts about it. His murmurings did nothing to help, and it kinda freaked the girl out. "Mareek. Dude. What's gotten into you?" she hissed, trying to be discreet-- a wasted gesture, the nearby nurse approaching from behind, having noticed the young man's trembling demeanor... Said nurse reached over and tapped Mareek's shoulder, concerned, asking, "Excuse me?"

[Sutoratosu]

The feeling of another person's touch achieved what mere words could not. Mareek slowly but surely released the Kung Fu death grip, letting his arm drop to his side. His eyes softened from their harsh storm as he slowly came back to reality. For that... was the power of it. the power of the feeling that even now he could feel making his blood flush with heat. To so completely pluck one up from the world around them, to transfer them to somewhere outside of the here and now, a place... where action becomes one's reality, action and reaction... wrongs and retribution...

He stopped his glowering, looking back and forth between the Nurse's expression of concern and Raiza's one of slight apprehension before letting his eyes drop back to the floor. "... I'm Sorry about that..." He sighed sheepishly, turning from the counter. "I was just... thinking about something from a long time ago. It's best I just leave it at that..." and he did, not saying another word. Just staring off at the monitor, oblivious to whatever Raiza had been intending to talk to him about earlier.

[K_H]

KENNY AND CO.

Kenny smirked, folding his arms.

"All that I see in front of me are two misguided people and their Pokemon following a self-deluded Hypocrite. A person with the moral high ground doesn't need to resort to threats, bullying, or theft in order to get what they want. And in this case, you're doing all three of the aforementioned things, and yet you still say that you've got the moral high ground." Kenny pushed his glasses further up on his face, and smiled happily.

"I'd say that you need to explain yourselves."

KENNY'S PARENTS, IN THE CROWD

Jacen looked at Shauntai, and spoke.

"Shauntai, I thought Kenny said he'd meet us in the crowd after he finished his Battles?"

Shauntai nodded, and replied to her husband.

"He did mention something like that before he went off to the Waiting Room. I wonder what's taking him so long?"

Edited April 10, 2015 by Trainer Red

[Chevaleresse]

Reina was a bit too slow to dodge, and took a few hits from the flying rocks. This clearly irritated her, indicated by a lashing tail. "Send those right back with your own Rock Tomb!" Kage called out the order and it was carried about, the Tyrunt slamming her muscular head into the rocks to send them hurtling at Colere.

[Commander]

As Henry made his way into the stadium, he finally managed to find James sitting in the waiting room. "Hey, Ghost boy. Come here for a minute. I have something for you that you might like," Henry spoke while picking up the Rotom's Poke Ball holding it with quite a tight grip on it.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

In all honesty, Raiza just wanted to ask him about how he and Lana met, but it looked like any opportunity of talking disappeared as he faced away again. After glancing at the nurse, who had flinched and was now backing away, rubbing her wrist, the Trainer sighed and waited for her childhood friend to arrive. Maybe Lana could snap the fiery-headed Trainer out of his trance.

[Felicity]

Claude

"I'm afraid we're here to battle, not play rock tennis" Claude called out as Colere went to slam a few rock away in a similar fashion to Reina, even if most of them broke on her head to Coleres irritation and mild discomfort. huh, I thought she had sturdy as an abiiity, not rock head... "Colere, Rock tomb again, bring them up from the same places!" again, Colere brought up several boulders, creating more pits in the field including one getting larger and larger. "Now, take a breather and shine those scales, Rock Polish!" Claude called out as the barrage of rocks flew once more towards Reina.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

... This was getting way too awkward. In hindsight, she could always leave. Nobody was telling her to stay anyway. Also, that reflex and ferocity. If she didn't know any better, she would've accused Mareek of secretly being a cross between a Ninja and Fighter class. I don't know whether to be glad that Lana's got a friend up high in the Agi's and Strength stats. That's super cool and all, but... A little scary. I mean I know some martial arts and stuff but... Maybe I could get him to teach me stuff? Maybe he knows how to climb walls. "... Hey Mareek, are you like, a ninja or something?" she tried. Uncertainly, she added, "... I swear I won't tell. I won't spoil your secret identity."

[Sutoratosu]

"...What?" He asked, looking at the girl as if she had just grown another set of arms. "I'm... not entirely sure what you mean... or where that came from all of a sudden, but... No, I guess?" He scratched the back of his head all the while. Seemed like this whole conversation had officially taken a turn from simply awkward- to just plain random... not really his forte in either case.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Oh. I kinda... just assumed that you had some kinda training of some sort. I mean, the nurse'd barely even touched you, but you managed to grab her like--" she made a quick flicking motion with her hand-- "and you look like you've got a strong grip too. At least, martial arts, if you're not a ninja, then?"

[Sutoratosu]

"Grab her? When did I...?" Mareek gazed down at his open palm. The capsule was no longer there- though he could catch it's red glint on his belt... which honestly scared him just a bit; if just thinking about Galen made him that... lost, that entranced that he could do things like grabbing folks with as much speed as Raiza tried to mimic and not even recall it... but then again, it could've just been the reflexes, they typically happen so fast you don't even realize what happened until your body has already moved on it's own... and not like he was out of practice or anything, so it would make sense. "Uh... again, no, not a Ninja... Though I was trained at the Fighting Dojo back home in Saffron. My mom is good friends with the wife of one of the Senseis there, so... I kinda got lessons and everything as a favor."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Two brown eyes widened, becoming like big round chocolate bonbons. Or truffles. They were both tasty anyway, so it didn't matter. Now martial arts was something that Raiza appreciated greatly. "Oh, cool, so kung-fu, then? I took up mixed martial arts myself. Boy, warm-ups were fun. A hundred and fifty squats straight followed by other drills and conditioning steps... But practicing and throwing punches and kicks were super fun."

[Sutoratosu]

"Yeah, well... my training wasn't as orthodox as that, I guess..." Mareek sighed, shaking his head and chuckling just a little as he recalled all the... odd jobs and seemingly purposeless tasks. "This particular Sensai- Sensai Miyagi... he wasn't much for the Dojo's ordinary style. He more or less had all his students take on different tasks instead of actually teach us right away- from tending the rock garden, to cleaning windows, to carrying things up steps. Basically he more or less pawns off chores on his students that they honestly can never see the point of in regards to learning."

He looked up at Raiza, a slight smirk on his mug. "But that in and of itself was the whole point. He keeps them doing that until they begin to actually question or challenge it outright, then... he really starts the teaching. And everything he instructs- it's all similar to the motions needed to do whatever jobs he's been handing out- climbing the high steps forces you to lift your knees higher for kicks and makes them more effective, Cleaning windows helps build the muscle memory for blocking blows in a circular motion, tending the rock garden teaches you about momentum and force and also helps with staff training later on- so his students have been learning pretty much all the basics in a far shorter time than other instructors who try to drill it in. Which I guess is also the same reason why all his students make first Don faster than any other class and he has the most post-black belts still under his tutelage."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"... Hey. That's like, the movie Karate Kid and stuff." What if Mareek's sensei's the same guy as the one in the movie...? Making a mental note to bring that up later, Raiza nodded and said, "I kinda wish we had that kind of training. Developing muscle memory by doing chores seems more efficient than... Holding planks for two minutes, for example. Ymora needs a better martial arts centre. Have you ever fought in competitions before?" she added the last part after a slight pause.

[Sutoratosu]

"Eh...not really..." He again sheepishly scratched his head. "I never really thought about any connection to the master from Karate Kid, but... my Sensei Miyagi believed in keeping things old school- keeping it so that Martial Arts were used for their original purpose of self defense and not just to entertain spectators. So if you were his student, chances are the possibility of you ever being approached or offered to participate in anything was slim and none. And if you did and actually accepted, you weren't gonna be his student for very long afterwards..."

[DarkLight]

Danielle's eyes widened. Jacob disobeying a professor? Well then, she would definitely want to be in on this! "Good thing I bought more of these then!" Danielle replied happily, tossing one of the random food packages that she had bought earlier over to Jacob. "I was going to hand these out to everyone after we told Professor Cadmus about Evan but that's out the equation now. Let's head over to the forest now and eat while we walk. We can't afford to waste any time if I you want to do what I think you are doing~" The coordinator then opened Avis' small lunch container and held it out for Avis to dip her head in, allowing Avis to eat her lunch while she followed Jacob into the forest.

Like an ever-hungry pigeon, Avis quickly perched onto Danielle's arm and began pecking at the container's contents. Thank goodness Danielle remembered that the bird hasn't eaten yet. Otherwise, Avis couldn't promise that she will keep her Dark Pulse under control by the time they reached outside.

Zared, however, looked disappointed that they are heading over to the forest instead of the lunch counter. He turned to Spitfyre and Corona and growled quietly. What are the humans planning? Shouldn't they be worried about their matches instead of this?

The firebug shrugged, oblivious to the gravity of the situation at hand. All she knew was that Evan is a bad boy and they needed to tell the Professor to stop him. Personally, she doesn't mind going back for a visit in the forest. It is her natural habitat, after all.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Ah, so I'm guessing you've never really had to apply what you've learned in real life," Raiza asked, genuinely fascinated. Mareek's sensei's teachings contrasted what she'd learned from her coach.