Pokémon Academy: Ch 3: Winter Cup [IC]

[Azeria]

(Mareek vs James)

The flames were extinguished on contact but thankfully the Discharge barely touched Shade,what followed however worried him,Lock on ensured the next hit ...which meant that the Duskull couldnt just use Shadow Sneak to get out of the next move. Time to make a move since dodging was impossible. The Duskull let out a burst of bright light intending on confusing Java before making 6 more flames each shining just as brightly as the Duskull was a moment before.

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek vs. James

"Wow, you are really adamant about this..." Mareek didn't have to give any explicit orders this time either. The Porygon2 knew every single tactic and counter measure the boy had devised- had helped create them all... including the one gained from Nemo's failure against the Lapras. Without a sound, Java closed his eyes, hovering off to the left as the memory of the Will-o-wisps trajectories flashed in his mind... and Shade's position blazed like a beacon in a fog ladden sea thanks to lock-on. That Reaction timing training I gave him is coming in handy... along with the tracking and targeting and prediction we needed to pull off our trick with Conversion2... though...I wonder how long it'll take before he realizes he'll be far better off fighting us some other way?

All those weeks of sitting Java infront of attack machine after machine, having them launch over and over and over again... having him just sit there and take it at first, then sit there and study it... then sit there and anticipate when it was going to attack, where it was going to attack, and how... learn the paths of the strikes, the arcs of the blasts, the trajectories of the shots...

It all came back to Mareek. And even though he knew full well that after this counter they'd be open and blind to the Ghost's little Shadow trick movements from Lock-On fading away, he couldn't help but be damn glad for all that time invested...

meanwhile on the battle field, the Strategist was far too busy to bother reminiscing on the intense training he'd endured- again blazing golden, static and sky fire beginning to pop and snap as the ozone again burned and fried. Then all at once, it came, a burst of lightning in every possible direction, the small storm headed right for shade, power boosted yet again from the Strategist's moment of analysis as the electricity hissed and popped...

[Azeria]

(Mareek vs James)

The electrical Discharge struck the Duskull due to Lock On's effect of always making the following attack land."Seems like Shade won't be taking you down on his own then"James muttered before he started to smile. "Shade forget what I said earlier,use the Turbines!"A blast of dark wind was all James needed for an answer before it shot towards the red button on Turbine to the right(Shade's right,Java's left)of the Computer Program and struck it. The turbine started spinning and forced quite a bit of air to be sent towards the centre of the field. Following this,Shade simply vanished,no shadows,the Duskull was simply using a Ghost types natural ability.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Azeria

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek v James

I found us some temporary fight music... better than nothing

Finally starting to wise up... but it's not enough judging from this... "You can't hide from us...and you've wasted a perfectly good opportunity..." Mareek said glacially as his eyes drifted off to the turbine as Java fired off an Icy wind at the same crimson button of his own accord, shutting off the machine just as the gale started to force him towards the center. The Strategist looked about the barren, wind swept field... only now realizing the turbine had likely just been a distraction for whatever the specter had planned next... of course, not like Invisibility mattered much to Java.

"Find them." The Porygon2 gave no hesitation as he drifted back towards Mareek's side of the field, Focusing intensely as his eyes blazed the same eerily bright crimson as before... and then let it fade away, turning to Mareek and giving a shrugging gesture, though he snuck in a brief wink as he shook his head. There had been no outward indication this time, but Java had the undead bastard on radar yet again... could feel him, sense him. Like a beacon in the night- but there was no reason to let the opponent know he did, now was there?

"Well... seems I was wrong then..." Mareek sighed as he caught the pink conspirator's sign... knowing Java, there was only one thing such an act could mean. "Fine, guess we'll just have to wait...but we've got plenty of time..." Go on...you didn't even notice that last opening, and here you are, probably going to walk right into this...unless of course, you intend to play musical turbine. Ether way... we can go on far longer than you...I guarantee it. It's a war of attrition and you're already losing at this rate...

[DarkLight]

{Danielle, Jacob and Sawsbuck}

Danielle jumped when Sawsbuck suddenly jabbed the ground. It didn't help that he then reared his head at her baby Larvesta with that fierce expression. "Did we say something wrong...? I'm sorry if we did. We only wanted to warn you... Please don't hurt Corona..."

Zared tapped his master, reassuring the humans that Sawsbuck wasn't going to do anything with anyone. The Prince just wanted more information from his teammate. Although he will never say it, Zared was actually disappointed that Sawsbuck didn't request the information from the Mawile, himself. He wanted to impress the Sawsbuck so that they could have a friendly match...

The Mawile's expression was amusing for the Murkrow to watch. To Avis, he deserved it for being such a suck up. Unlike the Steel type, she wasn't disappointed in the slightest; Avis had already recounted the tale to her species, after all. Since the Sawsbuck was willing to listen to the innocent child (probably because children always spill the beans despite being told not to), Avis gave Corona a gentle push forward and encouraged her to tell their story.

The tiny Larvesta attempted to hide behind Avis when Sawsbuck pawed the ground, sputtering out little wisps of fire from her horns. Considering Avis' diminutive 1 foot, 7 inch stature, it was obvious that this wasn’t going to work. She was still considering the Sawsbuck’s request when she felt Avis pushing her forward with some gentle words. The Larvesta looked back nervously at Avis, who only nodded, before turning to Sawsbuck and began recounting what happened with Evan. Corona couldn’t say how he was with other people, if he was with anyone, but he was really mean to her master and Avis. He kept calling them mean names and threatened to tear Avis apart. Whenever her master’s friends tried to calm him down, he would always dismiss them and walk away. Corona soon went on to the prophecy surrounding a Skarmory and a death, linking Evan with the vision because his Skarmory is the only one they know of.

[Tacos]

{Danielle and Jacob}
Within a bush not too far from the entrance, a small Roselia watched excitedly as Ryan entered the woods. It wasn't often that visitors came through, and her favorite past time was to mess with the oblivious students. This one seemed incredibly lost in his thoughts, sulking around, his head hung. Easy peasy. He'll be running out of the woods thinking he's gone insane when I'm finished with him. The Roselia giggled a little bit and lifted her angiosperm appendages to her face. She shook the azure and rouge flowers in front of her face, taking a whiff confidently of their scent. Finding confidence in her own vanity, she stepped towards the edge of the bush and prepared her plan.

Ryan was sulking through the forest, lost in his own head. This is all so overwhelming. There are so many drawbacks to victory, and even more consequences for losing. It's just so difficult someti-. Ryan's thoughts were interrupted when a tree root had the unmitigated temerity to trip him. He fell onto his stomach, his face staring directly at a bush with no flowers. Or were there flowers? Ryan blinked and suddenly two roses appeared on the side of the bush, one a brilliant blue and the other a marvelous red. As he was standing up, Ryan blinked again, and suddenly, the roses disappeared. Curious as ever, Ryan slowly made his way to the bush and forced his hands to create an opening in the bush. For just a moment, he could have sworn he saw two tiny green legs scuttling along the ground. Ryan moved away from the bush and began running towards where he thought the little legs were going.

The Roselia was using her rosed arms to muffle her cackles as she scurried off towards a large tree. Seeing the boy close behind her, she revealed her roses on the left trunk of the tree. The boy began to chase faster and she hustled to the other side, displaying her roses there, in an attempt to confuse the boy. However, while he wasn't in top shape at the moment, he wasn't incompetent. He peaked behind the tree and saw the Roselia. He's found me out! Eep! Sawsbuck help! The Roselia raised her arms defensively in shock and began running into the forest again.

Ryan was determined to not let the pokemon get away, and started running after her while shaking his head. He was closing in on the Roselia when he dove for her, sliding right into view of Danielle, Jacob, and Sawsbuck. However, his effort gave him no rewards, as the Roselia scuttled over behind Sawsbuck's leg and peaked at Ryan from behind it, feigning concern on her face. Ryan blushed as he suddenly was put in a rather embarrassing scenario.

[Jory]

{Jacob, Danielle, & Sawsbuck}

Jacob looked toward Danielle, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. He's just asking questions. I'm sure he wants to know just as much as we do." More quietly, he whispered, "You can just feel the power radiating off of him. I'd love a chance for Spitfyre to battle him someday, but maybe not while something so serious is going on."

[Commander]

Henry (and Gypsy)

The boy had made it to the waiting room when he heard Mareek and James's battle had begun. He noticed the Rotom floating around Brand making him completely forget about the field and introducing it. Henry was about to move out onto the field, but he hesitated for a moment. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to step out there. I'd probably attract too much attention. Let's see..." Henry looked over to his Pokemon. "You're too young, you'd just get lost, and you're the one who started this whole mess. Well, Gypsy is the only one here I feel confident enough to send out there so...will you please beam him into his Poke Ball?" He tossed the ball over to the bug.

Gypsy hated doing these small things, but seeing her comrades were a little too incompetent it looked like she had no choice. She gave Henry one last glare before heading out of the waiting room and onto the field. She made her way being close to the wall so that very few spectators would see and even notice her. The last thing she wanted was some kind of attention.

Techie (and Gypsy)

The Rotom just looked at the man surprised how calm he was right after the scare. Usually people would yell or try to attack him. This human was a bit different. As the man studied him, the Rotom mimicked him studying the man carefully. The Rotom thought it might be a good idea to give him a bit of a shock. He started to charge himself up when a red beam blasted him causing him to fade away.

Gypsy was rather proud of herself for this accomplishment. She now figured out how to fully use these Poke Balls to get rid of pests like the Rotom in addition to when she learned how to sneak out of hers to eat a midnight snack. The Venomoth used her Psychic Powers to lift the ball back up and into her hand. Seeing as the job was done, she turned around and made her way back to the waiting room not caring what the hosts had to say.

[Chim]

Jory, DarkLight and Tacos

Before Sawsbuck could react to what Corona told him, a Roselia followed by a human showed up. The Prince walked over, thinking this human tried to harm a fellow grass type, and stared down on Ryan with a stern look. This new student better had a decent explanation.

Commander (Techie)

Brand felt a little disappointed when the Rotom disappeared like that, but after receiving a nudge in the ribs from Redwood, he snapped out of it and started to comment again.

[Azeria]

Mareek vs James

...Damn that Porygon-2 and it's Lock on....James snapped back to the battle and nodded towards a non-existant being and Java's shadow started to ripple a bit,almost as if it was..say possesed? It was quite obvious that it was Shade and Java probably knew aswell,so Shade revealed himself beneath the Computer Program and let out a chilling wind upwards trying to freeze Java's lower body. This was the thing he loved about Ghost types,they had the ability to attack from everywhere......Now...I know that he's going to use Discharge to melt the ice off...but Icy wind's secondary effect should come through for us...though I wonder,where is that thing getting it's power boost from,it's discharge shouldnt have done that much normally."Feint attack!"The duskull got out of it's Shadow which had fused with Java's infront of Java,pretending to attack from there before going through him and crashing into his left with a purple glow surrounding him.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Azeria

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek v. James

Java again had no hesitation, hovering backwards as quickly as possible as soon as Shade's presence blared closer on his mental radar, as obvious as the north star in the black heavens on a winter's eve- effectively maneuvering himself safely out of the path of the bone chilling gale , though he noticeably scowled at being struck by the body check following it- he was far from finished with this. Again he stared at the specter...hovering away. though this time there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"That was better... but still not enough." Mareek said, face like stone as his eyes surveyed the scene. This was honestly beginning to bother him a bit, how this opponent seemed so intent on using the same basic strategy when it should've been obvious that it wouldn't work... Oh well, looks like this fight won't be as interesting as the one with Lana... "Psionic Chill." I'm done playing around, time to finish the mouse.

Java reacted to the order immediately, a small, multicolored sphere forming before him, growing larger with each second as his ability kicked in yet again, the sphere blazing so bright it was nearly blinding. Then all at once, the Sphere burst apart with a whistle and shriek similar to a wind storm and the gale came, bone chilling, merciless, blue glints of frost and ice taking on a rainbow hue and intensifying as the analytic boosted telekinetic force the Strategist built up propelled it harder, farther, howling and screaming as it surged straight for Shade ((Anayltic Psybeam + Icy Wind))

[DarkLight]

{Danielle, Jacob, Ryan and Sawsbuck}

Danielle nodded, still not comfortable about the sudden rampage. It was only until she heard Corona's chirps and that she felt more at ease. Avis also seemed content in her spot, so Jacob was probably right about the sudden stomping. The Kalosian giggled quietly at Jacob's admiration. She wondered if all boys are this crazy about battling. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you ask him. Sawsbuck seems reasonable enough--" Danielle whispered back to her best friend when a Roselia suddenly ran past them. Before she any time to react, a sudden crash from behind almost made her trip over her own Mawile in surprise. Danielle heard her Mawile growl a warning at the unknown presence before he uttered a higher-pitched cry. It's almost as if he was confused.

Danielle turned to where Zared was facing and found herself with an embarrassed Ryan. She glanced back and forth between Ryan and the cowering Roselia before she offered a hand up to him, trying not to laugh at the sight. He always seemed to end up on ground every time she saw him. "Hey, Ryan! Nice of you to join us. Were you trying to catch that Roselia or something?"

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

Corona blinked in surprised, not knowing what to do next. Was that Roselia attacked? But the chaser was Ryan; he is a nice guy, a funny one too. She followed Sawsbuck back to the humans, crawling up to Ryan and chirped a greeting. What was he as red as her fire? Could he breathe fire too?

Avis finally took to the air once more and hovered in between the humans and the Pokemon, eager to see what is going to happen next. If Sawsbuck wasn't nearby, she would have chided the grass type for the obvious facade; a competent prankster such as herself could see through that disguise easily. So, instead, she shook her head at the Roselia and left it at that, hoping that the humans (or Zared) would get the message.

[Azeria]

Mareek vs James

Shade created small Blue Flames before surrounding himself in Ominous Wind and had them take a decent amount of the ice out of the attack before they were overpowered while the Ominous wind weakened the attack a bit but the wind was overpowered aswell allowing the attack to smash into the Duskull throwing him back towards James's side. The Duskull got back up but it was obvious he took quite a lot of damage from the powerfull attack even weakened as it was. Shade's singular eye narrowed into a glare before he released another icy wind towards the Porygon-2. The chilling gale was reinforced with some ominous wind to give it some more speed as it raced at Java and froze over some of the ground it moved over

So this is how it's going to end huh...defeated this easily,even with the pokemon I work best with. James just stood there,staring at the battle..he should've used Shade in the first round,or practised more for this kind of opponent,one who had trained his pokemon to counter his main and to be honest only Strategy with Shade. He'd have worked much better against the Spinda while Tytaniel or even Liona would be better against this damned Porygon,it was Immune to Shade's main moves,could easily block his flames and even confuse ray couldnt do anything to stop it.

It was saddening to say the least,he spent more time preparing Liona and Tytaniel for this thing instead of his favourite pokemon and his best friend....

"Didnt Uncle Thomas once say..that Defeat was our teacher.....and that victory was our reward....well then,we'll train harder than before...and perhaps next year we'll do better in this tournament....but for now....we'll go down fighting..."

Edited April 14, 2015 by Azeria

[Tacos]

Ryan was a bit irritated to be put in such a scenario for simply playing around with a wild pokemon. But, his mood softened and he was back to his empathetic self when little, innocent Corona approached him. He stroked the Larvesta on her head gently. "Well, I thought we were just playing a little game. The little one was trying to trick me and get me to run around the forest in an endless chase. In fact, I had no intention to catch her. Just wanted to show her that it's not nice to mess with people." Ryan sighed and got up, dusting dirt off of his jeans. "What are you two doing here? And with Sawsbuck especially? Is there an issue?" Ryan saw Roselia hiding behind Sawsbuck and he waved at the pokemon and gave her a genuine smile.

The little pokemon ducked behind Sawsbuck's leg again and chuckled silently into her roses and giving a playful wink to Avis. Bet that one has a sense of humor. Let's see who's the better prankster. She beckoned Avis closer with her roses, preparing a nasty surprise in them.

[Jory]

{Jacob, Danielle, Ryan, & Sawsbuck}

Jacob blinked a few times at the events, then chuckled. "Nice to see you too, Ryan. And no, I think we've pretty much resolved the issue." He then looked at the Roselia, cocking his head sideways. "Hey, Ryan, why don't you catch that Roselia? If it's put you through so much trouble it might be worth having on your team," he said thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Arete fluttered around Avis and the Roselia, waiting to see what would happen next.

[DarkLight]

{Danielle, Jacob, Ryan and Sawsbuck}

Corona squealed happily as Ryan petted her. She loved being petted, especially by humans since their body temperature so high. Hugs will always be number one though. She chirped a rough translation of Ryan's account to the Sawsbuck before she crawled into Danielle's arms. Of course, Danielle's hugs are always are better than hugs in general.

Danielle chuckled, petting her spoiled firebug. She saw Avis' head shake, but didn't mention it. "Jacob's right. And besides, having a jokester makes life more fun. Take it from me; I have to deal with this Prankster Murkrow every day." Danielle nodded towards Avis, who laughed at the Roselia's offer.

Avis also gave a playful wink to the Roselia in return but made no move. I was born at night, not last night. Instead, she began humming a little song that her mother used to sing to her, keeping a watchful eye on the grass types in case something went astray.

[Tacos]

Ryan shrugged. "I mean, she would make a great addition, but I don't know if my team is ready to handle someone like that." Ryan kept a watchful eye on the pokemon. I don't know, she could be incredibly useful. I'll have to think about it. It was then that Ryan noticed the trickster was turning her roses to face Arete. "Watch out!"

The Roselia rolled her eyes when Avis refused to fall to her so well-executed trap! Frustrated, the Roselia turned her roses to Arete, and in an instant, released a large cloud of stun spores directly at the Togetic. While the spores flew out of her roses, she cackled maniacally, believing her plan was genius.

[Jory]

{Jacob, Danielle, Ryan, & Sawsbuck}

Arete giggled as she fluttered upward, getting far enough for the Roselia's antics not to harm her. After all, she'd been watching the prank the first time. What did the Roselia think was going to happen?

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek v James

"Take it... we're ending this- NOW." Mareek ordered, arms crossed as he gazed across the open battlefield, watching as the wintry storm of wind froze more and more ground like some creeping wraith stealing life from the land, leaving in it's wake naught but desolation and a hellish chill. Java nodded, holding his ground firm as the gale closed in and swept over him... simply hovered there, throughout the whole experience, eyes braced against the turbulence, though the eery feeling of the ominous wind boosting the storm had no effect on his soul. Might as well finish it with something big...

Even though the cold dampened his reflexes a bit, made him shiver... Java still stared at Shade and his trainer across the field. "Take aim and ready!" Mareek commanded, honestly done with this fight as a whole. Java again nodded, his entire being beginning to heat up as his body blazed an oh so familiar golden and his eyes flared their near demonic scarlet, Shade's body becoming engulfed with an oh so similar light before fading. again there came the snap and pop of electricity, the burning of ozone that hung in the air like the stench of death itself as Java's ability kicked in...yet again.

"Fire!" and like a storm, the sky fire burst in every direction, setting the entire field aglow as the golden, writhing tendrils snaked their way through the air, heading right for... Shade.

[Azeria]

Mareek vs James

It was over,both James and Shade knew that the moment the attack was fired and it hit Shade making him shine like a christmas light,like a beacon in the barren field before falling down,blackened and fried as his body was swallowed by a red light mere moments later. James stood there for a few moments,eyes down before he muttered a few words barely loud enough for Mareek to hear. "Good luck....."the ebony haired trainer turned around and left the field and shortly after the stadium as a whole. He needed some time to himself for now.

James walked out of the stadium and into the forest,it was his preffered area anyways. He walked a bit untill he reached one of the man made streams that went through the forest and sat down before releasing his Pokemon along with taking out a sitrus berry and some super potion and using the latter on Shade first. "Are you alright buddy?"He muttered softly at the ghost who nodded slightly,still tired from the match but it was enough to get a smile out of James. He took out an Good Rod...the same one used by his father out of his bag and threw the line into the water,he wasnt really hoping to get anything as much as wanting to clear his mind.

Meanwhile Liona jumped into the stream happily and started swimming around in it,she adored the water it was endless and infinite,being in it forever wasnt something she'd mind doing.

Unknown to both James and Liona however was the fact that they were being watched by 2 large eyes with a golden crown sticking out from the top.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Azeria

[Felicity]

Claude

The fantastic four fought through the forest (On purpose yes) but the progress was slow. Claude had to keep stopping to urge the Staryu on for a while until he decided it easier to simply pick up the reactionless Star as the walked. During Claudes Staryu shenanigans with an onlooking, impatient Lancelot, Doux and Colere had gone ahead.

Forest Peeps

The two pokemon heard some familiar voices as they moved further and further away from their owner. The two weren't bothered at all about getting lost, Colere knew Doux would help lead her back if needed. The two eventually came to a clearing with Ryan, Jacob, Colere and several pokemon. As the Roselias spores moved past the dodging Arete, Doux decided some Spore tennis sounded like quite the jolly sport. The little puffball raced over with a burst of Fairy wind and used more of the same to blow the Roselias spores back with a giggling Chirp whilst Colere hopped over and tugged at Danielles leg

[TurboAura]

After getting out of the arena, Robert went straight to the healing station and handed his team over to the Nurse. After which, he moved to a nearby seat and waited for his team to finish their healing as he reflected on what all that happened during the day, taking the Dusk Stone back out as he let his thoughts go. 'Everything I hoped today would be, just gone. I had a feeling I wouldn't get to far in the actual tournament, but... I atleast hoped I could spend the time with my friends. Shiro went back with Anna, and I'm not sure if I'll get to see him again... I didn't get to even see Sissy's battle and haven't seen her once since... Just why, why did it go so wrong?' He just went on staring at the Dusk Stone as his mind wandered, waiting until his team was healed.

Edited April 14, 2015 by TurboAura

[Sutoratosu]

Mareek

Mareek didn't bother opening his mouth as he turned and left the field himself after collecting Java- in all honesty there was nothing to say anyway. "Well look at that, I say that I don't care about this damn tournament, and yet here I am... actually feeling disappointed about how that all went just now, like it ended too quickly, was too damn easy... go figure" "Here, take these." He said, sending out the program yet again once he had reached the front lobby of the building, Eye's fixed on the forest in the distance despite the waning light. Java gave no response as he accepted the two Sitrus berries offered to him, both of the tiny fruits disappearing from existence the moment he plucked them up with Psybeam. Regardless of what had happened to them though, he looked a bit better for wear... and satisfied with himself.

"Don't look so smug..." The boy said, knowing full well he'd caught the normal type going over the fight. "If you want to face them, you still have another battle before you can. That and you have to keep your word about teaching Nemo..." He stared back out over the distant greenery, muttering "Not that I think it'll make much difference against a damn lapras..."

"I heard that." toned in his ear as Java hovered closer. "Watch me teach him- I garuntee he'll have it by sunrise...at the very most."

Mareek grimaced at that estimate. If they took that fucking long getting it done, that would defeat the whole damn purpose if Nemo was sleep deprived...something Java himself should've realized. "How long exactly do you theorize it would take to teach him, exactly? Just as an average time, not the highest possible extreme."

"It honestly depends on him- could be a few minutes, an hour... two, three. all of it depends on how much he wants to listen and try more than anything I'd be doing for the instruction."

"..."

"So..."

"Nemo." the Cubone emerged in a flash of white, looking around at the trainer and his co-hort curiously. He got no answer as to what was going on though... only the sight of Mareek walking through the doors and heading outside. "We're going to the forest for a while. It's best if we make sure no one sees it. Element of surprise and all that crap..." Even as he said the words he produced Erce's Capsule from his jacket, sending her out as well and explaining something to her from what the Orphan could tell. Java gave the boy the rundown of what was going on as they both followed the red head and the mantis, charging a bit of electricity to show him what he meant as they neared the wood line.

Sebastian

Hmmm... this boy here was another anomaly, second one he'd seen that day- or ever, for that matter. There was something black and deadly in this child's heart... something venomous, all-consuming, all-corrupting. Something just lurking beneath the surface, always just growing more and more, slowly over time. Sebastian knew not where such a power- could it be called power? perhaps in a way, yes, the hate could be called power- might have come from, or have been born... but he saw bonds with this red head, just as he'd seen bonds with the garderner- they seemed like strong ties, some of them... some of them were new though, still budding in their infancy.

But of all the bonds Sebastian saw, there were two who claimed the position as the strongest... one burning with it's own light, strong, fierce, a sense of attachment flowing from it like nothing Sebastian had sensed before outside of a mother's bond to her own child... but what surprised the Gothorita, was that... the one on the other end of this bond... she was not human. Not human at all. How puzzling.

And then... there was the other bond. It felt familiar for some reason, oh so familiar, like he had sensed one end of it not to long ago... perhaps even in the same day. But no... no, Sebastian was being foolish, this bond... it could not be connected to the Gardener, it made no sense- for the only tie that man had possessed that could equal this one he felt from the boy, was bathing him in light. And yet the only thing he could flow flowing through this boy's end was thoughts and feelings that could easily rival anything conjured up in a dark pulse, if not surpass it.

No... it could not be the Gardener on the other end. The desire for blood, the drive for retribution, the fear... the desire for power, power to do one thing, and one thing only. It made no sense why one end of the bond would have such a different tone from the other. No... it simply could not be the black haired man. But who then? WHO? who could cause such anamolly? and what of the other bond...? why was the female on the end of it... why was she not human? Why was she this... mantis walking beside the boy? Surely for him to be any child of hers... ludicrous.

But no matter. yes, Sebastian knew what he would do. He would shadow them. He would study them. He would learn their cause.

without a single sound, the psychic made off further into the woods... knowing full well where his targets were all the while, staying a single step ahead... or more like five... or ten... or twenty.

[Commander]

As Gypsy returned to the waiting room, Henry picked up the Poke Ball and placed it back on his belt. He then turned to Raiza, "Well that was easier than I thought it would be. At least nothing bad seemed to happen. I don't know about you, but I'm going to head out for a little bit. I need to keep this ghost as far away from machines a little bit and likely start training up Paradox." Paradox ran circles around Henry excited about the news. When Henry began making his way, the Togepi followed behind him, make sure to be on her best behavior. Something like this didn't just happen everyday and she didn't want to lose this rare opportunity.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"That's one smart girl," Raiza said, after whistling when Gypsy came back with the Rotom in his Pokeball. The girl opened her mouth to ask, again, if she could tag along, when a familiar "Wick, wick" came from the other corridor. It was Lucifer with... her father in tow? "P-Papa! Why is Lucifer... Oh, Seraphine, it's been so long!" While the Litwick struggled to tug Gregorio Marson to his daughter, away, awaaaay from the PE teacher, his mother, the shiny Chandelure, circled around Raiza excitedly. For as long as Seraphine was a Lampent, she'd helped take care of the blue-haired unica hija of her Trainer and his wife. In a way, before Lucifer came along, Raiza was sort of her first baby, as a result.

"My little girl, how have you been?" Gregorio managed to say, trying to find his balance while the little Ghost-Fire type dragged/tugged him closer and closer to Raiza. Still playing with the scarlet-flamed Chandelure, she answered, "I'm... I'm good, I've been good, I guess?" "Muy bien, muy bien," her father replied in his native language. Gregorio wasn't actually from Kanto, but instead from Hoenn. For some reason, her mother always mixed it up, saying that he was from Ecruteak, when actually he came from Lilycove, then moved to Ecruteak later on to learn more about Ghost-types. It wasn't the last place he stopped at, visiting Lavender Town later on, then Solaceon, then some place in Unova and then Kalos. Even in all his travels, her father still retained his native accent and vernacular to the point that it rubbed off on her mother. "Ah, I saw Lana and your teacher-- Mr. Tyron, I think?-- earlier on the way here," he added, finally close enough to his daughter. With a smile beneath his mustache and beard, he pulled Raiza into a hug. When that happened, she seemed to stiffen, before slowly hugging back. Then went completely stiff when her papa finally asked, "He said something about you being in the Trainer program, though? Surely he was mistaken?"