Poke-people: Chapter 2: Your first Exam

[Ojama Yellow]

"Do you ever get the feeling that you get along better with animals than people?" Sarcus asked. Lionel glanced at Ms. Mime, then thought of Dray. "I-it really depends what kind of 'animals' t-they are, I guess... And also t-the kind of people..." Lionel said as he caught up to Sarcus. "Are you comparing me to an animal?" Ms. Mime said telepathically. "P-please be quiet...we'll sort t-this out later..." "A-and I don't think I could be able t-to beat Dray in a d-direct fight." He smiled. He felt like he had found a new friend.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Pineapple

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus chuckled slightly. He didn't know what the Mime Jr. had said, but he got the gist. "I suppose I should clarify. Pokemon aren't really animals; they're much more intelligent for the most part, though with some it's hard to tell. My previous statement stands, though. No offense to you or anyone, but I'd much rather spend my time relaxing with Absolution than with friends from school, though I don't mind the latter." As he spoke, his face returned to a more neutral expression. Sarcus withdrew into his thoughts as he walked alongside Lionel, remaining quiet for a time.

[Pokelord]

Update!!!

Daniel

Current Active Mambers:

Layle: Lv. 30 Kadabra

Xane: Lv 31 Swellow

Vain: Lv 29 Glaceon

Kin: Lv 5 Misdreaveus

It seems too peaceful. Well expect for the battling earlier. That was intense.

I briskly walk towards the gym area, expect a something crazy to happen considering that villainous teams are almost everywhere.

It seems I was beat here by some one else. I'll wait for something to happen.

[grasssnake485]

//took me long enough, huh?//

Alina's figure faded in a flurry of leaves once she noticed Sonny in the corner. When the two boys left, she reappeared behind him. "Hey. Tell you something, screw the tests, Emerald just gave me orders to pass everyone in this year's class."

When she was sure pretty much everyone had filtered in, the girl took a deep breath, and sighed. She wasnt too sure how to put everything in words. All eyes were staring at her expectingly. But when she opened her mouth to announce the changes, a guard burst in, looking panicked.

"M-miss Alina! We got word from Emerald that there were new recruits coming, so we opened up the barrier. Well the first thing we saw was the ship getting attacked!"

"How many?" Alina questioned, her voice full of authority.

"W-we saw five jump in from a smaller boat, but there may be more"

"Tch" That really puts us on a tight schedule. Alina turned to the audience. "Due to a change in circumstances... We are going to skip the rest of the exams. I have orders to teach you all the forbidden spell: Blood Sealing, and to pass all of you this year. Blood sealing is a forbidden spell because the seal can only be undone or temporarily opened by the main caster's blood, hence its name. Which therefore means if the caster dies, there is no way to reopen it. It is probably our most secure sealing spell. Its barrier cannot be destroyed by any means, however a single caster's barrier only covers a limited area, thus the need for many people. It also cannot be seen except by those who cast the spell." She paused for a moment, to recall the incantation, and to let the audience absorb the information.

"Casting this spell is fairly simple. Supporters only need to form a circle with all the others. Only those assigned to be able to unlock it can say the incantation. Generally, the more people we have, the less secure, but there's also backup in case one dies. We usually do two, or three people, placed optimally at opposite sides of the circle, or forming an equilateral triangle. Now, the incantation should be easy if you know latin and japanese, if not, well, just hope youre never picked.

Spiritus vitae
caeli et terrae
Watashi no ketsueki o
kaishite kono ji o
shiru!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Grace furiously scribbling the incantation on the back of her hand. Dont worry about that now, I'll tell you guys again later, she promised telepathically. "Okay, I hope youre all rested and ready, because we're moving out NOW. I'll give you 15 minutes, meet me at the port then," Alina growled through gritted teeth. The look on Alina's face showed her anger as clear as day as she walked toward the group of guards in the corner. She was no longer nervous about taking control; there was confidence and authority in her voice as she handed out orders like flyers. "RYAN! Take your team and secure the village. Lydia, Shimmer, take a couple of people and wrap around the side for a sneak attack. Im taking the students and a couple of others along for a frontal assault."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Jake's sudden surprise at this odd turn of events made him snap out of his daydream after talking with Sonny. He'd began to wonder why he mentioned killing someone. Maybe... That hadn't been the best choice.

As he heard the exams were closed, he smirked a giant smirk of pure happiness, closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head. However, his relaxation ended quite quickly when he heard of the forbidden spell. He wondered why... Alina would even tell them this. Jake was only a mere child. What would he need to protect other than the house?

When he heard the weird casting words, he was taken aback by the extreme strangeness, but just rolled with it. There was no time to consider it. Whatever was happening, it was big. He shuttered for a moment as he tried to understand what he was hearing.

He turned to Mark and began to speak

(Jake) "Mark... Did Ms. Alina just say... D-Die?!"

(Mark) "Jake. Please understand. We're here on a different agenda. You will not die. I promise you. Remember your training, and do not ever stutter in my face ever again. Understood?"

(Jake) "yes sir..."

He turned and continued listening to Alina's speech. When he heard they were going right NOW, he jumped for a moment, but he quickly toughened up back to normal when he started to understand what was happening.

It... Was war time.

He turned to his pokemon and he spoke without even a single sign of emotion.

"Guys. We have to fight. There is no choice, it's now or never."

Mark turned to him for a moment and spoke.

"Jake. This is very important. When you're out there today, I don't want you to forget the mission-"

Jake's belly growled and he jumped into a sudden mood swing.He raised his hand high in the air calling for Alina. But she was already walking away.

"WAIT! ALINA! WILL THERE BE FOOD THERE!? Dang... She's already gone..."

Mark smacked Jake as hard as he could across the back of his head knocking him into a serious mood simultaneously, and sighed.

(Mark) "it's only a matter of time now Jake. You know what I'm going to have to do today."

Jake scratched his head in confusion and got himself readied. He decided to grab his backpack as quickly as he could and checked the contents.

"Cookies... Homework... Uhhh... Notes...

Where is it?"

After some more rummaging he found the thing he was looking for. It was a pocket knife he'd slipped into his pack before school. Mark saw it and nodded. Jake slid it into his pocket swiftly. Jake's pokemon stood there in awe at what was happening now. Jake's Zorua, Mirage, jumped into his backpack while Z jumped into Jake's arms. The others stood at his side. Whatever was going to happen, Jake was ready for it.

Mark ran to his dorm, grabbed his knapsack and removed an old knife that had been in there longer than he could remember. He placed it onto the chest holster he had for it that lay across his breast. He grabbed his four pokeballs and added them to his waist-belt. He cracked his fingers gently. As he looked up, he saw a picture of Jake and him. A tear fell from his eye as he ripped his head out of it and made his way back to Jake. When they were together again awaiting further instruction, Mark looked to Jake and thought.

"He might be emotionally unstable, but I know he is strong. One day he'll be normal again, and I can look back on the day he defeats me and say he's overcome his inner turmoil. But for now, he must face his greatest challenge. Letting go."

Jake looked up to Mark and asked him what was troubling him and Mark didn't say a word back. The two stood there for a while. Then Mark broke the silence.

"Jake. Whatever you do, you must overcome the mood swings. They will be the end of you one day, so stop them now if you can. No matter what it takes. Trust me."

Jake scratched his head again in confusion and merely said "ok..?" Jake searched for his friends in all the chaos hoping to find them. He thought about what Mark said.

"Maybe he's right. They're getting harder to control. I'll lose sight of myself if I'm not careful. I can't be in one mood too long. It could change me forever."

(DUN DUN DUHHHHHH!!!)

Searching desperately for Sarcus and/or Grace, he broke through the crowd.

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus looked about. Frontal assault. . . ? A chance for glory? A test? My end? He sighted Grace, then Jake. "Let's stick together. I've got a bad feeling about this," he said to Lionel without turning around. He focused his mind on his two other friends. Let's group up. If it comes to it, we'll battle more effectively as a group since we know one another, he sent. The Trainer then turned to his Pokemon. "I need you to be ready. All of you." He got various gestures and grunts of approval from his team.

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Jake followed Sarcus's transmission until he found him through the ridiculous crowd, Mark following close behind.

"Sarcus! No talk, plan now!"

[Chevaleresse]

"Wait for Grace. Trying to focus among all these people is giving me a serious headache."

Maximus ducked, wove, and shouldered his way through the crowd, trying to reach Jake. With the choice distribution of an elbow or three, he managed to force his way to his friend. "Hey, Jake. This's all a big deal, isn't it? I wonder what's going on." Max looked around and noted the two others present. "Oh, hi Lionel," he piped cheerily. "Hello, Maximus," Sarcus said, acknowledging his rival's presence rather curtly. "Jake, who is this with you? I can't say I remember his name." Sarcus looked directly into Mark's eyes, his slate grey stare carrying a lot of intensity.

((I assumed Lionel was still with Sarcus.))

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

"That makes us a duo... Geez where is she when you need her most?..."

Taking note of a new voice entering, Jake turned to see his friend Max.

"Max, I'll be honest. I have no idea either, I asked Alina if there would be food there. I'm guessing not, I'm starving!"

Mark looked down on Max with his deep piercing blue eyes.

"My name's Mark. Nice to meet you."

He reached out and shook his hand with a great deal of heftiness.

"I am Jake's mentor, I taught him everything he knows. We're currently doing something of our own, it ended up being "delayed" however."

Mark turned to Sarcus, feeling him staring upon him. Mark's eyes stared deeply into Sarcus's, completely unfazed.

"Something on your mind, friend?"

[Jory]

Sonny's eyes opened wide as Alina relayed Emerald's orders. The only time this happens is when there's a need for more bodies on the front line. Then, the guard burst in and gave everyone the news about the attack. Hostiles? Here? There hasn't been an attack here in years! he thought to himself. Alina reacted quickly, giving everyone orders and keeping her composure. Sonny's lips curled up in a grin for a short period. And that's why she's so amazing... Then, she was back over near the guards. She didn't assign him anything by name, so the scout approached her, a bit hesitant due to the obvious wrath in her eyes. "Alina, what do you need me to do?"

[Ojama Yellow]

"A-attacked? A f-frontal assault?" Lionel was afraid. "Let's stick together. I've got a bad feeling about this." Great, now he was pretty much terrified. He saw Jake and another person crawling through the crowd. Then Max appeared too. The person with Jake identified himself as Mark. And Lionel hardly even noticed. He was trembling all over. He felt that Ms. Mime was trying to talk to him telepathically, but he panicked so much that she couldn't completely reach out to him, and he didn't hear any clear words. So while everyone kept moving around, he stood there, trembling and sweating, unable to move. "C-c-can't d-d-d-do th-thi-this..."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Mark quickly turned his looming gaze to the young boy.

"Jake. What is his name?"

(Jake) "oh, that's Lionel..."

Mark put his hand on Lionel's shoulder. "Listen, if you are going to be this way, then you won't be able to help your friends. You must embrace your mission, and take it to heart. Do not feel discouraged. Stand up straight, fix yourself, and say I can. Do it. Now."

Mark's gaze fixed itself very harshly onto Lionel, making an attempt to prove him wrong.

"You will be fine. Remember your training, and never, not ever, lay down and give up."

[grasssnake485]

Through the chaos and the elbows of the crowd, Grace managed to reach her friends. "Hey, sorry 'bout that, did you miss me? Just had to write everything down," the girl grinned, happy-go-lucky as usual. "You know, I bet whatever our second test was, I bet it has something to do with that whole stash of weapons on that table. Think its okay to grab a few? Be right back." WIthout waiting for an answer to her question, she slipped through the thinning crowd and came back with several throwing knives. "What? Never hurts to be too prepared!"

~~

Tami looked around frantically as everyone started to leave. A knot of students was forming on one side of the gym, so she thought it would be a good idea to join them. "H-hi, can I join you guys? S-sorry, but not exactly that st-strong in close range combat," she half muttered, half thought the words shyly. The teens seemed to be pretty close, and the only other girl there was flipping a knife casually. There's no way Im going to fit in here.. But at least I have a smaller chance of getting killed.

~~

There they are. Alina picked her way through the remains of the crowd, and tapped Lionel and Tami on the shoulder. "Hey, Emerald told me to give you two each a pokemon, so take your pick." She held out two pokeballs, one in each hand. "One has a roserade, the other has a flygon. Your choice. But dont take too long because I dont have the time to wait for you to consider your choice." A moment later, Sonny approached her looking a bit unsure.

"Alina, what do you need me to do?"

"If Lydia doest want you, then you can come with me."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

"Hey Grace! I didn't exactly miss you... But... Eh," he winked at her signifying sarcasm.

"one moment."

Mark eyeballed Jake as he ran off, coming back with a couple throwing knives.

"Here we go!"

Jake sat down and put his hands behind his head. He spun a knife in his fingers like threads, grinning and quickly stopped when he heard a voice. He stood up and approached the girl. He inspected her closely still spinning the knife. He turned to Mark.

(Mark) "she's ok with me, shy as this Lionel here. Now, watch closely."

Mark, with total ease, kicked Jake's Achilles' tendon, grabbed him around the neck, and flipped him onto the floor. He cracked his knuckles and let Jake lay there twitching.

"Close combat is easy when you know what you're doing. Here, try what I did if you can."

Mark picked up the still twitching Jake, and held him there for the girl like a dummy.

"What's your name anyways? You seem nice. And don't feel bad about beating up my apprentice here. I'm sure he'll be fine. It builds character."

[Jory]

Sonny nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He turned, paying attention to a new sound. The clatter of hooves could be heard as Rayleigh bounded into the room and, spotting Sonny, quickly moved toward him. As the Sawsbuck came closer, it became evident that there was a sword in a sheath hanging between the Pokemon's antlers. It was nearly a meter and a half in length, and was covered in a brown leather sheath. The crossguard was plain steel and decorated only with a small white gemstone in the center, while the hilt was wrapped in plain brown leather. Its pommel was a simple steel disc with another white gemstone set in it. The scout sighed and took the blade from his partner, slinging the sheath's leather strap across his chest and over his shoulder. He adjusted the sword strap and turned to Alina. "You know, there was a point in time when I really thought we were done with all this.

[grasssnake485]

"What's your name anyways? You seem nice. And don't feel bad about beating up my apprentice here. I'm sure he'll be fine. It builds character."

"Tamira, but call me Tami." The girl seemed a bit less unsettled this time. "O-okay, here goes nothing.." She swung out an unbalanced kick at Jake's knee, and instinctively closed her eyes as she braced for impact.

~~

"You know, there was a point in time when I really thought we were done with all this."

"You can call me naive, but I still dont see the point to all this drama and violence. I dont even know how the h*ll all this started." Alina raised her hand and called her sword to her, a slightly ornate, slightly curved and lightweight sword that was custom forged for her. The scraping sound it made was almost nostalgic as she slid the blade out of its sheathe. She ran her fingers across the blade, silently checking for deficiencies. When she was satisfied, the girl straightened and said, "You know, you still have a couple of minutes to get ready instead of staring at me inspect my weapon."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Jake felt his knee lock up in pain as he twitched a bit more, but couldn't even let out a sound after he's landed on his back so hard.

Mark let go of him, Jake wobbled for a moment, and fell backwards.

"M-M-My knee... Just locked up..."

Mark completely ignored him and got to talking with Tami.

"Listen, you have some things wrong. One, when you swing, the have to use more momentum than an off the ground swing. You need to raise your leg, bend it, and then release a full force kick. Here, watch.

Mark picked up Jake who's eyes were wide as donuts as he kept twitching.

"Hiya!"

Mark lay a furious kick into Jake's other knee.

"M-M-MEEP!"

He fell over shaking with pain, his eyes now twitching quite quickly.

"F-F-Fuc-"

Mark quickly kicked Jake in the side as hard as he could, only making Jake's hilarious display of agony even more funny, and painful, at the same time.

Mark spoke out.

"Hey. We don't talk like that around women. Now get up and teach her how to fight."

Jake looked at him with an evil death stare and made an attempt to stand up. After a great deal of difficulty. He finally stood. Mark grabbed a needle and poked Jake's spine with it.

"Acupressure. Pretty effective"

Suddenly Jake had jumped somewhat back into order. He pushed both of his knees, which popped horrifically loud. And walked up to Tami.

"Ok listen. Mark here taught me how to fight, and now... He's forcing me to teach you something that I don't want to!"

Mark slapped Jake as hard as he could across the back of his head.

"I mean! I'm determined to make you better!"

Mark smiled.

Jake lifted up his arms slowly and began to breath deeply.

"Watch this. This is a basic rabbit punch."

Jake slid his foot behind Tami's, not attempting to hurt her, and then slid behind her, and delivered a fake blow to the back of her neck.

"Very effective. In fact, if you're strong enough. It kills. But in your case, someone should be paralyzed for a bit. Next up is a favorite of mine. A technique mark showed me called the wolf style. Originating from Kung Fu."

Mark stepped up for this one.

Jake threw about 3 extremely fast punches, a knee to the chest, then hit Mark on his side to turn him, and flipped him onto the ground.

"That's payback..."

Glaring at his apprentice, Mark stepped up and offered Tami one last skill. Mark simply punched Jake in the gut and hit him on the head with his elbow.

(Mark) "I call that one the if you do that again I'll kill you technique. If you ever need to learn CQC come to me Tami. You can do stuff like this."

Mark picked up and flipped Jake with his own arm, stunning him again.

"I think that's enough for now. We should find Alina and ask what's happening."

Mark dragged Jake by his leg as he left the group.

[Jory]

Sonny turned a deep red at Alina's jab and scratched the back of his head, stammering for a moment before regaining his composure. "I know, I know. But of all the recruits here and all the other guards, you know that there's no one else I'd rather fight beside. And it's not naive of you to resent this fighting. Now that Emerald's gone away, I'm not sure what they even want with us." The scout drew his sword and inspected it, making sure it was properly oiled. The blade was broad and double-edged, clearly the shape of a longsword. He swung it in the air a couple of times and, satisfied with his weapon, stowed it again. "I hope the students are able to hold their own. Many of their partners aren't even fully evolved."

[grasssnake485]

Tami just stood there silently as the boys battled each other. Her shyness returned as usual, "U-um, what?" She opened her mouth to say more, but decided against it. Picking through the pile of weapons there, the girl was mildly disappointed by the selection. These are all old-old-old. There isnt a single gun or ANYTHING Im decent at using. Screw it, Im gonna die today. Literally.

"Emerald told me to give you a pokemon. One's a flygon, the other's a roserade. Take your pick."

Tami jumped at the voice behind her. "Oh, h-hi Ms. Alina." After a moment's thought, she replied, "I'll take the roserade, thanks."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Jake suddenly jumped up from being knocked down. "R-R-ROSERADE!?" Jake moved so quickly it looked like he'd teleported behind Mark's leg whispering "Needles. Needles. Needles..."

(Mark) "Tami, you don't understand just how important close combat is. It will save your life, trust me. Now I want to beat up Jake some more. It builds his character, and builds my enjoyment!"

Mark picked up Jake from behind his leg and flung him across the room. Completely ignoring Alina, the two began to fight using every single technique they could muster, dodging and weaving all over the place. Eventually Mark hit Jake and sent him toppling over backwards. But they continued fighting anyways.

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus took action after Jake and Mark broke out into a brawl. He dashed toward Jake with superhuman speed, enhancing his motions with psychic power. The teen tackled his friend, trying to bring an end to the nonsense. Mark, he grabbed in a psionic fist and tried to slam him to the ground. "Are you both brainless? This is pure idiocy and nothing more." Sarcus spoke both out loud and telepathically. He felt the beginnings of the worst headache of his life coming on, but he ignored it for the moment.

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

Jake flipped his legs into the air to throw himself back up, scratching his head where a goose egg was beginning to throb, while Mark merely rolled to escape being hurt from the slam to the ground and stood up quite quickly.

Both of them looked at Sarcus for a moment, and back at each other.

(Mark and Jake) "eh"

The two dashed at each other and continued training on the spot as if nothing happened, except this time Jake got the jump by slamming his palm onto Mark's nose. Mark then resorted to flinging Jake for that, and they proceeded.

In the middle of the brawl Jake spoke, "I wonder if I could copycat my own technique like that psychic enhancement, but mine would be more physical than mental! I might have to try to create one myself!"

As the two jumped apart to breath for a moment, Jake tried out the new technique idea. Using his natural aura mastery, he began to make it surge throughout his body at maximum output, and a little over, You could see his body begin to strain and glow red and black. Jake slowly pushed the limit on his aura, grunting in frustration. Suddenly, exploding in a ball of aura, he could just feel himself increasing in strength.

"Man... that was much harder...than... I thought it would be. This level of use of aura is putting a huge strain on my body... Now to see if the idea worked..."

Jake dashed forward, now even faster and landed a perfect punch on Mark, unlike usual, mark actually appeared to be dazed from the blow.

Without even doing it on command, Jake's aura returned to normal.

"Ah what!? I can't control it's time limit... I have to thank you for giving me that idea by watching you, but I won't be using anything with an equal level of power as your's any time soon unless I train my spiritual limits..."

Mark and Jake stopped fighting for a moment to share a sitrus berry to try to regain some strength for the upcoming battle.

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus shook his head. "Idiots. . ." He was utterly confused and a fair bit frustrated by the pair's behavior. Remembering the others that were with him, Sarcus moved back to Lionel. "You'll be fine. You're better at this than you think, and we'll be right behind you."

[Absol-lutelty awesome!]

standing up rejuvenated by the berry, jake stretched out a bit, And rested from the body strain. Afterwards, he shook it off, laughed, and called for Sarcus.

"Hey! Wanna go a round?"

He raised his fists and entered a stance.

"It'll be fun!"

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus sighed. "A warmup wouldn't hurt, but I don't think that's our first concern at this moment. Plus, it wouldn't feel natural without a blade in my hand."