[X] My Assistant

[rt117]

Tikal blinked, not having expected to receive such attention from the armoured man. Dragon Trainer's blood? Wasn't the path meant to be by choice? She wouldn't question such an ideal however, especially since it was possible that the man might have met her father at some point, maybe even within the past few months.

"Well, I haven't seen him since I was ten, so I'm not sure where he would be right now. His name is Zekiel Faylen, and I'm his daughter Tikal." the girl explained, rubbing the back of her head. "The last time I saw him, he gave me my first Pokemon: a Charmander. I know he had a Charizard, a Hydreigon, and he was starting to raise a Dratini.

Upon hearing the call of the Charmander, Tikal's Jigglypuff turned to watch as she was suddenly being dragged over toward the strange, air-filled structure. Those within seemed to be having quite a bit of fun, so it did not take much convincing for the round pink Pokemon to follow along with the stranger's plan. Food could wait for now, for at the moment the looming structure seemed all the more inviting.

Following Darius' gaze toward their Pokemon and the structure, Tikal nodded with a small smile, pulling three Pokeballs from her pocket. It seemed like it would be worthwhile for the others to have a bit of free play, before they started up their next round anyways. Tossing them forth, the forms of her Charmeleon, Nidorino, and Croconaw could be seen.

Her Croconaw would be more willing to join in on the fun, running headlong past the two walking Pokemon and flying into the bouncy structure, while Charmeleon saw the opportunity only as a chore to babysit the others. Arms crossed with a somewhat stern look on his face, he walked alongside the other two, watching the unevolved Charmander carefully. Meanwhile her Nidorino stopped just outside, having the sense to stay out of the seemingly delicate structure as his poisonous barbs would likely puncture the air-filled materials.

This post has been edited by rt117: Jun 26 2013, 04:38 PM

[Kamaitachi]

As Cesc had started up a conversation with Lyla, a young man man muscled his way between the two. The young man, Douken, evidently, completely ignored the conversation Cesc had struck up with Lyla. Cesc, at least, had acknowledged the existence of the Armored Man and the Jigglypuff Girl, which, admittedly, wasn't that much better. In the way that little collections of people like this form, it just as quickly broke apart. The Armored man and the Jigglypuff Girl struck up a conversation, and headed off towards the delightful looking moonbounce.

However, Lyla locked her arm around Cesc's notably tanner arm. The young man flashed a grin at Lyla, before turning to give a wink at Douken as if to say: Sorry, brother. Not today.

"Lady Lyla, I must say, you've a great number of admirers. It's your impeccable looks with your chic sense of fashion." He patted her hand as he started to speed up. "Allow me to get you in touch with my Aunt and Uncle back home in Arasam? I'm sure they'd be happy to whip up any clothing ideas you had. They're tailors, you see..." Even as they jogged away from the group, Cesc continued to chat away about the wonders of his home-base tailor shop.

* * *

It had been a close battle, and Tag had barely scraped by. This wasn't a good sign for the first round, but the again, he'd been up against the remarkably talented Jill Laurent. From what he had heard, the second round wasn't until the next day, so he had time to decompress, see some of the sights, and perhaps get a well-deserved drink.

He looked up at one of the passing screens, watching a few of the battles as they flashed by...and sure enough, there was his co-ordinator friend, whom he had not seen since Starfall Field. Darryn Kellor. He appeared to be facing a young girl, who commanded a Cubone, Golurk, and Torkoal. Interesting choice in Pokemon on both sides made the battle appear quite interesting.

The screen flashed, and suddenly he saw Liz Shir, who had made it past her preliminary, facing a young blonde in battle. Silently, he clenched his fist, cheering Liz on in his mind. The girl would do well; she was rather talented.

He took a moment to stare up at the various screens, wanting to scope out the other competition. A screen showed the Deranged Doctor Spatula and...the Loudmouth Rock Star kid he'd met back in Gigarte. Or was it Demented? He couldn't quite keep her moniker straight, but it appeared that she had emerged victorious. He watched intently, noting the trainers that had appeared to make it to the next round.

The next television showed...Justin Smart. His old frenemy had made it past the preliminaries, and was now waiting for an opponent. The camera was mostly showing the back of his head, but Tag knew instinctively who it was. His heart gurgled at the thought of facing Justin, especially given the even playing field. It appeared that Justin's next match was on standby, and he wondered whether or not to head over to the field to spectate like an actual friend, and spy on his team like a competitor.

There was really no need at the moment; he knew Justin's team in and out; he just needed to prepare for their boost in level.

The tattooed man resumed walking, figuring he'd see the results for the next round at some point later in the evening. In the mean-time, however, he found himself walking past a moon-bounce. Within, some delighted looking Pokemon were bouncing around happily. A Nidorino appeared to be guarding the entrance to the tent, which probably meant that Tag himself couldn't enter and play with all of the delightfully cute Pokemon. Allowing himself a moment, he let out a rare smile, the joy of the playing pokemon filling him with joy.

The moment passed swiftly, however, as he continued moving past the moonbounce. Surely one of the tents sold alcohol. Once he found one, he'd let Jill know. If she was unable...perhaps Justin. One of the two would surely be a good drinking buddy.

[colourcodedchaos]

While Tag was standing by the bouncy castle watching the rubber withstand the improbably-spiked Pokemon within it, a small shape took up a position alongside him before nudging him in the leg. Were he to look down, he would see a Cranidos with a worried expression and an anxious-looking Joltik on her head.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lee. Sorry to bother you, but we've got a bit of a problem. I, er... I lost my human, and we never had the money to get her microchipped. Could you help us look for her? Normally she's easy to find, but there aren't any people running from the flames and maniacal laughter right now-"

BOOM

"... Tik," opined the Joltik, her head in her foreclaws.

"I, er, that'll be her. We need someone who can calm her down. Food madness, you see. Or at least, that's what Mantyke told me."

*******

Food madness was about the best term for it. It was a general rule of thumb among the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter community that if you did not have a lightning-fast metabolism, you had Daddy build you one. Adelaide being, well, Adelaide, she did it herself, and since her background was in theoretical physics and not biotech, she succumbed to hyperactivity in the event of a food binge, her body flooding with energy faster than it could be converted into picotech upgrades and breed new upgrades within her.

As a result, she'd decided to try and make a good old-fashioned giant robot to let off some steam.

This had gone about as well as one might expect.

The machine had definitely worked, yes - for about four seconds. However, the experimental biomass compression chamber that powered the thing had gone a bit wonky, which was Professional Mad Scientist for 'was currently scattered over a rather wide area and had been billowing thick orange smoke into the atmosphere for several minutes now.' Adelaide pushed up her welding mask, examined a few bits of burnt, rapidly-regenerating hair, and grinned like a maniac.

"Well then. Tynamo, fetch the spanners, I think I know what I did wrong!"

"Tyyyy," groaned Tynamo, and went off in search of the toolkit and a comfort pickle.

This post has been edited by colourcodedchaos: Jun 27 2013, 06:26 AM

[Toogee]

Darius walked with Tikal towards the giant moon bounce while they watched their pokemon run ahead of them. He took a few moments to think about the names Tikal passed along. The dragon trainer couldn’t think of any Zekiels in his travels through Unova or Johto, nor was he in Furoh long enough to know much of anyone. Nonetheless, he decided to improvise.

“Well, there are those of our guild who choose the path of the lone wolf. They journey to the deepest, darkest corners of the world in search of the strongest dragons. You rarely see them in civilization. Your father may be one of them. One of my goals here is to find one of those lone wolfs, an outcast of Blackthorn that has made his home here. It won’t be easy to find him; he’s likely taken shelter in some deep cave or something.”

The person Darius spoke of was Taggarty Lee. The dragon trainer was completely oblivious to the fact that Mr. Lee passed right behind them. However, Darius had more pressing concerns as he reached the attendant.

“What do you mean ‘no swords’?! This is practically my right arm! You want my leg too while you’re at it?”

“Sir, no weapons on the moon bounce,” the attendant repeated. Darius begrudgingly handed over the scabbard along with his blade. He watched as Bindy disappeared within the structure. Once he came inside, Darius found the massive size of the attraction rather daunting. He’d been in grocery stores smaller than this! He figured he was going to wait outside while the charmander had her fun for a few minutes. He quickly realized this wasn’t going to work and started wading in.

“Man, how do people stand in these things?” Darius said aloud as he tried to make a walk across the structure. With so many people jumping around, he felt like he would topple over just like most people. It was quite clear that Darius had never experienced the joys of moon bouncing.

[rt117]

"I dont think most people carry weapons around for that to be a problem..." Tikal thought to herself, holding back the comment as she did not wish to offend the man. Soon they would begin to crawl inside, after shoes and any sharp items were removed from their person. She had only been in one of these things once before, a long time ago when she had a few friends that lived in town. Otherwise most of her time had been spent within the wilderness. Crawling forward, she caught sight of their Pokemon further in, the almost weightless form of Jigglypuff bouncing about in the structure carelessly, not seeming to mind if someone bumped into her.

"You're not supposed to stand in them." Tikal replied to Darius as he appeared to find difficulty in moving about. Slowly moving to her feet, the girl suddenly grinned almost fiendishly. "You're supposed to just have fun." And with that, she leaped toward him, bringing her knees into her chest as she landed right beside his feet, in an attempt to knock him off balance. Tikal hadn't noticed until now, but perhaps this was one of the first times that she had been so...open. The trainer was more used to being less talkative, out of shyness. Perhaps it was because she missed having the opportunity to socialize with others, rather than just her Pokemon. It was nice to get to talk to someone again, even if she knew almost nothing about them.

The girl couldn't help but feel that the man was perhaps a bit too uptight. Disipline and routine were all well and good, but it wouldn't hurt to just unwind every now and then. Perhaps she could make him see that, if not for him than for his Pokemon. His Charmander seemed to want to play around more than anyone. Slowly moving back onto her hands and knees, she looked over at her new companion. "So how long have you been a Dragon Trainer?"

This post has been edited by rt117: Jul 3 2013, 11:54 PM

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Jill had managed to find a concession stand which sold beer. She had almost given up hope, especially since most of the combatants here were minors. As expected, the prices were damn near ridiculous, but hey, where the hell else were you gonna go?

"Howdy," she nodded to the evidently overworked cashier. Seeing Jill's face was apparently enough to lift his spirits.

"Howdy, cowgirl," he smiled. "What can I do ya for?"

Obviously making fun of her accent, she just forced a smile and moved on. Though she was normally sarcastic and cold, she always made an effort to be just as friendly as possible to people who handle her food. "Uhh, the sign says you guys sell beer, but doesn't say what kind?"

"Yeah, we got Silph and Silph Lite."

Her heart sank, but not enough for her to put her wallet away. "Can I get two Silph Lites? Please."

"Yes, ma'am, that'll be ten dollars." She handed over the money and grabbed the two beers. "You want me to open both, or just one?"

"Neither," she nodded. "I got my own."

"Great! Well, have a good one."

"You too, thanks."

She put the two beers in her purse, if only so she wasn't the lady walking around the stadium with two beers in her hands. Eventually, she managed to find Tag in the crowd. She saw him before he saw her, so she walked up to him and forcefully put one of the beers in front of him. "You're gonna tell me exactly what I should have done to beat you." Before he was able to respond, but after he acknowledged her, she continued. "And then, since your next battle isn't 'til tomorrow, we're gonna get trashed."

It was about that time that an insistant looking Joltik was juding up against Tag, and then a noticeable "boom" sound went off nearby, pulling Jill's attention. She forcefully turned her head back to Tag. "Nope. Not my problem. Not interested."

[LittleShadowPoke...]

Bartholomew!

Joey furiously finger-spelled his personal assistant's name to get his attention. Bartholomew just shrugged at him and kept walking, obviously looking for something among the various vendors. The young boy had shed his overzealous Pidgeotto themed suit and now donned a classic black tuxedo, which he desperately wished they could have started with as it were the lesser extravagance. The pair weaved their way through the crowds, with the smaller boy steadily following in his taller assistant's trail before it closed to the onslaught of people. Joey never considered himself an agoraphobic, but now he could see where those people were coming from. That classic Pyrite crowd caution showed itself when Joey was running his hand along his freshly healed Pokeballs, making sure he still had everyone. They were on small, fashionable clips along the lower edge of his tux jacket, in just the right position to touch them discreetly.

When they finally came to a stop, Bartholomew waved his hands palm up in front of him signing, "Here we are!". This vendor had various eggs scattered around and some newly hatched Pokemon running around. Some were playing, others were looking curiously for their new trainers. An arched sign above read Loch Ranch Adoption Center. Bartholomew looked quite pleased that they had found it, but Joey was only confused. Joey tried signing "Why?", but Bartholomew was already in conversation ahead of him with the staff workers which led the pair inside the pen to get a closer look at the Pokemon. Bartholomew caught Joey's eye and tapped his forefingers together, alternating, signifying that it was time for the new Coordinator to find a new friend.

Joey quickly nodded a closed fist in agreement, and set to work. He had less enjoyable tasks than finding a new Pokemon, but he was worried about how it was being paid for, and immediately decided to use his own allowances he had been saving. His worries soon vanished as the horde of happy Pokemon overtook him. There were some Eevee much like his own, and a Growlithe he got along with quite well. He had always wanted a Growlithe while growing up. He hugged the warm, fluffy body and brought it into his lap. The happy puppy licked him generously, which Joey rewarded with likewise generous rubs.

He was almost sold on the Growlithe, but an Eevee inched his way towards Joey's jacket hem, sniffing curiously. He pawed at one of Joey's Pokeballs, and Joey just watched in fascination while lazily petting the Growlithe. The Eevee nosed the Pokeball, and energy zipped out and compiled on the open grass.

"Oooeee!" Babylon squealed as he took in the fresh air and sunlight. Blinking, he looked at the new Eevee in front of him. Registering a fellow species, the two Eevee both squealed happily and started playing, tumbling in brown blurs around the small pen. The Growlithe started barking at the pair, and a staffworker came over to calm him down and apologized to Joey with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, he can be a bit excitable," the woman took the Growlithe in her arms and patted him to calm him down, which worked fairly quickly. Joey moved to get his own Pokemon and recall him.

"Babylon! Babylon," Joey called, and both Eevees scampered over to sit at his feet and look up at him endearingly. Which was his? He picked up one and then the other, comparing. Having worked in a Pokemon Daycare thoughout his teen years, he was usually pretty good at discerning individuals even of the same species, but this was a little bit more challenging. Aha!

"Here you are, Babylon," Joey said, holding up his own Eevee. "You need to lose some weight, buddy." A statement which earned him a tiny Eevee glare. Joey brought up Babylon's Pokeball to recall him, but the Eevee squirmed out of his arms and rejoined his friend on the ground. He scuttled behind the Loch Ranch Eevee, and appeared to be unsuccessfully hiding, but instead he was nuzzling the other Eevee forward towards his trainer with an approving smile.

"Oh come on now," Joey started verbally and finished mentally, "now my own Pokemon are making choices for me." Bartholomew clapped him on the back and startled him out of his thoughts.
"Another Eevee sounds like a fine addition! I always believed they should come in sets," Bartholomew charismatically winked at the staff woman holding the Growlithe. Joey couldn't quite suppress a glare at his personal assistant.

"But I already have an Eevee," he started again verbally and smoothly transitioned into sign, "and wasn't it you who just recently accused me of being bland?"

Bartholomew dismissed the younger man with a small wave of his hand and insisted, "Eevees are different. They can become anything."

Joey rolled his eyes and accepted the second Eevee, which seemed to overjoy Babylon.

"Talk about fast friends," Joey thought.

Joey recalled both of his Eevee now while Bartholomew talked to the staffpeople. As it turns out, Pokemon were free to league and circuit-participating Trainers and Coordinators.

"And it's the strangest thing," the staffwoman mumbled contemplatively as they were leaving, "that Eevee actually had a twin that went on to be a participation prize for beginning Coordinators..."

Joey signed to Bartholomew, "Okay, but the next Pokemon has to be Exotic!"

Joey attains at Level 24 with Wish, Yawn, and Charm as egg moves.

This post has been edited by LittleShadowPokemon: Jul 5 2013, 07:40 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Tag's attention was tugged downwards by a short little arm. Looking down, instantly irritated at being pulled from his solitude. He recognized the Joltik and Cranidos as pokemon belonging to Adelaide, but was still visibly jarred when the fossil Pokemon spoke to him.

"Oh...uh...Adelaide is running around somewhere I'm sure-"

With that, a beer appeared in his hand. He hadn't had a beer since his last stint in Gigarte, so it had been some time. Looking up from the distraction, he met the eyes of Jill.

"Oh. Trashed sounds...just great." Tag let out a rare smile, popping the beer and holding it up for Jill. "Honestly, you had me on the ropes the whole time. You did everything right, I just got lucky."

As the giant boom went off, Tag let out a noticeable irritated sigh.

"Roxy, I believe you've found the good Doctor." He looked to Jill, then down at the beer in his hand. "You know what...today it's not my problem either."

Too much sticking his nose in other peoples' business had been taking up a lot of his time recently. He was in a big battle tournament, and that alone was a massive amount of stress and anxiety. Tag needed some Tag-time. Beers with a new friend seemed like the best idea.

"Next round's on me."

* * *

They left poor Roxy and Joltik to care for their deranged master, and headed back to the area that sold beer. However, something caught Tag's eye, and he jerked his head for Jill to follow him.

"Insta-Move Tutor."

He approached the stand, hopefully with Jill in tow, and was amazed to see it mostly empty. The promise of Pokemon learning new moves had always been a source of excitement for Tag, even if he didn't show it. Furthering the complexity of his strategies and the ability of his Pokemon was basically what he lived for, being a trainer and all.

"How does this work?"

Without bothering to introduce himself to the mousy-looking man at the computer, Tag immediately got to business, posessing the luster in his eyes that he reserved for new Pokemon-battle related things.

"Well...I pull up your file...and...you...uh...pay me...and I can basically transfer the information into the pokeballs. They'll learn the new move in no time."

"Side effects."

"None to date...hm...merely skepticism...maybe some disdain for my genius."

The man's clear egotistical behaviour should have set Tag ill at ease, but all he heard was "new move", and with that alone, he was sold.

"Taggarty Lee."

"Yes...hmm...uh...I just saw your battle against...well...this lady. You're friends?"

"Yes. Yes. Yes." Tag nodded, sounding a bit irritated that the topic was being strayed from, "Moves please."

"You possess...10 pokemon. What moves do you want?"

He turned the computer screen to face Tag, whose fingers literally flew over the display, pulling up all sorts of windows for the potential Technical Machine and Move Tutor moves that all of his Pokemon could learn. Surprisingly, he found that he did not care for hunting down the machines and move tutors, and this demonstration seemed like a perfect way to beat that. When one was about twice the age of the average trainer, it made sense that one would not be as keen to go hiking all over the continent just to find one man who required something as trivial as shards or heart scales.

"How much?"

"Ten Pokemon...one move each? $1000 poke?"

"TAKE MY MONEY" The mad glint still in his eyes, Tag pulled out a fistful of bills and shoved it towards the man.

"Okay...here we go."

Tag felt the Pokeballs at his belt whirr a little, which was a fairly unsettling sensation. Each pokeball chimed with their 'ping' noise, which usually indicated capture, and was really the only sound a Pokeball made outside of the "vomiting out a Pokemon in a blast of light" noise.

"Try it out?" The mousy man leaned forward eagerly. Perhaps he hadn't tested it out yet, and Tag was his first guinea pig, but Tag seemed to preoccupied to care.

"Suzu!"

Suzu appeared before Tag, looking a little confused.

"Swords Dance!"

She tilted her head to the side, processing her trainer's request. With a look that surprised even her, she flashed out a series of aerial acrobatics that neither of them had been prepared for. Tag noted the aura that whipped up around her; a sign that Swords Dance had been successfully performed.

"This is amazing...more moves-" he reached down into his wallet, then looked over to Jill, his eyes calming down a bit. "...eh...never mind. There are beers to drink."

Why he made that choice was beyond him. Perhaps he really didn't mind the extra effort to train his Pokemon to learn new moves. Perhaps he really did want to spend his money having beers with a companion that was actually of age to drink beer. Either way...Tag felt slightly proud that he'd taken a social choice, rather than his constant "Pokemon Master" choice.

"Thank you, sir. I'll be sure to seek you out again sometime." Tag bowed respectfully as Suzu latched on to his shoulder. "So Jill, where'd you find those beers?"

New Moves:
Suzu (Ledian) - Swords Dance
Bachi (Nidoking) - Taunt
Kyoko (Bellossom) - Venoshock
Tobi (Ninetales) - Pain Split
Orin (Froslass) - Snatch
Tonbo (Slowpoke) - Thunder Wave
Kana (Spinda) - Work Up
Uchi (Nosepass) - Magic Coat
Enka (Mareep) - Heal Bell
Razo (Meinfoo) - Dual Chop

[Toogee]

"WAH!"

Darius was caught completely off guard as Tikal dived right in front of him. He landed flat on his back, bouncing up and down with everyone else jumping around. It made getting up quite difficult, but Darius seemed to have finally started to enjoy the experience. He looked over to Tikal, who was curious about his past. The girl seemed to have opened up to him, genuinely curious about the life of a dragon trainer. Perhaps she wanted to become one herself?

"Well, the path of a dragon trainer begins like any other: with their first pokemon. I had to catch her with my bare hands! She kinda made it easy with all the hugging and stuff..."

While he spoke, Darius looked over to his charmander, who was trying to grab at the floating jigglypuff's feet to make her a makeshift parachute. He couldn't help but smirk; in spite of his encouragement of toughness, he still had a soft spot for Bindy's antics. This of course inspired his own mischief as he held out a hand to Tikal.

"Here, help me up," he asked the girl, totally intending on pulling her down with him.

[rt117]

"Interesting. I also started with my Charmander, though he had been given as a gift." Tikal noted, following the man's gaze over toward their Pokemon, her Jigglypuff seeming to struggle to stay aloft with Bindy holding onto her foot. Almost immediately the pink Pokemon puffed up, flapping her small pudgy arms in an attempt to stay afloat, though with virtually no success as the heavier Fire-type weighed her down. Tikal's Croconaw and Charmeleon were nowhere in sight, likely further inside the structure, while her Nidorino continued to sunbathe outside of the castle, waiting for the others to finish their play time.

Upon his request to receive help in getting up, Tikal followed along in his little plan, extending out her hand to help him up as he had asked. However upon doing so, the girl was almost immediately pulled down by her companion, flipping over onto her own back, and staring up at the rubbery ceiling in a slight daze. Laying there for a few moments, the girl suddenly laughed, rubbing her eyes with one of her hands.

"Okay okay... now we're even, okay?" she asked, slowly pushing herself up onto her back into a sitting position, and looking over at Darius with a small smirk. At least he had eased up a little bit, versus the more strict and almost tough man that she had first seen earlier in the day.

This post has been edited by rt117: Jul 7 2013, 10:21 PM

[Captain Combuske...]

Zack knew that he was late, but he didn't care. Just the experience of being at an event like the Grand Invitational was enough for him. The 18 year could name all the different types of rock in the Furoh region, but when it came to life experience, he wasn't quite so hot. Whilst he had big dreams of travelling and achieving something with his life, he struggled with the motivation to get out and do things. He was only at the Invitational because his father had practically dragged Zack to the Dragonite Express Transportation building back in Arasam. Zack was grateful for that. Being here was much better than sitting at home or working in the mines. He enjoyed both those things, of that there was no doubt, but maybe this event could finally kiclstart Zack's Pokemon journey, which was something the man needed to.

Zack currently stood in front of a small cabin. The luxury hotel was extremely pricey for most people, and Zack's father couldn't afford the costs of staying there, so Zack had rented out a slightly more rustic abode. The cabin was tiny but comfortable, and Zack's stuff was sage inside. It stood in a small field with other similar cabins, all of which were owned by a respectable company, so the man wasn't worried about his things. He had just left the cabin to go and explore the stalls of the Invitational. He had admitedly already missed out on quite a few battles, but the big ones were still yet to come, and they would be excellent to watch.

Zack had decided that he didn't want to explore alone, so he had decided to give Olympus a bit of fresh air. He had thought about letting his other Pokemon out, but Kodo was very shy, and Zack was afriad that the little guy might get a little scared of the business of the event, and he didn't want to have to deal with Arthur's tricks, so Olympus was the only one out of his Pokeball. The energetic little Torchic jumped around with enthusiasm at his surroundings. Zack couldn't help but smile at his starter Pokemon. The Torchic clearly loved life, and it made Zack happy to see it.

"Ol, buddy, if you jump around much longer you're gonna break something!" exclaimed Zack
"Chiiiiick! Tor-chick-tor!" replied Olympus, which Zack could only assume was a reply of denial.
"Hehe, come on mate, let's explore."

And with that, Zack and Olympus left the cabins, heading towards the main Invitational site.

[The Rose Crusade...]

Aaron was exhausted as the boat pulled into the Petropolis harbor. Seasickness was the main cause of his grief--Aaron had never actually travelled by boat in his life before, he was most certainly not expecting the endless ebb and flow of the ships's constant movement. Grayson, on the other hand, had really enjoyed the trip, taking advantage of the open air and gliding around the boat as it hurried along. Regardless, the trip was finally ending, and as soon as the boat hit the shore, Aaron bolted from the deck and into the city of Petropolis.

Although he had grown up in a major city, no brochure could have prepared him for the sprawling city that was Petropolis. Grayson was loving the open air, but rested on Aaron's shoulder in order to make sure he didn't lose sight of his trainer amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. All of the light posts seemed to display the same flag--inviting trainers to the Petropolis Grand invitational. Although it appeared that the actual tournament had already began about a week ago, Aaron was certain it was still going on. Maybe he could be able to find a battle or two himself, who knows.

As he followed the flags and made his way to the battle site, Aaron and Grayson could not help but notice that despite how impressive the city looked at first glance, it was full of a lot of shady people and going-ons. Aaron and Grayson couldn't help but look over their shoulders as they walked through the streets, feeling as if they were being watched. Aaron thought more than once about putting Grayson back in his ball for protection, but it was their first time in a new region--he wasn't going to stop his best friend from checking out the scene.

As Aaron finally reached the battle area, the city started looking a lot cleaner and less shady. It seemed as if the money plugged into this event had created a sort of safe haven at the battle site, where normal looking trainers from all over could relax without the fear of being robbed. The first thing Aaron saw as he approached was a black trainer with a scarfed Torchic running around like a crazy pokemon. Grayson, being high on excitement energy, took off from Aaron's shoulder and tackled the Torchic playfully.

"Oh geeze, I'm so sorry," Aaron started as he ran after Gligar. "He's just a mischievous little fellow is all. He really means no harm"

[Captain Combuske...]

The Petropolis Grand Invitational was truly stunning, Zack and Olympus spent most of their time simply gazing at the vast array of brightly coloured stalls and beign amazed at the sheer scale of the event. There were stalls everywhere, battles going on all around them, the Contest stage which was simply stunning in its own right and hundreds of trainers and people milling about. Zack's natural quietness meant that he didn't interact much with other people much, but there was something about the atmosphere at the Invitational that was just so friendly, so animated, that it made him feel a little more open to other people. He was still far from talkative and chatty, but he had noticed that he was being far more sociable than he usually was. Maybe it was the fact that most of his time at home was spent home alone or in the mines working mostly by himself. Zack didn't know. He just knew that the Invitational looked set to be extremely good for him.

It was early afternoon presently, and Zack was looking at a colourful stall advertising special types of Pokeball from Johto. Olympus was running excitedly around Zack's feet. Zack was about to approach the stall to talk to its vendor when he heard a startled yelp from Olympus. Zack, worried, turned around and saw a large Gligar smothering his Torchic playfully. Olympus, who originally was angry, changed mood quickly when he saw that the Gligar's actions meant no harm, and began attempting to play with the Flyscorpion Pokemon. Zack turned round to face a young man headed his way. The man was about the same height as Zack and had jet black hair. He was smiling apologetically.

"Oh geeze, I'm so sorry," said the man. "He's just a mischievous little fellow is all. He really means no harm."

"Oh, that's fine, I'm used to it. I have a Pokemon who is quite naughty at times too. Besides, Olympus doesn't seem to mind" replied Zack.

[The Rose Crusade...]

Aaron sighed with relief at the fellow's ease with the situation. He knew Grayson could get out of hand, and was glad that the other trainer seemed to be used to this kind of behavior. The stall that he had been standing in front of featured a topic Aaron was very familiar with--Apricorn balls. Falkner had always encouraged his gym trainers to use them, as they were most traditional and had character, whatever that meant. Also, buying them had meant supporting Kurt of Azalea Town, who refused to use modern technology to make his balls, opting instead to use old-fashioned artisanship. As yet another example of his rebellion against his father, Aaron had specifically chosen to use a regular pokeball for his captures to prove that modern day technology was just as good as any of the old crap his dad still wanted to use. Still, Apricorn bals were pretty

"You thinking about buying an Apricorn ball?" Aaron queried as the two pokemon continued to play. "MY name's Aaron. I'm from Johto actually, and can tell you that these things are the real deal. Each of them have different, specialised effects on the pokemon they hold," Aaron explained. He wondered for a moment if any of these stalls might hold the item he had been searching for--the Razor Fang. He knew it would help Gligar grow exponentially stronger, but until this point had had not been able to find one. They were very rare items, and judging from his track record, he knew wasn't going to have an easy time finding one.

After the trainer answered Aaron's question, Aaron was tapped on the shoulder by a short man wearing a white labcoat. He had very large, horn-rimmed glasses, and a bit of a hunched back. He was old, definitely old, and looked sort of pathetic and helpless in the way that he had approached the two trainers. On his shoulder sat an interesting looking pokemon, the likes of which Aaron had never seen. It was sort of like a Pikachu and a Pachirisu combined, but smaller. It looked longingly over at Torchic and Gligar playing, and like the old man, Aaron sort of felt sorry for it.

"Excuse me young gentlemen...." the old-timer began. Yup, this guy could've been a sage at Sprout Tower. He was that old. "My name is Angus. I am a scientist trying to transition into being a pokemon trainer. I came here at this competition to see as many battles as I can to understand the art of battling, but it appears as if all of the battles going on are sold-out crowds. Would you mind doing an old man a favor and showing me a battle between your pokemon?"

"Trying to transition to being a trainer? He's like 70 years old!" Aaron thought to himself. This guy was really eccentric--no, odd would be a more apt term. But even though the old guy gave him the creeps, but he could never say no to what sounded like a dying man's last request.

"Sure, of course we can. That is, if you're up to it?" Aaron said towards the trainer with a smirk. He looked like the type of trainer who'd be up for some fun, especially if his pokemon was as jolly as it was. As weird as the old man and circumstances had become, Aaron was excited to finally battle someone.

This post has been edited by The Rose Crusader: Jul 9 2013, 06:27 PM

[Living Arrow]

“Thanks, Nurse Joy.” Lori bobbed a polite curtsey, taking up her green-capped Pokeballs and minimising each before clipping the four to her belt. The balls were still slightly warm from the make-shift Pokemon Center’s healing machine, almost giving the impression that they were giving off the heat of the creatures within while they waited patiently inside them. “Is everyone OK?”

“Well, they’re just fine.” The nurse bowed her head in perfect time with her partner Chansey. “Please look after yourself and we hope to see you again!”

Lori smiled and made her way out of the healing tent and back into the main tournament village, pondering over those words.

*You hope to see me again? But wont that mean that my Pokemon are hurt? She hopes my Pokemon get hurt… weird…*

“Hmm?” Lori stopped her aimless wandering not long after it began, her eyes halting their lazy drifting over the crowds and stalls to land on a black and white Pokemon on an old man’s shoulder. It was so so adorable, Lori couldn’t help but grin, that an indetification from her Unovadex was in order.

[Emolga. The Sky Squirrel Pokemon. It glides on its outstretched membrane while shocking foes with the electricty stored in the pounches on its cheeks.]

“Emolga, hmm?” Lori read the extended description on her handheld device, finishing the entry with the regional data. Her eyes widened. “U…U…UNOVAAAA!” She cried, triumphant in her latest discovery of the list of Pokemon she had been sent to investigate. With a skip, she ran to the old man who was talking to two boys.

“Excuse me, sir?!” She hopped on the spot with unrestrained excitement. “If you caught that Emolga somewhere in Furoh, please will you tell me where!?”

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Jill couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she watched Tag gleefully throw down money to improve the skillset of his pokemon. Spending money to improve his team didn't surprise her, but she definitely figured Tag to be much better at holding his alcohol. When he finished paying for his new toys, she just smiled at him. "Mind if I have a go now? Then beers."

She looked over the options, and, fortunately for her, didn't have nearly as many decisions to make. She only had three pokemon. "Looks like you have some TMs available?"

"Yeah," the man nodded. "They're more expensive, but you can use 'em as many times as you want. And, hell, you can even sell 'em after. Not to me, but, you know."

"Got it. Okay, so here's what I want.

Vinyl, her Weepinbel, needed more power. He had speed, and he had a way to boost his own strength, but what he really lacked was a powerful attack to make use of sunlight boosted Growth. He also had a way to heal himself very effectively, but it used up a turn, which was risky on such an offensive pokemon. He needed a better way to sustain himself, a way that wouldn't sacrifice his insane speed and offense.

"For Vinyl, I'll take Giga Drain."

Flare, her Vulpix, had power, speed and utility. She brought in sunlight just from being nearby. But, Jill noticed, Flare's abilities in battle dropped off after summoning the sun. She didn't have a powerful passive ability like Chlorophyll or Flash Fire. So, this particular move would allow Flare to copy her target's ability, which could potentially create massive opportunities for making plays.

"For Flare, Role Play."

That left Pele, the Ponyta. She had power, speed, surviveability. She lacked a few things. She lacked type coverage. Things which resisted Fire had to be dealt with using Bounce, which was far from a fast attack. But type coverage wouldn't be an issue as a Rapidash. She'd immediately learn Megahorn and Poison Jab, so she could at least deal with Psychic and Dark. Though, she didn't really need the extra damage against Grass. She could figure that out later, though. What Jill's team needed was another way of inducing the Sun. Knocking Flare out and then getting rid of the sunlight left her whole strategy impotent.

"Pele gets Sunny Day."

She paid for the two move tutor attacks and the TM (Sunny Day) and led Tag towards the concession where she found the beer. "Drinks are on me, if you want. I can't help but notice you just blew through a thousand bucks."

[Kamaitachi]

Tag allowed himself a smile.

"You know, a thousand bucks isn't that much to a travelling trainer. Every week, at least a dozen or so kids march up to me, and challenge me to a battle because I "look tough". They get their asses handed to them, and they angrily throw their parents money at me."

He flipped out another set of bills, handing the amount over to the beer vendor. Receiving the cups, he handed one over to Jill. "You can get the next round. Let's find a place to sit down."

[Douken Sota]

Blinking at hat occurred, Douken sighed at the wink that came from Cesc. Make it seem like its a competition, he thought before having to deal with lunch by himself. So, having to go by himself, he toured the facility of other outdoor restaurants. In the end, he found himself going to one called Sparkies, a pizza joint that, by what he would guess by the name, used electricity to cook the pizza. It was an odd concept, but it would have to do. He hadn't had pizza in a while.

As he waited for his order of a personal deep dish with sausage and pepperoni, he took a bottle of milk and took a sip as he watched the recaps of events. It showed nothing the prelims, so he still had no idea Lyla had participated. However, there were a collection of faces he did recognize. Tag was a big one, considering the tattoos made him stand out like a sore thumb. Then there was the kid with Lyla earlier.... A doctor and guitarist? Well, both of them seemed nuts at least. Then it paned over to his battle with Lori, just in time for his order to arrive.

"That's you, right?" the server asked as he set down the order. "That was a really good fight. Hey, I bet you got a ton of strong Pokemon that need to eat as well, right?"

Thanking for the food and compliment, he said, "Sorry, but I take care of my own Pokemon's food. besides, wouldn't want any researcher types to spy in on what I have and plan a counterattack, right?" They both laughed at the comment before he walked away, the server giving off a quick sigh. Giving it a moment to cool, Douken took another sip and thought, But if that's true, then that means three of them have been revealed, leaving 5 at secret, though most would only expect another three.

the screen went to a current battle then: Darryn vs a girl named Branwys.What was funny was there was a kid who was starting the support cant for one side. But what made even littler sense was he started doing it for the other side too! "C'mon kid," he said, pulling off a slice, "If you are going to root, choose a side. You can't take both ends so freely." As for what side he was on, Cmon Darryn, you can do this! With a quick bite, he thought about the cahnces of actually being able to take him on himself.

This post has been edited by Douken Sota: Jul 12 2013, 09:52 AM

[Toogee]

"Interesting. I also started with my Charmander, though he had been given as a gift." Tikal noted, following the man's gaze over toward their Pokemon, her Jigglypuff seeming to struggle to stay aloft with Bindy holding onto her foot. Almost immediately the pink Pokemon puffed up, flapping her small pudgy arms in an attempt to stay afloat, though with virtually no success as the heavier Fire-type weighed her down. Tikal's Croconaw and Charmeleon were nowhere in sight, likely further inside the structure, while her Nidorino continued to sunbathe outside of the castle, waiting for the others to finish their play time.

Upon his request to receive help in getting up, Tikal followed along in his little plan, extending out her hand to help him up as he had asked. However upon doing so, the girl was almost immediately pulled down by her companion, flipping over onto her own back, and staring up at the rubbery ceiling in a slight daze. Laying there for a few moments, the girl suddenly laughed, rubbing her eyes with one of her hands.

"Okay okay... now we're even, okay?" she asked, slowly pushing herself up onto her back into a sitting position, and looking over at Darius with a small smirk. At least he had eased up a little bit, versus the more strict and almost tough man that she had first seen earlier in the day.

Darius remained on the floor, his hands behind his head. He too had a smirk, satisfied for getting the last laugh. He was in no rush to get up, allowing his body to bounce up and down with the movements of surrounding visitors.

“So, see anything interesting in Furoh? I’m looking out for some high adventure where ever I go.” Though he usually let fate decide his destinations, that didn’t mean Darius couldn’t have a list of stuff to do should fate choose somewhere specific.

Meanwhile, Bindy was using the jigglypuff’s attempts to float to jump even higher. The charmander pressed hard onto the floor, then leaped up. This allowed Jigglypuff to float to a certain height, before crashing back down to the floor to repeat the process. Bindy was having loads of fun, cheering every time she soared into the air.

[Captain Combuske...]

Zack saw the relief on the boy's face and smiled inwardly. It was always good to be on good terms with people. The boy then introduced himself as Aaron, and explained that he came fromJohto and knew all about the Apricorn balls on the stall Zack had been looking at. Zack found it interesting, but he didn't have a great deal of spare change with him, so couldn't afford to buy any of the Pokeballs.

"Nah, I was just browsing really," he said. "It's nice to meet ya, though, Aaron. It's interestin that you're from Johto though. I ain't met a guy from Johto before."

Zack felt as if Aaron was going to continue talking, but as he was about to, an ancient manand his Emolga approached the two boys, asking if they could battle for him, as he was transitioning to becoming a trainer. Zack was a little uneasy at this suggestion. None of his Pokemon were that experienced in battle, and he wasn't sure if they were ready for that yet, especially Kodo, who was very shy and preferred not to fight. When Aaron asked Zack if he wanted to battle, Zack sighed inwardly. There wasn't really going to be any avoiding this battle.

"Yeah, sure. Ain't like I got anythin else to do. Olympus, return."

Zack returned Olympus to his Pokeball. He wasn't sure that he wanted Olympus battling first. Olympus was easily Zack's strongest fighter, and he wanted to keep the fiery little guy's energy for later. Zack still wasn't sure about Kodo, so he decided that Arthur would be his best shot to open.

"Ready when you are, dude," he said, grasping Arthur's Pokeball in his hand.