Ask to Join Johto League Tournament

[CharlieDawg]

Tick tick tick...
The clocked ticked on for minutes in the Pokémon league registration center. The poor security guards on duty that day were shivering in their boots as they anticipated the mass crowd of people arriving shortly. The magnet train pulled up to the station and one guard attempted to flee, but was held back by two others. It was impossible to tell the doors had even opened, as all light in the train was blocked by a wave of trainers and Pokémon. As everyone bolted out, one trainer suspiciously walked behind the others as they all ran to the registration booth. "Come ere wheezing," the young teenager, about 16 whispered to his Pokémon as he crept around the front of the building. He had long black hair that draped over his face, tons of freckles, and a nice, purple collard shirt that completely contradicted his hair and face. "Use poison sting," he told his wheezing as he pointed at a man with 8 badges in hand. Pew! A singular needle hit the target directly. The man slumped over, unconscious, but no one even noticed as he got right back up almost immediately afterwards. Once he came to the conclusion that he simply tripped for a second, he checked his hands and pockets but there were no badges to be found. "Nice one," was all the boy said as he and his wheezing snickered, badges transferred into his convenient front pocket. "Badges and trainer card please," the young man at the front desk said. The boy slapped his badges onto the table along with his card and left. "I'm gonna crush this tournament or my names not Ray," the boy said to himself as he walked into the lounge room with the other trainers.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

Scarlet finnaly made it to the end of the monstrous cave known as victory road(though the road isn't exactly a good title for it) and madness it through to the front entrance. He made it up to the first guard, and flashed his bag case. When asked to open it, the case showed a total of 8 badges, all of which are from the johto region. A full team of 6 waited in their poke balls, as scarlet went up to the league registration desk. "Man, if only I knew I didn't have to go through the cave, I could've saved myself at least a few hours of traveling." The boy thought out loud. "Well at least I still have the team." The velvet haired boy said, checking his pokeballs.

 

[CharlieDawg]

Ray sat in the lounge room relaxing and keeping to himself as the other trainers chatted, some even trained. The main entrance had mainly been cleared out, though it took hours, if not days to set up even the preliminary matches, so there was no point in getting battle spirits up too early. He decided the lounge was getting much too cluttered for his liking, so he stepped out to get some fresh air. He spotted a boy at the registration desk with six pokeballs on him as well as a fairly long line behind (of course not as bad as before). He decided to make conversation with the boy who was just leaving the regestration counter. "Well hello there. I'm Ray and I'll be participating in this tournament as well. Want to grab a bite to eat or something with wheezing and I?" Ray said formally

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

Scarlet turned to see a blacked haired trainer somewhere around his age asking him to eat. "Oh, sure. Although I don't think there's too many options all the way out here." He saw the boy had a weezing with him. "Hey, I thought you couldn't have pokemon that big out in the lobby. Whatever, I'm down to grab something to eat just give me a second so I can register real quick." He said, pointing to the slowly decreasing line in front of him.

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Ah right. I guess I left in such a hurry I forgot to even write MY name down. I simply registered my trainer card and badges. I'm such a dunce," Ray said as he stepped in line (ignoring the statement about wheezing and all the people behind them). "Anyway, what's your name? I hear there's a place with some killer slowpoke tail where we can chat more at. One reason I've come here is to make new friends," Ray said, though slightly untruthful. He simply wanted to use any means necessary to become johto's new champ and he was not below faking friendship. He could imagine Lance standing in that podium, ready to battle the winner of the tournament. His face got slightly pink with anger and excitement.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh, my names scarlet. And slowpoke tail sounds great. Anyway, we gotta wait through this line. We should be here for at least 3 more minutes." He looked in front of him, the line was definitely thinning. "Hey, what region are you from? I'm from johto myself." He asked the young man that seems to be trying to team up with him

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Oh well I'm from Kanto. I had been planning on becoming champion of Kanto. It was always my childhood dream. I would count the days until my 10th birthday would arrive, but one day Blue became champion and took the glory all for himself. Shortly after Red became champion and the whole region went wild. After that I was crushed. I travelled to johto recently... I mean I've been here for a while, you know, collecting badges..? Heh...," Ray replied scolding himself silently for almost slipping. In reality, he had come to johto a couple of weeks ago in search for something to do, something to make him happy again. That was when he found the league

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh, nice. I never actually thought of becoming a champion or anything like that. The only reason I'm actually here to test how strong my team is, I actually dream of becoming a chef in a few years." He saw how the line in front had finnaly dissapeared. "Oh, it looks like it's our turn to register." He turned and went to the desk, giving his trainer card and pokedex.

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Huh that's new. Never heard of a chef at the Pokémon league before," Ray said, continuing the small talk as he slipped his card and dex onto the second regestration counter. "Uhh Ray... yup you check out A ok. You two are lucky. Sign ups are almost closed," the man running the booth said. "Thank you sir," Ray quickly, but politely said, hoping no one would get suspicious of his badges or legitimacy at the tournament. "Hey Scarlet, I hear this restaurant is sorta far into the complex, here let me take you," Ray said quickly as he dragged scarlet by the hand away from the booth.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh uh, alright." Scarlet responded as he let himself be dragged by Ray. "So uh, ray. What ever made you think of becoming the champion?" Scarlet asked, not knowing what to say. "That's a pretty big dream for a little kid to have, let alone carry it through their life, Dont ya think?"

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Well Scarlet, if you're interested, then I'd be happy to have a conversation about it," Ray said plopping himself down into a booth in the semi fancy restaurant, and almost shoving scarlet into the booth opposite. He gave a short pause to let the adrenaline wear off before starting his story. "My dad was a master Pokémon trainer... his skills were above any trainer. I believe that he could beat even the strongest, including Red. That is, if he was alive. He joined up with the malicious gang, team rocket, in a last resort attempt to support our family. I'll spare the details, but our last meeting was 3 years before my 10th birthday. He left me a single pokeball and told me not to open it until I was 10. My mom, afraid it was something Team rocket had set up opened it, only to find a hurt and abused koffing. Turns out my dad had saved it for me. Saving that Pokémon cost him his life. Those horrible people... let's say made him disappear forever. Ever since that day, I vowed to be the strongest trainer of all time, to protect myself and my future family from harm. Anyways, I always go too far when I talk about this stuff. After all, I've just met you. What made you want to become a chef?" Ray asked, slightly embarrassed at his rant, yet not surprised (as he almost always made it his mission to tell anyone and everyone his life story).

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Well, it's certainly no grand tale like your story." Scarlet chuckled to himself. "I always just enjoyed cooking and eating food, and since I knew I had talent I decided I should make profit out of it." At this time a waitress came by and delivered their menus and asked what they would want to drink. Scarlet responded by saying cappuccino coffee, and begun to examine the menu. "Damn, food here is really this expensive? Not that I really care about price but I hope it's at least a decent meal if they charge us this much."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"I'll have a lemonade," Ray said blandly, as though he had no interest in anything going on. Really, he was still embarrassed about his whole fiasco with the story. He knew he shouldn't be putting such heavy information on others, but he knew what a dream was, and he did something unexpected. "Here," Ray said as he slipped a wad of cash containing 10,000 dollars towards Scarlet. "Use it in some way to complete your dream. Take a trip, try some good food, I don't know," Ray said quietly so no one around heard what was going on.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

Scarlet was certainly surprised to get this decent amount of money(ignoring the fact that 1000p is equal to $10) "oh, thanks. You sure you just wanna give me money? We just met." He resumed examining the menu. "Oh, this looks great. Sautéed slowpoke tail with molted swadloon leaves covered with a sauce of pomeg and Cheri berry sauce. That sounds excellent."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Yeah man, you could probably use it better than I could. You owe me some free food when you become a chef though. Anyway, I think I might try the steamed slowpoke tail with a fresh Razz berry sauce and the pansage herbs. Just like my mom used to make at home,"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Your mom must've been pretty good at what she did, that's not exactly something you can whip up with leftovers in a few minutes." At this time the waitress came back and asked them what they were going to order. She then left to tell the chefs so they could prepare it. "I'm actually surprised this place is as busy as it is, slowpoke tails only just recently became legal. It's almost a little suspicious..heh. Anyway the food looks great."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Agreed! My mouth is watering like crazy. And yeah my mom is a great cook. Just one of the duties of being a mom. Well, I guess we did come here to chat a bit. If you're ok asking, where in Johto are you from? I lived in Goldenrod for a couple years when I was first born. You know, before I moved to Kanto,"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"I'm from mohagany myself. I hear goldenrod was a great place to live, I ever could've done it though, too bright and noisy for me to sleep. Hey, now that I think about it what would a kid raised in johto care about someone like red and blue?" Scarlet begun trying to think of why a kid would care about someone across the falls.

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Well I did live in kanto most of my life, but my main reason is... well..." "Hi! Your food is ready! You ordered the steamed slowpoke with Razz sauce and pansage herbs? Here ya go! And for you sir the sautéed slowpoke. Just tell me if you two need anything else!" "Thank you!" Ray said. "Let's talk about this later. The food looks even better in person!"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh yeah, this looks great!" Scarlet begun to dig into his food, grabbing chunks from one muscle to the next. "Man this sauce is great. I gotta come here again sometime." After finishing his meal, the waitress came back with the checkbook. Scarlet then paid for his meal, a satiable 50,000p.

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Howy cwap," Ray said with a mouthful of food, some of which had dribbled into his lap as he made his exclamation. "I wan mah money bwack. How te *gulp* heck did you pay for that?! I could've split it ya know? I brought my wallet!" (Which composed of 10 percent hard earned cash and 90 percent stolen money that Ray had acquired by scamming and petty thievery). During his talk, Ray let Wheezing out to lick up his scraps. It attracted a few gasps from others, as having a Pokémon larger than a raichu out in a restaurant was generally not accepted.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Eh? It's simple really. Whenever you battle a trainer you're supposed to give 5% of your money to the victor. My team is good, so we fight a lot to get paid a lot. If you really want the money back, you can have it, I don't really care."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"I was just kidding man. Keep it. Welp, we should probably be making our way back to the front now. I'm not sure if the PA system goes all the way back here and we need to know when the preliminaries start. Wanna head to the Pokémon center just left of the lobby? I'd like to meet your team you've been talking so highly of. I'll show you the rest of my friends as well,"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh alright. Don't get your hopes up, we're nothing special. My pokemon are just strong on their pawn part." Scarlet responded as he exited the building. "But on one condition: you gotta show me your team too."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"You got it. My team's been cooped up in these pokeballs all day anyway. It's best to get them some fresh air. Oh look at that. I just received a text from my friend Arman on my Pokégear," (Took him long enough to steal HIS set of badges. He's lucky they let him in past sign up time). "I guess I forgot to mention him earlier. We're childhood friends who both had the same dream of becoming champion. I guess you could even consider us rivals," Ray said. (This was truthful. They had grown up together, but they were more partners then friends. Ray's second most important goal after beating Lance was crushing Arman beneath his feet). "We should get a move on. It'll take a few minutes to get to the Pokémon center and I'm itching to meet your comrades,"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Yeah. Let's get going!" He then started to run back to the league, hoping Ray could catch up. "Man, I can't wait to crush some kids in the prelims!" Scarlet thought out loud. ( @Gamefreak1996, @koopa000 anyone want to join?"

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Yeah! Let's kick some 12 year-old behind!" Ray yelled as he ran side by side with Scarlet. Out of breath and completely exhausted, Ray and Scarlet reached the Pokémon center. Arman, a tall, tannish skin 17-18 year old man with a whispy black beard, dark brown hair, a crooked nose, and a black jacket + pants with orange highlights came out and slapped Ray on the back. "How's it goin' big R?" "Nothin much my man A!" There was a pause before Arman looked towards Scarlet. "Well hello there sir! What might your name be?" Arman said as he reached a meaty hand out.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Oh..I'm scarlet." He took Armans hand and shook it. "So I'm guessing this is that friend you were talking about then?" He turned and asked Ray. "I gotta say you two really do stand out in a crowd." He joked

 

[CharlieDawg]

"Heh, yeah I guess so. We're some strange lookin guys. And to answer your question, yup. This is my pal Arman. He's from Sinnoh, so it was a long trip here," Ray said, waving his arms to show how long of a trip it was. "Which is why I personally think it's time to show off the partners that got us to this spot. How bout it guys?" Arman said. "Here here A man! Scarlet? You ready to show off the team?"

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"All right! Come on out guys!" Scarlet through his pokeballs into the air, and out came six different pokemon: a kingler, flygon, lycanroc, ursaring, simisage, and gliscor emerged, all posing gracefully together in one group around scarlet. "All right, these are my friends. Now show me yours."

 

[CharlieDawg]

First went Arman. "Show everyone your grace my comrades!" Arman said as he threw the pokeballs outwards as he spun causing a ring of Pokémon to form around him. From the pokeballs revealed a cacturn, seismitoad, togedemaru, rampardos, drampa, and his partner, a mega lopunny. Ray made a short whistle sound and said "You've been training quite a bit since we were kids. I still remember the day your mom helped you catch the buneary in your front yard. Good times," "Yeah, well these pokemon and I have grown together. We're not the same as when I was 10," Arman said with a slight smirk. "Guess that leaves me," Ray said as he sloppily tossed his pokeballs up into the air. Out came a pyukumuku, roserade, shedinja, flareon, steelix, and his partner wheezing. "The gangs all here," Arman said as all the Pokémon examined each other.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Aw, nice. Anyway I can't wait to get into the tournament coming up." He returned his party into their poke balls. "I hope we get to fight each other sometime during the whole thing."

 

[CharlieDawg]

"The preliminary rounds should be starting tomorrow. I doubt we won't come across each other at some point throughout the tournament. And when that happens, no more mr nice guy. I'll slam you two into the ground. Anyways, nice meeting you Scarlet. Adios Ray. And hey Scarlet, try to make it past the first round won't you?" Arman replied with a large grin as he perfectly threw his pokeballs back at his team, allowing them to return. "Hmph. What a show off… well, it's late afternoon. Probably about time we head to the participants hotel. You wanna room with me?" Ray said trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. It was time to make his move. He would have to precisely release the correct amount of wheezing's poison gas on Scarlet. He would be completely disabled for the entire tournament and that meant one less opponent for Ray. It was his plan the entire time.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"Sorry." Scarlet replied "I actually already booked a room with my freind Sasha, she wanted to room with me since we hadn't seen each other for a while." Scarlet hated to refuse, but his freind had helped him out before. "I dunno ray, maybe next time. Anyway, I gotta go. See you guys!" Schafer hastily said as he started heading up the stairs.

 

[CharlieDawg]

Crap. Ray's mind was clouded with anger. Who did this kid think he was huh? He stood in the hallway for minutes shuddering in complete disbelief and rage. All of this work, his money, his speech, his friendship! All of his plans had been set up for nothing. Then, he suddenly stopped shaking. He smiled and ran to his room on the 2nd floor. He thought to himself: I'd rather destroy this kid's hopes and dreams through battle than through my traditional means. "As Arman had said before, no more mr nice guy," he muttered to himself quietly as he snickered. He ordered room service for dinner, fed his Pokémon, watched one of Elesa's famous Unova modeling shows, and went to bed that night, mentally preparing himself for the day to come.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

Scarlet went up to where his freind said she was staying, and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a beautiful woman in her early twenties opened the door. "Oh hey kid. Come on in, we're setting up the tv." Scarlet came in, and checked out his temporary pad. Sasha turned to him and offered him a bowl. "Here you go, we got nachos." Sasha held the bowl out to him. "Oh thanks! Man, I met this one guy today with a weezing, I'm pretty sure he was trying to cheat me out of something." Scarlet started getting down on the nachos, and a Christmas special on fire type pokemon started.

 

[CharlieDawg]

While Scarlet was enjoying his time with this Sasha girl, Ray was having trouble falling asleep. He kept rolling around thinking about how he felt. Why did he even want to win so bad? To avenge his dad in a way? But was it fair to Scarlet... no of course not. He needed to make it up to him, but being the awkward person he was, he couldn't think of a way to do so. He thought, maybe I could ask to meet Sasha and really attempt a real friendship with the two. To be honest, I could use a few more friends. And on that note, he was comforted enough to fall asleep in hopes that the next day he could correct his wrongs and stop feeling so guilty.

 

[Joseph(JoJo)]

"So anyway, what did this new guy with the weezing try to do?" Sasha questioned scarlet, curious with his new story. "Well I mean he stood near me with this weezing out, even when we were eating. He could've been trying to paralyze me or something." Scarlet explained this plot out, telling his friend all about the young man with the weezing. "Oh well I know a good cure, just in case." Sasha smirked, throwing out a pokeball. 'Alright altaria use heal bell on scarlet, just in case!" The dragon pokemon chirped, chiming out a song that sounded similar to bells. A refreshing wave went over scarlet, and he felt much better. "Thanks Sasha. Anyway I've had a long day so I'm gonna get some sleep." Scarlet yawned. "All right. Night buddy!" Dismissed the girl 7 years older to her freind.

 

[Blxckwolf]

An 18 year old trainer named James was sleeping across the hall of Sasha. He and his Sceptile, named Eli, were discussing their battle plans for the league. "We don't know what we have to expect, but I believe in you alright? In all of you!" he says loudly as he lets Arcanine, Electivire, Tyranitar and Aegislash out of their respective Pokéballs. "I have pretty easily defeated every trainer before, the Elite Four can't be too difficult, can it? But the Champion though.." He thinks to himself, watching his Pokémon eat.

 

[CharlieDawg]

Morning finally arrived: the day of the first preliminaries. Ray didn't feel even a twinge of nervousness at the fact he would possibly be battling today, but rather he was nervous at the fact he had to greet Scarlet as a whole new person. He walked downstairs to the continental breakfast buffet and sat down, hoping that Sasha, Scarlet, and Arman would eventually find their way to the food. He also spotted a boy, probably a bit older than him feeding his team of 5 breakfast (including a large sceptile) right then and there. "You could maybe feed your behemoths outside ya know?" Ray muttered to himself as he got up, scanning the room for Scarlet, Sasha, or Arman.