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Ask to Join Pokémon: The Whirl Cup!

Nakano Saito​

Date: July 22 (26yo)
Location: Tornare Coliseum - Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo

Interactions: Theo Hightower (Sir Krazz), Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)


Naka took the phone and upon just seeing two seconds of it, she read it off as if the difficulty was trivial. "'Who will win, Aggron or Tyranitar?' Odd... The answer honestly depends on how well the Pokemon are trained and what moves they have. Both Pokemon are four times weak to Fighting-Type attacks and they both can learn some, most notably Brick Break. At that point, it's a matter of attrition or if one of them can brute force a win." She shrugged and handed back Charlotte's phone. "A friend, hm? The emphasis on friend tells me it's complicated." She gave Charlotte an amused grin before going back to massage her Swampert's shoulders, the mudfish practically relaxing more and more into her.

She then remembered the video she saw and looked at her with a confused expression. "So... I saw a video that had you in it, but I don't exactly believe what I saw. I'm assuming that Garchomp's the same from the video?" She nodded towards her Pokeball, having remembered seeing her send out a Garchomp to then be teleported by her Alakazam earlier. "I was going to ask you about what facility that was done in. I don't recognize that facility and I saw some video inconsistencies that didn't seem right. I don't believe - no matter how strong your Floatzel was as a Buizel at the time - can beat a Garchomp with a single Razor Wind. It's a strong Normal-Type move, sure, but it's not that strong. There are surely stronger attacks by virtue of being a different type to go against that four times Ice weakness Garchomp has, but I think that video was obviously doctored to make you look far stronger than normal, but I don't know why a company would do that unless they were doing something nefarious. Was the video doctored?" She asked, her voice a bit serious, but she still had that easy smile. She was being friendly, of course. Yet, there was that edge of concern in the slight furrow of her brow.

She uttered a sigh, whispering to herself but it was loud enough for the others to hear. "If it's another Team Rocket situation, I swear to Arceus."
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Charlotte (Charlotte)

So between badges and stamps there were 80 in total to collect, and of those 80 Naka had 16. “So its kinda like the badges and stamps are your marks of honor among the other trainers, and your performance in these League Conferences you mentioned are how well you actually do in the eyes of the rest of the people. The more badges you have the more experience in battle you have, and the more League Conferences you've performed in and the better you do the more recognizable you are. That about right?” If these conferences ran anything like the Whirl Cup, then this part of their society was even more combat orientated than he originally believed. He shook his head, chuckling. “Nah. Pictures don't scare me. Now if you were holding an actual snake in your hand that'd be a whole different story. Just a picture? Nah. I did like that rock snake by the way. He looked really cool.” Though he wouldn't say it was his favorite.

He did look to the Alakazam when it came over, Theo slowly stopping rubbing Acetone on poor Ludwig's hairs. “This is a....pokemon...right?” It looked so...human like. If you put a trench coat on it Theo was sure that from behind he wouldn't have been able to tell that it wasn't another person out doing their own thing. The scent of buttery goodness brought Theo out of his stupor, looking to the bucket of popcorn in his face and then back to the Alakazam. He was offering them popcorn? “Ooh. Um...no thanks. I...had a bad experience. Ludwig?” Just because Theo didn't want popcorn didn't mean the Ludicolo didn't. At the mention of Unown letters Theo jumped, covering his face with his arms and shrinking away from the others. “Ack! Where?!?” he cried, his Shinx feeling the sudden fear Theo felt and popping out of his pokeball, looking up at Theo with concern before rubbing up against his leg in an effort to help him calm back down.
 
Charlotte Pryce
Date:
July 22
Age: 21 years old
Location: Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokémon Team: Fernando (Infernape), Dini (Alakazam), Splash (Floatzel), Bolero (Roserade), Hatari (Luxray), and Tiburon (Garchomp)
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Theo (Sir Krazz)

At first, Charlotte said nothing. Her face didn't even change expressions. Part of it was being stunned by Naka's question. The other part was the amount of detail Naka noticed. When she mentioned Team Rocket, Charlotte laughed.

Splash and Dini froze. They had not heard their trainer laugh in months. Noticing everyone was staring at her, Charlotte stopped.

"Sorry. I can promise you Team Rocket is not involved in this. If they were, I wouldn't have gotten sued."

She turned to address Theo, who had been startled by Dini. "And yes, Dini is a Pokémon, specifically an Alakazam. Dini is just the nickname I gave him because he's an escape artist."

As if to prove it, Dini teleported away and back again.

"And to answer your questions, Naka, yes. That video was staged." She held up Tiburon's Poké Ball for emphasis. "This is Tiburon. She was the Garchomp from the video."

"The same one that tried to kill me six months ago," she mumbled. Although, anyone close enough would have heard it. Now that the Meowth was out of the bag, Charlotte spilled the whole story.

~Six months prior~

Location: the C.E.L.L, the main corridor, Sinnoh Region

This is a really really really dumb idea.

Charlotte's Alakazam was eyeing her judgmentally.

"Wait. Can you read my thoughts?"

Hardly, her Alakazam's expression said, you're just very transparent.

Charlotte sighed. The lab coat she was wearing was way too tight. She pushed the fake glasses she was wearing closer to her face. She was certain anyone standing at close range would see through this disguise immediately. Fortunately, she wasn't planning on getting close.

"Okay. Let's do this."

If anyone asked, she was Lucille Diamond, the same name as the one on her fake ID. Posing as an intern to sneak into a company and gather evidence of a Battle Enhancement scam was probably illegal, but Charlotte didn't have a choice. Director Topaz had declined all interviews, and the authorities said they couldn't investigate without probable cause. If the Center of Enhancements for Life and Limb wasn't going to play fair, then neither was she. And yes, that was the company's name.

"Ready, boy?"

Her Alakazam nodded. Raising the spoons in his hands, the space around Charlotte began to turn shades of pink. It bent and twisted, giving Charlotte a faint nauseating feeling before Dini teleported her anyway. A moment later, she and the Alakazam were in the storage closet of the C.E.L.L building. The last time Charlotte was here, she and Dini explored every nook and cranny for places to hide. Teleport was a great move, but it required Alakazam to see the location and properly store it in his memory for it to work. Charlotte picked this storage closet because it wasn't locked, and the hallway it led to had the least foot traffic compared to the other corridors in the building. She creaked the door open just a sliver to allow one eye to see outside.

"All clear."

Dini followed close behind. These corridors were too narrow to allow multiple Pokémon to walk through them. Even if they were wide enough, Charlotte didn't want to attract unnecessary attention. One Pokémon was already suspicious enough.

The lab was just down the hall. If she could get to it, the police would have all the evidence they needed. Suddenly, there was a rumble coming down the hallway. Charlotte's blood froze. A whole bunch of people were running towards them. Nuts! Charlotte braced herself for the inevitable tackle, but it never happened.

"Run!"

"Every man for himself!"

"What the--?"

Charlotte's unfinished question was answered by the crazy-eyed dragon Pokémon that came barreling after the panicked lab workers. Charlotte recognized it as Garchomp, the land shark Pokémon and perhaps the strongest non-legendary Pokémon in Sinnoh. Only this Garchomp did not look normal. Its pupils were dilated, and a weird black smoke-like foam was dripping out of its mouth.

"Lord Arceus."

Dini was staring in awe too, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

The Garchomp twitched its head in Charlotte's direction and roared. It sounded like a crazed banshee or a dynamaxed Exploud. Charlotte wasn't sure which. The Garchomp charged at them, banging its wings against the walls and scratching the ground. What was wrong with it? This was not how Garchomp behaved. One thing was for sure, it needed help. Just as long as it doesn't tear us to shreds first...

~Present~

"I had never seen anything like it. I mean, I've heard of Shadow Pokémon and the Team Rocket experiments before, but this." Charlotte took a breath. "This was insane."

"Before I could even say anything, it attacked. Dini teleported in front of me to protect me. After one hit from Dragon Tail, he was knocked out. I called out my Luxray next, but she barely lasted five seconds. The whole thing was a combination of running away and fighting for our lives. We ended up getting cornered near one of the laboratories. Tiburon knocked over some canisters and they leaked gas everywhere. When we hit a dead end, I was down to this girl."

Charlotte rubbed Splash's head. Telling this story was bringing up a lot of memories, but it felt to tell her side.

"Tiburon had slowed down. I think the drugs were wearing off, or maybe it was the gas in the canisters. Either way, the Garchomp fainted after Splash used Razor Wind. I threw a Poké Ball at her, took some of the X All drugs--the ones that made Tiburon crazy--and booked it to the nearest Pokémon Center."

Charlotte sighed. "I thought that was the end of it, but I guess there are some conflicts that a Pokémon battle won't fix."
 

Nakano Saito​

Date: July 22 (26yo)
Location: Tornare Coliseum - Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo

Interactions: Theo Hightower (Sir Krazz), Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)


Naka nodded at what Theo had said earlier about the badges. He got the gist of it pretty damn well. Though, it was a bit sad he wasn't scared of pictures of snakes. Well, he might just need to grab an Ekans then.

At Theo's question on the Alakazam, she nodded. "Yup, full Pokemon." Ludwig got some popcorn and ate some, feeling rather content. Though, Naka looked at Theo strangely with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile when he said he had a bad experience. "You need to tell me this later." She chuckled, only for her eyes to widen at his outburst about the Unown. Ludwig grabbed his shirt and pulled, shaking his head. "Yeah, you don't have any on you. It's on her phone as a picture." Well, she at least knew he had a trauma about Unown. Poor guy.

Back to Charlotte, she hummed. Charlotte's laughter left her smiling a bit easier, thankful it wasn't. But considering it wasn't Team Rocket, that was also bad. The fact that she was correct had her jaw tensing despite her polite smile. But that smile fell as she listened to Charlotte's story, especially when she heard that Garchomp had nearly killed her.

C.E.L.L. ... Center of Enhancements for Life and Limb...

When her story was over, Naka was lost in thought. "You snuck into a facility of this C.E.L.L. to get their X All battle enhancements which were illegal, to find Tiburon had been experimented on with this, likely set loose to stop you from finding their enhancements... And the gas... Might have made the X All inert."

She looked at Theo, explaining a few things. "Shadow Pokemon is what happens when a human abuses a Pokemon and artificially closes the door to their heart. In a way, they turn these Pokemon in to violent psychopaths hell bent on destroying and killing everything in their path. If you have one, you have to have a damn good reason for having one, and you can't use it in tournaments for obvious reasons. It may go after the audience member, or you." She sighed, her Swampert and Ludicolo picking up on her tension and staring at her warily.

"There are these battle items called X... Well, X Attack, X Defense, X Speed. They're essentially gel-like pills the Pokemon takes and they increase their battle efficiency for that specific thing mid-battle. The names are pretty self explanatory, then there's Guard Special, which just prevents your Pokemon from being hit by a critical hit." Once things were explained, she looked back at Charlotte, her gaze serious.

"C.E.L.L. honestly shouldn't exist. What an acronym. I think I have heard something of their existence in Sinnoh, and that's probably why you were familiar." She smiled softly. "Nice reports on the psychology stuff, by the way." She moved on, her smile fading. "Here, if you need my help in dealing with them, let me know." She pulled out her phone, giving Charlotte her phone number. "I despise people like them. They can't be doing this for some happy-go-lucky thing for everyone. There is something up with them. If they think they can end my career, they can think again. I'm a lot more careful and Professor Rowan and Lucas know me very well and will vouch for me, along with Professor Oak to an extent. Hell, I'm known as the Guardian Researcher in Sinnoh." She smirked.
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Charlotte (Charlotte)

Theo didn't flinch when Ludwig lifted his shirt, looking down the hole of the shirt his head stuck out to confirm with his own eyes. Not that he didn't trust Naka, it was one of those things he wanted to see for himself. Given the lack of black letters Theo would sigh lightly, relaxing some as his shirt was let go of. He smiled down to Shinx, nudging the cat with his ankle. “Thanks Shinx” he wanted to reach down and pet the pokemon, but his hands were still covered in acetone. He still felt on edge, but that panicked feeling was slowly going away. He nodded to Charlotte when she explained that her Alakazam was a pokemon and where his name came from, guessing there was a magician somewhere here in this world that, at least at one point, was a Harry Houdini. They were both tossing around names he didn't recognize, but he did make a mental note of them. Team Rocket. One of those organizations Naka had mentioned? Arceus. That one was throwing him. The context made him believe it was a deity of some kind, but of which religion and which region's religion he didn't know. Tiburon/Garchomp. It was a pokemon, obviously, but which one? He listened to Charlotte's story as well as he could, but in all honesty all it did was confuse him. There were Shadow Pokemon too? And X drugs? He was going to ask about those and this C.E.L.L. Organization but thankfully Naka was there to elaborate. He chimed in on Naka's question/statement about what happened to Tiburon, not grasping the severity of what it meant yet for a pokemon to become a Shadow Pokemon. “Sounds like it. Girl's your every day James Bond. I bet she likes her martinis shaken, not stirred.” Gods he hoped there was a James Bond in this world.

He wasn't sure he liked the idea of X items, but if they were widely used then that was that. He nodded in agreement with what Naka was saying. “I agree. Ba..uh...C.E.L.L is...a thing that shouldn't exist. Who would want to abuse Pokemon?” How could someone abuse a pokemon was the better question. If a pokemon was backed in to a corner theoretically all it had to do was lash out with some of its power and no human could stand to that. Maybe they were scared? No good type of person should be able to scare a pokemon. “I'm still a newbie trainer, but I'll help however I can too.” He looked to Naka, a confused look on his face “Ok I've known you for like...three days now and this is the first I'm hearing about that. Got any other titles I need to know about Captain Miss Guardian Researcher of Sinnow?”
 
Charlotte Pryce
Date:
July 22
Age: 21 years old
Location: Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokémon Team: Fernando (Infernape), Dini (Alakazam), Splash (Floatzel), Bolero (Roserade), Hatari (Luxray), and Tiburon (Garchomp)
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Theo (Sir Krazz)


It was all Charlotte could do to keep herself from laughing at Theo's last statement. "Guardian Researcher of Sinnoh" was not an overstatement, at least from what Charlotte recalled. She saw Naka's name in a few articles back home, usually accompanied by a glorified headline. Researcher Strikes Back! Famous Researcher Strikes Again! Seriously, what was with all of the "back" and "again" headlines in Newsprint? It was like people didn't realize they meant the same thing.

"Thanks," she told Naka, accepting her phone number. "It would be nice to have someone watch my back. I've heard about your work in Sinnoh. Probably if you were the one who busted the C.E.L.L. operation, you would have handled it better."

She thought it was only fair now to address Theo's earlier question.

"People abuse Pokémon for several reasons, none of them good. Most of the time, it involves personal gain. People like Team Rocket and the workers at C.E.L.L view Pokémon as tools. If they get hurt or die to win battles or provide monetary incentives, that's just business. I don't know how Team Rocket justifies it, but I know the C.E.L.L. company produced medicines and funded a few research facilities to improve human and Pokémon relationships. I worked at one for a while during my college internships. That's when I noticed the Pokémon exposed to their X All capsules were acting strangely.
When I confronted the company director, she told me that sometimes sacrifices were necessary to improve the world for humanity. All that charity stuff was good for PR, but it didn't pay the bills. She figured no one would care that the capsules were addictive so long as their Pokémon won battles."

It wasn't until now that Charlotte realized she was clenching her fist. She let her muscles relax.

"Apologies. Addiction is...a sensitive topic for me. I lost someone I cared about because of it. I guess that's why I'm still trying to save a stubborn dragon who thinks of no one but herself."

Charlotte noticed Tiburon's Poké Ball was no longer fidgeting. Had she heard?

"Director Topaz of C.E.L.L. had no qualms about using that against me in court," Charlotte added. "Even with my evidence, the people saw what they wanted to see: an obsessed Pokémon researcher who sought to destroy a humanitarian company and injured a poor defenseless Garchomp."

She imagined Tiburon would have hated that. Most people who called her defenseless got their eyebrows singed or worse.
 
Last edited:

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​


Esther and her pokémon clustered around a table, feasting on an early lunch she’d bought from a café. Well, her pokémon feasted. Esther was more preoccupied with crunching numbers. Lots of numbers.

She currently had about $5,000 and an Everstone cost about $15,000. She’d need to earn $10,000 sometime between now and soon. Simple math, yea? But she had expenses, lots of expenses. She wasn’t big on cooking so practically all her meals, and by extension her pokémon’s meals were from eating out. The expense was...significant. Something near $100 every day? The whirl cup would’ve been a nice windfall but...sigh.

Hadn’t she been cutting back on her expenses? She’d only spent maybe...$500 on her ball capsules and seals, and the skyline, and the diving trip, and...okay, so maybe she wasn’t really cutting back. New plan! She’d need to rough it for a while, camping out, cooking instead of eating out, and she’d definitely have to earn some money.

The Whirl Cup was a bust but were there any other competitions around...? Unlikely right? No one wanted to compete against the Whirl Cup. So that left...what? the gyms? Gyms weren’t a bad option. She could earn at least $2,000 from each challenge...if she was successful. Maybe even more if she applied for one of the challenges. It would only take...three or four gym challengers...? Ugh, how was she going to get through that many gyms without Pyrrha? Maybe if she had an advantage?

What were the Johto gyms anyway? She’d just search them up on her pokétch and...great! The closest gym was Cianwood gym.

“A fudging fighting type gym, ugh!” After Pyrrha her most reliable fighters were Halay and Kasriel, both dark types. Hell, Kasriel was Dark-Normal, it’d be twice as bad for him! “We’ll have to skip i—Ow!”

Esther pulled away from where Halay had nipped her in the side. The trainer whirled around to level a glare at the dark-type, but her irritation evaporated at the expression on the Houndour’s face...anger, indignation...betrayal. Halay released a guttural growl filled with accusation.

“What do you mean I—no...you’re right. I have been hyper-focused on Pyrrha, and I haven’t been fair to the rest of you, but...no, no buts.

“Can you do it...?

The houndour looked almost offended but beneath the bluster, Esther could see steely determination.

“Pfff—, okay sorry for doubting you, big Miss. The next gyms are Fighting, Steel, and Ghost. Can you—well, I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“How about the rest of you? Ready to tackle storm some gyms!?”

A resounding cheer was what Esther wished would’ve happened. Instead, she barely got a whimper.

“Uhhh...?” Esther stared blankly.

Fudge! Who said being a trainer was easy!? Come out! She wouldn’t hit them, she just wanted to talk!

$5330

Pokéflute

PokéToy

Practice Ball

Seal Case

Everstone x 1 – $15,000.00
 

Nakano Saito​

Date: July 22 (26yo)
Location: Tornare Coliseum - Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo

Interactions: Theo Hightower (Sir Krazz), Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)


Theo's joke about Charlotte being James Bond had her snorting. "Ohh, I need to watch James Bond again." She mused before continuing on to a more serious expression. And Theo's confusion on who she was had her chuckling. She pulled out her phone and sent a couple articles she saved onto her phone. They were links that - if he clicked on - will take him to a digital newsletter, their language changing to fit his language.

Hearing Charlotte was willing to have her help and even mentioned how she'd have done better had her chuckling. "Well, I have a couple friends who work as P.I.'s and a few cops as friends. I'm sure I could have gotten them to listen if I had some substantial proof, but that also required sneaking inside. Luckily, I have a Pichu for if and when I need something like that done. But if I don't get any proof, I can't say shit. Don't want to get nailed with trespassing." She shrugged, letting Charlotte explain to Theo about Pokemon abuse and the evil teams. Naka saw her fist clenching and was staring at it until she relaxed.

"No need to apologize. My brother changed because of Team Rocket and one of my best childhood friends joined their ranks." Her lip curled, her Swampert remembered and he grumbled grumpily. She listened as Charlotte continued, humming a bit in contemplation. She turned to Theo, wanting to expand on Team Rocket.

"Team Rocket was first led by a guy named Giovanni. A businessman who saw Pokemon as tools, but understood that friendships went far enough to keep things loyal. However, he wanted to rule Kanto, then rule all of the world, which didn't happen, but he tried. People were so loyal to his cause that even after he disbanded the group, they stubbornly stayed until they were ran out of the islands south of Kanto - practically next door to Johto - and tried to take over the radio station here in this region three years later. Oddly enough, a good half of Team Rocket members cared for their Pokemon deeply, it was when they were dealing with others is when they turned into monsters, since most of them were practically headstrong bullies they picked up."

She then looked back at Charlotte, smiling. "I have a Zweilous that needs to evolve, as he's pretty close. Once he does, I know he'll get all crazy. Maybe I can help with training your Garchomp. For Dragon-Types, they are normally stubborn, it's in their nature to be the strongest thing there is and having a someone tell them what to do is like making something who is supposed to be an apex follow orders from someone they could snap in half like a toothpick. Considering you also caught the Garchomp and are trying to keep him from going back to those substances, you got your work cut out for ya." She laughed a little, shaking her head.

"Either way, I can help you with that, too." She pulled up a picture of a Garchomp and a Zweilous side-by-side and pointed her phone at him, realizing that Theo might not know what they're talking about. Once he got an eyeful, she returned her phone to her pocket.

"Might as well have you with me every once in a while, though I have people who need me in Sinnoh. I think they're running around Johto at the moment." She chuckled. "I'll be hopping back and forth between Johto and Sinnoh for this year. Let me know where you are and I'll help you for what you need. As for now, I suggest not being in Sinnoh. Not only do you have C.E.L.L. to worry about, but we also have a resurgence of Team Rocket popping up here and there, taking in new and older members who somehow made it out of being captured by police or who were released." She looked back at Theo, humming.

"By the way, just realized you're gonna be hitching a ride with me, too, until you get used to everything. We have until Cianwood City and its Safari Zone, which is basically a nature preserve that works on the preservations of nearly-extinct Pokemon, as well as help with ecological research. We'll be heading there. I heard the Safari Zone got new Pokemon in because of the Paldean Pokemon, so I want to find something like that there." She grinned, not being able to contain her excitement.
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Charlotte (Charlotte), Esther (Kyuukestu)

His Rotom phone dingalinged with the arrival of the text with the links from Naka, Theo raising an eyebrow. Who could that possibly be? “Rotom?” he asked, the Phone floating out of his pocket. “Text messages from Miss Nakano. Shall we read them now?” Theo shook his head, the Rotom Phone floating over to the other two produced phones and in the process sharing Theo's number with Charlotte's phone. As the two began discussing this Team Rocket he was going to interject and ask, but Naka was a step ahead of him. This Team Rocket was bad news. Like, seriously bad news. Enemies of all pokemon kind. “Like, seriously rule the world? That's a pretty lofty goal isn't it? You'd need an army of like...millions of people for that.” He didn't want to have to be the person who had to cook for that many people. And could you imagine if even a quarter of them had to use the bathroom all at once? “And what were they going to do with a radio tower?” Maybe a radio tower was something different over here. Maybe it was code. He loved a good code, then he remembered thinking something was in code was what wound him up here in the first place.

Great. Another new term to have to remember. Shadow Pokemon. “And these Shadow Pokemon. Do they...I...how can you tell them apart from a not a Shadow Pokemon? Is it a 'his face black his eyes red' type thing, or..?” He wanted to know what to look out for in case he ever came across what he thought might be a Shadow Pokemon. “And these X Items. X Attack and all. You give them to your pokemon mid battle like you said? How? Do you call a time out or how does that work?”

Some people saw pokemon as tools? He just didn't see how that was possible. No matter how you looked at a pokemon like Shinx for example, how could it possibly be used as a tool? Run on the hamster wheel that powered a calculator? And again if a pokemon were being mistreated, it should be able to easily vaporize the person abusing it. Unless there were people in this world so frightening that pokemon wouldn't stand up for themselves against them? Were there other “people” who were definitely not human but still fell under the category of being human? That was a scary thought. “So Team Rocket is the criminal organization to end all criminal organizations, and C.E.L.L. Is Big Phrama. “that's what he was understanding. He nodded when Naka told Charlotte not to apologize, though he himself couldn't relate. It had always just been him and his parents, and the occasional assistant out in the middle of literally nowhere for weeks on end. He nodded when Charlotte mentioned Director Topaz twisting the evidence against them to be used against Charlotte “Yep. Definitely Big Pharma.”

He looked again to Charlotte, grinning at the thought of dragon-type pokemon. He knew they were a thing from the video. He wanted to meet one. No, he wanted to meet them all. Dragons were...you know. Dragons! Dragons for crying out loud! Mythical dinosaurs! Which were just as cool as actual dinosaurs! This pokemon world was getting better and better by the minute, despite its evil organization and Big Pharma. Theo's attention went to the phone when it was presented, his own Rotom Phone also coming over to get a good look. It attempted to scan the two to get their data for Theo but failed. “Zwei...Zwee....Two heads here looks like they belong in the Beatles.” And Garchomp...he really couldn't put in to words. It looked like a land shark, which Theo wondered if that was its classification. Every pokemon seemed to have one from what he could gather from the pokedex app entries.

He nodded to Naka when she said he would be hitching a ride wit her, glad to hear that much. He liked hanging out with her. She was smart and friendly, and pretty easy on the eyes if he was being honest. Plus she tolerated him, which said more about her character than anything. He had always worried he annoyed his parent's assistants when they worked together, so he tried to keep it as professional as he could around them. That way when they were down with their work they could just walk away and he wouldn't mind. He perked back up when she said they were going to where some nearly-extinct pokemon could be found, a grin coming to his face. “Oooh. Nature preserve. Sign me up sign me up.” That was another thing to look forward to. It was a shame they wouldn't be able to catch any of the pokemon in the preserve, but he figured that was probably for the best anyway. Didn't want the almost extinct pokemon just being out in the wild. They needed to be kept safe from...well, people. You can't exactly keep them safe from nature.

He had been trying to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind, but the longer he tried ignoring it the more it was getting to him. He had kept up a brave face this entire time, but it was starting to be too much. With a light sigh, Theo would shake his head. “Hey guys...ladies, sorry...I...I need to go. I was....kind of an ass to that Esther girl. I should probably go and apologize. I'll...ya know, try to be back before its my go. If not then....I'll forfeit. It's fine. There'll be other tournaments. I'll get hands on experience some other way.” Did he want to forfeit the tournament and not participate? No. He wanted to battle. To experience first hand the thrill of the battle he had seen on the screen in the waiting lounge. But he needed to apologize more. He stood, telling Naka “Call me when they call my name, and I'll let you know if I'll be able to make it back.” He offered a quick wave to the two before heading off first to the bathrooms to wash his hands, Shinx mewing at the two ladies before following after his trainer.

Stepping out of the Whirl Cup trainer lounge, Theo looked both ways, muttering to himself. “Alright Theo. You're...I don't know. You want to get away from here. Which way do you go?” He looked left and right again, deciding he would have gone left. So he promptly headed right towards the city, realizing only now that finding one person in a town, however big or small one this size was, was going to be extremely difficult. Cmon Theo. Think! Your pokemon are injured. Assuming she didn't use the facilities in the trainer lounge, the only logical conclusion would be that she went to the pokemon center. It was the one with the...blue? No, red! Red roof. Yes! Getting to the pokemon center was easy enough. It was the biggest building up on the tallest hill. It took some time but he eventually made it just as a woman with pink hair wheeled a Krabby in to the back room, Theo wondering if it was the same one from the other day. He couldn't tell from the brief second he saw it, but he did recognize the species. A quick glance around revealed she wasn't here, at least in the main room. Dammit. Maybe she was...in the bathroom? No. he wasn't going in there to check, that was for sure.

Rushing up here did tire him out some, Theo taking a seat on a bench next to another trainer. “What was her deal anyway? Just because her boyfriend broke up with her doesn't mean she had to take it out on me and Krabby.” The trainer said, Theo raising an eyebrow and offering a light chuckle. “Let me guess. Bad day?” the trainer nodded “Th worst. Some crazy chick challenged me to a battle, then proceeded to wipe the beach with us. It was almost bullying I tells ya!” Theo again chuckled nervously. “Yeah that must really suck. Hey, where can I find her?” The trainer looked to Theo, wondering if this was the boyfriend that had dumped her. “Why, so she can knock you around too? On th beach. Do us all a favor, yeah? Next time you two have a spat, leave th rest of us out of it.” The trainer turned, done with Theo. Yeah. Yeah ok. He deserved that.

He sat there for a few more moments to rest before standing, deciding he should get down there before she left the area and he had no idea where to go next. As they left Shinx quickly stuck his tongue out at the trainer before following after Theo, almost getting his tail caught in the automatic doors. Of course she was on the beach. The farthest point from the pokemon center. It again took him some time to get down there, Theo leaning against the wall of the city when he finally arrived at the beach. This was too much walking. Maybe getting a bike wasn't such a bad idea after all. Pushing off the wall he began to walk the length of the beach, his Shinx pouncing every few steps in the sand. She couldn't have stayed near the city's entrance, noooo that would have been too simple.

Eventually he found her, though now that he had found her he wasn't sure how to actually go about this. Acting as if nothing happened was sure to get him punched in the face, though to be fair he probably deserved that. Naka had warned him that was a possibility, and given the choice between that and a battle he would take the punch gladly. If she had been a trainer for months and he had only been at it a few days she would clean his clock without even having to tell her pokemon which attacks to use. Thinking quickly, Theo decided on a course of action and cleared his throat to get her attention. He kept his distance, knowing she probably wouldn't want him to get too close to her. “H..hey. I'm just...I'll be quick and then I'll leave you alone, I promise. That back there...I was in the wrong. I was only seeing one side of what happened. I'm still new to this whole pokemon trainer...thing. You and I are alike, in that there weren't pokemon trainers where I'm from. It's taking some getting used to. I know I probably pissed you off. And if you wanted to punch me or tell me to 'fuck off and leave you alone' I'll totally understand. I deserve that. But I did want to find you and say I'm sorry. And I...I was wrong. I apologize. That...that's about all I wanted to say. I think? Yeah.”
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



“Okay, so let’s get this straight. Group up!”

The troupe shuffled around until they were divided into three groups. Halay and Pyrrha stood to the far right, the only ones among Esther’s team who actually wanted to tackle the gyms. Next to them in a central position were Susu and Pari, those two didn’t seem to have an opinion either way. And finally, to her left were Feebas and Bambi, neither seemed very fond of battling. Though...Feebas wasn’t really her pokémon.

Esther crossed her arms. “Okay, this is fine.” She’d need to do a bit of team shuffling, but that was fine. She’d find some time later to repeat this exercise with the rest of her pokémon and from there rebuild her active team around her more enthusiastic battlers. As for the others...huh, maybe there were some non-battle events they could participate in? She’d need to do some research later. For now, “Why don’t we head to the beach? I’m sure we can meet Feebas’ mom! She’ll be so proud!”

A desponded gasp told her that Feebas didn’t think so...or maybe that it really needed some water and she’d been pretty stupid to keep a fish pokémon on land for this long. It was probably both.

“Right...beach first, talk later!”



Come to think of it, “I never got a way to contact Milotic...”

While her pokémon wandered the beach, Esther stared out into the ocean blue. Was that a fin she saw on the horizon or were her eyes playing tricks on her? There really wasn’t anything she could do but wait...maybe head back to the Coliseum? No, the thought of that brought a scowl to her lips. She wasn’t going to slink back to the coliseum, tail tucked between her—Esther shook her head. There it was again, that anger. It would only grow stronger as Pyrrha drew closer to evolution. What had that Dragon Tamer said about Pyrrha’s evolution—Hakamo-o, was it?

They were violent pokémon; fighters’ whose brutality was only matched by their tenacity. They took pride in the scars and shattered scales they earned with each fight; each round of growth made them stronger—sharper. All the better to shred the opposition. Normal Hakamo-o were renowned. Pyrrha, with her half-Deino lineage, would be all the worse. Once that battle lust met her rage... Esther shuddered.

Already the emotion had bled through their bond, planting seeds of rage in Esther’s own person. She would need to be careful.

...

Esther kicked off her shoes, the sand was warm and gritty between her toes. She took three steps into the surf, where the sand was wet, and the waves could lap at her feet. It was calming.

“Halay, could you bring over my flute? Please?”

The pokéflute had been Esther’s original tactic for managing Pyrrha’s rage. It was a special flute that could awaken sleeping pokémon and had a calming effect. She’d heard there were other flutes with other effects and other items like the Soothe Bell, but she’d yet to come across any of them on her journey.

With only a few weeks of practice, Esther wasn’t any good at the flute; fortunately, the flute’s effects didn’t require any skill to activate. She only hoped the flute would be just as effective at calming herself as it had been with Pyrrha. Esther rose the flute to her lips and—"H..hey.”—Oh Arceus, not this.

Although she scowled, Esther’s expression eased as Theo continued.

“It’s...fine. You had a point, it was nasty—unsportsmanlike, but I already know that. I apologized to Naka before we left the battlefield. That said, I still won’t help her. That stain is proof—I might be new and inexperienced but anyone that looks down on me is gonna get a nasty surprise. That stain was the best my pokémon and I could do and I’m proud of it. I’m not going to help her wipe away our achievement.”

“Besides...the ooze would’ve vanished in a couple of days or so, as for the stuff she washed her pokémon with...well,” The Oblivian shrugged. “That’s on her. Guess she didn’t want to go into her next match with battle scars.”

Just then Esther’s pokétch pinged. The pokémon league had sent a reward for their handling of the Blastoise situation. It had taken a few days to identify all the trainers involved but for their actions in averting a disaster, they had been rewarded with $1000 each.

The news lifted Esther’s mood and she did a happy wiggle.

“Nice!”

Just $9000 more to go. Easy!

$6330

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PokéToy

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Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

Ooh? oh. Was it really going to be that easy? He felt like he needed to explain more about what he had meant, that he had said what he did not because of the stain it left, but because of the ooze itself, but figured doing so would only make her angry at him again. And he was trying to avoid that, so he kept his mouth shut. He dared to grin, instead saying “Well. I still believe we got off on the wrong foot. And that's my fault. If we could, I'd very much like to start over.” When her...phone? He wasn't sure what it was, having never seen one before. It might have been a phone, but it might have been an updated walkie talkie for all he knew. Either way whatever it said seemed to make her happy, which put Theo a bit more at ease. Whatever it was made her happy, Theo noting the happy dance she did. He wondered what news could make her that happy that quick, but it wasn't his place to ask so he didn't.

Instead he waited, about to speak again when his Shinx, who had buried himself in the sand between his feet until now, sprang out with a happy yip, the Shinx looking to the other pokemon present with a tilted head. There were so many new pokemon!! Theo stumbled backwards from the surprise of the altercation, chuckling as he knelt down and rubbed Shinx's head. “Shiiinx!” he picked the cat pokemon up and gave it a soft noogie, the electric cat laughing before jumping out of his grasp and shaking his head while falling, pawing at his messed fur once on the ground before bounding towards the other gathered pokemon, ultimately wanting to make friends with all of them but for the time being joining the duo on the other human's far left, a purple beached fish and a slug like pokemon of some sort, neither of which the Shinx had seen before. As the Shinx approached he mewed happily at the two. Looking back to Esther, Theo continued as if his pokemon hadn't just interceded on hers. “So you've met Shinx. He's an energetic ball of fur....and uh...yeah. Yeah he's the only pokemon I currently have.” He wanted to scan the present pokemon, but thinking their situation might still be a bit rocky he decided against it.
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​


Esther had thought Theo would leave soon after, so she was a bit surprised that he was still there. Well, she had to wait for Milotic anyway...might as well. Decision made, Esther snorted a sound that, if not approval, at least showed she lacked any animosity.

“Just Shinx?” Esther eyed the spark cat pokémon, it hadn’t chosen the friendliest company among her pokémon. Feebas was anxious and Bambi, well she seemed to be lost in thought. Must’ve been the slowpoke in her. It’d probably be a moment before she even realized Shinx was there. “Aren’t you gonna give him a nickname?”
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July 22, Whirl Cup
Savannah


Ducklan watched as his psychic attack was easily countered by the opponent's dark type move, a good play but annoying nonetheless. He was starting to get impatient. The duck pokemon growled in annoyance as his eyes narrowed on the dancing pineapple. Seeing as his opponent was running straight at him, Ducklan decided his best move would be to hit him with a direct attack and quickly chain into something else. With that in mind, the water type lowered his body as water began gathering around him. Ducklan planned to push the Ludicolo back with an Aqua Jet despite the fact that the move would be greatly weakened due to the opponent's typing. His mind being too clouded by his impatience to devise a more optimal plan.

Over on the podium, Savannah was currently no better than one of the spectators simply watching the fight go on. She had tried to give commands, but Ducklan didn't look very interested in following them, especially since they weren't really useful to begin with. The girl let out a sigh. "Aww, I thought battling would be more fun than this." She mumbled to herself.

The wildborn girl stayed passive for a bit longer until she noticed her pokemon's latest decision. Realizing what Ducklan was about to do, she spoke up. "Wait, Ducklan don't do that! Don’t rush towards them! Step back instead!" She tried to tell her pokemon. However, it was too late, the Duck pokemon had already launched himself towards the opposing pokemon.
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

“Aaaahhh yeah... yeah just Shinx. It's...complicated. Just became a trainer...two days ago? Yeah.” He arrived on the island and met Naka, who got him set up with the basic essentials and then some. They trained yesterday, and here they were today. That seemed right. Seeing the two pokemon didn't immediately acknowledge him and thought they were ignoring him, Shinx moved on to the middle duo of pokemon, crouching down and pouncing towards them but landing far enough away so that he didn't actually land on either of them. At the question of giving Shinx a nickname, Theo shrugged lightly. “I've been trying to think of one, but Shinx seems so...natural. Short, quick, easy to say. I tried a few historical feline names, but he didn't like any of those.” Well, none of the ones he picked out anyway. “What about you? Do all of your pokemon have nicknames? What's Susu's?” he couldn't think of anything shorter than Susu he would use as a nickname for a pokemon.
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



Mmm, she supposed there were people like that, people who thought the species name of each pokémon was sufficient. It was a bit...uninspired if you asked Esther but, to each their own.

“Why don’t you try a theme or something you like?”

“And yes, all of my pokémon have names,” Esther turned around to point at her partner, she’d start there. “Pyrrha the Jangmo-o, Pariparisithea the Munna, Halay-Alae the Houndour, La Bamba the Shellos, and—to answer your last question—L’ Basseau the Surskit.”

“It’s spelled B-A-S-S-E-A-U and I shortened it to just S-E-A-U, but since the pronunciation is the same as ‘Sue’, I just call her Susu for short.

“I like to dance, so I name my pokémon after dances—L’ Basseau is a combination of Basse Danse, a Kalosian low dance, and L’eau, which is Kalosian for water—I caught her in Kalos after all. I think eventually I’ll even teach them how to dance the dances their names come from, maybe for a Contest or something.”

It was at that moment that La Bamba finally registered Shinx’s presence. The sea slug shuddered as the feline pounced and soon the sands of the beach were an inky purple. Feebas «Splash»-ed away and into the surf; Esther snickered.

“Bambi scares easily and she inks whenever she’s frightened. You should be careful unless you want to be scrubbing ooze out of Shinx’s fur tonight.”

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Charlotte Pryce
Date:
July 22
Age: 21 years old
Location: Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokémon Team: Fernando (Infernape level 52), Dini (Alakazam level 52), Splash (Floatzel level 49), Bolero (Roserade level 52), Hatari (Luxray level 52), Tiburon (Garchomp level 48 ), Lanturn (level 32), and Cloyster (level 28 )
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic)

"Gotcha. Stay out of Sinnoh," Charlotte parroted. Not that she needed to be advised. C.E.L.L. was terrible enough, but Team Rocket?

"Hasn't Team Rocket disbanded and re-banded enough by now?" She asked Naka in a half-joking tone. "I mean, you'd think they'd learn to give up." Charlotte doubted that would ever happen. Still, she had to return home eventually. Right?

"About your offer, I would gladly exchange tips on dragon training with you. Arceus knows I could use all the help I can get. However, I promised Bolero we'd visit the Dance Theatre in Ecruteak City. I saw a performance of The Burning Tower when I was a kid. My Roserade just fell in love with it. Still, it's not like I'm on a schedule. If I had to choose, I'd say training Tiburon is more important."
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

He nodded at her suggestion “That's what I was doing. I'm” an archaeologist from another world. Yeah, that was going to go over so well. “a bit of a archaeology nerd. Pyramids. Ancient civilizations. I'm preferential to” and that's when he realized he was about to ramble, so he stopped. She probably didn't care what he was in to. He did listen as she explained all of her pokemon's names and what they represented, offering a small grin. “Now see that's cool. I'm not much one for dancing myself, but it has played a large part in various cultures going back thousands of....sorry. I started doing it again. I sometimes ramble when I'm talking to new people.” he looked to all her pokemon, seeing just how vastly different they looked compared to the pokemon he had seen so far.

The slug he had seen in her fight against Naka. But there was also a purple fish splashing its way to the ocean, poor thing. There was the Surskit, not Susu like thought its name was, and a floating...pig? It looked like a floating pink pig with a floral pattern. His Shinx was currently jumping and failing to get the floating pigs attention, Theo shaking his head. That pokemon was going to get itself and by extension him in trouble one day, he just knew it. And the two of her pokemon were a small black dog whose breed he couldn't quite place, and a small...half dinosaur half dragon looking pokemon. He wanted to go over and pet it, to feel its scales to see how hard they were compared to the water pokemon he and Naka trained with the day before. The Shellos inking make both his Shinx jump slightly out of surprise and Theo chuckle “See? That could've been you.” Just the thought of having to get more acetone on his hands made them feel like they were drying out, Theo rubbing his hands together. “Yeah, I'd like to avoid that, please and thank you.” he thought for a few seconds before asking “Do you mind if I scan your pokemon with my pokedex app? I've tried from pictures and it doesn't seem to work that way. I've been told its a normal thing to do, but I still feel like I need to ask.”
 
Desmond Andrews (Unranked)
Red Rock Isle (Scarlet City), Whirl Islands, Johto (July 22nd)

Desmond continued to watch as Savanna and her Golduck responded to Reina's offensive, well ideally that would've been what happened but even as Savannah tried to communicate with her Pokemon it seemed to just ignore her at every turn which seemed to puzzle it. Desmond had heard stories of Pokemon that had a problematic attitude when it came to following commands, but this had to be the first time he'd seen one disregard its trainer so openly within his admittedly limited perspective.

"And they say I have a problem with Pokemon..." Desmond mused, as he'd shudder what'd it be like to have a Pokemon who just gave the proverbial finger to you. Politoed and Kricketune on the other hand continued to cheer as their musical dance of sorts had added to the pop and circumstances and members of the crowd seemed to find it cute.

"Tuuunnne, tune tine Kriiiccccketunne~!"

"Poli Poli Politoed~!"​

Both cheered on Reina and Savannah and their Pokemon, as they seemed to be neutral to their two relative friends of their partner while Desmond continued to work and take pictures of the battles before his lens. Snap!
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



Esther rose an eyebrow as Theo started speaking and then...stopped. He didn’t want to ramble...? Then what had she been doing, going on and on about her pokémon without even being asked? If that wasn’t rambling, then what was? For his ‘considerations’, Theo earned himself a frown and discomforting quiet. Esther gestured her allowance—a waved ‘go-ahead ‘.

And while Theo scanned her pokémon, the Oblivian pursed her lips and spoke up. “You know, it isn’t nice to let one person carry the conversation. If you’ve got passions that you want to talk about then spit it out! I’m not so narcissistic that I want to hear my own voice that much.”

0
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Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

With her permission Theo would quickly scan her pokemon, making sure to look more at their information later. They were interesting to say the least, and he wanted to know more, but he had a sneaking suspicion not everyone would want to play 20 questions about their pokemon with someone they just met. At her chastising Theo would nod, thinking for a second. “I...you're right. You shared with me, I should share with you. Structure wise, I've always enjoyed the ideas and theories surrounding the pyramids and the Great Sphinx. How did they build them so precisely? What was the real purpose behind the Sphinx? Growing up it was always my dream to go down in history as the person who found the way in to the Hall of Records, a massive, unexplored room the Great Sphinx was built over. It's one of the few man made places where man hasn't been able to access since it was sealed off almost 5,000 years ago.”

He didn't have to think about what he wanted to go on about next. “But my true calling is dinosaurs. Everything from the smallest Compsognathus to the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex and everything in between. Though, my personal favorite dinosaur is the Ankylosaurus. It's thought that their armor plates didn't form outside their bodies like actual armor, but rather formed under the skin like a crocodile's ridges for example. And its tail was strong enough to put out 43,000 pounds of force, which they could swing up to 48 miles per hour. That's....I don't know how much force that is, but that's pretty powerful.” he realized then that he had only been talking about the history of things he enjoyed, and maybe should mention the history of something she enjoyed as well. There was only one problem. “I...don't really know much about the history of dancing I'm afraid. I only know the basic of the basic stuff. Like it was used in rituals, ceremonies, as a means to communicate with the Gods. That's...about it honestly. But what um...what got you in to dancing?”
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



Structure wise? Esther chuckled. She wasn’t sure whether he was more interested in their history or their architecture. While she’d never seen the Pyramids or Sphinx he’d spoken of, she imagined they’d be like Hippowdon Temple in Almia. That said, not even the locals in Almia knew exactly how those were built. With Pokémon was the obvious answer, but it was...shallow? What techniques had been used? Which pokémon specifically? And was there any reason that pokémon was chosen? Esther couldn’t say she’d ever considered those questions at length, but that’s exactly why she wasn’t an archeologist.

Though on that topic! “My home region Oblivia actually has a lot of—” Esther’s mouth snapped shut as her brain caught up to her tongue. Whoops! Those were a secret! Her eyes swam nervously around the beach, searching the sands for an excuse. After a moment she finished lamely. “—ruins...it has a lot of ruins.” The girl blinked innocuously and quickly moved on.

“How did I get into dancing? Well, you’ve kind of already guessed it. There are a lot of Temples in the Oblivia, and we use music as a means of communication and expression. The islands of Oblivia are also known by another name, the solfège islands—after the Solfège scale. You know, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do? The islands are Dolce, Renbow, Mitonga, Faldera, Sophian, Layuda, and Tilikule. I’m from Sophia by the way.”

Esther turned her attention next to Shinx and pointed. “Since this little one is your only pokémon then why don’t you try to get a fossil pokémon for your team? A Tyrunt, maybe? I battled one of them in Kalos, they’re strong and they’re dragons. You can never go wrong with a dragon on your team!”

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~Aldon...~
~Skol the god, Bran the bronzor,
Zippy the magnemite, Huck the golett, Wunder the Sigilyph and Bolly the Baltoy...~
~Whirl Cup, Red Rock Isle, July 22...~

After enjoying some of the booths and festive entertainment, Aldon arrived just in time to see Savannah vs Reina.

"Whooooo boy! Time for some relaxing and watching matches" Aldon said, unaware he was blocking the view of three people. He noticed this before the people could get angry, and kindly moved out of their way. With Skol and Huck by his side, he took a seat. Skol laid in Aldon's lap and Huck stood on the bleachers next to Aldon. Aldon was so far oblivious to his surroundings that he didn't even notice Desmond, politoad, or kricketune nearby.
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu

“A lot of ruins?” She couldn't just dangle the bait in front of him like that and then expect him not to take it. “What kinds of ruins? Temples? Cities? Archives of forbidden knowledge??” Ok, that last one was more a joke than anything. He grinned before continuing “Have they all been explored, or are they still in the process of being unearthed?” If it were the latter maybe Naka's contact could get him attached to the excavation team. And who knows. Maybe he could get a head start on his fossil collection, even if for the moment he didn't have anywhere to display such a thing.

He nodded when she told him about her interests in dancing and the naming of the islands of her home region, musing “Makes me wonder which came first. Was the scale named after the islands, or were the islands named after the scale? Dance is theorized to be one of the ways the people of Montegrande communicated with one another. I” he realized then that he had talked at length about his own world rather than this one, and needed to switch gears if he wanted to keep going “have read that they didn't have a written language. Or at the very least they never found evidence of it. But they had to communicate somehow, because Vilca seeds were found in their ruins. Only Vilca doesn't grow anywhere near where Montegrande. They had to somehow trade with another civilization to get them. But with no evidence of a written communication system, that really only leaves a few alternative ways to communicate.” He didn't know much about the history of dance, but he did know his ancient civilizations.

Ooh how he wanted a Tyrunt on his team! “I hope to. Tyrunt, Alo...Amora? I think its name is Amora. Or an Aerodactyl. I'd love to have any of them on my team.” He'd love to have all of them on his team truth be told. “But to do that I hear I need to find some sort of fossil of theirs. A tooth, a claw, a scale. Something. And to find those, I'll need to go cave or ruins spelunking. And to do that, I'll need a way to defend myself. Hence the pokemon training.” His Shinx perked his ears up at the mention of training, mewing towards Esther before rejoining his trainer. Maybe he wanted to do some training too. Theo didn't know for sure. “What about you though? You said where you're from there's no trainers, yet here you are. How'd that happen?”
 

Nakano Saito​

Date: July 22 (26yo)
Location: Tornare Coliseum - Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo, Orochi the Zweilous

Interactions: Theo Hightower (Sir Krazz), Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)


Theo's mention of needing a million people to rule the world had Naka chuckling. "Expedited with Pokemon." She simply responded. Though, she didn't know why else anyone would take over the radio tower. She thought that question led to its own answer if he thought about it, so she stayed silent, answering Charlotte's question. She nodded, a sardonic smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, well, they're trying again. This time, they're trying to bring back former grunts from other teams for some conglomerate thing. Don't know what for, but I squashed a good portion of them with some help. I don't think I'll need any help running them out of Sinnoh. It honestly felt like a trivial matter, well, besides almost dying, but that's fine."

Until he asked about Shadow Pokemon. "There's no physical change. They just act way more feral. Some are said to see their auras and there's a dark, purple shadow over them, but that's it." She shrugged, then answered his question on X items. "Just call them over to you and pop them in their mouth."

As things moved along and she showed Theo her Pokemon, she chuckled as he tried see the name of the Pokemon. "Zh - vie - lus. Man, I haven't heard the Beatles in a long time." Her smile was reminiscent before it fell for the topic at hand. His excitement to see the Safari Zone had her chuckling. "Good." Moments later though, Theo got up. Naka just smiled wide and nodded. "Good luck~." She called out as he left. "I'll let you know when Reina and you are up~."

Hearing that Charlotte will be going to the dance theatre in Ecruteak City, Naka grinned. "Well, my plans are to go to Cianwood City, go to Safari Zone, then go back to Olivine City for some double battling in the Glitter Lighthouse challenge, then make my way to Ecruteak City. I don't know if my friends will be there, but I hope so. Then once we're done there, I may or may not go to the next place here in Johto or go back to Sinnoh. In the meantime. I can help you train your Garchomp."

Pulling out a device, she pressed a few buttons and called in another Pokemon from this device. Teleporting the Pokeball onto the device's circular area, she grabbed it and sent out a Pokemon. The Zweilous stood before the woman, one head being more alert than the other, as the other drooped and was staring blankly at the floor. "This is Orochi. As you can see, the second mind is starting to lose cognitive functions as it's all going to the other head. Naturally happens when it's close to evolution. However, that alert head is getting more and more aggressive with the other head having spurts of aggression to keep its brain functioning despite its dying functions. Every once in a while, they'd bicker. You can probably understand why - when it evolves - Hydreigon are extremely aggressive, even if they were sweet as Deino and Zweilous."

Unlike others of its line, this Zweilous was oddly quiet, letting out a quiet clicking purr as the more alert head looked at Naka then back to Charlotte, then cooing softly as if to say hi.
 
Last edited:
Desmond Andrews (Unranked)
Red Rock Isle (Scarlet City), Whirl Islands, Johto (July 22nd)

As Desmond continued to snap pics of the battle near the stands, Politoed and Kricketune's cheerful little song and dance as they supported the trainers shinned on but it was Kricketune who seemed to notice a familiar face close to them as it tilted its head.

"Tune?"

Politoed turned and seemed to widen its eyes as it grabbed Desmond by the sleeve and "led" the young man over who seemed confused as he was pulled without warning from his tripod. "Hey what the hell is up wi...waaah!"

Desmond yelled as he suddenly came face to face with a Golett which caused him to fall on his behind. Once that shock left his system he let his heart race as he saw a familiar Slowpoke on the lap of Aldon and seemed to blink.

"A-aldon you...certainly know how to make me jumpy." Desmond mused as Politoed and Kricketue seemed to happily greet the young friend of their partner's.
 
Reina Cortez, Whirl Cup, Group B, Round 1.

"We'll take you on!" Reina braced herself as the Golduck prepared to lunged forward. It seemed they were going for a direct confrontation, even with Mega Drain not available, Reina and Chente weren't about to back down. In fact, they were going to rush head first into the challenge, only the strongest one would come out on top! And then Chente fell on his face.

The Ludicolo was still having issues getting used to his new body, as he attempted to move forward to face his opponent, he leaned too much and fell face first, getting blasted into the water by the impact from the Golduck. The water grass Pokemon disappeared in the water, probably to embarrassed to show his face after such a scene. Even Reina was trying not to laugh, but it was hard not to do so.

"Okay, let's try that again, shall we?" Reina finally spoke up, after the crowd had their good chuckle. "Water Gun to shoot yourself into the sky, hit him with Knock Off!"

The water burst as Ludicolo used it to explode out of the pool and into the sky, his pineapple like body twirling from the force while his right hand gained the dark aura around it. He began diving directly towards the Golduck, his body still spinning, giving him a beyblade feeling as he prepared to crash his Knock Off into his opponent.
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



“Uhhh...Yes.” Esther refused to elaborate. She’d already said too much. There were temples and cities and especially archives of forbidden knowledge, but they were very forbidden indeed. Fortunately, Theo seemed too preoccupied, talking about—Montegrande? Vilca? She’d never heard those names before. Whatever, as long as he didn’t press her for answers Esther was more than content to let him ramble.

When Theo got the part about finding fossils Esther’s lips pressed into a line and she began to rummage through her bag. A few moments later she retrieved a sizeable rock. She held it aloft so Theo could see it.

“This is a Fossil. I got it near Ambrette town in Kalos; nearby is the glittering cave, which turns out a number of fossils every year. I haven’t revived it yet because I already have a lot of pokémon, and it wasn’t really needed but if you’re interested...we can work something out. Here, wanna hold it?”

“As for why I became a trainer...” Esther pressed her lips at that. She’d already shared the experience with Monty and Azumi back in Kalos, so she supposed a few more people wouldn’t hurt. She certainly didn’t have time for the elaborate dream-recollection she had shared in Kalos, so Theo would have to settle for old-fashion storytelling.

“My home was attacked nearly a decade ago, we didn’t have any trainers who specialized in fighting so there wasn’t much we could do. I became a trainer because I’d like to be able to protect my home.”

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Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

Yes. Wait yes? Yes as in what? All of the above? Well, it couldn't very well be both explored and still being unearthed. Maybe she meant yes to everything else about his statement. Even the bit about ancient forbidden knowledge? Maybe he would be able to live out that fantasy dream of his after all, one day. He knew now what he needed to know based on her answer, and that was enough for him. He also assumed, however correctly or incorrectly this assumption was, that she might have said more than she was supposed to. There were countries in his world that didn't like outsiders knowing what was going on behind their borders, and this Oblivia might be one such place. It wasn't what she had said so much as it was the tone she had said it with. Probably best to leave that one alone for now.

When the fossil was offered to him it was clear he was excited to be able to even hold such a thing, Theo gingerly taking the offered fossil and staring at it for a few seconds, then gently running a finger over its surface. He could make out a shape on the fossil, but he couldn't recall which pokemon it could potentially belong to. He had seen it yesterday, but he had seen all of them yesterday, so it could be any one of them. “I'd love to be able to work something out. I'm still pretty much a newbie, so I don't have much in the way of....stuff. All I really have is knowledge and...survival skills. I can fish, I can cook, I can bushwhack. I'd offer to be a training partner for you, buuuuut.” he looked over to her team again for just a second then back to her “You've been at this for a few months now. I don't think I could put up much of a challenge for you.” He offered the fossil back to its rightful owner, wishing he could remember which pokemon it belonged to from so long ago.

“Wow...that...” He wasn't sure how to respond to that. “That's a way better reason for becoming a trainer. I...I respect that. I really do. And ya know, if you're looking to get stronger, there's a mountain on the other side of the island. There was a pretty territorial S....sum...hold on let me think.” Who was that pokemon? “S...car....armory? That's not right. Scarmaury? Something like that. Anyway, it looked pretty strong if you wanted to maybe hike over there. Probably wasn't the only strong pokemon over there either. Though, now that I'm saying it out loud, I'm not even sure how long you planned on staying on the island.” For all he knew she was getting on the next boat out of here.
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



Bushwhack? Huh? Like chopping through forestry or was that some kind of innuendo? Was he...coming onto her? Bush...bush...uhhh

“No, I don’t think I’ll require such services...maybe you should ask Naka?” Esther’s expression was strange, one might even say abnormal. Strangeness aside, Theo’s offer was of no use to her. She didn’t have a bush.

That said there really wasn’t anything she wanted from Theo, and neither was she about to hand him a fossil out of the goodness of her own heart—she wasn’t exactly feeling generous today. Esther received the fossil and stuffed it back into her bag, it would stay there for the foreseeable future. “Tell you what, I’ll try to think of something you can do, and we’ll see how it goes.”

“A Skarmory...?” Esther flipped out her pokédex.

Pokèdex entry # 227 Skarmory said:
Skarmory make their nests in bramble bushes. Though born with soft skin, they quickly callous and harden through the constant scratching of their prickly nests. Their wings and bones are actually hollow, allowing them to fly at speeds of up to 185 mph (300 km/h). They are also razor-sharp; in the past, warriors used to brandish their fallen feathers as swords and knives, making these Pokémon a historically popular heraldic element.

Skarmory are highly aggressive and territorial, engaging in vicious battles over disputed land. They will rip off wings and feathers from foes with their sharp beaks or talons to send them plummeting to the ground.

Aggressive? Esther cringed. She was already struggling with Pyrrha, if she added another aggressive pokémon then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it. Besides—

“I have more than a full team of pokémon, so I think I’m good for now, I need to focus on the members of my team. But thanks for the offer.”

"And, I think we're leaving after the Whirl Cup ends, it's the whole reason we're here after all."
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Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

Did no one need a good bush whacker around here? Then again, the presence of pokemon did seem to trivialize such skills. “I brought it up, but I made the mistake of talking about it in front of her Lewd....Lewdi..Whatever Ludwig is. I'm still learning some pokemons names. Can't really bushwhack right now anyway. I don't have a machete.” He had one, but like every thing else was back home. Damn shame too. It was a good machete. He nodded, thinking for a second. Did that mean she was going to stick around, if she couldn't think of anything while they were still here? “That's fair. Wanna exchange numbers just in case?” As soon as he had said it he realized what he was suggesting, Theo going red. “I mean, ya know, if you wanna exchange numbers. It's...I...we don't have to if you don't want to. It...I'm gonna stop talking now” way to go Theo. Few more inches and you would've hit China.

He nodded at her comment about the Whirl Cup, a light going off in his brain. “I understand. And that reminds me. Hey Rotom.” On que the Rotom Phone floated back out of his pocket and in front of him, the Rotom's face taking over the phone's screen. “How am I on time? Any missed messages or anything?” The phone beeped and whirled a few times before coming back “There have been no new communications from Miss Nakano.” He nodded, the Rotom Phone staying close just in case. That was good. “I asked Naka to let me know if my matches started when I came out to find you. She's been helping me” While he spoke he reached for the Rotom Phone to put it away, but the device had other ideas. It floated just out of his reach, Theo's face immediately falling in to an annoyed look. He looked to the phone, who in response spun in place quickly a few times before coming to a slow spin, hanging up side down.

Theo looked back to Esther, a light snort escaping him. “Are all Rotom Phones this way, or am I just cursed?”
 

Esther
Friday, July 22
Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle – Whirl Archipelago
Johto Region​
Team On-hand: Pyrrha (Jangmo-o), Pariparisithea (Munna), Halay-Alae (Houndour), L’ Basseau (Surskit), La Bamba (Shellos) In Esther’s care: Feebas​



Her Lewd—WHAT? Lalalalalala!Imnotlistening!LALALALALALALA!

She did not need to know about his and Naka’s lewder interactions. By the Creation Trio! Were they gonna be the friends that kept you up all night boinking in the next room and then had the audacity to brag about it the next day!? Riaju go explode! Esther could feel a growl rising, what was Theo going on about now? His phone?

“Huh? You’re asking me, but who should I ask? I don’t have a Rotom phone. Your Rotom is probably just mischievous.”

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July 22, Whirl Cup
Savannah


It was a stroke of luck, the opposing Ludicolo appeared to have lost its balance and fell right into Ducklan's attack. If that hadn't happened, Ducklan's brash decision definitely would have cost him. After the Ludicolo had been knocked into the water, the distance between the two pokemon was once again widened. "Alright Ducklan, now let's-" Savannah began. Unfortunately, the Golduck had no intention to listen.

As soon as his Aqua Jet concluded, the Duck pokemon readied his claws and began mindlessly rushing towards the water where the dancing pineapple fell into. That was when his opponent propelled himself out of the water and readied another Knock Off. Without thinking, Ducklan lunged at the opposing Ludicolo, leaving himself wide open.
 
Charlotte Pryce
Date:
July 22
Age: 21 years old
Location: Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokémon Team: Fernando (Infernape level 52), Dini (Alakazam level 52), Splash (Floatzel level 49), Bolero (Roserade level 52), Hatari (Luxray level 52), Tiburon (Garchomp level 48 ), Lanturn (level 32), and Cloyster (level 28 )
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic)

"Um, hello there. Orochi."

Instinctively, Charlotte's hand moved towards the Zweilous, wanting to see if it was real. She decided against it for obvious reasons. Charlotte was aware of Hydreigon's fierce reputation though she had never one in person. Despite Naka's claim that Deino and Zweilous could be sweet, she did not want to take chances.

"Have you known this Zweilous long?" Charlotte asked, turning to Naka. She was aware that most dragon-type trainers preferred to raise their Pokémon starting with their first evolution. However, more daring or experienced trainers could go after a Pokémon that had evolved in the wild. Judging from Naka's performance in the Whirl Cup, Charlotte figured she had a lot of experience.

"I only ask cause I get a little nervous around dragon Pokémon. I mean, there was the whole thing with Tiburon, but before that, I may have rubbed a Bagon the wrong way."

Charlotte rubbed her wrist as she spoke. "He was my uncle's and I was seven. Let's just say Bite is a highly underrated move. One that should never be used on a human being. Ever."

She suddenly became wary of Orochi. Not out of fear, but out of the strange suspicion that she hurt the dragon's feelings. "No offense. I'm sure you're great."
 

Nakano Saito​

Date: July 22 (26yo)
Location: Tornare Coliseum - Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle, Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokemon Team: Mudster the Swampert, Iwa the Wishiwashi, Ludwig the Ludicolo, Orochi the Zweilous

Interactions: Charlotte (Charlotte Pryce)


Seeing Charlotte's apprehension towards Zweilous was something Naka should have expected, but it still surprised her. Orochi saw her hand and leaned his head forward to allow her to pet him, but when she retracted it, he whined, his head bowing. Her question had Naka laughing, nodding. "Yup, caught him as a Deino. He was abused by his former owner's father, who didn't like how rambunctious he was in the house, I'd reckon. He was sent away and onto a reservation near Victory Road. He was a lot quieter than the other Deino, and a lot sweeter. But that was due to being abused to keep quiet and forced to be considerate to others. While he's a lot more well-behaved, the violence done onto him took away all those sweet Deino and Zweilous noises I love so much." Her gaze drooped over to Orochi, who looked back up at her with a soft chirp. Crawling over to her, the two heads came up and rubbed against Naka's thigh, whining.

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't like bringing it up either." She looked back up at Charlotte, eyes soft. "I only capture Pokemon at their base evolutions, except in certain circumstances. I assure you, Orochi is a softie. Better take it in now before he evolves. He's anticipating it and, while he wants to, he doesn't want to hurt anyone when he does so." Orochi nodded. "So, I'll be there every step of the way for him, even if I get hurt. Pokemon are too precious for me to just ignore or be fearful of just because of their temperament and danger. Their danger is what makes me respect them." Orochi whined again, this time trying to crawl up on Naka's stool. Chuckling, she got up and sat down on a lower-seating chair, where the Zweilous crawled up in her lap and wrapped his necks around her like a hug, softly nipping at her lab coat's lapels and collar.

"While I understand your reservations, not all Pokemon are like that. And Bite? Hah, I've been hit with so many Pokemon attacks, it's not even funny." She pulled up her shirt, showing off a nasty scar in her abdomen. "That was made by a weakened Nidorino's Horn Attack when I tried saving him from a poacher. And this-" She trailed her finger down the scar along her cheek and neck. "-from his Scyther's Slash. All these other nicks and scars were caused by training my Pokemon and I get a little reckless as I like to get physically involved, or they're from knife fights or brawls by thugs and poachers and unsavory types. I've also been slammed with an Iron Tail, nearly had a Horn Drill hit, got pelted by rocks from I think was a Rock Throw, been cut by Magical Leaf, the works. The pain hurts, yes, but it just makes me appreciate the strength of these critters evermore."

Patting Orochi on the side, the Zweilous licked her face and pulled away, making Naka chuckle as she wiped her cheeks of dragon slobber. "Eewww." There was a lighthearted chirping laugh from the Zweilous. Wanting Charlotte to try again, Orochi crawled over and bowed both of his heads a way a Growlithe would to ask for pets, showing he meant no harm to her.
 
Reina Cortez, Whirl Cup, Group B, Round 1.

Chente was a spinning yellow trompo, his Knock Off gaining momentum as he went down to clash with the Golduck. The attacks of both collided, but only for a split second, as Ludicolo's Knock Off broke through, hitting the blue duck.

Chente wasn't spared either, he didn't have a way to slow down, as soon as he crash against Ducklan, he bounced to the side, once again landing in the water. However, the movement had been too fast, not allowing for Reina to actually see what happened.

Had she actually lost to Savannah?! There was no way her trained Ludicolo had lost to Savannah's newly caught Golduck. Was she some sort of prodigy? Was she the legendary super say-

Splash!

Chente emerged from the water once again, catching his breath as he stood in the middle of the platform, water dripping from his yellowish fur and dark green hat. After a loud sigh, the Pokemon broken into a dance, his victory being announced as he did soo.

"Yay Chente!" Reina called pumping her first into the air with a sigh of relief. "That was a close one, Savannah!" She smirked at her opponent, returning her Ludicolo with a proud smile on her face.

With the battle over, Reina made her way back to the lockers, ready to face her next opponent... Naka's new boy toy!
 
Charlotte Pryce
Date:
July 22
Age: 21 years old
Location: Whirl Archipelago, Johto
Pokémon Team: Fernando (Infernape level 52), Dini (Alakazam level 52), Splash (Floatzel level 49), Bolero (Roserade level 52), Hatari (Luxray level 52), Tiburon (Garchomp level 48 ), Lanturn (level 32), and Cloyster (level 28 )
Interactions: Naka (Merciless Medic)

Charlotte did not know what was more surprising, that Naka had many scars or that she was so nonchalant about showing them off.

"Now, I see why Theo treats you like a superhero," she joked. "I don't have any scars to prove my medal. I mean, unless you count the burn mark on my left ankle, and it's not like you can see it anymore anyway." There was a story behind that, but it was a long one, and Charlotte figured she shouldn't bore Naka with details.

Seeing Orochi crawl over made her feel a bit more confident. In Naka's lap, he looked less like a powerful dragon and more like an overgrown puppy. Although Charlotte reminded herself, the two are not mutually exclusive. When the Zweilous approached her again, this time Charlotte allowed her hand to stroke one of the dragon's heads.

"Say what you will about dark types but this guy is friggin' adorable! Who's a good two-headed dragon? You are."

Charlotte suddenly remembered Naka was sitting next to her and blushed. "I said that out loud. Didn't I?"
 
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Interactions: Esther (Kyuukestu)

Ah. So they weren't as common place as he had originally thought. Maybe some people had regular smart phones. If that was the case, now he felt bad for having asked for a Rotom Phone in the first place. Theo tried a few more times to grab hold of the Rotom Phone with his bare hands, but no person could keep up with the natural speed of a pokemon, Theo just missing his phone each time. With each miss the Rotom would taunt him a little more, having recorded and playing back Esther's message of 'just mischievous' until the final time where it allowed itself to be caught, playing a pitch altered version of Theo's last few words.

“J̶̩̈́̀̌̽̒͘u̷̲̬͈͈͜͝s̴̳̿͒̋͂t̵̨̙̠̫̮̫̏̐̀̊̎ ̶̨̙̱͋̃͠Ċ̴̫͕̮̀̉͊͛̔̿ü̷̪̝͊̐͆̾͋̄ͅr̸͎̼͑͑̈́͐̈́̕s̷̝̞͔̯̓͂̄e̶̮̯̺͝d̷͎͍̯̥͓́̅ ̵̤̀̇̕”

With the message played it would repeat the Funeral March sound effect from the night before before powering off. Yeah that wasn't creepy at all. With its game over the Rotom Phone would beep and whirl back to life, letting out an electrical coated cackle, Theo tossing it in to the air where it floated for a few seconds before returning to his pocket, Theo shivering. He took his sarcasm back. That was creepy. Very much so. Right up there with the Unown incident. As quickly as it put itself away the Rotom Phone was out again, pinging three times twice in rapid succession. “A new message from Miss Nakano has just come in. It appears your match against Miss Reina is about to begin.” Was he just saved or slaughtered by the bell? “Thanks Rotom.” he turned to Esther as the phone again tucked itself away, Theo feeling like he was getting a little too used to that a little too quickly. “That's my que. Gotta head back. You wanna come with or are you gonna stay out here??”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, July 22
Tornare Coliseum – Scarlet City, Red Rock Isle - Johto
Mentions: Naka (Merciless Medic), Charlotte (Charlotte), Savannah (Grand Master Koop)

This was it. It was finally happening. The Group B, Round 2 match between himself and Savannah was about to take place. Everyone would be watching. Not watching him, but the pokemon lent to him and how well he handled them in battle. For some, this was a defining moment. For others, just another Tuesday. For him, it was going to be his first taste of what this world had to offer. He just hoped he was up to it. Here I go he thought to himself as he stood from the benches in the trainer lounge, Theo's Shinx stretching at his side before pouncing after his trainer. As the duo passed by both Naka and Charlotte as they returned from their match Theo would grin to the two and wave, offering a high five to Naka as they passed.

“Wish me luck captain.”

Stepping out in to the sunlight Theo had to squint as he adjusted his Eevee embroidered baseball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes, Theo letting out a light sigh. The roar of the crowd wasn't as easy to block out as he had hoped it would have been, but he somehow managed as he made his way over to his designated spot, closing his eyes for a moment. He needed to think. Focus. Concentrate. There was no one in the stands. There was no one in the stands. There was...no one. Opening his eyes again he felt calmer. He had used this technique whenever he was on stage with his parents, whether they were presenting their latest findings or he was. Being in front of others was nothing new to him. It was everything else that he was going to have to pick up on the fly. Once he caught sight of his opponent, he would wave to Savannah. “Heeey!! Let's have a good match, yeah??”

Group B, Round 2. Savannah versus Theo. Trainers ready??? Begin!!

As soon as the order to begin was given Theo would reach for the third ball on his belt and expand it, pressing the button on the ball to release the power that's inside. In the water in front of him the pink water serpent Gorebyss took form, Theo's strategy remaining the same no matter what pokemon Savannah sent in first. “Gorebyss, use Agility to keep up with your opponent, then Signal Beam!” That's right folks! Theo had stayed up late last night memorizing the moves of Naka's pokemon, if for no other reason than to avoid looking foolish needing to look at a notebook to know who did what! The Gorebyss' form outlined in white energy as the first attack was ordered, which it then quickly followed up by firing a rainbow colored beam of energy from its thin mouth.
 
~Aldon...~
~Skol the god, Bran the bronzor,
Zippy the magnemite, Huck the golett, Wunder the Sigilyph and Bolly the Baltoy...~
~Whirl Cup, Red Rock Isle, July 22...~

Aldon was watching the competition and did not see Desmond. Skol did. Skol was looking right at Desmond and his pokemon.

"Slo...!" Skol waved his paw and tail at the same time. Huck was watching Aldon, and occasionally glancing over at the match, then at the boy in the stands.

"Gol Gol Golllll" Huck let out a robotic grunt. Aldon watched the match in confusion as he heard a voice call his name, but he did not see them.

"Who's jumpy? And who said that? I'm Aldon, sure but wh- Ooooohhh..." Aldon said, turning his head, realizing it was Desmond. Aldon silently looked at Desmond for a few moments.

"How are ya! Looks like great minds think alike, huh? See anything interesting yet? Ya know... Besides me and these two of course" Aldon said. Aldon got up and went over to sit closer to them. Huck sat on the bench behind them. Standing there quietly. Well, mostly quietly. You couldn't help but hear the stomps Huck made as he shuffled around. Huck always behaved like a guard ready for action. Skol sat by kricketune. Laying there on the bench. Wind blowing across the back of his head. Today was going to be a perfect day.
 
Desmond Andrews (Unranked)
Red Rock Isle (Scarlet City), Whirl Islands, Johto (July 22nd)

As Skol moved by Kricketune, the impressionable bug seemed to look with wonder, smiling a bit as it greeted the ever unreadable Psychic type with a brush of its appendages as a gentle and gingerly note played behind its sounds. "Tune~!"

Politoed in turn hopped up and seemed to greet the larger of the two Pokemon Aldon had out, amazed at the size of this living statue of sorts as to the frog it looked so cool. Like Kricketune it used its signature gesture, in this case an energetic clap, to greet the ghost. "Poilitoed Politoed~"

Desmond worked back to his feet and took a seat by his camera gear as Aldon seemed to move closer to him and he first tried to settle his breath before he'd speak up. "W-well, besides your uh big friend there who gave me a heart attack, the battles had been quite thrilling. Though Savannah's Golduck seems to be actively disobeying and ignoring her commands. Haven't seen anything like it." Desmond explained to Aldon as he focused on the battle and took another couple pics. Snap! Snap!
 
~Aldon...~
~Skol the god, Bran the bronzor,
Zippy the magnemite, Huck the golett, Wunder the Sigilyph and Bolly the Baltoy...~
~Whirl Cup, Red Rock Isle, July 22...~

After a few seconds of staring into the distance, Skol eventually exchanged pleasant glances with the kricketune. Much like Skol, Huck was not quick to give strong reactions, however unlike Skol, Huck did so not out of obliviousness, but out of reservation. Huck did not know what to think of the bug pokemon, nor the frog, or their trainer. Huck glanced over at the frog pokemon. Huck continued to stand tall, it did not like dropping it's guard no matter what.

"Gol gol gol" Huck chimed in seemingly happy beeps. Klank! Klank! The sound of blunt metal hitting could be heard as Huck clapped it's hands together twice. Aldon listened to Desmond talk and scratched his chin.

"Yyyyeeeeaaah..." Aldon said looking at the Reina vs Savanah match.

"But I'm still rooting for her, I bet she can do it...!" Aldon said cheerfully, rooting for Savanah.

"Get any good shots, yet?" Aldon asked.
 
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