Private/Closed The isle of shadows (Mature content!)

[Nebula-Newt]

5 minutes until arrival, please prepare to leave the ship and remember to bring all your possessions with you. Enjoy your stay on Tendura!

The static laden announcement from the ferry's intercoms was enough to jolt Niko from his peaceful slumber in his cabin where he had spent almost the entire journey, rocked to sleep quite quickly by the rocking of the boat on the calm ocean. After a brief moment rubbing some sleep from his eyes a jaunty smile lit up the young mans face. Tendura awaited him any moment now, an island so private that most people didn't even know it existed let alone were allowed to visit. To be fair he couldn't even find it online after a brief internet search upon receiving his invitation via Pelipper but even that couldn't quell his excitement upon realising he had actually become a successful enough trainer to get a personal invite to such an event. He could only imagine the other kinds of trainers he would be battling with once he go there, who knows how many regions they reached out to in there search for talented battlers?

Swinging open the cabin door Niko was assaulted by bright sunshine, forcing him to cover his eyes for a moment whilst he adapted to the new environment. It was certainly worth waiting for though, the tropical paradise of an island loomed close now and he could make out individual people and structures on the docking area they were heading for. Tendura was a green and yellow jewel lost in the sea that was for sure, somehow standing out even more brightly than the glistening waves that surrounded it. No wonder somebody decided they wanted it all to themselves. A creak on the wooden deck behind Niko caught his attention, it would appear Ronin had awoken from his nap.
"What do you think buddy? Pretty sweet right?" The boy smirked, giving his partner a friendly slap on the back. The Sceptile crossed his arms and leant back against the outer wall of their cabin, surveying the island for himself before giving an approving nod and using one of his sharp green digits to point at the several other boats that were also heading towards their destination.
"Yeah that's the competition other there." Niko said in a more serious tone before swapping back to his usual demeanour in a flash. "No match for us though of course. Anyway we should get going, were going to hit land any second."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(About 15 minutes later)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bloody hell this looks way more professional than I'm used to.." Niko sighed as his trainer made first contact with the grey stone cobbles that made up the docking area. It was true that the area certainly looked a little out of place when contrasted with the tropical environment all around it, a huge circle of stone with multiple docks on one end for ferry's to drop off their passengers and on the other side 3 paths leading deeper into the island with a security booth at each one. The one in the centre was labelled "Higher tier battling" and it looked as if its path joined up with the right hand "Lower tier battling" route after the security booth. The path on the left had no sign and instead was covered by a group of about 5 men in black suits with sunglasses, you know typical bodyguard stuff. Niko didn't pay it much attention, probably just a staff access area, besides he was too busy rushing over to his assigned entrance. With Ronin in tow the excitable trainer practically crashed into the wooden desk that he had been heading for, something that the lady sitting behind it didn't seem all that impressed about.
"Name?" she asked in a tone of voice that clearly showed that she was already done with his shit, slowly twirling a strand of her blonde hair around a pen.
"Niko Aldright from Rustboro, Hoenn." He replied with his best apologetic smile, regretting not just walking over calmly now.
The receptionist, who certainly didn't seem to appreciate his gesture of apology simply scrolled down her laptop for a while before drawling "Alright Mr Aldright here is your visitors badge, room key and map. Battle schedules will be handed out tomorrow."

After pocketing the key and putting on the badge Niko and Ronin were through the gate without a hitch and joined the stream of trainers and their Pokémon making the slow climb up hill towards what appeared to be a hotel of some kind, probably the place they would all be staying until the battles tomorrow. A breeze that carried hints of all sorts of flowers and plants was flowing from the treelines on all sides of the paths and with one glance Niko could already tell his partner was enjoying himself, perhaps in another life this would have been the kind of place he would have lived and thrived. One thing that did strike the boy as a little strange now that he had slowed down and had time to think was that hey hadn't seen any other docks or structures anywhere other than this bit of the island so far, not even the stadium they would be battling in. And now that he looked fences topped with barbed wire could be seen just below the treeline as well, but that was probably to prevent wild Pokémon that could potentially be aggressive getting on to the path so at least he knew this company had taken steps to make Tendura safe, it was a reassuring thought. In fact this whole thing must costs millions, somebody certainly has some cash to throw around seeming as this whole thing is non-profit.

It was at this moment, about half way up the path, that Niko had felt for his map only to find himself grasping at thin air. He had managed to lose it already? This was embarrassing, he must have left it on the desk back at the gate...well he certainly wasn't going to walk all the way back down there just to get it from Miss Grumpy down there, he would just have to ask somebody if he could borrow theirs. Ronin gave him a look as if to say "Really? Again?" and made an approximation of a face palm, something he had picked up from watching Niko and his little sister which only served to make his trainer chuckle as he had always found it entertaining what the Sceptile had picked up from being around him and his family for so long.

"Uh hey there sorry to ask but I kinda lost my map, would you mind if we tagged along with you for a while? I know it looks like a straight route to the hotel up ahead but I would rather not get lost." He asked the next person who was unfortunate enough to stumble into the pair on their travels.

 

[Clementina]

Aileen was distracted at the moment, but she quickly turned around when a trainer asked to share maps, suprised of not seeing a face however she looks up, "Me? Oh sure I guess." Aileen took a close look at the boy, he was a lot taller then her, even standing on her tip toes she was a lot smaller then him, he had messy brown hair and his eyes just screamed smart and curious, however he was no geek as he had a muscular frame, she quickly noticed that he missed a small amount of eyebrow, but she decided not to talk about it. Mismagius turned around as well, and her attencion immediately turned to Sceptile, he seemed to have a "facepalm" look, Mismagius found this funny and gigled. "Sure we can walk together, what's your name? I'm Aileen, from Sinnoh. You sure are tall! Or maybe I'm just small." Aileen said as she started walking. "Seems like a straight way." Her other two Pokémon, Loppuny and Sunflora seemed like they were talking, but they quickly started following Aileen.

 

[Nebula-Newt]

Niko wasn't exactly ready for the onslaught of words that came from the tiny girl but he recomposed himself pretty quickly and gave her a friendly smile, glad that Aileen was at least willing to help him with his troubles. So she was from Sinnoh huh? He'd never been there himself but his mother had lived for a few years before meeting his father so he had heard a few tales about it. He had also seen a lot of it on TV whilst watching the news and following the champion over there, Cynthia. Watching her and that Garchomp in action was actually how he had taught Ronin how to use dragon claw, it took months but it was worth it just for the look on his Sceptile's face when he finally managed to pull it off.
"A pleasure to meet you Aileen, I'm Niko from Hoenn. And I think your just on the short side, is everybody from Sinnoh so small?" He chuckled poking fun at his helper, something he made a bad habit of. Luckily most people just saw it for what it was, harmless fun.

Ronin was a little confused as to why this new girls Mismagius was laughing at him but he chose to let it go, instead giving all three of the girls Pokémon curt nod as a way of greeting them. The fact there was a grass type amongst their ranks helped put him at ease, he had always got along best with Pokémon of his type but never really clashed with any except fire types on a regular basis, mostly due to the face that Niko's sister owned a Heatmor that he had often argued with.

As the two began to walk up the hill the hotel drew closer and closer until they were standing together amongst a small crowd of other trainers right outside its door in a kind of courtyard area littered with fountains and ornate bushes. The building itself was many stories high and mainly constructed from state of the art glass and metal which really contrasted with the tropical landscape around it. There was a clear terrace garden area that seemed to be connected to some kind of café and next to the building there even seemed to be tiny Pokémon centre which made sense considering the nature of those who had been invited here. saying that there was already a battle taking place to their left between some tall man dressed in a brilliant display of purple and pinks using a Milotic and a plump woman using a Granbull. The two were clashing in a fairly spectacular display of power that was getting Niko pumped up, a quick preview of what was to be expected from the tournament.

"Fancy getting some grub? I dont know about you but I'm starving after that trip, no good food anywhere aboard my ferry." Niko asked his long haired companion, his stomach growling audibly to add to his point.

 

[Clementina]

"Of course, I can pay if you want." They started walking in direction of the café, "What will you want? I'm getting coffee, my best friend, and maybe a muffin, how about you my dear Pokémon? I still have those Pokémon snacks I brought from home, or maybe I could give them to giant man over here, his stomach is growling a lot." She said as she giggled. Lopunny and Mismagius smiled, however Sunflora was trying to start a conversation with Sceptile, "... S- Sun- Sunflora!" said Sunflora after a long time trying to get courage. "Excuse me could you take care of my Pokémon for a while, I have to go to the bathroom, you can head to the café, I'll take a while, Loppuny you come with me." she said as she headed to the bathroom with Loppuny right behind, meanwhile Mismagius did not seem happy, she noticed Niko was being very nice to Aileen, she was suspicious and showed that because she din't look away from Niko for a second,meanwhile Sunflora was talking to Sceptile.

 

[Littleblue]

Your tower, my tower, standing in the sky,
My tower, your tower, who is gonna fly?
Your tower, my tower, someone needs to leave,
My tower, your tower, someone planned to deceive.

Your tower, my tower, which is gonna fall?
My tower, your tower, one will win it all.
Your tower, my tower, mine is all gone,
Maybe my rage will dirty your dawn.

The words echoes eerily across the room, absorbing the atmosphere with it's enchanting spell; haunting the air with dense anticipation and malice. Icy claws gripped at the source of the words; dull eyes met the shivers with a welcome, her face looked dead with mystery and an uninterested rage. Stray bits of hair frayed up against her scalp, though it's braid attempted feebly to contain its movement. The dark room refused to release the gasp of the rhyme, even when the dead-eyed human tore her hands away from her lap to remove a tiny silver bell from the myriad of pages strewn about the small table.

An orange glow flickered against the pages, and the room, seeping with a looming fear of anticipation, backed off slightly at the arrival of the new light. Harper's eyes found a small glow within their depths as her mystery was broken; her pale face flushed with color, and her hands found the reassuring warmth of a trembling Pokémon beside her. A small, baby Ponyta trembled under her touch, the animal's breathing was ragged and fearful, proven by the tiny nickers emitting from her chest.

"Spirit, its a nursery rhyme. You're okay. Too dreary for a morning like this?" The lady asked her Pokémon, who snorted in reply. "Ta!" Spirit stomped and tossed her head wildly, throwing shadows across the darkened, sleepy room. The anticipation broke, the room no longer had its mystery, all was well, however, Harper anticipated much more than what the room had to offer- dread dogged her soul with an iron fist, relentlessly refusing to release it's startling and uncomfortable presence. Suddenly, a voice came on overhead from a speaker in the room, and the imminent urge to leap to her feet in fear had to be suppressed.

5 minutes until arrival, please prepare to leave the ship and remember to bring all your possessions with you. Enjoy your stay on Tendura!

The games, the game, the singular thing she opposed, yet she was here, at the game. It's all a game to everyone, battling. Her mind swarmed with negative comments, drama, Team Rocket pamphlets, stolen Pokémon- its not fair to them. Spirit's rounded muzzle wriggled it's way underneath Harper's chin, causing the tranced trainer to back away slightly in surprise. A smile wove into her lips as Harper told herself to think rationally, not radically. The tiny, previous creature whose head she held in her hands was the singular reason she was here, to fight, to get stronger, to advance in their path of life to a higher end, where they can do as they wish. Until then, she has to grin and bear it-grin and bear every single Pokémon move that lands upon her sweet Ponyta.

Harper's belongings couldn't be classified with such a prestigious name. All of her stuff, as she called it, could fit simply into a small shoulder bag, which was lying idly across the small table in the cabin from Harper. It's contents were limited only to a spare change of clothes, a small assortment of berries, her Trainer Identification, and an empty pocket for her books. The three other Pokémon traveling with her were slung loosely across her belt. Spirit nickered by the cabin door, anxiously awaiting her well-deserved time underneath the ball of fire which the humans called the sun. Harper stood, running her hands over the paper across the table until every last one was piled neatly into a stack, which she then slid into the cover of her book and replaced in the empty pocket of her bag. Everything was in place.

The door opened, and the dazzling rays of light instantaneously attacked her eyes, sparking her hand to shield the sensitive spheres from the light. Spirit whinnied in content and reared up an inch or two, and bounced around happily in the sun. A smile broke onto Harper's face once more, watching the baby Pokémon play. The Ponyta's tail flagged, ears perked; the Pokémon was no less than excited. Harper waved her hand for the Pokémon to follow, which the Ponyta did ecstatically; racing ahead of the lady to set her gaze upon the island before her trainer did. The island was beautiful, as Harper quickly discovered once she, too, was at the edge of the boat.

Crystal waves rolled gently towards the gorgeous mass of land to which she would call home in moments. Canopies of trees lined the entire island, and even with her eyesight failing her, Harper spotted what looked like a prestigious hotel. The sight of lush, green trees, the faint scent of flowers and other floral material on the breeze, pure white splashing the sky with its majesty in clouds, and the pale, unavoidable, yellow sphere of light above; the scene was perfect. It's beauty was beyond that of normal comprehension. Harper mulled over the scene for a moment or two longer, before a quandary filled her mind-

"Why was I invited here? I can't even beat a gym leader."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-


Little was left to the imagination in terms of where to go- the dock lead directly towards three gates- two labeled as other Hight or Low tier, but the last was unnamed, guarded by a handful of men adorned in black suits. The sight of the men sent shockwaves of panic down her spine, and an icy feeling grabbed her heart once again. The sight reminded her of Team Rocket, the sight reminded her of trouble. The feeling was hard to shake, but it ebbed away in the slightest at the confirmation that no whips or other harming device was in her sight of vision. Harper placed her left hand upon Spirit's shoulder again, running her fingers across the indentation of a healed wound beneath the silky hair of the Pokémon. A gash that never healed, one from the very same people she feared and hated the most in her life.

The desk was upon her. The gate above said 'Low Tier', and the path beyond merged with the one from the High Tier gate moments after they all checked in. A young man gave her a small, forced smile as she approached wearily, still resting her hand upon Spirit's shoulder. Harper nodded in greeting, running her free hand over her belt of three Pokémon as she stopped in front of the man. "Name?" He asked.

"Harper- sir, but the registration might be Colette Sparrow." Harper responded, disinterest and a twinge of embarrassment rising up her throat as she said her actual name- its like bile. Who would name their child after themselves?

The young man searched for something momentarily, then returned his attention back to the trainer and her Pokémon. "Good morning, Ms. Sparrow, here is your room number and key, and here's your map. Battle schedules will be handed out promptly tomorrow morning."

He handed her a small room key, along with it's respective number, and a small pamphlet that Harper assumed, if she opened it, would be a map. She nodded curtly in thanks, and removed her hand from Spirit to collect the items presented to her. Briskly she walked off, willing not to speak with anyone else. There was a large hill that led up to the hotel- but that was not what caught Spirits attention. Barbed wire lined the insides of the trees alongside the hill glimmering darkly in the strange mixture of shadows and stray glints of light. The Ponyta snorted, tossing her head towards the gate, and stopping in her tracks. Harper frowned and followed the Pokémon's gaze, and found what she was fussing about. A diligent, caring, and gentle hand rubbed Spirit's withers in a stray attempt to calm her down. "It's alright, Spirit, we'll be alright."

The spread of ink and color that soaked the paper map unfolded in front of her eyes, and looking closely, the island was of great peculiarly. It's rounded shape looked lovely, but there were no signs of a volcano or evidence of continental plates forming the small paradise- there were a lack of neighboring islands in addition. A sigh escaped Harper as she scolded her mind for being far too logical for its own good. In reply, Spirit butted her head against the lady's shoulder, and pointed her nose at a fruit stand; snorting in desire. "Do you want to get something to eat?" Harper asked gently, seeing the excited head tossing and pawing as a 'yes'.

Colors danced and clashed with one another at the stand, all fighting for the center of attention in the eyes of the beloved viewer; the Oran's next to Sitrus, the Leppa next to Chesto- a collage of gorgeous work. A rumbling stomach met the sight with hungry eyes, causing a small chuckle from the kind-eyed lady positioned behind the baazar-like stand. She returned to her work, giving the trainer and her Ponyta a spare moment to decide what they were interested in. After an anticipated moment, she spoke up.

"Good morning, ladies, what can I get for you today?" The lady asked, wiping her hands off with a towel.

Harper spent a last second gazing upon the produce and then met her eyes with the happy lady's in front of her. A wry smile dances across her face as she pushed a slight mess of dark hair from her face. "Um, perhaps, lets go with... three Oran berries and a Nabab berry for this strange creature right here who likes those." Harper responded, jokingly elbowing Spirit for her taste of berry. In response, the Ponyta flicked her ears from side to side and snorted- shaking her head a bit too. The lady laughed, a warm, welcoming laugh.

"I don't blame you, Ponyta! Nabab berries are my favorite." The lady said, handing them a small, plastic bag with the image of their logo in it- a Cherubi from the Sinnoh region. Harper waved goodbye welcoming the happy and fuzzy feeling that enveloped her heart after the encounter with the nice lady. They didn't move far from the stand, only moving a few feet to a small birdbath and a bench near the edges of the plaza, or what looked to be the food square due to the variety of restaurant and eateries. Her hand plunged into the bag, and feeling the smooth, lumpy texture of the Nabab berry, grabbed the pink fruit and pulled it out, revealing it to Spirit. The Ponyta gave a happy little nod and took a bite out of the berry, whinnying happily at the taste. With her free hand, Harper grabbed an oran berry and she also began to eat that, holding Spirits with her free hand. This would be a lovely event.

 

[Clementina]

After a while Aileen finally exited the bathroom, Lopunny of course at her side. She took Loppuny for protection, and because Sunflora seemed busy and Mismagius seemed to be examining Niko, so Aileen didn't want to interrupt. Sadly for Aileen the small crowd of trainers rapidly started to become a bigger crowd, and Aileen had lost track of Niko. So she just started walking around in hope of finding Niko, Loppuny always keeping an eye on the other trainers, after 5 minutes wasted trying to find Niko, Aileen started to lose hope, however to her surprise she found a trainer that was sit down in a bench with a plastic bag with a Cherubi logo and a Ponyta at her side, "She might be from Sinnoh! I could take a break and talk to her, and then get right back to my main mission, finding Niko, ugh why IS EVERYBODY TALLER THAN ME?!" she said to Loppuny, she then started walking in her direction, she sit down and asked "Hello there, I was trying to find a friend but I got lost, mind if I sit here for a while? And might I ask if you are from Sinnoh? Because of your plastic bag and your Ponyta, as there are Ponyta on Sinnoh." Her Loppuny waved at the girl's Ponyta.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Vera gasped as she saw the island of Tendura. She beamed and practically jumped from the deck of the ferry onto the dock, holding her mimikyu Hex. The rest of her team remained on the deck, waiting for their trainer to say her famous- "Roll call!~" Vera turned back to the ferry, still smiling widely. "Spooky!" The girl's gengar disappeared and appeared next to her, saluting her. "Beachy!" The palossand on the deck floated over, sprinkling some sand in a trail before it landed on the dock as well. "Circe!" A mismagius poofed next to Vera and bowed, giggling a bit. "Grimsby!" An unamused dusknoir followed suit, crossing its arms. "And Tut!" A cofagrigus jumped from the deck onto the dock, smiling a bit. Hex wiggled about in Vera's arms. "! Oh, right. And Hex!" The mimikyu nuzzled her. "Okie dokie!~ Let's go sign in!~" She laughed as she started rushing off to the main desk area.

Once she was all signed in and ready to go, Vera saw two trainers at a park bench. "They look friendly..." she thought as she walked over. Making the traditional Alolan greeting with her arms, she smiled at them. "Alola! I'm Vera, from Alola!~ Nice to meetcha!~" All her pokemon waved at the other trainers' pokemon, with the exception of Grimsby, who was already tired of Vera's far too peppy attitude. He just looked them over coolly, knowing full well that he could probably easily beat them all in a battle single-handedly, though that went against Vera's whole aspect of a "team".

 

[Hisseki]

"Of course I fall asleep. Of course."

Lucien rubbed his eyes, waking to voices and the sight of an island. Determining that this has to be the place, the one he was invited to, he stretched from him accidental nap, shook himself off, and stepped off of the boat. From the dock, he made his way to the sign in area, or what looked to be the sign in area. There was a High Skill area and a Low Skill area, as well as a guarded area. The third area piqued Lucien's interest, but he didn't act on his curiosity for fear of the results. After all, those men looked like the ones in the movies, the ones that will turn you into a pretzel if you cross them, and pretzels were not on Lucien's list of favorite things.

When asked his name, he replied "Lucien Blaise, of Fallarbor Town, Hoenn," in a tone that practically screamed "Hello world! I just woke up and I'm not willing to put up with anything you have to throw at me!" The receptionist probably was not amused, but Lucien was granted access anyways. Hands in his blazer pockets, he stepped forwards, ambivalent about meeting "new friends" and going on "fun adventures~!"

Some girl from Alola caught his attention almost immediately, considering how loud she was being. Her arm movements made no sense to him, so he immediately assumed it was an "Alolan thing." After making the mental decision not to ask what the movements meant, he stopped his walking and looked down at his belt. All of his Pokeballs were there; thankfully he hadn't forgotten any. He took a Great Ball from his belt and sent out a Pokemon.

From the Arceus-knows-what inside of the ball sprung a Gogoat, nearly as tall as Lucien, but not quite. "Good morning to you too, Chevron," Lucien mumbled after receiving a confused look from his partner. A quick clearing of the throat and Lucien was speaking normally, Kalosian accent and all. "Chevron, this is the island from the invite, that tournament thing. You're my ace, and I want you to behave, understood?"

With Chevron's response of a few stomps and a nod, Lucien could tell that he reluctantly agreed to be on his best behavior, though the reluctance was indeed a heaping helping of sarcasm. Lucien grabbed his bracelet, shifted it around a bit, then held out a fist for a fist bump. Chevron gave his fist a headbutt, which was nigh equivalent to a handshake for the two.

"Should we go meet people?" Lucien asked his faithful partner, to which the response was a simple head tilt.

"... ... Yeah... I can't decide either."

 

[Littleblue]

The sun was wonderfully warm.

Rays of golden light shone down brilliantly from the pastel blue, island sky, and it caressed the earth with its light, warm touch; blessing everyone between the light and the ground itself. The breeze had yet to cease, even in the bustle of the plaza, there was little obstruction in the floating gust's way. A dull splashing noise came from the left as a stray leaf fluttered gently from it's majestic heights and into the birdbath. The world was content and excited, Harper couldn't help but follow suit, no matter how sullen she tried to be.

Her bright brown eyes landed upon Spirit once again, moving them from the area to the Pokémon beside her. The Ponyta was happily chewing a, rather large, bite of the Nabab berry. Harper had learned to be very cautious with the little creature when she was happy, for the Ponyta had a tendency to buck and rear, not to mention that the flickering lights of the fire that emerged to form her mane tripled in size, flaring even brighter and hotter than before. Even to herself, Spirit's trainer, the flames felt warm upon her skin where it shouldn't be- after all, the in Rapidash line, the flames of their manes and tails don't affect those whom the Pokémon trusts.

Spirit's eyes flicked open for a brief second in her enjoyment and she stopped chewing, meeting Harper's eyes curiously. The air hung with a silence for the two of them, like everyone in the plaza had been removed from the paradise. They were alone in a silent conversation, dreamy, surreal, hazy.... a form of conversation not yet used between humans. A conversation between Pokémon and human is a different kind of communication- something not verbal nor silent, but a connection through the harmonized wavelengths of the heart and mind. With a small puff of air and a flick of her ears, the Ponyta resumed her meal, swishing her fiery tail around in glee.

A trickle of a bluish liquid raced down Harper's wrist as she consumed another quarter of her berry, but the race ended abruptly by the simple swipe of a pristine, white napkin and a gentle, annoyed sigh from the trainer. She brought the napkin to her lips, gently removing any of the sticky, blue residue from her mouth. Brown eyes scanned the plaza once again, and this time the trainer landed her eyes upon a young woman with a Lopunny, seemingly intent upon coming over to greet Harper. The trainer raised an eyebrows slightly, not a noticeable difference, but enough to satisfy her face's reaction to such a prospect of an encounter.

The lady grew closer. 'What does she intend to ask?' The trainer asked herself, feeling Spirit's lolling pink tongue rasp across her hand. The sweet aroma of berries still wafted around the duo despite the absence of the fruits. Harper removed her hand from it's assigned position underneath Spirit's tongue, sparking the Ponyta to promptly whinny in protest. "Oh, quiet." Harper shot back gently, but sternly, "There isn't any berry left." Flames of frustration flared up in Spirit's eyes, burning as wildly as her mane and tail. A sigh escaped the trainer's lips as she gave in and pulled out another Oran berry from the Cherubi bag. A shadow approached, and someone became seated next to her; suddenly the lady was upon them.

Bundles of cream and brown danced before the trainer's eyes as she gazed upon the two people who had approached her. A Lopunny stood by the bench, presumably the lady's who had sat down. The woman herself was a very pretty figure- her skin tone matched Harper's to a slight degree with her tan complexion, and the black waves of hair that rolled off her head reached almost to her waist. The lady was wearing a brown jacket, peculiar, as they were on an island, however Harper was not one to speak- adorning long sleeves and jeans herself. Her brown eyes scanned across the newcomer, and she forced herself to smile, despite the sinking feeling of dread in her stomach.

"Hello there, I was trying to find a friend but I got lost, mind if I sit here for a while? And might I ask if you are from Sinnoh? Because of your plastic bag and your Ponyta, as there are Ponyta on Sinnoh." The woman began to speak, seemingly comfortable with the interaction. Harper raised an eyebrow in slight confusion, but swallowed her onslaught of emotions and bought herself a second by picking up Spirit's Oran berry and holding it in a comfortable position for the Ponyta to eat.

"H-hello. Sorry, hi. No, I don't mind if you sit here, it's not like there are many people who look interested in sitting here anyways." The words felt foreign in her mouth, and an odd numbness swelled up in her tongue. Her mind screamed for her body to quit reacting in such a horrible way, and to Harper's relief, she relaxed and felt more comfortable. Only after a moment did she respond to the other half of the question. "Oh, uh, Sinnoh? No, unfortunately, I've never been there. I've read about it though- the legends are fantastic! My Ponyta and I are from Kanto. The bag here is just from the fruit stand over there- it must be a Sinnoh company."

Spirit raised her head from the berry and swished her tail in greeting to the Lopunny. A split second passed and the Ponyta was off in a spray of cream and red, dashing towards the Lopunny to whom she barely reached in height. Her youthfulness sent a wave of happiness through the air, and suddenly the area smelled like playtime. The Ponyta skidded to a halt in front of the Lopunny and snorted, rearing up to gain some height before dropping down again, playfully pushing her head against the Lopunny's shoulder.

Embarrassment washed over Harper like a storm, her face flushed horribly with a cherry red as she watched her baby Pokémon charge and attempt to play with the other trainer's Lopunny. "Oh- I'm so sorry... Spi-" Harper's hands began to shake as she intended to call the Ponyta over, but another voice drew her attention away.

"Alola! I'm Vera, from Alola!~ Nice to meetcha!~" A lady, hair dyed a lovely shade of purple, approached the duo of trainer's and their Pokémon. Her brown eyes scanned the newest newcomer's eyes with shock as she realized that they were an unearthly silver color. Harper had seen many people with their Pokémon beside them, but this lady seemed to have her entire team with her- all emitting a ghostly, eerie chill that ran rapidly down the trainer's spine- ghost types were not her forte.

Arm movements matched the greeting, almost like the new lady was making a semicircle with her hands. Tentatively, Harper repeated the gesture. "A-alola, hello." She greeted, a small, odd smile crossing her lips. "A-are you two here for the battles?" The trainer asked, forgetting about Spirit for a moment. The breeze rustled through the area, the wind whispering good fortunes.

 

[Jayloc]

"Thank you." Zethe said as he received the items from the front desk. He started walking towards the crowd with his Alakazam and Sableye. The Alakazam was calmly walking on his right as the Sableye was hopping and dancing playfully on his left. "Opal, calm down." Zethe said in a blamk expression but this made the Sableye stand stiff and walk properly.

One, two... Opal, Eins, and... Oh no
He noticed that one of his Pokemon was missing. Opal the Sableye and Eins the Alakazam were present, so that means he was missing one Kecleon. "Cleo's gone again." He said to his Alakazam. "Try to find him, when was he last seen?" They continued walking as Zethe and Opal looked around while Eins was trying to remember where the Kecleon was last seen with its perfect memory.

Oh, she looks familiar. Could she be the freak back at Lavander town? I never thought she would have friends.
Zethe thought as he saw three girls on a park bench. One of them was a certain girl who was labeled as a freak when she was a child. Zethe started to walk towards them but he was interrupted by a Pokemon's scream. "Kecleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooon!" He and his team started running towards the sound and found a boy about his age on the ground, a Kecleon hugging a map on his right armpit and holding a key on his left hand, and Several Pokemon watching. Knowing his Ghost-types, he recognized one of them was a Mismagius. "Eins." At the sound of his name, the Alakazam understood and used Psychic on the Kecleon to make him float and drop the items.

 

[Clementina]

"Oh no, It's ok, Loppuny likes to play." Aileen said with a smile in her face, probably because of the Ponyta not being that powerfull. Lopunny started playing with the Ponyta, jumping and running around. Aileen took a closer look at the girl, she was of course taller than her, everybody was taller than her, her skin was tan just like her's, her hair was simply braided, dark brown, reaching her shoulder blades. She had bright brown eyes.

As a new girl arrived Aileen quickly felt shivers going down her spine, she had realized the new girl had a full team of ghost types, but of all her Pokémon she put all her attention onto the girl's Mismagius, "Oh, hey there, I see you have a Mismagius, I have one too! She stayed with a friend, oh where are my manners? I'm Aileen, from Sinnoh, and that over there is Loppuny." "A-are you two here for the battles?" asked the other girl, "Ah, yes I am, why would I come here if it weren't for the battles? This place seems so isolated it feels like they are going to kill us." Aileen then turned to the purple haired girl, "I would like for you to meet Mismagius, maybe when I find my friend... wait, what's happenening over there?" Saying this Aileen turned around and saw a Kecleon floating, a boy in the ground, and a Mismagius watching. "Is that mine? Mismagius, come to me!" She shouted, and in response Mismagius came to Aileen, she quickly gave her a hug, "Mismagius what were you doing there? And where is Niko?" After saying this Sunflora appeared and Aileen immediately hugged her as well, Mismagius looked at Aileen with "a follow me" look, "Loppuny let's go, bye girls! Nice meeting you!" She then followed Mismagius, but stumbled onto a male trainer that was ridiculously taller than her with blue hair and fell to ground, "Uh, oh I'm sorry..."

 

[Nebula-Newt]

Just as quickly as she spewed out her words Aileen had vanished again, this time taking her Lopunny with her and leaving him all alone with a rather grumpy looking Mismagius and her Sunflora who seemed to have taken a liking to Ronin. Although he hadn't even had a chance to get a word out in reply to what the Sinnoh girl had said Niko did now at least have a chance to act on her words, getting to the café did seem like a great plan considering the dying Wailmer sound that was currently being emitted from his midriff.

"Alright come on you two, I'll buy us some food whilst we wait for your trainer to come back." Niko told Aileen's Pokémon in a friendly tone of voice, a little unsure of how to act around them considering the unwavering glare he was getting from the Mismagius. Being stared down by a ghost type is never fun at the best of times but somehow it was worse knowing you were meant to be babysitting the damn thing. Deciding not to wait another second he purposefully strolled through the crowd that was milling around the area, overhearing snippets of conversation as he did so. He heard several people discussing world renown trainers who were here, others talking about how lovely the hotel was and one lady desperately trying to explain to some security guard that her friend was missing. As concerning as the last topic of conversation was it wasn't Niko's place to interfere so he decided to leave it in the more than capable hands of the guard, it wasn't like a security team had much else to do around here after all.

A brief glance back assured Niko that the three Pokémon were following him, Ronin was actually leading Sunflora by the hand (Leaf? Arm?) as he walked; trying to play the role of guardian as always. The reptilian Pokémon wasn't nearly as keen on the Mismagius who was still eyeballing his trainer and he was keeping track of her through a series of subtle glances. In the brief moments the Sceptile let his guard down he was observing the other trainers and their Pokémon, eager to see what foes he would be fighting in the tournament. Although he would never admit to it Ronin was a little nervous about all this, excited for sure as this would really confirm their place as a pro team, but nervous because he and Niko had never taken on a challenge of quite this scale before. Could they win? Were the gym badges they had collected in Hoenn enough to get them through this? As Ronin continued to question himself and watch his partner collected an array of food stuffs from the café counter he came to the sudden realisation that he could no longer feel Sunflora beside him. "Scep?"

Niko was just as surprised when he realised the two other Pokémon had apparently evaporated, he had only looked away for a few moments! After a further few moments considering if he should search for them or not the young man's stomach won out over his mind and he settled down at one of the cafe's tables, enjoying how plush the chairs were as he did so. He had never been in a place so glamorous before, perhaps he would have to get used to luxury if he did intend on becoming a major player in the Pokémon world tournaments representing Hoenn. A lofty goal for sure, but nothing wrong with having high ambitions after all right?

The make shift meal he had grabbed lay on the table before him in a delightful array of colours and aromas, a bowl of pasta with some kind of red sauce drizzled all over it, a bag of oran berries that are apparently grown near by if you'd belive the label printed on the packet and two huge ice cream cones, both with cheri sauce drizzled over it and a nice chocolate flake designed to look like a Sudowoodo. The first bite of the pasta was accompanied with a warm tangy sensation that Niko could only assume was a result of the unspecified sauce it was coated with, a taste that he thoroughly enjoyed however, this much was evident from the content look on his face. Ronin was mirroring his partners expression, all his troubles washed away now he was guzzling ice cream. When the two were done the evening had truly taken hold, the sun was getting lower over the sky and painted the horizon in a stunning display of reds and yellow streaks that made the lush green of the island even more vibrant.

As the pair cleaned up the leftovers of their first meal in paradise and began to head to the room they had been assigned only one thought was going through both of their minds. How could this possibly go wrong?

 

[Littleblue]

There was sufficient evidence to anticipate the arrival of night.

The bright, pastel blue sky adopted a fiery blaze; the wildfire of the air. Vivid oranges began to streak across the sky, fuchsia clouds puffed up proudly, standing strongly against the bombardment of oranges and midnight blues. A subtle hint of the baby blue the sky adorned not hours ago still lurked behind a few stray clouds as the sun slowly began it's descent into the ocean. The pleasantly humid, warm air shifted into a sleepier mood as the sun fell through the sky, changing gradually from warm to cool in mere moments. The tentative songs of bird Pokémon and the lively chirps of insects and frogs began to cease with the day; rest was upon them.

Shadows began to dance in their domain of darkness as the light faded, growing taller and flickering in every building, stretching across miles and miles of cobblestone that lined the plaza. Light disappeared in the eyes of both humans and Pokémon as the dark ritual progressed, but even as the light faded, life and energy remained. Little could be done to extinguish the fire that exploded in the sky or the fires in the hearts of onlookers. The first night of paradise, the first night of excitement.

The last glimpses of light still remained, falling gently upon Harper's lap, illuminating her hands with a surreal, orange glow. The words of the ladies beside her droned out- and a moment of silence fell upon the young trainer again. A shadow began to creep up on her, stalking her moves, though what little movement she had was stationary. Eyes narrowed, and eyebrows in a line of mild interest, she looked on, watching the horrifying creature crouch down, seeing now a blaze of red where the eyes of such a beast would lay. It growled, a deep throaty hiss of anger and fury, something alienated from the human race, and leaped towards Harper, she was yet to move.

It was gone, and the voices resumed. Business was as usual, the collage of voices and colors of the humans and Pokémon there hadn't changed, nothing happened. Naturally. A sigh slipped through her lips, relieved, yet confused and annoyed. The shadow was never real, as she suspected, a figment of her imagination. Cruelty laced her mind, too much imagination and thought for one woman to process at a time, and yet her mind continuously tortured her with crazy scenarios; images and creatures depicting unearthly beings. It was her mind that plagued her with hallucinations, and she has yet to discover why. Hands wringing, she narrowed her eyes as she tossed the images into her memory, passing the scenario off as her looming battles in the next few days.

It had happened twice, here; the hallucinations. An old nursery rhyme about the death wish of a longing brother and a shadow of an unreal being. This place is very odd, to say the least.

Gently she removed her thoughts from the moments passed, and refocused her attention on the lady, presumably from Sinnoh, and her Lopunny, who had taken up Spirit's invitation to play. The normal type was doing very well, as Harper noticed, in playing with the Ponyta- hopping around like a wild Ponyta would do in play. The kind movements, full of energy and life, may have been unintentional, but a wave of gratitude rolled off of the trainer nonetheless. The lady's voice began to actually register with Harper as her senses returned.

"Ah, yes I am, why would I come here if it weren't for the battles? This place seems so isolated it feels like they are going to kill us." She had said. Harper flushed with embarrassment. 'Why in Arceus's name would anyone be here for any reason besides the battles? Good heavens Harper..." her mind rolled with embarrassment, seeming to enjoy mulling over the progression of actions that had just taken place. With a tiny, inaudible sigh, (something she seems to have done a lot today) she willed herself to keep the pink from her cheeks. As she was about to respond, the lady stood up and called over a Mismagius, then proceeded to find the need to leave.

Harper's confusion grew immensely as the lady left in a hurry- her shadows dancing with her movements in the ever-waning light of the sunset. A warm, fire's presence returned to her side; shadows running in fear from the light, being tossed around like children's toys. Her right hand found Spirit's shoulder, who had calmed down and had a very sleepy aura in her eyes. Smiles wove onto both faces as the little filly yawned, and laughter chased away the confusion and previous darkness. "Are you tired, Spirit? It's been a long day." Her voice sounded like a mother's- again, like a voice that wasnt her own. When one substitutes for another person who's not there, changes occur more rapidly than anticipated.

Brown eyes turned upon the lady with the purple hair apologetically. Her hands busied themselves with gently removing the half-eaten Oran berry from the slightly-splintered wood of the bench and placing it in a napkin to be discarded, and picking up her bag. "My apologies, Vera, my Ponyta is very young and need much rest, so I shall be departing. I hope to see your victories in the near future." She cooed apologetically, giving a slight decline of her head in a nod of farewell. With a second of recall, Harper repeated the arm movement the purple haired lady had performed when she arrived, and then began walking towards the looming figure of the hotel.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The interior of the hotel was breathtakingly beautiful and luxurious, yet her lazy and tired eyes barely registered the many details of the building. The little Fire horse beside her whinnied in excitement of being in a new area; her youthful energy restoring in less time than a Spoink's heartbeat. Aromas of fresh flowers still hung in the air like a blanket, wafting around the area gently relaxing everyone who had the divine pleasure of inhaling its unseen beauty. The elevators were directly ahead, glistening in the pale orange light emitting from the many windows within the first level of the hotel. Spirit nodded her head in ecstasy; unbridled excitement of trying something new. Her little legs trotted happily right into the elevator, instantly exploring the buttons on the wall with her nose. "Spirit don't go pressing buttons," Harper warned, not yet in the elevator, lacing a slight of worry and disappointment into her voice- however, it was far too late.

The elevator doors closed, and a neigh of happiness ascended up with the elevator, audible as far as even the third floor or so; leaving Harper with her friend, the Stairs. Her face flushed with red, she trekked up the many stairs towards the fifth floor, which she assumed Spirit would find eventually. Footsteps echoed in the corridors of steps, reminding the trainer of the journey she was going to face up ahead. Poetic, in a way. Starting here, on day one, she is at the bottom of the steps- there was a long journey to the fifth floor.

The steps ended abruptly, leading into a corridor that smelled faintly of cleaning products. The carpet was luxurious, soft, and barely made a sound as tired feet pounded against its surface in protest of every taking the stairs. Doors passed, one by one, all identical. Finally her room number popped up upon a door, yet something was missing from the otherwise perfect image.

There was a lack of Ponyta.

"Where is that filly?" Harper growled to herself, dragging herself over to where the elevator opened up to the fifth floor and absent mindless leaned against the wall directly right of the up or down buttons, blinking happily in a feeble attempt to mock the Pokemonless trainer. The thought crossed her mind to search for the Fire horse, but she figured that either Spirit would walk through those doors, or she hear her whinnies up on the tenth floor.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

"Oh, hey there, I see you have a Mismagius, I have one too! She stayed with a friend, oh where are my manners? I'm Aileen, from Sinnoh, and that over there is Loppuny." Vera beamed. "Hiya!~ And yeah, this is Circe." Circe the mismagius smiled at the girl evidently named Aileen as her trainer giggled. "I love ghost types! They're so spooky and fun to hang around with! Circe and I have been friends since she was a misdreavus." Vera could not have been more excited. She had already made two new friends, and she was going to participate in a tournament soon!

She was snapped from her thoughts by the girl with dark brown hair's question. ... Had she said her name already? Vera couldn't exactly remember... "A-are you two here for the battles?" Vera had immediately nodded. "Uh huh! My team and I are gonna do our best to win!" She beamed proudly, the rest of her team nodding and cheering, with the exception of Grimsby. He simply rolled his eyes. Before she could continue their conversation, Aileen turned to her. "I would like for you to meet Mismagius, maybe when I find my friend... wait, what's happening over there?" Vera turned to see what she was looking at and laughed a bit - it seemed as though someone fell over due to a trainerless kecleon! Her pokemon laughed a bit too, the sound eerie and unsettling. Even buzzkill Grimsby laughed. Like trainer, like pokemon, apparently. Vera was so distracted at the sight, she never heard what Aileen said next. "Loppuny let's go, bye girls! Nice meeting you!" "That was funny...I wonder if the kecleon-...? Huh? Where'd she go?" Vera looked around for Aileen but couldn't find her. "She must have gone to her room..." She thought as she looked to the sky. "It is getting late, after all."

"My apologies, Vera, my Ponyta is very young and need much rest, so I shall be departing. I hope to see your victories in the near future." Vera blinked and turned to the girl with dark brown hair. She must have been zoning out again and staring at the sky. Now that she thought about it though, she remembered the little ponyta playing with Aileen's loppuny before. She smiled and waved. "Ok! See ya!~" She sighed a bit. She was on her own again. She looked to her team. "Who's hungry?~" The ghost types all raised a hand or nodded quickly in reply as Vera giggled. "Mmmkay. We'll go get food, then." She started walking towards a restaurant that looked decently empty.

On the way over, she saw a boy with bluish green hair and froze. Not one to get chills easily (despite her love of ghost types), she felt goosebumps appear all over her arms and legs. He had been there. Vera winced as echoes from her past found their way to her head again. "Freak! You're such a freak!" "She talks to dead people!" "She only likes ghost types!" "She's always spacing out! Isn't she weird?" Many different voices from years ago....yet they were all unanimous in their message. Some from preschool. Some from Kindergarten. Others from elementary school or middle school. Voices from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos... Vera squeezed her eyes shut as they got louder and louder. "Freak!" "FREAK!" "Freak!" "FREAK!" She jumped and yelped a bit when she felt a hand on her shoulder - Grimsby. His cool look of annoyance was gone, and he looked at his trainer with concern. She blinked before taking a deep breath. "Thanks, Grimsby..." The dusknoir nodded and took his hand away from her shoulder. She glanced at the boy with the blue-green hair once more. She had never learned his name, and he hadn't been one of the ones who bullied her, but he was still there. He still saw them doing it.

She shook her head to clear it and walked over to the restaurant. She was all smiles again as she got a plate of eggplant and sauteed berries, which she gladly shared with her team because of the meal's size. Once she payed for the meal and started to walk to the hotel to head in for the night, she saw a rather pale boy with black hair. She decided to walk over and introduce herself before hitting the hay. She beamed as she again used the traditional Alolan greeting once she faced him, her team surrounding the both of them so they too could say hello. "Alola! I'm Vera from Alola! Nice to meetcha!~" She noticed the boy's gogoat. "! Oh, so you're from Kalos, huh? I lived there for a few months. Dad had a job in Lumiose City. We moved away when he found a job in Alola that wouldn't force us to move a bunch." Grimsby rolled his eyes. Motor-mouthing as always, it seemed.

 

[Jayloc]

"Return now Cleo or We'll force you into it and I'll make sure you'll never get out of this Pokeball again." Zethe said feeling disapointed that his Pokemon had to make such a crowd. Although scared of his trainer, Cleo gave Zethe one last look and stuck out his tongue before finally returning to his Pokeball. "Let's go." The 3 of them started to walk away.

Bump
"Uh, oh I'm sorry" Zethe looked down and saw another trainer on the ground, and he also noticed his Sableye snarling, getting ready to pounce.
"Stand down Opal, Eins help her up." When the trainer was up Zethe did not give her a chance to speak and said "I'm so sorry child. I would like to help you find your parents if I only had the time. You know, I hope you find them soon so If I were you I'd better start looking." Zethe started to head towards his room.

 

[Hisseki]

"From Kalos? Well, sort of? You could say that."

Lucien suddenly found himself talking with the most energetic marshmallow he's ever seen. Well, she wasn't that pale, but she was still pale. It was the girl with the Alolan arm movements - er, the Alolan girl. He put a hand on Chevron's head and kept it there, despite Chevron's momentary huffing in protest, followed by three futile attempts to get him to stroke his head. "I lived in Kalos, then moved to Hoenn." Lucien said, continuing his response to the girl. He bowed slightly, one hand keeping some of his hair out of his face and the other still on top of Chevron's head, and introduced himself. "Je m'appelle Lucien Blaise. And you are?"

Chevron, again, huffed in annoyance at Lucien's hand placement. After the bow, he shook his head and made Lucien take his hand away. Lucien's retaliation was to put his hand on the Gogoat's back, which he was far more okay with. Lucien shot a glance and a small smile at Chevron before bringing his attention back to the purple-haired girl. Chevron noticed how Lucien was trying to keep his composure, and he knew exactly why - an eerie, ghostly aura seemed to surround this girl.

Who knows? Maybe she was a ghost?... ... Or maybe it was the GHOST TYPE POKEMON AROUND HER.

Upon noticing the ghost types, Lucien stiffened just a bit, while Chevron actually shivered. Lucien was fine with ghosts as long as they didn't do anything to him, but Chevron... was a little less okay with them. Lucien started to stroke his back, and that seemed to calm him down.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

"Je m'appelle Lucien Blaise. And you are?" Vera tilted her head a bit. "Huh? Didn't I already tell you my name?" Grimsby snickered. Spooky and Beachy floated around the two of them, making faces at Hex, who giggled and squirmed around in Vera's arms. "I'm Vera." She smiled. "You must have been spacing out when I said 'hi', huh? That's ok. I space out all the time!" Grimsby rolled his eyes. "Anyways, let's head to the hotel! It's getting late!" Vera looped an arm around Lucien's and started dragging him along to the hotel, her posse of specters behind her. "I hope we're neighbors. You seem like a pretty awesome guy, Lucien!" She smiles at him. "I almost feel bad about having to crush you in the tournament!" At that remark, her entire team of ghost type pokemon - Hex the mimikyu included - smirked and grinned evilly at Lucien...

 

[Clementina]

"I'm so sorry child. I would like to help you find your parents if I only had the time. You know, I hope you find them soon so If I were you I'd better start looking."

"M-My parents..." At that moment Aileen fell to the floor, it was like everything had gone silent, the only thing she heard was a teardrop slowly coming down her face and hitting the ground, she looked foward, and she saw it, she was in their home in Johto, both her parents in the same bed, terribly sick and at the brink of death, Aileen's hands were holding theirs, Misdreavus was there too standing at Aileen's side all the time, it was there were her parents closed her eyes for the last time, the moment they closed their eyes Aileen came back to reality, she saw the boy who made her relive the terrible experience all over again, she wasn't going to let him go however. Aileen quickly got up and runned in direction of the boy, her Pokémon right behind, Mismagius eyes were engolfed in rage, she wasn't going to let no one harm Aileen. When she becae on par with the boy she yelled, "HOW DARE YOU REMIND ME OF MY PARENTS, YOU WILL PAY, MISMAGIUS PUT HIM TO SLEEP AND MAKE HIM REVIVE HIS WORST NIGHTMARE!" And Mismagius did as ordered, she let out her cry and tried to put the boy to sleep.

 

[Jayloc]

Just as he was going to be relieved that he was finally going away from such a large group of people, Zethe was surpsrised when the little girl from back then yelled "HOW DARE YOU REMIND ME OF MY PARENTS, YOU WILL PAY, MISMAGIUS PUT HIM TO SLEEP AND MAKE HIM REVIVE HIS WORST NIGHTMARE!" At that instant he felt himself getting weak and sleepy. He was ready to drop when he felt a scorchig heat on his left palm. It was so weak at first but as time went on it felt hotter and the pain got worse until he finally snapped back up fully awake. He found himself being prevented from falling by his Alakazam's Psychic.

"Enough Opal. Thank you." Zethe nodded to his Sableye who was ready to use another Will-o-wisp but stopped at his command. Zethe looked at his left hand. It was burnt alright but he had grown accustomed to this pain. Zethe took a Pokeball from his bag with his right hand and threw it then came out a Miltank. "Miltank!" The Miltank quickly got to Zethe's left. "Mimi please..." At that command the Miltank used Healing Bell. "Thank you."

Zethe turned to face Aileen. He noticed that Opal was already preparing his next Will-o-wisp, Mimi's left hand (or hoof or whatever it's called) started to glow for a Power-up Punch, and Alakazam was charging up his Shadowball. "I know this is not the right time and place but using a Pokemon move on me... Well I'll make sure we'll pay you double."

 

[Nebula-Newt]

The ground floor elevator opened with a satisfying chiming sound and calming music flooded out into the lobby. Niko couldn't help but hum along to the tune as he and Ronin stepped into the well lit space and punched in the numbers for their floor. The sheer amount of numbers on the wall were pretty impressive, the building apparently had 23 accessible floors and 7 that looked as if they required some kind of key to access. Again, probably just more staff only areas.

After a short ascension the doors opened with another soft ding and the pair were confronted with an unexpected sight. A flaming horse was milling around the place, Niko recalled it to be a Ponyta, he had never seen one in person before but he was pretty sure they weren't native to hotel rooms. Ronin was equally surprised to see the little fire type and took a step in front of his trainer, immediately distrustful of the creature despite its adorable appearance.

"Stop over reacting Ronin, look at it, harmless!" Niko chuckled as he brushed his overly serious partner aside gently, making his way over to the Ponyta and kneeling beside it in an attempt to show it they meant no harm despite his Sceptile's best hostile glare. "You look a little lost there buddy, whatcha doing here?" He asked whilst rummaging in his bag, pulling out one of the several berries he had purchased at the café. Ronin made a gasp-like noise as he watched the fire type munching on the berries that he had been so looking forward to enjoying later, now this glorified burnt horse was getting them instead! The nerve of it all.

With no other people around Niko didn't really have any other choice but to try and lead the Ponyta back to his room, perhaps he could contact a staff member from there and they would find a way to get a hold of this Pokémon's trainer. So after a short walk and several berries later the three were leaving another elevator on the fifth floor, straight into a girl who looked about the same age as Niko with shoulder length brown hair that was currently braided. The girls brown eyes had a particularly liveliness to them that immediately drew him to them, two bright spheres that were almost child like in nature. Thankfully after a few moments the Ponyta distracted him by rushing over to the girl in greeting, preventing him having to explain why he had taken more than a few seconds to examine her face. It would appear a pretty crazy stroke of luck that they may have actually stumbled straight into the Pokémon's trainer.

"Uh hey there, looks like we may have found something that belongs to you." He said with a smirk as Ronin rolled his eyes.

 

[Hisseki]

"I almost feel bad about having to crush you in the tournament!"

Chevron backed up a step when the ghost types around her smirked at Lucien, but he seemed fine. "Crush me?... Hm, that's a funny way of preemptively admitting defeat. I've never heard it before," Lucien retorted, sticking his hands into his pocket.

And with that, Chevron knew he should probably intervene. Lucien had a bit of a habit with sassing and back-sassing, and the currently-spooked Gogoat was going to have none of it. He stepped between the two and lowered his head. With a sigh, Lucien hopped on his back. "Looks like he wants me to go for a bit of a ride. If your bark is any indicator of your bite, so to speak, I think this tournament will be fun," he said to Vera with a bit of a smirk working its way onto his face.

Chevron started to walk off, but he quickly realized that he had no clue where to go. He opted to find the nearest open space and stop there, to Lucien's temporary confusion. The aforementioned confusion lingered in his mind until he realized why Chevron didn't go somewhere noteworthy. He hopped down off of him and sat beside him. "... That girl was nice, I guess... Vera, was it?... ..." Lucien mumbled to himself, looking around at his surroundings. He had heard some yelling or something, though he wasn't sure if it was real or not considering the abundance of ghost types in his previous location and their mischievous reputations. After scanning the area and looking at all of the Pokemon and trainers around him, he let out a sigh and relaxed a bit.

"Chevron? I've decided that, without a doubt, this tournament is gonna be wild... you'd better be ready... ... pff, who am I kidding, I'd better be ready, too."

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

"Crush me?... Hm, that's a funny way of preemptively admitting defeat. I've never heard it before." Grimsby made a face that said "Oh no he didn't", but he didn't make any moves towards the trainer. ...Yet, at least. "Looks like he wants me to go for a bit of a ride. If your bark is any indicator of your bite, so to speak, I think this tournament will be fun." Vera smiled a bit as Lucien and his gogoat trotted off. "Alright, guys! Time to hit the hay!~" She practically skipped up the stairs before getting tired and taking the elevator up a few floors. She skipped with a short burst of energy to her room, opening the door and walking into her room. "Ooo...Fancy!~" Vera beamed as she looked around the room, her entire team doing the same....minus one dusknoir...

Grimsby slowly emerged from Lucien's shadow and glared down at him, crossing his arms and floating above him. Although Vera could be a bit... ... Vera...at times...she was still his trainer, and as such, he was protective of her. As the second-most powerful on her team tied with Spooky, Grimsby felt it was his duty to act as a guardian and parental figure to Vera whenever she was away from home. He would not tolerate this trainer's rude retort to Vera's playfully competitive remark. He would make this known to this 'Lucien' character and be on his way.

 

[Littleblue]

The waiting game was a tough one to win.

Leaning against the wall was one thing, but leaning against the wall in a stark, and slightly menacing way began to hurt as she held the position. Unseasoned muscles across her body protested against the large effort of trying to look stern in anticipation of the Ponyta prancing through the open doors. Moments turned to minutes, and minutes did not turn to hours holding that glare because a stream of air followed her final relaxation to cease trying to be stern. Figuring that her tone of voice could be sufficient, Harper relaxed and stood more casually by the elevator door- the thought of anyone beside Spirit not crossing her mind.

Haze seemed to float around mindlessly in her brain, her thoughts were to scattered and abstract to follow. A train of thought, as most call it, is something she tends to lack. Perhaps, a splatter of thought would be a more proficient term to describe her thinking. Random, erratic, yet a few predominate thoughts rose above the rest despite the grogginess that plagued her senses. One, most importantly, was whether or not Spirit would be in her possession again by the evening, there were many shady looking people in attendance; shown by the third gate earlier that day when she arrived. Yet, her face changed only slightly at that thought- everyone here has their own team set out already and who wants to care for a baby Ponyta in the first place?

Secondly, as she soon encountered, was how she would explain her odd behavior to one curious enough to ask. Might she recruit another trainer to assist in her search? Or would her bothersome words loose her potential, helpful and strategic partners in the battles upcoming? Her eyes widened a bit and her senses snapped back into its correct place as a happy 'ding' chirped behind the metallic doors of the elevator. Standing up normally, Harper gazed with a bright excitement and hope in her eyes- perhaps her search could be cut short!

Luck was blessing her a thousand times over on this lovely day! A bright flurry of red and orange emerged from the elevator, trotting happily towards her. Harper felt her anger melt away as she saw Spirit again, relief washing over her as the Ponyta whinnied happily and flicked her fiery tail in greeting. The trainer crouched gently, getting on eye level with tiny horse, trying to lace a certain sternness into her eyes and voice. Wordless communication; another moment of silent talking- body language as one might call it. A clash between Harper's tense stares and Spirit's youthful one- it was the most effective way to get the horse to listen in Harper's opinion, but she didn't stay to 'chat' for long- there was a person and a Pokémon who emerged after the Ponyta.

"Uh hey there, looks like we may have found something that belongs to you." The trainer said. Her senses acute, though her mind not yet cleared, Harper took more than a second to respond. The trainer in front of her was quite the unique figure as she'd label him, yet, Harper was yet to encounter a normal person in this tournament. He had darker brown hair that reminded her vaguely of the mess that sat atop her head, though some may call his hairstyle more of a mess than hers. Hazel eyes: an interesting color yet in the artificial lighting of the hotel, Harper could hardly detect the original color through the dark mask of chocolate coloring his eyes hid behind. Curiosity and intelligence seemed to swell about this trainer, an odd mixture for anyone whom was not a scientist- as estimated by the small chink that was removed from his eyebrow.

She placed a hand underneath Spirit's muzzle, allowing him to mindlessly chew on her thumb rather than the elegant walls of the hotel. Her mouth was open, ready to respond, when she felt an odd sensation upon her hand. Sticky. A gummy, warm feeling. "You had a berry, didn't you! Spirit, you're going to go thank the kind trainer and his..." her eyes scanned to look behind the trainer- something she didn't do before hand and noticed a Grovyle- wait; was that it? Is that one a Grovyle or Sceptile? Nonetheless, it was a formidable Pokémon, to say the least, who looked decently annoyed presently. "... his Grov- his... his Sce-... his pokemon. Not only did they help you in the elevator, but they gave you a berry too. Now go." Her instructions fell out of her mouth lightly and airily, even as she stuttered over the name of his Pokémon. But there was enough power behind the words to convince the Ponyta that it was the right thing to do.

Spirit walked over, her head stretching down low in respect, giving a small nicker of thanks before half heartedly giving an apologetic glance towards the duo. The attitude was quickly dismissed, and Spirit raised her head again, gazing curiously at the Sceptile- aware not of it's annoyance. The horse flicked her ears and stomped playfully, attempting to amuse the large grass type. Harper ran her hand through her hair. "Sorry, were still working on that. Thank you for finding her, I really am grateful. She's pretty young." A genuine smile crossed her face, followed by a fuzz feeling of happiness with having her Pokémon back- her life really was a shell of nonexistence without her torch.

"Is there some way I can help you out? It's an eye-for-an-eye world out here, as my parents used to say. And might I add," Harper couldn't help but watch herself roll the words off her tongue, "your Pokémon isn't familiar to me, but he sure looks like quite the partner."

 

[Nebula-Newt]

"It was nothing madam, seems like some stoke of luck that we managed to reunite the pair of you as quickly as we did though huh? Small world, or island or something." Niko chuckled as he gave a small bow in a way or reciprocating the Ponyta- Spirit the girl called her, Sprit's not so sincere thanks. Before the it was even brought up in conversation it was clear to him that this fire horse was a young specimen, its playful demeanour and size made that much clear to him. Strangely enough despite her looking a similar age to himself he got the sense that this trainer had a reliance on her Pokémon that stretched further than his partnership with Ronin. Maybe he was just imagining things though, he wasn't a psychologist after all, just a smart alec who had a habit of reading to deep into what the world presented him.

The Ponyta made an attempt to engage Ronin in play and the reptilian grass type didn't appreciate it much at all. In retaliation he merely grit his teeth and rolled his predatory yellow eyes, keeping his arms firmly folded across his chest. This little bastard had eaten his supper and just because Niko was being friendly with this girl and her Pokémon he couldn't forgive such a betrayal so quickly. In an attempt to defuse the whole tension that his partner was creating Niko kept talking to their new acquaintance, responding to everything she had said in his usual laid back manner. "Hmmm lets just say you owe me one hey? Although you can keep me company on the way back to my room as well, I'm just down here. Name's Niko by the way." He said as he began to make his way to his original destination with Ronin in tow, chatting all the while.

"She was no trouble despite her age I assure you, just took a few berries to get her from point A to point B. As for my partner here he's a Sceptile not a Grovyle but I understand the confusion, even back home in Hoenn people can get the two mixed up pretty easily. And he should be thanking you for the compliment you just gave him a little better." here Niko suddenly jabbed the Sceptile with his elbow to make sure he got the message. Begrudgingly he gave his best attempt at a sincere thankyou in the form of a deep bow, his plant like tail raising in the air behind him so that it almost brushed a low hanging chandelier.

 

[Hisseki]

"We should head back to our room, Chevro- hey! Quit that!"

Chevron kept nudging Lucien away from something. Lucien was about to get frustrated when he turned around and saw what was causing Chevron to act how he was - one of Vera's Pokémon. "... ... Shouldn't you be with your trainer?" He asked the Pokémon, hands in his pocket with a somewhat defiant glare on his face. "Oh, by the way. You're scaring Chevron, so would you kindly desist? Casse toi, revenir à Vera, allez, allez."

Chevron stared in pure disbelief at Lucien as he made his way to the stairs that Vera had gone up, followed by taking the elevator to his room - Chevron at his side, no doubt. Would he willingly stay with that ghost Pokémon back there? No siree. Lucien wasn't very tired, so when he got to his room, he simply sat on his bed and thought about nothing in particular, letting his mind wander. After a few moments, he turned to Chevron and spoke.

"... ... Are there any ghost type Pokémon that have the ability Intimidate?"

Such a thought was enough to have Chevron lay down beside his bed and huff in frustration. Lucien chuckled and rubbed his back. "I get it, I get it, you don't like ghosts. C'est la vie, ce que vous allez faire?" He said, still stroking the spooked Gogoat's back.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Grimsby blinked when Lucien and his gogoat just left, but he was satisfied that his partner had gotten a message. The dusknoir floated up through the ceiling to get to Vera's room, finding his trainer already in bed and surrounded by her team, minus him, of course. He shook his head and floated around, shutting off all lights that were left on, locking the door to the room, shutting the shades to the windows, and just overall doing everything one does as at a hotel before turning in that Vera had obviously forgotten to do.

Finally, when everything was set aside, Grimsby nodded in satisfaction and floated over to Vera and the crowd of ghosts that surrounded her almost to the point where she could no longer be seen. He floated over her, his arms crossed over his chest - his usual resting position. Vera smiled a bit in her sleep as she dreamed of an exciting tournament experience that she and her team would most certainly remember come tomorrow morning...

 

[Littleblue]

Quite a world this is- one of lovely surprises and splashes of colorful personality and character. The dimly lit hallways of the hotel reflected no such vibrant tones despite the many colors of life that entered within it's neutral walls; low hanging chandeliers emitted an aura of elegance and sophistication- something most of the trainers mulling around lacked. An intriguing air hung around, much like the chandeliers, and just sat there- it was mysterious yet comforting, and concurrently terrifying. Much like a horror movie- where you know you are safe for the time being- but who knows what will come around the corner. Their footsteps barely made more than a whisper of greeting as feet met the soft carpet; the duo of trainers heading to their rooms to achieve a good, healing sleep.

"It was nothing madam, seems like some stoke of luck that we managed to reunite the pair of you as quickly as we did though huh? Small world, or island or something." The trainer responded to her apology, an odd, but welcome return. Like a beach ball being held underwater, her relief soared out of the depths of her stomach when the trainer in front of her was not angered at all about such a hassle- though it was quite the stroke of luck indeed for the incidence to happen. Harper found an instant gravitation towards this character- after all, he did try to mimic Spirit's apology, which was quite the act of kindness toward the Ponyta. It was evident enough by the absentminded flicks of her ears and tail that she didn't register the act, but nonetheless, it was something quite special for a baby Pokémon to get respect by giving it.
"Hmmm lets just say you owe me one hey? Although you can keep me company on the way back to my room as well, I'm just down here. Name's Niko by the way. She was no trouble despite her age I assure you, just took a few berries to get her from point A to point B. As for my partner here he's a Sceptile not a Grovyle but I understand the confusion, even back home in Hoenn people can get the two mixed up pretty easily. And he should be thanking you for the compliment you just gave him a little better." The trainer, now introduced and recognizable as Niko, began walking towards his room, which she assumed was a little ways down from hers at best based on the vague direction he pointed and the side of the hallway he was walking on. Happy to chat, Harper walked down the hallway as well to her own room, chuckling quietly while watching the Sceptile give a (only slightly) forced bow.

"Well, its good to meet you, Niko. I'm Harper, that's Spirit. I'm so very glad that she wasn't too horrible of a hassle- she's a handful and such a spark of energy I was concerned that she would burn this building to it's roots." She gave a side smile, looking cautiously at the fire horse trotting daintily in front of her; not a care in her mind. Something deep within her regretted her lack of such gracious emotions to keep worry from her mind- yet the balance was there; scales were equal with the duo. One just landed with more responsibility than the other.
Harper gave a side glance to the large reptilian creature following Niko as they drew closer to her room- it was indeed quite the intriguing Pokémon with a large tail and an almost elegant appearance of cold concentration. Startling, perhaps for one not prepared to face an opponent like that- cool, calm, collected all in one with expertly planned moves. Though, who knows. She hasn't been very sharp with her premonitions recently, so the wrong answer could be filling her head.

She had reached her room, and it seemed as if the other trainer was reaching for the knob on the door beside her own. Fate had an odd way of working, and Harper figured that perhaps such an encounter to make a friend was what was in store for her. Giving a sleepy grin, she opened her own door. "I suppose we both have similar destinations here- well thank you again, one thousand times over, for finding spirit- I don't know what I would do without her. Best of luck in your endeavors tomorrow."

The rest was a blur- Harper could only recall her last few moment in her bed- clothed as normal, with little Spirit curled up beside her chest.

(Sorry for the delay!)

 

[Clementina]

"I know this is not the right time and place but using a Pokemon move on me... Well I'll make sure we'll pay you double."

"Don't underestimate me boy, I'm sure if we face in the tournament, I'll come out on top." She said as she winked at the boy. "Girls let's get go sleep, I'm getting tired." After a long walk Aileen finally reached her room, she opened it and the first thing she did was take off her clothes and take a shower, after that she put on her cream colored pajama shorts and a black bikini, as she layed down in her bed she could only hear the water dripping, and she thought of her parents, her mother was much like her, the same long black, the same eyes, the same tan skin, she was even small like her, but her heart wasn't, she had a huge heart like Aileen. Her father was different from her, he was very tall and had bright blonde hair, his skin wasn't tan and he was strict, selfish sometimes, but Aileen loved him. Loppuny and Sunflora layed down next to her, and Mismagius before doing so, let out her cry and Aileen felt better, she felt like she was going to have sweer dreams that night. She closed her eyes and waited for a new day to begin.

 

[Jayloc]

"Girls let's get to sleep."

Zethe watched the girl walk away. His team smirked as the girl walked away. He then felt his own will to stay awake betray him. "Save it for the real stage guys. Don't get too overconfident. Now return." Everyone except Sableye went back to their Pokeballs leaving Zethe and Sableye to get to their hotel room.
As he entered the floor level of his room. He caught a glimpse of a little silhoutte of a girl entering the room next to his. He continued to his room; when the my both entered, Opal went straight for a couch and was fast asleep. "Good night." Zethe told his Sableye unsure if he was still awake. Zethe took a quick hot shower and wore only pants (and underwear) to bed. Zethe twisted and turned, obviously, he couldn't sleep well. He twisted and turned until he fell on the floor. "Much Better." And he was fast asleep

 

[Nebula-Newt]

"Yeah I'll look out for you in the tournament tomorrow, sleep well Harper." Niko replied with a tired smile that betrayed how low on energy he really was after the journey to Tendura and the hijinks that had taken place since his arrival. With a quick swipe of the key card he had been supplied with the trainer and his partner were entering their room and upon a first glance it was just as plush and rich looking as the rest of the building. Although currently bathed in soft lights and shadows he could still make out beautiful pieces of artwork and an ornate furniture that wouldn't look out of place in a palace but were slightly at odds with the high tech vibe he was getting from the whole set up. But honestly who cared about that, this place was amazing!

Ronin was quick to find a place to sleep, eager to get some rest in order to be fully prepared for the battles he would be taking place in tomorrow, whilst Niko instead chose to dump his bag on the ground and inspect the mini fridge that was glistening in the corner of the room. Inside it were at least 30 small bottles of different liquids, mostly alcoholic and glistening with frosted droplets of condensation. With a "fuck it" shrug Niko reached inside and grabbed a few bottles before taking them over to the plushest armchair in the room and flopping down in it heavily. Cracking open (A cold one with the boys) the first bottle he took a deep slug of whatever was inside and sighed, content now just to think of battle strategies for another night.

About 3 hours and half a mini fridge later Niko emerged from the rooms bathroom wrapped in the fluffiest white towel you'd ever laid eyes on, fresh out of the shower and at this point pretty intoxicated. He paused and leaned against the frame of the door for a moment, smiling as he caught sight of Ronin fast asleep on top of the wardrobe, he had always made a habit of sleeping somewhere high ever since he was a Treeko but his trainer had never found out why. Probably just natural instinct at the end of the day, just lik- CRASH

The door swung open suddenly, slamming against the door frame heavily. Turning groggily towards the sound Niko was surprised to see three figures standing there dressed in all black and wearing sunglasses. The guards he had seen at the entrance? A glint in the slow light caught his attention suddenly, all three of the men were holding what looked like rifles in their arms and every single barrel was pointing at him. In his drunken state Niko did what he did best in this extreme and unexpected situation.
"Room service?" He smirked before he felt something cold and sharp jab into his shoulder and the room went dark all around him.

The three men went to work in his room immediately, carrying out their orders like they had already done countless times tonight. O of the men, the one tasked with finding the trainers Pokeballs stood over the unconscious trainer for a moment, shaking his head in disappointment. "What an idiot." the man murmured before he was thrown across the room by an angry flash of green. The unfortunate guard hit the wall with such force that the plaster began to fall away from the point of impact, leaving a small hole that actually showed Harper and Spirit's room next door. Sadly Ronin's rescue attempt was cut short by roughly 6 tranquiliser darts hitting him square in the chest, the impact of that many shots actually halting him in his tracks. His glowing green arm blades flickered and died as the liquid in the darts got to work on his body with remarkable speed, causing the Sceptile to join his trainer on the ground a few seconds later as his whole world went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bright sunlight and an overpowering scent of jungle awoke Niko from his dreamless sleep, causing the young man to shelter his eyes as he tried to get his baring, not yet recalling what had happened to him. His skin rubbed roughly against the dirt and grass as he got into an upright position, insanely groggy from what he assumed was the mother of all hangovers. Wait a minute, grass? Dirt? Opening his eyes Niko was greeted with a vision of hundreds of others finding themselves in the same situation as himself, waking up in a harmony of yawns and groans. What the fuck was going on here? Looking around he realised that they were all inside some kind of cage within the jungle, high barbed wire topped fences in every direction that separated them and the trees that surrounded them completely. A dull pain in his shoulder began to make itself known and after a quick glance it all came rushing back to Niko. The tiny puncture wound on his shoulder was the result of a dart? Those men had broken into his room and....oh shit, was this some kind of terrorist attack? Had the tournament been ambushed? At least whoever had done this had the decency to give him some plain black shorts, this situation didn't look like it could get much worse but being in a towel certainly wouldn't help. Clipped to the shorts was a single Pokeball, Ronin's by the look of it, he could tell due to the scratched paint on the top. Why would they have let him keep Ronin with him? In fact looking around at the others now waking up he could see they all had a single pokeball attached to the various items of clothing they were wearing.

Only one thing was really clear here, it didn't look like anybody who came to this island would be going home a champion.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

It didn't take long for Vera's dreams to turn sour. They went from dreams of victory or loss surrounded by friends to the days and months and years of torment surrounded by bullies and bystanders. As her dreams turned to nightmares, Vera tossed and turned wildly. ...She thought she felt people grabbing at her...and that's when the nightmares started to get out of hand. She no longer was being tormented by schoolyard bullies. She was being dragged into an asylum by those accusing her of insanity. A drastic change of thought to be sure, but Vera was absolutely petrified at this. "I'm not crazy!" She sobbed to the masses. "I swear to Arceus, I'm not!"

She opened her eyes widely with a start. Panting, Vera saw figures all in black. She heard - distantly - the calls of a dusknoir...gengar...mismagius...palossand...cofagrigus....even a mimikyu... Vera felt her stomach drop. Something was not right. They were taking her and her team. But most importantly, her team. She writhed around and screamed as loud as she could. Saying she was freaking out would have been a major understatement. She gasped and screamed louder when she saw one of the figures take out some kind of needle. She kicked him in the elbow but he kept his grasp on the needle.

It went into her arm and the plunger went down. Vera started to feel sleepy again. Grimsby and the others fought the figures, trying to get to her, but they were slowing down from tranquilizer shot after tranquilizer shot. Vera was crying. "What...do you want....with us......?!" She went limp, completely out cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vera woke up with a start in the middle of a jungle. It only took a minute to remember the horrors os last night. She looked around, immediately seeing the barbed wire - she was trapped! She started panting and getting worked up. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. She didn't dare stand - she would just fall over immediately. Vera grabbed at her hoodie's pockets, gasping breathlessly when she only found the familiar shape of a singular pokeball. Next, she reached for the inside of her jacket, stopping her frantic panting once her hand closed around a familiar circular shape - her beloved brooch.

Of course, she had so many unanswered questions and was already shaken from her nightmares that led into whatever happened to her, so that moment of calm didn't last long. Ignoring her previous idea to refrain from standing, she scrambled to her feet, wrapping her arms around her tightly like some form of security hug. Anyone nearby could clearly tell from the way she was acting that she was boarderline going into shock and boarderline starting to hyperventilate. She was both blocking everything out around her and taking everything around her in. "This isn't happening this isn't happening this isn't happening Arceus knows this isn't happening...!" Vera murmured to herself frantically.

This was a dream. It had to be an even worse continuation of her nightmare. This couldn't be real. It just couldn't. She had one member of her team. Five others were missing. They could be in danger. They could be all alone like her. Vera was shivering now. Shivering and shaking her head back slowly, eyes wide. She shakily backed away from her "wake up" location, shrinking herself down. Her hair fell in front of her face, shielding herself from view of anything in front of her, but the damage was already done. She was already losing it. Vera teared up as the voices once again returned. "FREAK!" "FREAK!" "FREAK!" Vera whimpered, trying in vain to block them out. To stop the addition of more pain.

Vera saw someone stand up out of thr corner of her eye. She gasped and whipped around to face them. Only dressed in shorts, the boy looked extremely confused. How in Arceus's name was he not freaking out?! She backed up more until she bumped into someone. She stiffened whipped around to face the same pale boy she had met yesterday, though due to her hysteria, she only saw his black hair and thought of the figures that had most likely brought her here as well as captured the rest of her team. Vera yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!," as she scrambled backwards. Her back hit a tree and she broke. Vera immediately slid down to the ground, curled up into a ball, and started sobbing, her head down. She gripped her legs with a death grip, trying to recreate the sorts of hugs her parents would give her whenever she was feeling upset in any capacity. But then she remembered that she was hugging herself. That her parents weren't here. They were home in Alola, believing that she was fine. Then she remembered that this was in fact real. She had woken up and she had touched things. Nothing was imaginary. This was real. Vera sobbed louder and harder.

In the back of her mind, her father and mother were telling her that everything was going to be alright. There was just one problem with that.

She wasn't going to be alright at all.
That was a lie.

 

[Clementina]

In Aileen's room everybody was sleeping like a rock, no one moved, no one made a sound. It wasn't untill the middle of the night that noise appeared, it was a big and loud bang, someone had broken down the door, Aileen woke up immediately, because her vision was blury she could only see 3 black silhouette that came closer to her, as they came closer Aileen's vision became clearer, they seemed like security, wearing black suits and sunglasses. "W-who are you?! Don't come any closer! OUT OF MY ROOM! MISMAGIUS WAKE UP, SHADOW BALL!" Mismagius immediately woke up and used Shadow Ball, however the men quickly dodged and the Shadow Ball hit the wall that was connected to the next room. Two of the men grabbed Loppuny and Sunflora, while the other man came face to face with Aileen and punched her, she became dizzy and her vision became blury, she fell to the floor and whispered "Mother... Father... help... me..." Everything after that went black.

As rays of sun hit Aileen's face, she slowly opened her eyes, she looked up and could see the open sky and fluffy clouds, "Where am I? And why do I feel so... exposed?" As she slowly got up she noticed she was only wearing a black bikini and attached to the bra was a single Pokéball. "Mismagius..." She knew because Sunflora was in a Great ball and Loppuny in an Ultra Ball. She looked around and saw hundred others in the same cage she was in. However one stood out, it was Niko, however as she runned towards him she stumbled apon a tall figure and fell, and when she looked up she sayed, "Oh no... not you..."

 

[Jayloc]

BANG!

Zethe was woke up when his door was kicked open. "What now...?" He looked up and saw three dark figures entering his room. "Oh this just so cliche. Everyone out!" With that every Pokemon he had got out of their Pokeballs. "Eins Psychic! Mimi watch everyone's back prepare to support with Healing Bell! Jance (the Tropius ) Magical Leaf! Opal Will-o-Wisp! Cleo Thief!" He barked orders to his team with confidence but their opponents were smarter and quicker. The first of them aimed at the Miltank and put her fast asleep. A second after that he went flying into a wall thanks to the Alakazam. The second, seeing that happen to his comrade, quickly shot at Eins but as soon as Eins was asleep, he felt his weapon get taken from him. He brawled with Cleo and quickly knocked him out with a chop to the back of the neck. The third dodged the Magical Leaf with such agility and quickly took down the Tropius. The three recovered from the attacks of Zethe's team and aimed at the Sableye, but Opal not wanting to go down without a fight burned them with Will-o-Wisp and was quickly take down too. "Opal!" Zethe ran to his companion's side and checked if he was okay and realized he was only put to sleep. He looked up and said "Well fu-"

Darkness
Then Zethe felt the presence of people around him. He was lazy to open his eyes and wake up but he did once he heard someone yell "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He shot back up and checked himself. He was in his pants that he wore last night and in his hand he was clasping a Pokeball with a ruby on its front. "Opal..." He thought. He looked at his left wrist and saw that he still wore his baller. He started to stand up to see his situation at a better perspective, but as soon as he caught his balance, someone familliar bumped into him.

"Oh no... not you..." Zethe looked down and saw that same girl he bumped into yesterday. Looking at her now, she did not seem like a child to him anymore. Embarrassed by that thought he tried to keep a straight face and offered his hand to help her up. "Yes, and I go by the name Zethe by the way but just Z is fine. This is not the time to have another quarrel so may I offer an alliance? Also I need you to hook me up with powerful and trustworthy people."

 

[Hisseki]

A loud noise jarred Lucien from his unexpected slumber. Chevron had returned to his Pokeball minutes before falling asleep, and he knew his other Pokemon were in their Pokeballs as well. Lucien looked around his room, just in case a Pokemon of his was the source of the noise. After looking around the room a total of four or five times, he gave up, deciding that his night blindness had bested him yet again. It was at this moment Lucien knew something was wrong, but before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his side. He came crashing down to the ground, falling unconscious immediately.

---------------------------------------
Lucien awoke once more with a start. He searched himself for anything, and only came to find that a majority of his things were missing from his person, save for his clothes, his prized bracelet, a few tissues, and a single Pokeball, and his blazer and shirt were torn in the side where he felt the pain. Horrified - and temporarily blinded, thanks to being exposed directly to the sun the second he opened his eyes - Lucien sat up and let the Pokemon out of the ball. He was relieved to know that the Pokemon was Chevron, but still terrified at the thought of his other precious partners being Arceus-knows-where.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

A voice forcefully snapped Lucien out of his own thoughts - and scared the ever-living heck out of Chevron - and thrust him back into reality. He looked around and saw, among others, the ghost girl from earlier. Rubbing his eyes and taking a few steps forwards, hands held up defensively, he sighed and started speaking. His voice was far raspier than it normally is, but he persevered with his speech anyways.

"Hey, Vera, was it? I get that you're a bit... on edge. As am I, don't get me wrong.... I don't know what is wrong in particular here, but... calm down... Tout va bien, croyez-moi. Something my mother used to say to me... it means 'It'll all be fine, trust me'... ... so it'll all be fine... trust me."

Chevron, while Lucien was speaking, was unsure of whether he was amazed or shocked further. Lucien just spoke - willingly - to someone he just met, and he spoke in full sentences for longer than 5 seconds. It was a new record as far as he was aware. That said, rather than approaching him with a congratulatory headbutt to the back, Chevron sat down where he was, waiting for Lucien to come to him when the tense situation was diffused.

Lucien put his hands back into his blazer pockets - er, one of them, the other pocket was ripped and slightly stained red, as was the fabric around the openings in his shirt and blazer, and even his skin in the area - and half smiled at Vera. "Whaddya say?... ... Tout va bien, croyez-moi..." he repeated, trying to produce a calmer tone with his raspy morning voice.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

"...Tout va bien, croyez-moi..." Vera's freaking out paused for a moment at the sound of a familiar voice. Though it was a bit raspy from just waking up, she inmediately identified it as Lucien's, the boy with the gogoat. She sighed shakily with relief as the figure in black disappeared and was replaced instead with a familiar face. She moved the hair out of her face shakily and looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She sniffled and slowly stood up, still hugging herself.

She felt like a kid again. A small, helpless kid, scared of some unknown terror that had once again scared her in the middle of the night. She thought of her parents and Lucien became her father - a figure trying to calm her down and reassure her that she was in fact safe. The vision was lost in a few moments, of course, because reality again kicked in and Vera started to cry again. Although they barely knew each other, she grabbed Lucien in a tight hug and sobbed into his shoulder as if he was a close friend. Maybe he had the same terrible experience happen to him last night, too. Maybe - if he was as strong as he said before - they would be able to make it out together.

With this small boost of hope and Lucien comforting her from both the hug she forced upon him and his words, Vera began to calm down. She sighed shakily, her breathing slowly but surely calming down. Her crying started to slow, then it eventually stopped. Just to be sure however, she still held onto Lucien. If Grimsby had been with her, he would have been by her side for as long as she needed him to be. She hoped that Lucien would do the same, despite them not being the closest of friends yet.

After holding him for a bit, she murmured, "...s-sorry for grabbing you...I needed a hug..." Vera paused for a bit longer, then murmured, "...Thank you for helping me calm down... ... ..."

 

[Littleblue]

Nothing, nothing tangible in the home we call Earth, is comparable to the figment and images of the imagination.

Dreams were a peculiar thing- some see them as gorgeous pink and blue puffs of cotton candy, spun around the silky white stick of joy and comfort; however as easily it is comparable to pastel colors and painted skies, it is also comparable to white fangs, bloodied at the tips. Despair drips from every corner, fear seems to take an all-so-real and recognizable form for some, paranoia becomes so vivid and haunting, sometimes fiction and reality blur together in a tangle of colors and faces. They manifest within the mind, though their effects can go far beyond a lack of sleep. Little splashes of daydreams follow a dreamer through their waking hours, less pesky than nighttime adventures, but none the less annoying when not wanted. Perhaps some anticipate their moments of sleep with great joy, but a certain trainer wouldn't agree.

There is no time within the five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes of the year to bother with such a dull activity such as sleeping. Imagine, up to eight more hours of productivity- of play, of adventure; if only the human body could function on just spare, sweet minutes of sleep rather than arduous hours. Though not one to dread her bedtime like a young child, Harper found it extremely difficult to enjoy her rest. Yet the night of the largest festival she had ever attended, her body collapsed in on itself, succumbing easily to the warm embrace of her bed. Harper found her sleep undisturbed, yet, a cold sensation crept its way up her spine, slowly, and eerily.

Her brown eyes flicked open, meeting the hazy darkness of her room with alert attentiveness. A dull light emanated from a small lamp in the corner of the room- one she had forgotten to turn off before her journey into her dreams. Oddly enough, her memory recalled no such action as turning off the overhead lights, but that thought echoed dully compared to the worry that all the sudden overwhelmed her senses. There was an absence of a warm fire pony next to her. Her arms slowly propped herself up, eyes widening with a sudden sense of dread. Pupils enlarging, she began to make out the setting of her room. A figure stood, hazily lit by the lamp. Wait... not a figure... three figures....

A blossom of flames erupted from Spirit's nostrils and mouth as she stood, back faced towards the wall, against two figures dressed in black. In the inky darkness, Harper spotted a small object protruding out of her Ponyta's shoulder, along with a startling sight; Spirit's mane and tail of brilliantly colored flames had extinguished, leaving no more than a reflection of their light in her eyes. The flames hung in the air like a spectral wildfire, spreading across the room and illuminating it with an angry red glow. "Spirit!" Was the only word that slipped up her throat as Harper launched herself from her embrace under the covers towards her foster child, but the startlingly cold sensation that froze her from her hip stopped her tracks. Everything became black, everything numb, everything dull, nothing in her brain but the fuzzy memory of a small dart in her side.

Spirit grunted with effort, stomping her hooves against the cushioned, carpeted floor angrily. As her trainer fell, the tiny horse reared up, lashing her hooves outwards, making contact with the face of one of the humans dressed solely in black. Her heart raced a thousand beats per minute as she felt another dart enter into her system, causing a spree of inky black splotches to cross her vision. A hole broke in the wall between their room and the room of the man named Niko, and as one last ditch effort, Spirit cried out a loud whinny of help before her head hit the ground- out like the flames of her mane.

There was an eerie silence that blanketed the room following the event. Greedy hands in black coats reached for Harper's waist, removing the three poke balls from her belt without a shred of remorse. The limp, almost lifeless beige lump on the floor began glowing a vibrant red before disappearing into the spherical capsule held by another pair of wicked hands. Spirit's pokeball was replaced on the belt, moving in syncopation with the slight, steady breaths of the trainer splayed out in a desperate attempt to shield her Pokémon. Fade to black, fade to black indeed.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A friendly chirp. An odd growl. A groggy moan.

Too many sounds bombarded her senses at once, worst of all, the devastating blindness that plagued her eyes as the lively orbs of chocolate brown blinked open after the most terrible nights sleep she had gotten since the first night away from home. Harper shook her head from side to side, covering and rubbing her eyes in the fresh daylight that bathed the mysterious new atmosphere she found herself in. A feeling of dread and devastation hung over the entire clearing, making it difficult for the trainer to feel anything more or less than what it desired. Finally, her eyes adjusted, and the frenzied figures began to make logical shapes.

People, hundreds, were either laying down or slowly arousing from the ground. Harper herself had already dragged herself into a kneeling position, her legs folded under her hips and hands folded on her lap. Her eyes observed that many seemed to be wearing sleep garments, despite the current location clearly being far from the comfort of any bed. Yet, despite the popular trend, the trainer found herself in the crimson shirt she had on in the day previous, along with her boots, earrings, and jeans. Along her belt laid a single pokeball as opposed to her usual four; a heal ball signifying that the sole Pokémon she had in her possession was her little Fire horse.

The surroundings were odd- a large enclosure with walls of barbed wire preventing any interaction with the lush, almost inviting green trees on the opposite side. The scent smelled of calming tropical flowers and a small hint of a salty breeze flittered gently within the leaves; sending feelings of comfort despite the obvious situation of confusion and stress. Hearing a cry to her right, Harper turned her head and spotted Vera, as she remembered the lady's name, desperately clinging to a man of similar age; a child to a parent. That's what it reminded her of, at least. Gazing around, more faces began to pop out at her- Aileen wearing quite the odd garb for being outside: a bikini was what it looked like, and Niko, who was similarly oddly dressed, in a towel and a pair of black shorts.

Standing, trying to keep an air of calm, Harper meandered silently through the mess of people, finding a comfortable spot in the midst of Vera, Aileen, Niko, and two other gentlemen who looked to be similar in age to herself. A parched tongue made itself known as a word began to fall out of her mouth, causing the trainer's face to scrunch up ever so slightly in distaste.

"Perhaps, none of you know were we may be?" She asked gently, forcing her face to be apathetic and calm despite the storm of confusion that reigned over her heart.

She needed her fire horse, but this was not the time.

 

[Nebula-Newt]

Others were stirring now, rising like zombies from the grave all around him. Some of the poor souls he recognised, Harper and Aileen, but most of them were strangers to Niko. A few people were having outbursts, one girl in a hoodie was having quite the breakdown but before the young man had any real time to process all the commotion an irritating sound caught his attention, coming from somewhere behind the treetops to the left. Slowly but surely a large metallic shape began to rise above the leafy tops of the jungle, approaching the pen they were trapped in at a steady rate. As it stopped above them Niko recognised it as a Magneton, one that was bigger than any he had ever seen before and had some kind of large screen attached to it via a metal harness. Damn thing must have been the size of a family car.

The screen attached to the metallic monster suddenly came to life, presenting an image of a shadowy figure framed against a bright and pastel background, posed sinisterly in some kind of chair. For a few moments Niko believed that it was just that, an odd image on a screen, that was at least until the figure began to speak in a soft and gentle tone, one that didn't match the way he appeared at all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to shed some light on this situation. I know this must be quite the shock to you all and I sincerely apologise for any roughhousing you received last night, my people were given specific orders to take you as quickly and as peacefully as possible. I didn't want any of you injured before the real fun began after all, no, no I've worked far too hard for that. You see although all you lovely trainers expected to be taking part in the Tendura tournament today, it won't be exactly what you thought. Now listen carefully because this part might be a little hard to take in. Outside those lovely fences that surround you is almost the entirety of the island, free for you to roam! Exciting right? Its even stocked with plenty of wide Pokémon for you to discover, you guys love that stuff right? Anyway to spice things up I've been releasing a lovely concoction into the air, one that sends any one of our beastly friends into a murderous rage unless they are linked to a Pokeball. You wouldn't belive how long that took us to dream up in the labs, let me tell you. When this enclosure opens up its going to be your jobs to just survive as long as possibly can, think of it as a last one standing kind of deal. Only one of you is getting out of this mess alive so you could always give yourself the edge by taking out the competition if you know what I mean. Hint, hint. Oh and as for your other little Poke-pals they're safe for now, in fact they will probably out live you if I'm honest with you. But if you win this little game I'll give you them back. That's all for no-"

Suddenly a trainer riding a fearow rose from the ground, rocketing skyward in what appeared to be an attempted escape. The young woman had a wild look in her eyes as her Pokémon flapped its large wings desperately as it tried to gain altitude, quickly rising to about 300 meters up. With a robotic beep the Magnezone generated a lightening bolt from its antennae and struck the fleeing duo, causing a gut wrenching screech to be dragged out of the Fearow as it suddenly fell in a smoking, flaming mess to the earth below. A dull thud marked their landing amongst the other trainers, one that did nothing to break the silence that had fell ever since the man on the screen had began talking. Instead after a few more seconds he began speaking again.

"Sorry about that, I forgot to mention that anybody who tries to escape will suffer a similar fate to this young lady. We've stocked the seas and sky with some particularly nasty Pokémon to discourage you trying to avoid our little game. I'll talk to those of you who survive the first day tomorrow, let the Tendura Tournament begin!"

Niko was left reeling from what he had just heard. Sure the questions that had been circling around his confused mind had been answered but at what cost? That man on the screen...he just used a Pokémon to kill? That was absurd....oh this was going to be a shitstorm alright. These maniacs had them trapped on this island...like rats in a cage. A cage full of genetically enhanced cats. What would that even entail.. a gas that made Pokémon crazy? As if on cue gates within the wire fences that surrounded them slid open slowly and eerily, allowing the sounds of the jungle to filter in. Somehow they seemed a lot less tropical and friendly than before, the shrill calls of wild creatures now shook Niko to his core. At least he still had Ronin by his side, there was nobody else he would rather had his back in a hell like this. Almost all the trainers had already left the pen now, ran screaming out into the forest in an effort to escape their own new reality. Soon only a few trainer remained in the clearing, just them and the two smouldering corpses.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Vera watched as a magnezone with a screen attached to it floated overhead. The pokemon was huge and awkward-looking, and if circumstances were different, she would have laughed at it. A figure appeared on the screen. She immediately got chills. Whoever this figure was, she had a feeling she wasn't going to like them. After all, she had already dealt with a few figures, and they hadn't been the greatest people.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to shed some light on this situation. I know this must be quite the shock to you all and I sincerely apologize for any roughhousing you received last night, my people were given specific orders to take you as quickly and as peacefully as possible. I didn't want any of you injured before the real fun began after all, no, no I've worked far too hard for that." Vera immediately hated this person. He was responsible for bringing her here, he was responsible for taking her team - her family - away from her. He was nothing but a glorified bully. That last sentence bothered her, though. What did he mean by "real fun"?

"You see although all you lovely trainers expected to be taking part in the Tendura tournament today, it won't be exactly what you thought. Now listen carefully because this part might be a little hard to take in. Outside those lovely fences that surround you is almost the entirety of the island, free for you to roam! Exciting right? Its even stocked with plenty of wide Pokémon for you to discover, you guys love that stuff right?" Vera's anger faded into confusion. He said that the tournament would be different...but it sounded perfectly normal to her. They would probably battle both other trainers and wild pokemon all over the island. ...Though...was it one pokemon at a time battling? And why were they forced here so suddenly? Vera's stomach dropped slightly. She had a bad feeling about this...!

"Anyway to spice things up I've been releasing a lovely concoction into the air, one that sends any one of our beastly friends into a murderous rage unless they are linked to a Pokeball. You wouldn't believe how long that took us to dream up in the labs, let me tell you." That was the catch. Vera paled, her stomach dropping much more now. That's why it was different. This was no longer just battling. If the pokemon really were that agitated, she and everyone else would be in danger... Vera only paled further, her grip on Lucien tightening more and more, as the man spoke. When this enclosure opens up its going to be your jobs to just survive as long as possibly can, think of it as a last one standing kind of deal. "Only one of you is getting out of this mess alive so you could always give yourself the edge by taking out the competition if you know what I mean. Hint, hint." Her breathing began to quicken again and she started shaking and crying again. She definitely was hyperventilating now. And she was definitely in shock now. They had to fight to the death. She had to fight to survive. She was going to die. She didn't want to die. She was the most vulnerable. Out of everyone she could see, she was the only one losing her mind. She was going to be targeted first. She didn't want to die.

Although Vera tried blocking him out before he made things worse, she gasped in horror at the man's next sentence. "Oh and as for your other little Poke-pals they're safe for now, in fact they will probably out live you if I'm honest with you. But if you win this little game I'll give you them back." Her team. Her family. They were safe! Safe and alive! She had no idea where they were, they were probably worried sick for her - especially Grimsby - and the only way she could get them back was by winning this demented tournament. ... ... ... Winning the tournament....... Winning the tournament. Vera's condition only worsened at the very thought of such a thing. She would not only have to survive. She would have to kill.

Suddenly, a trainer shot up into the sky on a Fearow. Before Vera could react, the magnezone fired off a lightning bolt and hit the pokemon and its trainer. She paled more, her nails digging into Lucien at this point from the death grip she had on him. Her breathing quickened even more until she was gasping for breath as she heard the Fearow screech and she watched the two fall. She stared at the corpses with absolute horror. She screamed.

"Sorry about that, I forgot to mention that anybody who tries to escape will suffer a similar fate to this young lady. We've stocked the seas and sky with some particularly nasty Pokémon to discourage you trying to avoid our little game. I'll talk to those of you who survive the first day tomorrow, let the Tendura Tournament begin!" The man joined the ranks of the voices that screamed in her head. He was taunting her. Telling her that she wouldn't and couldn't survive just one day on the island. Her death would be painful, he assured her. Her pokemon would be given a new trainer, though it would take some time for him to find another freak like her to fit the bill. The other voices laughed at her and continued their screams of that one terrible word that by now - like back then - she was starting to believe.

Once the pen around them opened up, trainers screamed and filed out, leaving only a few other trainers left, Lucien and Vera included. She looked around shakily, her eyes wide. She didn't know if she could trust anyone anymore. After all, everyone on the island could want her dead. And she was still the most vulnerable target in her eyes. Then again, if she just booked it, she would be dead, too. Wild pokemon could ambush her easily if she was alone. That, and she wasn't about to let go of Lucien. ...Unless he wanted her dead, too...

Vera squeezed her eyes shut as she started to get a terrible headache on top of everything else she was dealing with. There was just too much to process at once. She wanted to be back home in Malie City. She wanted to be with Acerola and her parents. She wanted her whole team with her. She wanted to be safe. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to kill. "I-I-I...J-J-Just wanna go.....h-h-ho-hom-me...!" she muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grimsby didn't know where he was. He couldn't tell if it was his pokeball or a cage or something completely different. But he wanted out. Vera was out there somewhere, and she was in trouble. She needed her. She couldn't be out there on the island all alone. He cried and slammed himself against the walls of his prison, whatever his prison was, exactly. He fired off shadow ball after shadow claw after move after move... Vera was out there. Vera was out there. His mother was out there. His mother was out there. A few tranquilizer darts hit him, and his cries and movements became weaker and weaker as he began to pass out again. ....Vera was out there...........Vera was out there...........His mother was out there.............His mother........was.........His......mother....................H-His...............mother............... Just like that, Grimsby was on the floor, fighting to stay awake. Before he closed his eye, he heard laughter. Then everything went black.

 

[Clementina]

"Yes, and I go by the name Zethe by the way but just Z is fine. This is not the time to have another quarrel so may I offer an alliance? Also I need you to hook me up with powerful and trustworthy people."

"Look, I am very sorry for what happened earlier... I regret it... I hope... you can forgive me? I would love to form an alliance, we have to get out of here... It's just my p-" Before Aileen could finish her sentence a giant Magnezone appeared in the sky, leaving her speechless, suddently a figure appeared on screen, scared, Aileen grabbed Zethe's arm, and imediately felt, safer. The shadowy figure began speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to shed some light on this situation. I know this must be quite the shock to you all and I sincerely apologise for any roughhousing you received last night, my people were given specific orders to take you as quickly and as peacefully as possible. I didn't want any of you injured before the real fun began after all, no, no I've worked far too hard for that. You see although all you lovely trainers expected to be taking part in the Tendura tournament today, it won't be exactly what you thought. Now listen carefully because this part might be a little hard to take in. Outside those lovely fences that surround you is almost the entirety of the island, free for you to roam! Exciting right? Its even stocked with plenty of wide Pokémon for you to discover, you guys love that stuff right? Anyway to spice things up I've been releasing a lovely concoction into the air, one that sends any one of our beastly friends into a murderous rage unless they are linked to a Pokeball. You wouldn't belive how long that took us to dream up in the labs, let me tell you. When this enclosure opens up its going to be your jobs to just survive as long as possibly can, think of it as a last one standing kind of deal. Only one of you is getting out of this mess alive so you could always give yourself the edge by taking out the competition if you know what I mean. Hint, hint. Oh and as for your other little Poke-pals they're safe for now, in fact they will probably out live you if I'm honest with you. But if you win this little game I'll give you them back."

Aileen fell to the floor, her hand still holding Zethe's, only one was getting out of there, and it probably wasn't going to be her, her mind went blank, even if she won, what would she come back to? Her parents were dead, her sister was dead, her Pokémon were the only thing she had, and what would she do to win? Kill her friends? Niko, Harper, now Zethe? She thought of the day her sister died, she said she would go out for a walk and she wouldn't take much time, but after 2 hours Aileen knew something was wrong, she went out looking for her, and after hours searching she found her sisters body in the floor, probably pecked to death by spearows.

A teardrop hit the ground, and at that moment Aileen came back to real world, she saw a trainer with a Fearow trying to escape getting hit by a jolt of lightning. She was scared, she hold Zethe's hand with even more strength, she dindn't want to end up like the trainer, however at the same time something lit up inside her, she wasn't going to let that man torture her, that was certain, she was scared, but at the same time angry.

"Sorry about that, I forgot to mention that anybody who tries to escape will suffer a similar fate to this young lady. We've stocked the seas and sky with some particularly nasty Pokémon to discourage you trying to avoid our little game. I'll talk to those of you who survive the first day tomorrow, let the Tendura Tournament begin!"

Aw, hell no. If that man even dared talking to her, she would spit in the monitor, she got up as the cage opened, it was time, she was going to fight for her life like never before, Mismagius by her side... "Mother... Father... Sister... grant me strength..." She whispered to herself. "Zethe, let's go, I am not dying today."

 

[Jayloc]

"Look, I am very sorry for what happened earlier... I regret it... I hope... you can forgive me? I would love to form an alliance, we have to get out of here... It's just my p-" Zethe was making up the words to say that he forgives her.

Should I say I'm cool or should I just tell her that she owes me one for not hitting her back...?
Zethe's thoughts were interrupted when the Magnezone came. His attention was all in the person in screen he didn't mind Aileen grabbing his arm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to shed some light on this situation. I know this must be quite the shock to you all and I sincerely apologise for any roughhousing you received last night, my people were given specific orders to take you as quickly and as peacefully as possible. I didn't want any of you injured before the real fun began after all, no, no I've worked far too hard for that.You see although all you lovely trainers expected to be taking part in the Tendura tournament today, it won't be exactly what you thought. Now listen carefully because this part might be a little hard to take in. Outside those lovely fences that surround you is almost the entirety of the island, free for you to roam! Exciting right? Its even stocked with plenty of widePokémon for you to discover, you guys love that stuff right? Anyway to spice things up I've been releasing a lovely concoction into the air, one that sends any one of our beastly friemds into a murderous rage unless they are linked to a Pokeball. You wouldn't belive how long that took us to dream up in the labs, let me tell you. When this enclosure opens up its going to be your jobs to justsurvive as long as possibly can, think of it as a last one standing kind of deal. Only one of you is getting out of this mess alive so you could always give yourself the edge by taking out the competition if you know what I mean. Hint, hint. Oh and as for your other little Poke-pals they're safe for now, in fact they will probably out live you if I'm honestwith you. But if you win this littlegame I'll give you them back."

Zethe watched as a trainer riding a Fearow try to escape and die. "What a fool, you should never jump to conclusions when you do not know what is going on. tsk tsk..." Zethe whispered to himself as he watched the burnt Fearow fall to the ground and make a Thud sound.

"Sorry about that, I forgot to mention that anybody who tries to escape will suffer a similar fate to this young lady. We've stocked the seas and sky with some particularly nasty Pokémon to discourage you trying to avoid our little game. I'll talk to those of you who survive the first day tomorrow, let the Tendura Tournament begin!"

And with that said. Zethe watched the other trainers run for the jungle. "Seriously why would you chase after your death? Aren't there rabid Pokemon in there?" He whispered to himself.

"Zethe, let's go, I am not dying today." He then turned to Aileen whom he forgot about just a moment ago. Zethe then realised that she was holding his hand and quickly took it away. "I told you, Z's fine okay. Anyways don't make bold statements saying you won't die today, you'll only be disappointed at yourself when you're in the face of death." Z started to notice the presence of the trainers inside the pen. He announced so that everybody in the pen could hear. "So which one are we? The wise trying not to be reckless? Or the cowards just waiting to get zapped like those two?" Z never liked the idea of interacting with other people, but at times like these, allies will increase your chance of survival.
Z cleared his throat and continued "But that won't matter because all of us will die here anyway." Z said with a sad smile.