[PKMN OPEN] The Pokémon Trainer Academy (T) [Best Veteran 4Q '11]

"You know why I'm here. You totally ditched me back at that Power Plant. What was the deal? We weren't in trouble. You have any idea what I had to deal with back there? If the Police weren't enough, somebody from the International Police showed up and started asking me a whole bunch of questions! He called himself Looker or something like that...He... gave me a fishing rod afterwards but that's beside the point!" Mark said. He kind got over it, but he still had to know what was up. She put a lot of weight on his shoulders! Having the Police come up to you and interrogate you was pretty intense stuff to handle by yourself! He almost thought he'd be mistaken for a criminal! That's not the kind of stuff a fourteen year old should be going through! At least, as far as Mark knew anyways...

"I know we've only known each other for a little while but still, that wasn't cool! They just wanted to know what we saw." Mark added with a sigh. Mark stood in front of the door, not moving from his spot. He didn't want her to just go off and ditch him. One , he needed to know what was up and two, he had a present to give as an apology...

Mark was pretty convinced with her situation. Freaking out... it made perfect sense but also made Mark feel pretty bad for having dragged her into that whole mess. She had a pretty rotten day because of following Mark. The Volcano incident, Team Rocket, the whole business in the Power Plant. If she wasn't near Mark, none of that would have happened. She'd probably just be having a normal day within the academy like everybody else. Mark rubbed his head and sighed again.

"...I see... well... actually there was another thing I came here for." Mark said as he took his backpack off and pulled out a rather light present with Sammy's name on it. "I know your probably not feeling festive or whatever, but take this anyways. Its an apology for putting you through all that crap. Those grunts aimed for me and I got you all mixed in... so here." Mark said as he handed the present to Sammy. The least Mark could do is calm her down. She needed to sit down and relax! Especially on today of all days. He kinda wondered why she wasn't going off spending time with family... it was just the time to do that!

Mark shook his head. "Hey, I was thrown for a bit of a loop back there but I've gotten over it. And hey, its cool if you didn't get anything. I mean, we've only known each other for a little while. The gift is mostly just to make things even... hopefully." Mark said with a grin. He held the gift out to her even after all of that.

"Hey... whatever's on your mind is none of my buisness... but hey, don't let it bug you on today of all days. It's a day of cheer and all you know? I made my own fair share of screw ups too... so I had to make it up to you. It'd bug me forever if I didn't do something. Hehe. Just open it up! I insist!" Mark said. He really wanted her to open this present! She had to! The gift wrapped inside was perfect to make it up to her! After all... he went through hell to retrieve it. Literally. He prayed it would be worth it in the end.

Mark was extremely happy that she liked his gift. Sure it was basically returning something she had lost but just going through the effort to make up for a big screw up of his made him feel much better. Snype sat there idley as they watched the two get on good terms after the gift. This just screamed opportunity for a prank with the little piece of mistletoe he was conveniently carrying around... but he didn't want to kill the mood for his trainer... not yet anyways.

"I'm glad you like it... heh. Boy going back up that Volcano was a heck of an adventure. But you know what? I'd say it was totally worth it in the end. I tried to clean the jacket up as best as I could but I couldn't get alot of the damage out... but you should still be able to wear it! It's pretty cold outside anyways." Mark said, patting Sammy on her shoulder.

"Hey don't sweat it. I'm perfectly fine with just seeing you happy with your gift. I'll try not to get you wrapped into any other messes in the future." Mark added. He took a look around the empty stadium.

"Uh... so training huh? I haven't really gotten around to daily rounds myself today... Christmas and all..." Mark said, trying to spark a bit of casual conversation with his friend.

Grace's plans were coming to fruition. She managed to lure Alice to the mountain area of the island, where tough Pokémon were said to live. Now, the next part would be having her catch a Pokémon. But, for the time being, there appeared to be no Pokémon around; only rocks, small caverns and trees. She came to a stop and looked around for any Pokémon she could engage in battle with, however, she felt some arms wrap around her and lift her up in the air.

She was then greeted by an upset Alice's face. "Why'd you run off like that, Grace?" she asked, "What's the matter?" Jello soon caught up, and glared at his teammate with his eyes overflowing with anger. "Y-You! T-trying to run away?!" he shouted, "I should teach you a lesson!"

"Calm down, Jello." she said, hearing her Solosis mumbling but unable to understand his language. "I'm very sure she has a reason for this." Alice looked back at Grace, "Isn't that right?" she added with a smile, and Grace nodded. Both of them looked happy and Alice seemed to have forgiven her Pokémon, to Jello's dismay.

"Okay, well, now that we're here, we could take a walk around. It's pretty around here!" Alice said happily and set Grace back down. The small 'pack' then wandered around the area, for one moment setting all differences aside and enjoying the beautiful scenery. The tree tops were covered with snow, and some of it even reached the rocks. What was more, the mountain air appeared to be doing wonders to Alice's mood.

Holly Amarosa

Holly groaned softly and rolled out out of her bed, wincing when she fell onto Amy. "I can't believe you're still here," she muttered. She stood up and glanced at Kayla, who had been kicking her all night. Molly yawned and floated up to Holly. "Some sleepover, huh?" she asked. Holly groaned as she started looking for clothes. She was freezing with just her thin pajamas and bare feet. Holly heard Kayla yawn and heard the springs in the bed move. Maybe they could leave before Amy woke up...

Holly looked around the room and smiled when she saw the gift that she had made for Haru. It was a bracelet that had taken her a while to make. She didn't know how big his wrist was, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Holly rushed to get dressed, throwing on a white shirt, a purple sweater, and a thicker pink coat. She heard Kayla's laughter behind her as she rushed to pull a white skirt on and some socks.

"You must be excited, huh?" Kayla asked as Holly pulled on her snow boots. Holly nodded and put the neatly wrapped package into her pocket. She noticed that Kayla was already dressed, and instead of having her hair down as she usually did, had it in two braids. Holly ran her fingers through her own hair and sighed. Amy had cut some of it off last night, saying that she was saving Holly time in the morning. Holly pulled her hair into a high ponytail and smiled. Kayla whistled softly and bent down to pick up Yuri. The puppy panted excitedly and licked Kayla's face while they walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Both Holly and Kayla jumped slightly as Amy popped up behind them, a big grin on her face. Her Absol walked behind her with a scowl on her face. Holly sighed as she walked out of the room, Kayla and Amy at her heels. Molly floated by her silently.

Mark smiled. Still as determined as ever to beat Mark in a match... she'd train on Christmas even! Talk about dedicated! Still... it looked like she could use a lesson on the point of Christmas, as cliche as it seemed. True Mark was slacking off today but he had his reasons! It just seemed proper to stop and settle down... he wished he could take his own advice on that. He had Lucia and Team Rocket to worry about after all.

"Well... they're "slacking" Because its Christmas. Some students are meeting up with their parents, spending time with friends, or exchanging gifts and such. They're just having fun with the holiday. Heh. Including me. I haven't trainer my Pokemon today but I figure its a good time to just relax and take advantage of a big holiday. It only comes once a year you know! There's another 364 days to spend for training." Mark explained.

Ah... so she was waiting till later. Mark was afraid she was avoiding her folks just to get better then Mark. He didn't give the girl enough credit... who knows? One of these days she might just catch up to him and become a powerful rival! Mark really wouldn't mind that really. Mark had to focus though. He still had Team Rocket to handle. He gave off a sigh. He didn't feel like he should let Sammy know about his plans though. He put the girl through enough already. He may as well spare some details though.

"Heh. Wish I could say I'm relaxed... but I'm kinda lieing myself. I'm actually heading over to Professor Oak's office. I need to talk to him about Team Rocket. With everything that's gone down I need to figure out what he's doing about this. They have members of the elite four here... you'd think they'd all march down and scare off Team Rocket from this island. I gotta go find out what the deal is." Mark said. If she was going to be honest, he could at least be honest.

"But hey, after all of that is done, maybe I can relax a little... heck, I might get around to some training. My dad was able to get control over Commodore so I gotta adjust my strategy to use him correctly..." He added.

Holly Amarosa

Holly sighed as she walked into the cafeteria, but brightened up when she saw Haru. She walked over to him and pecked his cheek. "Hey there," she said softly. She sat down next to Haru and hugged him. Molly glared at them enviously. Kayla giggled and sat across the table from Haru. Amy started to pace around nervously, crossing her arms across her chest. Holly didn't notice her sister's anxiety. She was too busy cuddling up with Haru. "Merry Christmas!" she said excitedly. Kayla smiled and petted Yuri. She looked around and frowned. "Where's Shawn?" she asked. Holly shrugged and hugged Haru tighter. "So who's exchanging presents first? Wait, we should probably wait..." She sighed.

Shawn Williams - Raikou Dorm - Cafeteria

Shawn had finally finished eating and was throwing away his trash when he saw Haru sitting by himself. He contemplated talking to him and asking him for advice on what to do for Kayla. As he was deciding this, Holly and Kayla walked in and headed straight for Haru's table! "Oh no!" he thought, "Kayla's here...and I have nothing to give her! What do I do?" He had thought of running off, but what if it worried Kayla if he was gone? He didn't want to scare her, but he didn't want to show up empty-handed, either...

The coast was clear and so was the other entrance door. Shawn rushed out as fast as he could, blazing down the hallways until he got outside and flew up to his dorm room, shutting and locking the door behind him. He started rummaging through all his belongings, looking for something to give for Christmas to Kayla when he had a scary thought: what if they were ALL giving each other gifts? Would he need three presents? He went through everything (even his bag) until his eyes came across a small trinket. It was a silver necklace with a flower hanging from it. In the center of the flower was a ruby red jewel, while the petals were a milky-white. It was a reminder of his mom..he looked at the trinket and smiled. He hoped his mom would forgive him for this!

He placed it in a small box and closed the lid, sliding the box into his pocket. He slowly walked out of his dorm room wondering if it was right to give Kayla something that his mom gave him...His thoughts ended as he walked back into the cafeteria, walking up from behind the group. He cleared his throat a little and spoke, "Hi everyone. Merry Christmas."

Holly Amarosa

Holly smiled up at Haru and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the tiny package that had the bracelet that she made and placed it on the table. She giggled as she stared into Haru's eyes. "I stayed up most of the night making it," she said with a tiny yawn. "But I think it was was worth it in the end. It might not be perfect, but I hope you like it..." She smiled sleepily and hugged Haru's arm. Amy sighed and sat down next to Kayla. "Holly, I... I have something to tell you," she said softly. Ayame padded up to her nervously and frowned. Holly yawned again and sighed. "I already know that you don't like Haru, alright? It's none of your business. Who do you think you are, my mom?" Amy stood up and shook her head, tears in her eyes. "I might not be your mom, but I'm going to be someone else's... Holly, I'm pregnant." Amy sniffled and ran out of the cafeteria. Holly stared after her with bleary eyes and blinked slowly, while Kayla ran after Amy quickly, Yuri at her feet.

Shawn Williams - Raikou Dorm - Outside

As Shawn came up, Haru greeted him and wished him a Merry Christmas, as well. He felt totally ignored by the others, but didn't say anything. As Holly was giving her gift to Haru, Amy tried to talk, but Holly wouldn't let her. In fact, she jumped to the conclusion that she was being talked down to again. Amy, though, started crying and announced she was pregnant before running out the door. Kayla jumped up and ran after her.

Shawn shook his head, "Too much running today...", he muttered to himself before turning to the other two. "Gonna go see whats up...be right back," he told them and headed out the door, running as fast as he could after Amy and Kayla, hoping he could calm them down. But how?