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

She giggled a bit at Snype's joke before being greeted by Alexis. She waved back to her by shaking her leaves from side to side. Sometimes she wondered how it would be to have arms. Not that she was complaining or anything but just how it would feel, it made her curious.

''So both of you have help with getting though the swamp? I really don't have any problems walking in the water if it isn't too deep. It's just the smell that's irritating...'' She replied. Maybe Arya could help her fly over the swamp. Either that or she could just be with Oscar but at the same time he would probably need his arms to navigate through. Putting those thoughts aside for now, she peered over at the Poliwhirl named Len.

''Hi Len, I'm Flora! It's nice to meet you!'' She introduced herself with a small, happy jump. From what she had seen, he was a bit nervous but hopefully, he would open up a bit more if he felt more comfortable.

Jimmy Vincent

Jimmy seemed very focused on the questions, just like Rosalyn who was next to him. Then, his attention was drawn by N's voice. Some kid said some right answer, well, kind of. He replaced two of the words that the kid said by 'truth' and 'ideals'. The new question read "How do ideals define truth?"

Then N continued to talk about opposites that coexisted with one another. Jimmy seemed confused, but something inside of him stopped hom from asking N what he was talking about. She shook his head and wrote down the question. And, as he was done...The ceiling was opening!

Smokey and Kaida were surprised by that action. Kaida, startled, buried her face in Jimmy's stomach, while Smokey stared at the Zoroark. The fun's about to begin kid. Heheheheheheh~ Zoroark said, and Koffing's face showed his confusion. Fun's about to begin? What was going on?

Len nodded at Alexis, still a tad nervous himself but he was sure he could trust Alexis. It was probobly more of the matter of if she trusted him to hang onto her while trekking through the swamp. An oddish, named Flora joined the group as well. Snype must have been busy this morning to have met so many new Pokemon...

"Charmed." Len replied to Flora happily. "And yeah. I'll be Alexis' ride through the swamp!" He added. he turned to Alexis again, who properly thanked him.

"N..not a problem... really its nothing. A friend of Snype's is a friend of mine after all. As long as your comfortable with it that is." Len said, opening up a bit more.

She smiledwarmly up at Len still, turning to glance between him, Snype and Flora who hadnow arrived. She then turned back to Len once he spoke again, nodding her headquickly.

"Oh, yeah,I'm completely fine with it! If it'll keep me out of the muck, I'm happy, heh.I'd hate to clean off my fur after falling into the water, but as long as you'rewilling to let me cling onto you, that should be fine."

She tiltedher head up at Len, a curious look spreading across her face.

"Do youlike that Mark has so many Pokémon? Daniel only has me, but Snype promised he'dhelp me get Daniel and Mark to head out and catch themselves a new onetogether. I'm just sort of curious as to what you think of it."

ThePoliwhirl was starting to seem like he was warming up, but it couldn't behelped. She –was- an electric type after all, so him being a bit nervous aroundher was to be expected.

Len scratched his head thinking about how to answer her question. He looked over to Snype and back to Alexis. Snype was certainly an attention hog back in the day... quite an immature Pokemon too... that was a story for another day though. Len decided to speak in a whisper so Snype wouldn't hear. He may have had good eyes but hearing wasn't one of his strong suits that was for sure.

"To be honest, I actually did grow a bit jealous of Snype back when Mark first caught him... he was always such an attention hog and tended to be way too independent for his own good. Back in Celedon, he was always out and about causing trouble, trying to be a real charmer. Mark was so concerned about Snype that I didn't get much attention back then. Guess its a phase we all kind of go through when the team starts to grow... thats just me though. It'll likely be different with you maybe..." Len said, sitting down on the ground.

Alexis​

Tilting her head to the side, she followed Len's glance towards Snype, curiosity shining from her expression. As Len began whispering, she leaned in closer to better hear it, raising her brows a little while listening to the Poliwhirl.

After he had finished speaking and sat down in front of where she was sitting, Alexis glanced towards Snype for a moment before looking down, a thoughtful little frown crossing her lips. Maybe if Daniel caught another Pokémon he would start neglecting her? She didn't want to be the second in the line of Daniel's attention. But then again…

"It'll be fine, I'm sure. Daniel's really sweet, and if he does focus on the newcomer… well, he should. He deserves more friends, so even if I get a little put aside… it'd be fine. I'd be happy if he's happy."

She said this with a nod and a determined look on her face, her tail now lowering down to curl up on the floor next to her, making sure the electric bolt didn't touch anyone. After a short while she tilted her head curiously.

"Mark and you are from Celadon? Me and Daniel are from Vermillion, but we never really left the town and the nearby areas. What was Celadon like?"

"hmm... a sturdy defense pokemon to start. Nice pick. I think we'll start our team off with Cauldero!" Isaac said instantly grabbing the pokeball off his belt.

He threw the capsule device into the air, and a dark red pulse shot out from it. It blasted into the ground like a red lightning bolt. the light re-arranged itself into a form then solidfied into Cauldero, Isaac's Torkoal.

"Tooaaaarrrrrrr KOal" Cauldero wheezed, and sputtered on smoke.

Not the best opening, but that didn't matter. Cauldero was a steady fire pokemon that would get the job done.

"You ready? Cause here we come!" Isaac shouted, "Cauldero rock tomb."

Cauldero set it's sights on Jackson, and moved in. He smashed his feet into the ground as he went sending large rocks from underground to box in Jackson.

It had been awhile since Len had a fine conversation with another Pokemon like this... Len appreciated it. After all she was nice... and pretty cute to Len. He was starting to enjoy the company more, even though she was electric.

"Haha, Where do I start with Celedon? It's quite a city... pretty darn flashy at night but very polluted in various areas. Mostly in this one pond. There's a couple of Grimer that reside there... methinks we'll be running into those at the swamp. Just a hunch. Mark lived in the apartment building with his folks. His Dad was often a pretty big gambler and by god was he lucky..." Len said. Len put his hands on his feet and layed back a bit.

"The nice thing though is that we live close to the department store. Loads of good stuff there. They even sell elemental stones. I've never seen on in other stores so that sure is something." Len added.

Alexis​

Talking about Celadon's wonders and what had happened while him and Mark were living there caused the Poliwhirl to ease up and begin acting a little less nervous around her, which made Alexis very happy. She wasn't fond of making others uncomfortable.

She smiled and listened in closely, eyes widening slightly at the mention of elemental stones. "Ooh. We didn't have those in Vermillion… Daniel could only evolve me because we won a tournament together. I actually fought a Grimer in that tournament!"

"Sounds like a pretty big and fun city to be around… Vermillion was nice and open, being a town right next to the sea. It has a massive harbor, but other than that, the buildings aren't that big. It's a large town, but it's more like… a large seaside village than anything else, despite what people make it out to be. It's cozy."

It was nice to be talking about something like where she was from, and where Len was from. It was a great way to spend the time while Daniel and the others got themselves ready to head out. She glances over towards Flora and Snype for a moment, smiling at Flora behind Snype's back before looking back up at Len.

"I think we'll have a lot of fun, travelling around together. If the catching-trip goes well, maybe Daniel and Mark will spend more time together!"

Ruby Destiny

She looked like she felt busted, like her little plan had failed, doesn't matter though, all people should act like a class, so nobody is gonna be left out.

"Alright..." The girl said.

Ruby patiently waited for her to smash her, but she only looked at her fist. 'C'mon smash, it doesn't matter if it's hard.' Ruby showed a smile to show her it was okay, ruby is pretty much used to pain so this won't hurt at all.

Flora nodded to Len with a small smile. The water type seemed like a pretty nice guy. As he was talking to Alexis, the latter shot off a smile in her direction, which she promptly returned with an equally bright one. Seeing as Snype wasn't doing anything at the moment, the grass Pokémon turned to him and went closer in the hope of starting a conversation.

''Hey Snype? How's it like being here at the academy? Any interesting places around?'' She asked with a curious expression, sounding genuinely interested. If she was going to be here for quite a while, why not get to know a little about the place? That being said, Flora tilted her head from side to side slowly while waiting for a response.

"A seaside village huh... Marks family has traveled quite a bit so we've been in a few of those areas. I like Vermilion City... it sounds like a lovely place to live at. I'd be spending alot of time in the water there. Never got that much of a chance in Celedon. It was all city there mostly. Good to see ya won the tournament though! Those stones are really expensive in stores." Len continued, he looked at his glove like hands and back to Alexis.

"Evolution... it felt so weird for me. One moment I'm a tiny tadpole and now I'm packed with strength and muscle! Evolving felt so weird... I'm still getting used to having hands..." He said, holding out his mitten like hand and squeezing his fist. It sort of resembled a boxing glove.

"Fingers would have been nice though." Len joked.

Snype figured he'd let Len have some time with Alexis and decided to leave him be. Meanwhile Flora decided to start a bit of conversation with him. Snype sat down and began to explain.

"Hoho, where can I even begin? The school has plenty of places to check out! A nice beach, forest, mountains, an abandoned dorm, plenty of stuff! It's a fun place to explore and a pretty large habitat for a variety of Pokemon." Snype replied.

(Not sure if Poliwhirl can remove their gloves or not. I'm assuming they're part of their hands.)

Alexis​

She giggled quietly, nodding her head with a smile up at the Poliwhirl. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Both in regards to evolving and… well, fingers." She glanced down at her paws, letting out a faint little sigh.

"I can still cling to pretty much anything, but I miss my claws… it made holding onto items a lot easier… not that I'm complaining much. I'm much stronger now, than I were as a Pikachu! It's just… well, what both Daniel and I felt was right, and I don't really regret it."

She smiled curiously, tilting her head to the side while looking over his arms. "I can imagine it'd take some time getting used to having arms when you didn't have any to begin with, though. Still, it feels funny to evolve, right? It did for me, at least."

Len looked at Alexis' paws. Len couldn't imagine her being able to cling onto anything with them... but she knew herself better then Len so he took her word for it. Losing your claws in evolution must have sucked though. Len's evolution was a complete improvement though. Having hands and all. The gloves were a nice edition as well.

"Evolution does feel kinda weird... I still have one more evolution to go actually... I'd like to wait awhile though before I go that far though. Enjoy being a poliwhirl as long as I'd like till I'm ready. Besides, we aren't gonna find a water stone for awhile." Len said. He looked at his glove hands and actually tried tugging one of them off. They seemed to be a part of his hands or something because they weren't coming off. That was inconvenient...

"Evolution does feel weird... one minute your puny and the next, your twice your previous size. I felt so scrawny in my previous evolution, but now I feel like I could chop a rock in half!" He said, feeling his arms.

"I gotta say though, I kind of miss having a tail but I guess that's just evolution. It'd look weird on me anyways." He said.

Alexis​

Alexis nodded in agreement, looking over Len's hands. They were a lot like Alexis' paws, only larger and more round. She let out a little snicker at him saying he could chop a rock in half.

"I know what you mean! After evolving, I felt so much stronger. Not just in the whole 'being able to shoot lightning' thing, but also physically! Daniel taught me a move he felt could be handy against enemies who weren't expecting much of a fight."

She smiled wryly and lifted her paws, jabbing them into the air in front of her, as if punching an invisible enemy. She then glanced down at her tail lying curled up on the ground, still making sure the bolt on her tail didn't touch anyone.

"Mmh, I couldn't imagine not having a tail… I mean, it's really important! Both for balance and for attacking with! And it also looks very nice on me, I think."

She smiled fondly as she lifted her tail, letting it wave through the air idly. It was a bit of a mystery how such a thin tail could even hold up the lightning bolt at the end of it.

Alexis certainly understood the whole process of evolution. Becoming stronger and such as well as the major changes to their form in general. When Alexis was mentioning how she became physically stronger, Len was half tempted to challenge her at that. No time for a battle though... maybe one day. Len needed to get used to fighting electric types. He had Dig and that was surely enough to deal with them. Len watched Alexis' tail sway around as if he were hypnotized.

"Oh of course! It looks great on you! It fits you well Alexis! I'm sure I can live without a tail though. All I need is a bit of water and my own fists to last me... granted I haven't really gotten to punch anything yet... I got beaten in my last battle before I could really do anything... blah... destroyed seems like a better word for it... but eh... its not that big of a deal." Len said, getting a bit quieter as he finished his sentence, his hands playing with his feet out of nervousness.

"Ah screw it. Just try to imagine evolving... then immediately getting hit by a Thunderbolt. Guess that whole thing kinda dis motivated me. I know Mark is forgiving if we lose in battle but I still can't help but feel I let my trainer down." Len said.

Alexis​

Her tail continuing to sway casually through the air behind her, she smiled at his compliment, though the smile quickly faded to an expression of compassion as he mentioned his defeat. She hopped a little closer and sad down again, patting his foot with a comforting smile.

"It's alright Len, it was just bad luck… and you hadn't evolved before, so it must've been really weird to get used to. It kind of was for me, but luckily, I didn't change that much."

She nodded agreeingly as he continued speaking, slumping down to sit on her rump, causing her feet to jut out to the sides, paws resting on her belly again, a small frown painting her lips.

"Yeah, I know what you mean… Daniel's really nice when it comes to that. Of course, he's disappointed when we don't win, but if I get really hurt, he doesn't care whether we win or lose, as long as I'm safe. Still, it does feel bad when I can't do what he was hoping I could… but there's not a lot to do about that, other than keep training and become even stronger, right? At our own pace, of course."

She added this last bit with another pat of Len's foot, smiling encouragingly up at him. Despite his shy nature, he did actually seem like a pretty strong Pokémon. And if he had been with Mark for a long time, they were bound to have some kind of tactics up their sleeve.