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

Mark snapped into reality. He was still nervous of course, it would make things awkward around Valorie but he remembered they were all going to get smoothies. Seems Snype mentioned it to Bri.

"Yeah, Me and Val were planning on getting Smoothies with Sel... though if you want, you can come along. I mean... if that's alright with Val that is... I can throw in some of my own cash if that helps." Mark said, growing nervous when mentioning Valorie's name. He looked over to her and smiled lightly. Then he looked to Dratini who seemed as happy as ever... What an innocent little Pokemon she was...

Mark glanced over to Valorie and observed her a second, mostly at Dratini. With Dratini think they were a mother and father, it could likely get upset if they were to somehow be seperated... he could only wonder what would happen then... she would be so upset... Mark again snapped into reality and got up from the bench, standing fairly close to Valorie.

"O...oh! I'm ready!" Mark said. He was still a little red from before... He scratched his head and looked at the others waiting for some responses from them.

Skye finished his typing and saved his work. The Deerling was nearby with Rama. They were playing... or something. He couldn't quite tell. Volca's Pokeball shook and he released himself. He was staring at Deerling, looking almost interested. "Her?" Skye asked softly. His Larvesta had a powerful sense of who would be an ally and who wouldn't be. So far he had not disapproved of any of Skye's human friends but Volca was weird. That could change anytime though so he kept an eye out. He was pretty sure Volca's sense also attributed to his weirdness. He hoped that it wasn't his fault. That would be a pain.

Volca nodded and released a powerful Flamethrower at the Deerling, hitting her across the meadow. Skye winced and pulled out a Pokeball. He knew better than to instruct Volca. The Pokemon knew what he was doing. If he needed him, he would tell him.

Deerling rose quickly and saw Volca. She charged in a Tackle, only for Volca's String Shot to catch her front foot. She tripped and Volca ran into a Wild Charge. She whipped around and kicked the bug hard with Double Kick. Volca flew back and charged again, this time moving with an elegant grace as he nimbly struck Deerling's neck. The Deerling cried out in pain and Skye reflected that fighting like this really wasn't fair. So he gestured to Rama, who ran to him. He placed a Pokeball in the Zorua's mouth. The fox nodded and went into the fray as Deerling paused in mid-attack, glowing bright yellow.

"Weh-hell thuh-hat's ri-risky," Zkye mumbled, watching as Volca began to close in. Then Rama jumped on top of Volca, temporarily squashing him. Rama leapt off of his temporary springboard and tackled Deerling with the POkeball. The Deerling was sucked in. Rama spat out the twitching ball. Those things were gross.

"What was that about?" Volca asked. Rama glowered.

"You were goin' too far idiot! We're supposed to capture Pokemon, not kill them!" Volca shrugged and nodded, accepting the criticism. Skye sighed. He would have to talk to him later. Skye went to pick up the slowly shifting Pokeball. It stopped in his fingers. He released the Deerling, which was panting with exhaustion. She saw Volca and growled but Rama stepped in the way. "Leave him. Volca's stupid. You're one of us now. There's no point in fighting buddies." Deerling huffed before blinking as Skye began to spray Potion on her, carefully disinfecting the burns. Volca handed Skye a patch, which he placed over the burn.

"S-Sorry about t-that," Skye mumbled, gently patting her head. "Vuh-holca's ex-ex-extreme." Deerling nodded,glaring at Volca a moment. "Cuh-Can I c-call you Flora?" She nodded and went back in her Pokeball, wanting more sleep. Skye sighed. "Guh-reat."

(OOC: Uh... Skye took off already.)

"Uh... I don't want to be a burden," Bri mumbled. Smoothies with him and Selene? How in the world was he going to get them to tell each other how they felt if they were in his company? He knew they'd never admit it in public, and they just asked him to come too! He was the biggest chatterbox in the Academy! Thyme looked at him oddly.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Thyme asked.
"I'll tell ya later, Tyme!" Bri said with a smile. She shook her head.
"Whatever," she said. Why was he so interested in this? That one was easy to answer. Bri was a snoop, plain and simple. He had to keep busy somehow, and he just didn't fit in to the whole battling thing. So... Helping his friends be happy was the only thing he could think of to do. And why not? Well, he wasn't that good with people. He tended to talk to much and make his problems and thoughts the most important. That was normally fine, but at times like this, it was kind of counter-productive. Though, if they were any clue, his work was already half done.

Skye walked back out from the meadow. He saw Bri and the others were still talking so he smiled placidly at them from where he stood before pausing. Something told him he had been mentioned. Chuckling to himself, he started to walk back. Volca was back in his Pokeball and Rama got his attention at the edge of the field. He was digging, something Ellie usually did. Curious he went over. He knelt at Rama's side and released Ellie, who jumped into the tiny hole after him. Skye quietly watched, wondering what could be dug up from by a battlefield.

"Oh hey! Char...ummm...Charmeleon, I guess now, you evolved, good job!" Selene gave the fire lizard a thumbs up as she looked over and noticed the evolution. "You look a hella lot more intimidating now - not that you weren't before of course - but any pokemon will think twice before getting into a fight with you now!" she smiled at the pokemon. She always got a funny sense from Charmeleon...almost as though she was in pain watching Dratini and Valorie being so close but never knowing what to do about it...Sel wondered if she should have a word with Valorie about it. But the one thing she knew about Val was that she didn't really take criticism of how she raises her pokemon very well...and at the end of the day, was it any of her business anyway?? But she just figured that Charmeleon may be prepared to open up more if Valorie opened up more to Charmeleon...it may be worth chatting about later on when they were alone.

To which end..."Smoothies? Oh man, I am SO game...mining in the blazing sun up the side of a freakin mountain really makes you thirsty...and I kind of want to talk to you guys about something...about this," she reached into the pocket of her black leggings and pulled out the Thunderstone, holding it up so it shimmered in the sun. "I mined it out in class...and obviously...Ryan being a Pikachu it could be really useful...but I'm not sure how best to go on with it and wondered if you guys could give me your opinions on what you would do?"

Rama finished digging and pulled something up with his teeth. It was a bell tied with red ribbon and it chimed softly, gently as he accidently shook it with movement. Skye took it from them.

"Why was a bell buried over here?" Ellie asked randomly, taking it from Rama. She figured the other humans, including Bri, were nearby and had explored more than Skye had. So she ran off to ask them. She nearly hit that girl Selene. Oops. She could apologize later. Taking the bell and holding it in her front paws, she held it out to them, mostly toward Bri as translator. "What's this?"

Skye sighed as Rama finished refilling the hole with dirt. "Shuh-hould we teh-hell her th-tha-that was a So-So-Soothe Bell?"

"Eh, they'll tell her," his Zorua replied. The pair went back to the group, making sure Ellie didn't get in trouble.

Bri stared blankly at the Thunderstone. He had no idea what it was.
"I've never seen one of those before," he said quietly. Then Valerie started talking about owing him. He didn't think it was that big a deal, but it would seem rude not to accept her offer. He smiled nervously at her.
"Ok... Maybe just one," he said. At that point Ellie ran up with a bell with a red ribbon, demanding to know what it was. Bri had no idea on that one either, but he told the others what she wanted. Skye decided to join them again. Bri waved at him, and Thyme sat down on his shoulder. She leaned up against Bri's head, and put her arm behind her own head.

Mark looked down at the Thunderstone that Selene was showing off. He was jelious slightly... he would have loved to get a water stone for when Len evolved... Perhaps when he goes mining he could look for one... She asked what to do with hit.

"Well... it mostly depends on how developed your Pikachu is... I mean... if you evolve it too early, then it will never be able to learn moves that it's first evolution could learn... Which could effect its fighting ability heavily." Mark said. "Hmm... but its mostly your choice really. But if you care about Ryan's fighting ability then maybe you should wait awhile... It's the same case for Len here. If I were to use a Waterstone on him as soon as he evolved it could be shocking for him considering he had just evolved. I dunno... maybe it could be tramatic for them in a way that they can't develop to learn moves their younger stages could learn... I've looked up info of Poliwag before so I figure its the same case..." Mark explained.

He looked over to the rest of the group. "Well, lets all go then! You lead the way Valorie. I don't know where we're going really... Heh..." Mark said. He looked at Dratini once more still trying to comprehend that he was seen as a father to her.

"I know," laughed Selene lightly, rubbing the back of her neck as Valorie commented on how rare the stone is, "I nearly died when I found it...the other guys had found a couple of things, fossils and pokemon and such, and I was going to go try and catch something further up the mountain...but then I found this and I was just shell shocked..."

She listened carefully as Valorie and Mark gave her their opinions. From what she could gather, Valorie was all for the evolution but warned her that Ryan may not be able to learn moves as easily, if he could learn some at all! And Mark...Mark sounded a lot more hesitant about it, advising her to train Ryan up some more in his Pikachu stage before using the stone. Nodding, Sel made a thoughtful 'hmmmm' noise and looked down at the stone, turning it over in her hand.

"Yeah...I kind of wanted to train Ryan up some more, he's the least trained of all my pokemon so far...I was thinking of going down to the beach and zapping the life out of some water pokemon, get him up a level or two that way..." she looked at Valorie and Mark to see if they approved. "I mean, I just don't think he's ready to battle other trained pokemon just yet." To that end she unclipped Ryan's pokeball and released him, pushing the Thunderstone back in her pocket as she did. Ryan looked round and jumped up on Sel, so she had Ri on one shoulder and Ryan on the other. She grinned and picked Ri up, "Hey Ri...sorry boy, would you mind going into your pokeball today? It's just that I'm going to train with Ryan today..." Ri nodded happily, indicating that he didn't mind, and Sel returned him with a 'Thanks boy.'

Turning to Valorie and Mark, she smiled and clapped her hands together. "Right! So where are we getting them there smoothies?"

Bri couldn't believe he was about to offer this, but he was.
"Uh... Selene, my pokemon aren't that tough. My highest is Thyme, and she's only level 12. I need to train Drizzle and Nova up a bit. If you wanted... I could train with you," he said sounding very nervous. Thyme looked at him like he was a moron.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm serious," Bri told Thyme. He fell into step with the others, following them to wherever it was they were going to get smoothies.

Skye chuckled softly and grabbed Ellie, returning her and pocketing the bell. He quietly followed, staying out of the conversation. He was more interested in listening than he was talking. It was usually how it worked. Rama was shaking dirt from his paws as he walked. There was a reason he didn't dig all that often. He hated messy fur. As they walked Rama muttered, "When is Bri gonna realize he's gonna be strong, even if he isn't now."

"Shh. Yuh-You'll ruin the sur-sur-surprise. Heh-He'll nuh-know."

"You sure your vision's not faulty?"

"Nuh-hope!" Rama rolled his eyes.

"o...oh!" Mark said when Dratini rubbed against his side. Mark smiled and put an arm around Dratini lightly. He couldn't help it, she was adorable. She truely believe Mark was her father. He simply laughed cheerfully and gave a smile to Valorie.

"A fancy place huh? Off campus? Sounds good. I never got to look around off of campus actually so this ought to be fun!" Mark said, following Valorie. Snype looked up at Dratini and smiled as well.

["Kehehe. Looks like we've taken one step closer to... well... getting them closer. Kehehe.] Snype said. Len walked along with Snype.

["Big Brother...? What did I miss after that battle?"] Len asked. Snype sighed.

["I'll explain later. Its a long story."] Snype said.

Thyme opened one eye and glanced at Snype.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked seriously. Bri ignored the pokemon talking around him, focusing more on what the humans were saying. They wanted to go some place fancy? He looked down at himself. He was in clothing that didn't fit right with stains all over his pants. How could he be taken anywhere fancy? He looked like a wreck! He was sunburned all over, and his eyes were still red from crying! Oh, well. If they wanted to go some place like that, then he would come along. But they wanted to go off campus! Wasn't that against the rules? Bri said nothing, but continued walking with them. He didn't want to get in trouble, but he didn't want his friends to think he was a chicken even more!

After they had all finished their food, Alice recalled all of her Pokémon, except for Jem. She picked him up and cradled him like a baby. Alice wandered around the hallway till she made it to the library.

"'Xcuse us!" exclaimed a boy who ran out of the library with a group of friends. Alice payed them no attention and walked inside, automatically going to shelves filled with factual books about Pokémon. Jem leapt out of her arms and climbed onto the shelf. Alice grabbed books about Pokémon anatomy, diet, environments, type advantages, and anything else that could possibly be of use. The more important book she found was Pokémon: The Hundreds of Attacks That Make Up Movepools. Alice flipped to the Table of Contents. There was a total of 559 moves! This would surely keep her up tonight, for she was going to memorize each and every one. Even their side effects. Alice stacked the books next to her, making a pile that reached her knee.

She picked up the stack and moved to a table, sitting down and opening the book about movepools. Jem jumped onto the table and curled up into a ball. "You really gonna read all of those? " Alice looked at him and knew what he meant. What else would he possibly talk about right now? "Yup, top students don't make it up there for slacking off," she said. The first attack in the book was Pound. Alice already knew this one, so she turned the page. To her knowledge, there were new moves from Unova, but she was pretty much a noob in regards to that region. Karate Chop came next. It deals damage and has an increased critical hit ratio. Critical hit ratios were when a move sometimes did more damage than normal. Alice looked at the clock and decided to stay here till the library closed for the day…

Looking over at Bri, Sel grinned at him. "Well now...that isn't such a bad idea is it!! Yeah sure, we'll have ourselves a battle Bri...you just name the time and the place and Ryan and me will be there, ready to go! Though I warn you," she winked at him and skipped past him, "I'm a tough cookie!"

She followed Valorie and Mark in her light skip, Ryan holding on to the shoulder of her hoodie as she lightly rose and fell. She looked over at the two of them and grinned mischievously. "Sooo guys...what's going on? Have I...missed...anything?" she asked subtley, looking at her fingernails as she did so. She didn't want to out and out ask them what was happening between the two of them...but she sensed some kind of shift in the sea between them, Valorie seemed a lot more relaxed, Mark seemed chirpy and Dratini...well, Dratini was coiling herself around Mark like she did with Valorie...she frowned slightly at this. "Swapped pokemon guys?" she laughed, indicating Dratini, "I haven't seen her be like that with anyone but you Val!"

Bri flushed red again when Selene winked at him, but thankfully she was gone before she could notice. She began interrogating Mark and Val. Oh no! That was the worst thing she could do! She'd get them so nervous around each other that they'd turn into... Well, him. He had to stop her!
"Hey, um... We can battle any time! Even now, if you wanted!" Bri said rashly. He regretted it a little, but once he had said the words, he couldn't take them back. Maybe during the battle he could find the confidence to tell her that she wasn't exactly helping him putting Mark and Val together. He rather doubted that one though. He was a snoop, but he wasn't known to start a confrontation with anyone.