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

[Dawn]

Valorie glanced at Snype as she walked. She wasn't used to Pokemon sitting on her shoulder. Only smaller pokemon could even manage, what with Valorie being rather small and frail. Dratini generally curled up in her arms in comparison. She reached her free hand up and lightly pet Snype with her fingers. Dratini meanwhile seemed overjoyed to see her two 'parents' holding hands and walking away together. If she didn't know any better, which she didn't, she would suspect Snype had somehow caused this, based on what he had said earlier.

Dratini: "Great! It makes me feel so happy to see them like this!"

Meanwhile, Valorie didn't seem to find the hand holding awkward. She was aware of the implications, but had just ceased to be bothered by such things. The affection would need to be more intimate if it were to bug her at this point.

"Oh yeah... I figure since TMs are so hard to get I'll just have to try teaching Dratini some new things on my own."

Could Valorie even do that? TMs were widely regarded as the best way to teach a pokemon a move. To a degree, yes she could. Valorie was familiar enough with Dratini that she was capable of teaching Dratini a few moves. The pool to choose from was very small compared to TMs, however, and would probably take significantly longer than TMs to achieve the same result. The fact that she had so casually claimed to be able to do such a thing might take one by surprise regardless, however.

 

[Megaman765]

Snype closed his eyes and smiled as Valorie pet him. Mark never really pet him at all, guess it would seem weird considering Snype wasn't exactly a puppy or anything but it felt nice coming from Valorie. He thought of having Mark do that more often, it felt nice. ["Kehehe. Yeah. Now if only they'd get a bit closer eh? They're slowly getting there don't cha think?"] Snype said. He was starting to feel like the cupid of the group, Ironic due to him being a ghost Pokemon of all things.

"Teaching it theirselves huh? I used a few TMs on my pokemon... but that was back when they were cheap. Now they're permanent use and more expensive then ever. Kind of a shame because I can't see myself using most of those TMs more then once. Guess they would be pretty good to share with others though huh?" Mark said petting Dratini.

"...Course I wouldn't dare spend so much money on a TM like that, not unless I was like rich or something. Heh. Supplies are a hell of alot more important anyways. My pokemon have been doing... well... ok they've won one out of three matches but still, Who needs TM's eh?" Mark said trying to sound like he really ment it. He would have personally loved to get a TM that could assist his Pokemon in some way. Anything to really turn the battle around and get his current record up a bit. He had to even the score in his next battle... he just had to! Mark lightly squeezed Valorie's hand.

Snype observed Valorie curiously. He liked the purple color on Valorie's clothes. It matched Snype perfectly. He was tempted to try on her beanie hat for fun but Snype promised to be good and act mature, which he did. He simpily gave off his signature smile as they continued walking toward the Academy.

"Sheesh. Just wait till next week. I'll bet the teachers will be throwing homework all over the place. Me and homework are not a very good combo. I personally don't see myself as a very organized person when it comes to doing stuff like that at home." Mark said.

 

[Dawn]

Dratini seemed to become self conscious of how little she understood. She glanced at Snype momentarily before speaking.

Dratini: "Why's it so slow?"

Cue endless stream of questions, except not really because at that second Snype hadn't answered the first one.

Meanwhile, Valorie glanced at her satchel. She had the money to buy the TMs she needed, but despite being quite wealthy was hesitant to actually spend that much money. Her fears were that before she knew it she would be overspending and wind up having to call home to explain that she had run out of money. She continued to lightly pet Snype with her fingers. Somehow it helped her feel less awkward about carrying the pokemon on her shoulder.

Charmander meanwhile became intensely angry in her pokeball. To her, the fact that Snype was getting this attention was an even bigger blow. What was she, nobody? Pokemon that didn't even belong to her trainer had more value than her? She certainly felt like nobody, and it was driving her bonkers.

"Well, I have a few TMs... I can't remember ever seeing a TM that couldn't be used repeatedly!"

Valorie of course was from Unova, explaining that.

"But what are they going to do for homework? Make us have fun becoming better pokemon trainers?"

For someone like Valorie who was so into this, the concept of homework to her seemed silly.

 

[Megaman765]

["I um... I'm not sur...hehe..."] Snype said, interupted by Valorie petting him with her fingers. He returned the affection by placing his arm around her neck lightly and leaning on her a little. His feet dangled about as he gave off a big smile. Mark looked over and laughed.

"Hey Val, I think Snype likes you! Haha." Mark said looking back at Dratini and placing an arm around her. "You do huh? What kind do you have? Just curious." Mark said. He didn't intend to ask her if he could lend one but wanted to see what she had available.

"Well ya never know. Each teacher is different and school is school. Chances are we're gonna have to do a bit of writing somewhere along the lines and some of the homework won't be fun most likely." Issac said. They eventually made it to the courtyard of the university.

 

[Dawn]

Valorie took a second look at Snype, smiling lightly. Dratini would occasionally partially wrap herself around Valories neck, so this was somewhat more familiar. She continued to pet the pokemon as she walked, finally noticing that Snypes eyes seemed to literally be jewels. She wasn't sure what to make of that. Could Snype actually see? She was no longer sure if he could, and questioned whether he used some other method to detect his surroundings.

"You think so?"

Valorie momentarily had to think about which TMs she had, calling it up to memory. She hadn't used any in a while, namely since she first got them.

"Well... I've got a TM that teachs Flamethrower, Double Team, Headbutt, Iron Tail, Rock Slide, Facade, Return, Toxic and...um... Attract!"

Valorie had quite a handful of TMs. A handful of them had been bought and a couple were gifts from her father. Someone with intimate knowledge of TMs might notice that she had said Iron Tail, which was a TM not native to Unova. In truth, Valorie had encountered a one-use TM before, it being Iron Tail. She simply hadn't tried to use it twice yet, and therefore hadn't noticed it no longer worked! Valorie seemed to become slightly awkward when she mentioned attract. She herself found the concept incredibly awkward, yet the attack was absurdly powerful against those it could effect.

Charmander ♀ Lv. 14 (Scratch, Smokescreen, Flamethrower, Attract, Iron Tail, Headbutt)

Dratini ♀ Lv. 20 (Flamethrower, Double Team, Thunder Wave, Twister, Dragon Rage, Dragon Rush)

Trapinch ♀ Lv. 15 (Bite, Dig, Rock Slide, Facade, Return, Toxic)

Frillish ♀ Lv. 10 (Absorb, Bubble, Night Shade, Toxic, Watersport)
---
---

 

[Megaman765]

Mark's eyes widened. Geez that was alot of TMs! "Sheesh, I could think of a few of my Pokemon that could use moves like those. Seriously you got some pretty nice TMs there. Haha, I'm kinda Jealous actually!" Mark said laughing a bit. "Hey Snype, Bet you would like to learn attract huh?" Mark teased.

Snype blushed and looked away remembering the incident he had with Snivy. He quickly shrugged it off and gave off his usual large smile. "Aw comon Snype I'm kidding. I bet you don't even need to know that move to get that kind of attention. Hahaha!" Mark again teased Snype. Snype shrugged.

["Kehe. Dad over there is quite the jokester eh? He knows attract gets me ridiculously easily. I usually don't like to show that side of me. Keheh..."] Snype said to Dratini, being the only Pokemon around he could talk to.

"Hmm... I've been thinking of getting Len another move... something to counter electric types or grass types that might go after him. I'm having trouble deciding what kind of TM would help him with that though." Mark said to Val. She seemed like a real pro at the whole battling thing, maybe she would have a suggestion or something.

 

[Dawn]

Valorie lightly squeezed Marks hand. Was that a subtle sign of affection, perhaps? She then cautiously reached into her satchel with her free hand, careful not to cause Snype to lose his balance, and proceeded to take out a compact disc carrier.

"Well...I'd be happy to share. It's not like it costs me anything, right?"

Meanwhile, Dratini noticed that Snype had referred to Mark as his Dad. This helped to teach her what a brother meant. She found it odd in a way that only someone who didn't know what a sibling was could. Could there be two? Did she have to duel Snype to the death for the right to have her parents? It became apparent to her that there could be more than one. She finally understood the concept of a brother or sister.

Dratini: "Mom tried to teach me Attract once. I don't know why, but when I tried it didn't work..."

Dratini simply didn't have a good enough understanding of love to use a move like attract. Perhaps when she was older she'd be able to. Valorie meanwhile observed the TM case, which was far from full. Then of course Mark asked her a question. Valorie was a good battler, sure, but her strongpoint was dragons. Poliwag was neither native to her region nor a dragon. She wasn't immediately sure what to say, mainly because she wasn't sure what Poliwag could and could not learn.

"Well... I have the dig TM. Maybe Len could learn that?"

Valorie was somewhat skeptical, but it was the best idea she had.

 

[Megaman765]

Mark smiled nervously when Valorie squeezed his hand again. He was starting to wonder if this was a sign... or subtle message. Mark thought he was thinking too much though. It had only been three days after all... well... three days and they had been through quite alot already... then valorie pulled out a case with a few TMs in them she had even offered to share! What luck! Geez how much did Mark owe her now? He would really have to top this off somehow in the future...

["Huh. Well...you tried it on an opposite gender Pokemon right? Maybe you gotta try to be a little more charming when you do it. A...and please don't practice it on me!"] Snype said franticly.

"Dig huh? Actually I was eyeing that TM when I was at the store... yeah that would work perfectly for him!" Mark said. He reached down to his belt and pulled out Len's Pokeball and called him out. He had been fully recovered from the previous fight thankfully. He hadn't taken alot of major damage, but he had been tired out from the previous fight.

"Hey Len, We're gonna teach you something different. I know you like swiming underwater but have ya ever tried... erm... swimming underground??" Mark said trying to compare the two. "We're gonna teach ya how to do that alright bud?" Len looked at Mark oddly but could only anticipate what was coming. Len looked up at Snype and Dratini oddly.

"Hey Snype! What are you doing up there? And... oh! Are you two playing a game or something? Hehe!" Len said referring to the fact that both Snype and Valorie swapped places. Snype chuckled.

"Aw nah. Dratini over there just got to the seat first. So I'm hanging with Val over here." Snype said keeping his arm around the back of Valorie's neck. Len looked up at them like a naive child and noticed that Valorie had a container full of disks. Len seemed to have a good idea of what was going to happen.

 

[Nideous]

Bri nearly freaked out when the Drilbur appeared. Then he calmed down. It was just a Drilbur. Vince caught it with relative ease. Bri wished he was that skilled. He looked at Thyme, who was still standing on his shoulder. He then realized he had been completely ignored.
"Um... I'm sorry to bother you all, but aren't we supposed to be getting back soon?" he said. Thyme pulled his schedule out of his back pocket.
"Says here the class ends at 11:30. What time is it now?" Thyme asked.
"Thyme, it's almost 11:00. I'm heading back to the classroom. Mr. Byron wanted us all to head back there when we were done here, so don't forget!" Bri said and began walking down the mountain. He waved at Jack, Vince, Alice, and Selene. He was happy to get off that place!

 

[Dawn]

It was true that Mark and Valorie had gone through quite a bit in the last few days. You could say that obstacles in a relationship breed strength. In truth, Valorie was just relatively easy to get close to, assuming you knew the right buttons to push, or simply had the personality to push the buttons without knowing they were there. Time meant nothing to Valorie. Three days? Three years? She knew only how she felt about Mark at that moment, and she felt close to him. Where that would lead, she didn't know.

Meanwhile, Dratini blanked a bit. Her somewhat primitive vocabulary did not include the word gender. Perhaps a simpler way of saying it was required.

Dratini: "I dunno what that means..."

Valorie took a small disc out of the TM case, handing it to Mark. It was the TM for dig. She had taught Dig to Trapinch, not that the pokemon particularly needed help digging, but the TM allowed it to dig in a manner much more efficient for use in battle and safer for escaping dungeons.

"Go ahead. I want it back when you're done though~"

She gave Mark a playfully testy look, as if to tease him by implying a scolding would happen otherwise.

Charmander ? Lv. 14 (Scratch, Smokescreen, Flamethrower, Attract, Iron Tail, Headbutt)

Dratini ? Lv. 20 (Flamethrower, Double Team, Thunder Wave, Twister, Dragon Rage, Dragon Rush)

Trapinch ? Lv. 15 (Bite, Dig, Rock Slide, Facade, Return, Toxic)

Frillish ? Lv. 10 (Absorb, Bubble, Night Shade, Toxic, Watersport)
---
---

 

[Megaman765]

Snype looked over the Dratini and scratched his head. ["Oh Sorry. Um... basicly its what describes a girl and a boy. Female is another word for Girl. And Male is another word for boy. Your a girl, so if you were to use attract on somebody on me... and don't get any ideas. Kehehe. Then they would fall for you instantly."] Snype explained.

"Well, alright then." Mark said as he took the disc that Valorie offered. He let go of Valorie's hand and bent down his knees to go down to Len. He placed the disk over Len's head and the disc began to glow. Len suddenly felt like he was learning... learning about traveling underground, as if he were swimming. Once the process was done, Mark took the disc off of Len's head.

"Well Len? How do ya feel?" He asked. Len stared blankly for a second, and then jumped down to the dirt head first and made a big hole through it. "Woah! Len!" Mark said, suprised that he had acted so sudden. Len then popped up right behind him, leaving another hole of dirt. "Wow Len, your a born natural at this!" Mark said. Len spit out a bit of dirt. Swimming in the ground would take a bit of getting used to.

Mark got back up and handed the disc to Valorie. "Thanks Val. Heh... this is sure to help out! Nobody will expect a Poliwag to know Dig!" Mark said.

 

[Dawn]

Dratini seemed to get it. Boy and Girl was in her vocabulary. Male and Female were in her vocab. Just not gender.

Dratini: "Oh..! Thanks! ..."

Dratini silently wondered how one was more charming. She was simply too young and naive to use a move like attract. It was beyond her.

Meanwhile, Valorie observed the process. The learning was familiar, but she was amazed that Poliwag could actually do it. She silently wondered how exactly the pokemon managed. It had no arms! She silently passed it off as the mysterious power of pokemon. She then reached over to take the disc back, and would promptly put it back in the case, which she would then stuff back in her satchel. As she went to stuff it back, a white light burst out. It was Charmander, letting herself out of her pokeball! Valorie was only mildly surprised, as Charmander was prone to doing such. What surprised her more was when flames started boiling within Charmander's mouth. She was looking in Mark and Valories general direction. What was she doing, Valorie wondered, immediately alarmed.

Charmander had a look of fury on her face. She was one angry pokemon. She promptly let out something of a small roar with no further meaning behind it as she promptly launched a flamethrower at Dratini. Valorie saw and recognized the attack as flamethrower. At the last moment, she would shove Mark back, pushing him out of the way and therefore Dratini as well. Valorie herself barely managed to avoid burning her hands. Dratini was startled by the attack, but quickly caught on, separating herself from Mark and flying higher into the air. Her expression was now angry.

Dratini: "Hey! You can't do that!"

Charmander, of course didn't immediately respond. Valorie joined in.

"Charmander, stop that right now!"

She had spoken in a stern, commanding voice. What Charmander had just done was not okay in her books. She knew then that something needed to be done, regardless of whether Charmander stopped. This sort of thing could not continue to happen. Charmander flashed gritted teeth, tearing up a bit when Valorie spoke to her. She didn't attack, but she didn't show any signs of backing down either.

 

[Megaman765]

Once Mark gave back the disk, one of her pokeballs suddenly burst open, revealing a Charmander, and boy it was pissed. She took one look at Mark... or Dratini, he couldn't tell and was about to unleash Flamethrower at him. "ah!" Mark yelled. In fear, he closed his eyes but was suddenly shoved out of the way by Valorie. He fell right to the ground and Dratini seperated herself from Mark. Snype in reaction jumped off of Valorie and glared at Charmander incase she were to try something.

["Hey! Whats your problem?!"] Snype said.

Saved again... sheesh, he felt like a total damsel in distress... except for being a guy and stuff.

"Val! Are you ok?" Mark said sitting on the grass with both hands on the ground. He looked at Charmander and noticed she was tearing up... was something wrong? "Um..." Mark didn't know what to say to her honestly. It was probably better for Snype to do the whole Pokemon communication bit. But he could tell something was on that Charmanders mind if she was tearing up like that.

 

[Dawn]

Charmander didn't seem interested in attacking Mark. She did however glare at Snype. As she blinked, two tears rolled down her face, and she just seemed to lose it, turning her attention back to Dratini, flames boiling within her mouth again. Dratini represented most of Charmanders frustration, and she was about to become a victim of it.... Except that Valorie wouldn't let that happen. She promptly took Trapinchs ball from her satchel.

"...Fine then."

She sounded pretty disappointed. She let Trapinch out, so that Trapinch was standing between Dratini and Charmander. Charmanders attention shifted to Trapinch and the two locked eyes. Just like that, a fight started. Charmander abruptly shot off her flamethrower attack at Trapinch, who took the attack head on. When the attack ended, Trapinch appeared to be singed. Ouch, a burn. Valorie sucked in a breath at the sight. That wasn't a good sign. Did she use toxic to poison Charmander? She didn't want to have to send /two/ pokemon to the center, and so she decided to hold back. Toxic was too deadly a move for this fight. The burn would significantly hinder Trapinchs ability to bite. All of a sudden she got an idea. That burn! She could use it to her advantage!

"Trapinch, use Facade now!"

Trapinch suddenly began glowing with orange energy, proceeding to charge Charmander with great strength. Charmander made a move to dodge, but failed, taking the attack and being sent stumbling backwards. The attack had seriously looked like it had hurt, but Charmander was still standing. Meanwhile, Dratini hovered back with a concerned expression, occasionally whining uncomfortably. She was not comfortable just watching what seemed like a threat to her parents.

 

[Megaman765]

Mark watched the fight at hand. Charmander went a bit crazy but was a fight necessary? For some reason Mark felt the situation could have been handled without the need of violence. Something was up with Charmander... Mark could tell. Mark looked back at Dratini who had been whining. Mark wasn't sure what to do, if he should call off the fight or not.

Snype and Len looked at the two back and forth, watching the battle unfold. ["Guys comon! Can't we talk this over? We don't need to fight!"] Len exclaimed.

["Will you two cool it and talk it over? Everyone has a reason for doing what they do! Fighting won't make things any better!"] Snype yelled. Snype was up for a little mischief himself but he knew when things were going to get out of hand. He was smart and mature enough to know when things needed to be put to a halt. He doubted that the two pokemon would listen.

 

[Dawn]

Charmander quickly responds by lowering her skull and slamming into Trapinch. Trapinch was taken off guard, not quite ready to be attacked so quickly, and was sent sliding back several feet. All of a sudden, Charmander turned her attention on Snype! It was as if she had just noticed that Snype existed.

"Trapinch, use--"

Charmander abruptly fired off a flamethrower at Snype! Valorie was taken off guard. She didn't recall Charmander being so fast. The flamethrower sped towards Snype, only for Trapinch to nobly jump in its path, taking the hit so that barely anything would even get past her to Snype. Unfortunately, the attack proved too much for Trapinch, who had already taken a beating, and she collapsed, twitching. Valorie was surprised. When did Charmander get that much power? Sure, flamethrower was a strong attack being used by a fire pokemon, but even then... The answer suddenly became clear to Valorie as Charmander began to glow. Charmander was evolving! Valorie took this moment to return Trapinch.

She didn't like battling her own pokemon, but Charmander could seriously hurt someone at this rate! If she didn't take care of Charmander, someone with less sympathy for the pokemon might.

"...Dratini! ... Go."

The battle had officially turned from a petty fight to something serious. Valories tone suggested that she resented this battle on many levels. Where had she gone wrong? She didn't understand. It frustrated her on whole new levels.

Charmander grew approximately an entire foot taller, becoming Charmeleon. She then glared harshly at Dratini, flames boiling within her mouth again. She was preparing to use flamethrower.

 

[Megaman765]

Snype was suprised to see Charmander fire a flamethrower straight toward Snype. Trapinch jumped in front of him though and blocked the attack. It had caused him to completely faint. Darn it all that must have been one hell of a powerful Flamethrower. Valorie then called Dratini in. Looks like simple reasoning wasn't going to work right away... Unless Snype could manage to do both. Charmander then evolved into a Charmeleon. this was going to get ugly real fast.

"Snype! Help Dratini!" Mark called out, slightly regretting what he just told Snype to do.

Snype looked over to Charmeleon with Concern. ["Look I really don't want to fight you. Names Snype... I'd say its nice to meet you but if your gonna go off on a temper tantrum I'm gonna have to calm you down pal."] Snype said calmly. Snype rushed for Charmelon and used Sucker Punch independently, Jabbing him right in the chest. ["Comon! Talk to me! Whats wrong?"]

Len stood in the sidelines, waiting for a moment to strike if he had to. He didn't have any grudges against this girl, but wasn't looking to make enemys either. Water would be pure overkill against Charmeleon and he wasn't looking to majorly harm it.

 

[Dawn]

Though Snype had intended to be civil, the pleasantries only irritated the engraged Charmeleon further, as she didn't understand /why/ he was doing that . Charmeleon was about to fire off a powerful flamethrower, but she abruptly felt a strong blow to her chest and sputtered a bit, coughing. She quickly regained her composure however.

Charmeleon: "NO!!!"

Charmeleon seemed beyond reason. Her answer was full of seemingly irrational rage. She had been pushed too far. Charmeleon unleashed a powerful flamethrower at Snype at close range. Meanwhile, Valorie gave her orders to Dratini. She thought that maybe, just maybe fighting in and of itself would help calm Charmeleon down on the same principles as how punching a pillow might help you deal with rage, only this was more dangerous.

"Dratini, use Thunder Wave!"

As Charmeleon was distracted by Snype, the already very accurate attack hit Charmeleon dead on, causing her to shudder, her body crackling with electricity as she was hit with paralysis.

 

[Megaman765]

["Argh!"] Snype cried in pain as he was blasted back by the flamethrower and engulfed in flame. A part of his ear was on fire but he swiped that off. Meanwhile Dratini had used Thunder Wave to stun Charmeleon. At least she was somewhat handicaped. Valorie's Pokemon sure knew how to be handy in these situations. ["Stop this! We can resolve this if you just talk to us!" You may not know me but I can help!"] Snype said.

"Snype! Use scratch!" Mark called out. Snype snickered as he had a better idea. He lept for Charmeleon and scratched at her several times. Snype had just recently learned Fury Swipes from his experience.

["Unless you stop and calm down, I'm going to have to keep fighting! Work with me here will ya?"] Snype pleaded.

 

[Dawn]

Charmeleon cried out as she felt herself being clawed at. It took her a moment to actually respond, allowing Snype to get several hits in. She then suddenly managed to spin around, her tail glowing with a steel-esque sheen. It was iron tail! The attack would have serious knockback effects if it hit. No response was given to Snypes' reasoning.

"Dratini, use Dragon Rage!"

Dratini proceeded to fire off a torrent of purple flames at Charmeleon, engulfing Charmeleon and obscuring her from view for a few moments. When the flames cleared, Charmeleon was holding herself up with her hands, seemingly having difficulty standing with just her feet. Her gaze was turned downward. She seemed pretty battered. Valorie simply stared for a moment. She wasn't sure what this meant at that particular moment. Perhaps waiting a moment would allow for the situation to become more clear.