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

Mike looked behind to see Mark catching up. "Well, look over here, seems you can run! Well, let's get to Oak Town!"

The two ran side by side, almost as if it was a race, as Mike stopped in the center of town: the Pokemon Center! "Alright, Mark, where to now? Any of your friends that might be around here?" Mike was breathing heavily and soon sat down with the backpack to rest. "Well, wherever they are, I'm gonna want to rest for a minute!" Mike then slumped his head down and breathed hard, waiting for Mark to respond.

Mark managed to catch up with Mike and held his finger up so he could have a moment to catch his breath. He was decently fit. He had to be if he was going to catch up with his Pokemon after all! Mark usually did exercises with them where they would run over to the Cafeteria in the morning but since he was carrying a pretty heavy load, he decided to save it for later. After all... he had something else in mind once he gathered enough people. It was gonna be one heck of an event!

"...I might have an idea where one of my friends is but I kinda want to meet up with my folks. They're staying in one of the hotels around here. I have a couple of presents for them. One of them's looking after a Pokemon of mine too so I want to pick it up before I do anything else." Mark said. He recalled his dad gave him directions where their room would be.

"I can hang onto the bag if its getting heavy. I'm good." Mark said.

"Alright, Mark, here ya go!" Mike lopped it in Mark's hands and fell directly into the snow around the area. He quickly got up after being cooled down and went to walk with MArk.

"So, your parents live here, too? That explains why you were here day 1! Anyways, I'll wait at the entrance, and when you come back we'll continue, alright?"

Mike and Mark soon got to the hotel Mark was heading for, and Mike waited next to the door as Mark walked in. Man, this guy is pretty cool, we could maybe be friends someday! Anyways, I gotta train while he's out there! Mike then released Porkchop and started training, punching some bare tress around the area until the fell while waiting for Mark to return.

All it took was three words to make his day that much better. There was something strange and wonderful in the air that seemed to fill him with joy... Or is it her? He had no idea, but he wouldn't trade this moment for all the money in this world.

He turned around, and quickly returned everyone but Supernova, as everyone was already settling down from their morning routine. He wasted no time at all in covering the short distance between the two of them, running towards her like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey, Merry Christmas!" He hadn't genuinely told someone that in ages, it seemed, and it felt good to have the chance to do that. Sure, he didn't really know what the whole holiday was really about, but it was still a generally happy time of year for others.

The least he could do was keep it that way for those he cared for.

Now outside the Entei Dorm and walking around the snowy campus, Alice had finally decided what she was going to do that day. Her folks hadn't sent her a message yet, so in the meantime she was going to try to train, get to know Grace more, and maybe catch a Pokémon that could help her in case the Chuck story was to happen again. However, she decided to get a snack at the cafeteria first, since her tummy was starting to ask for a morning meal. By that time she was used to the hallways, with all the classes she had taken and whatnot, and reached the cafeteria quickly. The line was not very long, and she had a mocaccino and some muffins from the lady behind the counter. With a thankful smile she went over to one of the tables, and proceeded to have her X-mas breakfast.

Suddenly she felt something poking her leg. Alice, with her mouth stuffed with part of a muffin, turned and saw Grace looking up at her with puppy eyes. "What is it, Grace? You want one?" she asked after swallowing, and her Pokémon nodded. "Well, here you go!" she said and gave a muffin to her Ralts, who happily accepted it and took a bite off it. Jello huffed and Alice looked at him. "Want one, Jello?" she asked, but Jello telepathically said no in a polite way. The red haired girl then returned her attention to her meal, while Jello glared at Grace.

"What is it now?" Grace asked, her mouth stuffed with muffin.

"Don't talk with a full mouth." he said coldly. Grace rolled her eyes, knowing it was one of Jello's annoying fits and continued to eat, ignoring her purple teammate. When was he going to warm up to her?

Shawn Williams - Raikou Dorm - Oak Town

Store after store, Shawn saw the same word: CLOSED. Of course, he wasn't thinking properly, since hardly any stores would be open on Christmas Day! He mentally cursed his luck and wondered how he would have a gift for Kayla. Having no other ideas for now, he decided to head back to the Academy. He also felt his stomach growling since he didn't have breakfast yet.

He slowly trudged his way from town to the cafeteria, keeping his head down and ignoring the other students. One kid errantly threw a snowball and his Shawn in the back, but he ignored it, heading inside and soon found himself in the breakfast line. He grabbed his tray and sat down by himself and started to eat.


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"I might be awhile. I'm planning to spend some time with my parents. You can go on without me if I take too long." Mark said as he entered.

Mark mad his way through the hotel. His dad mentioned the room number so it was easy to find out. The hotel was fairly small anyways. Mark arrived at their room and knocked on the door only to be greeted by both of his parents. Mark gave a big smile.

"Mark! Merry Christmas!" They both said as they brought him inside. There was a christmas tree prepared and everything! And presents! Lots of them! Alright! He felt like he was back home again... just a day with his parents to go over his experiences in the academy, relax, and just talk. Mark was very eager to open up his presents though... For now, Mark placed the presents that he gathered up for his parents under the tree.

The three of them sat down on a table and had lunch together... going over their past stories and experiences... about what Mark went through in the academy... though he left out a couple of things. Such as his phobia of the Ocean he had developed and Team Rocket... the three spent quite a bit of time inside.

"You've turned into quite the trainer Mark. I hear your becoming quite the strategist..." Mark's mother said.

"Yup! Me and my team are coming up with all sorts of nifty tricks! I'm developing more as we speak! Just wait till you see me in a battle!" Mark said with a smile.

"Oh Mark, I got Commodore for the most part tamed... I had to put him into my computer. He had some weird little virus inside of him that made him all jumpy. I dunno where he evolved, but whatever caused it messed him up a bit. Its personality is very... um... different. You can see for yourself." His dad said. Commodore was let out of his ball.

The Porygon Z looked around and quickly noticed Mark, swooping down and giving him a big hug. "Hey Commodore! You feeling ok?" Mark asked. The Porygon quickly nodded and nuzzled Mark. He was awfully affectionate... very different from the more serious personality his previous evolution had!

As they finished Lunch, it was finally time to open some presents! Mark started with one that was shaped kind of like a book. when he opened it up, he had an extremely happy look on his face! It was a huge guidebook on various strategies used by some of the best trainers around the world that explained combinations of moves, how different Pokemon could work together, explained complex moves like Baton Pass, the works! It was perfect!

"W-wow! This is awesome! As soon as I get back to my dorm I'm reading this top the bottom! Thanks guys!" Mark said happily. More presents continued to get unwrapped... a couple of TMs, and heck, one HM! Mark's parents must have went really out of the way to get this. The HM was waterfall. Perfect for Len! That might have been what his mother intended to begin with. Marks parents also seemed to enjoy their presents too! Mark had gotten them whatever he could think of... He got them a couple of neat outfits, fit for a trainer probably. It'd give his mom a bit of nostalgia for sure and he got his dad a couple of electronic goodies for his computer. Mark went through his bag to make sure he wasn't missing anything important... he did rush out of his room pretty quickly and whenever he did, Mark ALWAYS felt like he was forgetting something. And usually, he always did.

Turns out Mark did forget a few gifts back home... He'd have to make a pit stop there before meeting up with Sammy. Stupid old Mark left her jacket over there. He remembered it was left in his closet rather then grouped with the other presents.

"Mark... I don't mean to kill the mood but we need to talk about something. We've heard Team Rocket was here..." Mark's dad said. Mark froze. Crap... so they knew.

"...Your not planning on taking me home are you?" Mark asked. The two parents looked at eachother and shook their heads.

"No.... but we wanted to make the option to you while we were here. Though... I'm guessing your going to stay no matter what we do huh?" His mother said. Mark simply nodded. "Professor Oak called us the other day warning us about Team Rocket and about bringing their students back home if they wished. I suppose he didn't intend for all of the students to leave. If you want to stay then we won't stop you but just... promise me you'll be careful. We'll be staying on the island for some time so if you need a somewhere to just... relax and talk then we'll be here.." just please be careful..." She said.

Mark gave a thumbs up to his parents. "Of course mom. I gotta head out and gives these gifts to the rest of my friends... Love you guys." Mark said as he hugged both of his parents and walked outside. Looks like Sammy as up next... wherever she was...

"Alright, Porkchop, nice training, though I hope this small forest grows back!" Mike returns Porkchop after training for an hour. "Hmmm...Mark's not out yet. Guess he's having a long conversation with his family! Well, maybe I should go on without him. After all, he doesn't seem to need my help. alright, time to go-"

Just then, an ice shot came from nowhere and hit Mike square in the side, knocking him to the floor. "What the hell?! What was that?!" Mike searched to find a...Swinub?! "A Swinub, huh? That's weird, you shouldn't be in town. I guess the cold weather seems to have more Ice-type Pokemon be rather frequent. Well, OK, I'll fight, but only to catch you!"

Battle" Lvl.16 Swinub

"OK, Porkchop, let's see if all this training payed off!" Mike sent out Porkchop, the Pokemon being rather fierce would work well against a small Swinub. "Alright, little guy, prepare to be defeated! Porkchop, use Karate Chop!" Porkchop swung hard, but missed, as it seemed the Swinub jumped over and used the same Ice-Type move it used on Mike, Powder Snow. It seemed to have no effect on Porkchop, but soon Porkchop couldn't move; he was frozen! "No, Porkchop, come on, break free!" Swinub stood in a prepared stance, firing off several Mud Slaps at the frozen Porkchop. Eventually, with all of his might, Porkchop broke free, only for all of his hits to miss thanks to Mud Slap! Porkchop's rage got higher and higher until he soon used the attack Rage and was finally able to hit Swinub once. Swinub seemed down for the count, when it glowed a red tint and got up, barely standing. "Endure, you know that move?! Well, I gtuess it's time! Go, Poke Ball!" Mike threw the Pokeball and caught the Swinub on his first try, it being barely conscious and all. "Hmmmm...what to name you? Well, since you used Powder Snow to hurt me, I guess I'll call you Powder!Welcome to the team!" Mike went to the Pokemon Center to heal the two that just fought, and when he exited, out cam Mark from the hotel!

"Hey Mark, how's it gong?! You won't believe what just happened! I just caught my fourth Pokemon, a Swinub! Anyways, how was your talk with your parents?!"

Mark looked outside and quickly noticed Mike waiting outside for him... geez... patient guy huh... Mark had forgotten a couple of gifts back in his dorm so maybe it would be good to get back there before he forgot... then he could go look for Sammy and the others. He didn't want to make this guy go all over the place though. They'd be running back and forth otherwise.

"Hey Mike, I gotta head back to my Dorm. I forgot a couple of things over there so we're gonna have to split up for a bit. I'll see you around alright?" Mark said. His bag was plenty lighter now that he unloaded the gifts for his parents. He felt kinda silly forgetting his stuff though. Most of the presents he forgot were for people in the academy! He had a couple that he'd have to mail as well... hm. Nonetheless, Mark quickly rushed on back to his dorm so he could get his gifts as quickly as possible.

Mark glanced up at the building and noticed something odd. A window.. Broken?

"Please don't be my room PLEASE don't be my room..." He thought to himself.

"Alright, Mark, maybe later we can battle!" Mike said, then seeing Mark nod and run back to his dorm. "Man, now what am I gonna do? I guess I could go to the one place I haven't yet...the Lugia Dorm!"

Mike was always to scared to go to this dorm, being at least a mile away at all times. The atmosphere was creepy, and it was the first place to make him feel afraid of ghosts. Mike walked to the entrance, gulped, and ran inside.

"Wow, this place is pretty big! I wonder what ghost Pokemon are in here." Mike walked through all the floors of this dorm, in every room, down every hallway, inspecting every item. "Wow, this place ain't that scary! Now time to lea-wait, what the hell was that?!" Mike saw for a brief moment what seemed to be Drake, the Orange Champion, staring directly at him across the hall Mike froze in fear, too scared to move. "Dr...Drake?! Why are you here!" Mike searched around the area, finally able to move, until he saw him, Drake. Drake stood there, with a Poke Ball in hand. "So, you wanna battle, huh? Well, from my months here and my birthday passing, I have changed! I will beat you this time!" Mike sent out Fang, and Drake sent out Dragonite. "Alright, now use-wait, what's happening?!" The Dragonite was a figment of the imagination, and it turned into a Gengar, menacingly looking at Mike. Mike was barely able to tell Fang to use Wing Attack, but it missed nonetheless. The Gengar then yelled its name, and Mike instantly returned Fang and ran out as fast as he could. "I'm never going in there again! Now, I' going to rest, Christmas has turned into a nightmare!" Mike ran to his dorm and rested until 2PM, finally getiing up and getiing the event out of his mind. "alright, after that little exploration, where to now?" Mike then started to walk aimlessly.

Having finished the holiday breakfast, Alice, Grace and Jello left the cafeteria to wander the school grounds. A nice walk around the snowy campus could help Alice clear her head from all the thoughts that were struggling inside her head and she could use the opportunity to try to bond with Grace even more. On her way out her attention had been drawn by an oddly dressed girl, but she continued her way to the campus without putting much thought to her. Right at that moment, she wasn't in the mood to chat, introduce herself or make new friends.

With a casual smile she walked outside the academy building, with her Pokémon following. Jello and Grace were not looking or speaking to each other, both still upset over the events at the cafeteria. Ocassionally a sigh came from Grace's mouth, followed by a groan from Jello's side. It was like having a recently-broken-up couple around. "Guys, give it a rest already." Alice said to them. Then she got back to thinking. She spotted a bench and went over to it. She took a seat, and Grace hopped over to her left side, while Jello floated over to her right.

With her horn, Grace could sense a wave of sorrow coming from her new trainer. She wanted to speak to Jello in private, but she didn't want to leave Alice all by herself; not after all she's been through. Alice needed to get a new Pokémon for protection, a tough one. And she thought that in the mountains there were many tough Pokémon that lived there. Suddenly, she had an idea. She hopped off the bench, and made a run for it towards the mountains.

"Tch! Where do you think you're going?!" Jello shouted, and followed. The whole thing snapped Alice out of her thoughts, and she sprinted towards Grace, who giggled playfully seeing that both her trainer and teammate were giving chase. Yes! The plan's working out!

"Grace! Wait up!" Alice shouted, as the three of them reached a rocky terrain.

Joint Post: Mark and...Lucia?

When Mark headed inside his dorm room, he quickly noticed the broken window that he saw outside and looked around cautiously. Snype was on edge and jumped off to look around, claws up and ready to strike.


"...shush Snype... keep an eye out..." Mark said. He grabbed onto the nearest object he could finds, which was a textbook. Kinda underwhelming but it was all he had. He noticed the bathroom door was open and an odd smell in the air... now who would raid Mark's bathroom? Team Rocket? Did they find him again? Either that or he has some obsessive fan... nah. Too far fetched. Mark cautiously approached the door and peeked into it, looking around...


As soon as he peeked in he would a surprised gasp and see... Lucia there?


"Oh Mark! Geez! Learn how to knock!"


Mark stared blankly for a moment. He had to take a moment to take all of this in... there she was! Lucia! In his...bathroom? Mark dropped his book and walked up to her. "L-Lucia! Your back! Uh... why are you in my bathroom...? Heh. If you needed to use something you could have messaged me." Mark said with a nervous laugh.


She frowned at him and then began to poke at his chest, "Why haven't you been messaging me!?" She snapped angrily. "You never even asked where I went did you!?"


Mark blinked and rubbed his head, a bit ashamed. "Er.. s-sorry... alot of stuff came up after that day... I assumed you were still in the academy... It's a long story...


At that Lucia huffed. "Well, in case you were wondering, we have big problems! I... I was taken back home by my parents. I thought that something big had gone down, but they said I had to be away from the Academy for a while. And..." She frowned, "You're not going to like this Mark."


Mark crossed his arms and looked for a place to sit down. He took a seat on the edge of the bathtub in there. "...Lucia. Does this have to do with Team Rocket?" Mark guessed.


Lucia glaned at him. "How'd you? Never mind. My dad.. you know how he's an attorney and all? I... " She sighed, "I heard him talking one day. I thought that they just missed me you know? That they just wanted me here to get ready for Christmas... but then I was about to go into his office to talk to him and I heard him talking to someone. I only caught a few words, but it was about the academy, and my dad was chuckling and asking how it was going. Whoever it was, they were asking something about legal stuff because my dad went into this whole thing about transferring ownership of items and how you can do a bit of tampering with the system here and there. I... he said that he got me off the island and once I got back that his subordinates weren't supposed to target me."


Lucia shook her head as she teared up, "I-I'm not stupid..." She quickly broke down into sobs and put her face into her hands.


"Lucia..." Mark simply said. He got up and scooted over to Lucia to offer a hug to her. Mark didn't expect that to be any reason to leave. Lucia's dad in cohoots with Team Rocket? That's horrible! Especially since he was linked to this whole attack on the academy. If that was the case... he'd have some answers about just what the whole plan on this island was... Mark already got a taste of it when Commodore was kidnapped but Mark still wondered just why they specifically targeted Commodore and not his other Pokemon.


Lucia just sobbed in his arms and choked out the rest of what was to be said, "I... I told Eric... and and... he wouldn't believe me at first." She wiped away a few tears, "But... he said he could at least bring me here... dad thinks we're on vacation right now." She let out another weak sob.


Mark held Lucia into a hug and tried his best to comfort her. "Deep breaths Lucia... let it all out. I actually ran into some Team Rocket grunts on this island... they almost took Commodore. They did some weird things to him and he ended up evolving in the process... I don't know what they wanted but there has gotta be some connection... Lucia if you need a place to stay your more then welcome to stick around." Mark said.


She wiped at her eyes, "Well, we said it would be two days. I-I think Eric is around somewhere. He left on Damascus a while ago. I think he's in denial. I don't know Mark... I don't think I should go back, but if I don't my father will know something's up!"


"Well you have two days to think about it. Take that time to gather your thoughts and think about how to approach it. It's Christmas after all. Nobody should be so stressed at this time of the year... despite the circumstances. Team Rockets still on the island but I don't want them to ruin this holiday... Maybe Eric is just trying to see if your right? I'd be in denial too if I heard that news... I can't blame him." Mark said.


Lucia wearily nodded her head, "He-He got a hotel for us on the island. He'll be by later to pick me up. Cash so dad doesn't know." He shuddered a bit, "I... I just, I don't know anymore... my dad has lied to me this entire time... my mom too..."


Mark continued holding her in a hug until she wished to have her space. "...Can't say I know the right answer on how to go about things... Man... Lucia I'm sorry... if there's anything I can do. Anything at all... I don't want to see you get hurt by Team Rocket or anyone like that..." Mark said.


She wiped at her eyes, "No... Mark, I need to do this. My family might have caused this... or helped at least. We have money... I mean... just... just money. We've had it for so long. If we helped..." She just burst into more sobs there.


"There there..." Mark said, rubbing Lucia's back a bit and holding onto her. Mark stayed silent for a little while to just let Lucia breathe for a moment and get her tears out of her system. This had to be alot for the girl to take in. Not every day your relatives are in cahoots with one of the most infamous criminal groups in the world.


She kept sobbing until finally she couldn't anymore, "I... I'm sorry Mark. Just... you know." She let out a tense breath. "Okay... okay... I do have a plan though." She smiled a bit weakly, "The party is still on. You can come and we'll just have Roberto distract everyone. My dad keeps all paperwork. I think there might be some stuff around... you know?"


Mark nodded. "I gotcha. We get to the Mansion and sneak around... though... if your dad is in cohoots with Team Rocket, wouldn't he recognize me? The Grunts targeted Commodore specifically... maybe I'm just paranoid or something. Should I get some kinda disguise or something...?" Mark asked


Lucia wiped her eyes a bit more, "No. He doesn't know I know yet. If I just introduce you as a friend that Eric went out and brought there, then he wouldn't break the facade. Even if he does know who you are, he wouldn't break character in front of me. I think he doesn't want me to know anyways... and so even if you brought out Commodore he would work not to act. He's a lawyer, he knows how to keep his cool." She smiled a bit, "But what else happened while I was gone? Nothing too bad I hope."


"Well... its kind of a long story... you might want to sit down somewhere. Maybe not in the bathroom huh? Heh." Mark joked as he headed back out to the bedroom to sit down. Mark would start to explain what went down... according to his knowledge anyways. Team Rocket breaking into the TM store, Commodore being kidnapped and evolving into an out of control Pokemon only to be fixed up by his dad, and the matter that Team Rocket was making tis pressence around the academy. "I don't know what they might have done with the other students or where they're hiding. They seem to be doing their usual scheme of kidnapping Pokemon but I can feel like this is bigger..."


She frowned, "Mark... why is the school even still running? Shouldn't there be alarms sent out? Shouldn't the teachers be aware of what is going on? I mean... I went to a private school and whenever there was a guy even with a toy gun everything went into full lock down."


Mark crossed his arms and scratched at his chin. "I was thinking about that too... My Parents were even concerned about me. They knew very well about Team Rocket... The staff made the announcement about the TM store break in so the whole school knows Team Rocket is around. But think of it this way. The school has alot of protection. Members of the Elite Four are in the school as well as several gym leaders. You ever think theres more to this school then just a simple education...?" Mark said.


She looked down, "Mark... if the Elite Four are around... why didn't they raise an alarm? Why not go after stolen Pokemon or such? Why are they not saying anything?" She looked up with a questioning look.


"It would cause panic. If they announce that there's spies among the school, everyone would start getting paranoid and possibly start ruling out people as members of Team Rocket... still... I don't know. I know that the Staff is searching the island for traces of Team Rocket. Heck, the International Police are on the case too. I met some weird detective guy called Looker after I got commodore back so they're trying to do what they can." Mark tried to think about it a little more.


"...Its times like these I wish I could just go up to the Principle himself and just ask him what the freakin deal is..."


Lucia stood up, "Then do so. Mark, you're paying for this school. You have rights you know! You should be able to go to the principle and if you can't, then you know something's up. Tell him what's going on! Many times those in power don't know what is going on in the lower levels. Happens with management the entire time."


Mark nodded. "Your right. I should march my way up there and just ask him what the deal is... so much for a relaxing Christmas. I still have presents to give to a couple friends. Heh. Oh... I think I got one for you somewhere in here..." Mark said as he dug through his closet. I wanted to try and keep a positive spirit, even in these dire times. It was Christmas after all.


Mark pulled out a wrapped up present marked with Lucia's name. It felt soft... He walked back over to Lucia and placed the present in her lap. "Well go on, open it up!" Mark said with a smile. The outfit might not be very suitable for winter... but hey! That was only a couple months. Once it was warm, Mark thought it would be a pretty nice outfit! It was more designed for spring. It was a peppy styled dress. White shirt with a bow tied on it, and a dark blueish skirt. Mark felt that it would fit Lucia. He payed some decent money for it.



Lucia cocked her head, "Mark... you didn't have to." She slowly opened it up and smiled a bit, "This looks nice... I have always something more comfortable to be honest." She sat there for a while, "Mark I do have a present for you back home. I guess we can get it when we go back there..." She sighed, "I just hope that everything turns out alright though."


Mark patted Lucia's back. "I tried to come up with something good... It's the least I can do for one of my best friends here. Hope it fits. I can always return it if it doesn't... but yeah. I hope things turn out for the better. Just once I'd like to have a normal school day without problems. Christmas should be that day..." Mark said.


She smiled weakly, "I hope so too Mark. She looked back down with a frown, "So... anything special happening around here when Christmas does hit?"


"Well... we get a big Christmas tree in the center of the academy. I bet they're gonna have a big gathering in the middle. Some dinner, maybe a couple of events, Its Christmas! There's gotta be alot going down! " Mark said with a grin. "Snype's probably gonna be all over the place there. Heheh. He loves the holidays... especially causing a bit of innocent fun during those times." Mark added.


She nodded, "I hope nothing too serious." At that her phone buzzed and she looked down, "Hm... sorry, I have to go. Eric's coming by to pick me up. Uh... sorry about the window again." She made her way out of the temporary exit. "See you around Mark!" With that she quickly made her way off.


Mark layed back in his bed once Lucia left. Boy... how did all of this happen? It could have been a normal school year but no. Team Rocket had to come back for the third time or so and just make everything harder. Mark sighed... he still had a bit more to do around school. For one, he had to give Professor Gary Oak a visit... he needed some answers.

Time to March on up to Professor Oak and give him a piece of his mind! Team Rocket was out and about the school and christmas was being celebrated like nothing was going on... were they that confident they could handle the situation? The best of the best were after these crooks. So what was taking so long? There were an awful lot of questions that Mark needed answering... and then he had the whole deal with Lucia's folks too. Mark had to take some time to take in all of this information. More importantly, he had to think of how he was just going to have a meeting with Professor Oak just like that...

On his way out, he quickly noticed a familiar face running out of the Pokemon Center. As soon as he figured it out, he quickly hid himself. Sammy! There she was! The girl was heading toward the battle stadium... huh? It was Christmas though... It hardly seemed like the time to go and train. Thought hen again, the Stadium would probably be empty. Either way, Mark began to follow her. They had alot to discuss.

Mark waited a moment before entering so that Sammy would get herself prepared to train. He didn't want her to run off again. He quietly entered the stadium doors and just stood there silently, crossing his arms and looking at Sammy with a neutral expression. He didn't have to say a word. She knew why he was there... well... for the most part anyways. Mark still had gifts to give but they had business to talk about first.