Footsteps of the Goddess, the Silver Tower Tournament.

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Robert glanced at the board. "Team... Seven, hrm. Well, they say that's a lucky number, isn't it?"

Riley shrugged and shook his head, before grabbing Robert's hand and jabbing in the direction of the designated meeting area. Robert sighed. "Yes, I suppose we should go already. Let's see, who are we assigned with..." He scanned the board, in an effort to see if he recognized the names of any of his new team members from tournaments he had watched. For a moment, he recognized nothing but then...

"Mikuri Kagal?"

Sudden recognition lit up on his face. Could it be?

There was no mistaking the letters. He had been teamed with...

"Riley, this is incredible! We've been partnered with Mikuri Kagal!"

Upon seeing his Lucario's blank expression, Robert endeavored to explain. "You remember, that little girl coordinator we saw on television a few months back! She was so cute with her costume, and that Quagsire of hers... it reminded me of Marie when she started. Remember? Marie, my little sister? The one who moved to Kanto, and- OW!"

This last remark was brought on as Riley, rolling his eyes, immediately delivered a karate-chop to the back of his trainer's head. "...I probably needed that," Robert admitted, rubbing his head. "So, meeting point?"

Riley pointed in the direction of the meeting point again, exasperated, and gripping his trainer's hand he began to drag the chief ranger of Sinnoh towards the rest of his future team.

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Robert glanced at the two who were already there. An older woman- probably about his age- and a young girl, clad in a fairly stunning dress (which probably wouldn't be very functional when it came time to cross the river, Robert thought) with... green hair of all things. Well, Robert decided, he supposed he had seen odder things in his life. He adjusted the brim of his fedora, which had been knocked askew by Riley's earlier attack, and walked forward to meet his new team mates. Riley, on the other hand, had different ideas. Before Robert could react, his Lucario had vaulted into the air and performed an impressive flip before landing in front of the girl. He bared his teeth in a wide grin, before giving her a quick "thumbs-down." Rather impressive, considering he had paws, but he managed to get the meaning across.

"Riley," Robert groaned. "This girl is our team mate. You're not supposed to trash-talk with her."

Riley flashed his trainer a cheeky "Then-why-don't-you-stop-me" smile, but he said nothing... not that he could speak in English of course. He then returned his gaze to the girl, who he stared at unflinchingly. Something was different about her, quite different from the other humans. It was almost like...
 
Dante jumped out of his reverie as the crowd began to cheer, and otherwise make noises of their love for the man. He still had his hand on his forehead staunching the now dried blood, he took his hand away slowly, and looked at his red palm; he attempted to rub the dried blood off, on his pants.

"Oh man..." Dante thought, he paused, as another official took to the stage.

He had further made clear the challenge that lay ahead of those entered in, and showed a TV screen, with everyone's groupings. As he left the stage, everyone seemed to rush in various directions; Dante got down from his temporary stool, and attempted to walk towards the team listings. Finally making his way through the maze of people, he found his name listed under 'Team 7' and to meet at the Carnival Area. Reading the other names, he did not recognize them.

"Well I hope they're all team players." Dante thought. "I might as well change into something better too, if we're gonna cross water."

He quickly ran to a portable washroom stall, he took the bag off his back and changed into his black capris and decided to put on a plain but comfy blue t-shirt. He refitted his pokebelt too, and made sure they were all accounted for. He left his tinted goggles on his head though and rearranged it in such a way that his now coloured and blood dried bruise was overlapped in a red tint. Not wanting to be late for his group he pulled open the washroom door, and ran in the direction of the carnival area.

"Hopefully I can find this meeting place." He thought, anticipating the challenge that lay ahead of him again.

Ignoring the various collections of games, Dante finally came to a running stop; he arrived to the specified location. And just as he did so, he watched as a Lucario had jumped into the air in front of a young woman to what seemed like to goad her. Dante not knowing the situation, looked at the others, and his heart dropped. He felt like he was intruding on some kind of adult business. Not only did everyone look older, but they were also taller.

Standing near a man with an Azurmarill, Dante cleared his throat in attempt to sound older than he was (so he wouldn't speak in a squeaky voice and despite Dante knowing this wouldn't work), and acknowledged his presence.

"Um hi, I'm Dante. Team seven right?" He spoke, in an almost unnatural voice.
 
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The first challenge took place by a river and traversing from one bank to the other appeared to be the goal. Simple enough. She had roughed it before, heck, she hiked all the way here didn't she? The first challenge was going to be a walk in the park. At least, that was what she had thought upon hearing the irritably gaudy champion's speech, but the moment the monitor behind him buzzed into life to depict the stage, her confidence immediately wavered and waned further still upon hearing the challenge's conditions. All hidden machine techniques were prohibited, as well as the aid of any water-type pokemon. Granted, she didn't need to worry about such restrictions, considering her team type and abilities, but the revelation of the first round's true nature quickly became apparent only moments afterwards, and compounded that short-lived high into obscurity.

Teamwork; it seemed the only way to progress further through the tournament was to assist others in the process, a notion not too familiar with the Kanto champion. She had always done things by herself and in her own way, so having to rely on others was a little more worrying than competing against the entire competition individually, something she had been expecting and would have very much preferred. But, there didn't seem to be any other way around that fact. If she wanted to win this thing, she would have to cooperate to progress. No ranger academy would so much as glance at an application without credible experience, especially with the extensive background checks they carried out nowadays. But with a second title under her belt, especially one that incorporated ranger qualifications, she'd be ensured a place in an instant. There was just no other way.

Sculling the remaining broth from her bowl and slapping a good quarter of bills onto the counter as payment, the scuffed wannabe hopped off her seat, shouldered her bag and proceeded to the square surrounding the now vacant stage to assess the allocations for the teams, and that where things got complicated. There were close to a hundred participants just huddled together in front of the stage, scanning the screens to pinpoint their names, while a plethora of other stragglers wandered about the encompassing square. Not only that, but almost an equal number had adopted an out-of-ball pokemon for whatever irritable reasons that easily doubled the accommodating space, ensuring that all forms of unwanted physical contact was achieved. And being the slightly quick-tempered lass she was, Seras found little influence in maintaining decorum, promptly shoving and shuffling her way to a spot where she could properly view the listings.

But despite all that, she did catch sight of a few intriguing individuals on the way, most of whom bore capture styluses upon their ranger-esque uniforms, their appearance more notable in the blonde's eyes. It would have been safe to say that she'd have spent a good few additional minutes picking out who was what and what was who, but she was promptly reminded by the buzzing monitors that she was under a strict time limit and that a team meeting was due. There was no time to get wrapped up in personal obsessions.

And there she was, 'Seras Darian Maxell' bunched up with a couple of nobodies denoted under the seventh team's listing. She hadn't realised full names were to be displayed and wondered if her grandpa's fame really preceded his reputation, or hers for that matter. Well, it didn't really matter; having people find out who she was wasn't that big of a deal, it actually being her goal in retrospect. Still, she couldn't help eye the odd hesitation or two amongst the others' viewing of the same screen. For now though, she's just chalk it up to paranoia.

With her team allocated and meeting place set, the blonde swiftly broke away from the crowd and slipped into the closest aisle of booths. The 'carnival' district wasn't far; it was where she had spotted the Sinnoh champion while passing through to the main stage. And in retracing her steps, it was only minutes before she arrived to an already half formed Team Seven, and just in time to spot a rather colourful although timid sounding member introducing himself. Upon closer inspection, there were already five members present, none of which she recognised but immediately made assumptions of; there was the older woman and man, both of which appeared nonchalant in nature but she doubted either of them would be in such a place without sufficient experience. It seemed they would prove to be the most reliable out of the lot. Following them was a slightly stouter but youthful man with a complexion to rival even hers, leading the blonde to wonder exactly what he did for a living to tan his skin so rigorously. And then there was the teen and preteen, both of which rivalled her in age and seemed less at home than any of them. The girl appeared completely indifferent, surprising, considering the lucario still up in her face, while the younger boy finished his shaky introduction before following up with a self-reassuring inquiry.

"Relax kid," hypocritical as it was for her to despise being looked down upon, she always revelled in the chance to do the same to others. Clapping a hand over the youth's shoulder, she swiftly entered the small huddle as her flat eyes scanned each and every face, "I'm Seras and I don't intend on losing this round, so can we get to work already?"

Even though the team had yet to fully assemble, she was raring to go, after all, only the first four teams would receive a bonus for progressing through the first challenge and they only had a short while to organise and prepare for it. She intended to be at the top of every event, it was the only way she was going to be recognised. But not only that, patience was never really a virtue she had been able to grasp the notion of, and in light of the situation, had no intention of doing so anytime soon.
 
"SiSiSiSiSiSiSi!" The Quagsire pulled Mikuri's arm in the direction of the meeting place.

"Group 7, I know, I know. I'll get there eventually but where do you think Wallace went? I didn't expect Steven to be here either!" Scanning the area now that the fangirls had dispersed she couldn't find where her heroes had gone. Were the Hoenn Elite Four going to make an appearance too? She started to wonder why this hadn't been held in Hoenn to begin with.

Mikuri blinked and turned around. Had someone said her name? She looked around but made eye contact with no one in particular. Percy tugged at her arm again and with a sigh, she gave way to the Quagsire's pull. It wasn't that she didn't want to go to her team, the truth was that she was extremely nervous about being in one. As a coordinator, teams only consisted of herself and her Pokemon. Not only that but being taught by a governess her entire life also limited her companionship with others. She had a few coordinator friends, but they had always been friendly rivals, never partners. Hopefully everyone would be welcoming and nice. She'd either become friends with them, get pushed around by them, or try to be too controlling. She hoped it would be the first of the three.

By the time she arrived at the carnival area, a few trainers had arrived. Mikuri inwardly smiled at her luck. It was that one girl with the Wallace plushie! Unfortunately, a few others also had approached the girl in hopes of catching her attention. It would be rude to bother them. Mikuri reminded herself of the board with the names and group numbers of the contestants. In her search for Wallace, she hadn't bothered to see what her teammates names were. What a bummer. She would have inched a bit closer in if it wasn't for the domineering air of a girl that looked only a few years older than herself. She shuffled her feet. Did she have to be the youngest in the group?

"Well, I think this is our group Percy..." She stated depressingly. The water Pokemon looked a bit irritated. He looked from her, to the girl they had seen earlier, to the menacing Lucario that taunted her.

"Quagsire!" He huffed. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and took in a large amount of air, a light blue gleam forming in his mouth. Mikuri jumped in surprise at what he was about to do.

"Percy! No! What are you do-" Before she could stop him, the Quagsire let out a condensed Ice Beam that squarely hit the Lucario on it's side. Percy stood triumphantly and Mikuri glared back at him mouth agape in horror. "Ah! What did you do! Bad Percy! G-get back in your Pokeball!" She bonked the Pokemon on the head with her fist, but he didn't seem to feel it or be phased at all. Taking one of the three Pokeballs from the belt of her shorts, she summoned Percy back inside and then ran towards the ranger she suspected to be the Lucario's owner. Giving a bow, she sputtered, "I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! He doesn't usually do this! I don't know what came over him..." Standing erect again, she dug into her backpack. "I have a ton of potions if you need any! I'm really sorry! If you want..." She took off her Wallace hat and presented it to the ranger, looking downward. "...you can have my Wallace hat! It's an festival only one, s-so it's really special!" Mikuri wanted to bury herself in a hole right now. Did she really just offer her hat?
 
If she hadn't happened to be standing right in front of one of the TV screens, Rhea probably would've been forced to climb over people in order to see her team assignment after Steven dragged Wallace off the stage. As it was, she had a great view of her name - how'd they get my name? - smack dab in the middle of the screen under "Team Seven", lumped together with a bunch of other people she vaguely recognized from her Pokemon Monthly magazine. Most of which, she guessed, were older than her and had much more experience.

The crowd was already thinning and clumping into groups at their assigned rendezvous points, even the rabid Wallace fangirls. Rhea glanced down at Storm for comfirmation, but the Dragonair had turned away with her nose in the air, the beads on her tail flashing dangerously, as if she were waiting for some kind of apology.

"Sorry ..." Rhea finally managed after a few tense moments. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on. Okay? Are we good now?"

Storm tossed her head indignantly but returned to her side, with an air of That-really-didn't-cut-it-but-I'm-going-to-give-you-a-second-chance. It made Rhea wonder briefly who was in control - her or her Pokemon. Well, that was certainly a morale booster.

They made their way across the square through the rows of carnival booths, ignoring the massive plushies and Wallace figurines - or at least Storm did, gliding purposefully along the aisles as if she knew exactly where to go. It took Rhea a moment to realize that the Dragonair was simply following the sounds of what sounded like a large group of people gathered in front of a shooting booth.

She poked her head around the corner and sighed inwardly. It looked like she was one of the last people there, which never made a good impression. A younger girl in a unwieldy-looking blue Quagsire outfit was busy apologizing to a young man (who looked decidedly like a Ranger) and his Lucario. Another girl who looked about her age (but a heck of a lot more confident) was saying something to another younger boy, who was standing in front of ... oh, more people. There were other Pokemon besides the Lucario: Quagsire; Cherrim; Azumarill.

Rhea slipped into a corner beside the Lucario, grudgingly followed by Storm and praying to Arceus that they wouldn't notice her and make a big scene out of it like the others were doing. Maybe after they got going she could claim that she had been there the whole time ... yeah, right. She would be surprised if anything were to go right on this assignment.
 
"Oh, this is definitely team seven." Laurel trilled, growing ever more enthusiastic with each time the question was repeated, "And you..." her glance traveled quickly past the young man with the tan and the slightly older one, both in ranger uniform, to the little boy with the handmade outfit, then the little blonde with the serious business attitude, "...you're all..." there was another cute little girl, in a Quagsire outfit, apologizing so sincerely and profusely it was almost heartbreaking, and then...her eyes locked onto the newcomer, her body acting faster than her mind ever had, "You're all so cute!"

It could have been any of them, these children who were all like adorable little plush toys and apparently all part of her team, but Rhea had had the misfortune of catching her eye at that precise moment, which was why she consequently found herself being twirled around in the air by the woman, wrapped in a tight, motherly hug.

It wasn't until she became aware of her Cherrim's evil eye boring into her skull that Laurel finally seemed to regain her senses, lowering the ranger back onto the ground in a slightly sheepish manner.

"Oh, sorry." she mumbled, "I should be more respectful, shouldn't I? But you're really, really just too cute. Sorry, I'll try to control myself a little. And while we're on the topic of apologies..." she offered the oldest of the rangers a nudge, "You can just forgive and forget a childish little prank like that, can't you? Pokémon are people too, after all, you can't just suppress their personal quirks even if you want to. Besides, we're a team so we should try to get along with each other. Oh, and that reminds me. I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?" she turned to address the group as a whole, offering a graceful little half-curtsy, "I'm Laurel Curtiss, the Sinnoh coordinators' representative. And this," she nodded towards the Cherrim on her shoulder, who briefly broke out of his personal sulking to mimic the curtsying gesture, "Is Cheri, a long-time friend and partner of mine. Pleased to work with you all." the Cherrim merely harrumphed at this and turned back to minding its own business, but his trainer seemed not to notice, continuing to beam at the assembled people, "Let's give this our best, alright everyone?"

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Wallace gave a rather overly theatrical sigh at the scolding, shaking his head, "I thought I already told you, Steven," he replied, "This is a contest and I am the host. No matter the situation, I must be a beacon of shining light and hope for our audience. If I'm not, many, many people will get upset and suspicious..." he offered his companion a meaningful glance, just as they stepped in to the room of the big cheese, "...we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

Knowing full well that there was no time for the chat, he turned to face the solitary figure on the other side of the room instead, offering a curt bow, "You called, your omnipotence?"
 
Riley nearly exploded with rage as he clutched his backside, which now stung with all the chill that a controlled burst of frostbite could produce. The attack hadn't done any serious damage due to Riley's natural resistance to ice-type moves, but his pride had taken a serious fall. And Robert could tell- he wanted revenge. Sighing, he prepared to leap in front of his Lucario to intercept the blow that would undoubtedly follow when the Quagsire's trainer arrived, recalled it, and rushed over to him with a flurry of apologies and explanations before offering him a very disturbing hat. Robert prepared to politely decline, before he realized something. This girl was incredibly familiar. In fact, she looked just like...

Robert's jaw dropped as Riley's gaze traveled from his trainer's face to that of the girl. The Lucario rolled his eyes and buried his head in his hands in embarassment- for his trainer's sake, that is.

Robert stood motionless, his jaw still dropped, until Laurel addressed him. Then he shook himself out of his reverie, and nodded. "Ah, yes, of course- no harm done, except to Riley's pride. I don't hold it against you he can be a bit... problematic at times. Isn't that right, Riley?" Ignoring his Lucario's glare, which would have melted through steel on the best of days, he continued by turning to Mikuri. "Miss Kagal, really, I appreciate the offer, but there's no harm done. I wouldn't dream of taking your hat.... and I'd just like to say how much of an honor it is to be working with such a talented perform- yeow! Riley, you little-"

This last remark was punctuated by Riley giving his trainer a rather well-deserved thwack to the back of his head, and nearly resulted in an impromptu sparring match before Robert realized where he was. "Oh... right. Well then," he laughed, trying unsuccessfully to save what was left of his dignity. "I'm Robert Nash, head of the Sinnoh department of rangers. This is Riley my, er... partner." He glared at Riley, who simply smirked and averted his gaze. "We're both very honored to be working with such talented trainers. Isn't that right Riley?"

The Lucario was unapologetic.

Robert sighed. "Sorry about him. He thinks he's the goddess's gift to earth."
 
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Scratch that. While she was about to let the older man's lack of disciplining his lucario off the hook, the moment this 'Laurel' chirped in, her mind was already set in stone on how she really saw the two seniors. And frankly, they were both crazy; the man less so for his apparent indifference to his pokemon's actions but the woman for just being...well, unbearably familiar. But it didn't end there, oh no. Not only was her assumed respect for the two adults quite quickly dashed but the intrusion of two more lasses of similar youth did little to take away from her foreboding concerns about the team's success, especially after the first of the two girls seemed just as competent with disciplining her pokemon as the older man. That Ice Beam had been only inches away from giving her and every other person in the group a serious case of frostbite. Safe to say, things weren't looking particularly peachy for Team Seven but only got better with the realisation that they were still one member short.

She shook her head. This was why she never favoured teamwork, especially with strangers. There were just too many dependant factors in relying on the capabilities of others, and in this case, the personal neuroses of her teammates. Scratching her head with an irritable hand and not just because her hair was in a mess, she had to admit that she wasn't so confident anymore, at least not in them making the top four.

Putting all that aside however, she still had a bone to pick with the second cosplayer who had just rushed in to console the pokemon and its trainer that her own had just assaulted, despite the victim's forgiving response, "Hey! Careful where you point that thing," she curtly started, motioning to the ball clipped to the younger girl's belt that housed the rogue quagsire, "if you can't keep your pokemon under control then don't let them out." Her last remark was directed more towards the group rather than just the newcomer but also derived from her previous irritation at all the other competitors' lack of respect in upholding personal space.

But now that the two seniors had made their introductions and everything had settled down, to an extent, her flat blue eyes quickly swept over those still unnamed, and decided it was best to get all of the formalities out of the way now, "So," she added in the direction of the girl who had the misfortune of catching Laurel's eye at the last moment, and then eyeing the frantic little girl in the pokemon uniform, before finally settling on the younger man in the ebon ranger getup, "planning on telling us your names?"
 
Right after he had spoken, Dante gave a jolt, as a woman's voice was heard. She had told him to relax, then a second jolt occurred, she had clapped her hands on Dante's should

"Wow, I'm not usually that jumpy," He thought. "Though she did appear out of nowhere... well at least she's broken the ice, of this bizarre group." He turned his head to look at the girl who had made him jump twice she introduced herself as Seras. She also wanted to get started on a plan. Dante seemed attracted to her direct approach. Looking about to be a teen, she was wearing something diverse and interesting. "Perhaps it is a foreign thing?" He questioned himself.

Suddenly another girl appeared, she looked a lot younger, even to about Dante's age. Dante sighed in relief because he at least did not appear to be the youngest in the group. The girl was wearing her Pokémon inspired clothes, and smiled, as he too had an inclination for such fashion. She spoke to her Pokemon, just as she approached the now larger group, though she did not sound all-together reassured.

"She must be like me, with all these older people around, hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to her." He thought.

Suddenly her Quagsire spoke up, and following that, it was preparing an attack. Its trainer recognizing this, called for it to stop, but it was too late; the ice beam had hit Lucario on the side. Dante was now thinking that tensions were high, and didn't really want to see a battle at this time. But the girl had already recalled her Pokémon. She then insisted in apologizing, to Dante's relief, the other trainer accepted it. When Dante looked back at the Lucario, who now seemed to be acting indifferent to the situation, he spotted another girl behind it, about the same age as the girl who clapped Dante on the shoulders. He found it odd that she was wearing what seemed to be a business suit though. He wondered if she was part of the team.

Because the events seemed to have settled down, it appeared that one of the girls that were there already spoke up. She reassured those that had just arrived, including Dante, that this was indeed Team 7. He smiled to himself. "We can make this work, it shouldn't be impossible to cross a river; I just hope everyone can help." He thought.

The girl introduced herself as Laurel Curtiss, a Sinnoh coordinator. Dante finally got a good look at her, she looked to be in her late teens, and was wearing some sort of ceremonial ware, that was black and green in colour.

Now a little more at ease, Dante spoke up, in agreement. "Oh yeah!" He cheered, half expecting everyone to question his motives with the sudden cheer for a team, that was not yet complete, and starting off in an awkward position.

Suddenly Seras spoke up again, she politely told the girl to basically respect others, though she looked at the group when she said this. Then she asked for everyone's names.

Before people could start introducing themselves again, Dante spoke again, having gained confidence just for the fact as it appeared necessary, looking directly at the business suited teen. "Sorry, are you apart of this group?" He asked. And before she answered he bent over and whispered to Seras "Can this meeting get any more awkward?"
 
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She couldn't help a smirk at the Lucario's plight as the ice beam nailed it square between the legs but managed to prevent a full out laughing attack even when it began to bop around a bit awkwardly and, no longer able to keep it locked in as the thing attacked quite literally anything that made a comment, the girl burst into laughter, a finger outstretched towards the Pokemon that was quickly trying to restore its ego "Haha! You're so macho yet you get hit from behind by a friggen Ice Beam and to try and save your ego you beat up your poor trainer." Laughing so hard it was starting to draw tears to her eyes, she stood up, nonchalantly placing her hand discretely behind her, in between the Lucario and the rest of the group "Since I'm seemingly last in the introductions, I'm Mika." As the group was distracted by several different things none of which were really important, the hand moved a few centemeters from the lucario's nose without anyone so much as noticing.

Ignoring the sharp pain it spread up her arm, she let the power flow through her finger tips, healing the surface wound the Quagsire had and restoring the Lucario to its former health before she turned and, sprayed it with a potion of sorts that was nothing more than cool mist, winked as subltly as she could, "Don't say anything please? I'll make you a cookie later. Just didn't want anyone to be down at all for this thing" Standing back up, she ruffled the Lucario's head fur, "Pfft. Silly thing. Can't have you getting hurt before the first round now can we?" She looked over at Laurel who was swinging some loli around in a circle and the loli looked about ready to kill something "Laurel, put the loli down before you kill it." Shaking her head, her laughter finally subsided, "Sooo. People. Now that we've got introductions out of the way… shouldn't we talk about the problem at hand?" Mika didn't mind taking charge or throwing out ideas when she had to…but her head was aching up a storm. Didn't take too long before the girl, who was walking towards the female seemingly stumbled, the only indicator of something else being evident by the look on her face just before she supposedly tripped but within a few seconds the flustered girl was back on her feet, dusting herself off and mumbling something along the lines of "Yes yes, I'm a klutz but at least I admit it."

Rubbing the small of her neck nervously she crossed over, her sight refusing to catch anyone's in particular for more than a few seconds, "We've gotta get across a river, HMs are banned and we have to cross together." She sighed, the smile fading into a more serious expression as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I've done a team building thing like this before, they're not too hard if we can honestly work together. That bonus isn't something we should aim for, if we get it, great, if not, oh well. We don't want anyone getting hurt in the process, right? Now, anyone have any ideas as to how we should go about this?"

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"You're impossible." Steven sighed, brushing the hair from his eyes and leaning up against the wall, managed to avoid the eye of coldhearted anger from the blonde across the room, crossing his arms across his chest and kept his eyes on the floor. He could tell, as well as Cynthia, that Lance's mood had only gotten worse. The red haired male had been pacing, it was obvious from the look he knew he was getting from Cynthia who'd been here on time as well as the male's flushed cheeks, but he'd stopped, slipping into his chair when the two latecomers had finally gotten in and within three seconds of the blue haired male's shrill voice, it was obvious that the flamboyant character had done nothing to improve his mood. "About time Wallace." He snapped, his foot tapping into the ground impatiently, "Thanks to your grandeur little escapade there we're behind schedule. Cynthia, bring up the requested slides?" When the blonde moved over to the screen, he stood, taking the glass of wine from the table and unhinged his cloak, leaving himself in his typical jumpsuit as he wandered infront of it, motioning for the other three to comply, "How many are we actually expecting to complete the first round?"

"Around 100, we're looking at ten specific teams that should make it beyond the first challenge."

"And the second?"

"More than likely two or three."

Lance nodded, taking an almost delicate sip as Cynthia answered his questions, "And team seven?"

She smirked, turning around to look at him, "Your special snowflakes?"

Lance simply shot the female a less than pleasantly pleased look and took another sip as the camera zoomed in on the bustling team, at the precise moment the mother-type was swinging around one of the smaller girls before it rotated towards the green haired girl on the bench as she discreetly laughed at the escapades unfolding in the group itself. Sighing, He lowered his glass, rotating the liquid inside, his eyes locked on it, "....they'll be able to work together?"

"Well anything's possible and that girl of yours can't work with people worth crap-" But the female champion was silenced by a firm hand on the shoulder as Steven interjected himself, standing between the two of them. "Lance, she'll be fine."

He mused for a moment, turning around, "Hn. If Cynthia's readings are correct, those children are the only ones we need to watch."

"Some of them are hardly children Lance."

He chuckled softly before nodding, "True. But if they're really what we think they are…. Then they're the type of child that can never grow up."

"Heh, I guess you could put it that way…."

"Lance?" Steven edged his way into the conversation, his eye catching Wallace's for a moment, "When will you make your prescence known and what do you want us to do?"

"Wallace, you're to make sure the rules are upheld. Show up at the first challenge, should make the fangirls distract themselves from the group and get a good portion of them disqualified. Steven… I need you to set up round two."

"So we're going with the secondary plan?"

He smirked, nodding, "Yes, and I know you'd rather do it to protect the earth and the cave itself."

Steven sighed, putting his face in his hands, "And you're sure only ten or so groups are going to remain?"

Cynthia interjected nodding firmly, "Well yes, most of the people here are to make this thing… look well, legitimate." She laughed, shaking the loose hairs down into her eyes with a twist of her head, "And we can't have anyone anticipating anything now can we?"

"Precisely. I'll adjourn this meeting then, alert me of anything we're not excepting Wallace, if it happens." Sitting down in his chair, he made a sweeping motion of his hand and, as excepted, Wallace pranced out of the room, entertaining a not-so-bemused Cynthia with a conversation of some sort, leaving Steven behind, leaning against the wall near the redhaired leader and, when the other two had left, opened an eye towards him, "You're drinking?"

"…It's just wine."

"What's bothering you?"

"…I'm concerned we won't be able to keep control over them."

"Because of her?"

He clutched the glass, the wine being jostled around inside, saying nothing to the man for a moment before he let out a near inaudible sigh, "…She's a loose cannon."

"Reminds me of you."

"Enough. I'm concerned… that'll she'll lose her control over it when she gets deep into the tower."

"…remember we have the trump plan."

"I'm well aware Steven, I did authorize that plan."

Sighing, Steven put a hand on the male's shoulder for a moment, "Get some sleep." And with that he left, shoving his hands into his pant pockets, head lowered as he wandered out. Meanwhile, in the now dimly light room, Lance turned, staring at a shadowed photograph on the glass top marble desk, his thumb tracing over the picture of a couple holding a small infant, an older child awkwardly standing like older children who don't like to be in pictures because they're much too cool for it, his face twisted into an obviously fake grin. Sighing, he lowered the picture and leaned back, a hand falling against his forehead, "…Such a stubborn...stubborn child."
 
Rhea had never been more motivated in her whole life to get the heck out of there, even the time when she had been chased off a cliff by a raging flock of Pidgey and several very annoyed Hypno. The moment that crazy coordinator woman - Laurel? - dropped her awkwardly to the ground, she had instantly realized that her face was turning a magnificent shade of maroon and backed away in alarm until she stepped on Storm's tail, which caused the Dragonair to hiss and prod her firmly in the back, preventing her from breaking into a full-out sprint away from this collection of very strange people. She had never been so mortified in her entire life, and the situation was not helped by the fact that one of the guys was asking her something, which she nodded automatically to while the cocky-looking blond girl had turned confidently to her and the younger girl in the Quagsire outfit. "So, planning on telling us your names?"

She chose to remain silent and let the furious blush subside, which was when the last girl - maybe a couple years older than she was, with long green hair and exuding even more cool confidence (heck, she definitely wouldn't have called a complete stranger a loli within their earshot) - stood up and stepped calmly into the middle of the fragmented group, the effect rather ruined by the fact that she tripped inelegantly on her way there and was forced to pick herself up. Rhea was only half-listening and so caught only the last bit of her question. "...Any ideas?"

Well, of course she had ideas. She was a Ranger, after all, even if she was a half-incompetent rookie. There had been multiple scenarios like this one in training school, and she was pretty sure she could get herself across a river with only Storm's help. Of course, there were the other members of the group to account for, and she had never tried to actually do these kinds of things in a skirt. Still, it would be pathetically easy to stretch a rope across the river, maybe Ice Beam a bridge across ...

Reality caught up to her train of thought and shoved it violently off the tracks, where the metaphorical train crashed into the rocks below and shattered into a million billion tiny little pieces. Who was she trying to kid? Everyone else, even the youngest girl in the Quagsire costume, was obviously meant to be here. She'd just keep her mouth shut and follow their lead.
 
Taylor stood by a little stiffly as more people began to arrive at the meeting area, kicking up a series of simultaneous commotions as they did, like miniature dust devils. This was certainly Team 7, and everyone was here. Whether or not that was a good thing... But think positive, Taylor reminded himself diligently. They had about as much of a chance as any of the randomly chosen teams, right?

Azumarill stood next to him, her ears twitching serenely as small bouts of hugging and scuffling and chatter occurred around them. He looked down to her, smiling a little uncertainly. She touched him gently on the shoulder and pointed, and he realized that someone was asking him and a few other new arrivals their names. He met the girl's unflinching gaze and found himself shrinking slightly, despite her being a good deal younger and smaller than him. "Taylor," he managed to get out before the green-haired girl from before stood and started making some sort of announcement. The unofficial leader, it would seem.

And he had no answer for the girl's question, either. He exchanged glances with Azumarill again, and she shrugged, tapping the side of her head to indicate that she was still thinking about it. He breathed a little sigh and turned his attention back to the rest of the group. It seemed kind of silly that he had to rely on a Pokémon to be his brains, but really it wasn't at all. It was the sort of thing someone would feel obliged to laugh at if you told them, but it made complete sense to Taylor.

Taylor touched the rough coil of rope at his waist nervously, tapping his fingers against its weave. He turned to the girl next to him, the one who had been spontaneously bear-hugged just a moment before. He thought that she looked more than a little bit uncomfortable, though he might have been misinterpreting her facial expression. "Um...are you a ranger too?" he tried, smiling at her.
 
(OOC:
Finally, Mikuri reached her destination point at the base of Mt.Silver. She had previously shed her Quagsire outfit after her run in with the tourist and now wore her sleeveless Azumarill hoodie along with her Wingull hat.
Click to expand...
She's not wearing her Quagsire suit anymore XD)


IC: Mikuri glanced at the person she was begging to. Instead of a look of rage, he seemed...surprised. From what she could tell, it was a good kind of surprise...

"You can just forgive and forget a childish little prank like that, can't you? Pokemon are people too, after all, you can't just suppress their personal quirks even if you want to."

Mikuri gawked with starry appreciation at the older coordinator. How nice of her to stick up for her like that when they just met! She was a bit older than most of the other group members there, so she guessed that the woman inherited that type of motherly power. She definitely had that vibe about her, calling everyone 'cute' and then assaulting another member. The fact that she was the only other coordinator that had appeared comforted her too. She liked this Laurel person. The Cherrim she held though was a bit strange, Mikuri never had much experience with Pokemon native to Sinnoh.

The ranger she was addressing seemed to regain his focus and politely declined her Wallace hat. Mikuri relaxed a bit. She would have probably died right there if he had. Mikuri blinked at the second part of what he said. Was he a fan of hers? She giggled and gave a playful wink. "Yep! I'm Mikuri Kagal! I didn't know that my contests appeared in Sinnoh too! Nice to meet you, Robert! And Riley. Sorry again." The Lucario didn't seem to pay any attention to her. "Yeah, I think it's such an honor to be invited to something as big as this! It's really-"

"Hey! Careful where you point that thing, if you can't keep your Pokemon under control then don't let them out." Mikuri bit her lip at the remark. Who did this girl think she was? She never liked criticism from anyone, even in contests they bothered her. She resisted blowing a raspberry at the blond. Being the youngest, she'd have to act a bit more mature. Speaking of maturity, the girl beside her roared with laughter over the whole Quagsire Lucario incident. Adjusting the Wallace hat back on her head, Mikuri's face reddened. This was such an embarrassing first impression...on the bright side though, she had actually talked to someone than staying on the edge of the group. Maybe that's why Percy did that. If he did it to open up the girl with the Wallace plushie's attention, the opportunity to ask her about it was already gone. The girl named Mika had already recovered and was now reiterating the problem at hand. Maybe she could rebuild her reputation by giving a suggestion.

"Well, I have an Ice Pokemon and a Psychic Pokemon. Just from what my own Pokemon can do, I can only think of making an ice bridge of some sort. If someone had a Steelix or something, maybe we could use it as a bridge? I can only think of bridges..." She shrugged. "Oh! And my name is Mikuri Kagal for anyone who doesn't know~" She said with a slightly forced cheerfulness, giving a small wave and smile at everyone.
 
"That would be a bit troublesome, though, don't you think?" Laurel ventured at the suggestion of an ice bridge, "With currents that strong, we'd have to freeze the river all the way to the bottom or the bridge will just be ripped off and swept downriver, and if we do freeze it all the way to the bottom, it's going to flood all over the place. With a river this big and all these spectators around, that could cause a major disaster."

She gave her chin a thoughtful tap, "Well, I have an Ursaring, a Ryhdon, a Weezing, a Honchkrow, a Mantine, and Cheri here. If anyone has rope long enough, I think I can have Klarvind fly over and attach it on the other side without breaking the rules. There's plenty of timber in that forest too, so we could have our pokémon bring down a couple of trees and fashion a bridge out of those. I think our pokémon would be strong enough to toss us over too, if it comes to that, but that might be a bit too dangerous unless we put up another one on the other side to catch us."

She shrugged, the case attached to her wrist swinging over rather further in Mika's direction than one would have expected from such a small motion, though of course that could just have been imagination, "That's all I can think of on my end. Does anybody else have ideas?"
 
Robert nodded in agreement with Laurel. "I agree- ice bridges are a bad idea. Riley, do you remember the time we tried that during that one rescue?" The Lucario shuddered in response, as if to say 'How could I forget?'. The response got a chuckle out of Robert, and he continued. "Anyway, they're not very reliable. Slippery, they break easy, no good. But I'm definitely against terraforming in that river. Even if we could manage to dam up the thing, heaven knows what kind of environmental impact we'd be having. Freshwater Pokemon could have their habitat completely ripped to shreds, that kinda general nuttiness."

Riley stood by his trainer, sagely nodding in agreement. Though the challenge was certainly interesting, he and Robert had seen similar problems in their time. Nothing insurmountable, surely, given the resources they had to work with.

Of course, that's what he had thought back when they had tried the ice bridge.

Robert mulled things over for a moment, then made his decision. "Let's try to bridge the river. Damming it up is only a temporary solution anyway, especially if the dam breaks- and in case any of you were thinking of changing the river's course, that would be illegal, and I'd have to contact the Johto ranger's office and get permission to bring you in. And I'm on vacation, so I'd rather not have to do that." He stopped in thought for a moment. "Riley, did we think to bring any rope?" The Lucario shook its head. "Nuts then. Either we're going to have to muddle along without it, or see if we can't make some as a substitute.... unless one of you all was thoughtful enough to take some along?"
 
When only the last out of the three in question replied, it was quite clear that the young champion's mood had not yet alleviated, at least not significantly anyway. Taylor, the only one with the decency to introduce himself when probed, despite seeming somewhat redescent at being questioned, appeared to be the third eldest member of the group and another reliable crutch to fall on if the team wavered in their progression. The other two on the other hand, remained silent or otherwise and quite blatantly ignored her query, clearly showing their youth of age and apparent lack of respect. But, so be it. If she could help it, she'd drop the two girls if ever the chance presented itself.

"Awkward doesn't even begin to describe this lot," she added under a hush but obviously annoyed voice to the first costumed kid as she shook her head.

Although conversation about the first challenge had finally commenced, an air of irritable concern still hung about the blonde. They were still one member short, and through a process of elimination, it seemed this 'Gareth 'Thomas' Patterson' was the one responsible. That said, the only justification for her in remembering another stranger's name, on top of everyone else's, was the first challenge's ruling that specifically stated that the team remain as exactly that, a team, especially in fulfilling the challenge requirements. That meant that each and every one of them had to be there, and with time running short in preparing for the event, tardiness on anyone's behalf would not go unpunished.

For now however, devising a plan to actually cross the river was the most prominent course of action, several suggestions having already been put forward by the mascot girl, who eventually revealed herself to be known as 'Mikuri', and the flamboyant although surprisingly domineering Laurel, who quickly supported the idea, but suggested adopting a slightly less rash and dangerous approach.

"We'll need a few," puffing herself up as much as she could to maintain her commanding demeanour, the blonde crossed her arms as she turned to the other's suggestion, accepting it as the chosen plan, "logs that is. I've got a toxicroak that can help your ursaring and rhydon for that but we'll need to secure them together somehow. Rope should be enough but if anyone has a pokemon with String Shot or Grass Knot or whatever, I'd suggest having them use it as well." she added in Robert's direction, "Also, if there's no embankment, we'll need to stabilise the bridge somehow on either side. A couple of rocks should be enough to keep it in place long enough for us to cross in that case..."

Sweeping over the group with blunt eyes, she merely added, "Any other ideas? Or can we start getting to work?"
 
Though Dante's question went ignored from the business-like teen, he continued listening to the group's ideas. Seras whispered a response in his ear, agreeing with him, in a way, though she sounded annoyed.

"Man... I hope I'm not like this lot when I get older..." Dante thought, clearly confused with the "adult lifestyle".

He heard a few ideas going around, thinking that indeed the treed bridge would be the best route as opposed to the iced bridge. He had thought of a bug Pokémon's string shot, when Seras had suddenly suggested it. He laughed quietly to himself, and then he raised his hand, as though back in school and spoke again, without waiting for an acknowledgement, when Seras asked if others had any other ideas.

"I was thinking that the String shot idea could also work, though I don't have a Bug Pokemon. The only legal Pokémon I can use in this round is my Flygon, Plusle and Minun." He said, "Maybe for added support, we could tie extra clothes we have together?"

He laughed out loud at his own joke at the end, as he had intended it to be one, though wondered if others would at least think it funny. Suddenly an idea sprang into him.

"Or or or or or, if anyone has a psychic Pokémon, they can use its abilities to telekinetically move us across. Oh oh, and if anyone has a great jumping Pokémon that can carry people..." He added, ideas springing up like a new sprout coming from the soil. Though he thought for the latter idea, that the river would be a lot larger than any single Pokémon could most likely jump.

((OoC: Whoops yeah my character changed clothes too ;) ))
 
This is an endless waste of time... She closed her eyes, listening the rabble around her, rubbing the headache seemingly away as it threatened to pound out her ears in some explosive way and crossed her arms across her chest, walking past the lot, "So now that we've established we all have pokemon and have a general idea of what we're doing, we might want to head towards the gate." She turned, jerking a thumb towards it, "Seeing as it's open." Tilting her head back, she looked up at the sun as it shimmered over the group, shielding her eyes from the light before she looked back down at the rest of the group, "I'd say we have about four hours. We should probably go." She stared then at the ground, settling into the middle to back part of the group. She didn't want to be the leader or team captain, why couldn't someone else do it? She couldn't be the only one who didn't want to be here, could she? It didn't seem that way… Sighing, she blatantly ignored Laurel's movements, choosing, on top of this, to also ignore the pokegear buzzing as a call was apparently coming in and settled into the chaos as the group seemingly moved towards the river and to the teams already flundering to get across it

There wasn't much electronic media at the actual site beyond the cameras. The only real sounds that could be heard, above the roar of the river, were the issues coming from teams, the bickering and the overall sight of fear among some of the more inexperienced groups. It was a headache, even to look at, as within the first two minutes of the experience, already ten teams had seemingly been disqualified. Turning around, after examining the speed of the water, "So. Rangers. This is your area, you take control and help us make this bridge without getting us into more trouble than we're already in." Crossing to stand in the group, she took Robert by the elbow, pinching it almost painfully hard to get him to move and, manipulating his body weight rather forcefully shoved him forward to stand before the group before she herself took to standing between the azumaril girl and Laurel. Lifting up onto her tiptoes, she brought her lips close enough to Laurel's ear that she wouldn't need to yell, "Release a level of my limiter just til we get past this...incase something happens. And, while you're at it, please tell your blathering idiot of a father to stop calling me, it's horribly distracting."
 
They moved out, under urging by the girl, shifting the position of their disorganized blob to the river. Taylor stood with his arms crossed and chewed his lip worriedly, exchanging another glance with Azumarill. Apparently responsibility for the task had been transferred over to the Rangers. At least he didn't hold enough seniority to be considered a leader of that group, though - that fell to the red-haired man with a Lucario.

Remembering the man's request for rope earlier, Taylor decided to make himself at least somewhat useful. He took a tentative step forward and unclipped the coil of rope from his belt, holding it aloft. "I've got this, if we need it. There's more in my pack, too."

The only question was how to get it across; Taylor thought the rules a little vague, but he had gleaned that it probably couldn't be flown or swam by a Pokémon.
 
Riley nodded at Mika's suggestion, and Robert followed suit. "We should get moving," the senior ranger agreed. "But if we're building a bridge, we need to think things out more thoroughly- such as finding a plan to destroy the bridge in case of another team trying to cash in on our hard work. And another thing..."

Then Mika forced him out in frnt of the group. A bit annoyed to be in such a position, Robert nevertheless took charge. He wasn't used to disrespect, but it was understandable- after all, the fact that he was Chief didn't matter much here, and at least he was in a position to talk ow. "I didn't take the time to thoroughly examine the roster, but as I recall I'm not the only ranger on this team. If we're going to mount an operation of this scale, we'll need manpower, and lots of it. I vote that all of us with a capture styler leave any Pokemon we have that are strong enough to help out with the bridge-building here to assist, while we move out and recruit as much extra manpower from the local Pokemon as we can find. And we'll need someone to oversee the bridge construction, someone who knows enough about the subject that we don't end up snapping the thing the moment someone sets foot on it."


He glanced at Seras, raising an eyebrow. "You said something about Pokemon tying the logs together? I'll see about getting my hands on something with String Shot. There's a forest up here and we're near enough to Johto, there's got to be at least a Spinarak living up this way. Anyway, you sound bright enough. You care to direct the construction?"
 
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