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

[Dawn]

Valorie felt like she'd conquered some great challenge in the few moments following the kiss where Selene had not yet reacted. It didn't even occur to her that silence was potentially a bad thing. Meanwhile, Dragonair was now really dang confused over all this kissing going on lately. Suddenly Valorie was being pushed away from and shouted at. She froze up, taken off guard. Perhaps her mindset had gotten too optimistic, but she had honestly expected everything to go alright. Regardless. She just sort of stared at Selene, her mouth moving occasionally as if she wanted to say something but no words came out. Selene shouted at her again, and she just sort of flinched, averting her eyes and looking down. Why did she feel so scolded? She looked up and tried to meet Selene's eyes, though only mildly successful. She saw that Selene looked really upset.

The next thing Selene said sorta crushed her a bit inside. She had been... rejected. In Valorie's rush not to care about the opinions of others, she had accidentally forgotten how she had worried that Selene would not accept her. It only figured that the very thing that had given her the courage to try had screwed her over. Valorie just sort of watched, stunned as Selene proceeded to fly away on Blu. She wanted Selene to understand, to return her feelings yet... She had said she can't. She certainly seemed upset. She felt a fresh emotional pain starting to throb inside her. Yet, it was less sharp and more like a dull, continuous pain. Was this what heartbreak felt like? It sure hurt a lot. Ye, she was... bearing it. Not by a whole lot, but she was bearing it. It was then she noticed the chattering. Looking up, she saw a handful of students looking back down at her, talking quietly to each other. One of them actually giggled! She just sort of glared at them. Did they think this was a joke? Entertainment? Were they mocking her?! Valorie saw a convenient outlet for her frustrations. Anger boiled up inside her and something occurred to her. She realized that subconsciously, she wasn't ready to give up. She wasn't sure why, but a part of her desperately wanted to cling to some hope that things would still go right. She wasn't exactly sure how, but... Regardless. That outlet for her anger was still there and she was still plenty angry. She began rising up towards the deck to meet them rather silently, her expression one of violent intent. Given, that translated to a pokemon battle as far as Valorie was concerned.

As she rose the students backed away from the deck. It was a raikou student, two entei students, and a suicune student that had been looking down at her. They might seem to know each other. One thing was for sure. They all seemed pretty put off by how angry Valorie was.

"Alright..."

She first spoke in a quiet tone, but suddenly her tone grew louder, attracting the attention of several nearby students and a teacher or two.

"Let's battle!!!"

She first gazed upon one of the Entei students. It was a boy of around her age. Valorie slid off Dragonair, allowing the large serpent pokemon to take the field. The boy was a bit intimidated for a moment because /daaang/ Dragonair was big. Yet, after that moment he gathered his courage. Valorie wanted to /crush/ someone. She wasn't holding back, and so Dragonair was her first choice. People had to back way off to give the pokemon room.

First the boy sent out a Nidoking, but it was crushed pretty quickly by a Dragon Rush. Valorie could tell this boy wasn't in her league, and yet she didn't care. Pokemon after pokemon came out, and they didn't seem to be able to lift a finger to Valorie's mighty dragon pokemon. Second up came a watchdog that fell to a flamethrower. After that, a Poliwhirl that was promptly KO'd with dragon rush. Valorie wasn't really focusing on strategy. She just wanted to see them fall. Thus, Dragonair took a bit more hits than she usually did. Yet, from these pokemon she could handle it without major effort. The boy got annoyed and called Valorie out, asking if she was going to use any other pokemon. Valorie took the challenge.

"I bet I can beat you even with my /weakest/ pokemon!"

Woah. Suddenly, smack talk from Valorie. Given, she was somewhat angry. Yet, this was all within her competitive personality, given her anger. The boy looked a bit taken aback. He didn't understand how she felt. Who would, anyway? Valorie proceeded to send out Axew. This would do. The boy sent out a Geodude, whom punched into the palm of it's free hand and rubbed it's fists there in imitation of someone.

"Show him what you're made of, Axew. Dragon Rage!"

And Axew spewed draconian fire at Geodude, causing several students to freak out. What if the ship burned? Luckily the flames were controlled, and not simply left to spread. Besides, a teacher was practically right there ready to stop any trouble before it got serious. Regardless, Geodude was consumed by the flames, and just sort of coughed ashes when the flames cleared. The Geodude then suddenly flew at Axew, going in for a tackle! ... Yet, Axew dodged the attack and struck Geodude with her tusk in a dual chop attack! ...Except one of her tusk broke off. Given, Geodude fainted following the attack. Yet, the reaction was almost immediate. People freaked out! Valorie tried to talk over them but failed. After a moment of people calling for a pokemon nurse and Axew just sort of lightly scratching at the stub where her tusk was, one of the teachers yelled to get their attention, seeming rather frustrated. Said teacher then proceeded to educate the nearby students on the fact that this was, y'know, normal for an Axew. After that things seemed to calm down. Though people looked on at Axew skeptically, only to have her cheerfully wave.

...Then Valorie turned on the student, hands on her hips, a rather unamused expression on her face.

"So /you're/ in Entei dorm?"

The guy didn't hold a candle to Selene. Little did Valorie realize she was mocking a new arrival. Kinda mean, if you think about it. The boy became irritated at being mocked and balled a fist, nervously sputtering a moment before telling Valorie to shut up. Valorie ignored this and promptly began to survey his friends. She supposed she /should/ take on the suicune student. Yet... While she was thinking, the Raikou student, eager to capitalize on what he thought was Valorie's weakest pokemon, sent out a Herdier. Valorie's attention was drawn, and a smile came to her face. It didn't match her face though, which had contempt for the boy. If she had one of her stronger pokemon out, she was pretty confident Herdier would go down easily. Given, she had never met someone like MacKenzie who deliberately did not evolve her pokemon. Regardless, this was not the case with the boy.

Axew was ordered to use Dragon Rage again, unnerving the crowd but causing no actual damage to the ship. Herdier went down, and the boy returned him, looking kind of distraught. He hadn't expected that. Regardless. He sent out his next pokemon, a munchlax. Valorie almost felt sorry for the boy. This time, she ordered Axew to use return. Axew seemed to gain a pink aura before charging Munchlax and striking the excessively hungry pokemon in the stomach full force. Munchlax just sort of went flying backwards and landed on the ground, clutching it's stomach. It then proceeded to faint.

The Raikou dorm boy looked discouraged. He looked down at his pokeballs and seemed to think for a moment. Abruptly, he asked Valorie for a two on one. Valorie, feeling especially cocky, agreed with a wave of her hand.

"It's not like you'll be able to do anything."

The boy frowned and sent out a growlithe and a pidgey. Both the pokemon proceeded to gang up on Axew, momentarily overwhelming her. Yet, before anyone knew it, Pidgey was down due to a dual chop, and Growlithe was getting a similar treatment. Yet, Valorie could tell Axew was getting tired, especially after that last round. She was still young and growing. That tusk would grow back, and her wounds would heal. She was fine. ... Until she started glowing. Valorie was surprised. She honestly hadn't expected this sort of thing to happen now. Regardless, she liked what she saw after the glow faded. Axew was now a fraxure, and her broken tusk had miraculously grown back during evolution! Yet, on further inspection she seemed even more tired. Weird. One would think the opposite would happen during evolution. Regardless, the boy seemed frustrated by this. Yet, seeing Valorie's pokemon wheeze gave him a faint hint of hope. He sent out his last pokemon, a Timburr. Valorie casually pointed to the Timburr.

"Let's finish this, Fraxure. Dragon Claw!"

Fraxure seemed to understand, and rushed at Timburr, one of her claws glowing with a purplish aura. Yet... she was a bit sluggish, and Timburr managed to dodge. Timburr then proceeded to smack Fraxure in the face with his beam of wood. Fraxure just sort of shuddered and collapsed, fainted. Valorie blinked, and glared at the boy, who seemed pretty proud of himself. She then sent out Swinub.

"Now, /this/ is my weakest pokemon."

This statement was followed by a snort of protest from Swinub. Valorie just sort of mouthed an apology to an unhappy Swinub. It took a few moments for Swinub to get over it. The entei dorm student she had previously fought crossed his arms, annoyed.

"Powdered Snow!"

Valorie was silently applying the faces of the bullies who had wronged her before to these students, and to be fair they were getting more anger than they deserved for what little they had done. It didn't help that it was four people, three boys and one girl just like the bullies that had wronged her. Yet, Valorie was caught up in it... and currently making them hate her guts. Swinub launched a snowy projectile at Timburr, striking the pokemon in the face. Timburr charged Swinub, raising his beam of wood with intent to smash, only to be dodged by the surprisingly fast little critter. Surprising because one could not see his short stubby feet under all that hair. Swinub simply abruptly moved out of the way, turning to face Timburr as the pokemon glared at Swinub, raising his beam. Swinub promptly kicked up mud from... er... no one knows. The mud was flung into Timburr's face with a satisfying wet slapping sound. Timburr cried out, as some of the mud had got in his eyes. Swinub then promptly shot Timburr with another icy projectile, achieving a KO. The raikou dorm boy frowned and stepped back from the battlefield... only to be replaced by the second entei dorm student. It was the girl of the group. This meant that she had the unfortunate honor of having the bully who had physically abused Valorie applied to her. Valorie narrowed her eyes, though the girl hadn't done anything but stare her down.

Entei Dorm Girl: "You think you're so tough, picking on new students! Why don't you battle someone more experienced, like /me/!"

Valorie silently noted that she'd be glad to. She was out of smack talk lines for the time being. The girl sent out a Grovyle. The pokemon proceeded to try running circles around Swinub, using it's much greater speed to confuse the smaller pokemon. This resulted in hilarity as Swinub attempted to strike Grovyle down with mud bomb. The attack took the form of Swinub rapid firing balls of mud out of what appeared to be his nose. Mud. Mud everywhere. There was going to be a very unhappy janitor later. A couple of the mud balls hit the grovyle's trainer and she cried out.

Entei Dorm Girl: "Ugh, my clothes!"

Valorie smiled for once. It never even occurred to her how wrong it looked for her to be enjoying this girl's anguish. Meanwhile, the suicune dorm student of the group stared at the battle with a hint of disgust in his expression. He had been silent the entire time.

Regardless, eventually Grovyle tried to go in for an attack and was promptly struck in the face with a ball of mud, blinding him and causing him to miss. Swinub then proceeded to strike Grovyle with a powdered snow attack. The result was instant. Grovyle screeched in pain before blindly striking at Swinub with a leaf blade. The attack actually hit this time, and boy did it hurt. Regardless, Swinub did not go down, and so Valorie ordered him to use powdered snow again. This time, Grovyle became frozen solid be the attack and just sort of fell over. He was for all intents and purposes fainted.

The girl seemed to scowl, pulling her next pokeball out and whipping it onto the ground, releasing an Arcanine. Valorie's eyes grew a bit wide. Oh snap! Before she could give an order, Arcanine toasted Swinub with a flamethrower attack. Swinub was down. Valorie returned Swinub and looked at the pokeball momentarily. She supposed she couldn't blame him for losing that one.

Now was her chance to teach this girl a lesson! Valorie took her next pokeball out and released Vibrava. Vibrava buzzed around in the air, staring Arcanine down. To humans, the buzzing would not effect them unless heard for an extended period of time in which case it would cause a headache. For Arcanine however, it was quite painful. Arcanine twitched and shook it's head in pain before firing off a flamethrower. Vibrava was hit, but it didn't seem to have a whole lot of effect. Both the girl and her arcanine were surprised, as they'd mistaken Vibrava for a bug pokemon.

"Now Vibrava, dragonbreath!"

Vibrava shot off a breath of purple fire at Arcanine, scorching the large dog pokemon. Arcanine shook it off however and charged Vibrava, unleashing a powerful bite attack, only to be bitten in return with crunch. Yet, even this did not bring down Arcanine. Valorie blinked. As a trapinch there had been nothing that could handle her bite. She supposed it made sense. Vibrava had a much smaller mouth. It must be less powerful or something.

Arcanine proceeded to back off of Vibrava, but only momentarily as it then returned, using take down to send Vibrava flying backwards. Yet, as he landed from the blow he stumbled with an obvious limp. He was hurt pretty bad. Valorie could tell. Vibrava was tired too, but she had the feeling Vibrava was winning this one. It was probably the partial type advantage.

"Vibrava, return!"

Vibrava seemed to understand, and glowed with a pinkish aura. This aura was smaller than the one around Axew, perhaps ironically. Sure, Vibrava wanted desperately to earn Valorie's approval. Yet, she felt she was under appreciated at times. Whereas Axew was pretty content with Valorie. Regardless, it was powerful enough to finish off Arcanine. The girl across from Valorie seemed slightly upset to see Arcanine go down. That had been her strongest pokemon. She got the feeling she was going to lose. Regardless, she continued on, releasing a Gabite. Valorie tensed. Gabite would be able to lay out some serious hurt if she let it.

"Vibrava, use dragon breath now!"

And so it was. Dragonbreath hit Gabite, but Gabite would not go down. Gabite came at Vibrava and struck her with a brutal dual chop, striking her not once but twice. Needless to say, Vibrava had had enough and went down. Valorie considered sending Dragonair back out, buuut... On the other hand... Valorie sent out Frillish.

Meanwhile, Frillish was amused by the fact that she was on a ship. She was pretty sure she had eaten someone's soul in a setting like this before, as her kind were kinda sorta prone to doing. Regardless, she wasn't very bright, including her memory.

"Now, use Ominous Wind!"

Frillish seemed to understand, though on what level was anyone's guess. She summoned a gust of evil feeling wind, sending it flying at Gabite. Gabite cringed, though it once again stayed standing. Frillish though. She seemed to gain a look of empowerment. Gabite charged at Frillish, only to be shot down with a blast of pulsating water. Gabite landed and just sort of struggled to get up before collapsing. Gabite was down for the count. The girl proceeded to send out a charmeleon. Valorie grinned. Well, it appears she had this one in the bag. The girl was obviously at the end of her ropes. Charmeleon tried to fight back, first by trying to get close and then by trying to use a flame burst attack. Yet, each time a water pulse overpowered and struck him. The second time around, Charmeleon fainted.

The girl just sort of picked up her last pokeball and... glared at it silently before abruptly storming off. Valorie blinked. Huh. Guess she couldn't take it. She looked to the suicune dorm student of the bunch.

"You next? I think I've still got enough pokemon left to send you packing."

The suicune student just sort of glared at her and responded yes. Valorie grinned competitively, watching him. He walked into the ring and... kept walking. Huh? He was approaching Valorie. Suddenly, her space was being invaded. Her eyes widened. Was he going to hurt her?! She held up her arms as if to protect herself. Yet, no blows ever came. He did however point his finger at her in an accusing manner, practically right in her face.


Suicune dorm student: "You're nothing but a /bully/, y'know that? Just like the /rest of them/."

The suicune dorm student then made a sound of disgust and walked right on past Valorie, leaving her to just sort of feel the burn. Nothing but a bully? That was pretty mean to imply that there was nothing more to her. Yet, he had then compared her to... She just knew it from the way he had spoken. He had compared her to those jerks that had bullied her before. He could've said plenty of mean things, but that topped it off. Valorie was left feeling bruised. She wasn't really like them, was she? She just sort of backed away from an unseen danger, returning Frillish and beginning to walk off, delving into thought. It was dawning on her that she had kind of been a bit of a jerk to them. Yet, the thought that she had been compared to those /others/. That couldn't be true right? She wasn't that bad. She couldn't be! Yet, the words stung pretty hard. Valorie was not a tough skinned person. It was upsetting her, and she had plenty to be upset about besides that. She was walking around when she found a teacher. She proceeded to ask the teacher if Pryce was on board, to which she received a no, that he had stayed behind. Great, the only teacher she knew on a remotely personal level wasn't here. She asked then if there was a nurse for pokemon on board and was directed towards said nurse. When she had healed her pokemon, she was surprised to find that Vibrava's pokeball was shaking. Vibrava proceeded to pop out on her own accord and... She was evolving?! Valorie hadn't really seen that coming. She watched as Vibrava evolved, her wings growing larger and her body taking on a far different shape. When it stopped, she was faced with a flygon. Flygon looked pretty cool compared to her previous evolutions. Valorie was pretty satisfied, needless to say. Yet... now wasn't the time. She returned Flygon and left the area, walking around the boat for a bit until she felt her depression getting the better of her. She then sat down against the wall in a deliberately vague area, curling her legs against her and wrapping her arms around them. She felt like scum, and it sort of showed on her expression.

Charizard ♀ Lv. 40 (Dragon Rage, Wing Attack, Flamethrower, Attract, Iron Tail, Headbutt)

Dragonair ♀ Lv. 51 (Flamethrower, Double Team, Thunder Wave, Twister, Dragon Rage, Dragon Rush)

Flygon ♀ Lv. 46 (Crunch, Dragonbreath, Faint Attack, Facade, Dragon Claw, Toxic)

Frillish ♀ Lv. 32 (Absorb, Brine, Night Shade, Toxic, Water Pulse, Ominous Wind)

Fraxure ♀ Lv. 41 (Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance, Assurance, Dragon Rage, Return, Dual Chop)

Swinub ♂ Lv. 28 (Ancient Power, Dig, Icy Wind, Ice Shard, Mud-Slap, Mud Bomb)

 

[Megaman765]

Mark snapped into reality once again and turned to MacKenzie. "E...erm, I think I'm going to go and heal my Pokemon up Mac... I'll guess I'll chat with you later?" Mark said. He signaled Snype to follow him to the Pokemon Center. Snype decided to cut the chatter short with Melody.

"Well Melody, good luck out there! Hey I'm sure you'll find a guy to stick with! Just keep the goal in mind!" Snype said before following Mark. Before Mark went inside though, he noticed that Val had returned and was battling a series of trainers. Val seemed to be holding her ground just fine against them... one of her Pokemon even evolved during the action. Geez... she really has been training hard... Mark felt really behind....

Later on, A suicune student walked up to Val and called her a big bully. Mark wanted to step in but unfortunately lost Val in the crowd as he walked off. Well she was still on the boat at least... Mark decided to look for her after healing his Pokemon. Snype went off on his own to walk around the ship... possibly to look after Thyme.

Meanwhile Mark did indeed find the Nurse. Mark was disappointed in himself, just at his own skills as a trainer... well... he figured that was why he was in school in the first place. To learn this stuff. He could only learn so much in four days though... He never really felt this way about himself before. After a battle he would just compliment the opponent and move on but he felt like he had been failing his Pokemon in general.

Mark was pretty much walking around the boat aimlessly with a blank expression. He kept telling himself not to worry about it and reminded himself that this was the reason he was in a school but he wanted to learn how to be better and show that he could be better the the others. Mark smacked himself just even thinking of the word... "better"... It was about getting to know your Pokemon better... just bonding with them. Though maybe it was more then that...

As Mark continued to wander aimlessly in the boat, he eventually found Valorie sitting down against a wall, curled up.

"...Val...?" Mark said.

Snype

Meanwhile Snype headed back to the room to see Thyme again. He was a bit downed himself for losing the battle in such a way... but he knew better then to tell Thyme about it. If he was going to explain, it would mostly be an explanation that he was upset about losing the battle in general. Guess this is what Thyme felt with her losing streak... Snype did infact find Thyme on the way there, yelling at some girl. It was pretty close to Mark's room.

"Thyme? Whats got you steamed?" Snype asked, walking up to her.

 

[SelenaStar]

She just had to get away.

Although something told Selene, a voice nagging in the back of her mind somewhere, that she was overreacting hugely the whole situation had sent her into a blindnpanic. Valorie did not kiss her as a friend kisses another friend. And for some reason this really frightened Selene...mainly because she just didn't understand it one bit. And whatever Sel didn't understand, she was afraid of.

Why did Valorie kiss her like that? She kissed her like Sel imagined that she would kiss Mark...with that same feeling and intensity...but that was normal. Mark was a boy. And Valorie was a girl. Whenever she'd seen couples on her island they had always been perfectly matched men and women and their offspring. The idea that Valorie could see herself and Selene in that same bracket was just...so alien to Sel, she didn't even know it was possible for girls to feel that way about other girls. Or was this all some kind of weird joke? Valorie wasn't really the type for practical jokes...but this could be revenge for that outburst...oddly, that would be more of a comfort to Selene. She could understand that relatively easily. But Valorie was just too sincere for that to be the case...no matter what angle she tried to think about it from, she always came back to the same conclusion that confused her so much. Valorie had feelings for her.

Normally, one would expect that Selene's laid back attitude would mean she wouldn't get as stressed as she was about something like this. And had she been raised in a 'regular' town or city in a mainland region then sure, her attitude would most likely be different, she may even be more open to Valorie and more willing to accept and understanding of her own confused thoughts. But her island in the Sevii archipelago, Four Island, was not a big island. And it was very cut off from the other islands in the chain, who often had more contact with the mainland and thus took on their cultural ways and attitudes. Traditional would be the best way to describe Selene's island - full of old superstitions and rituals that would be followed by elders and younglings alike. Their only real interaction with the mainland was whenever they had to go for supplies that they couldn't grow or make themselves, such as building materials after their wooden houses had been updated by the introduction of ricks and mortar. And the invasion of Team Rocket of course.

Because of this, the entire concept of homosexuality was something Selene had never before come across. She didn't even know the word itself. All she knew was that now, Valorie was treating her like she treated Mark, or how Mark treated Valorie. Selene understood that reciprocity was a key element of this...but...she just...couldnt. She didn't understand. And so it frightened her. And so she felt so wrong...almost unclean...

She hadn't meant to reject Valorie so blatantly, in a way that some would call callous. After her rant, that had been provoked by jealousy over Valorie and Mark in the first place, she didn't want to hurt her friend anymore. That was the last thing she wanted...but it was almost as though Selene had retreated in her mind to a place where it was fight or flight, a place where reason didn't really come into play very much.

Lost in her thoughts, Selene didn't hear Vince shouting after her and was only snapped back to attention by Blu letting out another ear-splitting shriek as he was blocked by Vince and Blitz, Selene having to grab hold of Blu's neck abruptly as the Altaria swung upwards and over Blitz, levelling off above the Charizard. Selene just stroked Blu's head and clicked her tongue soothingly, Blu instantly calming. She frowned slightly at how Blu seemed so on edge...he must be picking up on her anxiety...

"Blu...it's okay boy, relax..." she mumbled until Blu chirped back at her, and she directed him back towards Vince and Blitz.

"I...I'm sorry for Blu...he's kind of stressed right now..." she said quietly, face slightly troubled as Blu stopped in front of Blitz, glancing at Vince for a moment before looking away - it was almost like she couldn't meet him in the eye...she sniffed slightly as the enormity of the situation fell onto her, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at Vince.

That was it. He could make it better for her.

Clicking her tongue, Selene directed Blu over to Blitz, hovering slightly above the Charizard. Not-so-carefully, filled with relief at her idea, she all but threw herself off Blu quite recklessly and just landed on Blitz. She didn't even pause to consider that the Charizard may not take well to this unwelcome intrusion as she landed, facing Vince. As if acting without thinking, Selene grabbed Vince's face, pulled it to her own and kissed him quite harshly, eyes jammed closed, breathing heavily through her nose. Quite paradoxically, even as she was kissing him, tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.

"go away, go away, go away" her mind chanted, willing the hurt and confusion that pained her head, this translated into how furiously she kissed Vince. It was...working. Her breathing calmed, her kiss became more tender, her arms slid down around Vince's neck loosely. Eventually she pulled away, blinking, coming back to herself and flushing heavily with a gasp, hand flying to her mouth as she looked at Vince. She was so...embarrassed...not for kissing him, she was...well, that was nice...but for why she had kissed him and how she did it. Jumping onto his Charizard? Really?

Coughing slightly, she smiled bashfully at Vince and clicked her tongue, watching as Blu flew over, floating just beneath Blitz so that she could slide over the side of the Charizard, landing on Blu lightly and hovering next to Vince.

"we...we best get back to the boat huh?" she stammered, tilting Blu down towards the ship she was in a massive daze...wow...she had really pulled that one out of the bag...but as much as it had calmed her she still felt that gnawing in the pit of her stomach. But right now she just didn't know how to make it right with Valorie...

As she landed on the deck of the ship, she was distracted instantly by the tannic sounding loudly:

PLEASE PREPARE YOURSELVES. WE WILL BE ARRIVING AT VERMILLION CITY IN 10 MINUTES. RETURN ALL POKEMON TO THEIR POKEBALLS AND GATHER YOUR BELONGINGS.

Selene sighed and returned Blu, leaning on the railings and looking out at the water. What a day...

 

[Fuyu]

Skye winced at the sudden announcement. Sh*t. This was bad. Rama hissed at the intercom. No way. He was never, never going into one of those stupid spheres just because of some damned PA system. THey weren't his trainer and Skye had a personal vendetta against them. So that was enough. Pala was lucky, she could fit in Skye's bag no problem. But he would have to be carried. These bastards were begging for a clawing.

Rama felt his trainer shiver lightly as he returned Ellie and Jolt. He grabbed his one bag and slipped it over, chuckling as Pala squirmed in her sleep. Skye stood Rama went to pad next to him. He was still growling at the PA. He swore he was going to kill someone in HoTa Corp for this. Maybe the younger brat... at least Skye wouldn't get in trouble for it. There were a couple kids here with Zorua and he had no ID. Hah! BUt SKye wouldn't like it... darn. Eh, he had have to settle for mental trauma. That was too easy.

Next to him, Ciel had returned his own Pokemon. It felt odd without one of them out. At home, he almost never had to... mostly because their isolated little town could be attacked at any time and help took forever. As far as he knew, the only people at home who didn't have at least one Pokemon to defend them were babies or the retired elderly, despite laws. It was safer that way. But there was nothing he could do about it so he stood himself and kept an eye on Bri.

 

[Nideous]

Quincy

"Hm... Well, I guess our battle will have to wait! Later!" Quin said with finallity. He turned and noticed a Sableye grinning at him. Well, maybe not at him, but the Sableye was grinning at something. Or... Maybe he was just grinning to grin. Either way, it creeped Quin out. The Snivy Waved her arms about, but got fed up with it and jumped off the table and walked over to the Sableye. Quin went back to his room and began packing his things up.

Thyme

"You two are hopeless!" Thyme said, waving her arms about her again. She was getting sick of this. She turned and spotted Snype and smiled. She leapt down to go talk to him as the weird boy left.

"Nothing Snype. That girl over there nearly stepped on my tail, and then she completely ignored me as though I wasn't even there. Anyways, did you find Mark?" Thyme said. She smiled at Snype... Until she heard the announcement over the PA system.

"Piss off! I'm not going in my pokeball!" Thyme shouted at the speakers, knowing even as she did it that no one but Snype and the girl would hear her. She didn't even have her pokeball with her. It was back on the island. What was she going to do? That's when the boy that had hurt her and made her have to stay in the pokemon center showed up. Thyme's eyes widened in fright and she dove behind Snype. The boy shoved into the girl rudely and then told her off before continuing on his way... Wherever he was going. But his Kroagunk stayed behind, staring at the girl's pikachu.

"Please don't see me," Thyme whispered to herself. The last thing she wanted to deal with was the one that had caused her so much pain. She hoped he would leave soon.

Brian

Bri frowned and returned Drizzle and Bouncy. He turned to Skye and looked thoughtful. He had an idea.

"Hm... Rama doesn't have a pokeball, does he? That could be trouble... I have an idea. Rama, can you use an illusion to take a human form? Maybe look like another student?" Bri said thoughtfully. He didn't want his friend to get in trouble. And really, one extra student would surely go unnoticed, right?

 

[Fuyu]

Rama smiled ruefully. "That'd work kid... If my illusions weren't so fickle. Sometimes I can do em perfect, but the rest of the time I can't change my tail too. It'd be a dead giveaway." Skye gave Bri An apologetic smile and shook his head. He would have tojust deal with it. "If they don't notice me, they'll notice Pala when she peeks her head out. Sorry kid. Ya tried to think about it." he barked a challenge. "Do yer worst authority! I'll make ya eat my tail!" Ciel made a confused sort of laugh.

 

[PkMnTrainer Cory]

Cory had seen the large amount of Suicune Dorm Trainers go up against the one. He blinked at the whole prospect that there was another Suicune member that seemed to hate the arrogance of their fellow trainers just as much as he did, only he didn't openly show it. Another thing was is that the way this Valorie had been reacting, it seemed like she wasn't herself, or at least it didn't strike him as such. She was good... despite her age he had never seen such a great Trainer before, as if she might have been on par with the one and only Ash Ketchum he had heard so much about.

He watched every battle alongside Seigmund, who sat on his shoulder with his arms crossed, "You thinking the same thing I am?"

Seigmund just nodded, "Something happened and she's not in the right of mind, look at how savage she is commanding her Pokemon." Seigmund found it despicable, only based on his own experience, a leader should KNOW whats best for their troops.

They watched as Valorie vented, before he sees her go and curl up against a wall. Now was a good as time as any to see what was the matter. He sat Seigmund down, "I will go see whats wrong."

Seigmund watched his trainer go over with his only good eye, "You were always a glutton for helping people... and Pokemon for that matter..."

Cory took his time to walk over to her, and knelt down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly hoping she didn't take it the wrong way. "Hey, you okay miss?" he would say softly, despite his voice normally traveled, so it was kinda strange for him to talk so low, before he set his arm on his knee with his other arm at his side.

 

[Dawn]

Valorie's Post​

Valorie was just sitting there, silently angsting. Perhaps it seemed trivial to some, but to her it was just overwhelming her right then. She wasn't at peace with herself. Rather, far from it. She had too many... /things/ going on in her head right then. It was like she was trying to swim in a sea of crushed love, self-image issues, self-confidence issues, and general teen angst... and it felt like she was just kind of stuck, unable to make progress. She felt a dangerous part of her willing to give up. In her current state of mind, she was exceptionally vulnerable to that part of her. It seemed hopeless to try anymore. Yet... another part of her was still fighting even when the logical part of her mind had ceased to. In this sense, she was like a blind person in a dark tunnel; She was stumbling around aimlessly in hope that perhaps if she tried hard enough she would find the light at the end by feeling it's warmth.

For a moment, she did not respond to Mark calling her. Then she looked up at him. She seemed kind of sluggish and gloomy. Her eyes took a moment to focus on Mark. She had been deep in thought.

"...Hey Mark."

Her tone didn't speak of anything going on. It was some cross between boredom and sadness. Yet, all of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over, spotting another student there. Apparently she had drawn some concern. Did she look that bad? Valorie made a half-hearted attempt at seeming to be okay with herself visibly, though it honestly wasn't a very good one. She just didn't have it in her to fake it right then.

"Yeah... I'm fine."

Was it a lie? Essentially, yes. She was not fine in any sense. Not physically, and definitely not emotionally. Yet, she didn't want anyone /else/ to look down on her. She couldn't even imagine telling Mark the story of what had happened. She didn't think she could tell a stranger, much less him. Regardless, both were here.

 

[Megaman765]

Mark could tell something was up. She couldn't have been fine if she was sitting by herself curled up against a wall, though he didn't want to Pry out information either. That wouldn't be right of him. He noticed somebody else had stepped in to ask what was up with Valorie. Mark twitched a little... out of jealousy... but he soon shrugged off the thought. He was just helping. Mark didn't even know the guy so it wasn't his right to judge.

"Heh... well I'm kind of in a crappy mood myself. Just got destroyed by MacKenzie back there... though at least she hasn't followed us. If anything, she shouldn't be bugging us for awhile..." Mark said. He remembered what MacKenzie had told Mark about Valorie liking Sel... he still wasn't sure if he should believe that... Mark was hoping to confess to Valorie today... but with all that had been going on, he wasn't so sure anymore... he was afraid it would hurt Valorie even more. Mark sat down beside Valorie. He looked up to the student that had offered to help.

"Hey... let me talk with her, if you don't mind that is. I've known her for awhile... By the way, Name's Mark." Mark said slightly happily to the other student.

Snype

"Yeah I found Mark... but..." Snype heard the announcement on the PA system. Crap... Thyme didn't have a Pokeball... now what? Snype noticed Thyme hiding behind him when the same kid that had hurt her was nearby. Snype backed up into Mark's room which they were in front of to stay out of sight and hopefully hide from everything. "Geez... close call... don't worry I won't let him hurt you..." Snype said to Thyme.

"...anyways... yeah... I did find Mark. Though the battle didn't exactly go in our favor. Geez that girl had alot of clever strategies on her... she's ironically a really good battler." Snype said.

 

[Nideous]

Thyme

Thyme felt herself being pushed backwards, and she started moving when she realised that Snype was trying to get her into the room behind them. For once, she was glad she was small and ignorable. She stepped into to room, making sure she was hidden behind Snype the whole time, and then walked over and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. When she had calmed down, she shook herself off. She looked up at Snype.

"Thanks... Clever strategies? Like what? I may be able to use them myself," Thyme said. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall for support, still trying to calm herself even further. That had really shaken her.

Brian

Bri shook his head, confused. Rama was acting like he wanted to get Skye in trouble. Trouble was something to avoid. Granted, Bri himself had been doing nothing of the sort, but that wasn't for lack of trying to stay out of trouble. Trouble just seemed to follow him wherever he went. Still, he was more happy here then he would be if he was back home.

"Um... Right... Anyways, I hope we get this done soon. I want to go and check up on Thyme, see if she's alright," Bri said quietly. He worried about her whenever he wasn't with her. Even laying in a hospital bed, she would find a way to get in trouble.

 

[Fuyu]

Rama grinned. He thought he had smelled Thyme earlier. He would keep it from Bri though. "I'm thinking she'll be a-okay...eventually." He also was not going to mention he smelled Thyme on Duster. That wouldn't go over well at all. He scratched one ear, twitching.. He hoped he never got fleas, ever. That was a pain to clean up.

Skye gave Bri a small smile. "DUh-hon't wuh-worry about ih-hit. Thih-his wuh-was guh-gonna cuh-come u-up suh-hoon eh-hanyway." He quietly twitched with an odd feeling. He felt Jolt's Pokeball shaking. The Electric type must have sensed something. Ciel blinked. He was still confused. Raph flickered behind him. Ciel didn't react much, barring the raised eyebrow at the contempt his angel was showing. THough Mom did say he was the more contemptous of the angels that watched them. He really wished Gabry was here instead but he wasn't a combat guardian, more of a soothing kind of guy. Ciel ignored Raph's low grumbling.

 

[Megaman765]

Snype paused a moment. He wouldn't dare tell Thyme about Melody using attract on him as a strategy... Thyme would murder her! It was a good thing that wasn't the only one MacKenzie used... "Well... she did use Sunny Day against Len... er... Mark's Poliwag. It really did a number on him in battle. Poliwag don't really do well out in intense heat like that. He had Rain Dance to counter that but even then, he lost..." Snype said.

"Though... hey, we can't win em all you know? Hehe... if anything its best to learn from your mistakes. Makes you a better battler in the end. I'm just happy I got to knock out one Pokemon in the end with my own clever techniques!" Snype added. He sat down beside Thyme and placed his hand over hers. He looked at Thyme with a smirk on his face.

"Hehe, so, you weren't too lonely while I was gone where you?" Snype said.

 

[PkMnTrainer Cory]

He just looks at her with that calm, stoic expression, as if he could see the very inner being of her soul. Its true he didnt know what was going on in her head, only that her heart and soul seemed to be hurting and he wanted to see what he could do to help. He sighs as he sits beside her.

"I know it seems strange why someone you dont know feels concern for you, but the world could use more people that help complete strangers, spread kindness through the world so that people and Pokemon can learn from example just how we can change the world, one random act of kindess at a time." He looks out across the deck to the actual sea beyond the railing, "Sometimes its hard to do that... and you can only do so much, but no one can blame you for trying your best, right?"

It might have been a rhetorical question, but it was free to answer anyway. This guy seemed to speak from experience. Although he ackknowledge Mark with a nod, "Name's Cory... I apologise..."

 

[Nideous]

Brian

Bri nodded at Rama. He was probably right. Though Bri's nerves were shot. He felt like there was someone there. He couldn't quite explain the feeling. It was similar to the feeling of someone watching him. It made him nervous, and he wasn't sure why. He decided that he was merely worried about Thyme, that was all. He hoped that was all.

"I guess so. Hm... I wish I had thought to bring that medical book I've been studying. Something tells me this is going to bore the life out of me," Bri said with a sudden smile, though he was still a little uneasy.

Thyme

Thyme hugged Snype and looked at him. She hadn't been that lonely.

"Well, after you left, I got hungry. After I got some food, some dumb human girl nearly stepped on my tail. Then this crazy boy showed up and the two began to argue. I haven't even gotten so much as an apology from the girl! But that's fine," Thyme said. She was still angry at the girl, as well as being a little shaken by the guy that had hurt her showing up like that. Thank goodness he was in a hurry.

"Well, I know of one technique that will always beat you," Thyme said grinning oddly at him. Though she had teased him, she decided not to use Attract on him. Not now. So, she simply smiled at him until she started to laugh a little, beginning to feel better about what was going on.

 

[Fuyu]

Ciel glanced at Bri. Something told him he sense Raph. He felt that others could, they just had no idea what he was. Poor Bri looked a bit freaked out. It would be odd to mention it aloud, so Ciel kept his mouth shut. Raph was still grumbling about the stupidity of humanity and their generally disgusting nature. As long as Raph didn't consider homicide, CIel would not write home about it. Please keep it low, the boy thought, not wanting the angel to start swearing. Did the angel realize how embarassing and disturbing that was?

SKye glanced at Bri. "Ih-hit's deh-hefinitely guh-gonna be a snuh-snore," he agreed. He could also sense something but he didn't want to worry about it. It probably wasn't his business. If it had to be he would deal with it.

 

[Megaman765]

Mark

Mark nodded happily to Cory. "Good to meet cha. And don't worry about it. Good to see complete strangers are willing to help out. Unlike certain people I know... e...erm... well, It was nice talking with you anyways." Mark said. Cory didn't seem like a bad person at all. If Mark had the time, he could probobly grow to become pretty good friends with the guy. But right now he was focused on helping Valorie.

"Guess today just isn't our day huh? We've been running into alot of trouble in this school... sometimes I wish that I could just have one day of peace. No troubles or anything like that. That would be nice..." Mark said. He turned to Valorie again. She was upset no doubt. Probobly had to do with the kid that downright called her a big bully. Well, they were the ones asking for a battle in the first place... but the comment must have heavily effected Valorie.

Snype

Snype nuzzle Thyme and chuckled, knowing what she had been referring too. He was tempted to see how he would act under attract when he already loved Thyme... Snype instead gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"Hehehe. Dunno how well it would work on somebody already in love." Snype said with a snicker. In a way, Snype had been teasing her as well. Almost asking her to try it. Snype would let her take that any way she wanted.

 

[HunterZero]

Calnith:

Kento then paused for another moment and noticed that a little Snivy and a Sableye was running away from his trainer. Strange, he then followed after them but stopped at the door to the room and thought about something for a moment.

"Kento what are you doing?" Calnith asked his Croagunk as he noticed it wasn't following. He noticed his Croagunk intensely staring at the door so he figured something important must be in there. When he opened the door he was suprised to see the little Snivy again and a Sableye. Cerberus, acting with out command lunged at the two pokemon ready to use a flamethrower.

"Cerberus HALT!" Calnith roared. Cerberus then landed a bit in front of the two pokemon growling wanting to incinerate them. Calnith then began to return his pokemon except for Kento. "Kento here you go some TMs I want you to learn these two moves," He said as he knelled down to his Croagunk and placed the CDs on his head. Calnith then turned to the two pokemon with depressed eyes.

"Hey there little Snivy," He said with a sad voice. He then walked up a little bit closer and knelled down to the Snivy. "I'm so very sorry for hurting you," Calnith said as he looked to the Sableye. "I know you won't forgive me but I am sorry. But there is something you must know my actions from her on out might seem wrong but I have to do it," He added as he stuck his hand out to the Snivy.

"I promise though none of you friends will get hurt," The red haired trainer said hoping for a handshake. Kento just stared at Snype with his cheeks going in and out.

Vincent:

When Sel had landed on Blitz the Charizard was about to freak out but he then calmed down when he remembered it was Sel. Shade however freaked out and fell off of Vince's shoulder and luckily onto Blitz's head. What was she thinking? If Blitz didn't control himself they all could have been flung into the water.

Also what was going on between her and Val? Vince was so lost but figured she would tell him if she wanted to. All he wanted was to be with her and not have to worry about anything, not Team Rocket, not Calnith, nothing. He knew that would never happen but it was a good fantasy. Vince too was shocked and confused on why she had jumped onto Blitz like that, she could have hurt herself.

"Sel what were you.....," He began to say as Selene then kissed him. This wasn't how he imaged kissing Sel, it seemed that she was doing this to escape some pain. Shade and Blitz could also tell that Sel was going through some problems mainly by the tears.

<Man Blitz did you see that coming?> Shade asked the oversize Charizard as he rested on Blitz's head.

<Honestly not> Blitz answered as he flapped his wings.

When she pulled away Vince's face was as red as a ripe tomato. It wasn't they way he imaged it but it was still like his worries had disappeared for a glorious moment.

When Sel had suggested they went back to the boat Blitz followed behind the Altaria and Vince jumped off Blitz and returned Shade and then Blitz. He looked to Sel for a moment and the walked closer to her.

"What was that all about.

 

[Nideous]

Brian

Bri shrugged and took a few steps, gingerly testing his leg. Nope, still couldn't hold his weight. Ah well, he hoped he'd be alright after a few days. He was not looking forward to the next few hours though. He wanted to get it over with. Maybe he could claim his leg was bothering him and they would take him back? Nah, Thyme would have his head if he faked his way out of something he didn't want to do.

"Hm... Well, it can't be helped I guess. Anyways, I guess I'll get through it, somehow," Bri said quietly, still trying to igore the strange unease that he couldn't explain.

Thyme

Thyme looked at Snype happily, and opened her mouth to answer him. That's when the buy that she had been trying to hide from burst into the room. Thymes eyes widened in fear as his Houndoon charged in to attack her. She would have taken a few steps back if she weren't standing against the wall. She would have flat out run if Snype hadn't been there with her. She didn't want to just abandon him, that would be wrong.

"Gih-get away from me!" she managed to say, staring up at him with fear in her eyes. She completely ignored his hand, instead clinging tightly to Snype.

 

[Megaman765]

Snype immediately got onto the defense when the red haired kid, Calnith entered the room. Mostly due to Cerberus attempting to attack the two. Though he did notice that Calnith's Croagunk was starring at him... he simply glared back and up to Calnith, giving him and angry look. He didn't want to shake his hand. Simply put, he was angry at him no matter who much he seemed to want to be sorry. He stepped in front of Thyme to protect her from him and his Pokemon. Thyme was clinging onto Snype in fear.

"Don't you dare touch her... I don't care how sorry you are. It's gonna take alot more then that to show your truely sorry." Snype said. Calnith wouldn't understand it but his Pokemon sure would. He glared into Calnith's eyes Angrily. Snype prepared detect in case he had other plans... he just wanted him out... At a time like this, Snype was thankful that he backed out of the fight. He still had plenty of strength to fight with. That is, if he had to resort to that... He turned to the Croagunk.

"What are you looking at?" Snype said coldly.

 

[Fuyu]

"Yuh-hou can duh-do it," Skye encouraged softly. He noticed the role reversal between himself and Bri. Though he was not looking forward to this either, he had found himself able to chill about the whole thing. He had gotten his aggression and tension out earlier. There was nothing he could really do about any of this. He would use this trip to get some information. That was all. Something drew his eyes toward Ciel and he blinked. "Sih-Sih-Ciel theh-here's soh-homeone fluh-fluh-floating beh-heh-hind you," he said, pointing toward where Raph was standing.

CIel froze and paled. Skye... could see Raph? Raph cursed. "How in the name of Arceus can that boy see me?" Ciel shook his head. He had no idea. People usually didn't. They couldn't see angels. Skye just tilted his head curiiously. Rama suppressed a groan. Of course his human was clinically insane now too.