The Second Coming.

[Eucliffe]

-Noir-
*Johto Elite Four*

Noir reached the Elite Four, but only because there was someone he wanted to see. He went up to the reception desk.

"I would like to see Karen, please," Noir said smugly. The receptionist nodded, and walked towards another door. After a while, a shiny Umbreon came out, and a woman followed it.

"You asked for me?" the woman said.

"Um... Yeah... I have a question regarding a man by the name of Falste. I heard that you knew him," Noir replied sullenly. Karen and her Umbreon looked down for a second, then looked back at Noir.

"Yeah... He was the Ghost sage, although he trained my Umbreon, Shade." Karen sighed. Her Umbreon closed its eyes in sadness.

"He died in Evergrande's explosion, correct?"

"Yes..." It seemed Karen didn't want to talk anymore, so Noir nodded his head and thanked her for the information. He then left the building. Hmm... he thought. I wonder... Could the light from the Spirit Well have to do with Falste? Huh... He shrugged, hopped on Sofia, and swam away.

 

[Sublime]

Dom
Skies above Victory Road.

On his flight to Victory Road, somehting zoom past Dom and his Dragonite. It was a bright yellow and red blur, in the shape of a bird. It gave off immense heat as it passed him.

"Was that....Moltres?!" Dom said aloud to himself. "...Nah, couldn't be. Lets keep going Dragonite!"

Dragonite pressed on and landed in front of a cave. "This must be it." Dom said to himself. He began to walk inside but was stopped by a guard.

"Show your badges." The guard said. Dom complied and brought out his eight Gym Badges. The guard looked them over carefully and said "Nice, you're some trainer. Go ahead in." The guard stepped to the side, allowing Dom to pass.

The cave was pitch black and rough. "Great...Can't see a blasted thing. Go, Arcanine! Use Flash!" Dom said. The fire dog appeared and the cave lit up from it's attack.

The cave looked much more menacing with light. Golbats and Crobats hung from the ceiling. Weezings filled the air with a toxic smog. And many other pokemon were there to make things harder.

"Great. Lets get out of here quick.." Dom said. He boarded Arcanine and the pokemon sprinted for the exit.

 

[Eucliffe]

-Rydia-
Kanto E4 HQ

Rydia walked through the doors, seeing how she had already gone through the whole "badge" thing back at the start. They first asked her for Kanto badges, but she said she wanted to challenge the Hoenn League. The guards accepted it. Rydia walked up to the receptionist.

"Hello, my name is Rydia, and I'd like to take part in the Hoenn League, please," Rydia said quietly. The receptionist nodded and put down her name.

"You'll be going up against Sydney first, OK?" the receptionist said.

"That'll be great, thanks," Rydia nodded silently.

During the time Rydia had to wait, she read a book about the Hoenn Elite Four. So Sydney uses Dark types, huh? she thought. Lessee... Two that are part Grass, and one that is part Water... I think Hydra can take them out... she thought to herself.

 

[Sublime]

Dom
Kanto Elite 4

After what seemed like an eternity, Dom and Arcanine made it out of the cave. They were injured pretty bad, but that didn't bother Dom. Cause he was finnaly at the Elite 4.

"Let's just hope this won't be like last time I visited the Elite 4." Dom joked to himself. Thats how Dom dealt with pain, or sorrow. By joking.

Dom made his way inside and walked over to the registry.

"Hello, im here to challenge the Elite 4" He said to the receptionist.

"I'm terribly sorry, but it's closed until the Grand Tourney is complete." The woman said.

"Are you serious?!....Well, I've got nothing to do now.." Dom siad with a groan.

 

[Eucliffe]

-Rydia-

Rydia noticed a familiar face. She walked up to the receptionist.

"So wait... What about MY battle?" she asked angrily. The receptionist shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot about the tourney. You can compete in that beforehand, OK?" Rydia sighed, and left to prepare for the tourney. Can't rely on Hydra all the time... she thought to herself.

-Noir-
*Snowpoint City*

After a long time of swimming, Noir ended up in Snowpoint. I wanna compete in the tourney, so I need to take on this gym, he thought to himself. He looked at the sign by the gym.

"Candace, Ice Princess," Noir said silently. "I think Steel types are good against Ice, so Rage will come in handy..." He walked inside. The room was covered in a sheet of ice. Noir took one step on the ice and slid to the other side without warning.

"Oh, come on!!!" he shouted angrily. "I hate gyms like that!"

"Hey, if you don't like it, then get out!" a voice called from the center in the back of the room. Noir looked over.

"Are you the gym leader??? What kind of gym IS this???"

"I am the gym leader, and this is a challenge. If you get to me, then we battle. Capice?" Noir growled at the remark, but tried to keep cool about it.

 

[Rinnosuke]

Chaos was back at his main training area in a large forest with his pokemon and he deicided to enter the Grand Tourney .
" But heres the twist" said Chaos "I need six pokemon to enter the Tourney I only have four so I'm going to have to look for a new comrade prehaps in the forest temple".
So Chaos brought out his pokemon from there pokeball and ran across the spikey blades of grass and long vines to get to the forest temple made completely out of mossy rock. The moment he set foot in the ancient temple he was attacked by a tribe of about ten to twelve Grovles and Treeckos and one Sceptile with red markings on its cheeks.
" Guess this is the comrade that I will capture but first I have to deal with these underlings" though Chaos preparing to catch the Sceptile .
" GO
Weavile Ice beam
Slowbro Ice Beam
Beedrill Twinneddle
Weezing Will o wisp.
Chaos used all ranged attacks to take down the Grovles and Treeckos.
Now we catch Sceptile" thought Chaos as he ordered his pokemon new commands "now" he said
" Weavile Ice punch to the left of Sceptile
Beedrill Poison Jab into the Haze if he dodges
Weezing Haze to blind Sceptile to get ready for Slowbro's attack
Slowbro Hypnosis to put Sceptile asleep when he is in the mist
.
Sceptile easily dodged the Ice punch but when he looked up he got poison jabbed into Weezing's Haze and was put to sleep by Slowbro satisfied Chaos produced a Ultra ball and threw it at the Sceptile. The ball shaked for moments then closed with a click" Yeah!" yelled Chaos "I got a new comrade!"

 

[ToraUsagi]

Jack finally arrived at Mahogany Town, he decided first to heal his pokemon. Then when that was done he got some hyper potions, HP ups, and sandwiches.

"To think it's been three years and I STILL don't have all my badges. On one hand i'm in Mahogany Town, where there is a gym about ten steps away from me. On the other hand, IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS AND ONLY SIX OUT OF EIGHT GYM BADGES! I meen sure, I'll probably beat Pryce silly, but i've earned only two badges a year! We need to step up our game. I'll beat Pryce and Clair so fast, they won't know what hit 'em!"

Everyone around him stared in confusion. Jack realized he had said all of that out loud.

I'm gonna just rest up for tomorrow's match at the gym.

 

[(Dusty<3)]

Will
Tourney Stadium

"Only two and a half weeks until the tournament starts...I wonder if that boy Dusty had an eye for will be able to make it...and of course that girl Falste had his on. So many things unanswered..." he said quietly. He walked over to the center of the empty stadium, and stood there, admiring it's size.

"It's been so long since I've been here as an actual challenger." he giggled. He decided it would be prodictive to train his pokemon, just iin case he got a little behind on all of the paper work he had to deal with back at the Elite Four. He let out his pokemon, and began to teach them new moves and combos.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claudia
TT HQ

Claudia sat in her chair in the boss's room. It had been three years since anyone else has seen a wink of Flade, and she missed him dearly. He was like a father to her and her older sister. She remembers how he gave her a pokemon, over thirty years ago. Her first to be exact. It was a Ralts, that later grew into a Gardevoir, the one she has now. It was her most powerful pokemon, and she made sure it stayed her strongest. She clicked a button on her desk, and began to speak into a microphone next to it.

"Aaron, will you come to my office please?" she asked kindly.

 

[Sublime]

Dom
Elite 4

"What a waste of time.." Dom muttered as he headed out of the building.

"Well, lets go Dragonite." Dom said, calling out his majestic dragon. He hoppeed aboard and the two stalled in the air for a few moments, pondering on their next destination.

"Hmmm... Well we need to get training for that tourney...Lets head back home i gues.." Dom said to his pokemon.

Dragonite zoomed off in the direction of Lavender.

Two weeks of training..That should get me pumped!

-----
Aaron
TT HQ

After Ryder had left, Aaron made his way back to his personal chamber. He sat on his bed and pulled out his locket, as he usually does when he's alone. He opened it and stared at the picture of his parents for a while. The lockect was old and tarnished, but the picture inseide was in mint condition.

THe ring of Aaron's transmitor startled him. He quickly put away the locket and listened to the transmission

"Aaron, will you come to my office please?" The voice said.

"Oh no..That voice is to kind sounding to be good.." Aaron thought aloud.

He headed into the room of his new boss. It had the same basic feel to it, cold and dark. Aaron sat down in his usuall armchair and politley asked "You wished to see me?"

 

[Eucliffe]

Will
Tourney Stadium

"Only two and a half weeks until the tournament starts...I wonder if that boy Dusty had an eye for will be able to make it...and of course that girl Falste had his on. So many things unanswered..." he said quietly. He walked over to the center of the empty stadium, and stood there, admiring it's size.

"It's been so long since I've been here as an actual challenger." he giggled. He decided it would be prodictive to train his pokemon, just iin case he got a little behind on all of the paper work he had to deal with back at the Elite Four. He let out his pokemon, and began to teach them new moves and combos.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claudia
TT HQ

Claudia sat in her chair in the boss's room. It had been three years since anyone else has seen a wink of Flade, and she missed him dearly. He was like a father to her and her older sister. She remembers how he gave her a pokemon, over thirty years ago. Her first to be exact. It was a Ralts, that later grew into a Gardevoir, the one she has now. It was her most powerful pokemon, and she made sure it stayed her strongest. She clicked a button on her desk, and began to speak into a microphone next to it.

"Aaron, will you come to my office please?" she asked kindly.

(Look at the bold. Is Will speaking in the first person, or are you referring to someone else? O.o)

-Noir-
*Snowpoint Gym*

After about a half hour of sliding all over the area, Noir managed to reach Candace.

"Next time there's a gym like this, I'm buying ice skates, regardless of price..." he muttered angrily.

"So you finally made it," Candace smirked. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Of course!"

"Well, then, let it be a one-on-one battle! Only one Pokemon for the whole battle!"

"But why one?"

"Because, this one I've been training for forever, so you better be best prepared!"

"Oh, I am prepared." Noir had an eager look in his eye. One Pokemon versus one Pokemon. I wonder what she has planned. Well, I have Rage, so I can't be beat! Noir thought happily to himself.

-Kit-
*Johto Elite Four HQ*

By the time Kit reached the area, Rydia (and most likely Dom) had already left. She then realized the tourney was gonna go on, and sighed.

"All this for nothing..." She turned away, and began to walk out. Just then, a hand was laid on her shoulder.

"You there. Kit, was it?" Karen asked politely. Shade was right beside her.

"Karen..." Kit took a second to look at Shade. "You miss Falste too, don't you?" She shook her head.

"He was a fool to have done such a thing, but don't worry, I'm sure someone will take over for him in no time. And Shade's OK about it too."

 

[(Dusty<3)]

(Look at the bold. Is Will speaking in the first person, or are you referring to someone else? O.o)

-Noir-
*Snowpoint Gym*

After about a half hour of sliding all over the area, Noir managed to reach Candace.

"Next time there's a gym like this, I'm buying ice skates, regardless of price..." he muttered angrily.

"So you finally made it," Candace smirked. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Of course!"

"Well, then, let it be a one-on-one battle! Only one Pokemon for the whole battle!"

"But why one?"

"Because, this one I've been training for forever, so you better be best prepared!"

"Oh, I am prepared." Noir had an eager look in his eye. One Pokemon versus one Pokemon. I wonder what she has planned. Well, I have Rage, so I can't be beat! Noir thought happily to himself.

-Kit-
*Johto Elite Four HQ*

By the time Kit reached the area, Rydia (and most likely Dom) had already left. She then realized the tourney was gonna go on, and sighed.

"All this for nothing..." She turned away, and began to walk out. Just then, a hand was laid on her shoulder.

"You there. Kit, was it?" Karen asked politely. Shade was right beside her.

"Karen..." Kit took a second to look at Shade. "You miss Falste too, don't you?" She shook her head.

"He was a fool to have done such a thing, but don't worry, I'm sure someone will take over for him in no time. And Shade's OK about it too."

(( He was saying "Will he be able to make it?" not as a name, but as a stated question.))

 

[Eucliffe]

(Oh, just noticed the "boy" earlier XD Wow, I'm slow today. Must be my headache.)

-Noir-

"Glaceon! Come on out!" Candace shouted. A beautiful, obviously well-trained Glaceon came bursting out of the ball as if in a contest. Candace laughed.

"I haven't really been interested in the whole contest thing, but my Glaceon likes watching the contest channel and has picked up quite a few moves from the contestants' Pokemon. So best be prepared!" She smirked, waiting for Noir to make his move.

"Come on out, Rage!" The Steelix coiled around Noir, but made enough room for Noir to breathe and whatnot.

"Heh. Wait 'til you see what Rage has got," Noir remarked. Candace smiled.

"Well, I've seen quite a few Move Tutors, as well as bought quite a few TMs for my Glaceon in case someone decided to challenge me with quite a strong Pokemon like your Steelix. Glaceon, Aqua Tail!" Glaceon lunged at Rage, its tail an ice blue tone. It turned around and hit Rage with such force that Rage was knocked back a bit.

"Dang!" Noir shouted.

"Hah, your Steelix is weak against Water due to its Ground attribute, correct? Glaceon has prepared for such a strong and mighty beast. Now, Rock Smash, go!" Glaceon's tail turned a whitish color this time, and once again hit Rage with a load of power. The Steelix screeched in pain and fell back against the wall, creating a huge gap.

"You're done for!" Candace said merrily.

 

[Rinnosuke]

Chaos remebered something as he walked out of the Forest Temple with his pokemon, He had to get to the Tourney quickly or else he couldn't participate.

Chaos quickly sent out his Weezing then said " Weezing its time to go now!!!" the gas pokemon agreed and started bloating up.

Chaos jumped on to the fat ball of gas and quickly lifted to the air using Weezing as a gigantic ballon slowly rising to the sky to get to the Tourney.

" Oh bother I have to get one more pokemon before I get to the Tourney or else I won't be able to participate either I guess I'll have to catch it on the way to the Tourney" remebered Chaos.

When he was almost at the Tourney out of hope there was a flock of Togekiss and Togetic flying nearby Weezing it seemed that one of the Togetic was wounded and bearly holding on with its tiny wings.

Suddenly the young angle pokemon fell Chaos gasped then jumped to the wounded creature he had catched him but there was one problem... he was falling!!!.

"Weezing!!! Help!!!" screamed Chaos as he plummeted to his doom the gas pokemon realesed a huge amount of gas to catch Chaos as he fell thankfully he and the Togetic were safe.

When he and Weezing with the Togetic landed at the Tourney Chaos quickly returned Weezing and headed towards the pokemon center to call for help and to heal Togetic and after twelve hours he was alright and Chaos spent the night at the pokemon center to prepare for the Tourney tomorrow.

 

[Eucliffe]

-Noir-

"Well, it seems like you went to the Move Tutors for your Glaceon. Well, I did with my Pokemon too! Now, Iron Head!" At a blinding speed, Rage slammed into the Glaceon hard, knocking it back into the wall. It seemed hurt, but it also didn't seem to have suffered much.

"Here's where it gets interesting..." Candace muttered. "Hail! Now" Hailstones began to fall from the ceiling, as if by magic. It fazed Rage somewhat, but overall didn't do much to it.

"And I'm sure you're aware of my Glaceon's ability, correct?" Candace smirked, and Glaceon disappeared as fast as you could say "what".

"Dig! Go!" The Glaceon dug into the ground. Rage looked around, trying to figure out where it would come from.

"Hah hah hah!!!" Candace laughed merrily. "You're finished! Especially since you don't know where my Glaceon's coming from!!!"

 

[(Dusty<3)]

Chaos remebered something as he walked out of the Forest Temple with his pokemon, He had to get to the Tourney quickly or else he couldn't participate.

Chaos quickly sent out his Weezing then said " Weezing its time to go now!!!" the gas pokemon agreed and started bloating up.

Chaos jumped on to the fat ball of gas and quickly lifted to the air using Weezing as a gigantic ballon slowly rising to the sky to get to the Tourney.

" Oh bother I have to get one more pokemon before I get to the Tourney or else I won't be able to participate either I guess I'll have to catch it on the way to the Tourney" remebered Chaos.

When he was almost at the Tourney out of hope there was a flock of Togekiss and Togetic flying nearby Weezing it seemed that one of the Togetic was wounded and bearly holding on with its tiny wings.

Suddenly the young angle pokemon fell Chaos gasped then jumped to the wounded creature he had catched him but there was one problem... he was falling!!!.

"Weezing!!! Help!!!" screamed Chaos as he plummeted to his doom the gas pokemon realesed a huge amount of gas to catch Chaos as he fell thankfully he and the Togetic were safe.

When he and Weezing with the Togetic landed at the Tourney Chaos quickly returned Weezing and headed towards the pokemon center to call for help and to heal Togetic and after twelve hours he was alright and Chaos spent the night at the pokemon center to prepare for the Tourney tomorrow.

..........ok.....this could be fifty times better than it is.....and it aint that greta. You could definitely put WAY more details in here. You fell on it and suddenly it gets magically hurt? Come ON.....you need to do better.....let this be your LAST FINAL WARNING!

 

[Eucliffe]

-Noir-

Noir sighed. "Wow, you really don't know about your opponent's Pokemon well, do you? Rage, Earthquake." Rage jumped up high in the air (Noir had also taught it to that for more power) and landed hard on the ground, making it tremble like crazy. Gorges opened up, and the Glaceon came flying out. Due to the fact it was underground, plus it was weak to Ground moves, it had taken massive damage. It fell back onto the ground, only to be blasted up again by the still-shaking earth. This went on a couple times, and when the earth finally stopped shaking, the Glaceon landed on its back, completely unconscious.

"Glaceon..." Candace whimpered. "You did well. Return..." She sighed, and recalled her Glaceon. She walked up to Noir and coldly gave him her badge.

"You got lucky..." she muttered. Noir shrugged, recalled his Steelix, and headed out the door.

"Great job! That was an awesome battle there!" A woman who looked about 18 to 25 was standing right outside.

"You saw the whole battle? Are you going to challenge Candace as well?" Noir asked.

"Nah, I'd beat her without her doing any damage to me." Noir didn't believe it.

"Oh, are you gonna enter the tourney once you have all eight Sinnoh badges?" the woman asked.

"Um... I hadn't really given it a thought, but sure, I will." Noir smiled, and walked away. Strange woman, he thought.

-Serene-
*Just outside Snowpoint Gym*

"Well, he may turn out to be greater than I had even expected him to be," Serene muttered. "As Serene de Fuchsia, it is my duty to see to it that he enters the tourney! After all, he may be just the one I was looking for..."

 

[Donnie]

(OK guys this is my 1st Pokemon RP so don't bash me TOO much)​

~Jin​

Jin was sitting in his room looking through some Pokemon novels when his Father walks in. Shutting the door behind him, his Father says " OK Jin, tomorrow's the big day! Remember not to forget your supplies or else your Pokemon might be severely injured. "

" OK Dad, goodnight " Said Jin

As his Father walked out of the room he switched the lights off and replied " Sleep well Son! "

As Jin was sleeping he had a dream of his Mother, " Mom! Mom! I'm going on a Pokemon Adventure! " Said Jin

" Oh Jin I'm so proud of you. " His Mother replied.

(Again this is my very first Pokemon RP so don't bash me TOO much)​

 

[(Dusty<3)]

Claudia
Boss's office

"Hiya!" she said happily "I have a new mission for you. It's somewhat easy, but you should be able to handle it." She kept giggling everytime she saw the expression on Aaron's face. He looked worried, almost disturbed.
"It's a rescue mission! I need you to come with me towards the edge of the Kanto region on the east side. We'll go there, and then I'll tell you what this is actually for."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will
Kanto- Celadon City

Will had finished his inspection of the gym in the city. He went to the resteraunt, and orderd some food. Then he saw some dark men, in oddly familiar clothes. "Rockets" he muttered quietly. They didn't seem too worried about anyone in the cafe. After Will was done with his meal, he walked outside to go towards Vermillion, until, "Hey! You! You're Will aren't ya?" said one of the grunts.

Will smiled "Yes I am. Who wants to know?" he asked sarcasticly. The grunts attacked. Before they got four inches awat from his face with their fists, a blue light wrapped them. They rose in the air, and were thrown into a pole near the cafe. Will walked up to the grunts. "You know, my pokemon aren't the only ones with psychic powers." he chuckled, and walked away.

(OK guys this is my 1st Pokemon RP so don't bash me TOO much)​

~Jin​

Jin was sitting in his room looking through some Pokemon novels when his Father walks in. Shutting the door behind him, his Father says " OK Jin, tomorrow's the big day! Remember not to forget your supplies or else your Pokemon might be severely injured. "​

" OK Dad, goodnight " Said Jin​

As his Father walked out of the room he switched the lights off and replied " Sleep well Son! "​

As Jin was sleeping he had a dream of his Mother, " Mom! Mom! I'm going on a Pokemon Adventure! " Said Jin​

" Oh Jin I'm so proud of you. " His Mother replied.​

(Again this is my very first Pokemon RP so don't bash me TOO much)​

(( They wont, they knows what will happen to them if they do. BUT I WOULD like to see it a bit longer. Put a LITTLE more detail in your next post ok? t's just like a regular RP, just with pokemon. ))

 

[Eucliffe]

(*bashes Umbreon* Joking. Totally joking. I understand completely.

My first RP was on a cruddy site known as 4kids.tv. The RP wasn't even semi. lit. It was written in play format (you know, like for example:

Person A: Hi.
Person B: Bye.

etc.). And Tora's completely new to the forums, so we can't give him a hard time either ^^

Anyhow, I understand completely, and if you have any questions regarding RPing, feel free to ask me ^^)

-Noir-
*to the right of Valor Lakefront/the Resort place*

After taking an exhausting ride on Sofia the Milotic, Noir decided it was best to stay at the Resort to the left. He walked on over, and rented a room. Well, this will be fun... he thought to himself. He decided to take a walk for a bit after checking in. As he did so, he noticed the 5-star restaurant standing peacefully in its spot. He walked inside, and noticed everyone was knocked unconscious. He finally found one person, barely awake, and helped him up.

"A Pokemon... definitely not wild... blasted this place..." the man grunted.

"What kind of Pokemon?" Noir asked.

"A... Drifblim. But... it couldn't be wild... It knew Thunder..." Noir immediately looked around, hoping the Drifblim was still around.

"Don't worry, sir. I'll get that Drifblim for you!" Noir said, his voice full of confidence.

"Thank you..." the man muttered before fully losing consciousness.

*Just outside Lake Valor*

Noir ran all the way from the resort (where he was supposed to take a break) when he reached the perhaps crime-causing Drifblim. He then noticed the four Pokemon that were by it. A Spiritomb, a Rotom (which was quite rare), a Frosslass, and a Mismagius. All of them glared at Noir for a second, then stopped. They seemed to...examine him, their eyes gazing at him as if looking into his heart. They then looked curiously at each other, and flew off. Strange... Noir thought.

 

[Sublime]

Aaron
Boss' Chamber

Aaron sat back in the chair for a few more moments. He crossed his right leg over his left and brought his hand to his chin. "A rescue mission? Sounds interesting." Aaron said with a slight chuckle.

He rose from his chair and awaited his for his boss. "Well, lets head out Claudia." He said simply. He never called Claudia "Master" like he did Flade. He doesn't repspect her like he did Flade either.

Rescue mission...But who could we be rescuing?? Aaron thought to himself.

-----
Dom
Lavender Town~ Dom's House

Dragonite landed on the far side of town, right in front of Dom's house. Dom jumped off and recalled his pokemon and headed inside.

"Two weeks to train." Dom said with a hearty grin. "Well, lets get busy!"

Dom's pokemon knew the drill, they headed into their specific chambers to hone their skills. The idea for the chambers was influenced by his training with Norm in Dusty's Training Area.

While his pokemon exercized, Dom himself sat down on his weighlifting bench and worked out a couple of reps.

Not only do my pokemon have to be in tip-top shape, I do to. Dom thought while benching.