Chim

K_H and Azery since you two don't post much I'm going to remind you: If you don't post within 24 hours you will be replaced by DarkLight or ExLink for this battle. At this point in the story I'm not willing to wait for people that barely update / ignore it when I try to start events.

Zephyr, Stratos and Azery “That’s Faith,” Evan introduced his newly evolved Clefairy to Raiza. He then turned his attention back to Mareek who took a seat not far from him. He quickly glanced but didn’t say anything, just like Lana. The breeder wanted to comfort or at least say something to Mareek but wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do. In the meantime Alastair cleared his throat. “Raiza Marson and James Nerfion; your battle will start at Professor Cadmus’s field.” K_H and Murdoc After Alastair announced the new battle he looked over to Tyron. The loud teacher was trying to make eye contact and gave a thumb up. “Kenny Holmes and Kageharu Tsukihashi; please make your way to Professor Silva’s field. He’s waiting to supervise your battle.

Zephyr Skarmory enjoyed the petting and compliments. This human could stay. “No, she doesn't have a name,” Evan said, keeping an eye on the Litwick. He found the little floating candle creepy. “I’m not good with nicknames so most of my Pokémon don’t have one.” And that Skarmory isn’t even mine. I didn’t catch her but still she follows me around. At that point a Clefairy jumped out of her Pokéball. “Clefairy!” she yelled enthusiastically to show that she was the only one with a nickname.

That's fine.

Tses you do know that you can use a second Pokémon now, right? Because it sounds like you've given up the match.

If you want some kind of logic: the energy released within the earthquake (and other ground type moves) still affect Pokémon that hover around but not have the levitate ability.

Logan looked around once again. “Probably,” he answered, still looking for a way out. Hopefully there was a manhole cover or something nearby. “The biggest problem is finding our way back to the rest of the squad. Who knows how far we teleported in here… Do you know approximately how far Sleepy is able to teleport?”

I think I'll sit out this battle. I don't want to force Sigurd in someone else's battle. Odin and Blue pretty much took care of his enemies.

Btw for those that didn't realize: Your Pokémon automatically loses if it leaves the boundaries of the field / is forced out. Those that are at a disadvantage can try to push their opponents out. The only tactic I won't accept is using Confusion to automatically throw your opponent out.

“Oh, please, allow me to search for his body,” Trystane said sarcastically. He glared at the newcomers; some of them obviously cared for the bastard unlike his companions. The young Hunter readied his spear. He expected another ice attack and preferred to not be impaled. “Hey, Rossephus, you death yet?” he asked while making his way through the ice. ((Not sure if Trystane should find Rossephus pretending to be dead or if he just fled the scene))

Vincent studied Siegfried. “The worst thing that could happen is that he manages to take out one of us in the process. I’m not comfortable with such a reckless plan. I see a lot of unavoidable dangerous situations compared to just assassinating Archer’s master.” He then turned his attention to the other man in the room. “What do you think?” He just hoped Hels would agree with him.

Zephyr Evan raised an eyebrow when Raiza approached her. He had no idea who she was, apart from Lana’s friend. “The Skarmory isn’t really mine since I didn’t catch her. She just started to follow me around… And I was lucky I didn’t break anything. I just have some minor cuts and bruises,” he lied. His entire body still hurt like hell, especially his head and ribs, but he kept it at bay with painkillers. As long as he could keep the charade up he was sure Devin wouldn’t drag him to the hospital. Lana was oblivious to the entire conversation between Evan and Raiza. She was busy rooting for Mareek and hoped he could make a comeback. Bfroger and Tses In the meantime Tyron, with the help of his Pokémon, cleared the outside breakfast area. The result was a third battle ground in the middle of the cottages that was as big as the other two fields. He signaled over to Alastair who nodded and looked down on his paper. He already marked a place further down the list of names and was planning to move those battles first. That way he didn’t mess around with Devin’s schedule too much. “Shiro Advent and Sissy McLake; you can both go over to Professor Silva (Tyron). He made space for your battle to happen.”

I'm going to move one of the later battles forward because I really want to start chapter 3 before I start to work. Normally I start next Wednesday. Normally Shiro vs Sissy was planned as the sixth battle but in case K_H or Azery don't react I can move the others more freely.

Trystane drew his spear when the ice came out of nowhere and took on a defensive stance. He didn’t recognize the newcomers and at this point he didn’t care. “Well you must be happy. Apparently you’re not the only one who wants Rossephus dead,” he said to Erik. The Hunter lowered his spear but kept his guard up just in case. He didn’t like getting caught by surprise attacks and that seemed to happen a lot in the last few hours. “So what are we going to do now?” he asked in general.

I think I'll let Evan run a RoG Recruiting stall If anyone wants help from Lana, Alvin or Kristen just ask them in the IC.

You can work together with other people...

As much as you like. I'm not really going to put limits on it as I'm letting the coordinators do their thing if they want to. Basically something like the fireworks you did earlier but on a much bigger scale. You can even bunny NPC coordinators to do it and not everyone has to do the same thing.

Vincent almost choked in his pancakes. “Kidnap Archer’s master? Are you mad? How the hell are we going to do that when we don’t even know who it is? Not to mention the command seals make it very easy to summon Archer even if we somehow pull it off. It’s too reckless and makes things harder than it should be. I say we kill the bastard as soon as we get the chance!”

Zephyr “He is. He’s the trainer with the Cubone,” she stated the obvious just in case Raiza didn’t know Jacob either. The Skarmory titled her head and stared at the two girls. What’s this? New friends? She came over and placed herself between the two childhood friends. “Skaaaarrrr,” she said in her element. Evan face palmed. Out all the Pokémon they could possible give him; he was stuck with an attention loving Skarmory. How was he supposed to keep a low profile with something like that?

“Run!” No kidding. Logan grabbed his stuff and started running when Ace jumped on his shoulder. He heard Lars say something and the next thing the medic knew he was still running in an entire different environment. He stopped to see where he was and saw Lars a few meters behind him. Logan searched around for the rest of the squad, but when he didn’t see anyone else, he came to the conclusion that this probably wasn’t Clemont’s doing. “Hey Lars, what happened? It looks like we’re in some sort of sewer…” he said confused.

No, everyone can participate in the Winter Cup. The current NPCs (Lana, Alvin and Kristen) are also possible opponents. The new ones (RoG) aren't.

Zephyr “Sure, I want to see Mareek battle,” Lana responded. To be honest she worried a little about him ever since he accidentally revealed his brother used to work for Team Rocket. She sought out a good spot and sat down next to Evan. The boy was still shaken up from yesterday and Devin wasn’t allowing him to battle today. Needless to say that Evan was grumpy and still in pain. It didn’t help that the damn Skarmory was following his every step, even when he went to the bathroom this morning.

Quick question: Are there any requests as to who you want to battle in the Cup? Everyone will survive the preliminaries (unless you don't want to participate) so I'm keeping requests in mind when I make the finals draft. Also: K_H and Azery; when your battles start and I don't see a response within 24 hours (my timezone) you will lose due to forfeiting. Your opponents will replace NPCs and battle someone else. James's battle is third and Kenny's battle is fourth.

Stratos and Zephyr Lana was speechless. The news about Mareek’s brother dropped like a bomb and she had no idea how to respond to that. She didn’t respond immediately and the awkward silence felt like it lasted way longer but eventually she managed to find some words. “Uhm of-of course I won’t tell anyone.” She felt a little awkward and started to do her old habit again; shifting her feet uncomfortably. Jory Evan had no idea how to respond to that. Apparently Jacob joined the search parties and sacrificed a shirt even though they didn’t know each other, but was worried Evan the most were the bill remarks. Did Jacob figure out he came from a poor family? But how? Or maybe he just looked like some poor kid… Everyone Evan was saved by the bell. Or by the Pizzaboy’s tune to be exactly. Devin groaned. He completely forgot about the order he made earlier that day. He and the other teachers thought pizza would be the ideal food to do the announcements, but considering the recent events it completely slipped his mind. He looked at Evan for a second and sighed. “If you’re absolutely sure I can’t force you. However if I see any indication that you’re suffering from a concussion or anything else I will take you to the hospital myself.” After that being said he nodded to the other teachers and walked over to the delivery boy. He pointed to the table and the boy and his colleague started to pile pizza after pizza on the tables. In the meantime Devin talked to the remaining doctor and nurse, who glared at Evan, and assured them to keep an eye on the student. With nothing else to do the remaining ambulances left after they packed the last medical equipment. Immediately a herd of hungry students lined up to grab some slices. The teachers tried, and failed, to keep it civil. Animalistic instincts seemed to kick in whenever a student was confronted with his favorite pizza. After everyone found a place to sit, Devin stood up. The few people that were talking immediately stopped and turned their attention to the Elite Four member. “Professor Redwood asked me to make three announcements. I wish I could tell it after better circumstances but I’m sure you’ll all be excited about this news!” Curiosity quickly filled the air as people shifted forward to hear what he had to say. “The first announcement is good news for our Coordinators. I’m pleased to say that Madame Plumeau will be joining us soon. Since the beginning of the year she’s been at her home in the Kalos Region recovering from an accident. In the meantime she took great care of herself and she’s ready to take you all under her wing. She will join us at the start of the Winter Cup! And that brings me to the second announcement.” Devin paused and sipped from his water before clearing his throat. “Many of you know that the Winter Cup is our Academy’s biggest event that we hold every year. This year is no different. For those that don’t know, the Cup is a festival open to anyone and lasts for a week. People from all over the Region, and some from other Regions, come over to visit our Academy. All of your friends and family are of course invited. Now, a festival needs entertainment and booths. Every student is allowed to make their own booth to make money. Your rewards are Battle Points equal to the amount you made minus the expenses. There are also outsiders that will set up their boots so if you’re interested go visit the laboratory when we’re back and Rebecca or Brendan will give you all the necessary information. We will foresee the equipment you need which counts as your expenses.” Devin paused again. He looked through the young crowd and continued. “Of course a festival has a grand opening and closure. Our Coordinators from every year can participate to make it a spectacle. Normally Madame Plumeau is in charge of both events but she didn’t have time this year so a group of third years, with her permission, took over. They decided the first years and half the second years will do the opening event. The third years and the other second years will take care of the closure. Those of you that are interested in participating can sign up at the laboratory. From there on out the third years in charge will contact you.” This time he paused longer to build up the curiosity. “Now that the general idea is out of the way I guess I’ll tell you the best part. The main event is of course a tournament that’s considered our very own Student Pokémon League. People from all over the world are coming here to see your skills! This is your time to shine and show what you’re made of as a trainer! On day two and three the remaining 32 first years, who survived the preliminaries, will battle each other in our very own stadium.” Devin smirked. He could already see the excitement on some faces. “There are a few catches; to sign up you must pay 25 Battle Points. The total amount will be divided amongst the top 4. But most importantly is that there are multiple arenas available. If you make the top 32 a randomizer will pick the arena you will be battling in. I’m not going to tell you which themes we have prepared. To top it off we decided to make it a real test. Once you use a Pokémon in any Cup-related battle you must use that Pokémon for the duration of the Cup. You can’t switch out and are only allowed to enter 3 Pokémon. That means the top 32 will know every single Pokémon their opponent is using. There are no secrets, no tricks left the further you go. This is the real challenge!” Students everywhere started to talk to each other. Devin let them be for a minute, taking a sip of water, and calmed everyone down again. “I’m not done yet. Day 4 and 5 will be the same for the second years and the third years are going at it the last two days. However, like I said, it’s a festival. That means 2 things; there will be a formal closing party and a surprise. I won’t tell you what the surprise is, but only the two students amongst you that reach the finals can enjoy it to the fullest. And believe me when I say you want to win this surprise!” Devin had to wait for the students to calm down. “I suggest you all try to get some sleep as tomorrow will be a big day. Before we return to the Academy all of you will have the chance to battle with your new partners.” ****************** The next day After breakfast the students were gathered around the open space between the cottages and the road. Devin and Alastair stood in front of them with the latter holding a paper. Alastair smiled at the crowd while Devin spoke up. “Alright before we head back we, the teachers, want to test you all a little. During this trip many of you caught new Pokémon and we want to see how well you can handle them already. The space behind us is divided into the small battlefields.” The Elite Four member pointed behind him and the students could see a red tape marking the borders of each battlefield. “The rules are simple. You must use at least one new Pokémon and you have to stay in your own field. If you influence the battle next to yours; your Pokémon loses. Each trainer can only use two Pokémon. I made the match-ups so when Alastair calls your name step over to the field.” With that said Devin walked over to the left field while Phoebe took her place at the right. Alastair cleared his throat. “Alright, first battle on the left field will be Jacob Robertson versus Mareek Sisto. Go to the field and take your places.” The breeder waited until both students left to their battlefield and continued. “The first battle on the right field will be between Henry Baldwin and Ryan Johnson. You two can also take your place and start your battle.” The rest of the students had to wait for their turn.

I decided to update anyway since I was planning to go to bed early. At least now it's somewhat earlier xD