Ymora Academy Chapter 2: Breeding Dragons [IC]

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mayanna’s group

"Heh, I'm always one for a challenge. It's my specialty so I'd much prefer it." Drake said. She stood up straight, somehow seeming taller than ever before as she pushed her fist into her open palm. She laughed heartily. She'd have more fun this way. Besides, it is what her, Whisper, and Treble were training for after all. Drake cracked her neck. "I'd not mind whatever, but I'm itching for a fight and have been aaaaaaall morning. So, it'd be nice to blow off some steam for sure."

Drake did know her Pokemon didn't really have a super great advantage over Dragons, however, they didn't really have one over her either. So, it was a pretty even playing field. However, what she did have was superior training and well, her. At least she figured. However the Dragon could be used by another Trainer now that she thought of it. However, she knew that she was on the road to be the best trainer there ever was. So, she would definitely be fine. Especially if she could use both Treble and Whisper. The two were working beautifully as a team. Whisper seemed so much more confident with the little Rock lizard by her side. They made a great team and they supported each other very well. It was the fruit of great effort and it was certianly worth it. Emberly jsut hoped she'd get to show it off spectacularly.

[Aurorix]

Toshiro’s group

So they were going to have an talk and get a pokemon. This all seemed simple enough but what exactly were they going to talk about? Well, good or bad he'd find out sooner or later so he decided just to get it over with. He decided to talk to Devin since he found him the most interesting. Mainly because he was an Elite Four member. So Wolt nonchalantly made his way over to him, hands in his front two pockets. "So, what is this talk about exactly? This isn't just about the pokemon is it?"

Athena was still sitting on Wolt shoulder. She always became a little intimidated by Devin but being near her trainer made her feel safe enough to not show it too much. Inigo was keeping his distance as always, sticking to the lower corner of the room.

[Hiss13]

Mayanna's Group

The only one left to answer was Mie. Between the options, knowledge was definitely the easier choice at first glance. But would taking that easy choice be the best option for her? She was in the Academy to become a trainer and finally gain some confidence. In the end, that kind of quality was never something she could gain if she could not finally take the initial step on her own.

The initial step.

She would never progress without finally pushing herself even a little. Even if challenging dragons would be scary and inevitably difficult, there were certain things she could only gain by finally walking forward. It's alright. Everything will be just fine.

"I choose challenge as well." Mie said, making a firm stand.

[Ragnar]

Toshiro's group

Like a ticking Electrode, Toshiro kept his silence the entire time and facepalmed himself to contain his exasperation as his members arrived a minute late on the scene in front of the Professor. I mean what would Redwood say about this? a leader that couldn't handle his members and let alone follow a simple instruction. This is not a way to show a good impression. Even tho they were a minute late, this is a disaster for the Boy from fuschia. Toshiro heavily sighed and somehow managed to let it slide for now. These edgy kids needs to learn about discipline. hopefully, they would do better on the interview.

While they were inside the office. Toshiro decided to give his teammates some advice. "Okay, guys, feel free to approach one of the researchers once you are ready. Look sharp and be on your best behavior. just remember, speak in a clear voice and always maintain eye contact. Since Wolt already decided to go with prof Cadmus, i'll be picking Redwood to discuss what pokemon i'll get. you can pick the remaining two and decide which one will wait here." Toshiro said and stands up from his sitting. "And Kay please try to contain your purrloin just this once, No hijinks, i mean it." Toshiro said and left the group and went straight to Redwood's desk.

As Toshiro walks towards Redwood's desk. He noticed that this place was a mess from all the papers. He bother about this and wonder how do they organize these things. "Greetings professor," Toshiro said with a smile and bows at Redwood. Midori did the same as his master. "What it is you like to talk about?" Toshiro politely asked.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Ragnar

[K_H]

Mayanna's Group

When the others had finished speaking, Johnny smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He then turned to the Researcher and spoke.

"I guess that settles it."

Ignizelka finished grooming herself, and decided to have a little fun. So, she decided to use Ember on herself in an extremely controlled manner, keeping her mouth mostly closed except for a small aperture for making a small flame size before using the fire to trace a small pattern on her left foreleg. When she'd finished, the pattern of singed fur looked like a Celtic pattern in a "bracelet" of sorts, although it was purely cosmetic in nature, providing no actual benefit for her.

As Ignizelka did this, Sylvia looked at the fire type, head tilted slightly out of curiosity. After she finished, there was a bit of dialogue between the two, and then they remained sitting, waiting for the Humans to finish up.

[Chevaleresse]

Claude's group

Kage made an exasperated noise. More questions? Really? Whatever, man. At least we get to play tug of war, I guess. "If we're gonna do this, we should do it in pairs. That way we can get the questions answered fast but we still have someone to work together with." And that way I don't have to read the papers, he added silently. "Anyone else have an issue with that?"

[Cyaloom]

Claude's Group

"I agree with you" mumbled Lucas. He didn't fully understand the assignment, so he'd rather follow the other group members for that time.

He then stared carefully at the five Flygon, like Grimace was already doing. The 'pink' Flygon looks so eager to play, maybe that's the one that won't hold back... he thought.

[TurboAura]

Claude's Group

"That does make the most sense, though if we go now pairs and we have five people, won't that mean someone has to go at it alone?" Robert looks at Lucas and Kage curiously, wondering if he had just missed something. Even still, he was excited to see that something like this was the challenge they had in store, and was surprised that it was both a mental and Physical challenge.

The Riolu and Espurr besides him were more so focused on the Flygons who were wrestling, seeming to cheer on the one with the Red bandana.

[Azeria]

Toshiro's group

Well, Toshiro hadn't gone berserk on them just yet so that's one good thing. So far, two of the adults waiting for them here were already occupied, predictably it was Professor Cadmus and Redwood while the father and son duo were left waiting for either him or the blond haired girl....Citrine? Yeah that sounded about right. Deciding to go with the elder of the two, James walked over to Roman's desk and sat down. "So...what's this all about, can't only be about the pokemon right?" James voiced his confusion while fiddling around with his necklace. Crescent just lied down next to the desk, waiting for this all to be over. Gaster was probably still in that Purrloin's shadow.

[Commander]

Toshiro's group

"Well, I guess that's that," Citrine shrugged. It didn't bother her which person she had to meet up with, mostly because she really didn't know that much about any of them. She then recalled a scolding from Henry for not doing research on what likely was a chance to meet some very important people...then it came to her. There was always something bothering her, but she headed up to Alastair with a more serious look on her face. "Uh sir, do you mind if I ask a question before we start on the Pokemon hunt?"

For once, the Skitty and Rotom looked at each other with the same puzzled look. Neither had any idea what exactly was going on. Then the Skitty remember a very small detail, that she didn't think would come up now of all times. The Rotom then looked away trying his hardest to restrain himself. This place was a Rotom's dream world...outside of the kitchen. It was a war between obeying and having the time of his life, but he kept himself under control hoping they'd be outside again soon.

[Chim]

Claude’s group

After everyone had settled to try and solve everything in pairs, Claude took his responsibility as a leader and decided he would be the one to do his puzzle on his own. He was about to walk over towards the Pink balloon when Samantha cut in front of him. She grabbed Lucas by his arm and dragged him along. The playful Flygon with the matching bandana followed the pair.

Claude sighed and turned tail, walking over to the Red balloon instead. After all it was the closest color to Pink. He read the message on the wooden stand and sighed once again. “Guys, Red and Blue belong together. I’ll try to handle this myself so pick either Yellow or Green.” He then turned back to read the assignment once again. It was fairly simple. His Flygon, the red one, was Beta. The second in command. Her riddle told Claude that she was the one who spoke the truth while Delta, the Blue Flygon, was a liar. Of course Delta told the opposite. It was up to Claude to figure out which one of the two told him the truth. If he managed to solve it, he would get the nickname of the Flygon who wouldn’t hold back.

This left Kage and Robert with two choices: Green or Yellow? The Green one looked a bit lazy and uninterested while the Yellow one had decided it was time to chase his own tail around.

Lucas and Samantha

On their wooden stand, the duo found the same information about the respective Flygon. She was a female called Sapphira, but her nickname in the squad was Echo. She was the youngest addition to the team and the least experienced one. Her known moves and strengths were also displayed.

The second page started with an announcement: Solve these riddles and tell the answers to the researcher assigned to this challenge. He or she will tell you the name of a neutral Flygon.

Riddle 1
The first letter you seek belongs to a Pokémon, violent
one bite and you either scream or remain forever silent

We share the same habitat, but not our origin
don’t think our species are alike because that’s a mortal sin

Even though we can do the same, we’re as different as night and day
my species flies above, not under where they stalk prey

Mayanna’s group

“Challenge it is then,” the researcher replied. She gestured the group to follow her and led them to a small area that was completely ravaged. On the ground was a roster with 25 squares. The rows were numbered from 1 (top) to 5 (bottom). The columns were marked from A (left) to E (right).

Five Gibles were diving into the squares and popped back up, chasing one another. When the researcher cleared her throat they stopped and looked at her mischievously. The researcher reached in her pocket and turned to the students. “This is an unusual challenge that will test your observation skills and logical thinking. A lot of Pokémon have certain habits. I want to know if you’re all able to see that.” She held out her hand and showed 5 Ping-Pong balls. One was black, one was white, one was orange and the other two were grey. She then threw them at the Gibles who all dived for a certain ball and caught them in their mouths.

“The challenge is easy. Each of these Gibles will follow a certain pattern. I will ask you, one at a time, to tell me which Gible holds the ball I ask for. They will move around underground and each time they pop up, they will show you the ball. Remember the pattern and predict the square said Gible will appear next. Each of you will go five times in a row. If you can predict three out of five, you win. If three people succeed, I’ll give you a letter you need.

Matt snorted. ‘What kind of a lame challenge is this anyway? Who cares if a Pokémon has patterns? I wanna fight some dragons!”

The researcher raised her eyebrow. “You really are a dumb one aren’t you? I’ll give you an easy example: you’re battling a strong opponent and are struggling with taking down his ace. Your attacks always miss while you’re being hit and your own Pokémon is about to lose. What do you do? You lose. You would lose this match every single time. A trainer who keeps an open mind and uses his or her head, might remember this little assignment and observe the movements of the opposing Pokémon. For all you know it has a habit of dodging left, follow up with making a dash towards your Pokémon’s blind spot and hit from there. Break an attack or defensive pattern and you can throw your opponent of his game. But fine. I’ll give you a chance. I’ll fight you if you want and if you win, I’ll tell you the letter and you don’t have to play this game. If you lose you still have to do it but there won’t be any penalties. The only catch is that you have no say in it. The rest of your group has to decide now; let no-brainer here fight me or let someone step forward so we can get started. If you pick the second option, please consider carefully who plays first.” The grin on her face was clear evidence she hadn’t told everything about this game.

Toshiro’s group

Kay whistled when Toshiro left. That guy sure loved his rules and good manners. Unlike a certain Purrloin who kept hissing and held her paw out ferociously every time the breeder came close to her or her human. The cat watched as Toshiro left before jumping on Kay’s lap. Her eyes never leaving the back of her mortal enemy.

Toshiro

Redwood gave Toshiro his usual warm smile. “Ah, I remember your questions from the first day. I’ll admit I’m surprised you didn’t decide to go for Alastair or Roman. This is just some small talk about your future and school results. After this little talk I will decide if you’re ready to receive some of the more difficult species to handle. So why don’t you start with telling me what kind of breeder you want to become?”

Citrine

Alastair raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Most students were more timid or asked the adults what all of this was about. There weren’t many who were as straightforward as this girl. He quickly scanned through her profile. “Luna eh? But you prefer to be called by your nickname. Alright, Citrine, what do you want to ask me then?”

Wolt

“This is about your future, Wolt.” Devin didn’t even bother looking at his screen. He never had any trouble with quickly remembering all the student’s names and faces. His intense grey eyes gave Wolt the feeling professor Cadmus was able to look right through him. The intense aura that the teacher emanated wasn’t helping either. “So why don’t you take a seat and tell me what it is you hope to achieve?”

James

“That’s right… James, is it?” Roman asked, scrolling over the information on his computer screen. “You’re here to talk about anything you want. I have your school results in front of me and your profile. But one can only know the façade someone is hiding behind from just reading this stuff. It’s all a snapshot of multiple short time periods anyway. What I’m curious about is what drives you? What do want to achieve in the future? How does it feel to be a starting trainer? You can tell me anything you want.” His grey eyes looked straight into James while he leaned back into his chair.

[Sutoratosu]

Mayanna’s group

It was definitely an interesting challenge, Maya would give it that. Even if it did mean that both Titania and Folie would be largely irrelevant here... she felt she could probably get it right rather easy; observation was a skill she used all the time after all, on and off the field, thanks to Wilk. She didn't even know how many hours the two of them had spent just standing and watching as people passed by, her having to constantly answer his demands as to what they were wearing, what direction they were heading in, the expression on their face, whether this one had a pokemon with them, what they were probably doing (whether this one was an overweight tourist on holiday, or that one was a business woman probably late for a meeting, or if that one were a common thug about to commit a mugging, etc.) the old, red-headed Cop had challenged her to get 5 in a row. When she had started getting five, he moved it to ten... then fifthteen... if she missed even a single one, the score would reset and they go right back to the beginning... with the same goal.

But of course, it couldn't just be as simple as deciding which of them would go first. No, of course not. Matt had to open his mouth, was gonna bitch and complain no matter what course they would've taken, apparently. She could feel the smoldering fumes of agitation welling up... until she heard the woman's ultimatum, that is. She couldn't help but stifle a little laugh, arms folded behind her head.

"I think letting him fight you is a perfect idea, mam," She said, smiling. "he's so ready and willing, why_not give him a shot?" She turned to the others, that coy smirk on her face still there. Even Folie was getting a bit giddy at the idea of seeing the boy get his ass handed to him. "What do the rest of you think? It's not like we have anything to actually lose; we can still do the challenge afterwards."

She wanted to follow up that statement with how much she felt letting the asswipe get beaten would go towards puting him back in his place so they wouldn't have to deal with the damn attitude. She didn't care if the boy did a heel turn face or started acting a bit less macho afterwards; so long as he finally shut the hell up, that would be good enough on it's own. Not even a full hour or so stuck in his company, and she was already getting tired of dealing with the angsty, obnoxious outbursts.

But she didn't. Only because she was certain the others seemed like reasonable enough people, surely they too could see the potential benefit of this arrangement...

[K_H]

Mayanna's Group

Johnny smiled, and spoke after Maya finished, sounding eager to start on the puzzle.

"I say let him fight. While he's busy battling, the rest of us can come up with a method for how to solve the puzzle. I already have an idea for how to do this, but the more input we've got, the better our chances of solving it correctly."

He didn't want to say it aloud, but he was going to enjoy seeing Matt get his butt handed to him once they'd got a plan.

Edited March 9, 2016 by K_H

[Aurorix]

Toshiro’s group

Wolt had just realized that he never had a 1 on 1 conversation with Devin before, for better or for worse. His presence was intimidating to say the least, and one should expect that from the strongest elite 4 member. However, for now he was able to keep it hidden during their conversation.

"Well that's a relief, I thought our group was in trouble for whatever reason. Well, maybe not in trouble persay but something along those lines." Wolt then sat in his chair grabbing the quivering Athena from his shoulder and held her in his lap. She once again calmed down as she lay on his lap. "As for my future, all I want is to achieve what my father was too afraid to do. That being to beat the elite 4 of Sinnoh or any region. To do that I need to get stronger as well as obtain pokemon who are capable of taking on the league."

[Ragnar]

Toshiro's group

“Ah, I remember your questions from the first day. I’ll admit I’m surprised you didn’t decide to go for Alastair or Roman. This is just some small talk about your future and school results. After this little talk I will decide if you’re ready to receive some of the more difficult species to handle. So why don’t you start with telling me what kind of breeder you want to become?”

"Yup, that's me, I want to talk to you personally seeing that your the head of this project." Toshiro replied. "as for the topic, well, no need to worry on what species will I handle professor, I've experience in handling poison pokemons back at the Fuschia city gym for quite some time now. Any other types would be considered less dangerous from that." Toshiro chuckled. "as for the question, well... ahm" Toshiro hesitated to answer and ponder a bit while looking at his Bulbasaur.

"I suppose you're expecting me to say I want to be the kind of breeder that's skillful to produce a top tier Pokemon, but personally, i'm not into that. " Toshiro said and continues to stare at the seed pokemon. "I just wanna be the kind of breeder that prevents the extinction of Pokemon for the future generations, whether it's a meek sunkern to a mighty salamence. I want to make sure that all pokemons are delivered healthy and nurtured when they enter this world and it's my job to make sure that happens." Toshiro answered and smiles at Midori, who he got his inspiration from on his answer. Toshiro finally turns to the professor.

[Cyaloom]

Claude's group, with Samantha

As he was choosing where to go, Lucas was grabbed by his teammate Samantha and carried over that woodstand. Grimace didn't interfere, but watched the scene with his usual grin on his face as he was floating above his trainer.
"What does this mean, exactly..." whispered Lucas as he was reading the riddle. He had some ideas, but didn't totally understand: were all the parts linked together or not?

Edited March 9, 2016 by Cyaloom

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Mayanna's Group

"I think it would be fun. Good luck kid." Drake added. She would love to watch a battle or two before having to do something like this challenge. It wasn't per say that she didn't want to, since she could probably pull it off, but whynot get the chance to not have to even bother? And if he lost they didn't really lose anything themselves. Well, other than his ego being inflated insufferably. But, she probably would never have to deal with this kid any day other than today, so she didn't really care. However if he did lose, it'd be pretty funny.

She didn't want to say that aloud since it was a little rude, though the kid was kinda insufferably annoying so she really wanted to. Either way Emberly was confident she'd be fine either event that occurred. She was good at identifying patterns and following motion in a battle situation. It was one skill she was actually decent at. So, she prided herself on her ability to do so. After all, it was what let her see what Treble needed to do in his first battle. She could tell her opponent was trying to defeat her by catching her off-guard. It was at least, noticeable to her. She had a lot of practice with it herself.

[TurboAura]

Claude's group w/Kage

"Huh... I guess that settles that then." Robert let out a soft chuckle as he turned to Kage, ready to go. Seeing as the other Flygons were covered, the choice between Green and Yellow was left. "Hmm, guess we have two to pick for starting off. Do you prefer either, or should I chose which we start off with?"

[Chevaleresse]

Claude's group

"I don't really care where we start, so you can pick. Any one of these could be the one that's holding back so it doesn't really matter where we start." His tone grated over "holding back" slightly. While he was in the Breeder program for a reason, he still didn't like being so far outclassed in anything, and it showed.

[Azeria]

Toshiro's group

The series of questions were rather similar to what his father had talked to him about when he said he wanted to come to the academy it seemed."Well...I've always wanted to be a trainer, my grandfather used to tell me tales of his days as one all the time. The rush,the excitement and all that stuff. My dad quit being a trainer a long time ago , he felt really disillusioned with being one even though he was pretty good... or so he said..I just want to do what I love and that's battling..My older brother wants to become the champion in Unova, but I don't feel like that kinda life is for me even if it seems pretty nice...and Crescent here," James gestured towards the large Absol."Is pretty lazy but if there's one thing he loves, it's battling. My grandfather once said ' Some people are in it for the glory and fame , others simply wish to do what they love.', so there's that I guess." His grandfather was someone he really looked up to, and so did his brother, he was part of the reason he even came to the academy as well as having taken care of him a lot considering how busy his parents were.

[Hiss13]

Mayanna's Group

"I'm okay with it as well." If the prideful boy won, they could skip the current task. If he lost, the group as a whole lost nothing. Regardless of Mie's own worries about how the boy was probably going against an opponent which was way out of his league, the group had nothing to lose from his attempt. At the very least, that was what was evident to Mie.

Mie stared back at the squares where their little pattern game was going to take place. The challenge at the very least was something she felt she could handle. After all, there were a lot of things one would notice when looking around herself from below.

[Commander]

Toshiro's Group (if we're still considering it a group right now)

When Citrine saw the man reading her profile, she was honestly quite surprised she even had one. She assumed Henry put it together otherwise she'd probably be given a couple funny looks for being a lone wolf. That didn't matter as she looked up to the man ready to ask her question. "There's just been this little thing that's been bothering me ever since I even got to Ymora. I come from a region where Pokemon are considered scarce so we pretty much just use whatever we can find and focus since most of the Pokemon are nothing outside of natural born wild Pokemon. I suppose it's simply a world where we try to better ourselves as a trainer vs breeding from what I feel is like merely the bettering of your own Pokemon, but I really hope that isn't the whole point. Based on this, I just can help but ask: what is the point of breeding?"

The Skitty, watching the girl, hadn't really thought about it until now, but she was a house cat turned into a fighter. The Rotom in the room stopped paying attention and stared at all the machines. He had no idea what any of them were talking about...and it had little to do with tech. Techie may not have been able to touch the machines, but nothing was stopping him from looking at them...even if it could possibly turn everyone into a panic attack. He darted around the place looking at anything interesting. Rosie, on the other hand, finally was able to piece it all together. No wonder why that one battle seemed so off now. She figured Citrine pretty much had no confidence in herself. If they were going to battle in a tough fight again, she definitely was going to make sure to fix that. Ain't no way a veteran like her was going to go down in a lame way like that.

[TurboAura]

Claude's group w/ Kage

"Sounds like a plan." Robert grinned and nodded, heading over to the remaining balloons and grabbing the green one's string first, opening the note to see just what clue it held for them.