Zai

 

Did … did you just ask me out?" Yushiro's face turned a bright red. He was nervous already, and Elizabeth teasing him only made it worse. He didn't even notice that her cheeks were also getting a bit rosy. "Or, well, I suppose ask me in, really. Well I'd be glad to play some more cards Yushiro. But uhm, I hope this date comes with us being able to talk a little more than a week at a time?"

At once Yushiro felt stupid. And sorry. The fact that she was still giving him the time of day was a small miracle, let alone saying yes-wait, SHE SAID YES. A wave of relief and excitement washed over him. Maybe Jo was right after all.

"Its just, I really enj-" A pained look flashed across Elizabeth's face as she put her feet back on the ground and lost her balance. Reflexively, she stuck her hand out to catch herself, and Yushiro felt her palm come to rest on his chest. When she turned, their faces were mere inches from one another. Yushiro's heart raced as they stared into eachother's eyes for what seemed like minutes. For a few moments, he found himself getting lost in her face; her big, beautiful grey eyes, and her lips....

Then she turned away, her face now bright red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to assault you there. I fell at the dance studio before, I guess my knee is a bit worse than I thought." Elizabeth laughed softly, obviously trying to break the tension. "What I was trying to say was... I really enjoyed our previous date, I've been looking forward to the next opportunity to do so."

"Honestly, me too." Yushiro finally replied. At this point, he felt like he owed her some sort of explanation. "I didn't mean to ignore you last week, its just..." He paused, inhaling. "Well, I guess I I'm nervous. Super lame, I know." Now it was his turn to laugh. "Actually, unless you're really looking forward to staying in and playing cards with me, why don't I make it up to you? Wherever you wanna go, whatever you wanna do, lets do it. My treat." Internally, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

For her part, Liz seemed to be thinking about something else. At last, she responded. Well hey, listen, if I'm going to come to this duel team meeting for Hitomu and then go off somewhere with you I'll need to freshen up a bit. Sweaty tank top isn't exactly my preferred state of fashion. See you at the meeting later?" A little non-committal, but Yushiro took what he could get. Then, she opened her arms after she finished speaking; an obvious invitation for a hug.

"Yeah, definitely." He leaned in and embraced her, squeezing her tightly and earnestly, though not so strongly as to make Elizabeth think he was trying to cling to her. It was the kind of hug he gave his friends and family; emphatic and caring. After a couple of moments he pulled away. "Take it easy on your leg, ok?"

----

About an hour later, Yushiro found himself outside the building in which the team was supposed to hold their first practice. Alone. For a few moments, he started getting nervous again. Was he sure he was in the right place? Was he late? Where was everyone? Thankfully, the approach of a familiar pair assuaged his fears. He saw Jun and Hitomu, both encumbered with several boxes, walking in his direction.

"Hey, you guys need a hand with those?!" he called out as he made his way toward them. Sticking with the captains for the time being was probably a good idea; less awkward than standing by himself, at least.

 

“You’re alright man. We were winding down anyways.”

"Oh, Hi Yushiro. It wasn't much of anything. Take a seat,” Yushiro nodded, and slid in next to Elizabeth.

“I take it you’re Yushiro?” he said, extending a hand for Yushiro to shake. “Between Lizzie and Hattie, seems like the girls in my life can’t stop talking about you, so it’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Hitomu.” 

Hattie... He must have meant Jun. "Jun had something to say about me?" Yushiro asked, slightly surprised that he was worth mentioning. "But yeah we've met a few times before." he continued, leaning over and shaking Hitomu's hand as firmly as he could. "I get coffee from you a lot."

“Congrats on making the team, by the way. I was actually just asking Lizzie if she wanted to swing by for the meeting today. She used to beat me all the time back when we were freshmen, so I figure she could show you all a thing or two, you know?”

"Thanks, though to be honest I'm still not sure if I'm actually good enough to make the cut. I got beaten pretty badly last week." As he was speaking it dawned on him that Hitomu might not be the best person to voice those reservations to, and instead, Yushiro decided to change the subject. He turned to look at Elizabeth. The girl wasn't nearly as put together as she had been the last time he saw her-just jeans and a tank top with her hair up in a ponytail. Even still, he couldn't keep himself from admiring her for a moment. Liz was gorgeous, even when she didn't clean up. As shallow as the thought was, sometimes even Yushiro was surprised by his good luck. "But uhhh, that's actually part of why I came over here." Oh right: the actual reason he was here. Almost instantly, his nerves came back, but he tried his best to force himself to power through. "I uhh... Actually was wondering Liz i-if" He stuttered for a moment, realizing he'd called her Liz instead of her full name. Gosh, was this awkward. "you wouldn't mind helping me practice for my match on saturday. Y-you know, if you're free later and you're not burnt out after practice." Hooo boy. That almost couldn't have come out worse. What was he even doing? Making an absolute fool of himself, and in front of his new team captain, to boot. What a way to torpedo your social life. He could feel his cheeks getting rosy again, despite his best efforts to fight it. Why couldn't he just say what he really meant to say. Was a "Hey I really wanna hang out with you again, wanna do something later?" so hard?

 

"Alright Yushiro, out with it. What's got you in such a knot that you're acting like this?

Busted. Still, Yushiro made a last-ditch effort to throw his boss off. “Oh, you know… nothing really. Just kinda… daydreaming.” Totally bogus. Quite possibly the most transparent lie he’d ever told.

“Daydreamers don’t muck up their work this badly. So I’ll ask again, what’s bothering you?”

He sighed. “Sorry Jo, I just… I’ve got a lot on my mind lately, and to be honest, I don’t know what to do about it.” Being that frank about it didn’t make him feel any better, but Jo had a talent for prying honesty out of him.

“That so?” Jo leaned onto the counter, an intrigued look on her face. “I don’t mind listening if you want to talk about it.”

Want to talk about it? He hadn't even told his best friend about Liz yet. Liz. When had he started calling her that? Like they were good friends or something. No, better to just talk about something he knew Jo could help him with. “So I kinda got myself roped into a duel at the Kickoff Cup this weekend and, well… I’m pretty sure I’m toast. It’s gonna be in front of basically everyone, too.”

“Then you need to train a lot, and just play your best.” Jo turned her attention away for a short moment, to deal with a customer that had come up looking for something to munch on. She took note of the order, and wrote it down. Turning to get started on the pretty simple meal, Jo continued “I used to get nervous before tournaments myself, when I dueled competitively. I still remember my first one like it was yesterday.”

“That’s kinda why I’m worried about it. I’ve been training and well, I’ve lost pretty much every game I’ve played since.” He paused a moment. “I don’t know why it's bothering me so much, either. I never used to care about winning like this. Guess it's different when you’ve got a big audience.”

“Hmmm… not as much as you’d think. Obviously you’re there to win, but as long as you treat it like just another duel and do your best, you can at least go home saying you tried if you end up losing. But don’t forget to train! You are training for this, right?”

“Yeah. I am. Went out for duel team and everything. Got beat pretty bad during tryouts too.”

“How bad are we talking here? I saw your duel the other week and you played to a tie. That’s a start.”

Yushiro’s face went flush. “You saw that?” His tie against Hiraku wasn’t a game he was particularly proud of. “But uhh, I got decked. Totally outplayed.” Yushiro leaned back against the counter, awkwardly looking toward the roof of the truck for a moment. “I don’t think I’ve got the skills or the deck to cut it, honestly.”

“Let’s see it then,” Jo insisted, holding out one hand as the other kept working on the food. “I’ve got a few extra cards lying around that might help you out if you need them.” Old cards from an old time. Jo didn’t duel enough to justify keeping them anymore anyway, though her actual deck wouldn’t be leaving her side quite that easily.

He fished around in his pockets a bit before producing his deck box. “Jo you don’t need to do this, you know.” Stupid thing to say. Of course she didn’t need to help him out. The fact that she hadn't just fired him on the spot was a small miracle.

“It’s fine; I don’t really duel all that often these days you know.” Jo thumbed her way through the deck, looking the cards over. “Mhm, mhm, mhm… I think I see the problem. You need something to win with.” Jo handed the deck back to Yushiro, before opening the little red box at her side, pulling out her own pile of cards. She went through, looking for something particular… there! She slid the corner of the card out a bit more, holding the pile out to Yushiro so he could pull the card out. “Try this one on for size.”

Yushiro gingerly pinched the corner of the card and pulled it out. What immediately stood out to him was the name text: Gold in color. This thing was rare. “You sure you want to give me something like this?” he said as he read it over. Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, a level 7 dragon-type. It was sleek and fearsome looking; the kind of thing Yushiro expected Jo to keep in her extra deck back when she was a pro.

“Even when I had it, I didn’t summon it that often. You’ll get way more mileage out of that card than me, so take good care of it."

He nodded. “Thanks. You think this’ll be enough?” He came off a little apprehensive, despite his attempt to hide his nerves. Card games were usually what he used to de-stress, and one being the source of some of his worries was making it difficult to cope with everything else that was bugging him.

“As long as you’re good about training and keeping the right plays in mind, yes.”

“Here’s hoping it works.” He replied.

Jo's eyes narrowed, and with a swift motion, snatched the card back out of Yushiro's hand. "Alright kiddo, spill it. What's really got you all out of sorts?"

Yushiro blushed. Jo always saw right through him, or maybe she was just really good at getting him to drop his guard. Either way, there wasn't much point in hiding it. "Well.." he paused, trying to figure out a way to word it that didn't make him feel so embarrassed. "I started talking to this girl, and-"

"Called it." Jo interrupted him, a coy smile appearing on her face. "So my little Yushiro's in looove is he?" She dragged the word out a little longer to tease him.

"L-love?" His face was bright red now. "N-no its nothing like that-I-I m-mean i-it kinda is but its not that serious we only went out one time and it was just sorta casual you know we just dueled at coffecards it was no big deal."

Jo giggled. "Don't be silly. Its a big deal to you if she's got you so flustered, right? So what's the matter? She turn you down for a second date?" Again, Jo was playing with him. Revenge for his poor performance this shift.

"It went really well, actually." Yushiro looked away. The conversation was too awkward for him to make eye contact. " We dueled for like, three hours, and it was a lot of fun-even if she did beat me almost every time. Its just... She's way out of my league. I don't really know what I can do to impress her, so I've been trying this competitive dueling thing, but you know how that's going. So we haven't been talking to much for the past few days. I don't really know what to say to her."

"Yushiro, you already did."

"What?"

"If this girl's so far out of your league, and she went out with you anyway, and you both had a good time, then you've already impressed her."

"I... don't really follow you Jo."

Jo groaned. "She's interested in YOU, dummy, not your dueling skills. You're a sweet boy, and believe it or not that's something girls actually like. I guarantee if you just ask her to hang out again, she'd be delighted. You giving her the silent treatment because you're nervous is only going to make her think you don't like her."

Yushiro stayed quiet for a moment, mulling it over. Before he could speak again though, Jo put Clear Wing back into his hand.

"And if you're still worried, let this guy give you some confidence." She gave Yushiro a reassuring look. "I know that whole heart of the cards thing's a big cliche, but telling myself that my deck had my back always helped me get over my anxieties before a game. Trust your cards, and trust yourself, ok? If you do that, you're gonna be just fine. No matter what happens."

Yushiro nodded, his boss's point having gotten across. He gently slipped Clear Wing into his deck box, then went to get back to work.

"Oh no you don't. I can't have you burning anymore food. You're free to go for today."

'You sure?"

"I'm sure. Now get out of here before I decide to dock you an hour's pay, lover boy." The last comment was enough to shoo Yushiro out of the truck. A minute or so later, he was walking past the tables that were arranged in the vicinity of Fast Food when he heard a familiar voice saying something.

"I know you don't want to talk about it… I'm familiar with that feeling. But when you're ready, or if you're ever hurting, I'm not exactly a therapist but I'd be glad to cook you a meal and cry with you.”

It was Elizabeth, and from the sound of things it looked like she was having a heart-to-heart with... Hitomu- her opponent from the other week, and Yushiro's new team captain. Best to keep moving so as not to interrupt them.

"Just do it, you idiot."

The words rang out in his head as Yushiro felt himself almost automatically begin to walk toward them, and before long he was in plain view; there was no backing out now. Quickly, he came up with a way to insert himself into their conversation. "H-hey guys. Sorry if I interrupted something. Mind if I sit down? I uhh, actually wanted to ask you both some things."

 

Ah, a Cyndiquil. Hello Ollie." He said, smiling to the fire rat. He then released the pastry-craving bird, making sure to keep a hand on his leg. The Prehistoric Avian immediately cawed at his owner sadly, knowing that he had been caught. "This is Roc, an Archen. However, he is a rare Pokemon from even where I am from. He is a reborn fossil from the Prehistoric Age. This formerly fossilized bird is known to be the ancestor of all birds. He just so happens to have a sweet tooth, which is is why he had been trying to fly to the bakery just behind you. I didn't know back then they had rock candy. Get it? "Roc" Candy? Huh? Huh?

Trey stared back blankly at Emile, the other trainer's joke having made the same impact on him as a bouncy ball would to a wall of concrete. 

"Sorry, bad jokes are kind of my thing. So, Trey, where are you from and what are you going to do, other than the whole reason we were sent here?" 

"Sunnyshore city in Sinnoh my man. Best beaches in the whole region. And as for why I'm here, that's easy." Trey punctuated his statement by flashing his new badge case.  "I'm here to take on the pokemon league. How about you man?"

 

 

And so it was that the students of Blue Yonder had found their way into their school clubs and extracurriculars. Friendships began, and bonds were formed. In the months to come, they'd all remember carefree days like this fondly; days when the weight of the world wasn't on their shoulders. Soon, events that they could never have predicted would be set in motion, and the fate of everything and everyone they knew would hinge on the decisions they made, and the cards they played.....

Ending theme

-----

 

 

“Good morning darling. How are you feeling today?” The blonde-haired boy asked, taking a seat on a stool next to her bedside.

“In great pain, reeling from the sting of defeat, and hardly able to stand on my own for more than a few moments. But I can stand, and walk. I won’t be laying like this much longer.”

“A good day, then. Marvelous. I’ve got more news for you if you’d like to hear it.” He shuffled around a bit on the stool, inching closer to her as he did so.

“I would. Please, tell me all about it.”

“I found one of them. Finally. It’s in the hands of one of my classmates.”

“You found one!?” she exclaimed in surprise, sitting up straight in her bed. Her fingers tapped against her legs eagerly, making a set of small clinking sounds on her right side. The look of surprise was only there for a short moment though, before returning to its icy, neutral state. “Good work. I knew I could count on you. So, which school are we looking at in this sad little city?”

“My first choice was the correct one. Blue Yonder Academy, they call it. Wasn’t much of a surprise. They love to duel there.” He paused a moment, then sat up and gingerly grabbed her left hand, holding it in both of his. “But work isn’t really what’s on my mind today.” A tender smile appeared on his face, which conveyed the rest of the thought to her adequately enough.

“A bit of fresh air would be nice, yes. Let’s go, darling.”

He felt his cheeks warm for a moment. It wasn’t very often that she called him that, especially lately. Today was definitely a good day. He leaned over the girl's small frame, tucking one of his arms underneath her knees, and the other behind her shoulders, so as to cradle her body when he lifted her up. She was heavier these days, but not so much that this was a problem for him. He’d made sure to stay in shape. “One day soon, I’ll be holding your hand instead while you walk on your own two feet, but for now this will have to do. I hope you don’t mind too much.”

 

Opening Theme

 

Episode 4: Feather and Flame

 

-------

 

Today was the day he'd decided on. Locating her again wasn't too difficult; just a matter of simple deduction. Now, all that was left was to make an appropriate entrance. One that was provocative enough. The die had been cast, and he couldn't back down now. Thankfully, an opportunity presented itself soon enough as he spied the girl walking alone on campus. With a flourish, Raven descended from his perch, landing rather theatrically but a few feet in front of Kyouko and tipping his hat to her in greeting.

"Ahh the lovely miss Kyouko. I trust you've been preparing for our duel? Or perhaps, maybe, you were hoping I'd forgotten about it over the past week?"  Taunting the girl known for her violent temper perhaps wasn't the best plan, but it was sure to work.

---

 

It had been almost a week since tryouts, and the warm September weather was beginning to wane as October approached. Yushiro had always hated this time of year, very much preferring seeing green on the trees and enjoying the sun. These days though, he didn't have much time to lament the weather. There was a lot more on his mind.

For starters, his deck.

It was clearly inadequate, as his lucky draw with Hiraku and the absolute thrashings that both Elizabeth and Jun had given him plainly showed. Weeks ago, it wouldn't have mattered all that much to him, but recently he'd found himself playing duel monsters for more than just the fun of it, and when something was actually at stake, losing hurt a lot more. He'd been trying to tweak it some in his free time, but the current build wasn't at all satisfying to him. There was more than just the cards, too. His texts to Elizabeth had become less frequent, and he hadn't seen the girl in person since tryout day. Part of it, he was acutely aware, was his own fault. He didn't really know what all to talk to her about over a text conversation, and, embarrassingly, he was too nervous to ask her to hang out again, not without at least improving his game (both duel monsters and otherwise) some. He hadn't told Akira about any of this yet, either. Mostly out of fear that his best friend would somehow make things even more awkward for him, good intentions or no. Still, mulling over it all internally wasn't getting him very far.

All of this was running through his head as he flipped burgers during another shift with Jo at Fast Food. Yushiro was lucky that the lunch rush was over for the day: he wasn't focusing on work very hard and would never have been able to keep up with the volume. Still, even with things being slow, the amount of overly well-done patties coming off the griddle clearly showed that he wasn't focused on his work, and Jo could almost certainly tell that something was up with the boy. At last, things in the food truck came to a head as the smell of charred beef wafted up toward the cash register where Jo was counting her money, and Yushiro snapped out of his train of thought just in time to see his boss glaring at him. He gulped audibly.

 

"Jeez... she really went all out didn't she." Trey had spent the last few minutes going through the large cardboard box that had materialized out of his PC item storage. It was filled with various things from Jasmine: potions, full heals, an escape rope, even oran and tomato berries for Ollie (how thoughtful of her!), but what really stood out was the badge case: red-orange in color (Trey's favorite), but clearly made from some kind of high quality, durable metal. It contained foam cutouts for storing each of Johto's eight gym badges, and was emblazoned with the symbol of the Pokemon League on its hinged lid. Trey had never seen one like it before; the ones carried by Sunnyshore Gym challengers he'd met were usually blue plastic things with covers that slid off. Jasmine must have had it custom ordered from the Johto league, or Arceus-forbid made it herself with some of her Steelix's alloys. It was so nice he almost felt embarrassed about carrying it. Gym leaders certainly didn't do things by halves, did they?

"Guess we really do owe her big time, huh Ollie?" Trey said, looking down at his partner who was currently in the empty box, half eaten berry in his paw. "Well, we should get going. Finish up your snack and lets book it." The Cyndaquil nodded, shoving what was left of the Tomato berry into his mouth and hopping up onto his trainer's shoulder, using the bench he'd been sitting on as a springboard. Trey picked up the box, tossed it in a bin, and made his way toward the door.

They hadn't made it very far out of the pokemon center when Trey caught sight of something in his peripheral vision. He turned just in time to catch a glimpse of a flying pokemon diving straight at his head. Reflexively, Trey closed his eyes and ducked down, which threw a surprised Ollie off his shoulder, landing the poor Cyndaquil on his back in the dirt. After a few moments however, having felt no impact, Trey looked back up to find a boy about his age looking at him instead.

  "Oh my gosh, I apologize for my bird. He can get unruly at times." He stuck out his hand. "My name is Emile."

Without hesitating at all, Trey grabbed the hand, gripping it firmly, and shook it. "Name's Trey. And that's Ollie." He said, gesturing to his partner, who's back was now alight with flames and who was definitely not very happy.  "Nice to meetcha. What kinda bird is he?" For a moment, Trey's attention was drawn back to the pokemon center, specifically the sight of another guy rolling what had to be a substantially lazy wailmer through the doorway, but then an angry jab to the back of his calf brought his attention back.   "Dude, Ollie, I get it bro, sorry for throwing you off, but next time hang on a little tighter and you won't wipe out." Ollie crossed his front paws over his chest and let out a "Qui!" that passed for a cyndaquil version of a "hmph".

 

 

"And you are?"

Aston was taken slightly aback. Usually, girls didn't immediately seek him out. There was often a waiting period. Upon further examination, she didn't appear to be human, either. Some sort of alien; her skin was grey.

Before he could reply though, there was another pang in his head; he'd overestimated his endurance for the day. Reflexively, Aston shrunk away, putting some distance between himself and the steadily growing crowd of his fellow students. Luckily, it seemed that another student, who was also non-human had mistakenly believed the girl was talking to him, and answered for him. Perfect cover.

A few moments later, Aston was back in the corner of the library; far enough away that things were tolerable for the moment. Really, he should have left by now, but his frustration at the prospect of wasting another day was making him stubborn, and he had resolved to power on through all the myriad signals he was getting from everyone around him for as long as he could. Maybe he'd even introduce himself if he could just reign things in for a minute or two.

 

 

The voice of Roger Parsons narrates.

Everyone has a dream that fills their heart; a journey they must take, a destiny to fulfill. As close as your imagination exists a magical place, where wondrous creatures with incredible powers help make dreams come true. This is the world of pokemon. Here, pokemon and humans live in harmony. Some keep pokemon as pets, while others, known as pokemon trainers, compete with them in amazing contests of skill and strategy. Whether they battle, perform, race, or compete, all trainers and their pokemon hope to one day be the best, and become pokemon masters.

 

This dream burns brighter than most in the hearts of five young people. Emile Birou, Trey Joule, Olivia Fournier, Jin Takenaga, and Kahurangi, all beginning their journeys as pokemon trainers at the same time. As they each make their way to Cherrygrove city, none of them realize that their destinies are intertwined, or that they're in for the adventure of a lifetime.

 

BGM

 

"Hey bro. You told me to call you when I got here, soooooo...." Trey Joule leaned in toward the vidphone's screen so that Volkner could hear him more clearly. The pokemon center was extra lively this morning, between the usual trainer traffic and all of the TIP participants who had arrived to pick up their GPS spikes from the MapCo representative. The background noise wasn't helping the already shaky reception from Sunnyshore City.

"Wow, I'm kinda surprised you actually remembered. The regional ferry ride wasn't too bad was it?"

"It was pretty smooth. We even got a good view of Alto Mare when we crossed the lagoon."

"You should stop by there when you get a chance. Its a really cool town. Oh, forgot to tell you! I told Jas you were coming and so she put together a little care package for you. Its in your PC box."

"What?! Duuuude you told her I was coming to Johto?" Trey groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Its not like I was gonna keep it a secret from her. Besides, she's gonna see you in Olivine eventually anyway."

"Ughhh duuude this is so lame. Its bad enough I have to battle your girlfriend for a gym badge in the first place. The least you could do is save me from the big sis act."

"Sorry, no can do pipsqueak. I'll tell her you said thanks for the gear though."

"Yeah, yeah. You do that."

"There's a little something from me in there too, by the way."

"That's not like you. Did she rope you in too?"

"Nahh, Its just a little present to commemorate your journey. You gotta promise me something though."

"What's that?"

"You can't open it until you've earned your first badge. Deal? It'll ruin it if you do."

"Sure, sure. I'll leave Jasmine's stuff in there with it to keep it some company."

"Trey come on get over it- oh crap the Gym's got a challenger. Hey I've gotta go."

"Don't sweat it Volk I'll make sure I thank her myself when I get to Olivine. Don't make it easy for 'em ok?"

"Not a chance. And hey you better not lose to Jasmine. It'll make us look bad."

"Yeah sure whatever. Catch you on the flip side." With that, Trey hung up, and turned back around to face his cyndaquil, who'd been sitting on the bench behind him, listening intently. "Well Ollie, we're officially on our own. You ready to go do Johto?"

"Quiiil!"

"That's the spirit bro. We've got our stakes, so all we needa do is get everything squared away and hit the road!" Trey paused, craning his neck to follow a cute girl with a skitty for a moment. "Couldn't hurt to get acquainted with the locals a bit first though. Maybe ask about the sights? Whaddya think?"

"Qui-Quiiiiil!" Ollie nodded in the affirmative, though really he was just eager to do something other than stand still. If he was lucky, they might even find themselves a battle before they left town.

" Hi Yushiro!"

A familiar voice caught Yushiro's attention, and as he turned his head he saw Elizabeth as she waved. Well this was unexpected.

"Looks like you got dragged into doing tryouts eh? Why isn't the Captain doing this, anyway? I know he's at work and all, but I thought this would be a mandatory duty of his."

"Dragged" wasn't exactly the word, but Yushiro wasn't about to admit that he'd tried out to impress her. "Hey!" He replied. "Yeah.... sooorta. I figured I'd see how I measured up, you know?" He glanced over in Jun's direction for a moment. "Turns out I've got quite a lot of improving to do."

"Well the captain's busy handling another tryout elsewhere."  Jun cut in, making over-exaggerated hand gestures and suddenly becoming more emphatic tone, she followed saying, "one for a great and powerful and dark princess no less!" 

Chuckling to herself briefly, the girl then said, "but, he left me with the all important task of manning the fort and and holding back the floodgates against all applicants. Of course, I've only tested Shiro here so far and," she paused for a moment as if trying to figure out what to say before going, "well, he made at the very least."

That was.... very considerate of her, actually.  A more honest appraisal of things would probably have gone "Well, he's awful, but he's a good kid so I let him make the team." Not exactly flattering. It was beginning to look like Jun was more in tune with things than she first appeared to be, and Yushiro was internally thankful for it.

Before Jun could say anything else, she then was pushed forward as the familiar sensation of a tackle hug came from behind. Though the voice was confirmation as to who it was, Jun was fairly certain she knew who it was before it came out, giggling to herself with a smile on her face saying, "hey there Suji."  After that, the girls seemed to peel off into their own little crowd, which over the next few minutes appeared to grow as other people Yushiro wasn't familiar with came out of the woodwork. This put Yushiro a little on edge: he wasn't really good with crowds of strangers and the lingering fear that someone would bring up his poor dueling performance was also nagging at him. Unconsciously, he shuffled a little closer to Beth and familiarity. 

"Yep, got a kid into the duel team and got a friend to meet a super star. Two dreams in one day, you did good Jun, you did good." Yushiro rolled his eyes and let out a "Pff" in exaggerated fashion, trying to play things off in front of all the girls (and a single guy in wearing a fedora, and Yushiro thought he was a dork) like he wasn't nervous. Not that anyone, save maybe Beth and some one he recognized in the background as her friend Ashley, was actually paying attention to him. Better safe than sorry though.

 

 

 "nm...nmn..n.."

His head was burning again. There were too many people, too close together. Even through the walls Aston Ainsley could feel what they were feeling; nervousness and excitement, but also boredom, sadness, and even a twinge of lust: his absolute least favorite (feeling someone else's jollies affect your own mood was quite possibly the most unnerving sensation he'd ever experienced). He knew it was going to be a bad day when he woke up feeling manic: a telltale sign that he'd been feeling the emotions of every dreaming person within a 50 foot radius of his bed, and that had, as it always did, given way to the burning within an hour or so as the rest of the students awoke and went about their days; feeling more normal, everyday things that put a far greater strain on him. Reflexively, Aston rubbed the four rings on his fingers in sequence, left to right, with his thumbs, and that cooled the pain in his temples slightly. The plan was to stay in his room all day, and hopefully avoid this, but obviously that ship had sailed, like it had yesterday, and the day before- he hated transport ships. With no other choice, Aston sat back up, and walked out of his room. If he was going to suffer, he might as well suffer with some company.

---

Sometime later, Aston found himself in the library. Social spaces like this often made for the best vantage points from which to feel people, and if Aston focused hard enough he could tell who was experiencing what, and sometimes even toward whom. The easiest was, of course, when a girl (or occasionally a guy) looked his way, and as the gears turned in their heads and their instincts came alive he'd get a pang in his chest and a little heat in his temples. Other times someone would be angry, and the thoughts that most people keep to themselves would be running through their head, and a painful cold sensation would flash over him. Today though, the vibes were good- normal; boring. He could handle it, at least for a little while.

After a few moments basking in the sea of banality, a twinge of annoyance caught Aston's attention, and he turned his head just in time to catch some girl scolding a guy wearing... was that a gas mask? And Aston thought he was a weirdo.

"Excuse me, that mask. You know all illnesses need to be reported to the staff correct? Do you have the clearance to be around others right now?"

Then something peculiar happened. Another girl appeared from his peripheral vision and interjected in the conversation- not weird in and of itself, but the fact that Aston noticed her, not felt her, immediately stood out to him. His senses hadn't worked that way in years.

"If he was ill, wouldn't he more likely be in bed or something? And those aren't even the types of masks people wear when they're sick. His would be better for a gas leak or landing on a planet with a toxic atmosphere."

Slowly, and as subtly as he could, Aston inched his way closer to the three of them, his curiosity piqued.

On 3/5/2019 at 4:46 PM, rep said:

OUI OUI

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"Someday you too can be half as beautiful as me~!"

Name: Olivia Fournier
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Hometown: Kalos, Lumiose City

Description

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Height: 5'1"

Biography

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Olivia was born in Lumiose City, the heart of Kalos, and it shows with her high fashion and spoiled nature. Naturally, she was born from an extremely rich family, her mother running the Boutique Couture. She spent a lot of time with what could be considered the family pet Duvet, primarily styling the Furfrou in various styles. Her father, meanwhile, was a rather famous Pokemon Breeder that specialized in Furfrou. Both of her parents tended to be busy, so she spent most of her time alone with Duvet.

Eventually, when she reached the age of 15, Olivia decided that she wanted to be a trainer and explore the world, sharing her vision of beauty with everyone. On her 15th birthday she was given a specially bred Houndour which she called Cerbi. The two became close to each other very quickly, even if Olivia wished the pup had longer hair to style. She also received a trip to Johto to participate in the Trainer Internship Program to start her journey.

Personality

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Olivia is what you would expect from a spoiled rich girl from Lumiose; she is very much overbearing at time, not afraid to put everyone around her in their place. She is not very accustomed to the world outside her bubble, making her a tad bit naive and oblivious at times. She had a bad tendency to expect people to do as she says, since back where she was from they usually did. While she might act high and mighty and even smugly offensive, she's not mean spirited, and usually means well. While she might act confident a lot of the time, she does get easily flustered when put on the spot.

The most important thing to Olivia is beauty, both her own and that of nature and the world. She wants to share her beauty with everyone, and wants to see more beautiful things. She is very emotionally driven, listening to her heart more than her mind. She is also very bombastic and likes to do everything with a bit of pizazz - she is very much a showman.

Starting Pokemon

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Nickname: Cerbi
Species: Houndour
Gender: Male
Type: Fire / Dark
Ability: Early Bird
Level: 5
Held Item: Red Scarf
Moves:

• Leer
• Ember
• Howl
• Thunder Fang (Egg)

Personality

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Nature: Hasty (+Speed, -Defense)

Cerbi is a reckless and enthusiastic Houndour, always charging head first into danger without even a hint of fear. Added to that, Cerbi is extremely pampered and has a bit of an ego, even being rather jealous.

 

Team

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Cerbi (Level 5)

Inventory

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900 Poké
5x Premier Ball
5x Luxury Ball
5x Oran Berries
5x Lumiose Gallete
1x Blue Scarf
1x Pink Scarf
1x Green Scarf
1x Yellow Scarf

Key Items
Town Map

Misc.

  Reveal hidden contents

Battle Theme

 

 

Accepted. 

 

Annnd that’s a full roster! Expect an IC within the week.

On 3/5/2019 at 7:05 PM, Faytl said:

The Resident Pokédex

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"I haven't figured out how to be a good Pokemon trainer, and I don't know if I ever will... But I hope I can."

 

Name: Jin Takenaga

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Hometown: Ecruteak City, Johto

Description

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Skinny and frail, Jin stands at a modest five foot six. His thin violet hair is grown long, and his skin is a very wan white, framing his amber-colored eyes that are hidden behind a pair of round black-wire glasses. In terms of clothing, Jin often is wearing darker colors, in particular his high-collared jacket, with some slightly brighter yet muted colors underneath. Clearly unathletic and scrawny, Jin is practically dwarfed by the backpack he carries around with him, which is loaded with plenty of notepads and several books, getting a fairly good daily workout carrying around the pack he refuses to leave behind.

 

Personality/Bio

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On the meeker side, Jin is very much a mental variant of the Pokemon trainer. Somewhat quiet and not willing to draw attention to himself, he's a helpful boy who doesn't know quite what's he's doing but he'll sure figure out HOW to do whatever it is. He's had very little experience battling over the course of his life in Ecruteak City. The historical location had plenty to occupy his interest as he grew up, especially with the Bell Tower and ruined Burned Tower so easily seen by the boy. Jin was very intelligent and willing to learn, absorbing knowledge on the Towers and their importance to the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh. He gained an interest in Legendary Pokemon in general, learning about other landmarks that were supposedly important to those Pokemon, including the Burned Tower and the shrine at the heart of Ilex Forest, and even places further afield like the Seafoam Islands and Stark Mountain. His interests eventually were widened to Pokemon battling in general, though there was precious little to find outside of the Gym in his home city. Challengers of the Ecruteak Gym had to constantly field requests by Jin to watch and observe their battles, to the point that he became a regular around the gym despite his lack of a Pokemon. 

Morty one day asked him why, at age 12, he didn't have a Pokemon of his own. Jin was embarassed to admit it, but he didn't have the confidence to try and become a battler himself. He was frail and frequently sick, and he and his family weren't confident he could travel well. Morty suggested he try to challenge himself in some way before leaving the city. The boy took it to heart, which was why he climbed the tree one day when he saw a wild Gligar stuck inside it, being harrassed by a group of Murkrow. Taking the Gligar home with him, the boy realized that Gligar was rather weak in battle, just as he wasn't good at battling. He took all the theory he had learned watching gym battles and tried to help the Gligar fight the Murkrow a few weeks later. But although the two bonded quickly, Gligar lost, flying away as the Murkrow officially claimed the tree. Jin couldn't ever find the Gligar again.

He spent several years in a lull, keeping up his recreational studies but having lost the confidence that he could ever take on a Pokemon Gym again, not even seeing Morty for several years. It was at this point that he learned more about MapCo and their initiative to help map the regions, and that they were resupplying mapping tech to his home. Knowing he had some advantage here in terms of being familiar with the region to an extent, and that he could train a Pokemon in a way that maybe he was good at, he signed on to the project, and after his eventual acceptance, made his arduous walk to Cherrygrove City...

 

Starting Pokemon

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Nickname: Wisteria
Species: Budew
Gender: Female
Type: Grass/Poison
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 5
Description: 

Personality-
Nature: Gentle
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds
A mild mannered, kind-hearted flower child, Wisteria loves nothing more than to relax in the sun with friends. She's caring, attentive, and doesn't seem to be too enthused about battle, though she'll obey her trainer's commands nonetheless. She does like to show off, dancing around to try and attract attention when released from her Pokeball. Wisteria is closest with Goomy, who often drags her into whatever he is doing.
Moves: Absorb, Growth, Synthesis

Inventory-
 

  Reveal hidden contents

PokeGear

3 Pokeballs

4 Repel

1 Potion

Sleeping Bag

17 notepads

627 Pokedollars

Misc.

  Reveal hidden contents

Jin's birthday is October 8th.

Jin suffers from mild fatigue moreso than the average trainer, not being capable of quite the same physical feats some of the other MapCo trainers are.

 

 

 

On 3/6/2019 at 4:50 PM, Otaku-sama said:

WHERE'S THE LAMB SAUCE?!

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"Was that a challenge?"

Name: Kahurangi a.k.a. Rangi

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Hometown: Pacifidlog Town, Hoenn

Description:

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5’11”, black hair, athletic but wiry build. Rangi prefers to dress light, airy clothing, which show off the traditional tattoos on his arms and back. He is often seen with his greenstone club in his belt next to his Pokeballs, which he waves around to direct his Pokemon during a battle.

 

Personality/Bio:

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Rangi is defined by his passion and drive for his interests in cooking, his heritage and Pokemon. Whenever Rangi commits to something, one can be sure he will apply all his energy wholeheartedly and with an infectious enthusiasm. He is loud, bold and boisterous at times, always looking to show off his skills and to find equally skilled people to test himself against.

Rangi has a strong competitive streak, driven by the need to make his family proud, and finds it difficult to turn down any challenge at all. However, this competitive nature is complemented by a good deal of sportsmanship. In victory, he is graceful and always willing to help his opponent improve. In defeat, he is humble and will ask for the same advice to improve for the next challenge.

Being proud of his heritage, Rangi does his best to uphold the customs and values of his family, much to the chagrin of the more proper or sensitive people he meets. This is most obviously shown by his tattoos on his face arms and back, which he intends to expand to the rest of his body once he feels he has made his family proud. Notably, he performs the traditional haka war dance before every challenge and Pokemon battle against people he respects, oftentimes confusing and intimidating them despite his intentions.

Rangi dotes on his Wailmer, Poro, and has a tendency to spoil him with human food and many more Poffins than what is necessary to sustain him. Rangi uses the excuse of training extra hard with Poro to burn it off, but since Rangi tends to focus more on his cooking, Poro can often be found lounging in a nearby pool of water.

 

 

 

 

Starting Pokemon:
 

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Nickname: Poro

Species: Wailmer

Gender: Male

Type: Water

Ability: Pressure

Level: 7

Description:

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Poro is a typical Wailmer, but is slightly girthier and rotund than his wild cousins due to being spoiled with human food on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

Personality:
Relaxed: +Defense, -Speed
Poro is a laid-back and lazy Wailmer, whose favorite activities are lazily floating in water and sunbathing. When not loafing around, Poro is looking for tasty morsels to eat, with a habit of licking anything he might consider food. This licking is somewhat troubling as he also licks to show affection. Rangi has a tendency to indulge these slothful behaviors, often feeding him human food, unless he feels the need to train Poro for a battle. Poro often resists training at first, but seems to be too lazy to resist Rangi’s powerful personality and quickly falls into line.

Moves: 
Splash, Growl, Water Gun, Aqua Ring (egg)

Held Item: Leftovers after Rangi makes a large meal

 

 

 

 

Inventory:

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Pokenav
2 Pokeballs
2 Potions
Assorted dried herbs, spices and seasonings
Skillet
Campfire cooking stand
Bedroll
Homemade Trail Mix and Jerky
Several flattened sour Poffins
Water Bottle
Flint and Steel
Greenstone Club

 

 

Both accepted

Interest noted. Still bummed that the post apocalypse didnt take off last time

I’d be into some maverick hunting I suppose. Assuming i have time

1 hour ago, JellisOP said:

Name: Emile Birou

Age:16

Gender:Male

Hometown: Nacrene City in Unova

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Height:5' 11"

 Backstory

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Emile didn’t have a lot growing up. He grew up on top of a warehouse with his single mother. She worked at Cafe Nacrene and Emile usually came with her to work on the weekends and eventually worked there part time. When he wasn’t at school or with his mother at work, he was in the Nacrene City Museum. He especially enjoyed fossils, and in the library, he loved going over the books about Fossilized Pokemon, and he thought it was sad that he was unable to meet them. That is, until Lenora gave him a Plume Fossil.

It was a beautiful sight, seeing the Archen for the first time. It was exactly like the sketches he saw of him. He named it Roc (for the irony). Lenora told him to venture to Striaton Gym, a gym south of the town. Emile went there, met the Gym Leaders, and fought Chili, who lost. And then, when he got home, there was a letter for him, from the Silph Company, who offered him the chance to explore Johto. He accepted, and with Roc at his side, he was ready to do… Something! He doesn’t really know what he is going to do yet.

Personality

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Emile is optimistic as all get out. He enjoys humor and the most frowned upon form of jokes, bad puns! He lets out his opinion for all to hear, and does not care how unpopular it is. However, he craves attention, which stems from long days sitting at home alone. He is generally likeable, and an all-around good person to be around.

Starting Pokemon

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Nickname: Roc

Species: Archen

Gender: Male

Type: Rock/Flying

Ability: Defeatist

Description: Roc is a standard Archen, Nothing Special.

Personality

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Roc is a curious creature. He enjoys the open sky, and yet finds enjoyment on the ground as well. His favorite pearching spots are(Much to Emile’s discomfort), Emile’s hand, shoulder, leg (when Emile is sitting), and on his head. He enjoys sweet foods, and has been known to slip bites of pastries, getting Emile in a lot of trouble. Overall, he is a bizarre character, and fits Emile quite nicely.

 

Team

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None but Roc. He Rocs.

Inventory

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3 Pokeballs

1 Premier Ball

3 Repel

1 Escape Rope

Sleeping Bag

X-Transceiver (Fruits of his Labor) 

75 Poke

 

Accepted

I literally feel you, man.

 

 

“Allright, Draw!” Yushiro took a second to look over his hand. The card he drew hadn't changed the move he wanted to make. “First up, I’ll activate my set trap: That Six!” The card’s hologram flipped up, and out of the art came a large mechanical contraption, cartoonishly leaking puffs of steam and not looking all that stable.

 

“Oh? Dice rolling? That’s something new.”

 

“You should get used to it. Now, next up, I’ll normal summon this: Speedroid Ohajikid!” On cue, the monster appeared, tipping its hat to Jun. “When Ohajikid’s summoned, I can special summon a tuner from my graveyard, and use it for a synchro summon.” Yushiro fished Tri-eyed dice out of his grave. “Three plus three is six, so I’m gonna drop a level six synchro monster. Place your bets, ‘cuz I’m summoning Hi-Speedroid Kendama in attack mode!”

 

As Yushiro spoke, the synchro rings appeared around ohajikid, and in a flash of light, Kendama appeared, its lance aimed squarely at the Wyrms opposing it.

 

ATK: 2200

 

“Next, I’m activating Kendama’s special ability! By banishing the panchingo-kart in my graveyard, I can inflict 500 points of damage directly to you, Juju. Sorry if it hurts a bit!” Kendama charged past Jun’s monsters and poked her in the gut with its lance, just hard enough for it to be mildly unpleasant.

 

LP: 8000 -> 7500

 

“I’m not done yet, though. I’ve still got a battle phase, too, and in it I’ll destroy Suanni. Kendama, you ready?” Kendama responded with a lightning quick 360 degree spin; it was raring to go. “Good. No go get ‘em!” Again, the armored top was off, and it stabbed through the fiery wyrm at a much higher speed than it had hit its master.

 

“Oh no, my Suanni! But, it’s a shame about your synchro monster too Shiro.” As she jokingly feigned danger, while the dragon had been speared through, there seemed to be a large collection of flames burning down Kendama. “Because, I activate my trap card, Yang Zing Brutality. So, during a battle, a Yang Zing of mine doubles its attack, but it also gets destroyed once the battle is over.”

 

ATK: 1900 → 3800

 

As the attack values changed, the flames expanded, destroying both Suanni and Kendama.

 

LP: 7900->6300

 

Yushiro grimaced. It was a surprisingly good move, and he’d walked right into it. This was gonna be a hard game. “Wow… guess I had that one coming. That’s the end of my turn, unfortunately.”

 

Smiling to herself, she said, “well, sadly before your turn is over, because of Supply Squad, when a monster of mine is destroyed I get to draw a card. And, when Suanni is destroyed I can bring a Yang Zing monster from my deck onto the field in defense mode. And, I guess when a Yang Zing of mine is destroyed, Chiwen can also come back from the grave too.”

 

“Seriously!?” Yushiro hadn't seen a play of his turned completely around so quickly in a long time.

 

“I know, aren’t my wyrms awesome? Yes you are,” she gave a bit of a cooing noise as she pet Bixi still on the field. “Anyway, I bring out Bi’an, Earth of the Yang Zing and Chiwen onto the field. Now then, my turn. Draw!”

 

Looking at the cards in her hand the girl seemed very happy, humming to herself as she looked at her hand. “Well, Shiro, did you know the fun thing about Chiwen. It’s also a tuner. How lucky am I to get to test a fellow Synchro user?” With her smile only growing wider she declared, “now, with the level 1 Chiwen I tune it with the Level 2 Bixi and Level 3 Bi’an.” The light wyrm moved into the sky, turning into a single ring of golden light as the two other Yang Zings turned into glowing spheres of Blue and Brown respectively. “Drake beneath the reef, bring a great deluge with you. Synchro Summon! Come forth, Level 6, Coral Dragon!”

 

A giant column of light shone where the ring and spheres had been, revealing an orange and gold coral covered dragon in their place.

 

ATK: 2400  

 

“Sadly, when Chiwen is summoned from the grave, it’s banished when it leaves the field. But, it’s sacrifice will be well worth it! Now, I activate Coral Dragon’s effect, allowing me to discard a card from my hand, to target one card you control and destroy it. Sadly, I’ll be getting rid of your dice roller.” Discarding a second Bixi from her hand, the dragon roared as it shot out a gout of water towards Yushiro’s revealed trap card. It got soaked, and almost instantly short circuited and exploded, covering Yushiro in some soot.

 

“Awww, gross. Gotta remember to make it cleaner next time.”

 

“Well don’t worry Shiro, because Coral Dragon will clean you right up. Go!” At the command of the owner, the dragon took in yet another deep breath, before firing yet another gout of water, though, this time directly at Yushiro himself.

 

“Can we no-” his sentence was lost amid a stream of gurgles as the water went in his mouth and covered the rest of him.

 

LP: 6300 → 3900

 

“See, all better.” Flashing a grin and a thumbs up, Jun finished saying, “and I’ll just set one card and one monster face down and end my turn.”

I hate myself for doing it but hey, here I am. Fuck.

51 minutes ago, Yui said:

Kasumi & Berry

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"No no, it needs more bang. Like this: BANG! Okay?"

Name: Kasumi Yoimachi
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Hometown: Snowpoint City, Sinnoh

Appearance:

  Reveal hidden contents

Height: 5'2"
Weight: 114 pounds

Personality/Bio:

  Reveal hidden contents

Born in frigid Snowpoint City, Kasumi has always been a free spirit, hard to tie down or keep in one place for long. She always hungered for new experiences and personal enjoyment in life, with a passion for life to match her go-getter attitude. It was a set of traits that made Kasumi very difficult to keep an eye on, but easy to keep happy. Be it snowball fights with other kids, exploring the nearby routes and forests, or sitting down by the fireplace once she'd finally tired herself out, Kasumi was filled with a boundless passion for life and the little things within it, the more she got to experience it all. Before her parents knew it, Kasumi was already becoming a young woman, curious to see for herself what was beyond the ice and snow of her home. There were obvious concerns about letting her go out into the world on her own.

While it was nice that she always worked to see the best in people, it also meant that people willing to use her naivety could take advantage of a Kasumi who didn't know any better. Being so easily distracted, she could get lost somewhere in the wild and not know how to get back on track. The reasons to keep her home were plentiful in her parents' eyes, and while she understood it was for her own good, it did create a bit of friction between her and them. To prove her point that she could take care of herself, Kasumi even left town one day, in search of a wild Pokémon to catch for herself. When she came back with her very own Snover, and a Poké Ball she'd bought in secret, they were furious. At the same time though, as Kasumi pointed out in retaliation, it was exactly how her father - a retired trainer - started his own adventure in the stories he used to tell her.

In the end, Kasumi was allowed to go as she pleased, to see the world. However, she was urged to come straight home if it ever felt like she was biting off more than she could chew. Kasumi was gone the following day, just over a year ago, Snover in tow and a whole world in front of her. She wasn't interested in becoming the champion or anything like that, taking more after contests instead of battles with her trusty companion. Just seeing the world was all she was truly interested in, though. Getting out of Sinnoh was a tough hurdle once she was happy with how much of it she'd seen. There were so many places to go that she was simply overwhelmed by all the options in front of her.

She'd almost settled on taking a plane to the Alola Region, but not long before she left, she saw the ad for MapCo's internship program. The opportunity to visit and explore the entire Johto Region was a good incentive, but what really sold Kasumi on it was the fact that they'd pay for her travel expenses. Tickets to other regions were expensive, and Kasumi barely had the money to pay for one. If MapCo was paying for her ticket to Johto, it meant she had leftover money. Sadly, Kasumi dropped her wallet in Sinnoh and didn't realize until she'd already arrived in Johto, so what should have been a considerable sum of cash on her person is now mere pocket change.

But she still has her Pokémon friend at her back, and an entire new region ahead of her. Despite some unlucky setbacks, Kasumi is feeling just fine, and raring to go.

Starter:

  Reveal hidden contents

Nickname: Berry
Species: Snover
Gender: Male
Type: Ice/Grass
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 7
Held Item: Oran Berry
Moves:

1. Powder Snow
2. Razor Leaf
3. Leer

Personality:

  Reveal hidden contents

Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Spe)
Curious, direct, and a bit stupid, Berry is a Snover that never knows what life (or more specifically, Kasumi) has in store for him. To him, life is an unpredictable rollercoaster, but he's already on the ride and as such, figures he might as well enjoy it. To Berry, that's an experience best shared with friends, so he's always eager to make new ones or hang out with the ones he's got. He's not exactly a "fierce and loyal guardian" type, preffering to not duke it out if he can. He'd rather take a nap or eat lots of food.

 

Team:

  Reveal hidden contents

(nobody here yet!)

Inventory:

  Reveal hidden contents

2x Poké Ball
1x Premier Ball
4x Potion
2x Antidote
1x tent. Incredibly high-quality, and surprisingly good at insulation.
17x Snover berries. No effect on Pokémon; Kasumi just really likes them as a snack, and made sure to get lots of them while she had the chance. Getting a bit old and will likely expire within a couple days.
173 Poké

Misc. Info:

  Reveal hidden contents

Birthday: December 13th

Blood Type: B

Berry's name was something Kasumi thought of on the fly, because of the berries growing on his belly at the time.

 

 

Accepted

Trey & Ollie

 

 

Rules & Info

 

Plot & Setting

Apps

MapCo's Starter Pokemon

 

Accepted Apps

 

“Nitro Booster…. 2300 ATK, 1900 DEF…” Yushiro said to himself, staring down at the card in his hand. It was slightly worse for wear now, a scratch noticeable over the art, probably from sliding on the concrete. He was glad to have it back of course, but now looking at it, it brought up feelings other than relief. It had been a strange few days: losing his ace, cutting his face open (and apparently bumping into the same weirdo who had challenged Kyouko to a duel in the process), and missing the duel he’d promised to go watch in spite of it. It seemed like he’d had nothing but a run of bad luck since move-in day, and if he had been at all superstitious Yushiro might even have blamed it all on the girl who’d given the card back to him. Instead though, the prevailing emotion he felt as he looked at his card was pity. Pity and… something else….

----
 

“Sorry Lizzy, it’s the end of the road. Osiris, finish her off!”

 

Elizabeth only stood there with pursed lips as the effects of osiris’ duel space attacks flew through and by her; she had come that close to getting him, but she played her hand too quickly. It was a risk she was willing to take, and one she would do 10 times over again, but that hardly took away the sting of losing a duel she practically talked herself into.

 

There was an optimist somewhere deep, deep inside of Beth that had convinced her that she could win this duel, and as the duel came to an end, her predominant pessimist came rushing through to add insult to injury, reminding her that she should have just listened to the part of her brain that told her to stay home and enjoy a cup of coffee in the rain.

 

“Well, the better duelist was always going to win, eh? Worth a shot I guess.” she walked off without much else other than a simple wave goodbye to Hitomu. While people flooded the duel area to congratulate Hitomu (as per usual) and attempt to either console or compliment Elizabeth, she gave a grin and nodded to those addressing her, never stopping to absorb more than a word.

 

Come to think of it, the only people she had expected to see, Ashley and Yushiro, was not a part of the group coming to see her after the duel. Did neither of them show? Ashley had said that she would be watching, even if she was not able to make it, but Yushiro? He seemed so excited to come out, and that feeling was kind of nice…

 

Elizabeth shook her head a bit, dismissing the thought, Even if he were to come for me, I still have his card, that’s more important. Hopefully I run into him soon...

 

Some time later, Elizabeth found herself aimlessly walking back to her apartment; the rain was picking up a bit, but hardly enough to do anything other than cause her makeup to run slightly. Truthfully, she was happy it was raining; something about the cold water made it easier to resist the churning feeling in her gut, turning the disappointment into something of a sorrow.

 

After sprinting for what was probably close to fifteen minutes, Yushiro finally made it back to Blue Yonder. He was painfully out of breath, and between the wheezing and the bloody cut across his face, he looked almost like he’d been fleeing for his life from some crazed killer. He stopped for a moment, leaning over and putting his hands on his knees in a vain attempt to catch his breath. After a few seconds, he pulled his phone out to check the time, and his spirits sank: he was definitely too late.

 

Defeated, he made his way over to a nearby bench and slumped over. Yushiro sat there for several minutes, only becoming more agitated when it started to rain on him. “Seriously?” His forehead started to sting again as it got wet. With the adrenaline fading, it hurt a lot more, and slowly he came to the uncomfortable realization that it was a deeper cut than he thought it was. He wondered if he’d need stitches (Yushiro had never gotten stitches before), and the thought of it made him wince. At last this made him uncomfortable enough to force himself to keep moving.

 

Campus was mostly deserted, between the events going on elsewhere and the rain, and every couple of minutes Yushiro had to wipe the blood out from above his right eye, lest it drip past his eyebrow and actually interfere with his vision. Eventually, he realized that in his stupor he was wandering aimlessly, and was turning around to head toward his dorm when he spied someone else coming the other way. Was that Elizabeth? It had to be. He didn't know anyone else with silver hair.

 

Beth had hardly paid attention to where she was going, virtually letting her bones go the only way they knew to go, which was home. It was a few minutes later when her stomach had begun to churn for something different, not a chance to cry and relieve herself of this disappointment and sadness, but rather for a cigarette. She was positive she had packed some away in her bag on the way to the duel, but none were to be found. It had been a hot minute since she had one, and her body was now no longer satisfied by the coffee and adrenaline she had substituted them with. She clenched her teeth and rolled back her neck, taking a deep breath in from her nose in attempt to subside the cravings with a therapeutic stretch, but no dice; only temporary relief as she continued to shamble by to her apartment, perhaps now with more urgency in her step. It was about then when she noticed a familiar figure.

 

“Yushiro? Is that you down there? I’ve been looking all over for you!” She shouted just a bit to try and gather his attention.

 

“Looking.. For me?” It took a second for Yushiro to actually process the words through his haze, but it clicked and he shook himself alert. Despite how out of breath he was he forced himself to trot over to her. “What are you looking for me for? Especially in the rain?”
 

“Well, you had said you were to make it to today’s festivities, although by the looks of it I don’t suppo- Holy s--- Yushiro, you’re bleeding like a pig! Are you alright?” Elizabeth had now taken the initiative of jogging over a bit faster to meet him closer and get a look at his face, quickly donning a crimson mask of sorts, “Have you seen a doctor for this?” she put her right hand up to her lips before wincing and looking in closer at the cut, gently trying to take the hair from the cut and get a better look at it.

 

“I took a bit of tumble, no worries.” He backed away a step, his face reddening with embarrassment. He put his hand over his wound to hide it from view. “Sorry I uh… didn’t make it. How’d it go?” He had a better look at her now, and despite the concerned look on her face he could see in her body language that she was almost as drained as he was.

 

She shrugged, choosing instead to lie through her teeth and move the conversation back to the wound on the boy’s head, “I suppose it went okay. He’s a bloody cheat you know. Seriously, Yushiro, that looks dreadful. We’re only a short way from my apartment, can you let me clean you up?” It was about then that she realized she had just invited the boy into her place of living, and straightened up a bit, “Unless of course you don’t want to, anyway. I won’t force you. That cut just… it doesn’t look great. We can at least get out of the rain. I’m sure my eyeliner is miserable.”

 

Yushiro pulled his hand away from his face and looked at his now-red fingers. “Actually you look nice.” He replied, more thinking aloud than talking to her. His head throbbed again as realized this, and he quickly tried to move the conversation along. “A-anyway if you're offering then sure. It does hurt a bit….” He winced. “Ok, more than a bit. Yeah, lets go.”

 

Elizabeth’s expression twisted a bit, more amused than anything, Is he really trying to flirt with me with blood getting all over his shirt? Boys are unbelievable. She put her hand flat against his back with a light shove in the direction of her apartment, “On then, let’s go before you bleed too much more. My couches are expensive, you know. Can’t have you getting your insides all over them. Delia is a fan of leather, and she insisted I match it to the hardwood. Like bloody leather even matches hardwood. Preposterous. Anyway, how did you even get this cut?”

 

“I tripped on my way over here. Guess I hit the pavement a bit harder than I thought.” He looked away for a moment, then changed the subject again. “So you didn’t win your game, then. Sorry to hear that.”

 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not much of a duelist anyway, probably a foolish notion in the first place.”

 

--

 

After a few moments of rambling, Elizabeth and Yushiro finally made it to her apartment, and Beth was quick to gesture Yushiro straight through the hallway into her room, where the bathroom was located.

 

“Don’t mind the laundry and all that, just head straight into the bathroom. I’ll grab a few things from the kitchen to clean you up. You should probably wash it out a bit.” Elizabeth scurried across the floor as daintily as she could, quickly grabbing the first aid kit she kept above the knives in her kitchen, grabbing bandages, wipes, and whatever else she felt would be helpful.

 

“Yeah, sure.” He complied, tossing his wet jacket across the floor and running water over his face. It ran down the drain red for a few moments, and stung viciously for just a bit longer than that, but after the process was done the wound was clean. Thankfully, it wasn’t too severe, though it was certainly deep enough to look particularly nasty, and the bleeding, though slowed, hadn't stopped. He tried not to think about how awkward this whole chain of events had become, and instead focused on assessing his own condition while he waited. Still, he couldn’t quite forget the fact that he was alone with a cute girl in her dorm for the first time in his life.

 

“Are you still alive in there, mate?” Elizabeth only half-joked as she turned the corner, relieved to see that he was only a little scuffed up, hardly in bad shape, “Why don’t we get that nasty thing covered up then. Hold still.” Without much in the way of bedside hospitality, she quickly ran a sterilizing wipe over the cut and stuck a bandage over it with her other hand in a quick motion. She was positive it was less than comfortable, but she knew it did the trick.

 

“Sorry, grew up with a brother. Fairly used to this type of ‘surgery’. Best to just get it over with.”

 

Yushiro rubbed his finger over the bandage. “Well… thanks. Sorry to impose on you like this, Elizabeth.”

 

Elizabeth waved her hand in dismissal, “It’s nothing, truly. Actually, in all of the commotion I forgot the real reason I was hoping to run into you…” she pulled Yushiro out of her bathroom by the arm to her desk, where her deck box was. She opened it up and fished through to reveal his Nitro Booster, albeit a bit worse for wear. It had suffered a scratch or two from hitting the pavement in the fashion that it did.

 

“I believe this belongs to you? You never gave me your number, so I wasn’t able to reach you. I think it fell from your person when we collided. Sorry about that.”

 

Yushiro’s eyes widened. He’d actually forgotten that he was missing his best card, and the surprise buoyed his spirits. “Don’t mention it. Guess that’s twice I owe you now, huh.” He gave her a half-smile; the best he could manage between his energy level and the sheer amount of embarrassment he was feeling.

 

She shrugged a bit and looked away, “Oh please, I’m the one getting myself into all this trouble.” she shambled towards the couch and threw her weight into, leaning against the back and holding her hand to her forehead, “Can’t believe I embarrassed myself like that today. Truth be told I’m fortunate you weren’t there. I prefer you to see me in this light, where I’m helpful and apparently attractive.” she was rambling, but there’s only so long you can keep things together. She blinked back a tear or two as the rock began to form again in her stomach.

 

Yushiro blushed. “What do you mean? You needed a cheering section, right?” He walked over and sat down on the couch, deliberately as far away from her as possible. Looking at her now, it was plainly obvious that something was the matter.

 

“Cheering section? Heavens no. Ashley was off being the president, and when you used to be the number one duelist around here, and you aren’t any longer, things go… tits up, I’ll say, in the friends department.” She sat back up, tying her hair back and shrugging her shoulders slightly.

 

“Sounds like they weren’t really your friends to begin with, then.” He paused, thinking about what to say next. “But wouldn’t you want someone there to cheer you on, in that case? It's not like my opinion of you would change if you won or lost. Heck, you saw some pretty awful dueling on my part the other day, didn’t you?”

 

Elizabeth chuckled slightly, still a bit somber in tone, “You must really get on with your mates, then. It’s nice. When I dueled every day, of course I would. I suppose now it just isn’t very high on the list of priorities. Not sure many people would like to see me succeed anyhow.” she nodded her head in agreement with Yushiro, “Of course there are things you could improve on, but not everyone is like you, or at least what I know of you. Some people lose respect for you when you stop dueling.”

 

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Yushiro hadn't really thought of his relationship with Akira and everyone else as anything special, but perhaps he just didn’t know better until now. “But…. well I don’t know. I guess what I’m trying to ask is… uhh.” Well, beating around the bush clearly wasn’t getting him anywhere. Time to dive in head first. “Sorry, I don’t wanna pry or anything, but it looks like something’s really bothering you. I don’t know you very well or anything… but I’m a good listener. Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

 

Strangely, Elizabeth outright laughed at Yushiro’s response, “Oh dear, I really have gone mad, haven’t I? Even complete strangers think i’m a mess.”

 

Yushiro went bright red. “N-nono I didn’t mean it like that!” He interjected. “Well... when something’s really bugging me it usually helps when I talk to someone about it. I don’t think you’re a mess or anything, just… sad I guess. You were really looking for that win, weren’t you.”

 

Beth rose from her seat and walked over to Yushiro, “You really are sweet aren’t you. That’s a very genuine care you have for people.” Beth picked up her cellphone from the coffee table and handed it to Yushiro, “Why don’t we get to know each other better. I have questions of my own, but I’m not going to search high and low for you again, I’m afraid I’ll need your number this time. Not sure my arse can really handle being thrown into the ground again to meet with you.” she smiled, slightly.

Yushiro breathed an internal sigh of relief. He was half expecting things to have blown up in his face, but somehow or other he’d managed not to make a complete fool out of himself. He was still blushing, but hey, it was progress. He took Elizabeth’s phone from her hand, spending a minute figuring out how to work the menus before entering his contact information. “Yeah, I’d like that.” He replied as he handed it back to her. “Better than cutting my face open, that’s for sure.” He took another moment to process, then realized she was changing the subject. “You don’t have to open up about it or anything to me if you’re not feeling up to it, either.”

 

Blushing, ironically, made her a bit nervous; that was when she lost her touch in a conversation, “It’s not that I’m not up to it Yushiro, it’s more…” she took a deep sigh, trying to keep her face from going flush as well, “I think I really quite enjoy your company, is all. I wouldn’t want to ruin that. I know we’ve barely met but, you have a kind heart. Sometimes I think it would be nice to get out more, you understand?”

 

“Did… did you just ask me out?” he asked rather bluntly, not sure how to respond. If there was one subject area that Yushiro Midori was clueless about, it was dating. His face continued to retain its rosy hue, and for the life of him he couldn’t bring himself to look her back in the eye for more than half a second. He was too nervous.

 

At this point, Beth had shot clean past mildly unnerved to beat red; her normally rather pale skin tone now flush with color, “Well, uhm” she closed her eyes, even when she was being nice it would appear she messed this one up, “Well not quite, it’s been some minutes since I’ve been out on one of those.” she put her hands up, trying to backpedal, “Although, I suppose if you were to ask, even though I don’t really know much about you I-” she stopped, and looked down at her table; for some mysterious reason she thought of Ashley: What would Ashley say to this? Elizabeth thought, Well, Ashley probably would have just kissed him by now, but what would she have told me?

 

She looked back up at Yushiro, “Well, why don’t we try some coffee? We don’t have to call it a date or any such thing, clearly we’re both handbaskets about the idea, but it could just be you and I, together, at Coffeecards, yes? We can ask all manners of questions. We can always decide later if it’s a date, no?”

 

Ashley’s right, kissing them is a much better option. But a coffee with the boy sounds nice as well. Elizabeth thought to herself

 

“S-s-sorry.” He barely stuttered out. So much for not making a fool of himself. The awkwardness was palpable now, and it took him a solid ten or so seconds before he settled on what to say next. “Sure. Lets hang out. Maybe get a friendly game of duel monsters in if you’d feel so inclined?” Card games. Yes. Something he was comfortable with. Just ignore the weirdness and roll with it. Good plan.

 

Elizabeth was back to laughing, something of a deeper, yet still feminine laugh, “Card games?! My word, you really do belong at this blasted campus don’t you? Yes, fine. I would love to play card games on our date-not-date-date. Why don’t you swing by my place in 2 days, we can go together. I’ll wear my best. For our… card games.” she nodded; he was certainly a strange one, but Elizabeth was the right mix of interested and lonely to entertain it, plus he was cuter than he let on, even with the giant bandage on his forehead.

 

“It’s just usually something I do when I’m hanging out with a friend. Keeps me occupied I guess. Honestly I uhh..” He was embarrassed to admit what came next. “I’ve never really, like, gone anywhere. Alone. With a girl, before. I’m cool with doing something else if you’d rather.”

 

She shook her head, “No, no. I want to do this the way you imagined it. I’ll wear something nice, and we’ll play some cards. Nothing more until you’re comfortable with the idea. We’ll just get to know each other.”

 

He nodded. “I’ll… try and look a bit better than I do today.” He joked. “ But yeah, let’s do it.” He glanced toward the bathroom, where his jacket still was. “I don’t wanna overstay my welcome though. Should probably get going.”

 

“Oh!! Right, well I suppose you’ve things to do. I’ll grab your coat.” she skittered down the hallway, returning in no more than a few seconds, handing him his coat, “I’m glad you’re okay. But if you beat me with Nitro Booster in a few days I’m going to regret being so honest with you.” she winked, still blushing slightly.

 

“I might have to. Can’t afford to pull any punches with an number one duelist, can I.” He winked back, his own cheeks still just as rosy. Yushiro made his way toward the door, then stopped when he was halfway out. “Hey, Elizabeth. Feel better, ok?”

 

----

And so now here he was, at the club fair in spite of himself, looking for the duel team booth. Yushiro still wasn't sure it was a good idea; he valued his free time, but the thought of impressing Elizabeth when they next hung out was enticing. Plus, he needed the practice if he was going to beat Hiraku... in front of everybody. He shook the thought out of his head as he approached the booth. There was a girl with a very nice looking hat sitting there.

“Uhm… excuse me. This is where we sign up for Duel team, right?” Yushiro rubbed the bandage on his forehead nervously. He’d never done something like this before and didn’t really know how to come off.

 

OP

 

 

Episode 3: Clouds

 

The time had finally come. What time, the freshmen of Blue Yonder may have asked? Why, club recruitment week! That special five-day span near the beginning of the school year where the school clubs went all-out, putting up posters, booths, and more to try and reel in as many new members as they possibly could! And indeed, quite a bit of club efforts were meant to incentivize freshmen to join. With the school day for today having let out, now was the time for students to look for clubs to join, or for those already in clubs to try recruiting new members. Despite the excitement though, there seemed to be a dreary undercurrent running through campus; a small twinge of sadness in spite of everything else.

Like move-in day a week and a half before, campus was crowded with stalls and activities. Instead of diversions meant to entertain families and new students though, each and every one was perfectly engineered to attract students so that they could sign away on that all-important piece of paper (and several of their precious free hours every week). For some it was subtle, others extravagant, but every single one had the heart and soul of its members poured into it. As was tradition.

 

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