Pokemon Obsidian

[SoraWolf7]

Ed chuckled at the sight of Geana getting herself free from the Tyrogue's suplex. "Looks like he wants to prove himself to you Geana," Ed commented as he saw Marie and the Tyrogue "talking".

"Well, I think he's got the right idea," Ed commented as he walked over. "Battles don't always have to be about strength, and the same goes for contests. Appeal comes from what you can show from your pokemon, and you can show how strong a pokemon is as well."

[panahinuva]

Nicola squinted at the Tyrogue clinging to Marie's neck. "I suppose you're right." She admitted, pokeball vanishing again. As the breeder ran up, she watched with interest as the Tyrogue danced away from the return beam. "Interesting, haven't seen a pokemon react like that in a while." She commented with amusement, glancing down at one of her own pokeballs. "I think the little guy might have some appeal for cute or cool contests." She added to Marie. "Depending on what moves you wanted to teach him and what he has an affinity for." She continued authoritatively.

[Mitsunami]

"You...think so? Hmm...." Marie opened her Pokédex and pointed it at the little grappler, bypassing the voiced-over readout in favor of checking it's capabilities, then tapped her chin before her eyes lit up. "Ahh, maybe I could try...hmmm...yes, yes, it would work! And even better..."

She squatted down so she was eye-level with the Fighting Pokémon, and patted its head. "It sounds like this is what you want, too. So, just to be sure...you want to come with me?"

The Tyrogue gave a smile as it nodded happily, pumping a fist into the air.

"Well, in that case, shall I give you this?" the breeder asked, holding out the Premier Ball belonging to the Tyrogue...only to have the fighter jump up, grab the ball itself, and stamp it under its foot, crushing it to pieces before sticking its tongue out at the breeder and crossing its arms.

<Keep that for yourself! You're not giving me away to anyone...I'm going with this person because I want to, so the ball I get will be one of hers.>

It took a moment for Marie to catch on, but she finally pulled out a Premier Ball of her own, tapping it against the Tyrogue's head. It was sucked inside, and with a single click, the red core dimmed, leaving the ball laying quiet in Marie's hand. She smiled as she stood up, spinning in place as she raised the ball.

"Maybe not in the traditional way, but...I caught a Tyrogue!" she declared.

The breeder shook his head, muttering something about every batch of eggs having a rebellious one as he picked up the broken pieces of the ball. DJ watched him for a moment before looking to Ed and Geana. "Well, that was...memorable. Should we be off now?"

[SoraWolf7]

Ed nodded. "Yeah, let's get going," he replied. "The sooner I can do some team prepping, the better."

[Geno XIII]

"We're leaving already?" Geana pouted, now somehow adjusting to give her new baby pokemon a piggyback ride... The pokemon was enjoying the view of literally looking down on humans for once. "I bet there's a gym here, can we train some and storm that place for some badges!?" she said excitedly.

[Chris_B]

"Congrats, Marie!" Kaylee said with a grin. "I think he's gonna be a bit of a handful, but you can certainly handle him!" She then looked off in the direction of the contest hall. "Now, we were gonna head to the contest hall, right? I wanna watch your first show before training for the gym!" Bianca chirped happily in agreement, raising both of her arms in excitement.

[Mitsunami]

DJ snickered at the exchange going on between the Pokémon and its new trainer before turning to Geana and Ed. "That's the idea- some training, maybe some catching, and then we go see what this city's gym leader is made of...though I don't think they'd face all of us at once. Would probably need time to give their Pokémon a rest...anyway, let's see what the outside has to offer, shall we?"

Off to the west, a small rest-stop building marked the passage out to Route 117, with Verdanturf Town at the other end of that route. To the east, Route 118 would beckon, with a strong water scent in the air, several fisherman and other trainers dotting the small chunk of land before the short water crossing that would block the way for anyone who did not wish to swim or try to ride a swimming Pokémon...while the north had a dry feeling in the air, the winds of Route 111 carrying a mix of sand and volcanic ash down from the desert and the towering Mount Chimney.

"Which way you wanna go? I think you said off to the west before..."

------------

Marie placed the new ball in her bag alongside Snivy's before pointing over to the dazzling decorations of the contest hall and smiling to Nicola and Kaylee. "So? What's the hold-up, let's go register and see what a real contest is like in person! Might get some great tips for when I compete in my own for the first time..."

She'd hurry towards the sparkling building, seeming noticeably cheerier now that she'd finally managed to catch a new Pokémon like most of the others, even if it hadn't quite been what she had in mind at first.

[SoraWolf7]

Ed nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to head to the west. Not into Verdanturf, but just onto the route itself so we can train and maybe catch some new Pokemon," he replied.

[Chris_B]

Kaylee smiled as she followed Marie to the contest hall. While she was not interested in participating herself, she did want to cheer on her friend and support Marie in her first show. Besides, Marie and Nicola both made contests sound fun, so she definitely wanted to at least see what was involved in one.

[Geno XIII]

"I'm OK with that, I guess... I haven't been paying attention to my map anyway - actually I don't even remember if I brought one..." Geana tilted her head, almost toppling Toryogue off of her shoulders as it flailed its arms for balance.

[Mitsunami]

"In that case, east it is...let's go!"

DJ headed off towards Route 117, the brief trip through the rest stop building opening up into a long, grassy trail, the crisp scent of clean air greeting everyone as they walked out into the open. The Pokémon Daycare the breeder belonged to could be seen off to the north, while several trainers could be seen along the trail, either talking with each other, battling, or sitting down to enjoy a snack break. Several berry bushes were visible along the path, and many patches of tall grass or small ponds that were likely teeming with Pokémon.

DJ whistled, staring out at the expanse of opportunities. "Well...where to start? Suppose we could try to build our teams...or build our strength...hmm..."

He took off, going towards one of the ponds. "I'm gonna see what Voltorb can do! Better go easy on it to start and find a water-type opponent..."

-------------

Inside the contest hall, there appeared to be a desk for registration, along with a reminder on the wall to sign up for contest passes...but Marie's attention was more firmly caught by the loud cheers coming from the hallway behind the desk. She grinned and tossed the two balls from her backpack into the air. "Come out!"

Tyrogue and Snivy appeared, gazing up at her, briefly glancing at the sounds of cheers from behind them. Marie kneeled down, holding a finger up as she spoke to the two with a smile.

"Okay, listen up you guys! That cheering in there is gonna be all for us someday! But if we want to make that happen, we need to see what's expected of us first! So let's go and observe these contests!"

Her Pokémon nodded to her and each stuck close by her ankles as she entered the hall...revealing five sets of double doors, each one labeled by a lit sign just above it. Clockwise from where Marie stood at the hallway entrance, the two on her left read "Cool" and "Beauty", the door at the far end of the hall read "Cute" and coming back around on her right were "Clever" and "Tough".

"Oh wow...um...I guess try to get a look at each one...?" Marie suggested, starting to look a bit overwhelmed again. Nevertheless, she walked into the Clever door first, gazing out onto the lit stage while the many fans screamed and applauded.

"Okay!" the announcer called, pointing to the stage entrance with dramatic flair. "Next up, a contest favorite, appearing for his fifth consecutive season, the Dazzling Strategist, Armand!"

The young man who walked out from behind the curtain had a set of thick glasses on his nose, too thick to see his eyes through, but wore a confident smile and a loose-fitting casual outfit of shorts and a T-shirt. He held up an Ultra Ball and tossed it into the air with a grin at the audience.

"Time to shine, Kecleon!"

The Pokémon that appeared on the stage was a small, green and yellow lizard-like creature, with jagged crests above its eyes and a red zigzag pattern around its middle like a belt. It opened its mouth to greet the audience with a loud cry, showing off its pink, sticky tongue.

Armand held his arm out dramatically as he began the routine. "Kecleon, Substitute, twice over!"

With a nod, Kecleon let off a green aura from its scales, the aura leaping from its body and solidifying itself, producing first one, then two small figures on the stage, each looking to be a small greenish doll vaguely resembling a chubby dragon.

"Now Camouflage!"

Kecleon responded to this by vanishing, its body seeming to go transparent...though if one looked close, they could still see the red zigzag pattern, as if it were hanging in the air.

"Now, time to dance, Kecleon!"

The Substitute dolls suddenly started to move, moving close to each other and spinning, then zipping away from each other and bounding and dancing all over the stage. Kecleon was apparently manipulating them while invisible, holding onto one with its arms and using its long tongue to control the other! The crowd was eating it up, cheering even louder as the two dolls seemed to jump towards each other, heading for a collision about fifteen feet above the stage.

"Now the finale! Kecleon, Psybeam!"

At this, the Kecleon reappeared, the green parts of its scales having turned a somewhat dark shade of pink as it launched a dazzling, rainbow-hued beam into the air. It struck the Substitutes, causing them to burst in a shower of green sparks, looking like fireworks as they rained down on the field. Armand and Kecleon took their bows while the crowd went crazy with cheers, and the three judges boards' lit up- 8, 8, 10.

"Wow...that was...impressive handling..." Marie whispered, slowly backing out the door. "I...what about over here?"

[Mitsunami]

Marie entered the next door, this one marked for Toughness, looking down at a new stage and a new trainer, this one a young woman with short, spiky hair in a deep purple hue and an arrogant smirk on her face. According to the scoreboard, her name was Andrea. Her eyes were hidden by a pair of Black Glasses she wore while the rest of her was dressed in a pair of tattered jeans and a sleeveless shirt with a kanji reading "darkness" over her chest. A small bamboo sprig stuck out from between her lips as she raised a Dusk Ball.

"Let's show these wimps what real power is! Honchkrow, make 'em scream!" she called, the ball bursting open in a cloud of black and purple, out of which streaked an enormous pair of black-feathered wings. The wings belonged to a bird Pokémon, one that appeared to be wearing a wide-brimmed hat, while a glaring red plumage was visible inside each of its wings, and on its tail feathers. A triangle of snowy white covered its chest, giving it the appearance of a mobster with a dark suit on over a puffy white shirt. It cawed menacingly at the crowd, who shivered a bit, but clapped all the same.

Andrea wasted no time, pointing up and delivering her first order. "Honchkrow, use Dark Pulse!"

The bird Pokémon responded by opening its beak, firing a burst of twisting black energy into the air.

"Now Hidden Power!"

Honchkrow cut off the Dark Pulse, now letting out a burst of glowing white spheres from its beak, which spun through the air in a ring formation, encircling the Dark Pulse and walling it in, the two attacks now hanging in the air above the stage, almost looking like a close-up view of an atom, the Hidden Power Ring spinning all around the violently-spiraling Dark Pulse nucleus.

"All right, now for the part where we really blow their minds! Brave Bird, full speed!"

Honchkrow gave another bone-chilling caw before pumping its wings, a fiery red aura flaring up around its body, which then brightened to a dazzling blue as it sped up, shooting at the floating attack combo like a comet, then plowing through it, creating an explosion that shook the room, the area above the stage looking as if a small star had just gone supernova. A moment later, Honchkrow flapped up above the aftermath of the explosion, spreading its wings with one more mighty caw.

The audience was duly impressed, as were the judges apparently. Nines across the board.

[Mitsunami]

Marie gulped, her hands shaking slightly as she joined in the applause. Snivy appeared a little intimidated, but Tyrogue simply crossed its arms and scoffed, apparently certain that it could do better.

"Well...um...next one...?" Marie suggested, once again backing out of the room, and heading into the room for Beauty contests. They once again arrived just in time for the announcer to bring in a new trainer.

"And now, wrapping up the appeal portion of this Beauty Contest...er, well...give it up for...Shroud...?"

The announcer seemed unsure, which was easily explained as the trainer who walked onto the stage was completely covered in a floor-length dark purple cloak, the hood completely obscuring their face.

"Hello...I will begin now..." the trainer greeted the judges. Even their voice was completely monotone and androgynous, making their identity even more of an enigma. Regardless, the trainer calling themself Shroud raised a Pokéball and tossed it onto the stage, releasing a large, round-bodied Pokémon with short, yellowish fur coating most of its body, and thick, short green limbs. The dull beak making up its mouth was stretched into a broad smile, while the lotus pad sprouting from the top of its head gave the impression of a sombrero. The odd creature began a cheery dance in place, getting some cheerful laughter from members of the audience.

Marie appeared stunned. "Uh...what? That thing is...?"

She opened her Pokédex and pointed it, the tiny screen flashing on in the half-darkened stands-

Ludicolo- the Carefree Pokèmon. Ludicolo is the evolved form of Lombre. Every cell of this Pokémon's body will fill with energy when it hears festive music. This can allow Ludicolo to demonstrate impressive power, even in battle.

"Uh...well, that's great, but...it looks so silly! How can something like that compete in the Beauty division...?"

Shroud was apparently prepared to show them- "Ludicolo, use Rain Dance." Amazing. Even when giving orders, the trainer remained completely impassive and monotone.

Ludicolo certainly wasn't, however, immediately doing a forward flip to kick off a bouncy, rhythmic dance, twitching its arms and tapping its feet. "Co-lo, co-lo, Lu~~~dicolo!" it chanted as it danced, apparently having a good time, while its body let out a soft blue aura, gathering in the air above the stage and creating a small cluster of grey clouds. Within moments, it began to rain over the stage.

"Icy Wind."

Ludicolo turned its gaze upward, sucking in a breath, then blasting out a cold rush of air from its wide mouth. All at once, the indoor rainstorm was altered, shifting from a downpour to a snowstorm, the raindrops having been altered into gently falling snowflakes.

"Next, Bubble."

The cheerful Pokémon opened its mouth again, this time expelling a stream of water bubbles, which floated up, each one managing to drift into a snowflake and encapsulate it.

"Icy Wind, once more."

One more frozen updraft from Ludicolo, and the bubbles were also flash-frozen, each with a preserved snowflake captured inside, all starting to fall towards the stage.

"Now finish with Flash."

Ludicolo spun once in place, then struck a pose, a dazzling gleam of light flaring out from its big body, causing every frozen bubble to be illuminated in midair, the effect looking like it were surrounded by a series of glass ornaments from a Christmas tree, all sparkling and glittering in the light before gently bursting as they hit the ground, surrounding the glowing Ludicolo with shimmering glacial dust.

The crowd was dead silent at first, simply staring down at the stage with all of their mouths hanging wide open...before a thunderous cheer went up, shaking the room even harder than that Honchkrow had done on the other stage. The judges themselves were giving standing ovations, each of them putting up a big bright ten on the scoreboard.

Marie, for her part, was still exhibiting the open-mouthed expression of amazement the rest of the audience had held moments before, having slumped to the floor as her knees gave out under her. She seemed to be just mildly overwhelmed by the performance she'd just witnessed.

[SoraWolf7]

Ed grinned as he took in the sight of the route. "Take care anyway, Water 'mons are tough," he commented, rubbing his nose a bit as he looked towards the grass.

"I'll head for the grass. I think the gym uses Poison-types, at least from what I read up on." He dashed for the tall grass, Squirtle following close behind.

-X-

A few battles later, Ed was beaming as both Squirtle and Ducklett were doing amazing. "Nice work you two," he congratulated his 'mons as he moved over to a Berry bush. "Let's take a break and recharge," he replied as he picked a few berries for his two mons and brought them over, setting them down for them as he took an Oran Berry himself, biting it off and enjoying the sweet fruit.

[panahinuva]

Nicola's eyes were shining the whole time, although she developed something a pouty expression during the Honchkrow's display. It looked like her eyes were going to pop out during the Ludicolo's demonstration. As Shroud watched their pokemon perform and get straight tens, she gave the shrouded figure a searching look, as though trying to figure something out. Then she turned to her cohorts. "So yeah, that's the primary judging stage of the contests." She explained, waving a hand. "Your pokemon uses its moves to try to create the most impressive spectacle possible. At our level, they won't be expecting too much. These are expert level contests, where Pokemon attacks are basically an art form." She gave a firm nod. "The next part is the secondary judging stage, where pokemon engage in a battle, trying to be as stylish as possible while doing so." She smiled. "It's tricky, but it's the part where stylish commands from the trainer are also worth points. The judges are judging how you lead your pokemon, as well as how your pokemon battles. Standing and shouting doesn't get many points. Except in the tough competitions." She grinned.

[Geno XIII]

Taking out more wild Pokemon was fine for Geana's Charmander, due to the many grass and bug types scrapping for fights. She only hoped her little fire lizard wouldn't start a bushfire. Though she quickly noticed her new baby pokemon was having some trouble keeping up, especially due to being probably close to level one or so, she kept having to return him to his ball before getting clobbered and using more of her medicine to keep his hp up.

"Hm... this isn't working..." she groaned, rubbing her temples near Edward as his team took a break. "There's gotta be a less dangerous way to train him..." Both Charmander and the struggling fighting Pokemon slumped against her on either side as she slumped against a tree.

[Silver]

Out the northern exit of Mauville city, up route 111 a small Vulpix ran ahead, a young female trainer chasing her pokemon as she lead her outside of town. "Red! Red stop! Where are you going?" Valerie bent over, out of breath as her Vulpix turned and waited for her to catch her breath. "Don't just run off Red...." She stood upright again, the air drying out her mouth as the desert in the distance caught her attention.

"Oh my..... it's so dry..." Valerie started walking again, Red waiting patiently for her trainer to catch up. "Lily, have you ever seen an something like-" She turned around, quickly realizing that Lilith wasn't there, having lost her when she was chasing Red. "... Oh." She bit her lip, sad to see that she had been separated from her new friend. "Shou-... should we go back?" A moment after she said that she shook her head. "No. I'll... We'll be fine. Come on red.... let's see what's out here..." Taking a deep breath she started forward again, Red moving along side her looking pleased.

[Mitsunami]

"Good, now Spark, one more time!"

Voltorb growled fiercely as electricity surrounded its spherical body, then rolled forward and jumped over the water like a crackling cannonball, slamming into the wild Magikarp just at the instant it jumped. With a quiet gurgle, the fish Pokémon sank back into the clear pond, its eyes replaced with dizzy spirals. Voltorb used the impact to bounce itself back to shore, a tinny laugh escaping it as it reveled in its victory. DJ applauded the explosive ball-monster, looking proud. "Excellent! Your timing is much better already, and your speed is already unbeatable! We've got our first gym battle all set to go at this rate!"

-------------

Back by Ed and Geana, there would be a sudden rustling in the grass near the Oran Berry bushes, before a small Pokémon stepped out, pausing as it spotted the two humans and their own little traveling companions. The newcomer stood at just over two feet, looking like a bipedal canine of some sort, most of its fur a blue shade, apart from the hind legs, the mask over its face, the crooked tail, and a couple teardrop-shaped projections that flopped down on either side of its mask like ears, all of these being black.

It stared at them all for a moment, then blinked its eyes, opening them to reveal a reddish glow covering them...which stopped after it gazed at them all once more, then turned to the berry bush, plucking off a blue fruit for itself and beginning to munch away.

------------

Val and her Vulpix would find the route to be a bit warmer than the others, probably having to do with the looming volcano. On the right side of the path, there was a small house, with a sign on the front door boasting a family of Pokémon battling experts inside, challenging any who wished to try to take them all on, one after the other without a break. Up ahead, the path would split between heading closer to the volcano, or out into the desert, much of the grass being joined by large quantities of sand all along the whole path.

As her Vulpix led the way, it would suddenly find the sandy path sinking inward under its feet, a wide circle around its body being drawn down to a single point, as if someone had pulled a drain plug under the ground. The cause would be apparent as a Pokémon's face stuck out from the center of this sinkhole, an orange, buglike creature with a wide, gaping mouth filled with jagged teeth, and tiny black eyes. From the spiky aura Val could see around it, it had apparently decided that her Vulpix had trespassed in its territory, and it was now on the attack.

------------

Marie had seemed too shell-shocked to move for several moments, her Tyrogue frowning as it wound up to take a swing at her cheek, but ended up missing and spinning in a dizzy circle as the coordinator-in-training got to her feet, breathing a sigh of relief at Nicola's words.

"Oh, that's...okay, that's much easier to envision, then. If I had to go up against people of this level straight away, I don't know what I'd do..."

"Attention, all contestants and audience members- please direct your eyes to the central screen, as we will be displaying the qualifiers for the battle portion of our contests today!" the MC's voice rang out, while several trainers pictures began to appear on the screen, eight for every category. Armand, Andrea, and Shroud were all competing in their own divisions, by the look of it, which meant all three had a chance to take home one of the five ribbons available for the day.

"Hmm...we should probably stay for this, too..." Marie mumbled, watching the stage and barely breathing. "And maybe after I can talk with that person...see how they figured out such an amazing routine...um...of course, I still want your input, too, Nicola..." she added hastily, giving a nervous chuckle.

[SoraWolf7]

Ed blinked for a bit, feeling an odd tingling as Riolu looked at them. "What was that?" Ed asked, slowly walking towards the canine-like 'mon with one of the Oran Berries he picked.

"Hungry?" Ed asked, offering the Oran Berry to the Pokemon. "If you wanna sit down, we've got plenty to share, right guys?"

Squirtle nodded, giving a "Squirt!" of agreement. Ducklett on the other hand gave a low quack as if she didn't quite want to let Ed speak for her.

[Geno XIII]

Geana's Tyrogue perked up upon seeing the other fighting type Pokemon, though seemed to be biding his time to see if it would stick around. Though the tiny Pokemon would probably pick up on the determined, if small aura.

"Ohhh my god... it's... it's a little werewolf?" she asked as she took out her Pokedex.

[Riolu, the Emanation Pokemon - It uses the shapes of auras, which change according to emotion, to communicate with others. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it is afraid or sad.]

"Ema-what?"