4.0 Dedicated to its Members and Fans of Pokemon A Pokemon Sandbox RP
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elcome Adventurer to EPOCH! A Pokemon Sandbox Rp set in the original region of Nue. Everything you need to know will be in the Guidebook and PokeDex 101!
EPOCH uses the Manga and is built on the Original ideas suggested by our members.
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RULES
Understand We're All Human. Respect the staffers as well as your fellow members and guests. We all have flaws, tempers and quirks. Be patient with one another, but if issues involving other members come up please don’t just grin and bear it. Contact a staff member, informing them of what's going on so they can address and resolve the situation. The staff won't know what's bothering you unless you tell them.
EPOCH is PG-13. Proboards’ Terms of Service:
Sex; When you get under the clothes, fade to black.
Violence; Do not go into extreme nauseating detail.
Cursing; This is so fucking allowed, but don't go overboard.
Suggestive Content; In avatars, signatures and templates can attract the wrong kind of attention. So be careful.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 25, 2014 8:33:47 GMT -5
For once Izumi was early—she’d already received the message, along with the date and time, of the previously-agreed on meeting place. She was kind of surprised to find out that her “master” (or as she called him over the phone, shisho) was also in the Kalos region; specifically he was also searching the Badlands just like her. She’d already let slip that she’d gone to the Tower over in Shalour, and was regally humiliated and driven out—so now she was avoiding Shalour (as well as the Tower) at all costs; at least until she got stronger than what she was currently capable of at the moment. She had also decided to switch around her Sandstorm-related team for something else; dumping most of them back into the Storage save two: the Swampert; as well as the Lairon that was now indefinitely stuck on its first-stage evolution. She then plucked out several more companions, and chuckled—because one of them was Momo, her already-shiny Gardevoir; the other one was Kimiko, a Scyther she’d acquired from Yumi; while the last one was Zira, her storm cloud-colored Torchic.
She was still unable to believe that her coloration was caused by the fact that her “father” had some sort of curse laid on him—and she then suddenly remembered that Zi’s mother was also mama Kaji; and she then shuddered at the thought of Arashi (and Inferno too) realizing that they had a Torchic for a half-sister (plus the fact that she was differently-colored from birth made things just a tad more interesting) and shelved the thoughts as she then arrived at the designated meeting spot, but… where was he?“Well, well, will you look at that,” she muttered to herself, quickly plucking out Zira’s containment unit and sending the female Torchic out, watching as the dark-and-light grayish-purple hued Chick ‘mon made her appearance. “Tooooorrrr,” she heard her crow, before pecking at the ground with her beak, staying as close as she could to Izumi’s legs; before hopping around her in some weird sort of dance.
“Hmm, wonder what’s keeping him,” she continued, reaching for her shoulder bag and extracting a flask of water, before taking a sip from it. What does he have in store for me, I wonder. I’m… somewhat afraid of this and excited for it at the same time… she thought to herself as she then sealed the cap, before continuing to look around, watching the unusually-colored Torchic hopping around in front of her.
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WORDS 415 TAGSShisho. (a.k.a. Zernebog Romanov) NOTESusing the normal-colored Torchic mini-sprite for now, sarreh.
Post by Zernebog Romanov on Aug 31, 2014 10:38:26 GMT -5
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There were very few instances where Zernebog was late. In fact, he was usually early to appointments and meetings. It was something that was ingrained to him since he was just a kid, since his Mama and his grandparents were sticklers for attendance as long as they gave their word.
Despite the fact that Izumi may or may not be thinking otherwise, Zernebog was in fact not late. He was early as usual to this appointment. It was kind of hard to be late when the meeting place was right outside of his hotel a few hours after his usual wake-up time. He hadn’t been bar-hopping in a long while so he didn’t have any reason to be up past the normal evening hours like he used to anyways, so he didn’t have a reason to be late.
Still, why might Izumi think he was late? Because he was hiding in a corner, letting the shadows cover his form as he observed his student interact with a strangely-colored Torchic that could only be Helios’ daughter.
He spent a few more moments observing his student before finally deciding to step out into the light. ”Good to see that you got here early, Izumi. Though I’m disappointed about your situational awareness. So underdeveloped for a traveler.”
Zernebog was smirking as he approached them casually. ”I presume that’s Helios’ kid you got there, from the stormcloud colors that it’s got goin’ on?”
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Sept 1, 2014 6:37:23 GMT -5
The Torchic had taken to puffing out little indigo-colored fireballs when a sudden voice caught Izumi off-guard, causing her to shriek and very nearly jumped out of surprise to see that, all along, he was hiding himself in the shadows not too far from where they were supposed to meet! “Geez you almost gave me a heart attack there,” she mumbled to herself for a few moments before turning around and then arranging her features into her best “poker” face, but ultimately settling for something that was a cross between startled and puzzled. “Well, you did say get to this spot by this time. I wasn’t exactly expecting you to be lurking in the shadows… ready to scare the hell out of anyone who walks by,” she began, before the topic of discussion was changed to the unusually-colored Torchic that was now staring at him.
“Well, yes. That’s her, complete with indigo-colored flames. Thank you for lending me the Blaziken so that I could get her,” she continued, going into a formal bow, before straightening up once again and getting to the topic at hand. “Alright… what’s on the agenda today? Physical training? Psychological? Spiritual? Or would it all be a surprise…” she trailed off, knowing that surprises were mostly his thing; and whatever she would be walking into would be either one of, all of, or none of the things that she’d mentioned just a few moments ago! “I also brought along a different team of Pokémon to be fair,” she added, suddenly remembering that she was traveling light… light by Pokémon standards, that is. Well, that and Momo is the only one who can… technically hold herself if ever he does challenge me to a battle… ugh, this sucks, beaten by two different leaders and no effort to show for it… she thought in the back of her mind, temporarily flashing back to the two different scenarios she’d encountered before—what if she wasn’t really the kind of person made out to be a Trainer?
But then, how do you explain the almost ninety specimens living with me…rather, under my leadership but running free in Unova… she continued musing to herself, trying to read his expression, but ultimately failing; why did her master have such a deadpan poker face?! Argh, I can’t read his expression at all! How the hell does he keep his face blank?! Agh, I hate being made the fool! She continued to herself, still keeping an eye on whatever he was going to do next. Down at her feet, she had her backpack ready; crammed with extra change of clothes, sun block, her shades, some extra sandwiches… and that little case that held her little secret—and no, it wasn’t a badge container. She could guess that by now that he already knew what she was up to in the Badlands…
Post by Zernebog Romanov on Sept 14, 2014 3:27:33 GMT -5
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There was nothing more satisfying to an ex-mercenary than the sound of screams. It meant that he was still as sharp and sneaky as ever despite not participating in anything that would test his stealth abilities since either that maze back in November of last year or that Silph co. building that he infiltrated around September or October of last year.
He almost frowned. That was a horribly long time to lay down low and be squeaky clean. It was almost enough to label him as someone on the straight and narrow. Just the thought made him want to break out in shudders. He could feel his mentors back in Hoenn rolling in the ditches that served as their graves at the thought of him being a perfectly nice guy. Heck, they’re probably still rolling from the fact that he had let himself be hired on by the League as one of their battle coaches and act as one of their dogs.
Instead of dwelling on those disconcerting thoughts though, Zernebog put on a flawless show smirk and chuckled as he gave Izumi a heavy pat on the back with his non-bandaged hand after she had bowed. ”Heh! Nothing like a little surprise to keep you on your toes, student.”
His show smirk became a genuine grin as he let go of his student’s shoulder and knelt down at the Torchic. He then gave her a little wave. ”Hey there little lady. It’s nice to meet one of my pokemon’s kids for once. I hope you’re enjoying yourself being with my student over there?”
He gave the small oddly-colored Torchic time to react before standing back up and nodding at Izumi. ”I’m not sure why exactly that would be fair since you didn’t give me context or anything, but you know me well enough to know what the answer is student.”
He then started walking away from the hotel. ”Now come along, we aren’t holding the session here. Too many prying eyes. We’ll be doing it somewhere else.” He smirked and didn’t bother to stop walking. ”And before you ask, you’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Sept 14, 2014 4:08:52 GMT -5
“Surprise…? You almost scared me out of my skin,” Izumi began, feeling a heavy thump on her back after she’d bowed in his direction. She then looked down at Zi, who was now apparently looking up at the white-haired, amber-eyed individual who was now regarding her presence… and then attempted to hop onto his hand—but in reality he was just waving at her. “Tooorrr, torchic. Tor?” the storm cloud-colored Chick ‘mon said in a friendly chirrup, picking up the scent—more like the smell—of her father on this individual that her own “caretaker” (she wasn’t fully inclined to use ‘mistress’ as most of her companions did—not yet anyway) had a high sense of respect for. “Well, at least she knows who’s who,” she said a few moments later as the Torchic then returned to scratching the ground right in front of her; glad to at least see the person who apparently had her father in his possession.
At his next remark, she then gave a dry chuckle his way, before secretly cringing in the back of her mind. Are you some kind of space-age ninja or something? She thought to herself as he then stood back up, before looking around. She was about to ask when he cut her off as he began walking away from the hotel; apparently headed somewhere—and she then picked up her backpack full of supplies and then gave a sharp whistle to the Torchic, who then looked up and hopped over to where she was. “Come on girl, let’s go. We’re headed… on an adventure,” she ended simply with this puzzled look on her face as she tried to keep up with him; he was cutting through the crowd at a quick pace. I wonder what he’s up to. Well, best to brace myself for whatever…deviousness he has planned, she thought to herself as she squared her shoulders and followed him through the crowded city streets.
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WORDS 325 TAGSShisho NOTESZi isn't scared of you. Nope, not at all...
Post by Zernebog Romanov on Sept 30, 2014 4:57:58 GMT -5
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After navigating through the many twists and turns that Luminose’s streets had –and getting lost more than a few times in the process despite making this city his temporary home for more than a few months now (not that he’ll ever admit it if asked)- and exiting through one of the southern exit gates, they finally arrived at a clearing near the city. The clearing was just a grassy plains with the odd rock and patch of flowers scattered around here and there, which was perfect for their first session.
Zernebog walked towards one of the bigger rocks in the area and proceeded to sit on it facing Izumi. ”Alright, here we are. Just a few minutes away from civilization. I figured that we could leave the fun rugged stuff for future sessions, so we’ll have to settle for this.” He gestured around himself at the word this.
Then he crossed his arms and locked eyes with his student, his lips curling up into a small smirk. ”Now you mentioned something about a team, right? Well I want to see the rest of your team right now before we start, Izumi.”
In the back of his mind while he waited for Izumi to show her pokemon (and thus what he had to work with for this session even though he was just winging it for this one), he reminded himself to think of a nickname for his first pupil. It wouldn’t do for a student of his to go around without a nickname from yours truly, after all.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Oct 3, 2014 3:19:48 GMT -5
“Come on now, Zi, let’s keep up as best as we can,” she chirped, watching as the storm-cloud colored Torchic scrambled to keep up with the white-haired man who reeked of her father’s scent. They’d pushed and sipped through the crowds; but the destination wasn’t going to be clear—not at least until they’d managed to go through one of the many gates and had arrived at a somewhat wide expanse of plain that had rocks dotted here and there—and she watched as he immediately staked a claim on one of the bigger rocks that were scattered around. Right, wind… ground… I seriously wonder, is he going to make me crawl through mud? She thought as she adjusted the strap of her backpack as she strode through the grass; being very careful not to step on the flowers scattered here and there. Once they’d arrived at the place, she then listened, before watching him gesture around them. In the back of her mind, she imagined some sort of brash fanfare playing at his moment of gesticulation, but chose to keep quiet about it.
“Aright, that can easily be done,” she added, noticing the smirk that was now curling up across his face. That smirk is starting to scare me… she thought with this impassive face as she then reached down her jacket and plucked out five more PokeBalls, all of them decorated in weird, unique ways. “Hey guys, come on out,” she said, popping the buttons on all five and tossing them skyward—since Zira was already out, there was no need to call her. The first beam of red light that emanated from what looked to be a battered, somewhat scratched Net Ball materialized into her gender-bent Swampert, Yuya—well; Yuya no longer, her name was now officially Kei. The Heavy Ball brought out a Lairon, who then yawned loudly upon appearing—did she wake up Arion from a nap? The next Pokémon to emerge; which came from a Safari Ball, spat out a Scyther—a very meek-looking Scyther; because apparently as she’d discovered from her previous owner, she was scared of…something that they didn’t disclose to her. the Moon Ball brought a Riolu forward—a spiky-tuft haired one, who then proceeded to dash right at her before taking a leap up onto her arms, catching her by surprise!
“Whoa! Vince… hey, settle down,” she added with a chuckle as the loopy Emanation ‘mon then sat himself down on her right shoulder before she reached up and gave him a chin tickle. The last one that came from a worn, somewhat weathered Love Ball landed with a graceful pose upon emerging from her containment unit; it was her long-time travelling companion; almost sister… a shiny Gardevoir. “Voir?” she heard Momo warble form somewhere beside her, and Izumi looked at her, before her eyebrows shot up; then making a slight nodding gesture—a sign for the embrace ‘mo to calm down and just be herself. “Well, here they are. Actually I don’t travel with a main team all the time. I switch around to get everyone trained up…” she trailed off, waiting for what he was going to say next.
Post by Zernebog Romanov on Oct 3, 2014 4:31:17 GMT -5
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Golden eyes watched unblinkingly as his student tossed up five very different-looking pokeballs in response to his request, releasing a Swampert, a sleepy Lairon, a meek Scyther, an overly-affectionate and probably very young Riolu, and… something that made his eyebrows rise up though they were hidden by his bandana – a shiny Gardevoir.
Ralts and their evolutionary line were rather rare in the regions that they originate from and almost nonexistent in regions that they don’t reside in. Seeing a shiny one was even more rare, but he couldn’t talk since his own Gardevoir was shiny and from Sinnoh. Most Gardevoir owned by trainers and seen in the wild were female though –like this one probably was- with males preferring to find a Dawn Stone in order to become Gallade instead, making his a unique case.
This was definitely more than what he had two years ago… but then he wasn’t a dedicated trainer two years ago, so he wasn’t sure if his own experiences counted. Still, as a teacher he wasn’t supposed to look impressed, which was easy enough for him since he had trained himself long ago to look unimpressed and indifferent to almost anything shown to him.
”Alright. Your team looks… adequate enough, I suppose.” He nodded to himself, his smirk still in place. ”Now, before we begin assessing your trainer skills… I have a little quiz for you.”
He paused for a moment to make sure she and her pokemon were listening before he continued. ”Exactly what do you know about each of your pokemon, knowledge-wise and personality-wise? Tell me as much as possible.”
NOTES
Knowledge refers to information about species. Stats and stuff, basically.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Oct 3, 2014 23:16:57 GMT -5
Why do I have a bad feeling about the pause before you said “adequate”, shisho… you’re definitely starting to scare me… she thought as she continued to nod in his direction; before he spoke once more; and with one look, most of her Pokémon clammed up—in fact the Riolu almost lost his balance as he tried to pitch as far forward as he could manage without falling from her shoulder. Now it’s a personality quiz? Well, not quiz, more like it might be something along the lines of “how much do I know about them”… I’ll give it my best shot, she mulled to herself just as he had stopped speaking. “First things first is the Scyther. I got her from, well, you know Yumi right? What she told me about Kimiko here, was that when she’d gotten her from the Safari Zone… that she’s deathly afraid of something. What that exact something was, she didn’t exactly expand on,” she continued, thinking back to when she’d first gotten acquainted with the Scyther, who was now attempting to sharpen up her claws. “Zira here almost burned her to a crisp while they were sparring… that’s when I noticed that Zi’s flames weren’t normally red,” she ended, cringing internally at that mental scene.
“So far, I know that she’s capable; I’m still trying to figure out what she’s deathly afraid of. That also brings me to the next one… Yuya—I mean Kei,” she continued, motioning over to the Swampert who was looking around—where was her digging partner? “Her… rather, him I got from Professor Io in Unova, in exchange for some Water-types she was looking for. Originally, Kei was a male, and was called Yuya. ‘pparently someone fed hi—her something that caused her to turn into her current gender. If you’d notice, there are three scar marks running down the middle part of her face; she got that while battling a Charmander in the Safari Zone… which then made her have an irrational fear of the Charmander line ever since,” she continued, watching as Kei was busy pawing at her face. The three slash marks were much thinner than they were as compared to her younger form; but all the same it was a defining trait of her Swampert’s. “She has a digging partner, but I don’t have him with me right now—that would be my Garchomp. As for her personality? She’s not one to fight unless she gets provoked—or has to do it out of self-defense. She’s not a big believer of getting banged up just to prove a point.”
Now that she was done describing two of them; she decided to go with Arion. “Arion over here… don’t be fooled by his sleepy demeanor. He just likes napping—whenever I’m not calling him into battle. He was such a scaredy-cat when I first found him in the Granite Caves near Dewford; but after I beat off that horde of Sableye that was chasing him down… he’s been with me ever since. He evolved into his current form after barely making it out of a horde of Onix and Steelix, along with Yuya—well, Kei. Now that he’s gotten much bigger, he’s not afraid of anything, as compared to his younger days, and he’s also quite a hothead once he gets into the thick of things,” she added, remembering her Lairon’s unusual temperament. The Riolu on her shoulder then began cooing; as if afraid of being left out of something big. “Oh, don’t worry Vince I haven’t forgotten about you. Vincent here… well you’ve already seen how playful he is. All baby Pokémon are. He’s just like Kei in terms of personality; more on the peaceful side and only fighting out of dire necessity. That, plus he likes riding on my shoulder now. Took me a bit of getting used to having his weight on me, but here he is,” she added with a chuckle, before giving the affectionate Riolu another chin-tickle that made him coo out of delight.
“Zira, you already know. I think she takes more after her father; because I’m sure her mother isn’t that much of a war-freak. She’ll attack anything hostile that’s moving within her field of vision; although whenever she tries to hug me… or any other of my Pokémon for that matter… she ends up ramming herself into whoever’s closest like a bowling ball. She’s knocked me over several times, just so you know,” she continued with a slight smirk on her face. “She’s quite aggressive; yet she still allows me to steer her in the right direction whenever we get tangled in wild battles. Her indigo-colored flames are still a source of amusement for me—and anyone else who’s seen her in action.”
Now that she’ gotten to most of her team members, she knew that she only had one more left to introduce… which is why she saved Momiji for last because Izumi knew that this Gardevoir had a very interesting history… “As for my Gardevoir over here? She was a gift from… someone. A certain someone who ended up breaking his promise to me at first when I started my journey; but that didn’t stop her from growing and maturing as a Pokémon, even without his presence. She’s seen… a lot. Having been with me the longest, you could say that me and Momiji—Momo, I call her—are almost like sisters. I’ve learned how to lengthen my patience because of her, because they’re emphatic, and pick up on emotions much faster than a sponge can pick up on water. Even if we’re not completely done yet with our training… we still learn from each other.”
At those words, the Gardevoir who was standing beside her acknowledged her mistress’ apparent “boss” with a bow, before straightening up once more. “Oh, and also, she just ‘told’ me that your poker face is like a wall. You’re not a very easy person to read,” she added with a slight chuckle. Did I do something wrong with the introduction or was that what he needed? He did say personality and quirks… unless I missed something, she thought to herself, before continuing, “I try my best to understand each and every single Pokémon under my care, even if they’re getting close to a hundred. I make time for all of them, as much as I can…”
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WORDS 1,067 TAGSShisho NOTESWord fart. Not even sorry.
Zernebog made himself comfortable on the rock he was sitting on as he listened to Izumi talk, taking mental notes all the while. And boy can she talk about her pokemon. It almost made him regret even broaching the subject in the first place.
Almost being the key word here. He actually did have a semblance of a plan in mind for this session. It just depended on her answer. However, he didn’t expect it to be such a long-winded answer but that was a Hoenn girl for you (or was that an Unovan girl? He couldn’t remember what the stereotypes were since it’s been a while since he talked to travelling scum and the like), always spewing out babble about things like this. A few concise words would have been better, but at least this proves that she does know them… or at least their personality.
Once she was done, he took a few moments to process everything she had said because he was suffering from a bit of word overload. Once he did, he frowned.
”That was sweet.” Zernebog deadpanned as he uncrossed his arms and stretched them out. ”…but you only partially answered the question. Tsk, tsk. You weren’t paying attention. Because of that, you’ll get a penalty after you answer my other question… but I’ll make it lighter if you remember what it is.”
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Oct 4, 2014 3:19:44 GMT -5
“A—a penalty?!” she exclaimed, after pouring everything out for him to hear—she had this nagging feeling she’d forgotten something, and then internally cringed at the thought of whatever nasty thoughts he had in mind. A deadpan expression usually belies an extreme sadistic personality… I know, because he was one too… she thought to herself and then looked sideways at Momo, who was now looking at her in confusion, before looking right at the poker-faced, white-haired individual—and then just cringing again, because even she could not get anything from him! Izumi had to resist the urge to drop her jaw; but then remembered something else that she’d skipped over entirely—it was the part she’d not paid much attention to—at least, because she wasn’t that much of an epic, hardcore battler unlike some people she’d seen during the tournament over in Kanto.
“Eesh,” she muttered at first, smacking a palm to her forehead as she tried to scour her memory for the other half of the answer to the question. “Do you want me to give all the specs or just what I know?” she muttered to herself, before clearing her throat and speaking up. “Truth is, I’m a Trainer… with a different way of raising them. Not by fighting through a lot of battles, but with… you know what, screw what I just said, here’s the best of what I can remember about everyone,” she continued, halting her own rambling train of thought and then getting started, this time with her Gardevoir and working in reverse this time.
“The Ralts line. Two possible final evolutions, one of which I have, the other… still in the works. Originally, the Ralts line was supposed to be purely Psychic, but as of now they’ve been reclassified and are now Psychic/Fairy; unless you count a Gallade, but they’re Psychic/Fighting. Gardevoir being better suited for ranged; and if set up with the correct move pool… can stand alone in battle. Otherwise, they can offer great support from the sidelines in double and triple battles,” she began, gesturing at Momo, who was now staring back and forth between her mistress and this white-haired individual. “Weak to Ghost-types, useless against Dark, can totally decimate Dragons if they get hit with Fairy-type moves from her, like Moonblast,” she added, remembering the weirdness of her Momo’s unique typing.
“Next up, Swampert. Thought to be mistakenly pure-Water type, they’re actually Water/Ground—a Thunderbolt doesn’t do shit to them,” she added with a chuckle, before continuing, “…more adapted to physical-type moves, but can also pick up on special moves and can boomerang attacks back—if they know the right egg moves… weak against Grass, but there are also other ways in order to bring them down” she continued, gesturing to the Swampert who was now standing at attention. She actually had her sponsor to thank about teaching her a bit on egg moves and such, and decided to continue with the little part she’d skipped over. “Torchic. As of now, they’re just purely-Fire type. Often mistaken for Flying because they look like chickens—not that it matters now. When they do evolve, they become Fire/Fighting, and more oriented for speed, physical attacks—though I’ve seen some others use them as special… Flamethrower everything why don’t they… and of course, weak to Psychic and ironically, Flying types as well,” she ended, catching her breath as she gestured to Zira, who was now in the middle of headbutting he legs.
“Scyther, Bug/Flying—often mistaken for a ninja because of the speed they’re accustomed to. Can evolve into Scizor, but that’s for another day. Their weaker moves can get a power-up boost if they have the… the right ability. Normally they’d use their Speed to get out of the way of Fire-type attacks, but that’s about it,” she continued, gesturing to Kimiko, who was now finished sharpening her own scythes and was now itching for battle. “Lairon—I thought they were purely-Steel, but as it turns out they’re Steel/Rock. Terribly weak to Ground, but nothing a Magnet Rise from a comrade to avoid that and cover their weakness. They’re a bit on the slow side, but otherwise packing powerful moves. One of its Abilites nullifies damage from… recoil moves, or whatever it is they’re called…” she went on, pointing to the Lairon, who was now fully-awake and examining the surroundings.
She was now down to the Riolu, who began to make cooing noises again—and she responded with another chin tickle. “And of course… Riolu. Purely a Fighting-type, but they gain Steel when they do evolve… of course, it’s said they can read auras, but apparently not as well as their evolved counterparts, the Lucario. Has a very versatile move set… therefore giving everyone who owns one a problem—what to specialize in, since they can be either physical or special attackers. For now, Riolu is weak to Flying and Psychic… but once he does evolve, that changes… a lot.”
Ugh, was that enough? She thought to herself as she then waited for him to speak up... and be either on the receiving end of a punishment or not!
There was something to be said about the entertainment value of someone else’s shock and suffering. Doubly so if he himself caused it. Why, those constant looks with those particular expressions from that Gardevoir were just icing on the cake! A cake tasted quite sweet and delicious in the right doses, especially if he had deprived himself of such a treat for quite a while.
True, teasing his pokemon never got old but there was just something about being able to yank out such reactions from creatures who he could actually understand on the most part without having to think about and analyze every single movement in order to figure out what they really meant to say.
However not that he thought about it he realized that he may have traded one problem for another instead. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that he learned that his first student was one hell of a motormouth once she got going –because by Arceus he could swear that she was as bad as his paternal grandmother, which was a very scary thought- but it was something to keep in mind for future encounters. You never know when a piece of information can be useful, after all.
Still, what was concerning was that there were some holes in her information. Some of them were filled with errors, like with the Gardevoir. Their weaknesses were now Steel, Ghost, and Poison with a new immunity to Dragon and a neutrality to Dark. It would have to be corrected later before she made a monumental error that would cause more losses or even get her killed in a life-or-death situation. He’d seen it happen to some idiots from the splinters of Aqua and Magma as well as in Arcane.
Others, however, were milder and more excusable for the moment. It’s like she didn’t look up and discover what her pokemon can do or even test their limits semi-frequently.
Unacceptable. He would have to change that and fast! If he was going to have a student then they were going to be damn well good by the time he was done!
So once she was finally done with all of the talking, Zernebog nodded and was silent for a few more moments before finally deciding to talk. ”Good enough I suppose. It wasn’t perfect as I heard some glaring flaws in the second half, but we’ll just have to work those out later.”
There was another, much more dramatic pause before he continued. ”Now you may be wondering what the entire point of that was. I can practically see it written on your faces. Well, it’s simple. I was trying to see how well you know your pokemon. After all, a good friend knows their friends very well, am I right?”
He didn’t bother to pause since the question was rhetorical. ”When you get to know someone, you start to trust them. Which is the entire premise of today’s lesson: trust. Trust is one of the cornerstones of this profession.” He shrugged and chuckled as he jumped off the rock. ”And if I’ll be completely honest, it’s not just that. It’s a cornerstone of this and every other society that’s passed throughout the years. It’s allowed humans to rise above their humble hunter-gatherer beginnings to become one of the dominant forces in this by working together with themselves and with pokemon.”
He smirked as he shook his head and tapped himself on the chest. ”And there’s nothing more convincing about this particular idea being a cornerstone than our race’s very own story. After all, few things are more impressive than a single species going from being nature’s personal bitch to a strong contender for the top spot, Legends notwithstanding of course.”
”There’s a lot more reasons that would prove beyond any reasonable doubt that trust is essential, but I’m not here to give you a lecture.” He remarked idly as he cracked his knuckles. ”If you wanted more of those then you shoulda gone to a professor in a university or something. Me? I’m a bit more on the practical side, but you should have known that already.”
Zernebog put his bandaged and gauntleted hands in his pockets and then walked towards Izumi and her pokemon but stopped a foot from them. ”So I’ll be giving you your first exercise.” He pulled out his left hand and tossed some black pieces of cloth his student’s way.
”A test of trust.” He smirked mischievously as he began to pull something else out of his pocket with his other hand, his eyes gleaming with dangerous intent. ”Specifically that between you and your pokemon. It’s obvious that know each other fairly well, but how well do you trust each other?”
He then gestured to the blindfolds. ”You and your pokemon will be battling some wild pokemon I found around here. However, the catch is that they must be blindfolded and must rely entirely on you and their other senses to fight.”
He paused as he glanced at the Riolu and the Gardevoir with a contemplative expression. ”Of course, it can’t be helped that some pokemon have other senses that are different from the norm. I fully expect them not to use it in the heat of the battle or it would defeat the purpose of this exercise.”
Then with a swift movement, he pulled his other hand from his pocket and tossed two pokeballs in the air, releasing two forms. One was of an elegant blue and white creature that was very similar in appearance to the other Gardevoir, only taller and adorned with a strange choker bearing a beautiful gem around his neck. The other one was of a blue and black bipedal canine with dread-like structures on his head and a yellow-furred torso and spikes on his chest and his paws. Like his companion, he had a similar collar with a similar stone set on its center, only with the stone looking different.
”As such, I have two of my pokemon here to ensure that none of your pokemon try to cheat and go around my instructions.” He commented as if talking about the weather, before gesturing to both of his pokemon. ”Izumi and company, meet two of my pokemon. The Gardevoir is Prometheus –yes he is in fact male- and the Lucario is Diomedes. They will be helping with this exercise, as you already know, as well as other exercises for today along with your punishment.”
The blue and white Gardevoir stared at each and every one of Izumi’s pokemon with a cold, calculating gaze before resting on Izumi with a chilling intensity, as if judging them all. In contrast, Diomedes walked forward and gave them all a formal bow and a very charming smile and wave.
Zernebog was amused at his pokemon’s antics but didn’t say anything about it. ”Now, if you have any questions then say them now or keep your peace. If you don’t have any, then put those blindfolds on your pokemon and we can finally start the exercise. Do well and I’ll drop the punishment. Maybe even give you a little reward.”
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Oct 15, 2014 8:48:21 GMT -5
Izumi then blinked as she watched several pieces of black cloth fly in her direction, and with her free hand, caught them s deftly as she could manage—and saw that they were blindfolds. At least there’s none for me, but still… she thought to herself as she looked it over—and then knew that she was in a bit of trouble; the sole ‘mon she could rely on without looking through a blindfold was currently refusing to listen to her, so that was out of the equation. She then watched as he sent out two more ‘mons; and caught sight of one of the two right away—he also had a Gardevoir; plus it was also shiny, and the surprising fact was that his Gardevoir was of the opposite gender; something that was quite unexpected. The cold, shrewd look she picked up from it made her shiver—as well as her own Gardevoir who was staring back at him, before looking pointedly at her—while the Lucario was more on the amicable side; even giving them a wave in welcome.
To this, her own Riolu then stood up a bit straighter—as if wanting to impress his peer—and all six of them looked at her. What were they being tossed into? The Riolu took a moment to bow at the Lucario; and her Gardevoir did as well—it was at this point she saw that they were wearing something else on their person; and her eyebrows shot up—because right there, there were two marbles; similar to what she had with her. But what were they really supposed to do? She then looked edgewise at Momo, before addressing her under her breath, “Whatever you do, do not use your latent empathy powers. Just… dampen it as much as you can. Vince, I know, can’t control his own aura-reading power thing yet, but please look out for everyone for me. Okay?” before slipping on the first of the six black blindfolds across the Gardevoir’s eyes. On and on it went; and the Torchic’s eyes were covered the last—because she really just wanted to see her father—but it appeared he wasn’t going to make an appearance today. She then bent down and adjusted the Riolu’s blindfold; before straightening up and fixing the one on her Scyther’s, because it was askew.
Now that all six of them were blindfolded, she then faced him again, before asking, “Now what do we do? We just wait for them to show up…?” before crossing her arms and waiting for whatever chaos would be unleashed next right then and there. To be honest, she didn’t have any questions—it would be here that she would see just how well her Gardevoir could lead everyone else in her stead.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Oct 27, 2014 7:02:41 GMT -5
Now that all six of them were sufficiently blindfolded; Izumi could see that most of them were… stumbling around; but it was only because their most-relied on sense of sight was temporarily blocked. Even if she knew that Vince could read auras (but he wasn’t very adept with it yet) and that Momo could pick up emotions; she knew that the two oldest ‘mons (namely the Swampert and Gardevoir) would only be watching; as the other four would be going up in battle. Whistling a few notes, she then decided to have one of the other four younglings go take an attack at the Purrloin that had appeared around the edge of one of the rocks. Alright, let’s make this interesting… she thought as she then decided to send one of the meeker ‘mons forward. “Kimi, can you hear me?” she began, and watched as the blindfolded Scyther then turned her head in many directions, trying to pick out where her voice was coming from. “Listen to where my voice is coming from. Then you’ll know I’m there,” she continued, watching as the Mantis ‘mon then finally managed to locate her—at least by following the sound of her voice. “Now… face forward. Listen with your ears… and do as you must,” she ended, knowing that the Scyther was capable of defending herself—just as long as she didn’t see the one thing that had traumatized her.
Right then and there, the Purrloin’s fur stood up on end, seeing the Scyther—albeit blindfolded—and then quickly went on the offensive, using its Captivate attack on the seemingly vision-impaired Scyther—and boy was this Purrloin proud of that particular attack. However, it didn’t know that the Scyhter was female, so she was quite surprised to see that it had no effect—and then it began yowling out of displeasure. Now that the Scyther had something to pick up on, she then reacted quickly, using her Focus Energy in order to make sure that the next few hit/s would result in a critical hit—and then closed the distance with a Quick Attack, baring its scythe-like appendages on the now-displeased Purrloin who was in the middle of using its own Hone Claws attack—as the Scyther could pick up on the sharpening noise not too far ahead of it. The Purrloin then looked up and was taken by surprise as she saw the Mantis ‘mon suddenly veering dangerously close to her—and then knocking her into the sky due to the sudden Quick Attack hitting it!
The other five ‘mons heard the yowling of the Purrloin as it was sent airborne—but the Scyther was now on the move, letting its own “wings” vibrate as fast as it could manage; before quickly turning around and following the howling noise of the surprised feline as it fell—and then leaped up, scythes folded against its body. It was now closing in with a Wing Attack; and even if half of the Scyther’s attack had missed the Purrloin—the other half (coming from the right side) made a solid-sounding smacking impact; which made the Purrloin howl even more, out of rage than anything—as it was helplessly being juggled in mid-air. The feline then attempted to use Pursuit on the greenish blur that was hovering in front of her—but the Scyther was faster; using another instance of Wing Attack to keep the thing airborne; before ripping through it with its scythes via another Quick Attack. Clearly, the Scyther was well-trained; something Izumi was surprised to find out when she’d acquired the Mantis ‘mon from the female red-head. Just how well-trained remained to be seen—as the Purrloin was now hurtling to the ground, the Scyther following it via the howling noises it was making.
Once the two had crashed to the ground, Izumi watched as Kimiko then pulled herself up and posed, ready to fight once again—but the Purrloin had now slithered away due to the various injuries it had sustained from the weird, airborne Bug-type who was now waiting for something else to come leaping out at her.
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