Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
The Training Grounds... It had been far too long since Riley had been out here. He'd grown complacent lately, and he needed to step up his game if he was to have a real shot at winning or at least placing in the upcoming Showcase. Contests were one thing, but Showcases were where his passion truly lay, and he was getting both excited and nervous thinking about finally entering another one after the mishaps that canceled the last one at the last minute.
Hunter walked by his side, as she usually did, as they made their way to one of the agility courses set up in the Training Grounds. Upon arriving, Riley looked to his partner and nodded. She nodded back, and he brought out five PokeBalls to release their occupants. Today, he'd be training Hunter, his Eevee partner; Frost, his Cryogonal; Emily, his Toxtricity; Arial, the Primarina Keone had entrusted to him; and two of his monkey trio, Roberta and Char the Pansage and Pansear. "All right, everyone," Riley began. "You ready to give it your all?"
Hunter and Emily cheered. Not really the big reception he was hoping for... Frost looked stoic as ever, while Arial looked a little nervous, understandably so as he still hadn't done a lot of training with Riley's other Pokemon and it would be his first performance. Performing was the whole reason Keone had thought Riley would make a better trainer for him, so what if he was no good at it and he'd left for nothing? Riley wouldn't let him think that way for long, but first he had a more immediate matter to deal with: two very confused monkeys.
Roberta and Char both looked around several times, then Char began chattering angrily at Riley, demanding answers. Roberta gave some more concerned eeks and ooks, but combined with Char's noises they still added to the overall discord of the sound. Riley cringed. "Hang on, hang on!" he asked of them, though neither quieted. Where was Giselle!? The three of them had been a trio ever since Riley had caught the third monkey!
"Look, hey, I know this is different, okay?" he tried to calm them. "But I thought we'd give Arial a chance to try performing with us this time, you know?" The monkeys did quiet now, both turning to the Primarina. Roberta looked curious, but Char was furious. "Hey, hey now. Listen." Hm. How did Riley approach this without saying 'he has a better move pool' and boiling it down to Giselle not being 'good enough'? Surely that would only upset them more. "Arial joined us because he wants a chance to perform and make people happy. Isn't that what Keo said?" Arial, who had been wincing under Char's gaze, hesitantly looked up to Riley and quietly nodded. "Don't you think he should have a shot at his dream?"
As Arial's face began to go a bit red, Char began to soften, and Roberta tilted her head back and forth for a moment before smiling and ooking pleasantly. Hm? Eh... Well if she was okay with it, Char supposed he'd make due, too... He extended a little mitten-like hand to the Primarina, who looked surprised for a moment before cautiously extending his flipper to it to 'shake'.
Riley sighed in relief. "Good! Now... Arial, why don't you show us all what you can do, hm? I'm sure the rest of the team would enjoy seeing more what we'll be working with, since I wanna put you center stage for part of our show."
C-center stage?! Arial balked for a moment before his face went redder. Oh dear... Now he was even more nervous! How was he supposed to perform like this?
Riley just smiled softly though. "Hey, don't sweat it. That's why we're practicing, right? Getting all the jitters out now so we can do better on stage! It's okay if it's not perfect here." It... was? It was really okay? Arial shouldn't have been surprised by that, having had such a kind and understanding trainer before. But somehow he expected performing standards to be higher, he guessed? Still, the reassurance made him feel better.
"Look, I'll even sing with you if you want," Riley offered. He took a deep breath, then began singing just a bit pitchy, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star! How I wonder what you are!" Arial balked a little in surprise at the choice of song, but giggled a moment later. Riley grinned wide and continued, louder and more off-key, "Up above the world so high! Like a Carbink in the sky!!" Arial giggled a bit harder and began waving a flipper to signal Riley to stop, preferably before he was laughing too hard to sing himself. Riley stopped and snickered. "Feeling better?"
Hunter snickered a bit herself. For all Riley's antics, it was moments like this that made her proud to be his Partner. The monkeys seemed a bit amused as well, though they and the other two Pokemon were now all looking expectantly to Arial.
Okay... Okay he could do this. Arial took a deep breath, then stood up on his tail. Slowly and softly, he began to sing. A single bubble began to form in front of him, glistening like a snow globe. His eyes cracked back open, and as he saw it growing his confidence grew as well. His singing picked up pace and volume, and more bubbles began to form. A few moments later, they were dancing around him, glittering like stars, and the monkeys, easily distracted by such shiny things, watched in awe. Emily, Frost, and Hunter were all thoroughly impressed as well.
Finally, Arial built up and hit a high note, and all the bubbles burst; he was careful with their positioning so as not to get his friends wet, but it did shower the ground all around him as one by one they popped in sparkling bursts. He looked to the others for approval, and was met with applause from most of the other Pokemon. Frost didn't have hands or paws, or a very expressive face, but their eyes looked a little more chipper anyway.
Arial blushed lightly again, this time more happily, and Riley proudly announced, "And that's just his Sparkling Aria! Imagine what else we can manage, yeah?"
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 13, 2020 22:22:33 GMT
"Alright, Vivi! Give it one more shot!"
The Eevee, head held high and flower crown on full display, trotted about in place. She turned her nose up to the sky, closed her eyes, and swished her fur. As she did so, her fur began to take on a soft shimmer, almost as if she was wearing some exceptionally fancy conditioner. After a moment the shimmer turned into a full-on glow, a psychic pulse dispersing from Vivi's fur in all directions. While unfocused, there was enough power to send the grass rippling in all directions, sparkles trailing from each blade. Elliot had to applaud the beautiful technique, watching as the sparkles spread and dispersed into the wind.
Lord Beerus, sitting to Elliot's side, was somewhat less impressed. The Espeon narrowed his eyes, lazily looking down to one of the blades of grass that Vivi had brushed aside. His forehead gem began to glow, a purple aura slowly overtaking the blade of glass. As his psychic hold on it settled, his pupils lazily darted upwards. The second they did he tore the the blade of grass from the ground, his motion not even disrupting the other blades. Both of their attacks had the same amount of force behind them, but Lord Beerus' traded spectacle for pure precision. Yet wasn't that to be expected? Lord Beerus had years of expertise harnessing these powers, whereas his daughter was very new to them.
Vivi sagged a little as she saw Lord Beerus' reaction, but perked up again as Elliot gave her a scratch behind the ears. "Oh, don't mind Lord Beerus. He's just cranky that the others are catching up to him," Elliot teased, the Espeon letting out a bark of shock in response. Immediately, Lord Beerus hustled over to a fallen tree, eyes and forehead gem glowing a bright white. "H-hey, come on, I was just kidding-" Elliot started, but the prideful Espeon had already been irritated into kicking himself into gear. His body strained visibly, his gem and eyes glowed brighter than they ever had before, and he let out a battle cry from the sheer exertion, but he refused to give up in the face of this adversity. After half a minute's straining, Lord Beerus let out a triumphant cry, hoisting the tree clean over his head. He couldn't help but indulge in a bit of laughter, shooting a smug look Elliot's way. Echo couldn't do that, huh?
Unfortunately, Lord Beerus wasn't to stay uninterrupted for long. A high note rang across the training grounds, the sound and pitch of it causing Lord Beerus' focus to snap. He cringed away, the tree falling behind him with a thud. The Espeon began power-walking forward, glowering as he prepared to give the inexplicable singer a piece of his mind. Elliot followed in his footsteps, Vivi trailing at his heels.
Hopefully, Elliot could make it over there before his cantankerous Pokemon did!
Riley's Pokemon were getting pretty excited now! Arial had shown he could be a valuable member of the team, enough that replacing Giselle (as long as it wasn't forever, of course) was acceptable. But wait! Char began to ook and eek as he pointed to another newer face: Emily's. The Toxtricity startled a bit and pointed to herself questioningly.
"Hm? Ah, you wanna see if she can show off like that?" Riley asked. The Pansear shook his head affirmatively, and Riley let out a weak laugh. "Ah... I'm afraid Emz might not be as impressive just yet," he admitted. "But trust me! I've got a great idea for a move she should learn pretty soon, and if it works out the way I'm hoping we should really wow the judges." Char was a little skeptic, but in the end decided to trust Riley's judgement, and the others all seemed pretty on-board, even if Emily seemed a bit sheepish at the idea. Heh. Well, she hoped she lived up to expectations!
Riley nodded once, then swung his bag around his shoulder to dig in a pocket. "All right! Then first thing's first. We're gonna have to get all of you stronger, but in the process I wanna teach Arial Water Pledge so he can really fill in for Giselle properly, yeah?" He produced a small booklet from his bag before setting it on the ground. "Okay, so-" Before he could get into specifics, a flash of purple caught the corner of his eye. "Hm?"
He turned to see a perturbed-looking Espeon heading their way. "Oh!" A battle? Hunter and Char noticed as well and jumped to attention, ready to fight. "Hunter-" Riley started, but only then noticed a boy trailing behind. Oh, a trainer? "Ah... Stand down Hunt." Her ears perked curiously before she too noticed the boy and relaxed her tightened muscles a little. "Ah, hey!" Riley called. "Is this your Espeon?"
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 14, 2020 23:28:02 GMT
A battle? A battle? You're darn right it was a battle! Lord Espeon glowered in irritation, lowering his head and raising his haunches. His ears pulled back, and his gem and eyes glowed a brilliant white. It was a classic threat display on Lord Beerus' end, but one quickly emerged by a shrimpy teen with a bad leg popping up behind him. Was it any wonder that Elliot's presence made Riley give the order to stand down? It didn't help that Elliot promptly stood between the Espeon and . . . another Eevee! Huh! Elliot visibly perked up at the sight. "Sorry about that!" Elliot chirped. Lord Beerus simply looked taken aback, if not from Elliot's interruption than from the fact that Riley called him "his" Espeon. The Espeon barked a little in irritation, Elliot finding it hard not to giggle a little in response. "He's with me, yeah. Though he wouldn't go as far to call himself mine."
He shot Lord Beerus a somewhat weary, somewhat understanding look, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a bento box. The Espeon scoffed and rolled his eyes, but ultimately accepted the offering. A purple aura shimmered around the bento box as he took it out of Elliot's hands, floating it over to himself and curling around it jealously. Snacktime was now his focus, leaving Elliot with the responsibility of smoothing things over. "Lord Beerus can get a little cranky sometimes, but he means well. We usually hit the training grounds at pretty odd hours, so I think he's used to having free reign of the place," Elliot explained. "That said, not surprised your training caught his attention. That Primarina's got a show-stealing voice!" Oh no! Elliot didn't know about the poor thing's stage fright! Hopefully he didn't embarrass him too much!
By now, Vivi had finally caught up to her trainer and her father, the huge Eevee skidding a little to avoid bowling right into her trainer. As she came to a stop, she noticed . . . another Eevee? Wearing another flower crown? Her eyes widened as she yelped in surprise, ducking behind Elliot in as dignified of a fashion as possible. Granted, this still wasn't very dignified at all. But she was trying her best, gosh darnit! "Oh, wow, I didn't even realize your Eevee had one of those, too!" Elliot said, looking towards Hunter and smiling softly. "So serious, too. She must be really well trained to be ready to protect you on a dime like that.
My name's Elliot, by the way. Vivi's the cutie hiding behind me right now, and I think you already met Lord Beerus. It's great to meet you all!"
Hm? Wouldn't say he was 'his', huh? Riley smirked a bit. "Sorry, force of habit." He habitually referred to Pokemon as 'owned' by their trainers, but when he really thought about it he wouldn't even call Hunter his property, would he? She was his friend! Well, he supposed she was 'his' in that sense then. But, well, semantics.
A light snort was half-suppressed when the boy spoke further. Lord Beerus? Really? What a name! And what a brat, the way he took that snack and curled around it. But Riley was only amused, to be honest. And delighted to hear the comment on Arial, who perked a little when he realized the boy was talking about him only to get embarrassed again when he heard just what he said. Oh! Oh did he really think so? His flippers moved up to try to cover his blushing face sheepishly. "Yeah, he's talking about you!" Riley teased.
Hunter hadn't entirely let her guard down all this time, no longer poised to attack but ready to jump in if the Espeon tried anything funny. She had only briefly paid attention to the other Eevee, but when the boy spoke of her specifically she did take another look. Huh! So she had a crown, too. She was roughly twice Hunter's size, but she could tell the kit was younger. Aww. She softened a bit and smiled at her in a way she hoped would be reassuring.
Riley snickered a bit at Elliot's assessment. "I dunno if 'well trained' is the term I'd use. More she's just willful and proud and happens to think I'm pretty cool." He gave the boy a wink. "But yeah, nice to meet you, too. The name's Riley, and this little lady is Hunter." Hunter puffed her chest fur and let out a little 'vay!', smiling up at Elliot now. "The water doggo with the voice is Arial, with an 'a', not an 'e', like Aria, or like the font I guess." He briefly stuck out his tongue at that little quip, flashing a glimpse of his tongue ring in the process. "The rest are uh... Emily, Frost, Roberta, and Char," he said, pointing to the Toxtricity, Cryogonal, Pansage, and Pansear in that order.
"We were just practicing for this month's upcoming Showcase. Arial's gotta try to learn a new move for a particular combo I wanna pull off. If your Pokemon are up for it, maybe we could train together? Either through a battle or cooperatively helping each other out?"
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 15, 2020 2:23:44 GMT
Elliot grinned, almost nostalgic in a sense, as he turned to peer over at Lord Beerus. "I get whatcha mean. I just had to poke some fun at his independent streak," Elliot said. "Sometimes it's like he thinks I'm the trainer between the two of us. Though, with everything he's taught me about battling, I can't say I blame him. I really owe him a lot for how far I've come this journey."
In other words, Lord Beerus and Elliot's relationship was much the same as Hunter and Riley's. The difference was that Hunter thought Riley was cool, and Lord Beerus thought Elliot was a feeding and pampering station.
At Hunter's reassuring smile, Vivi squeaked and looked away bashfully. After a second of cringing away, she turned back towards Hunter, shooting her a shy smile of her own. She was indeed a kit, if her somewhat graceless movements and youthful proportions were any indication, but the reassurance of a senior member of her own species did wonders to help her feel a little less shy. She took a few steps out from Elliot's shadow, looking the other Eevee up and down.
Pokemon and trainer alike looked at the rest of Riley's team, shooting each a smile as they were introduced. "You've got such a diverse and powerful looking team," Elliot said, voice hushed and somewhat awed. "I've never even seen some of these Pokemon before! Hopefully I'll get to see more like them once I start making my way through the region."
And how could Riley not need such a unique team? After all, he was here for the upcoming Showcase, which was rapidly turning into a who's who of powerful, creative trainers. "You're participating in that too? That's awesome!" Elliot chirped. "One of my best friends is entering that as well. Y'know, come to think of it, I really should get my ticket picked before it's too late . . ." Elliot took out his phone, pushing a few buttons. The more he pushed, the more confused he looked, only to pale quite noticeably when he finished his fiddling. "Or I could be a participant now?" he said, shaking his head in disbelief. He promptly fumbled the phone into his pocket, wondering what the hell kind of misclick he made to pull that one off! Did he get sent the wrong link as a prank?
With no idea what else to do, he turned to Riley, smiling sheepishly. "Well, if you don't mind practicing with another participant, I'd love to help you train." Elliot said. "My team and I may not be the best at battling. But we've got some pretty sharp eyes, so I'm sure we could do a lot to help you all round out your techinque.
How about we start with that new move? I've actually gotten a lot of experience at helping my team with those lately," Elliot offered. With the promise of being able to make himself useful, his distressed look gave way to a warm, surprisingly confident smile. He might not have been as iron willed as most trainers, but he sure could land on his feet after a disaster.
"Oh yeah?" So the Espeon had taken up a teaching role with the boy, huh? How cute. He seemed like the sort of reserved type who would benefit from training with a more experienced and knowledgeable partner. "That's pretty neat~"
Hunter's smile sweetened as Vivi stepped forward a little, and the older Eevee sat down and wagged her long heart-tipped tail back and forth. She wanted to make it clear as could be that she was friendly toward such a sweet and shy kid like this. Her trainer seemed pretty okay so far too.
Riley beamed as his team was complimented. "Yeah?" Granted, powerful-looking wasn't the ideal metric for a coordinator, but it was still pretty cool Elliot thought so. "I'm sure you'll see plenty, though. If I had to guess, I'd say you're probably about the same age I was when I first got Hunter, and it's taken me years to really build up a solid team. Granted, that's been taking it pretty casually, though. So you'll probably catch up before you know it if you're really trying~"
His brows rose when Elliot asked if he was participating 'too', his first thought that Elliot would be in it himself. But when he mentioned it was a friend entering, Riley gave a small "Ah." Oh, he still needed his ticket? "Ah yeah. They don't sell out right away like I hear some do in Kalos, but you don't wanna late til the last minute," he agreed.
He'd let Elliot have a moment, tucking his thumbs in his pockets and shifting his weight a moment while waiting. As the boy's face grew gradually more confused and troubled, though, Riley wondered if everything was all right, until Elliot announced he'd accidentally signed up? He snorted softly. "Really?" What a turn of events. "Nice job," he lightly teased.
When Elliot offered his eyes despite technically being competition now, Riley chuckled softly. "Sure, sounds good," he agreed. "Though you know, if you really don't wanna be in it, I'm sure they'd let you withdraw." That said... He shifted a bit again, crossing one arm and bringing the other fist to his chin. "If your Espeon's the competitive type, though, he might enjoy the chance to show off. And you can't go wrong with such a cute Eevee." His assessment didn't end there, but he'd keep his thoughts about Elliot to himself. The boy didn't scream 'charismatic', and with that leg-- assuming the limp was a regular thing and not a temporary one, anyway-- he wouldn't be able to match the moves someone like Riley could throw out. Still, there were other ways to be part of the performance than just dancing, and the judges were sure to take his disability into account as well to try to keep things fair. So he probably had a decent shot. "I can tell you it's definitely a blast, so it could be worth joining me and your friend, yeah?" He offered the boy a smile, but then shrugged.
"Aaaanyway, you've got a bit of time to think on it. So for now, Arial, you ready to get started?" The Primarina had spaced out a little, but startled back to attention when called. He nodded, and Riley grinned, flipping open the instruction manual for the move. "All right!"
[--move training starts here--]
Riley perused through the guide for a moment, skimming the first part. Blah blah, special move only certain Pokemon could learn, yeah yeah, Giselle's training had said the same thing. He was here for how Primarina would differ! Finally, he came to the real instructions. "Okay, so it says here that one big issue a lot of Primarina have is summoning water straight instead of in a balloon. If you still had Water Gun we could practice with that to warm up, but I'm pretty sure you forgot it a long time ago, so..." Arial waited in anticipation. "Let's just... dive in, huh?" Riley flashed a cheesy grin to no one in particular. Arial deadpanned a little. Hunter rolled her eyes but laughed silently.
"You've got Aqua Jet, right? Try summoning the water for that from your flippers without fully calling the move," he suggested. Arial nodded, adjusting his tail to balance himself before lifting both flippers and holding them out in front of himself. Careful and concentrating, he eventually summoned a fair amount of water, which began coating his arms. "Ease up some," instructed Riley. Arial did his best to comply, almost losing the stream completely, but eventually forming a sort of spout that trickled water down. "Good, hold that for a bit," Riley told him.
He was sure this wasn't exactly exciting to watch, but they'd get there. After about thirty seconds, Riley went on, "Okay, now try to maintain that flow but stronger." This was the tricky part, affecting the water's shape. Arial readjusted a few times as the water kept trying to creep back up his arms to form Aqua Jet, but eventually managed to get a good little waterfall going, with a bit of water extending up from the top before raining back down as well. "Awesome! Now drop that and try reforming it a few times without the build-up." Arial nodded and did as instructed. From no water to a small pillar, off, then on again, several times in succession, getting a little stronger with each time.
"Great! Now let's try the real deal. Aim further out, put more force behind it, and just go for it!" he encouraged. "Summon the best pillar you can."
Arial was a little nervous, but took a deep breath and did as asked once again. Concentrating, he tried, but summoned the water a little too close and still kind of weak. He immediately dropped it, readjusted with a small bite of his lip, and tried again. This time, a great pillar of water came crashing down from the sky. "Fuck yeah!" Riley exclaimed.
[--move training ends here: 535--]
"That looked right to me, but now it's time for the ultimate test of if it's REALLY a Water Pledge." Arial wasn't sure what he meant by that, but Roberta and Char immediately grew excited, quite familiar with the combos.
But hmm... If Elliot was going to be competition, which should they go with? Eh... He'd already established in his head that if Elliot did compete, he wouldn't be using the same style of performance as Riley. Plus the odds of him having a Fire and Water starter or monkey or getting them in time and teaching them the moves as well seemed low enough he wasn't toooo concerned. Besides, this wasn't even their grand finale, just a mid-point in the show. So yeah, it should be fine to flex a bit.
"Arial, use Water Pledge, and Char, Fire Pledge!" Arial hesitated just a moment, but trusted Riley if he said this was a good idea, and called down the pillar of water again. It was followed a second later by a pillar of fire, and the two blended and burst into a thin prismatic mist, spreading a beautiful rainbow across the field. Riley turned to Elliot with a grin. "How's that for a new move, hm~?" He gave the boy a wink as well.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 17, 2020 1:18:34 GMT
"I know, right?" Elliot said. "He's taught me a lot of valuable lessons . . . even if they weren't all the kindest ones." Elliot looked towards his walking stick, shuddering a little bit. He wasn't going to get into the details of it all unless prompted, but it sure was one way to remind Elliot that escape wasn't always an option. At least his new walking stick was a lot nicer! The old one was really starting to get scuffed up and worn.
That said, Riley wasn't wrong. Elliot was still young. Good experiences, bad experiences. Easy experiences, hard experiences. New friends, new Pokemon. There were so many of these coming along the horizon, and Elliot was so ready to meet each of them head on. The teasing encouragement from Riley helped, too. Elliot blushed a little from such unabashed encouragement. It sure didn't help that he'd undermined that confidence by signing himself up for the tournament instead of buying a ticket. How could he be so foolish? "I'll do my best!," he said, a sheepish yet truly grateful smile on his face.
When Riley mentioned the idea of competing, Lord Beerus let out a disinterested yawn. "Know how I said my team aren't much for fighting? Lord Beerus is, like, the only exception," Elliot said. "Honestly, if it isn't a battle, he can't get excited enough to get motivated. Which is a shame. He's got some fantastic moves, you know? And he's really clever about how he uses them in battle. But I'm not going to make him do something he doesn't want to, no matter how much hidden talent he might have.
That said, Vivi? She has some serious potential. Especially with the moves that the flower crown helps her channel, she has some real showstoppers!" While he may've been nervous about the whole accidental showcase registration, it didn't seem to be breaking Elliot's stride. In fact, he was actually getting pretty excited about it, judging by the way his voice turned upwards. This wasn't about him, though. This was Riley and Arial's time to shine, and Elliot sat back to watch and appreciate it.
Riley's training philosophy was much the same as his own. Take a move that already worked, modify the ideas and methods behind how they worked and develop them into something entirely new. In particular, Arial's lesson was much the same as his own Shellder's, except playing out in reverse. Arial was learning to take a physical form of propulsion and turn it into a means of channeling water, whereas Murex needed to take her Water Gun and change it into a high-impact rush technique. Nevertheless, Riley was very methodical and thorough with it, working through every step of the process with rapt, careful attention. Elliot tended to play things a bit more loosely, leaving the Pokemon a lot of time to improvise and figure out their own technique. He couldn't argue that Riley's method got some serious results. Maybe he'd need to take notes on the crunchier parts of training.
Now, the beautiful rainbow at the end? That was just showing off, and it worked! Elliot did a double take as the moves blended so perfectly. "I've never seen two moves come together like that before," he said, voice hushed. "I've seen some combinations before. Even tried a few when training. But they usually seem so . . . different, you know? Like you're trying to put things together that could work, could not. But those two seem like they're made for each other!" Then again, it was right there in the names. Fire Pledge and Water Pledge. They really were two of a kind, huh? "I don't know if I have moves that fit together like that . . . but it does give me a few ideas!"
Elliot took out a pair of Pokeballs, releasing two of his most loyal and trusted companions. First to appear was Murex, the Cloyster, who clamped her shell shut and bashfully peered through it at Riley. The next was Echo, his beloved Ralts, still swaddled up in the hoodie she had stolen from him. She, too, kept close to Elliot, although she managed to peer from behind him long enough to give Riley a wave and a squeak. "The theme of this competition is rainbows, right? Fortunately, these two have some built-in rainbows at their disposal," Elliot explained. He turned to the two Pokemon, smiling softly. "I know this is brand new for you guys. But you'd be willing to show my new friend Riley here what you can do, right guys? I know, we haven't been on a life-changing adventure yet, but I promise he's just as nice as all the other people you've been warming up to." Echo looked up at Elliot, grinned, and nodded. Murex was a little bit shier, but still peered towards him to give him a shy nod.
Echo toddled away from Elliot and Murex, pointing towards a clear spot in the sky between them. She chirped a few times, pointing to Murex, then herself, then back to her chosen spot. Murex gurgled back towards her, causing the smile on Echo's face to brighten noticeably. The two nodded at each other, and Elliot promptly darted away to give them some space. An aurora of light generated between the clasps of Murex's shell, while a similar looking nexus of light swirled between Echo's hands. The two's eyes trailed up to the spot Echo had picked, the blasts they were charging intensifying in size before shooting off into the sky.
The two beams, one shimmering light the northern lights and the other made of multicolored pulses of psychic energy, collided right in the middle. They exploded as they collided, the skies lighting up as if someone had detonated every color of firework at once. The shimmering ice crystals contained within the Aurora Beam rained down from the sky, and the psychic waves from the Psybeam dissipated like rainbow colored smoke upwards. Elliot pumped a fist in excitement as he watched, nodding towards Vivi. "Now's your cue, Viv!" he cheered, Vivi running beneath the rain of ice crystals. As she waited underneath the shower her fur began to glow, a replication of her Glitzy Glow technique from earlier. Her fur shined in every color of the rainbow, turning the ice crystals' shimmer into a brilliant sparkle as they passed her. After a few seconds of this glow her psychic power pulsed outwards, sending the sparkles around her in nearly every direction.
Elliot was all smiles as he saw the two-part combination go off without a hitch. "I didn't think that was going to work!" he admitted. "But . . . I probably can't just shoot rainbows at other rainbows and leave it at that, huh?"
Ahh, so his impression of Lord Beerus had been nearly spot on then, it seemed. The Pokemon had seemed so aggressive when he first approached that Riley couldn't help but think he seemed the competitive type. Too bad he was only interested in one kind of competition. "That's fair," he'd shrugged all the same.
Vivi being more interested though made him happy, and Hunter as well, the smaller Eevee letting out a bright 'vee vay!' of encouragement to the larger kit. "It really is the best for Eevee and fam, huh?" Riley had commented on the Flower Crown. He knew Eevee had a special Z Move as well, but couldn't imagine choosing to use it over all the variety offered by the crown. Besides, the logistics of summoning eight other Pokemon made his head hurt if he thought about it, heh.
Elliot seemed to watch closely and quietly throughout the training process, and Riley was happy to provide a good example for him (just as long as the kid didn't end up beating him in the Showcase, of course). The boy's awe at the Rainbow Pledge brightened Riley's grin. "They really are. There's Grass Pledge, too, and only a few Pokemon can learn each one."
Elliot's Pokemon surprised Riley a bit as they were sent out. A Ralts seemed fitting, and she was adorable in that hoodie, but they were awfully rare. Riley had been after one himself for a while and not found one yet, not that he'd make a big fuss about it or anything, just he knew better than some how hard it could be to find one. The Cloyster, on the other hand, was a more common find, especially around the coastal areas nearby, but such a big bulky Pokemon was almost humorous next to the scrawny child. Riley did briefly wonder if she'd already been evolved when caught, or if Elliot had ignorantly evolved her too soon and lost out on much of her move potential without some special intervention, or if she was actually a pretty capable Cloyster.
Well, she wasn't TOO move limited, it seemed, as she did at least have the ever-desirable Aurora Beam, especially desirable for this contest! And watching the little display, knowing it was so impromtu, Riley was honestly impressed! "Not bad at all!" he said when Elliot was done.
At the boy's doubt, Riley snickered. "I mean you could, but the judges might get a bit tired or overwhelmed if that's all you do. You gotta break it up with some other displays at least. Ideally well-synced to your music, or maybe a story if you go that route," he explained. "Like... I don't have the same Pokemon, but I could show you a rough idea of what my first Showcase entry was like? There wasn't a theme there, but it'd demonstrate how to act out lyrics and stuff." A moment's pause, and a somewhat sheepish smile crossed his face. "Of course, that Showcase got canceled before judging was done due to some weird circumstances, so I don't uh. Actually know how good it would have done, but?" He laughed softly. "Still, check it out. Arial, you remember watching it, right? You think you could fill in for Chase and Giselle for the first verse or so?"
Arial considered it a moment, then hesitantly nodded, not wanting to rain on Riley's parade. "Awesome. Emz, I don't think I showed you and none of your moves were in it, so you can just sit back and watch with Elliot and his Pokemon, okay?" The Toxtricity nodded and moved over to sit nearby. "Everyone else?" Riley was beaming as the Pokemon rushed to their places, Riley "center stage", Hunter behind him several paces, and the others off to either side, probably where they would've been off stage if they had a proper setup here.
Riley took out his phone and turned the volume up before pulling up a song and handing it to Elliot. "There's no instrumental intro, so give me a sec before hitting play, okay?" he requested. He moved back into position and took a deep breath, psyching himself up. When Elliot hit play, he lip synced along, but didn't try to actually sing.
["Hey fairy, where ya going? We'll gather the light along the way!"]
A Wish star shot by Riley from behind, and he ran to grab hold of it, the star disintegrating in his grasp as he "caught" it. ["And make it shine upon a brand new day!"] Riley flung his arms out wide, and Hunter used Swift behind him to shoot a wide ray of stars, as if Riley was releasing the caught star out over Elliot and the Pokemon.
["Oh yeah! Now do you hear the voices calling out your name?"] He held a hand to his ear, and Arial flopped toward Hunter, less gracefully than Riley's Sylveon would have been, but making it there in time all the same. ["Oh yeah! Because I lost my voice while doing the same."] Arial used Disarming Voice to create a ring of blue-rimmed pink energy that moved past Riley on all sides, Riley in the 'eye of the storm' so to speak. ["Oh yeah! I'll never quit until I feel your beating heart."] Riley tapped his fist to his chest twice, and behind him Hunter created energy hearts with Covet. In the actual performance this would have been joined by the Sylveon's Charm, but it was okay like this too. ["Oh yeah!"] Frost, Roberta, and Char all came out on stage while Hunter used Sunny Day. ["Oh yeah!"]
Hunter quickly used Bouncy Bubble to make an orb of water that was frozen by Frost's Aurora Beam. ["The sun and moon have joined in celebration!"] The frozen orb was launched up by Roberta's Vine Whip to burst in front of the Sunny Day, turning their briefly-eclipsing false "moon" into icy "fireworks". ["Have you forgotten their affiliation? When you're not here to share your laughter with me..."] The two monkeys danced around both using Play Nice to create energy sparkles and musical notes. ["I just can't find my inspiration!"]
Cryogonal flew up above the others and faced the sky, using a continuous Icy Wind and slowly spinning to turn themself into effectively a weather machine for most of the rest of the performance, the snow drifting down in a slow spiral around the others. ["Now in my heart, it's snowing, I'm trying my best to smile."] Riley and the others danced gracefully around the stage, Hunter leaping up on Riley's shoulder. ["Slowly, it's warming, as fate is linking your heart with mine."] Arial took Riley's hand with his flipper, while the monkeys joined hands, Char using a gentle Heat Wave to create a heart of fire in front of them.
["Fairy where you going? We'll gather the light along the way."] Everyone moved to stand in a circle around the fire heart, which Pansear kept sustained a moment. ["And make it shine upon a brand new day!"] Hunter used Sparkly Swirl to carry the fire up into the air and bursting out in every direction just before it got high enough to reach Cryogonal.
The lyrics continued for a moment as everyone relaxed before Riley took back his phone and stopped the song. Flashing another smile, he told Elliot, "That's all you get for now though~ One of the cooler things I did later in that performance I'm gonna try to do again this time, so I don't wanna spoil it for ya." He chuckled softly. "But yeah! Getting a good idea of how lyrics can be used to help shape your performance~?" He did hope so, else he probably just looked very silly, but oh well!
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 18, 2020 1:26:37 GMT
"It really is incredible, huh? I've never seen Eevees use moves like these before. I think I've got a long way to go before I figure out every trick this crown has, though," Elliot admitted. He looked towards Vivi's crown, which was mostly laced with purple and yellow flowers. He then looked towards the more multicolored one that Hunter was wearing, several more blooms weaved into is surface. "Maybe if we keep on training, we'll figure out more of this thing's secrets. Right, Viv?" The Eevee nodded excitedly, only to realize such conduct was unbecoming of a princess. Instead, she gave a single, dignified yip.
At Riley's advice, Elliot listened with rapt attention. "I think I follow what you're saying," Elliot said. "Start strong. End strong. Build up to your bigger moves. And try and tie everything together through a song or a story. Yeah, yeah, I'm getting what you mean." That said, it didn't seem like Riley was content with just explaining the flow of a showcase. He flat out wanted to demonstrate to Elliot how one worked! Elliot blushed in surprise, only for his shock to give way to bright eyes and an ear-to-ear grin. "That would be so awesome! Thank you so much!" Elliot chirped, excitedly taking Riley's phone in hand. He waited for the other coordinator to ready himself, then pressed the button to begin the music.
And so, Riley took Elliot on a journey.
He was pretty much vibrating in excitement as Riley finished his performance, Echo sharing his enthusiasm. Vivi and Murex watched, wide-eyed, before cheering at the end of the spectacle. Even Lord Beerus looked up from his nap to watch by the end of the showcase. "Riley, that was amazing!" Elliot said, leading his team in applause. "How'd you even think to pair your moves up like that? I mean, a lot of the lyrics were pretty easy fits. But some of the ways you interpreted your moves to get to that point were really creative! It's clear I've still got so much to learn about what Pokemon can do.
Y'know, that gives me an idea. Echo, you got your Magical Leaf ready?" The Ralts nodded, swishing her dress and calling a spiral of leaves up her arm. They swished through the air, hovering in front of her and waiting for commands. "If we need to do something with a finer touch, this might be able to help us. How well can you guide them, Echo?" Echo proceeded to sway her hand from side to side like a conductor's baton, the leaves following after her hand. Her hair puffed outwards, and the leaves separated. It ruffled inwards, and the leaves clumped closer together. Finally, she threw her hands outwards, and the leaves flew away in every direction.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Elliot said. "But lets see if we can get a little more creative with it. Echo, try twisting it into a shape. Make a little Echo with it or something." Echo nodded, branching off a Double Team duplicate so she could get a closer look at herself. She studied the afterimage carefully, then called the leaves back up. She moved her hands in every which way, nudging leaves into place until the leaves were wrapped into a silhouette of a Ralts. "Vivi, think you could give her a hand there?" Elliot asked, the Eevee's eyes shimmering. With the power of her Helping Hand, more leaves began to ruffle from Echo's pile. The Ralts now looked a little bit more like a Kirlia.
All three jumped back in surprise as even more leaves settled onto the pile. Elliot turned over his shoulder, noticing Lord Beerus' eyes glowing as well. With a Copycat, he had loaned his own talents to the mix, turning the Kirlia into a tall, regal looking Gardevoir. Echo chirped in delight at the sight, swishing her dance to make the Gardevoir swish her skirt back and forth as well. Vivi nodded her head from side to side, making the Gardevoir's head bob rhythmically as well. Finally, Lord Beerus swayed his tail and back and forth, making the Gardevoir's arms move to complete the dance.
After dancing back and forth with her larger counterpart, Echo's hand set ablaze. She touched the Gardevoir's palm, causing it to erupt into brilliant flames! What looked like a bright flaming Gardevoir twirled through the training grounds, drifting away into smoke as she faded away.
"Vivi, Echo, that was breathtaking," Elliot said, the two young Pokemon giving each other a quick high five. He turned to acknowledge Lord Beerus' help, but before he could say anything Lord Beerus went back to sleep. Nevertheless, Elliot smiled softly. "I knew I could count on you, Lord Beerus.
Riley had nodded along as Elliot repeated back the gist of the lesson. He didn't know if he'd necessarily say starting strong was always best; he'd seen some incredible performances that started with the most muted openings for contrast. But that was ultimately semantics, so he didn't bother correcting it. Besides, Elliot seemed like a smart boy, and Riley was sure he'd figure out a good routine for himself.
Riley laughed as Elliot gushed a little over his performance. "I'm glad you liked it!" It was certainly nice to get some kind of positive feedback on that routine after the showcase had shut down, denying him the feedback of the judges.
But then Elliot came up with a sudden idea. "Oh?" Riley didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't that! He'd never seen anything quite like the little performance, and was genuinely in a bit of awe that the young boy had just come up with it on the spot like that. Shit, now he was a little worried about having been giving the kid pointers; he might be a force to be reckoned with after all!
Fortunately, Riley did at least have a good poker face. He wasn't mean or dismissive, but he simply chimed, "Very nice~" rather than admit the true depth of his appreciation. "It was certainly a creative use of the move." Of course, having so many Pokemon working on one thing could also be a detriment if that thing wasn't quite show-stealing enough, but Riley didn't want to help Elliot make it any better than it already was, heh. So he wouldn't say this out loud.
Smirking, though, he decided, "But hey. We don't wanna end up stealing each other's moves if we're gonna be competing, eh? So we should probably split up to keep training. Not like, telling you 'go away' or anything, of course. I was actually gonna have Hunter run this agility course with me," he nodded over the the equipment nearby, "so you could stay and watch that if you wanted, too. Or even see how Vivi or Beerus might do if they wanted to try. Just like, we should probably part ways before we do too much more that's contest-related, yeah?" he reasoned.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 27, 2020 22:59:06 GMT
"Thanks!" Elliot chirped. "Moving stuff around with precisely's always seemed like a unique strength of Psychic types, but even a Psychic can only give all its focus to one thing at a time, right? Meanwhile, Magical Leaf's all these leaves being moved in the same direction, so even if it's not the most impressive object a psychic type can lift it can form all kinds of patterns, right? And thanks to being leaves, they interact with moves in a lot of really fun ways. I was nervous about the idea at first, and it probably can't do anything too complex on its own. But with some training, and backup from moves like Helping Hand and Copycat, I bet you can get some really cool looking setups going! You should totally give it a shot sometime! I bet an experienced coordinator like you could work some magic with it." Clearly, Elliot didn't share Riley's concerns about training.
But Riley did, and he was at least polite enough to verbalize them instead of letting Elliot babble about his whole gameplan. Elliot's eyes widened a little with surprise, and then he nodded. "Right. Right. This is a competition, after all," he said. "Wait, does this mean I gotta compete with my big sis? Oh, no, I really hope that doesn't throw her off of her game. She's really important to me, and I'd feel awful if this got her all worried . . ." Nevertheless, he worked up a shy smile. "But that just means I gotta try twice as hard to cheer her on, right?" Elliot, you are horrible at the idea of competition!
At the mention of the obstacle course, Elliot's grin firmed up a bit. "That's okay with me," Elliot said. "I think the idea of running gives Lord Beerus a headache, and Viv, Echo, and I are probably going to focus our efforts on the big show. But, thanks for the offer, and for all the pointers. I owe ya big time!" He turned to part ways with Riley, looking over his shoulder and shooting the redhead a wave.
As Elliot rambled on about his techique ideas, Riley took a few mental notes. He didn't really have Psychic experience, so the boy's thoughts on it were pretty valuable, really. And they'd been discussing the possibility of evolving Hunter into a Leafeon, so she would probably get Magical Leaf at some point, too. So it wasn't even as if his potentially stealing these ideas was entirely hypothetical, it was a very real possibility. And then, of course, he already knew what amazing things Copycat and Mirror Move could do; his idol Serafeyna used those in her shows quite a bit.
At any rate, Elliot didn't seem to be "in it to win it" per se, but Riley supposed that was fine. "I'm sure your sis will do fine," he assured Elliot. Shortly after, the boy said his goodbye, and Riley replied, "See you then! Good luck!" before turning back to Hunter. "All right, Hunt, you ready for some real practice?" Hunter let out a bright "VEE!" and Riley told the rest of his Pokemon, "Watch her closely, now. Some of you'll be trying the course after." Of course Arial was no good on land and Frost didn't have feet but. yeah.
[Agi training starts here]
Heading over to the obstacle course, Riley and Hunter took their respective places. "Ready... Set... Go!" With that, they were off. The first ten yards or so were just a flat stretch to get warmed up, but then came the first obstacle, a set of steep ramps that went sharply up and down and back up and so-on. These slowed the pair considerably, but with proper technique they were able to climb them and head back down each one smoothly while still maintaining some degree of speed.
After that, there was another small flat stretch, and then a large set of poles. Riley slowed just enough to let Hunter get in front of rather than beside him, and the Eevee went first with him following about five feet behind her. Hunter turned hard left, then even harder right, then back left again as she weaved her way back and forth between all the polls. Riley followed suit, his own movements more strafing than the quadruped's turns, but capturing the same general idea.
Next after another small stretch came a tire run. Hunter jumped fully into a tire, then jumped to the next one up diagonally, and hopped along like she was playing hopscotch. Riley meanwhile jumped between them one foot at a time in a more standard fashion than his small partner.
After that came a set of tunnels, one sized for a small to medium Pokemon, the other for a larger Pokemon or human. Hunter waited for Riley to catch up, and each of them dipped into their respective tunnel at the same time to race each other through them. Riley usually lost at this, but by Arceus he still gave it his all as he sprinted down the tunnel, only to see Hunter emerge from hers a few seconds before he reached the end of his. Damn. Oh well, that was his partner all right!
Next, there was a set of hurdles in varying sizes, most not nearly as high as the ones you may see in a typical track and field competition, but enough to require people and Pokemon alike to jump over them. There were sets made for larger Pokemon as well, but Riley took to the medium line and Hunter to the smaller one as they raced toward them and began to jump, one hurdle after the next. Hup! Hup! Over each one they went.
By this point, they were getting a little bit winded, but there was still course left to be had. Another small stretch to "rest", if one could call it resting, and they came upon a massive see-saw. Hunter slowed just enough to let Riley get beside her and they timed their movements together so neither would be knocked off balance when their combined weight-- mostly Riley's weight, of course, but still-- tipped the see-saw, then they carefully yet still quickly raced down the steep decline.
The last stretch was the most dangerous. Riley let Hunter get in front again, and one after the other they went up a ramp to a winding catwalk. It was hardly a balance beam or anything like that, being more than wide enough, but it did zigzag back and forth with no guard rail, making falling off if one didn't turn quickly enough or jumped the gun and weaved too quickly a very real possibility. Fortunately, Riley and Hunter knew what they were doing, and the duo managed to make it to the end and down the last ramp back to solid ground before racing across the finish line.
"Time!" Riley called before panting a little. Right, he probably... should have actually set the stop watch on his phone, huh? Ha. "So, who was keeping time?" he half-teased the Pokemon. For a moment, a few of them looked legitimately concerned they were supposed to have done so, but Riley laughed a moment later, earning reactions from deadpan leers to sighs of relief. "But seriously we should really catch our breath and then try that again with a timer, huh?" Hunter was panting herself, but after a moment she nodded.
After doing so, Hunter and Riley did the course once again, with... decent time, Riley felt. Not their fastest, but a little above their median time lately. So that was good enough. Roberta and Char and Emily would each take their turns alongside Riley after that. The monkeys took to the course well, not as fast as Hunter, but still good. Char got more into it than Roberta, who tended to be a bit lazy in general, so Riley wasn't too surprised, but she still did okay too. Emily wasn't exactly built for this sort of thing, with her short legs and long body, and she especially struggled on the tire run, too big to run it like Hunter but legs too short to do well like Riley. So her time was the worst, but she didn't do terribly either, to be honest, at least in Riley's opinion!
Having run the course five times now, Riley barely resisted flopping to the ground when they were done. "Awesome job, guys." He grinned. "I think we've earned ourselves a break and a snack, yeah?"
[End Agi training - 837]
They would take said break, enjoying a nice picnic, but after that, it was straight back to the grind. Riley and his Pokemon had to be well-prepared if they were going to take the Showcase scene by storm, after all! They would go on to practice a variety of move combinations and other valuable techniques. They practiced setting up swampy terrain with Water and Grass Pledge, freezing it with Aurora Beam, and practiced their ice skating heavily. Roberta, as a grass-type, wasn't fond of touching the ice, but got used to it eventually. Emily was surprisingly better than Riley expected, and he was glad she got a chance to show out and make up for the agility course.
All in all, the seven of them had a very productive day, and Riley felt pretty confident about his chances. If everyone could do their parts this well on stage, if they could all remember the routine they had worked on and execute it like practice, the results would be stunning. He just hoped none of them would freeze up in front of a crowd. Arial had his nerves for certain, but he seemed to be feeling okay after performing for the other Pokemon and Elliot, and Riley knew how badly he wanted to do this. Roberta and Char and Frost had all done this before, as had Hunter, who he knew would be a superstar. Emily was a bit of a wild card, but fingers crossed. In the end, only time would tell.