Eevee Therapy for Little Magi Interlude: Signaling Fire

-(PKMN Net)-

• Forum: Criminal Activities and Teams

  • Kalos Board

    • Team Flare

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ICannotStopTwinkling

Does anyone else see the large group of Interpol Agents moving through Luminoise? Seventh Arrodisment, passing by the plaza. It’s very odd.

Edit: SACRE BLEU! @EVERYONE, MALVA IS FIGHTING SEIBOLD!

(link Live Feed)

GirlnoSwear

Normally, I’d be telling you not to use at-Everyone for this thread, but this is important

RedHairedSimps

Okay, why is my favorite League member attacking another leaguer? What’s going on?

User Name

That is… holy shit that is actually a fight, not a battle! @Everyone get in here! This might be the biggest news of the decade!

Broken-Wings

Uhm…Uhhmmmmm… WHY ARE TWO KALOS ELITES ACTUALLY FIGHTING EACH OTHER?! ARE THOSE DEAD PEOPLE?! WHAT THE FUCK!?

PorygonI

Doesn’t look like anyone’s dead, but they could be– hang on, those are Flare gangsters using Malva to push forward. I think we’ve found another traitor

RedHairedSimps

NO, please! Malva, don’t do this, there aren’t enough hot redheads out there for you to be evil!

EVJFEULGS

Not the time, not the place to get involved, red-haired.

Edit: Wait, who’s that getting into things- ooh, it’s Misora!

User Name

Who– well, they’re starting out strong, whomever they are. Bad move to send an Ice Type against a Fire specialist, but she’s making it work

QueenofKalos<3

Misora Hibiki was the winner of last years’ Lumiose Conference. She’s notable for a few things. One: Her starter Pokemon, Mana, is the only known Primeon in existence. You can- could see her on the field at the start of the battle. Two: She’s defeated Siebold of the Kalos Elite Four resoundingly, and managed to win against Gurkinn of the Kalos Elite Four as well. Her challenge run was stopped by Wikstrom of the Kalos Elite Four, where she was defeated by Wikstrom’s Aegislash. And finally, she’s notable for her relatively good performance for a battler in the Contest Circuit.

KirliaGurl

You're just bitter ‘cause she beat you.

QueenofKalos<3

SHE DID NOT! IT WAS A TIE!

User Name

Putting aside the ancient beef between KirliaGurl and Queen, and Misora’s performance (she’s doing pretty well against an Elite going all out) does anyone know why Interpol was actually doing here? If Malva’s outed herself as a traitor, there’s gotta be something big

WalkTheseStreets

According to the location metadata, they’re right in front of Cafe Lysandre, and that’s an awful lot of Flare Grunts coming out of those doors. Maybe someone in Lysandre’s circle was running with Flare?

Noblest_Color

Lysandre would never stoop to working with someone like Flare!

Scrap Iron Scarecrow

Well, we’ve already seen a lot of our ‘upper crust’ revealed as Flare backers, and Lysandre has always run in those circles…

…hey, doesn’t Lysandre mostly dress in red and black these days?

QueenofKalos<3

… I hate that this makes so much sense yet so little at the same time

KirliaGurl

I find myself in agreement with you and I also hate that.

QueenofKalos<3

Bitch. Putting aside- Holy shit did Malva just Mega Evolve twice?!

Broken-Wings

This is a Real Fight, everyone’s pushing themselves to the limits–

-or I thought they were. @QueenofKalos<3, is that normal for that Primeon, or is that some sort of new pseudo-Mega-Evolution? Because it looks unfair, whatever it is

QueenofKalos<3

I fucking give up. @Eeveelution Experts, ya’ll are better than me at this and all of you would kill me for not pinging you directly, and I like my ability to interact with you nerds thank you very much.

KirliaGurl

DID MANA JUST FUCKING CHANGE TYPES?! WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS!?

FlareonBurnstheHottest

OH FUCKING COME ON! THAT’S BULLSHIT! MANA AND MISORA YOU SMUG BITCHES! YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS DIDN’T YOU. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. This is fine, this is fine! I can still make Flareon Great Again!

VaporeonLiker3

Eighteen Orbs– so Primeon can shift to any type? Hot dog, that means there have to be more Eeveelutions out there! We’re still missing seven types, this is a huge push forward!

…huh, reading back up, is this really what we should be talking about? Seems like there’s something more important to discuss than just Mana

GaeSylveon

Shut your dirty mouth, the fight’s almost over, I don’t think that Torkoal’s going to have much of a chance against a Primeon. And by my count, Misora’s still got two Pokemon left, Malva’s cinders

SageLeafeon

Yup, it’s over. Malva’s under arrest. If we want to continue the Primeon talk, we need to head to a different thread.

For now, anyone have any idea who’s gonna replace Malva? I think Gurkinn is nearing retirement, which would put them down two E4 when Flare’s still raging

User Name

I mean given that Misora just beat Malva, I think you could make a pretty strong argument that she should replace her, though there is the issue that she’s not really got a ‘type’. And traditionally Shittenou are Type Specialists.

EVJFEULGS

Keyword, ‘traditionally’. Gurkinn isn’t, not really, and there’s other E4 trainers who just have a ‘theme’ and not a proper type specialization. Look at Agatha from Kanto, she used ‘evil’ Pokemon most of her career, with Ghost only being her official specialty

TheMysteryofWyrmeon

Okay, the league has released a statement [HERE] about the ongoing action in Luminoise, apparently Lysandre has been identified as a major leader of Flare, if not its actual commander. Malva has been taken into custody pending a full investigation

Flare just lost a major base and significant capital, this might be the beginning of the end

Noblest_Color

That’s impossible! There’s no way Lysandre would be linked to Team Flare!

QueenofKalos<3

Your delusions are adorable but the facts don’t lie, buddy.

____________________________________________________________________________

“...our analysts, political, battle, and social, are still working out what this stunning event could mean for Kalos, and indeed, the world. But it seems that the International Police have things well in hand. Up next, the rise of Shiny Hunting; what it means for society and Pokemon conservation,” The newscaster said.

Blinking, Illya picked her jaw up off the floor, and turning towards Shirou, questions burning in her eyes. They’d both woken up to chaos as news of the recent events in Lumiose came to light, but she and her brother had just watched the battle between Misora and Malva at Cynthia’s request and…

Everything had happened so fast, with so little input on the part of both trainers. While intellectually, the snow-haired girl could understand that this was a pair of trainers that were far above her in skill, the more emotional part of her was simply in shock over how far she had to go - no, could go.

Cynthia hummed as she finished taking notes. “I wonder if Misora will be coming back to Sinnoh any time soon; I’m now very disappointed we didn’t get a battle. She probably would’ve given me a better fight than most of my challengers.”

Shirou raised a hand. “Umm, Cynthia? What were we supposed to learn from that? I could only keep up by reinforcing my eyeballs,” he admitted.

“The fact that you can keep up with the actual play by play and not just have to read the flow of the battle is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because we don’t need to stop and start play-by-play, but a curse because high level battling is something which is done as much by feel as by rote planning. Some of the best trainers I’ve ever met are artists rather than athletes or geniuses, if that makes any sense.”

Illya nodded. “No, that makes sense. It’s easy to try and frame Pokemon Battling as a sport, but both you and Diantha aren’t really sporty in the same way that, for example, Champion Mustard is. And even he’s a Martial Artist rather than a really ‘sporty’ person.”

“Yes, though I was talking more about mindset than personal skills,” Cynthia clarified. “But all of that’s beside the point. What we saw today was important for multiple reasons; first, this was a real stakes battle between two trainers of comparable skill where nothing was held back. And that’s very rare; even in League Tournaments and Champion Challenges, there’s almost always a certain level of footsies, of each side trying to field out what’s the minimum they can get away with revealing. Strategic considerations on a tactical level. Here, both sides put everything they had into the fight, because losing had higher stakes than a trophy or a prize check.”

Shirou nodded thoughtfully, while Illya raised a hand. “I know you don’t usually need to, but do you pull out all the stops when helping people? Like, when you were rescuing Shirou from that Distortion, if you’d needed to, you’d have gone all out, right?”

“Sometimes, yes. It depends on the context of the situation and if everything is needed or not,” Cynthia admitted easily, frowning slightly. “Consider, for example, that going all out might exhaust certain Pokemon that I may need at considerably more strength during a long running disaster. I wouldn’t go all out from the start there.”

Shirou frowned slightly, then shook his head. He already knew things were more complicated than black and white; here was a reminder that throwing yourself full force into every problem had its own downsides. “I suppose we need to get strong enough to handle our problems without having to give everything we have,” he admitted.

Illya huffed slightly. “More training, then. Not just our Pokemon, but ourselves, too.” She looked Cynthia over. “Umm, do you pursue any of the paths to power we’ve seen? It doesn’t seem like it.”

“No, I don’t.” At the questioning looks from the siblings and their teams, she elaborated. “Rascal did test me to see if I had talent for Aura use, and Banshee looked to see if I was magically active. Neither found anything worth developing. I’m like most people; I don’t have any elemental affinities or potential that’s worth more than training one of my partners to defend me if things get difficult, and though I stay in shape, it’s not going to let me fight Pokemon on an even footing unless I totally dedicated myself to it. And I have a thousand other things I’d rather keep up with, rather than train to box a Machoke with my bare hands.”

Shirou frowned. “That…” He stopped, considering the differences between Garde and Earth. “...isn’t as much of a problem as it might be. I still don’t like it.”

Cynthia gave an elegant shrug. “It is what it is. From what you’ve described, Magi spend almost all of their time studying, and rely on hypnotism or family wealth to do that, right?”

“Correct. The vast majority have little to no combat ability, and would scorn at using their magecraft in such a manner outside of specific families that cultivate mysteries related to combat.” Illya paused, “Or Enforcers. But those are an entirely separate kettle of fish.”

“But they’re set up to be able to pursue magic over everything else. I can’t do that; I train my team, I pursue archaeology, I have a social life. It sounds like you two are used to people who hyper-specialize and devote themselves to one path wholeheartedly. That’s not normal here,” Cynthia explained. “...for that matter, you two are pursuing your goals at a breakneck pace. Maybe it’s a Magi thing, or an Earth thing, but you’re pushing much harder than almost everyone I’ve ever met.”

“... Right,” Illya blinked slowly, nodding slowly to herself as she recalled the fact that most first year trainers would take significantly longer to get to where she and her brother were, if at all. “I occasionally forget about that, but honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s just an us thing.”

“And your friends over in Unova?” Cynthia asked, smiling. “You’re all incredibly driven. I’d suggest you take a break after this year, if you reach the league or not, but I’d be a hypocrite to do so. Just don’t crash out, and you’ll be able to come back another time.” She stood, stretching. “Well, I’m glad you got to see that match, now let’s put it into practice. One more session today, and then we can go over some more fundamentals.”

Shirou and Illya nodded, standing up to walk back out into the training fields the large clearing had become. They’d learned a lot from Cynthia so far, no need to slack off before she left.

____________________________________________________________________________

Sakura studied the still of the Vaporeon shifting into water, allowing her to dance around incoming blows. “...hmm. Ren, Other, we already have the basics of that kind of trick developed. Think we should work on that more? Dodging like that seems really effective.”

“It would take a lot of work to do as effortlessly as that Vaporeon does it. I do believe it would be worth it, but perhaps only as a side-benefit of mastering my ‘unique’ skill,” Ren responded after a few moments of thought, watching as the fish-fox blasted his opponent with a stream of pressurized water. “I do believe I should invest in furthering my ranged repertoire though. We do appear to have mostly picked up brawlers.”

“...there is that,” Sakura agreed. “Dark Pulse for you, then. Other…”

“I’ll see about getting Shadow Ball and Ice Beam working, if possible,” Sakura’s Zorua grumbled, scratching at her chest. “Though I’d like a proper challenge soon. I’m on the cusp, and I’d like to push over before I try learning anything too radical.”

“Evolution, right?” Rin interjected, Agate lazily peering up from where she’d been napping, “You could always try the battle-club Sakura. Always a good fight there. Or we could go all out against each other.”

“Alternatively, you could face one of the Subway Bosses,” N spoke up from the side of the room. “Just because you can’t actually attempt the Battle Subway yet doesn’t mean you couldn’t challenge them.”

“They’ve been a great help, and to be honest, I don’t want to bother them further,” Sakura demurred. “I’ll think about the battle-club, might be worth a visit. Rin, you’ve been watching the same video as I have. Do you have any training ideas you want to follow up on?”

“Several. My team and I aren’t ever really going to be a master of one particular move, but I have a feeling that we’re going to be good at going for wide levels of coverage and unexpected angles,” her sister replied rapidly, a flicker of a competitive smile sparking across her face and eyes. “I have a feeling that Technical Machines and tutors are going to be my best friends fairly soon.”

Sakura thought for a moment, then nodded. “Finally getting your royalty checks?”

Rin smiled. “Your mothers forwarded my available cut to our accounts yesterday. The translation program and the supporting devices have been patented, and the Joy Clan have already paid for a global licence." Grinning, she turned towards Sakura, “While we don’t quite have more money than god yet, it’s certainly going to happen within my lifetime.”

“...will it be enough to pay for all your gem wants? Yesterday, you were eyeing a set of Mega Stones, and those aren’t cheap,” Sakura responded dryly. “None of our teams can even use Mega Evolution… except Libra.”

“It’ll be less expensive to go to Kalos and seek training there specifically if we have downtime before the Ventres Conference, and there’s no guarantee that ‘gimmicks’ will be allowed there,” Rin replied with a firm shake of her head. “Besides, like you said, we only have one Pokemon capable of Mega Evolution between us. I was just curious, and I’ll be restrained on my purchases, don’t worry.”

Sakura nodded, and turned back to the screen. “...I wonder what this ‘Flare’ is really after? An organization like that, with such deep pockets, won’t be taken out so easily.”

Rin huffed. “No doubt. But it’s not our problem, thankfully. Let’s put our trust in the Magus Killer doing what he does best.”