[IC] Pokemon: End Tower

[Bell]

Bell stood up slowly and followed after Aria. They didn't have anything better to do for the rest of the day anyways. She headed out the door without a word, both Lucarios following after her. They both stopped and looked back at the other trainers in the room, as well as the released Pokemon. They stared for a moment as if questioning if they were coming before moving on down the hall behind Bell.

The training room was, surprisingly to Bell, empty. With all the trainers that had arrived, and all those that were already there. But it seemed nobody was up for training at the moment. She didn't know why, perhaps they were just still getting settled in if they were new, or those that had been fighting were too tired. She thought she might not want to battle if she spent an entire day watching Pokemon and other people die at each other's hands... or whatever the Pokemon that caused the death had.

Bell walked into the training room and looked around. There wasn't any worry about breaking anything. The room was huge, like a stadium. The walls were excessively high and everything from the ground to the ceiling was reinforced to withstand just about anything a Pokemon could throw at them. There were placements set up for trainers, Ten spots total in pairs of two facing one another. Each place had plenty of room to battle between the two trainers, and there were two more spots at each end of the room so that two trainers could use the entire battlefield if they wanted.

"I wonder when they had time to build such a place." The only people around were some other trainers talking amongst themselves, and a few of the military trainers talking to a commander up on a balcony that overlooked the battle area.

[Todd Howard]

Watching Aria and Bell leave the room, Desmond pondered on Aria's words as he stood, not liking her willingness to fight so severely with her teammates, putting themselves at risk. 'We'll need to be careful if she is our opponent... She just might do whatever is necessary to win.' He dispelled his thoughts as he glanced back at Rian for a moment, confused at the fact he didn't seem to be preparing to go train at all. Perhaps he was confident in his abilities? He couldn't really say for sure, as he didn't really know the young man. Though there was plenty of time in the coming month to do so.

Desmond's attention snapped to his impatient Ampharos that stood up after finishing her meal. He smiled at the sight of her being so prepared. "Come on, we should find a battle before you end up breaking something in your excitement." He said, walking out of the room with his partner right behind him. They approached the training room silently, being amazed by the sight as they entered. This place was much better than he expected, but it was also more confusing. "It must have been a huge effort between humans and Pokemon to have constructed this place with such quality in such a short span of time. I wish I could have seen it..." Desmond said, responding to both Bell's words and his fascination with the process.

"Ah'm tellin' ya, Ah don't know where she went!"

Desmond perked up, hearing a familiar accent. He glanced around and noticed the source of the voice, big 'ol David, speaking with Noll. Though the fact they were here made him happy, the fact two were missing worried him. He quickly approached them, Pokemon in tow. "Where is Hibiki, and Perdey?" He questioned, crossing his arms as the duo looked at him and the large electric type overshadowing him.

"That's just it, we don't know." Noll replied, and began to explain that of which he did know. "Hibiki left the room before we did, and said she'd meet up with us for training. We haven't seen her since. We figured she'd be here, but as you can see..." He gestured around the large room, making his point before looking back at Desmond. "She's not. And Perdey is with the other two trainers in our group, back at the room. The two of us decided to come train with Hibiki without 'em, but you can see how that is going."

"Shouldn't you be looking for her?" Desmond questioned, trying to understand their reason for still standing here.

"Ah'm not even sure if we should go lookin'. Y'know she has that bad habit of just appearin' outta nowhere." David chipped in, snickering. "She's kinda' like yer Wigglytuff. t'be completely honest."

"Are you calling me fat?!"

David was nearly scared to death by the sudden screaming in his ear, almost toppling over. It had also startled Noll and Desmond, but they both simply backed off. David turned and glared at Hibiki, sharing her irritated expression. "Y'see what I mean?! She's silent, quick, and..." David paused for a moment, noticing she was completely soaked. "What the heck did you go an' do?" He questioned, completely derailing any seriousness in the conversation.

"Five-Hundred push-ups. You?" Hibiki grinned as he turned away, honestly not able to say he'd been doing much in the way of training.

"I highly doubt you're that soaked from sweat. Don't tell me you went outside?" Noll sighed, already knowing the answer before she even said it. "Of course! It was great, I feel like a new woman! One that's ready to take on anything!" She seemed confident enough, that is, until she paused and inhaled.

David glanced back at Hibiki and wasn't sure about what was happening. Desmond and Noll were in the same boat, until Hibiki sneezed, which caused David to burst out into laughter.

"Shut up!" She shouted, sniffling. This was, if anything, embarrassing. Especially since she was being laughed at still. "Don't make me hurt you, farmboy." She threatened, and David was barely able to stop himself, before he responded. "Hibiki, you ain't gonna move me from this spot. Don't even think of tryin'." David seemed fairly confident, that is, until Hibiki kicked him in the shin, causing him to fall to the ground. "N-Now that's just dirty!"

"What? A little girl like me needs an advantage against a big boy like you." She stuck her tongue out immaturely, feeling victorious.

Desmond simply sighed, he was worried about them somewhat, as they certainly didn't get along too well. That being said, he didn't want to suffer David's fate by saying something, instead looking at Noll. "So, are you ready for some training?" He asked, and Noll glanced up at him, nodding. "Yes, Desmond. We'll be sticking to our home rules for this fight, right?" Noll questioned as he began following Desmond, who was thinking about the rules. "Of course. A double battle would be a great way to start off our training. We'll each use four Pokemon."

"I'm okay with that." Noll replied, as the two took their places on one of the fields.

After Hibiki was done taunting David, she turned around, planning to go watch Noll and Desmond's battle. "Maybe once you're up we can have a battle." She commented to the downed farmboy, before hopping over to the now in-use battlefield.

"Ampharos, you are my first choice." Desmond said, the fact he referred to them by species name while in battle was perhaps odd, but it was just something he did. "Next..." He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out the Pokeball of one of his most trusted comrades. Tossing the pokeball upwards, it soon popped open and released Smog, his Magcargo, who landed on the ground with a thud, before releasing relaxed, drawn-out cry.

"So, you're using that pair... The same pair you first challenged Mt. Battle with." Noll seemed calm, pulling two pokeballs off his belt. He held them both out, and allowed the Pokemon inside to be released. The duo of Pokemon appeared to be a Xatu and Grumpig, seeming to take Desmond by surprise.

"You aren't using it yet?" Desmond questioned, and Noll simply shook his head. "I didn't want you to lose too quickly."

Desmond couldn't help but smirk. "Confident, huh? Alright then, let's see how good you've gotten since we last battled!"