I can picture Netty walking in while Zaria's eating all the food from the fridge xD
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I'd actually prefer Zaria to have a roommate! Any arrangement with any character would work. I can see her getting into squabbles with Netty, being friendly towards Tim, and probably asking Asa for help with homework!
Welcome @zeroSH!
Magnet let out a metallic screech as he felt Rocky slam into his side. "You're almost there, keep going!" Zaria urged. Magnet charged up the Thundershock and shot it off towards Rocky. The attack just barely missed. Zaria stamped her foot.
"C'mon, come on! We've got to win, remember? He's right there, go for another Thundershock!" Zaria jabbed a finger towards Rocky.
Magnet blinked and his single eye furrowed for a moment. There was a slight sheen of moisture on his silvery steel carapace, as if he were sweating. Was Zaria mad at him? Was he doing a terrible job? He tried to let off another Thundershock but strangely, his electricity wouldn't generate. Magnet's nerves multiplied.
"What's wrong? Use Thundershock now!" Zaria demanded, but Magnet only looked at her with his single eye. Why isn't he using it?! Why isn't he listening?
As the battle went on, Magnet kept suffering more and more hits for his misses, his tough carapace becoming considerably scuffed. He had gone from shiny and confident to hurt and bruised. Zaria didn't understand it but she finally conceded it was time to change strategies. "Fine! Don't use Thundershock, use Tackle!"
At this point, both Rockey and Magnet were looking worse for wear. As the pokemon crashed into each other headfirst, they both staggered back and then sank to the ground. Zaria blinked. "Wait a second..." Her heart sank as Caprea announced a tie, and there was a dull, polite applause from the rest of the class in the bleachers. Just like that it was over.
Magnet's form was engulfed in a wash of red as Zaria returned him to his capsule. I don't get it... But I know I probably messed up somehow. "Sorry, we'll talk after you're patched up." She whispered into the ball before heading over to Tim.
She held out a hand, a sheepish smile on her face."What a crazy battle, huh? You and Rocky were great. I'm gonna go to the healing machine and watch the rest of the battles. You can come with if you want!" So she did just that, taking some time to self reflect and analyze what had happened as she healed Magnemite up and took her seat on the bleachers.
@Crimson Flame@wisteria
Zaria blinked. Wait... We got a hit? And the Charmander isn't attacking! Instead, she heard the frustrated cry of the fire lizard and realized it was paralyzed into place. Wow! He's paralyzed! There was no other way to go about than keep going for attacks, Zaria thought. They had gotten a hit in, and now she was a little more confident that they'd be able to get in others. Hopefully Rorie wouldn't keep going for Smokescreen, but perhaps they could defeat their opponent before they used the move again.
"Another Thunder Shock!" Magnet let out a jagged lightning strike of bright yellow green electricity once more.
"I'm not trying to ignore you! I'm trying to focus! Shut up!" Zaria shouted back, thoroughly riled up. Rorie was annoying, insulting, and to top it off, she'd been able to get off a Smokescreen after getting a hard hit on Magnet. We're lucky. Magnet didn't get burned. For all the status moves she and Magnet were trying to utilize, the opponent had theirs too.
Seeing as how her pokemon had a large single eye, it was needless to say that the thick black smoke--which now obscured the battlefield--was effective. Magnet rose from the cloud of smoke with an electronic cry, but Zaria noted that his eye was red and watery. She gritted her teeth, both at her pokemon's condition and Rorie's awful remarks. I wish I had a good comeback! But that Charmander's hiding in the smoke and he can shoot Embers from anywhere! Well there were only a few things they could do as it was. She hoped it'd be enough.
"Magnet, hang in there! Do your best to aim and Thunder Shock!" Zaria commanded. They needed to get some damage on that Charmander and end the battle as soon as possible. Before any other accuracy drops, at least.
Zaria had been so sure that she'd delivered herself well. Sure the morning had been embarrassing, but seeing how the other transfers had been received in the class, she thought she'd be accepted more. Of course that didn't happen... The class practically booed her off with jeers, if they thought she was worth talking about at all in the first place. Well, I guess that's that... She felt a few tears come to her eyes, but blinked them away quickly. Class was officially starting anyways.
Thankfully the first day was easy on studying and schoolwork, so Zaria found herself daydreaming away, cheering up more as time passed. Sure, maybe her social standing wasn't great right now, but it was just the first day. There was plenty of time for her to grow and find friends... You've got to stay positive, whether you believe it or not. It'll be okay. By the end, just as they were packing up and getting to leave class, Caprea got their attention with a tournament.
Not sure how to react at first, Zaria glanced around the class to see how everyone else was taking the surprise. Her own battling experience capped out around novice; she'd been in a few wild pokemon battles for self defense, but nothing on the official or competitive level. Could she handle this, or should she bow out? Then again, everyone around her seemed to be pretty excited and pumped up, so she couldn't show a weak resolve. I'm going to look even worse in front of everyone if I don't make some kind of effort! I've got to pull it together. Hopefully Magnet can too...
As they retrieved their pokemon and walked to the battle facility, Zaria kept Magnet close to her, but avoided the other students. After her little lie, well, maybe it was better to just focus on herself and Magnet for right now; she was thinking of potential strategies to use at the moment, apologies could be made later. Now, how to strategize... Who was she kidding, she didn't know the first thing about strategy!
Magnet took notice of Zaria's worried expression so he beeped and nudged her shoulder. Turning to look at him, Zaria thought he looked pretty relaxed and nonchalant. Or did he not realize the gravity of the situation? Their popularity factor was at stake! "So you're not nervous? Even though we're going to be having a battle?"
He nodded, his screws twisting in and out deliberately as if he were thinking. He let out another beep and zig-zagged erratically for a moment before nuzzling Zaria's hand again. The facility leered at them as they strode towards it, and Zaria could practically feel her heartbeat in her throat.
"That's good Magnet, but we have to win, understand?" she insisted. He looked at her quizzically. "We need to prove ourselves to the other students. Or else people are going to--to make fun of us and stuff, you know?" These were dire circumstances!
Magnet paused at first, but then nodded slowly as if he understood. So they had to win the battles. Winning was very important. It would be difficult, and maybe not as fun as he'd hoped, but there was nothing that could help that. The New Bark Ranger humans had told him he could trust Zaria, so he did. If she said this was important, he accepted it. Showing that he understood, he let out an enthusiastic beep and nodded. His eye curved into a smile.
"Right? I'm glad you understand! Oh, and we're here. Whew, lookit this place..." As they entered the battle facility, she was surprised to see the region electric gym leader at the front desk. Don't tell me she does clerk stuff here... Wait, did she just say she was gonna watch our battles?! Agh, okay, don't worry. It's fine, it's fine!! Why was the pressure stacking up so much today? After this was over, she was heading to her dorm for a good nap.
Moving through hallways and passing doors, they eventually settled on their facility room. And before Zaria or Magnet knew it, they were facing their opponent, a grumpy looking Charmander with his trainer who was hellbent on defeating them. Great. We're at a type disadvantage and our opponent's pretty confident. But that doesn't mean we can't win... We've just got to be on our guard, Zaria thought, her brow furrowed. As for the jeers, she wasn't going to address them. Too deep in anxiety for that.
"Magnet! Be careful! Avoid those fire attacks! And..." She squinted as the Charmander exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. That's... Smokescreen? So this Charmander knows Smokescreen and Ember... Maybe we can use our status moves, before it tries to mess with us. Can't let our accuracy fall when every move counts!
"Use Thunder Wave! Focus on paralyzing!" If they inhibited the Charmander's movement, surely the sides would be evened out a little. Magnet would try to dodge the Ember, then fire off a Thunder Wave. Zaria crossed her fingers.
Zaria Brightly
Having already headed into the classroom before Evey and Masaru had left, Zaria didn't realize there were going to be homeroom tournaments. For the present, she remained blissfully unaware, already daydreaming of being one of the popular and accomplished students of PMA. Perhaps the first hour of school had been embarrassing, but she could redeem herself if she studied and worked hard. Students would start coming up to her then, she was sure.
She managed to pull her head out of the clouds when class began, especially with Caprea introducing her pokemon. The Tropius and Bronzong both impressed and intimidated Zaria who had never heard of them, let alone seen them before. Woah, so cool... Intense too. Thankfully, they could take their pokemon out just as Caprea had. So Zaria released Magnet from his capsule and they both headed over to the back along with everyone else. Eventually settling for a cushion, his single eye swiveled around the room curiously before settling on Zaria as she patted his head. "This is class time, so you'll just need to sit tight and wait, okay? I know we don't really know each other yet, Magnet, but please be good." He let out a beep that sounded like agreement in return.
Settling in again once more, Caprea shook things up by having everyone play an ice-breaker game that seemed pretty fun. I've got this, I've got experience, I can come up with something good! That was how she felt initially... Yet achievement after achievement from her peers came up, and she couldn't help but feel discouraged as her turn neared; even Troy and Netty had ended up kicking it out of the park, she thought with a twinge of envy. Tim had come off as shy, but on the flip side he'd had that popular Evey girl come up to him, so it all kind of cancelled out (in Zaria's eyes) anyways.
How was she supposed to set herself apart in all this, then? Well... I guess it's less what you say, and more about how you say it. Okay, fine! I've still got this. It'll be great. When she was finally called up, Zaria grinned as she faced the class and saluted everyone, life an offcer or ranger would. Here we go!
"I'm Zaria, a junior ranger! I've experienced a forest fire, I've seen a shiny Butterfree, and I've rescued over 50 pokemon!" Zaria blurted it all out as fast as she could, realizing that her second to last statement was the lie she had been touting as truth earlier. Oh no! Damn, me and my big mouth! Why?! Well, there was no turning back now. Her other two statements were as close to the truth as it got, and they sounded much more impressive than the dumb Butterfree story she'd made up, so she didn't feel like she had the option to switch the verity of them around. I just gotta go along with it and apologize to the others after class. Hopefully it'll be okay.
The first guess was tossed out, with someone calling out that she hadn't been in a forest fire. Zaria grinned, pleased that she got to elaborate before someone made the correct choice. "Actually, I was! We were called onto the scene and there weren't a lot of water pokemon to help, so it was tricky to deal with. We ended up containing it though!" It sounded a lot more dangerous than it had been, especially since it had been a very small fire, but that was neither here nor there.
She probably hadn't rescued over 50 pokemon, someone else said. "Ha, I definitely have, and that number's only gonna get higher, just so ya know." Nevermind that well over half of those had been measly pet rescues, nobody needed to know anymore than what she said. It all culminated in the lie being left then, which Zaria had to own up to completely, whether she liked it or not.
"I guess you'd all know by now anyways, but I haven't seen a shiny Butterfree, haha! So, um, that was my lie." Ugh. She made sure not to look at Netty, Troy, or Tim, as she went back to sit down. Hopefully they wouldn't roast her too much.
Zaria Brightly
The spat resolved itself quickly enough, but not without Antoinetta getting the last word. That was fine with Zaria, she had been past done at that point. She's probably just sensitive. People had insulted her plenty about her preferences of things, and that was supposed to be normal and fine, right? She'd had things she cherished made fun of before, and people had always told her she was being silly. Netty had probably had people saying yes to her all her life, Zaria thought with a roll of her eyes. She and her stupid contests, she fumed while trying to brush away the feather of jealousy that kept tickling her.
Troy shot down her request, and though she felt a little miffed, she got over it pretty quick. Should she have been surprised? Probably not.
When they reached class, a pair of students were waiting for them, though they seemed more intrigued by Troy and Tim. Again, Zaria felt a pang of inadequacy. Why hadn't anyone come up to her? Learning that their names were Evey and Masaru, she studied them, but once Evey started her reprimands she didn't want to listen anymore. Ughhhh, do they need to bring this morning up? I was the one who started the whole damn thing. Then I just shouted at everyone! Can't wait to forget about this... Too busy internally freaking out, she didn't notice anything else off about Evey, but Zaria did decide that she would avoid her at all cost anyways. Evey had made her feel awful about herself, and she tended to steer clear of people who did so, friend or foe or stranger.
Her cheeks tinged with pink from embarrassment and her grin looking sheepish, she excused herself. "Yeah, class, so I'm gonna head in. See you guys," she said, slipping past her peers to the classroom where she could just sit and think.
Zaria Brightly
"Ahem, I think you'll find there's more to 'weird' Pokemon than you think," Netty said, making air quotations. "I'll have you know, there's a coordinator in Sinnoh who proves Ghost types are anything but weird and ugly like people usually think. They can be just as stylish as any other Pokemon. And believe me, so can bugs." She put her hands on her hips. "Care to tell me, Miss Badass, what exactly makes a Pokemon cool enough for top ranger standards?"
Huh? I don't get it. Why is she mad? It's just a little harmless banter! Zaria was so confused. She was sure she had already de-escalated the situation with her silly little joke. Okay, perhaps it hadn't been a full joke, as she did prefer 'big cool looking' pokemon. Nevertheless, she really didn't get why Antoinetta was so upset. It was just an opinion, wasn't it? Why take it so seriously? All the same, Zaria was starting to get angry too, but she wasn't ready to deal with the confrontation. Netty was intimidating, as much as she hated to admit it.
So she would attempt to lighten the mood and make amends. As Zaria was confronted with someone who had a problem with her, her nature was to keep de-escalating and not take the situation seriously. Thinking it best to keep it playful, she replied as cheerfully as she could. That way, Netty would know she didn't mean any harm, right? Well, it was a strategy, but it wasn't the right one; nor did she have the social tact to pull it off.
"Ahahaha, please! Who cares? You're taking this the wrong way, there's nothing to worry about!" Zaria reassured her, barely listening to Netty's impassioned words.
Strike one.
"Nobody said anything about ghost or bug types! I didn't say they couldn't be cool. All I said was that Butterfree were ugly and weird. And we can have different tastes! I might prefer a Garchomp to a Butterfree, but that's fine! You're blowing this out of proportion. Just relax!" Of course telling someone to relax when they were upset was a terrible approach, not that she considered that. She thought she was being playful. She was smiling, she was laughing. There wasn't anything to be mad about.
Strike two.
"Anyways, to tell you the truth, I don't care about contests. They're kinda lame? And that's just another opinion you know, nothing to get upset over!" Zaria's voice rose just at the end, though she didn't mean for it to. Things were becoming heated, she was nervous, and it had just slipped out. She immediately regretted it. No she didn't! Contests were vain and useless and all they did was focus on the shallow aspects of pokemon, no matter what anyone said. So she had nothing to regret, right? She was here to be learn how to become a selfless pokemon ranger hero, not some prancing puppet on stage. She had better things to focus on.
"Sooo, can we just move on? I'm done talking about this. Say, Troy, you didn't take your pokemon out at the ceremony, right? What kind do you have? Show us your starter! Inquiring minds wanna know! Haha, right Netty?" Surely, things would lighten up.
But that was strike three.
Just as that happened though, a Gust from the Combee blew over them, ruffling Zaria's hair and clothes. It didn't hurt, just felt like a strong breeze. Magnet seemed to ask Combee why it was doing such a thing, ever curious. The pokemon hadn't quite spent too much time around human adolescents, and was learning all he could about their mannerisms and behaviors. His human in particular smiled quite a bit, but he felt like there was something else behind it. He couldn't quite put his magnets on it, though. Instead he zoomed over to Zaria, asking for pets, which she obliged, before flying back over to Mell to continue the discussion. So far, he could mostly understand her, though some of the cries were harder to distinguish with the three heads and their own colloquial rules.
The little distractions like Magnet and Mell interceding made Zaria think the spat was over. She had forgotten her anger anyways, as she tended to do. Her father's awful temper had made her afraid of turning out like him, so she was conscious of her ire and tried not to give into it. Besides, why be angry when you could just be happy? So she smoothed her hair and patted her skirt, making sure she didn't look too mussed before class. "Ahahaha! That was funny! Your Combee's cool!" Zaria would have never had one on her own team, but Netty didn't need to know that and it was cute enough. I appreciate all pokemon, I'm just not gonna have something lame on my team!
@LuckyBlackCat@Ryik
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