☘ 060; [video]

[solas_ion]

[As midnight of the eleventh drew closer and closer, Lancer had been wide awake and staring intently at the clock. There was nothing unusual outside, not a shadow out of place and nothing wrong with the moon. It had been a foolishly paranoid thought to expect anything else; October eleventh was October eleventh, and would pass like every other day of the year.]

[But that didn't stop him from letting out a held breath as a sigh of relief as 11:59 changed to midnight, and as he checked his Pokegear for the date. October twelfth. Just as it was always going to be.]

[Everything was as normal as this world could possibly be.]

[video]

Yo. [The next morning, Lancer switched on his Pokegear with a yawn he didn't waste energy stifling.] Once you beat one set of gym leaders, you get to fight the others with better teams, don't you? Anybody around that wants to tell me what I'm in for with that whole thing?

Comments

[video]

[paladinlost]

You are in for a battle against opponents with fully-trained teams, who have seen nearly every strategy you might want to use against them hundreds of times and have counters against their most glaring weaknesses. But I've no doubt you can win.

[If Cecil can, so can Lancer.]

[video]

[solas_ion]

No kidding. Sounds like just my kind of challenge.

[video]

[paladinlost]

Those thirty additional levels or those full teams would be challenging enough by themselves. Together, they make every second of training, every TM purchased worth it. Especially in Viridian.

[video]

[solas_ion]

Viridian's that rough, huh? Damn, this is sounding better by the minute.

[video]

[paladinlost]

It's very much worth the journey. After that battle, fighting for Pewter's badge was almost a relief.

(Video)

[baremyfangs]

Getting ambitious? (She approves. Get 'em, Lancer, and then come and fight her.)

(Video)

[solas_ion]

I've always been ambitious.

[...Except when he's lazy.]

And I like seein' a good challenge now and then.

(Video)

[baremyfangs]

Who doesn't? I can never pass a good one up.

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[ladywithnovoice]

Sounds like you've already been told about the technical details. So I'll just say it sounds like there's a nice prize if you can beat everyone.

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[solas_ion]

Is there? Don't happen to know what it is, do you?

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[ladywithnovoice]

From what I've heard, it's a fancy paid vacation. If that's your kind of thing, anyway.

[islandshore]

Hmm. That depends on which set you're after.

[Folding his arms, Riku flashes a quick smirk, though his expression soon takes a tern for the serious.]

Haven't checked out all the Elite Teams in Johto, but if you're going for Kanto, expect to lose at least once. Especially against Blue. You can't just rely on one type against him, since his whole team's balanced.

[solas_ion]

I'm in Kanto--you kiddin'? Somebody caught on that just using one type was stupid?

[says the guy with eight million fire types]

[islandshore]

Yep. Go figure, right? Blue actually sticks to type balance for a change. Kinda makes you wonder why the others don't do the same.

But that doesn't mean they're pushovers. Take Sabrina, for example. She's got a Wobbuffet, which means if you aren't careful, you'll be stuck against a punching bag that'll fling all your attacks back at you with an extra boost. You can't switch out, either, and she might force your Pokémon to stick to one move with Encore.

[He sighs, shaking his head slowly.]

Basically, the safety gloves are off.

[solas_ion]

Sounds almost impossible, tell you the truth.

. . . I like it.

[islandshore]

I like your attitude. Honestly, I think it's good to have obstacles like them-- keeps battles interesting instead of making them the cakewalk they are with the regular teams.

Plus, if you take your time, you'll have more fights to go through. You can still have a goal, which is more than I can say.