Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Cody looked up from his book as a group of Aquans came loudly stomping through the common room. "Jeez, guys," the boy said under his breath, rolling his eyes and returning to his book. With all the noise around the room, he was having a horrible time concentrating on his material.
"What's a guy gotta do to get some peace and quiet?" he asked himself, grabbing a ball from his belt and tossing it in the air a few times. Then what to do dawned on him. The new Super Training Grounds had just opened inside the base. This would be a perfect opportunity for him to try out some of the programs and train some of his pokemon. The boy made his way through the large, noisy crowd, pushing and nudging his way around people until he made it out. He headed down the hall and was there in no time.

He walked up to the first machine he could find, still tossing the same pokeball in the air. He turned the machine on, noticing a funnel at the end of the room. As the trainer turned up the intensity, he started to notice the sonic waves flowing by him. Cody tossed the pokeball once more, hitting the release button. The ball burst open, shooting a white jet of light onto the floor. As the light faded, the boy realized what he had done. Feebas, the useless fish, flopped around helplessly as the sonic waves hit her one by one. Cody decided to make the most of this opportunity. Maybe with a little bit of beating from these sonic waves, Feebas would buff up a little.
"C'mon, Celeste!" the fish pokemon's trainer shouted in encouragement.
The Feebas continued to flop and splash around on the ground, unphased by the sonic waves until the machine shut itself off.
"Time up, I guess," the boy said with a shrug, returning his pokemon and turning around to go back upstairs. "Good job, Celeste. Show me what you've got in your next battle, too," Cody finished with a smile.

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Cody yawned loudly, stretching his arms as he forced himself out of the armchair he had fallen asleep in. He seemed to find himself there more and more as his nights got longer. All this paperwork would one day be the death of him. He grabbed the papers he had been working on and tossed them messily into his backpack. One day, he’d get around to getting one with two working straps, but that day could wait ‘til tomorrow. Making his way out of the common room, he felt himself slip into a daze. When he awoke, he could hardly make out where he was. Lights shone in his face from all directions and there were banners resembling the Aqua insignia hanging on the walls – or at least he thought that’s what they were through squinted eyes. Unless his bedroom had gone through a complete makeover while he was out, he had no idea where he was.

He rubbed his eyes thoroughly with his hands, wiping all of his sleepiness away. As he came to, he noticed several tall fences separating different booths, almost like batting cages. In front of the cages was a long field, coated in the greenest fake grass he had ever seen. On each side were tall metal pillars with small guns on the side held by what seemed to be free moving pole mounts. These guns were certainly big enough to resemble a cannon, but too small to fire an actual cannon ball. Cody looked down at his side and noticed a tall stand with a red button placed boldly on top. If this was a test of self-control, he would definitely fail. Out of pure curiosity, Cody pressed the button, looking out to the field. The cannons activated, swiveling on their pillars, and fired several clay disks into the air above the grass. The boy knew just what to do. Grabbing a pokeball from his belt, he called upon his Fire Type, Darumaka, who burst out excitedly and danced around. Without warning, the trainer pressed the button once more, allowing the cannons to shoot more of the flying disks in front of the pokemon. Darumaka smiled confidently, shooting small, bullet-like bursts of fire in the direction of each disk. He nailed a couple and cheered, jumping up and down excitedly, but noticed a few that continued to fly past, way out of his reach.

Cody pressed the button three more times, this time launching six disks simultaneously. Darumaka buckled down, digging his feet into the ground, and focused, launching more bursts of fire at each of the targets, nailing them precisely. “Good shot!” his trainer cheered, pressing the button a few more times. More targets launched, each one shot and destroyed with precision. As a final test, Cody pressed and held the button, allowing the machines to constantly launch targets into the air in front of Darumaka. The Fire Type grumbled to himself as he started missing. There were just too many to hit all at once. Finally, fed up with failing, the pokemon engulfed himself in flames and let loose, blasting a shockwave of fire outward in front of him, bursting all of the remaining targets at once. Cody’s jaw dropped, amazed at the power he had just witnessed. He certainly would remember this the next time his Darumaka was stuck in a corner. Praising his pokemon, the boy pulled a pokeball from his belt and returned the Fire Type, making his way out of the stadium and back into the dormitories where his bed awaited him.

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Cody often found himself too caught up in his work to spend the necessary time with his pokemon individually, so today, the boy decided he was going to take time and hang out with each of his pokemon, starting with Ifrit, his playful Darumaka. He took the pokemon’s ball from his belt and tossed it into the air with a smile.
“Come on out, Ifrit!” the boy called to his pokemon as the ball burst open in a flash of light.
Within seconds, the fire type had emerged from his ball and was ready to go, showing his enthusiasm by dancing around his trainer. Something stopped the energetic pokemon, however, and he grasped his stomach. Darumaka looked down in confusion as his stomach groaned and rumbled.
“Someone’s hungry,” Cody told the fire type, giving him a nod and a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. Me too.” And with that, the two headed into town for some lunch.

Ifrit had the best seat in the world as he rested in his trainer’s arms. Cody carried the small pokemon through town as a treat, allowing him to see, hear, and smell all that Lilycove had to offer like he had never done before. After a short walk up the beach and through town, the two arrived at their destination – a small café. Ifrit quickly leaped from his trainer’s arms, rolling out of the fall as he hit the ground, and took off toward the entrance of the building. Who could blame him? The smells wafting from the building were overwhelming and made even his trainer’s belly rumble loudly. The two were quickly seated and their first course was brought to them within minutes.

Before the Darumaka sat a tower of pokefood that was as tall as he was. It took mere seconds for Ifrit to start chowing down, finishing off the over-stuffed bowl in no time. The waitress returned with another bowl for the small pokemon and a refill for his trainer’s drink. By the time Cody’s drink had been filled, Ifrit was done with his second bowl of food. The waitress gave a cute giggle and assured the small pokemon that she would be back with more. After several moments, the waitress returned with a staff of two other bus boys, both of which held trays stacked neatly with pokefood. The waiters sat the trays of food down on the table and left with a wave. Ifrit’s eyes practically bulged out of his skull as he admired the overwhelming amount of food before him. He might as well have had to dive into the towers to get started on it effectively, but found a way to start picking at the food one by one to avoid a total collapse of the towers. When Ifrit felt comfortable that he had eaten enough to stabilize the food pyramids, he started to dig in, annihilating the food like no one’s business. He was the garbage disposal of small pokemon, and soon, there was nothing left. Ifrit rolled onto his back and belched loudly, shattering Cody’s glass. Cody left a good amount of PD plus enough for a gracious tip, and the two split, Ifrit waddling out the door behind his trainer.