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 Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2025 3:22 pm
“Kinda. I came out here because it was…well, generally open, where I could train Agility some. Though when I came out here last, at first I didn’t really know what I was doing still. I was trying to still go on a little with what you were trying to do when you first showed me how you did yours.” Tristen said. “I didn’t really want all that kind of electricity go everywhere at the academy or something like that. Though at the time, at first all I did was wear myself out. After some thinking about it over lunch, and seeing a wild Buizel do something, I ended up trying something a little different that I didn’t have all that much time to work out like I wanted to.” Tristen thought back for the moment. Though it was funny to Tristen, having to hold back a slight chuckle, about Matteo saying about putting strain on Tristen about being in an environment like this. Matteo had no idea what Tristen was wearing right now…
As soon as Matteo suggested a race to a nearby river, Tristen didn’t seem to mind the idea at all. “Yea, sure. I could try figuring out my Agility along the way with that. Though hang on a second…” Tristen said. He would first recall Rookidee back to his Pokeball for the time being since Tristen was shifting gears, then he would pull out an empty Pokeball. Tristen had to think back, hoping that he could get it on the fly now. Though given that he only practiced it for all of four hours nearly a month ago, it was going to be a bit difficult. Once again, the idea was to be efficient with the electricity as opposed to just having a deluge of sparks go everywhere. He had to focus a little, trying to find that feeling again. It took perhaps longer than Tristen intended, but at least after a minute or so, just merely having the ball in Tristen’s hand, without moving or clutching on to it, the ball floated off on its own, off of Tristen’s palm, and as soon as it got about a half-inch off his hand, it fell to the ground, almost as if Tristen tried telekinesis when instead it was actually minor magnetism manipulation. “I think that’s maybe about it.” Tristen said, reaching down to pick up the empty ball and stash it again. “Sorry…kinda was trying to see if I could remember what progress I did…it’s nowhere close to being mastered, and won’t be for a while. Alright, so, the river, right? Ready when you are.” He said.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 3:11 pm
Matteo kept a close eye on what Tristen was doing, cocking an eyebrow in confusion as he was trying to figure out what the other boy was doing but when the ball actually slightly levitated the Growlithe hybrid's eyebrows raised up together and his eyes got a little wider in surprise. Once Tristen was done and began to put the ball away the boy quickly looked away and pretended he was never paying attention in the first place.
"Oh uh...yeah, the river." He said, slightly caught off guard as he was still thinking about the little levitation thing Tristen did with the Pokeball. Now focusing he focused on the direction they would be running in and gave Tristen a nod. "Yep, the river. Here, we'll do it this way..." He said, taking out his Rotom phone and tapping on the screen to wake up the Rotom inside. With the phone floating in front of him he gave it instructions. "Give us a three second countdown with an air horn sound. I'll tell you when to start the countdown. Oh and we'll go on the air horn sound, Tristen." Matteo ordered his Rotom phone and then explained to Tristen.
"Bzzt! You got it boss!" The 'phone' responded to Matteo, the number three appearing on its screen as it floated up in front of them both.
Matteo would get into position after drawing a line in the mud for them to stand behind, the boy going to great lengths to make this fair, something he would have never done before meeting Matteo. With his right leg bent slightly and his left leg almost sticking out straight behind him as he touched the ground with his hands he would wait for Tristen to also get ready and once the other boy confirmed he was he would give the instruction. "Start the countdown!" He called out to his phone.
"Bzzt! You got it boss! Three...two...one..." The phone counted and then...
BWAAAAAAHP!!!
Immediately Matteo would take off, using as much force as he could with his right foot to spring into a sprint, his arms pumping with all his might and intent. He was going to make up for that last race with Tristen, he had to.
(You can write Tristen and how he takes on the first half of their race and I'll respond with Matteo's. My idea is to have Tristen faster as it goes on with maybe Matteo keeping pace at first.)
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 4:17 pm
Tristen watched as Matteo got out his Rotom phone and instructed it to go off on a timer. It was probably fortunate that Rotoms were in these phones, he couldn’t imagine leaving something like this behind for a race. Tristen would take his spot near by Matteo, taking his mark, getting ready. He flexed his feet a little, trying to work his electricity about him, that small repulsive force that he demonstrated. He was going to give it his all, sure, but he severely doubted that he would get much faster than his standard sprint speed that Matteo is most familiar with. In fact, given that he hadn’t worked on his agility effectively at all since that day nearly a month ago, he was half-expecting to be slower for it in trying to get the method down in mid run like this before he got back into the swing of things.
He awaited the countdown, looking over Matteo for a second, wondering what Matteo had in mind. Truthfully, there wasn’t anything at this point for Matteo to not use Agility for any reason and after getting smoked otherwise by Tristen’s normal running speed, Matteo was probably going to look for an excuse. It probably didn’t matter. Tristen was going to try to be making Agility attempts himself in this as he mentioned. Then the countdown…
Three…two…one…then the sound off. On the buzzer, Tristen sprinted off, all out just as he had done before. His feet digging hard into the soft soil on every step. Tristen would try to put that magnetism trick to work, trying to get some extra spring into the step, get a little less resistance in every stride. He could feel something coming about, but it was negligible at best, cementing what Tristen already knew – this was going to take a while. It probably wasn’t going to come along in this race.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 5:18 pm
At first Matteo ran ahead of Tristen by just a few feet, the boy not using Agility however it looked like Tristen's focus on trying his magnetism trick in this manner gave Matteo this small lead. Said lead wouldn't last long as Tristen quickly closed the gap between them, the boys neck and neck. Despite both of them trying their best to win this race neither one of them was moving all that fast, at least in relation to someone running on say a proper track as the squishy soil sapped their speed. The terrain would become less of a problem for Tristen as he got better with the magnetism, while not levitating per se it did give him over all less contact and impact with the ground.
Less than halfway to the river Tristen started to gain ground on Matteo, the Growlithe hybrid now capable of seeing the back of Tristen's head. Seeing this he smirked to himself, such a pleased response unusual for the boy for a situation where it looked like he was losing. No, this was precisely the moment he was hoping for.
Focusing his mental and spiritual energies Matteo would prepare an Agility, however he did not immediately use it, the energies swirling around in his gut as he watched Tristen run ahead of him. The swamp closer to the river was wetter, an unsurprising trait, after all it was the river that made the swamp. However at points this close to the river you would find larger pools of water that were difficult to navigate around without sinking into the mud. This would slow them both down by a lot but Matteo had a plan for this. The boy would spot one of the things he was hoping to see up here, of course it was far more dangerous than a rock but it would have to do. Running up to what looked like a brown and yellow rock in the mud the boy would jump onto it and just as he jumped off of it right after he unleashed his charged up Agility energies to provide the needed boost to take tremendous leap over the pool of water ahead of both of the boys.
"Naaaw!" The slumbering Drednaw roared as it lashed out at Matteo the moment he jumped on it, the quick snapping turtle just missing the boy by less than a second as it snapped at air instead of his foot. Matteo would never know how close he was to saving half off on shoes for the rest of his life.
Easily clearing the pool Matteo would hit the ground running, his Agility ensuring he didn't lingering in one spot long enough to sink into the wet ground. This was his plan for his Agility in this race, to save it for the right moment where he thought he could overtake Tristen and just rush for the river and that was exactly what he was doing. For several seconds the boy thought he had this in the bag, he could see the river appearing on the horizon, he was actually going to win! That was until he realized he wasn't breathing, his mind so focused on moving fast that he actually forgot to breath.
As he took in a gulp of air his speed tanked, his Agility completely dispelling for some reason. It was in this moment Tristen would easily pass him again, the boy closing his eyes tight as he tried to just push himself and run as fast as he could to the river, a pain forming in his side as he pushed on. A futile effort though, Tristen had this.
(Have Tristen get to the river.)
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Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 8:08 am
Tristen started to notice that he started to pick up speed, but this still wasn’t the result he was looking for. He was going to be passing by Matteo, for sure, at any second, but that was no different than any other day when Agility wasn’t even a factor. He knew that he needed to be lighter on his feet, regardless of the terrain he was on. That was the case for his parents and any other Pokémon. Rather it be swamp, beach, or just flat, ground, natural or otherwise. Not to mention, trying to run even like this was a little taxing, trying to keep his mind focused on maintaining the right amount of electricity and distributing it as he needed to all the while trying to keep his focus on how and where he was running to was crazy, even with this low amount of electricity being used. He was warned about this that it was going to be the hurdles that he was going to overcome. He wasn’t used to it yet. He wasn’t practiced with it by any means.
Tristen was then caught off guard when he noticed Matteo making his move. The gap once again widened. He almost felt the heat coming off of the Growlithe hybrid as Matteo bolted for the large rock just dead ahead. Only, that it wasn’t a rock. Tristen ended up instinctively slowing down, trying to pivot, seeing the rock was actually a Pokémon that Matteo springboarded off of to make a massive leap over a pool of water. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the massive turtle, he ended up making a hard side-step and went to make a run around the pool. He noticed something just then…no…that wasn’t good enough. He might have lost a little speed in trying to get around for that second. He needed to get back his rhythm.
As soon as got around the pool, he started to make the hard dash forward, trying to get back ground. Much to Tristen’s surprise, he was gaining ground quick. Agility might have ran its course for Matteo again. Matteo must hadn’t worked on his own that much himself, he imagined, although he runs effectively every morning that he could. Tristen pushed, trying to get more out of his running speed. Rather it be by physical strength or manipulating his electricity to command the magnetic forces in the way he needed. Tristen started closing the gap as Matteo tried to recover then eventually passed him. It still wasn’t good enough…this wasn’t the speed he needed. He wanted, even.
Tristen continued running trying to maintain his speed until he managed to skid to a stop. Tristen was a little out of breath as he looked off at the river. His destination. He wasn’t out of it, but it did give him a bit of a workout all the same. “…man, I got so much to do in trying to figuring this out…” Tristen lamented as Matteo would finally arrive.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 4:07 pm
Matteo would run up to the river several seconds after Tristen, running up on him from behind at what was more like a jog rather than a proper run, the boy spent of energy at this point. Now standing still the boy would try and catch his breath, putting his hands on his knees and leaning over for a bit as he took several deep breaths. He was absolutely winded.
Once he had managed to finally catch his breath Matteo would stand up straight with a groan, handing his side where the pain still remained. He would lock eyes with Tristen and just stare at him in silence for a second longer before letting out a deep sigh. "Ugh...well, you win. Again." He said, his disappointment evident in his tone. "So what was that back there? The floaty thingy? You learning Magnet Rise or something?" He asked Tristen as he turned his eyes on the river, watching a Psyduck float by on its back. "...okay then."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 4:22 pm
“Oh uh, not really…though…that could be a thought later…” Tristen said, musing. He didn’t really intend on it, but it was something to think about later. “…no, that was just simple magnetism. Namely trying to get my electricity to be a repelling force instead of an attracting one. When I was trying to do Agility in the way like you suggested, I wasn’t really getting anywhere all that faster and trying to get it more focused to do what I want was easier said than done. It was why I came out here to try to train that. At first, I thought it was going to be simply being used to discharging that amount of electricity, I mean, I already discharge a lot for a Thunderbolt attack and stuff, but then that didn’t seem all that right. After some thinking that day, I ended up seeing a Buizel hunt down a Shellder back on the beach and it also did Agility right there in front of me to ambush the Shellder. It wasn’t using anything like its Water prowess or anything like that, or at least didn’t really show it. In fact, it was using more psychic based manipulation to enhance its movement, almost like some sort of aura or veil, and that’s where I ended up with the idea. See about using as little electricity as possible and get the most out of it. Have my electricity repel a lot of what would slow me down all the while enhancing every step and move I make.” Tristen explained.
Tristen sighed for a moment. “Though honestly, I don’t have it down yet. I know I am no where near as fast as I can get. And I’m still trying to work through all the problems with it. Though…this is just the first time I tried it again since the last time I here, so I guess it was no surprise to me. Its going to take a while, that’s for sure.”
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 6:10 pm
"Huh...is that so..." Matteo commented, taking in Tristen's words as he gave it some thought. Maybe he was looking at Agility wrong himself? Something he would think on some time later. "Well it seems to be doing something for you at least. More than I can say for my own Agility..." Matteo said dejectedly, letting out a sigh as he looked down at the ground, noticing a clump of mud on his shoe and proceeding to kick it off. "I still can't maintain my Agility, the most I can do is very short bursts. I've been able to increase the power of the burst but I just can't figure out how to maintain it. Every time I use Agility I feel like I have to focus on it the entire time and put all my energy into it but that just tires me out quickly, let alone making it difficult to turn or Arceus forbid dodge something. As my Agility is now it's pretty much useless outside of going in a straight line. I have similar problems with Flame Wheel but at least with that I feel a little more fluid and not like I'm pushing myself uphill." The boy explained to Tristen concerning how it felt for him to use Agility. Was it a problem of focusing his energies correctly? Or something else?
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 9:40 am
“Well, it was like Blizz said yesterday. There’s a lot to it. Freth ended up telling me well before that, like…back on my first day of school that it’s not just putting your element out there, there’s a whole mental work to it. That at every little bit of every second you got to be aware of everything you do, from regulating your speed how you need it, to being aware of everything about you so you don’t hurt yourself in some way. It’s a lot to process and it’s why Agility tends to be classified as a Psychic type move more than anything else.” Tristen said to him. “I’ve honestly been wanting to try to learn how to use Agility or anything like it for a while, but I haven’t had any luck on getting Blizz to help me because everything else we had tried didn’t really pan out. There was only so much he could help me with, really. It’s probably just going to take a lot of trial and error.”
“Really, though, as far as Agility gets, you’re probably still ahead of me in that.” He then said. “At least you do have speed, even though you don’t really know how to fully control it yet. I was kinda suspicious when the first day I saw you and you looked like you were getting sick after using it. But still, sickness aside, I can’t even do that much yet.” He said, looking out towards the river himself to get a look of the scenery. “I planned to try to make it a habit to try to perfect mine for as long as I am here. Well, between school work and Pokémon training, that is. Might need to see at some time for Blizz to get me a new set of clothes too for it…” Tristen mused as he thought about his future endeavors.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 5:27 pm
Matteo chuckled gently and rub the back of his head as Tristen made the comment that in spite of all his shortcomings with the move Agility that he was still further along in utilizing the move than Tristen was. The Growlithe hybrid has been trying to move past such pettiness but in this moment he couldn't help but feel good that he might actually be better at something than Tristen, not that he would actually verbalize his pleasure. "Hehe...well, if you say so..." The most he could get out. If he didn't have fur all over his face he would be blushing in this moment.
"Oh! You ever think about joining the Hybrid Support Club?" Matteo asked, jumping slightly as if he just remembered something. "Or did no one tell you about that?" He asked, realizing in that same moment that Tristen has certainly been in the academy long enough to hear about such a thing and given the option, unless no one has confronted him with it before. "It's a small little after school club intended for hybrid students though complete human students are allowed to join just none do. It's ran by one of the academy's few hybrid faculty members, Mr. Iruka. Now that I think about you probably haven't got a chance to meet Mr. Iruka, huh? He has been out for the past few months after his wife had a bay, maternity leave. Plus Mr. Iruka mostly works behind the scenes anyways, managing the academy's huge library inventory." He said with a shrug, then realizing what Tristen's next inquiry might be.
"Before you ask I used to attend the club meetings, that was until I accidentally burned down a seesaw...wasn't my fault though, that other kid shouldn't have moved and just tanked my Ember." Matteo said with a scoff, a bit of his old personality showing. "Any who...I heard yesterday that Mr. Iruka will be coming back from leave so club meetings will start back up, if that's something you're interested in. Mr. Iruka uses it as an opportunity to hear out the concerns of hybrid students, help them master their abilities, any unique growing pains they are going through, stuff like that. Last year one kid from Hoenn, a Tropius hybrid, went through a heck of a growth spurt...as in literally using the move Growth, when they got upset. Mr. Iruka had a time with them." Matteo said with a giggle.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 5:52 pm
Tristen stared in confusion for a second. “Hybrid…support club?” There was actually such a thing for that? He was all under the assumption that things like hybrid abilities were a case of sink or swim, for the most part. It wasn’t like Pokémon training or anything of that sort. There were no guidelines or anything because everyone was varied even more so than Pokémon in an odd sort of way. “No…no one ever told me about that. I didn’t even get any sort of hint to it, not even a random flyer or an aside mention from any of the teachers.” Tristen said. Though Tristen had to withhold comment…burned a seesaw a while back ago, only saying that it wouldn’t have happened if someone actually took the Ember shot? Tristen started to wonder if Matteo missed the point after all this time… “I guess I could see about it sometime soon. I mean, it couldn’t hurt, right?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2025 12:59 pm
"Yeah, couldn't hurt. Like an Ember!" Matteo said with a giggle, cracking a joke. Moving on from that topic he looked around, following the river upstream visually and spots the spot where a small section of the overlooking ledge becomes a gentle hill one could simply walk up and escape the marsh, if they so chose. "Hey, why don't we get someplace more dry and look back around to the beach? Just for a change of scenery and different Pokemon. " Matteo suggested as he pointed a finger at the narrow gap he spotted to leave the marsh.
When and if Tristen agreed the boys would get moving, heading in a northwest direction as they walked alongside the river. It wouldn't take long for them to reach the hill and exit the marsh but as they did walk Matteo struck up conversation. "So, have you or your friends heard anymore about all that stuff with Team Star?" He inquired.
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2025 4:33 pm
“Yea, sure.” Tristen said to Matteo. Getting out of the marsh was probably pretty good at this point. Especially now that Matteo’s Buizel had evolved and accomplishing what Tristen was out to do. The only other point in the agenda for today was get back at the beach and start training Agility, though at this point, probably not until after lunch. He would follow Matteo off through the marsh and off to the narrow gap.
As the two went along, Matteo was fairly quick to start up another topic of conversation, and it was a odd one to Tristen, only in the sense that Matteo didn’t seem to want to delve in matters of Team Star anymore last he thought. Either way though, what could he tell the Growlithe hybrid? Was he able to say much about it? Coming to thinking of it? Probably not, not so much as to what he was or wasn’t allowed to say. More of the matter that he honestly didn’t know for the most part. Probably anything that he could tell him, Matteo probably already knew for the most part. Well, there was that visit from Sol and Reno earlier in the week to see that Giacomo guy…but that wasn’t really a lot to that either. “Not really…” Tristen said. “A lot of what they know is basically a lot of what everyone back at school already knew themselves. They’re still trying to look into everything, though, last I heard. The only thing that people might not know is that Giacomo didn’t get caught up in that stuff over a couple of weeks ago. He somehow avoided all of that stuff altogether. The other Star Leaders though…were a different story. You know about the one that is still missing from all of that. The rest are still trying to recover in some way from it, though. Atticus is probably the worst one off right now. You probably got me to thank for that one, though he didn’t give me that much of a choice.” Tristen raised his hand, sparking electricity from it to give Matteo somewhat of an idea of what Atticus dealt with. “He apparently didn’t get the memo that it wasn’t a good idea to come at me alone, never mind I kinda wonder if he had known me having dealt with Mela as well as the Zoroark hybrid twins twice barely what? In the span of 18 hours before Team Star made their move that day?” Tristen said. “I would have thought he did. Didn’t think about that until now…”
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 1:17 pm
"Eh, who knows. Atticus is typically a smart and cautious guy but that fungus stuff makes you act in ways you normally wouldn't, or I should say it brought out stuff you tried to keep inside. Maybe Atticus wants to be rash and aggressive but it wasn't until he was infected that he acted on it. Who knows, that was a wild ride..." Matteo said, shaking his head, the hint of disgust in his tone and posture. He was no doubt reliving the way he himself was acting, and he was one of the less affected ones thanks to his typing but at the end of the day it still got to him as well.
"I don't know, I try not to think about those guys, especially Mela, but I can't help but wonder where Ortega made off to. His disappearance is possibly the worst kept secret around the school. As annoying as they are I hate to think Ortega is still running around with the fungus in him. It makes you feel bad, really bad. Stirs up all your insecurities and what not. Heck, even I'm still dealing with it. It's like, not even the fungus bothering anymore but dealing with what it brought to the surface." Matteo said, opening up slightly as they walked, now treading upon solid ground, the short patchy grass becoming thicker and taller as they progressed away from the marsh. Glancing at Tristen he gave a weak smile, the body language of someone that felt like they wanted to say something but couldn't.
Beyond Tristen, in the direction of the beach, Matteo spotted a forming storm cloud directly over the ocean, just the beginnings of the grey blob in the sky beginning to form. With his attention caught by the cloud his expression changed and the teen pointed to said weather beyond his classmate. "Hey, look at that." He said as he pointed it out to Tristen. "We had clear blue skies this while time, right? Seems awful sudden. Did the forecast call for rain?" Matteo asked.
If Tristen was sensitive enough to it, as Elektrike and Manetric were, he might detect that it wasn't just a storm cloud but a thundercloud beginning to form, the telltale sign of electricity building in the air in that direction and only in that direction. It was concentrate and localized, certainly not natural.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2025 4:19 pm
Tristen was looking, listening attentively to Matteo. Matteo suddenly started to trail off, apprehensive, not really as sure as to why. Matteo still had baggage, that much was clear. Tristen figured as such, but he didn’t want to pry. Though the one thing he noticed is that the more that Matteo hung out with Tristen, the more he started to open up. It was probably going to be a matter of time. Tristen just had to guide him to it, be there for them. Be the friend Matteo needed so he’s no longer a massive thorn in peoples’ sides, let alone the teachers or Ms. Picante. Never mind that he’s not really a bad kid himself anyhow. He just…needed help. Help that he wasn’t necessarily getting. Not that Fela, B, or E for instance wasn’t trying, but they really just couldn’t really…weather what Matteo had going on. Tristen just had to be patient…
Tristen would then perk up, looking ahead and staring in confusion for a moment, seeing the storm clouds off into the distance when Matteo brought it up to his attention. Tristen didn’t think of anything of it at first until Matteo started to question about any weather reports that came up. Tristen’s eyes narrowed, seeing if there was some sort of feel about the air that he could grasp on to. “…no…” Tristen said as he tried to discern what was going on. “I thought it was supposed to be clear skies out in this part of the region today; it was also why I decided to try to come out here to train on Agility…but…then…” As he continued to step forward, growing ever closer to the beach, he started to become convinced of something. “I don’t think that’s a regular storm cloud…” Tristen said. Though he couldn’t say to begin with what that cloud could be. Nothing came to mind as to what could be doing that short of Legendary Pokémon, which Tristen hoped that wasn’t the case. He didn’t want to get in the way of something extremely powerful that’s just minding its own business, never mind have Matteo caught up with it. He has been constantly told by his adoptive father that Legendary Pokémon are not the sort to be messed with, they were legendary for a reason, and a lot of the time, it was more than just the rarity of them.
Even if it wasn’t such, then what could it be? This came freakishly out of nowhere and it was heading straight for the beach, and soon probably over them before long. “We might need to find somewhere to hunker down; I’m not sure if a taxi is going to get to us before the clouds comes over us.” Tristen said. “Let’s try to make it back to the Pokémon Center.”
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