Paradise Hell
Encounter I
Invitation to the Game
Just another day, just another gym battle. And just another loss. There had been a great deal of skilled trainers lately, but that was all but a reason to become depressed. No, the reason for that was far simpler. Or complex, much depending on who was asked.
"Elesa, there is mail from you. It has a lot of official league seals on it. Looks important." One of the trainers that worked at the electric themed gym she owned had was holding out her arm, a thick envelope in her hand.
"Thank you. Are there any more challengers today?" She had been quite busy lately, and even though she would never admit it, she kind of wanted a vacation or at least a change of pace. Raimon city was much like her back pocket at this point so there wasn't much to explore.
"Not unless someone comes in unannounced. We'll give word when that happens." Waving and leaving Elesa's private room in the back, the trainer returned to her daily routine.
Playing with the right cord of her headphones, she looked at the envelope. Seals from the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and other regions. If there was anything in this world that literally emitted official business, then it was that letter. Opening it up, an almost pitch black ticket with golden imprint fell out of it. Pulling the two pages from the envelope and picking up the ticket, she first skimmed over it briefly and then started reading intently.
Her eyes left the paper not once before she had read it twice, absorbing every word. It was like the world itself was saying hello and telling her to go and really take that vacation she wanted. Albeit by the way the letter was written, it wouldn't be a calm and peaceful trip to the beach or something. An invitation sent to all Gym Leaders, Elite Four and Champions of the world. Nobody was addressed directly, but the invitation was clear. As long as someone was a Gym Leader, they were eligible to participate.
Almost slamming the letter down on the table, the fashion model quickly jumped up and put together a few of her favorite things as well as everything she deemed necessary. The due date to appear at the designated harbor was the day after tomorrow.
=== Paradise Hell ===
There was only one other person at the ship when she arrived, a dark skinned woman wearing a beach getup. She had never been too interested in the Gym Leaders and League members of other regions, and yet she could tell that the woman was definitely a really powerful trainer. Either because she had noticed her staring or just to say hello, but the beauty was approaching her.
"Hi, I'm Phoebe of the Hoenn Elite Four. Did you also come here because of the invitation?"
"Don't you think it is unwise to simply reveal to a complete stranger who you are? We don't know anything about the rules of this tournament, after all."
"Oh, are we afraid of giving our opponents a chance? Sounds like something a bug type trainer would say."
"By all means, tell that to a guy with green hair if he shows up. I can always use a good laugh. And you would do well not to look down on bug types. I don't particularly care about them, but they can be quite nasty."
"Thanks, I know who Aaron is. Can't say I know who you are, though. Maybe I'll find out before one of the others kicks you out of the game."
Staring at each other, some of the people walking by could have sworn that they saw sparks flying from the point where their glares crossed paths. Of course, no such thing was actually possible. They must have eaten something bad. At least that was what a young guy, sitting on a large metal pole very close to the ship, thought to himself. Those older women were entirely too serious. Not that he was a teenager either.
Watching those two board the ship, he decided to wait a while longer. The champion of Sinnoh had already checked in and so had that ultra cute and ditzy ghost trainer from the Unova elite four. "Ah, what was her name... I completely forgot. I need to ask her for her number later. I hope they serve dinner on the ship."
On that train of thought, he recalled the two women who had gotten in a silent fight and tried to decide which of the two was hotter. "Brown skin, skimpy outfit, long legs, exotic versus glasses, big boobs and ponytail. Oh man, I hope this trip lasts a while. Not every day you get to travel with so many beautiful ladies."
"You are being childish. A true gentleman appreciates with his eyes only and shall keep his mouth closed at all but the times when he compliments a lady."
Looking up and coming face to face with a green haired guy wearing a cloak sitting on the rail of the boat itself, the blond man didn't pay much attention to the others rambling and instead redirected his gaze towards a small group of girls that walked in the distance, chitchatting and giggling.
The situation on board wasn't much different. A small but sufficient luxury pool was on deck, and no one other than the champion of the Sinnoh region was taking a sunbath, wearing a beautiful black bikini and a large sun hat that covered most of her face. The long blond hair turned into a large ponytail that hung over the sun lounger's back, Cynthia enjoyed the trip thoroughly already.
And she wasn't the only one. The sun lounger next to hers was occupied by another woman, wearing a deep purple summer dress and, as an exception, leaving aside the oversized collar she usually wore. Despite the brightly shinning sun and the good weather, her nose was still sunk deep into a novel. Unlike the champion, the trainer was sitting under a large parasol to avoid getting sunburn. She wasn't used to having her legs and arms exposed to those damaging sun rays.
"From which region do you come? I don't think I've seen you before." Cynthia, quite awake and a little bored just sunbathing, attempted to strike up a conversation with the ever so slightly odd girl, or woman, with the purple bob haircut.
"...the floor groaned under the weighty steps of the detective and I'm from the Unova Elite Four." Not even looking up from her book, the girl was virtually mesmerized by it.
"I heard a few curious things about the Unova region. The Pokemon are fairly interesting and there are sommeliers as well. What type do you prefer?"
"...checking the wardrobe, naught but dust was to be found where there should have been a young I prefer ghost types." There was no punctuation whatsoever in her speech, the whole line flowing out like a uninterrupted river.
"As nosy as ever, aren't we, Cynthia?" A voice from the other side of the lounger, the blond champ turned her head and saw face to face with a dark skinned woman, sitting on the sun lounger. It was the same woman who had just boarded.
"Haven't see you since the... when was it, the summer games on the orange isles?"
"We met at the Leagues Summit a year ago, did you forget? Of course you did, you were fast asleep while I led the discussion."
"Was I really? I can't seem to remember."
"Enough of that. So you followed the invitation as well? The prospect of rare Pokemon in a never before touched habitat too enticing for you to stay with whatever duties you have?"
"You're one to talk. Didn't you go on a wild chase for some kind of legendary Pokemon sighted in Kanto a while ago?"
"That was Sinnoh, your region! Jeez, your memory is worse than that of a slowpoke."
"What do you think we'll find there? I did some digging and apparently scientists like professor Juniper believe that the isle is a meeting point for several legendary Pokemon"
"I won't get my hopes up on finding anything legendary, but I'm looking forward to freely battling and catching powerful Pokemon Who is that over there? Isn't she hot? It's almost thirty-two degree Celsius in the shadows out here."
"An elite four member from the Unova region. She seems to be pretty absorbed into her book so I didn't ask too many questions."
"You really should memorize the names of your colleagues Cynthia. Well, if this tournament is going to be any interesting, and I hope it will, then you'll be remembering my name soon enough. You don't remember my name, right?"
Smiling and laughing for a bit, Cynthia shook her head. "When did you notice?"
"When you didn't mention my name by the time we switched to Pokemon as a topic. Well, I'm going to get some sleep, it was quite a way here from Hoenn."
"Wish they hadn't chosen a place out in the middle of nowhere like this. I had to leave behind some business."
"Probably a security thing. So, see you later." Waving the champion goodbye, the female elite four member walked off, yawning as she was almost out of reach for the other two to hear.
=== Paradise Hell ===
The mood was a lot more lively in the stomach of the ship, where a small group was happily playing cards with each other. And decimating the ships alcoholic stock.
"I haven't see you in ages Karen. I didn't expect you to come on a trip like this." Sitting at a low table, a glass of brandy in her right hand and a set of four cards in her left, the fire specialist was quite happy to have found one of her old friends on board.
"That's because you're always making yourself rare Flan. Did you get used to your job as gym leader yet?" Whiskey for her and three cards, the blue haired woman wasn't as excited as her friend but still visibly pleased.
"I didn't know you two had met each other. You're the leader of the Lavaridge Town gym, am I right? Flannery, was it?" A man with silver hair was the third person on the table, gin tonic in his glass, two ice cubes, and only one card left.
"Yeah, that's right. I mean, yes, I'm the-"
"Still talking faster than you think, are you?" Karen, the old friend Flannery had been talking to, a member of the Johto elite four, was interrupting the redhead with a laugh, amused that she still hadn't let go of that habit.
"Don't be so hard on her Karen." The fourth person on the table was wearing a light-weight ninja outfit and the only one that wasn't enjoying a drink. He didn't take well to most forms of alcohol. It resulted in usually embarrassing antics. He hailed from the same elite four as Karen.
"Flan knows I'm just teasing her. Right?" To the surprise of both men, the dark specialist leaned over to the redhead and kissed her on the cheek. "We've known each other since before I became an elite four member. Don't worry about her, Koga."
"I'm more worried about your choice of displaying affection. I didn't know you-"
"Just like I tell trainers to win with their favorite, I'm not biased against either form of love if that is what you're getting at, Koga." One look was all it took for the blue haired woman to end any further discussion of her actions. "Ten."
"Doubt." Steven called it, having a ten in his hand and sure that the other three had already been played.
"Too bad." Turning the card over, it was indeed a ten. Suddenly, the game had become very unfavorable for Steven Stone.
"Karen hasn't changed. Shes still good at playing tricks on people." Watching the card game from a little bar, a few meters away from the table, the ice specialist enjoyed an iced Vodka orange.
"I heard you kicked Will out of our elite four. The poor guy. Karen must have been furious." Drinking something that could only be described as liquid dragon's breath, the blue haired trainer was well informed on what was happening.
"Kanto and Johto share their elite four, so it's always a harsh contest. I don't think I want to mess around with Koga, though, he's annoying. And Karen didn't really care. It's been ages since she cut ties with Will. There are no hard feelings between us. What about you Clair, no desire to settle things with Lance?"
"I love battling and I get a lot more challengers in my gym. Lance does a good job at representing us dragon masters as the champion of Kanto and Johto, so I have no complaints. It surprises me at how many people are coming. That is a lot of gyms that are standing empty."
"Does it matter? The next official league is three months away and there are always other gyms the trainers can go to. That guy over there with the silver hair, he used to be the champion of Hoenn before he retired. I'd love to try my luck against him. I hear he uses steel types."
"You'd be in for a rough match Lorelei. I saw him battle the current Hoenn champion once, a guy called Wallace. They were not quite evenly matched. That Metagross of his was really strong."
"May I join you two beautiful ladies for a drink?" As both of them looked to the side, an almost middle aged man in a red suit, tinted glasses and blue hair was asking for permission to sit with them.
"Be my guest. From which region do you come? I don't think I've seen you before." Clair was first to answer, while her companion watched Karen win the game and immediately get accused of cheating by the redhead Flan.
"I'm part of the Sinnoh elite four. You two are miss Clair, the dragon master from Johto, and miss Lorelei, from the joint elite four of Kanto and Johto, am I correct?" Sitting down next to the blue haired Clair, the man ordered an obscure drink from the otherwise completely invisible bartender. A man so adept at hiding his presence that he didn't even warrant a description.
"My name is Lucian. I specialize in psychic type Pokemon It really is a pleasure to meet the two of you. I haven't had the chance to meet with any of the excellent trainers from Kanto or Johto before."
Continuing to talk about himself, Lucian kept both of the ladies busy while Karen had offered up her seat to one of the new arrivals. Instead of going to the bar, she simply sat down on Flannery's lap, playing through her.
"I think I've seen you before. You're from Kanto, aren't you? A gym leader if I recall correctly.. I can't remember what type, though." Karen, her right arm around Flannery's neck, the left holding the cards, nobody seemed to mind her rather peculiar behavior.
"I love all kinds of water Pokemon, and that's also what my gym is all about. Full frontal offensive with water types. I own the gym in Cerulean city, my name is Misty."
"A water specialist. Oh, there some hard competition for you Flan." Teasing her friend, although many of the others were questioning Karen's definition of 'friend' by now, Karen played a card at the same time. "Seven."
"Speaking of competition, have any of you heard about the rules of this tournament? The invitation only mentioned that there will be randomized battles and we will be able to purchase pokeballs and the likes for winning battles. So I think it won't be an elimination type tournament. Eight." Misty played a card and leaned back. Thankfully, the ship had air conditioning. She didn't like the enormous heat outside.
"We talked about that earlier, but it seems that everyone has received the same invitation. Beside the Bartender and a security check inside to validate that we are who we say we are, we haven't seen any staff either. They also don't answer our questions, I tried. Nine." Steven had read the invitation several times before he judged that there was nothing more to learn from it.
"Doubt." Koga was quick to turn over the card and it was indeed a six, not a nine. Forcing Steven to pick up the cards again, it looked quite badly for him that round as well. "We will know in time. I'm not worried. Everyone here is either a gym leader or part of the league's top tier. One."
=== Paradise Hell ===
With the arrival of dusk, the ship closed it's doors. At the same time, the speakers came to life. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. A considerable number of you have followed our invitation and now it is finally time to depart. We suggest that all of you enjoy your time on board until we arrive. A small pamphlet containing all the information you need has been delivered to each of your private rooms. If you have any questions, please contact our staff members located near the central part of the ship near the lounge. We will notify you when we are about to arrive at our target destination." The speakers died down.
The lounge was filled to the brim, the sun no longer warming the outside and due to the ocean, the air cooled down considerably. Several smaller groups were playing games or engaged in small talk at the time the announcement had been made.
As one of the last to arrive, Elesa had spotted someone she knew well almost immediately. Skyla was playing cards, poker specifically, with three others. Greeting her and watching over her back, the fashion model was impressed by how many well known and powerful trainers were assembled. Further in the back was a group of four, and she recognized all of them as champions or retired champions.
"Full House." Skyla laid down her cards and had a grin on her lips, confident of victory.
"Royal Flush." A middle aged man wearing a a black suit with red and white markings beat her with ease. Elesa recognized him as the third member of the Unova elite four, Grimsley. He didn't appear in public much, but apparently he had a talent for gambling.
The other two at the table, a woman with shoulder length black hair and a man that seemed to have just escaped from some kind of military fair, both laid their cards down without even bothering to show. "I think I've had enough for now. Elesa, want to take my place?" Looking straight up, so suddenly that their heads almost collided, the flying specialist offered her friend to switch.
"If ya don't mind, I'll take ya place." Not even waiting for a reply, a young looking guy with a purple scarf sat down in Skyla's seat and picked up the cards. "Now lets see what you can do, old timer." Facing Grimsley, the guy seemed eager to instigate a fight.
Walking away together, Elesa and Skyla both arrived at the bar, where a passed out woman was situated between two others, a blue haired one that looked very tough and a very young looking girl with white hair. Ignoring them, the two retreated to the back of the room, not too far from the group of champions.
"They look kind of impressive, all together like that." Being a champion was of course the dream of many trainers, but only one at a time could hold the title. Skyla knew that well, but she liked the prospect of being able to roam around freely unless a league was running and the elite four were being challenged.
"I didn't think I would find you here Skyla. Going on a trip, all without your airplane? That seemed really unthinkable."
"You're exaggerating, Elesa. I love to fly, but it's not like have no interest in rare Pokemon."
"Don't tell me... you took a plane here? Where did you land?"
"About a kilometer to the north. There was a large patch of flat ground. Did you come here with the train? That must have taken a while."
"It took almost the entire day. Why did they have to make the meeting point out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"It's a small town. I couldn't even find it on a map. I almost flew past it if I hadn't seen the ship."
Covering her mouth with her hand, the model let out a yawn, embarrassed to be sleepy already. "I'm surprised nobody got up and went to their room to check those pamphlets they mentioned."
It did sound like we'll be on the road, or the ocean rather, for a while, so nobody is really in a hurry. Should we go and check? I'm kind of dying to know."
"Same old curious Skyla. You haven't changed a bit. Are you still doing air battles?"
"Yes, but not the same type you expect. A challenger can pick flying types to actually fight me high in the skies. One of our trainers with a pilot license takes them up and we both fight from our planes."
"Well, maybe you changed a little. But you're still a flight nut."
"Says the fashion nut."
Both of them laughed for a bit before Skyla got up. "Shall we go? I can see you're about to fall asleep."
"I'm older than you, so don't treat me like a little girl. Stupid." Gently hitting the backside of her friends head, Elesa walked a little ahead of the flying expert. A quick look at the tables, and she was seeing two members of the Unova elite four, Shauntal and Caitlin, talking to a man in a red suit, the three of them quite immersed in their discussion.
Getting lost almost immediately, it took the two gym leaders a while to get to their rooms. Room 56 and 58, directly across each other. "Seems we're neighbors. Just don't come sneaking into my room at night." Elesa had a few embarrassing memories associated with being on a trip together with Skyla.
"Would you give me the okay if I asked you?"
"I was wondering if you would bring it up again. That was only one time and we were both drunk."
"You're still easy to tease Ele." That nickname was reserved for when the two of them were alone.
"See you in a bit." Ignoring Skyla's comment, Elesa entered her room and found the aforementioned pamphlet waiting on the small desk, together with what looked like a water proof bag for a single pokeball.
"Rules. One, each trainer may only bring a single Pokemon with them. Second, each trainer will be given a badge that displays both their battle points and makes it possible for us, the administration to track them via GPS. Third, there are no rules to actual battles. Sneak attacks, attacks on those that sleep or group attacks are all within the rules. Fourth, each trainer will have to secure food and shelter by him or herself while on Paradise Hell. Fifth, There will be five shore points where a trainer can trade gained battle points for items such as antidotes, food rations or pokeballs. Sixth, any Pokemon called on Paradise Isle become the property of our company and will only be returned to the trainer if he or she wins the Battle Royale. Seventh, once your Pokemon has been incapacitated and remains so for longer than six hours, you will be taken from the isle by our security. You will forfeit any remaining battle points and everything you have caught. Eight, teaming up is both recommended and allowed. Ninth, there is no predetermined end of the Battle Royale. Tenth, trainers not chosen by the company will be able to join the battle by making it to Paradise Hell on their own power, fighting and beating a player and taking their badge. If this happens, we will remove the beaten participant from the game after a mercy period of twenty-four hours. Eleventh, trainers will only be able to leave Paradise Hell on two conditions, their Pokemon becoming unable to battle, or losing their badge.
Going through the long list of rules, Elesa wasn't too worried but not too pleased either. The rules one and four were considerable sources of worry but rule nine made it obvious that it was designed in a way that not everyone would see everyone else as enemy. A group of two to four people to cover each others type weaknesses was likely to be very common.
The ninth rule seemed rather ambiguous. Did it mean that the tournament would not end until a winner was determined?
=== Encounter I – End ====