Back for another chapter? Yes indeed.
Sorry this one is a tad boring. Rules are rules. I began procrastinating about writing this chapter.
And all the chapter titles will rhyme. I like rhymes.
I forgot to write this before:
Disclaimer: GloomyDayz does not own Pokemon. If she did, we'd have more events in London. I also do not own paintballing. The whole 'Terminator' idea is from the paintballing centre, Delta Force. I do not even own the name.
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Chapter 2
A Team, a Scheme, and the Chance to Redeem
March 26th
11. 20 am
Splatter Camouflage Paintballing Centre
First of all, Splatter Camouflage? Whoever named this place must've been half asleep with too much whisky in their system. Paul looked at the place with serious doubts. What a dump, he thought critically. He did not repeat this aloud, though, as it probably would have earned him a proper telling off and a one-way ticket out of here. His thoughts were interrupted by a skinny tour guide, gesticulating for attention.
"Thank you for your patience!" He grinned as everyone turned heads towards his general direction, "Now, we can finally start Dawn's party!" Said bluenette giggled, as did a small group of girls around her.
"First, let's get you all geared up!"
The next few moments were a blur. Paul was suddenly taken into the men's changing room, where to his dismay, he found out the stalker-boy was late for this exact party, apparently originating from Twinleaf Town much like the host of this social gathering. They were all given suits complete with faceguards, and other protective clothing. It was called 'Splatter Gear', at which Paul thought this naming was highly unnecessary. All members were also given watches, a map, and a compass; all handy for adventures like this. Last but not least, Paul and all the other players were given their weapons, 'Splatter Guns', this time causing Paul's eye to twitch.
When all of the groups were prepared, they were taken to the outside arena that surrounded Lake Valor. The trees swayed gently in the light breeze, even though the atmosphere was tense. The area was littered with barrels, crates, and other objects used for cover. The grass was coarse near most of them. The Pokemon in the field ranged from cheeping Wingulls to buzzing Ledybas. They all appeared to be wild.
Close to them were two flags; one red and the other blue. Paul winced. He did not like teams, or teamwork for that matter.
"Welcome to the arena!" The skinny guide reappeared from inside the building, "My name is Andy, and I'll be your safety instructor for today! My goal is to make sure you kids stay safe and have fun!" He sounded almost like a television advert. Mild chatters were heard amongst the group.
"Now first, we must explain the rules! If you don't follow them, you'll be disqualified!" A few gasps now. To Paul, it didn't shock him at all. What did shock him was the fact he was so cheery about it.
"To start, do not shoot the paintballs at someone's head. Deliberate or accidental, it's disallowed. We don't want to exclude you for being careless!" A fake grin was plastered on his face. He had barely stared talking and already Paul was annoyed.
"Secondly, do not shoot the Pokemon in the arena. They are wild, and may even attack you if you harm them! But, don't worry; they won't interrupt the fun one bit!" Get on with it, thought Paul, with irritation.
"Alright, those are the ground rules. Let me explain the main rules of the game. To begin with, there will be one hour long round" – gasps from the crowd, even Paul found it astonishing-- "Yes! That's right! Dawn has opted for the hour-long session over the four fifteen minute ones." Faces turned and bodies swivelled to stare at the said trainer, looking too smug for comfort.
"The objective of the game,"-- Andy shouted, trying to get everyone's attention yet again-- "Is to shoot paintballs at the opposing team's players, and defeat them all. Since this is the hour long game, five shots are need to 'out' a player. You can't lie either! The suits have built in detectors that will be able to sense whether you've been shot five times or not!" Almost immediately, some of the extremely probing ones poked the suit in hope of spotting such detectors. No such luck, "Whichever team knocks out all the rival team's players first wins the game!" He made it sound so dramatic, so epic, and yet, Paul thought his attempts epically failed.
"But not forgetting, the Terminator." Andy gestured to a man who appeared from the building. He was dressed in full suit, with addition of a mask to hide his face. He held two paintball guns.
"The Terminator is one who will walk around the field. Do not shoot him, as you may be disqualified. He will randomly pick people to 'challenge', and only people he sees fit." Paul watched the Terminator, and noticed his guns were rapid-firing and automatic. Much better than the plain gun he had.
"You will know when he challenges you if he raises both his guns at you. If you successfully beat him, just by shooting him below the neck, you will get one of his guns!" 'Ooh's and 'Aah's from the group now. The inscrutable Terminator pumped his armed fists into the air, somewhat exciting the crowd.
"All right! Now time to put ya'll into teams!" Massive cheers now. Andy revealed a hat from behind him and shuffled his hand inside, picking names by chance. He froze for a second, before stating:
"I almost forgot! No friendly-fire! It may get your fellow team mate out earlier, as we can't tell who shot who!"
Without another hesitation, Andy pulled a tiny piece of paper from the headgear and waved it around.
"Red team; the leader is…Ash!" he declared as he opened the note.
Ash grinned like an ecstatic child, hopping madly.
"This team's gonna win!" He boasted, even though no other names had been announced.
Paul wished he was leader of the Blue team, just so he could kick Ash's behind.
"Blue team; the leader is…Dawn!" Darn, he cursed. Dawn happily skipped over to the blue flag.
"Yeah right Ash! Your team's going down!"
"All right, now for the team players! They are just as important as the captains, don't forget! Red team, you're first player is…Barry!
And so the naming and not-so-shaming continued. Paul was sweating now. He needed to get into the Blue team. As well as Dawn, there was Brock, the one he can tolerate, Leona, the one he's never met (which can be a good thing) and Kenny and a spikey red-head, the ones he's seen on TV before. It was only him and a brunette left.
The other team? Well, to start, they had the pathetic loser as team captain, a ginger girl who kept slapping him, Barry, the stalker blonde, a brunette with two pigtails who was more annoying than Dawn, and a young boy with glasses. Paul could tell from one look at him that he was a know-it-all, which he hated with fiery passion.
"And the last player of the red team is…Paul!" He clenched his fists, trying to contain his anger. He slowly and silently stomped his way to the Red team. Friendly fire didn't seem so bad now.
"Which means May joins the Blue team!" Jealousy washed over Paul as the said trainer calmly walked over to the said group.
Dawn walked awkwardly over to the fuming Paul, a sympathetic look on her face.
"This must be a rotten team for you" she said in hushed tones. She could tell by his facial expression that she hit it bang on.
"Sorry; the teams are random. It's the way they work," she suddenly grinned, "Tell you what, if you win, I'll let you off for being late today."
"What?" Paul was as confused as a Slowpoke with amnesia.
"It's a chance for you to redeem yourself. Show me you can work in a team" she placed her hand on her heart, "And I promise I won't invite you to a party again"
It was a strange deal, but today, everything was strange, "Fine" he smirked suddenly, "Gives me a chance to win against you pathetic losers"
"What!" I--" Dawn raged all the way back to her team, sharing her most recent conversation. Paul snickered, and turned around to face his own team.
He thought their team were pathetic? Look at his! His foul thoughts were interrupted by not-so-handy Andy.
"Alright! Now the teams are final!" Each member was given a badge, according to flag colour, "You'll all be escorted to separate areas of the arena, where it is suggested that you plan your strategy! Good luck and may the game begin!"
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March 26th
12. 02 pm
Splatter Camouflage Paintball Centre – Lake Valor Arena
The Extreme Left of the Arena- Red Team's Gathering
"Ok! We need a good strategy to win, so let's all work together!" The group were huddled (much to Paul's displeasure) is a circle; Ash trying to persuade to gang to put their hands in the middle.
"Oh c'mon Ash! Just saying 'we need a plan' isn't going to get anything done!" shouted Barry, impatient.
"The majority of the Blue team are females, and as their leader is a girl, their plan won't be so high profile" The youthful boy calculated, fiddling with his glasses. Paul had learned that his name was Max, and he was May's younger brother.
"Don't be sexist!" The pigtail-girl yelled, "Girl's are way better than guys anyway" Paul had not yet figured what she was called by.
"Oh for goodness sake! Can we just make a plan?" Misty, the ginger, screamed to get everyone's attention, "We've only got ten minutes!"
All eyes turned to the silent Ash. He was team leader, after all.
"I say we make two plans. Plan A is our first, and Plan B if it all goes wrong" Max stepped in for him. He grabbed a nearby stick and drew the arena on the sand beneath them, "One person, and only one, spies on them as they continue to cross the arena. We'll have the rest of the team a certain point, and when they pass it--"
"Bam!" Ash pumped his fists in the air, "We surprise them and strike from behind!" This outburst earned him a slap from Misty. Barry and the pigtail-girl chuckled.
"Not so fast. The only flaw to this plan is that we don't know when they pass this 'point'" Paul was almost astounded. A flaw? To this genius boy's plan? How can it be?
"We'll need a signal" Paul pitched in. It's not that he wanted to, but he had to, before someone could suggest some other suicidal idea.
The group looked at him. It was the first time he spoke after his arrival.
"The goth boy speaks!" Pigtails giggled, her hair bouncing up and down. Paul stared at her evilly.
"I'm. Not. Goth" he said with great irritation. This only made Pigtails laugh more loudly. Misty noticed this anger.
"Don't make me slap you too!" That shut her up. He suddenly liked the ginger.
"Ahem" Max interrupted the antics, "May I continue?" Ash nodded, eyeing Paul with a raised eyebrow.
"Ok, Plan B, if all else fails, the 'spy' will become the bait. They will distract the Blue team, while the rest of our squad-"
"Oh yeah! Sneak attack!" This time, the Stalker-Blonde cut short Max's speech. Misty did not hesitate to slap him too.
"Hey! I'm not Ash!" Barry rubbed his sore cheek.
"You certainly act like him!" Misty retorted. Ash pouted silently while Barry tried to object.
"No way! I'll never be like Ash! I'm way stronger!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"SHUT UP!" Paul exclaimed furiously. He had had enough of their pointless arguments.
Out of Paul's earshot, Pigtails whispered, "Goth-boy speaks again! World record!"
"Alright!" Misty was all business now, "Ash, I don't trust you as spy; you'll probably walk into a tree and blow our cover. Barry, you'll be too loud boasting over your so-called 'skills'. Max, we need you with the rest of the team. I'll need to take care of the looney brothers and--"
"No thank you," Pigtails rejected politely, "I'm not the 'spy' type"
"Which leaves…" Paul rolled his eyes. No need to get so theatrical over it.
"Yes, I'll be your stupid spy" It's not like Paul had a choice. Even if he did, he wouldn't want Pathetic Loser, Stalker-Blonde, Pigtails, Smart-Alec or Ginger to deal with, even if one of them wasn't present.
"Good" Max adjusted his spectacles, "Ok, Paul, we'll need you to stay near the edge as possible, and reach their area" Max used the stick to draw the path Paul would be using, and circled the extreme right of the scale-size map. That was Blue team's gathering area.
"We'll wait over here" The stick glided over the sand, and stuck in the top-middle of the map arena.
"What about the signal? We don't have any walkie-talkies!" Pigtails chirped.
"Or flares" Barry, having recovered from his 'injury', contributed to the plan.
"I was thinking we could disguise our signal as Pokemon cries" Max held his hands behind his back, perfectly straight, "One cry for Plan A's signal, two for 'Plan A has failed, get to next rendezvous point', and three for 'Plan B in action, attack!'"
"Yeah, great idea!"
"All right!"
"We're gonna win!"
"I'm not making a Pokemon cry" Paul crossed his arms. Cawing like a Staraptor would completely crush his status.
"Well, you've got no other choice. Make sure it's loud, and don't screw it up! Go!" Before Paul could intervene, Misty pushed him away, into the depths of the trees.
Somehow, Paul knew Plan A wasn't going to work, and he wasn't clear as crystal on Plan B either. The enemy team may have Dawn as leader, but even she wouldn't be so stupid as to let her team roam in the woods freely.
Somehow, Paul knew Plan A wasn't going to work. And somehow, he was right.
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Just to note, I was not half asleep and on whisky. I was just half asleep.
Congrats to Kyogreperson who guessed my little question! Release date of European HGSS peeps. Cookie for you :)
Here's a new one: Cookie to those who guess Pigtails' real name.
Don't forget, the review Raichu love's y'all!
Thanks for reading! ~GloomyDayz
Next chapter: 'Pines, Signs, and Very Big Fines'