video;

[marmoron]

[The feed begins a little shakily, but eventually it focuses on two guys and a posse of pokemon walking beside them. A Houndoom walks a little ahead of Keith and a shiny Haunter floats overhead with a notepad in hand. The other boy is one James Griffin, with an energetic Lilipup circling him and occasionally the Houndoom in a playful run. James himself is carrying a Dedenne on his shoulder.]

So this is the last and toughest gym in Johto, huh. You know how you’re gonna take her on yet?

I suspect Denny’s going to be my ace here. I heard Clair has a Dragonite as her darling, type-wise Denny’s the perfect match. We’ve been training hard.

Still didn’t take you to be the type to be training fairy hamsters. [a pause as keith looks ahead.] You don’t have to record this, Ally.

[his rotom lets out a cheerful noise, clearly not paying that any mind. The pair approach the gym doors still talking strategy amicably but as james puts his hand on the gym door things take a funny turn.]

Woah. [Keith’s eyes narrow as he grabs the other door.] Who said you get to battle Clair first?

[ James looks surprised by the sudden hostility, but his features harden pretty quickly. ]

Well, one of us is going to have to, so…

[Keith raises an eyebrow, looking distinctly unimpressed before grinning and giving James a firm shove out of the way.]

Get in line, James.

[ Without hesitation, there is a shove back. ]

In your dreams, hotshot.

[This is met by yet another retaliatory shove. Meanwhile the shiny Haunter claps delightedly and after scribbling on her notepad, floats towards Rotom and the camera. A very messy note is written on the pad that reads:]

.
.
F̴̪̝̳̯̜̳͔͙͆̃̿̀̏͐̀͢ͅI̴̞̦͎̞̔͛̒̇͋̀͜͟͜͝Ţ̻̠̱͉̬͚͎̜̓͋̒̂̚͟Ȩ̶̳̯̟̦̋̿̏͂̈́̇̇͞ͅ F̨̺̘̭̲̫̀̇̓̒̅̉̊̕Į̶͍̣̜̼̯̠̥́̽͋͐̾̽̎͜ͅT̴̬͖̘͖̦̣̐́̃͒͘͡Ȩ̲̮͉̼̣̤̏̐̀̋̑͒͘͡ F͙͉̱͉͎̣͋̋̂͗̀̚͜͝I̵̥̭͖̫̝͐̓̄͆̋͗̊̚͟͠͞T͈͎̮͚̯̖̠̭͊́͊̈́͂͂͘͜Ẻ̱͖̞̗̎̍͜͡͝ P̨̰͔͎̺͒̅͊̍͂͝ͅL̸̡͈̼̰͓͙͉̮͑̅͒̃͠͠͞Ā̴̭̺̼̙̭̻̘̣̒́̀̀̚͝I̡̳̹͈̘͂́͑͒̑̔͛͟͝S̫̬̖̫̜̜̓̀̈͋̓͢͝͞E̢̢̞̱͍̩͎̱͈͉̔͐̆̃̃̀ Ý̮͎̩̳̙̗̦̊̒̀̆͜͝͡͡Ư̙̟̪̗̞̳͗̏̂̈͑͋̿̚R̴̡̛̩͈̗͐̊̓͂̊̑̇͑̚ͅ B̶̮͎̪̜͖̟͛͆̏͐̊̃̂̇͠Ę̵͚̖͉̤͙̤̳̥̐͐̽͌́̄̀͢T͚͍̟͍͇̝͓̭̽̎̆͂͑̚Š̨̠̼̭̱̿̽̓̔̌͋̒͘͢͞
.
.
[Pal is helping!!]

Comments

[quizzak]

Well...

[ she then provides an explanation that is pretty much just like how you'd play rock, paper, scissors. the only differences is that rock (plaxus) is made by making an "o" shape with your hand, and paper (orin) involves a slight bend of the wrist. kind of like you're asking someone to hand you something. ]

It's quite simple, isn't it? Much more effective than shoving one another.

[lioness_rampant]

A very effective solution. Watch.

[ Allura and Romelle play a few quickfire rounds, and when Romelle comes out victorious, Allura shrugs. ]

See? It's easy.

[marmoron]

[just staring at this game wondering why rock paper scissors is apparently a universal constant.

then he just turns to james.]

So how important is this to you?

[onebetter]

[ James looks similarly impressed. ]

First one to win three games.

[ That's how important it is. ]

Rock, paper, scissors seems easier for us though.

[quizzak]

See? That wasn't so hard.

[ she's proud of you two!!! ]

[lioness_rampant]

[ Allura also seems content with their willingness to settle amicably, so she steps back to stand with Romelle. ]

All right, carry on.

[marmoron]

[gah. honestly he looks like he'd rather NOT be rock paper scissors for this, but seeing as this seems to have appeased romelle and allura, he deep sighs.]

Fine. Best of three. We're doing rock paper scissors shoot and you make your pick on shoot.

[just explaining so there isn't any salt over timing, ok.

and because rng is hilarious, the first round ends in both of them picking scissors. then both of them picking rock, and then finally keith goes rock again to james' scissors.]

Alright 1-0.

[onebetter]

Ugh...

[ James already looks annoyed with how this is going. This feels too representative of their rivalry as a whole!

Determined to win again, he picks scissors and.... is met with rock. Is this really fair? Is this his life? ]

... next round. Let's go.

[marmoron]

What for?

I thought this was a best of three.

[onebetter]

I said first one to get three wins.

[ He looks very sure of himself here. Keith, what are you talking about, sheesh. ]

[marmoron]

[/SQUINT.]

And that sounded like an unnecessarily long time to be playing rock paper scissors so I said best of three.

[lioness_rampant]

[ In her best Commander voice: ] Could you both focus? We don't have all day to stand here and bicker.

[marmoron]

[great. now you're just making his gf angry at him. thanks for nothing, james.]

He's the one drawing this out for no reason....

[grumped perhaps slightly under his breath as he faces james again for another bloody round of this game. this time he goes for paper. james can thank the stars he's still in the running here for picking scissors.]

This would have been over if you'd just listened to me.

[onebetter]

[ All in a day's work, Keith. All in a day's work. ]

And you'd have won, how convenient.

[ This is a life or death rock paper scissors game, don't rush it! Except that switching from scissors to paper in the next round was a crucial mistake for Keith ends up picking scissors himself, instead of rock as anticipated.

James curses under his breath. ]

... okay, suit yourself.

[ He's basically pouting. ]

[quizzak]

[ see!! that wasn't so hard, now was it. romelle smiles at keith before putting a hand on james' shoulder. ]

Think of it this way: Keith's going first, but you can use this opportunity to see Clair's strategy and use that knowledge to your advantage when it's your turn.

[ encouragement! don't be so sad james! ]

[marmoron]

[on the bright side, keith isn't laughing. on the not so bright side, he's deeeefinitely smirking]

Yeah. Just watch and learn, James.

[and with that, he's FINALLY going to push open the gym doors and march right along to that sweet sweet 8bit track. amazing how the constant music here isn't even annoying him right now!]

[onebetter]

[ James gives Romelle's attempt at cheering a small smile even though it is pretty clear that he isn't really consoled.

Keith meanwhile gets a glare. ]

Don't be mad when I outdo you after, then.

[ He'll be nice and watch, though. And maybe think it's just a little cool. ]