Battle Convention!

[indigo_league]

Early Saturday morning, the doors of one of the largest --if not the largest-- convention centres in Viridian City open to welcome everybody to this years Battle Convention.

Spread out across several floors, and the battling fields outside, the Battle Convention is the place to be for anyone with an interest in pokemon battling. Whether you are a hardcore battler trying to hone your craft even further, or a newcomer to the battling scene hoping to learn, the Battle Convention has things of interest to everybody. It's promising to be a busy event, with trainers attending from all over Johto and Kanto. Famous battlers and gym leaders alike can be spotted in the crowds, hosting workshops or even entering in the tournaments.





The Tournament Ground

Outside of the convention centre, stands have been erected around at least a dozen Pokemon battle fields. This is where the various Tournaments will be held. Throughout the weekend, three tournaments will be held here. There is the Otherworlder Battle Tournament, a separate tournament for native Elite Four Champions, and a third Li'l Champs tournament for trainers under the age of ten.

Viewing the various battles is absolutely free, and could be a good source of insight into battle strategies employed by some of the best battlers in the region. Or, if you are attending the Li'l Champs tournament -- a most adorable insight into the dedication and friendship between young children and their first Pokemon.

Due to the number of battles, at any given time, various battles will be ongoing. The Li'l Champs tournament will be held on Sunday, while both the Otherworlder battle tournament and the Elite Four Champions battle tournament will have most of their preliminary matches held on Saturday, with the finale few matches on Sunday.

So, if you are done shopping (or maybe just ran out of money) and there aren't any workshops catching your eye, why not come down to the Tournament Grounds and catch a few battles?

First Floor

The first floor of the Convention Centre has been reserved entirely for various workshops and battle demonstrations. In essence, whatever topic related to battling you might be interested in -- whether it is using certain moves or items, battle strategies, or even demonstrations on why you should be adding X type to your roster -- you'll probably find someone here willing to talk about it. Even breeders might find something of interest here, as there are a few people giving workshops on how to breed pokemon for battle-minded customers.

Schedules are available so you won't miss anything you are interested in. Some of these workshops might only be given once, while others are repeated a few times throughout the convention, so make sure to check your schedule!

And among the crowd giving demonstration and workshops, you might even find a few familiar faces -- yes, members of the Aurora League have also been given the chance to speak about any battle topics near to their heart. Why not check out what they have to say?

Second Floor

The second floor of the Convention Centre has been reserved for the important business of commerce. Have some money to burn? Want that sweet serotonin boost of buying a thing? Maybe you deserve a little treat after winning (or losing) your battle. If so, head on up here.

Spread across various rooms, the Battle Convention dealers have everything that could be of interest to a trainer. There is, frankly, far too much to list here individually, so please accept this rough list of what your characters can find here.

Held Items -- it is possible to buy held items here, however the vast majority of them are pretty rare, so sellers will only sell you one of each. Buying several different held items is fine, but you won't find anyone willing to sell you five Amulet coins. The only exception is for held items that also double as evolutionary items. Those can be freely bought in any quantity. TMs -- It is also possible (though might require some searching across various dealers) to buy any kind of single-use TM here. The same rules apply as with Held Items -- TMs that are currently available in stores can be bought at any quantity; TMs outside of that are limited to one per person. Eggs -- There is also a small group of professional breeders present where you can order eggs with egg moves. The eggs themselves will be delivered to you in the days after the tournament. There is no limit on the amount of egg moves you can request for your egg, but there is a hefty price tag involved! These are professional breeders, so expect a base price of 6000p per egg, with 1000p per requested egg move. Training Equipment -- it's also possible to buy all manner of training equipment for your pokemon. From weights to training bags to agility aids -- if you can think of something that could help you train your pokemon in a more efficient manner, you can find it here. And the bigger items can be delivered to where you are staying, so you won't have to carry around a giant Wailord Training Bag. Odds and Ends -- In addition to all this very focused battle stuff, you'll also be able to find general pokemon items, such a wide variety of Pokeballs, Evolutionary Items, Vitamins and Potions and such. All of these will be sold for the same price as in stores.

However in addition to all of these items, the Silph Co. Booth is drawing a lot of attention. There is an announcement that they will be unveiling something truly special on Sunday, so all of Saturday is awash in rumours and guesses. There is talk that whatever they will be unveiling will be one of the prices in the tournament, though who knows if that is true. When Sunday finally comes, there is a huge crowd around the booth, watching as Silph Co. unveils

EXP-Share, the newest held item to make your training a little easier.

The EXP-Share, which will go on sale in the department stores after this weekend, is a new type of held item. Once given to a Pokemon, this Pokemon will receive EXP during battles, even while not battling itself. Have a Pokemon that is difficult to train like Magikarp? Did you just hatch a new Pokemon, but you are in an area where the wild Pokemon are too high in level for them to train against? Why not give them an EXP-Share and have them comfortably gain EXP without risking them in battle.

Battle Convention attendants can get an early start on buying an EXP-Share, though they are limited to one per customer. The price is 40,000p.

Third Floor

This is where you can go if you need a little break from all the hustle and bustle downstairs. Various food vendors and sit-down places have been set up here, allowing characters to grab a meal or something to drink, rest a little, or even go strategise for upcoming tournament battles.

As always with these type of events UBIRDS will be available to fly characters to Viridian City and back to where they were staying afterwards.

Comments

[lightningbearer]

"No."

Short and to the point, Geddoe raising his mug to take a sip himself. For a moment, his expression may have softened just a bit, too, before being obscured by the mug. Definitely a blink and you'll miss it moment, though.

[1stclasspuppy]

Zack totally catches the soft look on his face and doesn't point it out but his legs do sway a little as he sits and joins him in a sip of his beer. He learned not to tease Geddoe and so he's just going to keep it a private memory for now. He's just really happy he caught that look.

"I'm glad I found you Geddoe, it's nice drinking with someone." He looks over at him and lightly shoves him with his arm.

[lightningbearer]

Teasing is something one has to work one's way up to with Geddoe. A good friend or trusted companion can get away with a lot, but someone he still doesn't know too well, not so much. Though if he starts dishing out snark, he can always take as good as he gives.

In any case, that remark earns him a bit of a sidelong glance.

"I'm surprised a friendly guy like you doesn't have a whole entourage by now."

He recognizes the type. The outgoing and effortlessly charismatic sort.

[1stclasspuppy]

That comment does confuse Zack a little and so after he takes a swig of his drink he puts it down and looks over at Geddoe. He never really had an entourage, he had friends yes but most of his missions in the past were solo. The most he had ever done was with one other person, though maybe that counted as an entourage.

"Never had one, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He smiled nonetheless and then looked back at the bar and away from Geddoe. "Are you saying you might want to join up with me?"

[lightningbearer]

Geddoe raises an eyebrow.

"Oh? Would've figured you're the sort to charm most people you meet."

You know, have a whole group of fellow newbies tagging along or something. Then again, that whole Hisui thing certainly threw everyone off. That said...

"Weren't you the one tagging along after me?"

This isn't actually a complaint, exactly. Just an observation. Maybe a little teasing.

[1stclasspuppy]

"I mean I had friends in my past life but...not too many here yet."

Zack shrugs and gets a little pink tint to his face as he looks at Geddoe once more. "You're probably my best friend I got here so far."

It is strange to say but out of everyone he's spoken with Geddoe does fit the bill. He hopes that's not too much for the other man.

"I mean yeah, I'm still happy to tag along with you if you're okay with it. I'd hate to do something you don't like."

[lightningbearer]

"Hmm..."

There's probably a lot of different things Geddoe could say to all that, but all he gives in response for now is a noncommittal sounds as he drinks his beer. Really, if he's honest with himself, he has been pretty lonely since winding up here. He misses his team, he misses all the others from that ragtag army, and thinking about Wyatt's death still stings.

But actually talking about this kind of stuff has never been his forte, to say the least. He could almost envy Zack's apparent ability to just spout off whatever's on his mind without a second thought. Or forethought, for that matter.

"Do what you like."

[1stclasspuppy]

Well doing what he likes would be leaning over and hugging Geddoe and maybe going on an adventure right away. That probably wouldn't go over well so he wasn't going to do anything he wanted to. He'd wait and try to be patient even if it was really hard to.

At least the beer was a good distraction and he quickly finished his and ordered another. He got one more for Geddoe too and then sat back in his stool a bit, staring at his refilled glass.

"I do want to actually hear your opinion on things. I mean it when I say I don't want to do anything you wouldn't like. If I had my way we'd be hugging and adventuring right now. So, tell me what you want Geddoe. Please?"

[lightningbearer]

"Adventuring?"

Geddoe can't help but raise an eyebrow at that, amused. It's like the kind of thing a kid would say, while running around and waving a crude wooden sword.

But anyway, there was a question to possibly answer. And boy, was it a bit of a loaded one, not that Zack would have had any way of knowing it would be. Geddoe takes a moment or two to think it over as he sips at his beer, but does eventually answer.

"Since there's no way of knowing how long anyone will be in this world, I just want to keep busy while I'm here." Killing time until he's returned to his own world, basically. He does still have people back home he misses, and he knows he can afford to be patient and wait it out. A 'perk' of the True Rune's immortality, one might say.

"You can tag along if you want, but I don't know if you'd find it that interesting. I can't say I'm in a hurry to get involved in anything very exciting."

He'd just been in a war full of convoluted plots and some very personal losses back home. Geddoe likes the idea of boring, mundane life right now. But he certainly won't judge Zack if the kid decides it's not for him.