Victory Road!

*The video opens to a shot of a large room, panning around to take in a view of a high ceiling, rows of seats to the sides, and a packed-dirt floor in the middle marked in the familiar pattern of an area used for a pokemon match. In fact... all this looks an awful lot like the inside of a gym, doesn't it? Except it doesn't match any of the gyms found in Kanto or Johto, nor even the glimpse of the Indigo Plateau some might have seen in Sion's video from there... But in any case, after a brief look around the mystery gym, the video finally settles on a shot showing Sion and Ryner, Sion grinning and Ryner looking maybe kind of pleased with himself but not actually wanting to admit it. Sion speaks up first:*

As some of you may already know, I, Sion Astal, and my friend, Ryner Lute, successfully challenged and defeated the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau a few months ago. One of the rewards was authorization to create a gym of our own, in the newly-formed Aurora League, and, well, as you can see...

*he shrugs, gesturing at the room, which probably speaks for itself at this point, really*

This is the Collegiate Gym. It's scheduled to open on the first of next month, barring any unexpected delays. It's located along Route 37, just a bit south of Ecruteak City. I believe there's supposed to be signs going up, but if not, take the path heading west that you'll find before you reach the city. The gym will be open from eight in the morning to seven in the evening daily, and If you want to try your hand at challenging us, you can either schedule a match, or come in any time between three and six in the afternoon any day but Sunday for a match on a first come, first served basis. If you win, you'll receive a Tactician Badge, as well as, well, let's leave the rest of it as a surprise for.

Of course, matches here are a bit different from what you'll find in the Indigo League; rather than pitting your best against a fixed team of ours, both sides will be randomly assigned a team to use. You'll have to choose your final team from that, and come up with a strategy with what you end up with to defeat the team the gym leader is given. Which I can assure you, won't be as simple as choosing based on type advantages.

*that last part is said dryly*

So while you're welcome to give it a try at any time, we'd suggest taking some time to challenge other gyms and learn from their strategies first.

Aside from that, the gym has a number of training halls that can be reserved and used for practice or matches. Most of them are equipped to simulate weather effects, and two can handle terrains as well.

*there's a reason the gym took extra-long to build, after all... In any case, Ryner speaks up next*

We've got a library upstairs, too. Ahh, well, we're still filling it, and new books are always welcome... But it's open to everybody, even if you aren't coming for a challenge. The classrooms, too. We'll be running some classes, once things settle down, but you can reserve them for your own events, if you want.

*aaand then it's back to Sion*

So really, everyone ought to come visit when they get the chance, whether to battle or not. We'll look forward to seeing you!


((Replies may come from both Sion and Ryner!))

*today's post opens to a shot of Sion seated neatly on the couch in the living room of the house he shares with Ryner, a decently large pile of eggs carefully arranged next to him*

As it seems some members of my team have recently decided it was an appropriate time to surprise me with a few eggs-- *he gives a meaningful glance to one side, which is met with an amused "Sol" from offscreen; Dusk is entirely unrepentant* --it would appear I have some in need of new homes. If anyone is interested, a full list is attached; I imagine P1000 would be a fair price for each, though if you've recently arrived and are still short on money, you needn't worry about that.

I can have the eggs delivered to your local pokémon center, or if that's not an option let me know your location and I'm sure I can manage something.

*and then the post ends with a link to the list in question*

((There's still plenty of eggs up for grabs for anyone interested!))

Hello, my name is Sion Astal. For everyone who doesn't know me, I've been in this world for quite some time now, and it occurred to me that, given how most new arrivals have largely the same questions, it would be helpful to collect the answers to such in a single place. So, for any who may be interested, I've done so myself. You can view it either as a recording here, or download it as a text version to read from the attachment to this message.

So, without further ado...

( tl;dr aka 'Sion's Guide for Newbies' )


[Attachment: Newcomers_Orientation.zip]