SPOILER: Click to show

You will have 60 minutes to STABALIZE the city as it deals with a catasrophe. Throughout the challenge, FLARES (red/yellow/blue) will go off in the sky above the city, each of them indicating a CRISIS you must respond to. You may only choose ONE, and any you decide not to go-after, may come back and either hinder, or help you, in the form of a CONSEQUENCE.

Each flare's color represents a specific TYPE of problem. (e.g. medical/combative/escort/search and rescue/etc.) These identifiers will NOT be given ahead of time, forcing the challenger to figure it out as they go.

Each successful subjugation of a crisis will increase the city's stabilization by 33%. Once stabilization hits 99%, the challenger will face down ONE FINAL CRISIS.

Hideo shut right up when he heard the voice respond to him, pretty close to where he was. “Oh, sorry,” he said; he didn’t want this to be his first impression, even if the man sounded fairly amused. Guess his Beheeyem must’ve missed the guy.

Though he only had a very limited time to study up on this gym, he had made sure to at least read up on the rules for the challenge itself; it would be less of a battle and more finding solutions to crises. Which didn’t completely rule out battling, but he had to be ready for a wide variety of possible challenges.

And he was going to have to rely on his team heavily; he wouldn’t even know what each flare’s color would be without his Pokemon’s assistance, let alone the intricacies of each crisis. But that’s what he trained them for.

“No questions, Mr. Connors,” Hideo answered. He was ready for whatever crisis was to come.

He’d have to if he wanted to be Champion.

Greyson Connors

While the Beheeyrm was taken aback by the gym leader's dramatic dissipation, Hideo simply nodded. He was ready for this challenge, completely unaware of the darkness enveloping the room around them.

Once all that was left was the door, Hideo walked towards it - as if the door guided him there. His Beheeyem trailed behind him, Psychically opening the door for his trainer.

The two walked through, and…

Nothing immediately jumped out at him. It sounded like he'd just walked back outside, the quiet sounds of the city filling the air. No sounds of anything burning down, or of Pokemon attacking the city, or of some natural disaster hitting. Just a breeze that further pushed the cold air around him.

Not that much different from the weather he dealt with coming here, but maybe he could've brought his Arcanine along with him; her Flamethrower could've warmed things up.

"Did we just get sent outside?" Hideo asked. At first, he received an unsure response from his Beheeyem - until that changed to a disconfirmation. "So this really is the test?" Confirm. "Are there already flares?" Confirm. "How many?" Two.

"Are either of them red?" Confirm. "Is the other one yellow or blue?" The first.

While Hideo couldn't see color for himself, he did know that red was usually the color of danger. It was likely a more urgent issue than the yellow. "Alright, let's head over to the red. Is it far away?"

He hears his Beheeyem walk along the snow, likely taking a look. He received a confirmation shortly after. "Well, let's speed it up a bit."

He took out a Pokeball, letting out his Gardevoir. "Dancer, Teleport us over to that red flare."

She took a moment to spot the flare before nodding, the trio disappearing in a flash - and reappearing over where the red flare flew over.

Hideo is using his Gardevoir to Teleport to the Red Flare

Greyson Connors

As Hideo's feet hit the ground, he was ready to jump in and resolve whatever crisis was happening. Instead, it sounded like any other grocery store he'd been to. Nothing on fire, nobody badly injured or dying, no panicking civilians.

Hideo stood there awkwardly. Was he just missing something? Neither of his Pokemom were telling him there was anything happening.

But before he could ask if his Gardevoir teleported them to the right spot, he heard a loudspeaker announcement; it seemed innocent for all of two seconds before the speaker announced their plans to close the store down.

Permanently.

There was a brief pause, with both of Hideo's Pokemon alerting him to something about to happen. His Gardevoir was quick to cover the boy, while the Beheeyem waited to assess what was coming.

Sure enough, an explosion rocked the place, and Hideo was quickly informed of what was happening: four Rockets, each with their own Pokemon, causing havoc and general destruction. One person tried to stop them with a Delphox, but they were already defeated.

Which left the duty of stopping them to Hideo. And he couldn't just let them run rampant: he had to do something.

And because this was the crisis he had to resolve; he'd probably fail if he tried to just leave. Not that he'd planned to.

Going head-first would probably go as well as it did for that other guy. And Elga had told him that he could see 4 Pokemon, not that those were the only ones here. Hideo had to think fast.

Spread smoke and attack them while they were in disarray? No, there were still civilians here, and they could get mistaken for a Rocket. Have his Pokemon use the shelves as projectiles? They'd probably cause even more damage, not to mention the risk of catching civilians in the crossfire.

He soon came up with a plan, though he'd have to be careful and precise about it.

Carefully, he moved behind the cover of a still-standing shelf, his two Pokemon following him. He returned his Beheeyem to his Pokeball, releasing his own Lycanroc in turn.

"Dancer, distract them with a clone," he said, his Gardevoir nodding as a Double Team clone appeared ahead of her, out of cover. "Rocky, set something up for them." Several small stones appeared, floating in the air behind cover, the Stealth Rocks set for if the attackers got close to the clone.

Now for the most important part: "Let's start taking them out carefully. Put'em to sleep."

Behind cover, the Gardevoir's eyes glowed blue as she looked towards the attackers, her Hypnosis going into effect. She was going to try and put as many to sleep as she could - and her clone mimicked her action, its eyes glowing as well, though only the real Gardevoir's work actually do anything.

Hideo took cover behind some shelves along with his Pokemon.

Beheeyem Switched out for Lycanroc

Gardevoir created a Double Team clone as a decoy

Lycanroc set up some Stealth Rocks near the decoy

Gardevoir is attempting to use Hypnosis on the rockets and their Pokemon, the decoy mimicking her action.

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Greyson Connors

Hmm. Seemed like the Hypnosis didn't manage to catch any of the Rockets, but perhaps they were too preoccupied with the clone to notice. And the clone strategy worked very well, drawing their attention - and a Poochyena's attack.

The Stealth Rocks were a solid success. Though now that that card was played, here came the retaliation: Hideo could hear them mention a shelf, and a Pokemon firing an attack in his direction. Oh dear.

But before he could even think of his next move, his Lycanroc acted first, grabbing Hideo by the back of the collar and Accelerocking him away, running behind another shelf - with small tears in his eyes as the Gardevoir hitched a ride by grabbing the closest thing to her: his tail.

In that moment, the Gardevoir took a good look at the situation, Telepathically relaying the information to Hideo: the Delphox was back up and had taken out the Rockets' Lycanroc, but probably wasn't in shape to take any more hits of her own. And one of the Rockets was walking towards some civilians with what seemed like devious intent.

Well, he couldn’t let that happen.

Once his Lycanroc let him down - behind another shelf - Hideo went into action (ordering his Pokemon into action). “Rocky, go cover the civilians! Dancer, stick with me and cover the Delphox!”

His two Pokemon nodded, the Lycanroc going first; he rushed towards the civilians and the approaching grunt, another Acccelerock covering his body (his eyes filled with determination instead of tears) as he went straight for the grunt’s Pokemon, using the momentum to end up between the grunt and the civilians.

His Gardevoir’s shadow extended out towards the Delphox - but rather than to harm her, it was to try and intercept any attacks headed her way - or perhaps hit any incoming foes with a Shadow Sneak. And at the same time, she’d try to focus her Psychic energy on the Rocket's Pokemon that fired that Flash Cannon, giving them a nice toss aside.

Hideo's Lycanroc grabbed him by the collar and Accelerocked away from the shelf (taking the Gardevoir along too) behind a different shelf

Gardevoir informed Hideo of what was happening with her Telepathy

Lycanroc used Accelerock to intercept the Rocket advancing on the civilians, positioning himself between the Rocket and the civilians

Gardevoir covers the Delphox with Shadow Sneak

Gardevoir uses Psychic on the Pokemon that used Flash Cannon

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Greyson Connors

In the brief moment that the Malamar took notice of the Gardevoir's Telepathy, the Gardevoir noticed the small probing - and came to realize how the Rockets had been so coordinated and awake. But it was too late to do anything with that information: she was too preoccupied keeping Hideo informed on everything.

It seemed the Rockets were cutting their losses and running - using the opening that Psychic on the Duraladon had made - but not before knocking down shelves.

The choice between saving the civilians or pursuing the Rockets was…very easy to make. "Dancer, stop those shelves!" Hideo shouted, his Gardevoir nodding.

The Shadow Sneak that had been protecting the Delphox, now moved to the shelves, aiming to stop more from falling over. And in case that was insufficient, she'd apply some Psychic power of her own to hold the shelf in place.

So what of the civilians in the shelves before that one? The Gardevoir had been quick to notify Hideo's Lycanroc of their focus. Rocky growled, displeased at letting some of the Rockets through, but he'd help save the civilians. The Delphox would have to manage her surrendered opponent.

The Lycanroc dashed ahead, speeding through the aisles as shelves fell, using the speed from his Accelerock to move as fast as he could. He'd try to move as many civilians out of the way as he could.

Hideo's chooses to Save the Civilians

Gardevoir uses Shadow Sneak to try and hold back falling shelves

Also uses Psychic for the same purpose

Lycanroc uses Accelerock to try and evacuate any civilians in shelves' path.

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Greyson Connors

With how chaotic things had gotten and how focused he'd been, Hideo had almost completely forgotten this was all just a simulation. It was only upon hearing the Gym Leaders voice congratulate him that he remembered this was just a test.

His Lycanroc reunited with him right as his Gardevoir helped him stand back up. Even if they hadn't caught every Rocket, they'd saved the civilians and prevented the store from being (completely) destroyed - a good enough success in his book.

Hideo approached Greyson, dusting himself off as his Pokemon made sure he didn't trip over any debris. Just as he got close, two new Pokemon teleported in, with Greysom explaining what they were here for.

Hideo stood there for a moment, deliberating on which to choose. He knew yellow was essentially a step below red in terms of emergencies. Blue, he actually had no idea what that could mean.

Then again, red had brought him here, right before an active rocket assault. There was no knowing whether yellow or blue would be more severe emergencies - or if they'd already be happening once he arrived.

He went with his gut feeling, pointing towards the Alakazam - the Yellow "flare". "I'll go with that one," he said, awaiting his teleportation.

Hideo takes a moment to recompose himself

Hideo chooses the Yellow Flare

Greyson Connors