The closer Cass comes, the more she notices that not only her Trubbish is tiny here - while she's of average height, it's not much compared to the trainer she's facing now. At least she didn't have to come close enough to actually need to crane her neck. She's surprised by the soft edges in the others' expression, and tries her best not to think about her father when he's about to spoil her.

"The honour is all mine," she replies, laying on the layer of teenage confidence a bit thicker, "It's nice to meet you." Jon seems to mimic her, puffing up his whole bagness a little bit, but ... he might just appear a bit more bloated than before. She still gives him an encouraging smile, before both of their expressions become more serious as they turn to the battle.

As they initiated it this time, it might as well be up to them to start the fight-fight, too! "Jon, use Sludge Bomb! Try and keep it at bay!" If she remembers correctly, the other is a fighting type ... so maybe a melee fighter.

Kazuya Yoshida
HP: 3/3
Jon uses Sludge Bomb
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Cass usually wasn't the type to be too pessimistic - even if she has a bit of nihilistic streak to herself, she at least tried to see things at least a bit above depressing. However, her heart drops a good distance as she hears a not-very-comforting buzzing, followed by the sight of a. REALLY BIG Beedrill, and it seems to come her way. In a cartoon, Cass' soul could maybe have been caught leaving her body through her mouth, being a (literal) ghost of herself and leaving her physical shell likewise.

However, she snaps quickly back to the actual reality, reinforcing her grip on the tree branch so she doesn't fall after all, as the Beedrill calls out - no wait, it's not the Beedrill. It's a ranger, on the pokémon's back. Relieved, and now with belated embarrassment, she nods, "Yeah, I think that'd be... really good." Then, her eyes dart upwards to where her Trubbish is- oh dear. The Trubbish is frozen stiff, definitely still alive, but way less agile in its garbage bag body now that the cold has clung to him a bit more. "Hey, Jon, you holding up alright there?" she calls, worriedly, and gets ... something of a reassuring eye movement back?

Shalin Nariya

At some point, Cassandra was wondering if she and Jon, her Trubbish, would really have the stamina to keep battling the whole day. Probably not, but for now, she still felt like there was some fight left in her, and Jon seems to feel the same. The duo spots someone else, currently not engaged in a battle, with the same tournament setup as themselves, and decided to approach the (definitely older) person and their pokémon.

"Hello! Would you be open for a battle?" she asks, pointing to herself and Jon, "I'm Cassandra and this is my partner, Jon." The trubbish gives a little wave, only intimidated by the bigger pokémon for a second (or maybe two).

Kazuya Yoshida

Cassandra looks around the park area for a quiet place to sit and do some outdoor sketches. It's a rare opportunity to go outside during class, but sometimes Cass wish it would maybe be in the springtime ... but she wouldn't actually go and complain about leaving that stuffy classroom. Today, her Tinkatuff Sona accompanies her - and quickly, Cass is dragged to a particular spot in the park by her pokémon.

"Alright, alright, I follow you already," she tells the excited pokémon, who makes exciting noises at ... something. She's not entirely sure what, really. However, the bench that she's been lead to isn't empty - another person around her age is sitting there. "Let's go- okay, fine, fine." Sona would not want to give up the spot, so Cass gives in and continues the approach with a friendly smile.

"Hi there! Would you mind if we sit next to you?" she asks, supported by polite and friendly cooing from her Tinkatuff.

opal garcia

Cassandra thinks back to her first fight, but of course would never tell the truth in a situation like this. "Yeah, we've been doing alright," she says, her eyes looking slightly more to Ollie's left than before, then faces him head-on again. "If we knock of the hat, do we win?"

She can't help the slight grin at the comical thumbs up from the pikachu, then looks at Jon again who in turn is giving her a little wave with its bag arms. "Jon, frontal Sludge Bomb!" Cass replies, in her mind going through the various attack but - well, simple is best, probably. Jon's quickly gathering poisonous sludge from within, and also scratches parts from outside, to throw a ball of it at the oncoming pikachu.

ollie morales
HP: 3/3
Jon uses Sludge Bomb
AQO|c8O|

After their first fight and loss, Cass took a moment to heal up her Trubbish Jon, but not for too long - after all, the energy is filled with battle spirit, and even they seem to be infected by it. Especially Jon, who in turn motivated Cass to do better.

She did not, however, expect to fight someone she's seen in the media occasionally. After spending a moment slightly awestruck, she remembers that she hasn't said anything while Jon has already positioned himself in front of her. "Ah, hi! I'm Cassandra," she introduces herself, and then points to her beloved garbage bag. "And that's Jon. That's a really cute hat," she comments, regretting immediately that she hasn't dressed up Jon for the occasion.

ollie morales

Cassandra flinches as the Z-Move hits, and while it could have been worse, it definitely was over for them in this fight. She calls Jon back for now, who would need a little bit of rest anyways - and it'd be better not to have him out in this state too long, anyway. The smell, as she learns today, could really get pungant.

"There's really no time to idle around in these fights, huh?" she replies to the other with a wry smile, but then nods with a grateful, but still a bit sheepish smile - there's no hint of diminished fighting spirit, however. "Thanks for the good advice and the good fight! Hope your battles will be victorious in the future as well."

Lasciel Elis
HP: 0/3
Loss

Cass takes in the words from the other student, who definitely seems way more battle-experienced. After two heavy blows, Jon definitely looks worse for wear, which also manifests in a pungent smell that even Cass, with her garbage-insensitive nose, notices. "Yeah, we hope to just get some experience today, honestly," she replies, looking at her almost defeated trubbish that, however, still hasn't given up. And so should she, as she listens to another piece of advice given.

"No holding back, no hard feelings," Cass returns with a nod, her hands clenched tightly to fists as Jon's trying to get some debris from the battlefield, as the other sets up what she could recognise as Z-mov. "Wouldn't want it any other way."

There's no way to escape, or not quick enough- "Jon, focus on Lyca! Use Pain Split!" She's not sure how the attack works out in their current setting, but if it worked, at least Jon would have a bit of buffer to endure, maybe-

Lasciel Elis
HP: 1/3
Jon uses Pain Split!
nDEeatJ5

Cassandra flinches slightly at the unabashed question, but there's no denying it. Her expression becomes something between embarrassed and defiant, which might as well be her current usual state of being. "Yeah, we haven't gotten to fight often. Homework, and all," she explains, sighing - which makes her wonder once more what school the other might attend to. "But, ah, thanks for the tips!" she says, relieved to see that they weren't made fun of.

Nonetheless, Jon got hit and sent towards the Stealth Rock with a Rock Slide, tearing part of its bag open, but gladly not enough to actually spill anything. His smell of garbage does intensify a bit, as he coughs in the dust. Cass bites her lower lip, before shaking herself, "Jon, use Clear Smog!" The dust from the Rock Slide surely might count as Smog ... right? "And let's try to Sludge Bomb some of the Stealth Rock away!" Even if she wasn't sure if they'd have the time to do it, but she does know that he'd work better with things to do while being idle. ... if there'd be time to be idle.

Lasciel Elis
HP: 2/3
Jon uses Clear Smog (& Sludge Bomb to clear some Stealth Rock possibly)
xFBXig4K

Cass seems to be taken slightly aback by the ... possible reference? But she doesn't have a frame of reference herself, so she couldn't really tell if she just hasn't watched a trendy show or was too young to get it. "Yeah, let's see how this goes," she replies after a moment of contemplating the possible-not-reference.

"No worries about hard feelings," she agrees, and seems actually quite excited to fight for a moment, breaking through a slight worry how that many fights are going to affect her pokémon, but ... they'll figure it out. "Break a leg- or don't," she wishes the other luck as if she would to an actor that she's finished styling in the wardrobe, but does this phrase also applies to-

Anyway, she thought way too hard about that and things in general right now, so she takes a deep breath, readying herself for the battle. Jon also just got into position, as the battle started proper - and immediately, the inexperienced duo needed a second longer to process the rocks suddenly emerging from the ground. "That looks painful- don't run into that," she shouts to Jon, "Quick, use Sludge Bomb!"

Jon immediately heeds her words, its little body seemingly to grow momentarily, before shrinking as he spat out a sludge bomb towards Lyca, careful not to move an inch from the spot he's on.

Lasciel Elis
HP 3/3
uses Sludge Bomb
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Cassandra thought this tournament might be a good way to get some more fighting experience for her trubbish Jon. It's a battle format she's never done, - not that she's done many battles in general - so their chances might be ... okay-ish? Neither of them were really battle-experienced, but might make up for it with sheer determination.

They've looked for shelter at the sudden drizzle, because of course she's forgotten her umbrella at home. But gladly, it stopped soon enough so she could actually go out and start looking for battle partners - and promptly found one. The other seems to be around her age, but Cass hasn't seen her before - which isn't surprising, since her school's not exactly the largest around.

"Hi!" she returns the greeting, glad to see someone around her age participating in the tournament. "Fortunately, I only got this guy with me here," she replies, but then touches her hair very carefully - gladly, it doesn't seem to cause any trouble ... for now. "I'm Cassandra, but you can call me Cass or Cassie if you want- and that here is Jon."

She looks at the Lycanroc, then at her Trubbish. Determination settles in the little guy's eyes, and well, there's not much else to do except ... "Are you here to fight, too?"

Lasciel Elis

VITAL TRACKER

GOOD LUCK, COMPETITOR!

[break]

PARTNER POKEMON:

trubbish (no gimmick)

VITALS EARNED:
1 VITALS FROM link WITH Lasciel Elis (LOSS)
2 VITALS FROM link WITH ollie morales (WIN)
2 VITALS FROM link WITH Kazuya Yoshida (WIN)

TOTAL VITALS:
5

REWARDS OBTAINED: ability capsule, 1x free evolution, 3x tm/tr, 1x root of pugnus, 1x premium gacha

"You know what, that whole trip was not-" Cassandra murmurs to herself, about to turn around in this godforsaken (?) landscape to head back to a warm and cosy home, when she catches a movement in the corner of her eye. Immediately alert, she whips around, firmly holding the pokéball of her fletchling Effie. However, the movement isn't threatening - it's rather elegant, in fact.

A pokémon which she's never seen before dances in the icy scenery, moving about elegantly. It has a copper sheen to it, which makes her wonder if it might be made of copper entirely. Stunned and mesmerised, she watches for another moment, before it finally notices her, and startles. Now, its behaviour speaks of aggression, and she quickly pulls up her hands, then lowers them slowly, realising her mistake.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you," she speaks in a clear voice, louder than she intended in this white nothingness (there's a lot, but all this white seems to blur). "That was ... very beautiful." Its loud stomps were rhythmic, and its movements simply so fluent. "You're a very good dancer."

The cufant still eyes Cassandra with scepticism, but seems to also be soothed by the soft tone of her voice. It doesn't approach, but doesn't attack her as she approaches. "Hey, mind if I join you for a bit?" She tries to translate its quadruped movements to her two legs, and fails - gladly, there's no one around to actually, so she could be embarrassed in peace. However, the cufant itself seems to pick up on what she intends to do, and it chirps happily, starting to pick up its dance where it left off before, and encouraging Cassandra to join in it.

"I swear, I'm not that hopeless, usually," she laughs after a while, "All those layers don't really help." She gestures to her gloves, scarves (yes, two), jacket, inner jackets and shirts and trousers. "But hey ... if you wanna come with me, we can maybe work on it together?" she asks, finally taking out an empty pokéball and letting the wild Cufant sniff it for a moment, before throwing it and hoping for the best.