<div class="floatleft">(http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/1/11/VSBrock.png)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Brock<br/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Douglasberg Casino<br/><br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Elly, Draven, Marco<br/><br/><strong>Current Pokémon:</strong>Onix<br/><br/><hr/><br/>After a surprisingly long stretch of silence, Elly rejoined them and proved that the quiet only came with her absence, but while she it had seemed like she had gotten over her anger at first, that chance fell through when she decided to use some rather foul language at Brock. He didn't like that. Not. One. Bit. He didn't even feel Topaz jabbing her pointy little horn into his  very vulnerable shin at that point. But before anyone could get to see the unholy consequences of pushing the legendary Gym Leader to a degree of real anger, his old pupil cut in and tried to take on the challenge himself. It was annoying to Brock to have someone step in and speak in his place, but he could see that Marco wanted to prove himself (as much as he probably didn't need to), so he was going to let it go and enjoy the show.<br/><br/>Of course, Draven had to ruin the fun and cut in with a very good point; if they got distracted with a battle, not only would they probably miss a large chunk of the competition, but Elly and Marco's pokémon wouldn't be in the condition to compete anymore. "He's right. Save it for later, you two," Brock commanded them sharply, though he really did want to see the two of them go at it. It would be one thing for him to go toe-to-toe with Macdougal in a pokémon match, since his victory was practically a given, but for his<em>student</em>to put her in her place would be incredibly satisfying, if it was in Marco to pull it off.<br/><br/>Before the rage emanating from the casino's owner's daughter could grow any larger, the sign-up girl from before came charging over, barely making it through the sand in her trendy little heels. "Miss Elly, you should really hurry! The next competition starts in just ten minutes!" the girl warned her idol, then turned to the others in a way that was just as polite and attentive, but didn't carry the personal interest she had for the Queen of the Dark. "Mr. Nasarus, Mr. Cormac, you two are also going to be in that contest, so you'd better hurry too! Mr. Takeshi, they want you at the Rhydodge event down the beach."<br/><br/>Hearing he was heading off to a separate contest for a little bit, Brock smiled and faced each of the Tetso Gym Leaders to shake their hand (even Elly's). "I guess I'll catch up to you in a bit, then. Good luck against your new opponent. Don't slouch, Marco," he said, putting his trust in his student to do his Gym proud, then walking off across the smooth, white surface of the sand with his Onyx in tow.<br/><br/>===<br/><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i43.tinypic.com/s58oe9.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>? ? ?<br/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Seastorm Ferry, Below Deck<br/><br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Katsuo<br/><br/><strong>Current Pokémon:</strong>Porygon, Luxio,<em>Voltorb</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/>This time, Toshi's growling cut off as he heard Katsuo speaking to him again, the Eevee turning his head toward his real master and looking at him with confusion. Badly hurt, Turtwig slowly dragged himself to his feet and shot a Razor Leaf in Toshi's direction, hitting him with several leaves and pushing him back, where he started growling again. This time, though, Toshi's eyes were closed; he was growling at himself, struggling to gain back control of his own body, which was being torn by the commands of two masters, one real and one a lie.<br/><br/>In the center of the room, Luxio's Spark met with Kindlemurr's Rollout. While the more evolved pokémon would normally have won such a match with ease, the Rock-type Rollout was too effective on the Electric-type, so both ended up falling back with a decent amount of injury done. The criminal scoffed, but was distracted as the computer console warned that the security door was now in complete lockdown. His Porygon chirped at him happily, though, so whatever they had come to accomplish, it was done.<br/><br/>"Time to get out," the eyepatched trainer said with a grin, withdrawing the sample little, grey disc-shooter he had used on Toshi and launching one toward Turtwig. The disc circled Cedric's pokémon several times with a trail of light before returning to the launcher. Now, Turtwig let out his own growls and shot a Razor Leaf toward Katsuo, just in time for Toshi to regain control of himself and intervene. (Toshi back under player control.)<br/><br/>===<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/0/05/376Metagross.png)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>? ? ?<br/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Old Douglasberg, Walkway<br/><br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Hibana, Skylar, Dr. Pierce<br/><br/><strong>Current Pokémon:</strong>Steelix (Exeter)<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The plan didn't come together as well as expected, unfortunately. As tough as Bagon was, the Steelix barely felt the Headbutt being landed on its solid iron jaw, and it wasn't enough to distract it from Hitmonlee coming in with an attack that could do some real damage. Seeing the attack coming, though, the Steelix had enough opportunity this time to move its massive cranium out of the way, leaving Hitmonlee out in the open. It could have followed up with another attack of its own then, but Hitmonlee was going to be dealing with plenty of pain when it landed, anyway.<br/><br/>"That's enough for now, Exeter. I think we've made our point." A tinny voice seemed to come from the Metagross itself, though it sounded like it had to be coming from some sort of speaker. At the command, the Steelix backed off, contracting its muscles defensively as it waited to see if the fight would resume. "We don't need any more violence. Just give me the stone. You know the one I mean. Otherwise, you and your pokémon could get hurt," the Metagross, or, rather, the old man-sounding voice reasoned, the Metagross' red eyes settling mainly on Hibana. She was the Gym Leader, and the one who knew that Dr. Pierce had the stone that he wanted.