islandshore | 24th - video/action for Olivine;

[When the feed starts up, it's upside-down, but there's a clear shot of a very angry Riku standing next to a large pile of exhausted Pokémon including a very large Charizard, Feraligatr, Nidoking, Scizor, Lucario, and a Rotom, which manages to float over to the Gear and slowly lift it up.

Riku, however, looks less than impressed.]

Get back up! You can't just sit there.

[The Pokémon groan and shift a little, but alas, they're just too exhausted to keep going.]

C'mon. You're going to keep fighting, you got that? I don't care how tired you are.

[There's a sad sounding vrrrrrm from Surge, who hovers over to Riku.]

See? If Surge can do it, so can--

[Aaaand then the Gear falls. Looks like even Surge didn't have the energy to keep going.]

Can't believe this...

[After a moment, he scoops up the Gear and shuts it off. Those in Olivine are free to see this unpleasant display. A little while after his defeat, Riku's going to be working his team incredibly hard, putting them up against each other.

Someone's a sore loser, to say the least.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They won't turn on me. I've worked them hard for more than a year, and nothing's changed.

And I'm not gonna lose. That match was a slip-up.

If it was just a slip-up, why the hell are you so convinced that working them to death will do anything but ruin their chances of doing anything?

It's better than doing nothing.

[Read: He's angry and isn't the most rational when he's angry.]

Maybe on whatever planet you're from, but on mine, uncrippled Pokemon are better fighters than crippled ones.

_{[Not that he's... crippling his Pokemon, but the ... work-till-you-collapse method is just a sort of dangerous one in general. She saw particularly-obsessive track-team people back in high school mess themselves up pretty bad by doing just that.]}

You do realize I'm not crippling them, right?

[Seriously, someone's overreacting in his book.]

Okay, I'll tone down the overdramatic language so you can get it through your head.

You think you're making them better fighters by doing this.

You're not.

And that's stupid.

_{[She spreads her arms expressively in a more-sarcastic-than-necessary 'The More You Know' gesture.]}

That simple enough for ya?

[Aaaand cue eyeroll.]

Simple, but it doesn't change a thing. If my training methods didn't work, I wouldn't have all the badges or a bunch of maxed out Pokémon.

_{[Heather actually arches a critical brow at that.]

[When she speaks again, the mocking tone is gone, but it's replaced with a twinge of something similar to disgust. It's not the bragging that brings that on-- heck, she brags all the time. It's ... the way he refers to the Pokemon.]}

... Is that all they are to you?

High statistics that won you a few shiny travel-sized trophies?

[Oh dear. He can already sense some kind of preachy friendship speech coming on...]

I train Pokémon to win battles. I'll tell you that much.

_{[Not to worry, Riku! Silent Hill... is not a place that really fosters that good ol'-fashioned passion for the power of friendship, and as such, Heather won't be making any speeches on the subject any time soon.]

[Instead, she sort of lets out a chuff, eyes lidding and an unamused smirk playing across her face.]}

No wonder you lost.

Why? Because I don't treat my team like pets?

Please.

[Needless to say, Riku looks just as unamused here. Probably because guh. What is attachment to fighting monsters?]

No, because you treat 'em like machines.

Think about that for a bit.

_{[Heather honestly was no saint when it came to treating her Pokemon well, especially at first... but man, she'd learned her little friendship lesson eventually.]}

[Hah. Well, Riku isn't always this hard on them, but he's certainly no friend to his team.

Too stubborn to go that route, really.]

I feed them, I give them shelter. Heck, I barely ever put them in their Pokéballs.

So I'm strict with battles. What does that have to do with losing?

_{[Yeah, she doesn't know his regular training habits, to be fair-- she's just going by his attitude here.]}

You can feed and shelter a football player but if you run them ragged beyond their endurance, they won't be winning you any games. Or if they do, it sure won't be for long.

They aren't constantly fighting, you know. They usually do get breaks, but I work them for several hours a day.

Hey, I admit, I don't know shit about your regular training schedule or whatever.

But when I see some jackass on the network doing something stupid, you bet I'm gonna call him out on it. Nothing personal, just saying.

24th - video/action for Olivine;

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