World Tree MUSH

    St. Geneve-Sur-Mer is not a luxurious city. It may once have been, before the apocalypses, but nowadays its main claim to fame is merely being the /biggest/ city for at least a hundred miles. There are at least discernible districts, though the relevant one today is the waterfront, where numerous poor merchants have set up shop along the river bank.

The buildings are ramshackle and often look like they'll fall apart at a stiff breeze, and it's hard to tell if any of the rusty machinery that seems randomly placed actually works or is simply supporting the things around it.

The people aren't in much better shape, with many of them dressed in little more than rags and few of them seeming to have bathed in... a lifetime. Most are human, but here and there the odd turtle-like kappa can be seen mingling with the crowd.

Offworlders will find themselves swiftly mobbed by these unwashed masses, either trying to hawk questionable goods or pick an unguarded pocket or just trying to satisfy curiosity. Amid them all, however, is one particular man with fiery orange hair and tanned skin, eyes red in the irises and bloodshot in the whites, clad in baggy gray pants and a green poncho.

"Hear ye, hear ye, gladiatorial hopefuls! Sign ups for the Cachamard Arena tournament will begin shortly! Looking for fame? Fortune? Just some cold hard cash to put food on the table? Just follow this map to make your dreams come true!" he hollers over the crowd noise with all the fervor of a mid-sermon preacher, handing out crudely drawn paper maps to anyone who comes near him.

Thankfully, despite how poorly made the maps are, it's not too difficult to find the arena itself given it's the largest structure within eyesight that isn't one of the city walls. Enormous and circular, it much resembles the coliseums of ancient times, with stands that can easily hold thousands of spectators and a square ring carved from stone in the center.

The ring has double rows of rope surrounding its edge, though they've been untied on the side facing the massive entrance doorway. A long line of hopeful warriors- veterans and untrained peasants alike- leads to a pedestal in the center of the ring, where a pale-skinned teenage girl with blonde twintails and a powder blue dress appears to be writing down the names of entrants in a thick logbook.

     Luke heard Suiren adn her 'teacher' were coming to this tournament, and for sure, Luke was not going to be left behind, so he made his way towards this arena as quickly as he can!. Luke doesn't seem too... comfortable in this particular place, perhaps it just just simply the state of the average person being in such... rough situation, combined with just being a youngish teen without much experience of the world, despite his travels. Being what he is, he is not hard to pickpocket, but unfortunately, the easier targets are his pokeballs, which are quite easy to trigger by inexpert hands. So... a few punches, zaps and blasts of fire by pokemon being released by anyone not their trainer, in a weird land... and likely most would be thieves will simple leave Luke alone. He might end up trying to buy a trinket or two, on his way to the doorway!. He simply signs as himself and his team, will need more info about how all works before picking who to send in.

    Piera Forta, Renaissance Assassin. Partner of Aquila, the Bird of Prey, a small robot companion and assistant. They step through a vine and into this... rundown and weary world.

    Aquila flits over to the hawker, snagging a map and heading back over to Piera. "You should sign up. I bet you'd do well." says the companion robot, landing on the Assassin's shoulder and pointing the way.

    Brown eyes roll a little, and she heads off. "Well, with the Templar being so quiet there's nothing else to do..." she acquiesces, boots clicking on the walkway as she makes her way toward the arena.

    She makes way to the concierge and gives her name.

 
 Fame? Check. Fortune? Check. Cold Hard Cash? Well, that's the same as fortune one would but think but also check! While all those things were greatly attractive to one cybernetic Kunoichi known as Cyber Frost, ever since she had arrived to the Tree, there has been a gnawing, all consuming desire from Frost that she had not been able to satisfy for a while. 
 
 The plain and simple desire to indulge in all out KOMBAT. 
 
 She had done well at the beginning, finding some random hooligans which she could eviscerate to her heart's content. But she had gone 'legit' soon after that, settling in Alola and taking up a student along the way. It appeared that Frost had managed to temper her sadistic ways, but that hunger.. that need.. that craving to do violence constantly throbbed within her, urging her to succumb to her rage. That desperate need to fight, to kill, to rip people limb from limb. After an eternity of doing nothing but that.. it was difficult to let go. She had to go out there and indulge in some way- in a way that she wouldn't disappoint Suiren. 
 
 Talk about her prayers being answered. This Tournament may not be Mortal Kombat, it may not be fights to the death, but it was something, and it was even clean enough that if Suiren were to wander in she wouldn't be thoroughly horrified at what her Sifu could do. 
 
 Sure, she'd give it a try, the worst that could happen was that Cyber Frost would find no worthy opponent and she'd just continue being unsatisfied. The tournament looked promising though even though she was certain she'd emerge victorious without too much trouble. After all, she was the best! No one could match her skill, certainly not with her fancy new cybernetic body. She only hoped the tournament would at least give her some entertaining combatants that won't break to pieces in the first round. 
 
 For now Cyber Frost easily shoved her way past the unwashed masses and waited in line for her turn, silent and clad in her ninja gear, arms crossed over her chest, seemingly lost in thought for now until it was her turn to sign up. 

     A tall muscular lionman with a stark white mane already stands in line by the time many of the other offworlders arrive at the coliseum. Standing among many other hopefuls -- far taller than most of the hopefuls -- he has very little to say as he examines those nearby and allows his gaze to pan further down the way; it's a long wait, but at least it grants an opportunity to see what others are outwardly feeling. Arms crossing with a low shrug underneath the coat draped rather than worn, Rez takes note that while some look green or unfit others look very capable. He would very much dislike having to fight somebody easily hurt. That's the not the mindset most around him have, certainly. 

    How this large figure managed to make it through the throngs of the needy and the competative relatively unmolested might be anyone's guess. Maybe it's luck. Maybe it's because he seems to be a beastman. Then again, in some Worlds beastmen are fairly unintelligent and make easy targets for crime. The lion seems to chew in thought on the stalk of grass sticking from his mouth. With any luck, this series of fights will provide enough data to get even stronger. He'll need the sharpest edge he can get with matters off on another World. Money? Well, that's good for food. He can't argue with that sales pitch. Food is important.

     Suiren comes up the river riding on the back of her Lapras with a Popplio in her lap. This gives her a front-row seat to the poor and desperate people of this huge city, and for a girl who has grown up in a tropical paradise and never really wanted for anything you could say it was a bit of a shock. She wished she could help them but she doesn't really know what she could do for them, certainly doesn't have the money to lift them out of their squalor. 

     With a frown she goes to the edge of the river and hops off Kaiko, her Lapras and returns him to his Pokeball, and after catching sight of Luke and what happened with him, she keeps a firm grip on both her Pokeballs and holds Iona, her Popplio close to her chest as she makes her way toward the coliseum and tries to refocus her thoughts on the tournament. Maybe she could donate her winnings to help these poor people. But of course, that requires winning first.

     After some time, a pillar of flame suddenly erupts from behind the girl at the pedestal, though the locals don't seem to pay it much mind aside from some cheers. Seems it's a normal occurrence here... and indeed, as the flames disperse into the empty air, a man can be seen standing where they were, as if he had risen from the molten depths of the planet itself.

Hey, wait a minute. That's the guy that was handing out maps! Only now he's shirtless, showing off a toned torso with a thick patch of orange chest hair, over which dangles a necklace of jade beads. His arms are also now clad from the biceps down in wide-brimmed sleeves with a yellow and orange fire pattern, which looks quite dramatic with every sweeping motion of his arms.

After a brief whispered conversation between the two, the girl steps aside and allows the older man to take the 'stage' as it were. With a voice that seems to project much farther than it should, he greets the line of applicants with an enthusiastic bow and a slightly mad grin that shows off all of his misaligned teeth.

"Welcome, one and all, to Cachamard Arena! I am ever your humble host, Jacques Cachamard! I see you've all formed an orderly line without any casualties this time... how boring! But, since we're undergoing a rebranding to be more appealing to less bloodthirsty worlds, I must thank you. The cash this tournament will rake in will of course go toward improving conditions here on the waterfront... and not just for me, I assure you!" He laughs after this, joined by a good number of people in the crowd. "Now, while my sister has taken good care of all of you up to now, she's only one girl and we've got a big turnout for this event. So with that in mind, let's speed things up a little!"

Two more flame pillars to either side of the pedestal soon reveal another pair, each with logbooks of their own. Jacques' sister steps up to one, all smiles and waves, while a dark-skinned young woman with amber eyes wearing what appears to be a white bikini top and skirt has simply appeared with the other. Jacques continues with an introduction for the latter with, "And of course, we can't forget my lovely assistant! Remember fellas, hands to yourselves unless you want them fed to you medium well."

 
 Cyber Frost's blue eyes turned towards the pillar of flame, only to make a face when the red haired man appeared shirtless again. Ugh, way too much man flesh for her liking. Not that she was a prude or anything of the sort, in fact, Frost was one of the few people not wincing at the general state of poverty of this place, she had grown up in total poverty and clawed her way out of that by mercilessly killing anyone that got in her way. Oh no, if anything, this was the sort of place where Frost thrived in. 
 
 She simply didn't like the entrance because she didn't like show offs taking away attention from her! So what if this guy was running the tournament? She was the main event! She'd show them... she'd show them all!! 
 
 So it was fine to kill some of people in line? Drat, and here Frost was doing everything she could to hold back and be a good sport. Oh well, she'd chalk it up as her good deed of the day. Ever since she started training Suiren it always felt to Frost that she had a tiny angel version of Suiren sitting on her shoulder judging everything she did. If she killed some random innocents.. what would Suiren say? UUGGH! It was driving her CRAZY! She really needed to punch a hole through someone and fast! 
 
 Shaking her head, Frost walked towards the blond with the pig tails since she looked like the more approachable of the two. This tournament couldn't start quickly enough. 

    Luke was trying to... focus more on the area, and perhaps now and then look at hte other participants, but he wanted to be polite, listen to the rules. He had a few questions about what was or not allowed, since he had potentially 3 differnet candidates to join the festivities. But... given he assumes it is more likel some kind of hand to hand deal... it might be unfair to consider most of his pokemon for this.. he claps a bit at the espectacle of the fire pillars, and tries to take mental notes on the names, before slowly moving the cloest of the assistants to sign up.

    Somebody somewhere gets pushy, perhaps a bit uncomfortable with the closeness to one another in the line, and somebody winds up bumping against the back of the tall lionguy. Rez's jaw tightens at this and he tries to ignore it, but the ripple of shoving goes back and forth again and, for a second time, somebody gets pushed right into the beastman. There's complaining, jeering, and laughter. There's naught but a flutter of fabric and the rattle of chain to announce the Leomon's turning about. Arm partially extended, a blade rests alongside the three. It glints with menace. The lion is stonefaced. 

    "Yameru!" he commands, unamused. "Bunch of undisciplined children. Rudely bump into me one more time and I will throw you all out myself." Eyes narrow. "Without leaving my place in line." Rez may be soft-hearted, but he doesn't tolerate a lack of manners at all. Thankfully, the line, now split up, begins to move a bit more steadily. The lion holds up the line for only a second more -- in emphasis -- before turning away. 

    Partially cloth-wrapped clawed feet lead the Digimon closer to one of the Registrars. The blade has seemingly vanished for now and he looks down upon the one taking his details with vibrant blue eyes and the faintest of smiles as he is asked for his name. "I am called Rez." Simple enough, at least, but at having to sign the registration waiver, the details of which are mostly lost upon the brawler, the lion looks a bit clueless. He stands there with the writing utensil in hand staring blankly at the place to sign his name. It would seem that not everybody who can fight knows how to write. In fact, that's probably very much expected. With a bit of guidance, the big guy manages to scrawl what might be his name, if you squint and tilt your head to the side, but is mostly just a messy 'X'. Good enough! He moves on with at least a mild feeling of accomplishment already.

    Someone shoves the Assassin. That someone falls over not long afterward, as the tanned woman continues through the line... a flash of metal at her wrist the only indication of what might have just happened.

     Suiren is happy to hear that the money raised by this event will go to a good cause, having enough childish innocence that the 'not just for me' joke comes off as just that, and she doesn't suspect any corruption. Suiren also gets bumped a bit as the people ahead and behind her are bigger than she is and she gets a little lost in the shuffle and also has trouble seeing ahead of her. She does at least catch some of the spectacle of the host entering the arena and announcing his assistants. This was all serving to get her more fired up, excitement overpowering the nervousness of this being the first time she's been in an organized tournament. 

     When the line splits up she spots Frost and smiles. "Of course, she's here, probably wouldn't miss it for anything." She says to herself with a small laugh. Moving ahead in line once it's her turn, she smiles at the girl taking the sign-ups. "I'm Suiren, and I'm here with my Pokemon, Kaiko and Iona." She then signs the form and keeps moving with the others, weaving through the crowd now toward some she knows and some she doesn't, waving at Frost and Luke.

    Luke signs up as well, "I'm here to sign me, and 3 pokemon, Agni, Dynamo and Bewear." hopefully there won't be a problem if he ends up giving instructions to his 'fighter' in the arena!. Any further considerations of rules and questions end as he spots several people, first, Suiren, who he already expected, and thus gets a very happy wave, and a swift approach from the pokemon trainer. "You made it!, offering a hug to the fellow trainer, "This place is... different." he comments. Any further thoughts are interrupted as he sees a familiar giant lion man, and quickly waves towards him. "Rez!"

    The girls seem friendly enough, although the blonde drifts into 'completely divorced from reality' at times. It's probably a good thing she doesn't actually have to explain anything to the entrants, because she'd trail off halfway through about that darn evil Mailman who always slips away just when she's about to finish him off for good. The other girl speaks in a distinctly Mexican accent, odd considering her surroundings, but perhaps she's a traveler from another country? She certainly keeps up a much saner air than the blonde in any case.

Notably, any violence in the lines is not simply ignored, but encouraged by other people in line, some of whom go to loot the bodies of the fallen while others take it as an opportunity to skip ahead. Luke and Suiren are lucky to have Pokemon to help them, though, and the entrants learn /real/ quick to leave Rez, Frost, and Piera alone for various reasons.

Soon enough, Jacques makes another announcement as his line dwindles down to the last few. "Alright! Looks like we've got almost everyone here! The rules here in Jacques Cachamard's No-Holds-Barred Arena are simple: Kill or be killed!" This is followed by more cheering, though it dies down as Jacques waves his arms. "Or at least, that's how it was until today. Now, we're trying something a little more classy."

After a quick clearing of his throat, he continues. "Rule one: One-on-one fights only! No pals with guns in the stands, no invisible friends giving your opponents atomic wedgies, no sudden airdrops of reinforcements! Rule two: The fight isn't over until someone is down for a ten count, touches any area outside the ring, or gives up! If you die, too bad, that counts for the first condition! Rule three: Use whatever tools or tactics you need to win! Make things interesting for the audience, boys and girls!"

After many murmurs of acknowledgment, he abruptly breaks into laughter and adds one last rule. "Final rule: It's up to you to catch your opponent's dirty tactics! We're not your babysitters, and it's more fun that way besides!"

    Piera listens to the rules, nodding. "No hidden allies, knock them down, knock them out, or knock them dead, make the fight interesting." and then the final rule. "Expect treachery. Understood." she dons her hood, and 'vanishes' into the crowd, though anyone actively looking for her might be able to track where she's going.

 
 That was fine, Cyber Frost much preferred insanity anyway. "Frost." She said to the blond with pig tails as she gave her name, icy blue eyes narrowed as she looked down upon her and turned to move away from the line once she had signed up. Said cold, cruel eyes turned to the others in the line and her urge to kill grew stronger. Go ahead, a voice in her head said, rip this fool's head off, make them learn to fear you, respect you! See you for the glory that it is you! 
 
 Frost's eyes grew in delight and she began lifting her hand to do just that. Grab a guy by the neck and rip his head off.. until.. 
 
 A flash of blue hair, a bright smile and a wave. "Suiren!" Frost exclaimed as she saw her student in the crowd and she walked over to her. "Hey kid! I didn't expect to see you here." Suddenly, Frost was all smiles as her mood instantly brightened when she saw her fellow blunette. Though she was soon clearing her throat and composing herself. "I guess this means we could be paired against one another, huh? If we end up fighting I'm not going to hold back, and I expect you to do the same, got it?" This will be a fine way to see how much Suiren had progressed with their training too, how delightful. 
 
 "Oh, hey Luke, yer here too." Said the ninja with an arched eyebrow. Perhaps she'd get to fight the kid's pokemon sooner than anticipated. Then she looked up at the last member of their posse, the statuesque Rez. "Huh, and who might this be?" Frost crossed her arms and glanced up at the lion man. Some might be impressed by his height and fearsome looks- but not Frost! She glanced at the digimon with clear contempt in her cruel eyes. 

     Suiren grins and nods as Frost tells her the terms if they face each other. "Wouldn't want it any other way." It certainly seems that between Frost's training and the excitement of being able to put that training to use in a tournament, the normally somewhat shy and quiet water-type trainer had gotten a nice shot of confidence. 

     She looks from Frost to Luke, still smiling. "Nice to see you both." She manages to get in before Luke runs off toward Rez. She eyes the lionman a moment before turning back to Frost. "Hope you don't mind if I check out some of the other competition I don't already share a house with." She says with a giggle, and as she was about to go see who Luke's friend was, she catches sight of Piera and decides to follow after her. She rushes to try and catch up, while also trying her best not to lose her among the crowd. Eventually, she gets close enough to call out to her. "Hey, going somewhere interesting?"

    Suiren's voice catches the Assassin off guard. She turns slightly, as Aquila lifts off her shoulder and hovers in place. Both have face obscuring hood/visor in place, though a flicker of gold in the hood's shadow lims the shape of the human woman's iris. "Somewhere high up... I like to observe before I commit to a fight." she replies, keeping all of her weapons hidden amongst the flows of her robes. "You seem young to be fighting in a tournament like this... I hope you come out stronger for it."

    Rez hears his name being called, but he doesn't place the voice to the person at first. After all, he only just shared his name and maybe somebody overheard and wants to be an admirer? He's not sure how exactly that works, but it seems to be a theme among many fighters. Rez doesn't fight for fame or glory or for the potential growth of the local community through the tournament sales. He fights to get better at being a fighter. Walking away to mingle, although a somewhat awkward effort, the lion instead sees about examining other contestants with a chance at overhearing information. Thick crowd as it is for those past the line-waiting, Rez even brushes against Piera without even knowing who she is or the things of which she's very capable not too long after they've registered. She gets a very softly spoken 'gomen' in the physical passing. 

    However, as luck would have it, he winds up near where a few familiar faces clump together amid the many strangers. A friendly peering passes over each in turn, even including Cyber Frost, just as some go one way and others go another. As much chaos as there is, the Bancho Leomon takes a firmly anchored stance and crosses his arms. "If you have come to watch me fight," he says, mostly to Luke, "then you have to wait a bit longer. This was just name taking and autographs." It would seem that Rez has no idea of Luke or Suiren's intentions of participation. "Still, your support is appreciated."

    Luke grins to Frost, "Yeah Suiren mentioned the tournament and figured I might join as well." he says, before his focus returns to the digimon, "He is Rez, we met a couple times before." he says, not the most clear introduction, but at least he knows the lion, "He is friendly..." as he hears Rez's reply he laughs, "It's me, Luke, remember?" he asks, "We met before." he adds, before shaking his head, "I'm here to participate, well... my pokemon at least." There is a pause, "I mean, you have my support, but I am here to win." he adds. He reaches for his pokemon belt and releases his champion, "Bewear!" 
    The figure that emerges from the orb is about as tall as Rez!, it's also pink... and white.. and black... and extremely fluffy!. As far as first impressions, the pokemon certainly doesn't look dangerous, it looks more like a theme park mascot costume... the reallly cushioned type, and such impression certainly is reinforced as Luke reaches to pat the pokemon's side, and his hand seems to vanish in the sea of fluff. "It is far stronger than it looks like."

 
 "Haha.. very funny." Cyber Frost's eyes narrowed slightly as Suiren cheekily pointed out that Frost herself could hardly surprise her considering they live together. A curious development that Frost had actually not considered. Out of everyone in the tournament, Suiren was the one that likely would know almost all of Frost's underhanded and dirty kombat techniques. Maybe fighting Suiren would be more challenging than she anticipated- though all that was fine with Frost who genuinely wanted Suiren to become stronger. 
 
 "As if I could stop you." Chuckled Frost when Suiren mentioned wanting to scout the rest of the competition. "Go on, scram." She sighed as Suiren left, it wasn't as if she could hog Suiren anyway, but sometimes it bothered her how the girl felt the need to be friends with everyone. Oh well, Frost had her scouting to do anyway, she kept her focus on Luke and Rez whilst Suiren was roaming about. 
 
 "Huh..." Frost glanced at Luke's Bear pokemon. She had seen it before that one time they were all ice skating, but now that she was getting a real good look at it she was...well, let's just say she was certain it was powerful but it was difficult to take seriously. 
 
 "Man.." She rubbed the back of her neck, already feeling kind of awkward at the prospect of fighting something so cute looking. "I used to fight Gods and demons you know?" 

     Suiren nods as she begins following Piera on the quest for this 'high place'. She had to admit being able to see all of the other competitors from above could be useful, and either way, the view would probably be nice. She sort of expected the comment about being young at this point, though at least this girl didn't seem to be saying it in an outwardly condescending way. "Thanks, best of luck to you also! I'm Suiren, been training with so I can actually defend myself better on my own as well, but for this, it'll likely be my partners Iona and Kaiko doing the fighting. The woman who's been teaching me is also here, she's the cyborg down there with the lighter blue hair." She says as she lifts one arm and gives the Popplio she's holding a pat on the head. "Iona here has been doing the training along with me actually. I am really looking forward to how this goes."

    Piera nods, continuing to the ring-wall that leads to the stands, and just... climbs up the side of the wall, finding finger and toe holds in the architecture. "Piera Forta da Forli. You may call me Piera." she replies on the way. Aquila dips in a floating bow. "Aquila." she offers by way of introduction also.

    Clambering up, and settling atop the wall, the assassin looks to Suiren briefly, before turning her attention to the crowd and singling out the interesting participants, most notably Frost, Luke and Rez, amongst a few others. "You fight via proxy creatures? An interesting technique..

    "Of course I know who you are, but you..." The news of Luke's participation completely throws Rez off. "Nani?!" Shocked, he recoils with a step backward, teeth bared. Even with Bewear pulled out, he doesn't look all that convinced. His gaze averts in thoughtful quiet while Frost speaks. He grunts, trying to come to terms with this, and finds a way to logic it through. 

    "Very well," he admits, eyes closed, and with each syllable bouncing that grass stalk in his mouth. "We will do this to become better than we are." Hold on. Rez isn't talking to Luke. Rez is talking to Bewear. "But I'm depending on you to keep our friend safe. We may fight with honor, but not all here will. They may deserve the opportunity from us to be honorable, but they won't extend it to us in turn." 

    The lionman's eyes snap open with a look steeped in intensity. "I'm also counting on you to do your best. I want to see you in the ring." Rez leans forward and holds up a hand that he closes into a fist. "Do not deny yourself the chance to face one with the title Bancho! Promise me. Promise me with- With a FIST BUMP!" 

    Active time event for Bewear: Meet the LeoFist with great timing! ....start!! A perfect score will result in a Shockwave of Sealed Promise.

    Indeed, the Bewear looks more like an animated plush figure for the most part, evne the noises it makes are odd. Yet... it looks fairly confident, scanning the area around Luke quickly, taking note of potential risks to its charge and reaching one arm to carefully pull Luke a bit closer for a moment. The beast locks eyes with Cyber at the talk about about gods, while Luke smiles, "I am sure Bewear won't dissapoint you." he offers. "Try not to understimate him". 
    The black and pink bear's attention is inmediatly pulled towards Rez, the pokemon's black eyes narrowing for a moment as those words come forth, pushing out its chest and smackign it with one paw, before nodding. Luke tries to say something, but the pokemon just smooshes him into the fluff. The fist bump is met with.. well, it is hard to call that massive mitten a fist, but it tries!, meeting the digimon's fist!, moved by the Bancho's words. "Oh no, now it won't let me move from here." Luke manages to says, apparently realizing the pokemon will take that promise seriously.

     Suiren looks at the wall a moment and decides if she's going to climb she's going to need to put Iona back in her Pokeball, at least for a moment. She takes the blue and white Pokeball with yellow and red markings off the rope belt around her waist and presses it gently against Iona while tapping the button on the front, and suddenly the Popplio seems to transform into energy which is then contained within the sphere as it closes. She then clips the Pokeball back around her waist, next to another one that was blue and white with a net pattern on top. 

     Finally, she quickly climbs up the wall and has a seat next to Piera, taking in the sight of the field of fighters down below, wondering who she will face first, and which of her friends she'll face, only time will tell of course. "It's actually very common where I come from. Many start out as a Pokemon Trainer with their first Pokemon when they turn ten years old, and while most adults don't use them in battles, only the best, most dedicated trainers stay with it that long, but others use them for everything for fighting crime to helping with medical treatment and putting out fires. Some just keep them for companionship."

 
 "Yeah, yeah.." Cyber Frost kind of hunched over and let her shoulders sag even as Luke reminded her that his Pokemon was indeed quite powerful and she shouldn't underestimate him. As arrogant as Frost was, she never underestimated anyone and always attacked seriously- it was part of the reason why she won most of her fights, she never showed any mercy and almost always fought dirty. Still, if she beat the pink bear she'd just feel bad about it, and if she ended up losing she'd feel even worse. It was lose/lose as far as she was concerned. 
 
 Then she yawned a little as the Bewear and Rez start doing some manly macho stuff and fist bump. She rolled her eyes at them and wandered away. As she went back into the crowd she very subtly stabbed someone in the back, piercing their lungs with an icicle knife letting them drop dead whilst she walked away- she was confident that she did that subtly enough that Suiren wouldn't notice while she was off playing. 

    Piera doesn't seem to react to that revelation for a moment or three. She then says, softly. "And here I thought trained dogs were difficult to handle..." she glances sidelong at Suiren.

    There's a stoic nod that comes from the Leomon as this event comes to pass. Still, Luke isn't left out. Rez extends his arm in a way that allows the youth to also bump his hand to it, if he so wishes, though it certainly lacks any of the strength and impact that the Digimon can get away with with Bewear. A sweeping sideglance witnesses Cyber Frost disappear into the crowd; the feline brawler looks back to Luke. 

    "I think your friends have scattered. Hmm. I think I recognized one of them. Perhaps you can introduce me later, perhaps over food?" When isn't it about food? "I'm going to find a place to snack and meditate until I learn of my first match." With SO MANY contestants vying for money and glory, it might be some time before he winds up paired against somebody he knows, after all.

     Suiren grins and laughs. "While I'm no expert on dogs, I don't think the comparison is that far off. Just imagine dogs that breath fire, or high-pressure streams of water, or create lightning, or have powerful psychokinetic powers..." Realizing she's probably said enough to get the point across she trails off. She also realizes it might be best to not give too much away about Pokemon to someone she may end up fighting. Even so, her eyes drift to Aquila and show curiosity as she wonders what the little robot is capable of.

    Luke is glad to fistbump the lion man, trying as hard as he can of course. He certainly knows Frost must be quite strong, and meant his warning more as... a proper warning than boasting, Bewear are deadly, and there are plenty of warnings back at Alola about them. He waves to Frost as she slips out to the crowd, and nods to Rez. "I'd like that, and even if we don't manage to fight here, we will spar sometime, I promise... well, my pokemon I meant." he mumbles. He seems to be resigned to being guarded by the pokemon, so he just slowly wanders around, with the Bewear glaring at anyone even looking at them dirty.

    Aquila seems oblivious for a few moments of being observed. She's got a few holoscreens open, blank from the side Suiren's looking at them from, but see-through both ways. This allows the little Shinki to double-take at being watched, then closing one screen. "I'm not fighting.. It wouldn't be fair, since they clearly stated one-on-one fights." she remarks to the unspoken question. "And I'm nothing special, just a helper."

    She lied, vigorously.