"Sorry I let everyone down, guys," Beryl said as they reconvened for the night. "I was so sure I could hold out until the end there. To be honest, this is the first time I've been having doubts about whether I'll make it through to stage 2. I'm glad to see the rest of you are doing well, though, especially Billy -- that Flygon of yours is fierce!"
Beryl arrived bright and early for her match the next day. "Ricky, right?" she said, offering her hand to shake.
Geoff shook his head. "Foolish plays. Oh well." He muttered. "Just gotta keep going forward." He said. He looked to the pairings. "Center Stage, huh? I've come a long ways from Pacifidlog..."
As the four ate breakfast together, Josh joined in on the conversation about last night's match. "I watched your match last night on TV before going to sleep," he said, taking a break from his two eggs. "We're still so unfamiliar with Mega Evolution that there's not a lot you could have done. Come to think of it, every single one of our losses has been at the hands of Mega Evolution. I'm beginning to wonder if Dragoon-ship is one of the possible keys to it, because both Beryl and I are members and we're the only two that can do it. It's still a mystery to me, though. I'm just glad Twilight can do it--he's been vital in advancing so far."
On the way to the complex, Josh brought up another topic. "Remember what I said about drawing if we get paired? Billy, you might not want to draw as long as you're undefeated like this. I was looking at the pairings sheet, and I noticed there are three people at 13 points. Two of them are Rocco and Esmeralda, and they're so good that they'll probably keep winning. If you draw, you'll be in the same bracket as them. I'm sure they've got their eyes on you, and Yahoola won't be able to handle them by himself. Geoff, I think you and I still draw if we get paired. And Beryl, regarding that tie, don't get discouraged. You can lose one more time and still make it past the cut."
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Arena B was only a short distance away from where Beryl had her battle. She arrived just in time to spectate Josh's, only to see him meet his match at the hands of a brutal-looking Tyranitar. Beryl made a mental note to do more research on that species in the future -- that Pokemon looked like it could even go toe to toe with Highwind.
"Any news from Billy or Geoff?" she asked. The next match wouldn't start until the afternoon, so they had plenty of time to watch coverage and enjoy the sights of Trinity City.
"Oh, hello," Josh greeted Beryl. "Your comeback is all the coverage crew is talking about right now. Congratulations. That loss hurt, but I don't think I could have done anything about it." He paused for a few seconds. "Billy didn't win his match, either--Michael Shun, the High Dragoon, clobbered him. As for Geoff, I don't know."
Josh watched the other match results come in, paying careful attention to the Trainers in the 4-2 bracket. "The pairings are really weird right now, so we could get paired next round. What do we do in the event that you get paired with Geoff or I? You're 4-1-1, and I'm 4-2. If Geoff or I lose, we're out of contention. But if we beat you, you have to win your next match."
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
"I don't know," Beryl said, scratching Tundra on the chin. "At this number of points, it's going to be really hard to make the cut through to the final stage, regardless. Hopefully we won't have to worry about it. There are a lot more people with draws than I expected - even that Esmeralda woman. She whomped me in three straight knockouts. Hard to think of anyone who could have been a match for her, except perhaps a Gym Leader."
She listened as Josh told her about the result of Billy's match. "Michael can do Mega Evolution, too? No wonder he was so confident in our Gym match. He was holding back the whole time and I wouldn't have even known it."
"I looked at the standings--Esmeralda got paired with Rocco in round 5 and I'm guessing they intentionally drew. I also did the math for the final stage cut. I'm guessing 34 will be the target number of points." Josh paused to collect his thoughts. "36 points will be a lock, then 34 will be almost guaranteed to make it. Then one or two 33s will get in. Anything less, no chance. But remember, anyone who makes Stage 2 gets prizes."
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Beryl was silent for a while as she did math in her head. "34 points means that if both of us advance with 16 points, we'll need to go undefeated in 6 rounds to have a shot at top 8. Hmm... If that's the case, let's draw in the event we get paired with each other. We'll both need to win at least one of the next two rounds to make it past the cut, but if we draw, that ensures neither of us gets knocked out of contention completely in that round.
"And the same goes for you and Geoff, if he loses his next round as well... Say, what arena was he in? Why don't we go cheer him on? We should find Billy, too."
ooc: With Giga's posting rate limited presumably due to the holidays, I'm going to try to post everyone else's battles until the end of Stage 1. It shouldn't be too big a mess unless the computer decides to pair one of you with him. In the event that Geoff loses his match, we'll just swap his opponent with Geoff's. Seems like the best way to do it with minimal disruption.
There was no sign of Geoff where Billy, Beryl, and Josh assembled for lunch--either his match had gone extremely well or extremely badly. There was no telling what happened, what with how emotionally attached he had come to his tournament position. It was a windy afternoon--it appeared a front had passed overnight, making the evening overcast but otherwise dry. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a nice day outside except for the wind. A tell-tale beep drove out the sound of the wind rushing over their ears.
Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Pairings for round seven are up. Pairings for round seven are up. This is the penultimate round before the cut.
(Win) Geoff's match will be in Centre Stadium at 2:30 PM.
(Lose) Geoff's match will be in Arena B at 2:00 PM.
Josh's match will be in Arena D at 2:30 PM.
Billy's match will be in Arena A at 1:00 PM.
Beryl's match will be in Arena A a 2:00 PM.
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Beryl frowned when she saw the round 7 pairings. Geoff against Isabel... and Billy against Ashlee. This one was going to be rough. At least her next opponent was relatively close in ranking. She made sure to be in Arena A an hour early -- she didn't want to miss the clash of some of the strongest Ground-type Pokemon she'd ever seen.
---
After Billy's match, Beryl went outside to calm her nerves before returning to face her own opponent.
Billy sought out Ashlee, finding her just outside the main lobby. "Oh, you're one of the heroes, aren't you?" Slate City's Gym Leader paused for a moment to consider his offer. "I'm not really comfortable battling against you, either. Let's draw. How about we head over to the head judge in the lobby and notify him that we're drawing?"
ooc: You don't have to play out the match in the battle thread if you don't want to--we can just have it happen in the background.
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Several hours after Billy and Ashlee agreed to draw and the rest of the matches were finished, one of the tournament officials' voices blared through the loudspeakers, causing Josh to flinch while the four ate lunch. "Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Pairings for round eight are up. Pairings for round eight are up. This is the final round of this Stage."
ooc: I'll switch Geoff's and Isabel's pairings if Geoff loses round 7. Also I noticed four erroneous pairings for this round, none of them PCs' pairings, and corrected them on the local copy of the file. It will be fixed after this round.
Billy is already qualified for Stage Two.
Beryl is already qualified for Stage Two.
Josh will qualify for Stage Two with a draw.
Geoff (pending a round 7 win) will qualify for Stage Two with a draw.
As she scanned the pairings list, Beryl saw a lot of familiar names would be having their final-round bouts take place in the Main Stadium. She walked to the arena and scanned the crowd for anyone she knew. Maybe she could reconnect with some old friends and find out more about the top competitors while she waited for her next match.
The first thing that caught her eye was that most of the Dragoons in the tournament had assembled in one corner of Centre Stadium's lobby, presumably talking about strategy for Stage Two. Isabel looked like she was in great shape to advance, and Michael was one of the top-seeded 7-1s, giving him an easy round 9.
Shortly after that, Beryl found all four members of Ageos' Elite Four sitting at a table, arguing over something. After listening in for a bit, Beryl discovered Elite Four Colten had shockingly missed the cut at 5-3, and the remainder of the Elite Four were rather irate about it. The phrases "Why didn't you draw?" and "poor decision making" were shouted quite a bit as they reviewed match footage on a laptop. She was able to discover MacKenzie was using a Mamoswine that was cleaning house, and Rocco had a Mega Heracross that appeared to be his main source of wins in the event. Rocco would be the number one seed going into Stage Two at 7-0-1, and hoped for an odd number of advancing players so he would get a bye round nine.
Next, she noticed Surfer Candace and Josh talking to each other. "Oh, hi, Beryl," Candace greeted her. "Josh and I agreed to a draw in our final round, so we'll both advance. Did you make the cut, too?"
Willie was the only one of Beryl's previous opponents she could find. It appeared that he had made the cut at 5-2-1, and all of her other opponents other than Esmeralda had missed the cut. It appeared her tiebreakers had taken quite a nosedive in the last couple of rounds.
It appears both Victoria and Sofia missed the cut. Dawn, Victoria's daughter, appeared to be putting on quite a show with one of the Gym Leader's old teams consisting of a variety of flying Pokémon, not necessarily flying-typed, including a Mega Pidgeot.
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
"Hi, Candace," Beryl greeted her surfing teacher. "Good to see you and Josh are still in it. As for myself... well, I'm a lock for Stage Two, but my tiebreakers aren't looking so good. It's a risk, but I think I'm going to play my next match and try to get a better seeding in the upcoming round."
Waiting for a lull in the Dragoons' conversation, she then walked over and released Mystic, who exchanged a wave with Isabel. Beryl gave her a quick thumbs-up and a smile to indicate that she had made the cut.
At her appointed time slot, Beryl headed into the arena for her match. "Good luck, and may the best trainer win!"
Josh and his friends were relieved to have made it past the cut, each scoring 16 or more points in the first rounds. At around sunset that evening, a familiar microphone screech blared throughout the complex. "Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Please report to Centre Stadium. Please report to Centre Stadium.
---
The event's head judge had the microphone in hand as the entire tournament population assembled in the crowded Stadium. "Good evening. All of you deserve a gold star for making it so far through this grueling event. We have come to the conclusion of the first stage of the Ageos Pokémon League, and I am going to announce the standings. A digital copy of the standings will be available on the League's intranet, and will be posted on our web site at the conclusion of the tournament. Without further adieu, I shall announce the current standings. The following Trainers will be moving on to the next Stage of the Pokémon League:
1) Entre, Rocco
2) Shun, Michael
3) Bridges, Shawna
4) Marshall, MacKenzie
5) Edwards, Dawn
12) Goodman, Delia
13) Phillip, Edward
14) Jones, Marcus
15) Grant, Curtis
16) Robinson, Perry
17) Gail, Craig
18) Webster, Lester
19) Bishop, Geoff
20) Freeman, Sergio
21) Stihl, Ashlee
22) Karla, May
23) Yokoi, Ronin
24) Medina, Willie
25) Lobb, Alexander
26) Francis, Lily
27) Matthews, Damon
28) Baldwin, Chelsea
29) Marshall, Harvey
30) Woo, Liliana
31) Dean, Leslie
32) Gomez, Maxine
33) Devlin, Josh
34) Rodgers, Melody
35) Lucas, Clifton
36) Chase, Candace
37) Murray, Lucas
38) James, Caleb
39) Terry, Hazel
40) French, Stephen
41) Welch, Tom
42) Potter, Mable
43) Powell, Cora
44) Salazar, Franklin
45) Crawford, Bridget
46) Bass, Sean
47) Ford, Pamela
48) Robbins, Calvin
49) Harrington, Sylvia
50) Burgess, Leland
51) Shelton, Terry
52) Hodges, Dana
Unfortunately, it is at this point where the rest of you are eliminated from the Pokémon League. Feel free to enjoy the remainder of the competition from within the gallery, and I wish all of you a safe trip home and better luck next year. Those of you who were eliminated but placed within the top 64, see the tournament organizer to claim your prize money.
As for the rest of you, Stage Two of the tournament will begin tomorrow morning, and we will review the rules tomorrow. Enjoy your evening, and rest well."
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Beryl beamed when she heard the announcer call her name, but her mood was quickly spoiled when Simeom was called next. All her Chosen friends had made it through, as well as every Gym Leader she had fought against except Sofia. When Maureen's name wasn't called, Beryl checked the full standings list. It seemed the girl had fallen quite far.
Before going to bed that night, Beryl took a flight out to the isolated cliff where she had once seen the shiny Rapidash, and turned to face the north wind. "I did it, Suicune... were you watching?"
Suicune greeted Beryl with a smile. {I watched your matches. I was confident you didn't need me.} A gust of wind howled briefly. {Keep it up. You don't give yourself enough credit for how close your bond is with your team, and how much power you really have. Believe in the bond you share with your team, and you can do anything you want. Now get some sleep, and make us Beasts proud!}
Josh, on the other hand, went straight to bed after an exhausting, nerve wracking series of elimination matches. Thrilled to be part of the second stage of the tournament, he knew he needed to be both physically and mentally prepared. He also had to be prepared to do battle against one of his comrades.
ooc: Still working on making the round 9 pairs be as close to seeded as possible without double pairing anyone. Hope to have them up tomorrow night or Wednesday afternoon.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
The next morning, the remaining trainers in the tournament assembled in Centre Stadium for another announcement from head judge Rod Johnson. Though the number of trainers in the event had been greatly trimmed, the presence of power seemed ever greater, every single one of them a powerful opponent.
"Welcome to Stage Two of the Ageos Pokémon League," the judge's amplified voice echoed throughout Centre Stadium. "Congratulations to all of you for making it this far. Again, most of you will not make it past this Stage. Be proud of yourselves for making it as far as you have.
"This second Stage of the Ageos Pokémon League will consist of full-team battles. During pregame selection, Trainers will select a lead Pokémon but field their entire team. As the battles will be longer, there will be a 30-minute time limit per battle. Again, battles will be played out until one side's entire team is unable to battle, or the 30-minute timer expires.
"Stage Two will consist of six rounds of Swiss pairings. These rounds will be additive to the previous eight rounds. Due to the nature of the battles of this round, the Margin of Victory tiebreaker will be weighted double what it did previously, for these six rounds.
"Round Nine will be paired manually. Each of you has been assigned a seed number based on your qualifying position after round eight. Seed 1 will play seed 52, seed 2 will play seed 51, and so on. Standard Swiss pairs will be used for subsequent rounds. Once six rounds have passed, we will cut to top eight.
"The prize payout has been finalized, and will be as follows:
1st - 250,000
2nd - 125,000
3rd-4th - 75,000
5th-8th - 40,000
9th-16th - 20,000
17th-32nd - 10,000
33rd-64th - 5,000
"Any further questions can be directed toward myself or the judging staff at the event. Have fun and good luck!"
Beryl's round 9 opponent is (45) Crawford, Bridget.
Josh's round 9 opponent is (20) Freeman, Sergio.
Private Mod Note
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A mere ten days after the Mending, a young knight of Valeron and a young ranger of Eos made a discovery that would change Alara forever.
Even after Bridget conceded, it took a few more minutes for Mystic, stumbling around the arena, to clear his head and return to normal. Beryl had her Pokemon delivered to the Pokemon Center for healing. In the meantime, she watched the League's live coverage on the TV in the lobby, hoping to catch a glance of how her friends -- and rivals -- were doing.
Josh's match was one of the last ones to finish--he barely had time to hand over his Pokémon for healing by the time the round ten pairings were announced. All the Chosen except Billy appeared to have won their round nine matches. Josh quickly discovered that it would be impossible for all of them to win in round ten, and he swore out loud when he showed Beryl why.
Though the start of his match would be delayed to allow his team enough time to be healed, it would be delayed only just so--his team would likely still be mentally tired from the hard battle during the previous round. Billy approached, smiling when he saw the pairings. Josh was bewildered at how his friend could keep a positive attitude when he was well aware one of them would likely be eliminated from contention this round.
Beryl arrived bright and early for her match the next day. "Ricky, right?" she said, offering her hand to shake.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
On the way to the complex, Josh brought up another topic. "Remember what I said about drawing if we get paired? Billy, you might not want to draw as long as you're undefeated like this. I was looking at the pairings sheet, and I noticed there are three people at 13 points. Two of them are Rocco and Esmeralda, and they're so good that they'll probably keep winning. If you draw, you'll be in the same bracket as them. I'm sure they've got their eyes on you, and Yahoola won't be able to handle them by himself. Geoff, I think you and I still draw if we get paired. And Beryl, regarding that tie, don't get discouraged. You can lose one more time and still make it past the cut."
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
"Any news from Billy or Geoff?" she asked. The next match wouldn't start until the afternoon, so they had plenty of time to watch coverage and enjoy the sights of Trinity City.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Josh watched the other match results come in, paying careful attention to the Trainers in the 4-2 bracket. "The pairings are really weird right now, so we could get paired next round. What do we do in the event that you get paired with Geoff or I? You're 4-1-1, and I'm 4-2. If Geoff or I lose, we're out of contention. But if we beat you, you have to win your next match."
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
She listened as Josh told her about the result of Billy's match. "Michael can do Mega Evolution, too? No wonder he was so confident in our Gym match. He was holding back the whole time and I wouldn't have even known it."
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
"And the same goes for you and Geoff, if he loses his next round as well... Say, what arena was he in? Why don't we go cheer him on? We should find Billy, too."
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
There was no sign of Geoff where Billy, Beryl, and Josh assembled for lunch--either his match had gone extremely well or extremely badly. There was no telling what happened, what with how emotionally attached he had come to his tournament position. It was a windy afternoon--it appeared a front had passed overnight, making the evening overcast but otherwise dry. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a nice day outside except for the wind. A tell-tale beep drove out the sound of the wind rushing over their ears.
Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Attention all Trainers. Pairings for round seven are up. Pairings for round seven are up. This is the penultimate round before the cut.
(Win) Geoff's match will be in Centre Stadium at 2:30 PM.
(Lose) Geoff's match will be in Arena B at 2:00 PM.
Josh's match will be in Arena D at 2:30 PM.
Billy's match will be in Arena A at 1:00 PM.
Beryl's match will be in Arena A a 2:00 PM.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
---
After Billy's match, Beryl went outside to calm her nerves before returning to face her own opponent.
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Come on and check it out. You know you want to.
ooc: You don't have to play out the match in the battle thread if you don't want to--we can just have it happen in the background.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
ooc: I'll switch Geoff's and Isabel's pairings if Geoff loses round 7. Also I noticed four erroneous pairings for this round, none of them PCs' pairings, and corrected them on the local copy of the file. It will be fixed after this round.
Billy is already qualified for Stage Two.
Beryl is already qualified for Stage Two.
Josh will qualify for Stage Two with a draw.
Geoff (pending a round 7 win) will qualify for Stage Two with a draw.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
The first thing that caught her eye was that most of the Dragoons in the tournament had assembled in one corner of Centre Stadium's lobby, presumably talking about strategy for Stage Two. Isabel looked like she was in great shape to advance, and Michael was one of the top-seeded 7-1s, giving him an easy round 9.
Shortly after that, Beryl found all four members of Ageos' Elite Four sitting at a table, arguing over something. After listening in for a bit, Beryl discovered Elite Four Colten had shockingly missed the cut at 5-3, and the remainder of the Elite Four were rather irate about it. The phrases "Why didn't you draw?" and "poor decision making" were shouted quite a bit as they reviewed match footage on a laptop. She was able to discover MacKenzie was using a Mamoswine that was cleaning house, and Rocco had a Mega Heracross that appeared to be his main source of wins in the event. Rocco would be the number one seed going into Stage Two at 7-0-1, and hoped for an odd number of advancing players so he would get a bye round nine.
Next, she noticed Surfer Candace and Josh talking to each other. "Oh, hi, Beryl," Candace greeted her. "Josh and I agreed to a draw in our final round, so we'll both advance. Did you make the cut, too?"
Willie was the only one of Beryl's previous opponents she could find. It appeared that he had made the cut at 5-2-1, and all of her other opponents other than Esmeralda had missed the cut. It appeared her tiebreakers had taken quite a nosedive in the last couple of rounds.
It appears both Victoria and Sofia missed the cut. Dawn, Victoria's daughter, appeared to be putting on quite a show with one of the Gym Leader's old teams consisting of a variety of flying Pokémon, not necessarily flying-typed, including a Mega Pidgeot.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Waiting for a lull in the Dragoons' conversation, she then walked over and released Mystic, who exchanged a wave with Isabel. Beryl gave her a quick thumbs-up and a smile to indicate that she had made the cut.
At her appointed time slot, Beryl headed into the arena for her match. "Good luck, and may the best trainer win!"
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
---
The event's head judge had the microphone in hand as the entire tournament population assembled in the crowded Stadium. "Good evening. All of you deserve a gold star for making it so far through this grueling event. We have come to the conclusion of the first stage of the Ageos Pokémon League, and I am going to announce the standings. A digital copy of the standings will be available on the League's intranet, and will be posted on our web site at the conclusion of the tournament. Without further adieu, I shall announce the current standings. The following Trainers will be moving on to the next Stage of the Pokémon League:
1) Entre, Rocco
2) Shun, Michael
3) Bridges, Shawna
4) Marshall, MacKenzie
5) Edwards, Dawn
6) Leona, Esmeralda
7) Audun, Billy
8) Liam, Beryl
9) Cobb, Simeom
10) Lionel, Hope
11) Arvis, Isabel
12) Goodman, Delia
13) Phillip, Edward
14) Jones, Marcus
15) Grant, Curtis
16) Robinson, Perry
17) Gail, Craig
18) Webster, Lester
19) Bishop, Geoff
20) Freeman, Sergio
21) Stihl, Ashlee
22) Karla, May
23) Yokoi, Ronin
24) Medina, Willie
25) Lobb, Alexander
26) Francis, Lily
27) Matthews, Damon
28) Baldwin, Chelsea
29) Marshall, Harvey
30) Woo, Liliana
31) Dean, Leslie
32) Gomez, Maxine
33) Devlin, Josh
34) Rodgers, Melody
35) Lucas, Clifton
36) Chase, Candace
37) Murray, Lucas
38) James, Caleb
39) Terry, Hazel
40) French, Stephen
41) Welch, Tom
42) Potter, Mable
43) Powell, Cora
44) Salazar, Franklin
45) Crawford, Bridget
46) Bass, Sean
47) Ford, Pamela
48) Robbins, Calvin
49) Harrington, Sylvia
50) Burgess, Leland
51) Shelton, Terry
52) Hodges, Dana
Unfortunately, it is at this point where the rest of you are eliminated from the Pokémon League. Feel free to enjoy the remainder of the competition from within the gallery, and I wish all of you a safe trip home and better luck next year. Those of you who were eliminated but placed within the top 64, see the tournament organizer to claim your prize money.
As for the rest of you, Stage Two of the tournament will begin tomorrow morning, and we will review the rules tomorrow. Enjoy your evening, and rest well."
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Before going to bed that night, Beryl took a flight out to the isolated cliff where she had once seen the shiny Rapidash, and turned to face the north wind. "I did it, Suicune... were you watching?"
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Josh, on the other hand, went straight to bed after an exhausting, nerve wracking series of elimination matches. Thrilled to be part of the second stage of the tournament, he knew he needed to be both physically and mentally prepared. He also had to be prepared to do battle against one of his comrades.
ooc: Still working on making the round 9 pairs be as close to seeded as possible without double pairing anyone. Hope to have them up tomorrow night or Wednesday afternoon.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
"Welcome to Stage Two of the Ageos Pokémon League," the judge's amplified voice echoed throughout Centre Stadium. "Congratulations to all of you for making it this far. Again, most of you will not make it past this Stage. Be proud of yourselves for making it as far as you have.
"This second Stage of the Ageos Pokémon League will consist of full-team battles. During pregame selection, Trainers will select a lead Pokémon but field their entire team. As the battles will be longer, there will be a 30-minute time limit per battle. Again, battles will be played out until one side's entire team is unable to battle, or the 30-minute timer expires.
"Stage Two will consist of six rounds of Swiss pairings. These rounds will be additive to the previous eight rounds. Due to the nature of the battles of this round, the Margin of Victory tiebreaker will be weighted double what it did previously, for these six rounds.
"Round Nine will be paired manually. Each of you has been assigned a seed number based on your qualifying position after round eight. Seed 1 will play seed 52, seed 2 will play seed 51, and so on. Standard Swiss pairs will be used for subsequent rounds. Once six rounds have passed, we will cut to top eight.
"The prize payout has been finalized, and will be as follows:
1st - 250,000
2nd - 125,000
3rd-4th - 75,000
5th-8th - 40,000
9th-16th - 20,000
17th-32nd - 10,000
33rd-64th - 5,000
"Any further questions can be directed toward myself or the judging staff at the event. Have fun and good luck!"
Beryl's round 9 opponent is (45) Crawford, Bridget.
Josh's round 9 opponent is (20) Freeman, Sergio.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Though the start of his match would be delayed to allow his team enough time to be healed, it would be delayed only just so--his team would likely still be mentally tired from the hard battle during the previous round. Billy approached, smiling when he saw the pairings. Josh was bewildered at how his friend could keep a positive attitude when he was well aware one of them would likely be eliminated from contention this round.
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
Avatar by Numotflame96 of Maelstrom Graphics
Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!