Character: Emporio Alniño Participating top-level/comment:Whoo! Pokemon:Roster here- Beartic, Silvally, Absol, Luxray, Alolan Ninetales, and...for some reason a Shiinotic on the beartic. Slides are 26, 17, 8, 1, and 31. Other: The first obvious note about Emporio and his team is that he's not here to push himself into a win; he certainly won't be slacking, but he's friendly, makes (awkward) small talk with anyone that lets him, and above all seems to have basic equipment. The sled, the tent, the emergency snowshoes- all of these are standard grade.
All of these are what his gym will be offering for sale or loan to new trainers for winter survival and journeys.
And he'll happily say as much too- as well as the fact that, realistically anyone who's out and about travelling won't have a full team of the same pokemon, nor even a team of Similarly Sized ones, so part of this is to add that much more under his belt to better teach staff and from there teach students. This, wildly enough, is Emporio's own dry run. Anyone who tells him off for 'not taking it seriously' will be met, bluntly, with him saying 'this is absolutely me taking it seriously' followed potentially by 'why are you so upset about this, your team isn't going to magically place lower because of this', depending on just how snobby those NPCs happen to get.
The second obvious note is that Emporio's pokemon freaking love the weirdo. He's dressed in his full snow gear- which makes him look like another Hisuian Zoroark, shame that one isn't pulling the sled- and his pokemon absolutely adore him. Even as mons who haven't really trained together, they seem quick to follow his command and adaptive to boot. On the flipside though, Emporio knows and trusts his team too- if they think something isn't right or need a break, they make it known...and he Listens. The Alolan Ninetales has never pulled a sled- and the others have more experience pulling something alone frankly- but to make sure that they can handle it without outpacing or yanking one another off course, he does do a couple of practice tests while making sure the sled is in order- and by the time they start, they'll...actually do Really Well with that, they're good at controlling their gait to match the ones up front. There's an initial worry about someone's numerous tails getting in the way of someone's face, but that gets resolved by sticking Cirrus in front of Valentino.
For the most part it's clear Emporio prioritized snow familiarity- Ice Fingers was picked up on Glaseado itself back in Paldea, and while Cirrus is really young for a Ninetales, Emporio's been using the last few days post-pokerus to really work with her in anticipation of being part of his gym's snow team. The pair up front however are unique; aside from being pokemon that he used quite often in his early days (And thus, fortunately, familiar with the Blackthorn area), Emporio chose these two for both strength, cooperation, and skill.
Sparks being a Luxray- who has been equipped with a bit of gear for extra warmth- has incredible eyesight, and is even capable of x-ray vision with enough electric power. It's an emergency measure for if they're caught in a freak snowstorm, but Luxray's vision is nothing to sneeze at on a normal day either.
As for Salem, Absol aren't something most superstitious sorts would consider- those bring bad luck don't they?? Well first of all Salem has Super Luck, thanks, but more importantly, Absol are capable of sensing subtle changes in the surroundings- the air, the ground, Absol can catch if a disaster is happening before it happens. In other words, Salem is here for the same reason Sparks is; not just as a sled puller, but as a measure of safety should the worst abruptly strike.
...Now what's up with the Shiinotic and non-combat Silvally.
Shiinotic after all is in particular part of the luggage. That pokemon isn't pulling anything, and it's not carrying anything either. In fact, it is sitting on the Beartic! (Or alternatively, the Silvally)
And it'll also be glowing whenever it gets dark. Here in Blackthorn, the sun goes down earlier, and during winter, that's earlier still; in order to make sure they can safely travel, Ghibli here has been trained to keep those sleep spores to herself, and focus on taking in as much sunlight during the day as possible so that she can illuminate their surroundings and path like woah. She's a really fancy spotlight in other words, and you know what, power to her because setting up camp in the dark sucks.
That leaves Valentino. Valentino is a bit of a wildcard- their glitch is that at random, despite having all battle capabilities removed, the effects of Attract trigger for anywhere from a minute to half an hour, affecting all gendered and non-gendered pokemon in the vicinity. The Officiants Allowed Them Anyway. With any luck, having the risk of Cirrus' many tails in their face will keep Attract under control. As it stands, other than the glitch, Valentino's actually rather well behaved! Good strong doggo, great at pulling, and sturdy enough to go through the snow.
And of course after all of that we have Emporio himself- skilled not just in wilderness camping here, but also in Paldea and Hisui- he knows his stuff by now, perhaps to the extreme. He won't be cheating, he's not even here to win after all, but he will help anyone he finds in trouble; be it by sending out a flare and helping them put a shelter up, or, if necessary, even hauling them along with his own team in order to get them somewhere safe first.
As an aside, in the event Emporio's team is over the size limit, he'll be taking Beartic off the team and instead requesting permission to bring a combat pokemon- this would be the level 100 Haema the Hisuian Zoroark, whose info is on slide 17. Strong, and uniquely shaped from the quadrupeds on the sled team, she'd be unable to abruptly join the team while being an obvious sign to the flying officiants that something is wrong- as she'd only be there for battle.
RACING
Participating top-level/comment: Whoo!
Pokemon: Roster here- Beartic, Silvally, Absol, Luxray, Alolan Ninetales, and...for some reason a Shiinotic on the beartic. Slides are 26, 17, 8, 1, and 31.
Other: The first obvious note about Emporio and his team is that he's not here to push himself into a win; he certainly won't be slacking, but he's friendly, makes (awkward) small talk with anyone that lets him, and above all seems to have basic equipment. The sled, the tent, the emergency snowshoes- all of these are standard grade.
All of these are what his gym will be offering for sale or loan to new trainers for winter survival and journeys.
And he'll happily say as much too- as well as the fact that, realistically anyone who's out and about travelling won't have a full team of the same pokemon, nor even a team of Similarly Sized ones, so part of this is to add that much more under his belt to better teach staff and from there teach students. This, wildly enough, is Emporio's own dry run. Anyone who tells him off for 'not taking it seriously' will be met, bluntly, with him saying 'this is absolutely me taking it seriously' followed potentially by 'why are you so upset about this, your team isn't going to magically place lower because of this', depending on just how snobby those NPCs happen to get.
The second obvious note is that Emporio's pokemon freaking love the weirdo. He's dressed in his full snow gear- which makes him look like another Hisuian Zoroark, shame that one isn't pulling the sled- and his pokemon absolutely adore him. Even as mons who haven't really trained together, they seem quick to follow his command and adaptive to boot. On the flipside though, Emporio knows and trusts his team too- if they think something isn't right or need a break, they make it known...and he Listens. The Alolan Ninetales has never pulled a sled- and the others have more experience pulling something alone frankly- but to make sure that they can handle it without outpacing or yanking one another off course, he does do a couple of practice tests while making sure the sled is in order- and by the time they start, they'll...actually do Really Well with that, they're good at controlling their gait to match the ones up front. There's an initial worry about someone's numerous tails getting in the way of someone's face, but that gets resolved by sticking Cirrus in front of Valentino.
For the most part it's clear Emporio prioritized snow familiarity- Ice Fingers was picked up on Glaseado itself back in Paldea, and while Cirrus is really young for a Ninetales, Emporio's been using the last few days post-pokerus to really work with her in anticipation of being part of his gym's snow team. The pair up front however are unique; aside from being pokemon that he used quite often in his early days (And thus, fortunately, familiar with the Blackthorn area), Emporio chose these two for both strength, cooperation, and skill.
Sparks being a Luxray- who has been equipped with a bit of gear for extra warmth- has incredible eyesight, and is even capable of x-ray vision with enough electric power. It's an emergency measure for if they're caught in a freak snowstorm, but Luxray's vision is nothing to sneeze at on a normal day either.
As for Salem, Absol aren't something most superstitious sorts would consider- those bring bad luck don't they?? Well first of all Salem has Super Luck, thanks, but more importantly, Absol are capable of sensing subtle changes in the surroundings- the air, the ground, Absol can catch if a disaster is happening before it happens. In other words, Salem is here for the same reason Sparks is; not just as a sled puller, but as a measure of safety should the worst abruptly strike.
...Now what's up with the Shiinotic and non-combat Silvally.
Shiinotic after all is in particular part of the luggage. That pokemon isn't pulling anything, and it's not carrying anything either. In fact, it is sitting on the Beartic! (Or alternatively, the Silvally)
And it'll also be glowing whenever it gets dark. Here in Blackthorn, the sun goes down earlier, and during winter, that's earlier still; in order to make sure they can safely travel, Ghibli here has been trained to keep those sleep spores to herself, and focus on taking in as much sunlight during the day as possible so that she can illuminate their surroundings and path like woah. She's a really fancy spotlight in other words, and you know what, power to her because setting up camp in the dark sucks.
That leaves Valentino. Valentino is a bit of a wildcard- their glitch is that at random, despite having all battle capabilities removed, the effects of Attract trigger for anywhere from a minute to half an hour, affecting all gendered and non-gendered pokemon in the vicinity. The Officiants Allowed Them Anyway. With any luck, having the risk of Cirrus' many tails in their face will keep Attract under control. As it stands, other than the glitch, Valentino's actually rather well behaved! Good strong doggo, great at pulling, and sturdy enough to go through the snow.
And of course after all of that we have Emporio himself- skilled not just in wilderness camping here, but also in Paldea and Hisui- he knows his stuff by now, perhaps to the extreme. He won't be cheating, he's not even here to win after all, but he will help anyone he finds in trouble; be it by sending out a flare and helping them put a shelter up, or, if necessary, even hauling them along with his own team in order to get them somewhere safe first.
As an aside, in the event Emporio's team is over the size limit, he'll be taking Beartic off the team and instead requesting permission to bring a combat pokemon- this would be the level 100 Haema the Hisuian Zoroark, whose info is on slide 17. Strong, and uniquely shaped from the quadrupeds on the sled team, she'd be unable to abruptly join the team while being an obvious sign to the flying officiants that something is wrong- as she'd only be there for battle.