Awsome, I like the choice of pokemon you picked.

Thank you. I wanted a Safari Zone themed team, so I picked ones from the Safari Zone that I liked.

Heracross chick! o.o Yowza!

Yeah, she's what you get when you cross "Hot Hippy Chick" and "Heracross" ^_^

What is their grade level?

They're Juniors. While this is technically their first school year, their raw skill and power gained from surviving in the Safari zone qualified them for that grade level.

That hardly seems fair. A lot of students at the school have had a lot tougher time than them, especially in the street and underground environments of the major cities, and they had to start out as freshman. I bet none of these nature loving freaks would last more than five minutes in one of the underground mafia sponsored fighting circuits.

It has to do with the actual entry exams- people are placed in the year that their skill level indicates.

And the impression that the Safari Zoners are all a bunch of tree-hugging hippies? That's just the tourist's eye view. Compared to the fighting circuits...? Sure, they're vicious, but usually they're one-on-one deathmatches...

exactly how often do the fighters there have to deal with packs of 'morphs trying to kill and eat them?

Actually, Ignacious's mother was murdered by a vengeful fighter that she defeated in an underground battle, and his entire clan joined him in the assault. She was horribly shredded up, and Ignacious, who was only three at the time, was forced to watch it all. I doubt even the safari zone could wreck a child that badly.

Also, it's not just how tough of a fighter that influences what grade level you get. IT ALSO HAS TO DO WITH ACADEMICS, and we're talking about junior level high school courses. Even the most remedial courses at that level still require an intellect, and if your safari zone students are as wild as you say they are, I doubt any of them would have anything beyond so much as an elementary school education.

I'm not flaming, I'm just trying to help make your back stories make sense.

I dunno, how about being forced to be a murderer by your parents when you were a kid? I mean its one thing to be forced to watch death, and another to be forced to participate in its execution- something Lina and Eli had to live through.

As for education, Eli and Lina both got reasonable education from Ekewaka when they could sneak away from their parents, who intentionally cultivated them for his own reasons, and Twofeather received homeschooling from his tribe, and Hega from her parents. So while their education might not be the exact curriculum of the high school students, they're academically comparable.

Darn it! Okay, I concede. They are both academically qualified and combat worthy of the junior levels, so there's no way that they'd face off against Team Darkfall, who are only freshman.

But also, from what you've said, it sounds like the safari zone is the perfect place for shadow pokemon to originate. Now, I think I'll have at least one of the 8 shadow pokemon required to free Dark Vail to originate from that wrecked, disease-ridden, savage place.

Is there anyway that they could still face a freshman level team?

Sure. As shown in one of the fights going on right now, Challenges can take place between any grade level. The grades more or less tell you who is about your challenge rating, but doesn't actually restrict who you challenge and fight- as the senior team, the Team Safari could turn down the challenge, but its unlikely they will.

If you like, I can tell you more of my vision of what the safari zone is like.

That'd be great. Could you do it in the form of a story or something in your gallery. The best way for me to learn about it would just be through a sort of prologue story that does nothing more but describe the setting of the safari, such as what it's like, who lives there, how the people there live and get along, how rapidly civilization is encroaching on it, etc.

Hmmm, I've been working on the introductory story for Team Safari for a bit now, I probably could include more details about the Safari Zone in it.

Its actually a very wide and varied place- there are the "Hippie Communes" that the tourists usually see, that are closer to civilization and ranger stations, however, the further from civilization you get, the wilder and more brutal it gets, going from hippies to tribes of honorable warriors preserving their ways of life, to hermits retreating to civilization, to, in the furthest reaches, brutal raiders, murderers and cannibals seeking to escape the law or live out their primal urges.

But details for later!

Actually, Ignacious's mother was murdered by a vengeful fighter that she defeated in an underground battle, and his entire clan joined him in the assault. She was horribly shredded up, and Ignacious, who was only three at the time, was forced to watch it all. I doubt even the safari zone could wreck a child that badly.

Also, it's not just how tough of a fighter that influences what grade level you get. IT ALSO HAS TO DO WITH ACADEMICS, and we're talking about junior level high school courses. Even the most remedial courses at that level still require an intellect, and if your safari zone students are as wild as you say they are, I doubt any of them would have anything beyond so much as an elementary school education.

I'm not flaming, I'm just trying to help make your back stories make sense.