Well in answer to  ebonyleopard's challenge to come up with teams of four for his Pokemon Combat Academy of Higher Learning, here's Team Jet. Every school has one - the popular, stuck-up girl and her entourage who make life miserable for everyone who isn't among the "beautiful people", and the Pokemon Academy is no exception...

Team Jet is an experienced team full of nasty surprises with some serious corporate backing. They're meant to be villains, although a couple them are sympathetic ones. Individually they are:

Nicole Blackclaw [Meowth]
Nicole (Nikki to her friends) is the daughter of Felix Blackclaw, a well-known promoter. He owns several prestigious gyms, has been the promoter for several world-championship battles, and heads up a Poke-Combat league known for being flashy, extravagant, and full of popular appeal. He's very rich and very influential, and his daughter is the epitome of the spoiled brat.

Nicole is stuck-up, full of herself, used to getting her own way, and doesn't take no for an answer. She heads up Team Jet, her father's corporate-sponsored amateur team, and takes it very seriously. She's always trying to make daddy proud, no matter what it takes.

Interestingly, although she is the team leader, people have rarely ever actually seen her fight. The true mastermind, she leaves that to her teammates. But woe unto he who mistakes her reluctance to get her paws dirty for cowardice or lack of fighting ability. Her father has lunch with world champions, and she has received the best training money can buy, sometimes from those same world champions. After all, nothing is too good for daddy's little princess.

Nicole is trained in all manner of fighting arts, specializing in defensive/counterattack strategies. A true student of the game, she knows every attack in the book and how to counter them, and knows every type of pokemon and their weaknesses. She makes tapes of upcoming opponents and studies them with an artist's eye, looking for flaws or weaknesses. Whether in the arena or engaged in social jousting in the halls of the academy, she's a very dangerous opponent.

Mitzi Fiera [Growlithe]
Despite their glaring differences in social status, Nicole and Mitzi have been best friends since they were very young. Although Mitzi's father, a police officer, doesn't approve of some of Nicole's family's connections, Mitzi loyally stays by her best friend, being the first to join her team.

Mitzi isn't playing with a full deck. She often forgets what day it is or where she is, and sometimes forgets her own name. Her attention span can be measured in seconds at best and her idea of higher math is a number more than she has fingers and toes. She's bubbly and energetic to a fault, but to be blunt, she's an idiot.

But when it comes to battles, she's a legitimate savant. In addition to being athletically gifted, Mitzi is capable of coming up with intricate strategies that leave veterans shaking their heads in amazement. Her ability to outsmart and outmaneuver opponents in the arena are uncanny, just don't ask her to describe her brilliant tactics, she won't be able to. If you wait too long she won't even remember them and will likely begin babbling about ice cream or shiny things.

In many ways Nicole is using her, but Mitzi either doesn't notice or doesn't care. Given their long friendship and Mitzi's loyalty it's probably the latter.

Methelza Muma [Misdreavus]
The daugher of one of Felix Blackclaw's less than savory "business associates", Methelza was assigned to Nicole's team as a show of unity between the two families. Methelza refuses to acknowledge Nicole as a superior, which really grates on the meowth's nerves, but Methelza makes no move to wrest leadership of the team away from Nicole. She realizes that leadership requires a certain charisma that Nicole is much better suited to.

As one of the rare and elusive ghost pokemon, Methelza is often shunned if not outright feared by her classmates. And she wouldn't have it any other way. All misdreavus feed on fear, and Methelza has quite an appetite. She revels in her reputation as "that creepy artsy girl". Methelza is a brooding loner who works with the team out of a sense of duty, though if her mother and Nicole's father were to have a falling out, that would be the end of her loyalty.

Methelza is quick and agile but not much of a physical threat. However she has mastered the fear-inducing abilities of her species and has even put a personal, insidious twist on them. A master of mind games, she will look for the slightest hint of self-doubt in an opponent then focus her fear powers specifically on that. Soon the opponent will be so full of self-doubt and so sure they can't win that they will subconsciously sabotage themselves to make their fears come true.

Tenebra Blackclaw [Mightyena]
Tenebra (her real name is Helena but NOBODY calls her that) is the adopted sister of Nicole. A young runaway, she grew up and learned to fight on the street. Not in formal gyms or arenas, but in back alleys and abandoned warehouses. It was there that she was found by Felix who felt sorry for her being in such a position at such a young age, a place that he himself had been once. He offered her a place to stay and something to eat and in time adopted her. All he ever asked was that she join Nicole's team, which Tenebra eagerly agreed to.

Tenebra comes across as very rough and very hard-edged, a definite contrast to her sister. In truth she is the more caring and noble of the two, although she hides it quite well. She plays the role of the heavy or enforcer for the team, and maintains this image out of loyalty to her adopted father. Nicole treats her more like an employee than a sister but for the moment she tolerates it. Time will tell if Tenebra will put up with her sister's nonsense forever. But probably not.

In a battle Tenebra is very physical. She uses her shadow powers subtly if at all and resorts to a very smashmouth style of combat. She has actually been disqualified from matches more than once for using excessive force. It's not out of a sense of malice, but rather that it's all she knows. Having grown up and learned to battle on the streets and back alleys, she instinctively has a "take no prisoners" approach that's a difficult habit to break.