The Pokémon Trainer Academy (T) [Best Veteran 4Q '11]

[Nideous]

Thyme

Thyme smiled and nodded.

"We sure do... A lot has happened... We need to catch up later... But first, what are you and Mark doing in this filthy place?" she said, gesturing at the muddy landscape around them, her eyes not leaving Snype's as she leaned her head into his. She smiled and simply held close to him.

"Hmm... Maybe I should stick around and lend a hand... Lots of water and ground types generally live in swamps..." she said in and off hand voice.

((OOC: Congrats Megaman, Thyme will probably listen to Mark in a battle, assuming that it;'s a serious one. xD))

Brian

"Oh, it's no trouble. Um..." Brian said with a blush. Sprinkles closed his eyes. Well, looked like he wasn't going to get to fight today. Oh well. Brian walked to the front office and grinned.

"Here's the office. I need to trade my jacket in, it's arms are too short, so we can go and get you one too, right?" he said hopefully, his bright eyes shining with joy. He was more than happy to be her friend. He was more than happy to be anyone's friend, of course, but he felt she was special somehow. He smiled shyly and opened the door so they could go in.

Quin

Quin walked quickly through the road to the PowerPlant, eager to begin his investigation. He held Ezar in his arms and she sighed, looking around. By the time he reached the plant, Zara was quiet with his complaints.

"Now, we have to perform a Stage Three examination of the equipment and see if it is safe for operation. Ready boy?" he said to Ezar, still thinking that she was a boy. She shrugged and rested her arms on his forearms as Quin pushed the door open and entered the dark power plant, unaware that two shapes were watching him from inside the building.

[Sir Bastian]

Alexis watched Snype and Thyme greet each other, nuzzling against one another. It made a soft smile creep onto her lips and she sank a little down onto the ground, almost sitting down. She was still rather confused as to what had happened, completely forgetting about the thunderclouds a moment ago.

As Len leaned in to whisper to her, Alexis turned her head, raising her brows, her ears twitching faintly while listening. Realization slowly spread on her face, the smile only widening slightly. She muttered back to him.

“Awh… I had no idea she would have been Snype’s girlfriend… but now that they’re together, they –do- look really cute with one another. And the whole compatibility doesn’t matter, as long as you’re in love.” She nodded her head firmly, clearly a very strong believer in this. She did respect their privacy however and turned fully to Len, now not worried about getting lost from the others as they had arrived as well.

“So! Here we are… just waiting for the teacher to tell us to go and we can head off into the swamp! Getting excited?” she said with a smile up at him, her tail flicking through the air rather swiftly, a clear sign that she was either happy or very excited.

Daniel was still looking over towards the academy as Mark spoke, the clouds having long gone as he nodded his head slowly. “Yeah… if that was a Pokémon that had done that, I would –love- to see which one could’ve done it. It must’ve been a –huge- one! Be able to fly, most likely… definitely electric.

He glanced towards Oscar who had joined the conversation, who apparently was sporting some kind of Pokémon on his shoulder. Amazing, another Pokémon Daniel had never seen before… he was starting to feel like a dork.

He gave his head a little shake, pointing back at the academy. “Whatever kind of Pokémon could create –that- must be extremely powerful. And even though you’ve got so many Pokémon Mark, I don’t think going after that would be a good idea. I doubt even the teachers could do anything about something like that… though I still would love to see it.”

[Megaman765]

Snype nodded. "We're going on a trip for our class. Something about finding a lost kid in the swamp. I guess we're going to learn how to adjust to the environment... but yeah, I'm perfectly fine with you tagging along with us. After class we can catch up Thyme." Snype said with a smile, tempted to kiss her but stopped himself. Too much peering eyes.

---

"Hehe. Yeah. Snype is certainly lucky eh? Almost make's me jealous." Len joked, scratching the back of his head. Not that he really thought about something like love. It was kind of on the side of his mind.

Mark finally noticed Snype left his shoulder and noticed he was hugging a Snivy holding it close... he quickly realized that there was only one Snivy that was like that with Snype. It was Thyme! But if Thyme was here that meant... Bri was back too! Mark needed to go find him later... it had been awhile after all... Thyme was well trained enough to be on her own though and Mark was going to watch after her apparently. He wasn't sure if leaving Thyme by herself was a good decision but Mark had done the same before... these days he's a bit more careful about it.

"Ha... Catch it? Nooooo way! You gotta pick your battles! Something like that might be a bit much for me I admit. I think I'll go for the small fry first before going for something big..." Mark said.

[ShinyDiamond]

Kilik Chambers

These conversations were nice. They were soon dismissed when a bunch of dark clouds appeared out of nowhere in the sky. What the heck was that all about? It shouldn't rain this time of day, especially in the morning.

Mistress noticed the clouds & looked at it in aw. Was it gonna rain? It would've been so good with her Swampert form.

The clouds soon disappeared later, just like that. One thing came to mind. Only one Pokemon could make clouds like that, at least to Kilik. He managed to get Mark & Daniel's attention. Oscar too since he just came into the conversations. "One comes to mind. Zekrom." He's heard of legend back in Castelia, only from other cities. It was just legends. It's just a thought to Kilik, it may not be Zekrom. Maybe it could be.

"You don't suspect Zekrom is here on the island, do you?" He asked the three kids, Mark, Daniel, Oscar. Could it be...

[Sir Bastian]

Alexis nodded with a warm smile, trying very hard not to look over at the two hugging Pokémon and go all mushy. She had always been a big softie when it came to love and so forth. “Yeah, they both are…” she then glanced up at Len after having looked off to the side, smiling comfortingly and lifted her arm, patting his arm softly. “Don’t worry Len, you’ll find someone some day.”

Daniel snickered at Mark’s reaction to Oscar’s question. “Yeah, exactly! You can’t go around challenging Pokémon who can create thunderstorms in an instant. That’s just –asking- for trouble, if you ask me.”

He leaned a little back as Killik began speaking, blinking his eyes in confusion as he mentioned something named ‘Zekrom’. Daniel had never heard of, what he assumed it was at least, this Pokémon before. Yet another one, typical.

“Uhm… Zekrom? I… don’t really know what that is.” He mumbled out, clearly embarrassed at his lack of knowledge, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck, sticking his free hand into his pocket meanwhile.

[Kid Mind]

''Y-yeah, you're right there. I was just wondering, that's all.'' Oscar responded, the expression on his face showing a hint of embarrassment. They were right...how was one supposed to challenge a Pokémon who could supposedly fly and create thunderstorms? What happened to commen sense?

He glanced over at Kilik as he spoke about something called Zekrom. Zekrom? Not the Pokémon he was thinking of but the name didn't really ring any bells. He really had to start learning about Pokémon from the other regions.

''Gotta admit, I don't know what that is either...'' He replied and gave a small, nervous smile. ''I was actually thinking of another Pokémon...what is it called...uhh...Zapdos. It's rumored to be a legendary bird in Kanto...but what do you know about this Zekrom, Kilik?'' He leaned back and forth slowly while Meden watched the humans with mild curiosity.

[MichaelaTheUchiha]

Miharu was sitting on Haku, surfing. They had been traveling to the island the Pokemon Trainer Academy for a few hours now. Luckily, Haku had been used to long travels, otherwise they would be stranded in the middle of the ocean. Miharu patted Haku's back.

"I'm sure you're tired," Miharu said. "I think I read something about an icy plains or something of the sort. Want to rest there when we arrive? I'm pretty sure that we won't have to start right away."

Haku turned her head around and nodded, answering happily.

With that settled, they continued to surf. After a little bit, Miharu and Haku could see some land on the horizon.

"I'm pretty sure that's the island," said Miharu. She suddenly grinned. "Oh, I can't wait to annoy the little kiddies!"

Haku smiled politely at the weirdness of her trainer. She was used to it.

-x-

After dropping Haku off at the Icy Plains, Miharu ended up roaming around, trying to find Gary's office. Miharu make a clicking noise with her tongue. She was currently passing through a rock battlefield. Miharu smirked. Maybe for the first day of classes, she would battle any volunteers and some non-volunteers, just to get a general grasp at their battling skills.

After passing through the battlefields, she was still lost. Miharu wished that they at least had a map. Traveling around was easy, take a path and continue to go down it. A vast island like this wasn't so easy.

"Miharu?"

Miharu turned around and saw Cynthia smiling behind her.

"Cyn-chan!" Miharu exclaimed happily. The two friends hugged each other.

"What are you doing here?" asked Cynthia when the two broke apart. "I don't think you'd be a student here."

"Then you thought correctly!" said Miharu. "I'm a teacher here!"

"Those poor children," Cynthia shook her head.

Miharu pouted and grabbed her heart. "Alas! My heart...tis broken!"

"Exactly my point," Cynthia said dryly.

Miharu mock-sniffled. "Anyways, can you direct me to Professor Oak's office?"

"You're standing right in front of it," said Cynthia.

Miharu blinked, looked at the plague that read "Professor Gary Oak", and glanced back at Cynthia. "What do you know? I am!"

Cynthia nodded. "What are you going to teach?"

Miharu smiled mischievously. "What do you think?"

"We're going to have kids run around acting insane, aren't we?" asked Cynthia. She shook her head. "What was Professor Oak thinking, asking you to teach?"

"I can be a good teacher!" Miharu protested. After a few moments, she tilted her head. "Well, if the kids don't make me mad, of course. Then again, I shall be the sadistic teacher that everyone hates!"

"Have fun with that," said Cynthia dryly. "You still haven't answered my question."

"You know my tactics, right?" asked Miharu, smirking.

Cynthia, who was well aware of Miharu's tactics after battling her for so long, winced. "Those trees will never be the same. Please don't tell me you're teaching them those kind of tactics."

"Well, not with superpowered moves since I'm sure their moves are fairly basic," said Miharu thoughtfully. "Maybe using those basic moves to their advantage. Plus, you've never seen me become ruthless in a battle."

"No, remember-"

"Ah, yes, never mind," Miharu stated. "I may or may not teach those kinds of tactics to them. Maybe only to those people who exclude the ruthlessness needed."

"That's what we need, students creating caverns on an island," said Cynthia dryly.

Miharu shrugged. "I said maybe. I saw quite a lot of battlegrounds here."

"Want to battle after you talk to Professor Oak?" asked Cynthia.

"Yes, I still owe you from last time," Miharu scowled.

"What is it, 562 to 560 in my favour?" Cynthia smirked.

"I'll defeat you today!" Miharu exclaimed. "Just wait 'til I get out Professor Oak's office! Which battleground?"

"Would you be able to find your way there?" Cynthia asked dryly.

Miharu paused. "Never mind, wait here."

Miharu walked into Professor Oak's office without knocking.

((OOC: I hope it's okay if I bunny Cynthia, Yellow. If you want to bunny Professor Gary Oak, go ahead. xD))

[Supervegeta]

The shining of the sun through the curtains causes Alexander Becker to stir out of his sleep. He opened his eyes only to the familiar sight of the room around him. It was a single apartment, with a sort of 'living' room, as well as a kitchen connected adjacent to it, and a bathroom close by. In another small room was the bedroom, but it was thus far empty. His bed that he ordered had not yet arrived that he ordered, forcing him to sleep on his lumpy couch. This only added to the pain he was in. Alexander had recently broken his arms in a freak accident whilst exiting the boat to Pokemon Trainer Academy. He had since then been on what he announced to the school as "sick" leave, allowing him to recover quietly in Oak Town until he was fit to teach. Today, Alexander was excited, because he had finally gotten his braces removed last night, and was finally able to begin teaching.

Alexander searched the nearby coffee table for his glasses, the usual spot he leaves them before going to sleep, whenever he doesn't forget to take them off, that is. He placed them on the usual position of halfway on this nose, and stood up. He decided he would take extra time today to make sure he was squeaky clean. He wouldn't, after all, want his students to feel he was a bum, not to mention other faculty. After a quick hop into the shower, Alex did all his necessities, and clothed himself in his usual, professional looking black attire. Grabbing his texts, he raced out the door, prepared to teach the young minds of Pokemon Trainer Academy all about his topic of interest.

As his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the outdoors, his gaze fixated on the enormous Pokemon Trainer Academy in the distance. He smiled, and began to head through Oak Town on his way over. About halfway through the town, Alex realized there would be no feasible way for him to find his way there because of the enormity of the island, and because he had never actually gone this way before. He began trying to acquire a map of the town. To everyone he asked, they either continued on his way, ignoring him, or simply stated no. Eventually, a shady-looking man in his mid-thirties spoke to Alexander from the end of an alley.

"Hey, you!" The man said. Alexander turned and looked at him, then around wondering if he was talking to him, or someone around him. Alexander pointed to himself and mouthed "me?" to the man, who responded with a nod. "Yea, you!" Alexander approached the man. "I hear ya been looking for a map o' this place. I happen to have the only map in the entire island."

"Oh, wonderful!" Alexander said with delight, a smile coming over his face. "And...how much would said map be worth?" Alex asked. The shady man smiled as well, as he contemplated at the moment. "Well, you see mister, this map happens to be the only one of its kind in all of the island, so it ain't cheap, ya know? I'm gonna say....10,000 Pokédollars." Alexander looked at him, stunned. "10,000!? But...that's so much...." The shady guy put away the map, and appeared to begin to leave. "Well, if ya don't want it...I'll jes be going. Jes lettin' you know, I'll have dis sold in another ten minutes."

Alexander thought for a moment, then called back for the man. "Wait! Alright, I'll take it!" Alexander said, grabbing through his wallet for the money. The exchange was made, and the shady man spoke once more before bolting for the alley. "Hehehe...pleasure doin' business wit you."

Alexander waved a goodbye to the nice man, and proceeded back on his way to Pokemon Trainer Academy. Alexander opened the map and began deciphering. Little did he know, however, that on the back of the map said the big letters, "Map of the Kin Island"...

[PkMnTrainer Yellow]

Valorie Ryder

Valorie's punch was rather pathetic. She didn't really understand that she could do so much more. She just considered herself weak. Regardless, the teacher herself walked over and... told Valorie she didn't have to continue. Valorie met Ash's gaze and noticed it looked very odd, but she couldn't figure out why. At first this seemed like a good thing. However after a moment she began to question it. Did the teacher have no faith in her? Was that it? Was she that bad? She felt a bit insulted. Being bad at things didn't work for her. It also really didn't help when Ruby called her insecure. Ruby may not have physically hit her but those words had been like a strike from out of nowhere straight to the weakspot for massive damage. Valorie emotionally fumbled as she attempted to get over what had just been said to her. Insecure? /Insecure/? How did she know? Valorie didn't like to think of herself as insecure. She had enough self-image issues. However, what had followed had reinforced what had been said. Valorie silently found herself considering the fact that... she just didn't trust people to be nice to her.

Cue /angst/.

Perhaps it was the fact that she couldn't lose a battle without getting upset and angry. Perhaps it was the fact that she felt the need to prove herself to everyone over every little thing, giving her the appearance of needing to feel better than others, but Valorie had come to know people as seeing her in a poor light. At leats, she had until she came to the academy. For some reason a good portion of people reached out to her.

...Selene.

A burst of foreign and familiar emotions alike filled Valorie as her mind drifted to Selene during her moment of weakness. For a moment her breath was stolen and she failed to react. After that she... actually found that she'd lost the drive to continue and moved over to the side of the room, sitting down and hugging her knees to her chest. A mildly frustrated look was on her face, but her feelings were actually less frustrated and more depressed. Where was Selene anyway? She didn't know, but she already missed her friend. More importantly, she didn't know what Selene would've thought of the way she was acting. Watching Valorie try to hit someone was about as pathetic as it got, and she couldn't convince herself to keep trying. What did that say? What did it mean? Valorie found herself desperately yearning for fresh air, for the familiar feel of training. She needed to take her mind off things. For the time being she hid this from the others though, unwilling to draw attention to herself.

Olivia Wolf

Olivia listened to Kenshin and promptly interjected.

"Well... you don't /have/ to."

She seemed to shrug lightly, making it out to be no big deal. A rather loud roar interrupted them though. All logic said at least a thousand ear drums must be broken from wherever that roar came from, but what did she know about that? Olivia flinched and looked around in a startled manner before being abruptly clinged to by another human being. Olivia promptly felt herself lose her balance and cried out as she toppled over, effectively tackled by Kenshin. Toppling onto her back she hit her head on the ground and just sort of laid there, unable to get up. A brief light groan emitted from her mouth and she placed one hand on Kenshin, though in hindsight she didn't know why.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, taken by surprise by Austin's question. Of course, most questions took her by surprise. She didn't know what to expect. She honestly didn't know the answer to his question. Or rather, she actually had an answer but it would probably raise more questions than it answered. Despite this, she felt obligated. She was after all here to teach, not to be lazy right?

"Um... We don't... know how to create them over here..."

Once again she'd spoken a bit oddly, more than usual though. The phrase 'over here' had been used. Was that to imply that somewhere someone knew how? More importantly, if these balls were so effective, why hadn't scientists figured out how to reverse engineer it yet? Maybe because these were the only working balls of their kind. Maybe because magic was involved making it beyond the scope of traditional reverse engineering. Who was to say when you got this far into history? More importantly, if people no longer knew how to create these balls, how did Elizabeth have one?

"There a-are also ancient...pokeballs that... don't look like pokeballs."

Elizabeth attempted to recall imagery, but pokeballs of the type she was discussing were honestly past the time she'd actually been alive to witness.

"They didn't even...o-open. They... contained pokemon with a...strange...energy."

The word energy rolled off her tongue extremely awkwardly as if she had trouble saying it.

"The pokeballs...-- The ones we use here are...-- They are our... attempts to recreate these objects with... technology."

The word technology also rolled off Elizabeth's tongue awkwardly, this time with an actual hint of venom in her tone. It might seem to the observant that Elizabeth wasn't too fond of modern pokeballs. Was she some sort of weird hipster? That would explain the outfit anyway. Cue MacKenzie being a hipster before it was cool.

Hilda

Hilda glanced at Alice thoughtfully. The answer seemed obvious to her, but perhaps she needed to explain.

"Well, first we need to actually get into the swamp. Then it's time to search around--"

A roar pierced the air. Hilda stopped what she was doing and looked up into the sky as if looking for something, a mildly serious look on her face. She knew whom that roar belonged to, though she hadn't expected to hear it here. She knew N was at the academy, but she hadn't realized he had brought Zekrom along, nor would she have expected him to let the pokemon startle everyone for miles in such a manner. Perhaps he was batttling? That would make a bit more sense, or perhaps he simply didn't keep much of a leash on his pokemon so to speak. She personally didn't see anything wrong with teaching a pokemon good behavior, after all people taught their own children not to scream at people, however she knew that N was... strange.

She did not however have the time to figure out what was going on. She had a class to teach. Turning to the students she moved to explain.

"Iii have a pretty good idea of who that was. Let's not worry about it."

Turning her gaze back to Alice and placing her hands on her hips she resumed answering the question she'd been asked.

"Most of what we'll be doing is making sure we don't get lost and dealing with any particularly brave wild pokemon that decide you'd make a great lunch."

Hilda took a brief moment to wink at Alice, showing that she honestly wasn't very concerned. To be frank, yeah a pokemon could sneak up on and gobble up a student in a mere moment, but these were the pokemon that just enveloped their prey whole, so it wasn't like it was a death sentence. Besides that was why they had pokemon around, to make it virtually impossible for someone to get seriously hurt by such tactics.

"I'll also be explaining a few things about the swamplands as we go around and talking about the pokemon who live here. A lot of them aren't very friendly, but you may find them interesting~"

That being said, Hilda proceeded to start walking again, this time further into the swamplands.

"So let's get moving!~"

As they walked further in, students would most likely notice the ground become softer as the moisture levels increased in proximity to water. It was clear that the climate was different, and before long students would be able to see pools of water around, though Hilda took care to avoid them as it was still possible to easily walk around.

[プリンセスサファイア]

Sapphire Dillon

Sapphire smiled back at him eyes full of happiness "That sounds like a plan" she said smiling more. "from the jacket colors I was told it looks like we're in the same dorm. She had made plenty of friends back home but she was trilled that Bri would be her friend, she knew there was something special about him. She followed him inside the office and smiled more "I heard there are a lot of areas you can catch Pokemon around here, is that true?" she asked him remembering something she had overheard on the boat-ride here.

Amanda Smith

Amanda sighed brushing a piece of her hair out of her face. She had arrived at the academy not long ago and right away had found the front office getting her jacket and being given instructions to her dorm room. Looking around she smiled the room was spacious and had a queen sized bed covered in a blue comforter and fluffy pillows. The walls were a relaxing shade of blue and the floor was a dark wood with a white rug in the middle of it. She had a desk in front of a window that she put her bag on and in the right corner of the room was an area set up for her Pokemon to sleep and eat. "much better than my room back home" she said shaking her head at the thought of her small and way to childish bedroom back in Jubilife city. Straightening out her pleated skirt Amanda left her room and headed outside.

[Mr. Mammoth]

Maxwell briefly turned his head as someone posed him a question. Seems like it was Gen, he seemed amazed by the fact that Maxwell just had smashed his freaking pickaxe into the rock without breaking it.

"Well, I wouldn't call myself a great-force-deployer-majiggy. But U would say that I'm kind of a klutz with bad luck sometimes..." he said with a nervous laugh. Maxwell now turned to Byron, the purple-haired man had a certain gleam in his eye and a smile meaning trouble. Well, at least for Maxwell. He swallowed hard as the man asked him a question, although it seemed retorical, Maxwell decided to answer it anyway.

"Well, regarding the current situation I'm in... Yes, yes I am pretty good at messing up. That's one of the reasons I have my Pokémon, they keep track of me!" he said and gently stroked the fur on Slackey's back. The Slakoth gave of a sound meaning that he was feeling like a prince, as always.

Byron's next words were a bit more frightening than his previous ones. The low, cold tone of his words crept underneath Maxwell's skin and slowly started to make their way down his back. Not the best feeling in the world, but he would be able to manage it. With an "Aye, Aye Sir!" the young trainer took the pickaxe and tried to pull out the stone. Unfortunetaly, the rock wouldn't budge. He tried again, yielding the exact same result. Now Maxwell was getting a bit nervous, it would be even worse if he couldn't get the rock out and smash it properly... Then, he felt something knock gently on his head. It was of course Slackey.

"Sla, slaaa..."[Hey Maxwell, lemme handle this...] he said looking his trainer deep in the eyes. His tired ones interlocking with Maxwell's awake ones in some form of understanding.

"I understand. Welp, do what you gotta do!" Maxwell smiled at Slackey, giving him a thumbs up. The sloth-Pokémon nodded and jumped down from the young trainer's head, landing somewhat gracefully on the teacher's desk. He gripped the pickaxe Maxwell was holing and began to tug it, the brown-haired boy released the tool and left it all to his Slakoth. Now, despite his size, Slackey is a strong Pokémon even though he's too lazy to show it. So the pickaxe was almost no problem for him to lift, it was a bit heavier than expected, so he kinda wobbled a bit while holding it in the air.

Suddenly, as Slackey was about to bring the pickaxe down, the sky darkened. Black, omnious clouds started forming, almost blocking the sun completely. Lightningbolts could be heard crashing in the background, it was almost like a classical horror-movie. Like "Frankenstein's Monster" or something like that. Then there was the roar. Maxwell flinched a bit as a ground-shaking roar could be heard, it probably came from the same thing causing this heavy weather. There was some Pokémon that came to Maxwell's mind when this happened, there was Zapdos, Raikou, Thundurus and of course Zekrom. Now which one of these could it be?

Right as Maxwell thought that, a burst of white light appeared next to him. One ofhis Pokéballs had been opened? Strange. Anyway, the one who had "escaped" was actually Katam! The little Tympole flopped around the floor in a paniced matter, his face showing nothing but true fear.

"Katam, what's wrong?!" Maxwell exclaimed,

"Ty-Ty-Ty......mmpo...ty...."[Ze-Ze-Ze.....kr....ze...] he said, but quieted down. Almost immideatly after, Katam fainted out of pure shock.

Maxwell hurried to his Tympole and quickly picked the creature up in his arms. Slightly patting Katam's cheek, he told him to get it together and wake up! Among all this commotion, Slackey had accidentally dropped the pickaxe out of sheer shock. What the hell did just happen?! The pickaxe hit the floor with a loud smash, conviniently splitting it in the middle.

[d4rka8isz]

The whole place awed Pepsi as she got off of the ship onto the docks. When she went into town, half of what she saw was either blue, red, or yellow. Where was the school? she thought to herself, then she went to explore. There was a shop that seemed to be doing extremely well and a couple of restaurants. Pepsi went to check out some of the buildings there. Eventually, she got herself to the Daycare Center.

"Hello?" she asked when she came in. She saw a man next to a sleeping Flygon, and before the man could speak, she asked, "Do you know where I'm supposed to go? I just got here and I think I'm supposed to go to this academy." Then she smiled because she just realized that the Flygon was awake.

[Nideous]

Thyme

"A lost kid?" Thyme echoed, staring at the Sableye. That sounded bad. She was right, she definitely needed to stick around. She nodded and slipped her hand into his and smiled. There was no way he was going to get rid of her now.

"Yes. We can catch up later... But first, this needs to be dealt with. Let's find the kid and get the heck out of this place." she said with a grin.

Nova

Nova growled and lunged again. He yelped as he felt the Thunder Fang graze his shoulder and tried to fall back, but found his legs were paralized. His father darted back and growled before charging at him. He heard Vulpix shouting, telling him to get out of the way, and focused his power, sending an illusory copy of himself bolting to the right while he went left. He slid to a halt then charged at the Arcanine with Facade. He saw his father dart back after getting hit and open his mouth to Roar at Nova.

"Oh shut up!" Nova said, diving into the ground before his father could utter a sound. He flew out of the ground and slammed into his opponent's stomach. The Arcanine fell to the groun d and groaned, and the fire stone slid out of his mane. Nova walked over to it, panting heavily, and the pack stopped barking at him and fell into a hushed silence. Nova bent down and picked up the stone.

"Let's go Vulpix." he said as he walked away. No one stopped him as he headed out of the area, followed by his pack, such as it was.

"Growlithe! Son!" the arcanine said, getting to his feet. Nova dropped the fire stone and spun around and growled at his father.

"My name is NOVA! I have a trainer, and he's a great hiuman. I have no intention of running your pack or even coming up here again unless he wants to come. I have my own life, my own destiny. I won't protect a pack that doesn't need me, and Brian's pack does, so shut up and stop wanting me to take over for you!" Nova shouted, his wild barks echoing down the volcano. His father chuckled and nodded.

"I was about to tell you that if you wanted to, you could. But I see you have a better purpose to use that power. Go, and live proud of your choices, because they are good ones." the arcanine said. Nova nodded and wagged his tail a little.

"Heh, guess I over reacted. Thanks dad. I may see you around. Come on Vulpix, let's get out of here." Nova said, turning a picking up the fire stone and walking away. Vulpix nodded and darted after him.

Brian

Bri picked up his new jacket and slid it on after iving the older one back. He grinned and nodded at Sapphire.

"Yup! We are! And there are lots of places to find pokemon. When I first got here, my Snivy was my only pokemon. Now I have a bunch! You can catch them all over the place!" he said, snatching Duster's pokeball off of his belt. He tossed it to the ground and revealed the Minccino, who grinned.

"Hi!" she said happily, and Sprinkles hopped to the ground and sat down, yawning boredly.

"This is Duster! I caught her right over in that field! So they are everywhere!" he said, grinning nervously at Sapphire. Now he was beginning to feel like he was talking too much. He hoped he wasn't bugging her any.

Quincy

Quin pulled a flashlight out of his bag and clicked it on. A great deal of pokemon scurried away from the light. Ezar looked about curiously and Quin stepped out into the hall. He heard a faint growling that made the hair on his neck stand on end, but ignored it. He walked into the next room and saw a young Minun sitting in the corner, watching him.

"Hey little buddy!" he said with a smile. The minun smiled and his ears flopped up. His little cheeks sparked and he winced a bit. Quin set Ezar down and picked the minun up, who shivered. His tail was cut, and he looked bruised a little bit.

"Hey, you ok buddy?" he asked, taking out a potion and spraying the minun, who jerked in shock.

"Mai mai!" he shouted. Quin barely had time to react when something small slammed into his back. He clutched the Minun and rolled on the ground. Ezar growled and swiped at the red and yellow shape, who leapt back. Minun looked shocked again and looked at his tail, which had healed. Then he leapt out of Quin's arms and stood with Ezar, staring down the plusle.

"Mai mai!" he said, and the Plusle cocked her head at him.

"Plai?" she said after a moment.

"Sand! Sandshrew!" Ezar shouted, waving her arms about angrily. Plusle looked emberrassed, and she grabbed Minun and ran into the darkness.

Draco

Draco looked up at the girl that had entered the Daycare Center and gave her a quizzical look. He stood up and patted Killita, who looked at the girl with a friendly look on her face.

"You don't know where you're supposed to be?" he said after a moment, crossing his arms over his chest and giving her a small, sad, and condescending smile.

"Very well. I'll take you to the Academy. It's not too far from here. I'm Draco, and you are?" he said, remembering that Lance had specifically asked him to be nice to students.He leaned his head out the back door and bellowed for Rena. The Dragonaire floated inside and looked at him curiously.

"Watch the store," he said, walking out from around the counter, returning Killita, who yawned lazily.

[プリンセスサファイア]

Sapphire Dillon

Sapphire smiled setting Alice on the ground next to Sakutaro and picked up her jacket sliding it on over her pale pink button down shirt. Looking back at Bri she grinned eyes shinning with joy as he told her you can catch Pokemon pretty much everywhere. "she's so cute" she smiled seeing Duster and watched Alice wave at Duster.

"I hope I can catch some cool Pokemon. I'm really hoping to find Pokemon I haven't seen back home before" she said with a smile on her face as she brushed a few strands of her brown hair out of her face and straightened the red ribbon tied under her chin that kept the crown on the top of her head. Others might say her outfit was childish, but she didn't care. "so where to next?" she asked picking up Alice again after giving Sakutaro a pat on the head.

[Megaman765]

Snype nodded. "Yeah it's something along those lines. Don't worry, the person we're supposed to be helping volunteered. It's a class after all... ah, I guess you'll need a ride over the swamp. Wouldn't want you to get any muck on your figure." Snype said. Hilda eventually moved on through the swamp with the rest of the class. They didn't have to jump into the water yet thankfully.

Len sighed. "Yeah. I probably will... I'm sure it's nice to be with someone like that... I'm not worried about it though. I don't usually think about that kind of thing very much." Len said, looking at Alexis for a moment as she patted his arm. He was lost in thought for a split moment. He snapped back into reality when he saw the class moving further into the swamp. Len decided to surprise Alexis a bit this time. Len picked Alexis up and proceeded to place her on his back so that she could get a good grip on him.

"Well if your willing to give this ride another go, Let's head to the swamp!" Len said happily.

Mark had never heard of the name Zekrom before... it sounded like a pretty powerful name to him though. He was a firm believer of legendary Pokemon himself, even though he had never seen one before.

"Well, whatever it was, it sure is powerful. Maybe there are other pokemon that can do that kind of thing. You never know... still though, let's head on into the swamp." Mark said as he started to follow the class. He noticed Snype and Thyme together.

"Hey Thyme, You can rest on my shoulder if you want. I doubt Bri would have fun washing you if ya got dirty huh?" Mark said.

[Nideous]

Brian

Brian smiled nervously and looked around. He turned back to Sapphire and smiled, blushing a bit.

"W-well, um, did you want to catch a pokemon? Or did you want to see more of the school?" he said hesitantly. He grinned and pet Duster, who waved happily at the Cubchoo.

"Aww, you're just so cute!" she said eagerly. Sprinkles rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Not that cute." he said, tired of being ignored. He was going to battle someone today, and he didn't much care who it was. Duster frowned at him, ready to take matters into her own paws when she needed to.

"Hey! Be nice!" she said to Sprinkles, who's only response was to flick his tail.

Thyme

Thyme smiled and climbed to Mark's shoulder. She looked around, still a bit shocked that Mark's shoulder was so much higher than Brian's. Humans grew to all different sizes. She waved down at Snype and smiled.

"Well, we should still take it seriously." she said after a mmoment, crossing her arms across her chest. She smiled a little and kept a sharp lookout on the environment.

Nova

Nova sat down when he reached he and Vulpix's den. He dropped the Fire Stone and tapped it with his paw. The Growlithe began to emit a powerful white light, and felt himself changing. When the light faded, he was a lot bigger than he was before. His mane was longer, and so was his tail. He was an Arcanine, a bit smaller than his father, but still way bigger than most.

[Dragonkat]

The girl walked away after awhile. Kat was about to answer the question, but Ash answered it for her. Kat shrugged and called to Psy. "We may leave soon. Start saying your farewells to the Water Pokemon!" Psy nodded and cpntinued

The girl walked away after awhile. Kat was about to answer the question, but Ash answered it for her. Kat shrugged and called to Psy. "We may leave soon. Start saying your farewells to the Water Pokemon!" Psy nodded and continued playing. Kat heard that she needed a new partner, so she was going to walk to the girl Ruby was with. Before she could however, Ruby herself asked Kat to be her partner.

"Hi there, sorry for just now, but do you want to be partners now?" Ruby asked Kat. Kat shrugged. "Sure." Kat then grinned. She was to pin Ruby down eh? Sounds easy. Ruby looks pretty light. Kat walked around Ruby, then stopped in front of her. She bounced around a bit, and pushed Ruby, hopefully to the ground.

[d4rka8isz]

"Thank you," Pepsi replied as Draco walked out of the counter, "People call me any soda they like, but my real name is Pepsi. I think I'm supposed to get one those colorful jackets I saw a bunch of people wearing. By the way, this is a Daycare Center right?" She had completely misread the smile on Draco's face and smiled back in an attempt to make friends.

[ShinyDiamond]

Kilik Chambers

So none of them had any idea who Zekrom was. The Zapdos thing was the same for Kilik. Who was Zapdos? A legendary like Zekrom? Perhaps it's best to explain a little. "Zekrom is a legendary Pokemon from Unova. He's a black dragon who sides with a chosen hero. He's also electric." He explained a bit to Daniel, Mark & Oscar. "It's just a thought."

Looks like the class was finally gonna move on into the swamps. Maybe they could finally run into some action in the area. "Here we go!" Kilik got on top of Mistress in her Swampert form as she walked on to the swampy ground.

"Uck! I should really think what I'll do." She complained. What the heck was she thinking?

"Just think of this as payment for stealing my food."

"You're still on about that?" It went quiet between Mistress & Kilik.

"Let's go." Kilik commanded as he held on to Mistress while she followed the others.

[Sir Bastian]

Havinggrown up in Vermillion, well-known world-wide, or at least nation-wide for itselectric gym as well as Daniel being a huge fan of Lt. Surge had him studyingfar and wide about electric Pokémon, causing him to nod slowly at Oscar, thoughfurrowing his brows.

“That couldbe it… but I’ve never heard of Zapdos being able to create and dismissthunderclouds…” he shrugged a little and nodded agreeingly to what Mark wassaying about the Pokémon definitely being powerful.

Suddenly,Killik spoke up again. "Zekrom is a legendary Pokemon fromUnova. He's a black dragon who sides with a chosen hero. He's alsoelectric." Daniel’s eyes widened a little. A dragon-electric type? If thisPokémon was real and even on this island, Daniel –had- to see it.

“But… that would mean there’s a hero on the islandhere, right? Hrmh…” Daniel decided he wouldn’t think too much about it. It didn’tmake any sense to just think about it. He might just take a look around theacademy later and see if he could figure something out. He then noticed Hildabeginning to move and hurried along to follow with the other boys, Killik nowsuddenly riding on a rather large, blue Pokémon that he didn’t know. He wasstarting to feel small and kind of insignificant in regards to everyone elseand their Pokémon. At least people were nice.

Alexis nodded up at her new friend. “That’s probably avery good way to go about it. Don’t look too much for it, but let it happen byitself.” Len looked very much lost in thought, and Alexis turned her head tosee that the class was starting to move.

Suddenly, she was lifted into the air with a surprisedsqueak. “Eep!” she wriggled for a moment in panic, but quickly relaxed as shewas placed on Len’s back, giggling quietly at him, giving him a little whapwith her paw, though not hard enough to hurt him. “You scared me! Phew…alright, let’s go!” she said, smiling brightly as she held onto him once more.

[プリンセスサファイア]

Sapphire Dillon

Sapphire smiled back at him blushing faintly though she didn't know why. When Brian asked her if she wanted to catch a pokemon or see more of the school she thought for a minute. "Hmm, what to do?" she thought pausing before speaking. "How about you show me around the school" she said smiling more "since you said there are Pokemon all over the place, there's a chance I might see a Pokemon I want to try to catch" she smiled more happy with what she had thought of.

Alice smiled "thanks, your cute too" she said before looking at Sprinkles "you should be nicer" she said to him as Sakutaro chuckled softly just watching for now.

[Lincoln West]

Lincoln West

Lincoln stormed his way toward the pokemon center, in a raging mood. All that training, all that effort, and what did he get? What happened? A loss. Just the kind of loss he'd watched his dad suffer through for years. Was that what he could expect, to follow in his fathers footsteps and struggle endlessly for the same crushing defeats time after time?

I don't want to be my father.

That thought made him feel guilty, but it was true. As much as Linc loved his dad and admired him, he didn't want to turn out to be the same as his old man. His head was still swimming with thoughts of his loss when he reached the pokemon center and churlishly handed his pokeballs over to the attending nurse. He didn't realise how rude he was being as he asked her to hurry, and paced back and forth for the duration of his wait.

When the nurse returned his pokeballs to him, with a smile firmly plastered on her face, he clipped them back onto his belt and quickly left, almost colliding with a smartly dressed boy on his way out.

"Scuse me." He muttered, not really meaning it.

Nika Valentine

Nika had to practically jump out of the way in order to not be bowled over by the rather handsome boy leaving the pokemon center. He grumbled something in an angry tone of voice she couldn't quite make out without pausing to check she was okay. In her experience, attractive and athletic people like him were usually fairly inconsiderate of other people. Adjusting her glasses and straightening her cap she carried on. Nothing was going to spoil her mood.

She had finally found her way out of the forest and made it back to the Academy, her newest pokemon safely nestled in its pokeball. Now she would get it - and her Shelmet - checked over by the nurse and be on her way to spend some quality time with the newest addition to her team.

"Morning." She said politely to the nurse at the desk, who despite her professional attitude seemed a little off.
"Good morning, what can I do for you today?"
"I caught a pokemon a little while ago and would like to get it a check-up. As well as the pokemon I used to battle it."
"Of course, just set the pokeballs on the tray here. What pokemon are we dealing with?"
"Sage, a male Shelmet, a newly caught Paras."
"Lovely, lovely, don't see many of those. And your name?"
"Nika Valentine."
"Oh! We've been waiting for you. We were asked to hold onto a delivery for you to see if you dropped by on your first day."
"A... pardon?"
"Yes, normally it would stay at the daycare, but they were sure you'd stop by soon, so we said we could hold onto it for just a little while."
"Daycare? I'm sorry, I really don't understand."
"You didn't know? Someones sent you an egg!"

[プリンセスサファイア]

Amanda Smith

Amanda sighed walking around bored and as she got closer to the Pokemon Center. Her plan was to find someone and introduce herself. Hopefully she could make a friend on her first day here, preferably someone who wouldn't make fun of her. Looking around she spotted a rather handsome boy walking away from the Pokemon center looking angry or upset and made her way over to him. "excuse me, a-are you ok?" she asked kindly looking down "s-sorry if I seem to pry, you don't have to answer you just look a little upset"

[Lincoln West]

Lincoln West

"Huh?" Lincoln stopped and looked up from the floor to the young girl in front of him. Had he really been in such an obvious bad mood that someone had just approached him to make sure he was alright? That was embaressing...

Taking a deep breath he nodded. "Uh, yeah, I'm alright. I just lost a battle and the guy was, like... well... he wasn't that bad actually." Linc grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Sometimes all it took was someone to help you realise how childish you were being. "Aw hell, I guess I just got in a mood. Sore loser, y'know? But thanks for checking I was cool. I'm Linc." He held out his hand, determined to put his foul mood behind him.

Nika Valentine

Nika stood at the desk, waiting for the nurse to return with her pokemon and her... egg. Who would have brought her an egg? She didn't know anyone here yet, certainly not anyone who would have entrusted her with an egg. The only person she could even think it could be was her mother. But her mother wasn't speaking with her, and she would never have followed Nika to the island.

Would she?

[MichaelaTheUchiha]

After speaking with Professor Oak, Miharu walked outside to see that Cynthia was still waiting for her, leaning against the wall and looking bored. Miharu grinned.

“I thought for sure you’d abandon me by now,” commented Miharu.

Cynthia, noticing that Miharu had finally walked out, pushed against the wall to stand straight.

“I don’t get much battling done aside from training the kids,” Cynthia admitted. “I love teaching and all, but I’m not going to get any stronger if I battle beginners.”

Miharu nodded, understanding. Although she wasn’t quite as famous as Cynthia, since she did lose against the Kanto champion a few months ago, she still got challenges for battles by small amount of people who travelled through Mt. Silver. They were strong, but generally those trainers had only gone through one region, unlike Miharu who had gone through five and had actually been in an official tournament. Thinking of the tournament…

“Does Lance work here?” Miharu thought out loud. She blinked when she realized that she had been unconsciously following Cynthia to the battleground.

Cynthia, who had been walking ahead because she actually knew where everything was, turned her head back. “Hmm? Lance? Yeah, he works here. Works in the same subject as me, in fact.”

“Good,” Miharu stated. “I kind of wanted to battle him again after Almia, but since I didn’t compete in the Johto’s Elite Four challenge…”

“You couldn’t,” finished Cynthia. She shrugged. “Maybe he’d be up to it.”

“I hope so,” replied Miharu. She blinked when Cynthia finally stopped. She glanced around. No one seemed to be in the area, which only meant that they would underestimate her on the first day of classes, which was good. It seemed to be a rock battlefield, which was even better.

Cynthia set up on one side of the battlefield and Miharu set up on the other.

“How many Pokémon? Five?” asked Cynthia.

Miharu shook her head. “Can’t; left one of my Pokémon in one of the areas so they could relax.”

“Not even a hint as to which Pokémon?” Cynthia asked, pouting.

Miharu smirked. “Nope!” she stated, making the ‘p’ pop.

“Our regular rules?” asked Cynthia.

“Yep!” she stated, once again making the ‘p’ pop.

Cynthia grabbed one of her pokéballs. “At the same time, alright?”

Miharu nodded and grabbed a corresponding pokéball. If she was right…
“Alright.”

“Three,” started Cynthia.

“Two,” continued Miharu.

“One,” they said together.

They both threw their pokéballs and released their Pokémon. Miharu had sent out Nari while Cynthia sent out Togekiss.

“Nari, Thunder Wave!” said Miharu.

Nari jumped on the rocks, becoming a fast paced blur. With the rocks blocking Nari from view at some points and the speed that Nari was going, it was hard for Cynthia and Togekiss to catch up to where Nari was going. Before either Cynthia or Togekiss could react, Nari sped below Togekiss and let loose a Thunder Wave. Paralyzed, Togekiss landed on the now empty space.

Cynthia frowned. “Togekiss, Aura Sphere!”

Togekiss, despite being paralyzed, was able to create a light blue sphere. Togekiss sent the unavoidable sphere towards the still speeding Nari.

“Thunder,” said Miharu.

Nari turned around and sent a strong electrical current at the Aura Sphere. The two attacks cancelled out and there was a small explosion.

“Thunderbolt,” said Miharu.

In an instant, Nari appeared behind Togekiss and let out another strong electrical current, but not as strong as the second one. Togekiss, who was still paralyzed, took the full brunt of the attack.

Cynthia tched. “Togekiss, use Psychic!”

“Nari, speed up,” said Miharu.

Togekiss’s eyes turned blue as the normal and flying type tried to trap Nari in Psychic; however, Nari was moving too fast for Togekiss to get a hold of her.

Cynthia changed gears. “Togekiss, multi-Aura Spheres!”

“Use Thunderbolt before they can counter,” said Miharu.

Nari, using one of the surrounding rocks, pushed from the rock and, using the velocity, landed on Togekiss and shocking it with a Thunderbolt before Togekiss could finish creating even one of the Aura Spheres. Still hurt from the Thunderbolt before, Togekiss fainted. Nari, seeing that her opponent was unable to continue, jumped from on top of Togekiss to in front of Miharu.
Cynthia recalled Togekiss. “You did great,” said Cynthia to the pokéball.

Suddenly, Nari collapsed. Miharu sighed and returned the now fainted Jolteon. “Toxic,” she stated. “When Nari was running around, you had Togekiss put Toxic on the ground where, if you were lucky, Nari would step in and get poisoned.”

Cynthia smiled. “Very good.”

Miharu scowled. “What are you talking about: ‘I’m not going to get any stronger battling beginners’! Jeez, I feel like your Pokémon raised twenty levels from when we last battled.”

Cynthia smirked. “Now, now, that would be telling.”

Miharu groaned. “They did, didn’t they? Man, Mt. Silver really wasn’t doing much for me, was it?”

“Unless you battled Red,” said Cynthia.

Miharu raised an eyebrow. “Me, battle Red?” Everyone had heard of the famous Red who stood on the summit of Mt. Silver, waiting for strong trainers to battle. “I may have seen him once or twice, but I’m not at the level where I could battle Red and defeat even one of his Pokémon. Jeez, talking about uber, what about his Pokémon?”

Cynthia grabbed one of her pokéballs. “You ready?”

Miharu sighed. “Yeah…” Miharu grabbed her pokéball as well.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Miharu let out Akuma as Cynthia let out Lucario.

Cynthia rolled her eyes. “You have type advantage again?”

“I need all the luck I can get,” Miharu pointed out. “After all, your Pokémon are twenty levels higher than mine.”

“The type advantage isn’t going to help you here,” said Cynthia.

Miharu sighed. “Yeah, ExtremeSpeed.”

“Exactly,” said Cynthia. “ExtremeSpeed, Lucario!”

Lucario became a blur as he sped up and battered Akuma with his fists. Akuma tried to counter with a Fire Punch, but Lucario had already sped away.

“Akuma, Earthquake,” said Miharu.

Akuma slammed his fists into the ground, sending off tremendous tremors. Lucario and Cynthia’s feet were left unsteady as they had not been prepared for the attack.

“While they’re off balance, use Flare Blitz,” said Miharu.

Akuma roared as he was engulfed in strong flames. While Lucario still didn’t have balance, Akuma charged at Lucario and hit him head-on with a Flare Blitz. Lucario roared in pain as the powerful super-effective move hit.

“Lucario—” “Akuma—” “—Bone Rush!” “—Fire Punch!”

Despite the pain, Lucario formed a bone in his hand while Akuma gathered fire into his fists. As Lucario hit Akuma with the Bone Rush, Akuma had landed a blow of Fire Punch into Lucario’s abdomen. Both of them flew back to their trainers and landed heavily on their feet. Both of them looked ready to pass out. Miharu and Cynthia, knowing that one of them was about to faint, waited. Finally, both of them toppled over.

Cynthia sighed, recalling Lucario. “You did great on handling that Flare Blitz,” said Cynthia.

Miharu smiled, recalling Akuma. “You did very well.”

“The first will be your win as Nari only fainted after Togekiss had been recalled and, obviously, the second one is a tie,” Cynthia concluded. “Since we have an even number of Pokémon, that means that if I win the next two battles, I’ll win and if you win one more battle, you’ll have won.”

Miharu sighed. “I guess I’ll have to win another one, eh?”

Cynthia smirked. “Not today.” She grabbed one of her pokéballs while Miharu, after pausing for a few moments, grabbed her master ball. Her master ball was a strange one; it had tape all over the front of the pokéball. Cynthia chuckled.

“Nightmare? Well, wouldn’t this be a fun battle?”

“I’m just worried what he’d do after I send him out,” admitted Miharu.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Cynthia let out her Eelektross while Miharu sent out Nightmare. Immediately after being sent out, Nightmare turned towards Miharu and aimed a Sludge Bomb at her. Miharu dodged the incoming attack and sighed.

“What the hell was that?” asked Nightmare. “I’ve been taped in that pokéball for a few hours now! I’ve been bored!”

“Don’t make multiple Gyarados angry at us then,” replied Miharu in turn. “Jeez, we probably had to electrocute the whole ocean before being able to get away from them!”

“Hey, all I did was throw a beer bottle in the ocean!” argued Nightmare.
“How’d I know that it was going to hit a slumbering Gyarados!”

“You were littering?” Miharu was dumbfounded. “Do you know how many Pokémon die every day because of trash that has been swept into the ocean?”

Nightmare waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, boring statistics, blah blah blah, but still! You didn’t have to lock me in there!”

“I am so going to ground you after this battle,” vowed Miharu. “No beer, no stealing, no buying stuff, just staying in your pokéball. How’d you like me now?”

“Fiend!” exclaimed Nightmare. “What makes you think I will bow down to your rules?”

“Four against one Pokémon?” Miharu wondered out loud. “I think that even for a Pokémon as strong as Nightmare that would be hard to beat.”

“Hah, I beat a Mew!” bragged Nightmare. “Your Pokémon will be no match for me!”

“How can you not raise up twenty levels beating a Mew?” interjected Cynthia. While her Eelektross had been sweat-dropping (this was her first time seeing Miharu), Cynthia had been watching on with amusement. Miharu and Nightmare’s fights were always entertaining to see.

Miharu and Nightmare looked at each other, then at Cynthia.

“Hm, you have a point,” said Miharu. “But, then again, I wouldn’t be able to teach at the PTA.”

“…What do you mean?” asked Cynthia.

“On the teacher form thingy, it said that our Pokémon had to be, at the most, at level fifty,” said Miharu.

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t have to have my Pokémon at that level.”

Miharu rolled her eyes. “You’re a champion,” Miharu stressed. “Currently, you probably don’t have any level fifty Pokémon.”

Cynthia paused. “That’s very true.”

“Anyways, Nightmare, stop having a hissy fit,” said Miharu. “I may allow beer in your pokéball, but that’s your best deal.”

Nightmare grinned, finally facing Cynthia and Eelektross. “Fine by me.”

“Eelektross, use Crunch!”

Eelektross flew towards Nightmare, who only went through the ground in order to dodge.

“Nightmare, Shadow Ball,” said Miharu.

Nightmare came out of the ground behind Eelektross and shot a Shadow Ball.

“Block it with Discharge,” commanded Cynthia.

Eelektross, without turning around, sent a strong electrical current that burst from around her. The Discharge stopped the Shadow Ball, causing it to explode, and hit Nightmare as well.

“Ow!” Nightmare exclaimed. “That ******* hurt!”

“I think that’s the point, Nightmare,” said Miharu dryly.

Nightmare stuck his tongue out at Miharu and disappeared into the ground again.

“Eelektross, be on your guard,” said Cynthia.

Eelektross nodded.

Miharu sighed. “Why couldn’t Nightmare be that nice?”

“Because then I wouldn’t be Nightmare!” said the disembodied voice.

Eelektross sent a Thunder towards the part of the ground where Nightmare’s voice came from. Nightmare laughed.

“Haha, didn’t touch me!”

Eelektross was about to throw another Thunder towards where she heard Nightmare when Cynthia raised a hand.

“He’s taunting you, Eelektross,” said Cynthia. “Don’t bother listening to his words.”

“Well, he’s not really using Taunt,” said Miharu dryly. “He’s just that naturally annoying, as you know.”

“Doesn’t mean that my advice isn’t valid,” replied Cynthia.

Nightmare appeared out of the ceiling and sent a Sludge Bomb at Eelektross. Eelektross dodged and sent a Thunder towards Nightmare. Nightmare immediately ducked back into the ceiling and the Thunder ended up breaking a hole in the roof.

Cynthia sighed. “There goes part of my paycheck.”

“Sucks to be you,” commented Miharu.

“I’m going to make you help pay,” replied Cynthia in return.

Miharu sighed. “Nightmare, Dark Pulse.”

Nightmare appeared from below Eelektross and sent a Dark Pulse at Eelektross; however, Eelektross was ready for him and, while dodging, sent a Thunder in his direction. Half into the floor and half not, Nightmare was shocked by the Thunder.

“Ow,” was his intelligent reply before fainting.

Miharu recalled Nightmare and put all of the tape back on. “I know I shouldn’t be cheering when one of my Pokémon has been defeated, but yes! Finally! He was really getting annoying.”

Cynthia recalled Eelektross. “Good job.”

Miharu smiled at Cynthia. “Thanks for that.”

“You won’t be saying thanks when I defeat you next and win,” said Cynthia.

“Come at me, bro!” exclaimed Miharu.

Each of them grabbed their pokéballs.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Miharu sent out Bishamon and Cynthia sent out her Garchomp. Miharu whistled. “Man, this is going to be a hard battle. Bishamon, let’s bring out all of the stops.”

“Yes, master,” said Bishamon.

Cynthia sighed. “Garchomp, they’re going to be talking telepathically, so be on your guard.”

Garchomp nodded.

“Bishamon, use Leaf Blade,” said Miharu telepathically.

Bishamon nodded and ran towards Garchomp. As speedy as he was, Garchomp was faster. Garchomp jumped over the speeding Bishamon, but Bishamon turned around and landed the blow on Garchomp.

“Garchomp, counter with Shadow Claw,” said Cynthia.

“Use Psychic to stop Garchomp,” said Miharu.

As Garchomp was about to slash at Bishamon, Bishamon’s eyes glowed blue as he made Garchomp stop.

“Send her flying,” said Miharu.

Bishamon, using all of his psychic might, pushed Garchomp into one of the surrounding rocks.

“Garchomp, try to break free from that Psychic,” commanded Cynthia.

Garchomp struggled under the invisible bonds.

“Keep her in place and use Night Slash,” said Miharu.

Bishamon, eyes still blue charged up a Night Slash. Walking, as he needed to use all of his concentration to keep up the hold and to keep the Night Slash powered up, he moved towards the still struggling Garchomp. Just as Bishamon was about to slash Garchomp, she broke free from his hold and used Shadow Claw. Bishamon took the hit but had still landed the Night Slash on Garchomp. Both of the Pokémon were sent flying into the rocks. After landing heavily, both Garchomp and Bishamon stood up, ready to continue. Despite the fact that Bishamon had landed quite a few attacks, Garchomp still looked fresh while Bishamon looked exhausted. Miharu bit her lip. At the rate the battle was going, she knew that she was going to lose.

“Garchomp, use Earthquake!” commanded Cynthia.

“Jump!” exclaimed Miharu.

As Garchomp stomped on the ground to create an earthquake, Bishamon jumped into the air and managed to hold himself up using his psychic powers.

“Garchomp, Dragon Claw,” said Cynthia.

Garchomp, faster than Bishamon and Miharu could react, appeared in front of Bishamon and landed a Dragon Claw, forcing Bishamon to land on the ground. When Bishamon hit the ground, it caused a huge crater. When the smoke cleared, Bishamon was in the crater, fainted. Miharu sighed and recalled Bishamon.

“You were amazing,” she said.

Garchomp landed gently next to the crater. Cynthia recalled her Garchomp. “Nice battle.”

Miharu smiled at Cynthia. “That battle was great! But…what do we do about the hole in the ceiling and the ground?”

Cynthia shrugged. “Nice try on the battle, though,” said Cynthia. “You are better than the students.”

“I would hope so,” commented Miharu. “After all, I am going to be a teacher.”

Cynthia smiled. “Just don’t get too crazy, okay?”

“Shouldn't you be warning Nightmare not me?” asked Miharu dryly.

Cynthia paused. “Eh, Nightmare doesn’t listen to me.”

“He doesn’t listen to anyone,” replied Miharu.

Cynthia and Miharu walked into the center of the battlefield and shook hands. Miharu stretched.

“I’m starving,” she said. “Want to grab a bite to eat?”

“Sure,” said Cynthia.

Together, they walked off to the cafeteria, ignoring the ruined battleground behind them.

((OOC: This is exactly 2,624 words according to MS. xD))