Well folks, it's Chapter 6! Some information here, plot advancements, blah blah blah. Oh, and probably the most shocking plot twist thus far makes an appearance. Enjoy!
Chapter Six: The New School Tournaments! Jack’s Hidden Past!
The loud ringing bell jolted Sam out of his slumber. He groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes, the rest of the boys in his dorm doing the same. They got dressed quickly, chatting excitedly among themselves.
“Our first full day, huh,” remarked Matt. “Wonder what the rest of the teachers will be like.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Sam. “Not sure if I’m nervous or excited to be honest…”
“Definitely!” Matt chuckled. “Now let’s go to breakfast. Hope there’s something good!”
A bit later Matt and Sam stood in front of the doors leading into the cafeteria. “Wow…” said Sam. The large tables at the back of the room had been piled high with every breakfast food you could possibly think of, from waffles to pancakes to muffins. Already there were many students in the cafeteria, eating at the tables and talking among themselves. Sam glanced at Matt. “What are you waiting for?” Asked Sam. “Let’s eat!”
Several minutes later, Sam and Matt sat down at a table with two plates piled high with food. They tucked in eagerly. When Sam was in the middle of his third pancake, Sara came over.
“Hi, Sam,” she said. “Mind if I sit here?”
“Go ahead,” he replied.
“Who’s your friend?” Matt asked, obviously staring at Sara and trying not to be noticed doing it.
“Oh, I forgot to introduce you,” Sam said. “This is Sara. This is Matt. Matt-Sara. Sara-Matt.” Sara sat down, and they kept eating.
“So,” Matt asked between bites. “What do you guys have now? I’ve got…uhhh…Pokemon Battling Theory, then Free Training Area Time, then Pokemon Catching.”
“Well, I’ve also got theory first,” remarked Sam, “But I have the other two classes in the opposite order…”
“Sam, I have the same schedule as you!” put in Sara excitedly. “And that means we’re all in theory together!”
Just then the bell rang. The three friends finished off their last pancakes, and set off to find the Pokemon Battling Theory classroom.
They got there a few minutes later and grabbed three chairs close to each other. Then they settled in and listened to the teacher speak. He was a stereotypical short, graying professor you might find at any high-class university.
“Hello, class,” he said in short, clipped tones. His voice seemed to come in bursts, hitting the listening students over and over.
“In this class you will learn the technical side of battling. You will learn what types Pokemon are, what different moves do, and enough other information to fill several textbooks. And speaking of textbooks, here are yours; Encyclopedia Pokemonia. You will be studying out of this textbook for most of my class. Now, I would like you to read the Preface. Once you finish, read Chapter 1: Typing and Effectiveness. Finish this for homework if you can’t finish it here.”
All the students got to work, opening up their new textbooks and peering at the pages. Sam tentatively opened the textbook, flipping past the rather extensive Table of Contents and to the beginning of the Preface.
Sam didn’t like what he saw. The text was very small, although there were many pictures illustrating Pokemon battling. With a sigh, Sam started to read.
THE PREFACE
Welcome to the art of Pokemon battling. This book will teach you everything you need to know to become a successful battler. From moves, to detailed data on each Pokemon, it’s all in here.
The Preface went on in that self-important way for a while. Then it ended.
Sam turned to the beginning of Chapter One. The chapter was dominated by a massive chart that took up an entire two-page spread. The rest of it was a series of paragraphs describing each type’s matchups against other types in detail. Sam started to read as fast as he could, but only got halfway through the chapter before the harsh Brrrrring! of the bell sent all the students hurrying to their next classes.
As Matt headed off down a side hallway, Sam caught up to Sara. “How much of the reading do you have left?” he asked anxiously.
“Oh, I finished it during class,” she said casually. Seeing the surprised look on Sam’s face, she said, “Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”
“If you say so…” Sam muttered to himself, unconvinced. But he didn’t have much time to ponder over his new homework, as Sara and he had arrived at their next classroom, the Pokemon Catching classroom. Stepping into the classroom, Sam and Sara sat down to listen to the teacher, who if she had been male could have been an identical twin of their previous teacher. That is to say; she belonged in a sterile laboratory more than a class full of teenagers.
“What’s with the teachers here?” whispered Sam to Sara. “A few of them fly into a rage at the sight of an A-, and the rest look they were grown in test tubes in a lab!”
“Hello, class!” said the teacher. “My name is Mrs. Catlett. In my class, you’ll be learning how to catch Pokemon. You won’t be raising your Pokemon here-just catching them. After all, in order to raise Pokemon you have to have them first. In addition, you’ll need a full party of six Pokemon for most major school tournaments. Now, come out to the forest and you’ll be able to capture your first Pokemon.” She led them out the door and into the forest where the entrance test had taken place.
She then handed out a Poke Ball to each student. “These are your Poke Balls,” she said. “You’ll be using these to capture your Pokemon. Simply throw the Poke Ball at your target, and the automated mechanism will do the rest. Just make sure you battle it first-otherwise it won’t stay in the ball! Now, your assignment for today is to capture one Pokemon from anywhere in the forest. It doesn’t matter what. Now…go!”
Sam cautiously headed into the forest. He spotted several Rattata, but whenever he tried to approach them they would run away. Then he saw a Starly sitting on a branch. “That’s mine,” he muttered. “Beldum, go!”
The little Steel-type popped out of his Poke Ball with a small cry. His eye swiveled to face the Starly, ready to go. “Beldum, Take Down!” cried Sam. Beldum levitated into the air and flew towards Starly, smashing into it head-on and knocking it off the branch. The two Pokemon tumbled to the forest floor, quickly getting up.
“Take Down again!” yelled Sam. Beldum flew towards Starly…who flew upwards quickly, making Beldum shoot under it. Starly then dived downward and pecked Beldum, not doing much but enough to make it flinch in pain a bit.
“Beldum, wait until it dives at you and hit it point-blank with a Take Down!” Sam called. Starly hovered in midair for a second, before diving towards Beldum once more. But as it did so, the Iron Ball Pokemon shot up towards the Starly, ramming into it dead-on and knocking it out of the air.
Sam cheered mentally. He’d knocked out Starly! Now all that was left was to catch it. He pulled the Poke Ball out of his belt and hurled it at Starly. The ball shook once, twice, three times…and stopped.
Sam had done it. He’d captured his third Pokemon! He dashed out of the forest, afraid that he’d taken too long.
He had. It looked like he was the last one back, and the students were standing around and chatting with their new Pokemon by their sides. Sam trotted over to Matt and Sara, who were chatting off to the side of the main group. Sara was stroking a timid-looking Caterpie.
“All right class,” announced Mrs. Catlett. “Now that you’ve all got yourselves a new Pokemon, we’ll be heading back inside. Follow me.”
The class followed her back into the classroom. Almost as soon as they got there, the bell rang. “All right,” said Sara. “Only Free Training Area Time left, then Lunch! Let’s go!”
Two minutes and forty-seven seconds later, Sam and Sara dashed into the training area, which was apparently where Free Training Area Time took place. The teacher, a short Asian woman, didn’t waste any time.
“In order for skills to flourish they must be allowed to be practiced freely,” she rattled off, almost like she was giving a speech. “In this class you will simply be permitted to use the training area for your own purposes. Now go!” The students scattered, some sending their Pokemon through the obstacle course, some attacking the sandbags viciously, and some typing various settings into the practice battle computers.
Sam decided to see what his new Starly could do. He ran over to an empty sandbag and tossed the Poke Ball in the air. “Go, Starly!” he yelled as the little bird popped out of the Poke Ball with a small cry. “Um…use Drill Peck!”
Starly merely stared at Sam. He groaned inwardly, remembering that Starly couldn’t learn Drill Peck. “All right Starly…use Tackle!”
This time Starly responded. It flew towards the sandbag and rammed into it, barely rocking it.
“All right Starly! Again!” yelled Sam. Starly dove down again, tackling the sandbag with more force than last time. Still, it wasn’t enough to rock the bag any more than a slight tilt.
“And again!” called Sam. Once more Starly smashed into the target. “All right Starly,” Sam said. “Next time, try to streamline your body a bit-you’ll get more acceleration that way.”
Starly dove at the target again. This time Sam was sure he saw it move back a bit more. “Good!” he said. “Now, try to keep your head down a bit more. And again!”
So for a whole hour, Sam and Starly practiced the move Tackle. They ceaselessly worked on Starly’s form so that by the time the bell finally rang, Starly could move the sandbag a whole foot backwards with one Tackle.
“Good job, Starly!” cheered Sam. “Now come back to your Poke Ball and let’s have some lunch!”
Sam and Sara met up with Matt in the dining room, now sporting a wide variety of common lunch choices such as hot dogs and hamburgers.
“How was your morning?” asked Sam between bites of a grilled cheese sandwich.
“Not bad,” Matt said. “A bit boring, but not too bad. I caught a Spearow during Pokemon Catching, and now I'm trying to teach it Drill Peck!!”
At this, Starly’s Poke Ball rattled on Sam’s belt. Sam glanced at the miniaturized bird, and saw it glaring across at the Spearow on Sam’s belt. He realized that it was frustrated over its failure to execute the move earlier; despite the fact Sam had since realized Starly couldn’t learn Drill Peck.
Sam’s train of thought was interrupted by Mr. Menlo’s voice booming over the loudspeaker. “Attention all students! We are having an assembly in the gym to educate you about interschool tournaments! You are to report there immediately instead of your afternoon classes! NOW!“
“Interschool tournaments?” Sam asked. “What are those?”
“Good question,” Matt replied. “I guess we’ll find out!”
Ten minutes later Sara, Matt and Sam stood in the auditorium, listening to Mr. DeVood speak.
“Hello, students,” he said. “Once a week, we will be having an interschool tournament that the entire school will participate in. Since there are 32 students in all, the tournaments will be bracket-style. All battles will be two-on-two; finals will be three-on-three. Our first tournament will be three days from now on Friday, so start training!”
“Well, this sounds cool,” Sam remarked. But in his head, he was freaking out.
I can’t battle in front of the entire school! They’ll find out how bad a battler I am, and I’ll get kicked out! Dad will KILL me!
On the surface, Sam tried to remain calm. “So what now?” he wondered allowed. “Do we go to our afternoon classes, or what?”
Suddenly Sam realized that several students around him were giving him dirty looks. He glanced up at the stage and saw Mr. DeVood was still speaking.
…oops.
“We’ve decided to let you guys go early for the day,” he was saying. “Remember you have a tournament coming up soon-don’t waste this time!” he stepped away from the mic, but before anyone could move Mr. Menlo stepped up to it.
“Just a quick reminder-all those that have detentions should go to them now! Now go ahead!”
Sam shrank into himself.
You didn’t need to point that out…he thought. But even so, Sara and he headed off to the detention room.
When they got there, Mr. Menlo was nowhere to be found. They got to work.
As Sam sorted through cards mindlessly, his thoughts wandered to the upcoming tournament. He thought again about how he couldn't battle for his life. For all his fighting to keep Mudkip and Beldum, Mudkip was still having major accuracy issues and Beldum still only knew one move. He wondered how he could possibly match up against the amazing battlers at the school such as Jack, Sara, and Matt. Come to think of it, Sam had never seen Matt battle. Well, he would find out in three days.
Suddenly, Sara started. “It’s Jack’s card!” she exclaimed. “It says on the bottom of this card that he used to have another Pokemon!” She craned her neck to read the tiny print. “It says, ‘run over by disabled grandfather…’ oh my God!"
Sam’s thoughts raced. Jack’s coldness…his hatred of disabilities…it all made sense. But there was one more thing Sam needed to know.
“Sara,” he said. “What was the Pokemon?”
But she simply stood there, shaking a bit.
Suddenly, a thought hit Sam like a bullet. “It can’t be…it wasn’t…”
Sara nodded. “Yes. It was…”
“A Mudkip.”