Allora Silverfield

A fanfiction that I'm writing on fanfiction.net

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7813314/1/Allora-Silverfield

 

I took another chance and glanced over my shoulder. I could see my Dad's head, poking out slightly above the rest. Today, at least, I'm glad he's tall, I thought, and then they called my name.
"Allora Silverfield." I glanced up. Our principal smiled down at me and motioned for me to stand. I rose and almost tripped over my graduation gown, as I climbed the stairs onto the stage. I quickly recovered and marched over to receive my diploma.
I reached my hand out and took hold of the packet. I was planning on just taking it, smiling a little, and then sitting back down, but principal Riffe wasn't having any of that.
"Oh Allora," he began. This wasn't going to end well. "I remember the first time you set foot into our school; Violet High." No you don't, let me sit down! I thought. Each student was bound to get some kind of commentary about their achievements. But the essay he appeared to have written about me was not what I expected. Sure I was one of the top students in my class, but our school was so small, it was like being the skinny kid at fat camp. I mean, Lavender Town itself was small. It ends in town.
"You were so little and... small." Thanks Mr. Riffe, really making me proud of myself. "But you have grown up! Just like the rest of our student body. You have excelled in each and every area of study offered at our lovely institution." Well of course I did. Both of my parents were breeders. They never wanted to be anything else, and both of them have been hinting at wanting me to choose that as my post-graduation career once I received my Training License. And history? I just love it. Learning about the original dex-holders is one of my favorite pastimes. Math and science always just came naturally. And battling class... it was just my passion.
When students in Kanto graduate from secondary school, usually around the age 16, we are allowed to choose a career path. After the first year in one career, switches are allowed. But one year of participation is required at least before a student is allowed to switch. At graduation, you receive your Trainer License, your Pokédex, and your "first" Pokémon. The latter is just ceremonial usually. Most students have been training and caring for their own Pokémon for years. Well, most students, except me.
My parents are very... how do I say? Strict. They both believe that choosing my career and first Pokémon should one big, sacred event, and that I shouldn't pledge my heart to any Pokémon until graduation day. Today. So, while my parents both own Pokémon of their own, and I have battled with, trained, bred, and befriended them, I have never actually owned my own Pokémon. Which is embarrassing, seeing as how nearly everyone else in my class has.
I know most everything there is to know about the different types of Pokémon, even without my own Pokédex. Living on the breeding ranch with my parents has given me that skill. I have battled with and cared for almost every different type of Pokémon, from normal to fire to dark. But I have never had one to call my own. I don't know which Pokémon I will chose when I am presented with my options this afternoon (I can't make up my mind!) But, I already know which career path I am taking.
In Kanto, there are hundreds of careers to chose from, and nearly all of them involve Pokémon. You could work in a hospital with the chansey, or in a laboratory with the alakazam. You could dedicate your life to contests and use Pokémon like persian or glameow, or you could become a police officer and make use of the mighteyena and houndoom.
My parents want me to become a breeder. Breeders work with every type of Pokémon, charting egg groups and helping trainers breed different egg moves in their Pokémon. Though it is an interesting and well paying career, there is only one career I have ever considered for myself. I want to become a trainer.
A trainer is the most popular career to go into, and it is also the most popular one to drop out of. Many people simply do not make enough money to live off of training, battling, and collecting Pokémon, not to mention the very real danger that comes with it. Trainers make money by winning battles, selling rare Pokémon, and completing their Pokédex. The more complete your Pokédex, the fatter your annual check the government sends you to continue your work. In order to make a living as a trainer, you have to be okay with moving around a lot, and you also have to be good at it. Both of which suited me perfectly.
Pokedexes are very important to trainers in that they have become a lifestyle. Before Professor Oak died, he made sure that almost every trainer had a Pokédex, and that they had an incentive to fill it. The data recorded in Pokedexes is very important to government research, so those who are really good at getting complete data are also very well paid. But in order to do that a lot of traveling is required, and that is just what I want to spend my life doing.
"And, ladies and gentlemen, that is Allora." Riffe finally finished after what seemed like an hour. I stole a look at my parents. Dad and Mom were beaming up at me, and so was Pretty, Dad's raticate, who was sitting in the seat next to him. I took a bow and headed back to my seat.
None of the other speeches seemed to last as long, but maybe that is just because I wasn't so nervous anymore, or just because my name is at the end of the alphabet. I took out my Trainer License from the diploma. I hated my picture, but then again, who ever likes school pictures? My blonde hair hung in ringlets around my face. My gray eyes peeked out from under my bangs that, at the last second, had decided they were going to fall down and hide my face. My tan looked orange in the fluorescent lights used during the photo shoot... I shuddered and tucked the license back in the diploma, shielding it from view.
Soon it was time for the reception, which was outside, of course, so the various attending Pokémon could be comfortable. There was a table set up for the people to eat from, and a separate one lower to the ground for the Pokémon to snack from. Pretty wasted no time, and headed right over to the lower table, and she also wasted no time getting into a fight with a vulpix over a particularly large hunk of cheese.
"Pretty!" I scolded "Seriously? Be nice for once and share!"
"Rati- Raticate..." She huffed and handed the hunk of cheese to the vulpix, who ungratefully snatched it out of her paw and began eating.
"Now now, is that any way to behave?" said a voice. I turned. Behind me stood Cali, my best friend.
"Cali? This vulpix is yours?" I asked.
"Well, not technically," she responded with a wink, "But yes, in a sense. What about that raticate? I thought your parents..."
"No, she's my Dad's." I said quickly. Cali was one of the only people that knew about my Pokémon-less situation. I couldn't bear it if anyone else found out. People just assumed I had lots of my own Pokémon, seeing how well I did in class. And because that made me, in a way, popular, keeping my situation on the down-low was be ideal.
The vulpix bounced lightly over to Cali's feet and head-butted her. Cali bent and picked it up. "Alright, let's get ready to head back to our seats. It's almost time to get our Pokedexes!" She turned to me. "Hey, Allora, you up for a battle later on tonight? I can't wait to see what Pokémon you pick out! Besides, I wanna see if all of those school-smarts comes out on the field."
"Come on Cali, you've seen me battle before, you know I'll kick your butt." I said playfully.
"Yeah, well maybe not with your own Pokémon!" She retorted. The vulpix licked her face and she laughed. "I'll see you later Allora!"
"Yeah, later, bye!" I said after her. I spent the next 15 minutes looking for Pretty, who I finally found with her face literally shoved in a bowl of pokefood, sitting behind a bush. "Well at least you're happy."
"Mmmpphh?" She said with a mouthful of pokefood. I sighed and picked her up.
"Come on," I said, "Lets go find Dad."
I sat in my chair, picking my fingernails, until finally the woman who was passing out the Pokedexes handed me my own, but disappointingly told me not to open it yet. The red metal was cold in my hand. There was the basic Pokéball design on the front, but I knew that patterned cases were available, so I wasn't too worried about losing mine in a sea of scarlet later on. The instructor finally gave us permission to open them.
We were in a miniature lecture hall, almost like a university classroom. There was just enough room for my entire senior class to find seats. Everyone opened their Pokedexes.
I pressed the button on the bottom half of the index-card-sized box. The Pokédex came to life. The screen slid out of the top of the box, and two doors, undetectable until this point, slid open to reveal a QUERTY keyboard, along with an ENTER button, a BACK button, and a RECORD button. Of course I already knew how to use a Pokédex, everyone did. If it wasn't because of our parents, it was older siblings or grandparents that had let us, at one time or another, play with one.
The screen lit up. "Follow the instructions on the screen and then set it down on your desk when you are ready to move on." The instructor said. Soon all that could be heard in the room was the clicking of thumbs on keyboards and confirmation beeps from the Pokedexes.
WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Was the question on the screen. Allora Silverfield. ENTER. The screen loaded for a sec, and then my Trainer License picture popped up on screen. IS THIS YOU? IF YES, HIT ENTER. IF NO, HIT BACK. I grimaced at the horrible picture, and quickly hit ENTER. The screen loaded for a second again, and then the main screen popped up.
At the top left was my name. Then just under my name was my picture (which was officially going to be retaken,) and just under that were the numbers 0/0. This meant 0 caught/0 recorded. Once I recorded data of a Pokémon, the recorded number would go up. But it is only possible to get complete data on a Pokémon if that Pokémon is caught, by scanning their Pokéball. Otherwise, only their picture, type, moves, and location are available. Once caught, specifics about its height, weight, personality, and history are revealed. Each individual Pokémon is different, their personalities for example, so once each Pokédex is taken in for evaluation once a year, all of the information gets added into a gigantic database for study. Each year the World Pokémon Database, or WPD, grows bigger and bigger thanks to dedicated trainers and collectors.
On the left side of the screen there were six blank boxes. Once I had Pokémon of my own, I could scan them and their pictures, nicknames, and levels would appear in each box. If clicked on, the box would blow up to take up the entire screen with information such as height, weight, and moves.
I could also click a small Pokéball-shaped button at the bottom of the screen to pull up the Pokémon encyclopedia, filled with whatever categorized information I had collected during my journey, as well as many pre-loaded safety tips.
I set my Pokédex down on the desk and glanced around the room. It was fairly quiet, and very private. Parents are only allowed to visit for the ceremony. The giving of the Pokémon and Pokedexes, as well as career choosing, are all privately done. Once the clicking of fingers on the keyboards slowed to a stop, the instructor stood and walked over to the podium.
"Now is for the moment most of you have waited for your whole lives," the instructor said. Well, probably just me, because I was probably the only person in that room that didn't own their own Pokémon yet. "I'm sure you area all very excited to see what is in these cabinets that are behind me." This was actually the first time I had noticed them. There were six cabinets behind the instructor, who I then realized was my Pokémon history teacher, Mrs. Price. "I will now open each cabinet and show you what is inside. Each Pokémon you are about to see is level five. There are enough Pokémon to where you could all chose the same one and still get your pick, so don't worry about choosing last." Good, because I was always close to last.
She then stepped to the first cabinet and opened it. Inside were more pokeballs then I had ever seen in my life. And that was only the first cabinet! "These are the fire Pokémon you may choose from." She took out four minimized pokeballs, unminimized them, and threw them in the air.
"Come out and show yourselves!" She shouted. I could feel the student body holding their breath, waiting to see their choices.
In a flash of red light, four Pokémon appeared in the lecture hall.
The first was a charmander. Standard starter for the Kanto Region, and one of the most popular. Its tail shone in a brilliant flame as it smiled at the crowd of students watching it. "Char-Char!" it said, and let out a burst of flame from its mouth. There was some "Ooh" ing and "Ahh" ing from the audience, and the feisty thing just ate the attention right up.
"A charmander is one of our most often selected Pokémon. As you all know, they are extremely rare in the wild, so picking one might be worth your while."
The second Pokémon was a growlith. It was currently chasing the charmander's swishing tail flame, and succeeded in pouncing on it. The charmander just grinned and closed its eyes. The flame on its tail grew twice its normal size. "Grow!" The growlith yelped and hit behind the instructor. "Charmander! Char! Char!" said the charmander tauntingly. I could see several of the boys in the class eyeing the charmander. You could tell they liked its feisty attitude.
The third Pokémon, who seemed aloof to the foolishness on its left, was a vulpix. It seemed to be having a conversation with the fourth fire Pokémon, a ponyta. They were making different Pokémon vowel sounds and I could have sworn they were talking about the two others who were scuffling beside them.
Ponyta and vulpix were often chosen by girls. Ponyta because, well, what girl didn't want a pony for their birthday as a kid? And vulpix because of its cute fox-like face and beautiful six tails. The evolved form of vulpix, ninetales, is also a desired Pokémon for contests, which is a female-dominated profession.
The other cabinets were opened in the same way. The second one was filled with water Pokémon. The four Pokémon presented were squirtle, goldeen, staru, and magikarp. The magikarp just flopped around saying "Karp. Karp." And I could tell a few of my classmates were wondering of what use it could possibly be. But I and most others knew what happened to a magikarp if it was trained well. It evolved into a super strong gyrados, which was an extremely powerful and diverse Pokémon.
The next cabinet was grass. The four Pokémon offered were bulbasaur, oddish, bellsprout, and exeggcute. The strong one in this group was definitely the exeggcute. Though it doesn't look like much, it's a psychic type, and with a leaf stone it evolves into an exeggutor, a very powerful Pokémon that can learn both psychic and solarbeam.
The following cabinet was electric types. First was the obvious crowd pleasing pikachu, followed by a voltorb and a magnemite. There were only three electric types to choose from, which makes sense because they are harder to come by than grass, water, or fire. Everyone knows pikachu from the history lessons. Pikachu was Ash Ketchum's partner Pokémon, given to him by Professor Oak. It was the most powerful pikachu in history. Ash went on to conquer the gyms and leagues in all five regions. He also defeated the notorious Team Rocket, and was one of the pioneers in Pokédex completion. However, he did not catch as many Pokémon as he could have, which is why we still need people today completing their Pokedexes with captures.
The fifth cabinet was flying types. There were only three of these also: a pidgey, a spearow, and a far'fetched. The far'fetched immediately began doing tricks with its stick, performing ninja-like moves and demonstrating the move cut. The pidgey felt shown up, and began using gust, and it whisked the stick right out of the far'fetched's wing! If Mrs. Price hadn't intervened, there would have been a Pokémon battle right in the middle of the classroom. Meanwhile, the spearow just stood by, seemingly superior to the squabble going on between the other two bird Pokémon.
The last cabinet was normal types. The four Pokémon offered were snubble, jigglypuff, clefairy, and meowth. Meowth was also a notorious Pokémon. People chose meowth because of its implications with Team Rocket. It is said that a group in Team Rocked had a meowth that could talk, but it was never proven. Many students chose a meowth in hopes that they could train it to talk, but there had never been any success.
Mrs. Price began to call off names of students to come up and choose their Pokémon. The first student, a boy, went down and walked straight to the far'fetched and picked it up. They looked at each other, and the far'fetched spread its wings and said, "Fetch?" The student said, "I've found my partner," and smiled. Everyone clapped. He took the far'fetched's ball and went to sit down. I don't know if he chose a nickname or not.
Mrs. Price took out a second Pokéball and threw it into the air. With a flash of red light another far'fetched was on the floor. This one was much more energetic than the other one. It kept pacing back and forth and sharpening its Stick over and over again.
The next student to choose was a girl, and she picked an expected ponyta. Once again the instructor selected another one and threw it out onto the floor. This went on for 30 minutes until it was almost my turn to choose. Although, suddenly, I realized that I didn't know what I wanted!
I love all types of Pokémon, and though I knew I would be able to catch others later on, making a decision like this seemed biased. The girl before me had just chosen her goldeen and was sitting down. I started to stand up and prepared myself to make an eenie-meenie-meine-mo selection when-
"Ryan Sobolewski." Mrs. Price said.
I had been skipped.
What! I thought. I made panicked eye contact with Cali, who just shrugged. She had chosen a charmander, no surprise. She always had a passion for fire Pokémon. Cali raised her eyebrows and mouthed, maybe it's a mistake?
I didn't know what to think. I sat through the rest of the ceremony in distress. After the last person chose (a pidgey,) Mrs. Price announced "And that is the end of the choosing ceremony. You have one hour to go and get to know your Pokémon. Don't forget to scan it in your Pokédex. Be back in here on time for the careers. Have fun."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth then chaos erupted. People stormed to get out of their seats and rush outside to battle each other with their new Pokémon. Bird Pokémon flew out the door, the fire Pokémon ran out, nearly catching several people on fire. The smart people put their Pokémon into their balls before heading out, if only to create more breathing room.
Me? I just sat in my seat. I wondered what I could have done wrong. Why didn't I get my own Pokémon? I had waited for this day my whole life, and now something is wrong with me! Cali walked up to me. Her vulpix and charmander came up behind her. vulpix jumped onto my lap and gave me a comforting lick. The charmander was nervous and hid behind Cali's leg. "Go on," she said, and it slowly inched up to me and finally rested its head against my leg.
"I just don't know what I did wrong," I said to Cali miserably.
"You did nothing wrong," said a voice. I looked up. Mrs Price was standing at the podium. "Allora Silverfield," she said. She looked up at me. "That's you right?" I nodded. She took a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. She read: "I have my eye on this one. These two are for her. She'll do right by them. I hope we shall meet some day. —Erik" She looked at me. "Does that name mean anything to you?" I shook my head. "Erik is the Champion of the Unova region. The Champion of the Champions. You'll have to battle him someday if you decide to become a trainer. I guess he is assuming you will become one." She tilted her head. "That is what you want to do isn't it?"
I swallowed. "More than anything." I stated timidly. Then more boldly: "Why does the Champion of Unova want anything to do with me? I'm just a girl from Lavender Town. I'm nobody. How does he even know who I am?" I was completely baffled.
The instructor studied me, then said, "The Champion sees things. He has agents. He knows talent when he sees it and, apparently, he sees it in you. He obviously wants you to take the gym challenges and finally meet him. I don't know, maybe he has a job for you. But if I were you, I would not turn him down." She reached under the podium. "These," she said as she pulled out a golden box, "are for you."
I got up hesitantly and walked down the stairs towards the front of the class. The vulpix, charmander, and Cali followed close behind. I reached the podium and stuck my hand out to open the box. I glanced at the instructor, who nodded. I opened the latch with a click and carefully opened the box. Inside were two Pokeballs. I picked them up and studied them. There wasn't anything really special about them, so I threw them in the air and said "Come out!"
There was a flash of red light, and out came two identical Pokémon that I had never seen before. Mrs. Price looked both shocked and pleasantly surprised. Cali was in awe. I, however, had no idea what I was looking at. "What?" I asked. "What are they?"
Mrs. Price looked shocked at first, but covered it up nicely. She chuckled and said, "This would be a good time to use your Pokédex, don't you think?" I fumbled around in my purse until I found it. Then I snapped it open and hit RECORD. Since they were mine, the full data came up. It said:
EEVEE, THE EVOLUTION Pokémon. ITS IRREGULARLY CONFIGURED DNA IS AFFECTED BY ITS SURROUNDINGS. IT EVOLVES IF ITS ENVIRONMENT CHANGES.
It then pulled up an evolution map of an Eevee. I gasped. Eevee could evolve into 7 different Pokémon! I looked at the instructor gaping. She laughed.
"The Champion must see something in you, girl." She said. "Eevee are very rare Pokémon. Once upon a time, they weren't nearly as rare, but recent events have ensured their fate. These two look like twins. In fact, that one," she gestured to the ball of fluff on the right, "is a girl. And the other," She gestured to the left, "is a boy." She looked at me. "The Champion must know that you will make the right decision as to how to evolve them. He must have known how you felt about picking favorite types." I must have looked shocked, because she smiled. "Don't think I couldn't tell how you felt. I felt the same way when I chose my first. It wasn't hard to tell; I could see the panicked look on your face the whole time."
I was taken aback. Why had I never seen one of these Pokémon before? I thought hard, and remembered only vague pictures of them from old textbooks. Never once had they been brought up by my parents, and for a Pokémon with seven evolutions, it seemed strange that my breeder parents didn't own even one.
For the first time, I really looked at the Eevees. One of them was obviously smaller, and it had a white spot on the back of its ear. The other was larger and darker colored. It was obviously male. The two were wrestling around on the ground making happy squeaking noises. I checked my Pokédex again. They each knew the moves Tackle, Helping Hand, Tail Whip, and Growl. They had stopped rolling around and were now exploring their surroundings. The male was sniffing my feet, while the female was touching noses with Vulpix and staring into his eyes. They looked as if they were having some sort of psychic conversation.
I was still digesting the fact that I had just been given not one, but two very rare Pokémon. I thought about my parents reactions to the fact that now I was basically cornered into becoming a trainer, not that I minded. My parents would go nuts if they saw these two eevee. They would immediately want to breed one with a ditto for study. But these were my Pokémon, right? For my adventure. I shook my head, vowing not to cave in if my parents wanted one for themselves. I decided naming them would be a good way to make them feel more like my own, so I began pondering nicknames.
The female had a bright personality. She was now chasing the charmander's fiery tail, but Cali's charmander was nice and was not enlarging its tail flame just to be mean like the other one. She also had that white spot on her ear, shaped sort of like a sun, so I decided on a nickname. "This one will be called Sunny." I said.
Sunny perked her ears up and seemed to acknowledge her name. "Eeeeve!" She said and bounded over to my legs.
The male was off exploring the room. He was crawling under chairs and sniffing trash. He was very inquisitive, and his coat was a darker brown than Sunny's. He also seemed more calm and tranquil than Sunny. "His name will be Noche." I grinned at my super not-clever, but fitting, nicknames.
Noche padded back over beside me and sat at my feet, his sister following suit. I felt a sudden, almost palpable bond with these two Pokémon beside me, and I knew this was the start of something great.

 

Cali and I walked out of the lecture hall, each of us toying with the poke balls of our new Pokémon. Sunny and Noche followed close behind me, murmuring in their own language to each other and occasionally glancing at me. I wonder what they're talking about? I wondered as I walked. Cali and I were headed out to the courtyard. We still had 45 minutes left on our break before choosing our careers.
We both already had it planned out. We were to be trainers together, and travel the world capturing and training Pokémon. She wanted to specialize in fire types (no surprise there), while I had no preference. I wanted to collect all of the Gym Badges, starting with Kanto, then Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and finally Unova. Hopefully, I would get to meet this mysterious Erik, the Champion of Unova. It was to be quite the task, and I was glad Cali was going to have my back. Being a trainer could be a lonely business without a traveling partner, even with Pokémon by your side.
We knew exactly what we were going to do. We each had money saved in the bank, and the government gives all graduates a check for P20000. Each student, based on their GPA, personal wishes, and chosen career, also receives a bag with several "tools of the trade". Once Cali and I got our bags we would set off, camping out and hopefully in the future training strong enough Pokémon to help us construct some kind of shelter.
That was our plan. It was all we had. We were just going to have to see how things went.
But for now, we headed out to the courtyard. I, for one, could not wait to see how Sunny and Noche did in a battle. I knew that they both knew helping hand, so I was hoping to go for a double battle. Cali's charmander (who she had named Flare) was a female, which was rare for the species. It only knew scratch and growl, being level 5. Her vulpix, on the other hand, who's name I learned later was Sam, was a male. He had been being trained by Cali for some time and was level 14. It knew ember, tail whip, and the very useful move confuse ray.
We headed down the hall and pushed open the double doors leading outside. We each held them open for our Pokémon, and then we stepped outside.
Pokémon were everywhere! Some students were shouting commands, and having some success, but others were being completely ignored. Bird Pokémon were flying in circles in the air, occasionally swooping down and pecking a Pokémon that wasn't even in their own battle.
"Come back here! Pidgey! Pidgey! Stop that!" A tall boy yelled as he sprinted past Cali and me, nearly squishing Sunny underfoot.
"Eevee!" She said astonished and ran behind me.
"Its okay girl," I said and continued to assess the situation.
It seemed as if there were five makeshift "battlefields" in play. One was over the fountain, so I assumed that was where the water Pokémon were. The other four were spaced out around the courtyard. Students were gathered around the perimeter of each, placing bets and cheering on their friends.
The center battlefield looked like it was the biggest, and it also happened to be where all of the popular kids were gathered. One in particular, Carl Richardson, had taken it upon himself to referee the battle.
"Ugh that pig," groaned Cali. They had dated once, and only for a very short time. Turns out he was more interested in his own reflection than her. "Let's head down there and see what he is screwing up now." We started over in that direction. I picked up Sunny because she was scared, but Noche strutted boldly behind me.
As we came up on the field, we began to hear Carl's voice. "And now, ladies and gentlemen," he said with a flourish. Yuck, "we have today's contestants!" The student body cheered as he gestured behind him. "On my left, I present to you the bold, the brave, the smokin' hot, Jessie Riendau!"
Jessie stood on the field. Her hair was black and wavy, and came down to just past her shoulders. She had the most flawless skin of anyone you have ever seen. She was just over five and a half feet tall, but had the body of a supermodel. You don't even have to wonder why she was the most popular girl in school. She popped her gum once and smiled. She took out a Pokéball and enlarged it in her hand. She then threw it into the air.
"Go, Sparky!" She announced. There was a flash of red, and a male pikachu stood on the field.
"Pika!" it said, and its cheeks crackled with electricity. The crowd went wild.
Carl went back to his announcing. "And on my right, we have the nerdy, the scary, the abominable, Savannah!"
"He didn't even bother to say her last name." Cali muttered under her breath. Savannah Summers was very smart, and super sweet, though I don't think she had worn makeup her whole life. Needless to say, NOT the most popular person out there.
She fumbled through her fanny pack for her Poké Ball. She took it out, almost dropping it, and finally tossed it into the air.
"Go, Meowth!" She said. The ball opened, and a meowth appeared onto the field. The crowd began jeering at her.
Carl just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "What," he laughed, "did you think you could make it TALK?" The crowd went crazy. Savannah looked down at the ground, her cheeks as red as a flame.
Carl laughed and shook his head. He began to walk off the field, and nonchalantly flicked his wrist. Jessie took her cue.
"Sparky, tackle." She said, looking at her nails.
"Pika!" The pikachu, Sparky, said, and started sprinting towards Meowth.
Savannah had just looked up when BAM! Her meowth was hit. "Eoow!" it said and it sprawled on the ground. Sparky bounced back over to Jessie, who was smiling broadly. The crowd went wild.
Cali and I found spots across the field from Carl, close to the edge so we could see. We had a good view of the battle. I set Sunny down. "Stay close to me!" I yelled over the crowd.
Savannah had recovered herself. "Meowth," she said, "sprint as fast as you can to Sparky's right!"
"Meow!" It said, and it took off. It ran, flanking the pikachu just as Savannah said.
Jessie looked bored. "Sparky, time your tackle to hit it as it comes around!"
Sparky waited and watched as Meowth sped towards it. As it got closer, he began to run at an angle towards the spot Meowth would be in just a few seconds. This was what Savannah was waiting for.
Right before Sparky hit Meowth, Savannah said "Meowth stop, then use scratch!" Meowth froze in its tracks, and Sparky raced by. Meowth then sprang up and dug its claws into Sparky's back. Then it bounded away.
"Pika!" yelped Sparky, and it tumbled face first into the ground. "Why you little..." Said Jessie. "Sparky, recover and then use thundershock!"
"Chu!" said Sparky, and nodded. It's cheeks began to spark. "Pika...chuuu!" it said, and a bolt of lightning came off of its tail, headed right towards Meowth.
"Meowth, try to dodge it!" Savannah yelled. Meowth sidestepped the thundershock just barely, its tail nearly getting nicked. Sparky tried to shock him again and Meowth leaped to the right, dodging again.
Meowth continued to zig-zag back and forth across the field, making its way back towards Savannah. Then, something shocking happened.
Not even I thought Carl was this low. As Meowth came zipping past him on the right of the field, Carl kicked a cloud of sand up in its face.
"Meooww!" it wailed and fell face first into the dirt. Seconds later, a thundershock from Sparky zapped it. Meowth jerked a little, then lay still.
"Meowth is unable to battle," Carl announced. "Jessie and Sparky are the winners!" The crowd began to cheer, but I couldn't take it anymore.
"Wait a second!" I shouted and bolted across the field towards the injured meowth. People continued cheering. "I said wait! Did you not see what just happened?" I kneeled down. Savannah was already beside Meowth, about to pick it up into her arms.
"What are you talking about Al?" Carl asked innocently. "I just moved my foot."
"First of all, only my friends call me Al," I stated plainly. The crowd began to die down. I turned and stood so everyone could hear me. "And second, I don't know if you all are just that oblivious to what just happened, or if you just don't care, but interference in a Pokémon battle is illegal. And I know Meowth wouldn't have fallen if Carl hadn't used his little man-made sand-attack there."
"Well what are you gonna do about it Al?" he asked, and got up in my face. Clearly he had missed the memo about my name. "Fight me?"
At this point, Cali and our four Pokémon had pushed through the crowd and were standing on my right. The two Eevees were getting some pointed fingers and some looks, but they both ignored them. I could tell they could sense my agitation. They looked up at my face anxiously.
I had two choices. I could either back down and look like a fool in front of everyone, or I could stand up for Savannah, Meowth, and all of the injustice that had just unfolded in front of me. I stood taller and looked Carl in the eye.
"Carl, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"
He grinned, like it was planned, and this worried me. "Bring it," he called, walking past me. "You better watch your back," he whispered so only I could hear, sending chills down my spine.
"Jesse!" he called. Jesse strutted over, Sparky following at her heels. "Jesse, I'm afraid we're going to need a ref for the battle. Would you do the honors?"
She smiled and was about to agree when I said; "Hold up, I don't trust her anymore than I trust you."
"Ugh!" Jesse gasped, a look of complete and utter fake innocence on her face.
"If she is calling the shots, I want Cali to be allowed to ref also." I said as I dragged Cali up beside me. Cali didn't resist much; she loves the spotlight.
Carl shrugged and tossed his hands into the air. "Fine, fine," he stated. "Listen up!" the crowd quieted down once again. "Al here has challenged me to a Pokémon battle." This received some cheering and some booing, but I wasn't fazed. "Please, everyone clear the battlefield, you are about to witness..." he paused for effect, then, "history!"
There was an insane amount of cheering. By this time, the other battles going on around the central field had stopped, the trainers had returned their Pokémon, and everyone was beginning to gather around. Soon the entire student body had come to watch the battle unfold.
Cali returned both Flare and Sam to their pokeballs. She put her red hair up into a ponytail and strutted to the right-center sideline. Jesse stood on the opposite sideline. They glared at each other, each daring the other to make a biased call during the battle. I could tell this was going to be pretty fairly refereed.
I moved to my side of the battlefield, followed by Sunny and Noche. They stood on either side of me, their fur standing up. I could tell they could feel the energy in the air.
"I request a double battle, if that is alright with you," I yelled over the crowd to Carl. He nodded, having moved to his position across from me.
Cali took the lead before Jesse: "The opponents will use two Pokémon each in a double battle. The trainer who has the last Pokémon standing will be the winner!"
Jesse glared over at Cali and took a step onto the battlefield. "Let the battle begin!" she said, clearly happy with getting the last word in. Cali just huffed and turned her eyes to me.
"I will use my two Pokémon, Sunny and Noche!" I announced loudly.
"Eeeevee!" They trilled, and bounded forward onto the battlefield. They moved so in synch, it was almost as if they were one. They must be twins, I thought. I turned my eyes to Carl.
He was smirking, an ugly, half smile. "You make me laugh," he said. "Go, Charmander and Zubat!" he said and threw two balls out in front of him.
There was a flash of red, the two Pokémon appeared on the opposite end. It was the first charmander that was up for grabs during the choosing ceremony. The mean one. The one that torched the poor growlith. The charmander was grinning.
"Charmander! Char!" it shouted. Its tail flame grew larger as it talked. The zubat fluttered above the charmander's head, zigzagging back and forth. It was going to be hard to hit a flying type with my two grounded normal types.
Carl made the first move. "Charmander, ember! Zubat, leech life!" he yelled. Charmander began charging towards Sunny to better its range. Zubat flew towards Noche, its fangs glistening in the sunlight.
I quickly decided which attack would do the least damage, then I said, "Noche, use helping hand! You're going to have to endure the leech life, but distract Charmander!"
"Eeeeev!" he squeaked boldly, and he rushed in front of the charging Charmander that quickly switched its focus from Sunny to him.
"Sunny, quick, tackle Charmander now!"
Sunny ducked her head and sprinted towards Charmander. She hit the Pokémon with a full body tackle, knocking it to the side before it reached Noche. The two lay on the ground in a heap; Charmander because it was hurt and Sunny because she was disoriented.
"Veee!" I heard from my right. I turned. Zubat was latched onto Noche's rear end and didn't look like it was going to let go. Noche was running in circles, trying to get its teeth into Zubat's wing.
"Noche! Roll onto your back and pin Zubat beneath you!" I cried.
Noche stopped running in circles and threw himself on the ground. Zubat began struggling, flapping its wings and hitting Noche with wing attack. Noche cried out in pain but held firm.
"Noche, quick! While its head is down there, use sand attack!" I said desperately. Noche began swishing its tail back and forth, kicking sand up into Zubat's mouth.
"Baaa!" It shrieked, and released its teeth from Noche's back. It managed to get out from under the eevee and try to fly away. Zubat don't have eyes, but they do use echolocation to see. The sand that had gotten it its mouth was impeding this process, and now was my chance.
"Noche! Use tackle before it can get too high!" I commanded.
"Zubat, look out!" Carl said just a little too late.
Noche ran to a rock, bounded to the top of it, and used it as a launching point. He sprang into the air and WHAM! Hit Zubat square in the chest.
"Zuu!" it wailed and it crashed into the ground. Noche landed on his feet and bounced towards me. The crowd was going wild, with both boo's and hooray's. I was about to congratulate Noche when I heard a squeal.
"Eeev!" It was Sunny. Charmander had it pinned under its foot and was burning its ear with its tail. It wasn't even a real move. It was torture.
"Noche! Tackle! Help your sister!" I yelled, panicked. The worst part was that Carl was looking proud of his Pokémon for torturing the poor weakened eevee. Noche saw the commotion and sprinted back across the battlefield.
"Charmander, aim carefully and use ember!" Carl ordered. Without even moving its foot off of Sunny, it shot a burst of flame from its mouth.
"Noche!" I shouted too late. The attack hit Noche right in the neck as it tried to turn its head away from the blast. He was propelled backward onto the ground where he lay still. There was more cheering from the crowd, with an audible gasp from Cali.
"No!" I yelled and took a half step onto the battlefield.
"Oh no you don't Al. You know the rules," Carl said cruelly. The crowd quieted, listening to him. He narrowed his eyes and grinned. "No interference in a Pokémon battle, or you lose."
He began to laugh evilly to himself as I struggled with myself not to help my injured partner. Carl seemed not to care that Zubat was fainted. He hadn't even flinched when Noche hit it with that tackle. But I at least have a heart. I am not cruel. But I knew the rules, and I abided by them. The thing that bothered me was Carl's taunt and his evil laugh, clearly resonating over the silence of the crowd.
As Carl laughed, I processed several things happening at once.
One, Carl was too busy being distracted by laughing to watch the battlefield.
Two, Charmander had its head turned away from Sunny and was watching Carl, grinning in that same evil manner.
Three, Sunny had made eye contact with me. I could see both pain and determination in her eyes.
And four, Charmander's foot had loosened on top of Sunny's chest.
I looked at Sunny. She looked back. We made a psychic agreement, and I nodded.
Instantly Sunny, with a burst of strength unknown to me until then, whipped her legs under her, scratching Charmander's foot in the process, and straightened them, bounding a good four meters off to Charmander's right.
"Chaaar!" it shrieked as it toppled to the ground, thrown off balance by Sunny's leap and its injured foot.
Someone in the crowd shouted "Get it little lady!" And the cheering started up once again.
"Quick, Sunny, tackle him while he's down!" I shouted. Normally that is considered a cheap shot, but at this point, I really didn't care.
Sunny took two giant leaps and covered the distance between herself and Charmander. "Eeevee!" she squealed and ran right into Charmander's head. She bounced several meters away after the blow.
"Mander! Charmander!" it groaned and rolled on the ground. It tried to stand up again, but that wasn't going to happen.
"Again! Tackle again!" I shouted, and the distinctive adrenaline of winning a battle filled my veins.
Sunny bounded once towards Charmander, then she sprinted faster than I thought she possibly could and rammed Charmander with her shoulder as it was trying to stand. Sunny had learned quick attack.
Charmander made no sound this time. It slumped over, and then fell face first into the dirt, its tail flame barely sizzling.
The crowd was going insane. "Charmander and Zubat are unable to battle, Allora, Sunny, and Noche are winners!" The crowd roared. I sprinted over to Noche and kneeled down. I gently picked him up.
Cali ran over, Flare and Sam now out of their pokeballs. The two fire types went to either side of Noche to see if he was okay.
A revive was shoved into my face by someone, I don't remember who. I quickly crushed it and sprinkled it on Noche's tounge. Slowly, but surely, his eyes opened. Sunny bounded over to check on her brother. She licked his face.
"Eeev?" he squeaked questioningly.
I laughed. "We won buddy, it's okay." Then I heard the clapping.
The cheering was dying down to the post-battle chatter. But I could hear one set of hands slowly clapping. I set Noche down and stood to look. It was Carl.
He and some of his buddies had gathered in the center of the battlefield, just off to my right. Charmander and Zubat had been returned. Carl was facing me, clapping slowly.
"Congratulations. I much look forward to meeting you again. But, I'm afraid, it's time for me to go." I looked at him confused. "Ah, yes. You didn't think those were my real Pokémon, did you? No... and I am done here. My friends and I have more... important things to attend to."
I was still confused. Not his real Pokémon? What? I was still staring at him trying to make sense of what he said when Carl pulled two pokeballs out of his pocket. Two different ones from the battle.
He grinned. "Shocked?" he said. "Don't be. Don't you know that I would never stoop to the level of you losers and choose one of your 'careers'?" He was addressing everyone now. It had quieted down, and people were paying more attention to his speech than before. "No, there are better things in this world! More Pokémon, more money, more power! It's about time you people chose sides." He made eye contact with me and held it. "I for damn sure would be on my team."
He threw the pokeballs in the air. "Go, Weezing and Alakazam!" Weezing and Alakazam? Two already evolved Pokémon? What was going on?
The two Pokémon appeared on the field. They both had their eyes narrowed and were eyeing the crowd.
Carl bared his teeth. "I think it's about time we got this show on the road. Shall we?" He looked around at the student body. "I have one final message. Hear these words: Team Rocket will return, like the Ho-oh rises from the ashes. Retaliation will come swiftly and painfully. None of you will escape unscathed." His eyes came to rest on me. They moved slowly up and down my body. I felt naked, like he could see into my soul.
"And you," he said. 'I will not forget this." He gestured to the battlefield. I could tell that that wasn't a warning. It was a promise.
He glanced at his cronies. Then at the Pokémon. "Weezing, smokescreen!"
"Weeezing!" It wheezed, then it shot a black cloud from its body. Suddenly, there was darkness. People were screaming, Pokémon were roaring. There was a loud crash and an explosion towards the direction of the school. I could see the flash of a fire.
I stumbled around in the darkness. The smoke was extremely thick. People were feeling around shouting for their Pokémon, who were responding with caws and shrieks and growls.
Then I heard Carl's voice: "Alakazam, teleport!" There was a loud thunderclap and a flash of light from the direction of the explosion.
I couldn't see anything. "Cali!" I shouted over the screaming. "Noche! Sunny!"
"Eeev!" I heard, and I felt two warm fuzzies press against my legs. I knelt and picked each of them up in my arms.
"Cali!" I coughed, the smoke entering my lungs.
"Here! Here!" I heard. I made my way towards Cali's voice. The smoke was unbearable. That weezing had a strong smokescreen attack. I still couldn't see anything.
"Pidgeot, use gust!" I heard. Then there was a blast of wind coming from the school. The smoke instantly cleared. Well most of it.
The remains of the wall separating the lecture hall from the courtyard were still smoking. A hole had been blasted through the wall with what looked like an explosion attack. No doubt used by that weezing. Mrs. Price was standing in the newly made doorway. A pidgeot was perched on the ground next to her, preening. It was a beautiful Pokémon.
The hole in the wall wasn't as surprising as the scene behind it. The lecture hall was ransacked. Desks were flipped over, the door inside had been blown off of its hinges. But the most surprising part?
The six cabinets full of Pokémon had disappeared.