Chap 4

I could feel the tension in the air as I walked through the doors of the Pokémon academy. I walked into what looked like a classroom except that all the desks had been pushed to the sides of the room.

There was a guy standing in the rear of the class with his back to me and a girl standing in the front facing him. The guy had skin as dark as mine and a curly black afro. He was wearing brown cargo pants and a white shirt with a black and red symbol on it. It reminded me of a dog. The girl was white and heavyset with long brown hair and glasses. She was wearing a black tank top and blue denim shorts.

I joined the crowd of onlookers, that included the only adult in the room. A tall, thin, white man in a lab coat. I assumed he was the teacher.

"Hello I'm Reef...." I started to say before being shushed.

"Sorry for being rude, but if these two do at least one thing I taught them, I can count this battle as a test grade." The teacher said without looking at me. The excitement in his voice was unmistakable.

"So, you ready to get beaten by a Pokémon only slightly less useless than you are?" The boy said and threw a poke ball.

When the ball hit the ground it opened, and a white light came out of it. I felt my heartbeat quicken as I realized this was the first live Pokémon battle, I ever witnessed. The light took the shape of a blue lion cub with black hind legs. It also had distinguishable yellow spots in its ears, at the bottom of its legs and a star at the end of its tail.

"What is that?" I whispered to the teacher.

"It's called a Shinx. It's an electric type." He responded.

"The only useless thing in this room is you, Zane." The girl responded and threw her own poke ball.

Her Pokémon was green and looked almost like a baby dinosaur. It had a dorsal fin on its head and holes in its abdomen. I looked back at the teacher.

"It's called Larvitar. It's a ground type. This is going to be bad for Zane.

I didn't know enough to know why he said that, but I quickly found out.

"Do something for once Shinx, hit that dirtball with thunder shock." Zane yelled.

Shinx arched its back as electricity danced along it and gathered in the star on its tail. Then without warning a yellow streak of lightning shot into the center of the Larvitar's abdomen. The force of the impact should have blown Larvitar across the room, instead it remained completely unharmed. It didn't even look like it felt the attack.

"How?" Zane and I yelled in unison.

"Electricity doesn't hurt ground types, Zane. This is day one stuff." The girl said with a smirk.

"Shut up Samantha. I already knew that. I just didn't know that thing in front of you was a ground type." Zane said.

Zane's eyes began darting from one side of the room to the other as he rubbed his hands together. He looked like he was in over his head.

"Well maybe you would if you cared about anything but dragons. Now Larvitar, show him how your rock throw feels." Samantha said.

The small green Pokémon ran and jumped towards the Shinx.

"Don't just stand there Shinx you dummy, dodge the attack" Zane screamed.

It was too late though. Tiny rocks came shooting out of the holes in Larvitar's stomach. Before Shinx could react, it was buried up to its neck in stones. It briefly struggled before passing out. It was a one-hit knock out. I couldn't believe I had witnessed it in person.

After the battle Zane stormed out of the building as the other student's put the desks back where they were supposed to be. I was so impressed with the battle that I went to speak to Samantha. I began helping her move desks.

"That was a great battle" I said grabbing a desk by the corners.

"Thanks, new kid, he deserved it. Anyone who talks to their Pokémon the way he does needs to lose repeatedly until they quit."

We sat the desk down and grabbed another one.

"So, you challenged him because of his attitude?"

"He actually challenged me after I spoke up about him mistreating that Shinx. I'm not really into challenging people, but I make it a point to crush any kid here that challenges me." She said as we sat the second desk down.

She brushed a strand of her hair out of her face and adjusted her glasses. I felt myself smile, but I wasn't sure why. She smiled as well. For a few strange seconds we just stared at each other.

"Do you get challenged a lot?" I asked her after clearing my throat.

"No, but I always train for it just in case. My dad always taught me that if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready."

Her head was slightly tilted, and a weaker smile crossed her face as she said that. I could tell she was remembering something fondly.

"Have you been away from home long?" I asked, assuming she missed home.

"No, it's only been a few days for me." she said as the teacher stood in front of the class.

I looked around the room and everyone except us was sitting in desks ready to learn again. Samantha sat in the front row and pointed to a seat next to her. I took the seat and tried to focus on what was being taught. I did learn that Mr. Tagg was the teacher's name, but not much else. Samantha slid me notes whenever he wasn't standing directly in front of us. The notes were innocent things like what's your name new kid? or where are you from? I honestly learned more about her than anything Pokémon related.

The school day ended when a bell rang at 3 o'clock. I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't have any money to get a room anywhere. I also didn't really know which direction I should head in. I stood in front of the academy and stared at my map. My options were to keep going north again or I could go west toward Victory Road.

"You're leaving after only one day?" Samantha asked from somewhere behind my map.

I put the map away.

"I have to. I don't have anywhere to go for the night." I said with my palms turned up.

"You could always sleep in the road like him" she said and pointed at the old man. There was a young girl trying to get him to stand up but having no success.

"That would be my only option if I stayed" I said and shrugged.

"No, the academy has dorm rooms for people like us." she said.

The word us caught my attention. It was too familiar to be overlooked.

"What do you mean like us?" I asked skeptically.

"People who have to fight to exist. The academy has room for outsiders like us."

"Is that why I wanna stay here so badly?" I asked her.

"Well, that and the fact that you fell madly in love with me, the moment you walked into that classroom. She said with a grin.

I smiled and walked back into the building with her.