6

"So, what do you think?" Cynthia asked, stepping out of her room in front of Julia and Blake, who were forced to wait in the hallway. She wore a short white and red pleated skirt and a white and red top in a pokeball pattern, a bright smile on her face. She spun around to show off her outfit to the two.

"Wow…" Blake said, nodding.

"See? Rose is even wearing the same thing!" Cynthia said, holding her Ralts up, who had a matching red and white shirt on and was holding two pom-poms in matching colors.

"What about Sango?" Julia asked.

"About that…" Cynthia said, glancing aside.

"Absolutely not," Sango declared from behind the door.

"Oh, come on, you look good in that!" Cynthia said, giggling.

"No, I don't!" Sango exclaimed. "See, I'm a foot taller than you, almost!"

"…So?" Cynthia asked.

"So, your 'miniskirt' is like wrapping toilet paper around my waist! This doesn't cover anything!" Sango cried. She walked outside, blushing. Her skirt wasn't as short as she made it seem, but it definitely didn't cover as much of her as it did Cynthia, and she was constantly pulling it down. The shirt was short as well, revealing her midriff, and tighter on her athletic frame.

"Wow, it looks good on you…" Blake said, nodding, eyeing her up and down. "Especially the legs…"

Sango moved back uneasily, while Cynthia and Julia both lightly swatted him on the head.

"Hey, it was a compliment!"

"Thanks, but I'm changing back," Sango said, ducking into her room. Cynthia sighed, shaking her head.

"Darn, she looked pretty cute in that skirt, too…"

Cynthia turned to Blake, and smiled.

"Okay, Blake, let's get to training you, okay?" Cynthia asked, smiling. "Julia and I will help you train up, since Sango doesn't like using her pokemon for fighting."

"Exactly," Sango said, walking out of the room, in normal clothes. "Silver doesn't fight, and I don't do battles if I don't have to."

The group of four headed out of the dorm and walked to one of the empty fields on the edge of the forest beside Bulbasaur Dorm.

"Okay, Blake, I'll be the first one to help," Julia said, smiling. "Roden, let's do it!"

Julia tossed out a pokeball, which a Houndoom emerged from. The fierce looking dog pokemon glared at Blake, snarling. Julia whistled, Roden padding up to her like a sweet little puppy and licking her hand.

"Wartortle, go," Blake said, tossing out a pokeball, which his Wartortle emerged from. He glared at Houndoom and ran towards the Houndoom.

Roden opened his mouth, firing a blast of flames at Wartortle, who jumped to the side. Roden ran towards him and raised his claw, swinging it down roughly. Dark energy surged through it and hit Wartortle in the chest, knocking him backwards.

Wartortle landed on his back and waved his claws frantically. Roden opened his mouth, bit down roughly on Wartortle's tail, and lifted him into the air. Roden swung his head, flinging Wartortle across the field. Wartortle crashed to the ground, enraged, and charged at Roden.

Roden matched with another blast of flames, Wartortle leaping to the side and holding his hands up. Wartortle fired a barrage of powerful bubbles at Roden, which exploded on contact, knocking the dog pokemon backwards.

"Wartortle, use aqua jet!" Blake ordered. Wartortle covered his body in a veil of water and charged towards Roden at a high speed, head raised.

"Roden, use faint attack," Julia ordered. Roden disappeared, appearing above Wortortle and swung down with his claw, nailing Wartortle head on in the back. Wartortle cried out in pain and fell to the ground, gasping.

Roden, slightly damaged by the water, leapt back and growled at Wartortle, before firing another flamethrower at the immobile water pokemon.

The flames struck, Blake holding his hands up and walking over to the Wartortle. He knelt beside Wortortle and returned him to his pokeball, turning to Julia.

"Wow, your Houndoom is really strong," Blake said, surprised.

"Yeah, Roden is my main battler," Julia bragged. Roden walked up to her, his teeth curled in a happy expression, Julia affectionately patting him on the head.

"You did good, Roden, how about you take a little break for now?"

"That was pretty good, Blake," Sango said, walking up to him, grinning. "Still, I can't believe your water pokemon lost to a fire type, I guess you should have taken into account Houndoom's dark type moves."

"Oh?" Blake asked.

"See, I bet you were concerned with the fire type moves, right? And that's why you decided to train your Wortortle against her," Sango explained. "But at this level, Houndoom's strongest moves are its dark types, and that's what ended up getting the better of your Wortortle."

"…You know, for someone who doesn't do pokemon battles, you're certainly very involved in giving him advice," Cynthia said, smiling, leaning in close to Sango.

"Well, I guess, um, I just…" Sango said, her face pink, "I kind of like battles… But I don't like having my pokemon get injured…"

"So you're skilled at battling, but you don't do it yourself, huh?" Cynthia asked, surprised. "Maybe you should give it a try sometime."

"What do you think, Silver?" Sango asked, turning to her Castform. Silver looked down, frowning.

"I agree, the purpose of Pokemon Rangers isn't to hurt pokemon, it's to help them," Sango said, nodding.

"Hey, Blake, what's taking so long?" Julia asked, Blake turning back to her.

"Okay, yeah, I'm ready," Blake said, nodding.

"Wolfie, come on out!" Julia said, tossing out a pokeball, which her Poochyena emerged from.

"Okay, Servine, go," Blake said, Servine emerging from her pokeball.

"Wolfie, use tackle," Julia ordered, her Poochyena charging at Servine.

"Servine, use vine whip!" Servine raised her hand, a vine shooting out and slapping Wolfie on the head. Wolfie shook her head, and growled at Servine. Wolfie held her paws up and planted them on the ground, releasing a shockwave of dark energy that knocked Servine off of her feet. Servine landed on the ground, shaking, and stood up.

Wolfie tackled her as she rose to her feet, knocking her backwards. She stood up, angered, and held her hand up, creating a tornado of leaves. The tornado knocked Wolfie into the air, and she fell to the ground, injured.

Wolfie snarled and ran towards Servine, who ran towards the dog pokemon as well. Servine raised her tail, which began to glow with a silver light. Servine charged with her iron tail prepared, and swung it straight at Wolfie. However, just before it made contact, the light faded, and her tail lightly hit Wolfie on the muzzle. Wolfie bit down on Servine's tail, Servine crying out in pain. She used a vine whip attack to knock Wolfie in the cheek, Wolfie glaring at her. She fired a dark pulse from her mouth, hitting Servine head on, knocking her backwards.

Servine stood up, glaring at Wolfie, and fired a tornado of wind and leaves at the dog, knocking her off of her feet, and charged at her again. Servine attempted to use iron tail a second time, her tail glowing a bright silver. This time, Servines iron tail met its mark, striking Wolfie in the face. Wolfie was knocked into the ground, where she lay, unconscious.

"Well, that was much better!" Sango said, smiling.

"Way to go, Blake!" Cynthia cheered. Julia returned Wolfie to her pokeball, and shrugged.

"Okay, let's keep the momentum going, sound good?" Julia asked.

"Okay, got it," Blake said, nodding. "Servine, are you ready to keep going?"

Servine shook her head, exhausted.

"She really needs to work on her iron tail attack," Sango said. "That was a strong move she was working with, but it didn't connect that first time…"

"Yeah, she's had trouble with it," Blake said, nodding. "I've been working on it with her, but it just hasn't been connecting all the time."

"It's probably because she runs out of power to flow through the move," Sango said, frowning. "Still, though, I bet I can work with it, what do you think?"

"Yeah, does that sound good, Servine?" Blake asked, turning to the small pokemon, who turned her head, frowning.

"She's fine with it," Blake said, smiling.

"Okay, come on!" Sango said, kneeling down and picking up the grass pokemon.

"So, shall we continue?" Julia asked, Blake nodding.

"Boldore, go."

"Luna, go!"

An Murkrow emerged opposite to Blake's Boldore, its body a dark grey and covered in black feathers.

"Now then, let's go, Blake!" Julia said, turning to Blake.

"Boldore, use power gem!" Blake ordered. Shining gems floated around Boldore, and launched at the dark pokemon.

"Luna, use faint attack!" Julia ordered. Luna disappeared, reappearing behind Boldore

and hitting him in the back with her claw. Boldore spun around, swinging his talon and hitting Luna in the shoulder, knocking her off balance.

Boldore formed a large stone in his talon and fired it at Luna, hitting her head on. Luna gasped out, falling onto the ground.

"Rock slide!" Blake ordered. Rogen held his claws up, a large blast of rocks flying towards Luna.

"Luna, quick attack." She skillfully avoided each rock falling towards her at a high speed, charging at Boldore. Dark energy surged through her claws, and she slashed at Boldore, injuring him.

Boldore placed his talons on the ground, and released a shockwave through ground. Boldore barreling towards her. He tackled her at full force, knocking her into a tree, Luna falling to the ground, unconscious.

"Pretty good," Blake, Julia said, nodding, returning Luna to her pokeball. "I can't wait for us to have a real battle."

"Me neither," Blake said, grinning.

"Way to go, Blake!" Cynthia grinned, running up and high fiving him. "Now, it my turn, want to train with me?"

"Um, I guess?" Blake said, nodding.

"Sweetness," Cynthia said, nodding. "Okay, let's bring out all of your pokemon, sound good?"

Blake nodded, releasing Scyther, Kadabra, and even Wartortle from their pokeballs, though he was still a little weak.

"Are you sure?" Cynthia asked, concerned. "You don't look very ready."

"Wartortle!" Wartortle said, nodding eagerly, his eyes fierce and competitive.

"Well, okay then!" Cynthia cheered. "Okay, all of you, ready for some training?"

Scyther nodded, Wartortle also nodded in excitement, and Boldore held a talon up in affirmative. Kadabra, however, shook her body, refusing.

"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked.

"Kadabra doesn't like fighting…" Blake explained. "So I'm trying to keep her from fighting as much as she has to."

"Well, I guess that's okay, but she'll have to fight sometime, right?" Cynthia asked.

"I know, that's why I need your help," Blake explained.

"Well, alright then!" Cynthia said, smiling. "Kadabra, does that sound like fun?"

Kadabra's head nodded as an acceptance. "Awesome!" Cynthia said, hugging the floating yellow pokemon. She turned to Scyther.

"Okay, Scyther, from what I remember, you were a pretty fast and strong guy, am I right?"

Scyther nodded.

"Great!" Cynthia said, nodding. "I taught Tristan how to perfect his mach punch, and I can do the same with your bullet punch."

Cynthia released her Breloom from his pokeball.

"Tristan, use seed bomb," Cynthia ordered. Tristan opened his mouth and launched a seed into the air, which exploded into a barrage of seeds.

"Now, Scyther, hit them all out of the-"

Scyther released a barrage of punches from his hands like scythe, destroying every seed in an almost-simultaneous strike, Cynthia's face turning pale.

"Well, maybe you won't need to train with me," Cynthia said, grinning.

"Sci," Scyther said, nodding.

"Now then, Kadabra!" Cynthia said, turning to the Kadabra next to her. "If you want to train your psychic powers, Rose is the best one to do it with, right, Rose?"

"Ralts!" Rose said, nodding, throwing her pom-poms up in the air in excitement.

Kadabra floated off to train with Rose, Cynthia turning to Wartortle and Boldore.

"Its sad that Kadabra didn't get the chance of learning more when she was a Abra." Blake said.

Cynthia asked, "Why is that?"

"Well I raised Abra from an egg so we were pretty close. However few months later when I was in the forest some wild Ekans attacked me but Abra saved by by prematurely evolving into Kadabra." Blake told everyone.

"Wow that's something I did not expect l." Cynthia said what was on everyone's mind.

"Okay, guys, let's get training!" Cynthia said, smiling.

The group trained for the rest of the day, and as the sun set, they were all exhausted.

After returning their pokemon to their pokeballs, the group headed back into Bulbasaur Dorm, exhausted after a long day's work.

"Man, tomorrow is our battle class," Blake said, frowning.

"I guess our pokemon are a little tired out," Cynthia said, laughing.

"Silver and I are fine," Sango said, grinning, Cynthia, Blake, and Julia glaring at her.

Blake headed into his room as he said goodbye to the girls, seeing Reiner and Nick, who had hooked up a game station to Reiner's TV, and were currently playing a game called Pokemon Battle Festival, which could only be described as a battle simulator game.

"So, what's going on?" Reiner asked, frowning, looking up from his game at Blake.

"Huh?" Blake asked. "What do you mean?"

"Where have you been all day?" Reiner asked. "I haven't seen you since lunch."

"I was training with Cynthia, Sango, and Julia," Blake explained.

"Oh, is that what they're calling it now?" Reiner asked, grinning.

"…Yeah, not like that."

"I'm getting a little exhausted," Blake sighed, lying down on his bed. "I've got a big day coming up in less than a week, and I've been training for hours…"

"Oh, need some time to yourself, huh?" Reiner asked.

"No, that's fine…" Blake said, shaking his head. He put his headphones on over his ears, letting the sounds drown out his friend's voice.

"See, Nick, real women just bring you nothing but trouble," Reiner said, shaking his head. "That's why waifus are better."

"What?" Nick asked. "You mean like 2-D women?"

"No, that's just creepy."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Well, for example, I believe that the only women worth considering are movie stars and celebrities," Reiner said, smiling. "That's why I've got so many pictures of them."

Reiner gestured to his wall of movie star portraits.

"Currently, my favorite waifu is Harriet Willow, who starred in that new Starly Wars movie and was in that remake of Romeo and Wobbufett," Reiner bragged.

"…" Nick wanted to say something, but at the same time he felt that whatever he said wouldn't get through to the massive amount of idiocy Reiner was displaying before him, so he decided to go back to their game.

The game Pokemon Battle Festival was actually an amazingly interactive game simply for the fact that the game came with a special device that allowed the players to scan their pokemon into the game, creating data copies within the game that were exactly the same as the pokemon entered, with the same moves, levels, and stats.

As neither trainer had a full party of pokemon, the battle was a three on three, with Nick's Ponyta and Reiner's Zangoose being the only two pokemon left.

The Zangoose swung a crush claw attack, hitting the Ponyta head on, knocking it out.

"Oh yeah, I win!" Reiner said, smirking. "Your Ponyta hasn't got anything on my Weaver!"

"Yeah, well, I just have to train up my team some more, you'll see," Nick said, frowning.

"Train all you want, my team will kick the collected asses of your team."

As Reiner and Nick prepared for another battle, Blake looked up at the bed above him, frowning. Sound coursed through his ears from the headphones he was wearing, relaxing him.

Blake closed his eyes, pondering.

My first official battle as a student of the Pokemon Academy… This should be a rather enjoyable experience.

Meanwhile…

"Oh, come on, what's the harm in it?" Cynthia asked, frowning. "I don't want Rose and I to be the only ones cheering for Blake!"

"I refuse," Julia said, frowning.

"Oh, come on, Sango's too tall, but you're fine!"

"I refuse the concept of cheerleading with every single fiber of my existence."

"Please?"

"I categorically refuse to participate in cheerleading."

"You guys are just no fun at all!" Cynthia huffed. "I mean, Sango, you're all for doing new things, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Sango said, nodding. "And cheering for Blake is what I intend to do. But that doesn't mean I'm going to put on a cheerleader's uniform, understand?"

"…Spoilsport…" Cynthia sighed shaking her head. "I guess it'll just have to be me and Rose, then…"