Phase 1
After two years at the Castelia Pokemon Academy that was ideal for Coal to grow both as a trainer and as a person, a certain piece of news hit that could change Coal's next two years, possibly the rest of his life.
"Alright everyone! We're going to have full speed 1-on-1 sparring matches today. The matchups are based on past performances, so it should be close in most of them. They're on the board, like always."
The large whiteboard behind the teacher showed a bunch of names drawn together with lines between the two. Coal noticed the same matchup again for the past 6 months. Coal-Niter it read. The marker seemed to stay the same color and faded over 6 months of not changing the matchup.
"Again, huh? Not like I'm surprised, right?" A plump young man, his skin was wood colored. The voice coming from the figure echoed to Coal's ears, the familiarity struck and Coal turned to face his all-too-familiar sparring partner and friend, Niter.
"You said it. So, we both know who we use right now, do you want to pick the other's partner, just to make sure it's fair?"
"Fine by me, I'll choose your Pikachu."
"You will use Flaaffy today, I guess it's an electric type duel today. Should be fun!"
Coal and Niter made their way down to the battlefield, where a battle between a young light blue pokemon with red pupils in his eyes using fighting type moves. He was staring down a pokemon that resembles a bird-esque luchadore pokemon with red green and white scattered along his wings, chest and mask. Hawlucha vs. Machop. The two kept trading Karate Chops, Hi-jump kicks and finally a Flying press from Hawlucha ended the battle as he hit his opponent.
"Coal, Niter, you're up! Get in position!"
"Got it Coach!" The two competitors replied in unison.
"Alright everyone, I want you two to watch these two again, they have a pretty good knack for strategy and improvisation." A few murmurs from the crowd could be heard as all of the students gathered around to spectate.
"Ok, Niter, you have the first move. Pikachu, you're up!" The spry yellow electric mouse pokemon charged a little electricity in his cheeks, he was fired up for this.
"Flaaffy, you're on!" This electric type sheep had pink skin, white wool and a blue bulb on the end of its tail as it concentrated on charging its electricity as well.
"Use Thundershock!" Flaaffy shot a bolt of electricity at her opponent the bulb grew very bright for a moment as the attack fired.
"Dodge it using Quick Attack! Get in close Pikachu!" Without a moment's hesitation, Pikachu began to build up speed as it shot forward, leaving a pure white trail. Pikachu leapt to the side with the built up speed, just as Coal hoped. Pikachu came firing in quickly as Niter and Flaaffy began to counter.
"Use tackle!" Now Flaaffy shot forward as well, though not as fast due to the speed boost of Quick Attack, the power was still nothing to slouch at.
"Use Nuzzle!" Pikachu almost waited for the response, as it's eyes lit up with pure delight. Pikachu jumped at Flaaffy, and rubbed his cheeks mid-air and collided with Flaaffy's Tackle.
"Good Coal!" The coach turned to the spectators, as a perfect learning opportunity arose from the scenario.
"Coal had the presence of mind to know that even if Pikachu gets overpowered in that sequence, the move Nuzzle guarantees paralysis on impact. If Pikachu is losing after that, speed will be on Pikachu's side, thanks to the status effect. That's an excellent strategy to have on the fly."
The battle stopped to listen to the coaching point being made and both pokemon seemed to be getting a little winded, as well as the trainers.
"This battle is over, thank you both, go get dressed."
While both competitors would love taking it further, that wasn't what it was about. It was a learning opportunity. Still, something felt a little disappointing to not be able to finish bouts like that one. The two trainers reluctantly recalled their Pokemon back into their pokeball.
"Well, another unfinished battle. How long until we are actually able to go all out til there's an actual victor?" Niter questioned as both him and Coal got their gym lockers open.
"The way I see it is that unless we get another 10 or so students at close to where we are, or we are gonna live this life for another 2 years." Disappointment crept into Coal's voice as he said "2 years".
A voice from outside the locker room boomed in
"Coal, can I talk to you when you are finished? It's important."
"Sure! Who is that?" Coal questioned. It definitely wasn't coach or another student, but it had to have been an adult. Maybe the principal or something? Either way, guess I better go talk to him.
After a few minutes of getting dressed in his normal clothes, Coal set out to greet the man that called for him. He asked the coach if it was him, but the coach simply pointed in the direction of one of the doors, where a man in full business attire, wearing a red tie, carrying a briefcase that he briefly sat down next to him was waiting. The man waved at Coal as he looked on from a distance. Finally, working the nerve, Coal decided to approach the man as he sat.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Coal asked to confirm.
"If your name is Coal, and you have the Pikachu that fought a Flaaffy earlier, then yes." He replied sarcastically.
So, I guess he was watching the battle too. Noted.
"That's me, what did you need to talk to me about?" Coal briefly tapped the back of his belt, 3 slots filled, just like earlier. Something about knowing that his companions were with him within a moment's notice made Coal a lot less nervous.
"Nothing bad I assure you" the man gave a brief laugh. "I'm here to offer you something. I think you might like what I have to say." He smirked for a moment. Coal instantly thought the worst. No way, you are not getting anything or anyONE of my friends for your silly business.
"Ok…. I'm listening." Coal actually became genuinely curious now. Nerves still present, though took a backseat to curiosity.
"So, I'm here today because I've done a lot of scouting for our Pokemon Academy, and while some students here fit the bill, you, by quite a bit are the best one here. I can tell by the look on your face when your coach called off the battle that you were not only disappointed, but brushed it off as though it's happened quite a few times."
"Every day we battle." Coal interjected, the same look the man described reappeared, as though on command on his face.
"That being said, where are my manners? My name is Paul, and I'm here to offer you and a couple other students from our chosen pool to attend the Pokemon Academy in Lumiose City." Paul handed Coal first a list of names, his classmates, Slim pickins Coal noticed the number of names was about 15. His name was already marked off. The next item handed was a brochure describing the Academy and the programs within it that were different than normal ones. Also, a tourist guide of Kalos, with special respect to Lumiose City was present as well.
"I understand that we are quite a ways away from the Kalos region, but I must reassure you that travel fees to and from Lumiose City for breaks are always covered under our tuition policy. Of course, there is a catch… You can choose up to 2 of the students on the list I handed you just now, you could also just attend yourself if no student on the list interests you."
"I'd need some time to think about all this… it's just out of nowhere. I don't want to make a rash decision without knowing anything about this place first." Coal rubbed the back of his head, then combed his hair back down with his hand.
"Of course! By all means, I don't think you need to make a decision now, I only ask that you make a decision before registration ends at the start of the next school year. That leaves about 6 months for you." Paul waved his hands in a motion to signal "no" and proceeded to gesture at an imaginary calendar as he figured out the timeframe.
Paul glanced at his watch, his green eyes widened as he looked back at Coal, still standing. Paul stood up and held out his hand.
"Well, I have to get going, busy day today. I hope you'll think about it. I hope to see you in Lumiose City next time we meet."
Coal giggled "We'll see. Thanks for everything. Seriously, I mean it, it's quite an honor."
"Of course! You're quite the exceptional young man, no matter where you go, just keep aiming for greater heights, ok?"
Paul got up, made sure all of his items were on his person or in his briefcase, and proceeded to walk out into the city, where it was snowing heavily. His navy blue hair fluttered as he walked down the city block.
Coal adjusted the black winter knit-hat he always wore, with a small logo of a fireball with a white circle around logo itself had a grainy look to it, almost as though it was an old photo put onto the hat, mainly because the empty spaces in the logo were sprinkled with dots of white. Indoors or not, at least this time of the year, the hat was always on Coal's head. Even in classrooms, the winter weather was relentless every single day.
After arriving in his next class with a pass, since the talk with Paul put him off schedule, he sat in his desk, adjusting his position as the teacher turned mid-lecture and addressed Coal instantly.
"Coal, you're late, why? Or should I just put a tardy down?" The older woman teased at him. She did this with a lot of her students, but this class Coal was in got a particularly sarcastic treatment from her, likely because of the other students that needed to lighten up somewhat.
"Sorry, I'll explain after this class when I get a moment, its a bit of a long story. It'll make more sense then." He calmly replied, as the other students glared back at him, causing his face to heat up with embarrassment.
"Alright, so what I was saying before…." She continued with the lecture. Pokemon terminology, combined with basic lessons on rhetoric. A useful class in any profession, but Coal felt as though he had the terminology memorized for the most part, and the rhetoric was naturally easy for Coal to grasp when compared to more complicated topics like Geometry or Algebra.
Niter waited on the bleachers as Coal left the gym for the time being. While he'd love to watch a good battle, there were two truly beginner trainers, sheepishly calling out commands as both trainer and pokemon hesitated. Talking through the battle that Niter had would be a lot more productive for the both of them anyhow. Can't learn anything from this that I haven't already figured out. Who was that guy earlier though? Coal must be still talking to him. What's that about? Why wasn't I called too?
He felt a tap on his shoulder, not anyone he could recognize by that alone, he snapped to switch his view to the person behind him.
"You ok buddy? You look like you've been like a zombie since your battle ended, that isn't like you. Usually you're playing up your skills and how badly you wanted to keep going. Something up?" Niter sighed slightly, his friend Will just laughed a little bit, then his face shifted back to the serious expression. Will raised an dark brown eyebrow at him.
"I'm fine I guess, just disappointed more than anything I guess. I just want one battle to go all out. I've wanted to test myself, Coal has too, this system isn't designed for us I guess."
"Maybe so, but there is always a way to get better doing what you're doing now, isn't there?" Will asked.
"At this point, I doubt we can learn much more in this system. Me and Coal are pretty good at going situation by situation, we just want to string it all together one time. I'd love to test my Pokemon against his. I'm not sure what else the two of us could do to get better the way we are now."
"I guess so. Maybe coach will figure something out by the time we get back from winter break. I'll be honest, I want to see that battle too." Will hoped, his eyes glistened.
"I'm not that optimistic about it at this point." Niter sighed as he gathered his books for his next class.
Coal's mind was flooded with thoughts about who to choose. The list, however short it was, accommodated plenty of worthy choices. Some friends of his, some enemies via personality. Niter was on the list. For sure on that one, but who else could I pick? Coal's eyes darted around the list, nothing stood out at the time. Don't worry about it yet, you have plenty of time to think of who to pick. He told himself so he could calm down.
End of Phase 1
Author's Note: What'd you think? I really would appreciate any form of criticism, just...keep it civil, ok? Also, I'd like to let you all know 2 things.
A time skip occurs next chapter, it should make sense when it occurs.
The teams of Coal and Niter are 3 Pokemon each (for now), this gives me plenty to work with, and gives both characters and teams to grow. Growth is very important for me to showcase with this story, so I hope this can work for the best.