Pokémon Academy
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, the Pokemon present in this writing belong to their respective creators. I do own the characters and ideas, however. This is intended to be a pokemon fan fiction using OC characters and staged in a different setting.
*Foreword: This is my primary Pokemon fan fiction! The reason I say "primary" is because I have tons of other Pokemon fan fictions I'm working on. I probably won't start those until this one is finished. I always wanted to know what life would be like growing up with Pokemon. This is a story about just that. These teenagers are currently attending a Pokemon Finishing school, where they will learn to become good trainers. Only, they are going to need more than book sense to make it in the Jewel League! I will also leave you with a warning. My Pokemon fan fiction is a bit different from other Pokemon titles. My stories center around human relationships, with Pokemon there as a backdrop. If it's not a battle, contest, or other Pokemon's event, then the story will mainly focus on how the trainers interact with one another. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Pokémon School
We live in a world inhabited by creatures called Pokémon. Some people keep Pokémon as pets, others capture them and make them battle. Those that make Pokémon battle are called Pokémon trainers. That's one of the first things you learn in school. I live in Ruby City, located in the Jewel Region. Ruby City is known for two things. One is the Fire-type Gym. The other is the Pokémon Academy. This school teaches hopeful trainers everything they need to know to become successful. All of the best gym leaders also graduated from this school. There are three levels: Trainer, Gym Leader and Elite Four. If you graduate all of the classes, it's guaranteed you are ready to take on the Jewel League Challenge. Of course, you still have to capture some pokémon and collect the eight gym badges. Some students already have pokémon while they're here. Most trainers have one or two. Gym leaders have three. The ones in the Elite Four class have four at most. The more you have, the more popular you are.
I just started the Trainer class. My name is Anna. I want to be a pokémon trainer and collect badges. My mom sent me to the local school so I could go prepared, since she failed at pokémon training when she was young. I would never make the same mistake. I took a deep breath, and walked into the school building. It opened into a hallway. On one hall, there were three classrooms for each level of student. On the other, were rooms such as the cafeteria, bathrooms and library. I reluctantly opened the door to the trainer's classroom.
"Hey, Anna!" My friend, Tanya called as soon as the door closed behind me. She was up in the front row, waving crazily to me. I smiled shyly and hurried up to take a seat beside her, wishing she hadn't drawn so much attention to me. All the new trainers were looking at me! "I'm so glad you can come to school with me! Now we can both be trainers together!" She continued. A glint of red caught my eye. I turned and gasped.
It was Blayze, as in, totally gorgeous, gym-leader's-brother, most-popular-guy-in-school Blayze. And he was walking right up to my row. Blayze had graduated the trainer class last year, and now he was a gym leader student. We talked sometimes, but I still didn't count him as a close friend. The only thing I knew is that like his sister, he liked fire type pokémon and planned to take over the gym one day. He had blazing red hair, a burnt orange jacket, and regular jeans on. The pleasant smile that was always on his face stayed in place as he approached my desk. I probably looked like an idiot, but at least I remembered not to drool.
"Hey Anna." He said, stopping in front of me. It took a minute for me to register that he actually spoke to me.
"Hi Blayze..."
"I wanted to congratulate you for passing the entrance exam, now you are a real trainer. Good job." He winked at me. I heard some girls behind me sigh.
"Th-thanks!" I said, blushing.
"Hey Blayze! Hurry up! Class is starting!" A girl's voice called from the door. I turned and saw her. Pretty much the only girl I despised.
"I'm coming, Stephanie. Just a sec." He looked annoyed, but he smiled again when he turned to me. "We should battle sometime. See ya." He said, waving and walking off.
"I would like that." I said hurriedly. He turned to respond with a smile before walking out with Stephanie. She was also a gym leader, but talked up her abilities way past exaggeration. She dressed like an elite trainer, which she was far from. Worst of all, she was totally after Blayze.
"Wow. Blayze totally likes you!" Tanya, who had been conveniently quiet, chimed beside me.
"I don't think so. He was just being welcoming."
"Did he welcome any other new trainer? No!" Tanya showed no sign of giving this up.
"Maybe he does." I said, giving in. As if… I thought to myself.
"You really should get him before Stephanie does. I don't like the looks of her." Tanya frowned.
"Nobody likes the looks of her." I giggled.
The teacher walked in after that. "Hello trainers." He said. Everyone greeted him in unison. He was tall and slender, and had black hair. He looked only about 30, maybe younger.
"My name is Mr. Green." He said, putting a hand on his chest. "I will be your teacher for the remainder of this year." He wore a plain white shirt with a green and black striped tie, with black slacks and shiny black shoes.
I thought that was funny, his name being "Green." I wondered if he liked grass-type pokémon. Being the curious and interesting person she is, Tanya raised her hand eagerly.
"Mr. Green! Do you like grass pokémon?"
"Why yes, I do, matter of fact." He pulled out a pokéball and threw it. A Victreebel popped out and made a weird growling sound. The class "ooohed" and "ahhhed" at it.
"It looks like it wants to eat us." I whispered to Tanya.
"Yeah, it kinda does. I always thought Victreebel were creepy-looking." Tanya whispered back.
Mr. Green recalled the pokémon. "You all will learn how to raise pokémon to be powerful like that when you finish school. This is the first step. Now let's get into today's lesson."
Mr. Green began a lecture on the different types of pokémon, then gave out a sheet with pictures of different pokémon on it, and a line where we had to write in the type.
"Golem, rock...Oddish, grass...Squirtle, water...Pidgey, flying...Nidoran, poison...Pikachu, electric...Mankey, fighting...Umbreon, dark...Jigglypuff, normal...Jynx, ice...Abra, psychic...Magnamite, steel...Sandshrew, ground...Growlithe, fire...Gengar, ghost...Caterpie, bug...Dragonair, dragon..." It was tough work, but I finally matched all of them. By the end of the day, I was tired. "At least I know all the types now..." I muttered to Tanya as we walked to her house for an after-school snack.
"Tomorrow we will learn about secondary types!" Tanya chimed.
"Secondary types? What are those?"
"Some pokémon have secondary types, like my Wingull is a flying/water type!" She threw a pokéball, and a white seagull-like bird with blue stripes on the tips of its wings came out.
"Wingull!" It cried, circling Tanya, then happily sitting itself on her shoulder.
"I don't even have a pokémon yet..." I hung my head.
"We gotta go catch you one soon! We start trainer battles Friday."
"Tanya, how do you know this stuff?"
"I borrowed a class schedule..."
"You stole it from the teacher, didn't you?"
"He had a bunch of copies, right on his desk!"
"Tanya, if you were a pokémon, your attack would be thief!" She was always 'borrowing' things. My Tanya was a kleptomaniac.
We ate cookies at her house, changed out of our school uniforms, then did our usual thing, wandering aimlessly around town. We liked to look at the sights and watch pokémon battles. Today, we got lucky. Just outside of town, a Squirtle was battling a Pidgeotto. We stopped to watch.
"That Squirtle is amazng! It will beat that Pidgeotto!" Tanya said, already way into it.
"Gull!" Wingull chirped in agreement.
"I wouldn't be so sure, that Pidgeotto is much bigger." I said.
"Okay Squirtle, withdraw and then use skull bash!" The Squirtle withdrew into its shell, then popped out and ran on all fours at the Pidgeotto with its head lowered.
"Pidgeotto, fly!" The Pidgeotto took off into the air.
"Squirtle, use water gun!" The Squirtle fired a powerful stream of water at the airborne Pidgeotto. It managed to clip a wing, sending the Pidgeotto spiraling to the ground.
"Pidgeotto!" The trainer cried.
"Pidgeotto is done for!" The Squirtle's trainer called. It was true. The Pidgeotto crashed on the ground and was too tired to get up.
The Pidgeotto's trainer smiled. "Good work, Pidgeotto. Take a rest." He recalled the pokémon and walked over to the Squirtle's trainer. "Good battle."
"Same to you." He recalled his Squirtle. "Good fight, Squirtle!" They shook hands, and went separate ways.
"Wow, that Squirtle must have a high level of skill." I said, amazed.
"Aww, that Squirtle was cute! And so strong!" She sighed.
"Have you ever met a water pokémon you didn't love?"
"Nope. I think I'll end up with a whole team of water pokémon!"
"What will you do at the electric and grass gyms?"
"I don't know...but we can deal." Tanya sounded confident, grinning with her thumb up.
"Good thing I'll have a balanced-out team."
"Oh, that's right! We need to get you a pokémon, Missy!"
"Mind if I tag along?" Blayze was just coming out of the Ruby Gym, his favorite Charmander at his side.
"Not at all! Anna will love your company!" Tanya replied cheerfully.
I nodded wildly in agreement.
"Oh that's right; Anna doesn't have a pokémon yet." Blayze suddenly recalled. I felt like a total idiot.
"But you can help her get one, right?" Tanya encouraged.
"Char and I will help you out as much as we can."
"Charmander!" The Charmander seemed to agree.
We went into the outskirts of town, in the forested area that led to Onyx Cave, the only way to get to Garnet Town. It was a pass to get on to Sapphire City, where the next gym was. I took a quick glance around. There were plenty of trees, blocking out much of the light. Some beams broke through and shined down in ribbons all throughout the small patch of forest. The grass had grown tall here, it almost measured up to my knees!
"Great! The grass is tall and there are lots of trees, a great place to find some forest pokémon!" Tanya cheered.
"Oh, it's a pokémon!" I said, pointing to a small purple rat that ran out of the bushes. It picked up a nut that had fallen from a tree off the ground and began nibbling away at it.
"Yeah, that's a Ratatta! It's perfect for a beginning trainer!" Blayze said.
"Okay, I'll get it!" I eagerly pulled out a pokéball. In the preliminary classes, they told us that you had to throw a pokéball at a wild pokémon to get it. As soon as I heard that, I spent my allowance on pokéballs so I could get one and be cool like the others that would be in my class. I had no such luck...yet. But today that was going to change. "Pokéball, GO!" I threw it swiftly at the Ratatta, who was still distracted by the nut.
"Anna, wait-" Blayze had started to say, but the ball was already thrown and the Ratatta was already in it.
I smiled wide and ran to pick up my new captured Ratatta, but the ball started shaking. "What's going on?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.
"Anna, the pokémon can escape! Just because it's in the ball doesn't mean it's captured!" Tanya explained.
"Really?" My heart dropped. Sure enough, the Ratatta broke free, hissed, and then ran away. "Aww..." I hung my head. Totally embarrassing.
"Don't you know anything?" The voice I heard wasn't Tanya or Blayze, so I turned to see who...of course, Stephanie had hung back to watch my epic failure.
"Get lost!" Tanya growled. Stephaine ignored her.
"You have to weaken a pokémon with one you already have in order to catch another! A healthy pokémon has enough energy to escape!" She walked to stand near Blayze. Her eyes suddenly got wide. "Wait Anna, don't tell me..." She paused, stifling a giggle. "You don't have a single pokémon, do you? Oh, wait until your class hears about this!"
"I...have to go." I was drowning in embarrassment. I did the only thing I could do - retreat. So I ran to the only safe place I could think of...home. Mom would know what to do.