Pokémon Academy
Introduction to Battle Techniques
Her room was a mess! An anxious and restless night for Jade meant her books didn't get any peace either. She shuffled her feet trying not to disturb the sleep of a pile of papers on Pokémon evolution written by the infamous Professor Oak. A large chest at the foot of the bed was her next victim. She kneeled down and tore through its contents looking for her binoculars. Behind her, an alarm clock begged for attention.
"Do-Tri-Oh!" called the clock. She sprung from her crouch like a stalking Persian, and silenced the clock with the speed of a Pidgeot's Quick attack. Jade didn't want to wake her parents, who had been running samples in the lab downstairs until late. A quick look in the mirror saw her short green hair was a mess, making her think of an Oddish bathing in sunlight.
Her priorities were stone in her mind as she packed a bag; binoculars, Kanto Pokémon' field guide, and her notebook. Her uniform, neat and never worn, laid perched on her desk chair over a pile of more books about Pokémon ecology and distribution.
She burst out of her house with the energy of a rampaging Tauros. It was still very dark out, and school wasn't for a few hours. She breathed in the cool morning air and then listened.
"Oooh!" she started to herself. "Doduo, 30 degrees… Maybe 80 meters away."
Jade knew the woods outside of Pallet town like the back of her hand. Early September marked migration season in her part of Kanto, so she knew some interesting migrants would be coming through. Her navy school blazer offered her little protection from the frosty autumn air, but she knew the day was going to warm up. She began to walk slowly, marking in her notebook all of the species that she saw. "13 Rattata, 14, 15… no wait, that's a Mankey!"
The sun lazily rose to her right, preparing for the day's work. She continued North towards Viridian City. This was her favorite part of the day. The forest felt more alive than ever as the first rays of sun breached through the canopy. She continued on the trail for non-Trainers, clear of the tall grass. Jade listened and watched as the blades of grass popped to life and shook off the morning dew. She approached her favorite part of the trail, where the Viridian City Lake could be seen from above the walking trail.
Looking out at the lake, Jade drew her binoculars. With her notebook at the ready, she began to list of species.
"About 0630 hours," she began saying to herself again as she scanned the shore. "Two Farfetch'd wading -one male and one female. 1 Pikachu drinking water. 4 Butterfree flying overhead…"
Jade's count was interrupted by a strange form sitting on the shore about a hundred meters away. The sun was to its back, but she could tell that it was not a Pokemon, but a boy wearing the same school uniform as her. He was also a student at Viridian City Pokemon Academy. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the grass before the lake fishing, with what appeared to be an old fishing rod. She couldn't get a really good look at him through her binoculars due to the glare of the sun rubbing the sleep from her eyes. But even sitting, she could tell that he was very tall. "Probably an upper-classman," she said to herself. He had long bluish-green hair that came down the sides of his face past his ears. He looked so at peace, and he reminded Jade of a Pokémon in its natural habitat.
His attention broke as a flock of Spearow started to crow from the direction behind Jade. He looked her way, and she realized what a creep she must have looked like with her binoculars on him. She pretended, in vain, to be looking at something in the distance, but she was busted. She put her binoculars behind her back, and waved an awkward and guilty wave.
"Time to run," she said as she skipped North towards school.
Jade got to school at a 7:15 a.m., and still had an hour before the first bell would ring. This wasn't her first time at Viridian City Pokémon Academy, known as The Vird for those in the know. Her parents worked for Professor Oak, and were very involved in the opening of the school.
The academy would be celebrating its fifth year anniversary this September. Jade approached the tall black gates embroidered with the Pokémon League Symbol; a backwards "L" with a Pokéball in the middle. The building was state of the art with four battle arenas, 16 lecture halls, a separate wing for technology and research development, 2 nurseries, and a beautiful long front lawn that made Jade think of the plains of the Safari Zone.
No matter how old she got, the school always looked so large and intimidating. She stood at the iron gates, and appreciated the greenest ivy strangling the metal and climbing upwards toward the sun. The gates were only slightly ajar, and she squeezed herself through the opening. She walked the path, followed by a triplet of curious Oddish. They sang behind her as she made her way to a large fountain engraved with the names of wealthy Vird alumni or parents.
Jade didn't know how much time had passed. Her head was buried in a field guide on water Pokémon as she tried to determine the genders and ages of the Goldeen splashing around the fountain. Her uniform was damp from the ledge of the fountain and the splashes of her new friends, but she didn't mind.
"Goldeen" the smaller Goldeen with the longer horn said.
"Yes -yes, I know. You are a Goldeen," she laughed to herself. Living in Pallet town, there weren't a lot of neighborhood kids her age. It was a small town mostly occupied by retirees. Without any siblings, she spent a lot of time playing with neighborhood Pokémon or older technicians at Prof. Oak's lab.
"Making friends I see?" a voice sounded from above her. She failed to notice that another student had made his way through the gates. She raised her head from her book.
"Excuse me?" Her eyes met the young student. With long blue-green hair, a Vird uniform, and an old fishing rod over his shoulder, it was the young man from the lake.
"Nothing, I didn't mean to interrupt your profound conversation," he mocked as he took a seat next to her on the fountain.
His name was Teal and he was also a first year at The Vird. He sat back on the fountain and reached his hand into the cool water. With a casual stroke, he smoothed his hair and stretched his neck.
"There's some mud on the ground behind the fountain if you want a more permanent hair-do," Jade joked back.
They made with the usual greetings. Where they were from, there favorite Pokémon, and favorite Pokémon trainers…
"Really? You like Gold over Red?" Jade laughed. "And let me guess, Erica is your favorite gym leader?"
"That's rich from someone who thinks Karen is the best Elite Four member!" he countered.
"Gold is so overrated!"
"So NOT! Look," Teal replied pulling out a binder from his bag. It was full of Trainer Cards. He went through the pages and Jade noticed that they were arranged by Region. He switched to the Johto pages and had a whole page of gold-foiled cards dedicated to the Pokémon Trainer Gold.
"You are such a nerd!"
"Shut up! Like you didn't have a Trainer Card Collection!"
"Well actually," Jade started and pulled out her wallet. Out of it she pulled out copy of the Rookie card for Pokémon Trainer Scarlet in a plastic card protector. Scarlet was a local hero. She grew up in Viridian City and attended the first ever graduating class of The Vird. She won the Pokémon League tournament in her first year and was favored to go all the way this year. Her card was silver-foiled and showed her powerhouse team of Pokémon, including her magnificent Blue-Flamed Rapidash.
"Shut up!" Teal exclaimed impressed.
"Yup."
"Do you know how much that card is worth?"
"Don't care. It is priceless to me!"
"Think she is gonna go all the way this year?"
"I don't know; the Johto League is pretty competitive this year."
"And she'll have to face your Karen if she wins the tournament..."
"I think I'd faint if that match up ever happened!"
The two of them laughed and joked on that fountain, going through Trainer cards and possible match ups. They hadn't even realized how much time had passed and the field was now full of Vird students.
"Ahem!" an interrupting cough brought them back to reality. It came from a beautiful girl with long cascading dark-red hair. Her name was Merlot, and she wielded a pair of piercing grey-blue eyes that captured and impaled all those that dared to meet them. They were wearing the same school uniform, but Jade might as well have been wearing sweats. Merlot's uniform accentuated every curve of her body and made Jade feel very self-conscience.
"Hey Merl, what's going on?" Teal said with a smile.
Merlot had both of her hands resting on her hips in a territorial stance. She spoke while making eye contact with Jade, holding her ground like a Rhyhorn about to charge.
"You were supposed to wait for me this morning Teal!" she said annoyed.
"Sorry, the weather was so beautiful I figured I'd hit the lake for a bit," Teal replied holding up his fishing rod.
"Well you're here now, with me," she said making sure to not break eye contact with Jade. Jade didn't know what to do. She tried to avoid the predator's eyes as much as she could, without yielding, meeting the girl's ears and nose and then eventually looking down.
"Hi. I'm Jade and I'm from…"
"Teal!" Merlot interrupted. "There are some guys I want you to meet."
A trio of grinning faces approached the fountain. The trio was led by a sharply dressed young man with purple hair named Indigo. His uniform was also the standard Vird navy uniform, except his jacket had golden buttons and had been embroidered with an intricate and beautiful design. Indigo was flanked on both sides by a young man and another young woman who made sure to always hang one step behind him.
"This is Indigo," Merlot started. "Our dads are family friends who used to train together."
"Sup," Teal nodded his head without much enthusiasm.
"Teal, it is very important to strategically choose our classmates," Merlot replied, obviously very annoyed. "The friends we make in school will be important on our journey. We will share information on the location of Hidden Machines, Gym battle strategies, and the locations of rare Pokémon."
Jade now felt very invisible and looked for any excuse to get away. "Hey Teal, Imma get going. Gonna, you know, prep for class."
"Yeah, I'll catch you later Jade."
Jade turned around and could feel Merlot's eyes between her shoulder blades. It was a difficult feeling to shake, even when she was out of eyesight, like the Intimidate Ability of a wild Ekans. She became very self-conscience again and straightened up her posture.
Jade found an empty table to sit at and pretended to take inventory of the items in her bag. Binoculars, Notebook, a few empty Pokeballs… She let out a defeated sigh but then realized she wasn't alone at the table. Jade heard the loud guitar solo to one of her favorite songs playing and looked to the right to see another young Vird student playing music through his headphones.
"I love The Iron Barbs!" Jade exclaimed to her classmate. "I saw them in Saffron this summer!"
She looked over and saw that the boy could not hear her. His face was glued to his laptop and his music was on way too loud through oversized headphones. He also appeared to be a first year student. He wore a brown hooded sweatshirt over his uniform and had straight dark brown hair creeping over his square framed glasses. He was round faced and looked much younger than his age, a difference made more noticeable by the difficult lines of code he was writing on his computer.
"Well, it was nice talking to you," she joked as the boy continued to ignore her.
The rest of the morning went by pretty unspectacularly. Every class had been a little bit of the same. Stale introductions, cheesy ice breakers, and reading of syllabi. Jade felt as if she was on autopilot for the entire day like a Pokémon using Sleep Talk.
"I am from Pallet Town… Sigh. I like Pokémon… Yawn," she found herself reciting the same typical lines. In each class Merlot attached to Teal like a Shellder on a Slowpoke. She yearned for the honest and effortless conversation she had with Teal this morning and was having a hard time connecting to any other students.
"Alright, now you will all be changing and going to Basic Battle Techniques," the History of Pokémon Professor said dismissing them.
Finally Battle Techniques! It was the one class that Jade had been looking forward to the most. She took a jog to the locker room and changed into her gym uniform.
"Hey," called a voice from above Jade as she tied her sneakers. "Jade right?"
It was Merlot again, joined by the female member of Indigo's entourage. Jade thought her name was Tangerine or something like that.
"Want to walk with us to Battle Techniques?"
Jade's first instinct was that it was a trap. She already painted Merlot as a territorial predator, and didn't want anything to do with her.
"I know I come off as very aggressive and fiery. It's in my blood. I'm really serious about being a Pokémon Trainer and Teal is one of my best friends. He is really quite special huh?"
"Umm… Yeah. Like, he's cool… and stuff."
"Haha! I knew you'd get it! He is such a deep and sensitive soul. You know he writes poetry and draws and I just always took it as my job to watch over him. Especially when it came to prospective girlfriends like you."
"Prospective what!"
"Haha! You are too cute Jade," she held out her hand. "Come, I know a shortcut to class."
The two of them walked arm in arm through the halls. The other girl skipped along behind them. Merlot released Jade's arm and spun on her heels with the grace of a dancing Dragonair.
"This way, it's a shortcut," she said reaching for a door.
"I can't wait for Battle Techniques. I heard that," Jade started but was interrupted by a shove on her back. She fell forward into the room and the door was shut behind her. She collided into unknown items in the dark as she fell, the rest of the closet's supply falling on top of her.
"HEY!" she screamed as she felt around in the dark broom closet. She tried the door but it wouldn't budge. "Let me out!"
Jade knocked and pushed at the door, but it was futile. She was locked in the closet and thought she would miss her first day of Battle Techniques. That was when she realized she wasn't alone in the closet.
"Grime! Grime-Grimer!"
"Oh great!"
Jade continued to push against the closet door as a very friendly Grimer continued to climb up her leg. Her uniform was now covered in… well grime! She started to get used to the smell of the over eager Pokémon who just wanted to be held.
"I know buddy. You were locked in here too," she said petting the Pokemon's head. "I'll get us out."
She continued to knock and scream knowing that no one may hear her because everyone was in class. She wasn't sure how many minutes had passed since the bell rung, but she was pretty sure no one would find her until after class ended.
She continued knocking, less enthusiastically this time, knowing that it was in vain. To her surprise the door opened. On the other side of the door was the Vird student from this morning with the hoodie and headphones. He held his laptop under his arm as he looked down at his feet.
"Thanks!" Jade started to his savior, but he started to walk away.
"No Problem. I was just looking for the bathroom," he said very low.
Jade gave a huge laugh and threw her arms around him. "Sorry, I forgot that I was, well I was sludged by this Grimer here."
"You're late to class," he said in response unenthusiastically. His arms remained at his sides as Jade continued to embrace him.
"YOU ARE THE BEST!" she screamed as she began to run down the hall to class.
Her uniform was covered in grime and she must have smelled horrible, but that didn't matter. Merlot had declared war against her and Jade wasn't going to let her win. She burst into Battle Arena Green. The Vird Battle Arena was actually an official Pokémon League Gym. It was a state of the art, modern facility, and her classmates were crowding around the Battle Teacher in the middle of the arena.
"Nice of you to join us," the teacher said as she joined the group. She was a beautiful young woman, no older than 30. She wore a green tracksuit with her purple hair tied behind her head in a ponytail.
"What is that smell?" Merlot mocked, curling up closer to Teal's arm.
"I'm sorry, I was…"
"Going to give me a long winded and unnecessary excuse," the teacher responded. "Well, I guess now I no longer have to pick a second volunteer. Position yourself opposite from Merlot in the battle arena please."
Merlot's eyes glowed at another opportunity to embarrass Jade. They took positions at opposite ends of the arena in the boxes labeled for Trainers. Jade was on the Green-side and Merlot on the Red-side.
"So we are going to continue our discussion on Pokémon Abilities," the Professor said as she took position in the middle of the arena. The rest of the classmates took their positions in the auditorium seating. The arena had been set up so that students could watch Gym battles as part of their regular curriculum. Jade met Teal's eyes and Teal gave her an encouraging thumb up.
Next to Merlot and Jade, pieces of the wooden paneled floor folded aside and a computer module erected itself out of the ground. Each computer had a screen, keyboard, and six divots for Pokéballs. Only one Pokéball occupied the divots on each of their terminals.
"The first thing that takes effect during a Pokémon battle are the Pokémon's abilities. It is a passive effect that a Pokémon automatically uses when they enter the battlefield. Now pick up your Pokémon ladies."
Merlot grabbed her Pokeball with haste and released an Ekans. The large snake Pokémon let out a loud and proud hiss as it awaited its opponent. Jade grabbed her pokeball and squeezed it tight, imagining her hands around Merlot's throat. She released her Pokeball to reveal a beautiful and spectacularly red Vulpix. The fox Pokémon responded to Jade's fury and bared her fangs at the large snake Pokémon.
"Now, who can tell me what Ekans' ability is?"
Jade ignored what the Professor was saying, and only focused on the opponent across from her. This time she met Merlot's eyes directly as Vulpix met the Intimidate Ability of Ekans' eyes.
"And what is Vulpix's ability?"
"Isn't it Run Away?" Merlot answered with a large grin.
"Exactly. Now Jade, use your Pokémon's Ability to call Vulpix back to its Pokeball."
"Yeah Jade, run away!" Merlot laughed.
"Vulpix," Jade started, holding up her Pokeball to recall her Pokémon. She changed her mind. "Ember!"
With a flash of fire, Vulpix hit Ekans square in the face with a small fireball. The rest of the class screamed and cheered while Merlot dropped her smug grin.
"Jade! Call your Pokémon back!"
"Ekans! Rip that fox apart!"
"Lets go Vulpix!"