Herdier Versus Homework
My Herdier barked to get my attention.
I paused, about halfway through the three-hundred word essay on Why Type Match-ups are Important in a Pokemon Battle which I was writing for Mrs Norton, and looked down at the brown-and-black dog Pokemon that was looking up at me expectantly. He barked again, then placed his front paws on my leg, a relic from when he was a Lillipup and was small enough to sit on my lap. Now that he'd evolved, he was too big, but that didn't stop him from trying. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for him right now; Mrs Norton, the Strategy teacher at Striaton City's Pokemon Trainers' School, wanted that essay ready to hand in on Monday morning.
"I can't play right now," I said, gently pushing Herdier away. "I've got to finish this essay first. Then, we'll go outside and play. OK?" So the sooner he left me to get on with my homework, the sooner we could get out for a good game of catch with his favourite ball.
Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Shane and I'm another wannabe Pokemon Master - cliched, I know. But my parents didn't let me go off on a Pokemon journey when I turned ten; instead they insisted that I complete a year at the Trainers' School before they would even consider letting me go. However, they did give me my first Pokemon, a Lillipup which had recently evolved into the Herdier that was currently trying to get my attention.
Anyway, Herdier seemed to get the message, so I took a couple of minutes to read through what I'd written so far:
Type match-ups are important in a Pokemon battle because different Pokemon have different strengths and weaknesses. For instance, a Water Pokemon like my sister's Vaporeon is strong against a Fire Pokemon like Flareon but weak against an Electric Pokemon like Jolteon. If you know what Pokemon your opponent has, you can plan your strategy and choose which Pokemon to use against him or her.
For example, Gym Leaders usually only use one Pokemon Type. So, if you want to challenge a Gym, you should find out what Pokemon the Leader uses and choose which of yours would do best against those Pokemon. So, if I was fighting a Gym Leader who used Rock Pokemon, I would use Water or Grass Pokemon because Water and Grass are really good against Rock Types. But I would not use a Flying Pokemon because a Flying Pokemon would be weak against the Gym Leader's Pokemon.
Also, if a Pokemon . . .
Just then, I was interrupted by the ringing of my Xtransceiver, the mobile videophone my dad got me when I started at the Trainers' School. Leaving my essay on my bed, I picked up my Xtransceiver from my chest of drawers and pressed the Answer button. A dark-haired boy in a baseball cap appeared on the screen - my best friend, Tony. We met on the first day at the Trainers' School and hit it off immediately. Among the many things we had in common was the fact that our first Pokemon were both Normal Types; I had Lillipup (now Herdier) and Tony had a Zangoose.
Anyway, I answered my Xtransceiver to find that it was Tony calling me. He told me he'd finished his essay already and asked me if I wanted to come over to his place for a Pokemon battle later.
"I've still got a bit more to write," I told him. "But, yeah. I'll be over as soon as I'm done. Catch you later!"
"Yeah, catch you later!" And, with that, Tony ended the call.
Switching off my Xtransceiver, I turned just in time to see Herdier on my bed, apparently engrossed in something . . . It took about five seconds for me to realise that the thing he was engrossed in was my essay, only he wasn't reading it. What he was doing was chewing it to pieces, something he'd already done to the chart showing all the Pokemon that evolve using Stones which had been my Pokemon Evolution homework. I'd only turned my back for a few moments to answer my Xtransceiver and he'd trashed two lots of homework.
Before he could do any more damage, I grabbed his Poke Ball and pointed it at him. "Herdier, return!" I shouted, watching as he disappeared into the Ball. Why, I wondered, did it have to be my Strategy homework that got ruined? There was no way I could get the whole thing rewritten by Monday morning, especially when I'd have to redo the chart for Pokemon Evolution on top of that. But, if I had nothing to hand in, I'd be in even more trouble; Mrs Norton (or Crobat-face as some of us called her behind her back) was a stickler for deadlines. So all I could do was finish my essay as best I could and try to cobble something together for Pokemon Evolution.
Sighing, I smoothed out the crumpled and torn piece of paper and attempted to write around Herdier's tooth-marks.
"Damn Herdier!" I muttered. Yes, I suppose I should have been paying closer attention to him, but I was trying to do my homework, homework which he'd just ruined. It looked as though, no matter how well I did at the Trainers' School, a few Pokemon obedience classes would be called for before I could even think about taking Herdier on a Pokemon journey. He'd never refused to obey a battle command, but I'd only ever battled him against people we both knew. On the road, we would be battling against strangers and I wanted to be sure he could be trusted to obey me. And I certainly didn't want a repeat of what had happened only a few days ago.
My dad caught Herdier on the front lawn with our neighbour's Vulpix. The two of them were . . . Well, let's just say they weren't having a Pokemon battle. Needless to say, my dad turned the garden hose on them, sending both Pokemon running for cover. I was absolutely mortified and the last thing I wanted was for my Herdier to start doing what he'd been doing with the Vulpix with any Pokemon we might meet on the road.
Anyway, I set to work trying to finish my essay as best I could given the chewed-up condition of the paper. I knew I'd lose marks for scruffy presentation, but I didn't have much choice, not if I wanted to meet Crobat-face's . . . oops, I mean Mrs Norton's deadline.
Somehow, I managed to get the rest of the essay done, after which I set to work redoing the Stone Evolution chart which Herdier had ruined. I had to look up whether Petilil evolved into Lilligant using a Leaf Stone or a Sun Stone, but other than that there were no hitches. And I made sure there wouldn't be.
I kept Herdier in his Poke Ball for the rest of the day.
On Monday morning, I prepared to hand my essay in, knowing how Crobat-face . . . sorry, Mrs Norton would react. She was a stickler for neatness as well as deadlines, meaning your work not only had to be handed in on time, it also had to be well-presented. And this piece of paper with Herdier tooth-marks all over it, certainly wasn't well-presented by any stretch of the imagination. Only the knowledge that I'd be in trouble if I failed to hand anything in at all persuaded me to place the chewed and crumpled essay on Mrs Norton's desk.
She looked at me with the sort of expression which had earned her the nickname Crobat-face. "Shane Williams, what on Earth is this mess you've just handed me?!"
"My essay," I replied, sounding a little too innocent. "On Type match-ups."
"I can see that. But why is it in such a deplorable state?" She shoved the chewed-up piece of paper that contained my Strategy homework in front of my face.
"Well . . ." I hesitated, then ploughed straight on. "I was writing it when I got a call on my Xtransceiver. I only turned my back for a moment, but when I looked back, my Herdier was chewing my homework. I didn't have time to start over, so I . . ." I trailed off; the excuse for my messy homework, even though it was perfectly true, sounded lame and contrived. Worse, I knew Mrs Norton was not the sort of teacher who listened to excuses. And, sure enough . . .
"Well, however it got into this state, I do expect a certain level of neatness," Mrs Norton told me. "So I'm afraid that's an F . . ." She took out her red marker pen and wrote a capital F at the bottom of my essay. ". . . for poor presentation." It was about what I'd expected; with my essay in the state it was in, I'd known even before Mrs Norton saw it that I'd be lucky to get higher than a D minus. However good your work was in terms of content, if it was poorly presented, she would mark you down - severely.
"And," she went on, "I suggest you work on training your Herdier properly. Otherwise, you won't get very far when you start your Pokemon journey. You were planning on starting a journey?" she added, looking at me over the rim of her glasses.
"Yes, when I've completed a year here."
"Which is all the more reason to make sure you have a Pokemon that you can control, because . . ."
At that point, I lost interest in what Mrs Norton was saying. Instead, I sort of listened to her lecture, occasionally giving a mechanical "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Ma'am" whenever she paused for a moment. But, though I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying, I knew I could not afford a repeat of last weekend's little fiasco. I had to make sure Herdier didn't chew my homework again.
And that meant a few Pokemon obedience classes were in order.