The Pokémon Tournament!

Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

This story begins with Skylark Declan, a 14 year-old freshmen at the Pokémon Academy in Slateport City. He is a slim kid of about 5'8", and he had dark black hair. He usually wore jeans and a black hoodie he received from his late father. He had very white and clean tennis shoes, mainly because he barely did anything besides go to school in them. To most kids, all they knew about him was just his physical appearance.

He lived at home with his single-mother. About two years ago their dad died during a Team Rocket raid. They broke into the house, and when his dad tried to defend he was hit with a Weedle's poison dart in the neck and died. Since then, it was only the mom and Skylark living together.

Most kids tease him at school. They thought he was Goth, depressed, suicidal, all these horrible things. They called him names too. But in reality, it was because he was different. He had no Pokémon of his own; even the kids in the Junior Pokémon Academy had a Pokémon. In fact, most of them had two or three of their own that they caught; he had nothing.

At school, half of the day is spent in the gym. He arrives at 9 in the morning and stays until about 2. The first 3 hours of the day are spent watching other trainers and their Pokémon work out or battle each other to see who is the strongest. Then, they break for lunch. At 12:30 everyone goes to a Pokémon class, where they learn about the history of Pokémon and how to train them and a health class. They met every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Tuesday and Thursday were optional days to go train and practice in the gym. He excelled in the actual class, but in the gym he would fail. Having nothing to train, he would sit there and dream of having his own Pokémon.

He lived in the Hoenn region of the world, one of the most popular regions too. It was home of the third known generation of Pokémon, as well as the first two generations discovered. With this many Pokémon, it was easy for someone to go out and get their own Pokémon. But for Skylark it was difficult. He was a weak boy, and he was often frightened by them. He tried to capture a Spearow for himself once, but it broke the Pokéball and ran away.

Now, it was about halfway through the first semester now, roughly mid-October. He was sitting in the gym, watching two trainers going at it. "Caterpie! Use Stringshot!" One of them shouted. Caterpie nodded and shot out multiple feet of string, hitting the enemy's Elekid.

"Elekid! Use Tackle!" Elekid attempted to move, but only fell forward onto the ground. It struggled for about a minute before Caterpie strung into action.

"Caterpie! Tackle the Elekid!" Caterpie lunged forward and straight into the body of the Elekid. Elekid's face strained as he took the force of the tackle.

"Elekid, get back up and shake off the string!" Elekid stood up and created a small electrical shock, burning off some of the string.

"Don't give him the chance! Caterpie, tackle him!" Caterpie obeyed and tackled straight into Elekid's back. Elekid fell forward in pain, nearly fainted. However, the electrical charge paralyzed Caterpie for a minute.

"Take this to your advantage! Tackle him with all you got Elekid!" Elekid burned off the last of the string and ran to the Caterpie, who watched in horror as he was tackled by the electrical body of Elekid. Caterpie shrieked in pain as it was thrown feet away and then fainted.

"No! Caterpie! We were so close!" The trainer shrieked as they ran out to grab their fallen Pokémon. And they were right; Elekid had only 4 HP left. Another tackle would have done him in.

"Alright guys, call back your Pokémon. Good job everyone, it was a close game. Now, I want to remind you that we have a practice tournament tonight, and I expect to see all of you there!" The Gym Coach announced. Everyone nodded acknowledging his announcement, and then packed up to move onto lunch. As Skylark packed, his life-long rival moved forward.

"Well, Declan, what did you think today?" She mocked him. Her name was Celia Robin. She was about the same height as Skylark, and was just about as slim. She had long brown hair that came down to the middle of her back, and on her head she had a beanie cap with the exact colors of a regular Pokéball. She had a pair of jeans and snug boots, and she had a pink Jacket on almost all the time. The shirt under her jacket was black, just about as black as Skylark's hair. "Didn't me and Cyndaquil do well today?" She boasted about her Pokémon as she normally did. Cyndaquil ran up beside her, its fire on its back shining brightly.

"Yes." Skylark swiftly replied, continuing his packing up.

"Are you going to compete tonight in the practice tournament? Oh wait, that's right! You don't have a po-"

"I get it Celia. I don't have a Pokémon. But I'll be coming tonight, I suppose." And with that, Skylark stood up and took his backpack and walked out. Celia picked up Cyndaquil and walked the opposite way.

Skylark sat outside and ate his lunch alone. His mom made him a roast beef sandwich with salami, lettuce, onions and pickles. He also had a soft-drink and a bag of chips. He took his sandwich and began to gobble down on it. "Just wait. When I get a Pokémon, I'll school all of you. I'll be able to win all the tournaments. Heck, when I win all the tournaments I'll leave and set out for the Pokémon League." Skylark thought to himself. "I'll march down to the Kanto region and beat everyone there, then I'll go to the Johto and beat all the gyms and the league there! Then I'll come back home and beat all the gyms and the league! And…and then…heck, I'll go to the Sinnoh region too! Even Unova!"

Skylark happily devoured his sandwich as he planned out his ultimate goal. No longer would he be weak and defenseless, and no longer would his rival Celia gloat about her Cyndaquil. He would become the most powerful trainer in the world!

But sadly, reality striked him down. "That's right…I need a Pokémon first. And then I need to actually compete and win in tournaments." He began to grow more and more upset, realizing the near impossibility of his dream. He looked at his PokéDex given to him by the professor in town and then realized that he only had five minutes of lunch left. He quickly ate his remaining food, grabbed his backpack and ran back to class. "I'll get one someday…"

Later that night…

"Amazing! Just look at the speed and accuracy of this Cyndaquil!" The announcer roared. Half of the school was there, along with some of the Junior Pokémon Academy spectators and students. "The Cyndaquil used her smoke screen perfectly and delivered a near fatal blow to her opponent!"

"Uh…uh…" The other trainer mumbled to himself. "Dang it…my Eevee was no match for her Cyndaquil!" The trainer thought to himself. "Eevee! Counter-attack with a tackle of your own!" The trainer's Eevee nodded and ran out to meet Cyndaquil. Skylark was looking on with his PokéDex, and was reading the stats of each Pokémon. Eevee had about 8 HP left; Cyndaquil had about 19 HP.

Eevee ran into the smokescreen, unaware of the surroundings. From almost nowhere Cyndaquil leaped from some smoke and tackled Eevee in the side. Eevee was thrown out from the smoke and on the ground. "Ee-Eevee!" The trainer shouted. He began to run out onto the gym floor but was stopped by the Gym Teacher.

"Don't run out on the field! Eevee still has 2 HP left!" The Gym Teacher shouted. The trainer held himself back and watched as his Pokémon slowly stood up and turned to Cyndaquil, now uncovered by the smoke screen.

"Eevee! Tackle Cyndaquil!" The trainer shouted as Eevee ran forward, picking up speed.

"Dodge, Cyndaquil!" Celia ordered. Cyndaquil obeyed and jumped out of the way, and Eevee tackled the ground. The recoil of the tackle took out Eevee, and it fainted.

"Eevee!" The trainer shouted as he ran out onto the court. He cradled Eevee in his arms and then put it back in its Pokéball.

"The winner is none other than Celia Robin!" The Gym Teacher announced. The audience roared with cheer and applause. Skylark could overhear some of the comments from the audience members.

"I hear she's got the potential of a pro." One man said.

"I heard that she's going to the Pro Beginner Championship near the end of next summer in Pallet Town, in the Kanto League."

"It'd make sense, she's been undefeated for months now." This angered Skylark. Finally, he decided to leave. He had had it with the championship and the endless praise of Celia. It didn't help any that he had a crush on her. Torn by jealousy, envy, anger and infatuation, he hopped from the stands and ran outside.

Out there, he walked the long way home. He lived about ten minutes away walking, but he knew a long way that took about an hour. He could think about his life and relieve his anger. He was familiar with the road, for he had walked it a hundred times before. As he walked, he talked to himself. "Dang it Skylark. She's just a girl. Who happens to be your rival. And your crush. But mainly rival." He shook his head. "Why does it have to happen like this? Why does she have to be so pretty? Why can't I find a single Pokémon? This is just outrageous! The junior kids have like all these awesome Pokémon and I can't even find a freaking Zubat. Those things are EVERYWHERE. You know what? Some of the juniors have girlfriends too!"

He looked downcast as he scuffled down the seemingly endless dark road. "I think I may be sick tomorrow." He said aloud. "Not like anyone will miss me anyway." Finally, he was about halfway down the road when he heard a weird rustle in the bushes. He looked over and saw the shady shrubs shaking wildly. "Hey, who's there?" No response. "Hey, come on, who's there?" Again, no response. "Come on! Jack, is this you again? You did this last week." Still, the bushes continued to rustle.

"Bul…bulba…" A weak sound came out from behind the bushes. Skylark stared with eagle-like eyes as a small Bulbasaur wandered out from the dark bushes. "Bulbasa….bul…" It huffed out. It had several bruises and on its left leg it had a nasty burn. "Bulbasaur…" It huffed at as it stumbled to the ground. Skylark thought at first that it had fainted, but soon realized its breathing was heavy.

"Oh my God, it's almost dead!" Skylark shouted. He ran over to the Bulbasaur and picked it up. It weighed about 15 pounds, a little heavy for Skylark. But he ignored his heaviness and began to hug it close to him. He looked around, and then started to run back the way he came. "The Pokémon center should be back near the academy. If I run I could make it there within 15 minutes." Skylark thought to himself. "Don't you worry, little guy. I'll get you there safely." Skylark reassured the newfound Bulbasaur.