Chapter 2 – School Tests
Setting: Sanromolo, Italy
11:43 A.M., February 26th, 2012
The cars slowly moved down the street. Rictor thought it must have been an accident. As the minutes passed by, he decided to use the time to advantage. He opened his backpack and pulled out his homework. He checked the answers:
1. If a hitmonchan uses Sky Uppercut while Pidgeot is using fly, will the attack hit? Yes
2. Is an attack super effective when the attack does less than it should?
No
3. When using earthquake, what happens to a pokemon using dig?
It does twice the damage
4. If a Pikachu uses thunderbolt on a Gyrados, what happens?
The damage is quadrupled
5. If a pokemon uses sunny day, does a pokemon have to wait to use Solar Beam?
No, at least until it wares off
The car halted to a stop at the school.
"Rictor, I'll see you after school." said Mr. Teller. Rictor hopped out of the car, walked toward the school, and saw one of his friends, Pete, at the entrance. He waved and said hello.
"Hey Pete, what period do we start in?" he asked.
"Since it's a late start, 7th period. Only three periods today," replied Pete.
"See you in strategy class, than." He waved goodbye and walked upstairs. He climbed up and walked to his locker. Opening his locker, he searched for his textbooks and put his backpack away. He walked to the end of the hall and into a lab. Most of the students were already seated. Taking his seat, he looked around. He looked to his side and saw the seat empty. It had belonged to his best friend, Sara Mider. He wondered where she was. He also noticed his teacher, Mr. Drillion, was nowhere to be found. The bell rang as the loudspeaker went on.
-Attention students, because of the late start, there will be only 7th, 8th, and 9th period today. In addition, because of so many parents calling the school regarding the Italian Pokemon League Challenge, any student who wishes to get their first pokemon early so they can registrate must schedule a meeting.
The students looked pleased at this news. After a few minutes, Mr. Drillion came in the classroom.
"Silence, students, silence," said Mr. Drillion. He clapped his hands twice to encourage the silence. "If you are wondering why there was a meeting today, its regarding the IPLC. According to the Board of Pokemon Education, teachers must sum up all of the basic information on Pokemon for the people wishing to try the challenge. So, lets get started on status effects. Everyone pull out your notebooks. You should take good notes, those of you taking the challenge. You can always look at your notes if you are in any trouble." He pulled out a couple Pokeballs. He threw them into the air, releasing a red light shooting from each of them. A Butterfree, Arcanine, Jynx, and Delcatty appeared. As they were materializing, the door opened. Sara came through with her books and a pass. She handed the pass to Mr. Drillion, who nodded in approval. She sat down next to him, smiling.
"Where were you?" Rictor asked.
"Tell you later," said Sara smugly, shoving her long brown hair out of her blue eyes.
"Excuse me, Mr. Teller, if you enjoy talking so much, would you care to tell me what a burn from a Arcanine does?" said Mr. Drillion. Rictor was startled.
"I think it hurts the pokemon that is burned," said Rictor unsurely.
"Nice try, but you're overlooking an important detail. Burn doesn't just hurt a Pokemon once, but over and over again," said Mr. Drillion smiling. "Good job, but next time, please refrain from talking in my class. Now lets continue. There are eight status effects. Paralysis, Burn, Freeze, Sleep, Poison, Confusion, Attraction, and Flinch. Lets start with Paralysis. Paralysis is an effect that causes a Pokemon to be unable to move. Here is an example. Butterfree, uses Spore on Delcatty." Butterfree flashed its wings, releasing spores flying toward Delcatty. As they hit Delcatty, she flinched with fear. She tried to move, but found herself unable to.
"That is a paralysis. It can be cured by any items, but Paralyz heal is the most use," said Mr. Drillion. He kneeled down, feeding Delcatty some medicine. It seemed cured. "Next is a Burn. This, as Mr. Teller told us, is a effect that slowly hurts the pokemon it is inflicted on." Arcanine hoped over to Delcatty, almost as if on cue, and used flame wheel. Fire erupted from the fur on its body and circled around Delcatty. Delcatty yelped in pain. The class could clearly see it was in pain. "This can be cured with a burn heal. Next is sleep. Sleep is a status effect that obviously puts the inflicted to sleep. A useful strategy if you need time." Butterfree flew to Arcanine and once again erupted a spore from its wings. These were white, like floating cotton balls. They touched Arcanine, making him curl up in a ball, falling to sleep.
"Aw, he is so cute when he sleeps," whispered Sara. Rictor rolled his eyes.
"This can be cured with Awakening. The Pokemon will eventually wake up, even if you do not use it. Next is an interesting technique, and a rare one at that. Freeze is an effect that buries a Pokemon in ice, so it is unable to wake up." Jynx waved her hands, shooting snow out of it. Butterfree froze up, hidden by a small glacier of ice. "This is healed by Ice Heal. Next is Poison, which is similar to a Burn. The only difference is that if a pokemon is badly poisoned, the longer in battle, the more damage the poison causes." He feed Butterfree the Ice Heal so it was unfrozen. It then used poison power on Jynx. Jynx flinched in pain as Delcatty did. "This is cured by Antidote." He fed the rest of the Pokemon their medicine. "The next three are effects that can't be cured with items. Flinch is a one-round effect that causes the pokemon to cower in fear. Confusion is an annoying move that causes a pokemon to accidentally hurt itself. Finally, attraction is a effect that works on pokemon of the opposite sex. They fall in love and don't want to attack the one it is in love with. Now, I'll give you time to finish your notes." Rictor started scribbling down moves. His favorite effect was poison. The idea of an attack that hurt a pokemon even if it is shielded.
"Once you're done, head to the front of the class to take a worksheet. You have the rest of the class to finish it.
In gym class, they started to play dodge ball. Rictor was on Sara's team. Even if this was a school for young trainers, they still had physical education. He looked over at his best friend, who was going over her work sheet.
"Hey Sara, how did you like the last lesson? It was pretty cool, I think," asked Rictor.
"Eh. It was O.K.," replied Sara. "Don't you want to know why I was late today?"
"No," he laughed at the shocked look on her face. "Just kidding."
"Oh…" said Sara, relieved. "Well, guess what I am doing after school." She didn't wait for him to answer. "I get to join the IPLC. I am signing up after school. We had a meeting this morning with the principle."
"That is awesome. My dad said I could sign up after school."
"That is great. Do you have any idea what Pokemon you want?"
"After that lesson, I think something that can annoy another Pokemon to the point of fainting. Like a poison type."
"I dunno. I want something tough. Like a syther."
"Who do you think you're kidding. 'I want something tough'. Sure. Whatever you say," teased Rictor. This upset Sara, so she grabbed a dodge ball and whacked it at his head.
"Hey-, no head shots. Besides, I'm on your TEAM," said Rictor laughing.
On the way to 9th period, an announcement was made:
-Any student planning on trying the IPLC, please stop by the Main Office for a registration test.
They walked to the Office. He asked the AID at the counter if he was allowed to join even if his father didn't call the school.
"Are you Rictor Teller?" she asked. He nodded. "Your father called right after school started. You are fine," she assured him. They walked into a room with a few students sitting at desks. Rictor and Sara chose to seats at the back of the class. Most of the kids looked older than him, but he saw two girls from his grade. After a few minutes of waiting, Principle Walsner came in with a pack of handbooks.
"You have all been given permission to join the IPLC and get your first Pokemon on one condition. You must pass an evaluation test to proceed. Any grade higher above a 70 passes. Do not worry, it is not difficult, and your teachers assured me that you went over these problems in class. Once you are finished, bring the packet to me. I will give you a questioner. This is not for a grade, it is just to show you what type of pokemon you will be compatible with. You by no means must stick with this type only. To get all 8 badges, you must use strategy and all sorts of types to make it to the Championship. There is no time limit. There is no penalty for guessing. Take your time, and be sure to review your answers before you turn it in. You make begin."
The sounds of everybody flipping their papers filled the room. Rictor quickly started the test. To his surprise, the questions were really simple.
What type of Pokemon is Machamp?
Fighting Type
Why is it good to use Rain Dance before Thunder?
It makes Thunder always hit
Is Rock good against Flying or Grass?
Flying
After the first thirty questions, Rictor got insanely bored. The Principle walked around the room, checking how people were doing. The only sounds were the clock clicking and the scratching of pencils. He looked at Sara. She was working hard. She looked forward. A muscular kid was sitting in front him. He had a Charizard tattooed to it.
"Pay attention, Mr. Teller," said Mr. Walsner. He clapped his hands to get his attention. Rictor started again. He finished the test and handed it in. He grabbed a questioner. He started it.
If you could live anywhere, would you live in the Amazon or the Nile?
What does this have to do with anything, he thought. He answered Amazon.
Would you rather eat lobster or crab?
This is random. He answered lobster.
He finished the questioner at about the same time Sara got up to turn in her first test.
"Good job Mr. Teller, go wait in the Office lounge. Rictor walked to the Lounge awaiting his results.