THIS IS IN BARZINI'S POV!


"Ah! Nooo! I am late for school! That woman's gonna kill me!"

Jumping out of bed, I grabbed Silvan, my Dratini and slung him around my shoulders, while I gently kicked Noldor, my Bagon and brought it out of dream land. I then thundered down to make Swablu eggs (high in calcium but they cost a bomb) for my family of 3. Me,Silvan and Noldor.

You'd be surprised, but to me, waking up late and making eggs myself is actually an everyday schedule. So Hi! I am Barzini. My parents have split up and I chose to stay alone in the school-provided dormitory. I got Silvan one day while I was fishing at the lake some 2 miles from my home (or dormitory) when I was young, and as for my Bagon, we met through a personality test. Despite the fact that Bagon's powers have been widely discussed in nearly all my textbooks (like how in the old days, they launched catapults filled with Bagons using Headbutt; that's sort of scary), I have yet to see my Bagon do anything remotely awesome. However, we 3 are true friends to each other.

I still remembered how the personality test went. He showed me photos and asked of my first thought. It was pretty weird, especially how Charis told me that usually the first words that came to her mind looking at them were 'Okay, this is getting lame'.

Firstly, he showed me what looked like the sky, to which I immediately replied "Freedom". He gave me a toothless smile and showed a picture of himself on the screen. I grinned and said rather apologetically, "Patience" (I think Charis said 'balding' but that's a rumour I'd rather not confirm). A few days later before the term started, Bagon came in a Pokéball into my hands.

So how is school like?

"Late as usual, Barzini! One day I will really barge into your room and hit you awake…"

The young, pretty prefect Charis stood by the school gate, waiting for me apparently (I am not surprised, because I'm always late). She took out a notebook and acted like she was taking down my name, as the teacher walked by her.

She watched as the teacher walked by without turning back, and then scoffed at me and hit me. "You can't keep it up like this! I can't act here all day!" she said in an undertone before resuming her business-like tone, "Detention for you!"

The teacher nearby turned around and clapped politely as Charis did a mock curtsy. Playing along, I pulled a face, and to add on, I lowered my head and said loudly "I am sorry ma'am!" and then whispered, "I got free tickets to Macs again, let us go this weekend."

She nodded and hurried away to her lesson, with me following closely behind.

It's standard here in Lanseal to start the morning with a flag ceremony, where your Pokémon will stand by your side and watch you sing (or mouth) the anthem. Following that, we'd have physics, where we are supposed to learn "the art of throwing a poke ball", when in truth, they just teach us how to use wind speed and stuff to do a rough calculation in our heads the angle of which we throw the ball.

After Physics I had Medical training. Sadly, Pokémon are viewed more importantly than humans, as we are trained on how to apply potions, antidotes and other objects. Then, we will have a break time where we dine with our Pokémon and friends. This is the favourite time of the day for every student; I mean, who would reject an hour's rest? Maybe people like Charis, but I wouldn't say that in front of her. Ever.

This would be the time where Charis and I would have a get together with our Pokémon. I always admired her Charmeleon, Firaga. At least it was evolved and looked tougher. This image was reinforced as I noticed Noldor's stomach, crammed with my share of sandwich and his own.

"Bagon!" he retorted, as though he was supposed to eat my sandwich in the first place.

Despite my selfish Bagon and my literally clingy Dratini, I love my Pokémon as much as Charis loves hers.

"Hey Charis, don't tell me you aced your physics test again?" I gave her a sidelong look.

"No…" she mumbled. "I uh…oh look, Firaga, you look hungry. Skittles, stop eating your Skittles!"

She aced it.

The Delcatty's snout emerged from the packet of Skittles, and nudged it away reluctantly.

Well, we are poles apart but good buddies. She was smart, while I was slow. She is a complete softie (she was nearly murdered by that injured Zangoose she tried to rescue one day), while I was tough (I made the Zangoose more injured than normal; needless to say Charis got upset).

Anyway, after break time, we were made to do physical training with our Pokémon. Charis and I always admired how some guys in the class could do 10 laps so easily, while she starts to die at 8, for me 9.

And then…Pokémon-Human Physical Education.

It is essentially a time where we get to train our Pokémon to learn a certain move or for Contest appeals.

I spotted Markus by the side, trying to teach his Turtwig Energy Ball. His Taillow, Swoosh was swooping about, trying out the hoops set up for such a purpose.

"Yo, Markus!" I shouted and jogged towards him.

He looked up at me and nodded in acknowledgement, and his Turtwig, Twigs did the same.

Markus Putnam was an exchange student from Canada, a quiet fellow, which is a big contrast to me, a noisy one. However, he had a special knack of knowing everything about Pokémon, and he's always interested to learn more. As of today, he has been staying with me for two weeks and learnt much about the art of berries from me. He's also opening himself up to everyone else, which is a pretty good thing.

"Twigs, Energy Ball!"

The Turtwig finally unleashed a large blob of green, much to her delight, and the blob crashed into…

A Kirlia.

Swiftly, the Kirlia used Detect, and a shield formed in front of the Pokémon, ending the Energy Ball.

Twigs looked despondent, but her trainer wasn't. In fact, Markus ran up to the Kirlia and examined it. "Hey, did you know Kirlia can evolve into a Gardevoir or a Gallade?"

The girl turned around, with a Bulbasaur in her arms. She looked at Markus and blinked. "Um, what?"

Markus continued, perhaps to himself, or to everyone else, for he was very loud when he exclaimed excitedly. "I know! You can evolve it to a Gallade if your Kirlia's a male and if you have a Dawn Stone but if you don't have either of them Kirlia evolves into a plain ol' Gardevoir."

He finished and looked at her expectantly.

"I knew that!" she retorted.

Kirlia sensed that she wasn't very pleased with the lecture she didn't require, so the Pokémon leapt up and formed a fairly sharp shield, before diving towards Markus and Twigs, smashing them to the ground.

"Great job, I knew you'd get it. Okay, now, would you like to try the jabbing method?" she asked her Bulbasaur, who eagerly nodded.

Before Markus and Twigs could react, the Bulbasaur had launched a Vine Whip, only instead of simply whipping them silly, the vines coiled together to form a thick vine that slammed into Twigs, who used Withdraw, and curled into a ball in defense.

I tried to help out by negotiating with her. I bravely walked up to the girl, who had a smug look on her face. "Hey, I don't think you're supposed to assault Markus like tha- ARGH!"

Before I knew it, she had grabbed me and then tossed me over her shoulder. My Bagon and Dratini could only stare in shock.

"Okay, did you two see that? Try that."

Kirlia proceeded to use Psychic, tossing Twigs over. The Bulbasaur watched in awe, and did the same to Noldor, the Bagon falling on his head.

I cringed.

Noldor was now officially peeved. He marched up towards the Bulbasaur who blinked at him nonchalantly. Now wanting to be taken seriously, he launched an angry ball of flames at the Pokémon, who simply dodged.

Noldor attempted to continue, but I spotted the teacher watching me intently. If she caught me, I was doomed. Immediately, I leapt towards Noldor, and Silvan did the same, and we both struggled to hold off the Bagon.

"Noldor, calm down!"

"Dratini!" Silvan cried out.


By the time we calmed down, Twigs started to look for the two Pokémon. I followed her, with the distraught Bagon in my arms and Dratini on my head. I spotted the girl talking with Charis, who didn't look like she was in pain. Except her Charmeleon, Firaga, who was being thrown about by the Kirlia. Skittles was watching in rapt attention, and when she saw me, she started to sniff my pockets.

I cursed myself for buying skittles.

"Oh, sorry about just now…I was trying to teach my Pokémon some moves, honestly. You know, surprise the teachers…I'm Jayden Rivers." She looked apologetic, and her Bulbasaur nodded eagerly. Her Kirlia didn't look upset; the psychic looked happy.

Bagon twitched.

"Well, that's okay. I'm Barzini, and this is Twigs, Markus' Turtwig. He's sitting somewhere there…" I extended a hand and she shook it, grinning.

"Nice to meet you! And…sorry for before."

Charis smiled at me, and suggested, "Hey, why not you both have a Pokémon battle tomorrow? See who's the better Pokémon, and stuff."

I noticed that the Kirlia perked up, and so did Noldor, who recovered from his depression immediately. "Bagon!"

Ohhh, yes, I can see it now, me beating the awesomeness out of her…

"Sure thing!" we both said in unison, and Charis grinned as she watched her Charmeleon hobble towards her, still in one piece.

"Great! Oh, okay, have to get to class, see you guys later!" With that, she ran off, with Jayden following suit, for her own lessons.

"Let's go, Markus. More lessons after this…" I announced, and we both headed to class.


After school, Charis and I would have a friendly match with each other; dueling, if you would call that, at the field where young couples would hold hands and eat sandwiches. We always seem out of place there, but, HECK, such is life.

"Go! Silvan and Noldor! Send them back to the abyss!"

"Go Skittles and Firaga! Shut this Lord Of The Rings nerd up!"

Firaga leapt up and tried to slash at Noldor, but that small little dinosaur stood still and brought its own claws to Firaga for Dragon Claw. At that, Firaga dived sideways and went back to the side of Skittles, who was still cleaning her fur of Skittles stain.

Charis then pointed at Silvan, "Skittles! Use Iron Tail!"

Skittles scampered forward and as it was about to turn around and send Silvan flying, it got hit by a jet of beam. I forgot to tell Charis, that my awesome Dratini learnt how to use Hyper Beam from my roommate, Markus.

Skittles went flying back and laid still, obviously out cold.

You think that when a Pokémon faints, it has the cute starry eyes in it? Actually, it is a really sad sight, especially when a fur ball so cute gets blasted by a cute little Hyper Beam. Especially how she cleaned herself just a while ago…

However, as I was distracted by Silvan's victory, Noldor started engaging in a ferocious struggle with Firaga, both sides using Flamethrower at the same time and having a lock in mid-air. You think at this point of time, like what happens on TV, some explosion would occur, or the flames go around each other? No! What happens here is that the weaker of the two would slowly stop breathing out fire to rest, and would most probably be defeated. However, it is foolish for trainers to break it up should they happen to be on the receiving end. The only way to stop this is to wait, or to initiate another attack, with another Pokémon, of course.

"Silvan! Use Blizzard!"

"Ah! Barzini! I took a lot of time combing my hair!" Charis shouted at me as the blizzard started growing in the battle zone, and flung both Noldor and Firaga off their feet. Noldor wasn't affected, because he wasn't supposed to be in the first place, and Firaga was standing strong, his tail flickering in the strong blizzard.

I took a look at my watch, and yelped. I had to show Markus around!

"Hey! Charis! Give this to Skittles later! Saves you the trip to the Pokémon Centre!"

I tossed a Potion to Charis, who was trying to defrost her hair, and leapt on my bike to the Dormitory, where I had to water my garden and take Markus out for a while.


When I reached our dormitory, Markus was already dressed and ready to go, and he had already watered the plants for me! (Bless Him; thank goodness!)

"All set to go, Barzini?" he quizzed me.

I nodded and sent Silvan and Noldor off to bed, and beckoned for him to come with me.

"So, where are we going?" he asked, with a hint of interest in his voice.

"Tell me, ole boy, have you ever been downtown to the Mega Mall? They sell a lot of things for Pokémon!"

Markus seemed to consider this for a while and nodded. He handed me my backpack and we started to ride out, with his Turtwig, Twigs, and his Taillow ,Swoosh. Twigs sat on Markus' head and Swoosh flew closely behind.

For all couch potatoes on the planet, you really think when you reach a department store like in TV, the whole place looks empty and there is a lift that zooms up and down at your beck and call almost instantly? YOU'RE WRONG! Sometimes it gets stuck and stuff.

When we reached there, I suggested to Markus that we wait for an hour or so before we enter the department store. He looked at me puzzlingly as I pointed to the door of the department store. A horde of women and children, with Pokémon ranging from fast Rattata (Charis would say 'in the totally top percentage of Rattata!') to big burly Machamps, were waiting eagerly at the door, as the doorman unveiled the "Discount Hour" sign and opened the door. Markus muttered "Wise choice…" before a floral shop caught his attention.

He gestured excitingly at what looked like nuts to me, and dragged me away from the Sushi Stand, where they were selling Feebas meat fresh from the sea.

"What?" I said forcefully, but he completely ignored my question.

He simply pointed, "Look! Apricorns! Berries, too!"

I searched my memory for the word "Apricorns". What was the D&T (Design and Technology) teacher telling us about Apricorns? Oh yes, "….a type of nut that is edible AND used to make certain types of Poké balls."

I perked up at once and checked the price tag of the Apricorns, 15 dollars for one type, a rip-off, but for a person who sells his berries for 60 dollars a jar at school, you bet he can afford it. I immediately grabbed the bags of Apricorns and checked them…

"White…Green…Black…Red…Pink…Blue..Yellow…mmh hmm…" I murmured to myself thoughtfully as Markus dragged me inside to look at the berries.

Not to brag, but out of the 64 types of berries out there commercially available, I lacked 2. They were expensive to me last time and I could not find them anywhere, but now, I made up my mind to lay my hands on at least 1; a Custap Berry, or a Sitrus berry, so I could expand my garden and recipes for cooking poffins for contest lessons.

As I pushed my way into the crowd, I saw one precious little Custap Berry sitting there, until a girl picked it up.

I tapped the girl's shoulder and said, "Hey! That berry is mine…please?"

The girl obviously never learnt any manners and gave me a four lettered word (oh so very loudly) before saying another one, "Duel!"

I was about to say "Damn right, you're going down!" when the shocking truth came to me, Silvan and Noldor are asleep somewhere far from me.

I was about to walk away when Markus came by me and hissed, "I'll get it for you…"

The girl gave a snort of laughter and shouted, "At him! Go, Serpent!"

At that, a tough-looking Seviper came wriggling out of the crowd and raised itself.

Markus beckoned for Swoosh, the Taillow to go forward, and he hovered right above the Seviper.

The girl bellowed, "Bite!"

Look, as I have said it was a tough-looking Seviper, and as it opened its mouth, Markus shouted, "Aerial Ace!" and the serpent fainted immediately, probably from trauma that it had a wing smashed into its beautiful fangs.

"NO!"

The girl handed over the berry unwillingly, and I patted Markus on the back, and went off to pay for everything I was carrying, which totaled up to some $165, which I paid quite cheerfully with Markus's mouth open at the total cost.

The little trip in the store took about half an hour, so we continued. I took Markus to a tech store, and as a form of thanks, bought him a Poké Navigator, as my wallet was still fat from the sale of the berries. Berry-selling reaped in some $6000 at least. I got my Pokémon a bed each and for Charis, I got that Little Miss Prefect a Homework Planner app for her Pokémon Navigator.

We then settled down at KFP for some Pidgey meat, before setting off for the department store. The crowd had cleared, but it was still rather hard to move about so we set out for the Poké Store first, which was really huge for a Mart. Markus bought Twigs a nice little bed made of wood, and Swoosh, a nice perch as it would take no cage and was our sorry excuse for an alarm clock because Swoosh oversleeps too. He was supposed to peck us until we were awake but would always wake up later than us.

Meanwhile, I went off to buy some gardening tools, and looked longingly at the television set, before we headed off to the Games Corner.

In Singapore, gambling is strictly for adults, and I am sorry to disappoint you, no, we do not play jackpot machines in the Games Corner, but games like Time Crisis etc. Anyway, we were on a roll with the reflexes machine, where you're supposed to hammer at the dolls that appear from holes as part of reflexes, and we won enough tokens to get 6 tickets to the Safari Zone. I usually preferred going in small groups so I decided to give her one later. After we shopped till we dropped, we hired a Tropius taxi service instead of riding back. We were too tired to carry all our goodies, but I still made sure I had enough energy to plant all those Apricorns and Berries I got. I watered them and looked longingly at the soil as if it would pop up as quickly as the games, but left to turn in for bed.

Tomorrow, our AV Media Club session, where we go to the botanical gardens in Singapore. Now, where did I put my camera…?


Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry to confuse, but since we co-author this, we take turns to write.

I think I'll accept OCs but make them more interesting. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE BE BARZINI'S STALKER? Or something...anything. You guys can even join the AV Media Club! Yup.

Okay, and one more thing - Barzini has created his account, and he wrote a Lord of The Rings fanfic, so R&R FOR BOTH! :D