Chapter 2: Nothing like a Rivalry

Author's Note: I would like to say Thank You all for the good reviews! I hope that as I progress with this fanfic, I will be able to satisfy all of your varying tastes in writing! So, without further ado, here is Chapter 2! Enjoy!

*DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Pokémon franchise, nor am I making a profit off of this story*

Lance was lost in a trance! He could not believe that out of all of his classmates he was going to be the first one to experience the Battle Serum.

He sat there, staring at Nurse Joy with a dumb-founded look upon his face. She smiled at him, "We're ready for you."

Lance heard what she was saying but was still trying to process the fact that he was being called upon first. He felt a jolting pain ignite in his rib cage that quickly shot through the rest of his body.

"Ye...Yes" he stuttered, trying to regain control of his thought process.

As he stood up, he realized that Livia was the source of that jabbing pain, which brought him back to reality, he quickly muttered a "Thank You" to her before he walked up to meet Nurse Joy. He followed her into the hallway, and began glancing from left to right at the red lockers that bordered the white walls.

As he followed Nurse Joy, he noticed the Administrators office on his left. Also, after they passed the Administrators office he saw the library entrance on his right.

As they ventured passed some of the empty classrooms Lance thought, I'm not sure if I have been this far into the school. I mean Dad always dropped me off at the lunchroom, and I have always taken Advamced Placement classes, which are always placed in the classrooms closest to the lunchroom. This must be the classrooms' where they hold the remedial classes!

I can see why most of these kids drop out before they have to do the Battle Serum, he thought as he glanced around at the vandalized lockers, due to the fact that there is graffiti drawn all over the lockers. Heck, if that's not bad enough, the lockers all have had dents beaten into their doors.

As he sidestepped a pile of locker doors that had been completely ripped off of the wall, he thought to himself, it's obvious that the students in the remedial classes neglect their studies.

As Nurse Joy came to a sudden halt at the end of the hallway, Lance stumbled into her, "Oh! I am so sorry Nurse Joy; I didn't realize you had stoppe…" he was cut off by Nurse Joy raising her hand to shush him.

"It is quite alright Lance, but we have to stay quiet because on the other side of this door," she pointed to the door behind her, "all of the administrators are waiting for you to enter. Now I must remind you that no matter what happens you cannot tell anyone anything about your simulation. If you do not abide by this rule, and slip up to anyone, your results will be immediately voided and you will be EXPELLED from the Petalburg Trainers School!"

Lance had never seen Nurse Joy so serious. He felt a lump swell up in his throat, and immediately tried to gulp it down, "i…I un-understand," he stuttered.

"That's great! Now that we have that cleared up let us get this exam underway."

Lance felt chills go over his whole body as he stared at Nurse Joy in shock, I just cannot believe it, I mean how could she be so serious one second, and then as joyful as ever the next? It just makes no sense to me!

As Nurse Joy spun around on her heel and began to turn the squeaky doorknob, Lance pulled himself together. As he stepped through the threshold, he felt like he wasn't in the Trainers School anymore, but rather in a far off universe. The floor was a transparent yellow color that seemed to be illuminating the entire room. The walls had remarkable trees all over them making the illusion that you were standing in the center of a forest on a sunny summer day. The ceiling pulled the entire illusion off, as it was as blue as the sky with clouds that seemed to be floating across it in all different sizes.

After Lance finished gazing at the remarkable setting, he looked across the room, at the three plushy red and white Pokéball seats, that were occupied by Max, the Gym Leader, and May, his sister who is one of the greatest coordinators of all time. Next to those chairs was a steel chair that looked like something you would find in a horror film. It came to a point at every vertex, and looked as if it would be used to torture someone rather than be used during a school's final exam.

"Lance, as I am sure you know, this is Max, the Petalburg Gym Leader," Nurse Joy pointed to a dark headed man who was wearing a green polo shirt and black pants, and had on a pair of black glasses.

He stood up and walked over to Lance to give him a welcoming handshake, "I am one of the administrators at this school, and I would like to wish you the best of luck today!"

"And this is May, Max's older sister. She has done quite incredible things in her past, she is one of the only coordinators to ever win the Grand Festival in every region!" Nurse Joy continued.

She also went over to where her brother was standing next to Lance and gave Lance a welcoming handshake, "Hey Lance, it's so great to see you! I hope that you and Livia will make it in the top three so that the two of you can travel together like you have always dreamed. Good Luck!"

"Now I am sure you are wondering whom the third seat is for, well that would be reserved for myself. I am the third administrator of this school and will be the third judge in ranking all of the students that are undergoing the Petalburg Trainer School's Final Examination today."

May and Max walked back across the room and took their seats, while Nurse Joy walked over to the steel chair. She motioned for Lance to come and join her at the chair. When Lance got closer he noticed that there were some wires that connected the chair to the wall.

"Now I am sure you are wondering what is going on with this room, and what this intimidating steel chair is here for…" Nurse Joy was cut off by Max's sharp tone.

"And I can answer that for you! I have been trying to come up with a more effective version of the PokeReader, which a few weeks ago I had succeeded in my studies. This room is called the PokeDisplay, when someone is injected with the Battle Serum while they are sitting in that steel chair suddenly becomes paralyzed. They are then unleashed into their simulation! As you can see the clouds on the roof, and the trees on the wall appear to be moving. Well, as hard as it is to believe they are! When you enter your simulation, this room transforms into the simulation, allowing us to see a 3D Projection of it. This will allow us to catch every aspect of the battle that you are engaged in, therefore we will be able rank all of you more fairly. The Petalburg Trainer School is going to be the very first school to test this method, so without…"

Nurse Joy butted in, "Now that's my line," she scowled at Max, "So without further ado, let's get started! Lance would you please take a seat in this chair," she pointed to the intimidating chair.

Lance walked over to Nurse Joy and slid into the steel chair, being careful not to snag his red leather jacket on the sharp edges. As he first sat down, all of the dimensions of the chair seemed off, and he felt as if he would slide right off onto the ground. Then, the dimensions all seemed to shift in order to comfort Lance, and he felt more comfortable in the chair than he had ever felt before.

Lance watched Nurse Joy as she grabbed a package from behind the chair. She unraveled it and pulled out a syringe that had 10cc's of some kind of red substance inside of it.

"This is the Battle Serum, I need you to sit very still for this! You will feel a slight stinging sensation as it is injected into your vein."

Lance nodded to acknowledge Nurse Joy, and then he turned his left arm over in order for his inner arm to be facing up at Nurse Joy. She smiled at his act of bravery before leaning into Lance's arm in order to insert the needle into his vein.

When Lance noticed the needle nearing his arm, he quickly squeezed his eyes shut to avoid watching the needle penetrate through his skin. He flinched as he felt it penetrate his skin. Next, he felt a slight stinging sensation that traveled throughout his entire body. It wasn't a painful stinging, just like an itch that you can't seem to soothe. Almost as quickly as the stinging spread through his veins, it was gone.

Just as Lance thought it was over and the simulation was going to begin, an incinerating jolted across his body.

AHHHHH! I have never felt anything like this. I feel as if I am burning from the inside out, and there is no way to put out the flames. Why was I not told about this part of the process? Nurse Joy only said that I would feel a slight sting once the serum was injected into my vein, but she said nothing about the pain that I am experiencing NOW! Lance thought.

After what Lance felt was 30 minutes the burning sensation finally subsided. He was nervous to open his eyes because this all seemed like something out of a horror film, but as he started to relax himself he began to hear, "LANCE! LANCE! IS NUMBER ONE!"

He opened his eyes and had to squint at the blazing sun above head, as he looked around at his surroundings he thought, I know in my mind that this is not real, but I can't help but feel that this is all reality rather than a fantasy. There has to be hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people sitting in this coliseum and they are all cheering for me. Who couldn't help but get wrapped up in the moment and forget that they are in a simulation.

OK, I have to focus! I don't have time to think about if this is real or just a pigment of my imagination because if I don't impress the judges and claim my spot in the top 3 students of my class then I will never be able to make this fantasy my reality.

Lance reached down to his black trainers belt and pulled the two Pokéballs from it. As he tossed them into the shimmering rays of sunlight he yelled, "I choose you Pokémon!"

Both of the Pokéballs burst open in mid-air and released the Pokémon that they had contained. The first Pokémon that emerged from the glowing light that the Pokéball emitted was the fang snake Pokémon Seviper. The second Pokémon that emerged from the second Pokéball was the cat ferret Pokémon Zangoose.

The two Pokémon looked into the others eyes and Lance noticed that they had such a powerful glare that Seviper had a purple ray shooting toward Zangoose, and Zangoose had a red ray that was shooting towards Seviper; the glares contained so much hatred that as they met half way flames erupted out of thin air. In no time they began charging at each other and clashed causing the battlefield to be covered with a think cloud of dust.

Author's Note: I hope that everyone has enjoyed my addition to this story! I know it is long over due, but my life has gotten so hectic lately. From graduating High School and making the transition into college, but I am back now and I would LOVE to hear everyone's feedback so be sure and leave a review after you read! I'm not going to make any promises, but I am hoping to have the next chapter uploaded in the next 2 weeks.