Ryo and Hazel slowly made their way to the next city. This stop was not like any town Ryo has seen before. Jubilife was a full scale city, with buildings that touched the skies. The city was crowded with people and the pokemon school was nowhere in sight.
"I don't see the school house anywhere. It should be down this street." said Hazel as she scanned the area.
"Is it that over there?" asked Ryo, pointing at an old red building.
"That can't be it." she said as she looked at the directions given by the Professor. As Hazel glanced down at the map, then back up again. She saw that Ryo and Rick had already ran up to the door of the building.
"Hey, wait up!" shouted Hazel as she chased after him.
The two pushed through the double doors and Hazel followed in after him. The building was larger than it looked. It had multiple battlefields lined up in the middle of the room and there were trainers all over the place, congregating.
A woman walked up and said, "Hello. Welcome to the Trainer's School. Are you two new pokemon trainers?"
"Yes, we're here to learn the fundamentals of pokemon battling." said Hazel.
"Ok, then. Follow me to our learning room." said the lady as they entered a side room. "Sorry, your garchomp can't come in here." she said. "No pokemon can set foot in this room."
"That's fine. Rick, can you stay out here?" asked Ryo. Even though he was unhappy, Rick obliged and stood by the door as the two entered the room.
In that room, the two learned about pokemon battling and the rules of it. Each player takes turns and have to have the same amount of pokemon. The lady went over policy and proper edicate. She also went over how pokemon types worked and type advantages and weaknesses, as well as effective and ineffective moves.
After the lesson was done, she asked, "Would you two like to battle each other to try it out?"
Ryo and Hazel looked at each other, and then simultaneously, both answered, "Yes." The followed the lady out onto a battlefield and she stood at the center. Hazel and I each took a trainer's box on opposite sides of the field.
"I will be the referee for this battle." she said. "This will be a one on one battle. If a trainer's pokemon is unable to fight, then the other trainer wins. Now, let the battle begin."
"Chimchar, I choose you!" shouted Ryo as he summoned Chimchar out to the floor.
"I guess I will use my starter too. Turtwig, come on out." said Hazel.
"Chimchar, use ember." said Ryo as Chimchar shot a wisp of fire at Turtwig.
"Turtwig, dodge." shouted Hazel. The Turtwig was very light on its feet and jumped up into the air, making the ember attack miss. However, Chimchar was already in the air as well, going up for a follow up attack.
"Use scratch." said Ryo as the Chimchar swiped down onto Turtwig's face, sending him falling back to the ground.
"Turtwig, use absorb!" shouted Hazel. Turtwig began training Chimchar of his energy.
"Don't let Turtwig absorb any more of your power. Go in for a quick attack!" shouted Ryo.
As Chimchar began blindlessly running toward Turtwig for an attack, Rick noticed the poor decision. He tried growling at Ryo to warn him of what's next, but it was too late.
"Use Razor leaf!" shouted Hazel as Turtwig shootout blades of grass that cut Chimchar many times over.
"Chimchar, no!" shouted Ryo. Chimchar fell to the ground and was out cold.
"Chimchar is unable to battle, Turtwig is the winner. This makes Hazel the victor of the battle!" shouted the lady.
Rick walked up to Ryo and knocked him on the head. "Hey, what's that for?" said Ryo.
Rick motioned toward the battle field. "Yeah, I guess I could've used Ember again instead." said Ryo as he ran up to Chimchar. "Sorry about my lousy battling skills, I hope you're okay." he said. The Chimchar was awake now. Even though he lost the battle, he was still full of energy and began jumping around from excitement of the first battle.
"Hey, Hazel. Good battle." said Ryo.
"Thanks." said Hazel. "You did great too. I actually had some battling practice when I was younger. My foster mother was a decent trainer herself, and she exposed me to the art of pokemon battling when I was five."
"Alright, you two. You may now go off on your journey. You have learned everything you need to know to be a pokemon trainer. From here on out, it's practice." said the lady as she went to greet the next trainer that walked in.
Ryo and Hazel left the school and headed for the pokemon center. They walked through the sliding door, and stared at a horrific scene.
"EVERYONE GET ON THE GROUND, NOW!" shouted a large bodied man. He was with four other men and they all had masks on. Ryo realized they were pokemon robbers, just like Aunt Melissa warned them. They all had Houndooms and the robbers used them to threaten all the people at the store.
Ryo and Hazel obeyed and dropped to the ground, as well as everyone else in the pokemon center. Rick was reluctant to get on the ground, but Hazel nudged at it's feet to do so. The largest man, with his houndoom, walked to the counter and demanded the nurse for all the pokemon in their possession. The nurse walked around back and returned with a cart full of pokeballs.
"Lucky us. Looks like today we have a larger stash than usual." said the robber as he began placing all the pokeballs into his bag. The men collected all the pokeballs and began heading for the door.
Ryo couldn't stand to watch. He got up right when the robbers were at the door. "You can't leave! I'm not letting you steal all those people's pokemon!" shouted Ryo.
"Big mistake, kid." said one of the robbers. "Houndoom, attack!" he shouted. The black dog pounced toward Ryo. Remembering his promise to Aunt Melissa, Rick sprang up and used Dragon Claw. He clawed the houndoom right in the face, sending it flying back and crashing into the wall.
"That…...all of you, attack!" shouted the robber. All the houndooms pounced simultaneously at Rick. Rick was very trained to fight on his own. It would have been easy for Rick to take out all of them with Earthquake, but he acknowledged the fact that there were many humans there, and his earthquake could cause the whole building to collapse. As two Houndooms(one in front and one behind) sprang up to attack him, he used Dragon Tail on one and Dragon Claw on the other, sending them crashing into opposite sides of the pokemon center. The other two houndooms also jumped up for the attack. Rick used brick break on one and managed to dodge the other.
One of the robbers pulled out a device. It was some sort of collar. As the last Houndoom sprang at Rick again as a distraction, the robber threw the collar at Rick. Rick used Brick Break on the Houndoom, but as he was attacking, the collar clasped itself onto Rick's neck. Confused by what happened, Rick began pulling on the object that had attached itself to him. Before long, the collar began surging with energy and Rick roared out in a cry of pain.
"Oh no! What are they doing to him?" shouted Ryo as he saw Rick being shocked by the collar.
"It's a control collar. It has the power to control any pokemon." said Hazel.
"Hahaha! Yes. That Garchomp is mine!" laughed the head robber maniacally. But his celebration turned to fear as well. Rick began attacking everything around him. He roared and roared and began kicking over tables and dragon clawing the walls.
"Hey. I have control over you! You must obey me!" yelled the robber. Rick turned toward them and used Dragon Rush, sending all the robbers flying. When all the robbers were knocked out cold, the people of the pokemon center began running out screaming for their lives as a wild land shark was rampaging.
Ryo ran up to Rick. "Hey, calm down. It's me." he said. Rick glanced at Ryo, but then a shock from the collar made him roar again and he dove toward Ryo, ready to dragon claw him.
"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!" shouted Hazel as Turtwig shot blades of grass at Rick, irritating him. The land sharks attention was focused on Hazel now. The collar let out another shock burst, causing Rick to screech in pain again. He blasted a hole in the ceiling again and jumped out.
"Hazel, we have to follow him!" shouted Ryo as they headed out of the pokemon center. Outside in the streets, police cars were rushing to the site. One car stopped in front of the store. Hazel ran up to the officer and said, "The robbers are in there."
"We don't care about the robbers. There is a wild Garchomp terrorizing the city!" said the officer.
"No! He's not wild, he's trained. He is being controlled by an electric collar." said Ryo as he began running down the street after Rick.
Rick was charging down the street, ramming his neck into the buildings to try and break off the collar. He stumbled upon the center of the city, where all the people were. They all screamed and ran from Rick. Ryo managed to catch up to the chaos. He tried to proceed, but an officer blocked his path.
"It's dangerous here. Stay back!" he commanded.
"No, he belongs with me!" said Ryo as he broke past the officer and ran towards Rick. Rick saw Ryo coming and tried slashing out at him. Ryo was agile and managed to break left before he was hit and he leaped onto Rick's back.
"It's alright, Rick! Stop struggling!" yelled Ryo as he used a sharp rock in his hand and tried to smash the collar off. The collar was very durable, and it wasn't breaking as easily as Ryo thought it would. Unable to shake Ryo off, Rick began scaling the building next to him. He smashed his body against the glass windows, but Ryo held on.
He continued smashing the rock on the collar trying to break it off. Rick reached the top of the building and finally managed to get Ryo off by impacting the ground. The shock wave sent Ryo flying off his back and he landed at the edge of the building. Thankfully, Ryo managed to stop himself from rolling off. He looked back and realized this particular building was a skyscraper. Ryo's back also hurt from some glass cut wounds.
Rick let out another roar. Ryo couldn't bare to see him in so much pain. He noticed the many depree on the roof that was created from Rick's earthquakes. He grabbed a piece of rock that was even sharper than the last. He ran in one more time for a strike at the collar, but Rick suddenly swung out his arm, hitting Ryo in the stomach. Ryo let out a cry of pain as he was sent flying back. With great focus, and in mid flight, he endured the pain and threw the sharp rock like a projectile at Rick's collar.
The rock made contact and Ryo saw the split second of the collar snapping in half and exploding. Happy he was able to destroy the collar, he relaxed a bit. But not for long as he realized that Rick has pushed him with great force and he was plummeting off the roof top. The people of the Jubilife screamed as they saw the twelve year old boy fall from the top of the tower.
"RYO!" shouted Hazel from the crowd.
Ryo was helpless. He saw the ground approaching him. But, then miraculously, Rick dived off the building in a position that made his descent five times faster. He reach Ryo and caught him in between his arms. He then pulled him in and landed feet first on the stone ground. As Rick made impact, dust flew up in the air.
The people were uncertain what had happened. They all stared intently into the area of impact. As the dust clouds cleared, everyone saw that the garchomp had protected the child. They were quite confused, for it was attacking him just a moment earlier. Ryo had passed out from the fall. Rick let go of Ryo's body and he himself collapsed onto the ground.
When Ryo was awake, he saw Hazel next to him, as well as an officer. He was inside a hospital and noticed that his back and stomach was bandaged. Hazel saw that Ryo was awake and informed the officer. She walked over to Ryo and sat down.
"Your garchomp has caused quite a lot of damage today. And, it seems you have suffered quite a lot as well." said the officer, motioning toward my wounds.
"Where is Rick. I mean, my Garchomp." asked Ryo.
"Don't worry. He's in the next room being treated as well. He is not going to be in trouble. It turns out he is not a wild pokemon. He cannot be caught by a pokeball." said the officer.
"He's my Aunt's pokemon. She gave him to me on my journey so he could protect me." said Ryo.
"It seems like your garchomp hurt you more than he protected you." said the officer.
"He did protect me! He saved me from those robbers. He protected me from those Houndooms who were about to attack me. The robbers had a control collar that they manage to attach to Rick's neck. That is why he went out of control It wasn't his fault. Plus, he even saved me from falling off the building when he was freed from the collar!" said Ryo.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Your garchomp is not going to be taken away. The robbers will be getting full responsibility of the damages that were caused. You don't have to fight any more." said the officer. "I'm just here to return this to you." she said as she placed Ryo's license on his lap. "I saw it drop out of your pocket during the commotion."
With that, the officer left the room. "That was really dangerous, Ryo. I'm glad you're not hurt too badly." said Hazel.
"I'm just glad that Rick is fine." said Ryo.
"I have some good news." said Hazel as she pulled out a flyer from her bag. "The great Sinnoh Competition is being held here, just outside of Jubilife in a week! This competition only comes once every ten years!"
"What is the Great Sinnoh Competition?" asked Ryo.
"It's like a tournament, where around fifty to a hundred trainers attend. There are different event and trials, where in each, a large percentage of trainers are eliminated. I'm not too sure what these events are, but the best part is, the last eight trainers remaining will be able to obtain all eight gym badges of Sinnoh!" she said.
"All eight! That's perfect. That means we can save all that time traveling around the region, and instead, be able to compete in the Sinnoh League after this tournament." said Ryo.
A nurse was eavesdropping on us, and she commented, "Don't go to that tournament. You kids are too young. That Competition is not for the faint of heart. Most of them might be rookie trainers, but they are very skilled. The trials there are something far more strenuous than a gym battle. I should warn you."
"Oh, thank you for informing us." said Hazel. She looked back at Ryo. "She does have a point. Maybe we shouldn't go…."
"No! We have to. The sooner I get my badges, the better. I'm going to participate, and you are going to come with me!" said Ryo. Hazel sighed. It was an apparent mistake. Hazel realized that once Ryo had an idea, he would never back down.
"Alright, then. Let's do this." she said. "But promise that you will rest up this next week."
"Okay, I promise." said Ryo as he looked out the window with determination.
