WE DID IT! OH YES! BARZINI AND I TOTALLY OWNED O LEVELS!

I decided to take action on Firaga and Skittles, because they have been like rotten little children – always stealing stuff and making a complete nuisance of themselves. And today…well, today I had to meet with my grandmother who hates me.

Why does she hate me? Well, she hates me because I am horrible at Chinese. She once won the lottery, and secretly gave money to all her favourite grandsons and granddaughters, but she left us out. It was only when my mother called my aunt and my aunt casually asked how much did we get when we found it out.

And despite the fact that her absolute favourite granddaughter is living in Singapore, she never comes for stupid dinner. Instead, the grandkids she hates are the usual ones who turn up.

Blame me for never having anything to do on evenings.

But then, Benry decided that today was a pretty good day for a match, and Firaga was so upset when I turned him down, I had to call my mum to tell her that I'd be late. I was just supposed to go back to my dorm to pick up a few things…

"Why?" she demanded. "Are you seeing someone? HUH? Don't make me call Barzini…"

Barzini? Heh. He's probably so knocked out from his party, he wouldn't pick up. Daisy spiked his drink with a legal who-knows-what and now he's so drowsy, Firaga managed to steal all his berries and he didn't even say a word. Katie and Markus had been taking care of him. The poor Dragonair Silvan had to learn to adapt to his new body by himself.

"I'm not! I'm just having a quick battle. Seriously. That's all. Nothing to hide! You can even drive over and watch! Ask Popo to come." I looked at Benry, who grinned. 'Popo' is Chinese for 'grandmother'. It doesn't actually sound like 'Popo' if you say it according to the English word…but if you're Chinese-speaking, you should get it.

The last time she actually saw me was during the time we went to collect my scholarship. Well, it was mostly to show off. And I honestly didn't bother about her; I mean, I had money! Why bother about a wizened old woman who'd just watch if you fell down?

…Oh yes, she already did that to me.

My mum seemed sort of convinced. "Okay, we'll drive over now. You go ahead and battle first, we can watch how you fight."

Then, she hung up. I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone back in my wallet. I looked at Benry, who was getting ready his Combusken, Romeo, and his Poochyena, Rascal.

Last night, Romeo and Firaga decided to fight. Actually, from what I heard from Benjamin and Xenny, Romeo initiated the fight. Firaga was drunk from drinking Sunkern juice, so he couldn't fight very well.

Sunkern juice isn't alcoholic, but it makes Pokémon drunk. The reason why is for me to never know – it's not in the syllabus.

Usually, I'd talk about the battle, but it was pretty short, because I could tell Benry wasn't giving his all, and neither was his Combusken. So in a short while, Firaga got his revenge, and by the time my mum came, I was already done. "Well, Benry, thanks for the battle."

"Um, no prob. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Then fight like a man, please…"

Benry sighed. "I'll accompany you to the foyer, if you want! I mean, uh…" He cast a glance at Romeo and nodded at me. "Yup. A man's duty. Come on, let's go!" He grabbed my arm and we started to walk, with Firaga sniggering behind my back.

I poked at my Doduo meat mindlessly, listening to my parents talk to my grandmother. Harley looked pretty miserable too; he was introduced to my grandmother and uncle and she didn't like him since he couldn't speak fluent Mandarin.

"Mum, I'm gonna walk around the shopping centre!" I announced, as I finished the last bit of food, grabbed my phone and walked out, smiling politely at my grandmother, who simply ignored me.

"Oh, I'll follow you, then," Harley added, smiling at my mum. "I'm sure you don't mind, do you?"

"Oh, not at all!" my mum quickly said, laughing. "Go on ahead!"

"You really hate your lunches, don't you?" Harley asked casually, as I exited the mall and took a deep breath of fresh air. He didn't say anything when I didn't even walk around, but he did give me a weird look.

"Yeah, I do. You can't have Chinese food every weekend, right?" I lamented, crossing my arms. I released Firaga and Skittles from their Pokéballs, since Pokémon weren't allowed inside. They both looked relieved that I managed to release them.

Harley rolled his eyes, and released his Arcanine and Lapras. Jupiter was stretching his body, yawning and trying to groom himself, while Neptune was looking about, presumably for some water. Harley uncapped his bottle and tossed some over the Lapras, causing her to coo in delight.

Firaga went up to Jupiter and tried to climb aboard the Arcanine, but failed when he accidentally grabbed a tuft of Jupiter's fur and ripped it…by accident! Gosh, that stupid Charmeleon…!

Jupiter roared and snarled at Firaga, who responded with an equally evil snarl. Then, he tried to claw Jupiter, but the Arcanine bit his arm, threw him down to the ground and pinned him down.

"Jupiter! Back off!" Harley snapped. Jupiter growled and slowly leapt off the poor Charmeleon, glaring at him angrily and trying to lick at what was once soft fur.

Firaga ran back to me, scoffing at the Arcanine. "Char!" he spat, and then he angrily sat on the ground, shooting death glares at Jupiter.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry about Jupiter!" I apologized, looking at Jupiter and Harley. Jupiter grunted and scowled at Firaga, who rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out.

Stupid Charmeleon.

Within seconds, Jupiter had launched a Flamethrower that caused Firaga to fly into a bush. The Charmeleon stood up and dusted off the dirt hastily, before retaliating with a Slash.

"Firaga! BAD CHARMELEON! Stop fighting!" I yelled, trying not to get burnt or scratched. Skittles sighed and licked her paw nonchalantly; it was so mundane seeing Firaga fight because of something stupid. Once, he was so restless he attacked my mother's Staraptor all because the Staraptor had to retrieve my shirt from under his butt. Before anything could get out of hand, I had to scold him for dirtying my shirt.

"Ugh, forget this…" I mumbled as I crossed my arms. Harley looked rather amused by the battle.

Firaga was soon defeated by Jupiter's Extremespeed. They say you can't see Extremespeed, because its way too fast. All I saw was this – a second ago, Firaga taunting Jupiter by shaking his butt, the next second he was down on his butt, completely wiped out.

Skittles snorted and smiled at him. Firaga rolled his eyes and sulked as Jupiter happily trotted over to Harley, looking pretty happy with himself. "Good job, Jupiter," Harley complimented, scratching his head affectionately. He then looked at Firaga. "I think your Charmeleon and Delcatty have tons of potential!"

"Really?" I beamed at Firaga and Skittles. Firaga ignored me out of shame and Skittles was distracted by a girl's Mareep. I sighed. Do they…?

"Yeah, I couldn't battle that well when I was your age…" Harley mused, shaking his head, supposedly in nostalgia or something stupid like that. He then lit up. "I could train you in Pokémon battling, if you want. I mean, we can battle every once in a while, and I can come up with new strategies for you!"

"Um, don't you have work?"

"Nah, I'm still waiting."

"…And my mum lets you stay on?" I asked incredulously.

He smiled as he patted his guitar case, slung on his shoulder. "Trusty ol' guitar."

The next day was pretty exciting. Firstly, my Pokémon Contest lesson.

My teacher was rather flamboyant. One of the most promising coordinators from Lanseal, he graduated and tried to fulfill his dream, but he failed and ended up as a teacher.

Usually, classes are paired up for Contest lessons. The first class observes the appeals, while the second one does the appeals, and Mr Juan would usually point out the highlights of the appeals, then mark us down accordingly. That way, we learn from others and have a hands-on experience.

Thankfully, my class was appealing today, and I was in the first batch. I was using Skittles in my appeal and then using Firaga for my battle.

You know how in the Pokémon games, they have Contests for coolness, cuteness, beauty, intelligence and the like? Well, they actually tried that once decades back, but it got really confusing, and really good coordinators kept losing. For example, Skittles can do a beauty contest, but the first reaction I get is "How CUTE!" In the old days, this affected your marks. And most of the times, the Pokémon there are really cool. Even a Milotic. Come on, I wouldn't say that a Milotic is beautiful first, I'd say "OMG, A MILOTIC; COOOOOOL!"

But the standard Contest still rates Pokémon based on coolness, cuteness, beauty, intelligence and toughness. So, your Pokémon has to be an all-rounder, or you have to rely on at least three main components out of the five to get a decent score in class.

For me, Skittles rules in cuteness, beauty and coolness. Sometimes toughness, because once, her appeal went wrong a few years back when she was still a Skitty, and she plummeted down from the high ceiling onto the ground. She landed on all fours, and when the Skitty stumbled out, they found four deep imprints where her legs were in the ground.

Naturally, she ruled the entire class appeals that day.

Kimberly Younan was pretty good at Contest stuff, because most of the time she got full marks for cuteness. And usually, it was done so well she scores. Intelligence is her weak point, but then again, it's everyone's weak point.

Since this was an official contest, we had to dress up specially for this lesson. So everyone left their normal clothes for something fancy…I think.

Kimberly and her Pichu, Precious, were dressed like princesses, which would greatly boost their marks. She was holding out a large red scarf, and as she walked onto the stage, everyone clapped politely.

"You may begin your appeal, dear," Mr Juan smiled at her.

"Precious, Volt Tackle!"

She waved the scarf in front of the Pichu, beckoning her to rush forward. Precious first moved a safe distance from Kimberly, and then she started to charge up. Suddenly, the Pichu jumped and then charged towards Kimberly as a ball of electricity. Just before Precious hit Kimberly, the slender girl did a spin, flinging the scarf elegantly to the other side, like in movies where the Tauros gets agitated and flies towards a cool dude using a red scarf…without getting killed.

Instead of interrupting the Volt Tackle, Precious bounced off the wall and launched back to Kimberly, who didn't even flinch as she twirled back again. Soon, Precious started to repeat her actions at a blistering speed, shooting bright sparks in all directions.

Mr Juan looked wildly impressed. He was already standing up and clapping with fervour. "Bravo, Kimberly!"

As he said that, Precious leapt up in the air, sending sparks down onto the crowd. Then, she exploded in a ball of electricity that sent people screaming.

Skittles rolled her eyes. My Delcatty was, I admit, rather eccentric and some might say dumb. But when it came to Contests, she would become this overly excited ball of purple and beige, a proud Delcatty who would scoff at every single performing act, and then show off her skills on stage. It was like she had two distinctly different personalities, pole apart from each other. Even Firaga got a little scared when we saw her hiss at a Glameow who finished her appeal. Then, when Skittles won the Contest, she snorted at the poor Glameow. My classmate was so insulted she spammed my e-mail with hate messages.

But then again, who uses e-mail and computers anyway? We have to walk our Pokémon, feed them, entertain them, train them, scold them…it's like I entered motherhood at 7 the moment I received a happy little Charmander. I only saw those e-mails 2 years later.

Precious was still emitting sparks and then she twirled around at high speeds when Kimberly instructed, "Charge!"

Then the Pichu became a huge light ball, bouncing up and down cutely. She rolled about quickly, like a Roll-out, and the light became so blinding you could see what word the Pichu traced out – WIN.

"FANTASTIC!" Mr Juan cried out in anguish. He wiped away a few tears as Precious finished her appeal. Kimberly beamed at Pichu. "She's so marvelously cute!"

"Well, my dear Precious is cute!" Kimberly enthused, looking at Pichu in awe. "She's adorable!"

I have never heard so many synonyms of 'cute' used in one conversation, but it happened.

"And she's so cute- Whaaa?" Kimberly gasped as her Pichu started to glow.

"She's evolving!" I whispered, widening my eyes.

"Stop! Precious! Please!" Kimberly fell to her knees, facing her glowing Pichu, and started to sob. "You're cute enough for me! You don't need to evolve!"

"Pi?" Suddenly, the light faded, and Precious smiled at Kimberly, cleaning away her tears. "Piiiiichu!"

"Oh, Precious!" Kimberly cried as she hugged her Pichu emotionally.

Pokémon are able to control their evolution at will. It all depends on their willpower...and usually strength. I have heard of an elderly woman who had a Machop, whom she loved very much. One day, an earthquake struck, and the house collapsed. She was still alive, crying out to her Machop to save himself while he could, but the Machop refused. He tried to lift up the beam pinning the house down, but couldn't, and he was so determined to lift it, he evolved into a Machoke. The Machoke successfully saved his master and carried her to the hospital.

It was so sweet that my mum cut it out of the newspapers and made everyone else read it. Then she enrolled poor Medicham and Staraptor into a weight lifting course.

"NEXT!" Mr Juan called out. Skittles bounded up to the stage. My job for today was fairly simple – remind Skittles of the first move. Then she'll take care of the rest.

We had been rehearsing since Mr Juan announced that today's Contest would take up 25 percent of our final-year score. And Skittles liked the routine so much, she practised it herself and perfected it. It was admittedly quite fun and relaxed, because it consisted of Skittles' Ice Beam, Bounce and other crazy things that said Delcatty loved to execute.

Mr Juan suddenly looked very sullen at my appearance…or at Kimberly's leave. "You may begin…um, who are you again?"

I rolled my eyes. "Charis. And my Delcatty, Skittles." On cue, Skittles nodded, grinning at Mr Juan, who still had a confused look on his face.

"Um…"

Okay. He clearly doesn't remember me.

"My Delcatty blasted your Rapidash last week with Water Pulse…?"

Skittles was just playing around! She was practising her routine by herself while I tried to groom Firaga, and suddenly, the stupid Rapidash fell to the ground, all wet and soaking, his mane barely there and Skittles was happily looking at her fallen target.

Mr Juan was so distraught his Electivire paralyzed Skittles, and that was when Firaga took the opportunity to wreck the brush I was using, jump in front of Skittles, and then blast the poor Electivire in the face with Fire Blast. To make matters worse, while Mr Juan's Electivire, Beast, attacked Firaga for that Fire Blast, Skittles launched a…Hyper Beam.

I still don't know how she did it. Perhaps it was the time Aeleus tried to teach me how to use TMs effectively, and he popped in a Hyper Beam TM to teach Swirls, his Poliwhirl. Swirls executed it pretty well when we left the library to train, and Skittles wasn't acting abnormal or anything….

Then, with both Beast and his Rapidash, White, down, his other Pokémon, a Meganium named Megan and a Blissey named Volume tried to take them down, but Firaga launched a Fire Blast at Megan and Skittles started using Ice Beam and a lot of other attacks until all four Pokémon were down. I had no idea how they did it, but they did.

I nearly got detention that day, but then Barzini teamed up with Katie to argue against it. It was mostly because Barzini needed my help with his math after school, but still. He nearly lost, but then Benjamin and Xenny came up to us. Benjamin was a debater and Xenny had the wits, so they decided to have a little fun by arguing. I left with the four of them praising Firaga and Skittles, and without detention at 4.

Anyway, suddenly, Mr Juan realized who I was and then glared at me. "You may begin…" he mumbled, but he hurriedly called back all four Pokémon back into their Pokéballs, shooting me a worried look, which soon contorted into hate.

The Delcatty licked her fur and looked at me expectantly. "Skittles, Water Pulse on the ground!"

She launched a Water Pulse downwards, and the rings of water she released sent her flying up into the air. Without any further instructions, she used Ice Beam on the pillar of water, such that the rings of water and the thin sheet of water shielding it were frozen solid. I could see the loops of ice held firmly by the sheet of ice.

Skittles landed on her finished pillar, leapt up, and repeated the routine, until she completed 5 pillars, all neatly arranged like points of a star. She then froze the ground, with a large chunk of ice slightly raised.

"Double-Edge!"

The Delcatty lunged in with Double Edge, and the ice smashed into pieces, sending dust and ice bits up.

"Now, Thunderbolt!"

In the midst of dust, she sent 5 thin lines of electricity into the middle of the 5 pillars, smashing only the platform on top, as she finally finished her masterpiece – a Delcatty ice statue.

Initially, I was just planning another finish move, but when we tried it out, Skittles had somehow made an ice sculpture of herself. I was, and am, still confused and befuddled by her, but it earns me points…right?

I walked up to Skittles, hoping that I wouldn't slip and fall on the ice. I did that once during practising, and all of a sudden, I was lifted up by Benry and Aeleus. It's crazy; they're practically everywhere for some insane reason I cannot seem to understand.

Mr Juan looked impressed, but all he did was to nod and dismiss me. "NEXT!"

You can never acknowledge awesomeness when you're face to face with it...

The battling part was cancelled. Sort of. We had a charity bazaar and our class was selling a huge number of Roselia perfumes, courtesy of Elena and Blossom, cookies the girls made in the Home Economics kitchens, and some other tidbits. Ultimately, whatever money we collect will go to charity. Which is why all we did was to make perfumes and cookies – they're practically priceless!

They weren't exactly selling like hotcakes, firstly because they weren't really hot cakes, and secondly, they looked lumpy. The tidbits didn't sell as well, so Elena, Jayden and I started to parade about the school to gather buyers.

"Come on, Blossom, show us some stuff! Petal Dance!" Elena called out. The Roselia twirled about, dancing in the gentle breeze as students visiting the stall, and the canteen, were overwhelmed by the aromatic perfumes, and sakura petals floating about. Her Piplup, Aquabub looked up in awe, and then decided to add some bubbles into the scene.

"Come and buy some perfumes!" Jayden called out, gesturing to Elena's basket of perfumes. Instantly, Blossom flitted to them, as a group of enthusiastic students followed the Roselia, eager to take in more of the scent.

Skittles and Firaga were pretty excited about selling cookies. Surprisingly, they didn't steal any of them, though I caught Firaga trying to lick the spoon. The Charmeleon was walking about, talking to other Pokémon into buying some cookies, while Skittles tried to use Charm and Attract to pull in some customers.

Yes, Charm and Attract are rather different. In Charm, the Pokémon or person could be enamored by Skittles, but it would not be enough for the Pokémon to follow, or not fight, so Attract seals the deal by luring Pokémon into falling for her headfirst. So Skittles was mostly using Charm.

Cole went up to us and looked at our cookies. "Are those rocks?"

Jayden shot him a death glare and we all looked protectively at our cookies. "They're cookies!" she snapped. Her Kirlia and Bulbasaur, Seishin and Chikyu, glared at him

Elena nodded her head in agreement. She nearly shoved the basket into Cole's face. "Wanna buy? One cookie, one dollar to the needy!"

"It's good karma!" I added energetically. I waved a cookie into Cole's face. "Come on! Just buy it!"

Malik walked past, with his Vibrava and Sandslash, Marcy and Burrows. He made a face when he saw our cookies. "Do they have like, pebbles in them…?" he asked nervously, looking at Burrows, who rolled his eyes and pulled out Malik's wallet. Marcy picked out a two-dollar note and dropped it in our basket.

"Here you go, Marcy!" I let Firaga give the cookie to Marcy and Burrows, and they soon ripped the cookie wrapper apart, chomping down on our cookies.

Malik frowned, as Marcy dropped his wallet into his hands. "I hope I have enough money for lunch…" he mumbled as he walked off.

"Thanks for the ka-ching!" Jayden and Elena shouted back at him, before we laughed and high-fived each other. "We make an awesome team!"

Daisy and Kimberly had teamed up for the cookie-selling thing, and to gather money, Kimberly graciously offered her name to Daisy, who quickly spread a rumour that Kimberly would kiss any guy who bought cookies after school by the general office. Her plan was fairly simple – the Principal, who is usually in the general office, would hear the commotion, come out, and disperse the boys, while telling them that it is not possible that Kimberly would hold such deals.

It sort of defeats the purpose of donating for charity, but at least we have fun doing it! You don't get to handle tons of money everyday, you know!

"I'll buy some." I turned around to see Aeleus, holding out some money. "I mean, it's for charity, right?"

"Can do. Here you go!" I handed him a small packet of cookies, but as he took it from me, Benry came along.

"Oh, heya, Charis! Gimme um, two of them!" Benry handed me two dollars, and I happily obliged. I mean, they were giving it for charity!

Aeleus sighed and looked at his Mawile and Poliwhirl, Minerva and Swirls. "Oh, they look hungry. I'll take four, now," he mumbled as he took out his wallet and pulled out four dollars.

Benry and his Combusken, Romeo exchanged skeptical glances. "I…have enough money for, um, eight cookies!" he declared, as he triumphantly pulled out ten dollars.

Aeleus didn't even flinch as he took out twelve dollars and handed it to me.

"Woah…Charis, you just got twenty-two bucks!" Jayden exclaimed, as she started to count the number of cookies we had in the basket. "All because of your charm and-"

Elena shut her mouth before Jayden could say anything else, and then smiled at Aeleus and Benry. "Well, thanks!"

"Damn…Romeo, we're broke!" Benry wailed, as I handed twenty-two cookies to both of them. Aeleus took his share and slipped them in his backpack. Just then, Benry's Poochyena, Rascal bounded back to Benry, happily holding out some of Barzini's berries.

"YOU RASCAL!" Benry cried out, as he fell forward to his bewildered Poochyena by himself. "You made me pay for those berries…!"

Barzini's class were selling berries, and ever since Barzini planted that Sitrus plant, his business had been really good!

"Oh, is that a Sitrus berry?" I asked as Firaga went over to probe the berry in Rascal's mouth.

Before anyone could answer, the Principal's voice suddenly sounded. "It is truly a pleasure to have you here, Mr Zak!"

Zak is the Pokémon Champion…or just one of the few dozens of them. He was in a black cape, his face hidden by the shadows. "I'm looking for a brave student to challenge me."

Pokémon Champions are simply trainers or professionals or just normal everyday people who defeated the Elite Four. They have some really big sum of money, an awesome reputation, and a portrait of them and their

Firaga was already at his feet by the time I could properly react, tugging at his robe wildly. Skittles simply thought that this was a marketing strategy, so she sidled up to him and purred. His Sceptile, Blader, simply smiled at the Delcatty.

"Oh, goodness, I'm really sorry about that, Mr Zak!" I exclaimed apologetically as I gently pulled Skittles away from him.

"Oh, Charis!" the Principal exclaimed in delight. She knew my name mostly because I do my work well. "We have a volunteer!"

I cannot believe this. We're having a single battle, and obviously, Firaga is going up against a Pokémon Champion's Sceptile. And passes to the battle at the field cost 3 dollars; they're going to charity, apparently.

I watched Zak and shuddered. He was staring at me; I was sure of it. I feel it all the time whenever Barzini's berries get stolen; he'd glare at me until I relent and force Firaga to give him back whatever he took.

"Charis versus Mr Zak; Charmeleon versus Sceptile! BEGIN!"

Well…here goes nothing. "Firaga, Flamethrower, far-range!"

Firaga kept his distance, a good few metres away from Blader, the Sceptile calmly waiting for his master's command. He launched a few solid Flamethrowers at Blader, who dodged them quickly.

"Blader, use Leaf Blade!"

I watched him battle before. His Sceptile was well-known for lightning-fast reflexes and hard-hitting attacks. "Firaga, Fire Spin to protect!"

Firaga leapt into the air, cloaking himself in flames as he surveyed his surroundings for Blader. The Sceptile leapt up swiftly, and just before Sceptile could land Leaf Blade, the Charmeleon launched a mean Fire Blast in the poor guy's face.

"All right!" I cheered, and the students cheered along, watching the match energetically.

Zak didn't flinch, as Blader landed back to where he was, rubbing off some ash from his face. "Solarbeam."

Oh. CRAP.

"OVERHEAT!" I screamed, as Blader released his ultimate cannon of doom – Solarbeam. Immediately, Firaga retaliated with Overheat. The smaller Overheat blasted through the centre of Solarbeam and hit Blader, while much of Solarbeam hit the Charmeleon. Both Pokémon stumbled backwards, though Firaga did fall to the ground.

"Firaga, you okay?" I called out, and the Charmeleon stood up, shaking off the damage. I looked as what was supposed to be Zak's head bobbing up and down in approval. Come on, in that stupid cape I wouldn't be able to see any feature of him. I mean, who wears a black cape in Singapore? I mean, it's so horribly humid and hot that it-

BOOOM!

I widened my eyes in horror as Firaga quickly dodged away from what was definitely a tough Hyper Beam. Students started to flee the field, and I watched, stunned, as I saw them.

Team Rocket grunts. The bright maroon 'R' emblazoned on their sweatshirts. Swarms of them, trying to overcome Zak's Pokémon. He had called out not just his Sceptile, Blader, but a Typlosion, a Flygon, a Tyranitar, Empoleon and Swampert. I remember them from TV. Blader, Typlo the Typlosion, Lizzy the Flygon, a Tyranitar named Tyrane, Marsh the Swampert and Wingshard the Empoleon. They were attacking Team Rocket's Pokémon with much difficulty – strength was indeed in numbers.

"Students! FIGHT THEM!" I heard Zak command as several students summoned their Pokémon to fight off some tough-looking Pokémon. Several pairs of Nidoking, a Steelix…

"CHAR!" Firaga snapped me out of my thoughts and tried to drag me off the field, as a fierce-looking Exploud appeared before me, ready to flatten me into prata.

…Great. Here I am, with a Pokémon ready to kill me, and all I can think of is my lunch - roti prata with cheese. Perfect; really great. Goodness, I should have some curry with that…

Skittles and Firaga stood in front of me, snapping at the Exploud to back off. Firaga handed him a Focus Punch, and Skittles froze his legs (puny ones, actually…they are kind of short) to the ground. Then, they both forced me to get up and run.

I pushed past the debris and tried to collect my thoughts. The classrooms! Yeah! My classroom, to be exact; it was on the first floor so I didn't need much running. So I could just…stay outside…and…

"Just what are you doing here and standing around?" Aeleus shouted at me, looking pretty bewildered and flustered. His Mawile and Poliwhirl were by his side. Minerva was looking about frantically, trying to ensure none of us got killed, while Swirls was patting Minerva, calming her down by a little.

"Um…I was thinking of a way to escape?" I ventured, giving him an uncertain smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, by the time you find out one, you'll be dead. Now come on, let's go."

We both started to run, trying to follow the students in front of us. Some stopped in their tracks to fight off Team Rocket's Pokémon, while others simply ran. It felt like a stampede, but thankfully, no one fell or-

"Shit!" I cursed as I tripped and fell. I said things too soon…

"You okay?" Aeleus asked as I slowly got up, shaking a little. He held my arm steadily as we continued to walk.

"Um, yeah, I'm sort of okay." I mumbled, though I realized I sprained my ankle. "Okay, maybe not my ankle, but…"

"Okay, then just sling your arm over my shoulder. I'll support you, 'kay?" he instructed, and I looked at him with mild uncertainty. "I don't bite, but maybe I smell a little…"

"What?"

Aeleus rolled his eyes and smiled. "I'm just kidding! Just…come on. You're hurt. Come on, Minerva, and Swirls."

The four Pokémon followed us, eyeing their surroundings carefully. We almost made it to the canteen, until suddenly, a large Torterra blocked out path. He slammed a vine onto the entrance of the canteen, sealing off the path and smirked at us.

"Swirls, use Ice Beam at his eyes!" Aeleus commanded as the Poliwhirl stepped back and launched a strong stream of ice that stunned the large Pokémon. Skittles did the same, freezing his legs, before we quickly ran to the side, along the large fence that lined the field. There was an exit at the end, but it was blocked slightly by a group of Pokémon, attacking the teachers' Pokémon.

Mr Juan looked at us and gestured to the exit. "Come on, hurry up. White, Beast, clear the path!"

His Rapidash and Electivire launched a Flamethrower and Thunderbolt respectively, and we ran through the path, with Firaga and Skittles apologizing to Beast and White for the last lesson at the same time.

I was practically dragged by Aeleus as we tried to move as fast as we could to the canteen, or the entrance of the school. "Does it still hurt?"

I stood on my two feet. "Nah, it doesn't. Yup. Lemme just wal- urf!" As I took a step forward, I fell again, my ankle giving way. Firaga and Skittles tried to hoist me up as Aeleus sighed and slung my arm across his shoulder nonchalantly.

"At least we're safe…for now," Aeleus commented, as he walked past yet another sealed exit. "Stupid Zak; he attracted Team Rocket here anyway."

"Well…I hope his cape gets burnt!" I declared, huffing. "He should've thought about us students! We could've been killed!"

Aeleus grinned. "Yeah. I hope his face gets burnt too. He'll need a cape after that!"

"Uh huh!" I agreed, as we found a corner of the school to sit down. The bench there looked untouched; it was usually used by students who wanted to study or have a quiet moment. We both plopped down, exhausted from running…or hobbling, in my case.

Before we could enjoy a peaceful moment, a Team Rocket grunt…or executive came along. He had a Machamp and Metagross by his side, smiling at us in the most evil way a Pokémon could smile possible. Firaga, Skittles, Minerva and Swirls all stood in front of us, ready to fight.

"Well, we need as many hostages as possible in exchange for those documents we need…so I guess you two can join in!" he remarked, giving us a very evil smile, in the most evil way possible, but worse. "Take them down, guys, and bring the two students to us."

"You can't get us alive!" Aeleus shouted, before he turned to me. "Um, sorry, I always wanted to say that."

I would've smacked him really hard for making a joke in this sort of situation, but as I already said, we were in a pretty tough situation, so I didn't bother smacking him. Besides, I may fall down.

"Firaga, Flamethrower at Metagross! Skittles, freeze them!" I shouted.

Aeleus already made Swirls go head to head with Machamp, and they were both throwing elemental punches at each other. Machamp was just throwing as many Thunderpunches as possible, while Swirls was barely managing. Before Swirls could block it, Machamp landed his strongest Thunderpunch, and then finished off with a Low Kick that knocked out Swirls, sending him flying into Aeleus, who slammed into a bench, semi-conscious.

"Aeleus! Hey, come on, make sure you keep your eyes open!" I nearly screamed in his face. Machamp used a Focus Punch on Skittles before the Delcatty could retaliate, throwing her towards Firaga and Minerva. Firaga quickly dodged Skittles but Minerva was not fast enough. She slammed into a wall, and Metagross took the opportunity to wrestle his legs free of the ice Skittles made.

"Firaga, use Flamethrower!" I commanded, as I tried to drag Aeleus to a wall. Firaga nodded and threw a flamethrower in Metagross, as Minerva protected Skittles. She used Iron Head on Machamp, but he simply shrugged the Mawile off with a powerful Seismic Toss.

"Char!" Firaga cried out, looking frantically at Aeleus, myself and his fallen companions. He growled at Machamp and Metagross, and swiftly, he threw a Fire Blast in Metagross' face, knocking Metagross out, surprisingly.

"Good job, Firaga!" I shouted, smiling. I finally managed to push the stupid broken bench away, and now I had Aeleus' head on my lap so I could slap him awake while waiting for help. "Now, far-range attacks on the Machamp!"

Firaga went back to my side and started to use Flamethrowers at Machamp, trying to deter him from coming over for physical attacks. "Fire Blast!"

The Charmeleon gathered all his strength and used Fire Blast, which hit Machamp squarely in the face.

"Machamp, Revenge!"

Oh shit. This is not supposed to happen. What was suppose to happen is that Machamp faints and the Singapore Armed Forces come and detain the stupid Team Rocket people. Everyone will be okay and well, school will be cancelled until further notice! And…Aeleus and I will be declared heroes! Firaga would be the Pokémon Hero!

But not this.

Firaga glanced at Aeleus and I, and he gave me a small smile before charging in, his claws raised to meet Machamp's fist. He ran really quickly, nearly roaring, and then…a flash of light engulfed Firaga. Suddenly, I could see wings flapping about…oh crap, I'm dead already?

…Wait, then how can I feel Aeleus' head?

"ROOAR!" The light was gone and there was this Charizard in front of me, smacking Machamp down, picking him up, flying all the way up and crashing through the ceiling into the air…before plummeting down at high speeds and slamming Machamp into the floor, barely centimeters away from me.

The Charizard stood up, and then gave me a goofy grin very very typical of Firaga.

"You…destroyed the ceiling!" I scolded, as Firaga looked at himself admiringly. He blinked at me and snorted. I knew he didn't like this place; he got owned at Pokémon Uno here before.

"Hey, Charis! You're SAFE!" I turned to look at Elena and Jayden, weary from running and battling. Beside Elena was a brand new Prinplup, Aquabub. and Seishin the Kirlia was resting on top of a rather relieved Ivysaur, Chikyu. Elena was carrying Blossom in her arms, the Roselia exhausted from fighting.

"Chikyu, use Vine Whip! You're not getting away with this, executive number three!" Jayden shouted triumphantly as Chikyu grabbed at the Team Rocket Executive's arms, legs and torso.

"Yeah, I am! Woah, your Pokémon evolved too!" I exclaimed in amazement as Number Three fell to the ground, writhing as Chikyu lifted him upside down and shook him. Papers flew out of his shirt and Firaga picked them and handed it to me reluctantly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll find something for you to burn…" I mumbled, as I browsed through his notes. Elena and Jayden sat down next to me and read, while Blossom weakly used Sweet Scent to wake everyone up, before using Synthesis. Firaga was flapping his wings proudly for everyone to gush over.

"So…many…words…" Aeleus groaned when he saw the notes, and then proceeded to sleep on my lap. Skittles happily curled up beside my other lap to doze off as well.

"Shut up. I'm reading." I muttered as I continued to read it. They were researching on Lugia, Ho-Oh…Mewtwo?

Mewtwo was sort of their genetic experiment gone wrong. It was highly publicized, because Team Rocket had a blog and they had a live cam of Mewtwo's transformation. And it cause a huge scandal and things like that. Come on, it's in Social Studies! Current affairs, anyone?

Firaga lifted me up, ignoring Aeleus as his head fell to the floor. Then he…started to fly.

"Charis! You're okay!" Elena, Jayden and Kiara were by my side, along with Aeleus and Benry. They had several plasters and bandages – Aeleus had his head wrapped up in bandage and Kiara's arm was in a cast.

"Um…what happened?"

They all paused for a moment, before Aeleus smiled and said. "You fainted when your Charizard flew you in the air. I didn't know you were afraid of heights!"

"And you…um, sort of threw up in mid-air on the field." Jayden added.

"But it's okay! You hit Mr Juan; great job up there!" Elena laughed, smacking me on the back.

…I did?

"Pretty awful sight! Mr Juan was all "MY CLOTHES!" and then after that all his Pokémon started to attack Firaga but he just flew about and laughed at them until he lost control and slammed into a tree. Which is why your nose is all plastered." Kiara pointed to my nose. I tried to twitch it, but felt a sharp pain through my head. "Oh, and the doctor told us to tell you not to twitch it."

"Thanks a lot, Kiara…" I mumbled sarcastically. Skittles bounced onto my bed and licked my nose reassuringly.

"It's okay. You were pretty lucky; tons of people got more than just a screwed-up nose. I mean, look at Aeleus and his poor head!" Kiara babbled on, until Aeleus himself stopped her.

"Kiara, just stop talking…!" Aeleus groaned as he rested his head on the side of my bed. "My head…!"

Cole suddenly popped his head into the ward and smiled at us. "Yo guys!" he greeted us.

"Hey, Cole…" we all greeted back wearily.

"Come on, where's the excitement, guys?" Cole asked, grinning at all of us.

"Well, you were in the toilet the whole time and didn't realize anything until you came out…" Jayden remarked, rolling her eyes.

"How was the toilet, though? Clean? Perhaps unharmed?" Elena spat back too sweetly, flashing him a grin as she looked at her bandaged fist. "You didn't need to punch a Team Rocket Grunt in his face…"

Jayden rolled her eyes again. "Which was why I made Seishin control them…? Geez, you didn't need to poke him in the eyes and break his nose at the same time, right?"

"Well, anyway, it was an experience I would never forget!" Elena commented, grinning to herself and her fist. She looked at her Prinplup. "And Aquabub evolved when he saw my fist bleeding, so all went well!"

"Prinp!" Aquabub agreed.

"Veee!" Chikyu added, high-fiving Aquabub with her vine. Jayden sighed and smiled.

Kiara looked at Spike, her Nidorino. "Spike evolved while we were fighting a Nidorina; pretty crazy! You should've seen us! We were pretty epic, and-"

Aeleus let out a low rumbling noise and clutched his head in pain. "Shut up Kiara…"

Rascal was looking around at all his newly evolved Pokémon, trying to support his new weight. The Mightyena was still the same ol' Rascal, albeit slightly more mature, but nevertheless clumsy. He tripped over Benry's feet, whimpering in pain. Romeo looked at his same old Combusken self and sighed.

"Well…how is everyone?" I asked, looking at everyone. Firaga was in the midst of digging his nose, and when he saw me, he scrambled to stuff the booger underneath the hospital bed.

Gross. And suddenly, I thought of Barzini.

"Oh, yeah, how's Barzini?" I looked at everyone. "He okay?"

"Uh…"

Firaga and Noldor were comparing each other's size. The two fully-fledged dragons seemed rather awed by one another.

"Noldor evolved…!" I gushed in awe. Then I glared at Barzini, who was sitting on his bed, bandaged up. He was apparently hit by Pin Missile from a Cacnea. Sort of pathetic, but still painful. "I'm forbidding you from holding a party, by the way."

"…Aw." Barzini mumbled, sulking. "Come on, he's a Salamence now!"

"You nearly died and all you can think about is a party…" I chided. I looked at Markus' Swellow, Swoosh, trying to get used to his new weight. His Turtwig, Twigs was circling Firaga obsessively.

"You'll get your chance, Twigs!" Markus tried to cheer his Turtwig up. Twigs lit up and nodded enthusiastically. "You'll be a great Grotle!"

Rex was, out of sheer fate, next to Barzini and in the same ward. He had his legs in a cast, and beside him was Volt, his new Manectric, looking condescendingly at all of us. He snarled at Firaga and Noldor. His Grovyle, Green was watching us nonchalantly as well. "Can you guys shut up for once?" he complained, shaking his head.

"You still owe me money for that Sitrus berry!" Barzini retorted back.

"Do not!"

"You two are such children!" I snapped at both of them. "Like Ash and Gary!"

Immediately, the two of them exchanged glances and pulled a face. Ash and Gary had so many yaoi stories to them about their rivalry, it was practically publicized on the newspapers when the show was still on. Silly. Now all we watch is Glee and American Idol. Sometimes, Pokémon Contests are on, or mass Pokémon knock-outs.

Firaga snorted but I smacked his belly, which I realized was a weak point. "You too! Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you get to act this way! Childish Charizard…"

"Char." He tried to cross his arms, but he couldn't and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Okay, have fun healing, Barzini. I'm gonna get some coffee. Gosh, I need some caffeine…" I walked out of the room, only to bump into Katie. "Oh, hey Katie!"

Katie grinned at me, then she looked behind me and blushed. "Um, can I talk to you, for a sec…?"

Firaga was showing off his wings to Katie's Forretress, Grenade, while Slinkie the Furret and Skittles were playing a game of who can catch your own tail first…if there was such a game. "So, whaddya wanna talk about?" I asked, as I blew at my coffee. In Singlish, it was 'kopi-o' but in English, it's black coffee; no milk.

Katie smiled at me. "I…um, I like Barzini."

I choked on my coffee and suppressed my laughter. Lord of The Rings nerd…? You have got to be kidding me. I mean, Barzini?

"Oh" was all I could muster. Honestly, it felt like I was Barzini; it was so awkward I could tell all four Pokémon were staring at me…or maybe three; Skittles doesn't have that sort of attention span for now.

"Yeah…so, um, do you think I should tell him?" Katie asked hesitantly. "Does he, um like like me?"

I thought about the hundreds of times Barzini would ramble on and on about Katie, and all I could say would be 'shut up' and 'poor girl'. "Yeah, definitely! You should tell him!" I said enthusiastically.

"R-Really? Thanks!" Katie blushed, and I smiled. "Oh, yeah, do you happen to have a crush on Benry?"

Firaga guffawed. "Uh, no."

"What about Aeleus?"

"…is this going somewhere…?" I asked uncertainly as Firaga burst out laughing in his Charizard way.

"Uh, no! Absolutely not!" Katie abruptly stood up and smiled. "Okay, see you at school, okay?"

She then headed off to Barzini's room, as I tried not to think about whatever she asked.

We're accepting OCs for Team Rocket now! HAHA. And students, too! Teachers are welcome.

Name

Occupation (student, aunt, teacher)

Age (16 if you're Charis' classmate, 15 if you're Barzini's classmate)

Pokemon plus their nicknames (two if you're a student)

Personality of self

Personality of Pokemon

Appearance (need not be very long, and sort of optional)

Interesting quirks

Legendary chosen (Celebi, Lugia, Arceus, Azelf, Rayquaza)

Okay, we need OCs for:

Team Rocket

Students (preferably related to any OC already mentioned, like Jayden's martial arts sidekick. Crushes still accepted!)

Teachers

Relatives

COME ON! REVIEW ALREADY! :D

Also, we may not be able to update very often. Barzini has what, 7 other subjects for O levels? And my school starts tomorrow! :D HAHA, I was so excited I printed out my lecture notes after my orientation camp. Okay, never mind me and my nerdiness.

REVIEW!