Chapter Seven
I arrived at the school the next day right before noon. The campus didn't seem as big as it looked on the flyer.
"Wow, this is so impressive." I said sarcastically to Pidgeot.
"Geot." he replied before I returned him. I walked in through the main doors to the front office.
"Uh, my name is Stephen." I said to the woman at the front desk as I showed her my flyer. "Some old guy gave this to me..."
"Oh yes! Hello Stephen!" She said as she took my flyer and put it in a drawer. "That man you're talking about was our student researcher. He looks for promising students and sends them here. He was interested in you for your high score."
"But I only got like, a B+."
"Yes, well, that's still high considering only four people got As, and only seven people got Bs."
"Oh." I said as we entered a large room filled with video game machines. "Whoa! A school that has an arcade? Cool!"
"Oh, these aren't video games." the woman said, smiling. "These are battle simulators. Once you're enrolled, you'll be free to use them as often as you like."
"Sure, sure, whatever. I don't like simulators. I prefer to use real pokémon, not computer images. Besides, I thought it costed a ton of money to get into this school."
"Well, that's only for regular entries. If a person is selected by one of our researchers, then they can get in for free."
"Oh. So...when do I start?"
"Well, if you want to get in, you have to defeat the best student for the beginners class."
"Sure, no problem. Who's the kid?"
Just then, a pretty young girl walked out from behind one of the simulators. She held a pokéball in her hands.
"You'll battle me!" She said as a small galaxy appeared behind her. "Some people say I'm gorgeous, some people say I'm a star, but...I'm just Jazelle!"
Rolling my eyes, I walked past her and pushed the large board with a picture of a glaxay behind her away.
"Okay, Ms. Jazelle, let's go." I said as I pulled out a pokéball.
We went outside to a large swinmming pool for the battle. We agreed to one pokémon each. Jazelle opened by tossing her pokéball into the water.
"Go...Seadra!" she cried.
"Seadra huh?" I said as I pulled out my pokédex.
"Seadra, a dragon pokémon. Seadra are weakest against other dragon pokémon." it beeped.
"Other dragons? Okay then, I have just the thing." I pushed the trade button in my pokédex and the ring around my pokéball glowed and went back to normal. I quickly threw it into the pool.
"Go Dratini!" I said as a bright flash appeared from the pool as the ball opened. Suddenly, a long, eel-like pokémon with small blue ball under it's neck shot it's head out of the water and prepared to fight. However, it wasn't Dratini.
"Dragonair?!" Jazelle and I both said, stunned.
"It must've evolved while it was with Prof Oak!" I said, smiling at my new pokémon. "Now I'll definatly win!"
"Yeah right!" Jazelle laughed. "Seadra, start off with Water Gun!"
"Dragonair, use your Leer!" I said.
Dragonair quickly dunked under the surface of the water to avoid the Water Gun and appeared behind Seadra. Seadra turned around only to be frozen by Dragonair's Leer.
"Now Dragonair, give it your Slam!"
Dragonair quickly picked it's long body up out of the water and slammed against Seadra, only to shoot back up in pain. Seadra had somehow managed to turn around while Dragonair was preparing for a slam and Dragonair ended up falling right onto it's spiky fins.
"Hah! Now Seadra, Hydro Pump!"
Seadra's cheeks puffed out and it dived under water. Seconds later, Dragonair was lauched out of the pool from a huge geyser of water.
"Dragonair! No!" I cried. I sadly returned it.
"Well, that was too easy! You should train harder you weakling!" Jazelle laughed.
Boiling with anger, I stormed out of the school and set out Pidgeot. I hopped onto him and we flew off towards the city. I made my way to the pokémon center and went up to a room, callously ignoring Nurse Joy's hello. I stayed in the center all that day, cooling off my temper. After I had calmed down a little, I checked out a map to see which Gym was closest. According to my other badges, I only had two more Gyms to go. Cinnabar Island had a Gym, and it was closest to me. So can you guess where I went?
Riding on Pidgeot, I made it back to Fuchia City where I boarded the Lapras Liner, a crusie ship that would take me to Cinnabar. Luckily, this ocean liner didn't sink. The ship arrived at Cinnabar in a week or so. Once again, I headed straight for the Pokémon Center. I stayed in the Center for a day or so and headed to the Gym the second day I was there. The gym was a huge complex carved into the side of what looked like an extinct volcano. The main hallway of the gym was surrounded by gigantic statues of fire pokémon. I made my way to the back of the gym, where an old man was standing there, waiting for challengers.
"I am Blaine, the master of fire pokémon. Do you wish to challenge me?" he stated.
"I do." I replied.
"Two pokémon each then. Arcanine, Go!" He cried as he threw a pokéball to the floor.
"Go Dragonair!" I ordered as I tossed my pokéball. "Start it with your Thunder Wave!"
Dragonair blasted Charizard into paraylisis before it even had a chance to attack.
"Now Dragonair, finish it with your Hyper Beam!"
Dragonair's eyes glew and odd shade of orange and it shot a huge beam of energy form it's mouth, blasting Charizard to the ground. Blaine quickly returned it and threw another ball.
"Now it's serious! Time to meet my strongest pokémon! Magmar, go!" he shouted.
"Let's go Wartortle!" I cried.
"Magmar, take out that weakling with a fire punch!"
"Wartortle! Fight back with Bubble Beam!"
Magmar lept inot the air and slammed into Wartortle, fists out. Magmar was just about to smash Wartortle's face in when it was blasted off of him by a steady stream of bubbles. It landed several feet away, but was still in the fight.
"Wartortle, get it with a skull bash!"
"Magmar, try the fire punch again!"
Wartortle leapt at the flame pokémon at ramming speed, but was slammed back to the ground from it's viscious punch.
"Now Magmar, take it out with Flame Thrower!"
"Wartortle! Look out!"
Magmar took in a deep breath and began to shoot huge blasts of fire from it's mouth. Wartortle dodged several of them, but was knocked onto it's back by a blast to it's leg. Magmar took closer aim and fired a blast straight at Wartortle.
"Wartortle! No..!" I cried. Wartortle suddenly leaped up as the flame blasted the floor harmlessly. Then, Wartortle began to glow! He was evolving! Wartortle got bigger and bigger, till it was only a few inches shorter than I. It's shell swelled and hardened and two huge cannons popped out of it's back. The glowing faded to reveal Blastoise!
"All right! You evolved!" I cried happily.
"Magmar, while he's distracted, hit it with your Fire Blast!" Blaine commanded.
Magmar took in another big breath and shot out a huge fire ball aimed dead center at Blastoise.
"Blastoise! Use your Hydro Pump!" I called. Blastoise quickly turned around and blasted a powerful stream of water right through the Fire Blast and into Magmar, blasting it clear through the far wall. Blaine returned it and handed me a badge in the shape of a small flame.
"Good job young man!" He congratulated.
"Thank you." I replied. "Are your pokémon all right? I'm sorry if we hurt them."
"They'll be fine." he assured. He then walked out to a back room and I left and headed back to the pokémon center, still savoring the victory.
I got back to the center and retold the whole battle to Nurse Joy. She was happy to hear about my win. Afterwards, I headed up to my room for a good night's rest.
Tune in tomorrow for the final chapters.