Hello again, non-reviewing fans of Pokémon 101! Shelby Cloyster is back, and you're probably wondering why it takes me so long. I am a very slow writer, and these things take time for me. Chapter 1 was only a page long on my computer, Chapter 2 was two pages, Chapter 3 was six pages, and this one was eight pages! Whew! On a similar note: thanks for the review, allokai, and I noticed another error myself. I'll try and fix them as soon as I figure out how.

Anyway, I have some news: when I officially announce that this fanfic is completed, I'll start another one to actually close this year of Jerry's at the Pokémon Academy. It'll be super long and really interesting and will always end with Jerry catching at least one Pokémon. Any suggestions on what Pokémon my other characters should have will be greatly appreciated, but enough of my blabbing. As they say in show business, on with the show!

Chapter 4: Rival Arrival

Spikes and Jerry had first met at the end of June, and the first day of school at the Pokémon Academy was September first. Every day, Jerry would take Spikes out for a mile-long run to help build up his most important stat: Speed. This was Jerry's theory: the faster Spikes could move, the less likely his opponents would be to avoid Spikes' attacks. This theory was tested in battle with the Pokémon on Route 201. After Spikes was elevated to Level 3, Jerry discovered that battling certain Pokémon raised certain stats. Besides the running exercises, Spikes was only allowed to battle certain Pokémon in order to raise his Speed, but for some levels they battled other Pokémon to raise Spikes' second most important stat: HP (Hit Points; the more Hit Points, the more attacks Spikes could endure in battle). When Spikes was trying to raise his HP, he would battle nothing but Caterpie, Hoothoot, Wurmple, Nestling, and Larvunda. Otherwise, he would battle Weedle, Pidgey, Rattata, Spearow, and other Zigzagoon in order to raise his Speed. However, once Spikes past Level 12, he realized the importance of the Attack stat, which would increase the power behind his physical attacks. After explaining this to Jerry, they spent a week battling Pokémon that would help raise the Attack stat (Sentret, Spinarak, Poochyena, and Sheaver). After two months of training, Spikes knew all the moves he previously knew, as well as Tail Whip, Headbutt, Sand-Attack, and Iron Tail.

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the summer was what Jerry called "The Iron-Tail Incident." Fed up with his Pidgeot falling victim to super-charged electrical attacks, Christopher Thompson was rooting through his TM case, trying to find a move to teach the golden bird that would remedy this problem. At that moment, Spikes skidded into the room, jumped on the couch, fell off, and smashed headfirst into Chris' favorite Technical Machine (hereafter referred to as a TM): TM-23 Iron Tail. The information was assimilated into Spikes' brain, breaking the TM in the process. At that moment, Jerry skidded into the room, saw what had happened, and said, "Guess we shouldn't have continued the speed training in the house, huh?"

The only reason Jerry wasn't grounded for the incident was that every time someone tried to enact a punishment, Spikes smacked them with an Iron Tail. Needless to say, the Thompson parents were very happy when September 1st came.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Jerry to Spikes. "It's just like in the brochure."

"I'll say. I'm certainly glad to be here…since we have nowhere else to go."

"I was surprised Mom and Dad drove off so fast. They barely said good-bye."

"Parents. What are you gonna do? Remember, my mom abandoned me when I was barely born, like two months ago. Even though you're my trainer, you're the only real parent I've ever had."

"Stop being so touchy-feely or I'll pitch you into that lake."

"Uh-huh. I know Iron Tail, remember? Or did you forget the 27 times I smacked your parents across the face with a metallic, spiky tail?"

"Point taken. Forgive me and I'll forgive you."

"Who're you talking to?"

Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, another boy came over the hill. He was about 5'8" in height and was wearing a T-shirt with blue and white stripes, not to mention cream-colored shorts. He was wearing red tennis shoes that had seen better days and were two sizes too small. His brown hair was rumpled, and part of it fell between his two brown eyes. You'd have figured he was a normal pre-teen if it wasn't for the single, solitary Pokéball hanging from his belt and the tattered backpack he was holding.

"I said who are you talking to?"

"I don't talk to strangers," Jerry retorted. "Introduce yourself and I might answer."

"You don't have to be rude." The boy extended his hand. "Dewey Bronson, how do you do?"

Jerry sighed and shook his hand. "Very well, thank you. Name's Jerry Thompson, and I was talking to my Zigzagoon, Spikes."

"You talk to your Pokémon?" Dewey said quite flatly.

"You have a problem with that?"

"Nah. I'm just a little flustered because mine does nothing but sleep. If you could talk to him and maybe…"

"Another Bronson, eh? Just what this school needs…"

Jerry and Dewey were interrupted by a boy in a sweater vest. His eyes were rather squinty, and his nice clothes were rather oddly accentuated by the Pokéball, Pokédex, PokéNav, and money satchel hanging from his belt. Like Jerry and Dewey, he was wearing a backpack, but it looked like someone had recently spent a great deal of money on it for this boy. In fact, everything from his enormous glasses to his Armani loafers seemed to be extremely expensive and brand new, and anybody would've written him off as a Junior Nelphor Executive if it weren't for the Pokémon-related gear he had with him. Jerry immediately began to dislike this boy, and hoping to Ho-Oh that they wouldn't be sharing a dorm room.

"Back off, DeSoto or…"

"You two know each other?" asked Jerry quizzically.

"Obviously. Bronson and I attended elementary school together, and I'm surprised his low-income family was able to pay the expensive tuition here. Hopefully you'll make the right choice and stay away from riffraff like him; I'd be happy to point out the others like him."

Dewey was mumbling to himself, but this mumbling rapidly grew so loud, "DeSoto" could obviously hear it. "Lousy rotten good-for-nothing swanky rich know-it-all…just because someone is from a low-income family doesn't mean they can't attend a good school…I got in here on a scholarship, you'd have to buy one your battling skills are so poor…and I'm not riffraff!"

The DeSoto boy stared quizzically at Dewey for a second, and then extended his hand to Jerry. "Hewitt DeSoto. My offer to steer you towards the 'in-crowd' still stands."

Jerry hesitated for a moment, went in to shake Hewitt's hand, glanced at Dewey, and withdrew it. "I'm sorry, but I think I can tell the 'riffraff' for myself. Remember, low income does not riffraff make."

Dewey and Hewitt suddenly heard a cry of "Ziga Zagoon, Ziga Zagoon," but to Jerry it sounded more like a, "Let me smack him across the face with an Iron Tail. I'd love to show him who the riffraff is…"

Before Jerry could reply to his angry Zigzagoon's comments, Hewitt said, "Very well, if you insist. But if our paths cross again, you'd better hope you're not in my way. I have a rather excitable Poochyena who would love to sink his teeth into you."

That comment would have been very threatening if Hewitt had used words such as "easily irritated," or perhaps "quickly annoyed." Instead, he chose to use a word that can have another meaning, one often used to describe small children who have outgrown diapers but still wear training pants to bed at night. The result: Jerry, Dewey, and Spikes burst into a fit of laughter.

"OK, fine, just don't let him get 'excited' all over my new pants!"

"If you're so rich, couldn't you pay to make him less excitable?"

"I may be on the poor side, but at least I'm rich enough to teach my Pokémon how to use a toilet!"

"Your Pokémon knows how to use a toilet?"

"I don't have much time on my hands, so I taught my useless Wurmple how to use one…but if he uses it, he doesn't tell me. He doesn't do it in public, unlike Stinky the Wonder Pee-chyena!"

"That's enough! I challenge you idiots to a 2-on-2 Pokémon battle!" Apparently, Hewitt was getting pretty annoyed by all the teasing of his Poochyena…or maybe it was his poor word choice…never mind, the point is he was so upset about something that he didn't realize he only had one Pokémon with him. Some people never learn.

"Since you only have one Pokémon with you," Jerry eventually decided, "I'll battle you with my Zigzagoon. Spikes, get ready, power up the secret weapon you learned a few weeks ago!"

Hewitt released the Poochyena, who bared his fangs and growled at the Zigzagoon. "Hello, puny prey. Prepare to meet my Poison Fang!"

"Oh, so you're 'specially bred?' Please, your toxic teeth won't be useful against my special maneuvers! Prepare to meet my…"

"Waaaait!"

A girl, about five feet tall, came running over the hill. She was wearing a shocking-pink blouse with thin green stripes across the middle, which supposedly went with her green skirt and socks. Her sneakers were white and pink, and a solitary Pokéball was hanging from her skirt. Also around this skirt was a…well…it was kind of like a backpack combined with a belt, with pouches for everything from spare Pokéballs to TM's to regular items. Her straight, brown hair went down to her shoulders, and her deep blue eyes almost seemed to twinkle in the sun. To Jerry, she looked very pretty, but to Dewey and Hewitt thought she was rather annoying.

"I've just scanned both your Pokémon with my Pokédex, and your Poochyena isn't half as powerful as his Zigzagoon is. You'd be better off battling that boy's Wurmple, which should be approximately your level. My Cindy can handle the Zigzagoon."

"Excuse me miss…" Jerry began, but was interrupted by the girl again.

"My name is Catherine Braind, and my Skitty, Cindy, is the same level as your Zigzagoon, and she's just itching for a battle. May we?"

Dewey butted in. "On one condition: we make it a 2-on-2 battle. I say me and Jerry versus you and…Hewitt."

"Bring it on, then," replied Catherine, but Hewitt refused. "I'll not battle with some stupid girl."

(Author's note: This chapter is supposed to introduce and loosely develop the characters of Cat, Hewitt, and Dewey, and part of Hewitt's characteristics is his anti-feministic views and blatant sexism. I am not sexist in any way, but I needed Hewitt to be sexist to develop his character. The roots of this sexism are being shown now, but as he matures and his character develops, you'll see why I'm making him this way. Also, I'm loosely basing this fanfic off of Harry Potter, and Hewitt is basically equated to Draco Malfoy. I had to find some reason for him to hate the heroine, but don't worry, there's a reason for this, but I can't give it away now. It'll be discussed in a later fanfic. And now, back to the show.)

Catherine was about to pummel Hewitt, so Jerry held her back while Dewey explained to his nemesis the mathematical ramifications of the arrangement. Finally, Hewitt said, "Alright, I'll do it, but I won't like it."

The school day itself wouldn't start for another hour at around noon, so the foursome decided to have their battle on the front lawn, just in front of the main entrance. Other students, who were as of yet unwilling to enter the school or battle themselves, stood on the sidelines and watched. Jerry and Dewey stood five feet apart from each other, looks of determination on their faces. Twenty feet from them stood Catherine and Hewitt, the latter trying hardest not to look at the former. Another student was acting as referee, saying, "This match will be a two-on-two double battle, with each participant using one Pokémon. There will be no time limit, and the match will start now."

Jerry and Hewitt had already released their Pokémon (Hewitt's Poochyena was called Fang), so Dewey and Catherine were the only ones who needed to release theirs.

"Alright, Pickles, come on out!" shouted Dewey as he tossed his Pokéball.

"Pickles?" asked Jerry, Hewitt, and Catherine in unison.

"Don't ask," replied Dewey.

"If you say so…Cindy, come on out!" shouted Catherine as she tossed her Pokéball, a Skitty coming out.

"Hello, sweet thing," said Spikes. "What do you say we skip this battle and head out on our own?"

"Oh, knock it off," replied the Skitty, "or I'll freeze you alive with a Blizzard."

"Begin the match!" shouted the student referee.

Within five minutes, the Pokémon had simply abandoned their trainers' commands and were fighting on their own. Those first five minutes consisted of nothing but weak attacks and dodging on the part of all the Pokémon. In fact, the only occurrence of interest is when one of Cindy's Blizzard attacks missed completely and froze Dewey within the first thirty seconds. Everybody toned down their attacks after that, which the Pokémon resented. Finally, the Pokémon only listened to their trainers if they agreed on which attack to use, but eventually the trainers just stopped commanding.

The battle really started to heat up when Fang ignored orders and used his "special move" on Pickles: Poison Fang. It would have hit, too, but Spikes chose a rather unorthodox method of saving his trainer's friend's Pokémon: an Iron Tail to Fang's face. It caught the Poochyena in the mouth, but the Poison Fang clamped down on the tail. Both Pokémon suffered minimal damage from each other's attacks, but Cindy took this as an opportunity to fry…excuse me, freeze…everybody using a Blizzard attack. Spikes, Pickles, and Fang were all hit by the Blizzard, taking a lot of damage on their parts, and Hewitt decided to have Fang finish off Dewey's Wurmple once and for all. He ordered a Tackle, and Fang obeyed; he ran in to destroy the little bug, but was stopped.

Spikes had taken the most damage from the Blizzard; almost half of his HP. However, he was not going to let that nice Wurmple be destroyed by that pathetic excuse for a Poochyena. First, he used Belly Drum, maxing out his Attack power in exchange for half his original HP. This left Spikes with little strength left, but he had something special on his side: a special ability that allowed him to "Pick Up" any items he found, such as berries, regular items, and even TM's. He'd recently picked up a Sitrus Berry, which Spikes quickly ate, restoring him to nearly full health. To finish off these maneuvers, he fired a Pin Missile at Fang. Since Dark-Types are weak against Bug-Type attacks, and Pin Missile is a Bug-Type attack, you can guess what happened. Fang was knocked out, and Pickles turned to Spikes and said, "You saved me!"

"It was nothing. I was gonna use it anyway."

"You freak! You monstrous common mutant! I can't believe you actually had the nerves to flirt with me, a pure-blooded Skitty! First a Poochyena knowing Poison Fang, and now a freak Zigzagoon who knows moves ahead of his time! Cat said you and I were at the same level, Level 13! Either you made the Pokédex misread you, and you're really a higher level, or you are a MUTANT FREAK! What kind of monster are you?"

Jerry had heard all of this, and despite his happiness at Spikes finding a friend, he was shocked by the Skitty's comments. He shouted to Spikes, "Take her out with an Iron Tail, NOW!"

But it was too late. Getting an idea from Spikes flirting with her, Cindy used Attract, hoping to stop the Zigzagoon from attacking. However, he took his attraction too far; Spikes rushed at Cindy in an attempt to kiss her. She shrieked ("AAAAAHHHHH!), accidentally coughing up a Blizzard attack that made contact with Spikes just as he made contact with Cindy in his attempt to smooch. This resulted in a rather interesting effect: Spikes was frozen solid, and Cindy was stuck to the ice. On the advice of Catherine ("Jump into the air and Tackle the ground!"), Cindy tried to physically destroy the ice, but to no avail. Panicking, she shouted, "AAAAHHH! I'M GOING TO HAVE THIS MUTANT FREAK STUCK ONTO ME FOREVER! HELP MEEE!" However, to everybody except Pickles and Jerry, it sounded like a long, loud "MEEEOOWWW!"

Pickles looked at his frozen battle partner and friend, thought about things for two seconds, and finally said, "My friend saved me, and I'm saving him!"

He opened up his mouth, pointed his head at the place where the ice met Cindy, and fired the mother of all Poison Sting attacks. This maneuver had three important effects that basically determined the outcome of the battle. First, it "defrosted" the ice surrounding Spikes, also separating him from Cindy. Secondly, it cured Spikes' infatuation for Cindy. Finally (and this was the clincher), the Poison Stings poisoned Cindy. It should be pretty obvious now who's going to win.

Having been freed from the ice, Spikes thanked Pickles profusely for saving him, and would have thanked him for the rest of the battle had he not noticed Cindy twitching in pain. Remembering her taunts about his parents, he did the only thing he could think of (considering the fact that the Blizzard attack had reduced his Hit Points to 2): Flail like heck. And since Flail works better when the user has less health, combined with the poison coursing through Cindy's veins, the battle basically ended about five seconds after Spikes' last attack. However, Cindy also had a special ability (of course she did, all Pokémon have a special ability; I was just too dumb to mention this earlier), and it worked to her advantage. Cute Charm, as this ability is called, infatuates the foe when the Pokémon with Cute Charm is struck by a physical attack, like Flail. Thus, Spikes had fallen in love with Cindy all over again, and was watching his "true love" about to faint. He wasn't about to let that happen, so he did the only thing he knew how to do: run to Jerry for help.

"C'mon, Jerry, we gotta save Cindy! I don' want her to faint!" shouted Spikes as he rushed towards his trainer. He jumped into Jerry's medical kit, grabbed the only Full Restore, and rushed towards Cindy.

"Get back here with that! Those things don't grow on trees, you know!" yelled Jerry, who was now rushing after his little Zigzagoon. This little Zigzagoon was becoming quite troublesome, but Jerry realized this could only be expected. After all, Cindy's Cute Charm had put Spikes under an infatuating spell, and Spikes had been known to overreact. This made Jerry think of "The Aipom Incident"…but Jerry decided not to think about that. I'd tell you about it, but…perhaps another time. Let's just say that Aipom probably wants a rematch after what happened…

In the meantime, Spikes had arrived at Cindy with the Full Restore. Now if he could figure out how to use it…

"Hello, my sweet, I have returned! This little liquid will make you right as rain…now let's see…to use it…perhaps if my stick my paw in this slot…but how to get the liquid out…" said Jerry, struggling to try and use the Full Restore, but he couldn't seem to figure it out. Some people can't, and neither could he.

Cindy, however, felt the poison take away her last bit of health, and knew the jig was up. But perhaps it was the poison that made her look at the desperate Zigzagoon standing over her, desperately trying to operate a Full Restore for her sake, and think that perhaps he wasn't such a mutant freak after all. He was trying to save her from fainting, something none of her opponents had ever tried to do for her, even when infatuated by her Cute Charm. It must mean that he had a heart…a heart she'd only ever seen in her trainer. She smiled up at the frantic Zigzagoon and said, "Well, it looks like it's over, Spikes…thank you for everything, especially with the Full Restore. But the game is over, and it looks like you've won…" before finally giving out.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A cookie to whoever knows who said that.

"Cindy, return!" called Cat, extending her Pokéball.

"Pickles, return!" called Dewey, extending his own Pokéball.

"Spikes, get back here with my Full Restore, or the only thing you'll see for the next week will be the inside of your Pokéball!" called a rather annoyed Jerry. Needless to say, Spikes came rushing back with the Full Restore; he rather disliked with great intensity…OK, hated…being inside his Pokéball.

Dewey, however, was beside himself; he had somehow managed to win his very first Pokémon battle. Granted, it was a tag-team battle, but still, the thought of actually winning was overwhelming for Dewey. It was so overwhelming for Dewey that he threw aside all dignity, jumped in the air yelling "Yahoo!" and nearly broke his leg in the rather awkward landing. He could only think of one thing afterwards, which he expressed verbally: "Alright, you two, hand over half your student credits each!"

"Student credits?" asked Jerry. "Can someone please bring me up to speed on that concept?"

Catherine sighed. "Student credits, Jerry, are a form of currency around here. When school actually starts, we get a certain amount of certain credits depending on how well we do on the entry test. Nobody knows anything about the entry test except those who create it, those who administer it, and those who have taken it, and they refuse to say anything on the matter to incoming students. We do know, however, that school credits can be spent at the school store, Totalo Mart Junior, where you can by everything from regular healing items to rather expensive TM's. Also, school rules state that if you lose a Pokémon battle, you must give half of the student credits you have on you to the winner. However, if you lose a lot, there is a bank where you can put spare student credits, where their number will increase at a rate of six percent; also, you will have ample opportunities to make more credits. Finally, there is a tournament at the end of our seventh year, known as the Battle Colosseum Tournament, where all seventh grader must turn in all of their credits before the start of the tournament, whether they are participating in the tournament or not. All battles held after that do not require you to turn over any credits if you lose. It's also rumored that depending on how many credits you turn in, you receive a special Pokémon that you cannot catch on school grounds. And, for your information, Dewey, neither Hewitt nor I hold any student credits yet, so neither of us can give you any. Wait until tomorrow, and then you can have a rematch if you want."

"Let me out of here! I've got something important to do, and I don't want to hold it in any longer! I've been waiting since Dewey hatched me to do this, and I don't want to have to wait until I've reached Level 8! I swear, if he doesn't let me out of here…"

Jerry was about to ask Cat about catching Pokémon on the grounds when he heard the cry from inside Pickles' Pokéball. Jerry turned to Dewey and said, "Hey, Dewey, I think Pickles wants out."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Well, Dewey, you hear that noise coming from Pickles' Pokéball?"

"Yeah, Jerry, what about it?"

"That's Pickles yelling he wants to come out."

"Alright, let's see what he wants…"

Dewey released Pickles onto the lawn, noticing he was slightly larger then before. Excitedly, Dewey cried, "He must've leveled up! I've heard that in double battles, both Pokémon gain experience when an opponent faints, so he must be at Level 7! And if he's at Level 7, and that means what I think it means…"

All of a sudden, everybody looked at Pickles. He was oddly glowing with a strange white light, and was changing shape…into that of some kind of cocoon…and stopped glowing…to reveal…

"I don't believe it! Pickles evolved into a Cascoon! Which means he'll evolve again into a Dustox! I don't believe this! Pickles, I've never been more proud of you in your lazy, worthless life! Somebody get me a Pokédex so I can look him up!"

"Dewey, since you're so overjoyed by Pickles' evolution, why don't you let me do the honors?"

Jerry took out his Pokédex, used the Field Scanner to scan Pickles, and turned up the volume so everybody could here the Dex entry.

"Cascoon, the Cocoon Pokémon. Cascoon makes its protective cocoon by wrapping its body entirely with a fine silk from its mouth. Once the silk goes around its body, it hardens. This Pokémon prepares for its evolution inside the cocoon. If it is attacked, Cascoon remains motionless, no matter how much it is hurt; otherwise, it would be weak when it evolves. However, it will not forget the pain it endured before evolution. This Cascoon is at Lv. 7. This Cascoon knows Tackle, String Shot, Poison Sting, and Harden."

"Well, that was the least informative thing I've ever heard, so I'll be leaving you losers to play with your toys and pathetic Pokémon," said Hewitt. As he turned to leave, Pickles used Harden, then Tackled Hewitt in the back. "That ought to teach you to call me and my trainer 'losers,' ya big, stupid meanie!"

Before Hewitt could retaliate, a tall woman came out of the front entrance of the school and shouted through a megaphone: "Attention all students, please report to the Dining Hall for lunch and the start of the 2005-2006 school year. Students who are entering the academy for the first time, please follow me, as I will be giving you your instructions on the entry exam."

Jerry, Spikes, Cat, Dewey, and Pickles all looked at each other. "Oh, boy," said Jerry, "Here comes our worst nightmare…"

Well, what do you think? Any and all reviews are welcome, especially about what Pokémon the trainers should have. I hope you all really enjoy this fanfic!

Two new Pokémon were mentioned in Pokémon 101 this week, so I'd better introduce you to them. Larvunda, the Burrow Bug Pokémon,looks like a small, brown caterpillar, with only five body segments. It has compound eyes and long, thin antenna. It only can learn Tackle and String Shot, making the Totalo equivalent of Caterpie, but it's still useful for three reasons. The first one is that they're quite abundant about Totalo, so if you want to raise HP Effort Values, they're pretty useful. (If you don't know what Effort Values are, just go to http/ and go to the Game Mechanics section. If you don't need to know, don't bother.) Second, their final evolved form is second only to Ninjask in Bug-Type power. Finally, it can learn certain moves through breeding, such as TM's. Otherwise, don't bother with it; nobody in any of my stories (except minor characters) ever will.

The second Pokémon is Sheaver, the Cutting Pokémon. Basically, just think of a really small beaver with an underdevloped tail and shortened buck teeth. It's a normal type that can learn the HM Cut by leveling up, and it can also learn Sharpen, a move that raises Attack. They can be quite useful, especially if you need a Pokémon to know Cut and various other moves; its movepool (especially that of its evolved form) is quite large. I'm pretty sure it'll make at least a cameo somewhere along the line in the Totalo Academy series, but other than that I'm not sure.

As usual, time for a preview of the next chapter, To Torkoal Or Not To Torkoal. Jerry discovers that the entry test, though based on luck, is actually rather simple. However, the Torkoal he receives from it learned a few moves it shouldn't have learned, but hey, what's wrong with a few breeding experiments? Appearantly a lot, and after a little show-offiness in a battle, Jerry might lose his newest friend. Will he be able to save the Torkoal in time? You'll find out in the next chapter! Adios!