Ch. 4

Test Your Might

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners

The psychiatrist's eyes seemed to quickly flash in shock as he absorbed the information before returning to a state of calm. His face from a shifted from happy-go-lucky to one of a calm leader who had just received the worst possible news in his entire life. He did a quick scan of both Dmitri and Maris before shifting from his laid back position with his legs stretched out to its full length to sitting in an upright position; his eerie eyes never leaving the duo for a second.

"What you just told me took a lot of heart and courage Dmitri. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. I think the problem here is post-traumatic stress disorder," the psychiatrist stated in a calm and orderly manner.

"(What the flip is post-traumatic stress disorder?!)" Maris shouted in agitated tone, thinking that this would help her trainer and not turn into another boring lecture.

The psychiatrist gaze quickly shifted from staring at Dmitri to staring directly at Maris which unsettled her to no end. They locked eyes before he let out a small, creepy chuckle before saying:

"Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder caused by sexual assault, serious injury, or the threat of death," he stated with intellectually as an arrogant smile formed onto his features.

If both Dmitri's and Maris's eyes could bulge out of their eye sockets, then their eyes would have long since burst out of their eye sockets. They both thought the only people who could understand pokespeech were Delia, Karen, and Dmitri.

"(H..H…How is this even possible? Only Dmitri, Karen, and Delia can understand pokespeech. You shouldn't be able to understand me y…you damn freaking psycho!)" Maris said shakily as the fear never left her voice.

"Never say anything is impossible, not in this world. Let's just say that I've had "hands-on experience" with pokemon," he said as he use hand gestures to emphasis his point.

"Well…um, thanks for your time. We'll…um just be going now mister-"

"Hope. Hope is what I'm called around here and nothing else," Hope said firmly as he saw Maris roughly drag Dmitri drag him out of his office by his arm. Hope laughed on the inside as he saw this spectacle before he remembered something very important.

"Halt you two, you guys forgot something," Hope said as he casually made his way around the desk and towards the odd duo.

He saw Maris tense as if she was expecting him to attack before he kneeled down and they were suddenly staring at each other eye to eye. The air around them stopped moving completely as if it too was watching this tense standoff.

"You forgot your pass. Wouldn't want you guys to get a tardy on your permanent record now would you. Mr. Yamamoto can be a real scrooge on tardiness, especially class is already in session," Hope said in monotone like a soulless robot.

Maris blushed furiously before quickly snatching it out of his hands and forcefully shoved the door in his face. Hope sighed as he watched the duo disappear out of his sight before sitting back down on his desk and resuming his paper work which had been scattered by the wind when Maris oh so gently kicked the door open. He ran his hand before looking down at what paper he picked up off the floor and grimaced at the paper as if it was diseased.

"Great, how could I forget my sister's note that she wrote to me? I better write her back as soon as possible. No sense in getting my head smashed in for not wishing her a happy birthday. What is this, like literally the 100th time she has reminded me to wish her a happy birthday?" Hope said agitatedly as he went to work on writing back his attention craving sibling.

Meanwhile

"Um Maris, you can let me go now. We're not in Hope's office anymore," Dmitri said plainly.

Immediately, Maris released her hold on him and narrowed her eyes at him.

"(Okay, okay. I was not the only living being who recognized how freakin' creepy that guy was right? Dmitri, you had to get the feeling that there's something off about that guy right? RIGHT?!)" Maris asked in desperation towards her childhood friend.

Dmitri tilted his head to the side like a confused lillipup and gave Maris an "Are you serious?" face. Maris shook her head furiously before heaving him to his feet and leading him towards the gym.

When she gently shoved open the door, Mr. Yamamoto turned towards them with absolute fury in his eyes and stomped towards them like an angry giant. He got his face right in Dmitri's and said:

"Where in the Sam Hell have you been squirt?! Do you know how late you are?! Well, DO YOU?!" the P.E. teacher shouted with such force the windows surrounding the gym all earned a crack on their otherwise perfect surface.

"N…No sir," said in such a quiet tone that not even an audino could hear him even if it was in close proximity of him.

"WHAT?! You gotta speak up son I can't hear!" Mr. Yamamoto yelled mercilessly as Dmitri recoiled away from his voice to avoid further humiliation in front of the his already giggling classmates.

Maris saw her friend suffering and promptly shoved the pass in the meathead's face which caused him to stumble backwards and fall right on his butt. The whole class erupted into a chorus of laughter as they watched the Mr. Yamamoto still trying to process what had just happened. He angrily snatched the paper off his face and quickly skimmed through it before scrambling to his feet. He readjusted his cap before firmly planting his feet in the ground and blew his whistle in order to regain control of his out of control class.

"Alright, you guys should know this by now. Get dressed and then pair up with the rank ahead of you and work on whatever the hell you feel like," Mr. Yamamoto said in a bored tone as if he been saying it his entire life.

Dmitri was glad P.E. was one of the few classes that weren't separated from the other two ranks as it gave him a chance to hang out with Delia and learn from a future battle master.

Once he was done changing (with Maris in her pokeball of course) he hastily ran out of the locker room and released Maris from her pokeball.

"(Uh, I really hate being in there sometimes. It's so dark and desolate in there," Maris said with a frightened tone.

"I know sorry about that, but the school doesn't allow pokemon to be out of their balls while in the locker room. Please forgive me for putting you in there Maris," Dmitri replied sadly.

Maris sighed and shook her head at her companion as she seized his hand and led him towards the other side of the gym so she could speak to him privately.

"(Look, you don't have to apologize for putting me in my pokeball. It's not that bad really. I guess I should be the one apologizing for making a big deal out of nothing,)" Maris said sternly to Dmitri as she hoped that this time he would get the message.

Dmitri smiled slightly before speaking again.

"Maris, I know, but little things can ruin a friendship too and I don't want that to happ-"

Dmitri was suddenly violently shoved to the ground from behind and heard a mocking voice from behind as the Martial Arts Pokemon helped him to his feet.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little dipshit and his scrawny, pitiful excuse for a fighting type pokemon. Ya know, sometimes I wonder how you're even related to your mother because she's as tough as nails and you're as tough as a feather. Maybe I should have been her son so that way I wouldn't disgrace her already sorry excuse reputation as a "master battler," the bully sneered at Dmitri.

Dmitri turned his head so he wouldn't have to look face his wrath any further and when he got right in his face, resorted to looking at the hole in his shoe. The bully happened to be Zach Taylor, the all-around douchebag son of one of the wealthiest families in the entire world. His family has everything except respect for their fellow man and think money can get you anything, especially championships. They'll do whatever it takes to achieve victory, no matter how underhanded it seems in the eyes of others.

They even have a public training center that only their allowed in and a favorite prank of theirs is too let a trainer in hoping to get tips in training only to be violently shoved out by the security guards for trespassing. So of course when they heard about the Battle Academy they immediately "enrolled" their beloved baby boy in it so he can get strong and bring home the gold to their family name.

In other words, he's just another arrogant mama's boy who thinks money can buy you anything, especially a championship.

"What do you want Zach? I don't have anything you want," Dmitri said as he never looked him in the eye once.

His answer was met with another shove and Dmitri was sent sprawling to the ground yet again as he gazed upon the crazed eyes of his attacker.

Zach seemed to stare around the room for a bit before grabbing Dmitri by his collar and hauling him to his feet. Dmitri felt nauseas as he smelt his high priced cologne fill his sinuses and futilely tried to free himself of his grasp. Zach would have laughed hysterically at his predicament if he hadn't felt his wrist get twisted in the wrong direction by an unseen foe and then unceremoniously knocked to the ground.

Zach was about to ask what the big idea was until he looked upon the pulsating red, furious eyes of a very pissed off dragon tamer. He would have gazed into her beautiful, mesmerizing eyes if she hadn't planted her foot firmly in his ribs.

"Leave him alone, hear me?! I don't why people bully a gentle soul like Dmitri so much? Now run along with you stupid child with your other block head friends and leave him in peace!" Delia shouted as an angry red aura formed around her body.

A normal man would have pissing their pants, curled up into a ball, bawl their eyes out, and pray to Arceus that this woman in front of them would leave them in peace. Zach, however, wasn't a normal man and was unperturbed by this show of force.

"Hey baby, how bout' you ditch this wimp and hang out with a real man. I can show you a thing or two and you could show me "two very big things" about you," Zach said lecherously as he gazed upon her chest.

Before Delia could smash him over the head Dmitri got in front of Delia to protect her from further sexual harassment from the perverted rich boy.

"Just leave us alone Zach. Please, we don't want any trouble," Dmitri said a little more firmly.

"You dare speak to me you street urchin! You're not even fit enough to lick the bottom of my $1,000,000,000,000 dollar shoes! You want a pokemon battle, ya got one!" Zach said furiously as saliva from his lips flew freely across the gym.

"Where the bloody hell is Mr. Yamamoto? He should be stopping this from happening," Delia thought with raised eyebrows.

"Ha, don't even bother going to that meathead Yamamoto for help! I paid him off so it's just you and me you arrogant piece of shit!" Zach said arrogantly as he put his hands on his hips.

"How am I being arrogant Zach? I never said I wanted a pokemon battle nor did I insult your battle prowess," Dmitri said as he was slowly losing his cool.

"Heh, that doesn't matter. When you incite the wrath of Zach "Golden Boy" Taylor, you bet your sweet ass it's not going to get repaid! Now enough talk, show them why were a golden duo golden streak!" Zach shouted as he threw his pokeball towards the middle of the gym and out of the bright light materialized a shiny golem who's coat hide had been polished way too much for comfort for the Megaton Pokemon.

Dmitri stared confusedly at the strange pokemon standing in the middle of the gym where a small crater formed around it due to its landing. Dmitri thought long and hard about what type of pokemon this was before he got a smug reply back.

"Ha, ya scared yet? Of course ya are. This bad boy is from the hillbilly region of Kanto so of course you wouldn't know about it you sniveling nerd!" Zach stated arrogantly.

"Well guessing from what its body is formed from I'm assuming it's a ground or rock type so Maris should be able to handle him. What am I thinking? Of course she can handle him. The question is can we handle him?" Dmitri thought with doubt.

Dmitri thought about long and hard about what to do before he felt a paw grasp his shoulder firmly and when he turned to face whoever it was he stared into the eyes of Maris. He saw determination to win in her eyes and he knew what that meant. Dmitri smiled widely and nodded to his partner before turning to Delia and asking her to be the referee. Delia responded with a simple nod of her head and went to the sidelines to announce the match.

"This match will be between battle ace Zach Taylor and battle rookie Dmitri. Each side will use one pokemon each and the battle will end when one side is unable to continue fighting," Delia shouted loudly enough so everyone in the gymnasium could hear.

As soon as everyone heard the announcement every student within earshot retreated off the gym floor and onto the bleachers to witness a decent, one sided match, an upset battle by the battle rookie, or just to take a nap as some students were aware of Dmitri's win-loss record and would rather not see a "slaughter-fest."

Maris glared into the eyes of her opponent as she got into a guard stance and eagerly awaited her master's command while Golden Streak simply looked at his reflection on the gym floor and sent thumbs up at his smiling reflection.

"BATTLE BEGIN!" Delia yelled.