Rising Tensions

"After we went to the Indigo Plateau to watch the Pokémon League, Johnny and I stayed at this amazing hotel that had everything..."

"Xander took me to Celadon's Department Store and offered to pay for anything and everything that I wanted..."

The awkwardness of listening to Jennifer and Laila fawn over their respective boyfriends was as strong and present as it had been for the past year. It was one of the few times that Amelie McKinley did not have anything to add to a conversation. The only thing she could do was sit at the lunch table and wait for them to bring up another topic. Fortunately, it happened the moment Craig entered the lunchroom and approached their table.

"Ladies," he greeted with his usual smug grin.

"Sit next to me, Craig," Laila taunted in a mocking tone.

"No, sit next to me, Craig," Jennifer teased.

"We want to cuddle with you, Craig!" the two of them said in unison before breaking out into laughter.

"Ha ha..." Craig growled. "Excellent stand-up from the cheer girls. I bet you three think you're so funny, don't you?"

"Actually, Craig," Amelie interjected. "I didn't say any-

"Whatever," he interrupted. "Speaking of cuddling, Felicity didn't mention how hard it was for me to hold her close. There was just so much extra space up top after the removal of all that padding. Whoops, guess I just spilled another one of Felicity's secrets. Looks like I'm in first place."

Amelie did not know who was in first place as far as childishness went. It definitely seemed like Craig and Felicity were neck and neck. It was not really hard to figure out what was going on though, especially in Craig's case as he was entirely too easy to read. The nastier he behaved, the clearer it became about where his feelings actually lied.

"You know," Amelie started. "If you still like her-"

"There are dozens of girls lining up to hook up with me," Craig finished. "Felicity is a total non-factor."

"Whatever you say," Amelie replied, deciding to change the topic. "So, we have a free period after lunch. Who wants to go with me to the park? My Pokémon and I volunteered to help clean up."

Jennifer and Laila exchanged a glance and quickly stood up.

"As much as we would love to help you, Amelie..." Jennifer said. "I...uh...have to go check on our new uniforms for cheerleading."

"Yeah," Laila added. "And...I um, have to go to study hall...to study..."

"For what?" Amelie questioned.

"Um..." Laila answered. "I...have to go to study hall to study for...uh, study hall?"

"We'll see you at practice!" Jennifer said before the two of them quickly headed off.

The responses were what Amelie expected, so she was not too upset. She would not have even asked them if she knew where Lyndon scurried off to. Reaching to take a sip of her tea, she noticed that it was now in Craig's possession.

"I don't suppose you'd like to help me clean the park?"

"I can't," Craig answered as he took a sip of the tea. "On the grounds that I really don't give a shit about how clean a park is."

"Well, at least you're honest."

Craig shrugged before turning to face her. Amelie noticed that his demeanor had shifted somewhat and wondered what was going on.

"So...your dad's running for mayor, huh?" he asked in a somewhat serious tone.

Instantly, Amelie knew what was going on.

"So that's where you went after homeroom?" she responded. "Yes, my dad is running for mayor and whatever activities your buddy Sid Moriarty or any of his higher ups have been up to are going to cease."

"'Cease'?" Craig replied with a laugh. "Ooh, that's a big girl word. It's not like your daddy is going to win anyway, not in a city like Saffron. There's no way the high-rollers like Felicity's dad or Tyler West's parents are going to let that happen. Your dad's too much of a good guy. That's too dangerous for the so-called criminals and the top dogs, they'd actually have to watch their backs. Now, if your mom was running, she'd definitely have a chance of winning on hotness alone..."

He was trying to rile her up and the last thing Amelie was going to do was give Craig the satisfaction of making her angry. She had nothing to do with his day going badly and if he wanted to take his frustrations out on another person, he was going to have to find someone else. The main issue with Craig was that she never knew what to expect when dealing with him. He could be jovial and helping her out when needed one day or he could be irritating and try to cause as much chaos as possible the next day. However, his skills in manipulation were strong and his words were often far more powerful than his muscles or his Pokémon. The main advantage that Craig had was the fact that Amelie did not have it in her to cut ties with him due to the fact that they had known each other for six years.

"Alright," Craig said standing up. "I'm bored. You know how to drain the energy out of a person, that's for sure. One more thing though, if you need someone to go clean up Pokémon droppings in the park with you, you probably should ask West. Arceus, you know things are bad when I have to step in and play matchmaker."

"Like you did with Johnny, Xander, and Nat?" Amelie replied sarcastically.

"They're all men now thanks to me," Craig retorted. "Sure, Nat's still a bit pissed about the whole fiasco last year, but he'll thank me for it later. If you would help out, I could cross Tyler off the list too. After that, I can focus all my attention on Lyndon because trust me, he's going to need it. I'm just saying, McKinley. Felicity, Jen, Laila, and Kat all got with the program. For your sake, you'd better wise up before Tyler loses interest in you."

His tone was less condescending and sounded more like a warning, which made Amelie a bit nervous. She always tried to deflect whatever Craig said to her, but she was not perfect and there were times where he could pierce her shell. She would be alright as long as she did not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had shaken her.

"Are you done?" she asked in a dry, but convincing voice.

"Yeah," he answered as he flashed a seductive smirk. "Of course, if you need some 'practice' for Tyler, I'm your man. You probably wouldn't want anyone else after me though."

For a brief moment, Amelie could see what Felicity and many other girls saw in Craig Kelton. He was attractive, confident, and skilled. Denying it would not change anything. It was likely the main reason he even got a way with a fraction of the stunts that he pulled. It was the same with Johnny, Xander, and Nat and although she hated to think about it, Tyler would likely be in the same category if he was as mischievous as they were.

"Hey, Amelie, I've been looking all over for you. Do you have a sec?"

Amelie was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Mike Snowe's voice. Despite the lowering sound of his voice and the steady growth spurt that he was experiencing, he was still the same Mike. The mop of dark brown hair and the warm smile confirmed it more than anything else.

"Hey, Mascot Boy," Craig started the moment he saw the younger boy. "I gave your girlfriend a ride this morning. Maybe she'll give me one later. She was looking pretty cute in those tight clothes."

"Are you sure that wouldn't be too difficult for you, greaseball?" Mike shot back. "Because judging from the sound you made after I dropped you the other day, I'd say that you're not exactly at a hundred percent yet."

"I've recovered enough to knock your teeth down your throat," Craig threatened.

"Just be sure to cuddle with me after you're finished," Mike countered with a triumphant grin.

Amelie's eyes widened and she put a hand over her open mouth as Craig was left speechless. Before he could even think of taking action, Amelie shot him a quick, but effective warning glare. Craig mumbled a few curses to himself before he stormed off, leaving Mike to take his seat next to Amelie. While it was easy to tell that part of his confidence was coming from the amount of people being present, Amelie could see a genuine change in Mike compared to two years ago. It was only natural considering he was twelve then and was almost fifteen now.

"How has your day been?" she decided to break the ice.

"Woke up late because Mom was busy with the baby," he began. "Drake and Loki had gone on ahead to check out some morning battles, so I rushed to school with Electabuzz. My girlfriend got mad at me for being late, she yelled, and then we made up...and then we made out. That led to us getting caught by Chaubs and getting a citation. Then, I tripped over some books, scraped my elbow, didn't go to the nurse, and here we are now."

"You certainly know how to make a bad morning sound interesting," Amelie replied. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for spending so much time with Elyse this summer. I know you two don't really have other friends who are into gymnastics, so it was nice to see my sister and my teammate bond."

"Hey, I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to Elyse," Mike stated. "Your sister is amazing, always has been, and can actually be pretty hilarious even if she doesn't like to show it when other people are around. Thanks to her, we're going to own halftime at the battle games. Speaking of which, we need to talk about my costume."

"What's wrong with it?" she asked.

"It barely fits me anymore," Mike explained. "Remember, I only got the job because I could do stunts and was the only one small enough to fit in it. Plus, every school in Kanto has some kind of badass mascot except for us. So, I was thinking why don't we just change Poliwhirl to Poliwrath? I mean, 'wrath' sounds so much cooler and lets the other teams know we aren't to be messed with. Maybe we can change my name too. Polly sounds like the name of a Chatot. How about just Paul or something cooler sounding like Pluto. The best thing about this idea is that Poliwrath is just a bigger, angrier, tougher version of Poliwhirl so no one would really get upset about us breaking tradition and I won't be embarrassed to be seen in a Poliwrath costume. Everyone wins."

"I don't see a reason why we can't change the mascot," Amelie told him. She honestly did not care what Pokémon the mascot was so long as everyone liked it. "We'd have to ask the principal and he'd have to let the school vote on it, but it's worth a shot."

"Thanks, Amelie!" Mike said excitedly. "You're the best."

"No problem," Amelie replied. "Hey, if you weren't busy during free period, did you want to help me volunteer to clean the park across the street? A clean environment will keep the Pokémon there happy and-"

"As much as I would love to help," Mike interrupted. "It's my first day in the upper school and I'm still learning my way around and...uh, Relena needs me to...uh-"

"I'll go..."

Mike's eyes lit up when he saw Tyler and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Tyler, you're a lifesaver...I mean, I wanted to clean the park so bad, but uh, they say three's a crowd. Amelie, I'll see you at practice!"

"Take care, Mike," Amelie said with a wave as he headed back to his group of friends.

"Should we be going?" Tyler asked.

"Y-yeah," Amelie stammered, her composure immediately melting away. "D-definitely."

Thanks to the influence of Johnny and the other boys on the battling team over the past two years, Tyler had become more open while Amelie found herself still stuttering and stammering like she did when she was thirteen. She would be driving soon and still could not talk to a guy she had known for five years. Fortunately, once they made it to the park and began cleaning the area, Amelie's Leafeon had managed to calm her down a bit so that they could have a normal conversation.

"You don't talk much about Feebas," she said as she watched him release the Pokémon to swim around in the stream.

Tyler did not talk much at all to be honest, but where his Pokémon were concerned, Arcanine and Ampharos tended to be more visible especially after the latter had evolved from Flaaffy.

"He was a gift from my parents about four years ago," Tyler explained, watching the water Pokémon swim around quickly. "They told me that I could make something out of myself with a lot of time and hard work in the same way that Lucas here would evolve into Milotic. Basically, they were telling me what they thought of me, but they've been criticizing for as long as I can remember. Anyway, Laila gave me a few tips on how to raise him since her Feebas evolved recently. He's close to evolving now, but my parents believe that he has not evolved yet because I've been wasting my time on the battling team, playing in a band, and actually making an effort to make friends."

Amelie did not know exactly what to say. It was the first time Tyler had opened up this much. Apparently, his life was not as perfect as she imagined it was. It made her think of Felicity and how she was constantly complaining about her father. Regardless of whether her complaints were often valid or not, it was obvious to Amelie that children of extremely wealthy parents were not always better off.

"I know what you need," Amelie said as she reached for her other poké ball and tossed it in the air.

Amelie's Rapidash, Jessie, materialized from the ball. It was always quite a sight to see even when she had been acquired as Ponyta. Her fiery mane and majestic stance rivaled Tyler's Arcanine and Amelie could not help but to be proud of how great she and Jessie's relationship turned out. Gently petting her, Amelie looked at Tyler and gave him a warm smile. It was much easier to interact with him when approaching as a friend rather than something more.

"This is my first time seeing her as Rapidash," Tyler remarked. "She looks very well taken care of."

"Thanks," Amelie replied with a blush as she climbed on Jessie. "She's still pretty playful and plenty stubborn, but she won't burn you or anything like that. Hop on, we're going on a short ride through the trail."

"Why?" Tyler asked curiously. "What's the reason?"

"It helps clear your head," Amelie told him. "And it's fun. Other than that though, there's no real reason and there doesn't really have to be."

Tyler gave her a bit of a confused look before recalling Lucas to his poké ball and climbing a top Jessie. Amelie momentarily froze up when she felt him grab her waist, but managed to collect herself before he could notice. She gave the command and Jessie galloped off.

Ace Torres had to admit to himself that he vastly preferred the upper school to the lower school. Even though he still had to deal with the same people in classes, the school was big enough that he could remain relatively anonymous outside the classroom. He also appreciated all the free time that was absent in his first and second years at S.T.S.

"Where is she...?" he mumbled to himself.

"I think Poké Lit. is my new favorite subject, Loki."

"Tell me about it, man. Now I know why they call her Miss Hottie."

Ace rolled his eyes as Drake and Loki passed him. They were too busy drooling over the Pokémon Literature teacher, Miss Motley, to even notice him. That was perfectly fine with him as he found them to be just as irritating as their friend, Mike. The three of them being as popular as they were just demonstrated how stupid most people in their age group were.

Amy was different though. Quiet enough to not be annoying, but talkative enough to be interesting. They were similar in many ways from their interest in expressive drawings and alternative music to their preference for dark clothing, books with bittersweet endings, and cool looking Pokémon. The fact that they became a couple in Saturday detention of all places highlighted how different they were from other people. More than anything, they were both outcasts and did not seem to mind. However, even Ace acknowledged that Amy was much nicer to other people than he was and the few arguments that they got into always revolved around this fact.

"Finally..." Ace said as she approached him. "What took you so long?"

"Got lost," Amy answered. "This school is so big."

"Isn't it great?" Ace asked. "Wide open spaces. Too many people to bother with us."

"If you say so," Amy replied as she reached in her bag. "Anyway, I got a little bored last period, so I kind of doodled you a little something. I know it's probably a bit cheesy, but..."

She handed Ace the piece of paper she removed from her bag. He looked at it and saw an elaborate drawing of what appeared to be a card. Upon further inspection, Ace noticed that it was not just any card, but the ace of spades. It was a bit cheesy, but Ace appreciated it and even managed to crack a smile.

"Not bad at all..." he remarked. "I'll hang it up in my room."

"You'd better," Amy joked. "That's a masterpiece, you know."

"So..." Ace continued. "I actually...have something for you..."

Amy looked at him curiously as he reached into his back pocket and handed her a flyer. He saw her eyes widen as she looked over it.

"Night Slash is coming to Saffron!?" she practically yelled. "They're my favorite band!"

"Yeah, they're having a little change-up in their schedule," Ace explained. "So they're coming to Saffron months earlier than they were supposed to. When I heard that, I just had to get us two tickets for Friday night."

He was taken aback when Amy responded by kissing him on the lips. She was usually far too shy to kiss him anywhere but on the cheek when they were not alone. He assumed that she was happy with the news, so he decided not to tell her the bad part. The concert was going to go way past her curfew if the band preformed their full set, so going would likely be a huge risk.

"I...have an appointment with Mr. Slowking over some nonsense," Ace told her. "I'll text you when I get out."

They said their goodbyes and Ace headed to homeroom. He was surprised when the Pokémon teacher had transferred to the upper-school and even more surprised when he turned out to be their homeroom teacher for the third year in a row. He supposed it could have been worse even if he had not gotten used to having a Pokémon for a teacher.

"Ah, right on time..." Mr. Slowking said as Ace came in and took a seat. "Slowbro, if you can give us a moment, please?"

"Bro...?"

"No, you cannot take the car," Mr. Slowking told him.

Ace wondered if they actually gave Pokémon driver's licenses, but decided not to ask as Slowbro left the room. He had a more important question on his mind.

"Why am I here?" he asked. "I haven't done anything to anybody."

"Why do you assume that you are in trouble?" Mr. Slowking questioned. "Why do you assume that you are the only student that I'm going to speak with?"

"Well, that explained nothing," Ace mumbled.

"You've had problems with others in the past. I wanted to make sure that things turn out better for you here than they did at the lower school. How has your day been?"

"Actually..." Ace started. "It's been good. No one's called me a freak, my girlfriend's happy with me, and I have a lot of free time to do what I want."

"That's great to hear," Mr. Slowking said with a smile. "You can leave if you want. I do not wish to take up all of your free period."

He did not have to tell Ace twice. The fourteen year old quickly left the classroom, deep in thought about his new school life. The lower school was small and consisted of only first and second years. Standing out was easy, but it could be a good or bad thing depending on who you were. The upper school was far larger and was made up of third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years. You really had to do something incredible to stand out, but if you wanted to blend in, it was actually possible.

"Out of our way, freak!"

Ace frowned and turned around to see who was talking to him. His expression changed when he realized that he was not the one being harassed. He saw a couple of fifth years shove a skinny boy with frizzy dirty blond hair and pasty skin. He had dark eyes with circles under them and he was searching for the pair of glasses that had fallen on the hallway floor after he had been shoved.

"Damn it..." Ace heard the boy say.

Letting out a sigh, he walked over to him and scooped the glasses off the ground before handing them to their owner. The boy put on the glasses and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that they were undamaged.

"Thank you..." he said to Ace.

"Don't mention it," Ace replied. "It was no big deal."

"Okay then...I'm Keller," the boy introduced himself. "Keller Trayne."

"Ace," he told him. He really did not want to waste his free period making small talk with a stranger and made no attempt to hide it. "Well, I'd better be going. See you around, Keller..."

For once, the first day of school was actually enjoyable for Anika Heartlily. She had gotten used to the upper school and there was nothing that could have possibly ruined her day. She even found that she enjoyed being part of the tutoring program despite being hesitant to sign up. However, it went towards college credit and she knew that she would be a fool to turn it down. She had been assigned to Esther Moore, a third year girl who she remembered from her days at the lower school.

"Thank you for helping me," she had told Anika. "I thought no one was going to sign up at first..."

"You're welcome..." Anika had told her.

They had talked for a bit, well Esther had talked while Anika listened as were the instructions given to the tutors. She had mentioned her Pokémon, her friends, and her struggles in school. She revealed that the tutoring program was her one chance at being kept in regular classes after spending the majority of the previous year in special education. Anika wanted to help as best she could, but was concerned about being able to live up to her ability to assist her.

"Where is he...?"

She checked the time on her phone and sighed at her brother's tardiness as she leaned against the door of his old truck. Griff was always late when it was time to go. She assumed that he was probably talking to girls or possibly getting all the notes he could. He was in his sixth year now and vowed to actually take his final year in school seriously. After a few more moments, she checked her phone again only for it to go off. She looked at the name and debated for a few seconds before she decided to answer it.

"H-hello."

"Um, hey, I wanted to wait until school was over before I called you."

"L-listen, Nat, I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but what do you want with me?"

"I just called to see how your day went, that's all. I thought we agreed to be friends."

"Why didn't you come today?"

"I didn't feel like hearing everyone tell me that I was the worst person in Kanto. I've been getting it nonstop since the...incident. No one will accept any of my apologies anyway."

"You're going to have to come tomorrow or eventually."

"You're right, you always are. Look, I'll call you back later, okay..."

Anika hung up the phone and sighed once more. The situation with Nat was complex and it hurt to even think about it. It was wrong to take his side after he had brought this upon himself, but she saw how almost everyone was putting him at a distance. She did feel bad for him, but as far as her feelings and everything else went, it was a complete mess. Luckily, her brother's arrival managed to interrupt her from thinking about it further.

"Ready to go?" he asked. "Sorry it took so long for me to get out here. I-

"Well, if it isn't the Hick-lilys!"

Anika figured that she had jinxed herself when she thought that the day would go out without a hitch. Griff dropped his bag on the ground as Craig approached them with a few of the fifth year troublemakers. Craig and Griff's rivalry had become a hot topic at S.T.S. over the past year and Anika could already see a crowd forming in the parking lot.

"Griff..." she said, digging her nails into her brother's arm so that he could know how serious she was. "Let's go..."

"Hey, Craig..." Griff taunted, ignoring his sister's warning. "Didn't I already kick your ass last year, man?"

"Physically," Craig admitted. "But not in battling. It doesn't matter though because now, you can't beat me in either one."

Griff glanced at Anika and then turned his attention back to Craig.

"You know what, man," he said. "You're not even worth it. Come on, Anika, let's go home."

"Anika..." Craig said suddenly. "I forgot you were here. Damn, you're looking really hot these days. I guess you finally grew into those noodle arms and legs of yours. I can give you a ride home if you want. You just have to sit in my lap on the drive."

She knew that Craig was trying to rile Griff up and she hated the fact that it was working. He clenched his fists and marched up to Craig's face. The delinquent was grinning as he stared past Griff and for a moment, Anika thought that he was looking at her. She turned around and saw what Craig was actually gazing at and her eyes widened.

"Griff!" she shouted. "Don't!"

"After I'm done with Anika, maybe she'll introduce me to the rest of your family," Craig continued. "I mean, there has to be some hot farm girls in that inbred bunch."

Griff immediately threw a punch at Craig, but the younger boy managed to duck and slam his fist into Griff's ribs. From the way he was holding them told Anika that it had been a hard shot. Griff shoved Craig onto the ground and hopped on top of him unleashing a flurry of punches as Craig attempted to block them.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

The chants were heard throughout the parking lot and in no time, the faculty were on the scene. Anika saw the two teachers that Craig had been staring at grab the scuffling boys and drag them towards the building. She was positively enraged and could not recall a time where she was as furious as she was at that moment. In only ten minutes, this first day at school had gone from her best to her worst.

"You should have been there, Johnny. I admit, he got a few good shots in and I'm definitely going to have a black eye, but I set the whole thing up perfectly. The teachers saw Griff throw the first punch, so I'm only suspended for tomorrow while he got three days."

"And you're proud of acting like a psycho?"

"Oh, he had it coming after he embarrassed me last year."

"You mean when he kicked your ass, right?"

"Screw you, man. Have fun at practice."

"I will. Have fun sitting at home tomorrow."

"I will."

Johnny hung up his phone and shook his head. He was entirely too busy for Craig's shenanigans and had too much to lose if he were to get involved with them. Craig was fun to hang around when it was time for entertainment, but Johnny found himself preferring to hang out with Tyler when it was time to actually achieve something of value.

As captain of the battling team, Johnny was responsible for making the line up for the battle game. The coach had put his faith in Johnny's ability to lead and win and he was going to prove that he made the right choice by putting him as captain of the intermediate team. The way the battling games worked at the upper school were slightly different than at the lower school. The games consisted of two one-on-one battles both worth one point each, a double battle worth two points, and the main event battle after halftime. The main event battle had each trainer use three Pokémon and a trainer gained a point each time an opponent Pokémon fainted. At the end, whichever team had the most overall points was declared the victor of the entire game.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Johnny called out to his chattering team sitting in the bleachers. "This is how the line up is going to go. I considered what would be the best line up to take on Cerulean, so this is how it's going to go. Drake is in the opening battle, Elyse is in the next one, Ellie and Nat are in the double battle, and I'm going to handle the main event myself. The rest of you are in the pre-game exhibition. Tyler and Xander are in charge of the pre-game this week, so be sure to listen to what they have to say. Got it, Del Grove?"

"I hear you, Hawkins," Loki replied.

"Alright," Johnny told them. "If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know...as long as they're not stupid of course. Now, today's practice is going to be short since it's the first day. Everyone find a partner and get to it."

Tyler paired up with Xander and Elyse paired up with Loki. Ellie paired up with Drake, but left Kadabra with him for a moment to approach Johnny. He already knew what she had to say, but decided to be courteous and let her speak.

"Is there any way for me to get another partner for the game?" she asked. "Anybody but him..."

"Do you want to beat Cerulean, Ellie?" Johnny asked her.

"Of course I do," she answered.

"Then you're going to have to work with him," Johnny said. "I honestly don't care about what happened between you two last year. It's in the past. All I care about is beating Cerulean and you and Nat are the best combo for the double battle against them. I just need you two to get along for this one game. Don't do it for him, don't do it for me, don't even do it for yourself. Do it for the team."

"Fine," Ellie stated. "I'll do it. If only because you make a good motivational speaker."

"Yeah, well I'm just so good at everything that I try," Johnny remarked.

Ellie rolled her eyes and went back to join Drake. Johnny overlooked the practice, making sure to give out pointers when necessary and used Houndoom to keep everyone focused if their attention started to drift. After half an hour, he signaled for the end of practice and went over to join Tyler and Xander. Before the could begin chatting, they were interrupted by Houndoom's excessive barking.

"What's wrong with him?" Xander asked.

"I have a good guess..." Tyler said as he gestured to the exit.

They saw a young man with dirty blond hair and dark green eyes. He was a bit shorter than them despite being the same age, but was noticeably muscular. They saw the Cerulean Trainer's School logo on his jacket and a Manectric by his side that was growling at Houndoom. On either side of him were two other trainers, both with the same jacket on. The third years stopped what they were doing and looked at their fourth year teammates, obviously confused about what was going on.

"Johnny-boy," the young man greeted. "Long time, no see."

"You have a lot of nerve coming to Saffron," Johnny snapped. "Why are you here?"

"Johnny, who is this guy?" Elyse asked, standing up for her seat on the bleachers.

"Guy..." Johnny answered.

"Yeah, but what's his name?" Loki asked.

"No, I meant his name is Guy, you moron," Johnny told him. "Guy Wullinger, captain of C.T.S.'s battle team. Anyway, it's not going to matter what his name is in a few seconds because I'm about to stomp him into the dirt for even daring to step foot in here."

The Cerulean trainers laughed as Manectric began giving off sparks of electricity. Johnny managed to keep Houndoom under control for the time being, but it took all he had not to unleash him and his other Pokémon on the intruders.

"Why are you in our gym?" Tyler asked sternly, but in the same composed tone that he always used.

"Just checking out your rookies for this year," Guy responded. "They don't look like much to me."

"Then look again," Johnny told him. "Drake, come here for a second."

Drake glanced at Ellie, but she simply shrugged her shoulders. Handing her his gym bag, he made his way over to the group of older boys and stood beside Johnny. He was sure to make eye-contact with them to let them know that he was not afraid despite being younger and less experienced.

"Who is this little scrub?" Guy taunted.

"Who do you think you're talking about?" Drake growled.

"Yeah," Xander added, cracking his knuckles. "C'mon man, what you got?"

"This is Drake the Dragon," Johnny defended his younger teammate. "He's one of our top rookies this year and he's opening up in the game. So whoever you guys pick better get ready to lose. Then after that, you're up against Explosion Elyse. Her sister may be sweet, but this McKinley over here knows how to fuck your shit up in battle and look amazing while she's doing it. You better get your tears out now because we're going to wipe the floor with Cerulean at the game."

"Is that so?" Guy said with a grin.

"It is," Johnny replied, getting directly in Guy's face. "And it's going to be me and you in the main event battle. I'm going to kick your ass so hard that the entire city of Cerulean will be able to feel it after the battle. Now, get the hell out of my gym."

Guy simply smirked at him and let out a whistle. Manectric jumped at Johnny, but Houndoom quickly intervened, blasting the electric Pokémon back with a well timed flamethrower. Johnny charged at Guy, but was quickly held back by Tyler.

"Don't get yourself kicked off the team before the first game, Johnny," Tyler told him. "We'll deal with them at the game."

"Get out..." Drake demanded, glaring daggers at the Cerulean trainers.

Guy simply let out a laugh and recalled Manectric to its poké ball as he and his comrades began to leave the premises.

"This isn't over Johnny-boy," he threatened. "Watch your back. All of you..."

A/N: And chapter three is complete. Tensions are definitely rising, both good and bad, so who knows where things are going to go.

The P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Amelie McKinley, Ace Torres, Anika Heartlily, and Johnny Hawkins.

As always, come to the forums to discuss this or any other story or to have fun. I'm up for any type of discussion.

Later!