Ch 7: Poke Class
I had come up with the brilliant idea to return to Peltagrow City, not to have a rematch with Zach, the normal gym leader, but to see if there was some decent trainers in the city I could have Skorupi and my new Tropius face for some training. I came to the conclusion that all the trainers that hung around the Gord were fucking awful considering I had beaten every single one I challenged in the two months I'd lived in that shithole. It's like beating children at a game of basketball when you're in your 20s. Nothing to be proud of. The trainers in the Gord were just a bunch of Lunaris kids that, like me, were raised by the kind of people with great parenting skills that sent them out into the woods to "mature", where you were likely to be attacked and almost killed in the middle of the night if you happened to actually be good at battling and have some money on you.
With that in mind, I had up and left Gord Lake yesterday afternoon after a long bath in the water to wash the dried blood that had caked onto my skin over the previous night. I let Skorupi and Tropius play in the water, too. Not for any reason. Just, why not? Let the little fuckers enjoy themselves; it'll make them better battlers, I told myself.
Making sure to stop at the Vendor's Market because I had been dying of hunger at that point, I purchased a ton of berries and drinks for me and the 'mons. I had saved up about $4,000 so even with the fuckers marking the price of Sitrus berries up by 250%, it wasn't too big a deal. The trainers who lounged around the picnic tables that were always set up around the seller's tents had been discussing some local gossip that I had been missing out on. Apparently, Mt. Roland had sprouted up with flames, igniting half the mountain. The flames had caused a forest fire that required several towns fire departments to step in and put it out. The trainers were arguing whether it was the doing of Team Anonymous, as some kind of anti-environmental message, or The Family, the only other gang on the island. One particular young boy had an elaborate idea of it being an extremely dangerous battle between a Mega Charizard X and a Mega Charizard Y. I quickly grew bored of their stabs in the dark at what caused the fire and departed to Peltagrow to seek an actual challenge. Plus, I wanted Skorupi to evolve soon. Zach said I was banned until Skorupi evolved. I didn't need to evolve Skorupi to beat that skinny little prick, but it would've helped.
So, once I entered back into Peltagrow City, passing by the familiar suburban-like houses that marked the edge of the city, it came to me: Poke Classes.
Poke Classes are a free service offered by every Pokemon Center that is hosted in a large auditorium-like room in the basement of every center. The classes were designed to get trainers to meet other trainers, along with their Pokemon making friends. To socialize, to network, to get practice battles.
I typically avoided any kind of crap like this, seeing as being forced into a room with a bunch of dorks who were probably crap trainers and would be dead weight if they were to accompany me on my journey to win over my asshole parents didn't entice me. But it was easy money (the center paid every winner so the loser could continue practicing without going into debt), easy training for my Pokemon, and maybe Skorupi would evolve.
I had managed to make my way back to the Pokemon Center beside the Normal Gym, and asked the familiar nurse where the Poke Class was taking place. She exited from behind her front desk and escorted me down the hall to an elevator I had never seen before as my previous times in Centers were always in the waiting rooms. She clicked the B button on the dial of options, and informed me that she would join me shortly as the elevator doors slid closed, separating us.
When the doors reopened, I found myself in an auditorium the size of Zach's gym. There were about 20 wooden classroom desks in the center, the kinds that have the desk attached to the chair. There was about 7 other trainers present, all of them seated and sitting in silence the way strangers do. They all had a notebook and pens with them, which I hadn't thought to bring. I wouldn't need it. My only goal of being here was to get some battles for Tropius and to see his battling style. I made my way to a desk in the front, my shoes squeaking loudly and echoing throughout the room. Seven faces turned to watch me approach, and, of course, one of them just happened to be a certain girl I had battled a long time ago and hoped to not run into again.
"Oh, look, it's the asshole who doesn't know basic battling rules," jeered a round-faced, doe-eyed girl wearing dirty jeans, brown boots that she had actually glued glitter onto, and a cowboy hat on top of her head.
Being the bigger man, I remained silent and seated myself in the back of the rows of desks, crossed my arms over my chest, and stared straight ahead at the blank wall of the auditorium. I could feel the eyes of several of the trainers, waiting to see if I would retort back. Hoping my action of ignoring her would spur her to shut up, I just ignored all the stares.
"This fucking scrub beat me 'cause of a lucky poison on my Geodude, and so he thinks he's actually good," the girl added to the six other people there. As my face reddened with rage, I could feel the words begin bubbling up to my throat so I could spew out every comeback I could to this cocky bitch, but she was saved by the ping of the elevator door opening, and the nurse rejoining us.
"Good evening, everybody!" came her cheery voice while she strolled through the auditorium to greet us. The cowboy hat girl flicked me off before turning her attention to the nurse.
"Good evening," the dead, monotone voice of discouraged trainers who had been beaten too many times answered. Poke Classes were typically where the lowest of the low trainers went.
"Well, you're all an energetic bunch," the nurse exclaimed with her princess-like tone of voice. I think I hated her just for this facade she put on. "Well, we have limited time today so I'll try to get through this fast. My name is Nurse Joy, you can all just call me Joy for times sake. This is Poke Class, and by you all being here, you've all taken the first step to becoming legitimate, respected Pokemon trainers."
The muffled murmurs of self-deprecating sarcasm and cynical whispers followed, though Joy, which was such an appropriate name, didn't miss a beat.
"Now, I'd like to start class off by just going around the room and having everyone introduce themselves. Just, you know, start us off with your name, and why you came here. I'll go first, for an example. Hi, my name's Nurse Joy." She paused to give a furious little wave while her eyes were closed and she gave a small grin. God, I wanted to slap her. "I'm here today because I enjoy teaching rookie trainers how to become better at training and battling, and understanding the core concept of Pokemon." She began clapping for herself, leading the rest of us to begin clapping for her, setting the precedent of what to do. She motioned toward bitch with the hat. "Now you try."
"Um...okay. Hi, my name's Elizabeth, but I prefer Eliza." No one gives a shit, we'll never see you again. "It's been about 12 months since my last - just kidding." A few of the trainers gave nervous little chuckles. Are you fucking kidding me? "I guess I'm here because...well, I followed a boy, and now I'm just winging it. I don't know. That's it."
"Okay," Nurse Joy responded. "Good. Like the humor. How about you?" She pointed toward a young boy, maybe around 14 or 15. I didn't recognize him from my school back in Lunaris or from any battles in the Gord. He looked terrified to be here.
"My name's Yanni," the boy answered, close to stuttering over his words. He paused a long time.
"Good. Hi, Yanni. And why are you here today, Yanni?" Nurse Joy even put her hands on her knees and hunched forward like a porn actress so that she was level with Yanni. There was something so condescending about her.
"I'm here today because I want to beat all of the gyms in Ilragorn and enter the Pokemon League and get to face the Elite 4. And I want to be be the first trainer to beat the Elite 4 in 6 years, since Ava won it way back then. And I want to be good enough to face Ava, and beat her Metagross and be the greatest Pokemon trainer there ever was."
"Awesome! Dream big, Yanni, don't ever settle." Nurse Joy winked at him as I scoffed at her comment. She heard me though, and her eyebrows perked up to pay attention to the guy in the back of the class. She rose so she was standing straight again. "And you? What brings you with us today?"
"I'm here because I want to move back into my room."
"I see. And do you have a name?"
"Adam."
The remaining trainers introduced themselves. I forgot all of their names. Their ambitions were more or less the same. They either didn't know what to do with their lives and didn't want to get a job, so they turned to Pokemon battling to earn money. Or they had ridiculous aspirations of being the greatest Pokemon trainer of all time.
Joy went over basic battling etiquette with us. She informed the class of the typical amount of money the losing trainer pays to the winning trainer (dependant on wealth, the skill of the pokemon involved, the length of the battle, the respect the trainers have for each other, etc.) She stated that each trainer can always use up to 6 Pokemon in a battle, and that it is technically allowed that one trainer can have a differing amount of 'mons in a battle (to which Eliza turned her head backwards to give me an 'I told you so' look), but that it's good battling etiquette for both battlers to use the same amount of Pokemon (to which I flicked her off, though of course she didn't turn around to face me when this statement was made).
Joy also discussed how trading works. She claimed that trainers would trade Pokemon in order to attain pokes they normally couldn't, or if they were just generally displeased with their 'mon in general. The young boy, Yanni, raised his hand and asked Joy if it was true that some Pokemon only evolved through being traded like Machamp or Scizor. Joy giggled at that and explained that this was an old myth that trainers long ago had made up to trick less experienced trainers into giving up their Kadabras or Onixs. No Pokemon needed to be traded in order to evolve.
One of the other trainers, a blonde girl who looked even younger than Yanni, stated that she had come from Celmont City, and that there was a Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Center in her town as well who looked just like this Joy. Joy explained that every pokemon center had a nurse who was required to refer to themselves as Nurse Joy and wear a pink pigtails wig in honor of the very first registered pokemon nurse, Nurse Joy. There would always be a Nurse Joy who looked just like this one no matter what town we were in.
"Now," Joy was running out of breath and fanning herself from so much explaining. Our group had been down here for nearly an hour now. We only had 20 minutes left if the schedule was correct. "I'm going to ask everyone to do a little exercise with one of your Pokemon. Everyone take out a pokeball, and pick a Pokemon that you want to have a little fun with. Go ahead."
Flashes of red light sparkled throughout the room like fireworks and the excitable chatter of Pokemon chanting their names filled the room. There was a Bidoof, which I probably would've killed myself if that was my starter. There were a few more but my attention was on Eliza, who chose to release her Starly, which was no longer a Starly, but had evolved into a Staravia since last I'd seen her two months ago. Damn. I went with Tropius, eager to battle that girl despite her having type advantage, again, and destroy her, again. I hadn't had a battle using Tropius before, but considering he'd put up a decent fight against Skorupi, I had high hopes.
"Alright, good. Now, I want everyone to partner up, and have a friendly battle-"
Eliza walked toward me with a purpose, her eyes fixed on my face, nostrils flaring with passion. She wanted to battle me badly. I released Tropius from his ball, and he immediately soared into the air, stretching out his wings appreciatively.
"See something you like?" I smirk at her, ready to show this bitch up with a Pokemon that I'd just caught yesterday. I didn't care that it was a grass type. I wasn't losing.
"Shut up," she responded as she came up to me, Staravia flying in the air beside her, flapping it's wings calmly. It reminded me a little of my old Spearow.
"-again, I reiterate, a friendly battle." Joy raised her voice, her eyes fixated on me and Eliza. "Everyone split up around the auditorium and have a little practice sparring. Try to get your Pokemon to use a new move. Try to be creative with your battle strategy, make risks." Everyone began splitting up, moving away from me and Eliza. Though they were supposed to be having their own battles, everyone was subtly watching the two of us, as our little drama was sure to lead to a hardcore fight. My Tropius and her Staravia were flying high above us, attempting to intimidate each other from the looks of it with their wings. Tropius' were bigger, but Staravia flapped faster.
"Ready to get fucked up, asshole?" Eliza smiled and winked at me. Just like old times.
"You shouldn't talk to your asshole like that. I'll go easy on you." I wink back at her for the first time.
"Staravia, Aerial Ace!"
"Tropius, Headbutt!"
"No, no, no! Stop! Stop it, now!" Joy came running in between the two of us and our two flying 'mons with her arms extended out dramatically. "This is not a place for grudge matches and foul language! This is a place of peace and recovery and learning! Not disrespect, which is all I've been getting from you two this whole time. I'm going to have to ask the both of you to leave."
Eliza and I gave each other a blank look. Tropius and Staravia did the same. Uncertain for a moment who the enemy was, we all found a common one in Joy for preventing our match. Eliza, being the loud bitch that she was, insulted Joy heavily as she packed up her stuff and made her way toward the elevator, returning Staravia to his pokeball as she did so. I followed suit, recalling Tropius, though I remained silent since I didn't want to get banned from the Pokemon Center in Peltagrow. I had to endure the incredibly awkward elevator ride with Eliza, who glared at me with a look of hatred the entire time. I avoided her gaze, not wanting to speak, though a thought that had been on the back of my mind just popped out.
"How'd you get Geodude?" I wondered out loud.
She just stared at me, probably slightly baffled that I wasn't insulting her in some way.
"It's just that I'm...struggling with the normal gym. Zach. He uses normal. And I know rock Pokemon resist normal moves. But out in the Gord, it's just bug and poison and grass and flying crap Pokemon, you know? And I know you hate me. But…" The elevator doors opened up. We were on the main lobby. "If you could just tell me where you find a Pokemon like Geodude-"
She stepped out of the elevator, still ignoring me. I went with her as we began our walk toward the front doors of the center, forced to walk side by side.
"Look," I had to be fast. The thought that I could simply ask one of the trainers around the center was in the back of my mind, but I just wanted to see if I could get an answer out of this girl. "I'm sorry that the way we met was pretty bad. I was rude to you. I'm sorry. Here." I whipped off the backpack from off my shoulders, grabbed about 200 dollars from inside, and offered them to Eliza as we opened the glass front doors, stepping into the warm sunlight.
"I don't want your pity money, asshole," she turned sharply to her left, heading into the city.
"You're better than me," I tried, futilely. But it made her pause, midstep, her back to me.
"What'd you say?" She turned slowly back around, eyebrows raised with doubt that she heard me correctly.
I took a deep breath, and gave up the last of my pride. "You're a better trainer than me. You probably would've - aw, fuck it. You would've won that match if I didn't get the poison on you. I'm bad at teambuilding. My team was super weak to rock. My team is still super weak to rock. I'm not good. I've just faced bad trainers. If I really want to be better, I need just a tiny bit of your help. Just tell me...where the hell do I find rock Pokemon?"
A small, almost invisible smile curled over her lips while I confessed this to her. She still said nothing. She turned right back around, and continued walking back toward the corner of the Center, heading toward the city.
"Hey!" I called out, angry that she still hadn't given me the information I needed. I was about to call her a bitch again.
"Duggie's Ruins!" the girl in the cowboy hat called back over her shoulder, just as she turned the corner and disappeared.