Yesterday, we took a quick peek into Ange's past and saw how she became the girl she is now. Well today, we're going to do something a little similar, only with Alden. Now that he's being pressured like this, he's gotta do something to pull it out in the end, or else he'll end up being possessed by Samarra, and nobody wants that! Remember to review!
KedharS: Well, the past is a horrible place.
Hyphenman: Yep. Ange is incredibly cynical and rude and not a lot of fun to be around, but she raises very valid points.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1130
Ever since Alden and Raizer were kids, they were obsessed with pokemon battles. They were too young to have pokemon of their own, of course, but still played the card game and fought against each other with video games, imagining the pokemon that they would eventually add to their party.
Alden was the true zealot between the two of them, however. Everyone in town knew how obsessed he was with pokemon battles. They didn't come from any major city, and their father made a humble living ranking the nicknames of pokemon. There were no gyms, no battle facilities of any kind. But there was a single battlefield suitable for pokemon battles, set out at the edge of the city limits. There, local ruffians would battle each other with pokemon to test their strength and settle their disputes. Without a gym leader to keep the peace, or even a Pokemon Center (the town was THAT small) the Pokemon League didn't have much influence.
So most people just stayed away from the bad part of town, and encouraged their children to do the same, and let the thugs fight it out.
Alden, of course, didn't listen. As entertaining as the matches on the television were, they were nothing compared to a pokemon battle in person. So he and his brother would sneak out whenever they could and go to the battlefield.
"Hey! It's the whiz kid!" One of the bikers called out as the boys approached the stadium. "C'mere, we were just about to place our bets!"
One wouldn't think that people of this character would be interested in young kids hanging around their territory. But Alden was special. The local bikers and cue balls were fond of him, for one reason in particular.
"I think… Johnny's gonna win this one," Alden said after a moment's pause, studying the two pokemon they were using. Johnny was using a Sandshrew, and his opponent was using a Koffing.
"What're you talking about?" The other biker demanded, a little miffed at Alden's prediction. His name was Terrence. "Ain'tcha seeing my Koffing here, kid? With his Levitate ability that Sandshrew's Ground type moves won't have any effect!"
"You heard him!" Johnny crowed, burning with renewed confidence. "Just you watch! My Klaws is gonna take down that floating bag of poison!"
"Bring it on!" Terrence scoffed. "Koffers ain't losin' to no Ground type! Use poison gas!"
"Koffing!" Koffers bellowed, sending a cloud of poisonous mist across the battlefield.
"Klaws! Use dig to hide under the ground!" Johnny ordered. Klaws nodded and burrowed under the battlefield, dodging the effects of the fog. He waited until the gas cleared before emerging, his claws sharp.
"Sludge!" Terrence ordered.
"Koffing!" Koffers spat toxic sludge at the small shrew pokemon.
"Dodge, Klaws!" Johnny shouted. "Then use slash!" Klaws jumped to the side, avoiding the poison, and leapt into the air with his claws bared. He struck at Koffers with a powerful slash, knocking him out of the sky.
Koffers deflated as he lost consciousness. The attack was a critical hit!
"Hah! Told you!" Johnny boasted, recalling his victorious Sandshrew. "Now then, better pay up!"
"Rrrgh…" A frustrated Terrence recalled his Koffing and handed over the prize money, while the gambling bikers celebrated and cursed in equal measure.
"How'd he do it?!" Terrence grumbled, stomping over to Alden, but still talking to his fellow bikers. "How's the kid always know who's going to win?!"
He glared accusingly at Alden, but Alden just shrugged. Even though a thug twice his size was upset with him, he didn't feel intimidated at all.
"Kid's just got the gift!" Cue Ball Ricky called out. He was the big boss in these parts. "I don't know how he does it, but he always knows!"
"Klaws just looked like the stronger pokemon," Alden shrugged again. "I guess I just sensed that he'd win."
"'Sense'… that don't make any," Terrence muttered, shaking his head and storming off while Johnny celebrated his victory.
"Anyone else wanna try!?" He crowed. "We're barely even winded!"
"…Can I join?"
Everyone turned at the sound of a new voice joining the clamor. And then they did a double-take.
It was a child. And judging from the voice, a little girl. Maybe Alden's age. It was hard to tell, because whoever she was, she was wearing a cloak that covered most of her body and her head. Just a few tufts of blonde hair could be seen peeking out from under it.
Johnny burst out laughing. "Kid! You're too young for stuff like this! And what's with that ridiculous getup? Afraid yer mommy's gonna catch you out here?"
The girl frowned beneath her hood. "Are we going to battle, or not?"
Johnny smirked, seeing an easy mark. "Fine, fine, I never back down from a fight. But it's 1000 poke down if you want to go on our stadium. I don't think your allowance can cover it."
The girl smirked. She tossed a stack of bills onto the ground that made the bikers' eyes bug out.
"This should be enough to cover it," she said, cracking her knuckles. "Now are we going to go? My pokemon's itching for a match!"
Alden blinked. A pokemon? She didn't have one. Did she have a pokeball under that hood, or-
"Riolu!" A small Riolu dropped down in front of the girl, with a stern expression on her face.
The biker blinked for a second, and then burst out laughing again. "A Riolu? That's a baby pokemon! You aren't seriously planning to fight with a BABY pokemon, are you?"
"…You talk a big game," the girl said. "I hope you're not scared of losing to a little girl and her baby pokemon."
Johnny's face immediately lost all levity. He'd been enjoying laughing at the girl's expense, but he wasn't about to stand being called a coward.
"Fine then," he growled. "Klaws, let's go!"
He sent his Sandshrew back out, and the two faced off each other on the battlefield.
"Hold on a moment!" Cue Ball Ricky shouted.
"What now?" The girl groaned. Alden could tell she was getting impatient for the battle, and he could sympathize with that.
Then he realized Ricky was looking at him.
"Well kid? What're ya thinking? Johnny got this one in the bag? Or will our mystery girl pull it off?" He asked.
"You can't be serious!" Johnny protested in disbelief. "Boss-"
"Johnny!" Ricky silenced him with a glare. Then he turned to Alden. "Well, kid?"
Alden squinted, looking between the Sandshrew and the Riolu. The Sandshrew looked like the stronger of the two pokemon, and he'd seen Klaws fight enough to know how tough he was. The Sandshrew's slash was a killer.
Yet he sensed that wouldn't be the case this time.
"I think… the new girl," he admitted, hoping Ricky wouldn't be mad.
The Cue Ball wasn't mad at all. He burst out laughing. "You hear that, Johnny-boy? Our whiz kid here doesn't think you can handle it!"
Johnny gave Alden a stony glare, but the boy didn't flinch. A biker's grudge was nothing compared to an inaccurate battle prediction. That's how Alden saw it, anyway. Raizer was a little more worried about things.
If the girl appreciated the vote of confidence Alden gave her, she didn't show it. She was just focused on the battle.
"Klaws! Take her down with your slash specialty!" Johnny ordered.
"Sandshrew!" Klaws dashed forward and raised his claw, swinging down at the Riolu with a slash.
"Detect!" The girl shouted. The small Riolu easily dodged the slash, evading every attack from the Sandshrew while keeping close to him.
"Alright, use force palm!" She ordered.
"Riolu!" The small pokemon raised her paw and slammed it right into Klaws' chest, sending a shockwave through him that knocked him out instantly.
Johnny's jaw dropped in shock. Everyone's did. Even if the bikers trusted Alden's judgment, many of them thought this was the first time he'd been proven wrong. And even those who had faith in his predictions didn't believe that Johnny would go down in one hit.
"Wha… but…" Johnny couldn't even say anything.
"Nice job, Riolu!" The girl congratulated her pokemon. She approached Johnny and held out her hand expectantly. He sighed and forked over some bills.
"That was just a warm up!" The girl called, turning to the other bikers. Alden was short enough to see beneath her hood, and could make out the sparkle in her grey eyes. She was excited. "Anyone else want to try?"
A silence fell over the crowd. No one was willing to admit that they didn't have the stones to fight a little girl in a pokemon battle, but after that performance no one dared to take her up on her challenge and risk being humiliated in front of everyone, either.
"Fine, what the hell. I'll do it."
The voice belonged to the toughest trainer there, Cue Ball Ricky. He rose from the tattered couch he'd been sitting on and strolled onto the battlefield with all the swagger of a man who owned the place, fully assured in his own ability.
But the girl wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Alden could see her eyes sparkling with even more intensity.
"Great! That's just awesome!" She chirped. "Come on, send out your pokemon already, and me and Riolu here will take 'em down!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Ricky smirked. "Cleffy! Come out now!"
"Clefairy!" An adorable pink pokemon emerged from the pokeball, flashing a cheerful smile at the Riolu in front of her.
"So that's your choice, huh?" The girl nodded thoughtfully. "I'd say that's a pretty good strategy! A Fairy type pokemon is a great check against a Fighting type! You sure are smarter than you look, pops!" She laughed.
Ricky's eye twitched and a scowl darkened his face. "Whatever you say, girly," he snarled. "Just so you know, I'm not going easy on you just because you're a brat!"
"Oh, I'd hope not!" She laughed cheerily. "There's no way I'd be able to test my skills if you were taking me lightly!"
Alden blinked, surprised. So that's all this was to her? Testing her skills? She'd come to a place like this with pocketfuls of money just to train herself?
It was honestly a little hard to believe.
Ricky couldn't believe it either, and he actually burst out laughing. "Testing your skills?! Now that's a riot! Well, I hope I won't disappoint! Cleffy-"
"Wait, hold on one second!" The girl said, raising her hand. She turned towards the stands and Alden froze. She was staring right at him with those stony gray eyes.
Then she smiled.
"You, you predicted that I would win that last battle, right?" She asked.
Alden nodded reflexively.
"That was some sharp instinct you had," she said, her tone of voice filled with awe and appreciation. "But what do you think about this battle? We got a shot?"
Alden swallowed. Cue Ball Ricky had never lost a battle in as long as Alden had been coming to his matches. The thought that he might do so now, well… no way, right?
And the way the Cue Ball was staring intently at him didn't help matters either. For the first time Alden felt like he might be in trouble if he said the wrong thing.
But the pokemon didn't lie. And that Riolu… the more he looked at her, the more certain he was that she was just that good. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he couldn't imagine her losing to anyone.
Suddenly he realized that the Riolu was staring back at him. Their eyes met, and then she turned back to her opponent.
"It's…" The words were hard to get out. "…The Riolu. She's the one I think is going to win this match," Alden said.
A hush fell over the battlefield.
"I see, so that's that, huh?" Cue Ball Ricky said, stroking his chin. Then he smirked. "Well, the kid's never been wrong before! Should be an interesting match then! Cleffy, use moonblast!"
"Clefairy!" Cleffy began to glow pink. She held up her hands and formed an orb of fairy energy, firing it at her opponent.
"Starting off with a move like that, huh? Nice!" The girl laughed. "It would be a problem if you weren't serious! Riolu, use detect to dodge it!"
"Riolu!" The Riolu nodded, sharpening her focus. The aura sensors on the sides of her head began to glow, and she dodged the attack easily, running towards Cleffy.
"Now, use metal claw!"
"Riolu!" Riolu's palm began to glow bright and she swung it up into the Clefairy's side, striking her with a super-effective hit. The Clefairy cried in pain and jumped away.
"Think that's going to be enough?" Ricky scowled. "Cleffy, use cosmic power!"
"Clef!" Cleffy raised her hands and waggled her fingers from side to side, beginning to glow pink again. Her defensive stats were boosted due to the power of space.
"Pheeeew!" The cloaked girl whistled. "That's a good move for defense! We're going to have to try hard to break through that one, Riolu! But first, use bullet punch to get there quick!"
"Riolu!" The Riolu shot forward at high speed, unleashing a barrage of punches on the Clefairy to test her defenses. The Clefairy stood her ground, not taking as much damage as she normally would have due to the effects of cosmic power.
"It's okay, Riolu!" The hooded girl assured her pokemon. "You keep up the good work! For now, though… we can make do with a little more power!"
As if the Riolu was responding to her will, she increased the force of her punches, beginning to push Cleffy back. Then a well-placed strike caught the Fairy type pokemon in the chin, and sent her rolling backwards.
"Nice one!" The girl cheered.
"Cleffy, get back up!" Ricky barked. "Then hit that useless pokemon with a couple of moonblasts, before she has a chance to dodge!"
"Clefairy!" Cleffy nodded, creating more energy bursts. The first one, the Riolu was able to evade with her detect abilities, but the second one she wasn't so lucky with. She could only keep on dodging for so long with that attack, and the moonblast was coming in fast.
"Rapid-fire attacks area pretty good way to capitalize on a situation like this!" The hooded girl laughed, applauding Ricky's efforts. "But you're going to have to do a little better than that! It's time for our trump card!"
"Riolu!" The Riolu jumped back and began to glow blue. She held up her paws, and began to sculpt an orb of aura between them. Everyone was gobsmacked.
"Is that…" Johnny gasped.
"…An aura sphere?!" Terrence exclaimed.
Alden was stunned. Aura sphere was the signature move of the pokemon Lucario. But it shouldn't have been possible for its pre-evolution, Riolu, to learn such a move! And yet, he couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes.
"Ri!" Riolu flung the aura sphere forward, and it sailed through the air, colliding with the moonblast in a massive explosion.
Cleffy stared anxiously at the smoke and waited for it to clear so she could fire another moonblast at her opponent. But her caution would prove to be her undoing.
"Now, extremespeed."
Another move that Riolu shouldn't have been capable of learning. The most she should have been able to use was a quick attack. But as the Riolu blurred into sight behind Cleffy, knocking her out with a punch delivered at such high speed, Alden knew it couldn't be anything but that.
It was a stunning upset.
"Yes! Way to go!" The girl cheered, punching the air in triumph.
Ricky shook his head, stunned, and recalled his Clefairy to her pokeball. "Well, I gotta say, I wasn't expecting that. But a win's a win. You did good, kid, so I'll pay you what- hey!"
The girl had walked off the battlefield, not even giving him a second glance. She popped up right in front of Alden, startling him.
"Wh-What do you want?" Alden asked, a little confused. `
"That was some really good instincts you've got! You predicted I'd win! Both times! Even though I'm so young!" The girl said, in even more awe of his abilities. "How'd you know? Don't just tell me you guessed, or you were being kind 'cause I'm a kid, I don't wanna hear that!"
Alden glanced over the girl's shoulder, at her Riolu. "It's, well… it's your pokemon. There's something about her that just… oh."
Hearing him, the Riolu came over to Alden and stared up at him with her big red eyes, like she was expecting something from him. That look in her eye was so pure.
"Well, it seems the feeling between the two of you is mutual!" The hooded girl laughed. "She doesn't usually get along this well with others…"
Then, she thought of something crazy.
"Hey! Why don't you take her?" She suggested.
Alden nearly fell over in shock.
"Wh-What?! Me!? But I've never trained a pokemon before!" He sputtered. But his protests went ignored.
"Well, everyone's gotta start somewhere," she shrugged. "Come on."
"But… she's your pokemon. I can't just-"
"Riolu." The Riolu grabbed his sleeve and held on tightly.
"…Actually, the reason I've been training is because I wanted to prove myself worthy of this little one," the hooded girl admitted. "We get along great, but I don't feel like I'm at a level where I can release her true potential. Not compared to my other Riolu, anyway. I wanted to bond, just her and me, but I think… hmm, maybe this was destiny."
"It's… is this really okay?" Alden couldn't believe what he was hearing. The chance to have a pokemon of his very own? And one this strong?
"Yep, all you need to do it answer one little question," the girl said.
"What? What is it?!" Alden asked excitedly, already imagining fighting with the Riolu.
"Do you like pokemon battles?"
Alden was so taken aback by the question he didn't even think about why she'd asked it.
"Yeah, of course I do!" He said.
She smiled. "That's great! Because Riolu here… she loves 'em. It's part of why training her is so hard. But if you're someone who likes fighting… I don't think you'll have a problem."
And with that, she handed Alden the Riolu's pokeball. His first pokeball.
"Oh, and one other thing, this is a gift from me," she added, reaching into her pocket and handing him a pretty round stone. It was orange, with flares of red and yellow streaking through it.
"…A marble?" He asked. The girl shook her head.
"It's something important to my family, and it belongs with her. Just hang onto it, will ya? Oh, and if my gramps ever comes around asking, I didn't give it to you, okay? That's really important!"
Alden just nodded awkwardly.
"Great! Well, I gotta be going!" She said, going and retrieving her money, to the frustration of the bikers.
"H-Hey! Wait!" Alden called after her before she left, suddenly realizing he didn't even know who she was. "What's your name?!"
The girl stopped and turned back, flipping off her hood to reveal the golden ponytail beneath it.
"My name's Korrina!" She called back. She kicked the ground and rollerblades popped out of her shoes. Before Alden could get out another word, she was already skating away.
Back in the present, Alden was feeling the pressure of the pokemon battle bearing down on him. Corin had been frozen in ice, and she was his final pokemon. And there was a massive shadow ball flying right towards her.
This isn't possible… we can't lose here! For the first time he could remember, Alden was actually feeling the pressure of loss. Even battles he'd actually lost before hadn't felt this intense. That was because this time, losing actually meant something. This wasn't a match being fought just for fun. Everything was on the line here, and he couldn't afford to back down.
Then, as the shadow ball drew closer to the ice, the Lucario inside it began to glow, and the ice started to crack.
No one noticed that Alden's pocket was also glowing as well.
Well, that was certainly a surprise. We got a little peek into Alden's backstory, and saw how he and Corin first met… as well as who she was named after. I think this should answer a few questions people might have had. But the real question that warrants answering is what's going to happen in the battle? Well, it'll all come to a conclusion tomorrow!