Day 4: Capture the Stat Boost!
Alain was up early the next morning. Despite the disturbing message from the night before, he had managed to sleep fairly well. Now he sat on his bed trying to come up with a plan to get the rest of the day to go well too.
And that meant starting with breakfast. He needed someway to get in without Jacklyn seeing him, or at least get where she wouldn't want to be near him. But how could he pull that off? Well, he'd tried coming in early, and he'd tried coming in on time and avoiding, so now he would try coming in later. Hopefully, she would already be seated and wouldn't want to move.
Gordon stirred on his bed, then sat up. "Awake already?" he asked. When Alain didn't respond, he went on to say, "What are ya doing so early in the morning?"
Alain didn't bother to argue that it was after six-thirty, and that was hardly early, considering breakfast was at seven.
Gordon gazed at him for a few moments before saying something that took Alain completely by surprise. "Your lucky, you know."
"Hm?" Alain looked up at him questioningly.
"You have the most beautiful girl in the whole school following you around, day and night. If I were you, I'd probably be bouncing of the walls right now." Then he chuckled, "Well, not literally, but you know what I mean."
Alain sure didn't. He stood and strapped his bag around his waist. "Believe me," he said as he turned to leave, "if I could trade places with you, I would." He walked out of the room, leaving Gordon with a stunned-and rather stupid-look on his face.
"Hey, I'm not the only one who feels this way! You're going to have some competition if you don't watch out!" Gordon called after Alain, but Alain turned a deaf ear. Competition? he thought, Fine by me. Maybe then she'll see I'm not interested and go bother someone else.
Alain tried his avoiding-Jacklyn plan out, and it seemed to work. He waited untill the very end of the meal, just before the whistle blew, to go in, and Jacklyn was no where in sight. He ate in peace, something he hadn't been able to do since he got there. Well, being with Wally and Zara wasn't all bad. At least they respected my space, he thought. Then he chided himself for thinking of Zara again. Ever since last night he had thought of her, and her voice, several times.
"What are you doing in here!"
Alain jerked his head around to face the the person who had spoken. It was Drake.
"Breakfast is over, young man! You are supposed to be out on the battle field!" When Alain only got up slowly and moved toward the door, he shouted, "Move!"
That made Alain move faster. He jogged out the door, to see the all of the students assembled at one end of the battle field before a long table covered with a white cloth. They all turned to look at him as he can out the door, with an angry Drake following right behind him. Alright, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, he thought.
"Hey, Alain, there you are! I wondered what kept you away from me this morning." It was Jacklyn, not suprisingly, who said this. Now, as she made her way over to him, he turned his thoughts to what Gordon had said earlier. It really did appear that several of the guys in the crowd were looking at him with jealous expressions. Why can't Jacklyn just go flirt with one of them? he asked himself, scowling as he did. As he continued to scan the crowd, he accidently caught Astrid's eye. Her face spoke volumes. She wore the same devious smile from before, and Alain could just hear her voice saying, "You didn't really strike me as a ladies man." His face flushed in agitation, and he quickly looked away.
"Attention! Everyone look here, please!" It was the lady in the blue gown Alain had seen the first day of the seminar. She raised a hand, but when no one looked away from Alain and Jacklyn, she shot a hopeless look to someone behind him. To Drake.
"Attention!" Drake bellowed as he walked to the front of the group, "If you want to learn anything at the Mega Evolution Seminar, you had better listen to your teachers!"
The lady, clearly named Glacia, smoothed her gown, then turned the class ovet to Drake. He said, "Now as many of you know, I am Drake, Dragon type master of the Hoenn Elite Four. What many of you may not know is, what is my favorite battling strategy?" Drake paused here for a moment. "I pick Pokemon that have high stats to see me through a battle. A strong Pokemon with high stats can be the difference between victory and defeat when you battle." He glowered down at the students. "That is what we will work on today. I will give you stat boosting items to use in a challenge."
Several students gave each other puzzled looks. One boy, Dave, raised his hand, "How can we use any items if all of our Pokemon are holding Mega Stones?"
Glacia smiled. "Like this." She turned to the table behind her, and swept off the cloth. Hidden beneath it were five variously colored spheres, each glowing brightly in the sunlight.
"These glass balls," Drake stated authoritatively, "have the ability to increase a single stat of any Pokemon that holds them. Regardless of whether or not that Pokemon is already holding an item." Turning back to the group of students, she went on, "We are going to have a little competition with these balls. The rules are a little complicated, so pay attention. You will all start from the others side of the field, riding on your Pokemon, cross to this side, and the first one over here will pick up one ball. That means one ball, not one ball in each arm or hand. Once one ball has been removed, the others will be locked in their current positions." He raised one of the balls off of the table, and the others immediatly dulled in apperance. "Once one ball has been removed, it is your goal to get it back across the battle field, and into a basket that will be placed there. The challange you will face is every other trainer trying to get the ball for themselves, so they can put it in the basket. Once a ball is out on the playing field, it's anyone's game. You can steal it from another trainer, and gain its stat increase. Then you must get it across the field. The trainers who are trying to steal the ball are alowed to use moves to strike their opponents, but not strike the trainers who are riding the Pokemon. If anyone is seen deliberatly striking another trainer, they will be disqualified from the challange, and dismissed from the seminar."
Glacia hurriedly took over here, "We will be dividing you up into four groups of six, considering that this field is small, and all your Pokemon are rather large. Are there any questions?"
Penny, with the Mega Lopunny, raised her hand. "What stats do the balls increase?"
"Excelent question," Glacia said. Touching the first ball, she explained, "This red ball increases power, the green one increases endurance, the blue speed, the pink accuracy, and the orange one increases evasiveness."
A boy in the back with glasses, who introduced himself as Sylvester, and fought with a Mega Sableye, raised his hand. "You said that the balls are made of glass. What happens if we break one?"
"You go back and get another," Drake explained.
The girl next to Sylvester raised her hand. She had introduced herself as Mary and fought with a Mega Mawile. Her red eyes glinted with worry when she asked, "What if our Pokemon isn't big enough to ride on?"
"Then just stay as close to it as you can. You'll have just as good a chance as everyone else does, I promise," Glacia stated. "Any more questions?" When no one raised their hand, she proceded to divide the trainers up into their respective groups.
Alain found he and Jacklyn were, thankfully, in different groups, so he could focus on this challange without her distracting him. The other five people in his group were Abby, Dave, Astird, a boy named Luke, and Zara. So I get to fight Zara, he thought. Even if it isn't a real battle, I'll still get a chance to see how strong she is. Then he chided himself again. He had to focus on the challange. He had to win.
As it turned out, he didn't have to wait long to battle Zara and the others. They were the first group to line up at the far side of the battle field with their Pokemon out of their pokeballs. Alain climbed onto Charizard's back and the Flame Pokemon turned its head to give him a energized look.
"Hey, so which ball are you going for first, Astird?" It was the other boy, Luke, who had spoken. He sat to the left of Alain in line, astride his Pidgeot, shaking his sandy-blonde hair out of his green eyes.
"The endurance ball," Astrid answered. "That will allow Absol to take all the hits you guys can throw at us while we get back over to the basket." She shifted her position on her Absol's back. "Which ball are you going for?"
"The speed ball. Pidgeot's going to zip over there and back so fast that no one will have a chance to attack us at all. How about you?" he asked, turning to Alain, "Which ball are you going for?"
Alain just said, "I'm thinking about it." He already had a good idea of what ball he would take. The power ball. That way he really could be the strongest, and just knock all of his opponents aside as he went for the basket.
"Are we ready?" Galcia asked from the side of the field.
"Yes!" the six students shouted.
"Then challange begin!" Galcia said.
Alain felt his stomach lurch slightly as Charizard took to the sky. As his Pokemon soared toward the table at the far end of the field, he looked around at his competition. Abby and her Altaria, as well as Astrid and Absol, were clearly the slowest ones in the group, laging behind all the others. Dave on his Salamence, and Luke and Pidgeot were pulling even with him, though Pidgeot was struggling to keep airborn with its trainer riding on it, and kept swoping lower and lower. And Zara and Sceptile were... Alain glanced down at the ground to find the female trainer and her Pokemon pulling ahead of everyone, racing across the field straight for the table.
"Mega Evolve!" came a cry from Alain's left, and he turned his head to see Pidgeot glowing with the energy of a Mega Evolution. The Bird Pokemon burst out of the light, rolled into a dive, and went straight for the table, gaining speed every second.
Sceptile was almost to the table when Pidgeot caught up and pulled ahead. It stuck out a talon and grabbed the speed orb, then banked hard, pulling itself out of the dive, flapping back toward the other side.
Salamence immediatly moved to block its path. "Mega Evolve!" Dave shouted, and the Dragon Pokemon's Mega Stone reacted with his keystone. Salamence roared and then swiped a Dragon Claw attack at Pidgeot, but the speed boost gave the Normal- and Flying-type a chance to veer left and narrowly miss being hit by the green claws.
"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" Alain ordered, but by the time Charizard heard and started charging the attack, Pidgot had already zoomed by. Alain growled in frustration, and ordered Charizard into hot pursuit. He could hear Salamence's wings beating behind them as they follwed Pidgeot.
Pidgeot reached Altaria first. The Humming Pokemon had at some point already Mega Evolved, and was throwing Dragon Breath after Dragon Breath wildly at Pidgeot. However, the speed boost was helping it too much for any randomly aimed attack to hit it. Unfortunatly for Luke, Pidgeot was paying a little too much attention to the random attacks and not enough to the well aimed Psycho Cut that Absol launched at it. Pidgeot took the Psychic type move full in the chest, and the impact jarred the speed ball out of its talon.
"Pidgeot, use Air Cutter!" Luke shouted, sounding slightly paniced.
"Absol, use Dark Pulse!" Astrid ordered.
"Use Moonblast, Altaria!" Abby cried.
Alain wasn't sure if they were aiming for each other or if they were aiming for the ball, but all three attacks colided and exploded. In the confusion and the resulting smoke, the speed ball fell to the ground and broke.
"No!" shouted Luke, "I needed that!"
"Well you'll have to choose a different one now!" Abby called as she and Altaria turned and soared back down the field.
Alain turned Charizard around and headed back as well. He and Salamence were the closest, and were racing to get back across the field first. But try as Charizard might, it couldn't compete with a Mega Evolution. Salamence took the lead, and flying low, picked up the endurance ball in its mouth.
Alain decided that if he was going to face this stat boosted Mega Evolution, he needed to fight fire with fire. "Charizard, Mega Evolve!" he cried, and Charizard Mega Evloved. Then the Fire- and Dragon-type charged Salamence. "Use Dragon Claw!" Alain commanded.
"Intercept with Dragon Claw!" Dave ordered.
The two attacks met, but because of its ability, Tough Claws, Charizard easily beat off Salamence's Dragon Claw attack, and sliced its claws across the Dragon Pokemon. Salamence reared back from the attack, but not nearly as much as it normally would have. The endurence boost it was getting caused even a super-effective hit like Dragon Claw to not affect it very much. Salamence roared as well as it could around the ball and charged on past Charizard.
"Follow them Charizard, and use Flamethrower!" Alain ordered. Charizard roared as well, and streaked after Salamence.
The Flamethrower attack struck Salamence's side. Salamence rolled in the air to rebalance itself, but other than that, it gave no sign that it had ever been struck.
"Sceptile, Dragon Pulse!" Alain heard form below him. Moments later, the rainbow colored energy struck Salamence's neck. It reeled its head back, and struggled to right itself for a moment, but did right itself and flew on. He looked down to see Zara glaring up at Salamence in frustration. She's trying to knock the ball out of its mouth! he realized. Well maybe we can help with that. Anything to be able to land a decent hit on that Pokemon.
He urged Charizard to go faster, and they sped up to Salamence. "Dragon Claw!" Alain ordered, and Charizard sliced its claws across Salamence once again.
"Dragon Pulse!" Zara cried out from below, and the blast of energy colided with Salamence moments after the Dragon Claw had struck.
"Psycho Cut!" Astrid clearly wanted in on the action as well. Absol's Psycho Cut connected right behind Sceptile's Dragon Pulse.
In the confusion of having to fight on three fronts, Salamence dropped the ball, about halfway across the field, and Absol scooped it up as it fell.
The Distaster Pokemon ran for the basket and probably would have won the challange, despite several Dragon Pulses from Sceptile, if it wasn't for Pidgeot launching an Air Cutter at it at the last possible second. The attack struck Absol in the face, and despite Absol not taking much damage, the ball in its mouth shattered.
Charizard and Alain turned back to the others spheres, but oddly enough, they were all a dull color. Then Alain saw it. The accuracy sphere was missing. And looking around, he noted, so were Altaria and Abby.
Suddenly, a Moonblast attack came hurtling down from above them, and struck Salamence's back. Everyone's head jerrked upward to see Altaria's soaring above them, the accuracy ball clutched in its right talon. It was making its way down field from high above everyone else.
"Charizard, Flamethrower!" Alain ordered. Chaizard launched a Flamethrower up at Altaria, but Abby countered it with a Dragon Breath, and the attacks cancelled out.
"Air Cutter!" Luke shouted to his Pokemon, but the result was the same as Charizard's Flamethrower. With its greatly increased accuracy, Altaria could counter any and every attack before the attack ever had a chance to hit it.
"Hey, Alain!"
Alain looked down to see who was shouting at him. It was Zara, on an agrivated looking Sceptile. He told Charizard to fly down to them.
When he was within hearing distance, Zara called up, "Can you get Altaria any lower? We have to try and overpower any attacks it throws at us, but the only attack I can get up there is the one Altaria is immune to."
Alain nodded and ordered Charizard back up. Charizard kept climbing, eventually passing Altaria, who was busy warding off Air Cutters from Pidgeot. "Thunder Punch!" Alain ordered.
Charizard's Thunder Punch struck Altaria, and the Humming Pokemon wavered mid-flight before dropping several feet. Abby was ready for this however, "Dragon Breath" she ordered, and the attack rocketed back up at Charizard. It connected, and Charizard also fell several feet.
"Again!" Alain shouted. The same thing happened again. Altaria was now just about two of Mega Charizard's height off the ground, but Charizard had fallen further than it, leaving it open to fly right back up.
"Sceptile, Frenzy Plant!" Alain looked over at Zara to see Sceptile's roots growing out rapidly toward him and Charizard. He quuckly urged his Pokemon up, but he didn't need to; the attack connected with Altaria instead, and Alain saw the accuracy orb break just before dust and leaves blocked his view.
So that left only two balls on the table, the evasivness ball, and the power ball. Alain turned Charizard back toward the table, and suddenly realized, he was the closest. "Let's go, Charizard!" he shouted, and Charizard tore down the field at the table. Salamence and Altaria tried to get there first, but both Pokemon had taken a lot of damage, and concequently had slowed down considerably. And Absol and Sceptile were just too far away.
That power ball was all his.
Charizard scooped up the power ball in its mouth and instantly Alain noticed the effect it had on the Flame Pokemon. Charizard's wing beats were harder and louder, and it flew straighter and with purpose like he had never seen before. If he could have seen Charizard's eyes, he would have noticed the spark in them.
Salamence was the first one to chalenge them. "Hyper Beam!" Dave cried, and the Dragon Pokemon roared before releacing the powerful Normal type turned Flying type attack at them. Alain was about to call Flamethrower to intercept it when he remembered that Charizard couldn't use tha move without breaking the ball in its mouth. "Thunder Punch!" he ordered instead.
Charizard's Thunder Punch fought with the Hyper Beam for a minute before breaking through it and landing a direct hit on Salamence. Salamence roared in pain, then, exhausted, pulmetted out of the sky, and crashed on the ground. It didn't revert to its normal form, however.
Alan watched Salamence fall, then urged Charizard on. His Pokemon Thunder Punched Altaria out of the way, and Dragon Clawed Pidgeot to the ground. Absol posed a little more of a problem, seeing as see could launch attacks up to them, and Charizard couldn't Flamethrower it back. But Charizard flew low enough to get in a Dragon Claw, which struck the Disaster Pokemon despite its intercepting with Mega Horn.
That left only Zara and Sceptile between him and the basket. "Dragon Claw!" Alain ordered as Charizard closed in.
"Dodge it, then Leaf Blade!" Zara commanded.
Sceptile nimbly dodged the attack, then cut it's Leaf Blade attack up Charizard's side. The attack wasn't very effective, but was still noticeably strong.
"Thunder Punch, Charizard!"
"Dodge!"
Charizard dove forward, attack ready to strike, but Sceptile dodged again. The Forest Pokémon had successfully avoided the attack, but in dodging it, it had left the basket unguarded.
"Charizard," Alain said to his Pokemon, and Charizard flew for the goal.
"Sceptile, Dragon Pulse!" The Dragon type attack took Alain by surprise. He hadn't expected Zara to try and stop him when he was this close, but in hindsight, he realised he should have know better. She didn't quit when fighting her disadvantage battle, so why would she quit now? he thought. Wait, I'm about to lose my chance, and I'm thinking about how determined my opponent is...
Charizard whipped around to glare at Sceptile. Alain urged his Pokemon back to the basket, but it was too late. Without Zara even giving a command, Sceptile hurled itself at Charizard, arms glowing with a Leaf Blade attack. Alain braced himself for the impact, but it never came. Sceptile swiped it's leaves across Charizard's face. Alain heard the sound of glass breaking. Shards of glass fell from Charizard's mouth, and Alain realised that he had lost his chance at the victory.
This isn't over yet. There is one more ball.
"Charizard, get up!"
"Sceptile, let's go!"
Both Pokemon leaped into action. They seemed to know, even without a word being said, that this was a race. A winner-take-all race. They raced past Absol, avoiding a Dark Pulse attack, Altaria, Sceptile Leaf Blading it out of the way, Pidgeot, Charizard sending a Flamethrower its way, and Salamence, who was still standing on the ground. But try as Charizard might, it couldn't compete with Sceptile's superior speed. The Forest Pokemon pulled ahead just enough to reach the table first, and snatched the evasiveness ball in its mouth.
"Dragon Claw!" Alain shouted. Charizard immediately swipped at Sceptile with its Claw, but Sceptile just danced away, dodged around Charizard, and streaked away. Alain thought he saw Sceptile shoot his Pokemon a smug look as it ducked by, but he couldn't be sure. Whatever happened, Charizard roared furiously, and charged after Sceptile.
Salamance and Altaria both aimed an attack at Sceptile as it passed, but Sceptile just used Detect to get out of the way. Absol and Pidgeot were a bit more of a challenge. Constantly moving to avoid Air Cutters, Dark Pulses, Quick Attacks, and Mega Horns, Sceptile was held up in the middle of the field, giving Alain and Charizard a chance to pass them and get to the goal.
Sceptile eventually passed the two attacking Pokemon, and headed straight for Charizard. "Use Flamethrower!" Alain commanded.
"Use Detect!" Zara ordered.
Sceptile's eyes glowed blue, and it dodged the Flamethrower attack.
"Now Dragon Claw!"
"Dodge it!"
Sceptile dodged again.
Alain growled in frustration. "Dragon Claw!"
"Out of its way, Sceptile!"
Sceptile cleanly dodged the attack, but no matter how much it moved, it couldn't get at the goal. Charizard refused to budge from its place in front of it.
"Leaf Blade!" Zara ordered.
Sceptile ran at Charizard, shoving it out of the way. It twisted it's head untill it had the ball directly over the goal, then dropped the ball.
Do something! Alain's mind screamed.
"Flamethrower!" he shouted.
Charizard let loose with a powerful Flamethrower. The Fire type attack struck the ball, and knocked it off course. When the flames had subsided, the ball was on the ground, now nothing more than a pile of glass shards.
A whistle sounded.
"That's it," Drake said, walking onto the field. "Now we'll get another set of balls and the next group will compete in our challenge."
Charizard and Sceptile reverted to their original forms and glared at each other.
"Char, Charizard!"
"Scep?! Sceptile tile Scep!"
"Hey, Sceptile, calm down, the challenge is over," Zara said tiredly. She clamored down from Sceptile's back and returned it to its pokeball. Alain did the same with Charizard.
"Alright, everyone in the second group, please line up at the far side of the field," Glacia instructed. Alain saw Wally walk up to the line with his Gallade next to him. He waved to Zara, who winked back at him.
Alain walked away from the field and toward the Pokemon center, with Zara following him. He handed Charizard's pokeball over to Nurse Joy, then sat down to wait. Zara handed over Sceptile and sat down across from him.
After an awkward moment of silence, Zara said, "Um, that was an interesting challenge."
Alain turned his sharp blue eyes on her. "I would have won, it you hadn't stopped us."
"Well, same to you. You know, I would have had that win in the bag if you had been in a different group." After another moment of silence, she added, "You're not upset with me, are you?"
"Why do you care if I am?" he asked.
Zara sighed. "Its commplicated. The gist of it is, the Champion said that I had to make at least one new friend while I'm here, and no one else seems interested in the part."
Alain's eyes widened in surprise. "Why would he tell you to do that?" That's an odd command from your teacher. Wouldn't it only distract her from winning the competition?
"Oh, he's made it quite clear that he's worried about me. Since I don't really have any friends, other than Wally of course, and there's the situation with my parents, he feels that I'm too...insecure."
"And you're fine with that?"
Zara sighed again. "Yes, and no. Like I said, it's complicated."
After a pause Alain ventured to ask, "What's the situation with your parents?" Alain! You are not here to try and make friends with this girl. You have a goal here, and everywhere else too! You can't get attached to her, because you don't want to have to push her away, like you did with Marian, his mind told him. I'm not, I'm only trying to find our more about her life, he thought back, Who knows, maybe I'll learn something useful abou her, or possibly about Steven.
"Oh, when I was about ten, they left on a trip to another region, and they never came back. They never call, never write, never visit." Alain noticed her eyes were moist as she went on, "But I know they're still out there. They still have a house here in their names. Just wonder why they don't come back for me." The last sentence came out in a whisper. She wipped her eyes, and said, "And I don't want anyone to think of me as a case that deserves their pity. I'm over that, was a long time ago. The Champion looks out for me now. Just please don't go spreadng that around, no one really needs to know about it."
Silence fell again.
I wonder who her parents were, and why they did leave such a talented young girl behind? Alain chided himself for thinking of Zara as talented. Why did he care if she was? His frustration must have shown on his face, because Zara asked, "Are you OK?"
"Alain, you Charizard is finished healing," Nurse Joy said.
Alain stood, and giving Zara a respectful nod, took Charizard's pokeball and left.
The rest of his day passed fairly uneventfully, except for Jacklyn and Brittney following him around for most of it. Jacklyn had won her round of the competition, and was making sure everyone, especially Alain, knew it. He was listening to her repeat the play-by-play of her victory for the fifth time as he walked to his room.
"And then I told Blaziken to drop the ball, and I won," she finished. "So this is where your room is?" she asked, addressing Alain.
"Mmm-hmm," was all the responce he offered.
"Then I guess I'll have to come walk you to breakfast, now that I know where it is. I'll see you later. Come on Brittney." And sending him a seductive smile, she turned and walked back down the hall with her friend.
What she said didn't register with him untill later. At the moment, all Alain wanted to do was crash and enjoy the peace and quiet. He flopped down on his bed, and nearly fell asleep, when he realised something was off. Zara hadn't tapped on his window. Guess she wanted to be by herself to tonight, he thought. He turned over and tried to relax, but couldn't get comfortable. The fact that Zara wasn't asking him to come up bothered him, for some strange reason. She said she wanted to be friends. So why is she staying away from me? Oh, why do I care?
But he did care. So he got up, left his comfortable bed and room behind, and climbed the fire escape to the roof. But, to his amazement, Zara wasn't there. He looked all up and down the roof, but she was no where to be found. Eventually he climbed back down, feeling irritated and strangely disappointed.
Not wanting to go back to his room without finding Zara, he climbed back down the stairs and looked through the halls. Still, he couldn't find her. He looked for about half an hour before he finally found Steven in one of the training rooms.
"Why, hello Alain. What are you doing down here?" Steven asked when he saw Alain.
Alain got straight to the point. "Have you seen Zara?"
"Yes," the Champion replied, his eyebrows raised. He asked, "any particular reason your looking for her?"
"No," Alain said bluntly.
"Well there must be a reason," Steven prompted.
"She wasn't where she usually is. Where is she?" Alain asked a little tersely.
Steven looked back at his work and answered, "In the swimming pool."
Alain turned abruptly and struck out for the pool. Zara, as it turned out, was there, swimming, with Wally sitting on the edge watching, and an Azumarill swimming circles around her.
"I don't think your every going to out swim my Azumarill," Wally chuckled as Alain walked in.
Zara pulled up next to him and hauled herself out of the pool. Alain noted that she was wearing a wet suit. "Maybe not," she admitted, "but I am getting faster." Looking up, she spotted Alain and waved. "Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing," he replied. Silence fell.
"Well, now that your here," Zara began awkwardly, "want to swim with us?"
Alain didn't exacty want to say no, but he really didn't want to encourage the idea of them being friends. "I don't have a swimsuit." was his excuse.
"No problem," Zara said, " the Elite Four thought of that. There's a closet back there full of them, just go find one that fits."
Alain opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. No point in saying no now, he thought.
He found a wetsuit his size, and was soon chest deep in the cool, chlorine-smelling water. Zara was still swimming laps across the pool, doing a breast stroke. This is actually kind of nice, Alain thought as he closed his eyes and leaned his back against the side of the pool.
Unfortunatly, it wouldn't last.
A moment later Alain heard the door open, laughter coming from the people who came in. Feminine laughter. Opening his eyes, he saw what he'd been afraid of: Jacklyn, Brittney, Astrid, and several other girls coming into the room, tailed by Gordon, Luke, and a couple of other boys.
"Oh, great." Zara had just voiced Alain's thoughts perfectly. She had stopped swimming, and was watching the new-comers with annoyance in her eyes. "Did you guys come to train?" she asked, "Beacuse if you did, we can leave."
"No, we just came to swim," Luke clarified.
"But you can leave anyway," Jacklyn added.
Zara scowled at her. "Anyway," she said through gritted teeth, "there are wetsuits in the closet back there." Brittney opened her mouth, but Zara just kept talking, "No, you cannot wear just a normal bathing suit in here. Acadamy rules."
Several of the students shrugged and they all headed for the closets.
Alain pulled himself out of the pool and went to grab his clothes. He wanted nothing to do with swimming or this pool if it invloved Jacklyn. Clearly Zara had the same idea, because she had gotten out of the pool as well, and was already in the dressing rooms.
Jacklyn and Astrid were the first girls out of the dressing room. "Last one in the pool is a rotten egg!" Astrid called out, and she and Jacklyn raced for the pool.
Everything would have been fine, if only Azumarill had stayed in the water. But the small Water- and Fairy-type pulled itself out of the water right at the exact place that Jacklyn and Astrid were going in. Out of concern for his Pokemon, Wally flung himself between the girls and Azumarill. Astrid stopped before she reached them, but Jacklyn either couldn't stop fast enough, or just didn't stop. She rammed right into Wally, causing all three of them to tumble into the water.
Jacklyn surrfaced almost immediatly, spluttering and hissing furiously. Azumarill followed quickly after. But Wally didn't surface. Azumarill dove under, and Alain rushed to the side of the pool and looked down. Standing at the bottom was Wally, flailing in an attempt to get back to the surface, with Azumarill tugging at the back of his wetsuit.
He can't swim, Alain realised.
Without another thought, he dove into the water. Wally reached up to him as he approched, clearly starting to run out of air. Alain reached him and had an arm around his waist, when Wally suddenly lurched in his arm and let out a violent stream of air bubbles. Alain dragged him up to the surface, and layed him down beside the pool. Wally eyes were wide, and he was coughing violently, water coming up, but seemingly no air going back in.
"What happened!" someone screamed, and suddenly Zara was beside him, grabbing Wally in her arms and running out the door. Alain was about to follow her, when he remembered he was still wearing his wetsuit. Grabbing his clothes, he ran into the dressing room, changed, then ran back out after Zara.
Zara was in the Pokemon Center, wringing her hands and watching Nurse Joy give Wally asthma medicine through the glass of the treatment room's window. "What happened to him?" she asked as soon as he came in.
Alain explained what had happened.
"That would cause an asthma attack," Zara said.
The door to the treatment room opend just then, and Wally and Nurse Joy came out.
"Is he going to be alright?" Zara asked.
"Yes," Nurse Joy answered, "he'll be fine, but you might want to stay away from the pool from now on."
Zara nodded. Turning to Alain she said warmly, "Thank you so much for saving Wally!"
"Th-thanks from m-m-me too," Wally struggled to get out.
Zara gave Wally an affectionate look. "Maybe we should call it a day," she suggested. When Wally nodded his agreement, she put a hand on his back and steered him out the door. "Goodnight!" she called back to Alain as they left.
Alain watched them go, then left and went to his room. He showered, even though his hair was already wet, and lay down to sleep. The last thought he remembered thinking before sleep took him was, I wonder what Mairin would say if she knew about this...
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So everyone, am I doing a good job of keeping Alain in character? Not sure mmyself, but he does always seem to be fighting his emotions in the Mega Evolution Specials.
Please review!
