Okay! Well, only one review. That sucks. But considering this is a fairly new story, not a lot of people are willing to give it a chance. But I thank those of you who did read it. I especially would like to thank Redworthy for the first review of the fic! And, just like in 'The Rise of Mustang', he will be offered something later for doing so. I just haven't figured out yet when I will need to give the offer. So Red, if you're reading this, don't think I'm going to forget that offer! Just be patient. Now, to all my other twelve readers... REVIEW! I'm only asking for about a minute (at most) of your time. And that minute will help me to write better and update sooner! So press that little green button down at the bottom of this page and type!
Sorry this chapter took a little bit. It's a lot longer than the first chapter. And once again, the faster you review, the faster I update. There is truth to that.
Well, onto the chapter, I suppose. By the way, for the beginning of this chapter, I'm giving the credit to Redworthy for the excellent idea.
Last Chapter:
Luno arrives in Armoria and meets Melissa, his only friend so far. They are now heading to the Newcomers Registration at the City Center.
The Armorian Battles
Chapter 2: Registration
Luno - Age 15
Melissa - Age 15
Luno was impressed. The interior of the city center was a lot larger than it looked from the outside. The walls were a silver metal with indents where red, green, and blue lines ran throughout. If you followed along the lines, a ball of light with a tail traveling behind it could be seen running through lines, soon to be followed by another a few feet behind the first.
"Wow," Luno gawked. "Someone sure put a lot of thought into this place." He turned his head to the left and saw a giant crowd of people down a small flight of stairs. They were all snapping their cameras away at a large golden statue of a trainer. Luno became curious and walked over to join the crowd.
"Oh man, I wish I could've seen him battle!" A young man standing in front of Luno said excitedly.
Luno cocked his head slightly and rose an eyebrow. He tapped the boy's shoulder. "Excuse me," Luno said. "Can you tell me who exactly that is?"
The boy was about eighteen years old. As he heard Luno's question, his jaw dropped in surprise before bursting into a large smile again. "This," he started, "is Mustang Ranger. He looked a bit like you, though... Only he had mint green hair. Anyways, before Armoria was created and even before the Great Earthquake, a proud region was here. This region was called the Hanu Region. The main destination of the Hanu Region was a manmade city floating on the ocean. This city was called Pokétopia, and Armoria resembles it well."
Luno had a confused look on his face. However, the young man was not finished explaining. "Instead of the Enduring Eight or gyms, there were colosseums," he continued, looking proud. "For each colosseum, there were different challenges placed inside of them, each with different rules. They were extremely hard to complete. Trainers came from all around the world to try and defeat all the colosseums, but no one prevailed... Except for a certain teenager that was about your age, with you looking to be about... fifteen, sixteen, if I'm not mistaken. Mustang Ranger was the strongest trainer to live in all the regions. Not only did he beat all the gyms in all the other regions, but he also defeated each and every colosseum in Pokétopia. Every trainer in here is striving to be like him, actually. I hope you do the same," the boy said before turning back around to take more pictures.
'So,' Luno thought. 'Mustang sounds like the ultimate trainer to me. Well, I've beaten every gym, now let's see if I can follow in his footsteps...'
Luno's thoughts were interrupted as a young woman that looked to be about twenty years old came into the large room through a door a few feet away from Mustang's dedicatory statue. She had long brown hair tied into a single ponytail that fell to her mid-back.
"Hello newcomers!" She exclaimed. "I'm sure you're all excited to get started with registration!"'
"Yeah!!" All the teenagers yelled with enthusiasm.
"Well I'm Eleanor, you're guide for today's registration," Eleanor said proudly. "Now, we have to watch a short slideshow explaining some of the jobs you'll be offered her in Armoria. However, we have a very special guest here to make it worthwhile. If you could all leave your bags right by the statue, it would be greatly appreciated."
Everyone left their suitcases and other luggage at the feet of Mustang's gold feet. Eleanor turned and began walking down a dark hallway with the teenagers in tow.
Luno was at the back of the crowd. The teens and Eleanor then entered a large, dimly lit room with about one hundred or so seats all facing towards a gigantic screen on the wall. A man, looking to be thirty-five years old, stood in front of the screen proudly with an army green jump suit on. He had short chestnut colored hair that was gelled up to form curly spikes on his head. He seemed to be waiting patiently for everyone to find their seats.
Luno looked up to the seats, trying to find a spot. Suddenly, he heard Melissa's voice. He scanned the room to find out where she was. Luno found her, standing and waving to him in the middle of the third row.
"Hey! Luno," Melissa shouted with a smile when she got his attention. She pointed to an empty seat beside hers.
"Excellent," Luno said as he walked up to the seat.
Once everyone had found their seat and mingled for about five minutes, the lights turned off except for a single spotlight shone on where the man was standing. He was now holding a microphone.
"Hello!" He said excitedly. "My name is Tanuki. I am also known as the grandson of Mustang Ranger..." Tanuki trailed off sadly, hanging his head.
Everyone knew why he was so sad. Well, except for Luno. Melissa leaned over to him. "Mustang died during the Great Earthquake in order to save his wife, Abigail, along with many other people..." She explained.
Luno flinched at the story. Then, Tanuki looked back up to his young pupils. He faked a smile. "No good living in the past, though! I'm here to help you prepare for the future!" Tanuki exclaimed. "Today, you will register for what you want to do as your job here."
Everyone cheered excitedly. 'They may be young, but their full of passion and potential...' Tanuki thought, smiling. These kids would help Armoria live on through future generations. "Let's get started, shall we?" Tanuki walked to the right of the giant screen. It suddenly turned on, showing a birds-eye-view of Armoria.
Tanuki spoke up. "As you all know, this is Armoria. Many jobs are offered to kids like you here, and all are important."
The picture of Armoria changed to a fighter jet (A.N.: Obviously futuristic) flying over Armoria. "This is the job I have; a fighter jet pilot. I am a squadron leader for the Armorian Air Defense," Tanuki stated proudly, many of the audience awwing. This was one of the more admirable and coveted jobs.
The picture changed again, this time to a restaurant. "Armoria has many restaurants, all with a different theme. If you are into making food, then this is the job for you," Tanuki continued.
The slideshow continued on for another half hour, cycling through one one hundred jobs.
"So get out there, and make us proud!" Ace finished as the lights came back on. He walked back to his position in front of the screen.
Eleanor was sitting in the first row during the slideshow. She stood up and faced the teens. "Okay everyone! Let's all head back out and we'll head into the registration room," Eleanor explained, everyone standing up from their seat and following her.
Luno silently walked with Melissa and her friend. "Oh! Luno, this is my friend I came to Armoria with, Estelle," Melissa said, motioning to the brown haired girl that looked to be a bit younger than Melissa. Luno smiled, shaking Estelle's hand, who was smiling back.
"It's a pleasure," they both said simultaneously. The three new friends laughed.
Estelle had short, pecan colored hair that fell to her neck (A.N.: Oh gosh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the hairstyle Estelle uses is the one that Alice uses from the Twilight movie, only it's pecan colored. -_- I've just lost all pride I had...). She had deep brown eyes that were a tad darker than her hair. Estelle was about a head shorter than Luno and thin, however she was also in shape. The fifteen year old wore a white short sleeve with tan shorts that hugged her mid-thigh. She wore white flip flops and anyone could tell she spent a good amount of time tanning on a beach.
Luno decided to make conversation. "So," he started. "What region are you two from?"
Estelle decided to answer. "We're both from Talbun City in the Fliss Region."
Melissa lengthened the answer. "We've known each other since we were both six years old," the two girls smiling at each other. "Our parents went to school with each other."
"That's pretty cool," Luno said. "I'm from the Silten Region and a tiny place called Verin Town."
Estelle had a shocked face. "Silten? Isn't that on the other side of the world from Armoria?"
Luno wasn't surprised to hear her reaction. He expected to hear this during his stay in Armoria. "Yeah, it is. But I made my way around the entire world, defeating every gym almost every region. So I figured I might as well stop in Armoria, as well," he said.
As the newcomers entered the lobby of the city center, they noticed their luggage had disappeared. "Where's our luggage?!" Someone panicked.
Eleanor explained to them. "They are in the next room. You will take them once you have completed registration," she said. "This way." Everyone walked into an elevator next to the statue, following Eleanor. Eleanor pressed the highest button, which was labeled with the number twenty.
Luno stood between Estelle and Melissa. "So Luno," Melissa started. "Do you know anything about the Enduring Eight?"
Luno became discouraged. He honestly had no idea of what to expect. "Not a thing."
Estelle decided to help him out. "Well, there's gyms in other regions, right? Well the Eight are basically like gym leaders. However they all share a building as headquarters."
"Right," Melissa confirmed, nodding once. "However, each leader has a different set of rules you must meet in order to battle them."
Luno cocked his head slightly, wearing a puzzled expression. "What are some of these rules?" The group left the elevator as he asked this.
"Well, I know Anastasia only allows you to fight using only pokémon of a certain color scheme she picks a week in advance from your battle," Estelle said.
Luno was shocked. "Wow, there haven't been any rules like that in any other region!"
Melissa laughed. "Exactly! That's what makes battling here so exciting!"
Their conversation ended as everyone entered a large room with the ceiling and walls made of glass. There was a cool breeze in the room, as a couple of the windows were open. There was a great view of the city. However, the main attraction was the HQ of the Enduring Eight. It towered over any of the other buildings.
At the far left of the room, a line of booths started that went clear to the other side, where the bags lied on the ground. One young woman wearing light blue business suits stood behind each of the booths, anxious to start helping all of the teens begin their lives in this new world.
Eleanor decided to get everything in motion. "Okay everyone! Head to the left side of the room and form a single-file line!"
The crowd made their way to the starting point, Luno in the front of the line while the girls had to travel to the back. "Hello," the woman behind the counter said. "First, pick three jobs on the list you would like to pursue. You will end up having only one, but the others are back ups."
Luno looked down and knew immediately what he wanted, even there were over one hundred choices. He took the pencil next to the stack of identical papers and marked three boxes. The first was Battle Master, the second being Battle Photography, and the third box was Air Defense (A.N.: Honestly, what else could I put down for Luno to do?).
Once the woman saw he was finished, she moved him on. "Excellent. Now please head to the next booth to start schooling choices."
Luno's heart sunk. He hated hearing the semifinal word in her sentence. 'Really? School? Can't I just get to battling people yet? I'm not planning on settling down in Armoria. Honestly, I'm just beating the Enduring Eight then getting the heck out of here...' As much as he hated it, he moved onto the next booth.
"Welcome to Armoria!" The young woman greeted him, which for some reason annoyed Luno. However he decided it wise to keep his feelings hidden. "May I please have your job choices? I will give you the list of the night schools you will attend in order to become educated and prepared for the jobs you have selected."
Luno thought this was a pretty smart system they had going on around here. He willingly handed her the paper with his job choices on it. She marked two boxes on the back of the sheet. Luno assumed he would be attending two different schools for the three jobs he had selected. She smiled before handing Luno back the paper before he moved onto the next booth.
"Good day," a blonde haired woman said. "This booth is merely for information. Here is a magazine giving you all the information of Armoria, including a map." She handed Luno a thick magazine titled 'Welcome Newcomer!'
Luno stuffed the magazine into his pocket after curling it up into a tube. He walked to the semifinal station. This booth was definitely the largest of the stops. Behind the booth was a green screen (A.N.: For those of you who don't know what a green screen is: a large screen that produces digital pictures onto it after editing.) along with an array of different photography lights and a very large, expensive camera facing the screen.
"Hey," said a man, the only one at any of the booths. He had a tinge of a Dutch accent in his voice. "Here, you will be getting your trainer cube which is basically a license for battling. Inside the cube, it holds all of your information. First, pick a cube," the man said, motioning his arms towards a large box filled with differently colored cubes.
Luno walked over to it and stuck his hand in. He clenched his fingers around a random cube. The fifteen year old pulled his hand out. In it, he was holding a silver cube, which the man at the booth then took.
"Ah, you are a lucky boy. This is the only silver cube in that box. There is a golden cube, but no one has found it yet. Could I get you to stand on the mat on the floor? The one on the green screen?" Luno walked over to it and stepped onto the small patch of carpet. "Excellent. Now, take a very cool stance. One that will want to make the girls lunge at you!"
Luno could only do what the man behind the camera said. He stuck his hands into his jacket pocket and made an almost overly-confident smile. The camera snapped a picture as the lights around the shooting area flashed on. "Well done! It's very good! Now, here's your cube back," the man said. He walked to the side of the camera and opened a compartment which had the silver cube laying on a blue plate with a grid on it. The man removed the cube, placed it in a small metal cylinder, and handed it back to Luno. "Take care of this. If you lose it, you will not be able to do almost anything in Armoria."
"I will," Luno assured him before walking to the final booth.
A redhead greeted him. "Hey, first, I want to wish you luck in Armoria," she said. "However, you're not done with registration yet. You still have to get assigned to a dormitory in one of your schools. May I see the paper with the school information on it?" Luno handed her the paper. She looked at it and checked the computer next to her.
"Okay. Let's see..." The woman thought aloud. "There we go! You'll be staying in Dormitory A at the Battle Institute. Now may I see your cube? It acts as your key to the room."
"Oh yeah, sure." Luno took off the lid to the cylinder and emptied out the shining cube onto his hand before handing it to her.
"Wow, you got the silver cube. Congratulations. That means you'll have something special on your bed when you get to your room (A.N.: No, it's not that you dirty minds!)," the red haired lady said as she placed the cube on another blue grid plate connected to the computer. "I'm programming your cube with the access code to get into your room."
"Thanks," Luno said as he took the cube back after she was done. He walked over to the bags next to the booth and waited for everyone to finish. He took his bag and sat against the wall, where he was soon enveloped in sleep...
There we go! It took like what, a week? But hey, at least I updated. Now I have to switch over to The Rise of Mustang to update. Be expecting that to be updated in a week. So yeah. Here's the new plan for updating. Be expecting each of my fics to update at least a month. I'm trying to get a goal of once every two weeks, but I can't guarantee it. Anyways, please click that little green review button. I would love some feedback. And seriously, the faster you review and the more reviews I get, the faster and better the updates will be. Seriously.
Another thing. I'm not really planning on doing a lot of stuff with the Great Earthquake thing. I'm sure you get what it was. But heck, I might do some stuff with it later. Anyways, I'm headin' to bed. Night.