A wild chapter appeared! Now I told you I wouldn't keep you waiting that long for the next chapter, right? What was it, like a week and a half? I expected it to come out sooner but friends are a thing and we're on summer break so, yeah. My favorite generation was 4th gen because I didn't play 2nd or 3rd and as soon as it came out, I picked up a copy of Pearl and loved the game. The Pokemon were great, the graphics are still pretty nice even with 6th gen out now, and it was the first time I beat the champion so it'll always have that nostalgic value.
By the way, I'd like to give a HUGE thanks to DJTiki for the lovely cover art for this story. Isn't it neat? Now for some responses to reviews:
OPFan37: No worries in regard to how long it took you to write a review. Thank you for the support and thank you for saying such nice things, it really means a lot. BUT I'm not okay with you putting yourself down, buddy. I'm not perfect and neither is my work. I just try my best to write something that I can be proud of and I want you to just start trying your best in whatever you do, okay?
Vioet: Please don't faint from fangirling. Lol.
Martyn: I'm always up for recommendations from readers because the plot isn't set in stone, but I don't really see how Alex losing weight would be relevant. He isn't even overweight.
Legolas Draon Ranger: Well that's the whole point of an SYOC. It's to get the readers involved so it can be something we work on together. Sure, I may change things or leave some things out from the characters submitted, but the story wouldn't be the same if I made all of the characters myself.
DJTiki: I read through Chapter 3 like literally a few minutes before you hmu earlier and yeah, I see what you mean with KISS. Most of it was in the first two sections. I honestly found the rest of it fine in terms of level of vocabulary. Maybe a few words might be advanced like "potency" but I mean if you (in general) don't know a word when you're reading a textbook for a class in college, you can't just be like "I don't get this word so I'm just going to skip it." No, you need to know it so you can understand the material better. But I get what you mean though. It was mostly my use of the word "inquire" at the beginning in place of the word "ask" when a character is about to speak. I do that because I don't want to say "ask" twice in a row and haven't found a good substitute.
Overused: I'm glad you wrote the first and last sentences of your review because it lets me know exactly the kind of person you are. Now, I will hand it to you that some of the names are common and that I did use a few higher-level words (although you were exaggerating when you said that I was overusing them). I read through the chapter and there were only a handful of instances. Now in regards to the rest of your comment, at this point, you're obviously just here to spite me and it's unfortunate that you chose the latter of the two choices I gave you. I'm no longer responding to any hateful comments that you leave to me or my readers and instead will delete the comments. You are more than welcome to leave your opinion and give me CONSTRUCTIVE criticism like what I need to work on in my writing but not if you are just going to talk trash. Nobody needs that.
callofduty1994: That's a big thing that me and my friend poke at so it was easy for me to write it.
I am not high: Trust me, I love her too, especially after this chapter. She might get on your nerves at some point, though. I wouldn't read too much into the conversation Sergio and the others had in the locker room. That was all it was, just guys talking in the locker room.
Chapter 4: Buddies
White. Everything was white. The ground was white. The trees were covered white. The sky…it wasn't white. It was blue. But not just a normal blue. It was vibrant and deep just like the ocean it received its color from. But white still fell from it. It melted against his skin, causing him to shiver upon contact.
He heard a girl's voice. She was much older than him. Her silky black hair fell over her shoulders from underneath the beanie she wore to protect her hair from the falling snow. A scarf was neatly wrapped around her neck and she wore clothing typical for snowy weather.
Her blood red eyes held warmth that was rivaled only by their mother's, filled with a love for life and compassion for others. She reached out to him and he soon felt her arms around his small body. It wasn't just her eyes. Even with the world around them frozen, warmth radiated off her and he found himself burying his face into her scarf.
Suddenly, he felt her head hang onto his shoulder and she no longer felt warm. She felt colder than the snow beneath their feet. He was now supporting her weight as her arms fell to her sides and her legs turned to noodles. With all the strength he could muster, he held her away from him to find her eyes wide. Eyes which were once filled with love and empathy now only emitted fear and pain.
His pants started sticking to his legs as if they had been wet. When he looked down, there was no longer any white. Everything was…red.
Mark sat up from his bed, crimson eyes shaking with fear and his skin lathered in sweat. His chest expanded and deflated with each breath as he tried to regain control of his body. Once he realized that he was awake and in his dorm room, his breathing steadied. He turned to his right to find that Sergio was still asleep and he did not even both checking if Alex was. He already knew the answer to that.
Instead, Mark let himself fall against the rather rigid mattress beneath them. For a school that made hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, they were quite frugal when it came to the beds. The boy's soft pillow cushioned the impact, though – compensating for the comfort that the bed could not provide on its own. His ruby eyes were locked on the bed frame straight above him that held his roommate's bed above his own as he attempted to make sense of the dream – or rather, nightmare – that he just awoke from. Unfortunately, he did not have enough time for that once he realized what he had to do that day. He checked his Poketch and groaned when he saw that he was going to be late.
Without much choice, Mark forced himself out of bed, readied himself, and left his roommates – and he did all of that as quietly as he possibly could.
Kari sat on a wooden bench outside of the Uxie Library, her ankles crossed, as she watched Chimchar chase the Pidoves he would find in the area. It was fifteen passed eight at the time so there were already some students walking around, most were headed to the bus stop to go to Crescent Island. She and Mark had agreed to meet at eight but apparently Alex had, through sheer reflex, thrown Mark's alarm clock against the wall because he found it obnoxious. How he made it down the ladder and to Mark's nightstand without coming to his senses was beyond her but it sure made her laugh when they told her about it the day before.
The brunette looked up at the sky to find a few large clouds drifting on by. She had always found the sight of puffy white clouds absolutely mystical – even otherworldly. It gave her the feeling that Arceus was standing atop them, looking down at all it had created.
"Hey, you're up early."
Kari was brought out of her thoughts by the silver-eyed third year that stopped by to talk to her. The sweaty shirt and shorts informed her that he had been running. She smiled up at him and greeted, "Hi, Jarrel! So are you."
"True, but I figured that you got a lot of sleep to stay that beautiful."
She giggled, Did I just giggle? "Well, you're wrong there."
A low chuckle escaped his lips. "I guess so. You're really studious, aren't you? It's a Saturday morning and you're here at the library."
She slyly responded, "For all you know, I could just be waiting here for someone."
"Are you?"
"Yeah, I'm waiting for Mark so we can do our homework."
His smile faltered slightly, but it went unnoticed.
"That's good. You and Mark…you guys are awfully close, aren't you?"
Kari did not catch the hidden meaning in his choice of the word 'awfully'. She nodded, "Yeah, our dads have been friends ever since they served together for Sinnoh's army. They're really close and to their surprise, they both managed to have kids the same year. I'm sure they would've liked me and Mark to be of the same gender, but we get along great so it all worked out. Besides, Mark's close enough to a girl," she joked.
Jarrel laughed, a little too loudly, and responded, "So you guys basically grew up together like brother and sister, huh?"
She tilted her head from side to side, "Well yeah, basically. Our families go to each other's parties and barbecues and stuff. And whenever my parents were busy, his parents would let me stay at their house and vice versa."
"I guess it's nice coming here with someone you already know. It eases the stress of meeting new people."
"Yeah, definitely! We also traveled around Sinnoh a bit for my contests so we're both used to living without our parents."
"Let me guess, he took on the gym challenge while you went to the contest halls."
She shook her head, "No, he's not a trainer. He's a breeder so he joined me to help groom my Pokemon. He even bred me a Hippopotas at a day-care during our journey."
"Wow, your own personal breeder. Isn't that a handy thing to have?"
"Well, it's not like I have a team of fully bred Pokemon. It's just the one."
"Still, you know what advantage there is to breeding right?"
"Uh huh, a Pokemon can inherit an egg move from its parents."
"Yeah, and some moves can only be learned through breeding."
"My Hippopotas doesn't have any egg moves, but that's completely fine with me. I'm just glad to have him around."
Jarrel noticed the gleam in her eye when she talked about her Pokemon telling him that she cared deeply about them – something he would keep in mind for later.
"That's good. Well, it was nice talking to you, Kari. I'll see you later?"
"Definitely!" With that, they waved goodbye to each other and he walked off.
Sweat dripped off of Mark's lightly tanned skin as he ran through campus with the Uxie Library as his destination. He held a steady jog, not in too big of a hurry, but knew that Kari's patience could only last for so long.
Alex owes me an alarm clock! Who throws one against the wall just because the ring is 'annoying?!' Still…I'm not sure if I'm happy that that dream woke me up.
As he passed by the Geology building, a hand reached out to pull him into the small alley between it and Lab building. He felt the hand slam him against the brick wall behind him. Ruby eyes focused on an olive-skinned figure that held him firmly in place. To make sure he did not squirm his way out, a Samurott stood next to Jarrel with one of his blades drawn.
"Yo, Mark! How's it going?" Mark's eyes fell – this is the last person he wanted to spend his Saturday morning with. Jarrel eased his hold so Mark would come a little closer and pushed him back against the wall. Hard. "I asked you a question, man."
He kept his head low, but he aimed his eyes at Jarrel and responded, "Good."
A smirk formed on the older boy's face, "That's good to hear! I just finished having a talk with our friend, Kari, and I just heard the most interesting thing. Why didn't you tell me that you were a breeder?"
"You didn't ask."
He chuckled, "Yeah, you're right, but it's useful information. See, my Hydreigon kind of knocked up a buddy's Charizard and I need a breeder to help her lay it. That's where you come in. So how about you help a guy out?" He remained silent, clearly not wanting to do the bully the favor, but Jarrel had to insist, "Unless you'd rather go for another swim, eh?" Mark could not hold back the urge to gulp, earning a mischievous grin from his tormentor. "Alright, so I expect you to meet me behind Terra Dorm at…let's say five-ish today?" He released his grip on Mark and did not bother waiting for an answer. He already knew it. He simply slapped Mark lightly a couple of times on his face and said, "Good talk," before recalling his Samurott.
Mark watched the third-year leave before sluggishly walking to the library to meet up with Kari. He found her sitting on a bench outside the library and once she was aware of his presence, she slung her handbag over her shoulder and approached him.
"You're late," she said.
"I know, I'm sorry Kari. You can blame Alex for that."
"Your Poketch has an alarm too."
Mark wore an apologetic look as he responded, "I slept through it. We were up late last night talking in my room."
"Wow, you guys are more feminine than I am," she teased. "Anyways, let's get going already."
"Okay."
"Time to go, Chimchar!" The little chimp had just finished jumping into a pile of Wingulls before running towards his coordinator and her friend with a happy look on his face.
The afternoon sun sat high in the sky, inching its way to the west as the autumn breeze lifted the decaying leaves through campus. The gentle wind made it cold enough for Chase to comfortably wear his Beedrill hoodie. The brown-eyed brunette lay on a low tree branch in the school's quad, completely oblivious to the passing students because of the music his headphones hummed into his ears.
Despite the music being the only thing capable of reaching his eardrums, a voice started ringing in his head saying, Is this how champions-to-be spend their free time?! Get off your lazy ass!
Chase opened his eyes to look at the ceiling of warm colors with small cracks of blue breaking through – his calm expression turning into a frown upon hearing the voice in his head. His breathing was steady, but his thoughts were racing through harsh memories. Having had enough of them, he carefully jumped from the branch, slung his backpack over his shoulders, and decided to go for a walk instead.
During his stroll, his eyes picked up on many things ranging from students playing sports to others relaxing with their Pokemon to couples walking by with their fingers interlocked. Suddenly, he stopped. Chase didn't know why, but something told him to just stop right then and there. To his left was a cylindrical multiple-story building with glass windows outlined by orange walls. What caught his eye was the logo just above the building's front doors which consisted of a Pokemon battlefield, one side was red and the other white, framed by a yellow background.
Almost instinctually, Chase approached the building and stepped through the automatic double doors. Once inside, he found himself inside a lobby with a small Pokemon center in the far left of the room. Straight ahead was a counter where a large brown-haired man stood. The giant saw the lost look on Chase's face and used his booming voice to ask, "Hey there! Did you need help?"
Chase walked up to the counter and said, "Sorry, I was just looking around. What is this place?"
"This building is a called a Battle Club and it is owned by me, Don George." Noting that Chase still looked confused, he clarified, "Battle Clubs are places where trainers can register and battle each other. Most of them are in Unova and ran by my cousins, but Star Academy paid to have one established here. The special thing about this Battle Club, though, is that your record here actually factors into your standing at the academy."
"So if I win a lot of battles here, my rank goes up in the school?"
"That's right!"
"Interesting. So how do I get started?"
"You see those computers over there?" The brunette boy nodded, his soft spikes bobbing along. "You can register there and it will ask for your name, student ID number, the information of the Pokemon you have with you, and your phone number."
"Why my phone number?"
"Well to battle, you have to make an appointment and when a room is free, a message will be sent to your mobile device so that you can report to it."
"That makes sense. Okay, thank you for the information."
"No problem kid! If you need anything else, just ask."
Chase left Don George to go register his information but decided to use the restroom, first. He had been holding it in for a while, anyway.
Alex was the last person to wake up in his room and the last one to leave. He knew that Mark went to the library to do homework with Kari and later found out from a text that Sergio and Aaron went on a little outing so the emerald boy talked on the phone with his dad and later went with Riley to have lunch.
Having been fully satisfied with their meal, the two boys were now walking through campus, enjoying the soft warmth provided by the sun and the fresh wind brushing against their faces. For the time being, Alex allowed his Pikachu to stay outside of his Poke Ball to stretch and enjoy some fresh air. After seeing how much Chimchar hated captivity, he figured that other Pokemon felt the same. He never had problems with Pikachu, but the electric mouse seemed to enjoy running freely on the grass.
"So did you talk to your dad?" Riley asked.
"Yeah, we talked for a bit. He told me about how he might be getting a promotion at work."
"What does he do?"
"He's an electrician. Different businesses contract the company he works for to set up their electric circuits and stuff. He's even done maintenance at the Vermillion City gym when Lt. Surge was busy or out of town."
"That's pretty cool."
"Yeah. If he gets the promotion, they'll put him in charge of bigger jobs like planning out this new building in the east part of town. It's supposed to be huge."
"Wow, your dad's job seems hard."
"Yeah, but someone has to do it, right?"
"That's true."
"You said that your dad is a trainer, right?"
"Not just a trainer. He's a Frontier Brain back in Hoenn."
"A Frontier Brain! Whoa! Your dad's super strong, then! He's like at an Elite Four member's level!"
Riley nodded with a proud grin, "That's right. And one day, I'll get even stronger than him. But that's to be expected since I will be the strongest trainer in the world."
"What? Are you planning on me dying early or something?" Alex teased.
Riley pointed to the Battle Club and asked, "How about you put your Pokemon where your mouth is?"
"Because I haven't given any of them baths," he joked in return. "What is this place anyway?"
"I think it's called a Battle Maison where you battle trainers and get points for each victory. Then you can trade those points for cool prizes. Plus there are these strong sisters you get to go up against called the Battle Chatelaines. The oldest two are really pretty, by the way."
"Whoa, how do you know so much about this place?"
"There's one in Hoenn, but we don't call it the Battle Maison. To us, it's the Battle Resort."
"Well whatever it is, it sounds awesome! Hey, Pikachu, are you up for some battles?"
The electric-type's ears perked up and his lips naturally curved into a smile as he yelled, "Pika!" and ran towards his trainer, climbing his body before grabbing his shoulder.
Alex and Riley ran into the building and stepped onto the tiled floors of the lobby. There were other students, some walked in and out of hallways and others sat or stood around talking to each other.
"So where do we go?" Alex inquired.
"Mmm, let's ask that guy!" Riley pointed to Don George who stood behind the counter at the end of the room, looking through some files.
They approached the well-built man and Alex asked, "Excuse me, sir, how can I go up against the Battle Chatelaines?"
Don George looked at him quizzically. He stated, with uncertainty in his voice, "Battle…Chatelaines? You must be confused. This is called the Battle Club."
Alex looked at Riley as if he had been lied to.
The black-haired boy's emerald eyes widened as he came to the realization. "That's right! They didn't tell me that it was the Battle Maison, they said Battle Club! Well, there aren't prizes or chatelaines here, but there are still lots of battles here."
The bronze giant chuckled, but his booming voice could be heard throughout the lobby. "Well your buddy might've been confused for a bit, but he's got it right now." He began explaining to them the functions and operations of the Battle Club and pointed them to the registration computers.
"Thanks, mister!" Alex said before dashing off with Riley towards the computers.
"Anytime, boys," he responded with a lighthearted smile. Sure, he could have told them running was not allowed but with every passing year, Don George had learned that youth is a beautiful thing. Youth provides energy and enthusiasm that keeps the world spinning.
Just as Alex was about to reach the computer, his hand was met with two more. Emerald eyes looked up to find two very familiar faces. One was Chase, the boy he had battled and defeated on their first day of class and the other was Kari's wonderful roommate, Kirsty.
The violet-eyed girl wore a vicious scowl as she snapped, "Uh, excuse you two? It's rude to crowd a lady."
"Is there one here?" Chase remarked.
Sharing two classes with Kirsty, Chase was already quite familiar with her attitude and self-centeredness and to be honest, he was not in the mood to deal with it at the moment.
His comment was rewarded with Alex and Riley yelling "Ohhhhh!"
Alex added, "Get wrecked!"
"Whatever, move your hands. I'm going to use the computer."
"Sorry, babe, but I got here first," Alex said.
"No you didn't, my hand reached here first. And don't call me babe. Ever."
"Yeah, you have to respect that," said one of Kirsty's followers.
"Uh, I've been here the longest," Chase informed.
Kirsty countered, "So why didn't I see you here?"
"Yeah, why weren't you here?" repeated another, earning a glare from Kirsty. She wasn't exactly helping by repeating, but Kirsty did it more because she was in a sour mood.
"Because I was in the restroom."
"The restroom isn't the registration computer, dude," Alex responded.
"Well I was walking over here. You can respect that, can't you?"
Kirsty replied, "Why don't you respect the rule 'ladies first'?"
"There are no more gentlemen in this world," commented a third girl from Kirsty's group.
"What seems to be the problem here?" Don George asked as he approached the group of adolescents.
Even around authority, Kirsty's tone remained obnoxious as she responded, "They don't want to let me use the computer."
Alex's shoulders raised, "I was here first, sir."
The tanned man's eyes darted to Chase upon hearing the brown-eyed boy say, "I was actually here first. You saw me like five minutes, ago, remember?"
After a few moments of silence which he clearly used to contemplate what to do in this situation, Don George finally said, "Well you're all fighting about who can sign up to use a room, first, right?" He was answered by nods. "This gives me a great idea! Why not have a battle with all four of you?"
"You expect me to team up with one of them?" Kirsty asked – disgust evident in her voice.
He shook his head, "Not a multi battle, a free-for-all. Everyone against everyone in an action-packed battle where absolutely anything can happen!" The excitement in his voice was clearly rising. "I can send out an alert to all of the registered students to come watch the battle! How does that sound?"
"I've never done a free-for-all before," said Alex.
"Yeah, me neither," commented Chase. "How would that work?"
"Each of you will stand in one corner of the stadium and you can attack any of your opponents' Pokemon."
"And how many will we use?" Riley asked.
"How many do each of you have?"
"Three," responded Alex and Chase.
"Two," said Kirsty.
"Well three, but one won't listen to me, so I guess two."
"Alright then. Each of you will use two, but you boys have to choose the two Pokemon you'll be using ahead of time. It wouldn't be fair for you to have an option of who to use as your second Pokemon after your first one gets knocked out while she doesn't."
Chase nodded, "That makes sense."
"It still isn't fair. Those two are going to work together because they are friends," Kirsty whined as she accusingly pointed a finger at Alex and Riley.
"Actually, that isn't allowed," The Battle Club owner responded, "Sure, any of you can work together to take out the most threatening Pokemon on the field but by no means are any of you allowed to work together to take out the other opponents. Is that understood?" More nods.
"So are we going to battle right now?" Riley asked.
"Well, I need to send out a notice so let's say at five? Does that work for everyone?" There were no objections so the battle was set for later that day.
Mark and Kari walked side-by-side with Chimchar playfully running ahead of them. The campus was bathed in a golden hue from the setting sun as the fleeting light reflected off of the pavement, the plants, the buildings, and the students scattered throughout the area.
The brunette let out a sigh and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear before saying, "I'm so tired. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm probably going to take a shower and see if Alex or Sergio wants to hang out. You?"
"I hope to Arceus that Kirsty isn't in the room because I don't have anything to do outside."
As they reached an intersection of cement paths, a small group of students ran by them, almost running over Chimchar in the process. The little ape's flame tail shot out and he frantically climbed Kari's body to curl up against her.
The olive-skinned girl frowned and yelled, "Hey, watch where you're going! You almost stepped on my Chimchar!"
One of the students turned around and apologized, "I'm really sorry about that. We're kind of in a hurry to watch this free-for-all at the Battle Club. I can't remember the last time they had one." Having said his apology, the boy continued on his way.
"Free-for-all?" Kari asked allowed. "That sounds really interesting. Do you want to check it out, Mark?"
His ruby eyes glanced at his Poketch to check the time.
He shook his head, "No, I'm really tired after doing all that homework."
"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Mark nodded and after hugging her, began walking to the dorms.
Kari walked the other way, in the direction that the other students went. After asking around a bit, she found herself walking through a threshold into the stands of the Battle Club's main battlefield and most of the seats had already been filled. Kari managed to find a seat in the sea of students, masking herself among the masses.
Once settled in, she was able to see the participants and to her shock, she recognized three of them. What are the chances of all three of them being here?! I can't wait to see the look on Kirsty's face when she loses. I don't really care who wins as long as it's not her and the chance of her winning is lower than the chance of her losing. Kari merely sat back and prepared to watch the show.
Down on the field, Don George stood in the center of the Poke Ball drawing and gathered the audience's attention by saying, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice to watch this year's first official event match here at the Battle Club and do we have something special for you planned. Today, we have these four first-year students battling in a free-for-all!"
Kari's ears rang with the roar of cheer coming from every side of her.
Don George continued, "Now let's meet the participants!" One by one, the muscular man introduced Alex, Riley, Kirsty, and Chase – each of which was applauded and cheered upon mention.
"Now, each participant will use two Pokemon and are allowed to attack any Pokemon, even work together to overcome the biggest threat on the field as long as they do not focus on one participant the entire match. Trainers, are you ready?" He was answered by simultaneous nods as all four students reached for their first Poke Balls.
"Begin!"
"You're in charge Pidgeotto!" Alex called.
"Let's go, Flora!"
"We'll show them, Luxio!" A dark blue lynx appeared on Kirsty's side of the field with a small field of electricity sparking around him.
"Let's beat them, Pierce!" Chase's choice hovered slightly above the ground with its clear white wings creating a buzzing sound and his lance-like stingers sharpened to a point. Its exoskeleton matched Chase's sweater with a black and white pattern.
"Pidgeotto, use Feather Dance on Flora!" The brown-feathered avian flapped her wings, sending a swirling wind that carried her quivers to the grass-type, lowering her Special Attack.
Kirsty smirk and thought, Now that she's weakened…"Luxio hit Gloom with Spark!" The electric-type rammed himself into Flora, but after getting knocked back, she merely stood back up as if nothing had happened. "Luxio is really strong! Why did she take that so well?!"
Chase explained, "Riley's Gloom is a grass-type meaning that she resists electric-type attacks."
"What?! Well then Luxio, use Bite on her! She doesn't resist that."
"Lux, lux!" With white glowing fangs, Luxio ran to the Gloom and attempted a second attack but Riley ordered Flora to use Toxic, inflicting the lynx with the poison status. Despite landing the attack on his target, Luxio was having difficulty standing and a violet hue formed above his muzzle indicating his condition.
Alex took advantage of Flora trying to recover from the attack and Luxio being weakened by having Pidgeotto use Twister on them both. The indigo cyclone wrapped around both Pokemon, striking them with its sharp winds. With Pidgeotto distracted, Pierce swooped in with a Poison Jab to the chest, effectively ending the bird's assault. Luckily for Alex and Pidgeotto, Pierce's attack did not leave her poisoned.
Luxio was still feeling the effects of the poison running through his veins and unfortunately, Kirsty could not use any items or berries to cure him during the battle. But as long as he could stand on his four paws, he would be willing to fight for her. Deciding to regroup and rethink her strategy, Kirsty ordered him to retreat to their corner to make a plan.
Let's see, Alex has type advantage over both Chase and Riley so if I can get him to attack them, we can hit him with Spark. She took a look at Luxio, noticing his heavy pants. We'll have to do it quick, though. It'll be hard to recover from this if he's knocked out before.
"Alright, Luxio, I want you to use Bite on Pierce!"
"Lux!" With a nod, he charged towards the bug-type and as he neared, Kirsty called out, "Now side step!" Pierce retaliated with one of his stingers but missed.
"Pidgeotto, Gust!"
It worked! Kirsty cheered to herself. That is until she realized Pidgeotto was attacking Flora, instead of Pierce. It became clear to the violet-eyed girl that she had not given the brown bird any reason to attack in their direction. Seeing the opening, Beedrill finished the minx off with a Poison Jab.
"Oh no, Luxio!" She sighed, "Return. You did well." Turning to the normal-type on her shoulder, Kirsty said, "You ready, Sentret?" She nodded and leaped onto the field in front of Kirsty.
After Flora was knocked out, Riley replaced her with his Snorunt, Jazz, who made quick work of Pidgeotto with an Icy Wind. Because Pierce was also in the way, his body temperature dropped and soon he was shivering as much as Jazz was underneath her tipi-like coat.
"Pidgeotto, return! Let's go Pikachu!" The red and white device popped open to reveal the little electric mouse with a confident smile on his face.
"Pika, pi!"
"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave on Beedrill!"
"Pierce, dodge it!" The bug-type attempted to flap his frosted wings but could not move quickly enough to avoid the incoming static, which left him paralyzed on the ground.
"Follow up with Electro Ball, Pikachu!" He launched the yellow projectile at Beedrill, easily knocking him out because of his drastically reduced speed. They may have gotten a knock-out, but it was too soon for Alex and Pikachu to celebrate because Snorunt used Icy Wind on the mouse Pokemon to slow him down as well. "Oh no! How are you feeling Pikachu?"
"P-p-p-p-pika!" He tried to stay strong and readied himself for further commands, but his chilly breath was visible, worrying his trainer.
"Pikachu, use Quick Attack on Jazz!"
"Sucker Punch!" Kirsty's Sentret concentrated dark energy into her paw and connected it with Pikachu's face, to disrupt his attack. With both Pikachu and Sentret in range, Jazz unleashed another Icy Wind, which knocked out the electric-type and made it difficult for the normal-type to move.
"Kim, Body Slam!" Somehow, no one had noticed that the large blue bear had been summoned to the field and now it was three feet off the ground above Sentret. With her speed decreased, she was flattened out by Kim's incredible weight, resulting in Kirsty's elimination as she ran out onto the field to pick up her unconscious Pokemon.
"Sentret, no!" She took a look at her opponents to find Alex returning Pikachu to his Poke Ball while Riley and Chase continued the battle.
Kari threw a fist into the air and even stood up as she yelled "Ohhhhh yeah!" Despite feeling slightly saddened by Alex's loss, she was just happy to see the crushed look on Kirsty's face as the black-haired girl simply walked off the field, not caring to stick around to watch the rest of the match. Sore loser, much? Unlike Kirsty, Alex sat down next to Don George on the sidelines of the battlefield to watch the last moments of the battle.
"Jazz, use Icy Wind!"
The chilly current slammed into Kim, but the normal-type's thick fur and skin shielded him from the attack or at least reduced the amount of damage it would have normally done.
"We can take that. Kim, use Body Slam!"
"Double Team!" The Snorlax landed on one of the phantom copies that the Snorunt made while the rest surrounded the large Pokemon. "Use Ice Shard!" Kim soon found herself being pummeled by small fragments of sharpened ice which dug into her skin. They seemed to come from all directions, but she knew that there was only one true attacker. Despite this, she could not pinpoint his location.
To Riley's surprise, Chase seemed incredibly calm for someone who had no hopes of catching Jazz with a Body Slam attack. Kim just was not fast enough. Finally, the brown-eyed boy told his Snorlax to use Rest. The normal-type simply shrugged and let herself fall backward onto the ground. Before long, she was fast asleep and Riley couldn't exactly explain what Chase was planning. Instead, he decided to take full advantage and had Snorunt continue with his barrage of Ice Shard attacks.
"Kim, use Snore." Even though she was asleep, Kim followed orders and released a large sound wave that knocked Jazz down. She was so frightened that she even hid underneath her coat. "Keep using Snore."
The normal-type kept snoring, gradually inflicting damage on the sheltered ice-type, who continued shaking from her cold body temperature and the constant harsh sounds coming from her opponent. Finally, Jazz stopped shaking.
"Hey, Jazz, are you okay?" There was no response. "Jazz? Come on, talk to me."
The ice-type fell over and it was revealed that she was no longer able to fight making Chase the winner. The crowd of students erupted into cheer as Don George lifted one of Chase's hands into the air and announced him as the victor. Soon after, Alex and Riley both shook hands with him as well, praising him on his victory over all three opponents.
"Congrats!" Riley said.
Alex patted Chase on the back and remarked, "I could've beat you all if I use my Charizard. Just figured my other Pokemon could use some experience, you know?"
The brown-eyed boy laughed in response and said, "Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure he just didn't fight because he remembered the last time he went up against Kim."
Alex sighed and joked, "Yeah, he just doesn't fly the same anymore."
"Hey, where's Kirsty?" Riley asked.
"The spoiled princess stormed off after she lost," Chase stated.
"Well that sure was an interesting match, wasn't it?"
The three boys turned to find Professor Cedar approaching them, dressed in his usual formal attire – minus the blazer. His sleeves were even rolled up almost to his elbows, giving a more casual feel to the headmaster.
"Y-you watched it?" Alex asked in disbelief.
He chuckled, "Of course! It's the first official battle here at the Battle Club and a free-for-all nonetheless. It's not often we get one of those so I thought I'd come watch it."
"So what did you think?" Alex asked excitedly.
"You're awfully energetic for the first one eliminated," the dark-skinned man jabbed. "I'm just kidding you. For students who'd never participated in a free-for-all before, you all did great! Even the girl that battled against you three." He turned to face the winner. "Chase, is it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Congratulations on your victory," a warm smile stretched across his lips as he said that.
Chase was slightly caught off guard by the praise but recollected himself and with a smile responded, "Thank you. I'm just glad I could put on such an entertaining show."
Professor Cedar smiled and nodded before excusing himself and leaving his students.
Shortly after, Chase told Alex and Riley, "Well, I'll catch you guys later."
"Sounds good."
"Later."
With just the two of them there, Riley asked, "What are you going to do now?"
Alex put his hands behind his head and shrugged, "Well first thing's first. I need to heal my Pokemon. Not sure what I'll do after. I've still got homework to do, but I have a whole Sunday for that, right?"
"True! Want to check out girls in the quad?"
"Definitely."
Mark ran as fast as he could back to the dorms, ignoring the burning sensation in his legs and the constricting lungs in his chest. He only had a few minutes left before five and there was no saying what Jarrel would do to him if he was late. He hadn't been very lenient towards him thus far.
The ruby boy soon arrived in the courtyard between the three dorms and did his best to appear as inconspicuous as possible as he walked behind Terra Dorm where he was met with Jarrel and a few of his friends.
Upon seeing him, a glint appeared in Jarrel's eyes as he casually greeted him, "How's it going, Marcus? You're right on time! If you kept me any longer, I would've had to have sent my boys to look for you."
As he tried regaining his breath, Mark thanked Arceus that he made it in time. He was sure that Jarrel's friends would have used force to bring him even if he did not resist.
"So…where's the Charizard?"
Jarrel simply pointed over to the woods that lie beyond the dormitories. He then led Mark through the trees with some of his friends in the back in case the ruby boy planned to escape. Luckily for the third year, there was no struggle as they walked for twenty minutes through the trees – flashlights in hand to maneuver through the unpredictable terrain. They had finally arrived in front of an old shed and Jarrel pushed Mark inside where another adolescent boy was seated next to his Charizard.
Apparently, Jarrel used the word "buddy" loosely earlier when describing the owner of the Charizard that his Hydreigon impregnated because the boy sitting next to the fire lizard had his hands tied and sported a busted lip. His clothes were slightly tattered, indicating that there was some sort of struggle. Most likely, the Charizard trainer did not want Jarrel to have the egg, but clearly, he had been subdued.
Jarrel pushed Mark again, but this time lowered him down next to the Charizard and said, "Well, get to work, buddy."
Mark took a small moment to glare at Jarrel before turning his attention to the worn out Pokemon in front of him. Despite being a fire-type accustomed to high temperatures, sweat trickled down her orange scales. Her belly rose and fell violently as she breathed heavily with the occasional ember escaping her snout. The breeder unzipped his backpack and began pulling out his equipment including a couple towels, a bottle of water, and a surgical mask, cap, and gloves.
He put the fabrics on his face and asked, "Could you please untie the trainer?" Despite using such a polite word, his tone was serious and rather demanding.
"Why?" Jarrel asked in response.
"This will go a lot easier if she has her trainer to comfort her."
Jarrel stared at him with metallic eyes, an unwavering look of authority in them. He looked at one of his goons and ordered, "You heard him."
Jarrel's friend pulled out a pocket knife and Mark realized that his captor probably told that specific boy to untie the trainer to erase any notion of escaping in the breeder's head. Mark pushed the thought of cold steel being driven through his flesh to the back of his mind and pressed the opening of the water bottle against one of the towels, moistening the white fabric.
He then gently placed it on the Charizard's head and told her trainer, "She has a fever right now so this will help cool her down. Keep her head on your lap and she'll feel more at ease, okay?"
"Okay."
Mark then readied himself to receive the egg, constantly encouraging the fire-type to push and reassuring her that everything would be okay. She would sometimes respond with a grunt or growl, but her most prominent reaction was to let out a roar. Luckily for the group, she did not release any flames, fighting the urge to burn the small shed they were in. After a couple hours of this, the Charizard pushed one final time, as hard as she could, and at last laid her egg – which had an orange shell except for the bottom which was cream-colored. Mark held the round object in his hand and stood up to give it to Jarrel.
"Well, there it is."
Jarrel nodded with an impressed look on his face, "You sure know your stuff, kid. You didn't even have all of the equipment they use at a day-care and this guy's Charizard didn't even die." He then shoved it back against Mark for the younger boy and said, "Now I want you to hold onto this for me until it's about time for it to hatch. Then I'll take it."
"But you only asked me to help receive it."
"Well now I'm telling you to hold onto it. You clearly know how to handle this stuff and I want this egg to be well taken care of." He took a step closer to Mark, imposing his presence onto him. "Is that a problem?" Mark's crimson eyes fell and he merely shook his head. "Didn't think so. Alright, boys let's get out of here."
One-by-one, Jarrel and his friends exited the shed, leaving only Mark and the Charizard trainer. As the breeder placed the egg inside an incubator pod, he glanced at the other boy and could see the look of shame on his face. He clearly blamed himself for letting Jarrel's Hydreigon defile his Charizard and using her as some sort of baby maker. She would probably never see her child after it hatched.
Mark stood up and turned to the boy who merely pet the scaly beast beside him. He told him, "I-I'm so sorry that I did this."
The trainer simply shook his head and said, "You only did it for the same reason that I did."
Kari sat on her bed with a book between her hands and Chimchar napping at the foot of her bed. She did not know where Kirsty was and she did not care. The only times she felt at peace in her own room was when the violet-eyed girl was not present. Her hazel eyes flickered back and forth as her mind consumed each word they captured.
Her concentration was broken when she heard a few knocks on the door. Taking note of where she was in the book, she set it down and walked to open the door. On the other side stood Mark with a cheery smile and a red-orange bar of ice cream in each hand.
Kari recognized the desert and smiled at her best friend who said, "I thought we could have a talk and eat ice cream like we did back home."
"I do believe you forgot to get one for Chimchar."
He peered into her room and teased, "He's asleep. You can't just leave him a note telling him that you went out?"
"Did we just meet?"
"I'm kidding. I have one for him too in my backpack."
"Alright, I'll wake the little guy up. Where do you want to go?"
"My dorm has a patio on the roof with a bit of shade. It's nice, you'll like it."
"Is the shade to protect us from the moonlight?"
He chuckled, "I don't want you getting moon-burned."
Kari laughed in response and said, "Fine, let me get a sweater." She walked back into her room to lightly nudge Chimchar awake and grab a hooded sweater before exiting and locking her room.
Mark led Kari back to his dorm and the two rode the elevator to the top and just as the ruby boy had predicted, she loved the sight. Not only was there a view of the courtyard below, the student union, the lecture buildings, the observatory, and most of the other buildings on campus, but the roof itself was also quite the sight. There were columns holding up a small roof with hanging flower pots. The edge of the roof they were standing on was decorated by a small garden that surrounded them as well as a few benches pressed against the concrete platforms that held the plants.
"I'm not going to say I told you so."
She punched him in the arm and said, "Good!" As they sat down and started eating their Custap Berry ice cream, Kari asked, "So what did you end up doing?"
"Nothing much. Just watched some videos on my laptop."
"Mark, I already told you that you're not supposed to watch that. That's for grown-ups."
He chuckled and played along with her, "But I can't stop! I need help, I tell you!" She laughed as well and took a bite of her frosty treat. "How was the match?"
"You'll never guess who battled!"
"Alex."
"Okay that was kind of obvious, but yeah. Riley and Kirsty battled too, though."
"Really? Wow. Who was the fourth person?"
"Some guy named Chase."
"About yay tall with spiky brown hair? Always wears a Beedrill hoodie?"
"You know him?"
"Kari, he's in our Algebra class. I think I have him in P.E. with Alex too."
"It's not like I'm saving a picture of everyone in my virtual databank like some people."
"You should probably start," he teased. "So how was the battle?"
"It was really exciting, actually. Free-for-alls are so fast-paced compared to normal battles. They pretty much had to be on guard the whole time."
"Wow, sounds intense. Who won?"
"Chase. I'm just glad that spoiled brat didn't win. I can't stand people that use their money to get what they want. I just can't believe that some people can get their way only because they have money and have no regard for how other people feel. But of course, not all rich people are bad just like anybody else, right?"
He nodded, "Yeah, there's always people who are good and people who are bad."
"I'm not sure if it's all black and white, though. I feel like there are shades of gray, you know?"
"Jeez, you should give up on being a coordinator and become a poet."
She laughed, "Shut up and eat your stupid ice cream, will you?"
D-d-d-d-d-d-done! Now was it just me or was this chapter A LOT darker than anything I've written before? I feel like it was with Mark being held at blade-point twice. How did you guys enjoy the free-for-all? I know that it's not something you see often in any media of the franchise and I haven't seen one at all in a fanfiction so I did my best to not let it drag on because there are four trainers instead of just two and they are all attacking each other.
Now I know that no new OCs were introduced and I know some of you guys eagerly clicked the link to this story to see if your character has finally come out but I don't want to flood you guys with a bunch of characters in the first few chapters because if I did none of them would stick out to other readers the way some people mentioned with Cherilyn and her friends. I personally think it's too early to say that their personalities are not distinct (even though after giving it a read, I found each of them quite different, but that's mostly because I've had more time with them). The plan with these first few chapters was to establish some connections that already exist like roommates or how Sergio knows Cherilyn and through Cherilyn knows the other girls. From here on, a chapter will probably contain one new OC (two tops) and will accentuate their personalities while perhaps building the personality of other characters and character interactions.
No QOTD today because I can't really think of a good one. Let me know what you thought of the chapter as a whole and I'll see you all next time. Legacy, out!