TOUYA
Nervous chatter could be heard all around the hall, students hung around in groups, high fived and consoled each other as time passed. It was the last exam of the year for the graduating class. I was sitting at a round table with Bel and Cheren, waiting my turn for the battle simulator. 2x1 battles in simulation, 3x1 against another student.
A student came out from the examination room alone. His head hung low as he dragged his feet past people and towards the exit for the arena outside. I glanced around and noticed the small sighs of relief; the maliciously pleasant smiles people could make whenever someone seemingly hadn't performed well at their simulation battles while they patted the backs of those unable to be comforted. When someone came out the room with arms in the air, they would high five them, but unable to hide the envy in their eyes. Cattle.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Bel looked up from her notes and stared at me with her mouth open. She looked like a fool whenever she did that.
I shook my head and leaned back in the chair. "Nothing, just thinking." I avoided her stare and instead examined my uniform. A single strand of long and curly brown hair was hanging from my left sleeve. Gross. I picked it and let it fall to the floor.
"He said cattle, though I wonder why since all our theory exams have already been passed long ago." Cheren joined the conversation but didn't once look up from his xtransceiver. He'd received it recently as part of a present from his parents for passing all the theory exams with full marks.
My eyebrows twitched. "Why do you keep staring at that? It's not like you got any girls texting you."
"Have I pissed off the prefect? Will you deduct points from my exam now? Oh no, I beg your forgiveness, good prefect." He put the xtransceiver down on the table and glared at me. Bianca sighed. I sighed too, there was no need to take my stress out on Cheren.
Another group of students had come out the simulation room, and my group was called in.
"My bad, I'm sorry you got no bitches." I rose from my seat and gave a nod to both my friends, Cheren continued to glare at me. "Good luck with your exams." I turned around and smiled to people as they wished me luck while I passed them. More envious, hopeful, lustful eyes.
The door was closed behind me and nine other students. Most of them I knew only by name and how well they had performed in class. One I knew exceptionally well. I suspect the hair earlier was from her. She was walking alone last in line, so I slowed my pace to be next to her. Then elbowed her in the ribs.
"What the fuck, Touya?" She snapped and elbowed me back. Being the only one that talked, the other students had turned their heads to watch what happened.
It stung a bit, but I ignored it. I could hear some of the others whisper about her. "I found your hair on my uniform." I told her, voice low enough so those in front wouldn't catch it.
"How the fuck is that a good reason to assault me? Hey, shut the fuck up with your whispering up front."
I rolled my eyes at her. Always the drama queen. "Good luck with your exam, sister. Not that you need it, you've always been a natural when it comes to pokemon." I gave her a bright smile and patted her shoulder before entering the door to the exam room. If looks could kill, she would've stabbed my back a thousand times by now.
The room seemingly had no corners. An illusion of a round space that changed color to what energized the viewer. To me it always seemed like a swirling mix of different shades of green. Inside was ten tall cocktail tables with the simulator headgear lying on top together with a bottle of water.
At the front of the room stood two exam inspectors waiting for us behind a tall desk with a computer collecting the data from the simulations. We each walked over to a cocktail table and turned to face the inspectors.
They were both wearing ironed black suits with white dress shirts and a black tie to match. One a woman with her hair tightly pulled back in a bun, the other a man with no hair on his head. The only thing that identified them was a badge of a pokeball in black, white, and gold on the chest of the blazer. The League's symbol.
"Welcome students. You will each be presented with a team of different but randomly generated pokemon. Pokemon measurements and gender will be known. Battle moves will be unknown until selected. For both battles you will be introduced to the pokemon you're battling against before selecting your own. The opponent pokemon can have both natural and learnt moveset.
"Switching out during the battle will deduct points. Switching more than three times will forfeit the match. There's a ten second cooldown between each switch. We're looking for swift battles without endangering the pokemon on your team." The woman finished speaking and looked to her partner. He gave a thumbs up, and she nodded to the students. "You may don the headgear and begin the first part of your exam."
I picked up the headgear and did as instructed. It was like a pair of goggles, but the moment I put them on it extended all the way around my head like a thin sheet. Then the view changed.
It was like being inside a game. To the left was a menu with information of the pokemon on my team being generated. A standard battle arena was before my eyes, and a toxicroak had materialized in the middle of it.
Toxicroak. Sinnoh native pokemon. Poison/Fighting. Mainly strong in physical attacks, so most natural learnt moves don't pack the same punch. Would be nice with a psychic pokemon.
My team had been generated. The inspectors could probably hear my sigh.
.
Lilligant
Female
Height: 0.9 m Weight: 16.5 kg
.
Panpour
Male
Height: 0.7 m Weight: 14.1 kg
.
Ralts
Male
Height: 0.5 m Weight: 6.8 kg
.
Noctowl
Male
Height: 1.6 m Weight: 40.5 kg
.
Snorlax
Female
Height: 2 m Weight: 455 kg
.
Alcremie
Female
Height: 0.3 m Weight: 0.5 kg
.
Be careful what you wish for. I got the psychic but sending out a baby ralts would be ridiculous. If only it hadn't been a dual fighting type, I might've smashed it with the snorlax. It's so tempting to pick the snorlax.
In the end I picked the safest bet and chose noctowl. It was slightly under the average weight, making it faster than the average noctowl.
I hit jackpot. Noctowl had confusion in its moveset and within 5 seconds the toxicroak had fainted. The battle wasn't even worth describing, it went down after being hit twice without even getting the chance to counter.
The next opponent pokemon was materializing. A krokorok had appeared. I wish I had a body to move a bit, tap my finger on something or click my tongue. Just being conscious makes it hard to think.
If I remembered correctly, most of krokorok's natural moves are either dark typed and physical or they're ground type - something a flying pokemon like noctowl easily can avoid in the air. What I don't have memorized are the moves a krokorok can learn through training.
I decided to keep the noctowl in. The krokorok kept trying to sand attack while noctowl swiftly dodged every wave of sand kicked its way countering with an air slash that hit the krokorok.
The krokorok snarled at the air and slammed its feet down on the ground. Sharp blue rocks shot up from the ground towards noctowl. I was shocked for a second, luckily the noctowl avoided most and only had its belly cut by one of the sharp edges. If the wings are untouched, it can still fly.
I had it fly up higher and use roost to heal itself. Taking care of the pokemon is important. In a real battle I wouldn't know how grave the cut is before inspecting it. Usually, noctowls have great health and stamina, but this kind of attack can be lethal if it connects correctly.
Being a bit more wary of the krokorok, I ordered noctowl to stay further away and use more special attacks with long distance. It took longer to take down the krokorok, given it was not the noctowl's specialty, but rather a safe victory than the alternative.
When the battle ended, I slowly regained my senses and felt the goggles pull away from my head and be just that. A pair of headgear. I slowly took them off and placed them on the table. Took a sip from the water bottle next to it.
"Congratulations. That was two excellent mock battles, Mr. Vale." The male inspector nodded to me. "You may exit the simulator and make your way to the outdoor arena for the next stage of your battle exam. Your opponent awaits you in arena #3."
I took a last sip from the water battle before returning the nod. "Thank you for your time." I glanced around the room. My sister was long gone. With that in mind, I didn't notice I had already passed the hallway and was being surrounded by my fellow students waiting in the hall.
"How did it go?"
"You must be tricking us, Touya. You could never have fucked that up."
"Touya."
"Touya!"
A big smile appeared on my face and my eyes closed a bit as I reassured them. "Don't worry, it went excellent." I felt hands clap my back and fingers linger on my arm and raised my hands to clasp them against others' as I passed towards the next stage.
I was greeted by a pleasant sun through the oblong windows covering the walls as I came up from the basements. Small pieces of dust could be seen dancing in the sunlight.
The silence was only interrupted by the sound of pokemon battles muffled by the doors as I walked by. It was one of the few moments I've had at this school alone. Alone to enjoy the shiny marble floors, the engraved corners of every wall and the old ceiling painting depicting the creation myth of Arceus. The small echo that comes back for every step I take. The smell of old books. Or mold. I would miss attending the school, it had been some fun years living here, learning here, and growing to love the place and people.
I stopped in front of the door to arena #3. I took my student card up and pressed it against the ID scanner. A click came from the door, and I pulled the door open.
The battle arena was one of the minor ones. We had twelve of them in Batme*. It had a few rows of benches for spectators, but otherwise it was limited to house smaller battles between students and trainers using a team of three or less pokemon.
Very few people and pokemon were present. I saw three exam inspectors here, all dressed in the same suit attire with the League badge attached. Two of them sitting at the desk that normally was reserved for the referee, and one standing next to the referee desk. Nurse Joy was sitting first row on one of the benches. At the other end of the battle arena stood none other than my sister.
I felt my head getting hotter by every second. My hands clenched, and I put on a smile. The inspector standing up waved us over, and we started walking at the exact same time.
"Welcome Mr. and Ms. Vale." The same inspector that waved us over now shook our hands. Mine first, then Touko's. "You will each be given three random pokemon lent by associative breeders of the League to use in this battle exam. The Battle Exam consists of three rounds. You will not know each other's pokemon. You will know your own pokemon the moment you pick them as they'll register in your VS Recorder. The VS Recorder will tell you all the details known about the Pokemon you've been assigned. The VS Recorder will be yours after the battle. The Pokemon will be handed back.
"You will not be able to switch out your pokemon during the battle. If you recall it, you forfeit the round. You will only be judged on winning or losing the rounds. Any questions?"
I could feel her eyes dig into me, but I kept avoiding her gaze and gave the instructor my full attention. "No questions."
One of the instructors behind the desk opened his mouth. He looked to be in his early 20s at most, he must be a powerful trainer to be part of the League that age. "We talked about you two before you came in here. The Vale Twins. It would be so entertainin' to see you battle against each other, so when we received the information you two passed the simulations right after each other, I got so pumped it really happened." He got a light knuckle to his head by the inspector next to him. "Marlon, you're on an official League assignment."
"Hey man, everybody has seen them in the jr. team tournaments, why can't I tell them I'm a fan!"
I pulled my hands behind my back and clenched my fingers til the tips turned white. With a big smile and my eyes almost closed I gave a short bow. "I appreciate the heartfelt gesture. I hope we can put on the kind of show you've been looking forward to." I watched Touko out the corner of my eyes, and noticed her body stiffened, but relaxed my own hands when it seemed she would do nothing.
The instructors relaxed and we got shown to our respectful places in each end of the arena. A VS Recorder was handed to us each. Now we could officially become pokemon trainers recognized by the League. They were registered in our student ID, but later that would automatically be replaced by a Trainer ID.
I placed my thumb on a little plate the first instructor handed to me afterwards, and three pokeballs were chosen with each beat of my pulse. I looked down at the VS Recorder. Oshawott, Grookey, Pikachu. Two recognised starters handed out by different regions' national professors, and the national pokemon of Kanto. Interesting.
The three inspectors all sat behind the referee desk together now. I gave them a nod, confirmed I was ready for battle. My sister must've done the exact same, because a bell marked the first battle started.
Since we couldn't switch out pokemon without forfeiting the round, I waited for her to release first. She was never one to wait, and right as I were, within a second a swablu appeared in front of her. Her face looked grim, almost like she wanted to puke. I released the pikachu instantly, knowing it already knew electric moves.
"I would like to forfeit the battle." She declared and pressed down on her VS Recorder.
A loud bell marked the end of the battle. I felt my head getting hot. I stared at her as I recalled the pikachu back at the same time she recalled the swablu. She always did this shit. She'd embarrassed me once again.
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*Batme - Battle Dome. Building that houses major and minor battle arenas together with simulator rooms in the basement. Slang used by the students who have or are attending Liberty Private Boarding School.