Pillar proved to be a little more useful than I had first thought he was.
Ok, at this point in time it wasn't in battle, I'd only had him for a week and students were not supposed to battle their pokemon without any sort of supervision, but Pillar was excellent at finding things for me.
Anytime I lost my jump drive, which to be honest was more than what was necessary, anytime I needed my shoes, socks, ties, t-shirts, new shoelaces, aglets, brushes, combs, or anything else that he could fit in his mouth or tiny paws, Pillar was there to assist at the sound of a whistle.
To be honest, I didn't mind his presence for the most part. He was good company, was actually smart, and didn't do anything that bothered me too much.
This one time, maybe the third day I had him, Pillar managed to find his way into my stash of peanut butter and ate three jars of the stuff before I finally found him- and the fucker managed to even hide his trail, I didn't find out until I'd opened three empty jars.
Anyway, Pillar proved his worth in that aspect, but I was still wary of his skills in battle or his aptitude for survival. Regardless, after the first couple of days with him I was pretty much over most feelings of anger towards the rabbit pokemon, but I was still skeptical about my future with him.
The week after I got him passed in a blur. It was nothing but classes teaching us how to take care of our new pokemon; I had to take a course on proper electric pokemon care and I learned a great bit.
Electric pokemon were rather dangerous, and as one might expect, especially younger, untrained ones. They often had to discharge any excess electricity and they did so at random- any mistake, mishap, or instant of unpreparedness could end up in injury, paralysis, or even death. We were given special collars to put on our pokemon in order to help with that problem, though the instructor did say that wouldn't stop all of the build up, only help a little.
I also learned that training electric types to actually use their electricity accurately was hard too. Their power is something that is untamable in the wild- we cannot direct where lightning is going to go, we cannot tell it who or where to strike, so trying to tell a pokemon where to aim its thunderbolt is a difficult feat. Granted, some attacks couldn't be directed, like discharge for example: that is nothing more than the releasing on built up electricity; it's range is wide and strikes anything within its radius. Training electric pokemon required a special amount of patience and apparent iron will, but as time moved on, the teacher said the pokemon should be able to teach themselves how to manage their own electricity.
But I also learned some things that made me rather happy about having an electric pokemon. If I decided to carry a travel generator with me, I'd never be without power. Due to electricity's relation to magnetism, electric types were natural compasses, always knowing in which direction they were going: which was rather lucky for me, I'm horrible with directions.
As classes faded into some shade of gray, apparently there's fifty of them, so did my spirit. I was ready to leave the mundane, perfunctory schedule of school campus life and rush into the wild with my imagined trusty pokemon team by my side. I dreamed of dragon types, maybe a Garchomp or a Kingdra or a Dragonite, a trusty Charizard, maybe a legendary would come my way if I was lucky enough. My mind was as vast as the world around me- I just didn't know the world was so big at the time.
At the end of the week, it seemed as if timed moved as slow as an athlete's heart was racing- fitter people having slower heart rates and all- and I felt as if I was going insane.
Everything seemed to blend into one stream of consciousness. Classes resembled being in my dorm room, eating felt like sleeping, and doing nothing took more effort than I thought it ever would. I needed a spark of excitement in my life- pun intended- and, as circumstances allowed, I found myself with something to do as time moved on.
It was in the middle of my second week with Pillar; I was sitting on my bed reading a textbook for my Battle Theories class, reading up on skills needed for double battling, nothing that I had any actual interest in at the time. My pokemon was sitting on the window's ledge looking at people and their pokemon as they walked by, eliciting a whine or a form of rabbit-y growl from time to time.
My roommate entered the room with that mischievous smirk on his face that said he was about to do something really bad ass or incredibly stupid.
My guess was the second one, and I was partly right.\
"Blondie, guess what I have planned for us tonight?" I sighed, already annoyed with the guessing game he was going to put me through.
"I don't know; please tell me it's not another double date, you know how well that went last time."
"Oh god no, I would never put a girl through that again, you were horrible."
"I wasn't that bad," I retorted.
"Oh but yes you were, didn't you insult her, something like 'intellectually inferior' or something, and then you- wait wait, I'm getting off topic. I got us an in to an event tonight, I need you to be ready at 9:30 tonight, meet me in front of the entrance of the campus. Bring Pillar."
"That's pass curfew Bryant," he dismissed me with a wave of his hand and walked out of the room, saying something about "being part of the set up crew."
And so I did, anything to cut off this boredom of mine. I put on some newly ironed khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt and I was out the door, Pillar walking by my side.
The thing about our campus, is that most of us are a bunch of nerds, so there usually isn't any trouble from us, which means that security is really relaxed. I was able to make out of the front of my building without any trouble, and getting to the entrance of the campus wasn't that much harder, just hiding behind bushes and running when any guards had their backs turned- 'twas a piece of cake.
I arrived on time and Bryant was there waiting for me, impatiently stamping his foot up and down.
"What took you so long?" I glanced at my watch, I was on time.
"I'm on time," he just shook his head in irritation and grabbed me by the arm. We walked past the entrance and we faced the dirt road that led to our school.
"What are we-"
"Shut up, I'll explain when we get there."
I grumbled but went along with his plan.
We walked down the dirt road in front of the school for a good half a mile before he made a sudden right and took us straight into the forest, in the middle of the night, with nothing to protect us except my Minun.
"Bryant what the fuck are we doing out here!?" I shouted.
"Gerand, shut up we're almost there." With that, he led us deeper into the forest for a good five minutes before he finally stopped, made a sharp right, and planted us on the edges of a circular clearing.
"What are we doing?" I whispered rather loudly.
"You don't have to keep quiet anymore, we're a good couple of miles away from the campus," he replied with a slight air of sarcasm.
"Well let me repeat the question: what are we doing out here in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night?"
He gave me one of those mischievous smiles are replied: "Well I'm sure you've noticed a lull in excitement on campus. With everyone becoming accustomed to life with their pokemon, things have kind of simmered down."
"Your point being?"
"My point is, me and some other students noticed and decided to start a tradition a little earlier than normal."
"You mean-"
"The underground Battle Royale."
The Underground Battle Royale was a right of passage for the students at the Academy. Students who were at the top of their classes, the most popular, or those known for doing anything daring or who just plain stood out, were invited to the event. From the rumors, the winner of the Royale was the trainer who was most likely to be the most successful trainer from that year. I had a surge of hope: 'maybe that could be me,' I thought.
Well I thought before I saw the minun by my leg.
"Everyone else should be here in a second. It officially starts in ten minutes," I nodded and walked away from him.
The clearing was about fifty feet in diameter and resembled more of an oval than anything. The grass was crudely cut and I realized it was done by the work of pokemon. 'So that's what Bryant meant by prep crew.'
It didn't take too long for people to start rolling in. Within five minutes of us getting there, a steady stream of participants flowed in. Some I recognized.
Andy Perkins, class clown and school idiot. Notorious for his pranks and general annoyingness, Perks, what everyone called him, was definitely only here because he was widely known. If I remember correctly, at the time he only had a mime jr. as his pokemon. Nothing to be too excited over.
The next person I recognized was Lucas Steel, probably the most popular student at our school and with good reason. He was a sports legend, running for the track team, star receiver on our football team, and he had a natural propensity for tennis. He was incredibly intimidating when you first met him, but from personal experience- having several classes with him and what not- he wasn't that bad of a person to be around. His pokemon was Tyrogue. Rather fitting.
Next was Nathan Tiddle - one of my best friends with one of the most ridiculous last names. He was Hoennese, with sun kissed skin , sarcastic, and one of the friendliest guys I've ever known, though our banter may say otherwise. He had short cut black hair, the thickest eyebrows I've ever seen on a person, and a smile that resembled the sun. Did I mention he was our class' number four. He had the brain of a genius and the battling skills to match as I would soon find out. He had a Vulpix by his side
With him was my other best friend, Alexandra Knight, resident red head with the greatest bed head. She had a mind to match her creativity and the eyebrows that models would die for. She stood more than a foot below me, being only 4'2, but she had the heart of a warrior and the disposition of a, well, knight. She had an Eevee accompanied with her.
"Thick brows, Alex nice to see you guys here," I reached in to give Alex a hug and flipped Nate the bird.
"Hope you're ready to lose dill weed," Nathan retorted, his smile seeming to add light to the poorly lit area.
Several more people showed up, none being too much more important or ones that I could care to remember and the tournament bracket was being made. It was a randomized bracket with 8 preliminary matches, then another round, then the semi-finals, and the finals.
Luck would have it, I was placed against Andy Perkins in the third round, but for the first round, it was Alex against Lucas Steel. I could hear the blush creeping up Alex's face.
"How am I supposed to beat him?" she asked, red creeping up her cheeks.
"With a mixture of strategy and bad assery," Nathan replied.
She rolled her eyes and took her place on the makeshift battlefield. She stood in a crudely made dirt box, only about fifty or so yards away from her opponent. It was a cramped battled field when considering length, but there was enough width to it to keep it from being too congested.
A kid from my Psychology of Being a Trainer class was the referee for the matches, except during his, when someone else took over. He was a puny guy, with an unmemorable face.
"Ok, guys um, this is one pokemon each, and the battle ends when one person's pokemon can't fight any longer, or one you guys decide to give up, or whatever. Release both of your pokemon on the count of three."
In a flash of blinding light, the first battle of the night commenced.