Hello everyone! Update time!

Today's topic was suggested by QUEENSPELLER67.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Dodge Ball Battle

Grade Four

May (9), Gary (9), Drew (9), Paul (9), Misty (9), Leaf (9), Dawn (9), Ash (9)

Many grade four students stood together, noisily chatting with their friends as they waited for their gym teacher. The two grade four classes in the school had their phys-ed classes together, which was why the group was a large one, and quite boisterous as well.

A loud whistle sounded in the air, bringing the on-going jabbering to an end. The students intently observed the young phys-ed instructor standing before them. The blue-haired man looked around to confirm that he had gotten everyone's attention before beginning to speak.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Mr. Brawly, your gym class teacher, and welcome to the first phys-ed class of the year!" he said to everyone in an enthusiastic way.

The kids murmured their greetings.

"Oh, come on! Show a little more enthusiasm! It's phys-ed class; time to ride the tide of success!" Brawly made an attempt to get a more energetic reaction. A few kids awkwardly and quietly cheered, but that was about it.

"Okay, then how about we get started? Today, we'll make two teams to play dodge ball. How about we have two team leaders? Let's see..." He thought for a minute, his eyes travelling from student to student. He pointed at two boys. "You look like a good candidate! And you as well. What are your names?"

"I'm Stephan!" one of the boys, who had red hair, announced.

"And I'm A.J." the second boy, who had dark, spiky hair, introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you two, Steven and A.J! Now let's see who gets to pick his team member first."

Stephan blinked. "Actually my name is Stephan, not Steven..." When no one seemed to notice the mistake he just shrugged and faced A.J. "Whatever!"

The two had an intense rock-paper-scissors match which determined that Stephan got the first pick, since his rock won over A.J's scissors.

"Okay! I pick... Morrison!" A high-spirited orange-haired boy walked over to Stephan.

"Paul." A.J made his decision.

"Ritchie."

"Misty."

"Sho."

"Gary."

And on it went, until everyone had been picked. Predictably, A.J seemed to have only picked his own classmates as his team members, as had Stephan had. Brawly might as well have said that the teams were grade 4A against 4B.

Soon, the balls were all set, and everyone was in position. Brawly checked over to see if everything was set to go before he raised his whistle to his mouth and blew.

Chaos ensued. Members from both teams made frantic dives to get to the balls first. Those who did manage to make it to the front pushed surrounding balls to their side so that they could provide their other team members with 'ammunition'.

"Yay!" May, with her bright red bandana on her head, picked up a ball that had rolled to her feet. The game had just started, and she already had a chance to get someone! She inspected the other team, scanning her opponents. A boy with round glasses, named Clemont, looked like a good target, since he seemed to be having trouble running back and forth to avoid on-coming attacks, and was becoming slower with every step he took.

Carefully, May took aim, and was about to throw, when a ball whizzed past her head, nearly touching her.

"Eep!" May quickly jumped to another spot. She couldn't stand around like that or else she would get hit! She had to keep moving.

Thud! Clemont got the wind knocked out of him when Paul mercilessly launched a ball at his target. The blond boy groaned as he made his way off the 'battlefield'.

"Aw man!" A small shout came from Ash who dropped the ball he had been holding. It appeared he had been struck out by Ritchie. He grinned to his opponent as if to say "You got me!" as he walked to join his other team members who had been hit.

Gary got a couple of people out by catching balls thrown at him. While Paul seemed to be able to strike his victim viciously with good aim, Gary evidently was excellent at dodging attacks and catching balls.

And then there was Misty, actively dodging, snatching up balls, and getting as many of their 'enemies' out as she could. Ash loudly cheered her on as she narrowly missed hitting an opponent. The ginger-haired girl glared at her friend, blaming him for her miss-aim, since his flailing arms were proving to be a great distraction. He toned down his cheers after that.

Drew was more of a cautious player. He avoided getting hit, and seemed to be watching out for his teammates, jumping in to catch or hit away a ball that was about to strike one of his team members.

Leaf was clearly quick on her feet. She swiftly leapt this way and that, avoiding getting hit, and collecting balls to hand to her other team players, who were much better at throwing. However, someone noticed this, and began aiming right in front of her feet, causing her to make the fatal stumble that led to her being struck out.

"Come on, everyone! We can win this!" she encouraged her team alongside Ash and some others.

While most of the students were putting everything they had into their battle, there were some who were less than willing to participate, some letting themselves getting hit so that they won't have to continue playing, while some stayed at the back, where it was less likely they'd get struck.

Dawn, it appeared, was not very confident about playing. At first she stayed closer to the back, but after some urging from May, she tried to help out a bit. And failed when she realized that if she tried to take her time to find a ball and throw at someone, she'd risk herself getting hit. It wasn't losing she was anxious about. It was more the fact that some players from the other team didn't really care whom they hit, or how hard they launched the ball. She spent most of her time hidden behind a taller teammate.

May discovered a free ball lying a short distance away. Boldly but carefully, she made her way beside it, picking it up. Triumphantly, she straightened out, turning towards the opposing side to locate a possible target. But the only thing she saw was a ball heading straight for her face. She closed her eyes feeling defeated, knowing it was too late to react, waiting for the impact to arrive.

But it didn't. When she opened her eyes to find out why, she spotted Drew right in front of her, the ball in his hands, as he pointed to its thrower to tell him that he was out.

"Wow, you really saved me, Drew! That was a good catch!" May said thankfully.

"Of course!" Drew took the time to flip his hair. "What else did you expect, Ju-"

Thud!

Drew blinked in surprise before realizing that maybe it hadn't been the best time to stop for a chat. Dropping the ball he had caught, he began making his way over to stand among the other players that had been struck out, all the while rubbing his arm where he had been hit.

May felt a bit guilty. If it weren't for her, Drew wouldn't have had to stop to save her, meaning he wouldn't be out now. She made up her mind that his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. Feeling determined, she marched daringly close to the line separating her team from the other, clutching her ball tightly in her grip. She aimed carefully and used her full strength to hurl it in the direction of the opposition.

Instead of going where she wanted it to, the ball pathetically crashed onto the floor, bounced, and rolled to the feet of a boy named Sho.

"Thanks so much for giving me this ball, May." Sho said, smirking mockingly.

May didn't last in the game a minute longer.

"Ha!" Gary screamed victoriously. "I got Stuven! I got Stuven! Stuven's out! Stuven's out!"

"My name is Stephan!" Stephan yelled furiously over the chanting. He scowled as he made his way to his other teammates.

After a while, there weren't many players left. Paul, Misty, and surprisingly Dawn were the only ones left on one side, while Trip, Ritchie, and Sho remained on the other.

Gary had been caught by surprise when a couple of his 'enemies' had plotted and teamed up against him, striking him out of the game. Paul was successfully managing to deflect any balls heading his way, although it was becoming harder for him to aim at a target since there weren't many anymore. It was no surprise that Misty was still in the game; her sport abilities and talents were well-known by all. Dawn had survived by hiding behind Paul's taller form, much to the latter's annoyance.

It seemed Ritchie just had a natural talent for dodge ball in general, and his skills were helping him immensely. Trip was somewhat shorter than most of the grade four students, so any balls thrown at him were easily avoided when he ducked, and he was also harder to aim at. And Sho was clearly an expert at catching balls in mid-air.

It was intense. For a while, it didn't seem like anyone was going to give in. Finally, after quite some effort, Misty achieved her goal of taking down Ritchie. The boy waved to her as a way of saying "Good game!" before getting to where he was supposed to be.

"Dawn, stop it." Paul growled as the bluenette darted behind him when he moved to avoid a ball. "You're distracting me!"

"Sorry!" she apologized, although she obviously wasn't about to change her position.

At that moment, a ball came flying towards them. Paul noticed, and jumped to the side in an instant. Dawn though, didn't react fast enough, and held out both hand in front of her with her eyes tightly shut, hoping to prevent her face from getting smashed.

Instead of the ball bouncing off her palms, it stayed there, and Dawn opened her eyes, taken aback by the fact that she had somehow caught it.

Staring at her was a stunned Sho, who was the culprit responsible for nearly striking her out. Realizing that he was now out because of the fact that Dawn had caught the ball he had thrown, he frustratedly stomped to where some of his other team members were standing.

"Nice catch, Dawn!" Misty complimented her friend.

"Um, thanks?" Dawn said, still a bit confused.

But she didn't get to stay in the game for long. Trip managed to throw a ball that caught her on the shoulder before she even knew it.

This was it. Trip against Misty and Paul, two of the best players. Trip seemed to suddenly realize that he was alone in this, and gulped.

"So how should we get him?" Misty questioned. "He keeps moving out of the way."

"We strike at the same time." Paul declared.

Both players snatched up a ball, carefully aiming at their victim, who kept moving, hoping to avoid getting hit. They were about to throw, when...

"Okay, class is up!" Brawly announced, blowing his whistle. "I've got to say, that was some impressive playing, but the game is over now!"

All the students stared at their teacher, stupefied.

"But our team was about to win!" Gary complained.

"Sorry, but the bell rang a minute ago, and you guys don't want to be late for your next classes."

"But Mr. Brawly...!"

Brawly paid no attention to the waves of complaints crashing down on him; his answer was final.

"Good game!" Stephan walked up to A.J to shake hands.

"Yeah, good game, Steffen." A.J replied.

"My name is STEPHAN!" the red-haired boy said loudly, but apparently, everyone remained deaf to his words.

"Do you think we would have won?" May asked her friends.

"Of course!" Gary scoffed. "We had him right where we wanted him!"

"No, we had him right where we wanted him." Misty corrected, gesturing to herself and Paul. "You got struck out."

"I guess we win by default." Drew figured. "I mean, we still had two players in, while they had only one."

"You so sure?" Trip drawled as he walked up to them. "I'm pretty sure I could have gotten at least one more player out if there was more time."

"No, I don't think so." Dawn said thoughtfully. "They would have struck you out if Mr. Brawly hadn't blown the whistle when he did."

"Guess we'll never know for sure." Leaf commented, shrugging.

"Yeah, it was a really close game!" Ash agreed.

"No, it wasn't." Gary grumbled. "We had the advantage!"

"But the game's not over till it's over." Ash pointed out. "What if it had been turned around?"

"And how would that have happened?"

The grade four students began making their way to their next class while debating on which team would have been the possible winner.

One game of dodge ball: done!

Whew, I got to update sooner than I had last week, and the week before.

Please review, and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)