Hello, everyone! I'm here with the next chapter, late as it may be.
Wow, it's been a while since I posted! Looks like I missed a week. I was really busy, though, and I thought I might not get to update this week either. I wish i could say my updating would be better in December, but that's unlikely, as I have exams in December. So yeah... But I'll still try!
Today's topic was suggested by QUEENSPELLER67.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!
The Top Trainers
Grade Four
May (10), Drew (10), Ash (10), Gary (10), Misty (10), Paul (10), Leaf (10), Dawn (9)
Summer was close by and school was nearly over. But it seemed the teachers wanted to take advantage of the few school days remaining and cram some more information into the heads of their students to prepare them for next year.
"As you all know, the school year is nearly over, and after the summer break, you all will all begin grade five." Mr. Robertson announced to his grade four class. "In grade five, you will all be starting a new subject called Pokemon Studies, which focus on the basics with Pokemon."
This was met with a sudden wave of chatter as the students began excitedly cheering for their future class.
"Finally!" Ash said, turning to his friends, who were sitting in desks around him. "I've been waiting so long for this! Then we can bring our Pokemon to school and battle and-"
Mr. Robertson clapped loudly to gain everyone's attention. "Settle down, settle down! Now, from what I can see, many of you have made incorrect assumptions about this class. It is not a battling or coordinating class. Those start in later grades."
The class groaned and began complaining and whining.
"What?!" Ash frowned. "Then what is Pokemon Studies?"
"You don't battle in Pokemon Studies." Gary explained to his friend, smirking. "You just study Pokemon stuff."
"Settle down." The teacher managed to catch everyone's attention. "So, you all may be asking what Pokemon Studies is, then. What this class teaches is the basics that people should know about Pokemon. We all live alongside them in our world, so we need to know how to interact with them.
Now, don't think you can get away without putting any effort in this class because you think you already know all about Pokemon. You will also be learning the basics that every trainer needs to know, so it's like a first step to becoming a trainer for those who want to be one. Many of you have already turned ten and received your starter, so it is important that you know how to treat it, whether while training or in everyday life.
"Now I thought it would be fun to discuss a topic that all of you would be looking into even more in grade five. And I'm sure many of you will be interested in it. Pokemon trainers!"
Mr. Robertson looked around, hoping to see enthusiastic faces. He didn't see any.
"What about them?" someone called out. "They train and battle. That's it."
"That's not all!" someone else yelled out. "They can get really strong and become champions!"
"Champions are so cool!"
"No, gym leaders are even better!"
"As if! Champions are much stronger than gym leaders!"
"Not as strong as Pokemon Masters!"
"Class! Class!" Mr. Robertson desperately tried to gain control. Once everyone quieted down, he sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Let's all discuss this in a civilized manner. Please."
He walked to the front board where he wrote 'trainers', 'gym leaders', 'frontier brains', 'elite four', and 'champion'. He turned to face the class. "Can anyone tell me the differences among these types of trainers?"
Gary raised his hand. "A trainer can be anyone who has a Pokemon and trains it. Even coordinators are trainers." he said without waiting to be called on.
Mr. Robertson nodded. "Yes. A trainer can be anyone who trains a Pokemon. Even champions are trainers. Terms like 'champion' or 'gym leader' describe certain levels and kinds of trainers. A champion is a very powerful, accomplished trainer, while a gym leader is a trainer who tests the strength of another trainer."
"Oh! Oh!" May waved her hand in the air. "My daddy's a gym leader!"
"Yes, your father is Norman, isn't he? He's a normal type gym leader, so he would test how well a trainer does against normal-types."
"My oldest sister Daisy became a gym leader a short while ago." Misty said. "A water type gym leader. But I don't think she's really interested in battling. I think she just wants to use the gym to hold water shows or something."
"Oh." Mr. Robertson raised an eyebrow. "But then... why would she become a gym leader in the first place?"
Misty opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted when someone yelled out, "What's a frontier brain, then?"
"A frontier brain is another kind of trainer." Mr. Robertson said, forgetting about his question for Daisy. "A frontier brain does not focus on battling with a certain Pokemon type, but rather with a certain strategy. They test other trainers on how well they can handle and cope with different forms of battle and different situations, and are generally stronger than gym leaders."
"My dad's a frontier brain!" a hyper-sounding boy named Barry, who had blond hair and orange eyes, announced excitedly. "They call him the Tower Tycoon Palmer, and he's super-strong! One of the strongest!"
"And what's an elite four?" someone else asked.
"Elite four are four very strong top trainers who battle exceptionally well with a specific Pokemon type." Mr. Robertson informed everyone.
"And if you beat the elite four, you can battle the champion!" Gary put in.
Just the thought seemed to exhilarate the class, as it led everyone to start cheering and yelling about how they were going to be the ones to be champion.
"You can all be champions if you want!" Ash shouted over the noise. "Cuz I'm gonna be the Pokemon Master! That means I'll be stronger than every champion I face!"
"You?" Paul scoffed. "You are going to be Master? What a joke."
"I agree with you there, Paul." Gary chimed in.
"Yeah I am!" Ash faced his friends angrily. "I'll show you! Let's have a Pokemon battle!"
"Fine." Paul accepted the challenge.
"CLASS!" Mr. Robertson bellowed, causing everyone to fall silent. "Please behave!"
"Sorry..." Dawn apologized for everyone.
"It's okay." Mr. Robertson said tiredly. Who couldn't accept the apology of sweet Dawn Berlitz? "Just please, let's try to be a little quieter. Okay?"
The class murmured in agreement.
"Good. Now, it's not as simple as that. You can't just challenge the elite four. You need to win a Pokemon league to be able to do that. There are different leagues for different areas, like the Kanto league for Kanto, or the Johto league for Johto. To enter a league, you have to have defeated eight gym leaders that are for the same type of league you are planning to enter. In other words, if you are planning to enter the Kanto league, you have to defeat eight Kanto gym leaders and receive badges from them. But you can't use the gym badges you received from a Johto gym leader for the Kanto league."
"And then, you win the Pokemon League, and beat the champion, and become the Master!" some screamed out.
The effect was instantaneous. The class erupted in excitement, loudly discussing their future plans on becoming the best ever.
"Class! Class!" Mr. Robertson tried to say, before throwing his hands in the air. "You know what? I give up!" He went to his desk where he sulked for the rest of class.
"That was a fun class!" May said happily as they walked out the school doors. School was over, and it was home time now. "We got to talk all class!"
"I don't think Mr. Robertson really wanted the lesson to go like that..." Dawn said.
"Hey," Drew suddenly remembered something, and he turned to Ash and Paul. "Weren't you guys going to battle or something?"
"Oh yeah!" Leaf cheered. "Pokemon battle time!"
"Now?" Ash asked nervously.
"Yeah, now." Paul narrowed his eyes mockingly. "Unless the great future Pokemon Master is too scared."
"No, it's not that!" Ash protested indignantly. "I just don't have Pikachu with me right now!"
"Seriously, Ash?" Gary laughed. "You are finally allowed to carry a Pokemon around with you, and you don't even have it here?"
"Oh, come on, Gary, you know why!" Ash scowled. "You know Pikachu doesn't like staying in its pokeball, so I have to leave it at home when I go to school, because Pokemon aren't allowed in class!"
"Hey, look!" Misty pointed to where there was a crowd of students. "It looks like there is something going on over there!"
Forgetting about Ash's current lack of Pokemon, the group went over to investigate. What they saw boosted the elation within them.
Standing in the middle of the crowd were a man with a red Afro. But he wasn't just any man with a red Afro. No, he was Flint, one of the Sinnoh elite four members! What such a powerful trainer was doing at their school was unknown to the group of eight, but they knew one thing. This was their chance to meet him! Not only would they have interacted with someone so famous, they would also get unlimited bragging rights as well.
After a fair amount of pushing and shoving, the group travelled through the crowd to arrive in front of the elite four member.
"You're Flint, right?" Ash said eagerly.
Flint chuckled. "Why, yes I am!"
"Wow!" Ash exclaimed as he goggled at him. "I'm gonna be as strong as you when I grow up! No, even stronger!"
"You?" some older kid in the crowd laughed. "You'll never get that strong!"
"Who says he won't?" Paul growled at him with such ferocity he ceased his laughter. Ash turned to him gratefully.
"You did, actually." Drew muttered in Paul's ear.
"And I still think it." Paul muttered back, causing Ash's gratefulness to be erased.
Flint laughed. "Well, it does take a lot of effort to get this strong, and even more if you want to become stronger. But as long as you keep at it with everything you got, it's always possible to end up at the top!" he said encouragingly.
Dawn gasped. "Hey, that rhymed! It was like the poetry Gary's grandpa always says!"
"Can we leave my grandpa out of this?" Gary mumbled, looking a bit embarrassed at the fact that Dawn always seemed to refer to Professor Oak every time she heard something rhyme.
"You battle with fire-types, right?" Misty addressed Flint. "How do you deal with water-types, then?"
"Oh, there are ways." Flint winked. "It always helps to teach your Pokemon moves that help in those kinds of situations. Like, for instance, the move Sunny Day. It highers the power of fire type moves, but at the same time, lowers the power of water type ones."
"Fire-types?" May grinned widely. "I got my first Pokemon. It's Torchic, and it's a fire-type too!"
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you at our school right now?" Leaf inquired curiously.
"Oh, I was asked if I could come over and demonstrate some battling techniques to some of the higher grades." Flint smiled and shrugged. "It was a great day off from doing my usual elite four stuff. Plus teaching here was a blast, even if it was for one day."
"It would be so cool if you were my dad..." someone said dreamily.
Flint chuckled, but before he could say anything else, his phone rang. After answering it, he sighed, and turned to everyone.
"Sorry guys, but looks like I have some elite four duties to fulfill. Nice meeting you all!" He waved as he walked off to his car, with the majority of the crowd trailing behind him.
"Wow, we got to meet such a strong trainer today!" Ash said, still feeling pumped up from the experience.
"We've met really strong trainers before too, though." Leaf pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's really cool to meet another one! It makes me want to get stronger faster!"
"You better start actually carrying your Pokemon around with you, then!" Gary snickered. "There is no way you'll get strong if you have to keep saying no to challenges."
"Are we even allowed to have Pokemon battles at school?" Drew wondered.
The group of eight chattered away as they conversed about Pokemon trainers and battling. Naturally, they each believed they could out-do the other. In the end, they decided they would prove their claims to one another in the future.
Chapter end!
Okay, everyone, I just want to say that starting now, I will no longer be accepting any more suggestions. It isn't because I don't like getting them (I do like getting them!) but it's because I'm becoming pretty busy these days, so my writing-time is being really cut down (I'm sure you've noticed, because of my late updates). Besides, I already have about 20 topics to work on already, so it's not like I'll run out of ideas any time soon! I might start accepting suggestions again later, but for now, I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like I can. You've all been great giving me topics, and I really enjoy writing chapters on them! It just looks like this is the situation for now. Hope you all understand!
Bye bye! And have a smiling day! :)
Respond to treehugger's review:
Hi treehugger! Thanks for reading my fanfic! I'm sorry, but I really don't know any forums that don't require emails. I'll tell you if I find one. Nice to meet you, though! :)