Chapter 1: The Test
Okay Joey, you can do this, you studied for this, stop being scared.
Joey sat inside a classroom, surrounded by twenty-something people. Pallet Town was a small town, so this was expected. Joey was in the youth class, which only had twelve to fourteen years olds, while the other class had fifteen to eighteen.
I wonder how Ben and Tom are handling this.
He looked around, searching for his friends, he foundBen at the back of the class.He looked very confident, he was that sure about what he found. They both nodded at each other before Joey began to look for Tom.
"I'm right here you know." Said Tom, readjusting his glasses.
"Arceus- you scared me, Tom."
"How did you not even notice me? I'm right next to you."
"Nervousness, probably." Joey scratched the back of his head, while Tom turned back to Ben, before turning to face Joey.
"Ben looks way too confident, I doubt that all of the professors would use the same exam."
"I believe it, the professors are busy people, of course they would all use the same exam."
"I doubt it-" Tom was cut off by the sound of the door opening, as three adults entered. were all wearing lab coats, with glasses that hid their eyes.
"We are the Professor's assistants, our job is to watch over you." The one in the middle spoke, he talked like a robot, which almost made Joey laugh, thankfully he held it in.
"Here are the rules, cheating is not allowed, anyone caught will have their paper taken away and get banned from ever participating in another of the Pallet Trainer Exams. Second, you all have exactly one hour to finish the test, you will all be handed a folder containing the paper, but you won't be allowed to open it until the timer starts. If you finish early, do not give us the paper, wait until the time is up. After the hour is up, you will all be transported to the Battle Section of the exam. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir." The entire class said.
"Very well." The assistant said, before revealing an Ultra ball he had, releasing a Kadabra, who used its psychic powers to pass the folders around. Cheating with a psychic type around would be impossible, they could see everything. Once everyone had their folders, the timer began.
Instantly everyone opened up the folder and grabbed the test paper. Joey began reading the questions before he noticed.
No fucking way.
Joey read more and more, a smile creeping up his face.
That dumbass is a genius, Ben was right.
Joey wanted to look back at Ben, but he didn't want to risk it being considered cheating, but he could feel him grinning like a Gengar.
While Joey and Tom were studying for the exam, Ben was convinced that there was another way, he was sure that the professors of every region were gonna use the same exam, but just change some stuff to fit more into their region. The problem was that the exams were all gonna be taken at the same time, which would have been the biggest issue if Elm didn't start earlier than usual. No one knows the real reason why. And because Joey has contacts back in New Bark Town, they had access to the Johto version of the exam. Ben only studied it, which was a dumb move that somehow paid off, while Joey and Tom added it to the list of things they were studying.
Now I only need to focus on the Battle Section!
Joey began to quickly answer all of the questions, it was just the Johto Exam, but Kantofied, some questions were literally the exact same. The questions ranged from Pokemon knowledge, to specific scenarios in the wild and how you would deal with it.
After a while, Joey was done. He spent the last few minutes relaxing. Next was the Battle Section, which was pretty self-explanatory. The Johto version forced them to use rental Pokemon from the professor, so Joey thought it would be the same here, even though he already has a Pokemon, his beloved Rattata.
"Times up!"
Suddenly, all of their papers vanished, appearing at the hands of the Kadabra, he handed it to one of the Assistants, who motioned for them to leave the class.
"I told you guys! But you didn't believe me!" Ben bragged.
"There's still the Battle Section left, you shouldn't celebrate too early," Joey replied.
"It's gonna be much harder than the written exam, the paper only tested your Pokemon knowledge, but here we actually have to battle. Doing is harder than knowing," Tom added.
Everyone formed a line and followed the assistants to the Pallet School battle area, which was filled with small battle arenas for them to battle. Once they all got closer, they could see Professor Oak, standing behind a podium, waiting for everyone. A basket filled with pokeballs was beside him.
"Ah, welcome kids, this will be your final test, you all will have to grab a pokeball from the basket, then go take your place in one of the battle arenas. And before I forget, these won't be just normal battles." Oak smiled, as everyone rushed to the basket, grabbing the pokeballs and going to the arenas, including Joey and his friends.
"Trainers, release your Pokemon!" Oak yelled out.
Joey released his Pokemon, it appeared in a flash of red, it was a female Nidoran! She looked around, noting her surroundings. While Joey's opponent released his own Pokemon, a Diglet.
"Good to see you Joey, but just because I know you doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy." Joey's opponent smirked, while Joey looked at him confused. "Do I know you?" Before he could reply, Oak ordered everyone to begin fighting.
"Umm- uhh- Use Scratch!"
"Get underground!"
But Nidoran didn't listen, just turning her head away in defiance.
"Come on, just attack it!"
"Go underground already!"
Nidoran yawned, ignoring Joey again, while Diglett looked like it was trying to… get out?
Joey looked around, seeing that everyone else's Pokemon weren't listening to them.
"My apologies, I forgot to tell you that the Pokemon have been trained to either not listen, do the opposite, or do things on their own. Good luck!" Oak mentioned.
"Don't go underground!"
Diglett this time went underground, looks like he has the one that does the opposite.
"Don't dodge it!" Joey yelled out
Nidoran snickered, as Diglett appeared under her, sending her up in the sky, before landing hard on the ground.
She's not doing the opposite, nor is she doing things on her own, of course, I get the one that doesn't listen.
"Maybe if you REMEMBERED me, I would have spared you, Joey."
"It's not my fault you're that forgettable!"
"You shouldn't have said that, Diglett don't finish it"
Diglett rushed to Nidoran, who was still laying on the ground.
"Nidoran, please just listen to me!" Joey pleaded, to which Nidoran shook her head to, like she wanted him to lose. But just as Diglett was about to hit her, Joey felt a tingly feeling, before vanishing to a completely different battlefield. Joey looked over to where his opponent should have been, but he was replaced by a girl with a sleeping Growlithe, who looked just as confused as himself.
"What are you waiting for? Fight already." Oak said, who now had an Alakazam beside him, he must have teleported everyone around.
"Growlithe please, just use ember, she's not even moving!" The girl begged Growlithe, who yawned in response, she also had one that doesn't listen, this was the perfect opportunity for Joey to talk to Nidoran.
"Nidoran, can you please listen to me?"
"Nido." She shook her head.
"I don't know if you were just trained that good, or don't want me to win. But me losing, means you losing as well." Joey said, while Nidoran watched him closely.
"If I lose, that would mean you being stuck here, do you really want to be stuck with that old man?" Joey continued. "When I win this, I'll convince that old man to have you join me, I don't need those special starters."
"Nido…" Nidoran sighed, before getting up, and getting into a battle stance.
"Alright! Nidoran, attack!" Joey commanded,
Nidoran began to run towards the sleeping Growlithe, the girls pleading to "stop!" And "don't attack him" fell on deaf ears, but before she could hit it, Joey felt the same sensation again, as they got teleported to another battlefield.
Instead of Nidoran hitting Growlithe, it hit a Meowth, the Meowth got knocked back a bit, it flinched for a second before it got back up, Nidorans toxin was taking effect.
"Meowth, without me you're nothing, you need me if you want to win." Meowth's trainer said, the trainer was much older than Joey, probably from the teen class. Meowth got angry, extended its claws, and rushed to Nidoran.
"Can you Double Kick?" Joey asked.
Nidoran nodded, she kicked the ground with her left hind foot, jumping up high, and colliding with the Meowth with her right, the attack resembled a High Jump Kick, just much weaker. The extra momentum was enough to knock Meowth out,
"That was awesome! Good job Nidoran!" Joey complimented, Nidoran turned her head away, but Joey could tell she enjoyed the compliment.
"Damn it, if only you listened, Meowth." Just then, they got teleported again, Joey prepared himself, only to see Ben was his next opponent, with a Rockruff In front of him.
"Joey! Good to see you, me, and Rocky over here have been on a roll!" Ben said, with his Rockruff barking in response.
"Nice to see you too, Ben, me and Nidoran here just beat one of the older kids."
"Nice, so I guess we have to fight now?"
"Yeah, shouldn't risk being disqualified, I'll let you get the first move."
"Heh, bad move, Rocky Tackle!"
"He listens!? Nidoran dodge with Double Kick!"
Nidoran jumped up, but instead of dodging, it slammed into Rockruff's back and stood on top of him. The poor pup yelped in pain and tried to escape.
"Nidoran, get back!" Joey panicked, he didn't want to be the one who knocked Ben out. Nidoran looked at him confused and walked up to him. Rockruff breathed heavily before he went to Ben.
"I'm so sorry Ben."
"It's fine, that's the point of this test anyway." Ben got down and petted Rockruff, before they got teleported away.
As more rounds went by, the time between each teleport got longer and longer, and more trainers had Pokemon that listened to them. So Joey tried to change his game plan, playing more defensively, to preserve stamina and last longer. But Nidoran didn't like this, always ignoring his commands, and attacking. Which worked very well for them, as the opponents didn't expect Nidoran to attack after being told to dodge.
Joey started to get confident, he could win this. Once Nidoran took out the opponent's Pidgey, Joey used the time to look around the other arenas, noticing that there were only 9 left, including him and his friends, Ben and Tom were still in it. Tom had a Poliwag, which fit him for some reason.
Things were going well for them… too well. Nidoran knocked out the opponent's Snubbull, poison darts covered the fairy type's body.
Nidoran yawned, these fights were too easy for her. While Joey closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, before getting teleported.
He opened his eyes, just to see Gary Oak, grandson of the professor himself.
Oh my Arceus!
Gary was in the grown class, three years older than Joey, he was supposed to start his adventure years ago, but Oak didn't allow him, waiting until he was older until finally letting him.
His Eevee got into a battle stance, and Nidoran did the same. There was no way for Joey to beat him, even with Double Kick. Gary was older, more experienced, and is the grandson of Kantos first ever champion. Joey was pretty sure he's seen Gary with the same Eevee before, Oak's favoritism was showing.
"Eevee, Swift."
Eevee shook her tail, as three yellow stars manifested, before homing after Nidoran. The stars disappear about a couple of seconds, but last longer if the Pokemon is well trained with it. Joey had no idea how good Eevees Swift was. His best option was to keep dodging and wait it out.
"Please just dodge!" Joey pleaded, her attacking instead of dodging worked well for them before, but it won't in this situation, he needed her to dodge.
Nidoran jumped up in the air, kicking the stars back to Eevee, before landing and running.
"Swift again."
Three stars shot out and collided with the previous stars, stopping them from hitting Eevee. Nidoran kept running, getting closer and closer until.
"It's a trap! Get back!"
"Double Kick."
Eevee turned around, and kicked Nidoran straight in the face, with both of her legs. Nidoran was knocked back to Joey, this was the first Pokemon she was struggling with, and she did not like it.
"Don't stop using Swift, I need small but a lot of them."
Eevee nodded, as twenty tiny stars formed behind her, before launching at Nidoran. She tried to hit them all away like before, but there were too many. And Eevee wasn't stopping anytime soon. Joey needed a miracle to escape this.
And a miracle he got, Joey got teleported, he fought probably the strongest person here, surely things can't get worse now, right?
Joey let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding, before looking at his opponent, his red eyes pierced through Joey's soul, he tipped his red hat, as his Pikachu slapped its cheeks, preparing to fight.
Wait, isn't he part of Gary's group?
Red Satoshi, just like Gary, was supposed to begin his journey years ago, but he couldn't after his father passed away. He never really talked that much after that, always keeping to himself, unless he was with Gary and that other girl.
"Thundershock." That was the first time in a while, Joey ever heard him speak. Even then it sounded monotone.
Electricity surrounded Pikachu, before it shot out towards Nidoran, not even letting Joey speak, she would jump up to try and dodge it. But what she didn't expect was the electricity curving up to her, and hitting her straight in her horn. She yelped out in pain as was electrocuted, and shortly after, crashed into the ground. Nidoran tried to get up, but felt a small shock through her entire body, she was paralyzed.
"I'm surprised you even made it this far, Pikachu, Quick Attack."
"D- Double Kick into it!"
Before Pikachu could move, Nidoran launched herself Into him, hitting the Pikachu right in his head with her horn.
"Thundershock then."
Electricity surrounded the both of them, this was too much for Nidoran to handle, as she slowly felt herself losing consciousness.
A couple of seconds later, she was knocked out. Joey fell to his knees, as he looked at Nidorans body.
I.. lost? No… I was doing so well.. h- how?!
He returned Nidoran back to her ball, and just stood there, there was nothing to say. After what felt like an eternity, he was teleported.
He lost the test.
...
not planning to make a discord server anytime soon, so just join the twisted garden server, its a better fic than this thats for sure.
discord.gg/g3FuNHedVC