Past Pain

14

Friday, May 5th, 1989

The rustling of the other students getting out of bed made James's eyes open. His stomach rumbled loud enough for him to hear, and the sweet flowers from the bulbasaur in the room made him even hungrier. Fast day. He sat up and slid down off the bed. Where are my clothes? He knocked past an older blond-haired boy in his late teens and dived into his draw. Did someone fold them up?

"Yeah, yeah. Someone had to tidy the room. Us high-schoolers have to check up on you, juniors." He walked out of the room without another word.

Shrugging, James grabbed his shirt and trousers from the drawer and got changed. Oh, nice! We have light shoes. I guess they got our sizes from our parents. Mrs Bryson asked for like two or three sizes too big; it comes from being dirt poor, I guess. He grabbed the orange and white shoes and did the laces up. Leaving his shirt untucked, he grabbed his pokémon and left his room. I guess we go to the rooms we were in the other day? He walked down the stairs. The smell of food wafting out of the cafeteria made his stomach growl again.

"H-hey J-James." Kitiku waved at him. His crutches leaned against the desk.

James continued to walk along the wooden floors and into the room. "Kuti!" He sat on the desk next to Kitiku. "I really want to ditch and go pokémon hunting. Want to come?" His eyes lit up, but he sighed as Kitiku shook his head.

"Hey, that's my desk," a girl said, slamming her hands on James's desk.

With a sneer, James looked into her blue eyes. "Why don't you come fight me for it then. Bitch."

"Alright! Settle down. Today, we will be learning how to write basic sentences in Colrat." An Elkran woman came into the room and slammed her walking stick on the table. "Who are you?"

With a smirk on his face, James replied, "The future top-quality soldier who will kick your arse." He flicked his hair back and leaned back on his desk.

"Come on, you," A familiar voice rang out.

James groaned and looked at the door to see Lord Orag waiting for him. "No. I want to stay right here with Kuti." He reached over and grabbed Kitiku's arm tightly.

"You scored a zero on your test. You didn't even take the test." Lord Orag sighed and looked at James, holding onto Kitiku's arm. "Write my name is James on the board. You do that, you can stay."

"Fuck that and fuck you!" James picked up the chalk from the desk and threw it at Lord Orag's face. He felt teeth sink into the top of his jacket. "Hey! Put me down!" His feet dangled down and couldn't reach the ground. James closed his fists and swung away at the pokémon. "Put me down now!" His face smacked into the wooden floorboards. James glanced at the teacher and scowled. Is the only free desk right at the front? That's Bullshit! Why can't I stay with Kuti?

"Just sit down in the room and settle down. Watch the door." Lord Orag waved and walked down the corridor. His feraligatr stood outside the door.

An eternity seemed to pass before the class was finished. James traipsed out the door and into the corridor. "Kuti!"

"H-h-hey James." Kitiku crutched over, his bronzor floating behind him alongside his klink. "I-I am g-going to g-go down t-to the library t-to do my h-homework later. D-do you w-want to c-come?"

"You don't expect me to do that crap? Come on, Kuti. This is just an attempt of the Elkran to brainwash us." James scowled. "Why would you ever want to let them do that to you? What is even wrong with you?" James grabbed Kitiku's bag and threw it on the floor, scattering his books. I can't believe him. James marched up to the entrance and pushed open the doors. He plodded down the gravel path towards the school entrance. Yeah, I'm done. I'm going to the shop. Huh? Battlefields? James turned from the gate and looked at the battlefield to his right. He stepped off the gravel path and walked towards it.

"James! Wrong field!" Clarence called out, waving at him.

Captain Elkran Jerk? James looked over to him. "Ugh, what?" He walked over to him.

"We are showing our battle knowledge; I know you are very capable, so welcome to the highest class in your grade. I've seen you battle, after all." Clarence put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the corner pole. "I guess you got lost on the way to class. Either way, as I was saying, today we will be seeing how you cope in a match-up. Today, you will focus on staying away from being knocked over. If you last a minute, you are all good. Welcome to battle skill basics."

Wait, Kuti was going to the library? Was he skipping class? I was an arsehole to him. I should apologise. James grabbed his onix's poké ball. "Okta, use iron tail!" Bursting out of her ball, she screeched at Clarence, raising her tail and slamming it into the ground before swinging it at the other student. However, to James's surprise, the other student ducked and rolled backwards to avoid the tail's weighty swing.

James jumped back as two dark orbs shot towards him in rapid succession. They were fast enough for his eyes to struggle to follow. Damn, this Deino is fast, but Okta is just as fast! His onix started smashing her tail into the ground, making it rumble under his feet. He saw the other student shudder and look around, shuffling their feet.

"Come on, Okta!" James jumped on the spot. He felt the spring in his step burn along his shin and staggered back. James wiped his lip down and touched the scratch on his face. Damn, it caught me.

"Time. Good job, you two, you survived an encounter in the wild." Clarence clapped. "Next! You two."

James sat down on the floor in the dust. Is that it? He pushed himself up off the ground and to the sidelines. Battle skills basics are so boring. When will we get to go out and catch a pokémon? He slumped back and watched as the battle unfolded on the field.

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