Pokémon Trainer Hero
Chapter 32: The Sports Festival part. 4-The Race of a Lifetime
The teens ran like their lives depended on it through the open gate and out towards the many dangers of the track ahead! Unfortunately with all the students piling on one another in such a small space, very quickly lead to the entire entrance getting blocked off very quickly. The blockage was so bad that no one had managed to break through the front and out the opening for nearly a full minute. In that time however, the jumbo scenes had been tracking the movement of the students until a few of them switched off to a different scene.
In it was Gar, who appeared to be riding a pokemon, wearing a headset under his hood and looking down at the track from the air! Even with this in mind, for some reason, a camera was following him from above. Gar smiled at the camera as he laid in a 'Draw me like one of your french girls' pose over the flying pokemons back and began with an announcer style monologue.
"Good afternoon ladies and gentle ladies. This is Garfield, giving you a birds eye view of the obstacle course on airway Eon with the legendary Eon duo of Latios and Latias.", Gar states as the camera tracking him starts to spin around and move erratically .
"Woah woah woah! Easy there Latias! I know you're excited, but you gotta keep the camera steady." Gar says to the pokémon, as the camera readjusted to following him again. "Why don't you two say hi to all the people out there watching?", Gar offered as the camera pans to a new Pokemon.
The Pokémon had a bird-like body, stylized after a plane. Its body flows slowly into a thick neck, giving it a bulky appearance. It has no legs. Most of its body is blue, with white areas near its arms and a white stripe on its back that extend up to its head. Jet-plane wings sit on top of its back, while two tall, jagged fins point behind it from its rear. A red triangle marks the center of its chest, while a blue mask partially covers its face. Long, ear-like fins extend from its jaws to over its head, and its eyes are red. It has three-fingered arms with a blue covering on the outer side of the lower arms. It's expression can only be described as; disinterested lazy teenager.
Just then, something leans in from above the camera and begins to heavily breath on it in excitement! A pair of nostrils attached to a white muzzle are the only thing seen as they fog up the camera lens.
Gar laughs and plucks the camera off, whatever was holding it, while saying, "Okay okay, Latias! I know you're excited, but just gimme a minute."
Gar then turns the camera to another pokémon that was nearly identical in appearance to Latios. The Pokémon had a bird-like body, stylized after a plane. Its long neck stretches forward from its squat body. It has no legs. The rear half of its body is largely red and the upper half white, with jet-plane wings high on its rear and fins on the bottom near its tail. A blue triangle marks the center of its chest, while a red mask partially covers its face. Ear-like fins sit on top of its head and its eyes are yellow. It has short, three-fingered arms with a red covering on the outer side of the lower arms. It's expression could only be described as; overly excited sugar hyper child.
The Pokemon, Latias, did several twists and turns and spins in the air that seemed to defy the laws of physics, gravity, inertia. All while keeping pace and making happy bird-like tweeting noises. On the Pokémon was a body harness with a clip attached to the chest.
Gar ushers the Pokemon over and says, "Okay, you said hi. Now come here so I can clip the camera back on."
The Pokémon comes closer, with a happy smile on its face, and the camera's view changes back to Gar. After a brief adjustment, Gar finally goes back to his announcer motif and starts to monologue in the race.
"And here on the ground folks, things are going slower than a Slowpoke waking up. With all the racers completely and utterly stuck within themselves of the starting line.", The camera pans down to a view of the starting line door where not even one person had managed to break through. "And man! I'd sure hate to be the Grookey in the middle, in that pile up!", Gar sighs with anxious understanding.
Just then a huge cold rush of air came barreling out of the opening, along with 150m of ice covering the path ahead! The ice locked nearly all of the other students in place, preventing them from moving and creating an even stronger blockage! Then none other than Todoroki came bursting out of the entranceway, riding a huge rush of the wind on his feet! He hit the ice and took off running, leaving everyone else in the…..slush.
"Sorry, but I can't afford to lose.", Todorki said over his shoulder in a low tone.
"OH! And it looks like things are simultaneously heating up and cooling down as none other than Shoto Todoroki has taken a massive lead and frozen all other competitors at the same time!", Gar exclaimained. "But not so fast folks! Looks like freezing the competition was the most flawless plan, as more of the competitors are breaking through and catching up to our icy cold boi!"
As Gar stated, several of the other racers were breaking through the ice and catching up with Todo! Mina had melted the ice and used her natural dance skills to jumped over the crowds, Bakugou had blasted himself over everyone, Momo creed a long metal pole to vault herself over the edge, Ayoama used his laser to blast himself into the course, Uraraka floated herself, Tsuyu bounced over in one leap, Kirishima literally burst through by pure sheer force of willpower, Iida was running normally and steadily gaining, and so many other followed suit. Including Izuku, who had run out normally like so many other competitors and was running for dear life!
"Now things are really getting interesting folks as all of the racers are finally in the race! But how long will our first place holder be able to keep that place?!", Present Mic announced boldly.
"I don't think for much longer Mic, as Shoto is quickly approaching the first obstacle of the track. The Machinal Jungle Maze!", Gar proclaimed.
As Gar stated, Todoroki was gaining and quickly entering what looked like a large, lush, thick, jungle that had sprouted over the track! Trees that hung high above with roots as thick as a human body, vines, bushes, grass, and flowers covering it so thick that you couldn't even see the bottom from the air! Todoroki ran in the jungle blindly and began to push his way through the foliage with any sign of the path disappearing under his feet.
Eventually he came out to what seemed like the path opening up until someone charged out of the tall grass and slammed right onto his face! Todoorki and the person fell back on their butts and groaned in pain while grabbing at their heads! Todoroki sat up and wondered what happened to make him slam into a person and how that person got in front of him?
"Hey watch where your-!", the person began to say until they saw who they ran into and quickly changed their tone to confusion, saying, "Hey! Your Todoroki! You were in the lead. Why are you going the opposite way?", he asked.
Tooroki looked at him weirdly and asked back, "Opposite? I was going forward."
"No, I was.", the person stated until a girl popped out of a tree from the right side.
The girl brought herself into a sitting position from her feet and complained, "Ugh! What is this place? It's like a maze in here!"
Meanwhile, with all the other competitors, everyone was getting turned around backtracked and lost within the twisting length of vines and grass! Unable to make heads or tails of where they were supposed to be going or if it was the right way! But that was only half their problems.
"That's right folks, as the name implies, this place is one giant maze! Lets see if our young heroes are as good a coordination as they are at fighting, and if they can survive the dangers inside.", Gar proclaimed from the air.
Izuku was running as fast as his legs could carry him through the never ending identical trees and grass patches that grew far taller than his head! It wasn't so often that he would run or slam into someone head on while trying to navigate. But the green teen wasn't worried about getting lost. He was more worried at what else could be lurking around the jungle! He almost got his answer as he ran yet again into someone else!
"OW!", Izuku and the person, who had a female voice, cried out in pain!
"I'm really sorry about that, I was-.", He began to say until he saw who he slammed into. "Uraraka-san?!"
"Deku-kun? Are you lost too?", the brown haired girl asked with initial surprise at seeing him.
"Lost is the least of my concerns right now. I know there is more to this place other than being a maze. But what? What did Gar add in this place?", he told her.
Uraraka looked around nervously while saying, "Now that you mention it, I forgot about that too. But so far I haven't seen anything too…..bad."
Just then, one of the boys from 1-B came bounding in; looking exhausted and completely lost as the rest of them. He stood by a large tree to catch his breath until his eyes caught sight of something moving in the shadows. He looked closer and saw what looked like two pokeballs floating and swaying around in mid air. He got closer to the alluring and confusing sight until what looked like a giant mushroom with a face revealed itself from the darkness and surprised the teen with a yellow cloud of dust! The teen initially freaked out, but then quickly stopped and stood in place, almost like he had been frozen in time! Then he fell to the ground, stuck in the same position with mouth and expression stuck in terror!
Uraraka screamed at this as she yelled, "HE'S DEAD!"
Izuku quickly calmed her down as best he could, while explaining, "No no no! It's okay Uraraka, he's not dead! He….just cant move."
Uraraka looked at him confused with the an expression of fear lining on her face, until Izuku explained further, "It's just the Stun Spore that Fooungus spewed on him."
Uraraka then looked over to the side and with a plae expression she asked in a stutter, "Is-is that's wh-what happening t-t-to them?"
Izuku looked to where she was gazing and saw several other people splayed out on the floor. Izuku carefully went to several of them and examined each one. After his examination he came up with a conclusion of what was going on, and told Uraraka about it.
"Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, and Horn Leech. Yep, all signs of Grass types.", Izuku said in an anxious tone while sucking air through his teeth.
"What does that mean?", Uaraka asked, equally anxious.
"It means that all the pokemon in here are trying to stop us from advancing, just as Gar said. It won't hurt us necessarily, just slow us down.", Izuku explained while trying to cool his nerves.
Uraraka fell to her knees and exclaimed, "Thank goodness for that!"
"But I noticed something else.", Izuku suddenly said, breaking the girl out of her rest. "Look carefully at the trees and plants.", he told her while pointing to a smaller tree sapling.
Uraraka looked carefully at the plants, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But the longer she looked, the more she noticed the extremely slight movements it made in the dirt. Almost as if it were actually walking very very slowly! So slowly it couldn't be picked up right away!
"They're….they're moving? But how?!", she asked in confusion.
Izuku rubbed his chin and told her, "A pokemon no doubt. It's probably why everyone is getting lost."
"Whaddya we do now?", she looked to him hopefully that he had an idea, like at the Mock Hero and Villain exam.
Izuku then casted his eyes upward and saw something that gave him an idea! He pointed to the trees and asked Uraraka, "Can you float me to the tops of that tree?"
Uraraka nodded and quickly tapped her friend with one hand. Izuku jumps into the air, catches a branch, and then grabs as much fruit hanging in the trees as his arms could carry! He nods to the girl and she deactivated her quirk on him. Izuku lands on his feet and hands one bunch of first to the girl while motioning to fill her pockets with the fruit.
Uraraka looks between the fruit and Izuku stuffing his pockets, and says, "What will fruit do?"
"You'll see.", he says with a bright and determined smile on his face.
Uraraka couldn't help but fall for that dame smile, and stuffed the fruit into every pocket she had on her, including her sports bar, while trying to avert eye contact.
"Hey you two!", a voice suddenly called out to them. It was none other than Momona with his usually snide expression. He approached the two of them and started to say, "Can you-AH!"
Before he could finish, a long blue vine descended from the trees and snagged him up in one yank! Before he could even finish his scream, it was cut short as the two teens watched the vine wrap him up in a cocoon and hang him alongside several other cocoons! The cocooners were two Pokemon that looked nearly alike, yet were different. One was far larger than the other, one had red feet shaped like shoes, one had blue vines covering its body more completely, one had arms with three red tipped fingers, and both had vibes covering their bodies so densely that their faces couldnt be seen!
"What the!?", Uraraka was ready to scream!
"Tangrowth and Tangela! RUN!", Izuku shouted while grabbing the girls hands and taking off!
Before they had even gotten 6 feet away, Tangrowth managed to get in front of them from swinging through the trees, throwing both of its vine arms around the two, and began to pull them up! Izuku reacted quickly before they were lifted off their feet and grabbed a rock that he broke over a tree. It broke into a sharp edge and Izuku used the makeshift knife to cut through both vines and escape before Tangrowth could try again!
As the two of them ran as fast as they could, Uraraka was still in shock of what she saw and exclaimed, "Deku-kun! I know we're trying to escape them, but don't you think that was harsh!?"
Izuku waved her down as they ran and explained anxiously, "It's okay. Tangrowth and Tangela are made of so many vines that if one gets lost or ripped off, they can replace it with ease. And it doesn't even hurt them."
Uraraka nodded, knowing Izuku knew better than her and asked, "Okay, so now what?"
"Wait.", he said out of the blue.
Uraraka stopped on her heels and shouted, "Wait? Deku-kun, why do we need to-?"
"Just trust me on this!", he interpreted her with a determined loom in his eyes. She sighs and nods. Izuku smiles and then tells her, "Now listen."
Uraraka closed her eyes and listened for something, but only heard the sound of the forest and rustling of pokemon and people running around the grass…..and the occasional scream of fright.
Eventually she asked, "What am I listening for?"
"Drums.", he replied.
Uraraka was confused at first, but decided to give the benefit of the doubt and listened for some kind of acoustic musical instrument. After a full minute, she eventually heard a very low 'bump bump bump' sound.
"Wait, I hear it. What is it?", she asked Izuku.
Before she got her answer, she felt Izuku garb her arm and pull her while saying, "I think I know. Come on, this way!"
Uraraka nearly fell over her own two feet as she felt her hand grabbed by Izuku and then whisked away with him in the lead! It was almost too sureile for her to comprehend! Was this real life? Or was this fantasy? If this was a dream, then she definitely didn't want to wake up! That is until she did...and quite forcefully too.
Just as she was in a blissful haze of dreamland happiness, she felt her face slam into Izuku well built back! She was about to ask him what was with the sudden stop when she noticed the forest around them seemed a lot darker than she remembered. And then she looked up at what Izuku was staring at.
Looming above the two was a giant machine that looked nearly identical to a three pointer from the entrance exam: and covered in all forms of leaves, roots, moss, dirt, vines, and other foliage! Making it an all natural form of camouflage suit! The two men stood like deer in headlights as they saw the machine's red sensor eyes scene over them, trying to make an attempt to trick it into thinking there was nothing there. But the robot AI was too intelligent for such a simple trick, and went into attack mode! It slammed its giant metal fist where they were and the two teens dodge the attack with general ease!
"A three pointer?!", Izuku shouted in shock!
"Covered in plants?!", Uraraka added before turning to Izuku and asking in a frightened shout. "Deku-kun! Where did it come from?!"
Izuku dodged another of the machine's attacks by letting it get its arm caught in a tree, before replying, "I don't know?! One minute I was running, and then next a large mound springs to life and this thing comes out of it!"
"It was hiding itself!", Uraraka grabbed at her hair in panic!
Then something dawned on Izuku as he stated, "That's what Gar meant by Mechanical Jungle. He used the pokemon to conceal all the three pointers hidden around this maze!"
The three pointer ripped its arm free and turned towards the two heroes ready to attack as several different Grass types circled around them with angry expressions.
"So now it's the Garden and the Gardeners vs the Pests!", Uraraka exclaimed!
"And I think we're pests.", Izuku added in dread.
"That's not fair at all!", Uraraka exclaimed, just as the Pokemon and machine ran in for a second combined attack!
The two teens scream initially, and quickly prepare themselves for a fight of Man vs Machine and Nature!
Meanwhile at the announcer booth, Present Mic was watching all the action from the bird's eye view of Latais camera and monologuing every moment of it with extreme gusto!
"Well folks, it looks like some of our participants have found a few of the hidden pointers roots hidden in the terrain around the maze! That must've been a shock!", he exclaimed in a shout through the microphone!
Making Aizawa inwardly cringe at the sudden raise in his volume and Persian to hiss at the man! The crowd walked like monkeys at the jumbo screens, as they watched explosions, screams, and flying students sail all over the nearly 35m long patch of constantly moving maze. Though within the amazement came some of those who were displeased with the outcome of what the students were going through, even though it was only the first part of the course.
Until Gar put their thoughts at halt, with some sort of all knowing sense, and told the naysayers, "But before you say that's 'unfair' or 'a cheap trick', just not this; Lifes not fair! And it won't be anymore fair for these heroes either! So good luck everyone! I hope you can persevere with your wit or your strength."