Chapter 11

Trainers' Schooled

As Mikey, Jun, Rotom, and Lillie left Kukui's lab, Lillie began her 'guided tour', starting with the Pokémon Center.

"The Pokémon Center is practically right next to your house, isn't it, Mikey?" she asked.
"It is? Never knew that."

Suddenly, the day turned dark

"Ah…" Lille gasped, and all looked at sky, seeing it covered in dark clouds, darkness falling on the land. But only for an instant, as they soon blew past.

"Pew…" Nebby squeaked weakly inside the bag. Rotom and Jun were also worried.

"Nebby… don't worry, it's okay." Lillie soothed, gently patting the bag. "This must be what they call a solar eclipse. It happens when the sun gets covered up."

"Was a solar eclipse forecast for today?" Kukui wondered as he came out and joined them. "Ah, well. It must be some kind of good omen, yeah!"

"I hope so. I've had enough of bad ones." said Mikey.

"An omen?" Lillie asked. "You think something good will happen?"

"Sure! A long, long time ago, Alola was cloaked in darkness, yeah… But people say that's when Alola's people and Pokémon blasted all that darkness away with light! And they also say that was why people started gathering Z-Crystals, and that custom turned into the island challenge."

"That's actually interesting." say Jun. "But what are Z-Crystals?"

"Mikey! Now that you've got that Z-Power Ring, I hope that you'll collect tons of Z-Crystals! Woo!"

"Guess we will find out." Mikey said to Kukui, but more so to Jun.

"That's exactly what a move researcher like me needs to uncover new secrets!"

"Professor, that's not why he's supposed to be doing it… Come on, Mikey. I'll show you to the Pokémon Center." Lillie interrupted.

As they began to walk away, Rotom piped up

"E-everything went black all of a sudden! I thought I might be out of batteriezzz!"

"You okay now?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, I'm OK… Thankzzz! I won't short-circuit that eazzzy! Maybe a nice vizzzit to the Pokémon Center will have us all feeling better in no time. I'll flag it on the map for you, too! Zzzrt!"

Rotom's mouth disappeared from screen, it instead showing a map of the area, with a flag marker to the west of Mikey's house.

"Good thing that this… thing is actually useful." said Jun.

"You'll learn that I am quite important, kitty cat. Zzzt!" Rotom snapped back.

"Wait, what?! You can understand me?!"

"Of courzzze I can. Zzzt. We're both Pokémon, I'm juzzzt in a Pokédex instead of a Poké Ball."

"So, outside those in the same situation as me and Chloe, and Mikey, the only one I can really talk to, is a possessed tablet… Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger."

"Dude, I could tell you stories." said Mikey.

Once Mikey started walking again, Lillie had already gone ahead, so he had to find his way to the Pokémon Center on his own, which wasn't hard thanks to the GPS function Rotom provided.

Reaching the ledge again, he now had to walk around it, which brought him through the tall grass. As he walked through it, a small squid like creature leaped at him.

Its face and main body, including the small tentacles were blue, while it had a round pink hat-like growth on top of its head, encased in a transparent mantel that had two tentacles. Four yellow spots on the pink part flashed on and off, and it had a small pink beak between its large, round, black eyes.

"Bzzt! You've never seen this Pokémon before!" Rotom noted, having compared it to all in the Pokédex that Mikey had seen so far.

"I haven't? Oh, well, it doesn't matter. This ain't one of our friends, so we'll just leave it be."

"I don't think it will let us, though." said Jun as he saw the squid float in front of them, blocking their path.

"Yeah, I can see that. Guess Chloe will have to deal with it then, she still need more training."

It was somewhat reluctantly that Chloe entered battle, and Jun watched disapprovingly, being tired to just watch from the side lines. But he had to trust that Mikey knew what best, as much as that rubbed him wrong, but the turtle was the most experienced of them, for better or worse.

Despite being a cocoon, Chloe managed to move, if at a clunky pace, and scored a few Tackles against the squid, which retaliated with the same, as well as wrapping its tentacles around her and using Constrict.

Much to Chloe's relief, her shell offered her a decent amount of protection, reducing the damage she took, and soon she took out the squid.

After the battle, Mikey continued, soon reaching his house again. He looked on his map, and then to the west. The city he had spotted earlier was about twenty minutes away, but there were two other buildings between it and him.

The one farthest away was a large building, and most likely the school he had to go to. Not something that he was looking forward to.

The closest building was much smaller, still bigger than his house, but definitely smaller than the school. It was white with red roof and doors, almost a bit Poké Ball like if one squinted just a bit. That had to be the Pokémon Center, everything pointed to it. Especially Rotom's map marker.

"Guess that's the place, and I think…" Mikey narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I think I see Lillie outside it. If that is Lillie."

"It should be." said Rotom, showing the map again. "That'zzz the coordinates of the Pokémon Center. Bzzzt! Hey, d'you ever organise the itemzzz and stuff in your bag, Mikey?"

"Does anyone really do that?" he responded, but then took a moment to think. "Actually, Leo and Donnie probably do it, and Mona too, and Kemeko… Hmm, I guess people do do that, but not me."

"Big surprise." said Jun. "Come on, let's go. We got places to be, and messes to fix."

It only took them a few minutes to reach the Pokémon Center, and it was indeed Lillie waiting outside. She smiled when she saw Mikey come up to her.

"Here, let me show you the Pokémon Center. Follow me." she said, and led him inside.

Like the outside, the inside was roughly circular. There was a wooden floor framing a large square section of stone floor in the middle, which in turn had a stone carving in the shape of a Poké Ball with flowers in the middle, covered with thick glass.

Most of the interior was spacious with several chairs and table, as well as some living flower decorations, and of course the necessary facilities.

In the far back was a red counter, formed into a half circle. Behind that was a machine that almost looked like some form of raised altar, sporting six round indentations, large enough to fit Poké Balls. Manning this station was a woman with pink hair dressed in a pink nurse uniform, and she waved at the group with a warm and kind smile.

Mikey also saw a slim computer screen mounted on the right side of the counter.

"If you talk to the woman at the counter, she can restore your Pokémon to perfect health." Lillie explained. "It's amazing, isn't it? I can't stand seeing Pokémon in pain… You can also deposit Pokémon in there PC here or take them out."

To the right of this, in the corner, was another counter, coloured blue and bright wood. Behind that were plenty of shelves and cabinets with glass doors, and Mikey could see both Poké Balls and Potions of different kinds, as well as other similar objects. There was a young man in a blue apron manning that station.

"And at the Poké Mart you can buy all kinds of items that should help you during your trials. I'd take a look, if I were you."

Over in the left corner, there was a wooden bar counter, but rather than lines of bottles and whatever else one needed to serve drinks behind the counter, there was a small kitchen in the back. An old and chubby man wiped of a few of the stools lined around the counters before walking back behind it again.

"Over there is the café area. I like to relax there sometimes with a frosty glass of Moomoo Milk. I read something in a travel guide about Alola once… Apparently each Pokémon Center in Alola offers a different selection of drinks. I wonder how they pick what to serve? The cafés may also offer more than just drinks. I've heard they also sell special treats and that sometimes the staff have tips for trial-goers."

With that, the 'tour' of the Pokémon Center was completed, and Lillie stood by the doors, ready to move on.

"We should head to the Trainers' School next. But have your Pokémon taken care of first if you think that they need a little aid." she said before leaving.

"So, the Trainers' School izzz…" Rotom checked the map on itself. "Oh yeah! It'zzz right next to the Pokémon Center!" It exclaimed, marking it on the map.

"Huh, that's nice. Not too far to walk then, but first, I should let that nurse take care of Chloe, and you too, Jun."

"Dahlia is gonna have my hide for going to another nurse…" Jun gulped, but beggars can't be choosers.

"I'm sure she will understand." Mikey said, trying to comfort the former tiger as they walked up to the counter.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center! Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the nurse said with a warm smile.

"Yes, please."

"I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds, then. Please have your Litten return to its Poké Ball."

Jun was not happy about having to go back into his ball, but he understood that it was needed and complied. The nurse placed the balls in the altar like device and started it, making them glow while images of the Pokémon inside appeared on the wall screen behind it. A few moments later, the machine goes silent, and the nurse returns the Poké Balls to Mikey.

"Thanks for waiting! Metapod and the rest of your team should be all better now! We hope to see you again!"

Almost instantly, Jun jumped out of his ball and stretched like only a cat can.

"Oh, yeah… I haven't felt this good in a long while. Don't know what that thing did, but it did it good. Think your brainiac of a brother could fix something like this?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." Mikey chuckled. "If he's in the game too, I'll ask him to take a look."

With his Pokémon healed, Mikey walked over to the PC. Rotom helped him log in, the Pokédex working as a sort of ID key. On the PC, he was able to access the storage system. Rotom explained that the PC had a small indentation like the healing machine, where Poké Balls are placed to be transported into storage and back again.

Remembering that he said that he could store Chloe until this whole mess ends, he held her ball in his hand and thought about it, but he and Jun really needed her help.

"Sorry, Chloe. You'll have to stay with us a bit longer." he whispered, and after familiarising himself with how the PC works, he logged off to continue with their adventure.

Next, he checked out the Poké Mart. The clerk welcomed him and gave him a pad with digital menu of items, those being Poké Balls and various medicines like potions and antidotes.

"Um, excuse me, but is this thing busted?" Mikey asked. "'cause I can see stuff on your shelves that ain't on the list here, or those just there for their looks?"

"Not at all." the clerk explained. "You are a trial-goer, and as such most of our more 'high ranking' Trainer items are restricted until you have progressed further with your trial, so that you don't try to punch above your weight."

"Ah, okay. Well, then… I think I will have some of these… and lots of these… and a few of these, just to be safe."

Once Mikey had selected the various items and how much of each, he handed the pad back to the clerk, who gladly gathered up the listed items and handed them to Mikey once he had paid.

With still nearly thirty thousand left in his wallet, Mikey put away the five potions, twenty Poké Balls, and three antidotes in his bag, together with two so called Premier Balls that he got as gifts on purchase, one for every ten normal balls. Functionally, they were identical to the normal variant, just coloured all white with the black line being red instead.

With his new supplies in hand, he shoved it all down into his backpack, only to stare at the mess it contained.

"Guess I really should sort this up after all…" he sighed.

A few minutes later, he exited Pokémon Center, with his bag all sorted, and walked down the road towards the next building. Its grounds were surrounded by a meter tall rock wall, and he could see Lillie standing near the opening.

"Here we are. You see, the Trainers' School is…"

"Moo-aaarrr!" A loud bellow was heard from further ahead, scaring Lillie.

"It's a...a… what in the world?!" They all looked further down the path, only to see a bull-like Pokémon with three tails in the middle of the road, and it seemed agitated.

"Well, it looks like we won't be going that way anytime soon, thanks to Tauros there…" Lillie sighed. "But we were only planning to go as far as the Trainers' School anyway. We'll just leave that for someone else to deal with. Come. Follow me."

"We will be the ones dealing with it, won't we?" Jun asked, casting a glance at the Tauros.

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Hmmm. What do you think we will find at this Trainers' School place?" Rotom wondered.

The first thing they saw, was the sign by the entrance, which read: 'The Trainers' School "An education that'll make your Pokémon smile."'

"That's gonna be a tall order." Jun muttered.

Following Lillie into the school yard, they saw Kukui standing there, talking to a young woman. She had fair skin, medium long black hair with some bangs, wore low glasses, a white short sleeved blouse, tan pants, and a small red scarf.

"Hey there, Mikey! I must've passed you two somehow, yeah?" Kukui welcomed the group. "But welcome to the Trainers' School, the place to learn how to be a Pokémon Trainer!"

"Professor Kukui. Is this the child you told me about?" the woman asked.

"Yeah. Mikey's a real tough one, too. Put him through the wringer good, Teach!"

Mikey gulped, getting flashbacks to master Splinter being his and his brothers' teacher growing up. It was not an easy time for him.

Kukui turned back to Mikey, and brought him out of his thoughts by holding up four fingers.

"Four Trainers!" he said. "You've got to beat four Pokémon Trainers here at the school, Mikey! The experience will surely help you and your Pokémon grow stronger, yeah. Actually... speaking of experience, why don't you take this." Kukui reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a small spherical device with glowing lights, that he handed to Mikey. "If you keep that Exp. Share on, yeah, all the Pokémon on your team can get Exp. Points from battle."

"Really? That's cool. Gonna make things easier to train everyone then."

"The Trainers who will take part in this lesson may be inside or outside the school." the teacher explained. "You may also want to visit our classrooms. You'll learn things there that will help on your journey, I'd say. All right. Let the lesson begin!" With that, she turned and walked inside the school.

"She may not look all that tough, but that teach trains her kids right!" said Kukui. "One of her students is even a captain! If you want a bit of advice from me, here's something that might help. Once you've fought a species of Pokémon once, you can easily see what types of moves will work best on it in your next battle, thanks to your Rotom Dex. Wandering about in the tall grass to meet lots of different Pokémon'll help with that! Battle all the time, oh yeah!"

"Talk about a one track mind." Jun groaned.

"Well, that'zzz just how he izzz." Rotom buzzed.

Finally given a moment to take in his surroundings, Mikey looked around a bit. He was standing on a small parking lot, and there were a few palm trees in the middle of it, as well as a large black stone with an inscription that read 'Let's learn and grow. Let's grow and train. Unsullied, enjoyable, and academic. Everyone starts at the beginning!'

The school was a two story building made from brown bricks, with a tower-like third story above the entrance.
There was a fenced off area similar to tennis court in front of the school, most likely a battlefield, and beyond that to the west was an area with tall grass, separated by a small white fence.

Starting his search for the trainers, Mikey started inside the school. As he walked through the hall, he ran into a young woman in a short white dress, with blonde hair in a high ponytail. She looked at Jun with a critical eye.

"Look at your Pokémon…" she said.

"Um… yeah? What about it?" Mikey wondered, and Jun gave her a glare.

"Whether it has any claws or not now, it would probably get a kick out of this one." she said, then reached into her pocket and gave him a small long claw on a string. "In Pokémon battles, the Pokémon with the highest Speed stat gets to act first. But with a Quick Claw, your Pokémon should be able to attack first, regardless of its Speed. Or sometimes, anyway. It's better than nothing!"

"Huh. Neat. How do I use it?"

"Just give it to your Pokémon to hold."

"With what?! I don't have any thumbs any more!" Jun snapped.

"Hold on, let me try this." Mikey said, dropping to one knee and gently tied the claw around Jun's neck like a primitive necklace. "How's that?"

"Well, at least it ain't a ribbon." Jun shrugged.

With a new tool to use, they continued onwards, and eventually found a classroom. Inside it was a male teacher and a couple of six to seven year-olds of both genders.

One, a girl in blue dress and shoes, and a white hat ran up to him with a Poké Ball in her hand.

"Look at my Metapod! It's got an Oran Berry!" she cheered, and threw the ball, releasing a Metapod, starting a battle with Mikey. Turns out, she was one of the trainers he was looking for.

Mikey responded by sending out his own Metapod, namely Chloe.

At first, the two cocoons launched themselves at each other with Tackles, doing a bit of damage, even if their shells were tough.

"Use Harden!" the girl called out, and her Metapod glowed a bit, its shell becoming tougher. But Mikey had Chloe keep hitting it, eventually wearing it down little by little.

After taking one particularly good hit, the foe did something that wasn't expected. From out of nowhere, a large, blue berry popped up from the Metapod, which then ate it, despite not having a mouth or opening on the shell with which to do that, and the wounds healed a bit.

Chloe and Jun looked at Mikey with confused eyes, hoping for him to be able to explain how that was even possible, but he was just as clueless.

What he did know, however, was that the battle wasn't going too well, so he recalled Chloe and let Jun take over, who quickly finished it with a single super effective Ember attack.

"Metapod… here, have a Berry." the girl said as she cradled her unconscious Pokémon. "I'll give you some Oran Berries, too! They're great to have your Pokémon hold!" she said, giving not only three of the blue berries, Oran Berries, but also a small amount of money. "Metapod looks so cute munching down an Oran Berry in the middle of battle!"

Taking the berries, Mikey left the class room.

"Just what was that?" Jun wondered.

"No clue, dude. I guess… maybe the die is having problems making this game real and still accurate?"

"Let's just get out of this mess. The sooner, the better."

After not finding anyone else on the ground floor of the school, and not being allowed up on the second floor yet, Mikey went out into the school yard again. That's when he spotted a young boy over in the area with the tall grass. With no other clues, he decided to go there.

"Hey, are you one of the Trainers I have to beat?" Mikey asked the boy.

"Sure am! I'll show you my Grimer's best move! With Poison Gas, it'll poison everyone that comes at us!"

"Hold on! Poison!?" Jun exclaimed in shock.

The boy sent out a Pokémon that could only be described as a pile of toxic sludge in the rough shape of the upper body of a human. The sludge was a dark, greyish green, it had two thick pseudopods that it used for arms with three thick fingers, a face with eyes and a large mouth with two large and uneven teeth in the upper jaw, while the lower jaw was coloured yellow.

Mikey sent out Chloe again, but upon seeing what she was up against, she did not feel very confident.

"What is that thing?!"

"Don't think about that! Trust me, I don't think we want to know! Just Tackle it!"

"You so owe me for this, Mikey! And believe me, I will collect on that!"

Chloe launched herself against the Grimer, but its sludge like body mostly rippled from the impact and taking not a lot of damage. It retaliated with a Pound attack with its limbs, but Chloe's shell protected her better, thus she took even less damage than she dealt.

"Come on, Grimer! Use Poison Gas!"

Grimer took a deep breathe, then exhaled a dark purple gas. Chloe, with a surprising amount of mobility for a cocoon, managed to jump out of the way of the gas.

"That did not look healthy!" she said.

"That wazzz Poison Gas!" Rotom informed. "If that connectzzz, it will poison the target, causing it to take continouzzz damage!"

Chloe was about to complain about all of that, when another cloud of gas suddenly enveloped her, and she was poisoned. Her entire body shivered as the venom started to penetrate he shell and into her system, but suddenly, parts of her shell shed and fell off, and all of a sudden she felt a lot better.

"What just happened?" Jun wondered.

"That was Shed Skin, the zzzpecial ability of Metapod. They have a chance to shed bits of their shell to heal themselvezzz of status conditionzzz, like poisoned. Bzzzt!"

"That's great!" said Mikey, focusing back on the battle. "Chloe! Finish him!"

"Gladly!"

With one final Tackle, the Grimer collapsed into a puddle, knocked out cold.

"No! The Grimer I found in the tall grass near the school was defeated?!" the boy exclaimed.

As Mikey, Rotom, and even Jun, cheered for Chloe's victory, a small ding was heard from Rotom, and some text showed up on its screen, showing that Chloe just reached level ten. Then she started glowing.

"It's happening again!" she cried out in distress.

Her body shifted and grew, taking on a completely different form. When the light faded, she was now a larger butterfly like creature, with a purple two-segmented body, large white wings with black lines and two large black spots on the lower parts of the wings. She also had two long, blue feet that lacked any toes, a pair of small blue hands, and a small blue snout with two visible fangs, as well as black antennae and large red compound eyes.

"Finally! I'm free of that shell!" she cheered as she fluttered around in the air.

"Congratzzz! You registered a Pokémon in your Pokédex. It'zzz a red-letter day… and I'm about as red as anything!" said Rotom, opening the Pokédex showing that all of the evolutionary line was filled in. "Hot diggity! Look at you – you're on fire, partner! You've filled in all the Pokémon on a single page! It's like we're playing bingo over here! Zz-zz-zz! Ahem. Butterfree. Butterfly Pokémon. It's wings are covered in toxic scales. If it finds bird Pokémon going after Caterpie, Butterfree sprinkles its scales on them to drive them off."

"Grass-type Pokémon are immune to powder moves, like Poison Powder and Sleep Powder." the young boy cut it. "But you can still poison'em with Poison Gas!"

Mikey nodded, hoping that he would remember that in the future, then he looked back at Chloe as she flew around.

"Looking good, Chloe! And a bit more like your old self."

"I can agree on that."

"Thank you. You have no idea how good it feels to finally be out of that stupid shell."

"Hey, I'm a turtle, I know a thing or two about shells. Sorta… In any case, you are a lot stronger now. The strongest of all of us, actually."

"Then maybe we can beat those last two trainers we're supposed to battle. Let's go." said Jun.

The third trainer, a young girl the same age as Mikey, was near the east side of the school, not far from the parking lot.

"If my precious Bonsly takes damage in a Pokémon battle, I'll want to use a Potion on it!" she said when challenged, and sent out said Bonsly.

Bonsly was a small, brown tear drop shaped Pokémon, with the tip of its body looking like the club symbol on playing cards, the three orbs being green. It had a thick rim around its waist, two short legs, and three yellow dots on its face, one on the forehead and the other two around its small black eyes.

"Is that… a potted plant on legs?" Jun wondered.

"Looks like it." said Mikey. "Alright, Chloe, time to stretch those wings of yours!"

"I'm on it! Take this!" she flapped her wings hard and fast, sending a Gust of wind at the Bonsly.

The attack connected, doing decent damage, but then Bonsly started crying, tears streaming out of its eyes like fountains.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to really hurt you that much!" Chloe apologised.

"Um, bozzzz? Have a look at this." Rotom told Mikey, showing Chloe's stats. Mikey's eye widened when he saw that Chloe's special defence had fallen.

"That was an attack?! Chloe! Don't let your guard down!"

The warning came a bit too late, for at the boy's command, Bonsly jumped up and slammed the top of its body into Chloe, doing lots of damage with its Flail attack.

"Keep away from that thing, Chloe!" Mikey yells, and she needed no more incentive, flying as high as she could, well out of reach.

Unfortunately, her Gust attack did not have the range to hit from that height, the winds dissipating before they even reach the target. That mean that she had to get in closer, which also put her at the risk of being hit by another Flail attack, but she still managed to dodge the attacks while chipping away at the small Pokémon.

Its trainer pulled out a potion and hurried over to heal it once it seemed to get weak, then it returned to the fight, managing to score another hit on Chloe, but it didn't do as much damage as before.

The battle dragged on for a while, but finally, Bonsly fell, but Chloe was also in pretty rough shape.

"Don't worry, I'll heal any pain that was caused by our defeat." the girl said as she recalled her Bonsly, then she looked to Mikey. "You can help your Pokémon win by using items at the right time. They can do more than just healing your Pokémon's HP, too. You can even boost their stats and things like that."

"I'll remember that. Or, try at least."

After having taken a short break to let Chloe rest a little, Mikey and Jun keeps looking for the last trainer, only to be stopped by a boy the same age as Mikey.

"Looks like you beat everybody else, huh?" he said, crossing his arms. "But don't think you'll beat me the same way! Ekans's Ability is gonna get you! Meet me on the battle field."

"Last one. Let me take care of him." said Jun on the way to the field.

"Sure thing, dude. You and I got this."

Once they took their places on the opposite sides of the field, Mikey let Jun lead, while the boy sent out a large purple snake with eyes, underside, rattle, and a thick stripe around its neck that were yellow.

"So that's an… an Ekans, was it? It's just a snake. Wait. Ekans. Snake. Are you serious? Its name is just 'snake' backwards?" said Jun, then his eyes widened. "Whoa! What just happened?! I felt a chill go down my spine!"

"That'zzz Ekans' Ability, Intimidate! Bzzzt!" Rotom explained. "Just by entering battle, it can zzzap the opponent's attack stat."

"All attack?" Mikey wondered.

"No, only physical attack. Special attack is fine. Zz-zz-zz."

"Oh. Okay then. Jun, use Ember on that thing instead!"

"Gladly!"

Jun instantly spat a small fire ball at the snake, hitting it on the long body.

"Ekans! Wrap it!" the boy countered, and Ekans quickly slithered up and wrapped its body around Jun, squeezing him.

"Hey! Let go!" Jun struggled and wiggled, but he could not get free, so instead he fired off another Ember point blank at the snake's face. This was not appreciated, so Ekans used Bite, which also wasn't appreciated.

"Cut that out!" Jun lashed out with a Scratch, which together with the damage from the Ember attacks, was enough to defeat Ekans, the snake falling limp and releasing Jun.

"Winning even after your Attack stat is lowered… An indomitable spirit, indeed!" the boy said, actually impressed. "Intimidate is an Ability that lowers your opponent's Attack stat. If you understand your Pokémon's Abilities, you can use the best strategies in battle."
"Um, yeah, Rotom here already said that." Mikey pointed out, and Rotom nodded proudly.

"But fine! Whatever! I can admit it when I'm beat. I'll give you a reward even. Take this Technical Machine!"

"What's this?" Mikey asked as he was handed a small CD labelled TM01 Work Up.

"OK. First thing to know about TMs Technical Machines teach new techniques. They'll give your Pokémon a new move in a flash. But if your Pokémon can't learn the move in a TM, then too bad. You are up the creek, pal. Second thing to know about TMs. You can use a TM as many times as you want, on as many different Pokémon as you want. They don't wear out or get used up. Pretty nice gift from me, huh?"

"Sure is."

"I suppose, but what does this move do?" Jun ask.

Before Jun could be given an answer, if the boy had actually been able to understand him, a ding dong echoed from the school speakers.

"Oh, that's the school bell." they heard Lille say, who had watched the battle.

"Attention all students… Would Mikey please come to the office on the second floor? Mikey to the second floor office, please." the voice of the female teacher rang out.

"Are… are you being… called to the… principal's office?!" Jun was almost doubling over from laughter, while Mikey went pale.

"What terrible thing did you do to get called to the office so soon?" Lillie asked concerned.

"Nothing! I swear!"

"That's what you say…"

"Zzz! Are you in trouble?! I'd head up to the second floor office as soon as you can!"

"But I haven't done anything! This is just typical! I've been in school for a few hours tops, and I'm already called to the principal! I knew I should have stayed away!"

Oh boy, this was a chore to get through. So much that I just couldn't break up into separate chapters. Maybe this was a bad idea...

Oh well, let's keep going.