Chapter 3: Training

The screen in front of her taunted her. After waking up this morning, Ava knew she had to call back home but kept putting it off. First, she had to get used to the communal showers and then was going to go down, but the computer lab was too busy, and she wanted a private conversation, so she planned to come back. She then walked the district a little bit, saw some training grounds, but eventually got a little spooked seeing so many pokemon out and about. When she came back, well, it was lunchtime, so she had to go get her first meal of the day. And then she distracted herself for the next hour or so sitting in the lounge. Finally, she dragged herself into a computer chair and has now been staring at the blank computer for the past ten minutes.

Ava had been very close to her family. After her mom died when she was young, all that's left were her dad and two younger twin siblings. She had been a real brat once mom died, but dad had been there for her despite grieving himself. As she's grown older, they have built a strong bond. She doesn't know what she would do if he stopped talking to her because she became a trainer. After telling herself to stop being a coward, she finally turned on the computer and went to call him. After five rings, he answered the call. "Hi, Dad," she said nervously.

Dad looked absolutely exhausted, and she could already see tears starting to form in his eyes. "Oh, Ava, it's so good to see your face." He started to get choked up. "I am so sorry that this happened to you."

Seeing his face was already starting to get to her, but she pushed past it. "It's alright, Dad. I can't change it now," she said with a weak smile. "Gotta do the best with the situation I've got, right?"

"That's my girl. You have always been so brave."

"Thanks Dad. I… I wanted to ask you something." At his nod to go ahead, she continued. "I know this is new, and who knows if I'll even survive this, but I just wanted to ask, when things get more settled, can I still talk and visit you guys?" Ava was not used to being this forward with her emotions, but she knew she had to ask this question and not dance around it, or else it would eat at her.

"Ava, look at me." After raising her head from where she had been looking at her hands, she looked into Dad's eyes, who said, "You being a trainer has no change in how I think of you, and of course we still want you to visit. I love you so much, nothing can change that."

Hearing this lifted a huge weight off her heart. Knowing that she wasn't going to be abandoned by her family made all of this almost feel possible. "Thank you," she whispered. Clearing her throat, she asked, "So where are Olive and Noah? Can I see them?"

Dad's smile turned a little sad. "Ever since they have heard the news, they have been having a rough time. I think they are a little too young to understand that you didn't choose this. They kept crying because I told them that they weren't going to be able to come any time soon, and they didn't take it well. They are sleeping right now after crying all morning. I can wake them up." He stood up a little to do just that before Ava interrupted.

"Don't worry about it, I will talk to them once I get more settled in." Knowing she wouldn't be able to see them hurt a little, but she didn't want to wake them up.

"I'll keep working on them, they should be fine soon, especially once we get to see you again."

She nodded a little. "Well, I should probably get going, I want to get more settled in and explore a little. I'm glad we were able to talk."

"That sounds good Ava. Let me know if you ever need any money or want me to send anything over." Ava nodded, knowing she would only ask for money if things were truly dire. She had a little saved up that should last her until she could start taking on missions.

"Oh, and one last thing before you go," Dad said, his expression turning serious. "Don't think I didn't hear you say that comment about not surviving. I am telling you right now that this isn't an if or a maybe. You will survive. That is a non-negotiable. You can only die once I'm already buried six feet under, got it?"

This produced a wet smile on Ava's face, she hasn't cried this much since she was ten and was really thankful she waited until the computer lab was mostly empty. "Thanks Dad, I love you"

"I love you too," he responded, as the call ended.

Ava left and went to meet back up with Amiyra, and they walked around the fields around the pokemon center, exploring a little bit before grabbing dinner. At dinner, the mousy boy had come up to their table to let them know that the guys were planning on doing a little get-together in the lounge at 7 p.m. and invited both of them.

When they got down to the lounge, all the guys were already there. They sat on a small couch, joining in the circle the others had formed. Ava felt awkward with the silence but was not going to be the first one to break it. She was surprised when the first one who spoke up was the mousy boy, since he looked like he would be quiet.

"We haven't really talked since the ceremony, so I figured we could start with introductions! My name's Theo." Pointing to a blond boy to his right with tanned skin, he said, "This guy's name is Flynn, and the guy to his right is Jacob." The dark-haired boy raised his hand as a quick greeting.

"And you have already met him, but this guy's name is Oliver," Theo said, pointing to where the asshole boy sat with a glare on his face. Ah, so he had a name. Maybe if she felt nice, she would actually use it.

Ava then introduced herself to the group, and Amiyra followed suit.

"So, what made you want to do this little get-together?" Amiyra asked Theo.

"Well, I figured we are all in the same boat, so it might be nice to get to know each other, and I'm guessing we are going to be stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, so it would be better to actually know who I'm going to be around. Also," he cut himself off by fumbling around in his pockets for a bit before producing a deck of cards. "I was able to get a deck of cards from Mary and figured we could use something to take our minds off of this whole situation".

Seeing the deck of cards, Ava brightened up. She was super competitive, just like the rest of her family, and card games have always been a fun pastime at family holidays. "I have a perfect game for you if you are willing to spend five minutes learning"

Getting the affirmative, Ava started to explain the rules to Up and Down the River. It turned out Theo and Flynn had already known how to play, so she just had to teach the rest of them the rules.

While going over that and playing the game, she learned more about the rest of her group, except for Oliver, who had remained silent the whole time he played. She learned that Jacob had grown up around a farm, so he was used to seeing trainers patrolling the fields, protecting the crops, but had never really interacted with them before. She learned that Flynn was on the swim team at her rival high school. It really is a small world sometimes. She also learned that Theo and Oliver had actually gone to the same school together, and while they weren't friends before, situations like these can tie even the loosest of connections close together.

As the evening wore on, and they moved onto a different card game, Ava started to get really annoyed at the asshole boy. He only seemed to respond to questions with a grunt, no matter if the question was why he chose to volunteer or even how old he was (15, Theo supplied for him).

At a pause in the games, she decided to confront him, "So what's your deal, huh?" She asked. "Cause we are all here trying to have a good time and get to know each other, and you're being all pissy and ruining the vibe. Why did you even come here if you weren't going to participate"

This got his attention, and he responded with a sneer, "Do you really want to know?"

"Of course I do, that's why I asked."

"The only reason I am here is because Theo basically begged me to, and as he seems to have the second best shot of surviving this besides me, so I figured I'd give it a shot. The reason I am not talking to you is that I simply do not see the point. None of you have given me any indication that you have what it takes to survive the Ordeals."

"What even are the Ordeals!" Ava said exasperatedly.

"Are you serious?" he said with some shock on his face before it turned into laughter after no one would meet his eyes. "Oh my god, you are! Well, let me be of service and enlighten you," he said condescendingly. "The Ordeals are when, after our little week of 'training' we are tossed outside the walls and told to find a pokemon that we can tame or die trying. It doesn't matter how injured you get or how many times you come back, unless you have a pokemon you will get tossed right back time and time again until eventually you don't come back at all. A lot of people don't come back."

He continued, "I know I will make it and Theo is gonna make it too. But the rest of you? You dead weights who have spent their time doing absolutely nothing and who seem more likely to give up and let something eat you before trying. No, I'm not gonna waste my time. So sue me if I don't feel like getting to know people who aren't even gonna last a week from now." With his outburst finished, he stormed back to the boys' barracks.

The air felt much colder than it had previously. "You know what, it's getting late, I am going to head to bed too," Amiyra quietly said. Everyone else agreed, putting the cards away and heading back to their rooms without another word.

…

When Captain Cunningham came to the computer labs at 8 a.m., everyone was already sitting with a focused look on their faces. Passing out notebooks and pens to them, she headed to the front of the room.

"As mentioned previously, my name is Captain Cunningham. I used to be a captain in the Army, but now I am an A-Rank trainer, and over the next five days I will be teaching you essential skills and information to get you prepared for your Ordeals." Ava felt she brushed over that Army fact a little bit too quickly but didn't get a chance to say anything before she continued. "Today is the first day of that teaching, and on the sixth day you will have to take your Ordeals. The notebooks provided are for you to take notes as you see fit."

She paused. "I will first go over the history of the Ordeals. When the Selection Days were first starting, the league provided starters to all the new trainers. However, small and untrained pokemon were still dangerous, and even the ones that acted tamed could turn on their owners, killing them or hurting others. One smaller city in our very own region had fallen because of this. During a large attack from wild pokemon, a lot of the supposedly tame pokemon used the confusion to attack their trainers, which led to chaos and the destruction of the entire city."

"After a lot of trial and error, the League found that the best solution was to institute what we call the Ordeals. The reason pokemon were turning on their trainers was due to the fact that they felt they were weak. Having been given to the trainers by stronger trainers and prevented from attacking by stronger trainers, most never really respected or listened to their owners. So when the opportunity arose to attack, a lot took it. To avoid this, new trainers now have to venture outside the wall without an escort and catch and tame their own starter by themselves."

"Why do we have to go without an escort?" Theo asked.

"This may seem cruel on the surface, but the Ordeals serve two important factors. The first is long-term sustainable growth as a trainer and society. Through a lot of research, we have found that this is the best way to produce real results when it comes to taming a pokemon and maintaining obedience in chaotic situations. The reason why you don't have an escort plays into the second reason. We are only able to take the strong. Training is an inherently dangerous occupation, you will be sent out and choose to go on missions outside the wall alone all the time. You will also be the one people look to in a crisis. This is a test of your resourcefulness, skill, strength, and luck. We simply do not have the time or resources to invest in people who aren't able to pass this first test."

"I can say this is for your benefit as much as I like, however I want you to understand how dangerous this test can and will be. It is very rare for everyone to come back from this test, and it hasn't happened for the past 15 years. So the odds that some of you will not make it past this week are almost guaranteed."

This caused almost all of their faces to fall.

Cunningham continued, her face like stone. "But that is why we have this week of training and why I am here. I promise to train you to the very best of my abilities, and I can only hope that you all make it back alive."

After that, Cunningham started to go over the basics that they would need to know. Ava felt overwhelmed with how little she actually knew. She had never paid attention to things related to pokemon and most people tried not to talk about them too much. So information about different typings, species, how to use potions and antidotes, and all about poke balls made her brain spin. She made sure to take notes on everything Cunningham was saying until her hand was cramping.

"We are almost done with today's session, but there are a few more things I want to talk about. The first relates to pokemon care." With that, she put her hands to her waist where a belt held five poke balls, grabbed one off and opened it, releasing a bi-pedal pokemon with black and blue fur and spikes on its hands. When it appeared, everyone except Oliver and Theo jumped to their feet. "Stand down. He won't attack you unless I order him to. This is a lucario, and he was my Ordeal pokemon." Ava had never seen a pokemon this close up before, and her heart was pounding. The lucario looked so different from anything she had ever seen, and she hoped that she did not run into anything that looked that dangerous on her own Ordeal.

Cunningham pulled out a bag of beef jerky and gave him some, which he promptly ate while she kept talking. "Feeding your pokemon is an essential part of being a trainer. Much like humans, if you starve a pokemon it doesn't matter how tamed they are, they will do most anything to get some food. While poke balls are great at slowing down injuries and keeping them in a semi-stasis, it is not a full stasis, so time will still pass. A pokemon should be released once a day to be fed, and the same goes for any stored pokemon you may have. I would personally recommend, when in a safe, letting your tamed pokemon outside their poke ball often. I have found it helps with temperament and makes them easier to tame."

Cunningham returned her lucario and pulled out her trainer ID, which contained her name, other identifying information about her, and a large A in the corner. "Trainer ranks and missions are the next topic I want to cover. I won't go in depth on this topic, but I will explain the basics. You guys are not officially trainers yet. Once you pass your Ordeal, you will be classified as an E-Rank trainer. E and D-Rank are the low rankings, as you get more experience, you can move on to the middle ranks, which contain C-Rank and B-Rank. After that are the high ranks, with A-Ranks containing the elite trainers of the region. Then there are the S-Rank trainers. The absolute strongest trainers in the city."

"The amount of pokemon you are able to have will increase per rank as well. As an E-Rank trainer, you will be able to have two pokemon with one on your person and the other having to remain in the box. As you move up ranks you are able to hold another pokemon at a time, so as a D-Rank trainer, you can have three pokemon with two on your person and the other in the box. Your poke balls will forcibly maintain this, and you won't be able to open any additional poke balls unless you follow these rules and store any extra pokemon."

"Trainers are allowed to take on missions that are their rank or the rank below them. You will only be able to take on higher ranks if you are joined by someone of that rank. Missions are classified as either D, C, B, A, or S depending on their difficulty," she said.

Ava raised her hand. "So if we want to go on a mission as an E-Rank, we would have to ask a D-Rank trainer to join us?"

"That brings up a good point," Cunningham said. "E-Rank trainers are not allowed on missions. You are only able to join missions once you become a D-Rank. The test to become a D-Rank is fairly easy and is focused on making sure your pokemon is trained and will listen to your commands in the field. Once you pass, you will be able to take on D-rank missions and will be given required missions to take. While you will never go back to being an E-Rank trainer, every pokemon you catch will have to pass the D-Rank exam in order to be allowed to join you on the field."

Flynn raised his hand to ask a question. "What happens if you can't tame your pokemon?"

"If you can't tame your pokemon you will have to retake the Ordeal and your pokemon will be put down, sold, or put to use if possible." She looked around. "I hope you find a pokemon that you can train, I would be a waste if you made it back from your first Ordeal to not come back on your second."

"That is the end of today's sessions. I will be around to answer questions, and would highly recommend using the computer lab's pokedex app over the next few days to research more about the pokemon found outside the city. One last thing before you leave," Cunningham said, pulling out six different envelopes and passing them out. "In this envelope is the gate that you will be leaving out of your Ordeal. Use this to help you in your research."

She wished them luck and left the room. Opening up the envelope, Ava found out she was assigned West Gate. As much as she doubts it, she hopes it will lead to a field of flowers that only contains easy to tame pokemon. She could at least maintain that hope until tomorrow.

Authors Note: Next chapter is the Ordeals. What pokemon do you think Ava's starter will be? Any guesses about the others too? Let me know if there is any issues you have noticed all well. Thanks for reading!