Tommy was Miss Roxanne’s number one student, so when she asked around with her gym students for a bit of help grading homework Tommy stepped up straight away!
It wasn’t normal for her. Roxanne worked really hard but she’d only ever asked for a bit of help like this once or twice. Tommy was happy to help anyway. It was kind of fun looking at the homework from boys and girls a few years below him, kind of nostalgic really.
Apparently some guy had asked to meet her about important gym stuff so she had less time after school hours to get things finished. Nobody had been able to get her to tell what the meeting was about though.
Tommy finished another pile of maths homework and brought it over to his teacher.
“Thank you Tommy,” Roxanne said, offering him a friendly smile as she put the pile to the side.
“You got any more for me?” Tommy asked. Although he really was a bit bored of marking homework now. He had no idea how the grownup girl did it all the time. Roxanne glanced down to the work she was marking, which probably included Tommy’s classwork, now he thought of it. Then Roxanne sighed.
“That is very kind of you Tommy but that’s alright. I’d wanted to try and get everything done before this meeting but it looks like I’ll have to put it off until later. Why don’t you go out and play with your friends?”
“Okay,” Tommy said, secretly glad that she was letting him go. He knew Roxanne was a bit nervous about the meeting, whatever it was about. That wasn’t really his problem though. “I’ll see you tomorrow Miss Roxanne!” Tommy shouted as he hurried out of the door.
He was more than ready now to go out and unwind and Tommy pulled out his pokeball from his pocket. Hopefully once he arrived someone would be brave enough to battle him and Geodude.
Tommy raced down the street, being extra careful to look for cars and stuff and then he arrived at the playground, only to find it had a far different atmosphere than usual.
Little Sally Gettsbrook was sat in a corner, cradling her new Teddiursa she’d been super excited about all week. Tommy had been just a bit jealous too and he’d been looking forward to seeing it. Now the Teddiursa was unconscious, its head in the girl’s lap as she cried for him to wake up.
Sally was a bit too young to understand how Pokemon worked. It took a lot to properly hurt a Pokemon. Tommy was glad to know that with a potion and a bit of rest the Teddiursa would be okay. But it wasn’t just Sally and her Teddiursa.
Some of the other kids he knew were here, looking dejected and they’d probably also had their Pokemon beaten by the sole newcomer.
He was a tall guy, probably the same age as Roxanne or maybe even older. He had a mohawk and a sleeveless leather jacket and there were a bunch of spikes coming out of the shoulders.
Georgia was facing off against him in a Pokemon battle, her Geodude glowering at the other man’s pokemon and Tommy definitely remembers this one! It was a Krokorok, one of the coolest Pokemon evolutions around with the final evolution being the super awesome Krookodile.
“Alright I’ll show you!” Georgia shouted, clearly absolutely livid as her skirt fluttered in the wind and she pointed forwards imposingly. “Geodude, use Rollout!”
“Woah,” Tommy muttered. Georgia was usually pretty quiet, or at least she wasn’t easy to rile up. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had got her so upset though.
“Yeah get him Georgia!” Shouted Jon off to the side, one of Tommy’s classmates who wasn’t allowed to have Pokemon anymore after the permanent marker incident. A few other kids were cheering her on, but they didn’t look too confident.
“Tommy, you’re here!” Shouted Rachel from off to the side.
Tommy had never been hit by a Geodude’s Rollout, or ever had anything except a bite from a Zigzagoon once when he was little, but after seeing Roxanne’s Geodude break a steel girder once he’d learnt the most important lesson of being a Pokemon Trainer. To stay out of the line of fire.
Tommy went over to stand by Rachel, giving the ongoing battle a wide birth as the Krokorok jumped over the rolling Geodude, cackling as it turned around, building up momentum to come back the other way.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
“That guy came and started challenging everyone to a battle,” Rachel said, gesturing towards the guy dressed like a punk. She glowered. “He’s super strong too and he’s been taking everyone’s pocket money as winnings.”
“What!? That’s totally unfair,” Tommy declared. That guy had a Krokorok and they were super tough! Especially against baby pokemon like most of Tommy’s friends were allowed to have.
Off to the side there was one of the kindergartners, Josh’s sister, Tommy thought. Tommy remembered she had a Happiny and now little girl was sat on her bottom, crying her eyes out after probably being made to battle that guy. Next to her was her big brother Josh, who was trying to put on a brave face. Josh had a pair of Geodudes too, but they were bought by his parents. They weren’t as strong as Tommy’s Pokemon, none of the other kids could stand up to his Geodude, but it was obvious by how tired the other boy looked that he’d lost to this guy too. Whiting out was supposed to be horrible but Josh was holding himself together. That’s why he only had the one Pokemon, he was too young for more than one.
“Go on Georgia!” Tommy shouted, absolutely infuriated. “You show that guy who’s boss!”
Georgia couldn’t really do much right now except watch though as her Geodude kept building up speed. This had to be the fastest Tommy had ever seen it go. Usually by this point the battle would be over, even Tommy had lost against her once when her Geodude picked up speed.
That might’ve been just because his Geodude had a crush on hers though which was just super icky. Tommy and his Geodude’s friendship had been heavily challenged that evening until they’d become friends again.
Still the Krokorok was dodging and jumping over her Geodude like it was a game and the Pokemon’s trainer didn’t look so serious either.
“Alright…” the grownup said. “Go on Krokorok, let’s finish this one up, there’s another kid here we can Crunch!”
Obeying its trainers instructions the Krokorok stopped playing around. It reached out with one hand and Tommy’s eyes went wide as Georgia’s Geodude rolled right into it. Even with how fast the Geodude had been rolling the Krokorok didn’t break a sweat stopping it, the Geodude’s momentum rapidly burning off as it scraped the playground, leaving a furrow in the ground.
The Krokorok chortled before leaning down and biting onto Georgia’s Geodude, the wispy smoke of a Dark-type move around its teeth.
The Krokorok lifted its head up with the Geodude still in it before flinging its head forwards, letting go of Geodude and sending it flying back across the playground. Georgia’s Geodude rolled to a stop, unconscious.
“There goes another one,” the bully said stepping towards Georgia with his Krokorok smirking beside him. “Come on kid, fork over your money.”
Georgia scowled as she pulled out some Pokedollars from her pocket.
“Jerk,” she muttered, eyes welling up a bit.
Tommy’s lips became set in a line. If Georgia couldn’t beat this guy then there was only one person left who could!
“Hey butthole!” Tommy shouted as he came over. “Try battling someone your own size!”
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Well, Tommy wasn’t as tall as that guy either, actually Georgia was a bit taller than him too, but it was the principle of the thing! You were supposed to say something like that when you confronted bullies.
The bully smirked as Tommy approached him and that Krokorok’s lips pulled back to reveal lots of big teeth like it was ready ot gobble him up.
Tommy swallowed but didn’t let the Pokemon intimidate him.
“Another one,” the punkish bully chortled. “C’mon kid, how much you got to bet?”
Tommy tightened his fist and was about to respond when something caught his eye.
It was another grownup coming onto the playground. He was a guy with square glasses over his brown hair and he was wearing a jacket over a sky blue shirt and pants. He kind of looked like a teacher or something with the leather satchel strung over one shoulder but Tommy’d definitely recognise him if he was.
What stood out most though was the Gardevoir standing just behind his other shoulder.
“Hi, sorry,” the guy said. He grimaced bashfully. “I don’t suppose any of you guys could point me to the Trainer School could you? I’m late for a meeting.”
This must be the guy Roxanne was meeting! Tommy realised. She’d be super upset by now if this guy was already late. He’d better help this guy out.
“I’ll take you,” he said. “But first I’ve gotta win back all my friends’ pocket money!”
The bully snorted. “What? It’s just pocket money, get a grip.”
Then he stopped, seeing the unimpressed look on the other grownup’s face.
“You’ve been picking on children for their pocket money?” The new guy asked, slightly incredulously as he looked the bully up and down.
“Yeah, so what?” The bully asked. “It’s all fun and games innit? What, gonna try and battle me with your eye candy, four eyes? Does that Gardevoir even battle?” He asked snidely, looking the slender Pokemon up and down. “Or do you use it for other things?”
The Gardevoir at the man’s side blushed and turned to press her head into her trainer’s shoulder. The man patted its head absent mindedly, eyes not leaving the bully.
“I try not to use her for battles,” the nerdy looking guy said flatly. There was a kind of resignation about his tone that Tommy didn’t understand but he didn’t have any time to think about it right now. The guy pushed up his glasses as his expression turned into a frown.
“But I do have a Pokemon that could stretch his legs a bit. How about a one on one battle? If you win I’ll double whatever you won off these kids. If you lose you give back all the money you took and never come back here.”
Alright! Tommy had wanted to battle that guy but even though his Geodude was definitely the strongest amongst all his friends he really hadn’t liked his chances. Whoever this guy was he must’ve been a strong trainer if Roxanne was meeting him. He even had a Gardevoir and they were a final evolution too!
The bully obviously didn’t know what was going on but it looked like he sensed something was off. Then he scoffed, smirk coming back.
“I want triple,” he said.
“Done,” the other man replied easily, waving his hand as if it didn’t matter.
“I’ll be referee,” Tommy said immediately. He wanted a front row seat to what was about to happen.
“Don’t need no referees,” the punk said, turning stride across the playground to where he’d been standing before. His Krokorok went to stand in front of him, leaning forward slightly with arms spread wide in an aggressive stance. The other man went to stand opposite him, the Pokeball in his hand expanded to normal size, held at the ready. The Gardevoir wandered off to the side, going to kneel down by Sally and her Teddiursa.
Tommy took his own position to the side. He did a bit of refereeing and he’d had practice with some of Roxanne’s gym battles. He couldn’t wait to see what this guy was going to bring out.
The man didn’t throw the Pokeball or anything, opening it from his palm to summon the Pokemon he’d be battling that Krokorok with.
The energy took on the form of the pokemon, fading quickly to reveal…
“Marill!” Declared the small blue mouse as it jumped up to bounce on the ball on the end of its tail. The Pokemon’s mouth was set in a big smile as it looked around the playground cheerfully.
“What the fu-, I mean heck?” Tommy asked incredulously, remembering there were younger kids here.
Also he shouldn’t be swearing either. Georgia would definitely tattle on him to Roxanne if she heard him swear.
Everybody else watching seemed equally as surprised.
“I thought you might actually be a challenge. This is gonna be a slaughter!” The punk on the other side of the playground stated confidently, and Tommy couldn’t help but agree.
“Err, mister,” Tommy asked, remembering training with Roxanne about warning people when it looked like a battle might be unfair. “Are you sure that’s the Pokemon you meant to send out?” The man with the glasses looked back at him.
“Yes,” he replied, nodding and apparently not understanding what Tommy was trying to say. He gestured towards the Krokorok. “I have a type advantage,” he pointed out.
Well yeah. A Krokorok was ground typed and a Marill was a water type so on paper it made sense.
But that was a Marill. That Krokorok was like three times bigger than it!
This guy was just one of those grownups with a few Pokemon, but the kind that didn’t really know how to battle, wasn’t he? Tommy sighed. He’d been really hoping this guy would be strong like Roxanne.
The Marill bounced up and down cheerfully, smiling and waving with its eyes closed, the utmost impression of cheerfulness. It seemed completely oblivious to its surroundings or the big scary Pokemon across the improvised arena.
“Whenever you’re ready to start us off,” the man said, reminding Tommy that he had a job to do.
Tommy grimaced. But the battle was basically ready to start now.
“O-okay this is a one on one battle and the winner will be decided by knockout,” Tommy said with as much authority as he could muster.
He raised his hand and then chopped down the way he’d been taught.
“Begin!”
“Use Bite and end this!” The bully shouted gleefully. “After this I’m gonna be able to get a new tattoo!”
On the other side of the field the Marill immediately stopped bouncing. Leaning forward its eyes were open and teeth bared as its entire demeanour suddenly changed from friendly and jolly to something downright vicious that made Tommy take an instinctive step back.
“Aqua Tail.”
The Marill charged forward immediately, its eyes wide and mad in a way Tommy had never seen before. From around its tail a vortex of water appeared, growing larger by the moment as the two Pokemon closed the distance.
“Wh-what!” the bully shouted as the attack grew even larger, taller than the playground’s wire net fencing! “Krookodile, dodge it!”
“Mar-illll!” The Pokemon shouted, jumping and spinning, dragging the immensely large attack around with its tail to slam into the Krokorok’s forward pointing head. It had no opportunity to react before it was sent flying.
The crocodile Pokemon went through the wire netting, stopping part way through with its butt sticking up comically and dust billowing around from the collision.
It had been knocked out in one hit.
Tommy’s mouth hung open for a few seconds until he remembered again that he was supposed to be being referee.
“Marill wins,” Tommy declared. As if that was the moment they’d been waiting for, the other girls and boys suddenly cheered.
“Hey wait a minute, that don’t make sense!” The bully shouted. He scowled as he pulled out a pokeball and withdrew his Pokemon. “There’s no way tha-”
“Marill!” the Marill declared brightly from the man’s feet. The small blue mouse had moved right in front of the guy while nobody was looking and was now bouncing up and down on its tail again with a cheerful demeanour. It was looking up at him with a jolly smile that completely belied the vicious glee with which it had beaten the Krokorok a few moments ago.
Whatever complaints the punk was about to make died in his throat.
“O-okay!” He said, stepping back and away in a hurry. He thrust his hands into his pocket and pulled out loads of money in change and notes. He threw it on the ground and then raced away and out of the playground like a pack of Houndoom were on his tail.
“Good job Marill,” the stranger said. “Return.”
The Marill didn’t stop bouncing even as the energy beam of the Pokeball reached it and managed to call out its name one more time before disappearing back into its Pokeball.
Tommy looked back at the unknown man and it was then that he remembered the Gardevoir was there. It was leaning down over one of the other kid’s Pokemon and it was using some move to help heal them. Sally was already hugging her confused looking Teddiursa that looked tired but otherwise perfectly fine again and they were both looking up at the green and white Pokemon with awe.
“I’ll leave Gardevoir here to finish healing everyone’s Pokemon,” the man said, approaching Tommy. “D’you mind showing me the way to the Trainer School now? I’d rather not keep Roxanne waiting any longer than I have to.”
“O-Oh yeah sure,” Tommy agreed quickly. “C’mon, I’ll show you the way.”
He shouted and waved goodbye to everyone and then quickly started to lead the man towards the school.
“Thank you for your help,” the man said with relief as they walked through the streets. “Seriously I can’t figure out where I’m going in this city, it’s an absolute maze.”
“It’s no problem,” Tommy said, not really getting what he meant. Tommy’d never had any trouble getting around Rustboro.
Then his curiosity returned.
“So… why are you meeting Roxanne?” Tommy asked.
“Oh nothing special really. I just wanted to ask her advice about a few things,” the man said before elaborating and dropping another surprise on the boy.
“I’m going to try and become Hoenn’s next Gym Leader.”