After the class we were all too happy to spend time tending to our eggs, I talked to the pokemon inside, telling Totodile about my hopes and dreams, how its father was my dad’s starter, about Teddy and my family, until I fell asleep.

The next day was just awful, more exercise in physical conditioning, the only difference our torturer prepared unique routines for each one of us, pushing each student to their limit. I don’t even remember returning to my room and falling asleep.

Friday began with pain all over my body, but I forced myself to get up and grab breakfast before our second pokemon battling class.

It was a different building from Monday’s class, it was called Battle Simulation Stage. Once inside I found myself watching a life-sized hologram of two pokemon battling, Gengar against Nidorino, their movements look simplistic as they use one move each, as if they are taking turns to attack.

I recognize Jerry standing near with some of the other graduates, he recognizes me and signals for me to approach him.

“Today’s class is in room 11”, he explains, “Go through that door until you find the room, teacher Jordan is already in there”.

I thank him and walk in the direction he pointed to, going through the door I find a corridor, doors by each side numbered, I keep going until finding a door with the number eleven on it.

Inside the room I see teacher Jordan by the entrance sitting in a computer station with multiple monitors, all around the room a hundred computer stations facing the front of the room.

“Good morning Gabe, pick a computer and take a seat”, says teacher Jordan, “class will start in ten minutes”.

I notice Irene is already there sitting by the front, she just glances at me and proceeds to ignore my existence. I find a station next to Melody, who is already in the room, no sign of Flavio. There are no more than ten students, showing the exhaustion from yesterday hit some of us harder than others.

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As the minutes go by, our peers start arriving until all hundred of us are in the classroom, with Flavio taking the computer next to me.

“Good morning everyone, I imagine you all must be tired from your class with Savannah, that’s why Friday’s classes will be held here, a more relaxed environment”, explains Teacher Jordan.

“The Battle Simulation Stage is a building dedicated to the use of technology to help trainers perfect their craft, as this system provides an incredible resource to practice pokemon battles in such a way that is fun and educative”.

“Please connect your pokedex to the computer in front of you, you will find all your data in the screen and some choices for your training”.

“The first choice is Journey Mode, this one is a 2D game which will set your avatar in the starting town of your region and the starter pokemon you received in your team, the idea is for your to travel through the region, capture pokemon, defeat trainers and gyms until you get eight badges”.

That sounds incredibly fun, I try to pick the Journey and it’s locked, teacher Jordan looks at us with a smirk on his face, “don’t be impatient and let me finish”.

“The second choice is Challenge Mode, using the pokemon you have trained and captured in the first mode you will be able to battle your classmates, the importance of this mode is you can bet your points in battle, which will help increase your school ranking, just make sure to prepare properly before accepting a challenge or your ranking will drop quickly”.

“The third choice is Practice Mode, in this you can choose any pokemon in the system and test it on battle against any pokemon of your choice controlled by Sys here”, from his station a rounded, pink, birdlike pokemon, appears out of nowhere and looks around the room, “Sys is a Porygon2, an artificial pokemon capable of manipulating computer systems, besides some other more advanced uses, Sys is also the one managing every computer station in this room making for an easier administration of the system”.

“The fourth choice is Study Mode, where you can read a more extensive information on each pokemon, their moves, known locations, you can even watch battles recorded by the League with those pokemon at different levels, in there you will have access to almost every kind of information you will ever need as a pokemon trainer”.

“Finally, you have the Evaluation Mode, which you can use to test your knowledge and receive an evaluation of your current level, which will also suggest ways to improve using the system. By the end of the semester, points will be given based on the evaluation you receive and will help with your school ranking”.

“Let me tell you, this is one of the most important stages of your development as first years, all the knowledge you need to succeed is in here and how far you improve will depend on how much effort and dedication you put into learning”.

“For the time being, your systems are locked to Grade-0 information, meaning limited pokemon and information, they will be upgraded as you complete the Journey Mode and the Evaluation Mode, my recommendation is to begin with an evaluation and see where the system takes you after”.

“You can begin now”, he takes a seat and Sys disappears into the computer station, “Feel free to come to me if you have any questions”.