It was the day of the ceremony, Anya and Samuel had arrived at the venue entrance, where they were ambushed by an overabundance of energetic fans, shouting and screaming towards their idol. Recalling his Alakazam which was used to teleport into the indigo plateau. Anya didn't even get to exchange a single word with the psychic type after their quick introductions before he was gone.
Samuel casually walked forward and the human tide parted their ways, obviously being used to such madness.
The noise stopped and was replaced with whispers and murmurs, as many of the onlookers finally noticing the new Pokémon at Samuel's side and pointing their fingers at her. Anya could hear a word from here and a word from there. From what she found out, many of them were judging her from her appearance of not looking strong enough to be here. Being overwhelmed by the amount of attention on her caused her to slowly lose her pace and eventually getting separated from Samuel.
Samuel not noticing Anya's predicament calmly walked towards the reception the encirclement of humans closing behind him.
The receptionist held her smile through the situation. Samuel arrived in front of her and she greeted him.
"Greetings Mr. Samuel Oak. Everything is in order, we are on time"
Samuel nodded and confirmed "Alright".
"Please proceed through these door on my right and follow the signs to the main prep room" she held her right hand out and motioned towards the door next to her.
He nodded and was about to walk through the doors when he noticed that a certain someone was missing and his surroundings unnaturally quiet for some reason, only some insults were heard coming from the entrance of the room. 'Anya' he thought while quickening his pace back outside.
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Forcibly separated from Samuel, Anya's emotions roiled in panic. The wave of humans kept a short distance away from her, but not parting like they had when Samuel walked through. Only staring at her emanating hostility, she didn't know who it was but someone said it first "Get out". It was obviously directed at her, this first shout out opened the floodgates and insult after insult was thrown at her. 'You don't belong here' and 'get out' was the most common ones she heard.
Each fanboy and fangirl not wanting their favorite Pokémon to be replaced by Anya shouted at her, the voice level rising by the seconds. Anya's emotions went to overdrive and she curled herself into a ball, eyes watering and droplets of tears falling down one after another, never before had she felt such unfair and baseless hostility towards herself.
A loud roar was heard as an angry Samuel stomped towards her. He shouted, anger evident in his voice. "What the hell guys!" he addressed his fans.
"I thought you guys were civil enough" his anger faded
"Bullying an innocent Pokémon for being with me? Without knowing anything about her!?" Samuel's voice had silenced the crowd. He went to his knees and wrapped his hand around Anya, trying to comfort her.
Someone in the crowd voiced out "A Pokémon like that shouldn't be allowed to be with you!" another shouted "Yeah! A bug-type could never replace any of your great Pokémon!"
Samuel's head whipped towards the direction of the voice "Who said she was a replacement?" he said in a calm and clear voice obviously trying not to frighten Anya even more. A low murmur had started through the crowd.
"Let me tell you, I do not approve of your actions towards my friend here." "Anya here is a good friend of mine and I brought her here to see the whole show today"
The crowd had gone silent.
"Anya here" Samuel started while calmly rubbing Anya's back "Has a gift, nothing like I have ever seen before, And I swear none of you have seen it either". He stood up and gently lifted Anya from the ground.
"What is it?" someone asked curiously.
a smile appeared on Samuel's face "Tailoring" he answered, the crowd still silent, taking that as a sign to continued. "She is smart enough to make her own clothes, These silky white clothes she is wearing are in fact 100% made by her" he said while taking hold of the long seamless sleeve. "And she was a wild Pokémon just a few days ago, Any of you read about the 'ghost' of Pallet town?"
There was a nod here and there, some grunts of approval too. "For those who haven't heard, She was the 'ghost', her story of being chased out of her home forest by the awakened Beedrill colonies."
"Did you find and capture her during that day?" someone asked from the crowd
"No" Samuel answered, while shaking his head "I saw a bunch of beginner trainers using their Pokémon to bully her. She did not fight back at all, just took multiple 'embers' from a pair of Growlithe all the while a group of other Pokémon attacked at her." There was a short silence, Samuel sighed. "I sent out my Dragonite to stop the fight, shielding her from the damage. An officer was called and the situation escalated"
"Wait? You helped a Pokémon you had never seen before in your whole life? Why? You knew it was theirs to capture" someone asked in confusion
Samuel sighed shook his head in resignation "I had a debt towards her, she had saved my life once before"
This caused a wave of shock and surprise in the crowd. Their hero being saved by a bug-type wasn't something they were expecting to hear on day like this.
"The thing was, I knew the other party had the rights of capture as stated in the Pokémon trainer rulebook, the officer being there enforcing the rules. I was prepared to buy her off from the other group of trainers, just so I could repay my debt."
"That sounds like you didn't have to? They gave it to you?"
"No" Samuel chuckled "They didn't have any pokéballs with them for some reason, they had to forfeit their claim, I got my chance to take her away. We talked for a while and she decided, she was okay to live with me and allowed me to capture her."
"What was this about it saving your life?" a person wielding a microphone asked, pressing for more information.
Suddenly the room went dark, many were surprised, someone touched Samuel's shoulder, he understood right away and they were gone when the darkness faded.
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"I really don't like to travel through shadow sneak" Samuel said annoyed towards the only other human in the room.
"Yeah, it needs some time to get used to it" He was answered
"Anyway, thanks for the assist Agatha. You too Gengar"
"No problem. I sent Gengar to keep an eye on you. Imagine my surprise when you both just appeared next to me." She said while recalling her Pokémon.
"Yeah, about that, Anya? are you okay?" Anya has been calm for some time already, but she has been quite embarrassed to be held princess style and had quieted down. Waiting to be put down. Anya was feeling a bit disoriented due to the sudden shift of location, she nodded weakly at Samuel and was promptly put down.
Anya stood up and looked around, she could see the studying look on the oldish lady's face. Samuel introduced them soon afterwards.
"Anya, meet my good friend and rival, Agatha" Anya nodded and made an awkward curtsey, lifting her dress' hem while making a small bow and bending her knees and saying "vA NY vA" in a distorted and unnatural voice.
"You weren't kidding about her being smart, she could spell own her name, even if it sounds a bit odd and unnatural. But now that I know I hear it clear as day" Agatha stared at her in a mild shock.
Agatha looked at the clock on the wall and said "You took way too long time in the lobby, we barely have any time to catch up now. You should hurry to the preparations room and prepare as best as you can, get into the right headspace and so on. I'll look after her and you'll see us in the front row seats."
Samuel nodded and said "Right! I'll see you guys soon, keep her safe Agatha, she doesn't seem to do well with masses." He said while he hurried away, leaving Anya with Agatha.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
The room was awkwardly quiet for a while, Agatha not being used to chat with unfamiliar Pokémon, just curiously observed Anya. Noting the dress' interesting design and how she fidgeted under her watching gaze, actively avoiding eye contact. Agatha chuckled and said "We too better get going" she said and Anya cautiously nodded.
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We arrived at the front row seats, the stadium was packed full of people, each and everyone with their own reasons for coming. Thousands of people had gathered, all to watch the entitlement ceremony of Samuel Oak.
The whole event started quite formally but soon turned to a snooze fest when the current president of indigo league started to drone out an never ending speech listing out. After the 30-ish minute speech ended.
"... it pleases me to be the first one to congratulate you. Congratulations! Professor Samuel Oak!"
After a loud clap, white smoke filled the arena, a hatch opened on the other side and Samuel was confidently standing on a platform which was slowly ascending.
The crowd went wild, Professor Samuel Oak was welcomed with a thunderous applause and cheering. The cheering lasted while the platform was reaching its apex, next to the president. With a clear click the audience stopped their cheering and settled back down. Thousands of people were waiting for Samuel as he slowly reached for his microphone.
"I. t-*Screeech*" an ear piercing screech ran through the speakers, soon following a series of thumps and a few audio tests by some technical assistants.
Anya let out a small giggle as somehow this fit on a certain trope which was popular all around.
"Apologies, As I was saying. I thank everyone for coming here to witness my entitlement, I do not have any fancy speech to share with you all, but I think most of you have had your fill of droning speech" he chuckled at the end.
"I will give my thanks to the Champion, his elite four
and the whole of Pokémon league for their support. I would like to thank my friends, my family and my fans for standing by my side no matter what. Lastly I would like to thank the Indigo Research Institute for their help during my research to make this possible."
The ceremony soon ended with the president giving Samuel a hat, a decree and a handshake. To which Samuel bowed afterwards.
Now that the ceremony was over the host called out "We will now take a fifteen minute intermission to have the exhibition battler ready themselves"
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"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to the exhibition match of the freshly baked Pokémon professor SAMUEL OAK versus the last season's battle hardened elite four contender PAUL" The announcer's voice boomed through the stadium. "We are using the standard 5 on 5 singles league showmatch set rules, which means no items, one substitution only allowed in case of knockout and otherwise recalling your Pokémon means the Pokémon is no longer allowed to battle."
The announcer went through Samuel's and Paul's recent battling history and compared their fighting styles and previous team composition.
Agatha sat next to me and scoffed, she then looked at me and asked "How much do you know about competitive battling?" I shook my head and made a shrug.
"Don't know? Want me to explain some rules?"
Sure I thought and nodded
"Each trainer can have up to six registered battlers, this match being a five on five singles means that each battler is only allowed to use five out of their six Pokémon. This allows for some situational variation of strategy. You still with me?"
I nodded while she continued her explanation, she continued to talk all the way until the announcers voice boomed again.
"Everything seems to be ready, please welcome our defender to the battlegrounds! He came all the way from Pallet town, winning most of his battles, completing the circuit in record time and becoming a Pokémon professor, give it up for SAMUEL OAK!" The audience loudly cheered as Samuel walked to the middle of the field confidently while waving to the audience. He seems to enjoy being in the spotlight, his head calmly turning around and his waves followed after.
His eyes met mine and his smile widened, he stared at me for a while before continuing to slowly walk forward. The cameraman following his gaze and zoomed towards my seat. The large screen showing me and Agatha sitting next to each other, I didn't really like the attention it was giving me, even the announcer talked. "What do we have here, here in the challengers reserved seats we have another top tier trainer, Agatha and what's this? a Pokémon? sitting in the seat next to her. Unbelievable!" Agatha scoffed, she wasn't amused at all, the joking manner the announcer was subtly downgrading. Or that's how it felt to me. I took a quick look around, was I the only Pokémon I could see sitting in the seats? I couldn't find any even if I tried to look for a while.
The camera changed "Here let us welcome the challenger, the elite four contender, PAUL!" The audience boomed again in cheers and a man's head with blond hair, blue eyes and a clean blonde goatee was shown on the camera. He winked at the camera and a loud fawning noise was heard.
The camera panned outwards finally showing his whole figure, He was wearing a light blue open shirt his well toned six pack in the open, long blue pants with black stripes held by his belt that had six pokéballs on it.
The introduction lasted for a while. Agatha had scoffed again, she even mouthed that she did not like Paul at all, something about his attitude ticked her wrong. I didn't really know him, so I couldn't tell.
Both battlers met in the middle, shook each others hands, said few words and walked back to their 'command podiums' as Agatha had called them. The podiums rose to the air and both of them took out a pokéball on their hand signaling they were ready. The announcer boomed yet again.
"Both battlers have chosen their first Pokémon, on release, GET SET, READY, RELEASE!" the audience loudly joining the announcer on the countdown. It was impressive, the unity of the audience made my heart go wild in excitement.
Two Pokémon were released on to the battlefield my eyes following both of the released energies.
"The Pokémon are in the air!"
Two Pokémon, both which I could recognize appeared at the field. One a bulky tortoise with tubes coming out of its shell, a Blastoise and the other which oak threw out was the one I had seen before. "Paul had sent out his first ever Pokémon, Blastoise and Samuel Oak sent out his team's strongest powerhouse, Dragonite. This battle is going to be wild right from the start"
Both Pokémon stood out in front of their trainers intently watching each other. The announcer said "READY! GO!".
The moment the announcer said 'go' I noticed that both trainers had given an initial order beforehand.
The ground shook quickly, sand dusting from the ground, I lost my sight as the Dragonite slammed the ground in what I would assume was 'Earthquake'.
The dust settled soon, while jet of water was blasted upwards, the 'Earthquake' had caused the Blastoises aim to falter.
"A glorious beginning move from Oak's Dragonite, the ground shook, Blastoise stumbled and missed!" The announcer confirming my deduction.
The battle continued, both sides following their respective masters orders. The pace of the battle was moving faster and faster I noticed. Soon enough my eyes only managed to gain glimpses of the battlers every now and then. The stadium flashed and the crowd cheered loudly, I missed it?.
"What a stunning mastery of acrobatics from Dragonite, Weaving through Blastoise's signature twin Hydro Pump and landing a beautiful Thunder Punch at his opponent. Knocking it out and taking the lead!"
"Oak's Dragonite will continue battling, Paul must choose his next Pokémon"
A flash later and a Lapras appeared, the audience boomed in cheers. "What's this, Paul sending out his ace already, Seems like he needs to get rid of Dragonite as soon as possible"
The battle continued, Lapras wasn't fast moving but the amount and the speed of ice shards that stormed out from its mouth was insane.
Dragonite had landed and intercepted the barrage of ice, a glow appeared on his scales, he shot out a wave of lightning afterwards, which at a glance didn't do anything.'
I have no idea what is going on, the two Pokémon fighting is what I get but I can't recognize half of the moves they are using.
Suddenly the sky darkened and pieces of ice fell down, 'Hail' I thought but soon afterwards, it was replaced with bright sunlight, causing me to jolt. A flash of lightning later the battle halted again. Listening to the announcer who called out "Dragonite is unable to battle, please select your next Pokémon." Soon afterwards "Challenger Paul has chosen to use his substitute to return his Lapras, Defender please release another Pokémon before the Challenger"
Dragonite was down, from the looks of it he did a marvelous job. Taking out one and significantly weakening another. Samuel still got this.
Samuel send out an Exeggutor, Paul took a moment and finally sent out a Tentacruel
The announcer shout out the names and the battle continued.
I tried to follow the fast paced battle of an Exeggutor who was running around the battlefield and shooting Tentacruel with purple psychic energies I believe. A benefit of having three heads I guess? Tentacruel was using its countless tentacles to jab at the fast moving coconut tree. A shout from its trainer and the weather changed yet again, now it was raining and the Exeggutor slowed down noticeably, so did my sight as the downpour hindered the visibility of the field.
Tentacruel finally fast enough to catch the running Exeggutor jabbed its tentacle straight at the palm tree, suddenly in a flash of stars and darkness, the Tentacruel slowed down again, anger clearly showing in its eyes. Soon the Tentacruel was down, managing only to land a single attack.
The Exeggutor looked to be in good condition and eager to battle more. Looking around I saw Agatha quietly looking at the battleground deep in thought.
The rest of the match went by fast, Paul's Poliwrath and Kingler couldn't do anything to the Exeggutor and Lapras had barely put it down. The final fight between and extremely tired Lapras and a fresh out of ball Tauros was anticlimactic as Lapras went down after a single takedown.
The battlers met again at the middle of the battleground shook hands. The defeated congratulating the victor before going separate ways.
Announcer was blabbering nonsense about the match and we took our leave. We saw Samuel being mobbed by a swarm of reporters each asking him questions about his recent battle and his future plans as a Pokémon professor.
Samuel calmly answered each and every question. Me and Agatha silently stood at the side, waiting for them to clear out. After the reporters left satisfied, Samuel walked towards us, he was yet again swarmed by his fans... many of them asking autographs and handshakes.
Agatha held her head. I noticed something, if Agatha was Samuel's rival, then shouldn't she also have a group of fans following her around?
I was still a bit puzzled, when Samuel arrived we left as fast as possible.