Pokeumans Room181 Chapter 2

Author's Note: This is set a few days after Chapter 1, at the same time as the second half of Chapter 3 of Brandon's story.


I opened my eyes. Grey. I sat up. Grey, as far I could see. Dull landscape surrounded me.

How did I get here? I remember falling asleep, and then... I was here. Is this some kind of special dream dimension or something? Am I about to get a mysterious message? I hope not. Being an Ampharos is cool, but that sort of camp thing really should stick to stories.

Suddenly I heard a voice. A teenage guys voice like mine, but it sounded tinny and far-off. I prepared myself for a deep insight. I didn't get one.

'Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? How do you make this work... Am I in? Can you hear me?'

I could see a vauge figure in the fog-like greyness, but before I could tell who or even what species it began to fade away.

'Ah! I'm in! Hello, I bring mysterious news abo- No! Stupid Dream Smoke! Don't do that! Damn...'

The greyness faded away and there was a sensation of falling. I just had time to wonder what that was about before I woke up. Forcefully.


---




'WAAGH! What was that?!' I shouted as the sound of air horns began to die away.

'Ow...My head...' Jess crawled out of her bunk. 'Who did that?'

'Dunno,' I said, 'but I'm tempted to give them some extra nostrils when I find out.'

'Get in the queue.' Danny groaned. 'At the sound doesn't revibrate inside your head. The echoes will drive me mad.'

'Man...At least we don't have super-sensitive ears or anything,' Jess said in a tired voice as she pulled herself out of her bed. 'I'd hate to be a Clefable, they can hear a pin drop half a mi-HOW ON EARTH IS KIERAN STILL ASLEEP?!'

I grinned. Kieran is an evolved form of Abra, which means he could sleep through an A-bomb strike. I stuck my head out of the door and turned right at the end of the corridor. After that you just follow the shouting.

At Room 448, a sheepish looking Lucario was stood in the doorway in front of the baying crowd.  'Oops, did we wake you up?' he said awkwardly.

'Yeah you did.' That Haunter really spoke for the crowd there.

'Sorry, won't happen again!' the Lucario said (I think his name's Brandon or something) and closed the door quickly. Better hadn't, I thought, or I'm giving you those nostrils I promised. Though those spikes may count as piercings anyway...

The door of Room 181 (my room, for those who don't know) slid open and Jess looked at me, a cross between rage and desperation written on her face. 'I swear, I'll end up killing Kieran some day. Do you know the first thing he said? Did you hear something? He'll drive me mad.'

'I said I'm sorry, I'm just a heavy sleeper,' Kieran said in mock defensiveness.

'Heavy?! Believe me,' Danny said, 'I know about heavy, and we need a new measuring scale for you.'

'Yes, well, when we all stop fighting I got a notice on the way back,' I said. 'There's a tournament later today.'

'A tournament?!' they all said excitedly.

'You sound like a bunch of Chatots. Yes, a tourney. Now come on, let's get breakfast. I'm starving.'


---


But because we were psyched up over the tourney the rest of the day dragged. The training grounds, the pool, just lazing around, nothing held our attention. 'I never thought the gym could be so dull, especially when I need something to do,' Jess moaned on the way back to the room.

'Shhh!' Kieran said. 'Don't say that or Mr Gamlina will have you doing laps of Sky Pillar.'

(Author's Note: Sky Pillar is a structure within the base that, internally, resembled a mine shaft. The gym teachers realised that making Flying types do laps of a track was pointless, as they either flew, which was cheating, or didn't, and collapsed in five minutes as this is what their wings are for. They decided the trick was to still make them do laps of something, but to design the 'running' course vertically instead.)

'Whatever,' I said as the door slid open. 'We actually don't have that long left anyway. I was thinking- Hey, what's that?' Something silver was lying on Jess' bed. I picked it up for her. It was a TM. I knew there was a TM shop on-site, but Jess hadn't been there recently. As I thought, a scrap of paper floated down. I read it. 'TM 91 Flash Cannon. A little gift for your metallic friend. See you around! S.' I frowned. Who knows Jess, knows us well enough to buy TMs for us?

'Hey, let me see that!' Jess snatched the note out of my hand and read it. Then again, her eyes scowering the note as if daring it to offend her.. Then, calmly, she screwed it up. 'Oh, I see. It's a present for Danny. How nice,' and no Muk contained as much acid as Jess' tone did in that moment.

'Er, Jess? Who's it from?' I asked tentatively.

Her eyes flickered to the note. 'No-one important. Well Danny, you may as well use it.'

'Uh, Jess?' said Danny cautiously. 'I can't learn Flash Cannon.'

'Oh really? Well that proves that he doesn't actually know anything about me or my friends. What a surprise.' Jess said sarcastically. Before I could ask what was going on, the PA announced 'The tourney begins soon. Please make your way to the gym if you are interested.'

'Come on,' Jess said. 'I want good seats,' and with that she hautily walked out. I looked at Kieran, who just shrugged. Even with a 4-digit IQ, he can't understand girls either.


---


We miraculously found some seats near the front. I was just making my way over when I trod on a foot.

'Oh, sorry!'

'You better be!'

I turned and looked looked at the Deino. 'You're...Lizzy, wasn't it?'

'Lizzy? Really? I'm LUKE, for goodness sake,' he said impatiently. 'Can't you tell?'

I looked at him and my honest answer would be 'No', but instead I said 'Oh, sorry. Do you know Lizzy?'

'Yeah. She's my sis. Why does it matter to you?'

He seemed really rude, but before I could comment a voice shouted 'Sorry, Luke!' and I turned to see Lizzy running this way. 'Oh...and Cam too! You ok?'

'Uh... yeah... no hard feelings?'

She seemed confused for a second, but then she smiled brightly and said 'No, of course not! It would be silly to be mad over Battle Class, eh, Luke?'

'Hmph. Whatever. Are you sat here or not?'

'Oh! Sorry!' and she ran over.

I looked at the two of them. She was so kind and he was a brat but they seemed really close. It's really sweet to see that sort of thing.

'So, who's fighting?' Danny said as I sat down.

'Um... Sabrina, Nathan, Wendy, Lydia, Sarah, Kyle, Reggie and Brandon,' Kieran listed.

'Brandon? Aren't they a bit strong for him?' I frowned.

'Yeah, I thought that too,' Jess commented. 'Still, give him a chance and all that.'

To add more fun, we placed 'bets' on who would win. I was sure Nathan would do it, but Jess' 'back the wild card' plan paid off and Brandon won. I noticed he recovered from really serious attacks. Must be all the meditating under waterfalls or whatever.

And there was this Riolu watching him really closely. Must be the new President of the Brandon Fan Club.

'That was awesome!' I said as we left the arena through the gym and pool area. 'I've never seen a real battle tournament before.'

'They're always great,' Danny added with a smile. 'Some day, I want ot be good enough to enter one of them.'

'It was especially awesome for Jess,' Kieran mentioned. 'We collectively owe her 3 zillion imaginary quid.'

'How much is a zillion?' I muttered out of the corner of my mouth.

'Oh, you know, a trillion squillion.'

'Are we still talking real numbers?'

'Whatever,' Jess said, 'just make sure you pay up. I'd hate it if you didn't.'

'Wouldn't you just,' a voice from the shadows said. Our heads snapped round.

'I certainly would,' A Golduck... Alex, I think it was, from Battle Class a few days ago, said calmly, striding out.

'Oh, hello,' I said 'What do you want?'

'Why, hello Sparkles. I'd like a rematch.'

'A rematch? Sure, if you don't mind embarrasment. And the name's Cam, by the way,' I said.

'Great!' Alex said with sarcastic enthusiasm. 'But say, there are four of you and only one of me. Let's make it fair.'

'What, tie my hands behind my back?'

Alex smiled at this comment and loudly said 'Come on in, guys!'

A blur shot through the doorway, but before I saw what it was huge thudding noises came from the corridor and a massive Exeggutor walked in to stand beside Alex. The blur stopped by Alex as well, to reveal a Flygon.

'Sorry I'm late!' came a voice from behind, and I turned to see a potted plant run over to Alex's side. A Sudowoodo! I'd completely missed him and he was there the whole time! The world of Pokemon is a strange, strange place.

'Let me introduce my friends Russel, Louise and Harry,' Alex said. 'Lets try again shall we?'

'Give us a sec,' I said in response.

'By all means.'  Alex's cool smile was really starting to get on my nerves.

We huddled together to pick targets. I got Alex, Kieran took Louise (Flygon), Jess got Harry (Sudowoodo) and Danny took Russel (Exeggutor).

'Jess...' I mentioned as we did these decisions, 'Are you sure about Harry? I mean, he's a Rock type, and I'm pretty sure they beat Flying types, so-'

'Heh.' Jess smiled knowingly. 'Oh, I can handle him. It's just Harry, he'll be a cakewalk.'

I frowned. 'Wait, you know him already? How? Do you know Alex as well?'

Jess bit her lip, or the closest she could manage. 'No, I don't. It's... It's a long story. Sorry. I'll tell it you sometime, but right now... we're a bit busy, you know. Just leave it to me.'

'Hey, are you done nattering over there?' came a call from the other party. 'It's not like we've got all day, you know.'

'Nah, we're ready,' I replied. 'Let's get started.'

'I should warn you,' said Alex as we siphoned off, 'I've been training.'

'Like what?'

'Like this. Ice Beam!' he shouted a blasted me with a freezing shot. Argh...that was so cold. Before I could recover he shouted 'Shadow Claw!' and raked me full on this time, the hits sending shivers down my spine. I shook myself to focus, and when he came to Claw me again I hit him with a Thunderpunch right in the stomach. The recoil knocked him back and I pressed the advantage, hitting him over the head with an Iron Tail. I tried again, but he whipped around it and muttered 'Neat. But take this! Dig!' and he disappeared underground.

Oh boy. Those earlier attacks had really hit me hard - a solid Ground move could finish me off. I looked around to see where he was. Suddenly a huge dust cloud threw itself up theatrically. I backed off. Another cloud. I retreated again. Slowly I was forced back - and I realised where to. The swimming pool in the other room. I couldn't do anything but back off until my foot slipped on the pool edge. I whipped around to get my balance back and Alex struck. He cannoned into me from below and I slid back from the recoil. I swear, I'll never know how I held on but thank goodness that 'Beep beep' sound effect doesn't happen in real life.

'That was easy!' crowed Alex. 'I can finish this with a Water move! Dive!' and he dived head-first into the pool. I took a deep breath. I still had a short window - and I knew what to do.

'Thunderpunch!' I shouted and plunged my fist into the pool.

There was a loud crackle and pool seemed to turn a brighter colour for a second. At first nothing happened, but then something blue surfaced at the far end face-up. I didn't have to check if he was conscious. Instead I ran to help the others.

Jess seemed to be having difficulty with Harry, not because of type-disadvantages but because he could Mimic her every move. Eventually she resorted to shouting 'Stop copying me!'

'Stop copying me!'

'And you don't have to repeat what I say!'

'And you don't have to repeat what I say!'

'Hang on...' Jess suddenly stopped and looked like she was thinking, Harry doing the exact same pose. 'You can't move until I do, so I have as long as I like to think about what to do next.'  I know that's no idle threat. A lot of people, Danny tells me, have regretted Jess Gordon thinking about what to do next.

Danny however seemed to be having fun with Russel. He dodged Egg Bombs, avoided Stomps and once ran under him and Headbutted his underside where he couldn't be hit. Russel was clearly getting annoyed trying to hit a small target, only making Danny enjoy it more.

Kieran was also getting annoyed trying to use Psychic on such a big target. He was clearly having trouble and Louise was loving it. An evil grin on her face, she began to open her mouth.

'No!' came a shout and Jess suddenly leapt over and tackled Kieran out of the firing range as Harry, still copying her every move leapt after her - and straight into Louise's Hyper Beam. He was knocked into the wall and didn't get up. I resisted the urge to stand up and clap. Instead I ran over while Louise was recharging and brought an Iron Tail down hard over her head. That, with everything else, was enough to bring her to the floor once and for all.

'What?' came Russel's terrified voice. 'How did this happen?'

'It's called teamwork,' I said. 'Try it sometime. Stand back Danny, I want to show you guys something. Lighteningrod!'

I'm quite proud of my personal combo. What happens is: I make an Iron Tail, Thunderpunch it and hit them with the electrified metal. Apparently it can do Steel AND Electric damage, my teachers tell me. I dunno whether to believe that or not. Whatever type damage it did, though, it was enough to make Russel crumple.

'Yeah! We did it!' crowed Danny excitedly.

'Yes...well done. You win again...Cam.' We turned to see Alex standing in the pool doorway, looking like death would be an improvement.

'So that's it?' said Jess. 'After all that, we're just friends?'

Alex gave a weak smile. 'When did I say that? We're still rivals, and that won't change.' He coughed heavily. 'Maybe I'll have more luck with the new girl. What was she called...Mindy or something?'