Pokeumans Chapter 3

"Brandon, you are more special than you know," said the strange voice. I didn't know where exactly I was or where the voice was coming from. I noticed I was human again. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You possess a great power," the voice said, "A power that will cause you to suffer a great loss but will help you to gain as much. Remember, you are more special than you know…" "Wait!" I shouted, "What do you-," Suddenly there was a huge flash of bright light and I opened my eyes to the crystal ceiling of my room as a Lucario again. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. It was dark and Mike and Starr were still asleep. I quietly jumped down from my bed and over to the computer. I turned it on, went on the Internet to Google. I typed in "Pokéumans" in the search box and clicked. I got this.     

Your search – Pokéumans – did not match any documents.
Did you mean to search for Pokémon?

"Brandon, what are you doing?" I spun around to see Starr sitting up in her bed and rubbing her eyes. "It's 4:30 in the morning." "Nothing," I yawned. I'm going back to bed." Starr went back to sleep. I turned off the computer, climbed over the snoring Mike and back into my own bed. Thank goodness we aren't on the Internet, I thought as I slowly drifted to a dreamless sleep.  

"BBBRRRAAANNNDDDOOONNN!!! WAAAAKKKEEE UPPPPP!" Loud shout + sensitive ears = headache for Brandon. I opened my eyes to Mike's Loudred form. Starr smacked him in the back of the head. "You're going to wake the whole base up!" "Well, shaking him wasn't doing anything!" he shouted. "I'm fine Starr, I'm up." I said. Now I know how the Mystery Dungeon characters feel when Loudred wakes them up.   

I was getting out of my morning daze when we heard a knocking at the door. "I'll get it," I said and opened the door. It was a Hippopotas standing on two legs wearing a bag that said "Messenger." "Hey," I yawned as I looked down. "Do you need something?" "Hi," he said extending his hippo hand. "My name is Cameron. I'm the messenger at this base. I deliver the mail," he said as he pointed to his "messenger" bag on his back. I didn't know that there was a mail system. Oh well, there were still many things for me to learn. "Oh," I said as I shook his hippo hand. "I'm Brandon. So, do you have any mail for me, Cameron was it?" I wasn't expecting anything at all. "I do," he said as he pulled out two letters and gave them to me. "One is from Asula and the other is from Reggie." Asula and Reggie, I wonder what they want I wondered. "Thanks, I'll see you later," I said as I closed the door.

"Who was it?" asked Starr. "It was a Hippopotas named Cameron, he gave me mail," I said holding up the two letters. "Oh, Cameron is our base's messenger. He delivers daily mail." Starr said. "He's very friendly. He showed up about 5 months ago." "Really," I said. He did sound very friendly. Mike was jumping up, trying to see the letters. "Whadya get? Whadya get? Whadya get?" "Leave him alone Mike," said Starr, pushing him aside, "Let Brandon read his own mail in private." I stared at the two letters, one with Reggie's name and the other one with Asula's name. I decided that I would open them after breakfast.

Suddenly there was a commotion outside. My sensitive ears heard Scott's voice along with Cameron's voice shouting, "Brandon, Mike, Starr, ANYONE! PLEASE HELP ME!" I jumped up. "What's going on?" I asked. Starr walked towards the door. "I'll check it out. You guys stay here." "No, I wanna come too!" I said. "No, you and Mike stay here, I'll find out what's going on." Starr poked her head out of the door and yelled, "Cameron, what's wrong?" Suddenly she gasped and bolted out of the door. Even though I could hear some noise, I was itching to know what was happening. I suddenly got an idea. "Mike, turn into a Luxray and use your x-ray vision!" Mike nodded and transformed into a Luxray, this time nothing was wrong with him. "Wow! I got it right!" Mike cheered. He squinted at the wall for a good 10 seconds before he said, "I can't do it." "What do you mean," I asked. "I got it wrong again!" groaned Mike. "I can't see through the wall!" I suddenly got an idea. I focused my mind and used my aura sensors to see though the wall. Don't ask me how, it's complicated. The good news was I was able to see the aura of the Pokémon outside of the room. The bad news was I was only able to see globs of aura and I couldn't tell who was who. There were a lot of red globs of aura. Eventually, two of the globs ran away and one was thrown back into their room leaving two left. One of the globs turned light-blue and was heading back towards our room. Mike changed back into his Ditto form.

Starr walked in the room with tears in her eyes. "What happened?" I asked as I shut the door. "That jerk Scott and his two goons were harassing Cameron," she hissed. The thought of that Hippopotas being bullied by those three jerks make my blood boil. "I hope he's okay," said Starr. It was then I vowed I would make them pay. "One day I'm gonna rough 'em up good!" yelled Mike. "If those jerks mess with me, I'll show them," I said. I really HATE bullies especially when they're in groups and the M.S.N. gang wasn't exactly the kind of bullies you can ignore.

"Well, let's head down to breakfast," said Mike. "Yeah, I'm kind of hungry, we'll figure out how to deal with Scott's gang later," I said, rubbing my belly. Starr nodded "Agreed." Mike transformed into a pink Abra and told us he'll get the food for us and teleported away. Starr and I walked down the hallways, talking. Along the way we spotted Cameron walking with a Cubone. Starr looked with concern and Cameron looked at her, smiled, and nodded and continued walking. "I wish all of us can be nice to each other," Starr sighed. "Yeah, but every lame school story has to have a bully am I right?" I said. "Yeah, I guess so," Starr giggled.

We made it to the mess hall and had a nice breakfast. Mike, like he promised, got our food for us. He had turned into his Munchlax form and had shoveled down 8 trays by the time we got there. I have to admit that Ms. Yepergo knows how to make great food considering she's a Miltank. Afterwards, Starr, Mike and I went back to our room. "So what do you want to do today?" asked Mike. "It's Saturday and they aren't any classes." "Hold on," I said, "I want to read my mail." Starr nodded, "Okay, we need to step out for a second, RIGHT MIKE?" said Starr, putting an obvious tone on RIGHT MIKE. Mike looked confused. "Huh? What're you talking about? I don't need to…" Starr slapped Mike in the head. "Oh yeah RIIIGGGGHHTTT, that… thing I need to do, now, not here, bye!" Mike turned into a Ninjask and sped out of the room. "Back in a sec," Starr said. She winked at me and left the room. I shut the door and I put one of my ears to the wall and heard Starr chasing after Mike down the hallway. Smiling and shaking my head, I opened Reggie's letter first.

To Brandon:
How's you're first couple of days going? Since you're a newbie, I wanted to make sure you're ready for anything. I want you to come up with a super combo attack with Starr or Mike, but preferably Starr. Mike's not the best battler in the world. There is a something about you I want to check out. Meet me on Sunday evening after dinner in the mess hall; I want to show you something.

Talk to you later,
Reggie

A combo attack huh, I thought. I could probably create one with Starr later on today. I smiled and then opened the letter from Asula.

Dear Brandon,
I just wanted to check up on you. I have been monitoring your progress; you are doing so well for a person who's totally new with this. Mr. Dorniyo has told me about your Aura Sphere attack, it's strange but not unheard of. I have suspected there is something different about you that I would like to further investigate but I don't want to say anymore, in case this letter doesn't get delivered, so on Sunday please come to my office immediately after curfew. You will need the pass provided in this envelope or you will not be able to roam about the halls. Also be sure to give the pass to the guard outside the office or he will not let you in. I look forward to your company.

Sincerely,
Asula  

I looked in the envelope and saw a pink piece of paper with a Milotic pattern design on it. It read; "I, Asula, authorize this pass to Brandon the Lucario to visit me in my office after curfew." I was glad; I wanted to talk to Asula about my Aura Sphere. I took both of the notes and put them in my notebook and hid the notebook under my bed.

Just then Mike and Starr walked into the room. Mike turned into stone and jumped back into his bed. "What are you doing?" I asked. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm going back to bed! It is Saturday after all." Mike pulled the covers over his head and began snoring. "Come on, let's let him sleep," Starr said as she pushed me out the door. "What do you want to do now?" I asked. "Let's explore some more," replied Starr, "It's not like we can do anything else for the time being." And with that we left.    

We were passing by the pools when I noticed something. It was Sakato, the Vaporeon challenging a Buizel. "Come on, I wanna see this" I said. We entered the pool area and sat down on the benches. "Hello Starr and Brandon," said Ms. Kesley, "Have you come to watch Sakato battle?" I nodded my head. Many other Water-types were sitting on the benches. I remembered the first time I had met Sakato; he was cold and silent to me. "This is a battle between the two fastest Water-type students in the base," called out Ms. Kesley, "Lila the Buizel," she said as she pointed to a tough looking female Buizel, "And Sakato the Vaporeon." Sakato growled and got into a fighting stance. Ms. Kesley took her whistle and yelled "Ready? FIGHT!" and she blew her whistle.

"Agility," Sakato said and suddenly he was speeding around the room faster than anyone can see. Out of nowhere, a rainbow colored beam shot and hit Lila. She shook it off. "Rain Dance," Lila shouted and it suddenly started raining in the room. "That was a smart idea. Buizel's have the ability Swift Swim which increase their speed," I said. Like I said before, I'm a Pokémon fanatic. A Poliwhirl poked me on the shoulder and I looked up. "Sakato's the fastest Pokéuman here. Lila has to be as fast as possible just to keep up," he said. I nodded, "How fast is Lila?" The Poliwhirl sighed, "Lila's very fast, but Sakato is faster."

"Okay then Sakato; let's see how you like this! Let's go AQUA JET!" Lila suddenly shot like a rocket at Sakato in a cloak of water and made a direct impact. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to affect Sakato. "What's the deal?" I asked, "That attack should've damaged Sakato even just a little, but he looks totally fine!" "Sakato's ability is Water Absorb, he is a Vaporeon after all," said Starr. I slapped my forehead. I'm a Pokémon fanatic, but that doesn't mean I know everything about Pokémon. Sakato dashed again and hit Lila with another Aurora Beam. He was so fast he then attacked with a Water Pulse attack, with was a giant glob of water, and hit Lila straight on. "That's it! DIG!" Lila jumped and burrowed into the ground. "Awesome," I said. A real Pokémon battle was WAY better than the cruddy game ones. Sakato looked around for any sign for Lila. Suddenly, before he could get out of the way, Lila burst out of the ground and hit him with a successful Dig attack. Then while Sakato was stumbling, Lila fired an array of stars at him, the move commonly known as Swift. Sakato used Agility again and jumped into the air. "HYDRO CANNON!" Sakato yelled and fired an explosion of water at Lila. When the attack was over, Lila was unconscious. "And the winner is Sakato!!!" shouted Ms. Kesley. Some of the Pokéumans cheered. "Great job out there Sakato," praised Ms. Kesley. Sakato rolled his eyes and headed out the door. "What's his problem?" I asked.

Lila came over to us, "Oh hi," Starr said. "Hello," she replied. "Sorry Sakato beat you," I said, trying to give her comfort. She nodded, "It's fine, I knew I couldn't beat Sakato." The Poliwhirl cam over and comforted her. "Thanks Danny," she sighed. "Why is Sakato so… unsocial," I asked, after trying to think of a word to describe him. "No one knows," said Lila. "He never talks to anyone, not even his own roommate," said Danny the Poliwhirl. "He trains his Speed so harshly, it kind of scares me," said Lila. I pondered. I decided I would talk to Sakato sometime soon, maybe all he needs is a friend, I thought.               

Starr and I exited the pools. That battle reminded me of Reggie's letter. "Hey Starr, I wanted to ask you something." She looked at me, "Yes?" she asked. "Can we create a combo attack?" I asked. She nodded her head, "Sure, we've got nothing else to do. Let's head for the training room."

We were walking past Asula's office when I heard an angry Asula shout, "NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!!!" And with that angry roar three Pokémon blew out of the twin doors.  It was the M.S.N gang, beaten up and holding detention slips. "How could we have lost to that stupid, useless, teacher's pet and his friends?" groaned Milton. "We had our butts handed to us, Cameron's team destroyed us," moaned Nat. I gasped when I realized they were talking about Cameron the Hippopotas. They probably challenged Cameron and his friends and must have been beaten badly, I thought. I smiled on the inside, I was glad to see those idiots get what was coming to them. "Shut up," snapped Scott. "I'm so mad… I need to beat someone up, anyone." That's when he noticed me. "YOU! You're the stupid punk from yesterday. You're lucky Asula showed up or I would've beaten you down!" Starr shielded me with her arms. "Don't even think about it Scott." Scott smirked, "Oh, you're protecting your boyfriend huh? Well we have a bone to pick with you too missy for helping that teacher's pet." Now my blood was bubbling. "Oh yeah," I said. "If you guys are so tough then how could you let a little Hippopotas beat you down?" I laughed. Scott was mad. "When me and my boys recover from our injuries, you're gonna be next on my list to beat down!" "Yeah, we'll rough you up good!" said Milton. "Shut up!" Scott yelled and kicked Milton in the butt. Suddenly Milton unleashed a massive fart. Scott and Nat gagged, covered their noses and ran off, with Milton following behind yelling "Hey, that one was your fault!" I chuckled. They totally deserved that.

As we were heading for the training room we accidentally went down a hallway that Starr didn't take me down yesterday. At the end of the hallway was a door. The door was big, it was gold, it had a huge lock, and the number 4444 was on it. "Wow, where does this door go to?" I asked amazed. "This is the door to the Elite Four challenge," Starr told me. "The Elite Four? Aren't they only in the video games?" I asked. "Well, the idea for it came from the videogames, but the Pokéumans decided it would be a test to see who is worthy enough to leave the base." Suddenly there was a roar and the door burst open and a Wartortle holding a giant key came running out, looking bruised, battered and terrified. "STRONG! HE'S WAY TOO STRONG!!!" he yelled as he ran down the hall. "Wow," I said, "He looked scared." Starr nodded. "Recently a new member joined, they're saying he's so powerful, no one has been able to defeat him, except for Asula I guess." She continued. "If you manage to beat the Elite Four, you will be able to leave the base and you will be given a humanizing ring." I chuckled as we turned around and headed to the training grounds, "Maybe I'll be able to beat them." Starr smirked, "Only in your dreams Brandon, only in your dreams…"    

Starr and I entered the training grounds. A few other Pokéumans were there but no more than ten. "Okay, let's get your training session started," said Starr. "Can I please try Aura Sphere again?" I asked impatiently. I was hoping the first one was just a fluke. Starr sighed. "If you want to, but I'm not going to be responsible if you kill yourself." I nodded and concentrated. The aura flowed out of my paws into another wobbly ball. I tried to toss it, but with the same result, another explosion, which knocked me out, again. A few minutes later I felt someone shaking me and I woke up to Starr's concerned face. "Brandon! Are you okay?!" I sat up, rubbing my head. "Yeah, I'm alright. You know, I've been knocked out more times this week than I have in my lifetime." Starr helped me up. "Okay, let's focus off of Aura Sphere for now and focus on a combo attack," Starr said. "Let's start off by practicing our normal attacks."

I practiced my Metal Claw, Force Palm and Iron Tail. Starr's moveset consisted off Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, Bone Rush and Drain Punch, which made me feel weak compare to my simple moveset. I was thinking about a combo attack all morning and I had an idea. It involved my Iron Tail attack. I talked it over with Starr, who agreed to try it. "You realize that if this doesn't work you can get knocked out again right?" I nodded; I knew I was taking a big chance here. I walked over to the other side of the room. "Okay now!" Starr fired an Aura Sphere at me. I hardened my tail and just as it was about to hit me, I swung my tail and it hit the Aura Sphere and redirected it to a dummy and blew it to pieces! In basic terms I used my Iron Tail attack as a bat to hit an oncoming Aura Sphere away from me to somewhere else. "Perfect!" Starr shouted. We practiced for ten more minutes. I was able to redirect every Aura Sphere. "We're awesome!" cheered Starr. "Yeah, nicely done," said another voice from the door.

It was Travis the Raichu and David the Luxray, my friends from class. "Hey guys," I shouted. "Hey Brandon, hey Starr," shouted Travis. "I see you guys have been practicing a combo attack," said David. I nodded. "Hey, I have an idea, do you want to have a double battle against us?" asked Starr. "That sounds great!" shouted Travis. "Yeah, we were coming here to train anyway," said David, "First team to knock out both members of the opposing team wins."

Starr and I took our place on one side of the field and David and Travis took the other side of the field. "Okay, we'll start this battle off!" Travis opened his mouth and jumped up to use Bite. I didn't really try to dodge; Bite wouldn't hurt me that much. Suddenly David used Thunderbolt and he shot it right at Travis. The Thunderbolt charged up his teeth and when he bit me, it had turned from a Bite attack to Thunder Fang. It literally was shocking. Fortunately it didn't paralyze me. "Let's show them what we can do!" shouted Starr and fired an Aura Sphere at me. Like before, I swung my Iron Tail and hit the sphere and redirected it towards David. Aura Sphere never misses. David staggered, but survived. "Let's show 'em another combo!" said Travis. "Right!" said David as he used Charge. Then Travis used Thunderbolt and aimed it at Starr. I rushed over to protect her, but then Travis changed direction and hit David with the Thunderbolt. David didn't look hurt at all. "Charge raises Sp. Def, and also the Thunderbolt… oh no," I moaned. "THUNDER!" David cried and unleashed the BIGGEST lightning bolt from his body and it came crashing down on me. So much electricity raged through my body. By the time it was over I was paralyzed and was on the verge of passing out. I was done.

Then, all of the sudden, I felt my energy being restored in my body. I got back up, ready to fight again. David, Travis and Starr gasped. I was confused, how did I suddenly get that energy boost? I pushed the thought aside for the moment and got ready to battle again. "IRON TAIL!" I cried as I jumped up, spun around and attacked David with sheer force. Starr pulled her hands apart and a bone appeared. "BONE RUSH!" she cried and swung it at Travis. Unfortunately it missed. "Oh? You wanna play like that?" taunted Travis, "Well take this! VOLT TACKLE!" Travis' body was suddenly surrounded by electricity and he charged at me. Full electric impact. I struggled to keep myself conscious. Travis jumped back, looking tired. "Okay then," said David, "Feel my Spark attack!" David charged his body and tackled Starr. Starr groaned, "I've been paralyzed! I can't move!" Starr wasn't going to be able to attack this round. "Okay, I'll battle for you! FORCE PALM!" I ran at David and palmed him with force. It seemed to paralyze him. "Thunder Fang!" Travis cried and jumped on me and bit me with electric charged fangs. I groaned, but it didn't paralyze me. David used Charge again. Starr was able to move again. "Let's try this again, BONE RUSH!" Starr manifested the bone and charged at Travis and successfully struck with pure boney force. Travis fell to the ground. "Okay! Let's do this one more time! OUR SUPER COMBO ATTACK!" I shouted. Starr fired her Aura Sphere at me while I hardened my tail. I hit the sphere and redirected it to David, which knocked him out. "YES!" Starr and I both cheered, "WE WON!"

After a few minutes, David and Travis both woke up. We helped them to their feet. "Wow, we didn't expect you to be so strong!" marveled Travis. "Yeah, you guys are unstoppable," praised David. All of us shook hands with each other. "Well Travis, I think we've gotten enough training in for the day," said David. Travis nodded, "You said it!" agreed the Raichu. They headed for the door, "See you guys later!"

Starr looked at me with a huge smile. "Brandon! You were so great! Our teamwork is the best! You're just like…," Suddenly Starr gasped, with tears in her eyes, and ran out of the training room. "Wait, Starr, wait!" I cried and ran after her. I didn't know what was going on. I exited the training room to find Starr trying to wipe away hidden tears. She obviously was upset about something. "Starr," I asked, "Do you want to talk in private, just you and me." She looked at me for a second then nodded. We headed to our room. I opened the door and was relived when I didn't see Mike. We sat down on Starr's bed. "I'm sorry about that, you just… reminded me of someone." "Who," I asked, "A friend of yours? She sadly shook her head. I put my shoulder around her. "You know you can tell me anything Starr, okay?" She nodded, wiped away a tear and began to tell her tale.

"I'm not an only child; I have a younger brother named Ryan. He's two years younger than me. We got along perfectly, despite the occasional argument. The day I, no we, transformed, started off like any other day. Ryan and I were working on a project together for his class. My mom and dad were out shopping. We were giggling and having fun until…" She stopped, took a breath, and continued. "I noticed Ryan's ears were blue and dog-like, and he noticed my hands were growing black fur. Ryan was the Pokémon fan, but I sometimes played the games with him. He knew he was turning into a Riolu and I was turning into a Lucario. Suddenly, our next door neighbor came through the back door and said, "You're one of them," and then sprayed us with some kind of gas. I blacked out. When I awoke, Ryan and I were tied up and in the back of a truck. Suddenly, the truck crashed and we were met by an Ursaring and a Combusken. As they were rescuing us, the men, who were Pokéxtinction minions, came out with a net gun and captured Ryan. The Combusken, the Ursaring and I tried to fight, but they were too many of them. We couldn't do anything to save him. The two Pokémon told me we had to let him go and took me into the woods. I had to hear the agonizing cries for help until he was out of earshot, and that's the last I've seen of my brother since."    

Tears were flowing down Starr's face. My heart was cold, I had no idea. "You remind me so much of him Brandon," she sobbed, "You're brave, kind, and also a little reckless, but you're just like him." I sighed, "Come here, it'll be alright." Starr wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug and continued sobbing on my shoulder, I winced, waiting for her spike to jab into my chest, but the pain never came. I hugged Starr back. The connection of feelings I felt were overwhelming. Our aura had become one. After a minute Starr removed her arms from around me and wiped away her tears. I saw why we hadn't been hurt by our chest spikes. There was a pink bubble of aura surrounding my spike. There was one around Starr's spike too. Suddenly the aura bubbles disappeared. I looked into Starr's eyes. "Starr, I also miss my family a lot, but we're all family now; me, you, and even Mike, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always listen." Just then Mike came in. "Hey guys I…" He took one look at us, and said "I'm thinking this is a bad time," and slowly exited the room.

After a few minutes, Starr was able to control herself. Mike then came in. He didn't bother asking what the deal was all about. Probably was avoiding being punched by Starr. After a yummy lunch, Starr, Mike and I headed back to the training room. Reggie was right, Mike can't battle well at all. I also discovered his Lucario form was WAY off the charts. After a few mock battles, we headed back to our room. Mike and I watched TV and used the computer. Starr read some of her books.

"Hey Starr, why is Facebook and deviantART blocked?" I asked, after trying to get on. I'm more of a deviantART guy. I hate Facebook. "Asula doesn't want anyone to spill our existence on the web, so the base blocks all social websites," she said and went right back to reading. I nodded, I totally understood. Fortunately gaming websites weren't blocked and I beat Mike 5 to 1 in online checkers. We also watched a funny webtoon called Homestar Runner.

After dinner, we all watched a rerun of The Smoking Gun Presents, as well as found our houses on Google Earth. It was funny because when I located the boulder entrance to the base, you couldn't tell anything was there. Soon, after many hours of fun, the Ampharos returned, told us it was curfew and we all climbed into our beds and fell asleep. Best. Saturday. Ever.        

That night I had another strange dream. Again, I was human and I was in a strange misty world. "Where am I?" I asked. "That's a funny question," said the strange voice. I gasped and looked around, but there was no one there. "Where are you indeed? Physically you are still in your bed at the base, but mentally, you're in a whole different world." I spun around, "Who's there? Who's talking?" Show yourself!" I demanded.  The voice chuckled, "Fine then, I will show myself, young Pokéuman." From out of the mist came a Lucario. "Who are you?" I asked. He looked at me, "I am the Lucario inside of you." I was confused. He chuckled, "But, it would be awfully bothersome to call me, "The Lucario inside of you," so I will allow you to call me Spiritus, that's Latin for Aura," he said. I didn't know what was going on. "Look, why are you in my dreams?" I asked. He chuckled again, "Because I am here to tell you something. You have an incredible ability that will help you excel my dear boy," he said. "What ability? I asked. Spiritus smiled and shook his head. "All in good time Brandon, all in good time…" he said. He walked back into the mist and disappeared. "Wait! Come back! Tell me more!" I shouted, but then there was a flash of bright light, and I opened my eyes to the crystal ceiling again, back as a Pokéuman.   

I got up out of my bunk bed. Starr was already awake. "Good morning Brandon," she said, giving me a warm smile.  We both looked down. Mike was still sleeping. We locked eyes, "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Starr asked menacingly. I nodded, giving an evil toothy grin. Revenge. I went on the computer and uploaded an array of loud sounds and downloaded them onto a file and turned the loud speakers all the way up in less than 10 minutes. Starr gave me a pair of earmuffs and got into position next to Mike's ear. "One, two, three NOW!" I pressed play and unleashed an ear-blasting array of explosions, drums and cymbals, and air horn blaring while Starr screamed into Mike's ear. The reaction was hilarious. Mike screamed and fell out of his bed and started scrambling for the door. I pressed the stop button and Starr and I broke into hysterical laughter. Mike turned tomato-red. "DUDES! THAT WAS NOT COOL!" "Well, that'll show you for shouting me awake every morning!" I laughed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a bunch of sleepy and also annoyed looking Pokéumans. "Oops, did we wake you guys up?" I said, blushing. "Yeah, you did," said a Haunter. "Sorry, won't happen again!" I said and quickly closed the door. That was embarrassing, I thought, but it was totally worth it.

We made it down to breakfast. The usual, eggs, bacon, pancakes and sausage. Mike was once again in his orange Munchlax form. Breakfast went along as usual, Mike scarfing down over 10 trays of food. After a satisfying meal, we headed down to the training room to practice our combo attack. Mike got bored after a while and teleported back to the room. I was able to destroy over 60 dummies. "Hey Starr, who makes all of the dummies?" I asked curious as to how they came back the next day. Starr gave me a look of nervousness. "That's the weird thing about the training room Brandon, no one knows." Creepy right? After an hour of training, Starr and I decided to head back to the room.

As we were walking down the hallways I noticed a bag with the word "Messenger" on it on the floor. This must belong to Cameron the Hippopotas, I bet he dropped it, I thought. Being nice I decided to return it to him. Starr told me that he was in Room 87. I nodded and told her I'd catch up to her later. I walked down the hallways until I heard the familiar voice behind the door. My sensitive ears were able to pick up the sound behind the door. "Guys, I really appreciate your help, but I'm going to be dead if I don't find my bag!" I knocked on the door and in a few seconds Cameron opened the door. "I believe this is yours," I said handing the bag to him. "You found my bag! Oh thank you so much!" I smiled. "Hey, sorry about what Scott and his two goons did to you the other day." I said. "Yeah, I know," he replied. "I really lost my self esteem for a while. I wish I could train more and get stronger so that won't happen again. I've only been here for five months, so naturally I'm not very strong." An idea rushed through my head. "You know, I'm also new with being a Pokéuman. How about you and me have a battle to train?" His eyes lit up. "Really? That'd be awesome!" I nodded "Meet me in the training grounds in an hour. I'll be waiting!" I smiled and left to prepare.

An hour later I entered the training grounds to find Cameron was waiting there for me. "You ready?" I said. "Let's do it!" he shouted. I started with a Force Palm that hit him with force and caused damage. Cameron used Sand Tomb and quicksand was gathering under my feet. Ground doesn't go well with Steel. "Oh yeah, take this!" I shouted and claws shot out of my paws and I charged. "Not so fast!" he yelled and jumped up and used Bite and my arm. Not to be rude but he does have big teeth. I grabbed my arm in pain and the claws receded. Sand Tomb damaged me again. "Give it up!" he shouted. "I'm down, but I'm not out! I cried and claws grew out of my paws. This time I raked him with Metal Claw. He got up and slammed into me with Take Down. Not really the best of choice because I think he damaged himself more than me. Suddenly I heard cheering. Cameron and I looked over to see Starr and Mike (as a red Minun) and a Cubone and a Munchlax cheering for us. 'Go Brandon!" shouted my friends. "Kick his butt Cameron!" cheered his friends. "Let's go! EARTHQUAKE!" shouted Cameron. I was dead if it hit me. As the ground started to shake, I hardened my tail and used Iron Tail like a bat to hit a large rock. It shattered into mini rocks and flew towards Cameron. I didn't see what happened next because the Earthquake hit me and I passed out from the pain.

I slowly opened my eyes to see Starr, Mike, Cameron, and his friends staring at me. I was hurt, but not as badly as when I got hit. "Glad to see you awake," Cameron said. "Wait a minute, who won?" I asked. "It was a tie," said the Cubone. "The rocks you shot at Cameron knocked him out as you got hit with Earthquake," said Starr. "I just woke up a few minutes ago," said Cameron. He held out his hand and helped me up. "You're really strong!" he said with a smile. "You're not so bad yourself," I added. "You're a really nice person Brandon, I think we're going to be good friends," he said. "Yeah, I bet we are," I blushed. He and his pals started to head out the door. "Thanks again for finding my bag, friend!" he waved as he and his friends left. Starr put her paw on my shoulder. "You really are a nice person Brandon." "I know," I said with tears of joy in my eyes. I knew Cameron and I would be great friends.   

"Well, that was quite the battle," said Mike, who was his pink, little, flubbery self again. "Especially since it was a tie," he grinned. "Are you okay?" asked Starr. "Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm still in the fighting spirit." "You know the tournament is today," said Mike. "Oh really, it's today?" replied Starr. I had no idea what they were talking about. "Wait a minute, what are you guys talking about? What's this about a tournament?" I asked. "Oh sorry we forgot to tell you, there are tournaments that happens every few days or so," Starr explained. "Yeah, I hear winners get a bigger TV!" Mike said. "I believe there is one happening today," said Starr. A tournament sounded fun. I wanted to watch more battles. "Well, I'm in the mood to watch more Pokémon battle. Let's go after lunch," I said. At that moment, the intercom went on.

"Hello students, this is Asula speaking. The following students have gained entry to this week's tournament. If your name is called, report to the gym immediately after lunch. Sabrina the Quilava, Nathan the Pidgeot, Wendy the Graveler, Lydia the Staravia, Sarah the Chimecho, Kyle the Lucario, Reggie the Grovyle and last but not least…" "Hmm, Kyle and Reggie have entered, I wonder who's going to be the last one," said Starr. "Brandon the Lucario, remember if your name was called, report to the gym after lunch." "WHAT!?" shouted the three of us. "Isn't there another Lucario named Brandon?" I asked. Starr sadly shook her head. "No, there aren't." "It doesn't make sense, how could've you signed up if you just learned about the tournament just now?" asked Mike. Just then the M.S.N. gang showed up. "Well if it isn't Jackie Chan, Ms. Goody Two Shoes and the blob of bubblegum," taunted Scott. "Good luck in the tournament newbie," smirked Nat. "We'll be there to see your face get pounded in!" laughed Milton. They left laughing and high-fiving each other. "Those jerks must have signed you up for the tournament!" yelled Mike. "I'm dead," I groaned "I've only been here for a week and I can't even use Aura Sphere right!" "We'll figure something out," assured Starr.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm so frickin' screwed!" I moaned with my paws on my head. "BRANDON! Get a hold of yourself!" Starr said as she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Look, I know we have a situation on our hands but we can handle it okay? We'll go talk to Asula right now and have her pull you from the tournament." "Okay, I have nothing to worry about, I guess," I said, still completely nervous. We walked to Asula's office and knocked on the door. "Come in," said the warm alluring voice of the Milotic. We walked into Asula's crystal office. "Oh hello Brandon, Starr and, Mike," she said giving him a serious glance. "Are you excited for the tournament today Brandon?" Starr looked at me. I was so nervous I couldn't speak.  "That's kind of what we wanted to talk about Ms. Asula," said Starr. "You see, Brandon didn't sign up the tournament. We believe the M.S.N. gang has purposely signed Brandon on," Mike said. "Really?" Asula said, looking surprised, "Well, I shouldn't be too surprised, but unfortunately those were the only names in the box. If I pull Brandon out, we would have to cancel the whole tournament. Maybe if I-," I held my paw up. "I'll do it," I said. "I'll compete in the tournament." "Are you crazy?!" exclaimed Starr. "These are some of the toughest Pokéumans here!" "I'll manage somehow," I muttered. Asula stared at me and nodded. "Okay, I will respect your decision and let you participate. There is something I need to tell you, but only after the tournament. I'll be watching."

We all left Asula's office. I had an hour before lunch. Mike teleported all of us back to our room. "I guess I should take a nap," I said. Starr nodded, "Good idea." I climbed into bed and shut my eyes. My heart was beating a mile a minute. How was I going to survive against highly trained Pokéumans?  

After what seemed to be mere minutes, Starr shook me awake. "Come on, let's get lunch," said Starr, "You're going to need your energy." I groaned, "Suddenly I'm not feeling so hungry." I climbed out of bed. I had no idea why I wanted to go through with this. I've only been an active Pokéuman for four days and I've barely trained. As we walked towards the mess hall Mike transformed into his Munchlax form, jumped up and put his arm on my shoulder. "Brandon my man, you are officially screwed now," he said. Starr pounded him. "YOU'RE NOT HELPING THE SITUATION!" "Look guys, I'm going to be okay," I said complete paralyzed on this inside. I was so screwed. The three of us got to the cafeteria. They were serving meatball hero, one of my favorite foods in the world, but I wasn't feeling hungry. When we got on line, Ms. Yepergo must have sensed my despair. "Brandon? Is something wrong?" I looked up, "Nothing much," I said. Even so Ms. Yepergo gave me two extra meatballs. I sat down with Starr and Mike, but I just stared at my food, while Mike was wolfing his down. "Brandon, you have to eat," Starr said with her arm on my shoulder. "I'll try." I took a small bite. Those meatballs were good. After what felt like the shortest lunch in the world, it was time to enter the tournament. "I'm so screwed," I moaned.

The three of us entered the gym. It was filled with hundreds of Pokéumans. "We'll be sitting in the front row, cheering for you all the way," Starr said. She gave me a quick hug, "Good luck." Mike smiled, "Yeah, don't get killed out there!" Starr pounded Mike in the head for the umpteenth time. "What! It was a joke!" Mike complained as he rubbed his head.

I sat down with the other competitors. I recognized Reggie and Kyle, who were sitting on the far side of the bench along with a Graveler, a Chimecho, a Staravia, a Quilava and a Pidgeot. "So, is this your first tournament too?" came a voice from next to me. I looked over to see the Pidgeot looking down at me. "Yes," I squeaked. He was studying me. "Hmm, I've seen you before, whatever, I'm Nathan, and I'm a member of the PRT. I recently transferred from the Northern Wingman Academy Base," he said as he held out his wing. I shook it, "I'm Brandon, and I'm kind of the newbie here." He nodded, "Well, if you're the newbie, why are you in this tournament?" I rubbed the back of my head, "It's kind of hard to explain, you see these bullies named Scott and…" Nathan growled, "Yeah, I'm aware of them."   

Suddenly, there was a blast of loud noise. "WELCOME TO THIS WEEK'S POKÉUMAN TOURNAMENT!!!!" I covered my ears and looked over at the field to see a Loudred standing in the center of the field. "I'M LARRY BELOWHICH AND I'LL BE THE M.C. FOR THIS WEEK'S TOURNAMENT!!! EIGHT BRAVE AND STRONG POKÉUMANS WILL BATTLE IT OUT, BUT ONLY ONE CAN BE THE WINNER!!!" The crowd cheered louder. Larry began talking, err shouting again. "LET'S CHECK OUR DIGITAL MONITOR FOR OUR FIRST MATCH UP!!!" My heart pounded as the names scrolled on the screen. The first box read "Sabrina." The second box stopped. It read "Brandon." "THERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS, OUR FIRST MATCH UP WILL BE BETWEEN SABRINA THE QUILAVA AND BRANDON THE LUCARIO!!!" My heart sank to my feet. I stood up. "Good luck out there kid," said Nathan. I nervously stepped onto the arena. Standing across from me was a strong looking Quilava. "You ready?" she asked. I gulped and got into my fighting stance. I was facing a Fire-type and I was a Steel-type. I looked around. Starr and Mike (in his Minun form) were sitting in the front row next to Asula. The M.S.N. gang was also in the front row, with smirking faces. "OKAY, WHENEVER YOU'RE READY, FIGHT!!!"

"Rollout!" Sabrina curled up into a ball and rolled over me. "AND SABRINA STARTS THIS BATTLE OFF WITH AN AMAZING ROLLOUT ATTACK!" I groaned as I extended my claws and struck! Unfortunately, Sabrina rolled out of the way and I ended up stabbing the ground and my claws got stuck. "IT SEEMS AS IF BRANDON'S GOTTEN HIMSELF INTO A SITUATION FOLKS!" I pulled as hard as I could but I couldn't get out of the way in time and Sabrina hit me again with Rollout, with much more force than before. Sabrina rolled towards me again, planning on executing her third Rollout attack. I managed to pull my claws from the dirt and jumped over her, causing her to miss. She uncurled. "Oh yeah, take this! Swift attack!" She fired an array of stars at me. I knew I couldn't dodge them so I crossed both of my arms in an attempt to defend myself and braced the attack. Those things are pointy! "IT LOOKS LIKE SABRINA HAS GOTTEN THE UPPER HAND HERE! BRANDON HAS YET TO LAUNCH A SUCESSFUL ATTACK YET!" "Time to get my game started," I mumbled. I charged at Sabrina and struck with a Force Palm. She fell to the floor, unable to move. "BRANDON'S FORCE PALM SEEMS TO HAVE PARALYZED SABRINA LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!" "You're more… powerful than I expected," groaned Sabrina. I didn't blame her; even I didn't think I'd be this good.

Sabrina was unable to move so I took the opportunity and hardened my tail, spun around and attacked. "WOW! A PERFECT IRON TAIL! CLEARLY BRANDON HAS SOME SKILLS!" Sabrina got up. "Now, it's time to get serious, FLAMETHROWER!" she cried and spat a stream of hot fire at me. Unlike my dream the day before I transformed, I wasn't able to dodge it. It burned like unlike anything I had ever experienced before. For the first time I truly knew how it felt to be hit by fire. After that attack, I was barely unable to stand up. I knew I was done. "IT LOOKS LIKE THIS BATTLE IS OVER FOLKS! AND THE WINNER IS…!" Suddenly, just like when I was battling Travis and David, I felt all of my energy coming back to me and I jumped up, ready to fight again. Everyone gasped at the same time. Sabrina was in shock, "How did you… How did you survive?" "WOW! SOMEHOW BRANDON HAS MANAGED TO SURVIVE THE SUPER EFFECTIVE FLAMETHROWER ATTACK!!! THAT'S IMPRESSIVE!!!"

"Iron Tail!" I jumped up, spun around and struck Sabrina again. Sabrina gasped and shouted "ROLLOUT!" and curled up and bowled into me again. I braced the attack and extended my claws again. I successfully slashed her with Metal Claw. "BRANDON HAS LANDED ANOTHER METAL CLAW ATTACK!!!" Sabrina tried her second Rollout, but fortunately I was able to get out of the way in time. I needed to finish this now. I gathered all of my energy and focused it into my palm. "FORCE PALM!" I shouted and struck with a powerful Force Palm. That was the winning ticket. Sabrina fell over, fainted. "AND WE HAVE OUR FIRST WINNER!!! BRANDON THE LUCARIO!!!" The crowd erupted in cheer, with Starr and Mike yelling the loudest. For a moment, I was the king of the world. I suddenly felt exhausted and I collapsed onto the floor.

I opened my eyes and sat up. "I really got to stop passing out," I mumbled. "Why hello again Brandon," said a familiar impatient voice. It was the Blissey, the one who treated me when I first arrived. I was on a bed in some sort of tent. Other Pokéumans from the tournament were in beds. Sabrina was there too. "You did awesome out there Brandon," she said. I blushed, "Yeah, you're a tough opponent yourself." She smiled and put her head on the fire-retardant pillow and went back to sleep. Nurse Blissey gave me a spoon full of green liquid. "Drink it," she said, "You'll need to recover fast for your next battle." I sipped the contents of the spoon and I gagged. It tasted like liquid spinach. "Oops," Nurse Blissey gasped as she took the spoon from me, "That was bone regrowth syrup." She took another bottle and spoon and poured brown liquid in the spoon and handed it to me. "THIS will make you better quickly." I winced and gulped it down. I smacked my lips. It tasted like caramel sauce. Yummy.

Outside I heard Larry's loud voice. "AND THAT ENDS THE PRELIMINARY ROUNDS! BRANDON THE LUCARIO, REGGIE THE GROVYLE, KYLE THE LUCARIO AND NATHAN THE PIDGEOT WILL PROCEDE TO THE SEMIFINALS!!! WE'RE GONNA TAKE A FIVE MINUTE BREAK."

I walked outside and sat down on the bench with the other finalists. Reggie and Nathan were there, talking about something. Kyle was on the other side of the bench, thinking about something. "Hey guys," I said. Reggie looked at me. "Brandon, wow. I'm surprised you managed to beat Sabrina, she's been here for four years!" Nathan nodded, "You managed to beat a pure Fire-type. Reggie, do you think he's…" Reggie studied me and slowly said, "No, he can't be…" I decided not to ask questions. "Good luck in your next match Brandon," said Reggie, "Because even if you're facing me, I'm not going to go easy." I nodded and gave him a toothy grin, "Good, because if you do, it would be too boring."

Five minutes later…

"WELCOME BACK FOLKS!!! AS YOU KNOW I AM LARRY BELOWHICH AND I'M YOUR M.C. TODAY!!! LET'S LOOK AT THE BIG DIGITAL MONITER TO SEE WHO WILL BE BATTLING NEXT!!!" The digital board scrolled and the first box read "Brandon." The second name read "Kyle." "WOW! IT'S A SHOWDOWN OF THE LUCARIO AS BRANDON TAKES ON KYLE!!! WHICH LUCARIO WILL WIN???" I got up, "Good luck out there kid," said Nathan and Reggie at the same time. I took my place on the field. Kyle stared at me with his purple eyes. I flashed back to Friday evening: "Somewhere, sometime, you and I will be put into battle, I don't know when, but when we do you'd better be ready. I'm a tough opponent." So this is what Kyle was envisioning. Kyle got into a ninja like battle stance and I got into mine. "GET READY!!! 3…2…1… FIGHT!!!"

"Foresight!" Kyle said and his eyes focused on me. He was zeroed in, his next attack would hit. "Force Palm!" I cried and charged towards him and forcefully palmed him. He cringed just a little. "IT LOOKS LIKE FORCE PALM HASN'T DONE MUCH DAMAGE TO KYLE!!!" Kyle stared at me and then shouted "Dragon Pulse!" and sent a shockwave of pure dragonic power from his mouth. I tried to avoid the attack but Foresight made it nearly impossible. I was hit by the shockwave and I fell to the ground. "AND KYLE LANDS A PAINFUL DRAGON PULSE ATTACK!!! HOW WILL BRANDON RECOVER?" "Force Palm!" I cried as I ran up to him and forcefully palmed him again. He staggered for a second before shouting "DRAGON PULSE!" and blasted the shockwave from his mouth. I braced the attack as best I could. I needed an attack boost. I extended my awesome claws and tried raking Kyle with Metal Claw. "WHAT IS BRANDON THINKING FOLKS? STEEL-TYPE MOVES AREN'T VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST STEEL-TYPE POKÉMON!!!" I wish you would shut up, I thought. My plan had worked as I felt a power boost from the last attack. "Force Palm!" I shouted again and attacked Kyle with a powerful force of the palm. He skidded to a stop and wiped his mouth. "You are truly a Pokéuman worth battling, but that still isn't enough to beat ME! STRENGTH!" He started to glow with a white aura, then ran towards me, lifted me into the air and slammed me into the ground. Man, and I thought Strength wasn't that good of a move. "WOW! YOU JUST SAW BRANDON GETTING PUMMELED BY AN AWESOME STRENGTH ATTACK!!!" I wanted to do nothing but kill that stupid Loudred, but Kyle was my first concern. Metal Claw had helped me gain an attack boost so… "Force Palm!" I cried for the umpteenth time and charged at Kyle again, but he was able to dodge very quickly, like a ninja. Kyle blasted me again with another Dragon Pulse attack. "It's time," Kyle said quietly. "AURA SPHERE!" he shouted and conjured a mighty sphere of aura from his paws and fired it at me. I was doomed. The sphere made impact and a massive pain was the last thing I felt before I started falling down.

I was on the verge of passing out when I felt the familiar sensation of all my energy being returned to my body. I rose to my feet. I felt invincible and twice as powerful than before. "FOR THE SECOND TIME FOLKS, BRANDON THE LUCARIO HAS SURVIVED ANOTHER K.O. ATTACK!!! HOW DOES HE DO IT?!" Kyle looked shocked. "That attack should've destroyed you! It doesn't matter, I'll keep attacking until you stay down! AURA SPHERE!!!" Kyle gathered his energy into a ball and fired it a me. I just realized how I could use this to my advantage. I quickly hardened my tail and slammed into the Aura Sphere and redirected it straight at Kyle. "NOOOOO!!!" Kyle screamed as the sphere made contact to his chest. Kyle staggered, and fainted. Everyone in the gym gasped, and then started to cheer. "IN A FANTASTIC COUNTER-ATTACK, BRANDON THE LUCARIO WINS!!! WHO WILL BRANDON FACE IN THE FINALS? STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT!!!" I had won. Somehow, I had won.

A few minutes later, Nurse Blissey was treating me in the medical tent. I wanted to see the battle between Reggie and Nathan, but the Blissey nurse insisted on keeping me for treatment. She gave me another spoonful of the caramel sauce medicine. A while later, an unconscious Reggie was wheeled into the tent along with Nathan, looking a bit bruised and battered. "So," I said, "You beat Reggie?" Nathan nodded, and said "Well, it looks like it's just you and me."

A little while later, Nathan and I stepped outside into the arena. I took my place on my side of the field and Nathan took his. "May the best Pokéuman win," he said. I nodded, "Yeah, the best." Larry began shouting again as announcer. "WELCOME TO THE FINAL ROUND OF THE POKÉUMAN TOURNAMENT!!! YOU'VE ENJOYED SIX INCREDIBLE BATTLES AND NOW ONLY TWO COMPETETORS ARE LEFT! OUR FIRST CHALLENGER IS A PRT MEMBER AND EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM THE NORTHERN WINGMAN ACADEMY BASE IN CANADA!!! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR NATHAN!!!" Nathan bowed as everyone clapped and cheered. "AND FIGHTING HIM, IS A TOTAL NEWBIE BUT ALREADY HE IS SHOWN TO BE A BATTLING PRODIGY!!! NATIVE TO LONG ISLAND, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR BRANDON!!!" I waved shyly as the crowd cheered for me. "LET'S GET THIS BATTLE STARTED IN 3…2…1…FIGHT!"  

I extended my claws and dashed towards Nathan. He flew upwards as I slashed at him.  I missed. "FeatherDance!" Nathan cried and sent a shower of feathers down on me. I felt my power weakening. "FEATHERDANCE HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL ON BRANDON BY SHARPLY LOWERING ATTACK POWER!" I groaned. Nathan wasn't kidding when he said he was a member of the PRT. I had to figure out a way to attack him while he was in the air. I jumped up, and tried to attack with Metal Claw, but Nathan was able to avoid my attack again. "AND ONCE AGAIN NATHAN'S ABILITY TO STAY IN THE AIR IS CAUSING TROUBLE FOR BRANDON!!!" "Air Slash!" Nathan cried and sliced the air with his wings, which I felt cut into me. Thank god, or Arceus I guess, I'm part Steel, I thought. "Come on," taunted Nathan, "You'll have to do better than that!" I had an idea. I used Force Palm on the ground and shattered part of the ground into rocks. "WHAT IS BRANDON DOING? HOW IS THIS GOING TO HELP HIM BEAT NATHAN?" Then, I threw one of the pieces into the air and hardened my tail. Like my battle with Cameron, I used my tail like a bat and used it to knock Nathan out of the air. "WOW! WHAT A SUPER COMBO ATTACK!" Nathan groaned, "Man, I totally underestimated you. AGILITY!" Nathan started flying around me at great speeds. I couldn't see where he was. Suddenly, he appeared right in front of me and slashed me with his beak. NATHAN HAS ACCUMULATED AN AWESOME AERIAL ACE ATTACK!!! Stupid Loudred, I thought. "Metal Claw!" I ran towards Nathan and slashed him with my sharp claws. Nathan didn't look so hurt. FeatherDance was still in effect. Metal Claw fortunately raised my Attack power. Nathan used Agility again and used it to attack me with Aerial Ace again. "Come on, you defeated a Fire-type and a Fighting-type, are you saying you can't handle a Flying-type like me!" Nathan said. "Metal Claw!" I raked Nathan and I felt my Attack being raised again. Nathan recovered from my rock attack and rose into the air once more. "WHEN WILL THIS BATTLE END?"

I pounded the ground again and a huge chunk of rock broke off. I heaved it into the air at the same time Nathan used Agility. "This is it," I thought. I used all of my strength the throw the rock into the air at the same time Nathan whipped up a gust storm. "IRON TAIL!" I cried as I used my tail to shatter the rock and send pieces flying towards Nathan. "AIR SLASH STORM!" he shouted and unleashed a massive whip wind storm. Nathan got smashed with my rocks while I got cut by a massive Air Slash attack. This time the energy boost didn't come and I passed out from the attack.

I woke up in the middle of the field. Nathan was nowhere in sight. "AND THE WINNER IS BRANDON!!!" The whole stadium burst into cheer. Starr and Mike ran up to me and hugged me. The aura bubble had reappeared around our spikes. "Brandon! You did it!" Starr shouted as she hugged me. "Nice job man!" Mike shouted. I was confused, "I don't get it, how did I win?" Larry came up to me, and this time he didn't shout. "Nathan passed out before you did, so you won by a mere second!" I was amazed, I didn't think I could win. Nathan came out from the medical tent. He looked at me proudly and said, "The best Pokéuman won," as he held out his wing. I shook it, "You did amazing out there!" The M.S.N. gang all gasped and quickly ran out of the room. Asula came up to me and looked at me and gave me the warmest smile ever. "Brandon, you won."

After the tournament ended, we headed back to our room. "What an awesome tournament!" Mike shouted, "You were all like SLASH and Nathan was all like WOOSH! and it was just…" I didn't get to hear the rest of Mike's rant, because I climbed back into my warm bed and fell asleep.

I woke up sometime later. There was a tray of food on the couch along with a note. It read, "Mike and I went to the training room. We left some food for you. Enjoy! -Starr P.S. Reggie was looking for you." I remembered Reggie was expecting me so I gobbled up the food and headed for the mess hall. When I got there, it was empty.

"Brandon, you did awesome today," I turned around, it was Reggie. "Thanks! Sorry you lost to Nathan." He smirked, "Ah well, you can't win 'em all. I've worked with Nathan once, he's a tough opponent. I was very surprised to see you beat him." I blushed and rubbed the back of my head. "I guess, I don't know why, but somehow I keep getting all of my energy back." Reggie looked at me with a concerned face, but then quickly passed it off. "Come with me, I wanna show you something," he said and he lead me down the hallways.

Reggie took me through a door. It was full of serious looking Pokémon. Suddenly a Beedrill flew up to me. "Hey! You're not allowed to be here! This place is for Pokéuman Rescue Troop members only!" Reggie pushed him aside. "Relax Nick, he's with me." The Beedrill grumbled, "If it was anyone else but Reggie, I would've stung your tail off dog-boy," and with that he flew somewhere else. After a few minutes Reggie took me to a red crystal door with the number 10 carved on it and opened it up. It was like my room only it had one bed, one computer and the crystals were all red. "This is my room. It's not much, but to me it's my home." He walked over to one of the crystals on the wall and yanked it off, revealing a huge hole. "It's through here," he said and crawled in. I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling through. I followed Reggie through the tunnel for a good 5 minutes before Reggie stopped. Oh, by the way, the tunnel lead to a cavern just barely big enough for us to stand in. "This is it," Reggie said. He pushed a rock over our heads and climbed out the hole in the ceiling. I climbed out of the hole and gasped.     

We were outside. I mean OUTSIDE of the base in the woods. It was nighttime and I gazed up through the trees at the stars. There were so many stars. It was pure magic. It's been over a week since I had seen the stars. "This is where I come when I need to think," Reggie said. "Wow," I said, awestruck, tears coming to my eyes. "No one knows about this. Not even Asula knows. You're the first Pokéuman I've ever shown this to," said Reggie. I stared at him, "Really? Why me?" Reggie stared at the stars, "I don't know, for some reason, you're, unlike anyone else I've ever met. You remind me of well…me." I smiled to myself; Reggie really was a big brother to me.

For some reason I remembered the big gold door to the Elite Four. Reggie has been here for 5 years maybe he knows something, I thought. "Hey Reggie," I asked, "What can you tell me about the Elite Four here?" He looked at me totally surprised. "Brandon, I don't think you're ready to challenge the Elite Four." I nodded "I know, I just want you to tell me as much as you can." Reggie sighed. "The rules strictly forbid me from telling you what kind of Pokémon they are but I can tell you their names. The first of the four is William. Don't underestimate him; while he isn't much of a fighter he makes up for it with high HP and Defense. The second one is Dustin; he's cunning and clever and excels with horrible tricks and attacks. Third is Zeke, he's one of the toughest here. He's going to be a nightmare to you. Last but not least is Rikuto, the strongest of the four. His powers are so great; he can hold his own against Asula. Rumor has it he knows forbidden techniques and attacks and even his color is different. His nickname is "The Green Dragon." Ever since he joined, no one has ever been able to conquer the challenge." My eyes widened. "I took the challenge 3 years ago," Reggie continued, " Before Rikuto joined, the last of the Elite Four was Zeke and the third member was the current Psychic Battle teacher, Ms. Jardona, a Gardevoir. William was easy, Dustin gave me a bit of trouble but in the end I managed to beat him. Jardona was harder. She kept blocking my attacks and hitting me with hers. I managed to defeat her too. With Zeke, I only lasted one round. Not only was I tired from my first three battles, I was totally unprepared and had a major disadvantage." A disadvantage to Reggie would mean that Zeke's type is limited to Fire, Bug, Flying, Ice or Poison, I thought. "Well, it's almost curfew, I'd better get you back to your room." Reggie took me back through the tunnel and back through his room and down the hallways back to my room. "See you around Brandon, stay strong," he said as he headed back to his room.

I opened the door and saw Mike dead asleep and Starr in bed reading a book. "Brandon, where have you been?" she asked. "Nowhere, I'm heading out to see Asula," I told her. Starr sat up, "But curfew was 5 minutes ago." "I know," I said as I pulled out the pink pass from under my bed, "But this will let me through." Starr nodded, "Be careful." I nodded too and headed out the door.

I wandered the darkened hallways towards Asula's office. Suddenly a Banette came up to me and startled me. I almost screamed. "HEY YOU! Why are you still roaming the hallways?! Curfew was seven and a half minutes ago!" Shivering, I showed him the pink slip of paper. He studied it for a second. "Fine, you can go," he snorted and floated off somewhere. I made it to Asula's office. There was a Machamp standing guard outside her door. He looked at me, "Do you have permission to enter?" I gave him the pass. He looked at it for a second, then crumpled it up and ate it. "Go ahead inside."

I stepped inside Asula's office. The Milotic was sitting at her crystal desk. "Hello Brandon, have a seat won't you?" I sat down in one of the chairs. She slithered towards me. "I watched your performance today, you have done suspiciously well for someone who's only been active for a few days." My heart sank, did she think I was some sort of monster? She stared at me, "Brandon, how did you feel all of those times when you got knocked down but then got up?" I thought for a second. "It felt like, all of my energy was being restored." Asula started mumbling to herself. "Exploding Aura Sphere, energy restored, battle prodigy, yes… I think he's one of them." Asula turned to me. "Brandon, all of the evidence is clear. What I will say may shock or surprise you, but there is no doubt in my mind… Brandon, you are an Energy Channeler."

I was shocked, as well was confused. "What's an Energy Channeler?" I asked. "An Energy Channeler is a Pokémon who grows stronger much faster than an ordinary Pokémon. I have noticed you have been able to defeat strong opponents even though you've only been here for a week." She turned around and looked at her tank. "Energy Channelers have the ability to "borrow" energy from their surroundings. Not enough to make anyone feel weak, but they use that energy to further evolve their powers. How one becomes an Energy Channeler is unknown but they're very rare and only a few exist in the world." I was confused, "But wait, that doesn't explain why my Aura Sphere keeps exploding!" Asula turned around. "Because when you're channeling energy snd using Aura Sphere, the channeled energy goes into your Aura Sphere, causing it to explode from energy overload." She continued, "I suspect that because there were so many Pokéumans at the tournament, that you were able to gain your energy much faster than you would have in a room with only a few Pokéumans." I smiled on the inside, I had a rare ability! "Oh man, wait till I tell Starr and Mike…" Suddenly Asula spun at me angrily. "No! You must never tell anyone that you are an Energy Channeler!" I looked confused, "Why not?" Asula sighed. "Though they are truly gifted, most Energy Channelers end up evil Pokéumans, they are also very discriminated against. Many people fear their powers and so they try to exclude them to prevent trouble. Fortunately, no one really understands the meaning anymore, or that Energy Channelers even exist, but if someone does find out and they know, they would probably tell the others and you will be in deep trouble." I gasped and felt cold. What if I become evil? What if I had told the others? What if…?        

Suddenly a Rhydon burst into the office, breaking my train of thought. "Ms. Asula, a Lopunny has arrived! She's badly hurt; and she claims she's escaped from one of the Pokéxtinction hideouts herself! Asula nodded her head and the Rhydon rushed out the door. "Brandon, we will finish our conversation later, come with me." I nodded and we ran out the door. There was a circle of Pokéumans surrounding a beat up and bruised Lopunny. She was gasping for air. Many of the PRT members were there, even Reggie. "Let me through," said Asula as she made her way to the center. "Are you okay? What's your name?" The Lopunny turned her head and said slowly, "My name is…Mindy."