Pokeumans Chapter 2

Hi! I'm Brandon. I'm 15 years old. You may think I'm human, but that's partially true. You see I was a human a few minutes ago. Now I'm a Pokémon, a Lucario to be specific. I'm what you call a "Pokéuman," a person who turns into a Pokémon due to a special gene in their body. I was kidnapped by an opposing organization, the Pokéxtinction group until I was rescued by the Pokéuman organization. The Pokéxtinction organization's goal is to get rid of us. I recently joined a secret base that trains Pokéumans. Let me tell you being a Lucario is awesome! All of my senses were superbly enhanced. My hearing and sight are much sharper and more focused and I can see the aura of everything now. Being a Pokémon rocks! This is what life is like at their base.

Asula, a Milotic who's the headmistress, had just assigned me a room with another Lucario named Starr. I had also received a schedule and a map. I was walking with Starr to our room, reading the schedule. Most of the classes with the exception of the Battle Class were the same as regular school.      

                                                                                           Schedule

                                                                                    Student: Brandon
                                                                                     Species: Lucario                 
                                                                    All classes are canceled on weekends
                                                            One Five-Star notebook and a pencil is required  

                                                                                             Classes

                                                                          Math – Ms. Tartaley – 9:00-9:55
                                                                Pokémon History – Mr. Mayer – 10:00-10:55
                                                                             Gym – Mr. Gamlina – 11:00-11:55
                                                                                        Lunch – 12:00-12:55
                                                                      Battle Class – Mr. Dorniyo – 1:00-1:55
                                                                Science/Technology – Mr. Galasin – 2:00-2:55


"We both have the same Lunch and Battle Class periods," said Starr, "I'll give you a tour after classes end."

I nodded.

"Do you know what the best part about school is?" she said. "What?" I asked. "No homework."

I did a double take. "Really!? That's awesome!" I really hate doing homework.

"The staff here believes training is more important." Starr smiled as we continued to walk.

I was happy. Being thrown into all of this can really rack up a person's nerves and I was glad to have found a friend to guide me.

Eventually after walking down a hallway with hundreds of blue crystal doors we stopped at one with the number 448 carved on it.

"This is it," Starr said. "Just touch it and it will open."

I slowly touched the door and it slid open. The walls and the floor were made of pure crystal, just like Asula's office. There were three beds; a bunk bed and another bed on the other side of the room. There was a couch in the center; and two desks, with an office chair and a computer at each. There was also a giant flat-screen TV.

"Aduh, It'suh, whaaa," I couldn't speak; it was the most amazing room I had ever seen. I repeat EVER.

"It's pretty cool isn't it," said Starr. "You just need to watch out for…"

Suddenly a Spiritomb jumped out at me from under the bed.

"BOOOOO!" it screamed.

I yelped, jumped up and fell on the floor. And yes, despite being part Steel-type, falling on a crystal-hard floor hurts.

The Spiritomb started laughing. "HAHAHA! I can't believe you fell for it!"

Starr rolled her eyes and helped me up. "Seriously Mike, do you have to pull this ever time someone new walks by?"

She turned to me. "Brandon," she said, "Look closely at him."

I did and I noticed something was wrong about him. First of all his circles were somewhat yellow-green instead of green, the Odd Keystone was dark, chocolate brown instead of tan-gray, and the swirl, which is supposed to be in the left eye, was in the right eye.

"Yeah, there is something off about him," I realized. I walked up over to him, "Who the heck are you?"

He laughed and suddenly transformed into his true form, a pink Ditto. "Hehehe! I'm sorry! But you should've seen the look on you face when I jumped out at you!"

He laughed for a bit and came up to me and shook my paw. "I'm Mike, as you can see I'm a Ditto. I guess you're our new roommate!"

Starr rolled her eyes again. "Mike's a bit of prankster, so just ignore him."

Starr winked at me and I smiled and turned around with my arms crossed.

"No wait!" he yelped, "Come on! Don't ignore me! Look, I'm sorry. It's just that– you're a cool Lucario. Do you know how I felt when I saw all of my limbs turning into pink jelly?"

Starr started to giggle and I turned around and stared awkwardly.

Mike got mad, "Starr! You know I hate it when you do that!"

"And I hate it when you scare people, so now we're even," she argued.

I was feeling a bit awkward and out-of-place while they were arguing.
"Wait!" Starr suddenly interrupted, "We're here for Brandon, sorry about that," she apologized.

"No problem," I said, "My sister and I fought a lot. I'm used to it."

Mike came over and fully apologized and gave me tour of the room. "We sleep in the bunk bed; I'm on the bottom so you're on the top. We'll both share this computer," indicating the one closest to the bunk bed, "And that one is Starr's," pointing at the other one. "The TV's all ours though; Starr doesn't watch it very much."

I just remembered something. "Hey, does anyone know what day is it?"

"Yeah, it's Thursday," said Starr. "Why?"

"Wait! What time is it?" I asked, hopeful.

Mike looked at the computer, "It's 8:58," he said.

"A new episode of World's Dumbest is on!" I said.

TruTV Presents: World's Dumbest is one of my favorite shows. It features 20 stupid videos along with humorous commentary from a group of B-list celebrities and comedians.

"That sounds like a cool show, I'm in!" said Mike.

"I'd love to stay and watch," said Starr, "But I'm going to be late for my Thursday night meditation training. Fill me in on the details when I get back. See you Brandon." She smiled and walked out the crystal door.

"Don't worry," Mike said, "Your girlfriend will be back in an hour."

I punched him in the shoulder. Or maybe his head, his jelly, uhhhh, well the point is that I punched him.

"She's not my girlfriend she's my friend." I said defiantly, "Well anyway, what channel is truTV?"

Mike and I watched the World's Dumbest Criminals for an hour. I could tell he liked the show as much as I did as we were both laughing at the stupid people failing their robberies along with the humorous commentary of a group of comedians. As we watched, I kept on wondering to myself, "Are these criminals' just clones of ordinary people who are now hiding as Pokémon?"

Eventually the fun ended an hour later, and I was exhausted. Starr returned a few minutes after the show ended. Just then an Ampharos arrived at our dorm. "Hey guys, ten minutes until curfew." Then he walked away. I climbed to the top of the bunk. I first tried to lie on my stomach, but my chest spike was making it uncomfortable, so I rolled on my back. Mike jumped up to the bottom bunk turned himself to stone and I soon heard snoring. Starr said good night and fell asleep in her own bed. I tried to go to sleep but I was too excited for tomorrow to come. I thought about everything that happened today. Eventually all of my thinking wore me out and I slowly drifted off to dreamland.                 

I slowly opened my eyes. When everything focused in, I was startled to find myself back in my bedroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw myself as a human again. No signs of Lucario anywhere on my body.  

"Could it, was it, was it all another dream?" I wondered.

I shrugged it off and got ready for school. School was going along great until somebody asked me, "Hey Brandon, why are you blue?"

I look into a mirror; I was a Lucario again! Everyone started to point and laugh. "No, no, no!" "What going…"
"BRANDON! WAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEE UUUPPPPPPP!"

That was the loudest shout I have ever heard. I snapped awake and covered my sensitive ears with my paws.

"Whose voice is that? My ears are pounding!" "WAKE UP OR YOU'LL MISS BREAKFAST!" yelled the ear-shattering voice again.

"Breakfast?" I mumbled. There's one word that can wake me up anytime; breakfast. "Okay, okay, don't shout anymore! I'm getting up!"

I forced myself out of my morning drowsiness and jumped down from the bunk bed. It was Mike, as a blue Loudred.

"Geez! Did you have to turn into one of the loudest Pokémon ever and shout at the top of your lungs!?"

My head was still pounding. Let's get one thing straight; a Loudred's shout is like standing near exploding dynamite. And if that doesn't hurt your ears, then you either are deaf, or just kind of stupid. Mike turned back into a Ditto.

"Come on! We're going to be late for breakfast. Starr told me to let you sleep for a few more minutes, but they're going to run out of waffles soon!" he yelled.

Mmmm waffles, the thought woke me up and filled me up with energy. Besides, I didn't have dinner last night. "Okay, I'm ready, let's go!"

Mike transformed into an orange Munchlax and we walked down the hallway, I noticed there was no one around.

"Hey Mike," I asked. "Where is everyone?" "

Probably at breakfast," he said. "It starts at 7:45 and ends at 8:30."

"Wait, what time is it?"

"It's about 8:15," grumbled Mike.

"WHAT!? WHY DID YOU LET ME SLEEP IN?" I shouted.

"It wasn't my fault," groaned Mike, "Starr told me to let you sleep in."

By this time we made it to the mess hall. It was big and filled with thousands of Pokémon.

"Hey guys!" shouted a familiar voice, "Over here!"

Starr was sitting at a table holding two trays of food. One had bacon, eggs and pancakes. The other one had pancakes, sausage, eggs and a bowl of oatmeal.

"Sorry Mike," said Starr, giving him the tray with the pancakes, sausage, eggs and oatmeal, "They ran out of waffles."

Mike gave me a cold look but brightened up when he saw the oatmeal and started gobbling. I picked up a fork, surprised I was able to hold anything, given the lack of thumbs and started eating. Apparently being a Pokémon didn't come with handicaps. Oh yeah and the food was amazing, better than my mom's cooking anyway.

"You like the food huh," said Starr.

"Mmmm hmm." I said mouth full.

Mike gobbled down five bowls of oatmeal, scarfed down three servings of eggs and about twenty pancakes before I finished, being that Munchlax are always hungry, and right about then the bell rang.

Back at our room, Starr gave me a 5-Star notebook and a pencil.

"You'll need this for math, history and science," she said.

Again I was surprised to find myself able to hold a pencil, again given the lack of thumbs. Mike was reading my schedule.

"Okay, we are in the same Math and Gym class, and we have Lunch together." It was about 8:55 when the first bell rang.

"Gotta get to my first class, good luck," Starr said with a wink and she headed out the door.

"Okay then," said Mike, "Let's get to Ms. Tartaley's class! I warn you, she's a little weird."

I poked my head out the door. Pokémon filled the hallways. I opened my map. The class was on the other side of the base.

"How are we going to get there on time?" I asked.

Mike looked at me as if I'd just slapped him. "Helllllooooo, Me. Ditto. Transform. Ring a bell?" After giving him a confused look, he transformed into a pink Abra at which I knew what he meant. I grabbed his hand, felt a whoosh and suddenly I was standing in front of a classroom. "Well, we're here!"

It was a crystal classroom, just like our room. Several other Pokémon were already seated at crystal desks. In the front of the classroom was an Ambipom wearing typical librarian, half lens glasses.

"Hello there!" she giggled. "You must be Brandon! Asula told me about you," she said with a wink. "Sit anywhere, anywhere you'd like," she said with another giggle.

I sat down at a desk in the middle.

"Ow!" I sat on my new tail. Mike sat in the back. A few more students walked in and then the bell rang.

"Good morning class," Ms. Tartaley giggled, "We have a new student, Brandon!" Thirty pairs of eyes stared at me.

"Umm hello," I said nervously.

"Well, now that we all know each other, let's get started!" She started writing math stuff and the blackboard with one tail with she used the other tail to toss an apple up and down. Most of the stuff she was teaching was stuff I already learnt in school, but I copied it down anyway. I seriously need to know how I can hold stuff with paws. I kept trying to listen, but it was kind of distracting because she giggled in every sentence as well as toss random objects with her other tail. After the apple, she tossed a stapler, then an eraser, and then the apple again.

"I know she's weird," said a voice from next to me. It was a Raichu. He looked like he was 17 years old, well I don't know if Pokémon have ages, but 17 looked about right.

"Really?" I whispered, "She's like this all the time?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you should've seen her last week. She taught the whole lesson while standing on her head!"

"Wow! That is weird!"

He held out his paw. "I'm Travis, and I guessing you're Brandon."

"Yeah," I said shyly, "I'm the new guy."

He leaned towards me. "How long did it take for you to transform? I think I'm the fastest, it only took me three days to turn into a Pikachu."

I smiled, "Well I think I shattered that record. It only took me a few minutes."

His eyes widened, "Really?! How do you transform so quickly?!"

"TRAVIS! Are you paying attention?" said Ms. Tartaley.

"Yes, Ms. Tartaley," said Travis. She smiled "Well good, now let's focus more shall we?" And then turned around and continued teaching.

Travis and I continued to whisper to each other through the whole lesson. Turns out, he was from California who visited New York when he started to change and has only been a Pokéuman for five months.

Class ended sometime later when I heard the bell ring.

"Okay, everyone! Class is dismissed! See you all on Monday!" Ms. Tartaley giggled as everyone left the room.

"You seem to be a cool guy to me Brandon," said Travis. "I'll see you around sometime."

"Yeah," I said. "See you," and he turned around and left.

That's when I turned around to see Mike, red as a tomato. He was steaming. No literally, white smoke was emitting from his pink/red body.

"Well, it appears that you have a new best friend!" he said frustrated.

"Oh don't be the jealous type," I said, giving him a noogie.

"Hey, I'm not being the jealous type! I never get to hang out with anyone cool, except Starr, but she gets annoying sometimes!"

I started laughing. "Who do you think you are; the king of my social life? Come on, Mr. Jealousy much." I said, punching him in the shoulder.

Mike scowled. "I gotta get to class, see you in Gym." Then he turned into an Abra and teleported away.

I unfolded the map I kept in my notebook. I had History with Mr. Mayer next. I walked around until I found the crystal door with the right number on it. Inside was another classroom and teaching this class was a Slowking.

"Hello, you must be Brandon. I'm Mr. Mayer; please sit anywhere you'd like."

I sat down in an unfamiliar environment, without any Pokémon I knew to comfort me. For the first time in my entire life, I knew how it felt to be the new guy. The bell rang and class began. Most of the stuff he taught was extended and more detailed versions of Asula's story. I did learn that Pokémon helped build some of the Ancient Wonders of the World. I'm sorry for not filling in any more details, but nothing really interesting happened after that. For 55 minutes I tried to copy down notes without falling asleep and then finally the bell rang.  

Opening the map again, I realized it was quite a way to the gym. I hustled down the hallways, turning left, right, left, right. Even with my new senses and the map I couldn't find the gym. I was completely lost. I made a quick turn and I crashed into a Pokémon and fell down.

"Oh man, I'm really sorry I-," I looked up.

"Hey there Brandon I didn't expect to bump into you again so soon," said a familiar voice as he extended his claw to help me up.

"Hey there Reggie!" I said as the Grovyle helped me up.

For those of you that don't know, Reggie is a Grovyle, but not just any Grovyle. Reggie is an elite member of the Pokéuman Rescue Troop (I'm just going to call it the PRT for short) who rescues Pokéumans from the Pokéxtinction group. Reggie was the one who rescued me when I got kidnapped.

"So, what's with the big rush?" he asked. "I'm trying to find the Gym, can you help me?"

"Sure, I'm heading to a training session, which is just a short way from the Gym.  I'll show you the way." I smiled. I looked up to Reggie; he was cool, confident, strong, and almost like a big brother to me.

We walked for a couple of minutes.

"Hey Reggie," I asked. "Do you like being a Pokémon?"

Reggie pondered. "It's been an adventure for me," he replied, "Although there are times when I wish I was a regular human."

He turned and smiled, "But, I have a big job to do and it makes me happy I have a significant purpose in life."

Another minute passed before we got to a pair of doors. Then the bell rang. "See ya around kiddo," said Reggie.

"I gotta get going, stay strong and focused," and headed down the hall.

I entered the gym. It was big and had crystal walls and a concrete ceiling. The ground was pure dirt. A tall, buff looking Mightyena standing on two legs was standing in the middle with a bunch of other Pokémon (including Mike) all in a group.

"You're Brandon, I'm assuming." I nodded.

"I'm Mr. Gamlina, the coach around here." Then he blew his whistle. "Alright everyone! Today we're playing dodge ball! David and Isaiah, you're team captains."

A Luxray and a Golduck stepped up and began choosing out of the 24 of us. After a few minutes, the Luxray calls, "I want the new guy on my team." I nervously stepped forward. "You heard him," said Mr. Gamlina, "You're on David's team. Get up there," "Uh, yes sir," I said nervously and stepped forward. When it comes to dodge ball, I'm only good at the dodging part. Actually, when I play in school, I'm usually the last kid standing, but I can never hit anyone out. I hoped that my new Lucario stature would help my throwing skills. Unfortunately, Mike was put on the opposite team and we were ready to start.

The balls we were holding were white and kind of glassy. "Hey, new kid," called out the Luxray, who I believe was named David. "Since you're new, you should know there's a little secret about these dodge balls." I was about to ask him what when a ball flew towards me. I was able to catch it. I looked at the ball. It was green instead of white from earlier. That's when I noticed a vine was growing on my paws and the ball turned white again and fell to the floor. "The balls will gain special effects from your type," called David, who tossed a bright yellow ball and dodged a black one. I ripped off the vines, picked up the ball in my hands and it turned orange. I tossed it. This ball shot like a rocket and I knocked out a Togetic. "Awesome!" I picked up another ball and it turned bright gray. Before I could throw it, I saw a pink/purple ball heading towards me. Out of instinct, I blocked with the ball. The ball clanged off my ball and shot and knocked out another player on the opposing team. "Now! You're getting it!" shouted David. The balls had all sorts of effects in terms of offense and defense. Ghost type balls can turn invisible while Water type balls can create a shield of water. Psychic type balls can move however you want them to while the Rock type balls create rocks to block other balls. I'll tell you the rest later.

45 minutes later and two games later, I was the last person standing on my team and Mike was the last person on his team. Unfortunately for me, Mike can change species, thus changing his type. I'm limited to Fighting type balls and Steel type balls. Mike grinned. "Brandon, you're going down!" He transformed into a Magmar (with a blue flame) and threw a Fireball at me. If I caught it I would be burned. I tried using a Steel type ball to defend, but it partially melted it. I guess type matches were in effect. I picked up a ball, turned it orange and fired it at Mike. Quickly he changed into a Pidgeotto and dodged. I thought for a moment and I came up with an idea. I picked up a ball and turned it Steel. Then I reeled back like I was going to toss it. Mike changed into a Mawile to defend. Quickly I changed the ball into the Fighting type and fired it. The ball was too fast for him to dodge and I knocked him out. Everyone on my team cheered. Mr. Gamlina blew his whistle and gym was over. David came over to me. "You did awesome man!" and gave me a high five. "Thanks man, you too!" I replied. He winked at me. "I'll be seeing you later man." The bell rang and I left with Mike to go to lunch.

My stomach was growling. All of the energy made me really hungry. Mike wanted to teleport, but I wanted to walk to lunch. Mike had transformed into his orange Munchlax form and we were walking and talking down the hallway until I heard a Pokémon crying. I saw an Electabuzz, a Skuntank and a Weavile holding a Farfetch'd's stick high about their heads. The poor Pokémon was crying while jumping high to reach the stick. "Please give me back my stick!" he cried. "I need it!" He looked like he was about 10 years old. The Electabuzz laughed. "If you want your stick back so badly, work for it!" he taunted as he held the stick higher. "Who are those jerks?" I whispered to Mike. "They're the M.S.N. gang. They're a group of bad Pokémon." He pointed to the Electabuzz. "That's Scott; he's their leader. He's mean and ruthless to everyone." He pointed to the Skuntank. "His name is Milton; his stink is enough to knock out a Gyarados." He pointed to the Weavile. "And that's Nat; he's as mean as his claws are long and sharp." I saw enough. I've been bullied before and trust me, it's NOT cool. I gave Mike my notebook to hold and I walked up to the bullies. "Hey! Stop torturing the poor kid!" The Electabuzz dropped the stick and the gang glared at me. I was paralyzed on the inside, but I kept my cool. "Who do you think you are punk? You ain't the boss around here you stupid kid!" He shoved me to the ground and he and his friends laughed. Okay, now I was mad. I got up and got into my own fighting stance. That only made them laugh harder. "Oooooh, I think we have Jackie Chan here. Maybe he'll give us autographs," they laughed. I shoved Scott to the floor and smirked. His two goons stopped laughing and gasped. Scott got up really slowly. "That was a bad idea kid," he said. "I'm gonna pound you!" He raised his fist, charged with electricity. He raised it into the air, ready to strike when suddenly a familiar voice emerged. "What is going on here?!"

It was Asula. Scott lowered his fist. He actually looked scared. The Milotic slithered toward me. "Hello Brandon, how's your first day going?" I smiled. "Fine. Being a Pokémon is awesome!" She smiled and turned to Scott. "Hello Scott. I hope you're behaving yourself. Not causing anyone any trouble am I right?" "I-I'm behaving myself Ms. Asula," he stuttered. She gave him a sharp look. "Good. We wouldn't want a repeat of last week, don't we?" Scott looked terrified. "No ma'am." She turned to me. "Well, I hope the rest of your day is filled with adventure," she said. "I'll see you later." Then she slithered down the hall. Scott glared at me. "You made an enemy of me. I'll be back to get you! Come on boys," he said and stormed down the hallway, with his two followers following close behind.

"Wow! Brandon, you did it!" shouted another familiar voice. Starr came rushing down the hallway. "I've never seen anyone brave enough to stand up to Scott's gang before!" Mike came up to me and put his arm around my shoulder. "That's why you're my friend!" he proclaimed proudly. I blushed. "Hey Starr," I asked. "Why is Scott so terrified of Asula? I mean, she's a Water-type and he's an Electric type." Starr looked at me seriously. "Asula has a temper worse than a Primeape. While she's nice most of the time, when she gets mad, watch out! When she called Scott to her office last week to "talk" to him about bullying, the whole base shook. Scott almost had a heart attack." The bell rang. "Come on, we better get to lunch," said Starr and the three of us walked down to the mess hall.       

The mess hall was crowded, just like it was at breakfast. My acute sense of smell caught the scent of burgers and fries. The three of us walked up to the line, picked up trays and proceeded to get our food. A friendly looking Miltank was on the other end of the food stand. "Why hello Starr and Mike," she said. "I see we have a new student here!" Starr smiled, "Yeah, this is Brandon, Ms. Yepergo." I smiled. She gave us our burgers and fries and we slid down to the drinks. "Hey Brandon, you should try the MooMoo Milk, its fresh from the source!" I stared at the bottles, then at Ms. Yepergo. Starr punched Mike hard and he fell over. "Stop scaring the poor kid! Don't worry Brandon, it's not hers," she assured me. "Right," I said. Even so I skipped the milk and took a can of Lemonade instead.

The three of us sat down at an empty table and started eating. Mike was shoveling food down his throat like a Munchlax would. I bit into my burger. It was amazing; it was unlike any burger I had ever tasted. And the fries were like from heaven. "So, Brandon, how's life as a Pokémon treating you?" Starr asked. I shrugged, "Fine, I guess. A lot of them are nice." Starr smiled, "That's what I like most about being a Pokémon. Most of us treat each other with respect and equality. If only the human world were like this." Mike and I went up to get seconds and then he went to get thirds, then fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths…

"Does he always go Munchlax during meals?" I whispered to Starr. "Yeah, except during BIG meals when he goes Snorlax on us," she whispered back. I thought out Mike as a Snorlax shoveling mountains of food down his throat and Starr and I started to laugh. For the rest of the period Starr, Mike and I talked, ate and laughed together. In the moment, I was truly happy I was a Pokéuman. The bell rang and Mike teleported away to his next class. Starr and I left together and headed to Battle Class.

"Come on," said Starr, pulling my arm. "We're going to be late for Battle Class." She led me into another room. It was huge, almost bigger than the gym. There was steel plating on the walls and ceiling, it had a dirt floor, numerous wooden dummies around and a running track. It was pretty impressive place. "What is this place?" I asked. "You're in the training grounds," said a voice from behind. I spun around to see a Hariyama looking at me. "Hello Mr. Dorniyo," greeted Starr. "Good afternoon Starr, I see we have a new student here." More Pokémon, all Fighting-types, entered and the bell rang. "Hello class," boomed Mr. Dorniyo. "Good afternoon Mr. Dorniyo," chimed the rest of the students. "Today we have a new student. Please come up and introduce yourself to the class." Starr nudged me, "That's you, go up." I nervously walked up to the front of the class. Everyone was staring at me. "Hi, I'm Brandon." I'm not good at talking in front of a lot of people I don't know. Mr. Dorniyo put his hand on my shoulder. "As we all know, it is tradition for all new students to perform their attacks for the class. Trey, bring me some practice dummies." A Machoke went and grabbed four dummies and set them in front of me. "Uhhhh, umm." Mr. Dorniyo looked at me, "What's wrong?" "I don't know how to perform attacks." I said sheepishly. I guess Asula forgot to teach me how to attack.

"You're a Pokémon; you already know how to perform attacks. Just concentrate and you'll understand how to attack," said Mr. Dorniyo. I closed my eyes and concentrated. My brain somehow knew an attack. I attacked the wooden dummy and crushed it with a Force Palm. "Wow! That was easy!" Everyone clapped. "Pretty impressive," said Mr. Dorniyo. I concentrated again and in an instant giant claws grew from my paws. I knew what to do. I cut the second dummy into pieces with Metal Claw. Again everyone clapped. "Hmm, you need to improve your technique, but that was good for a first-timer," said Mr. Dorniyo. With more confidence, I concentrated and I felt my tail getting harder. I jumped up, spun around and I knocked out the third dummy. Mr. Dorniyo seemed impressed. "It's rare to see a Lucario know the move Iron Tail, but it's not impossible." I was beaming with confidence now. "Brandon, try using Aura Sphere!" shouted Starr. I nodded and concentrated. I felt my aura flow out of my hands into a wobbly ball. Before I could toss it, the sphere exploded in my hands and I got knocked back a few feet.

After what seemed to be hours, I opened my eyes to see everyone staring at me. I was on my back. Everything was all hazy, but I could hear Starr's voice.  "Brandon! Are you okay? Do you need to go to the nurse?" I slowly sat up. I wasn't hurt as badly as I thought I was. "Yeah, I'm fine." Mr. Dorniyo stared at me hard. I wasn't sure if it was a look of disappointment or curiosity. "Interesting, very interesting," he said. "I've never seen anything like this before." Embarrassed, I jumped back up. "Wait! Give me a second to do it again!" I started to focus but Mr. Dorniyo stopped me. "We don't want another explosion to occur. Just practice your other attacks." He turned to the rest of the students. "If anyone says anything about this outside of this room, they will be given 5 weeks detention and will have to face me in battle. You will continue training for the rest of the class."

I begged Starr to try to let me use Aura Sphere again, but she said she didn't want to see me hurt. I was mad and confused. I've never heard of an Aura Sphere exploding before. Though I wanted to try Aura Sphere again I continued practicing my other moves. I smashed about 20 dummies with my other moves. Attacking is not as easy as you think it is. I also ran around the track a few times.  I've always been a Slowpoke (no Pokémon reference intended) with speed, but I was surprised to find that I was able to run faster than when I was human but I still had weak stamina. Afterwards I challenged Starr to a mock battle. I'm betting that she went easy on me because she kept using Dark Pulse. Even if she was she still beat me by a long shot, although I paralyzed her with Force Palm. Then again she made me flinch like 10 times. After 40 minutes of intense training the bell rang and everyone left. "Meet me back at our room when classes end," Starr said. "Then I can give you the tour of the base." She winked at me and left.

Opening the map again, I followed it to my Science class with Mr. Galasin. When I got their, I was expecting a Castform but instead I got an Alakazam for a teacher. He came over to me and nodded. "You're Brandon am I right? Sit anywhere you'd like." I sat in the middle. The first 40 minutes of science was ordinary until he got to the technology part. Mr. Galasin picked up a small box with a lock on it. He reached into his desk and pulled out a small key. He unlocked the box and revealed it was full of metal parts and gears. Everyone watched as he used his psychic powers to assemble the various gears and wires into a ring, like one of those Captain Planet rings. "This is a very special ring," said Mr. Galasin. "Can anyone tell me what this ring can do?" A Skarmory raised its wing, "I heard that kind of ring can temporarily change Pokéumans back to their original human forms." Everyone gasped. Even I was confused. I thought Asula said there was no possible way to change back after the transformation. "Yes Peter, that is correct. Now observe." Mr. Galasin put the ring on and instantly transformed from an Alakazam to a lean, blonde haired man, including a suit, tie and khaki pants, he was a human again. Everyone stared in disbelief. He took the ring off and changed back into an Alakazam. Then he used his psychic powers to disassemble the ring, place the parts back into the box, lock it and return the key to his desk. "Unfortunately, these rings are only available for the most elite Pokéumans and are only used for top-secret missions. A few hours under the ring's power won't do any major damage, but a long time can cause severe DNA mutations especially with younger experienced Pokéumans. "That includes me," I thought to myself. I bet Reggie would be able to use one of those rings. The final bell rang and class was over. "Time to meet Starr," I thought, opening my map.

I walked back to my room following my trusty map to meet Starr. After nearly several collisions, I finally made it back to room 448. Suddenly I heard a loud crushing sound from the inside. A bit nervous, I touched the crystal door which slowly slid open. I poked my head inside only to find a giant Snorlax on the floor, snoring. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell me that this was Mike. I tossed my book on the bed and waited for Starr, covering my sensitive ears from the loud snoring. I really didn't wait long, because Starr came by a few minutes later. She also caught the sound of snoring from Mike. Grateful, I left the room. "Does he always take a nap after classes?" I asked "Yeah, every Friday," she replied. She closed the door. "Well, let's give you that tour I promised!"

Starr and I went along touring different rooms. The auditorium, the theater, the lava pits (I really wouldn't recommend getting to close) and then we went to the main entrance where Asula's office was. I remembered something. "Hey Starr, isn't this where I first met you?" She stopped. "Oh yeah, I remember when you bumped into me still human, well except for your arms," she said with a giggle. "I believe destiny chose us to be together...as friends," she added quickly blushing. I smiled and blushed too. "Hey Starr," asked, "If we're underground, where's the entrance?" She pointed to the big door with the Poké Ball painted on it. "Behind that door is a hallway that leads to an elevator. If you take the elevator, it will take you above ground and a fake boulder will open up." I remember I had passed out in front of a boulder when I first arrived with Reggie. "None of us are allowed outside unless you're on a mission and even then you'll need a special ring which you probably don't know about –" "Yeah I know what you're talking about," I said, recalling the ring Mr. Galasin showed us. "You don't have to worry about outside for now," Starr said and led me to more rooms.

We entered another room. This one had several pools filled with clear, sparkling water. Many Water-types were swimming here. "These are our pools," said Starr. "This is a natural underground spring and we use it for water training." Suddenly, a figure burst out of one of the pools and landed on its feet right in front of us. It was a Floatzel. "Hello Ms. Kesley," said Starr. "This is Brandon; I'm giving him a tour around our base." "Hello," I said politely. She shook my paw. "Pleased to meet you Brandon! Asula told me about you. I believe you were interested in swimming?" I blushed, "Well, I used to be on a swim team, but I was always the slowest." "Speaking of speed, he comes our best swimmer," said Ms. Kesley. The pool in front of us suddenly shot a geyser of water and a Pokémon leaped off the top and landed in front of us. It was a Vaporeon. "This is Sakato, as you can see he is a Vaporeon," introduced Ms. Kelsey. Sakato stared as us and nodded slowly with a serious expression on his face. I guess he's the silent type. Ms. Kesley smiled, "Sakato trains his Speed the harshest of all. He's trying to beat my superb agility." Sakato leapt up, and sped across the pools with such blinding speed. He actually ran across the water! He made it around the whole pool area in less than 15 seconds. "Nice form Sakato," praised Ms. Kesley, "But that still not fast enough to beat me!" Sakato growled and sped off across the pools. "I have to catch up to him, see you two later," Ms. Kesley said and sped off after Sakato.

We visited more rooms than I could count. It was hard to believe that all of this was underground in a crystal cavern. A few hours later, the dinner bell rang and Starr and I headed from the generator room to the mess hall. Mike caught up with us and turned into his orange Munchlax form. I smelled turkey and mashed potatoes. While on line for dinner, a Skarmory came up to me. "Hey kid," he whispered. "Are you hanging out with Starr?" I looked at Starr who was trying to stop Mike from eating his tray, again. "Yeah, I am," I replied. "Man! You're lucky!" he said. "Every male Pokémon in this joint has been trying to get Starr, but I've never seen anyone who she likes as much as you! Some stupid Loudred kid is spreading rumors that you and Starr are going out. Is that true?" I blushed and making sure she didn't hear that, whispered "No, we're just friends." The Skarmory looked proud, "My name is Peter, and I know that you're Brandon. We should hang out sometime." I nodded. Peter got his food and left.

"Hey Brandon," Mike said, "It's your chance again to try out the MooMoo Milk, fresh from the source–," Starr pounded him again. I laughed and took a bottle. We sat down and ate. I really should've tried the milk the first time. It was cold and sweet and the best milk I had ever drank! Starr and I got seconds while Mike got thirds, then fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths… We finished dinner an hour later and Mike, being really full, turned into an Abra teleported back while Starr and I decided to walk back.

As we were walking back, Starr suddenly gasped. "Oh man, I forgot my book in the mess hall. Brandon, head back and I'll catch up to you in a second." She turned around and ran back towards the mess hall. I continued walking along until I bumped into another Lucario. He stopped and stared at me. The first thing I noticed was his eye color. His eyes were purple instead of the usual crimson red like most Lucario. He stared at me really hard. So hard it was creeping me out. "Somewhere, sometime, you and I will be put into battle," he said. "I don't know when, but when we do you'd better be ready. I'm a tough opponent." He turned his back on me. "My name is Kyle Uchia, remember it. Until then, train hard." And with that he left without another word. I stared, dazed and confused and right about then Starr came back with her notebook. "Hey Starr," I asked. "Do you know any Lucario named Kyle Uchia?" She pondered for a moment. "He has purple eyes." I think that was the magic word because her eyes lit up. "Yes, now I remember. Kyle is one of the most mysterious students here." "Yeah," I said, "He just told me he and I would be put into battle. I think he was challenging me." Starr shook her head. "No, Kyle isn't the kind of Pokémon who challenges people, but I believe he had a vision." "Excuse me? A vision you said?" I asked. Usually visions have to do with something about the future. "Rumor has it that Kyle has the ability to see the future in visions. He probably had a vision of you two in battle, but if it's true, watch out, he may be the silent type, but he's one tough opponent." "If only I can just get this stupid Aura Sphere right!" I groaned. "Don't worry," assured Starr, "We'll keep at it until you get it right!" I groaned. It's so embarrassing. I'm a Lucario, my favorite Pokémon in the world and I can't even use my own signature move without it blowing up in my face.

Starr and I walked to our room where Mike was waiting for us. We talked, watched TV and got to know each other better. Mike used to wear glasses, Starr used to and still can sing and then somehow we got to exchanging embarrassing secrets. I couldn't ask for better friends. Soon the hour grew late, the Ampharos returned and told us that curfew was in 5 minutes, and everyone climbed into their own beds and fell asleep. I was the last one to doze off. I stared at the crystal ceiling, and thought about my first day. I'm glad I'm a Lucario. It's shown the best in me. I fell asleep smiling, wondering what was in store for me tomorrow.