Arriving at the field behind the school, I see that some students are already here with the professor. After a few more minutes, everyone arrives.
Then the professor claps his hands and says:
"Alright, since we have an even number of young trainers here, we will draw pairs. The selected pairs will have a friendly battle, and the others will take notes on their mistakes and successes."
After the pairings are drawn, we have the following battles:
- Anna vs. Kinji
- James vs. Victor
- Hannah vs. Luna
- Kenta vs. Luke
With the order of the battles decided, the professor takes a Poké Ball and releases a Slowking.
"Slowking, stay on standby in case any of them use a long-range move that goes toward the students."
"Sloooowwww..." replies Slowking slowly, in a deep voice.
I observe Slowking and deduce that he must be very close to reaching the Nearly-Elite level, around level 48 or 49, if we quantify it.
Soon, we all move away, leaving only Anna, Kinji, Professor Maxwell, and Slowking in the field. Acting as the judge, Professor Maxwell asks both to release their Pokémon, which is followed by two red flashes that transform into two Pokémon on the field.
In front of Anna is her Budew, looking around and preparing for battle. And in front of Kinji, floating in the air, is a Hoppip.
I use my powers to check its potential: a deep yellow; possibly, with some effort, it could evolve to green.
It's a surprise to see that this will become a battle between two Grass-type Pokémon. Considering that both have resistance to most moves they can learn at their current levels, as well as being immune to powder moves, it will be interesting to observe. With Anna's Budew possibly at level 11 and Hoppip at level 10, this promises to be an interesting battle.
"Are you ready? Begin!"
The professor starts the battle after receiving confirmation from both.
"Hoppip, gain altitude and attack with Poison Powder!"
"Hoop!"
With the professor's signal, Kinji gives the first command but seems to forget that Budew is also a Grass-type Pokémon.
"Budew, ignore that and use Growth!"
"Buudeww!"
Anna seizes the opportunity, knowing that Kinji has overlooked her Budew's typing, probably because it's from another region and because they usually don't teach about Pokémon from other regions in elementary school.
"Idiot! Have you already forgotten what your older brother taught us? Powder moves don't affect Grass-type Pokémon, and by its appearance, it must be a Grass type!"
Hannah shouts from outside the field.
"Grass type, huh? Then let's go with that," Kinji mutters as he sees Budew finish powering up. Not wanting to give Anna a chance to further strengthen her Budew, he commands:
"Hoppip, get closer and use Tackle!"
"Hooppip!"
Obeying, Hoppip quickly floats near Budew, attempting to attack it. Anna quickly commands:
"Budew, dodge!"
"Budd!"
Budew then jumps to the side in an attempt to evade, but Hoppip is faster and hits it, using the momentum of the attack to back away. Anna then commands Budew to attack:
"Now use Extrasensory!"
"Budd!"
Budew concentrates and releases a nearly transparent, amorphous wave that rapidly heads toward Hoppip, injuring it and throwing it to the ground.
Watching the battle, I am surprised because Extrasensory is an egg move. Coming out of my surprise, I continue to watch, but the battle seems to be nearing its end. With one more Extrasensory, Hoppip faints, and the professor concludes the battle, awarding victory to Anna.
He then asks Slowking to use Heal Pulse on Hoppip and Budew, healing their injuries. After they are healed, the professor calls everyone together and comments on the battle's progression:
"Anna, you did well; you took advantage of Kinji's lack of knowledge to strengthen yourself and finish quickly. Kinji, a lack of knowledge can be fatal for a trainer, but you managed to react, unlike some who might get confused like headless Pidgeys. So, it wasn't too bad; improve for next time."
"Alright, let's move on to the next battle."
"James and Victor, enter the field."
He returns to his position and signals for us to enter the field.
"You did well. That Extrasensory was a surprise," I say as I pass by Anna, complimenting her. She thanks me and wishes me good luck.
"Thanks, I was saving that move as a trump card. And, Victor, you have to win, understood?"
"Of course, miss," I reply, pretending to tip a hat in a playful manner.
Stepping onto the field, I feel my blood boil with excitement because, even though it has been eight years since I was reborn in this world, this will be my first battle.
At the professor's signal, we release our Pokémon. Releasing Sentret into the field, he takes an alert stance, standing upright on his tail. Opposite him is James's Hoothoot.
Using my ability, I notice that he has green potential, but drawing on the breeding knowledge I acquired from the Violet City Gym, I see that he is at level 9, a reflection of James's laziness in training him.
Already having an idea of my opponent's strength, I quickly formulate a battle plan to win. Taking a deep breath, I enter a state of hyper-focus, concentrating completely on the battle. However, I don't realize that this shift in my mental state draws the professor's attention.
'Interesting boy.'
The battle begins.
"Sentret, use Hone Claws and observe!"
I quickly order, wanting to play it safe and deciding to strengthen my attack and accuracy. Having learned from the previous match, James doesn't want to let Sentret power up and quickly commands Hoothoot:
"Hoothoot, don't let him strengthen, use Confusion!"
Using its psychic powers, a wave of blue energy starts to form around Sentret, ready to attack him, but he successfully powers up.
"Sentret, dodge using Quick Attack!"
Following my command, Sentret is quickly enveloped in a whitish light that increases his speed, further enhanced by Sentret's Run Away ability.
"Use Quick Attack to get close to Hoothoot!"
"Seeeennt!"
Sentret responds as he quickly closes the distance to Hoothoot.
"Hoothoot, fly and get away!"
James shouts, but due to lack of training, Hoothoot isn't quick enough to escape.
"Sentret, jump and finish this with Ice Punch!"
"Seennnnn!"
I command, punching the air, knowing that Hoothoot wouldn't be able to withstand that blow. Sentret then jumps into the air, reaching Hoothoot, and with his paw covered in freezing energy, delivers a punch that sends the bird Pokémon crashing to the ground.
Seeing Hoothoot fallen, the professor signals the end of the battle, declaring my victory. After healing our Pokémon, the professor begins to advise us and then continues with the other battles.
Watching the subsequent battles, I discover the Pokémon of Hannah, Luke, and Luna. Hannah has a level 11 Spinarak, with yellow potential and some traces of green. She managed to defeat Luna using two very powerful egg moves, Megahorn and Night Slash, despite having a type disadvantage and facing a tough battle.
Luke and Luna, being twins, both have the same Pokémon: they each own a Slowpoke. Luke also lost to Kenta, even though his Slowpoke had an advantage over Kenta's Fire-type Houndour, as it was still hindered by Houndour's Dark type. The defeat left the twins sad, although they fought well.
As the battles conclude, the professor claps to get our attention and asks what we thought of the battles.
"Exciting! Now I want a Pokémon too!"
"Yeah, it was really cool!"
Interrupting the students' conversation, the professor asks,
"That's not what I want to know. I want to know if you learned anything from the battles."
"Yes, professor!"
"Great, I want you to summarize what you learned and turn it in to me tomorrow."
"You are dismissed; you can go home."
On my way home, I reflect on today's class, especially the battle, thinking about what I could do if I faced other opponents and the strategies I would need to adopt. Looking back at the battle against James, I realize that I could have started with Charm to make Hoothoot hesitate, which would have given Sentret more space to power up. Then, I could have proceeded with what I did.
'I still have a lot to learn about battles,' I think as I head home. Halfway there, I release Sentret to accompany me.
"You did really well today, little guy."
"Sent Sentret Sen."
I praise him, and he jumps onto my shoulder, puffing out his chest and waving his little arms to show that he's strong.
We continue walking until we reach the ranch, where I see Grandpa fixing a fence that was apparently broken by the Mareeps. Meanwhile, Stoutland is herding the Mareeps, preventing them from escaping through the broken fence.
As I approach, I ask what happened.
"What happened, Grandpa?"
"Nothing much, just the old lady Hellen's Rhyhorn that bumped into the fence. Go change your clothes and come here to help me."
Hearing Grandpa, I dash inside the house, quickly change clothes, and spend the rest of the day helping him.