The School Years (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus It was a happy day for the young Tetsubo Capture, he was so interested in Pokémon and now he finally had a chance to study them. Tetsubo was a healthy child, moderately tall with shoulder length turquoise hair. His parents were busy people, with new jobs in the Route 9 Power Plant, so busy that Tetsubo would have to go to a boarding school rather than a part-time place. This would be a little troubling, but Tetsubo was just so excited now, Pokémon Tech had a record for its wide range of facilities and a 90% ratio of students that went on to great Pokémon related jobs and an immediate registration to the Pokémon League without collecting badges from around the world. Tetsubo was a little insecure about travelling on his own but who could blame him, he was only twelve and he had no Pokémon. His whole family had come along to enrol him and see him off. Tetsubo’s mother was a kind and gentle woman that did a lot for her children. His father was a tall strong man, but he was friendly and easy going and very fun to be with, he’d sure miss hanging out with him, but both parents wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with the kids as before, but they would earn enough money to get by. “So the little kid is about to step into his big shoes...” mused Tetsubo’s older sister, Megumi, she was tall with short dark green hair, she kneeled down to young Tetsubo and rustled his hair in the fashion of an older sibling. “Don’t disappoint me Tet, study up and win the Pokémon League for your sis.” “I promise, I won’t disappoint you, check the TV in five years time and you’re sure to see me.” replied Tetsubo confidently, Megumi had made a big impact on his life, she held the family together by working when they were financially down, she had a Pokémon with no Pokéball that became a friend of the family, a Voltorb, which was bouncing around her happily. “Voltorb! Voltorb! Voltorb!” Tetsubo knelt down to the orb and patted it on the head. “Be good to Sis, don’t go blowing yourself up now.” “Vol...” it groaned, and blew a fuse, it was a tiny explosion that had only knocked out the Voltorb. Megumi picked it up gently, “Tet’, you know not to touch Voltorb, it doesn’t trust you.” “Sorry...” grinned Tetsubo innocently. “How long is Big Brother going away for?” asked Cody, the youngest sibling, at only 7 years old. “Like he said, five years, and when he’s out, you’ll be old enough to train Pokémon, maybe you could be rivals.” said Megumi sincerely. In different towns were different restrictions on trainers, in Fuchsia City, the minimum age for Pokémon Trainers was twelve. “I’m going to miss you son.” sobbed Tetsubo’s mother holding him close and kissing him all around. “Mom, Mom, Mom! You’re embarrassing me!...” moaned Tetsubo. “Sue, you don’t want the other students to think he’s soft, do you? We’ll be in contact.” “Oh Dad...” said Tetsubo shedding a tear and then hugging him. “Son, this isn’t goodbye, this is what you wanted, the very best facilities so you can learn everything about Pokémon, and then you’ll have a world of choice as to what you want to be.” “I’ll make you proud... I’ll make all of you proud...” sobbed Tetsubo, and then wiped away the tears, picked up his bags and ran towards the college while he could still force himself to, he turned around none the less and waved to his family, so much that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. Tetsubo crashed into a fat kid and both fell to the floor, he looked about 3 years older than him and had a short clump of straight brown hair that went upwards, bags fell everywhere. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?!” shouted the kid. “I’m... so sorry.” apologised Tetsubo. “You should be...” growled the big guy. “Whoa whoa whoa!” said a man stepping between them and helping both of them up, he had spiky brown hair and he wore glasses and a green suit, “Its your first day, no fighting, why not become friends, you’re all new here...” he said in a friendly tone. “I’m Mr Takanichi.” he said pleasantly, “I’m head of the attack classes, and you?” “Tetsubo Capture.” “Bryan Cole.” Tetsubo held his hand out and Bryan frowned a little, but took the hand and the two shook. “I’m sorry, I don’t take insults well, nor do I appreciate being pushed around, you’ll have to live with that if you want to be friends.” “I’m sure we will, I’m not judgemental or anything.” smiled Tetsubo. “That’s great.” said Takanichi, “Now go to your designated rooms and get settled in, its going to be a long day tomorrow.” The first term was fine, learning about the basics of individual Pokémon, their attacks, type differences, habitats, and practical battle simulations and demonstrations, to name a few of the subjects. Tetsubo and Bryan studied alongside each other, they both had things to gain. Tetsubo felt he had to become the best he could, in order to use the money that his parents and Megumi raised for him well, they were sure to face some hard times until his parents started their new jobs, it would be especially hard on Megumi. Bryan came from a rich family, but had a lot expected of him, he had to study hard or he would receive a lot of emotional abuse later on, and be made to feel like nothing, that’s probably why he didn’t take insults too well and why he could be so insecure. The two were in the lunch room, and Bryan couldn’t help but eat more than his share, Tetsubo was concerned about Bryan but couldn’t find the right way to say it without hurting him, several older students got their kicks by winding him up because of his weight, today was no exception. There were two main figures in this particular group, Erin Kayla and Brandon Joseph. Erin was a dark blonde with long spiky hair, and Brandon had short spiky black hair. “Hey, lookie here, its the fat kid, looks like he’s on his seconds already.” laughed Brandon. “Or his third!” added Erin. Bryan didn’t speak a word, he had a lot of rage inside him, but dared not let it out, for fear of going too far and then being reported to his family. “Well today we’re going to help you, Kid.” said Brandon surprisingly politely. “Yeah, you need to go on a diet!” shouted Erin. With that, they swung their arms forward and sent the food crashing to the floor. “I haven’t even eaten one helping yet!” shouted Bryan. “We-lll. The fat kid speaks, don’t you know how stupid it is to challenge someone bigger than yourself?” questioned Erin. Bryan then became silent. “Don’t back out now, you look real angry, maybe you’ll be angrier when you realise that the cafeteria closes now?” smiled Brandon. “At least he can’t back out of the diet.” added Erin. While they laughed, Bryan shed a tear and tried to hide it. “Aw, fat baby’s gonna cry...” laughed Brandon. “Stop calling me names!” screamed Bryan, and charged forward, unfortunately, he slipped on some of the food and landed on his back, the bullies burst into laughter. None of the other students dared to help, everyone tried to steer clear of the bullies, they didn’t even report them because they believed that the bullies would come after them, but Tetsubo was sick of Erin and Brandon, they’d never pushed Bryan this far. He walked over to Bryan and offered his hand but it was refused and pushed away. “Leave me alone 'Capture, I don’t need your help!” He still couldn’t pull himself up, what with the slippery surface he was on. “Why don’t you just get lost?!” shouted Tetsubo. “Oohhhh, now the nerd’s standing up to us.” said Erin. “Better to be a nerd than a useless layabout, didn’t you come here to learn about Pokémon? Why aren’t you?” questioned Tetsubo. “For your information, we were sent here to be kept out of our parent’s hair! We hate it here and your suffering is the only thing that makes us happy, if we ever do own a Pokémon, we’ll train it however we like and reap the benefits of its power.” explained Brandon. “That’s really pathetic.” said Tetsubo. With that, Brandon lifted Tetsubo up in the air by the collar and held him up. “You wanna say that again, nerd?” “Let go of me...” said Tetsubo firmly. “Or what, you’ll beat us with your knowledge of Pokémon, well we don’t care about that, and you know Pokémon can’t attack people without a good enough reason.” said Erin snidely. “If you don’t, I’ll tell the principal.” “No you won’t, Kid.” said Erin firmly, “If you do, we’ll be expelled and probably moved into a military school or something, we’re staying here Kid, and we’ll make sure you don’t go crying to the principal.” Tetsubo was thrown back, close to Bryan, and the bullies walked away. “What’s the big idea 'Capture, you want to get yourself beaten up?” asked Bryan accusingly. “You’re my friend Bryan, I had to.” replied Tetsubo. “Well I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.” said Bryan loudly. “You were going to fight them, that’s the wrong way to go about things, you should report them.” “No 'Capture, look where that got you, those two are right, I do need to diet, but I’ll become big and strong, and then no one will be able to push me around again.” said Bryan decisively. “Bryan, that’s not how it should be done.” warned Tetsubo. “Forget it 'Capture, my mind is made up...” said Bryan walking away, there was a gym, pool and track at the college so it would be no problem for Bryan as long as he was committed. That year, whenever Bryan wasn’t studying, he was training, he stayed dedicated and pushed himself, as much as it hurt him to do so, but he also became a little detached, Tetsubo hadn’t seen as much of him as he used to, and the only friend he could talk to wasn’t even in the college: Emily Whyte, Tetsubo’s childhood friend, she was slightly older than him but they had known each other since there were young, these days, Tetsubo confided in her about his problems through e-Mail, though he didn’t talk so much about Bryan in order to respect his choices and privacy. It was close to the end of the year, the fifth year students had graduated and gone on to the Pokémon League, but since Tetsubo hadn’t really known them, he only watched the Pokémon League in the theatre room when he didn’t have important study. Soon Tetsubo would be able to go home for two months. It would be great to see his parents again, and Cody and Megumi, he hadn’t spoken to them this year, only his parents, but they told him that Cody and Megumi were doing fine. Tetsubo left out the bullying and Bryan problems, it would only worry them and they could take him out of the college, and he couldn’t leave Bryan to face his problems alone. Tetsubo wandered into the gym, hoping to talk Bryan out of this, he turned the corner and saw him with two other people, the delinquent students as they were known as, Wesley Blade and Bernadette Ryder. Wesley had black hair that spiked backwards, some often said his hair looked like the result of staring out of a car window too long on a windy day, he was short and quite mischievous. Bernadette, or ‘Burn’ as most people called her, had blonde hair in a variety of styles, some strands at the sides and a lot of spiky hair on top, in a quiff hanging over her face, and in a pony-tail and pig-tails, she was usually quiet and calm, and spoke as little as possible. Bryan’s training was really working out for him, he was tall and muscular, he was still a little wide, but the fat had been turned into muscle, he looked impressive now, but at what cost. “Bryan... Do you want to study with me?” asked Tetsubo kindly. “Forget it, I do my share of study in the lessons and I know about every attack move, why should I bother to study?” “Because-” “Get lost Kid, Bryan’s got new friends.” said Wesley. “But-” “He’s right 'Capture, we’re two very different people, I’m different now and I’m going to show those two bullies what its been like for me, living with their judgemental insults.” “You’re going to... fight them?...” questioned Tetsubo. “Of course, talking was never ever good, those bullies need a taste of their own medicine.” “Bryan, those two can be pretty dangerous when push comes to shove, I can’t let you do this!” “Oh yeah? Make me.” “Er...” The other two, though the same age as Tetsubo, stared him down menacingly. “Go back to study hall, Kid, Bryan doesn’t need you anymore.” Tetsubo turned away in disbelief, he tried everything to help Bryan, and now he was going to do something stupid, sure he was taller and more muscular now, but he lacked experience, and who knew how far Erin and Brandon could take this fight. Tetsubo had to do something, and ran in search of the principal. He saw Mr Takanichi, hurrying around as always. “Mr Takanichi, I really need to talk to you, its about Bryan, Erin and Brandon.” “I’m sorry Tetsubo, I’m late for a lesson, but come along straight after and we’ll talk.” “Yes sir...” Unknown to Tetsubo, Erin and Brandon were nearby and had overheard. Tetsubo sat outside the class for the whole hour, he felt he had to stop Bryan from making such a terrible mistake, even though he rejected Tetsubo’s friendship. “Ahem, will Tetsubo Capture please report to the pool.” said a voice through the intercom. It sounded like Principal Warner, but why the pool? The heating system had broken and pool use had been banned until it was fixed. Tetsubo shrugged and headed over there. The place was empty, but that wasn’t unusual, this was a busy part of the day all around the college and this area was useless, Tetsubo heard the gate close and turned to face Brandon, Erin jumped down from a wall and landed behind Tetsubo. “Wh, what do you want?” spluttered Tetsubo. Erin put a hand on his shoulder, “You were going to tell the principal on us, weren’t you? And after we warned you not to.” “So we broke into the office and used the principal’s intercom.” added Brandon. “But I thought I heard Principal Warner.” said Tetsubo nervously. “Heh.” laughed Brandon, “We’ve been with him so many times for disrupting lessons, you generally learn what his voice sounds like after a while.” “What are you going to do?...” asked Tetsubo nervously. “We heard that Bryan had changed himself, and we’re quite happy to take him on, after we arrange for some friends of ours to tell on him so that we get a fight, and he gets expelled, but to do that, we can’t let you go crying to Warner.” explained Erin, not letting go of Tetsubo. “... I can’t let you, Bryan might be becoming mean like you, but I can’t turn my back on him, you can’t silence me... Go on, hit me, leave a mark, it’ll only make things worse.” taunted Tetsubo. “Oh...” said Brandon surprised. “Then we’ll just make sure not to leave a mark.” said Erin, and pushed Tetsubo into the pool and pushed his head down, the two bullies were splashed, and shivered, the water was excessively cold but Erin wouldn’t back down. “I know you can hear me, promise not to tell on us, and I’ll let you out, touch my arm if you do.” Tetsubo frantically splashed and kicked and waved around but couldn’t get back up, he refused to tag Erin in order to agree with the terms, surely they wouldn’t drown him as it would put them in prison. “Erin, I don’t think he can stay down there for much longer, and its freezing.” warned Brandon. “Don’t chicken out Brandon! Do you really want to go to a military school?! Touch me Kid! Give in! Don’t be stupid!” shouted Erin. “Erin! This has to stop!” shouted Brandon, pulling her arm away, yet Tetsubo failed to emerge, his shoe had become caught on a loose part of the pool floor. The splashing continued, and then stopped. “Erin!” shouted Brandon, “What have you done?...” “Hey!” shouted Mr Takanichi running forward and diving into the pool, he emerged with Tetsubo who had passed out. “Mr Takanichi...” muttered Erin, “Tetsubo fell into the pool and we were trying to get him out.” “Shut up you liars, Principal Warner isn’t in today, that’s why I came over here so fast after hearing the message, and I saw enough to know that you were trying to make him suffer, you can be sure that you’ll be punished for this.” Takanichi pressed his hands against Tetsubo, and had to perform C.P.R, Tetsubo breathed in hard and coughed up some water, and started panting. “Tetsubo... You’re so cold... You there!” Takanichi called to a student nearby, “Fetch the nurse!...” It took several days for Tetsubo to recover, the temperature of the pool had made him extremely cold and ill, he was too sick to watch the Pokémon League, but was later informed that a hooded trainer calling herself Discord had won the League. Tetsubo sat in the hospital bed for days, not visited by anyone but teachers, he didn’t have many friends in the college apart from Bryan, but now he had ended their friendship, or had he? He came walking into the hospital and stood by Tetsubo’s side. “See what happens when you try to talk things out?” Tetsubo sniffed, “Well it was worth it, now you don’t have to fight them, you could have ended up much worse.” “Yeah? Well now rumours are going around that I chickened out, if I could have fought those bullies, I would have won and my training would be worth something.” “Isn’t not being fat anymore enough for you?” “I trained to get even with those two.” “I think we did, they’ve been expelled. But if you did fight them, you would probably have been expelled instead, and then what would your family think?” “... You don’t get it, you never will, like I told you before, we can’t be friends, we’re two different people, you’re never going to understand me. We’ve drifted apart so much because of those reasons, and I want you to butt out of my agendas. Make new friends 'Capture, because we obviously can’t be.” With that, he left, surely to hang out with the two other troublemakers, Tetsubo realised that in trying to beat the bullies, Bryan was willing to sink to their level, and would probably turn out like them. It had been a troubling first year, but Tetsubo would strive on and make everyone proud of him. End of Part A Part B Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone