My Little Pokemon Silver Spoon Version

by Fashionably Late

Chapter 7: The School of Hard Knocks

Author's Note:

Fashionably Late here, and I had this chapter done shortly after the last one. It's only now I'm posting this chapter since I've come to a conclusion on how I'm handling the Bulbasaur issue coming up. And that conclusion is...I'm just going to play that by ear. Or rather, I'm planning on reducing the number of Bulbasaurs in the party after Vermillion City and by the time by the time the twerps get to Cinnabar Island there shall only be one! Am I going to kill off a main character? No, no I am not. This fic is rated for everyone. Does it sound intentionally vague so ya'll would think that? Yes, yes it does. Hope ya enjoy the chapter.

We were traveling through yet another forest, this one foggy unlike Viridian Forest.

I would’ve liked to say that we began our usual daily trek in peace and harmony, or at least in drowsy silence, but by the time I’d managed to drag myself out of my sleeping bag, Misty and Ash were already sniping at each other over the Bike Argument while Flora was in the trees…again.

“This happen a lot?” Brock whispered to me. We were walking a little ahead of Ash and Misty, not that it helped much.

“Oh, trust me, it used to be even worse.” I rolled my eyes. “If we don’t find some way to distract them they’ll go at it all day.”

“Hmm, well, it’s a little early but…” Brock scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“Hm?” I stopped in surprise. He began digging through his bag, setting out a picnic blanket and then pulling out a teapot, along with some easy travel snacks and other supplies.

“Nothing soothes foul tempers like a good cup of Cerulean Coffee!” He boasted. “Ah, but you kids are probably a little too young for that. How does herbal tea sound? Along with my world famous crepes!”

“Ooh, I love crepes!” Misty gasped excitedly.

“Coffee?” Flora pretty much teleported to us.

“Uh, tea sounds…nice.” I nodded hesitantly.

“But there’s just one thing missing.” Brock clenched his fist around a whisk.

“What’s that?” Ash and Flora asked.

“A fire.” Brock nodded seriously. “I can’t make tea or crepes without a fire and a fire needs firewood! Which means one of you needs to go out and get me some!”

“Well, I love crepes and tea but I guess I can surrender the excitement of finding firewood to Ash in order to keep you company!” Misty happily declared, already making herself comfortable on the picnic blanket with Flora.

“Uh, I’ll help Ash.” I volunteered.

“Firewood, firewood.” Ash muttered under his breath as we walked. Most of what we could easily find was too damp thanks to all this fog. If Ash wasn’t constantly muttering to himself I’m afraid I might’ve lost track of him.

“Hey Sarah, I think I see a fire up ahead!” Ash was more of a vague shape than anything, but I heard his voice clearly. I could also see the fire’s glow he was talking about.

“Oh? Do you think someone else is camping near here?” I ran towards the Ash shape.

“Let’s check it out!” He grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. Pikachu could barely keep up. As we got closer we were able to make out more through the fog. Multiple people, surrounding someone, and the flames were too small to be a campfire. Candles? And what was that machine one of them was running on?

“Pop quiz! What is the name of this pokemon and what does it evolve into?” I couldn’t see what they were holding up, but the boy on the machine was panting for breath. “Better answer fast or we’re turning up the treadmill again.”

Treadmill? The machine making him run in place?

“P-Pidgey!” He gasped. “Evolves into Pidgeotto!”

“EEERRR!” The boys surrounding him laughed. “This is a pidgeotto dumb-dumb, and it evolves into Pidgeot! Turn it up to the next setting!”

“Ah, no!” The boy grabbed the handrails on either side of him but it was clear that the treadmill was moving much faster than before. There was no way he’d be able to keep up that pace for long.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Ash burst forward. “Stop bullying that kid!”

“Huh?” Unfortunately, Ash’s attempted rescue managed to surprise the victim enough that he lost his grip and his pace, being sent flying by the machine.

“Ooh, are you okay?” I winced, stepping forward to help.

“I-I’m okay, really.” The boy accepted my hand.

“Sarah? Ash? I thought I heard you two.” Misty, Brock and Flora appeared out of the mist. “What’s going on here?”

“These guys were bullying this kid.” Ash pointed accusingly.

“We were helping him study for Friday’s test.” One of the candle-holders scoffed, turning up his nose at us. “Though I’m not surprised a bunch of wild savages like the five of you wouldn’t recognize studying.”

“We at Pokemon Tech have to hold ourselves to higher standards than you do. Joe should be grateful we took time out of our day to help him.” Another added.

“Why you!” Ash grit his teeth.

These kids rubbed me the wrong way.

“We’ve wasted enough of our valuable time here, guys.” The leader of the group decided. “Joe, we’ll see you later in the dorms for another study session.”

“Yeah, okay.” The boy I’d helped agreed easily.

“Pokemon Tech, where have I heard…Oh yeah!” Misty began digging through her pockets and pulled out a crumpled flier. “Pokemon Technical, the school for future pokemon champions!”

“Champions?” That caught Ash’s interest.

“Says here it’s a school dedicated to teaching students about the fundamentals of pokemon, guaranteed to allow admittance into the Pokemon League upon graduation, guiding young minds to be the next champions, quickly!” Brock read over her shoulder. Curious, I leaned in and scanned over the lines. One in particular caught my eye.

“Graduate in only five years? They call that quick? Ash will be in this year’s Indigo League in ten months!” I spluttered in shock. Admittance at age ten, graduate at fifteen. Why didn’t they just go on a Pokemon journey?

"Wait, there's more." Brock stated as Pikachu angrily kicked the machine and then leaped about in pain. "Student's entrance fees and tuition are in keeping with the high standards set by Pokemon Technical."

Wait a second, if they had the money to cover tuition they certainly had enough to buy a pokemon, right?

"You know what that means, don't you." Misty looked at Ash. "It's one of those snobby private schools only millionaire's kids can go to."

Oh, now it made sense.

“Ha! Haha! Ha! Pokemon Technical. Ha! Sha, ha! Oh hey, look at me, I’m too good to go to public school. I go to Pokemon Technical because my parents are rich!” Flora…did not like Pokemon Technical.

"Oooh that really makes me mad? Where is this place anyway?" Ash roared.

"Right over there." Joe pointed as the fog conveniently rolled away to reveal that we're standing smack dab in the middle of the Quad, and were surrounded on three sides by the school itself. A delightfully inviting cold metallic voice announced over the loudspeaker that today's lesson on battle techniques is over and that tomorrow's will involve snow.

“Huh, good thing we didn’t start a fire.” I said innocuously.

“Speak for yourself.” Flora muttered.

“Oh, well. I guess tomorrow they'll make me into a snowman again.” Joe sighed.

“Do they treat you like that all the time?” I ignored Flora’s comment and turned to Joe concerned.

“My friends are just trying to help me.” He replied.

“You call them friends?” I was shocked.

How was any of that friendly?

“With friends like that, who needs enemies?” Misty squawked while Flora nodded in the background.

“But they helped me learn that Pidgey evolve to Pidgeotto, learn the moves Whirlwind and Wing Attack, and that after evolving to Pidgeotto it can fly at 1200 meters and speeds of up to Mach 2.” Joe rattered off.

"I don't get it. If you know everything about Pidgey, why didn't you just answer them before?" Ash asked.

“Sometimes I make believe that I don't know all the answers, because if I do, they make the questions that much harder.” Joe answered. “But I have to stay here at Pokemon Tech. My mother and father worked hard and saved money so they could pay to send me to school here.”

“You see that guy over there?” Joe pointed out another student sitting beneath a tree studiously reading a book, wearing great googly eyeglasses and had grayish hair with patches of stubble on his chin.

Was that a teacher?

“He's an upperclassman.” Joe kept on talking. “The classes are so hard here, some students are held back for many years. Everybody's too ashamed to go home without getting a diploma. That guy, he's in the beginners' class with me.”

He was an upperclassman! How long has he been here?

“You're a beginner?” Asked Ash.

Joe nodded.

“Beginners have the same qualifications as someone with two badges, the intermediate class has the qualifications of four, and advanced students have the same as six” Joe casually explained. “If you graduate, you can enter the Pokemon League without traveling around to collect the badges. That guy's a beginner, but he's so much older than everybody in the class, the kids don't bother to help him like they help me.”

“What do the teachers say about that kind of help?” Misty asked.

"They don't even know about it." Joe said. "Or if they do, they pretend not to."

What? But, I don’t. Miss Cheerliee may have let Diamond Tiara run wild with the school newspaper, but I was firmly sure she would put her hoof down on this kind of help.

"Well I for one think this is a violation of student's rights that must stop immediately if not sooner!" Ash growled. "I WANT TO MEET THE STUDENT IN CHARGE OF THIS SYSTEM AND I'LL SEE THAT IT STOPS!" He finished with a pouty growl while Brock was…calmly whisking something in a metal bowl.

Oh yeah, this all started when Ash and Misty began arguing again and Brock tried to distract them by offering us coffee, tea, and crepes. Huh, weird how that works.

"Ahhh." Muttered Joe, who reached into his jacket pocket. "Here's a picture."

"It's a girl!" Exclaimed Misty as we all stared at a photo of a, admittedly, pretty girl with her back to the camera, face in profile as she chatted with a friend, I was assuming.

"Oh yeah." Ash…grinned goofily and blushed stupidly. "You're right about that."

Whatever Brock was going to say was interrupted as Flora slapped him in the back of the head before she gained a thoughtful look.

"HEY!" Misty snapped angrily at Joe. "If she's making your life so miserable, how come you're carrying her picture around?"

"I hate the way she treats us, but I like the way she looks." Joe admitted pathetically.

It looked like Flora was going to say something with a catty look on her face before she froze in place and slowly closed her mouth.

“Yeah." Ash sighed. "Not like some other girls who treat you bad and look even worse......"

"Grrrr!" Misty erupted, and I swore I could see head turn huge in fury, as Ash leapt into Brock's arms while Flora hid behind the two. "WHILE YOU TWO ARE SLOBBERING OVER THAT DOPEY PICTURE I'M GONNA FIND THIS LITTLE WITCH AND STRAIGHTEN HER OUT!"

She began stomping her way toward the main building angrily muttering under her breath.

"Hey Misty!" Ash gasped, as he didn’t understand what could have possibly put her in such a bad mood. "Wait up!"

---

“Giselle always practices here by herself.”

Joe led us through the school and we eventually came to a room with lots of…

“Looks more like an arcade.” Flora muttered.

Arcade? Like those games Button Mash plays all the time? Actually, when I looked a bit more closely I could see the resemblance.

So how does anyone practice pokemon battles here?

"That's what I'm counting on!" I tuned back in as Ash showed off his two badges to an unimpressed Joe.

“But Giselle is the top beginner here at the Tech. That's better than even having three badges.” Joe began. “Even though I'm at the bottom of my class, I'm still more powerful than someone with two badges.” He said in a faux arrogant tone.

"Hold on a second!” Misty snapped and shoved Ash out of the way. “I learned how to be a pokemon Trainer at the Cerulean City Gym, are you saying you can beat me!?!"

"Ahhh, Cerulean City, water pokemon." Joe thought out loud.

"How'd you know?" Misty gasped, surprised.

"I always beat them on the simulator." He explained, turning on one of the arcade machines and defeating a Starmie with a Weepinbell easily. "See."

That…that’s it? A turn based simulator? How was that going to teach anyone how to react in a real time battle in the real world? What good was the theoretical without any of the practical?

"What... is this?" Grunted Misty. "A simulation is one thing, but this is real life.... let's battle!"

"You'll be sorry." Joe smiled, still arrogantly believing his simulation experience will allow him to win.

"What do you two have to battle for?" Ash complained as Joe let us into one of the school’s ‘battle’ rooms.

"Butt out, Ash!" Misty growled, as we entered the room and she and Joe took their positions on the field. "I have the Cerulean City Gym's reputation to defend, and I'm gonna defend it!”

“STARMIE!” Misty called out as she sent out Starmie.

“Too bad your water pokemon won't be able to beat my plant. All right, Weepinbell.” Joe sent out a yellow bell-shaped pokemon.

“Bell.”

“I'll teach him about pokemon. Starmie, go!” Misty threw out her hand and Starmie, without a specific command, lept up into the air and unleashed a Water Gun at Weepinbell who was knocked over Joe’s shoulder unconscious.

“Congratulations Joe, you one hit wonder.” Flora groaned.

"Oooh... but Weepinbell is strong against water pokemon!" Joe gasped in shock.

"True, but there's one thing you didn't know." Said a sweet voice.

We all turned to look at the girl from the picture, flanked by the guys who taunted Joe earlier.

"Your opponent's from the Cerulean City Gym, her pokemon has much more experience battling... you should have known that, you're an embarrassment to the whole school."

She, that…urg!

“But, Giselle” Whatever Joe was saying was lost on me as Ash and Flora started talking.

"She's really pretty." Ash gushed, blushing madly with great big eyes.

“Down boy.” Flora said monotonously as she yanked on Brock’s ear.

As for Giselle…well she began monologuing about being the top student in the most exclusive prep school in the world, how it was sad that others weren’t blessed with her beauty, talent, and…humble attitude. Honestly she was more conceited than Team Rocket.

"I want to continue to help my classmates be the very best they can be." Giselle told Joe. "To teach each other, respect each other, and ensure the Pokémon of tomorrow.... BUT YOU'RE A WEAKLING!"

That! That!

“You better get stronger fast, or before you know it your fellow students will turn their backs on you.... for good!" Giselle walked away from Joe as he was locked in place.

"Not so fast!" Misty cried out. "A true friend wouldn't walk away from someone who needs their help.... you may look beautiful, but you remind me of an old saying about how beauty's only skin-deep."

That’s right! You tell her Misty!

"Jealousy isn't very pretty either, is it?" Giselle giggled.

"I better do something!" Ash gasped, while Pikachu looked on in confusion at all this nonsense.

“Gah! Why do you keep pulling on my ear?” Brock whined.

“I wouldn’t have to if you could keep your hormones in check!” Flora declared.

“Hold up a moment!” Ash butt in between Misty and Giselle. “If anyone’s going to be battling you, it’s me!”

“You? And what’s so special about you?” Giselle sniffed.

“Don’t underestimate me! I’ve already got two badges and I’m going to be in this year’s Indigo League, just you wait and see!” He declared hotly.

“Ash, gah, is a good trainer.” Flora admitted, although it looked like it pained her to do so. “I think you’ll be really surprised if you battle him.”

“Hm, is that so?” She pouted, looking Ash up and down. “Alright then, I’ll battle you. And when I beat you I want to battle little Ms. Cerulean City, got it.”

“If you beat me.” Ash glared. “Are you ready for this, Pikachu?”

“Pi-KA!” Pikachu pumped his tiny fist.

“Hmph, battling me with a Pikachu? And you’ve only got two badges, you said? Bold choice.” She smirked. “I choose Cubone. Let’s take this outside, shall we? I’d hate to damage school property.”

---

We didn’t go far, just to the pool right outside. It was probably meant for water battle training, judging from the platforms.

“Cubone, huh?” Ash pulled out his pokedex.

“Cubone: The Ground-Type Pokemon, their skull helmets are passed down through their families.” Dexter informed him.

“Right.” He nodded, pocketing his pokedex to focus on the battle ahead. “It’s a ground type so electricity won’t do much good, but we’re still going to win this!”

“Ha, you really are a beginner, aren’t you? It’s true that there’s more to pokemon battles than type advantages, but there are limits, you know.” Giselle laughed haughtily.

I did not like this girl.

I held my tongue though. Ash’s battle would speak for itself.

Pikachu had taken one Bonemerang, but he avoided the second. He jumped as it sailed past him and landed on the Cubone’s head, twisting its skull helmet to blind the ground type. It did keep Cubone distracted until the Bonemerang came back and clapped it against the head.

“See?” Flora smiled as the Cubone began to wail.

“Oh, Cubone.” Giselle kneeled down and wrapped her Cubone in a hug. “There, there, don’t cry. Return and have a good rest.”

After a moment, Giselle stood up and faced Ash directly with an indecipherable look on her face.

“Well, I have to admit I’m surprised.” I saw her glance in Flora’s way and it didn’t curb the feral smile on Flora’s face. “None of the textbooks mentioned Pikachu winning by anything other than electricity, certainly not by using my pokemon’s own moves against it.”

“There are other methods of winning not listed in your textbooks too!” We all jumped, surprised by the sudden arrival of three newcomers.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jesse."

"James."

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-owth!" Screamed Meowth, falling out of the sky and splashing into the pool before leaping out to pose between Jesse and James, who act like they were expecting him at just this very moment. "I love a splashy entrance!”

I shortly tuned them out as Giselle and her groupies, and Joe, scared Team Rocket off school grounds by pelting them with pokeballs.

It was kind of interesting to learn that James and Jessie both apparently applied for Pokemon Technical and that they both scored the lowest grades in the school’s history.

We quickly left the school afterwards. Joe has decided to return home and start a real Pokemon Journey. Giselle meanwhile promised to be a worthy opponent if they met again and told Ash she hopes to meet him again with Ash and Misty agreeing.