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"Alright class!" Ms. Heartfelt gathered the class's attention with her usual smile, "Pick a partner and meet me outside!" She grabbed her clipboard of papers and walked out the side door to the playground. The class immediately began buzzing with conversation, everyone trying to get to their friends before they got stuck with "him."

Sothe quickly turned around and made eye contact with Yuuki, silently forming their partnership. Tofu stepped between them, obviously peeved.

"You two are always partners!" Tofu stomped his foot on the classroom carpeting. "I want to battle you guys this time!"

Sothe rolled his eyes and nodded to Tofu. "Fine, I'll battle you Tofu."

"But that means I'll be stuck with Herman!" Yuuki complained, pointing to the fat kid with the glasses in the back. No one liked him, hence no one wanted to get  stuck with him. Despite his appearance, though, he was despicably good at battles. Only a few kids in the class could possibly stand up to him.

"C'mon, Yuuki!" Sothe begged, "You know you can beat him and he needs to be knocked off  his high horse after his five-win streak!"

Yuuki stared defiantly but he knew he had no choice.

"Fine." Yuuki got up and approached Herman. "You wanna be partners Herman?" He said flatly.

"If you  insist on losing, then I accept Yuuki Nari!" Herman stood up and pushed up his glasses, a mocking gesture fitting of his words. Yuuki growled to himself, vowing to get Sothe back later.

The class met Ms. Heartfelt at the battle arena in the playground, bunched up next to their partners; aside from Yuuki, of course, who only wanted to run away screaming. The sun beat down on all of them, reminding them of the very warm June weather. Sothe recalled that school was about to get out and he could finally start Summer Vacation, his favorite time of the year. Ms. Heartfelt drew in her breath and started explaining the rules one more time.

"Each match will be one-on-one. You play fair and follow the Pokemon League rules we've been studying in class! This will be the last thing we do today so after your match you may leave if you wish. And remember: Have fun! Now, who wants to go first?"

Herman immediately stepped forward, pulling Yuuki with him. "We will, Ms. Heartfelt. I'm getting really tired of looking at all of these loser faces." Herman and Yuuki took their spots and Ms. Heartfelt stood to the side, acting as judge.

"The battle between Hermand and Yuuki will now... Begin!"

"Let's get this over with quickly, Ponyta!" Herman threw a pokeball and a Ponyta erupted onto the field.

"Let's show this kid he's not as strong as he thinks, Zaro!" Yuuki threw his pokeball and  a Cascoon revealed itself, it's sticky web immediately taking effect in holding itself in place on the concrete.

"You think that thing is going to beat me?" Herman exploded in laughter, making Yuuki's blood boil. "This'll be easier than I thought! Ponyta, ember!"

Ponyta began spouting flames from its mouth, aiming for Zaro.

"Roll out of the way and counter with poison sting!"

Zaro retracted it's webbing and rolled smoothly out of the embers' way before sticking itself in place again to take quick aim at Ponyta and scoring a direct hit with several poison needles. Ponyta whinnied in pain and his legs buckled from underneath him.

"What?!" Herman screamed in frustration, "How is that possible?"

"Finish this with tackle, Zaro!"

Zaro rolled forward at high speed and hit Ponyta dead on its chest, dealing the final blow.

"Ponyta is unable to battle! The winner is Yuuki and his Cascoon!" Ms. Heartfelt shouted, raising her hand closest to Yuuki.

"Screw this, I'm out of here!" Herman returned his defeated Ponyta and ran away. Yuuki could swear that he saw tears forming in his eyes and he smiled a bit at the fact that he caused it.

Before Ms. Heartfelt could ask who was next Sothe and Tofu replaced Yuuki and Herman on the field. Ms. Heartfelt smiled at the eagerness of her students and continued her judge position. "The battle between Sothe and Tofu will now... Begin!"

"Let's finally show them our stuff, Wu!"

"You better not fall behind us, Tofu! Go, Johnathan!"

A Burmy and a Metapod took their respective sides in front  of Tofu and Sothe, both raring to go.

Tofu decided to start the attacks, "Tackle attack!" Wu took off at a speed Sothe did not expect, putting him immediately on the defensive.

"Johnathan, harden!" Johnathan steeled himself as Wu collided with him, forcing Johnathan to rock backwards in place.

Sothe took the opportunity to counter, "Tackle!" Johnathan rocked himself  forward, propelling his front and smashing into Wu, sending him flying back next to Tofu. Wu took a moment to gather himself before hopping back up.

"Don't lose focus, Wu! Bug bite!" Wu charged forward again and chomped down hard on Johnathan before he or Sothe could react. The attack hit in a sensitive spot and caused Johnathan to collapse.

"Yes! A critical!" Tofu jumped for joy at his victory and hugged his tuckered Burmy. Sothe ran over to his Metapod and sprayed it with a potion he kept in his bag.

"You okay?" Johnathan looked back up at his trainer and seemed to smile with his eyes. Sothe felt relief and held his pokemon tighter.

Just then, a huge explosion was heard behind them and all the trainers and pokemon were flung farther away from the school building, several injuring themselves in the fall on the hard playground. Sothe hit his head on one of the basketball polls nearby and suddenly couldn't feel or hear anything. He saw his vision grow blurry and his face meet the concrete. He forced his head up with everything he had, trying to make sense of what just happened. He saw a pillar of fire with stone and other material flying in all directions. His body couldn't strain itself anymore and he blacked out.

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"Doctor! Doctor!!" Is he alright?"

"He's fine, miss. He's lucky, though.

"And what about our children?"

"They're all fine. Some are injured, some pretty bad, but nothing severe. They'll need to stay about two or three weeks to be sure they make a full recovery.

Sothe heard the voices through the black void before him. He was sure they were familiar, but he could barely make them out. Everything echoed dully in his head and he couldn't see them. He couldn't quite feel anything either, but he could swear he was on something soft.

"Oh, my poor Tofu!"

"Yuuki, Yuuki! Are you awake?"

"Please, don't shout. Like I said, they're all fine. They'll regain consciousness soon."

The voices were suddenly clearer. He could make out a few men and a couple women. All but one of them sounded familiar. He could feel the softness reach his head and almost consume his body, but a warm feeling came with it. He could feel cloth, too, over the top of him. Things were finally starting to make sense. He tried opening his eyes, moaning when they felt too heavy. His vision was still blurry, but he could at least see color again. He could make out one figure right above him, not connected to anything. He heard some of the voices suddenly talking rapidly.

"Doctor! He's waking up!"

"Sothe? Sothe, honey! Are you OK?"

Sothe tried opening his eyes again, finding it a little easier this time, and then closing them when his eyes met light. His head started to pound a little, giving him the safe sign that he had control over his senses again. He gave opening his eyes one final try and was shocked at the first thing he could clearly see. A Butterfree was hovering over him, eyes watering and a couple tears falling onto the blanket over him. The Butterfree practically fell on top of Sothe and embraced him the best it could with its stubby hands. The Butterfree began crying, vocally and tearfully, tears flowing down its face and running down the side of Sothe's head. Sothe's brain finally started working again when he realized who it was.

"Johnathan?"

"Sothe!" a slightly overweight man, Sothe's father, and a short woman, Sothe's mother, began crying as well. Sothe smiled weakly in thanks for their concern, not quite able to say much yet.

"Oh, Sothe! I thought I lost you!"

"How ya doing?"

Sothe practically forced the words out, "I'm fine."

"Don't talk, or do anything, unless it feels comfortable." A doctor said rather sternly, "The less energy you expend doing uncomfortable things the more energy you have for recovery. In fact, you should be resting as much as possible."

Sothe felt a wave of woozyness take over him. "Actually, sleep sounds really good right now."

"Then go ahead." Sothe's mother said quietly.

"Why don't you help him, Johnathan?" Sothe's father whispered to the Butterfree. Johnathan nodded and raised himself above his trainer. He slowly moved over Sothe and let a soft powder fall. The powder took immediate effect and Sothe felt himself lose consciousness again.

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Sothe, despite it being the dead of night, was fully dressed and packing his backpack. He mentally checked off each item as he placed them as neatly and as organized as he could while hurrying.

"Potions, check. Pokeballs, check, oran berriers, pecha berries, cheri berries, paralyze heals, antidotes, all check." Sothe stood up, zipped his bag shut, and swung it over his arms and let it hang on his shoulders. It was a little on the heavy side, but he would get used to it. He checked over his clothes, making sure he had on the appropriate attire. A heavy, red jacket over a white shirt and gray sweats, white sneakers with a red streak along the sides and a black digital watch on his right wrist. He pushed up his glasses, prompting him to grab the cleaning wipes after almost forgetting them, and brushed his brown hair off of his face. Maybe it wasn't the best traveling attire, but he would at least be ready for the summer weather and the fall weather that would follow closely afterwards. He stood as confidently as he could, but his brain wouldn't send the adrenaline to get him moving. He stared into the blackness of his room, the scene in the hospital playing in his mind again.

He was told that his teacher was kidnapped by the same people that blew up the school. He was also told that if Johnathan and his friends' pokemon hadn't evolved when they did that they would all have been in the hospital for a lot longer than they were. All of the other kids, the ones who hadn't gotten to their fight yet, were still in the hospital while Sothe, Tofu and his Mothim, and Yuuki and his Dustox were released. After hearing this news Sothe had decided to go looking for Ms. Heartfelt and told Tofu and Yuuki such.

"There's no way you can do it!" Yuuki practically yelled at Sothe.

"They had the power to blow up the school without anyone noticing until the explosion. How can we possibly stand up to them?" Tofu was just as shocked but kept his cool as usual. "Just let the police handle it."

"But the police said that the group that kidnapped her was probably the same group that's been at large for several months already!" Sothe yelled back, more so at Yuuki than Tofu, "If I look too they wouldn't suspect a kid to be looking for them!"

"But you can't beat them!" Yuuki shot back, "You couldn't even beat Tofu even when your pokemon was at its second stage of evolution! You can't save Ms. Heartfelt!"

Sothe looked down, clenching his fists almost hard enough to draw blood. He drew in a long breath and whispered, "Fine." Sothe had run away right after saying that. He wasn't fine. He was going. If he wasn't strong enough now he would get stronger. He was going to save his teacher and stop this mysterious group.

Johnathan floated next to Sothe, trying to get his concern through to him. Sothe finally noticed his Butterfree and became a little worried. Should he bring Johnathan along? What if he got hurt, or worse? Either way, Sothe was leaving. Sothe turned away from his pokemon and placed his pre-written note on his bed before exiting the room. Johnathan caught him at the door and perched himself on top of Sothe's head. Well, Sothe thought with a smile, I guess whether I like it or not you're coming with me. Sothe quietly tip-toed through the halls of the apartment, past his parents' bedroom, and turned the doorknob of the front door. It clicked louder than Sothe would have liked, but swung open all the same. A light turned on behind him in the living room that made him jump. He turned around to see his parents standing together. He couldn't tell if they were happy, sad, or what, but they were waiting for him.

"Sothe," his mother spoke first.

"Mom, Dad, I-"

"We know," his father walked over to him and pat Sothe's head, "You had to leave sometime. We had hoped that it would have been on better conditions, but that doesn't matter. We're happy that you've picked up the resolve to do something. Just promise  us one thing: Don't get in over your head." his father knelt down to Sothe's eye level and looked him dead in the eyes, "This world is very dangerous. There are people much like, and much worse, the group you're aiming to confront. You have to promise us that you'll stay safe so we can see you again."

"I promise." Sothe was doing his best to hold back tears, and his sudden fear, but it wasn't working, "I'll be sure to come back. I'll even call every so often."

"You better." his mother said between sobs, tears practically shooting over the sides of her eyes.

"I wish there was something we could do, I wish we had been raised around pokemon like you have, but we haven't and we can't. The police are tied up as it is with the sudden wave of crimes. You may be the only hope Ms. Heartfelt has, Sothe. Don't fail her."

Sothe's dad grabbed his hand and placed down a sack of money and a ticket for the Magnet Train. "Take this and go to Pallet Town. Go to Prof. Oak, I'm sure you've heard of him in school, and he'll give you a pokemon."

Sothe hugged his parents and quickly left before it got harder to say goodbye. He let his tears settle in the elevator down to the first floor of the complex and walked as confidently as he could out the door and into the cool night air of Saffron. He breathed it in, getting as much of home in him as possible before he left to travel across the region. Johnathan stayed perched on Sothe's head, happily asleep after staying up with his trainer. Sothe had a couple hours to make it to the train. I better get moving.