COMPLETE: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar (Ended) (TEEN)

[Legacy]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

A few grammar issues in the beginning. The first sentence: "It was a sunny yet quiet day in Academy Island; since it was Saturday the school in the main building or people that had to take make-up exams." I think is missing a few words as it doesn't make sense, but other than that, it was great.

I like how your characters interact with each other. Their dialog amongst each other really make this story really life-like. Great work.

 

[Marcat]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Dude, you're getting really good. I like the characters most of all, seeing as they vary so much and act realistic. Especially that A.D Guy... I'm trying to guess if he's canon or original...
Anyway, I like the training idea and how each one of them is going to be trained seperately in different areas, that made me feel more excited to see what you'll do with them. Though I have to warn you, I'll be judging to see if the training they undergo will have the effect it should have.
Good luck

 

[Instrutilus]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Dude, you're getting really good. I like the characters most of all, seeing as they vary so much and act realistic. Especially that A.D Guy... I'm trying to guess if he's canon or original...

*throws arms into air in a victory motion* I feel like Ran from Bob and George. I'll be awaiting your call, Game Freak. =P

Anyway, joking side, good chapter Flaze, I await to see the students being trained and the various manners of training used =3

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

And so starts another awards season, I hope you all participate in your own way and remember this story when it comes time to vote.

*Plays training montage* here's the first chapter of the Training Arc and with only 9 chapters left in the countdown Reggie's gotta become a fast learner

@Thundagere; @Instrutilus; @AetherX; @Jinoga; @Rob Anybody;@Legacy; @Sarcastically Insane

Chapter 41: First Trial: A Swordsman's Courage

Reggie yawned as the sun's light hit him through the various leaves in the forest. He opened his eyes to look up at the lush trees that were standing above him. His ears were filled with the sound of the falling waterfall nearby as well as the noises of his Pokemon who were already up. After leaving Charles's office he went with AD to get the Ryu Blade and the two headed to the place Charles told them would be good for training. Reggie was wearing a white t-shirt along with a pair of black pants.


Reggie turned to the leftover firewood, seeing the leftover bones of a couple of Magikarp the two had fished the night before. He was then interrupted by the continuous sounds of "chi" and "mon", Reggie turned around, only to see both Monferno and Chigon at each other's throat, with Donphan and Fraxure trying to stop them while Pidgeotto and Azumarill slept as if it was something that always happens.


"Could you guys stop fighting, it's too early in the morning for that!" Reggie exclaimed, causing Chigon and Monferno to turn to look at him.


"Chi," Chigon glared at Monferno one last time before walking over to Reggie.


"I hope AD doesn't get mad by the fact I can't even keep my Pokemon from quarreling in the morning," Reggie sighed before he began looking for the trainer that had been assigned as his teacher.

A.D sat out of sight, deep in thought. He was planning strategies for later use, such as when he got back to his world, and for now, which he could teach Reggie. He wondered hwo he should teach the student, whether he should apply Link's training to his own and thoughts along the line.


"Hey don't splash!" Reggie yelled, he was inside the pond, letting the waterfall's water fall over him, Chigon and Donphan were next to him along with Azumarill who was floating on the water. He was yelling at Fraxure who was splashing water on Monferno so as to get back at it for waking it earlier. "You guys can't have a field day even once," Reggie frowned while moving his wet hair around so that it wouldn't cover his eyes.

"I wonder where that guy is though." Reggie asked himself as he walked out from the waterfall.

"DODGE!" Suddenly A.D appeared from behind Reggie, swinging a stick and smacking the teenager on the back of the head, the force of the hit was so strong that the stick broke after it hit his head.

Reggie fell back before falling into the water, making Chigon and Azumarill check on him as Donphan glared at AD. "Chi chi chi!" Chigon exclaimed while tugging on Reggie's head.


***

After a few minutes and after being dragged back to the ground Reggie sat up, his head was beginning to kill him from the pain of the blow. "What the hell was that for?" he groaned while rubbing the back of his head. "It really hurt."

"Don't let your guard down. Where I'm from, it's either keep your guard up in the wild or become food," A.D replied. He looked at the remains of the stick and tossed it away casually, before going to look for another one, "I made several noises on purpose, which you couldn't hear over the waterfall. You put yourself in a position an opponent could use, if someone tries to move you toward an area where one of your senses are blocked, get away from it. Dark caverns you can't see in, waterfalls and things making loud noises, all can be used against you."


"It's first thing in the morning," Reggie groaned. "I thought if anyone suspicious were to come you'll take care of them or my Pokemon would but since it was you they thought you weren't going to do anything bad," he explained while trying to get up, though the pain that was going through his head was still making it hard on him. "You could've hit me softly though."

"Then you'd never learn. Pain makes you more aware of the mistake, because you'll naturally want to avoid it again," A.D replied, cracking a stick off and wandering away, but calling back "besides, will the people you're fighting hit you softly?"

That made Reggie think back to all the fights he's had against Zivok, heck even his last fight against Darren sent him to the hospital. AD was right, he was always in bad situations and he didn't have any endurance which is why any minor hit had him in the hospital for a week. Compared to Jack and Fin who got an eye stabbed and a lot of mental damage and still managed to keep going he was still far too weak. "Yeah, you're right," Reggie nodded his head as he turned to look at AD.

"Well, come on then," A.D called back, walking away, "We're burning daylight. And you'll want to be able to fight as quickly as possible, right?" he asked turning to look at Reggie once more before walking out of the pond.

Reggie nodded his head and proceeded to follow AD alongside his Pokemon. Chigon stretched its wings out before hopping on top of his head as the other five just ran alongside each other. "So what are we going to do?"

"Grasslands, if you're going to learn, you'll need space and exercise," A.D said speaking with a calm tone of voice without even turning to look at Reggie.

"All right then," Reggie replied, he stopping as he caught on with AD. "What are we gonna learn first?' he asked with curiosity, knowing that AD would probably give him some kind of hard task.

"Simple," he released Pikachu, who allowed a couple of sparks to release from her cheeks as she looked at Reggie; “Run, improve your stamina."

“You're not serious," Reggie raised an eyebrow in confusion, but started running anyways as he saw the Pikachu run towards him. "You're really not serious!" Reggie yelled as he began running away from the Pikachu.


"Chi!" Chigon exclaimed before jumping in front of Reggie and firing a jet of flames at the Pikachu.

Pikachu merely hopped over and struck Chigon with an Iron Tail, before continuing after the student. A.D was trying his best to ensure his survival by training him as difficultly as possible, as he doubted the opponents would go easy on him. As the Trainer sat, he noted he'd need to have Reggie train with Chigon and the rest of his party, perhaps how to formulate plans on his own.

"Damn it, I'll get tired eventually," Reggie groaned before he tripped on the floor and fell, however he quickly stopped his fall though by using his left hand and pushed his legs forward, allowing him to keep running.

Pikachu merely continued to follow, sparking its cheeks whenever Reggie began to slow in his run.

***


Reggie panted while lying on the floor, after running for about thirty minutes or so his body finally gave out and he fell to the floor. "That was way too much running," he replied while trying to push himself up from the ground, though his arms were trembling.

"Hey, Humans survived because of running, we'd chase prey across the land until it dropped...or, at least, where I'm from, we did," he muttered the last part, before looking over to him, "hey, you still alive?" he asked while poking at Reggie with his foot.

"Barely," Reggie groaned as Chigon licked his face to try and make him feel better. "Thanks dude," he petted the dragon before pushing himself upward.

"Fir enough, take 10 minutes rest. No point in killing you," A.D replied, before getting up and walking off, "stay here, I need to do something." Reggie just groaned as he saw AD walk off, curiosity getting the better of him as he wondered what the experience trainer would do.

"What exactly?" Reggie asked as he turned to look at AD while sitting down on the ground.

"You'll learn," he called back with a grin on his face before disappearing in the forest.

Reggie rolled his eyes. It was barely the first day of training and he was already confused and tired out of his mind, the fact that his body seemed like it wanted to go back to sleep still was killing him. Then he began thinking of his friends, Jack, Fin and Darren were training as well but he didn't expect their training to be that hard; though then again they were pretty much already good fighters on their own. "This is harder than I thought."

After ten minutes passed A.D came walking back from the forest. He looked over at Reggie, who had managed to recover some of his energy and motioned to follow, before he proceeded to walk back towards the forest area. "Walk through that," A.D said, before sitting down.

Reggie clearly looked at the area. He couldn’t really see what was so special about it since it just seemed like green grass surrounded by trees. "I still don't see how this helps me," Reggie rolled his eyes as he began walking into the forest area; he looked back at AD just in case he tried another sneak attack from behind.

A.D meanwhile sat down, and watched as a trap was sprung and a branch swung out to smack Reggie in the back of the head. He had hoped Reggie would've noted it and avoided or blocked it in time, but again, his attention was elsewhere.

"Why is it always the back of the head," Reggie walked dizzily as he leaned against a tree. "How the hell am I supposed where the traps are?" he asked as he kept going, Chigon and Monferno behind him. "I have to pay attention, I'm not training I'm fighting that's what I have to visualize," Reggie closed his eyes for a moment before setting up another falling Branch. "Azumarill, Water Gun!" he ordered turning around and seeing his Azumarill fired a stream of water that sent the branch flying elsewhere. "How was that," he grinned, giving AD a thumb up.

A.D smiled back, then observed as the student's ankle was hooped by a rope and dragged quickly into a small, dark cave under a tree.


"Congratulations, you avoided the Scyther but got caught by the Arbok. Try and keep an eye on your surroundings at all times," he called, before laying back, "this is going to be a long day." Reggie meanwhile groaned as he crawled out of the cave, an annoyed look was in his eyes.

"I'm not even getting my own training montage," Reggie frowned. He wasn't making a lot of progress, though granted it was the first day but that didn't mean he just had to wait he had to move fast if he wanted to get stronger. "When am I supposed to learn strategies and swordsmanship?" he asked as Fraxure cut the rope by jumping and using its fangs.

"As soon as you learn to see them first, it's all well and good being able to make a trap, but it's disastrous if you set another's off as you're laying your own," A.D replied. He pulled out a Pokéball and started tossing it up and down, a usual habit of his.

That line made Reggie jump literally, avoiding another trap by a stroke of luck. "Chigon." Reggie ordered as the Dragon as well as Pidgeotto grabbed on to his sleeves and lifted him up from the floor. "Monferno!" he looked down at the monkey who fired a barrage of orange bullets at the tree above Reggie, setting a hidden net on fire. "Good thing I paid attention to what he was saying." he sighed in relief.

"Be careful of pitfalls, by the way.” AD pointed out, making Reggie’s ears spark off. “You can never be too sure of where they are, but you might be able to shake 'em out if you use the right move," A.D called.

"Earthquake!" Reggie ordered towards Monferno and Donphan who proceeded to send shock waves throughout the field, causing various spots where the ground was soft to be revealed as well as the holes underneath them. Reggie grinned; he was beginning to get the hang of it, on the bad side though it was because AD was telling him rather than him finding out on his own. "One step at a time I guess," he replied with a nod.

"Always try and reveal the location of the undetectable traps first, or at least learn of them. If you know where they are, you can use them to your advantage in a battle, where your opponent may become more focused upon yourself then the area around them: you'll have to learn to avoid falling into that as well," A.D called over, "you can learn of a pitfall by having Pokémon silently dig around for them, though they may alert any Ground-types around."

"Right," Reggie nodded his head before lowering himself back to the ground. "So what's next?" he asked, he was a bit more eager now but knew that it depended on AD. Chigon and Pidgeotto took the chance to rest a little, since Reggie was really heavy for them.

"Now, go further in and avoid every trap set without my assistance. I've been working on it for a week now, I only took the ten mintues to make sure everything was still in place," A.D had been planning to stay there, and unsure of how this place works he was attempting to make sure nothing could reach him.

"All right then," Reggie looked at the path ahead, a little bit of fear ran over him if he wasn't able to make it. "I'm okay," he said, noticing that Chigon seemed to be worried about it's trainer. "I can't rely on you for everything," he replied and moved forward.

***


Reggie and AD were sitting in front of a fire; Reggie was still getting some twigs out of his hair from the training session. He had been able to avoid most traps, but at the end fell in a pitfall that was right under him and he had taken most of the time in getting out. "I did better than I expected," he replied while making sure the Magikarp that had been put in front of the fire were cooking right. "Fish is good for the brain and it has a lot of calcium, you know my brother gave me this recipe he learned in the Sevvi Islands but I don't have all the things I need." he explained as he looked towards his Pokemon who were eating some berries that they had collected. "Aren't you gonna let your Pokemon out?"

"I've only got Pikachu on me at the moment. The rest are running about elsewhere, but I'll collect them when I need them," A.D replied, stroking Pikachu, who had coated herself with dirt to negate the Static for her trainer to do as he was.

"How come you let them off on their own," Reggie asked before grabbing the stick that had the Magikarp on it and taking a bite out. "Mine fight a lot but they can't get enough of each other." he chuckled as he saw Pidgeotto and Azumarill fighting over a berry only for Donphan to scold the two and splitting it.

"They enjoy a good wander from time to time, and I can easily handle myself, as can they," he replied, "Besides, if they're hungry, they can easily catch their own food...except for Snorlax, she's probably sleeping." He nodded before taking a bite out of the Magikarp and looking at Reggie.

"You're really experience and kind of remind me of my brother too," Reggie replied as he took another bite. "He's name is Alex and he's about three years older than me or so but he's a really great battle and is even a pro." he replied with a smile while looking at AD. "Compared to me he's leagues ahead," he sighed.

"He sounds interesting. Where is he, anyway?" AD asked.

"Well I haven't exactly seen him in two years," Reggie scratched his chin. "Last time I heard of him he was in the sea near Sevvi Island, so maybe Unova or some other region," he shrugged and looked down at the embers of the flame, he knew that he had definitely gotten stronger and one of the things he wanted to do was get his brother's approval as well. "I can't meet him yet though, first I have to be stronger."

"Fair enough, though why you can't see a family member unless you get stronger is beyond me, but then, it's more than I see of mine," A.D muttered, trailing off into thought before snapping back.

"Well that and I don't know where he is specifically." Reggie laughed while rubbing the back of his head.


***


The next day Reggie was standing in the middle of the grassland practicing swings with the Ryu Blade. The sword was heavier now that he was trying to swing. He remembered seeing how easy Raphael maneuvered the sword and his skills as a swordsman; Reggie then looked down at Chigon, wondering if the Dragon could give him any hints. "It's harder than I thought."

A.D sat in a nearby tree, observing what Reggie was doing and correcting them in his mind: once Reggie rested, he'd tell him what to change to improve his swordplay.

Reggie looked over at the tree AD was standing in, recognizing him and putting the sword down. "What are you doing?" he asked while wiping the sweat that was falling from his forehead.

"Observing, how else am I supposed to observe your errors?" A.D replied casually.

"How about just teaching me straight out?" Reggie raised an eyebrow. He proceeded to sit down and then lay down on the grass while looking over at AD. "You're not the kind of teacher I expected though."

"I prefer the direct approach. Now, you know what happens: Pikachu, go," A.D sat and closed his eyes, thinking on what to improve as Pikachu took toward Reggie, electrical sparks emitted.

"Monferno use Flamethrower!" Reggie ordered, having his Monferno jumped down from a tree and fire a powerful jet of flames towards the Pikachu.

Pikachu merely rolled to the left, then fired a bolt of electricity at Monferno before continuing after Reggie as the fire-type dodged/was struck.


"You're supposed to run, not attack. Pikachu'll only shock you to get you motivated to get away if you start lulling, don't worry," A.D called as he reobserved his student's swordplay and figured out what improve.

After a few more hours of fighting and running away from the Pikachu, Reggie was lying on the ground, his body completely charred from all the electrical attacks. "That wasn't funny," he sighed, causing a cloud of smoke to come out from his mouth. "And in the end you haven't thought me anything."

"DODGE!" A.D swung at Reggie with another stick.

Reggie saw it coming this time though and moved aside unconsciously as the stick hit right next to him. He pushed himself upward and kicked the stick off from AD's hand. He felt weird as he caught the stick and put it close to AD's neck. "I was trying to rest." he glared.

"And that's only from a day; mate," A.D pointed out, grabbing the stick and entering a relaxed posture, "well, you setting off my traps for an entire day, anyway."

Reggie looked at his hands and then at the stick, he hadn't even noticed that he had managed to take the stick from AD; after everything that had just happened it felt as if his body was doing things on its own. "I think this is what instinct feels like." he pointed out to himself while looking down at his hands and then clenching them. "I'm getting closer."

"Good, now, rest for ten minutes. I'll be back," A.D walked off, tossing the stick to the side casually.

"Thank you," Reggie muttered before looking up at the sky. "I won't fail."

To be Continued

End of Chapter 41
Next Time: Second Trial: The Cave of Darkness

 

[Thundagere]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Well, this is interesting...
It still feels a bit awkward, but it's better. Sentence structure could use some improvement at some spots, but it isn't bad, it isn't bad at all. My main issue is to show me, not tell me. The beginning where you described his surroundings? A lot of telling in there, you should show me.
Like the plot though. Reggie's actually getting strong, that's good. He always seemed a bit...weak at some parts, it's good to see him getting stronger. Good job, it may have been a bit of a plot passive chapter, but it was good and important.

 

[Instrutilus]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

"Good, now, rest for ten minutes. I'll be back," A.D walked off, tossing the stick to the side casually.

"Thank you," AD muttered before looking up at the sky. "I won't fail."

I warned yah about that one...

Good story, I'm enjoying this, keep it up.

 

[Marcat]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Ehm... I wonder why nobody did this yet. This chapter needs inspirational music!
YouTube - ‪Rocky Music Video-Eye Of The Tiger‬‏

Anyway, jokes aside. Lemme see...
Well first off, I noticed a big amount of typos in the chapter. You frequently say AD instead of A.D, not to mention other typos like saying "fir enough" instead of "Fair enough". Proof-read the chappie, bro.
Also, I find A.D's training sorta odd... For purposes of clarification, Reggie is training for what exactly? I was sorta lost.
My best guess is that he's training to become stronger; to defeat Zivok and the likes. But if that was the real purpose, wouldn't it be more prudent to focus more on battling and pokemon combinations? Since, in the end, it boils down to pokemon battle rather than a fist-fight and reflexes (not that it doesn't help alot...)

On a side note. Why do I get the feeling that A.D happens to be someone we all know. I mean, how many people do we know that actually have both a pikachu and snorlax?

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Well yeah it boils down to Pokemon battling but Zivok and the rest of his group tend to order their Pokemon to attack the trainer so he needs to get stronger himself as well.

Um...maybe, maybe not A.D is a really mysterious guy.

 

[Marcat]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

...Dammit. I've failed on both accounts, offering some sort of seemingly useful criticism and making a wild guess.

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Don't worry, it really helped.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

I proofread the chapter before this one but not this one, and I was the one that changed AD to A.D. because it bugged me, so Flaze might go with AD instead >.< Sorry bout that.

 

[AetherX]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Awesome, good to see Reggie finally get better. I have no criticisms really that haven't already been brought up, good job overall. You've inspired me to get to work on my own training montage :-D

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Yeah training montages are awesome.

Sorry there were a lot of mistakes guy with me finishing school and all I got lazy and ended up finishing the character late.

 

[Rob Anybody]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Couple of spelling mistakes and omissions in that chapter. I'm reading this and the Team America montage song is going through my head! Montage!

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

And so here it is, not only is this chapter 42 but it's also been a full year since I started working on Dragon's Roar. Before I start this I want to say thank you guys for sticking with this and reading the chapters it really means a lot.

@Instrutilus; @Rob Anybody; @Jinoga;@AetherX; @Legacy; @Thundagere; @Sarcastically Insane


Chapter 42: Second Trial: The Cave of Darkness.

Rain was pouring down on Academy Island, causing the students to get an early leave to save them the trouble of running in the hard rain. In the forest Reggie and Chigon of course were covering themselves with a large green leaf, though the leaf didn't have any actual effect in keeping them away from the wet rain. "It was on a day like this that I met you buddy, though the rain was way softer." he frowned while looking at the large drops of water that hit the ground.

A.D walked along, not bothering to shield himself from the rain. He sneezed lightly, he may have been used to downpours like this, but that didn't mean he wasn't affected by them.

"Why are you walking so casually?" Reggie asked, a smug grin going through his face as he saw A.D sneezed; it sort of made him proud to see that his mentor wasn't as perfect as he set out to be.

"Eh, rain is common, you just get use to it after a while," A.D replied, continuing along the way. He brushed some water drops off his coat, which seemed to be water resistant, never absorbing the drops of water that landed upon it.

“Anyway, we've been training for a week and you haven't commented on anything, how the hell am I supposed to know if I’ve gotten better?" Reggie frowned. "I mean even if I'm done I'll still have to enter that cave the principal talked about and let’s face it that’s a scary cave." He replied with a nod, fear was obvious in his face at the thought of entering the dark cave.

"You've made excellent progress, Reddie," A.D replied, using the appointed nickname, "Even if you kept trying to attack Pikachu BEFORE I taught you battling and tactics. You may want to put some ice on your bruises though... and use ointments with Vitamin K...Unless you don't have that, in which case, apply pressure around the bruised area and rest up properly when you get back." He explained while raising his index finger and looking down at Reggie’s body.


Over the training, A.D had made absolutely sure not to puncture Reggie's skin, he didn’t want Reggie to gain an infection and harm his health when he was about to go into a life or death crisis. No, the hits were blunt force and non-lethal, improving Reggie's pain threshold as well as getting his subconscious to help avoid hits...which reminded A.D...


"DODGE!" A.D allowed a stick to fall from within his coat arm and swung at Reggie, aiming for his arm. He intended to keep Reggie in practice as long as he was under his training.

Reggie pushed himself back, hitting the tree and allowing him to stretch his legs far enough to catch the stick in between his feet and then push the stick so that it'll slip from A.D's hand. "Stop doing that, it really freaks me out!" Reggie yelled with Chigon still shocked at A.D's sudden reaction.

"Hey, gotta keep you trained. Never know when it'll come in handy," he replied with a cheery grin, before continuing along.

"Anyway, what are we gonna be doing?" Reggie pushed himself upward and then proceeded to dust himself off, though his pants were still completely soaked from sitting on the wet grass. "Is there anything else besides the cave thing?"

"Well, I taught you swords play on the third day..." A.D began listing all the activities, referring to the days with numerical value because of his lack of awareness of what date it was truly, "I believe I taught you everything you'll need. You're better off resting after the cave."

"It's a really dark cave, are you sure I have to go in there?" Reggie asked, mostly because he was completely scared out of his wits. After what Charles told them, that the cave was really dark and that it feels as if it was separated from the world; well that did wonders for Reggie's fear of the dark.

"That's probably why he wants you to go in, mentally prepare yourself with fear or something. I don't know, I'm not the one going in," they arrived and A.D went to sit under a nearby tree, leaving Reggie and Chigon to it.

Reggie sighed as he looked at the cave; he then looked down at Chigon who was giving him a determined grin. "Chigon, stay behind," he started walking forward; making Chigon gasp before Reggie turned around to look at it. "I and the other Pokemon will do this we've been relying too much on you lately and I won't be able to do anything if I always do," he explained while clutching on the Ryu Blade. "A.D'll take care of you while I'm gone and I won't take long, I promise,"


"Chi," Chigon pouted as it looked down at the ground.


"I'll be back, I swear," Reggie knelt down on the floor and petted the small dragon's head, causing it to smile. His happiness wasn't long as his trainer took the chance to leave and head into the cave making Chigon pout once more. It looked up and flew towards A.D standing next to him.


"Chi," it replied before stepping on the ground and lying down on the floor; as it did this it began cuddling against A.D's leg.

A.D scratched Chigon behind his ear lightly, as one would do to a dog. He was praying to whatever gods that Chigon liked it; he'd rather not be on the end of an attack that seemed to explode on contact.

Chigon yawned lightly before putting its head down, it liking the petting as it began to fall asleep.

Once asleep, A.D glanced over at the incoming figure: Aerodactyl touched down silently with Flareon upon his back: the Flame Pokémon, meanwhile, held a folder in his mouth. Handing it over, A.D thanked them before returning them and reading the folder.

***

His body was feeling heavier with each second that past, his eyes were tried and his mind felt like it was about to give out any second now. Darren was standing against a tree, his Zoroark and Charizard in front of him; both beat up and about to faint, the only thing stopping them from doing so was Darren keeping the InstaLink with the two of them. “Is that all you’ve got Darren?” Lucas asked with a grin on his face, his Tortera and Gallade were standing next to him, each keeping a fighting stance. “I thought you had more in you man,”

“Shut up,” Darren groaned as he put his hand on the tree and pushed himself forward, he could barely even lift himself but he knew he couldn’t let Lucas have the satisfaction of beating him. “You’re champion even I don’t think I can beat you so easily.” He looked down at his right arm, noticing the InstaLink had extended almost all the way up.

“Yeah I guess I was right, that thing works like Aura,” Lucas pointed out, his blue eyes were gleaming brighter now; probably due to the fact he was using Aura. “Without it you’d have a better chance at beat me, but while I’m using it you can’t even catch up to my ankles.” He chuckled before turning to Agatha. “Think I punished him enough?”

“I thought you had about two hours ago,” Agatha replied, a frown crossing her face, had it not been for the good of Darren’s training Lucas’s methods could’ve even been considered abuse. “I wouldn’t expect someone so light hearted as you to be this harsh,” she walked over to Darren so that she could check how his wounds were.

“The kid is someone that’s going to be responsible for the lives of people, he needs all the training he can get,” Lucas just shrugged before returning both of his Pokémon. “At least the can control that InstaLink better.”

“Yeah that’s true, at the beginning of the week you lost control after just five minutes and it would extend all the way to your left arm,” Agatha explained, patting Darren’s right arm with her cane, causing the teenager to groan in pain. “Now you can control it better as well as the amount of energy you give to your Pokémon.”

“Well, I had to learn by force,’ Darren looked down at Agatha before looking into the forest. “Honestly I never really cared about controlling the InstaLink before,” he pointed out while looking down at the markings of his arm, before whenever he would use it he usually just let it run wild so that he could win; but lately controlling it has really become a priority.

“Anyway, Lucas will help you in the next phase of your training,” Agatha pointed out before sending out her Gengar and Dusknoir.

“Next phase?” Darren raised an eyebrow as Lucas walked over to him and put his left arm around his neck so as to lift Darren and give him leverage to stand on.

“We’re gonna be working as a team and try to defeat Agatha,” he answered before giving him a wide grin. “You see, besides controlling your strength, your second problem is working as a team with your comrades, which is why you’ll fight alongside me until you can do this,” he then turned to Agatha once more. “So, think you can do this?”

“I guess so,” Darren frowned before coughing up some blood, the effects of all the training was beginning to take its toll. “That’s if the result of your previous training doesn’t kill me first,” he raised his head and gave Lucas a grin, showing him the blood that was running down his mouth.

***

Everything was dark absolutely everything. He kept walking forward, not knowing if forward and backwards were still the same thing or not. He looked around, trying to desperately get a gleam of light or at least something that could be seen through the immense darkness of the cave.

A single drip of water hit the ground, letting out a sound that caught Reggie’s attention as he tried to find the direction he was coming from; if there was indeed water then he could at least find a way to leave while going through the cave. It was to no avail though, he couldn’t even see his own hand he couldn’t smell anything and the sound of the drips were beginning to thin the more time he thought about them.

*What the hell is this place, I can’t see anything or feel anything* Reggie thought as he walked; not even knowing if he was walking anymore but was just leaving himself from what his mind led him to believe. *I’m too scared to even try to speak, what if I can’t do it either, what if no one hears me scream what if…I die here* Reggie’s breathing turned rougher as he tried to look for leverage before realizing it was hopeless and just decided to stand there.

It had barely been an hour since he went into the cave, or at least that’s what he thought, what if he thought it was an hour but months had actually past, hell even years could’ve gone by without him noticing.

Then a gleam of hope went through his face, if he could grab Monferno’s pokeball he could get some light and he would be able to see. As he moved his hand back he froze once again; he couldn’t feel anything, not even the movement of his hand was able to reach him so how could he know if he was grabbing the pokeball, in fact could he even grab it or would it just fall to the floor as soon as he tried grasping it.

“Damn it, why am I losing myself, to this stupid cave,” Reggie groaned, there was no way he could get out, no way he could survive from this dangerous cave. “What’s the point in this, I’m just gonna die if I don’t do anything,” he groaned, tears streaming down his face as a glow illuminated the cave. The glow soon subsided before a full on light took its place. Reggie looked down, a smile crossing his face as he saw Monferno looking up at him; its tail lighting the area around the two, it wasn’t much but it was better than nothing.

“Thanks Monferno,” Reggie smiled. He felt something wash over him, as if all of the feelings he had lost suddenly return in one quick motion, and with that he dried the tears that were running down his eyes. “Crap, I didn’t think it’ll affect me that much,” he chuckled before looking down at Monferno. “We have to reach the end of this cave though,” he grabbed two more pokeballs from his belt before sending out Fraxure and Azumarill.

“All right, Azumarill give me some water to keep myself hidrated,” Reggie looked into his pocket, taking out a canteen and handing it to Azumarrill so that it could fill with water. “Monferno, I know you’re my source of light but I need you to look around the cave and see if you can find anything?”

“Mon,” Monferno nodded its head before turning around and beginning to walk, it turned back with a worried look that clearly showed its concern for its trainer and comrades.

“We’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Reggie nodded his head, he had learned to keep his courage and determination and even if he had to go back to darkness he knew that if he didn’t find a way to get out or at least a safe place then he would be worse off. “Fraxure, could you put your tusk and against the rock and drag it against the wall over and over?”

Fraxure gave its trainer a puzzled look before nodding and walking over to the wall. It put its left tusk against the wall and began moving it forward and back, the tusk created sparks due to the friction that it had against the rock wall, managing to create some light even if momentarily. “This should keep us alive for a while,” Reggie sighed while ruffling the back of his head.

A million thoughts began running through his mind as he looked down at Azumarill. How were the others outside? was Miko still in a coma or had she finally come to and if she had what did she think about everything that happened? Had Jordan and Mari even told her about what happened or had they kept it a secret.

Monferno came back almost as soon as he left, though he was running frantically as he ran back towards his trainer; the flame returning the long awaited light. “Did you find anything?” Reggie shot up from the ground instantly as he looked down at Monferno.

“Mon,” Monferno turned around and began running once more; except this time Reggie and the other Pokémon followed him as well.

After a while of running the four ended up in a dimly lit room, with torches all around them. On the other side of the room was a pedestal made out of stone, which matched the rest of the room. “At least this room is lit, but where are we exactly?” Reggie looked around as his Pokémon began walking to scan the room.

“So I guess this must be where the pendant used to be,” Reggie pointed out as he walked over to the pedestal, touching it slightly.

He then jumped back as he saw shadows surround the pedestal, making Reggie gasp as the shadows moved out from the pedestal and began taking form in front of him. “What the hell is going on?” he asked himself, feeling the fear and stress coming back to him.

Reggie gasped once more as the figure finally took shape. It was like looking in a mirror, right in front of him was someone that was almost completely like him. This copy of Reggie has long jet black hair, that like the original covered his right eye; his shirt was white just like Reggie and his pants were black; different from Reggie’s red pants. The biggest differences of the two were their faces though; the clone looked at Reggie with a look of longing and satisfaction while Reggie couldn’t help to express his fear and confusion.

“I was expecting you, my other self.” Reggie’s counterpart grinned as he held his hand out, creating a black version of the Ryuu Blade on his right hand. Reggie stepped back as he withdrew his sword; his Pokémon were standing in front of him by now and they had assumed their respective battle stand.

“I dare ya,” he looked down at the three Pokémon who proceeded to charge at their trainer’s doppelganger. Azumarill took no time in firing a stream of water at him; unfortunately he was much to fast, side stepping before jumping away from the water. Monferno and Fraxure took their chance though; Fraxure slammed itself against the ground raising a barrage of rocks as Monferno engulfed them with flames before hurdling them at the doppelganger.

“Good, but not good at the same time.” the doppelganger grinned before jumping up and bouncing off from one of the rocks, seemingly ignoring the pain of the burns as he slashed another rock in half. Before Monferno, Azumarill and Fraxure were able to do anything though they were both swiped by the black Ryu Blade and sent flying against the wall by the power the sword sent out. “Unlike your sword mine has a little more gimmicks to it,” he grinned before putting the sword on his back.

Reggie was perplexed as he looked at the scene around him, all three of his Pokémon were defeated so easily and against someone that looked exactly like him too. “Who are you, why are you doing this?” Reggie asked as he held his sword forward.

“Like I said, I’m you,” the doppelganger shrugged, he felt satisfied from looking at Reggie’s shocked reaction before assuming the same fighting stance. “I’m the hatred, pain and loneliness that you stashed away your whole life.”

“You’re kidding me right, there’s no way that could be true,” Reggie almost chuckled at this; it all sounded like some weird plot from an adventure novel, the hero having to fight himself, there was just no way. “You’re lying!”

“Why is daddy so unfair,” the doppelganger spoke, causing Reggie’s eyes to open wide as he looked at him. “Alex is always getting so much attention, he’s good at everything while I’m good at nothing and get scolded for that, then there’s Carey just standing there and being so cute how much I hate her for making me the middle child.” Reggie stepped back his eyes practically popping as he looked at his clone. “How old were you when you thought this, eleven right just after you gave up on your journey, yeah that’s right I guess that’s when I was really put into motion.”

“Shut up!” Reggie screamed at the top of his lungs as he charged forward, putting his sword back and jumping to slash at the clone. The other Reggie just grinned before holding the black Ryu Blade forward and blocking the attack. “You’re nothing, those thoughts, they mean nothing now!” he exclaimed only to be pushed back and kicked in the gut by the doppelganger.

“You’re just saying that because now you feel like you’re actually worth it, guess what you’re not!” the clone exclaimed before going into a maniacal laughter. “That damn Shroud, taking Miko away making everyone suffer, how I wish I could kill him and Zivok for all the pain if only I could then I would gladly do so, those were the thoughts that went through you right before you summoned Darkan,” he chuckled once more before seeing Reggie charged again.

The two proceeded to block and match blow for blow over and over, Reggie tried countless time to reach a blind spot but he would only be hit there instead. “You’ve gotten better, but you still let emotions get the best of you.” Reggie swung across once more as the Clone moved his sword to his left hand and blocked the attack. “And you make yourself easy to hit!”

Reggie groaned as he felt the sword pierce through the left side of his chest as well as a rib. Blood began to surround that area of his shirt as well as running down his mouth. “How’s that?” Reggie moved back, allowing the sword to come out as he staggered to try and stay up, but to no avail as he fell to his knees; using the sword as leverage. “I’m way better and stronger than you, I’m the one that made you what you are now whenever Chigon couldn’t get you out of trouble I did so you owe me! You owe me everything you little bitch!”

***

Meanwhile in the dock of the island three familiar figures stood in front of the steps that led to the main building. “It’s time for our own counterattack guys,” Zivok replied as he looked back at Incendio and Neptune; who just grinned in return.

“Finally I can go wild for once,” Incendio chuckled, he was excited at being able to fight without having to hold back or worry about making sure the others were okay. “As long as we stop people from interfering we can kill right?” he asked with a sadistic smile that reflected along with his red eyes.

“Sure, but remember to keep the damage low, we don’t want to make our boss mad by making ourselves stand out,” Zivok replied with a nod from his head as he started moving. “I actually feel excited about this now that I think about it.”

“We all are,” Neptune replied before he and Incendio proceeded to follow their leader up the steps.

End of Episode 42
Next Time: Reggie vs. Reggie, Jordan Shows His Courage

 

[Instrutilus]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Interesting, an negative copy. I was planning them for the Travelsverse, so great minds think alike :L

I look forward to seeing what happens next.

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Negative copies are a bit overdone I know but they get the job done *nods head*.

 

[AetherX]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Nice! The shadow-self is a little cliche, but it fits. Doesn't look like the training has helped much, yet. I'm excited for the next chapter, it looks like Jordan is going to have to finally step up, if you're planning what I think you're planning.

 

[Flaze]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

Depends on what you think I'm planning but I'll let you speculate xD

 

[Marcat]

Re: Pokemon Academy: Dragon's Roar

The fact is, I read the chapter as soon as it came out but forgot to post. When you VM'ed me, I though there was another one! Sorry, 'bout that.

I was going to comment on the negative copy being a little too common in other series, but seeing as everyone mentioned it already... that comment seemed sorta hollow.

Besides, it works! You've done a great job with the bad side of Reggie. He portrays those negative thoughts very well and his dialogue is very well written. Mostly, this was a good chapter.
Though you did spell "Hydrated" wrong. When I tried to read out loud to check how the flow of the dialogue was, I was stuck. Some of the parts lack a comma or two, which puts the flow off. Because you need to stop sometimes when talking to add effect. This is a matter of opinion, though.

Try and re-read the chapter out-loud to check the flow.