"Before I Turn this Tassel," written by Freedom Fighter Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of the characters associated with the show. All names and likenesses are copyrighted by Nintendo, 4Kids Entertainment, and anyone else who had a hand in creating the show. ====== Chapter One - She's Cute 'Til You See Her Battle (10.07.02) A door closes in the hallway, as the room number is now visible. It reads '209.' Standing in front of the door as she locks it with her key is Giselle Gravelpot. She has a backpack strapped to her back and her video camera in her left hand. Just as she turns to leave, the door across from hers opens. A young woman with black hair and light brown skin steps out, also dressed in the Tech girls' uniform. She stood a couple of inches taller than Giselle, at about 5'10". She also had a backpack and a video camera of her own. "Good morning," greeted the woman with a smile. "Hello Angela," Giselle greeted back. "Get enough sleep last night?" "Not really. I had to deal with some uncooperative troublemakers on the first floor last night. I swear, those girls will never pass finals in a few weeks." "Maybe I should go and straighten them out." "As the resident manager, that's my job Giselle. You just worry about graduating. After all, there's no need to end your chances of being the first female to ever graduate at the top of her class." "True. It's my chance to show the chauvinist pigs here that a girl can have beauty and brains." "It'll turn a lot of heads, that's for sure." Angela closes her door and locks it. She and Giselle then head down the hall and towards the elevator. "Going to work on your video research project too?" inquired Angela, pointing with her free hand toward Giselle's video camera. "Yep. I'm using it for that test class I'm going to be a student aide in this week. It's my way of introducing the proposed class for students who are thinking of taking it when it's offered for the first time fall semester." "Wow! That sounds so much better than mine. All I'm doing for my research project is having a few of my friends demonstrate the thinking process that trainers go through during a regular Pokémon battle." "Not exactly breakthrough material, but I'm sure peering into the differences between the minds of different trainers has to have some merit." The two of them reach the elevator lobby, where Angela presses the down button. The doors open instantly, revealing an empty car. They step inside the elevator car as Giselle presses the button for the ground floor. The doors then close in front of them. ====== Giselle and Angela are now walking towards one of the school's two cafeterias, this one located at the north end of campus. They made sure to avoid the center of the northwest quad, where a group of students are already gathering for a class. "Okay class," the professor shouted through a bullhorn, "please prepare for today's lecture, in which you'll learn the proper techniques to battling in a wet, marshy field." Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and shiver. Giselle and Angela paid no attention, as they already knew the cause. The center of the quad was descending into the ground and was about to be replaced by a grass field that's muddy and full of puddles. "I have an idea," Angela shouted as she looks at Giselle. "I've always wondered where you got your battle style from. Mind contributing to my project?" "And give away all of my battle strategies? As if!" "But you're so smart that you could always think of new ones." Giselle thought for a moment. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. It is just you, after all." "Oh, thank you Giselle! I promise to make it as quick and painless as possible!" As the ground finally stops shaking from the field switch, Giselle and Angela have finally reached the building that housed the cafeteria. Angela opens the door and allows Giselle to go in before them. Once inside though, the two young women immediately grab the attention of everyone male and female alike. Two young boys, unaware of Giselle's reputation, step forward and surround her. One of them had blue hair slicked with sculpting gel. The other had brown hair that was combed over to the left. Both had white skin and were wearing their school uniforms. "Hello gorgeous," the boy with blue hair said. "What's a pretty thing like you doing at a prestigious school like this?" the boy with brown hair asked. "Puh-lease, I have more important things to think about than you two." Giselle tries to walk away, but neither of them would let her. "You think you're better than us, huh?" "I bet you've got nothing but cute little weaklings! We challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" "A Pokémon battle? You two aren't serious, are you?" "We're serious trainers, babe." "Yeah! We'll show why guys should be trainers and girls should stay home and learn how to clean houses like they should!" "Hey!" Angela exclaimed, speaking up for the first time since the guys had stopped them. But before she could say another word, Giselle raised her left hand in the air. "If these two boys want to battle little ol' me, then they'll get their wish." The two boys pumped their fists in the air as they begin to grin from ear to ear. "We'll use one of the training arenas." "We start immediately, princess!" The two snicker as they high five each other before running towards the hall where the arenas could be accessed. Many of the onlookers shake their heads, already knowing what the result will be. "Is it worth embarrassing them?" Angela asked. "They asked for it," Giselle replied. "Besides, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to work on your project?" "Would it be worth it? I'm not wasting tape on a battle that's going to last less than a minute." "Don't worry, I'll play with them a little first." Giselle ended her statement with a wink of her left eye. ====== Inside training arena #3, a small crowd is gathering to watch the battle. The combatants are standing on either side of the field. Giselle has her bag and her video camera next to her feet as she squats down to fish a Pokéball out. "Before we begin," the blue haired boy, "we should be polite gentlemen and introduce ourselves." "At least polite gentlemen respect women," Giselle thought. "After I wipe the floor with these two, we'll see how polite they are in defeat." "My name is Joshua," the blue haired one said. "And mine is William," the brown haired one said. "So toots... what's your name?" Keeping her cool, Giselle replies to the question calmly. "I'm called a lot of things. But for the sake of acquaintance, you can just call me Giselle." As Giselle giggles, she watches as Joshua and William's faces relax slightly. She can already spot their infatuation for her growing by the second. The two boys quickly huddle to discuss what to do next. "We've just gotta win this!" Joshua whispered to his friend. "If she's impressed by how good we are as trainers, maybe she'll go out with us." "Every guy in our class would be jealous of us!" William whispered back. "Scoring with her would make us the most popular guys in school!" "Let's win us a date!" "Yeah!" The two break the huddle and turn back to look at Giselle again. "So, what are the rules?" she asked. "Two-on-two," Joshua stated aloud. "Me and William will use one Pokémon each. You can use two of your best to take us on." "I bet even my worst can take your best," Giselle commented under her breath. "And if we win," William shouted, "you have to promise to go out on a date with the both of us tonight!" There were a few murmurs among the crowd, but Giselle looked as if she had everything under control. "That's fair enough." "This ought to be the easiest battle we've ever had," Joshua smirked. "If you don't mind," Giselle spoke up, "I'll have one Pokémon out at a time. If that's fine by you two." "If you're willing to risk your Pokémon that way," William shouted back, "then go ahead." Giselle tosses her Pokéball out onto the field. Out of it comes Swinub, the small pig Pokémon. "Swi!" "I choose Swinub as my first Pokémon," Giselle told the two boys. Joshua and William throw out their Pokéballs. Out of those come a Larvitar and a Mankey. "Just as I figured," Giselle thought. "They're both beginners. Though I have to admit I've never seen that green Pokémon before. Maybe this might be a better fight than I thought." "Larvitar will be my Pokémon," Joshua stated. "And I'll battle with my Mankey," William announced. "Mankey, karate chop!" Before she knew it, Giselle spotted Mankey already heading towards her Swinub. Mankey chops and connects, sending Swinub flying into the air. It flies right into Giselle's arms. "Swinub!" "Ha! That was too easy!" Then, to the boys' surprise, Swinub leaps out of Giselle's arms and back to the ground. "How did that Swinub survive that karate chop?" "Although you guessed right into using a fighting-type move against an ice-type Pokémon, you didn't take into compensation the level at which my Pokémon is at. Which is why my Swinub is still standing on the battlefield." "How did you know that?" "It pays to study up, boys." "So what if you know that? My Larvitar will finish off that Swinub once and for all!" Joshua points at Swinub as he yells out an attack. "Larvitar, sandstorm!" On command, a strong gust of wind blows into the arena. Sand is flying all over the place, as many of the audience members are forced to flee the room. Angela huddles behind one of the sets of bleachers with a few other kids. She sets up her camera to continue recording before she closes her eyes and ducks out of the way. On the battlefield, all three trainers are doing their best to shield their eyes from the sand. Joshua was smiling as his Larvitar remained unaffected by the sandstorm. William's Mankey, on the other hand, was feeling the full effect of the storm. "My Mankey won't last long in this! And I'm getting sand in my clothes! You've got to stop this storm!" "After this turn, once her Swinub has fainted." Without warning, Swinub comes flying through the sandstorm. Swinub tackles Mankey with enough force that the fighting monkey is knocked out cold. "What?!" The sandstorm clears up just enough for the trainers to be able to see each other and their Pokémon. Mankey has collapsed, while Larvitar and Swinub are still standing. "My Mankey!" William cried. "Why didn't the sandstorm paralyze Swinub?" Joshua asked. Giselle smiled and waved a finger at him. "If you two are true Pokémon trainers, you would know that Swinub is not only half ice-type, but also half ground-type. And the three types of Pokémon that don't feel the effects of a sandstorm are rock, steel... and ground!" "It's part ground-type?" "I should have figured that I'd be battling beginners. Don't you idiots know how dangerous it is to create a sandstorm indoors?" "Just because Larvitar made a mistake doesn't mean that you're better than us!" "Yeah!" "Larvitar, take a bite out of that Swinub and knock it out!" Larvitar charges at Swinub, but the pig Pokémon is way too fast for Larvitar to catch. "Sorry, not fast enough! Swinub, tackle the Larvitar this time!" Swinub tackles the Larvitar head on, managed to daze it, but not knock it out. "Larvitar, leer!" "Swinub, use mist!" The mist hides Swinub and prevents it from falling victim to the leer attack. "That stubborn mist won't last forever! Use a screech attack!" Larvitar screeches as loud as possible. But Giselle tells Swinub to use mist again, negating that as well. Joshua, in a panic, yells out an attack at random. "Bite it! Bite it!" Larvitar tries to bite Swinub again, but the pig dodges it. "Are you done fooling around with me yet?" Giselle asked the two boys. "How can that Swinub be unbeatable?" "Yeah! How can your Swinub... uh, what he said." Giselle puts her hands on her hips as she goes into explanation mode. "A Pokémon is beatable if you know it's strengths and weaknesses. Larvitar are very rare Pokémon indeed, found only near the famed Mt. Silver. I'm guessing that someone gave that to you, because the chances of finding a wild one by yourself are one in about six hundred thousand. Oh... you mean you didn't know that? Of course you wouldn't..." Giselle laughs out loud before gathering herself and resuming her speech... "Your Larvitar used leer and screech recently, which both serve as defense-lowering attacks. But a mist protects against such attacks from taking effect. And although bite would be an effective attack for defeating my Swinub, the weight of Larvitar slows it down. I'm guessing that Larvitar's level is in the high-teens. Even if my Swinub was at the same level as your Larvitar, it would still be nearly 50% faster. "But you wouldn't know that. After all, you're both beginners. Or would you? Of course not, because you've only been trainers for several months!" Giselle laughs out loud again, to the chagrin of Joshua and William. "By the way, Larvitar is also a hybrid Pokémon. It has the characteristics of both rock-and ground-types. But seeing as how it's very rare, not many people know that. And I'm sure neither of you knew that. And even if you did know, no trainer in their right mind would start with a Pokémon like that. Not knowing what it's capable of, you could easily lose control of it. Then what would you do? "Of course you wouldn't know, because you two are just beginners!" Giselle is laughing even harder this time, pushing the two boys to their limit. "Knock it off!" Joshua yelled. "I can't believe you'd take advantage of our lack of experience!" William exclaimed. "Well, I just had to pay you back after taking advantage of me. You know, thinking that a beautiful girl like me would have nothing but cute Pokémon... hardly a challenge for the two of you. If you learn anything from this battle, let it be this! Never judge a trainer by how he or she looks! "Anyway, seeing as how I have to eat breakfast before my first class in half an hour, I should end this." Giselle points directly at the Larvitar and yells out the intended attack. "Blizzard!" Swinub starts to generate a blizzard. Snow and wind combine as it engulfs Larvitar and freezes the Pokémon into an icicle. "Larvitar!" Giselle reaches for her Pokéball and recalls Swinub to it. She then picks up her things and walks out. As the doors into the arena open to show where all of the frightened onlookers had moved to, they stand silently as Giselle departs and heads for the line leading up to the cafeteria. Angela follows shortly afterwards, with her stuff in hand. After they're gone, the group peers into the arena. William was recalling his Mankey while Joshua had produced an ice pick out of nowhere and was trying to free Larvitar from its icy prison. Needless to say, Giselle had caught two more trainers off guard. And that's just the way she liked it. Preview of Chapter 2: "Arrogance Hits an All-Time High" - News of Giselle's easy victory spread through the school. - Giselle begins her stint as a teacher's aide. - And... the appearance of a Pokémon League trainer! I'm back with Chapter 2 on Monday! Until then!