Chapter 1- Rayanne
Rayanne
It all started when I was just 12 years old. I was off from school and living with my grandparents and sister. My sister’s name is Carmine. Me and Carmine had time off from school to show off our school to some students from the prestigious Gem students. At the end of our tour, me and Carmine had to choose three students to go to our school as exchange students. I remember Carmine wanting nothing to do with these students. She has a thing with not accepting outsiders.
I didn’t quite have an opinion on who these students were going to be. I remember that there were 7 students that came to look at our school. There was a boy named Kai, A girl named Lily, A girl named Penny, A boy named Luke, A boy named Gereld, A boy named Leon and a girl named Rayanne. Rayanne stuck out to me for some reason. She had short brown hair along with a blue pokemon league hat. She was the champion of her school, one of the best battlers. Carmine didn’t like this though, she challenged Rayanne to a battle the moment she arrived.
“Carmine! She just got here!” I said, trying to convince Carmine to stop.
“Shut up, Kiki. If she doesn’t win, then she doesn’t deserve a spot to go to our school.” Carmine said firmly. Carmine was two years older than me. She was pretty stubborn about stuff like this.
When Carmine sent out her Skiddo, Rayanne destroyed her entire party only using her Charzard. I was amazed with her Charzard. It wasn’t like any other Charzard, though. It was black. It had blue fiery flames come from it. I sat there in awe as it used strong moves to defeat Carmine so quickly. As soon as the battle was over. Carmine apologizes to Rayanne for her sudden spirit for battle.
“Sorry about that Rayanne. I just got a thing for battling.” Carmine said.
“Hey, no worries. Now you guys know how good I actually am! You remind me a lot of my friend, Nemona. You love battling just like her.” Rayanne said cheerfully.
“I hope that one day I’ll be able to go and take a trip to your school.” Carmine said.
After that, Adviser Briar dismissed me and Carmine to go home. All of the other students made their way to the community center to get some rest after their long trip. The next day, I went to the community center to find Rayanne. I really wanted to talk to her and get to know her, but being the person that I am, I was way too shy. I made the mistake of telling Carmine that I wanted to talk to Rayanne but I was way too nervous.
“You’re scared of talking to someone that you don’t even know? Wow, I didn’t think that you could get any more lame than you already were.” Carmine said before she dragged me out of the house and to the community center. She banged on Rayannes door and as she opened it, she said this.
“Hey, Rayanne! My little brother wants to get to know you better. He was just too scared to come here alone so I came with him. But now I gotta go. Have fun!” Carmine said. Rayanne looked at me with curious eyes,
“Hi!” Rayanne said. She sounded excited.
“Hi.. I’m Kieran. Carmine’s little brother.” I said.
“I know! I saw you yesterday when I was battling Carmine.” Rayanne said.
“Oh! Yeah.. That’s me. Sorry about that battle. She just feels that you have to prove your worthiness or something by battle.” I said.
“Huh.. Interesting. I think today we’re supposed to tour your school. I wanna get to meet all your friends!” Rayanne said.
“What!? M-My friends?” I said.
“Yeah! I’m sure they’re all super cool!” Rayanne said cheerfully.
“Well, There’s kinda a problem with that. I don’t really have any friends.” I said softly.
“Wow, I thought we were friends, but I guess not!’ Rayanne said sarcastically.
“Sorry. Wait, we’re friends?” I said, surprised.
“Yeah! But to confirm that we’re friends, I’m challenging you to a battle.” Rayanne said.
“You won against Carmine, she’s the strongest in the whole school. I don’t think I stand a chance against you.” I said softly.
“Sure you do! Just believe in yourself! I’ll go easy on you and just use my … lower level pokemon.” Rayanne said.
“I guess. You’ll still probably beat me..” I said.
“Just try your best.” Rayanne said. I got in position and the battle began. Rayanne set out her Lycendrock while I sent out my Poliwhirl.
“You already have the advantage! Use some sort of water move and you’ll take me out!” Rayanne said. I used whirlpool and Lycendrock fainted.
“Hey, maybe I am good!” I said. Confidence began to grow through me.
“See? That’s just the confidence that you need!” Rayanne said before sending out her next pokemon. It was a Bronzong.
“Bronzong? Interesting choice.” I said.
“You gotta have at least one steel pokemon in your party. That’s just how it works.” Rayanne said while flicking her short bobbed hair.
“Whatever.” I said and ordered my Polywhirl to use Whirlpool.
“Oo, that one hit close to home! But that’s not enough to take me out!” Rayanne said before ordering Bronzong to use Psyshock. That seemed to knock out my Poliwhirl.
“Sorry! Didn’t hold back on that one!” Rayanne said.
“Don’t hold back, give me all that you got!” I said. I didn’t want her to feel as if she had to hold back against me. I wanted to feel all of her power instead of just a fraction of it.
“You sure?” She asked me. I nodded
“Alright, then. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Rayanne took back her Bronzong and took out a Cinderace.
“That pokemon is so cool!” I said in shock.
“Yeah! Won him in a raffle. I’ve had him ever since he was a little Scorch Bunny.” I said.
“You went to the Galar region?” I asked.
“Nope! I won him in the Hoenn region. Now it’s time to battle.” Rayanne said.
“You went to the Hoenn region!? Where else have you been?” I asked.
“Lets see, I’m from the Kalos region, got accepted into Uva Academy, Moved to Padela, Took a trip to the Hoenn region, Then I went to the Alola region and I hated it there. I came back to Padela and here I am.” Rayanne said.
“Wow. I’ve never been out of the region.” I said.
“It’s really overrated. I like this region, though. It’s homey!” Rayanne said with a big smile.
“I really want to go to the Kalos region.” I said with a smile.
“It’s really pretty. Especially Lumos City. My buddy Clemont runs the gym in that city.” Rayanne said.
“You have to take me sometime.” I said. Rayanne smiled.
“Yeah! We’ll take Carmine too.” Rayanne said. My smile faded a bit. Why did she want to bring Carmine along? Carmine was so rude to her. Why couldn’t she just hang out with me?
“Y-Yeah..” I stuttered out.
We finished our conversation and finished the battle. Of course, Rayanne stole the victory. I wasn’t surprised. She was pretty amazing. The way she battled, it was beautiful. She flipped her brown bobbed hair behind her ears. She looked at me with her hazel eyes and smiled.
“You did pretty good! You’re pokemon are so cute!” She said, delighted.
“Th-Thanks.” I stuttered out. I was nervous about what she would think of me if I made the wrong approach.
“Now you gotta show me around the school. This place is so pretty from what I’ve seen so far!” Rayanne said while looking up into the beautiful blue sky.
“Where do you want to go? Oh wait, I know! I’ll take you to the league room. You’ll love it there!” I said excitedly.
“What’s that?” Rayanne asked, intrigued.
“You know how schools have clubs? Well here, we call them leagues. And this is the main league room. This league focuses on battling. Carmine used to be a part of the league, in fact, she was the champion. But then she left because of the level of stress.” I said while looking down.
“That’s why she’s so good. Everything makes sense now.” Rayanne said.
“Now, let me show you that League room.” I said as I led Rayanne close behind me to the league room. Once we made it there, Drayton was there.
“Hey, Carmine’s brother!” Drayton said. Drayton was always so annoying. Him and my older sister apparently are best friends so I was always kinda just there when they hung out.
“Hi, Drayton. This is Rayanne. She’s one of the seven people touring the school.” I said.
“What’s up Rayanne? I’m Drayton, but you already know that from my amazing introduction from Kiki. Hey, your name’s Rayanne and his name is Ray! Perfect match.” Drayton said.
“Heh, Yeah..” Rayanne said weakly.
“Drayton, stop it.” I demanded.
“What? I’m just pointing out similarities. And you obviously like her so don’t even.” Drayton said.
“Drayton!” I said, embarrassed. Rayanne sat there, confused.
“Well Rayanne, are you gonna join the league or what? You get to battle the elite four and become champion if you join.” Drayton said.
“She can’t do that, Drayton. She’s just touring the school, what would happen when she leaves? It’ll push Crispin’ out of the ranks. We’ve been over this like 20 times before they got here, what don’t you understand?” I said, annoyed.
“Well she’s gonna be going here as an exchange student. I can already see her being one of the three by the end of the week.” Drayton said.
“I guess, but it’s not up to you to choose. It’s up to me and Carmine. That’s what Ms. Bior said.” I said.
“You better choose her. She’s got potential to be great. Ever watch Padalian news? She’s one of the two champions.” Drayton said before leaving.
Why was Drayton so stubborn about everything? That was just the way he was. He really liked my sister and my sister really liked him. Head been over all the time and they both joined the League at school at the same time. Drayton wanted to be champion but Carmine surpassed him and became champion. Then, after about a month of being a champion, things got too complicated and she was too busy with school work. She stepped down from champion and the throne is left empty. Drayton didn’t want to take it, neither did the rest of the elite four. People have tried to take the top spot but failed to defeat the elite four. I could already see that if Rayanne wanted to be champion, she could do it.
After that encounter with Drayton, I rolled my eyes and looked at Rayanne. She was sort of confused but also hopeful. She looked so pretty. She had an orange Uva Academy shirt on from her school along with some dress pants. She had a little black backpack.
“Well if you’re gonna be an exchange student, then you need a school uniform.” I said.
“Didn’t you say that you have to decide on the exchange students with Carmine?” Rayanne asked me.
“You have true potential to be the League champion. I know you can do it.” I said. Rayanne blushed.
“T-Thanks.” Rayanne said.
“We should battle again.” I said. I wanted a rematch after losing. Her pokemon were really strong but I really wanted to be stronger.
“You sure? You want me to hold back all this time?” Rayanne asked.
“No. Give me all that you got. I’m sure I’ll win this time. I just have a feeling, y’know?” I said.
“You said so. I’ll give Quaquaval a chance to go first this time.” Rayanne said before sending out her pokemon. I took out my Mimiku.
I sent out my pokemon and got ready to battle. This time, I stocked up on potions and revives. Quaquaval used Aqua Step on my pokemon and knocked out half of its health. I gave it a Hyper potion and it was back to normal. Quaquaval used Low Sweep next but it ended up only knocking out a little bit of health. I snapped back with Shadow Ball and it seemed to scare off Quaquaval by knocking out half of his health.
“Wow, that was a good move!” Rayanne said. “But that’s not enough to take me down!”
Quaquaval used Close Combat next and really brought down my Health. I frantically searched for a Full restore and used it.
“You are such a cheater!” Rayanne said.
“No one said that potions were against the rules!” I responded.
Now, Mimikyu is getting stronger. Mimikyu used Shadow Ball again and Quaquaval fainted.
“Yes!” I said excitedly.
“Now I’m not gonna hold back at all on this next one!” Rayanne said before sending out Cinderace.
“I love your, Cinderace. But I’ll win.” I said.
“I’m not so sure about that.” Rayanne said as Cinderace used Bounce. Little did I know that was a super effective move on my Mimikyu and knocked it out.
“No! Well… I g-guess now w-we’re tied.” I stuttered out. I was beginning to get nervous as I pulled out my next pokemon. I settled on Magicharp because it was a water type against a fire type.
“I’m sure Cinderace can still take down Magicharp.” Rayanne said with confidence.
“I’m not so sure about that.” I said, sending Hydro Pump at Cinderace. Cinderace had it’s health drained from the move. I looked in shock at the fallen Cinderace.
“Poor Cinderace. I’ll get back at you with this next pokemon.” Rayanne said as she sent out a Charzard. She used the move Earthquake and my Magicharp fainted immediately.
“I-I thought Charzard was a fire type.” I said in shock.
“He is… But he also has a ground and rock type move.” Rayanne said as I was frantically searching for my next pokemon. That’s when I remembered that my party was only three pokemon. I didn’t really know how to catch pokemon so my party was very small.
“Y-You win…” I said stiffly.
“You should have a full party. It doesn’t matter if the pokemon is strong or not, they could be filler pokemon.” Rayanne said.
“Filler pokemon?” I asked, confused.
“It’s like my Bronzong and Cinderace. They are both two totally different types that don’t fit in with the rest of my pokemon. Bronzong can withstand a whole lot of moves, I mostly use him to have in battle while I heal up my other attacking pokemon. Recently I’ve been using Amohromus as a filler pokemon.” Rayanne said.
“Interesting.” I said.
“One thing I really recommend when getting started with battling is having one over leveled pokemon that can withstand hard moves. That was me when I got my Gyarados. He was 10 levels ahead of my other pokemon but he really helped me in a gym battle.” Rayanne said.
“Thanks for the advice.” I said.
“And make sure you got at least 50 potions, revives, elixirs, full heals, everything. You always gotta be stocked up.” Rayanne continued.
“Got it. Thanks for helping me. I think I heard something about you being the Champion of the Padaleon region.” I said.
“Yeah.. The gyms were pretty easy, The elite four went easy on me. La Prima, the champion just happened to have the type where my pokemon were stronger, it all just comes down to luck.” She said,
“I should become a champion in your region then. It sounds easy!” I said.
“Well, you’d have to beat me instead of La Prima for champion. And Nemona is on the Elite Four now, she’s crazy strong.” Rayanne said while looking up. “Not to mention she’s my childhood friend and my Rival.” Rayanne said, not changing her gaze.
“What type does she use? I’ll be sure to stock up on pokemon that are stronger than hers!” I said, proudly.
“See, I was just like you when I was getting started. You don’t stock up on pokemon that are just opposite of just one type. Nemona uses fire, doesn’t mean my team is entirely water. When I first went into the elite four, I had the same mindset you did. But the elite four is four back to back battles of four different pokemon types. Rika uses ground, Poppy uses steel and Larry uses flying. Hassel retired from his position as an elite four member, but I went against him in my elite test. He used dragon. See how all those types don’t add up?” Rayanne said.
“Wow, that makes a whole lot of sense. So what do I do?” I asked.
“You pick types that are dearest to you. I have two fire, two water, one electric and one steel.” Rayanne said with a smile.
“Wow.” I said, starstruck by the advice that she was giving me.
“You know about secondary types, right?” Rayanne asked me.
“Is it when a pokemon has two different types but they still only have one tera type?” I asked, hoping that was the right answer. I remember that Advisor Bior had explained this once in class. She taught the terastilization and information class. She was a bit obsessed with the idea. It was a bit strange.
“Yeah! See, Cinderace and Quaquaval both have fighting as a secondary type while Bronzong uses psychic as a secondary type. Amphromos is also a fairy type. Gyarodos’s secondary type is flying. I think that Charizard’s secondary type is dragon but I don’t really know. He he just seems like he has a ton of different types.” Rayanne said.
“Just like how Poliwhirl is a water and fighting pokemon!” I said, excited.
“Exactly!” Rayanne said before the door of the league room slammed open to see Lacey, Crispin and Carmine all standing together.
“Kiki! We did not decide as civilized siblings that Rayanne is going to be an exchange student! Dryaton told me that you decided all by yourself!” Carmine said, furiously.
“You know that once she leaves, I get pushed out of the ranks. Come on, little man!” Crispen said with his frying hanging loosely on his shoulder.
“I never said that! Drayton suggested that! Be mad at him!” I snapped back.
“For the millionth time Drayton, Stop putting your words into other peoples mouths!” Carmine said, annoyed.
“I just wanted Rayanne to get a piece of what Gem academy really is before she goes here. Be honest, you really weren’t going to reject Rayanne from going here. I know you like her. After all, she can beat you in a battle, huh?” Drayton asked, arrogantly.
“Only time will tell. We still barely know Rayanne. Same thing with the other seven students.” Carmine said with her eyes closed.
“So I’m not leaving the ranks yet, huh?” Crispin’ asked.
“We still have to decide. Just don’t worry about it, Crispin’ “ Lacey said. Lacey was wearing a long purple cardigan that went so well with her school uniform.
“Anyways, what are you two doing in the League Room?” Crispin’ asked
“Just showing Rayanne around the school. I thought if she were to come here as an exchange student, she would wanna join the club.” I said while looking down. There were too many people in the room. I couldn’t give them eye contact. My anxiety wouldn’t allow it to happen.
“I bet she would become our champion that we are so desperately needing right now.” Drayton said, rolling his eyes to Carmine.
“We’ll decide if she’s one of the three at the end of the week, we’ve had this discussion so many freaking times, why can’t you just freaking listen, Drayton!?” Carmine yelled before storming off with Lacey following closely behind. Crispen turned to Rayanne with an interested look on his face.
“So you’re Rayanne, right? The one who’s gonna push me out of the ranks?” Crispn’ said in a harsher tone than intended. Rayanne looked at Crispin’ with a worrisome look.
“Oh, that sounded mean. I just meant, like, this situation? Here, let me start over. Hi I’m Crispin’ and I’m the second Elite Four member.” Crispin’ said nervously.
“Damn, Crispin’s tongue tied for Rayanne.” Drayton said with his head on the table.
“Shut it, toothpaste head!” Crispin’ snapped back.
“Where do you wanna go next?” I asked Rayanne.
“Show her the Terrarium.” Drayton said, now closing his eyes.
“Briar already told me about that. She really went into detail with the Tera Crystal.” Rayanne said with a chuckle.
“I had her for science in 7th grade.” Crispin’ said with a groan while sitting down next to Drayton.
“She was my 6th Grade English teacher.” Drayton said.
“She’s my history teacher.” I said nervously. I really didn’t like Ms. Briar. All she talked about was terastilization and tera types. It seemed like that was all she cared about.
“Ray-Ray, you’re in 7th grade, right?” Drayton asked me.
“Yeah…” I said, nervously.
“And you’re Gramps still won’t let you get a phone. Wow, that’s sad.” Crispin’ aid while looking up.
“What grade are you guys in?” Rayanne asked.
“Let’s see, I’m in 10th, same thing with Carmine and Lacey. You haven’t met Haylin yet but she’s in 9th. Same thing with Crispin’. And obviously, Ray-Ray’s in 7th. What about you?” Drayton asked.
“8th. Guess if I do come here as an exchange student, I won’t have any classes with any of you guys.” Rayanne said while looking down.
“Mr. Heidelberg said that he’s gonna move me to 8th grade.” I said quietly.
He said that I’m smarter than everyone else, plus he wanted me to be in high school with my sister.
“So you and Rayanne will actually have a chance to be together!” Drayton teased. It was annoying.
“Dray, give it a rest.” Crispin’ groaned while burying his head into his arms on the table like Drayton often did.
“What’s wrong Mr. Spice? It’s just this weeks, Blueberry Academy’s brand new, Drayster take.” Drayton said arrogantly.
“What was the ‘Drayster Take’ Last week? Carmine saying that you’re just a player?” I said with a sly smile. Recently, I had been starting to clap back at Drayton. He’s just been so annoying thinking that he’s the champion when he wasn’t. No one was the champion.
“Damn lil’ R!” Crispin’ spitted out while breaking down, laughing. Rayanne stretched out her arms before getting up out of her seat.
“Well today was pretty fun, but I’m tired. Ray-Ray, would you be so kind as to show me where that community center is?” Rayanne said. I nodded as I tucked my hair back. My hair was a bit long. It was black with some purple on the inside. If I ever put my hair, you’d see the purple. I got up out of my seat and walked out of the room without saying a word with Rayanne following closely behind me.
“What’s up with Drayton?” Rayanne asked.
“He’s annoying. Him and my sister are kinda dating and he thinks that he’s my older brother and he can tease me. Not to mention him thinking that just because he’s the strongest Elite Four member and that there’s no champion right now, he thinks he’s the champion. He isn’t and it’s stupid.” I ranted. I looked at Rayanne. Her face was shocked by my words.
“I meant, Why did he think that you had a crush on you?” Rayanne said with a little chuckle.
“Oh…That… Well I don’t really have a whole lot of friends so he thinks that the moment I make a friend, I have a crush on someone. It’s stupid.” I said while rolling my eyes. We just made it to the community center where Rayanne and the other students were gonna sleep.
“We’re here.” I said while looking down.
“Thanks. You know how there isn’t a champion for the league right now Rayanne asked. I looked at her with a confused look.
“Yeah?” I said. She moved to my ear to whisper into it. Instead she kissed my cheek.
“You should try to be champion. You have the skills, you just need the confidence.” Rayanne said before waving and entering the community center. I waved back, starstruck. I had no idea what just happened. All I knew was that I had to get strong, become champion, and finally beat Rayanne. I had to do it.
I just had to.
