A Master Among Students

#1 | The Masked Master (Part 1)

Word Count: 1381 words

- Maplehill Valley -

Maplehill Valley is a very nice place to visit for anyone. There's beautiful sights to see, wonderful people to meet, wild Pokémon to watch, or, if you're a trainer, wild Pokémon to catch.

Little did anyone in the valley know, a 5'11 masked man sat in a tree, observing a battle between two young trainers.

"Ratatta, use Tackle!" The first kid shouted, the Ratatta giving a quick nod before pouncing on the opposing Sentret.

"Sentret, quick, use Tail Whip!" The other kid blurted out in a panic.

The poor Sentret couldn't even learn Tail Whip. It was helpless as the oversized rat plowed into it's stomach.

"Oh no, Sentret! Are you ok?" The second kid horrified at his misjudgment, and quickly rushed onto the field to tend to his Pokémon.

The first kid walked up to the second, and offered him a potion. He was about to say something, however, he was interrupted by the sound of someone clapping.

"Good battle, you two. I'm sure both of you will become great battlers someday!" They heard a deep voice coming from above them. By the time they looked up, the man behind the voice was gone.

"Huh, what was that?" The second kid said, confused at what had just happened.

"I don't know, I agree with it, though. It was a great battle!" The first kid replied, smiling brightly.

"Hey, you're only saying that because you won!" The second kid accused, with a scowl on his face.

Back in the tree once more, the masked man lightly chuckled.

"Ah, gotta love when the kids battle. It's always interesting to see what goes on in their minds."

His thought was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. The man sighed, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He dryly said.

"Mason! How are you doing today?" The voice on the other end of the call replied, cheerfully.

"Oh, Professor, I'm doing well! It's been a while, hasn't it?" The masked man, now known as Mason, responded.

"Of course it has." The professor replied, unamused. "You never want to talk to anyone."

"Ah, sorry about that! Anyways, why'd you call?"

"Well," The professor started, before quickly stopping. "Actually, I believe it'll be better if we talk about this matter in person. Be at the lab in 10 minutes."

"Alright, I'll be on my way!" Mason excitedly exclaimed, before hanging up and calling out his partner.

"Corviknight, take me to the professor's!" He exclaimed. The Corviknight saluted, before letting Mason mount it. With one powerful flap of its wings, the behemoth of a bird was in the air.

- - -

The moment that Mason saw his first Pokémon battle, he knew he wanted to be a trainer.