Blemish of Perfection

One

My eyes open slowly after I wake up to the rude greeting of an alarm clock. I sit up, throw on a shirt from my dresser at random, and make my way out of the dormitory as my roommates loudly start waking those not wise enough to get out of bed quickly. I manage to sneak in and out of the shower room quickly enough to get a private stall, then rush through breakfast in an effort to get to school early before my typical tormentors make it out the door.

I arrive to the mirror-walled physical education gymnasium to find it empty except for the teacher's Machoke, who is diligently doing his morning set of a thousand push-ups before his peace can be interrupted.

He grunts quietly at me as I enter, then ignores me as he continues, incomprehensibly muttering his count under his breath. Ma, choke, ma, choke. I walk over to a mirror, setting my plain and beaten backpack against the wall as I come to a stop, and sigh as I wipe my still damp black hair away from my eyes. I wish that I could get a haircut more often than every other month; keeping this much hair out of my eyes is a bother. My class badge twinkles dully at me from my reflection as the door opens, letting sunlight back in until it shuts, and I sigh as I hear Moe's voice dominating the conversation of the five boys gathered around him.

Machoke pauses, looks at them, then grunts once before returning to his push-ups. Moe glares at me, making sure that I know Machoke is the only thing between my gut and his fists, and I sigh quietly in relief as he sets down his things across the room from me.

After the rest of our class arrives, the old gym coach drills us until the floor is covered with sweat, and class ends a few minutes after the bell when another teacher finally comes and talks to him.

After our pitiful art class begins and ends, we have economics. After an hour of the professor explaining, for the eighth year in a row, that Stella's regional economy depends on the iron and other metal ores harvested from the mountains by the very well-trained Steel type Pokémon our nation prides itself on, we're dismissed to lunch.

I avoid Moe through lunch, making sure to skirt the edges of the cafeteria, and manage to eat my entire meal in peace before rushing to our next class half an hour before lunch hour ends.

Mr. Kelly, the professor for the Pokémon Training class, smiles widely as I show up early once again. "Liam, it's nice to see your dark mop of hair again today. How was your lunch?"

"It was great, Mr. Kelly! The bread was soft enough that it couldn't dent the table I sat at today, and the apple I had was nearly ripe!"

He shakes his head slowly, "You know, Liam, the orphanage in my town in Johto was far nicer to its kids than the one here... You would think that a city as large as ours would share the prosperity, no?"

I shrug quietly. "Could you tell me about being a Gym leader, Mr. Kelly?"

He laughs, grinning as he takes a seat and motions for me to do the same. "Are there any stories I haven't told you five times already, Liam?"

I watch him expectantly, and he sighs again. "You're fifteen, Liam. When I was your age, I was in my third year on the road with my growing team."

"I'm fourteen, Mr. Kelly." I grin at his mistake, but he only sighs deeply.

"My memory is failing me, slowly but surely. Have I told you about the trainer who defeated my Aggron with a Voltorb?"

I shake my head even though I can faintly remember this one, and he raises an eyebrow. "Really?" I nod excitedly, and he chuckles. "So, this was just a year after I took the position. Johto still only had ten gyms at the time, and one of them was younger than I was. Anyways, he somehow managed to teach his Voltorb a fighting type move, some sort of an advanced tackle that he must have come up with on his own."

My smile grows as he describes the fight, from the worsening paralysis his Aggron fought through to the two close misses with its Hyper Beam.

Then, the bell rings as he describes the Trainer's playful grin when he shook Mr. Kelly's hand, and he asks me as the other guys start walking in, "So, Liam, who do you think he went on to be?"

I shrug, and he grins as he says, "That man is currently Johto's reigning Champion, although I heard rumors that he's thinking of retiring next year or so."

I take a seat before Moe makes it into the classroom, and find myself fighting daydreams of traveling across the region with a team of my own. Mr. Kelly quizzes us on laws restricting Pokémon ownership as soon as class starts, and I sigh as he reminds us that a new Trainer has to have one of an approved list of Pokémon in order to be allowed to leave on his or her own, and owning more than six Pokémon at all is prohibited without a Breeder's license and only allowed with a Trainer's card.

After class, Mr. Kelly stops me, and we wait for the rest of class to leave.

Then, he asks me, "Liam, what would you give to leave on the journey of a Trainer?"

I pause, thinking, then reply, "I don't have anything to give, but I would give anything I had."

He nods, then reaches into his desk and pulls out a simple, red Pokéball. "One of my old friends is a successful Breeder in the Hoenn region. He sent me this little guy after trying an interesting breeding combination." He pushes the button on the Pokéball, and my eyes widen at the grey and green form that appears.

"A Treeko?"

It looks up at me with wide, curious eyes, and Mr. Kelly nods as he says, "A newly hatched Treeko with skin patterned grey and green. He says that he can't sell it anywhere, but that his mother was a champion fighter in her day."

He grins at me, then chuckles as I kneel down to play with the Treeko, who immediately starts wrestling excitedly with my arm. "Would you like him? I know that you can pass the tests for a Trainer's card, and I can administer that for you as soon as you like."

I don't register what he said for a few moments, then I freeze in shock and look at the Treeko again as though I'd never seen a Pokémon before. All I've ever seen are Ratatta, Zubat, and the occasional Lairon brought through on career days. 

I lock eyes with Mr. Kelly, who nods slowly as a wide smile grows on his face.

"Yes! I..." My voice chokes out as I sit down, scratching the very happy Treeko under his chin, and Mr. Kelly simply nods.

"When would you like to take the test?"

"How soon can I?"

He looks at the clock on the wall, then says, "Right now, if you can finish within two hours."

He clicks his tongue at the Treeko, who looks up at him and nods as Mr. Kelly returns him to his Pokéball. He hands the ball to me, then digs through his desk for a packet and a pen.

After handing both to me, he says, "Mark carefully; part of the test is making sure that you are deliberate and confident in your decisions. Scratching out an answer to pick another will cost you points over getting it right the first time."

I nod, then sit down. He looks up at the clock, then winks at me as he says, "Whenever you're ready."

An hour later, I close the testing booklet, and he smiles broadly as he takes the pen and test. Then, he opens the booklet and flips through it, nodding here and there, then says, "You were two questions short of a perfect score."

I can't help but smile, and my cheeks warm up as I feel a few tears threatening to fall. 

No, no, I'm too old to cry... Mr. Kelly shakes his head as I offer him the Pokéball back, and I find the pressure of tears behind my eyes almost too much to bear.

"He's yours now, Liam. Train him to recognize his own name for now, and I'll have your Trainer card in within a few days."

I look down at the Pokéball in my hand, then jump forward and hug Mr. Kelly because I don't know if there's anything else I can do. I'm crying now, but that doesn't stop me from thanking him, again and again, for offering me a life with so much more promise than the one I've always known.