Chapter 24

The arena was drowned in applause.

TOSHI! TOSHI! CHARIZARD! CHARIZARD! WARTORTLE! WARTORTLE! IVYSAUR! IVYSAUR! They all cheered.

The fights were exhilarating and even the Monarchs were pleased. They didn't expect Leon to issue commands with terrifying accuracy and for Toshi to execute those moves with such mastery as well.

After Chelone healed the exhausted fighters, Leon picked up Toshi to praise him and happily said as he hugged him, "Well done, Toshi! I couldn't have asked for a better partner."

"Don't feel bad about getting a draw. You guys did your best," Keristrasza said to both fighters.

Charizard was actually still sad about the result but when his goddess praised him, his mood took a turn and was in a daze. He felt that he wouldn't mind dying right now. Toshi, on the other hand, wasn't sad at all for he knew that he had only trained for a few months and was already able to fight this well. He was only looking forward to the future.

"The fights could have been better but I guess that's what you get when weaklings fight," Keristrasza had a bored look while saying this but her tail revealed her inner thoughts with all that wagging around.

Prof. Oak, Mike and the rest of the pokemon congratulated the fighters.

"Don't forget to visit, okay?" Chelone smiled warmly. "You better not embarrass me and lose out there." Keristrasza warned. "If you do visit, please bring food," Heqet said.

The night ended with a bang and they all returned to their homes. Both Leon and Toshi slept like a baby that night.

The next day, they teleported to the academy with the help of Mike's kirlia.

Leon was given a pokedex and 5 pokeballs before Prof. Oak and Mike said their goodbyes. Prof. Oak reminded him to not get into trouble as he was still his guardian until Leon reached 15 years of age.

When he arrived at the entrance, the clerk checked his pokedex which also served as Leon's identification. He uploaded the rules and regulations of the academy and the other important information in his pokedex. He was given his dorm number, uniform and badge at the same time.

Woah! This place is huge! Good thing the badge allows us to use teleport within the campus, Leon thought while his eyes roamed around the academy.

He was the first person to arrive in the room.

Leon wanted dibs on the best bedroom. The room was twice as big as the staff room he had at the lab. It had three separate small bedrooms, a common bathroom, kitchen and living room. He picked the left most bedroom. He placed and carefully arranged his belongings inside indicating that it was his.

Once settled, he changed into his uniform and it had immediately adjusted to fit his size. He carefully inspected and noticed that the uniform looked like the one that Brendan wore in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire - the one with pants but without the headgear. It had the same color pattern of red and black minus the yellow of the original. Both gloves and pants were all black. The badge looked like the Earth badge but is red in color and was placed on the left upper chest. Leon was admiring how cool the uniform looked when he heard a knock on his bedroom's door.