Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon in any way, shape, or form. This includes LT. Surge. I own the training grounds, Chad Delmas, the ideas to this, and the “evil” lieutenant. I do not own the idea that Aliet Faslami began a few years back with her Fire trilogy. And for those that want more information, please read Aliet Faslami’s Fire Element, Shatai’s prologue for this series, and Water song (by me!!) Thank you for your cooperation. And no, there is no actual Indanka language. (I also own the Indanka idea!!)

Chapter 1

It was Friday afternoon. The line of students, all of them lean and fit, stood straight and unmoving. The lieutenant barked out an order, and each and every one of the students made a single move, all in order at once, synchronized in every way, even to the last uniform each wore. All then shouted a single phrase, ready for the afternoon of their session. The lieutenant barked out another order, and the students all marched forward a few steps. And then, one gasped, lost his balance, and fell over.

“GET UP!!” the lieutenant yelled out angrily.

Slowly, the boy who had fallen got up clumsily. He was an average height for his age, and was a bit on the lean side. His messy blonde hair stuck out in all different places, refusing to stay put. Curious blue eyes noticed all eyes other upon him, and the boy immediately got into the standing position that had been drilled into him.

“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!” yelled the lieutenant.

“Chad, sir.”

“YOUR AGE?!”

“Eleven, sir.”

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?!”

“A year and a half, Mister sir.”

“YOU WILL ALWAYS REFER TO ME AS SIR!! NOT MISTER SIR!! DO YOU COPY ME?!”

“Yes sir.”

“GOOD!! YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO MARCH NOW!!”

“I know sir.”

“TWENTY PUSHUPS!! NOW!!”

“As you wish, sir.”

Chad groaned as he dropped down, ignoring the slightly red face of the lieutenant. “Wonder why you always have to call him ‘sir’,” he muttered miserably as he began to easily do the exercise. He had done them so many times from too many blunders. And it was also thanks to that that he could throw a pokéball about two hundred feet on an average throw.

Silently, he finished counting. As he got back up again, he heard the lieutenant yell, “TWENTY MORE!!”

Once again, Chad groaned, but still dropped down once again into the damp grass. However, once he got up again, the lieutenant ordered him to do another twenty. Even though Chad complied, he recognized this as repeat of something that this certain lieutenant had made him do the year before. He got up after finishing the required amount.

“TWENTY!!”

Chad didn’t move.

“I SAID, TWENTY!!”

Chad shrugged. “Sorry sir. I refuse to do a thousand pushups again, although you were probably only aiming for two hundred, considering the relatively small amount of pushups you just recently gave me.”

The lieutenant’s face blazed into a nice bright red. “AND HOW DO YOU HAVE PROOF OF THIS?!”

“Firstly, you had me do the pushups in intervals of a hundred during that one moment, and now you were having me do twenty. I used a proportion to solve that. Secondly, you’re turning red.”

The lieutenant turned purple, much to the delight of many students in the line. A few giggled.

“SILENCE!!” the lieutenant yelled out again.

Chad rolled his eyes right after wincing from the lieutenant’s shrill command. “Can’t you do anything BUT scream?”

The lieutenant would have probably turned black from all of the rage coming into him. Unsure about what to say next, the lieutenant went back to the old saying he had always went to. “YOU WILL REFER TO ME AS SIR!!”

“Nice excuse, Garfield.”

At that, every single student in the line cracked up.

Unbeknownst to everyone there, LT. Surge walked into the grounds at that very moment. He didn’t see a single student being chastised for misbehavior by his commanding officer. He saw the class cracking up and the lieutenant unable to control himself. Eyes wide, LT. Surge marched over to where the lieutenant stood.

The lieutenant didn’t notice. Raging, he stood back and pulled a familiar red and white ball off of his belt. “YOU WILL PAY, BOY!!” the lieutenant screamed at the top of his lungs. LT. Surge immediately backed off from the loud shriek that rung in his ears.

Yelling, the lieutenant threw the ball. It rose high into the air as all pokéballs go, exploding into white light that slowly formed into the unmistakable form of an Electabuzz.

“A challenge eh? Bring it on,” Chad smiled, raising his eyebrows as he carefully selected the first pokéball on his belt. He fingered it carefully. “C’mon Raichu. We can beat this guy,” he stroked it, and then threw the ball as lightly as he could without making the gesture too casual.

The ball, unlike the lieutenants, traveled straight and fast until it hit the lieutenant right in the middle of the forehead. It bounced off while the lieutenant stood, dumbfounded, before he finally began to rub his head. This time, the ball rose to a good altitude and burst open in a bright flash, almost showy.

A female Raichu somersaulted in the air as the ball rebounded back over to Chad. She gently landed on all four feet, tail straight out behind her. A set line on her face only matched the determined look on her face. “THIS is going to be interesting,” she grinned slyly.

A little further away, LT. Surge watched as the battlers begin, he thought for a brief moment. Usually, battles between commanding officer and cadet were brief and short. However, this young one had potential. He might have canceled the match immediately by drawing attention to himself, but Surge decided otherwise. He wanted to know how the match turned out.

Back at the battleground, Chad gave a little smile yet again. The lieutenant looked away. The officer obviously didn’t like smiles. “I’ll make you a deal sir,” Chad began, “If you win, I’ll do whatever you wish for a while day.”

“Considering how disobedient you are, that would be a good change,” the lieutenant stroked his chin. “If you win, then I’ll give the class an early dismissal and you get a special reward.”

Chad looked doubtful. If there was a special award, it probably just meant he would have to spend the next month washing dishes. “Deal. Make the dismissal today,” he waved off a few cheers from the now messed up line of students. “And I congratulate you; you finally stopped yelling.”

The lieutenant turned red again. “START THE BATTLE!! ELECTABUZZ, THUNDERPUNCH!!”

Chad rolled his eyes again. “Raichu, start off with an Agility, and watch where you’re going. After that, come from behind and Body Slam that thing, keep your ground so as not to get shocked.”

Raichu nodded, and quickly launched a speed drill that she had learned not long before. She was almost like a streak, the mouse pokémon moved so quickly.

Of course, Electabuzz missed completely. It roared out in frustration, and this time focused a large bolt of electricity in the area. Again, Raichu was missed. Extremely confused, it tried to keep an eye on the fast moving pokémon, but failed miserably.

It was then that Raichu struck. She came from behind, slamming Electabuzz to the ground, also bracing herself for the telltale shock that would come.

A huge blast of electricity lit the area. Chad nodded, knowing that the prediction he had made was correct. He focused himself, trusting that Raichu either had enough defense to survive, or had grounded herself.

The air cleared momentarily. Chad tensed himself, almost feeling the lieutenant’s laughter of victory...

Raichu was completely unharmed. Electabuzz got up, shaking itself wearily. Ha, so it’s out of shape, Chad made a mental note. Grinning over the gasps of admiration, he called out, “Raichu, show it what a real Thunder is like.”

Raichu used Electabuzz as a jumping platform. She leaped high into the air off of the stunned Electabuzz, calling out her battlecry. Before anyone could blink, the pokémon glowed with electric energy, blasting Electabuzz with a great electric charge.

The battle was won. Electabuzz was out cold right after the huge attack, and the lieutenant was completely speechless. Chad gave a victory sign as Raichu fell right into his arms.

“Howdya’ feel Raichu?” Chad asked grinningly.

“A little tired, but nothing close to fatigued or anything like that. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Not really.”

The two burst out laughing.

The rest of the class all cheered and ran back into one of the buildings to get dressed back in ordinary clothes. The lieutenant only grinned evilly. “You may have won this round boy, but you will pay.”

Chad gulped, and turned to go to the locker rooms, holding Raichu close.

“Hello there. Your name is Chad Delmas?” asked a strangely authoritative voice, huge and almost frightening.

Chad turned and saw LT. Surge looking over in his direction. Gulping at the great sight of the Gym leader, he slowly nodded, unable to say anything else.

“I would like to meet you at 10 AM on Monday morning when you get back from the weekend. You may miss the morning of your class if you wish.”

The blond boy could only nod once again, except this time he bowed before running quickly to the locker rooms.

LT. Surge finally turned to the lieutenant. Even though they held the same rank, all others held Surge in great respects. Smiling respectfully as though he wanted an explanation, he asked the lieutenant, “I would like to know what happened today between you and that Chad Delmas.”

The lieutenant grinned maliciously. “Oh, many things...in fact, I need to talk to you about that boy...”