Pokémon Academy (book)
| Pokémon Academy | |
|---|---|
| |
| ISBN: | 978054517721 |
| Published: | 2010 |
| Publisher: | Scholastic |
| Author: | Katherine Fang |
| Preceded By: | N/A |
| Succeeded By: | The Lost Riolu |
Pokémon Academy by Katherine Fang is a Pokémon chapter book in the Diamond & Pearl series. It was published in 2010 by Scholastic. It is an adaptation of the Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl episodes Camping It Up!, Ghoul Daze!, and One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team!. None of the events of Up Close and Personable! are featured. It is 62 pages long.
Blurb
It's back to school for Ash and Pikachu!
Ash, Dawn, Brock, and their Pokémon are attending a week-long Pokémon academy. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet other trainers and work with new Pokémon.
Ash can't wait to put his skills to the test! A Pokémon triathlon is just what he had in mind. But battling a spooky Ghost-type Pokémon is another story....
Plot
After receiving an invitation from Professor Rowan, Ash and his friends rush over to the Pokémon Summer Academy near Mt. Coronet for a one-week training camp. After being separated into one of three teams (Red, Blue, and Green), the Trainer's first task is to choose a random Poké Ball, handed out by Professor Rowan's assistant Yuzo, containing a new Pokémon which they will train with. Ash and friends are all on the Red Team along with the newly met Angie, a competitive tomboy who quickly becomes Ash's rival. Ash receives a skittish Raichu, Angie selects an energetic Monferno, Dawn receives a Grimer, and Brock is happy with his Magnemite. Old acquaintance Conway is also in attendance and on the Blue Team. Team Rocket remain off the radar, with Jessie, disguised as Jessilinda, on the Green Team, gushing over her Smoochum, while James and Meowth bide their time working as janitors for the school, exasperated by Jessie's antics.
Angie gives chase to her Monferno, who tries to pick a fight with a Trainer's Croconaw. Ash's Pikachu tries to intervene, and Angie responds by calling out her Shinx. Ash also gets involved, until Professor Rowan scolds the pair for trying to start a fight and reminds them that they at the school to learn.
That night at lights out, with Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Angie in their shared dorm room, unable to sleep. Dawn has a deck of cards, so Ash, Angie and Brock decide to stay up with her and play a game. Conway also tries to join them, but Dawn throws a pillow to keep him out. Angie reveals that she is often busy working at a Pokémon Day Care and plans to take over the business someday. Ash and his friends all reveal their own dreams - Ash's dream to be a Pokémon Master, Dawn's dream to be a top Pokémon Coordinator, and Brock's dream to be a top Pokémon Breeder - before Yuzo barges in and angrily enforces their curfew.
The book then cuts to the fourth day of the academy, where Professor Rowan is giving the students a lesson on how to correctly approach Ghost-type Pokémon, when ever and where ever they encounter them. They are told to pair up with another member of their team who they will race with to find a hidden medal in the Summit Ruins, with each pair scoring points based on how quickly they find the medal. Angie, noting how friendly her Shinx has become with Pikachu, asks Ash to pair up with her. While searching for a partner, Conway is lured away from everyone else by a mysterious girl, who then hypnotizes him.
That night, the paired-up Trainers line up at the entrance to the forest to begin the race. Ash and Angie rush ahead. After a while, they slow down, and a Haunter grabs Shinx's tail, causing Pikachu to react by attacking it and driving it into the bushes. Ash and Angie do not notice the Haunter until Pikachu points out where it, as well as a Gastly and Gengar, are hiding in fear of Pikachu. Ash apologizes to the Ghost Pokémon, and he and Angie press forward.
Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the forest, one of Professor Rowan's assistants is seeing off the last pair of Blue Team students when a girl on the Blue Team runs up to the starting line, having been left behind. This confuses the assistant, who had seen the 10 Blue Team members off moments before, not realizing that Conway's partner was not actually an academy student. The assistant then sends the straggler into the forest on her own.
Meanwhile, Dawn is traversing the forest with her partner Kendall. Much to Dawn's chagrin, Kendall vows to protect her - while hiding behind her. Dawn had not wanted to partner with Kendall, but they were the last two members of the Red Team to pair up, so she had little choice in the matter. The pair comes across eating sounds, and Kendall fears he'll be eaten next and runs back to the Academy in fright before Dawn can tell him that it's just Ghost Pokémon eating Pokémon food. Just as Dawn resolves to press on alone, she sees Conway shuffling through the forest alone in a trance, and she follows him.
The book switches to Conway's perspective as the ghostly girl leads him through the forest. The ghost girl steps off a cliff and onto thin air and attempts to lure Conway over the cliff. Just as he is about to fall over the edge, a Dusknoir grabs his arm, waking Conway from his daze. After it pulls him to safety, Conway looks up at the Dusknoir and faints in terror. Dawn then arrives on the scene to see Conway on the ground, with Dusknoir ominously overhead. Dawn misinterprets the scene as Dusknoir having hurt Conway, and she demands to know what it did to Conway. The Dusknoir makes a pleading cry before fading away. Dawn rushes up and wakes Conway, who asks what happened. Dawn looks up Dusknoir on her Pokédex, and Dawn and Conway incorrectly assume from what it says that Dusknoir took the ghost girl to the spirit world and was about to take Conway too.
Ash and Angie are startled by a Misdreavus that jumps out of a boulder at them then uses Screech, making Ash and Angie run away and get lost. The ghost girl appears and beckons Ash and Angie to follow her.
Meanwhile, Dawn and Conway, having returned to the Academy, tell Professor Rowan about their encounter with Dusknoir. All of the other academy students except Ash and Angie had also returned, all of them reporting having been chased out of the forest by an angry Dusknoir. Being that Pokémon in the area are monitored and documented, the reports of a Dusknoir are alarming to Professor Rowan, since Dusknoir had never been documented in the area. Rowan also explains that an accident occurred one day when a mysterious cave was uncovered behind a wall. He also states that it might be the entrance to the spirit world, and that he assumes Dusknoir is trying to take someone there. Conway tells Rowan that he thinks Dusknoir has already abducted a girl.
Ash, Angie, and the ghost girl finally emerge from the forest and reach the Summit Ruins to obtain the medal. Ash and Angie, being the first (and only) pair to reach the ruins, celebrate their victory. The girl then tries to coax Ash and Angie into the cave Professor Rowan mentioned, when Dusknoir appears and blocks their path. Pikachu and Shinx try to attack the Dusknoir, only to get pinned to the ground by its Psychic. Ash and Angie see that the Dusknoir is preparing to attack the girl and rush it to try to protect her, only to also get pinned by Psychic. As Pikachu and Shinx shake free, their Trainers order them to attack with Volt Tackle and Thunder Fang, respectively. They successfully hit and momentarily stun Dusknoir.
The girl takes advantage of this opening and opens the portal to the spirit world behind her, trying to suck them in. Angie is pulled into the air, but Ash catches her. As his grip starts slipping, she tells him to let her go to save himself, but to her surprise, he vows that he will never give up, "even if that means forever!" Dusknoir gets up and grabs Ash and Angie to protect them from the wind sucking them into the portal, then blasts the ghost girl into the portal, causing the portal to fade and the cave entrance in front of it to collapse. Ash and Angie are shocked as they realize Dusknoir was trying to protect them all along, and they thank it. Dusknoir then promptly disappears. Brock, Dawn, Conway, Professor Rowan, and several of his assistants then rush out of the forest to meet Ash and Angie. Ash and Angie tell the others that Dusknoir saved them and recount what happened. Angie asks Professor Rowan if the now-sealed portal led to the Spirit World, to which he responds that he doesn't know. Conway is mortified as he realizes that the girl he partnered with was, in fact, a ghost.
The next morning, Professor Rowan, impressed that all of the teams had gotten through the night unharmed despite the incident with Dusknoir and the ghost girl, awards all three teams 30 points, leaving Conway's Blue team in the lead with 260 points, followed by Jessie's Green Team with 220 points, with Ash's Red Team in last place with 180 points. Ash and Angie, however, are determined to make a comeback in the final event, the Pokémon Triathalon. Yuzo explains the rules of the race, including that the first place finisher will receive 50 points and the second place finisher will receive 30 points, and that each team's point total will be calculated using the points earned by all of their players.
Out in the schoolyard, Ash begins boasting to Dawn, Brock, and Angie about how he will win, when Angie butts in saying that she will win. The two immediately begin arguing before Dawn separates them and Brock reminds them that no matter which of them gets first, if the other gets second they'll still earn the same number of points for the Red Team. Ash then wishes Angie good luck by extending his hand for a handshake. Angie blushes, remembering how Ash saved her, and storms off when he asks about it. Ash, oblivious to her crush on him, begins prepping for the race. Conway pops up and tells Dawn he has her marked as his most formidable rival.
Cutting to the start of the race, an aide fires the starting pistol and Jessie quickly takes the lead. She easily reaches the first checkpoint, but after receiving a Hippowdon. she begins fumbling for a better pick as Ash and company reach the checkpoint, grabbing their Poké Balls without a second thought. Ash, Dawn, and Angie receive Spoink, Dodrio, and Ariados respectively and begin the first leg. Dawn takes the lead with Ash closely following, then Angie uses String Shot to launch herself into first.
Angie reaches the second checkpoint and trades Ariados for a Lapras. Ash closely follows, having passed Dawn, and receives a Mantyke. He catches up to Angie when she again takes the lead with Ice Beam, creating an iceberg that Lapras slides up then down for a burst of speed. Ash and Angie reach the third checkpoint in a practical dead heat and return their rental Pokémon. Angie calls out Shinx and the third leg begins with both sprinting towards the end.
Meanwhile, Jessie finally reaches the second checkpoint and picks up her next Pokémon, which unfortunately is a Magikarp. She tries to throw it away in disgust, but Magikarp suddenly takes off across the lake, dragging Jessie along as she hangs on for dear life. Magikarp turns out to be incredibly fast, surging past Brock, Dawn, and Conway before flinging her onto the shore by the third checkpoint. Conway arrives after her and congratulates her. Jessie is unsure whether to be flattered or annoyed, but goes with the latter as she and her Seviper run away from him. Conway gives chase with his Slowking, unnerving Jessie and prompting her to run faster.
As Ash and Angie enter a tunnel, Jessie and Conway manage to catch up with them, and Jessie orders Seviper to attack Conway with Poison Tail, much to everyone's surprise. After Ash calls her out for breaking the rule against battling other Trainers, she orders Seviper to attack him and Angie with Bite. The Trainers duck and their Pokémon leap aside to dodge the attack, but Shinx fails to stick the landing and rolls into a pit. Angie dives after it and barely manages to stop their fall by wedging herself into a corner. Conway and Slowking dodge another of Seviper's attacks, causing it to knock itself out against the tunnel wall, then taunts Jessie before running ahead, with her following close behind while dragging Seviper by the tail. Angie inches her way toward the top of the pit, and Ash reaches down to grab her hand. He helps her climb out, and they both collapse in exhaustion. She thanks him, and his cheerful, casual reply causes Angie's breath to catch, taken aback by the contrast between his insufferable competitive zeal and his relentless drive to save and protect his friends at his own expense. Ash points out that the race isn't over and they still have a chance to win, and they resume racing with renewed fervor.
Running at full speed, Ash and Angie approach the finish line, where Jessie and Conway are exhaustedly closing in. Noticing Ash and Angie's approach, Jessie and Conway redouble their efforts to win, Conway's legs give out as he tries to dash for the finish line and falls down, and Jessie trips over him. Ash and Angie sprint through the finish line, and Ash wins by a hair. Ash begins celebrating and Angie congratulates him. As the other competitors cross the finish line, Ash and Angie bask in the victory they have won for not just themselves, but the Red Team as a whole.
After a short and sweet awards ceremony where all of the participants receive a plaque, a final celebration is held for the end of the Summer Academy with a bonfire in the courtyard. While most of the students are mingling and eating, Angie sits alone at the end of the courtyard, gazing at the stars. Ash notices and comes over to ask what's wrong. Angie reminisces that despite having attended the Summer Academy many times before, this time was the best yet, citing the two times Ash saved her as the highlight. Ash, still oblivious to her crush, replies that he saved her because the two of them are friends. As they consider the journeys ahead of them, Ash promises that the next time he goes to Solaceon Town, where Angie's parents' Day Care Center is, he will come see her so they can have a battle. She accepts, and Angie and Ash end their rivalry on a note of friendship.
Major events
- Ash, Brock, and Dawn enroll in the Pokémon Summer Academy.
- The group meets Conway again.
- Ash meets Angie, another participant in the Summer Academy.
- Ash, Dawn, Brock, Angie, Conway, and Jessie participate in the Pokémon Triathlon. Ash wins and Angie is the runner-up.
- The Red Team, which Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Angie were assigned to, earns the most points over the course of the Summer Academy.
Debuts
Humans
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Trivia
- In 2009, Scholastic published a tête-bêche (double-sided book) featuring Pokémon Academy on one side and The Lost Riolu on the other, with a sheet of temporary tattoos between the last pages of the two. This edition of the two books was made available for distribution only through "the school market," i.e. Scholastic Book Fairs. The ISBN of this publication is 978-0-545-20050-9.
Errors
- The book describes the ghost girl as having bare feet. However, in the episode the book is based on, the ghost girl wore sandals. Since the wording was "bare feet" instead of "barefoot", however, this could merely mean she did not wear socks, etc., thus leaving her feet exposed.
- A couple mistakes are made with the Triathlon point system in the book:
- The book states that after the Summit Ruins event, the Green Team has 220 points while the Red Team has 180 points, when it was the other way around in the actual episode.
- In the book, the only placements that award points are 1st and 2nd, when it was all placements in the actual episode, although Yuzo tells the Red Team before the Triathlon that their overall point total is calculated by the points earned by all members.
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