The world of Pokemon has always needed Trainers. While it is true that the nature of the world revolves around the powers of Pokemon and their extraordinary powers, many of the marvels of the world wouldn't have been possible without the combined efforts of humans and Pokemon. Without those brave enough to tame the creatures of the world, the history of the world would be drastically different.
To carry on the spirit that burned bright within the former generations of trainers, the Pokemon Leagues pooled funds together to begin the foundation of an academy to train future generations of trainers. It was decided that the foundations for this auspicious academy would be placed in the Sevii Islands, an archipelago of islands far off the southern coasts of the Kanto region. It was sparsely populated, and there were several islands to pick from.
In the end, it was decided to build the academy on the island known as Birth Island, located between the Fortune and Quest Islands. It had plenty of open space, and was ripe to be expanded and inhabited upon. Thanks to the on-going support of the Leagues, the academy was finished in just under two years, and was open to the public a month after it was finished. It was named the Prestigious Sevii Islands Academy for Trainers, or, to shorten it down, the P.S.I.A.T.
Despite the name, the facility wasn't designed for pokemon trainers alone: it was actually designed to handle trainers, coordinators, breeders, and the various other professions and sub-categories of trainers that the world had to offer. To handle an estimated few thousand students, the grounds of the academy took up much of the originally provided land on Birth Island. The Island itself had been expanded to handle any further expansions of the Academy, but it had been mostly unused by the facility.
In concurrence with the original idea for the founding of the Academy, there was another reason for the creation of this grand project.
For many Pokemon Trainers, psychic powers are a commodity, this includes some members of the various Elite Fours and Gym Leaders, and many of them were known for having premonitions, but never all of them at the same time. That was until recent years. Every psychic Elite Four, Gym Leader, and powerful psychic Trainer had a simultaneous vision of the future. All together, they saw several events: the awakening of legendary pokemon that would destroy the world, evil organizations that were either out to bring about the bringing the arrival of these pokemon or take over the world, untold amounts of destruction, and countless people and pokemon hurt.
But for every dark premonition, there came a peaceful resolution. They saw a group of young trainers rise to the challenge of the several atrocities aforementioned, and return victorious. The convening of these psychics with the Leagues, in accordance with the original inspiration for the founding of the Academy, convinced the Leagues to found the Academy to find this young group of trainers to prevent these disasters. It was from then on recommended that all young children whose parents where either in a training profession, or knew their child was wanting to go on a journey or enter a pokemon related career, and was at the age of ten or up, to be signed up for the academy when their parents felt they were ready.
While it was occasionally a traditional custom to set out on a journey at 10, often times parents withheld their children from doing so, for fearing something happening to them. On many cases, this was a justified thing to do, because more and more first year trainers went missing or were hurt every year.
And so, a few years passed, and the Leagues waited with baited breath for a sign of the group of destined trainers.
Years of students graduated, with no luck, but the spirit of the dream that built the academy held strong as the campus grew little by little, and the population of the students and faculty grew little by little with it.
And that's where our story begins.
It was around the time of the graduation of the 13th graduating class, and the upperclassmen were abuzz with excitement. This time of year was always when students were happier than usual. The feeling of your years of learning coming to a peak and being sent out into the world with your friends on a journey would just have about anyone in a good mood.
Technically however, this was the fourth graduation this year, albeit it being the official, senior graduation. All students had the ability to call for an early graduation test. While this was a very unorthodox way of graduating from the P.S.I.A.T., it was the quickest. While you were required to at least wait until the first week of school was over, you could call for an early grad. test whenever you wanted to. Three students this particular year had decided to go ahead and graduate instead of waiting for their senior year to finish, and had gone ahead and began their journeys.
Now, as for the regular graduation, there was two tests that were required before graduation. Granted these tests had an 87% chance of success, so they were fairly difficult to fail, it wasn't unheard of for some students to bomb the tests.
The first included a written test, which consisted of basic to intermediate level questions about all the necessities a trainer needs to know on their travels, a select few geography questions about the myriad of regions, and questions pertaining to Pokemon that the students had been exposed to earlier in the year. This test was to determine a student's level of readiness to go out into the real world, and to get a feel for the general amount of knowledge they have retained. The second test is a mock battle test against members of the faculty that handle the Pokemon who resided on the island, and were used for lesson purposes, help on the academy grounds, and to be given away as starters to graduating students.
These Pokemon resided in a fairly large ranch area behind the main building of the school, that was handled by professional Pokemon caretakers. While it was as large as facilities maintained by Pokemon research labs, daycares, and breeding facilities, it wasn't as watched over. The Pokemon who resided there were free to come and go as they pleased because the Leagues didn't want Pokemon to be forced to do something they didn't want to. However, only one or two Pokemon ever left the ground of the school, and most never left until they were given to a student.
In fact, the ranch is where the tale truly begins.
For if one were to look closely, one would see a student interacting with one of the Pokemon. One wouldn't guess by just looking at them, but she would soon become one of the saving graces of the world. She wore what appeared to be a rather large purple hood that covered her short brown hair and that had a black dot on the forehead and black cat ear-like horns coming out of the top, with some of the hood sitting on her shoulders, and covering the very top of a black top that stops an inch or two above her belly, a pair of slightly tattered, black jean shorts with a little bit of purple lining showing, black combat boots that went up to her shins, and toted around a black, over the shoulder, carrying bag with a purple pokeball design on it.
Her name was Kat, age 18.
She was in the graduating class of this year, and had started attending at the P.S.I.A.T. at age 14. She was a very... unorthodox type of person. She had a very odd personality that tended to scare the light of heart away, and could honestly have cared less.
Kat was one of the more odd students, not necessarily in a bad way. She got along with most of the teachers, and her work ethic was something to at least appreciate. She also tended to spend more time with the Pokemon on the ranch more than she spent time with the other people in her class. Granted, this applied to several other students so it wasn't completely odd, but it was something you'd have to look twice at.
And right now, Kat was talking to her favorite little friend, Squirtle. This particular Squirtle had come to the island the same day she had, and they had met on that exact same date as well, after Kat decided to ditch the tour group and wander around to the Pokemon care facility. They hit it off almost instantly, and every day since then, for the past four years, Kat made it a point to go to the ranch and visit her little blue friend. And now, on the day of the graduation exams, she made it a point to get pumped up by visiting Squirtle.
She was crouched down to Squirtle's level, her fists up, in a sort of mock boxing stance. She threw a fake punch to Squirtle's left, he dodged, and sent a fake punch to her right. This was supposedly a sort of 'Fight On' routine that the two had come up with, but nonetheless, it still looked like children's pretend boxing.
"Alright, my little turtle-y friend, I've got a good feeling about these tests. Cause there is no chance I'm failing this and being stuck here for another week, while Hunter, Tyler, and Bryson run off and get a head start while I have to wait to take a re-test." Kat said, moving her head away from a uppercut from Squirtle.
As she said, to take a re-test, much like an early graduation test, you had to wait a week after the grad. exams had passed before you could take it again. This was suppose to allow for a second chance at cramming any information or skills the student had misplaced the first time around.
Also, while it wasn't a requirement to return home once the school year was over (most students who failed stayed a week or so anyways to avoid telling their parents), you were only given two weeks to catch the ferry unless you had a year-round dorm room for your stay at the academy….. Which Kat did, but she still didn't want to spend her time on the island when she could be off, having an adventure with her friends. Anyone who could say otherwise was to be ostracized.
In her mind at least.
"Squirtle squirt!" The little, red shelled Pokemon said. The duo had developed a sort of connection that they could at least understand what the other said….. Which was easier for Squirtle, but he never told Kat that. And right now, Squirtle was wishing her the best of luck on the exams, silently wishing that he would become Kat's starter.
Their little mock fight was interrupted by the sound of the annoyingly peppy school broadcaster coming on the intercom. Some of the students a couple years ago had gotten bored of the teachers announcements that came over the intercom, so they convinced the faculty to allow for a radio club to put a new spin on things.
Unfortunately, this new spin included the most peppy, energetic, school spirit infused 12 year old girl that ever walked the face of the planet. Even if she was talking normally, as she was now, the voice still grated on many people's ears.
"Attention all students taking the graduation exam, you have approximately 5 minutes to reach your assigned classroom! I repeat, all students taking the graduation exam…"
At this point, Kat had jumped up in surprise, just in time for one of Squirtle's fake punches to impact with her shin. "Squirtle?" Squirtle looked up, giving his best friend a most quizzical look. Kat's eyes darted to the exit to the outside area, a fence gate that most of anyone could open. She patted Squirtle's head quickly, and said, "I'll be seeing you soon, Squirtle! I gotta get to my classroom!" With that, she ran with a speed that Squirtle had never seen out of her, quickly opening and closing the fence gate, and running off around to the front of the school.
Awaiting her, were two male students, who, unwittingly, also held the future of the world in their hands.
The first one wore what appeared to be a checkered fedora, meaning that it had a black and white chessboard pattern on it, which sat atop his brown hair, with a yellow band wrapping around where the hat met the brim and a purple button clipped onto the band, a white zip-up shirt that had a simple gray tank-top underneath and a black, open long-sleeve shirt over it with a small collar and the sleeves rolled up, a black of black vinyl pants that had a slight grayish tint to them, and a pair of black high tops. He also wore a pair of black glasses, seeing as how he was nearsighted. He was Hunter, age 16.
The second one's attire consisted of a orange jacket with a large fire-type symbol on the back, with the collar of a red shirt visible underneath the jacket, a pair of blue jeans with a few tatters in them, and a pair of black combat boots. His name was Tyler, age 15.
They were both friends with Kat, and had agreed to go to their classroom at the same time. However, they were starting to get a little nervous upon that demonic excuse for a radio voice warned them about the time frame in which they had left to wait for her without being late. Tyler was occupying himself by looking for any sight of a large purple hood with black cat ears, and Hunter was tapping his foot, arms crossed. "I don't know about this. Unless she is literally hauling her butt here, I don't think she'll make it in time." Tyler worryingly said. It's not that Tyler was that worried about her getting her late, he was more worried about being late and not being able to take the test.
Still tapping his foot, Hunter turned his attention to Tyler, saying to the blonde, "Quit your Mother Henning. That's my job. And don't worry, she'll get here in time. I have faith….. That and she'll bust the doors down to get here on time if needed be."
It was at this point that they heard an audible running noise coming from around the left corner of the building. They both turned their attention to the sound of the running, Tyler stepping forward out of the gate to the building, and immediately regretted his decision
Because Hunter was in fact right.
Kat wasn't going to be late, and she'd do about anything to see to that. When she turned the corner and saw a person standing exactly in her way, she did the first thing that came to mind to get rid of her momentum.
She jumped up, the momentum still carrying her forward, and promptly drop kicked Tyler, sending him sprawling onto the ground, and her landing on her back.
Tyler, a little peeved about being kicked for both doing nothing and for being sent onto the ground, got up quickly, no real damage done, and immediately asked, "What the heck did you do that for, Kat?!" The older girl looked up, the most innocent smile that her brain could come up with donned on her face, responding with, "I had to get rid of my momentum, so I wrapped it up in a kick, and I gave it to you." … Both of the younger boys stared at Kat for a good few seconds, unable to quite think of a way to respond to the older girl's thought process.
Both went to say something, but were interrupted by the Purugly-claws-on-chalkboard voice herself coming over the intercom again, giving yet again, another warning.
Only this time, it was a one minute warning.
All three member of the trio all looked at each other, each having that look of shock on their face. No other words were said, as all three ran inside the school, their literal futures on the line.
Approximately a minute later, the loud sound of the bell on top of the school chiming resounded throughout the whole of the school grounds, and three exhausted students by the names of Kat, Hunter, and Tyler were sitting in their seats in their classroom, having just made it. The teacher, ignoring the audible, loud panting coming three particular students, silently passed out their test papers, leaving them all face down. Once all the papers had been distributed, the teacher walked back up the board and announced the specifics of the test.
"For those of you who have been in this class from the start, I'd just like to say, congratulations. But, sentimentalities aside, this is how this is going to go. This is the first out of two tests you will be taking. This is a written exam on all the practical knowledge that has been taught to you in your time here in this school. For those of you who either slacked off, or are taking this in a lower year as a early grad. test, this test may be that much harder for you." Pointing to the PC on his desk, the teacher continued, "When you have completed the test, you will bring it up to me, and my computer will automatically grade it, and if you have a passing grade, then you will go to the gymnasium where you will participate in the battle exam. Are there any questions?"
No student raised their hands, either of out of confidence or out of exhaustion. Well, the exhaustion only applied to three students in particular, but that was beside the point. The teacher walked over to his desk, and sat down. "You have an hour at most to complete the test. I expect that most of you will finish this in under 30 minutes, but the time limit is for those of whom who like to take their time on the test, are slow writers/readers, or are struggling."
The teacher then typed something onto his keyboard, and a timer for an hour began ticking down on the screen. "The time begins now. I wish all of you the best of luck."
Once their teacher had given the students the green light, all of the face-down tests were flipped over, and everyone quickly wrote down their names and began to work on the exam. Hunter began reading over the questions, quickly scanning and answering the ones with answers that were obvious, and then went back and began answering the ones that required more reading. He silently read to himself, "Which of these items heals the most health to a Pokemon, and does NOT heal status ailments?"
The options were Hyper Potion, Full Heal, Lava Cookie, and Full Restore. This one would be easy to miss if one didn't think it through. Running through the effects in his head, he realized that Hyper Potion was the only option, seeing as how all three other answers cured all status ailments. Quickly jotting down the answer, he began to wonder in the back of his head how his friends were doing.
Kat and Tyler had performed a similar strategy to Hunter, seeing as how they had a study group going whenever there was a big test coming up, and answered obvious questions first.
Kat was all finished with the obvious, and was nearing halfway on the more advanced questions, as was Tyler. However, they both stalled when it came to a certain question, which Hunter quickly followed, their brains whirring to a halt.
All three read aloud, incredulously, "Which of these Pokemon has the best defensive properties: Shuckle, Sableye, Tyranitar, and Steelix?"
Now this was a question that all three had failed before on a previous test, causing all of them to study the defense value chart on all known Pokemon, in an attempt to commit it to memory. They could recall that Sableye was at the bottom of the list, and that Steelix was the second best, but for the life of them, they couldn't recall if Shuckle or Tyranitar was the best in the defense category.
Now Tyler, being Tyler, had a very interesting preconceived notion about Pokemon he favored. He quite frankly held them in a regard almost more so than himself. And he regarded himself very highly most of the time. And Tyler just so happened to favor Tyranitar, so, with no other idea, he selected Tyranitar as his answer.
Hunter and Kat on the other hand did not hold Tyranitar's on such a pedestal, although both could agree that they were quite a formidable Pokemon. Therefore, they chose Shuckle as their answers.
The trio continued to answer the questions, being about ¾ of the way done, when a familiar face to them got up and headed to the teacher's desk. Clad in black, thick armed glasses, a black open jacket with red highlights, a dark red t-shirt with the symbol for dark types on the front, a pair of blue, skinny jeans, and a pair of black and white sneakers, and a mop of auburn hair to top it off, stood Bryson.
Now, a little history lesson is in order. Whilst, all four of these students were in the same class year, there was a small age curve between them: Tyler was 15, being the youngest, Hunter was 16, the second youngest, Bryson was 17, the second oldest, and Kat, the oldest, a solid 18.
Now, Hunter, Tyler, and Bryson knew each other from the start of the first year, having met on the ferry to the now occupied Birth Island, and didn't meet Kat till around the midterms of said year.
To be completely correct, Bryson met her first after meeting her in the ranch and seeing her interacting with her Squirtle. Afterwards, after a short conversation, he introduced her to Hunter and Tyler, and they had been a tight knit group ever since.
However, at the beginning of their fourth and final year, Bryson had become suddenly more cocky over their summer vacation. It was unknown what cause this change in behavior, but it never went farther than would be considered a problem, so no one turned a head to it after a while. Even the teachers, who had known Bryson for years, adapted to this change in persona rather quickly. Some even went so far to say, "Surprised it didn't happen sooner,", although no one knew quite exactly what they meant. He had become far more suited to a solo type of studying and, during practice battles, had become dead set on utterly dominating his opponents.
Afterwards, the now trio, being respectful friends, let him have things his way, and told him that if that was how he wanted to work from now on, then he could have it that way as long as he still had time to hang with them on occasion.
And after this, everyone got along rather swimmingly. The only downside to the agreement between the four, was that they went from a square to a triangle, a quadro to a trio, a fabulous foursome to a thrilling threesome, so on and so forth. While they often jokes like, "Well, the triangle is the strongest shape in nature," they still missed having their mini-crowd of four to huddle up in.
Anyways, back to present time, Bryson turned his paper into the teacher, being the first one to get up.
The teacher regarded the red head before taking the paper, and running it through the scanner attached to the computer, which quickly read all the answers on the paper. After calculating the ratio of right to wrong, Bryson's score was displayed on the screen as a score of 97 out of a possible 100. He was quickly accoladed by the teacher, who gave him a quick pat on the back, and sent him on his way to the gymnasium to participate in the battle portion the exam, in which he was almost a guaranteed winner, having an above par knack for battles.
After the auburn, former team member had shut the door behind him, the collective eyes of Hunter, Kat, and Tyler flared with a renewed vigor.
They had made it a point that they at least wanted to see the end of Bryson's match for the battle exam, and they weren't going to miss it because he finished first. Kat finished first, quickly hurrying up to the front desk with a out of the ordinary vigor, enough to make her large hood bob up and down some. She quickly turned in the paper, a stray lock of brown hair giving her a bit of an unkempt look to match her hurry.
The teacher had heard their agreement the day prior, and having grown somewhat attached to the four students, quickly nodded to Kat and ran her paper through the computer. The paper was graded at the same speed as Bryson's, but to Kat, it was taking a lifetime. All too soon, or all too slowly to Kat's perception, the screen was filled with the bright text on the screen telling her that she had made a solid 95 out of 100.
The exasperated girl let out a sigh, and got a thumbs up from the teacher, to which she gave one back, grinning. She quickly rushed out the door, and as soon as the door had shut behind her, the remaining two members of the trio were fast upon their teacher.
They had finished as soon as Kat had gotten her grade, and got up to the front as she departed out the door. The teacher barely had the time to look in their direction before both Hunter and Tyler's papers were inches in front of his face. He was stunned at how quietly both of them had rushed up to the front at once, but merely shrugged his shoulder, and put both of their papers into the scanner, so that both would be graded at about the same time.
Both Hunter and Tyler were figuratively biting their nails, terrified at what their scores might be, and if they could catch up to Kat and watch Bryson's match. The two boys were fairly certain of a decent grade, but they were still worried, as all students are when they receive the results of a big exam, especially one as important as a graduation exam.
Hunter's came up first, bearing with it a score of 94 out of 100, granting the fedora-clad student a sigh of relief. Tyler's came shortly after, gifting him with a grade of 93 out of 100, which allowed the blonde to join his friend in a sigh of relief and happiness. However, their bout of joy and relief was short lived, as their teacher, although glad for the young men, grinned, rolled his eyes, and pointed to door, trying to remind them had somewhere else to be. The two's eyes, having been reminded, widened in shock for a second, before giving a thankful look to their teacher and running one beside the other, getting stuck in the door, one trying the force the other out, before both stumbled forward out the door in a loud fall.
The teacher merely chuckled lightly to himself, before muttering barely audibly, "The future's a bright one, isn't it?" It was unknown whether he meant his words to be taken jokingly or seriously, but either way, the teacher didn't how correct he was.
