Rise of the Illuminators
Chapter 1: Oak Academy
POV: Dawn
I stared at the letter again, feeling my heart swell in anticipation and fear. It had been 2 years since I had been on my Pokémon journey. 2 years since my life fell down around me, and I gave up on my hopes and dreams.
"This will be good for you," My mother told me, zipping up my large suitcase. "Besides, your sixteen now. You should be off experiencing life,"
Oak Academy would be good for me. At least, that was what my mother kept saying.
"Your friends will be there, and you will be getting lessons on Pokémon from Professor Oak himself!" She continued, clearly much more excited than I was. I couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to get rid of me "You've been holed up in your room for 2 years Dawn. It's time to move on from whatever it is that is keeping you here,"
I swallowed against the familiar feeling of anxiety. I hadn't told her anything, about what had happened to me, about what had caused me to give up on everything. I hadn't told anyone.
Piplup looked up at me, puffing out his chest. "Pip, Piplup," He said, trying to cheer me up.
So I did what everyone expected me to do. I pushed down my emotions, hardening my insides to stone, and put on a cheerful face. "No need to worry, right mum?" I said cheerfully.
"There's my baby girl," She said, smiling brightly at me, and pulling me into a tight hug.
"That's not nearly enough clothes," I added, pointing at the large suitcase she had piled most of my clothes into. "I need at least one more, and we should definitely go shopping,"
"Anything you want dear," She told me "I'll go grab my bag,"
She skipped out of my room, and I sat down on my bed, feeling defeated. It was time to shove my feelings aside and be the Dawn that everyone else wanted me to be.
xOxOx
Oak Academy loomed before me, a large mansion of white stone, with a black tiled roof, elegant stone pillars on each corner, and floral vines clinging to parts of the brick. The building itself was a square shape, with another square in the middle, which contained Professor Oak's private conservatory, housing the extra Pokémon of all the trainers he had given starter Pokémon to. Oak Academy was located on a remote island, discovered by Professor Oak himself.
"Well, here goes nothing," I muttered, pulling my suitcases up the stairs that led into the mansion. I pushed open the large double doors, and entered into the foyer. The foyer was just as grand with an elegant staircase with another set of double doors at the top, which led even further into the building. Paintings of famous Pokémon and Trainers hung up on the walls.
"Ah, dawn, I've been expecting you," Professor Oak called to me, appearing at the top of the stairs. "And hello Piplup,"
"Hi Professor Oak," I replied, beaming up at him "Thank you so much for inviting me here,"
"Pi, Piplup," Piplup added, slapping his chest with his flipper.
"You were one of the first people I thought of when opening the Academy," He told me "The others are already here, we're about to begin the inductions,"
A Nurse Joy appeared through the door, and walked towards me "Hi Dawn, it's so nice to meet you," She told me "If you go with Professor Oak, I'll have your suitcases put in your room,"
"Oh, uh, thank you," I replied, releasing my grip on them. I had been holding on so tight my knuckles were white.
"Right this way Dawn," Professor Oak called "I really should get this induction started,"
I hurried after him, feeling my chest clench in fear.
xOxOx
I could not remember every turn we made as Professor Oak led me deeper into the building. It was like a maze. "Ah, here we are," He said, opening another set of doors. This room container a large dining hall, with many tables and chairs. The chairs were filled with children around my age. Some I didn't recognize, but there were a few I did. At the front of the room was a long table filled with adults who I could only assume were our teachers.
Ash waved at me enthusiastically, and Pikachu's face lit up with delight. A girl with orange hair sat on one side of him, and to his other side was May, who was also waving happily at me. Next to May was Drew, and next to Drew was an empty spot. I hurried over and sat down, with Piplup sitting in my lap.
"Hi Dawn," May whispered "It's so good to see you,"
I smiled back at her "You too," I replied.
Looking around the room, I spotted a few other familiar faces. Solidad and Nando, Zoey, Kenny, Lucas, Barry & Ursula. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes met with Paul, who frowned and looked away. It was then that I noticed another set of eyes staring at me. Conway sat alone, in a corner of the room. His lips tipped up into a smirk as he looked at me, making me feel like I was covered in dirt.
"Are you okay?" May asked me.
I blinked at her, plastering that smile back on my face. "No need to worry," I told her.
Professor Oak appeared at the front of the room, motioning for everyone to be quiet.
"Welcome, welcome, everyone," He started "You may all be wondering why you were called on to be a part of this school, and I am here to give you the answers. Some of you may have already heard of the notorious group, Team Galactic. It has come to our attention that they have banded together once more. Their leader, Cyrus, who was once thought to have been lost in another dimension, is back, with a new agenda; to enslave all Pokémon and become the ruler of this world. We already have teams of trainers around the globe trying to eradicate their plans, and disband them once more, but there just aren't enough of us. That is where all of you come in, the next generation,"
He swept his arms across the room, motioning to all of us students.
"Here, you will learn how to become Pokémon Masters, from Masters themselves. You will learn the best of all worlds, battling, training, growing your Pokémon to be the strongest they can be. And you will help us defeat the people in this world who wish to bring it crumbling to the ground,"
A deathly quiet had settled over the room. Sure, there had been a lot more bad things on the news, but I had never realized it was this bad. Why hadn't my mother told me?
"Let me introduce you to your teachers," Professor Oak told us "Professor Lance, head of Pokémon Battle Strategy," the red haired man waved at us all "Steven Stone, who you may also know as the successor to the Devon Corporation, who will be teaching you all Covert Operations," Steven Stone nodded at us all "Bruno and Marshal, who will be teaching you all mixed martial arts and defense," the two men waved at us all "Cynthia and Nurse Joy who will teach you about medicines and healing," Cynthia smiled and waved at us all "Wallace, who will be teaching you all about the art of disguise," Wallace smirked out at the crowd "Alder, who will be teaching you how to escape if you're caught," Alder waved to us all.
"A few more classes may be introduced, but for now this is it," Professor Oak told us "Boys will be housed on the third floor of the building, and to your left. Ladies the same, but to your right. There will be four people to a room, and a communal bathroom for each gender on each level. You will find all of your belongings already in your rooms, and your room numbers, keys and schedules will be handed out over dinner. You may wish to get an early night, as classes start in the morning,"
Professor Oak finished his speech, and headed back to the teachers desk. May looked at me with wide eyes "They're all champions, or members of the elite four,"
"What would you expect, June," Drew told her "They want us to learn from the best,"
May bristled, and turned to him with a glare "How many times do I have to tell you it's MAY. M-A-Y,"
Drew flashed her his winning smile "it's all the same, April,"
Ash laughed at them, causing May to give him a glare "Well, it is a little funny," He said, before changing the subject "I'm starving, when can we eat?"
"Now," May replied, her eyes glowing as she looked at the buffet of food. Other students had already started heading in the direction of the food. "Hurry up, or we will miss out on the good stuff!"
"I'm right with you there," Ash agreed, as they raced off to the buffet.
The red haired girl, Drew and I trailed after.
"It's nice to finally meet you Dawn, I'm Misty," She introduced herself to me.
"Oh I thought it was you!" I exclaimed "It's so nice to meet you. And this is Piplup," I motioned my Piplup.
"Piplup," He said, looking up at Misty with a smile.
"Oh, I just love water types. His feathers are so shiny! You must look after him well," Misty gushed.
"Well, he is my partner after all," I replied.
We all grabbed plates, and made our way around the buffet. May and Ash piled their plates so high they could no longer fit more food on them. They returned to the table looking both ecstatic and defeated. Drew and Misty put a decent amount of food on their plates, while I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. I finally placed some salads and a bread roll on my plate before rejoining my friends.
"Is that it," May said with surprise.
"Swallow before you talk, May," Drew told her.
She glared at him.
"Oh, I had a big lunch," I lied, with a smile, shoveling some food into my mouth to reassure them.
We chatted as we ate, and a few Nurse Joys handed us our schedules, room numbers and keys.
May, Misty and I were pleased to see we were in the same room. Drew and Ash were also in the same room.
After Ash and May had a few more plates of food, and we all had some dessert, we headed out of the dining room and up the stairs towards level three. We said goodnight to the guys and started towards our room number; 315. When we opened the door, Misty let out a squeal "Leaf! I'm so glad it's you we're roomed with," The two hugged each other, before Misty turned towards us. "May, Dawn, this is my childhood friend, Leif,"
Leaf smiled at us, her green eyes twinkling. She had long light brown hair that was loose around her shoulders, and she was slightly taller than me, leaving me the shortest of the group.
"Who were you sitting with?" Misty asked her.
"Oh, I was with Gary," She replied.
"Just Gary?" Misty nudged her friend, who turned a bright shade of pink.
"Anyways, I chose the corner bed," Leaf told us, pointing to the bed in the right hand corner. I took in the room, which contained 4 single beds, each with a bedside table, 4 dressing tables with mirrors and chairs, which could also form as study tables, and 4 wardrobes. In front of the room was a couch, coffee table and a TV unit with TV.
"There's also a communal lounge between the girls and boys rooms, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall," Leaf told us "It isn't even that bad, there's ten showers and ten toilet cubicles and a separate bath house.
Misty chose the bed next to Leaf, May chose the one next to Misty, and I was left with the one on the left hand corner, which was fine by me. We spent a few hours getting reacquainted and unpacking our belongings. Our beds looked completely different thanks to our different styles. Leaf's corner of the room was mainly green, with a cream comforter with a brown tree branching out from the bottom to the top, and green leaves on the branches. She had a poster of her starter Pokémon and it's evolutions above her bed; Bulbasaur, Ivysaur & Venusaur. Misty's bed cover was a blue bubble print, and above her bed was a picture of the underwater sea with many water type Pokémon. May's comforter had a 'cute Pokémon' print, with Skitty, Cleffa, Iglybuff, Togepi and Azuril. The poster above her bed was of the famous Contest Master Fantina, and her ghost type Pokémon. And lastly there was my bed, with a floral print and a painting my mother had given me of all of my Pokémon.
"Wow Dawn, you have so many dresses," Misty told me, looking in my wardrobe.
"Well, you can never have too many," I told her, flashing her a grin.
"Oh wow, look at the time," May told us "We should probably head to bed,"
We all agreed, turned off the lights and headed to our respective beds.
"Goodnight everyone," Misty called.
"Night all," Leaf told us.
"Sleep tight," May added.
"Nighty night," I said to them all, closing my eyes. I hoped that tonight my sleep wouldn't be filled with nightmares. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and I would need as much sleep as possible.