Stella brushed her silver hair one more time before going to bed. She couldn't help but stare at the silver moon and wonder where her parents were sending her. The brush made a soft clanging sound as it hit her granite boudoir table, and the lights in her room were out.
"Stella, wake up. Your flight is in three hours" Stella's mother, Sandie, was wearing her usual archeologist gear and trademark tan. She looked ready to start her day.
"Couple more hours Mother" Stella muttered.
"Baltoy, please wake her up" Stella turned to her loyal Pokémon, baltoy.
Baltoy began to spin creating a gust of strong wind, nearly ripping Stella from her comfortable bed.
In a few moments, Stella was up and ready, her sandshrew, beldum, and lileep at her side. They were eating breakfast quickly as to not receive another wind attack from baltoy.
Steven walked into the dining room. He was tall and handsome with silver hair, just like Stella's. He wore a purple and black suit that matched the serious expression in his eyes. He carried a basket full of evolutionary rocks and he walked with a purpose towards the dining table.
"Good morning Stella!" he greeted his daughter with enthusiasm. "You will be pleased to know that the school you are going to is where your grandfather lives, so you will be able to live at your grandparent's house all year."
"WHAT?" Stella jumped at the news, startling her Pokémon. "Father, Rustboro is a giant city! Any move I make will be detected by the media and I'll ruin everything"
Before her parents could say anything, Stella ran as fast as she could out of the house. For as long as Stella could remember, Mossdeep had been her safe haven. A small island where everybody knew everybody, and the name Steven Stone was just a name. It was a place where the Devon Corporation could not reach, and extend its grip on trainers and their Pokémon. Every time she had visited her grandparents, she had brought shame to the Devon Corporation, and to her father's name. No matter how great the trainer's school was at Rustboro, she simply could not afford to go there. The paparazzi would be everywhere, and the students at school would try to befriend her on basis of popularity. Lost in her perplexing thoughts she did not notice as sandshrew ran off towards the gym.
"Sandshrew! How many times have I told you not to run off? Beldum and lileep don't do it" But sandshrew would not listen. Surely Liza and Tate would find sandshrew an annoyance, and wish for Stella to leave the island as well.
"Gotcha!" Stella exclaimed once they were in the gym. She was about to lecture sandshrew, when Liz and Tate stepped out of the shadows.
"Sorry to be a bother, you must be having guests waiting to battle you"
The leaders laughed, and pulled her over to the waiting area of the gym.
"Stel- it's way too early for gym battles!" Liz exclaimed.
"We just wanted to see you off, so we asked sandshrew if he could bring you over here any time you weren't preparing to leave" Tate smiled. His smile always worked wonders on Stella. It made her heart melt, and her worries disappear for that single moment in which she had captured the light of his smile.
Sandshrew looked up innocently at Stella, who returned his look with pursed lips and squinted eyes.
"Well that's really nice of you, but I'm afraid I just can't leave this island" Stella said stubbornly.
"Stella. Don't say that! Besides we'll hook you up with Roxanne. She's-" Liz started the sentence
"Our senior and she's really good at battling. But you already know that she's the gym leader of Rustboro." Tate finished Liz's sentence as if it were one coherent sentence delivered by the same person.
The trio talked for several minutes more, before Liz excused herself for a chore.
As fast as lightning, Tate turned to Stella, his smile wiped clean off his face.
"While you're in Rustboro, don't forget me okay?" His eyes were grave and questioning.
How could Stella forget her first love? The kiss they shared under the meteorite shower near the space station? His smile?
"Tate! What are you talking about? Of course I could never forget you!" Stella smiled to assure him, yet something in the back of her mind was telling her it wasn't as easy as it sounded.
They shared a last kiss before Stella dismissed herself, admitting defeat to her parents' will.
"Say bye to Liza for me" Stella waved goodbye to Tate with an empty feeling in her heart.
…
Soon Stella was in Rustboro, surrounded by the flashes of the paparazzi cameras. She had returned her Pokémon to their pokeballs for fear they could get hurt. Gruff looking security guards escorted her from the private jet to the Devon Corporation building.
"Stella Sapphire Stone!" a happy voice rose from Grandmother Mari's throat.
Her grandmother was dressed in an elegant lilac colored dress with white lace around the neck line. Mari's eyes were grey and unforgiving. Her hair, which had once been a luxurious blonde, was turning to a white as pure as that of a dewgong's fur. Of course, in order to complement the harshness and cold in her eyes, her hair was wrapped in a tight, strict bun. She wore dainty white lace gloves, and was never seen anywhere without her delcatty and her flaaffy.
"Stella! Welcome back" Stella's grandfather, Devon Stone, greeted her. His eyes were a light blue, faded with age, surrounded by wrinkles made from too much smiling. He wore a suit, and resembled Wattson from Mauville. His smile was grand, and it was the only thing about him that had not changed since the day he cracked his first smile.
"It's good to see you again my beloved grandparents" Stella bowed courteously as Hoenn tradition required. Stella tried to deliver the words with as much warmth as she could, but her steel grey eyes showed her vacancy and sadness.
"Come, before we show you the school, we must re-acquaint you with Rustboro, as you were only ten years old in you last visit" Mr. Stone laughed good naturedly. Mari, however, was not amused. It seemed she remembered the events that had gone down four years ago, nearly destroying Devon Corp's reputation.
"While you're here darling, I will be making sure you get a proper Hoenn woman education, aside from your academics. Something your mother has failed to teach you" Mari said stiffly. Mari loved Stella, but absolutely despised Sandie. She thought Sandie was a poor, lowly archeologist who had used sorcery to make Steven fall in love with her. She viewed Sandie as a gold digger, on top of being an artifact digger. Mari hated that Sandie had not taken the time to gift Stella of proper Hoenn education, full of traditions and ways to live, and such things as arranged marriages.
Stella had always been glad her mother did not believe in these things, because Stella had a free will that would not be bended by the commonality of tradition.
…
The flow of paparazzi had gone and ebbed away, as they were all sheltered and writing their juicy findings for tomorrow's columns. and Stella were taking a rather peaceful tour of Rustboro. They first went to the Pokémon center, to register Stella. They then visited the city bridge, the outside of the famous trainer school, and lastly the gym. Stella remembered reading about the Rustboro gym in her middle school on Mossdeep island. She also remembered Liza and Tate talking about Roxanne being their senior. In Hoenn, juniors had to respect their seniors at all costs, and Stella trusted that Roxanne was probably an awesome senior to Liza and Tate because they talked about her so fondly.
"Can we enter the gym, grandfather?" Stella asked.
"Hmm. Leader Roxanne might be busy with challengers" said without giving much thought to it.
It had startled Stella that he had used the word 'challenger' and not 'guest'. How many more regional changes were there? Would they all be as petty as this one? Stella was afraid she'd make another mistake that would blow up in her face.
"We can go in if you'd like. I'm sure you're bound to challenge her anyways. She's a big part of your school you know." Her grandfather let go of her hand, motioning her to go inside.
Roxanne was beautiful. Her beauty stunned, for a rock type trainer, and Stella felt slightly insecure. Was this why Tate was so fond of her? After all, Roxanne was only two years older that him.
"Hi. You must be Stella Stone. It's truly nice to meet you. You see, I'm a great fan of your parents'" Roxanne smiled and nodded her head slightly.
"It's an honor to meet you, Leader" Stella bowed.
"Please, call me Roxanne. I'm sure Liza and Tate have told you as much about me as they have told me about you." Another one of those charming smiles. Could it have captured Tate's heart?
"I'm sure" Stella smiled back, trying not to look frazzled.
"So how about a battle?"
"What?"
"You heard me, two on two?" Roxanne smiled with killer confidence.
"But, I…I have to go…can we battle some other time? I'd really love to!"Stella answered, not sure about how Roxanne would take it.
"Fine. I have a challenger at seven anyways. We may not have made it." Roxanne pursed her lips slightly in disappointment.
Stella walked out of the gym, and ran straight for the Corporation building.
"Come on out sandshrew!" Stella let out sandshrew and hugged him. "That was a close one. But I'm going to have to train you and the others really hard so we can beat Roxanne. I'm thinking I'm going to focus on beldum, a steel type, to defeat rock." Sandshrew nodded and high fived Stella. Together they ran up the stairs to find a map of Rustboro's surroundings.
"Where do you think you're going young lady?" Mari's voice followed Stella up the flight of stairs.
"Training?" Stella asked in the emptiness.
"Oh no dear, school starts tomorrow, better get ready" Mari heels smacked the wooden floor with echoes of dread filling Stella.
…
Stella thought she was going to like the school, until she discovered the uniform. She learned that the Rustboro School of Young Learners was not the only one of its kind. It had sister schools in Ecreuteak, Jubilife, and Striaton. They were all owned by a rich billionaire who owed his success to education, and thus formed schools in almost every region. Every school had a color, Ecreuteak was purple, Jubilife was red, and Striaton was blue. Rustboro was an ugly brown. Stella looked for people at the school whom she might know; sons and daughters of rich or successful people, even Roxanne.
"Excuse me" Stella turned around and was startled. It was Roxanne.
"Hi" Stella said.
"I see you're wearing the freshman uniform" Roxanne said without a hint of maliciousness in her voice.
"Oh…"Stella noticed that junior and senior girls were wearing cute blue dresses with pink stockings, just like Roxanne. "I guess I am"
"Don't worry. I only changed things last year, after I became gym leader. I couldn't change freshman or sophomore dress, but Mr. Yakuki let me change junior and senior outfits." Stella had no idea who Mr. Yakuki was, but she was guessing he was the man who owned the schools.
"Come on, I'll show you around" Roxanne led Stella out of the group of incoming freshmen, and towards the school's courtyard.
The courtyard was beautiful. It had a grassy area full of perfectly round hedges, and smooth picnic tables perfect for lunch time. The crystal of the school's bay windows reflected in the whole courtyard, giving it a romantic feel. Stella swayed to the slight breeze, taking in the beautiful sight.
"Roxy! Whaddup!" someone whooped behind the girls.
"Brawly! What in the world are you doing here? Don't you have challengers?" Roxanne hissed.