Chapter Summary: Ixen's last school year has finally started, and she's not looking forward to it one bit.
Warnings: Mild violence, some swearing in future chapters, school life during the first few chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Only the region and the characters.
Chapter 1: A new year
It was a cool September morning as the new Year 8's arrived for their second day of high school. Older students were scattered about the school grounds, chatting with their friends as they waited for the school bell to signal it was time to go to tutor. At the school library entrance, a girl in her final year stood waiting for her friends to arrive.
Ixen Scarlett was relatively tall and had raven black hair that was tied back in a long plat with two frontal locks also hanging in plats. She was wearing a dark blue blazer with the school symbol on the pocket over a light blue blouse with a green clip-on tie. To finish off the uniform she wore a pair of black trousers with a pair of black shoes. Unlike most of the students in her year, Ixen was not looking forward to finishing school. She often heard her classmates talk about going on a Pokémon journey or going to college to study Pokémon. It seemed like everything revolved around Pokémon, and that's what made Ixen anxious about leaving school.
She was terrified of Pokémon.
"Hey Ixen." Said teenager looked up to see her friends Hannah and Vince had finally turned up.
"Hey," Ixen greeted with a smile, "what took you guys so long?"
"Vince was hounded by a bunch of Year 8's who didn't know the way to their tutor room," Hannah explained with narrowed eyes. "I swear those girls were only hounding him for his attention."
"Is that jealousy I hear, Hannah?" Vince taunted.
"In your dreams," she snapped. Ixen couldn't help but laugh.
Hannah Wood and Vince Clarkson were Ixen's closest friends. Hannah was a thin girl and had chocolate brown eyes with honey blonde hair that was tied up in high pigtails. Vince was slightly taller than Ixen and had messy brown hair with deep green eyes that captivated a lot of girls. Both were wearing the same school uniform, but with different coloured ties.
Vince sighed and leaned back on one of the library windows. "Just one more year left, and then we can leave."
"It's not even a year if you think about study leave," Ixen said, grinning.
"I have a bad feeling none of us are really going to revise during that time, though," Hannah laughed before a more wistful expression took over as she took in her surroundings. "I'm gonna miss this place when I leave for my journey."
"Same," Vince said with a smile that matched Hannah's expression. "I can't wait to start my journey."
Ixen began to grow a little antsy at the topic of conversation. Hannah seemed to sense her discomfort and made an attempt to comfort her.
"Hey, just imagine all three of us travelling around the Daar region!" Hannah exclaimed with excitement, hoping the energy would lift Ixen's spirits.
It didn't work. "There's no point in me travelling with you guys if I'm scared of Pokémon."
"You don't have to travel with us." Hannah was about to scold Vince for being rude and blunt, but the brunette smiled at Ixen and spoke before she had the chance to. "You could go and study something at college, or even get a job."
"That's the problem," Ixen said exasperatedly, "there's nothing that doesn't involve Pokémon."
Before Hannah or Vince could say anything, the bell rang for tutor time. Ixen, Hannah and Vince were in different houses, so they had different tutors. After saying goodbye, the three headed in different directions to their tutor rooms. Ixen headed into the main building and made her way through the very familiar corridors of the school to her tutor room. Her tutor was based in an English room in the quad. The quad was a large, open, square-shaped structure with a garden full with flowers and plants. Around it was a path that led into the classrooms. Ixen finally arrived at her tutor room and found that her tutor had already gone in.
She entered and saw sitting at one of the large tables was a group of Year 8's who all looked nervous. Ixen didn't blame them. Their first lesson was replaced with spending an hour in tutor to sort out timetables and spending time getting to know the new members of the tutor. Soon enough the bell rang, signaling the end of the first period and the start of the second.
Ixen was relieved to see she had Geography first. She, Hannah and Vince had chosen it as their secondary option for their GCSE's if they didn't get their first option. In the end the trio didn't get into their first option and took Geography together.
She tried to ignore all of the work that was posted up on the displays. Most of them contained some form of the topic Pokémon, and looking at them only made Ixen think and worry more about the future. The summer holidays had kept her mind away from dwelling too much about it, but now she was back at school, she couldn't get away from it. Aspiring trainers can only become a Pokémon trainer after completing their education at the academic age of 16. If students don't want to start a journey, they can get a job or study at college. So far it looked like one of the latter two were going to be Ixen's only options.
"Ixen!" She flinched at the sudden shout before looking at Hannah. She had almost walked past their classroom. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing," Ixen lied, "I was just thinking about something."
"Worrying about what you're doing after you graduate more like," Vince said with his arms crossed.
"I can't help it," Ixen said. "You guys know what you want to do in your life. I have no idea what I want to do."
"You don't have to decide now, you know," Hannah said softly. "Anything could come up during this year."
"Yeah, you never know what will happen," Vince grinned. "You may even want to start a journey at the last minute."
Their conversation was cut short when the Geography teacher opened his door and allowed the students to file into his room. Displays of regions and geographical sites were posted all over the classroom, the tables were organised into six pairs of two so a maximum of four students could sit around them at one time. The teacher allowed them to find their own seats as it was their final year of Geography. The trio immediately dived for one of the back tables and managed to nab the one closest to the window. The lesson started as though they hadn't just come back from summer break and soon they were learning about the volcano in Hoenn.
Five minutes before the end of the lesson the teacher finally brought up what most of the students had been hoping for. Including Hannah, Vince and even Ixen.
"It's about the camping trip to Blevik Forest next month," he said as he rustled through some papers on his desk. "Those of you who had given back their letter and paid before the summer holidays, you are definitely in. There are just a few of you who haven't given back your letters yet. I will expect those forms to be in by next week."
The bell rang and the class made their way out to break. The trio then had English and Maths that were followed by lunchtime. Hannah often got distracted by having a funny note contest with one of their other classmates to see who could make who laugh the most without getting caught by the teacher. Most of the time Vince would successfully keep on task, but as soon as he and Ixen heard the onslaught of giggles from Hannah, he'd immediately have to see what she was up to. Ixen was a lot like Vince in lessons. Most of the time she would keep on task, but when she'd grow bored, she would turn to the back of her book and start writing a little story to keep herself occupied. These activities would often get the trio, and other students, into trouble for disrupting the lesson even when Ixen would sometimes have no part in it. Sometimes.
By lunchtime Hannah had already received one detention. Something she wasn't happy about.
"I really hate that old bat," she growled as they were sitting on the school field to eat their lunch. "I mean, did that really deserve a detention?"
"You did send notes to everyone in the class to tell them all to make a Pokémon noise half way through the lesson," Vince said in a way that suggested Hannah deserved it.
Ixen giggled at the memory. "You have to admit, it was pretty funny."
Oh, it had been hilarious to most of their classmates. As soon as they had sat down in their Maths lesson, Hannah had started writing a single note for every table in the room. She had discreetly managed to get the notes to the other students without their Maths teacher, Mrs Andrews, even suspecting anything, so she had a right shock when her students suddenly started making Pokémon noises halfway through the lesson. Ixen had even joined in and made a few Pikachu noises.
When Mrs Andrews had managed to get her students to shut up, she had given them a large rant about 'acting mature' and 'it's only a few months away from your exams'. That wasn't exactly true. Their exams were in the summer and it had only just become autumn. When Hannah tried to point this out, their teacher immediately blamed her for the disruption - mainly because Mrs Andrews knew what Hannah was like - and promptly gave her a lunchtime detention.
"You guys know how boring her lessons are," Hannah complained. "I was doing all of us a favour by making it more interesting."
Ixen and Vince rolled their eyes and continued to eat their lunch. A few minutes later Hannah was rummaging around in her bag for something with a smirk on her face. Ixen immediately knew she was up to something and called her out on in.
"Hannah, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to find something."
"What are you trying to find, exactly?" Vince asked with a raised eyebrow, but he couldn't deny the look of curiosity in his eyes.
Hannah's smirk transformed into a fully fledged grin. "This."
Ixen's turquoise eyes widened in shock while amazement took over Vince's face. In Hannah's hand was a red and white sphere capsule with a black rim, finished off with a white button in the middle. She pressed the button in the middle and it expanded in size.
"H-Hannah…please tell me there isn't a Pokémon in there…" Ixen somewhat pleaded with growing fear.
Thankfully, Hannah should her head. "Nah, you know I'm not allowed to carry around a Pokémon. Besides, I wouldn't do that to you."
Youths under the age of 16 who aren't an official Pokémon trainer are allowed a Pokémon as a pet, but they're not allowed to carry them around in Poké Balls nor participate in battles.
"Why do you have a Poké Ball, then?" Vince asked as he looked around to make sure there wasn't a teacher around.
"It's for the camping trip," Hannah told them. "I managed to buy this with my birthday money. The shop owner didn't even know I wasn't a trainer. When we go on the camping trip, I'm going to catch a Pokémon for my journey."
"There's more to catching a Pokémon than throwing a Poké Ball at it," Ixen said, a little calmer after knowing the capsule was empty.
"I know that," the blonde almost snapped, "that's why I'm going to be careful."
"That's why you are not doing it," Vince intervened with narrowed eyes.
"Why?" Hannah demanded.
"It's dangerous, that's why!" he exclaimed. "Being a Pokémon trainer isn't all fun and games, Hannah. It isn't about throwing a Poké Ball at every Pokémon you see. It can be dangerous sometimes, especially if you anger a Pokémon."
Hannah was about to say something, but Ixen interjected. "He's right. My sister has told me many stories of about how she's almost gotten hurt by an enraged Pokémon."
Hannah crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm doing it, and you can't stop me."
"What if we tell a teacher?" Ixen suggested with narrowed eyes.
"You wouldn't!" Hannah gasped. "You can't, they'd take my Poké Ball off of me!"
Ixen sighed and looked down at the grass. "You right, of course I wouldn't. But it's dangerous without your own Pokémon."
"That's why I need to catch a Pokémon when we go to Blevik Forest. Please, can I please trust you two to not say anything?"
Ixen and Vince exchanged worried glances before giving their answer.
"You shouldn't need to ask us," Vince said in a slightly defeated tone. "We're just looking out for you, that's all."
"We promise we won't say anything," Ixen said and Hannah smiled with relief.
"Thank you!"
Ixen watched as Hannah put the Poké Ball back in her bag. I won't say anything, but that doesn't mean I'll stop from trying to persuade you otherwise.
Later that night Ixen was sitting at her desk smiling at her laptop. She had been in a Skype call with her sister for the last hour. Jasmine looked a lot like her. She had black hair that was shoulder length and was parted so it slightly covered her right eye. She wore a pair of thin, red, rectangular glasses, and behind the spectacles were a pair of sky blue eyes.
"How long have you been in the Hoenn region?" Ixen asked.
"I've been here for a couple of days," Jasmine said, her voice ringing out of the laptop's speakers. "It's amazing here. The weather is incredible."
"We were learning about Hoenn's volcano in Geography today."
"Learning about it in a classroom isn't like meeting the real thing."
"Have you seen it already?" Ixen asked with surprise.
"Not yet, I'm going to see it tomorrow," Jasmine replied. "Anyway, how was your first day back?"
Ixen's smile faltered for a moment. "It was…interesting."
"Really? Did Hannah get you into any trouble?"
"She got the entire class to make Pokémon noises halfway through a Maths lesson." Her older sister laughed at that. "She ended up getting a detention for it."
"I'm not surprised." Jasmine's face on the monitor frowned. "What's the matter, Ixen?"
"Nothing's the matter," she lied.
"I know when something isn't right. It's written all over your face."
Ixen sighed and told her. "I'm just worried, no, terrified about graduating. I have no idea what I'm going to do after school. The thought of going on a journey like yours scares me, and I can't think of any jobs or college courses the doesn't always involve Pokémon at some point. What do I do?"
"What does your heart tell you?" Jasmine asked.
"I don't want to be afraid of Pokémon anymore…" Ixen whispered.
"Maybe you should ask Mum and Dad for a pet." Ixen looked up and stared into the screen at her sister. "No, wait, hear me out. If you want to get over your fear of Pokémon, you should get a Pokémon companion. Something small, obviously. Like a Growlithe or a Rattata? Oh! Or even a bird Pokémon! Like a Pidgey or a Taillow!"
"I…could ask them," she said as she bit her lip.
"Ixen, you know you don't have to, right?" Ixen frowned at that. "It's your life. No one else's. Live it how you want. Don't take orders from anybody."
Ixen couldn't help but laugh. "Is that what you told Mum and Dad when they tried to convince you to go to college?"
"Maybe," Jasmine said with a grin.
A/N: Can you tell I like Hoenn?
I couldn't continue with the challenge. I became so busy last week and I then had a bit of personal issues to sort out. And then on top of that, I couldn't get myself motivated. I'll try do another challenge at some point.
Because Pokémon sizes in the game are bullshit, I'm going by my own sizes. (They won't be too outrageous)
Feel free to leave a review, I'd love to read it. Until next time!
Dolan