Whew, here's chapter 2.
The chapters this time are a bit longer than normal, as I have a bit more to cover in this story.
Calem couldn't believe he had just barely fell short of the entrance exam's threshold – that scamp Barry was to blame after all; if Calem had only focused on his own efforts, he strongly believed he would have had a better chance at placing in the top 30.
But the Kalos boy tried to look on the bright side: all he needed to do was to wait until the next semester to start and take the exam again, since this was only his first failed attempt. Some people however were not so lucky…
For the next quarter-hour, Calem sat by the finish line, watching as the remaining racers completed the race just as he did, only to hear the disappointing results – they too were destined to wait until next time.
The electric traffic cones all began to recede into the ground once there remained no active participants on the race track; the racers who had collapsed from exhaustion took no heed and remained in their slumped over positions, completely defeated by the challenge they could not overcome.
With a sigh of exasperation, Calem stood up, and began to walk towards the school gates, his mood soured as he heard the raucous cheers of those fortunate enough to pass the exam.
"Yeah, who needs them?" Barry suddenly appeared from behind Calem, slapping his hand upon the Kalos boy's shoulder. "Let's start our own school, with… with roller coasters, and a salad bar!"
Without any hesitation, Calem pulled Barry's hand away. "Leave me alone," he grumbled.
"Dude, what's your problem? I thought we were friends!" Barry spoke in a defensive tone, as though he were the one wronged in the situation.
Calem turned to face the blond boy, teeth clenched behind his closed mouth.
"Friends?" His words came out blunt and unmistakably seething. "I don't even know who you are. All I know is that thanks to you, I failed that stupid exam!"
Barry's response was less than sympathetic.
"Yeah, big whoop. At least you get another chance! And it's not my fault my foot went and fell asleep just when you bumped into me."
"Fell asleep? Are you serious?!" Calem's voice was climbing in volume now as he stared the other boy down.
"Oh, I'm serious, all right!" Barry responded, matching Calem's intensity. "I'll show you how serious I am!"
Before Calem knew it, Barry began to charge towards him in a rage, the blond boy's arms spinning around, intending to club at anything that got in their way.
"Ah, he's fast!" Calem exclaimed to himself while jumping out of the way. To his mild surprise, Barry didn't change his path, and kept flailing wildly. "…but he's not very sharp. No wonder he crashed into me in the race."
Barry finally turned around after realizing he had been punching nothing but air for at least seven seconds, and with a war-cry that was much too half-hearted to be threatening, he ran towards Calem once more, swinging his fists about.
He was then stopped by that man in the hard hat and glasses, who was holding Barry's head at arm length while he continued to attack.
"I hate to interrupt," said the man in the uniform, "but it's a good thing you stuck around! You see, we actually had to disqualify two of the entrants who passed the exam by cheating." He directed the attention of the boys to a pair of people who seemed to be wearing black body-suits that covered them completely, sans the face. These two hung their heads in shame as they were escorted out of the school grounds as the onlookers jeered and pelted them with garbage.
The helmet-clad man shook his head with a sigh. "Tsk , tsk, shock-proof rubber suits. It's like they knew about the electric cones ahead of time… or maybe they always wear them. Either way, they used those suits to cheat and jump over the cones, and as we all know, cheaters never prosper. Do you boys know what that means?"
"It means that prospers never cheat!" Barry guessed, as he finally stopped flailing his arms.
"It means that everyone after them gets moved up two places!" corrected the man. "And since you two were placed 31st and 32nd, that means you'll be moved up to 29th and 30th… but I'm sure you knew that, right?"
When Calem heard those amended results, he looked with a face of surprise to Barry, who reciprocated the reaction.
"Awwww yesss, we made it, yeah!"
Calem and Barry celebrated by dancing around, jumping in a very hyperactive manner; it was hardly possible to believe they had been fighting bitterly not a minute before.
%%%
Eventually, the other failed participants of the exam had all left, some in tears, some determined to pass the next time around, and others still spouting off all manner of profanities directed towards the school and its patrons.
Now that Calem was no longer part of that unlucky crowd, he made his way to where the other passing students had gathered, lined up in order of their finishing time – that put Calem at the very end of the row. The silver-haired boy then appeared before the new students; standing behind him were the man in the hard hat, and three other faces that were unfamiliar to the Kalos boy.
"Pending students of Jubilife School, I congratulate you on passing the entrance exam!" The silver-haired boy's resounding voice and the gaze of his icy-blue eyes commanded the attention of everyone present. "I, Amadeus, am the Student Body President of this school, and these are my Vice Presidents!" Amadeus stepped back to allow the school's vice presidents some space to share a few words of their own.
The man in the hard hat spoke first, adjusting his thin-rimmed glasses. "I'm Roark. I aim to show trainers the hardened power of the Rock type." He bowed, and received light applause from the crowd of thirty.
Next to speak was a girl with black hair, tied into twin braids. Like her fellow vice presidents, she too wore the black school uniform, but for some reason she had a blue sweater tied over the outfit at her waist.
"Candice will make her opponents feel the chill of Ice Pokémon!" she announced in a chirpy, enthusiastic tone.
Her short speech was met with confused murmurs and puzzled expressions.
"…I'm Candice," she clarified, and only then did the audience cease to be confused by her words, as they applauded.
The third vice president to speak was a man with blond hair, but his was spikier and less disheveled than Barry's. Unlike the contented Roark and the cheerful Candice, he seemed rather aloof, almost disinterested in the situation.
"I'm Volkner," he said with a brief wave before he turned his back to the new students. All the same, they cheered for the vice president even as he had not mentioned his favored type at all.
The last of the four vice presidents gently pushed his peers out of the way, revealing that he was fairly larger than they, and wearing a wrestler's mask in addition to his uniform. He cleared his throat and took in a deep breath of air before bellowing out his introductory song.
"Crash! Crash! Crasher Wake!
Crash! Crash! Crasher Wake!
I'm the tidal wave of power to wash you away!
Put out the fire, Crasher Wake!
Run from electricity, Crasher Wake!
Ah, ah, aaaah!
The ring is my sea~"
Unfortunately, his singing was not as melodious as he liked to believe, and everyone that heard the sour-noted song was wincing from having been subjected to it – or rather, everyone but Barry. The boy in the green scarf cheered and whistled in response to the performance, demanding an encore.
"Hey, come on!" Barry leaned over to Calem standing next to him. "Show some respect to Crasher Wake! He's my mentor and idol! One time, I asked him to wrestle with me, and he- ah! He's looking at me!" Barry waved his arms to attract the man's attention. "Hey, Crasher Wake! Notice me! Notice meeee!"
But Wake simply moved back, standing behind Amadeus along with the other vice presidents.
"He totally noticed me," Barry remarked to Calem.
Amadeus began to speak once more, easily quieting Barry and the others. "Before I can accept you as students of this school, you trainers must pledge your loyalty to me, the Student Body President, and in return, I will guide you toward the path of greatness! Do you accept these terms?"
A unanimous cheer from the crowd showed that they were all in agreement, and a small but certain smile made its way to Amadeus's lips.
"Vice Presidents!" shouted the silver-haired boy. "Provide our new students with their new uniforms!"
Roark, Candice, Volkner and Crasher Wake then moved towards the entrance of the school grounds tower, and the students all followed, making their way inside of the large building.
%%%
"Do I have to get changed in front of everyone?" Calem asked, eyeing the floor bashfully.
"Why not?" Roark answered, handing him a black school uniform in his size. "If everyone is doing the same, I see no reason to be embarrassed. Besides, your friend doesn't seem to mind it one bit."
The hard hat-wearing man pointed to Barry, who had cast off his regular outfit and was now standing in front of his idol, Crasher Wake, clad in only his shoes, scarf, and plain white briefs.
"He's not my friend…" Calem remarked, but Roark didn't notice, silently bemused by Barry's behavior.
"Crasher Wake! Please autograph my uniform!" The blond boy's eyes were all but glimmering in admiration as he stood in close to the masked man.
"Wait until I give you your uniform!" he replied. "Also, no autographs!"
Barry pouted and yet continued to vie for his idol's attention, and Calem took the opportunity to change into his uniform while everyone was distracted with the spectacle. Fortunately, it seemed to fit him rather well, and while admiring his appearance in his new clothing, he noticed that the uniform was outfitted with some features not commonly seen on those types of apparel.
"What's this on my wrist?" he asked, pressing a button on the long sleeve of the jacket. Suddenly, his right sleeve began to display a meter bar, and the message "Lv. 1."
Roark turned his gaze to see Calem fiddling around with his uniform. "What's that, you ask? You will see in due time, after everyone else has changed into their uniforms."
Such an endeavor took at least half an hour – Barry's persistent pestering of Crasher Wake served to consume a majority of the time that could have been better spent handing out the uniforms. Nonetheless, when everyone was changed, their other outfits were all stored away for safekeeping, and the students were all led outside again, where Amadeus was standing alongside an older man in a white lab coat, and a fierce, blue-skinned Dragon-type Pokémon with sharp claw-tipped arms.
"Welcome, new students," the old man greeted. "I am Professor Rowan. Normally, you can find me at my laboratory in Sandgem Town, but I have come here today to explain the function of the uniforms you have been given, otherwise known as Trainer Uniforms… an appropriate name, if somewhat uninspired. As I do so, Amadeus here will provide a visual demonstration, with the help of his Garchomp."
"Thank you, Professor." Amadeus bowed to the man before pressing the button on his uniform's wrist, revealing the same green meter as the one Calem saw on his own, before he and Garchomp gave themselves a wide berth from the students, the trainer and the Pokémon now intensely focused on one another.
Professor Rowan cleared his throat shortly before explaining. "The Trainer Uniform protects trainers from Pokémon attacks that would otherwise be dangerous or even fatal."
As he said this, Amadeus's Garchomp unleashed its Fire Blast attack, scorching its trainer in a fiery stream that formed a five-pointed shape. However, when the flames cleared, the students saw that Amadeus had not been hurt at all by the attack; he was just standing there like nothing had happened, eliciting gasps of surprise and amazement from the students.
"In addition to that," Rowan continued, "The uniform also augments the strength of its wearer, allowing them to fight against opposing Pokémon."
Amadeus then charged towards his Garchomp, crashing into the dragon Pokémon with a tackle. Even as his Pokémon had braced against the attack, the force of the blow was still enough to push it back a fair distance.
"Each of your uniforms has its own level to indicate the amount of strength and defense it provides." As the professor was informing the students of this, Amadeus had returned from the battle demonstration, displaying his wrist to let them observe his Trainer Uniform level, the symbols "Lv. 50" emblazoned upon the fabric in glowing lines.
After observing the level of the president, the various students examined the sleeves of their uniforms, pressing the buttons to reveal their own levels while comparing with their peers. Calem was no different, but after looking over many other classmates, it began to occur to him that being at Level 1 was not as common as he had thought; in fact, he was the only student to have the lowest possible level of Trainer Uniforms.
"Holy schnitzel, I'm Level 2! How cool is that?" Unsurprisingly, Barry's exclamation did little to assuage Calem's disappointment.
Amadeus and Rowan looked over the students as they clamored. "The initial level of your uniforms was decided by your performance in the entrance exams," said the professor.
"But if your level is low, you need not fear!" Amadeus added. "By battling trainers with their Pokémon, you will have the opportunity to increase your level by defeating your opponents!"
Calem raised his hand to ask, "But how can you defeat anyone if they're all a higher level than you?"
But Amadeus dismissively turned his silver-haired head to the side, and he and the professor remained silent.
Unfortunately for the Kalos boy, his question had roused attention of the wrong kind, as the other twenty-nine students looked towards him as he had effectively outed himself as the weakest in the group.
"Hey, this kid's only Level 1!"
"Ha ha, loser!"
"Who puts sunglasses on their hat like that?"
It was quite the task for Calem to prevent their taunts from getting to him, but he had to be strong. He realized now that his low level made him the underdog of the students, and that increased the incentive to prove himself as a worthy trainer… the kind who could keep up with Emma.
"Outta the way! Let me see the weak link!"
Sifting through the herd of students was a young boy wearing a cap turned backwards and a snide, ear-to-ear grin. Though his uniform was a size or two too large for him, he did not seem to mind; he valued his new Level 20 uniform for its ability over the way it fit.
"Oh wow," said the kid as he looked condescendingly at Calem in spite of his short stature. "You look like even more of a dork up close. I can't believe you even passed the entrance exam!"
Calem retorted, "Well, you've got a big mouth for a small fry!"
The young boy was unfazed. "Whatever, I can talk as big as I want. Who got first place in the exam?"
"Was it her?" Barry asked, pointing to a girl in the crowd of students.
"This guy, that's who!" boasted the boy, pointing to his face. "The name's Ross. It rhymes with 'boss!'" His bravado was such that it even made a few students swoon and sigh.
In spite of Ross's confident front, Calem refused to be intimidated. There was only a 19-level difference between them after all, surely that was nothing to be scared of?
"Infernape, get 'em!"
Before the Kalos boy could register what Ross had just said, he was smacked from behind, making him fall forward. His face was inches from hitting the ground when Ross threw a punch straight at Calem's face, pushing him back upright, in the direction of Ross's Pokémon, a simian Fire and Fighting-type that attacked swiftly and efficiently. The Trainer Uniform ensured that he felt minimal pain from the attacks, but Calem was simply overwhelmed by the sheer strength of Ross and his Pokémon as they smacked him back and forth.
"Amadeus!" Professor Rowan exclaimed as the students gave the battling trainers some space. "Are you going to allow this?"
The silver-haired boy nodded. "This is the best way for the new students to learn. Besides, it's the most exciting thing to happen all week."
Rowan contemplated. "W-well… Students, do you see what is happening to the trainer as they are being attacked? The meter on their sleeve is decreasing!"
Just as the professor had said, the green meter on Calem's uniform was now colored yellow, and had been reduced to half of its original length, and continued to decrease as he was being beaten down.
"That meter represents the amount of damage the uniform can endure," the professor continued to provide exposition, despite very few students actually paying heed. "When the damage reaches the critical level, it is considered a victory for the winner."
It wasn't long before Calem's uniform displayed the signs of a critically-damaged uniform, courtesy of Ross and his Infernape. The damage meter was red now, and barely more than a sliver in size. The black fabric of the uniform itself began to blink with red too, and only then did Ross stop attacking.
"Well?" he sneered. "You gonna take that uniform off and get lost now?"
Calem's breath was staggered from being tossed around, and he could barely stand, but the word he uttered showed his determination.
"…No!"
"Please, I strongly suggest you surrender!" Professor Rowan called out to Calem. "Your uniform cannot take much more damage!"
Ross laughed madly. "Fat chance! Infernape, Fire Punch!" His Infernape let out an energetic screech as its clenched fist combusted, cloaking it in flames while it flew towards Calem's chest.
Not only did that attack deplete the last of his uniform's meter, but it set the very fabric alight, making the Kalos boy panic as he scrambled about in search of a way to extinguish the fire. The other students were unsympathetic, laughing at Calem's misfortune until he ran inside the tower.
"Where's the bathroom? They gotta have water in there!"
He immediately ran to the first door he could find in the lobby, and opened it… only to find it was not the bathroom at all, but rather the supply closet; by then, it was too late, as the uniform had now been burnt to a crisp, leaving Calem wearing nothing but ashes that crumbled off of his bare skin.
"I was in over my head all this time," he moped, trying not to cry, "but I thought for sure that Emma would be here… I guess I was wrong."
Curled up and sitting upon the closet floor, Calem leaned back, accidentally toppling over a few mops and brooms – and revealing something hidden behind them.
Not only did it answer a few questions he had about the school, but it was also a rather convenient solution to the dilemma at hand.
