Hello everyone! I'd like to start this chapter by saying Happy Memorial Day since it's still Memorial Day for me. A big thanks to everyone who dropped a review, answered the QOTD, and/or submitted a character. I have not responded to everyone yet because of how busy I get with work and my internship, but I will get around to them. For the most part, these characters will just be one-time appearances, maybe the focal point of the chapter as I expect most characters to be since I do have a pretty solid cast consisting of OCs submitted to me in the past.

Before we get started with this chapter, I wanted to clarify something for the readers that I messaged a few months ago because I forgot to do this in the author's notes of the prologue. I was originally going to write a story called "Pokémon Academy Tales" which would have consisted of self-contained chapters like a Saturday morning cartoon but I decided to make it more like a sitcom. Most chapters will be self-contained but there will be some storyline as well as characters arcs. That being said, a character submitted to me from the prologue could appear in chapter 75 or something far ahead like that so please be patient and remember that this is meant to be a fun ride for everyone.

[Update 6/8]: So I completely forgot to do this when I originally posted this chapter so I'm adding this after the fact. I will not be responding to every review because sometimes there's very little to say and if this story starts getting 10+ reviews per chapter, I don't want the author's notes to take up so much space.

[Update 7/3]: Hey guys, it's been a minute since I've posted for this story and I do apologize for that. I kept debating the ending to this chapter and I've decided that I didn't really like it so I changed it up. For those of you who read this chapter before this update, please go back to read the ending. I'm referring to everything after Mark chases Sienna around. Everything before that remained the same. I do apologize if this is confusing. If you have any questions, I can explain through PM. Also, it came to my attention that the way I worded the QOTD, it made it sound like I was asking about your favorite pokémon from S/M/US/UM. I was asking mainly about the human characters so I hope this clears things up.

ZenoZen: Good to be back! I'm glad you enjoyed the dynamic between Sienna and Jasper. Well, the first day of school in the first year has been done so much that I wanted to mix things up.

GladiusArk: I'm always glad to meet new readers and I hope that you continue to enjoy reading this.

Steelrain66: I have to agree. Dragon-type pokémon, in general, tend to require tons of skill as a trainer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

Aether Academy

Chapter 1

While on the ferry to Aether Academy, Alex and Mark had caught each other up on their respective summer vacations. Wingulls passed by in the air, squawking obnoxiously in a chaotic chorus. Vivi would growl at any that got too close to the vessel from behind the rail, running back and forth as the wingulls would move forward or fall behind. Not too far from her sat Alex and Mark on a bench.

Alex let out a yawn as he stretched in his seat. He then placed his hands behind his head, relaxing his body with an exhale as he did. "I'm so psyched for another year."

"You? Excited for school?"

"Well, I'm excited to take the cool classes like Ms. Nahele and Ms. Moakai's classes."

"I think I heard that they were both former trial captains."

"Where'd you hear that from?"

"From one of the seniors from last year."

"Liam?"

Mark quirked an eyebrow and asked, "You really think I would go to Liam for his information?"

Alex laughed nervously while saying, "Yeah…you're right. What kind of an idiot would spend money to find something out?"

"What did you pay him to find out?"

"…"

"Alex…"

"Hey look, that cloud looks like a pinap berry."

"Alex!"

"Okay!" he said as he shot up from his seat and turned to face Mark. "You remember that cute Kalosian girl that went here last year before the pirate incident?"

"Do I remember Cherilyn? You only gushed over her for the entire first semester. Yes, what about her?"

"I may have paid Liam to find out what time she went for her jogs."

"You're a creep."

"How?!"

"I don't know, you only stalked a girl."

"If it makes you feel better, I never stalked her."

"…The pirate incident happened before you could, didn't it?"

"…Maybe…"

"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"

"Hey, Sienna was the one that suggested it."

"Yeah, of course, that would be the reporter's idea."

"Oh yeah? Like you're some casanova."

"I didn't say I –" Mark was interrupted by a shrill yelp which made both boys look to the edge of the ferry only to find Vivi missing. There was the sound of a splash which prompted Alex to leap in without a second thought. Mark ran towards the railing and yelled, "Alex!"

Emerald eyes were scorched by salt water as they darted left and right in search of a small brown pokémon. Alex swam around in the general area, fighting against the resistance that his clothes gave him. He dove down with his eyes open, checking to see if Vivi was below the surface but it was so hard to see underneath that a fish pokémon slapped him in the face as it swam by.

Mark scanned the area frantically from above, but he too was met with failure until he heard a distinct, "Vee?" His head snapped down to the eevee by his side who looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"Hey is this your eevee?" Beside Mark was a girl around his age with navy blue hair and bright orchid eyes. Her skin was not yet weathered by the intense sun suggesting that she was fairly new to the region because even he had a slight tan from spending just one academic year on Alola. The most noteworthy thing about her was the ruby red guitar that hung on her back. Mark failed to realize that he had just been staring at her which prompted her to say, "Uh…dude?"

Mark shook his head and blinked his eyes to focus. He responded, "Well, it's not mine but it is my friend's."

"Oh, well it bumped its head on that wall while chasing after some wingull so I just thought that you should know that. Is the owner the dork that just jumped?"

Mark chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's him."

She looked off to the side – to the edge of the ferry – and back at him with an expectant look on her face. "So aren't you going to tell someone he went overboard?"

"Oh! Right! Thanks!" he said as he ran past her with Vivi on his heels. He made it to the edge of the ferry to yell out to Alex who was still searching for the eevee. Alex barely heard him but still looked over at the ferry to find Mark and Vivi both on it.

"What the! But! When?! What's going on?!" Just then, Alex noticed for the first time that there were some magikarp leaping out of the water.

Mark looked down at Vivi and said, "Oh! I get it! You yelped because you hit your head and that splash came from a magikarp."

Suddenly, Mark felt the ferry slow down just as someone began speaking into a loudspeaker. "Sir stay right where you are. A crewmember will be down shortly on a lifeboat."

"Well, I guess that girl went to go let the captain know about Alex." Feeling more at ease, Mark looked up to find something interesting. "Hey, that cloud does look like a pinap berry."

Eric and Ava arrived on the roof of Aether Academy's main building where the administration office and most of the classrooms were located. The roof had been converted into a landing strip for trainers riding on their pokémon's back since some of the students had pokémon that could fly and preferred to do that over spending money for a ferry. When Meteora touched down on the roof, she lowered her hind, so Ava could easily slide off. Eric followed suit and went to scratch his dragon's chin which made her release a low growl. It sounded very welcoming.

Ava watched Eric as he gazed upon his pokémon with such care. There was a small smile on his face as he gently scratched the salamence's chin. "She's always liked that spot, hasn't she?" the girl asked.

Eric looked over at Ava and said, "Yeah, since she was a bagon. It's hard to believe that she's fully evolved now." He then grabbed Meteora's poké ball on his belt and returned her to it.

Ava explained, "Dragon-type pokémon take some time to evolve. You're used to seeing her like a shelgon."

"Not exactly." Ava looked confused. Eric went on, "See, when she evolved from a bagon into a shelgon, I was so excited. I felt like we had reached a milestone."

"And this isn't a milestone?"

"It is but this milestone was one that we looked forward to. Now, what do we have to look forward to? This is her final form."

"Sometimes you don't know what's waiting for you until you arrive there." She looked at him with golden irises and he looked back into them. The two lost themselves in each other's eyes for a long time – long enough that someone arriving on a skarmory had to ask them to move.

Sienna stood at the ferry terminal with a camera in hand and her faithful fomantis, Camelia, sitting atop her head, practically shrouded by a cloud of snow-white hair. The girl's eyes were locked onto the ramp that led from the ferry to the terminal entrance as they discriminately scanned the exiting crowd until they finally found what she was looking for – her first story.

Alex's footsteps were accompanied by a wet squishing sound as his clothes dripped onto the ramp and then the terminal's wooden floor. He had a towel wrapped around him which had dried up his arms, but his clothes were so drenched that he resigned to changing once he reached his room. Mere seconds passed before Alex was blinded by a flash which left black spots in his vision. He was far from confused, though. He knew exactly who the perpetrator was. "Sienna!" he yelled.

Camelia giggled, covering her mouth with her leafy arms. Sienna ignored him as she continued snapping pictures, which drew attention. "Come on, Alex! Give me a good pose! I didn't get to catch it in action, so I have to settle for this!"

"Well if you give me a sec, I would!" he snapped. He was not even facing the right direction though, which made Mark, Sienna, and the pokémon laugh. Sienna stopped only to grab Alex by the arm and pull him towards the edge of the dock while he rubbed the stars out of his eyes which made him stagger. "Woah!" Once she had him where she wanted, Sienna stepped back to get a good angle.

"Vivi, get in there, will you?"

"Vee!" The eevee happily obliged as she pranced over to Alex who was already standing with his hands behind his head. He wore a large grin which Vivi matched with one of her own.

"Alright, one…two…oh my god!" Something had caught Sienna's eye that compelled her to leave Alex and Vivi where they stood.

"Where are you going?!" Sienna ignored Alex, so he asked Mark, "Where is she going?" The crimson-eyed boy simply shrugged. Alex then asked Camelia, who was already chasing after her owner. Like Sienna, the fomantis ignored him which only frustrated him further.

"I wonder what caught her eye," Mark said.

"Probably some dude."

"Want to go see what has her all excited?"

"No thanks. I'm gonna go change. Let's meet up later to grab something to eat."

"Alright sounds like a plan."

The boys did their elaborate handshake before Alex told Vivi, "Come on, girl, let's get going."

"Eevee!"

After Alex left, Mark went to look for Sienna and Camelia but in his search for them, he failed to notice the girl that bumped into him, causing both to fall to the floor. "I-I'm so sorry," Mark said quickly. When he looked to see who bumped into him, he noticed that it was the same girl that he had spoken to on the ferry.

"Mark!" The boy turned to find Sienna and Camelia running towards him. She continued, "Jump on her! Don't let her get away!"

"What?"

Mark could feel movement behind him. It was the girl running away from them. Mark lifted a hand and yelled, "No! Wait! I wasn't going to jump on –" Before he could finish, the girl had already been lost in the crowd. "You…"

"Mark! How could you let her get away?"

He stood up and asked, "Wait, what now? Why were you after that girl?"

"Because that was supposed to be my first scoop of the year! I had no idea that Raven Archer was attending Aether."

"Raven? So that's her name…" Mark thought to himself.

Sienna noticed his intrigue, so she interrogated him. "Does little Marky Mark have a crush now?"

His cheeks burned a bright crimson as he shook his head and his hands. "N-no! It's not like that! Um…who is she, though? Like why is she your first scoop?"

"You don't know who Raven Archer is?!"

"That is why I'm asking."

"Right. She's the youngest daughter of Silver Liepard's lead guitarist, Axel Archer."

"Is that a band?"

"You're kidding…" Mark simply shrugged. "Maybe my first story can be titled, 'Uncultured Sophomore Reveals that the Hoenn Region Has Never Heard of Good Music.'" Mark watched Sienna pass her hand over the imaginary news title with an eyebrow raised. When she noticed this, she asked, "Too much?"

"No…I mean you're only being prejudiced towards my region but other than that, the title is fine."

Sienna laughed and said, "I'm just playing with you, Mark. Jeez, you'll never land a girl like Raven if you're that serious all the time." She walked towards the academy, leaving Mark with a burning blush on his face.

He stammered, "I – you – but – " He let out a large sigh before following Sienna and her fomantis. When Mark caught up to them he asked, "Hey, where's Alaina?"

"In Hau'oli City with Karitoru."

"Wow, he's already here too? Kalos is further from here than Hoenn is. I guess Eric and I are the slowpokes this year."

Sienna giggled as she said, "I guess you guys are. Speaking of him, where is he? Snuck off with his girlfriend?"

"Yeah, he wanted to show off that his shelgon evolved."

"That's so amazing! You best believe that I'm going to do an interview with Eric."

"Eh, you know how he feels about publicity. He prefers to stay out of it."

"Yeah, but there's so much to talk to him about. And Ava, for that matter. I mean we have the privilege of witnessing something that happens only once every blue moon!"

"And that is?"

"The two strongest trainers at our school are dating! It's not anything groundbreaking but do you realize how scarce something like that happens? Is it their love of training that bonds them? Or the love they share for their pokémon? Did one woo the other with a display of strength? I must have the answers!"

"I think they just got close when they started working on a school project last year."

Something in Sienna's eyes changed as she asked, "What project were they working on?"

"I don't know all the details – hey! Sienna! You're taking notes!"

She quickly shoved her notepad into her back pocket and said, "Am not!"

"Then let me see what you just put inside your pocket."

"Nothing."

"Then let me see." He reached for it but Sienna swatted his hand away before running away from him. "Sienna, let me see!" The two started running around the area with Sienna screaming but they stopped when they noticed that a crowd was forming so they decided to investigate. Sienna was one step ahead of Mark, though, so she was at the front of the crowd before he realized she was gone. All that was left was the little fomantis that was working her way through a forest of legs so Mark followed her.

Unsurprisingly, Alex and Vivi were standing in the center of the circle. Across from them stood a taller, much more muscular young man with a scar that ran through his right eyebrow, stopping just above the eye. There were two equally as intimidating older students standing behind him though they were more removed from the center than their friend was.

"Uh-oh," Mark said. To his right, a camera was clicking away, snapshotting pictures at every angle that Sienna could get them in. Mark sighed, "Not even ten minutes back and we're already doing this."

"What do you want, punk?" the larger boy asked.

Alex shouted, "You know what I want, Victor!" He pointed a finger and said, "Rematch! You and me! Right here! Let's go! Come on! Come on!"

Victor scoffed and turned as he said, "Not interested."

"Scared of a wittle sophomore?"

"As if. Last time I checked, I destroyed you last time."

"Just because you beat me doesn't mean you destroyed me."

"Just because you say I didn't doesn't mean I didn't."

"Fine, if you're so confident that you could destroy me, why don't you put your balls where your mouth is?"

Victor's face scrunched in disgust and he was not alone. There were snickers from the crowd and Mark slapped his forehead, embarrassed by the not-so-elegant wording. Sienna, on the other hand, took the opportunity to intervene. As she came between Alex and Victor, she said, "Alex, I know that was meant to sound cooler and it probably did in your head but…no. Just…no."

Alex was frustrated now more than ever. He stomped around and said, "Whatever! Bottom line is that this guy is toast!"

"Alex, stop antagonizing people."

The emerald-eyed boy turned to find Eric and Ava breaking through the crowd. As Eric came into the center of the circle, he shot Mark a glance, nodded, and then redirected his attention to Alex and Victor. The latter of the two grinned as his eyes narrowed with intrigue.

Victor said, "Now here's someone I wouldn't mind proving my strength over."

Eric smirked and said, "Any time you want to go, Cruz." Sparks flew between the stern gazes, charging the air with suspense so thick it made it difficult to breathe. That was until Alex cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

He burst out between the older students and yelled at Eric, "Hey back off! This guy is mine!" Eric scoffed which only angered Alex more. The younger boy challenged, "Or do I have to get through you to get to him?"

Mark hesitantly held out a hand out for Alex but he flinched when he heard Eric laugh. The older brother said, "You just might have to, Alex. My pokémon could use a warm up after that break. They just had each other and wild pokémon to spar against."

Ava shook her head and said, "Boys will be boys, I suppose. Machismo and bravado take control of the frontal cortex for you guys."

Alex scratched his head in confusion. He turned to Vivi and asked, "Did you get that?" The eevee shook her head in defeat, her ears drooping down but snapping back up when Eric spoke again.

"So how about it, Alex? Let's kick this school year off with a battle."

Alex's confusion faded into a confident smile. His eyes emerald eyes glossy with enthusiasm as he said, "You're on!" He then turned to Victor and said, "I guess you'll just have to wait your tu-the hell he go?!"

Sienna responded, "Alex, he left as soon as Eric challenged you."

"Coward."

"Alex."

"Yeah!" He whipped back around to hear Eric out.

"I'll let a professor know that we want to use the school's official battlefield. You just show up before dinner and I'll meet you there. Got it?"

"You bet I do."

With a smirk, Eric turned and walked out through the crowd with Ava right behind him. Not seconds after that, the ring around Alex dissipated until it was just him, Mark, Sienna, and the pokémon. They all stood in silence until Alex let out a chuckle and threw his arms behind his head. "Mark, you're going to have to forgive me for embarrassing your brother on the first day back." Mark rolled his eyes and laughed.

"This is fantastic!" Sienna shouted, breaking the laughter.

"See? Sienna thinks I have a shot."

"What? No! I get to write a story about Eric thrashing you."

"You guys are just haters," Alex said while crossing his arms. "Come on, Vivi, I gotta go change clothes and then we can start planning our victory strategy!"

"Vee! Vee! Eevee!" she cheered happily.

That's the end of the first chapter and an overall introduction to most of the main characters. There were a few other characters that were name-dropped who may or may not appear as the story goes on. Since this story takes place during Alex and Mark's second year, I do make a lot of references to events that would have taken place in their first year but if the references become too obscure without proper context, let me know so I can real it back or give a better explanation.

Also, I wanted to mention that after reading one of the reviews, I got the idea of including Sienna, a character from another academy story I was writing, called Horus Academy. Horus Academy was not originally part of the multiverse I described in the author's notes last time but after giving it some consideration, I want to include it. Sienna will be the only connection to Horus Academy, though. Other than her, I won't be using any OCs from Horus Academy.

QOTD: What is your favorite canon character from S/M/US/UM?

That's everything for today so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!