The Road to Rule: Chapter 2
Yellow created her own goal from dust, from the ashes of her life around her. To use her knowledge and skills to create a better place, for others to live out their less dramatic lives. She decided to become a Pokemon ranger- not just any run-of-the-mill ranger- but one who truly helped the world benefit.
Yellow: Age 18. Location: SPU (Special Capturing Unit) Advanced Ranger Academy (Johto, near Ecruteak City) Date: January 9th, Year: +10
My Senior year.
Not that I had spent much time at the academy in the first place, only three years. The academy is my home, right in the middle of the lovely forests around Ecruteak City, although the layout is kind of confusing. SPU Academy has a couple of areas referred to as 'sites', basically just the places most of the students gather, and there are actually buildings. Like the main site, for example, which held the staff building, library, study hall, and so forth, and was all enclosed by a heavy gate, manned by regular security forces. Other than that, there are the two dorm sites.
The second site, commonly referred to as "the box" was made up of the lower grade student dorms. The dorm is pretty much a huge box, with a cut out center for a courtyard. The box itself is a stone building with wood flooring, and the occasional window coveted by all students. It's about two stories tall, the hallways are big enough for two people to stand side-by-side, and each room is about the minimum size you can have with a bed, a closet, and a small desk. It's pretty laughable, considering how prestigious the academy is. The plus side is, the whole dorm is surrounded by tall trees- save for a small path leading back to the main campus, which makes it an extremely comfortable way to live. For me anyway.
The other dorms, for the more- how should I put this- overly "gifted" students, are practically next door to the main campus site, and are protected by equally thick security. Their dorms look more like a high-class hotel, or maybe a resort or something? All that fancy stuff crammed into an equally fancy building. A headache if you ask me. The dorms over there are easily twenty times the size of the box's rooms, and they probably get a 5-star breakfast. Barely anyone could afford- I mean, live up to the expectations of the dorm to actually stay there. I mean seriously, it has a pool.
The academy likes to say that all students are given equal opportunity to excel and be rewarded, and I guess I can't really argue, because high ranking students really are asked to live there. On the other hand, that's only about four or five students a year, and that dorm holds at least sixty. Let's just say a lot of donations are given to the academy, and they all come from names. Names that the students have, the students that live in that dorm.
Anyway, the rest of the school isn't really a specified area, other than the training sites for students to have field classes or get in some much-pressured training. Really, it's just a no-go zone for anyone who isn't supposed to be there. The school holds a lot of rare Pokemon, rare research, and just about everything on new ranger tech. Hell, this academy is the one that creates the new ranger tech. It isn't the top ranger academy for just anything. There's a reason I am here, and it's not just to screw off.
I walk down one of the many paths that help navigate the forever-expanding campus until I reach the main gate, guarded by two rather sleepy-looking men in black uniforms, with the SPU logo (a black ring, with a golden net background). As I approach them, it seems they're already talking about something.
"Those people, they've just been trying for attention and whatnot, it's best to ignore it." The older guard looks like he's been arguing.
"But Sir, it's not like anything is prove-" The younger guard is cut off as they notice me.
"Good-morning Miss." The older guard says as I approach the gate.
"Good morning~" I say, fishing around for my student ID. The younger guard, who is stationed here every morning, shakes his head.
"Miss, have you forgotten your ID again?" He asks politely, although frowning probably because of the earlier conversation.
"Uhm,..." I fish around in my bag some more. "Not againnn.."
The younger guard gives another head-shake. "Just go on through, I know it's a long walk back to the dorm." The older guard mutters something under his breath, but still waves me through.
I nod in thanks, and walk through the towering black gates of the academy.
When you first walk in through the gates, you're either in a palace or a prison. You'd better decide quickly. The stone road can take you to any of the major buildings, curving along various paths. The massive library and the study hall are to your direct right, while the food court and some of the indoor classrooms are on your left. The place itself is gorgeous, with running waterfalls, scattered plants and various types of beautiful flowers that have no possible way of growing in this climate naturally. On the other hand, there is security everywhere. All the time. Cameras, guards, growlithe, you name it.
I wave as I pass by a couple of freshman students, you can tell by their uniforms. Orange stripe, zero stars. All of the winter uniforms are black shirts with collars, and either pants or skirt depending on male/female. It's not uncommon to see the girls wear pants, though. The only real differences are the shoulders and the collars. On the shoulders, there is an orange (freshman), yellow (sophomore), white (junior), or gold (senior) stripe. On the collar, there can be up to three golden stars, showing your rank. While the top rank is actually ten, we can't rank above three until graduation. The actual ranger uniforms differ in which location you work in, but the Rangers here wear gold and white.
I spot the indoor classrooms as I continue to walk down the left side of the area, petting the occasional Pokemon that sticks out its head of the bushes. My first-hour class is Evolutionary Theory II, which sadly, is indoors. I step through the double-doors that lead to the first lecture hall. Today we're supposed to be having another lecture on mega evolution, but when I walk in, it looks like a different story. I throw my bag down onto a desk and join the crowd of seniors.
"What happened..?" A girl beside me asks, she's a fellow two-star senior.
"I..dont.." I struggle to weave through the brigade of people blocking my already short view. "Kno-wh-ahhhh!?" I burst out the front of the crowd, to find my homeroom teacher gasping on the floor. I hear whispering behind me.
"Someone has already gone to get a medic, what else can we do?"
"He looks like he's been paralyzed or something."
"But.. Mr. Berlitz... He was fine just a few minutes ago!"
A thump alerts everyone to a change in his condition. My teacher falls to the floor, apparently unconscious, but he was still breathing. The rest of the students start whispering again, something about a raichu. Some screaming is heard from the lobby in a very conspicuous fashion, until the double-door classroom entrance flashes open.
"Medic! Coming through! Move it move it, out of the way!" A nurse comes running into the room followed by six professional Rangers, who proceed to block everyone's view of the teacher after clearing all the students out of the way.
"Attention all students!" A 6-star ranger announces, "everything will be fine, our medic will put Mr. Berlitz into better care. Please proceed to follow Captain Richard here to an outdoor lesson!"
Captain Richard turned out to be this bell-sergeant looking man, a few scars here and there, eyepatch, he's got it all. If his job didn't work out as a ranger, he could go sign up to be a pirate, that's all I'm saying.
The class starts to walk out the doors back into the lobby, but Captain Bell Sergeant over there clearly had something to say.
"Before you take one damn step outta that door, you'd better slow your asses down, cause we're gonna have a talk." I stop and turn around, the rest of the students around me slowly do so as well.
"I'm not gonna hear one word out of you kids about this incident. Period. This is damn well classified, and if I learn about anything that happened here has spread to anyone, you'd better be damned to hell before I come after ya, or you're gonna wish ya were already down there." He stops for a moment, letting that sink in, "Dismissed to your outdoor class."
I probably hear the best comment for what I was thinking right now from the guy standing right behind me.
"We're in some deep shit now."
Yellow Age:18 Location: SPU Academy. Date: January 13th, Friday. Year: +10
Five days have passed since the incident with my homeroom teacher, and things have only gotten worse since then. The outdoor class we had afterword turned into a disaster. As soon as we had gotten to the field, a bunch of Pokemon had attacked us. Not that it was a problem, we all had experience with performing captures, but it was odd nonetheless. The weirdest thing about it was, I couldn't feel anything but confusion from these Pokemon. They weren't mad, but they felt, caged, I guess.
I lay with a pillow behind my back on my small bed with Chuchu sleeping on my lap, doing my Type Studies III homework. It was already late in the day, and a lot of my classes were canceled this week for some reason. My room wasn't too bad of a place to be. Being the head of the girl's dorm had a few perks, even if it was in the box. First of all, I have one of the very few rooms with a window, and arguably one of the biggest rooms in the dorm. (By at least a couple inches!) Second of all, I have a TV, which isn't really much of a perk, because all of the juniors below me like to invite themselves in to use the TV. The TV is on in the background while I finish up my homework.
Knock knock knock.
I sigh. Probably more juniors here to steal my alone time. I ignore it.
Knock knock knock.
"I'm sorry, but I am pretty busy right now, could you come back later?" I feel pretty bad, since they're so persistent.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The loudness scares me out of my usual sleepiness.
"Get out here, Senior Yellow! We've got places to go, things to do~~~"
"GOLD, could you keep your voice down!? This is a dorm!"
Quite frankly, the female voice wasn't being so quiet either.
"Aww common Cris, you know everything I do is for you~"
Silence.
And then screaming.
I open the door to find Gold and Crystal interlocked in some sort of wrestling hold, Gold flailing and screaming, Crystal looking murderous. Silver is standing in the hallway, looking at a pokegear, paying zero attention to the problematic couple.
"Er, did you need me for something?" I stood there, peeking out into the hallway, pajamas on, Chuchu on my shoulder, Pokemon Types and Their Effect (my book) in one hand and a questioning look on my face. And the TV is still on.
Crystal, in her awkward position on the floor, turns around to look at me and blushes, realizing exactly what she's doing. She steps up and brushes off her lab coat, giving one last 'don't you ever do that again' look to Gold before looking at me.
"Ah, sorry for that- incident- just now. You probably want to know why we're here." Crystal's calm demeanor returns in a flash.
"That would be helpful, yes," I start, almost giggling at the sight of Gold mimicking Crystal in the background. "Not that I don't always appreciate random visits in the middle of the night, but there must be something more."
Crystal glares at Gold behind her, who is now walking slowly away and whistling. Silver looks up, looks at Gold, and then goes back to doing whatever Silver does.
"Actually, we have two reasons for coming here." Crystal says. "They're both a bit complicated, so I'll just tell you about one right now, the other topic can wait."
I yawn.
"What can I help you with, Crystal?"
"Actually, I would like to hear about the incident with Prof. Berlitz. You see, I am doing some research for Platina at the moment, involving her father, and I heard that you were there in person. Would you care to tell me about it?" Crystal says brightly, although her concern for the fellow PokeDex holder shows.
That's when the guilt hits me. I don't know how she learned about Professor Berlitz, but it was still classified information. I could be suspended from the academy for doing this without permission, or worse, expelled.
"Crystal, I can't just talk to you about that kind of stuff. It's classified. I'm sorry, really." My guilt shows, and she must notice it because she tries again.
"Please, Yellow I-" the TV interrupts her loudly, spilling sound out into the hallway.
"And on camera now, a researcher from R.A.I.D facilities, claiming to know something about an unknown virus!" Crystal rushes into my room, along with Gold, who just throws himself on my bed. Silver looks up from what he's doing and walks over to peek in through the door.
A peppy looking lady with pink hair comes on screen with a good-looking black haired guy in a lab suit.
"So Mr.-"
"Sparks"
"Mr. Sparks, you claim to have information on an unknown virus? Has something happened in the R.A.I.D. Labs?"
-"Oh, isn't raid or whatever that new Pokemon research place in Kanto?" Gold asks with no real intention of getting an answer. "I forgot what it stands for-"
-"Shush it, Gold-!" Says (everyone else there) simultaneously.
"No, no, nothing of the sort. You see my dear Miss Chelia, the scientists at the lab have recently found a mutation of a type of illness-"
"Oh my! Is it lethal? Are we in any immediate danger? What is going to happen to the R.A.I.D facilities now?"
"...a type of illness commonly referred to as paralyzation."
"Oh! So quite like the status condition!"
"In a sense, yes, but for now my scientists are still conducting experiments as to what this could mean for Pokemon and humans alike."
"Well, do promise to come back onto our show and share your findings! The world must know~!"
"Of course, my dear."
"And that concludes today's news program. Stay tuned for the next hit-series TV show: "Speaking of Pokemon"!
"Hey, so, is that what you were wanting to talk with Senior Yellow about, Cris~?" Gold asks, pretty nonchalantly.
"It.. Is.." Crystal answers nervously, then turns around to look at me, nervously, and I return the look. "I think we can postpone asking you any questions today, Yellow. Sorry for the intrusion."
"Right.. No problem.." I start reminiscing about earlier events of the week. "Oh, wait," I say before they slowly exit my room, minus Silver who is already in the hallway again. "Didn't you have something else you wanted to talk about?"
"Oh! Right, how could I forget. Well, I'll let Silver do the honors, because it's the only reason he is here." We all step out into the hallway, while Crystal and Gold give up their space so Silver actually has room.
"I'm supposed to invite you to a wedding."
Yellow: A whaaaaat?!
Silver: A wedding
Yellow: Who's?!
Silver: Red's
Everyone in the universe: o_o"
Silver: I am joking.
Yellow: Really?
Me: No~! Red's getting married to you!
Yellow: ...
Me: Just not for a few more years~! (/◕ヮ◕)/
Me: Anyway, as much as I like my first chapter, I'm a pretty impatient person and want to start the actual plot, so I'm releasing the second chapter before I probably should. I tried reaaaaaalllly hard to make up with some humor in this one~ hope you enjoyed! Please review and see you next chapter!
Yellow: ...*blushing furiously at the thought of her own wedding*
Red: I wasn't even MENTIONED in this chapter, I mean seriously, I could've at least been in one of those picture-of-all-your-friends-when-they-where-younger-sitting-on-your-desk things!