Hey y'all!
Oh so tired… Posting at approximately… 1 AM… Oh boy… Need… to finish… story! Alright, first chapter up and ready! I hope it's a good one, so I will be using a few characters from the Pokémon Universe, but I won't put them in the description, surprise y'all and keep ya guessing! *snicker evily* Anyways, hope you guys like this first chapter! Any and all reviews will be nice, thanks!
I do not own, nor ever will own, the rights to Pokémon or any of the characters, objects, creatures, etc. Nintendo owns all rights to this franchise… Those lucky, Japanese bastards…
Chapter 1
"Prepare for descent, we will be arriving in Lumiose City shortly."
The voice coming from the intercom woke Carter up with a startle, causing him to jump in his seat, abruptly interrupting his dreams. It took him a moment to realize where he was, shaking himself awake and reminding himself he was on his way to Kalos.
"Please, put your chairs in the upright position and your tray tables up", the voice began again. "On behalf of the captain and crew, we welcome you to Lumiose City and the Kalos region."
As she said this, Carter looked out the window catching the green fields of Kalos transforming into a monumental city. The tall buildings and skyscrapers cumulated into a massive tower that rose above the entire skyline.
'That must be Prism Tower', Carter thought. 'I've never anything like it! Even the buildings in Jubilife City couldn't match up to these structures!'
Carter was watching the magnificent sights out of the window until the plane finished landing. Once he got off of the plane he went to get his baggage, then to the pick-up area right outside the airport. The college sent him an e-mail a few days earlier stating to go to the pick-up area where transportation would be waiting to take him to the college. Although the transportation was not specified, Carter just assumed it would be advertised in front of the airport pretty well.
He looked around and saw a banner labeled "Pokémon Tech" above a desk. A line stretched out from the desk, which had four people pointing to the buses behind them, motioning each student on which bus they were to go on. The buses behind the desk had "Pokémon Tech" labeled on the side, while being painted in red and yellow colors. Assuming that this was the transportation the college mentioned, Carter picked up his luggage and made his way towards the back of the line.
Everyone in the line was talking with one another, making sure they weren't missing any of their luggage, and some, to Carter's joy, were letting their pokémon out and comparing them. Carter quickly decided to join with the latter part of the line, reaching towards his chain for his first, and most trustworthy, pokémon. He took the poké ball in his hands and enlarged it to its normal size. Then a red laser shot from the red and white sphere, revealing a Leafeon.
It stretched out on all fours and let out a joyful cry, happy to be out of its cramped domain. The pokémon quickly realized its surroundings, knowing it wasn't home anymore. It then looked towards its master, becoming a lot more relaxed and transforming the perplexed look on its face into one of comfort. Carter leaned over, giving him a poké snack as a reward for dealing with the long flight.
"Now that feels better doesn't it, Phylum?" Questioned Carter, though he could guess the answer. Phylum let out a loud cry showing he agreed with his owner's statement. Carter chuckled, "Glad you think so, buddy." He gave Phylum a scratch under his chin, earning another joyous cry.
The interaction between master and companion was interrupted by a voice coming from behind the two. "Wow… Is that a Leafeon?!"
They turned around and a saw a young man, most likely Carter's age, with red, curly hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black shirt and a red hoodie with khaki pants, ending at the top of a pair of black sneakers. The sun was shining on his pale skin as he was putting his hand over his head to get rid of the gleam on his glasses.
Carter turned his face into a friendly expression, responding with a simple "Of course!"
"Wow", he repeated. "I've only seen pictures of that pokémon in the pokédex!" He went over and laid a hand on Phylum to pet him, earning a positive response from the excited pokémon. "This is amazing! It's great to come to college out-of-region. You get to see so many different types of pokémon! I'm guessing, since you have a Leafeon, you're from the Sinnoh region, yes?"
"Yeah, you guessed right! The name's Carter, and this is Phylum." When he mentioned his companion's name it answered with a simple, acknowledging cry. "And what's your name?"
"Oh! I'm sorry, man. When I see a new pokémon I just get carried away!" He chuckled slightly at this, as did Carter. He got up from his kneeled position of petting Phylum. "My name's Aaron, I'm from Verdanturf City in the Hoenn region. And this…" Aaron paused as he reached for, what was unmistakably, a poké ball on his belt. The ball was thrown, releasing a Grumpig. "This is Marble!"
The pig-like pokémon gave a small cry, which was followed by a quick flurry of bizarre dance moves. After making itself so obviously dizzy it stumbled over towards Phylum. Both pokémon gave a happy cry in greeting, then went about communicating like their trainers weren't there.
"Well, while they're occupied", Carter began "I guess we can get to know each other. So, why are you coming all the way from Hoenn to Kalos?"
Aaron looked away from the pokémon's conversation. "Honestly?" Carter gave a quick nod of the head in response. "Hm. I don't exactly know, but it has to do with discovering and learning about new pokémon. Ever since I came back from my pokémon journey I've always wanted to learn about every single pokémon. So, I thought Kalos would be a great place to start! Researching the recently discovered fairy-type pokémon will be a great step towards that dream. What about you?" It was Aaron's turn to ask Carter the same question.
"I wanted a new start, simple as that." He answered shortly.
"Why would you want a new start?"
"I just want to get away, you know? Meet new people, see new pokémon, and begin my dream of traveling around the world."
"Wow, that's a pretty awesome dream. Kalos is defiantly a good place to start that!"
"Yeah, I thought so, too. I have a feeling it's gonna be quite the journey!" Carter had an excited look on his face.
"Indeed. I think college is gonna be… Interesting." Aaron said with the same excitement on his face.
Only a few minutes spent in Kalos and Carter had already made a new friend. He was looking forward to all the other people he would soon meet. They broke out of their conversation for a minute as they found themselves at the front of the line. A woman sitting behind it had a smile plastered on her face; happy to see new students, but not sit all day and fill out paperwork. Aaron and Carter turned to their pokémon, putting them back in their poké balls.
She gave a joyful greeting, "Hello! New students at Pokémon Tech?" The question was asked, even though it was kind of obvious they were new students.
"Yes", both answered at the same time.
"Alright then, may I have your name?" She pointed to Carter first.
"Name's Carter Valiant."
"Okay… Valiant… Valiant… Alright! You're on the second bus from the front and your residence hall is… Sycamore. Room 212!" She handed him a key which he assumed was to his room. "You're roommate is Justin Miles."
"Alright, thanks!"
She simply nodded, then turned to Aaron. "Name please?"
"Aaron Rogers!" He replied energetically.
"Rogers… Rogers… Okay, you're on the second bus from the front as well and in Juniper Hall, room… 115, with Dominique Petrard."
"Thank you!"
Aaron and Carter went to grab their bags, but before they could a pair of Machokes came and carried them effortlessly over towards the bus the woman pointed towards. "Well… I guess that takes care of that", said Aaron followed by a small laugh. They made their way over towards the designated bus. Once they entered they saw several freshman talking to one another and sitting with people they just met, but were quickly getting along with. The two decided on a seat in the middle of the bus, Aaron taking the aisle seat and Carter taking the window.
"So", Carter began. "What's your maj-"
He was cut short after he saw another person entering the bus. Aaron turned, as did many other boys, to see a beautiful girl walking down the aisle. She was wearing a light blue wool turtleneck accompanied by a light blue beret, skin-tight jeans, and a pair of high heels. Her skin was slightly tanned, and she had curly brown hair with eyes that matched the color. She made her way down the aisle, eventually taking the seat right across from Aaron. She turned towards him.
"Bonjour!" Greeted a cheerful voice. "Je m'appelle Juliette LeBlanc. Et tu t'appelle?"
"Um… Uh… I…" he stuttered for a moment, deciding if he should say something or not. Unfortunately, he did. "Um… Voulez-vous coucher avec moi… Ce soir?"
Juliette began to turn red, and a few of the new students watching this exchange began to laugh. This included Carter, who tried to hide his. "Vous ête un perverti!" She exclaimed as she slapped Aaron across the face hard enough to make every boy cringe around him. She got up out of her seat and made her way to the back of the bus.
"What… What did I say?" Aaron stared after her in disbelief at what just happened. He readjusted his glasses. "Well, I get to see how well she fits into those jeans. I guess that's a good consolation prize…"
Carter couldn't help it anymore and he burst into a small fit of laughter. Aaron watched this, very confused. Once the laughter ceased, Carter looked at Aaron. "Do you know what you said?"
"Well… No. Never learned Kalosian back home." He said regretfully. "I'm guessing you did though?"
"Yeah, I figured I'd be coming to Kalos sooner or later, so I took some classes. The first lesson we learned: never use words you don't know the meaning to!"
"Okay, I understand that now. What did I say?"
"Basically you asked her if she wanted to have sex with you tonight!" Carter barely finished this sentence as her burst into another fit of laughter.
"What?! Did I really just say that?!"
"Yeah", Carter replied in between his fits of laughter. "Then, she called you a pervert!"
"WHAT?! Oh no, this is bad!"
"Hey don't sweat it man. It's just one girl. Trust me, there will be plenty more at the University that aren't on this bus."
Once he realized this, after a few more beads of sweat, Aaron began to calm down. Carter was right, college was a new start for everyone. There would be plenty of chances to meet new friends, including girls.
"You're right", he said in his normal, calm voice. "I'll meet plenty more."
"See? There you go! You'll be fine."
"Yeah. So, anyways, I think you were in the middle of asking me something?"
"Hm…" Carter scratched his head, trying to remember what exactly he was going to ask "Oh yeah! Was gonna ask what your major is."
"Oh! Well, I'm an Evolutionary major, with an emphasis on Hoenn region pokémon!" Aaron answered proudly. "What about you?"
"I'm majoring in Gym Training and minoring in Pokémon Battle Studies", Carter replied as proudly as Aaron did.
Before Aaron could give a response, the intercom drew their attention to the front of the bus.
"Welcome everyone!" The intercom exclaimed. "Our bus will be departing now, and we should be at Pokémon Tech in about 30 minutes. Enjoy the ride!"
This was followed by a round of applause and cheering, lots of cheering. Everyone was excited to begin their new life in college.
"Here we go!" Carter yelled.
"This is gonna be great!" Aaron shouted.
The bus began its journey towards the university. Everyone's tone began to turn to one of enthusiasm and excitement. Aaron and Carter passed the rest of the bus telling the other about themselves and how they met their first pokémon. Aaron received Marble as a Spoink from his parents when he was young, and Uno and Zyra gave birth to an Eevee, which was given to Carter by his parents shortly after. Anything they could talk about, they did. Eventually, the bus pulled up through a pair of steel gates and revealed a vast campus with students everywhere.
Some of the students were playing with a Frisbee, enjoying a classic college sport. They had their pokémon join them. Others were basking in the outdoor environment, lying under trees, enjoying a good book, or playing guitar, almost all of them accompanied by a huge array of pokémon. Finally, over on a sectioned off area of the campus, there were dirt fields with white chalk creating a poké ball in the middle. Trainers were battling on several of the fields, unleashing spectacles of fire, electricity, ice, and many other types of attacks. Carter knew where he was headed. The intercom came on.
"Welcome to Pokémon Tech, new students!" It began. "We will be dropping you off at the Student Union building where you will be given your orientation tour. While this is happening, your luggage and belongings will be moved to your individual rooms by our campus's Machokes."
As the voice finished, the bus pulled up to a huge building. Aaron and Carter guessed this was the Student Union.
"Thank you for attending Pokémon Tech, and enjoy you're freshman year!" The voice finished with an energetic tone.
The students filed out and were directed to different tables located in front of the gothic styled building. As they were making their way to the separate areas, Machokes began opening the underside of the buses and began carrying luggage every which way. Though they were strong and brutish, they took great care in handling the students' possessions.
Aaron and Carter made their way to the center of the small square looking for the tables they were supposed to be at. A sign labeled "Evolutionary Majors" drew Aaron's attention.
"Looks like that's where I'm supposed to go", he said to himself. Then to Carter, "I guess we won't be in the same group. We'll see each other later, right?"
"Definitely!" He happily, and energetically, replied. "Let me get your Holo Caster ID, then I can call you later and we can hang out."
"Great!"
They exchanged IDs, then went their separate ways. Across from the Evolutionary Majors table was the Gym Training Majors table. Carter made his way and checked in. He was directed to a group over by the Pokémon Tech Battle Stadium. It wasn't that far of a walk, only about ten minutes away from the Student Union building, and when Carter saw the stadium he was awed.
The stadium was huge, compared to most battle stadiums, and located outside. That wasn't the best part about it, though. Recently the stadium was rebuilt to be able to turn into any pokémon environment. From grass to water, dragon to fairy, and everything in between. This was used to help trainers with strategizing in environments that suited them, as well as environments that would work against them. He saw the group standing out in front of the stadium, he assumed this was it. He went up to the group and tapped a girl on the shoulder, wanting to make sure he was in the right place.
When she turned around Carter was slightly stunned. Everything about this girl was beautiful, from the dark blonde hair that went down to her neck to the green eyes that highlighted her face. She was sporting a pink tank top and wore tan cargo pants that came to the middle of her shin with a pair of blue Vans. He didn't know this girl, but Carter was going to change that. Everything about her was beautiful in his eyes.
"Hey!" Was the first thing that came from her mouth. She wore a bright, friendly smile on her face, adding to her beauty.
"H-Hey…!" Carter stuttered a little, chastising himself in his mind for this.
"Um… Did you want something?" This added a questioning hint to her tone.
"Uh…" Carter couldn't remember why he poked her on the shoulder. Finally, it came to him, "Yeah! I just wanted to know: is this the Gym Training Majors group?"
The girl's face beamed again. "Yup! This is it! And since you're here I'm guessing that's your major?"
"Yeah, you guessed it! The name's Carter." He raised his hand out to shake hers, it took all of his power to stop it from shaking.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Eileen!" She met his hand with hers, shaking it a couple of times before letting go. "So, where are you from?"
"I'm from Eterna City in Sinnoh, what about you?"
"Really?! I'm from Sinnoh, too! I lived in Pastoria City!"
"Wow! Shows what a small world it is, huh?" Eileen giggled at the small joke.
As they finished this small back and forth, they saw an older man with a white mustache and his head covered by a white hat with a red ribbon encircling the cylinder part of it appear at the front of the group. He wore a red dress shirt with a white vest, brown dress pants, and equally colored shoes. The man's eyes were covered by a pair of black "Lennon" glasses and he carried a wooden walking stick.
"Welcome Gym Training Majors!" He began with a boisterous voice that didn't reflect his age. "I am the former gym leader of Cinnabar Island, Blaine. I will be the hands-on and field professor. Most of my classes will be held in this stadium behind me."
A lot of faces stared a gasp, most likely these were the students coming from Kanto. The group started murmuring phrases like "I know him!" or "My brother or sister battled him when he was a trainer!" Claiming this small piece of fame seemed important to some of the Kanto trainers, so Blaine didn't interrupt them. Once the murmurs grew into a rumble of voices, Blaine cut them off.
"Alright!" He shouted. "Enough with the gossip and rumors!" After this he regained his calm, cool composure. "Okay, students. We will be taking a tour of the campus so we can show where your classes will be held, where battles can be held legally, and where you will be staying while attending college here. Once we get to your designated hall, you will leave us and pick up your class schedule and situate yourselves. Do we all understand?"
There were nods of affirmation and several words of understanding coming from the group.
"Well then", his face was hidden by his hat, but everyone could see the smile he was now wearing. "Let's begin shall we! Come this way and I will show you the stadium!"
Thus, the tour began, and the students were slowly funneled into the stadium. Over the course of the tour, Blaine showed his more lax and happy side. Eventually the students realized that the yelling from earlier was unlike his character. He was a kind, caring, and a genuinely happy man, enjoying his retirement teaching the art of gym leadership to students.
During the tour, Carter and Eileen either paid attention to Blaine or got to know each other. They talked about their likes and dislikes, their individual journeys and battles around Sinnoh, and anything else that either of them brought up. A friendship was quickly forming between the two.
The group went all around campus, seeing the sports arenas and gymnasium, the library, the dining hall, and, what mattered to the group most, the pokémon battle grounds. After seeing all this, they eventually made their way to the living quad, which was surrounded by six identical brick buildings with an Ivy League school architecture. They stopped at the first building, Oak Hall, named after the famous professor from the Kanto region. All six buildings were named after a famous professor from each of the six main regions: Kanto (Oak), Johto (Elm), Hoenn (Birch), Sinnoh (Rowan), Unova (Juniper), and Kalos (Sycamore).
Once they got to Birch Hall, Eileen said her good-byes.
"Well, this is my stop. I guess I'll see you later?" She questioned hopefully.
"Of course", Carter replied with a happy smile. "Here, give me your Holo Caster ID and I'll give you a call once I'm set up in my room, okay?"
She returned the smile. "Okay!" They traded Caster IDs. "When we're done unpacking, I want a battle out of you. Sound fair?" Her smile turned into a challenging and determined grin.
"Sure!" Carter mirrored her expression. "Loser buys the winner dinner?"
"Well, it's free at the dining hall technically." Carter obviously forgot this, rubbing the back of his head as he noticed his mistake. "Let's just say winner has bragging rights?"
"Sounds good to me!"
"Great! Well, see ya!"
"Yeah, see ya!"
Carter waved good-bye to Eileen then sprinted to catch up with the group. He was happy to have met her, and even happier to have gotten her Caster ID.
'This is gonna be fun', his thoughts echoed in his head. 'I can tell!'
Once he caught up with the group, they went to Rowan and Juniper Hall before stopping at Sycamore Hall. When they reached the last hall, about twenty students were left. Blaine addressed them as he did to the rest of the groups.
"Well, this is our stop. Save the best for last, eh?" He laughed at his own joke. As he calmed down, he finished his short speech. "Okay, so most of you will be meeting with me at the beginning of the week on Monday or Tuesday for your first "Applied Gym Techniques" class. I look forward to seeing all of you. Good luck, and…" He left this part hanging for a moment, "enjoy yourselves! You're in college and most of you will only get to live your college years once. I will see you all soon, I'm sure. Good-bye!"
He made his way off the steps to the dorm hall, heading towards the exit of the living quad. This left the students excited, ready to begin their college lives. Carter made his way to the door, ready to begin his new life.
'Everything is going great, so far', he thought happily. 'Let's see what else this place has for us.'
He looked at his poké balls, knowing his pokémon felt the same excitement. They were ready, time to begin his – their – freshman year. And Carter knew it would be an exciting first year.
Alright guys! I hope you enjoyed this! I hope you guys enjoyed the French mistranslation part the most, I thought it'd bring a nice dash of humor to the story. Hopefully most of you got the song reference haha XD. Anyways, please keep reviewing this story for anything and everything: plot, content, grammer, anything! I always like some positive criticism!
And I promise in the next chapter things will get a lot more… *quote, unquote fingers* "Interesting". (cue Dr. Evil laugh) Until next time y'all, peace! Thank ya kindly for reading :)
