Author Notes: All spots are filled! Thank you for your support, and don't forget to review. Also, you might get bored if you expect a lot of action scenes in this fanfic. This fanfic will be EXTREMELY dialogue heavy. Sometimes I won't describe the background so you leave it to your interpretation and just picture the characters messing around while talking and talking and talking.
Arc 1
Chapter 2
The girl with the hidden purpose - Part 1
A week has passed since students began attending Luminosity Academy. Most of the first year students spent their time there completely alone, or not paying attention. Obviously, it wasn't a problem for the teachers, considering how they were accustomed to handle with teenagers like those. Tristam decided to hang around Robin, or perhaps, it'd be better to say that Robin decided for him.
"Come on, mate, I can't leave you alone. It just doesn't feel right, you know?" That was the reasoning behind his decision. Robin didn't bother him, it was just that maybe the guy was being forced by a teacher to be with Tristam and he doesn't want to be in debt with more people.
Since we were on high school, their Battling teacher gave them the more advance lessons about battling. Some of them learned new things they could put into practice, some of them just blatantly ignored the teacher. As with any other class. The second week has the day were the teachers start to exploit their students' abilities while dealing with their psychological issues, if they had some.
It was Sunday and gladly for Tristam, he had enough money to maintain his family without any bounty to catch. All his homework was done yesterday and this day was one to relax and feel good. Lairon was sleeping on his bed, as usual, while he went to his garden and lied down in the grass, enjoying the pleasant sounds of nature. He lived in area where no cars could circulate, so it only made things better.
Ring.
"…"
Riiiing.
"That's my phone."
Riiiing.
The teenager stood up, cleaning his trousers as he sighed his way to where his smartphone was. It was an unknown number, even more reasons to not answer. Hesitating, he touched the button to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Tristam, hi!" a feminine voice saluted. Her voice was a bit high pitched, enough for Tristam to instantly recognize it was a girl. The teenager finally recognized her.
"Shannon. Shannon Halliwell," Tristam said.
"Huh? Do you have my phone number?" Shannon pondered.
"No, I remember your voice, but you certainly have mine," Tristam confirmed.
"Your what?" the girl asked.
"My phone number. How did you get it?"
"Robin gave me it."
"I don't recall giving Robin my phone number," Tristam thought.
"Anyway, you left your Psychology book on your desk on Friday, so what if we meet so I give you the book?" Shannon continued.
"We don't have Psychology until Friday."
"So?"
"…"
"Tristam?"
"I don't feel like dating anyone right now."
"W-what?!" She shouted, uneasily. The boy heard a scream from outside, but ignored it.
"A person who just wanted to give me my book back would've simply returned the book once we have classes again."
"Well, OK, the point isn't that."
"Sorry Shannon. I'm not up for a date."
"I don't want to date you! I simply want to get to know my classmates better. Robin, Shadic and Darena already accepted to meet at the Café. Do you have anyone else's phone?"
"I have Chase's phone."
"I doubt he will accept, though."
"I don't, but I'll call him."
"What do you mean 'I don't'?"
"I don't want to go, Shannon."
"Why not?"
"I'm in the midst of something right now," Tristam lied.
"You were not."
"How do you know?" He asked when he suddenly he felt someone pinching his cheek.
"Good morning, Tris," Shannon giggled, not letting go of his left cheek. She was wearing a red tank top, some black jean shorts, a pair of sneakers and a baseball cap, slightly tilted to the right.
"How did you get in, no, how do you know where I live?"
"None of your business," she joked.
"It's like all of my business. Suddenly a stranger knows where I live. AND my phone number."
"I would be more surprised if a 'stranger' if you would call me that, from the opposite gender, saw me in my underwear," she countered, gazing at him and his purple boxers. "You have some nice abdominals right there, if I dare say something like that."
"Thank you. I get that a lot."
"Where are your parents?"
"Why?" Tristam asked, while heading up to his room to get changed.
"Well, I don't go around my house in my underwear, you know," Shannon explained, entering Tristam's house.
"They've gone out, apparently," the boy confirmed, taking a look at their room.
"Oh. Why were you wearing just underwear?"
"It's hot," he said, as he went down the stairs, wearing his usual attire.
"Why are you wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt if it's hot?"
"Let's leave to the Café, shall we?"
"It's funny how there are probably fifty plus Cafés here and you just said 'the Café' as if there isn't any other you'd go to," she noted, walking besides Tristam.
Tristam looked away. "I'm just doing things the way you are doing them."
"And how am I doing them?"
"Abruptly," the teenager answered.
"Um, sorry. I want to know everyone I can and be friends, like a normal girl."
"Everyone at that school is anything but."
"True. Even so, that doesn't mean we have to keep trying to be different."
"We don't try to be different."
"That's not what I meant, I'm sorry. It doesn't mean we don't have try and fit in. As sad as it sounds, we are abnormal and much different from the rest of the people around. We're not leaving on a Pokemon Journey next year..."she was interrupted by Tristam.
"Not every single one of us wants to go on a Pokemon Journey."
"My point is, we have to try our best to get along with everyone we meet."
Song: Bakemonogatari OST - 25 Suteki Meppou
"That's quite nice of you. However, I think most of our classmates aren't interested in getting along with everyone."
"Are you talking about Chase?"
"And Persephone. Have you met her?"
"Well, I've seen her, she's always lonely and doesn't talk to anyone," she responded. "It...makes me feel kind of bad, but again, feeling bad for people is rude, isn't it?"
"It is. Even so, I don't feel the slightest intention of being nice to her."
"Tristam, don't say those kind of things," Shannon scolded his classmate.
"Sorry, the sight of a girl choking one of my friends just because she thought a friend was lying about something not concerning her is enough to disturb me and give me an extremely bad impression of that person. I wonder why?"
"So you care for Robin."
"No, not yet at least."
"Then why do you call him a friend?"
"Back to where I was getting at..." Tristam continued.
"He evaded the question," Shannon said to herself, giggling.
"I don't want to mess with people who have such an aggressive attitude," he said hesitantly, being constantly reminded of his periodical conversations with Chase.
"She must've gone through a lot of trouble. Like all of us."
"I don't see you around choking people."
Shannon's face darkened. "It's not that I don't feel impulsive at times," she whispered, being touched by Tristam's statement. In the wrong way.
"Anyway, talking about other people and their attitudes is something I'd rather not do," Tristam finished, noticing her reaction at his last statement.
Shannon nodded, trying to seem as upbeat as possible. "You're quite right, it is impolite," she agreed, accommodating her hair.
"Changing the topic, where is this Café we're going to?"
"Somewhere nearby."
"She's incredibly vague about it," Tristam thought.
"It's nice though. They serve some of the best mint ice cream in the whole Kalos region."
"You seem to enjoy mint a lot."
"Mint is one of my favourite things in life."
"Wow, that's a bold statement," Tristam thought.
"Mint and sweets are the two things I like eating the most, you know. They just cheer me up."
"Mint. I've never tried mint."
"What?!" she screamed from the top of her lungs, facing Tristam with a shocked expression. "How can you?"
"It's just that...I've never been really interested in it."
"You're missing one of the best parts of life out there!"
"She went from sweet girl to annoying mint fangirl, that was quick," Tristam thought.
"Mint is like an art! It represents our bittersweet thoughts and reasoning behind our actions! It's about how we see life, how life is, mint is just a symbolic representation of the bad and good parts about our everyday routine."
"I wonder if the Red fangirls feel like Red is some kind of God like this girl thinks about mint," Tristam pondered.
"When we get there, you'll try mint ice cream right away! And perhaps accompany some mint with quesadillas?"
"Quesa- what?"
"It's another kind of good food. BUT MINT WITH CHOCOLATE DUDE."
The word dude sounded way out of the ordinary for someone like Shannon to say, so much that it resonated in Tristam's puzzled head for a few long minutes with the girl next to him getting excited about a herb. "I will prevent this girl from smoking weed no matter what it takes," he promised himself.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"No, it doesn't matter."
"Anyway, you know what is as good as mint? Flour related things. Oh my dear god, a chocolate cake with mint, it just fills me up thinking about it!"
"I felt rather lucky to be walking next to a girl like this. Most guys would probably be looking forward to hanging out with someone like her. Again, I felt," Tristam narrated to himself. "Wait, why am I doing this?"
"Buttermilk and poire William panna cotta with ginger doughnuts and pear purée is one of the best food I ever ate, you should totally try it out."
"That sounds like some food that has an overly long name in a fancy restaurant just to make people feel right even though they're paying such a ludicrous amount of money for a dessert."
"Huh, did you say something?"
"No."
"Oh, okay. The Café is just around the corner."
End of song.
"It's been a bloody long time since I felt so good about reaching a place," Tristam thought to himself.
The Café was beside a river, with multiple tables and chairs being right in front of it, for people to enjoy the sight of the water, feeling a gentle breeze, while drinking their wake up coffee. It had an amazing placement, it is quite surprising Tristam hadn't heard of such a place, as it seemed something that came straight out of a book. A truly wonderful place.
Over one of the tables. He recognized Darena and Robin, but there was a boy who he never saw before. He assumed that he was that Shadic person Shannon mentioned, and gathering from how Tristam didn't remember him, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that he couldn't be a very outgoing person.
Shadic was 5'3 with light brown skin and pure black eyes. He had a healthy build, not too skinny or overweight, and certainly not with a lot of muscle. His hair was a bit bushy and didn't have a defined form, it just went wherever the wind wanted it to go. He was wearing a grey sweater with blue jeans and black sneakers.
"We're here, guys! Tristam is going to taste the deliciousness of mint for the first time in his life."
"Oy, I never agreed to that."
"You did," Shannon neglected.
"When?"
"The moment we began talking."
Robin chuckled mischievously, receiving a cold glare from Tristam's eye. The short teenager decided to sit next to him, so he could perhaps make him a bit nervous about his trolling attitude. "Hey there. Why did you pick up my phone?" Tristam asked Robin with a menacing tone.
"Reasons," he said, still chuckling.
"Seriously. Don't pick up my phone. Ever. Again," Tristam seriously told him.
"Why is that? Are you dating a girl you don't want me to know?"
"Don't ask me if you want to know why."
"Who should I ask then?"
"I don't know, find out for yourself."
Robin looked away. "Anyway, the guy in front of you is Shadic."
"I supposed so. Hi."
Shadic looked up to meet Tristam's eyes, blushing. "H-hi."
"D'aww! Ain't he cute?" Darena stated, hugging Shadic as hard as he could.
"No," Robin and Tristam said in unison.
"Come on, cheer up a bit," Shannon encouraged them.
"I'm always cheered up. Tristam's the only one who's sad. It's just that I don't find him cute."
"I'm not sad."
"You can't deny he's cute, Robin," Darena said.
Tristam fell in slow-motion to the floor. "I'm being ignored."
"Let go please," Shadic shyly asked, becoming slightly purple.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Darena regreted.
"It's okay, I was running out of air, that's all."
"He talks about it like it is nothing!" Tristam recognized.
"I'm sososososososososososososososososososo-"
The waitress arrived as Darena continued apologizing. Robin looked up to the waitress and smiled, he asked for four coffees and a big chocolate mint cake. The woman wrote the order down on her notepad and entered the cafeteria. "She had a nice figure," Robin acknowledged.
"That's not something I would like to know," Shannon told Robin.
"Come on, I'm sure girls have dirty thoughts from time to time, don't you?"
"I don't like where this conversation is going," Tristam thought.
"Well, we sure do, but just not of people of our same gender. Just like you with Shadic."
"-sososososososososososososososososososososososososo-"
"So what kind of dirty thoughts do you have?" Robin asked her.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, this is going to get awkward for them pretty soon," Tristam braced himself.
"I wouldn't like to be so open about them. What about you, Shadic?" Shannon added another person to the talk.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, what kind of dirty thoughts do you have about girls?" Robin asked him.
He jumped at thinking of it. "Um..." he stuttered while receiving mischievous grins from both Shannon and Robin. "I-I kind of have a thing for glasses."
The bomb was dropped.
"That's interesting. What colour do you like them? Red?" Shadic slowly nodded. "I also like redheads."
Silence.
Robin froze in realization as he accidentally revealed his fetish. "Um..."
Shannon chuckled loudly and Tristam couldn't help but smile at how careless Robin was. Shadic giggled a little as their coffee arrived. "T-thank you," Robin thanked, stuttering.
"-sosososososososososososososo-"
"The cake will arrive in a few minutes, OK?" The waitress told them. The four teenagers nodded as Darena continued apologizing.
"How long will she go on like that?" Shadic asked Shannon.
"I'm not sure, it varies according to the person. If she does it this long then it must be because of something."
"Perhaps because of actual preoccupation about us?" Tristam thought to himself.
"I take it you have been hanging out with her for longer than us," the smiling boy noted.
"Yeah. Eva's kind of rough to talk to and she kind of told me to...
"Shannon, you're a nice person. But fuck off, I don't feel like being with someone," Eva ruthlessly ordered.
"And that happened."
"Yeah. Reminds me of Persephone," Robin commented.
"It reminds me of her too," Tristam acknowledged.
"Who is Persephone?" Shadic asked curiously.
"Another girl who's extremely temperamental," Robin answered.
"-sososososososososos sorry!" Darena finished.
Shadic turned to face the apologizing girl and smiled at her. "It's okay, it's not a big deal."
"Thank you for forgiving me!" the girl thanked loudly.
"That took long," Tristam noted.
"Here's the cake."
"Tristam," Shannon seriously called out his name.
"What?"
"Eat. Cake."
"Ugh..."
"What are you ughing me about?"
Ughing is not a word.
"I don't want to."
"Do it."
"There's too much heat," Tristam argued, trying to find a proper excuse.
"You'd probably be one of Team Magma's main rivals, then," Darena chuckled.
"I hate it too," Shannon grimly admitted.
"Huh?" Darena faced Shannon, who suddenly spoke.
"I hate the heat too," she admitted, her face darkening.
Noticing her expression, Robin quickly reacted and cut a piece of cake. He pushed it into Tristam's mouth, and it was received by laughs. But even so...Tristam and Robin picked up something as she admitted her hate.
Song: Bakemonogatari Soundtrack - Sawari Neko
"Dude, stop! Not cool man," a generic boy said.
"Grovyle, quick attack," Chase ordered, grinning.
His Grovyle run at full speed to hit the generic trainer who was running by his trainer, and then pushed him, causing Chase to twist his ankle. Chase, as the aggressive bastard he is, decided to physically assault the guy, because violence solves stuff.
The boy flew a few meters. He stood up, chuckled and grinned at Chase. "So that's how you wanna play, huh?"
"Indeed," Chase nodded, grinning. "Shoot me with your best shot."
"Monferno, Flame Wheel," the boy said as he released his Pokemon from his Poke Ball.
"Grovyle, try to dodge it!"
The Monferno began spinning and burned. He rolled towards Grovyle. The grass pokemon managed to dodge the hit, but his trainer wasn't so quick to do so. He stood aside, but the monkey's flames burned his left thigh. Chase flinched and faced the opponent's Pokemon.
"You fuck!"
Chase ran towards Monferno and kicked its head, which it responded with a punch to his stomach. He fell on his back, spitting out some blood. His Grovyle shot some seeds from the position he was standing, but it barely hurt the other Pokemon.
"Attacking Pokemon with your own body, eh? You are one crazy idiot, y'know that," the boy laughed.
"Stop!" a feminine voice shouted, as a Togekiss slashed the air with its winds, hitting the Monferno in the process, causing him to fall to the floor.
The girl had midnight blue hair and sapphire blue eyes and pale skin. Her hair was extremely long and was semi-tied in a french braid. She had a slim body and was about 5'3. Her attire consisted of a light pink blouse with a white knee length floral skirt and flats.
"I see you brought a friend," the boy noticed, still smirking.
"I don't know her," Chase countered, gazing at the girl wondering who she was.
"Temperance Oliver, but my name is not important," Temperance said as her Togekiss slashed the Monferno once again, making it faint.
"Tsk," the boy pulled out a Tropius and a Luxio, the Luxio instantly bit the Togekiss, electrifying it.
"Grovyle, pound it!"
The Grovyle punched Luxio out of the way and used his leaves as a blade, cutting the Luxio. Togekiss flew off without any order from its trainer and slashed the air multiple times so it headed towards the Tropius, which, because of its heavy body, had to endure the hit as hard as he could.
"Tropius, Air Slash to the Grovyle, Luxio, get out of the way!"
Togekiss flew at lightning speed and hit the Tropius. He kept hitting the Grass/Flying Pokemon so it wasn't able to make any move. "Grovyle, Pound the Luxio continuously!"
"Crunch its arm, Luxio!"
Grovyle punched the Luxio's face, the electric Pokemon biting its arm fiercely. The grass pokemon did its best to not pass out and continued pounding the Spark Pokemon with his left arm. The Togekiss stopped hitting the Tropius and grabbed the Luxio, throwing it towards the Grass Flying Pokemon's face.
"Yes!" Temperance shouted in excitement.
"Shit. Luxio, Discharge on the Togekiss!"
"He's an idiot, he'll make his Tropius faint!" Chase thought.
As Chase had predicted, the flare of electricity left Temperance's Togekiss extremely weak, while his Tropius fainted and Grovyle was paralysed. "Temperance, your Pokemon will need to carry my Grovyle around or else we wil lose," Chase ordered.
"But it's too weak, I'll..." Temperance didn't finish her sentence as she saw the Luxio approaching to hurt the Togekiss. "Seems like cheating is the only option."
The Luxio was lifted from the floor and smashed against the a door. Temperance expression said it all, it wasn't right. "What the heck?" the boy wondered. Grovyle, being free from the paralysis, rushed towards the Luxio and finished him off with his leaves, repeating the Leaf Blade move.
End of song.
The three trainers panted, exhausted from the battle, as well as the Grovyle and the Togekiss. Chase let out a maniac laugh as he approached his opponent with a smile on his face. He grabbed him by the collar and threw him against the floor.
"Wait, what the heck are you doing?" Temperance asked, worriedly.
"None of your business, miss."
Chase punched the boy's face, causing his lip to bleed. He kicked his stomach and spat out blood. "Stop. He got what he deserved," the girl ordered.
"As I said," Chase faced the girl and tilted his head. "None of your fucking business." Right after saying that, the aggressive boy was launched against a wall. He fell like a ragdoll, but as soon as he touched the floor, he got smashed against another wall, repeatedly.
"Idiot," Temperance insulted as the boy passed out, the other guy already running for safety.
Sunday had finally finished and every student went back to school, sighing at how their weekend had gone so quickly. They just had to endure another week of classes. It was surely going to be fun. Tristam lived his week like he'd normally do. Sitting, paying a bit of attention to class, look around, talking to Shannon, Darena, Shadic and Robin occasionally, the normal stuff.
Friday, the day with the fewest amount of classes. Tristam made the decision to walk aimlessly in the school, relaxing, having in his head that he'll have to go bounty hunting soon. "Economy, why can't you cut me some slack?" he thought.
"Why? I don't understand," a boy said as he walked, sighing heavily.
Tristam recognized his face immediately. His name was Taylor Jackson. He was 5,5 tall, with a lean athletic build. He had white hair that falls under the bottom of his neck and spreads out to the sides near the bottom. His slightly pale skin with blue eyes along with his hair made him look like a wolf. On his left cheek he has a scar that starts under his left eye and ends at the bottom of his jaw. He was wearing a grey long-sleeved shirt, dark colored sweats, some white and black trainers, and a necklace with a black ring on it.
"What is it, Taylor? You seemed quite bothered."
"Oh, it's nothing. Don't you worry!" he said, smiling.
"That's a weird way to talk to a stranger."
"But I know your name, your Tristam, right?"
"Huh?"
"Robin told me your name, now that I think about it, he ordered me to bring you this," Taylor explained, handing out an envelope.
"Ordered. Wow, Robin," Tristam thought.
"Anyway, don't worry, it really isn't nothing you should care about," Taylor repeated, with his fake smile."
"If you say so..." Tristam gave up as the other boy headed somewhere. He looked down at the envelope, wondering what it could be. Curiosity taking over, he decided to open it. It read:
"hey der"
"I'm definitely not surprised," Tristam said to himself.
It was Saturday. The day was sunny, if a bit cloudy. It was the perfect do nothing day. If you weren't Tristam, that is.
The subject at hand was a random criminal who robbed multiple stores throughout Kalos and he was rumored to be around Lumiose. The boy found it a bit weird that someone would hide in the most populated city in the region, where everyone could see him, but he didn't ask many questions and just settled with hunting him down.
First clue about him, shop owner got robbed by him three weeks ago. Tristam interrogated him and got as much as the police got. Black, iron mask. The shop owner described the mask to him and let him draw it in a sheet of paper.
With that done, he contacted one of his acquaintances to make the mask for him, using a cheaper material. After a few hours, he was called by the mask maker and was told it was done. Feeling optimistic about quickly making progress, he walked to his acquaintance house, not expecting to meet a certain someone looking depressingly at the sky.
"Chase?"
His aggressive "friend" turned around to face him, looking less fiery than usual. "Yo," he simply said, vaguely looking at him. "Can you talk?"
"Who did you kill?"
"No one," he answered.
"Did you destroy your own house on accident?"
"I feel weird," Chase finally admitted.
"Don't tell me you did drugs."
"No, Tristam. I didn't do drugs."
"Then what is it?"
Chase explained the situation he had with Temperance Oliver, around a week ago.
"Temperance Oliver, she goes to our school," Tristam commented.
"Hm, I see. So, I know you're not the most appropriate person to ask about emotions, but since you're the only guy I know who would peacefully talk to me, what do you make of it?"
"Guilt. Sounded a lot like a talk I had with Shannon."
"Shannon?"
"An acquaintance," Tristam told him. He continued: "You felt a connection with her but then did something that wasn't good and kind of used her, without her knowing. Therefore, you felt bad about it. Guilt."
"Hm. I see. Well, now that that's out of my mind..." Chase started as he stood up, with his sadistic grin on his face.
"Where are you going?" Tristam questioned.
"Tsk, none of your business," he chuckled, walking away from him.
"Interesting. See you around, then," Tristam soulessly dismissed him, with an expressionless look.
Tristam paid for the mask his acquaintance made for him and put it on. In any case, any one related to the robber would immediately identify him as the "robber" and he would use that person to get some more leads. Worst case scenario is that people react to him the bad way and report him to the police. Policemen wouldn't be a problem, his Lairon will be walking with him so they'd recognize his short size and Lairon as Tristam, not as the thief.
It was becoming nighttime and the regular streets hadn't worked. Tristam decided to walk around the dark alleys of Lumiose to see if someone recognized him. Near the Stone Emporium, an innocent looking boy recognized him and his eyes widened.
"Gunner, what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"I'm not Gunner, I'm someone acting like Gunner. You can say I'm hunting him down, right?"
"Oh, please follow me!"
Tristam walked right behind the small boy, this one walking south of their position. They entered a house from the back entrance, with a small key the innocent boy had.
Innocent.
The bounty hunter was grabbed by his neck and thrown to the wall. The other boy threw out his Ampharos and used him to keep Lairon busy. Some one else was around. "No, no, no. The great bounty hunter Tristam gets fooled by a little boy? What the fuck is that?" a similar sounding voice said.
"I don't think...this was part of your job," Tristam argued, standing up, facing the other person.
"The fuck do you know about my job?" he said punching Tristam repeatedly. "Listen. You stand around a little more around here, and you're fucked, got that mate?"
"You're not acting," Tristam spit blood. "Like yourself. You're not that fake kid I saw at school."
"I know. I'm not myself."
Original Characters Appearances:
Tristam Wright (RookieNeir)
Darena Héllsen (StattStatt)
Taylor Jackson (RomeoWolf13)
Shannon Halliwell (James95)
Chase Jenson (Jexo)
Robin Harper (SDProductions)
Shadic Genger (charardb)
Temperance Oliver (jntvfreak24)
So, more things setup, more delays. Much wow. Two more characters should be introduce next chapter and we finish teh character introductions. Please, leave constructive criticism. Hope you enjoyed it.
