Chapter 3: A constellation of stars
Mid-afternoon
Aspertia City, Unova
Pokemon Academy
"So...want to exchange contacts? You can call me anytime you like on my Xtransciever" his voice flowed silkily. The boy leaned over her and she gazed helplessly to another classmate who was standing a few meters away and glaring.
"Oh...I'll protect you from that Quilfish as well"
"...Hugh and I have been very good friends since we were children" Whi-2 pointed out, she shrunk against the locker and thought it was a good idea to simply slide to the floor. With one arm barring her way, Lack-2 smiled charmingly. A bevy of young girls behind him glared at their lucky female classmate and sighed at their male one, each one vying for his attention. Alas, it seems he was completely enraptured by Whit-2. The somewhat ditzy girl was an outstanding trainer. It also did not help that she was really pretty as well.
From afar, Hugh kept on scowling with undisguised displeasure. He had grudging respect for the male trainer. He was strong. Really strong and cool. Whatever he did, even something as mundane as running his hand through his hair, it was immediately the center of attention. The girls swarmed over him like combee to honey.
Except Whi-2 and unfortunately that caught his attention. And he made it his life's mission to snag her attention at all costs. Hugh, who had a crush on his long time childhood friend found this extremely infuriating. No matter how much he tried, he could not compete with his rival. He stood heads above and was proud of it.
Sighing, he shut his metal locker, cast another glance at Whi-2 who had was sliding to the floor and began walking towards class. Recess was over and they had to get to their rooms as soon as possible. Sifting through the text books in his arms, he took out the timetable and looked at it. He had to go to room one hundred and four. Cheren will be taking the class. Speaking of their pokemon professor, he too favored Lack-2. The purple haired youth stopped.
Everyone favored Lack-2.
Exhaling angrily, he made up his mind to prove his worth. Sneakers thumping on the corridor floor, he located his classroom and went in. A huge blackboard dominated the far end of the room. Seeking out his desk, he dumped his books on it and sat down. The board was filled with notes from the previous class and he gazed at it with interest. It was his ambition to one day stand at the very top; to become the Unova pokemon champion and he took his goals quite seriously. He read the notes on the board attentively. They were on Pokemon types and the mastery of one over the other, back in the days, the typing of pokemon was simple, and it was often rare to come across a pokemon with two different typings. Now, the former has become rare. Pokemon with a single, pure typing were rare to find, something about evolution allowing only the strongest to survive. The class began to fill up with people and he observed Whi-2 discreetly shuffling in and seating herself in her desk. Wanting to find out if she was okay, he went over and queried.
"I'm fine Hugh" she smiled at him and he found his heart racing "who are we getting now again?"
He sighed. Sometimes she really was inattentive.
"Professor Cheren" he replied "yesterday he said something about a new teacher coming in so today he'll be explaining the details, thereafter we have Ms. Bianca for pokemon habitat study."
She shifted in her seat and shoved her hands into her bag to bring out text books, in the process the female trainer had also brought out her pokeball and set it on the desk. Turning around, he trudged back to his seat and sat down just as Cheren walked in.
"Alright class, tomorrow you will have a new temporary teacher coming in our Pokemon academy. Her name is Ms. Blue and she is a renowned trainer from the far off region of Kanto. She is also good friends with Professor Oak's grandson, Green Oak who is a remarkable researcher himself and knows the Champion of Kanto personally."
"Champion of Kanto...What was his name now again? Didn't he disappear or something?" Hugh mused.
"Anyway" their professor continued "Ms. Blue will be teaching evolution methods via trading. This is a good way to bond both with your pokemon and with your friends, so look forward to her lessons. For now my time is up, Ms. Bianca will be taking the next class and there will be an examination on the work she gives out...Lack-2" the young professor noticed his student sneaking in from the back door, halfway through class "I've been lenient towards your actions because you are an outstanding trainer, but if you continue to persist coming in late, I'll have to take measures. Next time you do this, I'll force you to reflect on your actions." Giving him a stern look, Cheren picked up his folders and other papers off his desk and moved out of class. Immediately some girls drifted over to their scolded classmate and showered him with gifts and kind words.
Ms. Bianca, a bespectacled young woman came in next. Her cheerful demeanor managed to lift Hugh's sprit and even Lack-2, famous for goofing off, straightened up and whipped out his pen and book in order to take notes. The blonde woman began to lecture them about pokemon habitats and today she talked about pokemon living near graveyards and other places imbued with high spiritual energy.
"You will find ghost pokemon living in cemeteries and graveyards" she began and drew famous landmarks from across different regions, although her drawing skills were not exemplary, they were not terrible. The students could pick out the Celestial tower of Unova, Lavender tower of Kanto and Mount Pyre of Hoenn. "Here, in all regions you will see a pattern in the pokemon residing in them, mostly ghost and dark types; it is seldom you will find a pure physic typing near these areas." She adjusted her red rimmed glasses and carried on "sometimes you might find normal pokemon in these places due to them having lingering attachments to their trainers. If they are not adopted by others or are set free, they will keep coming back. In other cases it might be two pokemon who were good partners and one died, thus the other simply goes back in order to visit. We can take this as an example of how Pokemon with different typings can share the same habitat. Check your charts for Mount Pyre, what typing do you find out of place there?" she asked.
The learners pored over their charts in order to find answers, pages and cards rustled.
"Meditite and Growlithe are the strangest" rang out two simultaneous voices.
"Very good Hugh, Lack-2" Bianca praised "now why would they make their homes there? It's a graveyard and a mountain." she quizzed.
The spiky haired trainer in training did not know, unfortunately his rival did.
"Mount Pyre is a mountain, it's got grass and is situated in a high place, and therefore it makes for good nesting grounds for Wingulls. Meditite is there because of the high concentration of spiritual energy and as for Growlithe, the thick grass makes for ideal habitats" he smoothly answered with a satisfied look on his face. The entire class clapped.
"Nice" their teacher beamed "I think you qualify as a Dex holder Lack-2"
Her words had a freezing effect. Being a dex holder was the utmost honor a trainer could be graced with. Hugh's mind reeled; if he recalled correctly the Kanto champion and Green Oak were dex holders. So was Gold, a young trainer who was the only one in history to defeat the undefeated champion of his own region and the Champion of Kanto. However he too had disappeared off the face of the world after his outstanding victory. And over time, people forgot about him. Both of their professors were also dex holders and he heard rumors of another pair who had simply vanished on the day they received their poke-dexes.
He frowned; there were a lot of poke-dex holders missing. Was there a connection between all of them?
"Oh, that also reminds me." The lecturer cut in his thoughts "Whi-2 and Hugh, you guys as well. Professor Juniper and I were discussing potential dex holders the other day in her lab and the three of you popped up in my mind. Keep on working hard and one day you will go places in order to collect data and become famous trainers!" she exclaimed happily. Conspiracy theories forgotten, Hugh smiled happily.
A Dex Holder, what a privilege it was to be one.
Lack-2 yawned. He was bored. Professor Bianca changed topics and was now discussing about the differences and similarities of Fire pokemon habitats over several regions. He did not need to know these things, he pondered, and his only concern was to keep the girls' attention on him and to get the Poke-dex that he so obviously was destined for. He wondered how this Ms. Blue looked, was she pretty? If so then maybe he'll pay attention in her class. Besides, pokemon evolution via trading seemed like a rather interesting subject. Eyes drifting shut, he woke up with a jolt when Professor Juniper walked in.
Why was she here today?...Maybe he'll get his Pokedex at the end of the day! The mere thought made his eyes shine.
Instead of whipping out the Pokedexes, she held up a large spherical mass of black rock. It was so perfectly round, he knew it had to be special, besides, a famed Pokemon professor won't just bring in any ordinary stone right? Sensing things were getting serious; he sat up straighter and wiped the lazy look off his face.
"This is the Dark stone" Professor Juniper held up the black rock in front of the class and after all the students got a good look at it, she set it back down on the desk. "I know I'm not supposed to be here today so this is a special lesson. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this stone will be handed over to higher officials and this was the last day I could impart the lesson to you." she took a deep breath and her stern gaze swept through the trainers "This stone and another one called the Light stone are legendary artifacts housing two great Dragon pokemon, hence they are also known as Dragon stones. This dark one is the holder of Zekrom who represents ideals and the light one is the holder of Reshiram who represents truth. Long ago, when the region of Unova was created, these two pokemon were a single one and this legendary dragon was wielded by twin brothers who created this region. Unfortunately differences between them arose and each sought something different in their life, to mirror their desires the single pokemon broke into three."
Three...
"Why three professor?" Lack-2 put his hand up and asked without missing a beat.
"Good question, until now we were aware of only Zekrom and Reshiram, some time ago we discovered the presence of a new, third unnamed dragon. We still have much research to do but I theorized that this third Dragon could be a shell of some sort" the brown haired professor frowned in contemplation.
"What about the light stone? Can't you show it us?" Hugh piped up and the lecturer froze.
"We are currently unaware of the whereabouts of the Light stone" she stiffly answered.
So it's most probably stolen Lack-2 contemplated.
"Are there pictures of the dragons?" hearing the feminine voice both his and the Quilfish's head rotated at the source who was none other than Whi-2. It was surprising to hear her speak since she always makes an effort not to draw attention to herself. In response to her question, Professor Juniper showed them some slides depicting the two dragons. The flirtatious boy found his breath stilling; he had yet to see anything as majestic as those two dragons. One, pure white, giving off an air of life and fire. The other was pitch black, so black it sucked everything in like a black hole.
The bell rang, pulling the trainer out of his thoughts. With a sly smile he made his way over to Hugh and Whi-2 who were preparing to leave together.
"Aww, let me take you home" he voiced smoothly "after all, we can't guarantee Quilfish over here would be able to protect you properly, since I'm the best trainer in our class, I'll do a splendid job" to emphasize his point, he gave a dazzling smile. And smirked when his spiky haired classmate bristled.
"Hugh and I are walking home together" she stated firmly "we live a street apart so it's okay, but thank you for you offer Lack-2" she gave a quick bow and thereafter spun around in order to catch up with her quickly retreating friend.
He watched her leave, eyes crinkling in delight.
Mid-afternoon
Kanto
Underneath Celadon city's game center.
Ruby plopped on a white leather couch and ticked off items on a list, his luggage carrier lay open on the laminated floor in front of him, designer clothes and disguises spilled out of the overstuffed trunk. Near the back wall of the room sat Blue before a large expensive looking desk. Behind her, the wall was decorated by a huge screen which currently flashed pictures of a virtual aquarium. The spacious room was lit with flush lights and an excessively decorated crystal and gold chandelier was set in the middle, the lights were dimmed and additional lighting came from two additional screens depicting the life outdoors. The middle section of the room was built on a lower platform and could only be accessed via a short flight of stairs. Ruby pulled his hat over his ears and looked around. Unlike Execution's room, Team constellate's chamber was relatively clean, neat and fashionable looking. A few glass shelves lined the walls and they displayed expensive ornaments. As was the norm, the entrance to the room was bordered by a large cyan banner sprinkled with a cluster of stars and a C lettered in Old English script.
Taking a break from her reading, Blue looked up to see Silver walking in. The red-head had a well-rested look on his face, he meandered over to the center of the room and his head disappeared out of sight. Sighing, he eased himself on one of the chairs and switched a computer on, as the device became usable, he frantically began typing away.
"Silver" the head of the department called.
"Yes Blue?"
"Don't worry too much about it, after all we got what we wanted, Green didn't blow his head off"
Unseen by anyone his shoulder's slumped.
She diverted her attention to Ruby, the male had dove into his trunk and appeared to be desperately searching for something, clothes flew here and there. Glancing at the clock, she knew it was time to leave for Unova and as usual, her underling had probably misplaced something, or was searching for some unnecessary accessory.
"Ruby" she intoned "we don't have time, get ready we should be in Vermillion by now, the ship leaves in an hour"
"...But I can't find my sunglasses" he wailed.
"Then leave it, you won't need them."
"Are you crazy? Those are my favorite pair, I bought them in the Sevi Islands and you out of all people should know how difficult it is to get there! And the glasses are limited edition material; it took nearly all of my savings to buy it!" More clothes were flung across the room and the brunette female briefly wondered if she should get Sapphire in here to knock sense into his nonsensical head. Her mood brightened up when Platina entered the room, unlike Ruby, she looked prim and proper and ready to go.
"Ms. Blue, we should depart immediately" her porcelain visage betrayed slight amusement at her superior's doings, the male fashionista had almost emptied out his carrier, sweeping his hands along the back for any signs of his precious glasses. "What is Ruby looking for?"
His head shot up. "My glasses" he replied "the one's I bought in Sevi Islands"
She sniffed gracefully.
"If you want, I'll procure another pair for you senior, please get ready or once again we will be behind schedule."
"...Fine" he relented and started to repack his bag, as he did so a jubilant shout rang out and victoriously he held up a silver framed pair of glasses.
"I found it!" at his antics, the two females sighed and with renewed vigor, he stuffed all of his things back in the luggage and zipped it up. As the three man team turned to leave Blue called over her shoulder.
"Tell Green we left, and take care Silver." The adolescent had come up to bid his friends goodbye as they left. When the room was quiet again he looked at his weavile who was running around the empty space.
"Want to eat something?" he asked his partner and it nodded "I'm starving...I wonder if Diamond..."
Afternoon
Vermillion City
Harbor
The whistle sounded and the huge luxury cruiser came to a stop on the pier. The doors hissed open and the small elegantly dressed crowd entered the ship named as S.S Anne. Blue and company were of course not going for a luxury cruise trip; nevertheless it beat flying on pokemon. Unova was situated almost on the other side of the Poke-universe and even if her co-workers Green and Red preferred flying on their pokemon or taking the train all the way there, it was none of her problem. She and her team preferred traveling in style. Silver included.
With a gentle sway and another blast of its horn, the ship moved away from Vermillion port and began to set sail. Deciding to go to the deck and possibly swindle some innocent stranger into buying her a drink, Blue located her room, dumped her luggage and shrugged her coat off. Letting her hair down, she exited the room and made her way upwards. Ruby and Platina watched her go.
"Senior Blue is trying to trick someone isn't she?"
"What do you expect? Ruby answered, he had taken his hat off and was meticulously arranging his bangs to hide the scar on his forehead "it's what she's good at or else she won't be the head of the espionage department, she can even fool Green who is generally unfool-able"
"Un...Fool-able?" she gave an entertained laugh.
"You get what I mean, are you busy or do you want to go over the briefing with me?"
She nodded in affirmative and the two made their way into the deserted dining area, since it was a bit after lunch and supper was way off, not many people mingled about, locating a table near the windows, the duo sat opposite each other and began quizzing and re-checking facts.
"Targets" Ruby asked his red irises scanning their papers.
In response, Platina held up two pictures, one was a handsome young boy with a visor strapped to his forehead and the other was a girl, her long brown hair arranged in two Chinese styled buns on either side of her head, she too also sported a red and pink visor atop her head.
"What else?" the red eyed male further queried.
"Information on the Dark stone, most possibly the original rock will be in the possession of the International police, our fiasco at Eterna lab must've caused quite a stir." Platina looked out of the porthole windows and her dark eyes softened at the scenery. The blue water stretched as far as her eye could see and skimming over the surface of the water were a few bird pokemon, some sea pokemon like goldeen leapt out of the water and its ruffled fins were a delight to the viewer.
"Senior Ruby, what is our duty?" it was her time to interrogate.
"Keep a watch on the targets from a far and gather intel on the dark stone. We have a maximum of four days to gather all the information we need and make our way back to Kanto. Blue dubs it as guard duty."
Above on the polished deck dotted with way too many people, Blue petrified. Leaning against a railing was a certain someone she absolutely did not want to meet. Steel gray hair swayed in the breeze...What was he even doing here? Getting over her initial shock, she approached him with a smile on her face and prayed that Ruby will not, under any circumstances, run into this particular individual.
Steven Stone. Filthy rich, with a penchant of collecting precious gems and possessing a strong streak of justice. He is also a high ranking member of the international police and most likely the one with the most knowledge about the Dark stone. Flipping her hair backwards and approaching with a cheery attitude, she greeted him.
"Hello" he acknowledge her with a polite smile, pulled in by Blue's charismatic conversational skills the duo held an amiable conversation; she noted his expression was guarded and effortlessly she changed topics to orbs and stones. Almost instantaneously the CEO of Devon corporation's eyes lit up. Before long, he was the only one doing the talking whilst Blue merely listened with feigned interest. She looked for an opening to strike.
"So Steven, have you heard about the Light and Dark stones?" she enquired in a casual manner.
His face turned dark.
"Why do you know about them?"
"Oh! I'm a researcher of sorts, haven't you heard of Green Oak? I'm a friend of his." This statement always did the trick, his distrustful expression morphed into admiration.
Everyone knew about the famous Green Oak. A top researcher unrivaled by none and a formidable pokemon trainer to boot.
Poor them.
Haltingly he told her about the legends surrounding the stone and after divulging a bit of information, like Blue he switched topics and talked about the new items his company was currently producing, his female companion was beginning to get bored and she let out a relieved breath when the dinner bell rang.
Departing for downstairs, she waved at the man and walked back in with a bounce in her step. Behind her Steven watched her leave, steel blue irises shrinking in mistrust.
Evening
In the dining area
"Our biggest nightmare has arrived" Blue glumly stated as she stabbed at her food, hearing this, Ruby who was trying to spoon salad in his mouth looked up in shock.
"Wait...Dad is here?" he sputtered and the spoon fell back into his plate with an unpleasant clang "Dear Arceus...save me"
"No, not Norman...Steven"
The black haired male almost fainted at the name.
Two days later
Aspertia City
Pokemon Academy backyard.
"The students have all gone home and we gave a thorough sweep of the place, rest assured this facility and areas are both secure"
"Yes I understand" Steven spoke, "Although I'm sure the security in Eterna was also tight" at his words Bianca flushed in mortification and Cheren narrowed his eyes.
"The criminal organization will not suspect the handing over of such a precious artifact taking place at an area like this, we can use it to our advantage." the police agent nodded and the two pokemon professors disappeared, after their departure a third figure strolled in the area and seeing him Steven bowed respectfully.
"Sir, how are you faring?" He asked his superior.
The person looked at him sharply.
"I had to come all the way from Castelia for this!" he gritted his teeth "Next time I see Surge, I'll give him a piece of my mind to chew on! If I asked the professor, she'd gladly hand it over to me but no, we have to use convoluted methods in order to disguise our actions." He let out an irritated breath as Professor Juniper approached with the black sphere cradled in her hands. The leader watched in an uninterested manner as she handed over the stone to Steven who took it and signed some papers.
"Will we get this orb back?" the professor asked "it belongs to the Dragonspiral tower and we researchers need it in order to study about pokemon origins." she clarified.
"As soon as we catch this group of criminals, we will deliver it back to you" the leader cut in before Steven could respond. "If I remember correctly, it was a brown haired brat who took the Light stone from right under your noses...trust me; the dragon stone is much safer in our hands." Without waiting for a reply, he spun around and began striding back with his agent in a tow.
"Where are you staying?"
"A hotel in Castelia city I'll be here for two days then I'm leaving" Steven answered.
"Why so long?"
"I have to gather intelligence on this stone and its counterpart, unfortunately, it is in their hands." His superior hissed in agreement "we are sure the boy who keeps the stone with him can wield it."
"Out of all the candidates...Why is it a criminal? Do we even know who he is?"
"No, the only thing we know is that he is a Poke-dex holder"
Far away, in a base constructed underneath Celadon city's game center. Black who was playing video games with Diamond and Gold, sneezed.
A/N: And there you have it, another chapter. Much gratitude to ScarletMab, Jack54311 and a Guest for reviewing/following the story (POWER). A ton of virtual chocolates to you. And don't forget to leave a review to tell me what you think :)