Whew, sorry for the delays. This is another battle scene chapter... those give me some trouble.

In the confines of the supply closet, Calem laid eyes upon the forgotten object stashed away, hidden behind the broomsticks he had just toppled over.

"What the heck is this doing in here?" he whispered to himself. It was indeed very odd that he should find what he saw in, of all places, a supply closet in the school, but he had no reason to complain, considering that he had been so humiliatingly upstaged by that boy and his Infernape, leaving him in this musty space with nothing but a Level 1 Trainer Uniform that had just been burnt to a crisp.

With no other options to take, Calem removed the charred remains of his old uniform, and put on the clothing he had just found.

Just as he had finished donning the newly-discovered garb, he felt that something was amiss; the new outfit did not fit as well as he had hoped… but as he knew, beggars could not be choosers. Now that he was dressed – to use the term a little loosely – Calem took this moment to decide his next course of action. Ross and his Pokémon were still out there, and most likely still able and eager to serve another crushing defeat to the weaker boy.

It then occurred to Calem that he had been ambushed two-to-one then, and he didn't get so much as a second to summon his own Pokémon to even the odds. Surely if he brought his Pokémon out now he would stand at least half a chance, he reasoned… only to find that his suitcase that contained his Poké Balls was nowhere to be found in the closet.

"Damn, damn, damn!" Calem cursed his ever-increasing misfortune; he couldn't even remember at what point he had left the bag behind, though he could clearly remember carrying it during the entrance exam race, and while changing into his uniform. In his mind, he repeatedly traced his steps over and over, trying to remember when-

"Pardon me, but vhat are you doing vearing zis suit?" A voice had suddenly called, with no speaker to be seen.

"Uwah!" Calem jumped back in surprise. Where the heck did that voice come from, he wondered?

"Hmm? Zat scream! It couldn't be… You must be zat little brat! Calvin, vas it?"

Given a moment to calm down, Calem recognized that distinct, unmistakable accent. Somehow, it made sense in an odd kind of way, but it was still a less-than-pleasant surprise.

"That's not my name," he replied. "And how are you talking to me?"

"I asked you first, dummkopf. Vhy don't you answer me before I answer you?"

Calem sighed, before he recounted to the disembodied voice the tale of how he had gotten into such a messy situation, explaining as clearly as possible for the benefit of the one on the other side.

%%%

Professor Rowan, Amadeus, and the other students were all waiting outside to see how long it would take Calem to return to face Ross once more, though that was assuming he would come back at all and not just quietly slink away, never to be heard from again.

"So that is the strength of a Level 1 uniform," Roark mused. "Or a lack thereof, in this case." The other vice presidents briefly snickered in response to his dry humor.

The more serious Volkner didn't partake in the laughter. "Eh, when are we gonna see some real action?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the young boy Ross and his Infernape were still standing around by the entrance of the tower; the trainer was impatiently tapping his feet upon the ground while his Pokémon stood by.

"Looking for someone?"

Ross turned around, hearing the voice of the trainer he had defeated so easily, and as soon as he looked upon his opponent, his immediate response was to burst into a fit of uproarious laughter.

He was not alone though; his Infernape laughed, as did most of the students there as they witnessed Calem's return. Those who did not find the situation incredibly funny simply stared wide-eyed in sheer bemusement.

"Hey, nice uniform, dork!" Ross sneered. "Did your boyfriend pick it out for you?"

Calem was blushing furiously, but the embarrassment was but a small price to pay; wearing a girls' version of the school's Trainer Uniform – complete with over-knee skirt and white stockings – was certainly not the most ideal outcome, but it still ranked well above not having anything to wear at all.

Besides, a new uniform was just what he needed to stand a chance against the young bully.

Ross didn't bother to wait for Calem to answer. "Heh, whatever. I'm still gonna wipe the floor with you." With a snap of his fingers, Ross's Infernape sprung into action.

"Infernape, use Close Combat!"

"Eeek eeeek!" The Fire and Fighting-type screeched, beating its chest with its fists.

With remarkable agility, Ross's Pokémon dashed quickly to stand mere inches from Calem, rearing its fist back before unleashing a rapid flurry of hard punches directly upon the boy, producing an audible whip-like crack with each hit that it landed.

Once the Pokémon had ceased its assault, the crowd gave a collective gasp… but not because of Infernape's attack.

As it turned out, Calem had raised his arms, blocking his body from Infernape's Close Combat, leaving him relatively unharmed due to the defensive prowess of his new uniform.

"Awesome…" Even as he was blushing from embarrassment, Calem smiled. There was something to him that was just unexplainably amazing about withstanding the full brunt of a Pokémon attack.

"Heeeey, Cal! Heads up!"

A voice came out from the back of the pool of spectators, followed by a familiar face pushing through them to make it to the front; it was Barry, who had found Calem's suitcase of supplies and Poké Balls after he had dropped them in a Fire Punch-induced panic. With a great swing of his arm, the blond boy hurled the bag towards Calem, which he caught with ease.

"It's time we fought this thing two-on-two!" said the Kalos boy as he reached inside, searching for the Pokémon he wanted to use.

"You mean drei-un-zwei!" piped up the familiar, disembodied voice. Calem responded by quickly hushing the voice; nobody was supposed to know about that. Once he had located the ball of his Pokémon of choice, Calem threw it into the fray, and the Poké Ball burst open to reveal a blue, long-tongued Water-type Pokémon.

"Geeeerah-gerah!" Calem's Greninja, the first Pokémon he had ever received, stood before Ross and his Infernape, assuming its signature crouched position.

The sight of Calem's Kalos-native Pokémon proved rather unusual to the Sinnoh people indeed. "What the heck is that thing?" asked Candice, pointing to the frog Pokémon.

Roark adjusted his glasses before providing the answer. "That would be Greninja, a Water and Dark type Pokémon, and the fully-evolved form of Froakie, one of the Pokémon given to beginner trainers in the Kalos region."

Volkner found his peer's knowledge of foreign Pokémon unusual. "Where'd you find that out?"

"Encyclopokédia, of course," Roark retorted condescendingly. "I'll send you the link sometime so you can get caught up."

Meanwhile, Ross and Infernape were not nearly as impressed with Calem's Pokémon – or perhaps they were, but chose not to show it.

"Ooh, real scary, a Toxicroak with a pink scarf!" the boy scoffed in a mocking voice. "Infernape, use Close Combat again!"

"Greninja, Water Shuriken!" Calem gave his command, and before Infernape could close in to strike, Greninja jumped back, and formed a big ball of water in its open palm, which quickly flattened into the shape of a pointed star that was the size of Calem's head. Greninja then threw the shuriken forward, making it spin through the air before it crashed into Infernape, creating a bubbly explosion on impact.

Infernape roared at getting hit with the swift Water-type attack; it had little time to retaliate as Greninja continued creating and launching more throwing stars made of water, hitting its opponent without fail. Ross looked on in disbelief as he saw his Pokémon collapse soon after the attack had finished, his Infernape completely overwhelmed by the super-effective Water Shurikens, and unable to fight.

The crowd clamored noisily, greatly intrigued by the strength of Calem's Pokémon.

"You cheated!" Ross snapped. "Stop hiding behind your Pokémon, you skirt-wearing sissy!"

"…Fine." Calem recalled Greninja into its Poké Ball, before raising his fists in an attempt to make a fighting stance. "Let's go-"

Without warning, Ross suddenly dived in to throw an uppercut punch, hitting Calem and sending him flying straight up into the air.

"Uwooooahhh!" Calem yelled as he flailed his limbs about, disoriented from tumbling around in mid-air. A hard crash-landing on his back was all that was needed to regain his bearings – but absorbing the damage from the fall and the initial attack was talking its toll on Calem's uniform; the endurance meter was reduced by a small chunk.

Calem tried to get back up, but he was quickly stopped by a kick to his side; Ross was almost howling with laughter as he punted the Kalos boy around like a football.

"Had enough yet?" Ross taunted, after his laughter had died down. "I almost feel bad stomping you flat so easily… no, wait, I don't feel bad at all! Ha ha hah!"

Calem refused to surrender, but he chose not to give his opponent the satisfaction of a response.

"Mein goodness, such schadenfreude…"Nobody seemed to pay heed to the unfamiliar voice making that remark.

Still slumped on the ground, Calem watched as Ross lifted his leg back, readying a huge, swinging kick. Such an attack would be too much for Calem to take… but the Kalos boy quickly came up with an idea that was sure to turn the tables.

"Not so fast!"

Calem delivered a single punch to Ross's other leg, the one he was using to stand. While not an especially powerful hit, it was enough to trip the younger boy up, making him fall flat on his face. Now that he had handily created an opening, Calem then seized the opportunity to get up and deliver his own kick to Ross, just as Ross had done to him.

The crowd gasped as Calem demonstrated a significant amount of speed and strength, attacking Ross with a series of continuous punches and kicks. In a matter of seconds, Ross's Level 20 uniform was nearing its critical state, beginning to blink red.

Even after being humbled outright, and just about expended of strength, the boy's cocky attitude did not cease in the least as Calem approached for the final blow.

"You… you call yourself a trainer?" Ross panted. "I'm just getting warmed up… You'll be sorry you messed with me!"

Calem looked down upon Ross, who was standing on one knee and gritting his teeth.

"Hey, you know what else rhymes with 'Ross'?" Calem asked.

He didn't give his opponent a chance to answer before he gave Ross a light shove, making him flop onto his back with a muffled thump, seemingly unable to get up.

"Loss."

"Hahahaha, oh wow, you're killing me out here!" Out of the entire audience of students, only Barry found Calem's answer funny enough to warrant a knee-slap and laugh.

Ten seconds passed, and Ross was still lying upon the ground, unmoving. After calming down from the frenzy of battle, Calem had become quite worried that he had severely injured the younger boy, while Professor Rowan emerged from the crowd to inspect Ross's condition.

"Don't worry, this boy is tired out, but otherwise unharmed, thanks to the Trainer Uniform!" reassured the professor. He pointed to Ross's uniform, which was blinking red. "Unfortunately, he will have to rest himself and his uniform for two full hours before he can fight again."

But it looked like once again, nobody was listening to Professor Rowan – now that the battle had finished, the students had drawn their attention to Amadeus, who was now walking towards Calem; any student that dared to get in between the two of them quickly retreated before the student president could get close.

"You," said the silver-haired boy. "What is your name?"

"C-Calem… I mean Cal, just Calem! Calem!" Intimidated by the sheer prestige and steely demeanor of the president, the Kalos boy had accidentally spoken his full name for everyone to hear.

Even as Calem was flattening his skirt against his thighs to keep them covered, Amadeus remained serious and composed. "So, Calem, if I may ask, what are your reasons for coming to this school?" he asked.

Calem tried to maintain eye contact; he was sweating from the pressure as well as the exertion of his battle. "I… came from the Kalos region, looking for a girl named Emma. Is she here?"

As Calem had uttered the girl's name, Amadeus's eyes immediately narrowed, and he began to scowl coldly upon the Kalos boy.

"You are not to speak of that name again. Is that understood?!" declared Amadeus.

"But-"

Amadeus stomped his foot on the ground, causing a reverberating tremor that made Calem lose balance and fall on his backside.

"No. Further. Discussion." The student president's words were stern and punctuated clearly. Amadeus then turned to the remaining students, who simply watched the confrontation in awe. "Now, students, please allow the Vice Presidents to show you to your dorm rooms!"

As the students and vice presidents all headed towards the school tower, Barry picked up Calem off of the ground, dragging him by his arm.

"Dude, c'mon! We need to get the best rooms!"

Calem's gaze was still fixed on Amadeus, who appeared to be talking to Professor Rowan. "It sounded like he knew who Emma was…"

"Who's Emma?" Barry asked, still dragging Calem along, into the tower.

As it turned out, the dorm rooms were situated one floor below the tower's lobby, built within an underground space in Jubilife City. Nonetheless, the hall and rooms appeared no different, looking just as they would above-ground.

"You and I, we're gonna be room-mates! Isn't that awesome?" Barry chimed as he continued to drag Calem towards their dorm room.

The brown-haired boy sighed. "Do I have to?"

To that exasperated question, Barry chuckled. "Hey, don't worry about it. You said you're from the Something-or-other region, so you need someone to show you the ropes! And me, I know Sinnoh like the back of my neck!"

Calem couldn't argue with that. "Well, I guess-"

"Great!" Barry kicked the door open, revealing a small, modest room, bunk bed and basic necessities included. "I call top bunk!"

Calem didn't mind however; he was more focused on finding a change of clothes from within his suitcase… but as he kept digging through, he saw that there was no extra clothing to be found at all, and the suitcase held nothing but Poké Balls and food rations.

"Where did all my-" The Kalos boy suddenly remembered what happened to his suitcase before he had come to the Sinnoh region. "Damn it, Shauna… I'm gonna be stuck wearing this thing forever."

"Say, where'd you get that uniform anyway?" Barry asked after hearing Calem's small rant. "I asked Crasher Wake for a spare and he said there weren't any."

"Came out of the closet," Calem replied, to which Barry rolled his eyes.

"Well, looks like we're gonna be staying here for the whole semester. I better call my folks and tell 'em about it. Seeya round!"

As Barry left in search of a phone, Calem too was reminded to keep in contact; he took out his Holo Caster and attempted to message the Looker Bureau to inform them of his status, but for some reason he found that he was unable to reach them, or any of his Kalos friends for that matter.

"Ze Holo Caster, I am afraid it does not verk at all outside of ze Kalos region," the disembodied voice suddenly spoke up again.

Calem almost jumped in surprise. "Are you spying on me?" he blurted out.

"Ja, ja… If you vant to find Emma, ve must verk together, and you must let me monitor everything vith ze suit's camera und mic!"

"Fine," Calem answered, "but do I have to keep wearing this girl uniform? Can't you morph it into something else?"

"Es tut mir leid, but as you said, you are stuck vith zis uniform!"

Calem pouted. In the back of his mind, he had bore some misgivings towards seeing Emma's very own Expansion Suit (sans helmet) inside that closet, back when his original uniform was on fire, but those suspicions were all but confirmed when he heard the voice of Xerosic, the inventor of the Expansion Suit – hadn't he been arrested some time ago, Calem thought? – who had been alerted to the fact that someone other than Emma was wearing the suit that he built.

Thankfully Xerosic had allowed Calem a chance to explain the situation in depth, and, even considering the bad history between the boy and the Team Flare scientist, decided to co-operate with Calem in order to find out what happened to Emma; after all, the portly scientist had grown fond of the girl, and was quite distraught to learn that she may have been in danger.

However, as wearing just the Expansion Suit in its ordinary appearance would seem suspicious to the school's patrons, Xerosic had no choice but to activate the suit's camouflage function, changing the suit's appearance to resemble the school's uniform, which Calem would have found acceptable if it were not for the fact that it was unable to transform into a boy's uniform – Xerosic had not intended for the suit to have been worn by a boy.

Aside from that though, the Expansion Suit's function of increasing Calem's physical abilities was a perfect match with the Trainer Uniform's capacity to do the same, but unlike the uniforms, the Expansion Suit was not bound to a fixed level… but just how strong was it, then?

Just as Calem was about to consider asking Xerosic, Barry suddenly burst into the room again, his arms carrying a surplus of frosted donuts that were almost spilling from his hold.

"Yo, Cal, they're giving out free donuts for the new students! Help me grab as many as we can, will ya?"

In spite of everything, Calem went along with it. If nothing else, a few sweet snacks would help prepare him for the hectic adventure that lay ahead of him.