Chapter Four

It was early the next morning when Erica felt a tap on her shoulder. She sat up, momentarily disoriented by the lack of obnoxiously cute snoring that usually issued from Suza. Soon after, Erica remembered she was sleeping in Lan's room, sharing a bed with her while the boys took the floor. Lysander had been pushed from his pillow in the night by his Exeggcute, and was now sharing a pillow with an unsuspecting Jericho.

Charmeleon was the one who'd tapped her, and once it saw she was awake it proceeded to shove an empty coffee cup into her face and gesture moodily at the door. Apparently doorknobs weren't its specialty, but it wasn't destructive and had refrained from burning its way out. Erica sighed and climbed out of bed, causing Vulpix to emit an irritated sleep-growl. Its no-violence truce was over.

She fished Charmeleon's harness out of her backpack, ignoring the distaste that spread over her Pokémon's face. This was the first time she'd seen it grumpy, but guessed that it would cheer up considerably once it drank its morning coffee. Charmeleon eventually realized that the only way to coffee was to don the harness, and submitted to it with a grumble.

The halls, so noisy and crowded the night before, were deserted now. Garbage, empty bottles and cans, and toilet paper were everywhere. Erica was halfway through a disdainful sigh when Charmeleon yanked on the leash, dragging her towards a cup half-filled with congealed coffee.

"No!" She planted her feet and hauled on the leash, "You'll get sick if you drink that! Wait five minutes!"

It ignored her, heaving against her with all its strength. At the last minute she released the leash, sending Charmeleon tumbling over the coffee cup. Before it could turn around she snatched up the cup and threw it into a nearby garbage can, which was disturbingly empty considering the state of the hall.

"Char!" Charmeleon glared at her, but she glared right back and scooped up her end of the leash.

"'Char' nothing! I told you to wait five minutes to get good coffee," she snapped.

To her inner delight, Charmeleon looked sincerely chastised, and didn't attempt to move towards the garbage can. It followed her down the hall, holding her pant leg with a paw and trying its best to avoid eye-contact with other discarded cups, in case they contained coffee as well.

The cafeteria was as empty as the hallway, save for the early morning staff behind the various counters. Erica moved to the closest coffee seller and ordered a large, ignoring the strange look the woman gave her when she passed the coffee to Charmeleon. They sat at a table by the window, and Erica puzzled over her Pokémon. It was obvious to her that someone had introduced and addicted Charmeleon to coffee, and from its behaviour in the hall it was becoming clear that for some reason Charmeleon had then been denied it. There was no reason to lunge for stagnant coffee if your owner supplied you with fresh coffee constantly.

She sighed, leaning her chin on her hand and looking out the window. This was going to be a learning experience and a half, she had no doubt.


Lysander was awoken by one of his eggs colliding with the back of his head shrieking something about a sex maniac. The high-pitched noise woke Jericho up as well, and for a few startled moments the two boys froze as they took in the fact that their noses were touching. Jericho rolled away as soon as his brain registered it, and if Lysander's eggs hadn't been in the way he would have done the same.

The 'sex maniac' turned out to be Jericho's Paras, whose sleep-fogged mind had confused one of the eggs for its Chansey stuffie. The Exeggcute leapt onto Lysander's chest and one of the eggs uttered a fierce, "Shoo!"

Jericho shook from his head what sleep hadn't been shocked out of him from discovering Lysander so close to him, and grabbed Paras by the mushrooms, placing it gingerly on its stuffed Chansey. He ignored the disgusted expressions on the Exeggcute's faces and regarded Lysander with narrowed eyes, "Don't have a pillow of your own?"

"Er…" Lysander sat up, the eggs rolling down his chest to his lap, "My Pokémon must have pushed me over in the night. Sorry."

They got dressed in silence, taking turns making sure Lan remained asleep. Once their sleeping bags were rolled up and their Pokémon were secured they were ready to go. Lysander hadn't been sure what time Lan would wake up, and it was better for them to leave early rather than stay until she woke and risk being seen by a hall monitor.

Lysander cracked the door open and rolled one of the eggs out into the hall to see if the coast was clear. Amidst the mutterings of the others about how Lysander should do his own dirty work, the egg whispered that no one was in the hall and rolled back. He secured her in her pouch and the boys left the room, closing the door softly behind them. It was a quick decision between them that the cafeteria was the place to go, and away they went.


Charmeleon was just finishing its second cup of coffee, and Erica was mostly done her breakfast, when Conrad slid his tray onto the table across from her and sat down. He started eating, obviously expecting Erica to comment on his presence, but she just continued to sip her orange juice. Charmeleon copied her movements exactly with its coffee, a sign of solidarity that irked Conrad. He hadn't had his Lickitung out of its Pokéball since the battle fiasco the day before.

Finally he banged down his fork and cleared his throat, "Charmeleon's strong, isn't it?"

Erica shrugged, "It pulled me most of the way down the hall this morning."

Conrad paused as his brain considered this somewhat random statement, then continued, "I mean in battle."

She shrugged again, "No idea."

"Let's test it," he seized on her words immediately. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"Don't be ridiculous. These Pokémon aren't for battling, they were placed in our care so we can help them. Besides, what have you done between yesterday afternoon and now to make your Lickitung listen to you?"

She might as well have been talking to a wall. Conrad stood and removed his Pokéball from his belt, "In half a minute I'm releasing Lickitung to fight."

"In a cafeteria. That's bound to go over well."

"Twenty five seconds."

"Did I mention I'm not interested?"

"Twenty seconds."

She raised her glass of orange juice to her mouth serenely, not bothering to speak any more. When Charmeleon copied her again, Conrad saw red. He abandoned his count, stepped rapidly around the table and seized Erica's drink, intending to wrench it from her hands. Instead the juice sloshed from the glass and soaked into Erica's pyjama top.

After an initial jolt of alarm, she rose with dignity and pointed to the exit, "The practise arena is that way. Charmeleon," she turned to her Pokémon, who was glaring fiercely at Conrad, "fight this battle to the end and I'll buy you another coffee."

"Char!" It snorted a small fireball from its nose.

Uncaring that she was still in her pyjamas and bare feet, Erica marched to the practise arena while Conrad followed, blocked from leading by an irate Charmeleon.

This early in the morning, the practise arena was empty. While a good number of students were now awake, they were heading for food and water, thoughts of Pokémon pushed to the backs of their minds as the focussed on dealing with dehydration. The arena was one of several in the main buildings, and according to the campus maps there were several arenas spread over the rest of the property as well. It was standard competition size, and sported risers on either side for a crowd to watch.

Erica stopped at the closer trainer's box, making Conrad walk across the arena. She glanced down at Charmeleon and muttered, "He's as big a bully as his Pokémon, and they both need to be taught a lesson."

Charmeleon nodded solemnly and trotted out to take its position, ready to fight.

Conrad smirked and adjusted his aviator's hat, "This is going to be a perfect way to assess Lickitung's strength. Alright," he gripped his Pokéball and threw it into the ring, "let's do this, Lickitung!"

The tongue Pokémon came out charging, thankfully towards Charmeleon, but Erica didn't give it a chance to hit, "Dodge that charge and give it a tail whip as you go, Charmeleon!"

Charmeleon leapt to the side, slapping Lickitung across the face with its tail and twisting to avoid its paralyzing tongue.

"Lickitung, use wrap!"

"Not so fast! Stare it down with leer, Charmeleon!"

Lickitung's tongue was halfway to Charmeleon when the fire Pokémon's eyes glowed a savage gold. As they continued to lock eyes, Lickitung's tongue slowly rolled back up inside its mouth, despite its struggles to continue to use wrap.

Conrad clenched his teeth and shouted, "Call yourself strong? Close your eyes and use tackle!"

Lickitung obeyed with a grimace, racing towards its opponent, but Charmeleon didn't even need Erica's command; it used its superior speed to hop neatly out of the way.

"Good, Lickitung, the eye contact's broken! Now-"

"Fire spin, Charmeleon!"

As Lickitung stumbled to a stop, a wreath of flames encircled it and grew to a blaze stretching over its head.

"Leap through the flames, Lickitung!"

It didn't listen, just continued to stagger around inside the circle looking for a way out.

"It'll hurt more if you stay there! Listen to me, damn it! Leap!"

Lickitung started to jump, but the flames roared higher and it refused again.

"Why won't you listen?!" Conrad raged.

"Too much aggression means not enough tactics," Erica quipped. "Now, Charmeleon, break off the fire spin and finish this with fury swipes!"

Charmeleon obeyed immediately, and struck with its claws while the flames were still receding. Lickitung staggered backwards under the attack, and Charmeleon broke away just in time to avoid a final swipe of the tongue. The two Pokémon faced each other, glaring one another down, but when Lickitung attempted a threatening step forwards it suddenly twitched and fell, fainting on the spot.

Once Charmeleon had poked it, assuring that its opponent was defeated, it turned and scampered back to Erica with its arms spread for a hug. She knelt and gave it the hug it wanted, then scooped it up and turned to go.

"Hey, wait!"

She didn't, and Conrad cursed as he lugged Lickitung into his arms and strode after her. She wasn't walking particularly fast, but several flights of stairs carrying a Pokémon substantially heavier than hers meant that he only caught up as she was knocking on Lan's door.

"Look, I'm…" he grimaced at the distasteful words, "I'm sorry about the juice."

"It's fine," she said shortly.

"Good. Now, do you think that if I keep my Pokémon out of its ball like you do, it will listen to me?"

Erica raised an eyebrow at his lightning recovery of arrogance, "That, and a fly swatter would help. Now leave, I'm getting changed."

As she said it Lan opened the door, and she left him standing in the hall with his comatose pink Pokémon.


At exactly noon, Principal Jefferson sent around a message to all hall monitors instructing them to send the students to the gym for announcements. They were required to sit in very specific divisions; there were five lines stretching from front to back, and the rows of each line contained two chairs each. Boys were on one side of the room, and girls were on the other. Each person was required to sit beside their roommate.

"Now," Jefferson began, "do you see the person beside you? That is the only person you are allowed to have sleeping in your room with you without a signed form from a hall monitor. Further, this half of the room," he pointed at the boys, "is not allowed to sleep with this half of the room," his finger switched to the girls. "I don't care if you've been engaged since birth. There will be noco-ed room sharing. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," they droned.

"Good. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the immediate expulsion of the student and return of any and all Pokémon." He fixed a stern glared on his face and let his message sink in. Once it had, his entire demeanour changed and his face broke into a wide grin, "On a further note about Pokémon, I have happy tidings concerning how soon you can attain your second PokéProject!"

The assembled students perked up considerably, many no doubt thinking that their second Pokémon couldn't possibly be worse than their first one.

"There is a mandatory two-week waiting period in between picking up Pokémon, because obviously we want all of you to spend time getting to know your newfound Poke-friends. After two weeks, you merely need demonstrate the progress you have made with your current Pokémon or, in the case of Pokémon whose correction is a matter of a long period of time, present a correction schedule to be appraised. If your efforts or schedule pass inspection, you may choose another Pokémon from storage."

"Do we get to know what it is before we pick it?" This came from one of the boys in the back rows.

"Before you pick it? Good gracious, no! Why, that takes all the fun from it completely! How are you to become top-rate Pokémon correctional trainers if you can pick and choose what to correct? Know what it is before you pick it, indeed!" He marched off muttering to himself, and the students took this as their cue that they were free to go.

Lan scanned the departing crowd for the others, but upon failing to find them she shrugged and took the nearest exit onto the grounds. She strolled a good deal away from the building before releasing Vulpix from its Pokéball and tossing it its squeaky toy.

While it savaged the Lan-coloured object she pulled out an extra blanket she'd crammed into her backpack and spread it on the grass. Next came her sketchbook, and finally her pencil case. She drew her Pokémon in various poses until it lost interest in the toy and went for the real thing, at which point she tossed her sketchbook to safety and defended herself with a water bottle she'd appropriated from Lysander. While her Vulpix backed off and circle her, she had a flash of inspiration.

She slowly unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and poured a small amount of water into her hand. The next time Vulpix darted in to seize her sock, she flicked water at it. It bounded away immediately, then shook, sat down, and rubbed at its face with a paw.

"Well there you are," Lan declared, returning to her drawing. "If you're going to play nasty, I have a trick or two up my sleeve!"

Vulpix shook its head and resumed chewing on the toy. At first it kept one eye on her, wondering if she would flick water at it for chewing at all, but once it saw she wouldn't it began to gnaw away in earnest.

Lan smiled, and happily sighed, "Progress."